Bliss is Within

By

Sri Swami Chidananda

A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION

First Edition: 1991

(3,000 copies)
World Wide Web (WWW) Edition : 2000
WWW site: http://www.dlshq.org/

This WWW reprint is for free distribution

The Divine Life Trust Society

ISBN 81-7052-091-6

Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. Shivanandanagar249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh,
Himalayas, India.

Contents

Publishers Note
Spiritual Life: Its Relevance in the Modern Age
Divine Life
Vedic Culture
Introduction to the Gita
Thoughts From The Bhagavad Gita
True Happiness
Nishkama KarmaThe Philosophy of Excellence in Work
Mans Relationship With the Mind
Maya
Sadhana
Satsanga
Divine Name
Be Your Own Saviour, Says Lord Krishna
A Unique Message of Gurudev Swami Sivananda
What is Yoga?
YogaIts Implications, Objectives and its Place in Your Life
Meditation
The Path of Devotion
Attainment of Divine Perfection
Transforming Spirit of Saints and Mystics
St. Francis of Assisi
Essence of Religion
Underlying Unity of Religions
World Peace
Bliss Is Within

Publishers Note
Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj has been giving innumerable talks during his extensive
tours both in India and abroad. Only some of them are available to us in the form of
recorded cassettes; out of which only a small percentage have been transcribed, edited
and printed. Swamijis lectures are simple, lucid, inspiring, absolutely practical and
universal in nature. To ensure that his inspiring and life-transforming talks reach a
maximum number of spiritual seekers and that this treasure is not lost to posterity, a
systematic effort is needed to get them transcribed, properly edited and printed.

We have great pleasure in bringing out twenty-five lectures by Sri Swami Chidanandaji
and releasing the volume Bliss Is Within on the eve of his Amrita Mahotsava (75th
Birth-Anniversary) which falls on 24th September, 1991.
23rd September, 1991
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY

Spiritual Life: Its Relevance in the Modern Age

What is the necessity and the relevance of spiritual life? This question is often put by
sophisticated, educated modern man who considers the concept of spiritual life as being
something ancient, something old, something which has lost its relevance now. Once
upon a time it might have been a fashion and trend, the order of the day, but now
centuries have passed, man has advanced, times have changed and therefore, this seems
to be an old concept of some other age of the mythological times of Puranas (scriptures).
How can it have any place, how can it hold any meaning in our lives today? So this is the
doubt, a sort of an inner thought in this sophisticated and scientific age, when man has
conquered time and distance. You sit and dial your telephone, you are able to talk to your
daughter or son or brother in New York. So space is as good as not being there. 500 years
ago, if we, who were in India, wanted to talk to someone who was in New York, there
was no possibility unless perhaps we undertook a hazardous voyage, taking about two
months to reach that place. Now it does not take even two minutes. That is our age and
what can spirituality have to do with mans life?
My attempt will be to try to focus your attention on the fact that spiritual life has not only
a relevance, it is not only necessary, but it is absolutely indispensable and it is the very
central meaning of human life. In spite of man having advanced a great deal during recent
centuries, having come far, far away from the state of life in which his ancestors and
forefathers lived, yet he has left many of the problems that face man in bygone
millenniums still unsolved. And so spiritual life is the one and only solution to all
mankinds unsolved problems that have accompanied him down millennium.
Other problems man has created for himself but even without having created any
problems, certain fundamental problems always existed since the dawn of creation: the
problem of old age, disease, death, pain and suffering, the problem of sorrows of human
life. It is here today, it was there when man was living in the stone age. His life was in no
way different from the lives of common animals. For all animals their life is a struggle for
existence, a struggle for survival and for man in bygone, pre-historic times of the stone
age, life started with the same problem. It may be ironical that with the sudden turn of
time and the discovery of mans ability to harness nature, coming of the age of science,
industrial revolution, within the past three or four centuries, man has made amazing
strides. He has conquered physical nature, harnessed all the resources and forces of
nature to his advantage and provided himself all the comforts and conveniences.

Jungles have been converted into cities and night has been converted into day. We have
conquered time, distance and air. We go under the water faster than the fastest submarine
animal created by God; we are able to fly in the air faster than any bird created by
Brahma. We have outdistanced the fleetest animal upon the surface of the earth and vast
knowledge has been accumulated.
There are thousands of libraries with millions of books, universities galore and colleges
without number and education has spread all over the world. And in spite of all this
advancement it is the most ironical fact that today human society in this world lives in a
fear psychosis. The great commercial product making billions for the producers are
sedatives and tranquilizers because the modern man is an anxiety-laden creature. The
world is filled with problems, complexities, and there is such a great state of worry, fear
and uncertainty that man has become compelled to take recourse to medicine to calm his
mind. Alien excitement somehow or other gives him a little bit of stability and he lives in
fear. You are fortunate in India that fear has not yet come. It is slowly coming but yet it is
not come in its full course. But in the West, both sides of the Atlantic, you cannot
imagine, unless you have had occasion to go there and stay for some time. Those of you
who have been there know what it is. Their one great fear is the question, will we
survive? Has man a future or are we on the brink of global destruction, suicide, because
man has accumulated due to advancement in science such unbelievable destructive
potential. They say that the stockpile of nuclear weaponry in the arsenal of Russia and
America is enough to completely wipe out everything that is on the surface of the earth
nine or ten times over. And yet they are not stopping the race of piling up. Naturally when
both sides know that the other side has the potential to totally bring about destruction
upon us, they live with this question hanging over their heads: Have we a future? Will
mankind survive?
The problem that faced our pre-historic stone-age ancestors, the problem of survival, has
now come back to confront modern mankind after so much of progress, and accumulation
of knowledge. What is the reason for this? Why is not mankind better off than it was
before in the real sense of the term? We are better off in certain ways. We have more
comforts. We can live life with greater ease, less exertion and if that is interpreted, as a
better state of life then we are vastly better off than our ancients. But in spite of so much
knowledge, so much of progress which man insists upon calling civilisation, why does
the world confront this situation? When mankind is pitted against mankind, everywhere
there is hostility and hatred, clash and conflict, restlessness. No one believes or trusts
another and there is disharmony. Human beings are rent into separate parties and
everywhere there is violence and destruction. Can you call this real civilisation? What is
the reason for this? Where has man lost his way? We cannot say that the scientific
knowledge, technology, advancement, discoveries and inventions by themselves have
brought mankind to the situation that prevails today. We cannot say so because
knowledge is only accumulation of information and facts. The forces that man has learnt
to harness are amoral. They are neither good nor bad. They are just there. They are
neutral because they by themselves do not have the ability to cause any experience to
man. They cannot destroy because they are inert things. Therefore, we cannot say that by
themselves they constitute the present problem of mankind. It is the way in which they

are applied, in which they are used, that decides whether they are a menace to mankind or
a boon and a blessing.
If today these discoveries have become a curse to mankind, they threaten his very
existence, like the monster created by Frankenstein was about to destroy its own creator,
it is because of the way in which man, the conscious entity, has chosen to use them. They
become destructive according to whether you are going to use them negatively or
positively. And today it seems that in spite of mans knowledge, education and outer
refinement; there seems to be some fundamental malaise in man. He is sick. Some great
error has been committed that has brought him to make use of these forces and powers to
cause widespread pain and destruction.
In this century itself, in the brief space of one generation, less than 25 years, two great
global conflicts took place. Never in the history of mankind was so much death and
destruction brought down upon human society as in these two great wars. Perhaps if we
statistically try to find out, count the heads that rolled in all the wars since recorded
history, may be the amount of destruction, of death and havoc that was created during the
first world war and the second world war, would far outbeat the entire total. How do you
explain this? If man has been civilised, he has progressed, should he not become better
and better? Should he not create a world where there is peace, where there is happiness,
where man is able to live without fear, where there is amity between man and man,
mutual cooperation, harmony, a feeling of unity and brotherhood? Should not this
characterise real civilisation, real progress? Ponder over this phenomenon, which is
current history, known to each and every one of you. If you ponder, then the question
arises, what was the mistake of man? I shall try to tell you both in a single phrase and
also a little descriptively.
In a single phrase, man has totally ignored the nature of the human being, totally ignored
the spiritual dimension in his personality and totally neglected to cultivate the spiritual
aspect of human life. To put the same thing in a little descriptive way, man brought about
a wonderful, amazing marvellous and admirable transformation in his outer environment;
but never paid any attention to his own cultivation. So many fields of knowledge were
brought about, cultivated and evolved but human culture was totally neglected. The great
blunder which man committed was to take a purely materialistic view of the human
being. They looked upon man as a physical and psychological creature, just a biological
being endowed with thinking, feeling and reasoning faculty and they said if you cater to
the needs of the body and mind of man, that is all there is to it, you have done your duty.
That is the whole of the cultivation of the human being and therefore this materialistic
view of the human individual led people to evolve social theories and political
philosophies that were oriented to bring about a state of well-being of the physical man
and the psychological man. So the state thought that it is its duty to look after its citizens,
provide every facility for the comfortable physical life of manfood, clothing,
employment, housing, medical aid, educationeverything. They thought this is the
complete way of providing for the highest welfare of human society and it is here that
they grossly erred.

The vision of the Indian seers and sages had a totally different view of man. They knew
by experience that man was endowed with a third and a higher factor which was in fact
its true identity. The physical and the psychological aspect of the human individual, they
said, is not the real nature of man. It is here, it has to be recognised, it has to be provided
for, but not at the neglect of its true Self. In their experience mans personality was a
mysterious combination of the three Gunas. At the basic level is mans gross animal
nature. Physically and biologically there is absolute identity in all processes that take
place either in mans body or in the body of any other animal. At a higher plane we are
endowed with an exceptional-faculty which makes us different from animals. We have
thinking, feeling and reasoning faculties. We can observe, we can come to conclusions,
infer new knowledge, expand in wisdom, we can know, we can reason and we have the
faculty of logic and rationality which animals do not possess. The modern mankind, the
thinkers, the leaders, committed the gross error of concluding that these two make up the
entire man and just because he is endowed with intellect and the power to feel, reason
and think, he is superior to animals.
Our law givers, our great sages, had a different view. They said that by virtue of being
endowed with a power of thought, feeling and reasoning alone, man is in no way superior
to animals. These faculties only make man different from animals, not superior. They
clearly said that unless man is endowed with Sadachara (good conduct), virtue and
Dharma, this very intellect may become a curse, may be the cause of his downfall, it may
degrade him into levels much lower even than animals. Man is turned not only to an
animal but even into a demoniacal being, an Asura. And therefore, he becomes a curse to
society, instead of a blessing.
Hence, the cultivation of the higher nature of man, bringing about in the mind, in his
feelings, in his thoughts, in his intellect, divine qualities, righteous tendency. This was
considered to be one of the most essential and indispensable parts of the training of man,
and even this is not enough. Beyond this there lies within man the third factor, the divine
principle, which is the innermost truth, of the human being. It is the combination of these
prime factors, gross, physical, animal, biological nature, a higher, comparatively,
relatively subtle thinking, feeling, reasoning human nature and beyond it, within himself,
as the very centre of his being, in a radiant divine nature that is dormant. Because mans
whole attention is projected outside, towards this gross world of names and forms, his
gaze has been turned away from him. Therefore he is not aware of his inner divinity.
Deep within himself each human being is potentially divine. He is part of God. There is,
as the Quakers in the West say, that of God in man.
This concept is one of the basic and fundamental concepts in all religions of mankind. In
Islam they say there is the Noor (light) of Allah in Admi (man). Christianity says as also
Judaism that God created man in His own image and then after creating him He breathed
His spirit into him.
Therefore the spirit of God indwells man as the innermost reality in him. And the essence
of education is to try to bring about in the psychological man nobility. The essence of
living a true life is the awakening of the sleeping and slumbering divinity which is the

reality of man and doing all that one can in order to bring about its fullest unfoldment and
development and its dynamic expression in human life. This is real life.
Gods plan for man was not just endowing man with a comfortable material life. Then we
would only be well fed, well clothed, well housed, academically degreed animals capable
only of functioning upon the animal level. What is it that distinguishes man? The ability
to be compassionate, the ability to feel for the joys and sufferings of others, the ability to
wish to ameliorate the sorrows and troubles of others. Animals, instinct-bound, instinctpropelled, are able to live for themselves. Man is the unique creature, a unique animal in
Gods creation who can think of others, who can try to live for others and therefore they
said the greatest Dharma of man is Paropakara (doing good to others). Living for oneself,
every bird and beast does. If, while you live for yourself, you also start living for others,
wanting to make others happy, then you become human, because this is the essence of
humaneness. Understanding that what is unpleasant and painful to you is unpleasant and
painful to others also, live in such a way that you do not give such experience to others.
Knowing also that these things which give you joy, happiness and satisfaction, must
similarly give joy and happiness to others, engage yourself in doing such things that bring
about these similar experiences to others.
This constitutes the essence of Dharma and the essence of life. Gods plan for us is to
bring about the fullest unfoldment and expression of that divinity so that ultimately a
stage is reached when mans consciousness becomes totally transformed and he becomes
fully aware of himself. The transformation of human consciousness into divine
consciousness is Gods plan for man on earth and this plan is called evolution.
Biologically the Western scientist may say that the human being is now at the very
pinnacle of evolution. He has completed and come to the top of evolution but spiritually
we have another view. We think the moment a Jivatma (individual soul) attains human
status, from that point only, his evolution commences. The process of evolution
commences from the moment you reach the human status, because then only you become
endowed with the ability of conscious effort. Until that in all the sub-human levels it is
automatic switching on from one stage to a higher stage. There is no conscious effort in
them. They cannot live in an intelligent way, choosing goals and purposefully trying to
move towards the goal.
According to the spiritual point of view human society is at the lowest rung of the ladder
of evolution. Biologically you may be in the highest rung but spiritually you are in the
lowest rung and life in the true sense of the term constitutes an ascent towards divinity.
And it is when this ascent towards divinity, this conscious and purposeful ascent towards
divinity is present in the life of man, he lives. Otherwise it is merely an anomaly of
living. There is no life. Your body may be very active and psychologically your mind and
intellect may be very active but you are still sleeping. Life has not started. Life is that
where spiritually man has begun to become active, spiritually man has developed an
awareness that I am inside a spiritual being and I must make use of this phenomenon
called life in order to bring about the development of my spiritual self.

This was totally neglected through the materialistic view of the human personality. The
entire Western social and political philosophy is geared to providing man the necessities
for his physical and psychological personality levels and the spirit has become totally
neglected. That is the grave blunder committed and man is paying for it. It is only when
thinking men and women become aware that this is the great error, that you can make it a
part of your lifes mission to try to spread this awareness within your own circles in the
widest possible way that you can.
Supposing among you there are school teachers, members of clubs, journalists and
writers, you can make use of your ability, your position,in order to bring about this
awareness. The only solution for the present crisis that grips the entire human world in
this 20th century is to rectify this error. Try to bring about an active spiritual life in man
so that the higher self of man develops. Now man is totally enslaved, he is under the
control of the lower propensities and the whole life-style of man everywhere is only to
stoke up and excite more and more gross propensities of man. It only makes the problem
still worse. He becomes completely enslaved by his lower propensities of passion, anger,
greed and sensuality and whatever little education he may have, this modern life-style
totally nullifies and makes man an animal in human form. His (outer appearance) may be
human but his Prakriti (nature) becomes animal. That is a very serious situation; thinking
men and women must try to do all they can to bring a halt to this state of affairs. Club
together, come together, form a sort of a strong body, and try to make your voice heard
wherever it is necessary.
What is there in the educational system of our country which is completely careeroriented? Just in order to either make man fit for earning his livelihood and make a
living, not to live life but to make a living or in order to provide personnel to the great
industries and commercial concerns. They are not aware of their own mission in life, their
inner spiritual nature and they are not so much concerned about their ultimate welfare.
They want to provide for themselves their needs; so education has become a mere farce.
There is no cultivation of character, there is no cultivation of human personality. Such
education makes man only a self-centred, competitive being, a machine to earn the
money, but not a being who can by his life, by his behaviour, raise the level of
contemporary social life, enrich the social life stream, its beauty, virtue, and goodness. It
is only when this is rectified that man begins to lead a life where spiritual Sadhana is an
indispensable part of living. Everyday he begins to dwell upon his own higher nature and
begins to try to awaken the inner spiritual consciousness and try to cultivate those
qualities which are characteristic of divinity, love, compassion, kindness, peace,
knowledge, harmony, unity. These are all the constituents of the spiritual nature of man.
God is love, God is peace, God is beauty, God is all purity, God is wisdom, God is
supreme harmony, God is the very essence of unity. For one common consciousness
needs all life on earth to a homogeneous inner oneness, inner unity. And where God
consciousness is allowed, man begins to feel: I am not separate from anyone else.
Everyone is my own self, my own reflection. So I must have the same attitude towards
others as I have towards myself. I love myself, I must love all. I want all the best for
myself. I must try to bring all the best for others.

In a way where there is this ability to identify yourself with others, this, therefore, is the
vital point, the vital fact that those who are in charge of human societies in any country,
in any nation, anywhere in the world, have to recognize that man is essentially a spiritual
creature. Even though he may be partaking of a physical nature as well as a psychological
nature, but his most important self is his spiritual nature and they should provide for the
awakening of the spiritual nature within the frame-work of the training they impart to
human beings in their society. Education is, therefore, vitally in need of a complete
orientation and a transformation and it should bring into itself, as an indispensable part
and parcel of its process, the imparting to the child as it enters into school, the awareness
of its higher nature. Then alone education will have some essence. Otherwise, the
educative process is completely devoid of any essence. It is so much of filling of
information from outside to inside and leaving the spirit completely slumbering and
unawakened.
We cannot always depend upon the Government machinery to bring about this for us.
And it is not even necessary. We are conscious beings and we are socially aware and
awakened and whatever the Government does we accept, and what the Government
leaves undone, we will do it ourselves. We will make good the deficiency. In this way
there should come about an inner determination in human society and you should form
yourself into spiritual associations, philosophical study circles. Each locality should have
its own spiritual study circle and you must meet together, once in a day if possible, or at
least once in a week and try to spend a period, maybe an hour and a half or two hours, in
common collective prayer, collective meditation, collective study, collective spiritual
discussion. Call a senior to give a little message. This is the great need of the hour.
Sundays and holidays we should use in a spiritually creative and gainful way, a rewarding
way. That should mark the day when we re-charge ourselves, spiritually become more
awake in the deepest depth of our being. Until and unless mans spiritual higher nature is
awakened, the world will not change.
This process of self-culture has to be initiated and it has to be carried on by society, by its
own volition and we have to thank our luck, we have to thank Providence that at least
here in India there is no dearth, there is no lack of sources of spiritual inspiration. There is
no lack of spiritual guidance because this land is a unique land where if you try to analyse
and investigate and research in the inner spiritual history of India, you will find that in all
its glorious past, there has not been one single generation in which spiritual teachers,
sages, seers, Yogis, devotees of God, philosophers, men of spiritual experience have not
been present. And that too from Himalayas to Kanyakumari, from Assam to Sindh and
Punjab, throughout the length and breadth of this great land there has never been a single
Age, a single century, a single generation when God-men have not been present.
You cannot say this of any other country in this world. You cannot say this of any other
society in any other nation. No other culture, no other race has brought about this
phenomenal appearance in every single generation of people who have attuned
themselves with the Universal Soul and were filled with Divine Consciousness. And not
only this, to all mankind they gave their message and made it their lifes mission to bring
about this awareness in their own contemporary society, in their own fellow beings. Will

we be oblivious to this blessing, will you completely neglect this wonderful blessing,
wonderful gift God has given you, as children of Bharatavarsha? That would be a major
tragedy.
This is one thing which distinguishes you from all other nations. Many of them are
materially far more advanced than us. We cannot compare with them technologically.
Scientifically we lag behind. But in this one respect we are rich, we have something
which we can share, we can give and try to bring about a change in the world situation.
But we can share and we can give only if we claim our birthright and possess it in all
fullness. The life of each and every Indian upon Indian soil, be he a Christian, Muslim,
Sikh, Parsee, Hindu, Buddhist or Jain, must be spiritual. There must he a spiritual quality
in him. There must be a higher awareness. There must be a divine radiance in your
thoughts, in your feelings, in everything that you do, in your domestic life, in your own
family. It should shine with spiritual quality and in your professional life, everywhere you
go. Even in the profession and trade you must try it as a part of your effort to get into
conscious communion with God and in your social life always keep up a certain level of
spirituality. If this is done, then only we can call ourselves real Bharatiyas, wherever we
are, whatever the manner in which we are living, be based in spiritual Sadhana. This
transformation of your individual self can only become possible if you connect yourself
with the Divine so that you open up a spiritual channel between you and the Supreme
Reality. All the auspicious and blessed qualities of the Supreme Reality can then descend
unto you, bring about a transformation in your life, make you shine in the divine, make
you an ideal man.
Every day, morning and evening, sit silent, drop the world from your consciousness, be
aware of yourself and the universal Divine Being, calm the mind, keep the body straight,
breathe naturally and rhythmically and raise your consciousness by the repetition of the
solemn Pranava Nada (OM), which is the symbol of the Universal Consciousness, the
ancient, timeless, primal Spirit, and thus upon the wings of Pranava enter into an
awareness of the Divine and stay in that awareness. There is nothing, there is no time, no
space. There is only a vast, limitless ocean of existence, consciousness, bliss absolute
(Sat-chit-ananda), and I am a part of that infinite ocean of bliss, peace and luminosity.
In this way connect yourself with the Divine. Raise your consciousness to the Divine
level. Feel yourself all perfect, imperishable, ever blissful, ever peaceful, consciousness,
bliss, existence, and try to remain in that state of awareness as long as you can. If the
mind wanders here and there, ignore its wanderings, bring it back gently, focus it back
into the awareness, and be in that awareness, feel yourself bodiless, mindless, without
name and form, without birth, without death, timeless, the all full Satchidananda Atman
that you are. Experience your Nija Svarupa (real identity).
Make that your Sahaja Avastha (normal state), by practising daily, many times a day, this
consciousness, this spiritual consciousness. Take the help of a Name if you want, Om Om
Om or Om Tat Sat or Ram Ram Ram or Ek Omkar Satnam. Whatever Name, whatever
religion you belong to, you are a child of God. God is the Universal Spirit. Because you
are a child of God, you are a Divine being. Your God is the centre of Divinity and

therefore feel your Divinity, feel your spiritual nature and whatever Name your religion
has to indicate that Supreme Being, repeat the Name. All Names imply the same thing,
total perfection, infinite perfection, eternal life, unfathomable peace, infinite bliss, all
purity, all truth, all light; do this practice.
Read the scriptures without fail every day. A study of spiritual scriptures inspire you and
fill your heart and mind with life-transforming spiritual ideas. Try to bring about a
transformation in your psychological being first, by trying to erase the world awareness
from your mind and evoke within it spiritual awareness through daily study and during
your secular life keep up a golden thread of God remembrance, God awareness. Let your
morning meditation and spiritual awareness and your evening meditation and inner
spiritual awareness, be connected by an unbroken stream of spiritual awareness, even
while you are functioning in your daily life, in your office. The fact remains that you are
an eternal immortal, divine Spirit. This fact is never effaced. It is one reality, therefore, be
aware of Reality, live from this standpoint of truth. Base your consciousness upon truth,
base your consciousness upon this reality about yourself and then give your hands and
feet and your mind as much as it is necessary to the business of this world and then you
will become the salt of this earth.
If more and more people generate this spiritual awareness and spiritual light in their own
lives then gradually they pool together this spiritual power and spiritual force and you
may not be able to bring about a total transformation of the world situation. But you can
certainly contribute to bring about a change, in the balance between the forces of light
and darkness, in the balance between the forces of love and hate, in the balance between
the forces of the negative and positive aspects of human nature and that would be your
greatest contribution to peace. That would be your greatest service to humanity. Other
services are all right, but this great inner spiritual service, to bring about a transformation
in the thoughts and feelings of man is the greatest because all outer conditions are only
the result of the human thought and feeling. The outer actions are only the manifestations
of what man has, within his mind, within his heart and if a change can be brought there,
automatically a change is bound to follow in the outer area of mans life and activities. If,
in spite of living in a material world where there is so much of spiritual ignorance and
neglect of spiritual values, you still wish to make your life a success and fulfil Gods plan
for your life and ultimately attain spiritual consciousness and go out of this body as a
liberated being, then let there be actual spiritual life in you, let there be spiritual Sadhana,
study of spiritual scriptures, daily meditation, repetition of the Divine Name and keeping
up the current of God awareness even in the midst of activities, trying to see the presence
of God Wherever you go, because He is the all-pervading Reality.
The reality of Gods presence is much more than the reality of this changing appearance.
Therefore, through regular make your life totally spiritual. Let life become this process
of fulfilling Gods plan for you. Gods plan for you is the ultimate experience of the
divine perfection which is your innermost reality, which is your true Self. You will bless
your own immediate environment, you will, bless the contemporary society where you
are living and ultimately this spirituality which you evoke, it is so powerful that time and
distance does not matter. It will have its impact upon the entire ethereal atmosphere of

this world, the sky where mens thoughts and feelings are registered, and if more and
more of us who are children of a spiritual nation, inheritors of a spiritual culture, actively
bring this spirituality to our life, maybe we will be instrumental in bringing about a turn
in the direction of humanity which is going downward towards the brink of annihilation.
We may still be able to stop it by our contribution upon the spiritual level and the world
may still have a future.
In spite of the foreboding prophecies of sociologists and political observers and scientists,
we may still be able, through spiritual life and spiritual , to arrest the onrush towards
doom. We may still be able to stop this and bring about the survival of mankind in a
better world. Let us hope for it. Let us be optimistic in action, not only in feeling, not
only in wishing. Let us contribute towards this possibility of human survival and a better
future for mankind by bringing into the life stream of human thought and feeling a
spiritual quality through our own dynamic spiritual living.
Therefore, beloved friends in the Spirit, beloved children of the Divine, spiritual life and
spiritual practice is the most pressing, urgent and indispensable need of humanity today.
It is not old-fashioned, it is not outmoded. On the contrary, it is more relevant and more
important today than it ever was in human history because humanity, through neglect of
spiritual dimension in mans personality, has come to the brink of global suicide. And
therefore the disease of un-spirituality is so great that this spiritual life, spiritual practice,
is the one specific and the prime need of mankind today.

Divine Life
Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj appeared in this 20th Century to proclaim to
mankind his sublime message of Divine Life. According to him, such a life is divine that
is lived in the awareness that you are essentially an eternal and imperishable divine spirit,
you are immortal Atman, you are not this perishable cage of flesh and bones, you are not
merely this restless and impure mind filled with selfishness, anger, hatred, passion, greed,
cravings, etc. Neither are you this limited and finite intellect, which is many a time prone
to error and fails you at the time of need in solving your problems. But beyond body,
senses, mind and intellect, you shine resplendent as an Eternal and Immortal Spirit.
Satchidananda (Existence Absolute, Consciousness Absolute, Bliss Absolute) is your real
nature, because you are an eternal part of that Supreme Universal Spirit whom we refer to
as God. He is the Cosmic Being, the eternal source and origin of your very existence and
you are inseparably connected with Him in the inner dimension of your real nature, your
spiritual nature, which is in fact your true identity.
Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji beheld the state of restlessness in which mankind dwelt in
this modern world with its insecurity, with its clash and conflict, discord and disharmony.
In spite of having material wealth and opulence, man was not happy, he had no peace, he
was ever restless and he was ever unhappy and unsatisfied. Master Swami Sivanandaji
was a cosmic friend and benefactor and out of his over-whelming love and compassion

for all beings, he decided to show them the path to blessedness in and through the normal
life in this world and this path is the path of Divine Life.
The message of Divine Life calls upon mankind to realize that you are only a passing
pilgrim here upon this planet earth. This is not your eternal dwelling Place. You come
from an abode of Eternal Peace, Joy and sunshine, a divine abode beyond all sorrow, pain
and suffering where there is eternal peace and supreme Bliss. Due to Karma, the force of
the great Law of Karma, temporarily you have come into this state of physical
embodiment. The meaning and purpose of this earth life is that it is a golden opportunity,
a rare chance given to you to utilize it in order to once again regain your temporarily lost
connection with the Supreme Universal Being, who is of the very nature of Bliss and
Peace. It is to make use of this life for this process of regaining your lost contact with the
Divine, that all the saints and sages have come and taught us the way to attain Godconsciousness and God-experience, by which one passes beyond all sorrow and becomes
established in a state of absolute Divine Bliss and is for ever liberated from all pain,
suffering, fear and bondage. That state of liberation is called . This is the supreme goal of
life. Moksha means sarva duhkha nivritti, paramananda prapti and nitya tripti, that is,
liberation from all pain, sorrow and suffering and attainment of supreme Divine Bliss and
eternal satisfaction in that state of liberated consciousness.
To attain this, showed mankind an easy path which can be practised even while one is
living in this world, fulfilling all ones obligations to ones dependents and doing ones
duties and engaging in activity which is inevitable to this secular existence in this
materialistic world. In and through this world and in and through this secular life to attain
that supreme God-experience which is the summum bonum of life for the supreme goal
of human existence, that is the purpose of Divine Life. Divine Life is a life lived in the
awareness that you are essentially divine, that you are not this perishable cage of flesh
and bones, but your real identity is something supra-mundane, which is without
beginning and without end, which is timeless and eternal, which is without birth and
death, which is imperishable, indestructible and immortal. Thou art the Immortal Soul.
Thou art the Eternal Imperishable Atman. Lord Krishna declares, ajo nityah sasvatoyam
purano na hanyate hanyamane sarireUnborn, Eternal, Permanent and Timeless is this
dweller within the body and He is not affected by the birth or death of the body. Weapons
cannot injure you, fire cannot burn you, water cannot wet you, wind cannot dry you. You
are therefore the Eternal, Immortal Atman.
To live in this awareness is the basis of Divine Life. Divine Life is also lived in the
awareness that your source and origin is that Eternal Cosmic Being, Infinite Existence,
Eternal Bliss and Peace whom we call God. He is the basis of all religions. He is the
source and origin of all religions. He is the goal of all religions. Even though called by
different names as Brahman or or Jehova or Ahura Mazda or Father in Heaven or Allah,
Ek Omkar Satnam, that Supreme Cosmic Reality is One and non-dual. It is that Reality
which is worshipped in all places of worship: Hindu temple, Jewish synagogue, Christian
church, Islamic mosque and Gurudwara of the Sikhs. It is One Being, glorified in all the
scriptures of the world. To attain That Being is the supreme goal and purpose of life.

Divine Life proclaims that the goal of life is God-realization, attaining which one
becomes liberated from rebirth and all sorrow, pain and suffering. To lead this Divine
Life, you need not renounce your house and family, property and profession, you need
not run away into some forests or mountain top and live in a cave. Even living as you are,
leading your normal life of domestic set up and your professional life and activities and
your social life, you can attain this supreme goal and become forever blessed.
To attain this, the way of Divine Life shown by is first and foremost to purify your heart
and rid it of the dross and rubbish and impurity of selfishness by plunging into absolute
dedicated selfless service. Be a Maha Paropakari. Ever be intent, ever be eager in order
to serve all: to serve the sick, to serve the poor, to serve the suffering and sorrowful, to
encourage those who are in despair and feel yourself
to be blessed if you get an opportunity of serving, helping and not only your fellow
beings, but all Creatures of God upon this earth. By thus renouncing selfishness and
engaging in motiveless, desireless, selfless service, ones heart becomes purified and in
such a pure heart, there arises devotion for God and with the devotion, engage yourself in
daily worshipping the Supreme who is the very basis of your being, who is the very
innermost core of your consciousness and who is the very centre of your existence.
God is not some supra-mundane remote reality, far away from you, but God is here and
now. He is the all-pervading Reality, the ever present Divine Spirit pervading this entire
Universe and also He is your innermost , He is the Antaryamin. He is closer to you than
your very breath. Never forget this and therefore, out of a heart filled with love for Him
engage in prayer and worship every day. Thus, try to re-establish a living connection, a
living link and relationship of spiritual love with the supreme source of your being in
God. And this process of daily worshipping and praying to the Lord has the power to
gradually steady the restless mind and overcome its fickle nature. It removes the
Vikshepa Sakti of the mind, steadies the mind and gradually brings about the state of
restfulness and concentration in the mind.
At this stage you enter into the third practice of Divine Life namely withdrawing the
mind and controlling the senses and controlling the thoughts and attaining to a state of
concentration and with a concentrated mind, meditating upon the-Supreme Divine
Reality or God. Daily meditation.
Selfless service is the foundation of Divine Life. Devotion and worship bring about a
progress and an upward and ascent in your life. As devotion and prayerfulness intensifies
itself, the mind attains a state of concentration and you enter into a state of regular daily
meditation upon the divine object of your quest. Regular daily meditation brings about
steadiness and a feeling of abidance in God. You begin to feel the presence of God in
your heart. And the power of meditation is such that even when you are engaged in your
daily activities, either at home or in your professional field or in societyit creates a
steady, unbroken under-current of God thought or God awareness. This is the effect of
regular of meditation.

When you begin to feel the presence of God, you become aware of the presence of God at
all times, everywhere even in the midst of your activities. You begin to feel that you live,
move and have your being in God. This is the power of meditation. It brings about in
your life God-awareness and also it brings about in your thoughts, words and activities a
new spiritual quality, which uplifts and elevates your life to a new standard of purity, of
spirituality, of compassion, of kindness and holiness. Thus, you become a transformed
being, a spiritual being with purity of character, with sublime sentiments, with spiritual
emotions and lofty thoughts of the Divine. And having entered into this state of Godawareness, your intellect becomes purified and within it, dawns the power of spiritual
enquiry, philosophical enquiry and discriminationdiscrimination between the Eternal
and the non-eternal, the changeless Eternal Reality and the merely passing appearance,
and the Anatman, the Permanent and the passing, the Reality and the appearance, the
Eternal and the non-eternal.
This process of discrimination or should be carried on all the waking hours of your every
day life. Thus, through constant discrimination, you begin to reject that which is
unspiritual and undivine, you begin to reject the passing, changeful appearances of this
phenomenal world and you begin to direct your mind towards the Reality, which is
behind and beyond all this world play, this show of vanishing names and forms. The mind
begins to move towards the Eternal Reality even though physically and mentally you
continue to live in this material world, you continue to function in this phenomenal
process, yet, deep within you, in your Spirit, you become established in Supreme Divine
Reality.
And thus, the four great practices which beloved and Holy Master Gurudev Swami
Sivanandaji proclaimed as pillars of Divine Life are selfless service, devotion and
worship, daily, unfailing regular meditation and constant spiritual enquiry, discrimination
and investigation into the nature of the Reality which is behind and beyond this world of
vanishing names and forms. The way of Divine Life which leads to inner spiritual
unfoldment and God-experience and grants you supreme bliss, peace and illumination is
the way of selflessness and selfless service. It is the way of devotion and daily Worship. It
is the way of disciplining the mind and controlling the senses, withdrawing the mind
from being scattered amongst the external objects of this world and concentrating the
mind and meditation.
It is the way of ceaseless enquiry: Who am I? What am I? Whence am I in this universe
of these perishable objects? What is my destination and goal in life and what is the nature
of this universe of these perishable objects? It is the way of ceaseless spiritual enquiry
into the real nature of this world appearance and your ultimate goal. It is the way of
affirming I am not this body, I am not this restless mind, I am not this limited, finite
intellect. I am that innermost being, the Supreme , nameless and formless, unborn,
undecaying, deathless and imperishable, eternal, One and non-dual. I am Satchidananda.
This is the way of Divine Life.
But, if you wish to enter into this spiritual way of Divine Life of selfless service, daily
worship, regular meditation and ceaseless enquiry, discrimination and self-realization,

you have to observe three principles in your conduct and character, and your day to day ,
day to day life in the secular world. These three principles form the very foundation and
basis of this Divine Life of service, worship, meditation and God-realisation. These three
principles are therefore indispensable pre-requisites for the practise of the Sadhana of
Divine Life.
The first principle is kindness and compassion towards all creatures. You must be a
Cosmic benefactor. Ceaseless love, kindness and compassion must flow out of your life.
Never hurt anyone, never hurt even the least of Gods creatures either by thought, word
or action. Even in dream, you should not think of harming or hurting any creature.
This sublime principle of non-injury, of harmlessness has been given a very great place in
the eternal Vedic Way of life, that proclaim Ahimsa paramo dharmah. Be a centre of
help, be a centre of benefit, be a centre of happiness and peace to all. Never injure, never
hurt, never harm any living creature.
The second principle is: be rooted in absolute Truthfulness. Even at the cost of life, never
utter falsehood, never practise deceit, never be dishonest in any of your dealings with
anyone in this world. Be a man of integrity and verity. Become a man established in
truthfulness in thought, word and deed. Truth is God. One who practises truthfulness
rigidly will attain God and become established in God even without much rigorous Yogic
Sadhana and techniques, for God is present in this human world as the sublime principle
of truthfulness.
Thirdly, and most importantly, purity of conduct and character, of self-control, chastity, a
chaste look, purity of vision, purity of feeling towards all beings, Brahmacharya and
overall control over the base carnal passions that exist in the lower physical aspect of
your being. Thus self-control and purity of thought, word and deed, a sublime purity of
character and conduct, ethical living, absolute truthfulness in all dealings and above all
kindness and compassion towards all creaturesthese three form the basis and
foundation of such Divine Life. Ever keep in mind, the great Goal, remember God
constantly with love in your heart and have absolute faith in your inseparable relationship
with the Supreme Divine Being. Cultivate constant remembrance of God by seeing His
invisible presence in, and through all things in this universe around you. The Lord is
present as an immanent principle in all creation.
In the Eleventh Chapter of Srimad Bhagavad Gita, in the wondrous and marvellous
manner God gives the supreme experience to Arjuna through His Visvarupa Darsana
Yoga and through that supreme vision He has granted to us a rare and priceless treasure
of this truth that God is present, immanent in this Universe and fills every speck of space
and every atom of matter in this world. Thus, be constantly in a state of awareness, do all
your actions as a worship offered to this ever-present Divine Presence. Dedicate all your
activities to God by saying Brahmarpanam; KrishnarpanamO Lord, all the activities
of my entire life, I offer up unto Your feet as my perennial prayer of ceaseless worship.
Thus, living your Divine Life, work becomes worship, to act becomes to adore. The very
living of your life becomes a prayer. Come! Arise! Move towards this great experience.

Lead Divine Life in daily life and attain supreme blessedness. Even as I talk to you and
you listen, you are Existence, Consciousness, Bliss Absolute, you are the ever-perfect
Atman, you are Satchidananda, you are a part of God. That is your true consciousness.
Living in this awareness is Divine Life.

Vedic Culture
When Swami Vivekananda returned to India after attending the Parliament of Religions a
journalist asked him: Swamiji, you have seen the Occident, travelled for two years in
different countries of the Western world, and seen their scientific progress, their
technological advancement and all the wonderful progress that they have made. Now
after this experience, after all that you have seen, what is your opinion of India? What do
you think about our country? Drawing himself up to his full height and looking straight
into the eyes of the reporter, his voice trembling with emotion, it is said, Vivekananda
said: My friend, when I left the shores of India for the West, I loved my country, I loved
India. But after my visit, after having seen the society and life there, now I know that the
very soil of this country is fit to be worshipped. My mother country is a country to be
adored, worshipped.
Ponder on this incident which the writer reported in his biography of Swamiji. What was
it that made Swami Vivekananda who was a rationalist, not an emotionalist, make this
statement? He had patriotism in abundance but predominantly and primarily he was a
man with a giant intellect and very great critical faculty. There was a time when he
questioned everything about his religion. There was a period in his youth when he even
turned agnostic, became sceptical of the ancient truths and even doubted the very
authenticity of visions and experiences of the Saint of Dakshineshwar whom later on he
accepted as his Worshipful Master and Guru. He was a person with a forthright nature. If
he felt something, he never concealed it. So, we have to pause and ponder, what was it
that made him express himself so fervently and so strongly. That was his experience of
the difference in the quality of the vision, the view of life and the way of life he saw of
the people practising in the occidental society and the basic idealism that filled the life of
a citizen of Bharatavarsha.
He saw how by our very culture, the entire set up of our life was divinely oriented, our
very approach to life was that it was not an end in itself but the means for the attainment
of certain higher ends and these higher ends were idealistic.
Gurudev Swami Sivananda used to say that India is the only country in the world where
God-realisation is the goal of human life. No other human society lives life in this way.
Our primary purpose in life is to attain transcendental divine experience, to know the
Unknown, to know That which is beyond the reach of the senses, mind and intellect. That
is the supreme goal. Goals there are many, but the highest goal and purpose of human
existence is the realisation of the Absolute. This human life is considered so precious
because it throws open the door for that attainment and spiritual idealism in our life. It is

in this connection that our ancient sages left for us, for generations to come, certain
principles to live by, certain ideals to pursue and emulate; and in this connection this
evening as my joyful sharing and serving with you in the name of beloved and worshipful
Holy Master Guru Maharaj Sri Swami Sivanandaji, I exercise this privilege given to me
at this spiritual gathering, this fellowship here this evening, to put before you certain
important aspects of our culture.
First and foremost they gave for our adoption in our life four values to strive after and as
it is in the peculiar tradition of Sanskrit language they termed them as Purushartha.
Purushartha means exertion. Purushartha is right exertion and the values for which you
must exert they indicated by the same term, exertion, instead of using some other term
implying the goal of such exertion. They have given us the concept of Purusharthic
Chatushtaya, which has come down to us from ancient times. We all know that when we
take birth in this world we have a situation where we find ourselves in link with two
universes. One is the invisible inner universe of the Spirit from which you have come into
a material physical universe, assuming a gross material physical body to function in this
universe. But prior to your advent into your gross physical material universe, you did not
have this material body, you were not part of this phenomenal material universe. You
were in a different state, in a different dimension, subtle, invisible, unmanifest, and
naturally, therefore, you are related to it. Your present state of being conditioned by a
name and a form, this body-bound state, is only for a little while, some years only. There
is no definite guarantee of its duration. It varies from individual to individual and any
moment there can be an abrupt conclusion of this present state and therefore, soon after
this episode once again you will find yourself in that same unmanifest dimension.
Therefore, our relationship to the invisible inner universe of the Spirit seems to be of a
greater importance, more essential and vital than this temporary relationship with this
outer material universe. This comes and goes. This has a beginning and an end. Yet, as
long as we are in this embodied condition, we are related to this universe and to
everything in it. It is a constant continuous involvement with this outer universe. That is
within our knowledge. We are more aware of This than of That.
Our ancients brought home the fact that you are only a passing Pilgrim here, Your
permanent abode is not This but Thatwhence you have come and whither you are
bound and therefore, for the inner life also there are these twin-relationships. The
relationship with this outer universe, whether you wish it or not, is there. It is inevitable.
You have to face it and do whatever it demands. This is divided into two of the values.
One is you have to attend to the stern necessities of our physical lifehunger, thirst, heat,
cold and other inclemencies of the weather. So you have to have, as they say, food,
clothing, shelterRoti, Kapada, Makanand for this you have to exert in order to earn
and provide yourself with the necessities. In this economy-oriented life on earth, money
is necessary. You have to exert and earn money, whatever the ways and means may be. So
exertion to earn money is allowed. This is conceded as an inevitable value and is called
Artha.

At the same time, unlike other creatures, man is not satisfied merely by fulfilling the
needs of his physical nature. You provide the beasts with food, water and a place they can
sleep in and all their life they will be contented to live in that condition. Man has a
psychological dimension to his nature wherein he has desires, ambitions, plans and
schemes. He has a vital personality within which he is a thinking, feeling and reasoning
being. Therefore, the sages conceded this other dimension as of secondary value. We
have desires, because they are part of the psychological nature which longs for many
things, and has many desires in various directions. The ancients said that you must exert
to fulfil them also but then, they said, that your ultimate goal is to once again go back to
the very source of your being from whence you came. They experienced this during the
greatest heights of their transcendental experience that all life streams forth from one
cosmic source of eternal existence. That is the source, that is the root, that is the
fountainhead, the origin of all that Is and what all that Is, is something beyond our
comprehension. Those who realised its magnitude, its infinity, were aghast. They said:
Anantakoti Brahmanda Nayaka. That Being is the Supreme Lord of infinite crores of
universes. This universe is a grain of sand. Our planet earth, our solar system, our lunar
system, our stellar system, the galaxies, all that man knows as space and the celestial
objects that fill our space, is but a grain of sand. There are infinite crores of such
universes in this incomprehensible magnitude of the infinitude of that Reality, and
therefore, the source of all that exists, that is your original abode, that is your home. From
That all beings have come into being and in That only all beings exist. It is the invisible
support of your very existence. If it did not exist, you could not exist. It is That which
supports you and unto That all beings are moving, unto That all beings are going forth.
This transcendental experience is what the sages perceived. They said: You all have
come from That, you exist in That and towards That you are moving. That is your be-all
and end-all.
This process of coming into this earth existence is a journey back home to your eternal
abode. So make your life a conscious effort of this glorious journey back into the Divine.
In that experience, in that attainment, you will be liberated from all limitations and
imperfections that are inevitable to this conditioned, finite, earth-life. Because of its very
nature this world is imperfect and is bounded by life and death and in between these two
inevitable terminals of an entry into this existence and exit, life is chaotic. Life does not
give real contentment because it is finite, it is conditioned and is subject to change.
Therefore, this imperfect life cannot give Santosha (contentment), Tripti (eternal
satisfaction) and Ananda (bliss). You can be liberated from these imperfect experiences
once and for all and get eternal satisfaction. These vexing, binding limitations, these
shackles will not be needed anymore once you attain that experience. Therefore, they call
it liberation; liberation from all that the earth-life means to you now, body-bound
condition of imprisonment.
This is the goal which is to be attained. Life is a means to its attainment. Why not make it
a conscious process because evolution is the law of life, evolution through divine
perfection? That supreme goal, Moksha-prapti (attainment of liberation), therefore, is
ever to be kept in view and you must move towards it. Earning money and satisfying or
fulfilling your desires is a mundane aspect of your psychological nature. If this process

takes on a contrary quality or a contrary characteristic so that the very process of

attending to these two aspects of your life pull you into an opposite direction, then life
itself will become a great obstacle to the attainment of perfection which is your divine
destiny. It will slow down your progress towards that great goal. You must, therefore,
take care that your life here, if it cannot become actually a supplement and a complement,
a supportive process, at least let it not stand as an obstacle to the attainment of your
divine destiny. Let it not become an obstacle, let it not become a hampering factor.
How is one to achieve this? The sages said that the only way of achievement is by
bringing into every detail of your life, into these two mundane aspectsearning of
wealth and the fulfilment of human desiresbringing into this process a quality which
harmonises with the Divinity. God is Truth, let your life be pervaded by Truth. God is
Love, let your life be pervaded by Love. God is Compassion and Grace, let your life be
pervaded by Compassion. God is Purity, let your life and actions be pervaded by Purity.
Thus bring into your life Truth, Purity, Compassion, Love and Goodness, everything that
is auspicious, everything that is blessed, everything that is in harmony with the divine
goal which you are trying to attain by this pattern of living. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness for theirs shall be the Kingdom of God.
Righteousness (Dharma) is your culture, Bharatiya Sanskriti, your great heritage.
Therefore conceive of Dharma as the greatest friend of the Jivatma when he is in this
human world, as a human being. There is no greater wealth than Dharma. Dharma is your
greatest friend. Why? It is that which will guarantee and assure that your secular life will
not stand in the way of the attainment of liberation. That Will assure that the quality of
your outer life, the secular life, will be such that it will become part of your steady
onward progress, part of Your Sadhana for Moksha, part of your Sadhana for Bhagavatsakshatkara (God-realisation). This is a life of Dharma, Compassion, Kindness, Purity,
Truth, Love, Wisdom and Forgiveness. This is all that we expect from God. Allah is all
merciful and ever forgiving.
What is God? He is the sum totality of mans concept of forgiveness, of love, of
compassion and therefore what you expect from God towards your own imperfect
individual being, that you project to fellow beings and all the creatures. That is why the
sages gave us this value as the basic or the fundamental value of mundane life. They said:
Base your entire life upon Dharma and do as you wish. Ply a trade, do a business, be a
farmer, be a doctor, it will not come in your way, provided you do not desert Dharma.
Adhere to Dharma. If all that you do in this secular world to make a living is in
accordance with Dharma, then you have nothing to fear. Svalpamapyasya dharmasya
trayate mahato bhayat.Even a little bit of Dharma will save you from great fear. This
earth-life will not become an obstacle, it will not become a bondage. On the contrary it
will become a support, a supplement to your inner aspirations, your inner ascent towards
this coveted goal of Mokshaprapti or liberation. Dharmo rakshati rakshitahDharma
protects him who protects it.
Be helpful to your brothers and sisters. Desire to serve your own neighbour. Desire to
serve the society, nation, all creatures, even plants and insects. Desire to be serviceful to

all. With this vision the sages gave us the great Sutra that the very body has been given to
us in order to benefit othersParopakarartham idam sariram. What a grand view about
the body and what a great contrast is this view to that which prevails normally in the
unenlightened and uncultured societies! They think that the body is an instrument for
enjoyment.
Our culture raised the great warning: O man, beware. Senses are your enemies. They
were not given to be avenues of enjoyment. They were given as windows of perception,
to see the world into which God has sent you, so that by seeing the world you gain
knowledge about it. We have perverted all these senses, these faculties which God
endowed us with, and converted them merely into avenues of biological pleasurable
sensations and animal excitement.
There is also a note of warning. They said: O man, beware. Species perish even due to
being endowed by just one sense; the fish gets impelled upon the fishermans hook
through its tongue. Because of the sense of touch an elephant is caught and has to work
like a slave for a whole lifetime. Because of the sense of vision insects are attracted
towards fire and are burnt to death. Because of the sense of hearing the deer is ensnared
by the hunter. Because of the sense of smell the bee is caught up in the flower. Just one
sense of these various creatures takes them to their doom. What to say of man who is
endowed with all these five senses? Therefore, be aware of the fact that if these senses are
not properly kept at their place and made to function as they ought to function, they can
become your destroyers. They can take you to your downfall. Therefore, O man, be
aware of this fact and exercise restraint and let your actions be Dharmic, let your actions
not go contrary to Dharma because of this urge towards sense indulgence. These senses
were not given for indulgence. Knowing this, if you determine to walk the path of
Dharma, then your outer life in this universe will not stand in the way of your attaining
the supreme state of liberation.
Of these four-fold values, Dharma is the basic fundamental value. Live your life
according to Dharma and base all your activities upon it. All desires that come in the
course of your fulfilling your duties, provided they are not contrary to Dharma, are
legitimate desires. Fulfill these desires. But if a desire becomes a lower desire and
degenerates into mere sense indulgence a man may lose his humanness and act as an
animal, a devil.
The body was given for doing good to others. What a sublime concept of the human body
which is a temple of God! God is in our heart. This is not true only about yourself but
also about all beings. All beings are visible and moving temples of a living God.
Therefore, have the desire to serve God through all living creatures. Paropakarartham
idam sariram (This body is for the benefit of others) is the great sublime concept that our
sages gave us. Therefore let your life be filled with this ideal of doing good to others. Do
not take this body merely as an avenue for sense satisfaction, gross sense gratification
and sense indulgence. Be a man; assert and affirm the dignity of your status as a human
being. You are not merely a beast, you are a rational faculty. Think and be a selfpossessed being, a self-possessed creature. Manage yourself. Lead a dignified life of

moderation and self-control. Moderation is the keynote of the Gita, too. All of Yoga
ultimately means a discipline to control the mind and conquer the senses.
Buddha once put a question, Who is the greater conqueror? One who takes vast armies
behind him and invades territories and subdues another kingdom and conquers it, or one
who conquers ones own senses, mind and desires? and answered it himself: I declare
to you, O Bhikkus, he is a greater conqueror who has subdued himself, who has
conquered his passions, who has controlled his senses. This is our ideal. From the
beginning of life, right from the student days, be a Samyami, be a self-controlled one,
have self-mastery. Of the first four values which the human individual must strive after
Dharma, Artha, Kama and MokshaArtha and Kama relate to this mundane World,
earning your livelihood and fulfilling your desires. Moksha is the supreme spiritual value
which is the true goal of life. But if it is to be attained in and through our normal life, it is
possible only if our normal life is characterised and pervaded by the ideal of Dharma, that
is, the ideal of truth, purity, kindness, compassion and self-restraint. Thus, Dharma
became the fundamental as well as the foundational value. This is the first force which
your great tradition, your great culture has given to you as your heritage.
Of the four-fold values to strive for, the highest is the spiritual value. The inevitable
values are the economical as well as the vital values such as fulfilment of desire and
earning of money, but they are not to turn you away from the highest value. The
governing factor in all your secular life should be Dharma. While adhering to Dharma, if
you lead your secular life, then Paramartha can be attained through Prapancha. Therefore,
Dharma is the most important value. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha were given,
therefore, as the four-fold Purusharthas for attainment of the supreme purpose of human
existence-Divine experience and liberation through Divine perfection. To achieve this in
a spontaneous and a natural manner there are another set of four values. The sages said
that at the very beginning of your life cultivate all things that are necessary to become
established in Dharma.
The human life is divided into four stages. The first quarter is the Vidyarthi Jivana
(student life). The second is the householders family life, Grihastasrama. The third is the
retired mans life, Vanaprasthashrama and the fourth, the life of total dedication to
Brahma JnanaSannyasasrama. Just as Dharma is the foundational value, the first
Asrama is the foundation stage. If in this very Asrama you equip yourself with all that is
necessary in order to live the three-quarters of your life in an ideal manner, then you have
nothing to fear. Therefore, as a student, acquire all that is necessary to lead an ideal life.
This part of life is conceived of as being lived in an atmosphere most conducive to
attaining self-control, character, virtue, right thinking and right aspirations.
Go away from the foul atmosphere where there are temptations, attractions that excite the
mind and make it chanchal (oscillating). Go into a serene atmosphere and live with a
person who is himself leading that ideal life, a Rishi, a Jnani or a Guru. Go to him and
under his guidance lead a life of self-control. Get up early in the morning, take a cold
bath, do Asanas and exercises that help to control your senses and then lead a life of selfcontrol, moderation, moral character and conduct. Sit at your Gurus feet and learn. He

will teach you all that is necessary to lead your life the ideal way. He will also give you
the secular knowledge of art, craft or profession. Many Vidyas have been enumerated by
our scriptures. He will teach you to ply a profession but at the same time he will also tell
you what is the way of leading a righteous life. He will expound to you the secret of
Dharma and then, at the same time, give you the knowledge of the supreme goal. He will
teach you Vedanta. He will give you the rudiments of spiritual knowledge.
The ancient mode of education was an integrated course of instruction, where the young
man, as he began to grow, got the basic knowledge of Dharma, spiritual knowledge and
secular behaviour. While he was acquiring this three-fold knowledge, he was also training
himself in self-control and moderation, conquest of mind, restraint of senses, desires
Samyama, Sama, Dama, etc. The first 25 years of human life should be dedicated to
acquire good health, perfect character, self-control and all that is necessary to know in
order to live life righteously, to be financially independent via some trade or profession
and at the same time be aware of the goal that one is ultimately going to attain.
Equipped with this knowledge, the Brahmacharithe student entered into the second
stage of life after he had already put a firm and ideal foundation. He was not in danger of
becoming a slave of his senses; he was a self-restrained youth with character and selfcontrol. Thus he entered into the Grihastasrama (householders life), took for himself a
partner in life and was explained why he should enter into the Grihastasrama: because the
family lineage has to be continued for the sake of progeny. He took for himself a partner,
for the sake of fulfilling Dharma, for the sake of practising Sadhana, devotion and
worship. When he entered into the second stage of life, that is, the Grihastasrama, he
knew that he was not merely entering into a physical partnership with another physical
creature, he was not entering into a social partnership with another family; he was
entering into a spiritual partnership with a soul like him that had come into this world of
embodied beings, in order to fulfil its divine destiny, each one working out ones own
Karma Bhoga. So the relationship between a husband and a wife in the second Asrama
was not merely an earthly partnership, not merely physical, or even social, but essentially
a spiritual partnership between two souls who were both on the upper path of spiritual
evolution, ultimately culminating in divine perfection. This is how the view of life
wherein Dampatya Sambandha is sacred was brought home to us.
The wife was called Sahadharmini. While living a life of Dharma, she was to be your
companion. If you see the ancient concept of the wife, she was to man, everything
companion, friend, consoler, helper and partner in this great spiritual adventure of coming
face to face with the great Reality. Such was the ideal and total concept of this
relationship. Therefore, home became for them not only for the living of a normal
worldly existence where the wife was the mother of his children, a hostess to receive his
guests and a housewife looking after all these duties of the household, she also became a
Sahadharmini and a partner in devotion and Upasana.
So the first duty of the householder was Isvara Upasana, Aradhana, and this they enabled
by bringing about this wonderful tradition that prevails in our country of a Kula-devata
(worship of a family deity). For generations each family has a certain family deity and the

home is a place of worship of this deity, and the worship of this deity was the first thing
that the husband and wife did as soon as they got up in the morning.
The second important Dharma of the Grihastasrama was Paropakarato donate to
charity, to help those in needand Atithi Satkara (honouring of the guests). Atithi is not
an invited guest, mind you. He is a chance visitor who happens to be at your door at the
time of your food. Atithya was one of the great Dharmas of the householder and his wife.
The third aspect of Grihastha Dharma was to evolve between themselves reciprocally a
certain ideal behaviour of mutual love, honouring each others individual freedom. This
ideal relationship brought about in the house an atmosphere of harmony and cordiality.
This third important duty also became a pattern of conduct for the children when they
came into their family. The family, thus, became an ideal ground for nurturing a new
generation. They find that between their parents exists a beautiful relationship of
harmony, love, mutual respect and tolerance, which creates an ideal atmosphere for their
growth. Through their personal relationship the parents place before the children an
exemplary way of conducting themselves which becomes the first educational process of
the children.
What moulds the character of the growing infant is the example placed by the mother and
father to which they are exposed all the time. These examples become the atmosphere of
the home, depending entirely upon the way in which the husband and wife behave with
each other. This becomes the first educative process of the child. Home is, therefore, the
nursery of the nation, nursery of the world. Providing an ideal setting and an ideal
atmosphere for the generation of tomorrow becomes the third important duty of the
married couple. Isvaropasana is the first duty, Paropakara and Samaja Seva is the second
duty and providing an ideal environment for the coming generation through their own
personal example is the third duty.
Now, we move on to the third Asrama. Having fulfilled the duties of rearing children,
making them adults capable of standing on their own feet, Grihastasrama is not to
continue till the end of ones life. Up-till now you were entirely preoccupied with your
family and your profession, providing for your parents, wife, children and other
dependents. To a certain extent, it was a self-centred life, though within the scope of that
self-centredness, the Grihastha, that is, the mother and father practised selflessness for the
sake of the children. They sacrificed their personal comforts and conveniences for their
children, their family and their parents. There was, within this apparently self-centred
living, an exercise of unselfishness of a certain kind. When that phase is over one must
give way to the new generation. There is a significant saying: When the son attains the
age of 16, the father must treat him as a friend. The psychological advice given to the
father is to gradually give the children responsibility, let them be self-reliant.
The husband and wife now move into a third dimension of social living where they retire.
Having retired, they have little more leisure on their hands and at the same time the 25 to
30 years of professional living has given them vast experience and expertise in their line
of work that now has to be placed at the disposal of the society. This third stage of life is

the most valuable asset to the Indian society because during this period the Grihasthas
become altruists and philanthropists. They are now the real selfless servants of the
society. These middle-aged people still have good health, they have more time, they have
experience and expertise which they must selflessly place at the disposal of the young
generation as well as the society. They have earned, they have saved by careful living, so
they are now servants of the society. This stage of life ought to be the most important
stage. While keeping their knowledge and experience at the disposal of the society, they
should, at the same time, give more emphasis to their inner life, go on a pilgrimage, go to
Ashrams, do Satsang, read the scriptures and become more contemplative. Both husband
and wife should, together, enter more into the inner life, study, meditation, prayer,
Satsang, pilgrimage and at the same time place themselves at the disposal of the society.
We must realise that a time comes when we have to say good-bye. We have to prepare
for that last journey. We arrive at, to humorously put it, at the railway platform of our life
when the train will come and we must cheerfully say good-bye.
At this time the sages conceived of the fourth Asrama where the only duty is to gather
together his mind and place it upon Brahman, on the Supreme Being. That is the fourthquarter of life, the sun-set period of ones life when all your relationships and connections
are now coming to a close, to an end. Till that time your entire Lakshya, your entire mind,
should be fixed upon the Eternal, no more on the passing world. You have fulfilled all
your duties and now you have to depart. The river is reaching the ocean and a time will
come when it has to merge into the ocean.
Thus was conceived the four-fold Asrama DharmaBrahmacharya Ashrama (student
life), Grihastasrama (professional life), Vanaprasthasrama (selfless service and turning
into the spiritual aspect ) and ultimately the Sannyasasrama (total dedication to
Brahman),
Now, you may say that times have changed, and that I am talking about some very old,
ancient times. Yes, times have changed and we cannot duplicate these things as they were
once upon a time. But my plea is that there is a great need to keep the spirit of this
Asrama Dharma alive. Keep the spirit intact, live this ideal but bring about a little
adjustment and modification in the time period. So far as the Brahmacharya Asrama is
concerned, by and large it has not changed. If you want to become a technically qualified
person, an engineer or a doctor, by the time you finish your studies, you are 25 years old,
anyhow. But in the other Ashramas you may bring about a necessary modification. But do
not discard the Asrama Dharma as something that has no relevance to our time. It has as
much relevance and as much significance today as it had then because it is connected
with human life. The spirit of these four Asramas must be kept intact.
The third set of fours which have been given to us to follow are the four spiritual
qualifications that we must acquire in order to enter into a pursuit of that Supreme
existence and realisation. It is called the Sadhana Chatushtaya1. Viveka
(discrimination), 2. Vairagya (dispassion), 3. Shat-sampat (the six-fold virtues), viz.,
Sama (tranquillity), Dama (restraint), Uparati (satiety or renunciation), Titiksha

(endurance), Sraddha (faith) and Samadhana (concentration), and 4. Mumukshutva

(strong yearning for liberation).
What is it that makes us superior to animals? The ability to think and reason. We exercise
intelligence for our own earthly living. We try to be clever and succeed in our normal life;
but that is not enough. Intelligence has been given for higher things also. Therefore
exercise Vivekawhat is conducive to my highest welfare? There is a great necessity to
exercise Viveka. Dharma-adharma Viveka (discrimination between righteousness and
unrighteousness), Nitya-anitya Viveka (discrimination between permanent and
temporary), Sad-asad Viveka (discrimination between truth and untruth), Atma-anatma
Viveka (discrimination between the Self and the non-Self) should be exercised.
The second qualification that you must develop is a disgust of, and a turning away from,
all that is ignoble, gross and unworthy by developing a great love for that which is
worthy and noble. This is called dispassion or Vairagya. Raga means attachment and
Asakti. To have attachment towards things that are unworthy and ignoble, gross and low,
is not becoming of our human status. Centre your attachment upon God, centre it upon
noble idealism, upon worthy pursuits. Have dispassion for all that is petty, unworthy and
ignoble.
After Viveka and Vairagya, the third of this set of four is a peculiar combination, a set of
six virtues. The six equipments are taken as one because they are calculated to bring
about mental control and discipline. Concentration and meditation can never be possible
without mental control and mental discipline. First virtue is equanimity of mind. If you
are filled with too much of cravings and desires, every moment your mind is in a state of
agitation and excitement as you live among attractive things of this illusory world.
Knowing that your goal is elsewhere I must live not only to fulfil these petty desires but
also for the attainment of some higher ideal, higher goalyou reduce your desires, keep
them under check; then the mind attains a certain state of equanimity. It does not become
prey to excitement and agitation. Serenity is the topmost virtue in the group of Shatsampat.
Then restraint of the senses (Dama). The mind will come under control very easily if
Dama also is practised. By the practice of Dama you do not allow either the senses or the
mind to come in contact with the objects. In the practice of Sama and Dama the five
Jnana-Indriyas (organs of knowledge), viz., ears, skin, eyes, tongue (taste) and nose
(smell) are controlled, besides the five Karma-Indriyas (organs of action), viz., speech,
hands, feet, genitals and anus. The Indriyas should not be allowed to run riot into sensual
grooves. They should not be allowed to throw us ruthlessly into the deep pit of
worldliness just as the turbulent horse carries away the rider wherever it likes.
Now we come to the practice of Uparati. Uparati is self-withdrawal. Uparati is extreme
abstinence. The mind of the student who is established in Uparati will never be agitated
even a bit when he comes in contact with external objects. This state of mind
automatically comes when one has practised Viveka, Vairagya, Sama and Dama. When
one perceives the worthlessness of all lower things and is convinced in the true worth of a

higher thing, then one turns away from the former and gets absorbed in the latter. This
state of mind is verily Uparati.
Titiksha is the power of endurance. A Titikshu is able to bear pain, insult, heat and cold.
He does not lament on this score. He is free from anxiety. He who has the power of
endurance, who is balanced in pleasure and pain, steadfast, is fit for immortality (Gita
II-15). Adjust yourself to the temperaments and mentalities of others with whom you
mix. This is the secret of happiness. Do not be afraid of insult, disrespect, dishonour,
abuse or harsh words. This is real Titiksha.
Sraddha is unshakable faith in the existence of Brahman, in the teachings of the Guru and
the scriptures. It also means faith in oneself. This is not blind faith. It is based on accurate
reasoning, evidence and experience. Men with no assets but tremendous faith in
themselves have accomplished wonders. Know that everything is lost when faith is lost.
Faith is power. Faith is strength. Faith is abundant energy. Faith is the soul of religion. It
creates new hopes and awakens immortality.
The last of the six-fold virtues is Samadhana. It is mental balance. It is equipoise and
calm. There is perfect concentration now. This is the fruit of the practices of Sama, Dama,
Uparati, Titiksha and Sraddha. It is self-settledness.
Lastly we come to the fourth of the main qualifications, Mumukshutva or burning desire
for liberation. If one is equipped with Viveka, Vairagya and Shat-sampat, Mumukshutva
will come by itself. The mind moves towards the Source of its own accord, because it has
lost its hold now on external objects.
This brief message is of interest, to all of us because it holds the key to our happiness and
it is based upon experience. In different individuals experiences can differ of the same
thing, same situation, same perception, same event, but the ultimate experience of anyone
and everyone of any time or any clime is uniform. It tallies. It does not differ either from
person to person, or place to place. or time to time because the cosmic experience, the
ultimate experience is identical for all, the simple reason being that the Reality is one. It
is indivisible, it is non-dual. Therefore the ultimate experience of all illumined seers,
sages has always been one and this Truth about which I am going to tell you is based
upon this ultimate experience which is Absolute. It does not depend upon any other factor
and it is invariable. It is based upon the experience of not one but many, through
millennium down centuries and generations so that it has been authenticated and proven
again and again. It is another important point which you cannot afford to ignore, that this
ultimate experience is an experience of pure, unalloyed, perfect and supreme happiness
and peace.
Now I might have said it is pure unalloyed happiness, or I might have said it is pure and
perfect peace, peace that understanding. Why should I have said, instead, happiness and
peace? I have said so because these two, i.e., peace and happiness, are inseparable. Peace
is invariably accompanied by unutterable happiness and happiness is always absent
where peace is absent. So where there is peace there is happiness. The great musician-

saint Tyagaraja says in Telugu: Santamu leka saukhyamu leduwithout peace there
is no happiness. Those who want happiness must try to learn the technique of attaining
peace. Simultaneously they will also have to find out what are the causes of its opposites,
restlessness, agitation, excitement. These three contribute to the absence of peace. Those
who want to have a perfect and radiant state of health and experience the joy of living,
strength, perfect digestion, good sleep, good appetite, also have to learn the causes of illhealth so that they can avoid it. This is a dual process of avoiding that which is negative
and cultivating that which is positive.
This is a vast subject in itself but we can condense it into a nutshell. If you want
happiness, you must know how to generate peace from within and it is only when more
and more individuals in society generate peace in their own heart, they are at peace with
themselves, peace with people around them; such people alone will gradually spread the
vibrations of peace, which may gradually widen in its area and bring about peace in wider
fields and areas of human living. Ultimately, it can even lead to national and international
peace. First and foremost the individual must be at peace with himself, otherwise the
collection of restless individuals will bring about more restlessness.
If you go into a monastery where 40-50 monks dwell, all under vow of perpetual silence,
each moving about serenely doing his own duty, performing prayer and his allotted work,
what will your initial reaction be? The moment you go there you will become thrilled
with a sense of peace. The monastery is a great contrast from the outside world, from the
hectic world that you are coming from. Instantaneously you are at peace. Why? Because
the whole atmosphere is saturated and permeated with the vibrations of peace, because it
is a place where a set of people are living in absolute peace. There is no discord, no
disharmony, no clash or conflict. All are at peace with themselves, all are at peace among
themselves and the moment you go there you too partake of that peace which has been
generated, which is vibrating in that atmosphere.
On the other hand if you go into a factory or a Stock Exchange where there is a lot of
tension, there is a certain restlessness. There is no peace. In a University Campus there is
no peace because of confrontations and oppositions and conflicts and clashes.
What is the way to establish peace within oneself? What is the way to try to move in the
world with peace? Meditate upon peace. Daily we must meditate upon the concept of
peace and a great desirability of peace, the countless advantages accruing from
cultivating peace, living in peace, being at peace, how much good comes out of it, how
much benefit results out of it, what a great deal of good accrues from peace. You must
also meditate upon all the disadvantages of restlessness, excitement and agitation. You
must contemplate on some ideal personality, the embodiment of peace, some serene
being, who is a personification of absolute peace, like the great Buddha or Jesus of
Nazareth, or any other great being who is full of peace, who had such abundance of peace
that anyone who approached him immediately felt the great peace, The great sage
Ramana Maharshi of Ramanashram, Tiruvannamalai, Arunachala and our own Holy
Master Swami Sivananda. He was peace within himself, peace with the whole world. He
radiated peace. The moment you drew near to him, all your agitations vanished, all the

turmoils simmering in your mind subsided and you felt peace, like a person coming in
from the hot summer sun into an air-conditioned, cool, silent room of peace.
Meditate upon the peaceful figure and then meditate upon yourself as already having
attained that state of absolute peace. Already visualise your self-image as being filled
with peace, already having attained the state of absolute peace. So meditation on peace is
one of the important keys to gradually developing peace within yourself, growing into a
state of peace because what you constantly hold in your mind, that you gradually begin to
experience. What you constantly think of, that you become. That is the great law of the
inner realm, the realm of the mind, of thought, sentiment and emotion. This is one
important key to peace.
Secondly, simplicity of life leads to peace. The more desires you develop the more
restless is the mind. Desires are enemies of peace, specially miscellaneous unnecessary
desires. Certain basic desires no one can avoid. They are necessary for the very living of
our life, for surviving and existing. Try to keep your desires minimal. The more you
multiply the desires and wants, the more you create restlessness in your mind and where
there is restlessness there is no peace, there is no happiness. Desire is the enemy of peace.
If the desire is countered, it leads to anger, anger leads to attachment and hatred.
Forgiving and forgetting is another way to peace. Ignore insult and injury, dont take it
upon yourselves, dont start brooding over them. Never hold a grudge in your mind.
Dont constantly think of returning tit for tat, paying back in the same coin. You will lose
your peace of mind. Let go, let go. The more your egoism, the greater the restlessness of
your mind. The simpler your heart, the greater your peace. The more you want
recognition, status, power, authority, the more you are restless. If you want to attain
peace, simplify your life, reduce your wants and minimise your desires. Do not keep
grudges, forgive and forget, do not seek recognition. You will have peace.
Thirdly, there is a great cosmic source of infinite immeasurable peace. To break away
from it, to separate yourself from it, is to enter into a state of restlessness and agitation. If
you inwardly try to connect yourself with it, with that great source, gradually peace will
come into your own being. Link up with that supreme peace and blessedness which we
call God. Call it God, call it anything. It is the ultimate Reality. It is perfect peace, it is
absolute peace, it is unalloyed peace, boundless and limitless, infinite and unfathomable,
immeasurable, eternal peace. Link yourself with that and then gradually peace will come
unto you and simultaneously you will attain bliss.
Forget the past. Dont brood over it. Dont plan too much for the future. Try to move
through the present serenely, unaffectedly. Then you will experience the peace that is ever
present; not for one split second is it absent. Peace is always there. We superimpose upon
it our own restlessness. There is no lack of peace in this universe. Peace floods this
universe in abundance, everywhere, at all times. It is we who superimpose our
restlessness upon that ever present perfect peace. If you can, harmonise with that peace.
Be one with it. If possible generate peace and add to it.

While we are trying to be at peace with ourselves and invoke peace from within by the
methods that have been suggested, we may counter a different problem. We may be at
peace with ourselves, but when we move among other people we come into contact with
people who are not at peace and their restlessness sometimes is infectious. This infection
is transferred to us. In the presence of any angry man you also become excited. In the
presence of a serene man your anger subsides. So it is infectious. When we constantly
move amidst people who are always in a state of agitation, restlessness, fighting,
quarrelling, excited and irritable, it becomes very difficult to keep our peace. So how can
you deal with this? I will tell you one or two wise little hints which Masters of Wisdom
have given us. No matter how dark the night around you, if you have a little lamp, you
can find your way. You can reach your destination. So be a light unto yourself. Carry your
own Peace. Abide in it. The darkness around you cannot bother you. If you are firmly
established, you will be able to pass through this universe, full of restlessness, yet,
manage to maintain your peace.
Every day on your way to work you have to pass through a very unsavoury locality which
is always stinking with rotten garbage. It is revolting, but what can you do? You cannot
purchase tons of eau-de-cologne and other scents and try to sprinkle it over all the
garbage. But you can have some nice scent on the tip of your handkerchief and the lapel
of your dress and keep it near your nose when you pass through that area and thus you
would have conquered the situation. You have to walk across a jungle, full of sharp flinty
stones and thorny bushes. What do you do? You make for yourself a pair of very
serviceable strong leather shoes and you can cover miles and miles of forest, no matter
how flinty the rocks and how sharp the thorns. So far as you are concerned they are as
good as not being there. So, we cannot change the world, we cannot alter the nature of all
people. May be, within your own home, your place of work and in the bus in which you
commute, there are all sorts of people. You cannot carry a magic wand and try to change
them. There is a limit to your ability to change people and things around you. But you are
a master of yourself. You can bring about a change in yourself.
A great, wise master once said: Towards those who are lesser than you, inferior to you,
in any way, may be in age, education, culture, in wealth, status, authority, talent, or may
be in natural endowment, have an attitude of kindness. Do not be annoyed and upset with
them. Be kind and compassionate towards those who are lesser than you. Feel a sense of
friendliness towards your equals and rejoice in their success and good fortune. Replace
jealousy, envy and a sense of competition with genuine friendliness of the heart. One
always tends to become agitated, jittery and nervous in the presence of superiorsthose
who are superior in any way, in status, strength, power, wealth, or learningand loses
ones peace of mind. Towards such people, consciously cultivate an attitude of serenity.
Always be serene and unruffled. You will go through this agitated world, enjoying your
peace, and when you are at peace, you will have happiness also.
This is with regard to the outer world of people. What about this outer world of things,
happenings and events? Sometimes we have certain desires that are fulfilled and
sometimes they are not fulfilled. If fulfilment gives you elation and disappointment gives
you depression, it is no good. You will always be at the mercy of these events. So be

contented under all circumstances. Be cheerful, no matter what happens. Rejoice if

something turns up just as you want it, feel happy if something turns up to the contrary,
feel happy even if something turns up in a third way; rejoice in the Lords Will and feel
happy. It is His world. It is His dispensation. If it is shining, are you not glad? If it is
raining, are you not glad? This philosophy of life where you accept everything as
ultimately for the good will bring you peace.
Always rejoice in everything and at all times, because there is a valid reason why a thing
is what it is and why it is not what it is not. Nothing happens without a reason. The All
Wise being is working out a plan according to His own dispensation. You may not be able
to see the reason immediately but you will realise it later on. Everything turns out for the
good. Therefore, you should take all events with this attitude of acceptance and rejoicing,
knowing that the wisdom of God is behind it. There must be some reason, therefore
accept everything; you stand to gain in every way if you keep contented and cheerful and
by the same law you stand to lose if you allow yourself to become elated and depressed
by everything. Therefore, in your own interest, come what may, rejoice, be serene, be
happy and do not allow anything to touch and spoil your inner happiness.
Develop this philosophy of life, this outlook, and your peace will be maintained, and
where there is peace there is happiness. Rejoice in the happiness of others. Trust in God
and be serene. Above all things, do not allow anything to affect your inner peace. Then
only are you wise. Then only do you have the key to happiness, and who does not want
happiness? The key to happiness is peace, and that key to peace I have tried to put before
you, in some way. By no means have I covered the whole subject, but even these little
things if you put into practice, I promise that you will begin to have greater peace
progressively in spite of the restlessness around you and through peace you will also find
happiness. Peace and happiness go together. You cannot separate them. Wisdom lies in
evolving peace within ourselves and finding it in our dealings with the world. Happiness
will follow as a matter of course.

Introduction to the Gita

I do not wish you to merely listen to my sharing as so many human individuals, but to
listen, receive and absorb as souls upon your onward march for the attainment of your
divine destiny which is nothing short of God awareness, nothing short of Self-realisation
and nothing short of an inner illumination. As souls on this upward ascending path of
spiritual evolution unto divine perfection, I would like you to listen, receive, absorb and
assimilate with that higher consciousness. It is from this ground that I try to do my
sharing, not as a human individual talking to a group of individuals, not merely as a
Swami discoursing to some aspirants or students but as a humble channel of the eternal
call of the Infinite, to all the individual rays that have emanated out of that but have
apparently gone out from the centre for some time and which will one day go back.
Therefore, there is a constant call of the Eternal, of the Infinite, of the Universal to the
individual to come back home and to claim the heritage which is his birthright.

Why do you wander in this wilderness of phenomenal existence? Why do you wander far
away from your home which is the abode of your eternal sunshine, immeasurable peace
and infinite bliss? Why do you wander, groping and stumbling, weeping and wailing,
thinking yourself to be the creator of birth and death, of joy and sorrow? All this is
avoidable and unnecessary. You need not prolong your bondage. If you arise and awake
and become aware of what you are, what you are meant to attain, then you will know that
life is not meant to be something merely mundane, but an ascent on the scaling of a
pinnacle and a flight unto the Infinite. It is with this awareness that you should approach
life and live it unto illumination, unto liberation, unto perfection, unto wholeness, unto
the fullest measure of Self-realisation and awareness.
In this world where individual souls take their incarnations as part of this human family,
numerous sections of this human family have made their residence in different parts of
the world. They have evolved different ways of living, different ways of conducting
themselves, different ways of behaving, relating with others and different ways of
communicating, with their own language, customs, manners, traditions and sense of
values. We are all human beings and everyone of us says I. Everyone feels I exist, I
am and yet each ones concept of that I am and each ones expression of that I am is
so totally different from the other that to interpret it and come to some understanding of it
seems to be a never ending task.
This is so because there are many diversions and so much of variety and difference in the
way each of us understands life, approaches and lives it. This is also because of the
difference in their language, their culture, their sense of values, the principles by which
they live, their understanding, eating, their social customs and traditions. Some people
bury their dead, some burn them. Some expose them to vultures and others keep them as
they are, embalm them and entomb them. Some people rub noses when they meet, some
people shake their hands and some people fold their hands. Why they are so different, we
do not know.
In all these different trends of living, eating, dressing and thinking, there is one factor
which is the most fascinating of all. That factor is their heritage of wisdom that they have
received in the form of knowledge from their ancestors. Their forefathers evolved the
knowledge of what they saw in this universe, how they understood this universe,
knowledge of man, what they knew about themselves, what they thought about
themselves and knowledge of the cosmic source out of which man and this universe has
emerged. What is the beginning of this universe which we see, in which we live? What is
the origin of people who live in this universe? What were their findings? What were their
discoveries? What research did they conduct and at what conclusions did they arrive?
These are the fascinating lines of enquiry and search. These are the fascinating areas of
human study and each race, each civilisation, each culture held within itself this inner
core of knowledge that had been inherited from the past, that was handed down from
generation to generation and that was further added on to be enriched, expanded and
made more progressive. So it is a living stream of knowledge. It is not merely dead facts,
but a living stream of knowledge, wisdom, in depth understanding of man, universe, life

of man in this universe and the ultimate background, the source from which both these
come into being.
It is this heritage of wisdom that forms one of the most crucial and important factors that
ultimately decided how these people lived their lives, how they conducted themselves,
what goals they set for themselves and what was the quality of their life. It is this heritage
of wisdom that gave them certain ideals, that put before them certain principles to live up
to, or live by, keeping in their view the ultimate welfare of the people to whom this
wisdom was given.
This knowledge became the governing principle, the guiding factor in each section of
mankind without which life would become chaotic, lacking a sense of striving, a sense of
achievement, and a sense of proper direction. Therein lies the importance of this
particular aspect in the inheritance of mankind in the different parts of the world and
among different sections of humanity. From ancient times this knowledge was thus
evolved and placed before each generation for their guidance and benefit. This gradually
became embodied as the main scriptures of each section of mankind, their law books
not this legalistic law of the present times, but the ancient law of human conduct which
gave certain norms of behaviour and laid down certain rules of living.
The Tora and the Talmud in the Judaic tradition and the work of many thinkers or
moralists or theologians in the Christian tradition, Confucius of the Chinese tradition, the
Dharma Sastras in the Hindu tradition which are known as SmritisManu Smriti,
Yajnavalkya Smriti, Parasara Smriti, Viduraneetiexpounded the correct way of living.
We have the Zend Avesta and the other Gathas of the Zoroastrians; the Buddhistic and
Jain traditions have their philosophical works as well as their other scriptures that lay
down the law of human life and conduct, the Dharma Granthas. It is these that ultimately
make the human race what it is. People do not live so much by instinct but by certain
values, certain ideas, thanks to these scriptures that gradually evolved and came into
being over the millennium as a result of our ancestors deep thought, and higher
realisations.
And then added on to this, a richer factor which enriched this wisdom heritage, for,
ultimately, it also reached and attained a higher dimension of human life and quest in that
it tried to unravel the mystery of man in this universe and discover what is beyond this
universe. Beyond it, both in time and space, what was there before the universe was
created, what was there even beyond this time, this universal time, the present time, when
there was nothing and nothing had come into being, what was there, in that timeless
state? What is there beyond all the farthest reach of space, in all things, in all
manifestation? If somewhere someone were to go beyond, what would he come face to
face with? This is the way people thought. People tried to probe the Reality beyond time
and space. They did meditation and then rose into a state of transcendental experience
from where they went beyond the range of senses, beyond the range of thought, beyond
the range of even intelligence and rose into a supernal state of direct spiritual illumined
perception.

This experience also became part of the wisdom heritage that was handed down from the
ancient past. Not only knowledge, not only wisdom, but the highest experience which
went beyond knowledge and even beyond wisdom. The highest experience gained
through a faculty which was not part of the human personality or human potential, which
is bound in time and space, name and form, which was experience gained through a
spiritual principle within you which is neither physical nor psychological, which is
neither body nor mind nor intellect. A principle within you which is eternal, purely
spiritual, of the nature of consciousness, awareness, in that luminous level of your being
where you know yourself as pure, unqualified, that awareness when directed towards a
higher, still higher level, that awareness comes into the awareness of something that is
even beyond it where this individual awareness gives place to an untrammelled,
boundless, universal awareness.
This experience also became part of the wisdom heritage and it is this wisdom heritage
which the scriptures contain. This heritage gives a greater meaning to all that human
society has evolved from ancient times to the present day in different parts of the world
and different sections of mankind. Otherwise, whatever might have been evolved,
whatever might have been handed down as different methods of eating, drinking and
dressing and talking and carrying on human affairs, human relationships, ultimately
would have no meaning or validity because one day it all has to end in death and
dissolution and destruction, no matter how you live, what you do, what you drink, what
you eat, how you dress yourself. Everything ends in death and dissolution. It comes to
nothing. Then, what does it matter whether you dressed yourself this way or that way or a
third way? It all seems so meaningless.
The higher experience shows to you the presence in man of a dimension that is not
perishable, that is not destructible, that does not end and there is no extinction of it,
something eternal, something imperishable, something indestructible, something forever.
Had it not been for this discovery, all these things would ultimately look worthless,
valueless, in the ultimate analysis. But, there comes to our rescue this great discovery that
there is, in each man, something that is eternal, permanent. It is this aspect of the wisdom
heritage, the metaphysical aspect, the spiritual aspect, that is, therefore, the most precious
and the most valuable of the entire range of human inheritance from the ancient past.
Whatever man can do, assumes a meaning, has a value, precisely because of the presence
of this factor in it, the highest transcendental experience, the reality of man.
In the Indian Hindu tradition, this supreme experience is expounded through Vedanta.
Our wisdom heritage is the Vedic wisdom and in the Vedic wisdom the highest point is
the spiritual experience attained by the Vedic seers and the sages, and that occupies the
later portion of the Vedas. They are also to be found in the Upanishads and this aspiring
exposition of your higher nature, your inner reality is the main theme of the Upanishads
and the Vedanta. This is the greatest treasure of all, the entire inheritance. So that this
great discovery, the inspiring truth may be easily accessible to human beings who are
heirs to eternal blessedness, so that this important treasure may be easily accessible, the
quintessence of the Upanishadic wisdom, the spiritual experience embodied in the
Upanishads has been given to us in a compact form, in the form of a conversation

between the great World Teacher and a human student, in the form of a dialogue, in the
form of questions and answers. This compact scripture which thus gives the essence of
the Upanishadic message and the revelation is the Bhagavad Gita.
The Bhagavad Gita is an epitome of the Indian philosophy, the cultural and spiritual
experience and brings to us the highest transcendental wisdom of the Absolute, the
Supreme. It brings to us the practical methods of ultimately rising to a state of wisdom,
transcending the limitations. It also brings us wise admonitions about the way we have to
conduct ourselves in life. Therefore, it is called the Upanishad. Upanishad is something
that brings you close to Reality. What is it which brings you close to Reality? A life of
righteousness, Dharma, and so it also contains an exposition of Dharma. How does one
eradicate negative qualities? How does one cultivate virtuous qualities, divine qualities?
In what way does one bring about a gradual transformation of life and conduct from the
impurity of Tamas into the luminous purity of Sattva?
This is the key to righteousness, to the life of Sattva, the life of virtue and of divine
qualities and therefore, within the covers of this little book you will find wisdom of the
Absolute being expounded. You will find practical methods being suggested and the
practice for its realisation being outlined and explained. Also being elaborated is the path
of righteousness that brings human beings close to God, that path of righteousness, purity
of conduct and self-control. All this has been delineated in a very simple and direct
manner.
The Bhagavad Gita is the essence of the wisdom heritage inherited by this nation, and the
Hindu people of this nation from their past, from the radiant wisdom-filled past inherited
by them which contains within itself different aspects of human life, a culture, conduct,
morality, ethics and the higher experience that they are capable of attaining if they fulfil
the conditions. The spiritual illumination, the spiritual experience and the spiritual and
psychical practices and methods to attain that experience and the moral and ethical life,
the moral and ethical way of conducting yourself, behaviour and conduct which is the
basis of these practices and the ultimate attainmentall find a place in this epitome of
Indian Hindu spiritual wisdom.
As I told you, every culture has this wisdom heritage. It is embodied in the scriptures and
they have also certain portions of the scriptures which are given great importance and
Gita stands unique within the context of the Indian Hindu heritage as a compact little
volume which contains the quintessence of the entire heritage that has been inherited by
the Hindu race, that is dwelling upon the sub-continent of India, this land of religion and
realisation. This little book, Gita, also occupies a unique place in the context of global
human life and in the context of the universal wisdom heritage that mankind, as a family,
has received from the past.
It is a scripture par excellence for the Hindus, but at the same time it is an important part
of the common heritage of mankind, of all human beings, because it tells you about man,
tells you about the universe. It does not tell you about any section of the human family
but it tells you about the entire human family, about man in this phenomenal universe,

about the goal of mans life and as such it is the answer to the quest of mankind for some
light upon the path of life. It has universal elements in it because it was given by God to
man and therefore, a study of it would be found gainful for persons of any cultural and
religious background. There are elements in it that are found useful for everyone, no
matter what religion or faith or belief one is following. It is a book that holds something
valuable for all levels of your life; your outer life, your social life, your personal life,
your moral life, your ethical life and your higher spiritual life which you share with all
human beings. Ultimately, the spiritual goal of all humanity is the same attainment of
God-consciousness, attainment of spiritual unfoldment, attainment of total Divine
perfection.

Thoughts From The Bhagavad Gita

In the Bhagavad Gita the Lord says, My devotee who engages in doing good to others
will never come to any harm, (Na hi kalyanakrit kaschit durgatim tata gachhati). One
who engages in doing good, one who harms no one, such a one will never come to harm.
This is the Lords assurance. It is His law. What you gave that comes to you. If you
engage in doing good, never shall any harm come to you. We see people who engage in
doing good, have a lot of misfortune, lot of troubles, lot of sufferings. That is also a law.
Because the good you are engaged in now, will secure you from all harm in the time to
come, in the days ahead. It guarantees you a glorious future. But if you have contradicted
this great law in the past, the law demands the settlement of your accounts. If debts are
accumulated, you have to pay them.
If someone is suffering even while doing good to others, it means that he is getting rid of
old debt. They are so much liberating themselves from their burden. In this light it has to
be understood that it has no reference to the good that the person is doing at present, but
it may have some reference to a little negative past which is being cleared and finished.
So one must welcome even hardships.
One should not get confused and think, Lord promised good and here a contrary thing is
happening. Beneath the surface there is no contradiction. If you look only upon the
surface you see the apparent contradiction. Sometimes even in the ordinary field of
Vyavahara, if you have taken something poisonous the physician gives you something so
that the poison may come out. Even so, bad Karmas should be got rid of. They are the
impediments to the attainment of peace, bliss and perfection. But even in the course of
getting rid of these impediments, little sorrows may have to be suffered. What is this little
suffering? This is nothing when compared to the sufferings of the devotees of bygone
years. See what suffering the great Mirabai, the princess of Chitorgarh, had to undergo.
See how much suffering Prahlada had to undergo. But did they lose faith? Did they waver
even one hairs breadth in their absolute trust in the Divine? They knew that the Lords
assurances will never go wrong.

Again the Lord says in the Gita, Kaunteya pratijaneehi na me bhaktah pranasyatiO
Arjuna, know this well that My devotee never perishes. He will never come to harm.
Why? Because I have given this assurance that I am always at his back.
Pin-pricks and little bit of unpleasant experiences may be there. They fare part and parcel
of this Dvandva Jagat, the world of duality. The world is made up of pairs of opposites,
Dvandvas. So if one wants one particular thing he gets the other kind also a little bit
together with it. Therefore one philosopher shrewdly said, What is the cause of pain?
Pleasure is the cause of pain. It is true. Because pleasure is always accompanied by pain.
So the devotee does not care. Because he knows the Lords firm assurance that even
though he may have some passing set-backs and failures, ultimately he will not come to
harm. God is at the devotees back. He is the devotees armour and shield. So nothing can
happen to him. So have trust in the Lord and launch your craft into the ocean of Samsara.
Never mind the little waves and winds. Go on. Sail to the far off shore. Because that is
why we have come here. It is the direct injunction of the Purna Parabrahmavatara of Lord
Krishna Anityam asukham lokam imam prapya bhajasva mamhaving come into this
temporary world of transitory things, which is full of pain and suffering, do always
contemplate Me, always worship Me, always be rooted in Me. Then you will cross this
ocean of transmigratory existence and attain great blessedness. Having said this, the
Lord gives all facilities.
Once you know the purpose behind the Vibhuti Yoga, once you know its true implication,
then your whole life will be transformed, your whole vision gets transformed. Even one
little aspect of His Vibhuti if you take, your life will never be the same. It will be
permeated by spirituality. For example, the Lord says, Of the heavenly bodies I am the
sun. We have to live and work in the sun from morning to evening. So when sunlight is
showering from a clear blue sky, if you remember the Vibhuti Yoga, you will find that
Lord Krishna Himself is showering upon you. Narayana Himself is showering upon you.
It is not without reason, it is said, that the sun is Suryanarayana Bhagavan. Narayana is
the presiding deity of the sun in our solar system which is the great source of life, light
and energy. Therefore, we have the Suryanamaskara: Om Bhanave Namah, Om Mitraya
Namah, Om Ravaye Namah, etc. They say, Meditate upon that glorious Narayana in that
orb of the sun, seated in lotus pose, divinely apparelled, full of beautiful ornaments and
holding Sankha, Chakra, Gada and Padma. Like molten gold He shines. You may think,
All right, during the daytime we try to remember the Lord under the grace of the rays of
the sun. But what about night? The Lord says, In the night I am the moon among the
starry multitudes. Thus the Lord goes on describing His Vibhutis. He says, Among the
collections of waters I am the ocean; among the immobile objects I am the Himalayas
etc., etc. He not only identifies Himself with all nice things in the world, but He also
says, Among those who gamble I am the cunningness. The pickpocket, the man who
enters the house stealthily and carries away your radio and television, he is also identified
by the Lord Himself.
In the great hymn of the Yajurveda called Rudri which runs as Taskaranam pataye
namahprostrations to the chief of thieves, the Lord is the chief of even thieves. Thus
the Lord is present in each and every item of this creation. Therefore they call this

universe a jugglers trick (Indrajala). The divine essence of the Lord is present in this
universe in multifarious facets. By giving this Vibhuti Yoga to us the Lord makes it
possible for us to be ever in the awareness of Him, no matter where we are, because He
permeates every corner of this universe. Having said everything in the Vibhuti Yoga, in
short, the Lord says to Arjuna, O Arjuna, why dilate upon the details of My Vibhutis, let
Me tell you, having completely pervaded this universe with a little part of My being, I
remain supremely transcendent. The whole of the universe has been created thus, with
countless manifestations, with only a fraction of My being. And I am what I am. So with
a fraction of My being I pervade this entire universe of countless manifestations.
Arjunas request in the Ninth Chapter was fulfilled by the Lord in the Tenth Chapter of
the Gita.
Now Arjuna says, O Lord, You have described Your Vibhutis. But can You actually
make me see them? In response to this request of Arjuna the Lord grants him actual
vision of His Transcendental Being where He stunned Arjuna to the core. No matter
where Arjuna turns his head, he sees the Lord in all directions. He became frightened. He
saw the Lord in all things, not only in beautiful flower or butterfly, but even in thunder, in
life and death. He said, O Lord, I am frightened. Please assume Your usual form. I
cannot take it any more. Then the Lord withdraws that vision from him. This is the
blessed knowledge which the Lord has given to the world, taking Arjuna only as a
medium, as a token of His great love for all the Jivas.
The great message is Imam prapya bhajasva mamhaving attained this world of
vanishing names and forms, adore Me and worship Me; centre your love upon Me and
worship Me. This is the way you can easily attain Me. My true glory, My true nature
cannot be seen through penance, meditation and difficult Yoga practices. It is not attained
through self-denial and self-control. But it is attained through pure devotion and sincere
love for Me. Through worship and adoration with devotion I can be cognised, I can be
experienced. The devotee can enter into Me.
More than all paths, I tell you the secret, devotion is the easiest way. Specially in this age
where there are so many distractions, where pressures of life are so much that fifty per
cent of people have nervous weakness, how can the truths of Vedanta be revealed?
Impossible. It is only wild imagination and self-deception. For that very great and subtle
Sukshma Buddhi, like, razor-sharpness, is necessary. Then only you can pierce the veil of
Maya. With what disciplines the ancient seekers prepared themselves to receive
Jnanopadesa. What severe discipline they underwent to establish themselves in Viveka,
Vairagya, Sama, Dama, Titiksha, Uparati, Sraddha, Samadhana and Mumukshutva. So it
takes a lifetime to equip ourselves with the pre-qualifications to listen to the Upanishadic
Jnana. If you manage to qualify yourself by such discipline, one in a thousand, if you
grasp the implications, then you are blessed. It is not a joke. You have to reflect again and
again.
If you think that you will catch the Reality through your intellect, then it may be a wild
path. Once upon a time it was the main path; but not now: it is not possible. We dont
have that calibre. The exercise of the heart is spontaneous. It is present in all. So it can

easily be exercised. And, therefore, Bhakti Yoga combined with Nishkama Karma Yoga is
the path, supported by Raja Yoga and also helped on with what little Jnana Yoga you
possessViveka, Vichara, little bit of Upanishadic reading, little bit of discriminating
between the real and the unreal. All these are necessary. Because it is not for nothing that
God has endowed you with a little bit of intellect also. We should not allow that intellect
to go our head and think, I can become a philosopher like Sankara or Kant or Hegel or
Schopenhauer. It is not given to all to become so great.
In this world of history of humanity how many Kants have come, how many Sankaras
and how many Hegels? You can count them on fingers ends. They are exceptions. There
is only one Mount Everest. So these personalities are towering peaks of master intellects.
And, therefore, recognise realities and take to the path of devotion. Exercise your intellect
in the right direction, in discrimination, analysis, enquiry by all means. But make selfless
service unto all beings and devotion, adoration and love for the Lord, and prayer and
worship as your mainstay. This is the path. It will lead to meditation.
When through intense love grace showers upon you and you attain illumination, highest
knowledge comes to you unsought. Because the fruit of devotion is Jnana. Buddhi
yogam dadamiI give to them the highest Knowledge, the Lord says. Sraddhavan
labhate jnanamhe attains wisdom who is full of faith. So these things will come by
themselves. You have only to exercise, more than anything else, the pure and divine
emotion of divine Bhakti. Through it you have to try to attain God. That is the special
path for Kali YugaNishkama Karma and Bhagavad Bhakti, supported by
discrimination, a little discipline of the mind, control of thoughts, introspection and also
analysis. We should carefully avoid reading such things which say, Be unconditioned, let
go, never think of anything, be free, keep your mind without any preconditioned
notions. This is very flattering to the ego because it thinks, Oh, I am also intellectual
enough to grasp this mans teaching, and swallow it and have indigestion. Ultimately
that is what they get, a severe spiritual colic. For a Bhakta it is not wisdom to read such
teachings which pamper his ego. If at all he tries to reflect upon such teachings, then it
becomes a reflection upon his lack of wisdom. It is a lack of wisdom to make such
teachings available for common consumption.
Bhagavan Ramakrishna Paramahamsa never spoke Advaita Vedanta to any of his
disciples. His disciples were not ordinary people. When he found one or two gems who
were fit for this kind of teaching, he made sure that no one else was there within hearing
when he called them and opened the Vedantic texts and spoke to them. When he was
teaching, if some Bhakta came, he immediately closed the book and put it away. And if
the Bhaktas asked, What is it that you closed, Ramakrishna used to say, No, no, no. It
is nothing. It is something between ourselves. So he spoke to those Bhaktas regarding
devotion, Divine Name, prayer and all that, and never Vedanta. Was Ramakrishna a fool?
Never. He was the forerunner of the modern renaissance, the revival of Vedic religion.
He did not give such Vedic teaching to all Tom, Dick and Harry. And, therefore, in our
Svadhyaya we must confine ourselves to that alone which will be of greatest help in the
path we have chosen. There is no meaning in trying to bring unnecessary things and

cluttering our minds and causing trouble to ourselves and getting our faith shaken up and
losing what little ground we have covered. The devotee must go like an arrow shot from a
bow towards the target, never deviating this side or that side. That must be the method of
your proceeding towards the Supreme Being.
Down the ages countless sages bear testimony to the efficacy of devotion to the Lord,
worshipful prayer to the Lord, practice of the Divine Name. Therefore, such being the
case, one should not think that it is something secondary, something minor. Devotion still
reigns supreme as the paramount path for the attainment of God-consciousness. If we
want to remove some sharp thing like a thorn that has gone into our feet, we use a sharper
thing like a needle and take it out. So, if you say, What a foolish thing you are doing? A
sharp thing has pricked you already. Why are you again using another sharp thing? What
answer can be given. It is necessary. So if devotion, prayer and worship is conditioning
the mind, this conditioning is necessary to take us out, throw out from us, the other
conditioning we have been brought up in, viz., the conditioning which made us think that
we belong to so and so, we are this persons relative, that persons son, that persons
daughter etc.
In order to destroy this wrong conditioning, false conditioning, we have to condition
ourselves to this new consciousness, I am the child of the Lord; I am the servant of the
Lord; I am the beloved of the Lord. Know yourself only in relation to the Divine, not in
relation to anything here. When this new identity begins to take hold of you, the other
false identity gradually disappears. So a more positive spiritual conditioning is necessary
to decondition ourselves from the wrong, unspiritual, gross, earthly conditioning in which
we are caught.
This is your prison-house. In order to liberate ourselves from this prison-house we have
to evoke within us a new consciousness, a new condition, a new identity. And that
identity is, I belong to the Lord; I am Thine, O Lord; All is Thine; I am Thy child; I am
Thy nearest and dearest; Thou art my refuge. It is only this spiritual identity, awareness
of ourselves as someone in relation to the Divine, the Eternal Being, that liberates us
from the bondage of earth identity which has cropped up by earthly relationships. Take to
the path of devotion. Lavish the love of your heart upon your Beloved, upon Him who is
your very own and exercise your devotion in prayerfulness, worship and continuous
loving remembrance of the Lord, practising the Divine Name and meditating upon Him.
See the Lord in all and continuously engage yourself in selfless service unto all.
So Seva and Bhakti supported by Jnana will give you the highest Knowledge. This is the
assurance of Sri Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj and the great sages. This is also
the experience of bygone seekers after Truth. Let us hearken to the great Adesa or
Upadesa of Jagadguru Bhagavan Sri Krishna, Anityam asukham lokam imam prapya
bhajasva mam. When the Lord says here, Worship Me, He means the worship of the
Eternal Being, the Absolute, the Supreme Universal Being. It is about this consciousness
the Lord speaks of. If you thus make yourselves His devotees, you will obtain Jnana. No
harm can come to you and you will never perish. What more do you want? The Lord
Himself has asked you to do something. He assures that if you do this then you are dear

to Him and that no harm shall ever come to you. The Lord will be your armour and
shield. You will attain the Supreme. More than anything else, the devotee is always united
with the Lord through divine love. The greatness of this divine love for the Lord is
emphasised throughout this great scripture. God bless you all!

True Happiness
Desire and want which arise from the prime delusion, destroy all peace of mind. In a
mind devoid of peace how can there be happiness? Happiness depends upon peace of
mind. It is in a calm, tranquil state of mind alone that happiness arises, for essential true
happiness is your inward spiritual state. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the only media
through which, it can be expressed are the intellect and the mind. If these two media are
thrown into such a state of agitation that they cannot serve as proper channels for the
welling up of this inner happiness, then their condition becomes unfit and unfavourable.
It is only when there is peace and serenity in the mind and intellect that inner happiness
makes itself felt. The robber of your peace and serenity is the sense of want and desire
which arise out of your prime error that happiness depends upon objects. That is the error
in which you start your life. In childhood one is taught that to have a good time means
going to places, or doing things, or getting objects and so children grow up in this
delusion. The adult that is produced is at the mercy of things which are outside of
himself. The grain of proper understanding of this world, as it really is, instilled into
young people would grant a rich harvest in terms of happiness and joy.
Try to evaluate objects as they really are. To lead a proper life here on earth, one has to
assign a limited value to objects. Certain objects are indispensable for the maintenance of
life. For that purpose and to that end they should be utilised, but let them not assume an
undue prominence in your life. For, instead, of serving as the proper sustenance, they
may become the veritable tyrants sapping life of all true contentment and satisfaction.
Your happiness may become mortgaged to these objects. No longer of limited utility, they
seem to be of utmost importance. Therefore, they come to have a stranglehold upon you
and tend to dominate and enslave you. A proper understanding and a right evaluation of
objects as they are and for what they are worth, is of prime concern for the human
individual. Thus far and no furtheryou must say, when they try to invade the interior
kingdom of your life.
Simplicity of life is the true secret of happiness. Unhampered experience of joy which
lies within comes out of simplicity. Your life should never be complicated with too many
things. Due to too many things, due to too many desires, modem man unfortunately has
missed this. The religious man always sings. He always dances. He is comparatively
care-free and filled with the happiness of simplicity and contentment. We envy and even
try to imitate him, at least for the time being, by leaving all distractions. It is unwillingly
that modern man allows his life to become so complicated. He knows that simplicity is
the secret of happiness. But I cant help it saying thus, he weeps. He takes
tranquillisers. He goes into a saloon or a bar. He does somethinganythingto make

him forget the total inadequacy of his present condition. Man has the key to happiness in
simplicity.
Have contentment. Have the capacity to derive joy out of whatever situation you may
find yourself in. Assert: The situation has not the power to alter my experience. My
experience is alterable only to the degree to which I allow it to be altered. If I say no,
then I can have the same peace and happiness within, no matter how the situation
changes. It can change every hour, yet I can be changeless. So much blessedness will
come if you have simplicity and contentment. You will find, of all things, that you are
free from debts. This nightmare of instalments (of credit plans), that comes month after
month, year after year, will be gone. Some people do not have any freedom. They just
slave away for those various companies to which they owe instalments. Right to the end
of their lives they go on paying instalments on the house, on the car, on the radio, on the
TV, on the refrigerator, on the washing machine, and so on; heaven knows how many
gadgets have been invented!
A simple and contented life depends more upon God-made things than upon man-made
objects. There are hundreds of things that can fill you with happiness if you only have the
eyes to see. When you get up in the morning, you can step out of your room and look at
the dawn and be happy. When the sun rises, still more happiness. When you hear the
birds warbling, even more happiness. When you feel the cool breeze blowing, again
happiness. Well, there is no end to happiness. Know the technique for deriving happiness
from these simple thingsfrom the dawn, the sunrise, the birds, the laughter of children,
the beautiful blue sky, the white clouds slowly sailing like majestic ships, little dancing
flowers. They can inspire you if you only know how to derive joy. If you discover this
secret there will be no end to your happiness.
Learn to experience joy from the happiness of others. Instead of envy, become filled with
joy whenever you see others in happiness. Feel happy by beholding the happiness of
others. Train yourself to derive happiness out of bringing happiness into the lives of
others. Learn the technique of joy by making others joyful. Your happiness will become a
thousandfold. At the present moment it is circumscribed by the experiences undergone by
yourself alone. But if you begin to get joy from all others, then perpetually you will be
happy. Everyones happiness will become a part of your happiness and will go to
multiply and add to it.
Try to derive joy out of the beauty of all things, not only from those things which you
possess. In this way you will develop an impersonal capacity for happiness. Without
touching a cent in your pocket you will realise an illimitable treasury of happiness which
lies strewn all around you and everywhere about you. When we realise the things that
God has given for which we have reason to be happy, the whole day will not be long
enough for us to be thanking Him. Untold treasure He has given. Just consider your own
body, your own self. You have two sound eyes. Supposing someone says; All right, give
me one of your eyes and I will give you twenty thousand dollars. Which person in a sane
condition of mind would comply with such a request? Supposing you are offered one
hundred thousand dollars for your tongue; would you give it? So, that means that you

have things that are worth millions and millions of dollars! And yet there is moping and
fretting for a few things which we dont have, not realising the untold worth of the
precious things which we already have. There are some people unfortunately deprived of
these things. If you simply reflect how much God has given, then your whole vision of
life will become changed. Know these little secrets. They are little but they are very
important. They can mean the whole difference between darkness and light.
Learn to accept the experiences that come through life. There is no use fretting and
fuming and making yourself miserable over them. You, perhaps, may just add more
misery to the misery which these experiences already bring. Have calm and wise
resignation. There is one Supreme Intelligence that is guiding the lives of men here and
these experiences that come from that Source, learn to accept like human beings. Endure
the little troubles that come through life. If there is a little sorrow, endure it and learn to
take away its sting. Thus you may enrich your life out of those very experiences which
you find painful and unpleasant.
Be friendly to all. Towards your superiors, have an attitude of complaisance. Do not be
full of fear and timidity and nervousness in their presence. That can also rob you of your
joy. Be serene. With your own equals, be friendly. Feel oneness with all. With those who
are inferior to you in status, in health, in strength, in beauty, have an attitude of kindness,
love and compassion. To those who are troublesome, wicked, unpleasant and nasty, be
indifferent. Do not work yourself up into a state of irritation or annoyance or
unfriendliness or hatred. Just ignore them. These four attitudes will provide you with a
means of not being put out of your happinesscomplacency towards superiors,
friendliness and brotherhood towards your equals, kindness and compassion towards
those who are inferior to you and a perfect indifference towards all those who are
inimical to you, who are troublesome, nasty, evil or wicked. All these four categories are
bound to be present.
Above all, do not give way to anger. Anger, more than any other single factor in this
world, destroys happiness. It can totally wreck the entire happiness of a home. If one
member of the household has a temper and gives vent to his anger, he can destroy the
happiness of all members of the home; even the neighbours may be affected.
Maintain a rational restraint over the senses. The urge towards carnal enjoyment is the
natural part of the human being, but it pertains to the mental and physical part of your
nature only. We have to recognise this as such. However, it is the prerogative of every
individual, being endowed with a high intelligence, to hold a reign over the senses. By
that way they cannot destroy happiness. If they are allowed to hold a sway over you, then
while you are thus unrestrained, you cannot have any happiness. This is the Law of the
Universe.
Base your life upon virtue, upon Truth and upon purity. If purity is always your guiding
rule, guilt complexes and neuroses will go and psychiatrists would be unnecessary for
you. Happiness fills those who base their lives upon virtue. Virtue is a direct emanation
from the Divine, just as happiness is the quality of the Divine. Although it may be

difficult in the beginning, yet how many headaches would you save yourself if you would
base your life upon virtue and Truth! If you tell a lie, to support it you have to tell a chain
of lies. Sticking to the Truth takes away from you all anxiety and a thousand pin-pricks. A
life of Truth and purity is a life devoid of many of the factors that contribute to the misery
and unhappiness of the modern world.
Even more important, keep close to the Great Inner Source of all happiness, all joy, all
bliss! Call It by whatever name you chooseI do not want to give It a name. Make That
the centre of your being. That is the Eternal Thing that supports your life, which is your
alpha and omega, your all in all, your supporting substratum and your destination and
goal. Keep close to It by developing love. Love the Supreme. Always remember the
Supreme. Great Ones who have immersed their lives and become absorbed forever in the
supreme blessed state of happiness and bliss have told us one great secret which provides
us with an unfailing method of attaining happiness. That secret is the Divine Name. They
said: Practise the Divine Name. The Name of the Supreme and the Supreme are not two
but they are one. If you have the Divine Name within you, you have the Supreme within
you. This is a .great spiritual Truth. This is a great fact. If you remember this fact and try
to make the Divine Name your own, if you are always repeating the Divine Name,
always invoking the Divine Name, always filling yourself constantly with the current of
the Divine Name; then happiness and blessedness will be present with you always.
Happiness, in the truest sense of the term, is that changeless experience right within you.
It is that awareness which being present enables you to derive sweetness out of all other
things, and which being absent, deprives you of all the sweetness from anything. That is
the most important fact.
It works like the figure 1 in mathematics. If 1 is there, you may add to it any number
of zeros and each zero progressively increases the value of the number enormously and
the zeros have tremendous significance. If this 1 is not there, all the zeros are just
ciphers without any value of their own whatsoever. Similarly, all things gain the capacity
for giving happiness only in the presence of this One Being. Make Him the centre of your
life. Make Him the most important and paramount Thing in your life. Then you will
never be taken away from your happiness even for a single second. No one will be able to
take you away from it, for you are yourself that happiness. When a fish is taken out of a
little bowl and released into the ocean, it swims about anywhere and always remains in
the vast ocean. So, out of the tiny bowl of deluded life where we have paid this undue
attention to external objects, let us lift ourselves out and enter into that vast Truth.
In God lies happiness and within me He is and He and I are One.
Within lies the perennial fount of eternal happiness. May you live your life in this Truth.
Then I assure you that your life will become a stream of happiness. May your life thus
flow forth not as a vale of tears but as a perennial stream of infinite happiness. This is my
prayer. May God give you the strength and the inspiration to blossom out into that
simplicity and contentment, that shining and radiant virtue, that serene state of
detachment, that friendliness with all beings, out of which this great gift that is waiting to

be bestowed upon us will become our own. May your life become radiant with joy and
happiness. Supernal Happinessmay That be yours.

Nishkama KarmaThe Philosophy of Excellence in

Work
Salutations to that Great Reality which is One and identical in spite of being addressed in
various names and terms. He is That Reality who is glorified in all scriptures, Vedas,
Zend Avesta, Old Testament, Bible, Quran, Granth Sahib and all the scriptures of the
world and He is a Being who is adored and praised in temple, synagogue, fire temple,
church, mosque, Gurudwara and all places of worship. Salutations and adorations to That
One Great Reality, the One God beyond all religions, who existed when no religion
existed, no humanity had been created, no prophet or messiah had appeared. That Eternal
Being, the source of all religions, the sustainer of all faiths, the ultimate goal of all
believers and seekers, that Being is the goal of your life. That Supreme Reality is your
cosmic origin, is your eternal abode. He is the root of your existence. He is the source
from which you have emanated and for a temporary period you have descended into this
Earth Plane and assumed this momentary body-bound state of living and moving.
This is not your natural state. This is not your permanent condition. You are beyond name
and form. You are beyond the body, mind, intellect and ego. You are eternal, ever perfect,
ever free, ever pure, imperishable and indestructible, beginningless and endless. Weapons
cannot injure you, fire cannot burn you, water cannot wet you, wind cannot dry you.
Unborn, eternal, permanent, indestructible, you are shining parts of that great Whole
whom you call Paramatma or the Cosmic Soul or the Universal Being. He is the Whole
and we are all parts, even as billions and billions of waves are part and parcel of the vast
ocean, inseparable from it, even though appearing as ever so many different variegated
waves and wavelets, yet comprised by the very ocean waters, of the very essence of the
ocean itself, not apart from it but a part of it. Even so each one of us is a part of the Great
Cosmic Reality, the Great Ocean of Eternal Existence, Consciousness, Bliss,
Satchidananda. Our goal is to realise that Reality from which we have emanated in our
essential nature, not in our physical nature, not in our psychological nature, but in our
innermost deepest essential, spiritual nature, our real nature, our unchanging eternal
nature.
To go back into that original, vast, limitless ocean of eternal existence, that is the ultimate
logical consummation of human life on earth. It is a fulfilment of your being, by which
alone life becomes really and truly successful. To point out to us this great goal, from
time to time the spiritual genius of our Motherland has been sending messengers,
illumined souls, filled with divine wisdom and consciousness, unfailingly and recurrently,
generation after generation, in all the corners of India, that is the uniqueness of our
glorious Motherland. The uniqueness is that if you make a research of the spiritual history
of our country, if you go deep and investigate into this inner India, spiritual India, you

will find to your astonishment, that there has not been one single generation in the
millennium of history of this great country, when there have not been divinely illumined
sages and seers of God-realisation in this land. That is why it is called Punyabhumi, the
sanctified land.
In our own generation, great luminaries like Ramana Maharshi, Aurobindo Ghosh,
Swami Ramdas and many others have shed their light upon this great land. My beloved
and revered Master, Guru Maharaj Swami Sivanandaji was one such great luminary and
he came to give to this confused, restless 20th Century, the modern mankind, the same
ancient message of mans essential divinity and the realisation of this divinity,
recapturing the experience of that essential immortal divine nature as the ultimate goal of
our life. He came to proclaim this message and it is in this context that I come to the
subject of today: Service of Man in proclaiming this great goal of life, God-realisation,
Atma-sakshatkara, Self-realisation and attainment of Divine Consciousness.
My Master Swami Sivananda, outlined for the modern seekers, the very general name,
universal name of Divine Life, living in a divine manner, living with the awareness of
your divine nature, living for the attainment of the divine destiny and goal, divine
consciousness and living in such a way that you make life itself a process of consciously
expressing and manifesting your divine nature through thought, word and deed. So he
called it Divine Life. And this Sadhana of the Divine Life is a synthesis, an integration
and synthesis of the four great paths of Nishkama Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Dhyana
Yoga and Jnana Yoga. The proclamation of this Sadhana to modern mankind was his
basic spiritual teaching. When in 1936, he established this institution or spiritual
organisation called the Divine Life Society in order to propagate more effectively upon a
vast global scale this message of divine life, he made as the very seal of this Divine Life
Society the four words: Serve, Love, Meditate, Realise.
As the very first basic fundamental spiritual Sadhana to attain the ultimate goal of Godrealisation, our Holy Master laid down Seva, Paropakara, selfless service unto all
creatures, all beings. Serve the sick, serve the poor, serve your elders, serve your parents,
serve your neighbours, serve the destitutes, serve society, serve the country, serve all
humanity, serve all creatures. This was his message, again and again. He was never tired
of reiterating in his teachings that the salt of life is selfless service; that which makes life
worth living, that which gives a real taste to life, is selfless service. He said that without
selfless service your life will be dry, essenceless, insipid.
Service before self is the Rotarian Motto and therefore, you who are dedicated to service
do not need to be told about service. My humble service to you this evening through the
sharing with you of these thoughts and ideas would be not so much in sermonising to you
about service, with which you are all too familiar, but rather giving to you a glimpse of a
new dimension of this very concept of service, which is the key concept of the Rotarians
Ideal. This new dimension is yours by your birthright. Because I am not merely
addressing Rotarians, I am addressing a unique section of the Rotary world and I am
addressing Bharatiya (Indian) Rotarians, Rotarians who have behind them a very specific
culture, a definite idealism, certain great values, which have been formulated, evolved,

and lived over millennium, by great personalities, towering personalities, through

centuries and generations in this great land of ours. Time-tested principles and sublime
values and certain ideals, all these you have received spontaneously as a matter of course
because of having been born in this great country. All this has come to you without any
effort on your part as your cultural heritage. These treasures you have inherited from your
great sublime sacred task and therefore, I bring to you what belongs to you, which
perhaps has not been recognised.
This new dimension of this new concept of service stems from the very basic vision of
your great land and its holy culture. The way of life, belief, faith, worship in this country
is known as the Vedic Dharma. They also call it Sanatana Dharma because its origins are
untraceable, because it does not arise out of any single personality as prophetic religions
do. Therefore, there is no one single personality whom we can say is the originator of this
way of life, this faith and belief and worship. This was based upon ancient wisdom,
timeless wisdom, whose origin and source is shrouded in the dim past beyond known
history and as such they also call it Sanatana Dharma.
Vedic Dharma is the name based upon the original term Veda. Veda means knowledge.
Vedic is the adjectival form of this word Veda, which denotes knowledge and time was
when it was not in the form of any written tome, books or volumes. No, they existed only
in the memory of man. Generations after generations they were handed over by word of
mouth, but it is only some thousands of years ago a great Sage, perhaps seeing that a time
will come when this method will not work, due to the very degeneracy in the health of
man, in short-lived life tenure, and therefore to ensure that it may not be lost he put it
down in writing, before he got the title Veda Vyasa. From his time we know the Vedas as
Books, the four great Vedas, the Rig Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama Veda, Atharva Veda.
Before the time of Veda Vyasa this Vedic wisdom did not exist in the form of written
books and therefore this wisdom-based way of life, way of faith, belief, worship, had at
its root a great vision of the sages, Anubhuti, Aparoksha Anubhuti, and it is upon this
vision, that the whole structure of our religion was built. This vision was that the entire
universe is pervaded by the Universal Spirit, the One Great Cosmic Spirit, envelopes,
interpenetrates and pervades this entire universe of names and forms. It fills every speck
of space, it fills and indwells and enlivens the atom of matter. The whole world is filled
with consciousness. This is the way to vision and a logical development of their
experience. Generation after, generation, intrepid pioneers in the spiritual quest, spiritual
exploration, there came many illumined souls, again and again, reconfirming the
experience and findings of their predecessors. So this experience became time tested and
was given to us as the great fact, as the Cosmic Truth, as a great Tattva (essence) and out
of this awareness and experience, the pervasive presence of the Divine animates this
created universe of names and forms. They discovered the presence of this essence and
principle in each and every creature, in each and every living being.
He is, therefore, the common consciousness that melts all existence into one
homogeneous Whole. They thus experienced and discovered and proclaimed to us this,
the unity of all life and out of which emerged two very, very important and significant

facts which are very meaningful to you as Rotarians. One is that when you engage in
service of human society, you are in actual fact adoring this Divine Being that is the
living Reality present in all beings. We have to open our eyes to this vision. Service is
more than a mere social process. It is not just a social activity confined to this earth plane
or to this material world. It has significance and meaning upon a higher dimension of the
Spirit. When you serve man you actually serve the God hidden in man, Divinity
immanent in all creation.
So Manava Seva (service of man) is Isvara Aradhana (worship of God). It is a spiritual
process. Therefore, lived in this manner and engaged in with this awareness and in this
spirit, as I serve my fellow beings and creatures, I adore God, present in the heart of all
beings. This is adoration to me, this is a spiritual Sadhana to me. If, while engaged in this
outer service, you have this awareness within and do it with this feeling, then you become
richly blessed within the dimension of your spiritual life also. Such service gradually
leads to spiritual awareness, which will lead to a new vision to the awareness of the
pervading presence of God. You begin to grow in the awareness that God is not merely
confined either to the temple or the mosque or the church or the synagogue or the
Gurudwara but He is before me wherever I turn. From all the ten directions of the
compass, God is looking at me. He is coming to me to be served and therefore, it is my
privilege to worship this God who comes in human form to accept my service. I offer
service with humility, with reverence, no longer with the idea that I am doing something
wonderful, something exceptional, something which is not being done by others. On the
contrary, I become humble, I thank the one who comes to me to be of service. I say I have
the privilege of worshipping God through this being who is before me and is accepting
my service. So you engage in service with a spirit of reverence, with humility, with a
feeling of thankfulness and gratitude: for the being who is giving you this golden chance
of evolving spiritually by thus engaging in this worshipful service, as the spiritual
Sadhana, Nishkama Karma Yoga. That is one important meaning that comes into this
very process of your serving beings, because you do it with the awareness of the presence
of God.
The second important dimension of this act of service is something much more
metaphysical, much more philosophical. What is it that stands between you and God,
who is the goal of your life, in whom alone you ultimately find rest, find peace, attaining
whom alone you ultimately succeed in attaining that which you are striving to attain but
cannot attain? All human beings all over the world are striving from birth to death to
avoid all sorrow, pain, suffering and unpleasant experiences of any kind and they are
striving eagerly to attain happiness, joy, things that are pleasant. No man born of a human
mother and father ever succeeded in the quest. This world is a mixture of happiness and
sorrow, pain and pleasure; joy and sorrow are intermingled. It is a world of Dvandvas
(dualities). So when you run after happiness you are bound to have sorrow also in its way.
Therefore, this quest of unalloyed absolute happiness, unaccompanied by any reaction,
without any sorrow, is a myth, which can never be attained. It is like a horizon which you
can never reachSarva Duhkha Nivritti (cessation of all sorrow), Paramananda Prapti
(attainment of Eternal Bliss), Nitya Tripti (Eternal Satisfaction)is to be attained not in

any created conditioned thing, limited by time and space, which has a beginning and an
end, which is changeful, perishable by its nature, therefore, imperfect.
This experience for which all human beings are striving and seeking, the total cessation
of all sorrow, pain and suffering and the entering into an absolute bliss, total, unalloyed,
inexhaustible happiness, joy, perfect joy, as St. Francis of Assisi put it, that is to be
experienced in God-experience. It is that state of perfect joy, anandam brahmeti, that is
the discovery of your forefathers. That is the actual deepest personal experience of the
sages and seers from whom we trace our lineage, our tradition, and therefore, they found
that upon attaining God, immediately the individual soul transcends all pain and sorrow
and suffering, attains an experience of indescribable bliss, becomes filled with the eternal
satisfaction, attains freedom and fearlessness. That is the state which is the goal of life.
They call it Moksha and in the attainment of this goal, the greatest barrier is our
identification with this little temporary personality. We are identified with this cage of
flesh and bones which is one day to perish, abode of so much pain, suffering, old age,
disease, decay, imperfections. Every little part of it is subject to decay and a dozen
different types of pain.
This body, a perishable cage of flesh and bones, we are identified with it, we cling to it,
we love it, we are attached to it. We are also identified with this little thinking machine,
this little psychological self. Due to our intense identification with these two factors, our
body and our mind, our physical, corporal and psyche, we are so completely attached to it
that we make that the very centre of our life, live only to serve this, we live only to gather
together things in order to satisfy its desires, satisfy its cravings, satisfy its appetites and
our entire life becomes a little petty thing confined to this body, little personality, selfcentred, self-seeking, selfish. This ego is the product of ignorance, product of
identification with that which is not your essential self, that is only an added passing
factor, an adjunct. This ego and the selfishness arising out of this ego is the main barrier
between man and God. This is the stone, iron, granite wall between you and eternal bliss,
between you and infinite peace, between you and perfect existence, deathless existence,
and to break down this wall is your main task. Vedanta says that identifying yourself with
this perishable body is the greatest sin.
At the innermost depth of the spirit all are identical It is the same spirit that is the
indwelling consciousness in all beings. Mistaking this perishable body for the real self
and becoming attached to it and developing selfishness and separating yourself from all
other beings who are in fact identical with you is the greatest sin. Forgetting the essential
self, identifying with the non-essential self, temporary body, we become self-centred,
selfish. This is the greatest blemish of human personality and this is the greatest curse on
human society. It is the root cause of all clash, conflict and hatred. This selfishness is the
pain of human life and out of it arises all sorrow, all misery, all the problems of the
human society within the confines of a single family, within the four walls of a single
household. Due to this selfishness, how much disharmony, how much discord, how much
clash, how much conflict, how much tension is created between four brothers of one
family? If there is selfishness between husband and wife, the whole life becomes a

continuous conflict and problematic affair. Therefore, this selfishness is the real human
problem, individually as well as collectively.
Selfishness is a great human problem and there is only one way of breaking down this
wall between God and man, breaking down this wall between man and man, and
overcoming this problem. That way is a dynamic unselfishness with a vengeance,
consciously and purposefully adopted as your way of life. Vedanta says, as long as you do
not discard this selfishness, unless you cease to think about yourself and begin to think in
terms of the welfare of others, you cannot liberate yourself from the stranglehold of
selfishness. As the old man of the island upon the shoulders of Sindbad the Sailor,
selfishness is dominating us. And the only way, therefore, is dynamic selflessness.
Dynamic selflessness is the very stuff of true service and therefore right from our ancient
times it has been proclaimed: O man, refuse to bow down to this curse of selfishness.
Know that God has given you this body in order to benefit life around you, benefit all the
creatures, all living beings.
The entire concept of ethics and morality is summed up in two wordsParopakaraya
punyaya papaya parapidanamanything that goes to benefit others is meritorious and
good; anything that harms others is sin, that is undesirable, that will stand in the way of
your attaining the goal of life. Therefore this great value of Paropakara (doing good to
others) was placed before us as a shining ideal and all those who have lived and died for
this concept of Paropakara have become immortalised in our memory, enshrined in our
memory.
At the moment of his departure from earth, entering into Pari-nirvana, the great Buddha,
the compassionate Buddha, gathers together all his Bhikkus and says: Now the time has
come. You must attain Nirvana. And he commends to you this last message: Walk the
highways and the byways of this great land of Bharata for the happiness of the many and
for the welfare of the many (bahujana hitayacha bahujana sukhayacha), this I commend
unto you as the last parting message. Seva, Paropakara it is the heart of the Bharatiya
Samskriti. It is the very life breath of your culture, this lands genius and this concept has
come down to us from ancient times. Service of parents, service of elders, service of your
Guru, has been a timeless concept which has come down to your life. In the Gita Lord
Krishna says: If you want to attain illumination, if you want to attain divine wisdom, O
Arjuna, attain that, know that Great Reality, by going to great ones, serving them,
pleasing them, questioning them. This concept of service later on evolved and took the
shape of a distinct path, a spiritual path for attaining God-realisation, and it was the path
that is known as Nishkama Karma Yoga.
This concept of service unto all living beings as a spiritual discipline to attain Godrealisation elevates this concept of service from the dimension of social service with a
higher dimension of a spiritual process. At the basis of it is the vision, even while
engaged in service, it is not the human individual that I am serving but it is the divine that
is enshrined within the human being. I am present in the heart of all. More specifically
Lord Krishna says: O Arjuna, I am the inner Spirit dwelling within the body of all
creatures. I am the beginning, the middle and the end, I am the all in all. I am, therefore,

present as the indwelling Spirit in all creaturesHe does not say man alone, but all the
creatures. And to you all Rotarians engaged in this noble avocation of service of
humanity, service of society, I commend to you this inner spiritual vision, inner attitude
of worshipfulness to God immanent in man, the presence of God indwelling man, that
service be to you, therefore, something sacred, something spiritual, something that relates
you not only to this human world but something that puts you directly into relationship
and connection with God Himself, the Cosmic Soul. Therefore, service is not something
that merely brings you into living relationship with your fellow beings or this human
world, but service when rightly perceived and rightly done with this inner vision and
feeling of worshipfulness, is something that links you with the Cosmic Being, the
Spiritual Reality which pervades this world and dwells in all creatures. Thus, service
becomes a process, a method and a means of linking yourself with God, linking yourself
with that Cosmic Divine principle, the Universal Reality and when done in this manner,
with this feeling and with this vision, this deeper awareness, then service becomes a
process of Yoga.
Anything that puts the human individual into conscious contact with the Universal Soul is
Yoga; do it through devotion, do it through deep concentration and meditation, do it
through spiritual and metaphysical speculation and investigation, question and
discrimination, or do it through service. When physical dynamism becomes the medium
of approaching God immanent in man, it becomes the Yoga of Service. When the emotion
and sentiment becomes the way of attaining, attaching yourself with God, it becomes the
Yoga of Bhakti, When a concentrated mind focused upon that Great Reality in a
continuous way, unbroken way, then that becomes a way, a means, a medium, the mental
power becomes Raja Yoga or the Yoga of Meditation. When enquiry, discrimination,
philosophical investigation become a means of relating yourself with the Cosmic Being,
it becomes Jnana Yoga.
Thus, all Rotarians are unconscious Yogis, all Rotarians are actually engaged in a
spiritual Sadhana of relating themselves to the Cosmic Spirit through the medium of their
physical dynamism, activity. Only thing is, you are not aware of it and it has been my
privilege this evening of bringing to you this awareness that what you have been doing as
International Rotarians, is actually a spiritual Sadhana that had been handed down to us
as our cultural heritage by our effulgent past, great spiritual past. It is Seva Yoga, Seva
Dharma, Nishkama Karma Yoga. It is the worship of God immanent in man. It is the
adoration of the Divine indwelling all the living beings. Therefore, the great Vivekananda
proclaimed the concept of Daridra NarayanaGod as the poor, God as the sick and
suffering, God as the down-trodden, God as the illiterate, God as the destitute, the forlorn,
the forgotten. Therefore he saw God in all these various sections of the less fortunate,
human society, sum totality of all living beings, the down-trodden creatures, my own
brothers, and this is my worship of God, my serving them with whole-hearted
compassion and kindness and thanking God that I get this opportunity of elevating
myself, spiritually evolving through serving Him immanent in these beings.
Service, therefore, is a means to attain God-realisation which is the goal of life. Service is
a spiritual process of trying to attain God in and through man who is His living temple.

Mahatma Gandhi said: I am a seeker of Truth; my service to all beings is only my

Sadhana in order to attain that Great Reality, God Immanent in man. Selfless service,
therefore, is ultimately Yoga Sadhana. It is new awareness that all Rotarians elevate their
service into this higher dimension of the Spirit and thus reap rich benefits while they
benefit human society upon the social level, let them benefit upon the inner and higher
dimensions upon the spiritual level. Thus society gains through your service. You gain
also through your service in an inner and higher spiritual way.
Our service to man is, therefore, one of the most effective means, most effective unfailing
Sadhana for ridding ourselves from this great disease of selfishness which stands between
us and God-vision, our great divine destiny, the goal of life.
Selfless service, therefore, is no less than adorations of the Cosmic Being, immanent in
every creature He has created. Through selfless service done with this vision and this
feeling, may we elevate ourselves spiritually and come to attain the spiritual
consciousness and fulfil our life by attaining Self-realisation or God-realisation.

Mans Relationship With the Mind

If you want to make a spiritual success of this life and if you want to move unhampered
towards the objective which you have set for yourself, it is absolutely essential that you
have a clear-cut idea of how exactly you are related to your mind and what exactly the
mind constitutes in the total picture of your personality, in this set-up called your
individuality. There is so much of confusion, of lack of clarity, in our approach to this
very important and central subject.
What is mind in me? What am I in relation to the mind? And in what way should my
dealing with it be? Conflicting things are said on this subject. Someone says that the mind
should be mastered, should be controlled. Patanjali says that all its movements and
activities should be inhibited. The ancient Buddhistic texts and Zen texts say: Mind is
the slayer of the Atman. Slay this slayer and attain the light. We have the other side
which says that the mind should not be inhibited, but should be allowed to express itself
freely. According to this view, anything done to inhibit the mind will end you in trouble.
You will create knots in yourself and get tied up. You will become neurotic. You will
have many complexes and then ultimately you will have to go to someone for help. Many
people go to other people for help when they are in this condition. But they little realise
that the person who gives help himself stands in need of help many times. They
themselves are not clear as to what they are going to do. They play a game.
These conflicting things confuse the modern man, and sometimes he swings between this
extreme and that extreme. But no one touches the exact technique at the exact spot. The
entire question of bondage and liberation, of human consciousness and divine
consciousness, of joy and sorrowthe entire question of success and failure, in life
hinges upon this particular crucial point, viz., what is to be your relationship with the

mind? What exactly does it constitute in your total personality? Is it your friend or foe? Is
it dispensable or indispensable? In the ultimate analysis, your entire life and its struggle
spiritual, psychological and emotionalis in this area only, not in the area of the body
or the outer area of your social relationship.
There are various schools of thought and philosophies which prescribe various techniques
to tackle this problem. They try to bring about a change from outside to inside, but what
they fail to understand is the fact that the outer manifestation itself has its root and cause
inside. So, ultimately, it is only a solution which is inside that will have a lasting effect.
Otherwise, when you do some sensitivity sessions in the psychiatrists clinic, you will be
temporarily fine, and after that, once again it will come back and create even newer
problems in the mind.
What then is the ultimate word on this subject by those masters of wisdom who have
themselves completely gone through this thing called the interior life and come out
victorious in a state of liberated consciousness? The great teachers give us certain
indications. The basic point to be recognised is that there are these factors in your
personalityYourself as an individual human being and yourself in your essential nature.
If I ask you, Who are you?, you answer, I am so-and-so. You take a telephone and
dial a number and someone on the other end says, Who is speaking? I am so-and-so.
Then you immediately utter a name and this name is something associated with a certain
relational pattern. You say, I am the son of so-and-so and a whole series of lesser
identifications arisesage, address, telephone number, etc. You pin yourself to a
personality, to an individuality, which is ultimately confined to a little pinpoint, hemmed
in by all these little factors that qualify it. And even if one factor is different, then it is not
yourself; it is someone else. There may be two John Matthews in Los Angeles. If one
John Matthews is upon 470 in La Cienega, apt. 4, and if another John Matthews is upon
470 in La Cienega, apt. 29, then this man is not that, just because apt. 29 differs from apt.
4. Each modifying factor is thus a barrier which separates you from another individual
consciousness of the same variety.
In this way, the ultimate individual is one who is completely circumscribed by so many
limiting adjuncts or qualifying factors. But, in your real nature, you are what you are, and
you were that even when you became qualified by this limiting adjunct which is prepared
for you in your mothers womb. And you entered into it in a certain point of time. A
moment prior to that entry, you were just what you are. You have no relational
consciousness pertaining either to this world or to the rest of humanity. You are by
yourself the pristine being, and when this little journey is over, you take off this apparel.
You once again reach that self-same consciousness where you have no name and form.
Your essential being is Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is pure consciousness. This state of pure
consciousness, disassociated from any other limiting adjunct, is of the nature of bliss. If
that is so, what is that mysterious factor that has brought about a change from that pure
consciousness to this limited consciousness? Originally, I am existence filled with
awareness. I am aware that I am. In that state of pure existence, my experience is one of

pure joy. It is only when that state of consciousness is disturbed that existence becomes
modified and begins to feel not merely I am, but I am so-and-so.
Where there is need, freedom is destroyed. Joy is destroyed. Everything is destroyed.
Desire springs up. When you have no need, you are just what you are. The moment you
move out of the pure idea I am consciousness you get into trouble. So, anything that
qualifies the original experience of pure awareness immediately destroys that pristine joy.
Sri Ramakrishna used to say, You cannot pass a thread through the eye of a needle, even
if a single fibre is sticking sideways. You will have to see that no fibre is sticking out.
What is it that brings about this modification in pure consciousness? I am is okay, but
when some other thought comes, how does it come about? It is the mind, this idea that
adds on to pure consciousness, this idea which becomes an adjunct to pure consciousness,
which limits pure consciousness. This idea immediately destroys the perfection, the
wholeness, the pristine originality of consciousness. And this factor, this idea, is the
mould of the mind.
Is there any way to understand this mind? In India, in Hindu philosophy, that
indescribable, mysterious power of the Divine is designated as Maya. The concept of
Maya in pure Indian philosophy is something very, very wonderful. The whole universe
is something brought about by Maya. Your bondage is brought about by Maya. She is the
mysterious illusion-maker, cosmic deluder; and when her snare is spread, all become
completely deluded. But Maya is not only the cosmic deluder; in the ultimate context, she
is also the great liberator. For, the pure Hindu philosophy propounds the concept of Maya
in a dual aspectas Vidya Maya and Avidya Maya.
Avidya Maya is the cosmic deluder. Avidya means nescience. Avidya means grossness,
without light. By and large, all humanity is helplessly under the grip of Avidya Maya.
But, if Maya is gracious, if she casts her glance of grace and smiles upon an individual
soul, that souls bondage immediately comes to an end. Thus, Maya is capable of
bestowing liberation also, because she is also Vidya Maya. Under her loving care, you
understand this very, very fine point about what makes you lose your pure consciousness.
This little individual personality is created by the play of what we call mind. This is the
fine point that Maya teaches us. She makes this point clear to us through the process
which Maya puts you through every day. When you go to bed she takes you under her
spell and ultimately enfolds you in her arms. And then the world disappears. You are not
aware of the outerno consciousness of any problem in the outside. But then, for a little
while, Maya mysteriously duplicates the whole world within yourself. She creates in you
duplicates of her own form. Wherefrom does she create them? She creates them precisely
from that very factor wherewith she creates all the limiting adjuncts, that mysterious
factor which is really nothing but which appears to be everything, that factor which you
call mind. This is what the mind isyou try to find it, you cannot find it. But you are
always plagued by it. You do not know how to deal with it. This mysterious thing, called
mind, creates the entire world and you live or act in that world. You are also acted upon.

After some dreams, the switch goes off even inside; and what is there? Only next
morning you can say what was there: I had a good deep, sound sleep. I knew nothing,
but in that nothingness was rest. In that nothingness was peace. In that nothingness is a
total absence of all those things which make the world so painful to live ineverything
that makes this life a great difficult struggle and a stress and a process of so much of
effort and strainno pain, no anxiety, no desire. It is complete. Has anyone felt the need
for something in deep sleep? No. It is the only state wherein you are able to say nothing,
but enjoy it. It is perfect. If this state does not come for some days together, you may be a
millionaire, but you are so upset. You start going to this doctor and that doctor. And
everyone seeks it. The beggar seeks it; the emperor also seeks it. You make everything
perfect to go into it. Without it, even the emperor is not satisfied. Why? What is it that
makes deep sleep so very attractive that day after day everyone wants to enter into that
state?
That thing which characterises deep sleep is the absence of yourself. When you wake up
after deep sleep, you say, I did not know anything. Why? Because you were not there.
You were there, but you were not there. You were not there because you knew nothing at
that time. When you wake up and someone asks, What did you do there?, you say, I
dont know. So, the person who is answering, Mr. So-and-so, living in that apartment
with this name, form, height, age, weight, was not there. But you were there, because you
say, I experienced great peace. I enjoyed sound sleep. Now, who is it that says I
enjoyed sound sleep? There was someone there, but evidently that someone was not the
Mr. So-and-so who wakes up and says, I knew nothing. In your true self you were
there, but your transitory personality Consciousness was not there. As long as the
transitory personality is active and manifest, this fullness, this silence and this peace
cannot come. For, in dream consciousness also we have sorrow, we have anxiety, we have
fear; we shout, we weepexperiences which we have in the waking consciousness.
Every waking experience is capable of being experienced in the dream consciousness too.
Why? For the simple reason that the personality-consciousness continues to prevail even
in the dream state. It is only in the third state of deep sleep that the personalityconsciousness is extinct. How is it extinct? Because the mind factor sinks and subsides in
that state of deep sleep. I is eliminated together with the mind. I is the mind, mind is
the I.
The being who is enjoying the bliss of sleepdoes he say, I want liberation? That state
of pure being consciousness is your real Self, the Atman within, the Sat-Chit-Ananda
within. Who is it that weeps and wails and goes to a Guru and tries to get wisdom? Mr.
So-and-so is identical with the mind, is existent with the mind. When the mind is active,
this Mr. So-and-so struts upon the stage of this world and goes through the drama of life;
and when this mind subsides in deep sleep, when you ask, Who wants liberation?, At
that time there is no one to answer. But I want liberation. Out of this, you draw your own
conclusion. Is it your interest to retain the mind or is the mind to be annihilated? What
should be your approach to the mind?
In Yoga Vasishtha, the crux of the whole problem of bondage and liberation is explained
in a simple way by Vasishtha by saying that liberation is attained when there is

Manonasa. This means that we are all prey to the tyranny of our inner, latent tendencies.
When we are born, we come with a whole bundle of latent tendencies in us, propensities
that have been buried into us as in a built-in mechanism, always goading us to definite
behaviour patterns, definite types of activity, manifestation of definite traits of our nature,
our personality, our character. It comes like a package deal, in a built-in way, with every
incarnation. The particular incarnation does not come out of a particular environment as
some people are wont to say. Environmental factors are secondary factors, but not the real
actual factors.
A real Vedantic analysis and study of this problem will throw you more light. For
example, you take six children in the same family, born to the same father and mother
and brought up in the same home environment, given the same education, fed with the
same food, given equal opportunities, equal love lavished upon everyone. All the six will
ultimately grow up into six different kinds of individualsof very different natures one
very extrovert, one very introvert; one very pure, moral, ethical, another completely
impure, unethical, depraved; one becomes a genius, another a fool. There has been no
difference in any of the environmental factors or the education given. Yet they are
different. How? Vedanta explains it through the theory of Vasana and Samskara
experiences. Each one comes with his own built-in potential, and the process of growing
is only an expression of this potential which is already there as innate tendencies. These
innate tendencies are the very essence of the individuals talent and the behaviour pattern
expressed later. You are what you have come with already. This is called Vasana. The
mind is only a bundle of Vasanas.
When the Vasanas are dormant, the mind is not there. In deep sleep, these Vasanas are all
in a state of dormancy, and when they are manifest in the active state, you find that the
mind becomes a tyrant. Because, the latent tendencies are now in a state of dynamic
manifestation. Mind and latent tendencies are thus identical and it is therefore that
Vasishtha has summed up the whole process of liberation as a process of destruction of
Vasanas. Ultimately, the final blow that is given destroys the mind itself. People say, Oh,
if the mind is destroyed, I will be in a state of darkness. I will be gone, and that is a very
horrible, fearful prospect. I myself will go away. With what will I think I am?. This is
limited thinking. This idea is a great delusion, because the best thing that can ever happen
in life is for you to be gone. Because, you are the kingpin of the whole problem of
bondage. Who wants liberation? I. I think I am in bondage; I want liberation. If I am not
there, who wants liberation? Everything is perfect, everything is grand. So, we cling to
this delusion, this evil, this little filth of a limited consciousness. This I is the greatest
bondage. It is the opposite of light, bliss, peace, perfection, wholeness, truth. It is the
grand negation.
In my real nature, I am pure Sat-Chit-Ananda consciousness. Then shall I be free when I
cease to be. I am the ocean, immeasurable. My depth cannot be fathomed. I am thinking I
am this little wave. Merge into the vastness and become the vastness. What a price you
pay for being this little wave! All the misery. The wave is never apart from the ocean.
Even when it is thinking it is a wave, it is only the ocean. We forget that our very essence
is pure being and we want to cling to this outer name-and-form personality. That is our

bondage, our great error. And so, the annihilation of the I is the grandest and the greatest
good fortune that can ever happen to an individual.
The practice of Yoga results in the gradual thinning out of the Vasanas, which spring out
based on this little I-consciousness, and ultimately the mind itself vanishes. Like a cube
of ice melting gradually, the innate tendencies are gradually thinned out, and the mind
vanishes. Where the mind is annihilated, there is liberation. Liberation is the fact.
Perfection is the reality, only there is a dream of this limitation and individuality
superimposed upon Perfection, and when that is removed, what is is. It is always there.
So, there is not someone who attains liberation.
Mind is a myth and the way to deal with it is ultimately a laughable thing; but when it is
there, it seems to be everything. It is not so easy to get rid of it. So, we have to have a
practical formula. And the practical formula is precisely the wonderful wisdom of the
masters of the East and to these masters the world has to be eternally grateful. We are a
creature of the mind. We have a hundred wants.
We first try to recognise that these things are the causes of our sorrow and then we try to
change the situation. But there does not seem to be any clear way. So, modern teachers
bring us to the roots instead, making our minds go into more detail and get confused.
They place the problem before us in its essence. Lord Krishna gives us the whole thing in
a nutshell. Man, brooding upon the objects of the senses, conceives an attachment to
objects. As a man thinketh, so he becometh. So, what do you constantly think about?
Have you ever tried to make a study? Through a day, through a week, or through a
month, try to make a serious study of the contents of your mind. Find out what thoughts
you harbour in your mind during the period chosen.
You have never tried to make a study of yourself. You are the subject who is bound up in
this problem, you are the subject who wants a solution; but you have not studied yourself.
You do not know your own self and yet you want to know the secret of attaining Selfrealisation. Take a typical period, a one-day period or a two-day period. Try. to see the
typical inner content of the mind. It has a miscellaneous inner content, but all that content
has one common characteristic, and that common characteristic is that they all pertain to
the external world. What shall I eat? What shall I wear? How shall I be comfortable?
How shall I get over things that are pebbles in my shoe?. All pertaining to your body,
your mind, your comfort, your senses. It is all confined to the human personality, objects,
enjoyments, sensations. It is all woven round problems pertaining to the external world.
This will characterise the entire inner content of the mind.
Lord Krishna says, If this is your condition, naturally, this is a prolific source of
bondage, because you get attached to those things upon which your mind is constantly
dwelling. Out of attachment springs desire for those things towards which you are
attached. If the desire is not fulfilled, the persons mood becomes negative and it leads to
anger and passion. Where there is anger and passion, the mind is clouded. When the mind
is clouded, all the lessons learned from the past experiences are for the time being lost,

and due to this loss of memory, delusion is created in the mind. Due to delusion, there is
loss of wisdom, and due to loss of wisdom, you come to grief.
As long as you are attached, you are in a state of bondage. Non-attachment only is the
gateway to liberation. And how can you bring about a state, of non-attachment in the
mind, whose very nature seems to be to dwell upon objects, to try to become attached to
things? Mind means thought. Thought means creation of attachment. If you do not think
of anything, you are not attached to anything. If you put a thing out of the mind, you are
not attached to it. The moment it comes back and occupies the mind, you are attached to
it, attached either in a relationship of love or in a relationship of hate. And as long as the
mind has this propensity, this innate propensity of getting attached, the problem remains.
How to solve the problem?
You have to make use of this very propensity of the mind to get attached in order to solve
the problem. This is Yoga. I shall explain. Judo makes use of the very strength of the
opponent who is coming to attack you to get rid of the opponent and put him down. Yoga
is Judo with the mind. The propensity of the mind to attach itself is the root of your
bondage to Samsara. And this propensity being the main factor of the mind, take away
this propensity to attach itself and the mind is no more mind.
That is the mind of the Jivanmukta. He also has got a mind. If you give him questions, he
answers you and if you give him ten dishes and ask what is the best he says, Here, I like
this. So, the mind in the Jivanmukta is intact, but the tendency to attach to outer things is
gone. Mind is there in him, yet it is no mind. They say that the Jivanmukta is like a burnt
piece of rope. The whole ropethe shapeis there, but you cannot bind any one with it.
The soul of the Jivanmukta has touched the philosophers stone and it has become a pure
golden soul24 carat. That soul cannot harm anyone. When attachment is gone, mind is
still mind, but it is no more mind, because the propensity of attachment which is the
strongest point of the mind is no longer there. Yoga asks you to utilise that very
propensity in order to get rid of your bondage. Otherwise, you cannot get rid of the mind.
When the propensity of bondage cannot be completely removed from it, the only way, if
you do not want the mind to get attached to something, is to fix it upon something else.
The mind has to have some thing to rest upon. All right. Fix it upon something else. The
curious fact is that the mind can be fixed only upon one thing at a time. So, if you fix it
upon something else, it cannot be fixed here in Samsara. It is fixed here because it is
interested in it, it is in love with it, it is seriously engaged in it.
Are you all people in love with your income-tax return? No. If you could have your own
way, you would put it into the waste-paper basket, but yet you sit up near the light and
pore over it and try to fill up every column and answer every question and to see that
every figure is accurate. Why do you do it? Because you have to, because there is some
reason for it; and so, your intellect, your reasoning power, is keenly engaged in it and the
mind is concentrated. You do not want to be distracted. Or, if you have a great desire, any
desire, on which you have made up your mind, you say, I am going to do it through
sheer drive of the power of will. You see to it that the mind is fixed upon the job. One

wants to make a certain amount of money. He goes out of his way to see that the mind is
given to a thing somehow or the other. He wants to pile up so much. So, where there is
strong desire and an ambition and a determined will driving it from behind, you are able
to fix the mind. Through the power of the will, or through interest in a certain field, the
mind is attached to things here.
Now, if you do not want the mind to be attached to this world, to be fixed here, you have
to fix it somewhere else. What is that somewhere else, what is that object you can
substitute for this world? What is that object which will take you beyond all sorrow,
beyond all pain, that object which will give you at once a total liberation from all this
bondage of limiting defects, imperfections and weaknesses? It is that object which will
fill you with eternal satisfaction, attaining which nothing more will need to be attained. It
is that object which gives you the feeling, I have attained that now. I have no desire.
Now I lack nothing. Now I am full. That is Bliss. That is Brahman.
And that supernal bliss which is beyond the senses, even the mind cannot grasp. That
object is in every way desirable, in every way wonderful, in every way most beautiful.
That object bestows upon you eternal felicity, eternal beatitude, a joy that cannot be
described. Wonderful, wonderful, the saints acclaim in ecstasy. They call forth: Come,
come, we have attained. They describe it in so many ways which could make the
ordinary man understand.
The Upanishads give a very beautiful description so that you can understand what you are
from your own level. Take a beautiful youth in his heyday, in his prime, in perfect health.
He has a wonderful personality and he is from a very highly aristocratic family, a very
wealthy family. He is a multi-billionaire and highly educated. He has taken first grades in
all degreesin B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. He is very popular. Wherever he goes, people
simply love him. There is nothing that he is not dexterous at. Everywhere he is popular.
He has servants on all sides. He gets the best wife possible, most popular, efficient,
loving, perfect, an ideal partner in every way; and she bears him wonderful children.
Whatever wishes he may express are fulfilled in no time. He has unlimited popularity
everywhere. He has no enemy. Can you imagine his happiness? The happiness of such a
perfect beingtake it to be one unit. Then, the happiness of a celestial being, a higher
being, an angelis a hundred times more than the happiness of this fellow. The
happiness of a dweller of the heavenly region is a hundred times the happiness of an
angel. The happiness of Indra, Who is the lord over all the other gods, is a hundred times
the happiness of a dweller of the heavenly region. The happiness of Brahma is a hundred
times the happiness of Indra. The happiness of Rudra is a hundred times the happiness of
Brahma. The happiness of Vishnu is a hundred times the happiness of Rudra. It goes on
like this. The happiness of the personal god, the supreme Isvara, he who is creator,
preserver and dissolver, is a hundred times the happiness of Vishnu.
Then they say that the happiness of the qualified Brahman, the Brahman without form but
with qualification, is a hundred times the happiness of the personal god with name and
form and qualities. And the happiness of the Absolute, the non-dual unqualified Brahman,
is a million times the happiness of the nameless and formless but qualified Brahman. The

Absolute cannot be compared. The happiness of Isvara is like a grain of sand upon the
seashore, compared to the supreme absolute state of non-dual consciousness. That is
liberation. That is what you will attain if your attain your Self.
Have intense thirst for the Highest. Have hunger for the Infinite, for the Absolute
Being, for Brahman, for the Satchidananda Atmanthus saying, they make you start
wishing, Oh, I must get that. So the Upanishads try to present before you the grandeur
of that great attainment and create in you an aspiration. That is the beginning of your
liberation.
Mind is like a strolling street dog. You are eating out of garbage cans. You who are heir to
immortal glory, divine blessedness! Why are you picking up. these little droppings and
trying to fill yourself? Come, come, discard them. Why go after these filthy things? Thus
the Guru inspires and puts before the aspirants the grand state of the great attainment:
Come, come, beloved, attain that. There is the grandeur, the sunshine; verily, the sun
itself; and you are going after a little glow-worm! So, what happens? That spiritual
awakening is brought about. Then the mind starts getting attached to the Divine. You say,
I want to get attached to It. How can I get attached to It? And therein we have Yoga.
Get attached to it by any means. At present you are attached to the world. You say, I am
attached to family, property, my own body, through my heart, through my senses. All
right, divert your sentiments, emotions, love, heart, senses and affections to the Divine.
How to attach yourself to the Divine? I dont know how you say, It is strange. The
Divine is not strange. These people around you are strangers. Did you have husband,
wife, childrenall that before you were born, before you entered this body? You are like
a driftwood, floating and just coming together with some other driftwood in midstream,
only to separate after a short while. With whom were you before you entered in this
body? With whom are you going to be after you leave this body? Why this attachment?
Why this delusion? Why this illogical assumption They are nearer to me, familiar, so I
can love them? As a matter of fact, the only being with whom you are familiar is the one
with whom you are eternally connected. The rest are passing strangers, people with
whom you had no connection before. You are being irrational. Think straight. They are
strangers.
But, God is your own. He is your nearest, nearer than the nearest. One being whom you
can call your own is God, Brahman. This understanding is instilled into the mind by the
Master who says, My child! Do not be deluded. Why this delusion, loving people with
whom you have no connection? Love that Being. He is your father. He is your mother. He
is your real relative. He is your companion. He is the only one that is all and all to you.
Thus they give you the right thought, the right idea, and they say that to love Him
requires no new effort, no strange effort. You can love Him with the same love pattern
with which you love any being here. If your love is toward your child, think of Him as
your child. If your love is toward your father or mother, think of Him as your father or
mother, for He is anything to you, everything to you. So, you do not have to create some
totally new strange pattern of love to relate yourself with the Divine. The same love that

now abides in your heart and is the root-cause of your bondage, this same attachment,
retain it. You do not have to give it up. Divert it towards the Divine. Develop it,
strengthen it, but let it be diverted towards the Divine. This same love which is now the
cause of your bondage, make it the cause of your liberation by diverting it and connecting
it with the Eternal, with the Divine. This is called Bhakti Yoga. It is the imagination of a
thing that is pleasant and not the actual thing. When you possess it, it becomes painful, it
is not what you imagined. You become caught in it. It gives a mustard-grain of pleasant
sensation, for the moment, but you weep afterwards. By attaining what you go after, you
weep afterwards. This is the everyday experience of man.
There was a young man who was serving a master. The master was a minister to a king,
but he was an illumined soul. He was working like an ordinary minister. And this young
man was very devoted to this master. Once when the master was resting, the enemies
invaded. This man, this servant to the minister, put on the armour of the master, got on
the steed of the master and drove off the enemies. After he drove them off he came back,
but still he did not want to disturb the master in his sleep. When the master himself woke
up later on, he found what this young man had done. He was so very pleased with this
young man. He took him into his personal service, kept him in his office, ministerial
office. And the young man was looking after the ministers personal account books. The
first of every month he used to give the accounts of the previous month. Once he missed
some pennies and he started to find out where the error was; and he got the error at about
2.45 a.m. and he started to dance saying, Oh, I got it! The master was surprised and
exclaimed, Whatever happened to you! The young man never thought that he was so
absorbed in the work and so exhilarated. When the master asked, What is this?, only
then did the young man realise it and shamefacedly he said, I had lost track of some
pennies. I could not balance the accounts and I wanted to give it to you tomorrow. The
master said, If you had diverted even a hundredth part of this keen attention upon God,
by this time you would have attained Self-realisation. That admonition became the
turning point of this young mans life. From that moment he began to divert that same
drive towards God and began to meditate and began to reflect upon God and then he
attained Self-realisation. He became one of the greatest Yogis later on.
So, this is the power of the will. If you make up your mind, saying, My constant thought
of earthly things, my constant involvement in names and forms, is the cause of my
bondage and root-cause of my sorrow. Hence I am now going to withdraw my mind from
these things, I will not allow my mind to get enmeshed in the many and become dizzy
with these things; you begin to withdraw, you begin to discipline your mind and curb the
old habits. Constant discrimination results in a course of mind-training, mind-education,
you withdraw the mind and try to still its activities and try to make it concentrated upon
this great object and you keep on at it, persevering, persisting, never giving up until you
are able to overcome completely the outgoing tendency of the mind and still the mind,
thought and memory and then completely centralise it and fix it upon the objective.
When you succeed in this process, you enter into a state of intense one-pointed
meditation, deep meditation and that gives you superconsciousness. This is Raja Yoga
through the mind. Through the will if you try to divert the reasoning and the

discriminating aspects of the mind, towards analysis, towards inquiry into this great state
which the Upanishad describes with so much grandeur, and begin to ponder over It, begin
to reflect upon It, begin to discriminate between that state and the present state of
delusion, and through discrimination you want to eliminate it, No, I do not want this; it
is called Vedanta. So, through your intellect, through inquiry and analysis, through
discrimination, you enter into a constant investigation into the ultimate Reality and an
equally constant rejection of that which is not the Reality. This is Vedanta. It is also called
Jnana Yoga. When the mysterious faculty which is now holding you in thraldom, which is
the root-cause of your brittle personality, is active, this I is active; when that sinks, I also
is not there.
So, if you conceive a deep interest in the spiritual quest and begin to conceive a disgust
for the worldly type of activity which you have been engaged in all along, it is the
beginning of Karma Yoga, it is the beginning of selfless activity. I shall act, I am
interested in acting. I am interested in this world, but I am no more interested in selfseeking. I am no more interested in trying to gain advantage for myself, in trying to gain
sensual pleasure. I have an interest in this world, I shall act. But, I shall engage only in
altruistic activity, only in selfless activity, activity only in order to serve others, activity
only in order to express my love and desire to make other people happy. So saying, you
engage in activity not with self-interest, but in the interest of all, for the happiness of all,
for the good of all. It is Karma Yoga.
Then there is Bhakti Yoga. In this Yoga of devotion, your interests in the outer world,
your affection and attachment towards outer objects and the desire to attain some outer
objects, are withdrawn from the outer objects and directed solely towards God. The mind
is trained to rest on God instead of on worldly objects. Through any one of these methods
Raja Yoga, Vedanta, Karma Yoga or Bhaktiif the mind which is caught up in this
world-process is withdrawn and made to get engaged in the eternal ultimate Reality, then
the mind becomes the instrument of liberation. Now it is the instrument of bondage, it is
the seat of your delusion. Make it the seat of your wisdom and make it the instrument of
your liberation by diverting its direction and inducing it to get attached and involved in
the Divine Reality. This is Yoga which provides for you a systematic process of minddiversion, a systematic process of this mind entering into a relationship with the Divine.
So, when you cannot take up the sword and straightaway annihilate the mind, then the
only way to do it is to make use of the mind itself in order to deliver yourself from
delusion. Thus, instead of the mind being your deluder, it becomes your deliverer through
the practice of Yoga. Thus Yoga enables you to utilise the mind as an instrument, as a
tool, for your liberation. Hari Om Tat Sat.

Maya
You are a liberated being, beyond the fear of birth and death, beyond all fear, all sorrow.
Attain this state now, say the saints and seers. Again and again they admonish: O man,
having obtained this wonderful gift of the human body and human birth, make the

necessary effort to attain this wondrous state of Kaivalya Samrajya. This body is a
precious instrument given to youprecious instrument of Sadhana. Why is it that, when
such is the case, a vast majority of people live in darkness? This state of forgetfulness,
this state of ignorance of ones true mission in life cannot be explained. We can safely say
that this state is a state of delusion and ignorance. We can only describe it, not explain it.
It is an inexplicable condition of deluding oneself into believing the unreal to be the Real,
and forgetting the Reality and taking the appearances for the Reality and believing that
these unreal appearances can bring happiness.
A beggar was hungry and on an empty stomach he fell asleep. He dreamt that he was at a
banquet and ate and ate courses of dinner. When highly satisfied, he said: Enough!
Enough! No more. But do you think when he woke up, he could wake up with a full
stomach, fully satisfied and no hunger? True happiness, like the beggars banquet, cannot
be had in this world of mere appearances. It can only delude. This state of being deluded
by appearances, forgetting the Reality and missing your goal and becoming submerged in
a state of ignorance of the real purpose of life, is described as Maya by the ancients.
What is this state of Maya? Where does it dwell? What is its nature and how does one
overcome it? These are important questions. Vedanta throws wondrous light upon these
questions. The ancient sages said that man is made up of three layers of consciousness
the gross physical layer of the body consciousness, the inner subtle layer of mental,
intellectual and psychological consciousness and the highest ultimate layer of pure divine
consciousness or spiritual consciousness. That spiritual consciousness is a state of radiant
illumination, wisdom. We can be sure that Maya or ignorance or forgetfulness of Self
cannot be at that level, because that is the very nature of absolute awareness, where there
is fullest awareness of your Reality. It cannot be in your true self or higher self or the
essential spiritual self. The outer physical consciousness too cannot be the plane of Maya
because this physical consciousness is an inert thing; its body is only an inert thing. By
itself, it has no intelligence. It can neither be deluded nor illumined. Both are impossible
as far as the body is concerned. It is just made of five elements and it is like a toy. A
wooden toy is animated by the strings, but it has no volition and no intelligence. It has no
cognition or comprehension. This body cannot be the seat of Maya for the simple reason
that it is inert. So it is just what it is. It cannot be overcome by any knowledge or
delusion. So now, if it is neither in the body level nor in the spirit level, then, where can it
be? It can only be in the interim level of your psychological self. That is exactly its case.
Maya, or the state of self-forgetfulness, or the state of ignorance, or the state of delusion,
is in the interim psychological level of your being. In what state does Maya exist in the
psychological being? It exists in this state, in the particular realm, at this level of your
being as sleep, forgetfulness and a constant state of involvement in passing outer names
and forms. Mind, as Maya, operates upon these three levels. Either it becomes dull and
stupefied, or it goes to sleep. Otherwise it is always outgoing. Maya has made the mind
completely outgoing. It is never able to inhale its inner scent. It is decentralised and
projected outward and is capable of only grasping objects, sights, sound, taste, smell and
touch. So it is totally involved in phenomenon, caught and involved in phenomenon, held
in phenomenon. Another great fatal defect is that it is unable to remain focussed on any

single point for more than a few seconds. It is not only scattered in the multiplicity of the
phenomenal appearance, but is constantly, restlessly moving about from one object to
another and to a third and then to a fourth etc. So these are the ways in which Maya is
operating in your inner centre of your psychological level of your being, as projected
outward from the mind, in involvement in multiplicity of objective perceptions and a
constant restless flux from one to another. This is Maya. This is how Maya is present in
the psychological self.
If you want to overcome Maya, you have to deal with this outward going nature of the
mind, this constant objectification of the mind, this constant restlessness and flitting
about from one object to another. You have to reverse the process, change the mind. You
have to create a new mind. You have to make the Ganga flow towards the Himalayas, not
towards the sea. Such is this process of overcoming Maya, which was scientifically
outlined for you by all the great masters and teachers. They analysed the inner content,
the inner anatomy of this behaviour of the mind. Why does the mind go out? Because it
thinks that happiness is outside. Why does it skip from one object to another? Because it
is ever craving for new experience. It gets attached to the outer names and forms through
the power of the five senses and attracted towards sights, sounds, taste, touch, smell,
form, colour and music. It is therefore enslaved by these senses in the objects of this
universe, thinking its happiness lies there. Therefore, being attached to outer objects and
moved by the outer attraction of names and forms, it lacks discrimination. It does not stop
to question: Will I have my happiness there? What is happiness? Will these objects bring
me happiness? It does not stop to question.
The mind is above the intellectual level, characterised by lack of perception, lack of
requisite enquiry. It never enquires into the proper nature of things. It does not analyse or
try to enquire into the real nature of things, whether they are really capable of giving
happiness. So there is a lack of enquiry, a lack of discrimination and a lack of right
understanding. The mind rushes headlong, backed by the senses, hither and thither and
gets involved and caught in the net of multifarious objects and experiences. It develops
an attachment towards them and wants to possess them and love them. One develops the
idea of mine and entertains the idea: This is mine. I want this, I want that Thus the
creature or the individual soul is caught up in the grip of attachment and out of this it
further develops selfishness, it becomes attached to sense-experience, attached to the
body and thus gets caught in selfishness, egoism, greed and a sense of possession. All
these things, therefore, are the elaborate details of the depth of Maya.
Thus the entire psyche in its aspect as intelligence becomes non-intelligence. Where there
should be knowledge there is delusion, lack of understanding, lack of right enquiry, lack
of discrimination. The level of sentiment and emotion is completely overcome by the
sentiment of attachment to things. In the realm of activity, overcome by selfishness,
overcome by attachment, overcome by greed, it is impelled into a continuous round of
selfish activity, sensuous activity, desire-propelled activity and thus restlessness upon
restlessness for objects never able to satisfy. Desires, when fulfilled, become only more
intensified. They do not subside. That is the very nature of desires. The more you satisfy
them, the more intense they become. They multiply and go on multiplying.

Thus the individual soul is caught in the grip of I and mine attachment and deluded
infatuation and love, caught in the net of non-discrimination. The intellect is clouded,
emotions are completely enslaved and caught up and imprisoned. The person becomes a
creature of selfish activity and the more he runs in the direction of the vast multiplicity of
sense objects, the more scattered his mind becomes. It becomes completely distracted and
restless. There is no concentration within. All is distraction and dispersal of the mind.
Having seen this stage of the deluded mind overcome by Maya, seers and sages
formulated for us the right methods. They said: Turn the mind within, withdraw the
outgoing mind and try to fix it upon the inner object. If it has to be objectified, let it think
of the inner object, One object with the exclusion of all others. Let it practise again and
again, for the innate restlessness of the mind does not allow the practitioner to keep it
focussed upon one thing. There is always constant restlessness and running of the mind
towards objects. So, do not give up. Bring it in, fix it upon the One and go on fixing it
again and again. As many times as the mind moves away, bring it back again, and to
make this process a little sweeter and not dry, develop love for God. You are trying to
meditate upon Him, understand His glory, understand Its sweetness, see how beautiful It
is. It is the Beauty of beauties, It is the most beautiful thing, He is your own, He is the
very acme of supreme love. It is sweetness, beauty, love, bliss. That is God for you.
Therefore, develop a keen longing for It. If you are, up to now, attached to these passing
things, now develop an attachment for That. It is all-perfect. Out of That alone joy comes
to you. Attachment for worldly, perishable objects is the cause for your pain and
suffering; out of attachment for these comes disappointment, frustration and
disillusionment. You are deceived and then you weep. But if the attachment of your heart
is directed upon the all-perfect being, you will never be disappointed, you will never be
deceived, you will never be disillusioned. It would be all that you expected and more, ten
times more, hundred times more. One who knocks at the door of God, never comes to
grief because He is the acme of all perfection, He is the baron of all goodness, all virtue
and all positive things. Therefore one will never be disappointed. Here you will be
disappointed, you will knock from pillar to post, face disappointment after
disappointment and in the end nothing will be achieved. When the time comes to leave
you will say: Alas! Alas! What a wild goose-chase I went after! If I had only knocked on
the right door, sought in the right direction, by this time I would have been blessed.
So the ancient sages said, seek there and you will find the right direction. Develop love
for God. Direct the love of your heart and affection upon That and resolutely withdraw
the mind and fix it upon that inner Reality. As many times the mind goes into the old
grooves, let the intellect admonish it and tell it that it is empty, it is imaginary, it is
perishable, it is only deluding, it is changeful and it cannot give you real happiness.
Therefore, turn towards the Eternal. Discriminate. The unreal cannot give you happiness,
the perishable cannot give you happiness. So, forever discriminate between the real and
unreal, eternal and the non-eternal, the imperishable and the perishable. Let the intellect
be full of philosophical acumen, philosophical discernment. Let it discriminate between
the appearance and the Reality and let it ever make keen enquiry into the real nature of
outer things and reveal the emptiness, uncover the emptiness and seek the Immortal. Let
it goad you towards realisation of the Supreme Being. Let it analyse your inner

experience. Thus the intellect, emotion, sentiments and thought-power of the mind are
unified and made to move in one direction, towards the great Goal, towards the inner
Reality which shines in the chambers of your heart.
It is this process of utilising the potential of your sentiment and emotion, the potential of
your thought-power, the potential of your awakened and discriminative intelligence, your
philosophical acumen in perception, to attain the Reality which is called the Yogic
process. In accordance with that faculty which is made the principle and dominant
faculty, move towards the Reality. It is characterised either as Yoga of the Intellect, Yoga
of the Emotions or Yoga of the Mind or Thought-power. Call it process of meditation or
process of philosophical discrimination and enquiry, or call it the process of devotion or
divine love. While you are engaged in this inner process, take care to see that your outer
activity does not go against this inner direction. Gradually cleanse your outer activity
from the blemish or from the impurity of selfishness. You purify your outer life and
activity, dealing with outer objects, material world, and the impurity of selfishness, greed,
jealousy, envy, impurity and anger which this selfish activity breeds. Where there is
selfishness and greed, all these things are born. Thus the great need of Sadhana of Karma
Yoga for purifying your motivations and activities and raising them to a level of ideals
and selflessness. By spiritualising your activities, by performing actions with an attitude
of worshipfulness and dedicating your activities to the Divine, you convert all activity
into a sacrament, into an act of worship.
Therefore try to support your inner Yogic ascent towards the Reality by your unavoidable
and inevitable activities of your day to day secular living as well, so that you do not
become a house divided against yourself, you do not become your own greatest enemy.
See that the outer and the inner worlds are harmonised by the wonderful concept of
Karma Yoga. Karma becomes Yoga, activity becomes Yogic activity, activity becomes
something to take you towards the Divine, based upon the vision and teaching of Srimad
Bhagavad Gita. The seeking soul, the wise Sadhak, tries to bring about a wholistic
approach to God where efforts are not fermented and made to war with one another. This
is a wholistic approach where the goal of your life and its activityouter and inner are
brought together and given one direction, the Godward direction towards the Ideal,
towards the Reality.
Thus the great teachers brought to us these insights and explained to us the nature of
Maya. They said mind is the Maya. Maya prevails in the mind in these forms of its
outward projection and its involvement in multiplicity and always moving towards
objects. The reversal of this was the way to overcome Maya and it is done through all the
different levels and aspects of the inner being: the sentiment and the emotion, the intellect
and its discriminating faculty, the power of thought, thought-power, attention, power of
concentrated attention.
The entire inner being is rendered into a powerful movement towards God-seeking and
the outer being is also taken as a support. The outer life and activity is also harnessed, as
an additional support. Otherwise, there will be a pull of outer objects and desires, You
will get caught and held at a certain level. So do not obviate this. Let the outer activity of

the Sadhaks daily life also be raised to a new level, heightened by selflessness, idealism,
spiritual feeling, worshipfulness and dedication.
This, then, is the luminous teaching of Vedanta and its inevitable offshootthe science of
Yoga, by which our entire life is rendered spiritual, lifted to a higher plane, given a new
direction and life becomes a process of liberation. Thus should one live. This is the call of
the Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavad Gita is a later message after the Upanishads; it came down
to our level of our daily earthly living and gave us the insights how to direct the channels
or the stream of our active life towards the supreme attainment described in the great
Upanishads.
God bless you all. You have heard, though brief, the essence of some of the most
important concepts in Vedanta as well as in Yoga and these ideas are food for thought.
You have to reflect over them. You may take these as food for thought. You may also take
these as a process of sowing seeds which if nourished by the waters of remembrance and
reflection will sprout forth and grow in your mind giving you the food of wisdom, the
harvest of peace, inner light, inner understanding, deeper understanding and joy.
As additional food for thought, I would like to read to you an extract from one of the
articles of the Holy Master Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. The Holy Master says:
Mind is weak, the senses are strong, the bonds of temptation are stronger still. In the
midst of these three, you are tossed up and down. Spiritual Sadhana alone can impart to
you the inner strength and inner peace. Therefore, do Japa, meditation, Kirtan, Satsang,
study of spiritual books. These will help you and temptations will not assail you any
longer. Do not think of the objects of the senses; think of the Lord Absolute. Cessation
from worldly enjoyment gradually increases the power of the will. Constant practice to
fix the mind on God is Samadhana. Practise Samadhana. Do not allow the mind to
externalise. Check the external instruments and sense-organs: sight, sound, taste, touch
and smell. When the sense objects attract you, withdraw the mind from the objects by
replacing the mind elsewhere. To see Rama or Krishna in sense objects is possible only
for well-advanced students but in the beginning you cannot go carelessly towards sense
objects saying that God is that also, but that God can sting you. If you go to a scorpion
and say God is there, it will sting you. So you have to avoid carefully such forms of God.
The diabetic should not see God in an ice-cream and coca-cola. A devotee offers all his
actions as a sacrifice to the Lord. He feels he is an instrument in the hands of God. The
Lord knows what is best for you. He binds you in a variety of ways. Therefore resign
yourself to the Supreme Will and thus prepare yourself for the attainment of the balanced
inner state, wherein absence of likes and dislikes can prevail. Do not entertain sensuous
thoughts. If you fail in keeping your resolves, do not be disheartened. Make fresh
resolves, just as a child falls many times when it tries to learn to walk, without the help of
a wall when the mother is absent, just as a new cyclist falls from the cycle a number of
times before he learns to sit steadily and balance upon the seat. Even so, the spiritual
aspirant will fall a number of times in keeping up resolutions and instructions. Ultimately
he will come out victorious. Therefore take shelter in the Lord and keep on struggling
inside. His Name will give you the power to overcome. Do not be distracted by anything
upon the path; march forward and try to attain the summit of Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

Restrain the speech and the senses and practise calm, silent meditation during the hours
after dusk in the evening and during the hours before dawn in the morning. These periods
are quite congenial for the practice of Yoga. With gradual practice the mind will soon
come under your control.

Sadhana
Sadhana means having a clear-cut goal which you want to achieve. Your Sadhana implies
that you have already thought deeply about your life and have fixed a certain goal. And
the Lakshya (goal) must be very clear. It is much better to say that I want to attain Godrealisation like Dhruva attained, like Prahlada, Ramdas and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
attained. That is easier to understand. It is better you have as a goal of life what your
mind and intellect can grasp and understand. If there is clarity, the mind can fix and focus
itself with greater definiteness. Otherwise the mind cannot focus on something that is
unclear and vague. So, Sadhana implies that you have thought over deeply about lifes
mystery, about your birth and your goal. It also implies that you have a keen desire to
attain that goal. The Bhagavata, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, Katha Vachaks and
Pundits say that saying that you must attain Moksha is not enough. Individually, you must
have within yourself a great desire to attain that state, whatever it is, whether it is
Bhagavat-sakshatkara, Bhagavat-darshan or Moksha. Whatever that Lakshya is, you must
have a keen desire to attain it, you must feel restless without attaining it. Otherwise,
Sadhana will only be luke-warm, when done half-heartedly. Unless there is that great
intensity of yearning and intensity of longing, that great hunger of the heart, there will not
be that keen edge and intensity in Sadhana. Therefore, they say, again and again,
Mumukshutva (burning desire for liberation).
Meera and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had that unbearable agony of separation from the
Lord, which is called Viraha Vedana in Bhakti Yoga. How long can I be separated from
Him Who is my all in all? Is your heart feeling every moment that He is your all in all?
Are you living, breathing and existing only for Him? Is that feeling there in the heart? In
Vedanta it is called Tivra Mumukshutva, the feeling that this present state is a state of
terrible bondage, unbearable bondage. How keenly a person longs to break the bonds
when he is tied? How eager is a caged bird wanting to get free from bondage? So this
must be felt by you, not merely heard and understood in an intellectual way. When there
is keen hunger, then only will you go in search of food.
Sadhana, therefore, presupposes that you have thought over life. You have felt the need
for something more than eating, drinking, sleeping, having some job and then retiring and
drawing pension and dying. This is not life. This is no good. To reach a higher goal,
Sadhana must be present in your life in the real sense. You must have a fixed higher goal,
a keen longing to attain that goal and a clear concept of that goal. Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa used to give the example of a person immersed under water and held
forcibly. The way he will struggle to come out for a gasp of fresh air, the way he will be
gasping and struggling, that is the way you should be longing to attain your goal.

For giving some food to Rama, Sabari waited for nearly thirty-five to forty years. She
was thinking of Rama, dreaming of Rama, planning to welcome Rama. You must have a
Sabari-like longingplanning, thinking and living only for this one purpose, Rama must
come. Gurudev used to say that suddenly when a house is on fire, how eager one is to
somehow or the other come out of the house and escape death; otherwise, one will surely
be choked to death. That urgency, craving and longing must be there. These are the prerequisites for Sadhana and according to the way in which you have conceived the goal, in
accordance with that will be the methods you employ to attain. If it is Nirakara Nirguna
Parabrahma Tattva, then you will employ Sadhana with Vichara Malika, Vedanta
Sravana, Manana, Nididhyasana, Svadhyaya, having good knowledge of Vyakarana, then
also reading something of Tarka Sastra and afterwards studying Brahma Sutra Bhashya,
Vivekachudamani, Tattva Bodha, Atma Bodha, Jivanmukta Viveka.
You will study all the scriptures and try various ways to attain your goal. If you are a
Bhakta, then you will read the Bhakta-vijayam, you will read the Charitra of the eight
Bhaktas, you will read Bhagavata or Ramayana or any other scripture according to your
Bhakti-Bhav. You will try to do the Japa of the Divine Name, take recourse to the
company of the devotees, go on pilgrimage, have darshan of Mahatmas, darshan of great
devotees, and do Sankirtan, and do Upasana of Sakara Saguna Brahman in the form of
Puja. You will engage yourself in all those Bhava-pradhana Sadhanas, where the
sentiment of love and affection, of friendliness and of respectful devotion is present. This
is the way in which you will try to develop Bhakti and move towards the goal of
Bhagavat-darshan and Bhagavat-sakshatkara. As long as you have a great clinging and
attachment to things of this world and a great eagerness and longing to enjoy objects,
accumulate objects and possess objects, it is not easy to do the right type of Sadhana
whole-heartedly. Your mind is divided and there is no Ananyata in your mind. Ananyata
is essential either for Vedanta Nishtha or for genuine Bhakti, because you cannot walk in
two opposite directions at the same time. Light and darkness cannot exist at the same
time. Man cannot worship God and mammon, says Lord Jesus.
Sadhana should be guided into an effective movement towards God, employing all the
ingredientsSankirtan, Japa, Likhit Japa, Dhyana, Upasana and Svadhyaya. It is the very
nature of the mind to be Chanchal, Sankalpa-Vikalpa, Vikshepa. Therefore, in addition to
the actual Sadhana that has direct relevance with your goal, you must have Prem, Bhakti,
Bhajan, Sravana, Manana and Dhyana. These all have a direct relevance with your goal.
In addition to these various Prakriyas or Abhyasas or Sadhanas which have a direct
connection with your goal, the Sadhaka is advised to engage in other types of Sadhanas
like Asana and Pranayama because the body and mind are connected.
They do not have a direct relevance. By Pranayama you may not attain Bhagavatsakshatkara, by Asana you may not attain Brahma-jnana, but because in all Sadhanas the
mind is a vital factor, everything, has to be done only through the mind. Because mind is
by nature Chanchala, any other type of discipline that has the effect of controlling the
Vikshepa of the mind and making the mind Antar-mukha, also becomes part and parcel of
your Sadhana. That is why Guru Maharaj always used to lay great stress on Asana and
Pranayama. You must practise all these as they are very important, not only from the

point of view of good health but from the point of view of ultimately being able to
control the mind and have Vritti-nirodha. These are very valuable Upa-sadhanas in the
Yoga-marga, Upa-sadhanas in the Adhyatmic Jivana of the Sadhak. All these you must
understand, as Sadhaks, as Mumukshus and Jijnasus. You must be able to understand
these in connection with the Adhyatmic Jivana and Sadhanawhat they imply and what
is necessary for the Sadhana to be effective. You must think over these concepts and
understand Sadhana in the correct way with a deeper meaning.

Satsanga
All things like status, authority, power or wealth can be obtained in this world but there is
one thing which cannot be obtained. It is only given by God. You can only receive it,
not obtain it. No type of authority or power or status or prestige or money or any force
can give this Satsanga. You can purchase the whole world but you cannot purchase
Satsanga. It is only given. You can only receive it if God suddenly makes up His mind to
be gracious and extends His grace upon you. Therefore if you have been given the great
gift of Satsanga then be assured that there is grace present in your life and you are highly
blessed. Jagadguru Bhagavadpadacharya Adi Sankaracharya, expounder of the Kevala
Advaita Vedanta, who dismissed this whole visible world as Mithya (Slokardhena
pravakshyami yadulaam granthakotibhih, brahma satyam jagan-mithyah jivo-brahmaiva
naparah), yet when he put forward the concept of Vyavaharic Satta he recognised the
reality of Satsanga and said that it is powerful enough to ultimately awaken you from this
dream of Prapancha and grant you Jivanmukti. As long as you are dreaming, the
awakened state is unreal to you, dream only is real. So we may talk of Brahman, but
Brahman is only a vague unreality to you. Only money, land, property, house, bankbalance, motor-car, wife, husband, clothes, possessions, these only are realities. So, when
you are in this dream-like world due to the sleep of ignorance, what about the reality of
Brahman? It is never remembered, it is never known, it is simply a vague concept. So in
this state of ignorance in the dream-like world, the Aneka and the Nama-Rupa are beheld
to be real. We give great importance to them and never feel that they are all useless husk.
Even Sankaracharya is compelled to concede to the present unawakened state of the
bonded soul who alone can be a Jijnasu or Mumukshu or Sadhaka.
Once you have attained your final Goal there is nothing more to be attained. So Upadesa
and all that is not necessary for a realised soul. It is of no value. All the scriptures become
a shopping-list. After you have purchased all the items, you throw it away; you dont
bring the shopping-list back home, since you have ticked off all the items in your
shopping-list. Scriptures become superfluous once you have attained the Supreme
Reality. So Upadesa-sahasra, Sadhana-panchakam, Vivekachudamani, Atma Bodha,
Tattva Bodhafor whom are they necessary? Not for a Jivanmukta, not for a Brahmajnani. They are for those who are in this state of ignorance, who are dreaming the dream
of this world. And so Sankaracharya had to concede a relative reality for this state of
ignorance and bondage and provide for it, provide for the awakening factor. In so doing
he recognised the Vyavaharika Satta of Satsanga and put it in an aphoristic verse

satsangatve nissangatvam, nissangatve nirmohatvam, nirmohatve nischala tattvam,

nischala tattve jivanmuktih.
He connected Satsanga directly with the highest attainment of Jivanmukti. He said
something very interesting. How does it bring about the Jivanmukti? Satsanga brings
about Jivanmukti in a gradual way. First it creates Nissangasatsangatve nissangatvam.
What is this Nissanga and where is its necessity? I am going to make this the subject of
my talk, this concept of Nissangatva, because in showing the way of achieving Yoga even
in the midst of Vyavahara, even in the midst of all your earthly activities, whether you are
a Brahmachari, whether you are a Grihasthi, whether you are a Vanaprasthi, as long as
you are in Prapancha, as long as you have not made Sarvasanga-parityaga and gone into
pure Nivritti, how do you solve this problem of having to constantly be in the midst of
many, the world of names and forms and yet keep the One Reality as the goal? How is it
possible? The world of many distracts, disperses the mind, draws it out, brings it out and
scatters it; and Yoga requires that the mind should be indrawn. Just now Swamiji said
antarmukhi bano (become indrawn), take the mind towards the Hridaya (heart), where
there is the Atma-tattva. How can one bring about this awareness of the inner reality, in
the midst of Vyavahara, in the midst of all the activities of Kartavya Karma in the
Vyavaharic Jagat? When trying to instruct the Sadhak in the Vyavaharic Kshetra how
does one keep up the state of Yoga?
Gitacharya Jagadguru Krishna says something similar to what Sankara Bhagavatpada
said in this verse. He speaks about Nissanga. Lord Krishna says yogastha kuru
karmaniEngage in action but within be in a state of constant union with the Divine.
He follows it by saying sangam tyaktva dhananjaya. He says Bhagavan se nata jodo
(attach yourself to the Lord). He says that at the same time you must renounce company.
Bhagavan ke sath sangh jodna aur prapancha ke sath sangh todna (attach yourself to the
Lord and detach yourself from the world). So Satsanga must lead to Nissanga. What is
this Nissanga that both Sankaracharya as well as Jagadguru Krishna want us to cultivate?
Satsangatve nissangatvamthe result of Satsanga should be Nissanga and yogastha
kuru karmani sangam tyaktva dhananjaya.
Sangha Tyaga of what? Naturally not of Vyavahara because He is trying to tell you to be
active, to engage in activity, and so upon the most evident level Sangha Tyaga is of all
those factors that are contrary and inimical to your inner spiritual state. We are trying to
do two contrary things. We can succeed only when we at least renounce our association
with those things which are grossly undivine, grossly unspiritual. Bhagavan says two
things without any ambiguity, very clearly in the 16th Chapter when He gives us the Yoga
of the Daiva-asuri-sampad-vibhaga-yoga. He says that if you keep association, if you
have within you Asuri Sampada you cannot attain God, because the very nature of Asuri
Sampada is such that it will take you to greater attachment. Very clearly He says Daivi
Sampada will give you Moksha, Asuri Sampada will take you into greater bondage.
Therefore you have to study the 16th Chapter of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita and renounce
all associations with everything that has been described as Asuri Sampad in that Yoga.
This is a must. This is absolute, indispensable, must for Sadhana. And out of His

compassion and mercy, Lord Krishna goes one more step to make it a little easier for us.
He says, generally, Asuri Sampad takes you to more bondage. We are all in the contrary
states. If you want to keep inner contact with God in the midst of Vyavahara you have to
resolutely turn away from the following: impure desire, unholy desire, greed, anger,
timidity, egoism, I-ness and mine-nessAbhimana. We have to go along the path of
Sattva in Sattva Guna. You must break away from the company of Tamo Guna and Rajo
Guna, develop in Sattva, progress in Sattva. There are three obstacles in Sadhana:
impurity of mind, the oscillation of the mind, and Ajnana, the wrong notion that I am
body, I am name and form. These three have to be overcome. Through Nishkama Karma
Yoga Sadhana Mala is removed; through Sakara Saguna Bhakti-yukta Upasana, Vikshepa
is overcome and through Dhyana, Deergha Dhyana and Jnana which is always there,
Avarana is pierced.
So in order to remove the first obstacle, Mala, Kama-Krodha-Lobha-Moha-MadaMatsarya, Irshya-Trishna, we have to go into Satsanga. Through Sravana, following the
instructions that you receive during Satsanga, Sad-upadesh and through Svadhyaya,
gradually the mind and heart become purified. All the impurities of the mind in the form
of Kama, Krodha etc., go away. The heart becomes pure, and then one becomes fit to
enter into the stage of Sadhana. Ponder over the significant connection between Satsanga
and Nissanga, Yogavastha inside necessitating the Sanga Tyaga with all those factors
which are unspiritual, undivine, inimical and unfavourable to your progress in Yoga,
progress in spiritual life, spiritual Sadhana.

Divine Name
I wish to bring to your attention a great act of grace by Bhagavan. Due to the rule of Kali
Purusha in the fourth Yuga, there is the power of darkness. Krita Yuga is Golden Age,
Treta Yuga is Silver Age, Dvapara Yuga is Copper Age and Kali Yuga is Iron Age. An
iron piece rusts very easily and if it hurts you it becomes septic. In Krita Yuga, Treta Yuga
and Dvapara Yuga spiritual activities were easier and they got results because there was
dominance of Sattva. After that gradually more and more Rajo Guna came. Bhakti and
Bhajan are very difficult in Kali Yuga as there is dominance of more Tamo Guna and
everywhere there is darkness, ignorance, Raga-Dvesha and Asuri Sampad. You all know
how the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana starts. It starts with the Prasanga of Narada
coming across a mother and son, Bhakti and Vairagya, in a state of great oldness,
dilapidated, weak and sick. When he asked them who they were and why they were
suffering, the mother answers, I am Bhakti and he is Vairagya. Kali Yuga has come,
therefore, we have no strength. We have become helpless. We have been overcome by
weakness. So, what is the way to revive? Hear the Mahima, the glory of Bhagavan; by
listening to the Lila of Bhagavan you will develop Prema, attachment and Bhakti for
Bhagavan and then that will become a way of release from the bondage of Kali Yuga.
Even Bhakti became helpless and lost her strength. So did Vairagya. There is no Bhakti,
no Vairagya in Kali Yuga. There is a lack of Dharma. There is Adharma everywhere and
in the name of Dharma, Adharma is done, in the name of spirituality unspiritual things

are done. In the name of truth, man will swear, I swear by God that I will speak the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And when he is swearing also, he knows that
he is going to tell lies. So the oath itself is a falsehood before a witness. Without blinking
an eyelid people come, take the witness stand and take the oath by God saying that they
will speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, knowing full well that they
have been told to lie and they have agreed to lie and they are going to lie the next
moment. It is a very difficult problem to know who is telling the truth and who is not.
The problem is not of who is telling a falsehood, but of who is telling a lesser falsehood.
So that is the effect of Kali Yuga. Everywhere untruth, everywhere dishonesty,
everywhere hypocrisy, everywhere showing something outside, being something inside.
People maintain three account books, one for oneself, private, one for the business
partner and one for the Income-tax Officer. Son deceives the father, father deceives the
son, husband deceives the wife, wife deceives the husband, brother deceives brother,
leaders deceive the public. Whenever I meet Gulzarilal Nandaji he always says,
Swamiji, what has our nation come to? In the name of Dharma, in the name of religion,
people practise deceit, people tell falsehood, people are hypocrites, people dupe the
public and therefore all faith has been lost. People have lost belief in temples and
religion, even in spirituality and saints, because they have had bitter experiences. All
appearances are made for inner deceit and people have lost all faith and belief. He
speaks of bribery, corruption, dishonesty, among all people. He is trying his best since
many years to try to find a way to make people honest. He has failed.
In this state of affairs, when instead of truth, nonviolence, chastity, only violence, bad
conduct and falsehood is being practised, what is the state of spiritual Sadhakas, really
sincere spiritual people, who want to move towards God, who want to progress
spiritually? They are caught in this situation where nine out of ten people are totally
devoid of any sense of conscience or Dharma-Adharma, good and bad, right and wrong.
That is the situation. How can spiritual people pull on in this atmosphere? As a great
assurance, great message of hope, Srimad Bhagavata says that in spite of it being Kali
Yuga, in spite of the prevalence of Adharma, Atyachara, Asatya, Durachara and all this
Andhakara, Kali Yuga contains one redeeming feature, one very great quality. Therefore,
some even say that they are very fortunate to be born in Kali Yuga. What is that
redeeming feature of Kali Yuga? In Kali Yuga Bhagavan has so laid down, so arranged,
that only by the power of the Japa of His Divine Name you can attain liberation, you
can free yourself from the clutches of Kali and become liberated. In this ocean of evil
called Kali Yuga, there is one great good quality. Merely through the chanting of the
Divine Name of the Lord, human beings will become liberated from all sin, from all
bondage and impurity.
So when that Name is there what is there to fear? Take shelter in the Divine Name. No
matter whether you are a Vedantin or a Raja Yogi or a Karma Yogi, dont leave the
practice of the Divine Name. Let the practice of the Divine NameJapabe an integral
part of your Sadhana. Do Japa with faith, with devotion, with deceit-free nature, and
feeling the presence of the Divine. God is here and now, He is all-pervading, therefore
when I call Him, He immediately looks at me with a glance of Grace, showering Grace

upon me, because He is not far off. He is close to me. With this great understanding, take
to the practice of the Divine Name. Name is the great liberating force that can help you
cross the ocean of Samsara in Kali Yuga.
Hearing the message of hope, you need not despair. We need not think that in this age of
darkness, of Kali Yuga, how is it possible to attain liberation. The Lord says, Yes, I have
made it very, very easy in this Kali yuga, knowing the condition of man, his helplessness
and weakness. He has so made it, that in spite of all the drawbacks of Kali Yuga, He
made Bhagavadsakshatkara easy, simple, through a direct method. Through the Name
itself you can attain God. Those who have attained God through this method, ultimately
discovered the great secret. They said Name and God are one and the same. They are not
different. They are identical. Nami and Nama are the same. There is no difference.
Appearing in two different forms, they are actually one and the same. A silver Rupee has
two sides, but these two sides are of one coin only. In as much as this side is Rupee, that
side is also as much the same Rupee. So they are obverse and reverse of the same coin.
I constantly tell people when they take the Mantra: Mantra is Pragat-svarupa
Paramatma. Bhagavan assumes Mantrasvarupa and comes into the life of the Jiva in order
to do Uddhara to the Jiva. So Mantra is a form assumed by the Lord Himself as Sabda or
Nada. Parabrahma is Sakara Saguna and Nirakara Saguna and Nirakara Nirguna. Sakara
Saguna is Rama, Krishna, Vishnu, Sankara and all that. Nirakara Nirguna is Parabrahma
Tattva. But Nirakara Saguna is Nama. It has no shape but it is all the Gunas, Santi, Satya,
Jnana, Jyoti, Sakti filled with Divine potentiality. Each Name is a powerful centre of
Divine potentialities and it can take you to the highest blessedness. God identified
Himself with the practice of Nama-Sadhana in Bhagavad Gita. He said, Among all the
ways of attaining spiritual beatitude, among all the ways of offering yourself unto Me, I
am Japa Yajna Yajnanam japayajnosmi.
Yajna means offering yourself to God. He identifies Himself with the method of offering
yourself, your consciousness to the Divine, through the practice of the Divine Name and
those who base their Sadhana upon the practice of the Divine Name are very, very safe.
Dont think that only the Bhaktas practise the Divine Name. Vedantins are expected to do
Pranava Japa or the Mahavakya Japa. They also do Japa. Sannyasins also do Pranava
Japa. But they do it with Eka Bhava. Between Bhakta and Bhagavan there is a
relationship, either of Dasya or Sakhya or Vatsalya or Madhurya or Santa Bhavafive
Bhavas. They do it with this sentiment.
When you are engaged thus in doing Japa Sadhana, there are a few rules that you must
adhere to. You must have for yourself some irreducible minimum as your daily quota of
your Japa Sadhana; less than that you must never do. You can do more, the more you do,
the more will be the benefit. But you should not fail to do less than that prefixed
minimum. It is very beneficial if you can do it in the morning itself, so that in case due to
any pressure or special work you are not able to finish the required quota, then you can
finish it that same night. If you keep it for the night and you dont finish it, saying I will
add it to tomorrows quota then you will have a problem. So you should not go to bed

before you finish that days quota. That is the safest method. Minimum Japa for the day
should be fixed and adhered to, without fail.
Secondly, when you are doing Japa, you must also think of the Lord. Keep a picture of
the Lord in front of you, look at it, and go on doing the Japa. Then close your eyes and
try to visualise God inside. Thus you must go on doing Bhagavat-chintana and Japa both
combined together. Another way of doing it is by writing the same Mantra in a specially
kept notebook, every day at a time when you will not be disturbed. Pick up the notebook
and with a very beautiful handwriting, paying good attention, without haste, without
hurry, with great Bhava and feeling, you must write, with intense concentration, Once
you take up that writing, you should not stop until you have finished that one page or half
page, whatever you have fixed for yourself. At that time you should neither talk, nor look
here and there. You should observe Mouna for the duration of writing. If the telephone
rings or someone knocks at the door, someone calls, do not respond. This Niyama should
be observed in Likhita-Mantra Japa and it will give you maximum benefit specially if you
give it a lot of concentration. It is advisable that you do the Japa at a fixed hour and the
same time every day. A certain power is thereby generated in that Asana. The moment
you sit for Japa, the mind becomes Antarmukti and Sattvic. There is no Vikshepa, no
distraction due to the force of Samskaras and vibrations of the Japa, day after day, at the
same time, same place. The Asana also becomes very holy by doing this practice
regularly at the same place, on the same Asana.
Even though you may have Dhyana of Sakara Saguna Svarupa of your Ishtadeva, even
though you may be doing little Upasana, Mukti Upasana, during your Puja, yet you must
understand, your Ishtadeva also has got a Paratpara Svarupa. This Paratpara Svarupa is
without name, without form. It is SatchidanandaSarvavyapi Satchidananda. Whether it
is Narayana or Siva or Saravanabhava or Kartikeya or Subramanya or Rama or Krishna
or Devi. All these Svarupas of your Ishtadeva have a Paratpara Svarupa in which it is
unlimited. It is Pure Consciousness and in that Paratpara Svarupa your Ishtadeva is not
confined to that Akriti but all-pervading. In that all-pervading, subtle, spiritual aspect, He
is present everywhere. Wherever you are, whatever you are engaged in doing, morning
till night, He is present everywhere. He is also present within you as your Antaryamin
Bhagavan, thus making your body a holy place, a sacred place, a temple of the living
God.
Thus you must realise the sanctity of God, knowing that your Ishtadeva as Paratpara
Svarupa is seated in your heart, as your Antaryamin, Satchidananda Svarupa, Jyotirmaya
Paramjyoti Svarupa Bhagavan. He is seated in your heart and He is seated in the hearts of
all beings. He pervades everywhere. So, no matter what your Karyakshetra, you are doing
it in the Sannidhya of Bhagavan. Feel the presence of God, feel the presence of the
Divine. This being the truth, that He is Sarvatra, Sarvam Krishnamayam Jagat, Sarvam
Vishnumayam Jagat, Sarvam Sivamayam Jagat, Sarvam Saktimayam Jagat, whatever
your Ishta, you must regard Jagat as being Ishtamayam Jagat. Develop this vision and this
Bhav. Therefore, when your entire life, all your Vyavahara, all your Kartavya Karmas, all
your Vyavaharic life is being lived in His presence, it should be lived worshipfully.
Whatever you do, do worshipfully and offer it at the feet of the Lord. Even in the midst of

your activity have a constant unbroken Bhagavat-smaran. You can repeat your Ishta-naam
or Mantra mentally during the Vyavaharic time. The repetition need not be confined only
to that time of Japa Sadhana. Repetition can go on even when you are in the midst of
activity.
Someone asked me if the Japa can go on in the bathroom or in the lavatory. If you are
doing with Nishkamya Bhav, only for the sake of propitiating God, only for His Darshan,
only for obtaining Bhagavad-darshan and Moksha, then there are no restrictions on Desa,
Kaala or anything else. At all times and anywhere you can dolavatory, bathroom, urinal
everywhere. Before bath, after bath, before eating, after eating, all time is time for
Japa. All time is fit and suitable and sacred because you are doing it in the presence of
God. As a matter of fact, it has got the power of transforming impure places into pure
places. If you are sitting in the lavatory, if you utter the Name of God, the lavatory
becomes a holy place. Where there is God, where there is Nama, that place is a holy
place. It is a sacred place. There cannot be any impurity about it. It is an all-purifying
agent and has great power, universal power. How can impurity remain there?
When you bring in light, darkness must fly; no matter what darkness it is, it must fly. So
that is the power of light. You cannot pollute Ganga-jal. Ganga-jal is always purifying. It
is just like Ganga-jal. His Name is to be constantly remembered, constantly uttered,
mentally, in the midst of Vyavahara. It is the all-purifying Divine power. There is nothing
in this universe to equal that all-purifying Divine power. It is the Power of powers and
has been given to us because we are fortunate to be born in Kali Yuga. This has been
made the Supreme Path to attain God. Nama itself is enough to sustain us in Kali Yuga.
The only thing is that under the cloak of the Name, you should not do wrong things. It is
all-purifying, it will free me from all sins; therefore I can commit sin today also and
tomorrow I can be purified if I utter the Name. This mischievous attitude is not good.
There are ten Nama-aparadhas. One of them is using the Divine Name for negative
purposes. Another great Aparadha is swearing by the Divine Name. You should never
take the Name for Sakshi; it is a great Aparadha. By bathing in the Ganga all sin is
washed away. So, if you are living by the banks of Ganga, you cannot think every day I
am taking bath, so every day I can do what I want, every day I will be purified. This
should not be done. This is a Nama-aparadha. You must be very, very careful. You must
treat the Nama with sanctity, respect and reverence. Nama, the sacred Name of God, must
not be used for any wrong things. Use it only for getting Bhagavat-anugraha, and
Kaivalya Samrajya, Kaivalya Moksha. Keep the repetition of the Divine Name secret and
sacred. It is between you and God. Any third person is not concerned with it. So we
should not utter it in the presence of others. When you are alone you can utter it with full
voice; otherwise do Manas Japa, mentally and in silence. If the Guru says, you must
repeat at least so many Malas per day without fail, you should not stick to the minimum.
The minimum number is prescribed in the beginning of your Sadhana, so that you dont
neglect your Sadhana. It is your duty to see that this minimum is gradually raised as you
go on advancing in spiritual Sadhana.

Ultimately, I would like to tell you one other indispensable thing. Even though Name has
been declared to be the Supreme Power by which you can be liberated, you can overcome
the influence of Kali in this Iron Age, dark Iron Age, if you want to go beyond death. If
you take a little bit of , if you take a little bit of nectar or ambrosia you become deathless
and immortal. But if someone is prepared to give you Amritam and you go to him and he
asks, What have you brought? Have you brought a little plate or a cup or a container?
and you say, No, I have not brought anything, then how can you take it? If you have to
take Amritam, you have to bring something to hold it. In the same way to practice the
Divine Name, you should have a Patra. Patra has two meanings, vessel and also fitness
Patratvam. So there should be something to contain it. What is that in which the practice
of the Divine Name becomes well-contained? Generally, as I told you, that Container is
called Dharma. If there is Dharma all our spiritual Sadhana becomes fruitful. It is in the
receptacle of Dharma that you can put the seed of spiritual Sadhana and the tree of
spiritual life will grow and give you the fruit of Moksha. It is in the frame-work of
Dharma that all good works and all Sadhana become successful.

Be Your Own Saviour, Says Lord Krishna

Radiant Immortal Atman! Blessed and beloved children of he Lord! The Gita contains the
quintessence of our scriptures and spiritual lores. You know the Gita thoroughly and if
you have studied it with a deeper perception, then there is no need of studying any other
scripture, because the practical spiritual wisdom of all the scriptures is put into the
Srimad Bhagavad Gita. Scholars are in a habit of saying that every Sloka is all important.
Not a single Sloka is there which is not of a specific purpose. And some scholars have
studied and made research in such a way that you cannot alter any one verse. If a certain
word is used with a certain specific purpose, why has it been used and not another word?
Because in Sanskrit sometimes the same meaning can be brought out by half a dozen
different words. If you ask why another substitute or another alternative was not used in
place of this word, they say there is a specific reason. After thorough study we begin to
realise the implication of each word.
Yesterday I centred my talk around the verse Anityamasukham lokam imam prapya
bhajasva mamhaving come into this temporary world which is full of sorrow, unreal
happiness and unreal joy, worship Me. That is the way of going beyond all sorrow,
transcending pain and suffering and entering into the state of true bliss. That is why He
stated the nature of life on this earth and simultaneously stated the way out of it and to go
beyond. Anityam asukham describes the nature of the world. Imam prapya bhajasva
mam tells the method to liberate yourself from this imperfect experience of the world.
Today I wish to draw your attention to another such very categorical injunction of the
great World Teacher: Uddharet atmanatmanam. In one context He says to Arjuna: O
Arjuna, this Self should be saved by the Self alone. You have to save yourself. You are
your own saviour. You know our very orthodox Christian brothers, specially German

Catholics; they have this as one of their cardinal doctrines that there is only one saviour,
that through Jesus Christ only one can be saved, never through anyone else.
So, does this contradict that saying when He says that you have to save yourself by
yourself?. It does not contradict. We also know that only the grace of God can liberate a
person. They use the word Jesus and we use the word grace of God. Ultimately it is the
same. Whole of Ramanujas philosophy is built upon this doctrine of Prapatti. Prapatti
means the absolute surrender to the Divine by which alone one can be saved. Unless there
is an absolute surrender, you cannot be saved. Yet, unless the individual himself makes
the necessary effort to accept his sins and determines to turn away from sins, repent for
what he has done before and then appeal to Jesus and accept him as his personal saviour,
Come please, I accept you as my personal saviour, come and save me from sins. Unless
he does it, even Jesus does not save him. So repent for your sins. Then He will call
Come unto Me. Through Me alone you can reach the Father. The first step has to be on
the side of the individual. I shall repent for the sins I have committed. I shall sin no
more. You alone can save me. I accept you as my personal saviour.
This Jesus will not do for him. This is something which the individual has to do. When
we accept that the Divine Law, the grace, is the only factor that can save us, yet to qualify
for that saving one must accept the Lord as his only Saviour, one must take the step, one
must repent for what he has done and one must determine never to lead that type of life
again. All these steps, repentance, turning away from old type of living, wanting to be
saved and then accepting the Lord as the Saviour, these are the steps which one has to
take for oneself.
Supposing there is a drowning person. A shipwreck has happened in an ocean, fifty or
hundred people are struggling for life and some other ship comes by and then they throw
life-lines. But it is the man struggling in the water who must catch hold of the life-line.
Though life-line is there, unless you make the effort to go and catch hold of it, they
cannot take you out of the water. Even in this absolute state of helplessness self-help is
the ultimate factor that will decide whether you will drown or whether you will survive.
So it is this significance that you must understand from this injunction of the Lord:
Uddharet atmanatmanam. This is fully compatible with the doctrine of grace. Grace
showers upon that being who craves for grace. Calling for grace means one who is
completely averse to and disgusted with the life that he has been leading. Though once
upon a time he enjoyed it with full gusto, now an awakening has come, a realisation has
come, What have I been doing? What a great horrible life I have been leading? What a
fool I have been all these days. Never shall I repeat this kind of thing again. So he must
have felt this disgust, he must have recognised the wrongness of his ways, he must have
felt deep disgust with himself and a desire to become something which we cannot do for
him.
If you are hungry your mother can prepare food and put before you. She cannot eat it and
appease your hunger. By the doctor taking the medicine the patient will not be cured. The
patient has to take the medicine to cure himself. They say that even if the best intensive
care is given to a patient in a first rate hospital, if he has lost the desire to live, he cannot

be revived. He will not survive; he will die, if he has lost the will to live. So there must be
a cooperation on the part of the patient. He must want to live and not die. Then anything
is possible. So the Lord says, Uddharet atmanatmanamthe Self must be saved by the
Self itself, which means the lower self which is caught in ignorance, Ajnana, delusion,
Maya and, therefore, bound, has to make its own efforts to break through this cage of
Ajnana, come out of darkness into light. And one must somehow remove the cobwebs of
illusion and start to discriminate and have right perception, right thought, right enquiry,
right discrimination. This is what is called Abhyasa. Lord Krishna says that through
Abhyasa one can overcome all conditioning. One must, therefore, persist in doing the
right type of exertion.
Abhyasa means continuous perseverance, persistent effort, without giving, without
accepting defeat. I may succeed; I can succeed; I will succeed. Like this, go on making
persistent effort. If that is done, there is nothing that cannot be achieved.
There is a very interesting saying in Hindi in Northern India Karata karata abhyasake
jadamati hota sujan; by constantly making effort even a dull person becomes wise.
There is also another example of granite stone. In some of the villages of India there are
wells where by the use of granite stone the villagers draw water using coconut-fibre rope.
If the well is two or three feet, over that they put granite slab. And the lady puts one of
her legs on the slab and then draws water. And so coming and going, this coconut-fibre
rope rubs against the granite. And it is a wonder, if you see in old village wells, you will
find that all along on all four sides of this granite stone grooves have been cut. You-will
make semi-circular grooves. How? What is granite and what is coconut-fibre rope? The
sheer persistent rubbing of the rope against the granite gradually wears down the granite
particles and brings about a complete groove, as thick as a rope, Ardhachandrakara,
half-moon shaped groove will be there. Avata javata rasari sila par karat nishan, the
coming and going of the rope makes it mark upon the granite, by the power of persistent
application. So man becomes divine if he persists in his effort without giving up. This is
the very essence of Abhyasa. And so the Lord says that one should practise this Abhyasa.
The results will come automatically by themselves.
You all know King Bruce of Scotland flung himself down in a lonely mood to think. It is
true that he was a king and wore a crown but his heart was beginning to sink! He was
about to despair. He had run away after defeat in a battle, took shelter in a forest cave,
hiding. He was very, very lonely and dejected, depressed and hopeless. As he was
gloomily looking in this state of despair, what happened, a spider fell down from the
ceiling. You know what these spiders do while falling. They invisibly bring a thread
while falling. We think they are simply falling. But you will find them climbing up. When
it was falling already it has let out a strand of its web. So it went up immediately as it
came down. This man was fascinated at this scene. When the spider was about to reach
the ceiling, it had climbed off the distance it fell down. Now this man became really
interested. He forgot his sorrows and dejections. He wanted to know what the spider
would do. It went up and fell again. Once it fell, again it went; second time it fell, again it
went up; third it fell, again it went up. This went on happening once, twice, thrice, four
times, five times, six times, seven times, eight times. This man was all attention.

Ultimately that creature went up for the ninth time and joined the roof. This man thought,
What a fool I am. If this creature is so very persistent, am I to despair? No. From the
observation of that spider at once his mood was changed. I wont give up, he said. The
spider inspired him. Try, try and try again, you will succeed. Then he came out of the
cave and went on trying, and then won back his kingdom, King Bruce of Scotland. In this
way you should do Abhyasa. One must depend upon oneself. And one must draw
inspiration from all things.
Gurudev used to say, Guru can show you the way. Guru can inspire you. Guru can try to
give you a little bit of enthusiasm , some courage. But you will have to keep your feet
yourself on every rung of the spiritual ladder. Guru cannot do Sadhana for you. Sadhana
is Sadhakas business.
This spiritual life, attainment of supreme Bliss, is a matter of sincere persistent effort,
persevering effort. This is the meaning of the verse Uddharet atmanatmanam. The
lower self with its delusion, with its ignorance, with its darkness, attachments and
bondage should be lifted up, to the awakened intellect, the Buddhi, i.e., the higher Self.
Later on the spiritual consciousness itself becomes the great power that lifts you up. But
until that spiritual consciousness is awakened it is the discriminating intellect, intellect
that has become inspired by idealism, is the great factor. Always this intellect should be
allowed to predominate, that should be allowed to prevail. And this awakened intellect
should be allowed to guide us and it should be inspired by Svadhyaya, going to saints,
listening to their inspired instructions and advice. In this way the intellect becomes more
and more strengthened in its great desire to become ideal. And so through Svadhyaya,
through Satsanga, through Sravana, through inspiring talks, one must draw inspiration
and strength. And such an intellect becomes the friend of the Sadhaka. It becomes the
purified intellect. We call it Suddha Buddhi, Vivekatmaka Buddhi, the Buddhi that is now
qualified by discrimination, spiritual discrimination. And this purified Buddhi becomes
the uplifting factor within our own Antahkarana, the lower mind, which is running after
sense-objects and the delusion should be lifted up by the higher mind, that is the Buddhi,
which has been purified by discrimination and higher spiritual qualities. Thus you have to
be your own saviour. This is the clear instruction of Lord Krishna.
Be up and doing, be full of self-confidence, be serene. With the help of God I can
achieve anything. Self-confidence should not take the form of pride or arrogance I can
achieve anything but with the help of God. That robust self-confidence only made Lord
Hanuman to cross the ocean. But he did not arrogate this success to himself. He said,
With the power of Ram Nam what can I not do? So his self-confidence as spiritual
confidence which was based upon absolute faith and trust in the Divine Name. So one
should have this sort of self-confidence, not egoism. So with boldness, self-confidence
and absolute trust in the Divine Power one should exert in the right direction. Also the
Lord says, The uncontrolled self of the seeker is his own greatest enemy and the
controlled self becomes his own greatest friend. If you have to raise yourself by your
own Self you must have self-control, you must be a Samyami, you must have control
over your senses, you must conquer impure desires. Then you will be able to uplift
yourself by your own self.

If you are a slave to your senses and completely in the hands of them, a puppet in the
hands of desires and cravings of the mind, then this injunction cannot be fulfilled. You
cannot lift yourself. On the contrary you will be the person who drags yourself down.
One must understand the injunction properly. And one must know what are the necessary
things in order that one may become ones own saviour. If you want to uplift yourself by
yourself, then be a Samyami, control your senses and earnestly try to overcome the
cravings and desires of the mind. For this you must also practise self-punishment. If you
are something, if you have taken up a resolution and if you fail in it, that day someone
else is not going to punish you. Because you are going to be your own saviour. Say I
wont take food tonight because I have failed in my practice. Four or five times if you
do like that, the mind will be careful, because it does not want to miss the food! You must
mean business with it. When you do that it will gradually know what its place is and it
will learn the lesson. This self-punishment campaign was something which Sri Gurudev
liked very much.
Of course, he learnt it from Mahatma Gandhi who used to do self-examination and also
self-punishment. So Gurudev has incorporated self-punishment as one of the items in
Spiritual Diary. You will find in it, How many times you failed in keeping up your
resolves? How many times you failed in controlling the senses? How many times you
gave away to anger? And then with what self-punishment? Various are the methods of
self-punishment. You can stand on one leg in the centre of the garden and do fifty Malas
of Japa, that is one way. Not taking food is another way. And more difficult way of selfpunishment is not to touch salt for one week. It is terrible to the mind. But it is a real
spiritual discipline. Because it is part of this process of uplifting yourself by your own
self. These are all the methods that have to be adopted. These all go to give you success
in fulfilling the injunctions and instructions of Lord Sri Krishna, Uddharet
atmanatmanam. Hari Om Tat Sat.

A Unique Message of Gurudev Swami Sivananda

What has Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj specially done to the world which the
great saints and sages like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Swami
Ramatirtha, Sankaracharya, Ramanuja, Vallabha and others did not do? Gurudev has
brought the message of all these people. What Jesus said and Buddha said and
Mohammed said in the quintessence of these teachings has been given to us by Sri
Gurudev. Gurudev has given us the essence of all the messages contained in the
Upanishads, the Gita and other holy scriptures.
What is the uniqueness of Sri Gurudev? Has he done something distinctive? Every person
is unique. Just because you have been eating rice, Chapati, Dal and vegetables all your
life, if today all these things come to you, will you say, What is this? What is unique in
this, I am eating them daily. I dont want it. But you will not say that. Because todays
food, even though same as the earlier days food, is unique for today. It is the need of the
hour. All that you have eaten for so many years will not appease your hunger today.

Todays meal is the unique thing for you. It is not comparable to the food of previous
days. You cannot compare it even to the big feast you might have even some days before,
or even two days back! That food which you have eaten even yesterday, however dainty,
it might have been, cannot satisfy your present hunger.
Similarly, from this angle, in the context of each period and generation, in each century,
the work of a saint, a sage or a messenger of God who comes in that particular framework
of time, is of most important significance to that particular time. If you go into deeper
analysis you will find that it is exactly the prime need of the hour. So from that point of
view Gurudevs teaching was unique. Its value cannot be estimated at all. It is invaluable.
In the context of what was going on in India and outside India, in society, Sri Gurudev
appeared to once again revive the fast fading loyalty or allegiance of Indian people to
their own culture. The people then were under the impact of a flood of alien ideas and
ideals. At that time Gurudev put before them the great value and the precious importance
of eternal ideal and goal. He proved that the spiritual ideal can never become old. It is
ever new. And it will continue to be new even to the future. Because they are all eternal
ideas. Gurudev thus showed people the right path and then woke them up to their error.
He said, Dont commit the error of getting fascinated by the wrong ideals. Dont commit
the error of casting away diamonds for a piece of glass. Diamond is always diamond even
for thousands of years. Glass can never take its place.
Gurudev also put them into the pride of their religion; put into them a desire to propagate
it. Dissemination of spiritual knowledge was something very dear to Gurudev. He used to
say, It is no good for you not to know what your religion is. Know your religion. But
dont keep it to yourself. Share it. Share whatever is beneficial to all. See that others also
are benefited by your knowledge. Though other saints have also done this before,
Gurudev did it in a very unique way. He said, Religion is not confined either to the time
you visit a temple or the time when you visit your Puja room, morning and evening. It is
something which pertains to every breath that you take. It is something which has
intimate connection with and concerned with every moment of your entire life.
So he refused to make religion a part of peoples life. For him, life itself was religion.
What is religion? Mans attempt to worship God and to move towards Him is religion.
Life should be lived as a worship to God life should be lived as an upward ascent into
God-experience and Bhagavad Darsana, coming face to face with God. The whole life
must be made divine. You must live life as a divine process and not as a material or
worldly process. We must open our eyes to this new outlook. Gurudev said, Here I give
to you life that is not going to be in any part of it, either materialistic or worldly or gross.
All life is spiritual. All life is divine, connecting you directly to God.
Therefore live life divine. If you are a doctor practising medicine, practise it in a divine
way seeing His Presence in your patients, if you are a lawyer, then be a divine lawyer.
Practise your law in a divine spiritual way. If you are a businessman, do your business in
a divine way. Make it spiritual and not earthly and corrupt. If you are a professor or a
teacher or a principal, know that you must be so in a divine way. If you are an engineer,
then be a divine engineer. Because that which you are doing is extraneous to yourself. It

is you who are doing it. So it does not matter what you are engaged in. You must be
divine while you are engaged in it. Then you will bring the quality of divinity to whatever
you are engaging yourself in. In your engineering activity, in your medical activity and
your academic activity, or any activity for the matter of that, bring in the divinitywhich
is your essential nature that can never be contradicted by anything in this world, no
matter what anyone may say about it.
You are essentially a divine being. Your earth personality is like an overcoat which you
have taken upon yourself. But it cannot change what you are. Because this overcoat is
temporary. It is Asat, unreal. And that which is unchangeable, eternal and beginningless
and endless, that is your native state. That the Vedanta calls Sat, the Truth. So all that is
extraneous to you is Asat, unreal. That which is the essence of yourself is Sat. The
essence of you is the immortal Atman. You are eternal. Spirit, unborn, deathless. And,
therefore, in that essence of your being you are divine. Because spirit is divinity. Divinity
means all-Love, all-Truth, all-Auspiciousness and Blessedness. Therefore, in being
divine, your entire life has to be divine.
Thus Gurudev brought spirituality and realisation right into the very hearts centre of life
and wove it into the very fabric of peoples life. If you accept his vision and ideal, no part
of your life can be left out of spiritual life. All parts become part and parcel of your overall spiritual living of your life. The end will be spiritual illumination through attainment
of God. Thus Gurudevs unique contribution was that he made divinity pervade the entire
life of the individual in every aspect and in every detail. He said, Home life should be
divine. Professional life should be divine. The Vyavaharic life and social life also must be
divine. Ones whole inner subjective life should be divine. You should have divine
virtues. You must be a divine ideal person. Your nature and character should be divine.
Nothing petty, nothing impure, nothing earthly, nothing gross should be there. So your
character, your conduct in all your dealings in all walks of life should be divine. Let a
pervasive divine character qualify your entire life. This is called spiritualising all
activity.
Gurudev said, You need not take one step to go anywhere in order to practise this way of
spiritualising all your activities. You can be where you are and at the same time bring
about this transformation. Let all that you do be touched by this philosophers stone of
the attitude of worship. I worship my Lord through my life, through every word that I
utter, through every deed that I do; through every action I engage in and every thought
that I entertain and through every sentiment and emotionyad yad karma karomi tat tad
akhilam sambho tavaradhanam. All activity is worship of God. If you live in the
immediate presence of the divine all the time, how can we be petty and unspiritual?
The Lord is seated in all as the Antaryamin. He is everywhere as the Sarvavyapi
Bhagavan. The Lord says in the Gita, Kshetrajnam chapi mam viddhi sarva kshetreshu
bharataO Arjuna, know Me to be Knower of the field in all fields. This body is the
field, and the Being who is seated in this field is called the Knower of the field. Similarly
you are to be like that indwelling being, knowing everything about the Kshetra, the body,
the mind and all the other instruments of knowledge. Even in unknowing creatures like

animals, creatures, reptiles, in all these also the Lord is the Jnanasvarupa Antaryami
Bhagavan. In another context the Lord says, Ahamatma gudakesa sarvabhutasayasthitahHere the Lord identifies Himself as the spiritual reality in all the creatures.
The Lord is the beginning, the middle and the end of all creatures. There is no part of
their being and living bereft of My presence, My essence. I pervade everything.
Gurudev emphasised the recognition of this reality.
God is always in the company of all. In His divine company how can you lead your life
in any other manner except in a spiritual manner? Except in a manner worthy of His great
divine presence? Even if we are in the office of some big official, we behave so very
correctly, so that he may not have anything to say criticising our behaviour. God is the
Lord of lords, God of gods, Jagadesvara. And so Gurudev said, Recognise the presence
of the Divine within and without. And therefore conduct yourself in a divine manner in
His presence.
The goal of life is to attain Divine Consciousness though divine living. Be up and doing
in this task right up from the beginning. This process of attaining the Divine
Consciousness is not meant for some particular part of your life. Therefore, the sooner
one is put into this path of divinely living in ones life, the better one is doing ones duty.
Gurudev has written a couple of books for children also, like Divine Life for Children
etc. He says that children also must become aware that they are divine, and that they have
to live in a divine way in order to attain divine bliss and divine illumination, in the end.
This is Gurudevs unique message to mankind. He gave practical spirituality to every
man. That is Gurudevs grace.

What is Yoga?
I am immensely happy to speak to you on the subject of Yoga which is a household word
in the present times, all over the world. In all centuries, Yoga has become a very familiar
term and there are hundreds and thousands of people in both the hemispheres in the
Orient as well as in the Occident who are practising Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga and the Yoga
of Meditation etc. There are any number of books on this subject of Yoga in different
languages of the world in English, French, German, Italian and Dutch. Therefore, it is
important to know what exactly Yoga is and what it is not. To have a clear understanding
of this all-important subject is of vital importance, if you have to derive the highest and
the maximum benefit out of this ancient science of our inner spiritual unfoldment.
Yoga is the attainment of spiritual union with the Divine Source of your being, with the
Supreme Universal Spirit, who is your eternal origin, from whom you have your
existence and supported by whom you exist here at this moment and by attaining whom
your life becomes truly fulfilled and complete. Yoga is God-experience. It is union with
the Divine which brings about a severance or a dissociation of mans union with pain,
sorrow, suffering and miseries of mundane life. This is a world of pain and death. This is
a world of fleeting and temporary names and forms. This is a world of finite and

imperfect, gross material objects which are ever changing and, therefore, not reliable. The
objects are ever changing and subject to decay and destruction and therefore, quite
incapable of giving you any lasting and permanent experience of either pleasure or
happiness. Being imperfect and being a mixture of the pairs of opposites, the same object
will give you pleasure for a moment and the next moment it can also be to you a source
of pain, suffering and a source of sorrow.
If you want happiness, real peace and real satisfaction that is permanent, everlasting and
absolute, unmixed with pain or suffering, unalloyed happiness in short, you have to seek
it not in the finite, imperfect, perishable and changeful temporary objects, of this universe
but in all-perfect, eternal, changeless and imperishable essence or principle. Is there such
a source, is there such a principle, which is all-perfect, which is eternal and unchanging
and which is of the very nature of bliss, of the very nature of supreme happiness,
attaining which all desires or happiness becomes at once totally fulfilled? This is an
important question.
Thanks to the supreme experience of our ancient, illumined sages and seers of the great
Upanishadic or Vedic era in this sacred land of India, this Punyabhumi Bharatavarsha, the
land of Ganga and Himalayas, the land of Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, thanks to
the quest and deep meditation and penance of these ancient sages and seers who to
wanted to solve the riddle of life, who wanted to solve the mystery of this universe and
who wanted to find out if there is an experience which grants at once eternal satisfaction,
absolute bliss, unalloyed bliss without a trace of sorrow and suffering and to this quest
they dedicated their entire life.
Relentlessly they pursued this quest and the determination was ultimately fruitful in
illumination and God-experience. They became Self-realized and that experience gave
them an inexpressible joy which they could not describe. Brahmananda, Paramananda,
Supreme and ecstatic bliss that filled their entire being and once for all took them forever,
beyond all sorrow, pain and suffering, liberated them from all the imperfect experiences
of this earth life and they became established in a state of absolute blissful peace.
These sages being filled with universal love for all beings, being filled with compassion
and kindness towards all creatures, did not want to keep this experience to themselves,
therefore, they called upon mankind and declared to all, O ye children of ! We have
come face to face with that Resplendent Being, attaining whom one becomes liberated
from all sorrow, pain and, suffering and enters into a state of illimitable joy and
indescribable divine bliss. What we have attained, you too can attain, for it is your
birthright. Thus they declared this great experience and gave a great clarion call to
mankind, come, come, come unto this state of blissful Brahmic experience, Atmic
experience. Though these sages were people of great idealism, they were also pragmatic
and practical in their approach to mans problems on earth. They were realists in the
sense that they recognised the problems of individual human beings on earth and
therefore they also gave scientific methods and techniques, steps to attain this supreme
experience. This is the greatest gift that they bestowed upon mankind. This art and
science of practising certain techniques and certain methods of spiritual effort which

grant to us this supreme experience of bliss, peace and spiritual illumination, is called the
Science of Yoga.
As long as the human individual upon earth has this delusion that he can find happiness
in the objects of this world outside, this material world, this phenomenal world around
him, so far it is a wild-goose-chase, a futile quest after ever-changing sensual experiences
which only give momentary sensation of pleasure but do not give real happiness.
Therefore, he is ever dissatisfied, discontented and frustrated in his efforts to attain true
happiness, satisfaction and peace. He is disappointed and ultimately a stage comes when
he is ultimately disillusioned. The seers wanted to save us, spare man from this futile
quest, running after these shadows and so they pointed out to him O man, if you really
want happiness and peace, this is the way. You have to attain union with that Supreme
Universal Soul who is of the very nature of absolute bliss, peace and perfection.
They declared that the Supreme Universal Reality is to be known to be, of the nature of
absolute blissAnandam brahmeti dvijanat. You have all heard the inspiring Guru
Stotras: Brahmanandam parama sukhadam kevalam jnana murtim, dvandvatitam,
gaganasadrisham tattvamasyadi lakshyam; Ekam nityam vimalam achalam sarvadhi
sakshi bhutam, bhavatitam triguna rahitam Sadgurum tam namami. Anandamananda
karam prasannam jnanasvarupam nija bodha yuktam, Yogindranidhyam bhavaroga
vaidyam Srimad Gurum nityam aham namami. Brahmanandam paramasukhadam, that
Supreme Universal Being is of the nature of illimitable absolute bliss. He is of the very
nature of supreme happiness.
Lord Krishna gives a hint of this great happiness in the Sixth Chapter of the Srimad
Bhagayad Gita when He describes the Yoga of MeditationSukham atyantikam yattad
buddhigrahyam atindriyaman absolute supreme state, a supreme experience of perfect
happiness and joy, the perfect joy as St. Francis of Assisi referred to it, the supreme
experience of perfect joy and happiness which is beyond the senses. Senses cannot try to
experience that happiness because it is super-sensuous and even-supramental. To attain
this happiness is the ultimate objective of Yoga.
Everywhere in this universe, man is vastly different from the outward surface of his life,
different countries and different nations, different races, different cultures, different
languages, different ways of living, eating, dressing, etc. He may be completely different
in all these respects, but there is one thing which is the same to all human individuals
throughout this universe. And it is this factor which ultimately brings about an inner
oneness as regards human life and the universal quest of human life on this planet earth.
And that common factor is that human individuals all over the world wish to avoid
sorrow, pain and suffering and wish to attain joy, happiness and supreme bliss. In this
there is no argument, no discussion, no difference of opinion. No one wants sorrow, no
one wants pain and suffering.
Everyone wants to put an end to, get rid of the pain, suffering and sorrow and everyone
wants to have happiness. But let me ask you a question, beloved seeker. Since the
beginning of creation, is there one single individual who has been born into this earth,

who can stand up boldly and declare, in my life I have never experienced any sorrow,
pain and suffering whatsoever; my whole life has been a life of joy, full of happiness, full
of bliss alone? You will find that there is not even one single individual on earth who has
not had, at some time or other some type of pain or suffering or grief or sorrow and
therefore this universal quest of mankind must have some fulfilment somewhere,
otherwise the Creator would not have had put this quest after happiness, put this inner
urge for happiness within the human soul. The very fact that there is in each human
individual being this innate urge for experiencing happiness which shows that there is
also provision made by the Creator for the satisfaction and fulfilment of this innate urge.
You have not come here to weep and wail, to have suffered sorrow, grief, pain and then
die after going through a life of misery and grief, Tapatrayas, sorrow and suffering and
die. You have not come here to weep and suffer and die. On the contrary your great
ancestors, the Upanishadic saints and seers have declared boldly, O man, you have come
here to attain supreme bliss, supreme blessedness. You have come here not to die, but to
attain immortality and the path to attain this supreme experience of absolute bliss and go
beyond sorrow, go beyond death itself and become immortal and eternal, that path is the
path of Yoga.
Yoga is, therefore, the ultimate way to succeed in this universal quest of man on earth for
liberating oneself from all sorrow, pain and suffering and entering into a state of absolute
bliss and blessedness and this can be brought about only by once again restoring our lost
relationship, our lost link and connection with that Supreme Universal Source of our
being, Brahman or Paramatman, that Supreme Divine Cosmic Reality whom we refer to
as God. God-experience alone can grant to you total liberation from all sorrow, pain and
suffering and indescribable experience of bliss and peace. And Yoga tells us in a scientific
way how to attain that supreme state of joy and peace and where this supreme experience
abides. All the great prophets and mystics have revealed a very, very subtle truth about
this specific point regarding the attainment of this supreme experience. They have
declared to us in their mystical wisdom teachings that this God-experience, this supreme
state of bliss and blessedness is not some far off remote, experience which we have to
attain through great difficulty or a long journey but they have declared to us the same
truth but in different languages, the Kingdom of God is within, the Kingdom of Heaven is
within you. Within you is hidden God. Within you is ocean of bliss. Within you is the
fountain of joy.
Right at the innermost centre of your being the all-blissful Brahman abides as the very
innermost essence of your existence. Therefore, Yoga is an inner spiritual journey and it
requires that we try to put an end to constant habitual activity of the mind which is
outgoing. The mind of the normal individual is scattered. It is outgoing and always wants
to move towards the outer names and forms of this external physical world under the
deluded notion that if it gets these, obtains these objects, if it possesses them, if it
experiences them, man will attain happiness. In spite of countless disappointments and
disillusionments, man never learns. There is not an iota of happiness in earthly objects.
No object is perfect. Earthly objects do not have in them the inherent power or ability to
give you happiness or joy because they are finite and imperfect. Otherwise they must be

able to give a homogeneous state of happiness and pleasure for all beings, at all times,
under all conditions. But what do you actually see? If you like milk and if you take a
glassful of sweetened milk, flavoured with spices, the first glass may give you
satisfaction. And if pressed upon to take another glass, the second glass may give
satisfaction, but that is not the same degree of happiness or pleasure that you derived
from the first glass and if your stomach is already filled with two glasses of milk, if you
try to take a third glass, it becomes unpleasant. If a fourth glass of milk is forced upon
you, it will produce nausea, biliousness and you may throw up. Where, then, is real
happiness? If milk had in it the power of giving happiness it must be able to grant you
this happiness at all times, under all conditions. It cannot change its nature. Such
experiences show that all experiences derived from the contact of senses with their
respective sense objects, ultimately are experiences that end in pain.
The great world teacher, Lord Krishna, had this very important insight to impart to us
when he said, O Arjuna, all these experiences, brought about by the contact of one or the
other of the five senses with the respective sense object, are the source of pain and
sorrow. There is no real happiness in these sense contacts and sense experiences. They
merely give momentary sensations. Afterwards they give you pain. A wise person
realising the nature of earthly objects that they are empty of content, that they cannot give
you happiness, never stoops to revel in these petty objects of this materialistic world. The
great experience of the sages, declares to us in unmistakable and categorical termsYo
vai bhuma tat sukhamthe all full, the all perfect, therein lies true happiness, not in petty
small objects.
Therefore you have to discipline the mind, you have to train the mind to give up this
foolish tendency to always go outside, this extrovert nature of the human individual.
Gradually, you must discipline the mind by discrimination, by making the enlightened
intellect to speak to the mind and admonish it and say, Why do you search in vain for
happiness outside? Come, come happiness resides within. Stop your wanderings amidst
this desert of empty earthly objects, amidst this jungle of sensuality and turn your gaze
within. Make the mind introspective, bring the mind within, direct it towards the inner
Atman and concentrate the mind and meditate upon the Reality within.
In the Kathopanishad it is this important point that the great Yama Dharma Raja tells the
wonderful, youthful aspirant Nachiketas. Dive within, happiness is within, God is within
you. Therefore, Yoga is a process of disciplining the senses, controlling them and not
allowing them to drag the mind outward towards this earthly phenomenal carnival circus
show, the world play, and gradually train the mind to go within and try to abide in the
very centre of your being. The human individual has a three-fold level of personality. The
grossest outer personality is the physical biological level. Here there is not much
difference between the human being and the other forms of beast and brute life. Hunger,
thirst, carnal passion, sleep, fear, desire for survival are shared in common with all the
rest of living creatures. But then the uniqueness of man is that he has the power to think,
feel and reason. The psychological level of his personality is what distinguishes him from
the animal level and higher than both lies his real nature, the spiritual nature which is a
part of the Universal Spirit Divine.

Yoga is a process of controlling the animal nature and eliminating the negative traits in
that animal nature and purifying and refining your psychological nature, so that the
mind, the thoughts and sentiments are now directed towards the Supreme Divine Reality
and ultimately awakening the sleeping divinity within, unfolding it by proper means
through: Japa, Kirtan, prayer, worship, through constant remembrance of God, through
selfless service and discipline and self-control, through Asana and Pranayama and
through daily practice of meditation. Thus unfolding this awakened divinity and trying to
enter into an experience of radiant unfolded and awakened consciousness and to become
established in this consciousness of perennial bliss, peace and blessedness.
This is Yoga. It is the elimination of the negative traits of the animal nature through
purification and refinement, it is giving an upward trend to your psychological nature, to
your emotions, sentiments and reasoning processes. Thirdly, Yoga is to awaken the
sleeping divinity within, unfold it and make it radiantly manifest in your thought, word
and deed and enter into an experience of the all-perfect divine nature and abide in the
bliss and peace which it is. Yoga gives you various practices, making use of all these four
facultiesyour physical faculty, your mental faculty, your intellectual faculty as well as
emotional facultyaccording-to your temper. Yoga is attaining bliss and blessedness
through union with the Supreme Universal Spirit and God-experience.
May God bless you with this supreme attainment and make your life fruitful.

YogaIts Implications, Objectives and its Place in Your

Life
Homage and adoration to Yogisvara Bhagavan Sankara, the Lord of all Yogins and to
Yogeshvara Sri Krishna Bhagavan, the supreme master of the Yoga science. Reverential
prostrations unto Sri Ramakrishna Deva, the illumined saint of Dakshinesvar, who was
the very living embodiment of all the varied Yoga Sadhanas that lead the human
individual to divine perfection and liberation. May the choicest blessings of Lord Siva,
Yogi Matsyendranath, Maharshi Patanjali, Devarshi Narada, Sandilya and other perfect
Masters be upon all the Sadhakas who tread the path of Yoga.
Yoga is the science of liberation or Moksha Sastra. Yoga is the innermost core and
quintessence of the true religion of man. Yoga is the methodology of your inner ascent
towards spiritual illumination and God-experience. Yoga is the technique of attaining
Divine Perfection and immortality. Yoga is the graduated practices that can lead you from
passing unrealities to the Eternal reality, from spiritual darkness into the Light of divine
illumination and from death and mortality of your body bound earth-consciousness into
the awareness of immortality and everlasting life in the Spirit. Yoga is the art and science
of diverting and directing your entire human personality potential, beyond your present
state of sorrow, restlessness, isolation and fear into a higher state of Consciousness

characterised by bliss, peace, fullness and fearlessness. Yoga is the Universal inner
mystique that is to be found in the hidden inner depths of every living religion on earth.
The genesis of Yoga is shrouded in antiquity. It has come into being as an answer to one
of the greatest needs of mankind, namely, its need to free itself from sorrow, pain and
suffering and to attain to a state of happiness, peace and lasting satisfaction. Man is a
pilgrim, a lone traveller upon this earth-plane. You come alone and you depart alone.
Empty handed you come into this world and even so you leave this earth at death empty
handed and alone. This is the truth. As such, this world is not your permanent dwelling
place. In truth your true abode is a higher dimension of existence other than this material
world. Supra-mundane and pristine, it is the real home of the Spirit. This supreme
spiritual state of absolute existence, eternal and infinite, is Brahman. It is Brahman or
Atman of the Upanishads, the Supreme Tao of the Chinese Taoist philosopher, the
supreme Plenum of Plotinus, the Thing-in-itself of Kant. It is the One indivisible nondual, eternal Reality. It is also the cosmic Soul, the God behind all religions. That
Brahman is bliss. It is Infinite bliss and supreme Peace. It is the fulfilment of all desires,
wants and wishes ever conceivable by man. It is divine beatitude and supreme felicity. Its
attainment confers eternal satisfaction, liberation from all sorrow and pain and absolute
fearlessness and freedom. This is the most covetable and desirable of all goals. Also, this
is the true goal of real Yoga. Yoga is, therefore, a path that leads up to the state of
supreme blessedness and peace. Its practices constitute the techniques for the purification
and preparation of the human consciousness for entering into the experience of the
supreme Blissful Divine Reality.
The thesis contained in the Vedanta and Yoga Philosophy is that the present state of
human experience of the individual in this earth existence is a vitiated state of
consciousness. This present state of your entire human personality, gross as well as
subtle, comprised by your physical body, mind, emotion as well as intellect, has become
totally outgoing (Bahirmukha) in its movement and thus wholly involved and entangled
in the ever-changing and perishable names and forms of this outer phenomenal
appearance, this gross material world show. This has directly given rise to your human
earth-experience of love and hate, joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, happiness and
misery, elation and depression and all the dual throng that make up the fabric of your
lifes experience from birth to death.
You have forgotten your true identity which is not human but Divine. Your present human
identity is only a temporary phenomenon that has been superimposed upon your essential
identity (Nijasvarupa), which is divine and has neither birth nor death. You are eternal
and imperishable. Your present deplorable state of weeping and wailing, sorrowing and
suffering is due to this spiritual non-awareness and self-forget-fulness and due to your
becoming caught up in the grip of an erroneous identification with temporary limiting
adjuncts (Upadhi) like your gross physical body, with its organs of action (Karma
Indriyas), the five aspects of the inner vital life-force (Pancha Pranas), the five inner
faculties of perception or knowledge (Jnana Indriyas) and the four-fold inner instruments
that constitute your hidden psychological self, namely, mind, intellect, the ego and the
subconscious. The human ego principle (Ahamkara) has arisen out of this identification

(Adhyasa) brought about by the individualised aspect (Avidya) of the indescribable,

incomprehensible cosmic nescience (Maya).
Thus, it must now be quite clear to you that it is your own human faculties, physical and
mental, that are the instruments of your bondage to Samsara. These faculties constitute
your entire human personality. They are what all you have when you take birth in this
world. Hence, you have no alternative but to invoke only their aid and utilise these very
Same faculties, internal and external, which are now the cause of your bondage, to free,
extricate yourself from its bondage to phenomenal existence (Samsara Bandhana) and
made the necessary and suitable self-exertion (Purushartha) to attain to a state of
liberation (Kaivalya Moksha). Being limited by Upadhis and conditioned by time and
space factors, pure Consciousness assumes modified states like limited egoconsciousness (Ahamkara and Abhimana), the feeling of mine-ness with regard to the
physical body and intense attachment to it and all things and beings who are pleasing to
its senses (Mamata and Asakti). From these two, namely, I and mine, selfishness and
self-seeking manifest in the human nature impelling the individual to become engrossed
in self-centered mundane activities propelled by sense-appetites and the desires and
cravings of the mind. In their wake follow anger, delusion, avarice, jealousy, hatred and
unrighteousness. This is the nature of worldly existence.
Ego, attachment and the resultant selfishness are the bane of human life. They turn the
entire field of human earthly activity (Vyavahara) into an arena of warring egos, clashing
self-interest, conflicting likes and dislikes, bringing about disharmony and discord that
rob you of peace and happiness. The science of Yoga and its superbly conceived
techniques and practices serve as a life-line thrown to the human mortal struggling in this
ocean of earthly existence buffeted by the pairs of opposites (Dvandvas) and preyed upon
by attraction, repulsion, grief, delusion, fear, anxiety, disease, old age, decay and the like.
Yoga provides the means of transcending and liberating oneself from the threefold
afflictions all creatures are subject to. Its wisely formulated Sadhanas are so conceived as
to withdraw the mind and the senses from the non-eternal, passing names and forms of
the objective universe and given them a new direction towards God-experience and the
direct realisation of the eternal Reality. They impart to your life an upward vertical
dimension that takes the form of a progressive ascent into higher levels of consciousness
culminating in the supreme state of highest God-consciousness or Aparokshanubhuti. The
state of permanent liberation from all sorrow and attainment of perennial bliss is the fruit
of the Yoga life and practice.
The intelligent and wise utilisation of these inner faculties and powers of thinking, feeling
and reasoning have evolved and taken the form of Dhyana Marga or Raja Yoga, of Prema
Marga or Bhakti Yoga, Vichara Marga or Jnana Yoga respectively. The last mentioned is
sometimes referred to by the generic term Vedanta. The imparting of a God-ward
direction, to the physical dynamism of your day-to-day activities transforms all activities
into Nishkama Karma Yoga by spiritua!ising their inner content even if their outer form
remains unaltered. Thus, your thought-force, emotion and the powers of the intellect
become the effective motive force for imparting a new spiritual direction to and for
sublimating and elevating your consciousness from its present deluded body-bound gross

earthly consciousness, into a sublime and lofty plane of unconditioned divine

Consciousness.
The Jnana Yoga achieves this by engaging the keen reasoning powers of the intellect in
philosophical enquiry (Vichara), discrimination between temporary appearances and the
permanent Reality beyond, between the non-eternal and eternal (Viveka), and analysis of
human experience and perceptions. It investigates into the real nature of all things
including the human personality upon all its levels and reflecting and meditating upon
these observations and findings. It ever strives to pierce beyond this ever-fluctuating
passing show of the phenomenal world and seek the eternal unchanging hidden support
and source that makes possible this kaleidoscopic world-show. It advocates the Sadhana
of a continuous, firm and determined denial and rejection of your deluded and erroneous
identification with non-eternal limiting adjuncts, composing of your false personality and
a constant and equally determined affirmation and assertion of your true immortal, ever
pure, and ever free spiritual identity, which is one with the universal consciousness.
Constant hearing of the spiritual Truths, reflection upon them and sustained deep
meditation upon the subtle truths heard and reflected upon, constitute the basic Sadhana
of Jnana Yoga.
Bhakti Yoga works to achieve this end of inducing you to withdraw your sentimental and
emotional attachments and entanglements from imperfect and perishable things and
beings that only bring you disappointment and grief in their train and educates you in the
spiritual art of diverting your emotional potential towards the all-perfect imperishable
Divine Being, relationship with whom brings endless joy and supreme fulfilment beyond
any possibility of disappointment or disillusionment. It destroys all delusion and merges
the seeking soul into an ineffable state of illumination and ecstatic bliss.
Bhakti Yoga brings about this sublimation and divinisation of your human sentiment
emotion potentialby setting up an inner relationship of love with God, apparently
similar to your love and affection relationship with any dear object of your human love.
For example, filial love between parent and child, the intense romantic love between
lover and beloved, the deep love between close friends, the love that a devout and loyal
servant has towards his master, or the serene and sustained admiration and veneration one
has to a higher being whose greatness, grandeur and majesty one has come to know. In
order to develop and progress in any one of these inner relationships of purified emotion,
Bhakti Yoga lays down the practice of devotion in the form of the following Sadhana;
namely, devout listening to the greatness and glories of God, chanting His Divine Name,
constantly remembering God in the midst of daily duties and activities, regular daily
formal worship of the personal God through a suitable and adequate symbol prescribed in
the scriptures, adopting an attitude of humble servitude and offering salutations to the
perennial presence of God, who is all-pervading, and ultimately by totally surrendering
yourself and offering up of your entire being in an act of supreme dedication and
surrender by living your entire life as a servant or a companion of God totally dedicated
to Him alone. Other prominent practices of this path, are the taking recourse to the
company of God-lovers, pious pilgrimage to holy places associated with your favourite
aspect of deity (Ishta Devata) and earnest prayer for His Grace to obtain true one-pointed

and whole-souled love to His lotus-feet to the exclusion of all created things. The sincere
devotee upon this path of Bhakti Yoga is not concerned much with the subtleties or
intricacies of metaphysics and high philosophy. Intense faith and the cultivation of
spiritual sentiment and emotion constitute the very heart of Bhakti Yoga.
Love for the world and sentimental attachment to earthly kith and kin therein becomes
the cause of bondage of Samsara to the foolish Jiva devoid of discrimination. The very
same love and sentimental attachment when diverted and directed towards the Divine,
liberates the Jiva from the bondage of Samsara, confers upon the Bhakta the blessed
experience of God-vision.
Raja Yoga, also termed Ashtanga Yoga of Dhyana Yoga, is primarily a system of mental
discipline wherein the power of the concentrated mind is made the means for entering
into a high state of intense meditation by which the practitioner of Yoga goes beyond the
mind into a plane of illumined spiritual consciousness transcending earthly awareness
and body-consciousness and attaining to a lofty state of illumined super-consciousness
(Samadhi). This liberates you for ever from this wheel of birth and death. Raja Yoga deals
directly with the mind, which is seen to be the crux of the entire spiritual problem of
bondage and liberation. As a man thinketh so he becometh is the law upon the inner
plane of the human psyche. Discipline of the mind is therefore the real key to
Blessedness. Such is the approach taken in Raja Yoga. The prominent Sadhanas of this
Yoga are the cultivation of virtues and self-control, the spiritualisation of your daily life
through purity, penance, spiritual study and prayerfulness. These are followed by the
discipline of acquiring absolute steadiness of the physical body, regulation and
controlling the movement of the subtle inner Prana, checking the outgoing thoughtcurrent and directing the mind inwards, by withdrawing it again and again from the
external sense-objects until the senses themselves gradually abandon their inveterate
objectward tendency. The checking of the restless thought activity (Vritti) through
unremitting effort and fixing the mind on the inner centre of concentration is the central
Sadhana of Raja Yoga. This is borne out by the Yoga teachings of the World Teacher Lord
Krishna in His practical instructions to us imparted through His discourses to His Yogi
disciple Arjuna in the Sixth Chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita.
Mans expectation of attaining happiness here on earth is a delusion that results is misery.
The philosophy and practice of Yoga removes this delusion, corrects this error and by
giving the right direction to your life and the living of it. Yoga sets you upon the path of
happiness, peace and freedom. Hence, Yoga is indispensable for success in this universal
quest of mankind for happiness and fulfilment. It can well claim a place amongst the top
priorities of your life. Truly speaking, Yoga must occupy the central place in human life
with all other things oriented towards the effective furtherance of the progress of Yoga
towards peace and joy. Yoga and its Sadhanas are not to be treated as just a part of your
life. But on the contrary the spirit of Yoga must pervade your life.
Beloved Atman, live your life in such a way that all the movements and activities of your
life may assume the nature of and constitute an upward and Godward process
culminating in the fullest unfoldment of your Divine Consciousness. The Yoga approach

and attitude (Bhava) need to be adopted in each and every sphere of your normal life and
activity including the home life, professional life, social life and other aspects of your life
as well. Life is for Yoga Sadhana. Life is actually Maha-Yoga, if lived in the manner
directed in the Gita, that supreme Yoga Sastra. You have not come here to remain in
bondage. You have come here for attaining liberation. You have come here not to die but
to realise your immortality. This is the truth. Therefore take up the earnest practice of
Yoga right from this very moment. Engage your intellect in spiritual enquiry,
discrimination, analysis and reflection. Discard all miscellaneous thinking and focus and
fix your entire mind upon the One ever-perfect Divine Reality. Fill your heart with
intense love for God. Make Him the one object of your hearts desire. Aspire to adore
Him alone. Remember God constantly. Engage in the selfless service of all beings. Carry
on all the activities like, your Nitya Karmas according to your Varnashrama Dharma,
your duties and obligations including your professional activities with the inner feeling of
worshipfulness. Dedicate all activities to God. Offer them at His feet. In this manner
spiritualise your normal activities. In the divine words of the World Teacher Lord
Krishna, Be thou a Yogi (Tasmat Yogi Bhava). This is your foremost duty. This is your
highest Dharma. In this lies your real and lasting welfare. Herein is the guarantee of true
happiness and peace even while dwelling in this body upon this earth. Yoga is not for
knowing but it is for being and doing. It is moving towards the Eternal, even while
living amidst the non-eternal. Yoga is Gods gift to mankind for the attainment of mans
highest good. It is ever new and shall ever remain so unto all times. For it is the answer to
mans eternal quest for happiness. Human body is an instrument of Yoga. Your home is
your place for the practice of Yoga. All fields of human activity comprise natural territory
of Yoga in daily life. May this truth be recognised and lived. Then you will have peace
and happiness here and now. Yoga can certainly do this for you.
May this science of Yoga which is mans movement towards God systematised into a
methodical process, confer immense benefit upon all humanity the world over today, as
well as in the days to come. May its eminently rational and time-honoured techniques be
studied and sincerely practised by ever increasing numbers of people all over the world
resulting in their highest welfare and happiness. May God bless all beings upon earth.
May peace be unto all. Om Tat Sat.

Meditation
The greatest thing in life is meditation upon the Supreme Being. There is no greater
treasure, there is no higher wealth and there is no greater blessedness than to engage in
this sacred process of meditation. It would not at all be an exaggeration to say that the
main purpose of human birth is to prepare ourselves, train ourselves, discipline ourselves
and engage in successful meditation. It has been unmistakably declared by all prophets
and messengers of God that the goal of human life is to attain supreme liberation. This
liberation liberates us from all sorrow and sufferings, confers freedom from death and
bondage and bestows eternal bliss and eternal felicity. This state of liberation is attained
through illumination. This state of illumination is attainable through meditation and

meditation only. Therefore, all spiritual practices have as their ultimate objective, end and
aim the preparation and qualification of the practitioner or the seeker to engage in
effective and successful meditation. According to each ones religious background and
according to each ones different temperament and difference in personality and nature,
the specific religious practices or Sadhanas that we engage in may apparently differ in
their outer form. But in the ultimate analysis, all these Sadhanas have only one common
objective. That is, to purify you and to prepare you to engage in a supreme and ultimate
process of inner meditation.
Meditation is a universal common process which is to be found within the context of all
spiritual life. It is a common universal process, no matter what your background.
Meditation also unites the entire world fraternity of spiritual seekers. No matter how
infinitely varied and different they may appear at the commencement of their spiritual
journey, yet as they begin to approach or come near the conclusion of their spiritual
journey, you will find that they all meet at the common universal process of meditation.
Meditation is, therefore, a common platform where all spiritual seekers have to meet.
Meditation is a universal process. Meditation is a unifying process, because it is a
spiritual process. And in the innermost essence of all is one and the same thing.
Meditation is the application of the controlled and purified mind towards the process of
concentration upon the divine reality which is within you. I repeat this very important
sentence once again. Meditation is applying your controlled and .purified mind for
contemplating the divine reality dwelling within you. It is end and aim of all Yogas and
all spiritual practices. It is the supreme unique process which is to be found within the
context of all religious systems. You will find it in Hinduism and Buddhism. You will
find it in Christianity and Islam. You find it in all religions. You are born here to meditate
and realise this great reality. Hatha Yoga, Asana, Pranayama etc. lay the foundation for
this ultimate supreme process.
All your life, in all its details, must be so lived that they may all help you in engaging in
successful meditation. Any aspect or any activity in your life which is unfavourable and
contrary to your spiritual meditation is not good for you, is not helpful to your spiritual
progress. Therefore you must carefully leave it out. You should wisely avoid these
contrary activities and factors from your life. If you are really sincere in your desire to
meditate; if you are really serious and earnest in wanting spiritual progress, then you
must carefully make analysis of your activities and frankly see what is favourable and
what is unfavourable for your meditative life, and unhesitatingly renounce those factors
which are contrary to your spiritual progress. This is the test of your sincerity, the
guarantee of your success, and the sign of mature wisdom.
Outwardly meditation appears to be physical process. Your body, your mind and your
Prana are all closely interconnected. They affect one another. Naturally, therefore, if you
want to still your mind, if you want to make your mind calm and serene, you must bring
about a corresponding stillness in your Prana and in your physical body. Therefore, a
steady physical pose and a rhythmical outflow and inflow of breathing is necessary. The
breath that flows through your nostrils is actually not your Prana. But because it is
indirectly and remotely connected with the inner subtle Prana through a regularisation

and the harmonisation of the physical breath, you bring about a similar condition in the
inner subtle Prana. These two outer processes are, therefore, aids of the ultimate
quiescence or the killing of the mind. Please know very, very clearly that the ultimate
object of meditation is the Divine Reality.
However, in the process of developing concentration, you may engage in various spiritual
exercises, when you give different objects to it for concentration upon. For example,
flame of the candle, a symbol, an inner symbol, a bright coloured spot, a flower or any
such symbols may be given as objects for concentration and meditation. They are only
temporary processes. They are exercises for concentration. But ultimately meditation is
always upon the Supreme Eternal Divine Reality.
Meditation is the continuous stream of unbroken thoughts, towards the chosen objects of
concentration and meditation. The object may be different in each individual case. It is an
attempt of the individual soul to link itself inwardly in the spirit with the universal soul. It
is its origin, support and goal which is its source, substratum, goal and ultimate fulfilment
in life. Meditation is the attempt of the human being to rise up to the Divine Reality. It is
the attempt on the part of the man to once again relink himself with the Reality. It is an
attempt of the finite part once again to rise up to the Divine Reality. It is gathering
together of all the inner faculties and centering upon the inner Reality within. That
Reality is Peace. That Reality is luminous consciousness. That Reality is Infinity. That.
Reality is stupendous Silence. That Reality is your home and original abode. Now let us
divine within and enter into that great silence, wherein deep peace abides.
Meditation is of several varieties. I deliberately use the word variety instead of using the
words different kinds. There are no different meditations. All meditations are the same.
There is only one meditation. That is gathering up of your mind and focussing it at one
point. In pure classical meditation that focal point is always divine and spiritual. As
exercise in concentration you can make that focal point on any object. This is an attempt
to develop your power of concentration. Therefore this choice of different objects, is
allowed. Exercise to develop concentration should not be mistaken with classical,
meditation. Classical meditation is always only upon Being who is refered to as God. Or
it can be upon your own inner Self. Both mean one and the same thing. For it is that same
supreme universal Being who is present within you in the innermost centre of your
spiritual being as your essential reality or, as your true Self. Thus meditation upon your
inner Self and meditation upon God or the universal Being ultimately mean one and the
same thing, though they apparently seem different.
But, as I said, classical and pure meditation is always upon the supreme Reality, the
eternal universal Reality. But your concept of the supreme universal Reality may slightly
vary according to your approach towards it and your present spiritual state of evolution.
You can conceive of that Being as a great divine personality, you may endow it with a
name and a form. Then your meditation will be on that personal form, your concentration
will be upon that form. And your meditation may be helped and aided by the repetition of
the Name. Or also it can be upon the nameless, formless, transcendental Being,
associated only with the ideas of infinity and eternity, associated only with the ideas of

light, peace and bliss, beauty and sweetness or such divine attributes. This is meditation
of the formless type. And thirdly, meditation can be upon your own innermost reality.
This could be Advaitic or Vedantic meditation. I am neither body nor mind; I am unborn,
immortal Self. I am Existence-Consciousness-Bliss Absolute. I am a mass of
Consciousness. I am ocean of peace and joy. In this way one can meditate upon ones
own inner Self.
These are all valid and accepted types of meditation in the ancient tradition of the Vedic
way of life. In the area of spiritual India these meditations are not regarded as
antagonistic. They are not regarded as conflicting with each other. Neither are they
regarded as self-contradictory or incompatible. All are regarded, as valid and leading
ultimately to the same experience. Moreover, the same seeker or meditator who was
meditating along one particular line at a certain time may after some years of such
meditation spontaneously feel inclined and drawn towards another type of meditation.
And he would, therefore, switch on to the latter type from the former. This is not regarded
as any sort of mistake. On the contrary, it is a part of the process of spiritual evolution.
The meditation upon the personal God with form may gradually and naturally give place
to meditation on the impersonal Absolute. What type of meditation will suit you, you
have to try and find out for yourself. Otherwise you will have to take it from your
spiritual teacher. If you are neither able to find out for yourself nor you have a spiritual
teacher, then you must sincerely pray to God and He will guide you from within. But,
anyway, you must take to meditation and practise it regularly. I shall conclude with one
more idea only.
When you try to concentrate and focus your mind, various thoughts will arise in your
mind. This is natural and inevitable. As long as the mind exists thoughts will be there.
But then, when these thoughts arise during the course of your meditation you should not
try to eject them forcibly or try to throw them out. This is a mistake which many seekers
and Sadhakas commit. You cannot forcefully throw out any thought. You cannot suppress
it by force. On the contrary, it will grow even more persistent and stronger. Because, if
you try to clash with these thoughts and try to force them out, you will be taking a wrong
step. Instead of meditating you will be diverting your attention towards these thoughts.
So the thoughts would have succeeded in breaking your meditation. You must just ignore
them. Let them pass on. Do not identify yourself with those thoughts. Refuse to associate
with them. Be only an observer. Or dont be even an observer. You try to take the mind
again to the focal point. If you try to forcibly wrestle with the thought there will be
unnecessary waste of psychic energy and mind will become tired and thoughts will
become stronger and your attention will become diverted. Simply ignore them and let
them pass on. Or gently once again bring your mind back to the focal point. Carry on this
process in a non-violent manner. Otherwise the mind will become tired and the brain will
become heated.
Classically, the authentic pure meditation process is a communion between the individual
and universal Being, is an inner spiritual linking of yourself with God, the flow of the
human consciousness towards the eternal divine Consciousness. Never forget this.
Always make use of the technique of meditation for this higher purpose. But while you

are ascending towards this supreme state of God-communion through meditation certain
lesser applications of the meditation process is not disallowed and it can be included as a
valid part of your over-all self-unfoldment. As such it may be considered as
complementary and supplementary to the supreme purpose and objective. Some of these
processes are practised at night time. Some of them are practised just at the early
morning. There are others which may be practised at other times of the day, as suitable
and convenient to you. These techniques in which part of the purpose is to put in certain
specific suggestions into your subconsciousness, such processes are best done at night
before retiring to sleep. But whereas certain other processes which have a direct
relevance and relationship to your dealing with people in this world and your active
relationship in social activities, day after day in your life, such meditative processes are
best done at the beginning of the days activities. These processes which do not have
either of these two specific references, can be practised at any time of the day.
Meditation for improving and building up your own health, is to be practised at bed time,
just before you go to sleep. The preparations for it are all the same, identical. Sit upon
your meditation posture. Keep the body erect and straight. Sit steadily without any
movement. But always be entirely relaxed. You must feel totally at ease. You must be
feeling so restful that you can gradually forget the very presence of the body. The body
should not make itself felt by you at all. The posture should be so restful and so relaxed.
Then only you will not even feel that you are sitting. Thus you can continue for a long
time without any discomfort. Now in this state of quiescence and restfulness take the
mind inward and feel strongly the powerful presence in the innermost centre of your
being. Feel that it is the Universal Spirit in its indwelling aspect, making itself felt as
Divine Presence. The Universal Spirit is all-perfect. It is a source of all-blessedness. It is
all health, strength, vigour and power. Visualise mentally the centre and source of all
health and of all healing. Feel your unity with that Divine Centre. And now gently assert
to yourself: The source of all health is within me Om Om Om; God is my healer Om
Om Om; I am ever united with that Being Om Om Om; I am a mass of radiant energy
Om Om Om; I am disease-free Om Om Om; I am in a state of perfect health Om Om
Om.
In this way draw up yourselves a suitable list of affirmations which are appropriate and
suited to your particular state of health requirement. And inwardly feel the required state
is now being created within you. Everything that is wrong is being set right in all parts of
the body. Restoration, repair and healing is taking place in every specific part and total
state of perfect health is being established within. Have clearly before your mental vision
the word health in luminous letters. Visualise health clearly. Visualise the centre of your
being as an inexhaustible source of energy and health. Feel the power of health radiating
from that inner centre and spreading in all directions throughout your body and bringing
about a state of radiant health in every part of the body. Feel your body growing with
perfect health from head to toe. Accompany this feeling with quiet affirmation. Keep
yourselves in this state for some minutes continuously and conclude with peace chant:
Om, Santi, Santih. This kind of meditation may be done within a period of five or six
minutes. If you can prolong it longer it is well and good. If your concentration is very
good, even four minutes will suffice. But if you have got any specific health problem in

any particular part of your body, you may particularly direct the healing Prana towards
that part and make the meditation a few minutes longer. And always con-elude with the
Peace Chant and finish by saying Thank you God. I pray to the Lord that He may
bestow upon you inner strength so that you will attain steady success in your daily
meditation. Hari Om Tat Sat.

The Path of Devotion

All religions, all faiths, all creeds and all saints have but come into this universe with one
great objectiveto recall to man once again the great need to make the inner spiritual
relationship into a dynamic and living fact in ones own life. This is the central purpose of
religion and it is the central message of all saints and sageswhether of the East or the
West, ancient or modernand this is the central theme of philosophy, of all the
scriptures, to make the individual turn away from this kaleidoscope, this circus of the
many, and move towards the inner shrine, wherein dwells blessedness. This is the
meaning of religion and all processes of religion, all the practices of Yoga and every
technique ever devised by any Master, by any Guru or any adept has for its ultimate
objective and purpose, this re-establishment and the development into all its fullness your
relationship wlth that One Being, with the One Principle, that One Reality which alone
you can really and truly say: It is mine. I belong to It.
About no other thing in this universe can you assert this Truth: It is mine, and I belong
to It. Not even with regard to this body which you think is so dear to you, so near to you,
is your own self and with which you are in an absolute state of identification. Even the
body will one day leave you in the lurch and depart and it will say: Oh, no, you have no
authority over me. I am here under some other law, the law of Karma, and when that is
over and done with, you cannot claim me as your own! Even when you consider the
body your own, how much control have you over it? If only you take some wrong thing
in your diet which is upsetting and the bowels start purging, can you say: No, you
belong to me. Stop! Shouldnt purge! It wont listen to you and you will have to run to
the toilet ten times. You may have three Ph.D. Degrees, or be President of India or of the
United States. but you have very little control over the body. If you obey its natural
functions and treat it properly, then it will go along with you but if you contradict some
law then you are taught how much control you have over it. So we have to realise that is
only with one Being, with Truth, that we can assert: Yes, you are mine and I am Thine.
and that one Being is.
How beautiful is this last lineO God, mine! Thou art my all-in-all. Mother to me Thou
art. Father to me Thou art. Thou art my relative and Thou art my companion. Thou art
knowledge and wisdom to me. You are all my wealth. You are everything a human being
puts any value upon or holds dear and desirable. God is your own. The Divine is your
own. You belong eternally to the Divine and in the Divine you have your all-in-all. The
great need, therefore, in life is to ever keep yourself closely related to that which does not
perish, that which does not pass, that which does not change, that which can never

disappoint you, to that which can never bring about disillusionment into your life. All
association with the non-Eternal is ultimately fraught with sorrow. This is the simple
truth. Common sense tells you, if you will reflect that all association with the non-Eternal
is ultimately fraught with sorrow and the Eternal, alone, can fulfil the longing of the
innermost depths of your being. The Eternal alone can satisfy the Spirit and you are
Spirit. You are not this physical body, you are not this ever-changing mind, you are not
this intellect and this spurious little I personalityyou are Spirit, and the Eternal alone,
can ultimately give satisfaction to your expression. In the Eternal alone can you find true
joy, which one should ever keep an intense relationship that is ever growing and ever
dynamic.
How can you do it? You can do it with the faculties you possess. They are your working
tools. If that Divine Principle were a tangible thing in the nature of an object to you, first
you would make use of the physical body to grasp it and hold it and keep it. But it is
supra-physical, it is invisibleat least in your present state of consciousness. Now your
consciousness is outgoing-oriented thought, objective perception only, so it is the world
that is visible to you.
What is it that has brought you to this state of such confused involvement with this
universal process, with this world outside, with the objects here? What is it? How is it
that you are enmeshed in a variety of things, in a variety of experiences from which you
dont seem able to free yourself? It is your sentiments, your emotional involvements
which have managed to bind you and you are attached. They have hooked youyour
affections, your likes.
That level of the individuals nature which is made up of the emotional potential, of the
mans personality, is very much in evidence here. It is very much the reason, the
causative factor or the propelling force in this present involvement out of which there is
much bondage, much slavery and much losing of oneself in the experience of things in
which one is involved and so laying oneself open to the experience of all the impacts that
evolve out of this involvement, exposing oneself, therefore, to all the variety of
experiences, the result from this involvementforever the same in joy, in sorrow, in
suffering, in anxiety, sometimes in fulfilment, sometimes in disappointment, sometimes
gladness and happiness, sometimes sorrow. So you ever react, due to being exposed to
the inevitable outcome of this involvement with the outer through your emotional
potential, to that dimension of your being made up of the emotional content of your
personality.
This is the experience of man, always under the impact of this wide involvement through
emotion, through sentiment, through love, through attachment, through preference,
through likes, from the merest little involvement such as a little habit like smoking, like
Scotch, like coffee, like tea, whatever it is, right up to the highest states of involvement in
human relationships with other beings, with other thingslove and hate attachments.
There is a faculty that makes for this involvement which seems well nigh impossible to
get out of and that, itself, gives you a power in your hands. If this factor in the personality

has the power to get one so closely involved in this outer phenomenon, in this world that
one is caught and gripped in and that becomes ones way of life, then can this factor, this
force, this inner power not help one (if it could be utilised in the other direction) to get
one thoroughly involved with the Being in whom one may seek an inner relationship, to
sustain an experience of greater and a more progressive relationship? This is precisely
what the ancients pondered. Yes! That is the answer, that is the key!
This potential, which is now completely directed towards the world and its objects, its
personalities, if it could be educated, if it could be trained to be diverted and brought to
bear upon the Divine, then that would be the commencement of ones release from
bondage into freedom, ones release from sorrow into joy, from earth-consciousness into
participation in Divine Consciousness.
This method, this process of entering into a relationship through the emotional level of
your being with the Divine is the very essence of the Path of Devotion. It is called
Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti is a word that denotes love, intense attachment, a deep feeling of
affection, of adoration. Love of God is a power that even as a little ripple upon the
surface of a lake in the beginning, gradually it can assume the power of a great wave and
overcome all the lower attachments and bondages like the seed that grows into a great
tree. But it should be tended, it should be cultivated for it does not spontaneously grow by
itself. Its appearance in your heart may come spontaneously by the grace of the Master or
by the grace of Godby some little incident, the heart is so dry and devoid of the least
bit of the Divine love and immediately you become filled with love, but that is only the
beginning. Then you have to work upon it with great care and great devotion, setting up a
relationship, a link of pure love with the Divine and diligently working to develop this
love relationship into a state of perfection and completeness. This is the very essence of
Bhakti Yoga.
The relationship which in ordinary human beings is the cause of so much pain, so much
sorrow, so much love and hate, so much struggle, so much misunderstanding, so much
envy and jealousy, so many tears, that very relationship becomes the sublime method of
rising above this ordinary plane, of transcending all these relationships and going into a
plane of a blessed experience of Divine Consciousness, God-Consciousness, GodExperience.
You may feel: God is a strange Being. I have not seen Him before. He is remote from
me. How can I love Him? I can easily and naturally love my wife, my husband, my
children, my friends, my car, my money, my house or whatever is here because it is
tangible, it is real and I can touch it, feel it and experience it as a tangible object, but that
is not so with God.
The answer is: Part of what you say is correct; much of what you say is wrong. God is
not remote. He is nearer to you than the nearest object in this universe. He is nearer to
you than your lifes breath, nearer than your hands and feet. He is the very Self of your
being, the very basis of your being. He is your Inner Ruler. He is not remote.

First of all, drop this idea. Unfortunately, some of the spiritual concepts of God which are
given to man at a certain level, instead of being outgrown, become crystallised and
rigidly established, which they are not meant to do and so we suffer under this
conditioning of thinking of God as something beyond the stars, far, remote and who is
impossible to contact in this life but who is only possible of being contacted after this life
is over, only after death, after the body is gone. This crystallised concept is very harmful
and deprives the human being of the greatest and the most beautiful experience for which
he has taken birth. God is the nearest thing; He is your own Self. He is not remote; He is
not far away. You dont have to lift a finger to point out to Himyou have to look within.
Of course, in a mystical way He is more remote than the remotest star without any
contradiction of the fact that He is nearer than the nearest, because He is Infinite. He is
everywhere. So, He is right within you and He is right there, even the farthest point of
endless space of which you can conceive or think. So, you can say He is very remote but
it does not contradict the fact that He is your innermost Self.
Therefore, He is not remote, neither is He strange. Neither is He invisible. He is not to be
looked at from this eye, He has to be felt. You have to be aware that He is.
You cant touch air. You cant see air. Normally air is odourless but you know it is there
otherwise .you wouldnt dare to take a breath. The moment you breathe you know that air
is ever-present around you. So a thing does not have to be visible in the physical sense to
be tangible in the physical sense. He is there. He is not remote. He is the closest to you
and He is changeless.
You may think: I can love my wife, I can love my husband, my friends and relations, I
can even love my little dog because there has already been a certain pattern created, but
with God, how can I love Him? It is difficult and this is a practical question. The path of
Devotion provides for it in a simple and a natural way. You should not commit the
mistake of thinking that we can relate ourselves to God only in terms of reverence and
awe and some sort of mystical worshipfulness and adoration. These factors may be
present in your Bhakti or in your devotion, but they should not constitute the whole of
your attitude towards Him. If that becomes the pattern then that becomes a barrier. You
should not put a distance between Him and yourself. He is to be felt as your very own,
very close to you and the Path of Devotionthe Bhakti Yoga of Indiaovercame this
question of a stranger in a very simple and natural way.
They said: All right, it is strange to you and you dont know how to relate Him to
yourself or relate yourself to Him. So, what is the sweetest relationship in your life? Are
you a young couple very much in love? Are you the lover and are you deeply in love with
your beloved? Is that the love that is sweetest to you? All right, make no variance, dont
alter it, but look upon the Lord as your beloved, as your sweetheart, as the most beloved
object of your life and pour out all the love of your heart upon the Being that is Divine as
you do it now upon the human. Are you an elderly person, and do you adore, your little
grandchild? Is it the apple of your eye? Is it the very joy of your heart? All right, if that is
your love, then say the Divine is to you as a child. Conceive of Him as a little child, or as

your own child, and pour this love which is spontaneous and natural, all full in your heart
out to the Lord, to the Divine as the self-same object which now dominates your greatest
inner love and relate yourself, link yourself with the Divine in this very form. Therefore,
no strangeness should be present, no change is requiredbe natural.
A varied selection of love-relationships was given with the Divine and this is why Bhakti
Yoga differs from the path of Vedanta, in that while Vedanta is the movement of the
individual towards the Divine in a purely transcendental, nameless, formless, absolute
state, Bhakti Yoga, the path of Devotion, is the movement of the individual consciousness
towards the Divine in its personal aspect. Bhakti Yoga is, essentially, the movement
towards the personal concept of the DeityGod as an ever-perfect Divine personality.
The true devotee of God, the true lover of God is not bothered about what God is doing in
relation to the Cosmoswhether He is creating or not. He is only concerned with what
He is to him. To me He is the object of my love and that is all I am concerned with. I am
not concerned with His relationship to the Cosmos, to the universe, to this process. To
him it is not the greatness of the power of the splendour of God that is of much account,
but the love of God, the graciousness of God, the beauty of God, God as a living,
throbbing person, full of graciousness, full of love and compassion, eager to have you
come to Him. It is an approach towards the Deity in its personal aspect and therefore, He
allows Himself to be approached with any vision, any concept conceived. You may take
the Divine object as a child or as your own companion with whom you can at one
moment talk with love and affection and at another moment argue and yet at another
moment have a little quarrel and then make up again. You can conceive of Him as your
companion of the same age as yourself with whom You can take all liberties and with
whom there are no more secrets. You are as one grown into one body and in this way it
can be varied.
Bhakti Yoga, the Yoga of Devotion, is sweetness all aroundin the beginning, in the
middle and at the end. All through it is sweetness, all through it is joy, all through it is
beauty. Therefore, it is said, with this emotion which is the thing that has enmeshed you
in this jungle of Samsara, this life, you are not asked to turn around on it and trample it
and destroy it, because that way you trample upon yourself, since that emotion has
become a part of your very nature. You should cultivate it, develop it, increase it but train
it and channelise it. Let it grow systematically and exercise it in a systematic way. So it is
the key-note. It contains love, affection, attachment, intimacy, nearness, absolute
humility, closeness and also adoration and an element of worshipfulness.

Attainment of Divine Perfection

Beloved Immortal Atman, children of the Divine, you who are travellers upon this earth
plane in this present state of physical embodiment! Due to the operation of the law of
cause and effect, you, who are pilgrims working out your Karmic pattern of life
according to your separate Prarabdha and who have scope for Purushartha, even while

undergoing the Prarabdha Karma Bhoga, to you I have this great privilege of bringing the
message this evening of the path that can take you beyond sorrow.
The essence of life is not so much what happens to you, not the various experiences of
positive and negative, pleasant and unpleasant that keep occurring as inevitable part of
this earth life. The essence of life is not the experiences that you undergo either
physically or mentally. The substance of life, the greater value of what constitutes life is
what you engage yourself in doing while you are here and while life brings its inevitable
experiences to you day after day, hour after hour. Experiences, pleasant and unpleasant
are the common lot of all living creatures. It is nothing special or unique to the human
creature alone. All birds, beasts, animals, even the minutest insects, all undergo
experiences. They experience heat, cold, hunger, thirst, pain and comforts. The inevitable
vicissitudes of physical existence on earth have an impact upon all forms of life, not only
on living creatures, even on plant life. They also have to bear the inclemencies of
weather, torrid heat of summer, biting cold of winter and dashing rain, but they do not
have in them the ability for conscious exertion towards a self-determined goal along
purposefully chosen directions.
This privilege has been reserved for that unique creature, which you are, the human
species, man in the image of God, the crowning glory of Gods creation. To you is
reserved this unique privilege of looking at life, observing things and coming to
conclusions. Upon these observances and in the light of these conclusions and in the light
of the knowledge you gain from observing life, you will determine what will be your
goal, what will be the direction in which you will propel life and what will be the kind of
action that you will engage in. So, you can live your life with a higher knowledge and
deeper understanding, whereas the life of all other forms of life, all other forms of
existence, is generally governed by instinct, the impelling force of the stern necessities of
life. Man has the unique ability of determining the direction of his life and choosing his
goal. It is in the context of this uniqueness of man that the following question becomes
relevant: Will you choose the path of sorrow, pain and suffering? By ignoring the
experiences of life, refusing to learn the lessons from life and being foolish, will you
choose the path which appears pleasant for a while and ultimately leads to pain and
suffering? Or, will you be wise and learn from every experience of life and let wisdom
guide your life towards real peace and lasting happiness?
It is here that I wish to bring to your attention the great good fortune that is your lot in
having been born in this land of the Himalayas and Ganga, the land of the Vedas and the
Upanishads, Srimad Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Due to this fact
you have become inheritors of a culture that has something sublime, that has a message
unique not only for you, but also for all mankind. Your countrys culture is well-known to
be a culture that is oriented towards righteousness and ultimate spiritual experience. The
way of life of the fortunate children of this land is a way of life based upon wisdom,
guided by wisdom and governed by wisdom. The source of our faith and belief, the
source of our understanding of ourselves, this universe, and of life, are the Vedas. The
Vedas imply timeless wisdom and the Vedic wisdom is the primal root and origin of our
view of life, our way of life, our faith and belief, our understanding of ourselves, this

universe and the reality beyond. Therefore, the religion of India is known as the Vaidic
Dharma, Sanatana Vaidic Dharma. The distinctive features that characterise this way of
life is its spiritual conception of life. Its ideal of Dharma is a way of life that holds before
man the supreme ideal of righteousness in life as the highest value, the most desirable end
and aim to strive for. It is said that even to lose ones life in upholding Dharma is not a
loss, but a gain. So much so that Dharma is held to be greater than life itself. Do not
swerve from Dharma, even if it means losing your life, for then you will attain eternal
blessedness. That was the injunction of the Vedas.
These two concepts, the concept that life is spiritual and its central purpose and ultimate
goal is spiritual illumination, and the concept that Dharma is the one supreme factor that
ensures that your life will move in the direction of the ultimate spiritual attainment are
the distinctive features that have characterised Sanatana Dharma or Vaidic Dharma and
make for its uniqueness. Devoid of Dharma, spiritual attainment, illumination and divine
perfection is impossible. The prerequisite for the attainment of supreme blessedness is
life based upon righteousness and virtue. You are the inheritors of this Dharma and this
cultural heritage is the most important feature and the most valuable part of whatever our
glorious past has given us as a gift. In the context of the Sanatana Vaidic Dharma they are
given to the human individual, amongst other things, lesser goalsfour important values
to be kept before ones vision and for the attainment of which you may strive. These
values indicate to us where ultimately you may transcend the inevitable pains, sufferings
and sorrows of this earth plane and attain to a state of blessedness and bliss.
The four values propounded by Sanatana Dharma are Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.
The last one is called Parama Purushartha and it is a transcendental value, spiritual value
which imparts meaning to this life here, without which life would be entirely
meaningless. It will only be a process of coming into birth, existing in time, undergoing
various experiences and changes and ultimately leaving this body in death, and nothing to
be attained beyond. But it was discovered that there is a higher state of blessedness to be
attained, that there is a supreme goal for the attainment of which this life is a means, it is
not an end in itself, but a means to that end. That vision, that experience, which was
attained, the great Reality which was of the nature of supreme blessedness and bliss and
having experienced that with the authority of their own personal experience, these great
illumined seers, called upon mankind and gave the clarion call: O man, O mortals,
striving and struggling upon this earth plane, weeping and wailing, buffeted by the
vicissitudes of life here: we have come upon a great .discovery. There is something
beyond these appearances, these vanishing names and forms, that make up this universe.
There is something beyond, which forms the very source, the very basis and support, the
substratum, and ultimate goal of all things and that great Reality beyond appearances is
of the nature of bliss absolute. It is Brahman and Ananda is its eternal, unchanging nature.
From this great Brahman, all beings have come into being; supported by this great reality
all things exist and unto this great reality are things verily moving. That is the ultimate
destination of all beings, the divine experience of Brahman, which is Absolute Bliss.
They had discovered the Supreme Reality, attaining which one goes beyond all relative
experiences, all duality, and enters into a blessed state of Bliss Absolute, and to attain that

is the birthright of each and every individual soul. We have come into this world of pain
and death, of old age, disease, decay, full of painful experiences, experiences brought
about by elemental forces beyond our control, epidemics, floods, famines, earth-quakes,
tidal waves, cyclones, firethey call it Adhidaiva (pertaining to gods). Experiences of
various kinds of pains and sufferings inflicted by different forms of life, insects, reptiles,
animals, germs, bacteria, microbes, was called Adhibhuta (pertaining to the elements).
There are various factors from within, that do no let us rest, that do not give us peace, that
cause constant agitation, constant vigil. They are self-created and come up within our
own psychological selflove and hate, anger and passion, multitude of desires that cause
oscillation and restlessness in the mind. They are Adhyatmika, coming out of our own
selffear, worry, tension, jealousy, envy, anxiety, greed, unfulfilled desire, frustration,
disappointment, disillusionment, the sorrow of separation, bereavement. These three
kinds of afflictions characterise life upon this earth plane.
Afflictions caused by other forms of life, other creatures, animals, reptiles, insects,
minutest forms of life and then as though these were not enough, what comes from inside
and creates ones own sorrow, from ones own endless desiresgreed, craving for
possession, for enjoyment of things, perishable things, for accumulation of things, for
domination over others, ego, selfishness, and unending desires and cravings, love and
hate and the concomitant accompaniments that follow. Where there is desire there is
anger, there is enmity, hostility and therefore restlessness, lack of peace and there is also
fear, worry and anxiety. These experiences are the common lot of all creatures and man,
the psychological being, is subject to this third affliction coming from his own inner
being. In this state the human individual soul has to go through life, constantly subject to
these afflictions. Therefore it looks as though the fate of man is always sorrow, pain and
suffering, from birth till death.
What is it that brings about an awakening, an opening of eyes in Prince Siddhartha so that
he begins, for the first time, to understand what life is, how much pain, how much misery
and suffering there is in life? When he comes out he comes face to face firstly with old
age, the phenomenon of old age, the miseries that accompany old age, the helplessness,
the unenviable lot of the person who is absolutely helpless in old age. That becomes a
first shock of realisation for him, that my youthful body, my beauty, my strength, is not
everlasting. It will inevitably, inexorably change and give place to other conditions of the
body. Then he comes face to face with the phenomenon of disease, suffering that is
inflicted upon the body, and then he sees the phenomenon of death, mourners carrying a
dead body to the cremation ground and the person on the bier not responding to their
piteous mourning. He says what is this? Is this the way all beings have to go?
Simultaneously he sees a fourth phenomenon, a person who has renounced desire, given
up craving, longing for the lustful enjoyment of life, sitting with a beaming face, serene,
peace reflected in every line of his features and seemingly untouched by the sorrows of
the world around him. It is this that brings to him the first inkling that there is sorrow and
pain in this life, in this world, and there seems to be a way out of this sorrow through
detachment.

Sankaracharya says, understand this great !aw; You have come with a certain Karmic
pattern. What is due to you is already fixed in this Karmic pattern. Therefore do not fall
prey to endless craving and desire. What is to come will come to you. Be contented.
Enjoy what comes to you by the force of the operation of your own previous Karma. Do
not fall prey to craving and desire and this will obviate sorrow and suffering for you. And
this was similarly the observation of the young Prince, that one who has given up craving
and desire, one who has renounced craving and desire, one who has generated
detachment from within seems to have conquered all sorrow. There is peace beaming on
his face. There seems to be joy reflected in his gaze and this set the young Prince
reflecting deeply and out of it came the great renunciation and the quest for that state of
being in which one will become impervious to all pain, suffering and sorrow. There is a
state, says the Gita, in which even the heaviest sorrow is powerless to shake one. One
remains unaffected, unshakable even by heavy sorrow. That state which is to be attained
and which gives us this power for all outer experiences, is a state which comes by
recognising that this world in which you live two factors have to be clearly recognised.
One is that which is a momentary phenomenon, that soon changes and passes. The whole
world is filled with innumerable sense-objects, objects of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell,
but each of these objects are temporary in time and space. They are limited and
conditioned. They are subject to decay and destruction. All objects in this universe,
whatever you see, whatever you perceive through your senses, have a beginning and an
end.
The great vision and the great experience of your ancestors, the illumined seers and sages
of the Upanishads, their vision and their experience declare that the entire range of these
temporary things, changeful and perishable things, these finite conditions are petty
(Alpa). They are petty and having experienced both this and gone beyond its experience
into a transcendental experience of the Absolute, they were able, they were in a position
to see the difference between this and that and they have declared for us in clarion tones
in the Upanishads: happiness lies not in these petty objects of the senses which are
passing, momentary, but in that all-full, eternal, absolute Being, the Reality that is Nitya
Paripurna. In the Paripurna alone is the sure guarantee, the absolute certainty of true
happiness, real joy, not even happiness but bliss. They called it bliss. They did not give it
the word Sukha (comfort) or Harsha (happiness). They said Ananda (bliss).
Therefore having come into this world of changeful and petty perishable objects of the
senses, seek the eternal, aspire to rise into an experience of the great timeless Reality, the
Absolute Reality. Then alone is the sure Certainty of your transcending all the sorrows,
pains and sufferings of this earth existence, this little physical life and attainting to a
supernal state of absolute bliss and absolute blessedness. This state of going beyond
sorrow and becoming established in a state of absolute joy, supreme peace that passeth
understanding was given to you as your real goal in life, as the highest value to be
attained. Moksha or liberation constitutes liberation from sorrow, pain,, suffering and
misery. It is a liberation from all that is unpleasant, all that is painful, all that you are ever
seeking to avoid and to free yourself from. Analyse the essence of all human activity
throughout this universe, the world over, since the dawn of creation. Try to find out at the
grass-roots, what is it that all creatures are striving for? .What is man engaged in doing

from morning till night, from birth till death? They are engaged in doing something, they
are all active. What is the essence of this activity? What is that which is common to all
individuals, no matter how different they may be in their way of life due to differences of
race, nationality, creed, caste, etc. Yet this one phenomenon is common to all; it binds
them with a global unity. All of them are seeking to attain a certain goal and they are
striving desperately after it throughout their life. If analysed, it will be discovered that all
living beings, all human beings are engaged only in striving to avoid that which is
unpleasant and painful. Trying to avoid that which is sorrow and trying to attain that
which gives them joy, that which gives them happiness.
The whole world, all humanity, is engaged ceaselessly, day after day, from cradle to the
grave, only in trying to avoid painful experiences and trying to attain that which is
pleasant, that which is happiness, that which is desirable and if you put a question to all
humanity saying: Is there a single human individual on earth who can stand up boldly and
say yes, in this universal quest of mankind throughout the world I have come out
successfully. I do not know what pain is, I do not know what sorrow is, suffering has
never touched me and I have attained that state which is unalloyed absolute happiness,
joy, joy, joy. You will not find a single person.
This world is a world of pain and sorrow and that is because in this universe there are
these two things: one, all the objects, everything in this universe is impermanent,
transitory, momentary, subject to decay and destruction; and there is another factor,
Avinashi, that which is imperishable, indestructible, that which is eternal and permanent,
that is untouched by time and that imperishable principle is the spiritual Reality beyond
all phenomenal appearances of names and forms. The names and forms which go to make
up this universe are only appearances. Beyond this appearance there is an Adhishthana, a
basis, that is Atma-tattva (soul-principle). That Atma-tattva, is of the nature of pure bliss,
spiritual bliss and the quest of man, if it is to succeed, if man has to go beyond sorrow
and find true happiness, absolute unalloyed bliss, then while you live in this universe of
ever-changing names and forms, and being endowed with a physical body and a
psychological self, you have to go through life in this world, in this phenomenon.
While living in the midst of these passing, perishable, physical objects of this material
universe, simultaneously you could generate in yourself a purposeful inner self towards
the great Reality and make this quest a part of your life so that there are twin currents
flowing in your life. One is the outer life where you are concerned with the phenomenal
nature and objects, and the other is the inner life where you are trying to pierce beyond
the range, where you are ardently aspiring and eagerly yearning to know the Reality
hidden behind this curtain of appearances. Ultimately a day will come, when in and
through this life of perishable objects and vanishing names and forms you will suddenly
realise Reality. This is the ancient quest that ends in bliss and blessedness, that had been
handed down to you as the most essential part of your cultural heritage by the sublime
past.
Asato ma sadgamaya, tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, mrityor ma amritamgamaya(From
untruth lead me to truth, from darkness lead me to light and from death lead me to

immortality)this prayer which has echoed and re-echoed down the corridors of
centuries, millennia, this ancient prayer that has been handed down to you generation
after generation by the unbroken line of teachers and guides of humanity, this is the
prayer that characterises your inner being. While going through the inevitable
experiences of Karma-bhoga in the form of Sukha and Duhkha, within you, you must be
awake, you must know that you are but a traveller upon this earth plane, and that this is
not your real abode. You come from a plane beyond, where there is eternal sunshine. Due
to the operation of the law of Karma, somehow or the other you find yourself now in this
condition, bound by a body, endowed with a mind and controlled by it. But your real
abode is that beyond and so make your earth life a pilgrimage to that eternal abode of
everlasting sunshine, the Atmic realm, that level of existence where there is that absolute
Being. Therefore let your life not be totally a complete involvement in phenomenal things
only, but .while you are living your life, try to attain the inevitable secular objective of
existence. As long as you have a body you have to work for your livelihood. You have to
struggle hard, earn money, provide yourself with the necessities of physical existence,
food, clothing, shelter, medical aid. You also have your own little individual longings,
desires, your little plans and schemes, your hearts yearnings. All right, try to fulfil these
inevitable expressions of your human nature. Animal existence does not have this
complication of a vital aspect which has longings, which has yearnings and so many
desires.
The wise made a provisionstrive to provide yourself for your physical existence, strive
also, to fulfil the desires that are inevitable to your human nature. They are a spontaneous
part of your nature. But take care to see that in this striving for the fulfilment of these two
secular values of your life in this material world, you do not contradict the ideal of
righteousness. If you contradict the ideal of righteousness in your struggle for providing
yourself lifes necessities, or in your struggle to fulfil your desires, then your direction
will be lost. Falling away from Dharma, your life will not move towards the ultimate
supreme goal of lifeGod-experience, , Atma-sakshatkaraby which alone you will be
able to transcend all the sufferings of this earth existence, go beyond sorrow, and liberate
yourself once and for all from this wheel of death and rebirth. Therefore, making
righteousness, goodness, good conduct, noble character, virtue, the very foundation of
your life, making Dharma the very basis of your secular life and its living, carry on your
normal way of living. Earn your livelihood, ply a trade, have a profession, do your
business and till your field. It will not come in the way of your attaining the supreme
blessedness for which alone you have come. You have not come here to weep and wail
and merely suffer. These are the passing secondary aspects of your life. You have come
here fundamentally in order to attain supreme bliss and blessedness and that is your
divine destiny.
Life is not an end in itself. Your goal is not confined to this material world in which your
body is living. Your goal goes beyond this world of appearances. Your goal is the
attainment of Divine Perfection. Your goal is the attainment of Godliness and Divine
Consciousness, which is of the nature of absolute peace and joy, which is of the nature of
Paramananda (Supreme Bliss). That is the goal of each and every human individual, for
this divine perfection is your real nature. You are eternally, divinely perfect. No sorrow

can touch that real identity of yours, your essential being, which the Upanishads declare
to be your Nija Svarupa (true nature). You are not this perishable cage of flesh and bones.
You are not this little restless phenomenon of thoughts and imaginations, of memories,
desires and cravings. These two constitute only a temporary added factor to your being.
Your real being is distinct and beyond both these, physical self as well as the
psychological self. Your real self is part of that infinite and eternal cosmic spirit. It is a
ray of that eternal Light of lights which is known as Brahman, or the transcendental
Reality.
You are a wave of Ananda upon that ocean of Paramananda that is your real identity and
that is now hidden because there is a shift in consciousness. You have identified yourself
with these passing limiting adjuncts that have been given to you to live your phenomenal
life in this world. You think of yourself as a physical creature, as a psychological being
and all the experience in the conditions of this physical body and the psychological being
is superimposed upon yourself. You weep and wail. What does the great world-teacher
Lord Krishna, who gave the Gita Jnana, say about you? He says: You are that Being
whom neither weapons can injure, nor fire can burn, nor water can wet, nor wind can dry;
Unborn, Eternal, Permanent, Timeless, you are untouched when the body perishes. This is
your real nature, Unborn and Timeless Atman you are, and this real identity of yours is of
the nature of Pure Bliss, just as honey is of the nature of pure sweetness, sandal is of the
nature of pure fragrance.
You are of the nature of Pure Bliss for you are a fragment, a ray, a wave upon that infinite
ocean of Brahman, infinite Ocean of Bliss that is Brahman. Brahmanandam parama
sukhadam kevalam jnanamurtim, in these words the sages experienced that great
Absolute Reality. It is a source that is invisible, and is the substratum and support. It is
the ultimate goal. It is always there. It is never absent for a single moment. This is the
only truth, this is the only reality and this is the eternally present factor in this universe.
Sorrow, miseries and all that are only temporary passing variations upon the surface only.
Below it there is absolute bliss. There is supreme Ananda in the midst of all the diverse
classes and conflicts in the surface existing in this phenomenal world. There is absolute
bliss just as at the depth of the ocean there is absolute stillness. Even when a storm is
rising upon the surface, waves are breaking, yet deep below at the depth of the ocean
there is always calmness, always serenity. In the same way in the immeasurable depth of
the great reality that is Brahman, which is the support of this surface phenomenal,
universal appearance, there is always Ananda and that Ananda is the centre of your being.
That Ananda is verily your own being. Your essential self never varies. That is the only
truth about you.
When the consciousness goes back to that centre, here and now all sorrows will cease.
You will experience Bliss. You will experience Peace, for it is ever there like the
underground sources of plentiful water even in the midst of an arid waste land. They have
only to tap it, they have only to bore it, they have only to go deep down. Now you are in a
state of consciousness where you have turned away from the reality of your true self and
you have identified yourself with the Upadhis: I am so and so; I am so many centimetres
tall; I am so many years old. You, who are of the nature of absolute Satchidananda, you

are discarding that heritage, you are yourself of your own accord ignoring that. You are
turning away from that Reality and you are identifying yourself with the unreality of your
being. Where was this body before your mother gave birth to you and how long is it
going to appear? Those who have sensed the timelessness of eternity, characterise this
human body as a bubble, a bubble on the surface of the waternot there a moment
before, appearing for a moment, bursting and vanishing and disappearing the next
moment. This is earth life. You have identified yourself with this temporary appearance.
The original sin of man is to forget the reality of his true identity and to identify himself
with the body which is only a temporary clothing. The Lord characterised this body as
clothing which you have worn, an apparel. Just as when the apparel is worn out and
useless, man discards it and puts on a new apparel, the Jivatma leaves this body when it is
useless and journeys forth and puts on a new body. So there is need to have constant
Vichara and Viveka between these two factors that are present in this Universe: the unreal
passing appearances, the temporary, the transitory and the reality that is eternal,
changeless, permanent, beneath these passing transitory periods. There should be,
therefore, a keen philosophical enquiry: What is this I see? What is the real nature of all
these objects that I perceive that go to make up the world? What is the nature of this
appearance of my own physical body and mental personality? Enquire philosophically
and you will begin to find that all things that appear as objects of senses are temporary in
time. They are perishable. Therefore discriminate and separate the eternal from the noneternal. Viveka should characterise each Bharatiya because we are the children and
descendents of the illumined sages of the Upanishads. Wisdom is our natural birthright.
Wisdom is our heritage, the most auspicious aspect of our heritage. From wisdom this ray
of light has emerged, for Vedas constitute that wisdom. Ultimately the highest absolute
wisdom, divine illumination, divine wisdom is our goal.
Therefore, you, who are inheritors of a wisdom-oriented culture and a wisdom-oriented
view of life, your life also should be characterised, not by folly and ignorance but by
wisdom, discrimination and philosophical enquiry. Thus, discriminating between the real
and the unreal, the eternal and the non-eternal, the permanent and the passing, you must
be able, through a process of detachment, to break away your infatuation, your
attachment or clinging to that which is passing, that which is momentary, and seek the
eternal and permanent.
Thus, in life understand the distinction of values. All things in this life have no ultimate
value. They have temporary value only. Therefore, by all means, as long as you have to
inevitably live amidst them, make use of them but do not become enslaved by them,
through craving and infatuated delusion, attachment and desire. Do not become like
puppets in the hands of these sense-objects. Go through life making use of these things,
but not attached to them, unattached through inner detachment, utilising them but not
being enslaved by them and ever seeking the eternal Reality. Make your life a continuous
and ceaseless quest after the eternal Reality which is beyond appearances. Call it Godprinciple, call it Paramatma, call it Brahman. The name or label that you give does not
matter. There is an unchanging eternal Reality behind and beyond all these changing
names and forms that form the world of appearances and while we live and move amidst

these changing names and forms, we shall be only questing after the Eternal. If you have
set your goal on that eternal Being, then, as you move through life, the very way of your
living will become a gradual process of liberation.
Where there is attachment there is misery. Where there is forgetfulness of the Eternal
reality there is death and where there is keen aspiration for the Reality, liberation already
starts. Life becomes a progressive process of freeing yourself from the clutches of desires
and the clutches of attraction for these temporary things. Therefore, let your life be a life
of triumph, a life that is at every step a conquest over desire and craving, a life that is at
every step a victory over the little attractions of passing objects. Assert your mastery as
the child of the Divine, a part of the God-principle, assert your mastery and say I shall
ever seek to regain my inseparable relationship with the Infinite Reality. From Him I
have come into this temporary state of embodiment and back to that Great Being will be
my lifes direction, like the waters of the ocean being absorbed by the suns rays, rising
into the sky and forming clouds, being blown upon the land by winds and falling down as
rain, start flowing once again, they form streams, rivulets, then rivers and their quest is
not complete until and unless they once again regain the ocean from which they emerge.
In that, let your life be a purposeful moment towards the Eternal Reality which is your
origin and source from where you came into this life, this earth plane. If you make your
life a constant conscious endeavour, a determined movement forward, God-ward, towards
the Great Reality, then sorrow cannot touch you, for within your heart there is attachment
only for that Eternal Reality. Where there is attachment for God, attachment for that
Supreme Reality, there petty objects cannot come and enslave you. This is the great
central call of the Upanishads. Make your life a process of standing, declaring your
supremacy, declaring your Atmic nature and be alert and awake.
Let your life be to you a purposeful movement towards God-experience. Let there be
keen hankering after that God-experience. Endow yourself with an alert and active
philosophical enquiry into the real nature of things. Know that the objects are hollow.
Their attraction and appearance is only on the surface. Inside they have no substance.
They are only a temporary appearance for a little while and therefore knowing that they
are ultimately essenceless, set your heart upon the one Sara Vastu, the Essence of all
things, that is Brahman, that is God, that is your own Eternal Abode. Let constant, active,
philosophical enquiry and discrimination be your greatest friends. They will enable you
to rise beyond the attractions and attachments to the passing things and keep going
steadily in the direction of the great goal Moksha. The nature of Moksha is the cessation
of all sorrow, the attainment of Supreme Bliss, by which attainment you are filled with
eternal satisfaction. And while you are in this plane, psychologically, try to be wise. The
greater your desires for which there is no end, the more will be your misery. Therefore,
try to simplify your life. Do not approach life with the idea let me see with how much I
can live, but with the maxim of let me see with how little I can live. So simplify your
life and try to have contentment that there may not be too much craving. Craving is a fire;
desires can never be satisfied. The more you satisfy them, the greater will their intensity
be and when you are in the clutches of desires, misery is the only result.

Never compare and contrast your lot with other peoples lot. This is unwise because each
one comes with his own Prarabdha. Look to yourself. Do not say how much another man
has got and then unnecessarily make yourself the victim of envy, jealousy and
discontentment. Where you compare and contrast there is always misery. Look at your
life and be content with it. Where God has placed you, thank God for what He has given
you. If you want to compare yourself, then compare yourself with less fortunate people
and then you will have only thanks for God. As far as possible try to be moderate in all
things. Keep the senses under control. In the presence of those who have more than you
or who are superior to you, be serene and fearless. Have an attitude of friendliness
towards all beings who are your equals and towards those who are inferior to you, who
have lesser than you, have kindness and compassion. Try to have an attitude of
unperturbed indifference towards the inevitable wicked people. Then you will be happy.
You must feel yourself essentially to be a Sadhaka. What am I? I am a Sadhaka engaged
in Sadhana to attain the Supreme reality in this very body, in this very life. So far as I am
concerned I am a Sadhaka. Whatever the world may see in me, what am I to myself? I am
the devotee seeking the Beloved. I am a Sadhaka taking this life as my Sadhana in order
to attain the Supreme Reality. So let your feeling of yourself, let your knowledge of
yourself, consciousness of yourself and your individuality be as that of a spiritual
Sadhaka, striving to attain the Supreme Reality. Thus guide this ship of your life through
the difficult shoals and rocks of the various experiences here towards that great goal. The
more you move towards the goal, all sorrow will cease. Even if there is sorrow, you will
become impervious to it. It will not touch you. There will be an inner strength created
within you where even sorrow will not have any meaning for you. You will smile even at
misfortune and sorrow. This was the secret of the perennial joy which all these great
saints had. They are somehow or the other established in inner contact with God who is
the source of all joy and having established that inner contact, they went through all the
vicissitudes of life, smiling even in the face of sorrow, pain, dishonour, misery, all sorts of
oppositions of life. This is the secret.
While you are in contact with the outer universe, put yourself into a living contact with
the Divine Reality and through that contact, joy and peace will fill your heart, for God is
a source of all joy, all peace and all blessedness. One of the sure means of bringing about
this inner contact is to take to the practice of the Divine Name, any Name that appeals to
you, for there is a mystical fact in this, mystical secret in this. The Divine Name is
identical with the Divine Reality. This is a mystical truth experienced by those mystics
who followed this path in attaining God. Naam (the Divine Name) is the visible form of
God. God Himself has manifested as Name and therefore Vedanta also supports this view
by having within its framework the concept of the Sabda Brahman or Nada Brahman. The
first evolute of the absolute when it became relative manifestation, was in the form of a
mystical cosmical sound. That cosmical sound was Pranava OM and all the Divine
Names are only variations of Pranava. OM contains within itself all possible sounds
because it is the ultimate Truth sound, cosmical sound, resource of all manifestation.
Therefore, it contains within itself in an unmanifest way all possible sound variations and
therefore all Naam, all Mantras, are only the variations of Pranava which is the
manifestation of Para Brahman in the form of sound (Nada Brahman). Therefore Naam is

none other than Nada Brahman and Naam and Nami are one. If you begin to take up the
practice of the Divine Name, already you are putting yourself directly into relationship
with God. So through the constant practice of the Divine Name you will be able to
awaken your own spiritual consciousness. By awakening your own spiritual
consciousness this identity which you have brought about through self-forgetfulness or
loss of awareness, this identity which you have brought about with the perishable body
and changeful mind, this identity will gradually be transcended. Then you will begin to
identify yourself with your essential nature (Nija Svarupa). You will know that sorrow is
not in my being, sorrow is only my imagination. What there is within me is bliss and bliss
alone, for I am part of the Supreme Infinite Bliss which is Brahman. Arise, awake and
attain that divine wisdom that I am in reality an Eternal Divine Principle which is of the
nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss Absolute (Satchidananda).

Transforming Spirit of Saints and Mystics

Where people gather together with devotion, faith, love for God in their hearts, there is,
not the Iron Age, not Kaliyuga, but the Golden Age, Satya Yuga. There it is no more the
earth-plane. Earth-plane may be there outside physically, but it is, in truth, Vaikuntha,
Bhuvaikuntha or Heaven on earth. It is also referred to as the Kingdom of God or the
Kingdom of Heaven. It is potentially present where hearts filled with devotion, hearts
filled with faith, and the spirit of adoration, are united together in one common spiritual
wish to think of God, to hear of God and chant His Names. This is the common wish that
connects all of you in a wonderful spiritual unity and harmony. This moment of oneness
in the Spirit is a blessed moment, sanctifying moment. This moment of oneness in the
Spirit is a great manifestation of His love and His Grace, where our thoughts and feelings
and aspirations are common.
So we come together in God, as it were, when we are in Satsanga. Because it is that
central magnet that has drawn us. Dwelling though we do in different physical bodies, yet
this common magnet has touched deep within us something which is the same in all. It is
not different from person to person. And this innermost essence knits all existence into a
mystical spiritual homogeneity, a oneness. All differences are transcended and dissolved.
It is when you are activated in that depth of your being, that you get the blessing of this
oneness. You come into a spiritual fellowship in devotion and in faith.
This spiritual fellowship goes beyond the barriers of creed or dogma, or theology, of any
sect or cult, or any religion. It goes beyond this outer barrier of formality. It is the deepest
innermost essence of each individual spirit upon its journey to the Infinite. Those who
have felt this deep innermost stirring within the centre of their being, they constitute a
global fraternity. For them different geographical divisions upon this earth, different
ethnic divisions in society, mean nothing.
It is this inner stirring within the heart of the individual, that is the eternal religion, that is
the one great power that pervades the whole world which immediately makes one kin

with all that exists. It does not have to be a human being with a human being. It makes a
human being kin with even a blade of grass or a flower, or a little beetle or a bee, even
with the wild beast in the jungle. You feel kinship with all nature through this power, and
it is the Power of Gods love. And the Power of God stirs, not in the human brain or the
human intellect, but in the human heart. It is the power that makes one give up ones life
for the life of another, do anything for the benefit of another. No sacrifice is too great, no
sacrifice is even looked upon as a sacrifice. I lose nothing. I gain if my brother is gainer,
because my brother is my own self.
It is this great Power that powerfully stirred in the mystics and from time to time
manifested Itself in different places on earth, no matter in what country, in what society.
Somehow or the other these universal souls come. They are the real cosmopolitans. They
proclaim this great oneness and brotherhood of all living beings. And in the course of
human religious history, many a time this is stifled and is overcome by mere
intellectualism, dry philosophy and systems of theoretical rationalisation.
Yet, in spite of that, it never dies. It is like the grass that is covered over with snow in
winter, each long winter. You think it is not there, but come spring and the thaw sets in,
and the sun shines again and the snow clears, God knows. Sometimes even from within a
layer of snow this thing thrusts itself and is seen. How amazing is this vitality. It never
dies. From time to time during the course of the religious history of humanity, always
these mystical moments kept cropping up.
This power is not absent in India. It has been a continuous phenomenon. Sankara,
Buddha, they all come, all giant intellects. Through their rationality they cast away all
superstition, and say, dont accept anything. First of all, reason, ask, analyse,
investigate. Dont take anything merely because it is sacred. First of all, try to understand
it.
It is all right, but how many can follow them? How many can follow J. Krishnamurti. It is
all right for those who have had the blessings of education, literacy, who have gone into
universities. How many of Jesuss twelve disciples were highly intellectual university
people? One of them was a lawyer or a university man, I think. Out of the four, one
Gospel writer was a scholar, Greek scholar.
There has been so much of progress in society over the past three or four hundred years,
specially after Caxton. Printing technology came in to the world, books started to be
printed. Libraries sprang up, educational institutes sprang up. And there has been a
knowledge explosion during the past three or four hundred years, as never before. And
so, the spread of literacy, compulsory education of children up to a certain level.
But yet, do you know the percentage of illiteracy in the world in the masses? Take, for
instance, the African continent. How many people are really literate, in the sense that they
know how to read and write, gain knowledge on their own through books? Only twenty
per cent of the total population of India are literate. The average villager in India has to
put his thumb impression. He doesnt know how to sign his name. This is so in 1983.

Then what do you think would have been the condition some seven hundred years back?
In the Orient, for example, when the New World had not been discovered, the masses
were illiterate.
And so, if Sankara or any great philosopher wrote the Critique of Pure Reason, or some
other philosophical work, how many had access to it? How many would be in a position
to read and understand and assimilate, and try to make it his or her personal philosophy
or approach to the Reality? You can count them on your fingers.
That being the case, what is the scope for the vast majority of human beings to have some
feelings of the Infinite of the Cosmic Being? How could they relate themselves to It?
There was, therefore, the absolute indispensable necessity of a path that goes to the heart
of the feeling.
It is not without reason, therefore, that, in spite of this sudden upsurge of philosophical
systems, great and wide has been the need of simultaneous approacha simple approach
of those who are not lettered, who cannot go off into high flights of subtle metaphysics.
And to this end, therefore, God has given, sending from time to time, great souls who
simplified this approach to God and made it available to the ordinary human individual,
so that he could feel God, maybe in an even deeper way than a philosopher could
conceive, rise to a clear concept of the Infinite or the Eternal.
Therefore, when there is an advent of pure philosophical genius and reformer, it has its
place, it has its need. Buddha, Sankaracharya, and others came and went. They fulfilled a
certain function. Maybe they purified the society of its superstition and blind following,
and shook it out of its complacency. But then, they touched only the few, the intellectuals,
scholars. But they came and went and left no mark upon the illiterate villagers, simple
menthe breakers of stone, the drawers of water, the hewers of wood, the tillers of the
soil, the weavers at the loom.
Therefore, this type of intellectual phenomenon was always followed. And we have to
thank God that it was so. It was followed by the advent of some great lover of God, who
proclaimed boldly that God did not want any intellectual university degrees, or
knowledge of Sanskrit or Vedanta. God wants your love, devotion and faith. More than
anything else, He wants in your heart a need for Him. Where there is need, He is ready to
give Himself. Ask and it shall be given.
And so, as though to prove it beyond the least shadow of a doubt, the great personal God,
Isvara, came down as a little cowherd boy in Vrindavana. He played His pranks with
illiterate cowherdsthe Gopis and the Gopalasand endeared Himself to everyone. He
never went to school. He did not ask you what is your educational qualification. It was
not like applying for a job. You ask the highest job, that of the mystic and the lover of
God, to revel in His indescribable bliss and freedom.
Lord Krishna played His pranks with these simple people and endeared Himself and gave
Himself freely to all those who, in their heart, conceived a deep longing for Him, deep

love for Him. He even stole butter and distributed it among His companions. And they
say, He kept a share even for monkeys. In that way, the Lord came and dwelt among
humble folks, illiterate people. And, you know, gave Himself to all these people who had
no special qualification, no intellectual degrees or scholarship.
There was a period, in South India, when the devastating impact of Sankaras absolute
monism, pure Advaita Philosophy, had its day. He went all over India, debated with all
people, defeated all his opponents of other religionsJains, Buddhists, and all thatand
established the supremacy of his absolute monistic philosophy, Advaita Vedanta. Then,
when this phenomenon had passed over, it left many people gaping; many a smile, of
course. But it passed over the heads of the masses.
When after that had gone, there arose in South India, among the Brahmin community, an
extraordinary personality, Ramanuja, who was as much all heart as Sankaracharya was
all head, all intellect.
Not that this man was illiterate. Very few Brahmins were illiterate. The Brahmins were
the intellectual class and it was their business to learn and to teach. The main function of
that particular class in society in India was to learn and to teach. He kept unbroken this
stream of learning and knowledge, down the centuries, generation after generation.
And so, Ramanuja was a hundred per cent literate. But nevertheless, right from his
childhood, God endowed him with a universality of outlook. Because he went to the heart
of life. He said: All life is one. Differences are only superficial. They are only in the
outer; they are only in body. But one great common Consciousness dwells as the Reality
within all names and forms, within all creatures, not only all human beings, in all
creatures. That makes the whole of life one cosmic family, one global family, one
fraternity. There is no distinction, no high or low, no speciality. And in the eyes of the
Supreme Being, all are His own children. All are equally important as anyone else.
That was the vision he was endowed with, right from a young age. Right from the
beginning he was a non-conformist. He was an orthodox Brahmin. Orthodox Brahmins
had many restrictions in their way of living and conducting themselves. But he said,
Everyone is Gods own. He is easy of approach to everyone. Everyone has a right to
access to God, because they belong to Him. He belongs to them. So about all these
barrierssomeone claiming special priority or a monopoly to Godhe said: Doesnt
hold any water with me. Away with all these things!
At that time the Brahmins also had tried to monopolise religion. They created so much of
ritualism and ceremonial formalities. They said: Only in this way you can attain God by
doing all these sacrifices, doing all these different Samskaras. Unless you do all these
things, you cannot approach God. So, they had created many barriers. They said all
these rituals are necessary, these sacraments only will take you to God. And so everyone
had to come to them. They alone knew the sacraments and all these ceremonies. Other
people did not know them. So, they held a key: Unless you come to us and pass through
all these clutches of Samsara, you will be bound. Thus, it was a way of building

influence over the rest of society, illiterate society. Ramanuja did not tolerate this extreme
formalism, deliberately created, set up and kept up by these contemporaries of his. He
said: You are doing it for your own selfish purpose. You want to have your ego
dominating over others.
So, early in his life he did an extraordinary thing. He disturbed even his own Guru. He
was a very diligent student, very well behaved and served his Guru very faithfully. His
Guru was very pleased and one day he called him and told him: Ramanuja, come here, I
will give a great secret. It is a very, very great secret. You should not divulge it to anyone.
And through its practice you can attain the highest being, highest state.
And so he imparted to him the supreme Mantra of Lord Narayana, or Vishnu. He said: If
you follow this practice diligently, you will attain the highest state of Supreme
illumination, God-vision and blessedness. Nothing can afterwards hold you. Hell cannot
come near you. All sins will be burned, all sorrows will vanish, all bondage will be
destroyed. You will become purified, and you will attain God. This is the path to
liberation. No ill can befall you. All your Karmas will be burned, up.
When he said that, Ramanuja listened very intently. So here is Guru imparting to me this
secret of highest blessedness. The supreme state of joy and peace, and illumination and
freedom. What a great thing? Having given it, the Guru said: Practise it, go, but dont
divulge it to anyone.
Ramanuja could not wait to proclaim the Mantra to everyone. But the problem arose of
speaking and spreading the message. In those days they didnt have this device. He
wanted himself to be heard by as many people as possible. You have heard the
expression, proclaiming it from the housetops. Of course, they also said, Proclaiming it
to the beat of the drum. Beat of the drum means you attract peoples attention, make a
big noise. People will keep quiet. There will be silence and they will listen. Then you say
whatever you want to say. But there is a better method. You do something stunning.
Supposing you balance yourself upon a rope drawn across the Jackdaw Hotel or Empire
State building, and another building. Then everyone will come. Something is happening.
You do something extraordinary.
So, right where the Guru had given him the Mantra, there was a temple. In South India,
the central point of any town or city is its temple and all these temples have a huge towerlike structure. Immediately after he got the Mantra, this young man said: Yes Guruji,
very secret, all very secret. And immediately he went to the temple, climbed up this very
big temple tower, and shouted to everyone: Listen, listen, listen! I am going to tell you
something extraordinary. I will reveal to you the greatest secret by which all of you will
be liberated from sorrow. All of you will attain blessedness. It is a simple way. Everyone
can do it. No special qualification or education or special scholarship is necessary.
Immediately you can start practising it. It is so easy, so simple. And yet most effective.

And quickly people gathered in large numbers below the Gopuram, below this big tower.
And he said: This is the way. This is the way and this is the great Mantra. And he gave
out the Mantra which just then his Guru had imparted to him in secret.
And then, in the crowd, some of his own other brother disciples of that same Guru were
there, and they said: What is it? Oh, it is Ramanuja. He has gone up. And what is he
doing? Oh God. They heard him reveal this great secret of secrets which the Guru had
given him. They went straight to the Guru and told him: This is what this boy is doing.
He has gone up and, what you asked him not to reveal, so secret, he is proclaiming to the
ten directions of the compass. A big gathering of all sorts of people has collected. All
sinners and wretched people, good, bad, indifferentand everyone is there. And he is
giving it to everyone.
And, for a moment, the Guru was taken aback, because Ramanuja had disobeyed. And,
the next moment, he was also a little amused, tickled. What is this mad chap doing? I
told him so much, and this crack-brain has gone and immediately given it to everyone.
And the next moment, the third reaction was, when he thought a little about it, it suddenly
dawned upon him: My God, what a great heart! What a great heart! He did not even fear
my anger. Anything can happen to him. And sheerly and purely due to his great desire to
benefit or share with everyone this priceless treasure that he had received from me, he has
braved my wrath and cast all caution to the winds and gone and done this wonderful
thing. Oh, admirable! Admirable!
So, the disciples who had taken the report were watching the Guru. One moment his
brow darkened, second moment he laughed a little. Third moment a great love shone in
his face, and great admiration. He said. Take me to the place where this is happening.
They were astonished; they didnt know what to make of it. Anyhow, they took him there.
And there he found a big gathering, and they were all chanting the Mantra which he had
just now given to Ramanuja, clapping their hands and chanting the Mantras. And his
heart was filled with wonderful admiration and great affection for this...He called
Ramanuja: Come, come, come. Beloved disciple, come.
And now he obeyed. He had done his work. Meekly he obeyed, and descended, and fell
at the feet of the Guru. The Guru was so pleased. So happy, so pleased, he couldnt
contain himself. He lifted up the prostrate figure of his disciple and hugged him to his
heart. And he said: Now, all my austerities, all my penances, all my devotion, all my
prayers I have been sending to God have now borne fruit. Dhanya, indeed, blessed are
you who have made my ministry come to its fullest fruition through your largeheartedness, through your wonderful charity, wonderful love for all. I bless you. So he
praised him and blessed him. He said: Thrice blessed are you among my disciples.
Ramanuja began to thrive under him, under his discipleship. He told him all the secrets of
his special vision and his teachings, the path of devotion, path of surrender, path of grace.
Specially, it is called the path of grace. He said: Yes, you are also one with the supreme
Divine Being. We are not different from the supreme Divine Being, we are one. But we

are not identical. There is duality. We are one, of the same nature, but with a qualification.
He is infinite and grand; we are little, we are individual. Now we are in a state of
bondage. He can liberate us. We are related to Him as a spark is related to a great blaze of
fire. We are related to Him as a ray of the sun is related to the sun. We are related to Him
as a drop is related to the ocean. The drop and the ocean are not essentially different, they
are one and the same.
Yet, you cannot sail a ship in a drop of water. Whereas you can sail a thousand million
ships in the ocean if you want. Nothing will happen. So, While they are in nature the
same, there is a certain difference. But then if you attain Him, if the drop falls back into
the ocean, then it becomes the same as the ocean in its depth and magnitude and
grandeur, in its power. He says. It is true. But until that, a drop is a drop.
So it was a monism, yet it was not an unqualified absolute monism. It was a qualified
monism. He qualified it with this distinction between the individual soul and the
Supreme. There may not be any difference but there is certainly a distinction between the
individual soul and the Supreme, until we attain the Supreme.
Therefore, there is need for you to surrender yourself to the Supreme. It is only when His
Grace comes upon you that everything that is impossible becomes possible. Everything is
achieved instantaneously. So he proclaimed the doctrine of Grace, the indispensable,
necessity of Divine Grace.
And he said: This Divine Grace is yours by right. Because you belong to Him, you are a
child of the Divine, therefore this Grace belongs to you and you have got a claim on it.
Only thing is, you must ask for it. Even if something is yours by right, unless you go and
ask for it, no one is going to give it to you. So you must ask. You must call upon Him: O
shower Thy Grace upon me, O Thou the all-gracious One. Ocean of Grace. And I am
suppliant unto Thee. Whatever I might have done, whatever error I might have
committed, now I know that it is an error. It has kept me away from you, deprived me of
the bliss and the joy of being one with you. And therefore I shall no more err.
This is the philosophy and the doctrine of qualified monism and the doctrine of Grace,
and the story of the prodigal son. The Father is always gracious. No matter what a stinker
you have been, what depths of degradation you have fallen in, you may have eaten with
the swine, doesnt matter. All that is nothing in the eyes of the Father. It is cancelled,
nullified.
Such is the love, the spontaneous love the Father has for society. The only thing is, when
you willfully went away the Father was sorry, he was sad. He was pining for the son
more than the son knew. When you came back, there were open arms. Always a welcome
is waiting for you there, and the best robe. (I dont want to use the fatted calf, because we
dont like any violence, any killing.) Best robe, choicest robe. Go, put my choicest robe
upon my son. He has come. Let everyone rejoice, let a feast be...

Yes, there is no parable that brings out the relationship of every man and all-perfect God
more appropriately and wonderfully than the parable of the prodigal son.
How precious each soul is to God, is brought out through the parable of the lost sheep.
Even if the man has hundred sheep, out of a hundred, one day in the pasture one sheep
fails to return home. Notwithstanding the fact that he has got ninety-nine sheep safely and
securely put into the pen, this man will take a lantern and go out looking for the lost
sheep in the darkness of the night, and howling wind and inclement weather.
No, even though ninety-nine are there what does it matter? He will go after the one that is
more precious to him than the ninety-nine he has got, the one lost sheep. So, hill and dale,
up mountain, crag and heights, he will climb and endanger himself, risk his life in order
to find the sheep and bring it back.
Such is the love of God, the Divine Love. And so, this one lost sheep is as precious to
Him as the ninety-nine other sheep which He has already got; prodigal son. So Ramanuja
said: Yes, this is the relationship between God and man, the Cosmic Universal Being
and the individual soul. That is infinite love. And no barrier can stand between Him.
Only, you must start moving towards Him. There is no barrier but this must come from
you. You must ask of this Grace and immediately you shall have it in abundance. And in
His sight all are precious.
Whether a Brahmin, or a Kshatriya, Vaishya, Sudra, or saint or sinner, literate or illiterate.
All are the same to Him. His love and Grace spontaneously are ready to shower forth
upon everyone, every creature on earth. Even on a subhuman creature on earth. Even if a
dog or a goat, or an animal were to look up to God and suddenly become conscious of
God and call to Him, He will come. He says this is the Universal Spirit; it is Grace, Grace
infinite, love infinite.
So he propounds Prapatti Marga, as he has called it. Prapatti means surrender. If you
surrender, then Grace showers upon you. And in his concept, grace was represented or
symbolised by the Goddess Lakshmi. And the Supreme Being, the universal Soul, is
symbolised by Lord Vishnu or Narayana. So they called his followers the Vaishnavites.
He, the Supreme Being, conceived of as Narayana or Vishnu, and His gracejust as in
the Trinity of Christian theology you conceive of the grace as the Dove. That dove is the
grace of God, symbol of Divine Grace that alighted upon the head of Jesus when He was
being baptised in Jordan. So, it is the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit in the form of grace and
light. In Christian theology it is so.
But in Hindu theology, specially in Ramanuja, that grace, that Holy Power of God,
redeeming love and grace, are symbolised by Lakshmi. So he said first of all you must
worship Lakshmi, please her, and She will lead you to Her consort. Mother takes you to
the father. The father may be a little displeased or angry with you, but you catch hold of
the mother, then father cannot be angry with you. He has to put away his anger because
he cannot displease his wife. So, in the cosmic hierarchy, Ramanuja conceives the
Supreme Being, the universal Soul, as Vishnu, and His love and grace as Lakshmi. And

he gave equal importance to Lakshmi. And the way, he says, is surrender, Prapatti, and
devotion and the Divine Name. And anyone can have entry into the highest supreme
state. No one is barred. In Gods way, everyone is the same.
This had, at once, a tremendous popular appeal. People in hundreds and thousands
flocked to Ramanuja. And Ramanuja gave his Mantra to everyonewasherman, cobbler,
everyone. And, therefore, here the doors of heaven fly wide open as it were, for everyone.
As Jesus proclaimed: Come unto Me all that are weary and heavy-laden, I will give
shelter.
So Ramanujas work was very significant, very wonderful. Incomparable in its value for
people who were thirsty for a way. Everyone could not go after Sankaras philosophy.
Sankaras philosophy could be admired by philosophers like Kant and Schopenhauer, and
Max Muller and Paul Deusen, and other people. But what about Tom, Dick and Harry?
Even less than Tom, Dick and Harry, poor people, illiterate people, who were nonpersons? Who were not even recognised, forgotten people. As they say, the faceless
masses. To them, Ramanuja came as a Godsend.
He said: Come, come. The gates of heaven are flung open. Enter. Enter. You have only
to come. And this wonderful man had thousands of disciples, too, and he said: Go.
Proclaim this glad tidings to everyone.
One wandering North Indian mendicanta saint, and venerable seekerhad come from
North India upon a pilgrimage to the South. At that time Ramanujas movement, the
revival of the Bhakti cult, was in its heyday. Immediately he found the whole of South
India in a great foment, in a great excitement. Everyone was having Ramanuja on his lips.
The name of Ramanuja was everywhere. And everyone was taking the name of
Narayana, and practising this religion.
He said: What is this? There is a sudden wave of devotion sweeping over the
subcontinent or South Indian peninsula. What is this? So he became attracted and he
sought audience with Ramanuja, had his Darshan, had his Satsanga. And he became
completely overwhelmed by Ramanujas personality. He said: Please take me also as
your student and disciple. I shall stop my wanderings and learn, sit at your feet and
learn.
So he deeply drank of the philosophy of Ramanujas Bhakti Marga and imbibed it
thoroughly. And Ramanuja blessed him and told him: Go and proclaim this in Northern
India.
Ramanuja did not know the North Indian language. He knew only the classical Sanskrit
and his own South Indian language. So he could not go and preach to the masses in North
India. He could go and proclaim his philosophy to the scholars because Sanskrit was the
link-language. Everywhere from the southernmost tip of India right up to the northern
Himalayan peaks, west and east, Sanskrit was the link-language. If you knew Sanskrit, in

all scholarly circles you could make yourself understood and you could understand them.
It is like Latin. But the vernacular, he did not know.
So he sent this man. This man was called Swami Ramananda. He was a monk, a
monastic. And he said: I will be your messenger to the North.
You must understand that in those days North India was under the influence, sometimes
even aggressive influence, of Islam. Because, the emperors who were ruling in Delhi
were all Moguls and they were all Mohammedans. Of course, some of them were very
very broad-hearted and tolerant. They admired the best in Hinduism and other religions,
and did not want to destroy it. One of the great emperors was Akbar. He saw a rich
philosophy, a rich mysticism in Hinduism. It is a shame, greatest blunder, to attack it and
destroy it. On the other hand, a fusion could enrich Islam. Of course, because he was the.
emperor, people kept quiet. Otherwise they would have killed him. But he was an
emperor, very learned scholar, broad-hearted man.
So he kept in his court ministers, Moslems as well as non-Moslems. There were Hindu
ministers, Hindu advisors to him. He even went out of his way to marry a Rajput Hindu
princess and created in matrimony an alliance with a Hindu royal family of Rajasthan. He
called all the Brahmin scholars and Pundits, all the Mullas of Islam, and other scholars of
other denominations also. He tried to formulate a common religion which would be
acceptable to Moslems and Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, and all others. We must even try
to make a Bible, common Bible, he said. He wanted to create a universal religion. He
entrusted this task to scholars. But somehow, it had a brief appeal, then the die-hards soon
brought it to an end. He called it Dheen-Illahi, religion of the world.
There were some emperors who were like rabid mad dogs, fanatical, dogmatic. Anyone
who did not agree with Islam was put to the sword. They broke all temples, razed them to
the ground and built mosques there. They were such fanatics.
One of the most fanatical among them was Aurangzeb. But he was a wonderful Moslem,
very austere, very simple. He was an emperor ruling the court, ruling the whole of the
Moslem part, but he said: No. I will eat only what I earn by the sweat of my brow.
So even when he was emperor, it is said of him, that he used to prepare caps for the
Moslems. He was a cap-maker, just like the mystic Paul was a tent-maker. He was a capmaker, and he used to sell the caps. Whatever income he got out of cap sales, he had his
food only with that amount of money, they say. He was a very austere man. But a terrible
man, although his personal life he is a good man.
Then, there was so much impact of Islam in Northern India that, when Ramanuja went,
he said: I will have to give my message in such a way that it will not become
controversial, it will not create a confrontation, and conflict and clash in the prevailing
society.

There, the money of the Moslems had the upper hand. And, therefore, he went and settled
down in Benares, and gave his teachings in a very universal way. He said: UItimately,
God is only One. You may call Him Allah, you may call Him Brahman. You may call
Him Rama, Rahim, Krishna, Karim. He is only One. And, therefore, the approach to Him
is through devotion. You direct your devotion calling Him Allah or calling Him Brahman.
He accepts this, He knows He is only One. So the devotion of all beings, whether they
are Hindu or Moslem, or Jain or Buddhist goes to Him. And I believe there was some
little influence of Christianity also there.
So, it is said, there was always controversy between the Brahmins and the Mullahs. In
Benares also there is stronghold of Islam. In Aurangazebs time they even tried to destroy
the temple in Benares and build a mosque. Even today the mosque exists side by side
with the sacred temple in Kashi. And they tried to destroy it.
But then, in controversy, it was a ding-dong battle where no one was really the winner
matches were always drawn. The philosophy of Sankara was not an ordinary philosophy,
you couldnt controvert it easily. But the Mullahs held on to their views.
Gradually, from Persia Sufis began to come. And Sufis were universalists. They were
Moslems by birth, but they did not like the dogmatism and the fanaticism of Moslems.
They said there is but one Father of all mankind. He is the Being who created the sun, the
moon, the stars, and all that. They believed also in the oneness of Godhead. And they also
believed, as Ramanuja proclaimed, that they believed in the approach of the heart. They
said religion is the religion of the heart.
You can only approach the Supreme Being through love. God is Love. If you have
devotion to Him, all other things, considerations, are swept aside. He doesnt care. He
only sees what your heart is. If the heart is pure and in that heart there is genuine
devotion, compassion for all creaturesyou are a friend of His creation, friend of all
creatures; you never harm anyone, you want to do good to all. And if there is deep love
for Him, you hunger for Him, you thirst for Him; then He will come. He will come. He
only wants this great hunger for Him, this purity of heart and this love and compassion
towards all creatures. That is the sum and substance of all religions, sum and substance of
the spiritual path. That is the way, proclaimed the Sufis.
So, the teachings of these wonderful Sufis, great Persian poets, began to spread
throughout the Indian Hindu society. Why? Because of the simple fact that the Moslems
being the ruling class of the emperors, the official language in North India was Arabic
and Persianmore Persian than Arabic. So everyone had to learn. Two or three
generations ago, they all learned only Persian in North India, including all the Hindus.
They did not know much English, and they did not even know Sanskrit or Hindi. They
had to learn everything through Persian. They started in their kindergarten with Persian,
and they learned their history, geography, everything, in Persian. There are even now
many old people in India who dont know Hindi; they only know Persian.

These great Sufi mystics were also poets and their mysticism was declared through their
wonderful poetry, and it was all in Persian. Naturally, it came to North India. Persian was
compulsory; everyone had to read Persian. It was not only the court language, but also
the language in schools and colleges. And, so, Persian being widespread in the North,
among Indian society, Moslem as well as Hindu, the impact of the Sufi mystic poets and
their teachings, and their great outpourings of love, became well-known in North Indian
Hindu society.
The doctrine of Ramanuja brought to North India by Ramananda appealed to the Sufis
among the Moslems; because many Moslems were converted into Sufis. They shied away
from the dogmatism and the fanaticism of the Mullahs and the orthodox Moslem
theologians, and orthodox Moslems. They said: No. We will have no truck with these
people. They were also a breakaway cult, as it were. They were not looked upon as
favoured by the orthodox Moslem people; they were branded as heretics. They were even
persecuted, because some of them attained high spiritual experience, when they had
monistic experience like what Sankara proclaimed.
So they went and boldly declared, I am Brahman. Of course, they did not say I am
Brahman in Sanskrit, Aham Brahmasmi. They said Anal Huk, I am God in Persian
language. And Mullahs became outraged. You fellow, blaspheming. You are claiming
equality with God. Kill this fellow.
So they even put them to the sword. They tortured them, and killed them. Some of the
Moslem Sufis were dealt with in a very terrible manner. Those days there was barbarous
punishment. They were either put upon the stake or impaled upon a spear. One of them, it
is said, was flayed alive. Even when he was living, he had the skin of his back taken
away. His name was Shams Tabriez. He was a great mystic and he said Anal Huk. That
means I am God. And it was terrible for them, outrageous.
Many of these Sufis began to come to the discourses of Ramananda. Ramananda gave his
teachings in public. So his disciples were there, other Hindus were there, many Sufis
came, and he put an end to all controversies. He brought about a great harmony. At the
same time, being an orthodox Brahmin teacher, he had to be careful about public opinion
also. He did not openly take Moslem disciples, but secretly taught them. He was not
averse to them, he did not bar his meeting to these people. He said: You can come, you
can listen, I dont mind.
One of the greatest disciples that he had, who later on became a great mystic and a poet
on his own merits, was the famous mystic poet and illumined being called Kabir Das. A
well-learned man, he was illiterate. He was a weavers son, and they say, was born to
Hindu parents. He was brought up by Moslem parents. He might have been born, he
might have been adopted by them or he might have been an orphan they adopted, God
knows. But it ended up by his bringing up in a Moslem family, father and mother who
brought him up as a Moslem. And curiously enough, it was in the sacred city of Benares,
Kashi, the holiest of holy places, the Mecca of India, you can say. He was brought up
there.

And he was born with this inner hunger for God. That is, he must have been a Yogi in his
previous birth. Already he must have been on this path, the mystical path, long before. So
when he was born in this particular incarnation as Kabir, from his young age, right from
his boyhood, he had this great urge for God, great hunger for God.
And so he was seeking and seeking, and he was drawn by the teachings of Ramananda.
He dare not approach him to give him initiation because he was an orthodox Hindu
leader, teacher. So one day he said: How can I get initiation from Ramananda?
He hit upon a device. He knew of a habit of Ramananda. Early in the morning he used to
go and have a dip in the sacred river Ganga. It was semi-dark always, very early in the
morning, half past four or five oclock. One day, he followed him silently when he went
down to take his bath in the river. And directly in his path of return, Kabir lay himself flat
upon one of the steps. There is a series of stone steps, granite steps, leading to the waters
edge; so this young boy went and laid himself flat.
And in the semi-darkness, after bath and prayer, when Ramananda was coming up,
without knowing, he inadvertently stepped upon Kabirs body. Suddenly he realised, My
God, I have stepped upon someone. And, so, in spite of himself, spontaneously the name
of God came to his lips. Just as you say Oh my God, Allah, as they say. He said
Rama Ram, Rama Ram, Rama Ram.
So that was enough for Kabir. He said: Guruji, thank you very much for your grace in
imparting to me this Mantra. It was done. So, then Kabir went away, repeating Rama
Rama Rama Rama, and proclaiming himself as a disciple of Ramananda. He said: I am
the disciple of Ramananda. Ramananda has given me a Mantra.
Neither the Mullah could agree with this, nor the orthodox Brahmins could agree with
this. Ramananda kept silent. And when the question was directly put to him: Is Kabir
your disciple? he said: Mm. He did not dither, he said Yes. So, Kabir became an
official disciple of Ramananda and he progressed wonderfully.
Yet, he was very unique in one way. In mysticism. That uniqueness of his is a matter of
great hope to all people of the present age, 20th century. He lived six or seven hundred
years back, but his uniqueness has a message of hope to all of us today, in this 20th
century.
I have brought two books. Five minutes I will read out from one of Masters books: Om
Om, Om. Gird up your armour, fight the battle of life. Put on the armour of self-denial
and take up the shield of discrimination. And fight the battle of life and kill the demon

What is the demon? Your own mind. It is not outside, this demon is inside; that
complicates this battle. You have to go into yourself. ...Kill the demon, mind. And come
out victorious with the laurel of Self-realisation and eternal bliss. Understand life. Man is
more complex in impulses and desires than any other creature created by God. Man is

what he thinks, also man is what he eats. The food also has got its distinctive quality. The
mind is made up of the subtlest element of food...
And it is interesting that this has come up, because one who has made the greatest study
and expounded this particular aspect of food is Ramanuja, the great Ramanuja about
whom I have been telling, whose monism was called qualified monism. Sankaras was
unqualified, absolute monism. Ramanuja says: Yes. You are essentially one with God,
but with a great deal of distinction. There may not be difference, but there is distinction.
So, monism is there, but qualified monism. It is called in Sanskrit Visishta Advaita
philosophy. Advaita is the same word. Advaita is monism or non-dualism. But, that is
called Kevala Advaita of Sankara, absolute monism of Sankara, whereas Ramanujas is
Visishta Advaita. Visishta means with qualification.
And it is Ramanuja who specially laid great importance, stress, upon the purity of food.
And he explains how it is. When you eat food, each food has got its own quality, Yogic
quality, its own vibration, quite apart from its quality, due to its composition, which may
be predominantly a protein food, or predominantly a starchy food, or predominantly a
fatty food, being rich in amino acids or devoid of amino acids, devitalised, whatever it is.
So its quality is through this approach; they divide food into different categories starch,
protein, fat; and rich and devitalised and all that, purely from the point of view of its
nutrition.
Ramanuja studied food from its vibration, its deeper quality, essential quality. Whether it
is Tamasic, very gross, or whether it is Rajasic, very exciting, or whether it is Sattvic,
purifying and uplifting, or the nature of harmony, spiritually very favourable and
beneficial. He tried to make this study Yogic.
He said that food has a gross aspect. I mean, its material physical aspect, then its next
subtler aspect, and the subtlest aspect. So, the gross part of the food, the body cannot
take. So, after digestion it is eliminated as faecal matter, excreta. It is thrown out. It is the
grossest part of food which is of no use to the body. The next subtle part of the food, the
nutritional essence, is absorbed by the body and goes to make up blood, bones, flesh,
muscles, skin, etc. of the physical body. But it has got that subtle vibration, its essential
quality, which is the subtlest of the three parts. That goes to make up your mind, that rises
up. Even the gross body cannot assimilate it and make it into bone and flesh and blood. It
is too subtle. That goes to make up the nature of your thoughts, your sentiments, your
emotions, your feelings, your attitudes. So the psychological person in you is nourished
by this subtlest aspect of the food. So, he stresses the importance of food. Ahara
shuddhau, sattva shuddhih, man is what he eats. Jaisa an, vaisa man, to put it in
Hindi.
...Life is a network of social relationships. We are dependent upon one another. No man
can exist in absolute isolation. The five senses of knowledge form the basis of ordinary
life. You cannot think of anything you have not seen or heard. Through introspection,
cogitation, meditation, you can alter the course of life. In the ultimate analysis, your true
life is beyond time and space, your true life is an infinity and an eternity. Believe in what

you do, and do what you believe in. The inner make up of the human nature invariably
finds expression in the outward actions. You cannot be a saint within and a rogue outside,
nor vice versa. Ideals must materialise in your practical life...
Mahatma Gandhi used to have one hour of prayer in the morning and one hour of prayer
in the evening, in spite of his heaviest routine and busiest life. He gradually compiled a
book of Bhajans over the years, from his Ashram prayers. As new songs began to be sung
he said: Give it to me, write it to me. One of the songs in that book was: This is not
the way of loving God, that God is standing ever wakeful and you are slumbering. O
man, O pilgrim, rise up, wake up. It is already dawn, night has gone. This is no time to
slumber and sleep, and snore. Wake up.
One of the favourite songs of Gandhiji: was: ...In separation from God is mans greatest
misery. In the illusion of this separation is the seed of desire. Be in the company of saints
and holy people. Serve the preceptor, hear of the great deeds of the Lord through the
Scriptures. Sing the glories of the Lord. Then you will attain devotion. And through
devotion, God-realisation. Repeat that sacred Divine Name with full faith. Practise selfcontrol. Walk the path of good conduct. Observe, respect, and serve elders and saints. You
will have the vision of God.

St. Francis of Assisi

Blessed children of the Lord, beloved seekers and devotees! We are very fortunate and
blessed today to have this wonderful spiritual festival the dedication of the St. Francis
Chapel. Since early morning today you have all been living in an atmosphere of piety,
devotion, and dedication to God. You have also been living in the wonderful
remembrance of the great Saint Francis of Assisi and therefore there is no doubt that we
are under special grace today in which this rich gift of God has been given to us. I feel a
special sense of joy and a special sense of spiritual privilege to be a part of this spiritual
day. I feel very, very happy to be sharing this great blessedness and spiritual fellowship
with you all. Such spiritual fellowship is regarded in India as one of the effective means
of coming closer to God. It is considered as a very purifying process. The scriptures refer
to such spiritual fellowship as a bark to cross this ocean of existence. In the scriptures
there are declarations where the Divine says, I am not somewhere in the heaven nor in a
cave nor in a Yogis heart. I am there where My devotees gather together and chant My
Name. And you will know that the Divine Master Jesus Christ has also said that where
two or three are gathered together in My Name, I am also with you. Now we are
gathered together here in the Lords Name, but many times more than two or three. Do
you doubt, therefore, that the Lord is very much with us? He is very much with us, but
we do not perceive Him. It is not the fault of the Lord, but there is still something lacking
in us.
What is it that we are lacking? What prevents us from feeling the presence of the Divine?
Why should we ask these questions? What if we dont feel the presence of God? We have

got TV and everything, so what does it matter if we dont have the Lord? When we have
all this, do we not have everything?
Well, these are questions which you yourselves can and must answer in your hearts. If we
think that by having all these things we have all that is necessary, then maybe there is no
need for trying to feel Gods presence. But the trouble is that even though we have all
these things, we still do not find the satisfaction of having obtained everything. For one
thing, in spite of having so many things, we still are bothered by many more desires. Full
satisfaction and contentment are not there. In spite of having many things which the
modern world considers to be wonderful, man does not seem to be really happy. Modern
man is not at peace within his own heart. There is still a sense of want and a sense of nonfulfilment. Therefore it is, that we have sayings such as, What if man has the whole
world but not his own self? Even if one possessed the whole world, but had no love for
God, that man would be poor. Where there is desire there is no fullness. Therefore the
question before us is, What is that which will give total and complete satisfaction over
all desires and wants of the human individual? What is there in this life which will give
us total and absolute satisfaction and contentment, with true unending happiness?
It is to answer these questions that all the worlds scriptures exist. It is to answer these
questions that the saints and messengers of God have come from time to time on earth to
give their messages and teachings. And it is precisely this answering of these questions in
the human heart and the showing of the true way to joy, peace and blessedness that the
life and teachings and personality of Saint Francis of Assisi does for us.
There is a little scripture in India which contains the essence of the teachings of the
Vedas, even though these teachings are voluminous and vast, and beyond the reach of the
ordinary individual. This tiny scripture brings to us the very essence and heart of the
Vedic message, of the teachings which came directly from God, even as the Gospels of
the New Testament have come directly from the Son of God. This small scripture is the
Bhagavad Gita, which means The Lords Song. It is called so because it came directly
from Lord Krishna and in the form of poetry. It contains 700 verses, divided into 18
chapters. In the 12th chapter, the Divine Teacher reveals a very important teaching. In it
the Lord tries to tell us what are the characteristics of a true lover of God, how a devotee
of God conducts himself and lives. There is a given description of what in his opinion is
the nature of the true devotee of the Lord who is very, very dear to the Lord.
You all know that St. Francis is well known all over the world as one unique saint whose
life resembled most closely the life of Jesus Christ Himself. He is well known at that
sublime being who tried to live literally his life in imitation of the Divine Master Jesus.
He tried to make his life a close fulfilment of the instructions given by Jesus Christ, in
His own divine words. In doing this, St. Francis fulfilled the will of God, as expressed in
and through Jesus. By thus fulfilling the will of God, he endeared himself to God and
became the beloved of the Lord.
In this connection there is a very interesting and deeply significant event. With the news
of Lord Jesuss healing work and curing diseases and other miraculous acts of relieving

people of distress, people started coming to Him from all directions. As long as He
confined Himself only to teaching and calling people to the spiritual way there were not
so many crowds around Jesus nor so much popularity. But once He went beyond this and
started to minister to the earthly needs of peoples bodies and minds, He became very
much in demand. Afterwards, He had no rest either by day or by night. Therefore He was
sometimes compelled to go away into some unknown place to be alone and to take rest.
One day He was, as usual, surrounded by large crowds of people and it was difficult even
to go near to Him. A man was being brought to Jesus by his relatives and friends. The
man was too ill to move so he had to be lifted and brought on a cot. But they could not
bring him near to Jesus because there were too many people surrounding Him seeking
relief. But they were so eager to have this man healed that they somehow managed to
take him onto a rooftop, remove the tiles and lower his entire cot down to where Jesus
was sitting. Of course, Jesus, out of His compassion and love, healed the man. In such a
condition, it so happened that Jesus Christs family came to see him. They came because
they had heard disturbing reports in connection with Jesus. They had heard that due to
His great popularity and fame the priests and pharisees were not at all pleased. They
resented the great crowds following Jesus. There was envy in their hearts and the fear the
Jesus would become more important than them in the future. They saw in the personality
of Jesus a threat to their own importance, authority and power. They wanted to put a stop
to it, so they sent a distorted version to the Roman authorities, suggesting that this man
Jesus may become so popular a figure that He would create problems for Herod. When
this news reached Mary, Joseph and James, it caused them anxiety for Jesus. They wanted
to see Him and to pray to Him not to overdo these things, to warn Him to be careful. But
the crowds were too great for them to approach Jesus. From the outskirts of the crowd
word was sent to Jesus that His parents had come. When Jesus received the message His
response was very extraordinary. He said, Who is my relative? Who is my brother? I
have no family. He who carries out the Will of the Lord, he is my family. So saying, He
ignored the message and carried on with His work. Possibly His family returned
disappointed, unable to see Him. The ultimate outcome is not important, what He said is
important.
He is dear to me who carries, out the Will of My Father. They only are My own who live
to carry out the Will of My Father. One who pursues and carries out the Will of God and
lives in obedience with Gods Laws, such a one, indeed, is a blessed and fortunate being,
for by such a life one obtains the Lord Himself. And in obtaining the Lord, verily you
obtain everything. Nothing more remains to be obtained and life becomes full and rich.
Life becomes glorified and such a one becomes a man in the highest sense of the word.
The peace and happiness which man seeks in vain in this imperfect world of perishable
things is fully obtained forever by obtaining the Lord. The greatest gain, therefore, is the
attainment of God in this very life. The value of the life of beings like St. Francis lies in
their lives and teachings. They show the direct way to God-attainment.
Here we come again to the first question: What is it that we are lacking? What is standing
in the way of our attainment of God? In the Bible there is a simple saying, not to be
ignored: One man cannot serve two masters. Especially if they are contradictory to one

another. Therefore it is said you cannot worship God and Mammon (standing for all that
is material, gross and earthly).
This, therefore, is the problem of modern man. He is too much in love with things which
the world of modern technology has made possible for him to possess and enjoy. He is so
much engrossed in the pursuit of these things that he has no time to question whether
these things give him real happiness, whether they can liberate him from sorrow, grief,
worry, anxiety and fear. He has no time to reflect on these questions. He is engrossed in
the pursuit of these things and yet is seized by sorrow and suffering. He does not stop to
seek the answer and the cure.
Both the answer and the cure of these universal problems have been obtained through the
lives of saints. St. Francis raised his voice of warning to mankind. His message is even
ten times more relevant today than it was in his own time. He declared that man had
made his life too complicated and cluttered up with so many material things that there
was no room for God. He advised man to stop his folly and to simplify his life and to be
content. He advised man to try to make his life more and more simple in every way and
to understand the meaning and value of true poverty. The more man possesses things, the
more things possess man, and he will lose his real freedom. The more you free yourself
from the possession of things, the freer and richer you will be. Through simplicity and
poverty, you liberate yourself from the tyranny of things. So liberate yourself from this
bondage to things and relate yourself to the Supreme Reality. Link yourself to God
through His constant remembrance and through prayer. Simplicity, poverty, prayer and
God-thought, these are the great truths discovered, experimented and experienced by our
beloved St. Francis. If you desire the love of God and His compassion, then express this
same compassion to all His creation.
This way of life, of attaining victory over the power of things and of entering into a
constant, conscious link with God is the solution for modern mans complex problems
and the sorrows he creates for himself. To me, it seems that this is not merely a solution
to the problems of modern man, but it seems to hold the solution to international global
relationships. In the ultimate analysis, the grave situation between nations and races is
due to the desire to accumulate and to dominate. This dangerous situation is because man
has cultivated only his intellect and his ego and neglected the cultivation of his heart. If
compassion and love were to prevail in human society, there would not be the present
hatred and violence in the world. Even now, it is not too late to mend the situation. If only
the 20th Century world would listen to the message of St. Francis there could still be
hope for human survival and for unity, brotherhood and harmony. Let us hope and pray to
the Lord that in this year of grace, which marks the anniversary of this great Saint of
Assisi, through his benediction there may be a change of heart in global humanity. Let
man stop complicating his life with too many things and desires, and link up his life with
God. Even as the way to God is by the fulfilling of His commandments, the way to our
highest welfare is in fulfilling the teachings of this great saint. If we sincerely try to fulfil
the teachings of St. Francis even to one tenth of a measure, we can be assured that a great
blessing will come upon us. In this 800th anniversary of St. Francis birthday, let the

world take for its guidance this simple prayer, which will come as a soothing balm to the
pains which world humanity is now suffering:
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be
consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it
is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning, we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are
born to eternal life.
May the world awaken and recognise the importance and significance of St. Francis for
its own present as well as its future welfare. Let the world see the importance of the ideal
of his teaching as the solution to the worlds present problems. By turning to him and his
luminous life may man come out of darkness and emerge into the Light. May man
liberate himself from anxiety and fear into faith and trust through the sublime way of St.
Francis of Assisi. Let man come from violence to non-violence. Let man negate himself
from hatred and come into love and understanding.
Let us fill our hearts with praise and thanksgiving to God that He has sent to us such a
unique and ideal man as St. Francis, for as long as we keep these great personalities
enshrined in our hearts and thoughts, there is hope for mankind. St. Francis is a unique
saint and his teachings are necessary and indispensable today in each and every country
of the world.
This is all that this servant to God has to say today. This sharing has become a wonderful,
privilege and a great joy. God bless you all. Let Him be enshrined in your hearts and may
you serve Him by bringing Him to more and more people in this way.

Essence of Religion
It is very necessary to first understand the meaning and purpose of life. Then alone can
man live meaningfully, understanding the significance of his existence and presence here
on earth and thus be able to proceed in the right direction and attain success and
fulfilment in life. The main object end purpose of all religions that exists in this human
world, is to grant to mankind this right understanding of ones life. Religion exists to
bring to us the right knowledge and understanding of why we are here, what is the
meaning and significance of our presence upon earth and what is the goal that we have to
attain in and through this life. In their innermost essential teachings all religions are
identical.
There are differences in the outer form and the mode of the practice of religions. This is
inevitable because these religions have developed in different parts of the globe, in
different periods of human history and, therefore, due to historical factors and
geographical conditions the outer ceremonial and ritualistic aspects of religion are

naturally different from one another. Because of these differences in geographical

occasion and the historic time period, these religions first emerged through the teachings
of some great prophets. But when one tries to go beyond the outer formalism of religion
the mere external, ritualistic and ceremonial aspects of religion, one finds that the inner
essence of all religions bring them close to each other and there is a similarity which is
not apparent on the surface. The essence of all religions is almost identical because all the
great prophets were messengers of God and their message was the declaring of the Will
of God for man on earth. Gods divine plan for man on earth and this Will of God for
mans life and conduct and mans mission on earth is and always has been, love,
harmony, brotherhood, service and truthfulnessPrema, Santi, Samarasya, Seva, Satya.
These have been the most important teachings of all religions because it is Gods Will
that man becomes a creature of love even as He Himself is, that man becomes a creature
of verity, integrity, truthfulness, purity, and that man becomes a creature of kindness and
compassion. This is what we expect from God for ourselves forgiveness of our sins,
kindness and compassion, tolerance of our little weaknesses and our shortcomings and
our human foibles.
In our own life we must practise these fundamental divine virtues as part of the practice
of religion. Religion is not merely ritual and ceremony. Religion goes beyond it. Religion
is the movement of the deepest depth of our being where we are not merely physical and
earth creatures, but sparks of divinity, we are waves upon the ocean of eternal divine
existence. It is in this innermost depth of our being wherein we are spiritual in nature. In
this depth, we make a determined attempt, a continuous effort to link ourselves once
again with the divine source of our being. This is the very essence of religion, Religions
exist and function in order to bring man back into a state of living relationship with God.
The essence of religion is re-establishing our forgotten connection with the Supreme
Universal Soul.
Religions exist to bring the human back into close contact with the Divine, to bring the
individual once again into a living union with the Universal Soul. Such re-establishment
of this gross connection, of forgotten relationship, this inner spiritual union with the
Universal Soul is possible only if we earnestly strive to purify our entire nature and rid it
of all that is gross, all that is undivine and unspiritual. If we have to draw near to God, we
have to establish a living relationship with Him, enter into a spiritual communion with
Him and thus attain God experience and abide in God. For that we have to grow in His
likeness. We have to develop within us those very sublime qualities which are indicative
of God-nature. For that man must eradicate from his personality and character all low and
petty tendencies like craving, carnal passion, impurity, greed, selfishness, anger, jealousy,
envy, haughtiness.
If you ponder the great teachings given by Lord Krishna in the 16th Chapter of the
Srimad Bhagavad Gita you will understand this process of cleansing ourselves of the
dross of undivine and unspiritual qualities and trends in our nature and thus purifying our
life and raising the standard of its living to a higher sublime level. It is precisely here that
religion comes as a great help. Religions exist to ennoble human nature, to refine human
thought, word and actions, and to make sublime human character and conduct. So, the

more you grow into purity, the more you grow into goodness, the more you grow into
sanctity and holiness and you begin to approach the supreme experience of union with
God, the supreme experience of entering into a state of conscious and living relationship
with God. This is the heart of the religion of man, bringing man back into a conscious
living relationship with God and thus divinising his nature and making him a great boon
to human society itself. Such people illumine with God-experience, become centres of
love, harmony, goodwill, centres of all that is holy auspicious and blessed, centres of
purity and goodness. They become the salt of life; they become the precious gems in the
human treasure, as it were. They become the real wealth of mankind. To enable human
beings to thus grow into this divine nature and to make them the centres of divinity,
religions show the way.
The heart of religion is to make us realise our kinship with the Universal Being, the
Divine Universal Soul, God. All the rituals and ceremonials have a place at a certain
period of your practice of religion, but later on they must give way to this inner
transformation of human nature from grossness to sublimity and subtlety, from passion to
purity, from selfishness to selflessness and to a dedicated life of love and service. This is
the essence of religion. This is the essence of the teachings of all the great prophets. O
man, thou art divine, thou art the child of God. Thou art divine in nature, therefore
divinely live your life. May your thoughts and feelings be divine. May your attitudes and
approach be divine. May your reactions to outer occurrences be divine and may your
relationship with the rest of human kind also be divine because to live divinely is the
most natural thing for you because you are a divine, being a child of God. This is the
central call, this is the very essence of all the existing world religions.
Here is what the beloved and holy Master, Swami Sivananda, has to say about the
essentials of all religions: There is a God or a Supreme Being. In Him alone you will
find supreme peace, Parama Santi, eternal bliss, freedom, perfection and immortality.
Never hurt the feelings of others. Speak the truth. Do not kill any sentient beings.
Cultivate divine virtues such as humility, courage, forgiveness, tolerance and compassion.
Love all, be kind to all. Be good, do good. Be charitable. Purify the heart. Serve
humanity. Share what you have with others. Love thy neighbour as thy own self.
Cultivate universal brotherhood. Destroy all barriers that separate man from man. These,
indeed, constitute the essentials of all religions. In this all religions are one. There is no
clash or conflict or disharmony between religions in the innermost depth of their true
nature, in their innermost essential original teachings.
Religion, therefore, if rightly understood and properly practised, will ennoble human
nature, will rid human nature of all that is negative, all that stands between the self and
ones fellow beings, all that stands between man and God. The removal of these
obstacles, the experiencing of brotherhood, coming out from your little narrow shell of
selfish living and embracing the whole humanity as your own family, will be brought
about if religion is properly understood and practised. Therefore, do not unnecessarily
fight and quarrel regarding the external ritualistic and ceremonial aspects of religion.
They have an important place, but are bound to differ because individuals differ in the
external expression of their lives. Go to the heart of the teachings of each prophet. No

prophet, no messenger, no scripture even calls man an earth creature. No scripture, no

prophet ever says, utter lies and be harsh, be angry, hate your neighbour. On the
contrary, all the religions and scriptures proclaim the sublimity and the necessity of love,
compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, purity of character and conduct, unity, harmony and
brotherhood. These are the very innermost teachings, the very core and essence of all
religions.
Beloved friends, let us open our eyes now and come out of our narrow begotten stand
regarding religions. Let us be open-minded and tolerant. Let us destroy this artificially
created barrier between different religions and sects, different Sampradayas (schools of
thought). The external hairsplitting arguments of Vedantins, leave it to the Pandits, the
scholars and the philosophers. Be a man of true religion. Bring God into your life. Know
that He is your constant companion and try to live as a true child of God. This is the very
essence of all the scriptures. It is the essence of the teachings of all the great saints and
sages, prophets and messengers of God. This is the essence of all religions. It teaches
purity, truthfulness, goodness, harmony, live, unselfishness, the spirit of service,
forgiveness. Therefore, beloved children of the Divine, do not be misled and misguided
by people who for their own selfish interest speak from platforms of different religions
and try to separate man from man. Religion exists in the world not to bring about discord,
differences and war. On the contrary, religion exists in order to harmonise, to bring
together, to unite and to make man conscious of the brotherhood of man. It shows to us
the sanctity of all life and declares to us that non-injury, compassion or kindness is the
highest of all lawsAhimsa paramo dharmah.
The Saint Ramalinga, Jyoti Ramalinga Swami declared before his disappearance that
compassion to all creatures is the key to heaven and the key to blessedness. The great
Saint Francis of Assisi prayed in a simple prayer, O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy
peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring love; where there is anger, let me bring pardon;
where there is despair, let me bring hope; where there is doubt, let me bring faith; where
there is darkness, let me bring light; where there is sadness, let me bring joy. O Divine
Master, I do not seek so much to be understood by others, but rather to understand others.
I do not seek so much to be loved by others, but rather to love others. I do not seek so
much to be consoled, but rather to console others. For it is in giving that one receives, for
it is in pardoning of others that one is pardoned, for it is in dying to this little self, this
little petty egoistic I, that one attains to everlasting life.
Beloved brothers, is this not really the heart and essence of all religions? For greathearted people the whole world is their family. The essential teachings, the heart and core
of religion, is love, goodness, purity, truthfulness, kindness, compassion, ceaseless
remembrance of God and intense love and the desire to attain Him, the intense urge to
serve mankind because you see brotherhood amongst all mankind and try to live life in
order to benefit all life around you. Thus, Paropakara and Isvara-sakshatkara, doing good
unto others and trying to attain God-experience constitute the heart and essence of all the
religions of the world. And this is the truth. This should be understood and if all take to
the practice of this real religion, there is no doubt that all fights and quarrels will
disappear. All clash and conflict in the name of religion will become a thing of the past

and religion will become a great unifying force in human society to bring about harmony,
friendship and brotherhood amongst all mankind.
This is my firm conviction and therefore, I urge upon you all not to be misled and
misguided by people with vested interests into believing that religions differ. On the
contrary, try to contemplate on this innermost aspect of the essence of religion and live a
life of love, brotherhood, unity, harmony and selfless service unto all beings. This is my
message today when I share these few thoughts upon the essence of all religions.
Religion is not the outer structure of organised religions. The church is not Christianity,
the mosque is not Islam, the Mandir is not the real Vedic religion. They are only the outer
social structures to keep together the followers of the different faiths by bringing them
together from time to time for collective worship and also for observing periodically
certain common festivities, certain common days of fasting, praying and feasting etc.
These are methods created to keep closely together the community of people who follow
different faiths. This aspect, the outer structure of religions, may be necessary, but it does
not constitute its real lesson. Those who fail to understand it, those who dont grasp this
inner truth, take the outer structure to be the real religion and fail to give religion its
innermost spiritual essence. This is a grave error, a grave blunder.
Swami Vivekananda once said, it is good to be born into a church, but it is bad to die in
the church, which meant that while we are born into a religion, we have no choice about
it. As we grow up and expand in wisdom we should become tolerant and our love and
sympathy and understanding should go beyond the borders of our own religion and a
certain universality of vision should be adopted, a universalism of our feelings towards
others should come into our life and into our dealings With others and this universalism is
all the more indispensable today when in many parts of the world religion is being made
the main bone of contention, religion is being made the basis of intense hatred, clash and
conflict, as it is in Belfast in Ireland, in the Middle East and even in our own country.
Religions, instead of becoming a force of peace and harmony, goodwill and love and
brotherhood, have now become a force of conflicts, separation, mutual hatred and
warfare. This is a great pity. It is deplorable indeed that such a sublime institution as
religion which has its objective and purpose the divinising of the human nature and the
purifying of human conduct and spiritualising of all human life, instead of this, does the
very contrary. This blunder is due to our having rejected the teachings of the scriptures, of
our not properly understanding and following the teachings of the saints and sages. We
merely give our adorations to the saints and sages, but we very safely ignore their
teachings. This is the unfortunate attitude of man towards scriptures, towards saints.
Saints have come into this earth to show us the sublime way of living life in an ideal
manner. We should keep the shining example of these saints and sages before us as an
Adarsa, or as an ideal and try to live up to that great ideal.
I shall try to place before you the essence of religions which Beloved and Worshipful
Holy Master Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji put in the form of a prayer. Though it is in the
form of prayer, this prayer is actually a blueprint for ideal religious living and it is also a
prayer that has within its contents the essence of all religions:

O Adorable Lord of Mercy and Love!

Salutations and prostrations unto Thee.
Thou art Existence-Consciousness-Bliss Absolute.
Thou art Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient.
Thou art the Indweller of all beings.
Grant us an understanding heart,
Equal vision, balanced mind,
Faith, devotion and wisdom.
Grant us inner spiritual strength
To resist temptations and to control the mind.
Free us from egoism, lust, anger, greed, hatred and jealousy.
Fill our hearts with divine virtues.
Let us behold Thee in all these names and forms.
Let us Serve Thee in all these names and forms.
Let us ever remember Thee.
Let us ever sing Thy glories.
Let Thy Name be ever on our lips.
Let us abide in Thee for ever and ever.

Underlying Unity of Religions

Almighty Lord, Father of Mankind, Blessed Lord! Grant us the grace of feeling Your
presence at this moment in this Vigyan Bhavan Hall where you pervade as the invisible,
the unmanifest Spirit Universal ever present within and without. Grant us also the grace
of feeling our inner spiritual oneness in You, for though outwardly different in names and
forms, in body and mind, yet in the Spirit we all find our oneness in You spiritually. May
all Thy children therefore be filled with this feeling of spiritual oneness in You who are
the One God. Let our hearts and minds be lifted to Thee, at this moment. Thou art the
One God, when no universe existed, when no humanity had been created, when no
religion or religions existed. Thou art the One, the non-dual, the infinite, the eternal
Reality, Ekamevadvitiyam Brahma.
Our obeisance to Thee who art One and non-dual but addressed in varying terms by Thy
children. Thou art indeed the Brahman or the Bhagavan of the Vedic religion. Thou art
the Ahura Mazda of the followers of Zoroaster. Thou art that ineffable state of Nirvana of
the followers of the Great Sakhya Muni Gautama Buddha. Thou art the Supreme Tao of
the Taoist and the Satori of the Zen followers of the Taoist philosophies. Thou art the
Siddha, the Aryanthana, the Aryana of the followers of the ancient Jain faith. Thou art Ek
Omkar Satnaam of the followers of the Sikh brothers. Thou art Allah of those who follow
Islam. Thou art Yahave or Jehovah of the brothers of the Judaic faith and Thou art verily
the Almighty Father in Heaven who art addressed and prayed to in all the Christian
world. Thou art the One Supreme Reality glorified and hymned in all the great scriptures
of humanity. Thou art adored and worshipped alike, in Buddhist Vihara, in Hindu Mandir,

in Parsee Fire Temple, in Synagogue, Church, Mosque, GurudwaraThou art One. All
worship Thee alone and it is this fact that makes the institution of human religion.
It is this one fact, the oneness of the Universal Reality, that makes the institution of
human religion the most likely and effective basis of unity. Unity based upon any other
factor cannot be really effective and lasting because the factors are themselves changeful
and temporary. But this factor which we call Religion is the aspiration of the human
individual soul to attain its Divine Origin, its Divine Source, in which it is ever rooted
spiritually. Religion is the hunger of man for God, yearning of the finite for the Infinite,
the attempt of the individual to once again find its wholeness in the Universal of which it
is an inseparable part. This phenomenon is a universal phenomenon. It is as old as
creation and it is the heart-throb of every human being in human society. This
phenomenon of the human beings aspiration to know the greater Reality which is the
source and origin not only of himself or herself but of the universe as well, pervades the
entire globe. Going to any nation, any section of humanity, the phenomenon of religion is
to be found to be one of the all pervasive facts of human society. The emphasis on
external non-essentials of religion which vary is due to the systems of faith, worship,
prayer, etc., which have had their origin in different historical time and geographical set
up. Geographical conditions vary, human environment varies and therefore suited to each
environmental situation the external modes and forms of worshipping that One Universal
Reality naturally takes diverse forms.
The Hindu insists upon a bath before going into his sanctum for worship. It would be
impossible in a country like Arabia, where it is difficult to get even drinking water.
Insisting upon bath is therefore not to be found in Islam because its origin was in a land
which was a desert, where water was scarce. It was a precious commodity. I am just
giving you one example how the external forms, which are the non-essentials of religion,
vary, but the heart of religion, the essence of this religion or that religion remains the
same. The religion of man, the human yearning to find his wholeness, his oneness with
the universal source of its being, this essence of religion is the common, fundamental
unifying factor to be found in all great faiths. So, go back into the origin of all the
prophetic religions and seek to find the very heart and life-breath of religion in the living
teachings of these great prophets. What did they preach? What did they ask their
followers to do? They asked them to ever be united in the Spirit with the Universal Being,
God, ceaselessly pray, have devotion for Allah, for Jehovah, for Almighty Father in
Heaven. Humble yourself before Him. He is your Father, Mother, Friend, Relative. He is
your all in all. He is your nearest and dearest, your only wealth and treasure; therefore do
not forget Him. Do not neglect to cultivate a living relationship within, through faith and
devotion, through love for Him, through constant remembrance of Him. So, live in God,
be united with the Universal Soul, in the Spirit, whatever you are doing, wherever you are
placed, no matter What shape or pattern your external life takes.
If we go to the actual teachings of the prophets, we find that they asked man never to
forget God, ever be united with the Universal Soul for therein lies the promise of the
betterment of the human individual. Therein lies the promise of evolution of man, getting
better day by day, improving in his thoughts, words and action, for it is through this

connection that we begin to get the inflow of the grace of God. The descent of all His
divine qualities is love, compassion, purity, truth, wisdom, harmony and peacebranches
of a tree spread in all directions. What is the secret of the life, the vitality and growth of
this tree? What is its unbroken connection with some hidden source of nourishment
invisible to you but nevertheless present under the surface of the earth? It is because it
has driven its roots deep down into the ground on which it stands, that it is able to grow,
to develop, to bring forth branches, leaves, flowers and fruits. Even so is man. We, too,
will develop and grow if we are rooted in the source of our being, that source of spiritual
nourishment, that source of strength, peace and wisdom, God, call It by whatever name
yon like. By glorifying, by having love for Him, by praying to Him, by meditating daily
on that One Reality, our life also will partake of that divine quality. Loving, being
friendly, manifesting peace, expressing harmony in unity, will become spontaneous and
natural to man if he is filled with the God-essence, and that is the Reality of man. There is
the Noor of Allah in each man. God created man in His image and breathed His Spirit
into him. The breath of God is in man.
My beloved brothers of this human family, I urge you that this is the vision that we want.
We must see man not as man different from us but as a child of God, as a moving temple
of the Divine. He who sees the presence of that Spirit, the presence of God, he indeed
seeth; we verily have to adopt this vision. He indeed sees the presence of the Divine in
equal measure present, in all beings, in all creatures, imperishable, within the perishable
human body. You must leave narrowness and see all human beings, all creatures, as the
moving temples of the living Spirit and therefore relate yourselves with love, in
reverence, in harmony. We should have reverence for all life. If we see the presence of
God, the presence of the Divine Spirit in all beings, it will become natural to us. It will
not only contribute to religion, but also to this innermost central root concept of religion,
that God dwells in man. Mans body is a moving, living temple of the living Spirit. It is
this central concept of all religion, the heart of all religion that He is the lasting and
effective basis, not only of national solidarity, but of human solidarity in this globe and
that is the crying need of today in the light of the prevailing global situation.
It is a great privilege to assemble, to consider how we may join together and jointly
initiate some action in order to stop this impending calamity that threatens all humanity
all over the globe. Therefore may this day, may this gathering, not be merely a meeting
and a listening but may this be a point in time when each one of you who are occupying
seats in this hall, may each one of you leave this hall with a firm resolution that from this
day onwards my life will include each and every day some practical effort, some
constructive and creative effort on my part to bring together all people of Indiathis land
of Ganga, Sarasvati, Godavari, Narmada, Sindhu, Kaveri, this land of the Himalayas, the
Vindhyas, this land of the equality of religions and this land which has given shelter to all
religions, where tolerance is the hallmark of all religionsunder one banner of a spiritual
view of man and a spiritual view of life.
I am very much privileged that today I am able to share these thoughts with you under the
auspices of the Venerable Saint and Holy Personality as Worshipful and Beloved Sri
Sitaramdas Omkarnath. May his blessings be upon you. Even so the blessings of our

Revered Father Mathais, Bishop Mathais, be upon each and every one of you. May the
benedictions of all the saintly holy people who are seated hereLama Lopsung, our
Worshipful and Beloved Muni Sushilkumar Jain, our Beloved Hazarat Inayat Peer, Inayat
Vilayat Khan, Gopal Singhji and Amin Nizami of the Orya Darga Nizamuddin be upon
you all. May their blessings give you health and long life, peace and prosperity, success
in your undertakings. May their blessings arouse in your heart a burning desire to do
something practical in your life to bring about national solidarity in this land of the
Himalayas and go beyond that and work for human solidarity in order to establish peace
on earth and goodwill amongst all mankind.

World Peace
At this juncture in human history when not only is peace of mankind being threatened by
doctrines of hatred, violence and warfare but the very existence of mankind, the very
existence of different kinds of life forms in this world is being threatened by the
likelihood of a catastrophic third war which will be a nuclear war, a holocaust, at this
moment the thoughts of all human beings all over the world in all countries are directed
towards peace. All pray that peace may prevail and it is with this devoted prayerfulness of
attitude that we invoke the blessings and grace of God that he may grant to man the right
insight and grant to man the right resolution, Satsankalpa to work for peace and to allow
peace to prevail upon earth. With this prayerful attitude I share with you thoughts on the
theme of World Peace.
Peace is your birthright. For, in reality, your essential nature, your innermost real nature,
Nija-svarupa, is peace profound. The great Universal Reality whom we refer to as God in
immeasurable peaceprofound, unfathomable and limitless peaceSanto ayam Atma.
This Universal Spirit verily is of the very nature of profound peace. Peace, therefore, is
the eternal, unchanging reality. Peace alone existstimeless, transcending time, without
beginning and without end. Peace is the eternal reality. God Himself is peace. But the
restlessness, the clash and conflict, the violence and warfare we see upon the surface of
this planet earth today, is the outcome of mans intransigence. It is the outcome of mans
deliberate rejection of the sublime message of peace that God has been sending to this
human world from time to time through His great messengers, through His divine
messengers, the prophets, the saints, the messiahs, who have come to declare to man that
he should walk the path of goodwill, harmony and friendship. He must recognise the
oneness of the Supreme Universal Reality and as a consequence should recognise the
brotherhood of all mankind under the Fatherhood of the Supreme Universal Reality
which is one and non-dual. We are all children of the Divine. Therefore, humanity is a
single family and brotherhood, is a relationship between man and man.
Each human being is really a spiritual brother of all the rest of human kind upon earth
and if this fact is recognised then you start to dwell on the awareness of this fact that
spiritually you are at one with all existence and the fatherhood of the universal parents
God, Ahura Mazda, Jehova, Almighty Father, Allah, Ek Omkar Satnam, give it whatever

name you wish. That Great Universal Reality which is the source and origin of all
existence is the common meeting ground of all beings and under His universal, spiritual
fatherhood all humanity is a single family related in terms of brotherhood. The
recognition of this fact is the key to establishing and bringing about peace in this world.
But unfortunately what do we see upon the surface of this earth at this present moment?
There is tremendous advancement of knowledge, great progress in different fields of
human life and development of science and scientific technology and innumerable
inventions. Man has taken amazing and marvellous strides towards progress and achieved
great control of external nature. Unfortunately, despite this apparent progress, civilisation
and advancement, man has brought about two great global wars within a period of less
than twenty-five years in the recent past, causing unlimited destruction, death, damage
and sorrow. Many young wives were widowed, many children orphaned, many parents
deprived of their offspring and many cities destroyed. If this is a criterion by which to
evaluate the actual worth of so-called progress, advancement and civilisation of mankind,
we have to come to this very sad conclusion that somewhere mankind has erred. Man has
committed some blunder on this path of the advancement of science, development of
technology and material progress. It is said that a tree is known by its fruit thereof and if
all this advancement and progress and development of science and technology over the
past two or three centuries has given to humanity the bitter fruit of hatred, conflict, war
and violence, unlimited destruction and suffering, then there is something fundamentally
wrong in mans way of thinking and feeling and the living of his life.
Gods peace is perennial and permanent but man superimposed upon it hatred and
violence, insecurity and restlessness, warfare and conflict. There is no harmony. Discord
has become the order of the day. If we contemplate this truth of the present situation we
are confronted with a serious questionwhat is the cause for this losing of the way? Why
is it that in spite of education, knowledge, refinement and so-called civilisation and
etiquette, there has been something wrong somewhere? We have to admit that we have
come a long way from the stone-age period of our historic ancestors, the cave-dwellers.
Nevertheless, having come this far in refinement and civilisation in a certain part of our
life, we still seem to have been unable to eradicate from our inner nature the brutal and
beastial tendencies of violent reaction to things. Instead of trying to decide issues by love
and understanding, mutual give and take, harmony and peace, in a friendly manner, we
take recourse to violence. What is pitiable and deplorable is that mankind has failed to
learn the lessons of these catastrophic conflicts and the calamitous wars. Man seems to be
blind to the lessons and is ever preparing for fresher conflicts.
Manufacturing of armaments has become a very big industry in so many countries. Not
only are the arms manufactured for defence, for ones own safety and protection, but they
are manufactured for aggression and offence, which countries are intent upon selling to
other nations thus inducing them also towards violence, conflict and warfare. Arms sale
has become big business and yet these very nations seem to be constantly declaring that
they have peaceful intentions, they desire peace. Their very conduct, the actions they
engage in, deny this statement and therefore mankind has become hypocritical. Who
really wants peace? In truth what man wants is comfortable living. Whatever be the

conditions between nations, Whatever be the conditions in the government, the ordinary
citizen wants .to have a good job, a steady income and the fulfilment of his little desires
and accumulation of things he is afterpetty, perishable, material thingsand whatever
policy the government adopts, if it is able to provide for him these thingscomfortable
living, good job, steady income and a salary and the good things of lifehe does not care
whether the government is engaged in peace or in warfare.
One of the arguments given by governments is that the colossal manufacture of
destructive weaponry is an industrial enterprise which creates employment for thousands
and thousands of people and brings about steady national income. It brings about
economic stability and if there were to be peace and if the manufacture of armament were
to be stopped, then there will be widespread unemployment. Therefore, leaders at the top
do not want this to happen and people who are employed in these industries do not want
these industries to close down, because it is the main source of their income and their
material prosperity. If you go deep into this question, no one really wants peace, though
they give it lip loyalty or lip support to peace. They are interested whether there is peace
or not, so long as they get what they want.
Under these conditions if we would still like to bring about a climate for peace, we have
to re-educate the human individual into right thinking. People think in a haphazard way.
There is no positive thought, there is no thought in the right direction and all this has
resulted due to two or three very important factors. First and foremost, God who is an
infinite ocean of absolute divine peace and blessedness, has tried to give to man this
awakening message that peace is your birthright. You are of the very nature of peace..
Deep within you there is an innermost centre which is purely spiritual and that inner
spiritual centre of yours is a part of the Universal being. Therefore, by its very nature it is
absolute peace. There abides peace in your heart.
To enter within to a life of introspection and meditation and to experience that peace
within and thus become established in inner individual peace, is the first step towards
world peace. When individuals are established in inner divine peace, each one of them
will become dynamic centres for the radiation of this vital living peace vibrant within
them and through their life and through their activities they will begin to radiate this
peace in their own environment, and into their own particular circle of beings with whom
they have to live and move. Thus, everywhere there is an inner awareness that mans real
nature is spiritual and that real nature is of the very nature of absolute peace, Santi,
Shalom. If this awareness is sought to be brought about, then gradually it will pave the
way for peace in greater and greater areas of human life and activity and world peace will
not be an Utopia but an achievable factor.
Due to unfortunate recent materialistic tendencies and the appearance of philosophies
rejecting the very concept of God, atheistic ideologies and Godless philosophies, social
philosophies and schools of thought, we have rejected the great teachings of our
scriptures, the great teachings of world teachers of mankind who declared to man the
necessity of walking the path of peace to experience real happiness because peace is the
indispensable condition prerequisite to true happiness. Happiness is the outcome of

peace. Santamu leka saukhyamu ledu (Without peace there is no happiness)thus sang
the great saint-poet Tyagaraja. Therefore, if you want happiness you must first of all
establish peace in yourself. You must be able to give up the hard adamantine ego-sense
and selfishness. The ego-sense and selfishness of the individual nature is one of the
greatest obstacles to harmony, unity, brotherhood, love and peace. Selfishness is the
greatest dire disease and bane of human nature. Unfortunately in the modern educational
system prevailing all over the world the children are taught subjects pertaining to this
material world, different fields of knowledge, pertaining to this gross physical universe.
But in the schools, in the syllabus, in the curriculum there is no provision for teaching
children love and brotherhood, peace and harmony, goodwill and friendship, which is the
most essential part of the education.
Education is meant to draw out from within the human individual all that is sublime, all
that is good and auspicious and blessed. It is not merely putting into the human brain a
great deal of facts and figures and information. It is not like feeding statistical data into a
computer; on the contrary, the process of education is a reverse process. It is a positive,
creative process of bringing out from within the human individual these great hidden
qualities of love, unity, harmony, brotherhood and peace. It is only when our entire
educational system becomes reoriented in this manner that the future humanity will grow
in an atmosphere of goodwill and brotherhood, love and harmony, of peace and tolerance,
and then alone will world peace become a fact.
Prayer is a great power. It can bring peace, for it can link our inner self to the universal
being who is of the nature of profound peace. Therefore, right education through
unfailing daily prayer, individual as well as collective, and by giving up our selfish
nature, hard-hearted egoistic and selfish nature, we can work towards the establishment
of peace, first within the individual heart and then within this immediate environment and
thus onward into ever widening circles. Peace can be brought about in this whole world
among nations, races and all humanity. Peace be unto you. Om, Santi, Santi, Santih.

Bliss Is Within
All of you who are assembled together here, devotees of the Lord, seekers upon the path
of liberation and divine realisation, pilgrim souls travelling on this highway of life
towards your ultimate destination, who, according to the Sanskriti or culture of this great
land, according to the vision of your ancestorsthose great Rishis, the illumined sages
and seers, who have left for us the wisdom treasures of their experiences in the form of
the Vedic Jnana, the Upanishadsare destined to attain divine perfection. You all are, in
their vision, not merely earth creatures, not merely limited human individuals but behind
and beyond humanity, your outer human personality, deep within you, you are immortal
spirits, sparks of divinity for whom the great World Teacher, Lord Krishna, assumed the
role of the awakener of humanity, a teacher of all mankind for all times. Assuming that
role, He gave His immortal Jnana Upadesh through that great scripture, the Bhagavad
Gita, and in giving that immortal teaching, referred to you as ajo nityah sasvatoyam

purano na hanyate hanyamane sarireunborn, eternal, permanent, ancient, beyond time,

immortal imperishable and indestructible. Therefore, untouched, unaffected even when
this body is embodied or when the body perishes. Thou art That. It is, therefore,
unaffected by the changing conditions of the body. Birth, old age, disease, decay and
death only affect the outer structure. This is but a passing Upadhi (limiting adjunct) just
taken over by you temporarily, to function upon this phenomenal plane of material
existence, physical existence. This body does not constitute your real identity; it is only
an Upadhi, just as one wears a shirt, a coat, an overcoat. Even so in their vision they saw
in you an immortal spark of the divine and they said that you are part of an universal
essence, an eternal cosmic reality, that is beginningless and endless, that is eternal and
permanent, and the realisation of this true identity, realisation of your immortality, your
essential divinity, that may be held to be your divine destiny. You have not come here
merely to live, grow, eat, drink, enjoy some little sense enjoyment, laugh a little, weep a
little and then one day pass away without leaving any sign of yourself. This is merely
physical existence.
While you pass through this process of physically existing through time in this earth
plane, you have a great mission to fulfil and to that attainment you must strive. The
mission you have to fulfil is the attainment of Self-realisation, experience of your eternal,
immortal, divine nature. By attaining it, the individual becomes forever liberated from all
the limitations, the imperfections that qualify this temporary earth existence, a bodybound state of existence, limited to time and space and subject to various imperfections
and infirmities, inevitable to a material body and the changes in the psychological self.
They are governed by the pairs of opposites, now high, now low, elation and depression,
happiness and misery, joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain. This entire earth is a play of
opposites and your mind, intellect, emotions are also subject to this swinging between
these pairs of opposites. But you are the absolute reality, beyond phenomena, beyond
birth and death. Entering into a state of direct perception and experience of your eternal
imperishable divine identity, you become liberated forever from all these limitations and
imperfections that pertain to your present temporary state of individuality, where you
think of yourself as a limited human individual, a being subject to birth and death,
change, old age, various moods, and mental states. You become liberated form all the
pains of Samsara, as it were, and become established or enter into a state of indescribable
felicity, happiness, supreme joy, and become liberated from the necessity of once again
coming into this embodied state; no more birth into this phenomenal world. In that state
of freedom, liberated from birth and death, sorrow, pain and suffering, you enter into a
state of absolute bliss. Your entire being is filled with supreme, eternal satisfaction. That
is the use, that is the result of attaining God-experience or Self-realisation. It fills you
with supreme bliss.
This state of liberation is described in terms of personal experience of our ancient saints
and sages. They have recorded their experiences thus. The state of liberation is sarva
duhkha nivritti, paramananda prapti, nitya triptithe state of total cessation of all
sorrow, pain, and suffering and the experience or attainment of supreme bliss by which
one attains supreme satisfaction. The values that they have put forward for our attainment
for which each human individual should try and the values which they have put as the

ultimate supreme values, these values are referred to in the context of Indian philosophy
as the Purusharthas. They speak of the four PurusharthasPurushartha Chatushtaya.
Purushartha has also the meaning of exertion. So you have to exert and endeavour to
attain bliss. Therefore any endeavour, any exertion is also called Purushartha. And here
the objective with which you make, put forth Purushartha is also referred to by the same
term. So Purushartha Chatushtaya, the four values for the attainment of which you must
put forth right endeavour and exert, are called the four Purusharthas. The highest of all
Purusharthas, the ultimate Purushartha, is Atma-Sakshatkara or liberation through the
attainment of God-experience and this is called Moksha. They also call it Mukti,
Kaivalya. This is the great goal of all mankind.
This great ideal of highest spiritual attainment was proclaimed as the goal of all human
individuals born in this world. It was not directed at any particular section of mankind,
not for the people populated in this Indian subcontinent only, not for Hindus or any
section of the Hindus. It was for the entire mankind. O man, striving and struggling to
find happiness in this world, O human being, toiling in this earth plane of phenomenal
existence! Here we proclaim to you a great discovery. We have attained an experience
which has liberated us from all sorrow, pain and suffering and it has filled us with
supreme bliss and we rejoice in that bliss. We wish that you also share this wonderful
experience that has been granted to us. Therefore, come and listen, we proclaim to you
your highest welfare. Saying thus, they proclaimed to all mankind that what they had
attained all mankind could also attain. They had come face to face with that shining
Being, radiant Cosmic being, beholding whom, experiencing whom, the mortal becomes
immortal.
They proclaimed in the Upanishads the supreme goal of all humanity, all mankind: It was
not something given to any particular section of humanity. It is a supreme goal to be
striven after whether you are a Hindu, a Christian, a Muslim, a Parsee, a Jew, a Sikh, a
Jain, a Buddhist or a follower of any other religionattaining the experience of Allah or
Ahura Mazda or Almighty Father in Heaven, come face to face with the Almighty Father
in Heaven. If you delve into the underlying essence of all scriptures with an impartial
eye, what do they say? If you try to find out the inner teachings of all the prophets,
whether it is Mohammed Nabi or Guru Nanak or Buddha or Mahavira or Jesus or
Zoroaster, you will find that all of them wanted their followers to attain the Supreme
Being, the One Being who is without beginning and end, whereas all things here, all
things created are subject to decay and destruction. They are temporary in time, limited in
space. They have a beginning, they have an end and therefore one day all must pass. But
the Being that endures without beginning, without end, is the Supreme reality. Out of the
abundance of their boundless love for all humanity with whom they had become
identified, they called out to all mankind to strive for this attainment which they had
attained and become blessed. They said this is the way to Supreme Bliss and Blessedness
May all beings in this universe attain happiness.
The great Buddha, having attained illumination, and becoming filled with bliss and joy
and peace in Buddha Gaya, under the Bodhi tree, for a moment hesitated: Should I do
anything at all, should I go forth and proclaim the Supreme Truth, this great Reality?

There would be very few who would yield to my teaching. He thought that there would
be no takers and he would remain silent. And then God persuades him that even though
the vast majority may not listen to his message, there may be a few in whom there is a
spark ready to be stepped into; for the sake of those few, do not keep silent, do not
withhold your illumination, go forth. And so all his life he goes forth and proclaims this
key to blessedness, the way out of sorrow, the attainment of the great peace through his
noble eight-fold path. At the time of his departure he calls all his disciples, followers,
Bhikshus and tells, them that now the Tat-arhata will enter into Pari-nirvana and this is
his last teaching unto us all. His last saying: O Bhikshus, do not neglect your own
highest welfare, do not neglect your own highest good and in your life be a lamp unto
yourself and be a lamp unto the feet of others. Go forth and traverse the highways and
byways of this great land for the welfare of the many and the happiness of the many.
This is what he commands themfor the happiness and welfare of all. This has been,
therefore, the feeling in the hearts of all illumined beings, the perfected beings: the
happiness of all. Let no one have sorrow or misery, no one suffer pain or suffering. Let
them all have happiness.
The greatest urge in the heart of all these illumined souls, sages and seers was that
happiness should be experienced by all. All should be free from sorrow, pain and
suffering. That was the reason they gave this supreme value, spiritual value, for in
attaining it lay the one sure unfailing guarantee of permanent happiness, supreme bliss. If
you want permanent happiness, if you want supreme bliss which is absolute and which
stays for ever, then you have to attain realisation of that great Reality. In that Reality is
great blessedness. In that Reality is freedom from sorrow, pain and suffering. That is the
happiness to be attained. Why is it that only that experience can give us supreme bliss and
blessedness? This beautiful world, this beautiful universe created by God, with ever so
many things, if we possess all these things can we not be happy? Will that not give
happiness? We believe that happiness comes from possessing things, obtaining things and
keeping and enjoying things which are the sources of pleasure. They are pleasant to
possess, they are desirable and obtaining them they can attain happiness. This is the
general idea in the minds of human beings. Therefore, all people wish to attain wealth
which is a symbol of success and power. If I have money I can purchase whatever I want.
I can purchase anything and everything which human beings hold dear and I shall be
happy. That is the normal way in which the human mind thinks. Is this the correct way to
think? Or is it to be modified?
Yes, there is something that requires modification. Wherein lies happiness? Do you want
an answer to that question? Who doesnt want an answer to this question because this is
the quest, of all humanity, all over the world. In spite of a hundred differences, the one
common thing that unites all human beings is that all of them, throughout the universe,
do not wish to have any type of pain or suffering or sorrow and they all wish to have
happiness. This is the basic urge of all individuals, of all human beings, the central urge
in the hearts of all humanity. This is something that knits all humanity into a single
homogeneous unit.

All seek happiness and if you go to every individual in every country all over the world
and ask them this question: Have you succeeded in obtaining what you wish for, that is,
absolute sorrow-free, suffering-free and happiness-filled life? You will not find one single
human individual throughout the length and breadth of the entire world who. can say Yes,
in this quest for absolute happiness, in this quest for total freedom from all pain and
suffering, I have succeeded one hundred percent; I have experienced absolute happiness.
You wont find a single individual who can make this claim, because by its very nature
this world is filled with innumerable pains and sufferings and sorrows. Right from birth
until the moment the last breath leaves your body and you depart, human life is filled
with ever so many discomforts, inconveniences, miseries, old age and disease. Therefore,
this quest seems to be a wild-goose-chase, an impossible ideal.
On the surface of it one is driven to this conclusion inevitably. But contrary was the
experience of the great discoverers, the great spiritual pioneers, explorers of the great
land, who made the inner realm of the spirit their area of research and discovery. They
discovered that human individual is heir to infinite bliss. You have come here ultimately
for the attainment of the indescribable, infinite bliss, which goes beyond all the pleasures
of the world together. Even if you put all the pleasures of the entire world together in one
great heap, they say that the ultimate bliss that each individual soul is destined to attain,
even one little fraction of that bliss far outweighs the total pleasure that this world is
capable of giving. In one Upanishad it is strongly emphasised how even one fraction of
that Brahmic Bliss is far greater than all the pleasures of this entire universe put together.
Those who have attained it say that it is indescribable and wonderous and you are born
for that.
We cannot make a charge against the Creator: Why did you send us, knowing that this is
an imperfect world full of pain, sorrow and misery? Is it a warped sense of humour that
you send us only to suffer, only to weep, only to wail? He will say, No. I never sent you
for this. It is inevitable; it is part of creation. The perfect and the imperfect, both are
mixed together. If you want joy, you will have to have sorrow also. My divine plan, my
will for you, is attainment of divine bliss, supreme bliss. But you have neglected that. You
have gone in a different direction. You are trying to seek for that bliss in small, petty
things, imperfect, temporary, transitory, changeful things, perishable, subject to decay and
destruction. How can you find it? You cannot find it in created objects, because by their
very nature created objects are imperfect, limited in time and space. One moment a thing
may be a pleasant experience, another moment it can give you an unpleasant experience.
So there is no stability. You cannot rely upon earthly objects because they are changeful.
Moreover, your entire connection to all objects is through your body, and if the condition
of the body changes, what was pleasant one moment becomes unpleasant another
moment. When you are healthy all eatables taste very delicious. But when you are having
high fever, everything tastes bitter; you cannot bear the sight of food. Things created by
man, material things, have a limited utilitarian value. They can give you some
conveniences. They can provide you with certain comforts, and that too is relative, not
absolute. Nothing in this universe, therefore, has by itself an absolute ability to give you
happiness. All things have only a certain utilitarian value. They are useful but they cannot
give you happiness.

What is it, then, that can give you happiness, is the question. Because we start after
happiness without first of all defining happiness, without making sure where it is to be
found, in what things it is to be found, in which direction we have to seek it, and
therefore we muddle through life. We seek here and there and go in for a lot of
disillusionment, disappointment and frustration, thinking that we will find happiness in
this and that, but do not find it. Long ago our ancients solved this problem. They did not
leave us in any doubt. Only we dont care to accept our own heritage and dont allow
ourselves to be guided by those wise directions. We dont want to walk in the light. We
still want to walk in the darkness of our own ignorance, our own wrong notions and
mistaken ideas and therefore we go on weeping and wailing. Long ago, the one who
created this universe, He himself said that this universe is an abode of sorrow. Take the
Gita. All wisdom, all knowledge, all that we have to know about this universe is there.
We can also find it in the Upanishads and the Vedas. Vedas are the storehouse of wisdom,
Secular as well as ethical and spiritual. And the essence of wisdom is found in the later
portion of the Vedas, towards the end; it is called Vedanta. This essence of knowledge
given to us by the Upanishads was condensed and given to us in a very concise form in
the dialogue, in the discourse, Srimad Bhagavad Gita.
The Bhagavad Gita is the quintessence of the Upanishadic wisdom and the Upanishads
are the essence of the Vedic wisdom, and the Vedas form the eternal source of all wisdom
necessary to evolve our life in an effective and successful manner, in a victorious and
triumphant manner. The Bhagavad Gita, which is a great Teacher, very clearly states that
this world is characterised by an absence of real happiness. You cannot find happiness
here. It can only give you comfort and convenience, but not happiness. And the same
scripture in another place defines the world as an abode of all things impermanent and an
abode of sorrow. Sri Sankaracharya says that this world is an ocean of sorrow, therefore
you cannot find happiness. Yet contradictory to this is the supreme declaration that you
have been born to attain the highest bliss because the Supreme Being is the highest bliss.
Humanity has come out of that bliss. Humanity exists, supported by that bliss. All
humanity is moving towards bliss. That is the Upanishadic declaration about human
beings on earth. Bliss is the ultimate goal of life. Bliss is your birthright. Bliss is your
divine destinyAnanda Ananda Paramanandabliss, bliss, eternal bliss. How can one
reconcile these two?
There was a great sage, a man of wisdom, who freely taught his wisdom to all beings and
potential seekers showered gifts upon him. He was one of the towering seers of the
Upanishadic era, Sage Yajnavalkya, who was a Maharshi as well as a Grihasti and had
two wives. He had much material prosperity but when he became old he said, no, enough
of teaching, enough of sharing my wisdom. Now, according to our cultural idealism, as I
have become old I must take Sannyasa, I must now lead a life of seclusion and
contemplation, meditate upon the Supreme Atman, gain illumination and then I depart.
He called both his wives and said look here, I have plenty of riches that have been
showered lavishly upon me due to my teaching. You divide these riches between
yourselves, which will make you live in comfort for ever. The younger wife wanted half
of all his worldly assets but the elder one, Maitreyi, wondered aloud: He accepted all
these gifts and enjoyed all of them. That means at one time he put some value upon them.

Now suddenly he wants to give away everything and go away to the forest and meditate
upon something. What could that other thing be? My husband is not a fool. He is a wise
man. When questioned by his wife, Maitreyi, the Maharshi replied: That which can give
happiness is all full happiness, divine Reality, that which is eternal, abiding and knowing
that one becomes filled with bliss, knowing that the mortal becomes immortal, one
becomes liberated and to that end I take Sannyasa and I renounce and go to do
meditation. Then wise Maitreyi said: O Lord, pray do not have these things divided.
Let my co-wife have the entire possessions you have accumulated. Let her be the mistress
of all the property. Pray, take me along with you and give me also initiation into that way
of meditating upon the Supreme and attaining the Supreme Atman. This is YajnavalkyaMaitreyi Samvada in one of the great Upanishads, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
The ancients at the very beginning of civilisation taught us that happiness is to be found
in the Self within. Happiness is to be found in your own innermost Divine identity, in
your essential nature because happiness is a vital living experience and all things in this
universe are ultimately inert dead things. They have no consciousness, they have no life.
They are not living things. That is, they are Jada Vastu (inert matter). According to
Upanishadic or Indian philosophical terminology, this material universe is made up of
Jada Tattva (inert principle), whereas happiness is a living experience. So, inert things,
inert matter, cannot give a living experience. Living experience is something that will
come from the inner living principle within you. Secondly, anything that is finite,
anything that is changeful and perishable, anything that is limited, cannot give you real
happiness. The eternal alone can give you real happiness. Thirdly, any experience that
depends upon something else cannot succeed in giving you true happiness. Paratantra
(dependence) is Duhkha (pain). That is their discovery. Svatantra (independence) alone is
Sukha (happiness). That which depends, do not depend upon it for happiness, it cannot
give you happiness, for many reasons. Firstly, the thing upon which you depend is itself
imperfect. It is limited to various imperfections. Any imperfect thing cannot give you
perfect happiness. Secondly, all things are temporary. So a temporary thing cannot give
you lasting experience. It can only give you a temporary experience. And lastly, the
medium through which you experience all such experiences, by contacting external
objects, is your body, and your body itself is perishable. It is subject to various changing
conditions; therefore it cannot continuously give you the same kind of happiness, uniform
happiness. There is no uniformity in the experience which you get through your body and
your senses. If a little nerve in your mechanism gets out of order, that experience is cut
off. If the optical nerve goes out of order, all things that are seen, that world vanishes. So,
its all a play of nerves. All experiences that you get from outside, from things, are only a
play of nerves. They are only upon the level of this gross biological physical level. So
they do not constitute real happiness and therefore, the experiences that are dependent
upon the contact between one of the senses with another object are finite in time and
space, temporary, because the body changes and so the experience changes.
One day your contact with all these has to come to an end. It is inevitable. And with the
end of our connections, all our experiences depending upon these connections also come
to an end. Ultimately we weep and wail. The Gita has this to say that all experiences born
out of contact of a sense with its corresponding sense object are the sources of sorrow

only. There is no happiness, on the contrary they are the sources of ultimate sorrow. The
wise person does not revel in this sort of experience because they have a beginning and
an end, they dont last. Therefore, it is through the quest of something that is devoid of
these limitations and imperfections that guarantee or assurance of true happiness can be
had. And what is that something? It is totally devoid of these limitations and
imperfections pertaining to all objects here, characterises all objects here, that is the
Eternal, that Eternal reality which is permanent, beginningless and endless, upon which
you can absolutely depend. Call it Allah, call it Ahura Mazda, call it God, call it Omkar,
call it Sat Nam, call it Nirvana, call it Siddhi, or as the Jains call it, the Avastha of the
Siddha, perfection. No matter what you call it, it is that Eternal Reality alone that can
give you true happiness and that Eternal Reality is not only a supracosmic remote
transcendental principle or essence but also it is the essence of your being, it is the
innermost centre of your being. You are That because you are Part of that Eternal Reality,
that Cosmic Principle, that Brahman and therefore, deep within you lies this bliss, this
Ananda, as your own Self; from which you are never parted. Because you are That, you
are identical with That and that is Supreme Bliss and Blessedness. You cannot know it
through the senses because senses are outgoing. You cannot know it through the intellect.
You have to be silent and instantly you will know I am Bliss. So it is not a bliss that has
to be obtained but something which has to be experienced through awareness. You have
only to become aware that never for a moment is that Bliss apart from you, never for a
moment is that Bliss absent. It is the ever present truth of your being. It is the one great
fact of your being and the one great reality of your inner Self.
It is a wrong notion that I do not have happiness and I have to seek and find happiness.
This notion has to be abandoned and you have to go to the side of peace. Be quiet, stop
thinking of this wrong notion and just be aware. If a part of honey were to become
endowed with awareness, what would be the character of that awareness? Supposing in a
big golden pot there is pure honey brought from the forest and filled to the brim.
Supposing this thing called honey, would suddenly become endowed with consciousness,
awareness of its own being, what would be the character of that awareness? That is the
awareness which is in the centre of your being. The character of that awareness of that
honey would be sweetness, sweetness and sweetness. Once that awareness comes, honey
will not go in search of sweetness. Honey will not go and try to make effort to attain
sweetness. It will simply be where it is and then become filled with awareness that I am
sweetness. The Upanishads make this quite clear. The great ones who have attained this
bliss have been bright youngsters, that is the great good fortune of the new children of
Bharatavarsha, that is the great good fortune of you who are the descendents of ancient
seers and sages, the heirs of those great ones, that is this Jnana (knowledge) has come to
you as your own heritage. You have attained this as something that belongs to you and
this great Bharatavarsha throughout its glorious history right up to this point in time, this
country has never lacked spiritual examples of this wonderful blissful experience. In your
own generation there has been Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi, ever filled in that state of
self bliss, there has been Swami Ramdas, there has been Anandamayi Ma, there has been
Swami Sivananda, Swami Muktananda, ever so many beings, filled in that state of
Brahmic bliss, living examples of that state, possessing nothing, wanting nothing,
desiring nothing, feeling ever full, with that state of self experience. Self experience is a

distilled sense of pure unalloyed bliss. And here you are going about with that bliss, pot
of nectar, placed within you, and searching for happiness in petty things, in a little
television knob.
So, your great forefathers, ancients want to tell you: Awake, Arise, dont be in this
darkness of ignorance! You are immortal bliss, bliss is right within you. Therefore, seek
within you and know that you are bliss. It is not a question of finding bliss. It is becoming
aware that you are yourself the bliss, which you are seeking. Now think and recognise.
Deeply ponder the words that have come to you, through the Will of God, through the
Grace of Guru Maharaj, through the Seva offered to you by this servant, ponder these
words that have come to you. Bliss is within you. Bliss is your own self. You are yourself
Ananda-svarupa Atman. You dont have to lift a little finger, take a single step to attain
bliss. Be silent and take your mind within, know that you are bliss.
Within the Atman is what you are seeking. And seeking for it outside, you cannot find it.
If only that exertion that you make in trying to find happiness outside, one-tenth of it, you
would direct in the quest within, you would be filled with supreme bliss and blessedness.
That is the great rousing message of the Upanishads. This is your own treasure.
Knowledge is the great treasure we have inherited from the past and in knowledge lies
supreme joy, supreme liberation, and your own highest welfare and blessedness.
Great is my happiness, great is my joy, that this evening I have been given this wonderful
opportunity of sitting amidst you all for a little while and bringing to you that which
belongs to you. Happiness is within you. Happiness is your own self. Happiness is your
nature, inseparable from you, for it is your own self. You are yourself Ananda-svarupa
Santimaya Atman. Know thyself and be free. Know it through worship, selfless service,
purification of the heart, Japa, meditation, remembrance of the Supreme reality,
concentration, meditation and more than ever, through enquiry, discrimination, analysis,
investigation. Do it through Seva, Bhakti, Dhyana and Jnana, through Vedantic Bhakti,
through Raja YogaYoga and Abhyasa. This is the supreme task before you. So, in spite
of all other duties and obligations, carry on your outer life, but simultaneously let there be
this rich inner life, actively lived, seeking, meditating, finding, so that in this very life, in
this very body, before the moment of departure comes, already you are in a state of bliss
and blessedness and go forth form this body, rejoicing. That is my prayer to the Lord.
May your life become enriched by a dynamic, progressive, inner spiritual life of Sadhana,
of Bhajan, Dhyana, and may you crown your life with Atma-jnana and Supreme Ananda.