Beautiful sharing by a meditator on Devi Yantra's experience

Question: When someone reincarnates, does one usually come back as the same gender?

Sadhguru: Not necessarily at all. There are people around me who are of a different gender now than what they were in an earlier life. I have a very immediate experience of this in many different ways with quite a few people.

Gender, even species, need not necessarily be the same. All this could be determined by your tendencies. It happens to people, it happened around certain yogis, and it definitely happened around Gautama Buddha. It so happened that a lot of monks were reborn as women. When they had sat with the Buddha [in their past lives], the male monks greatly exceeded the women in numbers – mainly due to cultural reasons. In those days, a woman could not renounce when the children were below a certain age.
So the monks who sat there as men, noticed one thing – the female monks’ contact with the Buddha seemed to be better than that of the male monks. This was because it is very natural for a woman to make a very deep emotional contact. These men were sitting and meditating hard, but these women were just looking at the Buddha, and tears were flowing down. They loved him and the Buddha looked at them gently. The men envied that.

Somewhere within them, there was a longing to be connected with the Buddha like the women were. Because of that longing, a lot of those monks came back as women in their next birth. After a certain period of time, they realized who they had been, and that now they had become women. They were shocked, “We did so much sadhana – did Gautama abandon us? Why didn’t he make us monks once again? Now we are here with our children, our husbands, and this whole drama.” This happened because they had envied the women.


Depending upon your longings, depending upon your tendencies, nature gives you an appropriate body. Let’s say you long to eat continuously and you happen to die at that time. The next time, you may come back as someone’s pet pig, really well-fed. People think it is a punishment to come back as a pig. This is not a punishment for you. Nature is not thinking in terms of punishment or reward. Depending upon your tendencies, to fulfill those tendencies, what kind of body would assist you best, that is what you get. Now these monks came back as women. It was their tendency, their longing for what the women were having. When they were longing for the women’s ability to love the Buddha and connect with him emotionally, they unknowingly aspired to become women.

What gender or form you take is determined by the type of longing that you create. So, to maintain focus on your goal and create that longing which is beyond all these limitations is the best way to ensure that nature does not know what to do with you. When nature does not know what to do with you, it is good for you because you can work your things out very effortlessly. When nature knows what to do with you, you are put in this chamber or that chamber – male chamber or female chamber, pig chamber, cockroach chamber, or some other chamber – a body is a chamber.
So if you maintain that longing which is not for this or that, you simply stare at nothingness and are absorbed, now nature does not know what to do with you. It cannot push you this way or that way. It cannot make a decision on you.

Paramahansa Yogananda's meditation room picture

Go to your room and shut the door—make no fuss. Sit down and talk to God. Practise meditation. Let your mind become so intense that the next time you sit to meditate you won't have to make the effort; your mind will be fixed immediately on Him. If you don't make a great effort to conquer physical and mental restlessness in the beginning, you will have difficulty every time you meditate throughout the years. But if you make that supreme effort at the start, you will soon be happy and free.

Paramahansa Yogananda
Paramahansaji's meditation room in his family home

God is in Your Genes ​ - The Science of Kula Gotra​

Linga Bhairavi - A Window Into the Creation

Speaking Truth - The Acid Test

Swami Rama :

I remember an occasion when I was traveling with my master. The station master in a town we were passing through came to me and said, “Sir, give me something to practice, and I promise I will follow it faithfully.”

My master said to me, “Give him something definite to practice.”

I said, “Why should one fool misguide another? It will be better if you instruct him.”

So my master said, “From this day on, don’t lie. Practice this rule faithfully for the next three months.”

Most of the employees of the railroad in that area were dishonest and took bribes. But this man decided that he would not take bribes or lie any more.

That very same week a supervisor from the head office came to investigate him and his assistants. The stationmaster answered the probing questions of the supervisor honestly. This inquiry brought serious trouble to his staff. All the employees who had been taking bribes, including the stationmaster himself, were prosecuted. He thought, “It has been only thirteen days, and look at the difficulty I am in. What is going to happen to me in three months’ time?”

Soon his wife and children left him. Within a month his life had crumbled like a house of cards from a single touch.

That day the stationmaster was in great agony, and we were some three hundred miles away on a bank of the Narmada River. My master was lying under a tree when he suddenly began laughing. He said, “Do you know what is happening? That man whom I instructed not to lie is in jail today.” I asked, “Then why are you laughing?” He answered, “I am not laughing at him, I am laughing at the foolish world!”

Twelve people in that man’s office had gotten together and said he was a liar, although he had been speaking the truth. They accused him of being the only one guilty of taking bribes. He was put in jail and all the others were released.

When the stationmaster went to court the judge looked down at him from the bench and asked, “Where is your attorney?”

“I don’t need one.”

The judge said, “But I want someone to help you.”

“No,” said the stationmaster, “I don’t need an attorney; I want to speak the truth. No matter how many years you put me behind bars, I won’t lie. I used to share in bribes. Then I met a sage who told me never to lie, no matter what. My wife and children have left me, I have lost my job, I have no money or friends, and I am in jail. All these things have happened in one month. I have to examine truth for two more months no matter what happens. Sir, put me behind bars; I don’t care.”

The judge called a recess and quietly called the man to his chamber. He asked, “Who is the sage who told you this?” The man described him. Fortunately the judge was a disciple of my master. He acquitted the stationmaster and said, “You are on the right path. Stick to it. I wish I could do the same.”

After three months that man did not have anything. On the exact day that the three months were up he was sitting quietly under a tree when he received a telegram saying, “Your father had a huge plot of land that was taken long ago by the government. The government now wants to give you compensation.” They gave him one million rupees [about $100,000]. He had not known about the land, which was in a different province.

He thought, “Today, I have completed three months of not lying and I have been rewarded so much.” He gave the compensation to his wife and children, and they happily said, “We want to come back to you.”

“No,” he said. “Until now I have only seen what happens by not lying for three months. Now I want to find out what will happen if I do not lie for the rest of my life.”

Truth is the ultimate goal of human life, and if it is practiced with mind, speech and action, the goal can be reached. Truth can be attained by practicing non-lying and by not doing those actions which are against one’s own conscience. Conscience is the best of guides.

Swami Rama
Living with the Himalayan Masters

Breath - Your constant companion.

Questioner: Why should we focus on the breath during asanas?

Sadhguru: Your mind and emotions need a single object to focus on. If both of them stay with the same object, you are at maximum ease. If your body goes in one direction, your mind goes in another, and your emotions go in yet another direction, you will be struggling. Let’s say you have a job that you are very involved with, a family at home, and an affair on the side, you will be in a lot of mess – never at ease. Only if your body, mind, and emotions are focused in one direction, you will be at total ease.

Nothing and no one – neither your job nor your wealth nor your family nor your love affair – are as reliable as your breath. As long as you live, it will always be there. It is the most steady and reliable thing to focus your mind on. If while doing an asana, you do not focus your mind onto the breath, it will go all over the place. Therefore, focus on the breath. If I take away your breath now, you and your body will fall apart. It is your breath which holds you and your body together. This kurma nadi, as we call it in yoga, is like a thread that ties you and your body together.

If you constantly stay with your breath, if you really travel with it, one day, you will understand where you and your body are linked. Once you know this, you can hold your body at a distance, and all your trouble and suffering will be over. All the trouble and suffering in your life arise from your body and your mind. If you can hold your body and your mind at a distance to yourself, this is the end of suffering. And only when there is no fear of suffering, a human being will dare to explore his life at full stride.

So, being with the breath is very important. One thing is your mind has a steady companion to stay with. Anyone may leave you, but your breath will not leave you until you die. And another thing is it will transport you to a place where you and your body are linked. If you don’t want your life to be determined by multiple factors of compulsiveness, if you want to do or undo your life by choice, it is important to know this place.

Source Link : http://www.ishafoundation.org/blog/yoga-meditation/demystifying-yoga/focusing-breath-essential-asanas/

Do not react - Robert Adams

Now what do I mean by not react.
Do you ignore the summons to go to court?
No, you don't. (students laugh)
You do what has to be done.
When you go to court, but you realize, 
"Who's going to court?
My body is.
My body's going to court, but who is my body?
There is no body.
There is no court.
It's all an illusion.
It is, really" (students laugh)
And then, really, if you look at it that way,
something good is going to happen. (more laughter)
Strange as it may seem you will overcome and
transcend that predicament.
But if you don't, if you react like everybody else does with fear,
and say, "I'm not guilty. I didn't do it."
Then you've got a problem.
You're going to have to repeat that condition over and over again,
as I mentioned before until you're able to realize that
nothing has ever happened to I.
I is free.
I has always been free.

~Robert Adams - T. 26 - Dealing With Problems 

If your prarabdha does not give you satsang with a jnani, go directly to the source and have satsang of the unmanifest Self. - Annamalai Swami

 CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI

Q: We are able to have satsang here. It is very nice, very sweet.
men we leave here, how can we get such satsang?

Annamalai Swami: If it is not your destiny to stay with a jnani you can always try to establish contact with the formless Self. This is the real satsang.

You say that it is your prarabdha to live in a big city. Prarabdha only pertains to the activities of the body. No prarabdha can
prevent you from turning inwards and putting your attention on
the Self. This is a freedom which every human being has irrespective of his prarabdha. If your prarabdha does not give you satsang with a jnani, go directly to the source and have satsang of the unmanifest Self. This satsang is much harder to achieve and maintain, but if you have no other alternatives you must try it. Small babies live in towns without being affected by the atmosphere or the people there. If you live a pure life and make the right effort you can also reach the state in which the world cannot effect you.

Q: It will be very difficult. I shall be calling for help very frequently.

AS: If you have a desire to have satsang, or a desire to be always engaged in meditation on the Self, these things will happen. If your desire is strong enough the power of the Self will make all the arrangements for you. It will send you a Guru, or satsang, or whatever else you might need. If you are earnestly doing meditation on the Self, everything you need will automatically come to you.

Living by the Words of Bhagavan

Shared via Ramana Hridayam

Sadhus subsist only upon alms offered to them with love. - Papa Ramdas

Why don't you earn your own bread?
A story by papa ramdas

There was a Sadhu in Malabar, a tall and stout person. He was in the police service before he became a Sadhu. He used to wear only a small towel round his waist. Once when he was going for his Bhiksha, a householder, seeing his good physique, asked him why he should not work and earn his bread, instead of begging for it. The Sadhu was told that he would be given a meal if he was prepared to cut a few logs of firewood that were lying in the householder's courtyard. The Sadhu, without uttering a word, started splitting the firewood with an axe given to him and, within a short time, cut the whole lot and stacked the pieces in the proper place.

Then, leaving the axe near the stack, the Sadhu simply walked away.

The householder saw the Sadhu going without taking food. He called him back and asked him why he was going before taking his meal.

The Sadhu then replied, "I do not take my food where I work, and I do not work where I take my food!". This means Sadhus subsist only upon alms offered to them with love.

Being empty and Being in a state of offering

Sadhguru : It has been almost sixteen years since we consecrated Dhyanalinga. Sixteen is an important number in the yogic system. When Adiyogi transmitted his knowing, he explored and expounded one hundred and twelve ways in which a human being can attain to his ultimate nature. But when he saw the time it would take for his seven disciples to grasp these 112 ways, he divided them into seven parts of sixteen each.

When the seven disciples had grasped these sixteen ways, Adiyogi said, “Now it is time to go and share this with the rest of the world.” They were completely overwhelmed because they could not think of a life without him. When they were just about to leave, he said, “But what about Guru Dakshina?” In the tradition, the disciple must make an offering before he leaves. It is not that the guru needs the dakshina – he wants his disciples to leave with a sense of offering something precious, because in a state of offering, a human being is at his best. These seven people were bewildered – what to offer him? Except for the loincloth they wore, they had nothing.

Then Agastya Muni said, “I carry sixteen gems within me, the most precious kind. These sixteen gems that I received from you, I offer to you,” and he placed these sixteen ways at his feet and became empty-handed. The other six took the cue and offered back the sixteen ways they had gathered from Adiyogi and also stood empty-handed. You must understand this – their life’s aspiration was to gather this knowledge, they spent eighty-four years of heart-breaking sadhana to earn this – and in one moment, they put it back at his feet and stood empty. They left with nothing in their hands.

This was the greatest aspect of Adiyogi’s teaching. Because they went empty, they became like him. Shi-va means “that which is not.” And they became “that which is not.” Otherwise, they would have carried these sixteen ways like a crown, marketing it to the rest of the world. Because they became empty, all one hundred and twelve ways found expression through all seven of them. Things they could have never grasped and did not have the capacity for became a part of them simply because they offered back the most precious aspect of their life.

So, sixteen is an important number for us, and there are certain things we will be doing with Dhyanalinga to make him more available during the next sixteen-year phase. Very few people have really consumed it, but it is a tremendous storehouse of knowledge; nowhere else has it been done like this. The form of it is very, very unique. It is time people become more sensitive to him. I am not saying this with any disregard, but people come like tourists and sit for fifteen minutes, and at the end they ask, “No Prasadam?!” Or, “When is fifteen minutes going to be over?” Other people go through fifteen minutes like a moment. If you come like a tourist, so what? But if you leave the world like a tourist, that is a pathetic state. Before you leave this world, that which made this world happen should be yours – at least a little bit. If it is not yours, all you are left with is a lump of earth (body) – which they will anyway take back.

If something is ignited within you, if something more than the warmth of your body is on, then in the coming year we will offer possibilities to tweak up the way Dhyanalinga functions for you – whether you are living in the ashram, or just here for a short period of time. It is my only endeavor that you should experience something more than your physicality. This will not happen by you seeking experiences, but by preparing yourself to become receptive. Your Sadhana is your lifeline. I am with you.

Love & Blessings,
Sadhguru

Source Link : http://www.ishafoundation.org/blog/sadhguru/spot/sixteen-years-dhyanalinga/

Do not identify with what you see. Identify with reality. - Robert Adams

You can't bring peace into the world while you're still in illusion.

Become peaceful and you'll see peace.
Become loving and you'll see love.

In this kind of world in which we live, since time immemorial there has been man's inhumanity to man, there have been riots, wars, destruction, chaos, confusion. And there have been people saying we're going to make peace and turn this into a peaceful world. This is the way of the world. And the world is a mirage.

So if you identify will all the things you see you will always be confused, you have to because the nature of this world is confusion.

Do not identify with what you see. Identify with reality.

We're going back to the space again, what I was talking about. All these riots are taking place in the space.
Is the space affected?
So are you the rioter or are you the space?
With what do you identify?

If you see the rioters reality then that is the world in which you live and you suffer accordingly. But when you go beyond that and you realize the space or consciousness or pure awareness is the only reality then you leave this world.

And the Lord said "I will wait"

In one of His aspects, a very touching aspect, the Lord may be said to be a beggar. He yearns for our attention. The Master of the Universe, at whose glance all stars, suns, moons, and planets quiver, is running after man and saying: "Won't you give Me your affection? Don't you love Me, the Giver, more than the things I have made for you? Won't you seek Me?" 

But man says: "I am too busy now; I have work to do. I can't take time to look for You." And the Lord says: "I will wait."

- Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda

The Presence of Jnani mirrors back your state

Papaji : The enlightened man, the jnani, does not do anything.
He just sits quietly, like a mountain. 

He does not respond to your requests by doing anything, but if you go near him with a desire in your mind, there will be an automatic response. If you throw a rubber ball at a wall, it will bounce back. The angle and speed of the ball off the wall will depend on the angle and speed at which you throw it. The wall does not have to decide how to respond to the incoming ball. When you go into the presence of a jnani with desires in your mind, the appropriate response comes back automatically. You don’t even have to talk about them. If your mind is in the presence of a jnani, it will be flinging its desires at the wall of his enlightenment, and that wall will give you back what you desire or need. But if you go into the presence of a jnani without any thoughts or desires, what will be reflected back will be the state of thoughtlessness and desirelessness. In his presence you will be established in that state. This is the sannidhi, the presence of the jnani, at work. You don’t need to ask for anything. Just go near him. 

PAPAJI
(Nothing Ever Happened, volume three, pp. 335-6)

Is my Guru greater than other Gurus ?

Does Swami understand Jesus Christ to be a jnani like so many other jnanis, or was he something more than that? 

Annamalai Swami : If the ego is destroyed, only non-dual consciousness remains.
There is no higher or lower in that state.

You cannot say that one jnani is in a different state from another. You cannot say that Jesus Christ is better than Bhagavan or vice versa. There is no higher state than that of the jnani and there is no jnani who is superior to any other jnani. 

Although the inner state and experience of all jnanis is the same, their outer activities differ because each of them has a
different destiny to fulfill. Some will become teachers and some will not. 

If there is water in a glass it will quench the thirst of one man; if there is water in a big pot it may quench the thirst of thirty or forty people; if there is water in a well it can quench the thirst of all the people in a village or a town. 

Some spiritual aspirants have done tapas only for their own realization. After realization they may be able to help a few people. But some jnanis have done prolonged tapas not only for their own realization but also to help liberate others. The jnanis who have done this kind of tapas become world
famous masters and have many followers.

- Living by the Words of Bhagavan

Try to keep the mind unshakenly fixed on That which sees.

“The phenomena we see, are curious and surprising — 

but the most marvelous of all we do not realize, and that is that one, and only one illimitable force is responsible for:

(a) All the phenomena we see; and 
(b) The act of seeing them.

“Do not fix your attention on all these changing things of life, death and phenomena. Do not think of even the actual act of seeing or perceiving them, but only of that which sees all these things — that which is responsible for it all. 

This will seem nearly impossible at first, but by degrees the result will be felt. It takes years of steady, daily practice, and that is how a Master is made. Give a quarter of an hour a day for this practice.
Try to keep the mind unshakenly fixed on That which sees. It is inside yourself. Do not expect to find that ‘That’ is something definite on which the mind can be fixed easily; it will not be so.

- F.H. HUMPHREYS, the first Western disciple of Bhagavan

The temptation of seeing people has enemy

Goldsmith Joel : Once you begin to perceive that there is no such thing as an evil man or woman because evil is not a man or a woman but an impersonal temptation or tempter, then, when you witness evil men and women, instead of reacting with condemnation, a smile comes inside of you with a “Father, forgive them their ignorance” - not their evil, their ignorance. They could not be evil if they were not ignorant. Therefore, you do not feel horror at the evils or the evil persons of the world, but a compassion, a “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Such an attitude is a sign of spiritual progress. 

Another sign of spiritual progress is the extent to which you pray for your enemies. The longer you see them as human beings, the longer there will be something to be forgiven or to be prayed over. There is only one way to pray for your enemies, and that is to understand that God is individual being. The more you realize that, the fewer mistakes they can make, and the fewer sins they can commit. But the more you look upon them as human beings who are sinning and whom you in your generosity are going to forgive, the more egotistical you are, and the more you bind them. 

If you have surrendered yourself to God, so that you have no Self but that Self which is God, and know that whatever of good, emanating from you or through you, is of God and whatever of error is just your inability to let God fully function, then you must know that this is the truth about everybody, whether or not he is aware of it.

Goldsmith, Joel S.

Health - A Partnership with the Source of Creation

Can you stay without this temptation, when you meditate ?

If you observe yourself carefully in periods of prayer or meditation,
you will discover that for a great part,
you are allowing your thought to go to the outer and
are thinking in terms of changing the external.

It really is a tremendous discipline to arrive
at that state of consciousness where you...
never look for the crops [fruitage]...
Our entire attention must be on the fact that
unless there is an activity of the spirit within,
there never will be a crop.
 
If I can abide in the remembrance of this invisible substance
that is functioning within me, I will be able to wait for my crop,
whether it is a crop of money, or a crop of health,
or a crop of happiness, or a crop of peace.
It will come if I can keep my mind off the crop, off of the without.

~Joel Goldsmith

There is no meditation in concentration, but there is already concentration in meditation. - Swami Rama

Many teachers these days think meditation can be attained without concentration. That ignorant idea is misleading. The mind as it is in its ordinary nature remains in a dissipated state. Without gathering together and concentrating the energy of mind, the deeper state of meditation is not possible. The student who practices sitting in a quiet and calm place even for a short time can experience a bit of unusual joy, though he is not able to experience the deep joy of the meditative state. Why should one be afraid of concentration? Some say that concentration of mind can bring about strain and stress and thus should not be practiced. They even say that discipline is not needed, and they create simplified methods and call them meditation. Such teachings appear to make difficult sadhana easy, but these methods do not lead one to the higher dimensions of life.

Swami Rama
Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita commentary, Chapter 6

The whole cosmos is here. - Sadhguru.

 









Sadhguru : If you want to know for yourself, you must turn inward. Today, people are making serious efforts to know themselves by reading books. I am not against books. If you are reading a book to know about a nation or business or to learn engineering, it is fine. But reading a book to know about yourself is silly.

You are here, alive and kicking!

It is alright if you are reading a book to get inspired to take a step inward, but if you want to know something, you must look inward. You cannot read a book and know about yourself. After you are dead, if you have lived an interesting life, somebody may read about you, but when you are alive, you should not read about yourself. That is not the way to know yourself. Infact, the more learned you become, the more you realize that you actually know nothing. Only a fool who read half a book thinks he knows everything.

Even if you read all the libraries of the world, you will still not know anything.

But if you turn inward for just one moment, everything that is worth knowing in the existence can be known.

There are very beautiful stories in our tradition, in terms of perception and experiencing life. You have heard of the Rig Veda? This is the most ancient book on the planet. It was not written down; it was transmitted verbally from generation to generation. The Rig veda describes certain constellations and arrangement of galaxies in great detail, with proper diagrams and mathematical calculations. These constellations are not visible to the naked eye. Today, scientists are able to view them with very powerful telescopes, but how did they see them thousands of years ago?

They saw, but not with their eyes, because everything that can be perceived in the existence can be grasped in a single moment if you just turn inward. The whole cosmos is here.

`If I am warm with God's love, how can I feel the cold?'

I have seen in humble little huts and caves in India men with no food, nothing at all; nor are they beggars. They are richer than the world's millionaire's. Because they are the friends of all, people love them, and love to feed them. In bitingly cold weather, I saw one saint in the Himalayas who had nothing on. `Won't you catch cold?' I said. Sweetly he answered: `If I am warm with God's love, how can I feel the cold?' Saints like him are greater than any crowned king. If without food, without any visible means of security, such men can be like kings, peaceful and without worry, why can't you?

Paramahansa Yogananda, The Divine Romance

Guru's Grace and Self-Realization

Sri Totakacharya ~ "Guru - Disciple Relationship"

Sri Sankara, was the greatest expounder of Advaita Vedanta. Totakacharya was a disciple of Sri Sankara. 

When Śaṅkara was at Śṛṅgeri, he met a boy named Giri. Śaṅkara accepted the boy as his disciple. Giri was a hard-working and loyal servant of his Guru, Ādi Śaṅkara, though he did not appear bright to the other disciples. The reverence which he had for his Guru, the great Sankaracharya so completely dominated him that Giri had no other interest in his life except to serve the great Master. Tradition has it that the devotion of Giri to his Master was very profound; but he did not profit much by the teachings. He seems to have felt that a strong personal devotion to the Guru was of far greater importance than a mere intellectual grasp of the teachings. He had neither the learning of other disciples like Sureshwara and Padmapada nor the realisation of Hastamalaka. His co-disciples naturally entertained a lesser idea of his intellect. Even Padmapada was not free from this misconception. 

One day, Giri was washing his Guru's clothes, when Ādi Śaṅkara sat down to begin a lesson on Advaita Vedānta. He however did not start the lesson saying he was waiting for Giri to come back from his chores and singing lessons. At this, Padmapada pointed to a wall and said that it would be the same if Ādi Śaṅkara taught to this dumb wall as he taught to Giri. Sri Shankara naturally did not relish this remark. Ādi Śaṅkara wanted to reward Giri for his loyalty and devotion. Thus Sankara out of compassion mentally granted Giri the complete knowledge of all the śāstras (sciences).

When Giri returned from the river, he was literally in bliss. He addressed the Acharya in a few brilliant stanzas in Totaka metre each verse ending with the refrain, “bhava sankara desika me saranam.”. Since then, known before as Giri, he got the title of Totakacharya. The other disciples were dumb founded by the instant illumination that shone forth in the out pour of devotion coupled with knowledge with all trace of dullness dispelled.
Sri Totakacharya's life is an example that the Guru's Grace alone can carry one over the stormy ocean of worldliness to the safe shores of self realization. The grace of the master alone can illuminate one as even the essential effort needed for spiritual progress can only aid one to a certain extent. The rest that remains which cannot be accessed by the mind, is with the beyond or the Grace that throws opens the portals of enlightenment.

What is Devi Bhava? (Amma)

You always get, what you want. You've got to watch yourself - Robert Adams.

Robert Adams : I received a call from a lady in Santa Cruse the other day and she started to tell me about her marital problems, so I stopped her. I told her I didn't want to hear anything about any marital problems.

Does she know who she is?

That's all I care about. If she knows who she is, then she goes beyond marital problems. She goes beyond concepts, longings, wants, desires. She'll be safe. For once you lift yourself up nothing can touch you again. The world no longer has any power over you. The world only has power over you when you identify yourself as a body. If you identify yourself as a body, then the world becomes real, objects become real, situations become real, the universe becomes real, God becomes real, everything becomes real and you live in duality. So one day you suffer, the next day you're happy. Happiness leads to suffering, suffering leads to happiness.

Of course, this is human unhappiness I'm talking about, human suffering. But as soon as you learn to go beyond that, and again that happens by living spontaneously, all suffering ceases. After all, for who is the suffering? For the one who identifies with the thoughts.


As an example, somebody gets fired from their job. They start to worry about that and this leads to worrying about the future, because when you worry about the past, getting fired, you're going to start worrying and thinking,
“How will I pay my rent next month?
How will I buy food?”
And your mind loves that. It starts feeding you more. Pretty soon you imagine yourself evicted from your house and you see yourself in welfare lines, and you see yourself become a homeless person, and sure enough you do, because that's what you believe. That's where your mind is leading you.

As long as you feel you know the mind it becomes very, very powerful. Then you can see that thoughts are things, for your thoughts will materialize in this world of effects, with that which you believe is real. Subsequently, if you start worrying about your job, being terminated, and you start worrying about food, and you start worrying about evictions and all that stuff, you're really saying to yourself mentally, “That’s what I want to happen,” and you always get what you want. You've got to watch yourself.

The secret is not to change your thoughts, but to get rid of your thoughts completely. We're not trying to change negative thoughts to positive thoughts, for our positive thoughts lead to negative thoughts, negative thoughts lead to positive thoughts. That's duality. We're trying to transcend the whole ball of wax, to go beyond, and that's what happens when you live spontaneously. It happens by itself.

Living spontaneously is a meditation. Do not concern yourself with the fruits of your efforts. Everything will take care of yourself, of itself. In other words, what I mean by that is, if you're in a job for twenty four years, do not concern yourself if you get terminated or you don't. That's not the point.
The point is who do you think you are?

Do you believe that you're that frail human being that's been terminated, or that frail person who has lots of marital problems, or that frail person who doesn't know if he's going to die or live?

Forget about all these things, go beyond them. Identify with the absolute awareness. Identify with the total reality which you really are. You do not identify with those things by affirming them. You identify with those things by what? By silence. You see the difference? There are many schools that tell you, change the negative into a positive, but that's based on the world of relativity. You'll have to experience both, and there will be no end to it. But when there's silence in the mind, that means you get rid of all concepts, of all desires, of all needs, of all wants, of all hurts. You become oblivious to everything. Then the real self begins to take over, which is you, and you'll automatically do, or gravitate to, the place where you have to be. It will all happen by itself, but don't think of that. Think of nothing. Learn how to quiet your mind. Learn how to make your mind quiescent like a motionless lake. A motionless lake can attract, or image, reflect the sun, the stars, the moon, trees, grass. A lake that is noisy cannot reflect anything.

So, when you learn to quiet your mind you reflect yourself, and yourself is always harmony, always bliss, always sat-chit-ananda, always the absolute reality, always absoluteoneness. That's your real self. That's who you really are. It's all up to you.

Sadhguru offering training programs Himself in February 2015 for Yoga Teachers and Yogis

There is a certain trajectory to human development and what will happen to the world in the next few decades. In many ways, you will see that individual human beings will be empowered in ways that were never-before imagined possible, because of certain technological developments that are inevitable. If human beings want to enjoy the fruits of science and technology, it will become of paramount importance that internally they are equipped for it. If people are not internally equipped, this external empowerment will be disastrous.

I thought we must do our bit, because in many ways we are more qualified than most to offer solutions. As part of this, we want to unleash a series of things. As every nation plans to produce a certain number of engineers, doctors, soldiers, businessmen, or athletes, it will become imperative for nations to also produce people who can transmit something for inner wellbeing in a proper, scientific way.

India probably has a bigger responsibility in creating teachers who can do something for inner wellbeing. It is not just necessary that we produce yoga teachers; at some point, we have to produce yogis. We need people with strong inner experience. This is an onerous responsibility. We are very confident and hopeful that the Isha Yoga Center will offer more than its share of teachers and yogis to the planet because we have done enough groundwork.

One aspect of Isha Yoga programs has always been to maintain a certain dimension of aliveness in what is being offered. It is not about a teacher delivering a bundle of information, but bringing a live quality into the process. To experience something far bigger than yourself, happening through you, is a tremendous possibility. A woman will deliver a baby and in her experience it is immense because she cannot create life, but it is happening through her. As a teacher, something even more fundamental than physical life can happen through you, even if you have no idea what it is.

Most people never get to do anything that is befitting of their own stature. Even fewer get to do that which is far bigger than themselves. Becoming a teacher is an opportunity to do something that is far bigger than you. Isha Yoga teachers have this privilege; people are with them for seven days. How they are the first day and how they are when they leave is incomparable. At least 80 percent of the people have tears of love and joy flowing in their eyes. Many have not shed a single tear for many years, but after a few days, they are looking at you with tears of joy and love. No activity on the planet can give you this level of fulfillment.

There are many things we can do to satisfy ourselves. We can pursue professions, conduct businesses or pursue arts. I am not saying yoga is the only or the best thing that you can do in your life, but in terms of fulfillment, if you really give yourself, you do not have to seek fulfillment in your action anymore. That is how life is. Towards this end, we are offering an intensive teacher training program this February. And for the first time in nearly 20 years, I will be conducting the program myself. So please get ready either to become a yoga teacher or a yogi, whichever you choose, because it is no longer a luxury, it is an absolute necessity on this planet.

Love & Grace,

Sadhguru.

Things, that sadhak have to be aware

"Do not give negative vibrations a chance to affect your body. A sadhak should not gaze intently at anyone. Don't speak too much. A lot of vital energy is lost through speech. It is very advisable for the sadhak not to associate with others. Even if it is said that all are human beings, are all human beings the same? Some are thieves; some are innocent, while others are compassionate. It is certain it will do harm to the sadhak if he mingles with those who don't have a spiritual culture. If we live in close contact with a leper, won't that disease affect us also?" 

~ Amma

Just Be yourself

You may wonder how you can function in society and do your work if you're always innocent and childlike. But to be innocent and childlike doesn't mean to be a weakling - far from it! You have to be strong and assertive if the situations so demand. But, still, you should always, as far as possible, be as open and receptive as a child

Everything has its own dharma, and we have to act according to that. If a cow chews up a precious plant, and we politely tell it to move, saying, "My dear cow, would you mind moving?" of course, it's not going to move. On the other hand, if we shout, "Hey cow! Move!" then the cow will go away. We cannot call this action egoistic; it is a role we adopt to correct the ignorance of another being, and theres nothing wrong with that. But we should always have a profound inner attitude of being a beginner, retaining the innocence of a child.

~ Amma

The master makes the disciple go through numerous tests to mold him or her properly. ~ Amma

When two disciples make the same mistake, the master may get angry with one of them and be very loving toward the other, acting as though nothing has happened. The master knows the level of mental strength and maturity in each disciple. Because of their ignorance, onlookers may criticize the master. They see only what is happening outwardly. They lack the insight to see the changes taking place in the disciples.

The tree can't emerge until the outer shell of the seed breaks. Similarly, you cannot know the Truth without totally destroying the ego. The master will test the disciple in various ways to ascertain whether he or she has come to the master out of a short-lived surge of enthusiasm or out of love for the spiritual goal. Those tests can be compared to surprise tests in the classroom; there is no advance warning. It is the master's duty to measure how much patience, renunciation, and compassion the disciple has, and to test whether he or she becomes weak when faced with certain situations, or has the strength to overcome them. The disciples are expected to provide the world with leadership in the future. Thousands of people may come to them one day, placing their complete trust in them. The disciples have to possess enough inner strength, maturity, and compassion to live up to that trust. If a disciple goes out into the world without those qualities, and lacks enough inner purity, that will be the greatest type of betrayal. As a result, the one who is supposed to protect the world would become a destructive enemy instead.

The master makes the disciple go through numerous tests to mold him or her properly.
~ Amma

Is Life Predestined by Cosmic Will?

Is the world we see, Real ?

THE REALITY OF THE WORLD

D: I cannot say it is all clear to me. Is the world that is seen, felt and sensed by us in so many ways something like a dream, an illusion?

M: There is no alternative for you but to accept the world as unreal, if you are seeking the Truth and the Truth alone.

D: Why so?

M: For the simple reason that unless you give up the idea that the world is real, your mind will always be after it. If you take the appearance to be real you will never know the Real itself, although it is the Real alone that exists. This point is illustrated by the analogy of the ‘snake in the rope’. As long as you see the snake you cannot see the rope as such. The non-existent snake becomes real to you, while the real rope seems wholly non-existent as such.

D: It is easy to accept tentatively that the world is not ultimately real, but it is hard to have the conviction that it is really unreal.

M: Even so is your dream world real while you are dreaming. So long as the dream lasts, everything you see, feel, etc., therein is real.

D: Is then the world nothing better than a dream?

M: What is wrong with the sense of reality you have while you are dreaming? You may be dreaming of something quite impossible, for instance, of having a happy chat with a dead person. Just for a moment you may doubt in the dream saying to yourself, ‘Was he not dead?’, but somehow your mind reconciles itself to the dream vision, and the person is as good as alive for the purposes of the dream. In other words, the dream as a dream does not permit you to doubt its reality. Even so, you are unable to doubt the reality of the world of your wakeful experience.

How can the mind which has itself created the world accept it as unreal? That is the significance of the comparison made between the world of wakeful experience and the dream world. Both are but creations of the mind and so long as the mind is engrossed in either, it finds itself unable to deny the reality of the dream world while dreaming and of the waking world while awake. If, on the contrary, you withdraw your mind completely from the world and turn it within and abide thus, that is, if you keep awake always to the Self, which is the substratum of all experience, you will find the world, of which alone you are now aware, just as unreal as the world in which you lived in your dream.

- Maharshi’s Gospel

Naiharawa cover by Sounds Of Isha

Thunbam illadha nilaiye Shakti

Conversations on Compassion with Sadhguru

The way to accept impermanance and still relish Life

To contemplate impermanence on its own is not enough: You have to work with it in your life. Let’s try an experiment. Pick up a coin. Imagine that it represents the object at which you are grasping. Hold it tightly clutched in your fist and extend your arm, with the palm of your hand facing the ground. Now if you let go or relax your grip, you will lose what you are clinging to. That’s why you hold on.

But there’s another possibility: You can let go and yet keep hold of it. With your arm still outstretched, turn your hand over so that it faces the sky. Release your hand and the coin still rests on your open palm. You let go. And the coin is still yours, even with all this space around it.

So there is a way in which we can accept impermanence and still relish life, at one and the same time, without grasping.

Sogyal Rinpoche

For those who are receptive, Grace works. - Sadhguru.

Sadhguru: Krishna was not present when the Kauravas tried to disrobe Draupadi in public. He was not even aware of the scene because when he was about to go to the Rajasuya Yagna, Shalva, a king who held a grudge against him, came and raided Dwaraka. He and his men killed people and burnt homes, cattle and everything. Those of the Yadavas who managed to escape ran into the forest and hid there. On top of that, Shalva kidnapped Krishna’s father Vasudeva and took him away. By the time Krishna reached Dwaraka, the whole place was burnt and devastated, and the survivors were all in hiding. When they saw him, they came back down. He organized the reestablishment of the community and the reconstruction of the city and sent his son to go and somehow achieve the release of his kidnapped father. Since he was involved in all this, he was not aware of what was going on in Hastinapur.

If Krishna was not even aware of Draupadi’s predicament, how did he reach out to her? How did this miracle happen that she was guarded? This is a question of Grace. People constantly ask me this – some gently, some sarcastically, some in an accusing manner – how does Grace work? For Grace to function, I need not be mentally aware of what is happening to you. Through an initiation into a spiritual process, a certain investment of energy has been made, which functions as Grace. If I wish to be aware of what is happening with someone, I can be aware. But most of the time, I do not wish to be aware because too many things are going on. For those who are receptive, Grace works. For those who are not receptive, Grace does not work.

In a similar vein, Udhava once asked Krishna, “In many situations, I have seen beyond any doubt that you are a divine manifestation. There is so much about you which is beyond man. But then how come people are struggling and you cannot handle their problems with a snap of your fingers?” Krishna smilingly said, “No one can work a miracle unless the recipient is in full faith. Even the great Mahadeva cannot work a miracle unless there is receptivity and faith. When people are not receptive, you cannot expect miracles.”

There is a beautiful story: one day, Krishna was having lunch. Satyabhama was serving him. Halfway through the meal, he got up and said, “One of my devotees is in trouble. I need to go.” He washed his hands and went. Just before the gate, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and came back. Satyabhama asked, “You left midway through lunch, saying your devotee is in trouble, but then you turned back. What happened?” Krishna said, “A devotee of mine was chanting, ‘Krishna, Krishna,’ with eyes closed. A hungry tiger approached him. The man would have gotten killed, so I thought I will reach out and I left. But by the time I was near the gate, the fool had picked up a stone – so I turned back.”

For Grace to function, the person who is the source of that Grace does not need to be mentally aware of the situation. The investment of energy that has been made through the initiation functions by itself. You just have to open up the bounty that has been given to you. Do not think of faith in the sense of how people are talking about miracles – they just lost control over their imagination. In his lifetime, Krishna himself generated faith in lots of people, but still not in adequate measure for who he was. That has always been so – when the greatest ones came, the greatest things did not happen because they were too far ahead. In a way, medium-scale ones did better because they operated on a level that people understand, but they could not take them to the ultimate.

Grace becomes accessible and available to you only when you create the necessary openness within you, which means you have to be willing to keep yourself aside. If you say “Krishna, Krishna” and pick up a stone, it will not work. Similarly, if you say, “Sadhguru, Sadhguru” and pick up a stone, even if I want to, it will not work because Grace is very subtle. And as already said, it is not at all necessary that the one through which Grace functions is mentally aware of what is happening. That is why though Krishna was not aware of Draupadi’s predicament at that moment, still Grace worked for her.

Fear and Surrender

In Cairo I stayed at the old famous Shepherd Hotel. I spent one day in the museum seeing the Tut Ankh Amon collection, and the second day I rode out by camel to see the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid. 

When I reached the Pyramid it was nearly sunset. There was no one around except my own dragoman and one or two Arabs sleeping against their kneeling camels. I decided to climb to the top of the Pyramid. Although it towered above me, tapering off into the sky, and looked terribly high, I did not realize how high it was until I started climbing. I started out briskly but after a certain distance I grew tired and my pace slackened. The steps of the Pyramid are very narrow and eroded, but I was determined to reach the top.

Thoroughly exhausted, I finally did. The sun had already gone down. I turned and looked down the steep and awesome slope of the Pyramid. Suddenly I was overcome by the most frightful vertigo. My head swam and I felt that I was going to plunge to my death. I crouched on the narrow steps and clung to the top of the Pyramid so fiercely that my nails broke against the stone and my fingers bled. I could not bring myself to look down again. An agonizing fear took hold of me. I felt cold sweat pouring over my face, neck and back. I became hysterical. What was I to do? I knew if I let go I would fall, but I also knew I could not hold on much longer. I closed my eyes. I remembered what the Maharshi said-to dive deep into the Spiritual Heart. I summoned every faculty and all power within me and concentrated on the Heart. Suddenly I saw it, like a great light in my mind's eye. In the center I saw the Maharshi's face smiling at me. Instantly I felt calm. I turned and looked down. Far below I saw a man waving at me. I loosened one hand and held it over my head, then I waved back. The man began calling someone else. Another man ran to him. Swiftly they began to climb. They climbed expertly and fast but it seemed hours to me. Probably it took them about thirty-five minutes to reach me. One man had a rope. He tied it around my waist and gently stroked my face. He mumbled some words that I could not understand, but I knew they were kind words to encourage me. Between them, each one holding the rope as though we were mountain climbing, we began to descend. Eventually we reached the bottom safely. Some time after this I was told by an enlightened person that climbing the Great Pyramid was considered in ancient Egypt one of the "fear tests" which students had to pass in order to be initiated into the great religious mysteries. Aspirants were required to climb to the very top of the Pyramid, and if on reaching the top of it he or she could conquer fear, this particular test was won

Do we act or react ?

A day of learning

Sadasiva Brahmendra sang," with the folded hand as pillow,with sky as blanket,the bare ground as bed and dispassion as wife, thus sleeps a renunciate in the blessed state of samadhi".

Once he was himself in that blissful pose of sleep on the ground in an open field. A farmer girl who was passing by, remarked to her friend ,with a sarcastic smile " what a sannyasi! He needs a head rest for his head. What type of renunciation is this?". 

This made sadasiva brahmenda think," how come I'm thinking like an ordinary man that the head has to rest above the level of the rest of the body in order to sleep? Unless I get rid of this attachment to the body, my sannyasa is not worth the salt. It is only Mother Goddess who has come in the form of this low caste woman to give me upadesa". Thus thinking, he removed his hand that was used as a head rest and lay on the ground without a head rest.

But the same woman who had commented earlier passed that way again ,saw the change in posture of the sannyasi and again gave a sarcastic laugh followed by an equally sarcastic comment," a sannyasi should know things for himself. Just to keep reacting to comments made by passers by does not speak well of renunciation!".

That was the day when sadasiva became an honest to goodness,non reacting, non acting, non responding inert like entity, sadasiva Brahman!

Why We Should Pay Attention!

What is God's Fundamental Quality?

Sadhguru on Hindustani Music

 






Sadhguru: In terms of understanding sound and using it to influence the human system, I have personally studied this aspect in all my travels. Nowhere else in the world has sound been looked at with the kind of depth as in Hindustani music.

Within Indian classical music, there are two basic groups: Carnatic music, which is of the South, and Hindustani, of the North. Hindustani music is more about the sound; Carnatic is based on emotions. It is not that they have no understanding of sounds, definitely they do, but there is more emotion involved. It may not have been so earlier, but in the last four hundred years, Carnatic music has become more emotion based because of the bhakti movement, the devotion movement that happened in southern India. Most of the existing Carnatic music was written by devotees like Thyagaraja or Purandara Dasa, so a lot of emotion was brought into the music.

Hindustani music, however, avoided emotion and simply used sound the way it needs to be used. Within Hindustani there are different segments of music, highlighting the various ways that music can be used. If you really want to appreciate Hindustani music – not to learn, not to perform a concert – you would need at least one or two years of training. This is just to be able to appreciate the intricacies of this form of music. They have used sound in such ways that if you are willing to open up, it can do miraculous things to you.

What does sound mean? In yoga we say Nada Brahma, which means Sound is Divine. This is because the basis of existence is in vibration, which is sound. This can be experienced by every human being. If you enter a certain state within yourself, the whole existence becomes sound. This music evolved out of such an experience and understanding. If you observe people who are deeply involved in classical music, you will see they are naturally meditative. They become sage-like; almost like saints. So, this music was not viewed as entertainment. It was a device for the spiritual process. The ragas were used to evolve a person into higher dimensions of perception, experience, and evolution from within.

The simplest thing you can do to get started is to go for contemporary publications on classical music. These are slightly modified so that people with no training can appreciate this type of music. The Music Today series, for example, has a particular collection of ragas for the morning, afternoon, evening and night. You could also purchase the music of some very wonderful musicians and top artists, many of whom have been to the yoga center. We have concerts twice a year, here at the Isha Yoga Center.

Source Link :- http://www.ishafoundation.org/blog/lifestyle/music/music-entertainment-or-more/

Launch of New Magazine from Isha from October 2014. Have a peep.

Maurice Frydman - His Life Story. - Your Heart will melt

From: Ramana Periya Puranam (Inner Journey of 75 Old Devotees)
by V. Ganesan, grand nephew of Sri Ramana Maharshi.

Maurice Frydman was a genius.
He was born in a Jewish ghetto in Poland.
He came from such a poor family, that he tasted white bread only at the age of thirteen.
He could read and write Russian, Hebrew and Cyrillic by the age of ten, and could speak fluent Russian, Polish, French, English and Hebrew.
He stood first in his class right from his school days to the time he was a student of electrical engineering.
An extraordinary genius, he had nearly a hundred patents for his engineering inventions by the time he was just twenty.
At the age of twenty five, Maurice had a strong inner urge to seek God.
In the process, he gave up Judaism and took to Russian Orthodoxy.
He became a monk, leading an austere life in a solitary monastery.
On one of the rare occasions he ventured out, he found himself on top of a mighty waterfall. Here, Satan tempted him by saying, “If you have real faith in Jesus Christ and if you really love the church, jump into this waterfall.”
Maurice, very characteristically, jumped immediately into the deep chasm, wearing his monk´s robe. Would Arunachala let anything happen to him? His robe got entangled in some of the shrubs on the precipice, and he was saved! Proof, that when there is earnestness, a thirst to know the truth, the truth will guide us.
All the orthodox dogmas he was practicing failed to lead him to the truth and he became vexed. He sought freedom from bondage of every kind.
This quest led him to the Theosophical Society and to Annie Besant.


The meeting with J. Krishnamurti impressed him the most.
All these meetings took place in 1926.
Krishnamurti declared, “Truth is a pathless land.” And that truth can be arrived at only by applying oneself diligently without being dependent on any kind of external authority.
This approach appealed to Maurice and he had lengthy dialogues on the subject with Krishnamurti. It is on record that Krishnamurti always obliged Maurice whenever he wanted to talk to him.
Maurice had a seething desire to see God and know the truth, but all the while, from 1928 to 1934, he continued working in the electrical industry. He became the general manager of a well known electrical goods manufacturing factory in France.
Yet, his aspiration to know the truth never left him and he started reading the French and German translations of Vedantic treatises like the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita.
1935 proved to be the turning point in his spiritual life.
This was when he started reading Paul Brunton‟s books.
The teaching „Who am I?‟ proved to be tremendously enlightening.
The teaching that truth exists within oneself, rather than outside of the Self made him turn within. Paul Brunton´s books kindled the burning desire to visit India and meet the living sage, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.


In all these, providence guided him. The diwan of Mysore (a diwan is akin to the chief minister of a state or even, the prime minister of a country) wanted to modernize his state and was touring Europe and England to learn more about the facilities available in these countries. One day, he visited the factory that Maurice Frydman was in charge of. He was so impressed by Maurice‟s sincerity, application and hard work that he requested him, “Will you please come to our state and advise us on how to develop our state?”
In the 1930´s, India was in a very backward condition and technology had really not found a place here. Maurice shot back characteristically, “My bags are packed, sir. I am prepared to leave for India with you.” Such was the beauty of Maurice.


Maurice Frydman arrived in India, the country of his dreams in 1935. He was put in charge of setting up a big electrical goods manufacturing factory since he was an expert in the field. His aspiration, however, was to meet Bhagavan. Despite his busy work schedule, he went to meet him.
From the very first instance, he was prepared to surrender himself to Bhagavan. He would work day and night at the factory. So much so, he became very successful within a short time. On weekends, he would go to Arunachala, where people would greet him with, “Here comes our Maurice.”


During his sojourn, he would talk to his friends and to Bhagavan, questioning Bhagavan often, and Bhagavan would tolerate it all. Bhagavan was spontaneous and natural, reflecting you like a mirror. When someone was totally immersed in spirituality, he too responded by giving himself to them.
People in Ramanasramam commented on his frequent weekly visits, “Maurice, why do you not come once a month or maybe once in two months? You have to spend so much to come here.” Maurice would reply, “What can I do? My battery can take only so much. Within a week it dries up. I have to come here every week to be in Bhagavan´s presence and get it recharged!”


Maurice was extremely close to Bhagavan. He gathered as much as he could about Vedanta, had discussions with others and read up as much as possible about the Hindu scriptures. He read that if one wanted final emancipation, one had to take sanyas. He approached Bhagavan and enquired, “Bhagavan, this is what the Hindu scriptures say. Will you please give me sanyas?”
Bhagavan remained silent - but you know our dear Maurice.
He was persistent in his appeal.


One day, he approached Bhagavan on the hill and said, “Bhagavan, give me sanyas. I want to renounce the world and strive towards enlightenment.”
Bhagavan, in a very compassionate tone, answered,
“Sanyas is taken from within; not from without.”
Maurice‟s face fell at the response.
Bhagavan, like a mother, looked at Maurice and explained,
“You are already a sanyasin. Why do you want to take up ochre robes?”
Maurice did not give up. He kept asking Bhagavan for sanyas, and Bhagavan repeatedly answered, “There is no need for sanyas.”


So, what did Maurice with his ingenious, inventive brain do?
He went to Swami Ramdas - a realized soul - in Anandashram.
Somehow, he convinced Swami Ramdas to give him sanyas.
Swami Ramdas gave him the outward sanyas that he so desperately desired. Maurice was given a new name. He was called Swami Bharatananda, which means „one who delights staying in India.‟
Maurice became close to Swami Ramdas.
Once, Swami Ramdas told him, “Maurice, Swami Bharatananda, this is your last birth.” Being a great sage, he could understand the greatness of Maurice Frydman. 


One day, while Bhagavan was coming down the hill, Maurice came and stood in front of him, dressed in the ochre robes and beads of a Hindu monk. Maurice was rather anxious because he wanted his master to approve of what he had done. Seeing him, Bhagavan started laughing. Then, Bhagavan smilingly said to his attendant, “Hey, he looks like a buffoon in a circus.”


Maurice understood. All his life he had been a true sanyasin from within. Consequently, his attachment to wearing ochre robes continued only for a few more years. That is what Bhagavan meant when he said, “Sanyas is to give up attachment,” because Maurice never had any kind of attachment.


Even while working in the factory, Maurice led a very austere life. He refused to accept his monthly salary of three thousand rupees - an incredibly huge amount in those days. He declined the amount, saying, “I do not want it. Give it to the workers fund.”


As for sleeping, once the shops closed for the night, he slept on the porch of one of the shops. And what did this big boss, this top man working at the factory have for lunch? While all the other workers trooped into the dining hall to eat the lunch that they had brought from home, Maurice would stand at the dining hall´s entrance, clad in his ochre robes and with his begging bowl in his hands. This was in the spirit of a true sanyasin. The workers, who loved him very much, would first put something in the begging bowl before going into the dining room to eat. Not only that, Maurice stitched his own clothes. He wore only khadi pyjamas and kurtas made out of cloth from the yarn that he himself had spun on the charkha, a traditional, Indian spinning wheel. Even his footwear was stitched by him! He led a remarkably simple life, but he was happy and content. He didn´t gloat about his way of life or relent from it - he was just tremendously happy.


Maurice´s association with Bhagavan remained close and regular. Just like the child questions the mother, so too, Maurice put forth a lot of incisive questions to Bhagavan on the practical aspects of sadhana. It was not to satisfy his intellectual curiosity that he asked them. Bhagavan would patiently answer his questions. Maurice used to record these exchanges and then show the record to Bhagavan and get it corrected. This was later published as Maharshi‟s Gospel on the occasion of Bhagavan‟s sixtieth birthday in 1939. From that year onwards, this book has been guiding true seekers.
Even today it remains a beautiful guide for serious seekers. I always recommend three books to sincere seekers for study - The Maharshi and His Message, Words of Grace and Maharshi´s Gospel.


It was during such close interaction with Bhagavan, that Maurice wrote a series of moving verses. Bhagavan read them with great interest. In two of these verses Maurice says:
“So long I have been on this stage to please thee.
My eyes are blinded by the light of thy play.
My ears are deafened by the rolling thunder of thy laughter.
My heart is turned to ashes by the flame of real sorrow.
My lord, to please thee I have made a fool of myself.
And now I am unable to stop the agony of the play.
My lord, drag me down from this stage.

Master, I have forgotten the way in and the way out.”


Bhagavan was happy to read through the verses. He said that this was exactly what had been written by Appayya Dikshitar, a sage who lived several centuries ago. His verses in Sanskrit were written on palm leaves and many people were not aware of them. Bhagavan said that Appaya Dikshitar‟s verses describe the situation of the court dancer performing in the presence of the king. She cannot stop dancing unless it pleases the king to tell her to stop. The dancer´s limbs may ache but she cannot stop of her own accord. She cries, “Oh lord, I am weary of the many births and deaths that I have endured. One glance from you, oh lord, is sufficient to put an end to this dance of birth and death and grant me release.”


Bhagavan paused before saying,
“Maurice Frydman belongs here.
Somehow, he was born abroad but he has come here again.
Otherwise, how is it possible for him to compose verses similar to Appayya Dikshitar?”


Bhagavan made Maurice continue his dance by not asking him to come down.
As we are going to see, he had to continue performing on the world stage because he was a karma yogi who still had a lot of good deeds to perform. So, Maurice flowed along with the state of things and continued working busily in the factory. Apa Pant, the prince of Audh, who had studied in England, was sent to the Maharaja of Mysore for training in the art of governance. In the course of his training, he was asked to visit the factory in which Maurice was the managing director. When he went to the factory, Apa Pant, himself a calm and collected person, could not help being drawn to Maurice‟s brilliance and dedication. Likewise, Maurice too took a great liking to Apa Pant and started guiding him spiritually. He also impressed upon the young prince, the need to focus on development in the villages of his state and to take science and technology there so that life became easier and smoother for the peasants. Apa Pant then told Maurice, “Please come to our state and stay there for at least five or six months and guide us.”


One fine day soon after this, the prince found Maurice in his palace. Maurice told the prince, “I have come to you. I have resigned my job in Bangalore. I would like to serve the villages of the Audh state!” The poor prince (poor, not literally) did not know what to say. He could only say, “This state cannot afford to pay an engineer like you.” Maurice, in his very characteristic manner said, “I will sleep on the floor in that room. Just give me an Indian desk to work on. I have got legs to walk and I will take you on my walks. We will both work together in the villages of Audh. Now, if you could give me some food, I am hungry.”


Maurice was always telegraphic, but very, very clear!
Wherever he was, Maurice remained in correspondence with Bhagavan.
We have to understand that inside he was all the time in the presence of Bhagavan.
In one of his letters to Bhagavan, he wrote,
“The Maharshi is with me not only when I think of him, but also when I am not thinking of him. Otherwise, how do I live?”


Apa Pant and Maurice started working together. You will be surprised to know that Maurice´s office was under the shade of a huge tree in a village. He lived in the villages he visited and worked very hard for them. Maurice heard about Mahatma Gandhi´s deep interest in bringing decentralized democracy into the villages in order to empower them. He set out to meet Mahatma Gandhi to learn more about the process. Mahatma Gandhi took to Maurice immediately; he addressed Maurice only as Bharatananda; everyone in his Sevashram addressed him in the same manner. Gandhi found that Maurice was not only a hard worker but also an inventor who was using the Indian charkha. By way of blessing, Mahatma Gandhi asked Maurice, “Why do you not invent something by which we can produce yarn more quickly?” Maurice immediately invented a new charka called Dhanush Takli. The extraordinary thing about the new invention was that one could produce three times the yarn with the same energy that was spent on the traditional charka. Mahatma Gandhi was, needless to say, extremely pleased!


Whether Maurice was with Bhagavan, Mahatma Gandhi or J. Krishnamurti, his method of first questioning, experimenting and experiencing the truth at every level, and only then accepting and following it, remained the same. Such was his nature. This is exactly how he led the seventy five villages that he was reforming. He loved the poor, uneducated villagers and was so compassionate towards them that they felt purified in his presence; in fact, they addressed him as „Swami‟. Maurice was successful in his venture in the villages and very soon the whole of India became aware of the kind of life Maurice was leading. By this time, Bhagavan and Mahatma Gandhi had dropped their bodies. This was a great setback for Maurice but he decided to rededicate himself to the cause they had taken up because he felt he was still on stage and had to play the outward game.


Maurice went to Varanasi to stay in the Krishnamurti institution there. He implemented the reform programmes in the surrounding villages. Krishnamurti‟s followers were also great admirers of Buddhism since the teachings of the Buddha and Krishnamurti were similar in many aspects. Senior followers of Krishnamurti like Achyut Patwardhan became very close to Maurice. This also happened to be during the Tibetan turmoil, when the communists in China were in the mood for seizing power. When Maurice heard about the tumult, he swung into action because at that time Apa Pant had just become the governor of Sikkim. Without wasting time, he immediately went to Sikkim and met Apa Pant.


He told Apa Pant, with gusto, “You are going to be of great use to me! We have an important mission to accomplish here because we have to save His Holiness the Dalai Lama, all the old Buddhist manuscripts and thousands of Tibetans.” Characteristic of him, Maurice immediately took Apa Pant to Delhi to meet Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India. Maurice, the diligent worker, already had by this time the road map to successfully carry out the rescue plan. Both Maurice and Achyut Patwardhan related to me how they had worked a plan for the escape of His Holiness.


It was eventually the blueprint laid down by Maurice that Nehru followed in getting His Holiness out of Tibet. They fed the Chinese government with wrong information on the flight of His Holiness and ultimately the Indian government acted in a contrary manner. The day His Holiness escaped to India, so did hundreds of fellow Tibetans. His Holiness came with many old Buddhist manuscripts, now preserved in the museum in Sarnath. Thus, thousands of priceless manuscripts were saved from the destructive hands of communist China. When the Dalai Lama entered India, Maurice planned it in such a manner, that Achyut Patwardhan would meet the Dalai Lama and give him the details. Yet, there is no mention of Maurice in any of the books related to either the Dalai Lama‟s escape or the smuggling in of Buddhist manuscripts from Tibet.


I have never seen a person as self effacing as Maurice.
Similarly, there was no mention of Maurice‟s name in the Maharshi´s Gospel originally; only now is his name being mentioned.

At the time of the Tibetan struggle, Jawaharlal Nehru very bluntly said, “My hands are tied.” Maurice immediately travelled all over India, spending his own money, in order to find refuge for hundreds of Tibetan refugees. Maurice sought cooler places for the refugees and established five settlements. If the Tibetans enjoy a peaceful existence in India today, it is because of this Jewish mystic saint, whose name is not mentioned anywhere!

Discovering the capability of this man in bringing a semblance of order even in the most chaotic situations, Nehru requested Maurice to take over the khadi movement. It had initially been started by Gandhi, but was later in total disarray. This meant that Maurice had to go to Mumbai. Here, he stayed with an old friend of his, Miss Petite.

Bhagavan gave me the opportunity to meet Maurice in Mumbai.
I had earlier met him at the ashram in the 1960´s during the rare visits that he made. Again, I met him when I went to Mumbai in the 70´s to collect funds for the advertisements for Ramanasramam´s journal, The Mountain Path.

Maurice then told me, “While your body is engaged in running the ashram, your heart should be totally settled in that pure awareness of truth.
Never miss that, whatever you are doing.”

We used to have beautiful private conversations. Once, Maurice confessed to me in all seriousness, “The burning regret for us is that probably full advantage was not taken of those happy and precious days when Bhagavan was with us physically - eating, talking, laughing and openly available to us all. Reality was there in abundance in our midst for the taking, and anyone could take it. But, we enclosed ourselves in our false humility, in procrastination, and false excuses. We took therefore, a cupful, when the ocean was at our feet!”

On yet another occasion, he prodded me on, just to give me a push:
“See, Bhagavan is not the person. He is the teaching. As the teaching, he is fully available to you. In addition to whatever work you are doing, plunge within and taste awareness inwardly. That awareness is our Bhagavan.”

Maurice used to take me for long walks in Mumbai. He would tell me,
“I will not provide you with a car; I will not even take you by bus; you have to walk wherever you go, along with me. Are you prepared?” With hands folded in a namaste, I would answer, “Would I hesitate to be in the proximity of the truth of reality?”
Maurice was a spiritual giant, but physically he was less than five feet tall.
Surely no one would hesitate to walk next to him! 

On one of these walks, Maurice said, “Ganesan, today I am going to take you to the place where I met a simple man selling beedis.”
As we were walking towards the place, Maurice narrated,
“I saw a group of people smoking beedis; they were relating their woes of life. This simple man answered them exactly in the manner of Ramana Maharshi. Had Ramana Maharshi spoken in Marathi, it would have been the same! I stopped in my tracks and listened intently. It was astounding to see an ordinary man selling beedis talking so spontaneously! I started going to the place every day and noting down what he says. I would then go home and translate all the questions and answers into English.”

However, Maurice was ridden with guilt because he had not sought the permission of this person. He informed the man what he had been doing and read out all his writings, translating them into Marathi.
The man was delighted and told Maurice, “Go on recording, go ahead!”
This was later published as I am That -
a publication that shook the entire spiritual world.
This man was none other than Nisargadatta Maharaj. 

Later on, after I had met Maharaj, I told Maurice,
“Whatever you say is absolutely true. I can feel Bhagavan´s presence in his presence. The teaching of Bhagavan comes from him spontaneously.”

Maurice always used to encourage me, “Come on and narrate to me the dialogue that you had with Maharaj.” He would add, “Being a spiritual seeker, associating with sages and saints will deepen your understanding; it will help you go deeper and experience it. Reading improves only intellectual understanding. This experience oriented understanding will happen, whether you have understood it or not, only in the presence of realized masters.”
Saying this, he encouraged me to go to Maharaj. 

I was unable to be with Maurice Frydman in his last days.
But I was happy to understand from a devotee of Bhagavan who was also Nisargadatta Maharaj´s devotee, that Bhagavan himself looked after him. The devotee told me about a nurse in Mumbai who normally charged a huge fee for her services. This nurse had a dream, in which a sadhu wearing only a loin cloth told her very clearly, “My devotee is suffering. Go and attend on him.” The sadhu also gave her precise directions to reach Maurice´s residence. The nurse went to the place described in the dream the next day and found Maurice Frydman in bed. Miss Petite was older than Maurice and she too was helpless and unattended. The nurse immediately offered her services. Maurice´s austere attitude would not allow him to accept her services and so he refused. Disappointed, the nurse was leaving the room when she saw a picture of Ramana Maharshi there. She turned to Maurice and exclaimed, “This is the sadhu who appeared in my dream.” Maurice, visibly moved, said, “So, my master has come to look after me.” The nurse served him till the end. Apa Pant, who looked upon Maurice as his guru, was present during Maurice‟s last days. I would like to quote Apa‟s own words: “The sage is dying,” whispered a soft voice over the phone from Mumbai. “The sage is asking for you. Apa, come as soon as you can.” When I arrived, Miss Petite, the doctor and the nurse complained to me that Maurice was refusing to eat and take medicine. They implored me to make Maurice eat and take medicine - as if anyone could make Maurice do anything that he did not want to! There he lay in his familiar room, with everything meticulously clean and in its proper place. As I approached him reverentially, he shouted, „Apa, who is dying?‟ The next day, he drove everyone out of the room, ordering them to leave him alone with me. Then, he said beautifully, „Apa, I hear music. I see the bright light. Who dies? No one is dying. This diseased body is keeping me away from that harmonious beauty. Do not let them keep me in this body. Go now in peace.‟ The next day, we were all at his bedside as he breathed his last. Three breaths, “Hari Om, Hari Om, Hari Om,” and he was gone.

Nisargadatta Maharaj was also at his bedside, so I asked him, „Maharaj, where is Maurice going? What is happening to him?‟ Maharaj replied, „Nothing is happening. No one is dying, for no one is born.‟ Then I asked him, „Then why this sorrow, this emptiness, this loss, Maharaj?‟ Maharaj graciously turned to me and said, „Who is feeling the sorrow? Who is feeling the emptiness? Who is feeling the loss?‟ I remained silent.

Within hours, in the presence of Nisargadatta Maharaj, the remains of what we called Maurice Frydman were consumed in the fire. The remains had returned to their original order. The great devotee, Maurice Frydman, had returned to the source, Arunachala. 

Once, I went to Nisargadatta Maharaj´s house because he had asked me to stay with him. I stayed there for eight days. In the morning, from eight to ten, he would ask me to be seated while he did pooja. There were photographs of saints such as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the Buddha, Jesus Christ, Ramana Maharshi, and yes, even Maurice Frydman, in his room. Maharaj would apply sandal, vermillion powder and perfume to the photographs and garland them. As he was doing this ritual one day, I was asking myself, “Why is he doing this?” He turned to me and said in a compassionate tone,
“Maurice Frydman was a jnani. He was a saint, a sage.”
This is undeniably true.

Maurice Frydman has blessed us all by bringing to us the essence of the teachings of Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj.

How fortunate we are to be able to share the life of such a great person, a person who wanted to remain unnoticed and unseen.

So much so, that the first edition of The Maharshi‟s Gospel compiled by Maurice did not even bear his name!

We sincere seekers of truth must cling to him in our Heart.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Book: Maharshi´s Gospel:
http://selfdefinition.org/ramana/Maharshi%27s-Gospel.pdf
**********
Book: I Am That:
http://selfdefinition.org/nisargadatta/Nisargadatta_I_Am_That.pdf