Patanjali in his Yoga sutras has laid out eight fold path for enlightenment The first step is Yama loosely translated as discipline This means tuning yourself to the ultimate it is not a set of dos and don ts It is a set of instructions to tune yourself to your Self Within this Yama the first step is Ahimsa Ahimsa means non violence with understanding Ahimsa is not a moral condition but a technique If you are established in non violence even wild animals when they face you will turn peaceful You will radiate love and compassion Patanjali says If

• To Love is to be non violent

Patanjali in his Yoga sutras has laid out eight fold path for enlightenment. The first step is Yama: loosely translated as discipline. This means tuning yourself to the ultimate; it is not a set of dos and don’ts. It is a set of instructions to tune yourself to your Self. Within this Yama the first step is Ahimsa. Ahimsa means non violence with understanding; Ahimsa is not a moral condition but a technique. If you are established in non violence, even wild animals, when they face you, will turn peaceful. You will radiate love and compassion. Patanjali says: If a man is established in non violence, in his presence, enemies and animals will drop their animosity and radiate love. Sankara, the great enlightened master,  walked all over India on foot, village to village, begged door to door for food, and lived with the common man, to update himself with what was happening around him. This was required of him as a teacher, as a master. As he went he learnt from various masters, universities, and temples which are spiritual universities. He wanted to create his own University to spread his message of advaita (non-dualism), where the energy of love will speak.  In a forest on a full moon night as it drizzled he saw a frog about to hatch its baby and a cobra spreading its hood to protect the frog from the rain; frogs and cobras are born as natural enemies; when Sankara saw this he decided here’s where I should have my University where animals lose their enmity, and pure oneness and love starts happening. Once you experience this love you will never be violent; non violence, ahimsa, will happen to you. When we are established in love nothing touches us. We do not need to defend ourselves against anything. Defending is what creates the thought of offending. All countries say that they have armies only to defend themselves. Who then is offending?  The more you try to defend you enter into offense. Violence starts. Violence starts with defense. This is what Jesus meant when he said to turn the other cheek when someone slaps you. What he said is not impractical. This can be practiced. What have we achieved by protecting ourselves, except suffering? On the other hand, if you radiate love, you will be a God on planet Earth.  Can you defend yourself against death? By defending yourself you may add some years to your life; by trusting, by loving you will add life to your years.  What would you like to do, add years to your life or add life to your years?

Mind is in constant inner chatter It starts as soon as you wake up If you record all of your inner chatter you need a recorder for all your waking hours say hours All this chatter creates problems unconsciously You are comparing yourself unfavourably with others Of these hours of tape all spoken by you why don t you convert the chatter to give you positiveness and freedom No man is so poor that he cannot create words that create bliss We are not poor in capacity only in consciousness This hours of tape are of our karmic system Let

• “Log out” of your inner chatter!

Mind is in constant inner chatter. It starts as soon as you wake up. If you record all of your inner chatter you need a recorder for all your waking hours, say 15 hours. All this chatter creates problems unconsciously. You are comparing yourself unfavourably with others. Of these 15 hours of tape, all spoken by you, why don’t you convert the chatter to give you positiveness and freedom? No man is so poor that he cannot create words that create bliss. We are not poor in capacity, only in consciousness. This 15 hours of tape are of our karmic system. Let at least ten hours of tape create freedom in you, to start with. When all 15 hours give you freedom from chatter, you have reached liberation or live enlightenment. Now your mind is locked into one space, as an engineer, as a doctor, whatever; you cannot touch any other part. All of you are endowed with memory of past life, yet you do not recollect. Why? That’s because you are so caught up in this life’s memories. If you can come out of, relax from, your mind, you can enter all sections of your mind. You can log in and log out. As of now you can only log in partly since you are afraid to log out. Is it possible to log out, walk out of inner chatter? Asks Buddha: when you have the capacity to create, don’t you have the capacity to walk out? Unconsciously you invite suffering. When everything is right you look for trouble. A guy living by a railway track is so used to the noise of trains that he wakes up if he cannot hear the sound. You are so habituated to the incessant inner chatter of worry that if it stops you miss it. If your worries are reduced you lose your importance. This world runs not because of us, but in spite of us. Let us be a little more intelligent and use words that liberate us instead of making us addicted. Napoleon on his deathbed told his subordinates: place my hands out of the coffin so that people will know that even the great Emperor Napoleon carried nothing with him when he left this world. When you drop your cravings, they may get fulfilled. When you keep craving even if they get fulfilled you are not content. Choose between filling and fulfilment. PARAMAHAMSA  NITHYANANDA

There was a popular song a while ago that went Don t worry be happy It became an instant hit and no wonder We all have a laundry list of worries all the time It is very difficult for us to predict when we are likely to be joyful but very easy to say when we shall be worried which is almost all the time We worry when we have no money we also worry when we have money We worry if we have no children we also worry when we have children as our children quite often are the

• Don’t worry, be happy

There was a popular song a while ago that went: Don’t worry, be happy. It became an instant hit, and no wonder. We all have a laundry list of worries all the time. It is very difficult for us to predict when we are likely to be joyful, but very easy to say when we shall be worried, which is almost all the time. We worry when we have no money; we also worry when we have money. We worry if we have no children; we also worry when we have children, as our children quite often are the cause of problems, especially when they emulate us. Worry follows desires just as night follows day. Just as desires have no end, worries too are endless. John went to a restaurant and ordered one of each item on the menu. With great enjoyment he ate all that was brought to him. After he finished with his dessert and coffee, he got up to leave. The waiter stopped him with a bill. Said John in exasperation: I never ordered this bill. Why have you brought it to me? Most of us live our life like John. We have no recollection of asking for the bill as we go on desring about acquisitions and expectations of acquisitions. When the bill does finally arrive we are startled, and depressed as this is not part of our expectation. Desires are not harmful by themselves. Desires are energy, as long as the desires are your true deep desires. Problem is that most of our desires are borrowed. They arise out of jealousy and greed and nothing to do with what we need. Ramana Maharishi said about this beautifully: The Universe can cater to the needs of every single inhabitant. However, it can not fulfill the wants of even one single person. In your own life, just think of all the things you wish for right now. Make a list. Now make a list of the things that you already have. Which list makes you happy, and which list makes you uneasy? The answer is obvious. Why don’t we focus on what we have, offer gratitude to the Universe for providing all that we have instead of worrying about what we don’t have? Whether we want to keep begging for more or be thankful for what we have is a choice that we make. It is a choice between happiness and sorrow. PARAMAHAMSA  NITHYANANDA

A Bank manager used to take all the cash to his home everyday and bring it back with him the next morning He did this for a month and could not do it any more He found himself trembling while driving back home and was not able to sleep at home with the money in his custody He finally wrote a letter to his boss asking to be relieved of the job His boss told him that even if the money was lost he would not be blamed and that he could continue with his job The manager slept peacefully

• Surrender is the shortcut to God

A Bank manager used to take all the cash to his home everyday and bring it back with him the next morning. He did this for a month and could not do it any more. He found himself trembling while driving back home and was not able to sleep at home with the money in his custody. He finally wrote a letter to his boss asking to be relieved of the job. His boss told him that even if the money was lost, he would not be blamed and that he could continue with his job. The manager slept peacefully from that day onwards. Although he is doing the same job, the fear is not there any more. Why? Because the responsibility has shifted to a higher authority, that’s all. This is what surrender is. Do your duty, leaving the responsibility to existence. You need not surrender to God or to any Guru. There is a life force conducting this world. It is this life force that is causing the breath that goes into you to come out, and the food that you eat to digest. Simply surrender to this life force. The work that you do in your lifetime for your survival is lesser than the work required to convert a handful of food into blood inside your body. A research was once conducted to simulate the conversion of ‘one piece of bread into blood’. They found that the industry for it extended to three kilometres! This is the kind of mechanism inside you! Do you think that the life force that sustains this mechanism cannot sustain our lives? It very well can. Only we don’t have faith. A seed has to surrender to the soil to grow into a tree. It has to have faith in the soil and allow itself to rupture in order to blossom as a tree. In the same way, we have to place our faith in existence and surrender so that a new life, a life of eternal bliss can blossom. How do you do it? Every time you feel heavy in the heart or mind, just tell yourself that the life force that runs the world will take care of you also and move on, that’s enough. When you do this, you will see that all your depression and worries disappear and creativity blossoms in you. A deep peace pervades your Being. You begin to live in the moment. Surrender is your shortcut to God! It is the ultimate technique to merge with existence. Be blissful! PARAMAHAMSA  NITHYANANDA

Its weird and yet it has become normal Whatever moves faster is better Communication is at the speed of light The world is a global village Electronic mails have to be responded to within the hour We all are always in a tearing hurry Doing what We are all driven by greed and fear Greed tells us that there is no time to lose Fear tells us that we are going to lose So we hurry not knowing what we are going to lose not knowing what its value is We run because we are afraid to stop afraid to

• Inner restlessness -The expressway to suffering

Its weird and yet it has become normal. Whatever moves faster is better. Communication is at the speed of light. The world is a global village. Electronic mails have to be responded to within the hour. We all are always in a tearing hurry. Doing what? We are all driven by greed and fear. Greed tells us that there is no time to lose. Fear tells us that we are going to lose. So we hurry not knowing what we are going to lose, not knowing what its value is. We run because we are afraid to stop; afraid to stop and reflect on what we are doing and why. We are afraid to be with ourselves. To be silent can be terrifying as it makes one vulnerable to oneself. A young man came to see me. He said: Swamiji, I have everything sorted out. I am building a house with a 25-year loan. By that time my daughter (a two-year-old holding his hand) will be ready for marriage. My son (an infant that his wife is carrying) will be in a good job. The house would be very valuable and we can get a lot of money by selling it. We will invest most of it and settle down with you at the Ashram. He had finished off 25 years of his life in just ten minutes. He still feels that his calling is spiritual. Is mortgaging the present for the future spiritual? This constant running is a reflection of our inner restlessness. We certainly feel we have missed out on life. Has the running been worth it? This is the fastest route to suffering, the expressway. There is good reason to plan for tomorrow, it’s important. However, let’s not forget to live today! We take ourselves too seriously. What we do in our lifetime hardly matters in the bigger picture. It is lost in the vast expanse of the universe. Things go on silently in the universe; so peacefully without any contradictions; millions of solar systems function with such beauty! Things happen in nature in spite of us not because of us. When we realize this we relax into ourselves. We feel centered in our being. There is a deep sense of trust and peace that envelops our being. When this happens, we will not find the need to hurry through our lives. Meditation helps to experience this space of relaxation and live enlightenment. • PARAMAHAMSA  NITHYANANDA