Guru Conflict

This is an important subject: Guru Conflict! It is nothing but a conflict inside yourself. There is no real conflict between the real masters. If Rama and Krishna meet, they will hug each other, but Rama’s monkeys and Krishna’s cows will fight!

The energy of all the great masters is one and the same; all masters are the embodiment of the same energy; there is no need for any conflict. I always tell people: go around, pluck flowers from as many gardens as you wish to and make a nice garland! But they don’t pluck from any

garden; instead they bring only thorns – trouble! If you are doing window shopping, you are not learning from any guru. If you really know the knack of plucking flowers, you will become adept at plucking flowers from gardens.

When you go from guru to guru, you will become more intense, but if you don’t learn from any guru, it is better that you stay with only one guru. After all, what are you going to learn from so many gurus that you can’t learn from one? Going to the first guru itself is wrong if you are doing just window shopping. Don’t torture him and torture yourself; liberate the guru with whom you are living by following him in the right fashion!

If you feel the guru is only a teacher and not the path, simply leave him. The rule of thumb is, when you meet the real guru, your heart will simply fall, you won’t even think of anyone else!

"When Master happens in our lives, nothing else is needed.
If he does not happen, nothing else is of use."

The Master-Disciple Relationship

‘It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma’, said Winston Churchill about Russia during World War II.

Without any reservation one could use this expression to describe a master’s behavior. Perhaps even: a puzzle in a riddle in a mystery inside an enigma!

Master once said to us,

‘To each one of you I am different. The way I interact with one person depends on the needs of the being of that person, which even that person may not understand. Do not discuss how I treat you with one another. You will only cause misunderstanding and confusion. Do not try and put me in a frame’. ‘You are Krishna; you are Shiva; you are Mother…’.

I will not allow myself to be put in a frame. The moment you box me in a frame I die. I am a living master. I change every instant. Do not try to predict my actions, my words, my thoughts; you will only have suffering.

There was a far deeper meaning in what the master said than was obvious. He wanted each one to flow with him as he was at every moment; savor him here and now. People worry about when they will see him next while still in his presence. He says, ‘What foolishness! Just enjoy my presence. By thinking about when you will see me next, you are wasting the opportunity to be joyful now!’

It is not for the disciple to unravel the mystery of his guru; not even to try and understand; the proposition is sure to be a failure. All one can do is to BE, and enjoy the bliss of that moment.

Master explained:

‘Who is a guru? A guru is a being in whom Nithya Ananda, eternal bliss, is expressed; one who creates and transmits a formula and the space for others to experience the same eternally. From time immemorial, the guru-disciple parampara (master-disciple lineage and relationship) started in the Himalayas. It is the oldest of relationships. The very idea of relating with one another started only after this relationship. It is also the last relationship before enlightenment. Before this, humans were like animals, barbaric, in whatever culture and religion; all civilizations started with the advent of the guru-disciple relationship.

Even Masters who taught that there was no need for a guru became gurus themselves, despite themselves. All knowledge, not just spiritual knowledge, needs a guru, the person who leads us from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge.

In this modern day, people tend to question the need for a spiritual guru, but not the other kinds of gurus. One respects those who teach a skill that helps you earn money, but spiritual masters are optional. If you respect spiritual knowledge you will not question the need for a spiritual master. If you are not guided by your master, some one will guide you even if that person is not capable. Man needs a master. It is your choice whether to select a spiritual master or an unenlightened person.

If you choose a political person as your master, he will rule you by fear. If you choose some other celebrity, that person will rule you by greed. Only a spiritual master rules you with love and liberates you.

How to recognize an Enlightened Master

Somebody once asked Swamiji: How can one recognize an enlightened master?

It’s a very difficult answer. Not that it’s difficult to find out if one is enlightened. It will take but just one moment. The question is difficult because – if you have no urge, no desire to find, then there is no way anyone can help you to find. Depending on how thirsty you are, when you are in a desert, you will know when you find real water because your thirst will be quenched. If it’s a mirage and you thought it was real and ran towards it, you will know as soon as you come close to it, that it’s not real. If you are really hungry, your appetite will be satisfied when you eat food. But if you are not hungry, how can food satisfy you? It is very difficult for a man who is not hungry to find out what food is. If you have an appetite and hunger then something about being around an enlightened master will start satisfying your desire. Your mind will calm down, your being will start feeling a sense of peace. Its like you have come back home where you belong. This is the only way.

A small story: A man walked into the police station to report that his wife was missing. The sergeant began writing up the case.
"How tall is she?"
"About so high, give or take a little."
"How much does she weigh?"
"About average, I guess."
"Color of eyes?"
"I would say they were neutral. I'm not too sure."
"Color of hair?"
"I don't know, it changes."
"What was she wearing?"
"I suppose a hat and coat."
"Was she carrying anything?"
Yes, she had a dog on a leash."
"What kind of dog?"
"A pedigreed black-and-white German shepherd, weighing fifty pounds, six hands high, license No. 780108976 C.D.2, wearing a black collar, slightly deaf in the right ear, and answers to the name Sheru."

Do you see what I mean? If you really have the desire to know, you will know! If you don’t have the desire to know, nothing can be done. If you are just greedy but have no appetite you will not know what is food. Nothing can help you, until you develop an appetite. And this has to happen naturally. It cannot be forced.

Only a person who has lived life fully and enjoyed it and now has a desire to go beyond and learn about the life beyond will recognize immediately when they come across an enlightened person. It is impossible to miss. Recognition needs no knowledge or declaration of ones enlightenment. One simply knows.

The truth is whatever you have found in life is that what you have intensely desired. Be it a hellish life or a life of joy and fulfillment. It has been what you have wished for. I know its hard to accept, but if you haven’t yet got what you wanted and have not been able to recognize an enlightened master when you come across one, then its time you looked IN.

There have been instances where people who are not enlightened have helped others to get enlightened. It is said that if the desire of the seeker is tremendous, even an unenlightened master can help you get enlightened. With deep trust even an unenlightened master can revolutionize your life. However the reverse is also true. Even an enlightened master cannot help you if you are not ready. It depends on you. It totally depends on you!

Master, the ultimate surgeon

When you see the Master, he says you are not what you think you are. He tells you that you are not a mere human being with spiritual experience, but a spiritual being having a human experience.

Not only are you not ready to believe him, you are acutely uncomfortable as well. You get frightened and run away.

After sometime, when the Master touches you in some way, you feel attracted to him, you stop resisting, you listen, but you are not yet convinced. After some time, the energy of the Master attracts you and you start remembering him even when he is not around; he becomes a part of your being. Still, you are not ready to give up your own value systems and beliefs; you play a game of hide and seek with the Master.

Once you start trusting him more, he forces you to experience your reality. This is initiation, or the first experience. But even after that experience, sometimes you deny it.

The Master is a person who removes the ultimate cancerous tumour that happens to our being, which is our ego. He does surgery directly on that tumour. He never allows you to be stuck or be comfortable with anything less than the enlightened state. Even as you start progressing spiritually, you may get stuck in some layer; you won’t even know you are stuck. In all these situations, the Master will push you again and again to move forward. He transforms your whole life.

Whenever a surgeon comes with a knife, you may think he is going to hurt you, but the knife of a surgeon is not for killing, it is for healing. The Master is the ultimate master surgeon to remove the ego at all levels, be it materialistic or spiritual. People have spiritual ego when they have the ‘holier than thou’ attitude. The more you allow his surgery to happen, the more you realise the truth. A few people run away from the operating table during surgery; that becomes dangerous. Before surrendering to the Master, do all the window-shopping, checking, verifying, and only then surrender; and once you surrender, allow him to work on you.

The Master has unconditional love for you. He seeks nothing from you. He is interested only in your liberation. To achieve this, he is willing to go to any lengths. The greatest gift to the human life is the gift of an enlightened master.

what is initiation

Whenever you need to heal yourself, you need inner healing, you need to bring yourself again to the life energy. Many times you can see, a simple disturbance from the current experience of the outside world or from the past memory inside you can drain your energy.

Another thing that drains your energy is taking too many decisions. For example, you can try to go and sit in your office, not do any work but just take some five to six major decisions and you are already tired.

The truths, ideas, words which bring you out of that tiredness, that low mood, that depression and give you the energy and confidence, are what I call shaastra-shastras, knowledge-weapons.

The truths which not only bring you out of depression but also destroy the source of depression once for all, are called mantra. ‘Man traayate iti mantraha’, the words which show the path for human beings are mantra.

When any mantra comes from the enlightened experience, from the pure inner space, you do not know why, how or what but you suddenly you see that it is true. It ‘clicks’. One part of your logic continues to fight with it because if you accept the Truth and start expressing it in your life, all your vested interests and many things which you thought of as life are at stake. But your core, your being, will have that click, ‘I know what he is talking is the Truth.’ There may be a doubt in the corner of your heart, but your very core feels connected. You can’t understand logically, but suddenly your heart feels connected to the words being uttered, the truth being expressed. That connection, that ‘click’ is what I call ‘initiation’.

In the tradition of Vedanta, we have three beautiful words, shravana, manana and nidhidhyasana. Shravana means intense listening; manana means internalizing, contemplating; nidhidhyasana means living it.

Initiation means the great Truths, the words which lead you to the Truth, a clear path which leads you to the Truth. If it is experientially transmitted, if you have at least one glimpse, then the initiation has happened, then you are initiated.

When I use word ‘initiation’ there will be so many doubts, ‘I am already initiated by some other guru, can I have initiation? If I get initiated can I go to some other gurus and learn something?’

Perfectly alright, nothing wrong! I always tell people, go to all the gardens and pluck flowers and make a beautiful garland for yourself. It is not like a shop that if you go to one shop, you don’t go to another! Our ego is such, if it is beaten by ten to twelve gurus, only then it will die! So, there is nothing wrong in approaching different gurus. Learn all the best things from all the sources and enrich your life.

Gurum Bhajé - Guru Poornima 2008 celebrations with Paramahamsa Nithyananda at:
Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam, Off Mysore Road, Bidadi-562109, India
Ph: 080 - 27202084, 080 - 65591844

Surrender – The Ultimate Technique

The word surrender usually brings a feeling of unease to people minds. Ordinarily it is the feeling that only weaklings surrender, people who are weak! Surrender is not a word often associated with positive actions. After all, "surrender in the name of the law" usually means trouble for someone. And we know that when one side surrenders to another in battle, it's a sign that they've given up any hope for victory. This is absolutely wrong.

So what is this Surrender? Surrender means to yield ownership, to relinquish control over what we consider ours. Surrender means you are feeling that you are not capable of doing anything anymore, so you surrender everything. In the external act of placing what one considers important to oneself at the Masters feet, one gives a bit of oneself to a Higher Source. In giving, one feels lighter within, less limited. Placing the I and the Mine at the masters feet, helps one to lose the identity or ego which is the only thing the guru asks for - the limited identity of the disciple, so he may leave it behind and grow into the limitlessness of the Supreme. To surrender one needs to be extremely courageous, because once you surrender there is no going back. There are no questions. It is unconditional. Surrender to anything or anyone, and see how much you will learn from it. There is nothing more beautiful and liberating than this wonderful act of surrender.

Whenever one is able to surrender, the master will appear. In surrender one becomes vacant, empty. Then the spiritual force rushes towards you and fills you. Whenever the opportunity arises in your life, just Surrender! Do not lose the moment. Surrender! And the master will be there for you. This is just the beginning… of ones Transformation.