1. isbn 978-1-60607-025-3

BhagavadGita

commentary

by

Nithyananda

Drop

you

Samskaras

BhagavadGita

The meditation techniques included in this book are to be practiced only after personal instructions by an ordained teacher of Life Bliss Foundation (LBF). If some one tries these techniques without prior participation in the meditation programs of LBF, they shall be doing so entirely at their own risk; neither the author nor LBF shall be responsible for the consequences of their actions.

Published by

Life Bliss Foundation

Copyright© 2008

First Edition: July 2008

Ebook ISBN: 979-8-88572-075-5

ISBN 10: 1-60607-025-8 ISBN 13: 978-1-60607-025-3

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. In the event that you use any of the information in this book for yourself, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

All proceeds from the sale of this book go towards supporting charitable activities.

Printed in India by WQ Judge Press, Bangalore.

Ph.: +91 +80 22211168

Bhagavad Gita Demystified

Nithyananda

Discourses delivered to Swamis and Ananda Samajis of the Nithyananda Order all over the world

Beyond Scriptures

Drop Your Conditioning

Chapter 14

AHuman beings have the choice of being ignorant or enlightened. Most often we exercise our freewill and choose to stay ignorant. Krishna explains how to choose to be enlightened

Drop Your Conditioning

Contents

1. Bhagavad Gita: A Background 7

2. Introduction 15

3. Drop Your Conditioning 19

4. Why Krishna Repeats 27

5. Natural Attributes 40

6. Guarding The Senses 85

7. The Depression Of Success 102

8. Where Do We Go From Here? 120

9. Going Beyond The Gunas 136

10. Expression Of The Divine 149

11. Scientific Research on Bhagavad Gita 156

12. Kuru Family Tree 158

13. Glossary of Key Characters 159

14. Meaning of Selected Sanskrit Words 161

15. Invocation Verses 174

16. Verses of Gita Chapter 14 175

17. About Paramahamsa Nithyananda 193

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Drop Your Conditioning

BhagavadGita:A Background

Bhagavad Gita is a sacred scripture of the Vedic culture. As with all scriptures, it was knowledge that was transmitted verbally. It was called sruti in Sanskrit, meaning something that is heard.

Gita, as Bhagavad Gita is generally called, translates literally from Sanskrit as the ‘Sacred Song’. Unlike the Veda and Upanishad, which are self-standing expressions, Gita is written into the Hindu epic Mahabharata, called a purana, an ancient tale. It is part of a story, so to speak.

As a scripture, Gita is part of the ancient knowledge base of Vedic tradition, which is the expression of the experiences of great sages.

Veda and Upanishad, the foundation of sruti literature, arose through the insight and awareness of these great sages when they went into a no-mind state. These are as old as humanity and the first and truest expressions in the journey of man's search for truth.

Unlike the Vedas, which were internalized by the great sages, or the Upanishads, which were the teachings of these great sages, Gita is part of a story narrated by Vyasa, one of these great sages. It is narrated as the direct expression of the Divine.

No other epic, or part of an epic, has the special status of the Gita. As a consequence of the presence of Gita, the Mahabharata epic itself is considered a sacred Hindu scripture. Gita arose from the super consciousness of Krishna, the Supreme God, and is therefore considered a scripture.

Mahabharata, literally the Great Bharata, is a narration about the nation and civilization, which is now known as India. It was then a nation ruled by King Bharata and his descendants. The story of this epic is about two warring clans, Kauravas and Pandavas, closely related to one another. Dhritarashtra, the blind King of Hastinapura and father of the 100 Kaurava brothers was the brother of Pandu, whose children were the five Pandava princes. It is a tale of strife between cousins.

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War of Mahabharata ensued. In this war, various rulers of the entire nation that is modern India aligned with one or the other of these two clans, the Kauravas or the Pandavas.

Krishna offered to join with either of the two clans. He said, 'One of you may have me unarmed. I will not take any part in the battle. The other may have my entire Yadava army.' The first offer was made to Duryodhana, who predictably chose the large and well-armed Yadava army, in preference to the unarmed Krishna. Arjuna joyfully and gratefully chose his friend and mentor Krishna to be his unarmed charioteer!

The armies assembled in the vast field of Kurukshetra, now in the state of Haryana in modern day India. All the Kings and Princes were related to one another, and were often on opposite sides. Facing the Kaurava army and his friends, relatives and teachers, Arjuna was overcome by remorse and guilt, and wanted to walk away from the battle.

Krishna's dialogue with Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra is the content of the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna persuaded Arjuna to take up arms and vanquish his enemies. 'They are already dead,' says Krishna, 'all those who are facing you have been already killed by Me. Go ahead and do what you have to do. That is your duty. Do not worry about the outcome. Leave that to Me.'

The Gita is the ultimate practical teaching on the inner science of spirituality. It is not as some scholars

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consciousness faces in its journey to enlightenment. Bhishma represents parental and societal conditioning. Drona represents the conditioning from teachers who provide knowledge including spiritual guidance. Karna represents the restrictive influence of good deeds such as charity and compassion, and finally Duryodhana represents the ego, which is the last to fall.

Parental and societal conditionings have to be overcome by rebelling against conventions. This is why traditionally those seeking the path of enlightenment are required to renounce the world as sannyasin and move away from civilization. This conditioning does not die as long as the body lives, but its influence drops.

Drona represents all the knowledge one imbibes and the teachers one encounters, who stop short of being to able to take us through to the ultimate flowering of enlightenment. It is difficult to give them up since one feels grateful to them. This is where the enlightened master steps in and guides us.

Karna is the repository of all good deeds and it is his good deeds that stand in the way of his own enlightenment. Krishna has to take the load of Karna’s punya, his meritorious deeds, before he could be liberated. The enlightened Master guides one to drop one’s attachment to good deeds arising out of what are perceived to be charitable and compassionate intentions. He also shows us that the quest for and experience of enlightenment is the ultimate act of compassion that one can offer to the world.

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Finally one reaches Duryodhana, one's ego, the most difficult to conquer. One needs the full help of the Master here. It is subtle work and even the Master's help may not be obvious, since at this point, sometimes the ego makes one disconnect from the Master as well.

The Great War was between one hundred eighty million people - one hundred ten million on the Kaurava side representing our negative samskaras - stored memories - and seventy million on the Pandava side representing our positive samskaras - stored memories - and it lasted eighteen days and nights. The number eighteen has a great mystical significance. It essentially signifies our ten senses that are made up of gnanendriya - the five senses of perception like taste, sight, smell, hearing and touch, and karmendriya - the five senses initiating action like speech, bodily movements etc., added to our eight kinds of thoughts like lust, greed etc. All eighteen need to be dropped for Self-realization.

Mahabharata is not just an epic story. It is not merely the fight between good and evil. It is the dissolution of both positive and negative samskaras that reside in our body-mind system, which must happen for the ultimate liberation. It is a tale of the process of enlightenment.

Mahabharata is a living legend. Bhagavad Gita is the manual for enlightenment.

Like Arjuna many thousand years ago, you are here in a dialogue with a living enlightened Master in this book. This is a tremendous opportunity to resolve all questions and clear all doubts with the Master's words.

Drop Your Conditioning

Introduction

In this series, a young enlightened Master, Paramahamsa Nithyananda comments on the Bhagavad Gita.

Many hundreds of commentaries of the Gita have been written over the years. The earliest commentaries were by the great spiritual masters such as Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva, some thousand years ago. In recent times, great masters such as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Ramana Maharishi have spoken from the Gita extensively. Many others have written volumes on this great scripture.

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Drop Your Conditioning

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close to her ears. She then asked, 'Is it a dress?' The child said, 'Yes.'

Another girl came up with a nicely wrapped box. Her father owned a liquor store. The teacher shook the box. She noticed that the package was leaking. She dipped her finger in the leaking fluid and asked the girl curiously, 'Is this some kind of beer?' The child said, 'No.'

The teacher dipped her finger again in the fluid, tasted it carefully and asked, 'Ah, this tastes quite exotic. What is it? Is it some kind of wine?' The child again said, 'No.'

Then the teacher said, 'Alright, I give up. Please tell me, what is it?'

The child said in a worried tone, 'It is a puppy.'

The moral of this story is simple: please don't put anything in your mouth unless you know what it is. At least, do not make major decisions based on your past experiences. Our past experiences are stored in our unconscious as engraved memories or engrams. They will only mislead you. In Sanskrit, these engraved memories are called samskaras.

We make faulty decisions when we make major decisions through engraved memories or samskaras. The teacher thought that the gift was a bottle of beer or wine since the student's father sold alcohol. In the same way, time and again, we make decisions driven by our engraved memories. The first two decisions of the

teacher were correct. The first girl’s father was in the business of selling sweets and the teacher guessed that the gift was a box of sweets. Then the second child’s father owned a clothing store and the teacher guessed that the gift was a dress. Since the third child’s father owned a liquor store, the teacher assumed that the gift was a bottle of alcohol!

Before we put anything into our mouth, be sure to know what it is, else it can lead to a lot of trouble.

This whole chapter of Bhagavad Gita is about engraved memories in our mind.

Engraved memories or engrams are the memories stored in our unconscious that drive almost all our actions. Even though we act upon them, we rarely know or understand where these decisions that force us into action come from since these memories are deeply embedded in our unconscious mind.

We tend to think that our actions are based on a logical sequence of thoughts. However, almost all our decisions have neither logic nor awareness. I will show you later the dynamics of how our mind works.

Modern psychology tells us that almost 90% of our mind is unconscious. This means that we typically use 10% of our conscious mind. In other words, our conscious mind drives only 10% of our thoughts, words and actions. The rest is driven by the unconscious.

We have no control over how our unconscious mind functions since we are unaware of what happens there.

Many unconscious memories are based on fear and pain. They rise up in moments of trauma or difficult situations. They influence decisions with no awareness on our part.

Scientists say that only a small fraction of what we perceive through our senses gets consciously recorded. Science says that we are only aware of 5%, perhaps less, of what we see or hear.

A real incident:

Our Bidadi ashram is located about an hour's drive from Bangalore. In the early days of this ashram, I traveled almost everyday from Bidadi to Bangalore. One day I told the driver to take me to a particular place along the way. I explained to him that it was near a mosque, a Muslim house of prayer.

The driver was confused. He insisted that there was no mosque on the route that we normally took everyday. I tried to explain but it was of no avail. Finally, I mentioned another landmark, a Hindu Hanuman temple. He immediately understood and his face lit up with joy and understanding.

'Master, why didn't you tell me that first?' he exclaimed, 'Of course I know where you want to go now!'

This Hindu temple was a small structure compared to the mosque. We traveled past both buildings everyday. Yet, this person was aware of only the Hanuman temple because of his personal preferences and he had no memory of the mosque.

All that we perceive is not true; all that we do not perceive is not unreal. It is a simple truth that what sinks in is only a fraction of what our five senses perceive. The rest goes directly into the unconscious. Yet this does not mean that these perceptions and the memories of these perceptions are forgotten.

Many memories of experiences are recorded even though we are unconscious of them. These memories strongly drive our actions. Surgeons have recently understood that patients on the operating table under anesthesia actually record whatever happens around them. This is not fiction. Famous doctors have written books about this. They caution others to be careful about what they say or do in an operating theatre since the patient may not be unconscious after all.

As an example, doctors discovered the source of an accident victim’s problem, years after the incident. The man had crashed his car into a tree and became unconscious. Some witnesses called paramedics to rescue him from the damaged car and he was transported by ambulance to the hospital. As they lifted him out of a car, the paramedics talked about their day-to-day problems. One guy said that he had just left his girlfriend because she was trying to push him into a committed relationship. The words he used were, ‘Life is too short to waste it this way.’

The accident victim heard this remark while he was unconscious and it deeply embedded itself in his memory. This caused him serious trouble in his relationships for

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There are two things in you: hardware and software. Your mind is the software and your brain is the hardware. Within the mind, within your software, there are two parts: conscious zone and unconscious zone. Conscious zone is what you normally call the waking state though 90% of the time your thoughts and actions in this state are activated by your unconscious! We shall look at these in detail later.

The conscious zone is the software; the unconscious zone is the virus! The conscious zone can be cleansed by teachings. The unconscious zone can be cleansed by meditation. Now, the hardware, the brain, needs to be then tuned to hold the changes in the software, the new experience that is created through the changed software. This can happen by the blessings of the Master, by deeksha (initiation) from him.

When you clean the conscious and unconscious and create an effect, the hardware may not be able to hold and sustain that effect from day one. If the Master’s initiation happens, the hardware also changes to hold that effect. In the absence of a living Master, constant meditation and teaching can change the hardware. Hardware is like grooves created out of samskara (stored memories) in the brain. Once the new software happens, the hardware slowly changes. However if you wish to immediately change the hardware, Master’s presence is the right thing. Straightaway it changes the hardware.

Sometimes, without even changing the software, the hardware can be changed and the person will immediately radiate the correct software’s quality! This

happens when a disciple is completely open to the Master or if he is in love with the Master for no reason. Sometimes a disciple falls in love with the Master for no reason. He may not be attracted to his teachings or meditation techniques; he simply falls in love. In that case, without delay, the hardware can be changed. Those kinds of disciples radiate the quality of the teachings and meditation without going through all of them. They do not have to go through all these things, yet straightaway the result will be seen.

As of now, your hardware and software are outgoing towards the outer world. If you do the chakra meditation camp, the Life Bliss Program or Ananda Spurana Program, the software suddenly becomes ingoing. It will go in towards spirituality, towards a cleansing process. The cleansing of the conscious portion happens through the teachings and the meditation cleanses the unconscious portion.

However, even if the software turns inside, the hardware will not be able to handle it. Then the hardware tries its best to retain its grooves. If the software is strong and stays in the same tune, the hardware slowly changes. However, if the deeksha, the energy blessing from the Master, is immediately given after the teaching and meditation, the hardware changes and holds the new software. It gets prepared to hold onto the new experience. This concept must be understood so that you bring in enough awareness to allow the transformation to happen in you.

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effort to understand the underlying truth of these practices. Because of their intellectual understanding and superficial knowledge about what others say, they decide that what they cannot understand is foolish. This is especially true when other scholars, who have an equally limited awareness of their own culture, criticize Vedic culture.

India has been full of such scholars. Many of these scholars had Western education, whose main tenet is to deride anything that is not 'scientific'. They have very little background of the Vedic culture. Like their role models, the foreign scholars before them, these Indian scholars learn Sanskrit just to read the Vedic scriptures. Their purpose is not to create any inner awareness, which is what these scriptures are meant for. They simply want to analyze them logically and find fault where logic does not fit the scriptural truth.

Science is about facts that can be recorded. Spirituality is about truth that needs to be experienced. That is why our scriptures never bothered about historical accuracy and factual details. They dealt with issues that affected our consciousness. To understand our scriptures, we cannot use logic. We need to use meditation. Truth has nothing to do with our head. It has everything to do with our being.

People ask me, 'Can you prove the existence of God?'

Before his enlightenment, Vivekananda, upon meeting Ramakrishna, asked whether Ramakrishna could show him God. Vivekananda asked this question not to embarrass Ramakrishna but because he felt deeply

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We can achieve the state in which He is. Krishna was the first Master courageous and bold enough to declare that enlightenment is available to everybody. Anybody can achieve it. Enlightenment is not an accident. It is an incident that we can create.

Until the time of Sri Krishna, the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and other scriptures spoke as if enlightenment was an accident. Some people became enlightened; however, nobody knew why. Nor did they know why others could not get it or how exactly to get it. Nobody knew. They merely knew that some people were blessed, almost as if God was sitting up there and reviewing applications, and to some, He said, 'Alright, yes, granted' and immediately that person became enlightened!

Krishna was the first Master who showed how to write the application or present the resume for enlightenment! He showed how to achieve enlightenment, which is not an accident but an incident. We can experience it through our conscious decision. He says that by being fixed in this knowledge, 'One can attain.' He doesn't say, 'You can attain it,' indicating only Arjuna. He says one can attain it, meaning that anybody can attain it.

After the Vishwarupa Darshan or vision of the Cosmic form of Krishna, whatever Krishna shares with Arjuna is meant for the whole world. Arjuna already achieved what he had to achieve. After that, there was nothing else to say. Arjuna had the vision of Krishna's Cosmic form. In the eleventh chapter, he experienced Vishwarupa Darshan

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We should develop the attitude of accepting what happens in the present as auspicious.

There are two kinds of people. The first type looks at everything suspiciously. They find everything unsatisfactory. These people say, 'All is very well, but...' They cannot say anything without 'butting'. Such people can never be happy. They live with idea of what life should be, rather than accepting it as it is. They are purely materialistic.

The second type finds everything to be auspicious: whatever happens is what it should be. They accept life as it is. These people are spiritual. These are the people whom Krishna says transcend creation and dissolution, past and future. They live in the present moment and in Krishna Consciousness.

Krishna is trying to answer philosophical questions that can never really be answered: how is the whole universe created? If everything is God, how is the whole universe created? How are we born? Whoever tried to answer these questions just created another philosophy.

Out of frustration, someone once asked me such questions, 'Why are we born? Why should we take birth at all? Why is this whole drama of taking birth, meditating, then achieving enlightenment? Why? For who's sake is this drama? If we must end up working out our karma, why do we create karma in the first place? What is the reason for this? Why does this cycle go on and on?'

Krishna tries to answer these questions. However, this answer is not the ultimate truth. He says, 'Please wait until the teachings are over.' Normally when we don't receive an answer for our philosophical question, we will be stuck with that question and not be able to enter into meditation. Again and again we will think of the question. We will come back to that question. Here, Arjuna also comes back to the same question again and again and gets stuck.

For the sake of meditation or just for the sake of giving him an understanding, Krishna gives an answer.

The other day I was sharing the same example using a mathematical formula. Let's say there is a formula 'X + 2 = 4'. In the beginning, the teacher will make an assumption by saying, 'Let us assume that X = 2', then she replaces X with 2 and goes on to show that 2 + 2 = 4. The problem is solved. Then the teacher says, 'Because the problem is solved, we know that our hypothesis that X = 2 is correct.' But until we come to that conclusion through a process, we must assume that X = 2.

If we argue at the hypothesis when she makes the assumption that X = 2, saying, 'Why should X be equal to 2, why not 3, why don't we assume X = 4?' we will not be able to solve the problem. Once we solve the problem, we know that X is 2. We understand it logically. But before solving, when we start, we must assume that X = 2. Some assumption must be made so that we can proceed to solve the problem.

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Meditation is a simple process. It is dropping the mind: moving away from the mind, seeing the mind as separate from you, watching it, witnessing it, and remembering, 'I am not the mind.' It is not suppressing the mind or senses or thoughts. This is what I call 'un-clutching.'

It is breaking the connection between thoughts. Thoughts by themselves are unconnected. They are irrational, illogical and unconnected. We connect them and by connecting them we create shafts of pain and pleasure. Either way we suffer.

By disconnecting thoughts, by un-clutching, we drop the mind and keep remembering that we are not the mind. Slowly the remembrance becomes stronger. The distance between you and the mind becomes bigger. One day you absolutely know that the mind is a mechanism with which you had become identified. You had become clutched and now it is time to wake up from that sleep, that illusion.

To become awakened means to know 'I am not the mind; I am the Master.' Then you can have control over the mind, and you are not used by the mind anymore. When you are free from the bondage of the mind, you are liberated, free and in bliss.

Any skill is acquired with practice. And it is the same with meditation. You spend years acquiring useless skills and information. You attend courses and pay through the nose for bits of information that you never use again. Meditation is a lifesaver. It helps you understand yourself.

Unfortunately, it is not diversion of the mind; it is centering the mind. It is about giving up the mind. Naturally the mind does not care to lose itself. It does not like losing control.

The purpose of meditation is to bring you out of the clutches of your mind and out of the bondage of your thoughts. While it is not as easy as being a couch potato and watching the television, it is not difficult either. All you need is discipline to sit for a few days looking inwards. Once you discover the joy of being in control of your mind, you never want to lose control again. This control leads to liberation.

Once in a while someone tells me, 'Master, I am fine as long as someone is not talking within my hearing range. I can meditate well. But I get disturbed by sound.'

Meditation does not make you deaf. You can hear when you meditate. In fact, awareness increases and you hear better than normal. The point is to witness what is going on outside without becoming involved. You cannot shut off your senses. Even when you close your eyes, you have an inner TV playing inside.

Watch your thoughts as if they are clouds floating in the sky. Do not become part of the cloud. With practice you can meditate sitting in a noisy mall. You can meditate with eyes open. All this comes with practice and sincerity. The only difficulty is the assumption that it is difficult.

14.5 Material nature consists of the three modes: goodness, passion and ignorance.

When the living entity comes in contact with nature, it becomes conditioned by these modes.

14.6 O Sinless One, the mode of goodness, sattva, being purer than the others, is illuminating, and it frees one from all sinful reactions.

Those situated in that mode develop knowledge, but they become conditioned by the concept of happiness.

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to bliss. These engraved memories lead us to joy and ecstasy. Rajas refers to the engraved memories that lead us to restlessness, excitement and to work intensely. They make us active and materially productive. The third attribute, tamas, means the engraved memories that lead us to depression, laziness and to dullness. Engraved memories that lead to ecstasy and bliss form sattva, engraved memories that lead to restlessness, anger and emotional imbalance form rajas, and engraved memories that lead to depression, dullness and low moods form tamas.

A small example:

We are like passengers riding in a car. Slowly we become lost in thoughts. After a while, we suddenly recall a person or place that disturbs us. The moment the mind feels disturbed, we come back to awareness. Sometimes, we say, 'I should not think about it; let me think of something else.' Sometimes we speak these words aloud. We may make gestures.

The driver may look back and say, 'What happened? What are you doing?'

When we are lost in thoughts and a memory arises that makes us depressed, dull or disturbed, we suddenly come back to awareness. We ask ourselves, 'What am I thinking?'

Sometimes we say it aloud, 'I should not think about this. Oh God, what am I doing? I should think of something else.' Sanskrit has a beautiful word for engraved memories: samskaras.

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These three different types of engraved memories or samskaras rule our entire life. Knowledge of these engraved memories is the basic knowledge that must be possessed by anyone who wants to live successfully. The Vedic science of health and wellness, Ayurveda, is structured around the concept of gunas and their effect on our body-mind system.

It is like an owner’s manual for the person who has a mind. Without an owner’s manual, when we use a product, either we miss the whole thing, or we miss the knowledge of many of the product’s applications and features.

There are so many uses and features of a computer. Even the humble calculator has hundreds of applications that we are unaware of. We may use the calculator for basic features like addition and subtraction; however, we may not take advantage of its other applications. In the same way, if we don’t have and don’t know the owner’s manual of the mind, we do not use it the way we ought to or to its full potential.

Understanding the three different engraved memories or samskaras is the operating manual of the mind. Krishna calls it, gunatrayavibhaga yoga. When we don’t comprehend this manual, we are not able to catch the whole understanding of life. We miss so many opportunities. Because we have never learned or understood about the gunas, we live only a very small fraction of what’s possible in life. We miss the beauty and potential of life when we don’t have the owner’s manual.

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repeatedly and to make us walk the same path over and over. We end up going in dead-end circles.

Samskaras automatically attract us, call us and make us travel the same path. Then, when we do walk down the same path, the engraving becomes even deeper and those memories get further entrenched. Modern science understands this fact. Experiments have shown that repeated emotional experiences create more receptors for that emotion being developed in the brain. Physically, physiologically, the more anger outbursts you have, the more anger receptors your brain develops. This is a horrifying thought but it's true. The great rishis, the inner scientists have known this for thousands of years.

If certain emotions are not expressed, the corresponding brain parts or receptors degenerate and die. So, the more we manage to stay out of negative emotions, the less they bother us. On the contrary, the more we indulge, the more our brain demands the same indulgence. This is the cause of addictions. Our entire life is ruled by samskaras.

Samskaras are living memories, not dead memories. The more we travel with these memories, the more we live with these memories; the more they become a part of our being. They take up residence in deeper levels of our consciousness. They get embedded. They are engraved into our brain structure.

Krishna explains step-by-step how we become caught in these three levels of memories and how, again and again, we are pulled and pushed by these memories. It is

almost like having three wives. If we have one woman in our life, enlightenment is a luxury. If we have two women, enlightenment is an option. If we have three women in our life, enlightenment is compulsory! With three wives, or husbands, one cannot live without enlightenment.

Someone asked me, 'Why did Krishna have so many girlfriends?' I answered, 'This is solid proof that He is enlightened! The fact that He survived despite having so many girlfriends is evidence of enlightenment. No doubt, that is also solid proof that He is God. Only God can manage so many women!'

Here, He gives us an understanding of how to live with these engraved memories. Another important point is that these memories are living energies and they are not dead. Because these are living energies, they can be used for bad deeds or good deeds.

When a person has energies to do bad deeds, we can tap into those energies and make him do good deeds. From my experiences of conducting meditation programs in prisons, no one puts in as much effort and goes into such deep meditation as a prisoner. We conduct meditation programs in prisons. They are so involved and go into meditation more deeply in comparison to people outside. When prisoners take up meditation, they really take it up. They are intense. They don't do anything half-heartedly. When they are transformed, their whole life is transformed!

If we look at the lives of Indian rishis, Valmiki in South India, the great saint Arunagirinadhar and many others were sinners. However, a dramatic change happened and a cognitive shift took place in their being. The cognition usually happens in the way that our mind receives data, processes it and delivers the result. Once the cognitive shift takes place, we receive data, process it and go inside instead of outside. As long as we react externally, we are working towards depression. However, once we go in, we move into bliss.

For example, the death of someone close to us, our near and dear, can lead us to the spiritual path or to frustration. We can think, 'Anyway, I am also going to die, so I should do what I want to.' Or we can decide, 'I too will die some day. Let me learn what I can and grow.'

A small story:

A person was about to be hanged. The officer on duty asked him if he had any last wishes. The prisoner said, 'No.' The officer said, 'You can pray to God. You can ask forgiveness and ask for His blessing. We can bring in a priest.'

The prisoner said, 'I want to remember God, but not in the way you suggest. Had I known earlier I would be executed for these crimes, I would have committed a few more sins.'

The prisoner continued, 'If I had known that I was going to be hanged, I would have committed more sins. So if I pray, I will ask God why He didn't let me know earlier that I was going to be hanged. I don't need a priest for that.'

When some people understand that death is ultimate, they think, 'Death is the ultimate so let me work towards the Divine, achieve God, or realize atman.' Others react differently, 'Anyway we are going to die. Let us do whatever we want and live the way we want to.' One group takes the path of meditation and the other takes the path of the outer world. The path we choose is up to us.

Engrams are living energies. Through engrams we can choose to suffer and torture ourselves again and again. Or we can make our life a blissful experience. If we know the science of how these engraved memories happen in our being and how they can transform our being, we can take the help of these engraved memories to achieve eternal Consciousness, eternal bliss in our being.

LBP Techniques help in removing negative energies, memories and add positive energy using meditation techniques

Krishna explains how engraved memories disturb our mind and through this understanding, we can transform our being.

Before explaining these verses, let me present a small diagram through which we can understand how engrams affect our decisions and how to come out of the influence of engrams. I have given a basic understanding of this diagram elsewhere, but let me repeat it so that we can connect with samskaras.

Please understand how we receive information or data from the outer world, how we process it and how we make decisions. First, we see something through the eyes. I have taken the example of the eyes but we can replace with any other sense: ears, nose, taste or touch. Among these five jnanendriya (senses of perception), any one of them can be used here.

There are five jnanendriya and five karmendriya (senses of action) that are the means of communication between the external world and us. Jnanendriya are the senses of perception, the five senses of smell, taste, sight, touch and hearing. The karmendriya are five actions of elimination, procreation, locomotion, grasping and speaking. Each indriya, karmendriya and jnanendriya, is related to one of the energy centers (chakras) in our mind-body system. For instance, locomotion is related to the manipuraka chakra, and the energy of fire.

We can take any of the five jnanendriya to replace the eyes in this example. Through the eyes we see a scene. Let us take the example of this situation, the scene of this

discourse. You see me talking to you. First your eye captures this whole scene like a picture and this picture goes to chakshu (energy behind eyes). Understand, we don’t see with the eye, we see through the eye. There is an energy that is inside or behind the eye that sees. There is an energy inside or behind the ears that hears. Ears by themselves cannot hear. That is why when we read a book, we may not hear the alarm or doorbell ring. If we are reading, we may not know if our spouse walks into the room. Of course if it is late at night, all wives know when their husbands sneak into the house, that is different!

A small story:

A man goes to the police station to meet a thief who had burglarized his home the previous night and taken all the cash. The officer on duty refuses to allow him to meet the thief saying, ‘You cannot talk to him now. You can meet him in court tomorrow.’ The man pleads, ‘I don’t want to disturb him. All I want to know is how he entered my home without waking up my wife? I have been trying to do this for years and have not been able to do it! How did he manage?’

So there is energy inside the eyes that sees. We call this energy chakshu. The whole scene is converted into a file like a digital signal processor in a computer so that our mind can process the data.

The chakshu is almost like the digital signal processor or the DSP in electronic systems. If we are to work on

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It is like searching for the word 'cow' in a dictionary. You first eliminate all other letters to reach 'c'. Then you search for 'o' and eliminate all other letters. Then you reach 'w' by eliminating all other letters. In this manner, you reach the word 'cow'. This is how chitta works.

Next, the file goes to manas, another part of the mind. The manas tries to positively identify, 'This is a human being. He is wearing a saffron robe. He is standing on a stage.' The identification process, 'iti, iti' (this is it, this is it) identification process happens in manas. In chitta, 'neti-neti' or the 'not this, not this', elimination happens.

Once this positive identification happens, the file goes to a third part of the mind called buddhi or the intelligence. Buddhi is where the trouble starts. Here the analysis starts, 'How am I related to this file? How am I connected to this scene? How is it relevant to me? How should I respond to this scene?'

If past memories about me have been good or pleasant according to your buddhi, you respond in a positive way. You immediately refer to those memories and review, 'It was so good at yesterday's discourse.' Your buddhi refers to the past memory and makes a decision based upon past experiences. If past experiences with me have been positive, your buddhi tells you to stay and listen. If past experiences have been unpleasant and you felt bored, your buddhi tells you that this is not a place for you and that you should leave. These are logical decisions based on conscious memories retained by your mind.

Up to this point, transmission of what is perceived by the senses and what is registered by the mind is relatively straightforward. It is a conscious process. I explained earlier about conscious and unconscious minds. Psychologists talk about a subconscious mind as well. This does not exist.

Mind specialists know that ninety percent of all that we sense goes into an unknown, unconscious zone and we are unaware of what we sense. It is a leap into an abyss. It is a quantum leap into our dark unconscious mind. There is no logic to this leap. This is shocking, but true. As a corollary, ninety percent of what we process mentally happens in an unaware state of the unconscious. The conscious mind is just the tip of an iceberg. Ninety percent is below the surface. We do not see it. We do not sense it and we do not use it.

One problem with this is that it results in a colossal waste. The good news is that in it we have a great potential. Even if we awaken another ten percent of this unconscious mind, the power of our mind can be doubled. Just imagine what can happen. Everyone will be an Einstein. We can also learn to put that extra mind capacity to good use.

If the processing of sensory data is stopped at this conscious level, at buddhi, we make decisions on the conscious level by using our intellect. This is not bad; however, it is limiting because the conscious mind is still only ten percent of the total mind capacity. This is what we call intellect-based decision-making. These decisions

are based on logic and rationale. We are proud of this achievement. The French philosopher Descartes said, 'I think therefore I am.' He didn't realize that he limited his potential to only ten percent. What a sad state and tragic fate!

However, what is in store for most of us is far worse. Because of the limited capacity of our conscious mind, nature wires us to use our unconscious mind to decide many things. Unfortunately this unconscious mind is a conditioned mind. It is full of engraved memories, beliefs and value systems drilled into us from childhood. All that parents and elders have taught us plus all that we have been force-fed by religion and society from a deeply impressionable age are stored in this vault that is never open to us. It opens on its own when it chooses to, especially in moments of stress and trauma. Just as viruses and bacteria attack when our immune system is down, the virus of engrams and samskaras influence us when our emotional systems are weakened.

Samskaras do not collect only during this lifetime. The mental attitudes are carried over from previous births. Neural scientists tell us about the part of our brain called the reptilian brain that stores memories of our evolution from marine and amphibian creatures. Religions may not accept this, yet science does.

From the conscious mind, the information is passed to the unconscious region of the mind, the ego.

I call this unconscious region of the mind ego not because it is arrogant, but because it provides you the

identity of who you are. The word 'ego' is derived from a Greek word that means 'a mask'. Your identity is a mask you wear. It is not you.

Your identity stems from your unconscious. You project who you wish to be, never who you are. You do not even know who you are. Who you are is deeply buried in your unconscious. All the major decisions that shape your life are consigned to this unconscious zone. This is the repository of all those emotionally filled memories and beliefs about yourself, which constitute what you are and therefore, create your identity. This is what I call the ego.

The conscious mind does not make important decisions. It makes a few decisions that can be reached by its limited intellect. Anything important moves to the unconscious ego. It is well-known that our unconscious handles all life-threatening situations, the so-called flight-or-fight decisions. Our conscious mind is too slow to handle them.

Let us go back to the incident of you watching me here. The problem arises if your conscious mind does not make a direct decision. If you have had past experiences with other persons wearing saffron robes, you will have engrams about that experience. You will not bother to see who this person is. You decide based on that memory, 'No, with that Master I suffered like this; with some other Master, I suffered like that.' It will be a generalized memory. You make a decision based on your past collected samskaras.

That is where we create trouble. When decisions are made with a straight understanding, there is no major problem. However, most of the time we collect and react based on engrams that are unrelated to each other.

For example, you see someone wearing a white dress. You may have been hurt in the past by someone wearing a white dress. The moment you see a white dress, the memory comes back even if you don't want it to. If we are abused or disrespected in a house, the memory comes up automatically the next time we visit that house, even if the person who did it is not there. We experience the same feeling, feel depressed and go into a low mood.

We connect and associate things with places, with triggers, with memories and put them into memory files. We are not able to work spontaneously. We must rely on some technique, some method to reduce our processing work. Naturally, we opt for some kind of arrangement in our memory. Consequently, we miss out on real life.

Only in the first few days of marriage do we respond spontaneously to our spouse. Then within the first few months of living with our spouse, we form a clear idea about him or her. After that, we don't live with our spouse. We live with our imagination of the spouse. We live with our understanding of him or her. After that, whatever our spouse does is wrong. We come to a predetermined conclusion that the spouse is always wrong. If our spouse does something right, we say that it happened by mistake.

After a few months, we come to a conclusion about the other person. We create an engram related to them

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People ask me, 'Master, is our life pre-destined or open to free will?' The more engrams we have, the more our life is pre-destined. This is because we will go along the same route. The fewer engrams we have, the more freedom we enjoy.

The number of samskaras determines whether we have free will or if our life is pre-destined. For example, the file travels to the ego, and the ego gives the decision, and we execute it. If there are more engrams, the file travels to every table like in a bureaucratic office. Each engram stamps, puts its signature and writes its opinion.

Take the example of attending at this discourse and seeing me. One engram says, 'I had a Master in my life. He was a blessing. He helped me a lot. I think I should sit here.' So this engram signs, 'Yes, I will sit here.' The next engram says, 'I read in newspapers that these Masters do this or do that.' There is enough written in the press, especially in South India, where being abusive to Masters is fashionable. So, the second engram signs off saying, 'doubt'. Then the file goes to the next table, and the third engram says, 'I attended his discourse yesterday. What he says makes sense, I think I should sit.' This engram signs, 'yes'.

The file reaches the ego. Ego comes to a conclusion based on all the 'yes' responses and all the 'no' responses. Yes or no is not a problem; however, we have wasted so much time and energy in this small decision. For example, when we sit in our office, not doing anything, just sitting and worrying, we become stressed. Within fifteen minutes, we have pain in our shoulders.

Worrying about simple decision-making leads to shoulder pain. The more engrams, the more restless and rajasic we will be.

People with many engrams never relax. People with stress cannot sit quietly. So much physical movement and physical restlessness is due to many decisions taking place inside their unconscious. This space between the buddhi and ego is the unconscious mind. Because we do not know what happens here, we don’t know how many blocks are here. It is like an Indian Government office. There may be three hundred tables occupied by people who must sign off as a bureaucrat to approve a decision. The file must move through three hundred tables to get approved. When it will move, who will sign what, and what the final result will be, neither we know nor God knows.

The conscious zone is like an honest office. I don’t know what example to give of such an office! I don’t think there are any relevant examples. This is a straightforward process and politics are not involved in the conscious area. Politics starts in the unconscious area.

According to the data collected at the conscious level, we know smoking is injurious to health. According to simple, straightforward data that we have assimilated, we know smoking is injurious to health; however, when the time comes, suddenly many decide to smoke.

How does the file take such a quantum leap? How is the decision totally changed? When the file travels to the unconscious area, engrams say, ‘No, no! The last time I

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to depression. He further explains how these samskaras influence our decision-making process.

Let us say our radio suddenly stops working properly and we simultaneously connect with frequencies from three channels. One channel is playing an advertisement for a cosmetic product. The second channel gives instructions for farming. The third channel is playing a comedy drama. It sounds like this to us, 'Please spray a little bit of pesticide. After that wipe your face clean. Now brush your teeth properly and put on a little more pesticide. Finally jump up and down and laugh flailing your arms and legs.'

If we try to execute decisions based on these mixed, cross-wired instructions, we end up in difficulty. Similarly when we try to work with different types of engrams, sattva, rajas and tamas and all three cross each other, they create hell in our lives. Please understand that intelligent people collect arguments to arrive at a judgment while most of us collect arguments to support a preexisting judgment.

If we look into our life, how many times have we accepted mistakes? Of course, to even look into our lives and 'see' how many times we have erred needs intelligence. We usually react out of arrogance or guilt. We say, 'So what if I made a mistake?' We brush it aside. This is one kind of attitude, the attitude of might is right. The other is suffering from guilt.

Please understand that an unintelligent man never feels guilty. Of course I tell you to drop your guilt as well. That is in a different context. Only an intelligent man

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engrams work. Then, we will enter into each technique.

These are the seven energy layers of our body-mind system. These are seven parts of our being. The first is the physical body, our flesh and bones.

Next is the pranic layer, the energies of prana, vyaana, udaana, apaana, and samaana, or the five air movements that take place in our body-mind system. The third is the mental body. This is where inner chattering continuously takes place. A continuous recorder goes on as inner chatter inside us whether we are standing, sitting or doing nothing. Sometimes we open our mouth and chatter. At other times, we close our mouth and continue to chatter. Whether we open our mouth or not, talking continues. This is inner chattering or the mental body or chanchala, which means inner movement.

The fourth is the etheric body. This is the space where our intense emotions and painful experiences are stored. Usually intense emotions are of pain and suffering. We do not know any other intense emotion. If we do, we are a spiritual person.

When we look into life, we see that pain gives such an intense feeling. When we are depressed or in pain, we become intense and our whole mind is centered. Our mind does not move towards anything else.

Have you experienced bliss to the same extent or depth that you have experienced pain? No, all we know is pain. We cannot intellectually understand the three bodies beyond the etheric body. They can only be experienced spiritually through meditation.

Drop Your Conditioning

The pranic layer is the body filled with desires. Mental body is filled with ‘I should have’ or guilt feelings. The etheric body is pain. Understand these three. Desire, guilt and pain are the feelings of the experiences stored in these layers.

When emotions, desires and feelings arising out of these three attributes are pure, they are called sattva, rajas and tamas. Usually, they are impure. They are mixed with each other. We should know how to purify them. If we can purify our desires, we will be liberated. Please understand that we cannot live without desires. We can only cleanse and purify the desires, directing them

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prana, rajas is the third layer of manas and the fourth layer is the etheric layer of tamas. In the next chapter when Krishna explains about the other layers we will understand those.

As I was saying, sattva is related to desires and the prana shareera. When our desires change, our prana flow or our airflow changes. For example if we are caught by lust, or an intense desire, our inhaling and exhaling becomes intense. The prana going in and coming out increases. With any desire, the prana flow totally changes. If we are in a silent, peaceful mood, the prana flow will be so mild, we will not know prana is flowing.

Understand that this pranic shareera is filled with desires. What should we learn about sattva, about this pranic layer?

Whether we believe it or not, we are Gods. We are pure Consciousness. Whatever thoughts we create in our pure Consciousness gain power. This space exists in all of us and is called Self, atman, or inner Divinity. Whatever thoughts we create in this space, the deeper they are, the more power they get from this Consciousness. It is like placing a slide in front of the bulb in a slide projector. That slide becomes reality on the screen. This inner Self is also light and any slide we create in this area becomes reality in the outer world.

But, the problem is we create self-contradictory desires. We suffer with our desires because of this. Whether our desires are fulfilled or not, the resulting suffering is inevitable. If the desires are fulfilled, there

will be emptiness and if they are unfulfilled, there will be restlessness. In both cases, we move towards tamas. Why?

Why should we suffer because of desires? First, understand self-contradicting desires. For instance, if we want to get rid of a headache, normally we create an engram that continuously says, 'I should get rid of this headache. I should get rid of this headache.' We think the same word constantly in our unconscious. By continuously thinking that we want to get rid of the headache, we will never be able to get rid of it. When we repeat a word, in this case 'headache', we give power to it. The headache intensifies instead of disappearing.

It is a subtle understanding. Whatever words we repeat unconsciously become reality in our body, mind and in our world. It is because we have power to give life to any word. If the words 'Let me get up and go', come to our mind, with those words, immediately our body will move, we will stand up and go.

One word can make us do whatever we want. Words that appear in our mind are important. Words that appear in our mind are mantra (sacred sounds). When put together, all the words that appear in our mind form our life, especially the words that we repeat unconsciously.

For example, if we observe what happens when we brush our teeth in the morning, our mind is somewhere else. For example, when we are in a shower, the mind is elsewhere. Sometimes we sing. Especially when we take a coldwater shower, we automatically sing to divert our mind. Cold

water showers and singing are closely connected. Since nobody is watching us in the bathroom, we talk or sing freely.

Sometimes people even argue with themselves loudly in the bathroom.

One man was standing near the bathroom when his wife came out. He asked, 'Who were you arguing with?'

She said, 'I was talking to myself.'

He asked, 'Why were you arguing?'

She said, 'I know what I was doing, so stay out of it.'

He continued, 'I can understand that you were talking to yourself, but why were you arguing with yourself?'

She said, 'You know me. I don't accept stupid logic. That is why I was arguing with myself!'

We play games. We continuously talk without knowing what's going on. We utter the same words when brushing our teeth everyday of the week. The moment we brush our teeth, we have the same trend of thoughts. When we shower, we have the same type of thoughts. If we observe closely, we will realize this.

Thoughts that we repeat unconsciously are more powerful than words we use consciously. We create many thoughts, so many samskaras that are self-contradictory. 'I should get rid of this headache' is a self-contradictory thought. When we repeat those words we remember the headache.

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or engraved in our memory, in our inner space, in our inner being. If we have a disease, please never create and repeat a word that carries the name of the disease. For example, never say, 'Let me get rid of this heart problem. Let me get rid of this diabetes. Let me get rid of this high blood pressure. Let me get rid of this headache.' Use straight words, not self-contradictory words. If we have pain or an illness, use words like 'Let me become healthy.' Words create a visualization and energy of what we want to happen.

Always use these words, 'Let me become healthy.' Never use words like, 'Let me get rid of this back pain.'

Never use self-contradicting engrams. The more we use self-contradicting engrams, the more we engrave that disease into our inner space. The more we engrave, the more powerful they become. Please do not abuse the inner space or iccha shakti (power of creation). The pranic layer is our iccha shakti. It has energy to make things happen. It has energy to fulfill our desires. Do not waste iccha shakti by creating self-contradicting thoughts or self-contradicting engrams.

Self-contradicting thoughts corrupt our whole sattva space. When you go home today, spend just ten minutes to do this exercise. Sit for ten minutes with yourself and write down the thoughts that come to your mind regularly. Then see where you are creating self-contradicting engrams and edit them, clear them. Don't bring self-contradicting thoughts into your mind.

The latest research shows that when psychiatric diseases are analyzed and publicized, millions of people

across the world immediately start suffering from that disease. As long as we don't name the disease, people don't suffer from that disease even if they have it. The moment we inform them that these are the symptoms of the disease, this is what the disease is called, everybody thinks, 'I am suffering from this disease.'

Many people in good health experience symptoms of illness described by medical studies. Almost all of us feel giddy at one time or another, more often if we tend to get angry easily. This does not mean that every attack of giddiness relates to a blood pressure problem. Many people wake up sweating in the night. It does not mean that they are experiencing heart attacks. Yet once it is drilled into them that these are symptoms of dangerous diseases, they become neurotic. They turn into hypochondriacs. They become nervous wrecks.

This is a dangerous game. We should not let words created by pharmaceutical research companies about various diseases create doubts in us. This idea, 'I think I also have this problem,' gets created when we listen to disease reports and commercials. Immediately we create an engram that says, 'I have this problem; I should get rid of it.' By the time we repeat these words ten times we have the problem.

We continuously allow ourselves to be exploited by what we hear and see. People who don't know the truth of the mind and consciousness are influencing us. All these problems arise because they do not know that pure joy of inner space is possible.

Let me make a bold statement that no medicine or chemical can help our mind. All anti-anxiety medicines, all anti-depression medicines are consolations. First, we visualized that we suffered from depression and now we visualize that we have taken some medicine.

Let me share another important secret. It is a business secret. Many people say, 'Master, some person has done some black magic on me. Some people have laid a spell on me. Someone has put an evil spirit behind me. Some evil being possesses me.' There are many people who exploit this fear in others, cashing in on this fear. All negativity has only one power, our faith in it.

All negativity such as black magic or evil or demonic acts, has only one power and that is our faith in it. Our faith in them gives them power. Because we believe in them, we connect all the incidents and make trouble for ourselves. And then we struggle to free ourselves. When people come to me with these fears, I say, 'There is nothing, don't worry. There is no problem.'

Then they think, 'This Master is young. He doesn't know much. Let's go to an older person who will give us some counter-spells, some talisman, someone who will do some exorcism and remove this negativity and remove these blockages.'

They think I don't know anything. So what can I do? I give them some talisman and say, 'You don't have to pay. Just put this under your pillow and you will be healed. You will be cured.' The talisman, the yantra, has nothing in it. I am clear that the yantra has nothing in it. The person has created an idea within him. He has this negativity. By

giving him the yantra, I create an idea in him that he doesn’t have any negativity. It is like using one thorn to remove another thorn. There is nothing else.

I say to people, ‘Don’t think that by having these yantras something will shower from your house roof. Nothing can shower from your house roof except rats!’ These are antidotes for their negative faith. They already created faith that they have these problems. Now I am consoling them. I say to them honestly, ‘You created this trouble and now I am your help to undo it.’ All negativity has one power, our faith in it.

If the person who exploits these fears takes money for it, that's fine, we can earn back that money. The danger is that he creates an engram in us. He creates a samskara that continuously haunts us. For anything and everything, we run to him like slaves. It is better to be caught in the hands of the ghost than in the hands of sorcerers. At least, the ghost will trouble us once in a while; however, this person will exploit us completely.

With the ghost, we have mental suffering. With this person, we have mental and economic suffering! The big problem is that not only does he take our money; he also creates an engraved memory in the form of fear in us. With every small sound we hear at night, we think that ‘I think that the effects of that talisman is over. Now I must get a new talisman.’

People in this business also give out talismans that need to get it recharged! After a couple of months, we must take it back to be recharged. I was surprised: a rechargeable talisman! All we need is an advertisement!

I saw an advertisement in a newspaper. A man is standing in a pose as if he is granting blessings and he claims to be an Atharvana Veda scholar. He is continuously releasing big advertisements. I was surprised because this scripture of Atharvana Veda is not about these things. This scripture is pure science to improve our life. It is a pure science to handle our mind blissfully. No scripture teaches exploitation of others.

In fact, the first jyotisha sutra (Vedic astrology) states that intuition happens only to a person whose inner space is pure, who does not expect benefit or return in the form of money, good name or goodwill. So never go to people who engage in these mantra and yantra, spells and talismans. Also understand that evil entities have only one power, our faith in them.

Now, when we create self-contradicting thoughts, we start believing them. Especially when they name a disease in psychoanalysis, it is like the fashion business. In the fashion business, every week they launch a new dress. Similarly here, every month they invent a new disease.

By repeating that negative idea, by meditating on the symptom, we start creating that symptom in us. It is a dangerous game. Don’t be caught in that game. We disturb the sattva, the pure space of our being, by creating self-contradicting thoughts. So write down your major thoughts and desires and analyze them. Observe how many thoughts are self-contradicting. This is the first step.

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is the delusion of all embodied living entities. The results of this mode are madness, indolence and sleep, which bind the conditioned soul.' This is a beautiful explanation of tamas.

If there are more samskaras or engrams, the file does not reach the ego easily. In fact, the file may not reach the ego. A powerful engram may make the decision. It is similar to a 'non application of mind' in legal terminology.

Why does this happen? Why do you decide unconsciously and regret later?

This unconscious zone is filled with negative memories and restlessness. All our past memories and past thought patterns, samskaras or engrams, are stored in this zone as files. So many files are stored in this zone without any logical connection between them.

This is what happens. When the file takes a quantum leap to this zone, it does not reach the ego properly for a decision because this zone is where all the data that causes restlessness in you is stored. It is as if your computer hard disk is loaded with high-resolution photographs and there is no further scope to work on your hard disk. Like that, when your unconscious is loaded with past thought patterns and memories, it becomes inefficient and makes superfluous, illogical decisions.

Take this example: According to data that you have collected, smoking is injurious to health. It is not good for your body or mind. You can hold onto this decision

as long as you are in the conscious level. But once the mind takes the leap to the ego, the engrams instruct you to smoke; you simply decide to smoke! The conscious process says, 'No, it is not good for health.' Yet the unconscious process just makes the decision and you execute it! It is a pure instinct-level decision.

When we have more engrams, we don’t know what decision will come out. It is like a Pandora’s box. We don’t know what will come out since the inner space is full of engrams and samskaras. We are at the level of an animal. We act on instinct.

When there are only a few engrams, it is like not having three hundred tables for the file to have to move through. There are only a few tables, similar to a private corporation. This is the human level or level of intellect.

When there are no engrams, there will be no need for the file to drop into the unconscious zone for a decision. It straightaway meets the buddhi and ego after the mind. There are no blocks. The time taken for the unconscious process will be less than the conscious process. We will be intuitive or at the level of God.

The level of an animal is the level of instinct; the level of man is the level of intellect; and the level of God is the level of intuition. The level of instinct is the level of tamas; the level of intellect is the level of rajas; and the level of intuition is the level of sattva.

In sattva, our mind works continuously and we make decisions, yet we do not become tired. We can be active for twenty-four hours and yet remain peaceful. This is

what I call action in inaction and inaction in action. Krishna says we will be centered when we are in sattva. Though lots of activity go on around us, we will remain utterly relaxed.

The whole thing is dependent on one thing: our engrams or engraved memories. The number of engraved memories determines whether we are caught in sattva, rajas or tamas. These three are not enlightenment states. Enlightenment is beyond these three.

If we are caught in tamas, we need to move towards rajas. If we are caught in rajas, make the move towards sattva. If we are caught in satva, it will automatically lead us to enlightenment. How do we do this?

Krishna speaks of tamas. 'Know that the mode of darkness, born of ignorance, is the delusion of all embodied, living entities. The results of this mode are madness, indolence and sleep which bind the conditioned soul.'

For example, we create a self-contradicting desire in the sattva level. Because of that we create restlessness in the rajas level. When we feel too restless, we drop everything. We decide not to take any responsibility and we sleep instead. We fall into tamas.

Tamas is not only sleep or depression. Not taking enough responsibility is also tamas. For example, we are in tamas if we studied to become a doctor and we do not practice our profession out of laziness. If we don't practice for some other reason, that is fine. However, if we are avoiding because of laziness, we are in tamas. Don't drop out from anything due to tamas. If we drop

out because of a spiritual reason, that is different. Some people drop out to meditate, go on a pilgrimage or to do spiritual work. That is fine. However, we are caught in tamas when we drop out due to laziness or for no reason at all.

Dropping out due to tamas means that we don’t have enough energy and we cannot make a responsible decision. Why? Too many engrams block our decision process. By the time we make one decision, we feel tired and want to sleep. That is why we attempt to escape from life. Escapists are tamasic people.

Q: Master, is there scientific evidence to support samskara formation?

Good question. Surprisingly, the answer is yes. It is surprising because this is not an area that science has been interested in, especially medical science. Western medical science has focused on treating the body independent of the mind and whatever has been studied about the mind has been based on disabled minds.

A few path-breaking scientists have established that our genes do not determine our behavior; rather it is the other way around. In his seminal book, Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton, a celebrated molecular biologist, established that our conditioning determines our biology. He studied living beings at the cellular level to establish their behavior, the positive and negative influences of the environment and conditioning and how they changed the very cellular structure.

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When the Upanishad scriptures say that our thoughts determine our actions and therefore our destiny, they refer to the sanskaras that create and influence thoughts. It is possible to dissolve the emotional blocks created by the sanskaras and eventually dissolve the sanskaras.

At the first level Life Bliss Programs (LBPs), we teach methods to dissolve emotional blocks so that we can lead a productive life free of emotional disabilities. At the next level LBP, the LBP Level 2 or Nithyananda Spurana Program, we teach how to work through sanskaras at various energy levels in order to relieve them. Finally, when people take initiation from me as Nithya Spiritual Healers, they are initiated into a meditative process that constantly removes sanskaras. This meditation, called the Ananda Gandha meditation, takes one beyond the three gunas. It has the ability to make us a triguna rahita, one who is beyond the bondages of the gunas that in turn generate sanskaras and karmas. It is a meditation for enlightenment.

14.9 The mode of goodness conditions one to happiness, Passion conditions him to fruits of action, and ignorance to madness.

14.10 Sometimes the mode of passion becomes prominent, defeating the mode of goodness, O son of Bharata.

And sometimes the mode of goodness defeats passion, and at other times the mode of ignorance defeats goodness and passion. In this way there is always competition for supremacy.

14.11 When the light of Self-knowledge illuminates all the senses (or gates) in the body,

Then it should be known that goodness is predominant.

14.12 O chief of Bharata, when there is an increase in the mode of passion, the symptoms of great attachment, uncontrollable desire, hankering, and intense endeavor develop.

Krishna further explains the three modes.

'Oh Bharata, sometimes the mode of goodness, sattva, becomes prominent, defeating the modes of passion and ignorance, and in other times, ignorance defeats goodness and passion, in this way, there is always competition for supremacy.'

All of us are not completely caught in sattva or rajas or tamas. We swing between sattva, rajas and tamas. We go from this end to that end, and from that end to this end.

Sometimes we get up in the morning and feel fresh. We feel as if all our questions are answered; we are fresh, alive and we think we have become almost enlightened. Everything goes beautifully until evening. Suddenly we become restless. Next day, we are in tamas. We don't want to do anything. These mood swings take place continuously.

Obesity and mood swings are closely related. When we allow these mood swings to happen, we torture ourselves. Sometimes we are restless, sometimes we are

peaceful and sometimes we are in tamas. When we are in tamas we don't want to do anything. We want to escape from everything; we want to dump everything and run away. We are caught in these three modes of nature: sometimes in instinct, sometimes in intellect and sometimes in intelligence.

Why? Why do we have mood swings?

This happens if we have collected too many samskaras about something over many years. For example, we have many engrams about drinking if, from a young age, we were repeatedly taught not to drink and that drinking is a sin. This raises our curiosity and we are tempted to taste alcohol at least once. Never give a law to children. Instead give them understanding and the spirit behind the law.

If we want to bring up children blissfully, we need to bring them up without guilt. Laying down rules without understanding leads them to breaking the rules. Breaking rules creates guilt. Guilt is the worst imaginable sin. To give understanding, we need two things. First we need to be intelligent enough to understand the meaning behind the rules we are trying to enforce. Next we need patience to explain it all to them. Even though it takes more time and energy, focus on giving them understanding.

Never give rules if you want people to follow them. If we give a law, they will do the opposite. Furthermore, we cannot even predict that they will do the exact

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touching my feet. They impose this idea on their kids, an idea based on their greed.

By forcing the kids, they make the kids hate me. Some parents push their kids' heads down to my feet, as if they will receive positive current from my feet. I ask these parents not to force them. Namaskar (joining your hands in respect) is more than enough. By forcing them, they make the kids hate me. The next time these kids see the orange robe, they will weep, 'Oh, now we must do all this exercise.'

Never enforce rules on kids. We are suffering from rules given to us by our parents. The rules given by our parents are in our rajas and tamas. They lead us to restlessness and deep depression again and again. They create more and more trouble for us.

Desire and guilt are two forms of the same energy. One is related to the future. The other is related to the past. Desire is related to the future. Guilt is related to the past. 'I should have done that' plays a major role in our 'I should do this.' 'I should do this' is determined by 'I should have done that.'

Guilt that is created by rules handed down to us by our elders creates hell in our life and leads us to tamas. Krishna says we are led to antaha (the end). We fall into ignorance or into the end.

Krishna says the manifestations of the modes of goodness can be experienced when all the gates of the body are illuminated by knowledge. This is the technique. The gates of the body are the gates through which we

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Krishna says, let us have the security, the protection of knowledge in the five gates, and we will reside in continuous bliss.

This means that we should not allow thoughts that create suffering into our mind or through the eyes and other senses. This means avoid TV. At least do not watch programs that create depression. We should only watch programs that give joy and that make us blissful. We should never watch anything that makes us cunning, gives us suffering or makes us feel violent.

When we protect our senses with sattva, we will not allow negative engrams to come in. People immediately ask me. 'If we don't know what is happening in society, how we can live?'

Any important or urgent news will reach us through somebody. We are not living in an island. Moreover, by gaining knowledge of criminal activities through media, what can we do? Newspapers carry the same news everyday. Most of it is about murder, rape, theft, and accidents. The only difference is the city or country where it takes place. Instead of reading the news everyday, we can predict what is going to happen and where. Why do we want to read and verify? Only the place and numbers vary.

What difference will it make to our life? If the people who handle the situation know about it, that is enough. When we imbibe continuous knowledge of this kind of information or news, we create engrams. It creates fear strokes and suffering. If we continuously read about

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negative engrams to enter our being. Whatever enters our being during sandhya exists or radiates throughout our life. Krishna gives this one advice, this one technique because this is the way we can turn it around. Using this technique we transform and the cognitive shift happens.

As of now, the cognition happens in our mind based upon our negative engrams. If we change the input, if we move our mental setup into a different energy or vibration, the cognitive shift happens. We process data with positive engrams, with a positive base.

Krishna gives one technique, one suggestion. Protect the five senses from negative ideas and infuse positive ideas through the five senses. Whatever we feed upon becomes our being and we radiate that energy. Spend sandhya in a good way. Meditate at home. If you don’t meditate, go to a temple or church and do something spiritual. Recite a stotra, say prayers or do some good work instead of wasting time and adding negative engrams. The more negative engrams we put inside, the more we move towards depression.

The more money we deposit into the bank, the higher our bank balance. The more negative engrams we have, the more depression we have. Our Masters knew where man would collect positive engrams and where man would collect negative engrams. They created many spaces where man could collect positive engrams and protect himself. Please understand this one suggestion from Krishna and let us save our body with pure sattvic security. Let us experience bliss.

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not care where we are going, so long as the path is enjoyable. So long as we enjoy the path, it is the right path and our destination will be right.

Instead of enjoying the path, we worry about the goal. We worry about when we will reach, where we will reach. In the process, we do not notice how we are traveling. We miss the beauty of the path.

When we torture ourselves with worrying about quarterly results, how can we enjoy work? If we do not enjoy work and work becomes a chore and a torture, how can we perform? How can results be achieved?

On the other hand, whatever needs to happen will happen if we stop worrying about the carrot or the goal, and enjoy what we do. When we enjoy our path, we will enjoy our work. Whatever destination we reach will be the right destination.

That is why people who are successful are passionate about what they do. They do not care what happens in the end as long as what they do is enjoyable. If we are passionate about what we do, we enjoy what we do. Whatever we do will be wonderful, successful and we will benefit.

However, as long as we struggle, we suffer even if we make money. The goal that we are chasing will be a mirage, an illusion. As soon as we reach that goal, we will be forced to chase another. We will not have a minute to pause, to rest and enjoy what we have achieved. Acquistion becomes the goal, not enjoyment.

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Society fears that you will no longer fear. That is the only hold society has on you. If you want to be part of society as it is set up now, you will have fear. When you decide to break free out of awareness, you are in bliss, nithyananda.

14.13 O son of Kuru, when there is an increase in the mode of ignorance,

Madness, illusion, inertia and darkness are manifested.

14.14 When one dies in the mode of goodness,

He goes where the realized souls are.

14.15 When one dies in the mode of passion, he takes birth among those engaged in activities.

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is to be aware, to be conscious, and to realize our inner Divinity. That is why I say that I am here not to prove my Divinity, but to prove your Divinity.

To be Divine and to realize that inner Divinity is our true meaning in life. Anything less than that is meaningless. Being aggressive, being restlessly active, and being constantly on the move do not help us understand or realize this meaning. We will be running after one thing or another. We are just plain greedy. Ramana Maharshi says that a mustard seed looks like a mountain when we want it desperately; however, even a mountain becomes insignificant like a mustard seed once we possess it.

If we are driven by mere possessive obsession, we are bound to become tired sooner or later. Aggression results in deep depression. This is what I call the 'depression of success'. I see this often in countries like the USA. People struggle to increase their material wealth, disregarding everything else. People change cars every year, houses every third year and their spouses every fifth year!

People run after material possessions and trophies without knowing why. One day when they have acquired and reacquired so many things and still feel unhappy, uneasy and listless, they wonder why they acquired the things that they struggled for. They go into deep depression. Depression of success is difficult to overcome.

In poor countries like India, people have little and are desperate to acquire minimal comforts. Just to have one meal a day, wear footwear or go to school is a great

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In these verses, Krishna tells us where the person goes after death when steeped in these attributes of sattva, rajas and tamas. A sattvic person becomes Divine. A tamasic person chooses a lower life. A rajasic person continues to suffer due to greed.

In another verse in the Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna that a person is reborn based on the last thought before death. Here Krishna explains how that last thought is not an accident. It is based on one's guna, nature.

People tell me, 'Oh Master, why should we worry about spiritual stuff now? This is the time to enjoy. When we get old, we can think about spirituality. After all, Krishna declared that our last thought redeems us. All we have to say is Ram or Krishna as we take our last breath.'

If only it were that easy then all of us would never be reborn. If throughout life you run after money and material possessions, do you think your last thought will be about anything other than money? If throughout life you were obsessed with wine, women and song, those thoughts fill your mind when you die.

The samskaras that have driven us throughout life have etched deep grooves into our mind space. The attitude with which we have lived not only follows us at death, it follows us after death as well. This is the mental setup, the conditioning, the vasana with which we led life and with which we leave our life as well. When we are reborn, our spirit finds another body to occupy. This same mindset, same vasana, reappears in the form of

prarabdha karma, unfulfilled desires of our past life. These become the basis of our conditioning in this life. They are our seed samskaras.

In our second level program, the Nithyananda Spurana Program, the LBP 2, we study samskaras in great detail. In one sense, the NSP takes us through a death experience. This program, now conducted by acharyas personally trained and ordained by me, deals with the seven energy layers surrounding the body. The spirit passes through these seven layers at death and relives the experiences that you went through in life.

In another sense, LBP 2 is about dissolution of our conditioning. I guarantee that all samskaras will be burnt out during the meditations participants go through in this program. Therefore, symbolically I give the option to take a new spiritual name at the end of LBP 2, signifying a rebirth. This program allows everyone to glimpse the ultimate truth. What keeps us separated from this truth is our conditioning, our samskaras.

People who complete the LBP 2 don’t harbor enmity against others who have wronged them in the past. They become less judgmental and their approach is no longer negative. Their entire attitude towards others changes as a result of the inner experience of de-conditioning and the dissolution of samskaras.

How we live life now determines how we are reborn. There is enough scientifically validated evidence to prove that we are reborn. Whether we are a Christian or Muslim, whether or not our religion allows us to believe

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becomes Divine. When we are steeped in sattva, we live in awareness. We live in the present moment. We are no longer attached. We no longer are obsessed with the results of our action and we are no longer controlled by fear and greed. We stop thinking about ourselves and we start living for others. It is no longer me and me alone, but me and you, and eventually just you that includes me as well. All transactions become unconditional.

The present state is eternal. That is the state of the higher planets, of the heaven that one talks about. We are in heaven even when we are alive. When our spirit moves beyond the body, it has the potential to move beyond its sanskaras, the conditioning, into its true potential of self-realization.

When one is in tamas, in deep ignorance and darkness, one sinks lower in rebirth. Krishna says such a person is reborn as an animal. The lowest energy center of a human being is the muladhara chakra, the root center at the base of the spine. This is the highest center at which animal energy operates. All animals operate out of pure survival instinct. Their nature is conditioned for that. There is nothing wrong or inferior about that. That is their nature.

Human beings are provided with intelligence to move upward in consciousness. We have freedom to make mistakes and we do. When Krishna talks about being reborn in ignorance and as animals, it is not to denigrate animals. However, a human being who behaves as animals.

instinctively, out of a blocked muladhara chakra, and out of an animalistic nature, is ignorant of his potential as a human.

We are not human beings striving for a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings enjoying a human experience.

We can only be in this state when we are in sattva. When we are in tamas, we forget our spiritual nature. When we are in rajas, we have a vague idea; however, even that spiritual experience becomes an attachment, another goal and desire. We become attached to something that is beyond attachment. Krishna says that we are reborn into this human form, back into this cycle of life and death, this cycle of samsara, with all its suffering.

It is our choice to be instinctive and unconscious, in deep tamas, like an animal, or to be logical and chasing objects out of rajas. The third choice is to be beyond attachments, in a superconscious state, an intuitive state, in tune with our sublime sattva nature. This choice determines our next birth. In fact, it determines whether we will even be born again.

The Master psychologist is right on the mark: purification and knowledge from sattva, distress and greed from rajas, and foolishness, madness and illusion from tamas. How true!

Let us start with madness, illusion and delusion. That is where most people are. The great philosopher and poet saint, Sankara says that life as we lead it is maya, illusion. Maya is

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We can daydream and feel happy while we daydream. What happens when we open our eyes? Life is as bleak as it was before. If life were interesting, we would have been immersed in it. Then why would we daydream? Our fantasies are like that. We look at the picture of a movie star and we want to have that movie star or be like that movie star.

The first impulse, the first fantasy arises out of lust. People know for sure that it is a fantasy, but it feels good while they have that fantasy. They wallow in it like a buffalo in mud. At least the buffalo is in the present; it is not in fantasy. Once they realize that they are wasting time, that they are degrading themselves with such fantasies, they regain awareness and regain control of their life. Otherwise their whole life will be a madhouse.

The second impulse, wanting to be like the movie star, is probably more dangerous. It is born out of envy, comparison and is a pure waste of energies. This is rajas. It is no longer tamas. These people aren't satisfied with themselves, with their body or their mind and want to be someone else. Today they imitate this actor or actress. What happens when that actor or actress becomes less popular or old? Worse still, what happens when they meet that person in real life and find that they are better looking than him or her? After all, movies are the ultimate in fantasy. Everything and everybody is made-up.

This is what Krishna means by greed, envy and jealousy that ends in anger, fear, guilt and a hundred

other negative emotions. We are either in attachment or aversion. We are either driven towards or away from something or some condition. We are goaded by greed or tortured by fear. Whichever it is, we suffer. This suffering results in distress, depression and loss of self-esteem. We have lost our center.

Our center is our true nature. Our true nature is Divine. We are one with the universal energy, God, Parashakti or whatever we want to call it. We cannot describe it. We can just experience it. We experience bliss when our focus is in that central core and not out at the edges of our personality.

Throughout life we run away from that center, that core of bliss. Our senses lead us towards the periphery where material objects are. Our inner core is empty: it is shunya. It is also purna, complete by itself with nothing else needed to top off the bliss. However, the outer periphery is forever changing. Nothing is eternal about it. Even when objects are the same, our perceptions keep changing. This periphery is maya, illusion and tamas, ignorance.

Our rajasic nature, the restless activity that strives to introduce purpose into something that is essentially without purpose, keeps driving us from the center where we belong into this peripheral darkness of tamas and maya. Rajas always drives us into tamas. Aggression, passion, attachment and aversion eventually take us into delusion and ignorance.

But from time to time we get that spark of intelligence that says life does not need to be this way. There is more meaning to life than fantasies. We start searching. When we seek our true nature, we move towards our center, the core of bliss. Then something in the external space attracts us and we move out to the periphery. We keep moving in and out, from center to periphery, from periphery back to center.

That is why I call human beings eccentric. They can neither be in the center nor in the periphery. They settle in between and keep oscillating. They are eccentric. They are neither in complete madness nor centered in their divine Consciousness.

The movement towards our core, our true self is driven by sattva. The movement outwards is driven by rajas. When we are fully settled in the periphery, we are caught in tamas. We are no longer human. When we settle into that center, we go beyond the three gunas. We become the trigunarahita, the Divine one who is beyond the three attributes.

Q: What Krishna says can be accepted if one believes in rebirth. What about those whose religious beliefs do not allow them to believe in rebirth?

In the Gita Krishna does not speak to Hindus alone. This Jagat guru, universal Master, does not exclude other religious believers. He speaks spiritual truth, universal truth.

First of all, we should be careful not to reduce these truths to facts. Sattva means I will be reborn as God, rajas

means I will be reborn a human and tamas means I will be reborn an animal. These are metaphorical truths, not scientific facts. Krishna says that the tendency, the vasana, which is an outcome of your guna, your nature, gets carried forward. You can be divine or animal in the human body. You do not have to sprout wings or become a pig.

Secondly, religions that deny rebirth do not follow the teachings of their founding Masters. They reinterpreted the spiritual teachings of the founders to exercise control. Christ never denied reincarnation. The Bible has references to previous births. The Christian church denies rebirth. Otherwise, their entire system of control by fear and greed through hell and heaven collapses. Their denial has nothing to do with your spiritual progress or their interest in your spiritual progress. It is to do with their survival, which depends on how well you are controlled.

I am not being harsh on the Christian church alone. This is true of all religious institutions, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, or Christian. The moment spirituality is organized into religion it becomes a business. All transactions are conditional and based on survival.

Christianity believes in the Holy Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit? It is shrouded in mystery. Holy Spirit is the Universal Consciousness, Universal Energy, God, Father, Krishna, Shiva, Buddha, Allah or any other name you wish to give it. It is not trademarked and copyrighted to one religion.

I was told someone was trying to copyright the word

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14.20 When the embodied being is able to transcend these three modes, he can become free from birth, death, old age and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life.

Krishna provides the key to liberation here. Those who go beyond the three gunas, beyond the activity-producing attributes, become free of bondages and enjoy bliss in this world. This is the assurance of the Master. This is a guarantee.

These words are a great technique. Step one is when we realize that each of our activities arises from one of the three gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas. Step two is the understanding about which guna it is and exactly what that guna is doing to us. Step three is to move out of that guna into the sattva guna. Finally we transcend out of sattva guna into nirguna or no guna.

Whatever we are doing, whatever is happening to us, we need to become aware of the attribute, the guna that is driving us. If it is a fantasy, we work out of tamas. If it is fear and greed, we work out of rajas. And if we are unattached and undisturbed by all that is happening around us, we act out of sattva.

Many psychological systems are offered as solutions to relationship problems. In one of these, people are supposed to act out of one of three modes: adult, child or parent. The adult is nonjudgmental, the parent is critical and child is defensive. The training teaches which role we act out of most of the time and shifts us into the adult frame that is considered to be the right role.

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Unconscious, or what is mistakenly called subconscious processes, can open up and reveal the samskaras. However, we have no control over the process, nor does the expert who supposedly helps us. It is a Pandora’s box and once opened what happens is out of our control. Processes such as creative visualization, hypnotic regression and self-hypnotic suggestions can be extremely dangerous. It is not that they do not work; they do. However, we have no control over what happens. This is why the proverb: Be careful of what you wish for, you may get it; and surely, you will regret it.

We get more than what we bargained for. It is like the customer who walks into a restaurant and orders everything on the menu. When he is about to walk out, they give him the bill. Can he justify that he did not order the bill? When we order the food, we ought to know we will get the bill. Yet in the case of unconscious processes, we do not think about the bill. We go on ordering. When the bill comes, we are in for a deep, unpleasant experience.

A few devotees used these processes and even taught them. They told me how dangerous these are. They had not understood why these processes were dangerous until they went through our meditation programs. They knew bad experiences had resulted, yet did not know why. When we discussed these cases, they understood what had happened.

Visualizing consciously or unconsciously does not take us out of rajas and tamas. We can be dragged deeper into

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the key. It leads to the awareness of this vicious cycle and helps us stay detached.

Through repeated practice of meditation techniques, we can burn out our samskaras and shift out of the gunas that we are currently rooted in. We can move into a state of non-attachment by dropping the emotional load of our memories. We can be cleansed of negativities and unblock and energize our chakras through meditation. That is the key.

In our first level meditation programs, called Ananda Spurana Program in India and LBP or Life Bliss Program overseas, we teach meditation techniques to energize the seven chakras, our energy centers. The first session focuses on the heart center, anahata chakra. The meditation used for anahata chakra, the Mahamantra, is an extremely powerful meditation. When practiced regularly, this meditation helps us radiate unconditional love through the energized anahata.

I advise those who have done this first level program to use this awakened anahata to improve relationships. Whenever anyone interacts with us and we interact with others, it is from one of the energy centers. Each chakra has its emotional basis, which is blocked or energized depending on its level of awakening. The anahata is blocked by attention need. Most of the time we desperately seek attention from others. We are unhappy without approval from others. We still behave like a child seeking approval from the parent. When the anahata is energized, we radiate love unconditionally. We are no longer dependent on others to approve us. We do not

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chakra is blocked by jealousy, ajna is blocked by ego and sahasrara is blocked by discontentment. We can recognize the blocked energy center a person approaches us from, by understanding the emotions they approach us with. However, it doesn’t matter. We have the choice to respond to any approach with our awakened anahata.

Someone in the Hollywood film industry told me that all movie story plots are based upon one of these chakra emotional blocks. It is not merely our real life that is affected, even our fantasy movie life revolves around the chakras! To understand the chakras and their emotional blocks is to understand our gunas. And to understand our gunas is to find the way and to open the door to bliss.

Q: How do we develop spiritually? You said we are eccentric, that we try to keep moving inwards and are dragged outwards. What is the way to keep going inwards?

This question is important. This realization that you need to go inwards and that you have a problem in moving outwards is enough to keep you going inwards. The sheer awareness that the outward journey will not fulfill you and that it will only mire you in ignorance and drag you into depression will keep you moving towards the center.

We can talk about how the move to the center can be accelerated via techniques; this is unnecessary. The realization to move to the center is more important. The

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the right time will come. Wait for the spring. Flowers cannot be forced to come out of the trees. They come when they come. Spiritual flowering is not a process that can be forced. It requires patience.

If these three things are fulfilled, the day when your fragrance will be released is not far away.

Let this sink deep into the heart; this is fundamental to spiritual progress. Once we feel that God cares for us, our anxieties disappear and anguish simply dissolves. The deeper we feel God’s love, the more and more open we become. Fear makes us closed and love makes us open. God’s love means that the whole Existence loves you: the sun, moon, stars, trees, and people. From all directions love is showered upon you.

Start seeing it and feeling it. When the sun’s rays fall on your face, remember it. When the lake reflects your face, remember it. When the fragrance of the flowers reaches you, remember it. Remember it as many times as possible, in as many situations as possible so that it becomes a constant phenomenon, an undercurrent in your life. It will give you roots in the Divine. It will make you rooted, centered, and it will help to easily and effortlessly dissolve the mind with all its problems.

Entering into the path is a Divine decision. It is not yours. It is God’s. There is an ancient saying: Before a man decides to seek God, God has already decided to seek him. Without His decision, our decisions are impotent.

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effortless. There should be no strain or tension in it. It should be more like play than work.

One should enjoy it. One should not do it like a duty. One should make it a joy unto itself, as if one is unconcerned about the result. The result comes whenever we are ripe. There is no need to think about it.

It comes of its own accord. Existence is fair and just. It gives what you deserve. There is not a moment’s delay. If you don’t deserve it, it doesn’t happen no matter how much effort you make.

Right effort is effort that is not an effort. It is joy, play, love and bliss. Then miracles start happening. We are entitled to miracles, yet we never fulfill the basic condition. This is the basic condition. Then miracles are as ordinary as everything else.

The Master appearing is a summons. It is God calling you. It is good that you heard it!

People are deaf and blind. Although they appear to have ears and eyes, they don’t listen; they don’t hear. And God goes on calling. To hear Him means a radical change in life. You can’t live the old way. All priorities change. That which was important before becomes unimportant. That which was never important before becomes important. What was life before is no longer life and what was not even in your dreams becomes your existence.

Seeking is a call of God. And everybody is called! Sufis say that if one hundred people are called, only ten

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You can not realize God with logic. And without God, there is no meaning or significance in life. Life becomes a burden. One lives because one must live. One lives because it doesn’t feel right to commit suicide. One lives because one cannot gather courage to commit suicide.

One drags. One does not really live. One slowly dies because there isn’t any thrill in the heart without poetry. There are no adventures. All is mundane. Nothing is sacred. Temples disappear from our life. There are only shopping malls. The bank balance and power and prestige are there but something in the deepest core of our being remains unfulfilled and empty. Life becomes a wound that becomes bigger and bigger everyday.

We want to drown it in work, constant worry, alcohol, shopping or sex. We want to drown the memory and feeling that something is missing. Yet we cannot drown it. It keeps knocking on our door and haunting us. It is something so essential that it must be fulfilled.

Jung used to say, ‘In my whole life’s practice I have observed that the patients who came to me after their fortieth year were not in need of psychological treatment. They needed some sort of religion. They needed some sort of meaning in their life.’

However, psychology cannot provide meaning. It can provide a certain adjustment to society, but society itself is neurotic. To be adjusted to society is to be neurotic. It is to be acceptably mad. Einstein has said that a genius is one who has escaped society’s conditionings. So true!

Psychology can help us accept the drudgery of life, the routine and the dullness. However, it cannot help us transform it. Jung’s insight is correct. In Eastern scriptures, the need for spirituality arises at age forty-two. Just as at fourteen, the need for sex arises, at forty-two the need for spirituality arises. If it is not fulfilled, we feel uprooted. It can only be fulfilled by spirituality.

There is no need to argue for spirituality. We don’t argue for music: either we like it or not. Nobody can prove the beauty of music to anyone. You either like a rose or not. The rose either appears beautiful or not. Just because the rose isn’t beautiful to someone doesn’t mean the rose loses anything. But by denying the need for spirituality, a person loses a great chance to be in communion with nature, with God and their own divinity.

Ordinarily man is a slave to his unconscious instincts, a slave of his biology, a slave of his mind: it is a multi-dimensional slavery. This whole slavery must be destroyed from the roots. Only then will the consciousness rise in all its beauty and glory, in all its light and fragrance.

All the awakened ones followed the path of meditation. Be watchful. By being watchful, the territory of the unconscious, tamas, is reduced everyday. The more conscious we become, less territory of our being is in the unconscious zone, and less is in tamas. One day when we are one hundred per cent conscious, the unconsciousness

disappears. And with that disappearance, biological, physiological and psychological slavery disappears. All kinds of slavery exist in the unconscious. By cutting the unconscious, we cut the very root. The key to self-mastery is meditation.

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14.21 Arjuna inquired: O my Lord, by what symptoms is one known who is transcendental to those modes? What is his behavior? And how does he transcend the modes of nature?

14.22,23,24,25 The Blessed Lord said: He who does not hate illumination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one unconcerned, being situated beyond these material reactions of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the modes alone are active;

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my home. Four walls, a door and a lock do not create a home for me. People ask why I wear jewelry or different kind of clothing. What difference does it make? This body itself is not mine. This skin is not mine. What difference would it make if I wore this or that?

There is neither attraction nor aversion. Just as people admire the clothes or accessories on a mannequin, I admire the clothes and jewelry on this body. They have no connection with me.

Every movement I make is at the order of Existence. I cannot move a finger without the permission of that Universal Energy. That is why when people talk about God, it is a concept to them, a theory to prove or disprove. To me it is reality; it is the reality of my existence every moment. When people look at themselves, the ‘I’, the identity, drives them. To me, that identity is not real. ‘I’ do not exist.

When we are one with Existence, one with nature, nothing affects us. I walked tens of thousands of miles barefoot across the length and breadth of India. People ask, ‘How is it your feet are so soft, not calloused and broken as ours would be if we walked barefoot even ten miles?’ If we trust nature, nature looks after us.

When I lived at Tapovan at approximately 17,000 feet in the Himalayan Mountains above the starting point of Ganga, I wore only this two-piece clothing even in freezing winter. When we trust nature, cold and heat do not bother us. There are documentaries recorded by

scientists showing how Tibetan Lamas pass an initiation test. They wrap themselves in wet clothes and sit in the freezing snow. They pass their test if they are able to dry their wet clothing by the heat generated through their meditation. They use meditation techniques to accomplish this; however, that is only part of the reason. The major reason is their trust in nature.

Pain and pleasure are part of our conditioning. During my parivarajaka days, I happened to visit a village in Central India. I came across a strange characteristic in the lives of women there: painless delivery. The women used to enter huts specially built for that purpose. There were no cries and no shrieks. They went in alone, needed no help and simply came out smiling with a baby. I was surprised! When I asked an elder how it was that they had no pain and did not need a doctor or midwife, he did not understand my question. ‘Pain?’ he asked, ‘What pain? Why should women feel pain at childbirth? It is a celebration.’

We create pain and pleasure through association, through conditioning. We create greed and fear through association. Our samskaras, our conditioned memories, create pain and pleasure.

Light and darkness, good and bad, right and wrong are based on conditioning. Our conditioning, the civilized education and refinement tells us that a person dressed in a particular manner is acceptable in society and another dressed differently is not. When such a statement is made by a global figure, such as Churchill calling Gandhi, a half-naked fakir, many people take exception. But most people

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Unless you can be blissful in a situation that ordinarily creates misery, you are not a blissful person yet. Unless you can be in heaven even in hell, you have not arrived home. Much more still needs to be done.

There is an ancient parable. An enlightened Master is asked at the gate of heaven when he is asked, 'Where would you like to go?' He immediately says, 'To hell.'

The gatekeeper is puzzled and confused. He says, 'You are the first person in millions of years who has asked to go to hell. Are you crazy? Why do you want to go to hell?'

The Master said, 'I know that I can be in heaven anywhere. Heaven is in my heart. I have lived in the world. I was always in heaven. I have not lived in hell. Send me anywhere and I will still be in heaven. Wherever I am, heaven is there.'

That is a true, authentic achievement. Otherwise, you only live cheerfully and blissfully when the situation permits, allows, helps and nourishes you.

Live in the world, in the valley, with a song in your heart. Live in the valleys of the world but remain unaffected, untouched and uncontaminated by all that exists there. It is possible. It is the greatest miracle and joy when it happens because then you have transcended all outer situations. And transcendence is the ultimate goal of seekers.

Bliss is also love and love is another name for life, another name for Existence, another name for God. The more the understanding grows, the higher love soars. Love moves higher on the wings of understanding, on the wings of awareness and meditation.

Love plus meditation equals the true seeker’s path. Make your love more and more meditative, wherever it is, and meditation will take it upwards.

A small story:

Two beggars lived in a forest. One man had no legs and the other man had no eyes. One day a great fire broke out. The man without the legs could see; however, he could not move. He could see how to escape, but he could not escape. The other man could move, but he was unable to escape without seeing where to go.

Both men would have died if they had tried to escape on their own. They joined together. The blind man took the other beggar on his shoulders. Collectively, they had two eyes and two legs.

That’s exactly the situation of man: without love you don’t have energy to move. Without meditation you don’t have a vision or any insight. With love plus meditation, you have both: you have energy to soar and you know where, how and when.

Our bodies die. However, we are neither born nor can we die. We are eternal. To know this is to be free from fear. It cannot be just a belief. Millions of people believe that they are immortal. They believe out of fear. They

fear death. They want to be immortal. Hence they believe in it. But they don’t know and the fear and doubt persists deep down inside. At the moment of death, belief won’t help them. Doubt will explode. They will die in doubt, and to die in doubt is to miss the whole point. It is not a question of belief. It must be an understanding.

Meditation is the way to know it. It opens the doors of eternity, timelessness. In the beginning of our meditation practice, time disappears for a few moments. Then we experience more and more of ‘time disappearing’, then more and more. One day suddenly we are surprised: hours have passed; yet it is as if the inner clock has stopped. There is no time movement inside. When we can transcend time, we have transcended death. Time brings death. It is time that brings birth.

There is a Sanskrit word for both time and death: kala. Going beyond time is to go beyond death. This is a great understanding. Meditation leads us beyond time.

Let it become our experience. We don’t need to believe. There are enough believers in the world: Christians, Hindus and Muslims. We need people who know. Those will be the harbingers of a new humanity. These are the people with understanding. They don’t believe in God. They understand and know God.

Bliss is a phenomenon that cannot be hidden. It is fire. It is flame. We cannot hide it. Bliss shines forth. It is impossible to hide it.

Secret traditions advise people to 'hide it'. This is because if our bliss is known in some cultures, countries or traditions, we will be in danger. These cultures killed people because they were joyous. In their utter joy and divine madness, they said things that opposed the dead scriptures. They went against tradition and conformity.

In great joy a Sufi Master declared, 'I am God.' He wanted to share it. His Master warned him to keep his mouth shut and not to utter a word. This man promised, yet moments came when he would shout, 'I am God.' And not only would he shout, his whole being would shout. Each fiber of his body would shout! He was so full of light. He was killed, murdered.

Miserable people cannot tolerate a blissful person. It hurts to see somebody blissful. It creates jealousy. It hurts their ego. So Sufis learned to hide it. So have others. Ultimately it is impossible to hide. Bliss is a luminous phenomenon.

Misery is dark; bliss is bright. Misery is a light unmanifest, a candle unlit; bliss is a candle lit. How can we hide it? It is impossible. Of course we have not yet created a society that loves these Masters without judgment. We have not been able to create a society that appreciates blissful people. However, even if we lose our life letting our whole being declare the ultimate truth and joy of Existence, it is worth it.

Man looks small. He is not. He is like a small seed that can grow into a big tree. And a single seed can fill the whole earth with greenery. A single seed almost

contains infinity. Like that, man is a seed of Divine love and that seed can become a vast continent. And unless it does, we are never contented. Unless we become pure love with no desire to gain anything except the joy of sharing, we are unfulfilled. Only by becoming total and absolute love, does life come to its ultimate peak. That peak is called God, paradise, and nirvana.

We must grow towards more and more love. No other prayer is needed, no other scripture is needed and no other discipline is needed. Love is more than any scripture or discipline. It brings its own order; it turns our chaos into a cosmos.

Trust in love because love is the foundation of all transformation. Love makes us content. People live in discontentment. To live in discontentment is to live in complaints, grumbling and always asking for more and more. To live a discontented life means to live in desire, and desires are unquenchable. One’s life becomes a long tragedy. It is a long series of failures and frustrations, a desert where nothing grows and nothing flowers.

Man can live in desire or in no-desire. Seeking means starting and is a path of no-desire. Seeking means whatever is, is more than enough. One is thankful for whatever is. One does not ask for more. On the contrary, one is grateful because so much has been given. And one is unworthy of it. When we see what has already been given to us, we are surprised. We don’t deserve it. We don’t deserve life. We don’t deserve love. We don’t deserve joy.

So much has been given, unasked. Feel grateful for it. That is the way of contentment. Contentment is being thankful towards Existence and in that thankfulness much more keeps coming to us. It is a paradox of life that we desire and nothing happens except frustration; we don't desire and everything happens. We become entitled to miracles.

Remember that this single word 'contentment' contains the whole of spirituality. It comes out of wisdom. Contentment does not come out of knowledge. It comes out of knowing and experience. It is not based upon other authorities. It is rooted in our own vision and direct experience.

Knowledge is cheap: we can collect as much as we want. All we need is a good memory. This is not difficult. Memory can be trained and made more skillful. However memory will not transform us. It has its use in day-to-day affairs and in scientific work. Yet it is useless as far as our subjectivity is concerned.

The inner journey needs to be without any burden of knowledge. One must go inwards like an innocent child. The less we know the better. If we don't know anything, that's the best. That's what Socrates says, 'I know only one thing: I know nothing.'

The moment one turns in, is the turning point. That is the moment one becomes wise. That is the moment one starts experiencing life. Otherwise words, theories, and philosophies go on interpreting life for us and don't allow

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the gunas, is Brahman, the ultimate Cosmic Consciousness. He says you reach this through devotion. He says that He is that Brahman, the Source of eternal bliss.

Krishna speaks as Parabrahma Krishna, the energy state and not as Vasudeva Krishna the material state. He is in the expanded Consciousness of Brahman, and beyond the three gunas. He is the Source of the gunas.

What is the difference between the Parabrahma Krishna and Vasudeva Krishna, the difference between the Ultimate Consciousness and the son of Vasudeva? In the case of an ordinary human being, even though he has the potential of divinity, he has not realized it. So he is different. That is the difference between you and an enlightened Master. Both of you are Divine to the same extent. Yet you are unaware of your divinity, whereas the enlightened Master is fully aware.

In the case of Krishna, that is not true. He is the Master. Why then the difference? The difference is not with Him. It is with us. The frequency of the Parabrahma Krishna is not visible to and approachable by mortals. That is why Arjuna had to be given the Divine vision to perceive Parabrahma Rupa, the Cosmic Form of Krishna. Even Arjuna, His closest mortal friend, His mirror as the human, the nara of the Narayana, could not perceive Him in that Cosmic Form until he was permitted.

In order for humans to perceive Him and interact with Him, Parabrahma Krishna must become Vasudeva Krishna. To a certain extent He must subject Himself to the play of the gunas.

When an enlightened being has merged with the universal energy and incarnates in human form, that incarnation must have some guna injected into it. Let us use an analogy here. We cannot make jewelry out of gold when it is completely pure, or 24-carat purity. We must add some impurity such as copper to reduce it to 22 or 18 carat. Similarly when an enlightened being enters planet Earth he must be infused with some sattva guna in order to take human form. Within some time, this sattva guna also disappears leaving the being beyond the three gunas and once again in an enlightened state.

Each enlightened Master is unique in his expression of his experience as the Divine. Some express experiences and some don’t. Our scriptures say that if two enlightened Masters say the same thing, one is a fake. Each Master is unique in his or her expression. The experience is the same, yet the expression is different.

Krishna is different from Rama, Buddha and Christ. Each has the same theme of compassion, yet the way compassion is expressed is different. Buddha expressed it as contemplation and Krishna in joyous abandon. So we choose a Master based upon how we vibrate to his expression. If our path is devotion, we gravitate to Krishna; He is lovable. If we are the meditative type, we go to Shiva, the ultimate Master who taught in silence.

It does not matter who our Master is. What matters is our faith, trust and the attitude of surrender. Our Master can be an unenlightened being. If we trust him, we will be enlightened, even though he may not be. What

matters more is our attitude and approach, our guna, and not the Master's state. Even if we worship a stone and surrender to it, imagining it to be our ultimate savior, we will be liberated. It is true.

The faith and the surrender help us transcend the nature of all activities. We surrender the result of our actions to that Master, whomsoever he may be, whomsoever it may be. We do everything contemplating that Master and surrender it all at his feet. That attitude alone liberates us. This is what Krishna means by devotion. Nothing more is needed. Krishna is not talking about the flute-playing, yellow-robed Krishna. Anyone that we surrender to totally is Krishna and we then fall into Krishna Consciousness.

Let us pray to Parabrahma Krishna, universal Consciousness, the Ultimate Energy to give us all this understanding in our life, to make us experience the truth that He teaches and to let Him establish us in and make us radiate eternal bliss, nithyananda.

Q: You referred to biological evidence that links our behavior with our cellular formation. Can you please elaborate this point?

Modern science knows there is constant regeneration of cells within our body-mind system. We die everyday. Our body-mind system is estimated to have over 60 trillion cells. Billions of cells die everyday and new cells are born. This process goes on as long as we live. Once every two years or so, all the cells in our body get

replaced by new cells. This means that once every two years we are completely reborn.

Since this is a scientifically established fact, why is that the miseries of our old cells get carried into the new cells? Why do our diseases continue after the cells die? What is the connecting link? Science does not have an answer. Yet interesting experiments show the path.

Let us say that you take a blood sample and you separate out some cells. From those cells, you extracted the DNA and keep it outside your body. Experiments have shown that when you react with emotions and release hormones, the DNA in the dish that is separate from your body releases the same hormones. If you become angry and release adrenalin inside you, the DNA outside releases the same adrenalin. If you become fearful, your DNA that is outside releases the same fear hormones. These dishes with the DNA were placed a few miles away and the same results happened.

In another set of experiments, scientists exposed the DNA samples to various emotions. I have spoken elsewhere about Masaru Emoto’s book, Hidden Messages from Water. This Japanese scientist showed that water samples showed significant change in their molecular structure when exposed to human emotions. These experiments are also shown in the movie, ‘What the Bleep Do You Know?’

Here, DNA samples were exposed to emotions. Scientists found that positive emotions made the DNA grow and negative emotions made it shrink. When

treated with love, even the DNA of people affected with HIV and cancer showed improvement and resistance to further deterioration.

Another set of experiments involved fundamental light particles called photons. A photon placed in a vacuum chamber tended to move around randomly. When a DNA sample was introduced into that chamber, the photon started revolving around the DNA. It was as if this elemental particle detected another element of higher consciousness and obeyed it by rotating around it, in the same manner as planets rotate around the sun.

Even stranger was that when the DNA sample was removed from the vacuum chamber, the photon continued to rotate in the same orbit that it followed when the DNA was inside the chamber. It was as if the energy of the DNA stayed on even though the DNA was physically removed.

Scientists are making baby steps in understanding what the Vedic scriptures established five thousand years ago. The Vedas speak about the energy field that is imperishable even when matter is destroyed. They describe the mindset that as an energy form continues across death into a new body. They explain how this energy influences our behavior beyond time and space.

Samskaras are energy. They can be positive or negative energy. As long as the samskaras continue, they influence the material nature of the body-mind system. Even if the cells die and new cells are reborn, as long as the energy of the old cells is not transformed, new cells will be influenced and affected. Cancers and ailments continue.

This is why we place so much emphasis in training you to understand samskaras and in teaching techniques that help dissolve samskaras in our Life Bliss Programs. You may think it is a tall claim, but these techniques transform your DNA. They transform the energy behind your genes so that new cells are no longer affected by the negativities of the old cells.

Thus ends the fourteenth chapter named Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga, 'Three Gunas of Nature' of the Upanishad of the Bhagavad Gita, the scripture of Yoga, dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna.

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Several institutions have conducted experiments using scientific and statistically supported techniques to verify the truth behind the Bhagavad Gita. Notable amongst them is the work carried out by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whose findings are published through Maharishi Ved Vigyan Vishwa Vidyapeetam.

Studies conducted using meditation techniques related to truths expressed in the verses of the Bhagavad Gita have shown that the quality of life is significantly improved through meditation. These studies have found that meditators experience a greater sense of peace resulting in a reduced tendency towards conflict.

Meditators gain greater respect for and appreciation of others. Their own inner fulfilment increases resulting in improved self-respect and self-reliance, leading to Self Actualization.

One's ability to focus along with brain function integration is enhanced. These have resulted in greater comprehension, creativity, faster response time in decision-making and superior psychomotor coordination.

Stress levels have been shown to decrease with enhanced sensory perception and overall health. The tendency towards depression has been clearly shown to decrease.

There is enough evidence to show that as a result of meditation, individuals gain a better ethical lifestyle that in turn improves their interaction with others in the community, resulting in less conflict and crime. Group meditation of 7000 people (square root of 1% of world population at the time of the study) was significantly correlated to a reduction in conflict worldwide.

Meditation leads to higher levels of consciousness. Through the research tools of Applied Kinesiology, Dr. David Hawkins (author of the book Power vs. Force) and others have shown that human consciousness has risen in the last few decades, crossing a critical milestone for the first time in human history. Dr. Hawkins’ research also documents that the Bhagavad Gita is at the very highest level of Truth conveyed to humanity.

We acknowledge with gratitude the work done by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi institutions and Dr. David Hawkins in establishing the truth of this great scripture.

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Bhagava(a)n: literally God; often used for an enlightened master

Bha(a)vana: visualization

Bhakti: devotion; bhakta, a devotee

Brahma: the Creator; one of the Hindu trinity of supreme Gods, the other two being Vishnu, and Shiva

Brahmacha(a)ri: literally one who moves with the true reality, Brahman, one without fantasies, but usually taken to mean a celibate; brahmacharya is the quality or state of being a brahmachaari

Brahman: ultimate reality of the Divine, universal ntelligent energy

Bra(a)hman: person belonging to the class engaged in Vedic studies, priestly class

Buddhi: mind, intelligence; mind is also called by other names, manas, chitta etc.

Buddhu: a fool

Chakra: literally a 'wheel'; refers to energy centres in the mind-body system

Chakshu: eye, intelligent power behind senses

Chanda(a)la: an untouchable; usually one who skins animals.

Chandana: sandalwood

Chitta: mind; also manas, buddhi.

Dakshina(a)yana: Sun's southward movement starting 21st June

Darshan: vision; usually referred to seeing divinity

Dharma: righteousness

Dhee: wisdom.

Deeksha: grace bestowed by the Master and the energy transferred by the Master onto disciple at initiation or any other time, may be through a mantra, a touch, a glance or even a thought

Dosha: defect

Dhya(a)na: meditation

Drishti: sight, seeing with mental eye

Gada: weapon; similar to a mace; also Gada(a)yudha

Gopi, Gopika: literally a cowherd; usually referred to the devotees, who played with Krishna, and were lost in Him

Gopura, gopuram: temple tower

Grihasta: a householder, a married person; coming from the word griha, meaning house

Guna: the three human behavioural characteristics or predispositions; satva, rajas and tamas

Guru: Master; literally one who leads from gu (darkness) to ru (light)

Gurukul, Gurukulam: literally 'tradition of guru', refers to the ancient education system in which children were handed over to a guru at a very young age by parents for upbringing and education

Homa: ritual to Agni, the God of fire; metaphorically represents the transfer of energy from the energy of A(a)ka(a)sa (space), through V(a)ayu (Air), Agni (Fire),

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Kriya: action

Kshana: moment in time; refers to time between two thoughts

Kshatriya: caste or varna of warriors

Kundalini: energy that resides at the root chakra 'mula(a)dha(a)ra' (pronounced as moolaadha(a)ra)

Maha(a): great; as in maharshi, great sage; maha(a)va(a)kya, great scriptural saying

Ma(a)la: a garland, a necklace; rudra(a)ksha mala is a garland made of the seeds of the rudra(a)ksha tree

Mananam: thinking, meditation

Manas: mind; also buddhi, chitta

Mandir: temple

Mangala: auspicious; mangal sutra, literally auspicious thread, the yellow or gold thread or necklace a married Hindu woman wears

Mantra: a sound, a formula; sometimes a word or a set of words, which because of their inherent sounds, have energizing properties. Mantras are used as sacred chants to worship the Divine; mantra, tantra and yantrā are approaches in spiritual evolution

Ma(a)ya: that which is not, not reality, illusion; all life is ma(a)ya according to advaita

Moksha: liberation; same as nirva(a)na, sama(a)dhi, turiya etc.

Mula(a)dha(a)ra: the first energy centre, moola is root; a(a)dhara is foundation, here existence

Nadi: river

Naadi: nerve; also an energy pathway that is not physical

Na(a)ga: a snake; a na(a)ga-sa(a)dhu is an ascetic belonging to a group that wears no clothes

Namaska(a)r: traditional greeting with raised hands, with palms closed

Na(a)nta: without end

Na(a)ri: woman

Nidhidhy(a)asan: what is expressed

Nimitta: reason; nimitta-dosha, defect based on reason

Nirva(a)na: liberation; same as moksha, sama(a)dhi

Niyama: the second of eight paths of Patanjali’s Ashta(a)nga Yoga; refers to a number of day-to-day rules of observance for a spiritual path

Pa(a)pa: sin

Phala: fruit; phalasruti refers to result of worship

Paramahamsa: literally the ‘supreme swan’; refers to an enlightened being

Parikrama: the ritual of going around a holy location, such as a hill or water spot

Parivra(a)jaka: wandering by an ascetic monk

Pingala: please see Ida.

Pra(a)na: life energy; also refers to breath; pra(a)na(a)ya(a)ma is control of breath

Pratya(a)hara: literally ‘staying away from food’; in this

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Sakti: energy; intelligent energy; Para(a)sakti refers to universal energy, divinity; considered feminine; masculine aspect of Para(a)sakti is purusha

Sama(a)dhi: state of no-mind, no-thoughts; literally, becoming one's original state; liberated, enlightened state. Three levels of samadhi are referred to as sahaja, which is transient, savikalpa, in which the person is no longer capable of normal activities, and nirvikalpa, where the liberated person performs activities as before.

Samsaya: doubt

Samska(a)ra: embedded memories of unfulfilled desires stored in the subconscious that drive one into decisions, into karmic action

Samyama: complete concentration

Sankalpa: decision

Sanya(a)s: giving up worldly life; sanya(a)si or sanya(a)sin, a monk, an ascetic

sanya(a)sini, refers to a female monk

Sa(a)stra: sacred texts

Satva, sa(a)tvic: the highest guna of spiritual calmness

Siddhi: extraordinary powers attained through spiritual practice

Sishya: disciple

Simha: lion; Simha-Swapna: nightmare

Shiva: rejuvenator in the trinity; often spelt as Shiva. Shiva also means 'causeless auspiciousness'; in this sense,

Shivara(a)tri, the day when Shiva is worshipped is that moment when the power of this causeless auspiciousness is intense

Smarana: remembrance; constantly remembering the divine

Smruti: literally 'that which is remembered'; refers to later day Hindu works which are rules, regulations, laws and epics, such as Manu's works, Puranas etc.

Sraddha: trust, faith, belief, confidence

Sravan: hearing

Srishti: creation, which is created

Sruti: literally 'that which is heard'; refers to the ancient scriptures of Veda, Upanishad and

Bhagavad Gita: considered to be words of God

Stotra: devotional verses, to be recited or sung

Sudra: caste or varna of manual labourers

Sutra: literally 'thread'; refers to epigrams, short verses which impart spiritual techniques

Sunya: literally zero; however, Buddha uses this word to mean reality

Sushumna: Please see 'ida'

Swa(a)dishtha(a)na: where Self is established; the groin or spleen energy centre

Swapna: dream

Swatantra: free

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Ashta(a)nga Yoga; refers to spiritual regulations of satya (truth), ahimsa (non violence), aparigraha (living simply); asteya (not coveting other's properties) and brahmacharya (giving up fantasies); yama is also the name of the Hindu God of justice and death

Yantra: literally 'tool'; usually a mystical and powerful graphic diagram, such as the Sri Chakra, inscribed on a copper plate, and sanctified in a ritual blessed by a divine presence or an enlightened Master

Yoga: literally union, union of the individual self and the divine SELF; often taken to mean Hatha yoga, which is one of the components of yogasana, relating to specific body postures

Yuga: a long period of time as defined in Hindu scriptures; there are four yugas: satya, treta, dwa(a)para and kali, the present being kali yuga

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ॐ पाठाय प्रतिवोधितां भगवता नारायणेन स्वयं व्यासेन ग्रथितं पुराणमुनिना मध्ये महाभारत अद्वैतामृतवर्षिणीं भगवतीं अष्टादशाध्यायिनीं अम्व त्वामनुसन्दधामि भगवद्गीते भवद्वेशिनिं

OM, I meditate upon you, Bhagavad Gita the affectionate Mother, the Divine Mother showering the nectar of non duality and destroying rebirth, (who was) incorporated into the Mahaabhaarata of eighteen chapters by sage Vyasa, the author of the Puraanaas, and imparted to Arjuna by Lord Narayana, Himself.

वसुदेवसुतं देवं कम्सचाणूरमर्दनम् देवकीपरमानन्दं कृष्णं वन्दे जगद्गुरुं

I salute you Lord Krishna, Teacher to the world, son of Vasudeva and Supreme bliss of Devaki, Destroyer of Kamsa and Chaanura.

श्री भगवानुवाच

परं भूयः प्रवक्ष्यामि ज्ञानानां ज्ञानमुत्तमम्‌।

यज्ज्ञात्वा मुनयः सर्वे परां सिद्धिमितो गताः॥ १४.१ ॥

sri-bhagavan uvaca: Krishna said; param: supreme; bhuyah: again; pravaksyami: I shall speak; jnananam: of all knowledge; jnanam: knowledge; uttamam: the supreme; yat: which; jnatva: knowing; munayah: the sages; sarve: all; param: supreme; siddhim: perfection; itah: from this world; gatah: attained.

14.1 Krishna says, 'I will declare to you again the supreme wisdom, The knowledge of which has helped all sages attain supreme perfection.'

इदं ज्ञानमुपाश्रित्य मम साधर्म्यमागताः।

सर्गेऽपि नोपजायन्ते प्रलये न व्यथन्ति च॥ १४.२ ॥

idam jnanam upasritya mama sadharimyam agatah sarge 'pi nopajayante pralaye na vyathanti ca

मम योनिर्महद्ब्रह्म तस्मिन् गर्भं दधाम्यहम्। संभवः सर्वभूतानां ततो भवति भारत॥१४.३॥

सर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय मूर्तयः सम्भवन्ति याः। तासां ब्रह्म महद्योनिरहं बीजप्रदः पिता॥१४.४॥

sarva-yonisu: in all species of life; kaunteya: O son of Kunti; murtayah: forms; sambhavanti: as they appear; yah: which; tasam: all of them; brahma: supreme; mahat yonih: the source of birth in the material substance; aham: Myself; bija-pradah: seed-giving; pita: father.

सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसंभवाः। निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम्॥१४.५॥

satvam: mode of goodness; rajah: mode of passion; tamah: mode of ignorance; iti: thus; gunah: qualities; prakriti sambhava: born of material nature; nibadhnanti: do condition; mahabah: O mighty-armed one; dehe: in this body; dehinam: the embodied; avyayam: the eternal.

prakrti: material nature; sambhavah: produced of; nibadhnanti: does condition; maha-baho: O mighty-armed one; dehe: in this body; dehinam: the living entity; avyayam: eternal.

14.5 Material nature consists of the three modes—goodness, passion and ignorance. When the living entity comes in contact with nature, it becomes conditioned by these modes.

तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात्प्रकाशकमनामयम्‌ । सुखसङ्गेन बध्नाति ज्ञानसङ्गेन चानघ ॥ १४.६ ॥

TatraSatvam Nirmalaatva Prakash Sakamanaamayam Suka sange na badnathi Gyana sange na chanagha 14.6

tatra: thereafter; satvam: mode of goodness; nirmalatvat: being purest in the material world; prakasakam: illuminating; anamayam: without any sinful reaction; sukha: happiness; sangena: association; badhnati: conditions; jnana: knowledge; sangena: association; ca: also; anagha: O sinless one.

14.6 O Sinless One, the mode of goodness, satva, being purer than the others, is illuminating, and it frees one from all sinful reactions. Those situated in that mode develop knowledge, but they become conditioned by the concept of happiness.

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14.8 Know, O Arjuna, that the mode of ignorance, tamas, the deluder of the living entity is born of inertia. Tamas binds the living entity by carelessness, laziness, and excessive sleep.

सत्त्वं सुखे सञ्जयति रजः कर्मणि भारत। ज्ञानमावृत्य तु तमः प्रमादे सञ्जयत्युत।।१४.९।।

satvam sukhe sanjayati rajah karmani bharata jnanam avrtya tu tamah pramade sanjayaty uta 14.9

satvam: mode of goodness; sukhe: in happiness; sanjayati: develops; rajah: mode of passion; karmani: fruits of activities; bharata: O son of Bharata; jnanam: knowledge; avrtya: covering; tu: but; tamah: the mode of ignorance; pramade: in madness; sanjayati: develops; uta: it is said.

14.9 The mode of goodness conditions one to happiness,Passion conditions him to fruits of action, and ignorance to madness.

रजस्तमश्चाभिभूय सत्त्वं भवति भारत। रजः सत्त्वं तमश्चैव तमः सत्त्वं रजस्तथा।।१४.१०।।

rajas tamas cabhibhuya satvam bhavati bharata rajah satvam tamas caiva tamah satvam rajas tatha 14.10

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14.13 O son of Kuru, when there is an increase in the mode of ignorance, Madness, illusion, inertia and darkness are manifested.

यदा सत्त्वे प्रवृद्धे तु प्रलयं याति देहभृत्।

तदोत्तमविदां लोकानमलान्प्रतिपद्यते ॥१४.१४॥

yada sattve pravrddhe tu pralayam yati deha-bhrt

tadottama-vidam lokan amalan pratipadyate 14.14

yada: when; sattve: mode of goodness; pravrddhe: in development; tu: but; pralayam: dissolution; yati: goes; deha-bhrt: embodied; tada: at that time; uttama-vidam: of the great sages; lokan: the planets; amalan: pure; pratipadyate: attains.

14.14 When one dies in the mode of goodness, He goes where the realized souls are.

रजसि प्रलयं गत्वा कर्मसङ्गिषु जायते।

तथा प्रलीनस्तमसि मूढयोनिषु जायते ॥१४.१५॥

rajasi pralayam gatva karma-sangisu jayate

tatha pralinas tamasi mudha-yonisu jayate 14.15

rajasi: in passion; pralayam: dissolution; gatva: attaining; karmasangisu: in the pursuit of activities; jayate: takes birth; tatha: likewise; pralinas: having dissolved; tamasi: in darkness; mudha-yonisu: among the deluded species; jayate: takes birth.

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कर्मणः सुकृतस्याहुः सात्त्विकं निर्मलं फलम्। रजसस्तु फलं दुःखमज्ञानं तमसः फलम्॥ १४.१६ ॥

14.16 By acting in the mode of goodness, one becomes purified. Works done in the mode of passion results in distress, and actions performed in the mode of ignorance result in foolishness.

सत्त्वात्सञ्जायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च। प्रमादमोहौ तमसो भवतोऽज्ञानमेव च॥ १४.१७ ॥

satvat sanjayate jnanam rajaso lobha eva ca pramada-mohau tamaso bhavato 'jnanam eva ca

urdhrvaṃ gacchanti sattvasthā madhyre tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ | jaghanya-guṇavrtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ ||

नान्यं गुणेभ्यः कर्तारं यदा द्रष्टानुपश्यति । गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेत्ति मद्भावं सोऽधिगच्छति ॥१४.१९॥

na: never; anyam: other than; gunebhyah: from the qualities; kartaram: the performer; yada: when; drasta anupasyati: he who sees properly; gunebhyah ca: from the modes of nature; param: transcendental; vetti: know; mat-bhavam: My spiritual nature; sah: he; adhigacchati: is promoted.

14.19 When we see that there is nothing beyond these modes of nature in all activities and that the Supreme Lord is transcendental to all these modes, then we can know My spiritual nature.

गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्देही देहसमुद्भवान् । जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैर्विमुक्तोऽमृतमश्नुते ॥ १४.२० ॥

gunan: qualities; etan: all these; atitya: transcending; trin: three; dehi: embodied; deha: body; samudbhavan: produced of; janma: birth; mrtyu: death; jara: old age; duhkhaih: distresses; vimuktah: being freed from; amrtam: nectar; asnute: enjoys.

14.20 When the embodied being is able to transcend these three modes, he can become free from birth, death, old age and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life.

अर्जुन उवाच

कैर्लिंगैस्त्रीनगुणानेतानतीतो भवति प्रभो।

किमाचारं कथं चैतांस्त्रीनगुणानतिवर्तते॥१४.२१॥

arjuna uvaca

kair lingais trin gunan etan atito bhavati prabho

kim acarah katham caitams trin gunan ativartate 14.21

arjunaḥ uvāca: Arjuna said; kaiḥ: by which; lingaiḥ: symptoms; trin: three; gunan: qualities; etan: all this; atitaḥ: having transcended; bhavati: become; prabho: my Lord; kim: what; ācaraḥ: behavior; katham: what; ca: also; etān: these; trin: three; gunan: qualities; ativartate: transcend.

14.21 Arjuna inquired: O my Lord, by what symptoms is one known who is transcendental to those modes? What is his behavior? And how does he transcend the modes of nature?

श्री भगवानुवाच

प्रकाशं च प्रवृत्तिं च मोहमेव च पाण्डव।

न द्वेष्टि सम्प्रवृत्तानि न निवृत्तानि काड्क्षति।।१४.२२।।

sri bhagavan uvaca

prakasam ca pravrttim ca moham eva ca pandava

na dvesti sampravrttani na nivrttani kanksati 14.22

sri-bhagavan uvaca: the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; prakasam ca: and illumination; pravrttim ca: and attachment; moham: illusion; eva ca: also; pandava: O son of Pandu; na dvesti: does not hate; sampravrttani: although developed; na nivrttani: nor stop development; kanksati: desires;

उदासीनवदासीनो गुणैर्यो न विचाल्यते।

गुणा वर्तन्त इत्येव योऽवतिष्ठति नेङ्गते।।१४.२३।।

udasina-vad asino gunair yo na vicalyate

guna vartanta ity evam yo 'vatisthati nengate 14.23

udasina-vat: as if neutral; asinah: situated; gunaih: by the qualities; yah: one who; na: never; vicalyate: is agitated; gunah: the qualities; vartante: is situated; iti evam: knowing thus; yah: one who; avatisthati: remains; na: never; ingate: flickering;

समदुःखसुखः स्वस्थः समलोष्टाश्मकाञ्चनः । तुल्यप्रियाप्रिययो धीरस्तुल्यनिन्दात्मसंस्तुतिः ॥ १४.२४ ॥

sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ sva-sthaḥ sama-loṣṭāśma-kancanaḥ tulya-priyāpriyo dhīras tulya-nindātm-samstutiḥ 14.24

sama: equal; duḥkha: in distress; sukhaḥ: in happiness; sva-sthaḥ: being situated himself; sama: equally; loṣṭa: a lump of earth; aśma: stone; kancanaḥ: gold; tulya: equally disposed; priya: dear; apriyaḥ: undesirable; dhīraḥ: steady; tulya: equally; nindā: in defamation; ātma-samstutiḥ: in praise of himself;

मानापमानयोरस्तुल्यस्तुल्यो मित्रारिपक्षयोः । सर्वारम्भपरित्यागी गुणातीतः स उच्यते ॥ १४.२५ ॥

manāpamanayos tulyas tulyo mitrāri-pakṣayoḥ sarvārambha-parityāgī gunātītaḥ sa ucyate 14.25

mana: in honor; apamaanyoh: dishonor; tulyaḥ: equally; mitra: friend; ari: enemy; pakṣayoḥ: in parties; sarva: all; arambha: endeavor; parityāgī: renouncer; guṇa-atītaḥ: transcendental to the material modes of nature; saḥ: he; ucyate: is said to be.

14.22,23,24,25 The Blessed Lord said: He who does not hate illumination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one unconcerned, being situated

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beyond these material reactions of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the modes alone are active;

He who regards alike pleasure and pain, and looks on a lump of earth, a stone and a piece of gold with an equal eye; who is wise and holds praise and blame to be the same; who is unchanged in honor and dishonor, who treats friend and foe alike, who has abandoned all result based undertakings – such a man is said to have transcended the modes of nature.

मां च योऽव्यभिचारेण भक्तियोगेन सेवते। स गुणान्समतीत्यैतान् ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते ॥ १४.२६ ॥

mam ca yo 'vyabhicarena bhakti-yogena sevate sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate 14.26

mam: unto Me; ca: also; yah: person; avyabhicarena: without fail; bhakti-yogena: by devotional service; sevate: renders service; sah: he; gunan: all the modes of material nature; samatitya: transcending; etan: all this; brahma-bhuyaya: to be elevated to the Brahman platform; kalpate: is considered.

14.26 One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.

ब्रह्मणो हि प्रतिष्ठाडहममृतस्याव्ययस्य च। शाश्वतस्य च धर्मस्य सुखस्यैकान्तिकस्य च॥१४.२७॥

brahmano hi pratisthaham amrtasyavyayasya ca sasvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikantikasyaca 14.27

brahmanah: of the impersonal brahmajyoti; hi: certainly; pratistha: the rest; aham: I am; amrtasya: of the immortal; avyayasya: of the imperishable; ca: also; sasvatasya: of the eternal; ca: and; dharmasya: of the rightful state; sukhasya: happiness; aikantikasya: ultimate; ca: also.

14.27 And I am the basis of impersonal Brahman, which is the rightful state of ultimate happiness, and which is immortal, imperishable and eternal.

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