1. isbn 979-8-88572-037-3

Content: Bhagavad Gita commentary by Nithyananda The Art of heaving

Content: Bhagavad Gita

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Akṣarabraḥma Yogaḥ

Content: BhagavadGītā The Art Of Leaving Akṣarabraḥma Yogaḥ Chapter 8 Death is our ultimate fear. Anyone who claims not to be disturbed by the thought of death is only lying. Nithyananda answers all the questions you have been afraid to even ask!

Chapter Name: The Art of Leaving

Content: In this chapter, Krṣṇa speaks about death. He gives us an insight into how death can become liberation and celebration. Death is the end of life as we understand it or don't understand it! The moment we understand it, it becomes a liberation and celebration.

Chapter Name: Death is a celebration!

Content: Death is not the end of life. It is the climax of life. End is different from climax. The moment we think that death is the end, we try to figure out what happens next. We start worrying about death. The shadow of death happens even when we live.

Content: A person who does not understand death dies even when he is alive. A person who understands death lives even when he dies. Death or life depend on our intelligence. When we have clear intelligence, we live our death. When we don't know, we die even when we live.

Content: The fear of death haunts everyone from birth. All religions sprang up from this one fear, this one question: Why do we die? What happens after we die? Most religions answer in such a way that they can control us through the fear of death and the greed of escaping death. They talk about sins and merits and threaten us with hell and entice us with the promise of heaven. None of these really exists. Heaven and hell are not physical or metaphysical locations; they are merely states of our mind.

Content: Death is a passage. It is a passage in a journey that continues. We do not live and die once; we live again and again. As Krṣṇa says, the undying

Chapter Number: 8

Content: 8.1 Arjuna said: O my Lord, O supreme person, what is Brahman? What is the Self? What are result-based actions? What is this material manifestation? And what are the demigods? Please explain all this to me.

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Content: 8.2 How does this Lord of sacrifice live in the body, and in which part does He live, O Madhusūdana? How can those engaged in devotional service know You at the time of their death?

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmayogah

Content: These are two beautiful questions! Of course, when I translate them into English, much of the taste is lost! We do not have the right words in English for many beautiful words expressed by Arjuna. A single word has many meanings in Sanskrit. The moment I translate, I give only one dimension, a single dimension of the verse. An important thing we should understand about the Sanskrit language is that it is not only linguistic, but also has importance at the phonetic level. Just the vibration of the words can transform our whole inner space. The sound changes the energy of the place and the inner space of those who hear it or are chanting it. We should understand the concepts called padā and padārtha. For example, when I say the word 'cow,' immediately a figure appears in our mind - an animal with four legs, a tail, head and two horns. The word is called padā, the figure is padārtha. What happens in our mind when we hear the word is padārtha. In all languages the distance or gap between padā and padārtha is significant. In Sanskrit the connection is immediate; the result is instantaneous. That is why I tell people to listen to Sanskrit devotional verses for at least 10 minutes a day. It does not matter whether you understand it or not. Just listen to any Sanskrit verse for at least 10 minutes every day. The very energy of the vibrations will purify your body. There is something called śabda tattva, the principle of sound. When air travels from our navel area to the throat, the śabda tattva changes the air into words. If this element is not there, only air comes out; no words come out. In other languages the more we use śabda tattva, the more tired we become. However in Sanskrit, the śabda tattva strengthens us. The more we chant, the more energetic we become! It is like the generator automatically re-charging the battery and the battery running the generator. It is completely interconnected. The Sanskrit language strengthens the śabda tattva that converts air into sound or words. This is why it does not matter whether or not we

Chapter Number: 8

Content: understand it. Modern day research proves that the vibrations of the verses have the effect of removing impurities. This is why masters ask us to offer different types of worship which are the means to chant verses in Sanskrit. When we chant, we simply heal ourselves.

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Content: Here, Arjuna asks beautifully, ‘O Lord! What is Brahman? What is Self? What are result-based actions? What is this material manifestation? What are demi-gods? O Madhusūdana! How do You live in the body, and how can those engaged in devotion, those who are practicing the eternal consciousness, know You at the time of death?’ He continuously poses these questions.

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Content: I had seriously wondered how Arjuna, a kṣatriya (warrior) who ruled a kingdom, could ask the same questions again and again in different ways! Yesterday I read a version of Mahābhārata. That version says that Arjuna is also an embodiment of Kṛṣṇa: the incarnation of Narā and Nārāyaṇa. These are two different energies of Lord Viṣṇu; one manifested as Arjuna and the other as Kṛṣṇa. The whole drama happened so that the Gītā took shape for humanity! Otherwise, even the disciple with the least consciousness would not have asked so many questions, again and again.

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Content: One thing we should understand is that when we have so many questions, we are not ready to wait for answers. We are simply expressing our confusion. It is almost a catharsis. Here Arjuna asks so many questions. However, the main question is: How does a person who is engaged in practicing Your teachings know You at the time of death?

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Here starts the whole teaching of Kṛṣṇa. He reveals the secrets of death.

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Content: One thing I want to tell you: The West has spent all its energy to understand life. The East has spent all its energy to understand death. Nobody has gone so deeply into, or achieved such deep experiences of death, as our ṛṣis, sages have. These masters have done a great service by bringing the knowledge of death to the people who are living.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: People ask me, ‘Swamiji, why should I know about death? Knowing about life is enough; after all I am still young.’ The word ‘death’ creates

Chapter Name: The Art of Leaving

Content: fear in people. They are ready to listen to any other subject. However, when it comes to death, they think, 'Why should we know about death? If we know about life, it is enough.' Our understanding about death impacts our understanding about life. Life and death are two sides of the same coin. In the East, all religions talk about many births. Most Western religions talk about a single birth. This concept of reincarnation has influenced Indian society so deeply that nobody bothers about time! They are so relaxed. Till 10 o'clock in the morning, people sit in teashops! If we ask for anything, they say, 'Not today, tomorrow; if not tomorrow, next birth!' They have eternity in front of them because somewhere they know they will come again. They are in no hurry and therefore do not run behind anything. In the West, whatever they desire to achieve, they must finish achieving within 75 to 80 years. They do not have time. They either live now or never because there is only birth according to them. That is the reason why people run and run! Our understanding about death influences our whole social structure. Our whole thinking system, our whole mentality can be transformed with the right understanding about death. I gave a single example about how the idea of reincarnation influences Eastern society and how the idea of one birth influences Western society. Thousands of such examples can be given. The idea and understanding of death is much more important than the understanding of life. Whether we understand life or not, it remains the same. But the moment we understand death, the whole quality of life changes. If we experience even an intellectual understanding of death, it is enough to transform our whole way of thinking. That is why the moment we think of Yama, god of death, our whole life has yama, or discipline. The Sanskrit word yama means both 'death' and 'discipline'. For your convenience, I pronounce it a little differently; yet the spelling is the same.

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Content: 488 | BhagavadGītā Understanding of death, instills discipline The first technique of sage Patañjali in his work - Yoga Sūtra, is yama. And death is also yama. If we understand death, a strange but honest discipline will happen in our life. Why do I say 'strange but honest?' It is because discipline as we know it is hypocrisy. But the discipline that is yama is a new kind of discipline, which is strange yet totally honest. Yesterday a person asked me a question. He was well read in Bhāgavatam, the Hindu epic that describes the incarnations of Viṣṇu. He asked, 'Swamiji, Kṛṣṇa is enlightened and He was a brahmacāri, celibate; but He made love to Kubja. How is that possible?' The name Kubja can be found if we read Bhāgavatam very deeply. She is supposed to have been the maidservant of Kṛṣṇa. Somebody who had read Bhāgavatam very deeply asked this question. What he said was true. There is a record in Bhāgavatam that Kṛṣṇa lived with Kubja. Brahmacarya does not mean celibacy. I have not said that Kṛṣṇa is celibate. I said Kṛṣṇa is in the consciousness of Brahman. Here we translate the word 'brahmacarya' to mean celibate. The moment we translate it, the meaning is lost. Kṛṣṇa's inner space was totally pure, untouched. Let me tell you a small story: Once Vyāsa, the ancient sage of India attended a function. After having a feast at the function, on his way back, he came to a river which he had to cross in order to reach his monastery. He stood before the river and said, 'If I am sincere in my ekādaśi fasting, let this river give way so that I may cross over.' Ekādaśi refers to the eleventh day of the moon's cycle when normally people fast. The moment Vyāsa uttered those words, the river gave way. Vyāsa crossed it followed by his devotees and they reached the ashram. The devotees were astonished and asked, 'What is this? You enjoyed a feast just a few hours back. Yet, when you asked the river to give way on the condition that you have been sincere in your ekādaśi fast, the river gave way! How can this be?'

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmā Yogah

Content: Vyāsa replied, 'When you eat with the consciousness that you are not the body, you never feel that you are touched by food. You never feel that you are eating, digesting, living. The body ate; I do not know anything about it.' Of course, it is difficult to understand this concept. We can easily cheat ourselves with this idea. The problem with all great truths is, there is the danger of our misusing and abusing them. Take atomic energy; we can use it to serve the whole of humanity. Or we can destroy humanity with that same energy. This truth is like atomic energy; we can use it or abuse it. People ask me, 'How can I find out whether I am living in the out-of-body-consciousness or not; how can I live like Vyāsa?' Understand, when we reach the state of Vyāsa, we will not have this question. Vyāsa says he is fasting after having eaten a feast because he does not feel connected to his body. He is untouched. His inner space is so pure and filled with bliss. If we read Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahamsa's life, we will know that he did different kinds of spiritual practices. As far as I know, Rāmakṛṣṇa is the only master who has performed so much penance. He also practiced tantra sādhana, which aims at harnessing and transforming our powerful sensual energies as a means to enlightenment. An ordinary person straightaway falls if he does tantra sādhana. The greatness of Rāmakṛṣṇa was that his inner space was never touched. His inner space was so pure and filled with bliss that he completed tantra sādhana successfully. Tantra sādhana is supposed to be done with many conditions, yet he achieved and successfully completed it because his inner space was pure. Going back to the question, 'How can you say that Kṛṣṇa is a brahmacāri?' Please understand that His inner space was so pure that He was never touched by body consciousness. Let me tell you one more thing: It is not easy to live with so many women as he did, and yet survive! When a single man or woman enters our life, we understand how difficult it is to adjust and live. The other person seems to naturally create hell for

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Chapter Number: 8

Content: us. Here we see somebody living with many persons, and yet remaining blissful. This shows that His inner space was pure and radiating bliss. The person whose inner space is filled with bliss will never be touched by any impurity. The moment we understand the depth of it, we will understand this concept. A small story: A sanyāsi (monk) goes to the Indian king Janaka who is supposed to be an enlightened king and one who enjoyed both the material world and spiritual enlightenment. The sanyāsi questions him, ‘How can you say you are enlightened when you enjoy the benefits of worldly life?’ Sanyāsis are jealous of people who enjoy life! If you experience bliss within you and consciously leave the world to enter monastic life, you will never feel jealous. If you have escaped from the outer world thinking that you will find something worthwhile in the inner world, and there too the experience has not been solid, you start wondering what to do. You have neither the inner space of bliss nor the outer possessions. You are stuck. Such people console themselves by abusing householders. They say to them, ‘You are too attached to everything. You are not doing this, you are not doing that....’ That is why from time immemorial, people who took the sanyāsi life condemn the householder’s life. Have you seen a householder jealous of a swami? You will never find one. Yet I have seen hundreds of people who took sanyāsi who are jealous of householders because they feel something is missing in their own lives. So this sanyāsi asked Janaka, ‘How can you say you are enlightened and have both material and spiritual enjoyments?’ Janaka said, ‘Please stay in my palace for a few days. I will talk to you after that. Right now I am busy, a party is going on, so I cannot talk about philosophical things now!’

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahma Yogah

Content: The Art Of Leaving | 491 Accordingly, arrangements were made for the sanyāsi's food and stay. However, above his bed a sharp knife hung, suspended on a thin thread. The sanyāsi asked, 'Why do you hang this knife exactly over my head?' The palace workers said, 'We do not know, but these are our king's orders. You must sleep here.' Throughout the night the sanyāsi sat up, awake, thinking when the knife might fall on him. The next morning Janaka asked, 'O swami! How are you today? Did you sleep well?' The sanyāsi said, 'You know what you have done! Why do you then ask? How can I sleep when a knife hangs over my head? How can I think of sleeping?' Janaka laughs and says, 'When death is in front of you, your whole life changes. However, although I know death is in front of me, I am unaffected. That is the difference. Just because of one knife you are unable to enjoy the beautiful bed and all these luxuries. Yet even though all these things are there externally, my inner Self is not touched. It is pure because I know clearly that at any moment death can happen. Because I live with this moment-to-moment awareness of death, I enjoy the material world fully without getting caught in it.' That is why I said, 'Yama can make a strange, yet honest yama in your life. Death can instill a strange but honest discipline in your life.' Understand death, intellectually. Your whole thinking will change. You will not leave this place as the same person. Your being will be transformed. Kṛṣṇa starts with the secrets. He explains the secrets of death.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: 8.3 Bhagavān said: The indestructible, transcendental living entity is called Brahman and His eternal nature is called the Self. Actions pertaining to the development of the material bodies is called karma, or result based activities.

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Content: 8.4 Physical nature is known to be endlessly changing. The universe is the cosmic form of the supreme Lord, and I am that Lord represented as the super soul, dwelling in the heart of every being that dwells in a body.

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Content: 8.5 Whoever, at the time of death, quits his body remembering Me alone, attains My nature immediately. Of this there is no doubt.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: 8.6 Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, It is that state one will attain without fail.

Content: Before going into what happens at the time of death, let us understand how we assume the body, how we live through it and how we leave it. Please understand that we create our whole body out of our fear, greed, guilt and our engraved memories (saṃskāras). The problem is that once we have created the body and live our life, we do not live out only the saṃskāras that created this body. We acquire more. For example, we take $10,000 and go downtown to buy things that we need. On the way, we meet a friend with whom we go Disneyland and blow up all the money. Finally, when we go downtown to buy what we need, we are broke. Now, with the credit card we buy what we want to buy, come back and live our life just to pay credit card bills. We then feel that we do

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: not have sufficient things. We have fulfilled our friend's desires through our body using our time, money and energy. In the same way, when we came down to planet earth, we came with enough energy to work out our saṁskāras. Karma refers to the unfulfilled desires that we create over many births, which pull us back again to take birth and fulfill them. We have three types of karma - sañcita, prārabdha and āgāmya. Sañcita karma is our complete bank of unfulfilled karmas like our safety deposit or the files archived in our office vault. Prārabdha karma are those karmas that we have brought in this life, like files in filing cabinets which we access and work on regularly. Āgāmya karma are like the new files on our table that we keep creating - new karma that we create in every life. We must exhaust all three types of karmas to experience enlightenment. Sañcita karma is all that we have accumulated over many births. When we are born, we bring enough energy to exhaust this prārabdha karma. Then why do we feel that this life is not sufficient? The problem is that after coming down, we forget what we came for and accumulate more and more desires from family, friends and society. For example, if our neighbor wears a new sari, we think, 'I should also get one.' We try to work out her desire. Naturally we run short of money, energy and everything. When we live out others' desires in our life, we feel deeply discontented, because the energy that we brought with us will become insufficient. After coming down to planet earth, we forget what saṁskāras we brought and we collect more and more desires from society. So much social conditioning happens through advertisements. All advertisements make us poor. The advertisers become rich, no doubt, but we become poor. Ideas are continuously put into our head, especially advertisements that touch the mūlādhāra, the root cakra, the sex energy center. Anything related to sex appeal is recorded in our system. That is why whether it is soap or shampoo, it is promoted with the undertones of sex appeal. We automatically ask for that product when

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Content: adhibhūtam kṣaro bhāvah

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmā Yogah

Content: This physical or material nature constantly changes. Understand, because of the fluid nature of energy, it constantly moves. Change is the only certain thing. That is why everything around is temporary. We think something is permanent and hence we try to possess it.

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Content: Everything that we call matter is energy and it constantly changes. This truth was given by inner scientists or ṛṣis thousands of years ago. This truth was declared not only in the Gītā but in the Upaniṣads also. All physical matter is energy and it keeps changing. In the last verse, we talked about our desires. Why do we run behind materialistic desires? Why do we constantly operate from the mūlādhāra cakra? It is because we do not have a good understanding about the physical world. If we understand this verse, we will understand the futility of running after the fulfillment of material desires.

Content: When we look at something, we think of it as a physical object. We think we can possess it. This is where the problem lies. Our ego sees the material world as only matter, and it asks for more and more of it to keep under its control. We fail to see that it is all energy and energy cannot be kept in one place. Energy is universal. The physical object that we see is a manifestation of the universal energy.

Content: There is a wonderful movie called What the Bleep Do We Know? If you get a chance, please watch this movie. It talks about Probability Theory. We see this chair here because our mind wants to see it here. There is every possibility that this chair may not be present here. Our mind creates a high probability for its presence here. There are energy waves and these waves manifest as physical matter. When we understand this, we can understand the futility of holding onto something or running after something.

Content: One more thing, this is our pattern with people as well. We are continuously looking for someone to possess. When we have someone, we hold onto that person. If that person leaves, we feel terrible. When a close family member passes away, we feel depressed. Why?

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Content: It is because we hold onto them as if they are physical matter like the television, refrigerator, car and air conditioner. If our car meets with an accident, we feel sad. We feel that we have lost something. In the same way, when someone passes away, we feel that part of us is lost. We feel depressed.

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Content: I do not say that we should be insensitive to relationships. I mean we should stop being possessive. Understand that everything and everyone is created out of the same underlying energy. Kṛṣṇa says clearly in this verse: Everything, whether living or non-living, is an embodiment of the supreme soul. When we understand this, we see the truth that we are a part of everything around us. There is no difference between you and me, this chair and me or that tree and me. We see ourselves in everything.

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Content: When we understand this great truth, a new dimension of ourselves is revealed to us. Our compassion towards everything grows a thousandfold. By being compassionate to others, we are being compassionate to ourselves because everything is one. Please understand this great truth. This completely changes the way we perceive our desires, our fantasies. Kṛṣṇa answers all the questions with a single technique.

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Content: The secret of death

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Content: Here, Kṛṣṇa reveals the secrets of death. He says, ‘Whoever dies remembering Me alone at the time of death will attain Me at once.’ What does He mean when He says, ‘remembering Me alone?’ He says, ‘Whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.’

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Content: Why should He say the words nāstyatra samśayah? Why should He say, ‘there is no doubt?’ He emphasizes, ‘this is the truth.’ He takes an oath.

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Content: We have a meditation program lasting two days on this sūtra, called Nithyananda Spurana Program. In India we conduct it for four days. Here I do it as a two-day program because people are unable to take 4

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahma Yogah

Content: days off. Here, in America, even if God comes, He must come on the weekend! Otherwise people will say, 'Please give me your card or email me; I will get back to you.' The whole program is based on this single verse. Before starting the discourse on death, I always take the oath, 'I hereby state that whatever I say is the truth,' because there are some truths that cannot be logically expressed. You need a little patience to listen.

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Content: The big problem with our mind is that we question, refute or straightaway don't want to listen to anything not presented in a logical form. Otherwise, we hear it as one more story. It will not go into our being. We think, 'Anyhow, I have come all the way, let me sit and hear what he has to say.' We allow the speaker to speak; however, we do not listen.

Content: That is why, before I talk about death, I say, 'Hereby I promise that whatever I am going to say is pure truth. If you are interested, take it, digest it and transform your life. If you are not, it is ok; it is up to you; it is your choice.'

Content: Kṛṣṇa says nāstyatra samśayah, because He is going to speak something that is beyond logic. When we want to understand the outer world, we need logic. When we want to know about the inner world, we need a master who takes us beyond logic. Logic gives us the outer world; it cannot give us the inner world.

Content: Here Kṛṣṇa says nāstyatra samśayah: Have no doubt, what I am speaking is the truth. Please wait. Let Me finish the calculation, then you will understand. For now assume that 'X equals 2.' At the end of the calculation, you agree that X should be substituted with 2, but at the start, you need to believe the master's word and patiently wait until he works it out and shows you.

Content: Until it becomes an experience for you, for a few minutes you need to accept the master's word as it is. When you finish the calculation, naturally it becomes your understanding. Then you naturally see the truth behind the words.

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Content: So Kṛṣṇa says: 'Whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.' Why? Why does He say, 'remembering Me?' and that too 'alone?' In Mahābhārata there are at least 100,000 stories. One story goes like this: There was a king who lived for a hundred years. Then Yama, the god of death comes and tells him, 'Your life is over, O King, come now, it is time, let us go.' The king says, 'What is this? You gave me such a beautiful kingdom, such a beautiful life, such wonderful wives, kids; you have given me everything. 100 years is too short to enjoy this life. Please bless me with 100 more years.' Yama explains that no extension is possible. The king continues to plead, 'No, please bless me with another 100 years.' Yama says, 'Alright, if one of your sons gives his life, I will extend yours as an exchange offer.' Somehow one son agrees to give his life for his father and the king gets 100 more years. After 100 years when Yama appears again, the king does not realize that his time is up and says, 'What is this? I asked for 100 years and you have come so soon.' Yama tells him that 100 years are over. The king pleads again, 'Please help me somehow; I did not realize that 100 years are gone. Please give one more extension.' Yama tells him it is too much and that a second extension is not possible. However the king begs Yama to let him live a few more years. Finally he gets one more extension. The next time when Yama comes, again the king is in the same mood. Now Yama gives a beautiful teaching. He says, 'By pouring oil on it, you can never put out the fire. Now it is time, you must come.' The king understands and follows Yama. In the same way, by chasing our desires, we can never feel fulfilled. Only more desires will come up. When we acquire more and more desires from the outer world, we naturally feel that life is not sufficient, that we had not been given time or resources to fulfill these desires.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahma Yogaḥ

Content: Understand that if we have lived 70 years, at the end of our life, when we leave our body, the whole 70 years appear before us as a flash, as a fast-forward movement so that we can make the decision about our next birth. Now, we have karma that we brought with us but have not enjoyed or experienced, as well as karma that we accumulated from society in this birth, but have not exhausted. I want to give you one more understanding: karma or saṁskāra means any desire that is not completely experienced by you. By nature you are a fulfilled being. But whenever you do not fulfill any action completely, with totality, you create a hangover. You create a recorded memory of that action, a saṁskāra. A saṁskāra is not merely a dead memory stored in your unconscious mind; it has the power to make you repeat that action again and again till the desire is fulfilled. Now you are going to decide a few important things: birth, type of parents and family, whether to choose a male body or female body. All these decisions are taken by your consciousness, under the influence of karma collected when you lived on planet earth. One important thing you should understand is that even sense enjoyments look like enjoyment because from a young age you are taught that it is enjoyment. An important research report about the lifestyle of a group of African tribal people said that they do not know anything called joy or sense pleasures. They eat everything, they taste, they smell, they listen, they see, they have the sense of touch, everything. However, they do not have the idea that something is a pleasure and so they do not run after it. They are not conditioned to chase pleasures. Before I continue telling you about these African people, let me share another example of how social conditioning works. During my days of wandering, I lived near Omkāreśvar in Madhya Pradesh with a small group of tribal people. I was really surprised about the way they lived. Not a single person there was depressed. This is the truth, the honest truth. Human beings can live on planet earth without getting depressed! I lived with them for months. I was surprised that not a single person in that village was depressed, and nobody ran behind sense pleasures. I

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Content: was surprised and thought to myself, 'How come these people lived without running behind sense pleasures?' It was because they had not been taught that there is something called sense pleasure. The basic corruption had not happened.

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Content: We read in the Bible that the relationship between Adam and Eve is the original sin. I tell you, whether the relationship is the original sin or not, I do not know. But when we are taught that something is a pleasure and therefore should not be done, it is then that sin starts.

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Content: One more thing - when I was with these tribal people in Madhya Pradesh, I lived in a small temple in the center of the village. While wandering about one day I came upon a small hut. A pregnant lady entered it. Half an hour later, she came out with a newborn baby! There was no pain, no attendant, no doctor, no medicine, no screaming. Within half an hour she walked out with a baby.

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Content: I was shocked! Of course, I could not ask her anything because I did not know their language. After one month, another pregnant lady did the same thing. Within half an hour she came out with a baby. Now it was too much! I asked the local priest who came to the temple, 'How does this happen? Don't they have pain?'

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Content: He asked in surprise, 'Pain? Why pain?'

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Content: I was surprised! They do not have pain at the time of delivery. The idea that women should have pain during delivery does not exist in their society. Not only that, nobody suffers from menopause problems. Nobody suffers from any gynecological disorders.

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Content: I enquired about their lifestyle. Then I understood that they respect women a lot in their culture. Women are never disrespected. They are never told that they become impure during their monthly periods. Women are never taught that they are lower than men. The moment a girl comes of age, she is honored and told, 'Now you are qualified to become a mother.' She is respected. People fall at her feet and she touches and heals them. They believe that if a woman touches and blesses them during her menstrual period, they will be healed. Because the conditioning is totally different, nobody suffers any pain there.

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahma Yogaḥ

Content: In the so-called civilized society today, women are disrespected. They are taught, 'You are not pure now; don't stand here, don't sit there.' Especially in India, it is real torture. Because of the wrong conditioning, women suffer pain. If they are not conditioned in this way, they will never feel pain.

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Content: Getting back to the research on the African tribal people, the research scholar says, 'They don't know anything called pleasure.' Because of that, they do not run after pleasure. Social conditioning divides everything into pleasure and pain. Even this decision - 'What kind of life will I choose in my next birth? What kind of body will I take?' - is based upon your social conditioning.

Content: You decide to achieve whatever you think is the highest thing in life. Whatever you consider the highest ideal of your whole life, only that comes to your mind when you leave the body. Kṛṣṇa says, 'Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kuntī, that state he will attain without fail.'

Content: Death is a mere passage

Content: What exactly happens at the time of leaving the body? When a person leaves the body, he goes through seven layers of his being. The first and the outermost layer is the physical layer. When a person leaves the body, it creates tremendous pain in his whole system like 'thousands of scorpions stinging at a time.'

Content: I am frightening you. Even though it hurts, it is better to tell the facts now. At least we will be better prepared for the journey. Whether we will take it or it will be forced upon us we don't know, but we must make this journey.

Content: There will be tremendous pain at first. We may ask, 'Why pain?' It is because our being wants to stay in the body, but the body cannot host the being anymore. There is no need for our being to leave unless the body is completely tired or exhausted. If death starts happening, it means the body is completely exhausted, or damaged. In natural death, the body is exhausted while in an accident, the body is damaged.

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Content: Understand: You know the pain that we experience when we cut our finger. What would the pain be like if we extend the same thing to our six-foot body? Naturally there will be tremendous pain. But one thing: there is an automatic painkiller mechanism. The moment the pain becomes unbearable, we fall into coma to escape pain. But the problem is, we also die in unconsciousness when we are in coma. That is the worst thing, because we will remain unaware of why we took this birth, and we will not be able to make the decision about the next birth consciously. That is the reason Kṛṣṇa says: yaṁ yaṁ vā ’pi smaran bhāvaṁ, in whatever state you are at the time of leaving the body, you will achieve that state without fail. If we are unconscious at the time of leaving the body, then naturally, we come back as beings which do not have a high level of consciousness. The moment we leave the physical body, we go to the next level, the pranic body. The pranic body refers to the layer responsible for the inhaling and exhaling of prāṇa, the life giving energy in our body. It is filled with all our desires. Our prāṇa and desires are closely related. If our desires change, immediately the circulation of our prāṇa changes. Similarly, if we change the circulation of prāṇa, our whole mind changes. Our mind and prāṇa are closely connected. That is why people

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: inhale and exhale, pull and push with their breath at the time of leaving. The body says, 'I can't host you anymore; go out.' But the being says, 'But I have so many desires. I must live in this body.' The tug of war happens between body and being. Next we move to the mental layer, mana śarīra. All the guilt that we harbored is in this layer. Guilt is regret about the past. Desire is expectation about the future. Guilt is: I have not lived in this way - thoughts about the past. Desire is: I should live like this - a thought about the future. Understand, guilt is nothing but the emotion created in our being when we review our past decisions with updated intelligence. Let me give you a small example. At the age of seven we are playing with our toys. Our mother comes and calls us for dinner, 'Come and eat.' We say, 'No, I don't want to eat; I want to play.' By force our mother takes away the toys and pulls us to come and eat. Immediately we say, 'You go and die; give me my toys, I want to play.' At that moment, the toys look most important to us. We feel that toys are more important in life than our mother. But as we mature, we understand that this isn't true. Once we mature, if we think, 'O what a grave mistake I made. I shouldn't have said those words to my mother. It is a big mistake. How important the mother is! But I never thought of it at that time!' ... If we create guilt in this fashion, there is no point or utility in it. At that moment as a young child, we had only that much intelligence. Now, our intelligence has been updated. If we review our past decisions with updated intelligence, we create only one thing: guilt. When we review our past decisions with updated intelligence, we create guilt. If God gives us one more life, we will make the same mistakes that we made at seven years of age because we will have only that much intelligence at that age. Now just because our intelligence has been updated now, we can't review our actions and create guilt in ourselves about what we did earlier. We had such and such data and we had only that much intelligence to process the data at that time. Based on that, we

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Content: made the decision. Now the intelligence to process the data has been updated; our software has been updated. Because our software has been updated, we now say, ‘Oh! I made the wrong decision at that time; I am suffering from guilt.’ This does not make sense. Guilt is a wedge inserted in our being. It creates uneasiness between you and your being. It is the worst sin. Guilt is the only sin on planet earth, nothing else. We can never achieve morality through guilt. People ask, ‘Swamiji, how can I become a better person without guilt?’ Be very clear: We can never become a moral person through guilt. Instead, guilt becomes such a load on us that we repeatedly make the same mistake. If we have deep guilt about smoking, we can never quit smoking because the habit is strengthened when the guilty thoughts are continuously repeated in our system. Whatever is continuously repeated in our consciousness becomes strong; we never grow out of it. In Rāmāyaṇa, there is a character called Vāli. He obtained a boon from Lord Śiva that whosoever stands in front of him to fight him, half of that person’s power would go to Vāli. If we stand in front of Vāli, half of our power goes to Vāli! Naturally Vāli will win. Understand, our guilt is like Vāli. The moment we fight the smoking habit, we empower the habit and struggle with it. Then how can we come out of it? Bernard Shaw says beautifully, ‘Quitting smoking is easy, I have done it many times!’ We can continue to quit many times. But we never get out of the habit. We are caught in the rut that guilt creates. If we remove guilt, at least our personality will be integrated and we will naturally become pure and energetic. All immoral behavior is because we don’t have enough energy. The person with plenty of energy is always pure. In society we have a wrong idea that people who are full of energy do nonsensical things. No! Doing immoral things means a person wants energy through that action. Understand, even our sense enjoyments are in the same league. We feel that we will get energy or feel blissful through that action. If we create

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Chapter Name: Akṣarābrahma Yogah

Content: guilt, the whole thing sits in the mental body and when we leave the body it becomes a big obstruction. The next layer we cross is the etheric body where all the painful experiences of our life are stored. These four layers are hell. When the energy crosses these four layers: physical body, pranic body, mental body and etheric body, the being undergoes hell. Understand hell is not situated in a place above our heads. It is in these four layers, comprising all our desires, guilt and painful experiences. During our life in the body, if we have kept these four layers clean, we will never enter hell. If we clean these layers through meditation, we will not have problems at the time of leaving the body. We will have a clear highway. That is what Kṛṣṇa says: This is the path on which a man can easily leave and liberate himself, and also the path on which he can suffer and destroy himself. Both ways are now shown by Kṛṣṇa. These are the major obstructions when we leave the body. After these first four layers, the three inner layers where all our blissful memories are stored are called heaven. Even if we are stuck there, we need to move on. Even our puṇya, merits, are karma. Even that will not allow us to become enlightened. We may feel good, ecstatic, for a few days. After that our mind takes that also for granted. In the case of heaven also, we will take it for granted after a few days. When we take it for granted, the trouble starts and you have to come back to take another body, another birth.

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Content: 8.7 Arjuna, think of Me in the form of Kṛṣṇa always, while continuing with your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt.

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Content: 8.8 He who meditates on the supreme person, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, not deviating from the path, O Pārtha, Is sure to reach Me.

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Content: 8.9 One should meditate on the supreme as the one who knows everything, as He is the most ancient, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun and, being transcendental, is beyond this material nature.

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Content: 8.10 One, who at the time of death, fixes his mind and life breath between the eyebrows without being distracted, who by the power of yoga and in full devotion engages himself in dwelling on Me, He will certainly attain Me.

Content: In the first two of these verses Kṛṣṇa says, 'Arjuna, you should always think of Me. You should always be in My state of consciousness even when you are doing your regular duty. Let your mind and intelligence be fixed in My consciousness. You will attain Me without doubt.'

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Chapter Name: Akṣarābrahma Yogah

Content: Again He uses the words, ‘without doubt’, asamasyah ‘Without doubt, you will achieve Me.’ One important question we may ask, ‘Anyhow, I have to think of Him at the time of leaving the body, so why bother now? Let me lead my life now. At the time of death, I will think about Him.’ Please be very clear, these verses answer that question. We cannot think about Him then unless we think about Him now. When we live our whole life repeating the words, ‘Coca-cola, Coca-cola’, suddenly at the end of our lives we will not be able to think of Rāma or Kṛṣṇa. No! Whatever we think during our whole life, the same thought will come to us in the end also. At the time of death, we will not be able to remember. Our consciousness will not be under our control at that time! At the time of our death, the totality of our whole life comes up. Whatever we spent the maximum energy on, that file will come up first. We can’t do anything in that moment. Only the thought that we lived with intensely throughout our life will come up at that moment. That is why He says, ‘Even when you do your duty, may you be absorbed in Me.’ This means that when we live, we should try to continuously be in the witnessing consciousness, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

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Chapter Name: Akṣarābrahma Yogah

Content: The supreme witness The next question: ‘How can I be in the witnessing mode when I live my regular life?’ Start in a simple way. When you drive, when you sit, when you talk, see what is happening inside and outside you. You don’t need to close your eyes. At least while driving, please don’t close your eyes! Just move away from your body and see what is going on in your mind and your being. When you talk to someone, witness how he talks and how you respond. Even before he finishes his statement, notice how you are ready to jump on him with your own opinions! See how you prepare your speech before

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Content: he finishes his statement. Witness continuously. You will see the influence of desires, guilt and pain on your being automatically disappears.

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Content: The moment you create a gap between you and your body-mind, the suffering disappears. Suffering is due to attachment to your body and mind. All your sufferings disappear the moment you witness. Actually, you may fail the first few times. After you face failure, you think, 'It is difficult, I cannot do it,' and you create an idea that it is difficult.

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Content: Somebody goes to Ramana Maharshi, the enlightened saint from India, and asks, 'Master, is ātma vidya (knowledge of the self) difficult?' He says, 'The word difficult is the only difficulty.' He sings beautifully in Tamil, 'Aiyye ati sulabham atma viddai, aiyye ati sulabham' - Oh! So easy! The knowledge of the Self is so easy! He sings beautifully, 'To achieve money you must work, to achieve name and fame you must work. To achieve the knowledge of the Self, you need to just keep quiet. Nothing else needs to be done.' Such a simple thing; a few moments of witnessing consciousness is enough.

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Content: Now don't start calculating, 'From tomorrow onwards, 24 hours a day I will be in the witnessing consciousness.' Then you will become frustrated if you are unable to be that way. Even if you stay in that consciousness for five minutes, it is a big blessing. When you experience the relief that happens when you remain as the witness, even once or twice, you can see how the stress disappears from your being. Then you will automatically stay in that same state, because now you have tasted it. Then you will come back to the same mood again and again.

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Content: Rāmakṛṣṇa says, 'If you give a little bit of abhin (an opium variant) to a peacock one evening at four o'clock, the next day exactly at four o'clock, it will be in front of your house!' In North India they give abhin to peacocks to make them dance. Similarly, if we experience the relaxation that happens when we witness the body and mind, we will automatically come back for that peace, again and again. If we feel witnessing is difficult, witness that thought also. Go into the consciousness of your being. Experience samādhi so that all hindrances disappear. You will experience the ultimate, eternal consciousness.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmayogah

Content: In the next verse Kṛṣṇa says, 'At the time of death, fix your mind between the eyebrows.' He adds, 'without being distracted and with devotion.' See, all this is not in our control at the time when the life force is about to leave the body. But if we have led a life in such higher consciousness, this automatically happens at that time! When Kṛṣṇa talks about the space between the eyebrows, He speaks of the higher cakra or energy center in the body.

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Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmayogah

Content: Our mind is nothing but a bunch of conditionings. All these conditionings influence us at the time of death. How do we condition our mind? If we think that eating is the best thing in life, when we leave the body, what comes in front of us? All kinds of food and the McDonald’s arches!

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmayogah

Content: If we are taught that eating is the greatest pleasure in life, we would only see food when we leave this body. Then the last thought will be, 'Let me take a body that will help me eat more and more. Let me take birth in a family where I will be given food, where I will not have any other responsibility.'

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Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmayogah

Content: We call for the archived files. From all the experiences of our past, we choose what we think is best and what we have worked for all our life. Based on that, we make a decision, 'Alright, if I want to eat, this is the right country.' There we will spend our next life, in tamas, in dullness, not doing anything, in just pure laziness.

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Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmayogah

Content: A small story:

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Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmayogah

Content: A man goes to a doctor and says, 'Doctor, please examine me. I don’t feel like doing anything. I feel dull.'

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Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmayogah

Content: The doctor thoroughly examines him. The man says, 'Doctor, please tell me in plain English, what is my problem?'

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Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmayogah

Content: The doctor says, 'If you ask me, in plain English, you are 'lazy'. Nothing else is the problem.'

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Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmayogah

Content: The man says, 'Ok, now tell me the medical term for it; I will go and tell my wife!'

Chapter Number: 8

Content: If we have lived that kind of a life, that same laziness will make the choice for us when we take the next body. If you want to see the ultimate laziness, come to the Himalayas. You can see strange kinds of laziness. That is why Vivekānanda says openly in his lectures, ‘The people who eat and sleep in the name of sanyās... make them stand up, and simply beat them!’ Pure laziness! A man tells his friend, ‘If only somebody would invent a machine that does all our work when switched on: laundry, cleaning, cooking, ironing, giving us a bath and putting on clothes! How nice it would be if the machine did everything at the flick of a switch!’ His friend replies, ‘How much nicer would it be if the machine also automatically switched itself on and off!’ This is what I call the peak of laziness! Be very clear, we actually spend energy when we are lazy. Don’t think we are not spending energy. Have you heard the phrase, ‘tired of sleeping?’ Many people are tired of taking rest. If we sleep for more than ten hours, we will be tired of taking rest. To be tired of taking rest is tamas. If we have lived life completely in tamas, we naturally decide, ‘Anyhow, the ultimate thing in life is sleep. Now what type of body is the right body - whether pig or buffalo or human being? What type of family should I take birth in?’ We make a decision. The whole calculation happens based on our own data, the data that we have collected. As I said, at the time of leaving the body, the whole data appears before us in a single flash - āgāmya (acquired) file, sañcita (bank balance) file and prārabdha (current) file. Based on the files, we decide, ‘What should be my next birth?’ The moment we decide, we enter that kind of body. Because we are so attached to the body and mind, we cannot live without a body for more than three kṣanas. Kṣana is not chronological time. It is the gap between one thought and the next thought. For most of us, kṣana will be a few microseconds because of our endless stream of thoughts. While still in the body, if we have experienced ‘thoughtlessness’ at least once, (thoughtlessness means being alive without a sense of body

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Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmah Yogah

Content: and mind), if we have experienced thoughtless awareness, if we have been in universal consciousness for a single moment without the body and mind, that is what I call samādhi.

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Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmah Yogah

Content: Here is a small diagram to explain what exactly I mean by the word ‘thoughtlessness’

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Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmah Yogah

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmah Yogah

Content: The four states of consciousness

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Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmah Yogah

Content: In our life, we experience two states of being and two levels of mind. For example, now, while we are awake, we have thoughts. In deep sleep, do we have thoughts? No! So the two possibilities for the mind are with thought and without thought. In the same way, in the being, there can be ‘I’ consciousness and no ‘I’ consciousness. As of now, while we are awake and talking and moving, we have the idea of ‘I’ all the time, that of ‘I’ consciousness. In deep sleep, the ‘I’ consciousness does not exist. These two levels of consciousness and the two levels of mind and thought overlap each other and create four states of being in us.

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Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmah Yogah

Content: The state with thoughts and with ‘I’ consciousness is the waking state, jāgrat, in which most of us are now (not all, some of us are in the dream state - sleeping already!) The next state is when we have thoughts, but ‘I’ consciousness is absent. This is the dream state - svapna. In the dream state, the frequency of thoughts will be more than the frequency of ‘I’ consciousness. That is why we are not able to control our dreams. When

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Content: we are awake, the frequency of 'I' is more, that is why we can control our thoughts; we can do anything we want. If we can have the dreams of our choice, we know what kind of dreams we will have! Dreams are not in our control. So we have thoughts but no 'I' consciousness. The flow of thoughts happening in our being is the dream state.

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Content: In the next state, neither 'I' consciousness nor the flow of thoughts exists. This is deep sleep or suṣupti. The three states are jāgrat, svapna, suṣupti – conscious, sub-conscious, unconscious.

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Content: There is a fourth state that we have not experienced in our life, where we have no flow of thoughts yet we have 'I' consciousness. This is samādhi, thoughtless awarenss, turīya avastha, ātma jñāna, brahma jñāna, Self-realization, nirvāna, ātma bhūti, state of the Divine, nitya consciousness, eternal bliss!

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Content: All these words refer to the state where we have pure awareness but no thoughts, where we exist without body and mind. In Jāgrat, svapna, suṣupti, we live with the body and mind. In jāgrat, we live with the the sthūla śarīra or gross body. In svapna, we live with the sūkṣma śarīra or subtle body; understand in the dream state also we assume a body. That is why we are able to travel in our dreams. For example, we fall asleep in Los Angeles but suddenly dream we are in India! In deep sleep, we assume the causal body or karana śarīra.

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Content: In turīya state, we experience boundarylessness, bodylessness. We have pure 'I' consciousness, but without thoughts. Vivekānanda says, 'If you experience even a single glimpse of this consciousness when you are alive, the same thing automatically repeats when you leave the body. You leave the body in samādhi.'

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Content: All spiritual practices directly or indirectly aim at achieving this state where we exist with the awareness of 'I', but without the consciousness of body and mind. That is why Kṛṣṇa says that if we experience at least one moment of consciousness beyond 'I', the body and mind, we can choose our next life in a relaxed way.

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmā Yogah

Content: If we have not lived a single moment of our life without the feeling of being the body and mind, we cannot be without the body and mind once we die. So once we die, we immediately try to catch hold of another body without bothering about which body we are getting into. It’s like we are late for a train, so we run and jump onto the first train that we see, not thinking about where it’s headed. We rush and get into some body or the other and come down to planet earth yet another time. After coming down, we again forget the purpose of assuming the body. The whole thing is confusion leading to confusion and more confusion. If we have experienced a single moment of complete rest and thoughtless awareness, naturally when we leave the body, we will be in the same state. This state is also called ‘bodyless’ awareness because when we are in turīya state, all the three bodies do not touch us; neither the gross body nor the subtle body nor the causal body touches us. We experience awareness that is beyond the three bodies. If we have experienced this thoughtless awareness for even a single moment earlier, we will have the required clarity in the end. We will have the patience to work with our data files before assuming the next body. Sometimes, if we decide to take birth, we can even take a conscious birth, like the great masters! Kṛṣṇa says yogabrāṣṭha. We take birth in a family that will be conducive to our spiritual growth. Kṛṣṇa says that only very rarely do souls take birth in this type of family. I have rarely seen parents who do not object when the son does spiritual practices. If your family does not object, then be very clear, there is every chance of your being a yogabrāṣṭha! Otherwise, I have seen even religious parents creating obstacles if their son wants to enter into spiritual life. They say, ‘Go to temples but not to ashrams!’ As long as you go to temples, it is ok because you grow to the level where your parents are. But if you grow beyond the maturity of the parents, it is something that they cannot digest. Very rarely do souls take birth in families where they will not be disturbed. When I left home for my parivrājaka (wandering sanyās life), I was just 17 years old. I told my

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Chapter Number: 8

Content: mother that I was going, that I wanted to live the parivrājaka life, I wanted to taste sanyās life.

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Content: She started weeping. So I asked her, 'Do you mean that I should not go?'

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Content: She said beautifully, 'No, I don't want to stop you. But I am not able to digest the idea of your leaving, so I am weeping.' Even today I am grateful to my parents because they did not stop me. Not only that, from a young age I did all sorts of things. Sometimes I used to spend the night meditating in the graveyard in the outskirts of my village! Any other parents would not have tolerated it. Yet somehow the atmosphere was such that I was able to continue my spiritual practice.

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Content: If your family and surroundings do not disturb you, then, you have taken a conscious birth - you are a yogabhraṣṭha.

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Content: But if you have not experienced a single glimpse, a single moment of thoughtless awareness, you cannot live without the body and mind once you die. So within three kṣaṇas, you take birth in some way or the other.

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Content: Even one glimpse of consciousness, when you live without the body and mind is enough. All I try to do is give you a single glimpse of consciousness, thoughtless awareness.

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Content: Actually, if you achieve one glimpse of thoughtless awareness, you achieve whatever has to be achieved in life. If you have not achieved that, then whatever else you achieve is not ultimately useful.

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Content: 8.11 Persons who are learned in the Veda and who are great sages in the orders of renunciation, enter into the Brahman. Desiring such perfection, one practices brahmacarya. I shall now explain to you the process by which one may attain liberation.

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Content: 8.12 Closing all the doors of the senses and fixing the mind in the heart And the life breath at the top of the head, one establishes oneself in yoga.

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Content: 8.13 Centered in this yoga practice and uttering the sacred syllable Om, the supreme combination of letters, if one dwells in the Supreme and quits his body, he certainly achieves the supreme destination.

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Content: 8.14 I am always available to anyone who remembers Me constantly Pārtha, because of his constant engagement in devotional service.

Content: Krṣṇa gives different ways to attain Brahman or God or ultimate consciousness. He says that people learned in the Vedas attain Brahman. This does not mean that we read the Vedas and forget about them. Krṣṇa speaks at a far deeper level. If someone is completely immersed in the scriptures, his thoughts will continuously be along those lines even at the end of his life. That is what Krṣṇa means by His words 'Immerse yourself in the scriptures'. Keep

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Content: reading some scripture or the other and imbibe its truth. It will have a tremendous impact on you.

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Content: Even if we do not understand the deeper meanings of these scriptures, it is ok. These scriptures are energy hubs. When we read them, the sound that is generated cleanses our inner being. That is the power of those verses. They will transform you.

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Content: If you listen to vedic chants, you will see they are chanted in a specific way. When they are chanted, they completely cleanse our system, our inner being. Most of us are not aware of this, yet they carry that energy for us.

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Content: If we visit the ancient temples in India, we will see that the sanctum sanctorum is very peaceful. When we enter that place, automatically our being too becomes peaceful. Why do you think that happens? This is because, when the priest chants, the sound of the chants energizes everything in the place.

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Content: One more thing, these scriptures talk about realizing the Self. They are guides to enlightenment. So when we read them, we will get into that mood of enlightenment! Our mind will be tuned to that frequency.

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Content: It is like this: When we come out of a movie theatre after watching a movie, our mind keeps processing the scenes of the movie, is it not? It tries to recollect the various scenes. For one or two days, we experience a hangover. In the same way, when we read these scriptures, even if we don't completely understand them, we will experience a hangover. We will continue to think about what they say - enlightenment, Self ... these thoughts will come into our mind again and again.

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Content: Similarly, when our thoughts are always directed towards Self-realization, our thoughts will be of enlightenment at the time of death also.

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Content: Kṛṣṇa says, when we read the scriptures, when we practice its lifestyle, we practice brahmacarya. Brahmacarya is commonly misinterpreted as celibacy. Brahman means the Self and carya means to

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahma Yogah

Content: walk the path. So brahmacāri means one who follows the path to attain the Self.

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Content: A small story: There was an old sea captain who was telling a story from his adventures to a group of people at a party. He said, ‘Once, I was shipwrecked on the coast of South America, and there I came across a tribe of women who had no tongues and were very wild.’ One lady said, ‘My goodness! They couldn’t talk?’ The old captain replied, ‘No they couldn’t talk, and that was what drove them wild.’ Be very clear. Suppression does not lead to transformation. It only creates depression. Suppression of desires is very dangerous; it is like a volcano ready to erupt anytime and we won’t even know it.

Content: Our inner space must be cleansed, free from fantasies and we should strive to merge with the Brahman. That is brahmacarya.

Content: All great truths were told by different masters in different ways, yet the truths remain the same. Here Kṛṣṇa talks about the deeper meaning of Yoga. Yoga means the continuous process of uniting our mind, body and soul. Patañjali, the father of yoga, talks about this verse in his Aṣṭāṅga yoga. Aṣṭāṅga yoga means eight limbs of yoga and two of these limbs are pratyāhāra and dhāraṇa. These two parts talk about what Kṛṣṇa mentions.

Content: Now, how do we bring about that continuous process of uniting body, mind and soul? What should we do? You see, our body-mind system reacts to different external situations. These external situations are like food, āhāra to our system and our five sense organs are the points through which we take in this food.

Content: Our mind functions because we give food to our mind through our senses. We react to situations and our mind is continuously occupied because of this. We are again and again jumping from past to future and back to past.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Pratyāhāra means getting ourselves out of the clutches of these senses. It does not mean that we physically shut down our senses. Even if we close our ears and mouth, there is inner chatter, is it not? Even if we shut down our senses physically, our mind functions. When I say, ‘Close the doors of your senses,’ I mean, ‘continue to hear everything going on outside but do not process anything. Whatever comes, just witness.’ That is the only way we can close the doors of our senses. Neither suppress thoughts nor create thoughts. Just watch them. We cut the continuous flow of inputs from our senses when we increase our awareness. The number of thoughts, TPS, drops slowly as awareness rises. This is what Krṣṇa means by closing all the senses. When we do this, our awareness becomes more and more concentrated on the present moment. We focus on our divinity. We automatically fall into the present moment. Awareness of our breath becomes more acute. We feel life energy or prāṇa filling our system. This is called dhāraṇa, the single-minded focus. We can focus on the life-force energizing our system when we increase our awareness and close all the inputs from our senses. We automatically unite mind, body and spirit. This is yoga. Again and again Krṣṇa emphasizes this truth so much. He continuously tells Arjuna the importance of the last thought before death. These are not mere words to be read and not put into practice. People have used these words and left their bodies gracefully. Thousands of enlightened beings have constantly thought about God. They have expressed their undaunted devotion in so many carefree ways. People realized the power of that devotion only after these enlightened beings left their bodies, completely merging with the cosmos. Krṣṇa says the people who reach Him are those who remain continuously on the path of yoga, continuously fixed upon the Divine without deviation. Krṣṇa asks us to be in that consciousness all the time. The problem is when an enlightened master says, ‘Think of Me all the

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Akṣarābrahma Yogah

Content: time,' we question, 'What kind of an egoistic person is He? Why should we think of Him?' Actually, our ego plays the game. We think Kṛṣṇa is exploiting us when He advises us to be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Many people think I am exploiting them when I make such statements. They think I profit from all of this. Be very clear, Kṛṣṇa, or any enlightened master, only asks us to keep our inner space completely free of desires. Our thoughts are generally related to greed and fear. We keep piling up desires because our thought patterns are of greed and fear. When we die, our soul re-experiences these desires making death painful. An enlightened master has seen this process and He wants everyone to know the secret of mastering the art of leaving. That is why Kṛṣṇa says again and again: When we direct our thoughts to the Divine, our whole being is filled with gratitude to the Divine. When we think of the Divine, we should do so out of gratitude, and not out of greed or fear. Be very clear that thinking of God out of greed or fear will not help us. Our thoughts about God, our devotion to the Divine should be out of pure gratitude to Existence.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Brahma's Day And Night

Content: 8.15 After attaining Me, the great souls who are devoted to Me in yoga are never reborn in this world. This world is temporary and full of miseries and they have attained the highest perfection.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Brahma's Day And Night

Content: 8.16 From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. One who reaches My abode, O son of Kunti, is never reborn.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Brahma's Day And Night

Content: 8.17 By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahma's one day. His night is just as long.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Brahma's Day And Night

Content: 8.18 From the unmanifest all living entities come into being at the beginning of Brahma's day. With the coming of Brahma's night, they dissolve into the same unmanifest.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Brahma's Day And Night

Content: Now He says, 'After attaining Me the great souls who are steeped in yoga never return to this temporary world which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.' The understanding of this science, the very intellectual understanding, gives the inspiration to experience truth and naturally leads us to the ultimate Truth. Here Krsna says, 'If you achieve this state, you never come back.' He inspires us to enter that state. The only job of an enlightened master is to make everyone realize the truth that he himself has experienced. There is no ulterior motive.

Chapter Name: The Art of Leaving

Content: People again and again look at an enlightened master with suspicion. They suspect foul play. Understand: A person who remains at the inner source of bliss never cares for anything external. He does not need external sources of happiness. That is the reason he does not see the world as a collection of miseries. You see, an enlightened master may not get food for days, yet he is always blissful. Even in such situations, the only things that he experiences are gratitude and compassion. He is neither attached to sorrow nor to happiness. He is detached from both to the same degree. He is always in a state of gratitude to the universe. Worldly things do not affect him. Happiness and sorrow are not in his dictionary.

Chapter Name: The Art of Leaving

Content: A small story: The Sufi master, Javed paid gratitude to God five times a day. Once he and his followers were wandering through several villages where Sufism was not accepted as a religion. In the first village, people accused them of begging, and threw meager alms at them. In the next village, the people refused to give them any alms. On the third day, the village they visited was so hostile that the villagers drove them out with sticks and stones. That night as usual, the master knelt down and offered gratitude to God. His disciples watched. It was too much for them. They could not understand why their master was thanking God when they were hungry, thirsty and miserable.

Chapter Name: The Art of Leaving

Content: They cried out, 'Master! For three days we have gone without food! Today we were driven out of that village like dogs! Is this what you offer gratitude for?' Their master looked at them and said, 'You talk about three days of hunger! Have you thanked God for the food you have received for the past thirty years? My gratitude is not based on receiving or not

Chapter Number: 8

Content: receiving anything. It is an expression of deep joy and love in my being; it is a choiceless and prayerful expression.' An enlightened master looks at misery and happiness with total gratitude and surrender to the universe. He surrenders everything that he has and gets, to Existence. He says, 'Let Existence take care.' There is a great relief inside when that state of surrender happens. We suddenly light up in joy. We consider something as misery because we think we are responsible for that something. That is why, when something does not happen according to our expectations, we see it as misery. But an enlightened being simply flows. Whatever comes, he accepts it and surrenders it to Existence.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Beyond karma In the next verse, Kṛṣṇa talks about the misery-filled world and we see how good deeds cannot get us out of the cycle of birth and death. Kṛṣṇa says here: 'From the highest planet of Brahmaloka in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death takes place. But one who attains Me, one who attains My being, one who attains My consciousness, never takes birth again.' Even if we reach the cosmic layer of Brahmaloka, the land of the Divine, we must come back and take birth again. It means that even if we are full of good intentions and good deeds, even if we are attached to good things, we must come back into a body.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Even if we are caught in doing good deeds, we return. Our good deeds, punya, cannot give us enlightenment. I tell people, 'Even if you give money for my ashram, I cannot give you a speed pass to enlightenment!' Be very clear, unless you achieve at least one moment of thoughtless awareness, nobody can save you from the cycle of birth and death. Some people believe that when they give money to institutions, they receive a receipt and a pass to heaven. They are buried with the receipt so

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahma Yogah

Content: that they can show the receipt to the gatekeeper of heaven who will let them in! Honestly at least I don't have such a system with this institution. Let me be very clear! I never tell people, 'Do charity and good acts and I can get you into heaven.' Do things out of love and gratitude with no attachment, and you will be in heaven as a result of your mental setup. I tell people, 'Even if you give money to my ashram, I cannot give you any speed pass; nothing can be done. This is the honest truth.' People ask, 'Then why do you build ashrams and temples?' I build them because they are laboratories where the spiritual sciences can be practiced, where people study and imbibe great truths to practice them in their lives. They are inner-science laboratories. Do charity and good acts with the consciousness that you are engaged in research in the inner sciences in these laboratories, just as the ṛṣis of the great vedic tradition did. Don't do it for some special ticket to heaven. Don't expect that if we do these things for Lord Viṣṇu, He will send a special flight with a garuḍa (eagle) emblem when we leave the body, and the celestial beauties, will take us there. Nothing of that sort happens! If we expect these things to happen, we will only sit and wait. No such thing will happen! Whether we acquire sin or merit, we suffer when we leave the body. Both are karma. Then what is to be done? When we live in the body, at least once, by meditating or by surrender, experience one glimpse of thoughtless awareness. Work intensely for it. If we achieve one glimpse, it's over. That one glimpse acts like a torch and guides us through these seven layers when we leave the body. We will just slide through all seven layers. If we achieve that one glimpse of consciousness, we achieve what has to be achieved; everything else is a waste. All merits and sins - nothing comes with us. We will be judged only by this one glimpse of samādhi, the ultimate truth. Again and again Vivekānanda says, 'If you achieve even a single glimpse, you leave your body in that experience.' The intense experience

Chapter Number: 8

Content: of Self-realization will come up at the time when we leave the body. At the time of death, our whole life is played back to us in a fast-forward mode in a few seconds. And only the important scenes appear in multicolor; all others scenes appear in black and white. If we have had the samādhi experience when we were alive, that alone will appear in multicolor; all other things will fade away in the background. And naturally, we stay in that state and leave the body. One more thing - if there is a scratch on a videotape, the tape gets stuck in that place when it runs in fast-forward mode, is it not? So when the fast-forward happens, the remainder of the tape is erased. Similarly, thoughtless awareness is the stuck point in our life because in that space we never had a thought. We will be stuck there and whatever fast-forward happens beyond that, all the karma associated with it will be erased, washed away! It is like a virus entering our software; the more we try to operate the software, the more the virus destroys the software. Similarly, thoughtless awareness is the divine virus for our samsāra sagara - ocean of worldly life, for the software that is our mind. Don't think that the mind is intelligence. The mind is just programmed software. For example, let us say we experience anxiety every morning because of office-related worries. The funny thing is, eventually we start experiencing the same depression even on the weekend when there is no office to attend! Then we tell our mind, 'No, this is the weekend. I don't need to think about those things.' But every weekend, our mind goes back to the same mood because our mind is pre-programmed software. One glimpse of consciousnessness in our lifetime is enough. Then there will be no need to take the next birth. We assume the body and mind only if we believe there is something to be enjoyed or achieved through the body and mind. When we are in this body, if we work on our engraved memories, saṁskāras, and come out of them, we will liberate ourselves from their influence, and hence from the cycle of re-birth. Actually, you do not normally become aware of these saṁskāras. In our Second level program, Life Bliss Program Level 2, we take you through

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: techniques to uncover them first. You write down and analyze all that has happened in your life and all that you have stored in the various energy layers. You analyze: What is the root of your desires? What are your own desires? Which desires are borrowed? For instance, guilt is initially imposed on us by society. Later we master the art of creating guilt and continue to create it for ourselves! Next, pain and suffering. Society creates a scale deciding what pain is and what suffering is. We then actually turn our whole life into suffering by measuring it with that scale. In the workshop, we work deeply on these things - on every emotion related to engraved memories or saṁskāras. If we are stuck with guilt, we can never enjoy our desires. When we don’t enjoy our desires, we create more guilt. Then again we cannot enjoy our desires. This becomes a vicious circle.

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: Experience His līla As of now, understand this one thing: Experience His consciousness, the witnessing consciousness in which Kṛṣṇa stays and plays the whole game of life. That is why Kṛṣṇa’s life is called līla - cosmic play; Kṛṣṇa līla. It is not history. It is a cosmic play. For ordinary human beings, after they die, their life will be written as history. For incarnations, their life itself is a script that has already been written; they just come down and enact it! They play the whole game. That is why their life is called līla. If we achieve the witnessing consciousness, our whole life becomes līla. We know the script and we are ready. Kṛṣṇa conveys one thing: All we need to do is work to achieve a glimpse of thoughtless awareness. He says further: ‘By human calculation, the thousand ages taken together form the duration of Brahma’s one day, and such also is the duration of his night.’ One year for us is one day for the devatas, demigods. Only when we achieve the consciousness of nirvāṇa - thoughtless awareness, will we not take re-birth. Here He says a beautiful thing about kṣaṇa.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: At the time of death, our soul has three kṣanas to take another body. If we have lived a restless life, -our kṣanas will be in microseconds. If we have lived a peaceful, blissful life and achieved at least one glimpse of thoughtless awareness, our kṣaṇa can be even two or three hundred years. It can extend to two or three hundred years, because it is the gap between one thought and the next thought. So kṣaṇa is relative and depends on our state of mind. Time is actually psychological. If we sit with a friend with whom we are comfortable and joyful after three or four hours, we suddenly notice the time and say, 'Oh! I don't know how the time has passed by so quickly!' At the same time, if we sit with somebody with whom we don't feel comfortable, we will keep looking at the watch and think, 'Why is the watch not moving? The time is simply dragging on.' The number of thoughts that happen in our mind decides the time consciousness. If thoughts are less, even after ten hours, we will not feel that ten hours have passed. If the number of thoughts is more, two or three minutes will seem like years. A small story: A lady goes to the doctor for a check-up. After a thorough examination, the doctor says, 'I'm sorry. I have bad news. You may live only six months more at the most.' She says, 'What is this? What should I do now?' The doctor says, 'I have one suggestion. Marry an accountant.' She asks, 'Will that cure me?' He says, 'No, no. But then the six months will seem very long.' One year of human life equals one day of the devatas, demigods, because their thoughts per second (TPS) is very less. That is why the deity Naṭarāja in the temple at Chidambaram in South India, has only six prayer offerings throughout the year. Normally, the worship is carried out six times a day in other temples. But this temple is supposed to be where the devatas worship the Divine, so the worship is carried out according to their time!

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: The six offerings of worship required for the deity are conducted in our one year because our one year is one day for the deities or devatas. Devatas refers to those whose TPS has come down, who have had a glimpse of samādhi. If our TPS is low, we too are in heaven. If our TPS is high, we are in hell. Heaven always looks brief; hell always looks eternal, because of the number of thoughts. When we are in the body, if we have had a single glimpse of thoughtless awareness - the experience of meditation, then automatically this consciousness comes up at the time of leaving the body, and we will have two benefits. We can choose to become enlightened and not take another birth, or we can choose the right place to express and work out our karma, to live as we want. We have both choices if we experience thoughtless awareness while living.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: My Supreme Abode

Content: 8.19 Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; And again the night falls, O son of Pritā, and they are automatically annihilated.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: My Supreme Abode

Content: 8.20 Yet there is another nature, which is eternal and is beyond this manifested and unmanifest matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that remains the same.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: My Supreme Abode

Content: 8.21 That supreme abode is said to be unmanifest and indestructible and is the supreme destination. When one gains this state one never comes back. That is My supreme abode.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: My Supreme Abode

Content: 8.22 Son of Pritā, the supreme person, who is greater than all, is attainable by undeviating devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: My Supreme Abode

Content: ṛṣna explains how transient this material world is. In our concept of time, we see things as permanent, but when we operate in a different zone of space and time, all this becomes temporary.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: My Supreme Abode

Content: Our ignorance makes us think that all that we see is real and permanent. Once we understand that this entire life and the world around us is impermanent, we see everything from a completely different angle.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: My Supreme Abode

Content: In our concept of time and space, we see material things as permanent. We want to have ownership over everything that is available. And the problem is everyone wants the same thing! We are like cats fighting over a piece of bread. One more thing you should know: We want to hold onto

Chapter Name: Akṣarābrahma Yogah

Content: this body for as long as we can. Even at sixty or seventy, many people go in for plastic surgery to look young. Why? They do not want to accept the truth that the body is impermanent. When you look around, you see that the earth is stationary. When you look from the moon, you see the earth moving. When you go beyond the moon, you see that the moon also moves. Once we raise ourselves to higher dimensions, we see the actual truth. As long as we limit ourselves to this space, we think the earth is stationary. When we change our reference point in space and time, we realize that all we think of as permanent, ours, is not permanent. This is what Kṛṣṇa says. We believe in a concept of finite time and limited space and we cling to that without realizing what is beyond this dimension. We are greedy to accumulate more and more material pleasures because we see them as real and permanent. That is one side. On the other side we fear that they will be taken away from us. Both greed and fear are the main sources of our misery. We run, not for the joy of running, but because greed makes us run towards something that we want to possess, and fear makes us run away from something that seems to take away our possessions. When we live in bondage of fear and greed, we continuously build saṁskāras. First of all, we are not trying to fulfill our true desires or prārabdha karma. Then on top of that, we build a whole new set of desires. In our concept of time and space, we think things are permanent. We think we own them and should take care of them and control them. When we understand that at higher dimensions, all that we see is destroyed and created continuously, we realize the futility of holding onto even our own body. Kṛṣṇa says that in all this creation and destruction, only one thing is neither created nor destroyed, and that is the ‘ultimate consciousness’! What we think of as an age is a fraction of a second to Brahma and everything we see as permanent is being made and destroyed every time

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Brahma blinks. Do not analyze the literal meaning of this. Do not analyze how it is possible. Do not worry about how many hours, how many seconds make one day of Brahma? Do not worry about what is Brahma's time or what is Viṣnu's time or what is Śiva's time or Kṛṣṇa's time. Kṛṣṇa refers to the concept of time and space as it exists in the ultimate consciousness, and as an enlightened master experiences it.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Appreciate the deeper meaning. Understand that whatever we see is transient. It is like putting our hand in a river and trying to hold the water in our hand. What happens? The river flows past, and our hand is empty. Once we realize this truth, our whole idea about time and space will change. We will see everything around us in a different light and understand the futility of the rat race.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: The abode of no return

Chapter Number: 8

Content: The secret to liberation is what Kṛṣṇa gives here – ‘One who attains My abode will never return.’ The abode where one will not return to refers to the state of the being when it transcends joys and sorrow. Kṛṣṇa repeatedly talks about focusing one’s thoughts on the Divine. The only way to think of the Divine at the time of our death is by thinking about Him all the time. At that time, suddenly we cannot think of God in the midst of such pain and suffering. It is impossible.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: That is why Kṛṣṇa insists upon continuous devotion to the Supreme. When we live in a state of continuous devotion, our last thought will be of the Divine. Our last thought determines our next birth. There is no doubt about it.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: You see, thousands of thoughts come to us every minute. Let as many thoughts as possible be of God. Let us immerse ourselves in thinking about the supreme soul. This purifies our inner space. Throughout the day, how many times do we think of God? Maybe before a meal, or before going to bed. Otherwise, it’s only when we face some problem, that we think of God! But how many times do we think of some film actress or

Chapter Name: Akṣarābrahma Yogah

Content: actor? Everything in the newspapers, on television or on the internet is about something with which we are not really connected. We take many such things into our system, and all our thoughts revolve around them. Out of thousands of thoughts, less than one percent is probably related to God. Everything else is related to something external. Every thought is energy and we waste more than ninety nine percent of our energy on something that is not really needed for us. If we can channel this energy to look inward, we explore a new dimension of our Self. We are ready to do anything other than think about God or our Self. We think it is a waste of time. We do something only if we feel we will get something from it. But if we analyze our thoughts carefully, we are not thinking of anything productive. Most of the time, we justify ourselves saying, ‘Why think of God? What will we get? I have better things to think about like work and my studies.’ These are mere justifications. If we sit and write down our thoughts, we will see that we are not thinking about anything productive. Our thoughts are completely illogical and random. So why not think about God? When we are completely immersed in thoughts of God, our inner space is cleared. We are preparing our Self. At the time of death, these thoughts will liberate us. Constantly thinking about God helps when our soul passes through the energy layers at the time of death.

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving | 531

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Passing In Light

Content: 8.23 O best of the Bhārata, I shall now explain to you the different times When passing away from this world, one returns or does not return.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Passing In Light

Content: 8.24 Those who pass away from the world during the influence of the fire god, during light, at an auspicious moment, during the fortnight of the waxing moon and the six months when the sun travels in the north, And those who have realized the supreme Brahman do not return.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Passing In Light

Content: 8.25 The mystic who passes away from this world during the smoke, the night, the fortnight of the waning moon, or the six months when the sun travels in the south, Having done good deeds, goes to the cosmic layer and returns.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Passing In Light

Content: 8.26 According to the Vedas, there are two ways of passing from this world -one in light and one in darkness. When one passes in light, he does not return; but when one passes in darkness, he returns.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Passing In Light

Content: In these few verses, Kṛṣṇa describes at what time one can achieve enlightenment, how one can achieve enlightenment and how to reach that state. He also talks about how people come back into this cycle of birth and death.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Passing In Light

Content: He says: Those who know the supreme Divine attain that Supreme by passing away from the world during the influence of Agni, the fire-god, during

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahma Yogaḥ | The Art Of Leaving

Content: light or at an auspicious moment of the day, also during the fortnight of the waxing moon or during the six months that the sun travels in the north, referred to as uttarāyaṇam. Understand, these are not chronological calendars. If it were a chronological calendar, then at uttarāyaṇam time, all of us can commit suicide and be done with it! All these things have metaphorical meanings. When He says uttarāyaṇam, He means when our mind is totally balanced. In the Mahābhārata war, in the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, it is said that Bhīṣma waits for uttarāyaṇam to leave the body. Don’t think he waited for January. He waited until his mind settled down from the agitations. He had fallen in battle and was down on a bed made of arrows. He must have felt agitated. He must have felt, ‘My grandson, for whom I did everything, did this to me.’ He would have been disturbed. So he waited until the agitation settled down. That is what is meant by the words, ‘he was waiting for uttarāyaṇam.’ Don’t think these are chronological concepts. If they were then the millions of people who die in those six months will become enlightened. Enlightenment is not an accident! It is a pure conscious choice. So be very clear, when He says agnir jyotiraḥ suklaḥ, He means if we are conscious… agnir jyotiraḥ… means when your being is conscious… when your being is fully alive, awakened, naturally you go up. (suklaḥ means going above, Krṣṇa means going down) If we live, throughout life centered on the eyes, our energy leaves through the eyes. If we live throughout life centered on the tongue and eating, the soul leaves through the mouth. So if we live throughout life centered on higher consciousness, our energy leaves through the sahasrāra, the crown cakra, the energy center on the top of our head. Krṣṇa says brahma brahmavido janāḥ. He means that if we have always lived with our attention focused towards higher consciousness, we will travel in that path and disappear into Brahman. We will become enlightened.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: So be very clear, these conditions are psychological. Bhīṣma waited until his mind settled. He waited until he felt completely peaceful, till he was able to forgive everybody and reach conscious awareness. Then he entered enlightenment.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Next, Kṛṣṇa says that the person who passes away from this world during the night, the fortnight of the waning moon or those six months when the Sun travels in the south, referred to as dakṣināyanam, reaches the Moon but comes back again.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Again, this is also psychological. They can’t say that in these six months nobody can become enlightened. They can’t say, ‘During the six months of dakṣināyanam the enlightenment gates are locked, no entry. Only at uttarāyaṇam time, the gates are open. Come at that time.’ No! They can’t say, ‘Dakṣināyanam time is non-working hours and only uttarāyaṇam time is working hours.’ There are no working hours for enlightenment. It is purely because of the conscious choice of one’s being.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Kṛṣṇa says that according to the Vedas, there are two ways to pass from this world: one in light and one in darkness. When one passes in light, he does not return, but when one passes in darkness, he comes back again.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: What does Kṛṣṇa mean by light and darkness? They refer to the levels of consciousness one has reached. If a person leaves the body without knowing what drove him all along - his saṁskāras, his desires, fears, guilt, etc., which we call engrams - then this ignorance is what He refers to as darkness.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: When we become aware of these and are free from them, we leave the body and become liberated. This is what He means by light. He says that when this happens, the being does not return to the body.

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Be Fixed In Devotion

Content: 8.27 O son of Pritā, the devotees who know these different paths are never bewildered. O Arjuna, be always fixed in devotion. 8.28 A person who accepts the path of devotional service transcends the results derived from studying the Vedas, performing austerities and sacrifices, giving charity or pursuing pious and result-based activities. At the end he reaches the supreme abode.

Content: In the last few verses Kṛṣṇa summarizes the essence of the whole chapter. He says, ‘O son of Pritā, the devotees who know these different paths are never bewildered. Therefore O Arjuna, be always fixed in devotion.’

Content: He means that a person who understands the different paths that a spirit can take while leaving the body will always be prepared for death. He immerses himself in devotion throughout his life so that he becomes liberated. Kṛṣṇa first gives Arjuna an intellectual understanding of the whole death process. He clearly tells him that the last thought while leaving the body governs the path that the spirit chooses when entering the next body.

Content: Again and again He emphasizes that this thought cannot be divine unless we spend our entire lives in devotional service. When I say devotional service, devotion is more important than service. I tell people, never give money in charity because some priest told you that it is a good thing. I do not say, ‘Don’t do charity work.’ I am only saying, ‘Let it just be a natural expression of yourself, not with any expectation.’

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Kṛṣṇa says, 'Performing austerities and sacrifices, giving charity or pursuing pious result-based activities will take a person to the supreme abode.'

Chapter Number: 8

Chapter Name: Akṣarabrahmā Yogah

Content: While doing each of these activities, it is the attitude that matters most, not the action itself. Kr̥ṣṇa says, if one engages in activities with devotion, then He will be there at the time of one's death. He has given intellectual knowledge until now. Let us pray to that ultimate energy, Parabrahma Kr̥ṣṇa, to give us intelligence and the experience of thoughtless awareness, witnessing consciousness, ātma jñāna, the eternal bliss, nityānanda. Thank you. Thus ends the eighth chapter named Akṣara Brahma Yogah, of the Upaniṣad of Bhagavad Gītā, the scripture of Yoga dealing with the Science of the Absolute, in the form of the dialogue between Śrī Kr̥ṣṇa and Arjuna.

Content: Death: The ultimate Liberation And A Cause For Celebration Editor's note: Nithyananda's father, Śrī Nitya Arunācalānanda attained enlightenment and left the body, what we call Mahā samādhi, on 12 November 2006. This is the account of a disciple present on that occasion. It was the third and final day of the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā discourses in Bengaluru. The topic that evening was Enlightenment: Have it! Swamiji expounded so authoritatively on the sūtras (aphorisms) of the boy sage, Aṣṭāvakra. The mesmerized audience listened to the flow of words. It was suddenly interrupted by a coughing bout from Swamiji. He asked for water, drank it, and continued talking. There was another interruption. Ayya (Secretary to Swamiji, for Indian affairs) came flying onto the stage. He went behind the sofa and whispered something to Him. Swamiji covered the mic with his one hand, listened calmly to Ayya and made a facial gesture that seemed to convey, 'I'll take care' or something to that effect. The talk resumed. Then to the audience's utter consternation, he gestured to Ayya to come onstage again. More whispered conversation followed. There was stillness and finality in Swamiji's body language. Ayya left, the talk continued and progressed to the end. The effect was electrifying. No one left his seat during the discourse. Spontaneous applause followed. Then the long serpentine queue for Swamiji's blessing started. I sat in the balcony watching the flow of events. Little did I know that one soul had already taken the offer of enlightenment. As the long line of people was shortening, I went down to the entrance to take my allotted

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: place. Just then Aya came and said, 'Amma, Swamiji's father has attained mahāsamādhi (final liberation). All of us are leaving for Tiruvannamalai as soon as Swamiji finishes. Please round up all ācāryas (teachers) and healers and gather them at one place. At no point should your body language reveal what I have just now conveyed to you. Swamiji wants you to remain calm and act with spiritual maturity.' That set the tone for the unimaginable events that followed. Enlightened beings are compassion incarnate. Swamiji blessed each and everyone in the queue taking as much time as he would in the normal course of events. After blessings, very smoothly Swamiji's car moved away with His mother beside Him in the center seat and His brothers occupying the rear seat. Mini buses were arranged for ashamites, healers and ācāryas. Barring a few people, most of them did not know where we were going. The ones who didn't know were delighted by the turn of events. They were traveling out of Bengaluru and would be in Swamiji's company... that was enough! When we reached Tiruvannamalai, one of the ashamites stopped the bus, went down and picked up fresh garlands for us to place on the coffin. In the wee hours of the morning of 13th Nov 2006, the bus stopped at the entrance to Rajarajan Street where Swamiji's maternal parents lived. A passing thought struck me that young Rajasekaran had lived on Rajarajan street and was destined to be a Rajasanyāsi...Raja meaning King - royalty to the manner born. It looked like Existence had planned very meticulously. (Swamiji's original name was Rajasekaran) The orchestration was truly exquisite! We got down quietly and in a single file walked solemnly into the house. Swamiji sat in the veranda (porch) with some male relatives. He radiated a serene calmness. The minute He saw us, He remarked about us, 'For the first time I see these people really serious!' And then He addressed us, 'Go inside. Pay respects. Be with my mother. See to it that no one disturbs her. I don't want anyone wailing and weeping and creating scenes.'

Chapter Number: 8

Content: We stepped into the hall and saw a lot of people seated there. To the left of the main doorway was the glass coffin. One after the other, in a silent procession, we placed garlands on the coffin and paid respects. I looked at the face and found it to be utterly calm. It echoed the final relaxation. Somehow, I couldn't connect with the fact that this inert body was a living person to whom I had spoken just two days earlier in the ashram. I had bid him goodbye and said that we would see each other during Jayanti celebrations, Swamiji's birthday celebrations in December-January. In his usual manner, he invited me to Tiruvannamalai for the Karthigai Deepam festival… 'Ellarum vaango', 'all of you please come for the festival of lights.'

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Yes, everyone came - but not for the festival. Little did we know that we had been invited for a celebration, the likes of which we had never seen in our lives before. I found the atmosphere to be strange. I couldn't put my finger on it. Then it suddenly dawned on me that no one was crying! Everyone sat quietly. I had witnessed many deaths in my family. The ambience had always been one of great grief. Wailing, shouting and calling out to the departed is the rule rather than the exception. And this was repeated with the arrival of every new relative.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: I had no doubts that Swamiji was the single controlling factor.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: We sat around Amma (Swamiji's mother) who was an inspiration to watch. She sat on the floor, next to the sofa in which Swamiji sat. There was an air of innocence and dignity in her demeanor. She aligned her wishes to whatever her son said. She exhibited a total childlike trust in Him. As she simply and beautifully put it: 'Swami ennode irrukumpodu vera enna ma annakku venum? Avar ellamay patthuparu, ma.' (When Swamiji Himself is with me, what more can I ask for? He will take care of everything, ma.)

Chapter Number: 8

Content: She showed a high level of spiritual maturity that is rare for a person, especially a woman born and brought up in a small, closed society.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: I understood why Swamiji had chosen her to be His mother. He had mentioned that India's energy attracts higher-level beings and acts as

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: the spiritual incubator for them when they descend on planet earth. In a similar way, I felt Amma, due to her extreme innocence and unshakeable spiritual strength was the womb, the incubator that had radiated the innate capacity to receive and nurture an enlightened being's exalted energy. The whole day was suffused with an air of spiritual fervor. Even as people were trooping in to pay respects, the young ascetics, the brahmacārīs of the ashram, looking so majestically resplendent, performed pūjā in Swamiji's presence and with His participation: Guru pūjā, Vraja homa, Nitya kirtans, āratī and other ceremonies, as directed by Swamiji Himself. Swamiji explained, 'When Ayya came up on stage and informed me that my father was no more, I paused awhile and related to his energy. I clearly saw that before his death, my father had gone into an enlightened state and had stayed there for at least 21 minutes. He had attained mahāsamādhi, the great liberation! Then he had relaxed beautifully into the all-pervading consciousness. I told Ayya to relax and carry on with the necessary arrangements. In those few moments of relating, I did whatever had to be done at the initial stage for the soul to move on. I had to take care of the people who had come for my blessings at the discourse. They too need me.' Only a person in the Paramahamsa (supreme) state can be so unattachedly compassionate and unconditionally available at all times for those who seek Him, no matter what the situation. In those few moments, the teachings of Asṭāvakra - you are by your nature unattached, renounced, liberated; you are the all-pervading, witnessing consciousness - had been expressed through Swamiji's sheer body language. The profound truths of the scriptures must be lived. Here, before our eyes was a living example. All of us - devotees, disciples, healers and ācāryas - were shown what it means to 'practice what you preach'. Masters do not teach. Their life is their teaching. If you are alert and awake around the master, you can learn within moments what years of poring over great philosophies cannot teach you.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Every now and then, Swamiji would go out, sit in the veranda, watch arrangements being made to receive people and speak with relations and friends. In those moments of reminiscing, he said with great fondness, 'My father was a V.I.P. (Very Important Person) in his own right in this town. Because of his innate generosity of spirit and his helping nature, he managed to have a great following. He was so considerate to everyone. Even the last moments he spent on planet earth have been done with care and consideration! In the same way that he did not disturb me when I was a mere boy on the spiritual path, so too in death he has chosen to cause me the least disturbance. In my busy schedule, I am relatively free for the next three days. He has chosen to rightly leave his body now! He could have gone when I was in America or during the Ananda Ula tour. What would have happened to all the programs, all the arrangements? Simply a beautiful soul! I have blessed him with the ultimate gift of enlightenment. His energy will never again be converted to matter. He has left his body smoothly, without pain. He is relaxed and relating with me. Amma, nee kavalai padadhey, naa pathikiraain. (Amma, you don't worry. I will take care.)'

Chapter Number: 8

Content: So saying, Swamiji stood up, walked to the glass coffin and very lovingly, with a beautiful smile on his face, blessed his father's body and energy. He would repeat this often, throughout the day.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: The gentry of Tiruvannamalai were being exposed to the joyous dignity of death.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Hearing Him talk and watching His utterly relaxed, confident and authoritative body language, I realized we were sitting in a live classroom. He was living the truths that He had spoken of on so many occasions, in all those meditation programs. He showed us the way to receive death, the way to handle the dead and the living. No book can give this understanding, this kind of confidence.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: I understood why He was particularly careful to maintaining a deeply joyous atmosphere. Why was He insistent that no one should weep and wail? As far as my understanding goes, when the soul leaves the body it

Chapter Name: The Art of Leaving

Content: is essential that the atmosphere is light, suffused with spiritual understanding, awareness, and a mood of deep celebration. Then we make it easier for the soul to move on smoothly to the next dimension. This is the greatest gift of love we can give to anyone. This is the ultimate act of selflessness. When we cry, when we grieve, we create such a heavy atmosphere that the soul struggles to leave. We cause an obstruction. This is the greatest act of cruelty that we can commit. And all the while, we suffer from the misconception that if we weep, we tell the departed how much we love him. Actually, if we look deeply and honestly within ourselves, we see that we cry for the loss, the void that the person's death has caused in our life. Because, if we appreciate that death is the climax of life and not the end, we too will celebrate with that understanding. Then where is the room for tears? When evening, sandhya kāl, arrived, the ārati – the offering of lit camphor and wicks, was performed to the sound of tinkling bells and the rhythmic clapping of the gathering. Everyone participated with great fervor. I sat next to the coffin. Each time I turned my gaze to my left, I looked directly at the face. I was surprised that at no time did I feel disturbed by this physical proximity to the dead body. In fact, more often than not we forgot that the body was there. Though it was placed in the center of the room, it was not holding centerstage. There was no exhibition of grief or trace of morbidity to keep us focused on the body. I realized that as Swamiji was constantly keeping the group occupied with some aspect of spirituality, the mind was diverted from its habitual pattern of response to such situations. Our energies, instead of being tight and confined to our boundaries through fear and grief, were expanding and relating to the high level of enlightened energy present in the room. The moment of death can be a process of deep alchemy for the dying and the living. Since this blessed soul had attained samādhi, the energy it radiated, combined with the powerful vibrations of an enlightened

Chapter Number: 8

Content: master's presence, had the power to transform all those tuned to it. This was exactly what Swamiji was working on. He did not want us to miss this huge opportunity that Existence was offering us. In between all these extraordinary activities, Swamiji kept the normalcy of day-to-day activities going. We went for breakfast, came back, drank coffee served with polite hospitality, and then got into vehicles and performed giri-vala (circumambulating Aruṇācala, the holy hill of Tiruvannamalai). We went for lunch, had a shower; in short, the ordinariness of day-to-day life carried on. This in no way showed disrespect to the departed soul. On the contrary, it showed an extremely mature understanding that death was one more event in life. It could be as simple as changing our old, worn out clothes for something new. That act of changing is death, that's all. If, while living, we had learnt the art of changing then we would carry the same attitude with us while dying. If we wish to die well, all we have to do is learn to live well. Live fully, moment to moment, as if each moment is our last one. Then there is no room for regrets. We will have the spiritual understanding that death is neither frightening nor fascinating, as some naively think. It is simply a fact of life, which creates a great opportunity for the most profound and beneficial inner experiences to happen. It carries with it the potentiality to be the moment of final illumination. Early next morning, around 5.30 am, we gathered in the main hall. Swamiji asked that the body be given its final bath and draped in kāvi vastra (saffron cloth usually worn by sanyāsis). At that moment I remembered: Once when Swamiji was returning from a tour of South India, his father jokingly told his eldest son, who too had come to visit the ashram, 'seekaram vaa da... sami varadukulla namba kazhambalam...paatarna nambazhayum samiyara panniduvaru...' (Come quickly. Let us leave the ashram before Swamiji arrives. Otherwise, if He sees us, He will make us also

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: Akṣarabrahmā Yogah The Art Of Leaving | 545 sanyāsis!) It looked like Existence has a great sense of humor. She had the last laugh. I am sure that Swamiji's father would have joined in the laughter. I noticed that there had not been any change in the physical condition of the body. Death had arrived on 12th evening and now it was 14th morning. The body was as intact as it had been on the first day that we had seen it. No doubt it was kept on ice; yet not a single change had happened, considering the low level of sophistication of that glass coffin and the heat of Tiruvannamalai. The face radiated the same sereneness; there was no odor of decay. The use of agarbattis (incense sticks) and room fresheners had stopped long ago. I mused silently: Was it Swamiji's energy? Or was it the vibrations of the pūja and ārati performed at regular intervals? Or was it the group energy that was so profoundly calm and elevating? Perhaps it was a direct reflection of the samādhi state into which Śrī Arunācalānanda had entered before leaving the body completely. The separated ego with all its sense-residues had been transformed and purified at the moment of the final exit. So there was no odor. Only lightness and the bliss of the liberated soul suffused the air that we were breathing. It could be all these aspects acting together. I honestly didn't know. This was not time to seek clarifications. That understanding will happen when the need arises, automatically, without any kind of seeking or prompting. And of course, my ego never got tired of musing. Once the necessary rituals were completed, Swamiji asked everyone who was not a healer or ācārya to pay respects and leave the room. Then, closing the doors and windows firmly, He asked Śrī Nitya Kīrtanānanda to play ānanda darśan music. The room exploded to the beat of 'bomma bomma tha thaiya thaiya thaka...' with everyone singing and clapping. Swamiji danced joyously, throwing tremendous energy all around. There was a great buildup of heat in the closed room. Then, He placed his ājñā cakra (energy center between the eyebrows) on His father's ājñā cakra. He then uttered the mahāvākya (great declaration): tat tvam asi, tat tvam asi, tat tvam asi, aham brahmāsmi,

Chapter Number: 8

Content: ahaṁ brahmāsmi, ahaṁ brahmāsmi (Thou art That; I am the ultimate reality). Energy transfer must have surely taken place.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: I cannot even begin to understand its meaning. Then, with absolute grace, He removed His turban and put it on His father’s head. A rudrākṣa rosary was placed around his neck.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: The moments that followed are frozen in time in our memories. Something in me gave way. I felt an ecstatic connectivity.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Śiva was no longer a mere concept for me. He danced before my eyes.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: I realized that the updated version of Śiva is Nityananda. It blew my mind. Something in me died forever, for something else to bloom.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Later, just before the doors were opened to let people in, one healer echoed the feeling in all our hearts when he said, ‘Swamiji, if this is how death is going to be, I am ready to die now!’

Chapter Number: 8

Content: The next moments were all about history being created in Tiruvannamalai. For the first time women were allowed to accompany the funeral procession to the cremation area. The bier was lifted onto the flower-bedecked vehicle. With Swamiji leading the way, women sang the beautifully evocative devotional lyrics of the Arunachala Aksharamana Maalai (the soul stirring hymn to Aruṇācala Śiva, composed by the enlightened master Bhagavān Srī Ramana Maharṣi) accompanying it on its last earthly journey.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: The most poignant and unbelieving scene was that of Amma, the wife of the departed soul, walking alongside the vehicle, rhythmically clapping her hands to the beat of the devotional song. I do not think this happens in any strata of society, let alone in a small temple town like Tiruvannamalai. What astonishing courage! What progressive thinking, done not as an act of defiance or with the need to score some socially relevant points, but simply as an expression of implicit trust, inner steel and dignified grace!

Chapter Number: 8

Content: When we reached the cremation area, Swamiji informed us that this was the land gifted by Amma’s father to start a Dhyanapeetam Center in

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: Tiruvannamalai. He revealed to the gathering that the first person to attend the Nithyananda Spurana Program and get enlightened before leaving the body was His father. It was only befitting that the body of a realized soul should be cremated here. When the pyre was readied, the mortal remains of Śrī Nitya Arunācalānanda Swami were placed on it. The way the body was positioned was symbolic. At one end was the sacred Arunācala Hill. At the other end was Swamiji, the enlightened master! The formless and the form on either side.

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: Can anyone ask for greater protection than this?

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: As the final moments arrived for the curtain to be drawn on this drama, people were given flowers to offer at the feet of the departed soul one last time. Then, Swamiji informed the gathered crowd that as a sanyāsi who had cut all family ties, He couldn't perform the last rites of his father as a son would traditionally be expected to do. However as a guru, it was His responsibility to conduct the rites of passage for His disciple. Swamiji recalled that when He had asked His father what kind of help he needed, His father had answered simply: 'Swami irunda podum.' (If You are there, that is enough.)' Swamiji told us, 'At that moment, He became my disciple! That complete, total trust is enough. Nothing else is needed!'

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: Swamiji also declared that in the future, Nov 12th of every year, the death anniversary of Śrī Nitya Arunācalānanda Swami, will be celebrated within the Nithyananda Order as Mahāparinirvāna day, the day of enlightened souls, in memory of those who attain enlightenment and leave the body under Swamiji's grace. He promised that no matter where His disciples died, His presence would be there to perform the last rites. With such an amazing promise thundering in our beings, the last, lingering fear of death seemed to melt away…

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: This was a promise from none other than Śiva Himself.

Chapter Name: The Art Of Leaving

Content: As His father's energy had traveled directly from a conscious state to a superconscious one, without slipping into the unconscious coma state, and had remained in that exalted level for 21 minutes, he had become

Chapter Number: 8

Content: enlightened. Therefore, he could not be treated in the normal way. Also, since he had been conferred with antima sanyās (final renunciation and enlightenment) the body had to be cremated with honors conferred upon enlightened souls.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: It was like a spiritual salute of honor to a departed war hero.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: Just before the pyre was lit, Swamiji called His mother and brothers, and gave them each a sandalwood log to be placed on the mortal remains of the energy that had been a husband and father for many years. There was finality to that act. Then with cries of ‘Śrī Nitya Arunācalānanda Swami Ki Jai’ (Hail to Śrī Nitya Arunācalānanda Swami) rending the air, Swamiji performed ārati, lit the funeral pyre and consigned it to flames, all with flowing grace and compassion.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: The last cameo shot that I remember is of Swamiji putting His arm around His mother and hugging her to His side, acknowledging her trusting innocence and spiritual strength and courage.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: He stood tall with His biological family around Him - son, brother, master, God.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: I offer the writing of this whole experience as an act of deep gratitude, and as an expression of my love and respect to each and everyone reading this. If anything, it was your deep longing to ‘experience the experience’ that made this sharing possible.

Chapter Number: 8

Content: In Nityananda

Chapter Number: 8

Content: MNM