Acharya Manual
for
LBP
© Dhyanapeetam
Version update 11 April 2005 Expanded September 2005
This manual is a living document that will be continuously updated whenever it remembers to breathe! Don’t take it too seriously. It is a map not the territory; use it the way you wish to develop your own teaching material. Sentences in bold can be used as bullet points for easy remembrance. Whenever you develop new perspectives, or new jokes and stories please do let us have your feedback so that we can enhance the content with your help. You can use this in conjunction with the short cut mind maps for easy reference.
Guidelines for use:
1. This manual in inclusive; not exclusive in the sense that all material that is considered relevant is included and will be added on as you all contribute. You can choose what you wish to use, to deliver after acceptance, understanding and internalization.
2. Paramahamsa Nithyananda’s instruction is that we deliver two hours of each module, for introduction and the seven chakras. Of this, two hours, all chakra discourses will have about thirty minutes of meditation time. We estimate that you will use the remaining ninety minutes roughly as:
- 45 minutes of discourse,
- 15 minutes in listing emotional issues in writing, - 20 minutes of interactive discussion at least and
- 5 to 10 minutes to clarify issues arising out of meditation without getting into merits and demerits of experiences.
Within this time build in exercises described in the manual. Each chakra has one or two exercises other than the meditation that can be applied day to day effectively to handle the emotional states that affect that chakra.
3. Interactive discussion is crucial. We do not have Nithyananda’s powers to understand what the participants want. We need them to express their doubts and wants. That in turns generates discussions. This in turn leads to our learning both of them and the subject. Otherwise the acharyas will lose the attention of participants.
4. The downside as well as the plus point of discussions and question answer sessions is that our ignorance is exposed. It is good for our ego to say we do not know when we do not know, without pretensions. It also leads to learning if we are wise, since we then start looking for the answers ourselves.
5. It is true that Nithyananda will guide us and it is true that we need to go into our ananda gandha, and if possible stay there during our discourses so that we are in his energy filled in the nirvanic layer. However, this does not mean we go unprepared and later proclaim that Nithyananda spoke through us. We are then misusing the responsibility given to us. It is then our ego that is manifesting itself, not humility. Humility will be manifested when we do our best to internalize what is to be said, with complete concern for our audience, and leave the performance to our Master’s grace. We know the will Master speak through us if he said so himself when he ordained us.
6. The way this manual is structured is without structure; it is encyclopedic. There is a lot of information out there that you can choose from. Do not look for logic or continuity. Make your own logic and continuity after internalizing the content. This manual is not for beginners. This is for those of us who have had some experience of listening to LBP Level 1, having conducted LBP Level 1 and are in need of more material. It is a mass of material that you can mix and match. 7. Meditations are the essence of the LBP Level 1. The discourses only
lead up to the meditations. Acharyas are just instruments. Please internalize and plan the meditation sessions. Lead the discourse up to the meditation session so that participants are clear what they are going to do, how they are going to do it, and why they are going to do it.
Module 1: Energy and Meditation
On behalf of the Life Bliss Foundation and Paramahamsa Nithyananda, I welcome you all with love and respect.
You have all come here for a purpose. Your presence here is not accidental. Each one of you would have had many other important things to do, yet you are here in preference. We extend our deepest gratitude for your choosing to be here today. Let us start with a very simple process. Close your eyes for a few minutes. Breathe normally. Please visualize intensely any one of the happiest moments of your life; your marriage, your child’ birth, a job, a holiday, whatever that was joyful and full of happiness. Just pick one that comes to your mind; do not struggle to compare. Give participants about 3 to 5 minutes. Let them relax.
Open your eyes. What did you think of?
Participants share experiences briefly. All of them are external incidents that made them happy; meeting someone; getting money; achieving something…
Every one of the incidents that you visualized as making you happy was based on an external experience. For a moment imagine that the incident had not happened. What happens to your happiness then? Would you have experienced happiness then?
It is impossible. When an external event or subject has the power to give you happiness please be clear that it also has the power to take it away from you. Happiness and sorrow based on external events is just perception, not a genuine lasting feeling.
A small story…
A man was returning home with his wife and three children after a week’s stay in a nearby town. As he nears home he sees his house on fire. He breaks down sobbing, ‘Oh, my God! All my life savings was just this house. Now it is gone’. His wife comforts him, ‘Don’t worry, don’t you remember we sold the house just the day before we left town.’ Man beams with happiness, eyes dry. Eldest son interjects, ‘But Mom, we haven’t received full payment yet’. Father renews sobbing, ‘oh, my god, what will I do?’ Daughter consoles him, ‘dad, we just got the full payment yesterday, don’t worry.’ Finally he stops sobbing.
The incident of the house on fire remains the same, but the perception of loss changes moment to moment. Who cares if it’s on fire, as long as I do not lose? Happiness and sorrow are very relative.
In this program, the Life Bliss Program – Level 1, you go beyond perceptional happiness. Happiness is temporary, fleeting, subjective, transient, destroyed easily by that which creates it. ‘Ananda’ in Sanskrit means ‘Eternal Happiness’ or ‘Bliss’. ‘Nanda’ refers to anything that is limited in time and space. ‘Ananda’ is eternal, permanent in time and space. ‘Spurana’ means ‘gushing’ in Sanskrit, gushing out like a fountain, like a mountain stream; of ‘flowering’, the ecstatic blossoming of a thousand flowers all at once. This program is about experiencing a glimpse of that eternal bliss gushing out of you.
Bliss is unchanging, everlasting happiness. It is our nature to experience bliss even though most often we don’ realize it. Children are in bliss and progressively lose it as they grow up. Bliss is continuously happening within ourselves – yet we do not experience it all. Why? We are constantly stopping the flow of energy that results in bliss. We do this through a bundle of negative emotions. We actively stop the flow of bliss. What we are about to do is stop the stopping.
Ask the participants: If they understand? What in their view is happiness? Is it Bliss? What is the difference?
What we are about to embark on is a journey of personal transformation. The transformation happens at three levels: physical, mental and spiritual. At the physical level you can find cures to your ailments. At the mental level catharsis to your emotional blocks; and at the highest level of the spirit you can find the path to further enlightenment.
Ask: How many are looking for this eagerly and willing to put in effort?
Let us discuss for a few minutes what each one of you is here for? What is it that you seek?
List audience response in these 5 categories. o Mental Wellbeing
o Physical Well being o Material Wellbeing o Relationship Wellbeing o Spiritual Wellbeing
You will find that almost all our needs can be classified into five specific categories; physical wellbeing; mental well being, interpersonal relations; material well being, and spiritual well being. In order to achieve all these expectations that you have, your body, mind and spirit have to work synchronously. Only a person with good physical health can have a sound and healthy mind. Body and mind are intimately related. Combination of a healthy body and a healthy mind helps is effective interpersonal relationships, which in turn helps in whatever endeavors that we undertake. Financial success automatically follows. What we are about to share with you in this program is how to develop a healthy body and a healthy mind that leads to material success in life.
Even when we enjoy all these positive effects, we still feel that something is missing in our lives. Quite often, what is missing in our lives is contentment, fulfillment and sustained joy. We keep searching everywhere for these elusive experiences.
A small story…
Nasrudin was a great Sufi saint who played the fool all the time. One day Nasrudin was searching at dusk for something below the street lamp across the street from his house. A friend passed by and curious asked him what he was doing. Nasrudin said he was looking for a gold coin that he had lost. The friend joined his search, and so did a few other passers by. After a while the friend asked: there seems to be no coin here. Where did you lose it? Said Nasrudin: I lost it inside my house. Angry, the friend shouted, ‘Don’t you have brains? Why are you then looking for it here, instead of searching inside the house?’ Nasrudin said calmly, ‘Because I have no light inside my house’.
Why search for something outside while it’s still inside? This is what we do all our lives, searching for the bliss within everywhere but inside. Why, because we have not lit our inner self.
What we hope to do during this program is to provide you the light that helps you find that what is always within you.
What we are about to embark upon is a process of personal transformation. In life without exception we expect others to change the way we wish them to, and try and force them to our points of view. This obviously rarely works, and works only in cases when the other party needs something from us. The only way to change others is by changing ourselves. Our own transformation in respecting others startlingly changes their perceptions of us and better relationships. The light that we provide you is in the form of techniques of meditation that help energize your system that transform you personally.
Each one of you has come here with a definite purpose in mind. All of you have taken time off important tasks, possibly postponed other important schedules, and made time to be here with us. We are deeply grateful to you for this and would like to ensure that you get what you came for. All we seek of you in return is that you receive what we have to say openly and without blocks in your mind.
A small Zen story….
There was a professor at Harvard, a very learned professor of philosophy. He was an authority of western religions, and like all such authority figures of intellect, full of his own knowledge. The professor felt he had to learn about Eastern religions as well, and located Sensei Nansen, the recluse Zen Master as the expert he wanted to meet.
After a bit of trouble he managed to fix a meeting and traveled to Northern Japan to meet Sensei. Nansen’s disciples seated the professor in the Sensei’s room in front of a low table on which tea service was laid out. Nansen came in, bowed to the professor and sat down. Immediately the professor started telling him all about what he knew about Eastern philosophy.
The Sensei made a sign as if to ask if he could pour some tea for the professor. Impatiently the professor nodded. Nansen started pouring and he continued to pour even as the cup overflowed. Aghast, the professor shouted at him to stop, ‘Can’t you see that the cup is already full? It’s overflowing! The Sensei said, ‘You seem to have understood my point, professor. When the cup is full it overflows. So is your mind. How can I tell you anything unless you empty your mind? The professor now truly understood and reached nithya state.
Nithyananda’s tip: Visualize each step of this story. Key: Arrogance of professor, and calm wisdom of Nansen; Punch line: Cup overflowing.
In many of our sessions we place a notice outside the door that says, ‘Please leave your footwear and minds at the door’. Some find it strange and wonder if we are trying to be funny, or alternatively at the other extreme whether we are trying to brainwash you. Neither really.
Many of you have attended many similar programs on self improvement and spiritual pursuits. Many would have benefited from such programs. However this content that is stored on your brain’s hard disk will come in the way of inputting additional data. Either you need to expand your hard disk capacity or get rid of some of your files. We need your total focus upon what we are about to embark on without any prejudgment. All we seek of you is an open and curious mind.
Learning: Ask group how they think learning happens. As children and as adults. If any one has learnt creative arts? If any one has learnt scriptures? Any differences in how one learns?
Learning in this program happens at three levels.
At the first level you benefit intellectually. You gather new information and learn new techniques that your rational mind accepts. What you get from this learning is about 33% of what we say to you. Much of this information gets erased soon after you attend this program if left by alone. This is the kind of learning, communication that happens from head to head, that happens in our schools and colleges.
At the next level you get emotionally involved with something that happens here. You are touched at some point emotionally by the course content, the practices and/or the people that you meet here. When you add the emotional with the intellectual learning your earning enhances to 66 % of what we say to you. This is what you do when you learn music or painting. You cannot be taught. You need to learn. Let us take for instance swimming. Any amount of book reading or lecturing cannot make you a swimmer. You need to get into the water and learn.
This is still not enough for what you came for. At the third level something happens to you which makes you say to yourself when you go home, ‘Hey, something has changed within me’. Often, this transformation is noticed by others close to you. You have internalized this program and it has transformed you. For this to happen we need your total and unwavering involvement. We need it 100%. Not 99%. It’s like water transforming to steam only 100 degrees and not at 99 degrees. What you get is quantum change not incremental. Quality of your experience is of a different order.
What we seek is also your active interaction. Partly to ensure that your listening is active, partly to ensure that you have no doubt, but mostly to learn from your experiences that we all can benefit from.
Let us now talk about what we plan to cover today and tomorrow.
Humans alone of all creatures possess consciousness; consciousness is awareness of one’s connectivity with the Universe; with the cosmic energy. We are all part of the cosmic energy.
When one starts the study of Vedas one usually starts with the Rig Veda. Similarly with Upanishads, one starts with the Isa Upanishad. Isa is the Divine, from the root ‘it’ that means to rule; one who is our ruler; one with infinite power. The very first verse of the Isopanishad states, iso vasyam idam sarvam. The translation is, ‘All that moves is ruled by him. Expanded this says, ‘All matter comes from the supreme energy’.
Einstein said towards the end of his career after reading the Isopanishad, the last word in science is the first word in spirituality. What he meant was that his famous formula E=mc2 that redefined the boundaries of science then was the first statement of Isopanishad, if only we could grasp its meaning.
The invocation verse of the Brihadaranya runs famously thus: purnamadah purnamidam purnad purnamudachyade
purnasya purnamadaya purnameva vashishyate
Literally translated, ‘This is infinite that is infinite; from infinite proceeds the infinite; if infinite is removed from infinite what remains is still infinite’.
Without an underpinning of its relevance, this verse can leave you tearing your hair. However, properly explained this verse is the underpinning of all advaita theory. Saying this is probably as confusing as the verse itself. Advaita can only be understood if one explains what Dvaita is.
Dvaita or duality is the principle which says that I, the World that I live in and the Supreme Power are three different entities, and that these shall remain separate always. The relation between I and the Supreme is that of a Master and Servant and there will never be a meeting point.
Visishtadvaita or modified duality states, ‘Yes, I, the World and the Supreme are different entities; however with great effort, especially if devotion, I can merge into the Supreme in spirit.
Advaita as propounded by Sankara says emphatically, ‘I, the World and the Supreme are all one and the same. What prevents one from realizing this non duality is maya (ya ma iti maya), that which prevents us from seeing Reality. Once this maya is removed we see the Truth that we too are divine. Individual divinity is termed the Self or Atman, while the ultimate cosmic divinity is termed Brahman. The sloka from Isopanishad can now be read as, ‘This is atman and that is brahman. This atman proceeds from that brahman. When this atman is removed from that brahman, that brahman still remains full, absolute, and infinite.
The atman and brahman are the cosmic energy at different planes; one at the cosmic level and the other at the individual level; both are of infinite potential.
We now need to understand how to access this cosmic energy, how this cosmic energy enhances our living and in what ways it enhances our living.
Says the Taittreya Upanishad, ‘From the atman came akasha. From akasha came vayu. From vayu came agni. From agni came apa (water). From apa came prithvi. From prithvi aushada (herbs). From aushada came anna (food). From anna came the human.
Man can access four out of the five elemental energies listed above directly. From the earth he gets food. From water he quenches thirst. From agni he derives warmth. Through vayu he breathes. However he has no means to abstract energy from akasa which is the subtlest, most expansive of the five elemental energies. The only way he can do this is through dhyana, meditation.
Cosmic energy is not just power. Power or bala is animal strength. Energy or shakti is power with consciousness. Energy is intelligent. Humans are the only species on planet earth who have this potential for shakti, as they alone have consciousness.
Astrophysicists now talk of a parallel universe. The Universe of which our solar system is a minuscule part has constant creation and constant deaths. The big bang creation of new solar and stellar systems as well as the black hole deaths of shrinking stars that grew too big to survive. Scientists now believe that each time there is a big bang in one part of the Universe there is a corresponding black hole elsewhere. One without the other is not possible. All energy is interlinked. This is cosmic karma.
At the level of Planet Earth, chaos theory states that the flutter of a butterfly in China can create a tornado in Mexico. Not even one atom moves without moving another atom elsewhere. The Tsunamis of destruction are created by the destructive exploitation of Mother Earth for minerals and Oil. This is karma at our world level. Energy has to be in equilibrium.
We all know that our actions beget reactions; Newton only hypothesized it. Even our words do. An angry shout begets another or a meek supplication that awaits the chance to avenge. This is karma at our personal level.
The cosmic energy is reflected within our own mind body system as energy pathways. These are well known both in traditional healing systems of Chinese and Indians. In the Hindu scriptures reference is made to seven energy centers or chakras that control the energy flow in our body.
The concept energy centers within the human system may have been dismissed out of hand even a few decades ago, for the simple reason there was no tangible proof of its existence. In recent times, Kirlian photography and similar techniques have demonstrated that we all have energy fields surrounding us; that even plants possess these energy fields popularly referred to as auric fields. These energy fields change depending on emotional and physical health states.
When one feels happy the energy field expands. Conversely when one is sad the field shrinks. In the Chinese system of medicine this energy field is called chi and a number of exercises have been developed over thousands of years to enhance the chi energy. In the Indian system this energy, known as shakti, is usually considered to be within the human body in the seven major energy centers and twenty-four minor energy centers. These energy centers are called chakras, meaning ‘wheel’ in Sanskrit.
Chakras get closed by negative emotions and open up with positive emotions. The heart chakra which can shrink to a coat button size through lack of attention can grow to a cartwheel size when giving out love. If a Kirlian photo had been taken of you all during the earlier exercise experience happiness, you would have seen yourself filling this room with your expanded chakras.
Each chakra is associated with an emotional state and is blocked by the negative emotion in that state. For instance the muladhara chakra located at the base of the spine is linked to base emotions of survival such as lust, anger, greed and fantasy and is blocked by excesses in these emotions. Since 85% of our energy is located in this chakra a blocked muladhara saps one’s ability to live. Re energizing the muladhara can be done through a meditation technique that reduces these negative emotions.
It is now well established that we use less than 10% of our brain power; the rest we call unconscious or sub conscious energy and its use is considered esoteric and strange. Biologists tell us that less than 5% of our biological system is ever used; the rest is stand by. We have within us 72,000 energy centers and pathways of which we use at best 14,000. The rest is never used! There is no greater misuse of available resources than the way we misuse the resources of the human system.
A small story…
After World War II, departing soldiers from near a remote tribal area in Asia left an airplane behind as it was too difficult to move it out and fly. The villagers when they felt safe to scout the area where the soldiers had been were amazed to see this contraption as they had never seen anything like that before. They looked at the wings, the propeller, climbed up and went into the cabin. However they recognized one thing on this strange apparition, it had wheels and so did the bullock cart in the village. They said this was a very special bullock cart that God had sent them and celebrated and started using it as bullock cart.
Sometime after a local boy who had gone to study in the nearest town went inside the cabin and started pulling at the various controls. Suddenly the engine roared into action and he had heard this sound before in a tractor. He managed to move the plane by engaging its gears and he explained to the amazed villagers what a tractor was. There was great celebration and now the plane started getting used as a tractor.
A while later a war veteran passed by the village, by now prosperous what with the tractor. He saw the plane being used as a tractor; he was shocked and explained to them that this machine could fly. The villagers wouldn’t believe him. When he persisted they panicked and they did not want to fly. It was simply too dangerous. Finally he managed to convince them to let him fly the contraption with bated breath the villagers watched as he took the plane up circled the village and landed. There was uproar and celebration.
We are all like the tribal people. We are all flying machines. We neither know our own potential nor possess the knowledge to activate that potential. Even when someone tells us of our potential we disbelieve him immediately. Often we chase him out. We panic. When someone dares offer us the know-how to make us fly we call him a madman. We seem happy using a flying machine as a bullock cart or quite often a pulling cart. What a waste!
Most of us would rather crawl like a snail and be safe rather than soar free like a bird since we are scared we may risk breaking a wing.
Discussion: Are you ready to realize your potential? Are you holding back? Meditation
Meditation techniques that we teach you in LBP Level 1, are the know-how that the pilot has to have in order to fly the machine using the chakras which are the engine and the transmission system. Even if we do not wish to utilize the full potential of the powerful machine that we are, for even reasonable performance we need to keep the chakras in good order for our well being. Most of our ailments, physical and mental are as a result of blocked chakras.
All it takes is a few minutes each day once you know how to energize your chakras through meditation.
Sleep provides rest to our system by lowering the metabolic rate by 8%, which is enough to rejuvenate you for about 16 hours. In contrast, meditation lowers the metabolic rate by 24% (Dr. Howard Johnson). Effects of even simple meditation techniques overall body and mind health has been well established.
In LBP Level 1, Nithyananda has developed from ancient practices of all great religions, an integrated set of techniques that are eclectic, fool proof and with no
side effects. These are active meditation techniques that are joy and fun to practice.
Discussion on how to of meditation; avoid going into details of other meditation systems; do not be negative about any other system.
Very Important:
Following guidelines must be explained clearly and repeated the second day;
1. All meditation techniques are designed by Nithyananda and are to be observed very strictly. Do not use creativity to suit your convenience.
2. Those with heart ailments, other physical limitations, post surgery patients, pregnant women etc should not strain themselves during physically exhausting meditation techniques such as Manipuraka Shuddhi, Dukkha Harana, Visuddhi Kriya etc.
3. When participants open their eyes after each meditation, Acharyas should not stand in front of their vision, which is not good for Acharyas. Stay on one side and come in centre stage after a few minutes after they have settled down.
4. Do not use healing picture of Nithyananda. Place Nithyananda’s cut out that will be given to organizers/Acharyas behind Acharya seat.
5. Acharyas must sit cross legged as far as possible on a sofa like seat, and not make unnecessary physical distracting movements. Women should be particularly careful with body language.
6. As far as possible, separate relatives and friends in the audience.
7. Acharyas should not participate in dancing, which should be referred to as ananda kirtans. Co-Acharyas and volunteers may with discretion primarily to motivate audience.
8. Do not allow participants to prostrate to Acharyas.
9. Do not enter into unrelated discussions, gossip or comparison with other Acharyas.
10.Do remember that Nithyananda speaks from the tongues of ordained Acharyas. Ahat Acharyas say will happen. Do not ever use negative expressions that may harm listeners.
12.Advise to participants post LBP Level 1;
- As far as possible meditate at the same time, same location, same posture, wear loose clothing; will allow mind to be disciplined.
- Though morning is ideal, say 6:30am/pm to 7:00am/pm, one can meditate any time, any place, anyhow, once you are used to meditative practice and are comfortable; try not to meditate within 2 hours of a major meal, and within 2 hours before sleeping, and not to eat, shower etc for 30 minutes after meditation.
- If one wears a rudraksha or red sandal wood mala during meditation, it will help retain energy generated during meditation.
- Since meditation is awareness of the here and now, complete involvement is necessary; thoughts just need to be witnessed, they will drop off on their own; no need to try to stop thoughts; do not create thoughts or nourish them.
We shall now fully commit ourselves to our personal transformation that follows today and tomorrow. This is a commitment each of you makes to yourself, not to the Acharya. We call it a sthira sankalpa.
Since many of you have attended a lot of other meditation programs, I request you to keep all that away just for the next 36 hours. If you bring all the old knowledge, you will either agree or disagree with me. Disagreeing will not allow you to do the meditation is lost. Agreeing will create a thought that you already know. The moment you create that mentality, you stop following the meditation, the enthusiasm is lost. Just be here like an innocent child so that you will have the curiosity to explore every inch. Enjoy yourself completely; even if you miss the joke, don’t miss the laughter. Even if you miss a couple of statements, don’t miss the meditation. Try to put in your whole effort to experience it.
Be with me Now and Here, or you will end up being Nowhere! We will take a sankalpa, a commitment, to make an effort to commit to this course for the next 36 hrs. Close your eyes and make a commitment to yourself:
Physically, mentally and emotionally, I will put my complete effort to experiencing meditation and to channelize all my efforts to experience the meditation.
Relax.
In Bhaja Govindam Sankara says; satsangatve nissangatvam
nissangatve nirmohatvam nirmohatve nicchhalitatvam
nicchhalitatve jeevan muktihi
‘Company of people seeking Truth leads to non attachment; non attachment leads to no desire; no desire leads to no mind; no mind leads to enlightenment’.
This is your first step.
For the next two days you are all going to be together. It is important you get to know each other, by name and as to who you are. Please introduce yourself to everyone else here.
Please choose a person who you do not know as a partner for the next two days. Please take care of that person’s needs for the next two days. Let that person eat before you do, for instance.
Please refrain from talking unnecessarily the next two days. Talking reduces and wastes your energy of meditation. It also confuses you when you discuss your experiences with others who are also beginners. Share your experiences with me if you need clarifications.
Please also refrain from eating meat, from smoking and from alcohol today, tonight and tomorrow. This will help your meditation.
Questions
1. I am always in Bliss. What more can this course give me?
It is good to hear that we have amidst us a person who is in happiness all the time. Happiness is the starting point of Bliss. You could probably deepen your happiness in this program You might share it with us as the program proceeds.
2. How is your meditation program different from others?
They are not necessarily different. There are many ways to awareness, which is the goal of meditation. The techniques we present have their origin from many thousands of years ago, from realized Masters and practiced by generations after generations of wisdom seekers with fool proof results and with no side effects.
3. You talk about Bliss. I take Bliss by taking drugs (alcohol,
cigarettes). What is the difference?
Probe as to how long the bliss lasts; is it dependent on the ***. You need to keep increasing the dosage continuously to obtain constantly decreasing benefits. Your happiness here is dependent on a crutch. (or) If you love driving cars or playing sports, the bliss lasts as long as you indulge in the
activity. Bliss through internal meditation is not dependent on external factors.
4. If you say that the bliss you reach is eternal I would say you are
bluffing.
So would I have before learning and using these techniques? Some of these are experiential. The best way we can support the efficacy of the techniques is through testimonies of volunteers.
5. Why should I leave my shoes outside?
For hygienic reasons. Not to bring dust from outside. 6. I am looking for enlightenment.
Enlightenment is not a force process; it happens when the chase is abandoned; maturity to drop the chase/ acquisition happens when all chakras up to the Ajna are awakened and the ego also drops
Additional Reading Material to internalize
‘Meditation, What It Is Not’ (From Nithyananda’s Discourses)
It is easier to explain what meditation is not, rather than defining what meditation is.
When we ask - ‘What is meditation?’ all of us immediately imagine an old man with a long beard on the banks of a river, sitting cross-legged with eyes closed and moving his lips in recitation of mantras. Today, if we tell you to sit in silence and control you’re mind, if we tell you to calm down your mind and remain blissful, what will happen? People tell us ‘When we sit for meditation, so many thoughts gush out. We don’t know their source and don’t know how to control them. We feel we are mad’.
Meditation is not sitting in a corner, alone, in a cross legged position, with back pain, knee pain, neck pain, complaints, saying, ‘I am not able to control my mind’, all these things! Meditation is all about making a shift in your Consciousness. The
moment you bring yourself to the present, you feel enthusiastic, alive, joyful and blissful. So the cognitive shift or shift in your Energy is what I call meditation
The condition of a man who tries to calm his mind by mantras today is most likely to be like the person who was told to meditate not thinking about a monkey; all that he could see were monkeys whenever he sat down to meditate. During the age of Patanjali, man was able to calm his mind by meditating with mantras. At that time, Man was simple with no complex cerebral layers, hence these techniques worked. Today, methods adopting silence will not help. Man has become neurotic and complicated. Neurosis has become the normal state of man. With the growth of Science and Consumerism, all of us have become neurotic. Like how the bullock cart is outdated, so also are the bullock cart techniques. With those techniques, you will be able to travel at the speed of a bullock cart. This is the jet age. You should be able to travel at jet speed in your inner space with techniques designed by modern day masters and mystics.
Spiritual practices or sadhanas in the Indian tradition usually follow one of three paths; the first, one of puja or rituals which require extensive preparation, and which is physical; the second is mantra japa, repetition of a word constantly; the third is dhyana, the silent contemplation.
In puja or ritualistic sadhanas which may also include practices of yoga the process has the danger of becoming mechanical losing its original objective. How many times have we seen priests intoning slokas and sutras mechanically during a puja or a yagna, their mind far away focused on other mundane matters? Mothers and grandmothers chanting ashtotras and sahasranamas, more worried about what number they are on and keen to finish and get it over with. It requires great dedication, discipline and fixity of purpose to practice the ritualistic routes to progress spiritually. Moreover these practices are gross in nature, verbalized and full of physical interventions that continuously keep the mind occupied with thoughts and with forms.
With mantra japa the physical grossness is reduced and the possibility to focus intensely is increased. However, the very fact that the mind is focused on a word, which is what a mantra is, means that there is constant verbalization and visualization following the word. The mind is engaged in the form and in thoughts. This limits the spiritual progress that can be made using this process. As long as we are in the form we are limited.
All sages agree that in the final analysis Truth is formless. Whether it is Sankara who propounded Advaita, or Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who was constantly with the form of Mother Kali, or Ramana Maharishi with his self enquiry process for liberation, all these enlightened Masters unanimously agree that the Absolute Brahman is formless. The formless Truth is not possible to achieve with any process involving words and physical activity.
Dhyana or Meditation is a non verbal technique that is subtle and is focused on awareness and the present. Dhyana is the path to shed maya, our illusions and fantasies and to reach enlightenment.
Patanjali’s yoga sutras define various steps to enlightenment. The first step yama alone comprises five steps, all quite strenuous. Celibacy, truth, non violence, not stealing, not possessing. Only after you practice all these steps and master them are you qualified to move up to the next step in yogic accomplishment. In the present day world Patanjali’s techniques take a lot of time. To realize Truth through yoga of any form would probably take many births, and you will forget what you started in this birth, when you start your next!
Dhyana or meditation is the answer to enlightenment in this age. It’s foolproof and without side effects. The only side effect is bliss and realization of your own Self. To start dhyana, all you need to be is a human being, nothing more. A Being with Consciousness is the only requirement to embark upon a spiritual path. The very desire that you wish to start on this path is a true indication that you are qualified. We are all part of the cosmic energy. Atman and brahman are cosmic energy at different planes; one at the cosmic level and the other at the individual level; both are of infinite potential.
Says the Taittreya Upanishad: ‘From the Atman came Akasha; from Akasha came Vayu; from Vayu came Agni; from Agni came Apa (water); from Apa came Prithvi; from Prithvi Aushada (herbs); from Aushada came Anna (food); from Anna came the human, the man’.
Man can access four out of the five elemental energies listed above directly; from the earth he gets food; from water he quenches thirst; from agni he derives warmth; through vayu he breathes; however he has no means to abstract energy from akasha which is the subtlest, and the most expansive of the five elemental energies. The only way he can do this is through dhyana, meditation.
Cosmic energy is not just power. Power or bala is animal strength; energy or shakti is power with consciousness; energy is intelligent. Humans are the only species on planet earth who have this potential for Shakti, as they alone have consciousness. For them to be in this energy field, they need to meditate.
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Meditation is the greatest art or science to make your Being beautiful and blissful. It is not a faith system or a religious belief. It is something that can directly touch your life and transform your Being. Meditation is a science to transform your life. A simple meditation technique that you can practice straight away is a Buddhist technique called vipassana. Vipassana is to look inwards as opposed to upassana which is looking outwards. Puja and mantra are all upassana techniques.
you breath, your inhalation and exhalation. Start observing that, it will lead you to bliss. Actually nothing more needs to be done to search for bliss. Just bring yourself more to the present. Whatever else you do, work, bathe, dance or sleep, you will surely have time to inhale or exhale? When you do the inhaling and exhaling, just add awareness also to it, it will put you straight away in the present moment. The present moment leads you to bliss. Living in the present, the power of NOW straight away leads you to bliss.
This is vipassana, a very powerful meditation technique that all can use safely.
See, when you start searching things from outside, you are searching for the impossible. It can never happen. It is like trying to do housekeeping in your dreams! You buy a big house in your dreams, try to keep it clean and neat and suddenly we wake up and everything is lost. Like that, we have so many fantasies about the future and the past and suddenly we wake up and there is nothing.
On Planet Earth, whenever you hang behind the past and the future, you are wasting the present moment, the precious present moment in which you can live, which you can just enjoy, where you can just feel the Existence. Instead we make ourselves continuously dull. Whenever we are drowned in the past or in the future, we again and again miss the present - the life, the Life Force. If you bring yourself to the present, even your inhaling and exhaling quality will be different.
The moment the Energy shift happens in your Being, that energy shift is what I call meditation. Meditation is not sitting in a corner, alone, in a cross legged position, with back pain, knee pain, neck pain, complaints, saying – ‘I am not able to control my mind’, all these things! Meditation is all about making a shift in your Consciousness. The moment you bring yourself to the present, you feel enthusiastic, alive, joyful and blissful. So the cognitive shift or shift in your Energy is what I call meditation.
Just consciously inhale and exhale as long a possible, whenever you remember. The moment you consciously start breathing, you start witnessing your thoughts. No thought can escape from your Being. Usually, we continuously create negative inner chattering. We create negative thoughts about ourselves. We create guilt; we create negative patterns of thinking. Our thought structure is very powerful. Your life is nothing but your thinking structure. You can create or destroy anything just by your thoughts. So, the moment you are aware of your breathing, you will be aware of your thoughts. The moment you are aware of your thoughts, you simply alter it to a positive thinking structure. You don't have to waste time in correcting or altering it. The moment you are aware, automatically it gets corrected by itself. The power of awareness simply transforms your thinking structure into positive Energy.
What we do not realize is that even our thoughts have power. Brihadaranya
Upanishad says: ‘As our thoughts are so are our will; as our will is so is our action; as we act, we become. Our lives are driven by our thoughts. Thoughts are energy.
Cosmic energy is linked to individual energy. The separation we see is only our illusion. It is possible for us to tap into the inexhaustible cosmic energy, instead of which we choose to live in shackled compartments of depleted energy.
There are a number of other meditation techniques that we teach in our courses; each will have a specific objective. In the LBP Level 1 we take you through meditation techniques to energize the chakras, the energy centers in the body. We take you through meditations that are joyous and fun; they are dynamic and easy to follow. These techniques are eclectic drawn from all major spiritual practices of the world. These have been practiced for thousands of years by generations of our ancestors; they are foolproof in execution and have no side effects. All you lose if you do not practice the meditation for a day is the loss of that day’s experience. Once you have picked up this magical fruit and tasted it, you never want to put it down.
Meditation techniques that we teach you in LBP Level 1 are the know-how that the pilot has to have, to fly the machine of your mind body system, using the chakras which are the engine and the transmission system. Even if we do not wish to utilize the full potential of the powerful machine that we are, for even reasonable performance we need to keep the chakras in good order for our well being. Most of our ailments, physical and mental are as a result of blocked chakras.
All it takes is a few minutes each day once you know how to energize your chakras through meditation.
Sleep provides rest to our system by lowering the metabolic rate by 8%, which is enough to rejuvenate you for about 16 hours. In contrast, meditation lowers the metabolic rate by 24%. Effects of even simple meditation techniques overall body and mind health has been well established.
These techniques make Bliss flower in you by throwing out cerebral layers. What exactly are these cerebral layers? They are the complications in the mind created by media that include the television, the radio, the newspapers and the billboards. Consumerist ideas are continuously being injected into your Being. You are hypnotized and mesmerized. You read and see the same things everywhere you go. In a half-dazed condition, you go to the shop and ask for the same thing as well. You need to unload these suppressions and desires in order to be able to sit calmly. Be very clear that I am trying to force out the insanity in you and not trying to force in sanity in you. You are already Nithyananda (Eternal Bliss). That is your natural state. We just need to cut the layers of emotional bocks covering this bliss, so that you realize the state that you are already in.
From Swami’s Conscious talk in Seattle radio talk;
You have to inhale and exhale is it not? Am I right? That is enough! Start witnessing it, start observing that, it will lead you to bliss. Actually nothing more needs to be
done to search for bliss. Just bring yourself more to the present. Whether you pay bills or your duty or whatever, you will surely have time to inhale or exhale? When you do the inhaling and exhaling, just add awareness also to it, it will put you straight away in the present moment. The present moment leads you to bliss. Living in the present, the power of NOW straight away leads you to bliss.
Interveiwer: So the reason you are saying we are not in bliss is that because we
are away from the present?
Yes. We are stuck in the past or in the future. We act from the reactive mind instead of the active mind. Being active is different from being reactive. We are continuously reacting. Either from past memories or from the anxiety of the future, we respond to the present and destroy the present, the beauty of the present. According to me, if you can bring yourself to present, that is enough, simply you will be in bliss. When we are not able to digest the present, we always hang behind the past or behind the future. See also, to be in bliss, you do not need any separate time. Even your daily activity is OK. You don’t need to go away somewhere separately to a retreat or to a separate place. Just again and again, bring most of your energy to the present. Now, if you have 80% of your energy in the past and in the future, reduce it and bring about 50% to the present. Slowly bring maximum energy to the present. The more you bring it to the present, the more you are alive, joyful; blissful and exciting.
Interviewer: I think especially in our culture, we feel that separation. We are
searching in the wrong places, we are searching outside of ourselves and I think that is very true of our culture, wouldn’t you say?
See when you start searching things from outside, you are searching for the impossible. It can never happen. It’s like trying to do housekeeping in your dreams! You buy a big house in your dreams, try to keep it clean and neat and suddenly we wake up and everything is lost. Like that, we have so many fantasies about the future and the past and suddenly we wake up and there is nothing. On Planet Earth, whenever you hang behind the past and the future, you are wasting the present moment, the precious present moment in which you can live, which you can just enjoy, where you can just feel the Existence. Instead we make ourselves continuously dull. Whenever we are drowned in the past or in the future, we again and again miss the present, the life; the Life Force. If you bring yourself to the present, even your inhaling and exhaling quality will be different. The moment the Energy shift happens in your Being, that energy shift is what I call meditation. Meditation is not sitting in a corner, alone, in a cross legged position, with back pain, knee pain, neck pain, complaints, saying – ‘I am not able to control my mind, all these things! Meditation is all about making a shift in your Consciousness. The moment you bring yourself to the present, you feel enthusiastic, alive, joyful and blissful. So the cognitive shift or shift in your Energy is what i call meditation.
Hmm… a nice question! Your present moment is the totality of all your past decisions. Now you are here in this studio. You decided to wake up early, take the proper route, check in here, sit here and continue to sit. Like this, all your past decisions form the present. So your future is going to be all your present decisions. Why do we think that it is fate? It is because we make decisions unconsciously and don't expect some results. But when that result happens, we say it is fate. When we make decisions which bring results that we did not expect, we call it fate. When we make conscious decisions, we will be aware of the side effects and after effects. When we are not aware of the side effects and after effects, we call it fate. Actually, Life is your pure choice. It is we who make the decision, never somebody else for us. God is so gracious, even though the world is his, he allows us to have our choice!
Interviewer: Swami, let me ask you this because we come up with this often
people. We feel that even feeling blissful or peaceful is a choice?
Yes, it is a pure choice. It is our choice to be blissful. There are only 2 kinds of life. If you look at the side where you have not got certain things, which life has not given you, you can make a big list which starts with the limousine and goes beyond limousine, longer than the limousine! The other side is where you make a list of what all life has given us. You can start with your spectacles. So much we have been showered with. Both the lists are endless, infinite. Even inhaling and exhaling is a gift to us, we have not earned it. Every singe day is a gift given to us. OK, now we have the two lists. It is up to us to decide which side of life we are going to see. Whether we are going to look at the things not given to us and make our live dull, dead, worrying and dragging and depressing or look at the things that have been showered on us and enjoy and make our lives beautiful, loving and blissful. It is purely your choice.
Interviewer: Swami, do you really believe that the inhaling and exhaling
technique is the key to bliss?
Yes. Just consciously inhaling and exhaling as long a possible, whenever you remember. The moment you consciously start breathing, you start witnessing your thoughts. No thought can escape from your Being. Usually, we continuously create negative inner chattering. We create negative thoughts about ourselves. We create guilt, we create negative patterns of thinking. Our thought structure is very powerful. Your life is nothing but your thinking structure. You can create or destroy anything just by your thoughts. So, the moment you are aware of your breathing, you will be aware of your thoughts. The moment you are aware of your thoughts, you simply alter it to a positive thinking structure. You don't have to waste time in correcting or altering it. The moment you are aware, automatically it gets corrected by itself. The power of awareness simply transforms your thinking structure into live energy.
What we do not realize is that even our thoughts have power. Brihadaranya Upanishad says, ‘As our thoughts are so are our will; as our will is so is our action; as we act, we become’. Our lives are driven by our thoughts. Thoughts are energy. Cosmic energy is linked to individual energy. The separation we see is only our illusion. It is possible for us to tap into the inexhaustible cosmic energy, instead of which we choose to live in shackled compartments of depleted energy.
Spiritual practices or sadhanas in the Indian tradition usually follow one of three paths. The first, one of puja or rituals which require extensive preparation, and which is physical; the second is mantra japa, repetition of a word constantly; the third is dhyana, the silent contemplation.
In puja or ritualistic sadhanas which may also include practices of yoga etc the process is under danger of becoming mechanical losing its original objective. This also happens to a lesser extent with japa, unless the mantra is initiated by a living Master and is practiced with great awareness. Dhyana is the most powerful of the three techniques and the subtlest; dhyana is pure awareness, in the here and now. Dhyana is the path to shed maya, and to enlightenment.
Are We Qualified?
Many people want to know if they are qualified for a spiritual awakening.
We are constantly in doubt about our own potential. We are part of the divine. Problem is that we do not remember that we are. When someone does tell that we are, we think that such people are crazy.
A man once asked Ramana Maharishi whether he was qualified enough to pursue the spiritual path and the Sage countered, ‘Are you alive?’ The person said, ‘Of course, yes’. Maharishi said with finality, ‘Then you are qualified enough’.
Religious orders and their priests create this doubt in us, so that we may become dependent on them for our qualification. We may need to ask them as to what qualifications they themselves possess to ask us the question. A Master never would. Organized religions often counter spirituality. Spirituality is about discovering who we are? It is the search for the ultimate Truth about us and our relationship with our Creator. Religions once organized are more concerned about power and whatever leads to power, whether control, fear or money. It’s the confusion between religion and spirituality that also leads to this question in us. We are constantly told that we are sinners and as such incompetent to enter the doorway of our Creator. This is nonsense.
If one keeps questioning one’s capability, even after decades of rigorous sadhanas one would feel unqualified. The concept of qualification, as with guilt, is brought in
to exploit and bind you mentally. As with guilt it needs to be dropped for us to move on successfully.
A beautiful Zen story goes thus; a man asks a Master, ‘Master, am I qualified for spiritual progress? I feel there are many obstructions’. Replied the Master, ‘The word obstruction is the only obstruction, nothing else’.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra define various steps to enlightenment. The first step yama comprises five steps, all quite strenuous: celibacy, truth, non violence, not stealing, not possessing. Only after you practice all these steps and master them are you qualified to move up to the next step in yogic accomplishment.
A man came and asked me, ‘Master, I am not qualified in these steps. I have never practiced yama and niyama. How can I learn yoga?’
I said to him, ‘If you are already qualified in these steps you do not need yoga!’ Maturity and meditation help each other and help us all. Maturity comes with knowledge and experience and gives us energy; and the energy reinforces maturity. Meditation helps us focus that energy in the right direction to make spiritual progress.
In the present day world Patanjali’s techniques take a lot of time. To realize Truth through yoga of any form would probably take many births, and you will forget what you started in this birth, when you start your next!
Dhyana or meditation is the answer to enlightenment in this age. It’s foolproof and without side effects. The only side effect is bliss and realization of your own Self. To start dhyana, all you need to be is a human being, nothing more. A Being with Consciousness is the only requirement to embark upon a spiritual path. The very desire that you wish to start on this path is a true indication that you are qualified. It is said in Tao, ‘A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step’.
Once you are on the path, the path helps you on. It’s the first step that breaks the inertia and get you moving. That is enough for you to move towards the end goal. Take that step now!
From Nithyananda’s Discourses:
Meditation is the greatest art or science to make your Being beautiful and blissful. It is not a faith system or a religious belief. It is something that can directly touch your life and transform your Being. Meditation is a science to transform your life. When we ask, ‘What is meditation?’ all of us immediately imagine an old man with a long beard on the banks of a river, sitting cross-legged with eyes closed and
moving his lips in recitation of mantras. Today, if we tell you to sit in silence and control you’re mind, if we tell you to calm down your mind and remain blissful, what will happen? People tell us, ‘When we sit for meditation, so many thoughts gush out. We don’t know their source and don’t know how to control them. We feel we are mad’.
A small story…
Once a man wanted to meditate and asked his Guru, ‘Give me a mantra to meditate with’. The Guru gave him a mantra and told him, ‘You will achieve your desires when you meditate with this but on one condition. You should not think of a monkey when you meditate. If you happen to think of a monkey, have a bath and sit down again for meditation’.
The man was amused at this condition and wondered why he would ever think of a monkey while meditating. However he agreed and went back home. He sat for meditation. The first thing that came to his mind was the monkey. He promptly got up, had a bath and sat down again for meditation. No sooner did he close his eyes than the monkey came back to him. He got up, had a bath and sat down yet again for meditation. Every time he sat down for meditation, the monkey surfaced in his mind. The 10th time, the monkey came to him while he was in his bath itself. He
became obsessed with the monkey. He fled to his Guru and begged him to take back the mantra and the monkey!
This is most likely the condition of a man who tries to calm his mind by mantras today. During the age of Patanjali, man was able to calm his mind by meditating with mantras. At that time, Man was simple with no complex cerebral layers, hence these techniques worked. Today, methods adopting silence will not help. Man has become neurotic and complicated. Neurosis has become the normal state of man. With the growth of Science and Consumerism, all of us have become neurotic. Like how the bullock cart is outdated, so also are the bullock cart techniques. With those techniques, you will be able to travel at the speed of a bullock cart. This is the jet age. You should be able to travel at jet speed in your inner space with techniques designed by Modern day Masters and Mystics.
The meditation techniques we are about to take you through are joyous and fun; they are dynamic and easy to follow. These techniques are eclectic drawn from all major spiritual practices of the world. These have been practiced for thousands of years by generations of our ancestors; they are foolproof in execution and have no side effects. All you lose if you do not practice the meditation for a day is the loss of that day’s experience. Once you have picked up this magical fruit and tasted it, you never want to put it down.
These techniques make Bliss flower in you by throwing out cerebral layers. What exactly are these cerebral layers? They are the complications in the mind created by media that include the television, the radio, the newspapers and the billboards. Consumerist ideas are continuously being injected into your Being. You are
hypnotized and mesmerized. You read and see the same things everywhere you go. In a half-dazed condition, you go to the shop and ask for the same thing as well. You need to unload these suppressions and desires in order to be able to sit calmly. Be very clear that I am trying to force out the insanity in you and not trying to force in sanity in you. You are already Nithyananda (Eternal Bliss). That is your natural state. We just need to cut the layers of emotional bocks covering this bliss. Scientist is one who creates a formula to reproduce spontaneously and repetitively something that happens in the external world. Mystic is one who creates a formula to reproduce spontaneously and repetitively something that happens in the internal world, within his own self. Paramahamsa is one who is able to reproduce in others the same experiences that happened to him, spontaneously and repetitively through a formula.)
When addressing groups such as Corporate or Clubs etc …
Maybe useful to stress on material success such as in career, interpersonal relationship, success in business etc. Awakened/ activated chakras will direct their energy with intelligence in the right manner to fulfill aspirations. Others respond to our awakened anahata with affection and liking. Activated chakras help in healing one self, emotionally and psychically. A write up is below…
Seven Steps to Success:
The human system is an energy centre. Flow of energy within this system is disrupted and dis-eased due to emotional blocks. Normally we use less than 5% of our potential energy. Removal of these blocks to restore high energy flow that leads to high level of performance is simple. In this program you will learn how easy, effective and joyful the process of restoring energy to yourself can be. Corporate and personal success has never been easier!
Benefits:
1. Enhance Performance and Productivity: Increased energy levels and availability of techniques that focus this energy to productive purposes helps achieve much greater levels of performance than ever before. Causes of negative emotions of anxiety, worry, fears, anger etc are understood and dropped far more often, leading to far less stress.
2. Improving Interpersonal Relationships: As a child human beings give freely; consequently they also receive freely. Over time and with growing contact with the world outside we block our pathway to happiness by blocking our ability to give freely, and judging ourselves by others' perceptions. It is possible at any time to remove these blocks and rediscover our innate ability to give without reciprocity and experience joy. Performance in any field improves as a result. People enjoy your company.
3. Greater satisfaction with oneself and environment: The awakened energy within us is intelligent and keeps our expectations under control and our desires in balance. In a corporate environment this alone leads to significantly better job satisfaction leading to lowered attrition, without in any way compromising upon quantity and quality of performance.
4. Healing Yourself: It is well established that the mind has the power to heal the body. The human body is dis-eased when its energy pathways are disrupted due to physical, psychological and psychic blocks. Our emotions play a crucial part in creating illnesses. Resolution of emotional blocks lead to better health, psychological and physiological, leading to better performance.
Effects on Stress
1. Stress is essential to living. It's the human system response to external and internal stimuli. Stress related responses such as 'fight or flight' govern survival by generating adrenaline. Problem is coping with excess stress, and learning how not to generate stress.
2. Techniques often recommended to cope with stress such as relaxation techniques, both physical e.g. massage and psychological e.g. total relaxation etc are symptomatic, only address the event temporarily.
3. Some meditation techniques e.g. TM go beyond and provide longer lasting benefits that are proven to reduce blood pressure, metabolic rate etc. Dr Howard Johnson of Harvard Medical School in his seminal book Relaxation Response on TM. However, even here is no attempt is made to seek out the source of stress to combat.
4. Techniques such as vipassana do seek out the first level source of stress which are external and internal stimuli, address these through anticipation by making the body more sensitive to these stimuli, therefore far more effective in anticipating and combating stress, but are quite difficult practices. Even these do not attack the ultimate emotional source of stress, they go only up to the body response.
5. For the first time we have techniques where the primal source of stress which are the emotional blocks/ negative emotional accumulations in the human system. these are sought to be understood and resolved; this is both a permanent cathartic process to be rid of accumulated stress baggage, and a continuing refresher process to fill one's system with positive energy that helps in combating the re accumulation of stressful emotions such as fear, greed, worry, jealousy etc.
6. One time de-cleansing of one's system to energize/activate the human system energy centres which in turn burn out negative emotions, coupled with regular daily practice of recommended techniques that generate positive energy are guaranteed to destress our body/ mind system and lead to a healthier, happier life.
Effects on Intuition and intelligence
1. All humans are born with the power to go within ourselves to arrive at solutions to problems that face us day to day. This is intuition. Animals and infants use this. Human infants as they grow into adulthood replace this intuition by rationality.
2. The intuitive system wired into us is not a logical or sequential process . it is a holistic , quantum process. This process to some extent is governed by the right brain, and is more active when there is substantial interactivity between the two brain halves (this was considered to be far better with women, now doubted!)
3. Meditational activities that initiate alpha wave level brain activity activate the right brain and brain interactivity, and thus improve the intuitional response which is a powerful gut feel response which is beyond rationality and is custom fitted to each individual.
4. Techniques helps promote intuitive decision making in two ways. Firstly by removing all emotional baggage and blocks in the body energy centers i.e. all poisons that block intuition, and secondly by refilling these energy centers.
5. In addition specific exercises the seat of intuition and intelligence, open up our ability to go within and allow this facility which has always been present within us to flourish and be productive.
IMPORTANT
When doing independent ninety minutes introduction sessions with
mahamantra initiation, Nithyananda recommends that we deal with the
subject of ‘How the Mind Works’, about ‘Intuition’ etc which is covered in this document under ajna chakra.
This is a talk I (compiler of this manual) have used with corporate groups:
I have no script. What I speak to you, it is from my heart. All my corporate life I had been used to talking through audio visuals and power points, always from head. The listener neither reads what’s on the screen nor listens to you fully. He is in a state of confusion, which is where we want him most of the time, because we ourselves are so confused about what we say.
