Conversations with Gurudev: Volume II

By Swami Nityananda

Mahamandaleshwar Swami Nityananda is from a lineage of spiritual teachers in India. While carrying the traditional teachings, he makes spirituality a practical part of modern daily reality, guided by the prayer "May all beings live in peace and contentment." Swami Nityananda was trained from childhood by Baba Muktananda and initiated into the my

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shanti Mandir
• Release date: May 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736394236

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Copyright © 2021 Shanti Mandir

ISBN 978-1-7321420-9-1

ISBN 978-1-7363942-3-6 (e-book)

Shanti Mandir

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The invitation…

I invite you to ask your questions. We always say, The clearer the question is, the more formulated the question is, the clearer the response. I would also say that no matter what your question is, no matter what the content is, the direct answer you’ll get from Gurudev is always filled with purity, wisdom, and knowledge, and is extremely genuine. If there is anything within you that you’ve always wondered about or have not understood the explanation of it—anything across the board—I encourage you and welcome you to ask those questions.

Devayani

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Make the Experience Stronger

The Divine Voice Within

The Psychic Instrument

The Self Is Talking

The Collective Unseen Energy

Practice Rocks

Go With It

Share the Trophy

Be a Lighter Person

Letting Go

The Name of God

One Without a Second

Lightning Bolt Śaktipāt

The Path of Love

Turn the Switch Back On

The Unseen Energy That Moves Us

Beauty and Power

Wherever You Go, You Go

The Law of Karma

Fuel to Ashes

An Empty Bucket List

This Is for God

Become Real

Consciousness and Awareness

The Amazement of Awakening

The Right Path

The Natural State

Crazy for the Divine

Energy Channels

I Am Complete

Where Am I Going?

The Witness

Detachment

From Darkness to Light

The Bonds of Lineage

Unbroken Love

The World Is My Family

Bumping into the Self

Cleanse the Energy

Lofty Thoughts

What Plays in Your Mind

Spiritual Ego

Places of Power

What It Means to Be Holy

Spirituality Has Become a Business

The Body Is Your Friend

Steady Wisdom

The Color of Thought

Chant More

One Hundred Good People

Affirm the Good

Direct Experience

The Guru Tattva

The Baggage We Carry

Inner Hug

Stay Sharp

God Dwells in Your Feeling

Expand Your Awareness

The Effortless Effort

In the Presence of Bhagavān

The Guru’s Feet

Bīja Mantras

Orange

Who Am I?

A Moment of Weakness

Kātyāyanī

Live Simply

What Good Can I Do?

Your Karma Precedes You

Make the Other Smile

Knock, Knock

Become a Sage

Know What Spice to Use

Recharge Youreslf

Grace Doesn’t Come in Drops

There Is Simply the Ocean

Continue the Conversation

Ashram Dharma

Closure

Carry on the Work

Glossary

MAKE THE EXPERIENCE STRONGER

Question: A few months ago, I was in India and I felt as if God was in me, and everyone around me was God. But coming back, this feeling started fading and doubt crept in. My question is how do you know if an experience is true? How do you know if your ego is playing with you? How do you stay in that feeling? Will self-doubt ever disappear?

Gurudev: That’s four questions, right?

Anytime we have that kind of experience and think about it afterwards—as you’re doing now—I think the question to ask is How do I feel now, when I think about it? Because even years later, those experiences remain very real and palpable.

The other day, somebody who was talking to me referred to a person he said had met God.

I immediately went back to an experience I had in 1989. I didn’t do anything to recreate that experience; however, in the instant of that conversation, I was transported back to the feelings I had in 1989. And they were just as real now as they were then.

I think if what you had was just a mind-made or self-created experience, you would have to create a similar situation to have the feeling again. But if it was a real experience, a true experience, then in an instant, you are back in it.

We chant all the time. Yet some chants have special feelings associated with them. If you think of such a chant and the place where it occurred at a later time, then the whole experience comes back. You feel, Wow! It’s real.

Baba Muktānanda talks quite a bit about this kind of experience in Play of Consciousness. He calls it Ātma-darśan, the vision of inner divinity, of the inner light or inner Self. You see it everywhere, in everybody. You see everybody as not different from you but as an expression of or an experience of your own Self.

So you have to look inside yourself and ask, When I think of that, how do I feel? Do you feel the unbroken love of that experience? Do you feel something you know can’t be equaled by anything in the material world? Is it infinitely better than whatever you have done or felt in this world?

When you have an experience of the Self, I don’t think there is any way to describe it. We don’t have words in our vocabulary to express what that is. The best thing you can do is feel it within yourself and know that it’s real.

Know too that those who have experienced it will understand exactly what you are trying to say. Because they also go to the same place within themselves.

Of course, what often happens is that when you come back to your normal world, you find that your duties and responsibilities—and everything associated with them—also return. You get caught in all that, and so you move away from the unbroken feeling of love.

That experience may seem far away, but it’s not. It’s just that the external has become more real for you. The phone is ringing; the bills are coming. All your external relationships are making their demands. Whereas, when you were in India, the post office was holding everything until you returned.

Self-doubt is simply the uncertainty, the unknowing, of that experience you talked about. While immersed in that experience, there is no doubt. Outside that experience, there is doubt.

Doubt will go away. It is much like—as the sages tell us—when the sun rises, it eliminates darkness. When we watch the sun return each day, we simply enjoy the light. We aren’t focused on the darkness going away. We’re only aware that the light is coming.

In the same way, when you have an experience of illumination in your life, don’t wonder, Where did the doubt go? Just revel in the illumination that is taking place. It is only the limited mind, the limited ego, that wonders, that questions, that doubts. When that same mind is once again in an expanded state, which is its true nature, then there is no doubt.

How do you stay in that state all the time? I think you have to make a constant effort to be in it. You have to come to love it so much.

Tukārām Mahārāj made the prayer that he always be with others who live in the state of love. He sang, Give me the company of such people.

When you find the expression of love around you at all times, then you’re never away from it within yourself either. You go from home to work and to wherever else you go, and you realize that you have created within yourself a constant expression of that love.

As seekers, we must make sure that not only our own space but also the space of all our friends is filled with light. That is the effort each of us can make. You may not be able to change everybody in the world, but at least you can share love with your friends.

For example, if you work in the business world, you can be different from what’s happening all around you. You can be with your coworkers and still be a light, still be a beacon. It takes great effort, I know. When you’re surrounded by others’ darkness, it’s not easy to say, No, I can be different. You have to be strong within yourself. If you allow yourself to fall, it won’t get you anywhere.

As I’ve traveled the world over the years, I’ve seen that many people are so habituated to falling that they don’t know what it’s like to stand up all the time. Then they meet a sage, and he says, You don’t have to fall. You can hold yourself up.

But they look around. They see their friends doing what they do, and think, Why do I always have to be the one who is different?

Yet each one is thinking the same thing: Why do I have to be the one? Imagine that all of a sudden, each one realized, Okay! I’m here!

In India, we have a celebration, usually in August, on the day after Kṛṣṇa’s birthday. It is known as Dahi Handi. People form human pyramids, and the person at the top has to break a pot that has been tied high in the air. Usually there is some money in the pot.

When we were kids, the money wasn’t the important thing. The important thing was making the pyramid and getting high enough so the person on top could be successful. The bigger guys were always at the bottom, and the smaller ones were on top, but that didn’t matter. It was fun; it was just play.

This is also the case in life: each one in the pyramid is as important as the others. No one can be lazy. In your circle of friends, for example, you could say that what happens is like forming these kinds of pyramids every day. On a day when you feel lazy or have self-doubt, you disturb the pyramid. You make it shaky. The person who falls down from the second or third tier often falls because a person below gave way.

I think of what we do at the ashram every day as practice for the pyramid. The person who does the pūjā or plays the harmonium or plays the drum may feel doing that task is boring day in and day out. They think, Oh God, I have to go to the temple and do it again. But when we have a festival, everybody’s excited: Who’s going to play the harmonium? Who’s going to play the drum? Who’s going to do the cooking?

Of course, the person chosen will be the one who does it best because they can perform well under pressure. Why? Because that person prepares every day, so they are ready to take the lead.

Often those who wake up early, chant, meditate, prepare the lamps, pick the flowers—all of that—want to find an easier way. That’s the human tendency.

I tell them that, in our tradition, we wake up early and shower and do our morning rituals to get ready, and then we go to the temple and do our practices there. Only after that do we go about our human duties and obligations.

Some people say, What if one day I don’t shower, or one day I don’t go to the temple? I mean, just one day?

I say, And suppose one day you say, ‘What if I don’t have breakfast today?’

They say, Ah, but I need that.

So you have to train your mind to realize that all of these steps have to be taken. If you train the mind, then the body naturally follows. You don’t have to think twice about it. For that, you must do it every day, without fail.

For those of us who have cows, you train the cow that you will come and milk it at four or five o’clock in the morning. When that time comes, the cow waits for a few minutes—maybe fifteen or thirty—and then it starts, Moo, moo! It gets louder and louder. The same thing in the afternoon. It’s telling you, I’m ready. It’s time to milk me!

You need to train your mind in the same way. Then if you’re a few minutes late, it starts telling you, Got to do this! Got to do this! Got to do this! You don’t have to wonder, Am I supposed to be there or not? Do I really want to go? You are there. It has become habitual.

Here we serve chai at four o’clock. People show up every day at that time, looking for the teapot. Nobody has to tell them it’s four o’clock. They come out of habit. They naturally gravitate toward the dining room.

In the same way, if you love the experience, the light, that comes from regular practice, you will naturally gravitate toward that.

I think I’ve answered all your questions.

Question: How do you stay in the inner world when you’re in the outer world?

Gurudev: You dissolve the difference between the inner and the outer.

Question: How do you do that?

Gurudev: Just like you erase a white board.

Question: When you have different experiences or realizations in meditation, how do you stay with them when you come out of that space?

Gurudev: You just have to make the experience stronger.

THE DIVINE VOICE WITHIN

Question: I sometimes find I have a question, and then if I actually contemplate it further, I find it goes away.

Gurudev: I always say that if we go to the place from which a question arises, the answer is there. But we get caught in the thought, in the question. We get so involved in and enveloped by the question that we don’t see the answer to it.

It’s the same with every problem. People are always complaining that their problems don’t have solutions. But every problem has a solution; they just don’t see it.

Question: I’ve often wondered what the role of intuition is.

Gurudev: In my experience, a question arises, and right along with the question is the answer. However, because that answer comes right away, we don’t think of it as being real or true.

That very first answer, in my mind, is your intuition. It comes from the place of truth, because your mind has not thought of it. It isn’t based on your intellect or memory.

But this also means you have to be very open, ready, and clear, so you can listen to the answer. Because it comes so immediately behind the question.

Intuition is Consciousness, Truth, the divine voice within us that speaks.

Question: In addition to intuition, don’t creativity, writing or poetic talent, psychic abilities, and so on also come from a higher place? We get access to something.

Gurudev: I think one connects to the Self in that moment.

An ācārya who lives in Magod says he sometimes wakes up at one or two o’clock and writes. He is a teacher of Sanskrit and he has written a lot in Sanskrit. He said, "I could never do this anywhere else but here in the ashram. Because I know it is not I who is doing it; it’s the śakti."

So I think it’s the same thing.

When we look at our life, I think we can all find that we have had moments of what I could call greatness, when we think, Wow. That was wonderful!

But then you ask yourself, Wow... how did I do that? Or How did that happen?

You have to realize that in that moment you allowed the energy to go through you without doing anything to limit it.

Most of what we do comes from the space of the mind; we act and react from that limited space. What the artist talks about, however, is going to a place where there is no mind. Where there is no mind, there is the Self, or Consciousness.

When you begin to go deeper into the thought How did that happen? you come to the place of the Self. You see that it happened because your feeling I did that moved out of the way. Your mind moved out of the way, and you simply allowed whatever it was to happen.

Many people try to find names for their experience of the Self. But the sages say, "If you say it is this, then that means it’s not that."

So I think it is best if we don’t call it anything. Because really, what can we call it? It’s a feeling, it’s an experience, from which we perform that action.

THE PSYCHIC INSTRUMENT

Question: Can you talk about the role of the mind and the heart in meditation?

Gurudev: We automatically connect to the heart, especially when we meditate.

It’s natural to close your eyes and go within. Any time you feel love, or you feel good, you go to that space of the heart. It’s in that space that you feel good.

The sages explain that the heart in this sense is not the physical heart that pumps blood and makes sure your body functions; it is an inner space, an inner realm. You have to be clear about that.

Also, it’s not just your particular space as an individual. Consciousness is everywhere. So don’t try to limit your experience of Consciousness to a particular place within your body.

I talk a lot about the mind. When we understand the mind, then we understand many things. We are able to be good, and to do good. Viveka, the quality of discrimination, comes when the mind is under control.

However, most of us get into trouble when we don’t understand the mind. We do stupid things in life because we don’t pay attention to the mind.

Question: How should you understand your mind: from your heart or from your intellect?

Gurudev: When you come to rest in the space of the heart, then you’re just resting in contentment. Your mind is still and quiet. You don’t have any more questions.

I think the only way to understand the mind is from the mind.

Vedānta describes the mind as one psychic instrument that performs four functions: it thinks, it decides, it has memory, and it has ego. These are not four different things; it’s one instrument that performs four functions.

For example, how I think and how I decide are determined by what is in my memory. If I have positive thoughts and feelings in my memory, then I will make decisions easily and I will also think more positive thoughts and have more positive feelings. But if I have lots of negative thoughts or feelings in my memory, then when I think or decide, I will do so from that place.

Therefore, when you’re angry, it’s better not to make any decisions. Or if you’re feeling jealous, don’t make any decisions. Instead, wait until you have come back to a positive frame of mind. Then, in that space, make your decision.

Question: Where does the unconscious mind come in?

Gurudev: Vedānta doesn’t recognize an unconscious mind. It gives us only the four functions I mentioned: the thinking mind, the intellect, the subconscious mind, and the ego.

When we speak about the unconscious, we would have to say it refers to a mind that is not conscious, that is not aware.

Question: So you would say a person with Self-knowledge could not be unconscious?

Gurudev: Correct, a person with Self-knowledge would be aware at all times.

Recently, somebody asked me what the difference is between a person who is conscious and aware and a person who is not.

I said that in a person who is aware, the ego—the sense of I, the individual aspect that thinks, I am doing something—goes away.

Question: In Vedānta, is meditation considered a form of conscious thinking?

Gurudev: Meditation ultimately brings you to a place where you can have good thoughts, where you can make good decisions.

Right now, you might be making decisions based upon how you felt before—whether it was good or bad. Meditation helps you to let go of those memories so you’re free to have thoughts or make decisions that aren’t based upon memory, on what happened before. It allows you to make decisions that are beneficial, that are uplifting.

Question: So, where is meditation in the four functions?

Gurudev: If we take it all as one psychic instrument, then meditation would sharpen each one of those aspects, even the ego. It will make you realize you don’t need to be caught in the I, in the ego.

Question: I’m confused. What’s the difference between the mind and the brain?

Gurudev: The scriptures tell us that the mind is not in one place but exists throughout the body. The brain, according to science, is in the head and performs all its functions through a very intricate system, or network, of nerves.

If you observe it closely, you can come to realize how the energetic system lives within this body. The scriptures tell us it is one of the seventeen limbs of the subtle body. That’s why I made it clear earlier that the psychic instrument is not four separate things: when it thinks, we call it manas, or the mind; when we use the memory stored within us, we call it citta, or the subconscious; when we use it to make a decision, we call it buddhi, or the intellect; and when the ego takes charge, we call it ahaṁkāra. These four of its functions are interrelated.

For example, we tend to make decisions based on how we think that decision is going to benefit us, benefit the ego. Rarely do we make a decision based upon asking, How is it going to benefit everyone?

Question: Sometimes I get confused trying to make decisions.

Gurudev: In the earlier days, we had elders in ways we don’t have today, because we’ve put so many of them in old-age homes. Our elders understood the responsibility of being an elder, and they received the love and respect that was their due. We used their help and advice when making decisions.

There is a funny story about a rich old man who distributes his wealth among his sons and daughters-in-law while he is still living. He expects that they, in turn, will take care of him until the day he dies. However, because they already have everything he has to give them, they don’t really care for him.

So he talks to his Guru and says, There’s a problem.

The Guru says, No problem. Buy a little trunk, put some rocks in it, and always keep it by your bedside. Let your children think this is the balance of wealth they will get when you’re gone.

So he does that. He tells them, This is what is left, and it will be given to you after I die.

Their whole attitude changes. The daughters-in-law bring him food. The sons are respectful. They come and visit him, they talk to him, they ask him for advice. They do all of that. Of course, they are disappointed when he dies and they find just rocks.

In this modern society, where many people don’t have elders they can go to for advice, I think you have to go about