If you are given the assignment to rewrite the Bhagavad Gita in manifestation order, what verse will you put first, as the opening verse?
All those who send a reply will be blessed to receive Swamiji’s explanation of the verse that he would put first. Send replies via the Contact page.
[Excerpts from Swamiji’s Interaction on 2 February 2018, at Veda Yajna Ashram in Bhubaneswar.]
Yogis perform action for atmashuddhi (self-purification). The Self is always pure but during the process of living the coating of contamination comes. That is why the soul is not able to manifest fully, and the contaminations of the material world are manifesting.
Four types of action are performed: through senses, mind, intellect and body. (Verse 215.) Karmas are created through these four gateways. For someone sitting and listening to Swamiji’s interaction, all four types of action are being performed. The listener is in action mode, and although Swamiji is performing vigorous action, he is in inaction mode.
Gita says that even if someone is performing all four types of actions, he is a yogi if he is able to see action in inaction and inaction in action. (Verse 180.)
Karma is a three-dimensional concept: karta (doer), result or consequence, and process. There cannot be any action without a result. Action that is not conscious is not action, it is a process.
Visargah (the process through which the creation is sustained) is karma. What is not visargah is not karma, it is sargah (the creation itself).
God is the only doer, and performs all karma in a state of inaction, whereas humans perform every karma in a state of action. The more we are able to perform action in inaction, the closer we get to God. When you will know that you are not getting contaminated by any karma, you are God, you are a liberated being.
The process is a formidable challenge. First become free from the result. Do the work even if you know there will be no result. Next is doership. We can transcend doership if we are free from praise and censure. Third one is the most difficult, to become free from the process.
The difference between action and inaction: Action always has a result, action always creates a ripple, and action always has a doer. When you will be “I” then you will be in inaction although vigorously performing action. There will be no action, only manifestation of knowledge, love and truth.
Gita contains the cream of all Vedas, Upanishads and all scriptures. Only because of his grounding on Gita is Swamiji able to enter into and decode the Veda.
Jnana (knowledge) is like a sword. To be kept sharp, it must be constantly used.
Swamiji’s farewell to 2017 and welcome to 2018.
Click below on the triangle “play” button to hear the audio recording.
71 minutes.
OM Namo Bhagavate
Blessed devotees and great yogis,
On the occasion of Gurupurnima I send my profound love and blessings to all of you.
Guru is the human form that consciously carries the force of GOD. And Purnima is the night when the Moon manifests itself in its totality, in its fullness. Gurupurnima therefore symbolizes the day of manifestation of the Guru who dwells in the heart of a disciple. On this day the Guru aspires to see the manifestation of the Guru Shakti in the form of his disciple. A true sadguru always wants to see his disciple as a guru before he drops his mortal body. This is known as guruparampara or guru tradition. The guru-disciple relationship rests on this foundation of aspiration and resolve. This bonding binds the liberated guru to the aspiring disciple. Gurupurnima is not a day of celebration with the human guru. It is a day of solemn resolve, a day of sincere surrender to Gurushakti. Every enlightened guru knows this.
When I think of any one of you my heart rejoices with joy and I feel the delight of your presence in my life, your presence on earth when I am on earth. We both are on earth but none of us are earthly.
In my 24 years of conscious living to see the manifestation of the Guru in you I have constantly worked to guide you to your own fulfillment. I want you to reach your fullness and make others feel that you are truly full of Love, wisdom and compassion. For you I exist, for you I live and for you I strive. I don’t have any other purpose on earth. Please remember this.
My form may be far away from you but I am eternally present within you. Just close your eyes for a moment and think of me and you will feel I am there in you. My love for you is not based on any expectation. It is resting on the foundation of my sacrifice and your surrender. I can’t exist without your aspiration and you can’t manifest your true self without Me. Let this understanding hold us together.
Through this letter I send my Love to all of you and I promise and assure you that I will never leave you until I have seen your own manifestation. On this sacred Gurupurnima day I beg you to give me this assurance as your GURU DAKHINA to Me.
Blessings and Love.
Gurudev.
Omm Namo Bhagavate
[Transcript and recording of a 12 June 2017 newspaper interview with Swamiji. Click below on the triangle “play” button to hear the audio.]
Question: What is spirituality, how a layman will understand what spirituality is?
Swamiji: Spirituality is a way of living the life to realize the spirit, to manifest the spirit and to transmit this force so that many people in society can be awakened to spirituality.
Spirituality is not a dogma. It has no do’s and do not’s. It does not follow any ritualistic pattern. Basically, spirituality deals with the meaning of spirit or soul and the method to experience this soul and the process through which this soul or the spirit in man gets transmitted to others. Other than this, in my view, spirituality has no other meaning.
Next question: Do you think the common people have lost their faith on the so-called godman and spirituality?
Swamiji: Good question, but I would like to first clarify about what is the meaning of the word faith. Faith is not what common people understand. Faith is something which comes only after realization. Prior to realization what we all know and feel about faith is called belief. Belief is mental, but faith is not mental, faith is total. The common man’s belief on godman, about godman, about saints, this is prone to change and it is natural, it is normal, because belief is a state of mind and the mind has been fed many things regarding God, godman, saints, seers.
Wherefrom the mind got it? It is written in the scriptures. “This is what God is,” the scripture says. “This is what a godman is supposed to do, this is how a godman is supposed to live his life.” All these are codified in scriptures. When these are violated, the belief of the common men on godman is shaken. Unfortunately, that has happened to a very great extent in the present society.
Many spiritual beings, I will not call them godman, because God is never a man, so the very term godman is a misnomer. It is man who realizes God. There is no godman. To whomsoever you may call godman must be a human being who has realized some divinity, who is able to manifest that divinity through action. So I don’t feel comfortable to call X, Y or Z as godman. They are spiritual beings, and as spiritual beings the society expects that they must have realized the spirit or the soul, and once you realize the soul, naturally your action, both inner and outer, is bound to reflect your realization. If that is not happening the conclusion is one has not realized the soul.
If the action of any spiritual being is not reflecting the light of the soul within, then it is definitely something for which the person should be first concerned. So when anyone violates that norm, naturally the belief is shaken, but not the faith.
Question: Most of the gurus now leading a very lavish lifestyle and it is contrary to spirituality.
Swamiji: Lavish lifestyle is a relative term. For someone which something may be lavish, but the other man it may be a necessity. Say for example, we are now sitting in this room. You are a journalist, you are asking me questions I am answering. Okay? Outside it is hot and humid. We are sitting in a room where there is air conditioner. Because there is an air conditioner we are able to sit, think, do our work perfectly. But if you go to a man in the street who is not having a roof over his head, he will say, “Oh, that Swamiji is having a lavish lifestyle.” Okay?
What is lavish actually? Lavish in my definition is that life style which we in spiritual terms call indulgent lifestyle. Indulgence. Means perpetuating, enhancing and repeatedly running after the experiences of the sense and using the material power to achieve that goal. That is called lavish lifestyle. Means putting air conditioner inside the bathroom, having a ten-bedroom house, purchasing the costliest car even when your normal travel daily need is within twenty miles. That which is not necessary for the work that you are supposed to do, that which is not necessary at the level of your consciousness where you are, but you are misusing and abusing material resources just for the sake of comfort, luxury, indulgence. That is lavish lifestyle.
Whether any saint or swamiji is using these things for this indulgence purpose, I do not have any personal knowledge about that. That is why it will not be proper for me to say that X or Y or Z is leading a lavish lifestyle. Like suppose, a prime minister needs to go to address a meeting and he is short of time so he is taking helicopter. But the same person when he is out of power and he is needed to address the same group in the same place, he can travel by car, he can travel by bus, he can take a taxi. But because he has money, if he is using a helicopter, that you can say it is a lavish lifestyle.
So lavish is relative term. If a saint is in such of state of health that his body simply cannot survive if he is not having a room which is having controlled temperature, free from dust, free from bacteria … I have seen many, many revered saints of India. I am telling you one saint who was really impressed me. I met him in Rishikesh and he will be constantly in an air-conditioned environment, because he uses oxygen musk for his survival. And two people who had gone with me who do not know anything about that Swamiji, they said, “He is leading such a lavish lifestyle, Swamiji, how can he be an enlightened being?” I told, “This answer I cannot give because you have not come to the stage of knowing anything about him. You do not know his health condition, you do not know his personal nature.”
So if we look at a distance what will happen? Two things. A mountain having no tree, full of only rocks and thorny bushes, if you look at a distance it looks beautiful. Opposite thing happens. If you look at a distance a spiritual being, an enlightened being, he may not appear to you to be beautiful, he may appear to you to be ugly, because the present society is now completely overwhelmed with negative thoughts, negative attitude, negative judgement, negative views, that is why many a time we are prone to think in that way.
But all said and done, I am also not denying what you are saying. There are some spiritual people, even some spiritual saints and swamijis those who are truly living a life of indulgence. I will not use your word, I will use my word, but both the words are same, meaning is same. Indulgent life they are leading.
Question: Okay. Swamiji, you are the pioneer of spiritual journalism, you are publishing a news magazine name Satyavarta which is the program. So in few words please tell us about the concept of spiritual journalism.
Swamiji: spiritual journalism aims at awakening the spirit in man through journalism. Spiritual journalism aims at creating opportunities for the awakened man to experience the spirit in him, and finally spiritual journalism means to disseminate and present knowledge in such a way that the spirit side of man, the divine side of man, the divine side of society will be manifested.
Question: In present circumstances you have sell news so do you think it is practically viable to sell spiritual journalism?
You have to sell your channel, you have to sell your newspaper.
Swamiji: That’s a perfect question. If news can be presented in a truthful manner, without any bias, without any coating, without any contamination of personal feeling, it will hit like a missile in the heart of every human being and the readership will increase millionfold. Because news is not being presented uncontaminated, as it is, it is being mixed with impressions, opinions, views, preconceived bias, that is why news magnates are trying to sensationalize news to attract —. That’s wrong.
Question: Very precisely please tell how do you differentiate between ethics and spirituality?
Swamiji: when you transcend ethics, not when you break ethics, when you transcend ethics, you reach the zone of spirit. So ethics is concern with regulating human behavior so that man will be in conformity with the ideal. Spirituality is transcending the barrier of ethics but not in any way violating ethical norms in personal conduct.
Question: Last but not the least. Now a sense of mistrust as I told before is viewing among the mass about spirituality and spiritual gurus. The popular believe is there all these things are hypocrisy. In this context, what do you like to tell to the mass and gurus?
Swamiji: To the mass I will say everything is not hypocrisy, because if everything will be hypocrisy, there shall be no creation, there shall be no rule. To make a generalization is not correct. We cannot say all the politicians are corrupt. We cannot say all the bureaucrats are corrupt, we cannot say all the people are immoral. So to say that in a general term is not correct. I will say to the mass that let your belief change but not your faith. let your faith be intact on God and goodness and if the mass will carry it, then the minority will bound to change.
So everything is not lost, but definitely something is lost. And because something is lost, those who are thinking for society, like you people, media people, saintly beings, they already have started deep thinking how to rectify it, how to correct it, and I see this as a positive sign, is a good sign. Prakriti is taking care of itself, God is taking care of his own creation. Everything will be good.
Question: Then what you would like to tell to the gurus?
Swamiji: Who am I to tell anything to the gurus? Because my definition of guru is someone who has transcended the gunas, one who is Brahman in manifest form, one who carries God in every breath, in every cell, in every thought. To such a person who am I to say anything?
Question: What do you like to tell to the people who have influenced people a little bit in spirituality?
Swamiji: I will say to the people please don’t lose your common sense. Exercise your common sense, don’t believe in these magics and miracles and don’t support anyone if he is violating the norms of ethics and morality. Don’t support any one if he proclaims himself to be God or godman.
Question: Okay, Swamiji, last one. To be very precise, how do you relate materialism and spiritualism?
Question: These things are contradictory or is there any kind of relationship?
Swamiji: These are not contradictory, these are the two side of the same coin. Matter is the manifest part, spirit unmanifest part. So matter should rest on spirit, means the manifest part of life should definitely be based on the unmanifest part of life. The unmanifest part of life is the soul or the divine attributes. The manifest part of life is the life as expressed through mind and senses and intellect. So life should be firmly on the foundation of the unmanifest attributes, then only the manifest actions will reflect the unmanifest divinity.
Interviewer: Thank you, Swamiji.
OM Namo Bhagavate
[Posted on Swamiji’s birthday.]
I came with a body to KNOW why I have to come again and again. After 40 years of inner and outer search I found the answer. I decided to remain in this body to show you that I AM YOU. My MISSION is to SERVE YOU and MANIFEST that You AND I ARE ONE AND SAME.
I suffered because I forgot you. I rejoice now because I FOUND YOU.
YOU, AND ONLY YOU ARE THE PURPOSE OF MY LIFE.
I have no other goal to reach, no other ideal to preach and no other lesson to teach.
With all my Love, Blessings and profound gratitude,
I AM
EVER AND ALWAYS
YOUR OWN SELF.
Blessed Yogis and Divine Beings,
This Wednesday, 8 March, we are going to observe World Peace Day, and instead of saying we are going to observe I would like to say that we are going to celebrate the World Peace Day. Why? Is there actually something to celebrate? Yes, I am convinced. After 15 years of unceasing aspiration to end the threat of a global war, and completing more than 100 spiritual interventions to diffuse that threat, I am today convinced that our collective aspiration and group efforts have won the battle.
Today openly and joyfully I am declaring and assuring to the whole humanity that there shall be no global war on our planet at least as long as I am in the body. Anyone anywhere can note it down and be rest assured that my assurance will never go wrong. Millions may laugh at this and thousands may not believe it, but I declare again that my words will never go wrong.
With deepest gratitude and humility I am informing all of you that this achievement is not mine. It is all YOURS. Without you, the divine collaborators, I am sure it never would have been achieved. Yes, I call it an achievement, and it has come due to our collective work, our collective love for humanity, and our collective action to open up the universal plane in the individual systems of thousands of human beings on earth during the last 15 years.
The successful completion of the Chaturveda Yajna has convinced me that a GLOBAL WAR IS NOW IMPOSSIBLE.
Today, as a small gift to mankind and as a token of my faith on the power of collective aspiration I want to share with you some important insights regarding the World Peace Meditation (WPM). Please forward this message with your request and my appeal to anyone you know to definitely practice the WPM at least twice during the period from 8 through 11 March. This meditation can be done by anyone anywhere this year and there is no restriction whatsoever. One can do it alone or in a group, inside or outside of the house, office, factory or workplace. During these four days it can even be practiced while sitting in an airplane or a car–but NOT while driving the car–or even sitting in a marketplace.
This year I call these four days Universal Days because the effect of the Chaturveda Yajna will fully enter the earth plane during this period, and anyone who even has absolutely no faith on me or on any yoga practice can feel the descent of the cosmic presence within herself or himself.
I request all the mothers of all faiths, beliefs and paths to please perform this technique and release the breath and the consciousness to your child. It does not matter if the child is even thousands of miles away. I request everyone to please do this meditation and consciously release your exhalation to anyone who is suffering from some physical problem, pain, disease or even mental depression. I appeal to all to complete this technique and release your positive thoughts and your exhaled breath with loving energy for your country’s president, prime minister, judges, doctors, engineers or any public official who is working for your country’s welfare. At least on this day, please rise above your party affiliations, liking and disliking.
I appeal to everyone to please pray for all those who are working, due to their ignorance, with the forces of destruction, so that they receive our love and find the correct path.
We belong to the whole humanity. Every human being, whether known or unknown, friend or foe, supporter or adversary, is a spark of God only, and everyone is entitled to live in Peace. On this World Peace Day let us embrace all and reject none. Let us transmit our positive thoughts to all, even if we know someone is basically negative, because we trust and believe that everyone can be transformed.
Let us invite ON THIS DAY at least one person to eat with us, and share with us his or her feelings, problems of life, views on the world situation and whatever else they feel to express.
WPM will never be the same after this because the descent of the power of cosmic Light will never be as intense as it will be this year during these four days.
Sarve bhavantu sukhinah
Sarve santu niramaya
Sarve bhadrani pasyantu,
Ma kaschit dukhabhag vabhet.
Let all be in an atmosphere of happiness, let all live in an environment of peace, let all acquire the power to see good in others, and let no one be in misery or sorrow.
This is my prayer, this is your prayer, and it is the prayer of the human soul.
All Glory to World Peace.
Blessings and Love.
Swami Sri Atmananda.