“Gnana dheeksha is the first step towards understanding why we live and…”

Gnana dheeksha is the first step towards understanding why we live and what it is that is the basis of our life. We will now elaborate what is to be done before and after taking this dheeksha. After Gnana dheeksha, you need to take only one vow, that you will do this meditation technique which is going to be taught to you now, every evening between and 7 and 7:20 either in the ashram or in your homes. I will give a mala alongwith the dheeksha. Try to wear the mala at all times. I will give a title ‘Gnana’ before your name. For eg., if you are Prakash, you will be called ‘Gnanaprakash’ hereafter. You will be made to consciously write your new name as well. If possible, try to include this title ‘Gnana’ in your signature also. The reason for all this is, everytime you use this title, it helps to remind you that you have taken on life for a great purpose and not for an aimless, baseless and immoral way of living. After taking this dheeksha, every breath that you take should be with this goal. Else, you will forget that you have taken this dheeksha. This will seem as just an entertainment, that’s all. You may all have taken many type of dheeksha from other Gurus prior to this. Just to remind yourself that you need to meditate and live with a goal, this title is given. Take this as a new birth. Next, in the evening, either everyday or weekly once, wear white clothes and take part in the satsangs in the ashram. It will help bring about a change in you. In your worldly affairs, you are so caught up in your worries and depression. To help re-charge yourself as an Energy body, this will help. In the ashram, there are no rules. You can eat non-vegetarian, live a married life etc. The rule is - there are no rules!

If you meditate, these conditions will be automatically taken care of in you. Any such rule should not be imposed upon a person. It should happen from within the person. Meditation will make it happen. All virtues should flower from inside a person. You can wear this mala at all times, to any function – happy or sad. It will protect you and guide you in life towards happiness.

Now let us go into the meditation technique:

This is a very easy meditation technique and is called Vipasana. It does not require you to believe in any God or Guru. You don’t have to spend a penny for doing it and there is no restriction of place for it. No pooja is required for this. It can be done at any time of the day. This technique will directly act on your mind and make it more sensitive. You can try doing this meditation without a break but if you miss inbetween, you don’t have to worry.

This technique in a nutshell is “Watching your breath”. Our breath and mind are closely related. This meditation is about controlling our mind. This technique is to bring our mind under our complete awareness so that we can use it at any time. Scientists say that we use only 2% of our mind power. In order to use it fully, we need to meditate. Our mind power is wasted when we harbour thousands of thoughts in it. This Vipasana technique steadies our minds.

If you watch the elephant when it is walking, you will see that it sways its trunk from one side to the other continuously. If you give it a log of wood to hold, it will stop swaying its trunk while walking. Likewise, to steady our mind that is swaying all the time, we need something. That is the Vipasana technique. When our mind stops swaying, it becomes more powerful. When hundred thoughts rise in our mind, only 2 of them materialize because our mind is exhausted in creating and harbouring these 100 thoughts. If only 10 thoughts rise in our mind, at least 8 of them will materialize because the energy that was earlier used in creating the remaining 90 thoughts can now be used to materialize these 8 thoughts. We will be able to use the energy to scrutinize these 8 thoughts and implement them.

Our breath is entwined with our mind. The elephant’s tusk that is seen outside as big and long is present inside the elephant’s mouth as teeth. It is actually the same bone. The tusk outside is nothing but the teeth inside and the teeth inside is nothing but the tusk outside. Similarly, our breath when it goes inside, is our mind and the mind when it comes outside, is our breath. If you get angry, you will see that your breath is more aggressive. If you control your breath, you will see that your mind calms down. Sookshmamana swasam manam; sthoolamana manam swasam. Manam adanga swasam adangum swasam adanga manam adangum. As you calm your mind, your breath will regularize and as your breath regularizes, your mind will calm down. Bringing this under our complete awareness is what this technique does.

Sit in arthapadmasana posture. It is an easy Buddha-posture. Balance your body. Let us see how to balance your body. Close your eyes and slowly move your upper body forwards, you will feel the weight of you body. Now, slowly push your body backwards until you reach a point where your centre of gravity falls in a straight line and you feel weightless. Now from this position, move further backwards and you again feel the weight of your body. Now move forwards until you reach the same point of weightlessness again. This position is your position for meditation. Each one has his own position for meditation and he has to identify it by this simple exercise.

When we breathe, four things happen and they are as follows: The air goes in, it returns to come out, it comes out and returns to go in. All you have to do is watch these four activities closely without missing any of them. Watch like how you watch television, watch like a witness these four stages of your breath. When you do this, don’t suppress or resist any thought that surfaces, just look at them with friendship. This technique was founded by Buddha. Osho says that out of all the techniques laid down by different Masters, this technique has created most number of Enlightened people. Practice this technique for 20 minutes everyday. It will bring in increasing clarity into your life. Your mind and body will come under your complete awareness. Currently, your mind and body are on their own. You are going behind them. When you get into a car and start the vehicle, you should be able to stop it when you wish to, only then you are in control of the car, else the car is controlling you! It is the same case with our minds also. We have started our minds but we are not able to stop it. Our minds are driving us now. We are not the authority of our minds, our minds are authorities of us now. Anything done with awareness will bring about a big change in our lives. This technique increases our awareness of our mind and body.

This dheeksha function not only gives you intellectual knowledge but also the power to execute or implement it. Till now, whatever punya or paap you have committed, surrender them at the feet of the Guru. Hereafter they will not bother you. This function symbolizes a new birth for you. Offer your past at the feet of the Guru. With commitment, decide that you will live a new life. I will now put on the mala for each of you and place my finger on your forehead. At that time, simply allow whatever that is rising in your mind and body to rise. Feel the energy flowing into you. Many people have felt it. Surrender without fear and you will be able to feel it.