“subject is From Words to Silence.**”

subject is From Words to Silence.**

Actually we can’t speak anything about silence. The moment we speak we disturb the silence. I’ll try to speak few words how to create that silence in us.

It is vibrant and living. We should understand one thing … when I use the word silence I don’t mean soundlessness. Soundlessness is negative silence. When I use the word silence, I mean a living, vibrant silence.

Not silence of a graveyard. The silence of an enlightened master. Silence of a graveyard is totally different from silence of an enlightened master. An enlightened person’s silence is vibrant, living, alive. When Jesus says “Be still and know that I am truth”, he means only this silence, the silence of enlightenment. Be still and know that I am truth.

When you are really still, you will know that you are the truth. And you will know that you and he are not two different things, you are just one and the same. You merge with him, real unity happens in you. You start experiencing the same energy inside your being. You start experiencing the Christ consciousness in you.

A small story ….

A person goes to an enlightened master of Zen Buddhism, a great enlightened master of Zen Buddhism. A disciple goes and asks him, “Master, do enlightened people speak?” Master says “No, enlightened ones never speak. If they speak, be very clear, they don’t know”.

He asks “Oh, that means they keep silent, they will be silent? They won’t speak?” Again he says “No, they will not be in silence. They can’t keep quiet. If they are not talking, be very clear, they don’t know”.

Disciple was puzzled. Just like you all. “What will they be doing? You say they will neither talk nor keep quiet. What will they do?” Master says beautifully, “They will sing”.

Their silence will be so vibrant, so alive. The very silence will be singing. It will be radiating. Wordlessness cannot be silence. Soundlessness cannot be silence. It is negative silence. Its okay once in a while. Good to be silent.

But the silence of an enlightened master is totally different. To enter into that you need to go beyond words. Words and silence, you should cross these both to realize that silence of an enlightened master.

An ordinary silence which we understand, which is wordlessness, is not enough. The wordlessness should happen in your being. When you enter into that silence, your whole being starts radiating, you start singing.

When I say you start singing, not only through your mouth, your whole being starts singing. You radiate a different grace. Your very walking will be dancing. Your very movements will be graceful.

Your presence will be a blessing. When you enter into that silence, your very presence on the planet earth will be a blessing. Your air, your space will heal. That itself will radiate so much energy, so much life, so much light. You can touch and feel God in the presence of man who has experienced God.

When you really go deep into that silence, you experience what Christ means by the words “Be still and know that I am truth”. You enter into that Christ consciousness. I’ll try to explain what are the obstacles.

One, we are not able to experience that silence. The first thing we don’t trust we can also experience that silence. We always think this is not for me. I am not able to have it. Again and again we postpone, we postpone, we postpone by thinking it is not for me. I may not be able to achieve it. I have seen people making up their own reasons.

Someone came to me the other day and told me, “I am born and brought up in the west, how can I become enlightened Swamiji?” I said, who said enlightenment is the copyright of easterners? You can have a copyright for pizza, you can have a copyright for food, you can have a copyright for commerce, you can have a copyright for light, but not for enlightenment.

It is the property of the whole universe. It is your birthright. Please be very clear it is your birthright. The silence I speak of, the enlightenment of which I express is your birthright. First thing you don’t have to think I am not qualified.

In the east again and again women come and ask me, “Oh we are women, how can we become enlightened?” Again wrong idea. Actually for women there is more chance because by nature they are more passive, by their own nature they are loving, caring. For them the possibility is more. For them to receive and express, radiate that silence and energy, the possibility is more.

Somebody goes to a great enlightened master in South Bharat. That master’s name is Ramana Maharishi, I am born and brought up in his place. He goes and asks him “Bhagawan (Bhagawan means O God), can I become enlightened?” Bhagawan says, “Yes surely you can become”. The disciple asks “What is the qualification?” Bhagawan says “Are you alive?” Disciple says “Yes I am alive, that’s why I am here”. Bhagawan says “That is enough, that is the qualification.”

You can become enlightened. If you are alive that is enough. We have all the qualifications to become enlightened. No other qualification is necessary.

Next thing we always have guilt about ourselves. We don’t respect ourselves. Jesus says beautifully “Love thy neighbors as you love yourself”. But the problem is we don’t even love ourselves, how to love our neighbors? We don’t respect ourselves.

Beautifully he (Swamiji gestures towards the musician) sang “Let us accept ourselves as we are, let us love ourselves as we are”. But we neither respect ourselves nor love ourselves. That is the reason we think this silence or this enlightenment experience is not for us. We postpone, postpone. We have deep guilt about ourselves.

We have some idea about how life should be, and we try to recreate or reproduce our imagination into reality. When we are not able to, we create a guilt. It goes on and on. It is a vicious circle. We continuously disrespect ourselves.

When you want to measure the strength of a chain, you always measure based on the weakest link, the strength of the weakest link. We first check the strength of the weakest length. Based on that we know the strength of the chain.

When we try to measure the strength of our life, of our being, again we try to use the same logic. We try to measure ourselves based on our weakest moments. That is what I say is wrong.

When you wanted to measure the strength of a chain, you have to go and measure the strength of the weakest link. But you can’t do the same thing when you measure the strength of your life. When you measure the strength of your life, your being, your mind, based on your weakest link, you commit a big mistake.

Whenever you think about yourself, you always measure yourself only based on your failures and your low energy moments, low energy moods, your wrong decisions.

Whenever you are going to take a new step, you only remember all your past wrong steps and mistakes. You want to be careful and you weight, you measure yourself only based on your past mistakes.

You don’t even remember the good things you have done or the right decisions you made. All we remember are only past mistakes, not the positive decisions, right decisions. We need to understand our strength. The strength of our being should be measured only on the positive decisions we make, not on the negative decisions we made.

The more you remember the negative decisions or your mistakes, the more you create a guilt. One thing you should understand, guilt will again and again attract the same bad instances in our life. Its like pain will attract the pain. Money will attract the money. Joy will attract the joy.

If you are joyful, you attract joyful people around you, you create a beautiful community around you, you create a blissful group around you. If you are in suffering, if you have some depression, naturally you attract only that type of people around you. You attract people who are abusing you, who give you pain, who torture you. You only feel comfortable with them. It is you who decide.

When we measure ourselves as a low person, when we create a deep guilt in ourselves, naturally you attract only that type of incidents, that type of persons, that type of situations in your life. If you turn your TV to CNN, you will see the news. If you tune your TV to some other channel, you will see the other programs.

Same way if you tune your mind to a positive attitude, or positive things, you will start seeing blissful people. You will start meeting blissful friends, you will start facing blissful situations, you will start creating a blissful life. When you do the other way, you will be seeing the people who create more depression in you. Who abuse you, who disturb you, who create more and more bondage in your life.

It is we who decide, so don’t think that the silence of enlightenment is not possible for me in life. People always come and ask me, “Swamiji, what you say is really beautiful, it makes sense, but tell me some practical method”.

The moment you ask, the moment you say practical, you already decided what I am saying is impractical. The very understanding and the courage: what he says is practical, I will express it with my life is more than enough. Usually we neither respect ourselves nor trust we can have the experience of that silence and enlightenment. First thing understand you can. You are eligible. Everyone is entitled to enter into the kingdom of God. Enter into the divine space. Every one of us is eligible. God cannot send us out. Be very clear.

There is a beautiful story:

There was a king in Bharat, he was a great egoist, very egoistic. His ego had grown to such a great extent, he started telling “I can do everything God does. I am greater than God”. If someone objects to his view, immediately he will order, “Kill him”. So he started thus behaving, he started claiming he is almost a god.

There was one enlightened master in that kingdom, at a nearby village. He came to that capital and he heard about the whole story. He just wanted to teach that king a lesson. He went to the court and started praising the king, “O king, you are equal to god, you are God”, all those things.

King started feeling so happy. He said “You are the right person. Come, come on, teach us all the truth, whatever you realized”. Master said “King I have to tell you one important thing. There are some things you can do that even God cannot do”.

Now the king is just floating. He said “Come on, tell me what it is that I can do, god cannot do”. Master says “King, if you are angry with somebody you can send him out of your kingdom, but God cannot. You can send him out of your kingdom, but God cannot”.

He cannot send us out of his kingdom. So be very clear, he cannot send us out of his kingdom. It is our birthright. Kingdom of God, enlightenment, the vibrant silence is our birthright.

Second thing we need to understand, we think, we have wrong weird ideas about this enlightenment. People come and tell me, “Swamiji, if I become enlightened will all my desires be fulfilled? Will whatever I think come true?”

Be very clear, that will be a big punishment. Really I tell you, just because of his compassion, God never fulfils our prayers. If he fulfils all our prayers, we will make our whole life a mess. It is out of his compassion that he fulfils a few prayers, and out of his greater compassion he avoids some prayers.

Please be very clear, it is out of his great compassion sometimes that he never fulfils our desires. We don’t even know the after-effect or side-effect of those desires. Without even knowing the after-effects or side-effects of those desires, we start hankering for them. We start asking for it. We believe God can give, but we don’t believe God has got little intelligence when to give. That is where the problem starts.

A small story ….

One pseudo master, pseudo master means who is not enlightened, just an intellectual who started preaching, claiming he is enlightened, created more disciples. Of course pseudo person can imitate beautifully. Original masters will never look like masters. That’s why they are continuously crucified, stoned, poisoned. Original masters will just be, they will be original, they will not be acting or imitating somebody. They will be themselves.

It is very difficult to recognize somebody original. But somebody pseudo you can easily think he is a master because he will be imitating, he will be following, he will give you an image, clear cut idea. Original person will be so rebellious, such an alive energy. It is very difficult to understand original person.

This guy, a pseudo person, he started making lots of disciples. Many disciples gathered around him. One day suddenly he died. His closest disciples, two disciples, they thought “How can we live without our master?” They also committed suicide.

All three of them reached the other world, big beautiful gates. All three of them were standing in front of those gates. The master says, the pseudo master, “See I promised you all heaven, now I brought you here. I deliver the things which I promise. Come on let’s go inside”.

He knocked on the door. The security person opened the gates, all three entered inside. It was a beautiful place, such a wonderful place. Whatever they wanted, it is there. Then again the master says, “Look at this, I promised you paradise, now I’ve delivered. You see I do what I say”.

They went around. The security person said, “Sir, whatever you want, you can have here. Please just order”. They started ordering. Whatever they wanted, immediately it was delivered. No gap between the thought and action, between the desire and reality. Simply they ask it is delivered.

All three started living a kingly life: the best palaces, the best food, beautiful women, whatever they wanted. They had everything. Anything they asked, immediately it is delivered. But we don’t usually understand one important thing. If we get everything, whatever we want, immediately we enter into a space called depression of success.

Depression of success. As long as you have hopes, as long as your hopes are not completely fulfilled, you have hope. The moment your hopes are fulfilled, you are hopeless. We enter into the space of hopelessness.

These persons, these three, whatever they wanted, everything is answered, fulfilled. After one week they got fed up, tired, bored, because they have everything. What to do now? They lost the taste for life.

They went to the security staff and asked, “Please do one small favor, just open the window to the world, our old world. We will see that world so that we will gain little more taste and we will have little more desires. We can then come back and enjoy this world, because now we are fed up.

Security said “Okay, welcome. Please come”. He opened that window and they looked at the world. They saw how the world is suffering, how the world is going on. How people are struggling to achieve even small, small things. Now again they got interest about life, about things. They got desires. They got back their desires. Then they started living again.

It went on, went on and went on again for one more month. After one more month, again they are fed up. Now they are lost, confusion. All three went to the security staff again and asked, “Sir, can you do us one favor? Can you open the door of hell so that we can see how the people are suffering there? Based on seeing that we will have little more desire, we can once more start enjoying”.

First they saw this world, so they got little more desire, started enjoying. Now they wanted to see hell, so they will have little inspiration to enjoy. Security staff, he laughed and said, “Where do you think you are living? You are in hell!”

Please be very clear, if all your desires are answered, if all your desires are fulfilled, you are in hell. You can’t experience the bliss of desirelessness. Person who thinks enlightenment is fulfilling all his desires is doing a big mistake.

Enlightenment is going beyond desires. Not fulfilling all the desires. Fulfilling all the desires is again nothing but a hell. When you become enlightened you go beyond the desires. The bliss of desirelessness happens to you.

By fulfilling all the desires, you will never achieve the state of desirelessness. You will never be able to achieve the state of desirelessness. You can achieve the state where you are not able to desire anymore, the depression. But only by reaching towards this enlightenment, you experience the bliss of beyond desires.

First thing we should start trusting we can achieve, we are qualified. Next thing, not only are we qualified we have to drop all our wrong ideas about enlightenment. First you have to drop all wrong ideas about yourself, that you are not qualified. You have to drop that wrong idea. Next you have to drop all the wrong ideas about enlightenment. That if this happens that will be, if that happens this will be.

No. If you can drop the wrong ideas about yourself and about enlightenment both will become one and the same. Your self will become enlightened. As long as you have wrong idea about yourself and wrong idea about enlightenment, you keep both at a distance.

The moment you drop the wrong ideas about yourself, the wrong ideas about enlightenment, you start experiencing that you are enlightened. You are in that silence. You are in that experience. The silence of enlightenment is a living, vibrant silence, a living, vibrant energy. It is heartbeat of the absolute, heartbeat of existence.

When I say the word silence, I mean it is the heartbeat of the spiritual being. The ultimate, the divine, what we call in the name of God. I pray to that ultimate energy, God, to shower his blessings upon us and to make us experience the silence, to lead us from words to silence. Let him give us the ultimate experience of that living silence, eternal bliss, nithyananda. Thank you.

We will spend a few minutes with your questions. You have any questions you are welcome.

Q. Swamiji, can you grant enlightenment to someone if he wants it?

A. Surely. Anybody who wants surely can have. Not only I can grant, when you intensely want, simply without even me existence can grant you. The very existence can grant you enlightenment. When you want intensely, simply existence can grant it to you. There is no need for even me to be in the middle, between you and existence. When somebody wants intensely, existence simply grants.

Somebody asked the Buddha, “Buddha, you know enlightenment is the great experience and bliss, why don’t you grant it for everybody?” Buddha asks “Please find out how many really want it. Please go around and find out how many really want it.”

Even if we want, we want enlightenment as one more showcase, one more piece in our house. We are not ready to work for it. We are not ready to undergo the transformation which enlightenment will bring. I have seen many people when they come and live around me, when they see my joy and ecstasy and the way in which I am living, radiating, they start asking me, “Swamiji, why don’t you give us enlightenment?”

We need to understand one more thing, along with enlightenment comes a tremendous responsibility of compassion. A person who is enlightened, don’t think he will be the authority of the world. He cannot even think of doing anything. Simply he will be an instrument in the hands of God.

People ask me, “Swamiji, whatever you think comes true. How is it?” I tell them, no, never think that whatever I think comes true. I can’t even think, I have no freedom, simply the divine thinks through me. I don’t even have freedom to raise my hands. If the divine wants it can be raised. Even that much freedom I don’t have.

We always think that enlightenment means that it is one more possession. No. Please be very clear you can’t possess enlightenment. Enlightenment will possess you. So anybody who is really intense, wants, surely they can have it. Of course master can grant. Paramahamsa means one who is liberated, who can liberate. There are many titles.

A person who creates a formula to reproduce the experience of the outer world is a scientist. Newton created a formula to reproduce the same experience of gravity. When he was sitting and relaxing, he saw an apple falling and he understood something. He had some glimpse, so he created a formula to reproduce the same experience, so that many people can understand. He is a scientist.

A person who creates the formula to reproduce the same experience that happens in the inner world is called a rishi. He is a seer, saint. Saint is a person who creates a formula to reproduce the experience that happens in the inner world. That formula we call as meditation.

Meditation is the formula which is created by an enlightened person, sage or a saint to reproduce the same experience that happens in his being. That happened in his being. Paramahamsa is a person, not only he creates a formula, he can liberate. He can guide the people to follow the formula and experience it.

That is what the program Nithyananda Spurana is, it means the flowering of eternal bliss. It is a formula which I created to give the experience to the people who want the same experience that happened in me. To reproduce that in the people who wanted to have that, I have created this formula. This Nithyananda Spurana, this program is created to reproduce the same experience which happened in me in you all. To reproduce the same experience which happened in me, will be reproduced, will be created in your beings.

Anybody who is intensely asking for it, surely he can have enlightenment. Sometimes even I am not necessary. Even master is not necessary. If your intensity is so deep, master also is not necessary. Simply existence can directly grant you the ultimate experience.

Q. Swamiji, how is ego an obstacle for enlightenment?

A. The idea that ego is an obstacle for enlightenment is the only obstacle. If you search deeply the ego is not there at all. It is our idea that something called ego is there and it is attacking me, affecting me. It is almost like a ghost which is not there but you start thinking it is there.

You should understand this one important thing, all negative things have got power, they have got only one power, that is your faith in them, that’s all. All negativities have got only one power, which is your faith in them. Whether it is your depression or low energy or ego or ghost, witchcraft, black magic, everything, they have only one power which is your faith in them. They have no other power. Be very clear they are like a shadow. The more you run they will be following you. If you just stop and look into them, what it is, you will realize it is nothing, just your shadow. Have little intelligence, stop and look. You will see it is nothing, you will simply see it is nothing.

Q. Swamiji, how does enlightenment affect our everyday life?

A. That only after enlightenment you should see. If you are bothered now itself how it affects my everyday life means you wanted some portion of your everyday life not to be affected. To remain, to be retained as it is now. Am I right? So naturally, be very clear, you can’t become enlightened. As long as you want to retain some part of you, some portion of your life, be very clear you are not ready to enter into the zone of enlightenment.

It’s a pure alchemy process, it’s like when you enter you will be a totally new, different being. People ask me, “Will I renounce everything and go away, Swamiji?” For enlightenment you don’t have to renounce anything, just renounce what you don’t have, that’s enough. There are thousands of things in your life you don’t have, but you are living with it, your fantasies, too many desires. You don’t have, but you are living with it. Just renounce what you don’t have, that is enough. You can become enlightened.

You don’t have to renounce what you have. Intensely live with what you have, just renounce what you don’t have, that’s enough. Now as of now, even your future you don’t have, but you have an idea how it should be. You have a desire how it should be. Even the continuity of how it should be, how it is. If you think that my future should be a continuity of my present, even that is a desire. Again that is one more fantasy.

So you have too many things that you don’t have, if you can drop what you don’t have, that’s enough, you can become enlightened. All you need to do is just drop what you don’t have, and start living with what you have, the present moment. Never think how will it be transformed, how will it be changed, should I go for it or not?

I have seen many people at Universal Studios, before entering the ride they ask the people who come out how is it? Shall I go inside? They ask for opinions. In enlightenment you can’t ask for opinions from anybody. Simply you have to take the risk of entering into it. If at all you wanted to have a particular idea, only then you will enter, you will never be able to enter. It’s a pure risk, but a beautiful risk.

Q. In the organization Alcoholics Anonymous, if somebody feels they are not yet ready to give up drinking, they ask for the desire to desire to give up drinking. You had said that the reason we are not yet enlightened is because we aren’t ready to be enlightened. How do I desire to desire to be enlightened?

A. Actually when I talk about desirelessness and the ecstasy of that, people immediately start creating one more desire about desirelessness. All you need to do is understand the ecstasy of desirelessness and start relaxing from the existing desires. Please don’t create one more desire for desirelessness. Then you are adding little more load. No. Try to drop from what you have instead of adding little more stuff to the desires.

When you understand the experience of desirelessness, just start realizing, when this is the case let me relax from what desires I have. Let me start living with what I have. Instead of living with what you don’t have, start living with what you have.

You cannot create desire for desirelessness, if you create desire for desirelessness you are creating one more desire. Please be very clear, just relax from the mind, from the words, you will drop into the silence. Just relax from the desires, you will drop into desirelessness. Never make the mistake of creating more desire for desirelessness.

Q. Is the first step for enlightenment meditation?

A. We can say this is the first and last step. When you start meditating you enter into the space of enlightenment. When you stop meditating you are enlightened. Meditation is the first and last step. Meditation is the alchemy to give enlightenment. It just gives you the ultimate experience what I call enlightenment. So starting to meditate is one of the best and the first and last step for enlightenment.

Q. Swamiji, can you please explain more about positive and negative thoughts.

A. As such there is nothing called negative thoughts that exist in our being. Understand light and darkness. Light has got positive existence, darkness has no positive existence. Lightlessness is called darkness. Lightlessness, it doesn’t mean it has got an existence, it’s an absence of light, that’s all.

Same way, negative thought means it has no positive existence. It is just an absence of positive thoughts, that’s all. So as such negative thoughts don’t exist please be very clear. When positive thoughts don’t exist, that gap, that emptiness is what we call negative thoughts.

All we need to do is create enough light so that lightlessness never exists. You can’t directly do anything with darkness. For example if a room is dark, if you try to push the darkness away from the room, you try your best. Ten persons sitting in that room and trying their best to throw the darkness away, can you? No, you can’t do anything directly with darkness because it doesn’t have a positive existence. All you can do is just bring light, darkness disappears.

Same way, you can’t remove your negative thinking by fighting with it. The more you fight you will be creating more negativity. Negative thinking, you can’t do anything with negative thinking because it has no positive existence. You can’t try to push, if you try to suppress your negative thinking, control your negative thinking, please be very clear, you are doing the same thing as when you try to push darkness away from a room.

When you try to throw darkness away from a room, what a foolish thing we do. The same thing when we try to suppress or remove negativity from our being. So all you can do is just bring light. All we can do is just bring positive energy, positive thoughts. Simply the negativity will disappear. As darkness disappears, the negativity will disappear. To remove the darkness, bring the light. To remove the negativity, bring enlightenment, that’s all.

Q. In America people have difficulty in stilling the mind for meditation. What will you tell them?

A. You should be aware of one thing, please be very clear not only in America, all over the world, wherever people have mind they have difficulty in stilling their mind. We should not think only in America. Wherever people have mind they have difficulty in stilling their mind. The mind means that which oscillates. The very word mind means that which oscillates.

Somebody came and told me, “Swamiji, I have too much of trouble from my wife”. I told him, if she doesn’t give you trouble how can you call her as a wife? The very word wife means some trouble.

Same way the very word mind means some trouble. There must be some trouble otherwise what can we do. In Sanskrit we have a beautiful word for mind, manas. The manas means that which oscillates. So all we can do to still the mind is don’t bother about it, just relax.

Don’t create a thought, don’t try to sustain a thought by supporting it or try to destroy a thought. Just stop these three and sit with yourself. You will see there will be no mind. If you try to create a thought there will be mind, if you try to sustain a thought by supporting it you will have mind, if you try to destroy a thought again you will have the mind.

When you are trying to still the mind, you are trying to destroy some thoughts. By trying to destroy you will be creating only more thoughts. Our mind is like a lake. Somebody threw a small stone, ripples are created. If you want the ripples to settle down, if you want the silence and if you go and try to stop the ripples by hand, what will happen? You will be creating only more ripples, and more ripples. You will get so confused you will just start creating waves.

That is what we usually do when we try to still our mind. Please be very clear, if someone has thrown a pebble and if ripples are created in the lake, just sit silently and see that no more pebbles are thrown. Sit silently and take care no more pebbles are thrown. That’s enough it will become silent.

Same way neither create a thought, nor support it by your energy or try to destroy a thought. Just drop these three. Sit, you will become God, the ultimate energy, the divine. In Bharat we call God as 3 parts – creator, sustainer and destroyer. When you don’t give these three things, you enter into the God consciousness.

Creating the thought, sustaining a thought or destroying a thought, if you don’t do all these three you enter into the consciousness of God. You enter into God consciousness or super consciousness or Christ consciousness, whatever you may name it. You enter into that ultimate spiritual being.

So let us pray to that divine to give us that experience and try once in a while, when you are alone in the house. Try to make some time for yourself. Try to make one appointment with yourself. You see we give appointments to everybody, but we don’t give appointments to ourselves.

Please give an appointment to yourself and have a little time for yourself, and sit with yourself without creating any thought, maintaining any thought or destroying any thought. Just sit with yourself. You will see you are sitting with God. When you sit with yourself you will be sitting with God.

So I pray to that ultimate divine energy, God, to give us all the same experience of unity with him, the God consciousness. Let him lead us all from words to silence, eternal bliss, nithyananda. Thank you.