“Namo Arihantanam Namo Siddhanam Namo Ayariyanam Namo Uvajjhayanam Namo…”

Namo Arihantanam Namo Siddhanam Namo Ayariyanam Namo Uvajjhayanam Namo Loye Savva Sahunam Eso Pancha Namokaaro Savva Pavappanasano Mangalanam Cha Savvesim Padhamam Havai Mangalam

I welcome you all with my love and respects. Today’s subject is ‘The Awakening’, awakening to the truth, enlightenment, reality, awakening yourself to your consciousness. Before entering into the sutras, I will just answer the questions from devotees about yesterday’s discourse.

Q: In Vedic times, there was no divorce, but men could burn their wives. In Ramayana, Rama put his wife through an abusive violent marriage. Is not divorce better than allowing wives to be burnt?

I don’t think Rama burnt Sita. That’s the first thing. So, the very information with which you are putting the question is not true information. The question is written just to disrespect Vedic tradition. I don’t see any truth or sincerity in your question.

Two ways you can analyze this problem.

Firstly, marriage is not always abusive and second, you don’t have to always think that divorce is the only way to escape, to avoid an abusive relationship. So, it is just a purely hypothetical question, not a question of a real problem. You can always say, if divorce is not there, then what will happen to this, what will happen to that. But the truth is that for any problem, you can find a solution. There is no need for divorce to be a solution.

And I don’t think Rama burnt Sita. That’s complete wrong information or a lie.

Q: Nowadays a person selects his own spouse, say at 20-25. He still makes a lot of mistakes. Would you not advocate a person to select his own religion? Whether Jainism, Buddhism, Islam or Christianity, shouldn’t he decide at a mature age of 20 plus, after he has a chance to explore all of them?

Oh God! This is a nice idea. A few days ago, I had a radio interview. In that I spoke this same thing. Religion should not be forced on people. It should be an option. After maturity, maybe after 14, they should be given a fair, clear, decent idea of all religions from the original source, from their sources.

And a person should be given a choice to decide what he wants to follow. This is exactly my idea which I advocate. This is what I call religious freedom. Real religious freedom means you are given freedom to choose your religion. You are given freedom to practice your own religion. That is what is called real religious freedom.

Q: Master, it appears that most of your life so far has been outside this materialistic world. Being in the outside, how did you learn reading and writing and speaking so fluently? Please excuse me if my question does not make sense.

To tell you the truth, no question makes sense. All questions are just playing with words. It’s a strange question. See, in Vedic tradition, even in Jainism, we don’t believe that knowledge can be gained only through the senses. Knowledge can come from a different source, call that as intuition. There is a source through which knowledge can happen to you if you know how to open that door, how to open that source. You can receive knowledge without the help of eyes and ears.

Q: What is the qualification to be called a paramahamsa?

You are supposed to be in complete bliss and experiencing the total freedom. That is the qualification for paramahamsa.

Q: Your discourses during the last four days have brought major suffering for me, because my wife expects me to be a married paramahamsa. Can you help a person like me?

I am here to help only you. Understand if your wife is expecting you to be a married paramahamsa, she also should become a paramahamsi, a female paramahamsa. Everybody expects that their husband should be like Ramakrishna but nobody wants to become like Sharada Devi. Understand, you first tell her: ‘You achieve the state of Sharada Devi. Then, naturally you will see me as Ramakrishna’. So, this is the help I can give as of now. Maybe, you can try to bring her to the discourses and spiritual practices. That may give little more help for her and for you.

Now, we’ll enter into the sutras: mokshamarga sutra. Again we are going to work on the mokshamarga sutra, but the second chapter, the next chapter. Yesterday, we worked on the mokshamarga sutra, first chapter. Today, mokshamarga sutra, second chapter.

Very powerful sutra! The problem is, because it is so completely filled with the truth, only a sincere seeker can feel connected to it. If you are just an onlooker or a casual visitor, you won’t feel connected to this. You see, a casual visitor can feel connected to Gita because it is more for the masses. But these great sutra of Mahavir is not for the masses, it is for sincere seekers. It is delivered to a different quality of human beings.

Gita is delivered to a person who was in the world and who is going to be in the world. But these Jain sutra are delivered to people who are working towards enlightenment, who are working towards ultimate realization. So, these sutra are so powerful and filled with the truth that it needs intense energy to go into it and experience it.

Jo jeevevi najjane ajeeve vinajaanaye Jeeva jeeve ayannanto kaham sonayisanjamam Jo jeeve vivviyanaayi ajeeve vivviyanayi Jeevaa jeeve viyaananto sogunaahi sanjamam Jaya kahimbakoviham samva jeevana jaanaye Kaya punnam chamam paapam chabandam mokyancha chaanaye Jaya punyancha paapancha bandam mokyancha chaanaye Taya nirbig tayam eva moye jetivya jaye monasu Je divve Jeya maanuse

This is the, I can say, punch line. This is the essence of the whole thing, where they are ending the sutra by saying even liberation is useless. Understand, there is no other master who is so courageous, so powerful. Understand the last statement je divve jeya maanuse. Even the liberation is useless. This is surprising! It is referring to the one who transcends sin and merit, bondage and liberation.

Understand, you are supposed to be free from the idea of freedom also. Actually, the ultimate liberation can happen to you the moment you are liberated from the idea of freedom. As long as you want freedom, you will be bound and working towards it. The moment you are liberated from the idea of freedom, you are liberated this moment. This is the punch line, the essence of whole spirituality.

I don’t think any other master is so courageous to declare that you should be free even from the idea of liberation. See, as long as the disciple is seeking for liberation he will be around the master. It is a cunning way that masters use for keeping the disciples around them. Such masters plant the idea that the disciple should keep seeking so that he is with the master. No, really! Only a great master like Mahavira can declare: ‘liberate yourself even from freedom; even from liberation’.

See, here he is talking about one who transcends sin and merit, bondage and liberation. He is liberating you even from the concept of liberation. Actually, when you are liberated from the concept of liberation, you experience true liberation. Otherwise, the concept of liberation is the best way to bind you.

See, even for money, you can’t be bound 24 hours. 8 hours a day: that’s all. But somehow if liberation idea is inserted into your head, you are bound now 24 hours. You will do exactly as this guy wants you to do. You will do all sorts of things what this fellow wants you to do. There are times when these so called spiritual people start using the liberation idea to rule the common masses, to rule the ordinary people.

With Mahavira, even that mistake cannot happen. He is so clear, that is what I am telling you. He has created a fool proof system, which can’t be corrupted. Either you know consciously you are going away from Mahavira or you follow him perfectly. You can’t justify yourself and corrupt his teachings, no! Impossible!

Either you know clearly: you are not following Mahavira properly and you are just doing things on your own and trying to act as if you are following spirituality, or you will be very clear and follow the true path Mahavira teaches. Mahavira’s power, Mahavira’s intelligence and his ability to create sutra in such a beautiful way is so amazing that you will be surprised. If you study different traditions you will understand the power of Mahavira’s words.

It can’t be degenerated. You can’t misinterpret. You can’t miss it. You can’t dilute this. You can’t corrupt this. He has taken the extreme step to preserve the purity of his teachings. Let us enter into the truth one by one.

‘The one who does not know the difference between matter and consciousness jata and chaitanya won’t be able to practice restraint, sanyama’

Only the one who knows matter and consciousness can practice restraint. Oh God! This is a beautiful sutra. Here, he is giving a technique to be in consciousness all the time, to go beyond the materialistic needs. See, the person who knows the difference between matter and consciousness, chit and jata, the consciousness and matter, only he will be able to practice. Only the person who knows the difference will be able to practice sanyam, means restraining himself, or leading a pure life.

See, there are two things in your being. One is consciousness, your anma, enlightened energy, soul. The other is the matter, your body. There is something called chitjatagranti means the matter, jata and chit, consciousness are connected like a knot. We call that knot as chitjatagranti. This connection, this connection only is called ignorance.

This connection only is called the cause for maya. One important thing: If you look little deep and try to find out where they are connected, you will see they are not connected at all! When you are superficially looking, now you will feel as if your soul and your body are connected. That is why your body is functioning. But if you look inside and see where they are connected, you will realize that both of them are never connected.

You will realize you are liberated. Understand this one example. You go and stand in the corner of a room and you think you are in prison because both sides are closed. You stand in the corner of a room, facing the corner and you shout ‘Please liberate me, liberate me’. Somebody from your behind shouts ‘Fool, on the third side there is no wall, turn’. When you turn back and you see ‘God, I don’t have to be liberated, I am already free’.

You will realize you were never in bondage. You have always been free. You go to the corner. You corner yourself and think you are bound. Same way, here, when you look deeply into the chitjatagranti, where the consciousness and matter are connected, suddenly you will realize they were never bound, they were never connected.

The beauty of Mahavira is he is pure truth, 24 carat gold. You can’t add any stories or jokes or any examples to him because any joke added, any story added, any example added will dilute the truth. That is why I am not using many examples, because many times these so called commentators spoil the whole truth. People sometime feel the original sutra are clearer than the commentary.

I do not want that mistake to happen. That is why I am not using any examples. I am not using any stories. I am not using any other references. He is so clear that if you understand or try to look where the chit and jata are binding each other, touching each other, getting knotted, you will suddenly see you are free by your nature. There is no knot.

A small announcement: Some illegal car parking on the outside parking lot getting tickets. They need to go and check, please.

You may get liberation from liberation, but not from tickets! In this country, if you do illegal things nobody can do anything. People come and ask me to do something. Ah, you will do illegal things and I should save you from that! Whatever said and done, you have to take care of the law. See, if you take the responsibility for law, you are liberated from law and you will not feel that it is enforced on you.

See, again it is connected to our subject only. It is directly connected to our moksha marga. Whatever you may think or do life has to run based on certain principles. As long as you don’t understand those principles and accept them, they will be bondage for you. The moment you understand and accept them, you are liberated from them. They are no more enforced on you. That’s all.

That’s all is the secret that Mahavir is delivering here. So Mahavir is teaching you now through reality. Understand, the whole truth is this only. There is a dharma, a law of life. Somebody asked me ‘Master, enlightened people don’t die or what? Then why should we become enlightened?’ I told him ‘No! Who said that enlightened people don’t die? Of course, they don’t die like you. What happens to you when you die will not happen to them when they die’.

You die in a normal way, your soul leaves the body and body goes through suffering, and your mind feeling miserable because you did not fulfill something. You did not do what you wanted to do and you did something which you didn’t want to do. The fear, greed and everything comes up. You go through suffering and leave the body.

But with enlightened beings, there is nothing called fear or greed or suffering. So you can’t call their death as your death. There is a law of life. Anybody who has taken the body has to leave the body. In your case, because you did not understand the dharma, the law of life, and accept it, you feel it is enforced on you.

With enlightened master’s case, they understand it is dharma and they accept it. Because of that, they don’t feel it is enforced on them. They are liberated from it. You are liberated from the law when you take responsibility for the law. Any law is created for all of us and you should just become part of it. See, if you look as a whole, you will not criticize any law. Only if you look as a part, if you look at it from your view, you will criticize all laws. If you look as a whole, you won’t criticize any law.

Now, all you need to do is the same thing. The cosmic law is dharma. If you look from your angle, you will always feel it is enforced on you. If you look from the angle of cosmic energy, you will feel it is you who created it. All you need to do is to liberate yourself by just expanding. Look from a different angle. You will liberate yourself. Take the responsibility. Understand and accept, you will suddenly feel no law is binding you. Nothing is enforced on you. You are not bound by any regulations. You will see you are expressing your being. You are expressing your reality. You are expressing the truth in your life.

Going back to the sutra, ‘One who does not know the difference between matter and consciousness cannot practice restraint’. As long as you think you are a body, you can’t escape from the pleasures of the physical world. See, when you think you are mature, naturally the small attachments like toy, Barbie doll, all these things disappear. Till you are mature, even if you try to renounce the toys, you may renounce physically but you will be thinking about it.

Same way, till you experience you are consciousness you can’t renounce the physical pleasures. Even if you renounce, you will be mentally thinking about them. The one who does not know the difference between matter and consciousness won’t be able to practice restraint. Only when you experience that you are a conscious being, you understand you are not a human being having spiritual experience but you are a spiritual being having a human experience. It is the other way, you are not a human being having spiritual experience, but you are a spiritual being having a human experience.

So, when you understand this truth, suddenly you will see the outside world, or the pleasures of the world are not attracting you at all. It is not affecting you anymore. You are just beyond all these things. You are just living in a different space. The one who sees everything as movements in consciousness transcends sin and merit, bondage and liberation. This is the essence.

This sutra is the essence. The one who sees everything as movements in consciousness, you are in consciousness; you are consciousness. Just consciousness is moving inside consciousness. Understand, there is no matter, there is no jata, there is no outer world. The outer world also is inside your consciousness. This can happen to you when you start witnessing. When you start constantly witnessing whatever happens inside and outside, suddenly you will see all movements. You will realize that whatever is happening, including you is just part of your own consciousness.

What you think as you, what you think as the world, whatever you think as the outer world and the other person, everything is just movements in consciousness. This can happen to you when you witness and above all when you unclutch from your body and mind. See, as long as you connect with your body and mind, you create a boundary between you and the world; you and the whole. When you unclutch, suddenly the boundary disappears. You are no more separate from the whole. You are no more separate from the truth. You are no more separate from the reality. You are just filled with the same thing.

See, the body will be there as a body as long as you give a name for it. The moment the name disappears from you, it remains in you just as an experience. Without the so called words or the qualities associated with it, you will see in reality it is the same. See, the power which runs your body is only running the sun and the moon. The force which is working inside you is the same force running the solar system, running the whole world.

If something is happening inside your body, it directly affects the sun and the moon. You will realize you are not an island as you think. You are not an island as you believe. Your belief that you are an island is too small. It’s like a small straw floating in a big ocean. A piece of straw is too small to divide the ocean into two pieces. Same way, your ignorance is too small to take away your enlightenment.

Understand this important truth. Your ignorance is too small to take away your enlightenment. You are fortunate your enlightenment is much stronger, more powerful than your ignorance. That is why enlightenment is possible. That is why it is possible. Your ignorance is too small to cover you or to make you into two.

One who sees everything as movements in consciousness sees no separation from the whole. Just drop whatever divides you into pieces. As long as you carry ‘I’, the idea ‘you’ will be there, the idea of ‘other’ will be there. The moment you relax from the ‘I’, the idea of ‘other’ will also disappear. As long as you connect all your thoughts and see the things with your own ideas, you will see the outer world as separate.

But I tell you, once you unclutch from your body and mind, you will start seeing everything as movements in consciousness. Such a person transcends sin and merit, bondage and liberation. You don’t even ask for liberation. Understand: you transcend even liberation. Now, whatever you think as liberation is just an idea.

I always tell people, unclutch even from your idea of liberation, you will be liberated. Otherwise you will have an idea, ‘if I am liberated, I should be like this’ and you will try to fulfill that idea and never feel liberated. Liberation means, even the idea of how you should be will disappear. You should feel intensely and clearly that you are liberated, that’s all. You have nothing to achieve. You are free.

That can happen to your being; that can happen to your soul only when you liberate yourself even from the idea of liberation. For example, when you look at this rose, you create the word ‘rose’ in your mind and start thinking about all ideas which you have about roses. You think of all the ideas connected to roses and all the roses which you presented to somebody or all the roses presented to you. Some idea, some connection, how that person responded, how you responded…

Slowly, in few seconds, you are away from the rose. You are no more connected to the rose. You can see this for anything in the world. The moment you see something, words are created and you are away from the reality. You are now in your own dream world, in your own dreams. Seeing, but not creating a word and directly trying to connect with the reality, is what kids do. The kids will not know the word. But if you observe kids, when they see something, their whole being sees it as if they are enjoying it, as if they are living it.

So, see without using the name, without using the word. Then suddenly you will see strange things happening between you and the rose. The idea or the boundary that you are separate from the rose will slowly disappear. You will feel like you are just slowly becoming one with the rose because the boundary is disappearing. You are becoming one with the reality. You are becoming one with the truth. You are becoming one with satya.

Suddenly you will see you feel so deeply connected to the rose when you see the rose without the word. The same applies to anything, with a tree, with a person, with a situation. We normally have a prejudice. If you drop your prejudice and see, things will be totally different. For example, if you think that you should be depressed in a particular situation, usually you respond only as depression, in a depressed way to that situation. When that situation arises you will see that you will be automatically depressed. No other way.

These connections to something, to the things of the outer world in a particular way, we call this as a psychodrama. If you are prepared, and if you are given the dialogue of depression at a particular moment, you will repeat the same mood, same dialogue throughout your life when that kind of situation arises in you.

So, the whole life is nothing but a psychodrama: selected dialogues and psychodrama. A person who understands everything as movements in consciousness understands that everything is a psychodrama.

There is a beautiful Zen story.

One disciple goes to the Master and asks ‘Master, you have become a Master, please guide me also how to become a Master’.

Master says ‘Who says I have become a Master? No! I am a Master because you want to be a disciple. As long as you are playing the role of a disciple, I will be in the seat of the Master. The moment you are no more a disciple, I will not be a Master anymore’.

Disciple was shocked. ‘How can it be?’

Master says ‘Yes, only when you want to see a Guru, you will see a Guru in me’.

For example, it’s not that all the people who see me on the road feel my presence or energy. No! Only a person who needs, who wants something from me, he feels connected. So, including your experience, everything is part of the great psychodrama being played here. Understand, master plays a psychodrama of master-disciple relationship to expose you to the reality and to take away all other psychodramas from you.

That is why we say that guru-disciple relationship is the ultimate relationship, last relationship. Till you have that relationship, you will have all other relationships. Once you have the guru-disciple relationship, the guru swallows all other relationships. He takes away all other relationships. And now nothing else will exist.

And then, finally, he takes away even the guru-disciple relationship and shows you that there is no guru, no disciple, there is only one thing, that is, you can call it as ‘You’ or ‘Me’. It is only one. As long as the ‘you’ and ‘me’ exist, there is a possibility for relationship. In reality, ‘you’ and ‘me’ itself doesn’t exist. It is one and the same. You may call that as ‘you’ or ‘me’. That’s not a problem. Any word you may use.

But you will realize the one who sees everything as movements in consciousness; he will realize that you and me are just two different waves in the same ocean; two different waves in the same ocean. May be a big wave or small wave, but whatever it is, same ocean. You are also going to settle down in the same ocean, I am also going to settle down in the same ocean. Even if you don’t want, you will fall into the same ocean.

The wave when it rises, when it is in its peak height and when it falls, in all three times, it is directly connected to the ocean. It can’t be away from the ocean. It can never be separated from the ocean. Even if the wave thinks that it has become separate from the ocean, and it has to get liberation, the fact remains that it is part of the ocean. Even if you think you are separated from the ocean and that you have to reconnect yourself to the source and ocean, you are still connected to ocean.

Same way, even if you believe you are in bondage, you have not achieved liberation. Be very clear, you are never bound. You are eternally liberated. You are connected to the source. You are connected to the ocean. You are filled with energy. A person who understands everything as movements in consciousness, whether he gives the name ‘you’ or ‘me’, is like a wave in the ocean. You rise in it, go to the peak height in it, you fall inside it, that’s all. There is no other difference. There is no other thing.

One who sees everything as movements in consciousness transcends sin and merit, bondage and liberation. The one who transcends sin and merit, bondage and liberation understands the futility of sense enjoyments and renounces them completely. When you understand sin and merit, bondage and freedom, it’s not that you need to renounce the sense enjoyments. Sense enjoyments will renounce you. They will understand you are useless for them and they will renounce you.

You renouncing smoking will not help because you may bring it back again. Smoking renouncing you is the only way. Your consciousness should become such, those senses should feel you are no more useful for them. They cannot live inside your system anymore. Only when they understand, only when your senses understand that your body and mind cannot be used by them any more, you are liberated from them. They do not try to bind you. They do not try to create attachment in you.

The one who renounces, renounces everything, in the inner world and the outer world. Understand, it is continuity from the earlier sutra. The one who renounces sense enjoyment, which is mentioned earlier, also renounces all attachments in the inner and outer world. Such a person then receives initiation from the superior one, means the master, and attains the state of a muni, the state where he does not consider this world as his home and wants to enter into the other world. When he attains the state of a muni, he gets a glimpse of true dharma.

Understand, now these sutra are explaining about the state of enlightenment and how you live in it. The one who renounces the sense enjoyments also renounces all other attachments in the inner and outer worlds. In the inner world also, you are not supposed to have any attachments. You are supposed to be experiencing the truth even beyond the inner world.

If you understand that the attachments are opposed to dharma in the inner and outer worlds, then you are initiated. If a person is initiated, it means the experience is transmitted from master to him. The transmission of the ultimate experience happens and he attains the state of a muni. He attains the state of the enlightened one, siddha, the ultimate pure consciousness.

Once he gets a glimpse of the true dharma, he removes the veil of ignorance which surrounds his true self. Once the veil of ignorance is removed, he attains completely the state of pure knowing, kevala gnana and pure darshan, kevala dardhan, pure enlightenment.

This whole sutra, the moksha marga sutra is all about enlightenment and the ultimate state. It is a beautiful sutra; the next few sutra are also connected. The one who attains the state of pure knowing and pure experience is called sacchajin, means a person who has conquered, attained the state of kevala gnana, and transcended all planes of existence. Once he attains the state of kevala gnana, he finally renounces the mind, speech and the body and attains the state of samadhi and shanti, peace. Once he attains the state of shanti, he destroys all karma from the roots and attains the state of the enlightened one, siddha.

Once a siddha, he remains to be a siddha eternally. Mahavir is describing beautifullt through various words about how enlightenment is achieved and how you remain in that state. Maybe I feel that once I start talking on this sutra, there shouldn’t be any gap. Now you may have 5 minutes break. Then we will start this sutra and end the session with the complete understanding of this sutra. So, you may have few minutes of break, interval, then we will start the next session with a few sutra of moksha marga, thank you.

Now, let us start the kevala gnana and kevala darshana, pure knowledge and pure experience. Mahavir says that once the veil of ignorance is removed, he attains completely the state of pure knowing and pure experience. Mahavira is describing the process of enlightenment here through these five-six sutra. The one who sees everything as movements in consciousness transcends sins and merits, bondage and liberation. The one who transcends sin and merit, bondage and liberation understands the futility in sense enjoyment and goes beyond them. The one who renounces the sense enjoyment also renounces the attachments in the inner and outer worlds.

Such a person then receives initiation, means the transmission of energy from the superior one, from the master and attains the state of a muni, and once he gets a glimpse of true dharma, he removes the veil of ignorance that surrounds his true self. Once the veil of ignorance is removed, he attains completely the state of pure knowing and pure experience. One who attains the state of pure knowing and pure experience, such a jin (it is the root word for jain) attains the state of kevalagnana and transcends all the planes of existence. Once he has attained the state of kevalagnana, he renounces mind, body and speech and he is in shanta, stillness. Once he attains the state of stillness, he destroys all karma from their root and attains the state of a siddha, enlightened one. Once a siddha, he remains to be eternally enlightened, siddha enternally.

See, beautiful set of sutra. But actually, the whole thing happens in one second. It is not like a step by step, what he is describing. He is describing using so many words the ultimate glimpse or the ultimate truth, how it happens and how the person is established in enlightenment. You may think, by knowing all this, what is the direct use? Understand, if you deeply connect with the truth of these teachings, feeling connected, this very listening can just transport you to that plane, to that existence because there is no other qualification necessary to achieve this reality.

As I was telling you, your ignorance is too small to take enlightenment away from you. Your ignorance is too small. You are not as ignorant as you think. Even in ignorance, you are not full as you think. Fortunately, you are not full even in your ignorance. Your ignorance is not as powerful as you think. It is possible to go beyond. It is possible to work beyond.

Just the other day I went to see one of our devotees who left the body. And after meditating, I just touched the feet; means did namaskar with a lot of respect and reverence. One of our devotees asked me, why did you give respect for her? You blessed her, that is beautiful, but why did you pay so much of respect? I want all of you to understand the answer which I gave because that will enlighten you with this whole truth.

In Bhagavatam, there is a beautiful story. Krishna was touching the feet of Radha and painting it with mehendi, henna. The story says that Krishna was applying mehendi to Radha’s feet and that was too much for everyone to bear. All the rishi and muni are waiting to touch the feet of Krishna and He is touching somebody else’s feet! And they said ‘What? Have You gone crazy or what? You may be in love with her, but that does mean You will touch her feet. You are the ultimate. You are Bhagavan Himself. How can You touch her feet?’

He says beautifully ‘her devotion is so deep, her devotion has got so much of depth, she is so devoted, I feel that she is more connected to me than my body itself. She is so deeply connected to me than this body itself. Understand, this will give you the glimpse of the space in which Masters are living. I told the same thing ‘that person is so devoted; she is close to me than this body itself’. It means just because I am living in this body, this body is not close to me.

There is a possibility to get closer. You need to understand the psychology of enlightenment or the physiology of enlightenment, whatever word you may use, we don’t know the right word; the truths about enlightenment. Enlightened beings may be using a body, but your devotion can be closer to his enlightenment than his very body itself. This truth can liberate you; it can guarantee you your enlightenment with just your devotion or feeling connected.

See, to whom you are devoted, whether he is enlightened or not, don’t bother. Just you feeling connected, your trust, your surrender itself is more than enough to give you enlightenment. Many people come and ask me ‘Master, if I surrender to a statue, surrender to a murti, surrender to a stone, will I become enlightened?’ I tell you, to whom you surrender, whether a stone, a murti or a statue is not important. The surrender, the quality of surrender is important.

If the quality happens in you, even a stone can give you enlightenment. Stone itself may not have been enlightened. But it can give you enlightenment because you are closer to the idea represented by the stone than the stone itself. Understand you are closer to the truth represented by the stone than the stone itself. This is the truth. This is the base. This is the thing you need to understand, why we use idols to achieve enlightenment, how the idols can lead to enlightenment, how the statues can lead to enlightenment.

Idol worship is not just an ordinary thing. If you stop with that, it is an ordinary thing. But if you use that, then it is different. Actually, we don’t worship idols, we worship through idols. We worship through idols, not just idols. Your intensity is more than enough to liberate you. Even a statue is enough to liberate you. And if you don’t have the intensity, then even if God comes in front of you, you will ask for ID card.

In Ramakrishna’s life there is a beautiful story. Ramakrishna himself became enlightened through the help of Kali, Kali murti. Just a stone statue and he became enlightened. When he was talking about this, somebody was sitting in front of him and counting beads or doing some technique, some traditional sandhya or something. Then Ramakrishna says ‘See, in my case because of my trust, even the stone gave me enlightenment. In his case, I am sitting in front of him and this fellow is closing his eyes and doing some sandhya. What he is trying to achieve is sitting in front of him, but he is not able to see. What will he achieve?

Many times when you really open up, when you really understand, even an ordinary statue can lead you to ultimate experience. When you don’t open up, even if an enlightened being is sitting in front of you, you will be so closed with your own prejudices, with your own ideas that you will be sitting and doing something on your own, inside your mind.

The one who attains the state of pure knowing and pure experience, such a jin, means the person who has won, attains the state of kevala gnana, aloneness and transcends all the planes of existence. You exist in different levels, different planes. Sometimes you exist in the physical plane. Whenever you exist in the physical plane, you experience the physical pleasures and physical pains. Whenever you exist in the mental plane, you experience the mental pleasures and mental pains.

See for example, if you are more in the mental layer, you will experience more joy in name and fame and you will be afraid of defamation. You will not be afraid of the physical pleasures that much, but you will be more bothered about the mental pleasures. In the same way, if you are living in subtler planes, your joys, your experiences will be more subtle.

The person who knows that the whole thing is just consciousness moving in consciousness knows that there is nothing to protect. There is nothing to save. There is nothing to play. Understand this one small truth. It is like you are a big wave rising in the ocean of consciousness and falling into it. Nothing more than that! Sometimes the wave starts thinking ‘No, no, no! I have become separate. Now, I need to do this …’

The moment you think you have become separate, either you want to go back to the source or you want to try to do something for your security. Trying to do something for your security is your outer world game. Trying to go back to the source is the inner world game. Both are games, because you are not separate from the ocean.

Understand that is what here Mahavira is saying ‘you are liberated. You are supposed to be liberated even from the idea of liberation, even from the thought of wanting liberation. You are supposed to transcend the idea of liberation. See, first ignorance is the wave thinking it is separate from the ocean. And the second thing, next step, if the wave is more out-worldly, towards the outer world, it starts thinking ‘I should now create security for me. It starts collecting all the pebbles in the beach and feels that is the treasure it can hold on to, feels that it will be secure forever with the stones and pebbles. It goes towards the outer world. That’s what we are doing. Collecting few more zeroes in our bank balance, thinking that we will be safe and secure forever. The same thing we are doing. These are the movements towards the outer world.

And the inner world: Sometimes the ocean starts thinking ‘I should go back to my source, connect myself with the ocean and achieve enlightenment. And it starts thinking it should try to do something specially to connect. You don’t need to do anything because you were never separated. All you need to do is to renounce the idea that you are separated. Understand the truth that you are one. You are already one with the ocean. You are already one with the consciousness. You are already one with the truth.

Whether you are rising, or in the peak or falling, you are inside the ocean. You are never separated. Understand whether you are sick or healthy, whether you are depressed or joyful, whether you are living or dead, you are part of the ocean. Of course I don’t think anybody here is dead! Anyhow whether you are going through life or death, whether you are sick or healthy, whether you are joyful or depressed, you are inside the ocean. Some fishes may swim against the current; some fishes go with the current. Whether you go with the current or whether you go against the current, you are in ocean. You are inside the water.

So, whether you realize that you are enlightened or you don’t realize you are enlightened, you are enlightened. Whether you experience it or not, whether you realize it or not, the truth stays you are enlightened. All you need to do is reclaim. Even if you don’t reclaim, it will be there, that’s all. You don’t even have to put pressure on yourself ‘I have to reclaim and express my enlightenment’. Just know you have abundance, simply you will start expressing it. Just relax, you have enlightenment. Whether you realize or not, you are connected to that ocean.

You can’t exist as an island even for a moment. You can’t exist as an individual even for a second. You can’t exist separately. You can’t exist away from the truth even while you think you are away from it. The truth of pure knowing, the truth of pure experience descends on you. Once you understand you rise in the ocean, you live inside the ocean and you relax into the ocean.

People come and ask me ‘Master, all these great things are ok, I understand, but unless I experience it will I not go through suffering, pain, when I leave the body, when I die? It should all become an experience in me. I tell you, this very understanding is so powerful it will transform the quality of your suffering. It will transform the quality of your pain. If you don’t have this understanding, all your sufferings will lead to more and more sufferings. If you have this understanding, all your sufferings will keep triggering this understanding. It will not lead to more and more suffering; that is the greatness of satya, truth.

Understand you will never be the same again after listening to these truths. You will never be the same again. Without these truths in your life, when pains and suffering come, you will try to escape from them. Just by trying to escape from them, you will create more and more clutches and pains and sufferings towards you. With this knowledge, they will not trigger the mechanism of escaping; they will trigger the mechanism of accepting, surrendering to the truth. That is the greatness of this knowledge.

Anybody who has heard the truth, even if he has not experienced it in his life but just heard it sincerely, felt connected with it, whenever he goes through suffering only the truth is triggered. Only these high ideals are triggered in him. He starts moving towards these great things, not towards the ordinary mundane things of escaping or creating more and more clutches. The greatness of these truths is that even suffering or pain is used as a bridge, as a technique to achieve the higher states of consciousness, higher states of enlightenment.

Remember this only one thing, whether you believe it or not, you are in the ocean. You have never become separate. You are never away from the ocean. You are never away from the consciousness. I can add any number of words, but I do not want to leave you with my words. I want to leave you with Mahavira’s words. He is so perfect, he has expressed it so clearly, even after two thousand five hundred years, I can’t improve upon it. We can’t add few more words to update it. He is so clear. That is the reason I feel at loss, I can’t comment, I can’t add, so pure, so clear.

There is nothing much to explain. There is nothing much to comment. All we can do is to repeat those words with reverence and respect, digest those great truths with reverence and respect and relax into those words with trust and deep devotion, they will work on us. They will penetrate and do the miracle of transformation inside our being.

There is one more beautiful sutra before ending, I just wanted to repeat that sutra and then we will end the session: ‘I surrender to the arhanta, I surrender to the siddha, I surrender to the sadhu, I surrender to the dharma’, arhante saranam bavacchami siddhe saranam bavacchami sadhu saranam bavacchami kevalipannatta dammam saranam bavacchami

This is called saranagati sutra, sutra of surrender. Two things: if you feel confident that you are feeling connected when you listen to the truth that you are ocean, even when you don’t believe it, then just go with it. You are never separated. Wave is never separated from the ocean. If you feel connected to this truth, beautiful! Just live it. If you feel that is too much, you are not able to feel really connected to those words, then catch this truth, surrendering.

If you feel connected to the truth, then start expressing it. You are already enlightened. Nothing else needs to be done. If you feel it is too much to take, it means you are ego centered. You are not able to feel connected to the truth. Then the technique, method for you is saranagati, then surrender to the arhanta, siddha, sadhu and to the dharma. See, persons who are supposed to go in the path of self knowledge will feel connected. Something will click in them the moment they listen to the example ‘the wave is never separated from the ocean’. They will think ‘yes, true! Then how can I be separated from my source? I am connected to it’ suddenly you will see so many doubts and difficulties which you always carry relax, disappear and you settle down.

If that happens in you, just live that same peace and the truth, express it. If you feel it is yet to happen then surrender is the path for you. Surrender your body, mind, everything at the feet of the great masters. Surrender to arhanta, surrender to siddha, surrender to sadhu, surrender to the dharma.

Actually, you would have heard lot of words from me, especially my disciples. So you may be thinking that I would be doing the same thing even now, of adding more and more words. But I feel adding more and more words may not help, at least not with these great sutra. With these great sutra, the very sutra are so powerful, so straight, so beautiful. All you need to do is carry one understanding. That itself will help you. That itself will liberate you. That will do what has to be done.

If I leave you with too many words and techniques, you will not carry even a single word inside your being. You will not carry even a single truth inside your being. You will not allow anything to work on you. So now I want to leave you with one truth, one great truth and understanding.

Whether you understand or not, whether you believe it or not, whether you experience it or not, you are never away from your source.

Wave is never disconnected from the ocean. It is always connected. So, whether you believe it or not, understand it or not, experience it or not, you are enlightened. Just carry this one truth, and express your enlightenment. In whatever way you can, express your enlightenment in your life, express this truth when you relax and trust that you are connected to the source.

Suddenly you will see all your insecurities, all your fear, greed which comes out of your fear, everything disappears. And you start living totally a different kind of life with a different understanding. So, all that Mahavir wants to happen is that transformation. All these sutra are given to us for that transformation. Let that transformation happen in you all. That transformation is the root, that transformation is the base for everything. So here, I leave you with few words but with one great truth.

Understand I can say more and more words. But your minds are habituated to sitting and listening to more and more words but never put them to practice. The more words you listen to, you feel a kind of satisfaction; you did what you were supposed to. You feel a kind of satisfaction that whatever has to happen has happened. Now you don’t need to do anything, you don’t need to practice. You go with a feeling ‘oh, everything is over’.

But I tell you: just the words are not going to be enough. That is the reason now I am going to end without giving you many words but giving you one simple truth is so that this truth will work on you.

See if I speak as usual for hours, at the end of the discourse you will come and say ‘Oh, Master spoke beautifully, he spoke well’, you will be talking but you will never allow these truths to work on you. If I leave with this one truth, the truth will be just working on you constantly. You will be thinking ‘Why did he finish with this one word? What must be the reason?’ So that gap is enough for me and this truth to work on you.

Understand I do not want to load you with too many words. I have done that for the last six days. You have heard enough. Now it is time you contemplate on this one truth, on this one word. Whether you understand or not, experience it or not, believe it or not, you are connected to your source. The wave is connected to the ocean. You are enlightened. Maybe we will take a few minutes, just sit with closed eyes with this one truth. Then we will enter into the meditation. Before entering into the meditation, just sit for few minutes with this great truth. Let it work on you. Contemplate on this one truth. Just for two minutes.

Please close your eyes. Remember, contemplate on this one truth. You are enlightened. Allow your mind to bring all controversial thoughts. If your mind does not accept, if your mind says ‘no!’ it’s ok, allow all the thoughts to come out. Even if your mind does not accept, you are enlightened. You are not going to lose it by your mind not accepting it. So, even if your mind says ‘no’, it’s ok. Just sit with this one truth.

Om! We will enter into Life Bliss Meditation, Nithya Dhyan. After the meditation, we will end the session with a few great words of Mahavira. We will repeat those words and offer our respects and end the session.

This meditation is a half an hour technique. I think we did it yesterday. Today I will explain. I will just give the instructions. If you think you will not have time or you are not interested, you can leave the hall. Others please get ready. We will start the meditation.

Please understand it is a five step meditation. First step: sitting in vajrasana and chaotic breathing, intense breathing. Second step: intense humming. Third step: putting your awareness on every energy center. Fourth step: just sitting unclutched without allowing any chain of thoughts formation and fifth step: sitting with a deep prayerful mood. Understand, in the first step let your whole being become breathing. In the second step, let your whole being become humming. In the third step, let your whole being become awareness in every energy center. In the fourth step, let your whole being become just awareness, no thought, not pointed or directed towards anything. In the fifth step, just allow a deep feeling of connection with existence to happen with a deep prayerful mood. Sit, please close your eyes.

Carry this one truth, this one message. You are always connected to the source. Wave is never away from ocean. You are enlightened. Let you carry this one truth. Let this one truth work on you and lead you to awakening. Let you all be awakened, let us offer our gratitude to all the great masters, to Mahavira through this saranagati sutra and namokara mantra.

arhante saranam bavacchami siddhe saranam bavacchami sadhu saranam bavacchami kevalipannatta dammam saranam bavacchami bavacchami

Namo Arihantanam Namo Siddhanam Namo Ayariyanam Namo Uvajjhayanam Namo Loye Savva Sahunam Eso Pancha Namokaaro Savva Pavappanasano Mangalanam Cha Savvesim Padhamam Havai Mangalam

We offer our heartfelt gratitude to the Jain Center and the association, the committee which runs this whole temple, organization for making this whole thing possible, and to all the volunteers, all the devotees who worked for this success of this program and all the devotees who came here and heard these great sutra all these 6 days. We thank with our applause to Jain Association, Jain Center for making this whole thing possible.

So, essence of the Jain Sutra is your awakening. You are never away from the source. You are enlightened. Carry this one truth. Even if your mind does not agree don’t try to convince your mind. Just carry this truth. Simply you will see this truth expresses itself in your body through your mind. Let you all radiate eternal bliss, Nithyananda. Thank you!