“Q: Swamiji, how can we be sure of our Swadharma?”

Q: Swamiji, how can we be sure of our Swadharma?

Wow! It is a nice question. You travel towards what attracts you to the direction your heart is attracted. Sometime your heart may change after one year or two years. It is okay. Courage to go behind your heart is what I call penance or tapas. If you go behind your head, you will have wealth. If you go behind your heart, you will have Enlightenment. Sometime you may have to give up something if you go behind your heart because heart will update itself. Head will not update itself. Heart will update itself. When heart updates itself, you may change, your desires may change, your needs may change, your ideas may change…. So you may lose some wealth which you acquire or some specialisation skills which you gain but I feel that is what I call penance, tapas towards Enlightenment.

Going behind your heart is Swadharma. Swadharma, swadharma means the lifestyle, the law of nature. Your law of nature must be going behind your heart. Sometime it may ask you to take some risk but no other way. That is the best thing. If you go behind your heart and if you die even in the platform, you will have the deep satisfaction that you lived your life. Even if you die as homeless, you will be in home, at home but if you go behind your head, even if you live in five star hospital, you will be pushing and pulling. You will not be at home.

(Swamiji reads a question)

Q: Does the ego serve any beneficial function?

It is a nice question. I think as on now, you don’t have to know the answer for this question. If I say there is some beneficial function, you will start holding on to it… but in truth, there is some beneficial function. I can’t say, I can’t just say there is no beneficial function. I can’t tell a lie. In truth, there is a beneficial function but better let you not know what kind of a beneficial function. As far as you concerned, you just try to work only to eliminate. Whatever beneficial function it will have, that will do it by itself. You don’t bother.

(Swamiji reads a question)

Q: Is Your definition what is healing. Do You believe in one healing another? What is universal language?

First thing. ‘What is healing? Do You believe in one healing the another?’

I don’t believe in one healing the another. In our healing system, there is no two person like a healee and healer. In our healing system, healer and healee disappear in one space. Healing happens. I do not believe in one person healing the other. As long as the healee and healer exists, healing cannot happen. In our healing system, we teach people or we help people to fall in. The healer will fall into a space where there is no healer and healee and simply the healee gets healed. That’s all. So there is no healee healing….the healer healing the healee.

(Swamiji reads a question)

Q: What is universal language?

It is a nice question…. The silence which you will not understand by the word ‘silence.’ When I say the word silence, you will think ‘wordlessness.’ No! It is not just wordlessness. It is intense positive energy. Understand, silence is not just wordlessness. It is beyond words. Any word which is created will simply merge into that vibration. That vibration is only called silence. That silence I can say, intense, active, energetic silence is what is universal language. Not dead silence as you think. No. Wordlessness is not universal language. Wordlessness any fool can do.

People….many people come and tell Me, “Swamiji, my teacher never speaks.” Because if he speaks, he will show that he is not a intelligent guy. The difficulty, you see, if you don’t open the mouth, people may think you are a fool. If you open the mouth, you will confirm it. So because of that fear, people may be just sitting in silence but that silence is not universal language. The silence which an Enlightened Being creates means, any number of word cannot justify that vibration, that frequency, that feeling, that experience. It will just disappear into that experience. That experience is what I call silence. That is universal language.

See, in My native place, Arunachala, there is a unbroken lineage of Enlightened Masters for last 2000 years, unbroken lineage and My predecessor’s predecessor is Ramana Maharshi. After Ramana Maharshi, there was one more Master called Yogi Ram Surat Kumar and after him, the people experience or whatever you call Me or anything. Okay. My predecessor’s predecessor Ramana Maharshi, people always reminisce that He was silent and people always ask Me, “Swamiji, You are so intense, so joyful, ecstatic, open but Ramana Maharshi always used to be silent.”

I have a big problem and I tell them, “Arey, when you reminisce, you feel He was silent because that experience is mind boggling but He Himself was not silent, dead as you think. The life around him was so intense. In just three years, His talks…the three years whatever he has spoke is compiled and more than 25 volumes have come out and you say this guy is silent! And from morning till night including the kitchen cooking, He will be doing and you say this guy is silent! No. But His presence will be so intense, when you reminisce, you will feel you will not have any other word except silence. That is why you think it is silent. So that silence is universal language. An intense energy but you will not have any other word except the word silence to express what you experience in his presence. That silence is universal language.

(Swamiji reads a question)

Q: What is the purpose of cruelty and suffering in the world?

I do no know because I do not see any cruelty and suffering in the world. If you are seeing, you should ask this question to yourself.

(Swamiji asks a devotee)

Tell the question. Western….attaining enough…..as the western…Oh, that’s nice. I understand, now you are talking about the peer pressure. Am I right?

Oh, that’s nice. You see, now I got the subject. See, first thing, what is the scale of success? There is no scale. All of you can’t be Bill Gates surely. So there is no scale like a success or all those things. You see, it is just you feeling enough. Your feeling enough is success. Wherever you are, if you know how to manage with that clarity of enough, you are successful. I always tell people, be in the company of people who make you feel you are enough in the outer world. Be in the company of people who are inspiring you to expand in the inner world but now you are always in the opposite. Whenever you want to meditate, people say, “Hey! why unnecessarily? You are enough unto yourself.” And in the outer world comes, “No, no, no. You should get a bigger car. See my car.” So you are always in the opposite energy. That is where the problem starts.

The peer pressure you see, the…in Tantra, there is a beautiful sloka, sutra which says the Maya Shakti means, the energy which runs this universe uses jealousy as a stick to make you do whatever she wants to do. In Bharat, you see, they will be playing with these monkeys. These guys, they will do shows with monkeys, circus shows with monkeys in the streets. They will have a small stick. Once they pick up that stick and tell, whatever they say the monkey will do. If they just drop the stick, that monkey won’t listen. Even though that guy knows he can pick up the stick any time, unless he picks up the stick, he will not listen. If he once picks up the stick and says, “Hey! Walk straight,” that guy will walk politely tak tak. And he will say, “Hey! Just show how the women fetch water from river and walk,” that guy will put the hand on the head and he will walk tak tak tak just like people walk when they come out of the river. And he will tell, “Hey! Jump three times.“ And the fellow will jump. He will use how the circus guy, ring master uses the stick to make the monkey to do whatever he wants. Same way, the Maya Shakti is using jealousy or the peer pressure as the stick to make us do whatever she wants.

Understand, peer pressure is the worst conspiracy created against human beings by the so-called leaders just to expand their ego, just to show their ego, they are creating peer pressure in you. Otherwise the world has got enough for our food, stay, medical care and clothings. All our basic need we have enough but just this few so-called leaders, whatever name you may call it-capitalism, communism or any ‘ism,’ any ‘ism’ the so called leaders constantly create the peer pressure to make you guys run.

The beauty is, I always tell, Bharat is a spiritual incubator not because I am born and brought up in Bharat, in Bharat if you drop out, you are respected. No really! See, let Me tell you from My experience. At the age of seventeen, I dropped out means, I said no to society. No education, no work. I will not study. Studying means working for future is studying, you understand. Studying is what? Working for future means you are promising that you will be useful in the future and working means you are fulfilling the promise that you are useful. I said no. Neither today I am going to be useful nor I am going to give the promise tomorrow I will be useful. Enough, no!

Actually this colour cloth is same capital ‘NO’ to society. Whenever we decide to say capital ‘NO’ like a… this is like a t-shirt with a big NO- No to society. I am wearing the t-shirt. In your t-shirts you will write so many things no, like that, I write a big ‘NO’ to society. So I said very clearly. The beauty….. seventeen is the age either to study or work. From seventeen to twenty three, I did not do anything. Of course, after that also I did not do anything. That is different. The important period I did not do anything which will be useful for the society but the beauty of that society, it did not abuse Me as a homeless. It did not disrespect Me. See, it gave Me food, it gave Me clothes, it gave Me shelter with respect, with respect.

In Bharat, any village you go, the sadhus, people will not give after they eat. They will first give food for you. Then they will eat. Any sadhu. Sadhu means Swami who is doing research in the inner world, who is not useful anymore to the society. See, I am a young guy, healthy. Healthy young guy, not handicapped or what to say that, no difficulties. I can be useful to the society. Healthy young guy decides not to study and not to do any work, useful work for the society. He is given food, cloth, shelter with respect not in one village or two village, throughout Bharat because I walked throughout Bharat in that nine years. Understand, every village this tradition is imbibed. See, in one village you are given food, you are taken care means, that village is a good village but I atleast walked through 1000 villages, at least 1000 villages length and breadth of the country. I was given food, shelter, clothes, all with respect, with respect. That is the beauty of that great culture, great tradition.

I always tell people: if you want to be drop out, just go and stay in Bharat for 3-4 months. You will get so much of confidence. Arey, you will get so much of confidence. All the peer pressure will disappear. Till morning 10 o'clock you can see people sitting in the bank of Ganges and meditating repeating Shiva, Rama, Krishna. Till morning 10 o'clock means from early morning 4 o'clock to 10 o'clock. If you ask them, “Are you not going for any job?” “When I am tired after meditation I may go little. I may do little work.” If you want to drop, if you want to say no to society, if you are suffering because of peer pressure, just go to Bharat and stay for 2-3 months. You will just, just this idea of peer pressure will disappear. Your life is not an utility for anybody. Understand, your life is not a utility. Just drop from the idea you have to achieve something from your life. You will achieve life. Till then you will be achieving only something from life: not the life itself. Life is far more valuable than anything which you can achieve through life.