If you are happy and joyful

In every human being, there is an aspiration to become better, more loving and more concerned about one another and the planet. But people are trying to work towards it from the wrong end. People are trying to be loving, they are trying to be good. When you look at yourself, if you are happy and joyful, naturally you are a very loving, generous, wonderful human being. This is true for everybody. On the other hand, when you are in a state of unhappiness, frustration or any other sense of unpleasantness within yourself, you may be nasty. There is no point trying to be loving, trying to be pleasant to somebody else. When you are feeling pleasant, you are naturally pleasant to everyone around you. The fundamental thing that human beings have to work towards is to make themselves truly joyful and blissful. Trying to produce good human beings has never really worked. When people are joyful, they are all wonderful human beings. Joy is the best insurance against all evil.
People will always find ways to subvert values, morality and ethics. But when you are very joyful, when you are very pleasant within yourself, you are naturally nice to everyone around you. So, my whole work is to make human beings truly blissful. Spirituality does not mean going away from life. Spirituality means becoming alive in the fullest possible way so you are not just alive on the surface, you are alive to the core. If you look at how full of life and joyful you were when you were five years of age and how alive and joyful you are today, has the level gone up or gone down? For most people, it has gone down. It need not be so. With age, physical agility may go down but the level of joy and sense of being alive need not go down. If your level of joy and aliveness is going down, it is as if you are committing suicide in instalments. This happens because you only focus on certain aspects of life, but without including every aspect, you cannot live a full life.
Unfortunately, most of the time, belief systems are passing off as spirituality. The moment you believe something, if you believe “this is it”, you are bringing a certain degree of rigidity into the very life process that you are. This is not spirituality. The spiritual process is always a quest, a seeking; that is why when you say, “I’m on a spiritual path,” you say “I’m a seeker.” When you say “I’m religious,” you say “I’m a believer.” There is a significant difference, because believing means you have assumed something that you do not know; seeking means you have realised that you do not know, which brings an enormous amount of flexibility. Whenever you say, “I do not know something,” you are flexible. Whenever you think, “I know it,” you become rigid. This rigidity is not just in attitude; it percolates into every aspect of your life. This rigidity is also the cause of an enormous amount of suffering in the world. How human beings are, that is how the society will be. So, creating human beings who are flexible and willing to look at everything rather than being stuck in their ideas and opinions definitely makes for a different kind of society. And the very energy that such human beings carry will influence everything around them.

The world of the spirit begins

The world of the spirit begins where logic ends. Logic is limited by the boundaries of reason, which is further limited by the limitations of the individual's buddhi.
However, since most speak and comprehend only the tongue of logic, we can try to understand the aura which is of the spiritual realm. All bodies emit heat radiation or vibrations. With non-living bodies, since there is no immediate change in their structure, this emission remains constant. In living bodies cells are constantly being destroyed and created; the rate of vibrations are continuously changing. This is the superficial or logical explanation of what auras are and why they are constant or changing.
A lot of 'scientific' study of physical auras has been done in the West in recent years. Researchers have variously called it the human atmosphere, force field, and bio-energy. The fundamental substance of aura is best described by the Sanskrit term, prana. For our present purposes we could understand it as the vital essence or force, which is the basis of all manifested life. It is the steam that runs the physical and mental machinery of life. The colours of our mental states are manifested in the pranic substance of our auras.
Logically, these colours are regulated at seven energy centres of the body called the chakras. Each of the chakras, mooladhar, swadhishthan, manipoorak, anahat, vishuddhi, ajna and sahastrar vibrate at a particular colour frequency. It is like software for each chakra. When the software malfunctions or the wrong software goes into the wrong chakra, imbalance and malfunctioning occurs. Any imbalance that stays for too long becomes chronic and manifests as an ailment in the physical body.
What the clairvoyant can see are the aura or chakra imbalances in the shade of the colour being too dark or heavy or colours other than the chakra's own colour manifesting. Considerations like what shade is mixing with the natural colour, in what proportion, the positioning, the luminosity. All determine the state of the being. Only an enlightened person would be able to interpret the infinite permutations and combinations correctly.
The real person stands revealed once you have the correct interpretation of the auras. You can hide your face by applying make-up or you may hide your true body by wearing loose fitting clothes, you may even lie about your character and intention but it is impossible to hide your true self from the eyes of a clairvoyant, for aura is something you cannot hide.
The entire spectrum of colour and light are in human auras. Different colours belong to different areas around the body. Lower centres or chakras of the body are associated with darker and heavier colours like reds and browns. The higher centres have light pink, violet and blue. Again, more evolved souls have much more luminescence in their auras than the average individual.
What does your aura tell you? Your aura indicates your state of health to come, specific diseases that are manifested or are going to manifest in your body, your mental and emotional state, your level of intelligence, and how evolved you are as an individual. Assigning meanings to specific colours is of no use to the novice. The positioning, thickness, luminescence, shade and changeability are some of the factors that are taken into account in interpretation. The interpretation is always left to the guru.

What is duality?

What is duality? When you are asking this question, it is duality because there is you and there is me. Only because there is duality, a question and an answer are possible. Because you see you and me, if I don't answer the way you like it, you will suffer the answer. This is so in every relationship. If the other does not do what you expect her to do, you suffer the other. French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre said, "The other is hell." Unless you are in yoga, yoga means everything has become one in you. Suffering is inevitable. Suffering is less or more depending on your ability to manage life, but it is inevitable because 'the other is hell'. This is the reason why people are trying to build their own safety cocoons. Why family is such an important establishment in the world is because it is a safe cocoon. The more insecure you feel, the more valuable your family situation becomes.
We have established and enshrined family with so much value in our minds and hearts, simply to escape the other in some way. But within the family also, if you look deep enough, they are all others. When there is an outside problem, they are all one. When we are within the family, we are all others. For most people, it is the problems which unite them. They value the problems and because of that they have endless problems. Once you value the problems, unknowingly you go on creating problems. The world is full of problems because people value them.
Your problem has come because of your identification with your limited body. Anyone with a little sense can know, this body is something that you picked up from this planet and it is just a recycle. Whatever you think is mine is just coming in and going out all the time. You cannot hold on to it. Not just at the final moment when you die; every day, you cannot hold on to this body.
If you knew this, not in a sense of intellectually knowing it, if you were aware of this, then naturally you would not be identified with it. Once you are not identified with your body, then the next thing that is left is your thought process. It is very easy to see that it is always on recycle.If you can identify with these recycles, why can't you identify with the planet itself? Why can't you identify with the whole cosmos because everything is recycle? Life is on recycle all the time. It is an ongoing process. If it becomes experiential for you that this is all just a recycle, the life energy that you think is 'me', the body that you think is 'me', the mind that you think is 'me' are all on a recycle process, so what will you identify with? Either you simply sit here without any identity, or you get identified with everything. Either you become a zero or you become infinite. Everything in between is a big lie. That is the maya of duality. In zero, there is no duality. In the infinite, there is no duality. Zero is not made by you - zero was discovered. The infinite was not made by you, it was discovered. So duality is a big lie.If you want to get out of this, you must understand the nature of it. You can get out any way you want. If you want to experiment, just don't eat for the next nine days. You will see, what is in your body is getting out; slowly, you will shrink. But you don't have to break it. You don't have to destroy it. Understanding it intellectually is not good enough; if you experientially come to know that this is just another vehicle that you have gotten into, then you have no issue to play the game in the middle, knowing fully well it is just a game. If you think that is the real thing, then it is a danger. Then you are lost.

When you live on purpose

How do you know when you’re living your purpose? When your present moments begin to feel perfect.When you live on purpose, your relationship with time changes dramatically. You’ll no longer be looking for happiness somewhere in the future. You’ll stop saying to yourself, “Once X happens then I’ll be where I want to be. Then I’ll be happy.” Instead you will look to your present and say, “This is exactly where I want to be right now… and nowhere else. Nothing could be more perfect than this precise moment.”
The emotion that accompanies this state is joy. Joy results from total acceptance of your present moment. Whenever you project your consciousness away from the present moment and seek happiness in another time or place, you leave joy behind. When all parts of your being fully embrace where you are right now, you can’t help but feel joyful.Most likely you haven’t reached this state yet. But it’s well within your capability to do so. You can reach it by following your internal compass. By assessing your current emotional state and comparing it to the state of joy, you can get a sense of your distance from this state. You can pinpoint where you are at any time along the levels of consciousness scale. Inner peace is right next to joy. Neutrality is a little further out. Far beyond that lies anger. And really far away is fear. The more powerless you feel, the further you are from joy, and the more you’re resisting what is.If you are far away from joy, you cannot simply jump to this state immediately and stay there for long. You might be able to experience it temporarily, such as through meditation, but the circumstances of your life will soon pull you back to your previous level. But with conscious intent, you can eventually reach this state and make it your default. And the way you do this is to keep re-pointing your life in the direction of joy by making better decisions.Whenever you’re faced with a decision, even a seemingly mundane one such as what to eat for your next meal, choose the option that brings you closest to joy. That will be the option that makes you feel the most powerful. It will not necessarily be what makes you feel joyful, especially if you are currently in a very negative state. If you’re currently depressed, you may have zero choices that will produce joy in this moment. But you will have some choice that makes you feel more powerful and alive than the others, and that is the choice that will turn your life in the direction of joy.
If you are feeling fearful and worried, perhaps the best action you can find is one which makes you feel greedy or angry. That is perfectly fine. Greed and anger are both higher states than fear; they are closer to joy. It is better to act out of anger than out of fear, since it will turn you in the direction of joy. And soon you’ll be able to progress beyond anger. Do not beat yourself up if a seemingly negative state like anger is the best you can muster at this time in your life. You cannot expect any more from yourself than your best. The anger will pass, and you’ll soon be able to climb the ladder towards more positive states. If you are in a deep negative state such as depression, you will have to pass through higher negative states first before you can reach the positive ones. So going from depression to anger is a very positive step in the right direction.If you proceed in this manner with every decision you can, eventually you will reach the state of joy. It may take some time, but you will eventually reach it and make it your default state.Joy is in fact your natural state of being. Babies enter this state very easily because they are fully in the present moment. They do not seek themselves in the past or future.
When you are joyful, your life flows with ease and lightness. Existence is no longer a struggle. Why? Because when you stop resisting the present moment, you stop creating problems for yourself. Resistance creates internal problems like stress, fear, and disease, but it also creates external problems like conflict, scarcity, and injustice. When you learn to choose the direction that creates the most joy in your life, your life will become a joyful experience in each and every moment. And of course it is easy to accept and embrace any present moment in which you feel joyful, so the state will naturally perpetuate itself. Joyful feelings create joyful actions which produce more joyful feelings.
The state of joy enables you to stop worrying about your survival, to stop fearing what may or may not happen, and to stop fighting your present moments. You’ll find it easier and easier to satisfy your needs. This will allow you to direct your consciousness outward and interact with the world without fear. People will seem much less threatening to you. Even strangers will smile at you more because they’ll pick up on your joyful state. Positive people will be drawn to you like a magnet, and you’ll soon find your life filled with empowering relationships. All the support you need will come to you. And this in turn will give you the energy and drive to embrace your true purpose.
Simply make decisions that bring you as close to joy as possible, even if it seems very distant at first, and soon you’ll find your life becoming more joyful. You have free will though, so in any moment you can decide to move towards joy or away from it. The choice is yours.

A dog doesn’t live in the past

Where and how do we search for God? Remember that God is within you, but you don’t see Him because the one place you will never look is inside yourself. You will search everywhere, but never within yourself. Paradoxically, you lose sight of God because He is in you.
Now look at what God has given us. Our intelligence, buddhi , is a precious gift. Yet, are we loving and grateful enough to God who has given us all these?Do we have even a little of the gratitude a dog has towards its master? No! That is why Dattatreya considers the dog as one of his gurus. Dattatreya draws four lessons from the dog. A dog doesn’t count its misfortunes or grieve over them. A dog doesn’t live in the past. It doesn’t make long-term plans either. It doesn’t live in the future. It lives instinctively, from moment to moment.
A dogs life is one unbroken straight line marked by love, devotion and gratitude to the one who sustains it. Devotion is its defining property. Can we, like the dog, be always grateful to our Creator and Sustainer? Can we give up being miserable about our past misfortunes and mistakes? These are disciplines we impose on ourselves. When we reach this stage, we will have achieved a mental state that looks with equal ease at happiness and sorrow, at misery and luxury; in short, we will have seen God in ourselves. This is the essence of the Sanskrit saying, Tat Tvam Asi, You are That. That is, you are the object of your search. A spiritual journey is a discipline for reaching this stage of supreme self-realisation.

Anticipation of the joy

When something is inevitable, when its occurrence cannot be prevented, it is better to go along with it rather than to resist it. The word enjoy here means, make the best out of something. Let me illustrate with an example: A person is walking along a mountain ridge. He stumbles and falls. As he tumbles down the cliff, he sees the branch of a tree projecting from the cliff-face. He catches hold of that branch. As he is hanging there precariously, he sees his Guru standing on the top of the mountain. He asks the guru what he should do. There is no way the guru can help him physically. Instead, he tells him, The left side of the valley below you is dry and thorny. The right side is lush and green. Look to the right and try to fall there. Now that the fall is inevitable, and you may be plunging to your death, enjoy the scenery during your last leap. Your assessment of any situation should be realistic. You must muster all your resources in protecting your interests. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your adversary and be prepared to put up the stiffest resistance you can. At the same time, if you find yourself overpowered, try to work out the best bargain. In corporate parlance, for example, try your best to fend off a hostile takeover bid against your company. But if you see that it is unavoidable, try to get the best terms of a takeover.At least some kinds of enjoyment involve a willingness to suffer some unpleasantness. You go for an Ayurvedic or any other kind of massage. Massage is good for health. Sometimes the masseurs use foot massage, using their body weight to apply different degrees of pressure on your body. It might be uncomfortable or even painful, but later, you feel refreshed and rejuvenated. You are bearing the unpleasantness in anticipation of the joy.

Guard your hidden treasure.

All living things go through the cycle of life. There is a constant stripping of outer layers of being and the evolution of inner states.During inclement periods, there may be no outer manifestation of the life pulsating beneath the surface. As soon as better times manifest, life continues uninterrupted. Nature is a source of inspiration. Trees and flowers that hibernate in winter put out bold green shoots at the start of spring. The cycle of death and new life on earth is like the intricate pattern of nature that human life repeats.
At each stage of life we are faced with fresh challenges. And at each stage there is hidden strength at the centre of our being which rises to meet circumstances and overcome hurdles. Like hidden treasure, we can call on our buried wisdom to guide and lead us when we are in a quandary, faced with doubt and despair. The hidden force in us needs space and time to unravel its treasures. We need to develop physically, mentally and emotionally and also spiritually. Spiritually, we find that people who live close to God, in whatever way He manifests Himself to them, have devoted time to conversation, prayer and service to God. They have also had space to search and shovel out the extraneous and to focus on the beautiful and the noble in human existence.
Whenever we are faced with a catastrophe, it is the hidden force within us that rallies our defeated soul and its energies and leads us to tap the deeper recesses of our being that we never suspect existed. It is as if we have an inner survival kit that gets activated when our energies flag. For those of us who realise that everyday prayer is a necessity and not a luxury reserved for a few enlightened souls, sooner or later we dip into our inner core and activate this survival kit. The hidden treasure has nothing to do with egotism. It makes us realise how limited we are but that with our limited powers we can still contribute to living and add our own footprint to the many footprints that others have left behind. We can create beauty, we can set lofty ideals and we can leave our mark on life.
Once we become aware of the life force that each of us carries within, we realise that we are here on this earth for a purpose. The hidden treasure is the divine life within us. Like the merchant who on finding a pearl of great price sold everything else to acquire this pearl, we too begin to focus on the really essential. Once we find this treasure, we redirect our efforts and our goals. We find that one of the best ways to share this treasure with others is to serve our brothers and sisters. The hidden treasure also helps us develop deep insight. We perceive differently and so our lives acquire an added dimension. Call it what you will, this added dimension is that which gives weight to all we do. It raises our sights to higher goals and helps us connect with others more deeply.
Many of us live most of our lives without becoming conscious of this hidden treasure that we have within. As we approach our end, we cannot but stumble upon our hidden friend. Our best friend is buried within us. No matter where we go or how high we climb, it makes the climb easier, the goal worth reaching. Guard your hidden treasure then and it will take you places, not on the outer journey but on the inner journey we all have to undertake in our lives.