OM! SENSUAL PLEASURE & SPIRITUAL BLISS by Swami Sivananda

 

 

SENSUAL PLEASURE AND SPIRITUAL BLISS 

by Swami Sivananda

 

This article is a chapter - Happiness-  from his book "Bliss Divine". 

 

 

"At the doors of large granaries are placed traps containing fried rice (Moori) to catch mice. The mice, attracted by the flavour of the fried rice, forgets the more solid pleasure of tasting the rice inside the granary, and fall into the trap. They are caught therein and killed. Just so is the case with the soul. It stands on the threshold of Divine bliss, which is like millions of the highest worldly pleasures solidified into one; but instead of striving for that bliss, it allows itself to be enticed by the petty pleasures of the world and falls into the trap of Maya, the great illusion, and dies therein".

- Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

 

INTRODUCTION

Man wants happiness. He shuns pain. He moves heaven and earth to get the happiness he wants from sensual objects, and lo, gets himself entangled in the extricable meshes of Maya. Poor man! He does not know that these objects are perishable and evanescent, finite and conditioned in time, space, and causation. And what is more, he fails to get the desired happiness from them.

Sensual pleasure is tantalizing. There is enchantment so long as man does not possess the objects. The moment he is in possession of the object, the charm vanishes. He finds that he is in entanglement.

The bachelor thinks of his marriage, day and night. He thinks he is in imprisonment after the marriage is over. He is not able to satisfy the extravagant wants of his wife. He wants to run away from the house to forests. The rich but childless man thinks he will be more happy by getting a son, goes on pilgrimage to Ramesvaram and Kasi, and performs various religious ceremonies. But when he gets a child, he feels miserable; the child suffers from epileptic fits and his money is given away to doctors. Even then, there is no cure. This is Mayaic jugglery. The whole world is fraught with temptation.

A SPECTACLE OF SORROW

A worldly man is always drowned in sorrow. He is ever struggling to get something, some money, some power, some position, and so on. He is always anxious as to whether or not he would get it. Even when he is in actual possession of the thing he so passionately longed for, he is very anxious lest he should lose it.

A rich man has great wealth, but he has no children. And so he is pained at heart. A poor man has fourteen children, but he has nothing to eat, and so he is miserable. One man has wealth and children, but his son is a vagabond, and so he is worried. One man has riches and good sons, but his wife is very quarrelsome. No one is happy in this world.

The session judge is very discontented. He thirsts to become a high court judge. The minister is also discontented. He longs to become the premier. A millionaire is discontented; he yearns to become a Croropati (Billionaire). The husband is discontented; his wife is black and thin; he wants to marry another wife with good complexion. The wife is discontented; she want to divorce and marry a rich, young husband. A lean man is discontented; he wants to put on fat and gulps cod-liver oil. A fat man takes antifat pills. No man is contented in this world.

A doctor thinks that the advocate is very happy. The advocate thinks that the businessman is more happy. The businessman thinks that the judge is more happy. The judge thinks that the professor is more happy. No one is happy in this world.

An emperor is not happy. A dictator is not happy. A president of a state is not happy. God Indra is not happy.

Who is happy then ? A sage is happy. A Yogi is happy. He who has controlled his mind is happy.

Happiness comes from peace of mind. Peace of mind comes from a state of mind wherein there are no desires, no Moha, no Vishaya, no thoughts of objects. You should forget all ideas of pleasure before you enter the domain of peace.

PLEASURE IS MIXED WITH PAIN

You cannot have pleasure without pain. Wherever there is pleasure, there is pain. You vainly seek pleasure in gold, in women (or men in the case of women), in this mundane existence. You cannot have absolute happiness in a relative physical plane of pairs of opposites. The pairs of opposites rotate in their turn. Death follows life. Night follows day. Light follows darkness. Pain follows pleasure.

One part of pleasure is mixed with fifteen parts of pain. Pleasure that is mixed with pain, fear and worry is no pleasure at all. If you carefully begin to analyze this one part of pleasure also, it will dwindle into an airy nothing. You will find that it is mere play of the mind.

Pleasure and pain are relative terms only. They are not two entities. They are obverse and reverse sides of the same coin. The difference is not in kind, but in degree only.

Pleasure and pain are two names for one thing. They are two aspects of one thing. For a worldly man without philosophical knowledge, they appear as two different entities.

PLEASURE AND PAIN LIE IN THE MIND

What is pleasure for you is pain for another. What is pleasure for you now is pain after some time. The first two cups of milk gives you pleasure. The third cup induces disgust, nausea and retching. Milk does not give pleasure during fever. Therefore, pleasure is not in the objects, but in the imagination or inclination of the mind.

Pleasure and pain, beauty and ugliness, are all false imaginations of the mind. Mind is a false, illusory product. Conceptions of the mind also must, therefore, be false.

Pleasure and pain are in the mind only. It is subjective. Things, when longed for, are pleasant; but are bitter if not longed for. Desires are the cause for pleasures.

You can convert pleasure into pain and pain into pleasure by thinking, by Bhavana, by imagination. Many vegetarian students who have gone to England to prosecute their studies have become inveterate meat-eaters. Meat was very repulsive to them when they were in India. Mere sight used to induce vomiting. How is it they are able to relish meat with avidity, cupidity and stupidity now ? By simple change in thinking.

Ignorant persons attribute their pleasure to external objects. That is a serious blunder, indeed. Really, there is no pleasure in objects. There is neither pleasure nor pain in objects. It is all mental creation, mental perception, mental jugglery. It is only the mental attitude or a certain kind of mental behaviour towards objects that bring joy or grief, pleasure or pain. Maya has her powerful seat in the imagination of the mind.

When you are in acute agony, a cup of coffee, milk or tea does not give you any pleasure. When you are in acute agony, the whole world which appeared to you to be full of bliss while in good health, appears quite dreary. The world loses all its charms while you are seriously ailing. A real thing must give pleasure for everybody at all times. Is it not ?

PLEASURE IS THE CAUSE OF PAIN

The cause of pain is pleasure. The man who is addicted to taking tea, and is in the habit of taking fruits and milk after meals, feels very miserable when he cannot get tea, or fruits and milk, in a certain place. When the wife dies, the husband is drowned in sorrow, not because of the loss of his loving partner in life, but because he cannot get sexual pleasure now.

The cause of pain is pleasure. The cause of death is love for sensual life. Give up all sensual pleasures, if you do not want pain. Give up sensual life, if you do not want death.

Enjoyment cannot bring satisfaction of desire. On the contrary, it aggravates and intensifies desires and makes the mind more restless through sense-hankering or Trishna, just as the pouring of ghee or oil aggravates fire. The fewer the wants, the greater the happiness.

Many rich persons, in spite of their immense wealth and possession of two or three wives, are extremely miserable and unhappy. I have come in contact with several rich landlords. They are all discontented, restless, peevish and very miserable. It is evident, therefore, that happiness does not lie either in money, objects or woman (or man).

THE SOURCE OF HAPPINESS

There is no happiness at all in any of the objects of the world. There is not an iota of happiness in objects, because they are insentient. Even the sensual pleasure is a reflection of the Atmic bliss only. It is sheer ignorance to think that we derive any pleasure from the sense-objects or from the mind.

When there is a desire in the mind, the mind is filled with Rajas. It is in an agitated condition. It is restless and unpeaceful. It will be restless till the desired object is attained. When the object is attained and enjoyed, when the desire is gratified, the mind moves towards the Inner Soul. It ceases functioning. It is filled with Sattva. All thoughts subside for a split second; the mind rests in the Soul within. The Soul's bliss is reflected in the intellect. But the ignorant man thinks that he is getting the happiness from the object; just as the dog which is biting a dry bone imagines that it is getting the pleasure from the bone, that the blood is oozing from the bone, whereas in reality, the blood comes from its own palate.

REAL HAPPINESS IS WITHIN

Real happiness is within you. It is in the Atman. It is subjective. It manifests when the mind is concentrated. When the Indriyas are withdrawn from the objects outside, when the mind is one-pointed, when there is Vasana-kshya and Manonasa, when you become desireless and thoughtless, Atmic bliss begins to dawn, spiritual Ananda begins to thrill.

The musk is in the navel of the deer, but it runs here and there to smell it. The chain is in the neck of the damsel, but she runs hither and thither in search of it. The precious diamond is within you, but you run after the broken glass-pieces in vain. Even so, the ocean of bliss is within you; the fountain of joy is within you; and yet, you run here and there in search of it. The Sun of suns is ever shining in you, but your blind eyes cannot behold it. The eternal sound is ringing within you, but your deaf ears cannot hear it.

Go wherever you may, to Gulmarg or Pahalgam in Kashmir, to Darjeeling in Simla, to Vienna or the Alps. It is all the same. You will not find any real rest. The charming scenery may soothe the retina for a second. Raga, Dvesha, jealousy, passion and greed are everywhere. You will find the same earth, the same sky, the same air, and the same water. And you carry with you the same mind. Imagination and change of place have deceived not a few. O man! Be contented. Live where you may, but discipline the mind and the senses. Meditate on the Inner self, the Antaratman, ceaselessly. Here you will find everlasting peace. Mind will stop deceiving you now.

Raja Bhartrihari, Raja Gopichand, Lord Buddha deserted kingdom and all pleasurable objects, palaces, music, children, wife, etc., to attain Atmic bliss which is everlasting. They attained immortality. They are not fools. Had there been real happiness in objects, they would have stuck to this world. The difficulty is that the worldly men with gross Vyavaharic Buddhi are not able to understand or comprehend a supersensual spiritual bliss that exists beyond the senses, mind and intellect.

SENSUAL PLEASURE AND SPIRITUAL BLISS

Spiritual bliss is the highest bliss. Spiritual bliss is bliss of one's own Soul. It is transcendental bliss. It is independent of objects. It is continuous, uniform and eternal. It is enjoyed by the sage only.

Sensual pleasure comes out of emotion. But bliss of the Soul is self-delight. It is the innate nature of the Atman. Pleasure is temporal and fleeting. Bliss is eternal and everlasting. Pleasure is mixed with pain. Bliss is unalloyed happiness. Pleasure depends upon nerves, mind and objects. Bliss is independent and self-existent. There is effort in attaining sensual pleasures, but there is no striving in experiencing the bliss of the Soul. The drop joins the ocean. The Jiva floats in the ocean of bliss.

Purify the mind by Japa, Satsanga, charity, control of mind, self-restraint, selfless service, study of the Gita, the Upanishads, Yoga-Vasishtha, Bible, Koran and other religious scriptures, practice of Yama and Niyama, Pranayama, Vairagya and Tyaga. You will then get a proper instrument for meditation, a calm, sharp, subtle, one-pointed mind. Start meditation with the help of this instrument for three hours in the morning and three hours at night. Then a new kind of indescribable Ananda will dawn in you. You will be convinced of a supersensual spiritual bliss. You will have to feel this spiritual Ananda yourself. You will have to eat it yourself. Can you explain the sexual happiness to a boy of twelve ? Can you explain the happiness of sugar-candy to a boy who has not tasted the same ? No, you cannot. The boy himself must eat sugar-candy. He must, when he has grown up, taste the carnal pleasure.

Worldly men think they are quite happy because they get a few ginger biscuits, some money, and a woman. O, if they would just taste the nectar of immortality, what should be the intensity of happiness they should feel!

The body is an abode of misery and disease. Wealth brings a lot of trouble in acquiring and keeping safe. Sorrow springs from every connection. Women (or Men) are a perpetual source of vexation. Alas! people prefer this path of misery to that of spiritual enjoyment.

Enough, enough of your tea and coffee, enough of soda and lemonade, enough of father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister and relations. You have had countless fathers and mothers, wives and children in the past. You came alone. You will go alone. None will follow you save your own actions. Realize God. All miseries will come to an end.

Though surrounded by pleasurable or painful objects to disturb your equilibrium of mind, remain immovable as a rock, receiving all things with equanimity. Be always cheerful. Laugh and smile. How can a mind that is gloomy and dull think of God ? Try to be happy always. Happiness is your very nature. This is termed cheerfulness. This spirit of cheerfulness must be cultivated by all aspirants.

Keep the mind in state of moderation or happy, golden mean. Never let it run to excesses. People die of shock from extreme depression as well as extreme joy. Do not allow Uddharsha to crop up in the mind. It is excessive merriment. Mind always runs to extremes, either to extreme depression or extreme joy. Extremes meet. Extremes bring about reaction. Mind can never be calm in excessive joy. Let the mind be cheerful, but calm.

This world is a mere appearance. Mind and the senses are deceiving you every moment. You have mistaken pain for pleasure. There is not even an iota of happiness in this sense-universe. Abandon these selfish struggles and schemes for amassing wealth. March directly to that wire-puller who is moving these toys of fleshy human bodies, who is keeping up this big show. In Him only you will find lasting happiness and perennial joy. Merge in Him by practicing daily meditation and japa.

OM! Atman is Sat-Chit-Ananda - Swami Sivananda

  Atman is Sat-Chit-Ananda

 Sat, Chit and Ananda are one. Atman is partless and homogeneous. The three characteristics Sat, Chit and Ananda are not distinct from one another. They are coeval and coexistent with Atman. Sat-Chit-Ananda signify the one Atman. Sat is Chit. Sat is Ananda. Chit is Sat. Chit is Ananda. Ananda is Sat. Ananda is Chit. You cannot split up Sat-Chit-Ananda into three separate entities, just as you cannot separate light, heat and luminosity from fire.

 Atman is Sat

 Atman is Sat. That which exists in the past, present and future, which has no beginning, middle and end, which is unchanging, which is not conditioned in time, space and causation, which exists during Jagrat, Svapna and Sushupti, which is of the nature of one homogeneous essence (Sada Ekarasa, Sada Ekarupa) is Sat. This is found in Atman. Srutis emphatically declare: Sat only was prior to the evolution of this universe.

 Atman is Chit

Atman is Chit because he shines by himself without the help of any other light and illuminates the entire universe by his own light.

The mind is finite and inert. He has no independent intelligence. He is not self-luminous. The brilliance of him is borrowed from the Light of the fountain. He is subject to various limitations and changes. He is only an inert product of subtle matter. Only the Atman is the source of Chit. The mind is also perceived by Chit. The mind has a beginning and an end.

The external universe, however varied and large it may be, is after all only inert matter. It cannot be the object of our perception unless we cast upon it the flow of light from our consciousness; he can never know us. It is enlightened only by us. It can never enlighten us.

  Atman is Ananda

Ananda is that bliss that is eternal, uncaused and incomparable. It is the true nature of Atman.

 But the supreme bliss of Brahman has no degrees. It is infinite or unlimited because there is nothing superior to it. The bliss of deep sleep has no degrees.

 Brahman bliss cannot be adequately expressed in words. It has to be felt and realized through the direct realization of the Self. Although we experience it, it is not an experience like the enjoyment of an object, because you are then an incarnation of bliss itself.

 All miseries come to an end when one realizes (realizes) the Atman. Therefore the Atman must be an embodiment of bliss. Sat is Chit. Sat is Ananda too.

 He who has realized this Sat-Chit-Ananda Atman is a liberated sage. He has nothing else to learn, he has nothing else to do, he has nothing else to gain. All his wishes are satisfied. He has obtained all the worlds. He is freed from the clutches of death. He achieves immortality.

Om! Do you know this? by Atman Nityananda

Do you know this?

Do you know that happiness does not depend on external objects, conditions and situations?
Do you know that happiness does not depend on sensory experiences and pleasures that happiness has nothing to do with pleasures, sensory experiences and success?
Do you know that happiness always comes from within?
Do you know that happiness is a vibrational state of mind, heart and consciousness?
Do you know that we experience happiness when our mind assumes its sattvic state and we are in contact with our Soul (consciously or unconsciously).

So, if we want to voluntarily experience everlasting happiness (bliss) then we have to cleanse our mind, heart and energy field of all low vibrational conditioning (rajasic and tamasic tendencies and energies)), convert it completely into sattva and consciously connect and establish ourselves in our Soul (silent present of Consciousness, Atman)


“Happiness is experienced when the mind vibrates in sattva and we are in touch with our Soul”

 Peace, Love, Harmony

The recipe for true and lasting happiness - Atman Nitynanda

The recipe for true and lasting happiness

The recipe is very simple. A pure-sattvic mind that dwells in the heart where our divine essence constantly shines.

Our essence is timeless, always present here and now, immortal, imperishable, immutable, peaceful, free, full and blissful.

When our mind is immersed in it we experience the bliss that has no limits or dependencies. That is why no one and nothing in the world can steal or take away this happiness.

The thief of happiness is the lower rajasotamsic ego that is ingrained in our psyche. This multifaceted psychological thief creates a veil and prevents us from experiencing and radiating the undying bliss of the Soul.

That is why when we free our mind from the ego, this veil dissipates, the mind becomes pure-sattvic, diaphanous, transparent and lucid, and thus we fully and interruptedly experience and radiate the perrene bliss.

WHO IS LIBERATED AND BLISSFUL ~ Bhagavad Gita,

WHO IS LIBERATED AND BLISSFUL

Bhagavad Gita,  Ch.V

21. With the self unattached to the external contacts he discovers happiness in the Self; with the self engaged in the meditation of Brahman he attains to the endless happiness.

22. The enjoyments that are born of contacts are generators of pain only, for they have a beginning and an end, O Arjuna! The wise do not rejoice in them.

23. He who is able, while still here in this world to withstand, before the liberation from the body, the impulse born of desire and anger, he is a Yogi, he is a happy man.

24. He who is ever happy within, who rejoices within, who is illumined within, such a Yogi attains absolute freedom or Moksha, himself becoming Brahman.

25. The sages obtain absolute freedom (Moksha), they whose sins have been destroyed, whose dualities (perception of dualities or experience of the pairs of opposites) are torn asunder, who are self-controlled, and intent on the welfare of all beings.

26. Absolute freedom (or Brahmic bliss) exists on all sides for those self-controlled ascetics who are free from desire and anger, who have controlled their thoughts and who have realised the Self.

27. Shutting out (all) external contacts and fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, equalising the outgoing and incoming breaths moving within the nostrils,

28. With the senses, the mind and the intellect always controlled, having liberation as his supreme goal, free from desire, fear and anger—the sage is verily liberated for ever.

29. He who knows Me as the enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities, the great Lord of all the worlds and the friend of all beings, attains to peace.

Hari Om Tat Sat

Awareness of Being is Bliss / 46 of the book 'I Am That' ¬ Nisargadatta

Awareness of Being is Bliss

Chapter 46 of the book 'I Am That'

Questioner: By profession I am a physician. I began with surgery, continued with psychiatry and also wrote some books on mental health and healing by faith. I came to you to learn the laws of spiritual health.

Maharaj: When you are trying to cure a patient, what exactly are you trying to cure? What is cure? When can you say that a man is cured?

Q: I seek to cure the body as well as improve the link between the body and the mind. I also seek to set right the mind.

M: Did you investigate the connection between the mind and the body? At what point are they connected?

Q: Between the body and the indwelling consciousness lies the mind.

M: Is not the body made of food? And can there be a mind without food?

Q: The body is built and maintained by food. Without food the mind usually goes weak. But the mind is not mere food. There is a transforming factor which creates a mind in the body. What is that transforming factor?

M: Just like the wood produces fire which is not wood, so does the body produce the mind which is not the body. But to whom does the mind appear? Who is the perceiver of the thoughts and feelings which you call the mind? There is wood, there is fire and there is the enjoyer of the fire. Who enjoys the mind? Is the enjoyer also a result of food, or is it independent?

Q: The perceiver is independent.

M: How do you know? Speak from your own experience. You are not the body nor the mind. You say so. How do you know?

Q: I really do not know. I guess so.

M: Truth is permanent. The real is changeless. What changes is not real, what is real does not change. Now, what is it in you that does not change? As long as there is food, there is body and mind. When the food is stopped, the body dies and the mind dissolves. But does the observer perish?

Q: I guess it does not. But I have no proof.

M: You yourself are the proof. You have not, nor can you have any other proof. You are yourself, you know yourself, you love yourself. Whatever the mind does, it does for the love of its own self. The very nature of the self is love. It is loved, loving and lovable. It is the self that makes the body and the mind so interesting, so very dear. The very attention given to them comes from the self.

Q: If the self is not the body nor the mind, can it exist without the body and the mind?

M: Yes, it can. It is a matter of actual experience that the self has being independent of mind and body. It is being -- awareness -- bliss. Awareness of being is bliss.

Q: It may be a matter of actual experience to you, but it is not my case. How can I come to the same experience? What practices to follow, what exercises to take up?

M: To know that you are neither body nor mind, watch yourself steadily and live unaffected by your body and mind, completely aloof, as if you were dead. It means you have no vested interests, either in the body or in the mind.

Q: Dangerous!

M: I am not asking you to commit suicide. Nor can you. You can only kill the body, you cannot stop the mental process, nor can you put an end to the person you think you are. Just remain unaffected. This complete aloofness, unconcern with mind and body is the best proof that at the core of your being you are neither mind nor body. What happens to the body and the mind may not be within your power to change, but you can always put an end to your imagining yourself to be body and mind. Whatever happens, remind yourself that only your body and mind are affected, not yourself. The more earnest you are at remembering what needs to be remembered, the sooner will you be aware of yourself as you are, for memory will become experience. Earnestness reveals being. What is imagined and willed becomes actuality -- here lies the danger as well as the way out.

Tell me, what steps have you taken to separate your real self, that in you which is changeless, from your body and mind?

Q: I am a medical man, I have studied a lot, I imposed on myself a strict discipline in the way of exercises and periodical fasts and I am a vegetarian.

M: But in the depth of your heart what is it that you want?

Q: I want to find reality.

M: What price are you willing to pay for reality? Any price?

Q: While in theory I am ready to pay any price, in actual life again and again I am being prompted to behave in ways which come in between me and reality. Desire carries me away.

M: Increase and widen your desires till nothing but reality can fulfil them. It is not desire that is wrong, but its narrowness and smallness. Desire is devotion. By all means be devoted to the real, the infinite, the eternal heart of being. Transform desire into love. All you want is to be happy. All your desires, whatever they may be, are expressions of your longing for happiness. Basically, you wish yourself well.

Q: I know that I should not…

M: Wait! Who told you that you should not? What is wrong with wanting to be happy?

Q: The self must go, l know.

M: But the self is there. Your desires are there. Your longing to be happy is there. Why? Because you love yourself. By all means love yourself -- wisely. What is wrong is to love yourself stupidly, so as to make yourself suffer. Love yourself wisely. Both indulgence and austerity have the same purpose in view -- to make you happy. Indulgence is the stupid way, austerity is the wise way.

Q: What is austerity?

M: Once you have gone through an experience, not to go through it again is austerity. To eschew the unnecessary is austerity. Not to anticipate pleasure or pain Is austerity. Having things under control at all times is austerity. Desire by itself is not wrong. It is life itself, the urge to grow in knowledge and experience.

It is the choices you make that are wrong. To imagine that some little thing -- food. sex, power, fame -- will make you happy is to deceive yourself. Only something as vast and deep as your real self can make you truly and lastingly happy.

Q: Since there is nothing basically wrong in desire as an expression of love of self, how should desire be managed?

M: Live your life intelligently, with the interests of your deepest self always in mind. After all, what do you really want? Not perfection; you are already perfect. What you seek is to express in action what you are. For this you have a body and a mind. Take them in hand and make them serve you.

Q: Who is the operator here? Who is to take the body-mind in hand?

M: The purified mind is the faithful servant of the self. It takes charge of the instruments, inner and outer, and makes them serve their purpose.

Q: And what is their purpose?

M: The self is universal and its aims are universal. There is nothing personal about the self. Live an orderly life, but don't make it a goal by itself. It should be the starting point for high adventure.

Q: Do you advise me to come to India repeatedly?

M: If you are earnest, you don't need moving about. You are yourself wherever you are and you create your own climate. Locomotion and transportation will not give you salvation. You are not the body and dragging the body from place to place will take you nowhere. Your mind is free to roam the three worlds -- make full use of it.

Q: If I am free, why am I in a body?

M: you are not in the body, the body is in you! The mind is in you. They happen to you. They are there because you find them interesting. Your very nature has the infinite capacity to enjoy. It is full of zest and affection. It sheds its radiance on all that comes within its focus of awareness and nothing is excluded. It does not know evil nor ugliness, it hopes, it trusts, it loves. You people do not know how much you miss by not knowing your own true self. You are neither the body nor the mind, neither the fuel nor the fire. They appear and disappear according to their own laws.

That which you are, your true self, you love it, and whatever you do, you do for your own happiness. To find it, to know it, to cherish it is your basic urge. Since time immemorial you loved yourself, but never wisely. Use your body and mind wisely in the service of the self, that is all. Be true to your own self, love your self absolutely. Do not pretend that you love others as yourself. Unless you have realised them as one with yourself, you cannot love them Don't pretend to be what you are not, don't refuse to be what you are. Your love of others is the result of self-knowledge, not its cause. Without self-realisation, no virtue is genuine. When you know beyond all doubting that the same life flows through all that is and you are that life, you will love all naturally and spontaneously. When you realise the depth and fullness of your love of yourself, you know that every living being and the entire universe are included in your affection. But when you look at anything as separate from you, you cannot love it for you are afraid of it. Alienation causes fear and fear deepens alienation. It is a vicious circle. Only self-realisation can break it. Go for it resolutely.

Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering ~ Atman Nityananda

Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering  

Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering, but the unobstructed experience of peace and bliss Divine

Bliss, which is identical with, peace, it is not the absence of suffering, but Is what we really Are.

When someone, wants to have sex pleasure, he doesn't seek this pleasure, just to get rid of the anxiety, restlessness and uneasiness, that are caused by the manifestation of desire and passion in him. 

He wants to experience a positive joyful experience of sex pleasure and happiness. 

And, in many cases, humans are willing to pass through some kind of pain or suffering, in order to get the pleasure and the happiness they aspire to live, (through, sex or any other achievement).

Similarly, a seeker of truth, is willing to pass through pain and suffering,  not only to be free from suffering, but to experience the Peace and Bliss Eternal of the Divine, that passes all understanding !

THE BLISS IS ATTAINED BY A PURE MIND UNITED WITH BRAHMAN ~ Bhagavad Gita Ch. VI

THE BLISS IS ATTAINED BY A PURE MIND UNITED WITH BRAHMAN

 18. "When the perfectly controlled mind rests in the Self only, free from longing for the objects of desire, then it is said: “He is united, (Yogi)”

21. "When he (the Yogi) feels that infinite bliss which can be grasped by the (pure) intellect (Buddhi) and which transcends the senses, and, established wherein he never moves from the Reality. (Brahman)."

27. "Supreme bliss verily comes to this Yogi whose mind is quite peaceful, whose passion is quieted, who has become Brahman, and who is free from sin."

Bhagavad Gita Ch. VI

MENTAL PEACE THROUGH NON-ATTACHMENT. ~ Swami Sivananda

MENTAL PEACE THROUGH NON-ATTACHMENT

The subject of non-attachment is of universal importance.

Attachment is the most powerful weapon of Maya for binding the Jivas to the Samsaric wheel of birth and death. You would have never come into this world, had it not been for attachment.

The attachment first starts with this physical body. Then all other attachments crop up. Then comes relationship of father, mother, brother, sister, wife, son, friend, etc.

One may be attached to a place, person, or an object. Wherever there is attachment, there is the idea of Mineness or Mamata. Attachment is a kind of very strong glue that binds the mind with the objects. Why does the mind get attached to objects or persons? Because it finds pleasure in objects or persons. Wherever there is pleasure, the mind gets attached there. It is attached to wife, son, house, property, money or a friend, because the mind finds pleasure in these objects.

Attachment is the root cause for human sufferings. It is the product of effect of ignorance or Avidya. It is a modification of nescience or ignorance.

It is attachment that brings us again into this Mrityuloka. The seeds of attachment are ingrained in the subconscious mind. We have to obliterate or fry up all these seeds through right thinking, Vichara and Atma-jnana. We have to cut all these illusory attachments through the sword of non-attachment or Vairagya. The Gita says, - Asangasastrena dridhena cchitva. - - Cut this tree of Maya with the sword of non-attachment. (Chapter XV).

Develop internal Vairagya (dispassion) by understanding the illusory nature of this world. Remember the pains of this Samsara, viz., birth, death, old age, diseases and miseries of this world. Place before the mind the glorious life in Atman and the immense bliss of a spiritual life. Remember the Saints and Yogins and Jnanis like Sri Sankara, Mansoor, Shams Tabriez, Jnana Dev and their teachings. Slowly the mind will be weaned from sensual objects. It can be gradually turned towards God and higher things. Have recourse to Satsanga.

Do Atma-Vichara (Self-enquiry). Meditate daily. That man who has no attachment in this world, is the most happy man. He is God Himself. His joy is indescribable. He must be adored.

NEVER LEAVE YOUR SADHANA ~ Swami Sivananda

NEVER LEAVE YOUR SADHANA 

Listen! wake up now. Do sadhana (spiritual practice). Develop dispassion. Beware of the senses. Become desireless.

Conscious attempts to unite oneself with God, is called spiritual sadhana.

Never leave your sadhana (spiritual practice), your meditation, even for a day. Constant practice, and eternal vigilance, are indispensable, till God-realization is attained. As long as you do not realize the truth, practice self-control and meditation.

Be regular in keeping your spiritual diary. Spiritual progress will be greatly quickened. Go to bed early (10 pm) and get up early (4 am). The early morning hours are most favorable for meditation.

Spiritual discipline is the key to God-realization. Discipline the body and the senses and the mind. May you attain God-realization, now and here.

Subjugate the senses. slay this egoism. Curb the mind, and enter the illimitable domain of immortal bliss. 

Om Krishna!

I'm! Nonduality is living in Oneness ~ Atman Nityananda

'I am that all-embracing love.’ --Amma

Nonduality is living in Oneness

Our true Self is love, peace, bliss and freedom eternal.

The ego is what causes separation between us and God, between us and others as well. The solid sense or feeling "I am the body, -the body is me" is the expression fundamental of the ego, but the ego is not just this. The ego is essentially desire and an aggregation of  various tendencies like pride, anger, fear, jealousy, gluttony, lust, greed, resentment, depression, shame, guilt, bitterness, disappointment, etc.

By eliminating the I or ego what remains is pure love, fathomless peace, infinite bliss!

What we experience inside, we experience it outside as well. If we are in peace, we see peace every where. If we are in love, we see everything as ourselves. 

"I am Love, You are Love, Everything is Love!"  

"I am Light, You are Light, Everything is light!"

 "I am Love & Light, You are  Love & Light, Everything is Love & Light,!"  

"I am Peace,  Love & Light, You are Peace, Love & Light, Everything is Peace, Love & Light"

 Remember occasionally during all day these truths, to remind yourself that you are not a miserable entity trapped in the body, but the eternal truth, always peaceful and blissful, and always present, although you may not be aware of this, due to the identification with the body, the mind stuff (emotions, thoughts, imaginations) and the sensory perceptions.

I am that all-embracing love.’ --Amma

'I am that all-embracing love.’ --Amma

"The common expression is, ‘I love you.’ But, instead of ‘I love you,’ it would be better to say, ‘I am love—I am the embodiment of Pure Love.’

Remove the I and you, and you will find that there is only Love. It is as if Love is imprisoned between the I and you.

Remove the I and you, for they are unreal; they are self-imposed walls that don’t exist. The gulf between I and you is the ego.

When the ego is removed the distance disappears, the I and you also disappear. They merge to become one—and that is Love.

You will realize, not that ‘I love you,’ but that ‘I am that all-embracing love.’"

--Amma (Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi)

Our core illusion ~ Atman Nityananda

Our core illusion

The ego has been created by lust and desire and its essential nature is desire, and desire is always related to something exterior to ourselves, to something we don't have. We cannot desire what we already have, however we can be afraid to lose what we already posses.

Lust and desire create almost always in us a sense of insufficiency, uneasiness and  incompleteness, that something is needed in order to feel content, fulfilled, worthy and happy.

That's why our ego is always compulsively seeking something in the sensory world, something to possess in order to experience pleasure and satisfaction as well something to fulfill it or make it feel complete and worthy.

Since all sense objects devoid of any reality, are impermanent and perishable and since ego's desiring or seeking is  a compulsive and repetitive addiction,  no matter what we will possess, we will experience and we will achieve, we will always remain at the end with the same painful inner state of emptiness, incompleteness, uneasiness, discontentment, etc.

The seeking of plenitude, happiness, contentment and freedom outside of ourselves, due to non-perception that we already are complete, full, peaceful, blissful and free, it is the core illusion and the womb of all suffering.

BLISS IS OF CONSCIOUSNESS. ~>Atman Nityananda

Bliss is of Consciousness (Atman or Self), but it is experienced by a pure mind

He who does not control his mind, he is controlled by his mind and suffers.

A sincere, diligent, long time practice is need in order to conquer our mind.

In this work it is included the purification of the mind from the Tamas and Rajas gunas as well as from its programming and its passions (lust, gluttony, greed, pride, fear, anger, jealousy, laziness, etc.).

Once the mind is purified and is full of sattva, even without to make an effort to feel happy, we live in peace, completeness and bliss!

WE CANNOT HAVE PLEASURE AND BLISS AT THE SAME TIME. ~ Atman Nityananda

WE CANNOT HAVE PLEASURE AND BLISS AT THE SAME TIME

To be a Zorba and a Buddha at the same time it is just impossible. It is just an imagination of a lusty mind.

Who says that is possible to have pleasures without to be attached and addictive to them and without to suffer just don't believe him. Why?

Because there is no pleasure without lust, desire and passion (it is impossible) and suffering is due to desire and passion. Suffering is inevitable because all kinds of emotional suffering are modifications of desire itself. Selfishness,, anger, jealously, depression, fear, resentment, uneasiness, discontentment, incompleteness, hatred, disappointment, hopelessness, frustration, impatience, loneliness, are all effects of desire and passion.

If someone doesn't accept this, it is because he ignores  how the mind functions, he doesn't really know himself deeply enough.

Moreover it is impossible to experience at the same time the bliss of our true nature (Atman, Consciousness) and the pleasure which is the result of the contact of mind with the sensual objects, plus imagination and projection.

Mind can focus and experience one thing at the moment. So, we can focus the mind within and experience the bliss and peace divine or focus it outside to experience illusory, temporary, fleeting pleasures.

Moreover a mind full of passion and  lust it is dense, obscured, distracted, cloud, dull and cannot reflect clearly and without distraction the peace and Bliss of Consciousness. Only a pure sattvic mind can reflect clearly and without distortions the bliss and the peace of Atman.

Then we must make a choice. What is we want more? Eternal freedom, peace and bliss or fleeting illusory pleasures accompanied inevitably with suffering.

Only if one suffers enough due to an extroverted pleasure-based life it is possible to begin question his way of living and seek something that can be harmonious, sustainable and free from imagination and suffering.

INQUIRY - Contemplative questioning to disidentify from the thought streaming ~ Atman Nityananda

INQUIRY - Contemplative questioning to disidentify from the thought streaming

The essential part of our sadhana is to dissolve the egoic tendencies and be established in our true Self. In order to succeed to this, we must stop identification with thoughts and emotions.

Two of the main causes that we are so attached to our thoughts is that we are fascinated by them and we take them as a reality.

Thus, to stop identification with thoughts and imaginations, I suggest two inquiries which I developed during my spiritual journey. The one is to separate thoughts from lust or emotions in order to 'break down' the fascination of thinking or imagining and the other is a contemplative questioning which help us realize that the thoughts are not a reality. There are also other ways to stop fascination and attraction to thoughts, especially to those thoughts that are related to objects of pleasure, but separating the lust or the emotion from thoughts is one of the most effective ones.

In this essay I will explain the contemplative questioning.

An effective way to stop our identification with thoughts and the thought process is to dissolve our deception that thoughts is a reality by questioning our selves like this:

If I don't think about this or that, where does this or these things exist ?

Just ask and contemplate this question in silence. By remaining silent, where all these things you were thinking exist? Nowhere. Be silent and realize deeply that what you think as reality exists only in your mind.

Every time we do this silent contemplation we become more and more aware that thoughts are only an imaginary reality which exists only as long as we permit thoughts to arise in our head. It is important this understanding, (that the things we think are not a reality but only imagination), to become strong and steady and be implanted in our deeper consciousness (chitta); that's why the repetition of this contemplation for long time is needed. Otherwise our ego will deceive us very easily and make us identify with thoughts, especially thoughts related to our self-image and pleasure.

By this contemplative questioning we will realize also that the supposed external real world exists for us as long as we think about it. A steady knowledge and conviction that the world is unreal and the only reality is Consciousness (Atman, Brahman, God, Spirit...) is the foundation of Self-realization.

We must do this contemplative questioning every time that thoughts arise in our mind without our volition (which happens most of the time).

In order not to deceive ourselves by thinking that we want to entertain these thoughts it is necessary to have a task. For example when we start from our home to go to job we decide that we will remain concentrated to the breathing, to a mantra etc. Since we have decide this, then all thoughts that appear in our mind it is not our choice but our daydreaming. Then every time that arise thoughts we must apply this contemplative questioning. 

We must practice this willingly until it becomes a habit.

The advantage of this 'technique' is that we don't try to stop thinking forcefully, but this happens naturally because we take the energy and our attention from the thinking process and we put it into the questioning and its silent contemplation.

This 'technique' is also important because help us realize that the thoughts are not a reality but only our imaginary world as well as that the world is unreal, because when we don't think about the world and we gather our attention inside into our true Self the world doesn't exist for us. 

The only 'thing we cannot avoid is our Self (Consciousness) which is the only reality. Our true Self or Consciousness, is real because never ceases to be. It is ever present, unchanging, limitless, infinite, timeless, formless, causeless, and ever peaceful and blissful!

By being aware of it is up to us if we want to live in imagination or not. We always have to decide what is more important to us, reality or imagination.