The Science of Enlightenment What Controls Your Life?
Saturday, June 29, 2013
How Meditation Can Physically Reshape Our Brains: TEDx Talk by Sara Lazar
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
The Tyranny of Food
And how you can free yourself from it
A very significant part of the world's GDP is spent on food cultivation, distribution, processing, cooking,marketing and so on. In some countries it is as high as 80%. More than half of the world's population is directly working with the food industry - either in agriculture - producing food - or in cooking or processing or marketing it.
But the questions that we are never encouraged to ask are - Is food really scarce? Does it need to be so expensive? Do we really need to eat as much as we are made to believe we need to eat? Is most food produced today toxic to the human body? People who just delve a little deeper into the questions would quickly come up with the answers - No, No, No and Yes.
But beyond what is obvious - at least to the few of the thinking people in society - there is a deeper truth behind food. A question we never even dare to ask..
Does the human body need food at all?
It is surely sounds like a preposterous question given what we all know about human biology, digestion, nutrition etc. But what I have witnessed in the last year in my own body and in others around me, makes me believe that humans can live and function at their peak capacities with very minimal amounts of food and... most likely - if the experiences of others are to be believed - with absolutely no food or water whatsoever!
Before you give a dismissive sigh and stop reading, I'd like you to take a look at this video and news article. This was my first exposure to the possibility of no food. This is an article from the Telegraph magazine from the UK in 2003 about a 82 year old yogi from western India who claims to have not eaten or drank anything for the previous 70 years. The video shows research done at the defense medical university which placed him under continuous video surveillance in a closed room for 2 weeks and found astonishing results.
Man claims to have had no food or drink for 70 years - Telegraph UK, BBC, Daily Mail, Wikipedia - Indian military scientists are studying an 82-year-old who claims he has not had any food or drink for 70 years.
Nirahara Samyama - Living Food Free
You can do it too!
- Is this really true - can it be scientifically verified
- and How does this one-off phenomenon help me?
And starting next week - on 1st July - the first stage of the process which involves a short meditation and Kriya or technique each day - is available to everyone around the world wherever you are via the internet. Doing the process you can experience progressively 2, 7 and 11 days of no-hunger and no-food!
What: Nirahara Samyama - Initiation into living without hunger & solid food When: July 1st (June 30th for USA) to 21st, 2013, 8.00 am (India Standard Time) or 7:30pm (PST) - each day Where: Online via Nithyananda TV (http://nithyananda.tv) or via Satellite channels Sadhana TV, Lotus News TV
| My brother and I doing the Samyama Dec 2012 |
While many questions about how this is possible and what the "scientific" basis behind all this is needs to be answered by the medical and scientific community, the plain simple truth is that it works! And a few hundred people are living testimonials to it. Here is the video from Swamiji explaining what the process is and how it works.
Nirahara - The Natural Cure for Obesity
Beyond health, all the root mental patterns we carry are directly or indirectly related to food. Becoming free of food gives us release from the bondage of all these patterns - such as fear, sex, worry etc.. Hear from Swamiji directly about this..
Technique to detox your body & mind
For more information visit the site for Niraharis at: http://bfoodfree.org/
Join group the Facebook group to discuss and talk to people who are living food free!
Testimonials
| Nirahara and Wealth |
| Real Liberation from Sufferings |
| A Medical Miracle! |
| Less Sleep More Energy |
| Youth Reclaimed |
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Inner Awakening : Find Your Self
Bite sized enlightenment
Inner awakening (www.innerawakening.org) - The most powerful transformational meditation and kundalini awakening retreat on the planet is now offered in 3 levels.
Level 1 (4 days): Learn 4 powerful techniques - of integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching - to run your life. Discover the deep relation between listening and completion. Completing with yours conflicting thought patterns that cause powerlessness and align your self image and your projected image thus removing stress. Identify the root pattern of suffering
Level 2 (10 days): Discover the root pattern of powerlessness from your earliest childhood experiences. Initiation into a powerful technique of unclutching and completing with yourself and others to experience great relationships.
Level 3 (11 days): Initiation into the space of creation and other mystical initiations such as healers' initiation, vak siddhi (the power of declaration) etc.
Level 1 & 2 can be done online via live 2-way video conferencing from all around the world.
Try Inner Awakening Risk Free!
- No Travel: You can attend Level 1 & 2 online via 2-way video conferencing from the nearest center close to you.
- No Time away from Work: It happens at night time in the US - so you don't need to take time off from your work if you don't mind a little stretching.
- No Money Risk: If you know me personally, call me in the next 24 hours and I'll give you a money back guarantee that you will find phenomenal breakthroughs during Inner Awakening in all dimensions in your life - money, relationships, health, career or enlightenment - that you want to make progress in.
So... Risk Free Enlightenment! It doesn't get better than this. Stop postponing. Call now! :)
What is IA is all about...
Our Lives
Bite sized enlightenment
Inner awakening (www.innerawakening.org) - The most powerful transformational meditation and kundalini awakening retreat on the planet is now offered in 3 levels.
Level 1 (4 days): Learn 4 powerful techniques - of integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching - to run your life. Discover the deep relation between listening and completion. Completing with yours conflicting thought patterns that cause powerlessness and align your self image and your projected image thus removing stress. Identify the root pattern of suffering
Level 2 (10 days): Discover the root pattern of powerlessness from your earliest childhood experiences. Initiation into a powerful technique of unclutching and completing with yourself and others to experience great relationships.
Level 3 (11 days): Initiation into the space of creation and other mystical initiations such as healers' initiation, vak siddhi (the power of declaration) etc.Level 1 & 2 can be done online via live 2-way video conferencing from all around the world.
Try Inner Awakening Risk Free!
- No Travel: You can attend Level 1 & 2 online via 2-way video conferencing from the nearest center close to you.
- No Time away from Work: It happens at night time in the US - so you don't need to take time off from your work if you don't mind a little stretching.
- No Money Risk: If you know me personally, call me in the next 24 hours and I'll give you a money back guarantee that you will find phenomenal breakthroughs during Inner Awakening in all dimensions in your life - money, relationships, health, career or enlightenment - that you want to make progress in.
So... Risk Free Enlightenment! It doesn't get better than this. Stop postponing. Call now! :)
What is IA is all about...
What is IA is all about...
Our Lives
- ... are run by the blueprint of our mental patterns
- These patterns make us experience powerlessness and lack of fulfillment and affect all aspects of our life such as Health, Relationships, Wealth or our Profession
- Over time, our patterns are stored deep in our muscle and bio memories making it difficult to become free of them even when we intellectually understand their limiting effects
Inner Awakening
- ... helps us discover and become free of the unique root thought patterns of powerlessness that each of us carry that originates from our early childhood experiences and beyond
- The course works on our mental and emotional layers through powerful processes, understandings and meditations
- It also works directly on our muscle memories through yoga and fitness and on our core bio-memory through direct spiritual initiations by the master
- Beyond completion, it provides a very powerful framework to run our cognition based on the four truths of Integrity, Authenticity, Responsibility and Enriching which allows us to lead a life free of patterns and carrying the inner space of positivity, possibility, leadership and enlightenment
Details
Dates:
Level 1: Aug 16 to 19 (4 days)
Level 2: Aug 16 to 25 (10 days)
Full Program: Aug 16 to Sep 5 (21 days)
Place: Bidadi, Bangalore, India or Via Video Conf from everywhere
Contact: 1-800-265-3386 USA or +91-80-2727-9999 India
Website: www.innerawakening.org
FAQ: Inner Awakening Rude Q&A
Discover What Controls Your Life
Testimonials
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Understanding the Scandal
.. and an open letter to Arthi Rao and other detractors
Someone once said to someone else "If half the people love you,.. and half the people hate you.., You're a Star!". No one qualifies for that definition today more than Swami Nithyananda. No one is abused more by the media or celebrated more by his devotees than Him. Characterizations of Him range all the way from an outright cheat, a clever businessman, a charismatic powerful speaker, a genius, a spiritual master, a person with occult powers, an enlightened being, an incarnation or ultimately to many as THE Incarnation of our times. Interestingly many of these characterizations are common to both his detractors and his supporters! I know friends who say "He may be a cheat - but I admire his guts and his attitude". And those who say "I know he is an incarnation, but I am too scared to go near Him". With plenty of others to fill the range in between.
How is it possible that one person is characterized in so many different levels by so many people? That itself is something to show that he is no ordinary person. Also, unlike other celebrities - Film-stars Politicians, Sportsmen or Religious leaders - his followers seem to be all very highly qualified, educated and respected. They come from all social strata and from a large number of countries around the globe. Many of them have doctorates or are researchers with a strong scientific training. Surely for someone who is just 34 and who learnt to speak English hardly 10 years ago to command such an international following, he must at the least be a very brilliant person. And those of us who know him, of course know that he is brilliance personified. Anyways.. I digress and should get back to the point I am trying to make..
Each person's characterization is based on the experiences they have had. The people who have had no interaction with him except for what they read in the Media - especially if they already are skeptics atheists or cynics - take him to be an ordinary con-man. Those who have taken his courses and found relief from depression or disease know of him as a great teacher. Those who have had any kundalini awakening or healing experience know of him to be more than just an ordinary teacher. Those who have seen from 2 feet away Him materializing objects from thin air under controlled conditions (like in a CT Scanner) - and I was fortunate enough to be one of them - know that he has powers over matter that are as such unexplained by science and that he is a powerful Mystic. And seekers who have struggled for decades trying to "quieten the mind" who find it so automatically fall in to silence in His presence know of him to be a being who is radiating enlightenment to the world.
But ultimately, irrespective of what you know of Him, whether you believe He is "good" or "bad" seems to be a matter of choice.. and unfortunately in some cases, a matter of convenience. You can take the same incident of say Him sternly correcting someone's actions to mean that he is a cruel, insensitive person... or to say that he is a compassionate master who chisels the defects from His students. People can explain the emphasis on His personality in the organization as narcissism or as an aid to evolve people's consciousness through the path of Guru Bhakti.
So what happened on 2nd March 2010 was that the morphed video made a bunch of people switch Him from being "good" to characterizing Him as being "bad". Without looking deep into whether the video was real or even before that as to whether the video mattered at all, all his previous actions were re-characterized as being ill-intentioned. The Media of course, being largely populated by cynics, always defaults to characterizing people - especially those in the field of spirituality or religion - as being "bad". So they had no problem in riding that wave. Even if you take the statements of Arthi Rao (supposedly the person who created the morphed video), till the day before she "saw" the video, she claimed Him to be an incarnation and was willing to fight for Him - in-spite of all the alleged abuses and "hell" she claims to have faced over the previous five years. A day later, He was a cheat and con-man. This is true of many of his detractors. The naive explanation she gives for why such a big switch happened was that she was - and incredibly all the thousands of highly educated disciples were or still are - "brainwashed" or "hypnotized" by Him. While Occam's Razor would suggest that the more simple explanation was that she - along with other ex-disciples - just chose to wear different colored glasses and the glasses caused everything to be colored different. If indeed He did have such incredible powers of mind control that He could use for many years even when the "victim" was on the other side of the planet for the most time, why could he not use that against all the law enforcement and media people to make them do what he wanted.
Note that we are talking about characterization of "good" or "bad", enlightened or not-enlightened etc. - not whether something is legal or not. Legally it is clear to everyone that even if the video was real - and it is so clear that it is not - that there is nothing here other than what would, in any other situation, have be called a "frivolous lawsuit".
Different people have different attributes that they cannot accept in an enlightened master. For some people, eating non-vegetarian food is conclusive proof of lack of saint-hood. While many others know of masters - both present day ones like Jaggi Vasudev or historically Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, the Vedic Rishi's or even the Buddha - who have eaten meat at some point in their lives. Like wise there are those who consider charging money as a clear sign that a person is not enlightened. Some others have even told me that an enlightened master would not speak in colloquial Tamil! - much as Buddha was ridiculed for speaking in Pali which was a local dilution of sanskrit. Same goes for other attributes such as celibacy, being factual or owning property or this or that.
Ultimately, what I have learnt over my 20 years of interactions with many masters - both with and without the body - is that, none of these metrics can ever be a measure for enlightenment. For, if there was a measure, that measure will surely be abused and faked. And if there was an unfakeable measure, then that measure would be greater than enlightenment itself. As an exercise randomly pick any 10 people whom you are sure are enlightened - Say Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Shankara, Ramakrishna, OSHO.. - and try to find any attribute that is common across them uniformly. I can be sure that there cannot be a fool proof definition that spans all of them except perhaps for the unexplained admiration of their followers, the anger of their detractors and the eventual deification and acceptance of them after they leave.
This is the difference, as He so aptly said, between Dharma and Moksha. Dharma is a set of rules that help you to reach Moksha. Dharma is an approximation - and over time it often becomes an impediment to the real goal which is Moksha. The time between the establishment of Dharma and when it is no longer helpful to people is possibly what is a Yuga. And every Yuga, an incarnation has to come forth to re-establish the Dharma for that Yuga. Which is why an incarnation is always opposed most by the people who are using Dharma to identify a master. These people are always wrong. Because if they were right, there is no reason for an incarnation to happen. So if you are looking for an incarnation, don't expect Him to ever match your frame.
Now the clever ones may ask, then how do we distinguish an incarnation from a cheat? Is it not possible that people can pretend to be an incarnation and exploit you. The answer came to me during the scandal in two ways - one was a click during a guru Poornima satsang where it became so clear to me that I really had nothing worthwhile that someone could take away. Of what use is my body and mind that is short lived and full of wrong programmings? What would He ever get from me? And the second was this article by the Paramacharya of Kanchi in his books Deivathin Kural (The voice of God) that came to me very miraculously in a random webpage just as this question popped up in my mind. Incidentally, the Paramacharya was our family Guru and he was the person who conducted my aksharabhyasam (first initiation into writing) at the age of 3. It explains what the attitude of a seeker should be to their Guru during a scandal in words that are so beautiful and precise that I cannot summarize it without taking something away. So please also read this in its entirety - http://advaitham.blogspot.in/2008/03/deivathin-kural-10-of-vol-2-of-15-june.html
He starts with the problem statement "How to be sure that the Guru we go in search of, is genuine ? If he happens to be a fake, then what to do ? How do we find out if he is clean or not ? Initially, we think that he seems perfect. Later, we get to know differently or we hear some gossip. Even good people are not insured from being subjected to gossip and innuendo!.. Those who have become a Sishya to a Guru, will find themselves in an embarrassing situation, when they hear such information about their own Guru. They will be hard put to decide, as to whether they should believe it or not".

And goes on to give the solution to this saying ".. I take back all that I said earlier, about the required character qualities of a Guru. That is, I am telling you now to stop assessing the Guru. As the child is with the Viddhyabyasa Guru, put all your guards down with this Guru also. With this Guru who is to show you the path of Moksha, even old sishyas, should place total trust. It does not matter, if this is considered as blind belief. ... . We searched for a Guru. We came to this Guru, believing him to be clean, wholesome and beyond corruption. If we thought him to be anything less, we would not have come to him.. All the question about assessing his behaviour arises only when we think of him as a simple, mortal, human being.. Even what is seemingly faults, may only be an error in our perspective... That is why, once you have opted for some one as your Guru, instead of assessing him, we should simply become devoted and serve him.. World may laugh at us. Let it. Even if we were to suffer as a result, let it be. It is not enough if the Guru is great. Our Bakthi also has to be effective.. Initially we surrender with the hope that we will be saved. When we remain firm, without changing loyalties en-route our aim will be achieved, whether by Guru or God."
From my very close personal interactions with Swami Nithyananda over the past four years, I am clear that it would be so very silly to say that He is motivated by lust. It is as absurd as saying that Bill Gates stole $10 from his wife's purse. Hundreds if not thousands of people who have done just a couple of days of his courses have freed themselves permanently from lust, addictions, deep seated traumas and what not. People are in ecstasy by his mere presence if not by just remembering Him. Claiming that he needs to touch someone else to get fulfillment is just ridiculous - and even his detractors - those who have had any experience with Him - know this. It is similarly funny to accuse Him of greed. There are enough of His followers even today who would gladly donate large amounts of wealth with which he can comfortably retire in a personal island someplace. The fact that he chooses a 20 hour per day work schedule over this life of luxury clearly shows that he is not after wealth. We can go on and on about all the other theories.
After I reasoned out all possible motives, what I can see is that His only motive is to free people of the chains of their mind and lead them to have blissful lives. Now there is no real way for someone to "prove" what his intentions are. For someone who has decided that He is "bad", any "good" act seems like a facade or an attempt to con people. For those who trust Him, all actions are beautiful.
What I ask of from the ex-devotees and other detractors is to give this theory a chance. Assume for a bit that it is true that his motives are "good" and that He is truly and incarnation. Can you find an explanation for all the actions you assumed were wrong? Note that you don't need a fool-proof explanation. You only need to do better than the fragile theory that he has managed to hypnotize all the thousands of his current supporters who stand by Him even after all this controversy! If you go through this exercise with honesty - and I request you to do it with all my sincerity and with real concern - you will find out that your hate has no basis and is possibly just a choice. And if you even just reach the 50-50 point, I would ask you to throw down your battle axe and wait. Soon you will see more proof of his divinity. I request you observe the events unfolding with an open mind.
In all likelihood some may turn around and ask His devotees to do the same - assume that he is "bad" and see if you cannot bring Him down. I can assure you that you can. For He shows Himself to you as whatever you see Him as. But there is a fundamental difference between the two camps. Which is, the people who follow Him do so because they have had a direct benefit from following Him. They have found bliss, peace, fortune or what not. While many of the detractors have had no real interaction with Him or all their sufferings started because they let go of Him. Not before. In most cases they were miserable before they met Him and after they left Him. Which implies by reduction that He has given them the most joyful years of their life. I for one know that each day with Him is the ultimate blessing. Even saying it with words takes away the truth of how it feels.
If you manage to see anything useful in this and even one of you have found your Guru again, this article would have been worth writing. Even if I haven't managed to reach you to that extent, I would request you to not waste your time trying to "save" the people who are sincere in their quest for enlightenment from their bliss, their path and their goal.
Nithyanandam
--Mokshapriyan
Someone once said to someone else "If half the people love you,.. and half the people hate you.., You're a Star!". No one qualifies for that definition today more than Swami Nithyananda. No one is abused more by the media or celebrated more by his devotees than Him. Characterizations of Him range all the way from an outright cheat, a clever businessman, a charismatic powerful speaker, a genius, a spiritual master, a person with occult powers, an enlightened being, an incarnation or ultimately to many as THE Incarnation of our times. Interestingly many of these characterizations are common to both his detractors and his supporters! I know friends who say "He may be a cheat - but I admire his guts and his attitude". And those who say "I know he is an incarnation, but I am too scared to go near Him". With plenty of others to fill the range in between.How is it possible that one person is characterized in so many different levels by so many people? That itself is something to show that he is no ordinary person. Also, unlike other celebrities - Film-stars Politicians, Sportsmen or Religious leaders - his followers seem to be all very highly qualified, educated and respected. They come from all social strata and from a large number of countries around the globe. Many of them have doctorates or are researchers with a strong scientific training. Surely for someone who is just 34 and who learnt to speak English hardly 10 years ago to command such an international following, he must at the least be a very brilliant person. And those of us who know him, of course know that he is brilliance personified. Anyways.. I digress and should get back to the point I am trying to make..
Each person's characterization is based on the experiences they have had. The people who have had no interaction with him except for what they read in the Media - especially if they already are skeptics atheists or cynics - take him to be an ordinary con-man. Those who have taken his courses and found relief from depression or disease know of him as a great teacher. Those who have had any kundalini awakening or healing experience know of him to be more than just an ordinary teacher. Those who have seen from 2 feet away Him materializing objects from thin air under controlled conditions (like in a CT Scanner) - and I was fortunate enough to be one of them - know that he has powers over matter that are as such unexplained by science and that he is a powerful Mystic. And seekers who have struggled for decades trying to "quieten the mind" who find it so automatically fall in to silence in His presence know of him to be a being who is radiating enlightenment to the world.But ultimately, irrespective of what you know of Him, whether you believe He is "good" or "bad" seems to be a matter of choice.. and unfortunately in some cases, a matter of convenience. You can take the same incident of say Him sternly correcting someone's actions to mean that he is a cruel, insensitive person... or to say that he is a compassionate master who chisels the defects from His students. People can explain the emphasis on His personality in the organization as narcissism or as an aid to evolve people's consciousness through the path of Guru Bhakti.
So what happened on 2nd March 2010 was that the morphed video made a bunch of people switch Him from being "good" to characterizing Him as being "bad". Without looking deep into whether the video was real or even before that as to whether the video mattered at all, all his previous actions were re-characterized as being ill-intentioned. The Media of course, being largely populated by cynics, always defaults to characterizing people - especially those in the field of spirituality or religion - as being "bad". So they had no problem in riding that wave. Even if you take the statements of Arthi Rao (supposedly the person who created the morphed video), till the day before she "saw" the video, she claimed Him to be an incarnation and was willing to fight for Him - in-spite of all the alleged abuses and "hell" she claims to have faced over the previous five years. A day later, He was a cheat and con-man. This is true of many of his detractors. The naive explanation she gives for why such a big switch happened was that she was - and incredibly all the thousands of highly educated disciples were or still are - "brainwashed" or "hypnotized" by Him. While Occam's Razor would suggest that the more simple explanation was that she - along with other ex-disciples - just chose to wear different colored glasses and the glasses caused everything to be colored different. If indeed He did have such incredible powers of mind control that He could use for many years even when the "victim" was on the other side of the planet for the most time, why could he not use that against all the law enforcement and media people to make them do what he wanted.Note that we are talking about characterization of "good" or "bad", enlightened or not-enlightened etc. - not whether something is legal or not. Legally it is clear to everyone that even if the video was real - and it is so clear that it is not - that there is nothing here other than what would, in any other situation, have be called a "frivolous lawsuit".
Different people have different attributes that they cannot accept in an enlightened master. For some people, eating non-vegetarian food is conclusive proof of lack of saint-hood. While many others know of masters - both present day ones like Jaggi Vasudev or historically Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, the Vedic Rishi's or even the Buddha - who have eaten meat at some point in their lives. Like wise there are those who consider charging money as a clear sign that a person is not enlightened. Some others have even told me that an enlightened master would not speak in colloquial Tamil! - much as Buddha was ridiculed for speaking in Pali which was a local dilution of sanskrit. Same goes for other attributes such as celibacy, being factual or owning property or this or that.
Ultimately, what I have learnt over my 20 years of interactions with many masters - both with and without the body - is that, none of these metrics can ever be a measure for enlightenment. For, if there was a measure, that measure will surely be abused and faked. And if there was an unfakeable measure, then that measure would be greater than enlightenment itself. As an exercise randomly pick any 10 people whom you are sure are enlightened - Say Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Shankara, Ramakrishna, OSHO.. - and try to find any attribute that is common across them uniformly. I can be sure that there cannot be a fool proof definition that spans all of them except perhaps for the unexplained admiration of their followers, the anger of their detractors and the eventual deification and acceptance of them after they leave.
This is the difference, as He so aptly said, between Dharma and Moksha. Dharma is a set of rules that help you to reach Moksha. Dharma is an approximation - and over time it often becomes an impediment to the real goal which is Moksha. The time between the establishment of Dharma and when it is no longer helpful to people is possibly what is a Yuga. And every Yuga, an incarnation has to come forth to re-establish the Dharma for that Yuga. Which is why an incarnation is always opposed most by the people who are using Dharma to identify a master. These people are always wrong. Because if they were right, there is no reason for an incarnation to happen. So if you are looking for an incarnation, don't expect Him to ever match your frame.He starts with the problem statement "How to be sure that the Guru we go in search of, is genuine ? If he happens to be a fake, then what to do ? How do we find out if he is clean or not ? Initially, we think that he seems perfect. Later, we get to know differently or we hear some gossip. Even good people are not insured from being subjected to gossip and innuendo!.. Those who have become a Sishya to a Guru, will find themselves in an embarrassing situation, when they hear such information about their own Guru. They will be hard put to decide, as to whether they should believe it or not".

And goes on to give the solution to this saying ".. I take back all that I said earlier, about the required character qualities of a Guru. That is, I am telling you now to stop assessing the Guru. As the child is with the Viddhyabyasa Guru, put all your guards down with this Guru also. With this Guru who is to show you the path of Moksha, even old sishyas, should place total trust. It does not matter, if this is considered as blind belief. ... . We searched for a Guru. We came to this Guru, believing him to be clean, wholesome and beyond corruption. If we thought him to be anything less, we would not have come to him.. All the question about assessing his behaviour arises only when we think of him as a simple, mortal, human being.. Even what is seemingly faults, may only be an error in our perspective... That is why, once you have opted for some one as your Guru, instead of assessing him, we should simply become devoted and serve him.. World may laugh at us. Let it. Even if we were to suffer as a result, let it be. It is not enough if the Guru is great. Our Bakthi also has to be effective.. Initially we surrender with the hope that we will be saved. When we remain firm, without changing loyalties en-route our aim will be achieved, whether by Guru or God."
From my very close personal interactions with Swami Nithyananda over the past four years, I am clear that it would be so very silly to say that He is motivated by lust. It is as absurd as saying that Bill Gates stole $10 from his wife's purse. Hundreds if not thousands of people who have done just a couple of days of his courses have freed themselves permanently from lust, addictions, deep seated traumas and what not. People are in ecstasy by his mere presence if not by just remembering Him. Claiming that he needs to touch someone else to get fulfillment is just ridiculous - and even his detractors - those who have had any experience with Him - know this. It is similarly funny to accuse Him of greed. There are enough of His followers even today who would gladly donate large amounts of wealth with which he can comfortably retire in a personal island someplace. The fact that he chooses a 20 hour per day work schedule over this life of luxury clearly shows that he is not after wealth. We can go on and on about all the other theories.
After I reasoned out all possible motives, what I can see is that His only motive is to free people of the chains of their mind and lead them to have blissful lives. Now there is no real way for someone to "prove" what his intentions are. For someone who has decided that He is "bad", any "good" act seems like a facade or an attempt to con people. For those who trust Him, all actions are beautiful.
What I ask of from the ex-devotees and other detractors is to give this theory a chance. Assume for a bit that it is true that his motives are "good" and that He is truly and incarnation. Can you find an explanation for all the actions you assumed were wrong? Note that you don't need a fool-proof explanation. You only need to do better than the fragile theory that he has managed to hypnotize all the thousands of his current supporters who stand by Him even after all this controversy! If you go through this exercise with honesty - and I request you to do it with all my sincerity and with real concern - you will find out that your hate has no basis and is possibly just a choice. And if you even just reach the 50-50 point, I would ask you to throw down your battle axe and wait. Soon you will see more proof of his divinity. I request you observe the events unfolding with an open mind.
In all likelihood some may turn around and ask His devotees to do the same - assume that he is "bad" and see if you cannot bring Him down. I can assure you that you can. For He shows Himself to you as whatever you see Him as. But there is a fundamental difference between the two camps. Which is, the people who follow Him do so because they have had a direct benefit from following Him. They have found bliss, peace, fortune or what not. While many of the detractors have had no real interaction with Him or all their sufferings started because they let go of Him. Not before. In most cases they were miserable before they met Him and after they left Him. Which implies by reduction that He has given them the most joyful years of their life. I for one know that each day with Him is the ultimate blessing. Even saying it with words takes away the truth of how it feels.
If you manage to see anything useful in this and even one of you have found your Guru again, this article would have been worth writing. Even if I haven't managed to reach you to that extent, I would request you to not waste your time trying to "save" the people who are sincere in their quest for enlightenment from their bliss, their path and their goal.
Nithyanandam
--Mokshapriyan
Monday, July 9, 2012
No News is Good News - The News Cartel vs The Truth
Understanding the hidden nexus between news and entertainment
Some wise person once said, in words I roughly remember to say "I am not worried about the things I see.. It is the things that no one sees that I am worried about". The problems we know of - corruption, hunger, pollution.. even war - pale in comparison with the hidden equations that ruin our world.
One of the weirdest ones that I've noticed - more so of late - the hidden nexus between Entertainment and News. Everyone knows that News today is all about celebrities and movies and sport. That is not what I am talking about here. What is not so obvious is that even the news that doesn't talk about what bra Kareena Kapoor is wearing this week - the news that self proclaimed intellectuals slurp each day from the morning newspaper along with their cup of coffee - is manipulated in ways we don't realize.
Many people are aware of the grossest and most obvious form of corruption of News - which is the selling advertisements as news. This is so ridiculously rampant in the Indian news media that you should really suspect anything that you read in the newspapers. All you have to do is to read the oddly named "Realty Section" to understand that these articles are written by the builders themselves and not by any reporter or editor. There have been many reporters who have approached me or people I know offering to have articles published about the companies I worked for. I think the Times-of-India had (has?) an official policy of selling news placements!
Most news in India is just paid advertising - The payment is made directly to the paper or by buying alcohol and other gifts to reporters
They don't even make an attempt to cover this up. I don't know what angers me more - that they manipulate the news.. or that they do it in such a crude and blatant way that shows their arrogance and the low opinion they have of the intelligence of their readers. And this doesn't even touch upon the vast majority of stories where reporters write articles for a drink or some trinkets or on a quid-pro-quo basis for their friends and donors.
Entertainment is "Switching Off" from life. And it is expensive to keep people entertained. And so, it is good business.
Anyways, going back to the main focus of this write up, we come up with the question of what exactly is entertainment. I define entertainment here in simple terms as "Switching Off" from life. Entertainment is stuff that doesn't affect you. It excites your emotion without any reason that is connected to reality. It is about things you don't plan to do anything about. That does not concern your life's mission - which in turn can be defined as whatever it is - without judgement - that you want to do with your life.The key thing here is that entertainment is expensive. Because, someone has to create this reality with effort - to make it look "real" enough to fool your mind.
To make money with news it has to resemble entertainment. It has to be sensationalized. It should be blown out of proportion.
So, one way to make money with news is to make it resemble entertainment. It has to be sensationalized. It should be blown out of proportion. If a man gets hurt in an accident, reporting just that is not sufficient. The newspapers and channels have to show blood. They have to collect statistics over the past 2000 years so that they have a number that is scary enough. They have to create fear in people for their kids or relatives who are on the road. And so on. At this point it is no longer news but a mini movie built out of a simple incident of a man getting hurt by falling off his bicycle.Beyond obvious manipulation, exaggeration and sensationalism, there is a level of corruption related to selection. Newspapers don't present the news in a balanced way. They only pick up the news that aligns with their points of view. Sun TV and Kalaignar TV - two large news channels in Tamil Nadu - totally blocked off the news of the arrest of Kanimozhi - the daughter of the owner of these channels - in the multi-billion dollar 2G scam - though this was the hottest news across the country. Another instance of this is that any complaints against Hindu Gurus or Hindu tradition is immediately picked up (and blown up several times) by most of the media in India - which incidentally is largely Christian owned. Complaints against other religions are silently ignored or toned down. The clearest proof that news is manipulated by selection is the fact that every political partly runs their own news channel and newspaper. If news were neutral, why would they need to do this?
And finally, one of the most fundamental selection bias that happens in the news media is that of negativity. It shouldn't take a PhD to recognize that almost all news in the first N-2 pages of the newspaper relate to failures of people - murders, political defeats, rapes, suicides, accidents, calamities and what not. News that is negative. This is so widespread that you don't even recognize it as something odd. People's world view has been morphed by the constant selection of negative news and the exaggeration of it that they truly believe that the world is that way.
The only positive news in a newspaper is about sports and Bollywood - essentially entertainment news.
This has had terrible consequences for mankind. Our entire lives are ruined by us running to cover up the insecurities presented by this negative world view. Life is not as scary as it is presented to us. Granted that accidents can happen. Things can go bad. But they go bad a million times less than what the newspapers want us to believe. And as such we over stock ourselves a million times more than we need. And many people die before they reach this foolish goal of theirs - wasting their entire lives in the process.
Negative news directly promotes entertainment. For, if life was good, how do you justify wasting it by starting for hours at a dumb box.
But the most evil and subtle part of this negative bias is that entertainment and news form a cyclic relationship encouraging each other. Negative news directly promotes entertainment. For, if life was good, how do you justify wasting it by starting for hours at a dumb box. Entertainment - or escapism from life - can be justified only if you paint life in a bad way. Once you have established the hopelessness of living by the negative world view created by negative news selection, you can justify selling entertainment. This is why news channels are run by entertainment companies. They charge you for their fake news which in turn makes you buy their useless entertainment. And to top it all, both news and entertainment are just transports for advertisements. Things that will make you passive enough that people can dump products that you don't need down your mushy minds.
It has been four years since we stopped our newspaper and TV subscriptions. And we have only had better lives for doing that..
I hate to end an article on a negative note. For one, I don't want to give more business to the entertainment companies by doing so. But unfortunately, the problem is too big for me to say something positive. All I can say is that people who feel any iota of truth in this article should stop their newspaper and TV subscriptions as quickly as they would tear up a Reader's Digest "You could be our next WINNER!" letter. It is a myth that doing this would put you out of touch with the "real" world. The news that is important for you will reach you in many ways. The internet for instance is a less pushy news medium than printed papers and TV. It has been 4 years since we stopped our TV and newspaper subscriptions. And we have only had much better lives for doing that. Even if you don't agree with much of what I wrote about in this post, you directly save 15% of your life by not watching TV or reading newspapers. And that is quite a bit of savings by any standard.Thursday, June 14, 2012
Police State - The naked face of fascism in Karnataka
Just when you thought that things couldn't get worse or get more comical, it gets both worse and more comical. This is what struck me as I witnessed today the un sanitized, un filtered, raw nature of the political beast face to face.
It was 7 in the evening and the sun light had just gone completely out and the lawn lights were turned on in full. I was standing all alone large ground the size of a soccer field in front of the "District Commisioner"'s office in Ramnagar - about 20 kilometers from Bidadi. The field was in front of a towering large glass covered office building with huge pillars in the front. I watched in slow motion the immense activity all around me. I was all alone. But the field was crowded with close to 200 to 300 policemen. All the top officials of the state were there. Competing with us for space was 5 large police vans and more than 30 other odd police vehicles - Vans, Jeeps, Mini busses and what not - with their headlights turned on and many filled with police personnel. Just across the wall behind me a few hundred feet away adjoining the Mysore highway were hundreds of media men clicking their bright flashes and zooming in their large ugly cameras to strip any small tit-bit that they can tear from the scene before others - without any consideration of politeness or decency. The traffic was partially stalled in this important highway as all the people stopped to watched the drama,
And in front of me in one of the large police vans, in some middle row and behind the translucent and barred glass window was sitting the greatest human being that exists on this planet today. Paramahamsa Nithyananda. Arrested - in what is a case of outright violation of human rights, civil liberties or the law of the country - by a group of mediocre and amoral policemen working under the behest of even more mediocre politicians and the ignorant public moved by the frenzy of falsity fed to them by the media - who are not only mediocre but also cheap and out-rightly immoral. They were all congratulating each other and _ the _ of each of their superiors congratulating them on the "bravery" and planning and success
About 20 minutes before all this, I witnessed an ridiculous excuse for a courtroom hearing. I don't know if I can comment on the happenings for this ridiculousness called "Contempt of Court". I don't know if there is some law for "The contempt of The Contempt of Court". I would not be surprised now if there was one and I would be booked under that. I wouldn't be surprised much at this moment by pretty much anything that can happen.
I joined the hearing at 6.30pm and squeezed into the huge court room (which was in contrast with the small crowded courtrooms we had been in for the previous 'trial') pushing past policemen that covered every inch of the hallway and stairs from the entrance of the District Commissioner's office to this room on the first floor. The large courtroom that could accommodate a few hundred people had just 10 odd people. The judge - who was so intelligent that he already knew what he was going to say. It was so clear what the outcome was going to be. The act started even without the counsel for the accused being present. One of the counsel's juniors had just walked in with me and I managed to get it with great difficulty as no one was being allowed in to the entire campus. Paramahamsa Nithyananda was now being charged with section 107 and 153 of the penal code - meaning he was inciting the public and causing riots!
This was the next upgrade to the previous case I talk about in my earlier article where we are charged for getting beaten. Now He was being charged because the government, the media an a bunch of rowdies destroyed his property and have threatened and harrassed Him and his people. The government counsel talked for a couple of minutes about this without making sense. For his own protection he needed to be arrested and sent to jail. The junior of the lawyer for Swami who had just walked in to this wierdest situation tried to ask for bail since this was a bailable offense and should be given bail immediately. But the judge declared that he was too busy today to hear this!!!! No argument from the attorneys and Swami was even heard as the judgement was written and read out. Presumably because, as I said, the judge was very intelligent and did not need to hear any arguments to understand the truth. At the end of this he was sent to Mysore jail for the night and we were to come back at 2pm the next day for arguments. I don't know what other important engagements happen in a court in a tiny town in a small random district from 9am to 2pm that is more important than handling this case that got the entire state to a standstill and had the top officials of the police force waiting in the room and in the ground downstairs. But surely they could not have chosen 2pm without such important things needing to be handled.
And continuing my narration in Memento style, just an hour earlier a bunch of us were waiting totally relieved outside the State police officer's training academy waiting for him to be released after the court allowed his bailment from his "arrest but not arrest" in the case where some of his devotees were manhandled by Goondas from Suvarna. He was there "just for safety" for a few hours we had been told while they were "arranging for a new set of policemen to escort him to Madurai". Now we knew that the wait was so that they could file the new case just minutes before closing time and so no bail arguments can be heard.
And "maybe".. just "maybe" related to all this action was that few hours before, the ashram had filed a case against the Chief Minister, the IG and the government machinery for illegally "sealing" the ashram without any notice and harassing the residents in the name of investigations and "searching for evidence". All the ashramites were in virtual house arrest as they could not leave or enter the premises. Their communications with the outside world are stopped. The internet is taken down. Their kids were being ordered to gather in the grounds and told that they were all "being brainwashed"! Media was presenting false "findings" in the ashram continuously and claiming ridiculous things like they found alchohol, drugs and what not.
And couple of days before the Chief Minister of this state had announced that Swami would be arrested and the ashram sealed and taken over. It is funny why the head of state would interfere in a case that was sub-judice and where the "so called investigations" were going on for 2 years now. And the investigation agencies had no progress whatsover. And in a case where no new evidence was found. Except for one channel illegally asking one of the witnesses to talk and airing her false interview for days on end 24x7 to create the illusion that it was true. Maybe this has nothing to do with the internal spat between two fractions of the ruling party trying to get power and each of them figuring out how best to pander to the so ridiculously called "pro kannadiga" sentiments to increase their chances of success.
Here is a pictorial description of the sequence of events in this drama before this - http://www.nithyananda.org/support/justice-nithyananda & from my earlier posting http://acnaren.blogspot.in/2012/06/encounter-with-forces-of-darkness-and.html
There we have - the battle field laid out bare for everyone to see. On the one side there is Krishna and a few hundred of his dedicated devotees who stand with Him instead of hiding under their beds and facebook accounts. Standing against him are the Kauravas with the entire machinery of the state - the executive including the Chief Minister, the Home minister, Law minister and what not, the judiciary, the entire police machinery of the state including the top officials starting from the IG, the DC, SP and what not, all the media houses of the state and the country and now a large majority of the public who have been convinced that. It is an terribly unfair battle. And one that not many people can survive .. or even dream of even standing up to.
But Swami is no ordinary person. And I know for sure that he will win. But how the events will unfold is something that I cannot really fathom. I hold my breath and my mala as I continue to watch this movie which is both an intense action drama and a very funny comedy at the same time.
It was 7 in the evening and the sun light had just gone completely out and the lawn lights were turned on in full. I was standing all alone large ground the size of a soccer field in front of the "District Commisioner"'s office in Ramnagar - about 20 kilometers from Bidadi. The field was in front of a towering large glass covered office building with huge pillars in the front. I watched in slow motion the immense activity all around me. I was all alone. But the field was crowded with close to 200 to 300 policemen. All the top officials of the state were there. Competing with us for space was 5 large police vans and more than 30 other odd police vehicles - Vans, Jeeps, Mini busses and what not - with their headlights turned on and many filled with police personnel. Just across the wall behind me a few hundred feet away adjoining the Mysore highway were hundreds of media men clicking their bright flashes and zooming in their large ugly cameras to strip any small tit-bit that they can tear from the scene before others - without any consideration of politeness or decency. The traffic was partially stalled in this important highway as all the people stopped to watched the drama,
And in front of me in one of the large police vans, in some middle row and behind the translucent and barred glass window was sitting the greatest human being that exists on this planet today. Paramahamsa Nithyananda. Arrested - in what is a case of outright violation of human rights, civil liberties or the law of the country - by a group of mediocre and amoral policemen working under the behest of even more mediocre politicians and the ignorant public moved by the frenzy of falsity fed to them by the media - who are not only mediocre but also cheap and out-rightly immoral. They were all congratulating each other and _ the _ of each of their superiors congratulating them on the "bravery" and planning and success
About 20 minutes before all this, I witnessed an ridiculous excuse for a courtroom hearing. I don't know if I can comment on the happenings for this ridiculousness called "Contempt of Court". I don't know if there is some law for "The contempt of The Contempt of Court". I would not be surprised now if there was one and I would be booked under that. I wouldn't be surprised much at this moment by pretty much anything that can happen.
I joined the hearing at 6.30pm and squeezed into the huge court room (which was in contrast with the small crowded courtrooms we had been in for the previous 'trial') pushing past policemen that covered every inch of the hallway and stairs from the entrance of the District Commissioner's office to this room on the first floor. The large courtroom that could accommodate a few hundred people had just 10 odd people. The judge - who was so intelligent that he already knew what he was going to say. It was so clear what the outcome was going to be. The act started even without the counsel for the accused being present. One of the counsel's juniors had just walked in with me and I managed to get it with great difficulty as no one was being allowed in to the entire campus. Paramahamsa Nithyananda was now being charged with section 107 and 153 of the penal code - meaning he was inciting the public and causing riots!
This was the next upgrade to the previous case I talk about in my earlier article where we are charged for getting beaten. Now He was being charged because the government, the media an a bunch of rowdies destroyed his property and have threatened and harrassed Him and his people. The government counsel talked for a couple of minutes about this without making sense. For his own protection he needed to be arrested and sent to jail. The junior of the lawyer for Swami who had just walked in to this wierdest situation tried to ask for bail since this was a bailable offense and should be given bail immediately. But the judge declared that he was too busy today to hear this!!!! No argument from the attorneys and Swami was even heard as the judgement was written and read out. Presumably because, as I said, the judge was very intelligent and did not need to hear any arguments to understand the truth. At the end of this he was sent to Mysore jail for the night and we were to come back at 2pm the next day for arguments. I don't know what other important engagements happen in a court in a tiny town in a small random district from 9am to 2pm that is more important than handling this case that got the entire state to a standstill and had the top officials of the police force waiting in the room and in the ground downstairs. But surely they could not have chosen 2pm without such important things needing to be handled.
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| Swami Nithyananda produced before the "small" magistrate's court in Ramnagara |
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| Cops outside the ashram illegally "restricting and searching" without any warrant or notice |
| Chief Minister of Karnataka "Sadananda" Gowda |
Here is a pictorial description of the sequence of events in this drama before this - http://www.nithyananda.org/support/justice-nithyananda & from my earlier posting http://acnaren.blogspot.in/2012/06/encounter-with-forces-of-darkness-and.html
There we have - the battle field laid out bare for everyone to see. On the one side there is Krishna and a few hundred of his dedicated devotees who stand with Him instead of hiding under their beds and facebook accounts. Standing against him are the Kauravas with the entire machinery of the state - the executive including the Chief Minister, the Home minister, Law minister and what not, the judiciary, the entire police machinery of the state including the top officials starting from the IG, the DC, SP and what not, all the media houses of the state and the country and now a large majority of the public who have been convinced that. It is an terribly unfair battle. And one that not many people can survive .. or even dream of even standing up to.
But Swami is no ordinary person. And I know for sure that he will win. But how the events will unfold is something that I cannot really fathom. I hold my breath and my mala as I continue to watch this movie which is both an intense action drama and a very funny comedy at the same time.
Friday, June 8, 2012
An encounter with the forces of darkness
Last evening was my first encounter with what writers refer to as "the mob". I have read enough about mob psychology and how people lose their senses and humaneness when they group together. But none of that prepares you for the shock of it.
It happened at close to 6pm. A bunch of us were chatting happily in a group in Bidadi. And suddenly someone shouted that there was trouble at the main gate. I rushed to see what was happening. A few others took their cars to cover the half a kilometer road to the gate. And there, not unlike the mindless Orcs in the Lord of the Rings movies, there were a horde of about 40 to 50 hooligans wearing some ill colored scarfs and trying to climb over the gates to the ashram. The few ashramites who had gotten there earlier were struggling hard to keep them off the grounds.
I took all of 3 seconds to understand the grave danger these hooligans posed. I saw a broken camera and a couple of people being trashed around. As I rushed to rescue one of them, the excuse for a human being who was beating him looked up and turned his attention on me. He rushed towards me with a look that I couldn't understand. There was neither anger nor any emotion. Just the "rage" of a paid Goonda. The rage was real.. but there was no reason for it. They were prostitutes who would supply their rage for anyone who paid them for the evening dose of alcohol.
I dodged this one and moved on to help another ashramite who was being beaten up by 3 hooligans. I put my hand between the ashramite and a stick aimed at him and received the first blow I got from these inhuman folk - whose upliftment is the very purpose for which Swami and the mission are working for. Though the hand hurt a lot, the pain was more from my realizing how much more the other people were receiving. In the meelee I suddenly saw another ashramite reel over and blood all over his face. The gruesomeness of their own deed scared the mob and they retreated hastily - possibly fearing that he was dead
And the evil that unleashed these mindless beings on us was from this channel called Suvarna which shamelessly tried to use Swami's name and some anti-Kannadiga sentiment just for the sake of their TRP ratings. They tried hard to peddle this woman called Arti Rao - possibly paying her a lot of money to appear on their show. But that hardly had any impact. None of the other media picked up this "excuse for news". Angered by their defeat, they sent one of their cheap editors - Ajit - to cause confusion in the press meet. And when that too did not pan out, they resorted to the old and trusted mob attack. The fact that it was planned attack was obvious because Suvarna's van was at the place of the attack before even we knew of the group gathering at the gate (look at their blue OB van showing up beneath the tree of the left). And no other group was present to cover the attack. The police conveniently landed up 2 minutes after the last vehicle with the attackers left.
And the fun part is, because of the political influence of Suvarna, 16 of us got arrested the next day - presumably for the crime of being beaten up! If it was not a serious issue it would make a terrific comedy story. So this was the worst side of the collective negativity - unthinking violent mobs, political influence, stark violation of human rights, media manipulating public opinion for their personal ends, police inaction.. The list goes on..
And at this point, a thought struck me as to much this was in stark contrast with what I has just seen just 20 hours back. This was in a village called Seeragapadi not far from the town of Salem in Tamil Nadu. I was driving with Swami from Madurai back to Bangalore and we had just driven all though the afternoon and night to reach Bidadi at 4 am that morning. Along the way a large number of devotees had gathered and were waiting to catch a glimpse of Him. With so much love and eagerness they were waiting for more that 5 hours in each spot. We were delayed in starting from Madurai due to a number of reasons. But that did not deter them from waiting for just a glimpse of him. In the places where he got off the car one could feel the overflowing love and gratitude of the people. Their faces glowed with excitement and one could be very sure that they would all be on cloud 9 for the next month or more. Garlands and Gifts and Music .. and people waiting in the hot sun for hours - all for a 30 second stop over from Him. And in many places just to see him drive past. And this was not like a political meeting where people were paid to come and cheer. I knew many of them personally and I could see the love they had for Swami.
But none of that prepared me for what I saw in Seeragapadi. I was wondering why Swami would take a detour from the highway to visit this village when we were already running late. All other stops were on the highway itself. It was close to 8.30 in the night and we were a good 6 hours away from Bangalore. But I realized Why the moment the car turned towards the village. The entire village - every man, woman and child - was waiting outside the center there to receive Swami. And they had all been waiting from 2pm - which was when we were initially supposed to be there... and .. the news of his potential visit was given to them only a day earlier. All the women were holding mud pots with fire in them - a sign of respect and a show of their Tapas. But I could not see a bit of tiredness on their faces. Only intense and exploding ecstasy and joy as our car turned into the ashram. People gathered all around him for blessings. Songs were sung and he was invited in with traditional honors and music and once inside the large hall - which all the villagers had built with their own hands without any paid labour - I could see the entire group reflect the bliss an fulfillment of seeing their God. Swami had helped people in the village come out their caste conflict and alchoholism a few years back and now the whole village was into meditation and spreading the benefits of it. I didn't find one sad face in the entire group! I was told by the local police that there is no incident of crime there - none. zero. zilch. I don't know if I can do justice to what I saw that day. I know I cannot. But I encourage each one of you to visit the place. You will know how the enlightened world will look like not so far into the future.
And that memory of the drive was what kept me laughing through the encounter with society's worst. I was laughing inside all through it. I was surprised at that myself because it was a pretty serious situation all through. I then realized that this was because somewhere within me I knew that all this was a last ditch effort by desparate forces. It looks superficially that there is a lot of resistance. But it is the resistance of the dying evil from the old world as it gives in to a new world of possibilities - that where human beings can live blissfully and in fulfillment. The very idea of which shakes up many of the established players in the field of money, politics and even tradition.
And He did confirm this idea that came to me in his discourse that day. He beautifully said (paraphrasing based on what I remember) "The people who love me and are grateful to me do so because they got something from me. They got their lives back. But the people who oppose me have had no interaction with me or are not directly affected by anything they complain about. It is just the collective negativity operating through them. And that is the big difference. And thats why we will win".
And That is why we will win.
It happened at close to 6pm. A bunch of us were chatting happily in a group in Bidadi. And suddenly someone shouted that there was trouble at the main gate. I rushed to see what was happening. A few others took their cars to cover the half a kilometer road to the gate. And there, not unlike the mindless Orcs in the Lord of the Rings movies, there were a horde of about 40 to 50 hooligans wearing some ill colored scarfs and trying to climb over the gates to the ashram. The few ashramites who had gotten there earlier were struggling hard to keep them off the grounds.
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| Mindless Orcs |
| Ashram administrator wounded |
| Suvarna-TV van that was present before the attack started |
| 16 of the victims being illegally arrested without cause |
And at this point, a thought struck me as to much this was in stark contrast with what I has just seen just 20 hours back. This was in a village called Seeragapadi not far from the town of Salem in Tamil Nadu. I was driving with Swami from Madurai back to Bangalore and we had just driven all though the afternoon and night to reach Bidadi at 4 am that morning. Along the way a large number of devotees had gathered and were waiting to catch a glimpse of Him. With so much love and eagerness they were waiting for more that 5 hours in each spot. We were delayed in starting from Madurai due to a number of reasons. But that did not deter them from waiting for just a glimpse of him. In the places where he got off the car one could feel the overflowing love and gratitude of the people. Their faces glowed with excitement and one could be very sure that they would all be on cloud 9 for the next month or more. Garlands and Gifts and Music .. and people waiting in the hot sun for hours - all for a 30 second stop over from Him. And in many places just to see him drive past. And this was not like a political meeting where people were paid to come and cheer. I knew many of them personally and I could see the love they had for Swami.
But none of that prepared me for what I saw in Seeragapadi. I was wondering why Swami would take a detour from the highway to visit this village when we were already running late. All other stops were on the highway itself. It was close to 8.30 in the night and we were a good 6 hours away from Bangalore. But I realized Why the moment the car turned towards the village. The entire village - every man, woman and child - was waiting outside the center there to receive Swami. And they had all been waiting from 2pm - which was when we were initially supposed to be there... and .. the news of his potential visit was given to them only a day earlier. All the women were holding mud pots with fire in them - a sign of respect and a show of their Tapas. But I could not see a bit of tiredness on their faces. Only intense and exploding ecstasy and joy as our car turned into the ashram. People gathered all around him for blessings. Songs were sung and he was invited in with traditional honors and music and once inside the large hall - which all the villagers had built with their own hands without any paid labour - I could see the entire group reflect the bliss an fulfillment of seeing their God. Swami had helped people in the village come out their caste conflict and alchoholism a few years back and now the whole village was into meditation and spreading the benefits of it. I didn't find one sad face in the entire group! I was told by the local police that there is no incident of crime there - none. zero. zilch. I don't know if I can do justice to what I saw that day. I know I cannot. But I encourage each one of you to visit the place. You will know how the enlightened world will look like not so far into the future.
And that memory of the drive was what kept me laughing through the encounter with society's worst. I was laughing inside all through it. I was surprised at that myself because it was a pretty serious situation all through. I then realized that this was because somewhere within me I knew that all this was a last ditch effort by desparate forces. It looks superficially that there is a lot of resistance. But it is the resistance of the dying evil from the old world as it gives in to a new world of possibilities - that where human beings can live blissfully and in fulfillment. The very idea of which shakes up many of the established players in the field of money, politics and even tradition.
And He did confirm this idea that came to me in his discourse that day. He beautifully said (paraphrasing based on what I remember) "The people who love me and are grateful to me do so because they got something from me. They got their lives back. But the people who oppose me have had no interaction with me or are not directly affected by anything they complain about. It is just the collective negativity operating through them. And that is the big difference. And thats why we will win".
And That is why we will win.
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