A new life after Sadashivoham

 

Three months spent with a living Avatar in the mystical kshetra (energy field) can be equivalent to spending 4-5 years of one’s lifetime in the normal human plane. That’s the intensity and the richness of my experience with Nithyananda Yogam – a 3-month program with Paramahamsa Nithyananda (fondly known as Swamiji). The time spent there was of different qualities and literally I experienced a quantum shift in my inner space like a major upgrade of hardware and software – the body-mind and consciousness.

Read more

Power of Blessings

I never knew the power of blessing till I met my Guru, Paramahamsa Nithyananda (fondly known as Swamiji). In the Chinese culture where I am born in, it is not something we practise consciously. As a child, I always observed how my mother prayed to our ancestors and family deities. The way her generation related with the Divine was through prayer. They relate with God like a business, offering something just to beg for something to be showered in their life. The idea they carry about self is that human beings are lower beings than Gods.

The Sanatana Hindu Dharma gave me the right introduction of self from the context of I am the Source. The moment I cognized that I am also made of the same source as the Existence, I begin to understand and appreciate the power of blessing.

The first thing I learned about blessing from Vedic culture was to bless myself as the first step to bless the world. Blessing myself means accepting me as I am, respecting self as I am, revering me as I am, and feeling that there is something worthy in me as I am. This feeling builds a kind of self-love which is important in shifting the space of negativity we are usually caught in due to the societal conditioning and the wrong thought patterns.

The more we experience a space that is filled with joy or bliss continuously, the more we want to bless our self and bless the entire world and Universe. Swamiji said that “Blessing has to be done to everything because it is consciousness. It is not just an action, it is consciousness. It is not an action directed towards a person; it is a consciousness radiating toward everything!” When we have the presence of an enlightened master, the whole world is continuously blessed by him who is in bliss. His very presence is a blessing, an eternal blessing. His words are a blessing, his actions are a blessing, and his very breathing is a blessing, even though sometimes the blessing comes in a way we don’t directly understand. Everything that happens in his presence is a blessing. When we are established in pure witnessing consciousness, anything that crosses us only awakens blessings.

Swamiji gave an apt analogy – when the air crosses dust, dirt or drainage, it creates a bad smell. When the same air crosses the ripe old sandalwood tree, it creates the sandalwood smell. A confused, chaotic, unconscious, clutched, identifying mind is the dirt, dust, and drainage. A pure, radiating, unclutched inner space is the ripe sandalwood tree. Any breeze that blows through the sandalwood tree carries the smell of the sandalwood tree: the blessing. Same way, whatever crosses the witnessing consciousness will have the smell of a blessing. That is why any food touched by an enlightened being becomes prasada – consecrated or energized food. Water touched by him becomes teertha, holy water. The place where he lives becomes kshetra – a temple. Idols touched by him become deities. And a person touched by him becomes enlightened. Witnessing pure consciousness is like a sparsamani – a touchstone. Whatever the sparsamani touches becomes pure gold. In the same way, whatever pure witnessing consciousness touches, it becomes a blessing to the whole Cosmos. Blessed are those who have a living enlightened master who constantly blesses them in all dimensions of their lives.

Now, whatever new endeavours I want or whenever I want to start something new, I always seek blessings from the Guru, sangha (spiritual community) and my own blessing. At Singapore sangha, we have different Facebook groups to request blessing from Swamiji as well as What’s App groups on smartphone where we can simply send a blessing request for  anything in life ranging from success in getting a new job, passing of exam, speedy recovery from sickness, graceful exit from death, literally anything under the Sun. One thing I also learned, even after we receive the blessing of the Divine, it does not mean we can just be lazy and not take responsibility. A blessing means the energy and knowledge for manifesting that reality are already sent, we have to take the responsibility to create that reality we want. I’ve seen people asking for blessings but never take any responsibility. When the desired outcome doesn’t happen, they carry incompletion with the master for not causing their reality. Sometimes despite whatever we’ve done and the desired outcome doesn’t happen, it means whatever we seek is not meant for us and the blessing comes in other ways which our mind may not comprehend logically. That happens only when we have tremendous trust in the Master.

Blessing is an experience, not a subject we can talk much, we only have to experience it. We only have to live it and let the pure witnessing consciousness touch our life as a happening of miracles. Blessings!

Your problems aren’t big as you think

Are you struggling with problems in life?
Do you feel overwhelmed or depressed by your problems?

The first thing I learned about problems in life from my Guru, Paramahamsa Nithyananda (fondly known as Swamiji) is that our mind is not logical as such every moment our idea of pain, suffering, pleasure, joy, love and hate is constantly changing. Each problem is like a new wave which dissolves after sometime. The problem is we’ve been taught to think the mind is logical but the truth is the mind is more like an ocean. It is not a solid ground as we may like to believe, all ideas we carry about ourselves, ideas about love, pain, worries, fears, pleasure and God – these ideas are floating and not rooted.

One example in my life.
There was a time which I felt troubled in my marriage. I would imagine the different permutations of response I would give and the outcomes from my imagination. When I was diagnosed with Stage 3 cervix cancer in June 2005, suddenly the game of the mind shifted gear to the most basic survival need. The conflict in the relationship didn’t bother me after all, the issue of my basic survival became the main concern. This clearly showed that all my ideas of so-called problems in my life were just not solid. They existed based on my perception of suffering at that moment.

The second truth is that problem can wash away other problems, waves can dissolve waves. When one big survival-need type of problem hits me, it just washed away all my other problems. Other problems such as conflict in relationships and stress from job are no longer a concern. Suddenly all the problems I thought could never be resolved, just disappeared at that moment. Nothing really matters!

The third secret you should know is that whenever we undergo death-related fear, a huge energy is being released in the second energy center (Swadhistana chakra) – it is an automatic mechanism to bring us out of fear. Same way for pain experience, there is an automatic anaesthesia to protect us from pain. Beyond certain limit, we fall into the unconscious layer and we don’t feel the pain anymore. If we internalize this truth, we lose respect for the perceived problems and they no longer have power over us.  It is by making the problem seems big that our mind feels big and important. But the mind is wavering, constantly it creates waves, hence Patanjali says Sutra Verse #2 ‘Mind is an action, you can stop it.’ The first step to get out of this mind game is to become aware that your understanding of problems is not right.

In Patanjali Yoga Sutra Verse 13, it states that ‘The effort to remain constantly in that elevated state of awareness is abhyasa: Tatra sthitau yatno abhyasa.’ Abhyasa means again and again bringng yourself back to the center, elevating yourself to the higher state of consciousness, centering yourself in that truth. By melting the incompletions or hangovers you created unconsciously and living the right truths will bring you back to the center again and again.  This Sutra not only gave me one of the AHA! moments which shifted my perception about problems in life, but it also helped me to strengthen my spiritual practice so that I am able to find my center again and again.

Abhyasa (practice) is deeply connected to the muscles in our body. Whatever we repeat consciously become unconscious because it penetrates into the unconscious layers; that memory creates our body. Any conscious action you do again and again will strengthen you whereas any unconscious action you do repeatedly weakens your body.

Remember this truth – the problems we face are neither permanent nor impermanent as we perceive. We create problems from our unconscious practice or habits (negative abhyasa). When we are able to cognise this fundamental truth about problems, we can simply walk out of any problem and get back to our center of restful awareness. Namaste 😀