Q&A with Paramahamsa Nithyananda

A super super fascinating talk. A friend of mine was saying the other day that why is it that what is so obvious to him, that inner mess has to fixed before any sort of progress can be made at the outer level, is not being echoed by any living enlightened masters (except for some occasional reference by Eckhart Tolle and Jiddu Krishnamurthi). He was also a tad worried if he was really on the correct path. I am happy to have found this. Paramhamsa Nityananda just said that EXACTLY!

Excerpts

Living in the moment happens only when you are really enjoying this moment.

We are much caught in the past because we think memories are more solid than realities and it is what we call illusion. For e.g., when we go for a vacation, first thing we do is take photographs so that later on we can look at the photograph and enjoy but we do not enjoy that very moment. Somehow, the mind is trained to think that the past is more joyful, colorful than the present.

You know you are alive inside your skin. (When I became enlightened) I felt that same life not only inside my skin, but also outside. I felt it in all the living beings, animate and inanimate beings. It opened up a deep compassion for everything and reverence for life happened.

Once you are enlightened, you cant die or kill for some concepts' (religious, communal, lingual etc...) sake.

Inner chattering (mental noise) is the fight between the identity that you show to the outer world and the identity that you believe in the inner world as you.

It is time to save planet earth by creating more and more people who are enlightened. Unless we create a critical mass of enlightened people, we cannot think of saving planet earth. There are so many calamities happening around the earth that is created by unconscious human beings - global warming, religious terrorism, HIV, so many atomic weapons getting piled. Today, we are facing so many dangers. Unless we create a peaceful, blissful, joyful, understanding and enlightened society, I don't think we can save planet earth.

Responsibility is consciousness. The moment you feel responsible for things around you, that moment, the divine energy comes rushing into you.

We always think we should take up responsibility that is proportional to the energy we have in ourselves. But, in reality, when we take up more responsibility, we just expand and more energy starts expressing through us.

If you feel responsible to whatever happens around you, you suddenly become a leader and you start transforming your life and others' life. Responsibility is one of the ways to consciously grow. Taking responsibility for others is the technique for enlightenment. This is what the Gita calls as Karma Yoga. You do not bother for the results. Feeling compassion and responsibility, you start working for others.

Working out of overflowing energy and compassion is what we call spiritual life.

A war is created by people who are agitated. If we get agitated by it, we are not going to solve the problem. We will only add to the problem. So, we should do whatever we can without getting agitated. If get agitated, you have already lost the game.

Anybody who has tried a revolution have only managed to create one more system, one more tradition, one more power game which ended up in one more war. The only way is the way of the Buddha, the way of the peace, the way of silence, the way of Shiva. Work on yourself, become a strong leader without getting agitated and do things that have to be done. Do everything, but don't get agitated. Be productive but not agitated.

Revolution is not the way. Evolution is the way!