THE CHIDAKASHA GITA
OF BHAGAWAN NITYANANDA OF GANESHPURI
Verses 176-175 With Commentary by Kedarji

176. The goal of humankind is Upanayanam, i.e. to be lead to immortality. Dwelling in the cave of the heart is person’s goal. Living in the cave means living inside the body.

Commentary: The goal of human life is to realize God, to become Liberated from the bondage of ignorance. This is the purpose of a human birth. To become absorbed in God is the goal of humankind. Shiva Consciousness is what is referred to as the cave of the heart. It is the Paramatma (formless Absolute) that dwells in the Heart space in the head. Living in that cave means taking a human form to complete your karmas so that you can return go to God.

177. Meditate incessantly on the Paramatma who is in the Jivatma. Space is in you. It is in the head. Meditate on the heart space that is in the head.

Commentary: Meditate incessantly on Shiva-Shakti, the Absolute, who dwells inside you. Chidakasha, the great expanse of Supreme Consciousness, exists inside you in the Heart space in your head. This is the abode of Lord Shiva, the Absolute. Meditate on this Heart space that is in the head.

178. Those who are born deaf have not the least idea of sound. They have no desires. They have subtle discrimination. Those who are always in yoga sleep, have no difference between day and night, between sun and moon.

To the subtle discrimination, all is one. Those who have annihilated the mind are human. Lower animals are so called, because they are in a lower stage of development. Sensual life is beastly life. The upward breath is the goal of humankind. The same is Gayatri, accomplished. The same is yoga-bliss.

Commentary: Just as a deaf person does not know what sound is and, therefore, has no expectation of hearing it, the yogi, having relinquished the desire for worldly pleasures, has no expectations of sense pleasures nor any desire for them. Such a Jnani has subtle discrimination and remains in the sleep of Yoga, completely absorbed in God at all times.

For the Liberated, there is no difference between day and night or the sun and the moon. They see all as the one God. Those who have caused their minds to dissolve in Chit Shakti are true human beings. Those who are not absorbed in this state are in a lower stage of development.

A life caught up in the pursuit of sensual desire is no better than a beast’s life. It is just like that of an animal in the jungle. To obtain the Bliss of the Absolute, one must direct Prana inside the Sushumna Nadi to union with Shiva. That is the Bliss of Yoga.

179. One who has annihilated the manas is the universal teacher. One who has destroyed desire, root and branch, is the teacher of all.

Commentary: Only a person who has become completely absorbed in God Consciousness, annihilating his/her mind by merging the mind into the Supreme, only such a person is qualified to lead others. The person who has attained this state of Purnaham Vimarsha is the universal teacher. When the mind is merged completely in God, desire is destroyed and you become a Self-realized being.

180. He is a real Sanyasi who has burnt desire to ashes. He is the universal teacher. The universe is in those who have renounced desire. What is Chidakasha (space) is Sanyasa. The same is light and is Consciousness. The same is Divine light. The same is fire, internal, and external. The same is the fire of discrimination. This power of discrimination is in the universe.

Commentary: Only a person who has removed the seed of desire from his being can claim to be a Sanyasi. Taking Sanyas means renouncing the ego completely and forever. That is the only true Sanyas. A Sanyasi is one whose only desire is to serve God and humanity. A Sanyasi is one who has completely eliminated all craving and limited desire from his/her being. This person is a universal teacher.

The realization that the universe is contained inside a human being is a realization that dawns on one who has conquered craving and limiting desire by the Grace of one’s chosen Master. Chidakasha, the Heart space in the head, is Sanyasa. This inner place is the Divine Light of Consciousness.

It is the fire of Yoga that burns within and, once Liberation dawns, Chidakasha is also seen in everything and everyone, everywhere. Liberation is the power of subtle discrimination. This power or fire of discrimination is the experience of God in everything and everyone, everywhere. In this state, the Sanyasi no longer experiences a world but sees only the face of God.

181. Fire is essentially an internal thing. Fire is the supreme of all. The origin of all creation is fire. First, we must realize ourselves, and then impart it to others. This is the highest duty of man.

When you feel pain, you must realize that others have pain just like you. When you feel hungry, you must realize that others have hunger just like you. We must think that what is our goal is also the goal of others.

When a physician develops a new medicine and he does not reveal it to others till his death, the medicine is lost to the world with him. One who does not know the ways and means to realize God, is not a man. The most supreme knowledge is the knowledge of God. This knowledge must be imparted to others so that they may understand it. Those who are hungry must be fed. Nobody asks you about God unless he has discriminative power.

Commentary: There is a Yajna (sacrificial fire) that burns inside you on a constant basis. This fire is the Kundalini Shakti and, once awakened by a Siddha, it burns all the impurities in your being. This internal fire is Supreme because it is the true place of all sacrifices and offerings. The first goal of human existence is to realize God through the awakening and nurturing of this inner fire. Once we are Liberated in this way, it is our duty to impart Yoga knowledge to others.

This is, in fact, the highest calling, the highest duty of a human being; to realize God and then share your knowledge and experience with others. When you feel pain, you must realize that others have pain just like you. When you feel hungry, you must realize that others have hunger just like you. Likewise, just as yourself, others also seek happiness and release from suffering. True Happiness and Bliss is the goal of all living beings. This is not just your goal, but the goal of others as well.

Just as a physician who discovers a cure to an illness but does not share it has not fulfilled his duty in life, to be blessed with the dawning of Liberation and then not to share that knowledge with others is misappropriating one’s Dharma. Once the Master blesses you with the dawning of Liberation, don’t keep it a secret. It is of no use that way. Share your blessing with others.

The most supreme knowledge is the knowledge of God. This knowledge must be imparted to others so that they may understand it. A person who does not have a Siddha Guru and a spiritual practice, cannot attain God. Those who are sincerely seeking the Truth are hungry for the experience of God within. They must be fed. People who seek to know God already have an understanding that there must be more to life than the mundane experience that is common to all and this is why they must be served.

182. The first requirement is faith. The second is devotion (Bhakti). Those who have no faith cannot have devotion. The judge listens to what the defendants say. Faith is just like that. When Buddhi has attained acute discriminating power, we will experience Vivekananda. Vivekananda is Paramananda, Satchidananda. When existence (Sat) and knowledge (Chit) become one, Ananda will result. This is Brahmananda, Shivananda.

Commentary: First you must have Faith in God, Faith in the living Sadguru, and Faith in the practices. Without Faith, you cannot cultivate Devotion and, without Devotion, there is no progress on the spiritual path. The judge listens to what the defendants say. Faith is just like that.

When you have it, God comes looking for you and hears your prayers. God responds to Faith. When your individual intellect is purified in the fire of Sadhana, it will merge with the Divine and you will experience the Bliss of the Self and the complete freedom that is Sat-Chit-Ananda. When existence and awareness of the Truth become one, Bliss is the result. This Bliss is God, the Supreme Self.

183. Shiva is in you. You are in Shiva. Maya is in you. Creation and destruction are both in Maya. Those who are free from the bondage of the qualities (Trigunas) are free from Maya. He who is free from the delusion that he is the body, is nothing but bliss incarnate. That which is free from the idea of “honor” and “dishonor” is internal.

Commentary: God dwells within you as you. You are Shiva and Shiva is you. Due to the illusion of this world appearance, the universe comes into being and is eventually destroyed. Life and death are part of the illusion of objects (people, places and things) existing separate from God.

Although it may seem that you participate in this illusion, you are not this Maya. Your essence is the God-principle, the one who has created this Maya. To be free from the bondage of this Maya, one must rise above the influence of the three Gunas (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas).

If you are completely free from the notion that you are the body, if this is your constant awareness, you are free of the three Gunas and Bliss is your constant state. That which is beyond all notions of “honor” and “dishonor” can be called God within. Contemplating that is known as turning within. The goal of life is to merge with that God-principle.

184. In this world, those who are indifferent to honor and dishonor, have attained the goal. Only such people have attained peace.

Commentary: Those who have risen above pleasure and pain and have transcended both virtue and vice have attained the goal. Transcending honor and dishonor, transcending both virtue and vice means rising above praise and blame so that you have no ego, regardless of whether you have or have not attained virtue. Such people live to serve God and do not create any karmas in their actions. Such a person has become Peace itself.

185. In the infinite (indivisible), there is no finite (divisible). Those who are without a guru, cannot attain the goal.

Commentary: Shiva-Shakti, the God-principle in its purest form, has no attributes and is without qualities. Shiva-Shakti is eternal and has no limitations in this, its transcendental aspect. Those who do not follow a Siddha and the instruction of such a Master cannot experience this.

186. Consider the physical eye. A blind man may have a light in his hand but the light is of no use to him. Those who have eaten a bellyful do not require food any more. Suppose, the cooking is over. You are not satisfied by simply smelling the food. Your hunger is appeased only if you eat the food cooked.

If you hold a piece of gold in your hand, it is of no use. It should be melted in the fire. Its dross should be removed. Then only, it shines brilliantly. Similarly, the dross of the soul is desire and anger. These should be destroyed.

Commentary: A blind person can’t see a light, even if that light is starring him in the face. In the same way, those who are ignorant of the Truth cannot experience it, even though it exists right inside their own being. On the other hand, just as one who has eaten a belly full does not want any more food, a Yogi who has experienced the Master’s Grace no longer wants the expectation of worldly outcomes.

Your hunger is not satisfied from simply smelling great food. It is only satisfied when you eat the food. Likewise, you cannot attain Liberation by entertaining clever intellectual discussions about God. You can only realize Shiva by devouring the Grace and instruction of a Siddha (spiritually-perfected Love being). Gold only has real value when the dross is removed from it and it is polished clean. Only then does it shine brilliantly. In the same way, in order to experience the brilliant Light of Divine Consciousness within your own being, desire and anger must be destroyed.

187. What the nest is to the bird, is the body to the soul. The body is the house of the soul. What is “that house” and what is “this house” is subtle discrimination. The gross body is the beggarly house. What to say of Brahmananda! No one can describe it.

Truly, truly, realize that the eternal Atman is ONE in ALL. Hari is not the knower. Shiva is the knower. What is Hari is wandering. “Hari! Hari! I want this.” “I want that.” “Give me, give me,” you say. This is of no use. Such a man is never happy. Let Hari merge in Hara. Burn Hari in Hara. Saying “Hari, Hari” is nothing but mental delusion. You praise Hara, hiding this delusion in your mind!

He who has given you eternal joy is Shiva. Shiva is the giver of eternal Mukti (liberation) and eternal Bhakti. What is Hari is keeping the mind in the world. Shiva is keeping the whole universe in one’s Self. Saying “Hari, Hari” is going down. But Shiva is the guide to the path of bliss. Mukti is obtained by the upward course of Prana. Hari is like a horse without reins.

Commentary: Just as the nest is the home for a bird, the body is the home or temple that houses the Atman. And there is no difference between God inside the “house” of your body and God outside.

Attachment to worldliness makes you a beggar. So, what of the Supreme state of Shiva Consciousness! To understand this requires the subtle discrimination acquired through Sadhana under the guidance of a Sadguru. Realize that the eternal Atman has taken all the forms of existence. It is only God that exists everywhere.

In many Yoga traditions, it has become common to worship Lord Vishnu (Hari) and his consort. Vishnu is the sustainer of the universe and also the one who grants boons of wealth and prosperity. Many, many students of Yoga have gotten caught up in treating the spiritual path as a business venture. They perform their worship as a means of bartering for God’s blessings for money, sex, a husband, a wife, a child or a successful outcome for a business or employment endeavor. In this way, their worship becomes tainted and they become more and more attached to sense pleasures and worldly pleasures, rather than rising above these to experience God.

Spirituality is not a field to grow crops in. This is what Sri Nityananda tells us. The Self, God is the knower of the field. It is through this Ultimate Reality alone that Liberation dawns, not through desiring to possess worldly outcomes.

You can never be happy while engaging your limited desire and cravings for this and that. You praise God superficially while, all the time, harboring desires for the fulfillment of worldly pleasures in your mind. Give these up! Give up even the notion of the expectation of such things. Merge Hari in Hara (Shiva) in this way! Become God in this way and experience eternal joy.

It is Shiva (the Universal God-principle) who bestows Liberation and eternal Love and Devotion. Hari is the focus on worldliness and the constant wish for more objects of craving and desire. Shiva Consciousness is seeing God as emanating from your own being. In this way, you have no worries or cravings. Shiva is the guide to the path of Joy. Constant worship of Hari is the desire for worldliness.

Liberation is attained by directing the upward breath into the Sushumna Nadi so that Kundalini Shakti can be carried to union with Shiva in the Sahasrar, the highest spiritual center. The desire for sense pleasures and worldly pleasures is like riding a wild horse without reigns, meaning that your life is out of control.

188. To ride a horse safely in the midst of a crowd of two thousand people, the rider must be efficient. Buddhi (intelligence) is above. Manas (mind) is below. Buddhi is the king. Manas is the prime minister. Mind must be subordinate to Buddhi.

The first is sound. The second is the impression that the sound carries. The primary Guru is the Manas. The secondary preceptor is he who initiates you. The secondary Guru is the teacher. The primary Guru is that which practices. Realization is the primary Guru.

You cannot have a secondary preceptor unless you have a desire to have him. When you have the desire to possess a thing you require a secondary Guru. The secondary Guru is he who shows you the well. The primary Guru is he who drinks water from the well. The primary preceptor banishes the darkness in you, giving you light. Darkness is ignorance.

Light is knowledge. He who shows you the path to the subtle, leaving aside the gross, is the Guru. The one Guru who is in all is the Lord of the Universe. One is not the Guru to the other. One is only a secondary Guru.

Guru is the Lord of the Universe. He is the Omkar, Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara, the origin of Para-Brahma. Vishnu is the mental modifications (Vrittis). What is Shiva is the decoration of the body. Brahmeshwara is leaving aside of the body-idea, like the kernel of a dry coconut that is separated from the outer covering.

Commentary: Just as riding a horse through a crowd of thousands of people without trampling anyone or hurting yourself requires great proficiency; scaling the mountain of samsara, crossing the vast ocean of worldliness and ignorance requires skill through practice. Buddhi, the intellect, must be purified. It is through the purified intellect that the Light of Consciousness flows.

The mind is subordinate to the intellect. Once the intellect becomes pure, the mind follows, just as sound naturally follows vibration. The primary Guru, the primary teacher is God. The secondary Guru (the primary Guru in physical form) is the one who initiates you and instructs you, until you are set on your own path. The secondary Guru is the Siddha who leads you to the threshold of Liberation.

The primary Guru is the in-dweller, the witness of your thoughts, that Chit Shakti that gives life to your spiritual practice. Realization is complete identification with this primary Guru. When you sincerely desire to know God, the Siddha or Sadguru enters your life, not otherwise.

As with anything else in life, if you have a desire to know a thing well, you have to find a leader or mentor. It is the same in spiritual life. The secondary Guru or preceptor is the one who guides you to the well of your own inner essence. The primary Guru or preceptor, the Shiva-Shakti power, banishes the darkness within you and shows you the light, through your own spiritual practice, as instructed by the secondary Guru. This requires the initiation of Shaktipat, full Kundalini Awakening to fully realize.

What is called darkness is ignorance of your own true nature. What is called light is your complete knowledge and awareness of your identity with Shiva. He who shows you the path to that God-principle inside, he who instructs you to set your ego aside, to set your cravings for the gross world of limited desires aside, only such a person can be called a Guru or Siddha. Such a being is one with the primary Guru. In fact, the Sadguru, a Siddha Guru, is God, having had his/her individual identity erased by his own Guru. Upon the receipt of Shaktipat, the primary Guru and the secondary Guru (the primary Guru in physical form) become one in the Disciple.

Shiva, the Supreme Self is the Guru of all. The outer Guru is not the guru to Shiva, but one with Shiva.

189. All things with form are OMKAR. OMKAR is the divine in them. What is OMKAR is the subtle Bindu. Omkar pervades both in and out, in the form of air. It is impossible to describe Shiva-Shakti. Only those who have experienced it can describe what it is. Without experience, it is impossible to describe what Shiva-Shakti is. Men of book knowledge cannot describe it. But those who have the knowledge of the Atman can describe it.

Commentary: OMKAR, the essence of Being-Awareness and Bliss (Sat-Chit Ananda), in the form of the mantra OM, is inherent in all forms. Om is the divine in these forms. The subtle Bindu, the seed of Unmesha (the outward unfolding of divine conscious energy) that resides in God’s being as Spanda Shakti, in its purest form, OM. This OM is Shiva-Shakti.

The Shiva-Shakti power, the energy substratum of everything, pervades everything inside and out in the form of Prana that enters and exists in living beings. It is impossible to describe with mundane words, the highest power of the Supreme Self. Only those who have experienced it can describe what it is. People who have intellectual knowledge of God cannot describe oneness with God. But those who have the inner knowledge of God can describe the direct experience of it.

190. If you see the dawn in the heart sky, it is possible to describe it. One must experience these things in one’s Self. What is called Jnana is in Buddhi (intelligence). Those in whom Buddhi and Jnana have become one, can describe what this is. Those in whom intelligence and Jnana are separate, cannot describe what it is.

What is called subtle discrimination is the union of Buddhi and Jnana. The reflection of the Sun ripples in the water. So also, is mind. If mind is fickle, it is enamored of Maya. This madness (delusion) is caused by the gross. There is a madness caused by subtle discrimination. This is divine madness. The gross madness is the gross discrimination.

Whatever we may eat, the path of food to the stomach is the same. Whatever may be the contents of letters and post cards and various newspapers, the box in which they are posted is the same. The tongue distinguishes between things pungent and things sour. To the mind, there is no such difference. Just as we cage a bird binding its legs and then teach it to speak, so also intelligence becomes one with the soul when it is caged in the cage of Manas.

Commentary: There are thousands of suns inside. These suns are called the Adityas and they are much more brilliant than the sun in our solar system. They can be seen in Chidakasha, the great expanse of the heart, the sky of Divine Consciousness. This experience is impossible to describe without having it for yourself.

Jnana is knowledge and wisdom that arises spontaneously from within when your individual intellect is merged in the Self. When this happens, the experience of the Adityas dawns. This is the dawn experienced in the Heart space reflected in the head. Subtle discrimination is the state of one whose Buddhi (individual intellect) has merged in Shiva. Such a person is a Jnani (knower of the highest Truth).

The mind is a contracted form of Supreme Consciousness. Therefore, it has great power. If the mind is not properly trained and directed back inside, it becomes enthralled and attached to the illusion of worldliness. Shiva’s Maya is this illusion. It is madness caused by attachment to craving and desire for sense pleasures and worldly pleasures that are experienced in a world that is neither real or unreal, but a mere perception.

Subtle discrimination is Divine madness. It is mad love for God. This type of madness frees you from the bondage of ignorance. The gross world created by Shiva’s Maya is a madness that binds. Just as all food goes to the same place to be digested, all life emanates from and returns to that ONE God.

All letters and post cards are delivered to the same place, a mail box. In the same way all thoughts, notions and ideas rise from and subside in the Self. The mind that has not experienced God sees differences and believes itself to be separate from other objects (people, places and things). The mind that is merged in God sees no such differences. We must steady the mind in the heart of the Self and merge the individual intellect into That. The way to accomplish this is by directing the mind back inside through Meditation.

191. The Lord of Mukti is Shiva. Shiva is the Linga in the head. This Linga is nothing but Omkar. Enlightenment is the most important thing. Without nerves, there is no sound. Bhakti may be compared to the oil in a lamp. Nerves may be red to the wick. Subtle discrimination is the flame or the light. The nerves are the glass of the lantern. The various air holes of the lantern are the Brahma-Randhras. The form of discrimination is intelligence.

Commentary: The Lord of Liberation, the one who grants the state of God-realization, is Shiva. Shiva is the Lingham, the form of the Absolute, in the Sahasrar. This Lingam has a vibration that makes the sound OM.

Enlightenment is the goal of life. It is more important than any other effort. Just as you cannot hear properly without the nerves in your body, you can’t live a joyful life free from suffering without crossing over to the other shore, the shore of God. Bhakti, complete love and devotion for God and the Guru is the key to this journey. Having this Bhakti and performing sadhana purifies your entire being and you become immersed in the Supreme Self. This absorption in God is what we call intelligence.

192. If you hold nose and mouth tight, you are not able to talk. Similarly, a thing that does not breathe, does not emit sound. Just as water goes on diminishing in a well in summer, so also, the power of the breath goes on diminishing in the body. When the water is moving, the air moves along with it. You can live without food or without drinking coffee for five days. But you cannot live for five minutes without breathing.

Commentary: Prana Shakti, the life force contained in the breath, is the cause of existence as we know it. Without this Prana Shakti there is no sound to be heard and no activity of any kind. Prana causes the blood to flow, the heart to pump and all the bodily functions to work. As this Prana decreases in the body through old age, the body loses its luster and starts to decline. In this way, we can clearly see that Prana Shakti is the cause, not the body. There can be life for a while without food. But life stops immediately without Prana.

193. The highest of all powers is the power of Maya. A dead body and so also a stone are unable to talk. Likewise, if air does not act, fire cannot burn. If breathing is not regular, the fire of digestion will be impaired. When the digestive fire does not act properly, the phlegm in the lungs becomes hard. Fat increases in the body. The food that is eaten remains in the stomach undigested. If there is any obstruction in the pump, water will not flow out properly. Similarly, if the breathing becomes difficult, fever, thickening of the mucus are caused. By this, all diseases are caused.

Commentary: In the realm of this world-appearance, in the activity of existence, it is Shiva’s Maya (illusion of activity) that causes this Prana Shakti, this air, to flow in all living creatures. This Prana Vayu, acting on the power of Shiva’s Maya, is what gives life. Without it, all things die. There is no fire without air. The fire of Yoga cannot even burn without Prana. Prana, when directed properly in the three nerves, Ida, Pingala and Sushumna, causes proper digestion and purifies all the bodily functions. If the proper movement of Prana in the body by breathing is obstructed in any way, the result is illness and disease.

194. Everything comes out from within, not from without. One becomes bad by oneself. One becomes good by oneself. Similarly, there should be Omkar breathing within. Then, there is purity. When evil merges in the good, that evil is transformed into good.

The thing in your own hand has no smell. It has no price. A thing that is got from others has smell. It has price. A Raja yogi Mahatma is Nityananda, all pervasive Omkar, all pervasive Pranava. He who is the Sri Guru is Nityananda. In the beginning, before perfect peace is attained, the power of Maya (delusion) in us will be greatly manifested. Wherever you turn your eyes, you see serpents. In the beginning, when you sit for practice, the heaviness of a mountain is experienced. At times, you feel as if you leave off the ground. You feel as if you are sitting in the sea. You feel as if hot water is poured on you.

At another time, you feel as if you are sitting in a grand upper story. Sometime you feel like a needle. At another time, you feel like a leaf. Sometime you do not feel whether you are walking or sitting or talking. At another time all feeling comes to a stand still. Sometime, the body becomes quite motionless, like a coconut tree. At another time, human beings appear like actors in a dramatic performance.

At one time you see black faces. In perfect peace, one indivisible whiteness is visible. Light is in darkness. Darkness is in light. The whole universe is in darkness. In the universe is light. At one time, all this appears like a bioscopic performance. At another time, like Sat Chit Ananda. At one time, questions arise: “Why have men come into this world?” “Whither are they going?” They do not know what their main duty is.

Coming down is not permanent. Going up and up, is permanent. To those who have gone step by step to the upper story and look around, what is heard, what appears, what is done, all is like a net, that cannot be cut through. All penetrating Omkar is the all penetrating Pranava. Birds are like airplanes. Men are like beasts. Beasts are like men. Dogs are like Jnanis. If you feed a dog, it will never forget you till its death. It will have constant love for the master who has fed it but once.

Men have no subtle discrimination. They think not whence they have come and whither they are bound. A man of perfectly ripe understanding should be like a dog.

Commentary: There is no outer world. What you call “outer” and “world” is actually contained inside the body of Supreme Shiva Consciousness. What is called “external” is actually taking place on your own inner screen. For this reason, you get what you meditate on. What you think, you become. If you think impure or evil thoughts, you become evil. If you think good, useful and pure thoughts, you become virtuous. And if you merge your thinking and mind in the formless Absolute inside your own being, you become all-pervasive, you become Omkar.

To merge your mind in God in this way requires practice under the guidance of a Siddha. Once your Kundalini is awakened by a Shaktipat Guru, there are many different kinds of Kriyas that you experience before you have attained the purity of the Self. As you do your daily Sadhana, at times you feel will heavy and at other times light. Sometimes you will experience deep emotional upheaval and at other times you will feel elated.

At times, you may see different kinds of lights inside or hear a variety of sounds and celestial music. Sometimes, you will view people, places and things as if watching a movie and, at other times, you will feel like you are in the movie. This is all due to the movement (kriya) of the Shakti.

People everywhere have lost the real meaning and goal of life. They think they are pursuing happiness when they are actually courting misery. They think suffering is what life is about. For those who have a Guru, this is not the case. Under the direct instruction of a Siddha you are able to gradually heighten your conscious awareness and experience of God so that you elevate yourself, step by step, to merge with the Absolute.

If this is done gradually with the proper spiritual leadership, the final state is permanent and you will never again fall prey to ignorance. However, to accomplish this, you have to be loyal like a dog. Having seen the light that the Guru has shown you, you must never turn away from it. This is how you become permanently established in Omkar.

195. If you go to see a king, you have not the boldness to tell him to his face what his defects are. But behind his back, you criticize him. So also, worldly people are not bold enough to criticize a Jnani to his face. If you gaze at the brilliance of the sun and come into the house, you see nothing for a while. Similarly, if you emerge from a dark place into a light place, you cannot know whence you emerged.

Commentary: Rather than questioning the Guru face-to-face, the ignorant criticize the Master and the path behind his back. If you question a Siddha to his face, at least there is a chance for your ignorance and doubt to be removed. Such a Jnani like the Siddha Guru, lives in a state that is very different and unfamiliar to those who have never tread the path to God-realization. Spending time in the company of such a saint is like gazing directly into the sun’s light and then turning away from it. Your own sight is blinded for a short period.

Similarly, if you emerge from your own ignorance for the first time, you can’t know much about the new space that you have encountered. If you’ve never built a skyscraper, you are in no place to tell the engineers that the building is not built right. In the same way, unless you have followed the instruction of a Sadguru and done spiritual practice for a while, you don’t have the experience with which to criticize. Only he who first obeys can know and then command.

196. Suppose a man awakes from a sleep out of fear, and sits up. Then he is so confused that he has no clear knowledge of anything. So also, Jnanis who are always in “Yoga-Nidra” (yoga sleep) do not know anything about the external world. If you have an umbrella, your head does not become wet by rainwater. Those who take meals daily, have hunger. Those who are entirely merged in cold water do not feel cold. A perfect man is never excited to anger. A fried seed cannot sprout. Like gold, well burnished, your mind should be always pure.

Commentary: When you suddenly wake from a deep sleep out of fear, for a moment, you have no consciousness of the world around you or the fact that you even exist. For a Siddha, the universe does not exist. Only God exists. A Jnani such as this experiences only God in everything and everyone, everywhere and is not conscious of an external world apart from God.

This state is called Yoga Nidra or the deep sleep of Yoga that is the state of Purnaham Vimarsha. Once in this state, you are not affected in the least by pain and pleasure and you have no expectations of sense pleasures and worldly pleasures. Just as an umbrella protects you from rainwater, absorption in the Self protects you from the bondage of this world. Just as one who eats has desire for more food, those who crave sense pleasures are always hungry for more.

To become immune to Maya (the illusory aspect of this world), you must be in Maya, just as one who is entirely submerged in cold water does not feel the cold. You have to be in this world without being of this world in order to attain God. The Jnani is ever immersed in God and does not experience the pain and pleasure of craving and desire.

A perfect person is never lost in anger. Once you fry a seed, it will never sprout again. In the same way, once you merge your mind in Shiva, it will become pure and never wander in Samsara again. To perfect this you have to fully present with the Self while in Maya (worldliness) in order to cross it.

197. A high class cobra has internal Pranayama. A cobra is very attentive to the sweet music, arising from a musical instrument called Nagaswara. A Jnani loves ALL as a cow loves its own calf. This is what is called same-sightedness. There is no house that is without doors. There is no cooking without vessels.

A dog feeds on food, cooked either in earthen vessels or in gold vessels. Birds think of today’s necessities. Never tomorrow’s. A seed, kept in a closed box, never sprouts. Such a seed never yields fruits. If it is sowed in earth (and watered), it will sprout and yield fruits. Hence, we must practice and get experience. It is you yourself who is responsible either for happiness or misery.

Commentary: God exists even in a Cobra. Even a Cobra knows Pranayama. When it breathes internally, it can hear music and dance to its vibration. In the same way, a Jnani, having mastered internal breathing, is tuned into the Vibration of Divine Consciousness all the time. Such a Siddha loves all people and things equally, as a cow loves its own calf. This is what is known as samesightedness.

You can’t have a house without doors and you can’t cook food without a pot. In the same way, you can’t know God without Sadhana, without spiritual practice under the leadership of a Sadguru. Birds think of today’s needs only. They live one day at a time. In the same way, people should spend a lot less time planning for a future that does not exist and much more time living in the present moment which is the only moment that God can be known.

A seed cannot sprout if left in a box. It will only sprout if put into the earth and watered. You are the source of your own happiness and misery. If you want freedom from bondage and ignorance, you have to plant the seed of Sadhana so that you can gain direct experience and knowledge of Shiva, God.

198. Anybody can handle a lamp without distinction of caste and creed. So also, the sun gives the same light to all. Sun is visible to all alike. Fire is visible to all alike. Supreme Buddhi (intelligence) and Jnana (knowledge) are one to those who have developed in them the power of the internal eye.

Commentary: God does not discriminate. Just as the sun shines on all equally, regardless of caste, race or creed, God offers His Grace to all who will receive it. The knower, that which is to be known and the object of knowledge are all one in the same to those who have realized Shiva-Shakti, the highest power. This is Equality Consciousness.

199. Those who have no subtle discrimination are not worth the name “men.” A man is not an animal. The gross is the body idea. The subtle is the thought of Atman. Jivatma is the gross. Paramatma is the subtle.

Without the gross, the subtle cannot be realized. Without a foundation, a house cannot be erected. Thought power (power of discrimination) is what is called Shiva-Shakti. The union of Jivatma and Paramatma is called Shiva-Shakti. When this power is intensified, man becomes “superman.” A superman is a happy man. He is a Brahmin, knower of Brahma. Vedantic conduct or behavior is true character formation.

Commentary: Those who have not realized God are not worth the name human being. Human Beings are not animals. They have the ability to realize God while still in the body. This is a gift that is foolish to waste. What is called gross is the idea that the body is the doer and experiencer of all actions. Jivatma, the individual bound soul is of this gross nature. Shiva Consciousness is the subtle.

You can’t realize Shiva-Shakti without a body and without being in Samsara. The power inherent in thought is really Shiva-Shakti, God’s power. The union of the Jiva with Shiva, with God is also called Shiva-Shakti. When this internal power is fully realized, you become superhuman. A superhuman being is one who lives in a state of constant Bliss and eternal Joy. Such a person is both a Brahmin and the knower of Brahman. The conduct and behavior put forth in the Vedas regarding Sadhana builds true character.

200. He who is desireless is an Acharya (great Guru). Desireless man is the Sanyasi. He is an Avadhoota in this world, who has abandoned desire. Avadhoot is a man of the first class. He is the most supreme of men. There is no state higher than that of Avadhoot. Avadhoot is he who is above all.

He to whom this world and the next have become one is an Avadhoot. Consciousness sky, real sky, emancipation from bondage, the bliss of self government, the bliss of Brahma, real bliss, yoga bliss, fulfillment of human birth, lordship of Mukti, power to teach emperors; these are the “possessions” of an Avadhoota.

Commentary: That person who has mastered dispassion, who has risen above attachment and aversion and who has no other desire than to love and serve God, such a person can be called desireless. That person is an Acharya, a Sadguru. One can only be called a Sanyasi who has risen above limiting desire by merging his/her ego with the Supreme “I” Consciousness of God. Only a person who has abandoned the limiting desire of the ego can be known as an Avadhoot.

Avadhoots relish in the constant rapture of Purnaham Vimarsha. Such a person is the best of human beings, the highest of deities. There is no state higher than the state of the Avadhoot, Shivo’ham. Such a Siddha is God and God is such a Siddha. The person who experiences this world as nothing but a Play of Divine Consciousness, the person who experiences Shiva permeating this entire Universe and sees no difference between this world and the formless Parama Shiva, this person alone is an Avadhoot.

The one who experiences on a constant basis the great expanse of supreme awareness that is Chidakasha, who experiences this real sky, emancipation from bondage, the bliss of self-government, the bliss of Brahma, real bliss, yoga bliss, fulfillment of human birth, lordship of Mukti, power to teach emperors; such a person “possesses” all that is worth having. An Avadhoot is one from whom all these flow. This is the meaning of Acharya or Siddha.

Verses 1-25, Verses 26-50, Verses 51-75,

Verses 76-100, Verses 101-125, Verses 126-150,

Verses 151-175, Verses 176-200, Verses 201-225,

Verses 226-250, Verses 251-286.