LIVING ENLIGHTENMENT

Techniques to Live Enlightenment

Now let me explain enlightenment in a more

detailed manner with practical techniques which

you can apply in your life. I said that living a

conflict-free life in the body, mind and what you

experience as the world, is living enlightenment.

That is the truth. Now I will give you techniques

to use this as an applied science in your life. I will

give you the techniques to make 'living

enlightenment' an applied science.

There are four techniques to live enlightenment.

Shakti - Energy to Change

First, changing whatever you can change. You

express the energy or shakti to change whatever

you can change in your life.

Please understand, spirituality is not a tamasic

acceptance of life. Tamas means laziness and

laziness is not spirituality. Many times, in India,

laziness is taken for spirituality. The Indian

civilization once stood for enlightenment; the

whole country's infrastructure was built for

enlightenment or Jeevan Mukti.

But somehow, in course of time, as Krishna said

Yogo nashta parantapa: the yoga is lost, the

great science is lost. When the science is lost,

tamas is taken as enlightenment, and laziness

becomes spirituality.

You have the energy to change whatever you can

change in your life. People ask me, 'Swamiji, is

life pre-destined or do we have a free will?'

Life is like a tape-recorder. If you don't intervene

it will go on as pre-programmed. But if you have

the will, you can intervene and change things at

any point with simple effort. You don't need to

make a strong sankalpa (affirmation). Just simple

effort will do to get out of so many addictions and

mental setups. I am not talking about major

addictions like alcohol or smoking. I am talking

about simple mental sufferings, the restlessness

with which you continuously suffer, the constant

irritation that you carry with you.

This constant irritation has become a habit. See,

you don't need an incident to irritate you; you just

wait to jump on people. They don't need to do

anything wrong. They don't need to commit any

mistake. If they just appear in front of you, it is4

enough. They will have your blessing! You are

just waiting to pounce on people! You are just

boiling right from morning. Even this is an

addiction. But all these can be changed. These

simple things can be changed right away. All you

need is understanding.

You may say, 'No Swamiji. I tried many times

but I failed. It is not possible anymore.'

Please understand that previously during all the

times when you actually tried to create peace, as

long as your effort was there, there was peace.

Once peace happened, you forgot to apply your

efforts!

When you forgot, when you stopped applying your

efforts, the restlessness returned. But then, you

don't remember why and how it returned. You

only know that your restlessness returned.

Actually, you stopped your efforts, that is why the

restlessness returned.

You may say, 'No Swamiji, yesterday morning I

tried to be peaceful. But today I am not peaceful!'

Yesterday morning you tried to be peaceful, but

by evening you forgot about being peaceful! You

stopped putting your efforts and your restlessness

returned. Whenever you put your effort there is a

result. When you stop putting the effort, only then

the mind goes back. You don't remember that point.

You only remember when you started your efforts

and not when you forgot about it. You let your

mind wander and become restless.

So, please understand this important truth.

Changing whatever you can change is shakti

(energy). You have the energy to change whatever

you can. There are so many things you can change

in your life but you do not express the energy for

it.

Let me narrate a real incident:

The other day a person came to me and said,

'Swamiji, I have surrendered myself to you. You

have to save me.'

I asked him, 'What do you mean by surrender?

And why do you want me to save you?'

He replied, 'Swamiji, I have a bad habit of going

to wrong places. I am not faithful to my wife.

Now that I have surrendered to you, you should

help me stop this habit.'

I sat and spent some time with him. I told him,

'This is wrong. Why don't you think of your wife?

You have become insensitive to love. It is

disrespectful towards your relationship with your

wife.' After a few words from me, he left.

He returned after a few weeks and said, 'Swamiji,

you have not saved me at all! I surrendered myself

to you. But I am still doing the same thing!

I asked him, 'What do you mean?' He told me,

'No, I surrendered myself to you. But I am still

the same old person.'

I asked him, 'What do you mean? You want me

to hide your car keys and tell you not to go

anywhere else? You have the independence! See,

when you want the independence...freedom to live

as you want...I can only give you the knowledge.

It is you who needs to apply it in your life.'

Then I told him, 'What do you mean by using the

word 'surrender'? And what do you mean by

saying that I need to save you? If you want that

extreme, then sit here itself, and don't go

anywhere!'

Then you will say, 'No, no! I need freedom. I need

freedom.' Then I have to tell, 'Alright! Have

freedom, have this knowledge also, so that you

can lead your life with knowledge.

Actually you don't want knowledge. You want

freedom. But when something goes wrong, you

say, 'No, no! I have surrendered to this God; I

have surrendered to that guru; yet nothing has

happened!'

You have the freedom to change so many things

in your life. Yet, you do not want to change them.

You don't want to take up the responsibility. If

you have the knowledge, you will use your freedom

with intelligence. You will not look to misuse your

freedom. You will take up responsibility for your

life.

Understand that you are the God who can save

you. It is you who is going to lift yourself. If you

can't lift yourself then you are your worst enemy.

If you can lift yourself, then you are your greatest

friend. It is you who needs to do it.

So the first technique of living enlightenment or

jeevan mukti is to express the energy to change

whatever you need to change in your life.