Nithyananda Newsletter

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:54:00 +0000

Sometimes people ask me, “Swamiji, how is it that you are so blissful all the time!”

Masters are all the time in an ecstatic state because of the deep state of gratitude that just continuously bubbles in them; because they are in communion with Existence all the time!

When you feel gratitude just towards me, or just towards anyone else, you miss the Whole. Gratitude is not a beam that is directed in a controlled manner towards appropriate people. It is a fragrance. When you wear it, it simply radiates from you. That is why a Master appears so blissful all the time. A Master is like a fragrance that you can experience and enjoy! That is why you are drawn again and again here!

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:53:00 +0000

Whenever you are given freedom, you become a better individual and you are ready to open up. When you are under psychological slavery, it becomes difficult for you to explore and find your inner space.

I always tell people: I am a liberating Guru! I give tremendous freedom when working on people. Only then it becomes easy for them to explore and evolve.

Of course, I am not telling parents that they should give their children complete freedom and watch them without interfering. I am only saying that psychological slavery should be avoided. Just create all the conditions for them to evolve. Take the necessary precautions, no doubt, but allow them to experience the truth for themselves instead of stuffing it down their throats. Give them enough space to grow and experience their inner bliss.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:52:00 +0000

See…one thing: Gratitude can never be taught. Of course, the idea of feeling grateful can be told to children when they are young so that they know about it. But it remains a social conditioning just like other things, like how you are taught to respect your elders, like how you are taught to wish your teachers in school and other things. It is just a mechanism of the mind, not an actual feeling inside you.

It is only when you start feeling a connection with Existence, real gratitude will arise in you. There is no other way. When gratitude arises in this form, it is not directed to anything in particular, it is just there as your fragrance that’s all.

When this happens, you automatically know that gratitude is your prayer! This prayer is only uplifting. It makes you rise in love and fulfillment. You know the secret of communing with Existence! You know how to feel deeply connected all the time. You know how to enjoy without a reason. You know how to look at everything and everyone as part of the Whole. You know how to integrate instead of dissecting and analyzing and feeling discontented.

Above all, you will know how to relate with a Master. The real relationship with a Master can start only when gratitude becomes your prayer. Until then, you are only asking, and when you ask, you miss.

Even now, be very clear: I am not teaching you to be grateful. I am only trying to create an inner space in you wherein you will feel what I am saying; wherein it will become your own experience. The energy behind my words can create that space in you, that’s all.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:51:00 +0000

People ask me, “Swamiji, what can we do for you in return to show our gratitude to you?”

I tell them, “The best that you can do for me in return is flower!” That is the best that you can do for me and the best that I can do for you. Understand that. When you internalize these words and make gratitude your Being, you have done a lot in return for me.

But one thing I can tell you: If you feel that you have to do something in return, do some service to society; help others. Help awaken others to the joy that you have discovered. Don’t do it out of ego or superiority. Do it for the love of sharing, for the joy of sharing. Give your full energy and enjoy doing it. It will become a joyful meditation for you and an awakening for them.

Every time you feel deep gratitude, you are actually in meditation. So just imagine if you are in gratitude forever! You are all the time in meditation.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:49:00 +0000

Swamiji…these days I feel only gratitude to you, and in a way, I don’t have any wanting from you. But strangely, I want you to remember my name and call me by it now and then! Is this a kind of discontentment or craving from my side Swamiji?

(Swamiji laughs…!)

This is a beautiful thing you have come up with. It goes to show that you have analyzed yourself very deeply. You see: When you seek attention from your mind, through jealousy or discontentment, it becomes unhealthy. But when you ask with love and gratitude, it is not a craving; it is simply a deep love for me, that’s all.
When you pray with a wanting, it is simply ungratefulness and a play of ego. But when you ask out of deep love, it becomes a prayer, filled with gratitude and devotion. There is a difference between the two.

You are in awareness, so it cannot be called discontentment or craving. With time, this too will drop for you. And one more thing: You have had the courage to come up with this question! I am sure many others secretly feel the same way, but have not said it aloud! They may have consoled themselves by saying, “What is there in a name”, or they may feel shy to come out with it! Of course, there is nothing in a name. But, you need to go beyond it with an experiential understanding, not delude yourself out of it. The fact that you have come up with the question shows that you are willing to courageously go through it.

Yes! Have you understood?!

Yes Swamiji…

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:46:00 +0000

I tell you: Even in relationships, if you feel that any relationship is coming to an end with no love lost, you can simply feel gratitude towards the other and depart, that’s all. Just feel gratitude inside you for having been associated with the other person for that period of time, for all that you learnt and enjoyed because of your association with him or her for that period of time, and depart. Then, even that becomes beautiful!

People ask me, “Swamiji, how can we feel gratitude towards our enemies?”

I ask you, why not? Your so-called enemies are responsible in making you stronger. They are a challenge to you; they make you grow. By hurting you, they show you a different perspective of life to deal with. Why not then feel gratitude towards them?

After all, you want to grow, is it not? Every moment, you want to become more intelligent, is it not? If these people did not open up these opportunities for you, you will be living deluded by only friends surrounding you. That is not going to help much. You need to get roughed out, only then you will rupture and intelligence will flower.

The seed has to rupture for the tree to grow. If the seed is happy remaining a seed, it will simply disintegrate with time and die, that’s all. No transformation will happen to it.

When it comes to so-called enmity, an ordinary man will make it look ugly. He will take it to a point where everything becomes a vicious circle, moving from hatred to hatred. In so many families, there are feuds. It becomes ugly and too much to deal with. Why? It is you who have allowed it to grow in that way. You did not function with deep awareness and intelligence. You were not functioning with fulfillment and so you allowed it to grow in an ugly fashion.

If you were functioning with fulfillment, you would not have been able to see any space for the enmity to grow! Do you follow what I am saying? When you are in a state of fulfillment all the time, you cannot even see a space for these kinds of things. It will be an unknown language to you. Even if the other person wants to continue the enmity, you will not feel any hatred towards him. If he wants to end the relationship, you will end it only with gratitude again!

In so many families, people don’t look each other in the eye or they actually even take pains to avoid each other in public places. Why all these unnecessary things? Why are you wasting your energy in these kinds of things? Never allow hatred to consume you. Look at it with deep awareness and intelligence and hatred will disappear and only love and gratitude will remain.

Yes…any questions?

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:22:00 +0000

In India, there is a tradition of touching the Master’s feet. When you are overflowing with gratitude to the Master, there is no way to express it. You then simply touch his feet, feel the oneness and express the gratitude in you.

Many people come from many places to visit me. Some of them come and stand in front of me and don’t say anything. Just tears of joy flow from their eyes. They don’t feel compelled to say anything, because they cannot say anything more than what their tears are conveying. They are just emoting from their Being.

When you are in the presence of the Master, just be there with a deep sense of gratitude and love, with a feeling of gratitude at just being present near him. You will find that all your questions will dissolve and you are filled up with a certain joy in no time! When you fill up easily, it means that you have caught the right thread. When you don’t fill up easily and leave with a feeling of discontentment, with unanswered questions, you have missed!

Always be with a Master with deep awareness; then you will not miss. When you are with gratitude with the Master, the Master’s energy will pour into your Being and his Experience will simply flood you.

And when you feel only gratitude towards the Master, the need to be physically near him will also slowly dissolve. Gratitude helps you cut across space and time. It dissolves boundaries and makes you expand. When you expand, you feel one with everything. After some time, even gratitude will seem like a disturbance; just silence will prevail!

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:20:00 +0000

Anything deep can never be expressed wholly. Poets may write poems to express it, painters may paint to express it, writers may write to express it, but there will remain a portion that can never be expressed through any of these. Existence can never be expressed by ordinary things. That is why it is so mystical and luring. That is why it is so exciting beyond what words can describe when it happens to you! That is why you can only feel it and not express it. That is why you come here again and again to me!

With me, you don’t have to express any gratitude, because even without you expressing, I will know. When real gratitude is overwhelming in you, I will know it even before you do! I know the beat of your heart! I know it from the depth of the look in your eyes! In fact, when you express to me, you might be deceiving yourself because most of the time, you think and talk in contradicting ways. You might be thinking something inside, but you express something else outside.

Remember: Existence knows when a person is flowering from within. Just feel the deep gratitude towards Existence, that is enough. You don’t have to express it, just become it, that’s all.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:19:00 +0000

You express your gratitude with words because you are egoistic and you don’t want people to think you lack courtesy. The moment you express it, you belittle or falsify it.

Actually, your very body language can convey the state of gratitude in you. Your eyes can convey it, your smile can convey it, your warmth can convey it much better than words. Tears of gratitude express it better than anything else. When you are overwhelmed, when you are brimming, tears overflow.

I am not asking you to cry! I am only telling you that when you overflow, your body will show it, you cannot hide it, and that is the real indication of the state of your Being.

And remember, these tears don’t belong to any caste or creed or religion. They cannot be classified as Hindu tears or Muslim tears; these tears don’t belong to any religion. They belong to the Being and the Being is beyond all this. Gratitude is one thing that can dissolve all man-made barriers and conditionings; that is why it is the ultimate prayer.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:18:00 +0000

Tell me one thing: When you are grieving the loss of a dear one, do you verbalize your grief? Will you be able to verbalize your grief? No! It becomes such a deep-rooted emotion that it becomes the state of your Being, is it not? You can only feel it; you can never report it. Is it not? Yes or No?

Yes Swamiji…

In the same way, gratitude when it becomes your very Being, will simply become your state; you will not be reporting it. You can never report it also. Of course, saying ‘Thank you’ is alright for social reasons because unless you express it, it doesn’t reach the ears of the other person.

But what I am trying to tell you here is, we need to move from gratitude of the mind to gratitude of the Being. The gratitude that we are talking about, you will never be able to express, because it runs so deep.

People often say to me, “Swamiji, we are so grateful to you for so many things that have happened in our lives after your association.”

I tell you: For reasons of social etiquette, you may thank a person for something, but gratitude is not something that you direct towards a person. When you feel gratitude towards a person for something you have received, it is simply gratitude of the mind. This is the kindergarten stage of gratitude.

Real gratitude is a deep overwhelming feeling inside yourself not as a result of any gain but just at the thought of existing, at the thought of the compassionate Life Force that is Existence, that’s all. This gratitude does not need any relationship, it is not dependent on anyone or anything, it is not under the sway of any emotions like lust, anger, hatred or love. It simply IS, that’s all.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:16:00 +0000

A small story:

In a Christian household, a girl was sitting at the dinner table with her mother.
Food was served at the table and she started eating her food without saying grace.
The mother was shocked and asked her how she could do such a thing.
The girl promptly replied, “There is nothing on this plate that I have not said thanks for at least once before.”

This is what I mean by the attitude of taking things for granted. It is saddening to see it taking root in young children.

One more small story:

A young girl asked her mother, “Mom, how many more days remaining for Christmas?”
The mother asked, “Why do you want to know?”
The girl replied, “I was just wondering whether it was time for me to start being a good girl.”

This is how we train children to think and behave. We teach them how to do transactions. We teach them that everything is nothing but a transaction. We don’t teach them to be spontaneous and flowing. We don’t teach them to live without a purpose. We make everything goal oriented for them. All these things are utterly nonsensical.

Because of all these things that have been done to them, you have to work hard in undoing them first. Be very clear: All that I am doing to you is only undoing. I am continuously undoing. Imagine the amount of doing that has been done to you! Over generations, people have been passing on their ideas to you. I have to first undo all that and then create a space in you for you to flower.

When I tell people to feel a continued sense of gratitude in them, they go and come back, and tell me, “Swamiji, these days I say thank you to the cab drivers and to the servants at home.” Be very clear - when gratitude becomes your Being, you will not even report these kinds of things.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:13:00 +0000

Your mind has become a dead pattern that is constantly repeating ‘what next’.

When you are able to look at things with a wonder-filled attitude, with awe, it fills you with such gratitude and fulfillment because you are not questioning at that point in time. You are not allowing your mind to play at all. You are simply resonating with your heart. It is then that you become a child, and when you become a child, nothing is mundane, everything is wondrous!

That is why children are so beautiful to look at. Their mind is not dead; their mind is fresh and flowing. Society has not yet conditioned their minds with the familiar patterns.

Learn to look at everything with gratitude and awe. Take your own body for example. Just try this small exercise now: Sit down and close your eyes. Just visualize that your little finger on the right hand is cut in a minor accident. Imagine now that your little finger is only three fourths of its original size. There is no other deformity in your body that you know of. You have a perfect body. Suddenly, only your little finger is cut.

How will your reaction be? It will be very difficult for you to digest it. For every simple task that you use your hand for, the little finger has a role to play, is it not? What will happen to you? You might even become depressed.

Now just think, how many people are there in this world with so many deformities. There are so many people who don’t have all five fingers even! From your head to your toe, even if there were a single handicap, you will miss enjoying some aspect of life, am I right?

Just try to spend a few minutes everyday in your room by yourself, touching every part of your body with love, and thanking that part for enabling you to enjoy so many things in Life.

Have you ever thought about your body in this fashion? How much you take your body for granted? How much you abuse your body? Some of us even hate our bodies because we feel it is not beautiful enough. I tell you, if you do this exercise everyday and feel deep love and gratitude to every part of your body, you will see that your whole body and face glow with a new radiance altogether.

Your body responds to your mind. Never neglect it or take it for granted. After all, it is only with your body that you are able to enjoy so many things. Even for you to come here today and listen to this talk effortlessly, you need all the parts of your body to function properly. Is it not?

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:12:00 +0000

Imagine if you had to sit down and make a list of things that you feel you have been showered with in Life. You can start the list with your own eyes. As I said earlier, do you know how many people have not been blessed with eyesight? Can you even imagine what will happen if you woke up one day and realized that you have turned blind? You will not even be able to get out of your bed and go to the bathroom! Every task you performed thanklessly earlier will demand all your effort for it now.

Anyway, if you start writing a list of things that you have been given in life, it will be a long list. Once you finish this list, write down a list of the things that you feel you have not been given. This will also be a long list... a very long list actually! The list will probably start with a benz car and end up being longer than the benz car itself! Both the lists are endless, infinite actually, if you write sincerely without missing a single thing.

Alright, now we have the two lists in front of us. It is now up to us to decide which of the lists we are going to see. Are we are going to look at the things not given to us and make our lives dull and dead, or look at the things that have been showered on us and enjoy, making our lives beautiful. It is purely our choice!

A person who takes everything for granted will look at the second list with greed and discontentment. When you are greedy, you will automatically feel only discontented, because there is no end to your greed and therefore contentment can never happen in you! Anyhow, this person totally misses out on the joy of Life that is there in the first list!

Anything that comes his way, whether it is small or big, will seem ordinary to him and he will only wait for the next thing to arrive. And when the next thing arrives, that will also look ordinary to him because he is already thinking of the next thing!

Whereas, a person who is always in gratitude, will not even know that the second list exists! He only knows to feel and breathe gratitude every moment. Life is an eternal celebration for him. He will be so light and joyful. He will be a treat to watch. He will exude a beauty that is unique unto himself. He does not even know that there is a second list. He does not know that language at all! He knows only to enjoy everything with deep love and gratitude, that’s all.

Just by being in gratitude all the time, every so-called mundane thing in life can become sacred and wonderful! I tell you: You think that life has become mundane only because of your attitude of taking things for granted. Life is not mundane as you think. Every small thing is so beautiful. Your mind is what is mundane; your mind does not allow you to penetrate and see the beautiful way in which Existence is flowing.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:07:00 +0000

One more small story:

One man came home from work one day to find his wife in a terrible mood.
She screamed to him, “I finally managed to train up the maid to do all the work in the house and she has now quit!”
The man asked sympathetically, “For what reason, dear?”
She replied, “Well, you are the reason! She claims that you spoke so rudely to her over the telephone that she felt she needed to guard her self-respect and therefore quit.”
The man was baffled and blurted, “But I thought I was talking to you!”

(Laughter!)

We always take relationships for granted and get into complications because of that. Learn to treat every individual as a part of the Whole and feel gratitude towards him or her; then you will never take anyone for granted. You will then worship and respect everyone for being a part of Existence.

When you don’t take things for granted, you will count your blessings. If you sit and analyse, you will realize that we always count what we have not received! However much we are showered, we are not happy because we are thinking about the things that have not yet reached us!

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:06:00 +0000

Discontentment will pull you down, make you heavy and miserable. On the other hand, gratitude and the fulfillment that comes along with it, will make you light and blissful. We all feel discontented because we take things for granted. When you take things for granted, you miss a lot and nothing will make you happy or joyful. I tell you: Never take anything for granted.

Listen to this small story:

A beggar stopped a man on the road and asked him, “Two years back, you used to give me 20 rupees; last year fully, you gave me only 10 rupees; for the past few months, you are giving me only 2 rupees, why?”
The man replied, “First I was a bachelor, then I married and now I have a baby, that’s why.”
The beggar cried, “What? You are using my money to run your family?”

(Loud laughter!)

The beggar says, “You are using my money to run your family!” Actually, many of us think that it is our birthright to expect another person to keep providing for us and for our needs. And we simply take them for granted.

We don’t realise what deep ignorance we are in when we have this kind of attitude. We are not even aware that we are totally lacking, when we are this way. This whole attitude has to undergo a radical change. Even your own father or mother or husband or wife should not be taken for granted.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:05:00 +0000

Let me explain what I mean by tuning. We all know how the radio works, don’t we?

Yes Swamiji…

Alright, the same radio, without any change in its physical form, can be connected to many radio stations airing different programs, is it not? While you are listening to a particular station, if there are any disturbances or cross-talk, what do you do? Tell me.

We fine-tune it Swamiji.

Exactly! To listen more clearly to any one station, you need to fine-tune it, that’s all. Now, just apply this same concept to tuning ourselves to Existence.
There are thousands of programs happening around us. Whatever we tune ourselves to, that we will experience. Now, tuning to any one program is purely our own choice; any one objecting to this? No. You have the freedom to choose the program you wish to listen to, am I right?

(The audience murmur) Yes Swamiji…

In the same way, if you choose to tune yourself with the chaos that is created around you by human minds, you will become chaotic. You will be caught in the never-ending whirlpool of worry, discontentment, dilemma and what not.

Whereas, when you choose to tune yourself with Existence, with the central chord that is running this whole show, you have caught the right thread in all the chaos that is around you and will be free from all these emotions. You will become a beautiful flower that blossoms with a fragrance.

With the earlier emotions, life will seem like an eternal state of discontentment. With the latter, life will become music - the very language of Existence, and you will only enjoy with gratitude all the time. The more you fine-tune yourself with Existence, the more ecstatic life will be.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:04:00 +0000

With your head, you will always seek outside and you can never find God outside. With your head, you will be looking for reasons to feel grateful. When you move from your head to your heart, a whole new space will open out for you, and you will realize that you always knew, and that it was your mind which was causing all the havoc and not letting you realize it.

When you operate from your heart, you are always in gratitude. Do we ever say ‘mind-felt gratitude’? No! We always say ‘heart-felt gratitude’, is it not?

Next, you will ask, “How do we move from our head to our heart Swamiji!” Just be aware of your head, that is enough! Only because you are unaware of your head, you allow it to function in an undisturbed fashion, in a mechanical fashion. Once you become aware of your head, you will be able to drop it.

Gratitude is not any virtue. It has to be your very attitude. You need nothing more than this to feel yourself tuning in with Existence. When you feel only gratitude, you can tune yourself beautifully to Existence, and then Existence will reveal to you its magical splendour. All you need to do then is sit back and enjoy!

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:03:00 +0000

These few days you are going to be here, use them effectively to experience what I am saying. Allow gratitude to take root in these seven days, when you are away from the outer world. Open up and allow yourself to flower. This is a rare opportunity for you. This is a chance for you to transform. Don’t miss it. Create that new inner space in you, which will go with you when you leave this place.

You see: The problem is, we are always trying to reach God through our heads. You can never reach God through your head. If you simply drop your head, you will automatically function through your heart and discover that you need not even reach out to Him; He is already there in you!

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:03:00 +0000

A small story:

A teacher once asked her students, “Can anyone tell me where you think hell is?”
After a long silence, one girl stood up and replied, “In my Dad’s study, Miss.”
The teacher was surprised and asked her why she said that.
The child replied, “Every time I go to my Dad’s study, he says: Get the hell out of here!”

(Laughter!)

Children are trained from a young age, to think of hell and heaven as entities outside of them. They are trained to think that God is sitting above, on a big throne, and watching every movement of ours, and noting down our sins and good deeds.

By thinking in this way, we start the cause and effect cycle of all our actions. We associate good deeds with heaven and bad deeds with hell. We start thinking of God and the whole of Existence as a transaction center. Each one of us becomes a businessman in our own way, whatever may be our real profession!

What do you do when you go to the temple? You purchase flowers, coconuts and fruits, and go to the Deity inside and make an offering in your family’s name to the deity. You tell the name, birthstar etc. of each and every member of your family and do the ritual.

The poor priest will hold one bowl in his hand and you will be telling him a long list of names with all the details of each of your family members. You are so afraid that God will send the blessings to the wrong person, to the wrong household! You give him the exact geographical location etc. and emphasize to him that it is you and no one else who has come with the offering. Only after doing this, you leave the temple. Am I right?

As if God does not know you if you don’t tell him all this! As if you need to remind God of your existence so that he will shower on you. I tell you: All you need to do is, feel continued gratitude towards Him, that’s all. He is always showering on you.

It is not that he sees you in trouble and then decides to bail you out, or sees that you are alright and therefore ignores you. All these are our own conditionings that we project on God and try to read. All these are what society has taught us from a young age.

The concept of gratitude has become so distorted among us. We feel that gratitude is something we have to feel when we are brought out of deep trouble or when someone goes out of his way in caring or sharing. This is the most ridiculous belief taught to us.

I tell you: Simply enter into the temple with a feeling of gratitude; stand before every deity for a few minutes with deep thankfulness, and leave the temple with that same mood. That is enough. The rest will be taken care of. This is the ultimate prayer. Gratitude is the ultimate pooja or offering.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:02:00 +0000

Your profession may be anything, your social status may be anything, your economic status may be anything, but enjoying is something that every man can do irrespective of all this.

The problem is: You always feel that there should be a causative factor for everything including enjoyment. You have trained your mind with these kinds of thought patterns. This is also the reason why, you often feel, that others have been blessed with things that they don’t deserve, while you have not been given enough for your efforts.

You always think that you need to work hard in order to enjoy. No! Working hard is alright, but it has nothing to do with the capacity to enjoy. Drop this idea. This is the only way you can stop complaining or feeling dissatisfied.

Existence showers. If you choose to enjoy it, you will. It is purely your choice. You choose wrongly and then complain or blame someone else. Remember, no one is responsible for anything that happens to you. Everything is a conscious choice that you make unconsciously. Because of lack of awareness in you, you simply make unconscious and monotonous decisions and land up complaining about Life.

Always remember: Heaven and hell are not geographical locations in the outside world. You create them within yourself. The moment you lose trust over Existence, you alienate yourself from it and carry hell with you wherever you go. Don’t think that hell is something outside of you. It is just in your mind. It is your choice, your nature that decides if you are in hell or heaven.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:58:00 +0000

A small story:

There was a man who was walking past a mango grove, which was overflowing with mangoes of different varieties.
He entered the grove, looked around, studied it, took down some statistics and left half an hour later, with facts and figures.
After a while, another man walked past the same grove.
He entered it, plucked a few mangoes, ate them joyfully and left!

(Muffled laughter!)

Now, please don’t stop by at any mango grove and eat up the mangoes. You might get stoned for it! Try to understand what I am trying to tell. Just learn to enjoy without questioning. I don’t mean that you should drop all your work and only enjoy all the time.

You need to work no doubt. No one is going to give you everything if you only enjoy. I am only saying, don’t look for reasons to enjoy, that’s all. Simply enjoy everything without questioning. Let enjoying become your very nature, then gratitude will become your very Being.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:57:00 +0000

Try out this small exercise when you are by yourself:

For two hours, keep aside your worries and needs, and focus on all that Existence has already given you. You will immediately think, If I don’t worry about my needs, how can I fulfill them? Who will take care of my family? What will happen to my business? Agreed, you have to think about all these things. But just for the next two hours, take all these loads off your head and do what I am saying.

In any case, do you think your family or your business is running because of you? Let me tell you, things are running smoothly not because of us, but in spite of us! If Existence had to depend on our intelligence to sustain our families or our wealth, we would all be destitute by now! And be very clear: By simply worrying, nothing can be achieved. I think we have spoken enough about worrying earlier!

So just for a few minutes, close your eyes and focus on what has already been showered on you, what you already have. Go over mentally all the things – your body, your wealth, the people who support and help you, your house, your luxuries, your vacations, everything. Enjoy all of them in a relaxed and grateful way. Take as much time as possible.

Don’t rush and go over it in a hurry. Just live all of it in your mind. Stay with that feeling. Stay with that wonderful feeling of fulfillment for a while. Feel yourself becoming filled with gratitude and overflowing with it. When you open your eyes, you will see that what you have is more than enough to run your life! And you will wonder - what more you want!

You have to just become gratitude! The best way to become gratitude is, to learn to enjoy without a reason. Enjoy everything that you see, everything that you hear, and everything that you do, with the supreme confidence that Existence is taking care. Life will then simply transform in your eyes and you will be overflowing all the time because you are always enjoying.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:55:00 +0000

A small story:

A man dreamt that he went to Heaven and that an Angel was showing him around Heaven.
They walked side-by-side.
First, they entered a large workroom filled with many Angels.
The room was bustling with activity.
The Angel guide stopped and explained to the man, “This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God that are received through prayer are sorted out.”
The man looked around and saw that it was terribly busy with so many Angels sorting out petitions written on different pieces of paper - long sheets, scrap sheets and what not. They were from people all over the world, in different languages.
Then they moved on and entered a second section.
This section was also filled with many busy Angels and lots of packages and papers.
The guide Angel explained, “This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings that the people asked for, are processed and delivered to them on Earth below.”
They walked on and at the end of the long corridor they stopped at the door of a small room.
To the man’s surprise, only one Angel was seated there, bent over the desk.
The man asked the Angel, “How come this section is so quiet? Which section is this?”
The Angel friend quietly replied, “This is the Blessings Acknowledgment Section. The acknowledgements sent by the people for the blessings that they have received, are meant to be processed here.”

We all ask and ask, but how many of us thank for what we have received? How many of us include gratitude in our prayer along with our asking?

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:53:00 +0000

A small story:

One man dreamt that he and God were walking on the beach through the journey of life.
He told God, “Oh Lord! I dreamt that you and I were walking on the sands of the beach. When I looked back at the trails on the sand, I saw that at times when life was most testing, at times when I had the deepest troubles, there was only one line of footsteps, the other was missing. How could you move away from me during those times?”
God replied, “Son! It was during those times that I carried you!”

Let me tell you from my own experience: In my days of wandering, I have traveled more than 30,000 km out of which, more than 2000 km I have covered by foot. I traveled with just two pieces of clothing and a vessel for begging food. I took a vow not to touch money, and not to save food for the next meal.

People ask me how it was possible. I tell you now: I simply placed trust on Existence and concentrated on my goal that was attaining the state of Enlightenment, and Existence took care of me; that is how it happened.

When you hear me saying things like have faith in Existence, you may think that this concept is for yester-years of Justice and Saints. Not at all. I am talking from my own experience, from what has happened to me who is sitting right in front of you now! And I think I am the youngest in this gathering! So I am not talking of anything from long ago. Understand that.

Just try living with gratitude and watch the miracles happening. Existence gives, if you are ready to receive without a question, with just a brimming heart.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

rpprabhu@gmail.com (prabhu.i.am) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 09:52:00 +0000

When you are loving, flowing, filled with gratitude, you will always feel the tremendous energy of Existence flowing through you and you will always be with a sense of fulfillment, not because of any gains but because it has become your very Being! This fulfillment is the ultimate fulfillment that every man is seeking, although he is not aware of it. He searches for it again and again in all material things and keeps missing it.

Whether you accept it or not, Existence is taking care of you and all you need to do is, place your faith in it and do your duty with gratitude. You will then be showered upon by Existence.

But we don’t have faith.

A small story:

One man lived without any faith in God.
Suddenly one day, he fell from a hilltop and found himself dangling from just the grip of a tree’s root.
He was filled with terror.
He suddenly remembered people talking about God all the time.
He thought to himself, ‘why not try to ask God for help’ and he cried out, “Oh God! I have never had faith in you; are you really there? Can you save me now?”
The voice of God thundered back, “Sure son, just let go of the root that you are holding and I will hold you from beneath.”
The man cried out again, “Is there anyone else out there who can help me!”

(Laughter!)

We are simply not ready to place our trust on Existence! The very quality of trusting the Universe in your Being will make you live like God on Earth! You are missing out on this wonderful opportunity due to your own ignorance and ego.

If we consciously feel a sense of continued gratitude towards the Cosmic Energy, we will be able to feel ourselves being taken care of in its very lap. We will feel ourselves being cradled by this Energy, like a child is by the Mother and whether you accept it or not, this is the Truth.

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.