Q: Swamiji, what is the connection between our personality and our soul before we reach enlightenment?
A: What do you mean by personality?
The body and mind.
Ah, so you want to know the link between the atma, the soul, and the body.
Yes.
Usually, there is no friendship between the atma on the one hand and the soul and the body on the other. If there would be such a friendship, it would be easy to reach enlightenment. But there is no friendship – that is the biggest problem. We talk about spiritual evolution, spiritual sadhanas, nirvanaand enlightenment. The traditional spiritual cultures tell us that the atma wants to attain the highest stage of enlightenment. The atma’s wish to get enlightenment isn’t new. It has wanted this for many years – maybe even for hundreds of years. This atma has always wanted enlightenment and happiness.
To reach this however takes many births. Some of these births were as a monkey, or a donkey…as an animal with five senses. The atma cannot experience enlightenment through the five senses. Therefore, the atma is worried. It says, “Oh, I never seem to get a good body.” It wants to choose a good body. In the Vedas is a song that the atma sings to God, “I have taken so many births; now I want to be born as a human being. Oh Lord Shiva! I took so many births, but I never became enlightened. Only if I am born as a human being can I get enlightenment. There is so much disturbance and there are so many attachments in the material world and I am involved in these distractions. I have desires; my mind is like a monkey that runs away to everything and so I cannot give my time to attain enlightenment.”
What I am saying is that the atma has the desire for the highest wisdom and that the jeevatma, the individual soul, should join the paramatma, the universal Soul. This is the atma’s aim. The atma’s desire is perfectly correct, 200 percent correct! But, the mind doesn’t supports the atma. So what does it support? The mind wants a luxury life, a material life and material things. It expects only this, nothing else. It longs for temporary enjoyment. The body thinks that this temporary enjoyment is real enjoyment and it wants to get pleasure from material satisfaction. It wants to enjoy sex and money, it wants to have children – these are just different types of enjoyment. (…)
Whatever we start, as part of our spiritual sadhana, to whom should we pray first?
Ganesha.
Ganesh. Right, now chant the mantra for Ganesh.
(Everyone repeats: Om Ekadantaya Vidmahe, Vakratundaya Dhimahi, Tanno Danti Prachodayat)
Through what we are saying in this mantra, we are making our bodies pure. “Divine Ganesh, please bless me, take away any negative energy, my bad qualities and all disturbances.” At the same time we say, “Ganesh, I am going to start my search and I hope to find out where the atma is.” Where is the atma? In you! Where? That is the problem, do you understand? Where is your body? Where are your thoughts and where is your mind? Where is your atma?
In two different places.
No, both are living close to each other but there is no friendship between them. If both are friends, then there is no problem. Both are living in the same place, but there is no friendship between them and they don’t listen to each other. Which is the fool?
The mind?
The body is the fool. The body is involved in desire for and thoughts of money. Everything is money. Is it not true? To come here you had to take a bus. If you don’t give money on the bus, are they going to allow you to travel on it? No. (…) What is the purpose of taking this body? Why were you born on this earth? How many years are you going to live on this earth? What do you want to do with this body now that you have come to this earth?
Do you only want to enjoy yourself, get married, have babies, buy a new car and house, lead a luxury life and then hand over everything to your children and die? This happened to my grandfather, my grandfather’s grandfather and so on. Generations have been doing this. They buy a nice car, house, and everything and then hand it over to their daughters and sons. Then the son or daughter tries to increase the money, gets married and has children. Then we come and what are we going to do? The same thing! We are not going to do any different. Our generation does the same thing. Why? If you look at animals, what are they doing? The same thing. The humans and the animals do the same thing. With regard to this body, there is no difference between animals and us – both just create new generations.
Animals only have the capacity of their five senses yet we have six senses. But who uses the sixth sense? If you were to use the sixth sense, you would never get angry. If you always get angry, what does that mean?
That we are only using our five senses.
I don’t get angry. I think, “Oh, poor girl, she is only using the five senses.” If you were to use the sixth sense, you would never get angry. You get jealous of others. Why? Because you only use the five senses. Animals have jealousy. If a dog has some food and another dog comes, then it will start barking. Why does he do that? Because he only has five senses. He fights, jumps on the other dog, and thinks only that he wants to eat. That is five-sensed behaviour. Do you also have the same jealousy? Don’t get jealous, don’t get angry and don’t fight. Live with love. Who can live like that? Only those who use the sixth sense. In today’s world, there are millions of people but only some use the sixth sense, while the others live like animals.
Let us talk about our India, Bharata Bhumi, this sacred land. The people put on a nice pottu [red, religious mark on the third eye], sit in the correct meditation position and do other traditional things. However, if you ask whether they know about Sanatana Dharma, do you think they know? No, they only know the religious stories. Who knows about Hindu Sanatana Dharma? Who knows about spiritual development? Who knows true, divine spirituality? Very few. Because the rest are not using their sixth sense. Use the sixth sense and then you will realize what the atma is, what the body is and attain their friendship.
Take this Ashram resident here. If he practises using the sixth sense, then he will immediately acquire that friendship. How many senses is he using now? The atma is saying, “Aah, in the last birth I was a donkey, in the birth before that I lived as a monkey. Both only use five senses. Then I came to G’s body. He has the sixth sense, but he also only uses five senses. Ayo! My karma, my karma, my karma, my karma!” That is what the atma is saying. It is always worried. Now the atma says, “No, I won’t have it any more. This boy never listens to what I say. Slowly I will bring him to Swami Premananda and make him his friend. Once G is a friend of Swami Premananda, then Swami will give him small pinches and sometimes that body will listen.” Sometimes he will listen, sometimes not. I can’t say it is guaranteed, can I? When he listens, he then follows Swami Premananda’s spiritual practices and teachings. What does Swami say? Never get angry, never get disappointed, never get tension, ego or jealousy. That is, use the sixth sense. That is why the atma brought you in front of me. I say, “D, my dear, in your last birth you were an animal, in this birth you got the body of a human being. In your last birth you had five senses, in this birth you have six senses and so you must realize the sixth sense.” And as soon as you realize the sixth sense, you and your atma will immediately become friends and it is easy to practise Sanatana Dharma, to spiritually develop and realize divinity. You will attain everything. Why? If you have the knowledge of the sixth sense then you will get the knowledge of the seventh sense. Without the sixth sense knowledge, how can you get the seventh sense knowledge?
Experiencing nirvana is knowledge of the seventh sense. Animals have five senses; humans have six senses. With nirvana, you get the knowledge of seventh sense. That is enlightenment. I want you to reach nirvana, knowledge of the seventh sense, so that is the reason why I say to realize the sixth sense.
Never get angry and never get tense.
When you are happy it is easier to become friends with the atma.
If you have this friendship then it is easier to experience enlightenment.
