Nonduality

THE CHIDAKASH GITA

Contributed by M, as received from Bob Crowder

Also see
The Sky of the Heart: Jewels of Wisdom from Nityananda
Nityananda: In Divine Presence

FOREWORD


THE AIM OF THE BOOK.


Let Jeeva, realizing the right and the wrong, the gross and the subtle, the merits and demerits, through peaceful means, realize the ideal of this book. Let this ideal be always remembered in the sky of consciousness. Being born as human beings, what is our duty? Knowing all, let peace be attained. In this highest birth as human beings, let us realize through paramount faith who this "I" is. Let us attain eternal peace. Let the restless mind work in perfect peace. Let peace be above worry and difficulty. Let peace be realized in formless God. Let purity of mind be attained that you may be happy in this world and the next.


OM is all, OM is eternal, OM is the perishable maya, OM is the supreme in all OM is the eternal dweller in the ATMAN, OM is that at whose feet everything must be offered. OM must be realized by the one pointedness of mind -- let this be universally accepted, even by those who are immersed in things worldly. Let those who have realized this forget their own realization. For those who have realized this, there is no difference between the wise and the ignorant. The philosophy of this book is connected only with the words it contains. The wording of this philosophy is not intended to change the convictions of a man, already fully established. It has nothing to do with the inner life of man.


By knowing the aim of the book, one's greatness is not increased. By not knowing, it is not lessened. Knowledge or no knowledge, there is no difference between the two. Let these words be pondered over by introversion. Let these words be moving internally in our mind. These words are not directed towards anybody. Let these words return from whence they arose.


Om is the Para-Brahma. OM is the eternal TRUTH. Om is absolute Jnana. OM is the creator of the universe. Om is the protector of the universe. OM is the destroyer. In OM, creation is merged.


Swami Nityananda, the author of the book, is neither affected by the merits of the book nor by its demerits. He is perfectly above all, success and failure, etc., etc.


This book is published for the purposes of clarity and for sharing Swami's love and grace with all.


It is recommended that the reader meditate on each little paragraph to understand what Swami's words mean to each of us.



SRI NITYANANDA SAT-GURU MAHARAJ, your PRESENCE LIVES within my heart.


CHIDAKASHA GEETHA OF THE SOUL

PART ONE

1. Jnanis are mindless. To Jnanis, all are the same. They have no slumber, no dreams, nor sleep. They are always in sleep. The sun and the moon are the same to them. To them, it is always sunrise. The glass of a chimney lamp, when covered with carbon, is not transparent. Similarly, the carbon of the mind should be removed.


2. There are three nerves in the body: the sun or the Sushumna; the moon or the Ida; the star or the Pingala. The first is red in color, the second, blue, and the third, green.


3. Where these three nerves met, is the heart space. As we go on practicing yoga, the Bindu-sound (like that of a harmonium, or a drum or a fiddle, the ten sounds) is heard in the head. This sound is one, indivisible.


4. Just as camphor is consumed by the flames of fire, so also, mind must be consumed by soulfire.


5 . The copra, detached from the shell, makes a dull sound when shaken; so also the body and soul must be thought of as separate. The first is light; by that light, all vices are consumed.
NOTE: See Page 40 for Glossary.


6. Just as we draw water from a well, we should draw breath; when we breathe out, it should be like letting down the bucket into the well. When we breathe out, it is the carbon (the impurities of the body); when we breathe in, it is the breath of Omkar. Breath of Omkar is the manas (mind).


7. Manas is Jeeva; but their positions are different. Jeevatman is Paramatman.


8. A man or woman should be educated. What is education? Jeeva should know the secret that He is the Paramatman.


9. Paramatman is in Jeevatman. The real Mukti is to know the subtle in the gross.


10. We should leave off the gross sleep and sleep the subtle sleep. We should enjoy the sleep obtained from the practice of Pranayam.


11. The upgoing breath is like the wheels inside a clock. Its movement is inside; when the movement of the breath is internal, one will see the world in himself.


12. Just as we see the sky reflected in the water in an earthen pot, so also, to the internal vision, the sky of consciousness becomes visible.


13. If food is prepared in a gold vessel, the dog eats it. If it is prepared in an earthen vessel, then also the dog eats it.


14. The sun-light is reflected in the salt water of the sea. It is also reflected in the clear water of a tank at the top of a hill. It is not enough if we see with the eye but we should experience it.


15. On a tree grow numberless flowers; the flowers all perish; but the tree does not perish for a long time. The visible is like flowers, the invisible is like the tree.


16. There are matches in a match-box. Fire is produced only when the match is rubbed against the side of the box. So also, the Manas is the match; intelligence (Budhi)
is the side of the box. We should rub the Manas against Budhi and then we get the kingdom of Self which is the same as the liberation from the cycle of birth and death.


17. A man should be quite indifferent to honor and dishonor. He should not have the least love for his body; such a man will see the Supreme Being in everything and everywhere.


18. The Supreme Light and the Universal Light are identical.


19. From a plank, are manufactured tables, chairs, etc., etc. So also, Brahman is the primoridal substance (tatwa) from which numberless worlds are formed.


20. Manas and the Atman are the same to all people. At the final stage of the universe, all is one. At the present stage, there is difference in their mode of breathing, thinking, and their mental tendencies.


21. Fire, air, water, and earth are common to all. These may be used by all people alike . Similarly, well-water may be used by a brahmin, a pariah, and children alike.


22. Manas is the gingilly; Budhi is the oil mill; amrita (ambrosia) is the oil.
NOTE: Gingilly (fickleness of the mind)


23. Budhi is the king; Manas is the minister; Manas should be subordinated to Budhi.


24. When a road is crowded with five or six thousand people, it is almost impossible to drive a horse carriage along the road; the driver must be careful in driving the carriage. A cyclist's attention is not directed towards himself but towards the passerby.


25. When a man is entirely sunk in cold water, he no longer feels the cold of the cold water. A perfect man is not subject to anger.


26. When a seed is fried, it cannot sprout. When a lamp contains no oil, we do not call it a " lamp". When the sun is shining, a gaslight becomes dim. It is the sun that gives light to the whole world. If Manas is regarded as the king, Budhi may be regarded as the prime minister. When a tree does not bear fruits, it has no beauty. There is no effect without cause. In darkness light persists. Darkness is ignorance; light is Jnana (knowledge). One must see oneself . One must return to the place from whence one started. We must return the thing we have borrowed.


27. A Guru (spiritual teacher) will lead any sort of man from a thorny path to the royal road. Such preceptors are of two kinds. One is the primary preceptor and the other, the secondary preceptor. Mind is the primary preceptor and the other, the secondary preceptor. One is not the preceptor of the other. He is only the secondary preceptor. The secondary preceptor is one who shows the water in the well. The guru who exits in the heart of all beings is the Jagad-Guru (universal preceptor).


28. People generally think that a teacher's body is guru. A man does not become a guru by simply wearing sandals and counting beads on a rosary. One who talks "Brahma Jnana" and gives stones to his disciples is not a guru. Whatever a guru speaks in words, he must show it in action. First one must practice and after realization, he must begin to teach others.


29. One who has thoroughly wiped off the idea "I am the body" is fit to be called a guru. There is none higher than such a one. There is no god above such a guru. Such a guru is God, and God is such a guru.


30. If you keep sugar apart from us, we cannot have experience of its sweetness.
If we eat it, then only we know its taste. A man cannot get Mukti if he simply repeats "Rama, Krishna, or Govinda" for a thousand years. He must repeat it heartily (knowing the secret).


31. Cow milk can never be bitter; the stone fixed in the earth cannot speak; by visiting places of pilgrimage like Benarese and Rameshvaram, a man cannot attain Mukti. what is essential is keeping the mind steady for a moment by introversion.
Seeing earthen and stone images is not seeing God. It is mind's hallucination when you regard images as God. Without true Jnana, Mukti cannot be attained. Our taking the human birth is the effect. Giving it back is the cause. We must know the cause and effect. Likewise, we must know the good and the evil; the right and the wrong. Knowing all, peace must be attained.


32. If a building has no doors, we cannot call it a "house". Without fire, we cannot heat water. without air, fire camot burn. Without food and sleep, a man can live for a few days but without air (breathing), a man cannot live even for a few seconds.


33. Destruction of the world means transforming it into Vayu (air with its blue color); Raja Yoga is the place of indivisible monism. If you enter the ONE, you lose sight of the MANY.


34. In the infinite, there is no finite; to a Jnani, there is no Ajnani; to an Ajnani, there is no Jnani. If all the children beat a mother, she does not throw them away.


35. You must not leave the feet of a guru. Your mind should not flicker like the reflection of the sun in the shaking water.


36. The sea water is boundless; the tank water has a boundary. Our mind must be like the tank water. Mind is the cause of good and evil. A man may be good and bad according to his good or bad thoughts. God does not do good or evil to any man. The reason is, intelligence and knowledge are the divine faculties in man. A man protected by good thoughts, cannot be harmed even by a cannon shot. Without yoga, liberation from karma is impossible.


37. Without knowing the secret (truth), if we simply decorate the exterior skin, our karma will not leave us; one cannot be a Sanyasi by external signs if he is internally a hypocrite. What you think, you must speak; what you speak, you must show by your acts. Do what you say; say what you do. Such a man is a Jnani; he is a Paramahansa; he is a Yogi; he is a Sanyasi. One who has conquered desire is a true Sanyasi. Only a desireless man is fit to be a spiritual teacher.


38. What is served for others, should not be eaten by us. We must place a separate leaf for us and eat our food.


39. There is nothing like "this one" has more and another has less. The power of thought, the ears, the nose, the hand, the eye, etc. are the same to all.


40. The nose is not the place where the eye is. Walking should be done by the legs only. Work done by the hands cannot be done by the head.


41. The head is the ocean of Ananda (joy). In it is situated the Prana Linga, i.e., the seat of liberation (Mukti). This cannot be learnt from books. It is inherent in the brain. The book consists of parts, but Jnana is the indivisible one. A book consists of chapters, but Jnana is single chaptered. For those who have not realized, a book is necessary; but to a man of realization, there is only one undivided being. When a man takes birth, he is not born with a book in his hand but he is born with a brain. While coming (to this world) and going away (from this world), a man has no book in his hand.
Only in the middle period he takes a book.


42. When a man is born, he is perfect; when he goes away then also, he is perfect. In the middle, he is subject to Maya. That which pervades in all directions is ONE, indivisible; that which is limited, is divisible.


43. At the place where there is running water, there can be no mud; the place is quite clean. Ignorance (Ajnana) is mud; the current of water is Bhakti and Jnana.


44. It is not Bhakti to give a man some money or to give him a meal as charity.
Bhakt i is universal love. Seeing God, in all beings, without the least idea of duality, is Bhakti.


45. Without the control of breath (Pranayama), a man cannot be a yogi (a perfect man); nor is he a Sanyasi (saint). Without a rudder, it is impossible to steer a boat or ship.


46. To a good man, every man is good; everything is good. A man can be good by his own exertion.


47. We drink the juice of the sugar cane and throw away the refuse. Similarly, this body is a house for the Atman. When it is spoiled, we build a new one.


48. It is the nest that perishes; not the bird. The nest is built of earth. The blood vessels and nerves are earth; in the blood vessels are the blood and semen; this body made of flesh is subject to death; if it is not washed for a single day, it stinks; we cannot trust the human body.


49. Mind is the creator of ideas. When the gross ideas are suppressed and the man lives in the subtle, this state is called "Nirvikalpa Samadhi" or Samadhi without ideas. Just as we teach a bird how to talk, keeping it in a cage with its feet bound, we must keep our mind in our Budhi. A man must learn for himself.


50. Holding the nose with the hand, with eyes turned upwards and holding the breath in tight as if winding a clock spring with a key are similar to circus feats or a cinema show -these are not what is called "Samadhi".


51. The sense of equality is the greatest thing in this world. People go mad after shadows; very few are mad after the invisible (the subtle). True madness is very rare, it being found only in one among a lakh or two. Other people run mad after sixteen things in a ghatika (twenty-four minutes). "I want this", "I want that", "This is different", "That is different", such is there mad talk. Entertaining various motives is madness. Fickleness of mind is madness. Greatness is madness. Practicing and seeing the reality is the opposite kind of madness. Liberation from birth and death is Divine madness. Those who have not realized the truth are mad after the gross. Everyone has one sort of madness or another. Thousands of people possess houses, diamond-jewels, gold and property. They did not bring these with them at birth nor will they take these with them at death.


52. It is not the body that exists nor disappears. He is the ONE who is the supreme doer. It is the breath that man brings here at birth and it is the breath that man takes with him when he leaves this world. Property and fame are here only. There, everything is one. Duality exists here only. On the other side, there is no duality. A perfect man (Avadhoota) is the greatest of men. Yogis and Sanyasis want some Siddhi, i.e., power acquired through yoga or tapas. An Avadhoota does not want anything.


53. When SAT unites with CHIT, Ananda (bliss) is the result. This Ananda is Paramananda, Sri Satchidananda. Paramananda is experienced in the head. In the head is in the Brahma-nadi. Brahmananda is Paramananda. Jeeva enjoys this bliss when he is one with Paramatman. This bliss is also called Shivananda. Paramananda is experienced in the head. This state is eternal joy. This state is Jeevan-Mukti.


54. He is a Jnani who has given up worldly pleasures and by practicing yoga, seen God. Ananda (bliss) is not in what you hear. Bliss is a matter of experience. Such a man is called a Mahatma. Those who have seen earthen and stone images do not become Mahatmas. He is a Mahatma who knows himself.


55. An Avadhoota has conquered death and birth. He has no consciousness of the body, an Avadhoota has gone beyond all Gunas (qualities). He is the knower of the "Omniscient Light". He has no consciousness of the "I". Such is a Raja Yogi, not a Hatha Yogi. When he comes to a village, he feels glad, whomsoever he may see. He has no consciousness of duality though he moves here and there. He has no hunger.
He eats plentifully if he gets plenty of eatables. If he does not get, he will not ask anybody. Those who give to him poison and those who give to him milk are the same to him. Those who beat him and those who love him are the same to him. To an Avadhoota, the universe is the father, the mother, and the relation. He becomes the universe and the universe becomes he. The universe is merged in him.


56. In Pranayama, Pooraka is drawing up the breath. Kumbhaka is retaining the breath. Rechaka is exhaling the breath. These three kinds of breath are from within.
Nothing is taken from outside. While thus the practice is going on, the Prana will move only in one nerve. We then feel the internal joy. who can describe this Brahmananda?
The outside world will then be forgotten. We will then be in the world beyond.


57. "This world" means Jeevatma; the "next world" means the union of Jeevatman and Paramatman.


58. Just as small rivers enter the sea, our attention must be fixed on the internal breath.


59. What is visible is transient; it is perishable. When the mind is merged in "Bindu" and "Nada", Nirvikalpa Samadhi is attained. Our attention is then entirely towards Ananda (eternal joy). Fixing the attention between the eyebrows, the Prana should enter the holy BrahmaRandhra. Here the light of lights becomes visible to the divine eye. This is Mukti. This is eternally supreme joy. This is the place where the Manas ought to dwell; this is the eternal being whence the Vedas have sprung. This is seeing Paramatman in all; this is the real place of Jeevatman.


60. The real place of Jeeva is formless, indivisible. God pervades all things movable and immovable. He is the ONE without a second. God is the origin of Vedas.
He is the Lord of the body. He is the Lord of Jeevan-Mukti. Man to be man, must meditate (ruminate) upon God.


61. He who meditates on the "reality" is a sanyasi; he is a yogi. The distinction of "Pariah" exists in the external. Internally, all is one without distinction. What is "Pariah" is not after death. A "Pariah" is he who has envy and pride; who holds vain discussion about religion; who talks ill of others behind their backs. Sewing is not stitching thread and cloth; but stitching Manas and Budhi, i.e., merging Manas in Budhi.
Now the distinction of male and female; a true female is one who is merged in the external; a true male is one who is merged in the internal. One whose Budhi is firm is male; one whose Budhi is fickle is a female. This distinction of male and female is external only. Internally such a distinction does not exist at all. When the Manas and Budhi are merged in the Atman, one who is physically a woman becomes spiritually a "man".


62. The body is the cave. In this cave dwells the Atman. Atman, dwelling in the body, must attain "Moksha" (liberation). The outward bodily parts are various; in the invisible (subtle) all is one indivisible. OM is Pranava. Pranava pervades the form (body) . OM is bodylessness and formlessness.


63. Bhakti in the beginning, is selfish. After-wards, there is no selfishness in it.
When a man attains perfection, the whole universe becomes to him, his guru.


64. What is called "Hatha Yoga" is selfishness. In Hatha yoga a man seeks his own goodness. He seeks fame; he can stop the sunrise of tomorrow; he can create a mountain of gold. To say "I am Brahma" is not just. "Thou (O God!) art ALL; ALL art thou", we must say. A yogi is one who thinks the whole universe to be a yogi. He should regard all as himself.


65. If a man goes to a forest and there lives in a cave, it is just like a beast in a cave. Even the milestones are better than such a man because by the milestones, we can count the distance in miles. Such people are of no use whatsoever. A thoughtful man should gradually go on renouncing the world. When a man eats food, it is for his own benef it. others are not benefitted by it. It is not enough if we leave darkness. We must. always live in the light. If we have a light on a dark path, we have no fear. There is fear in walking in darkness.


66. If you perform tapas for thousands of years with the desire for "results", it is of no avail. But if you perform tapas for one ghatika (twenty-four minutes) without any desire for "fruits", you will see ALL in God and God in ALL.


67. Hatha yoga is duality. The most excellent is Raja Yoga. No man should think he is the doer. Everything is ordained by the great Self. Salt is obtained from sea water. When it is mixed with water, it becomes one with it. Similarly, Maya springs from Paramatman and finally merges in him.


68. Vedanta means Prana (breath). To be entirely merged in Prana, is Vedanta.
Vedanta is one indivisble. It is unbreakable. What is called Veda recitation is not from the tongue. Veda recitation should be from the throat. Those who know this secret are Brahmins. Veda is the one letter OM. It is the fire of inspiration. Vedanta is formless and changeless; indivisible. Light is caused by Veda. What is called Dharana in yoga is the real recitation of Veda.


69. Just as a tire of a bicycle is filled with air by a pump, the Nadis (nerves)
should be filled with "Vedanta discrimination" (discrimination derived from the perusal of Vedanta). Prana should be raised to Brahma Randhra, the highest point in the brain.
The nerves should be purified and such purification should be done step by step. Budhi and Manas should become one with Paramatman. You should play with him. You should sit in the upper story and look around downwards. Budhi's place is above.
Budhi must become one with Jnana. You should always drink the water of eternal joy.
You must be one with the nector of Ananda. You must know those who are always merged in this eternal joy. You should know the very secret of this Ananda. Truly, the Kundalini must be awakened. Just as we rock a child in a cradle, we should fix our attention in the head and examine what takes place there. Paramananda (supreme bliss), Sadananda (eternal bliss) are there in the head. Shiva Linga is also in the head which should be one.


70. When you rub a match to the side of a box, you obtain fire. You should cook everyday. You should avoid all distinctions. When the recipient is fit, he should be initiated. That man who has the power of discrimination should be initiated.


71. If food is given to a man who has no hunger, it will cause indigestion in him.
Those whose belly is full have no hunger. Those who are well dressed feel the cold, the greater.


72. One must go to Kasi by train. One must reach the town of "Sivanandapuri".
One must go to the country of "peace". One must stop his journey at "Brahmanandapuri".


73. A man must know himself; he who has conquered the mind is the man; he is the ascetic; he is the yogi; he sees the one Atman in all. Suppose you come into a dark room after wandering in the sun. What do you see? Look at the sun for five minutes and come into a dark room; you see nothing; this is as it ought to be. One must see with the inner (spiritual) eye.


74. A ripe fruit is very sweet to the taste. The same fruit when it is unripe is astringent. Both are produced by the same tree. The difference between the two is caused by time. As soon as a coconut is planted in the ground, it does not grow into a plant. First, it sprouts, then it becomes a plant and finally it becomes a tree. A tender coconut tree can be easily plucked from the ground. But a fully grown coconut tree cannot be easily plucked. So also, our mind must be unaffected, whatever people say to us or whatever they say about us; the mind must always be under our control. This is what a man must accomplish in life. This must be "the one object" in life. This a man must accomplish even if his head is to be struck off. We should give a blow with the mind itself, not with a cane or a hand or something. We should learn to tie a man without a rope. This is what a man should accomplish in life.


75. The mind is the seat of "sin"; it is the cause of action, good and bad. Mind is the cause of all these. If there is no mind there is no speech, without the mind, nothing can come and nothing can go. But for the mind, nothing can be accomplished. Suppose one knows how to speak english but he does not know how to write it; then we cannot say, he knows english fully. When he knows both, then only he c-an secure a passing grade in english.


76. Even a child, five years old knows that there is God; but the child does not know where God is. The sun sees all; but very few, one in a lakh or two, look at the sun.
In this world, three-fourths of the people are fond of sexual pleasures like beasts. Even those who have reached the middle state, are less than onefourth of the people. Good deeds are very few in this world. Evil deeds are many.


77. Swami is he who has united the Chit with Sat. Upadhi means the tree of peace. We must take shelter under this "tree of peace".


78. Those who are always one with the Brahman are the Brahmacharies. Such a man may even belong to a pariah caste. One does not become a "swami", by simply holding an ascetic's wand in hand or by holding a copy of the Bhagavadgeetha; nor by putting on red clothes; nor by discussing God with whomsoever he mets.


79. If gold is melted in f ire, it shines with lustre; so also, one should purify oneself, killing desire and anger internally. By introspection, he should move internally.
A man's mind never remains stationary.


80. However wicked a man may be, within five minutes his wickedness may be changed into goodness. So long as there are clouds, the sun's rays are not visible. As soon as the clouds scatter in all directions, the sun becomes visible. OM "the tower of peace"! OM "the form of peace"! OM! Salutation to OMKAR!


81. There is not a fixed rule about the taking of food. It has not been said that one should not take his meals. Moderation! Moderation is the rule. Half stomach, food; one-fourth water; do not love sleep too much.


82. Fire consumes anything and everything. It does not distinguish between good and bad. Likewise those who are doing "karma" may eat anything. Those who do not know what "karma" is are not aware of what they should do. Such a one suffers from indigestion. One whose digestion is all right may eat anything he likes. It will be digested. Sleep is necessary; moderate sleep. Do not eat when the stomach is full. Be always regular in your weals.


83. Gold chains around the neck; gold jewels on the ears; gold rings on fingers.
These are the causes of the fear of being robbed when they are on the body. Money is the cause of fear. When there is no gold on the body, then there is no fear.


84. What is called "fear" is the creation of the mind; for the internal sight, there is no fear. Fear exists to the man who has no internal eye (Jnyana). It is impossible for a blind man to describe what the cart is like. Similarly to a man who has no guru, there is no place in the world.


85. Food full means Prana full. Food means Prana. If we store our money in a box without much thought about it, it remains in a great store. If we spend from it, it becomes less and less. Money (wealth) is life; the box is intellect (Budhi). The box requires nothing. Similarly, if a man knows himself, he does not want anything. If by the internal exercise of the Sadhana (practice) which is with us, we lead the Prana to the Brahma Randhra (the top end of the Sushumna canal), and there if Prana and Shiva are united, then we do not require anything. Restraining the Manas from going down and showing it the royal road of the "middle path" is what is called food.


86. The repetition of Rama is true delight; it is the eternal Atma delight; eternal true delight; internal Atma delight; Kundalini grandeur delight. The lord of mind is Rama.
Rama mans Atman. That which governs the ten Indriyas (five Karmendriyas and five Jnyanendriyas) is Rama. Ravana means all the wicked qualities in us. Seeta means Chitta. Lakshmana means attention (thought control). Krishna mans introspection. This introspection is the eternal Atma delight.


87. All are men. There is no incarnation higher than man. Man is the greatest of animals. But those are the best of men who ponder over the subtle.


88. "Ekadashi" means the worship of the "ONE". To such a man, everyday is Ekadashi. Those are called "men" who have such an Ekadashi. A man should think very little about the gross. He should spend much of his time in meditation of the subtle.

Continue