Bhoomananda Foundation

Nutan Swamiji explains that the original 'I', the all-pervading Consciousness, is ever pure and untainted. However, with the association of the body-mind personality, it appears to display their characteristics. The Consciousness does not possess those properties at all.

In this short talk, Nutan Swamiji clearly explains why we fail to retain the Truth, even after understanding it. It is due to the lack of Sattvika Dhriti. Swamiji emphasizes that Sattvika Dhriti cannot be given by anyone else, not even by the Guru; it must be cultivated by the seeker through sādhanā. Once our personality undergoes a sattvika transformation, we will be able to easily retain spiritual thoughts.

Swamiji says how this self-realization works and brings about fruition and fulfillment is something we should know. When the mind recedes from desires, the craving for sensory enjoyment drops, the senses are brought under control, the knowledge comes that the Self within can produce all the enjoyment. Such people attain the supreme knowledge of the Self.

Knowledge is supreme in human life, Poojya Swamiji explains. This knowledge is of two kinds – the inferior and the superior. The superior knowledge, the subject knowledge, is about our real identity. Pursuing the attainment of that knowledge is the purpose of the human life.

Poojya Swamiji tells us that the knowledge that we gain must act and function in a manner that it removes the stains in our personality. We have to identify with the knowledge. It should become a functional practice, and our Supreme refuge. That is the way of sadhana towards eternal peace.

Poojya Swamiji says that the concept of Advaita rises only when, by in-depth introspection, we are not able to find any justification for the objects, space, and changes to be physically or in reality there. The entire world exists. This existence of the world is actually a feeling, a comprehension in our mind. Mind is actually Consciousness, its expression. This Advaita understanding is not to negate and invalidate everything in the world, but not to be deluded by it.

The Brahmavidya deeksha is the last thing in human life. Also, without it there cannot be any full fulfillment in human life. Moksha, i.e. liberation and freedom, the last of the four-fold puruhartha, can be had only through this deeksha. How do we accomplish this attainment? We have to get into our own inner personality. This is where the deeksha plays its significant role.

In this short audio, Nutan Swamiji helps us understand the difference between ego and ahankara. While the basic ego is essential — as Swamiji says, it is the hub of our personality, coordinating various functions of the senses, body, and mind — ahankara is different. It refers to the sense of doership and enjoyership that we assign to our activities. We are not responsible for our body, mind, or intelligence; they are all products of nature. It is the false sense of ownership and egoism — ahankara — that leads us into trouble.

Nutan Swamiji explains that in meditation, we withdraw from all interactions as well as thoughts about the world, the body, and so on. When we completely forget the external world, we are flooded with happiness and bliss. This experience reveals that true bliss comes from within. Once we understand this truth, we see the fallacy of chasing after happiness. In reality, it is our desires that keep us unhappy. Joy is a natural quality of the Soul, always welling up from within. When all desires (and hatred) are eliminated, we can attain true happiness and permanent joy.

We seek happiness from many sources. In reality, everything we do is aimed at achieving happiness. However, our experiences show that we never attain lasting happiness. If we look around the world, we can easily observe that no one has ever become truly happy by pursuing worldly things, yet we persist in believing, "I will be happy if I do this."