Unpacking the Sutra: Conflict-Free Life

Today this is the subject. Conflict free life. And the Sutra is all about conflict free life. I am telling you honestly, don’t think I am putting my meaning into it. Really the Sutra fell in such a way today this became a Sutra. Don’t think I have some idea I can connect with anything with anything, any Sutra, maybe whatever it is. Swami can add meaning, don’t think. Really, really, really, the Sutra on which I’m supposed to speak today automatically fell with this, this idea I think from today morning. So many beautiful coincident things are happening.

The Challenge of Sanskrit Translation

So let me read today’s Sutra. Whenever I read a Sanskrit sloka and see the translation next to it, I always feel, “Oh God, diamond is studded on copper”. Such beautiful diamond, can’t they get a little gold piece to stud it and make a jewel? So each word that Sutra is like a diamond, and the translation available next is like a not even a copper, lead, simple lead. How can the diamond be studded in the lead metal and jewel can be made? So I am stuck for a few minutes, how to get gold to put that diamond and stud it and make a jewel. That is why never use the exact translation available.

See, I am not disrespecting great Masters like Swami Vivekananda, Pranavananda, D. Sachidananda, all giants. They all have formally studied Sanskrit and they all have translated. I am not disrespecting their ability. I am saying the inability of the English, very language, not only English, any language. See, Sanskrit is created to express the great spiritual truths. So any language you try to translate those great truths, it’s like again getting a copper sheet on that studding gold, studding diamond and trying to make jewel. Anyhow that is why I try to use lot of words to express that concept to you. I cannot use just one word to translate one word of Sanskrit, no. Again I’ll be doing the mistake of making a copper jewelry and studding Diamond into it, no. It’s a I like to use lot of words so that I can make the Gold Jewel on which the diamond can be stud, diamond can be put where the proper beautiful jewelry can be made.

Interpreting “Avidya” (Ignorance)

I’ll give you the literal translation of two, three Masters. Then I’ll try to give not my translation, my broad understanding. Please understand, I wanted to tell, now whatever I am saying for each word or Sutra is not translation. It is that I am trying to express that very Concept in a broad way as Patanjali wishes to express it from Consciousness.

So the exact literal translation is:

• Vivekananda’s translation: Ignorance is to take non-eternal, the impure, the painful and the non-self for what is eternal, the pure, the happy and the Atman or self.
• Satchidananda’s translation: Ignorance is regarding the impermanent as permanent, the impure as pure, the painful as pleasant and the non-self as the self.
• Prabhavananda’s translation: Ignorance is taking the non Eternal, impure, evil and non Atma to be Eternal, pure, good, good and Atma.
• Pranavanda translates: Us to regard the non Eternal as Eternal, the impure as pure, the painful as pleasant and the non Atman as the Atman.

This is ignorance. Now you may think, how can the truth of conflict free life be connected to it?

Conflict: Does it Have Life?

As I said, conflict has no life. Anything which is life don’t have conflict, that’s all. In you, whatever has conflict, body, mind, has no life. In you, whatever has life, has no conflict. Then where are you feeling conflict filled life? Especially when you come around the Master, he will see that you fall into conflicts because he has to remind you till you realize the conflict-free space. The conflicts are there in you, understand. Whatever conflict the world creates in you is to put you in more and more conflicts. Whatever conflict Master creates in you is to lift you out of the conflict.

I tell you, if you are graced, if you are blessed enough to be around Master and He tries to create some conflict in you, that is the greatest blessing. Just stand by Master, just stand by Master. I tell you, whatever can create conflict in you has no life. He will make you understand, He will make you understand whatever is life in you has no conflict. Whatever creates conflict in you has no life. Whatever has life in you has no conflict. Anything which creates conflict in you has no life.

Understand, your fear, it may have life, maybe it is having few years of life, one year life, nothing, it has no life. It has simply no life, depression, insecurity, fear, fear of your outer world, wealth or fear of your own image, everything. Those things have no life. I tell you, conflict has no life, life has no conflict. When you think conflict as life, you are doing the mistake of Avidya, what Patanjali says here, taking Anitya as Nitya, Asuchi as Suchi, and Anatma as Atma, Dukha as Sukha.

Let me explain the word Anitya. Oh God, today’s session will be over just with this word Anitya. And the word is so strong, I am bound to explain this word Nitya at least for next 10 days.

“Nitya” (Eternal) is Beyond “Anitya” (Non-Eternal)

And one more important thing, that word Nitya is not opposite of Anitya. Word Nitya is beyond Anitya. Please understand, conflict-free life is not opposite to conflict-filled life. If you think the word conflict-filled life and conflict-free life are opposite to each other, then conflict-free life itself has one conflict, is it not? Understand, if a conflict-free life has an opposite of conflict-free life, then even if you achieve the state of conflict-free life, you have an opposite, you have a conflict of conflict-filled life. For example, now you all have a conflict-filled life, you achieve conflict-free life. Then naturally, even there you have a conflict anytime conflict-filled my life may come back, is it not? That is why I’m telling you, conflict-free life is not opposite to conflict-filled life, it is beyond conflict-filled life.

So Nitya (Eternal) is not opposite to non-Eternal, it is beyond, beyond non-Eternal. Because we have no other word, we have to use the word Nitya.

Please understand duality. If you understand this one understanding, it will be really great. The opposite to duality is not non-duality, it is…

• Analogy: Bamboo in the Ganga It’s like, understand this story. In the Ganga, there is a bamboo floating. With respect to the bamboo, you say right side Ganga, left side Ganga. Suddenly if the bamboo is lifted, can you say now there is only one Ganga? No, you can’t even say one Ganga. Ganga, that’s all. How can there be one Ganga? As long as there is division, it is two. When the division is lifted completely, you can’t say one Ganga. Ganga, that’s all, whatever is, that’s all. It’s like a left side water, right side water. When you lift the bamboo, you can’t say one water. Water, that’s all. You cannot say left or right. As I always say, nothing is left in the right, nothing is right and the left. This is the best thing to describe the divided brain, these guys go on dividing brain as a left brain and right brain always. People in right, nothing is left in left, nothing is right. Nitya is not opposite to Anitya. When the Anitya has become nonexistent, evaporated, what is, is Nitya.
• Analogy: Finger Pointing to the Moon So the word Nitya is more like a finger pointing to the Moon, not the description of the Moon. Understand, sometime the description is different, the finger pointing to that experience is different. Moon means it is a planet which is in solar family. Then you can say this is a description of that planet, that graha. But here I am just doing like this, showing you the moon, can you say this is a description of the Moon? The finger pointing to the Moon is not description of the moon. So when we use the word first moon, it is like a description of a state. When I am using the word Nitya, it is not description of a state, it is finger pointing to the state.

Please understand the difference. That is where you need to understand clearly the word Anitya, what purpose it is used. The word Nitya, what purpose this word is used? Anitya word is used to describe certain situation, certain suffering, certain space which you all know that is Anitya. But Nitya word is not used to describe certain space or situation or understanding or mental setup, no. Nitya word is used as a finger pointing to certain experience. What is that, we don’t know. Jump, only then you know. Look, only then you know, not otherwise. How to look? Any word which Masters use is a technique to look.

Paths to Enlightenment: Patanjali vs. Zen

That is why there’s a beautiful Zen stories. No tradition like Zen is able to capture the beauty of the path so beautifully.

Patanjali’s “Jet Path”

I feel even Patanjali is running quickly to Samadhi. So sometime you are just put some restrictions, you should not look this side and that side. That is why Patanjali is dead against Siddhis. He is the greatest master who mapped, created a clear GPS for Siddhis. But he’s very clear putting some restrictions for you so that you will not get diverted, you will run to the goal.

Patanjali is that kind of literature. Only Patanjali is more like taking a jet. In two years, you are there in the spot of Samadhi. I feel Patanjali has done a great service for these quick runners who want to be there immediately. Patanjali is a very productive person, very appealing for modern day men, especially for corporate people. That is why Patanjali appeals more to the doing civilization, all doing civilizations. Patanjali appeals more than Buddha, than Zen.

If you are not fortunate enough to have the feeling connection with living Master, or not fortunate enough to have the spouse also to have feeling connection with the living Master, or some reason which is not letting you to be around living Master, then Patanjali is path for you. Because your path is going to be dry, dull. How many days you can be alone sitting and blowing your nose? Then take the jet path, quickly tuck tuck tu tu finish it off and be enlightened.

Zen’s Experiential Journey

But Zen has done a great service for the people who got feeling connection with the living Master. See, when you have the feeling connection with living Master, the path becomes so joyful, why should you run? Come on, have a bath with him, sit under the banyan tree with him, have cup of tea with him and just dance around him for a few days and taste his presence and go on be lost in his charismatic intense energy field, so much to do. Why should you run, closing your eyes and blowing the nose 8 hours a day in the name of some process?

Zen literature is the largest available literature. It talks about the path. If you are fortunate enough to have the feeling connection with living Master and fortunate enough to be physically around him, Zen is the path for you. Actually, after 4 days after we start working on Prana, I’m going to talk on beautiful 10 Zen Stories. The story is describing about the searching of the last bull. Very beautiful 10 stories, Zen stories. You can say 10 paintings, it is not even story, 10 paintings. Many great Masters, even Osho has spoken on it. I came to know about these 10 paintings from Osho’s discourses only. But many Master like Suzuki, many Masters have expressed very beautifully. I read just four five understanding about the 10 Zen paintings. I’ll start speaking on it. Zen has beautiful stories about this difference between the conflict-filled life and conflict-free life, the Anitya and just this one word Nitya. I can go on expressing from each tradition what they express about this word Nitya. And I want to create separate set of series called Nitya Sutras.

The Zen Master and the Child’s Thumb: A Story of Trust and Transformation

Very beautiful Zen Story. One child, maybe 10-11 year old child, was brought up by a Zen master personally. He himself brought up the child. Fortunate are the kids who had the fortune of being around the Master in the young age and being brought up by him and ability not to lose that connection, the strength to hold on to that connection, they are the most fortunate one. This child was brought up by the Zen master. That child was so enchanted by the body language of this Master. Whenever the child gets the chance, he would imitate that Master’s body language, imitating exactly how he behaves, how he walks, how he dances, how he does things. So that Master has one kind of a habit. Whenever he expresses a point, he’ll just show his thumb, that is his kind of a body language, unique thing. So this child would imitate that again and again, making fun of him. Blessed are those who make fun of Master and Master takes it lightly. See what a sweet space, you see? You can tease him and he takes it lightly. What an unimaginable space this child must be enjoying!

So one day Master was giving a very serious discourse, very serious, very intense, strong process. And 10,000 Buddhas Sanyasis are sitting in front of him and the intense process is going on. And he gives an initiation of a Mahavaakya, strong word. Just today morning, that one word, that’s all, I could see the whole crowd caught that meaning of the word. I did not explain at all. Morning, when I gave him a message, “conflict-free life,” I did not explain that word. Just I uttered, I saw the whole crowd, every face lit up, means your heart caught that, caught it, wow! That is Mahavaakya, deliverance of Mahavaakya initiation.

So this guy is very serious, very intense and he’s giving a Mahavaakya. The moment he initiated, gave the Mahavaakya, he did the same thing, usual, “Come on, just show we won”. And this child without understanding the seriousness of the situation, standing behind him, did the same imitation, same imitation at that serious moment. And all the Buddhas are just melting in his presence, and that great Mahavaakya is getting transmitted and they are all just indrawn, deeply meditative. Just imagine I’m giving you that ultimate initiation on Abhaya, and one child is standing next behind me and imitating my body language, how it would look? And some sadhus are strongly going inward, some are unable to control the laughter of the child’s imitation. They are trying to hide their face, hide their mouth to control the laughter. And this Master just looked at the child, took the knife and cut the thumb. Just cut the thumb.

The story says, not only the story says, I know it is happened, it’s not just story, it’s a history, history. The child was so deeply connected to the Master, such strong trust with the Master. When the cutting of the finger happened, thumb happened, the child thought, “If he does it, must be good for me,” that’s all. The story says, when the finger fell, his ego fell and he became enlightened. The ability to stand with the Master, unimaginable ability to stand with the Master. Anyhow, they rush him for the medical assistance and he was taken care.

The Master’s Wisdom on Trust and Conflict

Next day the discussion starts as usual. This 10,000 Sanyasis sitting in front of him asked, “We are so happy, he became enlightened, true. But he lost the finger, it could have been done without that loss”. He said, “Don’t worry, people lose lives for enlightenment, finger is worthy, finger is worthy”.

Second thing, just I wanted the world to know the requirement, the prerequisite for enlightenment: that dedication, the depth. Understand, his very body is being hurt, very body is being hurt, but “if he does it is good for me”. “He knows what is good for me much more than I know”. I tell you, it can happen only in kids. That’s the reason I had this small Gurukul so that the kids can grow around me. Of course, I’m not saying all kids will have that kind of a strength, but the possibility with the kids is more when they grow that kind of strong trust to happen because whatever is certain, the elders will have their own calculation. But the moment you start having your own calculation other than Master’s, you are elder. The moment you have your different priorities, “I think he may not think all the dimension I think” or “I know what is good for me,” then he knows, done, the possibility is over. But this child retained that possibility, that’s one thing.

Second, Master also wanted to express if that possibility, that trust is there, how simple sharing the enlightenment. See, one finger being lost is nothing. Millions of people lose their parts of their body everyday in some accident or in disease. One guy losing one finger for enlightenment is nothing wrong, it’s worth price, worth price.

The child knows whatever is conflict, whatever can create conflict in him has no life. Whatever is life cannot have conflict. If Master is infusing some conflict, it is just to lift you out of conflicts, that is the best way, jump. Very beautifully that Zen master describes. Next day, Master will never infuse any conflict in you, he will only release you from conflicts. If he is introducing some conflict or something which you perceive as conflict, just stand with the Master. You will see he will lift you out of the conflict with which you may suffer for Janmas and never come up on your own.

I have seen whenever I put conflict in people, telling very clearly, “Jump, you have a chance” or “Carry on for Janmas, no problem”. It goes on, on, on for Janmas. Unfortunately, when they miss these opportunities I give for jumping, the world teaches them the suffering through suffering. And all suffering will it exactly the same conflict which Master gave you the possibility to jump. When that happens and they come back, “Alright, I gave you the chance that time, okay, now again I’ll work with you, but it’ll take time, come back”. He has such deep compassion, he doesn’t say no. But because you said no, the time delay, nothing else, just time delay.

See, when Master cuts the finger, that child could have thought a thousand things: “I think he’s a sadist, why should he hurt me? He can give Enlightenment without hurting me. Why did, why should he do that? If he is compassionate and intelligent, he should do it without giving suffering to me”. The child could have thought a thousand things, did not. Master says very beautifully, the child’s ability to take the opportunity of the conflict inflicted by, conflict invoked by Master.

Understand, whenever a Master directly invokes conflict in you, he gives you the possibility of jumping into the conflict-free life. He gives you the possibility, he shows you the conflict with which you are constantly suffering which will take Janmas for you to jump.

Sometimes these kids, many kids take birth to our devotees just to be around me. And these poor fellows, last time they lost, in last Janma, they would have suffered with some conflict. They will ask a boon, “Next time I should take birth in your devotees home and be around you from the young age and should not have any conflict”. Every time I give Kalpataru, at least this kind of request, at least a few thousands I had till now. “At least next Janma from the young age I should be in your Sannidhya and grow up at your feet without any conflicts”. Even these kids, many of them who had a chance to be around me had this kind of boon last Janma. But fools, when they come back, when I give them again the chance, of course, very few intelligent jump, they catch it. But some again miss them. “Alright, I’ll wait, I’ll wait”. So I give them the space. “Okay, you have freedom to do a mistake, and you have freedom to come back”. After all, you are a child for me, the broad space. But I tell them always, you don’t have freedom to suffer, don’t suffer. You have the freedom to listen to what I am saying. You have the freedom to say no to what I am saying. You have the freedom to do what you want. And you have the freedom to come back and tell me that what you did is wrong and you want to come back. You have all the freedom because you don’t need to think, “Oh, once I did not listen, how can I go back and face him?” No, you have a huge space, but the time delay, that’s all, nothing else.

Whenever Master inflicts conflict in you, he invokes conflict in you, take that opportunity to jump and be in the space of conflict-free life. Understand, conflict-free life is not opposite to conflict-filled life, it is about the conflict-filled and conflict-less. Nitya is Anitya and non-Anitya. It is the word used to describe a, you can say, that’s not finger pointing to the Moon, not word describing a situation. Anitya is a word describing the experience. Nitya is the finger pointing to the Moon. So when the finger pointing to the Moon is seen by you, you should just see the moon, don’t think this is the description of the Moon and catch the finger and sometime bite it, no, no.

The Pillars of Ignorance (Avidya) and the Path to Conflict-Free Life

Mistaking the Non-Eternal as Eternal (Anitya as Nitya)

Thinking Anitya as Nitya is conflict. Thinking life as conflict or conflict as life is ignorance. Be very clear, if you have any conflict internally, remember very clearly it has no life. Whether it is your fear, anger, lust, greed, suffering, anything you have inside which is creating conflict, when you look inside there may be something creating conflict. So look and be very clear, it has no life. So anything which has life has no conflict.

Mistaking the Impure as Pure (Asuchi as Suchi)

Thinking Avidya as Vidya, sorry, Anitya as Nitya is ignorance. The second step: Asuchi as Suchi. This word Asuchi needs to be understood: impure. Please understand impure is not just a physical, it is more of mental. The most unfortunate thing with impure is it will not even let you know you are impure when it is in the mind. That is where the problem is. Your whole logic will be in such chaos. That is why reading books and practicing and achieving Enlightenment becomes impossible when you get into that impure logic.

See, when you read book, one book says one, another one book says another one. And one book says be compassionate and put up with everything, other book says be courageous and break everything. So this is what getting into the impure logic. Then how to find out which is pure and which is impure? The Master’s instruction to you is the scale, initiation is the scale to hold on to the purity. But the problem is when you have conflict with the Master’s word itself, suspect the Master’s initiation and have impure logic, nothing can be done. That’s why they say if you have suspicion about the Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra, you can save yourself by holding Guru. But if you start, moment you start doubting the Guru or are unable to hold on to the Guru, now what is the way to find out pure and impure? No way. Because already your logic is so chaotic, chaos. That is why no book, no word, no ordinary lectures can lead to the purity. It is simply initiation of the Master, that is a scale to measure the Purity, Asuchi, the impurity. Impurity in the body will be seen very clearly. All of you know what is it is. I’m talking about impurity in the mind, impurity in your logic, impurity in your decision making.

Asuchi, taking impure logic as Purity. If your logic says you will have suffering and some fear, if Master says, “Go into it, never ever bother, just hold on to Master and go into it”. Because if you hold on to your impure logic, it will keep you under its control forever and it will go on damaging your Inner Space. If you listen to the Master and walk through it, you will suddenly realize that conflict has no life.

I tell you, really, only once I went to the prison and came out. Suddenly the idea or fear of the prison, whatever was taught to me from the young age, especially in India, the fear and the prison and the police is almost like a hell, I did not find anything. Of course, I’m not interested in going there again, that is different, but I am saying suddenly I realized it has no life. Of course, because of my Enlightenment there was no suffering, that is different, but even ordinarily the amount, see, always people tell, “Oh, what people will talk,” the abusal, social name and fame, so many things. After all, I’m living in a society with a big organization, we need to bother about society and their ideas, their opinions. But somehow I went through this fire of abusal. But that’s all, conflict has no life.

I tell you, you cannot go through any more conflict, even 1% of the conflict I am, I would, I am supposed to go through during this scandal. I tell you, I went through and did this 100% so that I can tell you anything can happen in your life is only less than 1% of what I went through. Now you cannot say, “You are a Swami, what is there? People pour money at your feet, people send money just to wash your feet, and you are sitting in Golden Throne, what is there for you? You can be conflict free”. Now you cannot tell all that. The Golden Throne has thousand conflicts. First of all, it is not Golden Throne, it’s gold painted. And people pour money to wash the feet only as long as what they want gets fulfilled. The moment it gets delayed, they pull the same feet, now what to do? So after going through all the things of washing and pulling, I am telling you, conflict has no life, from my experience. So now my experience has the authenticity of experience. Earlier also my teachings had an authenticity of the spiritual experience. Now my teachings has an authenticity of the social experience. So your logic cannot question my teachings at all. I went through this whole thing so that your logic will just shut and go through the process, go through the teachings and get into the enlightenment. Now your logic cannot suspect the strength of my words. It cannot say, “No, no, no, no, no, he has never seen suffering in his life from the young age, he just lived happy life so he can go on say life is great, life has no conflict, conflict has no life”. All this he can go on, he can tell all this fairy tale. He can go on selling Heaven. He can go on describing the world in poetic romance. Now you cannot tell that. I have seen everything, I have seen to its extreme. You cannot see more than a person in your life. Even if you do all possible mistakes in your life, whatever you can commit, even then you cannot see 1% of what abusal I went through. I tell you really, whatever mistake you can and you want if you commit the whole thing also, you will not have the abusal and suffering which was put on me without doing any mistake. Even 1% of that suffering and abusal will not have. That is so I’m telling you, no conflict has life. With this strength I am telling you, no conflict has life, life has no conflict. So all you need to do is drop from impure logic, hold the pure logic. The Master, the living Master, is the purest form of logic, purest form of logic.

• Pure vs. Impure Logic: The Story of Shikhandi Sometime you should understand this story. Shikhandi was asked by Krishna to stand in the front and put arrows on Bhishma. For a moment, Shikhandi thought, “Bhishma did not do anything wrong to me, why is this Krishna asking me to finish Bhishma”? But only Krishna knows Shikhandi took birth just to destroy Bhishma because in the past Janma he accumulated some Karma which can be exhausted only by destroying Bhishma. Sometime I tell people, I do this, they will think, “No, no, no, as per the logic of truth it may not be right”. But you forget one thing, Master knows little more span of incidents than the span you know. The Shikhandi was caught with a little impure logic. Even Arjuna was caught with impure logic at that moment. He said, “Oh, Bhishma is fighting with me, I should finish Bhishma, why should Shikhandi attack Bhishma”? But Krishna said, “No, allow Shikhandi to send the arrow, you wait”. But finally when Shikhandi put the arrow, only then Bhishma also fell and Shikhandi also had the fulfillment. Shikhandi was liberated the moment he finished it. Then he said, “Arjuna, hey, come on, now you send your arrow”. Arjuna was shocked what happened because Shikhandi do not know whatever has happened in his life because of Bhishma in this Janma. But he took birth to finish that so unless he finishes, he will not be relaxed. So Shikhandi’s logic, what incidents he knows, based on that he gathers the truth and right, wrong. But Krishna knows little more of Shikhandi than Shikhandi knows. So when he gives he sees the whole Shikhandi and gives instruction. But unfortunate Shikhandi can see only what he knows about himself and can make right or wrong with Krishna. Krishna knows Shikhandi more than what Shikhandi knows about himself. Impure logic means making decisions based on what you know about you. The pure logic means making decisions what is you that only Master knows what is you, not what you know about you, as you.

Mistaking the Non-Self as Self (Anatma as Atma)

Anatma as Atma, mistaking non-Soul as Soul. Anatma as Atma, nonself as self. Of course, if you think you have conflict, you think conflict as life, that is what is taking nonself as self. Conflict has no life, life has no conflict. If it can have conflict, how can life be respected as life? Again it should be a matter then. If conflict can have life then when can it be destroyed? It can never be destroyed. Then where is the question of Liberation, no? If you can be bound, you cannot be liberated. If you are always liberated, how can you be bound? Conflict has no life, life has no conflict. Don’t give life to conflict. Don’t think life as conflict. Don’t think Atma as Atma. Don’t think Atma as Anatma.

Mistaking non Eternal as Eternal, impure as pure, non self as self, suffering as Joy, is ignorance. Solution is conflict free life. Mistaking conflict is life, or life is conflict, is ignorance. . Understanding conflict has no life and life has no conflict is conflict free life.

source: Patanjali Yoga Sutras (Day 7) by Nithyananda