A devotee’s question: Because we talk about spirituality in general…spirituality is one way where we think that being thankful for what we have, does it actually help us to make our stress go down? Is that part of spirituality? I mean, having the ability, because as humans, we all have desires, so being thankful for what we have in life, does it actually make us more or less stressed?
Swami Nikhilanan Ji’s answer: I would say that's part of having a positive outlook. Being thankful for what we have is part of several things that we could keep in mind to maintain a positive outlook. But, what we want to do is go even beyond that. We want to create a real connection with God that goes even deeper than just being thankful for the material things we have, but where we actually start feeling Divine God's presence with us. So that's a much deeper goal.
A devotee’s question: When I close my eyes and so sometimes I feel okay, “I am a soul. I'm not a body,” but the problem starts when I interact with the world. When I go to the job, when I meet my friends, meet my enemies, and meet my wife even. So, how can the practice help me to remember in that situation that I'm a soul and not the body and so what kind of practice can I do to detach from that world?
Swami Nikhilanand Ji’s answer: The path to God includes the practice of meditation which we do here, By practicing meditation every day, what ends up happening is that that spiritual consciousness which you referred to where you have some awareness of your Divinity, that spiritual consciousness has to be integrated into our material active life and initially the two don't integrate but the more we practice the more that spiritual awareness becomes almost like our baseline. It becomes our regular waking consciousness. But that takes time. It takes practice, and it actually happens naturally.
So the more we call the meditation we do here is a very specific meditation called roop dhyan where we meditate on God Himself. So, by doing this, we create and deepen a connection with God. So while you're doing the meditation, eventually you start experiencing something in a very deep way. And in the beginning, again, you get the disconnect. As soon as you stop your meditation, the world just takes over. But eventually, over the weeks or months or years, if you keep practicing, that actually spills over into your (life) like a rising tide. It starts spilling over into your material activities or your material consciousness, you can say. But, it's a process. It takes time. There's no easy way. There's no shortcut or trick. You just have to keep practicing until that enters your daily waking consciousness.
A devotee’s question: I wonder if you can tell us how to stop getting happiness from the wrong things, be it eating, sleeping, laziness, drinking, what have you?
Swami Nikhilanand Ji’s answer: Recognizing that those are temporary pleasures is part of it, but the real effect comes when we start… Remember, I was saying we have to get some experience of God and it starts small and grows. So, the more experience we get by following the path to God and the bigger that experience becomes, the more space in our heart it takes up and the less interest our mind has in those types of pleasures that you were describing.
It's not wrong for the mind to want happiness or pleasure. It's our nature, because God Himself is happiness and we're a part of Him. So we naturally desire happiness and pleasure, but the thing is we're seeking it from the world instead of seeking the Divine happiness from God. So, until the mind starts experiencing that happiness, it's never going to let go of the material pleasures.
So don't worry too much. I mean, have the knowledge about the limited nature of the material pleasures, but don't worry about forcefully making the mind leave those things. Think more about how can I attach my mind to God and start experiencing devotional happiness, devotional pleasure, and that will create a natural transition where your mind will naturally start becoming more interested in God than in the world.
A devotee’s question: As you said, being intellectual… Stress can be managed or stress can be reduced. What about emotional intelligence? Like when you are in stress, your emotions can go up and down and that it's really difficult to control emotions. It can be visible to your face and it's a different situation while working, while at home, anywhere in the world. So how are we to control the emotions? Like the two theories you suggested, like being intellectual, but emotional intelligence is a completely different thing. How do we combine with spirituality?
Swami Nikhilanand Ji’s answer: Well, there's two things. There's eliminating the root cause of that emotional volatility, which is the very same we're talking about. The root cause is the same - we're separated from God and we're unable to experience God. That's what creates that volatility in our emotions. So the solution is also the same. The more experience of God's closeness we have, the more level headed we'll be. So that's addressing the root cause, but since that's a gradual process that takes time. In the meantime, we also have to have some techniques for managing our emotions.
So those techniques are fairly simple. You know, many of you probably have your own techniques, but one way that Jagadguru Shree Kripalu Ji Maharaj used to tell us is if you're having some reaction coming on and you want to try to control it. So, the first thing you can do is try to just think Krishna is watching me right now. So how would I behave in front of Krishna? Or maybe you're feeling angry at a person. So then not only feel like Krishna is watching me, see Krishna in the heart of that person. Then whatever that emotion was, it's going to calm down immediately if you can really do that. It's possible. Sometimes we are so angry. We don't even want it.
Who is it? Yeah. Krishna may be there, but, “I don't want to see Him! I want to be angry at this person!” Then nobody can help you. Right? But that's a technique that if you can actually implement it, you don't need any other technique. “Oh, I'm having this emotion. It's going to be a destructive emotion. I better manage it!” Okay. See Krishna in this person or Krishna is right here watching me. Then that takes care of the problem. Maharaj ji also taught us one breathing technique. He called it ‘Radhe breathing’.
So ‘shwās shwās Radhe Radhe ka jap karna’ says you inhale and you say, “Ra” without, not out loud, just in your mind, in your heart. You say “Ra-dhe”, “Ra-dhe.” So, in Braj where Radha Krishna took avatār, everybody says “Radhe Radhe” for everything - for hello, for goodbye, for getting somebody's attention, for everything, “Radhe Radhe.” So we can use “Radhe Radhe” to help us control our emotions also. Just breathe in and breathe out and just say, “Radhe.” So you're getting the effect of God's Divine name plus you're using the breath to command your emotions to settle down.
A devotee’s question: When the soul departs from the body, is it instantly transferred to a different body or goes to Godhead first?
Swami Nikhilanand Ji’s answer: Doesn't go to God, actually. It stays in the material realm. And depending on our karm… you know, someone could be immediately reborn in some other species or as a human somewhere else or even in your own family you could be reborn. Or you could go to swarg or narak, and then eventually be reborn here on Earth. So it's going to be different for every person.
But unless we attain God in this life, you don't go to God and then go somewhere else. And God is managing the whole situation, but you'll just go according to your karm. You don't go to God after dying.
A devotee’s question: So, in day-to-day life, whenever I get stressed, by the time I get pleasure also somehow, because I believe in the God, happiness is kind of eliminating my stress level, but I'm a little confused whether this is from God's side or is that the true happiness? Or, how do I take that kind of pleasure when I have too much stress in my life?
Swami Nikhilanand Ji’s answer: If you're getting pleasure by remembering God, this is a glimpse of the Divine pleasure. It's depending on how much connection we have with God, we experience pleasure while remembering Him. And that's the real pleasure. That's the real happiness. So now we have to know how to increase that so it stays all the time.
So let us finish with a couple minutes of kirtan, which is actually a time to meditate. So I'd like you all to think about Krishna. Think about that tattva gyān you got, which is that you belong to Him. You're the same. You're related to Him and He's always with you.
So just see His beautiful form and feel His presence with you and we'll do a couple minutes of chanting while we all do our own meditation and try to feel close to God in this way.
