Today's inspired talk was given early in the morning with Gurudeva sitting before the Siva Nataraj and giant crystal Lingam of Kadavul Hindu Temple. It is a deeply mystical look at the path to God, how people approach it, how they get on it, how they get off it and how them sometimes get back on it again. He talks about religious experiences, what they are and how all the little realizations along the path are just as important as the big realizations. A very special message.

Unedited Transcript:

Today at Kauai Aadheenam. January 11th. We want to welcome everyone to our Cyberspace Ashram. Our doors are open, our hearts are open, our minds are open and we're looking at you through the wonderful, not quite so astral, plane of cyberspace. It is kind of a different world that we are in now. In looking at our congregation worldwide, we see a lot of hope for the future. We see the young people coming forward in a very nice way.

A young person has to prove for himself the basic principles of Sanatana Dharma. Some go at it in a straight-forward way and others go at it in a round-about way. What is a round-about way? Trying to disprove everything, and therefore proving it. What is a straight-forward way? Accepting it as it is, and trying to prove it also. And what is proving it? Proving these basic principles of Sanatana Dharma is relating them to your own life's experience.

So, we cannot be discouraged with young people if we find they reach a certain age and pull away a little bit. (And)Viswaguru will also work with me and help. (and )They can understand the law of karma by going through a few experiences and finding out how those experiences were created by themselves. They have to have a basic realization in this life if they didn't have a basic realization in a previous life. If they had the basic realizations in a previous life very, very strongly, those things carry over from life to life and then the soul builds on them.

We have had one or two recently, older students who went away for a while and proved out all of these various things of karma, (and )dharma, and reincarnation and the existence of God everywhere. (, and)After twenty years of figuring it all out, came back. What's a small amount of twenty years to pack into the awakening these aspects of the subsuperconscious mind. It is just a little space of time because now, those realizations with these individuals will remain in their psyche forever and they'll build on it life after life, after life, after life. Leading up to the big realization, there are a lot of little realizations. New students want to, "I want to realize the Self. Like, let's see now, it's a quarter to seven, at least by 7:30 that should happen!"

Especially Americans. They want to go the top and they want to get all the getting while the getting's good. However a lot of little realizations come along first. Just to realize you are a soul living in an astral body, the astral body is living in a physical body, is not an easy realization though it is very nice to listen to. To realize that you have an astral body that is awake 24 hours a day, living in a physical body that sleeps half the time. That is also, for some people, a very difficult realization. They are so certain that they are their physical body, and so uncertain that it will last forever. Maybe, they are not quite sure, until maybe they see a funeral car go by or something like that and then "Uh oh, that is a big problem. Let us not think about that anymore!'.

When we are on the path, what does 'on the path' mean? [When you are on the path,] you get a jump start. Does your car ever go dead? Then you hook these little things on the battery and give it a jump start and 'rrrrrrr', you are on the path. Shaktipada. Jumpstart. Once that jumpstart happens, you are still on the path no matter what you do. Once you are on the path, you are always on the path. Even if you stand for a few years in one place on the path or work in circles, always coming back to the same place thinking you are going in a straight line, you are still on the path.

Who is somebody who is not on the path? Anava marga. They are on the path of the ego. They haven't yet got the jumpstart. Soon as that happens and it can happen at any time, it can happen in any way, the person is on the path. What is the path? It is a path of a series of realizations, starting with the smallest realization to the ultimate realization. You got to do the smallest ones first. That is why in our Saiva Siddhanta, we have the charya path, kriya path, yoga path, and jnana path. You don't do the yoga path [first.] (Or,) If you do do the yoga path before the other two, it doesn't work. You cannot build the top floor of a building without building the other ones underneath it. Because if you did, it would be the bottom floor. It wouldn't be the top floor.

(To)All of you who have heard this before, (but) you can take it out to others. You can take it out to others on the e-mail. You can take it out to others on the internet because you always know what you know when you hear yourself saying it to someone else. Then you know that you know. How do you know what you know you know? When you hear that someone else saying the same thing to someone. Then you know that you know you know. The cycle has been complete. Now maybe you have had that realization.

To put it in more simple terms, Vasuki is a beautiful dancer. She danced for us in a most wonderful way. She is now teaching dancing, and she is reviving everything that she knows, many things that she has forgotten in the beginning stages. When she sees Tiruselvi teaching someone else dancing, then she will know that she knows what she really knows inside and have a greater satisfaction and a greater joy in performing this art.

What are some of the other little realizations? One very important one is that if you sit up straight, you are positive. If you slump, you are not. It is as simple as that.

Another realization is if you have your head down like that, you get stiff shoulders and if you hold it up, you don't.

These are important realizations to set the pattern for the early morning daily sadhana. Another realization - if you are sitting in meditation after puja and it is early in the morning, and you close your eyes, your body will probably want to go back to sleep. So, to counter that, keep your eyes open. Concentrate on one beautiful flower or something in front of you and then go on with your meditation.

Another important realization is that the hours before dawn are the best time for meditation and for puja. At other times, it doesn't (quite )work quite as well.

Another realization is that if you are intitiated and you have Aum Namah Sivaya to do 108 times a day, do it. Otherwise you develop a guilty conscience which is lowering your consciousness way down to the bottom.(, if you don't and) Your life won't work out, because you made a promise.

Another realization on the path is if you use a credit card and you don't pay your bill, don't fulfill your promise, it accumulates and accumulates and accumulates and accumulates and you get burned down and your future gets shorter and your past gets bigger. In the very same way, you will discover that if you don't do the 108 Aum Namah Sivaya's for a month or two, your future gets shorter and your past gets bigger. Pretty soon it is all you can think about. ( and )Then you start thinking, "Well, you know what? It doesn't matter anyway. I don't think I was so prepared for that initiation," and come up with a lot of excuses. That is another realization. Then there is another realization that if you just catch up those 'Aum Namah Sivaya's, you feel good about yourself and your future gets bigger and the past gets smaller. (And)Then, another realization that very same principle you can apply to everything in your life.

Now those who go around the back way trying to prove these small realizations to one another and to themselves, they say, "Well, 'there is no karma. I can do anything I want." Then they go and bump up into this and bump into something else, and bump into other people, say things that they don't mean or try to get a reaction out of someone, to see them squirm. One day, maybe a year or two later, it all backs up on them. They say, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't have done that. There is something to this karma after all."

(When)The future begins to look bleek, and the past gets heavier, and heavier and heavier. ( and )Then (therefore )in a very difficult way, they learn karma because they are on the path.

(But )Not necessarily everyone who comes to Hindu temples is on the path. They are coming off the anava marga. When they are fully on the anava marga, they are staying home, watching TV. If they are coming off the anava marga, they are gathering their self together and coming to the temples throughout the United States and the World. But this does not mean they got the Shaktipada, that jump start. This means that they are dealing with the pain that is going on inside of them. But the anava marga, the path of the little ego is a very painful path. Especially as one progresses in years, the physical body gets older. (and )The temple does ease the pain because the devas in the temple and the Gods in the temple work with the aura and clear up the aura and the inner aura just a little bit. Then, they go out again and mess it up and come back again and the same mess is there, clear it up a little bit and that process goes on and on and on. (And )These people are not interested in the philosophy. They will be the ones to say, "Oh, I know all that." Or they'll be the ones who are more honest and say, "I don't know any of that, I just like to come to the temple."

When something happens within a person, the Kundalini experience, it is an electrical experience, it is a one-time experience. It is a one-time experience. Almost all spiritual experiences are a one-time experience except when you get to the top. You can repeat, because the chakras all begin to pop open their petals. Muladhara has four, and then the next one and the next one and the next one. Then they are on the path. They can either walk on the path and take a wide circle around investigating, trying to disprove everything, or they can go on the straight path and think, "Everybody knew what they were talking about. (That)The scriptures were valid scriptures. (That )The teachers were speaking from their experience." (and )They believe them and follow their advice, they go on the straight path.

So, it seems that at the time of the Yajur Veda, they gave the same advice that we give now. Things haven't changed all that much. "May he protect us both. May he be pleased with us both. May we work together with vigor. May our study make us illumined. May there be no dislike between us. Aum, Peace, Peace". Pretty nice, huh!

Have a beautiful day, everyone!

Aum Namah Sivaya.