" The Vedas said that man has fallen; he became entangled in bonds. 'Mana eva manushyanam karanam bandha mokshayoh' .The mind is responsible for jeeva's bondage and liberation; God does not do anything. He gave you a mind and two powers for the mind. The same mind shows you the way for bondage as well as liberation. God gave us these powers. Suppose a son inherited a big fortune from his father. He will prosper if he uses it properly. If he misuses the money, he will become a beggar. Today man is no longer an emperor, he became a beggar. He is differentiating between a friend and enemy. A person with all pervading bhava will not feel like that. He will consider the snake as his dearest friend. He will accept the ghost as his acquaintance. He will also accept a crook as his man. The human mind has such power. It will convert the crook into a gentleman! "

" Once a great sage was walking, playing the stringed instrument and singing the praise of God. A bandit stood before him. The bandit was known to murder anybody for money and gold. This sage had gold all over him - ear rings, bangles, chains and even the stringed instrument (tambura). The bandit was overjoyed at his chance, when he saw so much gold. The sage moved directly towards the bandit. Strange! When somebody sees a sword in your hand, he will run away from you but the sage moved calmly towards the wicked bandit, without any fear. The bandit was surprised. 'People try to fight with me but this person is smiling at me. His behaviour is very strange.' 'Well, the sage was none other than the great Narada. 'My son, you don't need to threaten me with a knife. I came to you on my own. All this gold is yours. I also am yours. Don't worry. I will not run away. I have one condition. You must seek a clarification from your wife.' As instructed by Narada, the bandit went to his wife and said 'I have given you gold, money and property which I earned by looting and killing people. I committed crimes for money and you enjoyed it. We both are partners in sins. As my wife, you have an equal share in my sins and we are sure to go to hell.' His wife said 'I don't care. You are my husband. Your duty is to take care of me by any means. Whether you go to hell or elsewhere, I will not share your sins.' When the bandit heard these words, he became detached from the world and transformed into Maharishi Valmiki. "

" We are listening to religious scriptures but not gaining knowledge or detachment. We listen to the Bhagawata but do not imbibe the great principles in it. The fault lies with us; we are not able to accept it. A person with indigestion cannot get energy from the food he eats. Man needs energy! That's the secret. Mahatmas provide divine spiritual energy. In fact, they provide such energy through just a few words. You will realize your sins from their words. Only such a person will weep that he is a sinner and he would go to hell. Others do not feel such repentance. "

" Let me now tell you some things which will touch your heart. I decided that I will not have any more births. I have had enough of the birth cycles. I will go back to the divine world. The divine dham is mine. I have a right to go back. The Lord said 'Mana yeva . mokshayoh'; 'mana yeva . Brahma' and also 'mamaivamso jeevaloke jeeva bhoota sanatanah'. Krishna told that we all are parts of God! It's extraordinary. Even a small spark can create a huge fire. Size does not matter. Jeevathma also has powers because we all possess some of God's power right from birth. We inherited a share in his divine powers. "

" Kanva Maharishi also inherited such power as he is also a part of God. In his ashram, tiger and calf sit together and eat together. The tiger does not kill the calf; the calf is not afraid of the tiger! They live like siblings. Amazing! That is divine love. They have no enemies, only friends. They have no fear. That is how Narada could say 'I did not feel fear though the dacoit had a knife. I went near him willingly knowing fully well that he is a wicked man and causes harm to people'. This is the uniqueness of divine love. "

" That is our original state. We fell to the present state. We must do dhyana continuously and gradually go back to that state. We belong to the Lord by nature. We possess divine powers. 'Eswarah . sarva karana karanam' . We belong to the ancient times. Our body is recent but the soul within the body belongs to millions of ages ago. Our origin goes back so much. In spite of possessing divinity, we are beggars today. We lost everything! "

" Vivekananda was searching for a job desperately. Though he was highly qualified with BA, BL degree, he could not get even a peon job. People ill-treated him and asked him to get out. When he reached home, his mother was sleeping. They had nothing to eat since two days. She brought some porridge for him to drink. When he asked whether she drank some, she replied that there was porridge only for one person. If she drank it, he would starve. So she decided to give it to her son. He wept at his helplessness. Inspite of being well qualified, he suffered so much!! "

" Though we are fragmented parts of God, how did we reach this wretched state today? We became wicked, cruel, greedy and jealous and live in poverty. We lost our purity and wealth. We are afraid of a tiger and a fox! Without divine love, we cannot move up. Jeeva cannot go higher by being among enemies. Only when he considers even the enemy as a friend, the jeeva can move up. Only when you consider even a bad man as your person, you can go up. Saint Francis was a great Christian saint, a great yogi. He saw the whole world only with love. Due to his this divine love, he could transform a wild bear into a domestic animal. The wild bear that killed everybody did not harm him at all! They became friends! We all possessed the power of such divine love long ago but today, we are differentiating between good and bad; black and white etc., .We lost the original power of goodness and ended up elsewhere. Our right path is divine love. Mother will give us the power to move on this path. "

" Divine power! Sage Bharadwaja could feed Bharatha and thousands of his soldiers and cavalry due to his divine power. By nature, jeeva has the power to magnify an atom into infinity! We forgot this fact and resorted to begging. This is our life. We must regain our lost powers. You forgot your original identity. Recall that you are wealthy with divine powers. 'I am a part of the Lord. I have no negativity attached to me. I do not hate anybody. The snake is my friend; the tiger is also my friend; the thief is my friend too. I do not see anything bad.' Our path is like this. We must not connect with anything wrong or with ignorance. Ours is a royal path. We must begin our journey on this path. "

" It is necessary to understand who we are. We will get the message from within about the right and wrong paths. You must choose the right path and stay away from darkness. You must also understand how the mind creates bondage and also redeems you from bondage. I will tell you another principle to begin your lesson. We are in bondage. We are millionaires yet we consider ourselves as poppers. We are afraid of everyone and everything. Originally, we were aware of the past and future. Today we do not know what will happen the next moment! "

" How did we create these bonds? We must understand the reason and move in the opposite direction. We must go back to where we began our descent journey. The Maharishis belong to upper worlds; we belong to lower world. That is why in this world, good and bad is born. In the higher worlds, only pure ones are born; evil does not exist there. We also must go on their path; the path of goodness. "

" 'Avyaktho Vyaktha Parah' . We belong to the highest, the 'Para'. We fell down from there to this earth. Acharya Radhakrishnan wrote 'The Hindu religion has the highest qualities which cannot be found anywhere else but the Hindu religion today follows lowest culture '. People feared to go to Kasi because they were killed and their flesh was offered to God. That is the difference of earlier age and today's age. "

" Craving for prakriti will pull you down. You cannot realize it. We are talking thousands of births again and again, yet unable to overcome weakness of the flesh. You cannot see Mother in a woman. You feel lust for a woman but not love. Even Brahma wooed the woman he created, his own daughter! If that is Brahma's state, what about ordinary human beings? Desire will control you like that. Body is made up of the three base modes (gunas). As we move upwards, you will give up rajoguna and become purified. When you move still higher, you will find divine aura; our own divine lustrous form! God gave the three base modes to human beings. As the Gita mentions, 'Kama esha krodha esha rajoguna samudbhavah!' Rajoguna evokes anger and desire. Rajoguna is filled in every atom and pore of our body; hence anger and desires are inevitable. When Lord Brahma could not avoid, how can we? "

" We can only think in terms of taking something from everybody for ourselves; my happiness; my profit; my importance; my greatness; that's all! We must go beyond these thoughts. That is not the right path. We must think how to help the other person; how to give our money to him; how to solve his problems! We must own the three gunas and begin our journey from here. We must begin our spiritual journey from the body; the body which is filled with desires. Due to these desires, we developed cataract and our mind became impure. Initially we could see God with our pure mind. Man had the power to foresee what would happen after thousand years. Today there is no guarantee about what would happen the next minute. See our wretched state caused by rajoguna! "

" The first principle- do not do anything that reminds you of prakriti. As long as you pamper anger and desire, rajoguna will control you. Anger and desire are your enemies. We must leave them. We bind God with them. We can bind God by giving up anger towards the evil minded people. We must always try to reach goodness. Don't think of anything wrong. We see many things in the word. We are not related to them. We must see only Mother everywhere. None other than Mother! The journey of detachment begins with Mother's all pervading presence. See only Mother everywhere. We are not linked to this world which is linked with anger and desire. "

" Prakriti is a portion of maha maya. Stay away from worldly desires because they will take you far away from the real happiness. The worldly pleasures belong to maya. Spurn them. 'I want Mother; I want Mother's happiness'. You must direct your body, mind and actions towards Her. This is the first and foremost principle of dhyana yoga. Everything must be linked with Mother. Suppose you have Rs.10, you must think how to serve Her; you must think how to use your wife to serve Her! That is your dharma. "

" When Ramakrishna Paramahamsa wed Sarada Devi, her brother accompanied to leave her near her husband. 'She is my sister, your wife. I brought her here to hand over to you with respect' He told his wife 'This is the door to Mother. I surrendered my life to Her. As my wife, if you also want to surrender to Her like me, please enter the temple. If you want to live a family life, please go back with your brother.' These are the first words spoken by Sri Ramakrishna to his wife. He did not direct her to the bedroom; he showed the door of Mother's temple. "

" Today, the world is different. The role of a wife is demeaned to satisfy man's pleasures. The dharmapathni became kamapathni! You must give her the respect she deserves. Don't search for pleasure in everything you see; search for dharma. Our tapasya can move forward in this path only. You must be very careful. Sarada Devi replied 'Your path is mine also. I am your wife. If she is your Mother, she is my Mother also. If you worship Her with flowers, I will worship Her with their fragrance. If you weep for Her, I will also weep for Her'. He gave her the keys of Mother's temple. "

" When anybody gives money to me, I do not think of how to use money for my comforts, probably to buy woolen blankets or clothes. This is a worldly thought. Prakriti leads us to hell; towards bondage. Yesterday, when one person gave Rs.10,000, I showed the money to Mother. 'My son, this can be used for God's service.' I deposited the money in the bank. I did not use a single rupee for myself. Mother told me not to take any amount for me. I will never do so. This is not my money, it is Mother's! You must understand this point clearly. "

" Sadhana means doing dhyana with your eyes closed or with your eyes open. The two kinds are antharmukha and bahirmukha dhyana (inwardness and outwardness). Man fell due to outwardness. We must move inwards to worship God. We must go inwards and remain with Mother. "

" India is the birth place of dhyana. We are fortunate to be born in such a country. Andhra Pradesh also has some great yoginis; though less in number. It is very essential to practice dhyana yoga because it is necessary for man's worldly life as well as spiritual life. No wonder dhyana yoga is considered as the highest sadhana to attain God's darshan. 'Dhyanena athmani pasyanthi' - dhyana is essential for God's darshan. I will tell you about dhyana. "

" Generally, you are given a mantra (by your guru). This mantra is not enough to take you to the highest world. It can take you up to some level only. There are two deficiencies in mantra The words in mantra are related to prakriti; hence it binds you to the worlds. 'Ksheene punye martya lokam visanthi' The Gita says that man comes to this world when all his purity is exhausted. He enjoys the fruit of his good deeds and then comes here in a desperate state. So this world is not big; it is indeed small! "

" You need to understand dhyana yoga correctly. Many people feel that wife is like a maid who exists only to please her husband, cook for him and look after his children. This is not right; this is not mentioned in any scriptures. 'Runanubandharupena pasupatnisulataya' . The relationship between husband and wife is only due to debt and not by soul. You come together because you were indebted in a previous birth; you pay off your debt and leave. That's all. This secret was declared by a great yogini of Andhra Pradesh. "

" When Sita was about to go back into her mother Earth, she told Rama 'the debt between my daughter and you is cleared. Your relationship is up to this extent only. You could accomplish your duties with her help. Now, I am taking her back'. Why did Sita leave? The relationship exists only as long as you are indebted to one another! Madalasa was a great yogini in India; her life story was also printed by a Malyali swamiji. She told her husband 'We both are equal in our yogic state. So you must not disturb my yoga. If you do so, I will disrespect our marriage and leave you. She became a great yogini. When her child was born, she taught him all the secrets of yoga when he was just 5 years old! With the power and strength granted by her, her son became a yogi and left the kingdom at the age of 5; the same happened with her three sons. When the fourth son was born, the king asked who would rule the kingdom after him if she made all the songs into yogis. 'I expected that you would question me one day. If you want to keep this son with you, he must be called a mad dog because one who attains yogic state and goes for God's darshan is a yogi.' Madness for kingdom, wealth, family - all these will pull you down. Only yoga can lift you up. Yogic state has tremendous power. It looks upwards not down. She informed her husband and left the kingdom to do penance. "

" Madalasa remained in the family only as long as it was necessary. When the enemies invaded the kingdom and conquered it, the fourth son saw his mother's message 'My son, yours is a yogic life, not this worldly life. Your brothers are practicing yoga in the Himalayas. They will be waiting for you. Go near them.' He left for tapasya immediately. "

" Tarigonda Venkumamba is a great yogini of Andhra Pradesh. When her husband died, she refused to remove her hair according to the prevailing custom. Everybody chided her for this act of defiance. She challenged the swamiji . 'I am coming near you. Let us decide face to face whether you will ostracize me or accept me'. She got her head shaven in their presence. Then she went to the pond nearby to have a dip in the water. As soon as she had her bath in the holy water, she got her hair back! Who is the real yogi? The swamiji who accused her of defying religious customs was ashamed and declared her as a great yogini. "

" In Rajasthan, the wives were treated merely as servants. When the husband died, she was forcibly thrown into his funeral pyre and burnt to ashes. The wife had no right to live after her husband died. Gradually historical reformers fought against this barbaric custom and finally eradicated it. "

" My association with yoga is due to my maternal grandmother, a great yogini. She was married at the age of 3 to a boy aged 6 years. My grandfather went to Kasi on foot at a young age of 6 years! He was a great man. I am named after him. So yoga is not new to me. The highest stage of God's darshan can be attained only through dhyana. There is a remarkable difference between dhyana yoga and mantras. The mantras are linked with prakriti because they have a name and form of some Goddess/God. Since it is linked with prakriti, it will bring you down as you continuously chant the mantra. Your sadhana must not have any link with prakriti. "

" Man came to earth only after the fruits of his good deeds in previous births are exhausted. The Bhagawata refers to human beings as sinners. That means, we lost our yogic state and came down to this ordinary state. Our original state is an elevated one. Indian culture, more so Andhra culture is laudable and can be followed by others. Even Sringeri Sankaracharya agrees to this saying 'Tarigonda Venkumamba opened my eyes to see real Indian culture'. "

" In the science of mantra, each mantra has a divine name and corresponding form, whether it is Lord Rama, Krishna or Goddess Kali and Sakthi. You must not be linked with prakriti. In dhyana yoga, there are no sounds which will bring you down. We are originally parts of the divine God. We saw the world, became attracted towards its beauty and came down from the divine dham. Originally, every jeeva had a thoughtless mind. There are no thoughts in the upper worlds. Thoughts are the aspects of prakriti, they exist only in the manifested (vyakta) world. Thought is considered as a sin. Each thought forms an impression on the mind. Our mind is filled with such impressions formed over many lives. These thoughts are like the cataract in the eye which blurs his vision. Similarly the impressions on the mind do not allow us to see God clearly. Though God is present near us, we cannot believe it. Our sight is blurred; the truth in our eyes is lost! "

" I am fully conscious that 'I am speaking while Mother is listening'. Mother is not somewhere else. She is right here, near me! Mother is not away from me; I am not away from Mother. Link yourself with Mother each and every moment for everything. Keep Her with you in your mind. Do not keep Her physically in the form of portrait. A radiance is present behind your forehead. Mother is present there. Mother's bhava; Mother's aura... She is with you in your dhyana. She is there whether you open or close your eyes! See the world through Her. Your eyes must see only Her. This is the fundamental principle of dhyana. You must be able to see Her with your eyes open or closed. Do not forget Her place. Keep Her with you all the time. You must live with this bhava throughout. I am seeing you through Mother. My eye glasses are for name sake only; I am seeing the world through Her only. "

" When you see the world through Mother, you will lose outwardness and obtain inwardness. The ordinary eyes see every trash present in the world. When you see through the pure Mother, you will become a yogini. To maintain yourself without falling, you must have this sight. You must lead a life of dharma. Mother is always with you. Always remember this fact. The worldly wealth is only glamour, don't be attracted towards them. "

" Mother is everything for me! I do not ask Her for anything related even to our ashram because She is seeing everything. This ashram is a registered body. Once an income tax officer visited us and gave a permanent order declaring the ashram is exempted from income tax. I did not ask him for any favour. We are enjoying this benefit from 20 years. A divine power is protecting us all the time. "

" When you accept only Mother as everything, a link is established with Her. Presently you are linked with maya; with ego; with the world; that is why we fell down. Your thoughts, words and deeds should be linked with Mother. Don't entertain any thoughts which are not linked with Her. Don't speak any words which are not related to Her. Don't do any act which will not link you to Her. I don't want anything, however great it may be, which is not linked with Mother. You must lead your life in this way. You must know these points before dhyana. See your wife and children through Mother. See your job through Her; see the world only through Her. Then you will not sin; everything will become pure and powerful. We are not weak; we possess infinite powers. A 12 year old boy was so powerful that he cursed King Parikshit! "

" The thoughts of people in earlier ages were pure. Today the power of truthful words does not exist. I saw such an incident in my childhood. My father was a great astrologer. One day the king of Pithapuram, Gangadhara Ramarao came to Peddapuram. When he enquired about an astrologer, he was brought to my house. We were very poor. We did not have chair or mats with us; my mother put an old cloth on the floor. The king sat down. 'I came here on some work. Will I be successful?' My father said 'you will narrowly escape death and return in a bad shape after 2 days' . These were the exact words used by my father. The king proceeded for hunting. As predicted, he narrowly escaped from the jaws of the tiger, struggled for 2 days and came back. He was impressed that my father's words came absolutely true. He wrote some property in my father's name. We all studied with that money only. Later my mother returned all the property back to the king. Once we completed our education, she did not keep the property any more. Such was her training. "

" Therefore we must see everything through Mother only. She is present even in dhyana, listening to you, watching you. While eating, make your offering to Her mentally. When She glances at your food, it becomes pure. You must purify your food and water, your words and deeds in these ways. Mother's glance alone purifies anything. Our dhyana will give us such a Mother. That is why dhyana is the subject; dhyana is my message. "