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Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda

Paramahamsa Nithyananda (January 1, 1978), born Rajasekaran, is an Indian spiritual guru who teaches meditation and hosted various meditation retreats, meditation seminar around the world.[1]

Birth and Early Childhood

Nithyananda born in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India as a second child of Arunachalam and Lokanayaki .[2] According to Nithyananda, he was very spiritual at a very young age. He enjoys playing with idols and visiting temples.[3] Young Nithyananda met many spiritual mentors who contributed to his spiritual developments.[4]

Nithyananda recounted about his experience with one of his spiritual mentors (Raghupati Yogi):

"Between the ages of three and thirteen , when I was with him, he prepared my body, he prepared the mind to enter into the experience of enlightenment and to stay in the experience of enlightenment . Entering also is not a big thing; to have a glimpse of satori- the no -mind state, to have one experience of un-clutching from the mind is not a big thing; it's not very difficult, but to stay in that, not only to stay in that, but to express that energy in through your body, for that, your body and mind need to be prepared. He focused on that part and helped me in so many ways to understand and experience, and above all, to stay in that same space; to stay in that high energy plane and radiate that experience>"[5]

Leaving Home

After graduating from high school , Nithyananda studied Mechanical Engineering in Gudiyattam at Polytechnic Institute. He spent most of his time on inner searching and spiritual quest, yet somehow managed to score very high in his exams and classes. Around this period in Nithyananda's life, he felt a strong urge to leave the home life. The household lifestyle seemed suffocating and binding to Nithyananda. He then take up the life of a wandering sadhu. [6]

Organization

In the year 2000, Nithyananda founded a meditation ashram in Bidadi, India. It is the headquarter for his social activities around the world. [7] In 2003 he established the Life Bliss Foundation in Los Angeles, USA. It is the headquarter in the West. Life Bliss Foundation teaches meditation programs that aim to create an inner transformation in the individuals. Nithyananda conducts programs in various locations around the world.

Teaching

In the tradition of Krishna's philosophy , Nithyananda teaches the concept of Quantum Spirituality, where material life and spiritual life meet. Quantum Spirituality seeks to provide methods for people to develop spiritually while living a busy household life. [8] This makes it possible for more people to evolve spiritually and contribute to the raising of the planet's Collective Consciousness.

Nithyananda teaches people to realize their inner divinity. He said that we are all born with divinity within ourselves. It is the awareness of this divinity within us that is missing in most of us. Nithyananda said "The only difference between you and I is that I know I am divine, and you as yet do not know." Since that truth already exists in us, we cannot achieve it ; we just need to become aware of it , that's all.[9]

He taught that enlightenment cannot be made to happen, but rather, it happens when we "un-clutch" :

Enlightenment happens; it cannot be made to happen. Enlightenment is like river water. It stays in your hands as long as your hands are open; once you close your hands to possess it, there is nothing to hold. Our ego believes that there is purpose to life- material, relational and spiritual. The more the purpose to work towards, the stronger our ego feels. If we drop all other purposes and still hold on to the purpose of enlightenment , it is futile. Only when we realize that life is totally purposeless and drop our ego, will enlightenment happen to us. The only purpose of existence is bliss, that's all. [9]

How can we enjoy without possessing, without making something our own? We are like water bubbles on a wave in the ocean. But what happens is , each bubble catches hold of a few more bubbles calling them wife, husband, father, and son. It collects pieces of sand, thinking they are jewels. The bubble does not understand that it can burst any moment. And one big bubble says , it is going to be enlightened. The mind waits for something to happen. It waits for salary, weekly, monthly, yearly, and 5 yearly payments. Our ego is stuck on what we see as a purpose in life. ONCE WE HAVE A GOAL, WE MISS THE PATH![9]

Book

Uncommon Answers To Common Questions In 2004, Nithyananda published a book called Uncommon Answers to Common Questions. The book provides some very surprising answers about our concepts of love and death. Many of his thoughts about how we live our lives and how it can be transform are in this book. [10]

In the book, someone asked whether it is necessary for spiritual seekers to give up worldly love? He said:

"You need to drop the worldliness, not the love! What we normally know as ' worldly love' is love tainted with attachment, possessiveness, jealousy and selfishness. Bring intelligence and compassion into your love. Cleanse it of the impurities of ignorance and expectation. What remains is true love. With love like this, you can transform even your ' worldly' relationship into sacred spiritual exercises."[11]