Darshan with Swami Krishnananda – 1997

by Swami Krishnananda

16. Pratityasamutpada: Dependent Origination

(Darshan given on February 24th, 1997)

A visitor: I am a Buddhist nun. I don't know anything about God.

Swamiji: What do you want to know?

Visitor: What is God?

Swamiji: Why do you want to know what is God?

Visitor: Because people talk about God often, and I don't know what God is.

Swamiji: You tell me what you know already. You tell me what are the things you know.

Visitor: I know the place of anatta – no self. I know that from experience.

Swamiji: Anatta means there is no soul, no soul.

Visitor: Soul isn't mentioned in Buddhism.

Swamiji: Anatta means it doesn't exist. It does not exist, that is anatta. It is a Pali translation of the Sanskrit word anatman. Anatman means non-self.

Visitor: Yes.

Swamiji: Very good. You know anatta. And after that what happens?

Visitor: From that, states of consciousness arise and pass away, but are still sometimes refined and mostly crude. There is attachment to states sometimes, more often than not.

Swamiji: Why are you attached?

Visitor: Because I am not clear.

Swamiji: What is your problem?

Visitor: Greed, hatred and delusion – the usual problems of a human formation.

Swamiji: You tell them: “I am not happy with you. You go!” Tell the greed: “I am not happy with you. From tomorrow onwards I am not greedy.” You have got understanding. You can tell your mind, “Greed is not good for you, jealousy is not good for you, hatred is not good for you. From tomorrow don't come,” and it will go. The mind is intelligent. It is not a foolish thing, so it will understand.

From tomorrow onwards, think only of Pure Substance. Think like that, and it will automatically adjust itself because nobody wants unnecessary things. It wants only good things, and you can find out from your heart what is a good thing; that thing which will satisfy your heart, that is a good thing.

You are meditating according to Buddhist psychology, isn't it? Your method of meditation is based on Buddhist psychology?

Visitor: Yes.

Swamiji: Do you know Pratityasamutpada, the Buddhist terminology for dependent origination?

Visitor: Yes.

Swamiji: You meditate like that. Dependent origination is a big series of twelve links from cause to effect, from effect to cause. This is the essence of Buddhism. It is called Pratityasamutpada, and in English it is called dependent origination: one thing hanging on another thing. There are twelve links in the chain, and if you can continuously meditate on these twelve links, up and down, you will be free from bondage. That is sufficient for you. Meditate on dependent origination.

Visitor: Yes.

Swamiji: Thank you.

Another visitor: During my meditation I try to feel that I am growing, growing, growing.

Swamiji: That is very good. It is a proper method. Correct. But how far will you grow, to what extent? You can extend up to the skies.

Visitor: Yes, over the skies.

Swamiji: The problem is very simple. We are thinking that we are sitting here only, in this body. It is not true. You are not sitting in this body. You are a little more than what you are. This is what you mean by saying 'expanding'.

There are many methods. One of the methods is a very beautiful description by Sage Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. Feel that you are sitting there, not here. You are sitting there. Strongly you feel like this: “I am sitting over there, and I am seeing myself here. I am not sitting here. I am sitting there. I am in Swargashram, on the other side of the Ganga.” Strongly feel: “I am in Swargashram, and here is only the body; I am seeing only the body.” Then you feel: “I am still further up. I am in the skies.” It requires a little power of will to imagine like that. You are sitting at the top of the terrace of the sky itself, and from there you are seeing the whole world. You are seeing Italy, India, America, this country, that country; you are seeing the sun, moon, stars, everything, and you are on top, sitting.

Your mind will slip from there. It won't agree. But again you say: “I am sitting on the roof of the world. I am on the roof of the world. I am above the sky. I am as vast as the sky. I have become as big as the sky. I am the sky itself. The sky is my body.” Go on telling yourself this. You may not speak loudly; you may mentally say: “The sky is my body. Oh, how big I am!” So all these people sitting here have also gone inside you. The whole world has been swallowed by you. “So big I am. So what do I want? There is nothing that I want because all things that I want are inside me only. All things that I want are inside me only, so if I want anything, what shall I do? I have to think, and it comes; that's all. If I think, it comes. It comes not because it is somewhere; it is me only. The thing that I want is myself only, in my larger dimension.” Go on telling this again and again, again and again, again and again, again and again, and as big as the whole universe you become.

And you can go even further: “I am sitting on the throne of the Almighty Creator. Oh, I am seeing the whole universe. I have become one with the Creator of the universe. What do I want? What does the Creator of the universe want? Nothing. So in that case I also want nothing because I have become one with it. What am I seeing now? I am seeing the whole universe as my body. I have expanded, expanded, expanded. I have gone outside of myself. First I went to Swargashram, then I went further up to the skies, went beyond the sun the moon and the stars, went beyond space and time. Beyond to the kingdom of heaven I have reached. So big I have become. So what do I want now?” Go on telling yourself. This is a kind of psychological treatment. “What do I want? Nothing. I want nothing because already I have got everything. A person who has everything does not want anything. Oh, how happy, how happy! I am happy, permanent, eternal. I will not die because death is possible only if I have got a body. I have gone out of that body. I am sitting in eternal light. The whole transformation of evolution, coming and going in the process of creation, it is all within me taking place.”

You will feel some indescribable power entering into you at that time. It is impossible to describe what you feel at that time. You will feel all these mountains becoming liquid and entering into you. “The mountains are becoming liquid and entering into me. The sky also is melting. Even time is melting. The sun is also melting and entering me. The great force of the sun and the moon and the stars, wind and atmosphere, they are all liquefied and enter into my cosmic being.” So what strength you have got now! Can you imagine what strength you have got? “Indomitable power, eternal existence, unlimited happiness, immortal being. I am blessed.” Chant like this. Every day you do it, as many times as possible.

Visitor: It is a process of affirmation.

Swamiji: Complete affirmation of the consciousness. The consciousness is foolishly now tying itself to this body. That must be removed by deep, deep, deep affirmation like this – going outside the body by affirmation, feeling yourself as wide as possible, until you cover the whole creation. This is the method. You will feel something happening even by hearing all this.

Visitor: Thank you, Swamiji. I feel the truth of what you say.

Swamiji: You will feel a tremor and the prana adjusting itself. A new constitution takes place inside.