So,
First and foremost,
Close your eyes if that's comfortable to you and sit,
Sit however you like.
You can recline,
Lie down,
However you like,
But as always ensure that there is ease in your body,
That there is rest in every part of your body.
See that your fingers are not curled,
Straining,
Your toes are relaxed.
See that the shoulders are relaxed.
See that your breath is reaching your stomach,
Even so subtly that there is no blockage in your breath.
See that your arms are parallel,
Your feet are even,
Your legs are parallel.
So,
You are in a plane,
A parallel plane,
A flat plane.
That your face is relaxed,
That there is this gentle smile that this relaxing of your face brings.
So,
If you can really sense that,
That as you relax your body and as you relax your face,
Your face assumes the posture,
Posture of just smiling,
A gentle smile which is natural as you relax,
Especially when you relax your face,
Your forehead,
Your lips,
Your cheeks.
A smiling face is a natural face.
That's why you will find that the sculptor when he sculpts a meditating figure with the Buddha or anyone,
Those faces are always subtly smiling.
So,
Become that from inside and even from outside,
A smiling body resting in its awareness.
And as you smile and as you become aware of your body in this manner,
It affects your vagus nerve.
Smile is one of the best way to activate your vagus nerve which in turn activates your parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for healing,
Resting.
There are studies that show that those who are sick,
A long term sickness,
Can be managed better if there is smile on patient's face.
Even those who can't smile because of paralysis,
When they see other people smiling,
That also activates their vagus nerve.
So smile has this effect on us.
So,
Start your meditation with this natural smile and relaxed body and see that you are already in an open state,
State that is full of welcome,
A state that is already open,
Open,
Transparent.
So from body,
Now we come to our breath.
Become aware of your breath.
Become aware of the pathway of your breath.
And sensing your breath like this is again,
Is an exercise to activate your vagus nerve.
Many of you have been meditating for long and you know that that is true.
However,
When new evidence like this come out,
People get very excited because it is backed by neuroscience and so on.
But you knew intuitively that as you focus very lightly on the pathway of your breath,
Something happens physiologically and that rest,
Relaxation is nowadays called as vagus nerve activation.
This vagus nerve is the biggest nerve that goes from the stem of your brain throughout your body,
Including your spine,
Your heart.
It has a lot of branches around stomach organs,
Intestine,
Lungs.
So when you do yoga postures,
They activate this vagus nerve because as you do postures,
A lot of postures that you know are massaging your internal organs,
Your lungs,
Your chest.
And you know that there's something happens when you do yoga,
That there's a sense of rest,
Relaxation,
Rejuvenation.
Knew it for thousands of years,
But now that is attributed to vagus nerve.
And it's beautiful,
It's good that science is affirming or catching up.
With this wisdom traditions that knew the pathway to calmness,
To rest,
To rejuvenation,
To better life,
To happiness.
So continue to sit in the rest with smile as you remain aware of your breath and allow me to give you one more technique that helps you to calm down,
Especially when you are in the middle of a very stressful situation.
So you find yourself in a stressful situation or a very pesky thought,
Pattern,
Emotion.
Something has happened and you know the calmness,
The possibilities of rest very intimately.
And you wish to go there quickly and you wish to assist your body and your mind to come back to that quickly.
And perhaps remember this technique,
That you breathe in to the count of whatever one,
Two,
Three or four.
And then you breathe out around 50% longer breathe out from your breathing.
So if your breathing was 100,
Your breathe out is 150.
So if you breathe in for the count of three or four,
You breathe out for the count of six.
And see if you can do that on your own for a few cycles,
Breathe in and breathe out longer.
And then again,
Breathe in and breathe out longer.
Breathe in and breathe out slightly longer.
And you will find that if you are in the middle of an anxious thought or a sad thought,
A stressful situation,
This breathing pattern will help you.
And this again is attributed in Vegas Nav literature as one of the very potent technique.
There are other techniques such as humming.
Those of you who have done any length of mantra meditation,
You would know that humming does calm your mind.
Very often we can't really explain all that happens when we do this ritualistic spiritual practices.
But your heart knows.
And there is a place for all of these ritualistic spiritual practices.
Especially in the beginning.
And especially during stressful phases of our life.
Even after meditating for 20-25 years,
Life will keep throwing a curveball at you.
And knowing your techniques may help.
But what helps above all is what we will explore next.
So continue to sit,
Continue to be effortless.
And let go of any sense of anticipation as to what's next.
Remain free.
Remain open.
Remain like the existence is.
Remain like a king or queen who is not bothered with what may happen in the kingdom.
But there is a sense of satisfaction,
Rest,
Knowing,
Loving and openness.
That is king-like.
That is queen-like.
There is a smile on your face.
And there is an awareness of everything that is taking place in your kingdom.
My voice is heard.
My voice is known.
And even the meaning of it is known.
Without any effort,
See.
See.
So do not allow the mind to come up and claim all the credits.
That mind that comes up and claims a credit is just a thought.
Not even worthy of calling it a mind.
Just one thought.
Just one thought.
But this thought has power to make you feel like a separate entity.
This thought has power to make you,
The king,
Feel like a servant.
A servant.
So that thought alone is what we call separateness,
Separate self or ego.
And it is just one thought that starts the transaction of dethroning the king or queen and making it a servant.
Making it feel like something is lacking.
Like something still needs to be attained.
That thought.
Be careful of that.
Other than that,
Really,
There is nothing else to do.
You are already a king.
What does king need to do?
When I say king,
I also mean the queen.
You are the royal.
So see and feel yourself as that.
As pure awareness,
Knowing,
Sensing,
The kingdom of experience.
Knowing the nature of that thought that separates it.
And being careful of that thought.
But other than that,
You are just resting,
Not anticipating.
And this attitude is the direct path to freedom.
So in the beginning,
We used some ritualistic procedures.
Just to calm the body and mind and breath down.
In order to make this kingdom of yours more clear.
More easy to understand,
Grasp and stay in,
Abide with.
But the end game was to land you here.
So smile and know that you know.
Know that you know that you are.
Again,
Smile and know that you know that you are.
And rest in this knowing.
Again,
Do not try to do a lot of mental aerobics.
And rest.
Rest in this being.
As being.
As being.
And by now you know that this being is intertwined,
Is one with all the knowings.
So being and knowing are one.
Not separable.
So your being and knowing co-exist so much so that they are one.
And that's why the beautiful word called awareness.
Aware knows and ness is the being.
Aware ness.
If your mind is asking.
I know this.
I know that I am.
I know that I am awareness.
What's next?
What's next?
And beware of that question,
What's next?
What's next is the tendency of that separate self.
To bring a question up.
To disrupt your kingdom.
To disrupt this joy of just being simple.
Resting in awareness.
So be careful of those tendencies.
The doubts,
The questions.
Awareness.
And only believe the self evident knowledge that you are discovering for yourself.
Know that you know that you are.
If I may clarify.
That someone had asked me yesterday.
That know that you know that you are.
Are there three steps?
That first you know.
That second that you know that you know.
And then third is that you are.
No.
They are just one expression of one experience.
There are no three steps.
It's just one experience.
Know that you know that you are.
Unfolds on one level of your awareness.
You cannot go backward from the awareness self.
You cannot reduce it further.
You do not have to wait any longer.
You do not have to perfect your practices.
To be what you already are.
This self.
This self discovery is a path less path.
It starts from yourself and it ends from yourself.
There is no distance.
You cannot stand up and take a step towards yourself.
So abide in this knowing.
That you know that you are.
And if you like you can shorten it.
And you can just say I am.
If you like.
The next couple of minutes.
Use this beach mantra.
This word that you love the most.
I am.
And repeat in your self.
And see how you land again and again and again.
In your kingdom of awareness self.
It is no coincidence.
That all biggest religious traditions.
Have recognized the power of I am as ultimate.
In Christianity the definition of God is I am that.
In Islam the word coulda.
And the word could.
Could means I am.
From that the word coulda.
Is used for the highest God.
It is no coincidence.
In India or in eastern traditions.
The word ohm the beach mantra ohm itself.
Suggests.
The unification of self.
And the pure self.
The word atma.
Which often.
By mistake.
Transcribed as soul.
But it means atma means self.
And paramatma means the pure.
Awareness self.
The God.
It is no coincidence.
To bring your search to the basic.
Stay with this knowing that you know that I am.
And relax all the spiritual acrobatics.
May be good to engage in them time to time.
To satisfy the minds quest.
To know more information.
But right at the end.
You have to come here and rest.
As I am.
If you need joy.
If you need happiness.
This is where it is.
But if you need stimulation of information.
Everything else the whole world.
Then your mind will take you outside.
And while there is nothing wrong with it.
It is important to know its place in your kingdom.
King resides.
The royal the queen resides.
At the throne of I am.
And the whole kingdom.
Is what follows.
After I am this I am that.
Know this intimately.
Know this again and again.
Give this information to your mind again and again.
And see how beautifully it will comply.
And fall in love with this only royal in this house.
It will stop giving you troubles.
It will stop making stories up.
Remember all of this started with that simple smile.
Of knowing that I am.
So smile.
And sit at the throne of I am.
Those of you who have.
Something to attend to.
A welcome to.
Write a message of goodbye.
And make a resolution to come back and help us all sit here.
In I am-ness with you.
And those of you who can still spare some time to sit.
In this unified sense of I am.
Let's sit here for another 5-10 minutes.
I'm very grateful for your company.
Your company helps everyone.
To come back and reconnect with this.
One sense of one self.
We are all in it as one.
Recognizing this fact.
Is the only hope we have.
For long lasting peace and happiness.
So thank you so much.
And those who can sit here for a little bit longer.
Please do.
Those who need to leave.
Thank you again.
