Seeing the real as unreal

Seeing the real as unreal

The importance of having a guru on the spiritual path is emphasised by Sri Nandkishore Tiwari in a conversation with Pradeep Krishnan  

While browsing the internet, the picture of a smiling bald man with a salt-and-pepper  

beard, resembling the late Bharat Gopi (National award–winning Malayalam film actor),  made me curious to know more about him.  

The man was Sri Nandkishore Tiwari, an editor turned spiritual master based in Bengaluru, who  was born on September 27, 1969, in Durkhuru, in the Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh. On becoming  a realised master, he established the Universal Forum for Human Dignity (UNIFOHD), an NGO,  in 2002. 

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Later, the Darpan Foundation, Bengaluru, and  the Darpan Ashram, Urigam (a small hamlet  nestled in a picturesque forest valley), were  formed in 2018. These institutions aimed at  the all-round spiritual development of the  individual and, thereby, the society at large,  through his Sahaj Smriti Yog (SSY), a unique  practice.  

A recipient of the Acharya Chanakya  Award—2018 for his contributions to the sphere  of spirituality, he is on the panel of consultants  of NIMHANS (Bengaluru) as a philosopher  and guide.  

Listening to Guruji’s talks on “What is the  purpose of life?” “What is karma?” and “How  to remain guilt-free,” generated a desire in me  to visit the ashram and interview him. Soon,  contacts were established, and his wife, Smt  Smita Tiwari, an IT professional and a native  of Ernakulam, Kerala, affectionately addressed  as ‘Guruma,’ made all travel arrangements for  my wife and me to the ashram, as well as for the  interview with Guruji at his residence. 

At intervals, the foundation organises  ‘Upanishad,’ a spontaneous dialogue session  between Guruji and eminent personalities.  The latest one was held with Padma Shri D R  Karthikeyan IPS (Retd), the president of Life  Positive, on February 11, 2023, on the topic ‘Life  and Values of Life.’ 

The interview with Guruji was held the next  day at his modest two-BHK apartment in  Bengaluru. Clad in a white dhoti-kurta and a  black turban, he himself opened the door with  a broad smile and a namaskar. For nearly two  hours, I felt like I was talking to my maternal  uncle. When asked how to tackle discord in  relationships, Guruji answered, “That is the  nature of life. Without a little friction with the  

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floor, you cannot walk smoothly. Accept it as it  is.” 

Afterwards, Guruji requested my wife  Sreelakshmi to sing a bhajan, and when we  were about to depart, adorning us with two  ponnadais (shawls, or precious golden cloth, to  honour someone) and offering us two apples,  he blessed us saying, “You two are a blessed  couple. You have done enough good karma in  the past. You are doing a wonderful job like the  late Paul Brunton.” Below are excerpts from  the exclusive interview: 

Respected Guruji, tell us about your spiritual  journey, the turning point in your life, and  your first mysterious experience when you  were a baby. 

In real terms, none can talk about one’s  spiritual journey as it is about becoming who  you really are here and now, who you always  were, and who you always will be. In other  words, one’s life journey is all about one who  neither ever was, nor presently is, and who will  never ever be in the future. Then, what can be  said? Spiritually, you are always how and where  you really are, eternally. So there is no journey.  Then, how can ‘becoming’ be described as it is  a constant happening into nothingness? But,  from a worldly point of view, even for a moment,  no one can ‘stay’ without journeying.  

Yes, some turning points in life may be told, but  where do you start? From this life span or the  previous ones? Which ones to omit and which  ones to mention? Fortunately, as you have  asked about a specific incident from my life, I  will begin with that. 

Our family ancestors were practitioners of the  Rigveda and had a tradition of reciting it daily  (parayana). Later, a few generations ago, the  family shifted to reciting the Valmiki Ramayana.  

Guruji Nandkishore Tiwari with his better half Smt Smita Tiwariji

And, from the time of my great grandfather,  Ramcharit Manas has been recited; my father kept  this family tradition alive. After dinner, at the  family gathering, while the elders used to recite  along with my father, the rest of us would listen  to the recitation.  

One day, when I was two and a half years old  and was lying in my cot as usual, the Ramcharit  Manas was kept open on the rihal (book stand)  and my father, my elder sister, and my elder  brother were reciting from it. Suddenly, I realised  that I was also reading along with them. The  couplets that I read that day are graphically fresh  in my memory even today. But what my father  saw were my lips quivering in the attempt to  utter something. Stopping the rendering and  affectionately caressing my head, with teary eyes,  he said, “Look, this child is trying to sing along  with us.” But I was perplexed that he did not  acknowledge my reading and reciting. With that  pain in my heart, I slept sobbingly. Perhaps, my  first noteworthy encounter with the ego. At that  time, I could not comprehend that being a child,  I had not even started speaking yet.  

That memory stuck with me and, later, I often  wondered how I could read that day when I  hadn’t even learnt to recognise letters by then. Is  everything already there inside and it manifests  only in proportion to our efforts? What is that  proportion? Who decides the rightness of the  proportions of various other ingredients for  any happening to take place? Though several  such questions were raised within and outside,  I was no different from other children my  age. Maybe, it is in retrospect alone that any  incident can be termed as a ‘turning point’  because while it happens, one sees it as normal.  Having an out-of-body experience and meeting  my guru may be termed as turning points for  common consumption. But, really, how do you  speak about a journey or station or point into  nothingness experienced by the nothingness?  Perhaps, only by indicating the inevitability of  every spiritual seeker to find himself immortal,  infinite, and eternal. To experience it, some  may take many births, while others may attain  it within a flash in a single life span. Whenever  it happens, it happens through a living guru’s  grace.  

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Please share the experience of meeting your  guru? 

It was the culmination of the preparation of  lifetimes. Keen to see Him in human form, I  wandered from place to place in search of Him.  But he kept moving swiftly from one place  to another. A day before the eventful day, on  receiving the message that he is in an ashram  in a particular city, my wife, son, and I, along  with three spiritual associates, drove about  four hundred kilometres in two cars to that  city. Finally, on reaching the ashram, despite  efforts made by everyone, I could not enter  His room. Accepting the situation, when I told  my wife about my decision to travel back, my  son insisted that I try once again. Surprisingly,  when I again pleaded with the person in charge,  though several people were waiting in the big  hall, he acquiesced, and I was let in. Guruji  wasn’t there. Shortly, people started whispering,  “Guruji is coming,” and offered salutations. But  I saw nobody there except light all around. In  that moment, the idea that ‘I am unworthy  of seeing Him and, therefore, He is visible to  everyone but me’ crossed my mind. Immersed  in this overpowering experience, without any  difference left in my consciousness between  what is inside and what is outside, what is me  and what is not me, I just found myself kneeling  on the ground. When I tried to touch the  ground, my hand touched His shoe. He stopped  for a moment, and I could see His frame. In that  moment’s interaction, immediately, all our dots  got connected. After that, we never met, nor  did we ever separate. He had, in a crystal clear  way, transmitted to me: “I am your disciple’s  disciple from your immediately preceding life  and custodian and caretaker of the master,  method, and mission that you divinised and  devised in your previous life.” I replied that He  was my guru in this life and in this frame. That  day can be termed as the turning point in my  life if you so wish. In the couple of years that He  

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lived thereafter, though we did not meet, what  is ‘eternal spiritual union’ and what is ‘living in  the moment’ became as clear as daylight to me.  I last visited His ashram on the day of the ritual  of consigning His mortal coil to the fire.  

How did the transformation of an editor to a  spiritual guru happen? 

None should claim to be a guru as no one is  a guru. But without a guru, no one attains  liberation. Only wise ones and disciples  recognise the guru in someone. Guru is  the eternal liberation present before us in  ephemeral human form. The guru–disciple  relationship is the only eternal relationship.  But can we even understand, appreciate, and  experience eternity before finding ourselves  immortal? And how are we to find ourselves  immortal when we are relating ourselves to  mortality? So long as we find ourselves limited  to being mortal, there is no hope for us to muster  courage and seek immortality. Then, where do  we begin to solve this constant entanglement  lying between mortality and immortality?  How do we begin? We need a person in human  garb with whom we could communicate at our  own level of consciousness, a person whose  association could impart us the experience  of immortality. And when such an incident  happens, then all other identities, whether of  an editor or a prime minister, and all relations,  whether of a mother or brother, take a back  seat because one becomes worthy of seeing  beyond the chain of births and deaths as well  as beyond the professional identities and blood  relationships in the present. 

What is real sadhana, and why is it so important  in one’s life? 

Filled with gratitude when one becomes capable  of receiving the grace of a living guru, one keeps  becoming worthy of seeing and upholding the  reality as it really is; that is real i. It makes one  

see the grace at work instead of seeing themself  at work, and then one gets fully immersed in  work.  

While in Reality, the solution (samaadhaan)  comes first and the problem (samasyaa), later,  in apparent reality, the problem appears first  and the solution is hardly visible or it comes  in bits and pieces. This is the reason behind  the importance of sadhana. Who does not want  to be the solution or the problem solver? Who  does not want to be at peace with one’s inner or  outer environment? Who does not want to stay  content? Without sadhana, none can. 

For those who have ‘attained’ realisation, there  is no problem in life. But before that stage (the  point from where the whole of existence is  visible as it really is), human beings first see only  problems instead of solutions. They see things  in a disturbed order because they themselves  are disturbed within. If they somehow attain  samadhi (state of Self-realisation), then they  become the samaadhaan for everything and they  see every samasyaa as samah-asya-yah (that is  how this is at peace). As long as our seeing and  upholding the priorities in their real order is  missing, we keep seeing everywhere what is not  real. 

The word ‘sadhana’ means ‘to balance.’ The one  who upholds this balance is known as a ‘sadhu.’  Real sadhana is to make an effort to somehow  see Reality as it is and then uphold it by staying  as a medium for all others, especially for the  ones who are making efforts. 

What are the essential qualifications for  practising Sahaj Smriti Yog? How is it  different from other systems? 

Sahaj Smriti Yog is simple and is specially  devised for householders (grihasthas) as they are  best placed to evolve spiritually. There is no bar;  people from all countries, religions, and genders  can practise, and the only requirement is that  

they should not use any kind of intoxicants  and should be of good moral character. Every  spiritual path is a living practice which aims  to lead every seeker to that state of ultimate  consciousness, commonly termed ‘Reality.’  Differences between various paths lie in the  state of spiritual attainments of the ones who  show the path and the simplicity or complexity  of their approach. And who can decide which  path is simpler than the other? And who can  tell who is the most spiritually attained person  on earth so far? SSY offers unparalleled clarity  between four-fold fields (identities) namely the  soul, the self, the mind, and the body in the  simplest manner. 

Please describe your concepts: pure food for  the body, pure food for the mind, pure food for  the self, and pure food for the soul. 

Food is one need which unites the whole of  humanity and all beings. Food nourishes  all consumers of food. If we earn pesticide free, naturally grown food grains, fruits, and  vegetables through honest means and cook fresh  food and consume it with a prayerful attitude,  then all physical diseases will easily stay away  

from us. That is pure food for the body. These days, the content served in the name  of entertainment and news is spoiling the  young and the old alike. Refining the taste and  choosing only that kind of content which helps  in orienting us towards the highest goal of life  is pure food for the mind. Satsang is pure food  for the mind. 

It is through prolonged satsang alone that one  recognises the higher truth about oneself, the  subtle identity beyond the mind called Self.  Satsang, the stage of transformation, is possible  only with a living guru. For further spiritual  progress towards the highest stage of ‘seeing,’  pure food for the self, or prolonged satsang, is  required. 

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These days, the content served in the name of  entertainment and news is spoiling the young and  the old alike. Refining the taste and choosing only  

that kind of content which helps in orienting us  towards the highest goal of life is pure food for the  mind. Satsang is pure food for the mind. 

transmission (akshar-aahuti) from the supreme  source through our chosen form or guru. Food for the body makes one energetic. Food  for the mind makes one peaceful and content.  Food for the self makes one immortal. Food  for the soul makes one infinite by incessantly  imparting eternity every moment. At this stage,  food transforms into prasad (divine offering).  Such a person’s company will please anyone  open to receiving. SSY offers this alchemy  before all earthlings. Food for the body makes  one energetic. Food for the mind makes one  peaceful and content. Food for the self makes  one immortal. Food for the soul makes one  infinite by incessantly imparting eternity  every moment. At this stage, food transforms  into prasad (divine offering). Such a person’s  company will please anyone open to receiving.  SSY offers this alchemy before all earthlings. 

Though we read the scriptures, chant mantras,  visit temples, perform pujas, etc., why is the  transformation not happening? 

Transformation in Indic thought traditions  can be translated as kaya kalpa or rupantaran 

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or maulik parivartan, a happening when one is  open to receive wisdom and ready to act upon it.  Reading scriptures gives an idea of how someone  else saw Reality. Being prayerful and chanting  mantras are different. I offer the hint that though  Vedic hymns are mantras that are not of human  origin (apaurusheya), Bhagavan Krishna, in his  role as a guru, had advised moving beyond the  Vedas (traigunyavishayavedah). 

Though visiting temples and performing pujas  are cultural activities for community bonding,  inner transformation can be brought about only  through real education. Absolute transformation  is possible only when one meets one’s guru 

and wisdom is transmitted. By practising the  guru’s teachings in life, the impressions go  and discernment sparkles, and the courage to  uphold the truth emanates from within. It is  only through vivek drishti (discernment, or satya 

asatya vichar) that transformation is possible.  The eternity (the wisdom) stays eternally open to  all, every moment, to impart itself. That is how  Indic wisdom has been seeing the transformation  process eternally. 

How can one discover or realise oneself? To feel complete, one needs to know oneself.  And the route to knowing oneself is asking  questions. Whom to ask? In the beginning,  one can ask anyone, including one’s own  self, and when seeking the spirit is practised  consistently, it leads one to the ‘one’ who  knows the Self as one, known as the guru. He  knows your self as well because his self and  your self are not different at the level of Self realisation. At that stage, everything becomes  known as an inseparable eternally connected  whole, leading to realising the futility as well  as the utility of one’s being, which one used to  know as oneself before Self-realisation. 

What is the role of the guru in realising one’s  goal in life? 

The goal of human life is to attain to supreme  consciousness and live that consciousness  forever. This can be realised by associating  oneself with a living guru. It is perfectly alright  to move from guru to guru as many times as  necessary or stay with the same one for as many  births as necessary. The guru is all-pervasive.  Therefore, from the guru’s point of view, we  are always within the guru and with the guru. 

It is our vision which needs to evolve. When  with such an association, we too transform into  seers and see things the same way, then our  goal in life is attained. 

Guruji, you had written, “Imagination  can be realised, but realisation cannot be  imagined!” But there are many who imagine  that they are realised. 

What in common parlance is known as the  real, in Reality, is merely an appearance and  not the Real or the Reality. So whatever one  imagines or dreams to achieve, all that may be  brought into being or made to appear as real  by consistently making efforts to fulfil that  dream. But the Real or the Reality is beyond  human imagination as it is beyond the reach of  the mind and intelligence. The quote indicates  the aforesaid situation where appearances  are believed to be real. It is like believing a  mirage to be water. Many are overwhelmed  by their intellectual prowess and imagine that  they know Reality, not knowing that Reality  is not within the reach of the mind, ego, or  intelligence. The statement indicates the irony  of this situation wherein people, steeped in  ignorance, keep imagining the realisation  within their minds before they even cross the  field of the mind. 

Message to the readers? 

In Indic knowledge traditions, a message is  termed ‘sandesh.’ And, language has four levels of  communication: The first level, sandesh, means  being with the same (sayujyataa), the second  level means becoming the same (saalokyataa),  the third level means transmitting the Self to  all those who seek the same (saameepyataa),  and the fourth level means only the same  (saarupyataa). All the readers may choose to  receive spiritual knowledge according to their  individual receptivity. However, the sandesh has always been the same for all. 

Pradeep Krishnan is a student of consciousness, based in Kerala. A seeker  by nature, he is deeply attracted to the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi  and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.