Yamo

The Manual of

Enthusiasm

www.entheos.in
 Dreamer
Break your layers
unleash your inner-callings
blast-off your fears
coz fears are fakes.

Life's breaking free

it’s growing like a tree
you oughta live on
like the mighty Amazon.
Set your sails high
the world will conspire
only you need to run high
and dream higher.

Remember you will DIE

don’t live a lie
there will be no rebirth
only you'll become dirt.
So, can you take the risk
to live another's life
to not be happy?
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Life's a one-chance-game
no one can you blame
so live enthused
be amused
become an ideator
life's traveler
and a DREAMER!

- Dnana Ruhdam

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 Contents

Acknowledgement iv
Preface v
(Dreamer) vii

Part I: Basics
1. Entheos: The God in You 1. 2
2. The Paradise Lost 2. 14
3. Reclaiming the Eternal 3. 26
Fountain

Part II: Applied

4. Enthusiasm at Work 4. 80
5. Enthusiasm at Home 133
6. Enthusiasm for Students 161
7. Enthusiasm at Leisure 205
8. Enthusiasm in Sex 233

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 Chapter 1
Entheos: The God in You

Like in any other soulful creature in the world, the

idea of God always fascinated me. And as soon as
I was my own, I wanted to explore Him,
extensively. Prior to that – it mainly remained
restricted to family rituals and reading a collection
of religious books lying at home, which
everybody worshiped, and nobody bothered to
explore. They were too sacred to be understood or
questioned, even to be touched – without one
having taken the bath. They were like idols meant
for garlanding, rather than reading. Ones those
could not find place near idols, rested in a wooden
box, frequently visited by rodents and pests, who
worked hard to trim them, and thereby create
space for new ones to get into.
The ability of rodents in distinguishing a
religious book from a scientific one always
puzzled me. They never made the same cut-art
caricature on my chemistry books, as they did on
the religious. It was actually possible to make out
which was a religiously book, and which not,
merely by looking at rodent caricature, if already
visited by them. The life enhancing effect of the
religious books was evident from their artistic
expressions. Once a book whispered to me, ‘all
creatures in this world have same soul. And, we
directly communicate with the souls, brain
doesn’t need to come in-between. For us, all souls
are same: whether homosapian or rodent.’ The
book continued, ‘And, it’s not that the rats
damage us in this wooden box, they do not have
power to do so. It is that the cockroaches
sometimes create an itch in us, and we ask rats to
give nail-teeth scratch. Feels good! We let them
visit our interiors without opening us; the box is
overfilled and doesn’t provide room for opening-
up.’
Later I realized: it wasn’t the book’s
whisper - it was a cloud of wild thoughts that
engrossed me because of the extra-heavy
breakfast I had, subsequent to browsing a magic
book.
By the time of entering into university:
Geeta, Bhagwat and Ramayana had already
impressed me; in whom, I found many sensible
things, and many, which I could not assimilate or
rely-on. Excitement and boredom came in sine
wave, keeping the interest dying and renewing.
An afternoon when I was down by boredom
induced by some verses of Ramayana, the book
whispered, ‘Excitement is an impulse that cannot
be sustained straight, it’s sinoidal. One is bound to
get bored, before the next impulse of excitement
could settle. … My all verses are fine!’ and this
time, I was neither under influence of any magic
book nor a drowsy breakfast.
Soon after finishing the college and
getting a job, which came more as economic
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liberation, my desire to explore Him became
intense. It was a teaching job, which came with lot
of vacations, specially a 2-month long summer
break; and freedom of thinking giving me enough
breather to attend my inner-calling. In some
treatise I had read: Ahambrahmasmi (I am the God)
and Tatwamasi (You are also the same); and also,
that He is omnipresent. Hence, I was quite
convinced that I could not be without Him. When
Osho changed his name from Maharshi Rajneesh to
Bhagwan Rajneesh, it never offended me. If the God
were to be omnipresent, Maharshi Rajneesh could
not have been a thing other than God; like any of
us. Hence, there was nothing wrong in his using
the Bhagwan title. I had gathered enough idea I am
also the God, the idea was mostly theoretical, as I
didn’t feel like that. The bookish information was
to convert into realization without which, it was of
no value. A strong desire to undergo realization
engulfed me!
Now, the first thing I wanted to happen
was: being all alone! Avoiding all distractions and
creating an opportunity to encounter – the Self.
First summer break – and I was heading
to Himalaya, to be completely unknown; and
later, isolated, too. My father had come to see me
off at bus-station, and gave me a piece of paper
containing some references of an Ashram at
Haridwar where I could stay. (Haridwar is an
entry point to Himalaya. Hari + Dwar, the name of
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city, means: gateway to God.) Soon the bus started
rolling, and my father went out of sight; as I
wanted to be completely unknown, I threw away
the paper without even reading it.
Haridwar was too-much-a-city, and I
decided to move 20 km north towards Rishikesh to
make my first stay at an ashram Shantikunj. At
first sight I found the ashram having the right
spiritual milieu. All activities were being pursued
by samayadanis and jeevandanis, the former were
volunteering for a few months, and the later - for
rest of their lives.
Having got tempted by setting, ‘Can I also
join as jeevandani?’ I asked one of the jeevandanis.
‘It would be too-much-of-a-haste! Taking
such a big decision.’ replied the jeevandani
realizing that it was merely my second day in the
ashram.
Three days passed - and I started finding
absurdities in many things being pursued there.
Losing all the excitement, I thanked the jeevandani
for having not encouraged me to becoming one of
them. I decided moving-out to continue further
north.
Swargashram, an ashram-town in Rishikesh,
was my next abode. This small riverside town has
many ashrams; I felt a little deeper spiritual milieu
here. Still, I was far away – of a complete
unknown-isolation, which I was searching to
experience.
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 Having tried for days, I decided to enter
deep into the forest. The inner-calling was driving
hard for an experience of being completely one-
self, undiluted, undisturbed. I decided to follow
the inner-calling, unrestricted, unanalyzed; and
got-up to move-on, putting a saffron dhoti of
Sanyasi as lower, and hanging a kurta on one of the
shoulder. It was 3 am; I might have got-up at
around 2:30 am. There was no problem in walking
as the moon was bright enough. I saw small sign
boards directing arrows towards Neelkanth and
decided to follow the same. As the time passed,
the moonlight started fainting, giving me fear of
becoming dark. The fear had come from the
conditioned mind, which was tuned to
hypothesize only the failures and difficulties,
regardless of the facts and possibilities. It was
approaching dawn, a new day; and the mind
feared – darkness!
Thereby disembarked the first
enlightenment: fears are false!

The dawn approached scattering gold at

one side of the mountain, and I decided to take
some rest. Some pilgrims passed – bowing to me
by my saffron clothing, few tried offering - with
some hesitation – money and flowers. The
footpath I was on, was leading to a relatively well-
attended temple. In search of the isolation, I
turned on a very narrow path, almost unbeaten.
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 By around 10, I was in a tiny valley with a
narrow stream and beautiful flowers. I ate some
biscuits I was carrying and drank water from the
stream. After a small nap of around 15 minutes, I
tried understanding oneness: the sense of being
with the self. There was no human being in miles,
still I couldn’t feel oneness. There was a chameleon
looking at me, two butterflies whispered (about me!),
and even flowers stared!
The second enlightenment: others only
reflect what we carry in our own mind.

At home: the botherations were relations

and acquaintances; in ashrams – the human
beings; but what about chameleons and butterflies
and flowers? The source of all botherations is
one’s own mind. Others merely reflect what we
carry in our mind.

These enlightenments put me in a state of

calmness giving me fearlessness and complaint-less-
ness. Things became lovely and bright! I felt
energetic, passionate and compassionate. …I was
a different person now, feeling oneness with the
surroundings! The hatred had gone. There was no
hurry. The desire for lonesomeness had vanished.
When the ecstasy went over, I got up and
returned back to the main path leading to
Neelkanth. There was a small stream forming a fall,
a temple and a few shops. The place was neither
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crowded nor deserted. The Priest of temple
welcomed me, offered me lunch and asked,
‘would you like taking rest for a while?’ It was
indeed required, and I gladly accepted. He closed
the temple and offered me his own aasan for
taking rest. It rained for some time. I got up at 4
pm to take leave. Feeling fulfilled and complacent,
I wanted to return back to Rishikesh. Coming
downhill, I lost my way and landed some five
miles away from Swargashram. By 10 pm I reached
my ashram, after having trekked over 30 miles in
20 hrs. It was my longest single-day trek, in hours,
as well as, in miles. And, it was worth it!
The third enlightenment: Though, it is
tough going uphill – one is not likely to get lost! All
paths lead to one God, differences come when we go
downward, farther from Him.

I enjoyed rest of my stay at Rishikesh

reading a number of books, listening to discourses
and taking dips in Ganga. The books I found most
engrossing were of Osho. When I was back to my
workplace, as a matter of coincidence, I was
offered to manage of a local Osho library, which I
accepted gladly. I resided inside the library, and
managed the same for about two years, reading
his books and listening to his tapes. Then I was
taken over by J Krishnamurthy and old classics,
particularly – Yogvashishtha and Upanishads.

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 Despite having born and brought-up in a
religious Hindu family, gradually I lost my interest
in the religion. I found the religions hardly having
any connection with the spirituality. It’s not that
the religions do not have element of spirituality,
they do; but the possibility of their bringing a
realization is as bleak – as of a marketplace.
Spirituality is so all-encompassing, it could be
found in anything, including religions. On the
other hand, everything, including religion, carry a
chance of itself becoming a faltering block; in fact,
religions – the most!
Though all religions primarily emerged of
somebody’s spiritual attainment e.g. Christ,
Buddha, Mahaveer etc. As of now – they are largely
thriving on: fear, escapism and greed! And
nothing spreads like fear and greed – which is
why, religions are not only thriving, but coming-
up in multitude derivative forms.
Since religions are thriving on greed and
fear, they lead their followers to the same. And a
mind, tuned to greed and fear, has only the
remotest possibility of self-realization.
There has been so much of pollution and
adulteration; the real thing – spirituality, has
completely vanished from religions. In the real
sense: religions are over! And they should ideally
extinguish themselves.
Devoid of spirituality, religions are
propagating on fear, which transforms in – hatred;
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and from centuries, religions have caused much
more hatred in mankind, than love or harmony. It
is too costly for mankind to anymore have
religions.
Hinduism – in which I was born, and
about which – I understand little better, is, in
particular, much more complicated. Alas for its
long past! Over the period of time, all kinds of
nonsense been dumped into this, making the
spirituality to come-out extremely improbable.
There are so many deities and gods: elephant-
head, monkey-head, triple-headed, lion-head,
parrot-head, and what not. It is said that there are
360 million (some ill-informed think it’s 33 crore)
gods-goddess in Hinduism, which is little too much.
India having been the land of the discovery of
zero, it seems that this 360 figure was taken for
providing the 360° protection; none-the-less, 360°
equals to zero, and that is a better consideration.
There is a god for everything, and all put together,
make a zero.
With time, I am getting a conviction that
all Hindu deities are intellectual property of some
artists and writers, which should not be taken
more seriously than the Micky-Donalds or Harry
Potters of current time.

Knowing to God and knowing to Self is

one and the same thing. And ultimately either it is
He who exists, or I. The two cannot exist together.
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On self-realization one does not gain anything; on
the contrary, things are lost: most importantly -
fear and hatred. One cannot hate anybody unless
he carries fear against him, howsoever bad the
other may be. Irritation might persist, but not the
hatred. The compassion takes over the hatred.
There came brief moments, when I got
bored of spirituality: found it useless and
unrealistic. Eventually those were initial periods,
when I considered spirituality to be markedly
different a thing than materialism, almost opposite.
The skepticism didn’t last long, and a
comprehensive understanding took its place. Also
aroused a desire: to define Him. I had read at
many places and heard from many people – He
cannot be defined; because, there is nothing that is
out-of-him. Defining Him would be – limiting
Him, a sin.
Still I wanted to define Him. It was like
dividing the indivisible; still, I wanted to do that.
Hindus define Him: Sat-Chit-Anand (The real, alive
and full of joy). I liked this definition, still I
wanted something different. This definition was
too comprehensive and mature. It was little raw
and juvenile, I was looking for.
Years later, on a small railway-platform
bookshop, I happened to buy Norman Vincent
Peale’s Treasury of the Joy and Enthusiasm. I got
stunned on page 31; it defined word ‘Enthusiasm’
saying: The word enthusiasm, from the Greek
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‘entheos’, means ‘God in you’. Reading this
definition was a eureka-moment! Not for having
understood the Enthusiasm, but for having
understood God! It exactly was the definition, I
looked for. A direct connection between the two –
filled me with joy. It was like the ultimate
homecoming!
As I looked into the relationship between
the two – physiology of enthusiasm zoomed before
me: While in enthusiasm, it is connecting to the
God within, that a spring of energy starts flowing
from within, making the miracle happen!’ This is
why – while in enthusiasm, things happen so
effortlessly. And this is how: the Enthusiasm Inc
was born, with the objective of cherishing the
individuals and organizations with enthusiasm –
and thereby – with God.
It defines the Enthusiasm as:
Derived from Greek ‘Entheos’ meaning
‘the God in You’, Enthusiasm is the elixir of life.
The moment one feels enthusiastic, a spring of
energy starts flowing from within; this energy –
directly oozing from the eternal source, because of
one having connected to the God within, makes
miracle happen.

I find enthusiasm much better than the joy.

As, joy is – geriatric, it is a result, an end point;
while enthusiasm is – raw and juvenile, it is not an

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end; and above all – it makes the movement. Joy is
like a fully ripen-fruit, enthusiasm: a sprout!
After Paulo Coelho’s Alchemist crossed 30
million-mark, I decided: enough is enough; now, I
must read the book. I simply kept avoiding the
book - thinking it was about chemistry, and for
chemists. Surprisingly, I got completely bowled-
over by reading the Author’s Note where Paulo
writes, ‘What is personal calling (legend)? It is
God’s blessing, it is the path that God chose for
you here on Earth. Whenever we do something
that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our
legend.’ connecting the God, Enthusiasm and
Personal Calling. A perfect fit.
I would like to quote J Krishnamurthy
also, he said: Man has throughout the ages been
seeking something beyond himself, beyond material
welfare – something we call truth or God or reality, a
timeless state – something that cannot be disturbed by
circumstances, by thought or by human corruption.

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 Ignited Minds Season I*
(February 2009)
Talks by Prof Robert J Aumann
(2005 Economics Nobel)

*Text of the talk available at www.entheos.in

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 Ignited Minds Season II
Speakers

Prof DD Osheroff Prof Robert J Aumann

(1996 Physics Nobel, (2005 Economics Nobel,
Stanford University, USA) Hebrew University, Israel)

Prof Sidney Altman Dr Jean-Marie Lehn

(1989 Chemistry Nobel, Yale (1987 Chemistry Nobel,
University, USA) ISIS-ULP France)

To know about other speakers considering invitation,

and dates and cities, please visit www.entheos.in or
email to IgnitedMinds@entheos.in

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