LILA: What happened in your own life that made you seek for the truth?
VIVEK: Discomfort. I had everything that I wanted. I was a businessman, had restaurants. I was very successful. I had a house, a woman, a motorbike. Money and enough time to do what i want. On my thirtieth birthday I had all of this and i realised this doesn’t make me happy.
LILA: We often are on hurry and doing many things. Do we necessarily have to suffer to understand that something is not working?
VIVEK: Yes. Mostly. Mostly it starts with discomfort. Otherwise you will focus on success, money, relationships. But if you are loosing energy, then inner conflict happens.
Its like going to the doctor. You just go when you are sick, not before.
Then you see – if you gain success, you want more success. It never stops. If you buy a house, you think you need another house one in the mountains or near the sea. And the feeling of home never comes. If you find the right partner, sometimes you can feel good, but it is not permanent. So you always long for more.
It is like standing in the street with the trafic lights. If there is green, you just go. But if there is red, it says „Stop“ then you do not feel good.
LILA: Many people come to the spiritual way because of sicknesses. Is it that even the sickness of the body or is it related to the state of mind?
VIVEK: Of course. By going sick the body shows you „I can‘t do this anymore“. Then you really start to look for yourself.
LILA: What is the mind and how it works?
VIVEK: The mind is the construction. And identification with this body. In truth, there is no mind. It is just thoughts. If you scan your system you will not find anything called mind. Like hand or arm, mind is not there.
And identification with the mind creates the „I“. The personality. And that is the ego.
When you are not aware of this what we call mind, this is the state of unconsciousness.
LILA: Then you are not aware that it works, that it controls you?
VIVEK: Yes. That is fully unconscious. If you do not know what is the mind, you are in a trap. So get to know what mind is. Watch it, but don‘t believe in it. Use it, but do not let the mind use you. You get to know mind by watching your behaviour. You get to know what is the personality and what is yourself.
LILA: How to step out of the mind? How to do it?
VIVEK: Watch the mind. The more you watch the mind, the more you disconnect from the mind. Because you watch the mind and then you are not fully identified with the mind.
The more you watch the mind, more you wake up.
The one who can watch the mind is not the mind.
Be aware of what you call mind. Always.
LILA: What was the experience of your awakening?
VIVEK: I was thinking: „There must be something else“. So I went searching for what is real.
I was in Greece, travelling in islands. And there was a particular place and when I was there I couldn‘t stand my feelings. Everything in me wanted to move. So I was moving. I was riding the motorcycle all around the island, then the next island. Then I asked myself: „What I am running away from?“
I came back to that place and went to taverna. I sat down. I had breakfast in the morning at eleven.
The next thing I remember is the lady asking: „What can I do for you? What is going on here?“. She said: „Boy, you are sitting there and crying since the morning“ Then she told me to eat something.
I moved to the place I was the most uncomfortable and I stopped there.
I was crying for seven hours. Then afterwards there was emptiness.
LILA: What happens that we cannot be in harmony with ourselves? Why can‘t we be happy from start of our life?
VIVEK: I do not know.
But I can tell you about conditioning. You are conditioned. Every baby is awake. But we start to teach him or her something else. At first we give a name, tell him: „This is your name, you are male and lithuanian“. Then we start to teach him at kindergarden, religion and so on then he comes to school. He cannot be authentic anymore.
LILA: How it is possible to stay authentic?
VIVEK: At first authenticity has to be understood. Most people think their ego is authentic. But relating to the ego doesn‘t mean it is authentic. It is not true. Doing what you want is not authentic. Doing what you want is already conditioned.
Becoming true to yourself, you do things not because you want them or not want them. You do them not from ego anymore. Then integrity happens and authenticity takes place.
For example, you are not used to confront anybody (this is very common in Lithuania), you just stand back and say „Yes, of course“. But if this is not true, than it is not authentic. And if you say openly „This is not true“, then you start to be authentic.
It is not about what you think what is true. It is not about your truth, it is about the Truth, the Reality.
LILA: So the truth I feel is the priority? It is not what is right and wrong? It is not about being a good person?
And it is not about achieving enlightenment. „If I achieve what I want, I will be happy“ is a concept. At first my concept was „If I have the house, the sportscar, the woman, health, money and time, then I will be happy“. Then I changed this into „If I am enlightened, then I am happy“.
VIVEK: This is the same, because the structure of mind is always the same. Ego becomes spiritual and wants awakening. And it is always moving towards the future. It is never here, it is never ok with what is now. It wants to change it.
Enlightenment is the opposite of that.
If you see it, this is a gift. It is the gift showing you that there is something else and you can stop the search.
VIVEK: The truth is life happens as it happens. But we think we did it. Or we think we did wrong. But life happens best without us.
I do not speak about destiny. Destiny is also a concept, it is also about future.
The truth is you do not even need to create a plan. You need to enjoy this as much as you can. Not to change it. More you wake up, more you enjoy.
And the more are qualities you can enjoy. It is not that you can enjoy only nice things.
You can also enjoy sadness, anger. Then it becomes complete. You do not struggle, you do not suffer anymore.
The core emotion of lithuanians and germans is fear. If you talk with somebody and they are honest, they will admit they are afraid. They want to do something – for example, to move to a warmer country. Why don‘t they go? They are afraid.
If you repress the fear or try to change it, it will stay. Only if it is allowed to be there, then you can transform it. Or it by itself transforms in your openness.
VIVEK: That is the problem. If this wanting to fix wouldn‘t be there, all would be good. You think you can fix it. It is an ego that is so proud that it thinks it can fix what God has created. That is the most arrogant I have seen in my life: „I want to fix this creation of God. I know better than God. It should be different“.
If you allow the emotion to be there, that openness it is love. And in this love transformation happens. It is not that you transform them. They may unfold as they like.
Vivek in sanskrit means knowing the difference between truth and illusion.
A dialogue and the meeting with Vivek is like “Yoga for the soul”. The mind comes to rest and It unfolds an insight into deep levels of ones consciousness. People can see who they really are and can experience the freedom and joy, to be the way they truely are.
Vivek’s clear sight and healing presence permeates his satsangs and seminars.
He meets each person from where they are and supports them to realize the source of their being in a very natural, direct, authentic and simple way.
He traveled to different countries and spent a lot of time with meditation, contemplation and being all one in stillness.
He studied the traditional way of yoga in an indian ashram, visited many Satsang teachers and moved all his attention towards awakening and enlightenment.
Spending time with his teachers Shanti, Gangaji and John de Ruiter he experienced the tranformative power of Advaita. Here his search ended with a clear self-realization.
According to the indian tradition Shanti gave him the name of Vivek, the task to hold Satsang and to pass the truth to other people.
Vivek teaches the Advaita Vedanta in the lineage of Sri Ramana Maharshi.
As well as teaching he is the founder and mentor of the 9 Steps®” programm, which is a training leading to the healing of emotional blockages and leading to awakening.
(Explanation Sanskrit. Advaita: non duality – oneness; Satsang: sat = truth – sangha = community)
LILA: How did you come to Lithuania?
VIVEK: I was holding a satsang in India and few Lithuanian girls were there. And they asked me could I come to Lithuania and I said yes.
So for the last 3 years Vivek has been coming to Lithuania and holding satsang here.
All information about satsangs with Vivek is on his website http://vivek.life/en/
Photography: Irena Slavinskė
Interview Authors: Jurga Adomo ir Ginta Gaivenytė
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