Suffering State or Enlightened State: Your Consciousness Dictates Your Health, Wealth and Relationships

She’s the co-author of the national bestselling book, “The Four Sacred Secrets” which we have right here, which offers its readers, a rare transformational adventure into love and prosperity, and has been translated into over a dozen languages. She’s also the co-creator of Ekam World Peace Festival, a peace initiative that has impacted several million individuals across 100 nations worldwide. Meditating for peace, they urge the collective human consciousness away from violence and towards peace. She has led millions on a profound, revolutionary inner journey to awaken human consciousness, thus move humanity from suffering to peace, from separation to connection, from division to oneness. The world is in need of more caring, compassionate place because this rare, modern sages presence is in it. We’re honored to have Sri Preethaji with us today to share her ageless wisdom and her illuminated, enlightened state with us. Welcome aboard Sri Preethaji.

Sri Preethaji

I’m so happy to be with you, Greg, and address your audience.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

I am so excited to share your message and your love with the listeners and viewers of the Bioenergetics Summit. I’m forever grateful for the work that you’re doing. And so aligned with your mission of what you shared with us was creating 80,000 Buddhas in our lifetime. And that’s, see that is so, it just, you know, makes you light up and opens the heart, hearing it. You know, in your book, I wanted to share this, you talk about having a spiritual vision. What does that mean?

Sri Preethaji

We live in a civilization where external world is very, very important. That is what you achieve, how much you achieve, what car you drive in, who’s your partner, where your children, how your children are doing. Everything becomes very important. The external life is important, but unfortunately it is lopsided. Spiritual vision, we speak about spiritual vision, which is the vision for one’s inner state. What is the experience? What is your inner experience as you are living your life? What is your inner experience as you are bringing up your children, or what is your inner experience as you’re going about creating wealth? Are you creating wealth from a space of being happy and joyful and passionate about what you’re doing? Or are you creating wealth from say a lack, wanting to prove to somebody with anger, in fear? Is that the state in which, from which you’re creating with? Or are you bringing up your children? I mean, you want to be a great parent. From what state are you parenting your child? 

Are you parenting your child from a space of anxiety about how these, how they’re going to grow up and how they’re going to fit into the society? Or are you experiencing them, connecting to them, and in the process, you’re bringing up an extraordinary human being. The state from which you are living your life, whether it is parenting or relating with your spouse or your partner, or creating wealth or going to work, what is that inner experience? Just like how we have vision for the external world, if you can have a vision for your inner state, that is what we call a spiritual vision. And I see that vision to be the mother of all visions, because you can, you can have probably, you can achieve a lot, but achievement, is it going to make you happy? I have seen people who are, we have worked with people who are probably very, very rich, very, very successful, but who are still searching for fulfillment and joy and happiness. We want you to bring attention to your state. And when you hold the spiritual vision, that spiritual vision becomes your light, your guide, to help you walk out of suffering. 

Otherwise, what happens is suffering becomes a part of life. Suffering becomes an industry. Some suffering becomes a habitual state in which you live in, rather than trying to bring attention to it and move out of it, you continue to live in it. We do not want people to live in a state of suffering, right, because we see, and we clearly know that the suffering state is the reason for all the problems, the crises that we are seeing in the world today. In people, live a separate human beings. You probably have wonderful people living with you, but they just exist. You feel separate because of your suffering state. When you do not feel separate, you would do perform actions, which would include the wellbeing of others. You would not live internally being taught and dividing the external world. So we start off with a spiritual vision for once in our state. What is the life experience you want, from what state do you want to live and experience life?

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

I love that. At what point do you think we lose sight of that spiritual vision, of the more beautiful state? I mean, that’s really where we all want to create from, to create maybe heaven on earth, even faster than we ever dreamed possible. How did we get so separated here?

Sri Preethaji

When you’re talking about how we got so separated over here, okay, let us take our own childhood experiences. Nobody has taught us, so nobody has told us there is no system. There is no religion. There is no education system. There are no teachers who told us that it is important to live in a beautiful state. Nobody has addressed as to what you do with suffering. There is an external uncomfortable situation, which pushes you into a state of inner struggle or inner suffering. And nobody has ever taught us. Nobody has ever addressed what you need to do to that inner struggle. 

So what we naturally do is try to run away from it, but just by running away from it, is that inner struggle, is that inner suffering disappearing? No, not really. You come back to it again and again. Just by throwing it under the carpet, it doesn’t mean it, it is not existing. You are continuing to fuel and it continues to grow in you. A small experience of feeling abandoned or feeling unloved when you are young continues to grow with every small experience that can fuel that state. Unless until you bring attention to that inner struggle as in many suffering, and you dissolve it. That is why you need a spiritual path, a spiritual practice, to dissolve suffering. Otherwise suffering continues to build in one’s consciousness.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Yeah, it’s almost as if we get all of this evidence over here to say, this is the way the world is, which is in suffering, versus this component of, we could actually choose a beautiful state to create from there and choose to let go of all of the evidence that we’ve amassed over there. You know, how could people get out from under what is weighing them down so that they can truly connect with themselves and others.

Sri Preethaji

See, usually when you, when you move into the space of suffering, what you do is you run away from it. You escape, you escape through pleasures, you escape through addictions. Or what you do is you try to reiterate a positive thinking. You can tell a million times that you’re not this, you’re somebody more than this or greater. You can tell it a million times. Or what you do is hold onto a philosophical idea. Say, life is a bit of roses or this, you know, just an idea to kind of make yourself a little more calmer. But none of these really work, what you need to do when you have an inner experience of suffering is you need to bring attention to it rather than trying to cover up, or justify, or try to change what is there within. For suffering, you need to bring attention to it. In an external world, if something is not all right, the immediate action would be to change it, to make it fine. That works for the external world, but for the internal world, you cannot use that same principle. When you try to say that this is not how I should be feeling and try to change it with a positive idea or a positive thinking, or trying to hold on to say a philosophical idea, or a thought, that is not going to dissolve your suffering. Your suffering dissolves when you are able to bring attention to it as a minute arises, rather than trying to fight with it, tweak it or change it.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Mm.

Sri Preethaji

So that is why there is this practice that people all over the, the students all over the world follow it. It is called a serene mind practice. And it is a three minute practice. So what this practice does is it changes the activation in the brain. It changes the activation. When you are in a suffering state, your limbic system is very active. So it changes the activation from the limbic system to the prefrontal cortex, a space for greater calm, greater intelligence, and greater awareness to flower. So, serene mind is a practice by which you bring attention to your inner suffering state and then see it clearly. And it is mystical in nature. You see a light move from your forehead to the middle of your brain, activating that region of the brain, allowing you to be more calm. So it kind of dissolves suffering as in when it arises. And I mean, especially if you have an external situation, which is making you move into a state of inner struggle, I would say, you should practice the serene mind.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

And that is, I mean, that’s a three to five minute meditation that you have for people, right?

Sri Preethaji

Absolutely. It’s just a three minute meditation for, probably for people who are just starting to do, you can do it a little longer, but you know, it is, like you could be burning with anger. And when you perform actions from that state of anger, it is not going to be the right response that you’re giving to life. Or you could be in fear, and from that space of fear, if you’re responding to life, that still is not the right response that you would give to life. And when you do not give the right response to life, we complicate life itself.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Mm. Isn’t that the truth.

Sri Preethaji

You know, it kind of building problems after problems, layers after layers of more and more obstacles and problems are we. What you need to do when you encounter an obstacle or a problem is, you need to have the intelligence to give the right response. And that intelligence is not present when you are in a suffering state. When I say it is not present because in a suffering state, your thinking is going in loops, it’ll be the same A B C D E F G H. And again, A B C D E F G H. There is no newness to thinking. There is no newness to seeing reality or life. So intelligence is present only when you are free of suffering. And serene mind practice has the ability to cut through that repetitive, obsessive, suffering state.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

How does one know if they’re operating from a suffering or an enlightened state?

Sri Preethaji

Suffering state is, it is downright a very uncomfortable and a disturbing experience. But many times it is a very unconscious experience. But if you are able to bring greater attention to your inner state, to what you’re feeling, to your inner experience, and if you feel there is something disturbing, then it is a suffering state. And the no suffering state can start off with an experience of a beautiful state, calm, love, joy, connection, peace. These are all no suffering, beautiful states. And then it can, it can in like, you know, it can go into experiencing the transcendence, costless love, costless bliss, limitless joy. These are the transcendental experience. And then you move on to experiencing the enlightened states, and enlightened state where there is no separation between you or the other. You experience being one, you feel that you are all or the entire universe is you, depends on the state that you experience.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Indeed. The, you know, I’ve recently had the experience of the, in Chinese medicine the saying is, “You are the universe, the universe is you,” or, “You are in the universe, the universe is in you.” And to actually wake up to that in real time, it was, it had a profound effect on me and this aspect of the oneness consciousness or unity consciousness or principle of we’re returning to the one. I love that you have a center dedicated to enlightenment. Can you speak into what inspired you and your husband to create that center.

Sri Preethaji

We are the second generation people who are, who are holding this vision of enlightenment of humanity, of 80,000 enlightened beings or 80,000 Buddhas. The experiences, which my father-in-law had, the experiences of my husband, the experiences that I have had, all these experiences has left us, given us a clear vision of enlightenment of humanity, because we believe that only when human beings are enlightened, at least 80,000 human beings are enlightened, then there would be a fierce transition in human consciousness. 

Right now, humanity, the consciousness of humanity is tilted towards separation, division, and conflict, and suffering. That needs to tilt towards oneness and connection, where separation ceases to exist. Because only in this total revolution in humanity’s consciousness, only in that, would we be able to find solutions to the world. Because all the crisis that we are seeing in the world, we should know that it is not independent of humanity. We are somehow responsible for every crisis in this world. Be it political crisis, or be it the climate climate crisis, or the environmental crisis, human beings have been responsible. Human suffering has been responsible. Humanities, separation driven thinking has been responsible. So that is why our vision to create 80,000 Buddhas. You know, what it is to live with 80,000 Buddhas? It’ll be a new world.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Mm. With that, so that would be creating from that enlightened state. Consciousness really wants to support in that unity, in the oneness, we are pretending to be separate in this reality. So to get enough humans into that enlightened state, that will be able to create solutions, not from the consciousness that created them, but from a higher level of consciousness. That’s the goal.

Sri Preethaji

Absolutely, Greg, because we are creating, trying to find solutions to the problems that we have. We are trying to find, we are trying to advance in every field, you know, technological advancement, everything is happening. We are trying to go to Mars, but we are taking the same consciousness to Mars. We have created Metaverse, but it is the same greed driven consciousness or a competition driven consciousness that’s entering the Metaverse. How different life would feel if we are living in the same consciousness. And every solution that we are trying to create from a separation driven consciousness, that very solution is becoming problems for future. That is why, as you said, we need to get off that consciousness that created the problem, and then find the solutions.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Do you see when, when folks experience the more beautiful state and start creating from there, do they experience more ease and grace or things just spontaneously appearing for them? Or is it more of the, kind of what they’re used to in the separation?

Sri Preethaji

When people live in a state free of suffering, from the consciousness perspective, from a different realm, when a person experiences life from a beautiful state, they experience a powerful connection with the world around them. It is from that state of consciousness, living becomes effortless. When I say living becomes effortless, it is not a constant struggle, constant struggle against life, but you are so tuned that you see that the entire universe comes to support you on your endeavor. In a suffering state, you are sending out signals to this vast fabric of consciousness that you are open to problems, so you are open to chaos, to flow into your life. In a no suffering state, it can start off when you were in a beautiful state or you are experiencing the transcendence, or you are established in enlightened state, you are sending out that signal to the universe that you’re open to order, you’re open to harmony to flow into your lives. 

And then living becomes effortless. To love becomes effortless, to heal becomes effortless because you are, you can think of your life as being entered into a miracle zone. Your body is entered into a miracle zone. Your relationships would’ve entered into a miracle zone. That means your heart would’ve flowered, and your relationship enters into a miracle zone and life situations and opportunities and people who come into your life, bring auspiciousness and wealth and joy into your life. That is a deep secret, Greg. You and the world around you, you and the universe are not separate. And your state is getting communicated to this vast fabric of consciousness. Your state is the signal that is being sent out to this universe. So that being said, what is the, what is the signal you are sending out? I would like every participant in this, every audience over here to ask this question, what is a signal I’m sending out? 

This will probably give an answer to many of the questions that you’ve asked yourself. Why is this happening to me? I have been a generous person. I have been a kind person. Why is this happening to me in my life? Why is life unfair to me? Why is, why am I not being treated well? Why is not God being just to me? You have these questions come up again and again. The answer lies in your state of being. If you are in a state of suffering, for the reasons that is surrounding you, that state of suffering destroys everything that is beautiful in your life.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

You make it simple, which is very nice that that component. Do people, when they’re unconscious to their state, that is the component of what you’re out teaching people to become aware.

Sri Preethaji

Yes. To be first conscious, to become first conscious that you know, this is a state in your, in which you are living in. And then we move into the next step of becoming aware of the intricacies of all the details of that state. You learn awareness.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Mm.

Sri Preethaji

And then you heal.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

In that, in that awareness and in the healing are people, as a, I’m a naturopathic doctor, so I have a health bent. Are people able to have spontaneous healings when they get into that enlightened state?

Sri Preethaji

Definitely, yes, Greg. Let me share with you what happened. I mean, I lead retreats all around the world and just a couple of, I mean, I just finished the retreat. I just finished the retreat in India and I’m here. But few months ago I did a retreat in Mumbai, and the lady, she was sharing on the final day of the retreat, she was sharing her experience of awakening to a very profound state of witness. She was a witness to everything that was arising. She was a witness to her breath. She was witness to her in emotions, and it was a very profound awaken state. And then she’s continuing to narrate her experience to a thousand people in the hall. She’s sharing with everybody. She said, “I got married when I was very early. I was forced to getting, I was forced to be married to this person. 

It was not my interest.” At that point, she was a university topper, she was brilliant in what she was doing, but her father was very, very tough father, just like few Indian fathers were like that now. And she was forced into marriage. The husband was not a bad person, but just of somebody who really cannot connect very easily. So this lady, she had a child, she had two children. In one of the pregnancy, she develops facial paralysis. She has this profound awakening experience on the day three, the day two of the retreat. And then on the day three, she goes back home. And there’s a lot of arguments with the children and the husband and, you know, but internally she is very much unperturbed. She’s quiet, within herself. She’s also shocked at her state because you know, with so much happening around her, she would move into a place of anxiety. She would move into anger and frustration, but she was totally calm. Then she went to sleep that night, and when she woke up the next morning, she went and went into the bathroom and she wanted to wash her face and she was brushing her teeth and she looked into the mirror, and for the first time in 24 years, she felt, “Oh my God, I’m looking so beautiful.” So she continued to look at herself in the mirror and she felt there was a very strong difference in what she has seen of herself there so many years. 

And she smiled. She saw that her face, she smiled on both sides. And she was narrating this experience to me in front of the entire audience. She said, “Preethaji,” and she, I mean tears were rolling down her eyes because, I mean, it was a beautiful experience for her. And she was sharing it. She said, “Preethaji, I’m so filled today because you know, filled with gratitude for this experience and this healing.” And as she said, “Tears are rolling down my eyes. No Preethaji, this is happening for the first time in 24 years. Even when I cry, I tear only from one eye.” So that is a profound healing that has happened in her body. Definitely, the healing started in her heart. The healing happened because she was in that profound awakened state. When you move into witnessing consciousness, when you move into that awakened state, when you move into those profound enlightened states of consciousness, a healing happens, healing of the body happens, healing of the heart happens, healing of the life happens. 

And many such miracles of, you want to call it a miracle, yes it’s a miracle. Many such instances of healing happens. Not only healing, Greg. That’s what, that’s why I want people to understand how important consciousness is and how important state is. When people do move into such profound states, and if they have a longing or a desire for something, it happens. I know of another lady who was separated from her husband for a one full year. In one of the processes, she moves into a place of deep love and connection and husband, who has not spoken to her for a year calls up that evening. As a transformation happens in her heart, your heart is connected, and the other person’s heart also awakens. Healing happens in relationship, no matter how far you are, or if you’re separated by distance, it doesn’t matter. Because in the realm of consciousness, we are connected. It is one life, it is one organism. And awakening to these powerful states makes one incredibly powerful.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Mm. What is the best way to connect with the meditations that you teach?

Sri Preethaji

What do you mean by connect with the meditations?

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Well, you have, you have some people can come to study with you in India at the Ekam.

Sri Preethaji

Yes.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

But if they’re not able to come to India to study, you also have some offerings online of your manifest on Sundays.

Sri Preethaji

Yes.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Can you-

Sri Preethaji

Sunday manifest happens once a month.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Once a month.

Sri Preethaji

Three are long, I would call it as the mystic process. And each month of the manifest, each month the manifest would focus on one particular aspect or one particular dimension of life. That is, the last one focused on achievement. The next manifest is going to focus on purpose. Then you have focusing on, manifest focusing on health, manifest focusing on healing, on generational healing, and awakened to parenting. So there are different dimensions of life. And each month the manifest, the three are, it is a Sunday, three mystic process covers one dimension of life. So what manifests does is, manifest leads you, it’s a mystic process, where I lead you into one particular state of consciousness. And immersing in that state of consciousness, you manifest a particular reality. So it is mystical, it is deep, it is easy for you to participate because it’s online. You can do it at your home and you can connect via zoom.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Lovely.

Sri Preethaji

That will be an incredible journey for everybody to begin with, the manifest journey.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Sri Preethaji, so forever grateful for you and blessings. Is there anything else that you’d like to share with our listeners and viewers here?

Sri Preethaji

I want everyone of you to ask this question: what is the state in which you are living your life from? Because your state is going to determine the quality of your life. It is not the car that you’re traveling in, or the home that you’re living in, or your bank balance, that is going to determine your inner experience. I want everyone of you listening to hold a spiritual vision for your inner state, to walk out of suffering as the minute arises. We have created a path, a path that will help you out of suffering, and that will establish you in enlightened state. I would say that the world needs Buddhas, 80,000 Buddhas.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Thank you so much. And here’s to 80,000 Buddhas happening. Much love to you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Sri Preethaji

So wonderful to connect with you, Greg, and also with your audience. And we’ll definitely look forward to seeing you again.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Ah.

Sri Preethaji

It’d be great for you to come to India sometime.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

It’s on. It’s on our list already.

Sri Preethaji

Wonderful.

Greg Eckel, ND, LAc

Thank you. Well, thank you so much.

Sri Preethaji

Namaste.