Bhagavan Nityananda’s Message

to

a Householder Devotee

Just a few days before His Mahāsamādhi, Shri Hegde, overwhelmed by the inevitability of the moment, approached Bhagavan Nityananda with a heart full of surrender. Until then, he had made every effort—both outer and inner—to withhold the approaching Samādhi, but all such attempts had failed. At last, accepting Bhagavan’s will completely, he placed himself at His Lotus Feet and asked a simple yet profound question:

“What path should I follow? How should I live as a devotee?”

Bhagavan Nityananda’s reply was direct, compassionate, and deeply revelatory—especially for those living the life of a householder:

“You are a Samsārī. You have to cultivate Nishkāma Bhakti, Nishkāma Bhāvanā, and Nishkāma Prema.
You should cultivate Nishkāma Prema towards ‘This One.’
If you have that, then ‘This One’ will ever be with you.
‘This One’ will never leave you.”

Bhakti is devotion, and Prema is love. Both words express love, but their direction differs. Love directed toward God or one’s Sadguru becomes Bhakti, while love directed toward fellow beings and all creatures is Prema. Yet Bhagavan makes it unmistakably clear that in both cases this love must be Nishkāma—free from desire, expectation, bargaining, or demand.

Why did Bhagavan emphasise Nishkāma Bhakti, Nishkāma Prema, and Nishkāma Bhāvanā? And why did He specifically instruct Shri Hegde to direct this love toward “This One”?

By the term “This One,” Bhagavan was not referring merely to His physical form or personality. He was pointing to His Nijaswaroopa—the Supreme Consciousness, the all-pervading Reality that is the source and substratum of all existence. Bhagavan was revealing a profound truth: for a householder, devotion is not confined to ritual worship or personal attachment to the Guru’s form alone. True devotion matures into a vision where the Guru is experienced as the one Essence manifesting through all names and forms.

Thus, a Samsārī is asked not only to love the Sadguru unconditionally but also to extend that same unconditional love to the entire creation—seeing no separation, no “I” and “mine,” no “other.” This is Nishkāma Bhāvanā: a state of being where love flows without discrimination, rooted in the understanding that the same Consciousness pervades all.

When such love arises—pure, desireless, and universal—the householder naturally abides in Samabhāva, an equal vision toward all beings. Life continues with its duties and responsibilities, but the inner stance is transformed. The world is no longer seen as separate from the Guru; it is experienced as the living expression of the Sadguru Himself.

Only when a Samsārī-householder lives with this triple discipline—Nishkāma Bhakti toward the Sadguru, Nishkāma Prema toward all beings, and Nishkāma Bhāvanā rooted in non-dual vision—does Bhagavan’s assurance come true:

“This One will ever be with you.
This One will never leave you.”

In these few words, Bhagavan Nityananda encapsulated the entire spiritual path of the householder—not renunciation of the world, but renunciation of desire; not withdrawal from relationships, but the sanctification of all relationships through unconditional love rooted in Supreme Consciousness.