Blessed Are Those Who Can Spot Their Pride - 12th July 2024
Saar (Essence)
Ananta teaches that the human struggle arises from being caught between the force fields of Maya and God. He encourages seekers to become humble disciples of the inner Atma, choosing the heart's holy presence over the mind's selfish narratives.
Struggle means you are caught between these two force fields of Maya and God.
Our whole life's purpose is to become a vessel of the Holy Spirit, a disciple of the Atma within.
The mind's favorite trick is 'Yes, but what about me?'—don't fall for it.
devotional
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
Okay, let's start with Kaa. Okay, so like I've never really struggled this bad before and, um, like ever. And I know that it's about me and stuff, and so too much about me. And even seeing this, it still just seems so hard. And, um, like things that used to bring reassurance are not reassuring at all. Like whereas before I feel like there would be some—sorry, I'm talking quiet. No, I'll get that. Before it felt like I could get some sort of respite or reassurance and it would kind of cool things off and kind of soothe the inner storm. But, um, these days feels like nothing is—there's nothing that's actually ever like reassuring at all, and, um, even if it's like coming from you or anything like that. And yeah, I just, I don't know. I just feel—I don't know. I don't feel lost, but I do—like it feels like it's like when I pray and I sit and I'm with and I pray, which I'm not doing as much, I know that too. But I know this is a part of it somehow, but I really don't want to stay here.
Very good. That last part is very important. The last part is very important. There are times where this will feel like a big struggle. In fact, I've said often that when I hear someone say that it's all easy, I can just be in God's light, God's presence, or I can abide as my true identity as pure awareness and I don't pick up the false, that is when I get a little more concerned. But if you say that I'm struggling, then you're dealing with—if you're struggling, it means there are two force fields that you're dealing with, you see. When you're not struggling, there's only one force field, and of course I pray that it is God, but usually it is Maya. So struggle means that you are caught up between these two force fields of Maya and God, you see. If there was only one in your life, then you won't struggle; then everything will seem very sorted.
So when we are stuck in Maya, then it will seem like this is all there is. It's all about me. I have to achieve this. It's all about my pride, my specialness, where I am going. If you're in God, then it'll be all about Him. How am I serving Him? How am I loving Him? How am I being in His presence? How am I praying to Him? How am I after true insight and knowledge, which is only a gift from Him, from His presence, from His heart? So it becomes all about that which is beyond the perceivable realm of man. Now in the human condition, especially when we are in spirituality, then we are countering both of these forces. We are countering both of these forces. The mind pulls us back into Maya saying, 'This is your life, be responsible, be this, be that,' but basically be this bundle of flesh and blood. And somewhere in our heart, it is apparent to us that we are not this bundle of flesh and blood. There is something greater; there is something higher. So that becomes the struggle.
And the struggle is very important because if you're not struggling, then we are settled into mostly the false, and it takes a lot of suffering to pull us out from the false. So if we learn to turn our focus towards God when we are even not suffering, then we may not need to suffer so much. That is why it is important what Kabir Ji said, that in dukha (suffering), everybody turns towards God and times are bad, but hardly anyone turns when times are good. But if we were to turn towards Him even when things are good, then there's no reason for times to be bad or to seem bad. So it also happens when we are in God's presence, God's light, then that same very same circumstances in the world which would have caused so much suffering in the past now seem like they're all right. We can deal with them. They don't need to seem wonderful or beautiful, but at least we have a depth in our experience where we are sitting inside a heart temple in Atma's presence, in God's presence, and in His presence all of this doesn't seem like suffering.
So to struggle, we need both ends of the spectrum. And the relief, hopefully, will come when we learn to change our focus to God. And may it not come from any worldly reassurance; may it not come from any idea that I can make this Maya work or I can make this 'me' work. May it only come from resting in God. And there is a part of us that doesn't want that; it hates that and is also fighting because it's saying that, 'I know all this, but I know all this.' It is not that my struggle is different, it is not that, but this is the only struggle in the human condition when looked at broadly, you see. It's only the struggle between 'me' and being in presence, being with God, being in the Atma. And once you come, you change your focus to Him, to the unperceivable, uncreated light in your heart, then it is actually impossible to struggle. You have to change your focus back to the mind. And when you are with Him, when you're entering your heart temple, that is when your mind attacks you the most. It attacks you the most to try and distract you and pull you back in. So in the struggle, where are we leaning? In which direction are we leaning between the two forces? Towards which end are we gravitating to?
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Must be me, because I'm suffering.
So a simple way to check that is, does the world seem more real than God most of the time?
Mostly, yeah.
So, but do you have the power to find that holy place inside your heart?
It doesn't feel like it these days.
Yeah, but right now?
Yes.
Okay, so here, what is the atmosphere like?
Unknown and restful.
Is there any good reason to leave this place?
No.
And here, who are you?
Just a part of everything in a way, like just presence. Like a part of—I don't know how to explain it, but like there's a wholeness here.
One second, there's an interruption. Okay, just remain here and tell me who you are. Who are you in your here?
Like it's seen here that I'm not thought, you're not what the thought is representing. Yeah, not at all.
And who can testify to your true nature?
The absence, yeah.
Well, let's start. So the voice in our head testifies to a worldly nature, a material nature, our persona, the false one, the ego. But is there another representation of yourself which you authentically find?
Yes.
Okay, so what is that? What is that representation?
It's like an emptiness but also fullness and like a vibration of just the ever-present vibration of like wholeness, I think, really.
So what is important for this one? To not go with the form, the content. And what can pull you towards the false? What can get you involved in Maya's tricks?
The stories in language and images and like warning that—meaning, I guess.
And does it happen just in the appearance of thoughts, of the narratives, of the language?
No, it's desire.
Can you, when you look at this primordial vibration—is it just like a scientific vibration that you're checking under a scientific instrument? Or if I was to call it the Satguru presence or the Holy Spirit or the Atma within, who is the highest teacher and guide, can you meet it in that way?
Yes. Yes, when looked and seen, it's seen that it's the spark of—it's not just a vibration. It's my ability, it's the gift to see what everything is.
And is this in your heart? Does it feel like it is the presence of God Himself?
Yes, that's what I'm trying to say.
Very good. Very good. So if the presence of God is available in the form of the Atma, what is worth exchanging Him for?
Nothing. And yet I do it, though.
All of us do. All of us do. And that is the struggle. But as long as our intent is clear, that 'I struggle with this because I go with the false; I don't go with my mind for the truth, I go with my mind for the false.' If that is clear, then we will find it easier to return to our heart, to the holy presence in our heart. And if there is something my mind says which is actually true, whereas the whole scope in which the mind operates, the whole scope of Maya itself, is the great unreal one—so to extract truth from that which has no truth value is the folly of the human condition.
So if we can just turn towards the holy presence in our heart and stay there, even when it doesn't seem tangible or present or palpable, even when it feels empty and we feel dry in our inner space, our heart temple seems barren, it seems arid—especially then it is important to keep turning towards God's presence in our heart.
Yes, it's seen that no thought can be truth or true in this place.
Very good. So now you just have to be careful of 'yes, but.' Just have to be careful of those two words which will say 'yes, but.' And the strangeness of it all is that the 'yes, but' will come many times with ideas of 'yes, but let's get real for a minute,' which actually translated means, 'let's take the false to be real for a minute; let's take Maya to be reality.' So many times when the 'yes, but' comes in response to this very simple way of life, it is saying, 'let's be real, let's be real.' So if you were to actually say, 'let's be real,' then you would just turn towards your heart because there's no way you can find reality unless you're in the discipleship of the Atma within.
Our whole life's purpose is to become a disciple of the Atma within, which is the Satguru presence. So as you become a disciple of the Atma within—I heard this very beautiful term being used—he said that you become the vessels of the Holy Spirit, the temple of God. Another way to say that is they become the vessels of the Holy Spirit. And I don't feel like there's any better answer to the purpose of life, the meaning of life, than to become a vessel of the Holy Spirit. Now we cannot become a vessel of the Holy Spirit unless we become a disciple. We have to be a disciple of the Atma. We have to be guided by it. We have to follow it as hard as it may seem, as much as the struggle may seem in the human condition.
Because the nemesis, of course, is the one that Kabir Ji calls the Mahatagini, the greatest con artist, which is what? The shapes and lights and sounds of the world. These worldly shapes appear in front of us and all that we find to be true in our heart seems to be forgotten. And that forgetting is the error, is the mistake of separation, is the sin of separation, is whatever word you like. But that possibility exists with us where you can choose between one of these two force fields. So if you don't like the word Satguru, choose the word Sat, where Sat is the origin of the world. So whatever word you choose is unimportant, but you have the power to pick God. God is not that unkind that He's not given anyone the ability, the power to turn towards Him. Everyone can. Every moment we can. That power is always there.
But we execute that power in a different way to try and make Maya seem real. Just like trying to make our Lego blocks that you built with great difficulty or great effort, great investment—you want that to become a real world. A little child's dollhouse or a little child's imaginary plaything, we want that to seem real. And Maya gives all the invitations in this worldly realm, especially when someone is escaping. When someone is escaping its clutches, it seems to become so tempting. Everything seems so good momentarily that you say, 'Why bother with that? He who lives in my heart, why bother with that when I can focus on these things?' So Krishna is sitting in front of us and we are focused on a house of cards that we are building called our life. I'm really sorry that the sound is weak and has background noise. We can just do this where we pause while I'm speaking and then we come. Yes, that's true. So this choice, this power belongs to all of us because it is universal. It is true that whatever force field we nurture, that seems more compelling. That aspect is true. But if we truly gather all the intent we have in our heart, every possible shade of intention, and to make it turn fully towards God, then at least halfway we can turn towards God. But if our intention is...
So this choice, this power belongs to all of us because it is universal. It is true that whatever force field we nurture, that seems more compelling; that aspect is true. But if we truly gather all the intent we have in our heart, every possible shade of intention, and make it turn fully towards God, then at least halfway we can turn towards God. But if our intention is 'God, yes, yes, but also this, but also relationship, but also money, but also health of the body, but also intellectual pursuit of some meaning'—all these 'but alsos' then make us half-hearted. All these 'but alsos' make us half-hearted, whereas if you just live with God, we live with the Atma with you, then whatever is required in these outer realms will be just naturally given to us.
When we go chasing, that's when we get into trouble. When we stay, when we remain in our heart, then the world chases us. Not that we should want that or it becomes an indirect way of getting there, but it is naturally observed that when you are just sitting content in your heart, just enjoying His holy presence, then everything in the world just arrives for you almost like delivery service. But you should be careful of that delivery because if you get attached to it, if you say, 'Ah, this is a replacement for my inner sadhana, for my wordless remaining in God's presence, or even my prayerful or using the tool of inquiry'—any of that—if it becomes a replacement for that, if it becomes a good enough worldly substitute for the joy of God's light, then we are falling into trouble again.
So we must find a way, when it seems difficult, at least find the intention to fully remain with God's light. And when we get confused and we say, 'No, I want the world more,' then when the world nudges us in the form of some small suffering, then we must take that message and return quickly to the Father's house in our heart instead of tempting Maya to install us even more and more. And all the reminders will come from your heart to pull you back in, but it is up to you to listen.
Okay, let's go to... I changed the setting a little bit. Is it better? Yes, it's much better. Okay, another thing I want to say for all of you is that if we believe that we are 100% transcended Maya, then we are just fooling ourselves. So in the prayer at the beginning of Satsang, we say 'Mayatit,' which means the one who is free from Maya, and He, God Himself, is the one that is free from Maya. No one in the human condition can make the claim to be completely free from Maya. It is only possible in this moment we can say, 'I am in God's light, I am in God's presence.' But can we say that we will not be tempted and fooled again by the tricks of Maya? No one can say, no one can understand.
So in this humility, in this recognizing that our turning towards Him, our repentance for being worldly, of wanting separation over Oneness, over unity with God, all happens when it is His mercy, when it is His grace. But we have to pay the cost of discipleship to the Atma, which is that we must offer our entire life, our entire heart, our entire being to Atma. That is the Guru Dakshina, that is the offering that we can give to the holy Satguru who is in our heart, which is our entire life. Nothing else, nothing lesser is worthy of Him. We cannot separate us and say, 'Oh, half of my heart is for You, God, oh holy presence of God, the Atma within, and half of my being is for the world and to go my way.' So half will be Your way and half will be my way? That is not the pointing we have received from these ages. The pointing we have received is that we must only live in God's will, which means that we must only follow God's will.
But how far do we come away from God's will that it seems like just a mere suggestion at a distance? It seems like we start by seeming that, and soon not even that. 'What is God's will? Everything is God's.' You know, it says like that. We make these excuses for separation, like getting into that where we lose touch with presence in our heart and we go fly with what we want mentally, selfishly, egotistically, and we say, 'But everything is God's will.' Yes, everything is God's will, but not in the way we understand it, you see. Everything is God's will because He loves us enough to, like we do with our children, allow them to turn towards us. So He is so humble and faithful that only when we are getting ourselves in big trouble does He say, 'Turn towards Me.' When we are getting ourselves into deeper and deeper suffering, deeper and deeper mess, does He actually send strong signs which can seem like slaps on some occasion, to turn towards Him.
The whole point of us praying or remembering God when we are in misery... so Mukti prayer is very beautiful in these times to say honestly, and all of us can say this honestly actually, that 'Lord, truly I remember You much more when I'm suffering, and if I'm not going to learn, if I'm going to remain in this way, foolish like this, then please give me suffering but let me stay with You.' Who can make a prayer like this? And one who genuinely from a heart can make a prayer like this, you feel like they can ever suffer? Because already they are so melted away from their individuality, they are willing to go through anything to be with God. So this prayer, even asking for suffering if that helps us to remain with Him, such a one... but truly we cannot fake it. Truly such a one can never suffer.
I'm definitely not there and I'm not even close to that. And I'm not in denial that every... I don't say everything is God's will. I'm very aware that I'm in mind and it's my fault, and knowing that doesn't get me out of it. What is the way out of it?
Letting go every moment, yeah.
And what is the way out of letting go?
Letting go of letting go, exactly. When we go with the mind, we let go of letting go. We take the driver's seat ourselves. And the thing is that the mind says, 'But how does that help? I just want to be helped. How does that help me?' You see? And this 'How does that help me?' is the voice, is the trick which gets us in trouble, yeah. Because one thing about faith is that faith and patience have to go hand in hand. Faith and patience have to go hand in hand. It is not possible for us to have only one and not the other.
So patience is really important. When we go to God's temple, it is not on-demand service: 'Oh, now I've turned towards You, make Your presence apparent to me.' But I turn towards You... God knows very well that we turn towards Him for what? Because we are in misery, because we are suffering, we're looking for pain relief. And many times it's His graciousness that He blesses us even then, but He's trying to truly teach us a higher way of life. And if He was to give us instant solution, then we would just recognize that, 'Oh, that is always available to us, let me do my stuff, you see, and the minute I get in trouble I'll turn towards Him and He'll be there.' So He doesn't want that for us. He wants us to be willing to let go of that which is false and learn to live in that way.
In every life, He has given us the full opportunity to live in the higher way: the way of the heart, the way of faith, the way of life, the way of love, the way of presence. He has given all of us full opportunity to live like that. But what are we doing with that opportunity moment to moment? Is it... now remember that the mind has two tricks. The two tricks are: the first trick is that, 'Ah, this is sounding too difficult and I've tried and tried and tried and it doesn't work, it's not helping me.' So we get into a sort of despair saying, 'It doesn't work, it's not helping, what do I do?' But that is a mind trick to keep us involved in this worldly realm. And the other mind trick is on the basis of some past insight to say, 'Oh, I'm just too good, Maya doesn't touch me, nothing happens, you see, I'm just fully, fully pure awareness only.' So all of this kind of mental Advaita, mental version of the insight—these are surprisingly two ends of the same coin although the message is completely opposite, you see.
So our job is to walk on that middle ground. If you're not taking positions, then being soft about everything: 'What is happening to me? I don't really know. Am I free or bound? I don't really know. What is truth, what is false? I don't really know.' Only He has to provide the words. When we become soft like that and not strong position, then we are soft enough to remain in God's... we are hard-hearted when we are... we don't realize these things of course, but when we become very, 'Yes, I know I am like this, I am the worst,' you see, even that is pride. When we get into this despair, it's all the opposite. 'Yes, yes, I know, don't tell me. I am the best, I've had every insight possible, I've seen that I am beyond time and space and I've seen that I am beyond all perception.' But right now it doesn't work. All of these insights in the past could just be getting in our way.
So we just have to become simple, become innocent, always remain in the beginner mind. I'm just a beginner as a disciple of the Atma within. Can we say we are black belt second Dan or whatever they are? Can anyone say like that? And as a... can we ever say that I'm not worthy? Huh? As a disciple of the Atma, can we ever say 'I am not worthy'? No, it doesn't really make sense because then the Atma is showing us that He can guide us, it can guide us. Then who are we to say 'I am this way or that way'? We can say that 'I am foolish and yet He is merciful, He is gracious and He blesses me.' So, but to say almost in the way that saying that, 'Oh, the Holy Spirit in our heart is making a mistake,' would then also be... so despair comes like that, right? The despair says, 'Even God doesn't know how I am and I am not worthy,' you see. But God has made Himself available to you; you're worthy of that.
But our job is to remember that all good things come from Him and they are His gifts alone, and that keeps us in the middle, neither in despair nor in any sort of pride, spiritual pride. And most of us find it very difficult to be empty in this way, to be centered in this way, yeah, you see. Because those positions then give us a structure for our narrative, you see, gives us a central point, a central character for a narrative to build. You see, what is my story? So what is my position right now? What is happening with me right now? Yeah, there is so much happening with all of us in one moment that we can never put it into words. Hundreds of things in our outermost aspect of our being, which we call this universe, there are so many things that we perceive in this moment. There are hundreds of things happening in our body, there are hundreds of things happening being offered in the mind in the form of memory, imagination, thoughts, conclusions. There are hundreds of tiny emotions and pain signals and pleasure signals that are happening in the realm of our emotions.
What can we grab to make a story? Only that which our mind tells us. So if we remain with that which is deeper than all of these aspects of our being, of our existence, then we remain in this true place. What is the Atma showing you? What is God trying to tell you now? There we can listen to that. And most of this listening is silent listening, which sounds strange in the world. Most of what we learn as a disciple of the Atma cannot be put into words. But we stay empty in this way in the beginner mindset, and every moment spent with Him, we deepen, our understanding grows. It may or may not be translatable in words. The mind may bully you and say, 'So what happened? What did you... what's so great? What's so great about you?'—like these kind of things. Don't get bullied by the mind because all that it is saying, all these narratives have nothing to do with reality. It's like saying the entire comic book is one frame, which is the mind. So every moment there are millions of things which are unfolding, you see. The mind picks on some aspects and says, 'Oh, this is my story.'
It may or may not be translatable in words. The mind may bully you and say, 'So what happened? What did you... what's so great? What's so great about you?' Like these kind of things. Don't get bullied by the mind because all that it is saying, all these narratives, have nothing to do with reality. It's like saying the entire comic book is one thing, which is the mind. So every moment there are millions of things which are unfolding, you see? The mind picks on some aspects and says, 'Oh, this is my story.' And that is so limiting. It is too limiting. So we have to mature out of those narratives, out of those spaces, and make ourselves fully available, empty and available like a beginner to the holy guide, the holy presence, which is God's presence. And when we stay there, we recognize our true nature as pure awareness.
Our inquiry works only by the grace of the Atma within. Our prayers work only by the grace of the Atma within. But it is our job, it is our responsibility as those intending to be vessels of the Holy Spirit, those intending for their lives to be temples of God—it is our job to clean ourselves up, to remain empty of all the vasanas and the conditions and the narratives and all of these things which block His light. There is never an excuse for a priest not to clean his temple. There is never an excuse for us not to make our heart available for God. Just prevent any allegiance to any narratives and make your life, make your heart fully available for God, and our lives will transform. They will become unrecognizable from how they were—maybe not on the outside, but definitely on the inside. Yeah.
And be careful of 'what about me?' But those are also the same, yes, but...
Man, you're absolutely right. The 'yes, but' is 'yes, but what about me? Yes, but what about me?' Exactly. Yeah. So between the silent holy presence and the 'yes, but what about me' is the struggle. Yeah, it's as straightforward as that. Yeah.
When you say that it's pride, that I know that I have insight, it is the same coin as the one who's in despair and feels lost and rejected. It's clear.
Exactly. Yeah. And the thing with this is that all of us fall for these tricks. I fall for them on a daily basis. Is it enough when we feel so proud of ourselves? Is it enough? No, it's not enough. We want that pride to spread to others around us also. They should all feel like I have found God; they should all recognize it, you see? So it's never-ending. And how much of 'they' is enough? The entire universe would not be enough. You see, the entire universe would not be enough if everybody said, 'Oh, this one is the greatest Mahayogi, Mahagyani, Maharishi who ever lived.' Even that would not be enough because then we would start doubting their intention. You would say, 'Do they really mean it? Let them prove it to me now.' And that way to prove it then is never enough. What is the way to prove it?
So the pride is such an unending thing. It doesn't just rest like that. Even our own personal specialness, if we believe it, doesn't stop there. 'Does he see it? Does she see it? Do they recognize it?' And this constant need for that validation, and to know and to forget that if we have need for this outer validation, we must recognize somewhere that we are building a house of cards which needs constant reinforcement from the outside. So don't get into that whole 'yes, but what about me' game at all because that's where it leads. That's where it leads.
And to constantly return to being a beginner, to constantly give thanks to God and say, 'Thank you for the blessing of Your presence.' Because if it was me, I would not have had the kind of patience You have. If someone kept turning away from me constantly and did not recognize their own good, then I do not have the patience that You have, Father, that God in me, that You have to make Yourself available in this way. And yet I'm a foolish child because I expect that I may have just gone my way for days and days and days and weeks, but the minute I turn towards You, You should make Yourself available to me. I am this way, and yet so many times You do it because You love me so much. This is the grace, the greatness of God.
And all that is good can be learned only from Him. We learn just in this silent transmission from our Atma within, and all the wrong, all the falseness, we learn from the voice in our heads. I love the term—I've heard it many times now, but just the other day when I read it, it just hit home: 'vessels of Holy Spirit.' May I never take myself to be greater than just a mere vessel, an instrument. May His light shine through this instrument, but may I never take it to belong to me or take credit for that life. Whatever I take myself to be, let that be just a mere instrument of the vessel at His holy feet. And He Himself—and this will sound contradictory, of course, which is the way—He Himself blesses me with the insight that I am Him, I am That. But that which can take himself to be that, may that never be confused, and may that always remember that he is just a servant, a beggar, foolish, nothing, nothing.
So this transparency enables our life to be a temple of God. And anytime it gets mixed up with the narrative of the 'me,' then it becomes opaque for ourselves and it doesn't spill over for others around us. The beauty of this is that even in the realm of Maya, it spills over. Isn't it so beautiful? The byproducts of living in His light is grace, and we must never be attached to that, you see? We must never get attached to that or, even worse, feel special because God has graced you in this way, you see? But it is so beautiful that being with Him is the highest love, is the highest peace, the highest contentment, the highest joy, the highest insight. Atma self-recognition, self-realization, all is His gift.
And spirituality always gives us reasons for humility; it has never given us a single reason for pride. But if you hear these sometime chai shop conversations, I have seen that: 'I am pure awareness, you are still stuck as a person.' So what? How does that mean anything? It's like saying, 'I have seen the Statue of Liberty, so I'm a good person' or 'I am a better person.' It has no correlation. The gift only came... at least even to see the Statue of Liberty, you know, you go to New York, you go to this island, Staten Island or whatever it is, you go there and then you see it. At least you did that effort. Here, nothing. All has purely been His gift, His grace. What is there in spirituality to be proud about?
The beautiful thing was somewhere it was said—I'm forgetting now—that the difference between Lord Ram and Ravan was that Lord Ram in His human avatar still had knowledge of pride, but Ravan had pride of knowledge. And if you fall for this pride of knowledge, then it'll be very, very difficult to remain simple, pure-hearted, soft-hearted, sensitive inside, to be a holy temple of God. Because I went to a temple one time—and I'm not kidding, okay—I went to this temple, and many of you may recognize it, but you go inside the temple and all the posters, all the publicity inside that temple is about the one who created that temple. That he has done this, 'I, Mr. This-one-this-one, I've done this.' So that is not the kind of temple we want to build. It should be just simple, innocent, heartfelt, a presence of love, a presence of just a simple joyfulness. Simplicity should be overriding, and in the sanctum sanctorum, in the Garbha Griha, should be His dwelling.
So what are the building blocks that we are using to create this temple in our heart? What are the posters that we are putting up? Whose photo, whose idol are we putting up? What are these building blocks? The narratives that we buy, the story of the 'me.' Sometimes you go to these offices, you see the timeline of the company and the people and all of that. Can we ever call that a temple? Somebody entered your temple and all they saw was 'me.' 'I was like this, my spiritual journey was this, then I came to this, then I came to that.' And after waiting forever, yet nobody ever visits the holy place. So for yourself, don't build a temple like this which is surrounded by... and I'm not saying that you are doing that, I'm saying this for all of us, that we must never get sure, 'I am into these things.' So every thought that we bind to is a brick in our temple, is a poster that we are putting up in the temple of God.
Yeah, when you say pride of knowledge, pride of knowledge doesn't just mean pride in my spiritual insight or what I think I know about spirituality, but it also means pride of knowledge in the other—the other end of despair and exactly how I'm feeling.
Exactly. All that is knowledge. It's all knowing, wanting to be something. And His grace, His love for us is so much. Now, in the world we see so many of these stories that a child just goes away from their father, from their mother. But if you talk to the parent, the parent will always say, 'This child will return one day.' The child may be rebelling and say, 'It's the worst, my parents are the worst,' but if you talk to the parent, they will say, 'Just going through a phase, they will come back, all will be fine.' So that is the great grace, and that is the whole story of the Prodigal Son, where the son then starts to feel that he has been so nasty, so rebellious against his father, his father will never let him, he'll be so angry with him that he could never return. But that story is truly representative of our spiritual life, that no matter what, we can always turn to Him. We cannot demand Him, but we can truly turn to Him.
And He knows what is the experience which is needed at what point. What level of tangibility must we have in experiencing His presence? He knows best. He knows very well what will make us caught up in a personal narrative, what experience will make us special and we go about crying that all over the world. He knows all of these things about us, but He is the merciful parent who, just like biological parents, will always say, 'My child is going through a phase.' No parent is going to say, 'My child is bad, he is unworthy, he has forgotten us.' We may say that about a parent, that they are the worst, we can never go back to them. So as parents, we give our children freedom to play like this. If the love for us was forced, the parent knows that that is not love. So the parent has to have given their children the ability to turn away and to turn towards, of course all within His will and His context.
That's why I'm saying these things are not understandable at the level of the intellect, you see? That nothing can happen outside of His will, but within that will, the joy of a child loving you and a parent loving their child is only possible if there is the possibility to turn away. What is the possibility that we are using? What is the choice that we are making every moment? Does that also happen by His will and ways? Of course it does, you see? But as long as you feel like—and that's what Bhagavan said—as long as you feel that you have a choice, then make that choice for God. Use all your power. Never be half-hearted about turning to God, because we don't realize that every moment we still turn away is like a lifetime wasted. Use your entire strength, even when you feel like you just have the tiniest strength to turn towards Him.
One child sent me such a beautiful report. She said that sometimes it seems like I can only grasp Him by one thread of His garment, one thread of His garment, but that thread I really latch on to with all my might, you see? And then soon it becomes clear that He is with me, I'm fully with Him. But if we refuse to turn, if we refuse to make our life this moment about Him, then it's a wasted opportunity to be with That for whom Ram, Krishna, Jesus, all the great prophets, all of them are just representations, aspects. Who is that One? And that One has graced you with His presence in the most intimate place, which is your heart. That One for whom this universe is a grain of sand, that One, He is there.
Latch on to with all my mind is it, and then soon it becomes clear that he is with me. I'm fully with him. But if you refuse to turn, if you refuse to make our life this moment about him, then it's a wasted opportunity to be with that for whom Krishna, Jesus, all the great prophets—all of them are just representation aspects. Who is that one? And that one has graced you with his presence in the most intimate place, which is your heart. That one for whom this universe is a grain of sand, that one, he is there in your heart. That one. And we, we lunge at morsels in this world. That's what the sages of over—every sage over the centuries has told us: that the diamond is in our pocket, we're sitting on the box of treasure begging for food. He's trying to tell us, they're trying to tell us the same thing.
Blessed are those who can spot the pride. It's a great gift, great gift. And may God bless all those who are blindsided, who have a blind spot about it, because that contaminates their heart temporal more than anything else. Pride of knowledge. Pride that 'I know.' Very beautiful thing also that it's not just spiritual knowledge; it's also, 'Oh yeah, I know this is how it is. I know.' We don't know what this is. This moment is then me. What is this? Who can tell me what's happening to you right now? What is here right now? Nobody can say. And what is the most primitive way? Even you will admit right now that the most primitive representation of this moment is that there is a satsang happening between these bodies that are sitting here and this computing device which is in front of us. That is the most primitive representation. But if you look at any story about yourself, it is full of this primitive representation. Not one moment is pristinely captured in any story that we have. That's why no two among us can ever agree on any story anyway. That's what leads to all the argument, conflict, trouble, you see? Because each moment contains everything. What you pick is up to you.
And I'm asking you to pick God's light because I'm saying that what else is important? You get it at the source. Why do you have to climb the trees and get the branches and to do all this heavy lifting? You meet the giver of life at the source in your heart. And why you have to grasp at the mere offerings of life? I wonder if you see it like that. If you see it like that, then you will not lunge at these things. You see that he's the creator of a zillion universes in a moment; he is sitting in your heart and you are grasping a table and chair, these mud buckets, these bundles of food. That is the game of Maya. That is the struggle. And what gets us is the simple 'yes, but.' Yes, yes, but. And she's absolutely right, it's always 'yes, but what about me?' It is so hard sometimes, Father. It is hard. It is hard. I'm not at all denying that. Nobody can say it's always easy. Nobody. I can never say it. I can never say it's easy. I know it is simple because the simplicity is between Maya and God. That is always—these are the two forces. It's that simple. But is it always easy? No, it's not easy.
One thing that may be reassuring is that the parent always knows how hard it needs to be for the child. Parent always knows. So in a way, even that it is too difficult is our judgment, because it is like saying that God doesn't know how easy or difficult it should be for me. So our faith needs to transcend even that. Maybe we all come to this point, including this man who is speaking all these big things. So may he also come to this: that may he never question how easy or difficult his Father makes this. And then the beautiful words of the sage then means that whichever state Ram keeps you in, just be happy in that state. Just acceptance, which is such a beautiful openness. May that be true for all of us. And may we recognize that we don't have the capacity to make any judgment about our life, forget about others. It's completely impossible. But about our own life, we don't have the capacity. Like, 'Is this moment too difficult or too easy for me?' I don't know. I really don't know.
But without these conclusions, we feel like, 'So what is the story of my life right now? What is the meaning of my life right now?' And without these subtext, context, we feel like we are getting nowhere. It's all wasted. But it's not true. Actually, when you empty in this way, then true growth is happening. Then you're not rushing to be too conclusive. Then you're not trying to determine too strongly in your head, 'This is what's happening, this is now, this is then.' You allow the space for the flower in your heart to bloom, always crumpling it with your ideas, see? And especially when it starts to bloom, the mind offers the biggest attacks and ideas and things like that. So we just, just unfolding. Have you all noticed? Embark on the most beautiful projects, the most beautiful thing that is so, so beautiful in your life to unfold like that, and the mind comes with a curveball which just gets us caught in some I-don-not-know-what, you know? Just, and then like, 'Oh, what am I doing? This is not worth it. Am I even capable? Am I worthy?'
Even the excitement of insight is an attack.
Yeah, of course it is. Of course it is. Is it asan? Is it asan? So all of this can come. All of this can come and we must not fall for this thing. When you embark on service to God, expect the greatest challenges to come. Even if nothing actually is happening in the world, even if nothing is actually happening in the world, in our mind it will seem like I'm faced with the biggest challenge. One brick we put on his holy temple in our heart and it seems like, 'No, no, just demolish all of it, kick it all down.' Nothing is. So how blessed are we that unlike most of our brothers and sisters in this world, we recognize that there is an Atma. We recognize that there is an Atma. Of course everyone, at least in countries like India, has heard of it, but how many of us feel like it's a reality? We just treat it like some conceptual idea. Or even if we take it to be true, we feel it's too far-fetched for anyone to come to Atma Gyan, to Atma Darshan. It seems too far-fetched.
So how blessed are we that for us it's a living possibility, and for some of us it's a living reality. And I want to say one thing about that: that for those who claim that it is a living reality for them, they have a greater responsibility. They have a greater responsibility, those who claim that it's a living reality and not a living possibility for them, because they have no excuse to leave his presence. Atma is God's presence. We have no excuse ever to leave him. For those who say it's a possibility, for them to waver in faith is very natural because it's a possibility. In this side, the mind also offers many possibilities and then that can seem attractive. But those who are living, who at least make the claim that it is a living reality, Atma's presence within them, for them to waver is like saying, 'Yes, Krishna is sitting in front of me, but I am distracted by chocolate.' What does it even mean? How do you compare the Lord of the universe with a morsel in this realm? This is not possible.
So remember that anytime we make a claim of the higher insights, we are also owning a responsibility, which is to live in that way and to guide our brothers and sisters in that way. It is not to be taken lightly. So it's not a badge of honor, firstly. It is something that has been gifted to us. And if this grace has been gifted to us, then we must use every thread of willpower, of intention, of everything we think we have to keep it focused on God in our heart. Yes, Father. Don't you turn away from him, all of you my children, my brothers and sisters. Don't you turn away from him, especially in the guise of reasoning. Every—the mind will give all of us reasons to turn away from him. Don't you do it. Mostly for this man, not from a position of infallibility or something like that. Try. That's all we can do. We just have to try, you see? But do we notice when we don't try? That is important. Do we notice when we don't try? Because not a single step towards him goes to waste. We just give a few moments for the newest member of our family to settle down. Thank you. Much beautiful opportunity to share all of these things. Very beautiful. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Father. Thank you so much. I just want to share something which I've been practicing last couple of days which I just—because it's sort of helping me and becoming a little bit more open and empty. Just maybe just like in the toolkit, something, you know. So I came across a reading of the Mahavakyas, yeah, and I found that actually if you try to practice them, it's really powerful. So I mean, it's just—I'm just to elaborate a little bit. The first one is Tat Tvam Asi, and then you know, then you start to practice this, and then the next one. So Tat Tvam Asi is a directive to you, sort of like Tat Tvam, you know, you the one that's directed to. So then when your response is, you know, when you look inwards, you are the presence and you know that you know the presence, then sort of the inner response, the second one is Aham Brahmasmi. So I'm the one that's aware of something that can't be observed through the senses. I'm aware that the body is an object within my knowledge.
Then the third one is very beautiful. It says, 'Ayam Atma Brahma.' So the 'I' is broken. So now it says, 'This Atma is Brahman.' So then, you know, now that idea of sort of 'I'm the one who's seeking' sort of tries to put an end. So when you start to practice it, you just, you know, feel the presence. This one, not me. I'm not in the picture anymore. This one is Prajnanam. So this one is this light. This one itself is what I can feel as the Atma. The presence itself is also has been witnessed and there's a light within it. And then the next one is Prajnanam Brahma, so the consciousness itself is Brahma. So the one who's—I guess the way I felt it is like one is there's no 'I' and then the one who's witnessing itself is Brahma. So the body is, you know, as we go the stage, insentient. It's all a song, it's a light, light and sensation. So the witness is itself Brahma, you know? So then you're there. And then finally Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma, so no distinction between any of the objects showing up, any of the people, everything. No distinction. It's all the one. So I just—just me—just found it's very helpful to go open and empty deeply. Thought I'd just share this as a—
Okay, let's go to Paula.
Thank you, Father. Can you hear me? What—try again. Can you hear me?
Yes, like this. Okay.
Um, just want to thank you, Father, for bringing me back again to focus on God.
Very good, very good. Your whole demeanor today is conveying a lot more stability in God than when we are beaten up by the world, then it can seem very different. So I'm happy to see that change.
Yes. I also want to share with you that last time we spoke you pointed me to repentance, and that's something that it's been very present all this weekend. And I see that I've never really been truly repentant. Repentant, yes, repentant. And I see the beauty of it and the power of it. And when it's like you pointed to me, like when it's in the heart, not like beating myself for what I've done, no, but really to feel the pain of that being the cost of separation with God. And truly that pain is very important to feel, to experience, and its quality is very different. Yeah, and I'm almost like grateful for it and happy for it and very open to it.
Very good, very good. This is very subtle and the mind can very often misunderstand this. But what touched me deeply was this beautiful devotional hymn which had 'Open to me the gates of repentance.' And I said, who is that one who can ask to be gifted with repentance? Is he only one who is mature enough to recognize that the error, the mistake of picking separation, picking specialness, picking pride over picking God's light and presence in our heart?
And happy for it and very open to it. Very good, very good. This is very subtle and the mind can very often misunderstand this, but what touched me deeply was this beautiful devotional hymn which had opened to me the gates of repentance. And I said, who is that one who can ask to be gifted with repentance? Is he only one who is mature enough to recognize the error, the mistake of picking separation, picking specialness, picking pride over picking God's light and presence in our heart? That one must be open to seeing their errors: the error of their conditions, their vasanas, the error of their ways. And whether we truly bring them into our prayer in this form of repentance, or we truly bring them into our inquiry in the form of these conditions being explored truly with intuitive self-inquiry—not conceptual—both of these are beautiful because they shed light on our blind spots. Because pride is that stink with which everyone around us can testify to, but we don't notice. So for us to be repentant about the choices we make about our separation from God and, like I said, to forget our privilege that we have the opportunity to be with Him and we leave that for some trivialities in the world—to forget that privilege and to repent is a beautiful thing. It is a beautiful thing because it is beautiful when we offer it in our heart; it is ugly when we become mental about it because that leads to just the mental despair and more 'me, me, me.' When we offer it with the innocence of a child saying, 'Father, look at my condition,' then it is much more beautiful. When it is heartfelt, it is much more beautiful.
So I'm very happy that we can meet it in this way because all of these words can seem very confusing otherwise and we want to run away from them. We want to just say, 'No, no, no, but I am That, why should I be repentant?' The one who makes the claim to being That is not That. So that is why I love this description of satsang which means that unfathomable distinction and yet non-distinction between God and myself. Because for some to say there is no distinction is blasphemy; for others to say that there is distinction is blasphemy, you see? But actually, in the human condition, we have to recognize the unity and yet recognize our condition of separation, therefore needing to come into Bhakti, into servitude of God. Both are true. Our unity with God is true and our need for humility, the need for servitude, and very importantly, the need to follow only God's will—that's true. That is why the Acharya added 'Achintya' which is unfathomable. Have you seen that all of us are attracted to one of the two? Even if I look at all of you, I know I can—I don't really know, but I feel I can tell—which one of these two between the Bheda and Abheda you're attracted to. But both are true, okay? Can we say one is more true than the other? No, we can't. Can we say servitude is less important than the greatest insight of oneness? We can't. Both are equally important.
So we must never feel like servitude is a stepping stone to greatest insight, because those who are attracted to Abheda, like the unity, the non-distinction, Advaita literally, they will say that my servitude just helps me in that; it's like a stepping stone, you see, being it is all about the unity. But if you treat it like a stepping stone, it's no longer a stepping stone. We must treat it as primary, especially when we are attracted to not treating it as primary. That means we are still very attracted to 'my way.' And that is why we put up this Guru Nanak Ji's saying on the wall which said all the smartness of your mind, all your meditation depth, all of your sadhana, everything will go to waste unless you follow the Hukam of God, the will of God. He said you could do this, it will not work; you could do this, it will not work; you could do this, it will not work. Then like a frustrated seeker, there's a line over there: 'So then what should we do?' And he answers that saying that always follow the will of God. And to just follow the will of God, you need an immensity of faith, patience, love for God. Because when Maya rushes you, you don't want to wait to know what is the will of God. We're just waiting for the convenient excuse of saying everything is God. Your choosing selfishness, your choosing pride is not God's—although ultimately it is, which we can't put in the box of our intellect—but we have the choice to pick God in our heart versus our pride, our 'me.' And the thing is that in our heart we always know. We always know what we're doing when we are making excuses for ourselves, even in the guise of the highest spiritual insight.
And when it is authentic—and I hope all of us can recognize this—all of us can recognize that when heartfelt insight of truth is so different from a conceptual understanding of the same words. So the question 'How am I serving God now?' for me is the same as 'How am I loving God now?' or is the same as 'How am I one with God now?' All the same. So to recognize our feeling, to recognize where we fall for the same trick—whatever variation of grasping at relationship, money, body, or meaning, whatever variation of that which we keep falling for over and over again—that we recognize when we offer that to God, that is repentance. To say that 'I leave my place with head bowed down in my heart temple to You when I get involved or tempted by this in the outer; that is when I leave and I recognize that I make that choice which I should not make.' That is very important. Very good. I'm very happy. So keep going and keep at it and keep deepening like this. The fruits are there for you to see and for all of us to see as well, because in time you can go from this fully despairing state to much more centered and alive.
Very... just want to thank you also for showing us or helping us to see more and more this Bhakti side of satsang aspect. And I feel it. I was... there was so much resistance to it. I thought I was super Bhakti, but really when you came...
Thought you were super Bhakti? So sweet, yeah.
But when you came with such intense focus on it, it created a lot of resistance truly. But now slowly, slowly I've been centered, more centered in it and more attracted, and really finding that we really need it. This love for God is the only way. It's really, I mean, so important. And even I've been experiencing more and more this pain of separation, just very, very strong. But I feel that it's... I like it in a way. I feel it's... I feel alive in it.
Very good. Now that you're more centered like this, now you must follow what you're learning in satsang. You must start every day by coming to God's presence. You're not going to forget this this time, okay? You are going to follow: start every day by coming to God's presence. And even if it takes the whole day, don't buy the mind's idea that 'Oh, but there is important work to be done, there are things to...' There is nothing important if you're going to be the ego all day and spread that egotism within your heart and to brothers and sisters outside. There's nothing so important. And if you come to God's presence, then what is He not taking care of? You see, He's taking care of everything that we have wanted. So please, all of you, just don't forget this instruction. And remember that the day you don't want to do it, no, that is the day which is very important to do. What you do in the sand is much more important than what you do in the honey. Which means that when your mind is fighting, saying 'Not today, today I have this work, today I have this thing,' then you must take the time. Must take the time because, you see, the transformation of your day, transformation of your life will be available for everyone to see.
And then for most of you, you've been in satsang long enough that you must remain in unceasing prayer, Nirantar Japa, just a full remembrance of God as much as possible. See, it means that our intention should be 100%. Our intention should not be 'as much as possible.' If your intention is 100%, then the outcome will be as much as possible. Because Maya will still grab us, grab me, every day many times. So it'll still grab us, but our intention should be just to quickly return and not make excuses for ourselves. Because once we are caught in that, then we just keep making excuses for, 'Okay, now tomorrow I will start, tomorrow I will start.' So that is where the biblical line 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions' comes in. Not the intentions that you must have full intentions to be with God, and that activates your fuel for prayer, for inquiry. But not an intention about tomorrow; it should be right now, fully with God. That is my intention. That is all I want from life. That is all I want from the world. And I know that all of this is His gift to me. The world is His gift to me, this life is His gift to me. So He will take care of you. Nobody comes to God and regrets it. Nobody says, 'Oh, I should have been more worldly.' We always say, 'I should have been more Godly.' Nobody ever said, 'I should have been more worldly instead of being with God,' you see? Unless they're really in the midst of some mind attack, it's very, very rare. But we often say, 'I should have been more with God.' So we must endeavor with everything at our disposal to remain with Him. It is very important.
And this deepening of Bhakti, this deepening of servitude... what are the greatest embodiments? Her term 'super Bhakti' reminded me of some of the super Bhaktas that we know about. I feel like one of the highest embodiments we've ever heard about is Abraham. I mean, that kind of faith, that kind of devotion is impossible for me to imagine. The Abrahamic faith is so, so deep, so beautiful. And then I feel like that story of Abraham changed my life and changed lives for all of us in satsang because it got this deep contemplation about the boundary of my surrender. And if there is a human brother who was able to stretch that boundary so much, then why is it not like that here, you see? So that story really is so beautiful. But also the beautiful story of Shabri, this lady who was offered Mukti in a place in heaven. She said, 'No, I know I'm going to meet Ram.' Before even Ram was born, she had an intuitive sense that she will meet Him. So for the rest of her life, she kept collecting these berries from the trees and tasting the sweet ones and keeping them every day and laying down the road for Him to come. And she became old, so old, almost dying by the time He came. So fifty, sixty, seventy—I don't know how many years she did this for. And what is that faith? We turn for one minute and we find ourselves dry inside; we feel like, 'Oh God, You've forsaken me.' Here is someone who spent a whole life in that faith with no concern for herself, no concern even for her Mukti. That is such a beautiful part of the story, that no concern even for enlightenment because God will come. So such beautiful embodiments of faith we have all around us, and may we follow whatever little we can in the footsteps of these super Bhaktas.
Super Bhaktas. Thank you, Father. I just remembered it's Friday. Thank you, Father. I just want to... maybe I know I have your blessings, but just because I feel very, very attracted to follow this of Japa and unceasing prayer...
Yes, yes. Unceasing prayer.
Unceasing prayer, yeah. I've been really like... I really want to, you know, and I see the difficulty of it. And so I just want to deepen in that. And I want to share with you, yesterday I set even an alarm, yeah, just every fifteen minutes just to remind me. Because I see during the day very many hours can pass and I just don't remember. So I did this experiment in the afternoon, just every fifteen minutes, and I see that I can't even sustain that for fifteen minutes, even less in between actions. So I saw that especially I was on the computer, and especially while reading or having to write things like intellectual activities, it's completely impossible. But I know it's possible, so I just want that.
Yes, full, full blessings, full, full prayers for this. And it's very good to notice it in this way.
I don't remember, so I did this experiment in the afternoon just every 15 minutes, and I see that I can't even sustain that for 15 minutes. Even less in between actions. I saw that especially I was on the computer, and especially while reading or having to write things like intellectual activities, it's completely impossible. But I know it's possible, so I just want that.
Yes, full blessings, full prayers for this. And it's very good to notice it in this way because this is honesty with ourselves. This is honesty with ourselves. Otherwise, we can just live in some mental idea that 'I am in unceasing prayer, I am in nirantar japa.' But if you really become observant, then you can spot that after starting your day with God's presence, then as you go about your day, what is that period of time that you can remain in your prayer?
And prayer can be in the words of the prayer—the Atma Samadhi prayers which came through from here—and you can use them. Your prayer can be in the form of inquiry. Your prayer can be in the form of remaining truly, truly empty, not fooling yourself. And those who feel like they can truly be empty for most of the day must try one day of just remaining in the prayers, like actual prayer; then you see where your mind gets you.
But whatever your practice, whatever the method that you're using to remain with God, prayer means focus is on God. The focus is on God truly. The focus is on our heart. The focus is in His presence. Now, whether that needs a constant nirantar japa, or that needs a constant reminder to ask yourself 'Who am I really?', or whether we remember to be open and empty—head empty, be heartful—all these so-called ways are pathways to God. And all pathways are good and equally important.
But it is important to notice for ourselves that when I go to work, for example, or when I start looking at social media, for example, when I start doing this, then my remaining with God only lasts a minute or two, or five minutes, or ten minutes, or fifteen minutes. You have to be honest with yourself. And whatever device then you can use, like she said, an alarm, then use that to return to God. Because you cannot afford to have days where whole days you forget about Him.
Those who are in satsang, those who are truly wanting their lives to be temples of God, cannot afford to have days where you fully forget the smaran of God. It's very important to remain in remembrance of God. Now, whether the remembrance comes in the form of praying, whether it comes in the form of surrounding yourselves with devotional music that truly touches your heart and makes you love God, or whether it comes in the form of talking about God, praising God, sharing gyan—there's so many good that we can do. So we must not be averse to that idea because the praise heals us. It is not for Him; it heals us. It is for Him in the sense that—I was taking this example—that if my child is very busy and if he turns towards me and says, 'I love you, Papa,' then of course it touches the parent's heart. So in the same way, it's for Him, but the praise is so important for us to remind ourselves of His greatness, of His mercy, of His love for us, and it heals us in our heart.
So when you are in love, then you're naturally just talking about them all the time, your beloved all the time. So when you fall in love with God, then naturally your feeling will be to care about God in every opportunity that you get. It's a natural expression of your love. Spend your day like this as much as you can and, in the quiet remembrance, bow down in your heart temple, praying or quietly empty, just inquiring into the true nature. Because whether you go like the beautiful Rumi said, that 'I went looking for God and I found myself, and looking for myself I found God,' both are pathways to God. So just whatever resonates with you, apply that in your life so you remain in this unceasing prayer.
Otherwise, unceasing prayer sounds too intimidating. 'How can I be? I have work, I have responsibility, I can't become a sadhu, I can't become a monk, I can't just leave all of this.' But it is possible to stay with Him in your heart. Like in satsang, all of you can stay in your heart and yet hear the words, understand, you can ask questions also. You all can move while you stay in heart. Trust that to happen in the rest of your life also. He can do all of these things for us. He can be a parent, He can be at work, He can be all those roles for us. So that is what sages have told us in every culture: to be in unceasing prayer, nirantar japa. All sages have told us. So whether that prayer is wordless, open and empty, but truly to remain in His presence, or that prayer is conversing with Him freely, truly, authentically, or that prayer is to use the words of the prayers that you have—those methods are not important. Your intention is important.
Very beautiful. Of course, she says that when she does the likhit japa, which is the writing of God's name, using the method of writing to be in remembrance of God, she feels so strongly that His presence is there.
I'm seeing like when I have a pen in my hand and write these days, like even writing like Ram. So I've been ascribed to this Om Shri Sai, but now I feel like just writing Ram in caps.
Either is fine. Yeah, you write Ram, Krishna, Allah, Jesus. Yeah, all the great sages and prophets. And feeling that every word is Him, like every sense, every movement is Him, feels I think... and there's nobody who's made efforts in this way and said, 'No, no, I should have been more worldly in any way.' Because everything in the world happens in His own beautiful flow, and we don't see the flow unless we are in unceasing prayer. Is it time to do the reading of the Ram? Let's quickly read because it's Friday. I don't want to miss out on the questions online also. So let's quickly, quickly go to everyone. Thank you. Thank you.
Let's go to Sharad. Thank you, Father. Welcome. India, may this beggar always have the beginner's attitude. Thank you. Very good prayer, perfect. Okay, let's go to D. Hello, hello. Thank you, Father. Welcome. I just wanted to say hi and just, yeah, thank you. And yeah, also ask for your blessing to transcend all the foolishness and pride and whatever is there, and to see through them, because sometimes I don't see what is there really. And thank you very much. Thank you. Let's go to Anu. Thank you, Ananta. Actually, I don't have a question now. I just wanted to be in God's presence just for a second. Thank you. Very good.
Let's go to Clarissa. Can you hear me? Just about, yes. Yes, just about. Yes, can now. It's, yeah, I just want to think that I can come. I just wanted to come because there's so much resistance and pride, and I feel so stuck in something. And it's still the belief in this. And I was very... last part again, there's a lot of belief, yes. Yeah, a lot of belief in the mind's narratives. Yes. Yeah, and in my work and at home, I'm always coming... I feel that I'm coming more and more away from you, that I can't be with you.
Say the last two sentences. Can you repeat? 'I'm becoming more and more that I come more and more away from you.' And then it's sometimes I can feel you very strongly and then there it feels like there is no connection. Yes, yes, it can happen like that. Like, when is the mind attack the strongest? When there's a possibility that you're making the most progress in coming to God or staying with God, that is when it grabs you. And many times we don't even know it, but we just believe that we are becoming more distant from satsang, from God, from the teacher. We may buy into these ideas, but in those moments we must return to our heart and say, 'Okay, what is my heart saying? Is my heart feeling distant? Is that what it is? Or is it just a construction of narratives which the mind is offering?'
And all the mind's reasonings, we've seen over and over hundreds and thousands of times how it gets us in trouble and makes us unhappy, miserable, suffering. All because we are scared. Maybe we're just scared of the unknown. We're just scared to meet that which we can't fathom anywhere. But to come to this holy meeting, we have to transcend all of these fears and all of these resistances. So I pray for you and I bless you with all my heart, and may you always follow the calling, the longing from your heart more than the stories of the mind. Thank you. Very, very welcome.
Let's go to Mone. Can you hear me, Father? Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I feel a lot what Clarissa also was saying right now, that I want to run. I would never imagine it in my life because that's the worst thing that could ever happen. So even the thought of it is unbearable. It doesn't sound like you want to run. No, I don't want to, but like, it's the mind. Okay, yeah.
When our ego, when our selfishness, when our pride is really getting squeezed, then it seems difficult for everyone, all of us, you see. So it's very natural for these things to happen. Yeah, like I don't... when we speak of God, I... yeah, when we are sitting with Clarissa, somehow it's, to be honest, completely honest, it's... yeah, sometimes it doesn't feel so real. And that's, yeah, very, very difficult. And it's very difficult.
It's, yeah, when the unreal seems real and the real seems unreal, then that is the time in which to turn seems like a big mistake. To go to God seems like so difficult because the world and its things, either when we are celebrating—and usually celebrating too quickly—or when we are in despair, either way we don't want to turn to God, you see. But just remember that if the world is seeming too real and God is seeming unreal, then you are caught in the grip of Maya and you must pray, you must inquire deeply and just not rush into anything.
Just what is the trick to counter the mind, which may be one of the simplest, maybe it can seem difficult actually? So just slow down. Just slow down. The mind wants you to rush, to make conclusions, to judge, you see, to rush into things. Just slow down. And if you don't want to slow down, know that you're being mental about things, you're being mindy about things. Is it? So that is one simple tool along with 'start your day with God's presence.' This could be maybe a very helpful tip. Just mind wants you to rush, rush, do this, do this, right? Just slow down. Nothing, nothing is running away. Nothing which is auspicious goes away from you. So just remember to slow down. If you start noticing the rushing nature of the mind, that itself is very auspicious. So don't rush. Pride wants to rush, ego wants to rush. Slow down, settle, settle, settle. If it is meant to be, if God has gifted it to you, nothing, no time can take it away. There's no need for grasping, and Buddha himself said grasping is suffering. In that simple statement, all of their spirituality is encompassed.
Slowly, slowly. All, yeah, yeah. I'm inquiring and trying as much as I can, like, and I can see also when you say like conceptually, like the mind can say, 'Oh, I'm doing the best I can,' and like this. So I don't know, maybe it's coming from this place. But as much as I can, like staying empty and praying and yeah, like somehow I don't know if it's enough.
But only on very few days, very few days can I say I did the best I could or I'm doing the best I can. So I don't know that's sort of some guideline there. But because I see so many wasted opportunities every day, so many times I go with my will, so many times I fall for judgment, resentment, some of these things. So it's only on very, very rare days where I say I've done everything in my power to be with God. Yeah, keep at it, keep at it, keep trying. Okay, last one. Let's go to Sam.
Hello, Father. How are you feeling now? Yes, yes, Father, just a little bit sickness, but I'm good. Yes, thank you. Um, yeah, just want to thank you and I don't... I just want to be in your presence, just want to connect with you. Thank you, Father.
You're welcome. Just I shall really honor this greatest blessing that has been granted to be and granted to me and somehow never...
Where I say I've done, I've done everything in my power to be with God. Yeah, keep at it. Keep at it. Keep trying. Okay, last one. Let's go to Sam.
Hello, Father. How are you feeling now?
Yes, yes. Just a little bit of sickness, but I'm good. Yes, thank you.
Um, yeah, I just want to thank you and I just want to be in your presence, just want to connect with you. Thank you, Father. I shall really honor this greatest blessing that has been granted to me, and somehow never waste it and fall into complacency and never take it for granted. Because I'm just living it; it feels like it can always continue like this, but we can never know. So I shall always be able to honor it, Father. Thank you, and I'm sorry for all the mistakes that I have done consciously or unconsciously.
Same, same. You want to sing something for us? I know that you really... Turkish, yes please.
Oh, okay. Just let me think, Father, what can I say? Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, Father.
Bless you.
The translation of it, even a little bit, and today it's somehow I start to sing it. And it says, 'I have fallen again, please just send me up.' And yeah, 'I have sinned, I made a mistake and I have come to you with all my sins, but please just forgive me and don't make me responsible,' something like this. And then the last part is the one who wrote this, you are the God of Ghalib. Who wrote this? Ghalib. And you are the ocean... Ghalib, Ghalib, yeah. The one who wrote this song, this lyric, he says, 'Yeah, you are the God of Ghalib and you are the ocean of like grace and forgiveness and mercy.' And yeah, which is written to Him. Yeah, just we can fall anytime, but please just forgive us and bring us back to your Self always. Thank you, Father.
Thank you, bless you.
Thank you, Father. And if you can read my message just sent to you before coming up, I will be very happy. Not loudly, but sometime. Yeah, thank you.
So we may not have time to read the Ramacharitmanas today. Anyone else sing a bhajan?
Yes, it's my first time here. I have no structure, no idea, nothing, right? But I see a lot of people asking and questioning how to connect with a Creator. My thinking is it's the best romance you can have. You live in that romance, you dance in that romance, you be sad in that romance. And when you have to submit, you submit and you say, 'I submit to all your will.' And sometimes it's scary and we go back and say, 'I'm scared, I'm sad, I'm very nervous right now, but I believe in you fully. I know you have only the best for me and I submit, but I'm scared. Yes, I'm scared and yes, it's painful. Help me through this pain, help me through this fear, help me through this anything that you're feeling.' And sometimes obviously we are very, very happy with submitting, but a lot of times when we are negative, we should always say that, 'I submit and I'm scared right now, I'm really scared right now.' And it has happened with me. There were some situations in my life where it seemed really like, you know, it was something really bad that was happening and I said, 'I submit, but I'm very, very lonely right now, I'm very scared right now, I'm very sad right now, I'm in pain right now.' And I just submitted and I just sat there in stillness and it was like obviously how a loved one would be there and say like, 'I know you're in pain, I know you're sad, I know you're scared, but trust me, this is for the better.' And then you say, 'Yeah, I submit, but I'm just telling you this is what I'm going through.' So that is one thing that helps in submission. And yes, you know how you said, how do you want to be in presence of God all the time? It's like you are singing in romance when you see something nice that your lover has done and you say, 'Oh thank you, isn't that the best? Oh thank you so much. Oh I'm so scared.' It's like a constant love story going on in your life. So I think for me it's very simple, it's as simple as that. And I see that you guys are all very evolved, there's a lot of evolution and knowledge and structure and a lot of things, but this is my simple way of saying, maybe it'll help somebody to say just keep it simple. Just keep it very simple. It's very, very simple. There is nothing complicated about it. It's the simplest thing ever, it's the most natural thing ever.
Yeah, thank you so, so very much. I haven't heard her for a long time. Oh yes, the school song.
I want to share something actually. I have only spoken to Joe about it, but after your father had passed away, after your father had passed away, like that period, I was listening to just one Ram bhajan. And I think I spoke to her that time, that I think I mentioned to you in Rishikesh also, I don't know, but like you felt like an embodiment of Ram. And it was just Ram, Ram, Ram. And I think I mentioned to you sometime, but I was telling Joe that I see you as Ram like that. And it was really like every day going to office felt like listening to that bhajan, and the two bhajans that are in praise of Lord Ram just kept coming, kept coming incessantly. It's not even like a thought or anything, it just felt very engulfed. And your image kept coming up as Ram, Ram, Ram. And I haven't checked, and I just wanted to play that bhajan for you, if that's okay?
Yes, please. Thank you, sweet child. Thank you so much. These are just God's ways to deepen devotion and love and bhakti in the heart of the bhakta. But He's so, so beyond. He's so beyond. If I can be a tiny toenail on Hanuman Ji's feet, even that is too much for this foolish man. But I appreciate your sentiment, your devotion and love, and may that deepen so much that the true Satguru presence in all our hearts becomes more and more alive and present for you. And if this instrument played the tiniest role in that process of fully immersing you in God's light, then I am more than happy and very, very grateful. So may you keep deepening in your bhakti and love and devotion. May you inspire all of us also. Bless you.