How Would We Live if God Was Real? - 21st April 2023

Okay, we'll go there in just a moment. Right now, you're making an effort to stay with whom?

God.

God. So are we awestruck by that or no?

More and more, yes.

Because who are we staying with? We can stay with God, and you're right, I have said it's worth fighting for. It's worth fighting with all our might to stay with this. But I'm just pausing here for a moment because it's very difficult to gloss over this and say, 'But then this, whatever happens...' Then we'll go there, don't worry. I realize that you may be feeling like, 'But I want to talk about that, what happens.' But who are we staying with? What are we talking about, you see? How can we make it like part of a sentence: 'You know, I'm staying with God and, you know, I'm able to, but you know what also happened?' What? Staying with God? Be God! Yes, be one.

So, I'm staying with God now. Now you want me to continue? You know, one of my concerns is that I'll just spend this entire life talking about God and my children actually don't meet God the way I mean God. So I don't want that to happen. I'm going to fight for that with all my might. I'm saying stay with God. And because the mind can also own that now, because in satsang we have heard it so often—'stay with God, the Self'—and the mind can also go very quickly to, 'But I am the Self, no, beyond even God.' Hello, wait. So this God is where? Here. God that is here, do we recognize it as it? Do you recognize God as God?

All the marketing about God is actually underselling it. All that we've heard about God and all that everyone has ever spoken, because that which is spoken and written and understood can never come close to that which really is. Now, the God that we find, is it that unknown?

I don't know if I see God in a way that you do yet.

The God that we find, what can you say about that?

It's not thought. It's not thought and it's not sensation and it's not a concept.

Yes. Is it existent?

Yeah. It seems to be somewhat existent because there's—I know it because it's not another existence, no.

Is it? At this point, the 'staying with' becomes irrelevant because the only existence is found to be this.

Concepts come. It seems to be sometimes when thoughts arise or something's believed in...

The fight, this is what the fight is. It is what the game is. Yeah, whether you call it Leela, which is basically like a play, a game—it doesn't have a direct definition into English, but basically like a gameplay sort of combination, a simulation if you will, you see. So this is the way to, provisionally speaking, stay with God and not take yourself to be separate. Okay? There is not a moment in the waking state where this game is not being played. Not a moment in the waking state where this game is not being played. So we will never be able to fix that which is post this. The minute you go from 'I am' to 'I am something' and then say, 'Ah, now when I am something, then how do I fix things?' Not possible. The only way to stop it is to not pick up the somethingness.

That's what I was starting to share at the beginning, was that in this staying with God, even if it's an effort, that these things arise on their own without having to look for them. Then you remember, like what's been coming up the past weeks for me, I can share, like with the sense of specialness or pride or spiritual ego, or just even things I didn't...

So let's see, right. Yeah, we're doing that sister abstraction. It's an abstraction. Listen, to encapsulate some smaller elements under that. Yeah, so let's talk about the granularity for a moment. What's under this? Under pride?

Yeah, what makes up like... I am feeling very proud. It's not something I can feel like there's a pride and upside down, yeah.

Is it? So what is it?

It was a belief in like a spiritual person progressing.

So a thought. A thought which poses as something special. Yeah, the power of belief exercised on that particular thought, yes. And then that becomes something that is part of a pool of conditioning, vasanas, tendencies, and then that is what we call 'I became proud'. Yes, is that what you're saying?

Yes.

But you notice that when we go over it just like 'there is pride', then actually it sort of hides what the mechanics of that is. And in the mechanics of that getting hidden, it can feel like I can work on it at a layer of abstraction which is not that granular, I see. And then—but nobody can succeed like that. So if I say 'get rid of pride', you can't. Whoever is suffering is suffering because you have life, that's it. And I say 'get rid of pride', okay, how will you do it? You can't do it unless you look at it in a granular way and say, 'What makes me proud? What makes me special?' And that is only a proposal from a thought, and it seems to get nurtured. It gets nurtured and therefore becomes something that we gravitate towards. The more we believe, the more we gravitate towards it, and you may call that we're more interested in that, in that which amplifies that same idea.

But I feel like it would never have been seen at that level of like trying to figure it out, like where I was trying to figure it out and get rid of it. And so when you say 'stay with God', it's clear to see and to see the intricacies of it.

Yeah, everything. The contrasting taste of all that we've taken to be natural actually is seen more and more clearly. It's like if you've just been used to drinking Coca-Cola all your life and suddenly you put on a water fast for ten days—you can't have anything but water—then if you have a sip of Coke, you'll just be like, 'Wow.' It will not taste natural anymore. So in the same way, because you are now staying in your neutrality, the taste of these constrictions, the taste of these—we can't not—the taste of these delusions in some way becomes more apparent to us.

Yeah, they become more... ones that are even unseen come up to, you know, like...

This part is secondary to the first part. Yeah, absolutely. That's what I'm trying to say because many times it can feel like because there's more to say in that part of the report... yeah, so I just don't want to make it seem like that part, the post-mortem or the trying to understand the mechanics, is secondary to the part of it. Yes, yes. So although we can talk about the second part, it should not be that that's the real crux of the matter. I see. That was just the main sharing, actually, was the first part. It's important for us to see because otherwise it can become like the main unit or the background of the investigation. But the investigation we feel like could be about, 'Oh, anger comes and fear comes,' and then you know like this, but that is not the... that is the secondary. That is the things which are not so important. The important is that we are staying with God.

I don't know how it was for everyone, but now first satsang maybe, or the first time we came across God's presence, we just would have been like, 'Wow.' And then it sort of becomes... we get used to it. The mind builds in our defenses and says, 'But this, but like that,' it doesn't stay, all that is believed in, and then that all goes away and it just becomes like, 'Yeah, yeah, wow. You know what happens when I stay with God is I can stay quite often, but you know...' But we can't talk like that. I mean, we can talk like that, but is that representative? If you're talking about God here, you would not be talking like that if you were staying with the biggest movie star in your country. Okay? You're staying with the biggest movie star in the country. Many of you spent a day—if you're Indian then you just spent a day with, if you like Shahrukh Khan, then you would not be talking like that: 'Father, you know what, who came to my house yesterday?' Whoever your idol is. But we somehow lose that when we talk about God.

And do you know why this happens? It is because through the mind, that which is at the cusp of being visible and invisible is nothing. And that which is the greatest truth, but that which is not visible, so the mind says it is nothing. So the difference between meeting God and seeing something fantastical in the world is that whatever you may see in the world, as fantastical as it may be, you see the awe about it wears away as you continue seeing that. And that happens in holy places. We go to Haridwar, Rishikesh, and we go, 'Next, wow, okay.' And those people when they first—like many people when they first went there, they must have also thought, 'Wow.' He came in through with Arunachala, he may go and say, 'Oh.' But the awesomeness, although awe-inducing tendency of meeting God only gets more and more as we go deeper and deeper. It's a big difference. So if we are able to come to a point where we say, 'Yeah, you know, three years back I met God, now I'm quite used to it. You know, God is here, but I'm just trying to sort out my something, relationships or something like that,' you see, because God is not like a worldly perception that you can say, 'Now I'm used to.' But never over-sweet. Who's he talking about? What is he talking about? Is he talking about a spiritual experience? No, he's talking about...

And more as we go deeper and deeper, it's a big difference. So if we are able to come to a point where we say, 'Yeah, you know, three years back I met God, now I'm quite used to it. You know, God is here, but I'm just trying to sort out my relationships or something like that,' you see, because God is not like a worldly perception that you can say, 'Now I'm used to.' But never over-sweet. Who's he talking about? What is he talking about? Is he talking about a spiritual experience? No, he's talking about the awesomeness, the awestruck-ness that we feel as we realize more and more who lives here.

Sometimes some of you, when you write to me, I'm just like, 'Oh, God lives here.' And maybe some of you find it irritating. I was looking and saying, I've never said that to Shreya, but suppose you're doing dinner and I say, 'You know, God lives here.' I'm in the kitchen, I need to cook your food. If you're sweetly saying, 'Are you liking it? What would you like?' Who lives here? And after the love, the awe, the incredible-ness, the absurdness, what is left for us to think about or feel? Not much room left after that.

So dive into God at the cost of everything that you hold dear, because there comes a point where it does seem like it is at the cost of. We seem to need to transcend that. Whether we look at that as the forty days and nights, whatever we may call it, we go through a phase where it seems like we are going to be stripped naked of everything that you have. You can only get to this after experiencing your own death. Now, don't let your mind make up like, 'I have to have a death experience like Bhagavan, only then...' I'm not talking about that experience. The death of everything that you hold dear. Die to that. Die to yourself inwardly.

It's positive, yeah. When you talk about what is still being held onto, what can be done when it's seen? What can be done when it is seen? Yeah, also so many times it's not seen because, you know, the dream is so... it seems so real that I don't even realize that I'm caught up in this person.

Okay, so that's why something which I keep repeating and I feel like will be very helpful over there, you see, is the fact that I am testing this dream as much as everyone else, and maybe more, because for me I'm testing every moment of what this dream brings. And it is joy. There's no problem with the dream itself per se. There is no problem. Is that the hypnosis that I'm talking about? Otherwise, the first thing we would do is take you like, 'Come here, go into sensory deprivation chambers. None of you can see anything at all, hear anything.' There's no problem with that.

So you're saying enjoy the dream? Enjoy the dream, but don't think about it?

Yeah, so don't think about enjoying the dream, just enjoy the dream. Don't think about what I should do. 'Should I enjoy the dream? Should I not enjoy this?' You're enjoying the dream. What do you have to do to enjoy the dream? Not trouble yourself. That's the only way to enjoy the dream.

Yeah, but being in satsang, there is also this knowing that, you know, it's a dream and a desire to be more aware and to be more present. So yeah, you started the satsang talking about what is still... yes, yes. So is there something to be done every time this is seen?

So let's break that down further. So something has to have been held onto. When I'm saying that, am I talking about something is being held onto? The tension and belief. There is a room that we've made specially for ourselves which we hide from God. 'This I have to handle. These are my own terms. I have to live like this about this, with this relationship, money, whatever it may be.' To hand it all over is to lose control over all of that. Okay?

So it can seem like it's a sacrifice only when we are not awestruck by who's here. If we are awestruck by who's here... if Krishna showed up as a body in this room right now and said to everyone, 'Who wants to give up everything they have?' all of us would jump at it. 'Please take it!' It is because I see you. But you've been pointed to that which is beyond perception next, and we're scared to hand it all over to that. What would you no longer do if God was real? Worry. Exactly. What would you no longer do if God was real? Well, you would never worry because God is real. Would you then be guilty as the result? Have pride? Who are we to have pride? God is here.

That's why I'm saying that we still live under the pretense as if God is not here. The existent Being, the only existing Being, is not real. You would not problem-solve then, would we? Satan solves problems. God was real. So this is the fundamental question then: Is God real, or is it just a mechanism that we are trying to use in satsang to make ourselves feel better? Or is God just like a force of nature like gravity or electricity? A little bit you can do, over the rest I have to do. Because if I say, 'I have a problem with my partner,' gravity is not going to fix it for me. Electricity is not going to fix it for me. So is God like that, like a specific physical force? No. It is everything. All intelligence also. He says all doing. So if this God is here, then what is left for us to do? How would we live? How do we live?

I also know that I'm not awestruck by it like you are yet. That it's been a continuous cleaning, seems to be a continuous falling away and effort to end. But I can say that it's becoming more clear and beautiful that everything that you encourage, you say is literal, you know? That everything is resolved there, that nothing needs to be resolved in the mind.

And then all of this on a rocket launcher. Put all of this to make none of this about you and make it all about God. Otherwise, what can happen is the protagonist can continue to be the 'me,' and then it can still be about 'my relationship with God.' And then the words of satsang, like I have been saying, so awestruck can we become, deeper and deeper and sweeter and sweeter into this. Then that can be heard as if like, 'For me to then progress into that level,' see? But I'm saying that sacrifice this 'me' at the feet of God and let everything be about God now. Okay? Not about 'What is my relationship now with God?' To be in spirituality, it cannot be about 'me,' it has to be about Spirit. It has to be about God.

Yes. What's the message? Huh? This is empty, empty tears. It's just when I think that I start to understand, chop it. And I'm so glad, but then it brings to tears, you know? But I'm glad that you got it because I don't.

Yes, I have to also chop because it's my doing in the sense that when I say I'm so awestruck by God, we can take on the notion that, 'Oh, I have to now be more awestruck by God.' So I have to then help you turn that around and say I am more and more... whatever is left of me is more and more awestruck by God because God is true. Yeah, yeah. The mind can use everything that it hears in satsang also. Therefore, then I have put God in the center. So look at it more like a symphony and not a butchering class. And this, in that sense, is that a set of initial notes which we first hear and then there's a deeper set of notes that build onto what you heard initially.

It does. I can't say one thing, it does get sweeter and sweeter. And the chopping is more welcomed here than before.

I feel like chopping is too strong a word. We should have some words in the middle: scraping, sculpting, and sculpting. Yeah, be contract whatever. What if you feel just like he's chopping my notion of chopping anything? Uncharted those hands. I see, I can't see anything without my glasses. Okay, I'll pick some of the things that I'm using on chat for a moment and then we'll go through questions there.

There's a variant of this spiritual seeker which is like the child in the back seat of the car waiting for the destination or the holiday, but the parents are driving it too. And that way, the end of the spiritual seeker seems quite acceptable, seems quite natural. See, actually that one gets in the way more than anything else. That one gets in the way more than anything else because that one, like the child sitting at the back of the car, believes it is entitled to getting to God. And if God is not revealing himself, then God is to blame or I am to blame, which is the seeker itself takes that idea of unworthiness. 'Something is wrong if God is not here. I should have reached it by now.'

That determination is not based on true knowledge. God is not making a mistake. God is not making a mistake. So that determination that 'I should have got it by now,' so either God is being unfair to me or I am being unworthy as a seeker, both of those should be thrown away. If you have faith, then where is the room for either of those? If you have faith, then where is the room for either of those? And does faith come with a time limit, with an expiration date? Some may say, 'I've been at this for 10 years, 20 years, 30, 40, 50, 60 years. I started seeking when I was 20 and now I'm 80 years old. 60 years I've sought God but I have not found God.' So unfair! Either so unfair or 'I must be doing something wrong.' That is not faith.

How do we know 50 years is a lot? Maybe it needs 50 lifetimes. Maybe it needs a thousand. How do we know? So faith and doubt cannot coexist that way. If you decide to live in faith, then we must live in faith. Of course, faith can shake, but you cannot live in a constant state of doubt. Then that is an absolute lack of faith. And without faith, how are we even calling ourselves a seeker? If our faith is so weak that we can't even trust God to know the timing of things, like when God has to reveal himself to us, we can't even trust God in that, what faith are we talking about? Because we know better? 'He should have been here by now. I have been honest. I have been doing self-inquiry. I've done the invitation. I've done everything. Where is God?' Is that faith in God? That is still putting ego first.

So we must let go of the childish things. Let go of all the childishness that we take to feel spirituality or the true way to find God or seek God, because it's nothing. It's just ripples on the surface. It don't matter at all to anything. Our ideas about what our position is, where we are, what should have happened by now, what is right, what is wrong—they are irrelevant. Nobody cares, and you should not care. The reality is the only thing that you should care about.

Can anyone say that, 'I have been empty for so long, I have been empty for so long and yet God has not come'? It's not possible. So either you can have that complaint or you are empty. But we want to be empty with a guarantee. A little bit of a checker there, you see? Because what if my Guru is fooling me or God is fooling me? 'I will look after my best interest, no, ultimately.' And then from there we make the report: 'See, I've been actually very, very authentic in my thinking. I've been so empty for so long, still God has not come.' Don't fall for these tricks of the mind. The lane is too narrow to fit the slightest idea of you and God together in that lane. And if you keep going like this, thinking that 'I will one day,' you see through all of this, come to God, it is just not going to happen.

To be empty is to set the dinner table for God to come. And whether God comes or not is up to God. Nothing makes us entitled or worthy enough for God. The mind will hate hearing this. Your mind will hate hearing this. But the fact of the matter is that even if God never came, your life is still better when you are empty conceptually than when you are thinking. So you're not making a single sacrifice. Don't ever believe that you're sacrificing anything for God, because it's only when you deepen in that which is even better for you, that is the only fertile ground for God. So don't say, 'But I gave up on everything, I became an inner sadhu and God never came.' But aren't you better off just because you became an inner sadhu? You're not attached to the nonsensical things which are going to die anyway, and you're not moping over rubbish. Isn't that a better way to live?

Don't ever believe that you're sacrificing anything for God, because it's only when you deepen in that which is even better for you that is the only fertile ground for God. So don't say, 'But I gave up on everything; I became an inner sadhu and God never came.' But aren't you better off just because you became an inner sadhu? You're not attached to the nonsensical things which are going to die anyway, and you're not mopping over rubbish. Isn't that a better way to live? The reason that God never came... so there is nothing that makes us worthy or entitled. We can only pray; we can only have faith. Prepare the fertile ground for God to come, but it is not as if this preparation is worse than what our life would have been otherwise. It's such a beautiful life to be without selfishness, without pride, without disease.

So fundamentally, it all boils down to this question: Is God real or no? How would we live if God is real? Because even all of us who are so spiritual-sounding and religious and all of that, very few of us are living as if God is here. Who is living as if God is real? You see? So we actually treat God to be a conceptual placebo, a balm that we use to apply on our pains and our sufferings. If you don't take it to be a reality, you don't trust your insight enough. You don't have faith in that which is invisible to you because you value still that which is visible to you. How would we live if God is real? Fearlessly, without worry, without controlling. And are we finding that God is real or no? Are we finding really that God is here? Or are we just coming twice a week and giving lip service and then going back in our old ways?

It does seem like a process, an unveiling process. Like it's not just an immediate like Eckhart Tolle or Guruji, or like you sitting in front of Guruji. It feels like there is this effort.

Yes, yes. What is missing in that God? Yeah, what is missing? Nothing. Is it all-knowing, all-pervasive, all-intelligent? All-being is standing... no, it's... what if it is all of those? Yeah, then what is left for you to discover? I'm not saying there isn't anything, because it will get sweeter and sweeter and deeper and deeper. But now you say that it is a process, you see, which it is, but also it is not. So it is basically a lack of faith, without trying to sound harsh, you see. A lack of faith in your own insight. Is it because if you're new to satsang, you may say, 'All this sounds very conceptual to me; I haven't met God.' You see? But most of you, when I ask you, 'Have you met God?' you've not vigorously said no. So if you met God, then have faith that is the One that is driving this car, that is driving this universe.

Yes, after meeting God, to still take power into a non-existent one is ignorant. This is just perpetuating the Maya, is perpetuating the identity, is perpetuating the ego. That feels where the effort comes in. That feels where the vigilance and effort comes in. Everything you got—if you have effort, do it. If you have vigilance, do it. Everything at your disposal, you give it for God. Nothing for me, all for God.

Father, can you clarify one thing? When you say leave the table set for God whether or not He comes, I love that pointer. But then in the same breath you say God is here now, and God is beingness.

Yeah, it's true. Because I don't see how you can be empty and God is not there. And yet I remember there was a time where I felt that, so I can't say it can't happen, you see. And I don't want it to become an expectation: 'Oh, I am so empty, where's God? I was promised God, you know, I am open.' So I know we have a tendency to do that. So it's better if we treat ourselves like servants making, cooking the dinner for God every moment, and it's up to God whether God comes. Can I deny that God is not here already? I cannot. So both are true. Okay, let me ask you: Is God here?

Yes.

Is God here because you were empty or because you were full?

Empty.

So you set the table and God came. Now what happened? You set the table, you say God is here. Can God come when there's a 'me'? No, it's impossible. Have 'me' and God ever hung out together? Not really. We can't hang out together. The 'me' is the hypnosis, the ignorance. Then we fall into the ignorance, then the reality of God is always obscured from us. This is not possible, you see. So when you say that God is here, then it has to be because you are empty. So you set the table, God came now. So then the previous thing is not important, or it is important in the sense that we should be very grateful that I set the table and God came. Is there a doubt that God came?

There must be, because there isn't that gratitude or awestruckness.

No, don't infer based on anything, okay? Look directly. And then, do you have a doubt that the presence that you experience is God's presence?

I do not.

No. Then don't fall for any tricks of the mind. Can you experience the presence when you're full of yourself and you're full of 'me, me, what should I do, where am I going, how can I win, why don't I get this and I don't get that'? Can we live in presence that way? So we have to be empty of ego, dead to ourselves, you see. And it may seem like it's a constant process of continuously dying to ourselves, and that is what effort would mean, you see. Because it's just like we chopped off the head, you see, we chopped off the head and then something... you see your ex-partner on the road or something like that, you know, like that. So the head comes back, you see. Then you come to satsang, head is chopped off again. Maybe that is what effort is, you see. But it is not possible that you've got your head on and God's presence is apparent, unless you're just visualizing or imagining some nonsense to be God. But it is just not possible because the lane is too narrow. The sages were not lying when they said that there is no room for me and God together. And I can confirm that clearly, that only in emptiness is God's light.

You say that 'I don't doubt that this is God.' Then what are we waiting for? What still needs to happen? You set the table, God is gracious, God came. Now your point was, 'But why am I not grateful?' So be grateful. It's growing you. 'Why am I not awestruck by it?' This is what I'm prodding. Because why, how can it be that God's presence is felt and we are not awestruck? Because there is a blind spot that may be obscuring our vision, just like a speck of dust. And the reminder to be awestruck is the gust of wind you need to blow the dust away. Ask yourself: How is it? Either God is not real, I am not finding the true God, or where is my awe? Where is my wonder? Sometimes it comes, though. It does come, but it's not constant, you know, it's not like it continues now.

How is it? You can put on some more light there. Relax. Who is in your heart? There is an existent being pulsating in your heart and you recognize that that being is limitless. What kind of absurdity are we talking, you see? If somebody came and said to you that, 'Ah, there is like an Atma sitting in my heart,' before you were in satsang... so presence in your heart. First, supposedly you just said, 'There's a presence inside me,' you see. Then everybody should get worried and say, 'Okay, now let's find out what presence that is. Excuse me, is that Casper the Friendly Ghost? Is it... whose presence is that?' All of you are saying it's God's presence. So God lives in your heart. Which God is it? Is it a minor lord of one of the islands, or is it the God with God? Is it limitless or does it have a boundary? Is it like Thor, God of Thunder? True, what God is it? Are we just making up stuff, or actually God is here? And if God is here in your heart, what are we doing? What are we talking about?

So if you feel that you have not found this God, then you drop everything internally. You don't have to quit your job, you don't have to leave your family; none of that outwardly has to be done. But inwardly, dedicate your life to this discovery because this is the only eternal truth. Everything else is Maya; it has duration, it is going to die fully. And those who are finding this, who have found this, don't even think about going to the 'me' because that's even worse than not having found it at all. That's all the medicine that is needed. What is the antidote? 'I'm not feeling that love, I'm not feeling that awesomeness of God's presence.' Please, please, everything empty, empty, empty. The world will continue, this body's movements will continue, this work has to happen, it will continue. If relationships are to unfold, they will continue. Would you be with God inwardly? Must be very warm up.

I have a simple question. If something is wrong, can God be the reason for it? Or something is quite wrong because there's too much God?

So if something is ever wrong or feels wrong, or if we are thinking it is wrong, it is because of too much 'me.' That is the only antidote, you see. It can never be because there's too much God. Too much 'me' is the reason for why I have afflictions. Okay, let's see what questions we have. Saranas, hello. Hello, my dear. Is God real or no?

Of course. But no, no but. Yeah, no but. But thank you. Your words are like... just words come like that. So mostly it's quite... I like to feel, you know, it's just...

Are you living in the faith that God is real? And we'll talk about the difference between faith and belief in a moment. I feel you already know, so I won't spend time on that. Are you living in the faith that God is here, that God is real?

I don't need the faith.

Again, my dear, it wasn't very audible.

I can say I don't need the faith.

Faith, you don't even need faith? It is just apparent. This is just apparent. To trust the apparency of your insight is what I mean by faith. I know mostly in the world it is a question of conviction or belief, but that's not how I usually use the term. Okay, so now if it is apparent that God is here, what else can be said? It just seems that in the energy is coming up, you know, and...

But Krishna is sitting next to you. Is it real or no? More intimate than next to you, more intimate than close to you. Jesus, Allah, God, whatever name you want to use is right here. Is this lip service? Is this just friendly reminders, just words, or is this your living reality now? And if it is your living reality, what are we going to do about the energy thing? You see, God is here, and then if you look at everything that is in the light of Consciousness, it is energy, of course. So much energy. So whose problem is it? Who's getting affected by it? And what are we solving? Imaginary problems. Yes, yes. You know, the only way to suffer is to try and solve non-existent problems. The only way to suffer. Yeah, so that is what I was saying in the beginning of satsang, that what is the Leela, what is Maya? Just the use of the power of pretense. The use of the power of pretense. The Consciousness has the power of pretense to pretend as if it is individual and not Consciousness itself.

Can we play this game of problem solving? Do you know that the energy is good or bad? I don't know what this is. The best thing that ever happened to you, but you came to satsang and said, 'Father, please help me with these energies and they go away.' Is there an ability that we have that helps us to determine whether what is happening to us apparently is good for us or bad for us? Is there a true ability? Maybe that's what I'm trying to do all the time.

Using what instrument? Using what instrument can we determine what is good for us and what is bad for us? Yes, we constantly use the mind to determine that, and yet most of us realize by now that it is the most useless instrument because it cannot even incorporate one moment. Is it the same mind that you can say, 'Ah, later it will say it was very good satsang or a very bad satsang, very boring or very cool,' whatever you want to say here? It has no idea what this one moment is. So I want to stop you now because later you'll make that judgment. What is this one moment? Tell me, what is this? Can you determine the goodness of it or badness of it? What is happening here? What is happening? What capacity...

That it is the most useless instrument because it cannot even incorporate one moment. Is it the same mind that you can say, 'Ah, later it will say it was very good satsang or a very bad satsang, very boring or very cool'? Whatever you want to say here, it has no idea what this one moment is. So I want to stop you now because later you'll make that judgment. What is this one moment? Tell me, what is this? Can you determine the goodness of it or badness of it? What is happening here? What is happening? What capacity do we have to capture all of this and to interpret it? So, not one moment we can do. We would be very quick to judge so many things. We judge the story of our lives, how God is unkind to us, all kinds of things we judge. But one moment we don't know about. So the mind is not the useful instrument on the basis of which we can determine the goodness or badness of something.

But you do have an instrument. You do have your heart, your intuitive insight. Follow that. Remain in the no-mind. Remain in the unborn. Remain open and empty, and the guidance is there. Allow it to unfold. And the guidance will also have an inner satsang with you. Follow that inner—it doesn't necessarily have to be before, but mostly before you share something outside, are you following your inner satsang? So allow God's light to unfold naturally in your life. And as God's guidance through the Holy Spirit, through the Atma, through the Satguru presence becomes apparent to you, learn to follow that also fully, because that is the only determinant of right and wrong and good or bad we have. Thank you.

So I tell all of you that it is so strongly in my heart to push you all for this, because most of you live as if God is utterly fake. In spite of being in spirituality, most of us live as if God is utterly fake, has no existence, whereas it is the only existence. The existent, the presence that you experience, is never individual. It always—it is only always God's light. And also avoid the temptation, even after having beautiful insights, to make everything about 'me.' 'I had such a beautiful satsang that day. God's presence was clear. That which is aware, the pure sakshi, Nirguna Brahman, is apparent to me.' But you know, after that, after one hour, this happened to 'me.' Where did 'me' come from? You never found this 'me,' you see. So the mind will tempt you more and more as you are coming to insight as well. Don't think the mind will just shut up and sit down. 'So now I'm meeting God, now what about that?' He'll try to bring you back to the disingenuous, the fake life that we call 'my life.' This life is God's. Only God exists. And to call yourself spiritual, you must first admit that, isn't it?

Isn't it a very popular cliché thing? No, what is that thing? We are not—what is it? We are not human beings... I was having a spiritual experience... they are spiritual beings having a human experience. Okay, start with that. Who is that spiritual being? There is only one. This is Advaita. Who is that spiritual being? Is that separate from God? So if you fall back into a mode that 'all this is fine, but ultimately I'm human,' like this child once told me when he has bad—no, I'm still carrying scars from that, you know, small business. 'All this is divine, but ultimately...' She didn't use those words, but over the years I've heard many variations of this. 'This is all right, see, but level with me, at the end of the day, are we human?' What have you been saying, or what have we been saying all this time? When we are negating even that cliché, 'We're not human beings having a spiritual experience, yes, spiritual beings having a human experience,' there to at least go beyond that.

So at the end of the day, when I level with all of you—suppose we are not in satsang, we are in a chai shop and you say, 'It's just two of us listening, broadcast is not on,' what is it? See, at the end of the day, we are human after all? Of course not. All this is human, all this is play, like the characters in a dream, like the stories of the Yoga Vashisht. So don't allow your mind to tempt you back into limitation. To live the life of spirit, to live the life of your presence, because it trips you up with a simple idea like that. You're not discovering that you were born and you will die; you are discovering eternal life. Hey, tell me, what problem does the Eternal One have? Tell me that. I haven't found it. Either tell me what problem the existent one has. Okay, let's not say Eternal One, the one that is actually existing. What problem does that one have? Because I don't want to hear the problems of a non-existent one. Is that a fair enough thing or no? Otherwise, tell me about what's happening to this cat. Yeah, if you just want to tell me about the non-existent one, tell me about this cat. It's as good as that. So that existent presence, what happened to that? Is that a person? Is there that and one more? Are there two presences, the presence of God and the Lord?

Okay, what is the number one cause of loss of innocence for all of you online and in this room? Is it—number one cause of loss of innocence? It is your spiritual concepts. Be empty of everything you think you know about God and be with God. Be one with God. Be empty of everything that you think should happen and just be. Awesome. Good. Okay, let's go to Shivoham.

So your ban from attending satsang is gone now? Hey, you don't have a curfew against attending satsang? Sorry, I was joking with you. I was asking if there's a ban, if you're banned from attending satsang.

Oh yeah, I was—it was very good.

So you're no longer banned?

No, I'm just hiding in a room.

Yeah, it's so good to see you. I heard that you went, and then your brother's gone away for many months somewhere?

Yes, he is going away for two months to work in Rome and say, 'I'm going to come and get you back after a month to be away so long.'

Because—but nobody will do that because it's work. So work is—but worship is not worship really. This proves that point. Is this one to say hello and hello?

He has some work for you to do because—

Oh no, no, no, we won't tell them that. No, no, what? No, no, no, no, no, no. He said—you said no, he's allowed to say that's just humility. There's some news, some rumor that somebody is making better pasta than you. Yeah, I heard about that. Yeah, you need to come and resolve this. You need to do a Master Chef battle. Are you living as if God is real or fake?

This is real.

Hey, good. But you still have to hide in a room? It's not true. It's not true. Yeah, somehow I—yeah, I couldn't attend very much in this, in the last few weeks. I don't know that life was like—yeah, I don't know, many things.

Yes, yeah. But actually, there is no 'as if,' although I may pose a question 'as if' God is real. Okay, in reality, there is no 'as if.' You don't have to take God to be real. Live in the recognition of God's reality. When you are empty of yourself and you're empty of your false self, you live in the reality of God. It's not a 'taking,' like not a belief system. So for the false, we have to take; for the false, we have to believe. For the truth, nothing has to be done. The not-doing can seem like difficult or effortful, and it is worthwhile to put in that effort if it is feeling that way, but it is not a construction. It is not something that you're grabbing or attaining.

When it's happening, because sometimes these juggling somehow it seems—it seems to. But yeah, the—to say God or this God or, you know, when some struggle or some God or mine. Yeah, God. So to choose, it's—it's big. It has become something not to choose. I don't know if it's the right word, but yeah, to question if—what do I want right now? It's God or a relationship or... so this has been very much present.

Okay, let me help you with this one. Let me help you with this. If it is at the same level, like 'God or relationship,' then leave both of them. Yeah, to be empty of that is what I'm saying is to be with God. I'm not asking you to pick in that way, 'I want only this, I want...' because that's also mind. Yeah, yeah, both of that, that is gone. So that's why I'm saying it is God or mine. It's not God from mine, idea of God for mine, you see. I don't want you to become like, 'I am also God,' like that, you see, this conceptually. But I want you to become empty of, and nothing in the world can get in the way of that. I think the world can prevent you from dying for yourself? Can something in front of you prevent you from dying to yourselves?

What is the way to die to yourself? The mind makes an offer, says, 'Oh, this is better for you.' If you're dead to yourself, the offer comes and goes. Nothing can stop you unless you start believing that you wanted something or you don't want something. So I don't want you to be picking God or me as if both are mental categories. I want you to pick the absence of 'my.' The absence of 'me' is the presence of God. Do you see? To stay in the presence of God, and the only way to stay in the presence of God is in the absence of 'me.'

So let's look at one more thing. Are there some moments where 'me' can handle things better than God? There must be, no? Come on, some moments must be there where you—'There, I can do this better.' Is this voice sounding familiar? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. Because this is the temptation from the mind, or this, 'You need me.' You see, it's—it's silly. It's like saying, 'For this, Superman won't do, you need Lakhan.' It's a strained absurdity which is the mind says, 'No, no, this is no time for God.' Those probably are the best times for God. See, God won't send that report you need to send to your boss? Have you tried? Satguru presence can't achieve it? Your mind can? Intuitive light can't do it? God's light can't do it? But your measly bundle of thoughts can do it? Don't fall for these tricks. Anyway, it is good only if it comes from God. That is only determining. But come on, there must be something you can do better? Nothing? Work, accounting, programming, project management? Cooking? Cooking mood is better, God or me?

God.

I'll tell you this: on the box you write who made it, I'll tell you then who put it better. You may—we may not realize it, but that is doubt, that is lack of faith. The lack of it is—but if you feel like this, 'I have to do as ego, all right, me, me, I am right about this, I know better, and Allah, God should have been here by now, I know better when God should have come.' Don't know anything. We don't know anything. We don't even know that. Okay, very good. There we go. So if you're juggling God and me, drop both. That is God. That God is that which remains when you dropped every other thing that you can no longer drop.

Yeah, because what I was saying is that that is—let's say emptiness or the complain or... so to choose, it wasn't concept somehow, no. It—it's not about the—

Okay, let's go to the next one. Marissa.

Hello, Ananta Ji. Can you hear me?

Yes, yes, good.

Um, can I leave everything at your feet?

Can you? I should actually—can you? Yeah, yeah. And you must find any feet that you can leave anything, everything to, and leave everything. The point is on the leaving of it, not the feet so much. As you have left everything, the doors are open for God. Why would you want to leave everything?

Um, because sometimes the ego is coming so strong and there's the feeling of arrogance and pride.

Yes, so you want that to go away. See it from the true place. Okay, so leave that also. To see it from the true place also, you have to leave every idea that we have, every outcome that we think we know better about, everything that we think we should have, that should happen in our lives—all of it. So when we say leave everything, it is literally everything. There must be nothing of you left. It must be a very sacred moment in which you have handed over everything, and only as you remains. Not even zero, just pure zero. Not a checking thing, 'Now, is this working?' No, it's none of your business anymore. To be empty is the simplest and the most difficult. If you're leaving everything to me so that something can happen for 'me,' which is for you, then that 'me' also has to—

He gives all of it. So when we say leave everything, it is literally everything. There must be nothing to you left. It must be a very sacred moment in which you have handed over everything and only Ashura remains. Not even zero, just sheer zero. Not a checking thing now, like 'What is this working?' No, it's none of your business anymore. To be empty is the simplest and the most difficult. If you're leaving everything to me so that something can happen for me, which is for you, then that 'me' also has to be given up. The best-case scenario and the worst-case scenario after surrendering also must be surrendered.

Let's go to Beatrice. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Namaste. And I also surrender everything. Can I use those around everything? Yes. What can you? I don't know. Then you have to tell me. I don't think that I don't know how to do it.

Or then why do you want to do it, huh? Why do you want to do it? Why do you want to surrender everything?

Um, something better will happen. Something better should happen.

No, I don't feel like anybody would surrender everything if you thought that something worse will happen.

Everything. Yeah, there will be no 'about it' to happen. That's better for me. No one will be left over here. That's so much better for me. How do I know that this is happening? This 'I want better' or something? You will know. Only you can know that.

Why do you want to surrender?

I don't know, because I don't know what I'm going to do if I don't surrender. What am I going to do? Let's see. Yes, if I don't surrender, what am I going to do? That's a very good... thank you. Brought me to the no-mind. Hmm, I don't know. How to tell you what you should do? I don't even know what I should do. So, thank you. Soham. So, how much of you know this?

Thank you. He's obviously not in the mood to answer. So, most of you know this. See, you must find out what this is. I feel that, yeah, that is nothing. Soham.

Thank you. I wish I knew. See, to be happy you don't need anything. So I can no longer use it, yeah, to find something else. Yes. So you were not wrong when you said that is nothing, John. You're not wrong when you said 'no thing'. I feel that I want to do after giving up everything, or before... open something after giving up everything. Yeah, this thing I want to give.

This thing you want to give after giving everything? But I don't know, what did you think? The mind, the 'I' on this, the illusion? I want to give up 'I'. Yeah, I do.

How do you solve a non-existent problem? Like, that is the problem of the spiritual seeker: waiting for the vanishing of the non-existing problem. When will it go? How can I help you the most right now? What is the help you want the most?

Yes, of course. More than this 'me'. More, little more, slightly. No, no comparison between the only existence. Yeah, yes.

Thank you. So, the audio has been good after we changed it to music mode. Am I sounding more musical today? Yes? That's cool. He said 'original sound for musicians'. Okay, so this musical showed up for me now and it reminds me to wish all of you a very happy Eid Mubarak to all of you. And may God, may Allah's blessings be always on you, upon all of us. And God bless you all so much. Beautiful reminders just came to me then, looking for a Hanuman Chalisa, and she played it in the beginning. But this is what... thank you very much. Anymore? I love you. I love you tonight. Come on. Thank you. God, all the people. Oh yeah. I love you. I love you, I love you. I thought anymore. Understand. I love you. Baby. Hey, it is. I have to be completely spirits. I love you, love me everybody.