Is Your Life for God? - 20th December 2023

Yes, but we must get used to that, no? Information in the sense...

Yeah, tried that. It seems a bit wobbly.

Yeah, no, no. I have been trying it in many things and life has become 10x better in so many things since I've been coming to satsang on these types of conundrums. But some of them are so complex, it's like I can't sit on planet Earth and figure out if Earth is round or not unless I send a spaceship and look at it. My intuitive insight doesn't have enough information for that.

Okay, let's slowly... so intuitively there is no stopping you from whatever action outwardly needs to happen in the body. So that first thing is clear. But I'm only questioning that need for more information to that which knows the Self, you see? Which is... which is not what I would say easily. I'll have to really be stretched to say that because this is where the reality of the Atma is known and this is truly where all the intelligence that runs this universe arises from. So to say that that doesn't have enough data or something like that, that seems a bit strange. Having said that, it may guide you to work on something in some way. It doesn't stop you from doing that. Maybe it doesn't want you to become proud. Maybe it just... because if you just started coming up with new scientific discoveries sitting intuitively like, 'I have the superpower now, every decision I make is the best,' you see? So it only... it knows its way is so.

Father, it did feel like that. It did feel like my being is acting through the tool of the mind in this case. I don't know how else to say it for it finally to make a very calm intuitive decision. It didn't feel like an oppression, which typically is what I mean by lost in thought. Oppressive thought didn't feel oppressive at all. And so maybe the only reason I'm talking about it is I tend to get confused that as soon as I catch myself thinking, is thinking bad? But today what I'm trying to say is thinking, as long as it's not oppressive and I'm not feeling a lack of being and all of that, it's feeling okay. But then the doubt comes.

Let's really look at it and see whether if it is thinking, then you cannot remain in presence. That is the design of this. So maybe what you're calling thinking is just your intuition flowing. It's just playing out. But I don't want to just say and give that as a reasoning. So we can notice now in the next couple of hours that we are together: stay in the presence and then if you catch yourself getting caught up in thought, then see whether you were still in the presence, you know? So in reality, you are that in which presence itself arises. But in the play of this Maya, it is impossible to hold on to God's presence and be under the hypnosis of thought. See? So this is the proposal that you have to validate or invalidate. So you can say, 'Oh, actually I can remain in presence and go along with my thought.'

So a simple way to illustrate that is that when some work is happening or some decisions are being made and they're playing out, see notice whether you're still like this, like this, or you... and you know what I mean. It is very difficult to put in words when we are... and like this, like this, at least in my experience, has not ever given me the license to become like this, like this, saying, 'Okay, now you got half an hour, just go for it.' That is not my experience at least. But I'm happy to hear if that's what you're saying. But it's like two different modes. It's like this or like this. The fist is closed or open. And it's rare for the open palm to say, 'Okay, thank you, that's beautiful.' See if that actually blocks anything, including so-called decision making.

So that's the first point. The second point I want to make is that just make sure that everything is 'me for God' and not 'God for me.' That will also keep it like... it's all is for God, whichever way God wants to move this. And in the moving of that, if I remain in God's presence and I make the worst decisions, that is still fine. It is still fine because the 'worst'—it is a contradiction in terms. The goodness of something is determined only whether it came from God or not. So don't allow your intellect in there to judge the quality of the decision making.

It's like the child who told me sweetly... she said, I don't know if you were here, she also was visiting for a day and when I met her she said that, 'You know, I'm very data oriented.' You heard me say this. 'I'm very data oriented, so I keep a spreadsheet of my decisions. When I go with my heart, I track how that went. When I go with my head, I track how that went. And then on the basis of that, then I'm trying to conclude whether I should be more heartfelt or intellectual.' So I said, 'You must throw away that spreadsheet because we don't have the capacity to judge the quality of our decision though.' And that is why faith is needed. You see, if it was just rational, then you could convince everybody about this path. You see, if it was just rational, you could rationally just explain. But there comes a point where that leap of faith is needed where rationality will not be able to determine the goodness and or badness. So in the spreadsheet, what is the capacity that we have that we can say this went well and this went badly, and on the basis of which I will decide?

Is your life for God? Yeah, then at least the pressure of me having to take the right call, that goes away, you see? Without that pressure, you allow yourself to remain more organically, naturally in the presence.

So I have encountered these types of situations where so-called intellectual approach of... I'm just using spreadsheet as a metaphor... there have been situations in the recent past where the spreadsheet is indicating otherwise and I have sat back and waited for the answer because that, despite all the gymnastics, didn't feel intuitively right, and taken decisions opposite to the spreadsheet. So only in that sense can I say do I feel I'm trying my best to live in God. I think I'm trying my best is all I can. I don't know if it ultimately is there or not.

All of us... all of us can only say we are trying. We can't really give ourselves the certificate. At least I can't. So thank you. Thank you.

Father, you ask, 'Is your life for God?' I don't... I don't have any... I'm not saying I don't believe God or something like that. I simply don't know. And also there is no devotion there. Devotion or nothing comes, zero. Very occasionally sometimes could be like I was watching Mahabharat that... that Krishna shows his what you call that, Virat? Momentarily devotion at the time comes. Even if I see some Lord Shiva bhajan, something momentarily comes all the time. If the question is asked, 'Is it my life for God?' it's like more like God is there, I am here. I'm not denying God or I'm not going against, but more than that, I'm not feeling any way about the God.

Okay, so thank you. Thank you for that question. If there is... so let's break it down into the construct. So you said it's not that I don't believe in God. Now, now I realize the way that you're saying 'believe' is in a way what I mean when I say faith, you see? Because what is a belief? When you take a concept to be true, that is a belief. So let's look at belief first. So when you say, 'Okay, there is a God, I believe it, I'm okay with it, I'm okay with it,' so that then becomes a belief. Or, 'I believe it,' then we say it's a strong belief, a conviction, you see? So many feel that in spirituality the job is to come to a conviction like that, but it isn't. It isn't really the job. The job is to come to a faith. What is the difference between faith and belief? Faith is to trust what intuitively you are finding, and belief is just to rely on a set of concepts that the mind itself is giving.

So we must come to a faith about God. And once you come to a faith about God, then to live for 'me' is next to impossible. Then it's not an effort that I must make my life about God. Once you come to faith in God, then naturally the call is very simple because on one hand is the non-existent emotional idea of me, and the other hand is the most pristine discovery that you have in the human condition. So really the question doesn't remain difficult once you come to an...

Concepts that the mind itself is giving, so we must come to a faith about God. And once you come to a faith about God, then to live for 'me' is next to impossible. Then it's not an effort that I must make my life about God. Once you come to faith in God, then naturally the call is very simple, because on one hand is the non-existent emotional idea of me, and on the other hand is the most pristine discovery that you have in the human condition. So really, the question doesn't remain difficult once you come to an intuitive insight of God's presence being here. So we must discard the realm of belief when we talk about spirituality, because Spirit, God's presence which is Spirit, cannot be found mentally or conceptually. So what do you find intuitively? What is your heart saying? If you go that way, it won't tell you what the heart is saying. Yeah, not that way. Other, not that. It's okay, take your time, because you can feel like, 'I'm in pressure, I have to answer,' so you feel like you have to go to the mind for a response. Don't do that. Don't worry, take your time. Let it arise from your heart immediately.

Just in this change that transforms our life, whether we recognize it or not, just in this change that it is a hellish way to live, just in the mental operation of what... like that intuitively. I don't know even whether it is intuitive, but it's very clear to me that I really don't exist. And whatever is there as me is really very tiniest, insignificant. And your words and Guruji, all my... that's that reality. So for me, I don't know, I really don't exist in that.

So what you do is you take a few minutes, stay here, and then speak from there. Because what is happening is that it's like the switch is too sudden, so it's getting mixed up. Your heart is there, but what is coming out of your mouth is getting a little bit contaminated with what you think or what you take to be true. So just don't be scared to speak gibberish if it is coming from the right source, then that gibberish is what everyone needs to hear. Take some time. The presence is apparent to you?

I am, yes.

Stay with that. Any moments spent in the light of this presence is not wasted, but all moments spent away from it are wasted. The moments spent in the light of this holiness, the temple within, is a worthwhile life. When we leave from here, that is like not living at all. So my only job is to invite everyone here to God's presence. I'm only saying that it's so nice here, why would you live in the oppression, in the slavery of the mind? Immediately you sense a spaciousness, a vastness, a broadness to your existence compared to the limited way in which you are operating. 'I think this, I think that, I believe this, I believe that'—it just sounds like too much work. I'm too lazy to live in the head; it just sounds like too much work. It's like one is standing in the shade, no, in the shade of a beautiful tree, and another brother is in the sweltering sun and complaining about the sun. So I'm saying just come, and then that one says, 'But I don't think I can.' Don't think, just come. 'But what about my life in the sun? I've created all this.' But you're basically in the heat of the mind. Your life doesn't feel like it is auspicious, it doesn't feel like it is pleasant, it doesn't feel like it is true. It's a true life.

So many times, again, it can seem like we don't know how to make the jump, but I'm just here to call you and say come, jump. Don't ask how, it's come. Otherwise, years may go by, lifetimes may go by, and we may keep having the same conversation. And basically, the dichotomy is just that one is in the shade of God's light, strangely enough, and one is in the sweltering heat of the mind. That has to change. Just needs a little bit of faith. Maybe sometimes it'll feel like some courage is needed because your mind will say, 'But your life will be a mess.' You cannot live—you're not living anyway in the mind, it's as if it is a mess. So don't try to make the mess more palatable, don't try to make the mess make sense. Come to your right home. It's just because you got lost and went to the wrong house; that is the human condition.

And once you get a little bit used to living here, you know it will tempt you, say what that... nothing can compel you once you're grounded in your presence, in God's presence. And in most cases, whatever I've noticed, life doesn't come to a stand. In most cases, life continues outwardly, but you are at home. The movie goes on. You thought you were that character and you had to run that life and character; then you realize that you are the light of the projector and you are the witness of even the light. Comes to a simplicity. And what you must not do, those who are a little intellectually inclined, try to force this into an understanding, you see. They're like, 'It's here, but if only I could understand this.' But we can't do that because it's too broad, it's too vast. Like our hands cannot grasp the space, in the same way our concepts cannot grasp the reality of God's presence.

So it's a different, completely different way of life. We cannot expect to squeeze spirituality into an existing way of life and say, 'Now I'm spiritual.' To be spiritual needs a full reformatting. How many of you know what floppy discs are? You know? So what if you were a computer and you took only the floppy to be the source of data or the source of information, and actually you had a greater instrument, the hard drive, which you never use? It's like that. You cannot squeeze this into a floppy, you know, it's too small. You see, it was only 5.25, something like that. You cannot squeeze the whatever gigabytes of data into that. So we must be introduced to this greater source of knowledge, self-knowledge. You try to use the floppy disc too much, it'll get scratches and it'll get worse. You know how they used to work, all scratches.

I have too much fun with these metaphors. Just like the spiritual ego is like the hard floppy drive that starts coming, but it was just the soft... spiritual ego then surrounds itself with concepts about God itself. 'Now I'm unbreakable.' But it isn't. The point is not to come to an elevated intellect or a better intellectual understanding; the point is to leave that instrument because there is a higher one. Very good. So to come to this and to continue to use the old instrument is just maybe a force of habit which will wear off. So you could be in some different boats. So the first boat could be where you're saying that all this sounds nice, but is there really something like this? You see, sounds very good, I would love to live like that, but is there really that? So all of satsang is mainly devoted to you coming to that discovery, coming to God's presence within, to help you in discovering that. And then the rest of satsang is to help you get over the habit, the withdrawal symptoms of the old instrument. That's basically all that we are doing here.

If you're coming to satsang and you could come for many years, but all that has happened is that you've understood and we've not really transformed you, you came to an understanding and hopefully those understandings at best serve as pointers. But if those pointers are not used, if you don't marinate in them thoughtlessly, intuitively, then they don't flower into insight, they don't flower into self-knowledge.

That's how it feels here, that it's understood but I'm not transformed.

Firstly then, I'm very happy you're here because that's my main job. That's my main job. Secondly, your eyes don't show me that it is just a pure intellectual understanding, so I'm not fully buying what you say.

It is definitely something... I'm not buying it either. I mean, as I'm saying it, I say it.

So for a while, the mind itself will try to convince us that 'I am the only way, you don't know any other way,' you see. But when you let go of it even for a few moments, you recognize that you're not lost. In fact, you feel so at home. If we couldn't live without the mind, then in the no-mind everyone would be a skeleton, but we're not. So just so at home, you get used to living like that. And then the mind tricks even about this, the state of your spiritual progress. Won't see that true, won't see that alluring. Okay, who lives in your heart? I'm not asking poetically or romantically, I'm asking literally, truly. Is there a presence there? Is there a presence there? So once you at least come to the presence, then really we can ask, whose presence is this? All the clues are there. This is called the primordial vibration, the light of this universe. God said, 'I am that I am.' Jesus said, 'Before Abraham, I am.' So all the clues are there, but just to know them is not enough. But at least that much should be inspiration enough for us to make this exploration central in our life, isn't it?

Like, what if it was true that this presence is God's presence? Is there any other exploration more important than that? You cannot be in any sphere of life truly inspired in a way that you are open to the fact that this could be God himself, then tell me one thing that could be more important for you to explore and discover. Everything else is going to die; this is the only deathless reality. So once you met this crazy man and if you let him in at least a little bit, you see, then this question must really become central to you. He's saying that God's presence is right here within myself, in my heart, and it is the God, the one. Then either you not let this one in at all, or this question now has become central to your life. Because if you spend this life discovering everything else that could be discovered about this realm—everything, how this works, how science works, how economics works, how nature works, how everything works—you figured it out, you have been called the genius of all times, the GOAT, the greatest of all time, greatest human who ever lived. You've discovered all of that. You even discovered how to expand lifespan from 70-80 years to 500 years. Now every human is because of you living 500 years. Every pleasure in the human condition is yours. Everything that you could get in this world is yours. But I'm telling you that even a life like that would not be worth anything compared to a life where you found God. Because we're not speaking of God as a conceptual idea; we are discovering God as a living being. He's a living being, the real one.

So if one day you got information that you actually have a child which you didn't know about and the child lives at the other end of the earth, you would do anything to at least meet him. Most of us, we can't really conclude, but most of us would do anything to get a glimpse of that child. But I'm giving you information which is much more important than even that: that God is there within you. You just have to turn to him. So please hear this very literally, because the mind will make it like fancy or poetic and then you won't hear it. Then at best it becomes, 'Oh, what beautiful words he shared today.' I don't care. Turn to God, that's important. Let the words be horrible, it doesn't matter. But I'm giving you information that the greatest discovery, which is the only one which makes this life worth living, is yours for the taking. You have to turn within towards him. Turn towards him and come to his light or die trying. That's the only way to live. The rest is all literally time pass. But the time pass is not trivial, because once time passes, then you run out of it. You run out of time. So nobody should ever believe that they have too much time and there's enough time for God. It is not too late, but tomorrow will be... not too late today, but tomorrow will be. And nothing in the world gets in your way. That is just excuses. Nothing in the world gets in your way. Right now, this whole world could be exploding in front of you, but you could be in God's light. Don't wait for the...

But the time pass is not trivial because once time passes, then you run out of it. You run out of time. So nobody should ever believe that they have too much time and there's enough time for God. It is not too late, but tomorrow will be—not too late today, but tomorrow will be. And nothing in the world gets in your way; that is just excuses. Nothing in the world gets in your way right now. This whole world could be exploding in front of you, but you could be in God's life. Don't wait for the world to change, life circumstances to change. There are so many who keep waiting like that and die with the best intentions. They have the best intentions: 'When I have time, I will dedicate my life to God.' When do we have time? If we fall for the mind trick today, we will fall for it tomorrow also. It is never-ending.

The alternative that it offers you, does it ever say, 'No, no, this is not that important so you can be with God if you like'? Does it ever say like that, that you have to finish this work but it's not that important, you can be with God if you like? But I'm just saying if you want to just waste time today—no, but this is really important, this is your responsibility. You cannot just, you know, all the righteousness comes out in the mind's temptations, but the main job is left. You'll do every other job, but the main job is left. And if you do the main job, then every other job may happen. So it's never a question of life circumstances.

Have you explored this? Like if you notice that if you have middling life circumstances, you're not very interested in God. No? But if circumstances become really bad, then how do you become interested in God? Then you should be more into it because you start realizing that this is beyond you to handle. Then you want to turn to the higher power. So most who come to satsang have come after they've suffered deeply from something. Some situation happened where you felt like you had no moves left. Then we turned to God. But then in such difficult circumstances, if you could surrender all that, then you can definitely do it when life seems all right. So it's like saying that in the most tricky part of the road, I'm okay to let go of the steering wheel and let God drive, but when it feels like I'm winning a bit, I'm losing a bit, then I better take control. Then I better not leave it. That's strange, isn't it? It's just the upside-down nature of the mind.

You said maybe hundreds of times this about being for God or God for me, and at least this time it has hit on a different level, Father. So even the reason is not me, even the action is not me, even the outcome is not me. And whether the outcome is good or bad, that also—no, there is nothing of me that can stand there. What is left? Nothing. Then one mind comes and says, 'Then what is there for me?' All things you have taken away.

Ask it. Ask the mind. Which means telling another child that between Jnana and Bhakti there's no room at all, no possibility of the ego to survive. Pass the mic.

I think a lot of the times when I'm making a decision about something, I try to go to a place of openness and everything else. And sometimes I feel like it's hard to understand whether the decision is coming as an impulse or if it's coming from a place of just like intuition. And my question is—and sometimes I can tell the difference between an impulse and like actually just being in a comfortable space and the answer just coming to me—but sometimes I can't tell that difference. And I want to know if impulse can come from a place of openness and emptiness, or if it's always just disguised as that and it's actually just a negative.

It could be either in the sense that when we say impulse, we're really saying post-factor, post the event, that 'I don't know how that happened.' So then we label it as impulse. It's not just like it happened, 'Oh, I don't know why I said that, it was just impulsively or instinctively.' We use those words. If it feels like in the moment like 'I have to do this, I have to,' then it's not so much impulse; then it is more like being pressured by the mind, being bullied in a way. So those times you can very clearly tell when the mind is pressuring you, saying 'You have to do it' or 'I have to do it.' Then it's clearly from the mind. And that doesn't mean that automatically you take the opposite stance. If the mind is saying 'I have to do it,' then 'I definitely won't do it.' You see, it doesn't work like that because the mind can just use reverse psychology. If you're in that mode where you're not listening to the mind but you'll do the opposite, then it can easily say the opposite so you do what it wants.

So what is the way? So just don't be rushed for a moment. I've given—while you were away maybe these pointers came—that the first pointer is to check whether there's a presence of an unconditional love as you're being guided to do something. Then is there the presence of an unconditional love as that guidance is being received, or is the presence apparent to you? If the presence is apparent to you, then many times things just move. Like these words are being spoken, but they're not impulsive, they're intuitive. How do I know that? I know that because it just feels like the presence itself is speaking them. So allow the presence to move you. That's what I mean by allowing God to move us. And most importantly, and most difficult for the mind to trick, is that if your true nature, which is completely purely intuitively known, is apparent to you as that movement is happening or that guidance is being received, then you can trust that to be intuitive.

Yeah, I think sometimes—but the first trick is not to be rushed, you see, because the mind will push you and say, 'No, no, but you have to send that mail, he's waiting for it,' or 'You have to make that call or send that message' or whatever. Sometimes I confuse—like it's sometimes like I know the rational answer is something else, and so when I'm feeling like doing the opposite of what my rational is saying, I confuse that to be intuition, but it's not because I haven't come to that like...

And we can be more relaxed about this because if our intention, if the feeling in our heart is to follow intuition, if to follow God's will, then even if you get confused and fooled, outcome-wise you'll be just fine. Because what is important is that you let go of self-will and want it to be open to God's will or your intuitive guidance. So it doesn't matter sometimes if you fall for a mind trick but we really felt like we were following God, then God will take care. That with integrity—we can't use it as an excuse. 'I wanted to go to that party, is God saying? Yeah, actually God said I have to go.' No moves. If you tell him like that, then like, okay, no, he can say, 'But God here is telling me.' So the expression of the Satguru presence, better you know, meet up and communicate a bit.

If you notice, decision-making is most of the stress in the human condition. 'Am I making the right choice? Am I making the right choice?' When that burden is taken away, then most of the concern in the human condition goes away because most of the time we're just wondering whether I'm making the right choice, I'm doing the right thing, following the right teacher, coming to the right satsang. Even these can seem very difficult choices to make. But once you learn to live here, once the project is clear, like living in God's life anywhere...

Father, the fluff gets eliminated a lot. Decision-making, analyzing the thoughts, you know, like—I think I really, I'm so grateful, Father, that you have clarified this project because I think all this time that itself was not seen, or probably it was seen but something was still quite enamored by the mind. Once you see that to come to the discovery of God and to be in His presence is the only true project of our life, then you're absolutely right that a lot of the fluff just doesn't seem that important anymore.

Yes, yes. And this recognition is important. And it doesn't matter that it takes time, like you've been in satsang a few years, because to come to that recognition for yourself is very important. Because I can keep saying it, but sometimes we feel like we're hearing it also for years. We may feel like, 'Yeah, that is what I really want, I want to,' but what's happening is that the mind makes all devious sort of excuses. But one day it really may hit home: 'My life is really for God.' Because that is the only reality that I have ever met, or for whatever—in whichever way we see it. Then life becomes simpler, but not necessarily easier, because there could be things that continue to happen which may seem difficult, like difficult things. But the simplicity is there because the path is clear. The path may still seem to have a lot of obstacles, like the mind's temptations could still seem strong from time to time, but at least we're clear that we're walking in this path. So most who get into the spiritual path walk on the path of 'God for me' initially, and then that shift needs to happen.

Wondering where that 'no' is coming from. I don't know exactly what the question is, but so you say just to make sure that it's not 'me for God'—that is, not 'God for me' but 'me for God.' And yeah, sometimes when you say that, I guess it's the mind is playing a trick. Something is presenting God as if it were something else. When you're saying that, a lot of the time I know exactly what you're saying when you're saying that, but still a duality when there isn't one. Yeah, I wanted to expose that because I just saw it then, that it's like that. It's not God as something else, but the truth, the reality within us.

So yes, but we don't need to understand. No? No. So we just need to come to a point where we can just follow, especially when it doesn't make sense. Otherwise our rationality will keep pulling us back. But what is being pointed to is beyond rational. Is there a separate God in me? No. Does it—do we live like that? Yes. So unless we—so our mind decides to be specially Advaitic when it comes to this kind of conversation. The rest of the time it's all me, me, me, me, me, me, other me and another me, and you me and that me and this. Like, okay, make 'me' subservient to God, in service to God, a devotee of God, a servant of God. Which 'me'? There is no 'me'.

Yeah, yeah. I wanted to say it out loud because the mind uses it to—yeah, there's a small fragment that kind of rejects the as-if-you-were-two things and that...

See, if everything that I said made complete sense, then every word I've said is a complete waste. So it has to be like a little sensible and a little beyond sensible. You can call it non-nonsensical if you want, but it must not fully ever make sense to you.

Yeah, I'm not looking to make sense, just to expose because I can see the—but that's what the mind tries to tell you, that 'He just said that I am, there are no two, then why is he saying me for God?' It has to compute somewhere.

Yeah, it very automatically, you know, the of when we were kids outside. But there's nothing more real than God. So this one is what? Yeah, but is He God but outside or inside? I do notice that even though when I speak I use the word God, when you speak sometimes I replace it with the word truth, something once because it...

That's all right. I often say that also, that in actuality this is synonymous. In India we say Satyam Shivam Sundaram, which means Truth, Shiva, and Beauty. The true Truth, the true Shiva, and the true Beauty are all one. You keep looking for truth, you have to find God. If you keep looking for God, you will come to the truth. But it's good to notice the tricks also. It's like you want to paint like a box based on the mind's—the mind wants to paint a box based on the mind's preferences and you want to live like that. So it's like even if your teacher is saying 'God, God,' you're saying, 'Yeah, he means truth, truth.' It's good to say all the things. Love, yes, yes. It's very—it's also very helpful for everyone too. Yeah, because the mind plays for everyone in similar ways. Question: Why is Krishna white in that? Just marble, whatever. So you're used to seeing blue.

Notice the tricks also. It's like the mind wants to paint a box based on the mind's preferences, and you want to live like that. So it's like even if your teacher is saying 'God, God,' you're saying, 'Yeah, he means truth, truth.' It's good to say all the things. Love, yes, yes. It's very helpful for everyone too, because the mind plays for everyone in similar ways.

Question: Why is Krishna white in that? Just marble, whatever? So, used to seeing blue. Why is he usually blue?

Because that was how he was. The skin color was unique, unique blue. Then, same for... okay. Once we stop expecting this realm to make sense to us, then it becomes much more stunning. In our sense-making, we just make it much smaller. And when you're not wasting time doing that, then you allow your intuition to also show you a deeper nature of this reality, which is not as linear and constricted as we may take it mentally to be.

And it's not a coincidence that sages thousands of years ago, you know, put their utterances in something like a Yoga Vasistha, and now physicists are coming to similar, making similar sort of statements about the dream-like nature of this, and that there's no such thing as a reality or a real universe. Seeing similar things. How is that happening? Because you meet that deeper intelligence. And because you're not in the constriction of everything having to make sense, then you allow that to flow through your expression.

Even if we meet God only through our idea of God, then that is very limiting. Like, we may have an idea that God is unlimited, but we still, even in that notion of unlimitedness, we make a limitation. Every word draws a boundary. I often say, and this is in response to a question on the chat also, that the best things are only known intuitively. We explore this, like, what is universal in the human condition? Like, there could be a notion of good versus bad. To speak the truth is good; to lie is bad. To keep what's yours is good, but to take from others is bad; it's stealing. So, many of these: to treat everyone with kindness and compassion is good; to be angry and to be unkind or selfish is bad.

So where does all this come from? Even in tribes which the rest of so-called civilization may not have met, there is the inherent sense of these things. What is that? Where does it come from? So this morality, as we call it, that itself is a clue to God. Because even if you've grown up in the worst environments, you still have this compass somewhere, except in the very rare cases where the conditioning is so, so strong. In the same way, most humans in a universal way will say that a rose or a beautiful flower looks beautiful, or a tarantula spider looks scary. So where does that sense of beauty come from?

So the ancient Greeks, they also realized this. There seems to be like a benchmark which is really universal and available to everyone. So they said that there is something called 'The Good.' The Good was what we would call the truth of God. So they would say 'The Good.' So The Good would encompass beauty, truth, all but the highest. And they said that the truest form of The Good is not available in the perceptual realm; it is beyond this world. This was the main aspect of the platonic philosophy. Plato's philosophy was mainly built around this because everybody has this inherent sense of good, goodness, better, worse. And he realized that it doesn't come from empirical dealings, you know, just from parents or just from society. There seems to be a universal.

So then later others agreed. Then they said, 'Okay, there must be then like a heaven where all the best things in the best form are available.' And then that becomes... because we have a window to that in some way without perceiving, that's why we can judge the beauty of something and say, 'Okay, this is really beautiful, but this is even more beautiful than that.' And so if you were to really deeply explore where all these insights, this knowledge comes from, you'll find that the most valuable, the most beautiful ones that make life worth living are known intuitively and not mentally.

Like a beautiful painting, you can't really decipher mentally. You may have done all the art theory and may write a great paper on it, but in meeting it, you see... what do the ones who are admirers of art do? They also, when they are in front of a painting, they try to become empty, isn't it? To meet the painting, they try to become empty. So they just... if you observe like that, if you look at them, then the words come later, or they're trying to just meet it. That is to access your intuitive light.

So a sense of morality, a sense of beauty, a sense of kindness, compassion, love—all of these things come intuitively. All the mess comes mentally. And the level of beauty that you experience in the world really magnifies when you are empty of the mind. Like, I never knew that even light, like physical light, is so pristine, that we are surrounded by so much beauty in every frame of this movie. These are the gifts of living with God. But we must never make the gifts primary. The gifts must always be the byproducts. He must be the main thing always. That's why I like to talk about Him much more than His gifts, although I know that to the mind the gift seems much more attractive at times. But then our intention becomes to get, and it becomes 'God for me' instead of 'me for God.'

Do you notice how we were, or are, when we are not even living in the world, perceiving the world empty? When we are mostly caught up in the head, it's like a blurry, hazy way of life. You notice that? It's just... you don't know where you are. Half the time you're thinking about things, half the time you're perceiving. It's just a very convoluted, hazy type of existence. I have memory, a strong memory of that, and a few times it has happened in the last many years as well, that you recognize that, 'Wow, this is how it used to be.' Just like you're looking at something or you're hearing something, but half the time the mind is talking to you, so you can't really hear it. And then you see, it's very... it's not a good way to live. It's not a fun way to live. It doesn't let you hear what you're trying to hear. It doesn't let you see what you're trying to see.

And everybody has to work hard towards becoming empty, you see. Even to see a mountain, you could have flown thousands of miles to go visit that mountain, but you go see it and you're worried about some work thing and you don't even see the mountain. And you came back. Many report like this, no? That they go to Vaishno Devi or they go to some temple where you get just a couple of seconds. So they're just like, 'Okay, this is it. Watch, watch.' But you are just thinking something or you're upset about how rudely the Pandit is talking to you or something like that, and you didn't notice the thing. And then you cross. And people, many times people say they trek all the way up on the hill to Vaishno Devi and then you... like, they would be honest about it, so they would say, 'But I didn't even see.' But that is the nature of our day-to-day life at times.

So it's not that without God... like, my implorations are just like, 'Leave such a great life, give it all up for God.' No, it's a horrible life without God anyway. It's not true life in any sense of the word, you see. So our protestations are just out of habit. They're not out of any real sense of sacrifice or something. Like if you're addicted to a bad habit, then you protest because you're just addicted to it. It's not because you know it is better or good for you.

And how to... what lengths humans have had to create mechanisms to get a taste of this, which can be our moment-to-moment life. Annual holidays, just like, 'Let's go out from all of this and go to somewhere peaceful so that I can be with myself.' Where does the Self go missing the rest of the time? Do you have to travel so much to be with yourself? It's absurd, no? If you really look at it objectively also, it's just like... what do we say? Like when you go to work and things like that, you hear these things and you're just like, 'Me, I need me time.' But you're always with me.

Okay, 'I'm going to take this ten days to myself.' Then they get to the beautiful resort or wherever. Within half an hour, 'I'm bored. What is there to do around here? Let's go to the concierge. Tell us, tell us, tell us.' Then fill up the whole ten days. 'We'll watch this show, we'll go do this thing, we'll go do that thing.' Then they'll be like, 'Holiday got over,' and then they need a break after the holiday. Animals don't need to do any of that. Yeah, but we can't also do the reverse thing, no? This, be careful. I don't mean that we must just be like, 'I live spontaneously, so I've come all this way, I have no idea what is there, which hotel I'm going to stay.' So that plan also doesn't work. Most don't even spot that that is the new plan, that 'I was planning, planning, planning, and then somebody told me you have to live spontaneously, so that's my new plan: I live spontaneously.' But emptiness is neither of those. And that's why we can't really understand. That's why the frustration comes. 'What does he want us to do? Should we plan or should we not?' Isn't it? That's where we started Satsang.

When I say I'm planning, he says don't plan. When I say I'm not planning, planning can be fine. What does he want? I realize the frustration. Then we'll come up with things. What is Wu Wei? Doing not doing, or not doing doing? What? And opposites don't seem troublesome; that's a symptom of freedom. 'But yesterday you said like that, yeah, today you're saying the opposite, yeah. So which is it then?' I don't know.

Just want to share something funny. I had some sleep problems for four, five months, like wake up at 2:00 a.m. or 3:00 a.m. and typically become so aware that you're not sleeping. Then that narrative starts: 'You need to sleep. Oh, it's half an hour, what have you been doing? Now try this pose, do this, turn the fan on, off, whatever.' But after, is it eight years? I started doing that, like surrender in the sense that, 'Okay, I'm up at 2:00 a.m.' and it became like, 'Oh, it's an opportunity to meet God.' And so just go to that place and boom, like, it's just out. I don't want to spook it too much by talking about it, but so far so good.

No, that's very good. That's really good because that's how the mind tricks can be inverted. It becomes like a win-win. In deep sleep, the truth is apparent. If it wakes us up, then also we are in the meeting with God. Let's win either way.

Even there, there was a trick, Father. Like, initially I did that innocently to meet God and it was beautiful, I'd go back to sleep. Then after a week or two, the mind said, 'Okay, now try to meet God so you can sleep.' Make it a technique. So I had to let that go. It's like, 'It's okay if I don't sleep, I'm going to stay with God.' So it's just amazing how you point those things out, but even for us to catch that... these pointers are like so powerful. Otherwise, you can just get wrapped in a new loop.

So Father, end of year, Christmas and all this sort of usual flurry of, you know, parties and invitations and all. And somehow kind of caught in, you know, caught between, you know, not wanting to isolate, and especially with family, you know, family member, you know, wife expectations, friends, and you know, kind of not wanting to be like a loner, you know, and sort of cut off that whole flow. But at the same time, you know, feeling like quite jaded and like in advance... it's one thing when you've experienced it and you're jaded, but it's like just the thought is making you jaded, right? So what to do with the situation?

Now I tell you when I find out. Is that your biggest problem? The tip is: if you go grudgingly, you better not have fun. Something special about laughter, it's happening, the magic in it being meeting. Like, it's all happening in the moment of sense. You have to think... it's almost like a response of the body to something. Papaji said you can't laugh and think at the same time. Somebody wanted to...

You're jaded, but it's like just the thought is making you jaded, right? So what to do with the situation now? I tell you, when I find out, is that your biggest problem? The tip is, if you grow grudgingly, you better not have fun. Something special about it, it's happening, the magic in it being meeting, like it's all happening in the moment of sense. You have to think it's almost like a response of the body to something. Papaji said you can't laugh and think at the same time. Somebody wanted to ask a question? Okay, Amba wants to come. Yes.

Father, yes, good evening. Beautiful moment. I was waiting for some more like strength, and you said, 'I asked,' and you turned around, so I was like, 'Wow, this is my moment.' So I've been feeling very overwhelmed for the last few days and with a lot of these emotions around life and logistics and like things to do, and also relationships around and things like that. And so something you said before, that if you are not with presence, that's the only like criteria to know whether something is off or something is on the path or I'm centered or whatever. Sometimes I do not know when I leave that space. I come back after slowing down, but in the midst of chaos of logistics and doing things, it feels like I lose it. I don't know if it makes sense, but I mean, you can't lose it, I know logically, but I feel like I'm not centered like inside myself. I know that I'm in my head now.

Yes, yes, yes. This is not—this is our experience, that if we get into the hypnosis of the mind, then it seems like we leave the presence behind. We know intellectually that God's presence cannot go, it is here, but our lived experience is not that. Our lived experience is very limited and almost hellish that way. So, but the thing to do, or the thing to not do, is to do the postmortem about why I left the presence and why I can't always be. The moment you notice that you left it, just retreat back to your heart. Just retreat back to His light and just stay there, because the mind uses this one-two punch combination. First, it distracts you, then the spiritual aspect of the mind, which has understood spirituality, will make you guilty and say you're just not doing it well and you're not doing a good job, you see? So that two-punch is much more strong than the one-punch.

So just what happened is that you're in the presence and then something is perceived, and the mind uses that and says, 'Ah, like this, like this,' something, and it seems that we went along with that thing. And we don't know how long that hypnosis will last, but there comes a point where we do notice because we have come to some insight in our spirituality, so it will not be endless. When we notice, the mind will also try to become central after that by saying, 'Okay, this means that you're not really progressing spiritually,' or 'This is happening to you,' all of that. So don't fall for that. You notice that you're not in the presence, just return. And then the mind will trouble you again by saying, 'But why does it keep happening again and again? It should stop. When will it stop?' You see? But all of that is basically more distraction to keep you away from the presence, you see?

So just our posture should become: when you notice, you come back. Notice and return. Just notice and return. And when we are not able to do that, not to beat ourselves up for it, not to make ourselves feel guilty or unworthy or analyze conceptually, intellectually, why it is not happening. Then the presence itself will find a way to grow in your life. Your life will grow actually in the presence itself, so that happening happens organically without thinking about it. The only thinking you need probably a little bit is to just commit. When you make the commitment, don't think about it anymore. Just remain. And then it is the nature of the human condition that we will fail. Something will come, it will tempt us, we'll get involved with our mind and start to get worried about something or start to get upset about something. In those moments when we are caught up, we can't do anything about them. Those are write-offs. So just write them off.

No, the mind will want you to think about those moments. The mind will want you to think more about those moments, but I'm saying those are write-offs, so you just write them off. Don't waste any more time on the time that God wasted. That is a very tricky mind trick, you see? So just meet God fresh. Meet God fresh. And then you may continue like that for seconds, minutes, hours, days—we can't predict. So the idea is to continue like that, and then the mind will tempt us again with something, then we will fall for a moment, and then we just turn back home. So just like that. And it is not an oppressive process; it is not a recursive process. The mind will try to convince you that, 'Oh, but that's so lame, we have to keep looping like this,' you see? No, but it's a deepening every time. A single moment, Pratik, yes, a single moment that you spend in God's presence is not wasted.

So just utilize every opportunity that you have in your life to remain in that and don't judge yourself harshly. Don't make benchmarks. Just this moment you have, just be with God this moment. No amount of making conclusions or even helpful judgments about yourself can compete with that being with God. Thank you. All my love, all my thank you.