It’s a Privilege To Remember the Lord of the Universe - 31st December 2025

What you find in Satsang, what you feel in Satsang is just a sampler of what your heart has to offer to you. The Atma, the Holy Spirit, is waiting for your full discipleship, for your full allegiance. It is not that truth and love are in short supply. It is only a question of going to the right source. The teaching of the Atma is both instantaneous and lifelong. So nothing is ever missing and nothing is ever done. The revelation is complete but so is the mystery. Maya is always going to be mysterious. The pride of understanding anything in Maya is only pride, or at least understanding anything fully in Maya is only pride, and God, the very source of Maya itself, is mystery itself. So although He/She gives herself fully to us every moment that we surrender, it is only a deepening of the mystery, not the end of it.

So in the face of this mystery on both sides, our only response has to be simplicity, humility, kindness, compassion. So may we approach everything with soft hands in the coming year. May we not pick up the battle axe for anything at all. Because unless it is one of those very rare times where God Himself is telling you in your heart to be conclusive about something, all other times we must keep ourselves very open, very light. If you find yourself at the opposite end of a position, don't be too hard on your position sense. Don't clutch it too tightly. Remember that we are not in any way special, or I am not the special custodian of truths, especially any worldly truths. So may we spend this year as innocent explorers full of wonder and awe instead of full of spiritual pride and conclusiveness. May we return to the innocence of little children who are very open and full of wonder.

Nothing which is spoken or written, or can be spoken or can be written, is the gospel truth. The truth is that which is being shown to you by the Atma within in this moment and that truth is for this moment. In that way then words and whatever minor positions we take become instruments of love and not instruments of division or being right or being better. And this ease of being, this softness, this spaciousness within ourselves leads to our life becoming fertile to be lived by Him. Because if we're too full of ourselves, full of 'me', then all our talk about being lived by God will remain little of this.

So let's—we always want some practical tips. So this New Year's Eve, can we drop the top three stories which have occupied us this year? In 2025, this resolve: that those stories are finished for us, meaningless. When they come, let them go like you don't understand their language. 'Oh, but your mother did this...' and now it's in some other language that you don't understand. Estonian. If you're Estonian, then some other language. Because I promise you that your emptiness will be much more truthful than your position. Our mind and its narratives is very primitive even for this world. Forget about that which is beyond this world; even for this world it is too primitive. So let us resolve today that the top three narratives which we have dwelled on or dwelled in are now, from this moment on, nothing. Let Maya come up with some new stuff for this year. Do some hard work.

The way to resolution is transcendence and not calculation. We keep forcing ourselves into our mind space, desperate for solutions to our lives. That's why many times even when I see you in Satsang—and probably all of you see me also like that many times—but I find you and I'm just like, 'Okay, leave that.' That is not the holy place. At least that much you must be able to sense: that is not a holy place, it's not a holy way to be, no? So it just needs faith. Just to breathe it out needs faith. The mind says you have to solve it. 'What's going to happen?' It's like an addiction. Exactly. An addiction promises a lot but delivers nothing. It promises a lot of joy, pleasure, satisfaction, but it just leads to more and more chasing. No chasing the dragon anymore.

Try this way for one year. You've given so many years to the other ways. Try this way for one year and when you find yourself hardening, you're able to sense inwardly that first attention goes, then we start to believe a lot of that stuff, and then we are looking at the story happening and trying to find the perfect resolution of that story somewhere, you see? And it just doesn't work like that. Instead, let go. Go to the different holy place. It is holy because God lives there. And if you don't spot Him yet, His perfume is apparent to all of us. Maybe not at every moment, but we've been given enough signs by Him about which direction to turn in. Those signs are in the form of peace, love, joy as outpourings of walking the holy paths. But don't expect peace, love, and joy in a felt way also to be your constant companions on this path. There will be dry spells. There will be periods of time where prayer feels like the most blank thing that you are doing. Allow your heart to guide you, your faith to guide you in those times.

But Father, you said it's like a chase, the Maya, and in a way it's a never-ending chase. No, there's no full stop to this chase. And I've been looking at this need to control how things move.

Yeah.

This is the same as the chase, Father? This controlling thing?

Of course. Of course. The chase is about findingness or security or peace.

Or thinking that if this happens it will—it's a better way or the right way.

Yes. Better in terms of...

...for what I think is a better way.

Yes. But better in what way? What does 'better' lead to?

The mind proposes 'better' constantly, isn't it? Better for what my story is.

What end means? Sorry.

It's okay. I just want to see this control and this thing.

You don't want to see anything else.

Like, Father, focus...

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't say that.

So what I'm saying is that...

Don't make fun of me in the middle. Not of me, I can't obviously... I can't focus for it.

Okay, you start again.

This is a good point to start because you don't need to conceptually understand this answer. Although your mind is telling you that you have to understand this because this is what you've been doing and so far the narrative has got you here—that you made all these mistakes, this is what you've been doing, and now you need to get the right answer for this.

It's not happening like that so much.

But not okay. See, so without the need to understand, how are you? Just free of it, empty. Now what I'm telling you is that this free and empty is what the end towards that mind's proposal of 'better' is. You see, if it happens this way, if the children go this way, if my work goes this way, if my spirituality goes this way, then that is better because then I can be free. I can be empty. I can just chill.

So when I'm hearing you, Father, there's still some tightness when you've said that, 'leave that better kind of thing.' I still felt like...

Because that's when old conditions become very primal to us, when we feel it almost physically. And we must transcend that to go through that fear because we realize at the bottom of that fear is nothing. It's like a child imagining the monster in the cupboard. There's nothing really substantial at the end of that fear because at the end where I am pointing to God is so—on the other end there can't be anything to fear, you see? So the need to control comes from the idea of 'this could be better' towards the end of us being free or happy or relaxed, not some mess that we will then have to deal with. So we are preempting any future messes that may happen. Because we think that our evaluative process will save us from the messes. But it is that mind itself which is responsible for all the messes.

And it's a constant chase, Father. It's a constant calculation.

Yeah. So why don't we ever hold the mind accountable? Because it says, 'If you did this and it goes this way, then things will be better.'

Some mess, right, that we will then have to deal with. So we are preempting any future messes that may happen. Yeah, because we think that our evaluative process will save us from the messes. But it is that mind itself which is responsible for all the messes.

And it's a constant chase, Father. It's a constant calculation.

Yeah. So why don't we ever hold the mind accountable? Because it says if you did this and it goes this way, then things will be better. You see, then when you're not feeling better when something even happens, you see, then why don't we go hold the mind accountable and say? Then the mind will say, 'No, no, no, just a little bit like this,' and the next step.

So Father, even perfection is the same thing, isn't it?

It's a very strong variant of that, you see. It is the variant which is most difficult to deal with. Mental perfection. Mental perfection is a diversion from God's perfection. See, God's perfection may look like yours to the mind. And the mind's perfection may have perfect-looking shapes, but it is absent of love.

And Father, it's non-stop. It doesn't end.

Of course. So if we tread lightly, then we listen to our heart and we learn this humble way of life where we are not presuming that we know something fully. We are just relying on the guidance about the next step from the heart. So that avoiding shapes, you see, because 'better' makes these shapes. Just having the courage, having the faith to let go of these shapes. But is it always? So are you happy if your life goes towards you becoming a sadhu living in a jungle in a cave, or becoming very successful at work, or neither, or anything, any way that life leads you?

And if you look at your closest attachments, those are the scary ones. You see, what will my children think of me? Are you willing to allow God to unfold in whichever direction He wants about that also? And allowing God doesn't mean that we just start presuming the worst, because then that would be saying God is not merciful, like only we are more merciful to ourselves than God is to us. So our mind, if we follow, then at least we'll have some mercy on ourselves. So God is less merciful than our mind, which is absurd. Because this is what happens when it is said, 'Are you willing to allow God to run your life or live through you, or yourself to be lived by God?' Then our mind immediately gives us the scariest thing. 'But what if this happened? What if this happened?' You see? So will that be an unfolding out of His lack of compassion for us, lack of love for us?

Now, a child's worst-case scenario could be to study—like in Bangalore, it could be to study Hindi. Okay. So for most, generalizing, so at least my children were like that. So if that is the worst-case scenario and the parent is making them study Hindi so that they can just clear the exam, then is the parent being loving and compassionate or is he being unkind? You see, so that openness is needed. But let's not just fall into this silly notion that if we let God, then our life will be the worst possible, where it's said if you let God, you will just like, you know, come back—all those nonsense stories, right? This is so wrong.

And I just stopped it and I just said, 'Okay, I mean look.' And I turned around in my heart, Father. And I said, 'No, God means revelation. God means living in an eternal life.' God, I mean everything which was there which was never said loud or acknowledged. It started just pouring and instead of just brushing it as anything, no, or accepting it but saying okay, but temptation would be what it would be for me would be like He's going to show Himself or show me the truth. It's not that He's going to snatch things away just because He's crazy, you know? I mean, and the biggest problem with the exchanges, you know, it takes time away from God. Can we plan what is happening to us and what should happen to us and be with God at the same time? At least I can't. Some, a few, but men are supposed to be terrible at multitasking. So you can tell me if any of you can do it, Father. So can you, no, be with God and create strategies and tactics? Because mind is always trying to create strategies to optimize, which is another face of perfection, and something about efficiency, which is yet another face of perfection, to achieve what?

I have no idea now when I'm looking and it's like you said, it's a chase.

Huh, dear children could be alive, but let's presume that it's tabula rasa, empty, blank slate. Then we walk around through our life and there are infectious conditions catching this child. You see, somewhere we come to a classroom and a teacher says, 'But you have to get this right. You've done very badly if you haven't.' You see, so that condition gets told. Yeah, as a parent says, 'No, you have to eat only this, that is good for you.' And we may make a condition which is for that or the opposite of that in our rebelliousness in our mind. You see, so somewhere our mental frame is a set of all these conditions that we got infected with in our life.

So it's not necessarily productive to zero in and say, 'This is where I caught it.' Like psychology is the path which focuses on zeroing in on that. It is healing in some way. But here we have a beautiful way to offer it to the holy fire burning in our heart. You see, just take it to God and say, 'May I not worry about what I think is perfection. May I not worry about having to optimize everything or be right, be correct, do the perfect thing,' you see, and do it on time. These kind of ideas keep us caught up in that false narrative. Okay. So suppose perfection, perfection, perfection, perfection, perfection. Everybody says, 'Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow,' and then you die. And then you die. 'Amazing, amazing, what a perfect job, perfect job.' And then dead. So what are you going to do with all that perfection?

Father, it's actually I'm seeing it's not even about what others say. It's just some chase that has happened. And when you said the word 'chase,' that's when I realized that, and it's never stopping, the chase.

Because even that can be—I'm sounding like a psychologist now—but even that can be something which prevents you from meeting yourself.

Can I say something? Like I was telling Radha in the afternoon, every time I come to Bangalore, the taxi comes to the pickup point, right? And he takes five, ten minutes to come and it takes me ten minutes to... and the mind is every time timing it precisely, trying to time it precisely because he shouldn't wait and I shouldn't wait. And it's suffocating when I'm seeing how it's obsessed.

Exactly.

It's such a small thing, but it's the crux of it, isn't it? No, I travel alone so nobody like that. Then others are just like, 'You just relax.' No, but it has to. It doesn't really... it's okay if I have to wait and it's okay.

It's okay if he has to wait. It's okay if you have to wait.

It feels so hardwired, Father.

It's a great opportunity to be with God because 'wait' means nothing else to do. Is it? I had a friend, I have a friend who he was driving one day and I was sitting with him and he said that every time I'm able to overtake a slow-moving vehicle, I give myself one point because I saved some time for myself. And then that's okay. So what will you do with that time? So this time is what it's about, but not in this way. Do you feel like, 'So nice, I can just wait ten minutes, center myself in God after the hectic baggage and all that stuff and all the rush of the airport'? Just ten minutes when nothing is happening. And the cab guy says, 'Sorry, madam. I went to the wrong terminal.' You're like, 'Okay, very good. I have another twenty minutes.' You see, so I just pick up a chai.

And I said, so these kind of people like me are very irritating for people like you. What? So the mind, you're right. The mind puts us in this chase towards what? 'I've optimized. I saved ten minutes. I didn't have to wait. I called perfectly after the third bag came on the this thing.' I know you know it was the third bag has been put on the conveyor belt. I know where to go. You're just hiding from yourself in some way that we constantly have something else like, 'Okay, now this is the project, now I got on the cab, now what is my music? I had set up this podcast that I had to hear full.' You see, so then so many people plan their life like that. Especially in the West, I feel like in India we are still blessed with some of this spontaneity, but in the West it's just like, 'Uh, can I block your calendar for the middle of February?' Like we are on December 31st. Why are you blocking for the middle of everything? It is the same thing. Just want it to be so special. That's maybe the perfectionist idea of God. Everything is to plan. So, is it sounding scary to let it all go or sounding relieving?

It's um, it's not scary. It's like a wake-up call actually. It's like a disease.

Yeah. That's like living from project to project in a sense.

What's the next task? The next task perfectly. Next. Next. You pick that one up last. It's not easy. I'm not, I'm not. Yeah. Yeah.

It would be very difficult for me if somebody said—and I don't know if I'm open to that, I should be after what all I've just said—but if somebody said that this just to relax and let God, let go and let God is the wrong way. You see, and the right way is just... you see, very difficult. You see, because I've seen those people at the airport. Is it like this? They walk fast at the airport, they're looking at the people and saying, 'No, if I walk a little faster then I'll be first in the queue and I won't have to,' you know? And then they're planning like so much. Just cognitive energy is going on planning which line is the shortest to put my bag in, you know, for security. And you're just like that, you see that. And you're just like, 'Please, you go ahead.' And then you tell them, 'You go ahead,' they're like, 'Thank you because my flight, you know, is getting late.' And then you later find the same one in your flight. And for them, I'm the alien.

So I completely understand because their condition for them was like, 'What is this guy doing ambling along like it's a garden and doesn't realize the airport, you know what's happening?' The same people in the plane also, no, too busy to notice who they're saying what. I can't see it for her, for Radha, I can't see it that she's rushing with the bag at the airport. I see her as though being the last to board. She has come at another tempo.

Hang around with me some more. Is that, are you confessing, my child? Yeah. You don't like...

Because I don't want to become that guy. Yeah. Because then, um, in the olden days we had something called 640 kilobytes of RAM. So if you write a program which has all these inefficiencies, then that RAM gets filled up and your program doesn't work. Right? Now the new way of programming is called VIP coding. So you just tell the AI what to do. It writes, as long as it passes the test, you're done. So what that additional stuff you're talking about, there's a term for that, it's called AI slop. So if all this is being such a fast age of technology that it doesn't matter if the computer has to process some more. It doesn't add to additional time unless you have millions of users. Because it's so fast, the processing is so fast that your 200 extra lines of code are not going to be anything for it unless there are millions of users. So that is multiplied by millions and that becomes slower. Not the pace version.

So I've been trying to get you to up the tempo, but today I was doing with Ishana and Jyotika. Okay. Yeah. So she was going like that and I was like, I said, I actually now I understand how it is to be on that. But really I have that version. Very, very oppressive. We're laughing. I'm laughing because I have it in myself. It's very oppressive. No. No. I have how to do it right. Only the one who is the light of this world, the creator, sustainer, and rejuvenator of this world is the only one who knows what is better.

To get you to up the tempo, but today I was doing with Ishana and Jotikan. Okay, yeah. So she was going like that and I was like, I said, I actually now I understand how it is to be on that. But really I have that version. Very, very oppressive. We're laughing. I'm laughing because I have it in myself. It's very oppressive.

No, no. I have how to do it right. Only the one who is the light of this world, the creator, sustainer, and rejuvenator of this world is the only one who knows what is better. What do we really know? Suppose our life went exactly to our plan. Can we see how horrible that would be? If we can't see that yet, we have to look some more. Went exactly to what my plan is. You see, and it has happened many times that it goes to plan and we are not happy. You found that it's good once you got to—you said, 'I really want this'—and then it happens. You see, does it always have that shanti for years which was promised? Usually lasts a day or two. And then what is the way out of death at least?

Okay, suppose all the sages were talking rubbish. Jesus came and he spoke rubbish about eternal life. All the sages have said rubbish about... all the incarnations were all wrong. There were no incarnations. All were frauds. At least they are providing one option. What other option do we have to go beyond death? What is the world option? You die, you die rich, we will make a building in your name. So is that building going to be your eternal life, your life in heaven? You see, what are the other options to escape death? That whole Nachiketa and Yamraj story—if Nachiketa had said, 'Okay, give me all the best worldly stuff,' you see, whatever best Maya has to offer, you see, then would he have done the right thing? His question as a little child was right: 'Will any of this escape you, or will I escape you as a result of any of this?' The Lord of Death himself told him the way to escape death.

So what are the Upanishads? The Upanishads are part of the Vedas. The Vedas at the end had the Vedanta. Anta means the end. You see, the Upanishads were all written at the end of the Vedas. The Vedas were what? They were shruti. Shruti is what? In deep states of contemplation, this is the divine guidance that those sages received. That is shruti. Now that sounds much more encouraging to me. Okay, it may be all fraudulent. Maybe some there was a secret clan which wanted to spread the influence and there was no shruti; they just wrote some random stream of consciousness type stuff—stream of consciousness being stream of thought type stuff. Okay. But at least they seem to provide a pathway away from the meaninglessness of this body-mind existence.

You see, and how come that whatever they have tabulated—first it was only verbally shared but then tabulated thousands of years back—coincides with the inner insight of all the ones who have deeply looked in their hearts? So is it that once you start letting go of the mind and you start going to the silence of the heart, then there's a secret society that gets alerted and they say, 'Huh, now you come here, we'll tell you this is our plan for world domination'? I know I'm exaggerating, but just to make the point, no. How is it that Kabir Ji here and Plato over there and you see all the apostles over there and all the what are called American Indians now in North America, you see, and all the Mexicans and all of these people had the same insights about the presence of a spirit in you in one way or the other? Some call it Atma, some call it Holy Spirit, some call it Great Light, some call it Ruh, some call it Great Spirit. Huh? South America. Exactly. You see, what do they call it?

Great Spirit. Exactly. Wakan Tanka. What is that? Good. North.

So what is going on? So either when we go to that which I'm calling the holy place is one huge realm of delusion, you see, but then what we are saying is all the great sages were all just deluded. I would rather tie myself to those deluded ones rather than the peddler of whatever is being peddled in my head.

With these things we're talking about now and these little obsessions we have, OCDness that we have—we all have different forms of it, like maybe not the same but others for sure—it, they do seem sometimes I feel like all I can do is pray for God to heal me because it is a little bit too much. It's not the same as just, 'Okay, now I have a bad thought about someone in the family so I'm just going to let it go or choose compassion.' But in the cases of like a very embedded OCDness that has been there for so long, it doesn't seem to be as easy to let go of it. It's almost like a disease that has taken a hold and sometimes...

Break one mental framing there which I don't know whether it's in the right direction—you can correct me if I'm wrong—but so this is, we've had some small chats about this earlier also. So when things are happening, 'All I can do is pray.' You see, now in that framing what happens? So if it was like when things are happening, 'I can just slap everybody,' we would not say, 'All I can do is slap everybody.' Because that—I'm sorry to use that violent example but just to make the point, no—because it can seem more like action if you were to be able to act in the outer about it. But going to God doesn't seem like that strong an action, or will it even have some worldly effect? Now I want to propose to you that higher than any action that we could do on the outside would be to pray, to take to God. You see, so I would change that framing to: these things are happening—misunderstanding, conflict, argument, resentment, all this stuff—but I can pray.

I'm trying to follow what I'm having trouble already. There's a sort of, there's a weakness, sort of like it seemed like a weaker position when I turn to prayer, you see, but there's actually the position of strength.

So if you said that, 'Okay, now everybody around me is misunderstanding me or not getting the point, but I have a magic way in which I can persuade them. I read a book on persuasion and I can change their thinking.' No. So that can seem more effective with me.

No. Yeah. So, so that can seem like I can do something about it. And when we turn to God, that seems like a retreat. 'All I can do is...' so it becomes like a framing. Now that when we can't do anything about it, then we can pray. There's the last resort, you know.

And I'm saying that why isn't it seen as the most powerful thing? You're bringing it to the King of this universe. Because we don't really feel like He's there at that moment or He will do something about it. You see, so it is like, 'I just wish I could do something about it on the outside, but since I see that there's nothing I can do about it on the outside, then all I can do is pray.'

Yeah. Huh. Yeah. Yeah. Like gratification my way. It's so kind of connected also, like, 'This is what should happen because this is better.' You see, now I want control over the outcome. You see, but if I pray, then I don't know. See, then I don't know what He's going to do, whether He's real.

The more you... there's only one solution. The more time you spend with Him, the greater our faith becomes. So then we lose that defeatism, in that kind of a defeatism that 'All I can then do is pray.' It's solid. Shouldn't it be like, 'But I can pray. He is with me'? You see, the ones... I don't like the concept of the crusades at all, but some of the music they made was stunning. And they would sing, 'God is with us.' You see, that 'God is with us.' And we heard some of those chants, but 'God is with us.' This is happening. All my enemies surround me and they may kill me, but God is with us. You see, that had power. No, you see.

Yeah.

No, I'm not saying that you were specifically saying it like that, but I'm just trying to get this point across to all of us that why is it the, 'Like I can't really do anything so I better just pray'? You see, prayer is to come to God's presence, to remember He is with us. You see, then why is it not the highest port of call rather than 'I do anything at all'? Sorry, I know intervening every time as I try to say something, that is the false prerogative of this chair. So, just I'll make this last point, which is that what if we lived our life where we said, 'Okay, this seems to be happening on the outside, but I am not in fear because He is with me'? You see, and when the world tries to hypnotize me and the mind tries to narrate my story, I will turn to Him, His light be... Yeah. Sorry. Now you can say everything you wanted to say.

Yeah. I think I brought it to check with you because I wanted to check with you because it does feel that way. I'm not sure. Maybe you're right that it was a defeatist. It didn't feel that way. It felt more like, well, you'll tell me like I can't really do anything about this like...

Yeah, maybe that's why. Yeah, 'I can't really do anything about...' Why is the ability, the fact that I can pray, not the biggest thing that I can do? Why does it... that's what I'm trying to say. That why is it since I could have said something, I could have written a letter, I could have sent a voice note, I could, you see, but none of that helps, but still, you know, my port of call is that I can pray.

I think there is a belief, yeah, this is a belief that I can do something to heal, that I can do something to stop these behaviors as soon as possible.

So why isn't that the highest on that 'do something,' that I can pray for healing? How does that bring us to the state that 'I can't do anything therefore I pray'?

Because in those moments maybe the prayer is not available because there's like action being taken and I'm being carried by this all.

Then we are not able to pray or prayer seems to be not available. That is just when we are caught up in the hypnosis of Maya. That itself is the point of the hypnosis of Maya. Yeah, there it tells us that God at this moment is not a possibility. And it happens. If somebody came to Satsang and just was very attacking, you see, then in the rush of the attack, in the mental attack that will happen when that also comes and the emotional upheaval that may come at the same time, the anger starting to play out, you know, and resistance, all of that, then it's very possible that I get into that mode also of 'this I have to do.' Please. Yes.

So it is possible for all of us to get in that mode for a few moments, minutes, hours, days, weeks where it feels like turning to God is not a viable proposition. You see, it seems like the stupidest thing to do at that point of time and then it goes from feeling like the stupidest thing to do to at least a port of refuge. And as we grow in our faith, then we see that that is the highest. And Saint Nektarios, he was running a beautiful center—what is the right term?—the beautiful home with women and convent, like a convent. So then one of the mothers had gone there, so she made some complaints to the police about that this one is not a true teacher, he's exploiting people, all of that. So the police came to shut down that whole convent and they started attacking everyone. People were falling and then when that fear was rising and all those children in the—let's call it Ashram—so in the Ashram all these children were getting this thing and turned towards Saint Nektarios and wanting him to fight back, and he just pointed upwards. 'He is with us.'

Just I just shared some the David and Goliath snippets with Father yesterday and just looking at that strength he and the strength with which he said, 'I want to go to war with him,' you know. And people were laughing at him like, 'What would you do?' And because he had that faith, he just walked and he said, 'God, be with me one step at a time. Be with me one step.' And he fell, you know, the spear hit him. It's that strength that we lack when we pray, you know, like that's that faith and that strength in God that my enemies surround me and I know I'm with God.

Looking at that strength, he and the strength with which he said, 'I want to go to war with him,' you know. And people were laughing at him like, 'What would you do?' And because he had that faith, he just walked and he said, 'God, be with me one step at a time. Be with me one step.' And he fell, you know, the spear hit him. It's that strength that we lack when we pray, you know, like that's that faith and that strength in God that my enemies surround me and I know I'm with God. King David no doubt was a sage, was considered of course a prophet, but he's left such a beautiful gift for us in the form of the psalms. Most of the psalms are written by him. And if you look at the psalms, he starts in that lamentation many times saying that my enemies have surrounded me and this is what they do. But then in the psalm itself he says, 'But He is with me and I am not in fear.' You see, that changes just in that. That whole process of surrender is outlined in most of the psalms where we just bring it to him like an innocent child. Bring all the fears, just put it out in our heart and then instantly we feel that reassurance, that blessing, that strength. It's very, very beautiful. Very good.

And he is like his life is a representation of how Maya can get us, no? So if we think that the stories of Vishvamitra and all of those—Narada Ji is famous for falling into Maya again and again, you see. So he fell very deeply into Maya to the extent that he did some very violent acts because he was attached in this way, and yet he found a way to return to God. You see, so much so that Jesus was called the son of David, although he was a very far-off ancestor.

Rather, the big—I want to watch the series and I don't know so much about that story, but it showed the beginning where Samuel was told by God to choose from that man's sons the mightiest one or someone who would... and he was looking at each one and saying, 'This one would be fit' and 'This one would be fit.' And God told him like, 'No, don't look at the outward appearance. I'm not concerned about any outward appearance.' And the last kid, he was the shepherd and he was called David. And he looked at him and he laughed and he said, 'God is funny,' you know, because this like that boy... but he knew that there was a dialogue. I can't remember, but you know, God looks at the heart and his deeds don't depend on your strength actually. So you should watch that series, it's made quite—those snippets were quite something.

Yeah, it's the House of David. First season is out. Yeah. Some twelve, thirteen episodes. It's quite something there. Even the song that he sings, no, Adonai, the Psalm 30. So like almost like his heart is calling out to—it's not almost, it's his heart. Like I was just tearing up every time I heard it, like just calling out to God saying, 'I need your help,' you know.

And so this is my message to all of you this New Year's Eve. Don't make it like a—I don't know how to convey this. Remember when you, when we have the privilege to say Ram, it's a privilege to remember the Lord of the universe who has graced us with his presence in our heart. So, if the Lord of the universe, whom we resonate with the word Ram and we are able to call him, you see, we are able to call him—how to convey these words? You see, you're able to call the one for whom this universe is a tiny grain of sand. And so are millions of universes a tiny grain of sand. He is beyond time and space. And all these are just like Lego blocks for him. And yet in his love for us, we can recognize our very oneness with him. Our non-separation from him, and that is available to us in the most intimate way. And all we have to do is turn towards him.

Prayer is the mighty force because nothing, no strength in the world can compare to that strength which we then invoke. You see, and he has not set any ground rule saying, 'You can call me only when there's an emergency, only in code red.' He said we can turn to him with the smallest of things and our love and relationship with him increases the more we call him through the day. What a privilege it is. You see what has happened in the world? It has happened like, 'Oh, now before bedtime I have to pray,' because it's been divested of the fact behind it. The fact behind it is that there is a Lord of the universe. The fact behind it is that he sits in our heart fully. And the fact behind it is that he knows my every breath. But when I love him, then that touches him and I realize that I touch him, and then there is nothing to fear left.

So when we say the Ramachandra Kripalu bhajan, we are talking about him being the most merciful one. And what happens in his mercy? He takes away all fear, all suffering, it is said. Yeah, what is the worst of all these worldly things which affect us then are taken away. Now we can—I lived the atheist life and it's a very lonely life, you see. So it's like being disconnected from the very oxygen of this existence when I have to just deal with the countless variables of this world on my own. And the life of the one who has faith in God then is transformed because what do I have to worry? The literal Lord of the universe is living in my heart and he loves me. You see, so what is my only possible problem? That things could not go my way. You see, that is the only possible problem.

But how stupid would I have to be? And I am, and I was, and I will continue to be this stupid where at moments I will still feel like I know better. You see, the one who has eaten many of these universes for lunch, he doesn't know, but me, one tiny insect on one tiny insect world, knows better than him. You see, so that is the great forgetting of the privilege that we have. You see, a great forgetting. That's why Maya is the great forgetting, the great seeming of our separation, the great Avidya, the ignorance that I am a separate body-mind. But this 'I' I did not find and I do not find, you see. Who is this 'me' who is separate from him? I do not find, you see. Isn't it absurd, the things we have to do? Like it is so strange if you look at self-inquiry as a concept. Okay, we are sitting and asking, 'Who am I?' You see, I have done this for years. It's the most beautiful direct pathway to God, very, very beautiful. So I'm not putting it down, but I'm saying, have we seen the absurdity of it? We are sitting for hours asking, 'Who am I?' You see, if somebody comes and says, 'What are you doing?' then 'I'm looking for myself.' Won't they say, 'But where did you lose it? What are you looking for?'

You see, this is the absurdity of the human condition. None of us knows who we are, you see, and yet we know so much. You see, 'This would be better, that would be better, this is right, this is not right, you are definitely wrong.' You see, that we know more than anything else, when somebody is wrong. You see? So this is how our ego feels good. By making everybody else wrong, we feel like—like Father Richard Rohr said—the quickest way to feel good about ourselves is to make everybody else wrong. You see, or at least those who don't agree with me, let's make them wrong. But what an absurd world where when I look sincerely, what is being proposed by this foolish man himself is: you change your pair of eyes first. Isn't that what the spiritual path is? You have this set of outer worldly eyes. Now you, if you ask yourself sincerely with faith who you are, then you'll find that you have a deeper pair of eyes. So you see from your heart as the first absurd proposition. No wonder we struggle with spirituality, huh? Because our mind doesn't have access to this.

And then we are told that from our inner insight we see that the Lord of the universe sits in our heart. In what way does he sit? We cannot say neither Nirguna nor Saguna, or both Nirguna and Saguna. You see, so gone by now, most people have switched off. Bye-bye. No. Then when we recognize that the Saguna, that the Atma is here, and we can't ask sensory application, but it does have the most subtle vibration, the primordial vibration called 'I am' or the 'Am.' Then when we recognize 'I am' in this most subtle way, that isn't—we're still not done. You see, that's what we're told, we're still not done because that 'I' which is beyond even 'I am' is completely attributeless. Nirguna Brahman, beyond all creation, beyond time, beyond space, nothing beyond, nothing beyond something, beyond everything. You're told that. And by the way, you know, remember that 'I' you were looking for? That is you. You see, so such a strange path this is.

You see, that is why the watered-down version of spirituality is popular. Do a little swam so you'll feel happy in your life, be happy, chill. Who's going to do all this stuff? See that 'I am that.' You see, there's another simple path: just remember this in your head, 'I am that.' You don't have to do the sadhana and come to any pure recognition, nothing. What will you come to? 'I am that' only. No. You see, so these spiritual replacements which are in the disguise of spirituality are more attractive because it doesn't kill us. The true path of spirituality literally kills what we think we are. You see, and that's why even the Buddha said that one can transcend an army of a thousand, but can one transcend their own mind? It is the most difficult, you see. So then a few foolish like me have to sit up and say, 'Please, it's worth it. Trust me.' To the mind it can just seem like 'I am that' and somewhere it can seem very attractive to the ego. So who doesn't want to be that? But you can't be it that way. You see, you can't be it through conviction. Many people think that spirituality is the path of conviction. The more I'm—anybody asks me, 'What's your name?' I am able to say 'Brahman,' then I have achieved my spiritual goal. It happened. No.

Because what is one to do? Unless one is guided to the fact that all of this recognition happens in that holy temple in your heart, in the presence of the Atma within, you see. And because we live in a world of instant gratification, it can seem like, 'Okay, I know this.' You see, this is not the 'know' that we are talking about, which again is very frustrating and very absurd. All our life we were told that to know is to see it sensory, and to know is to have an idea about something. You see, so what is the capital of China? Beijing. You know this kind of—so I know it. No, we don't. You see, so just to have the concept of something is not to know it. To have the highest concept of spirituality is still not to know it. To know it is to know with a capital K. And that capital K is a knowing from a deeper place.

On this topic, I feel like a challenge, like you were speaking about the power of prayer and I feel the challenge. Like, one prays and the outcome that one will feel is the best doesn't happen. People ask about the outcome. The outcome that I will feel is the best doesn't happen, like doesn't always happen. Yeah. Or if I'm doing the—like you were saying, calling Ram or Jesus, and the times that one doesn't like feel or that presence, no? And I don't know, I was pondering on that, like in the faith of deepening that faith. I was hearing something of Ma, that she said like, that is because of our own worldliness that sometimes we feel Him like Ram and sometimes not, but that instantly when you call, He's here, no? And yes, I feel like that is a challenge.

That is—it is true, no? And I'm nobody to talk about what Ma said, but one way also to look at it is that suppose we call Ram and immediately, 'Yes sir, Ram. Yes sir, Ram.' Is it then he becomes like a genie in a lamp? No, you just rub the lamp and the genie. You see? So then what is the kind of pride we will have? That the Lord of the universe is my servant. Now you see, all I have to do. You see, so He knows exactly what is needed to be fed to us at what point of time. When to make His presence apparent and when to make His presence unapparent. You see, then when we say rely on faith, you see, can you see that first? That if every time you were to call Jesus, Jesus is just, 'Yes sir'?

A lamp. No, you just rub the lamp and the genie. You see? So then what is the kind of pride we will have? That the Lord of the universe is my servant. Now you see, all I have to do. You see, so He knows exactly what is needed to be fed to us at what point of time. When to make His presence apparent and when to make His presence unapparent. You see, then when we say rely on faith, you see, can you see that first? That if every time you were to call Jesus, Jesus is just, 'Yes, sir,' then you would be like, 'What can be greater than me?' You see, so that is why to keep our pride in check, then God knows how much of the felt feeling of presence to give.

You see, now as we deepen in our faith, as we deepen in our faith, we don't need to see any evidence of His presence to confirm His presence. The evidence of His presence is known in our heart. But to be in the heart requires us to be humble. So there is no danger of us getting into super-God mode, that you know, God is always at my beck and call. So when we learn to live in faith, we learn to live in the knowledge which is apparent in our heart. Now in that knowledge, we know that God is there although there may be no signs of His presence. Now we know that, but that is safe to know at that point because to go there we need to be utterly humble. So there is no danger that we can become proud.

You see, so there are palpable signs of His presence which He knows how much to feed us without us getting proud. And in spite of all of that, we still end up getting proud. In spite of all His safety, we still end up picking it up. But there is a safer way to meet God, which is to meet Him with faith in our heart. Faith is not a belief. Faith is to go with what your heart is telling you to be true. You see, so when you're there, you don't get access to your heart unless you're humble. So then you are safe. And you are not getting an experience which your memory can hold. You see, and you're not getting some conceptual ability to say, 'Yes, this is Him, this is Him.' You see, so then it keeps our mind and sensory ability out so that we don't again become proud.

And yet when we learn to live in the heart, we always have this courageous, faithful reassurance in our heart that He's here. You see, so it's not about feeling His presence. Initially, it is about feeling His presence. But as we go deeper, it is not just about that which we usually call the fragrance or the presence of I Am, you see, the subtlest vibration. But in the sheer outsideness of our senses and our mind, yet we know somewhere that He's there. You see, so if we say, 'Are you feeling His presence at this point?' you may say no. You see, but do you know that He's there? Yes. How do you know? Is it just a concept that you have? You're just believing? You've been told God is always there, so I'm relying on that concept to believe it? No, I'm not using a thought. Are you seeing any sign of Him? No, I'm not seeing any sign of Him. Yet I know.

I think that's why people like us are called crazy. Yes. I feel sometimes I make the mistake of confusing that faith of the heart with a concept, you know, like maybe in the intention of seeking Him, instead of having the courage to remain open even if the signs are not there. You know, there is like grasping maybe a little quote or some conclusion. But I was contemplating, you know, the story you say about this woman that prepares the—what was the name of—

Ma Shabri.

Ma Shabri, that's that one. Like I was pondering, trying to, when I sit and I practice sadhana, to have faith in the power of preparing the table. For instance, these days it happens, I sit and maybe I don't feel the presence, you know, but trying to have faith on it. No, to prepare, to sit even if—

Yes, that's it. That's the value of these stories or the histories. The value is that they point us to change our inner posture, you see. So when you hear about the humility of Ma Shabri waiting sixty years for Ram to come, then it takes away our frustration, our ideas that, 'Oh, what I called God, why is He not coming?' you see, and allows us to become open and receptive in our heart. And all we can do, like Ma Shabri, is just—so her metaphor can be used metaphorically also: to set the pathway with flowers for God to come, to pick the best food for Him to eat, to taste the sweetness of the food that He's going to taste. All of that can be looked at as preparing our inner soul for God to come and stay.

So that's what we can do. So what is that we can do? We can offer every layer of our existence to Him. See, I belong to You. I don't want anything in this ephemeral world. I belong to You alone. So that way we become open to receiving His light. Remember that the Sufis called the light of the Atma a dazzling darkness. You see, why do they call it a dazzling darkness? You see, because it's unperceivable. And yet, why do they call it dazzling? Because it's not like entering a dark empty room. You see, it is shining a light on you which is too bright for your senses to understand. You see, but it's transforming your Antahkarana, your soul, to become spirit itself. You see, so some have called this merging with the Beloved, others have called it self-realization or God-realization, but it's the same process.

You see, okay, so that brings me to the most important point, which is that may the next year, most of the time in the next year be spent bathing in the holy light of the Atma within. May the year be spent more and more bathing in the light of the Atma within. Whether there is evidence in terms of love, peace, or joy; whether it seems fully dry and boring; whether it feels like nothing is happening. May our faith be so strong that even if the door to His temple is closed, the sanctum sanctorum is closed, and yet how He can transform me sitting at His door is much more than what will happen, much better than what will happen to me if I'm facing just Maya.

So may what we are hearing in Satsang become translated into offering our life to God literally by letting go of our attachments to the outcomes that we want and only remaining in the photo booths of the Atma within, bathing in Atma Darshan, Atma Gyan. And we only have a small price to pay for that, which is that we let go of what we take to be right. We let go of that which we take to be wrong. And we become willing to live to be lived by God in our heart. So to live in God's light with God as God is to let go of my way.

So remember the promise: the top three topics that you spend time in your head on this year, you will not spend any time on them. They are finished. Done. No waiting till 'I will do.' Done. And if there are now three replacement topics that come next year, tell me when it happens. The mind will struggle now for a few days. If you really do what I'm saying, you hand it over to God in full faith. You see, and every time you hear now 'God,' you should hear it as I've explained Him to you, not just some... yeah, gone. You're getting the tone. Then this foolish man has told you everything else also, somebody has told you. No. So then there is nothing original in our mind. Although we may think there is a lot of originality, our mind is just babbling our conditions.

So we've taken a resolution. So the resolution is that the top three topics that we've dwelt on in our mind in 2025 are finished for us now. So let the mind, let Maya produce new topics for us to create. But these topics are over. Let Maya do some hard work to trap us with impatience like a lack of—

Of course. You begin—I mean, I begin with the prayer. I begin really praying first and then somewhere in the... if the outcome is not happening according to what I thought. So see, by day two and a half, now it's now I feel like just some impulse just comes and takes over and makes everything all bad. I mean, I don't know how to explain, you know.

We used to say in Satsang that we are willing to wait patiently thirty minutes for pizza also. Yeah. But for God to change our life, what is the timeline we give Him? Very little. So it's that same... there's nothing our ego would like more than to have God in servitude to us. 'I made the prayer. Where is the outcome? The one I want.' Yeah. Of course. See, so I've made a petition which is actually like a command and I want that to happen. If it doesn't happen, then I'm upset with You. You see, so we are the manager, He's the employee. No. So it is that position that needs to change.

My number one is that He is the boss and whatever I take myself to be is nothing compared to Him. It is a privilege even to live in His will. So let this in a way be our year of humility. And may we spot all of these tricks of the mind which put us in a position of pride and may we not fall for those. May I never fall into the trap that I am somebody or something because I am a teacher of God. May I remember that it is about Him and Him alone. And all of this play is just like a bubble which is going to burst at any time.

You know in your heart, you know what to hear in what we... so may we learn to trust the subtleties which our heart is showing us and not the brute force attempts of our mind to categorize, to harden and do all that. Maybe just in response to this, may we be okay with opposites because the path is not linear. The very softness I'm talking about is this. It's okay. You were born in India, no, not Greece, because of your philosophical training. They can't hear throughout. No. Did you hear? Because I'm on the wrong internet. Adrian told me right in the beginning. I just haven't turned towards the chair. Okay. As long as they're saying they could hear most of it. Okay.

So, it's all God's grace and may we learn to just tread lightly. Remembering that this path is not about building the highest conclusions but just falling into that empty, still, open, receptive holy... yes. But did you all get the reference to Greece and India? Greece with especially with Aristotle, he made this whole theory of logic. So if something is true, it cannot be false. If something is false, it cannot be true. And then all of the West, and now because our education is mostly like that, it's like a given, you see. But in India, especially on the Buddhist path, there used to be categories for both true and false, and a category for neither true nor false. So that itself is a much broader way to live and yeah, have fun. Happy New Year. Bye.

Yeah. So is Balu taking... so but then even that of course now has become a challenge because our mind is so used to this. But there's a bigger challenge where when the Buddha was asked questions which were spiritual in nature, which are not able to point out in words, like what is anything, like what is Buddha nature for example? Is it one who is enlightened gets Buddha nature? Then is it the end of rebirth or is it a continuing of rebirth to come and help other people? So he would say the fifth. A beautiful book on that—if somebody wants, I'll send them the name, I don't remember it now. So his answer would be the fifth. So what is the fifth? Where to find the fifth? So beyond the four categories. But is there somewhere our mind, intellect can go? Our intellect can label it and say 'the fifth,' you see, but can it visit the fifth?

So that simple explanation defines the whole path of Zen and it doesn't... what is hard? It's very difficult. I'm not at all denying the difficulty of this path. And if you're not feeling it as difficult, then either I should be sitting at your feet or you've not got what I'm talking about. No sage has ever come out from a fight with Maya and said, 'Oh, that was easy.' I said no sage has ever come out from a fight with Maya and said that was so easy. Now, Buddha became the Buddha after almost dying under that tree. Of course, after that he said, 'No, you should do it in moderation.'

It's very difficult. I'm not at all denying the difficulty of this path. And if you're not feeling it as difficult, then either I should be sitting at your feet or you've not got what I'm talking about. No sage has ever come out from a fight with Maya and said, 'Oh, that was easy.' I said no sage has ever come out from a fight with Maya and said that was so easy. Now, Buddha became the Buddha after almost dying under that tree. Of course, after that he said, 'No, you should do it in moderation.' But how come all the sages said moderation only after becoming sages? So it's not easy.

So may we treat our brothers and sisters who are finding frustration, difficulty, resistance—everything will come. May we treat them all with love, compassion, and not Advaita policing. Advaita policing is wrong. There's a way to say it is your mind, you see; it is not that, 'Oh, I know better. Can't you see your mind?' No, there's a way to point out and say with love that this is just Maya tricking you. So may we be loving and compassionate towards our brothers and sisters on this path as well. May we learn from Ram Ji and Jesus to just sit last. Sit last and allow your brothers and sisters to say, 'Come, come brother, come sister, you are ahead of us.' But you never take that to heart; never take yourself seriously.

So I'll end with this, probably the time. So Ma Shabri in her love used to bite the berries and keep the sweetest ones for God. What do you think about the hygiene of that, you see? So when she offered them to Ram Ji and Lakshman Ji—Lakshman Ji was Ram Ji's younger brother who was always super protective of Ram, super willing to give up his life for his older brother, loved him beyond everything. So when she made this offer to them, Ram Ji is very sweetly eating that berry and Lakshman is just looking at him, like what's happening here? And there are various versions of the story. In one version, he actually tells Ma Shabri, saying, 'Is this your idea of hospitality for my brother? Is this your love and devotion? You're giving him half-eaten berries to eat, full of saliva and all that.'

So then Ram Ji tells him that, 'You know, I've been away from my mothers, especially Ma Kaushalya, for quite some time now, and in tasting this berry, I'm feeling like I'm a baby lying down in her lap.' So when there is love, when we have turned even the slightest way towards God, we must make the paths encouraging, full of love and light for all our brothers and sisters and be humble like Lord Ram and Lord Jesus. Would we be happy to accept if somebody had called us for dinner and they gave us half-eaten berries? We may listen to the history of Ram Ji and we may say in our lip service that, 'Oh, what a beautiful life.' But his life is to be emulated. I cannot imagine one percent of the sacrifice he has made over and over as God himself. So he has come and shown us the way to truly live. All the incarnations have.

So let us be inspired to emulate the history that we are blessed to have in this tiny little world of ours. God has blessed us so much. I feel we should listen more to the history of Ram, Krishna, Jesus, and also Islam—I've not studied so much but I want to. All right. With all my heart, I bless you all and your families. May you have all of you—may you become instruments of His light and love. Jai. Let's see. Mangalam Bhagwan Vishnu, Mangalam Garudadhwaja. Yes. Yes. Thank you all for being my friends in this journey for so long. Some of you recent, some of you so long. And may I learn to learn much more from you than I do. God keep me humble and remember that all of us are walking this journey together. And this provisional idea of teacher and disciple is just provisional. Mercy and say Vishnu. Yes. Okay. This is Bangalore for all of you. Wish everyone.