Jump Fully Into God’s Lifeboat - 28th April 2025
Saar (Essence)
Ananta teaches that spirituality is the simple act of remembering God to overcome the suffering of forgetting our true home. He encourages surrendering the ego's will and returning to devotion immediately whenever we realize we have strayed.
Suffering is only a forgetting that God is there.
The instant you remember that you forgot, you return to God.
It is not surrender unless you surrender fully. You can't say mostly surrender.
devotional
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
Actually, I've been contemplating a little bit and I realized that in the thousands of words, maybe millions of words of satsang, what is really important? What is really important? Remember that God is here. You mean within yourself and the Self is not the body of course, but within yourself God is here and to simply remember Him in whatever way we can is spirituality. To remember that in whatever way we can is spirituality because suffering is only a forgetting. Suffering is only a forgetting that God is there.
But the thing with the suffering is that initially it seems very attractive. Maya seems very attractive initially and seems very fulfilling and satisfying initially. Once you jump into the pool, you realize that the water is too cold too soon. It seemed like an oasis. So spirituality is just to remember that this is not my true home. My true home is to be with God. And then we don't have to abandon the swimming pool. But we can allow God to do the strokes. Whatever swimming has to happen, we are just carried by God.
So the first few days when we go swimming—like I learned swimming at 50 now because of this condition—then if you go with someone they will say, "Don't worry, float, we will hold you up." So then our life becomes just like that, you see, know that God is holding us up. We have to just do the drama of doing our swimming. So the problem is that how can you stop the forgetting? That's it. Whatever works for you. If you take a dedicated attempt to constantly remember His name, to repeat God's name, that will keep you from forgetting. If you have reminders around you, whatever works for you.
And what to do when we recognize that we have forgotten? Remember instead of just beating ourselves up over the forgetting. Suppose—all these are very personal examples—but suppose you have a child who lives overseas and one day you forgot to call them. So now when you remembered, "Oh, I forgot to call them," should you spend the next day saying, "Oh, I'm so bad. I forgot to call them"? Then spend two days like that, then the next day say, "Oh, I have not called them for two days now." You see the trick in that? So the instant you remember that you forgot, you return to God. So you call them immediately. That's it.
Now, which phone line goes to God? Could you be dialing the wrong number to God? So suppose you remembered that you have to go back to God and then you start thinking, "Okay, but I will call God, but what is the poetry line? What is the best connection? What is the best way?" So you spend so many days figuring out the best way to call instead of just calling. You see the trick? You could dial a number by mistake and God will not say, "No, no, this is the wrong number." You know what I mean? So, the method is secondary. It's not so important. The way in which you remember God is not so important. The intention to jump in and actually do it is important.
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So whether you say Ram Ram or Krishna Krishna or Jesus Jesus or Allah Allah, no name fully describes Him and no name is too small for Him. So don't get into these traps at all. Even if you forget about yourself for a minute and you remain empty of yourself, that itself is more than enough. Otherwise, "me me"—you don't become a goat with that and you don't become the Greatest of All Time, at least in spirituality. Okay. Anyone has any urgent burning questions?
I have questions. I want to ask that you ask if we had a wrong number and God will not know, but many times now in my... when I pray, I don't know if like what I'm doing is even reaching God. Like I do experience something, I do, it's not like I don't know, but I don't know. So Father, anything like... I don't know how to ask this.
Just think of yourself as the child and God is the parent in this situation. Whatever way you call them, the child sometimes the first word they speak could be complete gibberish. But the mother will say "Mama" and the father will say "Papa." Mama, Papa. You see, so if our worldly parents are willing to give full benefit of doubt, then our Godly parent is not... so everything does reach Him. Whatever we do in the house, that's what I want to ask.
That is whether we like it or not. There may be many things we don't want to reach Him. Because it's like so what you speak or what we are learning, it's so like different from the way we are living. It's completely different way from what you have shared or what He has shared and then you notice that here that you are... it's not where your place is. And then you see that how far you are, then you don't even know how to... even though you put the effort, many times we are incapable of.
Incapable. Yeah, we have to accept that. And that is what spirituality is: a question of faith that I am incapable but He is merciful. He says you don't have to worry.
Still regarding this question, do you agree that the intention behind it is going to make a difference? For instance, sometimes I would have like one of the mantras running in the back of my head, just not really putting intention to it, just doing something else and it's in your back. And also, usually what I pray is I don't like get on my knees or even sit, you know, often it's when I'm lying down in bed like I'm waking up and I still stay lying down. Yeah, I just put my hands in prayer and start to repeat whatever I draw and sing at. But I don't know. I feel because I mentioned this once and I remember that you were saying that it has an effectiveness to actually put the effort into sitting.
So again we can apply human principles. That's another beautiful thing I'm learning. So the principle remains the same, at least in Bhakti. So how would you... if you had a life partner or you had a romantic relationship or something, so suppose the boy's name is Shyam. So to remember him with feeling when you speak to him and you say, "I really love you, my beloved," versus just "I love you." So that feelingless "I love you" is still not zero. It still has some value. At least it can evoke some feeling just by saying it. You may remind yourself how much you love your beloved. And because in this case now your beloved is God Himself whose name itself is holy, it is better than not remembering His name at all. But the more of ourselves we give into the relationship, the better it will be.
What do you do when you don't feel your heart? When you don't feel the love, don't feel your heart, that your heart is closed?
Yes. Those many of those times of dryness, the aridity, the greatest sages have spoken about. There are times where they feel so separate and they can't stand the separation. It's part of the process to persevere in those times and to not say, "No, there's no point in doing this, it doesn't work." Again, in relationships there are many times where it is not fun. In any relationship—I've not met anyone in my life for 50 years where my relationship has always only been good—ups and downs will come. In the same way, sometimes just one "Ram" makes us feel so present to Him and sometimes we may be gently chanting the whole day and it feels like it's so dry.
I was hearing the doctor and he said that you start to see, like visualize as if you're seeing God in everything and everywhere, like wherever you look. What does that mean and how must we approach that?
I spoke about it in the sense that when you... like when I had a crush in school, my first crush was sixth standard. So we were in Indian school in Bahrain and so when I would go out in the evening with my parents, any girl I would see I would feel like, "Is it her? Is it her? That looks like her. Oh, her hair is like her. Her shoes are like hers." You see, it would feel like that. So, in the same way, once we fall more and more deeply in love organically, we'll start to notice. "Oh, this blue reminds me of Krishna. This color reminds me of Him." It happens organically. You can't force that so much. Hope that's happening.
I have a similar question. Is that okay? In that infatuated state you grew out of it and you realize it was not true. But this love, they say this love is because we are falling in love with the source of love itself.
Yeah. So we cannot run out of it. You can only deepen. Of course there are times of up and down.
So, in that up and down she's happening. So that when we feel that like when you felt like connected with that source and you knew what it felt like, and when you don't feel like that again, like you still feel you're back in the same way in general, then you feel that you've done something, that you're not doing it right. That seems like I've dialed the wrong number. I'm not loving enough or I'm not... so you don't listen to those thoughts and you just keep doing?
Yeah, it's subtler than that. It's more nuanced than that in the sense that sometimes the inspiration comes from within: "I need to double down on my practice. I need to really focus on my real mind." And sometimes it is just your mind oppressing you—your spiritual mind is trying to oppress you. So you have to be able to distinguish between the two.
So sometimes like saying it's a guidance that, "Okay, do it another way" or do it... I see what you're saying and one is just like your... so if you're having a... if you feel... I'm not saying like if I feel that I can't connect sometimes with Radha, so I don't know what to do. So then I just have to just pray like that with whatever comes in my heart. I know God's hearing me. I don't doubt God. But there's some days which I just feel I can't connect with her. I don't know. I have this sense that I've never known her. So how should I think of her? And it's quite traumatizing to say.
Safest to remember her name. Read the mantra and hear your satsang, whatever satsang is resonating with you at that point of time. If you can't hear it, you can turn it off. I mean, I'm trying, I'm trying, that's what I'm saying. You remember you haven't called your beloved or your child, that pokes a lot. So then let's look at that poking. Should we spend the next day remembering, "Oh, I'm so bad, this is not working," or should we just call? No, we call. We just call. No, I know. So it is not for us to many times... it is very... the "two punches" I used to call it. It's very compelling. "Oh, I'm so bad." It is still not doing... there are two ways of saying "I love you."
So one is "I love you." That is the egotistical "I love you." "I love you, You are the leader and I am nobody" like that. So when we get obsessed with our story that "I do like this, I don't do like this, this happened, I, I, I," then we love our... what we are... we may be saying whatever, but we are conveying that we love ourselves, the false me, most. And then God is just a crutch for that false me.
Those three things which I heard him say was Atma and it's coming again and pray and see, but this... not see a little more on this afternoon meaning I don't want my own will. Could I be wrong?
Yeah. No. See you. No. No. It's good. So, have you ever fallen so deeply in love that you don't care about yourself at all?
Yeah. That's it. Yeah. But that it's all about them.
Yes. Then there is no "me" left. So that "me" has been surrendered so deeply in love that whatever they may like, no matter how difficult it may seem for you, you're happy to do. That is second. The third was that you only want them. Yeah. The third point was... one was pray, I mean like think in terms of pray and you only want that one and you just focus on any of the three. They are all...
It's just not happy. This is too much. What? What is... I don't know how to be obedient. I think I'm just... is it motivated to be obedient or more difficult to decide for ourselves?
Decide for ourselves, at least conceptually. Yeah, it is simpler to be obedient, but we got used to complexity. That's what we've been told. All our conditioning has been that if you don't take charge, if you don't decide, if you don't do, the life is over. Okay. The news is that our life is over anyway; it is God's life.
I see that in just listening to what you ask me to do. It helped me so much that I just keep using that. I can't know what the end would be because my mind can't know that and if I just follow what you said I receive so much and that I never want to hear them really, but to surrender it so fully is very scary. Especially when you think that you're failing at what you told me to do.
That's the "two punch" part. I get this. So suppose we are on a ship and it is sinking, as is the case with our human condition—sinking anyway. Nobody can make it through forever. Now there's a lifeboat which comes. So can you keep one toe on your ship and the rest of you goes on the lifeboat? No. So it's not surrender unless you surrender fully. Can't say "mostly surrender." It is not surrender because you're still on the ship.
Would we rather have trust in God or in ourselves as surrender? Can you do something to make this dance? I mean this then I can do... I can't do.
Okay, then you ask Him. I can only petition. Please petition then. Very constant petition. Same position. Just imagine yourself jumping fully into His lifeboat. Okay. His lifeboat. Suppose it's our last day on earth—not last day in this life. Minutes are getting over, somebody gives you a check of 100 crores. What did you do? Five minutes to go. You got 100 lakh. These 50 years have gone by like five minutes. The next whatever remaining will also go like that. What is the true capital? What is the true punji that we want to build? Our spiritual wealth. Build the most loving temple of God in your heart. That is spiritual wealth. How you build it? Every moment that you remember God.