Not Grasping, Just Receiving - 15th October 2025
Saar (Essence)
Ananta teaches that the sublime reality of God must be found within the secret chamber of the heart. He emphasizes that spiritual transformation occurs through a wordless, intuitive 'yes' and the practice of constant inward-facing contemplation.
The principle thing is to stand with the mind in the heart before God unceasingly.
God will not impose Himself; He waits for our 'yes' and our consent.
Forgiveness is a gift to ourselves that allows the heart to remain empty for God.
devotional
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
We've talked at this particular verse which was: the sublime and glorious reality which we call God is to be sought first and foremost in the human heart. You have the sublime and glorious reality which we call God is to be sought first and foremost in the human heart. If we do not find him there, we shall not find him anywhere else. If we do find him there, we can never lose him again. Wherever we turn, we shall see his face. I remember reading this one: Unless there is a still center in the middle of the storm, unless a person in the midst of all their activities preserves a secret room in their heart where they stand in silence before God, then they will lose all sense of spiritual direction and be torn to pieces.
So even while the body seems to be involved in the activities of the phenomenal world in this realm of Maya, you must preserve a holy center which is secret, not because you're trying to hide it from anyone. It is secret because it is beyond the realm of space and time. So although it seems to coincide with the physical heart, it is not in this realm at all. And unless our priority is to be there first, to live in his life, to live in his presence, then the sage is telling us that our lives will be torn up, torn apart, torn into pieces—fragmented is a simpler way to look at it.
So when this heart temple, heart altar, secret room in the heart, sanctum sanctorum—when we talk about these, are we getting a sense of what is being spoken about? Sense of what this... I didn't get whether that was a yes or no. Thank you. So, this is very important. Remember not to imagine. Remember not to visualize. Remember that it is intuitive. It is felt in the heart. It is seen through the eyes of the heart itself. How many of you are unsure? I'm sure one of you are clear that you don't know what is going on. Okay. How would I ask this question? But one of you said that you know that this heart temple. Did you change your answer after I said don't visualize or imagine?
After you have a spiritual experience, like even a simple spiritual experience after hearing a bhajan, after hearing something in satsang that touches your heart, you find that your faculties are pulled inwards. So that turning inwards, facing the light, the invisible light, the unperceivable light of the spirit, of the Atma—that itself is to stand at the gate of heaven itself. Stand at the door of God's presence, of Atma itself. Now whether you can say that I recognize deeply, intuitively this presence, which is to have Atma Darshan, so you can recognize through your intuitive eyes the light of the Atma within. Or you say that I don't seem to find anything there except that it is holy. Extraordinarily, extraordinarily holy, no? Which means that it is not of this world. Because if it was of this world and it was just nothingness like a dark empty room, then I would not feel this peace. I would not feel this joy. I would not feel this contentment in the absence.
So even if you cannot testify or report to the light of the presence within, you're already in the discipleship receiving as a Sufi called it, Marifa, or we usually say intuitive insight, Atma Gyan, that knowledge which cannot really be spoken. That which is beyond words. That which cannot be written. So to be conceptually empty, to not believe any narrative, to not know anything at all leads to this inward facing. Allowing all appearances to come and go. Some cultures this is called contemplation. Some others call it meditation. Some others call it nididhyasana. But we find ourselves inward facing in a posture of love, humility, patience. Not grasping, just receiving. Just sunbathing in the light of the Atma.
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The great sage Theophan the Recluse said: The principal thing is to stand with the mind in the heart before God. The principal thing is to stand with the mind in the heart before God and to go on standing before him unceasingly day and night until the end of life. It's the principal thing. The principal thing is to stand with the mind in the heart before God and to go on standing before him unceasingly day and night until the end of life. This is all that we are being taught or instructed to. Actually, not even instructed but inspired to, because to share instruction about this is very difficult, impossible. Something just has to catch fire by itself in the grace of God. In the holy transmission that happens in satsang, something very deep within us gets a sense of what is being shared, what we are being guided to.
But remember that both the quotations that we read talked about this being the main thing. These words came to this foolish man. They said: As I enter your gate, the sweet fragrance, a holy vibration, draw me into my nothingness. As I enter your gate, a sweet fragrance, a holy vibration, draw me into my nothingness. So full of reverence and awe that we can enter his gate, that we don't have to go anywhere with our feet. The holy door is right there in our heart. The only thing to do is to wait lovingly, humbly, patiently at his door. Richard Rohr said: When we are nothing, we are in a fine position to receive everything from God.
How many of you are confused between whether you're meant to actively love God or just be fully empty? Nobody spoke about it. So that empty silence is also love. Don't allow your mind to create duality. Actively turning towards him is an act of love. Offering yourself up to be loved by him is also an act of love. Just being open to receive his light is an act of love. There is no distinction as long as you take out that time only for him. The method is secondary. Open and empty makes me loving; to love makes me empty of myself. One leads to another, but we cannot say which one leads to which. There is no higher or lower. That's why listening to the sages is very confusing.
Share what you chat. Can you just repeat what you said now, Father?
Yes, there was a request privately to share what came through here in the chat. So, I'm just pasting that. What is your favorite term for this transmission of the luminous unperceivable light? We've been saying sit in the photosynthesis from the Atma. And today also something came. What is it? Sunbathing in the light of the Atma. So Father Rohr said, when we are nothing, we are in a fine position to receive everything from God. Salvation often feels like a kind of universal amnesty, a total forgiveness of ourselves and all other things. This is also from Richard Rohr. Salvation often feels like a kind of universal amnesty, a total forgiveness of ourselves and all other things.
Now you may feel like, what is the relation? What is the connection? Can you sense the connection of this? Unless we forgive everything, everyone including ourselves, can we be empty? One child wrote to me today saying that, 'Ananta, isn't it much easier to just be in the now than doing any practice, japa, inquiry? Wouldn't it be much easier to just be in the now?' What is your experience with this? You notice that at least after the Power of Now came out, all spiritual seekers know that we are meant to be in the now. That in the power of the now, all problems go away. We don't struggle. Doership seems very light, if at all. But then everybody knows this. How many have you met who are able to live in the power of now without an anchor which anchors them to this now? I don't know anyone like that. You don't know anyone like that.
So a godless spirituality—I'm not at all saying about Eckhart—but I'm saying that in general, a godless spirituality doesn't work. So if you just have this idea that I can just be in the now by myself, I can do this without loving God, without the grace of God, without the surrender to his will, it is just a fantasy. Spirituality is about the spirit of God. So forgiveness is a great gift we can give to ourselves and we must give to ourselves. Very practically speaking, you try to sit empty for God and if your grievances start popping up in your head, you won't go very far in your prayer. That's why it's important. That's why it's important to... what is it that Jesus said? I don't know if it's a quote from the Bible, but we saw it in The Chosen, something like this.
John Butler says we need to stay in a constant state of forgiveness. I think he uses it like open. The mind uses resentment, vibrancy as a distraction tool, as a separation tool to make a 'me' and the 'other'. So in this endless forgiveness is a call to an infinite love. It is said in A Course in Miracles that love holds no grievances. So if our lives are to become an unceasing prayer, we must gift ourselves, even though it may seem like difficult work. We must gift ourselves the gift of infinite, endless forgiveness. I've never heard a traditional teacher of spirituality say that spirituality is easy. It is only in the modern world that we feel like we come to some ease by turning to spirituality. Of course there is ease, but there is a lot of struggle to come to that ease.
So Adrian reminded me of the quote that endless forgiveness without him... Sweet question: 'Father, does endless forgiveness mean by surrendering to God, forgive even without an apology?' Yes. Forgive especially without an apology. Forgive especially when another feels like they haven't done anything wrong, which is mostly the case even when we get an apology. So our forgiveness must be independent of their posture. Their apology is good for their journey, inner journey. Our forgiveness independent of apology is good for us. And anything that is good for one is good for everyone because God's love is contagious, you know, contagious.
So if one of you transforms, your insides transform into spirit itself. This whole theosis, divinization that we're talking about, Atma Gyan, Atma Darshan that we're talking about, is to convert ourselves not outwardly but inwardly. Whether it is through divine union or recognition of oneness, these are just outer ways of explaining that which is unexplainable. This is a gift to ourselves. Impossible? Anyone feels it's impossible? It's difficult but not impossible. The sages, the Lord himself could not have given us an instruction which nobody can follow. If you look at the life of Lord Ram, you look at the life of Lord Krishna, you look at the life of Lord Jesus, it's full of infinite mercy.
It's easier to forgive those who don't know better. It's harder to forgive those who you feel should know better. It is said that we must attribute first to ignorance and then to malice. But in my exploration, I'm finding that malice is nothing but a more solidified ignorance. There is nothing like malice in itself. It is when our avidya, our separation, our pride, something makes us blind and ignorant. That is when we play in this malicious way. So if you look at it through this lens of just a deeper ignorance, then everything falls into the first category. Nobody wakes up thinking, 'Let me do something wrong today. If anybody today is wrong day, let me do wrong thing.' It is only that something blinds us to confuse right and wrong, confuse God's will and a lack of love. Again, I'm saying it's not easy and that's why also I said that nobody ever said it was easy actually, but it must be done so that we can be in this unceasing photosynthesis of the Atma.
Am I too much of a nerd to use this photosynthesis? Also Moses is nice also. Yeah. Tower of grace is much more spiritual and beautiful. Yeah. You know, I liked it because what happens in the process of photosynthesis is take the mind in the light of the sun. What happens to the plants? They get the energy of the sun and then they power and then that transformation of the sun's energy into growth. They grow only in this class some plants because they have what is it related to chlorophyll, they have some substance and some minerals and then that reacts to the light of the sun and then they get nourished in that. They become green and bright and alive.
The process of photosynthesis is to take the mind in the light of the sun. What happens to the plants? They grow. They get the energy of the sun and then they power, and then that transformation of the sun's energy into growth. They grow only in this class, some plants, because they have what is it related to, chlorophyll. They have some substance and some minerals and then that reacts to the light of the sun and then they get nourished in that. They become green and bright and alive. So in the light of the Atma within, in the dazzling luminosity from the Atma within, that is the transformation that happens to us on the inside. So that is why contemplation, meditation, nididhyasana, whatever term we use, this is important. Inward facing, empty for God.
What if a plant had individual will and the plant said, 'Let me open my leaves up for just one moment, get some light, and then go back. I have some important work to do.' Mostly it is not enough. That is why both our consent and our time are important. A continuous concern. Continuous concern to God's will. Only in this continuous consent to God's will our lives go from project mistake to project mistake. If stuck in Maya, stuck in the illusory, analyze. This is PMS: Project Mistake to Project Mistake. A mystic is one who lives in God's light and presence.
So the next one is that the spirit of God comes only when our hearts are open. He never forces his way in. He comes with such gentleness that we may not realize. We may not even realize he is near. If we want to know him, we must look at our lives in the light of the gospel and clear out whatever blocks his entrance. God will not impose himself. He waits for our yes. What is this? Our yes is the consent that we were talking about. Yes, I want to belong to you. Yes, I belong to you alone. Yes, my heart is yours. Yes, my life is for you. Yes, my relationships are none of my business. Yes, my money is only for you. Yes, this body is designed only to bow down to you. So this consent, this yes, becomes a wordless yes, like a wordless openness. Yes.
Okay. Let's continue with what the saint said. The saint said, 'This shows us, this shows how deeply he humbles himself before us.' Because he said, 'God will not impose himself. He waits for our yes.' This shows how deeply he humbles himself before us. His love is tender, never proud or condescending. When we open ourselves to him, we are struck with the certainty that he truly is our Father and our hearts overflow in love. It's a long passage but very beautiful. The saints testify to this mystery. St. Gregory of Sinai said that prayer itself is God moving within us. Isn't that a staggering line? Metropolitan Philaret prayed constantly, 'Lord, pray within me.' Often in Satsang we have shared that the Atma loves to pray and Atma is God himself. So all we do is show up at the temple and participate in the prayer which is already happening.
Now this participation usually requires us to develop inner eyes, develop a holy insight, and that comes just by waiting patiently. So can we really meet this God who prays in our hearts or is it heard like beautiful poetry? So let's start by taking it as literally as possible. It's very possible for us to discard the most beautiful pointing by the mind's categorization of it as something just very beautiful. The sages are telling us that God is praying in our hearts. Do we want to leave this life without directly being able to testify to this because we think we have other important things to do than meeting God himself praying in our heart? What can be more important? And if these sages have had this insight and they are telling us, they are telling us because it is possible for us to have this insight. Who are we to say, 'No, for me it's not possible, I am too spiritually weak'? Don't allow your mind to create these limiting beliefs. What is being shared is for you also.
Don't allow your pride to say, 'Yes, I know this.' Those are the two positions the mind can take, isn't it? 'No, no, it's too difficult for me. I'm too far from this.' Or because not grasping it can seem frustrating to the mind, so the mind will say, 'Yeah, yeah.' In that way also we discard the beauty of the pointing, the ability that it has to take us within and meet the truth of this in a holy meeting which is beyond our comprehension. Because in our comprehension we may comprehend or imagine Lord Hanuman praying to Lord Ram, which is also beautiful, or St. Francis of Assisi praying to Jesus. But what is the capacity in us to comprehend the spirit praying to God? The Atma praying to its birthplace, birthing ground. You cannot visualize it. It has to be met purely intuitively. God prays in my heart. This statement should inspire us deeply to dive into that holiness where this Atma Darshan is possible.
Continuing, St. Paul too bore witness when he wrote, 'God has sent the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba, Father.' Remember what Sri Ramakrishna wrote. We must come into a yearning which is so deep, which is so restless, like a fish out of water waiting for the mother to pick us up. So it is the spirit itself, the Atma itself, which knows how to call God, to pray to God. We emerge ourselves in that spirit. We consent to participating in the holy life of the spirit itself. This quote: 'When we are caught up in this vision of love, we long to live always in God's presence. This fervent faith and reaching towards him keeps us strong against the weight of a world that has forgotten how to pray.' I love the analogy of alchemy turning base metals into gold. Prayer is transforming our garbage into spirit. The alchemy of Atma, the alchemy of love, the alchemy of grief today.