Set Your Compass Straight, Keep It Aligned to God's Light - 12th December 2022

And even that is not a guarantee that you will get something in return. Who is willing to still make that sacrifice although there are no returns guaranteed? So most are actually misunderstanding even trust and faith. Have you seen that? 'I have faith in God that I will get this in return if I do this.' That is not faith. Faith is to accept the irrational existence of the highest force in this universe. That God is, which to the heart is completely obvious always, but to this mind is just a figment of your imagination. To accept your heart's calling that there is God, that is faith. Faith is not an expectation of return. Main faith is not an expectation that we do our little bits of nonsense and then we become entitled to something. Faith is to sacrifice the idea we have about ourselves, even the highest idea we have about ourselves, in faith that God is.

This is the starting point of each other: to let go of everything you take yourself to be and all your desires. To empty yourself of all the garbage that you've collected, maybe over lifetimes, and not holding on to this insistently like a baby holding on to its rattle, holding on to this egotism. Letting go of the question, 'Yes, yes, all this is good, but then ultimately what about me?' is the root of most doubt I've heard in satsang over the last 11, 12 years. 'Yes, yes, everything is good, I have had experiences of consciousness and experiences of awareness, but then what about me?' But realizing we are starting the same infection, maybe worse than when we started. Sangha to become the most egotistical bunch, especially when it seems like some progress is being made. Not saying that that is happening if that point comes out, but I'm completely aware of the possibility.

So my request today and my pleading and invitation is that set your compass straight, keep it aligned to God's light. I mean nothing else. I'm meaning for you to be free of this Maya. So to be free of the player of this Maya is only possible in this project. And the spirit is very important to start with. Are you enrolling in the army of God? Are you enrolling in the army of God's light, or are you coming to a self-service camp? Um, what is it that you really want? Do you want to die to yourself and make whatever you take yourself to be available to God, or you just want to become perfect? You want to become the next Buddha? Are you truly open to whatever is God's will? Therefore, then what needs to come into the spotlight is: what is my boundary? Where do I draw the line? 'My life is for God' is the word, is a phrase that all of you may have used. But examine for yourself if this is completely true. And I'm glad that you used it, I'm glad that you made this claim, because now that claim will hold you up.

You will not like the dichotomy between that which your heart wants and your ego says is rational and acceptable. It is a great dichotomy there, and to take that leap from head to heart is the root of faith. And surrender starts not in the comfortable space where it becomes a technique, not in the comfort of it becoming a practice, but in the burning of the boundary. So you are looking at the lack of faith is where our spiritual life starts. But where the mind draws your boundary between that and the light of God's presence, that is the gap we are trying to fulfill—to fill up not by moving God into the acceptable circle, but by pushing against and fighting against the bounds that you have placed upon yourself. If with a full heart you can say, 'My life is truly for God in every way,' then surrender doesn't remain a lip service. Please don't fool yourselves. Don't live in a denial of your lack of faith. Don't live in denial of the mind's boundary, but set a fire to it.

Advaita does not give you the tools to live in denial, although they can be used in that way. It is not meant for that. It is meant so that every bit of your individuality is squeezed out of you. Every inch of your selfishness is brought to the light and discarded in your inquiry, in your true full-hearted surrender. So this is just the context to getting started with spirituality. These are the beginner's rules: so deciding today whether it is God for me or me for God. And 'me for God' means everything that you take to be yours. And if you cannot sacrifice everything that we take to be ours, but not even for God itself but in the will of God... if you get the scent of this, that this is what God wills from us—to get the scent of this, the smell of this, this is what God wills from us—would you let go of all that you took to be yours just on that whiff? Not even akashvani or a command from the sky. If you get a scent in your heart and let go of all that you hold dear, would you follow? Not with the promise of getting something in return, but just because God willed it so.

If this is to follow, if this is the way to Ram through becoming Hanuman-like, if this is the way to become a true Muslim by following the will of God, if this is the heart of Christianity to follow God's will, then are we willing to move out of our lip service and armchair spirituality into true life? Because without all this, with the presence of this ignorance, with the presence of this egotism, this selfishness, to talk about Atma Gyan and the darshan of this Atma is just intellectual discourse. It is not at all a possibility. And I hope that you don't get spiritual experiences when you are full of ego because there is no oppressor like the spiritual ego. Nothing can oppress you like the spiritual ego can. Until you are clear in your heart that this life is for God, until you see that it is 'me for God' and not 'God for me,' we are not even getting started. Not even getting started. The life of God, the life with God, the life as God, if you even dare to say something like that.

So although Advaita may seem like the most direct path—and it is the most direct path—it is not without self-sacrifice. Not without self-sacrifice, not without you dying to yourselves before you come to the darshan of the Lord. So although 'open and empty' may sound like a simple point to me, what can make you totally open? What can get you to be truly empty? The head full of selfishness, concerns about relationships and money and health of the body and how much progress you are making—can you have a moment of emptiness? So let your life match your lips. There is not one of you here who has not said that this life is for God. Let your life match your lips. And no doubt, really, nobody cares about that, but inwardly I feel the metaphor of enrolling in the light of God's army versus coming to a self-help retreat is a good one. Who is the person today as well? Come as if we are coming to a self-help center? And we have to blame for that all the spiritual marketing is about that: 'Come, come, five days practice, 30 steps, become stress-free.'

Let your life match your lips. There is not one of you here who has not said that this life is for God. With your life, match your talk. And no doubt, really, nobody cares about that, but inwardly I feel the metaphor of enrolling in the light of God's Army versus coming to a self-help retreat is a good one. Who's the person today as well? We come as if we are coming to a self-help center, and we have to blame for that. All the spiritual marketing is about that: come, come, five days practice, thirty steps, become stress-free, go back to work and become more productive. There is God knows what in all of that. Remember fifty ways to breathe and become Superman or Superwoman? That is the promise. Surrounded by all of this nonsense, can we find it within ourselves to dedicate this life to God? That is a bit and a risk you must be willing to take. And if you're quivering at the thought, then bring that and keep that in your life. That is better than the delusions of grandeur you're seeking at the thought because you thought spirituality will make you better, will make you special with a halo and enlightenment. But now, really, what is happening is that you're being recruited to fight who? Your own ego, your own specialness. And if you're quivering at the thought of living in the obedience of God's will, then bring that to your life. Don't run away from that. Don't shy away from that. Don't become all greater about it. See that this is where I draw my line and ask for help. Inquire into what is it in your individuality that makes you so attached to whatever that is. Pray into it, surrender into it, then you will be done with the zombie life. To be done with this zombie life, although God's presence animates you, you may spend the entire life without a true meeting with this life. And I am full of the resolution to fight tooth and nail for you, full of it in my heart to spread this heart infection so deeply in all of you. And may you shine so brightly.

But I cannot do it. I cannot force it on you till you get your compass straight. Get your compass aligned away from me and towards God, and the rest I'll make it super easy for you. Empty of selfishness to show you God is child's play. You empty yourselves; I promise you that which you are looking for, you really find it. And even if you say, 'I'm not able to empty myself, here is my boundary. I am too attached to my looks, I'm too attached to my money, I'm too attached to whatever it may be,' which is going to go anyway, thank you. Shine that in your light. The tools are with you. You all know now how to inquire, how to surrender, how to pray. When you turn these devices to help yourselves instead of helping God, many of you are now super accomplished. You may write research papers on Advaita, you may write books on devotion, all the knowledge you have, but do you have the innocence to meet God?

A beautiful thing the other day she said, somebody else but Bhagwan, what do you feel about this thing where in India we say in the last moment if you remember God then you get to be with Him and become one with God? Whatever your belief system is, Bhagwan said, 'Yes, it's good, but remember that this could be that last moment.' In this moment it could all be done. So what's the best time? Now. All that I'm saying for you is for now. And although I place it in the garb of a request and an imploration, really, if you call me Guru, if you call me Father, then it is not a request; it is a command with all your might. All your might. Let go of all that is false in you. And if you cannot let go of all that is false in you, at least bring that which you are denying into the light. Don't hide behind fancy spiritual words.

I don't want this hall to become a center of peace and better, become more sacrificial altar for all our heads in the headless lives to lead the eternal life. I remember that I don't want any of this 'rah-rah' business. 'Yes, yes, we are with you, Father.' Because I've seen like that excitement that comes and goes super fast has no value. Make my words in your heart. They may not even make an impression right now or have any impact today, but my blessing and hope, of course, is that they travel within you. I never do work on the path of the experientiality, self-serving nonsense that is really quite spirituality.

Follow God's will. If you make this God to follow, is it available in a book saying you follow these instructions? She has no access to God directly. You may say, 'Ah, this is a book of God's word,' and if you follow that, then you're following God's word, and that is fine to begin with. I call all of you. Is it true that you do not have access to God? Is God something you still have to meet through an intermediary? Whatever things are about to get worse for you than they are for most of the world because you won't even have this experience. Most of the world can say, 'But I don't know what is God's will. If God wants something and He reveals Himself, herself, to me, then I will follow. Right now I have this life, I have responsibilities, I can't follow God's will, I don't know what it is.' But you in Satsang will not have that excuse and do not have that excuse.

And what I'm about to say is very easy for those of you who are empty because that very presence which you say 'I am,' your very being, and when I ask you, 'Can you stop being?' Try to stop being. That which you cannot stop, whose presence is palpable to you, that presence, that light is God's light, not a personal light. That is your beingness. And before we attach things to this 'I am,' before you attach notions to this 'I am,' it is available. Look and see. It's here. Ask yourself if that is a personal presence that belongs to somebody. Whose presence is this? Whose life is this? The light in which you are experiencing this life, whose is it? Do you get it from somewhere? That which you take yourself to be, this body, appears in whose life and which light, in which presence?

And hang on to it with all your might. Nothing else is working. If you're done with this zombie life, hold on to this presence with all of your might. And if there's some of you who feel like I've gone too far and stop me and tell me to come back here, because I want us all to meet here. I want to make it a living reality for all of us, not just emotionally. So if some of you are new and they feel like you just took a big leap from the spirit of self-sacrifice to suddenly here is God, so if you feel that, stop me. Look at it. I may then ask you, is there a love you feel in your heart which is unchanging with time, which is not the feeling of love, 'I love you' and tomorrow is like 'I don't like you'? And in my space, if you have a love like that for your Master, for your parents, for your children, we'll be taking a step back. How to make this life? It feels like 'Can you stop being?' is going too far, and start with the love. And there must be a love like that. She is the scent of this love, she is the perfume of this love to its source.

If you're attracted to a particular aspect of consciousness—Ram, Krishna, Jesus, Allah—latch on to the scent of that. What does it do to you when you chant the name? When you say Ram, when you say Krishna, when you say Jesus, when you say Allah, a certain fragrance is bound to take birth in your heart. Accept with devotion and love, follow that fragrance. Where does it come from? That pure love for divinity can guide you to the divinity itself. And as your mind is fighting, as your mind may be resisting all of this, doubting all of this right now, remember what our deal is. That is why the deal was made first, that this life and whatever the mind's temptations may be, you have nothing to do with that. You have surrendered this life to God. So that becomes your shield in the inquiry. That becomes your power. That it made you seem so powerless initially gives true power to your heart over all your doubts because this is not about you; it is only about God's life.

What we are coming to is the scent of God's perfume. Follow it doggedly, literally ruggedly, to its source. Can you stop being alive for you? When you will notice that this presence, this light of God, has always been here. And this is not some mere spiritual experience which you are having now and it will go away tomorrow. It's not something which you can claim you got it and then you lost it. It forms your very basis, your very foundation. Unchangingly, it is the light of this universe. Creator, preserver, teacher, sustainer, lover, destroyer is this light. If you feel that you haven't got it, it would be worthwhile to spend the next hundred lifetimes only in search of this. Nothing else is worth it. You may have a million zombie lifetimes so you become the king of this universe, and it is not worth it if you have not lived in this light of God. Everything will leave aside in your heart, emerging. Turn towards this light with all your might and it will reveal itself to you. You are nothing without this, nothing without this. Don't take up any project except this.

Remember again that I'm not speaking about the activities of the outer life, and the light which is riding and writing all of that can continue in whichever way that is fine. But in your heart, make no room for anything else. Surrender, inquire, pray, and all your might for this discovery. I don't want to have one more lifetime where you go without this. All the rest is dying anyway. It's already dead. Which is dying is already dead. Lead two lives now. This is what will make your life one with God's eternal life. Notice that we've come far away from where you thought you're going to help yourself. The attempt is to sacrifice everything, all our attachments, and waiting for this full pursuit of the light in our heart because without this, all our accomplishments are money because you belong to the false and not being.

I'm telling all of you later, God's light is available to you within. Don't waste the life without coming towards full discovery. Your mind is making... and you cannot say tomorrow. You cannot say tomorrow. Do we actually know that we escape this rain? You know, it seems you don't. You cannot see. And then realize that many of you are already aware of this life. To them and to all of you, but maybe it will help out, I want to ask: check within me, does this being have a boundary? If within yourself... oh my God, I will be taking the second quantum leap because when you check that the boundary of this light, which is at the phenomena, so although its presence could be experienced almost perceptually, you may call it the primordial vibration, you will notice that you are aware of this being as being boundless. Boundaries and that which is boundless you cannot perceive. You all lost.

So you check that intuitively you found that there is no boundary, and yet at the cusp of perception you found this primordial vibration, the light, the presence of God you can hang on to. That will bring you to vastness which you cannot fathom. Can you perceive that which is boundless? In what way would you perceive it? Possible, and yet you, like in a very primary way, you can experience. So now we have gone from the taste of the presence of being, the taste of God's life. No senses, no concept, no words that I may say can help you here. I just asked a simple question: check and tell me if this light has a boundary, if this presence is bound. But that boundlessness which you are confirming intuitively, that is not what you are perceiving with me. You can see that there is no boundary. This I-am-ness has no boundary, and yet its presence can be felt, can be experienced. So the presence of being points us to the vastness of being, which is imperceptible, unfathomable with traditional means of conceptualization and perception. That's sounding too academic. Basically, you can't do it. You can't do it except with your heart, and your heart is already confirming what is intuition.

Confirming into utility, that is not what you are perceiving with me. You can see that there is no boundary. This 'I Am-ness' has no boundary, and yet its presence can be felt, can be experienced. So, the presence of being points us to the vastness of being, which is imperceptible, unfathomable with traditional means of conceptualization and perception. To sound too academic, basically, you can't do it. You can't do it except with your heart, and your heart is already confirmative. What is intuition? That which needs no mechanics. It needs no working. It's a production. It's immediate, before the sound of the clip.

In which this entire universe appears and disappears, in the light of the presence, all this projected play. Let me navigate without attention. But we never ask: does my attention ever need me? We feel like it goes outside. Can attention leave you? How do you send it out? No, no. It is navigating your own screen, your own life, and that which gives life and life to this universe to a non-perceivable version of that, of it.

Some of your minds will get very irritated at this point. Some of you want to attack. Those things may happen, although relationships, it is okay. Why? Because you cannot squeeze this into your head no matter what you do, and the mind hates being left out. We are having a party and this cannot be included, so it hates feeling left out. So it's going to say, 'But how do I know this is it?' But you check: do you have a boundary? Does your being have a boundary? Or is it born? Will it die? Is it here in the universe? Does it have a location? We checked on all of this instantly, and you have been able to confirm to yourself that you do not have these worldly attributes. But in the mind type of this, no chance. So it will say, 'Prove it.' And that 'prove it' is a trap because there is no empirical way of proving it.

If God became empirical, God would just be available in a temple. So at best, the temple, places of worship, can offer us the scent by which we can come to this, which we can pursue devotedly to come to this. And God's being, God's consciousness, cannot squeeze into our head. And this is where most of everything also gets done. If you like me, 'Am I really having this discovery? How do I know?' They try to spend the rest of their time trying to prove it by writing some concepts about it or trying to have intellectual debates with people. All nonsense. Doesn't help. But you have an advantage because you are what? Headless. So where did you squeeze it through if you're truly headless, which was the entry condition in that attempt? It is not, cannot be me.

And he said to me, 'I hear you.' Good. That is the whole point. The whole point is that what I'm sharing, and the sharing is true and coming from the heart, then you cannot get it in your head. And if you got it in your head, I would be very suspicious. So I would rather you end up being frustrated and irritated and angry with him than you saying, 'Yes, I got it.' Because then I'm doing something wrong and I'm making it too simple for your head to follow.

Now we come to the last point, which is the final view, beyond which no words make any sense. We can hear no words make any sense. And this actually, and any of these actually, cannot be done by us. They are done within our heart by Grace itself. So if you're trying or if you're making an attempt, just come back. You're going, you're going too far. You've gone too far already. All you have to do is whatever attention you feel you can muster, just keep it on the words that are coming and allow the words to unfold for themselves.

The question is actually very simple. The question is: are you aware now? And the answer is immediate. It is recognized immediately. But notice, does the immediacy of this hide something very important? That this revelation is unique because it is completely empty of any perfume, any scent, any fragrance, any quality, any time, any size, any duration, any of that. Are you aware now? But this awareness is not perceived. You cannot even say that in recognizing the primordial vibration 'I Am', I came to this. Not in the slightest. No evidence of any sort.

The mind will propose that it is a blank, but it is not. Even the blank is witnessed. It's just on your perception; it will create a dark, empty space for you to confirm that this is awareness, but it is not. That darkness is also a quality. There's nothing you can do or not do. This is so far removed from this kind of... this being is your reality, that there are no tools which you can use to lasso over it. It's just an invitation you can make in your heart, focused on this, which is the simplest knowledge ever in the upside-down world of the mind, but the most difficult.

All right. You realize your reality in this is the greatest gift possible in the human condition.