The Fundamental Question Is, Does God Live in Your Heart? - 6th March 2024

Yes. So we saw what the problem is. The problem is that we take oursel to be something, is it? Now, has anyone fully dropped that anywhere in this room or anywhere? So because no one has fully dropped that, you see, when we look at their life over a lifespan, moment to moment of course it is completely possible to fully drop that, and that is where the true insight of what you truly are is available. But this Maya, this place, this hallucination seems to be so compelling that even the greatest sages moment to moment may identify with the mind, and therefore we can say that nobody in this human condition has fully dropped that identification.

So that somethingness that we take ourselves to be, especially when it takes the form of spiritual pride—that I'm better because I'm spiritual, or I have spiritual accomplishments, or I'm a spiritual achiever of some sort, or even the fact that I'm a spiritual seeker—can become a source of pride, isn't it? That all of you are chasing all these materialistic things, but I am chasing God, you see. So that can make it seem special. So what to do with that somethingness? What is the most accurate depiction of this 'me' that we can find in the human condition? So what am I saying? If we are going to take oursel to be something, what is the safest something that we can take oursel to be?

Yes, yes, but I'm saying besides the truth of who you are...

You see, everyone takes themselves to be something other than the truth, especially when life pushes our buttons. So 'I am' is the truth of what you are. That which is 'I', which is 'am-ing', is the absolute reality of what you are, you see. But because nobody in the human condition remains empty 100%... and suppose that you are the greatest sage and you take yourself to be only your reality, you see, therefore you don't pick up any falseness, avidya. So 99.9% suppose that you are open and empty, you remain in the Unborn. But that 0.1% if you take yourself to be something super special, Mahagi Maharaj, you see, then that can actually undo the other 99.9% because with that 0.1% you can cause enough trouble in the world and to your brothers and sisters that they actually may turn away from God rather than towards God, you see.

So if it can happen in the lives of the greatest sages, so in our life it is much more; it is not 99.9 versus 0.1. So what is the safest refuge of an identity that we can take for that point-whatever percentage of time that we still identify?

The beggar servant, with integrity, not just as an antidote to pride.

But with integrity to see that, to do an audit and see, okay, there is God's presence, there is God's light. What in our life is a gift of that, and what is the 'me' really bringing? And if you truly were to see, you will find that this 'me' only brings trouble. See, it only brings suffering, only brings trouble to ourselves and to everyone around us, you see. So if this one is such a troublemaker, such a problematic one, then to take itself to be a foolish beggar servant is the only acceptable position where it can cause the least amount of trouble. And now, would we wish that this part would 100% go away? Of course, of course you would. There is nobody like that. In the moments of true insight, we notice there is no such 'me', you see.

And yet, in some of you who have been in more than a decade of satsang, have we been able to lose this 'me' completely? All it takes is a little bit of buttons from a special relationship, from somewhere—it doesn't even have to be a special relationship, it could be somebody shouts at you on the road, is it? So then that 'me' comes. So for this identity, for this conditioning of somebody special, somebody important, somebody who achieved something, to be replaced with a truer seeing that that which I've taken myself to be is just so foolish and not insightful and not loving and not heartfelt, because all of that comes from God's grace, from the Atma.

So the good news is that something in you doesn't like that, you see. Something in you doesn't like that. So you can quickly identify who is to be brought into servitude and to take themselves to be a stupid beggar: that one who doesn't like that. Because if you were truly as many of us claim, that we are just pure awareness, then these words have no effect on you. But some way they affect you, saying, 'But I'm not foolish. I cannot say to everyone, claim to myself or to the world, that I'm foolish.' And that is the fool. That one is the fool. Yes.

So you hear all of this, that really the 'me' that we end up still identifying with is nothing but the foolish beggar, you see. And seen that, the beggar part also most are okay with, but it's the foolish part which causes more trouble, you see. So that which is troubled by being foolish is the fool, because it doesn't recognize its own foolishness. This mother identity is the fool. It's the fool, and it's the one that's causing trouble.

Any identity is the fool.

Yeah, but this one is special. A special, yeah, it's the foolest of the fool. It's not a pool like that; it's a fool, full foolishness. To take ourself to be something when actually in reality there is nobody is foolishness, no?

I can say yes, but I don't see that reality in full.

So then, okay, so tell me what is special about you which doesn't come from God? Because it is also foolishness to claim the gifts of someone to be... to take credit for those, isn't it? So if God is giving us love, if God is giving us peace, God is giving us joy, God is giving us the right insight, God is giving us the gift of spirituality, what is it that the 'me' brings to the table? He's also giving us the identity that takes credit for the spirituality, you see. Isn't that foolish? You see. So I give you a gift, and you say, 'Wow, see this what I have.' But I just gave it to you, you see. So to claim specialness as a result of something that you have, you see, and the same one who gave it to you can also take it back, you see. So to claim to become a claimant of that, isn't that foolishness? Okay, so tell me what is good about you independent of God? What's so special about you?

There is nothing that comes up.

What are we proud about?

I would like to be proud about my children following the same path.

I think why should you be proud about that?

Because I'm stupid.

Yes, agree. That's the end of the conversation. If you see that, then that's the end of the conversation. But if you don't see that and you say 'my path', you see, God is giving you this. Not necessarily my path, it's more like my children and I have to protect them or teach them what he taught me.

At best for children we can say that they come through us, at best, you see, not from us. Like we don't know how to give life, nobody knows how to produce life. So at best, I feel Khalil Gibran or somebody said like that, the children are just the ones that come through us, not from us. So how can you take credit? You, which is the railway station on which they got off. I feel they just came into this world from the railway station called the mother. So what is there for you to feel special? Like the Prime Minister uses the train and he gets off at the railway station, you see. Does the railway station feel like, 'Wow, I'm so great'? Life came through you because God used what we take ourselves to be, the instrument, is it? So what is there for the instrument to feel proud? The instrument had nothing to do with it; it was used by God.

It's not only pride, it's also guilt or shame. It's not only pride, like it's a whole...

Yes, if you work on your pride, the rest will be fine.

I understand what you're saying, but it's just in real life...

What do you mean by real life? What am I talking about? This is the way the mind categorizes: 'but in practical life', 'but in day-to-day life'. All these words are the same: real life, practical life, day-to-day life. So we're just saying that, oh, those things are more real than this or less real than this.

I don't have any excuse, but I get caught in this identity.

Yes, all of us do. None of us have an excuse, but we still do because Maya is compelling, see. So that is why we must constantly be beginners, constantly be a work in progress. That makes us humble, to see that I know that this is foolish and yet I remain foolish. Yeah, so that's a very foolish thing to do by all of us. What can be more foolish than the fact that God lives in our heart and yet we turn towards the world for comfort, for guidance, for pleasure, for everything? We mostly turn towards the world and not the one whose presence is alive in our heart. Can there be anything more foolish? And that is the nature of Maya; it makes us foolish.

So what is avidya? Sounds very fancy in Sanskrit; it's just stupidity, ignorance. Ignorance still sounds as 'I have ignorance'. No, that I am foolish. See, an ignorant one is foolish. That's why Shankara said, 'Chant the name of Govinda, chant the name of God, chant the name of Krishna, you fool.' Basically, you're dumb because we are wasting our life on nonsensical things. And who was he telling this to? You know the story? He was telling this to someone who was a Sanskrit scholar and they were...

And that is the nature of Maya: it makes us foolish. So what is avidya? Sounds very fancy in Sanskrit; it's just stupidity, ignorance. Ignorance still sounds as if 'I have ignorance.' No, that I am foolish. See, the ignorant one is foolish. That's what Shankara said: chant the name of Govinda, chant the name of God, chant the name of Krishna, you fool. Basically, you're a fool because we are wasting our life on nonsensical things. And who was he telling this to? You know the story; he was telling this to someone who was a Sanskrit scholar, and they were learning the grammar rules of Sanskrit. And you see, they were not doing something like what we would consider exceptionally foolish in the world, and yet to that one, Shankara said, 'You're a fool. Remember God, chant the name of God,' with the pointing that God is here. What are you doing? You're just feeding your pride by trying to become more and more intelligent, where the true source of insight and knowledge comes from within yourself.

I can only seek your blessing and His mercy because you are out of moves in your head. Because I love Him. Because I love Him.

Him is Him? God? Love God? Yes. So just love God, like actively, you see? Because 'love God' can't be, 'Oh, I love God.' Are you loving God right now? Yeah, that is to love God. And if not, then what stops you? Like, everyone feels they love God. I told him that day and he got upset with me: 'Of course I love God,' you see? But what I mean is, right now, actively, where is your love for God? And when we are in self-concern, you see, then where is the love for God? So, it's good to say, 'Yes, I love God,' but where is the love right now? Are you talking about the one you were yesterday? Are you talking about the one you were one hour ago, five minutes ago? Are you talking about the one that is here that loves God, is loving God? So actually, we should not say 'I love God,' we say 'I'm loving God.' Then that makes it now. Are you loving God now?

Finally, you can't love yourself and love God. Exactly, you have to jump.

Exactly, exactly. And we can't even find the self that we can love in that way. So when in the context of the question we are saying we can't love the 'me' and love God at the same time, because as we've heard over and over, the lane is too narrow to be concerned about the 'me.' Then there is no God. Who can juggle this? Self-concern, God; self-concern, God. Then what happens is the mind co-opts God also in our self-concern. 'I am praying to God, what is happening to me?' you see? 'Am I getting better? Am I making progress?' Then it's not about God. So how do you know you love God?

I'm here.

Huh? Well, many can come here too for the 'me' also. I'm not saying you are doing that; I'm just saying that that itself is not enough, is it? So the only way to love God is to be loving towards God right now.

Towards my mind now for an answer, and I see that I'm not giving God reality. Exactly, I'm giving my mind reality but not God.

Yes, but I'm saying that I'm talking about more than giving reality. I'm saying honor, devotion, faith, servitude, gratefulness, prayerfulness—all of this then becomes our love. With all of this for God is our love for God. Is our love for God conditional or unconditional? Yes, but does that absolve you of the responsibility to love God? Of course, your love for Him is only His love for you, but do you have the capacity to invoke it, to remember it, to actively love God? And if you feel that you don't, then you must deepen till you find that capacity to love God actively. This is not shying away from the responsibility.

But somehow I feel that every time the reminder comes to turn towards God, it is happening by His grace or naturally, whichever way we put it. Turning to the mind definitely is my effort, but turning to God doesn't feel like my effort or responsibility because the reminder also is your grace. And it feels like that because—and that is where this prayer becomes stronger—that, you know, somehow just turn it fully in, Father, because I don't seem to know how to do it.

So the strangeness about this path is 100% surrender and 100% responsibility, which of course the mind can't understand. Either I can be fully surrendered or I can completely take responsibility. What are you responsible for? You said 'firstly,' correct? So you can turn away from the mind. Can you not turn towards His light, His presence? Yes, but that is triggered by a reminder. Yeah, which I have not said there. So the 'me' has not... you need a reminder because it sounds like we are in some, you see, we are in the second floor. You can go to the third floor, which is the mind, or we can go to the first floor, which is the heart. See, I'm trying to make your house on the first floor. See, so more and more demolish your existing abode because it seems like too much roller coaster to me. So how will you do that? Like this. So if you start, for example—what do I mean by 'like this'? Suppose that you say, yes, in Satsang the reminder comes and in the presence of Satsang then it seems easier. Okay, so six hours a week you can live in God's light. At least six hours. That goes on longer usually, you see. So nine hours, six to nine hours a week you can live in God's light, you see. Do we? Let's start with that, you see. So when you're in Satsang, at least start nine hours a week you're completely living in His light, His presence. Then that will percolate to the rest of your life as well. Just like the child who started enjoying the taste of their selfishness—it sounds weird to say—but started enjoying their taste of their selfishness, of their mind, and got obsessed with going towards that. Now you are getting used to the taste of living in God's light, in God's kingdom.

Amrit said something very beautiful on WhatsApp to me the other day. He said that we often talk about Ram Rajya; isn't that the same as the kingdom of God? I said of course, it's absolutely the same. Because only when inwardly we learn to live in Ram's kingdom, in the kingdom of God, then outwardly there's a chance of that translating, that projecting from within ourselves. So the road to creating an outer utopia is to live first in God's light for ourselves. So is it possible for you to do? When you're in Satsang, you say not 100%, but a lot of time it is a lot easier, isn't it? So then you have to notice that once you leave Satsang, does God's presence leave or do you leave? I leave, you see. So you leave. Or, so let's dive down even deeper: do you leave or it just happens that you are not there anymore?

It's quite spontaneous. Well, deliberate moment, huh? It's not a deliberate moment.

That is where you have to catch it, you see. Because the mind hypnotizes us so quickly that it can seem like it just happened, you see. 'It just happened.' Then what would be the best Satsang for me? Not to say anything. You can just sit here, you can enjoy God's presence because we can just know that outside when you leave from here, there's no choice in the matter whether to turn to God or to turn to the mind because it just happened. But you have to spot it. It doesn't just happen. That is the trick of the mind which tells you, 'You can't help it, it just happened.' Then what is the use of any spiritual pointer? What is the use of the Zen master saying, 'Thoughts are visitors, let them come and go, don't serve them tea'? What is the use of all the pointers from sages if actually it just happened? It's very important. So notice it during Satsang also, that in Satsang also the mind will try something. 'Oh, you forgot to send that email' or work. I'm old, so I always talk about email; I don't know if you kids are sending emails now. But, 'I forgot to do that work' or whatever, you know, it comes and soon you've forgotten that you're in Satsang. You're just visualizing all of those things, thinking about solving that problem. But it doesn't just happen. The hypnotizer proposes a worldview. It proposes a worldview through his thought; it conveys the nature of reality through the thought. And it can just come and go, see, but we bite. We have that capacity within us to bite. So that biting has to more and more dissolve. Yeah, because it is that biting that makes us foolish. After biting a belief in a thought, that is when we are in the hypnosis of the mind.

But it doesn't linger for long. It doesn't even linger for as long as a feeling lingers. Like if you got angry, you see, and the anger is subsiding, it still lingers, no? You can taste the aftertaste of that anger for quite some time. But the hypnosis of the thought—suppose you believe something really stupid, you know, try—you rarely hear this in Satsang—but allow your mind to produce the most ludicrous idea and believe it. But then let it go. It's like the lingering, the hypnosis of it is minimal. That's why it has to constantly reinforce itself with providing more and more thought. Once you buy into one thought, it's like, 'Okay, come, come, he's listening' or 'she's listening,' then you see. So you buy into all of that and then your face seems to convey that hypnosis state. That's how we can play that game. That's how we can play that fresh, fresh game, because even your face can convey that. But actually it doesn't last. So it needs constant nourishment, constant belief. But the thing is, once you believe anything, then the whole pool of conditioning, the tree of conditioning, seems to be true. So you feel like, 'I'm going to just believe this one very humble thought, you see, but I'm not... I'm going to cut out everything else of my identity.' It doesn't work like that, you see. It seems to have like the clutches seem to be fully made. You notice what happened: you buy into one idea of resentment about someone and then you start thinking, 'Oh, how someone else hurt you, how that happened so many years back,' you see. It's all connected like that with the empty.

So when you become empty right now, maybe for a moment or two something may linger, but it doesn't last. So this is your responsibility, and we must fulfill our responsibility till the time that we can see that even this was Grace. Okay, now this is tricky, no? So there is one thing to say right now, that it's going to happen only by Grace, like you said it and you said it, both of you said it, no? So but you must keep fulfilling your responsibility till one day you see that it was only Grace, you see. And that is—when will you see it was only Grace? When you are mostly free from this conditioning. And I'm not being original here; Bhagavan said this, that till you have any choice, you must make the choice to let go of your thoughts, of your mind, of your avidya, and until then, till one day you will see that even that was Grace. So what is he saying? He's asking us to take responsibility for it right now instead of believing the thought, 'It's only going to happen by Grace, I can't help it.' So my mind comes, 'I want to eat a banana, okay, I want to have mushroom sandwiches, I have to put something in the fridge.' Okay, so all of this. But what we don't really understand is that in that process, who are we forgetting? Forgetting God's presence, forgetting God's life.

She's saying the same thing, that you make these efforts, but it's only by His grace that the fruits will come. The fruits will come, and sometimes even in most unexpected circumstances. So true. But I'm saying that the fruit of His presence—whether the Holy One comes, accepts our invitation for dinner or not—is up to His will. But if we keep the table set for God, it's also making our life so much better, you see. So if I was saying that, 'Okay, now to set the table for God your life is going to get fully messed up,' is it? And that's why it's a big risk, is it? So of course it will still seem like that, but in reality we are free from our suffering, resentment, pride, guilt—all of this is already the gift just by being empty for God. Kabir Ji says that you make one step towards God and He makes a hundred towards you. But not as an entitlement, no? In the sense, we can't go to Him with receipts and say, 'See, I made this one step, where are your hundred steps?' you see. Because if your one step is going to be in expectation of those hundred steps, then it is not truly a one step towards Him.

It will still seem like that, but in reality, we are free from our suffering, resentment, pride, guilt—all of this is already the gift just by being empty for God. God says that you make one step towards God and He makes a hundred toward you. But not as an entitlement, no. In the sense you can't, we can't, you know, go to Him with receipts and say, 'See, I made this one step, where are your hundred steps?' You see? Because if your one step is going to be in expectation of those hundred steps, then it is not truly a step towards Him.

She also says to live up to expectations, the side... yes, do it. And this is where I was, I'm observing myself, that there is some sort of expectation in satsang or some sort of desire to grasp something or remember that.

It is good to notice our foolishness, but to obsess about it is also foolish. Yeah, see, this is a very important point because notice that there is only sheer foolishness that happens when we identify as the false one, you see? But then the mind will also make us obsess about that: 'I am like this, but I like this only, I like this only, I'm like this only, and this only,' you see? What about God then? That's why, just in a way, in a broad manner of speaking, I was saying ninety percent God concern, ten percent self-noticing or self-concern, not the other way around. Otherwise, we can be like, 'Oh, this is... I'm like this, I'm like this, I'm like this, I'm like this, I'm like this, I'm like this,' and then, 'God save me, God bless.' And, 'I'm like this, I'm like this, I'm still like this, I still go on like this, still go on like this.' Then only God can help. Then that is just using that, allowing the mind to use that as a tactic to hold you from God.

Father, when I look for God, there's only love. Is that what you mean by loving God? I cannot find any if that helps you to come to love.

Then that is loving God. You can say remembering God brings me to love. If I say to you—some of you are parents, some of you can think of your parents—do you love your children? But before I reminded you with this question, you were in that moment, you were not actively loving your children, you see? But I said, 'Do you love your children?' Ah, children come to mind. So in the same way, we can use God's name, the remembrance of God, to remind ourselves of our love for Him. So don't ever come to a place where you start saying, 'No, no, no, I'm just...' You see, it has to come just naturally. If it comes, it comes. It's going to be His grace only. But did you turn towards Him truly? How many days, how many weeks, how many months, how many years did you turn towards Him truly? And then you have the authority to make a complaint saying His love doesn't come.

Because we live in this sort of instant gratification world, everything is available. My son was here, he came and he lives apparently in the most developed place, but he came and he forgot to print some important paper and he was flying the next morning early, 3:00 AM. So at 10:00 PM he remembered, as always. So he remembered, 'I have to take this printout.' Now he's really paying attention. It's okay, it's okay, don't worry. So he remembered at 10:00. So what did he do? He went to Blinkit and he ordered a printout from Blinkit, and I didn't even know it's possible to do that. And this one came at 10:30 carrying a printout for him. So we are just used to having everything on order. So we expect that from God also. 'But I turned to Him, where is He? I was promised a hundred steps, where are they?' He's not there, just pure silence. That even if it takes a lifetime, turning towards Him is already love for Him, isn't it? But to taste that Divine love will also happen if you keep turning.

This mind is very stupid in every way, but one thing: it is keeping my nose to the grindstone right here. It doesn't want me to go out. It wants me to be nine hours... I think it's the mind, it's not the heart. It wants you to do what? Nine hours to be here listening to you.

Yes, yes. See, that's fine. But the day it tells you not to be here and to run and all of that also, you have to be here. Many times it starts like that, then it's so nice, 'I find peace, it makes me happy,' all of that. But then some button is pushed, some job comes, like 'Run!' So that time it's important not to listen to the mind, because the one that wants to run is the one that you have to run from. Something... ninety percent God concern. So ninety percent God concern and ten percent self-concern. So in the sense that to notice our foolishness, to notice that every time we go to the 'me' we get stuck in pride. And in reality, all that is good comes from God. That also the mind can use as a habit to just keep repeating and saying, 'I'm just foolish, I'm like this, I'm, I'm, I'm.' So keep that self-noticing to a point that it's an antidote to pride. Otherwise, it becomes an obsession with the 'me,' but a new way to obsess about the 'me.' Just keep your heart, keep yourself in your heart, in His temple, in His presence.

God concern... I don't... what is there to concern about?

Yes, yes, just a way of saying be concerned with God. Does God live in your heart or no? A very stoic sort of answer I'm getting from this room. Does He live in your heart? The One? Or has He delegated the job to some minor deva? In India, we have this whole hierarchy of gods, so like Indra and his minions. Not those. The One. He lives in your heart. Then what are we doing outside? You know what I mean by outside? Why are we not mostly in the heart temple with occasional distractions when Maya pulls us out? Why is it that it is the other way around? Mostly we are in the dealings of the world and then we turn to God, especially when we get slapped in the world. The best time to turn to God is when you feel that you're winning in the world. Most of us turn to God when we feel that we are losing in the world. It's good even then, any time is good. But the best is when you feel like everything is good, and to turn is important.

Is it really the God? The God is not a feeling of God, maybe just a feeling. Just a feeling He's put over there to remind you of Him. It's not really Him, it's just a feeling.

Yes, feeling shy to say maybe just a biochemical reaction, maybe He's just Maya posing as God. That's a solid question. How do we know it's not just Maya posing as God? Because His nature is not objective. Maya means name and form, you see? Now we may give it a name, but we can't grasp the form of the presence that we find within ourselves, you see? We can sense it, but we can't grasp it. This is the beauty of it. See, you can sense the presence, it's there. But what is its shape? What is the color? Where does it come from? You can't really get a handle on any of these things. So it is like the wake-up call in Maya to remind us of that which is beyond Maya. And that is why some have called it... you take a hair, you see the tip of a hair and you divide that by a million, that is the core of this holy presence. That's how it is defined in some Vedantic terms. But it's really not that; it's just telling you the subtlety of it in the sense that it is ungraspable. Because even that you cannot say, it's like a hair tip. It's not. It's like there, but it's also there. It doesn't have a boundary, but it's not here.

Some have this idea that Consciousness is like a very subtle gas that's been sprayed in the room, you see? So it's everywhere. Just like before all of you came, suppose we fumigated this room. Is it actually... you can't see it, but it's everywhere. So some of us have this kind of idea that it's like a very subtle element which is everywhere in this objective world. It's not that. The 'everywhere' is within God, just like your dream is within yourselves. Some are trying to find God everywhere like that, like that. But God's relationship with this world is more like the Creator. It's like many go around the world looking for God and say, 'I can't find Him. He's supposed to be everywhere, why can't I find Him?' It's like saying, 'I read Romeo and Juliet but I can't find Shakespeare.' You getting it? So everything moves in the story of Romeo and Juliet because Shakespeare has written it, but you can't go into Romeo and Juliet expecting to find Shakespeare. He's not everywhere in that way.

So many of these misunderstandings are there about the 'everywhere' of Consciousness, and especially this one is very prevalent in the modern world where like, 'God is everywhere, just like very subtle, subtler than a subatomic particle, He's there.' No, it's not like that. Everywhere is within Him. All this is a dream in His Consciousness. But He cannot be found by wandering the world. He has to be found through the portal back, you see? And whatever route that portal may take, it has to come to His presence first. His presence which we can sense, but we can't grasp because it's both got a phenomenal, most subtlest phenomenal taste, and yet the aftertaste is non-phenomenal. And in the world, it provides many tastes. So you may experience a lot of love, peace, joy—all that comes from there. And it itself is a subtlest, tasteless... like water doesn't have a flavor and yet you know that there is water in your mouth, you see? So when you are in God's presence, you just know it, you see? You sense it. But it takes you to that which is beyond the subtlety of even this water which we can't grasp through any objective means. That is called the Nirguna.

But if we don't live in the presence, if we don't turn towards it, we rely on the world more than we do His light. Then to talk about the Nirguna and to talk about pure awareness becomes a very fancy, like Advaita talk. 'I am that, I saw that yesterday in my inquiry.' Already gone if you're talking about yesterday. So if God lives in your heart and we exchange that for an offer from the mind, tell me one worthwhile thing to turn away from God for. What is it? What is worthwhile? So why haven't we built our house inside His temple? So some of you may say, 'Yes, of course, this is the temple in my heart, I can live there.' Some of you may say, 'I don't know,' you see? 'I don't know.' But you've been told now, hopefully by a credible source, that that's where He lives. So you must live there. Even if you can't confirm that His presence is there, you must build your house there irrespective of what you believe, then what you believe you have found or not.

And then you can just see that everything becomes His play. In the sense, is the proud one more fearful or is the humble one more fearful? It is the proud one which is most... their position getting shaken, of their concepts getting poked. So many times over the years, people have come to satsang and some of them knew a lot of spirituality, you see? So they are the ones who got more poked. And why do they get poked? Because they're scared, you see? They're scared that, 'I'm going to listen to this strange man and all that I've learned over all my fifty years of spirituality, he will say forget about it, it's not true.' That's very scary because our identity is built on top of that. So this idea that 'I already know, I'm just here to confirm my belief system' will keep us trapped. And that is pride. Or the idea that 'I'm just here to collect a little bit, collect a little bit, I'll collect from here, I'll collect from there.' It's like saying, 'I'm going to install half Windows, half Mac on my operating system.' See, it's just our fear that makes us like that.

So what instead you should do is do your full due diligence, find your full heart resonance, and then just hand over completely. Because you will never make the right combination. And because you put yourself then in the position of power—'Add this here a little bit, like that from here a little bit like that, and a little bit like that, but I keep the power to myself'—is it then that that is pride which will get used up? And we can never be proud and heartfelt at the same time. It just contaminates everything. It's all interconnected in that way. Can you be faithful to God and be proud at the same time? It just sounds wrong, of course. But when you contemplate it, what happened? Your source of power is coming from all this stuff and your mind, and you're being asked to trust this, to rely on this more than this. It's not going...

But I keep the power to myself. Is it then that that is pride which will get used up? And we can never be proud and heartfelt at the same time. It just contaminates everything. It's all interconnected in that way. Can you be faithful to God and be proud at the same time? It just sounds wrong, of course. But when you contemplate it, what happened? Your source of power is coming from all this stuff and your mind, and you're being asked to trust this, to rely on this more than this. It's not going to happen because you've invested so much in that identity here and here that you're not going to be guided by your heart. If your heart is telling you one thing and your head is telling you the other thing, what do you follow? And most of you say that when my head is telling me, then there's no heart anyway. Or some say that my heart doesn't guide me, it doesn't tell me. But you know by now that what I mean by heart is that the presence moves you, the presence guides you. But suppose that both were available to you, what would you follow? That is what you're faithful to. That is faith. Faith to follow that. So you have to be faithful to the right master, the holy presence within yourself.

Are we really living like that or only now for now, you see? Are we living like that? We wait for guidance from the heart. We wait for the heart to move us, His presence to guide us and move us. That is a deepening of faith that needs to happen. Is it because in spite of now knowing all of this, why do we still rely on the mind so much? Because fear gets in the way of faith. Yeah, can you say yes? So now suppose that you built an identity around something, you see? And now if you're just going to rely on the heart and nothing is moving in that direction, your mind uses what? See, now all that will go to waste. You see, people will think you're a fool. You started, you did all that, and now see what a waste. In spite of your heart not moving you in that direction, we allow the mind to use these fear tactics, you see? Emotional blackmail, psychological blackmail about our image and our pride. So fear, pride—I'm just showing you how everything is interlaced. If you reconcile that you are a foolish beggar, the mind will say, 'What about all that? People will think you're a fool.' And yes, they'll be right. It is easier to laugh here, no? The world laughs at you then.

It's like from everywhere there is a like attack for me to become something immediately, you know? Like because each one of these things that you said, you know, that even if I'm in my heart and somebody says something and then I quickly either I'll get hurt or I'll feel it's unfair or I'll get angry. Or Father, like if I have to wait for guidance and I wait in my heart and suddenly it'll be like, okay, just there's some impatience that happens or what'll happen now, you know? All of that just now.

The thing is that we must localize the source of all the trouble, see? Because if the source seems like it is everywhere, then the mind is winning. Yeah. So what happens? Yes, of course your family is telling you, your parents, your friends, everyone is telling you, you know, whatever advice they're giving you. But if you don't take that in, if you don't allow your mind to participate in that, it is nothing. So to localize it is to notice that you get involved only because of belief in your thought. Otherwise, the world can keep saying anything. How does it matter? So all of you could say you like this, you're like that, Father, whatever, whatever, whatever. It's fine. Or say, 'Ah yes, what do you mean? How could you say that?' You see, if I get involved in that—which I mean, I don't know—but then I'll be a fool to do that, you see? For another's foolishness, for us to become foolish is foolishness. Because they can't force you. They can't force you to go to your mind. Yeah, they can shame you, they can try everything. In the sense that, like my son in the middle of exams, his friend will say, 'Come, we're all playing Fortnite,' and it can feel like they're all forcing him, but they can't really force him that way. If he doesn't want to play, they can't make him play. But it can feel like it's a force. So we have to get over that sort of peer pressure because the mind will conveniently say, 'It's not me, it's all these people around you.' But if you don't give in to your thought, then it doesn't matter.

This sort of peer pressure takes so many forms, you know? And then the thing is, either then sometimes you feel like you have to decide whether you kind of go with the flow and then just try to be open and empty, you know, with peers who are on a totally different wavelength, or whether you check out. So I have kind of taken the position of, you know, not checking out and sort of going with the flow. But then, you know, it takes all kinds of forms, right? Like, you know, I'm just saying hypothetically, like let's say your friends say, you know, 'Let's all, we're all going on a trip somewhere,' right? And then, you know, you're expected to come along, right? And then, you know, and then but you know that, you know, all the stuff that's planned is not really, you know, it's not really stuff that's, you know, it's on a different—it's all mind stuff, right? It's all sort of mind, you know. It's like an escape by being hedonistic, right? It's like a hedonistic escape, right? So now what do you do? Now either you have to check out to make a conscious decision—either I say I check out, but then, you know, if you check out then again I guess you're giving credence to this thought that it'll be, you know, 'I shouldn't get involved,' right? Again, that's buying a thought. Or you go along with it, you know, knowing that, you know, who knows, right? And I don't know, I get caught up in this kind of stuff. So and then I get—I procrastinate, but then I'm just not able to do anything. Yeah, I'm like frozen between, you know, this and that. I just see. So I don't know, I don't know, you know? And then I honestly don't know. I don't decide anything, no. So I—but then, you know, then when it comes to of course for so many things, you know, you've got—you have to travel, you have to plan. I mean, you know, you can't buy tickets last minute, you don't know what's going, you know. And then no, I guess you can, but you don't—I don't—I never get this kind of guidance to say 'Go do this' or 'Don't do this,' right? I just—it's more like I don't want to think about it. And you know, this is the point I want to—so I just want to get your guidance on how to react.

When you say that you don't get this guidance from within to do something or not, is that what you're saying?

I'm not getting—I mean, and that's fine, because I've never really gone and God is saying, you know, immediately is saying, 'Okay, go to Egypt, don't go to Egypt, do this, don't do that.' You see, it doesn't have to be like that. But if you notice, just being in His presence, yeah, do you get that sense that He's moving you?

So for Father, it's for me it's like this. So you know, one of the practices I've made a habit of doing now is, you know, I do inquiry every day and then I—after that I read 'Who Am I?', which is, you know, a short book, so it takes 10 minutes, right? And now what happens there is that, you know, it starts off with, 'What is the obstacle to realizing the Self?' and it says upfront, he says, 'The belief that the world is real.' You have to give up that belief that the world is real. And then there's that metaphor of the snake and the rope. If you take the body-person, which is the, you know, like basically the inert sensation, if you take that to be the reality, then you know, you can't. So I go there and then I'm like, okay, you know, then this is all sensations back in, you know, being and witnessing it and all that. And then I don't want to think about anything, like I don't want to think about, you know, what's happening, what to do, and you know, I'm just very happy, right? But then, you know, days go by and then it's not like whatever the Maya is, it's not like that situation changes, right? You do have to at some point, you know, like nothing gets done, right? I mean, like nothing will get done. Like no tickets will get booked, no communication will go out. It's just not in my thought, it's just not there. But then at some point you do know that, because at least in the seeming Maya that there is a timeline, right? It won't totally disappear. You do have to make some conscious decision somewhere. Do you know what I mean? Like for example, I kept a hotel room in Tiruvannamalai, right? And then I said to myself, 'Look, at some point, you know, I'm being just bad to the person who's holding the room because I mean I can procrastinate all I want, but then at some point I'm going to leave somebody else high and dry.' So I put an ultimatum to myself and I said, 'I'm just going to, you know, just decide.' And you know, that's a very trivial thing, but then this takes so many larger forms involving lots of people, family, all kinds of affairs. So I'm just asking for your guidance because I'm struggling a little bit in terms of, you know, do you just check out and say, 'I'm not doing anything, I'm just going to be kind of more of a centered in my simple life,' or do I say, 'I'm going to take everything that comes and try to be open and empty and just go with the flow'? And I haven't come to the conclusion.

So like this moment, and that's why I say that God is an alive presence. And something else was playing out for a moment and then something just stopped me and the answer itself changed. And this is coming out of the mouth now. So what is coming to say, which is very different from what the first answer was, is that what are you—if you're finding the truths in satsang, following the inquiry, if your heart knows that this is the truth, then what are you willing to risk in exchange for this truth? Or what are you not willing to risk? What are you not willing to risk for it? So you found that the way to be is to be in His presence, to be empty, open and empty, and to allow things to unfold. And you've also been told in satsang many times that it will not—it will always turn out well, but will not turn out well necessarily according to the mind, you see? And that can seem like at many points a big risk. So the path is not riskless. In actuality it is, but in the play of this Maya, it will not always seem riskless, you see? So what is the risk that you're willing to take? Are you willing to say, 'Come what may'? If you're willing to say that, then the mind will not be able to scare you with these things. And then you will notice, as I have noticed many times, that things which seem very linear, that seem to have a particular timeline which is unmovable, you see, many things just vanish out of thin air, vanish into thin air. And many things, the timeline changes, everything moves when you're in with God, you see? But you can't be with God hoping that it has to turn out a certain way, see? First you have to take that full risk. You have to be able to bet your life on it. And then you tell me that miracles don't happen. You will see every day in your life things will happen, that your life will become a series of countless miracles, see? We just have to be able to notice. Our mind will quickly come and say, 'See, that's just coincidence. Oh, it's just like that.' You see? 'Ah, thank God it turned out that way.' But never really seeing that He is the one. For Him, past, present, future, all this is nothing. But at times it will seem like a risky spirituality, and we must take that risk. And probably in our current times, we've had the easiest time of it in our spirituality. We've had the easiest time of it throughout history. We know that what has happened to those who have committed their lives to spirituality when it comes to decisions like this. But...

But you see, thank God it turned out that way. But it never really seemed that he is the one for him. Past, present, future—all this is nothing. But at times it will seem like a risky spirituality, and we must take that risk. And probably in our current times, we've had the easiest time of it in our spirituality. We had the easiest time of it throughout history. We know what has happened to those who have committed their lives to spirituality when it comes to decisions. But mine are more special because they are spiritual decisions. Okay, thankfully I'm hearing sarcasm in that. What's up?

I feel there is also this sense: what is a spiritual decision? The only spiritual decision is whether to turn to God or not. Yeah, but you see God in a form like Guru. That's our decision—is to turn to God within. Because whether it is Guruji, Ananta, whichever teacher you may be following, yeah, they will point you to God's presence within. Isn't it true?

There is. Take that decision, then let all decisions happen from there. I'm trying. I was telling another child, whatever you're asking me, it's all sounding win-win. Should I go here? Should I come to you? Should I go to Ma? Should I be... for me, I'm just hearing win-win-win. What is the problem? And what a beautiful world you can be in where you can have options to choose from that. So many are pointing to God and you're conflicting yourself based on where should I go. Your heart resonates. I don't only choose this, I also choose this. Yes, that is the decision you have to take—to not choose this and that. The fundamental question today in satsang is: does God live in your heart? And you may feel like that doesn't answer my question, but it does. Yeah, because if God lives in your heart, then what are we saying? He cannot move us? He cannot guide us? For one moment of God-darshan, are we willing to give up one hand, head, or no? This head—are we willing to give it up? Because what will the world take from us? Maximum this. But we sell ourselves also short. We give ourselves up for much less than a risk alive. It came to me to say this. All these fears that happen... is it God living in your heart? Did you answer?

Um, there is this... does God... why you say you are the teacher, I am the student, but the student says I will decide the curriculum. Does God live in your... I'm um... I choose to find an answer to the question this time.

You choose to? It was too complicated for me. What is it? Yes or no? It's very important to directly answer this question.

I answer yes, but then because the experiences that I go here...

Does God live in your heart? And 'I don't know' is fine. It's completely fine. But we must find out and not waste our time on anything else. I'm not saying that your answer was 'I don't know,' but suppose it is 'I don't know.' Then we must find out because we are not talking about some trivial thing, that there's some special chocolate left in the fridge. You see, it's like that—if you open the fridge, you'll find it there. We are talking about God's presence, which is the very substance of all life. They are saying, does His presence live within yourself? How can we make it about something else if this is there? If I told you a special friend from Romania has come to Bangalore to surprise you, huh, or he or she is waiting in that room over there, you see, you'll be rushing to see, isn't it? You'll be saying, 'I want to find out, really she's there? She's there, really?' I'm saying God is living within yourself and we are saying, 'But this, but that, and this and that.' Where is that? I feel saying yes is not going to be sufficient.

What is true for you, my dear? I don't want all this complicated stuff. What is true for us? I'm not asking whether conceptually you know this, because conceptually everyone knows this. And in India, everyone will say yes conceptually. But is this your living reality? In India, who doesn't know bhajans? How much everyone knows here. But have they made it a living truth for themselves? Because many times they believe that just to know it like that—'I know you'—that itself becomes the block. So if I was asking you, 'Are you sitting or standing?' you would not say, 'I feel to say sitting, but actually...' Is there a ground under you? You would not say, 'I feel to say yes, but maybe it is Maya.' So the question is literally like that. We are not discussing some theoretical thing. We are not discussing some 'What's your feeling about this? What's my feeling about this?' No. I'm saying as an actual fact, more factual than sitting, standing, ground, air. More true than any of these. And this is what our life's focus has to become. You have been told something which is the most important thing: that God's presence lives within yourself. God's presence is... it is even more important than whether you continue to have this body or not. So it must become foremost, urgent, and important in our lives to have a living, alive answer to this question. I'm okay if you say no, you see, but then your experience will be very different from mine, and I'm happy to talk about that. If you were to say, 'No, God does not live in my heart, does not live within myself,' then we need to talk. Because then what I'm finding seems to be something very different from what you are finding, you see. So one of us is looking at it the wrong way. I am happy to talk. But if it becomes about 'But I feel like this,' yes, it is true, but is it... we are not talking about something which is just conceptual.

You show me over time that God does live in my heart. And I mean, if it's like you said, it's not a question I have to ask if you're sitting or standing—I know if I'm sitting or standing. So there are times when I know God lives in my heart and I...

No, no. Right now. Right now, is He living in your heart? And then what else is important? Same question for you. Living in your house. Nothing about times and not times and all that. Okay, leave it.

No, but what I really wanted to say was actually more than that. Was that it was you who said it, and not just said it, but showed it to me over time. Because like even this travel is that I saw that everything would be perfect and you... I mean, down to some silly accounts of one rupee—I'm exaggerating, but ten rupee. Okay, if I just listen to you, if I just had to just follow what you said, it would be perfectly fine. Some room would come from somewhere. I don't know. I mean, it's just... it's not just inside, even in this phenomenal way, it would just be perfect.

The Guru presence which is using this stupid boy as an instrument is the same Guru presence within yourself, see, that is guiding you. And I'm so happy to hear that because there are two ways in which when you say 'you,' the 'you' can be heard, you see. One is that, 'Oh, Ananta, this one, that label for this body, this one.' Or if you're using that as a label for the Satguru presence within yourself and that which you taste coming to satsang. So of course that presence moves this one, and this one's job as an instrument is to take you to that one. And you know that one's name. All the sages who have ever lived, you can use any name that is within your heart, because everyone who is sharing the truth will admit that it just comes from the presence within, the intuitive presence within him.

You say that it's not Ananta. Okay, okay. I'm not saying it's your body or your form that's really... you want to call that presence... yeah, I... no, I'm not saying that now. I'm having a quick escalated... see that when you say certain things like 'I didn't within,' okay, maybe within, maybe I just now I didn't know it, but now I know it, right? But when you say that, initially it used to bother me because I had... I trusted you, right? I didn't know some presence. I don't want to follow some foolish beggar.

Yeah, exactly. No, not them, not them, not them. Okay.

But initially, I mean, there's something in my heart which knew it needed to trust you, however annoyed my head would be becoming. So when you say no, I'm like, why is he now shaking up my faith? I'm not today, okay, this was the pun. But sometimes when I'm lacking faith, which happens once in a while, then you say this thing and then it again it's like, why is he saying this? Because I know it's not true. And I really, I want to have that... not true, I mean, I forgot what was not... I mean, I know... okay, this is...

It's okay. I have a sense of what you're saying. So the only thing that makes this one trustworthy is that when he's saying that God's presence is alive here, he's not making it up or referring to some past. It's a living experience right now. Is it also true that in spite of that, he takes adventures into his mind and becomes foolish? Of course it is true, see. So, and I never want to get trapped in an image of being a Guru or a teacher and to not be able to admit that. And I'm not going to tell you... I know the next question which you want to ask is, 'But how much?' you see. But not you, any of you: 'How much?' So, but I don't want to say how much because then you'll make that into a benchmark, you see, and say, 'Okay, now that is what we have to know.' I'm not aspirational in that way at all. I don't want you to benchmark, you see. Just to know for yourself that when you do this, you're being foolish, just like when I do this, I'm being foolish. And we must both retreat as much as possible to God's love, to God's love.

I've begun to see more that in that presence which I find, that there isn't like a you and a me kind of story at all. It's...

Yes, but we are not talking about the times where you don't see that there's any separation, correct? We are talking about all the other times.

So when all the other times that I see, that's... we're talking about all the other times when I see. I need me to fully in my heart have faith that this Ananta is God's presence. The Satguru is God's holy presence, and I don't want it any other way. Where is it? What's wrong with me?

It's okay, it's okay. It's been grounds in the morning, right? So is it that so many people have told you that God's presence is in me right now and I'm guiding you from there, that you need that one to also say, 'No, no, but he's never foolish, only perfect'? What is the chance for me? How many have given you this offer, that God's presence is alive in me right now and I'm speaking to you from there, guiding you? See, how many have you met who have told you that with integrity, that God's presence is palpable to them in that moment and He is the one that is using this mouth? Okay, you have told me that and I know it to be true. Yeah. So when you did me otherwise... so now you want that one also to never have failed?

No, I don't want them to never have failed. Then you fail, then... but you better most failure than follow some other failure. Everybody has to fail.

Okay then. Okay then, you're the best failure there is. What with this thing? It's not confusing anymore. Now you know what happens when people on a pedestal start lying—then it all becomes convoluted, performative, you see, shosha spirituality. And the day I get into shosha spirituality, please tell me to go home. You have, yes. So from the heart, tell me to go home. You know this shosha, the ones from the West, you know this shosha spirituality? It is... you can get the sense of it's like being a performance, you see. And part of the things that cause confusion for you, like another conversation we had about Shivratri, about chanting till late in the night and things like that, was true with my complete abhorrence for any shosha spirituality. We know. I'm not saying, by the way, if you're chanting too late in the night then you're doing shosha spirituality. And they're saying that I know that you now never really just did because... and now you decided that not we really know. I mean, I really know. And you know that you know that I'm happy to follow anything you... you know that I know that, of course. So if you say, 'No, I'm not coming in the night,' then you not come in the night. Then we find some other way of doing whatever we have to. But I know you don't like that. So you were saying in the morning, when you said in the morning, yeah, then become... you know, it has to be about the love for God.

I really know, and you know that I'm happy to follow anything. You know that I know that, of course. So if you say, 'No, I'm not coming in the night,' then you're not coming in the night, then we find some other way of doing whatever we have to. But I know you don't like that, no? So you were saying in the morning, when you said in the morning, then it has to be about the love for God, is it?

Yeah. Again, I'm clarifying for everyone because it may seem unclear. I'm not at all saying that if you're chanting and you're praying till midnight for Shiva and Shivaratri, it is not auspicious or beautiful. I'm just saying that maybe sometimes the most effective prayer is to just be by yourself in your cave and just pray deeply in your heart. Maybe it is effective to be together; we can't just presume and just say, 'No, no, this has to be,' because then that becomes spiritual experience chasing and it becomes more performative rather than heartfelt. And I don't know fully; maybe it'll happen that way that I'm here, maybe it won't. I don't know. But I'm not going to be guided by just like what should be done and, you know, what is popular to do, those kind of things. And the day I want to start doing that, send me home. I enter this, say, 'Go back.' That sounded a bit performative; I have to look at that.

Still want, just one quick thing. Just thank you so much for such a beautiful and powerful satsang. You know, I think the weakness in my own looking and understanding, which you've helped me deeply clarify, which I'm so grateful... I think I just need to look at the presence as the creator of the whole universe. It's not a presence we say, 'just a presence.' That sounds like such a flat world. But everything is like every sensation, you know, this whole body, everything, it's all just the play of that one. I have to look at it like that, that reverence and just that amount of awe.

Absolutely. It's that's the one. That's been my intention: to take it away from just like a scientific, you see, thing like a sensation. It's not a sensation. Yeah, to see God himself, the Creator, the preserver, the rejuvenator of this and all the universes—He is the one. So, very happy to hear this report. This has been my intention because many times we make it very dry, you see. 'The presence of Consciousness is there,' which I've said and I continue to say, but what are we talking about? See, what is that Consciousness? Who is that? It's not a brain function, it's not a scientific thing, it's not a phenomenal occurrence. He is the one.

And it's not about, like another child said the other day, it's not about he or she. It's not about... because I'm very much happy to call this Devi Ma, or I'm very much happy to call this Bhagavan, I'm very much happy to call this God's presence. So don't limit yourself, don't block yourself because your mind is making categories and saying, 'But why does he always say he?' Not like that. It's just a traditional way to refer to Him. I'm very happy to hear this report. It is music to my ears because this is the shift that I've been wanting to make. I don't just refer to it as like 'the presence' like that. For many years even I've said like that, but I'm also trying to switch over. I'm seeing His presence, His light.

I'm so happy you just said that because that's what I want to say as well. I agree, agree. It's like we put so much attention on our experience and trying to control it, and what we think should happen and what we think shouldn't happen. But to Him, what is experience? You know, like what is it? And this might sound odd, but I wanted to say that on behalf of all of us, you know, because we've all seen it, we've all felt it, and we're all still a bit scared to fully live it, you know? But when you put it like that, you know, we have to look at those fears and see like, what's that about for Him?

Yeah, I really appreciate that. Very good, very good. Thank you.

Okay, tell you to offer this existence to this understanding. Can I? It came to me earlier, came to you earlier to offer this existence to this.

So, you finished the earlier conversation? It's yes. It's yes. You can meet this. The answer is coming from a living light within. Yes, yes. So to remain in that, to be with that, is to offer everything to that. Yeah, everything simplifies when we get our focus correct. If our focus becomes His light in our heart, the rest is then simple.

Thank you. Yeah, that His grace...

Yes, you have to take responsibility. Same conversation what we had. Yeah, you have to make the 100% commitment that you will give up on the faults, then His grace will be always available to us. Else, if you tell Kabir to do his homework, he says, 'Yes, yes, yes, if it is His grace.' Then what will you say? So sometimes we can even hide behind spiritual notions, you see. I see that somewhere. It can... the same words, 'By His grace, if it is His grace,' can be a full yes. And the same words, 'If it is His grace,' can be a hiding. So it's not in the words that are right or wrong; it's the sense that is conveyed in that.

There's a sense that 'I'm fully available, open, empty for His grace to move this and that way,' and there's a like, 'Yeah, when He does it.' You see the difference in both the modes? I want you to be very careful of the second mode because then it can just become an excuse.

I think the sense I use it is more like I pray for... I pray to Him. But you also come because you can stay with Him in your heart and you then you have to stop making excuses for that not happening by saying that His grace has to make it happen first. Make it happen and then say His grace made it happen. That is also true and there is more true. But for now, you have to make it happen.

I take full responsibility. Very good. Commitment. And I'm very grateful I came here, like I told you.

Thank you. Some kids, you know, give up smoking, and it only was said after, like, for some it was many years they were in satsang and we sort of talked about it, but it never came really from my heart. But when it came from the heart as an instruction, then I was fully expecting it to be followed, you see. So if then they said, for example—okay, I won't take names—but if someone said, 'No, no, but it was not His will for me to,' you see, I would not have bought those things. So as a parent, you have a sense of when a child is hiding behind some words or when they mean it from their heart full-heartedly and they're still trusting God, you see. That is very auspicious.

So that is fine, but because we had this conversation a few times, I noticed that somewhere something is hiding, you see, behind the notion of surrender. But now I'm very happy to hear the responsibility being taken because Maya is a big artist. Some of these things just stay with me also because these sages say these things in such a simple way. I would try to explain and explain; he just said, 'Maya is a mahathugini,' the great con artist. That's it. And then the way he's explained it, that she even hides in the devotion of a devotee. What is the meaning of that? You see, how does she hide in the devotion of a devotee?

Separation. Separation. Separation. Convenient, you see, convenient devotional concepts.

So they sound like devotion, but they're just avoidance. They are self-preservation instead of self-sacrificing. So he said that in the lotus... under the lotus feet of Vishnu, she can hide. So we have to be really careful because this Maya, this Moha, this which makes this Leela seem real, that is the great trickster. And it finds things where it feels like, 'But this is true, you can't argue with that. You yourself say it's all His will, now you're saying I have to take responsibility.' See, it doesn't make sense. Of course it doesn't make sense, because your sense is trapping you. You're trapping yourself in making sense and saying, 'Okay, now this has to be this way,' you see.

So if your spiritual father doesn't notice these things and pull you out of them, then who is going to? You see, who's going to point out that you're restricting yourself using even spiritual notions? That is the meaning of 'in the pretense of Bhakti it can hide.' In the pretend Bhakti, in the notions of Bhakti, it doesn't let the Bhakta grow many times, and some... it needs to be pointed out. Somebody has the second heart attack, they just give up smoking. They don't say, 'When His will will make it happen, it will happen.' And I'm not just talking... I'm using that as a metaphor of 'it's all His grace,' but it's also all our responsibility.

If you don't understand, it's fine. Whatever is at your disposal, you do. And the 'how' will happen; don't get stuck in the 'how.' Have that fire of intention: 'My life is only for You, God is only for You, I turn only for You as refuge.' With full heart, make that commitment. Then the method, the 'how,' all that will show up. Don't wait for the 'how' first. The methods are actually unimportant. The fire in the method comes from your true surrender, your true intention from your heart. Otherwise, I've spoken about this for years: we have the best excuses. No, Advaita has the best excuses. Advaita excuses for bad behavior, yeah, with this procrastination, you know? 'I don't make a decision, I wait for it to come from the heart,' or while not listening to the heart at all, yeah, saying, 'I'm waiting for it to come from the heart, I'm waiting for it to come from the heart.' But all this is just coming from the head because it has heard this Advaita.

Yes, exactly. Yeah.

So just live in your heart. That is what you've committed to. You've taken full responsibility that whether it is the checker guy, whether it is the police, whether it is the one who knows so much, none of that is important because you will be guided by His presence. You will move in His presence.