The Only Way Out Is to Be the Disciple of the Atma Within - 28th June 2024

Yes. So we can create a framework based on what our insights are showing us and what we make out of them conceptually, and we can make a framework out of that. But really, when we look, let's look first at this question which we've not seen for many days: 'Am I aware now?' Now, not only are we saying is awareness here, we also saying, 'Am I aware?' So on what basis do we come to that insight? If it was a worldly basis, we should just be saying that I am a body, I have eyes, I have ears, so I'm sensing, I am perceiving. Where is the question of awareness, see? So in what language do we learn that? Do we find that? And that language is different from the language of thoughts and the language of words. Is it at best, in a worldly way, we can say it is the language of silence? But the silence is not a mute silence; it is a silent communication which is happening between the Satguru presence, the Atma, and yourself. And in his light, in its light, do you recognize this reality of yourself itself being awareness?

So we can't really speak about this, but we can point to it so that you can come into the discipleship of the true teacher sitting in your heart who will show you that your true nature is this awareness itself. But just to make a feeble attempt to speak about it for a minute: when I say, 'Are you aware now?' without you concluding, thinking, inferring, perceiving anything else, what is it that you find? Just the most innocent looking, yeah, you are aware. So this 'you' which is aware, how is it known? Yes, but how in the sense that—in the sense that we could say, for example, that sight is seeing, if it was, you see? So sight sees itself, so it is self-seen. So this awareness, what can we see? And if it is always aware of itself, you see, then how is this discovery that I am this awareness supposed to be the highest discovery in the human condition? The recognition of the Self. It's not the sense, it's not thought, and it's aware of itself. It is aware of itself, but what about you? So you are it. Now this 'your itness,' your being this 'it,' your being that you see, where is it known? Is it known? Like you were saying, not sensorially, not perceptually. Then it must be known somewhere because it has the ability to be forgotten, or at least clouded. So that is why the play of Maya can work.

So the Consciousness, which is the manifest aspect of awareness, has the ability to identify. It has the ability to identify with concepts, with notions, with objects, taking itself to be something that it is not. So the returning to that self-realization, self-recognition, needs the help of the Atma within. Because if you just speak like this in the world, you will say, 'But I know I am awareness.' There's a difference between 'I know I am awareness' and 'I know I am awareness.' And in the world, it makes no difference which way you say it. In fact, if you say it conceptually and with confidence, it may be better for your outer life, but much worse for your inner life. Where is that where you have to retreat to? You as Consciousness, you as that aspect of Consciousness, whatever you take yourself to be, where do you have to retreat to where this is clearly known? In satsang, we can only bring you to or point you to that place—can't even bring you, point you to that place where everything is known instantly. And yet you may not have the outer evidence to prove that. You may say, 'I'm empty,' but what happened? Nothing happened, because that is your mind's report. These questions—what is sleep, what is love, what is truth, what is true justice, what is true music, what is true anything—true can only be known at a deeper place.

Father, could that not even be said for a simple thing like, 'What is my phone number?' If you ask me that and I say my phone number, and then you ask me how do I know and where is it even there, I don't know where it is located, but it comes out. You can't really see, no? So would memory also possibly be part of that?

Yes, of course, because we experience memory even in the dream state, you see? And the dream could have just started, but you can still report on where you came from, where you're walking towards. Nobody in our dream, at least in my dream, it doesn't happen like that, where somebody says, 'So where are you coming from? Where are you going? What is your name?' I don't say, 'Wait, wait, wait, I don't know, my dream just started,' you see? 'So I'm just starting to build up these memories.' It doesn't happen like that. We are able to report on our name, where we are coming from, even though it could have just started. So the same is true for this state, which is actually just like the dream state.

So the one difference may be that, you know, like in memory when memory loss happens, Alzheimer's—and I have had a couple of relatives—but I don't feel that their awareness has diminished at any level. Because awareness is not attentiveness, yeah? You see, people consider awareness to be attentiveness; it is very different from that. So many times attentiveness also doesn't suffer, but even if it does and we are not attentive to anything in the world anymore, we may say in the world we are not aware, you see? But awareness is aware even of the lack of attentiveness on the presence.

On that, Father, sometimes I've wondered: are these folks who are in severe Alzheimer's state where they don't remember anything—while it seems like a problem to everybody else, could they be possibly in a blissful state because memory and stories are not harassing them?

Could be, I don't know. It could be, but we have to be careful because we don't know. Like many times, it's not the same thing, Alzheimer's and dementia; all these are different conditions. But just to take an example of when we have to be careful is that when in the world people who we take to be crazy or mad, you see, we say that they have lost their mind. But is it really true that they have lost their mind? If you look at them, they are fully involved with the mind; they may be even repeating the words of every thought, you see, outwardly. And not everyone is like that; there may be some who may be completely empty. So we can't really say; we just have to be careful of concluding that it has to be like that. We don't know the inward condition of someone; maybe they are just too caught up in their memory, imagination, thought, thinking process.

So the only way out, you can conclusively say, is to become a disciple of the Atma within, is to live in the heart temple where all this knowledge is freely available effortlessly, and so much love, so much peace, so much joy, so much faith, compassion, kindness, everything. So our attempt must be that: to use the inquiry, to use the prayer, to return to our true place. Nobody can remain in the true inside without the assistance of the Atma moment to moment, of the Holy Spirit, of the Satguru presence moment to moment. Why? Because Maya is compelling. How many have we seen over the years in all the satsangs that we've been?

At the temple where all this knowledge is freely available effortlessly, and so much love, so much peace, so much joy, so much faith, compassion, kindness, everything. So our attempt must be that: to use the inquiry, to use the prayer to return to our true place. Nobody can remain in the true inside without the assistance of the Atma moment to moment, of the Holy Spirit, of the Satguru presence moment to moment. Why? Because Maya is compelling. How many have we seen over the years in all the satsangs that we've been in who seem to have such beautiful true moments of insight, you see? And you may look at them and feel like they can never return to the human condition again, and yet you see them after a few weeks and Maya has pulled them back. So the only way out of this force field, to remain in true inside, is to remain inward facing. Whichever way keeps us inward facing—whether it is prayer, inquiry—remain in that way.

Then returning to the original question: is it to wake up out of this waking state? It is to recognize while we are awake what we recognize in our sleep. And that recognition cannot happen through worldly empirical ways. So the strange thing about this is that it can be very difficult, you see, but the difficulty is to let go of the difficulty, is it? So the prerequisite is to come to a state of just sensitivity, like a softness within, like an openness within where a clear real transmission is happening. You see, a real transmission is happening. You're sitting in front of God's light, literally. You're sitting in front of God's light and transmission is happening in that way where knowledge is being transmitted, love, peace, all that is holy is being transmitted.

And to sit like that, you facing God, God's light can seem very difficult because Maya will pull you back with all its might, even into thinking about spirituality or concluding, especially about spirituality, because that can give you signs of making progress. Just sitting quietly facing God inwardly can seem like, 'What is this?' It can sound like a loser lifestyle. So just first we have to relax, but it's not a worldly relax. That's why it's better to say like a sensitive softness, inward sensitivity, inward softness which keeps us open to the—I can't even say translation, but you have to use some words. So God's light is in your heart; it is also emanating a perfume which is calling you home every moment, you see? Like a homing signal is there. But in the grossness of the world and worldly pleasure and worldly desire and expectation, that seems too subtle. It's a soft instrument. The world's ways are very blunt, you see, very harsh. So you will find yourself becoming softer. It doesn't mean weak; it means stronger. But it is the ability to remain in love deeply with God without having to conclude anything, rushing to conclusions.

Have you seen like that, what happens with you? Why I'm saying with you? Because it happens with me all the time. So you're just sitting, then the mind offers you some candy. It says, 'Isn't it like this? Isn't the true nature of reality this? Isn't it like that?' And that can seem like a worthwhile thing because it seems to be talking about that which we are most interested in. So then we fall for that candy because it seems to be worthwhile. But actually, what we need to do is just remain where we are, even if the mind is pushing, saying, 'But nothing is happening, you're wasting time, no progress is being made.'

So if you are a mahani and you're spreading the words, the commentary of Shankaracharya Ji everywhere, and you've taken it to be your life's mission, but actually you've learned it—like learned it, you've understood it intellectually, you've imbibed it in your intellect—which also is beautiful, it's good, you see? Compared to being only involved in worldly things, it's not bad because it will hopefully seep in somewhere. But if you see one just type, beggar type, someone sitting in Lord's temple just saying 'Ram, Ram, Ram,' you may say, 'What a waste of a life. What do you know? After 50 years of doing this, I know this, I can tell you God's commentary on that, I can tell you all of this thing. What have you learned just sitting here doing Ram, Ram?'

And suppose that the one who is doing Ram, Ram took a break for a moment and came to his conceptual mind. He could say the same thing about the other one. He could say, 'I've spent my life at least with the intention of being with God. What have you done? Just filled your head with ideas.' So really the point, whether it is inquiry or prayer or whatever spiritual path that appeals to us, is to come within ourself, inward facing. Because when we are inward facing—why antarmukhi, sadamukhi, why inward facing always happens? Why? Because inward facing you're not facing a limbo or a nothingness, you're facing God's light. And whether we like it or not, this choice we will always have to make: to let go of the world's apparent light to go to that which seems invisible at the moment because it's non-perceptual, it's unperceivable. But to remain in that unperceivable, uncreated light of God's presence is a constant choice that everyone will always have to make, no matter how big a sage they are or consider themselves to be. And anyone who says otherwise, that they transcended Maya, is fooling themselves, and that is the doorway to pride.

Is it too cold? Where did Nisargadatta Maharaj go? So that's such a literate man who said he never read any books, then gave us so much insight in as direct words as possible. Where did he go? Of course he went to his Guruji, Siddharameshwar Maharaj, but also where truly we have to go. Because there's a difference in speaking conceptually and speaking authoritatively. Okay, it's okay. So for our words, for our testimony to have the fragrance of truth, it has to be from the heart, from this holy presence, and as empty of any contamination, as transparent an instrument as possible. And that is the lifetime project: how to drop this pretense of Ananta and speak just as an instrument.

A screwdriver doesn't think that, 'Oh, I the screwdriver, I'm doing such a good job or such a bad job.' You get caught either way, isn't it? So if the screwdriver had the ability to pick up a pretense of being something, someone, then its lifetime project would be to remember that it is just a mere instrument being used by God. What would you say to this? If you were just tightening something in your house and the screwdriver suddenly started speaking and started taking credit for the work, what would you say to it? So can you imagine God? This food box, food compartment, takes so much credit for creating all of this, creating so much all of this stuff, where it doesn't know how to move a single atom. It doesn't know anything: who he is, who she is, where it came from, where it is going, what are thoughts, what is consciousness, what is anything worthwhile, love. It doesn't know anything, but it's quick to jump and take credit, just like that screwdriver saying that it invented this entire technology, is it? And actually, I'm trying to exaggerate to make the point, but as I'm saying it, it's not seeming like an exaggeration at all. Our prideful state is as silly or worse.

Even if you say, 'I am the body, I am the body,' we have no idea about the body, how it gets created and, more importantly, what gives it life. We only think we know. It's a question of life humans have been grappling with for thousands of years. But unless we turn to God, unless we turn to the Atma within, there is no real answer. Everything is just speculation. And the problem with a speculative way of life, just a conceptual way of life, is that when we need it the most, this speculation, these concepts that we built on speculation just dissolve. And when life is squeezing us by our throats, all this doesn't help us. Okay? So the true stability can only come when we learn to sit, to live, sleep, everything in God's temple, remain over there.

And just be like—your children know, you would have these—okay, now I'm exposing my age—but where we would live, we would have these people who would come with those bioscopes. Bioscopes, how many of you know? Some of you know it. So where this one would come, usually a man would come and he would carry this device with him, roll it around, and as kids—so it was probably this high—as kids you could look into that and then they would play like a private version of the movie. And that was our entertainment in those days because television used to have one channel with Doordarshan playing. So that used to be our entertainment. We used to have like that. So this world appearance is just like that. We are peering into this movie and taking it to be the story of our life, you see?

Now, which world is bigger? The child peering into the device, whatever it is, or them peering into it? Because attention is fully in that, it can seem like that is big for that moment. And especially if you forget about the outer world, it can seem like that is all there is. So that which is your inner world is actually—it's not a spatial comparison, but it is some sort of comparison—which is that your inner world is much bigger than this outer world. That's why all sages have called this like a firefly, a mosquito, just comes and goes, you see? And the true dwelling place is the true universe within, the true realm, the true abode within.

So then what are the pathways to live like that? That is the question. The pathway to God means: what is the pathway to living where God is central, where His light is central to us? So all true satsang in the world must be pointing to a pathway to this, to this inner light of Atma within. So here in satsang we talk about inquiry, we talk about prayer, we talk about remaining empty. Sometimes we have devotional singing. These days we've started reading the Ramacharitmanas and the Psalms. So all of these, why? Because they aid us in returning to our true home. So we must never get stuck in the spirituality which makes us something in the outer or just something that we are learning conceptually.

So if the job of inquiry, of prayer, of all spiritual practice is for us to turn inwards, and if you found that this is your path—this is the main point I've been wanting to make since satsang started—that if you have found your true path is inquiry or prayer, you see, then all other world concerns should not concern you anymore. Even your questions in satsang should be, 'Oh, I get stuck here in my inquiry' or 'I get stuck here in my prayer. How, what can I do? How can you help?' Then our life becomes fully attuned to our journey inwards, is it? But if you were spending a lot of time thinking about just worldly stuff, conceptual ideas, then it will not translate. Usually, it does not translate. God's grace can make anything happen, but usually it has to be said that then the fulfillment of our life, which is the discovery of God's light and living in God's light to recognize who we really are and then to remain like that, to abide in that, does not happen.

So the simple point is: what are we concerning ourselves with in our lives? Because this path of spirituality that is offered in satsang is not the spirituality which is a hobby or an interest, a part-time project. This has to be done with full surrender, full emotion. But if you keep going back to, 'But what about me? What's in it for me? What's happening to me? When will it stop happening to me? Or when will it happen for me?' then it will seem more and more difficult. So we must leave all of this and just be like innocent children who have been told God lives in your heart. How would you be if you were just an innocent child, didn't know all this worldly rubbish, and God was truly what you wanted, and you were told the way to find Him is just to be inward facing, stay with God, have the intention to be with God? That's all. Then how would that child be? Our life as spiritual seekers has to be like that. There's no problem; whichever method you like is fine. The intention to find Him takes care of the method. There are a million methods; all of them get their power from where? From God Himself. So that answers this question: Father, is there a difference between chanting Ram or whatever resonates?

You were told the way to find them is just to be inward-facing, stay with God, have the intention to be with God. That's all. Then how would that child be? Our life as spiritual seekers has to be like that. There's no problem; whichever method you like is fine. The intention to find Him takes care of the method. There are a million methods; all of them get their power from where? From God, God Himself. So that answers this question. Father, is there a difference between chanting Ram or whatever resonates more in your heart? Because if God's grace is on you, then even to do it like the famous story of this sage, even to have it all upside down and say 'Mara, Mara' will get you there. And if you're doing it obsessed with the 'me, me, me,' then you could be the most perfect sharan; should pronunciation of the words not going to help. So, intention over method.

Father, if I'm thinking a lot, like if I'm indulging my mind a lot, if you are indulging my mind in all its stories while I'm praying, so it means what you're saying that I am making it about me? So I just want to hear it again. Who's the hero of the mind? Me. Is the mind weaving narratives about somebody else? Even if they are about God, mostly it makes the centrality the me. My finding God, me, God, me big and God. So I can't say that I'm getting distracted or I'm getting, you know, the mind overpowers me only as a further distraction.

Yeah, in the sense that you notice you're getting distracted, so to dwell on that is to agree to that condition, to that distraction. Better to just return. Notice the distraction. All of us get distracted, but just to return. The mind will say, 'Oh see, you're getting so distracted' and what, so that's further distraction, you see? So that is why the simple saying of 'if you've fallen down, then get up'—what I mean is such a deep pointing in such simple words.

What I meant was that I can't say that, 'Oh, I just get distracted.' Like, I am interested in me. Like, my interest is still no matter what excuse I made.

Yes, we must be careful of that, of too much this 'I get distracted, I get angry, I get jealous, I get this, I get that, I get that.' You see, that is the human condition, as if it's just happening, like you're standing in the middle of the road and the car comes and hits you, or a truck comes, you see? So you're not a silent victim. None of this happens without cooperation. But most of us have lost touch with our inner being so much that it can seem like all this just happens to me, because from where we can decide to indulge or not, that seems too far-fetched, isn't it? So it's very important to start to notice these things, to dive deeper into a deeper place where we can't say, 'Oh, it just happens to me.' If you notice, you see that all of us go through that, that we decide to indulge. But when you notice, then just return.

But I want to ask one more thing. This thing about preconceived notions. Yesterday when I was sharing and I just said it, and then I felt this must be that my mind always makes up that when you go there, this will happen. And it does, most of it there only, even before the thing happens, you know? And then when that thing really happens, that just feels like ten percent of it, you know? And ninety percent has happened in a notion proposed to me way before. And is that what is a preconceived notion also?

Kind of. This is more like a premonition or like a sense of something going to happen. But I'll give you another example. I had a friend a long time back. So this friend was always saying something or the other, constantly saying something. So then what would happen is that as time went along, so suppose he said, 'Today this, I don't feel like the English teacher is going to come.' Yeah? But he also said like ten thousand other things. But suppose that day the English teacher didn't come. He's like, 'See, I told you English teacher won't come.' So this trick the mind is constantly playing with us, you see? It's constantly saying stuff, constantly saying stuff. Most of it we don't recall, you see? But when things happen, then it says, 'See, I told you so.' That means give allegiance to me, give power to me, that I am something which is valuable. So don't worry about these things. And if it happens, then it happens. It doesn't mean anything. Even if you're saying only one thing, the mind is saying only one thing and it is happening, so it tries to use it to make specialness out of that which is not special, which is the 'me.' Just for everything, give thanks to God and move on. Okay, let's go to Liam.

Namaste, Father. Thank you. I had a question about the methods to come back, to go. Because I heard you say that this staying with God is a full-time show now. So I've been like trying to honor that and experimenting with this these weeks. So the question is between inquiry and prayer. And I sometimes find here that inquiry becomes a bit mental or redundant. And this question appeared like, if better than inquire about an 'I,' wouldn't it be best to just come back to God through prayer? Like evoke God instead of inquire about an 'I, I, I, I.' I don't know if I'm clear.

Yes, uh-huh. Okay, thank you. So let's look at this. Let's spend a few minutes on this because this is a very important question, actually. The design of an inquiry, or we can say the inquiry because we say 'Who am I?' is the inquiry, but actually there are many inquiries. All contemplative questions in Satsang are inquiries. There are: What is the nature of reality? What is awareness? Am I aware? Can I stop being? Who is perceiving this world? All of these are inquiries. Now the design, what makes them inquiries rather than just mental questions? Because none of these questions can be answered truly from the mind. For to come to a resolution of these questions, they are like Zen questions. You cannot answer them with your intellect. Just like a Zen koan, you need to go beyond your intellect to a deeper place to come through insight about what the question is asking. So in that way, inquiry is designed to be completely the opposite of a mental process. And that way is how it's designed. Because how far will we go, for how long, with the question like 'Am I aware now?' or 'Who am I?' thinking about it in the mind? Because everything that we had to think about who we are, we've thought about. Mostly we've done the thinking about that. So 'Who am I?' and then Bhagavan also told us that when a thought comes as an answer to that, we must ask ourselves who witnesses that thought, see? And when the answer comes, 'It is I,' then we go back to 'Who is this I?' So it's not very easy to become fully mental about the inquiry. But as we have been doing it for a long time, the mind finds some ways to pull us back into its narrative, and in that way, it can seem to become mental. But that is true.

Now many will say that as I pray, I find myself to be mental because I'm taking myself to be somebody and bowing down to somebody, isn't it? It seems like there's duality; it seems like that is too mental. Many have this complaint, but actually it is not true. It is to use that propensity that we have to take ourselves to be somebody and to surrender that to that which we truly are, or that who is the highest. That is prayer. So it is a letting go rather than a mental process. So both of these are designed to take us deeper from our mind into the holy place of where the Satguru presence resides in our heart, the temple, the heart temple as I've been calling it. Because there true insight, true knowledge, true love, the truth of anything becomes apparent, especially who we are. So that's why you don't need to be very conclusive about what you should do or what you should not do. The arrows are available in your quiver. All these tools are available. So in your Swiss knife, there are two different types of knives available. One seems appropriate at some time, the other seems appropriate at some other time. And as long as you're not making it a mind tactic, not letting you settle on either, you see? Where the mind is saying, 'No, no, today I don't feel like inquiring, I'll pray. Today I don't feel like praying, I'll inquire.' It's not just so mental, but it's heartfelt, is it? So like I told all of you that we must not start engaging with others in the day unless we come to God's presence. Whether that takes a few minutes or a whole day goes like that, we must not spread this egotism in the world by ourselves not being in God's presence. So we must take that few minutes for most of us to just come to His presence, or the deeply seated sense of your only intention being to be with Him. We must not, like, you know what I mean by being just being centered in that way. We must not start being helter-skelter in the world.

So some days when you ask yourself 'Who am I? Who am I?' like you were saying, it becomes mental when the mind starts attacking you even more, then you use your prayer. Pray. See, if the prayer is not working, then put on some bhajan, some holy music. If that is not, you see, do some yoga, do some prostrations, do whatever. After living in this life for this long, we start to get a sense of how it functions, is it? Now what happens is that when we want to turn towards God, the resistance comes from the mind and it wants to say, 'No, no, no, not today. You know, I'll start tomorrow. Today I'm not that interested, or I'm too tired,' or something like that. So when these messages come from the mind, we must just let go of them and take one tiny step towards God. Yes, it's like when I was younger and somebody told me to start exercising. They said that there will be many days where you don't want to exercise or do yoga. So they said all you have to do is get on your mat; the rest will take care of itself. Yes, the same thing also works here, that if you just turn towards God, take one tiny step, then that takes on a momentum of itself to break the momentum of Maya. And I see these small, small tips which you can use because you'll notice that your mind is playing that way. You want to spend the whole day in prayer, yeah? But the mind says, 'Let's put on the football, let's do this, let's do that,' you see? Like that. And not that any of this is inherently opposed to God or anything like that; it's just a question of: Is your focus on God? And if your focus is on God, then all this worldly activity can go on. But sometimes the mind uses the world appearance and its candies to distract us from actually turning towards God.

Yes, I see. Father, yes, to say that today I did the inquiry and came to such a deep recognition, or you were to say that today I did the prayer and I came to God's presence, or if you were to say today I visited this holy temple and I felt so much that God is with me, or you say, 'I just sang some bhajans or listened to some bhajans, or I did some pranayam, I did some yoga, I did whatever,' that made no difference to me, is it? Yes, the point is God at the center, is it? The point is at the center. So I'm not at all interested in saying that this is the higher path, this is the lower path. In fact, I don't know, something here is always attracted to the lower. So if something is the highest path, I would say, 'No, no, what is the lowest path? I'll follow to God.' Not in worldly ways going to the lowest path of the mind, but I have no interest in getting somewhere fastest, being the first or the highest. I'm not interested in any of those things. So if a simple smiling at a stranger that you meet on the street brings you to God's presence, then that is the highest path. Yes, and your heart will always keep guiding you moment to moment as to what is the right way for you, is it? And maybe it is sometimes just reading a spiritual book. You read a book sometimes and you feel like you're sitting in front of the sage in Satsang with them, is it? So that is also a very high path, unless we are making this conceptual understanding and proud about what we are learning. So everything is possible to do in Godly ways and everything is possible to do in worldly ways. And everything you do in Godly ways because it is God, it is the highest. That old cliché thing about if you...

Which way for you is it? And maybe it is sometimes just reading a spiritual book. You read a book sometimes and you feel like you're sitting in front of the sage in satsang with them, is it so? That is also a very high path, unless we are making this conceptual understanding and proud about what we are learning. So everything is possible to do in Godly ways and everything is possible to do in worldly ways. And everything we do in Godly ways, because it is God, it is the highest. That old cliché thing about if you multiply anything with infinity, it is infinity. About God, whatever it is, is the highest. So don't spend your time thinking about all this—not that you are, I'm just saying generally. Even last time we had some questions about this. So it's not a worthy use of time to keep thinking about 'What is my path?' because there are so many that I need. Even after twenty years of spirituality, they keep saying, 'So I don't know what is my path. Is this better for me or is that better for me? Higher, lower?' So we are not following the beats of our heart then; we are just getting caught in some worldly categorization and comparison.

Yes, thank you, Father. Yes, I see. I've been trying more like to keep this focus or intention really in God through from morning to the day and use this. I mean, I use both like inquiry and prayer. It's kind of prayer has become like something newly discovered here through your satsang, so I feel I'm taking a lot of juice of that. I had a question about prayer also because you said something earlier like we were speaking about being open and empty, and you said if you are truly open and empty, then it shouldn't be difficult to pray all the time, you know? And I try that and it exposed something like, 'Wow, there is still a lot of thoughts.' Because sometimes, the same as inquiry, you feel like you are open and empty, but there is some mental activity that still, you know... and prayer like exposed that. And the question is like, one should be like praying all the time, like verbally? I mean with the inner voice inside, like saying for instance, 'Ram, Ram, Ram'? Because I've been trying and I don't feel capable of doing that like all the time. That's the question.

Yes, it can take years. It can take years to settle into that, to become natural for us. And I don't know if we should ever even say that we are settled in, because the minute we start to feel like we're settled into something, then Maya pulls the biggest tricks. So our job is just to have this, carry this intention, and to just every day as much as we can, just be in the prayer. You made a very, very good point, and I've made this point often, but I'm glad all of you are starting to see it. Somewhere the mind can love either position, you see? It can love either position of open and empty or constant praying. And that is why either is a good wake-up call for the other.

You see, for example, it may seem very... like many of us may have concluded that we can remain just empty, open all the time. But for those, then to constantly pray should be very easy because there's no resistance in the process. It should just be very natural. So we should just be able to stay with our prayer constantly. But those who felt that they are fully open and empty, when they started praying, many times they recognize that they're not praying; they're engaging in some thought activity, is it? So it revealed that what they were taking to be just sheer open and empty actually was a mind trick which was tricking them, saying that it is constantly open and empty. But actually, it can apply the other way also. If you feel like, 'I can just pray all the time,' you see, 'I can just pray all the time,' then if it is just so deeply settled that you're with God all the time, then to remain open and empty all the time would also not be difficult for you. But if you try to do that, you notice that so many obstacles come in the way.

So let's use all of these as wake-up calls to seek us out of any sort of subtle pride, any sort of subtle position-making, you see, and bring us back to the beginner approach of starting fresh every day, is it? So if I wake up in the morning, can I conclude that today the whole day will be open and empty or spent fully in God's temple in my heart praying to Him? I cannot make that conclusion. I can say, 'This will be my intention, and whatever power I seem to have with me, I will put in that direction.' But can Maya not trick me and make me spend the whole day in worldly things? It can. So let none of us make this kind of conclusion that, 'Oh, I can just be this way. I can just be in inquiry all the time, or I can be empty naturally all the time, or I can pray naturally all the time.' If it is not feeling difficult at some points, then something may be hiding somewhere. Because that means that you are saying something which the greatest sages have not said, which is that Maya has no power over me. Even the greatest sages have not said that. They have said that Maya has a lot of power, so I have to keep praying for His grace to bless me.

So in our prayer, in the beginning, we pray to God in the form of Vishnu, in the form of Hari Narayan, and we say that You are the Maya-rahit one, which means that You are the only one who is actually free from Maya. So God is the only one who is free from Maya. So that pure awareness, that pure beingness within ourselves is of course completely free from Maya because Maya is a product of that truth, that reality. But when Consciousness is playing in this way, it has designed it for itself to get involved, to get caught up from time to time—and for most of us, all the time. So we must never make a conceptual conclusion of being free from any of this, and we must never say that 'this path is higher for me' or 'this path is lower for me.' We may say, 'At this moment, this is helping me stay with God or stay with truth,' and then we keep ourselves safe in those ways. Otherwise, pride is going to get us very quickly.

I see. Can I share something more? Thank you. Yeah, just... yeah, I'm experimenting with this and also sometimes I sit and I don't know if it's an inquiry, but I repeat this that you've been saying, like 'God is here,' you know? Because there is like this, at least an intuition, like God is really here. I know this. And this feeling like the light of God is here, you know? And there is kind of a feeling or a searching impulse like saying, 'Well, if it's here, why don't I see it fully?' you know? Yeah, because I know it's here, but it's not fully known yet. And I don't know, there's... I mean, we use prayer and inquiry, but this is like this aura of deepening, you know? I don't know if you have something to say about this.

Yes, thank you. Thank you. Actually, I haven't said this for many days, so thank you for this reminder. I want to repeat it, and we can just look deeply at this aspect. So I've said, we've been saying in satsang, that if Krishna was sitting in front of you, if Jesus was sitting in front of you, if some of the prophets were sitting in front of you, if Ram was sitting in front of you, then what would you be doing? Your entire focus would be on Him. You'd want to serve Him, you'd want to love Him with all your mind, with all your heart, if He was in front of you, you see? Now, faith is that which teaches us to rely on that which is not visible to our senses but known in our heart more than that which is visible in front of us.

So if you let go of your mind for a moment, then these words will ring true for you: that God is right here. His presence is right here within yourself. His presence is accessible to us. That one who came in the form of Ram, Krishna, Jesus is here with us. So the visible will try to conclude that there is no such thing, but the intuitive, the heartfelt, is showing you something else. So true faith, true spirituality, is to rely on what your intuitive insight, through what your Atma, inner self-knowledge, is showing you, rather than to rely on what the world is pointing to. So sometimes you make a mistake of confusing this intuitive insight with the experiences that may come as byproducts of it, you see? So we may say that, 'Oh, I feel so nice and so joyful and so peaceful,' and all these will come as byproducts, but we must not attach to that which is visible so much. We must rely only on our intuitive insight which makes known that which is beyond visibility, beyond what can be touched, felt, smelled, looked at, tasted.

So it's very good at times to not really have an experience to talk about and yet to just be in faith, to be inward-facing in your faith, is it? Yeah, for me, for all of my children and for myself, that may be higher than to be inward-facing when great experiences are happening. When great experiences are happening, it's easier to be inward-facing or to turn towards God. But when it seems like it is all made up and there's no faith, the words of the teacher are all just conceptual and the sages are just talking some nonsense and truly the way to live is how the world is telling us to live—then if we can remind ourself and turn inward for one moment, you see? When there is trouble all around us and we need to fight in the world, then if you can turn inward for one moment to the holy guide within us, the Atma within, the Holy Spirit within, then that is very valuable for me. Yes, because the rest He's taking care of anyway. He can't take credit for if He's providing us great spiritual experiences inside and we are just all day dipped in the honey and enjoying the honey, you see? Then there's nothing to be praised in there. We have to praise God in that, of course, saying, 'Thank you that You're blessing us with this.' But if you say that life was tough, this was happening, body was hurt, relationship was falling apart, no money in the bank, all of this was happening, and yet I turned to God and said, 'It's all Your will. I surrender to You. I'm happy with whichever way You keep me'—for me, that is much more valuable than you even sitting in samadhi which is happening, you see? Just like a samadhi is unfolding, because in that you made the effort to turn when everything in the human condition was saying 'stop'.

Yes, so beautiful. Thank you, Father. Thank you so much.

Just keep at it. You're going well. Thank you. Okay, let's go to Sant. Hi, are we having a reunion or what? I saw that at the beginning Shivani was also here. Sant is here after many years also. Very good, very happy to see you.

Thank you. I feel to make this connection with you more alive and more also in this way of speaking, because it has been very alive inside my heart although I haven't spoken to you like this in a Zoom. Sometimes I was watching without the video and sometimes listening to the recordings. Yes, also from Sahaja there was a little bit of not feeling so much that it is appropriate yet. So yeah, but you've been such an anchor for me in humility and I've been on the pulse of your satsang over the years very much, yeah. And in this inward-facing towards God alone and doing God's will is so much, so much resonating. And that's what I'm, let's say, certain about: that God alone knows. As much as it's in this capacity and openness here to be without the mean narrative, to be without arrogance, specialness, all this pretense, and to that I'm fully surrendering to God.

For this I bless you with all my heart, and may you keep deepening in this surrender to God. Very happy to hear you and good that you'll be able to participate like this more often. Yes, and I have to... sorry, in a way you also always been here through Adrian. Yes, both of you can join. I still remember the carving you gave me, you know, with that, with the watch face on it.

I will have to say to apologize in advance for any arrogance that will come up in our interactions, because at the moment I feel God took its gloss.

I bless you with all my heart and may you keep deepening in this surrender to God. Very happy to hear you and good that you'll be able to participate like this more often. Yes, and I have to—sorry, in a way you have also always been here through Adrian. Yes, both of you can join. Yeah, I still remember the carving you gave me, you know, with that with the watch face on it.

I will have to say to apologize in advance for any arrogance that will come up in our interactions because at the moment I feel God took its gloves off with San, so I'm also in that. Like, I really don't need to protect any way of appearing. So if through my sharing something will come up that you feel is also not appropriate towards the guru's image or something, please, like, take it out of the recording after or something. I leave that to your—

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just—thank you. We must always be able to share openly, freely, anything that we want to say. We must always, always be able to share. And of course, some things may not be suitable for YouTube and you know things like that, but that we can take care of in editing and things like that. But satsang is like a safe space where we must always be open to sharing. Now, this—I would prefer if you notice that if there's something wrong in what I'm saying and something that's happening in the sangha here, you see, then we can actually look at it and take some corrective action.

But we can share. Of course, you're open to sharing. But many times it happens is that we want to talk about that which none of us have any sort of control over or can do really anything about. So then that just becomes some sort of like a—not that you will ever want to do that—but that just becomes like sharing something when the other is not there to defend themselves. So that we can see. If it comes to that point, then we can point that out, that it becomes sort of a courtroom without both sides present. Yes, that would be the best way to approach things.

But in terms of how something affects you and how you want to deepen in your spiritual growth and in the way of the heart, if something gets in the way and you want to get it off your chest, you are very welcome to share. Satsang is the safe space. All of us are able to share, you see, and hopefully all of us have the maturity to hear with openness and not to judge, and to also look at that as someone's experience. It doesn't have to extrapolate into their own feeling about things or their own conclusions about things. So in that way, we can create a safe environment for all of our brothers and sisters to share openly.

And it's very important for all of you to be able to tell me if you feel like something is going wrong with me because I feel that if I come to a point ever where I say that we must not point at Ananta because he is a guru or a teacher or something like that, then I would have got caught up in some pride at that point. So please play me a recording of this at least, if nothing else. So then strive to maintain this sort of just openness and humility in satsang. And may I always have the spirit that whatever you can say about me, actually I know I'm much worse, so nothing you say—although of course it does hurt, some sensitivity is there when a brother, sister, or a child tells you something. For a moment some hurt can come, but it is up to me to process that, to deal with that, you see.

But we must never feel like, 'I cannot say this' or 'I cannot say that.' So feel free to share about this one, you know, this man, and also about the sangha. And we may be doing hundreds of things which are wrong, you know? And if we just close ourselves from feedback, then we'll never grow. And really the important thing is: how are we appearing to the audience of one? The true audience who is aware of every breath that we take. It is important to come clean in His eyes. What the world thinks of us and what the world concludes about us really is secondary. I'm not saying it's unimportant and we can just do whatever we want, but I'm saying that most important is when we turn inwards, what is He saying to us in the form of intuition, in the form of conscience? All these things are given by God and they keep pointing us in the right direction.

So together, hopefully, we walk this journey and we deepen in our love for God and deepen in our insights of the truth. And for that, we need to be in a safe environment where everything can be shared. So just unburden yourself with all of this and God's grace will take care. I'm praying for you deeply and full, full blessings. Thank you. Love you, love you. Thank you, love you so much. Bless you. Okay, before we go to the Ramacharitmanas, let's quickly go to Peter and maybe one more. Let's see.

Hello, Father. There's a question about prayer. I'm experimenting with the Jesus Prayer and as far as I see, there are two aspects to it. The one is with the repetition of the prayer, that it's a bit like a mantra; it keeps the mind from wandering. And the other is, because it's about Jesus and about God, it's about holding God's hand and being really feeling God in the heart. But often in everyday activities, when it spontaneously comes to the mind, the prayer, pretty soon when I repeat it, when I pray it, it just has this mantra aspect. That means it somehow keeps the mind from wandering, but the strong feeling of God in the heart, it loses a little bit of this. It's just like a mantra, you can say. And this is—yeah, then some mind or the question comes here: maybe I'm doing it not right, or I'm not focused enough on God.

Yes, it's all right. It's completely all right. I cannot make a report saying that every time that I'm praying—in fact, I can't say that most of the time that I'm praying—it's fully heartfelt, it's fully meaningful, truly faithful. And yet I feel there is just something, some medicinal quality in just repeating the prayer. And many times here also, it is just happening mechanically, you know, mechanically and not from the heart. But it's fine. I still feel like it's better than nothing, or it's better than spending time on some worldly topic, you know, ruminating on that.

Yes, yes. The moments in every day, let's say the strong moments where I really feel God in the heart, is in the sitting periods in the morning. I often sit with the Guru's guidance, with the live program from Mooji, and this is very good to really open up the heart and to really be in complete silence and feel this presence, the presence of God's light. And this is very beautiful. And even during the daytime sometimes I'm—but it's not so easy. I really try to remind myself to just sit for a moment alone and focus on God. And it's as you said before, it's like yoga; you just have to be ready to go on the mat and then somehow it works by itself. But the critical moment is just to come back to this intention and to just create this quiet moment or this silent moment.

It's very, very good. So, to use a metaphor, sometimes we make big deposits in the bank, sometimes we make some tiny, you see, tiny pennies we deposit. So if you're trying to build a heart temple, sometimes you're laying strong bricks, you see, and sometimes we're just doing some little, little work, whatever little we can. So sometimes big, big gold coins, sometimes little tiny pennies. But whatever we can to build a spiritual depth, to build a spiritual quality, nothing is wasted. And those moments where His presence is felt so deeply, none of us can ever say we know what we did to make that happen, you see. So we don't know on the basis of what He is gracing us, He is being present to us. So anything done for God doesn't go to waste.

And finally, I really want to thank you so much. The last month it was somehow feeling this earnestness and this—it's so inevitable to just follow God, and it's so not easy at all. And at the same time, your satsangs, they resonate so deeply and it's such a big help. And yes, it really is, it's wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much, Father.

Very, very good. Okay, what time are we? 7:10. Can we go to—let's hear from Kunal first. I haven't heard from him in a bit.

Hello, Father. Can you hear me? Dear, good, good. Yes, I can. I just wanted to say hi because it's been a while and I wanted to let you know I made a road trip recently down south to Hattisburg, Mississippi, where my grandparents live. And there's a Hare Krishna farm kind of near there, so I stopped by there and it was really beautiful. And I don't know, I just kind of thought of you when I was there. It was almost like it was a little bit of a God's treat or God's gift to get me back in tune with things because being on that farm, seeing the devotion and dedication, it kind of spanked me a bit back on track, I guess. And then when I was driving back, I feel like God also kind of helped me out because usually I was blasting hip-hop music and like heavy metal all the way there, but for some reason I started playing your satsang instead while I was on the highway. So it probably prevented a few car crashes too in that way. But yeah, I just wanted to share that. I don't know.

Very good, very good. I'm very happy to hear from you and that you're back on track is very good news. It's very good news because Maya will come. Maya comes in so many ways and it seems so compelling, easy, and it has all the right rationalizations, all the right things to say. And it seems like either God is just made up or that we are not cut out for this path. Either way, we want to just change our way of life. The mind wants us to change our way of life from godly to worldly. So when a child comes back, I'm very happy, very, very happy because, you see, you put yourself back on track to the true place, to what I have no doubt in my heart about being the true purpose of human existence, which is to find God and to live in His light. So to come back on track for this, I'm very happy, very, very happy.

Yeah, Father, I hope I can stay on track, though. I never know how long I stay on track and get off again. So I'm not making any promises here, you know, because I can't lie. But for now, I seem to be on track.

I don't know, though. I cannot also say—I cannot say also like tomorrow I may wake up and say, 'No, no, I'm done with this satsang life.' You see, it's a thankless job for me, so I quit. So it may happen like that. Who can say? But we just feel happy that in this moment He has blessed us that we are on the right track. He has blessed us on the right track. It avoids any complacency. It avoids any complacency also when we realize that it's a day-to-day gift, you see? Because otherwise what happens is we notice, isn't it, that it can seem like a life choice: 'Should I do this or should I do that? What's really here for me in spirituality? Why should I make this choice? It seems to be not leading me anywhere. Where is the joy I was promised? Where is the love I was promised?'

It can be like that. But in those moments, we don't question: so what is our Plan B? What are we saying? That we just live this life of worldly pleasure and pain and then die, finished, is it? So as we keep reminding ourselves of the fact—we may keep saying, 'Am I cut out for God? Is this real?'—when we realize that our Plan B is rubbish, then it's easier to come back on track because what is our Plan B anyway? Time we have to start reading the Ramacharitmanas. Psalm 6: It's a prayer of faith in time of distress. To the chief musician with stringed instruments on an eight-stringed harp, a Psalm of David. 'O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger, nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak. O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled. My soul is also sore.'

Cut out for God. Is this real? When we realize that our plan B is rubbish, then it's easier to come back on track because what is our plan B anyway?

Time we have to start reading the Psalm 6. It's a prayer of faith in time of distress. To the chief musician with stringed instruments on an eight-string harp, a Psalm of David. 'O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your hot displeasure. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak. O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled; but you, O Lord, how long? Return, O Lord, deliver me! Oh, save me for your mercy's sake! For in death there is no remembrance of you; in the grave who will give you thanks? I am weary with my groaning; all night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with tears. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows old because of all my enemies. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer. Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled; let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly.'

The word of God, so good. And especially in the context of mind attacks, it's really good. And have you seen how in all the Psalms they're showing that what the sages told us: if you've fallen down, then just get up. Because all the Psalms end like this. It starts with so much lamentation usually, so many things which are even difficult to hear, but they always end on a note of hope, on the note of turning towards Him, on Him being loving and taking care of us. Yeah, so in a way, every Psalm is like the story of our spiritual life where we can face so much despair at times, but then God's grace helps us and blesses us. We just have to keep turning towards Him.

Yeah, and the real enemy is not outside of me.

Yes, I am the enemy. The 'me', the ego and the mind keep pulling us back into the narrative of the 'me'. We bow to Him empty, with no tools, naked, innocent, simple. Then we learn to live our life in this way. Yeah, what enemies? We talked about that. Yeah. Should I read seven? You wanted to play something?

Oh yeah, sure. Kyrie Eleison. 'Kyrie' is Lord and 'Eleison' is have mercy. Just 'Lord have mercy'.

In which language? Aramaic or Greek?

Greek. This is Greek.

Same message everywhere. It's so silly that we divide ourselves in silly ways. It says, 'The love of God has been poured into our hearts, Hallelujah, by the Spirit, by His Spirit who dwells in us.' So same, the Atma that we are talking about. It's so funny that because we have different names—Atma, Spirit, Waheguru, Satguru, Presence—on the basis of these different names we divide ourselves. Funny. But the message is the same everywhere. Okay, one tip for all of you is that when you find yourself caught up in something, just ask yourself: 'I can be with God right now, why am I thinking about this?' As simple as that. I can turn to Him. I have been given all the tools. His grace has blessed me so much. Just keep turning to Him, even especially when times seem tough.