The Right Instrument - 5th December 2025

There's no store in Bombay where I could get to write a thesis on another academician who who written a lot of research papers on Advaita Vedanta and then unfortunately had to leave town. He's become the principal in some in some other town.

So revealed so many years ago. Um, we had a tradition that I would initiate people with names. So I gave one child the name Vedika. She said, "I don't like this name because I would rather you have called me Vedantika" because she was not a fan of the full Vedas, the end of the Veda, which is where the Upanishads come from and from the Upanishads is derived most of what we share. So although it may not seem like that because I don't know if it's right to say it, it comes from the Upanishads in the sense it mostly comes from inside, but it seems to correspond most with that. And Vedanta is nothing but the Upanishads. The Upanishads were too difficult, so the Lord had mercy on us and He said, "Let me give you the Bhagavad Gita so that you get a sense of what the Upanishads are really saying" because there are so many of them and with all, as with all spiritual teachings, there's a lot of contradiction, a lot of confusion possible. So just like Jesus did with the Jewish scriptures, the Torah had some 600-something different laws that you had to apply besides the Ten Commandments. So he said, "Love God with everything that you have and then love your neighbor just like that." So he made it simple. In the same way, Lord Krishna took the essence of the Upanishads and gave us the Bhagavad Gita. And then there's a third part of Vedanta which is the Brahma Sutras. The Brahma Sutras are just aphorisms. Aphorisms which can be used for contemplation to get you to nididhyasana or aphorisms for teachers to use because to get a sense of the vastness of everything was too much. So these were just short aphorisms. So they were like notes which they could revise and remember. But my feeling is that it was more rather than teaching notes, I feel like it's a contemplative scripture where when you read the aphorism, it just takes you beyond the intellect to the deeper place where real Atma Gyan is possible. And that is that is what a teacher needs, you see, because all the scriptures are just an attempt to put into language that which is ineffable. And that which is ineffable knowledge is it is not that that which is ineffable is beyond our capacity. You see, that which is ineffable is only beyond the capacity of our mind and intellect. With me so far? You see. So it can seem like, "Oh, it's ineffable, then I can't really grasp it really," and maybe it's true because the instruments of grasping are the senses and the mind and intellect. But it is not just understood but arising from your very Atma, which is the source of all truths, all the Knowledge (capital K), all the Truth (capital T). You see, it only comes from there. So the attempt in any Satsang is to point in that way so that you meet that holy place, the Holy One, the Atma, Holy Spirit within your heart. So that that which cannot really be expressed in words is met in a deeper way. And then in the auspiciousness of that meeting, it also gives us some expression which moves this body, this mouth to speak from there, which if taken for itself, you see, is not valuable. But if taken to be a pointer to that same origin, then it brings us to Atma Darshan, you see. So if they don't serve that purpose, if the words of Satsang don't serve that purpose or the words of scripture don't serve that purpose, then they call it meaningless. Surely the words in themselves may have some beauty, but no words in themselves can carry the truths. And that is why it is so confusing when we read any scripture. So we may say the Upanishads had so many contradictions so the Lord gave us an easier way, but it's not like you can't say that the Bhagavad Gita is without contradiction. It's full of contradiction. So sometimes the Lord says like that, like that. Sometimes He says like this, like this. So we just have to laugh at those who say the essence of the Gita is this, because you can't say the essence of the Gita is this. That's just the aspect that appealed to you and you understood. You see, that doesn't make it the essence of the Gita. And it's been reduced to very, very basic sort of worldly understanding, which is not the primary purpose of it. So you see, because that's what most people are looking for, which is fine, it is fine, but it's better that we say, "This is what I got out of it and it helped my life," rather than saying, "The essence of the Gita is this." It's not something that can be essenced out that easily because He's already taken the essence of that which is much broader, you see, and made it into an essence. So it would take a great spiritual heart to be able to say that, "From that, now I give you the essence of what the Gita is saying." That is not that easy to go. Not that I am any scriptural scholar or something like that. I barely understand any of it. So don't take my word for it. But this is the sense that I have from whatever little I have read. And I am happy to meet someone like you because when we started this Kendra, we said, "Let's have a Vedanta library." So we have a Vedanta library at the back and nobody has touched it because everyone's like, "Who's going to read all this?" So well, sometimes some of you take some books, I know, but it hardly gets used. So at least the Vedanta part, there's a place called the Vedanta Book House. I don't know if you went there. So they they they have a good collection, or they used to have. It's been at least five years since I went, but it's a beautiful place because it's surrounded with all this ancient knowledge and wisdom and the man who runs it is also very detached. He doesn't want to make a sale. He's just like, right, surrendered. If it is grace, then grace will unfold. Very sweet. Some of you went with me. Did you go? I said some of you had gone with me when we were setting up this place. Most of you were not there at that time. So what is the point of holy scripture if it doesn't bring us to the holiness in our heart? And the heart that I'm talking about is not an emotional center but the spiritual center, the very abode of the Atma itself. Next. Then what to do? Maya's job is to make us spend this whole life forgetting the most important fact. What is the most important fact? God is real. God lives here. Very good. So firstly, God is real. You see, it makes us want to forget that fact that God is a reality. Firstly, um, secondly, it wants to make us forget that God is a living reality whose presence is right here. Of course, the definition of "here" may be different, but available, present, let's say more intimate than the hearness that we perceive is God. You relax. Yes. Are you relaxing or good? Huh? No. I started to see it. Let the words just seep into your heart and just if they have to do something, let them do it on their own. Leave this process as unaided as possible. And that's why it's very different from school where in school your idea is to pick up and understand a lot which then poses as knowledge. You see, here my job is to hold your hand and take you to the river and then as you dip into the river, then all knowledge, truth, beauty emerges from that river organically. You see, so you don't have to strain your intellect at all. Just a few simple things you get a sense of, the rest of it will just seep through. So the reality of God, when we are caught up in egotism, Avidya, then that is forgotten, isn't it? I forget God. What I have to deal with is myself. You see, the "me" is in the forefront and that is a forgetting of God. So justice is no longer left to God. Justice is taken into our own hand. Servitude is forgotten and my will seems to be the most important at that time. God's will is forgotten. So that is because what happened? We get to these, especially those in Satsang, we get to these states because following what I'm saying, why? So what I'm saying is that Maya's job is to make us forget about God, know that God is here, He's taking care of everything, the "me" is non-existent, it is Avidya. We forget this and we take the "me" to be the only reality when Maya starts to act up, you see. So Maya acts up in the form of events in our life and with Maya's lawyer in our head which says, "This is what is going on, this is unfair," or "This is really good." You see, either way, both sides, two sides of the same coin. So tell me, what is going on right now in this very moment without thinking a single thought? What is here? What is here? What is going on? Not able to see because it is not that nothing is going on, because what is, is beyond our conceptual capability. Our ability to understand is too tiny. You see, and just like we don't expect the picture to understand what is going on, or if there's a plant around, usually there's one, so we don't expect the plant to understand what is going on. You see, in the same way, we do not have the capacity to decipher what is into our narrative of what is going on. It's a subtle point or a very important one. That which is, is first separated by the mind into that which is perceived. You see, and that which is beyond perception is completely neglected. So in none of our narratives, that which is unperceivable is there. But in this moment, what is your experience? And I'm using the term very broadly, experience. Is it only perceptions right now? You able to get the question? In this moment, is all there is just perception? Huh? Can confirm that? That's very good. If you can confirm, it's very good. But if you were to be involved with the narrative, the narrative doesn't talk about that which is the pure awareness, the pure witnessing of everything that is perceived. It makes it seem like it is conceptual knowledge. The Sakshi is just a concept we learn in spirituality but not the direct insight which the Atma itself gives to us. Am I going too fast? Okay. How to say these things? I don't know why I'm saying these things. So the narrative of the mind keeps the elephant out of the room. And which elephant is this exactly? But it is the elephant which is holding all the perceivable universes on its trunk like a grain of sand, and that is the reality of it. This perceivable reality is a tiny grain of sand. So in the play of Maya, that main meal is forgotten and it is just one tiny starter which is taken to be the entirety of it. You see, so if you were to say that this is Satsang with Ananta and all of us are listening to him, it would be a huge understatement about what this is, isn't it? You see, now what would be the right statement? And I'm not just talking about Satsang. I'm talking about any moment in your life. The right statement is impossible. Just know that what our mind translates what is into, you see, what our mind translates what is into has literally nothing to do with reality. You see, because in that, our very own true nature is forgotten. I take myself to be the body-mind system and the fact that it is in the light of the Atma that this life is appearing and moving, that is forgotten. And this Atma is nothing but whose presence? God's presence. So Nirguna Brahman had a son called Saguna Brahman, and Saguna also was too big for us to fathom. So Saguna said, "Let me make myself available to myself as the Atma itself."

What is into has literally nothing to do with reality. You see, because in that, our very own true nature is forgotten. I take myself to be the body-mind system, and the fact that it is in the light of the Atma that this life is appearing and moving—that is forgotten. And this Atma is nothing but whose presence? God's presence. So, Nirguna had a son called Saguna, and Saguna also was too big for us to fathom. So Saguna said, 'Let me make myself available to myself as the Atma itself.' What is this? We say that religions are different, but they're not, because this is the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So the way back to true understanding is through the Atma because we are, in what we are, spiritual. Many, many people say we are spiritual, but their spirituality is not about spirit. You see, so if your profession was a food reviewer but you never visited a restaurant, then what would you be? A food... no. Isn't it? So if we are spiritual but we live in our heads alone and we don't actually—visiting the spirit is His grace—but if our primary intent of our life is not to live in the light of spirit, to come to Atma Darshan, then what is the spirituality? It's free. So everything that is spiritual in nature must lead to spirit itself. It must lead to the transformation of our Antahkarana, of our soul, into Atma itself, into spirit itself.

Hello. And that is why the sages have told us: Shravana, Manana, and then nothing. No? Or like meditation, or you, and then nothing. Is it like that? Nothing. Well, in a way, nothing, right? Let your contemplation, meditation, and contemplation... all spiritual paths bring us to this point of remaining in the inner stillness. And if you're a Zen Buddhist, then many times they don't tell you the steps; they'll just say, 'Be empty.' Like Papa Ji used to say, 'Be quiet.' You see, what is the problem with that? It's mostly misunderstood. If somebody just comes and you say 'Be empty,' by His grace it could work, but it's rare. That's why the sages in their mercy gave us the steps to follow. But we must not forget about the main step. I've always said: cooking and eating. You can't just keep cooking and never eat.

But last time also this example came, that the spiritual momentum of the steps of our sadhana then put us into Atma's orbit. But if you don't stay there and we come back, crash back into the ground, then there's very little point to the sadhana. Of course, initially we will be like learning to launch. It's not that... but so initially we could spend a few years learning how to collect all our faculties and bring them to the presence of the Atma within, which itself is a very holy gift we can give to ourselves. But once we learn, then we must learn to stay, because here is where the Atma lives, the spirit lives.

You know how beautiful it is that this life, which we spend our whole life trying to fix and resolve, just in the intention to be with God, the suffering is taken out of it. You can't suffer life. You can experience pain in life, but you can't suffer life if your heart belongs to God. And only when we give our heart away to Maya can suffering affect us. So just the initial Prasad itself takes care of that which we try to fix so much for 80 years, 90 years, 100 years in one lifetime. And do those who try to do it with the wrong instruments ever fix their life or heal their life? You try to dig a well with a sewing needle. That's what happens because you're using literally the wrong instrument.

You see, the right instrument is when you come to true Satsang in your heart; you come and sit here. The transformation from the way of the head to the way of the heart can sound very poetic and simplistic, and everybody talks about it, but it's much deeper than usually imagined. Why? Because who lives in the heart? Does that mean He does not live in the head? All is Him. And yet it is clear in all scripture, all tradition, all religion, that the way to living a true life in His presence is through the presence of God, through the Atma's light. And it is commonly reported, universally reported more than commonly, that God's presence seems to have a core, a center, which seems to coincide with the heart.

So now, how do you know that this is happening to you? That was where we started last time without all this context. We said that the point of spirituality is to transform ourselves into spirit itself or to recognize ourselves as that itself. Whichever way you put it, neither is really true, but we have to use language. For that, what we have to do? We have to stay in God's presence, to stay in the presence of the Atma within, where the mind fluctuations are not—if they are still present, at least they are not becoming part of our belief system. You don't have to worry about attaining the highest yogic state before being with God. Chitta Vritti Nirodha is not a prerequisite. It has to happen naturally if you're there. But at least you're not inserting anything that it is offering into your story.

We remain like that, storylessly. And then you have to feel special; some special feeling has to come, correct? Then you'll know you are with God. Pakka, you must feel a lot of love always—bliss, peace, beauty, bliss, joy, love. All these can come and will come as outpouring from that holy place. But there's a deeper love which is deeper than the feeling of love. And this love seems like nothing to our senses and to our mind. You see, so in a way, if we really want the Nirvana, we keep saying we want the highest. You see, but we can't accept the love which is Nirvana. So we must have to... it is no different from Nirvana itself. There's no difference between reality and this love.

So if you don't have any special feelings in your sadhana, it doesn't mean that your sadhana was bad. If your mind distracted you a lot but you tried to keep returning home as you remember, it is very good. It is not bad. But the point is to do the sadhana. Good or bad, the point is to do it. You see, don't mistake. We often—I've started in the modern world, and maybe I'm party to that, so I'm learning from my mistakes—which is we think that Jnana Yoga is beyond practice. Because we've taken out the main meal, the Nididhyasana, from the inquiry. We feel that we just ask ourselves 'Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?' enough times and we will come one day to Atma Gyan, to the realization of the highest, the recognition of the highest.

You see, but the point is to sincerely ask yourself who you are. Isn't it? And when you sincerely ask yourself who you are, what happens? You become quiet on the inside. And the revelation comes in that quiet on the inside. Do not solve it like mathematics. So Jnana and Bhakti bring you to the same quiet place on the inside. So the Bhakta may say, 'I am in the temple of God in my heart,' and the Jnani may say that 'I am coming to Atma Gyan.' Follow now? Is it optional to do this? Must be optional. What difference will it make? I am that only. The way I'm framing the question... no, I should not have framed it that way. The point I'm making is that it's not optional.

What is it Kabir Ji had said? I said last time. He said, he's saying to the mind, 'You mind, because of your foolishness, this whole life is gone to waste.' And he also says, the favorite one, 'Maya is the greatest deceiver, the greatest con artist.' If our very design was to overcome Maya and live in God's presence, and we spent our whole life doing everything except that, is that something which is acceptable to all of you? It's one thing what the sages have told us, but what do you all feel? Let me give you some trade-offs, okay? Then you pick.

Suppose that you did not come to Atma Darshan, but the whole world thought that you are very spiritual. Fine, you'll accept, no? Suppose everywhere you went, everybody said, 'Wow, there's something about you,' and you got the reverence, you got the respect, you got a following of millions. You see, you were known as the biggest spiritual teacher the universe has ever had. But in your heart, you knew that you have not come to spirit at all and your days go without you even trying. Would you say, 'Good, let's take that deal'? These are the deals that Maya offers to you. That is the whole conversation between Nachiketa and Yamraj. So whatever our pride is about, it gives us opportunities to spend our life in that.

So suppose today after today's Satsang you went out—suppose we're talking about Ramdas, okay—he went out and everybody says to him, 'Wow, something has happened to you today. Your eyes look different, they're shining, there's an aura around you.' And everybody you meet has this reaction to you. Okay. Will you be able to hold on to your integrity? That is the question to ask. And all the versions of that. So suppose that something happened and you got the Midas touch. So everything that you touch turns into gold. So you're just full of wealth and abundance and everything. But somewhere you have the remembrance in your heart that this foolish man had told you: the point of life is to come to God's presence in your heart. So would you then accept that trade-off, saying 'I can be the most prosperous, abundant, all of that'?

Except these are all the temptations of Maya. Suppose that you go—a lot of us are yearning for loving relationships—suppose you leave this room and everybody just falls in love with you. Love, love, true, like unconditional love. Not even desire or lust or nothing. Just everybody just loving you. Would you leave God for that? So these are the plays of Maya. And when it plays, remember that my life is for God, because not one moment of God's presence can I buy from any of these things in the world. Not one morsel of His food will go into our mouths if we offer Him everything in the universe except our own heart.

And on the flip side, it's also very good news that all that He wants is your heart. Doesn't matter what else is there in the world. All the other playful means of offering that we do are beautiful. But if we leave our heart out, then they're nothing. You get what I'm saying? All the other playful means of loving God are very beautiful. But if we leave our heart out and we think that's enough in itself, then it's nothing. Those are just reminders for ourselves to offer more and more of ourselves. Okay. So whether we say that we offer it in surrender or we say we chop it down because we see the Avidya of it, they're not two different things.

They are a playful means of Ram.

Yes. Yes. So we say we go to a temple and offer a flower or we sing some Bhajan; any outer means of loving God is to invoke the sense of offering ourselves really. And what I meant by—I felt like you were going to ask about that—what I meant by surrendering ourselves in this way is the same as chopping Avidya down and not identifying with the false. It is the same. So I hope you're getting the texture of it; it is the same. So it may seem like two very different paths, but actually they are the same. Yeah. Say 'Not that, not that,' and we naturally gravitate to a deeper place.

But we were finishing that point about the need for feelings when we are intending to remain in His light, and whether feelings or any sensory perception can be a good indicator of how well our practice has gone. It cannot be. We have to accept the dry spells, you see, and the being soaked in love. Accept both, knowing fully well that He knows when to feed us what, you see. Because that transformation which is happening, only its very surface-level effects will be visible to your senses and to your mind. Yeah.

Like you're saying, the tastes in prayer. No? So I just want to confirm. The Nirguna love that I find... it is revealed in a way in the acceptance of what is. Like, it's not a taste, but love—how do I say this? That love is revealed in a way when I'm surrendered.

Yeah. Yes. It has to be. Surrender is the precondition. Empty and surrendered is not very different. Yeah.

The effects will be visible to your senses and to your mind. Yeah. Like you're saying the tastes in prayer, no? So I just want to confirm. The Nirguna love that I find, it is revealed in a way in the acceptance of what is. Like it's not a taste, but love—how do I say this? That love is revealed in a way when I'm surrendered.

Yeah. Yes. It has to be—surrender is the precondition. Empty and surrendered is not very different.

The same. And I see in that, that love cannot be resistance. Like love is acceptance.

I feel like there are two levels of depth to what you just said. The first is that we go from a resentment to an acceptance at a worldly level. A resistance to an acceptance. Resentment or resistance—let's say we go from a fist like that to a hand open like that. Okay? And that's a beautiful love also on the outside. Outside as well. Although we can't say, 'I'm feeling a lot of love,' it's a great act of love to drop our resistance and to come to that. You see?

That is an active doing, in a way.

Yeah, yeah. It's an active love. It seems like very hard work sometimes to make that effort. So one is that. The second is that as you go deeper in the inner journey, whether the love is felt or it is like a neutrality on the outside, then in that holy chamber where we are eating from the Atma's hand, then it's not necessary that it'll be accompanied by a feeling of outer love. It has nothing to do with that feeling in that—like it's not dependent on it.

Exactly. But you know it. You know the love.

Yeah. So we know it and that's why we are able to report on it. Isn't it?

Father, how do we know it? The knowing and the love are different?

No, here His reality is knowing, His love, His beauty, His truths are all the same. All the same in the sense that these are very subtle things. So if they were all the same-same, then we would not be able to say beauty, truth, love, all of that. But if they were decipherable by the mind or our senses as different, we would not be able to say they're the same.

Even the same, they are still different. Exactly. Exactly. Like how you would give an example before, but they are the same, yet I can say love and I can say knowing.

And we are not just making it up because we know it's the same. You know, that is the thing, no? So these conversations take us way beyond the realm of normal thinking, you see, because normal thinking is either same or it's different. What is this 'same-same but different'?

That's the beauty of the heart knowledge. Like it's not contradicting even though it sounds—it's very beautiful at that.

Exactly. So His love, His peace, His silence, His truth, His beauty, His reality are one. And yet we are able to say His love, His beauty. No, He is beautiful. He is love. You see, He is truthful. He is truth itself. So these are all His qualities like that.

But it's very difficult, no? Like quality usually implies this talk about like—I can't remember—like essence versus oneness in essence versus oneness in participation, in a way.

Exactly. So we participate in His oneness, but we are not the entirety of that oneness, although we are. Revelations come from our heart and it's music to my ears to hear them, you see. And I've been hearing these reports in Satsang and I'm very happy. So it's music to the ears, but for all of you, you must allow it to not become like a conceptual knowledge for you. Enjoy it as inspiration to go to that place. Okay? Because if you just say, 'Huh, His love, beauty, truth, reality are the same and yet they are different,' you see, it sounds like a nice spiritual concept to have, but if it's not your own lived reality, then that'll be counterproductive actually because the concept will block your actual vision of it. You see, because the things that you think you already know, you will not really be open about. And we must be careful with ourselves also about it, that it can very simply become a learned knowledge for us. And then the freshness of the looking and the beauty of the revelation will be taken away. So we must allow these insights to pour through us, but don't hang on to any conceptual truthiness or untruthiness of them.

Good. Now there where nothing is being perceived, why would anyone call it beautiful? That is the question to ask. Shyam Sundaram. But Shivam is beyond all perception. Then how is He brightly? So these are the mysteries that only your heart can resolve. When I say heart, I'm really saying the discipleship of the Atma within. What are you to make out of it? You see, we can ignore it. You see, maybe even we can take it to be a truthful concept in our head. You see, but the true use of it is for it to become your lived reality. Yeah. Can you make the same testimony from yourself instead of from something that you heard about that which you know when you know nothing is beautiful? That's what is being said.

So Hanuman Prasad Poddar Ji said very simply: the quickest way to come to this deep insight is to leave the topics of the world. I mean, there is poison in these topics. It doesn't translate well. You see them. So what is he saying? I like to quote it that way and say he is also saying open and empty, because if you forget the topics, then you're empty. Good. Can we really forget about all the topics and the topics to discuss? So what we can't leave is what is the nature of attachment in our lives. And God is not unmerciful. He's not set a 100% benchmark. He said, 'In this moment, does your heart belong to me? Then I'm yours also.' In this moment, in this moment, in this moment. You see, now in the next moment, He knows very well we'll get caught up in some drama. You see, but He doesn't deny Himself to us because of that. Isn't that beautiful?

Atma is not going to come to you and tell you, 'I know what you're going to do in the next two hours, so now I can't be with you.' That is why I've been emphasizing this point. Then rather than making a force field out of God, rather than making an energy system out of God, at least it's better if we consider God to be the most loving, kind, merciful, intelligent, beautiful being, rather than thinking of God's presence or consciousness as magnetism or electricity or something like that. We do that. So it's because of my conditioning, I'm also used to calling God or the Atma 'it.' Yeah. And that's not a good habit. Rather say 'Him' or 'Her.' All that is human about us is just a fraction of what is real about Her. We have dehumanized the very one from which our humanity comes from because that's the way the mind conceptualizes.

From Nirguna there was a Saguna. What does that sound like? It sounds like a force field only, to the mind that can't reach. It's beyond its pay grade. So from Nirguna to Saguna, what does it sound like? Like some force came. Then we hear that it is in the form of the word or the primordial vibration or the Om. You see, it doesn't feel like the most loving, most kind being; it sounds like some force field of some sort. But God has made it very easy for us to relate to Him. The qualities of God—we can't—it's not coming from inference. He's faithful also; somewhere we can see He's always there when we turn around. It can come from being faithful or always helping. These attributes can come from both. We see in the movement of our life also how He has always helped us. We could be caught up in such things.

We could be very blind to that also.

Huh? We could be very blind to that. But usually when we are blind to that, we are blind to the inside for sure. So sometimes it starts this way, which is rare. But mostly it starts when we start to experience it. We see that if you look back at our lives, we see the grace with which He has gotten us out of such troublesome situations. Then that helps us to allow that inside tasteless taste to be tasted. Mostly like that. Rarely also like the other way where you feel like He's actually not that kind and loving, He's quite oppressive. No, this is a common thing to think in the world. So it may happen that one day it may reveal itself to you wordlessly in the heart, and then it translates—like most of Satsang actually translates in that way—where some intuitive insight comes in the heart, then it's put in the mouth later, and then we see it in our lives also.

So none of these aspects of God are also just what we think—you mean not think, but what we feel they are. No, it's so much deeper.

Exactly. Because our vocabulary is primitive. His reality is way beyond that. Even worldly beauty—you see a beautiful sunset, you're not able to put it into words. You see, we try to put it into painting, but even that doesn't come to reality. So that 'Him' is beyond anything that we can—that's why we've been saying don't make it into like an understanding, because it'll take away from the beauty of the reality.

Father, the love—so how I said the Nirguna love, it's coming like...

Even in that, He can give you different aspects. How do you say? Like He can make you understand what love is in different ways also. No, absolutely simple. So you spend quiet time in your heart and you may feel like you were lovingly being taught a very difficult lesson. You see? Or you may feel like you were just drowning in a shower of love. You see? But what really happened, we can't see. Is that how you see love? Yeah. It's not unidimensional. Exactly. We are just always skimming the surface. In terms of our conceptual understanding of that, we are always only skimming the surface.

That's right, no, Father?

Yeah, every time. So what is beautiful about God and is worth contemplating is that He is always offering the entirety of Himself to us in that moment. Yes. But you also recognize that there's—not in an oppressive way—but there's always infinitely the Abheda part is also there, in the sense that the non-distinct part is also there. So whether we say the entirety of Himself then belongs to us, or we see our complete oneness with Him. Yeah. So whether we say that the entirety of Himself is given to us, or we say that I saw that I am that in its entirety. You see? And yet I saw that I am just a servant or I'm just nothing compared to Him. You see? So both are full. How else to see it? It's not like that part is left with a gap and therefore there's a Bheda. It's not like the oneness now has a gap in it and therefore there's a non-distinction and yet distinction. Okay, this point I don't know if you ever discussed and whether we can discuss also, but the oneness is complete and the servitude is complete. Which the mind hates because it's a contradiction. But that is the evaluative tendency that we have to leave to meet the truth of this. You see?

Father, so in my case, to be there, okay, yet I know the separateness. And it's not the separate knowledge. It's in that oneness I know the separation. No? And in that moment He gives His entirety. Yet there is an infiniteness more to know Him. Everything is contained in that only. It's very absurd. That's the trouble. Like how can it be that He has given Himself to us fully without any gap, without any doubt, or we have recognized ourselves to be completely the same one with Him fully, and yet we cannot ever be anything more than a grain of sand at His feet fully? Huh?

Father, there was this one Christian father's video I saw. He said, 'So don't imagine that the saints are now just living with God and it's just over.'

Everything is contained in that only. It's very absurd. That's the trouble. Like how can it be that he has given himself to us fully without any gap, without any doubt, or we have recognized ourselves to be completely the same one with him fully, and yet we cannot ever be anything more than a grain of sand at his feet fully. Huh?

Father, there was this one Christian father's video I saw. He said, "So don't imagine that the saints are now just living with God and it's just over. It's like their eternal life has just begun in a way that they infinitely just keep growing in love with God." It was so beautiful the way he put it actually, that they're just infinitely loving him for eternity. Like it's never an end to—

And it is the same for God also.

Same for God also. Because like in our understanding, we may feel like God is everything, but God himself is also infinitely growing in his love all the time. The saints are, but so is he. Crazy.

It's quite crazy, but this is the crazy talk I love. The crazy talk which comes to crazy people who are learning to live in their sanity. God's love for us and himself, which is the same, is growing all the time.

Yes. His own love. Yes. God is not a static reality.

I don't know if it's true. It just came like that. We have to contemplate. Most things come like that and then we contemplate and ring true somewhere.

Never heard it myself. My mind is trying to process and shut up.

This is the thing, because we have made a finality like God can't grow because he's already all there is. You see, but that's very intellect. So a Zen teacher would have slapped it by now. It's very intellectual limitation. The goose can't escape the bottle. God has no limitation. It would be so nice if this was what we contemplated all day instead of some nonsense worldly rubbish. And in a way, this contemplation is praising God. Like all contemplations about him are praising him. And they're very auspicious because they make us leave our limited topics in our head and limited idea of what life is, because the texture of it is love. Because these very topics can be made intellectual also, like intellectual conversation debating intellectually, but when it is from a place where attaching truth value or false value is not the most important thing, but just the togetherness and love for God is the important thing, then things are appearing out of that love in his glory.

Please, all imitate the state of contemplation, right? Basically, like in a way that coming to the heart. Because this is all, or say love your neighbor, like actively love or just brings you to the heart. Like you're imitating what the heart is actually looking like to bring you there. Like even going to a temple or offering flowers, whatever, eventually the intention should be to love him in the heart or praise him in the heart.

No, find him in the heart or to find out what is really true. All the same. I find gratitude, like to just say it aloud or say it inside. Grateful for this when something's very hard, or smiling. It just brings you to the heart. It just takes away the pull of that oppressive mind, you know? Like this sad mind. Always just to even fake it until you make it. Like just say it if you can't, if it's faking it also.

Because the idea of faking it is fake. That is our very original nature. The idea of faking it is fake. Actually, that is our very nature. The mind wants us to take the fake nature to be reality. You see faking. So if we are worried about what is going to happen, let's take an example. Then we remember that God's presence is here and nothing will happen. He's holding up this universe. My life is nothing. The mind will say that's great denial, that's great faking it. But it's not. It's truth. So using the truth can never be faking it. What the mind is saying, "But how are you feeling really?" No, that feeling will change.

No, like what I'm saying is, say something's going on, I just say I'm grateful for this. I don't mean it somewhere fully.

But the word I'm saying, at the true place, you do mean it. It's like—suppose it didn't bring—okay, now would you say that it's true or it's false that you're grateful?

True. It's true actually.

Exactly. So the idea of faking it is fake from the mind because it convinced us with its arguments that we are in that false place, and anything which it knows will bring us back, it says, "No, no, this is faking it."

You're reminding yourself of the truth. That's why it works. So it's actually a reminder from God only when I'm forcing, like a forceful say thank you. When we move away from the mind's topic, mind's oppression, then we are following the Atma itself and that is God only. Beautiful.

So there is really no—because the mind will say you're being a liar or you're being inauthentic behind the garb of fake it till you make it. You see, but really the idea is that you're leaving the false. You're leaving the inauthenticity because your heart is always grateful to God.

So mostly a good enough indication the mind is saying something is usually a root indication that it can be followed. Usually the mind itself can pose also. It's so beautiful.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Our very Atma loves to love God, loves to love truth, loves to love. And if that is the very essence of our very being—the Atma is our very essence—then how can us turning the rest of our faculties towards that truth and realizing the truth of that be a fake endeavor? When we get into anger, it doesn't say you're faking it. That is when you're faking it. So the Atma is completely at peace. It is not angry. You see, it's the mind, intellect, body, all these emotions, all that that is rebelling against the love of the Atma that the mind says you're faking it. When from that fake state, we want to return to God by saying "I love God" or just "I'm so grateful," which aspect of our faculty is the truth? If all our faculties were to be segregated, which they really can't, but just as an experiment, if you were to say the vision of the world, this sensory perception of the world, our conceptual ideas, our emotional, our intellect judgment, all of that, or our very being, the Atma itself—which element is the most truthful about us? Then we must not get bullied by the mind when it says, "Oh, you're just pretending." No, the rest of all of this phenomenal play which has been attached to me is pretending to be something it is not.

Which role is our Antahkarana soul in that? Our soul. What?

Antahkarana. Yes. How is the connection with the Holy Spirit or with Atma? At the very center of our soul, the very center of our Antahkarana, the Holy Spirit sits. So in the layers of our existence, the central, the main chamber, the most beautiful room is where he's present. The most interior part of our interior castle is his room. The most interior mansion in our interior castle is his room. That is where he delights to stay. That is where he delights to stay.

The seventh one. And our sadhana brings—

Exactly. It deepens us into all of that, to his holy chamber. And when we learn to live there, then only he remains. The rest of the mansion is converted into his house. Yes. From within, that light is coming from within and illuminating everything, you see. And the Maya is also trying to do the same thing. So that is the push and pull of our life. Maya is trying to fill us up with attachments and desire and wanting gratification and pride and all of these things. And God's light is trying to make us innocent and childlike and loving and kind and compassionate and not separate. So both the lights are working. The way full of absurd is sat with time. You see? So when did we learn this? Continuing the absurdism. So we sat for prayer. It was distracted. We got a few moments of stillness with God's presence. We stepped out into our lives. We went on about our day and then suddenly we find ourselves saying something. We don't realize what we learn in that hidden chamber. You see, it expresses itself in words sometimes much later. So when it is said that beauty, love, truth, kindness, faithfulness, all of that we learn from God's presence. So this truth aspect of it is also very beautiful. You see, because how is it that all these sages, different continents, different cultures, the cultures never meeting each other, and yet at the very core of the inner journey they write the same thing? Whether it is St. Teresa of Avila or whether it is Adi Shankara, both have written the same thing at the center of it, and thousands and thousands of sages. How do we learn these things? This. So whatever we spoke of was not coming from any past knowledge.

Yeah. It's not like we sat in prayer so now we remember what we saw.

No, no, no, no. No, so in the sense that we sit—no, no, Father, it's what you're thinking—no, no, it's very good to answer. This is very, very good. So we come to Atma and in that silence we are transforming in love, beauty, truth, all of that. And we can't say what is being shown on us. We don't know. And yet you may find that in the regular movement of life, we just shared something and you're like, "Where did that come from? Where did that come from?" Now the movement of this, the highest, is when it is completely fresh and from the heart. No, but it doesn't mean that when we learn to live in that way, it won't seep through to the rest of our existence as well. You see, just like we find ourselves being more loving when we would be more irritated, more accepting when we would be more angry, all these things transform us in the same way that what our expression becomes, what words come out of our mouth, all of this also gets transformed in that same process. But you're absolutely right that you must not make it a conceptual knowledge. Keep it fresh from the heart. That is the highest. And yet, just like we are able to say that the sun comes out from the east, it doesn't come from the west, we are able to say God is just too sweet and kind. So you said something now today that God's love is also increasing and you found yourself speaking it and seeing it for the first time.

So what my question was is, say I'm sitting in prayer and all this is—he's doing something in my heart which I'm not aware of, right? And I speak something like you spoke. So what I'm saying is that knowledge is always fully there, but he reveals it slowly as is his will and what he wants to reveal to each one. So it's like it's there yet. Like a cook, he cooks it for us specifically, that much only, and for each one it's different, but it's still there. Like now everything is in my heart that needs to be known, that can be known infinitely vast, but only this much he will give me.

Both are true because Atma Gyan is never partial. You see, it's always full. You know the entirety of everything, but you don't know it at the levels where you can misuse it. In the sense that when we come to the recognition of our reality as that, then it's not that something is kept away from us, but it is where that combined will—where it becomes a combined will—in that combined will it knows how much to disperse into our faculties. You see, at what point of time. Crazy stuff. All that we can do is just—people say that they talk about a sage and they say a sage knows everything: past, present, future, universes, all of that.

In the sense that when we come to the recognition of our reality as that, then it's not that something is kept away from us. But it is where that combined will, where it becomes a combined will, in that combined will it knows how much to disperse into our faculties. You see, at what point of time, crazy stuff.

All that we can do is just... people say that they talk about a sage and they say a sage knows everything: past, present, future, universes, all of that. You see, and as if you talk to the sage, they say, 'Oh me? I don't even know what I had for breakfast.' So which is true? Both. Because in Atma, he knows everything, she knows everything. In what comes to... not that doesn't mean that the sage is lying when they're saying they actually don't know, you see, but the faculties in which the sage is being asked there, in that faculty she may not have that knowledge at that point of time.

So for you to just say these must be so beautiful. You know, like you just catch yourself saying something that... yeah, for all of us, just so many of these things have been revealed to me in these outer faculties through the sharing of satsang. And when you said like, 'I have to go contemplate it,' it's but he's already revealed it inside. Yet there's a... like 'God prays in my heart,' that one line, I feel I could contemplate it for the rest of my life. It's like his fingernail. He just... these sometimes these revelations are like his fingernail and you just hold that and he pulls you in with that. So, how maybe 10 minutes from now we could just be in a different zone.

Ten maybe a lot. I mean out of satsang, I went here right now. We could get a message. Like this conversation can be the most beautiful sounding or the most irritating sounding. Right? So the same one, to me it could be that, 'Oh, this is full of like Amrit, this conversation,' and then five minutes later if some other mode is there, then this is like, 'This is the play of the con artist.' Like Sangita always has that experience. She at least earlier she used to report to me that before coming to satsang she's like, 'Today I will definitely ask him this question,' and after coming to satsang, what to do? It's good because it shows us that there is so much more to us than a worldly play. There's so much more beauty which is possible in our lives than we allow. And we must feel a lot of compassion for all our brothers and sisters in the world because it's only God's grace which has made this possible for us. It's not that they are worse than us or we are better than them in any way. It's only His grace which for some reason... I'm like that last laborer in that vineyard who got paid the full salary in spite of just working one hour. All right, let's go to room. Anu? You can't unmute then. We can't do anything. Sorry, I'm just kidding.

Thank you so much, Ananta Ji. Thank you so much. I just would like to ask you because today is the anniversary for my mother. She passed away this day and I don't know, our priest said this is the most efficient time for prayer and I would like to ask to pray for her. Her name is Anna, to merge with God. Anna, to fully merge with God, with God's light and truth and love. And thank you so much, Ananta.

Let's also collectively say a prayer for Prashant's father who recently left his body to be with God's light. Let's all bless him with the highest and pray for him. May the Lord shine His grace on everyone. Thank you so much, Anu. Love you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to pray because every prayer request is actually auspicious for the one who prays as well. So much so, just a beautiful reminder to come to God in every reminder, in whatever form it may come, is auspicious for us.