The True Satguru Is Within Ourself - Guru Purnima 2025 - 10th July 2025

Remember that Atma Gyan or Atma Darshan is not a one-time event. It doesn't matter what your experience was yesterday. It is whether you are living in the light of the Atma within right now or not. That is the only thing that is important. So if the Atma is the light of this universe, then why does it seem so difficult to attain? Because what it projects is very tempting. Plato's Cave is a good example: the shadows that were seen on the bottom of the cave became so compelling to the ones who were seeing them that even when they were promised true light, they attacked the one who promised them that because that would take them away from the play of the shadows in the cave.

This outer world is just like that. Now, if we keep these senses aside, then can we still see or not? You close your eyes; you're not using your eyes anymore, but you can still see. You can see imagination; you can perceive thoughts in one way or the other. So if you keep imagination aside, memory aside, all this play of thoughts also aside, it may be worthwhile to spend a minute on why it can seem so difficult to keep these aside. It is because it has become a habit to grasp onto imagery, to grasp onto what I want. These have become conditioned Vasanas. Even for a few minutes, we can't keep them aside. As you close your eyes and try to keep the world, the Maya world, aside, what happens? The mind troubles us. It says, 'What about this? But what about that?' So our wanting gets in the way, our habits get in the way, and many forces get in the way.

Therefore, it needs practice. In the presence of the Satsang Sangha, it may seem to be easier. You may seem to close your eyes and feel, 'Oh, I can keep everything aside.' But that is a gift from the Satguru. To do it by ourselves needs practice in 99.99% of humans. We need to practice away from the magnetic pull of the world and its lawyer called the mind. To remain empty of that, we need practice. And that practice can be in the form of whatever spiritual instruction the teacher has given to you, whether it is to pray, whether it is to chant, or whether it is to inquire. Then what happens is that the force of Maya, the force of these conditions, seems to get cleaner, seems to get easier to handle.

But it is observed at any point of time in humanity that so many may be doing the spiritual practice, but very few actually do it to the extent which is needed. Needed meaning that we must come to the light of spirit and see there. That is the point. Do all of us do our practice to the extent of bringing us to the Atma and helping us stay with the Atma within? Can we say that most of our day is spent in God's light? Sadhana is very important. Because it is found in the human play that it is this cooking, this Tapasya, this Sadhana, this practice that leads us to the eating that we want. And the eating is what? To come to the sweet presence of God.

But as long as we have some hope from worldly things, we'll find it very difficult to be with God. If we put all our hope in God, then all the worldly things will go in the most graceful and auspicious way. So if you are now practicing and you're coming to the holy light of Atma Jyoti, then it is there that you become a disciple of the true Guru, the Satguru who we are celebrating today, because His teaching place, His temple, is lit by a light which is unprecedented. But it is recognized intuitively. Some sages call it the uncreated light, the divine light. It was before creation. So before God said 'Let there be light,' this light was there.

As the Atma, as the spirit, have you found such a light? And it's not a badge of honor, because if you found it, then you need to possibly be scolded a bit more for not staying in it as much. And if you haven't found it, then you need to put your entire whatever you think is at your disposal; it must be offered up to this project without fear. Because immediately you start complaining, saying, 'But what about this? What about that?' There is this new term I learned called 'whataboutery.' So whataboutery starts: 'What about this thought? What about that?' Don't get into this whataboutery. Stay away from it, because we could end up spending our whole life in this 'but what about this' and miss what life was really about. All the tools are with you. The method is with you. You just have to use it.

This is the Guru that I want you to meet today. There's nothing so great about this body or anything like that. I do, like I said, understand the reverence and I'm greatly appreciative of that, but truly if you want to revere the teacher, then we must find, we must value and revere that to which he is pointing. What clouds the light? What makes your Antahkarana dark and blocked? It is your nourishing of all conditions to do with the ego. The more 'me, me, me' you do, the darker it'll get, the more distant the holiness will seem. The more 'God, God, God' you do with integrity, with faith, with love, with devotion and, most importantly, with humility, the easier it will be.

Humility is extremely important. Suppose someone comes to you and demands a gift: 'No, I want a gift, I'm entitled.' You'll not be very inclined to give them a gift. If a mosquito comes in front of you and says, 'I want you to adopt me as your child, I demand it,' you're most likely to swat it away than to accept it. And we are nothing, not even mosquitoes in front of God. But because He is merciful, if we plead with humility, if we pray with humility, then in His mercy, in His Kripa, we may get the gift that we want. One day we must seriously just contemplate: what makes us so great that we think we are? If the main purpose of our life is not fulfilled, the rest of it is all garbage. Then what do we have to be so proud about? Because until this pride breaks, we are very dark from the inside.

Reading some Orthodox sages, they say when you are truly humble, every time you remember God, it'll bring you to tears. That trait must be our humanity—that we recognize our nothingness, our nobodiness, and yet we have the privilege to call out to the One who is the Lord of a trillion universes. What mercy is that? So to remember His love, His kindness, His mercy must bring us to our knees in sheer humility. Because without humility, what will happen is that your pride won't like it that others are talking about realizing the Atma within. And your pride will make it very difficult for you not to live in a make-believe if you're in a spiritual Sangha. Your pride will force you to feel like, 'No, no, I know it, I have it, I am living in it.'

But even in your outer movements, if they're not full of love, kindness, compassion, service, patience, know that there is a lot of work to be done. Otherwise, we'll play make-believe, and this life will be over. It's always safer to feel that the work is not done than to get into some trap saying that 'my work is done here.' Like, I cannot at all say that my work is done. I can see what a long way to go there is. So on this Guru Purnima, let's make a promise to ourselves that we will offer ourselves up completely, especially our pride, and attempt to live in God's presence, God's light. When we live in God's light, we'll spread God's light. When we live in the ego, we'll spread ego. Ego is very contagious.

A funny example is like none of us can make the claim that we know who we are, but tell anyone that and what is the immediate reaction? This is how pride can spread, ego can spread through these small things. So let's take a practical promise as well. Let us promise that 99% of the unkind words that come out of our mouths will not come out in the next one year. 99% is too much? Because this is where the rubber hits the road. We can all say, 'Yes, we will focus on the light of the Satguru,' and then what is the indication of that? We can fool ourselves. The rubber hits the road in our kindness with everyone around us. You could be very kind already, and yet in all of us, there must be some unkind expression coming out in some relationships, in some work situations. So, you decide what is the number.

I noticed, Father, I can control the words from time to time, but then I'll sulk for two or three weeks.

So that's another expression of anger. Because you sulk alone in a room or you make it known to others that you're sulking. They get to know. So they must not get to know—that's the project. We'll talk about this also in a bit, but that's a project: that even if you're feeling unkindly towards someone, you're not going to be unkind. We're not going to let them know through silent treatment or whatever. What is the percentage? Did you say 99%?

Let's negotiate a bit. 70%? Let's say 90%, and 10% we can stop ourselves. Let's start with 90%, and then by when we meet next year this time, it should have grown to 99%.

I've noticed that nowadays, for example, in a conversation I'm able to step back. But if somebody says something hurtful in a raised voice, I get so scared and I defend. My pride gets attacked. Like, how can you speak to me like that?

It's pride. If we were a humble servant of that one who was screaming at us, we'd say, 'Okay, I am a bigger servant anyway.' That's what you have to stop. That's when the rubber hits the road. After taking this promise, when it happens next, you'll be making fewer rationalizations about it. You see, because some of you are already defending yourselves in situations which haven't yet come because this project has been given to you. You already have the rationalizations ready. I'm saying that there are no excuses. There is no 'Shiva energy' playing out. There is none of that. We just have to cut it out. And if 100% is difficult, start with 90%. And I'm with you in this. I've been in this project for some time, and I feel like my expression has changed quite a bit since I took it on.

Father, if somebody is shouting, my immediate position is to bow. But I feel like if I'm not in the heart, then this question comes.

Exactly, that is the answer. So if every minute you're giving yourself the gift of God, then you will not be so happy to take every gift that the world is giving you. You know what I mean? If the world is giving you anger, don't take it. When we are shaky in God, then the temptation to depend on others is too much. And then you feel like, 'Oh, but they're supposed to help me instead, and now they're shouting.' All this is an external dependence on Maya, whereas we need to truly be dependent on God within. So when you're stable in God, then that gives you the strength to not take every gift that the world wants to give, either temptation or provocation.

I didn't know I had this problem being so angry, but now I see it and it makes me feel awful. It makes me feel like I'm letting you down because you said we don't have a right to be angry. The sages can even resurrect a life, and we can't.

Yes, the sages can resurrect a life; we can't even resurrect feelings. We get angry at someone, they hold resentment in their heart, they get closed in their heart, and that blocks them from God's light. That resentment towards you because of your outbursts at them—I'm saying for everyone—it just spreads, and then that resentment comes out at somebody else. This is how ego spreads. So let's cut it out at us. If we are supposed to be God's children, then all these things must come to us to die. Other's anger has come to me to die, not to be spread. We're supposed to be the killers of the virus, not the spreaders.

Have you seen how the environment changed when it came to an actual application of the rubber hitting the road? As long as it remains conceptual and nice and spiritual, it is fine. But when it comes to a change in something very deep within ourselves, that can seem to be a struggle. Chanda's question was: 'But what happens if I end up stewing in it?' If you live in God's light, you will not be able to stew in it for long. If you're able to stew in it for weeks, it shows you a distance from God's presence because God's love holds no grievances. A Course in Miracles says 'love holds no grievances.' But that is a very deep kind of love which is from God.

So if you forgive your brother, if you forgive your sister from a position of being a bigger sinner than them—not as somebody great saying 'I forgive you'—then you will not be able to hold onto resentment or grievances inside. You won't stew on it for too long. Remember to leave all justice to God. Who are you to do justice to anyone? Most of our anger, most of our expression of unkindness, comes from this trying to do justice to another. 'How can they get away with this? I will fix them. I will show them.' And when it comes to facing God, you say, 'Please be kind to me. Don't show me the fruits of all the stupidities that I've done and I continue to do.' So if we want mercy from God, then our expression must also be mercy.

It's all interlinked. If you must attack, you must attack the sin and not the sinner. It takes a lot of spiritual maturity to do that truly, because people can smell it when you're being 'holier than thou' attacking their sin. It must come from a place where you're really holding the brother's hand or sister's hand and operating from there. Both inward and outward change is needed for us to live in God's life. Like I was saying the other day, we must think of this life as a visa interview to heaven. If everybody could live there, then everybody would know. But the fact is that not everybody gets to live there. So there must be criteria. We have to fulfill the visa criteria.

Closeness to God is only possible when we make a full attempt to change ourselves. Let's take an example. Suppose you were going to go for a walk, but the walk became a Satsang because it rained. It's very easy in this situation to become angry, resentful, or throw a tantrum. We need the slightest excuse. We don't think, 'Okay, my brothers and sisters got an opportunity on Guru Purnima to go deeper, and that is ultimately helpful for all of us as a Sangha.' No, you think, 'But what about me?' If there's a 'what about,' that is dangerous; it is 'what about me' because we lose the true broader vision. Can we come to a place of maturity by next year where we look at a situation like this and we say, 'Wonderful, what a blessing'?

It's not too much to ask for because one year is a long time and we have very little time left. These are very small steps. Now you still have to face all the inner challenges, all the attacks inwardly. The project is very big still. Thank you all for joining together in this beautiful celebration of the Satguru. May God's grace bless you with the highest. May all His gifts be yours. May all your suffering become light. May all of you lead the lives of saints. Remember that we have to lead a saintly life or try to lead a saintly life before we can become saints. And all of you can become saints. A saint is just one who lives close to God.

But don't wait for an event to happen before you start leading a saintly life. Sainthood is just taking a different direction when Maya pulls you otherwise millions of times every day. It's the application of constant small, small, small steps. Like Lao Tzu said, you don't need to do big things. Those times where people were becoming martyrs for God are mostly gone; now it's in the small things every day that get us to sainthood. That is the environment; that is how Maya is playing right now. So your life is more than enough to get you there. You have a big project now. Satsang is nothing but a collective project towards the same; otherwise, there's no point of Satsang.

So many saints are up on the wall as reminders. From Neem Karoli Baba, what can we learn? Japa, japa, japa. A sheer openness; everything belonged to everybody, but constant faith and surrender to Ram. Most of us consider him to be Hanuman Ji. From Ramana Maharshi, what can we learn? Relentless self-inquiry. Inquire into the nature of who you are. Don't get caught up in misidentification. Be empty. To ask yourself 'Who am I?' is one of the best ways to empty yourself for God. All the paths are available to us. From Nisargadatta Maharaj, to stay with the sense 'I Am' come what may. He said, 'My master told me be with I Am and you don't have to do anything else.' For three years he was only with the 'I Am'—when he was shaving, when he was selling in his shop. That is practice.

Then there is Adi Shankaracharya. Without him, I feel most of Indian spirituality would be lost because the Upanishads would be too difficult to decipher. He distilled the essence. There are millions of aspects of Lord Krishna we can discuss. Radha Ji is there, the embodiment of pure love, unconditional love—this love without wanting anything in return. Tulsidas Ji, such humility. I feel like I hadn't met true humility until I heard of him. To be such a great sage and to immerse yourself in God so deeply, and yet to be fully aware of your conditions in the human play. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, so much humility, so much hard work in sharing God's light, so much love for God to love the Lord like a Gopi.

Swami Ram Sukh Das Ji, he has so much depth. The way they talk about Bhakti, yet they are able to reach the essence of Gyan Yoga and emptiness. He said very simply that we're trying to be empty, but you can't leave the notion of empty itself as 'God-stuff.' If we can't leave doership, we can't leave our ego. At least the attempt to surrender has to be full. And the way to leave doership is to live in obedience. Live in obedience to God's will and servitude to God's will. If you determine today that you will not take a single step unless it is God's will that you hear from inside, then all the spirituality which is being asked of you will unfold naturally.

Papaji, his specialty was to pull people out of time, to shake them into seeing what the nature of reality is right now. Sri Anandamayi Ma, every aspect of spirituality she can just keep saying things which are impossible to fathom. But what I personally picked up from her was this tip: you have no excuse to get angry. It's very, very helpful. And of course, Lord Jesus Christ. I look at him as the most unique way in which he destroyed evil. He said, 'I will teach them another way.' Like a parent says, 'Let my children not get the affliction, let it come to me.' He said, 'Let me take on everything in the world so that the cleanup can happen in my crucifixion and then I can show the reality of eternal life in my resurrection.' He destroyed all the evil by taking it onto himself.

Ramakrishna Paramahansa, he wanted to taste every pathway. He became a Christian for some time, he became a Muslim for some time; he wanted to taste every river that flows into the ocean called God. That part I really love, and his depth of love for the Mother is beyond compare. He gives me encouragement because I also want to taste every river. It frustrates all of you quite a bit sometimes, but it's very beautiful. His life is representative of the fact that God is one and all these religious boundaries are just nonsensical. It should just be one religion called God, called Bhagavan, whatever you want to call it.

So we bow down to all the sages. We learn a lot from them every day. May God's grace continue to bless all of you, and may we as your children request your intercession from time to time because our prayers are very feeble. We don't even know how to pray properly. So please heed our request for intercession and please take our pleas to God in whose presence all of you live so closely. Thank you for your gifts to us and showing us the pathway to this immense love.