This Is Our Way to Find God - 29th July 2024

So what I'd love to do is just move satsang to this kind of interaction more and more, and then maybe we can read some of the holy words from scriptures across all cultures. There's so much wealth of great spiritual insight even in the library behind which we don't use. So we can just pick up a few paragraphs every satsang and just contemplate that, and those words will be much better than what this man can speak. So let's see, let's see. We'll do a mixture of all of that and then we can play some of the Taizé also, and we can see how it goes along. Some of the words that appeal to me in the bhajans also—I was experimenting on the weekend and I made some like a loop of one of the bhajans, which is 'He Nath Ab To Aisi Daya Kari,' which itself is such a beautiful line. And so I simply made the loop out of that which plays for four minutes, so we just immerse ourselves in that. What does it mean to make a prayer to God, make a plea to God? And then it says that You are the Lord of the universe and sitting in my heart. So what does it mean to meet God which is sitting in our heart? Every line like this we can take and deeply contemplate them instead of just adding to the spiritual encyclopedia in our head, you see. We can actually try and meet it in our heart and see how it unfolds. And I would love for it to happen both online as well as here. Okay, so let's start now with maybe taking a few minutes just to contemplate what you just heard.

So just like this, we just slow everything down so you remain in your heart and don't get too involved in the intellectual capacity trying to understand too much. And let's see how it goes from here. This is a practical question: 'Father, can I take notes on my computer notepad? I've been doing it for some time. I think I write much faster with the keyboard.' It's fine, it's fine. So we try with one of the chants, and it's so beautiful that this bhajan that first came to me was 'He Nath Ab To Aisi Daya Kari' and one of the Taizé chants is 'Oh Lord, Hear My Prayer.' And I made the loop and then I realized that it's the same thing actually. So may this unfolding process be an answer to our prayers. Please come. Let's use the next few minutes in quiet prayer.

Very good. So I want to hear from all of you for a moment, especially the new ones. In terms of—we had a chat last Friday where we outlined this whole spiritual work. What is the project? What is our intention? So can someone share about what is this all about? What is satsang all about? What is our spiritual life all about? Who wants to start? What are we doing in satsang? Even simpler, what does the word satsang itself mean?

Company of Truth. Company of the truth.

So the presence of the truth or the company of the truth. What does it mean? How can we be in the company of the truth? What does it mean to come to satsang? Are we in the false otherwise? What is this truth?

That which does not come and go.

That which doesn't come and go. Okay. So how does coming to satsang help you meet that which does not come and go? Because you're coming to satsang, which does come and go. But you didn't recognize it; it wasn't so obvious to you that it is coming and going, including your own thoughts, and that you witness them, and that the witness of the appearance doesn't change, and that there is a presence. What problem does that which comes and goes create? Huh? Does that appearance of that which comes and goes inherently create a problem? Okay, let's take time over this. What is the truth? What are we doing in satsang? What is the meaning of finding that which doesn't come and go? And it was pointed out that in satsang first we are told about the realm of Maya, which is the realm of appearances, the realm of coming and going. But what are the appearances? The coming and going of appearances—what problem inherently does it cause, if any? And if the answer is no, like many of you said, then what is the source of trouble? Too much contemplation. Take your time. Take four or five minutes and just contemplate this for yourself. Anytime you think you know it already, you need to contemplate it more because you can't really say 'I know' any of this. It has to be met somewhere deeper. Make a note of whatever intuitive responses are coming and then we can discuss them together. Make a note of that, then we'll discuss after the quiet time. Try to keep your notebook as heartfelt as possible. Whatever is coming from your heart, let it. If you feel like you need to hold on to it in some way, then make a note of that.

If you like, you can call your notebooks 'The Guidance from the Atma' or 'Pointers from the Holy Spirit.' And sometimes just allow yourself to let go of control over the process. And if instead of writing some drawing is coming, some imagery is coming, allow that to unfold. Allow yourself to be guided by your heart, by His presence in your heart.

So Maya is the greatest con artist. So great a con artist that this Maya, which Ananta has explained to us, is 'me-ya.' It is when the 'me' comes, which means we take ourselves to be this separate identity, the 'me.' And when this 'me' comes, this 'me' can come in various forms. One of the things Kabir Ji is telling us is that even in the devotion of a devotee, it can try and hide. Contemplate that: how can Maya hide in the devotion of the devotee? And as I'm saying everything, you can—whatever appeals to you—you can write down to contemplate. In what ways are we attached to Maya? And the question continues: does the appearance of objects, does the appearance of time and space, inherently cause suffering to us? Or what is needed for us to suffer? Because Maya is suffering. Let's contemplate this for a few minutes. If you find yourself wandering, mind is spinning up stories, you're going to different places, just open your eyes, revisit the question, or just pull yourself back gently into your heart again.

So we are still on the question: what is satsang? Although it may not seem like that. Okay, so what I would love for all of you to do now is spend the next five minutes in just pure perception. Pure perception means allow all labels to come and go, all narratives to come and go. Allow yourself to remain in pure perception, even of the mental narrative. Try to keep your eyes open if you can, because it is when your eyes are open that most of you still get caught in this struggle of Maya. So remain as much as possible eyes open for five minutes and just don't label. Some of you are aware of the fresh exercise, so just remain like that, empty. See if pure perception actually causes any trouble at all. So no labeling, no story. Allow all labels to come and go just for the next few minutes. It is the same as the detached witnessing, the open and empty. Just remain like that. Some of you are used to doing it now. It's not that you're forcing your attention anyway; just allow it to remain. Just don't label. In fact, look around in the room if you like, so it doesn't become a state; it becomes natural. If your mind wants to take you on an adventure, you stay here. Stay. Stay. No topic is important now. No story is important. You don't have to resolve anything right now. Just empty. Empty of all conclusions. Keep yourself fresh in this moment.

Okay, if you're believing the thought, expose it. Otherwise, just let them come and go. But if you're believing it, then you can say it out loud. You can remove names if you want from the thought. Okay, let it go. Let it go. Very good. Believing your thought—it's not that you're going to go to jail or something. It's your own prison, actually, which you're exposing. You see it? 'I'm sitting in satsang, I don't like this game.' There. That I forget to expose. That is what the cross thought is saying about this.

If you are believing the thought, expose it. Otherwise, just let them come and go. But if you're believing it, then you can say it out loud. You can remove names if you want from the thought. Okay, let it go. Let it go. If you believe in your thought, it's not like you're going to go to jail or something. It's your own prison, actually, which you're exposing. You see it? 'I'm sitting in Satsang, I don't like this game.' There, I forget to expose that. That is what the cross-thought is saying about this. There we go. Fresh, fresh, fresh. Is it a thought to find it liberating? Yes. So just be liberated. Don't conclude that you are being liberated. This we see while I'm here; it's easy here. Just notice that this is also a thought which is making an object in time. So let it come. Yes, the looking doesn't need a thought. No, try to do it without the support. Try to do it without the support of the movement. I know it is sometimes helpful to just experience the sensations so you don't go to the mind, but now just be empty of any support. Just try to... you're not contemplating it is empty. If it is coming and going, it's fine, but if you're attaching to them, then huh? The thought itself is coming is only this.

Yeah, there's another version of this, which is that you're not going to let a thought catch you. You think that thoughts are very fast; actually, you're way ahead of them. So when the thought creeps up on you, you just... you have a sense of what I'm saying. It tries to catch you, you just... you're too fast. Your being can't be caught by a thought. So remain with the thought. Keep chasing you. You don't look back and say, 'Ah, don't get involved.' You stay fresh. 'Always will trouble you now.' No, to prevent you from doing it now. So there's no 'always.' Forget. 'Ready, boring, boring. How can I stay like this?' Exactly. That's almost given up. Come, come. Fresh, fresh, fresh. Are you buying the thought enough now?

Okay, so let's contemplate everything which is the nature of Maya, the nature of these appearances. Whether we suffer in pure perception. And if you're going to suffer, what is needed? Does something appearing in front of me cause me to suffer? If not, then what is it? Just contemplate.

Is the mind wandering too much? Are you able to stay with the contemplation or the prayer? When I'm empty, and I'm empty as I experienced a few minutes back, am I absent or present? Am I alive? Aware? Is there a presence here? Let's contemplate this. If there is a presence, whose presence is it? Where does it come from? Your mind will fight; it'll try to present answers. Just let them go, especially if you think you know this already.

During the contemplation, if you return to the prayer, it is completely fine. Or if you return to your self-inquiry, it is completely fine. Whose presence is with us? So it is said that God is with us. Submit yourselves. God is with us. Submit yourselves, O mighty ones. God is with us. Again shall ye rise up in your might. Again shall ye be overthrown. God is with us. Even if you take counsel together, shall the Lord destroy it. God is with us. And the word which ye shall speak shall not abide in you. God is with us. We feel not your terror, nor are we afraid. God is with us. I will put my trust in Him, and through Him shall I be saved. God is with us.

Where are you looking for me? I'm right here with you. I will not be found just in temples and mosques and churches. I'm right here with you. God is with us if we submit ourselves, like the hymn said. Submit yourselves, O mighty ones. And nobody's really mighty in front of God. It is only our pride which makes us believe that we are someone. So to submit ourselves and to look for God in the right place, which is right here with us. So the presence, when we ask the question, 'Whose presence is this?' God said, 'I am that I am.' And you say, 'I am.' Which I am? Which presence is this? Whose presence is it? Where does it start? Where did it come from? How is it made? So as we contemplate this, it is my prayer that all of us come to a heart insight of God's presence, God's light in our heart. Let's take a few moments to pray and contemplate.

Our life attains purpose, our life attains meaning, when we are blessed by the light of the Holy Spirit, the light of the Atma within. And that must become our main focus. This is the truth that we need to come to by emptying ourselves of the false, emptying ourselves of 'me', emptying ourselves of pride. We must attain the truth. We must meet this holy insight, this holy place in our heart. Because in the light of this Atma within, all truths, all guidance, all love, all meaning, everything reveals itself to us. It is to attain this, to come to this discipleship, that we come to Satsang. Because without this, no truth is possible, no true insight is possible, no spirituality is possible. This is our way to find God: through the light of spirit, through the light of the Atma within.

So it is good not to involve yourself too much, or at all actually, in worldly considerations. Me, me, other, other, other. It will not lead to a deepening. It will not lead to the insight in your heart. So one time God presented these words here, and I find them very useful, although because the instrument is quite foolish, the words may be quite simple. But the words came. The point is that have we found God, which is the purpose of our life, that we are now involving ourselves in the complications of humanity? It's like the one who doesn't have money to buy one grain of food for himself is on an adventure to buy an elephant. But is that the story of our life? Are we more involved in our relationship with God, in our unity with God, or are we interested more in worldly things? And if you're interested more in worldly things, then you must contemplate the dichotomy which is leading to the suffering in our life, because we can't have one foot there and one foot here.

How much time are we giving to our relationship with God? How much time is needed? How much time do we have?

Let's go to Katrin on Zoom.

Hello, Father. Thank you. I am sleepy, sleepy. I'm fighting this energy since morning and it's still here.

That's why we have recording.

No, no, it's not about the recording. It's more like I don't know how to get out of it, or there is an interest, I guess, to transform it. But it's been with me most of the day and at some point in time I had the impression that it goes away, but it didn't.

So just keep offering it to God. Yeah, it comes from Him. If it is blocking us, getting in our way, then only He can turn it into auspiciousness. Keep offering it to God.

I offer it to God. Thank you.

That's my Father. Hello. Thank you for this gift of the Taizé. How you pronounce it? Yeah, that's right. Taizé. Very... they have these contemplative retreats. But when I saw what Keshav sent me, it just touched my heart so much, you know? And I don't know if all of you noticed, but I've been wanting to take breaks in the middle of Satsang and sometimes I'm just saying, 'Let's just sit for some time.' So it really resonated with me, the way they carry on the spiritual contemplation and prayer. We incorporate whatever we feel from the heart helps in the unfolding of the holy presence in our heart. We go along with it.

It's French. Yeah. Can you hear me okay? Because I know last time my sound wasn't so good.

I can hear you. It's okay. And everyone can hear Father. Okay.

Okay, I tried to fix it. It was very bad last time. I really just wanted to come up too, and I just feel like I haven't spoken to you face to face in a while and I've kind of been hiding for a little bit. And I'm so happy and I'm really grateful. And this way, it's so beautiful. And I'm not just saying it because I love Taizé already, but it feels so powerful and so hyper-focused on where you want us to go. And really, like by example, you're with us through this whole process. You're just dismissing the mind so effortlessly, like not making a big deal about it. And that's so beautiful to do it like that, you know? Like whatever thought comes up, just expose it, let it go. We're not going on these long rants and narratives about it.

Exactly. But if these are the kind of things you discover when you're in hiding, you should really be in hiding all the time.

I wouldn't wish the catalyst upon anyone that created the hiding, yes. But yes, I guess maybe I would wish it.

Yeah, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Who knows these things? Who knows about them? I just wanted to come up and... very, very bless you. Bless you so much. And thank you once again for this precious, precious gift. It felt so good receiving it. It just aligned with my heart.

Yes, maybe I could sing one sometime.

Yes, you can now. Why not? Why sometime? If the sound's okay, yes.

Okay, everyone can sing along if they'd like. These were the final instructions from Jesus to his disciples: 'Stay with me, remain here with me, watch and pray. Watch and pray. Stay with me, remain here with me, watch and pray. Watch and pray. Stay with me, remain here with me, watch and pray. Watch and pray. Stay with me, remain here with me, watch and pray. Watch and pray. Stay with me, remain here with me, watch and pray. Watch and pray.'

So the staying with God, the staying with the Holy Spirit, the holy presence, the Atma, has been equated with 'watch and pray.' What is this watch? Papaji said, 'Vigilance till my dying breath.' Vigilant to the attractions of Maya. Vigilant to the narratives of the mind, the labeling from the mind. Empty of all of that. Not getting complacent. Continuing to be vigilant, watching, and continuing to pray. Continuing to stay is equated with 'Stay with me, remain here with me.' God's guidance to us to stay with God: we must watch and pray. Because as we discovered earlier, Maya is the greatest con artist. So if we don't watch, we don't watch out, we are not vigilant, then even sometimes in the guise of prayer it will get us involved in Maya because of our pride as devotees, as how much prayer we are doing. All of that can come in the way. So it is important to be vigilant to any pride, to any egoic attraction to our pride, and remain empty and watch and pray.

Okay, we may not have a reading today, but we'll continue that from next time. I want to get everyone's feedback—not everyone's, but whoever feels to share a few things about this process and how was it from this end. It felt very beautiful. How is it for all of you? You feel like continuing like this? Initially, the mind may resist. For some of you, you may find it boring or may feel like, 'I already know everything.' Don't fall for that trick. Watch and pray. Anything that I'm missing in this? Anything that is not occurring to me but is blocking you in this process? Or how this could... if you have some strong resistance about it, please expose it so that we can look at it together.

It appeared more effortful, and that's just a resistance coming up, but I'd like us to see it.

Yeah, but you were part inspiration for this with your notebook. So in your case, it should have ideally been least effort.

No, I love the process. I love the process. I just... maybe I may be wrong, I just thought perhaps it can be done in smaller doses, or maybe two hours was a bit too much. Or maybe just... I just have a headache. So I came to Satsang with a headache, so that could also be. Towards the end, I felt some resistance coming from within, but right at the tail end.

Right at the tail end. Is it resistance to the next period of silence, or what was it? When was it coming?

It was something, I think, made me feel fidgety.

That can resist. But when the talking was happening it was fine, and the silence was too much? Or what was it?

Yes, it was.

I felt some resistance coming from within, but right at the tail end. It was something, I think, that made me feel fidgety. When the talking was happening, it was fine, but the silence was too much. It was the last bit of the silence.

So my blessing and my hope, of course, is that the silence becomes more and more natural for everyone. I understand that you're used to satsang in a particular way, and now it's much fewer words and mostly periods of silence, where the mind doesn't like silence at all. So let's—this is the way I'm looking at it at the moment, but if it continues, let me know. Then you see how it goes.

The idea is that when you're hearing the words of satsang, like a question-answer interaction, then get the highlights of what you feel you want to contemplate, you want to mull over in your heart deeply. Otherwise, what often happens is that the mind makes us forget what we need to really look at deeply within ourselves. The notebook, I feel, helps in making a note of that so it doesn't go away from our view in that way. But it's a very good point that our academic use of notebooks in a way has got us to a point of either trying to memorize or trying to intellectually understand. But hopefully, the kind of questions that you find in satsang, your mind's answers or mental understanding will not be satisfactory in terms of the feeling behind them—the sweetness, the joy, the exploration, the fragrance of the Atma within. You'll get more and more used to it throughout.

There was an urge of validating what I had written, validating it by you.

Ah, yes. And I noticed some of that both in the chat and as well. So it's okay. Sometime, little by little, I'll guide that a little bit. Don't worry. If it comes, then just say that you want to share, and how my heart takes me, we'll trust that.

What is a guideline from you on these notes? Like, we keep looking at it, or whenever required, like before coming to satsang?

Not yet. Not necessary. I don't know yet. You'll see how it goes, but it is helpful. It's a useful repository of pointers that you're hearing in satsang. But whether I want you to make homework out of it, I'm not yet sure. That guidance hasn't come yet.

I found it very, very powerful, Father, because the thing is, the contemplation in the energy field is very different from contemplation when the mind is more active when you're alone.

Yes, that's exactly my hope. So the qualitative experience, the direct experiencing, is so much more powerful that you could go so much deeper in terms of experiencing it. Because we gather in God's name seeking His blessing, and when we gather in God's name, then His presence seems to amplify. True spiritual contemplation only happens in the light of His presence.

Very. I think the insight that came here was that He said God is here, His presence as everything. So He's the only one that is. There wasn't even that duality of me. It's only because only He can know Himself. The object within Him can't know the entirety of the isness.

Exactly. Only the isness is, and so there's nothing, you know, just to rest in that. So it's worth then contemplating that if it is true that God alone is, then the revelation that 'now I recognize that God alone is'—then that belongs to whom? Of course, the obvious answer is to God, but then God would never be hidden from Himself or confused about what any of this is. So it exposes the nature of the Leela, the nature of Maya in some way. Like, who's the one getting caught in Maya? We can say God, of course, but can God get caught? You can say me, of course, but then is there such a me? If there isn't a me, then who is getting caught? These are beautiful contemplations if you have the temperament to contemplate this thing. Let's go to Saumya. She's still there.

Hello, Father. Can you hear me? I just wanted to come to you. Thank you. Thanks to God for everything. Ram, Krishna, Jesus, Allah, my Guru, and all the holy names of God. May His grace bless us. May our hearts be blessed. May this gift be to all of humanity as it is meant to be, and may all of you turn into holy instruments of God's light to share this. Thank you. Sorry, I just saw a message, but Father stopped now. Just one request and prayer, Father, which I realize actually for some time during satsang—actually just so much selftalk unconsciously going on. I'm always speaking to myself. And today, I don't know, during pure perception, I think it has just been exposed again. Of course, before also, I don't know, I just want this period to be more and more longer within me and to come to these periods more. This is my prayer because during satsang, I was not listening to you in general, but just in the satsang vibration and being in satsang. It's also useful, but I want to be more in satsang, to be honest.

And yeah, prayer is there with you. It is seen that in the human condition, this is very greatly aided by prayer or inquiry or both. So use the tools which are available to you as much as you can, and you'll find the inner silence will grow.

Yeah, because they wanted to hear you well, Father. I wanted to share something with you. Like, recently your satsang was more in a prayer mood, and we were following, of course, and I was so happy with it because it's such a temperament of mine. Just somewhere I thought, maybe like one other satsang other than yours I joined, and there I was hearing 'I am, I am,' and I thought, 'Oh my God, I was not like inquiring to I-amness anymore like in our satsang.' So I started to talk, 'What is this I am?' and it came up. I just realized that it's not different. Through prayer, the 'I am' that I experienced with this talk actually was the same 'I am' which you brought us through prayer. And actually, it became my everyday experience. It's not an experience for that moment anymore, but you made it my everyday, every moment experience. So I just wanted to share this, and without me even realizing this, thank you for making this our present experience.

So yeah, thank you for that. I was saying that I'm glad we spoke a lot about this today in today's satsang, and I hope all of you are noticing how all pathways to God, as different as they may seem on the surface, actually at the core beneath the surface have the same light, have the same insight, have the same love. So I'm glad, I'm happy to hear your report about this. Good, good. Okay, let's go to Yannick and Sing. Okay, let's in the meanwhile go to Sing while Yannick sorts out his audio.

Hello. Thank you, Ananta. There was an impulse to speak after you said, 'Who gets caught in Maya?' and 'Who sees that there is only God?' These contemplations, they are at the heart of my looking somehow. But I noticed it was a little bit of a rushed energy that also wants to say something, and maybe I feel it's not actually needed also to speak anything, because it will all sound a bit arrogant. Yeah, there is really no one who gets caught, and there is only God. That's what I—that's the only certainty I have.

Yeah, it's very good. Why is it arrogant? There's no one being arrogant. Bless you, bless you. Thank you, thank you. Satguru Sri Guru Dev Ki Jai. Ram Ji. Ram Ji.