This Is the Essence of Satsang – 16th December 2022

What has happened to us? What has happened is that all of us, at some level, if you're going to be in a Satsang like this, have an inkling that something is wrong somewhere. Something is not true somewhere. That this notion of my life being between birth and death and living as if I am this body, scampering for others to love me and scampering for things to get, something is not ringing true somewhere. So let's provisionally, whether you agree with it or not, let's provisionally call that the calling from your heart which is nudging you or pushing you based on the intensity of your longing. Nudging you at least to questions: What is true? What is real? Why does everything that I have here, including this body, seem like a cheap replacement for something which is more real, or something which is more timeless, something which is eternal, something which is unchanging?

So you're in Satsang because your heart has started calling you in this way. You're saying, 'Look, what is really going on?' So as you start noticing this, what may even seem like a feeling initially, although it is deeper than a feeling, you will notice that it has the potential to attract you towards the reality of God's presence which is within you. That same calling which brings you to Satsang, that same love which is completely irrational, is the calling of your heart to that to which this body is only an instrument of.

As you hear these words, so many of you have come to Satsang and said that you have not understood anything, and yet something felt at home. And that recognition is primal because it did not feel like a new house that you have shifted into. It did not seem like something like a resort you've come to for a vacation, but it really feels like some deep connection in the heart. And actually, it is deeper than the deepest connection because it is the very heart itself. And this heart is not some physical heart, it is not an emotional heart; it is the very essence of your existence. It has been shrouded now under the clouds of false identity and something is pulling you deep within into a recognition that should be the most obvious in this world, but somehow has become the most difficult in this world.

You are tired of an evaluative and a judgmental sort of existence where all you're doing is adding to your narratives based on the judgments you are making of things that you encounter, and you're realizing the futility of that process. Realizing the futility of human existence. What do we do? Wake up in the morning, you start to judge, be judged, maybe the state of our own body. Then we start to think about what do we have to do. Then we go from place to place—I'm sorry, I'm not good at this part of it—but probably we just go from place to place, constantly trying to collect and gather, find out what is useful for us, what is useless for us, either in terms of knowledge or in terms of things.

So we are looking at constant returns for our time spent, value in return for what time you are spending. And at the end of the day, what do we have to show for it? Just before we sleep, how is that different? How are we different from how we started? Maybe we have gathered, if you have a quote-unquote 'good day,' maybe we have gathered more objects. If you had a bad day, you lost some of those objects. Maybe if it is a good day, you can say to yourself that, 'Oh, I'm smarter tonight when I'm going to sleep than when I woke up this morning.' But that 'smarter' is usually just a bundle of concepts which you will forget soon, and you will definitely forget at death. So day after day, our life is like this and soon we run out of time. Isn't that pretty much the human condition at the moment?

And also there is an aspect of... so the antidote to this for some in the world is to go chasing experiences. 'I don't want to live this myth of Sisyphus type life, so I will instead travel, I will instead do something adventurous, I will live like a rebel or a sadhu, I will live in a different way where I'm living just experiencing everything moment to moment.' Just experience. How was that very different from collecting objects? Here you're collecting so-called memory. How long does memory last? It fades just like objects die, it decreases. And over time, maybe even more so with our memories. Then we say we want to make these memories permanent. So what do we do? We take them into photographs. We have these phones we carry around, so we'll make the permanent memories. But those photographs you could get anywhere on the internet also. And then we have to force it and say, 'No, no, but this is special because I was there.'

So far-fetched is our attempt to make meaning out of life that the absurdity of it should be obvious to everyone, but it isn't because this Maya, the veil of Maya, convinces us in our heads that this is the only way. There is no other way. That you are meaningless, but your job is to try and create some meaning out of your life for the time that you are here. And this kind of philosophy, by the way, is considered one of the top philosophies in the world. If some of you read philosophy and Sartre and things like that, you will see that that is the proposal: that nobody cares, you're just a measly little object in this world, but you have the power to try and give yourself meaning, which ultimately will be annihilated at death anyway, but that's your Dharma, so to speak.

But what if that is not true? Because the basis of all of this itself, the basis of all of this is what? That the separation actually happened. That actually you are this body-mind entity who is just running around helter-skelter in this big bad universe. And it is bad because there's nothing that will prevent your death. That is the mind's proposal about what you are. Again, can we try to fight this? This is all our mind, and ultimately we die. That is the false idea about who we are.

And why are we labeling this today and going slowly is that any tactic and strategy you make from that standpoint, you see, is not valuable because it is all going to die anyway. From the standpoint of individuality and separation, any ploy or tactics, any notion that with this I will attain something new to go beyond it, beyond limited time and limited space, it is just not possible. So that is one way to try and live your life: to say, 'Okay, I am this body, come what may. I am this person. Then I have to find a personal philosophy for myself. What is my way of life? Based on what I determine to be good or bad, I will live in that way.' So then I am now living on my own terms and I am able to determine my life. The endpoint of this I cannot change. When will it happen? I cannot predict. But while I'm at it, I'm going to be at it.

That is philosophy number one. And whether it encompasses material goals, spiritual goals, religious goals, that philosophy can encompass whatever you want, but it is squeezed between your birth and your death. You may have fancy notions about rebirth and all of that, but you cannot truly live in that way because once you take yourself to be this body-mind, then all this notion of continuous life and rebirth and all of that just feels like something that you say to yourself to feel better, but actually you still take yourself to be this separate body.

So I'm pointing out the hopelessness of this approach. There is really no point to creating these kind of personal philosophies and ways of life and 'I'm going to live this way' and 'I'm going to believe that way' because at the basis of it is the big lie. At the foundation of it is the big lie: the big lie that you are just this body-mind, that we are a separate person. And the thing is that nobody has really ever met this person. You have not met the person who wants freedom. You met that person? The body doesn't want freedom, but you do. But who is that 'you'? You've never met the person who wants to have more money in the bank account, although you may say to yourself quietly that 'I do.' But have you met that 'I'? You haven't.

So not only is the foundation of this individual life completely futile, it is also not something that, unlike the rest of the world, is even perceivable, because this person is not perceivable. And the body actually doesn't want anything, but if you want to stretch it a bit, then we can say, 'Okay, it wants to avoid pain and it seeks gratification.' But it doesn't think about time. It doesn't say, 'I want pleasure forever,' which is security. It doesn't say these things. Suppose we are even going to say, 'Okay, the body wants to be comfortable, it wants to avoid pain,' but that is just moment to moment.

It is also not something that, unlike the rest of the world, is even perceivable, because this person is not perceivable. And the body actually doesn't want anything, but if you want to stretch it a bit, then we can say, okay, it wants to avoid pain and it sees creation. But the thing about time—it doesn't say 'I want pleasure forever' which is security; it doesn't say these things. So suppose we even go and say, okay, the body wants to be comfortable, it wants to avoid pain, but that is just moment to moment. So we've lived in this world of Maya where we've considered ourselves to be something or somebody that we have really no evidence about. But just because that something or somebody has a name and it has a lot of beliefs in terms of desires and aversions and rejects and tries and plans and things—it has basically a name and a set of beliefs—we can claim that is the person. Because nothing... for example, you're here for freedom; your body will not attain anything out of this, isn't it? And we've seen like bodies of some of the Siddhas; they are not like Mr. Universe or something like that at all. So the body doesn't automatically transform into something. So you're here because something irrational has gotten a hold on you. It gets you to satsang, which is not about self-improvement but really about self-annihilation in somebody—that self which we take ourselves to be.

So why this emphasis then on self-sacrifice in this way? Because the self that we take ourselves to be is completely full of lies. And that which seems like a sacrifice to us today, isn't it, is actually the way to freedom. Suppose you took yourself to be a character in your favorite book and your life is actually fine, but that character in the book is going through a lot of trouble. Then you go to a psychiatrist or a doctor or something and the doctor says, 'But you are not that.' And you say, 'How can you say that? I came here so that you would help me.' But the doctor says, 'No, no, forget about that, you're not that.' 'I can't forget about it! I've done so, so much in my life.' And you're still talking about the storybook character's life saying, 'I've done so much, I wanted this and I wanted that,' you see? Then what happens is that the doctor says, 'Okay, you are not going to throw away all of this at one shot, so let's figure out if you can start dissolving some of that. Okay, so what are you attached to?' 'Oh, I'm very attached to my job.' 'Yes, so let go of that attachment. Can you do it?' 'I don't know, maybe, because I'm more attached to my children; the job I can do.' And remember that all of this is about the storybook character. All you have is a narrative; you have no other substance but the narrative.

So slowly, slowly then you start to say, 'Oh, but this doctor is very tough. He says don't be attached to this and don't be attached to that. Easy for him to say.' So behind all the fancy words, that is all that is happening. They're letting go of false attachments and at the moment they may seem like sacrifice, but you're only coming into alignment with the will of the reality that you really are, and you're letting go of the made-up, nonsensical storybook version of your life. If it is not so, you must be able to produce that character right now and say, 'Here it is. Here is the one who is on the spiritual journey and wants freedom.' Show me that one. Anyone? Nobody can find that one. So this is the challenge in front of us. So we've seen that the false we cannot find. Now your mind will say, 'But the truth also we can't find.' So this challenge you must accept. Everyone's with me so far?

So let's say that we accept this challenge and say, 'Okay, you say that the false I can't find, but what you're telling me—that I am one with God—even that I cannot find.' So as your teacher, I must be full on about this challenge and say, 'Let's accept this challenge together.' And if you're open, then I will show you how this is true. But as I show you how this is true, you must also promise that as the calling from your head comes saying, 'Come, come back to the storybook world, at least that is familiar even if it is full of death and suffering,' you must not follow that temptation. Is it a deal? Because if you make this deal, then this is completely possible. If you hedge your bets and say, 'Let me check first, tell me then I'll see,' that we cannot do, you see? It's like if you're going to board this spaceship, you cannot say, 'Okay, now half of me I'm going to leave on the ground, but let's start taking off a bit and then we will see.' And although I'm saying it in a very simple way, that is what is stopping most of you because, like Papaji said, you already tied yourself to something on the outside.

Okay, this is a good story at this point, so let me share it. One man, he was sitting at Papaji's feet and said to Papaji, 'At your feet, Master, everything is just fine. Everything is just fine. I have no trouble, everything is completely fine. But when I go into the marketplace of the world, that is when this struggle starts again.' So Papaji told him that if at the feet of the Master you find peace, then why do you ever leave? Why do you ever leave? Is it now our excuse somewhere maybe that, 'But when I'm not in the energetic zone of satsang, then it seems so much more difficult to stay at the feet of the Master'? Because the feet of the Master are not physical feet. So it seems much more difficult to stay at the feet of the Master. But there is a hypocrisy there, and I'm sorry if this sounds harsh. The hypocrisy there is that if you truly didn't want anything from the marketplace, then the marketplace could not trouble you. So the power that the marketplace has over you is because you feel that something there can still bring me some value. And that value for most spiritual seekers now is just in the attempt of hedging the bet a bit, you see? And that sounds exactly like I was saying the other day, like our family members tell us, 'Don't go overboard, okay? Just do this in the right limit,' isn't it? So that is exactly what we are doing to ourselves, and that is the lack of faith.

And hopefully at some point I won't have to make this reminder that I'm not really talking about renouncing anything in the outer lives. I'm just continuing to talk about the attributes of the character that you're still attached to internally—the same storybook character that you're trying to be rid of. So if you really did not feel that you, as that storybook character, can get something from the marketplace of the world, then in what way would the marketplace be attractive to you? You would walk in the marketplace like unattached to anything in this world. Even if outwardly you're shopping, even if you got the most expensive thing in the market, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying inwardly you remain untouched even with the activities of this body. So there is no marketplace in this world which is by itself potent enough to distract you. It is not like that. It is just that what happens with us is that in the satsang environment we feel like, 'Oh, fully satsang, satsang. This life is so Guru, this life is so God.' Let me go into some other environment, then we feel like, 'Yes, I have to balance this out a bit, you know? I can't go overboard. It can't be all about God, let's be rational with it.' So we are playing this game. It's not about our family, it is not about the world, it is not about society; it is with ourselves we are playing this game. Nobody can tie this rope around us, and most of it is around fear of self-image and hurting other people, disappointing someone, or some ideas like that. But you cannot let these storybook ideas about the non-existent storybook character persist because others seem to believe in that narrative. But you have seen for yourself that that character doesn't exist. How long will you be imprisoned under these ideas?

So what is really happening? Your Master is calling you home and the Master is always saying 'right now.' You see, the mind is saying, 'Yeah, you're very good today. I feel like I've done well today. Now a little more tomorrow.' And where does this end? Again, another Papaji story. He said he visited a disciple who hadn't visited him for a long time. So he visited the home of this disciple because Papaji was visiting that city. Papaji knocks on that one's door and asks his wife, 'Where is he? I haven't seen him.' And this one brings out... no, he says, 'Him? Here he is.' Now, either behind the tantrums and the claims that we all need—that 'I'm so scared, it won't happen to me in this life, it won't happen to me'—somewhere we continue to hope that it all ends like this. We've not troubled ourselves too much, we've not had to do some major surgeries beyond ourselves and get rid of the false one. Just a spiritual life full of peace and joy may be something that we want to give as a gift to the non-existent person and provide that storybook character with a peaceful life together, a happy ending to the struggle of this life. But that's not it at all.

Okay, so how do we come to reality then? The challenge was that the false is not seen, but 'Father, can you show me the truth?' isn't it? And I have said there is one condition: that you can't hedge a bit. You can't hedge a bit because to find the truth you can't be selfish. You can't take yourself to be that storybook character—say, Tintin—and then say, 'Oh, show me God.' First you have to get rid of the idea that you're Tintin and then you have to see what is true. So think of any love that you experience in your life, or true love which is not based only on like a physical emotion or attraction or something like that. There may be a love for your beloved, but if that is mostly to do with attraction and it comes and goes, then keep that aside. Find something like parents or Guru or children or something which, even if you feel anger towards them, even if you feel frustration towards them, you know in your heart that you love them. Can you find that? Don't worry, it is objective as we are starting with. So remind yourselves about your love. This one, even if it is God, get the same route. The presence of that love, the perfume of that love. Don't evaluate at all. Don't evaluate at all. Just let the words do the job for you.

Because for many of you, it may be the impersonal love you feel towards Guruji, an aspect of God like Ram, Krishna, just God itself, Allah, Jesus, whatever your objective love. And even better if there is devotion. Devotion means you can invoke that one in your heart without even understanding what that means. Upon invocation, it means experience some love from the experience, and you might experience some images. All of this, allow it to come. It's all right. If this is the last step that you're able to follow in our contemplation together, then this itself is good enough for now. Hold on to even this for now. You have invoked the presence of something beyond your limited storybook selves, and just in that invocation, some love, some peace. And if this is where it ends today for anyone, this is also within us because at least you have gone beyond devotion to the non-existent 'me' to a devotion to something other than yourself or what you take yourself to be. But let's see if you can dive deeper into this, okay? The fragrance of this one—try to find its source. Find where it is coming from. It is not an intellectual exercise in any way. Don't worry if your mind is bothering you saying that, 'But this is also a perception.' Forget about all that. Just keep everything aside. Follow this scent of the Beloved in your heart. If it seems shaky, then you can invoke the presence again. Krishna, Ram, whatever you're naturally inclined to follow. Jesus help me, Allah, Mother, whatever attracts you. My Guruji, Guruji bless me. If you feel stuck here, remember that this is not stuck at all. It's pristine because you've come a long way from the storybook place already. You've come a long way from the false narrative with your full heart and everything. Inwardly follow the perfume of this presence.

If it seems cheeky, then you can invoke the presence again. Krishna, um, whatever you're naturally inclined to follow. Jesus, help me. Hello, Mother. Whatever attracts you. Satguru Ji, Satguru Ji, bless me. If you feel stuck here, remember that this is not stuck at all; it's pristine because you've come a long way from the storybook place already. You've come a long way from the false narrative with your full heart and everything. Inwardly, follow the perfume of this presence in whichever form of these two, whichever aspect. Follow a true love back into your heart and allow God's presence to reveal itself to you. Don't expect or judge the form in which it has to show up. Some of you may notice the luminous presence in your heart; some of you may notice it all over your body; some of you may notice it in the experience of the world in some way. So don't judge or pre-determine how it has to show up.

Having said that, I also have to say that here, the core of the presence is experienced in the temple of my heart, in the altar of my heart. It is, of course, boundless. It is like a spiritual center which happens to coincide with the location of the physical heart. And although we may call this a light, it is not a light like a light bulb. It is a light which is not possible for sight to experience in the usual experience of the world. So some of you might find it as a sweet vibration in your heart, experience a luminosity which illuminates in this way. In this way, you come to the discovery of the presence of being, an insight into your Atmic selves. And if this insight, this discovery, is not apparent to you, then this must become the whole endeavor of our lives. This is the only endeavor that must become the whole endeavor.

As you turn away from the narrative of the fall, as you go in a humble search for the divinity, the divine presence of Atma within ourselves, this is life very well spent. Please don't allow the mind to convince you it will be a wasted life. These will be the holiest lives, empty of selfishness and pride. To bow down in the altar of your own heart and to remain like that for the entirety of life, until you're guided from the inside itself to something else, is the best life. Nothing else deserves value or importance, only this discovery. And it is my blessing, and if there is any importance in these words, may it be so. It is God's will that all those who look for God's light, God's presence in this field, from self to selflessness, may they come to this. Because this holy presence, which is actually the light of your entire life and this entire universe—to live as if we are oblivious to that or it doesn't exist is what I have been calling the zombie life. I'm sorry that term seems a bit harsh, but really what I want to convey is that to have a life where the source of life is not apparent to us cannot be a life at all.

So with all your mind, with everything at your disposal, have a single, full-hearted focus on meeting God's presence, God's light in this way. Compared to this... so we've looked at the value of love and devotion, how we can latch on to the perfume of that love to guide us to the holy presence of God in our heart. Since the discovery of the Atma itself, your heart's thirst and longing is fully quenched. At this point, it is not possible to desire after this. In this pristine position with divinity, none of the gifts of the world can seem valuable after this. So this is the discovery of God's presence, Atma, beingness, Holy Spirit—whatever term you want to use. Satguru presence is, of course, a beautiful reminder of this.

At this point, all that reading and ranting I've been doing over the past many weeks, we need the fruits of that. Because the mind will try to tempt you with everything which is selfish, which is egotism, spirituality where you wanted God to help you and all of that. So hopefully I've chopped away most of that so that you can rest. You can hopefully offer the way for its knowledge and pride and spiritual ego so that you can rest in God's presence. And if it is not so, then we are in presence with empty words again to undertake the cleanup exercise over and over. It is a joy which I'm happy to do. So you're noticing the symphonic nature of self-discovery where there is a process of burning, emptying out, into the process of meeting the pure beauty of divinity. And then if there is evidence again of pride, or new pride starts getting created, then again a process of burning up, emptying them, coming to this, until this virtuous circle gets smaller and smaller and the back and forth becomes minimal. I won't say that it ever goes away fully.

Notice that I use the phrase 'presence of being' and I said 'beingness' or 'Atma,' 'Guru presence' or 'presence of divinity' or 'intuitive presence.' All of these we can use synonymously, effortlessly. Let's see if you can take another leap from here. There's no effort after this point; it's not possible. So let's see where God's grace takes us. Let me check on this presence. We may check using a question like: Has this a boundary? Was this born? Can this die? All the beautiful questions in the invitation. You may find that this presence itself is showing you the vastness of the being which is not even limited by the experience of the presence. Don't try to understand these words and repeat them; whatever comes, just follow along. Don't understand. You may find upon an inquiry like that, the light of this presence itself reveals the vastness which is beyond the experience that we can claim to have about the presence. It is in this being that all the universe and the constructs of time and space, they come and go.

The word, the Son of God, being, Paramatma—that which is the purest vibration from the ultimate absolute reality, the very being itself, the presence of which you noticed within your heart, or the vastness of which it itself, the presence itself, is revealing to you now. That is the entirety of the 'I Am.' The presence of which is guiding you to its revelation. Not that they are two, but you're meeting the entirety of the Oneness through its aspects, through the way that it leads to the presence of your being. Your Atma is the point of intersection between that play of time and the timeless. It is the portal which, when you go outwards into the world, leads to all of this manifestation. But as you navigate in the other direction, you meet a vastness which is unfathomable to your mind.

It may naturally occur to some of us that—and be careful of any visualization or mind claim and spiritual specialness, all of this trouble will come at this point—you have to be vigilant to not buy into any idea of trying to grasp the ultimate. Empty yourself of any will to be special or to understand or achieve. Remain in the humility of a humble devotee. You may notice that you are the witnessing principle or the awareness that is aware even of this being in which this whole universe is playing. You may notice that your reality is in a dimensionless dimension beyond even this. And I'm using these words just to avoid any visualization that you could be doing. It is not something that we can ever fathom or imagine. Absolute purity, absolute stillness, empty of empty, beyond something and nothing. Beyond this awareness, Nirguna Brahman. This God is not something that we can attain or achieve.

There are no tools that you can use to get to this point. That is called pure grace. There is nothing we can do to deserve this; there's nothing that makes us worthy of that. That blessing of the supreme insight is the undeserved blessing of grace. Don't visualize, don't hang on to anything, just allow yourself to be empty. All of this play in the universe, all of time and space, everything is in service to this reality. The full blessings of the Satguru that we all come to this discovery. I use the term 'God' pretty literally, so I may use it for God's presence which is Atma, I may use it for being which is Paramatma, I may use it for the absolute reality which is Brahman. So all of them for me are God. And with your full reverence, that which I find... yes, this is an important point. That which you find in your heart, don't believe that that is some halfway point or something. God's presence is one. God is not three. So none of what I have said so far should make you understand that there are three. It is just one. The one playing in these three aspects in this prayer of grace, where the discovery of the formless reality seems so far off in the human condition that God and God's grace has given us the support to meet God in this way.

The terminology that you use is not that important, but don't be quick to jump to like a super-Advaita type terminology which is, 'Oh, it's all Nirguna Brahman now.' Then you will do a disservice to yourselves in using that which God has made available to us. So I'm trying to have like a sort of mental router. So whether you say Atma or presence or Satguru presence or God's light or beingness or Holy Spirit, and then when you say your being, the Word of God, the Son of God, God's final vibration—all these terms, as long as you're seeing them from your own inside, it's completely fine. And then if you say God or awareness or Self or Absolute or Brahman, you can use these terms. Don't rush to any of them. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All these are met with the reality of what you are. So it also leads to God. It can feel a bit obscure, but really it is not in opposition to you. The way to your boundless being is through the light of presence within your heart, and the way to that absolute recognition is through your boundless being. God deserves reverence in whichever aspect you're meeting God, even as life, even in the outer life.

This is the way of the heart. We rely on full faith, the way of faith, the way of intuitive insight into this one. All that God is, God's grace has made available to us. It has been used to look at the falseness of the human condition and the delusion of individual lives. Chop through all of that using faith and intuition and discover this vastness which is unimaginable to the storybook character that we started with. I have given you advice at every step, and you can really look at this recording. But at every step, as long as you have taken the first step, which is to turn away from the egoic life, you're already in a blessed life. Your life is already holy. So don't get into any spiritual competitiveness or achievement or progress. All this is ultimately God, and provisionally just between God and you. Nothing else really is important. Who is getting married, who is not getting married, who's living here, who is not living here—don't waste a moment on this. The second you go into these trivial sort of things, God is waiting in your heart and you have to take a call now. Whether this man saying all this to you is either deluded or a fraud, or he's telling you something which is true. Because if the potential to discover God is there for you today, what else can be worthy of your time? Unless I'm lying to you. You are fully free to check that, if there's any motivation that I would have to do that. The other option is, of course, that I'm fully crazy, and that I can't check on for myself; you have to do that.

Father, I had a contemplation this morning on Discord. Everything was like you were hearing me, reading my mind; it was a conversation. So I feel everything's been addressed and, yeah, I just woke up this morning with a feeling of a lack of meaning, and you've addressed that today. I feel it's only living.

Of course, that I'm fully crazy and then that I can't check on for myself like you have to too. She still wants to honest contemplation this morning on Discord. Everything was like a—you were hearing me, reading my mind. It was a conversation. So I feel it's everything's been addressed and um, yeah, I just I woke up this morning with a feeling of, yeah, lack of meaning. And you've addressed that today. I feel it's only living in our mind that we have no meaning and we find no meaning, yeah. But somehow it feels lately that it is hard to access the place where that is beyond meaning and no meaning, and that is a bit of what's happening.

Yes, because although we may say somehow and seemingly all these things you may say, but it is a compelling design. It is a compelling design. Thank you.

Yeah, you know the first pages of Yoga Vasistha, I feel a little bit like I'm stuck in those pages, you know, where it's just whining and complaining about being in a state of... but that dispassion, the Ram's dispassion, is really all the creating the fertile grounds for, or actually creating a strong, strong foundation for the rest of your life. So I look at it because it is turning away from the falseness of an egoic life. Ram Ji as a prince went through it at a very young age, but all of us at some levels are still going through it. Yeah, I asked myself, I asked you this morning, I had this question: are we not supposed to be happy? Should we not be happy? Sorry.

Everything that is okay, this is very important. Good one, thank you, thank you. I am trying to make life so simple for all of us and I'll tell you how I want to make it super simple: if it comes from God, it is good. That's it. Yeah. So because in the human condition we have fooled ourselves long enough thinking that all things can give us happiness. So if through your heart you're feeling this dispassion and you just want to throw away everything and you're not finding meaning in anything, then that is good for now, even if that means that I'm not happy. Yes, anything that comes from God is good.

Because would a father say to you that, 'Oh no, what is happening is that you're doing too much in spirituality, you've become unhappy and dispassionate. Please, please go get a good relationship going, make some money, you know, focus on life and all of that. Find your happiness first, then we'll see about God later.' But I would not do that to you because that seeming happiness is just like the fireworks of the ego, which may seem pleasurable when they unfold, but they really leave a lot of ashes behind. And no father will want to wish that on their children. Be called over everything God's light, God's presence over everything. Don't bother what your state is. Don't worry about anything else. Are you in God's light or not? That's it.

Yeah, it's been feeling like more of an effort lately too.

Okay, look at the metaphor. Suppose that you're in your bedroom and in your living room Krishna has arrived, like in the flesh, he is sitting over there. You go meet him. You say, 'But I want to resolve my happiness or unhappiness problem first.' But Father, I have a bit of a resistance to this because how do I know great happiness with God? Don't we only equate God with happiness?

But is it not the same thing?

No, it's not. It's hard for me to see that. It's hard for you to understand that, but every time that Masters speak of God, they equate it with happiness and with love. And every time we have seen clearly, there is happiness. So if you make of all the equivalency like that, okay, that now my evidence to check on God is my state, whether I am feeling happy, that is the same as bliss. What if you met God truly and God said, 'Now your state will be unhappy for the next hundred lifetimes,' what would you pick? Is God's light enough?

I think where I'm coming from, and a lot of that has to do with like a spiritual marketing, and I hope I have not said happiness too much, but everything else has to become secondary to God. And even if you were pulled into spirituality because you thought you would always be happy, sorry, you were sold a bad, bad deal. It was some tourist track.

Okay, even if I discard everything that every Master has said, there is also my experience of exploring and—yeah, you went to a mandir that used to give some sweet Prasad, now it is giving salty Prasad. Yeah, the temple priest changed. Sorry, the temple priest will give you what the temple priest will give you. You cannot decide that. But really, it is worth contemplating that if the byproducts change, do we start questioning our own insight and discovery? And that may be a very good contemplation.

Yeah, I suppose like when there is too much noise of my mind, I simply try to find myself, and lately I feel like I'm not finding myself.

And how do you know? Because your mind is telling you you're not happy? Maybe because I'm not fully surrendered, maybe that's the problem. But remember that if you follow the voice of the thief as to where the thief is, it will never tell you the true address. So even for this determination, don't be—don't rush to it and say, 'Maybe I'm not surrendered enough, I'm not worthy enough, maybe nothing is wrong.' This we don't know. So all we first have to do is check with your intuition, check with that same Satguru presence which I pointed you to. And if the answer is not clear, then remain empty. Empty of desire, empty of conclusion with all your might, no? Because if you take a—if you follow one false conclusion once in this life, you don't know what road that will lead to. So just break that, short circuit that, right?

So when there is—when the mind becomes somewhat hellish, does that mean just let it be?

Yes, of course. Let the mind be alone. Has God's light gone missing? So just expanding on that same metaphor, hell is always here and heaven is always here. It's always here. The way of the head, the way of the mind, is hell, even if it seems to give some short-term joy or pleasure at times, but it is hellish. All of us have experienced that enough. The heart is heaven. So you're right that the mind will be hellish, but the mind always is hellish. Yes. Now that same voice of hell is telling you, 'Because happiness is not there, because you are not worthy, because you are not maybe surrendered enough.' Because why are you following the sound of hell? Heaven is available to you, you see.

So first notice whether you get into a state where you feel like you have to rush to a conclusion. Or in any of you, if you feel like you do that, notice that it is the mind which attaches. Your heart is never in a rush. You feel like you create a situation for yourself that you have to decide what's wrong with me right now, you see. Is it my lack of devotion? Is it my lack of inquiry? Is it my lack of whatever? Excuse me, where can we go for that true determination? So if you go to the perpetrator for the diagnosis about what is wrong with us, that one will continue to put us in a loop. What is your heart saying now? It's just yes, yes to you. Exact same light, which is the light of this universe. I wanted to share this, thank you, thank you.

So this presence, which we may feel like it's just a presence sitting around in our heart, about that everything literally moves in the will of this light. Everything is created and preserved in the will of this light. All that which we value, which is truth, unperceivable boundless love—not the feeling of love, the true love—the version of reality, true guidance, the animating force of Prana, only emerges from this light. Everything only emerges from this light. And guess what? This same light is willing to guide you as a Satguru presence. What a blessing that is. That same light from which everything emerges, this state whether we call it a waking state or returns to wherever this emerges from, whatever emerges out of this emerges from this, and that same very one is now your Satguru guiding you.

Which guidance would you exchange over this? Especially now that you know, if all the billions of minds got together and gave you guidance collectively versus something very silly sounding from your heart, always pick your heart. Because the mind will judge it as naive and illogical and nonsensical. 'But it doesn't make sense, it's contradictory, it's not even clear.' All the judgments and doubts will come from your head, you see. But follow the naive-sounding guidance from your heart compared to the most sophisticated rational guidance in your head. Okay, so let me break that down also so it becomes super easy for you.

When I say follow the guidance, I'm saying two things. First way to follow the guidance is to come into the light, which means empty of mental hypnosis. In the presence of that light, allow the presence itself to unfold whatever you take your body to be. And if you take your body to be this body, allow that to unfold this body. If you take your body to be this universe, then allow that to animate this universe as it will. So that is the first way of following the guidance. The second way of following the guidance is that you will start to notice that words start to come through you, and those words could be in any different form. They start to emerge through you, sometimes for those around you and sometimes for you yourselves.

Father?

Yeah, I'm just completing one point about this, which is that most of us now have noticed the other day that we're very happy for that guidance to come for those around us because we want to share what we have discovered and help our friends, and hopefully it is coming from a place of helping. So we want to do that. But when that same helping voice is something to do with what we take ourselves to be, we become a bit resistant. So that I can say, 'But I wanted to become free and not obedient.' But when you want to share with others, you want them to follow that. To ourselves, our mind can become and say, 'But this doesn't seem like freedom.' So if you say, for example, that is it possible for the heart to speak in words? I have to say yes, because that is how satsang is possible.

Okay. So you said there are two ways, and you talked about the first way of God guiding you and um, let me recap again.

Not actually two ways, but the two aspects in which it will play out. The following of God's will, when you look at your life, it will play out in two aspects which provisionally we can use the word 'will,' but it's actually just one way. The way is to be in God's light. To be in God's light, allow that which is unfolding naturally and to be able to apply it to—to be open to the guidance which may be received in the form of guidance which is in terms of 'do that' or 'don't do this' or 'say this' or something. Yeah, if it comes like that and you can clearly separate your heart compared to your mind, then you must follow that guidance also. Amazingly.

Yeah, so it's not you're picking between the two options?

It's not. It's not two ways, no. It's just living in God's light. And if it unfolds naturally, wordlessly, then that is fine. But if words emerge in heart, in whichever form as well—I say this, Father, because I think there was a misunderstanding and I think it was followed by an insight I wanted to check with you, but I think it's the same thing you're saying. Because you've been talking so much about following his guidance, of course the mind is very quick to do something with that and then just trying to hear the guidance or something like that. And then I realized that there was a natural unfolding that was just naturally happening and it was direct and it wasn't something that needed any intervention. And when I realized that and I saw that, I felt, 'Okay, maybe Father is calling this following his guidance as well.'

Yes, I mean, yeah, to allow the presence to move you as I've been saying, which occurs without mental intervention. The light itself is moving that you take yourself to be—your body, your universe, whatever. So that is the first. But because of the...

I realized that there was a natural unfolding that was just naturally happening, and it was direct. It wasn't something that needed any intervention. When I realized that and I saw that, I felt, okay, maybe Father is calling this following his guidance as well.

Yes, I mean, to allow the presence to move you, as I've been saying, which occurs without mental intervention. The light itself is moving that which you take yourself to be—your body, your universe, whatever. So that is the first. But because of this, don't create a circle around yourself saying that I will be skeptical of that guidance ever coming in the form of, like, a heard guidance. That's what I'm trying to say. Of course, it will move wordlessly as well, but just like you will be able to share satsang with others around you, you will be able to share something with yourself as well. It would be hypocritical to say, 'No, no, this can come only for others, but it can't come for me.' I get it. Sometimes you have to be shaken out of the positions, and the fastest way sometimes—not always—is for you to hear it directly. That's why we speak so much in satsang; otherwise, we could just let life unfold and show you all of this anyway, you see? But sometimes just to point it out and take out the poison directly is helpful. So don't ever create a boundary for your own heart guidance and how it should be, because your mind cannot accept the other way. In all cultures, all traditions, all religions, we have instances upon instances where people have confirmed, sages have confirmed: 'God has told me this.' And they were not lying. Many of you report anyway that when I hear you, Father, I hear it is like the words from my own heart. So the heart can use words. Allow it to be wordless as long as it is wordless, but don't automatically negate if you're being guided clearly in some way from your heart. Don't say, 'No, no, but my heart won't use words.' So I hope that clarifies.

Yes, and this is now true. Just like most of you on this Discord community now where these conversations come, I allow God to present the words. My only hope is, my only prayer of course is, that I remain completely transparent as a filter to that process as the words are pulled in there. Thank you for being so devoted to us, Father, and just to the truth being expressed here, and just being so fully present and holding our hand also.

Thank you. That'll be the last one for the day because sometimes what can happen is that the question-answers, because it's a little more engaging, can relegate the potent satsang that we had before that to the background. So I'll just take one more question today. Come.

Hello, Father. Thank you. Thank you for merging me with you again and again when my mind kicks in. Thank you.

Yes. It's very good if you continue to follow the contemplation that we are posting in your videos now. It may sometimes feel like, 'But this is repetitive, I've gone through this before, I don't really need to know this, I know this already,' or 'I can't do this, it's too far-fetched.' Whatever resistance may come from the mind, I'm inviting all of you to contemplate these so that you can safely spend your whole day in God's presence just using that contemplation for the day. Actually, just any one contemplation could be used forever, but most of us need some variety. So every day is a potent call from your heart to just remain. It's especially important to keep doing when you feel like, 'Oh, I'm bored, this is saying the same kind of stuff.' So thank you.

I felt, because you're posting every day a different contemplation and I wasn't there from the beginning, I kind of felt I'm falling behind the class.

Wake up from any point! And also, it's not like a Course in Miracles or something where you have to do it in order. There is a natural order that is arising—I'm seeing that myself, I am not planning any of it—but some of us are noticing that. But start whenever. Start with the first or start with today; start at any point. And if you want to share your discovery, you can share for any contemplation with them; they don't only have to be today.

Yeah, I think so. The kids are coming today to the village, and I was fully with you when you said any father who loves you would always play for God; you wouldn't send us into the bush to look for a partner or money. I feel this is what I've been doing with my children as well, at least for the past six, seven months. There was this—and I feel it's still playing a bit—this moment when maybe I got this feedback from people that I treasure, and I sent the kids to Romania with their father and they enjoyed so much the family and being in the world in a way, or not denying being in the world. This is what they are. And I felt a bit like, what am I going to offer the kids here in the village? A cold house? And I feel that it may still be playing, and maybe this is where I'm analyzing with the mind all these obstacles.

Yes, because this is like the third absurd type of problem-solving. It's like, 'Oh, but my kids, they live in a desert.' And even if I was living with them in the desert, how would their life be any different? What do I have to offer them? But they have a mother versus not having a mother. That's a great opportunity. It's like a huge difference between living in a desert alone versus living with a mother. So in the mind: 'What will I offer them here?' And of course, I realize that you're comparing with Romania and being with that and all of those things. But you don't have to offer them anything. You are their mother; that itself is a great offering which God has given them. So you don't have to rationalize these things. And you're right, you analyze it with your mind, all of this. I don't know if I'm offering them as much as they're offering me. It's not a business! Get out of all of this. Get out of all of this. This is the wrong place. I know you're being evaluative and judgmental and you're trying to compare. These are just non-existent problems. Non-existent problems. Which parent has ever thought that they have ever made up for the love they've received from their children? What my children—Sangha children and biological children—have brought to this life, I don't feel like I have ever been able to level. So why? You can be grateful. You can be grateful and say thank you, thank you so much, moment to moment. The only way to suffer is to try and solve non-existent problems. The children are coming; just be happy. If you get irritated with them, shout at them a bit, it's okay. It's all good. Don't try to have a perfect flow of this narrative and what's happening. I have to stop. Remember what I told you when you were here? Remember the main thing. Do you remember?

Follow your heart? Yes, but you prompted quite well with your hand specifically.

I said, if you cannot drop the narrative fully, then change the central protagonist of the narrative. Change the central character. Make the story about somebody else. Make it about anything, no more about 'me.' Tell me the same thing from Guruji's perspective, God's perspective. Don't say 'I,' say 'God,' say 'Guruji.' What you'll remember I used to do this earlier: tell me the same story, just replace 'I' with 'God.' Now, God's children are coming today. Then what is happening? And they don't have a car to travel around? Really? They have a car. So what? Is God going to buy an expensive car? No. I mean, it is not as absurd as it sounds, okay? Because really, it is more cruel when we make it out to be the 'I' that we are making it out to be, which is central and has no existence whatsoever. So at least we are replacing it with a truly existent one, even at the expense of it sounding absurd. But it is a much more accurate story now if you say 'God' instead.

Thank you. It's a good tool when we are getting too concerned. And God is going to invite the children to Sahaja. Can I continue this story a bit?

But you have to be sincere about it. You have to be sincere about it. You have to be as sincere at least as you were about the fake one. That God is going to invite the children—mean it from your heart as much as you would have meant it, if not more than any other representation. Then your narrative becomes clear, and the narrative becomes a blessing and a prayer. This may sound like very absurd, naive things, but try it. Try it my way. Let your life become full of blessings and prayers instead of suffering narratives. Okay, thank you. And thank you. One more hand went up, so we go to them. Thank you for putting us today together like this.

If I can... you said last question, but can I have one short one? Yes, I haven't been able to join lately, so I think it was a kind of miracle I could join today also. I've been very much experimenting, like enjoying—it's kind of new for me even though I think I've been living like this all my life—seeing how the presence can move everything. And but if I have problems with something, it's a little bit speaking for me. Speaking, I can see, for example, right now I'm not thinking of it, the words are coming. And usually the conversations for me are like, I see a thought, I somehow say it, and then the words are flowing by themselves. And sometimes not; sometimes it's just like opening a window or something.

Okay, so what a tip I will give you is that that with which you are evaluating what the problem is, leave that. Because the life of presence and a life of God does not have to fulfill a standard which your mind is setting for you, saying that, 'Now I'm living like this, everything is going well.' And how do we know about the wellness of it? From the head? 'Except my speaking.' And how do we know that that is the problem and not maybe—maybe that is the best part actually, that you've become very... I don't know whether you've become ineloquent or eloquent, you see? Maybe that is the best part. But how do we know? How do we judge? So we have to allow the presence itself to do that. So is your heart telling you that the problem is from the speaking, or there is a determination made from somehow?

I couldn't follow so much. Like, there is no problem, no problem. Just somehow there is... I don't know, I'm making the same mistake again, but there is like, sometimes there is a... it seems like a choice if to express the thoughts or not. Because I can see they pass by anyway and it can be like very...

Let all thoughts come and go. Don't express any of them. Express what is natural to your heart. It may seem a bit strange initially, but trust your heart, which is running this entire universe. And this universe is nothing, actually, for your heart. That can run your mouth also very well. There's no problem. Try. You should just let them come and go. Of course, of course. You don't have to force not seeing them come and go, I think. And once in a while, it's okay. Thank you. Okay, thank you so much. Love to all of you. So happy. Thank you all together. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all so much for being in satsang today. Subscribe.