What is the Atma

You see, well, it's a multi-purpose design. Let's put it that way. It's a dual-purpose design. The antahkarana can be fully immersed in Maya also, not fully, but 99.9% immersed in Maya. Also we can immerse all our layers except the very center of our heart into Maya, into desiring, into wanting, and wanting to get more and more out of this world. But that will never seem fulfilling to us. That contentment that we are seeking will not come from that. The only ones that seem content to us are the ones who have filled themselves up with God's light and his love and his presence.

So the lane is too narrow. What is the lane? The lane is our soul. The lane is the antahkarana. You see? Now there is not room enough in this lane for two. The lane can belong to God or it can belong to the ego. Only one can own this. You cannot have two masters. It has to be God or ego.

So when we make a determination that my life belongs to God, my heart is only yours Lord, then we make that offering to God, and then the process of clean up within can happen. And because we have made that determination, that offering, that surrender to God doesn't mean that the force of Maya will give up. Many times it will seem like it's acting even more strongly. You see, and the gift that we have to be most careful of in Maya are the seemingly spiritual gifts. You see, like the gifts of an outer spirituality that you have to be very careful of. We have to remember that spirituality is about spirit. You see, so Maya dressed up as spirit will not do. Maya dressed up as spirit is the most devious.

You see, so don't worry about how the world considers you. If all your neighbors tell you, oh, you become very spiritual, it actually doesn't mean that you have. You see, hopefully you have, but just by those outer determination of people around you is not it. Do you feel his presence? Do you meet his light? Do you follow his will?

So the paraphrasing of the great Sufi quotation was that you will be paid by the master that you serve. If you've done employment for the month with some master, then that one is going to pay you the salary, the wages. So if our life is going in serving the me, how will we get the spiritual wages? But try to serve the spirit, try to serve the Atma. You see, that you will get much more than you could imagine.

Don't hedge your bets. Just don't hedge your bets. Just bet on God and see what happen. You all being a bit safe. I'm talking to myself as well, that yes, God runs everything. He is in charge of my life. I have surrendered. But don't touch my relationship. Don't touch my money. Don't touch the health of my body. Don't touch what I think I understand. Let's not go there. You see, then what have we actually surrendered to God? Then isn't it just a great convenient self-help method? Which self are we serving?

The me.

Exactly. It's difficult enough when we make that full determination with full-hearted surrender and say I belong to you. It is difficult enough even after that. But when we try to balance it out between Maya and God, it is impossible. What are we hedging our bets for? On one side is God. On the other side is Maya. And what does Maya offer? Grasp, grasp, grasp, grasp, grasp. Get, collect, collect, collect. Die. Serious absurdity that we are on to. See, what is the point of all this collecting. I'm collecting. I'm making a name for myself. I'm collecting money for myself. I'm collecting all of this for myself. And this self is not real. It never existed. And whatever it takes itself to be is going to die.

And yet that hypnosis of my me holds. Yes, it's true. But if only, let me just get that, then my life is for God. Let me just do this, then my life is for God. See, so these things come on offer, and these don't have to be big things. I remember that all of this I'm saying about myself.

So I can take Ram's name, Ram. But let me first find out what is the news today myself. Let me find out what is India's position in the world cup right now. I'm not saying any of these are bad things or we must not do. I'm just saying that what is the exchange that we are making. Okay.

Now the beautiful thing is that as you continue your remembrance of God, in the form of the name or in the form of the inquiry, then that stays with you. It becomes a natural part of your life. You see, and whatever attention is needed to enjoy this world of Maya without becoming personally involved with it will be provided to us. You see, this part is important. So that's why I say that first if you have your life jacket on then you can jump into the pool. Make your practice, make your sadhana solid in your heart. You see, don't waver from it. Stay with that. And then in God's light, in God's presence, whatever action needs to happen in the world will happen. We don't have to become an outer sadhu. We only have to become an inner sadhu.

When I'm trying to love Ram Ji right now, like there's a felt love.

I'll make it simpler for you. You know you're trying to love Ram Ji. Then he definitely knows. You see, he will not be confused about that. You see, so as we go deeper in that trying to love, we will notice that there's a feeling that we call love. But that no feeling is constant. So it comes and goes. You see? So when it comes and goes, like you may love somebody in your family, or let's say you love your husband, then is there always a felt love for him? No. You see, but somewhere deeper than that felt love you know that you love him. You see, so this is same for parents, children, all these special relationships.

So that deeper love which is independent of the feeling, which may change at the moment, is met only through the eyes of the Atma. It is not known mentally or perceptually. You know it only because you know it in your heart. So that I wanted to clarify, but you can proceed. You want to proceed?

Yes.

What is the Atma?

What is the Atma? This is a very good question. Anybody asked me that actually before? I don't think anybody's. What is the Atma? The Atma is the name that we give for God's presence in our heart.

Now what happened is that for someone to meet the Nirguna directly seems impossible. For someone to meet the Saguna, which is the boundless phenomenality of God that takes birth in God's presence, is also impossible. We can't even imagine a thousand oranges in our head. No. So how will you meet Saguna Brahman? We can't.

So my version of this is that God realized that we are too limited in our faculties. So he made himself accessible to us in the form of a very simple organic presence of being in our hearts. See, that beingness he has made it so impossible to miss, because that which we call the I Am itself is that beingness. You see, so if you go looking for yourself, what you are, you will find that same Atma. So God's presence, available to us within the core of our soul, within the center of our antahkarana, is called the Atma. When we find the Atma, then through his eyes the Saguna and the Nirguna is revealed.

You see, so you may say the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit is the same thing: Nirguna Brahman, Saguna Brahman, and the Atma. You see, so it is not, let me not say not possible. It is highly, highly, highly, highly unlikely that we will come to the revelation of the Saguna or the Nirguna without first being able to come to the Atma and to be able to live in the discipleship of the Atma.

You see, so Atma is God's fingernail that we can hold on to, to meet that which seems so far beyond what we can fathom at the moment. But Atma we can fathom, not fully, you see, because that's why I say both perceivable and unperceivable. What is that within you which you may search for as the subtlest perception, but actually unperceivable? That is the light of the Atma within. Because if it was completely fathomable, perceivable, then we would make an object out of it. Then the purpose of finding God would get lost. We may feel like this object is it. You see, and completely unperceivable, unfathomable, then you have the same problem as Brahman. He cannot fathom at all.

So how does this limited bundle of faculties come to the recognition of that which is so beyond, which is actually his or her reality as well, but it doesn't seem that way in the design of this system. So as a gift of his mercy he has given us his presence in the form of the Atma, the holy spirit. Okay, that's why this path is called spirituality.

See, but see Maya's trick. How many in spirituality actually talk about spirit? You see, very few. How many in spirituality actually talk about perceptual and conceptual knowledge? Most, mostly in spirituality we talking about experiences, or we talking about concepts that we picked up from scriptures or teachers. Nobody's talking about the deeper knowledge which is Atma, which is spiritual knowledge. Because in Maya's trick, Maya's convinced everyone that that is very rare to get. So don't worry about that.

So spirituality is difficult because we have to leave the floor that we are most familiar with. Especially when life growls at you. Life growls at you, you return to what is most comfortable. We return to like that. But if you allow oursel to meet the growling of Maya, you see, and just what is the promise we made? My life belongs to God. You have to meet that push-pull when the mind is saying mine, me, me, me, but you have to remind ourselves: who do I belong to? Who does this me belong to?

Remember that this world is a passing dream. We'll get over it. It seems long, you see, when we living it day by day. But when we look back at it, I look back at half a century, it still sounds absurd to me that this body mind has been here apparently half a century. Doesn't seem like that at all. And the remaining 10, 15, 20, whatever years are left will also go like that. Then what is the capital we'll be left with. You see, what have we earned in this life? All the name, fame, money, bank balance, relationships, all going. What are we going to be left with?

This question is impossible to answer. But we are blessed with that the sages have given us the answer. You see, so we are going to be blessed with the moments that we spend in God, in God's presence. We are blessed with every time that we have remembered him. You see, every time that we remember him, I feel like you get bonus points every time we remember him. When Maya is really trying hard.

So that is the only capital we'll be left with which cannot be taken away from us. The only punji as they would say, the sages would say. So build your spiritual wealth. Build your spiritual wealth more than everything else, because everything else is going.

Simplest way to build it. Take God's name. Find out who you are. If you take God's name, all your attempt is to constantly not fall for misidentification. Just find out who you are. Maya cannot trap you.

It was said, in the Hanuman Pada or by Ram Ji, that God's name is like a fire. It burns independent of what our intention was. Whether we did it mechanically, the fire started off with full faith, you burnt the fire of the havan, the puja, still burn. So what does it burn? Burn the ego. It burns Maya. God's name every time you take it burns Maya. Cuts Maya. And Maya is my ego.

So what is difficulty now? Maya makes us forget this simple thing. What am I meant to do at any moment? Ram. Next moment? Ram. Moment after that? Ram. What about after that? Ram. The mind hates that simplicity. It wants outcome, it wants to know what happened, is it working, all of this thing. That is why it's important that we trust these time-tested traditions which have lasted for thousands and thousands of years.