What is the right Dharma? - 13th November 2023

So while you wait to hear the Atma's voice, some of you may say, 'But I don't hear anything when I go within.' Then at least we must surrender everything to this presence and allow that to move our life, and from there then maybe the guidance will become clearer and clearer as well. Then whole life becomes a satsang. Adi Shankara unequivocally rejected the Karma Vada and raised a fundamental question: which comes first, Karma or Janma? Given that there is no Janma without Karma, the inquiry arises about the origin of the first Janma without Karma. According to... somebody can read this one, font is a bit small for me.

Given that there is no Janma, birth, without Karma, the inquiry arises about the origin of the first Janma without Karma. According to his Vivartavada, Shankara asserted that the world is a mere unreal manifestation, Vivarta, of Brahman. Adding to the Vivartavada theory, this implies that despite appearances of transformation, Brahman undergoes no actual change. The diverse beings are unreal manifestations with Brahman as the sole reality, ultimate and without birth, change, or parts. In this perspective, the concept of good or bad loses its inherent existence. The distinction is a construct of the human mind, challenging conventional moral values while not endorsing immorality. From the standpoint of actual reality, only God's existence provides, or nothing at all. Pure Advaita philosophy.

As a seeker on the spiritual path, a dual role must be embraced. One involves a materialistic approach akin to rational thinkers like Ayn Rand and Aristotle, dealing with the world without regret. Conversely, from a spiritual standpoint, guidance is sought from masters like Shri Ramana, Shri Adi Shankara, Shri Ramakrishna, Shri Vivekananda, Shri Nisargadatta. Is this a double-edged sword? Must one navigate both realms? What is your thoughts on this? Continue this, the same question. I still have words to say. Thought has the capability to imagine and design things necessary for daily life as long as the body-self exists, signifying the persistence of duality in the concept of self. Who creates this duality? It's another thought, isn't it? In the apparent reality characterized by duality, does Karma operate? When the eye-body-self realizes its non-existence, merging into attention or pure consciousness, we term it realization, and in that state Karma becomes irrelevant. Is it true? Consequently, two worlds of reality unfold: the apparent reality shaped by the human mind and actions, and the true reality embodied by attention, pure consciousness, awareness, or God. Setting aside philosophy, gurus, or religions, my inquiry arises from the perspective of a thought embedded in the body, navigating life's struggle for freedom. Is this fundamentally a battle between thought and attention, a universal human end?

So it's a question here. Hello, hello. Very good, very good. So you're asking this foolish, stupid beggar all these important questions. I don't know if I have the answers for you. Can you make it a bit fresh? Can you tell me now, from just alive, what is resonating for you? What questions deeply in your heart?

Basically, I am concerned about the law of Karma, which we usually listen to, you know. So I am a simple person and I am in crossroads totally, Guruji. Basically, I am, you know, what to do as an IT professional. I am totally engaged in my worldly life and also I have seen my inner experience. I experienced it totally when I was in South Africa, the actual non-you know, I am. So I can sense that. That moment still I have, I can say that I have experienced fully. But I just moved into worldly life, so I am oscillating in between the materialism and also about how the spirituality should be. So I am, one way I can say that I am living as a rational being just struggling my life, and also I am seeking the spirituality. So this is like, you know, double stand I'm playing. So I have a big concern on the Karma theory. Please elaborate on same.

Same, I'm not a big fan of the Karma theory. Okay, so let me see what words come up in response to what you've just said. You said that when you were contemplating or you were really looking at this, you found this sense of truth or I-amness, or even that I which is aware of the sense of being. With what instrument did you arrive at that discovery?

It's because... yes, very good, very good.

I'm so happy to hear that. But when you came to the insight, was it something perceptual?

No, not at all.

Wasn't perceptual. Was it something that was just conceptual, that you had the idea that 'I am that,' so then you were convinced that 'I am that'?

No, no, not at all. It just happened.

Just happened, yes, yes, yes. So it was not perception, nor was it concept. So it was neither perceiving nor thinking. So right now, without perceiving or thinking, what knowledge is apparent to you?

Apparent... apparent reality is my concern.

What knowledge is apparent to you without, independent of perception, including the perception of thinking?

Nothing.

Slowly, slowly. So maybe there is something. So let's go slowly and we look at this. So without perception means that sense objects have gone away. We are not relying on the perception of sense objects, either external seeming objects or internal seeming objects like imagination, memory, thought. All of these things we are not concerned about for the moment. And also because that one aspect which is very sticky is the perception of thought which is telling us messages: 'This is my problem, this is what I want, this is what is blocking.' So for a moment, we keep even the concepts aside. Now, do you exist or no?

Yes, I am. I am.

You are. So this I-am discovery, how is that? Like if someone will say, 'I don't buy what you're saying,' because are you seeing this I am?

Yes, yes, I am seeing I am.

In what way are you perceiving it?

I am seeing with my identity as well as non-identity in both the ways, because I have a bit of experience of non-identity as well.

Yeah, so I will humbly ask you to keep all your previous learned knowledge aside. That will help you in this conversation, because it may seem like your past experiences and what you have learned will help you as we go on this mini-exploration together. But for a moment, just if you could follow my advice and don't go with anything that you have learned. Now, my question is very simple. If I say, 'Are you perceiving this hand?' you say you perceive it, isn't it? Now, what is that? What is it that you're perceiving? You're perceiving some Guna, isn't it? Some attribute, some quality. And that is why you are able to confirm, because the attributes are matching the concept of hand, you're able to say that 'I am perceiving a hand.' Now, when you are coming to this I-amness, beingness, what is the quality that is being perceived? Because without quality, we cannot say that there is a perception.

Yeah, that is true.

So is there a quality that you are perceiving when you say that 'I recognize this I am'? It's both... don't rush just now. Just like you're looking at the hand, in the same way, see if you can outline something about... give me a quality that you are perceiving in this I-amness. Like in the hand, you can say, 'Okay, I'm perceiving fingers, I can perceive some color.'

Beingness, what is the quality that is being perceived? Because without quality, we cannot say that there is a perception. Yeah, that is true. So, is there a quality that you are perceiving when you say that 'I recognize this I am'? It's both. Don't rush just now. Just like you are looking at the hand, in the same way, see if you can outline something about... give me a quality of that you are perceiving in this I-amness. Like in the hand, you can say, 'Okay, I'm perceiving fingers, I can perceive some color, I can perceive some shapes.' In the being, what is being perceived?

In the being, uh, nothing is there basically. It's like, you know, how do I say? It's just being, that's all.

It's just being. Exactly. Nothing is there. In fact, I call it on the cusp of the manifest and unmanifest because you may perceive a very primordial, a very subtle vibration of beingness. But actually, when it is asked, 'What is the boundary of this being?' you cannot... you can say that it has no boundary, but that boundless cannot be perceived, isn't it? So, without perception, you... you with me in this? The boundless cannot be perceived.

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Because it'll be too much for attention. Perception is a functioning of attention, and attention in the waking state is limited. So attention cannot go to that which is unlimited, and therefore it is impossible to perceive that which is boundless in its entirety, at least. But we know that it is boundless. Now the question is: with which instrument do we know its boundlessness if it's not through perception?

Um, that's a tough question for me. I cannot answer.

So that is where actually I'm looking for. Very good, very good. I think we are doing well together. Thank you, thank you for listening so far. Because usually what happens is that, especially when you're new in satsang and you already have had a lot of beautiful experiences and have a lot of knowledge, then there's a lot of resistance to just doing a simple exploration. So thank you so much for walking together so far.

Now it is very important that we come to this mode of intuitive insight because, as all the even the Vedantic sages have said—and if you... I can see you're very interested in Vedanta, so I would recommend that you could also try reading Swami Satchidanandendra Saraswati, who's written beautiful books about what is the true mode of coming to the recognition of reality and how that is beyond perception and concept. So like you're doing right now, you are saying, 'Yes, I can confirm that I am, but I can't tell you its quality because I'm not perceiving it.' Yet I'm able to confirm it. So that is intuitive insight. That is the instrument of self-knowledge. It is not intellect and it is not perception, but it is intuitive. It is the Satguru within, the Satguru presence within.

Now let's go one step further. The 'I' which is aware even of being aware, even of I-amness, is that recognized?

100%. 100%.

Very good, very good. So this recognition, what is the nature of it? Again, what is the mode of recognition? What is the instrument of recognition?

Um, it's again mind when I say in the mind perspective, but uh, it's basically in... I cannot express in the words. When we feel 'I am,' the 'am' which I'm talking about is not that 'I.' So I can clearly say that, you know, the 'I' which I'm talking and the 'I' by which I am referring is totally different.

Very good, very good. So what... correct me if I'm hearing you correctly, it's that there is 'I' or you which is aware of the sense of I-amness, but it is beyond even this 'I am.' It is not the same 'I am.' It is untouched by being and not being. I cannot perceive it, I cannot put it into words, it is ineffable in that way, and yet I can confirm it 100%. Now my proposal to you is that the only way that you can confirm it 100% is intuitively. It is not possible mentally, conceptually, or if you see a dark empty space or something like that which the mind may label as awareness. It is not it, because even for that you may ask the question: who is witnessing that? So that true witnessing, the pure witnessing, the pure awareness, that is known purely intuitively. Can you confirm this or...?

Yes, yes. It's totally intuitive. It has nothing to do with the mind.

Very, very good. So now my proposal to you is that: rely on this intuition to run your life as well, to answer your questions as well, all the dilemmas which are apparent in spirituality. Because the intellect is too small to gather what our intuition is telling us. Like, that is why you cannot really point to the intuitive insight of yourself as awareness in even the best sounding words, isn't it? You cannot encapsulate that discovery. In the same way, you cannot encapsulate even the reality of presence, although the more gross something gets, the more words seem to be available to try and describe that.

So for presence, we have a few more words. Then out of presence comes unconditional love, so we may have a few more words, or we may debate the existence of unconditional love even. And more so as we get grosser and grosser, the mind is able to grasp that more and more and say, 'Okay, I will make a report about it.' Now my advice to you, because you are really truly seeking this in your heart, my advice to you is to remain intuitive in your declarations of truth, in your confirmations of truth. Because only in your intuitiveness will you see that the reality of you is that you are that from which even Consciousness takes birth, but you are also that who is a mere servant of God, whose life is meant to be just a temple of God's light.

But the intellect will protest this deeply because these two are in opposite ends of the spectrum. It will say, 'How can it be? Either I am that or I am this.' And it is this intellectual tension between the two ends which makes us feel like we are oscillating. Sometimes it is apparent to me that I am this awareness, and other times I feel like I'm this individual who has work pressure, who has stress with the manager, who has all of these things, worries about the bank account. And all of these things can happen. But actually, the 'I' which you're recognizing yourself to be has none of these. And yet the 'me' which is that I-amness, the beingness taking itself to be something, which is one of the primal powers that I-amness has, and in the tanmatra this egoic identity will always remain even for the greatest sages like Shankara himself.

And that is why Shankara wrote beautiful devotional words in prayers of God, in praise of even Devi. So both aspects are important. The aspect which is meant to be the bhakta should not get attached to the knowledge which is the absolute knowledge and make it into a conceptual framework of understanding. And the aspect which you really are, which is available to you intuitively, that must remain as your true insight. So if you remain intuitive, then you will not have these oscillations or the worry, the stress between Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, which sages have not been able to resolve for thousands of years. The debate between the Advaita Vedantins and the Vishishtadvaitins and the Dvaitins, they have not been able to resolve it for thousands of years.

So let's not presume that we will be the first ones to come up with the ultimate theology or the ultimate theory for the recognition of the truth. Because if truth could be clarified as a theory, then somebody so far would have done it, you see? So then when Shankara... the Ramanujacharya looked at what Shankara said and said, 'No, no, no, actually it is not true, we have to be a bhakta,' then that also resonated with many in the heart. We should never consider that they were foolish. 'Oh, you know, only our philosophy is the highest philosophy.' When Madhvacharya looked at it, he said even further that it is blasphemy to say that you're one with God. And even that resonated with thousands and thousands, and his followers are still there.

So we will never be able to... at least I will never be... I don't know about you, but I will not be able to resolve the debate between Shankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva. I feel like in my reality, I see both ends of my life. One is that I am that Absolute reality from which even Consciousness takes birth, and on the other hand, I'm just a foolish, stupid beggar servant of God. And if you ask me, 'Which one is really, really real? Okay, Ananta, just level with me and tell me what is really real,' it must be the Absolute, isn't it? No, both are true. Because our intellect loves absolute conclusion. Our intellect hates that. That's why Zen is so effective, because our intellect hates opposites thriving together.

So this achintya is what I have found to be true here. But you must undertake this, continue to explore this for yourself and deepen in this for yourself. But my only advice is: don't deepen in terms of conceptual frameworks and knowledge. Deepen in terms of what is your actual true insight. What is your Atma pointing you to? What is the Satguru presence within, which is the Atma's voice, pointing you to? And if you rely on that, then the oscillation between taking the Absolute to be your true identity and the mere human to be your true identity, that oscillation will start getting resolved because you are not relying on your intellect at all. And you will not suffer without your intellect. You will just stay in the holy presence of the Atma within. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Thank you, thank you for posing this question.

Very... because intuitively it is very simple. If you approach it intellectually, it can seem very difficult. And the question that he posed is something which I may have grappled with a lot in reading so much and picking up so much spiritual knowledge. It can happen that these inherent confusions... that if Shankara himself was such a jnani, then why did he establish so many temples? Why did he establish so many shaktas? Why did he write such beautiful words for praising God? Because who is the praiser of God then? Who is giving glory to God? So you realize that in the life of the true sages, you will see that the absoluteness of their reality and the bhakti, the servitude aspect of their life, does not seem like it is causing stress or tension. It's not two ends of two opposite ends of the spectrum. It is very much in resonance. And that is only possible when we live intuitively.

Otherwise, the mind will keep saying, 'But who are you? Aren't you that in which God takes birth? So why are you then praising God or giving glory to God?' If reality was just a straight line like that, linear, then one book would have done it. Like, somebody would write one book and everybody would read it, get the intellectual conception, and done. But God has made this mystery very beautiful. You can't just approach it intellectually. We must come to the intuitive presence within. And to come to the intuitive presence within and to live there itself is the greatest adventure any of us will ever have.

I'm coming back to my sort of favorite conundrum, keeps coming back and forth. Um, like what you've pointed out before of being careful of using Advaita excuses for positive or negative, for action or lack of action either way. And I'm again, I'm not looking for a templatized answer because I know those don't work, like you've said. So maybe just guidance on how to approach it intuitively. So just to maybe give you a little more dramatic example to make it clear. Um, so if I'm in the forest and a tiger is coming and I have a stick to wave it off or a torch of fire to wave it off to scare it, and I have a gun also, can shoot it at any point where I decide. Uh, there will come a point if I just rely on intuition where I'll keep waving the fire, but at some point I might shoot, right? So that's very easy from an intuitive standpoint. And even in real life, it seems intuitive in similar situations—not tiger, but you know, other situations. But the Advaita excuse or problem is, um, you know, I was reading Nisargadatta Maharaj's 'I Am That' and keeps page after page, at least in the few chapters, I mean, you know, don't think about yourself, don't think about...

Where I decide, there will come a point if I just rely on intuition where I'll keep waving the fire, but at some point I might shoot, right? So that's very easy from an intuitive standpoint. And even in real life, it seems intuitive in similar situations—not a tiger, but you know, other situations. But the excuse or problem is, you know, I was reading Nisargadatta Maharaj's 'I Am That' and it keeps saying page after page, at least in the few chapters, 'Don't think about yourself, don't think about yourself.' And in this example, clearly I'm doing a self-protection, and so that becomes confusing. It's like, it becomes confusing after the fact. Like I told you, I would shoot that tiger because intuitively I want to protect myself and I won't even think about it, I'll just shoot it.

So what you're saying, presumably, I mean, yeah...

But in real life also, I've seen that if I feel that somebody is over-encroaching my bubble, or whatever you want to call it, beyond a certain extent, I do act in self-defense and it seems intuitive. It doesn't have to be rage, it doesn't have to be anger, it's just...

Are you able to discern the difference between instinctive and intuitive? Actually, maybe I'm not. So look at that bit, because instinctively we may have this—to put a more colloquial term—like a fight-or-flight response. That may be instinctive, yeah. But intuitive is a different quality. Yeah, so there's three words actually: there's instinctive, there's impulsive, and then there's intuitive. And I'm not trying to split hairs. Impulsive and instinctive are in one, so that helps already. It's easier, yeah. So intuitive is like a more fragrant quality. It's a more... how do I say this? Like sometimes it is even opposed to what our instincts want to do. Our instincts may just want to run, but intuition may say, 'Sit' or 'Not move,' you see, in presence. But your intuition is clearly saying, 'No, no.' Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about acting out of total fear and paranoia, right? That might be the instinctive, that an animal might react like that. And so, maybe, yeah. So the thing with instinctive versus intuitive is that instinctively we may presume that I would wave the stick with the fire and then ultimately I can presume that I will shoot the tiger, but intuitively we can never make a presumption.

Yeah, but I have to talk about it, so I don't know how to talk about it because I'll never be in front of a tiger. So, it's...

Continue, continue, yeah.

Okay, so let's remove the tiger. I'm facing a situation that is similar. Somebody's encroaching beyond my comfort zone where I'm not trying to gain anything, I'm just doing self-protection. I have no ill will to that encroaching party. So that self-defense is still defending this personality. Is the confusion that Advaita confusion? So should I just be eaten up with that tiger saying 'All is one' and ultimately I'm thinking self-protection? So then I'm just... already all those chapters are useless, what I read.

So self-concern, self-protection... self-concern, of course, we spoke about it a lot in the last satsang also, saying it is literally the opposite of God's will when we are operating out of 'What about me? What's going to happen to me?' and all of that. So if you are able to determine in the moment, 'What is my individual will?' or 'What is my mind propelling me to do? What is it that I want to do?' So in this situation, what do you want in that moment?

It has been clear, Father, like I've been saying. But then when I start reading, yeah, these words create confusion because it's happening post-facto. I understand, and you've said don't analyze post-facto. So maybe that is the same answer again and maybe we don't need to elaborate. It's okay.

So how do we deal with these situations? How do we deal with these situations? So the mind may be saying, the feelings may be jumping, you see, all of these things may be happening, but you're staying empty of all of this. You're empty of all of this, and something naturally moves in a certain way. Now, that naturally moves in a certain way. Like, I cannot say if that situation was to happen here what I would do in the moment because it's completely unpredictable. And that is the fun of living in God's will, because you have no idea.

Which is why I said I'm not looking for a templated answer. Okay, let me give you another example. I have a dog at home. I love the guy, but if he jumps on me a little more than I can handle, I harshly yell at him in the moment. And I have no ill will towards him, I just want my space. And then he has figured out that if he jumps beyond this point, right... and in the moment it feels like that is how it should happen. And it's not out of like anger, I just know he's a dog and he's going to jump as much as he feels like till I show him his boundary. So yeah, I guess I have to give you examples, otherwise how will I share my...

If you were to say we keep all of that aside, which in a way I know you are also saying, but to illustrate the point you're saying... I'm just saying that even in the smallest thing, your heart guides you like moment to moment, moves you moment to moment. And whether it is... I never had a pet in that way, but even with children, we don't know when to indulge them more and at what point should we say stop. Because we've seen both examples. Parents who are overindulgent can spoil their kids, or not; some kids turn out perfectly fine. And parents who are very strict end up then, when the kids have freedom, they don't know how to handle that. So as a parent, it is very difficult to determine at what point does one say no. Because it is an impossible thing to resolve that way, it must come moment to moment from the heart. So if the heart says no, then no is fine. And if the heart says yes, 'Yes, have some more,' it's fine. It might still come back after a few months, and that is the theme of today's satsang anyway: how do we know what is the right action to take? How does one move? So one moves empty of themselves and moves in God's presence, just like the sharing of Satan. And then maybe the second part gets confusing, but I don't want to say that it doesn't happen, because it does happen that God can specifically guide you or your Atma's voice can specifically prompt you this way or that way.

Now what to do? Sorry, we'll come to you in a minute. So what to do when we are convinced that an answer is needed but no answer is available? What to do in those situations? In those situations, we must follow the word of the Guru. And if a Guru is not available, then we must follow the words of scripture, because in doing this we are pretty much working with some guardrails and we are in service to God's will. That is the way to live. That is why it's very beautiful when you meet your Guru, because then it's like all the problems of our life are taken away because, not just metaphorically but really, everything is their problem now.

So I tried the scripture approach because you weren't available outwardly, but what I realized is it's very easy to fool myself either way. And while reading the scripture, somewhere that intuition gets lost, even though Krishna is trying very hard in the Gita to keep you intuitive. Yeah, I just wanted to say it's not easy and it's easy to fool oneself.

Very good point. And even Richard Feynman said that first we must not fool anyone, and we are the easiest to fool for ourselves. Like, ourselves is the easiest to fool. I may be mangling his words. Very, very... like if you go with an agenda to scripture, like 'I'm going to look for a verse in the Bhagavad Gita which is going to give me permission to do what I want.' We may not be that upfront about it, but basically, like we come to satsang also with confirmation bias, right? So that is why I keep saying that empty yourself first, and then if there is something which you haven't confirmed, pay more attention to that. Mostly we find that you're paying attention to that which we've already concluded for ourselves, saying, 'Today's satsang is very good because Ananta is saying exactly what I have been thinking.' Then it's not very good, then you already thought that. But these are subtle things because in the human condition, the mind is so limited, you see. It has to make a persona which, in its mind, has to be coherent in some way. So just looking for approval, and that's why all the social media hacking, you know, like the sense of approval you feel when you get a like or a share or something like that, is very much this thing because your beliefs get reinforced. Our belief systems get reinforced in that process. So it's also possible to approach scripture and say, 'Okay, now isn't this what I'm trying to do? Isn't this Karma Yoga, looking at just the right?' But at least if you open the book, we give ourselves a chance. If you're too caught up in something, really bothered by something, if you at least turn to God in some way, open a beautiful scripture, open something, at least we give ourselves a chance to snap out of it. And the good thing about this is that even if you truly believe that you... you truly have faith, more than belief actually, that you truly feel deeply that you're following God's will but you're actually getting deluded by your mind, even that faith God will bless and make it all Grace. So your true intention in your heart is what is most important, you see. So you don't have to worry so much, 'Am I really following my heart or my head?' If the feeling really is to be in service to God and follow His will and lead a life which is surrendered to whatever He would like to do with your life, then He will take care of it.

Thank you, Father. I had heard a talk from Robert Adams some time back. In that he says that, you know, seva to the Master is the fastest way, like to realize God. Like that, he says seva is the fastest way. He said that time I didn't understand what he's saying, you know, it didn't make sense to me much. But there'll be another talk where he said self-inquiry is the fastest. So all the Masters have said everything is the fastest way.

Yeah, but I wanted to share my experience, Father. Like you were telling us about the heart temple movement and I said I started it, you know, like small, small steps I started taking. And I've not even like done what you've told us to do, but I still feel such a closeness. You know, I feel so in my heart, Father, I can't even explain it. It is such a divine feeling. I have to just talk about God, you know. It's such a Grace that I feel in my heart. I'm just like uttering a few words, that's all.

One more question is, beloved Father, excuse my question but I still do not accept for you to say 'foolish beggar servant,' nor I feel a need to say... I neither say 'I am God Consciousness' at all, nor I say 'I'm a foolish beggar.' May you please say something if I miss anything?

It's fine, it's fine. What's important is to move how God is getting your life to move. And notice that I usually say 'your life,' I don't say 'your body.' Life is everything that is your universe, actually. We may say—okay, that's another satsang altogether—we may say that this is one common universe which we are inhabiting, but this is just our dream in some way. Whose universe is that? When you have a dream at night, there are so many others also there. So in the same way, this life is just like that. So when the one at the center of the dream stays in his light, then the entirety of life moves in resonance with it as well. But it is also present in the design of the play of this dream that we can play this game as if we are separate individual entities. And for a while, it may seem like He allows us to play stupid like that. He allows us to play stupid like that, although everything is happening within His very being and truly nothing ever moves.

Life is just like that. So when the one at the center of the dream stays in his light, then the entirety of life moves in resonance as well. But it is also present in the design of the play of this dream that we can play this game as if we are separate individual entities. For a while, it may seem like he allows us to play stupid like that. He allows us to play stupid like that, although everything is happening within his very being and truly nothing ever moves—not a blade of grass moves—without his will. And yet it can seem like his will got obscured, hidden under our individuality, and that starts to feel like suffering. It starts to feel like trouble. That is why to return to his will and his grace is the most important gift that we can give to ourselves: to be free from the burden of determining better and worse and right and wrong.

Have you observed the content of your thoughts? Everything that it proposes to you, it says because it is better. 'Do like this, this will be better. Ask this, then this will be better.' You know, 'Listen to satsang like this, it'll be better for you.' All his plans are based on the simple word 'better.' One day I had a full satsang around just the word 'better' and how the simple-seeming, humble word 'better' is the construct behind all our communication, especially the mind's plannings. Even in satsang, the construct is there: 'Listen to me because what I'm telling you is better.' So in the human communication, we cannot escape that betterness. So it's better that that 'better' comes from God. If the 'better' doesn't come from God—it comes from some intellectual construct or some conceptual ethical construct—then all of these have not withstood the test of time. Only God's word has withstood the test of time.

So we will not be able to escape these broad constructs of good and bad and better and worse, but at least when you get the source correct, which is God's presence within you, what higher source can there be to determine what is right and wrong or good and better? Can there be a greater or better source than God's presence itself? Is it so? What is the source of doubt? 'Is it really God's presence? Have I really found it?' You see, all those doubts will come. So those we have to encounter and we have to let go of because now you have somebody in front of you who is telling you that he has found it and you can find it. And he's also telling you if somebody as inconsistent in spirituality and foolish in spirituality can find it, so can you. So all the reassurance is being made available.

Now you have options. You can say, 'He lost his mind, he's crazy,' okay? Or sometimes it can also play as if, 'No, no, but Ananta is too much, no, I cannot be at his level.' But I'm telling you that I'm really, really foolish. You can really find God if a foolish one like this one can. So don't let the mind, either in false humility or in other excuses and time-wasting tactics, take you away from this, the most important project of your life, which is to really find God within yourself and then to stay with him, live in his light. And if I am deluded or like some medical condition or something like that, then you call me Father, you should sort me out, no? Don't leave me deluded. So argue with me, tell me how I am wrong, but don't just leave it for tomorrow or leave it just like, 'Okay, he may have, but I don't know whether it's possible for me.'

I'm giving you every tool possible to come to this because there is no fulfillment in life without this. Till your heart temple starts to shine, the life is zombie life. Don't make any other aspiration or goal as important as the discovery of God's presence within yourself, the Atma within. And don't buy into anything that says it is too difficult, it is too rare, it is not possible for you. It is actually the most innocent, the simplest. What you need to do is become simpler and simpler. The more complex you are, the more difficult it will seem. So simplify, simplify.

At the root, there are only three questions, isn't it? What is real? How can it be known? And how should I live? These are the three main questions around which every other question is framed. Now these three can only be answered intuitively in God's light. There are books and books and books written about what is knowledge, but they provide no knowledge. Without self-knowledge, every other knowledge is empty. So our questions should also now move towards more and more simplicity where you're saying, 'I'm trying to live in God's will' or 'I'm trying to keep my space sacred for God's light, but this is where I get stuck. This is what actually happens.' Instead of just like at a conceptual level, just like asking theoretical things, it should really become, 'Father, I woke up, I followed what you said, Father. I didn't leave my bed till God's presence was apparent, and then three minutes later I got into an argument with my partner and it was all gone. How do I deal with this?'

So like these kind of things. And of course, mostly you can presume my answers also because you've heard enough such. But let's make this truly a heart temple movement, that all of us just become carriers of his light, carriers of his love, not leading a life full of self-concern, but out of 'What would he want? What is his will?' So far it seemed like we didn't have access to that, no? It seemed like, 'I have to make the best determinations for myself in my head. I have to compute and say, okay, this is better, this is worse.' But we've not been able to solve that in the human condition for thousands of years. We don't know whether to give beggars money or not. The simplest problem we've not been able to solve because it's very circumstantial; it depends on the context. What is the... so we cannot really make a way of life. It has to be lived moment to moment.

So we don't know whether we are to give him or her everything that we have or nothing at all, not even look at them, or give them a little bit. We don't know, you see. But we can only know in that moment based on what our heart is telling us. So the simplest questions for thousands of years, when they've been there, the human intellect has not been able to solve. Then we should not rely so much on that. And that is why the experiment, the reverse Vedantic experiment of saying, 'If he was in front of you, then what would you do?' So of course I'd ask him. So now he's more intimately with you, then why don't we ask? 'In front' at least is some distance. To be in front, there has to be distance. He's right there as your very presence. How much more intimate can that be? How close would you want God to be? He is that close. Can it be any closer? He is the Absolute and he is his presence. What can be closer than that? This 'me' who is not to be found still floats around. The best way to anchor it is in servitude, in Bhakti.

See something now. I've been rambling for some time. So it's not even about even that. We can't say that is the leap of faith. Only God can be worth that, no? To give up on a whole life without any guarantees.

You said whatever little of the person's there, put it in servitude. So Father, when you are faced with a temptation, how does one use that to be in servitude?

So let's break it down so that it's clear. So temptation means that I see... the visual is gone, so I see a coconut barfi. So there's a natural attraction to it. Easy. Now the temptation becomes a possibility to suffer when we get our mind involved and say, 'Oh, I should stop eating' or 'I should have more of these, these are so good.' You see, then it amplifies. The naturalness of it is taken out of it with our mind's position and construct. So in this world, there will always be appearances. There will always be pleasure and pain. All of these things will come, okay? Now how to deal with them is moment-to-moment taking heart guidance, you see.

Remember when I said that an arrow prayer here is that, 'God, you move me. God, you move me.' And I was sharing that there was like a plan to go to New York one morning, but I just felt like in God's presence I just prayed and said, 'God, you move me.' So I just walked around in the New Brunswick area. The most beautiful day. And we don't have to worry about the outcome of it. Even if it was the most horrible day and I got mugged or whatever, you see, it's still an important story because—and maybe even more important if that happened—you see that it is not dependent on the outcome of it. So just allow God to move you, especially in the throes of temptation, see? Especially when the mind is grasping for it. Because the minute something happens, then the mind uses that as an opportunity for guilt or for 'no, no, yes,' gets you in that sort of haze, as I have called it. Gets you in that and then you can't hear the voice of God. In fact, God seems so distant then. It just feels like, 'Oh, he's a concept, very far-fetched.' So stay anchored in God, in your love for God, in your being in his presence. And that is why the Narada story is so important, the Krishna-Narada story.

Just completely... I can hear in my heart the... like about servitude, I can hear... I can ask, you know, 'God, what would you like me to do?' And we're so lucky to have you, Father, that you tell us what to do so clearly. And it always... I mean, be able to just ask ourselves, 'God, what would you have me do?' Yeah, and it's very... what you say also, it's the same heart guidance. It just rings 100% to... like still very much a work in progress. I have to say that I don't feel like I'm anywhere close to being in service to him, but I feel that whatever guidance comes for all of you, 99.9% of the time is on the heart. I can confirm. I don't know whether I can say my life is truly a temple for God. I feel like I'm just setting the foundation in place. I know that was not your question, but I felt I'll clarify that.

In a way, it becomes like an arcade game. What is that? It becomes like Donkey Kong or Super Mario Brothers where, you know, the barrels are being thrown at you, the coconuts are being thrown at you, and through God's grace is the only way you can jump over them or duck them. So life in a way continues to be this arcade, and this is the nature of Maya that will keep playing this way. So the deeper we dig the foundation of being in love with him, in service to him, the easier it will be to bypass all of these things. But don't trouble... any of you should not trouble yourself with 100%. And that's why it's important for me to also keep reminding you that here also, complete work in progress. I don't feel like I can say, or at any point in this lifetime I can say, that I'm so proud of the temple of God that is unfolding from here. Like even one brick if I can set it straight.

Because your mind will trouble you with these things, see? 'But you're not fully, fully... even not fully, fully.' That's exactly it. So just then that adds to the pressure, it adds to the stress that 'I should be fully like this.' And that is the self-image aspect of it, which is the 'I should be free, I should be enlightened, I should be...' No, you should just be a servant of God. The freedom and enlightenment is only the marketing of spirituality, actually. To come to God's servitude. And I'm telling you, I'm not a good servant, no? I'm just... I'm saying this point very seriously, that if you put this pressure on yourself that you have to be a good servant, then you have to create a benchmark of that, no? I'm just saying that you have to be the best that you can do in that moment, you see? It's not about some overall benchmark. In this moment, did you with all your might get rid of individual will and keep yourself empty for his light to shine? That is what is important. Every moment of our surrender, every moment of our surrender is the only way to live this. We cannot... the mental pressure of making ourselves into a good servant, you see, is also not helpful to us because then the ego itself uses the thing, no? It's the one-two punch. Like you identify correctly, it'll tempt you, then 'Look at you, how many years you've been in satsang...'

With all your might, get rid of individual will and keep yourself empty for His light to shine. That is what is important. Every moment of our surrender is the only way to live this. The mental pressure of making ourselves into a good servant, you see, is also not helpful to us because then the mind itself uses that thing, no? It's the one-two punch. Like you identify correctly, it'll tempt you: 'Then look at you, how many years you've been in satsang? Look at you, like that, you're sharing with children. Look at you like that.' That's the two-punch. The two-punch is the knockout. One punch is very trivial mostly, but this guilt, this benchmarking, all of this stuff can become long-drawn suffering.

So remember, the whole game is moment to moment. The whole game is about time right now, right now, right now. Not about attaining something. And we can't actually even say it's like a ladder, you see? That ladder thing can be very problematic also, like, 'See, every moment I'm climbing a spiritual ladder.' No, no. All ladders will be kicked down. Just right now. Never make it personal about yourself or about any of your brothers and sisters. Never make it personal about them. Always make it about the block. Always make it about the ignorance rather than the one who is being ignorant. Then that keeps us sacred, because the mind will quickly say, 'Ah, he's like this only, she's like this only, he's like this.' That's why in our history we know that the ones who were considered the greatest criminals sometimes in society, they became the greatest saints. It's not a prerequisite, okay, to start your life of crime, but I think that there's no such thing as it is only the ignorant. The value of living on our mind's terms, which all of us—I mean...

And you all, and some of us have been talking about it, as you're moving away from making it personal and you're just making it about helping your brothers and sisters see the block, then I feel like there's much more spaciousness and openness in all of you. And that is very... never judge another, because that judgment is as much ignorance as what you're judging the other for, if not more, actually. Never judge another because that judgment is as much ignorance as what you're judging the other one for, if not worse. You may notice something. You may notice something like a conditioning, and if out of your love and your heart guidance something propels you to attack that conditioning in another, that is completely fine. But you know that your brothers and sisters can also smell where you're coming from. Either you're coming from a place of personal judgment or you're coming from just trying to be helpful. Trying to be helpful, then the mind has no chance. The mind has no chance.

What Mama just asked Father, it was very relevant from last week. You said even for the small things, you find out whether it is my will or... so that is really, really difficult, Father, specifically. And for example, even like temptation for tea or want for tea. It's purely not even my body wants it; it's a mind who wants it. But then the nice game mind plays, it's like, 'God will never want tea.' So is this... I have to give up on tea? Like, let me have one tea, let me have the last tea. That is... it's really difficult. Like you're sitting with God and suddenly... so presume, of course, God will never want tea.

Understand, moment to moment will help.

But I'll try that, Father. But even small... after being with God, for listening to you on YouTube for one, one and a half hours, it is so strong, the temptation to read newspaper or read news or read WhatsApp. And so strong from inside, newspaper, yeah. My father, I have Hindi newspaper also. I have not seen a newspaper for at least five years, no. So, Father, that temptation kept... and most of the time I give in, whether it's a WhatsApp or on phone or anywhere. But again, it's mind, right? So and then mind plays, 'Yeah, God will never ever ask me to see WhatsApp.' So is it that I have to give up everything then? Okay, let me just have some...

Mind trying to play God. No, the mind also tries to be spiritual, tries to play God. It tries to tell you God would not want that. So that is why many can get into a sort of egoic renunciation, you see? Many sadhus are super... more regular people who are just walking around, you just talk to them and you realize there's so much 'I.' 'I had so much salary, I had such a good job, I gave it up. I am this, I have gone to all the pilgrimages, I've done this, I have studied all of this.' 'I' is the primary. So the renunciation is of our individual will, individuality actually. It doesn't matter. The outside renunciation is not the important thing. It is difficult, I can't deny that, but I can reassure you and say it gets easier for the one.

One more. Today in our neighborhood, one elderly gentleman passed away and I went for the last rites, that's a Hindu tradition. And that was a clear reminder of flesh, of a bucket of flesh. So it helped a lot. Thank you.

I'm very happy to hear these type of reports because all of you, in your reports today, they're very practical. Practical in the sense you're attempting to come to a true way of life and there are some questions emerging from there. It's good to resolve those.

Kind of similar to Amit's question, is this satsang? On the weekend, since I had to resort to scripture, there's I think chapter six in the Gita where Arjuna is talking to Lord Krishna and saying, 'All this philosophy that you've taught me so far is amazing and it makes sense and it's energizing, but it's when the mind takes over, it all goes to hell.' So then Krishna's next response is, 'Yes, undoubtedly, oh great warrior, the mind is very hard to tame, but through practice and Vairagya, that is the only way.' So then I was reading the more detailed commentary on what Vairagya means, and so then they talk about Raga, which is strong lustful attachment and desire. And then the commentator clarifies that that should not be confused with preference. And I felt I've gone into that mode of going crazy about tea and gulab jamun and all of that, but if I really ask myself, like, I've not really had that kind of lust or feverishness. It's a preference. Would I like a gulab jamun? Sure, if it's there. Or would I like a tea? Yeah. So is that...

Yeah, exactly. You're not going to a restaurant with your family... I used to make this joke of him. You're not saying that awareness playing as Consciousness in the dream world that it is creating has given words to this body-mind that is in front of you, which would like some spaghetti bolognese or something like that. Sometimes spirituality infects our mind. We become like that. We become very wordy in our spirituality. We're not really living in the heart. That is why I'm saying to all of you: simplify, simplify. One moment of really letting go of individuality and following God in your heart is much more important than reading ten scriptures or being able to make a discourse of them or something like that.

Father, if... okay, let me clarify. Not reading them for guidance is very good, but like we read them to become a spiritual encyclopedia and to be able to share this one, that one, this one. So if, like, I go to my heart moment to moment to ask for guidance, if something is picking me out in the world, so I go once, and if it has a lot of charge, I go again and again. Is it like that?

Yes, yes. Especially if you're pulled out again and again, I'm suggesting to all of you, you live in that temple.

But Father, sometimes some things are very in your face and strong, you know? Something are very in your face and very strong, you know? And in that case, it feels like attention goes there and thoughts come about that and again and again it's... and I'm not used to now living like that. It feels like there's no oxygen, you know? Such a drastic...

That's why Maya is mahat. What is mahat? The greatest artist. Kabir Ji said Maya is a mahat. Beautiful description. Even in the identity of the bhakta, it can hide. 'I'm becoming such a great bhakta.' That simple notion can... and those who are really switching out from it, it will try to tempt you with everything that it has.

Father, when there's an insight, no, after that, or when there's a deepening...

Okay, can I just give you like a practical? Mostly live as if you turned inwards and sat in God's temple. And then when you turn inwards and sit in God's temple, then you see that this will become just transactional. It will not need much dwelling. Maya tries to turn you towards her like that. But when I went to many, many years back, I went to the Sivananda Ashram and a visiting Swami was there from Rishikesh—I used to remember his name also—but he said something very beautiful that stayed with me. He said, 'Antarmukhi sada sukhi. Antarmukhi sada sukhi.' One who is turned inward, you see, Antarmukhi is always happy. Such simple words, but they're very true. If you just keep your head towards God inwardly, then all this outer life will not seem that... there will always be moments where it will seem attractive and identity will come. But so I'm trying to make it simple for you, whereas you must not determine at what level or what stage you are and how well you're doing or not. Firstly, get rid of all of them. Then heart presence is with you. Just turn towards that and live over there. Don't turn outwards. Even for me, like, don't turn outwards for anything at all. The world may burn, don't turn outward. But when you do, and you will, because that is the nature of Maya, then as soon as you notice that you have, just retreat. You don't have to fix anything, just retreat. It's like a parent tells the child, 'If you get into any trouble outside, don't have to be a hero, just run home. Your parents will take care of you.' Don't try to fix, don't try to resolve and then go back to God. Nothing. Just run, run as fast as you can towards your heart. Of course, you know what I mean. Otherwise, the mind will say, 'One punch, two punch, three punch. How do I fix this punch? Can I live like that punch?' It doesn't run out of punches.

Antarmukhi sada sukhi. So crazy, because today when I came to satsang, I remembered saying that only when your eyes die to the outside do they turn inward, something like that. I'm paraphrasing, and you're saying the same thing. Okay, I don't want to confuse all of you, but when you really unattach to the outside, do you really see the vibrancy of the world? Like, I never saw the world before this. This was a blur half the time, it was just in thoughts and feelings and emotions. I feel like I never looked at anyone's eyes before coming to the truth. So when we are dead to the world, then the world becomes alive for us. When we are attached to the world, it seems like a dead place.

See, finish.

Then how do I... I felt like... can't hear... that I just want to expose this. It's not... I hear you, what you're saying. I say every time how I notice that I come out is all the rest of the stuff outside comes later. It's that voice of pride which comes first, you know? That first makes a good report on, you know... and it feels... it's not spottable very clearly, that. And then the rest of the stuff outside starts. Then it gives you... you give it the leeway to enter. It felt like that.

Yes, and that is why the prayer of the beggar servant is very good, because this pride gets us. Not like... in the most humblest knowledge, we become proud. It's very, very tricky. It's very tricky, this cleaning up of false knowledge, because mostly this false knowledge is like a blind spot. We just take it to be, 'Yeah, this is fine, this is how it is.' And no, no, no, it is not how it is. Who? Even 'this is not how it is.' No, it isn't. 'But what about this?' No. 'What about Consciousness?' No. 'What about awareness?' No. 'What about love?' No. 'What about God?' No. Anything that you can construct in your head. So we can become proud about only our mental construct or our understanding. Empty is when we truly...

It is made up of false knowledge because mostly this false knowledge is like a blind spot. We just take it to be, 'Yeah, this is fine, this is how it is.' And no, no, no, it is not how it is. Who even? This is not how it is, no, it isn't. But what about this? No. What about Consciousness? No. What about awareness? No. What about love? No. What about God? No. Anything that you can construct in your head. So we can become proud about only our mental construct or our understanding. Empty is when we truly meet Consciousness, awareness, God, all these things, you see. And then in the meeting, these terms are irrelevant. So don't ever think that now you know something. Don't ever believe that now you know something. The instant you start to feel that, 'Ah, I got something, I start to know something,' yes, the sheer innocence of a child. Stay in God's temple.

For you mentioning an anuki, so that was the insight that I had this morning and sitting with it made so much sense. Because earlier, I think I had told also what I do at work and other things, it fades in comparison to... there is a calling to be here, it feels at home. There is potentially, I don't know if it's the small me leaning towards, probably the small me leaning towards wanting to be in satsang more rather than be at work. And with this anuki thing, it wouldn't matter where...

Sorry, before you get to the next part, sometimes these kids are sitting with their laptop, so I told them it's okay, you can just open your work here if you want and just keep answering your email and at least something will catch. Yeah, just feel free to do any of that if you need to.

I'm not allowed to step outside of work, so I can't do that. The anuki insight makes it easier because it wouldn't matter where I am. But since you visited the same topic, I had this question: why is there then enough proclivity maybe to be part of something like this more than... because many times when you turn inwards, your heart guides you to be more in.

So we can't predict. So that's why you have to spell clearly: is it like satsang is an avoidance of something, or is satsang really what your heart is guiding you towards? And if it is really what your heart is guiding you towards, then take the risk. It's okay.

Sure. Because I was speaking with my boss and he's also in a similar spiritual circle, but we were debating in terms of how work is also worship, right?

No, and that's what... so I thought I would give it a shot because he wants me to be there for longer, but I feel called to be here more. So I thought I would give the anuki a try a little bit to see if it makes sense. Very good. Stay, and if that is clearly guiding you, then you can follow that. But that 'work is worship' thing is very tricky. Because strangely in India now, I've seen more of where work is worship, but worship is not worship. So like in my family also, like my mother, so most of you met her. So if I go back from satsang at 9:00 and then if I work till late and I came home, oh, the tone is only different. I'm sure it's similar for all of you, that it's just like... so worship is not worship anymore, but work has been given a higher degree of worshipfulness, which is very funny.

In fact, I was many years back talking to one of the husbands of one who comes to satsang and he said that work is worship. So that is the first time I found this mouth saying work is worship, but worship is not worship. We have to be very careful of this construct because truly Karma Yoga, which is without attachment to outcome and selfless service to God, is worship. But that construct has been made into any sort of selfish work, just oppressive work, as long as it's work, it's worship. Not like that. Work is worship means Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga is also worship, which means... and true Karma Yoga is what? To do God's will. So that kind of work is worship, and you're not attached to the outcome. You're trying to help your brothers and sisters in the world. And work with this money-chasing, individualistic, egotistical, prideful work, let's not call it worship. We may call it a necessity for some. Let's not say... there it is possible that the experiment you're going to try, it is possible to remain in God's presence and allow Him to move you even in the worldly construct of work, and in that way it could become worship. If you do it empty of individuality, it could become worship. But the way most people work is not worship, and yet they may call it that. You have some ammunition to argue with your manager.

I just thought I'll give this because I initially wanted to come more often, be established, and then take however it comes. But because this anuki sat very well with me, I thought I would give it a try to see.

There is no... one reassurance is that there is no inherent trouble between the body-mind being engaged in work and you leading a true spiritual life. It is not that kind of outer renunciation is not needed. But for some of you, you feel like a deeper immersion in this way may help, then that is also fine. So you just... what you should do is just allow it to unfold. Don't rush into anything. Just try to be established in your heart more and more, and from there you'll just find yourself maybe enjoying work more or sending a resignation. Either can happen. Can't really predict. That's the fun of this. It becomes 'no spoilers,' as opposed to the visual construct of spirituality which means you become an antaryami and you'll be able to predict everything and these kind of things. You will never go to your intuition for that because the movie is so enjoyable fresh. You would not say, 'God, tell me what's going to happen tomorrow.' Why would you want to know? And we'll stop visiting astrologers and fortune tellers. Don't give me a spoiler! It's exactly the same thing. It's exactly the same thing. This movie is playing, but because we are fearful about what is going to happen here, you see, because we don't yet realize it's just playing on the screen, so that's why we say, 'Okay, please tell me, please tell me.' You're spoiling the whole movie experience! And it doesn't turn out to be true anyway because every possibility can be traversed. That's a different conversation.

Father, just a small report. You say that the battle's about time, the battle's for time. And I've been reading these Screwtape Letters that you recommended, and I really see how I just fritter away time. I just wanted to bring that up.

This book, The Screwtape Letters, and C.S. Lewis has really examined the functioning of the mind so intricately and put it as a work of genius in that construct of Screwtape and Wormwood, having these conversations. But it's very much like... a part of it is very much like the Patanjali Yoga Sutras, strangely, where even in the Yoga Sutras they define the various types of thoughts we can have. But in The Screwtape Letters, he's really exposed the workings of the egotistical mind. And the battle is for time because it finds ways to postpone, postpone, postpone. Because after hearing me, at least for a few days—some of you have been there for a long time—I don't feel like any of you intends not to live in God's light or presence. All of you intend to do it. The mind comes and says, 'Tomorrow. Today something else, tomorrow.' Or 'Later. Right now something else.' So this is just a postponing tactic. No, God, now. If not now, when? If not now, when? If not you, then who?

So one time some of the kids were telling me that, 'I don't feel like we're really cut out for this. Are we the right ones?' I said to them, 'Okay, look around at all the neighbors, friends, relatives, all of them that you have, and from the thousands of people that you know, identify the one that is most perfect for this.' And you see that it is you. The possibility has been made alive for you. Most of the world, it's too far-fetched. They may come here and say, 'What is he talking about?' Anybody saying 'Now, now, now.' Why is it that it happened this way? Why is it that you are coming to this Grace? You cannot see. Why is it the possibility of being in servitude to God is alive for all of you versus seeming so distant for most of the world? You cannot say. You can just say Grace. So don't do what I used to joke in school about homework. This is what our mind wants us to do. This time, even our families will tell us, 'You are too young, there's time for this. Wait till you can't do anything else, then you'll only have to do this.' But by the time you get to that point, what happens? We've all seen older people who are not really focused on their spirituality and then they try to get into it when the mind is already too deeply conditioned. It's too deeply... of course Grace can help everyone, but many times you notice that you must not leave it till later.

Just one about Karma Yoga now. It's like I just realized it's like the servitude which you talk about. And I truly would do the work like he's saying. I would chop the... I can't be anxious about it. I mean, like you say, that result is that future which he's asking me to give up. And even like that insight, it's like you have to do that, you and or you the... exactly like you're saying. Then that devotion, say 'be devoted to me,' was so... because you're devoted to your mind and you don't realize that you were actually devoted. Today has all been about Karma and Karma, the theme for today. What is the right Dharma? And then that leads into the right Karma.

So what is the right Dharma? To follow God's... what was Krishna's Dharma in the Gita? To follow. What was Arjuna's Karma and Dharma in the Gita? To follow Krishna, whatever He may have said. It just simplifies everything. Otherwise, it's so difficult to kind of understand how to live. That's why plants and birds have a much better life. I see this morning, I was just walking around, jogging on my terrace, and there was this pigeon. It started playing with me. So when I would run this way, it would fly like this, and it was so simple and natural in this thing. Then it just went to the water, started drinking. It's a simple life, just flying, flying naturally, jumping around from place to place. So in a way, it is a much more beautiful life. But in human life also there is an opportunity, because there's an opportunity in tasting delusion and coming to freedom, which has more maturity than just being free all the time. To have gone through trouble and to overcome that and to live a true life has a certain depth to it. And this is probably the only reason where we can value human life more than the life of a tree or a plant or a bird or an animal.

So Father, sometimes when you're just in being and just very happy and, you know, you're just feeling very, very chilled and, you know, peaceful, and you know, now we have a choice as to whether to continue like that or to, you know, snap out of it. So for instance, let's say one example would be, you know, today like when we leave here, when let's say, you know, the time comes when you leave, our spontaneous stuff will be, 'Okay, you know, just walk out of here and then, you know, go home,' right? But one could just stay here. Like you could just stay there, right? Because let's say if everything is Maya, you wouldn't need to react to that impulse to go and do something in the world. Or more tangibly, in the morning when you're getting up and, you know, you could just stay there, right? And you're not even seeing the world, you're just chilled. But then, you know, something... I mean, how do we exercise this choice as to react to schedule and timing and, you know, this conditioned stuff versus just staying chilled? Because you could, as you said, you know, you said don't get out of bed. But what if you just stayed in bed, right? I mean literally, right? Oh, you came.

In the world, or more tangibly, in the morning when you're getting up and you know, you could just stay there, right? And you're not even seeing the world, you're just chilled. But then you know, something—I mean, how do we exercise this choice as to react to schedule and timing and you know, this conditioned stuff versus just staying chilled? Because you could, as you said, you know, you said don't get out of bed, but what if you just stayed in bed, right? I mean, literally, you know, at the risk of sounding, you know, lazy or naughty, like what if you just stayed in bed, right? I mean, I'm just honestly asking about the impulse to move into the world from a state of, you know, total bliss. Because you know that you're probably not going to keep the same amount of bliss when you're chasing the senses, but then you know, now you're in the waking state. You know, I mean, what do you do? Like, how long should you stay in bed? What's the spiritual alarm clock, you know, as opposed to the physical alarm clock?

You remember that when I started sharing, this question used to come a lot. So there was a Dr. Kanchan, all these people would just say, 'But then I can just not do anything.' So then I used to say, because satsang used to be on Saturdays usually, so I'd say, 'Okay, Sunday is a safe day. Now Sunday, tomorrow, you just don't move. Don't do anything at all unless you are moved in this way, and then nothing will happen. You won't lose your job, nothing will happen, it's Sunday.' So I used to always give them this experiment to do. And what they would find—and it's not necessary that it goes that way—but if you experimented with this, if you have not experimented with this, I would really encourage you to do it.

Just drop all intention, all plan, all schedule, at least for one day. Pick a Sunday or something like that, you see. Just empty, no this thing, no pressure about anything. Don't fix any lunch meeting, dinner, socializing, nothing for one day. Just to experiment like that, just stay in your bed, stay in God's presence, see what happens. Most will find that after waking up, they were able to be in bed for half an hour, one hour, and then something just moves them. They go to the garden, they go somewhere, something happens, they just move. And even if it didn't, what a beautiful day it would be. But the mind's idea of it just being, you know, like a semi-vegetative couch junky doesn't usually play out like that.

So, but experiment with this. It's a beautiful experiment. And I've done all these silly things, you know, that before coming to Guruji, I have tried all various things. Okay, if I'm not the doer—because I used to go to Ramesh and somebody sent me a video where I'm looking like a spring chicken sitting at Ramesh's house—so this was very common, that everything happens in God's will, you are not the doer. So I would just experiment, say, 'Okay, if I'm not the doer, I'm not going to move, let's see what happens.' Just that something just moves you without leaving the presence. You remain in the presence and some words come, you want to write them down, something comes. So, but leave with this, and I'm happy to hear your reports.

Father, to me singing brings me back to my heart along with attending satsang. Is it a trick of the mind? Should I not listen to the opportunities to sing more?

Yes, you must follow your heart fully with integrity. And if your intention is to follow God's will, then everything is grace. So these days, especially for those who've been with me for many years, I'm not providing specific answers. I'm not saying do this or don't do that, because I want you to learn how to trust your own heart. And if you do it with the right intention of not being selfish but serving God, then even if you're getting tricked by your mind, God will take care of it. There's nothing to worry.