Who Does Your Heart Belong to In This Moment? - 18 September 2024
Saar (Essence)
Ananta emphasizes that true spirituality is not about personal attainment or conceptual self-realization, but about a deep, living devotion to God. He urges seekers to surrender their pride and ego, allowing the Atma to guide them moment to moment.
Don't try to attain self-realization; just stay with the truth. There is nothing to attain in spirituality.
When there is me, there is no God; and when there is God, there is no me.
The biggest scam is if somebody took away God from me, and this Maya tries to do that.
devotional
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
How to start? Um, so Father, it's becoming a lot more evident that we are the heart. In other words, I think this sense of separation is starting to somewhat dissolve and it's just feeling like we are the heart and there can't—there's not two. There's the heart and then the sensations in the heart. That's sort of how it's starting to feel. And I just actually wanted to also just report on something which I heard this morning, which is I was listening to a recording of Mooji Baba reading from a text that Bhagavan had written called the Parayana. And he says somehow in that, for the first time I heard something very powerful which I had not heard to that extreme, where he was saying that if you worship the Lord, if you know that you're not the body and then you worship the Lord feeling that there's a difference between you and him, actually he said very clearly you will not attain, you know, kind of dissolution in self-realization. So, I mean, for the first time I sort of heard of—I mean, I was quite surprised at how prescriptive this was. That, you know, if you're doing devotion and you're praying to the Lord as a separate entity, it said, you know, it actually kind of seemed like a strict upadesa not to do so. I just—I mean, I'm just surfacing it, what I heard, and because it surprised me. I thought that all paths were all good, equally good, and you know, it was good enough to just sort of say that, okay, I'm the person and I'm praying to the Lord, rather than having to kind of stay in the, you know, as the heart and dissolve the sense of personhood as a falsehood. So I just wanted to lay that at your feet and get your feedback and what we should be aspiring for in our meditations.
So let's suppose that this framing is true. Let's suppose that this framing is true, which is that if there is a sense of distinction felt between the Lord and myself, then in a way there's no point even praying to him. Let's suppose it's true like that. Then how would anyone ever start? Then the path of spirituality will be completely closed for everyone because nobody starts off feeling truly one with God. You don't start off having let go of the attachment to this body-mind and the idea that 'I am this person whose center is this body-mind.' So I feel like something may have got lost in translation, or maybe because we are at a particular place, then that framing seems dominant in terms of how we hear what is being said. But I want to just tell everyone that the point is to turn towards God. No preconditions are needed. You don't have to have achieved a sense of non-duality already to worship. In fact, to worship is to work on our sense of separation, you see? And if there is a prerequisite like 'you cannot worship God unless you know that you are completely one with him,' then who is to worship God? Who can worship God then? I can't worship God. None of us in this room can worship God. And in fact, nobody that I ever met could worship God because nobody has got rid of that 'me' completely.
So that is the first aspect. The second aspect is the idea of attaining self-realization. So I would say that let's get rid of this idea instead, because we know that there is nobody who will attain self-realization. When there is self-realization, there is nobody. So rather than keeping the focus on what is needed for me to attain self-realization, let's only keep our focus on: how can I love God more and how can I recognize the truth about myself more and more? What that leads to is none of our business. So I, for one, don't want to talk about so much the attainment of self-realization because for many of us, then that itself becomes the stumbling block to that which we are trying to attain. And then that becomes again like the dog chasing his tail. 'I want to get self-realization, and to get self-realization I want to be empty of myself.' But the idea that 'I want self-realization' is the idea that keeps me as myself. 'I want self-realization, I have to be empty of this I, but I want self-realization, but I want to be empty of this I.' So then we can never really—then we get into that trap of a conceptual self-realization that 'now I understand that I am one with God,' but our life doesn't become a living, breathing example of that oneness. It doesn't really translate into that lived love, lived compassion, lived kindness, and we remain like this on the spiritual treadmill every day thinking we are making a lot of progress because we understood something new.
So don't try to attain self-realization. Just stay with the truth. There is nothing to attain in spirituality. Do we want to love our children more because we'll attain something out of it? Do you want to have a deeper relationship with them—children, parents, partner, whoever? Is it a question of getting something out of it, you see? So the idea of getting will only contaminate the relationship and put yourself in a getting mode. Put yourself in a getting mode and see whether you can really come face to face with the truth, or whether you can love deeply in your heart when you are in getting mode. How are we in getting mode? Wanting, wanting, wanting, you see? So we are grasping, grasping, grasping like this. We can never really meet the Atma within. We can never meet His presence inside us because we remain in that getting mode, you see? But the problem with the getting mode is that it promises us the delusion, the illusion of progress. 'I got this, then I got this, now I got this.' Nobody gets God in that way. All we ever get is a glorified sense of 'me.' So let go of the goal of attaining anything at all.
You have this moment where you can deeply love your heart, deeply love God as yourself, as His holy feet, in whatever way you want to. Never fall for the trap, no matter how credible it may seem, that one path is better than the others. So then we are saying that Bulleh Shah Ji and Farid Ji and Nanak Ji and Tukaram Ji and Namdev Ji, they were lower-level sages? Kabir Ji—well, Kabir you could say was very much a Gyani at the same time. In fact, all of them were. But you get a sense of what I'm saying, that the idea is to get over ourselves whichever way we can get over ourselves, whether you say Bhagavan is God, truth, love, peace. That is why this Advaita is very pristine, because do you see that you are completely one with God? It is Advaita. But do you see that you now recognize that you are completely one with God and it has always been this way? That is Dvaita, because you now recognize, and the one who is resting in this new recognition, that will always have an element of the me-ness, the tanmatra of the ego. And that one would love nothing more than to rest in the notion that it doesn't exist. Just in the notion.
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So in the notion that 'I don't exist,' I can keep myself. I, who is the 'I' that doesn't exist? Why do I need to say 'I don't exist'? If there is nobody like that, then who is saying 'I don't exist'? It's like saying 'I am not the doer.' Then you are not that 'I am.' So that one who wants to make the claim that 'I don't exist' is the one that is the minutest ego that still perpetuates in the human condition. And if you let it run helter-skelter, then we will fall only into spiritual pride. I don't know if the words are correct, maybe better ones will come, but from experience, most of you will get a sense of what I'm saying also, you see? So remember the first few satsangs that you ever came to, Advaita, first few satsangs on YouTube or something like that. In the first satsang you feel excited: 'There is no me, there never was, I never existed.' Then your partner fights with you. What happened, you see? And you try to convince them also, 'But you don't exist and I don't exist,' but it's no longer fun, you see?
So both ends of the spectrum we have to accept and straddle. To get in denial of either side will only lead to trouble. That's why I said we can meet Hanuman Ji in both ways. See the framing that is already attractive to us, that we delved into already a lot, that we are already very familiar with, but you have to get into new ground as well. You have a broader capacity than our intellect does. So the discipleship of the Atma is like this: it is bigger than your intellect. The more you can leave it behind—and it's scary because we've been in satsang twelve years, some of us have been in satsang twelve years, and if somebody says 'What have you understood?' and if you don't have an answer, it feels like we are failing a class or something, you see? This kind of classroom is very different. The more you grow, the less you will be able to speak about it because the Atma is teaching you from inside.
So if somebody says to me that, 'Ananta, you will never be—you will never attain self-realization because you still worship God as if He is greater than you, that you are nothing but a foolish beggar and He is the King of this universe,' then I don't want that self-realization. Because I know the one I meet in my heart is much bigger than I will ever be, and at the same time, I know fully well that I'm completely the same, one with Him. You cannot understand this thing, but I'm happy to love God even if that means that I never reach enlightenment or freedom or any of the promises of spirituality. I don't want the promise of spirituality; I want only Spirit. I don't want the benefits of it. And what happens with the idea of Nirvana, Mukti, enlightenment, self-realization? The ideas, if taken conceptually, are terrible ideas. These ideas can cause much more trouble than not having them if they're just in the mind. But in the heart, you know that this freedom has a completely different meaning from what we can fathom intellectually.
What is our idea of freedom, enlightenment? That 'I'm always in bliss, I never identify as the body-mind.' What are the other ideas? That 'everybody will recognize my light, they will fall at my feet, they will see who I am,' you see? One boy had this story that he sat in satsang in Rishikesh with Guruji. So at the end of satsang, he felt like that satsang he really got it, he got the point. Most of you heard the story. So he was just ready for life after getting it. So satsang ended and he went out of the satsang hall, and this Western lady—he was an Indian boy, very sweet boy—so this Western lady started walking towards him, you know, with great intention. So he said to himself, or the mind said to him, 'Oh, is it starting to happen now? Can they see it? Are they all going to come to me now?' you see? So she came to him and she said, 'Do you know where the auto stand is?'
You see? And I'm glad that that happened in that way because very quickly you see what happened. The insight could have been completely true, but what quickly gets built up after that is that persona of 'enlightened one.' Now suppose if the mind really tricked him, or Maya really had it out for him, then suppose that that Western lady said, 'I see something in you, you see? Can you tell me something? I see something in you.' You know where that trajectory could have taken that sweet boy? So you have to be very careful of the ideas. Any idea that makes you special, just throw it away. There is nothing special about me, there is nothing special about you. It's very difficult. That's what I feel like our communication this time has been mostly around the fact that this is a lifelong, very, very rare and very, very difficult project, isn't it? And to hear that seems also very difficult. But once you accept it, you see, then it'll still be difficult. In this case, it's all the battle lost, isn't it? So it is—see, the language is so limited that the texture of knowing has different varieties. We think that what we know in the mind is what we know, what we judge in the intellect is what we know, but you cannot know anything valuable there. Tell me something good that you know in the head.
Rare and very, very difficult project, isn't it? And that to hear that seems also very difficult, but once you accept it, you see, then it'll still be difficult. In this case, it's all the battle lost, isn't it? So it is, see, the language is so limited that the texture of knowing has different varieties. We think that what we know in the mind is what we know, what we judge in the intellect is what we know, but you cannot know anything valuable there. Tell me something good that you know in the head. Maybe with the exception of the name of God, there is nothing. Even when we say love in the head, 'Oh, I love you' means 'I want something from you.' That is not love, is it? So true knowledge—where do you know unconditional love? Where do you know peace? Where do you know true joy? And the more you know in your head, the more difficult it will seem to access your heart where you truly know. So really, the question I'm realizing is quite straightforward: Do you want to work on yourself, or do you want God to work on you? Huh?
Work on ourselves. Ourselves. Okay, so suppose you had the option. Option and second option is no, correcting ourself is necessary. Like God, how you correct? He is told everything. Everything is talked about by him. He told all the way, he given all the Gita to people. We only can grasp it. We should be open to grasp it. We are not open to grasp it, then how much he will do for you also? He will not be able then. He will also... has he told you that that now you have to do? He come and tell you?
No, wait, wait, wait. So suppose I'm a mad person, okay? So I'm telling you a mad idea. See how much you want to listen to this mad person. It's completely up to you. So I'm telling you that God wants to hold our hand and every step of the way he wants to guide us. Huh? Every step of the way. He has never told me once, 'Whatever I had to tell you, I have told you. Now it is your job.' You see, he has in fact told me that that will become my ego, that will become my pride. He has told me that you must remain like a little boy in my arms so that then I can guide you moment to moment.
So Nanak Ji said, after everybody asked him, 'Okay, you are saying by sitting in meditation it will not happen, by getting the most pleasure it will not happen, by applying our intellect and knowing so much it will not happen, then how will it happen?' they asked. So what did he say? He said, 'Hukum rajai chalna,' which means that we must remain in the will of God. Hukum actually is the command of God, and that is my highest teaching, he said. Now, this hukum, has he said that he will not guide us this moment? You see, so what has happened is that in the world it can feel like Ishwar Prapthi or Atma Darshan is such a rare thing. Do we feel that? Okay, now we have to rely only on what we think has been said.
Can anyone in this room, including me, tell me what is said in the Bhagavad Gita? Huh? Who can say? Tell me what is said in the Bhagavad Gita. Everything is said. What will you do this moment? Somebody's angry with you on the phone, huh? Then Bhagavad Gita is saying that you attack the enemies, do your duty, love everyone, be in the truth—everything is said, no? So what will you do? You see, so when people say, 'Ji, there is no such thing as Guru,' because everything is there in every scripture. You take Ramayana, you take Mahabharat, you take the Ramacharitmanas. Tulsidas Ji has said everything. You see, so when it comes to application moment to moment, unless we are guided by the Atma in this moment, unless his presence is alive for us in this moment, you see, our mental spirituality or our conceptual idea of what we think spiritual is doesn't actually come to any use.
So to come to God's presence and to live in the light of the Atma, to come to that is the most important thing. Otherwise, the pandits would have led the most free life. What happened? And that arrogance is what Tulsidas Ji also broke, because everybody said, 'You are not a real pandit because you don't even talk in Sanskrit. You are only speaking Awadhi.' And this also, not even, you know, pure language, it's just a dialect. He said, 'Can I not love God in the language that I want? And can I not bring it to the people in a way that they can understand, instead of keeping this elitism of conceptual knowledge?' Is it? So it is the ones who are spiritually proud who want to make God only available to those with those barriers. But God is for everyone to love. But really love, is it?
Does that mean that I'm saying don't read the scriptures? No, not at all. I'm saying that many times the voice of God can seem like I can't access it inside, so then when we read the scriptures, then we can hear the word of God in that way. We can hear it. But when we rely on it as past knowledge, see, and when we get into the idea that 'I can do this myself,' that is when the trouble comes. Because God has never told me—and tell me if he has told you—that 'I'm done with my job, now it is up to you.' Huh? Has he told anyone? Never told anyone.
So all the greatest sages... Hanuman Prasad Poddar Ji, 'I don't know anything.' The great... I mean, he translated so many scriptures, all these hundreds of books he edited, he said, 'I don't know anything.' He tells me, can we get that kind of relationship with God? For most of the world, it seems like this is not possible. It's not possible. But it is possible. Suppose it was possible. It would be beautiful that he's always with me. Huh? Whichever aspect of him appeals to me the most, whether it is Ram, whether it is Krishna, whether it is Jesus, whether it is Allah, that one is always with me. I can love him with all my heart, I can offer my heart to him every moment, and he can guide me, he can love me, he can take care of everything in my life. Is it just a fantastical beautiful idea of a mad person, or is it really a possibility?
For most of the world, this kind of talk is stupidity. Are you willing to be stupid with me? It's not easy. That's why I was telling him, it's not easy because all of Maya will attack you. Your own mind will attack you first, and then everybody around you will attack you. Has anybody come to God's presence and said, 'No, no, now I know him, now I don't need to live with him, I don't need to stay with him, I don't need to love him'? Nobody. They fall more and more, more and more in love. So what is the difference between a satsang and a discourse or a class? Speak, huh? Who is speaking could be one way to look at it. But in a discourse, we use our... mostly we use our intellect to try and understand. In satsang, we try to come into the sang of the Sat. The attempt is to come to the company of the truth. And the truth is... truth is Sat is the same thing, isn't it? So the truth is to come to God.
So can we come to satsang, which means to come to the company of God? And how can we come to the company of God? God's presence is called the Atma. And where is the Atma? Where is that? Not inside the body, but inside, isn't it? That is why it is said, 'Antarmukhi sada sukhi.' If inside me was only flesh and blood and ideas and brain, then why would the turning inwards make me happy, make me peaceful? How is the promise that inward-facing I am always at peace, always content? Were the sages lying about it? They were not lying about it. So when it is said, 'Antarmukhi sada sukhi,' it is because he lives there. He is there. So what is Maya's job? To convince us that he does not live there. That is the number one job.
So Kabir Ji said, 'Maya mahathagini hum jaani.' Why is it a mahathagini? You're a Hindi teacher, can you tell us what is mahathagini? She's cheating always. Yes, biggest con, biggest cheater. How is she cheating us? What could be the biggest scam that can happen to us? Huh? Let's see that way. If somebody took all my money away, then would that be the biggest scam that can happen to me? If somebody gave me a very fatal disease, would that be the biggest scam? No, not even that. If somebody took all my possessions, all my family, everything, would that be the biggest scam? No. The biggest scam is if somebody took away God from me. And this mahathagini tries to do that. Sometimes even hiding—what a beautiful line—even in the devotion of the devotee it can hide that 'I have become such a big devotee. Look at all these people, I'm just sitting in devotion of God all day.' You see? So there Maya comes.
See, so Kabir Ji said, 'Maya is me.' When 'me' comes, then we are stuck in Maya. In the devotion of the devotee also, this 'me' can come. So that is why everywhere it can hide. So we have to be careful of this Maya, this 'me' coming. Because why is it a narrow lane? Why is the lane too narrow? When there is 'me,' there is no God, and when there is God, there is no 'me.' And whatever we do, no matter how many dips in the holy river we take, what pilgrimages we do, what holy mountains we walk around, no matter what we do, if our attempt wholeheartedly is not to get rid of the 'me' from my heart, then we cannot be with God. Do whatever you want, because this Maya is the mahathagini; he will come everywhere. Does that mean it's a bad thing to do, go to these places? No, it isn't. It's very beautiful. But remember that it is beautiful if our project is to be empty of this 'me.' But if our project is to elevate this 'me,' is to grow, is to attain something, then it doesn't matter. It may only make it worse. Huh?
Okay. So the question was... I forgot what the question was. The question was that if only one was possible, I could work on myself or God could work on me. Experience. Maybe the only work on myself that I can do is to allow God to work on me. But first we have to accept that it is possible that when we leave the lane empty for him, then he can work on our heart. 'Mere saiyyan bhaye kotwal ab darr kahe ka.' That's such a beautiful thing. It stunned me. And when I make myself available to him, then he works on my heart. He works on my Atma. And it's so true, because when we look back at our lives, all that is beautiful and full of love and joy and peace in our heart, he has only put. And all the raga, dwesha, klesha, everything, we have put in our head.
So between the head and heart, who is going to win in your life? Kabir Ji said in the Doha, the opportunity does not come again and again. Was he lying, exaggerating? The mind will say, 'God will not be that unkind. How can he be that?' Then Kabir Ji must be lying. So we make very convenient spiritual excuses for ourselves in the age like Kabir Ji has told us that the opportunity does not come again and again. We pretend to be blind to it. No, he didn't say, never happened. And that is the childish tendency that we should let go of.
I shared this, that my daughter, when she was just maybe two or three, maybe younger, she got a cut on her foot. So I went to where she was and I could see their footsteps which are like red in color. So I'm running after her, 'Ria, Ria, show me what has happened, show me what has happened.' And she's just like, 'It is not blood, it is tomato.' At that age, she didn't want to deal with the pain of having that thing. Maybe it scared her a lot to see a foot, her own footstep like that. So she just said, 'It is not blood, it is tomato.' She's not showing me, she's running from me. 'It's not blood, it's tomato.' And there's no tomato inside. So we should not spend our life in this kind of denial.
It is possible for you to live a life in God's light. It is possible for you to let him heal your heart, fill your heart with love and kindness, to give you insights which you can never even imagine. He can do all of that. All you have to do is have the intention at least to be free of this 'me.' We can only have the intention, you see. Moment to moment, we can offer this moment to God. Who does your heart belong to this moment? Who are you for in this moment? Who are you for? And because in our way of life it has become so natural that every moment I am for me, even God is for me. It is that we are learning how to surrender ourself by saying that 'My heart belongs to you, God.' And do you think that method is super important at that point? That God will be upset at the end of it because I said 'Ram, Ram, Ram' but I should have said 'Rama,' or I was calling God as Jesus, Allah, when I should have been saying Christ and Bhagavan? This pettiness is reserved only for humans. It's not God to be like that. So we must be free from this kind of nonsense. If God is called God, he's called Bhagavan, he's called Allah.
We are learning how to surrender ourselves by saying that 'My heart belongs to You, God.' And do you think that method is super important at that point—that God will be upset at the end of it because I said 'Ram, Ram, Ram' but I should have said 'Rama'? Or I was calling God as Jesus or Allah when I should have been saying Christ and Bhagavan? This pettiness is reserved only for humans; it's not God to be like that. So we must be free from this kind of nonsense. If God is called God, He's called Bhagavan, He's called Allah, He's called Christ—just because the language is different, the mode of communication is different, do you feel like God will not hear us and He will not know that we are calling Him?
The great Sage Valmiki became Valmiki because he said 'Mara.' Another one became a great sage because he mistook the prayer and he prayed, instead of 'Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me,' he prayed 'Lord Jesus Christ don't have mercy on me.' It is not about any of that. It is: Who is this moment for? Who does this moment belong to? Who do you belong to in this moment? It's not blood, it's... and this 'me' is very devious. So you have to develop your nose to smell the narrative when it only smells like it is about God but is actually about me. So when my plate is empty of 'me,' then God can eat of that plate. What can be higher than that?
One child came to satsang one time and she made this report to a friend; it really stuck with me. She said, 'Oh God, God I found many years ago, and I came to satsang expecting that Ananta will tell me something higher—higher than being with God.' This is my... that higher and lower is by whose design? If something could be higher, if something could be lower, by whose design would it be? So meet the source of all of this and stay with it without grasping at spiritual ideas, and be careful of the idea of it being a one-time event.
Amar Chitra Katha—very good books for children, very nice, every child should read them—but one mistake they do is that they always present it in this way: that this one prayed and prayed and prayed, and God came and said, 'I'm happy with your prayer, ask me what you want. Tathastu! I'm gone.' That is not it. To meet God and then, at all cost, at any cost, don't leave. He will not say 'Tathastu' and go; you will say 'Thank You' and go. This is Maya. What would it be if not Maya when we are sitting in prayer, sitting in inquiry, we come to God's presence and then we say, 'Okay, no, now I have to go, I have important things to do'? That is Maya.
God has never told us, 'Now I have to go, I have important things to do,' huh? Do we keep telling Him every day, 'Now I have to go, I have important things to do. My work is waiting, my children are waiting, everybody's waiting, but I will keep You waiting'? Does that mean that we must become passive and then drop all work, all responsibility, all children? That is my number one objection every time I've said this for twelve years. Every time, first is this. No. Stay with God and let the movement happen from there. Let Him move you. He is moving you anyway; live in that recognition.
I'm ranting after many days of not being very contemplative; we'll come back to that soon. What makes us so busy for God? Let's become busy with God for the world. Somebody wants to sit in gossip with us for one hour, say to them, 'No, actually I'm busy with God.' Don't say to God, 'Sorry, I have this important phone call.' Nothing important is there. These small, small things, they can seem like sacrifices. Strangely, it can seem like a sacrifice. So sacrifice that entertainment, that Leela, that Maya. That is Shreya and Preya. What is the difference between Shreya and Preya? Shreya is short-term pain but long-term happiness. Preya is short-term pleasure, long-term misery.
So that pinch which you feel—'Oh, I could have entertained myself, instead I'm sitting and contemplating, sitting and praying'—that pinch will be short-term, but the joy of being in God's presence is blessing us and those around us in ways that we can never understand. The biggest calamities are on our head, but through His presence, through His blessings, they can be... you don't want to make it for selfish reasons, but His grace heals everything.
So one resolution is coming strongly here. It's been a little week since it first came, but it's being reinforced here: that I don't want to talk about myself. And a lot of days these days go on WhatsApp messaging and other forms of communication, so I will remember to make it about Him as much as I can. Because in that moment we can forget Him, you see. 'Oh, this happened, then this happened to me, and then that happened to me.' And for those moments we forget God. Ram Ji is here. And by the way, while He's here, then this has been happening. It is unimportant, but since you ask... if He was pratyaksha in front of you, would that not be... apparently in front of you, like visibly in front of you, then would that not be how we convey our life?
So just because He's invisible but recognized through the Satguru's eyes, through our heart eyes, does that mean we can just live as if He doesn't exist? That is the very purpose of Maya: to make it seem like I exist as somebody but He doesn't exist. Is it 'I exist as somebody,' or 'I am, but He is not'? But my very I-am-ness is Him. My very existence is Him. Literally, not even poetically. Like we may say in a human relationship romantically that 'My very existence is you, my beloved'—at least for the first few weeks, then all gone. But in this case, this I Am is God's presence. So when we say 'My very existence is You,' it is the most literal thing that we can say, because without the Atma we are nothing.
Most of us feel like we are just Prana, and at least in India we feel like we are Prana and then we are flesh and then we are blood and all of these things, you see. Then we feel like some breathing and some body exercise and that's about it, and no Atma. What is the source of Prana? So we come to satsang to do Atma Gyan. The absurdest satsang I've ever shared because why? It feels too far-fetched. Can we get God like that? Is it possible? Can we find Him? Can we stay with Him? Can we love Him more and more every moment? Can we offer ourselves more and more to Him? Is it a possibility in our life, as difficult as it may seem?
What is Plan B? Tell me a better Plan B, then I'll let you off the hook. What is the other plan? So one plan I have told you: stay with God, love Him more and more, allow Him, feel His love for you, be guided only by Him moment to moment, live in love, servitude, and true insight. That is Plan A. What is the alternative plan? What most of the world is living—that is Plan B. And if you break it down into smaller pieces, then it is, let's say, atheist and non-atheist or religious.
So religious people, most of them have this plan that there is a God, but 'I have important things to do, and when I'm close to the end of my life I'll remember Him and He'll take care.' And nobody ever feels like they're coming to the end of their life, so their whole life goes without remembering Him mostly. That is the state of the religious. And once a year—Diwali, Holi—we will pray. And even that prayer, we will not leave it without selfishness. We will say, 'Give me this, give me money, give me better this thing, give me all that,' you see. So that is not any way to build a relationship with God.
And the atheist, like I was saying, says it's all nonsense: 'I am this body and I will die.' So either we can get into a nihilistic sort of life, which is that it's all meaningless, or we can say like Camus and others that it's all meaningless actually, but I will try to make some meaning out of it for myself because I have to die anyway. So I will try to either make meaning, which is that I will create my own value parameters and see if I'm achieving those value parameters, then I'm leading a meaningful life and then I die. And the nihilist will say that that's all pointless, I'm going to die anyway, so what's the point? So they die before dying. Dying, dead. So let's categorize all of that as Plan B.
What do we want to do? What do you want to do? In Plan A, we've been told that the more we deepen in love for Him, in devotion to Him, in faith and gratitude to Him, we can come to a union with Him. And even if that seems too far-fetched, then we have been given this promise that we can live where He lives, we can live at His feet, whether we call that Vaikuntha or we call it Heaven. And Plan B is transmigration or a finality of death. Those are the alternatives.
It's not about creating fear; it is about really looking. One thing I can tell you is that this body is almost 50 years old. Just in a few months, 50 years old. Half a century. Half a century! Does it seem like half a century? Not at all. Just went by like this. And the remaining 10, 20, 30, whatever by God's grace is remaining, will also go like that. So the call towards moving towards God... Kabir Ji, unfortunately, we heard it so much in school that we don't value it, but this is what he was talking about. Death is coming. He said death is coming any moment; don't waste this opportunity.
What is required of us? It is very difficult, but in this moment you can do it. In this moment you can do it. It is very natural in this moment. Then looked at in the span of a life, then it seems difficult because of Maya. All you have to do is say, 'This moment is Yours. This moment is Yours. I am Yours in this moment.' Is that difficult? Start by not even meaning it. Don't even mean it; just say it. Then the meaning it will happen. Just keep your head bowed down whatever, as much as you can. That's all. What is difficult? So in the moment it is not difficult, but when you think about doing it later, then it is difficult. So don't do it later; do it now.
Swami Ramdas Ji is one of the most amazing sages, one of the most amazing that I've ever heard. His articulation is really bad, but his insight... in articulation I mean that he was just so old when he was sharing that the words seemed even more mumbly than this one, you see. But what he's saying is tremendous because in one satsang he can straddle both Bhakti and Jnana so beautifully that it's beyond, you know, it is coming from the Atma itself. So he said at the end of all of it, what is the highest thing that I have learned? Just say to God, 'God, I am Yours. I'm Yours. I'm Yours.'
He is one who has written translations of the Gita and all the scriptures, and he had such mastery over all of them. He said at the end of all of it: 'God, I'm Yours.' God has not made it difficult for us to be with Him. Our pride makes it difficult, our desire makes it difficult. So please, my children, my brothers and sisters, my elders, I beg of you with folded hands: don't do a spirituality which is Godless. Don't fall into that trap. You're only going to make it difficult for yourself. Don't make your life into something which is Godless. Keep your eyes on Him; everything is taken care of. Turn away from Him, then you face the jungle. And for a long time you will feel like you can win in this jungle, but you can't, because death is coming and you have to meet the Lord of Death. You tell him, 'I have a billion dollars in the bank,' what is he going to do with that? Say, 'I married the most beautiful partner,' what is he going to do with that?
Don't make it difficult for yourself. Don't make your life into something which is Godless. Keep your eyes on Him; everything is taken care of. Turn away from Him, then you face the jungle. And for a long time, you will feel like you can win in this jungle, but you can't, because death is coming. And when you meet the Lord of death, you tell him, 'I have a billion dollars in the bank.' What is he going to do with that? Say, 'I married the most beautiful partner.' What is he going to do with that? 'I had everything that the world could give me.' What is he going to do with that? What use is all of this wealth if you have not accumulated spiritual wealth? That bank account is empty for most of us in the world. What we will do with the other bank account, it will go to our children and their children and their children.
So Jesus said something very strong about this. He said, 'Then if you say, "Lord, Lord," I will not recognize you.' A strong thing for one who is just a pure embodiment of love to say, 'I will not recognize you if you have not followed the will of my Father in this place.' Same thing Kabir Ji is saying. And how will we follow the will of God if you've not met the Master? Then whose will will we follow? It's like saying that you meet somebody and they say, 'I started a new job.' So then you say, 'Okay, what are they making you do?' And they say, 'I don't know, I've never met my employer.' If you don't meet God, or at least you don't turn towards God, then how will you know what His will is? To follow His will is to be in His presence.
For I have a bunch of mosquitoes hovering. What am I going to do with this? What is it? It's a roll-on. Where do I roll this? My fabric roll-on. This also fabric? This is the first time hearing of this. Every... all of you know about this? See, I told you I'm mad like the Ras. Fabric roll-on. Too cold. Hey, how did this start working, this thing? It may be very good in Rishikesh. This fabric roll-on, maybe you should get some and go. I'm sure you get them there also. It should be good. Put on here? No, no. Kuti is going tomorrow, and in Rishikesh, in most of the year, there are a lot of mosquitoes. They love everyone.
How real is God for me? Is He a living God? Does He hear me? Does He know me? Is He with me right now? How real is He for you? It is this feeling of unreality of the living one that makes us suffer. We suffer because we feel alone. We feel distant from Him, separated from Him. We feel scared. We are afraid of loneliness. We are afraid of not being taken care of, afraid of everything, because we've forgotten that the Lord of a trillion universes is with me. The owner of all time and all space is with us every moment. We forget. And thank God we suffer, otherwise we could just remain in this forgetfulness forever.
It's 99... no, 99% turn towards satsang because of suffering. It is the 1% that turn because of a true thirst for knowledge or a true longing for God. It is that suffering that makes us open enough for this most absurd-sounding thing in the world, because according to the world, it's all upside down. What is the world's version of spirituality? And okay, let's see, what is India's most popular version of spirituality? Huh? India's most popular version: 'Become enlightened, you can do everything perfectly.' That's very... I mean, that's because we move in these circles and that seems popular.
The one most popular version of spirituality in India is: keep doing your work and then die. It's okay, because even God has told us, Krishna has told us one verse that everybody feels like that is the whole... that everybody loves. Just keep... you keep doing your work and just don't worry about the outcome. Die, finish. That's it, isn't it? So when people come meet me and they're not spiritual and I say, 'Are you surrendering your life to God?' they say, 'But even God said you keep doing your work.' But I'm not saying don't do your work, but what about God? And can you actually ever be free from worry about the outcome unless you have surrendered yourself to God? Nobody can. Can you actually be free from worry about the fruits of your actions unless you've surrendered your life to God? Can't do it.
So, it's just lip service spirituality. And everywhere in the world, including India and possibly also in the West, it has become about a spirituality which is self-serving and not self-sacrificing. No risk, nothing at stake. My head is not at His feet. This is just, 'What can I get out of this? If I pray to God, what will I get? I was promised peace, where is it?' Like that. So it's become a self-serving spirituality. It has become this business of spirituality with a few rare exceptions. Where are the crazy-in-love-with-God ones? You have to be, though. It's probably too late for this one, but you can. If not you, then who? Huh? If not now, then when? And what better plan do you have?
So I just need a few who will say, 'I'm ready to risk my life on this, on the true existence of God, on the true reality that is here in my heart. I'm willing to bet my whole life on this, to risk it.' Yes? I don't see any nodding here. Are we in this? It's okay, half-hearted is also fine. It's scary, I can see. And that's why I'm asking you to contemplate: what is Plan B? What are you really having to give up? And you have seven billion almost examples in the world. Whose life would you rather emulate? Let's leave all that. Nothing in all that.
Make your relationship with God the most important relationship for you. What would that look like? Can it be the most important relationship if you don't meet Him every day? If you don't make Him the center of your life, at least for a large part of your day? And whatever the mind is telling you, that this is the cost of doing this, it is just not true. There's no cost except... and if you consider pride, to let go of your pride, some cost, then yes. If we had treated any relationship like we've treated our relationship with God, that relationship would have left us. Yes or no? Isn't it? But God is the most faithful; He has not left us.
Let's do one thing tomorrow. Instead of taking our grievances and problems to God, let's ask God whether He has some grievances with us. Let's just listen to Him. Instead of telling Him, 'I have this problem, fix this for me, I want this, where are You, You're not helping me,' instead of any of that, just say, 'I'm here for You. Please, I want to listen to what You have to say.' Yes? Shall we do this experiment?