God's Presence: The Heart's True Home

May this gathering be used by his presence alone. May everything that is shared here today be in service to God alone. May nothing be about the one who's sharing. May nothing be remembered about him except that the pointing about God being with us—ever present, ever revealable in our heart. May his light, his love, his presence be remembered and never forgotten.

Can we stay here? Whether your mind says that you have found something here or your mind says that this is nothing but a dark and empty place, if you can have faith that this is the heart, the spiritual center where, in spite of the human condition and in spite of the operation of Maya, God can be found, God can be met. And although it is true that the world is also God, Maya is also God himself, and yet sometimes his reflected light doesn't satisfy our thirst, our longing. It is the source that we want to merge with, unite with, even though we may not understand it at all.

So all the sages in India have said to me that what are you doing roaming, wandering aimlessly on the outside when the true treasure is on the inside? So being in satsang is to be in the company of that truth. Is it possible to always live here? Well, I heard it's possible. I'm trying in this life. But one thing is for certain: that it is I who choose to leave and not him. And there's never been a time where I've regretted being inward-facing. I only regretted those moments where I'm outward-facing. So given that it is I who always leave in my heart, I know that it is possible to always be here. It is just that Maya seems compelling from time to time and I get pulled away.

So I mean it quite literally when I say that God lives in your heart in the form of the Atma within, in the form of the Holy Spirit. It is more factual than anything we can see in this world. But the question is: what will I get? What's in it for me? And truly speaking, everything is self-realization, recognition of who you really are, the discovery of an unconditional love, peace, joy, everything. But most times, through the lens of the mind, it will seem like it is a horrible waste to live in remembrance of the One or in the presence of the One who is the light of this universe. In the way of the mind, it seems like a terrible waste of time. But if you did not identify with that which is going to die, then it would not seem that way. If you did not take ourselves to be this 'me', then this union in the heart, this merging of the seeming duality, is all that is important.