The Giver of the Gift: God's Grace in Spiritual Progress

And for me, what is not of interest is the benefit, but who causes that benefit to come, huh? That must be important, no? It is not the gift that he gives, but who is the Giver of the gift that is more important. So, who is the Giver of the gift? We know. Say it, it's okay. Who must be giving that gift? Whether it is peace, whether it is love, whether it is joy, it must be God only. It must be God only giving that gift.

So, in what form can we come to God in this human existence? In what way can we meet God in this human existence? What we see? Don't worry, there's no right or wrong answer. If you open up, then I know where you may be getting stuck or where I need to push a little more. So, in what form is it? Okay, let's start with the very basic. God is there. He's there, yes?

Now, in this human life, when we are living in a world which is full of appearances and disappearances, full of all this what we call Maya, we can see reflections of God, but we don't meet God directly, isn't it? Now, in this human existence, is it possible for us to meet God directly? What you... so when we do the self-inquiry, when you ask 'Who am I?', who are you hoping to encounter? Your true self. And that is called Atma, isn't it? Atma. And there is no difference between Atma Darshan and Atma Gyan. It is the same thing, yes?

So, if you wanted to meet yourself, why do you have to do the inquiry? Why not just look in a mirror, huh? Because what do you feel? If I wanted to meet Ananta, I should see a mirror, no? Ah, so that's just a reflection. We want to meet the reality. How to meet the reality? How will asking the question 'Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?'... I can keep asking 'Who am I? Who am I?', will I meet reality like that? I won't meet reality like that. It must be something which takes us beyond the realm of perception into a recognition of that which is unperceivable. If it was perceivable, then we would see it with our senses. We won't need to bother with inquiry. We won't need to bother with chanting any prayer. We could just say, 'Where is it? Where is it to be found?' Because everything that is perceivable has a location, you see. So, if the reality of God, not the reflection of God, if the reality of God was perceivable, then somebody would be able to give us the address. All these great sages, they would say, 'I found God. This is the longitude, this is the latitude. You go over there, you will find God.' But can we find God that way?

So, to find God, which way we have to go? Inside. Inside, yes. So, when we ask 'Who am I?', if some imagination comes or if some thought comes, we are supposed to ask, 'Who witnesses even that? Who is the witness even of that?' So then we ask, then what happens? You must be asking in the inquiry, you must be asking. So, what happens then? Stillness comes. Stillness comes. And stillness comes and stillness goes, you see. Anything that comes, it goes, no? So then we feel, the day in which stillness comes or peace comes, we feel, 'I did inquiry properly today.' The day when mind is too active, we feel, 'Inquiry didn't happen well today.' We feel like that. But that which witnesses both the stillness and the noise, does anything happen to that? Nothing happens. Very, very... so that one, what is the color of that one? No color, no shape, no size, nothing. Then how do you recognize that one, huh? That is the question, isn't it? So, if you're going to come to Atma or Brahman, can we recognize Atma like this? Can't recognize like this. Why not? It's not an object. Exactly. Every object has some attribute, some guna, isn't it? Now we are looking for that which is beyond the guna. It is leading to the Nirguna, yes? So, what capacity do we have in which we can find the Nirguna? Can any of our senses meet the Nirguna? Cannot meet, you see. Can any of our thoughts capture the Nirguna? Cannot capture. So, if senses cannot do it, you see, and thoughts cannot capture it, then what else do we have through which we can come to Darshan of Atma, Darshan of reality? That is the question we must look at first, isn't it? So, because many are waiting for an experience of the Self, but they think that the experience will be like a worldly experience, or they think that some fireworks will happen, some byproducts will come and that will be the Self. But it is not that. We have to use a different lens to meet God, because God cannot be met with this lens. Cannot be met by thinking, no matter how much we think and how much we perceive. With me so far? Any doubt, you ask me.