The Living Presence of God: Beyond Science and Concepts

So don't make this classical mistake which is to, when we get rid of personhood or try to attempt to make the attempt to be rid of personhood, we also make it impersonal. I don't know how better to say it. It's not robotic. It's not robotic. It's not that 100,000 times of inquiry will bring you to the scientific discovery of Consciousness, and in the scientific discovery of Consciousness, you will meet the substance called awareness. It is not that. When we say it is the living presence of God, it is truly meant that way. God is a—I know it sounds like it should be kindergarten—but God is a living being, not a scientific phenomenon. And if we measured every relationship in our life and they were not focused on Him, in my view, it is a wasted life.

Can we have a relationship with God? Not if it were just a scientific force called Consciousness. Not that Consciousness is a scientific force; I'm just saying that many times with these words we end up looking at Him in that way instead of one that is the source of all love, the source of all intelligence, the source of all truth, all insight, of everything. There is only because He is. And if it seems completely literal to you what I'm saying, then your life would be different from what it is. But because somewhere it still sounds like hocus-pocus to you—which is how it works in my view—that is why to say that Ram lives in your heart, or Krishna lives in your heart, or Devi Ma lives in your heart, or Jesus lives in your heart, or Allah lives in your heart, or Waheguru lives in your heart, seems a lot more approachable somewhere than to say Consciousness is the holy presence in your heart.

Does that mean that these words only signify that? No. In Consciousness, all aspects, all representations, and much more than we can ever imagine are alive. So Ram Ji is a million times more than we can ever imagine, and there are million times more expressions of Ram Ji than we can ever imagine. So is this relationship a placebo, a self-fulfilling prophecy, or is it a factual reality? So spirituality is how we start on that relationship and how we come to the full union in that relationship. Is there one way to start a relationship? Everyone starts in a different way. Every relationship starts in a different way. Some things which always seem to work in one relationship don't seem to work in another relationship. But here's where the beauty of God is: that whichever way you want to create a relationship with Him... Ashtavakra was saying about even in a hateful way, He will make Himself available to you. So many examples of Ravana, Kansa, all these.