The Path of Devotion: Returning to God's Presence

So God's presence is a reality in our heart, and that presence then is like the core, the central part of the temple inside of us, inside our heart, you see? Now that presence, that beingness, that Atma, is the very 'I am that I am.' Yet in the play of this world, from within that 'I am,' you see, there emerges an identity of me being this body-mind, me being something. It's still dependent on this I-amness, and yet it seems to have acquired now a distance, you see? So this one, the best use of this one is to have it turned back inwards towards God's presence, you see? And nobody can say that in my case this one doesn't exist, because even the one who's saying that is that one in my case.

So now the way back is through the process of Bhakti, the process of devotion, love for God, and service to God, and through the process of inquiring into the true nature of who I am, because that leads back to the I-amness itself. The 'my' part is not there anymore. The mind part is not there anymore. Now, if this 'I am something' makes for itself a set of ideas which prevent it from looking inwards, you see, then what should be done with those ideas? They should be discarded, no matter how logical or rational or intellectual they sound. Our job is to keep turning back and remain in that presence. So in that, we don't have to worry about anything else with feeling or whether thought or conclusion, you see?

Now, in that context, put yourself in that construct, you see. So if you're looking at the prayer path, then you're saying that 'I am whatever is left of me, that I am something, I just want to be a servant in God's Temple, at best a priest in God's Temple.' Now the priest in God's Temple says, 'I don't want to pray.' Then what would you tell the priest? 'But I'm not enjoying it. It's more enjoyable when I don't feel like I have to. What if I could just come as a visitor and somebody else could be the priest? Then I pray more.' That is the conundrum you're presenting, isn't it? So do you notice the strategy? The mind is made so it blocks you from actually the simplicity of just praying or just being with God's presence.