Is It God For 'Me' or 'Me' For God?

So when Nanak Ji said 'hukum,' then he could have also just said that just accept everything that is unfolding is God's will, and I'm sure someday he said that. But again and again, I just pointed out that we must follow God's will, which is a department of accepting what the perceptual realm is bringing to us. And then the question, of course, to be asked is: what is this God's will? Most people will say, 'I don't know what is God's will.' For them, it's fine to say accept whatever is unfolding in the world is God's will. But you have access to God. You have access to God's light. You have access to God's presence, and it is not as if it is unknown to you anyway.

So many of you say, 'I didn't want to come to satsang or somewhere, but I just went because I had to go.' What is that? Your mind was resisting; it was saying no, no, no, no, and yet you followed something greater which you found a calling for in your heart, although you may not yet recognize it as that. So the same intuitive insight which can guide you in terms of what your true nature is, that same intuitive insight can also make the God's will, the hukum, speak apparent to us. But independent of whether something becomes apparent in that way or not, as you're living in the apparency of God's light, the apparency of Atma Gyan, it is in allowing that presence to move whatever you think you are—whether that is the universe or whether that is one body—allowing that very presence to move yourselves is also to follow the will of God.

But to keep believing the content of your thoughts, the limited ideas about who you are, to live in the ego shadow, to suffer from it, and then call that God's will is okay for those who have no meeting with God that has happened. It's okay, maybe provisionally, for those who are not meeting God in this way in their heart. So in that way, we avoid getting into any sort of Advaita excuses, still taking ourselves to be that which clearly has been shown to us that we are not. It is only when their life becomes simple in our mind—life is very unsteady speaking in your mind. Today you like me, tomorrow you won't. Today you don't like me, tomorrow you will. It's all I'm saying. But only in your heart can you be truly guided.

All conclusions of the goodness or badness of anything can only be determined in the light of God, not in the light of our intellect, not in the light of our judgment. So the biggest absurdity would be to be pointed in your heart in a particular way, and then to take it to—suppose in our paradigm, maybe we have the paradigm that there's a lower court and a higher court. So you get a judgment from a lower court, and then you take it to the high court and say, 'I want to appeal this judgment.' So how do we do that? It's all mixed up, isn't it? Where you may feel something—'feel' is the wrong word, but intuit something in our heart—but to oppress that and in the mental judgment say, 'No, no, you can wait till tomorrow, I have some important work to finish,' is then to take it to the wrong court of appeal and to use your intellect as the arbiter for good and bad, better and worse, and still give your mind the dominance in this life, which I've recently been calling the Lord living in the world of the ego shadow.

Your heart is present. God's presence is here. I've often said: who's been sitting in your living room as you've been searching for God all over the world? Your very presence, that which you call 'I am.' The presence of that is never away from you. And this is the literal meeting that I want us all to have, not a hypothetical discourse on spirituality, but an encounter with yourself, which is actually the simplest thing. But in the way of the world, what is simple is undervalued. It feels like, 'But it can't be this,' you see? How many have come to this presence and said, 'Because you don't need to do any mental gymnastics, you don't need to have a special degree for this, there is no prerequisite to meet God.' Your mind finds it completely unbelievable.

So the mind's whole trick is to convince you that the presence that you experience is for you as a limited entity. I mean, that's the main trick. Nobody says, 'No, I am not present,' but between 'I am' and 'I am something,' they've not made any room. So as soon as that 'I am' becomes 'but I am something,' we never leave ourselves in the human condition uninfected with this somethingness. And to leave ourselves uninfected by this somethingness is to come into God's presence, God's light. You cannot do it any other way. You cannot hold on to something and meet your presence. You can experiment with this if you want. Under the hypnosis of thought, the apparency of your limitlessness, of your being lost and seeming lost, is in our condition as good as being lost.

So no point becoming all this thing about saying, 'Oh, but nothing really happened, it only seems.' 'Seems' is designed to seem. It is well-designed to seem. And this seeming, in that particular state, seems like a being, although nothing truly happened to your being. There is such a beauty in the design of this Maya, honestly. Well, the seeming is as good as that. That is where the job in satsang is originally, because although it is all a great seeming, the seeming is very intricate, seeming real. So all of you, as my children, I want to request you, implore you, plead with you: you have access to this. You have access to this reality, the light of God's presence. Don't accept living under the ego shadow for even a moment. Don't accept that.

And in spite of that, the play of Maya, the play in this Leela, is so strong that inevitably, for a moment or two here and there, you will buy into those emotions. But the instant that you smell that misidentification, the instant you smell that you are taking yourself to be something, snap out of it. Return home. So what I'm pointing to is really very, very simple. But of course, the ego hates it because here now, what has happened? There is no room for story. There is no room for any sort of narrative. There is no room or value for conceptual knowledge that you may have picked up. And most importantly, or more strongly, there is no room for you being right. The right and wrong have now again given way to a higher power.

Wouldn't it be a shame if you came to the most pristine possibility in the universe, that is the meeting with God, but you rejected it because you thought it's going to be a different way, or you thought your life will change in a different way? Wouldn't that be a great absurdity? So examine the motives for yourself. What stops you? And you made a mental category and you said, 'This is within God's bounds, but this is not.' You have an idea of practical or family or work, some notion like that, which is just a pride which says, 'No, God cannot handle that aspect.' And actually, that pride only hides the fear that we don't want what He may do to that aspect. We don't want what He may do to that aspect. That is what is called an attachment.

'Do everything to me, God, but that tiny circle, please give to me because I don't trust Your intelligence to handle that.' And frankly speaking, the examples that you've given us in the past make us very scared when we read the scriptures or old stories of Ram and Raja Harishchandra and Jesus and Abraham or whatever. People don't inspire how much confidence in us, God, to be able to hand it over to You. Can we meet that fear? Can you meet that fear and accept it first and say that this is where my boundary is? So it takes us away from the lip service spirituality which I've been ranting against for a few weeks now. And I'm very happy that either way, all of us have made that claim that our life is God's, our life is Guruji's. We made that claim. But when we're really looking, we might have some small or large circles where we are scared of that handover.

But because we made that claim, then our pride won't let us also drop that easily. So in the not dropping it because of pride and the meeting it in your heart, there's a great dissonance which is forming for many of you. I'm seeing that. That means that someone is being heard. And I see also on some of the messages that I get on Discord that truly this message is being heard. You're moving away from just the lip service, feel-good, self-help type spirituality room to fire. So when this dissonance happens between our claims and what we are truly finding, when the dissonance happens that our heart is pointing in a different way but our head is scared, then let that fire burn. So when this dissonance happens between what our heart is pointing us and what our head wants, this is very good. This is exactly the fire that I'm trying to burn. And as you're burning in this fire, of course you won't enjoy it. Then I have to light it stronger if you're still enjoying it, you see? Because it is still saying, 'Yes, let it burn, Father,' then I feel like, 'Okay, ramp it up a bit more, there's more room.' But it's good. It's good to let the burning happen because this...

And let that fire burn. So when does this happen? It happens between what our heart is pointing us toward and what our head wants. This is very good. This is exactly the fire that I'm trying to burn. And as you're burning in this fire, of course you won't enjoy it. Then I have to light it stronger if you're still enjoying it, you see? Because it is still saying, 'Yes, let it burn, Father.' Then I feel like, okay, ramp it up a bit more; there's more room. So, it's good. It's good to let the burning happen because it is impossible that the truth may burn. It is not possible that the truth may burn. So, as the burning is happening, recognize that only the false can be burnt. Or tell me that the truth can be burnt? So, as you recognize that only the false can be burnt, what is happening? It is creating more space for more burning. So, we are expanding on the fire layers by giving the room for the fire to burn. That is why you also notice that I'm not trying to really show you too much in these days. The idea is not to put this fire out. Really allow it to burn because all that can be burnt is our ego, it is our pride, it is our selfishness, because all these aspects of the ego mind.

I want to speak about another thing which I've noticed as I shared the contemplations with all of you. And it's a natural reaction; I'm not placing blame or pointing out anyone in particular, but I noticed that there is a tendency to avoid the contemplation in the form of a sort of a higher insight. And I'm completely okay with that as long as you feel that you're doing it with integrity and you're spending your life in that way. Was it, or is it, only during the two minutes of the contemplation that you become so Advaita? Examine for yourself the truth. What I'm saying is that many times, because we're scared of the fire, we may try to see big, big things. But if somebody asks us for fifty rupees more on the cab gas or fifty rupees more, then all those big, big things go out the window. Then we should avoid that kind of convenient Advaita. If it is really like that, it's completely fine; in fact, then it is music to my ears.

The whole project, in a sense, is to burn out all the fuel in your mind for your ego so that you can live trust in God's light, live in the presence of God. To recognize that selfishness actually is an attack on—is a mind attack on God. These two attack the truth of Oneness and to claim a separation. So, as I continue on this never-ending depth of discovery of God, of the Father, I feel to take as many of you along. The thing you need to have is a little bit of trust, that's all. Because what I'm pointing to is very simple, just simpler than simple, actually. If it is not lip service that you want to serve the truth and you don't want the truth to serve you, then what I'm pointing to is very, very simple.

One thing you could examine is whether you want what should happen once you achieve this so-called freedom. What should happen? That itself will tell you the direction of your nose. Are you following this scent of your spiritual ego or the perfume of God? If in coming to the truth you have been the victim of wrong marketing and you realize that in coming to the truth all your mind's worst fears actually come true, do you still want the truth? At which place do you draw your boundary? Contemplation like that completely changes the paradigm of the selfish spirituality or the self-serving spirituality which is, 'Oh, I came to God's presence so I am so much at peace and my friends are all asking me what's happened to you, you're so peaceful.' What if you are going to leave your house, become...? If all of that sounds like, 'Ah, that sounds nice, that sounds cool,' then we're still stuck in God helping me or God fulfilling my projections, my whole projections of myself. And you can never engage these things from the actions or other outcomes which are perceivable. Only smell the fragrance in your heart.

Would it be fair to say that when an action is being taken there's no confusion, and after the action has been taken and the consequences have played out there is no guilt or regret? Then generally speaking, that probably happened with intuition and in God's light?

Yeah, I don't want to come up with a rule, but yeah, generally. Have a report for this. So you can also maybe move this around to see if that helps. Online audience, the mic is from there. You don't have to do anything. Yeah.

Um, so I just wanted to thank you from the heart. It was very beautiful and it really—it's almost like unlocking a key for me. Because for a long time, um, I always felt like the presence I could feel, and I was like, 'I'm experiencing the presence.' But I've internalized now that it's the presence experiencing the presence. So that, or the body and other things, are their sensations, but effectively it's the presence is experiencing itself and experiencing the mind within it.

Yeah, exactly. And that's actually, uh, it's—it releases a lot of discord because when you're also the person trying to find the presence, you get focused on the sensations within the body and you're in dissonance because the person can never find the presence. You were always in the kind of state of dissonance and this normally—

That's right. But when you let the—just rest and as presence looking at presence, the beauty is just—it's amazing. Yes, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And it's also, you know, as you said, things just play out. I was supposed to be in a meeting at this time, but then the meeting got rearranged and I came to the place I wanted to be. So it's, you know, it's just—you don't know how things are keep manifesting. Yes. But in this whole presence situation also, you feel like since you can feel your body as an appearance in the Self, yes, and then all the senses are subordinate to the body, right? Because they play through the mind which is in the body. All of it can be discarded, right? Because if you are manifesting the sense of the mind itself, everything else that's subordinate to it, like the vision and everything, it can all be packaged into that thing that's manifesting within you and attempt to help home where it has to be. I mean, it's—I mean the experiencer is the Self, the experiences—

So, a little bit of vigilance, for because the spiritual ego can hang on to even the slightest branch. You see, your report is very beautiful, but I'm just pointing so that there's no chance of any of that happening. Which means that when we say it can be discarded so that I don't trouble myself anymore—

Yeah, I was just saying that, oh my God, inside war for me was that the appearances of the world, the appearances then are part of the—are also all packaged into the appearance of the body which can be felt. When I see sight, I can't feel that it's virtual. But when I can feel—I can within myself, I can feel the body. Yeah, I can feel that it's virtual and it's manifesting. And I can feel the—I can feel the play of manifestation within the peace. But this 'I', this is difficult to discard because this seems absolute. It just seems like, 'Okay, I'm seeing all this.' But the insight was that all this is nested within the body. So if you discard the body, then you're also discarding its, you know, its clothing, which is the senses. Yeah, it was just—that's what happened, occurred to me earlier.

It's good to see. As long as you are discarding—I wonder if I'm still audible from here. It may not be. As long as you're discarding, then any boxes you make, you see, which helps you lump up or clump up this entire world appearance into something and throw it into the ocean, that is—the methods and the sequence is not that relevant as long as you're making nothing get over you. To me, to get away from number two, not go there. I'd rather let go of everything.

In language, when you say that guidance, God's word—could that also come in language or should I discard that?

Okay, so till you have a doubt about where it is coming from, keep discarding everything. Discarding everything. Then you will come to a point where the word, the guidance from the heart, will be so clear that it is coming from a different space than the mind. Then you can follow it. Also giving you various tools to check on this. So that guidance which comes to you as you are completely aware, or as the who you really are is apparent to you, okay, that guidance you can trust because the mind can never give you that insight. So when you're operating intuitively, then that may come. But if that all sounds a bit confusing for now, let go of all words.

Beautiful thing we read yesterday. Oh, can we read some more of this actually? 'If you choose, you can push me away. But if you do not push me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost after your death, whatever it cost me, I will never ask nor let you rest until you are literally perfect, until my Father can see without reservation that he is pleased with you as he said he was well pleased with me. This I can do and will do, but I will not do anything less.' These are beautiful words from a book by C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

What struck me was the beauty of the words 'I will not do anything less.' Because for one who has found God to offer you other provisional things because otherwise it may hurt your ego is a big-time cop-out. So, I would rather, in a way—and I would not want to hurt any of you, but if hurting you provisionally is what it takes to get you through the recognition of the highest, then I can, unfortunately or fortunately, not offer you anything less. So these are very beautiful words. 'Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life.' Why is 'whatever suffering it may cost you on the earthly life,' how is that acceptable? Doesn't that initially sound unfair? Yes. And also, it's important to consider: earthly life makes up what of our true life? I was going to say what percentage, but even percentage is not applicable. So whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, and basically saying it is still worth it because there must be a greater life somewhere. And I'm not saying after death; I think right now.

So, in suffering, in fact, is the nature of the ego shadow, which is the very nature of the ego shadow. And if that is happening but you're finding your way into God's presence, into the truth of who you are, it's still worth it because that earthly life is really non-existent anyway. It's still Maya. It's beautiful. And when he's talking about 'whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death,' because we don't know, that is the great unknown. So he is basically making an invitation to become open, truly surrender, do trust. 'I will never rest nor let you rest.' Yes, we will not let you rest. As long as—though I can't force you to be in Satsang, but as long as you come and you listen, I'm going to make it uncomfortable to you as much as you will like me. Which is completely contrary to the world's idea of coming to Satsang. 'We struggle and we are so much in anger and frustration and resentment and all of these things in the world, so I come to Satsang for solace.' He's sitting here saying here also he's gonna double this.

So this is the beautiful example of: Satsang is the medicine which, only half taken, will cause more problem. You went to a doctor for diarrhea, for example. When you go to Satsang, and if you only take half dosage compared to what the doctor is saying, the egotism will only expand. And that version of the ego none of you will ever want to have: spiritual ego. Because you'll be so right about everything that you know, you'll suffer more than everyone else. Become so right about everything, you know so much that you'll suffer more than everyone else, and you won't even be able to express the suffering because your image of your spirituality you will have to keep up. Okay? And we've seen a few of those in the last ten, twelve years. What happens when they have—

Egotism will only expand, and that version of the ego none of you will ever want to have spiritually, because you'll be so right about everything that you know you'll suffer more than everyone else. You become so right about everything, you know so much, that you'll suffer more than everyone else and you won't even be able to express the suffering because your image of your spirituality you will have to keep up, okay? And we've seen a few of those in the last 10, 12 years. What happens when they have inhaled this drug? 'Yeah, I know it now. I know. I can see like that.' We can get into that trap and then we don't even realize, because the words are all the same. But then what happens when suffering comes? Then you have to keep it inside because 'I'm supposed to be free,' you know? So this kind of troubles, they come.

Satsang is that medicine which, if you stop midway—it is more than antibiotics—if you stop this midway, it's going to cause more trouble. The initial symptoms will be exaggerated. So you do fully, fully accept and fully take this medicine, especially when it seems unacceptable. That is when the reminder of what can burn is very important. What can burn? Of course, we will resist this often. It's not a bed of roses, and I'm not saying at all that it is, but I'm just saying that it's not meant to be. And if something is not getting ignited in this, then either you're taking what is being offered here and turning it into your own mold mentally before taking it, or you're not really listening to what is being shared. Because I'm asking that you drop off your own head, and this is more difficult to do than you chopping off the head of your body, because I have no use for your physical head.

It is more difficult to do because it is taking everything that you didn't want to happen and opening yourself to the possibility of it happening. Everything that you think you're so right about could turn out that you don't know anything at all. That head, that pride—and people give up a hundred physical lives for that kind of life. That is the pride that I want to do. It doesn't seem like pride at all to you; it seems like 'me.' You seem like 'me.' So really, I'm asking for your 'me.' I think like it is you; it is not your pride, it is you. There is a 'you' there who wants and does not want. What right do you have to want or not want? What right do you have? Who are you to want or not want?

These words can have an 'ouch' in them, and they are meant to. What makes you special that God is there but you can want? If God is here, but I can say so? That claim can come after Oneness is realized, but Oneness can only be realized when God's will is first fully followed. Wouldn't we love to just take straight to that Oneness? 'I am God. I can make a claim along with Him because I have rights.' You don't, because you don't exist. Why am I able to see all of this? Because I know that that one doesn't exist. That is why the ego doesn't have its like dark light or something; it is just a shadow. A shadow doesn't really exist, but in this play, it can seem like it casts something on the ground. And our knowledge, our righteousness, is all of that—claims of the non-existent one, the shadow of the non-existent version.

So whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, that is what it means. What can make you suffer? That which we are holding on to too tightly. So when someone says 'open your hands,' you feel like they're hurting you and trying to make you open. You feel like they are hurting you. 'Why are you doing this to me? This is not what I signed up for.' But you know in your heart somewhere that this is the right medicine to take.

This was very nice, and a very nice one from Annapurani—how do you pronounce it? She said the Guru is a thief. Really, yeah, He is waiting to loot you, to rob you of your very being, your identity. I feel like that 'being' could be a mistranslation or something, but that's okay. Of your identity, what we take to be our very existence, what we take to be our very being, our identity. But so what? What do you have that is really yours? What do you have that is really yours worth exploring? And if He robs you of that, is that in service to you or a disservice to 'me'?

Then she says, 'And never forget how much He loves you. He waits for you eagerly, but He works only if you hold Him as your very life breath. And once you do, you realize He is tireless.' You see, very different cultures, very different traditions, and somehow it happened—I don't know if Prathna planned it this way—but very similar to what the first passage was. Earlier, Jesus said that He will not rest till it is done. He is tireless. Even the gods in their temples need their sleep, but not the Guru. Temples close at noon, but the Guru works around the clock. Don't judge Him by His appearance, His grand clothes or the absence of them, His success or the absence of it. Incidentally, this is one sage who doesn't wear clothes, so that's why she's talking about the grand clothes or the absence of them, His success or the absence of it, His fancy lifestyle or the absence of it. You exist because of His compassion. He is the only one in the universe who is willing to take on your karma; no one else will.

You can notice also Jesus said that whatever it costs me, I will never rest. Once you have surrendered, you need not go in quest of Him; He will come to meet you. You know, this is what we started satsang with, and I said once it becomes 'me for God'—I meant not 'God for me'—then God rushes to you. While you are rushing to God because you want something out of Him, God will seem elusive. Once the true surrender happens—that 'replace me, take me, use me as You will, let Thy will be done'—then there's no waiting, because God is waiting for that invitation.

He will skip Master... it's a bit intimidating to read so much, but the next one: 'Never desire special praise or love, for that belongs to God who alone has no equal. Never wish that anyone's affections be centered in you, nor let yourself be taken up with the love of anyone, but let Jesus be in you and in every good man. Be pure and free within, unentangled with any creature. You must bring to God a clean and open heart if you wish to attend and see how sweet the Lord is. Truly, you will never attain this happiness unless His grace prepares you and draws you on, so that you may forsake all things to be united with Him alone.' I have a beautiful book called The Imitation of Christ.

This one, which was very nice because in one small passage—this is from Sanai of Afghanistan, who was Rumi Ji's teacher for some time before Shams—he says, 'Humanity is asleep, and it is asleep concerned only with that which is useless.' Humanity is asleep, concerned only with that which is useless, living in a wrong world. Very clearly he has spelled out the problem. Humanity living in the ego shadow. In the ego shadow, we are concerned only with that which is temporal, which will die. This is really pointless, you see. So we are concerned only with that which is useless because we are living in the wrong way. Beautiful.

So, one very, very atomic line now. This is very nice. He says, 'Believing that one can excel, this is only habit and usage, not religion.' Believing that one can excel is only habit and usage, not religion. Have you ever heard something? Excellence is what the world is chasing. Even in spirituality, we want to excel. But notice that the mind's mantra is what? 'Do this, this will be better. This is how your life can become better. You can become better. Come to spirituality, you will become better.' So this betterment is towards an idea of excellence, which actually seems very beautiful, but actually is an idea which is talking about a competition with God. Because it is the imitation of God in that way—not in a good way like Imitation of Christ—really bad. We're trying to... the ego's game plan is to take up God's role, God's positioning, and have control over this life. And it does that in the attempt to chase excellence through worldly and useless things.

Now, answer this well. When he says 'usage,' what do you feel he's talking about? 'This is habit and usage, not religion.' What is he saying?

Usage of God.

Exactly. So we are attempting to use God. It is 'God for me,' which is a misuse of religion, actually. It is not a true religion. This religion—which means that he's not pointing out at a particular religion—he is only saying that when we attempt to use God for us, as exploit God in this way rather than serving ourselves up to empty ourselves up to God, then this religion is inept. 'Then do not prattle before the people of the path; rather, consume yourself.' I love this line. Don't prattle before the people of the path. Don't waste time in useless conversation and intellectual understanding, and 'you know this and tell me that.' Consume ourselves. Beautiful.

He says, 'You have an inverted knowledge and religion if you are upside down in relation to reality.' If you take the unreal to be real and the real to be unreal and make our conceptual frameworks on the basis of this inverted understanding, then all our things and religions will be inverted. Isn't it so? Our personal philosophy is what he's talking about. If you invert the very structure on which your belief system is created, then obviously your beliefs will be upside down. 'Man is wrapping his net around himself; a lion, which is the man of the way, bursts his cage asunder.' So this is what humanity is doing. What is the whole paragraph? It is 'the situation.' He called it the situation. So what he is saying—the human condition—is that we continue to wrap this net around ourselves till the Master comes and blows his cage up, blows the prison up. And it is a mental prison. Beautiful. I feel like so much potency in this, very, very beautiful.

I like this one also. Mira said it's supposed to be... one day Rabia is sitting inside her hut. It is early morning, and Hassan came to see her. And the sun is rising, and the birds are singing, and the trees are dancing. It is real, it is a really beautiful morning. And he calls forth from outside, 'Rabia, what are you doing? What are you doing inside? Come out! God has given birth to such a beautiful morning. What are you doing inside?' So he makes a fair request. He says, 'What are you doing inside? Come out. God has given birth to such a beautiful morning. What are you doing?' And she says—and Rabia laughs and she says—'Hassan, outside is only God's creation. Inside is God Himself. Why don't you come in? Yes, the morning is beautiful, but it is nothing compared with the Creator who creates all the mornings. Yes, those birds are singing beautifully, but they are nothing compared to the song of God that happens only when you are within. Why don't you come in? Are you not yet finished with the without? When will you be able to come in here?'

And you mentioned... we mentioned excel. Excel, yes. I think so many mistakes, and that is... that is exactly what I'm saying, my dear.

That if you came to satsang and you just had such a nice time and no blind spots, no darkness was made visible to you, it would be quite useless. So if you're coming in and you're noticing, 'Huh, yeah, I see too,' you see? Then if there are mistakes, as you call them, would you rather that they not be pointed out, or would they that they would be pointed out in spite of the burning they cause?

Yeah, that they be pointed out, but keep the feeling in your heart.

It is good, because then this vessel is being made worthy for God. Not so that you become a better something. 'Me for God.' Please give attention. Yes, but that is the misunderstanding of this. Very, very good. Thank you for pointing that out. So when you notice that there is an error in our ways, does that mean that that error will get corrected by doing more error? So can guilt and shame be created independent of the mind? So if the error is that we follow the mind's way, the ego's way, and not God's will, then by continuing to follow it more by...

Worthy for God, not so that you become a better something. 'Me for God.' Please give attention, yes, but that is the misunderstanding of this. Who? Been very, very good. Thank you for pointing that out. So when you notice that there is an error in our wheels, does that mean that that error will get corrected by doing more error? So can guilt and shame be created independent of the mind? So if the error is that we follow the mind's way, the ego's way, and not God's way, then by continuing to follow it more—by following, following for guilt and shame and unworthiness—it is the same as falling for pride, because both are maintained and they take you to be that one that does not exist.

So first, don't say that there is guilt and shame. That is also a mind trick. There is no... there isn't. You have to work for it with your belief, with your identification. Guilt is never free. And this is another version of upside down: that which is highest is available for free with no work, but it seems like guilt, shame, right, resentment, remorse—all of these things—if you feel like those just come, they are available for free? No, you have to work for it. Because guilt is not just some feeling that can just come like anger. For guilt, you also have to think. You have to take yourself to be the doer. Can you be guilty without taking yourself to be the doer? You have to first take yourself to be an individual, then that individual has doership. All of this hard work you have to do for guilt. For God, nothing. You just... not even sit. You can stand, you can lie down.

So it's another one of the upside-down paradigms. We may say that there is... no, there isn't. We work for it. Suffering needs a lot of work. God needs no work. Suffer effortlessly? You can't suffer effortlessly. Like, I show you my magic trick, which is: God is here effortlessly now. You show me yours. God is here effortlessly, yes? Yes or no? Now you show me you suffer like this also, before the sound of the... I don't know, Kundalini or something. Can you? You can't do it. Because suffering needs a lot of work. First, you have to believe yourself to be limited. You have to believe yourself to be an individual. You have to take yourself to be a body. You have to believe that this body has autonomy. You have to believe all kinds of rubbish before you come to a point of suffering.

So only God just is. You can only see there is God. We never say there is something else. No, that is created by hard work. Hard work out using the mind, using the power of belief, identification. That's why ultimately, you know, they say truth will prevail, because everything else will make you tired. Only truth cannot make you tired because it's effortless. See, for everything else, you have to make effort. You think that ultimately truth will only prevail because energy is limited in the human condition. You will get tired of your suffering. You get tired of your hard work.

Thank you. How is that in relation to what I'm saying? You want to fix that? I think that is okay. I'll remove it. We stopped being afraid of the world first, thank you. But then I see I am so much in awe of God every day more and more. It includes in what the world may say, call many feelings. Actually, there's a feeling of wonder, there's a feeling of, like, I don't know how better to put it, a sense of intimidation. All of that mixed together makes this like awe.

It's okay. Feel whatever you want, but towards God, not in the world. He'll take care of all of that. Awe is bound to happen. If whatever aspect of ourselves still takes ourselves to be human in whatever way, it is bound to be awestruck by the magnificence of that which is beyond name and form, of that to whom the universe is nothing, nothing at all. So amazing. I am... of the entire universe. So let's not quickly jump to conclusions. Sometimes those things beyond our understanding can be very worthwhile to explore even in the manifest form.

I mean, if you are skeptical, then all this is nonsense. But suppose you are there and, like on the battlefield, he said Krishna one day he got very angry and he took out his Sudarshana. I promise you that all of us would be... our knees would be knocking if you were to witness that. So we don't have to mold everything into our rationality and our limited experiences. The truth can be much vaster than our minds can imagine. Give credit to it. For what are we finding? That there is a formless reality. The formless reality which on its surface—whatever surface would mean—then gives birth to beingness, Consciousness, which is limitless. All these universes... look in any direction and look up in the sky, you look down, it's limitless. You see, they've counted some, I don't know, millions of stars in the sky. They actually counted millions of stars in the sky. That for whom this universe is nothing, because He is beyond space and time.

We are trying to figure out what feeling would be right for us to feel towards Him. Can we first meet Him? If such a meeting is possible, why would we not grab every opportunity, every moment to meet Him? No, we are still working on our feelings because all of this somewhere may be still sounding unreal. Like my kid would say, 'Just be normal.' This must be still sounding like some fairy tale. Like, I remember when I read the first time, I felt just like this: some very nice poetic work. Or even if it did sound like, 'I'm never going to meet that kind of God anyway, so I just want some peace. I'm going to do my kriya, whatever, and I'm going to get peace by listening to this.' As you start to see that that is more real than the ground on which we are standing, all that takes substance in this universe takes substance on the substratum of God. Once you start to see the substratum as more valuable than the surface, all this... the game plan will change.

How can we expect that the universe is a small firefly that too appeared to us, and not only appeared to us, then serves us? And okay, we do accept that and expect that, and still God makes it a possibility for us. So if we be so grateful in our heart, come to me... what you're being pointed to. Come to grips with what you're being pointed to. In the immensity of that, most of this stuff will just fade away. It's not poetical what I'm saying. This universe is nothing but a firefly for that reality that is your own reality. But we say within that firefly there's a tiny grain of sand called 'me.' What did you do with that 'me' first? This is Maya. And by the way, who is that one? It is you. Put in your own design.

It is important to let go of the 'me' before you realize that it is you. And without emptying yourself, without surrendering yourself completely, you cannot jump over this step. 'She will finish kindergarten, now make me a doctor straight.' It's become... nobody wants to do that, only in lip service, like a very convenient intellectual sort of pursuit. It isn't. It squeezes every bit of egotism out of us, truth. And not just some very, very classroom version. This is as we realized the immensity of intuitive insight. The immensity of what you are discovering can feel scary, and the immensity of complete surrender can feel scary. And if you're not even scared a little bit, then you're not really meeting the immensity of Him. Who are you meeting? How can you meet that one, you see?

So what happens is that in the mind we create some denial about this. It creates like a denial about this, maybe like a thin layer of denial. It makes it all seem like, 'Are you aware now? Awareness is here,' like that. But who is that awareness? Where does it live? How are you making the discovery? What is that lightless light in which your being itself is born? I want to explore that as much as we want to explore our feelings. Our feelings you are familiar with now, no? There are a few: anger, greed, lust, fear. What we've done with them, no? You see? What about that which is so beyond all this and it is the substratum of all of this? Maybe we don't take it literally enough. Really, your reality. And if you really considered it to be your reality, you would be obsessed by it. Not just like, 'Go towards that, some will be nice for me. I needed to hear this today.'

If you really took awareness to be your reality, tell me what else you would spend time on? But we don't, because we don't take it literally enough. We feel it's another experience, like we went to an amusement park or something, I went to a movie. No, you are that. You are that in which the universe is born. You are that, and you're worried about mosquitoes. Mosquitoes on the back of mosquitoes is what we are in relation to what we take as our opinion, in relation to what we really are. How is it possible? Are we taking it too, like, poetically or something? 'Ah, there is one awareness and there's a beingness.' No, it's you! You're talking about you, much more than what you think you are. You... this stuff, this stuff is fading. You can't even tell whether this is a dream right now. All this stuff is fading. Even if there is a waking state which is not the dream state, how long will it last? Any guarantee of tomorrow? Find that which is stable before this unstable one disappears.

I'll tell you one more. Nobody has been able to solve the human condition. Nobody has been able to perfectly align their feelings, perfectly purify their thoughts, perfectly have a healthy body, fix all their relationships. Nobody. And we are not going to be able to do it either. Let's admit that and move towards reality instead of living in this trying to solve Maya. Maya by design is unsolvable. You feel like spirituality will give us the ultimate tool to become the best? No, you have to become first worse than the naked beggar on the road, only fully surrendered. Thank you. Now humility. We create the emptiness, empty space for God, God's presence to reveal itself.

We will never be able to fool God with our words. How are you able to fool God with our words? And you know words are not consistent. You feel that God gives us only... living our prayer like, no prayer starting, God is putting headphones on? Yes, it's not that. Our way of being is made up of God. Everything comes in that. Within that, there is nothing that God is not aware of. Praise the opportunity for us to surrender ourselves, to humble ourselves, and to be open to hearing God. Not to be open to creating a hotline with God. We pray so that we may be guided in our heart. This is why I love these words from Samaya of Afghanistan. But all upside down, and it will not become right by making it now mentally upside down again. A version of the inversion will not make it straight. It will just change the source of all of this, change the source of all the things.

I am not going to become party to that sham, scam. You come here to help yourself, not to empty yourself? Then you're in the wrong place. But if you want to die while you're still alive, you want to taste your own death and meet God, then I will sit at your feet and serve you in every way. Okay? But if I say God and you say, 'Yeah, but me,' and notice that your humblest 'yes, but' is still 'me.' All these things are just keeping you bound. Keep you bound to the unreality. Or is the juvenile type metaphor coming? But it's coming, so I see it.

So suppose your job was to just be with this space which is around you. You already have to be in the space which is already around you. But you were thinking your job is to go there, get this, do this, do that, do that, and you've troubled yourself, you tired yourself in all of that. But your job is just to be with this space which is around you. What is more effortful? Is it more effort to be with the space around you or to run after things chasing them? Now the funny thing is that our job is even simpler. The presence is just here. Not even around you; it is just within you. You are made up of it. You can't escape it. It's the simplest thing to be in God's presence. But we make it difficult by chasing this and chasing that and trying to fix this and fix that. This simplicity we must learn to handle and value. So this is the opposite of the world's value paradigm. In the world, what we value the most is what is attained with the most difficulty, which is example one of his favorites.

Our job is even simpler. The presence is just here, not even around you; it is just within you. You are made up of it. You can't escape it. It's the simplest thing to be in God's presence, but we make it difficult by chasing this and chasing that, and trying to fix this and fix that. This simplicity we must learn to handle and value. This is the opposite of the world's value paradigm. In the world, what we value the most is what is attained with the most difficulty.

One of my favorite examples—and this actually happened—but this is the short version: You say you are hungry. Don't ask if it's gluten-free, organic, or keto. You cook it. You want God? Here it is. You never said you want God 'but me,' because both are not possible. Today you pick one and go. Don't go without. What do you want? Whichever way we look at it, that is the only solution to this human condition.

I feel like I'm making a very strong speech, and somebody still has a question, but I'm happy to hear it.

There was a point where I felt a dilemmatic situation while meditating. I could be wrong, but it's just my experience that I'm sharing in its entirety. In the complete Self, the omnipresent thing that we call God, did it not create these individual things to express itself or experience itself in so many types? So, if we entirely dissolve this individual self, will it not be denied that divine presence its very purpose of this entire thing?

If it was that, then yes. So I am saying that we cannot—we can never speculate about what God's intention is. Given that we can't speculate about God's intention, what is the only other option to find out what is the true will of God? How will you find out? We can also share today's recording because we spent some time on this, but God's will is palpable and available to us. Just in the presence of God, as you're being introduced to the presence, it is not an unintelligent presence.

If God's presence was just like a light bulb sitting over there, then spend time with the light bulb, you know? Why do all these practices? But because it's an intelligent presence, it's a guiding light and also the creative light of this universe. And that is why to come to God's presence and to encounter directly, to encounter face-to-face what is God's will, is much better than making first a presumption and then saying, 'But then would it not...?' Okay, let's find out. Let's find out.

Will it be the same for each thing, or can they be different?

This will not be the same for you. It cannot be the same. All of us can be just like the author of the storybook or the novel can write and have guidance for every single character that he's writing. In the same way, God is available to write us all. Well, God is not stuck in some time, saying 'I don't have time.' So very, very clearly, you can be guided in your heart. We don't need to meet it at a layer of abstraction, then systems of philosophy or religion at a broad level tend to do by giving us sort of moralistic standards, or this standard and that standard, but no nobody can ever agree on those and they keep changing with time.

Instead of that, really the core of spirituality in all religion is to come and encounter God's will directly in our heart. The way everybody would say, 'Follow, come be your faithful servant of God.' All religions—in fact, some of the religions derived their name from following the will of God, isn't it? So why would they say that if they could just decode it and say, 'Hey, this is what it is'? So come to God's presence. Come to the light of your heart as the first step. Allow that to unfold without your individualistic intervention from the mind.

And to start with this body itself, you were not here the other day when some child asked me, 'Can you hear God's will in words?' I said, 'Yeah, of course I can hear God's will in words.' I'm just sharing satsang. All I have to do is continue to share, but with my mouth closed, because these words are coming from God's light. And if they can come here, they can come everywhere. This presence is so supremely intelligent. The instant this mouth is closed, the tone, texture, everything changes. It's open like this; it seems to be different. I had no idea what is going to come next. There's no plan for each approach. All of this that's being shared, no, it's going to start coming. In fact, most things that get shared here, I have noticed that they get shared first, then other things about it start coming.

And this is not saying this as if something special is happening here. I'm introducing you to your own possibility of living like this. But the only trouble for your mind is that you want it to prove itself before you let go. You want God to prove himself before you fully let go because you want to hedge your bets. That is not possible. What will happen? What is the worst-case scenario? You leave your head, you start relying on your heart. What will happen? You make a big mess? But you already have! So is the discovery of the Timeless One worth it, that you bet one lifetime on it? It can seem like a big decision; actually, it's nothing. Is the discovery of the Eternal One enough to bet one lifetime of making a mess?

I cannot recognize you if you don't let go. If God needs to conform to your ideas about 'like this' and 'like that' and 'should be like this' and 'like that,' then you're still taking the mind to be God and you want God to be subservient to your intellect. But I have one question: What brings you here? There are a million shops in this world which are offering God for you. Why come to this shop where you are being asked to drop off your head for God? Why come to this place? Yes, because you're hearing the call in your heart for truth, and that requires that true openness to emptiness. So something already is following that call and coming here, diving deeply into that call in your very heart.

Nobody forces you to come. If all you wanted was the spirituality to make your life better, you can go to... they may even have some money-back guarantees and things. 'If you don't feel 500 grams of peace, your money is fully refunded.' Here, I'm saying I'm going to trouble you every day. I'm going to make you uncomfortable. If you came untroubled, I will give you trouble. When you came less troubled... and you come, it's the first day, she's still smiling today. And I'm literally asking: What makes you come? Follow that. What is the scent and the fragrance of that one? There's nothing in it for you. Somewhere in your heart, it rings true like nothing inside for the truth. Somewhere it rings true. What is that? Where is that aspect of yourself where it rings true?

I am not going to stop until you can, with full integrity, say that you are living in God's light. I am not going to rest. I'm not going to stop. I'm going to keep coming at the darkness of the ego relentlessly until you come over to my side. But I cannot force you to change your will. If you choose to be in denial, you can still come here and be in denial because you can be sitting in your mind, mishearing, still wanting to be right. You can still do all of that. I do not have the power to get Consciousness to change its will, but I will keep granting and whispering and shaking and every available thing that I can use to bring you into God's house. All right, I feel like we will end here for today. Thank you all so much for being in satsang today.