May the Guru’s Presence Be Here for All of Us - 21st July, Guru Purnima 2024
Saar (Essence)
Ananta emphasizes surrendering the ego to the Atma (the inner Guru) rather than focusing on his external form. He guides seekers to become 'temples of God' through innocence, prayer, and the dissolution of self-concern.
May we never forget that our purpose, our job, is to be a temple of this Atma.
This day is not about this Ananta at all... let us invoke the presence of the Atma within.
If we remain with God, all will unfold auspiciously; taking strength as our own leads only to suffering.
devotional
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
As we begin our gathering today, this auspicious day of Guru Purnima, we pray to the Atma within that every movement, every step that unfolds today be in his light. The true Satguru presence, the Divine Holy Spirit in our heart—may he guide us through this day today. And how to pray to him, how to bow down to him? May this day lead to a palpable, a tangible, and yet unperceivable light of his presence in your hearts so that we may lead this life as disciples of the Atma within.
We bow down to Guruji, without which none of this would have ever unfolded, without whom none of this would have ever played out like this. Deeply, with all our hearts, we bow down to his feet and all the holy sages and teachers who have blessed us along these paths. May all their blessings lead us to Atma Gyan. Today, may this day be fully used for this. May all of us be blessed with the presence of the true Guru within our hearts, and may we never forget that our purpose, our job, is to be a temple of this Atma, a temple of this Holy Spirit, vessels of the Holy Spirit.
May this Guru Purnima lead to such a beautiful unfolding of his life that we don't remain attached to outer things. And everything that we want to accomplish, we accomplish in our true home, not in this provisional place. May we have the strength and courage to uproot all that holds us back from this. Maybe you want to dive in completely into the truths—true Atma, true Atma Darshan, which are the same—but maybe let go of our pride, without which neither Atman nor Darshan are possible. May we become innocent like little children. May we leave all judgments and justice to God. May we let go of all self-concern, all attachments, all need to be seen and recognized.
May we truly pray to make this life about sharing his life, to accept the inevitability of the death of this mortal body and forgetting of the false identity that we have taken on. May all of us become temples of God and may everything be only in service to him. May nothing be about this body-mind except a remembrance of its ultimate dropping, which is not far. And may all our hope for this identity be that it is forgotten and only God's name—only Ram, Jesus, Allah—remain.
May all those who he has entrusted with the job of sharing his light reinvigorate their focus on him alone. May all be blessed by his insights, by his ever-deepening love, and by his holy presence. So today, my request to everyone is to not make this day about this Ananta at all. Your love, of course, is much appreciated and reciprocated deeply, but let us use this day today to really invoke the presence of the Atma within, because only that will give us the true strength to walk on these paths. Only he can set the curriculum for our growth. Only he can give us the love which is needed to overcome the fear that we all experience on this path. Without the anchor of his love, it is just not possible to transcend our own lives and deaths.
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So this day is the best opportunity for us. Every day is, but today is the day for us to deepen deeply in our hearts. Not let any worldly concern bother us, not want to be right or wrong about anything at all—just let go and surrender your life to the holy presence of the Satguru, the Atma within. If you want to devote this day to the gurus in our life, to the sages in our life, there is nothing that will make them happier. And for us to use this day as a day of transformation, make everything about his holy presence which is available to you. May this gift not be forgotten when Maya raises its head and presents worldly concerns to you. May we have the strength to remain inward-focused, knowing that if we remain with God, all will unfold only auspiciously, and if we take the strength to be our own, it is going to lead only to suffering.
This man sitting in front of you doesn't know anything at all. He doesn't even know how to pray properly. But there is a deep faith here that every word that is spoken, every breath that is taken, is heard by the Lord, is heard by God, and His presence is pulsating, sharing His holy light with all those who are open. So truly, all those who are listening may use this opportunity to deepen in their service and love for God. May we feel that this Guru Purnima never ended. May the Guru’s presence always be here for all of us.
So I felt this morning, sometime before coming to Satsang, let it unfold auspiciously in this way: that that which we take to represent the Lord in our lives—whether it is His holy name, whether it is our inquiry, whether it is our teachers and masters, whether it is the idols and pointers that remind us of his holy presence—may we pray at the feet of these pointers, these reminders. So that as we carry them back with us, we carry the reminder of today, the unfolding in your heart that happened today, and that allows you to remain in his presence.
So lovingly, innocently, without truly knowing how to do this, I felt today to pray at the feet of Hanuman Ji, Ram Ji, my Guru Ji, Allah, Jesus Ji, because only he can bless us with the light of Atma within. Only by God's grace will the true Guru reveal himself to us. And something felt really attracted to pray to Hanuman Ji because he is the embodiment of where we need to be, where we aspire to be in our love, in our devotion. And seeing what we have, I have of my life, we cannot expect at all that we will come anywhere close to his devotion. But to remember the embodiment of the love for his Lord, for his Guru in the form of Lord Ram, may we have the strength to emulate him, especially when times are difficult. May we not look at the difficulty of those times but the power of the one that we bow down to, the power of the one that we pray to, and may we never be shaken in our faith. May it become like Lord Hanuman Ji himself.
So it is my feeling that instead of the usual puja that we do, let's pray to any aspect of that which is the formless reality which serves as a deep reminder in our lives of his presence. And may his guidance, his grace, help us along, guide us in this process of invocation. And may it be remembered that this innocent invocation is a representation of the inner movement which is unfolding for all of us. There, in the sanctum sanctorum of our heart, his light is coming into focus. His ever-present light is being recognized by us today. So let us dedicate this Guru Purnima in this way so that we may live with the Satguru presence forever in our lives. What do you all feel? We can do like this.
So I've got with me from my altar Jesus, Vahiguru Ji is here, Hanuman Ji here. We respect—what I understand, and I understand very little of the Islamic religion, but I understand that they really don't want us to have any icons or many icons depicting our love for Allah, so we will deeply offer that in our heart in the same way that we offer some playful love through these holy representations in our lives. So can we use this plate, or how can we use this one? We had another one also, the bigger one. Do we have? Can we get that? Yeah, bigger one. It's all right. That's just flowing the way it is being guided from inside. Otherwise, we could have planned it better. And may God and all those who know so much better about these things and are truly accomplished in the holy practices—because this man doesn't know any of that—but may God accept our innocent prayer to him today.
So what we can do is we can bow down. I bow down to Ram, Krishna, Jesus, Allah, my Guru, Guruji, Papaji, Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, Arunachala, Madhavi, Yogi Surat Kumar Ji, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Nataros, St. Paisios, Ma Amritanandamayi, Rabia, and so many other sages whose names may not be remembered in this moment. But as we go along, may we bow down to all those who have blessed us in our lives. All these holy ones, bless our heart, bless my heart with the light of spirit. And I request all of your blessings and prayers that this one be forever blessed by his grace. May his pride always be slapped out of him. Please bless me, my beautiful family.
So in this way, all of you can come. I don't know how much time we have, but God will make the time for us. So all of you can come, you can take the mic and you can get—if you've got your beautiful representation with you, otherwise it's all right in the heart—you can come in front, bow down, pray to all aspects of the Lord that you reveal. Ask for the blessing of the light of Atma within. May that be the highest blessing that you ask for. If there is something strongly in your heart to ask God for, you can make that ask as well, just innocently and playfully. One by one you can come and you can make the ask so that everyone can hear, and then we can all pray for you as well. You want to say something? You wanted to do an Aarti? You can do.
I just have a feeling that the Lord's presence is with you as you come up and make your prayer. And my recommendation for the prayer always is to be blessed by the light of the Atma, be blessed by the light of the spirit within, because in that one prayer all suffering, all absence of rest, all ignorance, everything is taken away and replaced by pure light, pure presence, pure love, and pure insight. So this Atma Darshan, this Atma Gyan, is the biggest gift that we can give to ourselves. But I also realize that in this human play there seem to be many things that distract us, that get in the way. So if something comes in your heart to pray for those things, you can feel free to do that as well. And feel free to invoke whichever aspect of God, whichever aspect of the Satguru truly appeals to you in your heart. Make the prayer along with the Satsang so that we can all pray along with you and bless you.
Krishna, incarnation of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Bless my heart with the light of Atma. May I be blessed by your light, beloved Krishna. May this life be only to serve you. May I not face this life only as the girl who took me here. Guru Purnima, thanking you all, all who show me or pull me from there. A heartfelt request to be with me as they are now. Thank you, Father.
You can come and sit here. Pranam. As the next one is coming up, I feel all of us bowing down to Anandamayi Ma, Shri Hanuman Prasad Poddar Ji, Swami Ramsukhdas Ji for their sheer simplicity, innocence, and humility. Goswami Tulsidas Ji for giving us this beautiful Ramacharitmanas as well. King David, King Solomon for teaching us how to pray with humility and how to bring everything to God's light, whether nice sounding, nice looking, or the struggles of all our day-to-day existence. We bow down to all of you.
Hare Ram, incarnation of God, have mercy on me. I keep sinning again and again. Please forgive me. Bless my heart with the light of Atma. May I always turn to you, Father. May I love only you. Please strengthen this faith so I live only in your temple. Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram. Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Maheswara.
Hare Krishna, incarnation of God, have mercy on me and all of us. Bless my heart with light of Atma. Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna.
As we are praying, all of us can remain inward-focused, truly invoking the light of the Satguru presence within. May he bless us with this Darshan today, but may we never forget to turn only towards him.
Om Namah Shivaya, supreme God Self, have mercy on me, a sinner. Bless me with the light of your Atman. Ram Ram. I want to dedicate this moment to you, Father, and every other moment that may raise this life. You know what's—you know everything. This life is only for you. And even while I'm praying, may this pride of prayer also be surrendered at your feet. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much.
We invoke the holy presence of the great sages Ashtavakra, Dattatreya, Ribhu. May their presence bless us today to bring us to the highest insight by the blessings of the Satguru presence within. Thank you, Father.
Om Namah Shivaya, have mercy on me, a sinner. Bless my heart with light of Atma. Ram Ram. I offer my...
This life, you know, everything—this life is only for you. And even while I'm praying, may this pride of prayer also be surrendered at your feet. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. We invoke the holy presence of the great sages Ashtavakra, Dattatreya, Ribhu. May their presence bless us today to bring us to the highest insight by the blessings of the Satguru presence within. Thank you, Father. Om Namah Shivaya. Have mercy on me, a sinner. Now fill my heart with the light of Atma Ram. I offer my self-image, self-concern, and pride to you, Father. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you.
We invoke the presence of the great sage Nisargadatta Maharaj and his Guruji, Swami Siddharameshwar Maharaj. May they bless us with their light and presence.
Dear Lord, Father, thank you for all your love and blessings. Forgive me for all my sins. Please bless me, my Lord, to pray more, to stay in your heart, to stay at your feet. Be more, Father. Get me away from all these distractions. May I remain at your feet and serve you more. Thank you, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Thank you, Lord, for entering this life and for all the auspiciousness that you bring. I'm sorry for all the times I'm stopping you from entering deeper and deeper, more and more. May I never forget that in this life story, I'm the villain and you are the savior. In spite of all my efforts to glorify myself and block you out, somehow set it right. Bless my heart with the light of spirit and complete allegiance and love to you. And may I surrender this battle against you. Thank you. Ram, the incarnation of God, please have mercy on me, a sinner. Please bless my heart with the light of Atma. Thank you, Father, for everything you have done for me, for pursuing the right way. May you be the focus of my life and may I not be swayed by the distractions. Just this.
Krishna, incarnation of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Bless my heart with the light of the beloved Father and all the saints and sages. Thank you so much. Bring me to your feet. Thank you so much. We leave this time at your feet and not want anything else. No, all those distractions which come with it. Just be sitting in grace now. Please, Father, help me to come home. Thank you. May it be in this world that all hatred within your name of religion can just dissolve in your love, Father. We just learn to love each other rather than proving each other right or being more important than others. May your light shine everywhere in every heart, and we hear your guidance in our heart always. I have the courage to follow it. Thank you. Thank you.
Guru Father, it's all your grace. I really don't know what I've done to deserve this. I'm just a sinner every day. Just pray to you to keep me in your heart and keep pulling me back here and guiding me through my heart. Waheguru, Waheguru, Waheguru. Thank you, God, for all the slaps, all the lessons I needed to learn. Please teach me how to stay in your heart every moment and not go with my doubts.
We invoke the holy presence of the sages Vashistha, Vishwamitra, Valmiki, who blessed our beloved Ram Ji on this journey, and all his teachers who blessed him, his parents, Ma Sita, Lakshman Ji, Bharat Ji, Shatrughna Ji. We invoke all your blessings. We invoke your presence today as we honor Lord Ram. May he bless us with the devotion of Hanuman Ji. May we become true bhaktas.
Thank you. Om Satguru, spirit of God, thank you for everything that you've given us. Thank you for Baba Ji and thank you for Ananta, who is selflessly taking us to God every day. I pray that my life is full of only devotion to you, and please burn away everything else that is ever drawing me. Please bless everybody in the satsang and their families and all the children in the war-torn places in the world. Make me a vessel just to spread your light and love to everyone and to truly live the truth that Ananta is drawing us toward. Thank you for everything.
Gurudev, I want to ever remain in your heart. Please allow me to keep my head at your blessed feet till eternity. I want to live like a small, simple child and bathe in your love, joy, bliss, laughter, fun, frolic—all of that. I know nothing. I don't want to know anything. I'm too small a child. Love you from the innermost core of my heart, Gurudev. Love you so much. Pranam, Gurudev. Thank you.
Thank you so much, blessed Father. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Keep this mind at your feet at all times forever. So I pray, so I beseech. Redeem and save this sinner. Redeem and save this worthless being with your mercy, compassion, grace, love, infinite love. May my heart be full of your light, if that be your will.
We invoke the holy presence of Guru Nanak Ji, who taught us how to live this life in His will, in His Hukam, and all the beautiful Sikh Gurus, many of whom had to lay down their lives for God. We pray to you to bless us today. Please bless us with your presence. Please help us to come to your light, to your peace, to your love. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Guruji. Thank you, Bhagwan. Thank you, Satguru. Thank you to every representation of God. Thank you, Satguru, for always being present in my heart and continuing to be here irrespective of my arrogance, my pride, my foolishness. Thank you for ignoring my mistakes. Thank you for being present in my heart. Keep filling it with love and joy. Please keep me at your feet always. Please keep forgiving me for my foolish attempts to find you, to see you. Thank you for always being available. Thank you, thank you.
Thank you, Father, for blessing this life with so much love, so much happiness, so much peace, so that it's very difficult to suffer anymore. You know, no matter how much Maya can play and try to convince, but the presence of your light in this heart always overcomes. To be honest, there's nothing really I can dare to pray for myself because I'm taken care of in such a beautiful way that the only destiny that the ego can have is just to continue dissolving in gratefulness. But I pray that may my conduct and existence be worthy of being called your son. May every word that comes out of this mouth, every breath this body takes, every beat of heart help bring all my brothers and sisters closer to your light and your love. And may they also have the unshakeable darshan of your holy presence in their hearts. Om Namah Shivaya. Thank you, Father.
Holy Mother, may I learn to surrender at your holy feet each and everything that I could still consider as mine. May I learn to truly love you more deeply, more unconditionally. May I love and serve everyone around more selflessly, and may I only see everything as your grace, as your Prasad, and not anything as my ability. Thank you, Father.
We invoke the presence of the holy mother, Ma Ananta. May she be a true light to His love, His presence, and may she bring so many brothers and sisters to Him. May all be blessed by her. Bless us with your presence, Mother.
Thank you, God. I love being with you. Thank you for this, for everything. Thank you, God, for everything. I hope that the college applications go well and that my tenth goes well and that Mommy and Papa are really happy. Thank you for making me.
I invoke on behalf of everyone here the great, great lineage of the Orthodox Christian fathers and mothers: St. Isaac the Syrian, St. Paisios, St. Joseph the Hesychast and his supremely great brotherhood, St. Haralambos, St. Ephraim of Katounakia and the rest of his brotherhood, St. Mary of Egypt, St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. Porphyrios, and my St. Deon and all the other great Orthodox fathers. Also invoke Mevlana Rumi, great Shams, and all the other Sufi saints, Bulleh Shah, Saint Rabia. Also invoke all the Apostles of Christ. Father, teach me obedience. I don't know if I even want anything else except to be obedient to you in this life. Just to be close to you, just to stay under your feet. And Father, bring my satsang to you, all my students. Please bless them. I don't know any God apart from you. May everything I do be pleasing to you henceforth. I can't do it on my own, Father. I'm not able to. Please teach me obedience and please show me a way in which I can truly express what's in my heart, all the love that I have. Please show me a way, show me your outlet. I'm sorry, Father. I'm really sorry. Thank you. Om Guru.
I want to serve you for my entire life. I don't want to waste any breath now. Please bless me. I have survived many masters and you are my last hope. Please help me, Father. Help me to be in service of you. I want to live only for you, to serve you. Help me, Father.
Father, I love you from the deepest core of my heart. I would like to thank all the sages of past, present, and future for blessing us to have you in our life. Thank you for accepting us the way we are. Please continue to guide us, bless us, and give us the courage and strength to walk on this path. Whatever is coming, it's okay.
Extremely grateful. What else do you say? I lay my unworthiness at your feet. There's nothing in me. Everything is you. Thank you, thank you. Om Satguru. Om Sakshi. Please bless me to find my truth.
You are the divine Father. Please make us instruments, holy instruments in your hands. Let our life, our will, completely surrender to you. There shall no 'we' exist; there shall only be you, the Supreme Father.
Father, you have accepted me unconditionally. Please give me enough strength to accept you the way you have accepted me. Have mercy on me. Thank you.
So, I'm unmuting everybody's mic, but what we should do is just take the next few minutes and just whisper your prayer to God. Whisper it so it doesn't interrupt the others, but everyone gets a chance to vocalize what they are feeling in their heart. Take all the pretenses away. May this love for you grow again so strong. Love you so, so, so much. Thank you for everything. Love you so much. Thank you. Just feel matching the breath.
Namaskar. Your grace and mercy. Can we come to God's holy feet? Please bless us, Satguru presence in our heart. Please bless us. All the sages, all the masters, please bless us. Guru Ji, may our life be fully devoted to serving you at your holy feet.
Thank you. Thank you all for joining today. I seek all your blessings on this auspicious day and also your forgiveness for all the foolishness that happens through this expression throughout the year. May you all find it in your heart to forgive this beginner on God's path. May God bless us all. May the Satguru's presence reveal itself to all of us. All my love, all my blessings. I know that we have a lunch planned, and so it's coming to say that let's see if we can give up on the mind's idea of fun and meet the heart's idea of joy. Because what can happen very easily is that the holy gathering that we had today can get diluted if you just quickly feel like it's time to switch over to like the mental idea of fun. We can enjoy, we can feel the joy in our heart, we can sing some bhajan, we can remember God, but don't switch out of this into some other way of being. And may this become a forever way of being where all joy can be had without needing to indulge in any mental entertainment. Have a blessed day, all of you. Love you all. Thank you.