Satsang Familiarizes You With the Scent of God - 15th April 2026

Father, for me, still me seems much more real than the God.

Yes. You see? So this exactly the same affliction she would have also had, all of us have. I have it, all of us have it. So I don't feel anyone in this room, I bless that it may be so, but I don't feel any of us in this room would say that she left him alone for longer than any of us are leaving him alone. Isn't it? So all of us at least have the same affliction, that much we can be sure of.

So this affliction is that the seeming me, the idea of this me seems to be more alive or more true for us than the reality of who there actually is. Isn't it? Now, there is one mean ally which makes this me seem so real. You see? In the design by God himself and in the design of Maya, which is designed in a way to make us forget about loving him and instead caring about this non-existent entity called me. You see? So the design of Maya is so that we forget about loving him and keep our entire focus on this non-existent entity called me.

And in Maya's design, there is one mean ally, you see, which convinces us of the reality of me. In fact, the sages have told us that Maya is Maya only when me comes, or may I am. So that mean ally is the mind, you see, which constructs a narrative which is centric about the me, even if it seems to be about God, it is God for me. How much progress am I making? Why isn't God helping me? Why is he doing this to me? So it's all about the me me me which is central.

So satsang is to come to moment to moment emptiness with regards to belief in this me. Because empty, empty of conceptual belief, empty of conceptual ideas, is godly. When there is no me on the narrow lane, then there is God on the narrow lane.

Now, empty is very godly, is very holy, but for most of us in the human conditions, can seem very difficult also because the notion of empty may still remain. And as long as the notion that I am being empty or I'm trying to be empty remains, we are no longer empty. So, which is unlike so, in physical objects, if you say this tumbler is empty, you see? You cannot fill this up with a liquid called empty. But our mind, our soul, our antahkarana is not like that. If you say I'm empty of all notions, then you're still full of the notion of being empty of all notions.

Getting this point? Sounding complicated? It's quite straightforward actually because it's like if you were to say money money money money money, so you're full of money notion. Yes? And if you keep saying empty empty empty empty, you're full of empty notion. Although the notion may sound very holy and beautiful.

So then a very rare one may be able to come to satsang and really, beyond the notion of empty, remain empty. So then, and resist the temptation when the mind bullies us or somebody else around us says, "So, what is your spiritual practice? What are you actually doing?" I'm just being empty. You see? So we are full of that being empty then. The little notion behind what we are being. So that is very sticky, very tricky.

And because it seems so tricky for most, then there is another. God in his mercy has given us another way, which is that: okay, this path to be empty of topics, then empty becomes the topic that is sticky. Yeah? So then make God your primary topic. Make everything about God. Make everything about the remembrance of God. You see? And I would add to that the remembrance of the hearness of God. Like remembering God is very good, very holy, but if you remember the hearness of God, you see, which is like saying remembering that God's presence is right here. And the remembrance brings us to the insight about his presence.

And if there's a me that still remains, the only safe refuge for such a me that still seems to be sticky and remain is the humble servant of God. Servant implying always available to follow his will alone. Losing the idea of my own wanting, to dedicating my life to only what his will is for me.

So in the constant remembrance of him, our soul, our antahkarana, our inner instrument, then turns inwards towards where he is. So this turning inwards is called stillness, silence, one-pointedness, ekagrata, whatever words you may want to use.

What way to remember him? Remember him in your favorite way. Remember him in your favorite way. Remember him in the way that helps you offer as much of yourself as possible. Which includes your life, your love, everything that you think is yours. Your heart. And this remembrance will bring you to that point.

Now, some of you will say, maybe we not say it openly, but you may say that I don't want to be a servant even in relation to God himself. I don't like that idea. You see? And I don't want to remember one that I don't actually know yet. You see? So you may be opposed to this form of spirituality. And usually what is found is those who are opposed to this form of spirituality pride themselves on their love for the truth. You see? Pride themselves on their love for the truth. So let's use that. Find out who is really here. You see? Find out who you are. Who is really here? You see?

But if you are lack of servitude towards God also is accompanied by a stubborn insistence that I don't want to find out also whether there's a me here or whether it is God alone, then you're really not on the spiritual path yet. You see? So spirituality is the attempt to be empty of this false infection called me. You see? Either by just this reminder you become empty, open, empty. Or you remain in remembrance of God. Or you are searching, really searching, seeking the truth of what is. You see?

And each of these directions could have a hundred variations. You see? Each of them could have many variations. But what we often end up doing is holding on very strongly to the centrality of the me. And then try to be spiritual. So then our spiritual life becomes a big struggle. How can I fit God into my story? Instead of fitting myself in a tiny corner as the humblest servant in his story. We are the main prime character and we want God to become our assistant in our story. You see? So then our life, our spiritual life, becomes a struggle.

Because we want to climb this spaceship, which takes us out of the universe, actually. But we want to keep one foot firmly on the ground. You see? Mostly because we are scared. We scared of losing ourselves. We scared of what we are going to find. We are scared of that which to the mind seems like a void. You see? So if you have this centrality of this me, then our spiritual life will seem like a very difficult problem to solve. You see?

The two simple antidotes to the centrality of the me is: don't give it a thought. Don't give it a thought. You see? Just if you're going to use your mind in some way, use it to say God's name. Don't give the me a thought. So emerge yourself in Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram. Whichever, so that you're not giving any room for this me to find any space in your life. What will happen to your work? Ram will do it. Who will take care of your family? Ram will do it. What about taking care of this body? He will do it. Everything then becomes about God. Whichever your favorite way of remembering him is. Him, her, in whichever way you want.

And the other is to stay with the question, who am I? Both are very simple tools, actually. The second one sounds very intellectual and complex. Actually it's very basic. Really check, who are you? You see? Just because the answer does not reveal itself in the mind doesn't mean the process is complicated. You see? Because we used to equating it that way. If I don't know the capital of Ghana, then I feel I will say it's a difficult question. You see? But it's not a difficult question. You just don't know the answer in our mind. You see? So just because we don't know who we are in our mind, doesn't mean that the process of self-inquiry is difficult.

It's also fairly, fairly straightforward. When a thought comes to present the answer to us, you ask who witnesses that thought.

And listening to satsang, listening to bhajan, all of this helps us to remain with the project at hand. You see? It reminds you about the importance and the urgency of this project. You see?

And by God's grace, satsang gives you a miniature replica of what the Atma feels like, of what the Holy Spirit feels like. You see? And gives you a replica of the taste of the spirit, of the Atma. It seeds that fragrance in you so that when you're being drawn to that same fragrance from the heart inside, inwardly, then you learn how to trust that and not to be scared of it. It familiarizes you with the scent of God.

But because the project of satsang is to familiarize you with the scent of God, you feel like your mind will celebrate that fact? No, don't celebrate that fact. It's going to try and resist that with everything that it has. The mind doesn't want you to become godly. So recognizing that our very design, the source of love, peace, joy, happiness, anxiety-free, stress-free life, all of this happens when we are in God's love and God's light. And when we are completely taken over by the idea of me, then our life is full of strife, pride, anger, irritation, all of the lust, wanting, grasping constantly. You see? It's the very definition of a living hell.

And that's what compelled me to keep reminding us that our very design is to love God. You see? Because every aspect, maybe except the mind, every aspect of our insides complain when we are obsessed with this me. There is no rest. It's a constant chasing, constant wanting more and more. Unfulfilled desire is the nature of this me. You see? It's a constant struggle. And in one moment of being touched by God's hand, you have a huge sigh of relief. You see? All that struggle seems to vanish in that one moment. You see? As Gyaneshwari said, one moment of standing at his door changes our entire life. You see? What better proof of what we are designed to do and be than that do we need?

Through satsang, we are reminded of our design. What gives us peace. You see? Now, one mistake that we end up doing often is that when we are reminded that the job is to remain in remembrance of his alive presence here and now, we are trying to make the presence into some force field type thing. You see? Instead of remembering that his presence means that the most intelligent, most beautiful, most merciful, most powerful one is here with us right now. You see? The mind plays this trick of just making it very normal. Yes, when I'm in God's presence, then I'm fine. Can you examine that? Can we examine that sentence? We have the utmost privilege, if at all, of being in his presence. So we can never say, oh yes, when I'm in his presence, you know, it's like that, but other. What are we saying? It's like you saying that you ate up a galaxy or something for dinner yesterday. Much more than that. You see? But you're saying it as if you know, it's just a tiny morsel of food or something. I'm trying to find something that fits the absurdity of what our modern spiritual life has become.

So again, to refer to Mother Teresa, she said prayer is when we are in remembrance of who he actually is. You see? But when we make it into these scientific words, like consciousness and awareness, then we are into a forgetting of who he actually is many, many times. Not always, but many times. You see? That's why I've reduced using these words as much as possible. Because we have to remember the magnificence of who we are with. You see? Who's actually here with us? And that is why he has revealed himself in the most magnificent ways, in every way that we can remember him. You see? Whether it's Ram, Krishna, Jesus, Allah, whichever mode of remembrance we may have. There are enough credible reports out there about how magnificent each one of the ways to remember him are.

Now, you may say, I can't go on secondhand reports. But we go on secondhand reports for everything. We've talked about this often so I won't belabor the point. The nature of the world, the nature of reality that we are relying on, all secondhand reports: atoms, molecules, nobody has seen the world being still or moving. You see? It seems so stable and still. Apparently it's moving. It seemed like the sun goes around us, but actually we believe that we go around the sun. All these are secondhand reports. You see? So we rely on secondhand reports for everything except God. We will not listen to the sages and saints. You see?

In spite of there being so much overwhelming evidence that there are sages who have lived across this world, even at times where there was not transport available for them to travel from continent to continent, but they were saying the same thing. You see? So Saint Teresa of Avila sitting in Spain, Baba Farid sitting in the border area of India, Nanak Ji a little lower down, all the sages in Maharashtra, and all of them saying the same thing. You see? But what do they know? So don't allow, if you're going to use your intellect, then use it really deeply. You see? But this minor scrubbing with the intellect and getting into this lame skepticism is not good enough use of it. Use your intellect deeply. Find out who are you. Don't settle till you come to that answer. You, off your reliance on your intellect and bring you to a deeper intelligence, which is called intuition or Atma Gyan.

Anyway, coming back to the point: the real one who is actually here is forgotten, and the fake one who was never born is taken to be our reality for most of our lives. That is the misunderstanding that we are attempting to resolve in satsang.

So for those of you who are attracted to remembering God using his name as your spiritual practice, when is a good moment to not remember him? What's a good time to forget? There is no such good time. It's only when you're sleeping, maybe. You see, what if your remembrance becomes so constant it'll go on even in sleep. Don't worry. So there's never a good time. What are we convinced about? Or what is the actuality in our lives, including mine, of course? When something important comes up for the me, then's a good time to forget about God. You see? When I say it like that, it sounds absurd, I hope. When something important comes up for the me, we should be more in remembrance of God. But Maya uses that. The mind uses that as a subtext, as the context for us to leave God, to leave his presence.

If the spirit of God is within us and animates us and makes us alive, then who is doing the remembering? Which part is, if this is the life part of us, then it's that. Like who's doing the remembering? Is it the thought story and the emotion story? So that's why it's a useful construct that I've been using for the past few years: the construct of the antahkarana, or the soul, which is also not the same word, but I'm using them to be the same word in our satsang just to uncomplicate. But a good way to look at it is the literal definition of antahkarana is the inner instrument. You see? So it is God's light that animates even this inner instrument. What is the inner instrument? The mind, the intellect, the emotional areas, the memory, the imagination, all of this is the inner instrument.

Now there is no explanation for why it is like this, but my favorite explanation is because God did not want to force us to love him because a forced love is not love anyway. So he gave us the option to immerse this inner instrument, this soul, this antahkarana in identity and in the world, and he gave us the option to return to love, to return to light. You see? So there is seeming agency as far as this soul, this antahkarana is concerned. You see? Ultimately, is there agency or not? We don't have the capacity to answer. And maybe intuitively I will say, no, even this is part of his leela. But none of us can really dispute the fact that there is seeming agency that we have. You see? And as long as that seeming agency is there, our job is to use that agency to turn inwards.

So this inner instrument has been given this provisional agency. So that one has to do it. And so when we speak of the witness in the water, then is that one the soul or is it the presence of God within us? The witness, capital W, it has nothing to do with perception or attention. That witness is beyond everything that even our antahkarana contains. You see? So what we may say is that at the very center of our soul is the Atma itself. The presence of God. Right? Now that presence of God allows us to use its eyes to see where all of this came from. So all of this, or the presence of God, came from the manifest God, which is Saguna Brahman, and Saguna came from the Nirguna. You see? So the Atma takes us beyond the bounds of our antahkarana.

So it's like this room is there, but there's a tiny hole there beyond using which we can see the entirety of the universe, just to make an analogy. And then you can see the entirety of the universe and it allows you to see the source of even the entirety of the universe. And that is why the sages have told us, if I only knew the magnificence of the one who lives in my heart, I would not forget him, I would always be in remembrance of him.

So Baba Farid talks about this very beautifully. I'll send you some of that. But isn't this already so magnificent, that somewhere within you, and that within you we usually take to be this bundle of food. Ghat ghat mein Ram viraaje, and the ghat is usually taken to be this body. The within everyone is God. Isn't that so magnificent? So he has left his messenger, his comforter, his teacher, his presence in the form of the spirit itself to show us his nature.

Now does this mean, am I implying, that he is only in that direction and he is not in this direction? I'm not implying that. But the only way to love him on the outside also, through loving our brothers and sisters in the world and everything in the world, is when we are touched by his love on the inside. You see? And it's a virtuous circle. So the more you love your brothers and sisters in the world, the more you will find it easier to love him in your heart. The more you love him in the heart, the more you'll be able to love your brothers and sisters in the world.

So that which Hanuman Purdaji said, which is that I see only God in everyone that I meet. To come to that point, we have to love him deeply in our heart. Then that love is reflected in everything which has so far been used by Maya. So far, all this has been used by Maya: I am me, this one is you, this one is good, this one is bad, all of this labeling has been done by the mind and used by Maya. But then when we start to love God on the inside, then the outside also is seen to be him alone. When you taste more and more of this, you will see the reality of this. Till then, you'll have to rely on following the words of this foolish man, unfortunately.

So the idea is to really get a taste of it for yourself. To stand at the door. To have the grace of the revelation to happen, Atma Darshan. In the light of Atma Darshan, to see the reality of who God is and the oneness with God, is the spiritual project. Let's aptly call it the spiritual project because it's all dependent on spirit. None of the deeper insight can happen without the eyes of the spirit itself.

And once you come to spirit and you align with spirit, then nothing can stop you from Brahma Gyan, from the highest knowledge. It is waiting to teach you the highest. But we cannot handle, we are too limited, to be able to live with the level of confusion of what our mind is telling us and what our spirit is telling us. And that can become the struggle in our spiritual life.

Like I want to do it in the right balance, okay? But what will you balance? On one end, we are nothing. We are a tiny tiny insignificant insect in this vast universe, not even an insect. We are just a tiny body mind, you see, who appeared here, this body appeared because of some very primal instincts that our parents have. That is one end of the construct. What is the other end of the construct? It is that we are one with that one who is the lord of a trillion universes. You see? So how will we reconcile both of these things? How will we do this in balance? So when I say trying to board a spaceship with one foot on the ground, it feels like that. To take myself to be this tiny one, and also to come to the recognition of my reality.

And what do we need to do to come to such a high knowledge? Nothing. Is it too high a price to pay to remember God? Or to just sincerely inquire, who am I? It's a very tiny price to pay for such a big gift. That is all that is expected of us. You see? That's why I love this very simple sounding but very important statement. We put so much effort into our so-called work. But when are we going to do the work, our true work of worshipping God? It came to me many years back: say, maybe for many of us work is worship but worship is no longer worship. So work is elevated now because we equate it with a very high thing called worship. But worship itself has been devalued into nothing. This is the absurdity of the human condition at the moment.

So when is the right time to not remember God? There is no such time. Especially those times that Maya wants us to focus on the urgent and important, those are the times we must try and remember God as much. Why am I saying all this? Not so that we feel bad, just so that we are inspired to do it, so that the reminder pops up maybe sometime. In satsang, I heard: don't forget God.

And the other trick is that the mind will say, remember God when you need him. Many in India feel like if in my last moment I just remember him, I'll find. That seemed like a good hack to have, right? I've hacked my life. I can do what I want. Just in my last moment, I have to remember him. Which may actually be true. But I guarantee you, you won't remember him if you immersed your life in attachments all throughout your life. You see? Even if you did know, last moment coming, ready? Ram. Like that. Many in India have this idea. It doesn't work like that because my feeling is in our last moment, we'll end up focusing on that which we valued the most in our life, what we are most attached to in our life. That is my feeling. So there is no escaping this fact. What the sages have told us to do, we have to follow.

Another trick is, I will create my own path, okay? I don't care what this one said or that one said or Ananta is saying, I don't care. I will make my own road. Which is very popular notion these days. Make your own road. It's not going to happen. You see? And don't waste your time trying to make your own road. Because I've seen people who can be stuck for 30, 40 years deciding whether they are Gyani's or Bhaktas. What is the right tool for them to use? They waste 30, 40 years in just this pride of making their own road. But I'll tell you one thing: try to follow any sage, try to follow any path to spirituality, and your pathway will end up being unique on its own. So you don't have to make your own road, that's a given. The influences that will be given to you, the curriculum by the Atma, all of that is going to be uniquely tailored for you. So don't worry about that.

So why I'm saying all this is so that we surrender our idea of what our spirituality is going to be. We surrender to spirit itself to guide our spirituality. So don't fall into these rudimentary traps that Maya is putting in place. That is why I say that the superpower is really humility. On the spiritual pathway, the booster pack, the jet pack on your back, is really humility, true humility. And true humility is not difficult. If you see the truth, you'll be humble. If you get caught in fanciful notions of the mind, you'll be prideful. But if you really see the truth, it's very very difficult to be objective about ourselves, and humility is a given.

Look at the words of all the greatest sages, and they say I'm the worst. I'm just, it's only God's mercy and grace. It's only because of his love that all of this is attained. Because they able to reach a level of objectivity that we are not usually. So the gift he has given us is that every time we pray, every time we come to his presence, we become humbler. Every piece of spiritual insight injects humility into us. I'm not saying what you do with it later. The spiritual insight itself injects humility into us.

What we may do with it later is: oh I saw seven lights, and I'm so great, and I saw this, all my chakras were shining, and this was happening, and I could travel across universes, and I saw that my astral body is like this, and my karmic kosha is like that, and all this. Sorry, it's not necessarily rubbish, but if it is used to make us prideful, it is rubbish. So if we start thinking about ourselves in high terms, especially spiritually, that is a very dangerous spirituality, very dangerous pride. That is the Ravan pride.

Mm.

There's no reason ever to be prideful about any experience that you have fathomed in spirituality. Because the true growth is happening at an unfathomable level. Should I say it more simply because I wanted it to stick somewhere. There is never any reason to become prideful about some experience you've had in spirituality, in your sadhana. Because your true spiritual growth will happen at the level of non-experience anyway. It's happening in the silent chamber of the heart, where no phenomenal light is coming in for you to have exciting experiences. Your Atma, your antahkarana, is being transformed into divinity, but 99% of that transformative process is invisible to our perception.

So there is never a good reason to become prideful about spiritual experience. So what if you were able to travel the universe? Still perceivable. So what if you saw your body from 100 miles up in the sky? You can put on some virtual reality headset and get that experience. There is no big deal in any of this. You see? If it is met with humility and given as a gift from God, then we can enjoy the joy of it, the love of it, the peace that comes as a result of spiritual experiences. But if you start taking the false one itself to be special because of that, then that is a big trap of Maya.

So the simpler we can remain, the easier it is. The easier it is for the Atma to mold us then. You see? If you're too strongly determined that I'm like this only, I like this only, I don't like this only, then Atma is not going to force you. It's going to say, take your time, learn your lesson. When you're ready to be accepting and open, then then I will change you, I will transform you. It's not going to force you. You see? So try not to be too set in your ways, especially spiritually. You have too many likes and dislikes. My way is only like this, my way is. Find out what your Atma is trying to tell you. What is your Atma trying to show you? How is it trying to guide you? If you could determine your own curriculum, what do you need the Atma for?

I don't know why all this ranting is coming. I just have to trust it for the moment. You see? This is the fallacy, you know? Spirituality is the discipleship of the Atma. But if we determine that no, I like this, I don't like this, it's not a restaurant, you know? I don't like vegetables. I tell the Atma, no, what else do you have? I'm making all this sound absurd, but it's not far from how we live.

And my own life is the laboratory for all of this, you know? I'm repeating all of this from my own foolishness and experiences. Like even if we were to have an experience, or some mercy from God, when we narrate it, it turns it around as if I created that experience, which is completely false. Not only did you not create it, but somehow you make yourself in that narration subtly special, because it happened either to me or I created it, which neither is true. And you don't see it when you're doing it. And maybe even when somebody else is doing it, then you see it quite clearly, and then you can bring it back to you and say that I'm doing this often enough. With everything.

And that's why I want to immerse myself more and more in this habit of praising God. Jai Shri Ram.

Okay, I want to say something, but I don't think it will go down well.

I have heard in 14 years I've heard everything. Well, those could be famous last words. I mean, I'm serious. If this is really, I'm really stepping on the edge here. Go for it.

So but I think like, so okay. The best position I think I feel to be when one is praying or glorifying God is actually the sajdah, you know, the where you actually put your forehead and nose and your entire body virtually is on the ground. And I feel like that is the position I feel closest to God.

Yeah, I'm just saying that that's which may not have gone down well. Where is that part coming? Because I couldn't agree with you. The reference to the Islamic prayers, so I didn't feel like maybe.

No, it's like prostrating. I feel like the sages were onto something in all traditions. So what do we do when we go to temples? We lie down flat. Especially, I love that much more in the south, south of India. You go to temples, you're lying completely on the floor like that. And there are people in the north also who are doing pradakshina of say Govardhan or doing pradakshina of holy places, but they go every step they're lying down praying, getting up, then continuing, then lying down. It's very good, because this outer posture keeps reminding us of our inner posture.

There's no danger at all in what you said. In all traditions it's there. The bowing down is everywhere. The Orthodox Church, I love their main practice, the main physical practice, is prostrations. So this is very beautiful. It has to be very very good. And like we've been saying that every layer of our existence impacts every other layer. So if you get used to being humble with the body, we also learn how to keep a humble posture inwardly. And the other way around: if we learn to keep an inward humble posture, we find it easier to prostrate, touch people's feet.

Like some of you always say, Father, why did you touch that one's feet? Why did you touch this one's feet? And I've just been trying to say that even if I'm making a mistake, it's better to err on the side of humility than to err even slightly on the side of pride. You see? What will it hurt me if I touch somebody's feet? Jesus washed everybody's feet. So I'm very happy to. I'm still learning to. I'm not saying I'm very humble. I'm still just a beginner in that process, but I'm very happy to.

I just saw a movie today where Namdev Ji, one of the greatest sages the country's ever produced, or the world's ever produced, went to meet these four children sages: Nivritti Ji, Gyaneshwar Ji, Sopan Dev Ji, and Muktabai. And when he went, he was already an accomplished worshiper of Vittala, an accomplished sage. So when he visited, the children are touching his feet, but he did not touch their feet. And Janabai is telling, I don't know if you know them, but Janabai is telling, why aren't you touching their feet? What are you doing? Till Muktabai, who was supposed to be a firebrand, she refused to bow down to him and said, no, you have too much pride in you. The world calls you a sage, but I see through you. So his pride got cut in that interaction with the little child, Muktabai.

So it will never hurt to be more humble than what the mind may say is needed. Who's to set the benchmark? But even if the mind is saying, but why do you have to bow down to this one, what could it hurt? Ultimately, as the sages have told us, we will naturally see God in everyone. We will see that everyone is God only. So then we have to come to bowing down to everyone. So far, I'm still holding up some pride, that's why I don't. And that is one of the dangers of the pedestal also. You get so used to people bowing down to you. I should really start: if any of you comes to bow down to me, I should bow down to you. No, really. This is good. Now, I'm going to follow this from now on. No, see? Because it will help me see God in everyone.

What is the dangerous part of it? I know where you're coming from, but please know that I've had so many children who are Muslim. I find all pathways to God equally beautiful. There is nothing nothing to feel, like if there's a tradition in a particular religion which everyone finds valuable, I will look for the value in it first.

I will not discard it or discount it because it's a particular religion. And that is the foolishness that we end up doing. Like, what is the God, Bhagwan, Allah, are three names of the same one or three names of three different ones? Same one. God, my God, is not less God because we use the word Allah for him. It's a beautiful word, first of all. Allah is not less Allah if you use the word Ishwar for him. These divisions are mostly continental and cultural. Divisions are mostly political, actually. If Manu is called Raju tomorrow, will he not be my son? The name can't change like that. God is not my father because that one is God or he's Ishwar or he's Nirguna Brahman or whatever, but no, if he's called Allah, then he's not my father. That would be stupid. Because language is a human constraint. We lived in a particular place, the language evolved in a particular way. But everyone, the true seekers, those who were looking for truth, who were looking for spirituality, came to the same insight everywhere, but of course they used different language. Now we're killing each other based on language. It's so absurd.

So we must gather the best from everywhere. And by the same token, the Christians and Muslims should also see that the culture they developed here, which we now call, there was actually no religion called Hinduism to begin with. It's just an amalgamation of culture that developed in this part of the world. So in the Vedas there are things which scientists are still discovering. So when such high insight and intelligence is there, then we must try and explore why is it that they use so many different names for God, they use so many different representations of God. Why do they say Ram, Krishna, Devi, Durga?

Devi itself may have thousands. Vishnu himself may have thousands. So a culture which is that intelligent, that scientists are still discovering some of those things, verifying some of those things which are written in the Vedas, then could we be that stupid that we are taking God to be in, like this, what we are accused of being polytheistic or something like that? No, it's not. It is just human psychology that it is very difficult to relate with the formless one as a beloved, as your best friend. And big credit to Rumi Ji and people like that who were able to do that, but it's very difficult. It's much easier for me to fall in love with Ram than the formless one because I can assign attributes to him. There's a lot to learn from his ways. So I feel like there must be an appreciation from all sides towards each other.

It's a mistaken idea that Hinduism is polytheistic. It is clear there is one God only. Most Hindus know that there is one God, and yet we also know that one aspect of that one God appeals or touches our heart the most, and that is what we identify with. But all these rivers are going into the same ocean. Many times I've seen very highly accomplished teachers in say the Orthodox tradition put down Hinduism because of this mistaken idea that this is just some stupid race who's not even realized that God is one. It's not so.

In the Gita, Krishna says, I used to attend Bhagavad Gita classes for many years. And Krishna says, I don't know the verse, but I know for sure he says that God is formless.

Exactly. Exactly. It is not hidden for those who are really even 1% serious about Hinduism as a religion, they know this. You see, but we also know that to love, even as a step towards loving the formless, it's so helpful to just feel like Ram Ji is here, right?

In those rare moments when thoughts stop, and then there's a second when you become aware that oh, the thoughts did stop, then that presence that is looking out, then one part of me becomes very still, like frozen type of thing, like oh, like I don't know what that is, whether it's a. It's like my breath almost stops. But I think that because I become self-conscious the minute I realize it.

You see? In fact, it's good if the breath stops. No? And there are some other states in which there's no breath. So take, welcome it. See what happens. Nothing inauspicious will happen. No question. But I'm saying this so that you lose the fear of oh, what if my breath stops?

What I keep wondering is what is God looking at now? Yeah, like I'm staring at the walls. Is he just looking at the walls?

The looking at which happens through perception is a very very tiny percentage of what can be looked at. You see? So in God's eyes, perception is not something so important to look at. There's so much beyond perception. That's why the Chandogya Upanishad has said the heart itself has more space than universes. So through which eyes do we look at that? Like how does a sage write that in the Upanishad? They say that it's through shruti that they heard it. What they mean by hearing it is they had intuitive insight through Atma Gyan. So there's a lot that is found which is beyond physical eyes. And God looks at everything, but I don't feel like perception is his number one mode of experiencing. I'm nobody to talk about God, but that's just a feeling I have. So that's just a beingness kind of feeling. I'm just saying that what you're being introduced to is a new set of eyes.

Now that new set of eyes, called faith, it could be called Atma Gyan, it could be called intuitive insight, spiritual knowledge. Now spiritual knowledge has very little to do with perception and thinking. Now in spiritual knowledge, sages have said some magnificent things in all cultures, all traditions. Did they make those things up? For example, did all religions in the world make up this concept of heaven? In India there is Swarg, there's Vaikunth, there's Golok, there's Vrindavan, there's Ram Rajya. Ram Darbar is still there. All of them. But in every tradition there is heaven, and there is hell. So how then, through what perception were these things found? Not through the perception of these eyes. So there's a lot more for God himself in his own creation to look at than what we find in the realm of perception itself.

So when we are going to spirituality, we are getting new eyes: the eyes of the heart, we may say. In that we find that the kingdom of heaven is within us, only through those eyes. Otherwise without those eyes, it's just a belief.

Also through revealed scripture, right? Yes. That is also revealed.

Yes. When we say revealed, that's what I'm saying, those eyes. Revelation: the eyes of revelation is the eyes of the heart. And you're absolutely right, it's revealed to us by God's grace. But revelation is not perception. This may be a mistaken idea we have. We feel like when revelation comes, I will perceive it with these eyes. There may be some outpouring in our senses. We may feel some love, some peace, some joy. We may have some outer experiences also, but that is not the core of what the revelation will show us. Like the revelation of who I am did not happen with these eyes. It's through the eyes of the spirit itself. So God's view is much much much more vast than we can imagine.

Father, similar thing I was reading in Bhaiji's book where he says when we pray to some form of God, we should not demean if somebody else is praying to someone. And he said the form we are praying to, we should take them as the Sarvopari, the supreme, and the way of Ananya Vishwas, undivided faith. He was written in these words only. He was a strong Sanatani. I don't know what that also means, but he had friends in all communities, and there are anecdotes where he has had.

Of course. That's what. Very good.

Like and then he said, for example, if we are in a setting where we are praying to some other God than who we pray to regularly, we have to see our ishta dev similarly. Ma had also told this in our retreat. In a Sufi setting when we were, we remember, like even if we are saying Allah, we remember the other one inside, something like that.

Yes, that's. Say the last part.

Like if I'm doing Allah Allah Allah but I'm remembering Ram Ji inside.

Exactly. I don't have that knowledge that God is, I don't know about it like that. There was a time when I had this confusion of who to pray to, and my spring to Radha Rani, and I momentarily got like, but then this. And this recently I read it and you were saying the same thing today.

So Hanuman Purdaji said that to make distinctions between forms of God is a foolishness, more than anything else is stupidity. And so we must have very strong love and allegiance to the form that we are revering, so that we can learn to rely on the unlimited grace which is available through that unconditional love. You see? But not as in the form of pride of saying no, mine is better than yours. There are so many fights all over the world and all over our country based on: no, Shiva is the highest, no, Ram Ji is the highest, no, Krishna is the highest. All this rubbish. So that is sheer foolishness.

But to love God in whichever way we can love him, God knows that we are loving him. You see? So he's made it very simple for us. Because we have enough excuses anyway. So he didn't want to give us this excuse. We will never have an excuse to say that but I didn't know which way to love you, because he has clearly told us anyway. And that's the beauty of some of our scriptures, because all forms of love towards God are acceptable. You want to love him like a servant, Dasya Bhava. You want to love him as a friend, Sakha Bhava. You want to love him as a parent, Vatsalya Bhava. You want to love him as a beloved, Madhurya Bhava. And then any way is, the sages have told us he has told us that as long as you love me it doesn't matter, because he realizes how limited we are. We are so compartmentalized in our ways. So he's saying okay, within those compartments only, start there.

Look at some of the chat.

Allah also has 99 names, called, sorry if my pronunciation is bad, Asmaul Husna, which are the attributes of him. Very nice. Thank you.

So when we love someone, I've noticed that when somebody loves someone, they find one way, one reason or the other to talk about them. I had a doctor once, she was treating me, and every session we had, she would talk about this one boy. So you get a sense that there's love there. So praising God is a good sign of that love. We can't help talking about him.

The mind expects a lot more irritation than I actually face. Like in family situations, to talk about God in family WhatsApp groups, to talk about God. You feel like oh no, what, this will be, but many times it is not unappreciated. I won't say many times it is appreciated, but many times it is not unappreciated. So it becomes a symptom of our love for him to praise him. And the praising him becomes virtuous in the sense of loving him more and more. All of these are virtuous circles. So more and more I feel to immerse myself in praising God and sharing.

And what was clear after the illness is those famous words of the worship song: with every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God. So we must see what is the fear in our life which stops us from praising God more. There is fear: you'll be coming across as too evangelistic, and all these kind of fears.

Go to Samia. Hi Father, can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you well. Good. Thank you Father. You're welcome. Sorry, I was actually preparing to sing a song for you.

Oh yes. Yeah but I don't know if you're ready. We love work in progress.

You heard me sing. Yeah I couldn't sing so it gave me headache but I don't know. May I try? Of course. It's a short one but it just touched my heart so much yesterday when I heard this, also when I first heard that. The meaning is, I cannot translate directly, but as much as I can, because it's all Turkish as well. It just says let's repent from our sins and it says to Allah please just mercy us with your grace. Mercy us with your kindness. And if you don't, who will forgive us?

Thank you. I love that line. If you don't forgive us, then who will?

Father, may I also speak a bit? Yes, yes. Yesterday when I heard this, I was in satsang. It was just like a, I just remember God again. Father, it's it's it's just like a darshan moment. And in those moments, I think I just want to invite God into my house, Father. Invite Guruji's light, which I miss so much. But at the same time, I have to expose that there is some kind of fear about inviting. Still I invite, no matter what. But I have to tell that there is that fear: if he comes again, I will lose what I gain, what I feel like I gain, all this comfort. And life somehow goes smoothly, which was like hell for me in the past. And there's a fear that that's kind of hellish. And I don't know, like this kind of fear is there, but no matter what, I have to invite him because the remembrance of him just surpasses everything. That's why I'm so happy that he again remind me himself. I miss Guruji so much also.

After all this I still have prayer. May you please pray for me to find work? Just part-time little work which also does not tire my body. All this stuff, I don't know if I'm being wrong now, but I ask for this. But yeah, also what is best for me. Thank you Father. May I ask one more thing please? Also I think I heard you say in the beginning of satsang, Father, whatever remains which I'm aware or I'm not aware, but like I want to improve on also human virtues, which I feel like of course all of us have some lack. And I see recently some lack in my case, probably a lot. But yeah, I ask for this actually, just improvement of human values, human virtues. Maybe in non-dual talk we don't hear that so much, but we hear it actually from you. So also you said that in the beginning of satsang. Just this, Father. I want to get along with people well, Father.

Thank you. Bless you. Around you Father. After dinner go to the corner. I will tell her after we go to the boat and then we will walk. Very good. Very good.