The Authoritative Voice From the Mind Compared to the Loving Guidance From the Heart

Then it was about the checker guy. What to do with the checker guy? The checker guy will come and say, "Today very good. Today very bad. Now you said the right thing. You said the wrong thing. You are doing it right. You're doing it wrong." Just—it's just another thought. It's just another thought. Don't give it any more value than a thought which is talking about some random incident that happened that you saw in the news or something like that. So sometimes because of our conditioning, we are so trapped in self-evaluation. You see that our report cards coming from the mind seem very important to us because our education system was also like that. How well are you doing? You will see in the report card. So when the mind offers us a scorecard or report card, then that seems very attractive to us. Yes.

Unless you're being nudged in the heart, it has a different flavor, different texture of loving guidance from the heart. You feel the presence of love. You find no haste or rush and no authoritative pushing. You see, because the mind can act like the spiritual teacher very well, but it cannot replicate love in your heart. So if you're feeling guidance coming in the very deep presence of love, then you can treat that as heart guidance. Anyway, the texture will seem like it's coming from a different place, but that takes some maturity, some just being in silence to be able to notice the difference in textures. You see, so the mind can also pretend to be very holy. You know, "My child, you're doing this wrong. You know, you're a complete mess." You can say, but if you don't buy—no, if you don't buy.

So, one good thing is that if you're not sure, just leave it because the Atma is not in a rush. The Atma is infinitely patient. So if you have doubt that, "Is this coming from mind or heart?" just leave it. You see, the heart knows your intention is to leave the false. So it won't hold it against you. So as you become clearer and clearer, and the presence of love from the Atma becomes clearer to you, then the heart guidance will more and more be seen. So you may find things that you may realize your mistakes. You may find things that you have to be repentant about. But it is done in a very loving, holy classroom. It is not in the oppressive, authoritative bullying of the mind. Even when it's trying to replicate holiness, it can't. So you'll get more and more a deeper sense of this holiness and you can follow from there.

And the same thing applies to the—see, some temperaments are attracted to negative reports about themselves. "I'm such a mess. I'm not doing it well." Other temperaments are attracted to the getter. "No, I'm getting it. This is so good. I'm finding God. Yay, I made it!" You know, this kind of stuff. So then that also has to be let go of. So in fact, it was Thomas Keating who said that if Mother Mary herself comes in your prayer one day and tries to tell you something, just very sweetly tell her, "Not now, dear. Right now I'm in the middle of contemplation." I found that very sweet. This is much more sweet than "If you see the Buddha, kill him."

But the idea is the same: that when we are trying to be empty for God, then we have to be very careful of our mind's tricks trying to scam us into following it in these ways. And then as you deepen, then you will notice that if you see versus imagination—you see something like visions, you see something holy which is guiding you—then that'll have a completely different taste to it. And the rule is simple. If you can doubt whether it's from the mind or heart, just leave it. Just leave. So for a while you may find that you're leaving everything. You're just leaving everything. Everything. But then when you get used to being empty, you will start to notice the inner subtleties, the inner nuances of what is guidance and what is mind still. But know that if your intent is right, God will not lead you in the wrong way.