God is felt in the depth of your heart

 

What is God? What is not God? What is the definition of God, if there is one? The moment you define by a word, you already have a concept about it. What do you think is God?

You describe it as that which is everywhere; which is all-powerful; which is responsible for this creation, for its maintenance, and for its dissolution; which is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient.

You say “I want to see God” and when you want to see God as something, as an object, then it’s not everywhere. The moment you see God, there is a distance between you and God; then you are not God. You want to see God, and this wanting to see God as separate from you is again an illusion; and if you are seeing God, then God is not omnipresent!

Like love is felt in the heart, so is God’s presence. You cannot see air, but you simply feel the air. You cannot see heat or cold, but you just feel it. So in the same way God cannot be seen.

If you see God, then He is outside there, He is away from you and isolated. God is never an object of isolation. God is the sum total. When you dissolve, God remains. When you are there, there is no God. Either you can be there, or God can be there, not both. So when you meditate, you become one with God. You are God. That is why, it is said, tat tvam asi, meaning, “Thou art that”.

So, God is to be felt in the depth of your heart. In deep meditation when your mind is still, calm, hollow and empty, you suddenly feel, “I am not there. There is only one big existence.” So, don’t worry about God. First know yourself then you also know what is God, almost simultaneously.

Who are you? Do you know about yourself? Just find out about yourself first. If you think you are just the body, it is not possible, because body has its limitations. If you think you are the mind, that’s also not possible because mind has its limitations. If you think you are the mind, that’s also not possible because mind has its limitation, it’s another layer.

If you know that you are silence or you are space, then it is possible; God is also space. Space is God. Can you see space separately? There are three types of space: bhootha aakash — outer space in which all this universe is hanging; chitta aakash — in your mind, there is a world with impressions, thoughts, dreams; you live in that world, all the visions come in your mind; and chida aakash — it’s the sky of consciousness that is all permeating, the basis of all creation, that is divine, that knows all.

Lord Rama himself had asked a question once. He was curious to see so much love, devotion and dedication in Hanuman that he wondered and asked Hanuman what it felt like being Hanuman? Hanuman told Rama — “When I am in body consciousness, I am your servant; when I think I am an individual — I am in soul consciousness, I am a part of you; and when I am in my being consciousness, when I am in myself then I am you; there is no difference between me and you.” It’s the same when somebody blames your child; you take the blame don’t you? There is so much oneness; in fact, there is really nothing other than God. God is that which is present everywhere, all the time.

Don’t worry too much about philosophy or descriptions of atma (self) — parmatma (God). Let’s forget about God and observe this moment; this moment has a mind of its own. The whole existence has a mind of its own. Like you have a mind and it has such intelligence, that’s why it keeps everything orderly. Similarly, this moment is seen by this mind. This mind you can call it God and that is what you are. Yesterday is not here right now, tomorrow is not here but the present is here, now!

Respect this moment, adore this moment. See, this moment is not flat; it’s very deep. When you accept from the head, you can have the horizontal idea; from the heart you experience the depth; and both together bring true wisdom and knowledge.

Journey from form to formless

 

The word anatha in Sanskrit means one without a master. An acharya (teacher) gives shiksha, which means knowledge; a guru gives deeksha which means heightened awareness. The Guru makes the abstract more real and what you think to be solid appears to be more unreal. Sensitivity and subtlety dawn. Perception of love, not as an emotion, but as the substratum of existence becomes evident. The formless spirit shines through every form in creation and the mystery of life deepens. Then the real journey of life with the guru begins. This journey has four stages.

The first stage is swarupya - to see the formless in the form - that is seeing God in all the forms. Often, one feels more comfortable seeing God as formless rather than with a form, because with a form, one feels a distance, a duality, a fear of rejection and other limitations. In life, all our interactions are with the form, other than in deep sleep and in samadhi. And, if we do not see God in the form, then the waking part of life remains devoid of the Divine.

The second stage is samipya - closeness - that is feeling absolutely close to the form one has chosen and reaching out to the formless. This leads to a sense of intimacy with the whole of creation. In this stage, one overcomes the fear of rejection and other fears. But this is time and space bound.

The third stage is sanidhya, that is feeling the presence of the Divine by which you transcend the limitations of time and space. 

The final stage is sayujya, where one is firmly entrenched with the Divine. It is then that one realises that we are one with the Divine. There is a total merging with the beloved and all duality disappears.

In the Upanishads five signs of a satguru are mentioned. In the presence of a satguru, knowledge flourishes, sorrow diminishes, joy wells up without any reason, abundance dawns and all talents manifest.

A guru does not simply stuff the disciple with knowledge; he kindles the life force in the person. In the presence of the guru, one becomes more alive. The pinnacle of intellect is awakened intelligence. The guru invokes not only intelligence but also intellect. Knowledge may not invoke intelligence, but in intelligence, knowledge is inherent.

As no sanchita karma is left in an embodied guru, the self shines through. But all the qualities that we appreciate in a guru are also in our very nature. Respecting the guru simply means honouring our innermost nature.

Keys to build strong friendships

 

Not demanding anything from friends, and telling them I’m here to support you is the key. Just believe in one thing: what you need you will get. The giver is somebody else, so don’t demand love. When you demand love you are destroying love. So you should never demand love or attention from people. If you are there only to give love and attention, then anyone will feel comfortable with you. But if you are expecting something then you are putting people in a very uncomfortable position. You can’t say this to everybody, but intelligent people who understand this can make their way.

Tell your friends, ‘I’m here for you’, I don’t want anything from you other than friendship. That will make your friendship long-lasting. When you come from that space, you think your friend will not help you? They will help you when you need help. Not one but ten will come to help you. Also when you do something good for them, don’t keep on talking about it. Don’t keep reminding them of it. How do you feel when someone helps you and keeps on telling you about it all the time? You feel nauseated, isn’t it? You want to get away from them. Nobody wants to be under obligation, so don’t make people feel obligated.

Don’t make people feel small. Suppose you have done a lot of good to somebody, then sometimes ask them for something, a little help like taking you to the railway station or airport. Some small things, so that you maintain the self-respect of the other person as well. There are people who do a lot of charity but they rob the other person of self-respect. That is no good.

One gentleman came to me and said, “I have not taken a dime from anybody, I have only given to all my brothers and friends. I have done so much but nobody wants to be with me, nobody wants to meet up with me, nobody wants to talk to me. This is strange, I never wanted anything from anybody.”
I asked him, ‘Did you anytime ask them to do something for you?’
He replied, ‘Never, and I asserted that I wanted nothing from anybody’.
What happened? He put down the self-respect of people. When the self-respect is in danger, nobody wants to be with that person.

Friendship has two things. You may feel it is very confusing. On one hand, I am saying I don’t want anything from them, and on the other hand, I am telling you to ask them for something to keep their self-respect intact. That is the skill. These are completely two opposite positions. Keeping the self-respect of the other person is number one and second, not demanding anything from them.

Just keep these two things in your mind - firmness with humility. Do not assert your own ego by saying you have never taken anything from anybody or don’t want anything from anybody. It may be true, but you should not come out like that. So, first firmness, then humility.

What is humility? Saying, “Oh, I am so humble”, is not humility. Dignity with cordiality is. Many people who are very dignified keep aloof. They are not warm and cordial. People who are warm and cordial, don’t have dignity. They just look so mushy and wiggly, like noodles. Just imagine noodles all joined together, you can’t even take it in a fork, it’s like paste. That is of no use. Noodle is a good example. They are soft, yet separate, not mushy nor hard. That middle path, cordiality with dignity, this is the secret of friendship.

Whenever a person is down, uplift him or her. When you go to a true friend with a problem you feel lighter when you walk away from them that is a good company. However, if you have a problem and you go to a friend but you come away with your problem appearing much bigger than you ever thought, then that is not a good friend.

Humour makes you invincible

 

Humour is the buffer that saves you from humiliation.

If you have a good sense of humour you can never be humiliated. And if you refuse to be humiliated you become invincible.

Highest bliss is available only with the Divine

 

The Divine has given you all the small pleasures in the world, but has kept the bliss to Himself. To get the highest bliss you have to go to Him and Him alone.

Don't be too smart with the Divine and try to fool Him. Most of your prayers and rituals are just attempts to trick the Divine. You try to give the least and get the maximum out of the Divine and He knows. He's an astute businessman; He will trick you even more. If you go underneath the carpet, He will go underneath the floor.

Be sincere in your attempts. Do not try to outsmart the Divine. Once you get the bliss, then everything else is joyful. Without the bliss, joy in anything in the world will not stay.