I Am in Your Heart!🔗

7.20 Those whose discrimination has been distorted by various desires, surrender unto deities.

7.21 I am in everyone's heart as the Super Soul.

7.22 Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires;

In reality, these benefits are granted by Me alone.

7.23 Men of limited intelligence worship the demigods and their fruits are limited and temporary.

Those who worship the demigods go only to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees reach My supreme planet.

He says: I am in everyone’s heart as the Paramatman (Super Soul). As soon as one desires to worship some deity I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.

Please understand that when He says ‘deity’ or ‘demigod’, He doesn’t mean the Supreme. Even if you approach Krishna out of fear or greed, you approach a demigod. When He says the word demigod, He means the attitude with which we approach the Divine, how we approach the Divine. With the right approach, even if you approach the demigod, he will be Supreme. He will give you enlightenment. With the wrong approach, even if you approach Krishna, you will have only material benefits.

There’s a beautiful story from Krishna’s life.

A rich man prayed to Krishna to become a King. Twice a day, morning and evening he repeated, ‘Krishna, Krishna.’ He always asked Krishna thus: 'Krishna, please give me a kingdom. Krishna, I want to become a king.'

There was another poor lady, who had only one cow. With that milk she made a little butter and some sweets and offered it to Krishna. The whole day she sat and chanted Krishna's name.

Suddenly one day Krishna appeared and responded to both of them. This guy, who had asked for a kingdom, became a king. And this lady who prayed everyday to Krishna, her cow died.

Narada asked Krishna, 'What is this, Krishna? That fellow who repeats your name only twice a day has been made a king by you. This lady who remembers you 24 hours a day, you killed her cow. What is this? Is it fair?'

Krishna says, 'That fellow only wants the kingdom. He came to Me only for that. I am a utility to him. So I blessed him with what he wants. But for her, I was her whole life. There was only one small hindrance. Only one thing stood between her and Me. I took that away. I removed that hindrance also. Now she is completely into Me, within Me. And now she has completely become Me!'

Whatever our approach to the Divine is, it plays an important role in our spiritual progress. If we approach Krishna out of fear or greed, we worship a demigod. But Krishna says we are not wrong. He's not here to discourage us. Nothing is wrong. But it's not enough. Not enough! That is not the place to stop. It's a good place to have a visa, but not a green card or citizenship. Here, the planets or palaces of demigods are good places to visit, but not the right place to stay.

Krishna says, 'Because I am in everyone's heart as the paramatman, the moment you desire to worship some demigod, I shall make your faith steady, so you can devote yourself to that particular deity.'

Let me describe how a seeker usually travels through all these paths and eventually ends up. When a normal seeker starts, he hears about all kinds of rituals like pooja and homa. This pooja will give you this benefit, that homa will give you that benefit; and he starts doing these things – on Friday, fasting for Devi (the mother goddess); Saturday, fasting for Balaji (another name for Lord Vishnu); Sunday, fasting for some other god; Monday, fasting for Shiva; Tuesday for Skanda (another name for Lord Subrahmanya); Thursday, fasting for Guru (Master), and so on.

You attend all poojas, all possible homas, wherever these things go on. This is the way it starts. Then slowly, you not only go to all these poojas and homas, you also go to many different temples. This is the way it starts. Then slowly, after sometime, you understand that these rituals and trips to the temples are too much. And you think, ‘Why let somebody else do these things for me? Let me directly do it and relate with the Divine. You start your own shrine in the pooja room, in your home. From morning till night, you engage in worship. When you become a little mature, you start doing it yourself. You think that you should feel directly connected to the Divine. 'Let me do it by myself,' you think. So you start doing it.

The first standard (or first grade) in spirituality is going around visiting all the temples, watching all the poojas, all the homas. The second standard is doing it yourself. The third standard is realizing, 'The Divine is there in all the gods, in all the forms. But I think I feel more attracted towards this one god, this particular god. So let me concentrate on worshipping the Divine in this form.' Having one form and doing pooja and homa only for that one form is the third standard. Fourth: 'More than pooja, mantra (sounds imbued with energy) is powerful. Let me repeat the mantra.'

Surrendering through the body is pooja; surrendering through words is mantra and stotra (songs in praise of the Lord); surrendering through the mind is gnana (wisdom or knowledge of the Self). So here you think, 'Why not do stotra and japa (repetition of a mantra or name of God)?' You start repeating the mantra of your favorite deity.

At every level, different gods appeal to you; at every level, different gurus or Masters appeal to you. When you are at the level of pooja and homa, other people who also do that appeal to you. When you are at the level of going around all pilgrimage places, people who guide you to these pilgrimage centers appeal to you. When you go to Shabarimala (a famous pilgrimage spot in South India), you call somebody as guru swami. The person who leads the trip is called a guru swami. He appeals to you. When you come to the level of doing upasana or worship, then the person who teaches you pooja appeals to you. He is your guru.

Then when you start repeating a mantra, the person who gives you the mantra, he appeals to you. He becomes your guru. The person who guides you, who tells you how to repeat the mantra, how to do japa, he appeals to you. Next, after sometime you think, ‘Why only repeat this japa, why not do meditation?’ You start visualizing His form. Now the person who teaches you meditation appeals to you. Meditation is again saguna Brahman, that means meditating on the form. This is the next standard.

The first standard is attending rituals and visiting temples. The second standard is doing rituals yourself. The third standard is concentrating on one deity, doing pooja and homa only for that deity. The fourth standard is realizing that mantras are more powerful than rituals, and instead of performing rituals, you repeat mantra. The fifth standard is visualizing the form and meditating, instead of stopping with the mantra. Then, when you sincerely meditate, He Himself appears. He gives you His darshan (vision) and guides you to the higher-level sadhana (spiritual exertion towards an intended goal). He guides you to the right Master. Sometimes He gives you darshan and guides you; sometimes He automatically makes you feel connected.

Only a person who has come to this level can feel directly connected with an enlightened Master. Till you reach this level, till this maturity happens, you cannot straightaway feel completely connected with an enlightened person.

You need to go through all five steps, only then will you feel completely connected with a living Master. When you come to the stage where you meditate on a single form, then the Master happens in your life. He happens in your life and guides you.

The form upon which you meditate and your own form are expressions of the same Divine energy. So the Master puts you into real meditation. This means turning towards yourself, turning towards your own consciousness, turning towards your atman (Being or soul). He gives you the technique to realize your being. This is the sixth level.

The seventh standard, the ultimate standard, is when you experience that you are that. You achieve enlightenment.

This is the usual route that seekers travel on, starting from the first standard, moving to the second standard, the third standard and ending with experiencing the Self. Now find out in which standard you are, and try to go to the next level. That's all. That is all you need to do.

Here Krishna says: 'Because I reside in everyone's heart as Paramatman, when somebody desires to worship a demigod, I make his faith steady, so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.' When you approach the Divine even from the first level, He helps you. He helps you without doubt.

When you start, you are like 18 carat gold. There's nothing wrong with 18 carat gold, but you need to be put into the fire a little bit, and slowly, you become 22 carat. Then you reach the Master, a living Master. Then slowly you become 24 carat gold, and you become enlightened. If you throw away the first step, you never reach the second step. Unless you have gone through the earlier steps, it will be difficult to relate with a living Master. You will not be able to directly relate with a living Master. You will not be able to connect. You will not be able to feel the importance at all.

This morning, one devotee came to visit me and was speaking to me. He expressed his confusion. This happened after reading all the books. He said, 'I am now more confused than before.' In Gita, Arjuna says the same thing. After a few chapters, he says, 'Oh Krishna, I am now more confused than before hearing the Gita.'

This clearly means that you have done your sadhana (spiritual practice). You really did your sadhana. Understanding that this sadhana is not helping you is the right help derived from that sadhana.

Buddha teaches meditation to one of his disciples. The disciple tries his best and comes back and says, 'Buddha, I am unable to meditate!' Then Buddha says, 'Don't worry. You have understood properly. That is the purpose of this meditation. Understanding that you are not able to meditate is the purpose of this meditation. You have done it. That meditation has served its purpose. Now forget about it. Now come to the next step.'

Sometimes these techniques make us mature by giving us the understanding that we are unable to do the technique. That understanding is a big maturity. There's nothing wrong in it. So a different kind of maturity, a different level of maturity happens to us when we reach the Divine.

Approaching the Divine is the first step, or the first level. There's nothing wrong in that, but don't stop there. Here Krishna says, 'I make his faith steady, so that he can devote himself to that particular deity,' which means that he can grow in that particular attitude. There is the possibility of growth. He says, 'I don't discourage him; I make his faith steady, so that he will slowly come up to higher levels.'

Krishna says, 'Even if you approach Me with an attitude of fear or greed, I fulfil your needs. It is My own energy which fulfils them, so that you grow, and you come up to the next level.'

If you receive boons through demigods, do not think that those deities are responsible for it. Do not think that the idols that you pray to are the ones who granted your prayers. All these are granted by Parabrahman, the ultimate energy, the same Existence. But you are not expected to stop with these boons. You are expected to grow.

I always tell people, when you approach the Divine, first all your dreams will become reality. He will bless you. All your desires will be realized. All your dreams will become reality. Later on, He will give you the understanding that the reality you perceive is itself a dream. First He gives shakti (energy) to turn your dreams into reality. Then He gives buddhi (intelligence) to realize that reality itself is a dream.

That is what He says here: When I bless you, according to your maturity and based on the way in which you approach the Divine, I give everything.

There are many ‘educated’ individuals who question me about the wisdom of idol worship and rituals.

A small story.

A disciple was massaging Vivekananda’s feet. A follower, a young student, came to Vivekananda, prostrated at his feet and said, ‘I adore you. I adore you because you despise all these superstitions about idol worship and bathing in the Ganges. You are truly educated.’

Vivekananda roared at him, ‘You fool, what do you know about my beliefs. I pray everyday to Ma Kali and bathe in the Ganges. Shed all your stupid notions about worshipping idols being foolish and learn how to pray.’

Soon after, an elderly scholar came to Vivekananda and said, ‘Master, you are the greatest. Whatever you have said about learning the scriptures and going to temples is so powerful. I wish everyone would talk like you do.’

Vivekananda said to him, ‘What do you know about the scriptures? Is there any point in reading all this outdated material? It only makes your ego stronger. Stop this nonsense and meditate.’

After the scholar left, the shocked disciple asked Vivekananda, ‘Master, I am confused. You have just reversed your position with these two people. What should I do?’

Vivekananda said, ‘Just keep your mouth shut and massage my feet. That is good for you.’

When you go to a temple and worship an idol, when you are in the first standard, you feel that you are praying to a stone or metal idol. As your awareness grows, you realize that the idol is not just stone or metal; it is energy. Even without much effort, you feel the energy of that temple.

Why do you think thousands, no, millions of people, visit Tirupati or Varanasi or Tiruvannamalai? A few hundred people can be misled, but not millions, and that too without any coercion, without any enticement. They come because they feel relieved; not all of them come merely out of greed and fear. There are thousands who come because in some unknown way they see the hand of God, as it were. They feel the touch and they feel the energy connection.

Hindus worship through the idols, not the idols themselves; our rituals address the energy behind these idols. Logic cannot make us understand this. Only faith can. We need to go through this stage of form worship before we realize the formless. Otherwise we will all be intellectual monsters. Religions that condemn idol worship without understanding the philosophy behind worship, breed confusion that leads to destruction.

In every form of learning we need to advance step-by-step. Only if we are an exception can we be promoted to university education without attending high school. Such exceptions are rare, and prove the rule. When we consider idol worship foolish and meaningless, it only means that we are foolish and ignorant. The minute science advances and a scientist measures the energy vibration of our temples and proves that these are centers of energy, these 'intelligent' people will be queuing up. They are like cattle led by science, though they feel others are cattle led by religion and superstition.

It does not matter whether that place is a Hindu temple, a Christian church, a Buddhist pagoda, a Muslim mosque or even a river or mountain. When thousands and millions of people congregate to celebrate the Divine and offer gratitude, any place becomes a temple, a place of worship. Every twelve years, tens of millions of people gather by the river Ganga in India to celebrate Kumbh Mela. In certain years 100 million people have gathered in what is certainly the largest gathering in the world.

As these people bathe in the river with deep conviction, gratitude and prayers, the river gets purified and in turn purifies them. It is a deep bio-spiritual interaction that raises the energy of the planet and the universe.

When Krishna says, ‘He goes to the planets of the demigods,’ don’t think there is some planet out there! He talks about space and experience. If we worship some god out of greed, we never come out of that greed. We will be continuously caught in greed. If we worship some god out of fear, we will be always in that fear. If we worship the Divine out of love and gratitude, we experience a totally different space.

Hell and heaven are not geographical; they are psychological. Depending on our particular mood, we create our own hell or heaven, wherever we go. We all know how to create hell! Now all we need to know is how to create heaven. There’s nothing that needs to be learnt about the art of creating hell. Now, it is time to learn how to create heaven.

He says: Men of small intelligence - people caught in greed or fear, attention need or worry - worship the demigods. Of course, sometimes we worship the demigods; sometimes we approach Krishna or the Ultimate God with the same attitude – the attitude of asking. If we carry the attitude of greed, whether we worship Kubera, the god who gives money, or Krishna, we worship a demigod. Even if we worship Krishna with that same attitude, we worship a demigod. It is the attitude that makes Krishna either the Parabrahman or a demigod. It is we who create the attitude. It is we who create the energy. By worshipping demigods, we attain demigods.

This is an important sutra, a technique. It says:

It says that when we get boons from demigods, they are temporary. God will bless us with wealth when we ask Him. But we need intelligence to preserve it. We need intelligence to protect wealth. That alone we need to do. So be very clear, when we receive anything out of energy, without having maturity, it is temporary. If we have enough intelligence and maturity to have wealth, then naturally, we would have created it. Because we don't have buddhi, wisdom, we ask God to give us shakti, energy. If we get shakti without buddhi, it will be temporary.

That is what Krishna says: If we get shakti without buddhi, it is temporary. It will not stay with us. That is why He says that boons derived from demigods are temporary, not permanent. And if we continue to worship them, we are stuck with them. We create that kind of energy in our inner space. We live with that kind of energy in our being.

And He makes one more statement: madbhakta yaanti maam api - My devotees attain Me.

Then He says these words: If you approach Me with the ultimate attitude, with the attitude of love and gratitude, you achieve Me. The greatest attitude is gratitude. If you approach Me with gratitude, you experience Me.

Again and again people ask me, 'Master, when I have so many problems, how can I be grateful?' Please be very clear, we continuously pray, 'Oh God, please give me a diamond ring.' Do we feel grateful that He gave us the finger to wear a ring on? We don't feel grateful that He gave us the finger. Be very clear, the finger is not our birthright. There are thousands of people who don't have hands. There are thousands of people who don't have a finger. It's not our birthright.

We continuously pray intensely, in all possible ways, 'Oh God, give me this. Oh God, give me that.' But we never feel grateful for the things that are showered on us.

This very life is a blessing!

Can we say that our life has been given to us as payment for some job that we did in Vaikuntha (abode of Lord Vishnu) or Kailash (abode of Lord Shiva)? No, it's not as if we worked for 100 years in Kailash, and earned a check that says, 'Alright, have 70 years of life.' If we work in the army, they give us money to study. It's not like that; we did not get life as a salary. It's a pure blessing showered on us.

Every breath is a blessing! The breath that we inhale and exhale is a boon given to us. This very life is a blessing. Continuously we miss things that are not around us. But we never experience the things that are showered on us by the Divine.

Each of us has a big list of things that God has not given us and we also have a big list of things that God has given us. How many things are showered on us? If you take a paper and pen and write, both lists will be endless. Every moment of our life is a gift from the Divine. We are alive, we are still conscious; that by itself is a gift from the Divine.

If we honestly list the things that are not given to us, it will be an endless, infinite list. If we earnestly make a list of the things given to us, that will also be an endless, infinite list.

Now it's up to us whether to look at the list of things not given to us and constantly feel miserable, thinking: 'Oh! I do not have this, I do not have that,' and live in hell, or look at the list of things showered on us. The latter makes us feel deeply grateful, 'Oh God! You have showered so much on me, and given me the blessing of life.' We feel grateful and create our heaven. It is up to us to create hell or heaven. It's purely our choice. It's up to us to do what we want.

Krishna says, 'These men of small intelligence worship demigods. Their results are temporary.' We continue to live that way. When we feel life is a blessing and we approach the Divine with deep love and gratitude, not only do we experience Divine consciousness, Krishna says: They achieve ME. They attain ME.

There's another verse where Krishna says beautifully: 'If you ask for something, I will give you that. If you don't ask for anything, I will give you Me'. I will give you ME. People say, ‘Who wants Him? We want Him only as a utility, not Him. As long as He serves our purpose, things are ok. So we don’t want Him.’ People want only solutions. They don’t want the Divine.

Q: Many scriptures advise us to look inward. But to be successful in this world we need to look outward, at how things happen around us. How can we succeed by looking inward?

Man can live in two ways. He can live as an extrovert; then he can have the whole world but he will miss himself. And to miss one’s self is to miss all. Unless man becomes rooted in his self, he has no future.

One can become a king, a political leader or a successful and rich businessman, but deep down one remains a beggar, utterly poor. Whatever you have, you crave for more, and your greed, whether for money, power or any material pleasure, drives you on and on. This constant running and running, without stopping, hurts. It hurts very much because one cannot drown it in any oblivion. In fact, the more riches you have on the outside, the clearer it becomes to you that inside you are hollow.

The other way is to live an inward life: man can live as an introvert – then man lives in his being. Then one lives rooted in one’s own self and a great richness arises because one is nourished.

It is from our inner core that we are joined to God, and if we live from our inner core we allow God to live through us. I am not against the world. Be in the world but don't be of it, be in the world but remain above it, be in the world but remain transcendental to it. Remain a witness - that is the path to reaching the core.

All that is needed is a simple process: sit inside yourself and watch. Let the mind do all its old tricks, simply watch it non-judgmentally - neither labeling anything good nor bad, neither choosing nor rejecting, utterly indifferent, cool. Slowly, slowly, you learn the trick by remaining cool and indifferent.

First the mind tries its old tricks and then, by and by, it feels embarrassed because you are not getting affected in any way, this way or that. Even if you become affected against it, then too the mind is perfectly at ease. It has disturbed you. So don't be against it, don't fight with it, and don't fall a victim to its tricks; remain aloof.

Many times you get involved. The moment you remember, pull yourself out, again compose yourself, again watch. A thought arises; see it. It comes in front of you; see it. Then it passes by; see it. Coming, staying, going, just watch it. Take note of it, with no notion of whether it is good or bad, whether it should be or should not be - with no moral attitude, just a scientific, cool observation.

After a while, the mind stops chattering. One day, suddenly it is not there, and that day a silence descends upon you, a silence as you have never known before.

That silence, that infinite silence overwhelms you from all sides. Then it never leaves you. It remains with you, it becomes your very soul. It is liberating.

And the path is, taking a jump from mind to no-mind. Mind can make you knowledgeable but never wise. No-mind will not make you knowledgeable, but it can make you wise. It is wisdom that brings freedom and it is wisdom that brings God to you. It is wisdom that brings immortality to you. Knowledge is a waste. Avoid knowledge and enter into the world of wisdom. The way is meditation; the way from mind to no-mind is meditation.

This is not a process of fighting; it is not forcing. It is a happening.

Let this be your foundation: be friendly with Existence, outside; inside, be friendly with everybody, including yourself, which is the hardest. People don't love themselves. That is the last thing they ever do. It is easy to love the enemy; it is difficult to love yourself. You know yourself too well – how can you love yourself? But the person who can love himself can love all. Love thyself, and you are bound to love your enemies and everybody else. If you can love yourself you have fulfilled the basic condition of love, and out of that love arises peace. And peace is the door from which you start having your messages from God.

Beauty is an expression of God, in whatsoever form it appears. So this is the way that you have to seek and search for God. Start looking at Existence with this vision, with these eyes, and you will be surprised because you will see things you had never seen before. You have been passing the same things everyday: the same trees, the same birds and the same people. But once you have this vision, that all is divine, you look at things in a new light. Then the world is no more a puzzle, no more a problem, no more a question - not a question to be solved but a mystery to be lived.

The moment you are empty of yourself, you are full of God. Remember that both cannot exist together. Remember again and again: both cannot exist together; it is either you or God. And the foolish person chooses himself. Choose God: disappear as an ego. Forget yourself as a separate entity from Existence, and in that disappearance, you are reborn.

It is a paradoxical state: the moment you are empty of yourself, you become full, and full for the first time, full and overflowing, inexhaustibly full. And the ego is a shadow; it has no substance. It is a dream, not a reality. Drop the shadow so that you can attain the substance. Drop the false so that the real can be attained.

All that I teach here is how to be empty of yourself so that you can be full of God. That fullness is fulfilment.