Video 6

Vedic Christianity, Class 6 · Practice of the Presence of God · Swami Chidbrahmananda

[Music] um [Music] um [Music] so of this practice of the presence of god and what what really does it come down to i think it's helpful to know kind of uh we we say that all religions are one or that religion is not plural right now what does that mean it it really comes down to if you if you sweep away all of the practices all of the rituals you come down to just a clear definition of what what what has happened all religions for some reason recognize that we are in a fallen state as such that we are somehow less than our ideal which i think all of us can admit that pretty freely that we have an ideal we can we can picture an image of the divine and our relationship with the divine that's perfect where there is uh forever together where there's unity where there's perfect harmony and whatnot and so something has degraded us something we have lost sight of something or lost an understanding of something and that needs to be rectified and pretty much all the religions are saying what's happened is you've come up with a sense of self that's based on a wrong idea that you've taken the dream for being real and you've taken your dreamed self for being real and have forgotten completely the the body in the bed as it were that you don't realize that you are of another nature and of another reality that's more real than this one and by having forgotten that and identifying yourself with this temporary changing thing you no longer emulate that contented loving full self instead you've taken on this subset of ad of of adjuncts or adjectives to describe yourself having to do with the body and mind and in trying to fulfill those limitations or to break out of those limitations we do it according to the rules and regulations of body and mind our hungers we interpret as needing food our desires we interpret as needing pleasure our insecurities we interpret as needing friendship or love or and our lack of unity we look for uh we look for rectifying that also in the material world whether it's through uh you know intimacy in relationships or or close friends or close family and actually all of the nature all of the uh what would you say all of the characteristics of of our nature which is that all powerful we know we have this sense we have this intuitive idea of being all-powerful and so we try and manifest that in the world you know we try and get infinite amount of money you know to give us that information infinite amount of power uh you know our that sense of wholeness that sense of oneness that sense of unity we try and rebuild that in the world through perfect relationships or fame you know or uh we look for that that fullness you know that that contentment we try and rebuild that in the world by trying to find security security in good health security and having enough savings security and being good enough at our jobs all of these attributes that are hours by definition we try and recreate them in the world of change in the world of the finite and it can't be done and so we're continually running hungry and so all of the religions are positing uh undoing this hypnotic sense of self that's based on the changing and the temporary and to go within to find out who is it that's living here this body's moving no doubt but who is it that's moving it this mind is thinking no doubt but who is it that's observing it that's compiling its thoughts that's watching it and the the sages say that if you can come to this knowledge of yourself as being spirit in nature and not material in nature and if you can let go of the mind separate the mind as an object of identity that you've got and separate from the body as an object of identity that the truth of yourself this all contented unchanging ever present ever pure self will become apparent to you and you say why isn't the why isn't the obvious apparent to us now well it's because of the noise of the changing it's because of the constant glittering uh and high level of background noise that's going on and this self within is unchanging it's it's always perfect so it's never out of balance so it's not harm it's not harmonious because it's one without a second you know it's it's it's not trying to accomplish anything it is resting in its absolute peace and so without anything to grab our attention it's very difficult to find it especially because it can't be objectified it can't be put in front of you and studied because it is the self itself it is you itself and there's no way for you to to grab it there's no way for you to take a magnifying glass to it there's no way to go and learn about it it is a matter of removing the obstacles so that that which is obvious can become apparent to you and all of the religions uh have their method of doing this you know the uh the vedas say that there's basically four of them these four paths and all of the world's religions will fall mainly into one of those four paths um but they're you know like christianity wants to be known as christianity but christianity and truth is the bhakti path within the sanatana dharma you know buddhism wants to be known as buddhism you know it wants that name and personality behind it but buddhism is actually the the sanatana dharmic path of gannon yoga and so all of these different paths in the world's different traditions fall with one in within one of those four yogas that the vedas posited thousands of years ago and uh that's not to discredit any of the world's religions they are all fully functioning capable paths to realization paths to that unity path back to our nature back to our sense of self in transcendence so our man here has been talking about it and he's found a lot of his practice in the presence of god or being absolutely present in the moment and we closed answering that question last week that to know that this moment is the i am when god names himself in the old testament i am that's what he's meaning i am the present i am this i am being i am existence itself and that the things that confuse us are our imagined sense of past because we can't show you the past you can't you can't pick it up and hand it to me we can't study it it's a concept past exists in the mind only and sri nishigata has told us that that past is basically our story it's our attachments the things that we've held on to the things in the changing world that we didn't want to change or the things in this temporary world that we didn't want to be temporary so we grabbed them and tried to share our immortality with them by putting them in our mind and that prevented us from seeing the moment uninterpreted that prevented us from being able to experience the moment as it is without assumption and because we have to live in this moment blinded by our attachments we are unable to see its perfection and its fullness and because of that imbalance we're looking to grab something to give us back our balance to hold us steady and in order to acquire those things that we believe or imagine are necessary for us to find that harmony or that wholeness we have to come up with a new concept the concept of future because we need the future to make a plan to manifest in our moment the things that we imagine are missing but we come to realize that the moment can't be filled because it's never empty and that these things that we imagine to be missing are not in fact missing that it was our attachments that made it seem like they were missing and my the story that i go to my go-to story for describing that happened many years ago in san francisco i was taking a walk in the afternoon and san francisco in the spring is an amazing city to be in gorgeous wonderful views beautiful weather it was just a dreamy place to take a walk and there i was walking on the upper end of polk street overlooking the bay just enjoying a perfect day and then it became imperfect you say how is that possible i smelled pizza i smelled pizza and that woke up one of my attachments that brought one of my attachments into my awareness and suddenly this perfect moment was lacking pizza now if i had been a good monk i would have just added the enjoyment of the smell of pizza to the moment and gone on without any need for desire just enjoyed the smell of pizza on a beautiful day in san francisco and been fine but without that knowledge being one ripe for confusion i took that smell of pizza and it indicated the lack of pizza in the moment and being a new monk i had no money on me even though i was less than two blocks from escape from new york pizza i had no money and so i had to think how am i going to manifest pizza here and now without money and then i remember to ha ha i've got a christmas card sitting on my desk that swami prabhu nanda gave me and it has 20 dollars in it i can get some pizza for dollars so i walked back to the monastery got that twenty dollars came back and had my piece of pizza and the day was perfect and what did i do i blamed that perfection on the pizza that pizza made my day perfect because i was not a discerning discriminating sandu at that time and i didn't remember that i was perfectly content before the pizza that the day was already perfect that my attachments had made it imperfect and that awoke my desires which made us a future necessary and that going through all of those gyrations was unnecessary for me to arrive back at the perfection that i had forgotten about moments earlier so this is our condition of life and this is what brother lawrence has found a way to overcome a way to transcend and it really is about this practice of being fully present through the love of god through this constant companionship with satchitananda with with love with existence absolute with intelligence absolute and he goes on he's going to start tonight with the most excellent method that he's found and we've heard most of this before he he gives little twists to it and betrays new information each time so it's always good just to hear it and unpack it he says that the most excellent method that he had found of going to god was that of doing our common business without any view of pleasing men all right so he said this most excellent method it wasn't big it didn't take lots of equipment it didn't take new teachers and a steady stream of youtube videos he says what this mess this excellent method requires is just doing what you're doing without the thought of pleasing anyone else without the thought of a cause or a result in this effort that this effort is done in the same way you do a dance step if you're a two-stepper and you're going around that country western dance floor you're not trying to get anywhere you're not trying to accomplish something what are you doing you're putting the music and the step in time and just enjoying the moment as you move through the song and so he's drawing a picture of life very similar to that to live like you dance let the moment be what it is let it be enough as it is let all of the conditions be fine as they are and enjoy the presence of god in it the most excellent method he had found of going to god was the doing our common business without any view of pleasing men and as far as we are capable purely for the love of god so that's a growing aspect there the more that we learn to see the moment unspoiled by our attachments and on uncrowded by our desires we'll fall in love with that peace of mind we'll fall in love with love we'll fall in love with being because that that experience of being will grow ever deeper and ever more full of wonder and that process is the process of loving god of becoming aware of divine love in our self and in that quiet mind that develops when it's working without stress and without motive and without need that quiet mind that comes because of that will begin to reflect god more purely we'll begin to reflect the nature of love without any of the uh accompanying noise and vibration that we're normally used to he said that it was a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times that we are strictly obliged to adhere to god by action in the time of action and as by prayer in the season of prayer so this idea that that that we live a compartmentalized life is a false idea your life is a unity it's a wholeness you don't need to set this time for family this time for friends this time for study this time for this this time for that you take the moment as it is and through that moment whatever is the necessity of the moment is the type of practice that you're doing if it's the practice of patience because you're working with a toddler then you practice that patience for the love of the divine in the charming face of the toddler if it's meditation that you're sitting in the in the temple at the moment then by all means use that as your practice in the moment if it's sitting on the bus use that time for contemplation you know if it's if it's walking down the street use that time for service always be looking for the face of your divine in every moment and use whatever method of worship is appropriate in that moment so there is no difference there is no compartmentalizing there's no such thing as a secular life and a spiritual life actually sanskrit as far as i know does not have a word for secular secular just means forgetfulness you forgot god so you're secular it's not a thing in and of itself so we're trying to constantly remember god which is to constantly remember our nature to constantly remember what makes us whole what what makes us whole what helps us to realize our wholeness let's say that way so it's a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times that we are as strictly obliged to adhere to god by action in the time of action as by prayer in the season of prayer that his prayer was nothing else but a sense of the presence of god this is a beautiful thing because in your prayer there's nothing to accomplish in your practice there's nothing to achieve uh i've mentioned this before in a book by suzuki a buddhist a zen buddhist monk he writes in the very first chapter very first paragraph of his first chapter that the buddhist does not sit in meditation in order to realize god the buddhist sits in meditation to know that he is already realized and that is why there's nothing to achieve in your practice so it's not a goal-oriented practice where you're imagining some future day where all the conditions are perfect and boom it's a great day because you realize god you'll never get there if your day of realization is at some point in the future your practice is to sit here and now and to become aware of the presence of god and to enjoy now what you hope to enjoy when you realize god assume that intimacy assume that wholeness assume that contentedness assume that bliss and in time you will become aware of it when the mind stops its machinations so this prayer prayer itself is nothing else but a sense of the presence of god his soul being at that time insensible to everything but divine love so insensible why would he say it like that because at that time to become aware of the presence of god you have to do away with all of the sensible things the things coming in through your senses those things which are seemingly can i say that i want to say seemingly not of god because they're changing in their temporary both of which are not qualities of of the divine but of course we know all of them resolve into god so in some sense they are god but in our times of prayer it's putting aside all of the things that are temporary and all of the things that are changing in order to become aware of that part of yourself that is neither in order to become aware of the awareness within you to become aware of that part of you that has been still and consistent through all of the changes in your body and mind and life to become aware when you're walking down the street not of all of the changing things going on and dancing in the world in front of you but to walk down the street with the emphasis on that part of you that's not changed that is observing the change instead of identifying with the part that's engaged in the change in one sense you get pulled into the frenetic world in the other sense you remain separate like a duck you know in the water you know the water doesn't stick to the duck so that's that idea of living in the world but not being of the world you're not you're not running or engaged in the changing aspects you are silent and still in the unchanging self observing the world of change and in that in that what you're actually sensing that that part of you that's not changing uh well it's the soul for one but it's divine love its nature is that love of god sachitananda so it is the unconditioned perfect love of god that you're sensing it is the existence that god has given you that you're sensing and it's that knowing not the sense of information but that sense of knowing that intuited sense that that is that is the cause of all religion actually it's that part of us that we know something what that is we don't quite know what to do with because all of our attempts to grasp it objectify it own it master it leave us grabbing empty air we can't it's not of that nature we can't find it in that way and so that's why he talks about this in the sense of relaxing into god you're not going to get to you're not going to see him and grab him you know you're not going to find an attribute and i got him you're going to have to let go of all attributes and back into him back into the lap of mother is how i like to think of it because god can't be objectified so you sit there and you shut down everything else and you just enjoy what actually remains which is the presence of god whose nature is pure love existence and intelligence so his prayer is nothing but the sense of the presence of god his soul being at that time insensible to everything but divine love and that when the appointed times of prayer were passed he found no difference because he still continued with god praising and blessing him with all of his might so that he passed his life in continual joy yet hoped that god would give him somewhat to suffer so that he would grow stronger you know so he of his own of his own opinion here it took him 15 excuse me took him 15 years of practice in order to come to this awareness in a in a lasting way a dependable kind of way where he didn't forget god from moment to moment so there is an amount of practice in not forgetting not because it's necessary but because you're forgetting you see that's the difference you've already got what you're going to remember you just need to remember it so your practice isn't to attain your practices to be aware to be aware of your awareness so that this this this idea of life as practice is very important if you take away oh i have a practice and you talk about it as if it's an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon or maybe a maybe a third hour at lunch time or something instead of viewing your practice as a thing that you do on regular on a regular basis understand that your life is your practice the way that you live is your practice and it's never over the presence of god is in and through it all and that the tasks at hand are the mode of ritual that you're employing at that moment to remember god to remember and become aware of this constant sense of love which is in the atmosphere around us all the time this atmosphere of knowledge you know that all all knowledge comes from within it doesn't come from outside you know you you look at the who who was the great scientist that was in a bathtub and realized something it's in eureka and jumped up anyway some story from science in eighth grade is it euclid who is it euclid okay we'll say it's euclid if you're listening to the recording and i'm wrong forgive me but it's this notion that it comes from within we're looking at our mind we're watching the mind and the truth is revealed oh my god there it is it didn't come from outside it comes through contemplation it comes through inner awareness all knowledge is within you and is accessible to you to the disciplined and quiet mind you listen to that movie the ramanuja the great mathematician you know that all of his knowledge about mathematics came through a spiritual practice just meditations he just he just saw it there's uh on youtube there's if once you go down the rabbit hole of youtube there's all of everything in there but one of the things that i got into one day is these uh what do they call they it's not a very politically correct term but these idiot savants they call them these folks that that you know have have different gifts this one man young man could listen to any symphony and play every single instrument on the piano in real time just having heard it a single time he could also write a symphony as fast as he could write you know and they were there they they are performed even still i know then this movie in this particular documentary the boston symphony was playing one of his creations that he had just done for the camera you know just writing as fast as he could and when asked about it how do you write that he says i don't have to write it i close my eyes and i go somewhere in my mind and i hear it and i write down what i hear i heard one of one of the great novelists talk about that same thing that she would get into a state of mind where the novel already existed she would watch the story happen and she would write it down as it came along so this is quite a mystery you know definitely for those who enjoy those kinds of things that god in his wholeness is ever present and you have access to this divine knowledge this divine enlightenment to the degree that you can stay aware of awareness to the degree that you can keep the mind from wandering and becoming interested in other trivial changing things constantly so he would praise god and bless him with all of his might now this indicates relationship you know after you've been being aware of god uh and treating your life as a dance with god inevitably that becomes relationship your life becomes relating to god at every moment and in that relationship there's going to be conversation there's going to be talk there's going to be shared experience and so to get in that habit of sharing your experiences you see something beautiful point it out you're walking with the divine mother show her tell her why you think it's beautiful tell her what you appreciate know that it's her you know ask her to give you more insight perhaps or whatever whatever it leads you to but use your life to manifest the relationship with love to manifest a relationship with being a relationship of clarity and authenticity that you praise him you bless him with all of your might that's that focus that he's talking about with all of your might you know when jesus says love the lord your god he doesn't say just say oh love god that's the most important thing he says love the lord your god with all of your heart with all of your soul with all of your strength and with all of your mind it's like just hold back nothing and do that hold back no vestige of your life experience from the divine now that's challenging because you're going to get yourself involved in vices what do you do normally we fall into ignorance what is that we ignore the presence of god you know we make room for our vice by ignoring god and allowing ourselves to go where we know we don't need to go to a place that we know ultimately hurts otherwise we wouldn't have the need to hide from god at the moment and incidentally you know that story of the garden of eden which is continually happening that when you when you do what you know is not helpful to yourself the first thing born is fear you know immediately adam and eve ran and hid from god when they heard him or her walking in the cool of the day so they run and hide so when you feel that need to to hide from the thought of god you need to do what brother lawrence does stop immediately if you're doing something displeasing to the self stop it if you're not doing something that you should be doing that's pleasing to the self do it don't hesitate just make the correction voice your apology and keep going don't give it a second thought don't let it become a big deal just keep going but stay that course praising and blessing him with all his might so he passed life in a continual joy yet hoped that god would give him somewhat to suffer so that he should grow stronger see there's a perspective right there that a life living in the presence of god is a life one without fear it's a life of joy and it's a life of purpose when bad things happen you're not beaten by them why because you know that they're there to make you stronger that they're there to teach you srinish makes that statement all pain is an invitation for inquiry there's an attachment somewhere if there's pain there's attachment if there's pain there's desire so if you feel that pain stop freeze the world and start looking where is it where is this desire where is this attachment and let go of it and go on that we ought once for all heartily to put our whole trust in god and make a total surrender of ourselves to him secure that he would not deceive us so this is that this is that eagleless trust you're not doing this to take care of yourself you're not doing this to get to heaven you're not doing this to feel good about you know yourself it's like you're doing this in a relationship with the divine you're doing everything out of love for the divine and for the divine and we have completely surrendered our sense of self to the divine we don't have a will separate from the divine will that if if god wills it we do it no questions asked so we make a total surrender of ourselves to god and a whole trust in the process life is going to be okay this is going to work out yes i just lost my job yes my bank account is empty yes this yes that yes the other nonetheless i will not be broken i know that the divine will is love itself and that i will learn to see that i will be shown all of the aspects of love from all of its perspective points and i'm going to recognize it so it's that knowing that the universe will not deceive the universe does not destroy for destruction's sake the universe is god this moment is divine and the point of this moment is you and that relationship that we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of god this is this is the one that always brings to mind you know that young love i think i talked about that last week also but it's something to remember the first time you know that that you fall in love or that you feel that amorous feeling when the when the when that in innocence of youth is still there and it's just all intoxicating and you just do little things you know for me it was this young girl young woman i have like fourth grade denise denise fisher if you're listening uh denise fisher you know and uh it was my first it was my first amorous feeling in my life and i was so intoxicated by it i just i just remember you know wanting to pass notes you know wanting to just bump her in the hallway you know just always trying to think i'd write these little cards these little notes and i would try to do perfect handwriting with like calligraphy and all kinds of crazy things and you know press flowers and dry them in books to give them so you're just always thinking about things to do for your love is that missing in your spiritual life do you have that intoxication with the divine yet if not it's coming but write those cards and leave them on your shrine you know say sassy things to god every now and then you know my favorite one is saint teresa of avila when she's taking something to a convent or bringing something back from the city or something it's pouring rain outside and the road is all rutted and the the cart falls over and the wheel breaks or something and it's pouring rain and uh she's she's yelling at god and she hears this voice in inside inside of her defending himself god says to her this is the way i treat my friends and she says to him she says to him well it's no wonder you have so few of them he's like that's relationship right that's relationship with the beloved where you you're fi you're gonna fight you're going to argue you're going to work things out you're going to not see things the way that you should see things you're in a relationship now fortunately for you or unfortunately you may seem in the moment you're in a relationship with a perfect partner so it's always your fault and that's hard to deal with until you remember the perfect partner has perfect grace so he's not holding your faults against you he's not keeping track of how many times you've had to apologize so that we ought not to be weary of doing these little things for god inspiration is not weird does not bring you to weariness there's two ways to live a spiritual life with god in front of you inspiring you calling you or god behind you with a whip driving you if god is behind you driving you but the sense of going to hell or a sense of having to get it right or to repent of your horrible self you're going to get weary you're going to burn out it's going to break down at some point you need to put god in front you need to be called through inspiration because of the love that he she has for you because of that divine relationship you are divine you act accordingly so keep god in front and keep it inspiring always accept grace always rely on mercy always know your place at the table has nothing to do with your performance you are there because of the love of god you're here because of the love of the divine and let that be your inspiration let the perfection of god's love be the reason that you want to grow let the perfection of god's mercy be the reason you want to learn compassion keep god in front so do not be weary of doing little things for the love of god who regards not the greatness of the work which is a great relief most of us are not doing great work [Laughter] we're painting rooms we're taking out trash we're cooking lunches you know we're sweeping driveways we're doing things like that the vast majority of us are not doing big and great works he says god does not regard the greatness of the work but the love with which it is performed the love with which it's performed so whatever you're doing do it with love do it with your full heart and your full mind because that's how you practice the presence of god that's how you bring the mind to the here and now because shoddy work is because your mind is elsewhere if you're trying to get something finished your mind is elsewhere if you're trying to get to the next thing your mind is elsewhere be where you are be fully present and do it because of love whether it's sweeping the driveway because you know how are you going to make that the lords well it is the lord well then why isn't he sweeping it he is but he's using your hands you know you work it through until you come to the truth until you come to an understanding of how how things how god manifests so he does not regard the greatness of your work which is also really nice because if you're just the unfortunate soul who goes to work in a cubicle farm every day you know and immediately i'm thinking back to my days i worked in a human resource office you know 23 people and there was a point at that time i had no spiritual life at that point and i can remember you know thinking really i used to dream of being a rock star when i was at 13 you know me and my friend brigitte used to draw up these posters advertising our concerts for in town so we take this wrapping you know the paper that you used when you're moving that just cheap big white sheets of paper that you wrinkle around everything we would take those we'd write these big things up the grandeur that we were going to achieve someday and my someday arrived and i was working in a cubicle farm for the csu and i was thinking oh my god what happened what happened was god was going to show me something beautiful that it's not the grandeur of your life it's not the greatness of the things you're doing it's the love with that with which you're doing them so always understand your primary job in the world is not what it appears to be it's loving doing what you're doing with the tension it's loving the broom holy mother you know that that monk who was sweeping up and when he's finished he just tossed the broom aside and mother was like what are you doing is that room not a part of our family is it not necessary for its function how can you show disrespect like that so it's having that level of awareness god in the broom needs to be respected and honored god in the kitchen god in the garbage disposal god in the trash can god in the bathroom all of these things are worthy of attention worthy of focus worthy of presence are divine in their nature and we have to work toward that we have to come to terms with them the love with which it is performed that we should not wonder if in the beginning we often failed in our endeavors but that at last we should gain a habit which will naturally produce its acts in us without our care and to our exceeding great delight yeah so he says don't be amazed that you're failing don't be shocked that you're not doing it that you're not aware of god at all times but you just keep going until you create a habit of remembering until you've got enough practice behind you to where the it starts to do it on its own you know that which is the reason you know they say pick a place in time for your meditation there's a reason for that if you meditate every day at eight o'clock if you do that for x amount of time at eight o'clock your mind is going to be ready to meditate and if you happen to burn the same type of incense every time you sit in the same chair in the same spot in your same room to do your meditation the mind is going to be like ah the chair ah the smell of that incense ah it's eight o'clock and it's got three immediate helps to bring it to that place of meditation so live a regular a regulated life that's helpful that's in the sense i think saint teresa or did we read that last night anyway somewhere in the last 24 hours i've read that you know to to to uh live a a an ordered life full of meaning full of love so don't don't be wonderful of wonder if you fail in your endeavors what we're trying to do is create a habit which will naturally produce the act in us without our care and to our exceeding great delight when you find when you find your you're starting to enjoy your practice when you're when you find that your depression is starting to lift when you're finding that that the thought of god is starting to be pretty cool starting to be pretty powerful actually when you start experiencing those things and your habits are carrying you closer to them great delight is what you will feel inside a great intimacy finally with your beloved will be there and there will be nothing but joy on your part and gladness i remember one of the most touching things to me uh when i took my sannyas valves i was sitting there and you know doing the the performance where you're you're you've got a ton of these little tulsi leaves and you're dipping each one of them into a ghee and you're chanting a a shloka where you're renouncing everything one thing at a time you start with the gross world you know your family's in there your friends are in there your clothes are in there your money's in there your dreams your asteroids then you move to the mental things and at the end you're going you're throwing in even the impetus of thought even the impetus of thought is being offered up and i remember this feeling of such a sweet intimacy with god as we were picking up each of my leaves and putting it in the ghee and throwing it in that fire and i remember at one point i was provoked to to tears because i was god made me aware of the three times that i almost left that i almost threw in the towel in vanessa in my spiritual life and almost walked out the door and at that moment enjoying that intimacy enjoying that moment with the divine where i was throwing these things into the fire to realize and to come to terms with the fact that i almost missed that i almost missed that and to remember that in this spiritual life that there will come a time for every bit of pain that you've invested in this effort every bit of effort you've put into your prayer or to your meditation there's going to come a point where in joy you're going to be brought to tears for the fact that you were discouraged because now you see and now you understand what the mother was doing where she was taking you and you see in hindsight the beauty of a life well lived you see in hindsight the strength of decisions well made that were based on on self-control that were based on discipline that were based on love that this is how you live a fulfilling life not in doing big and grand things where you're you can't be done without but in quietly doing small things nested in love motivated and inspired by a perfect lover that you are dancing with at every moment that the whole substance of religion is faith hope and charity by the practice of which we become united to the will of god that all besides is indifferent and to be used as a means that we may arrive at our end and be swallowed up therein by faith and charity by faith and love this trust this complete resignation to our higher nature this complete resignation to the manifestation of love in the world that every act is dedicated to that our whole mind our whole body is given over to this love that we that we that that religion only requires those three things of us faith hope and charity faith in perfect love faith that leads us to learn what perfect love is hope that ability to step out and stand on perfect love to be able to trust a relationship with perfect love that's different from anything that we can see or taste or study in this world a perfect love that's from the nature from the source and charity that good will that good will for everything for everyone i had a friend share practice with you on time i tried it for a while and if i hadn't forgotten about it i'd still be trying it these days but this notion of going along and just praying random good prayers when you're going down the street you see some woman you see some man you see some kid you just verbalize in your mind a positive prayer for them oh ma give them a great afternoon oh ma you know take care of their troubles just go around constantly instead of you know doing the things we normally do on our minds go around consciously thinking positive things and praying for positive things everywhere around you that's how you'll grow to become aware of your opportunities for service that you're missing as you walk blindly through the day living a life of awareness will make sure that you don't miss an opportunity to love to serve to worship so the whole substance of our undertaking here is faith hope and charity by the practice of which we will become united with the divine in will in presence in being in character in all of the different aspects that all things are possible to him who believes everything can be done if you see these stories mostly in the scriptures and quite often if you find a good a good old sadhu you could poke the honeycomb as swami actually was swami vadernanda used to say that poke the honeycomb you know to find an old sadhu and start having him tell stories of his experiences with the divine and that's where you find these stories where things happen in a particular way to those who who trust to those who know the divine you know and you can also go you can go to the scriptures and just see you know there's zacchaeus who climbs up in a tree to get a better look at jesus as jesus is walking down the street amongst the crowds and jesus just stops and looks up to him and says hey zacchaeus get down here i'm going to come to your house for lunch today now what's zakiyah is thinking he doesn't even know me but what's going on these are things that begin to happen when a life is lived like this god manifests quinky dinks happen you know coincidences that shouldn't have happened you know they begin to happen when taqwar wanted to build that fence around the panchavati and he goes out and suddenly there's this big brush of the waves on the ganges and all of a sudden all of the wood all of the tools all the nails all the rope everything that was necessary for building a fence around the panchavity washes up on the banks of the ganges that's when you know that you're coming close to unifying with the will of god it's not that miraculous things are happening it's that god's will and your will are starting to align and the universe is manifesting as you wish it to manifest because you're becoming pure the ego is not in charge of the things that you're pursuing and that you're doing that might be contrary to the will of the of the universe so this this is what we're going for that all things are possible to him who believes that they are less difficult to him who hopes all right because we've got that optimism we've got that trust and that they are more easy to him who loves and still more easy to him who perseveres in the practice of these three virtues so everything's possible to you to those who believe everything's left less difficult to those who hope and everything is easy to him who loves because love is the best of motivations do something for love you will always do the best at it it will always be pleasant and it's still more easy to him who perseveres who just has made that decision no matter what i'm going to see this through suffer as i may i'm going to practice these three things i will always believe in the beloved not in the sense of like his existence but in the sense of trusting that inner voice trusting that relationship with the divine trusting love trusting intelligence trusting existence and having that hope you know because of god's love this is going to work because of god's perfection i'm going to learn to meditate i'm going to see him someday i'm going to know these things and still more easy to those who persevere that the end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become in this life the most perfect worshipers of god that we can possibly be as we hope to be through all eternity so that's that's the end of of the point of life to become in this life the most perfect worshipers of god and that brings us back to that point what is worship worship is a response to the presence of god that's what worship is worship is a response to the presence of god so you sit and become aware of the presence of the beloved and your life will naturally be worship you'll be deeply moved deeply moved by the things of god all right we're at 8 30. anybody have any questions sure somebody online has a question first question vedic christianity what is it well it's a play in words really the vedas you know there's lots of ways to answer that and i would answer it differently based on who i was talking to which makes it a tough one to do in general vedic christianity is talking about christianity within the context of the sanatana dharma within the context of there being a singular religion of which all religions are a manifestation so that religion is one so it's taking a look at christianity and not limiting ourselves to the ideas of just a single book but bringing in the idea of universal knowledge bringing in the idea of understanding from all of the world scriptures to to find the depth to find the intent to find the meaning to understand what's being written uh in the context of world religion in the context of the sanatana dharma and not letting it be isolated uh usually religion isolated you can always attach that to an ego because ego likes division and so when we begin to think that our watch is right to no one else's is it's not because we have a special watch it's because you're an egotist and that's what fundamentalism is every religion has fundamentalists no one religion gets to claim them fundamentalism is when you mix your ego with your religion when you mix your ego with spiritual life you get fundamentalism and every every religion has its mystics what is that every religion has those people who have turned to the heart and understood the most important thing is love love of god love of our neighbor that truth is one though the sages have called it by many names and that sincerity and earnestness are the two most important components for spiritual practice if you take those three things together you're a mystic which means what you'll sit down at the table and enjoy a hearty meal with the greats from any religion because you all will share in common what are the most important things in life so that's what vedic christianity is uh you know my ideas and my ideas but i guess my having boiled the idea of the vedas as a foreigner to to india anyway for all of these years i really to me the vedas they're a set of books of course a set of practices a set of experiments a set of learnings from the great sages the rishis but at the same time what they were doing was crystallizing this moment they lived the rishis those seven mythical or perhaps real who knows rishis of old who went to the mountaintop to find out what life was what the what is truth that they were sitting in the same moment that you and i are sitting in right now because this moment has no beginning and no end so they sat in this moment and they distilled from this moment the truth that's contained in this moment if this moment is god it contains all of the truth it contains all of the scriptures it contains all of the presence it contains all of everything and so vedic to me is the ability to sit in this empty room and to distill from it wisdom to distill from the silence of it relationship and awareness with the presence of the beloved of god so vedic christianity is to sit with the tenants of christianity and to distill from them the truth of the sanatana dharma that dharmak which exists in every religion which is the reason for the lasting nature of all scripture yeah there's a this is my cue for this thought is that in the book of hebrews in the new testament in the christian bible it says that all scripture uh is is uh is helpful for teaching for reproof for learning and growing up as a as a christian i was always told that that meant the bible the problem in my adulthood is that i realized that the bible wasn't compiled for another 400 years after that scripture was written in the book of hebrews and so that it couldn't have been talking about the bible because the bible didn't exist and it simply says all scripture now someone could argue oh they meant the jewish scripture perhaps they did but perhaps they meant all scripture perhaps they meant what it says that all scripture is beneficial to you to learn to know of the divine things to grow in your relationship with the beloved and to come to your realization as to what and who you are and what your nature is so looking at religion in that context is what i call vedic christianity in this in this instance and the ideas are not mine they're 100 borrowed from sri ramakrishna who who lived these things practiced christianity and found it to be a means of realization practiced different forms of hinduism and found them to be means of realizing god practiced islam you know and found that it was a means of knowing god so he through his life and his practice proved what had been said and written in the vedas eons before that truth is one though the sages have called it by many names so that's what we're playing with for vedic christianity no more questions all right jaima be well do your practice love do the most important things love god love each other establish yourself in truth and be sincere and earnest and go forward you