nn edited,ss edited;1.4.8 spirt. in practice

Q: How can one become permanently and deeply established in Divine flow rather than experiencing that flow only intermittently?

Divinity cannot be summarized in one experience or one feeling. Divinity exists in all feelings and in all experiences. So, if a person says, "I have just experienced Divinity and want that experience to become permanent," they may not know what they are saying. They may have experienced some delightful state in which they feel exuberant. In this state they may feel very happy and blissful, they may feel love for all beings, they may feel they are in each and every molecule of the universe and they want this experience to become permanent. They may think, "My Lord is right here with me. I feel His loving kindness through and through and tears are coming in my eyes," and they want this experience to be permanent.

Yet there is misunderstanding, because they think that when they stub their toe on the chair it is not the experience of God. They think when their employer yells at them it is not the experience of God. They think that when it is raining and raining and the car is stuck in the mud it is not the experience of God, it is a worldly difficulty which they must overcome. Then again, they may have the experience of God and again say, "Oh Lord, oh Lord, my experience of You is intermittent. I want that I should permanently experience your Divine presence." But Lord will say to them, "Oh my child, I am permanently with you, but you are ignoring me; you are not recognizing my presence." They feel that the Lord is not with them, that they are immersed in worldly thinking and then, when they meditate, they experience Guru and mind becomes elevated and they feel Divinity is again with them. But then they must do this and that and then it goes away. What to do? What to do?

I say there are three basic problems that cause this sense of irregularity. One is not recognizing the form of God. You think, "Only this experience is God, and that one is not. In this experience I feel God, but that experience I do not." You think that you are with Divinity in one experience and not in another. This is the first problematic situation.

Secondly, there is attachment. "I want only the blissful, pleasing experiences of this human body. I never want to experience the pain and suffering of this body. I never want to have any want or woe in my life." This is the second problematic experience, this desire to maintain happiness and avoid suffering. So, first there is the problem of thinking there is that which is Divine and that which is not, and secondly there is the problem of wanting only happiness and avoiding suffering.

There is a third problem also which causes this experience of up and down, which is that ideation upon Parama Purus'a is not steady in the mind. In other words, when the car is stuck in the mud you might think, "Ah, the car is stuck in the mud causing me so much suffering and pain. I am apart from Parama Purus'a. I am caught in worldly struggle." Do not think like this. Keep him ever in your mind, continually saying, "It is not a car. Every molecule of this universe is his manifest form, and all the ups and downs of life are only his play."

If the car is stuck in the mud, or if you are in delightful meditation or satsuanga, it is the same. Both are the experience of blessedness. But it is not experienced by you as such because of these three problematic forms of thinking. One, there is differentiation between what is of God and what is not. Two, there is attachment to pleasure and avoidance of pain. And three, there is lack of continual ideation.

Now, how can this be remedied? The remedy is simple. You are to continually ideate upon Parama Purus'a. Continually see that every joy and every pain is His manifestation. You are to immerse yourself so deeply in His vibrational wave that you begin to break the attachment to pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Break down this differentiation between experience, break it down. See that there is only one experience to be had, and all else is but the play of opposites creating illusions in the mind. Live in reality, not in the illusions of the mind. Do not live in the play of opposites. Become one. Make it one - one experience, one reality, one Divinity. There is no inner and outer. There is no joy and pain. Inner and outer do not exist. They are but illusions of temporal experience. In the true reality, they are not existent. There is only one Divine Consciousness manifesting within you and in all that surrounds you. It is but the play of Maya that you see in all of the hills and valleys, the highs and lows of life. Do not accept the play that she puts on. Say, "I do not want the play. I want the One who is behind the play." Go deep inside to the Divinity beyond duality. That is the first solution.

The second solution is to learn to perceive the Divine Being twenty-four hours a day, in both blissful and painful experiences. If you do this, a time will come when even the pain will be bliss. Even though the body may hurt, disease may strike, the mind may experience turmoil, or a hurricane may knock your house down, still you will be Divinely happy, because none of these things will make you feel apart from Divinity. You will see that in weal and woe, and in pleasure and delight, equally you are with him. His beloved presence is there. There is no harm that can come to you, because there is nothing that is outside of God. There is no place you can go where you are not with him. It is only deception that you experience the duality. But, in truth, there is no duality.

So, establish your mind in this unified philosophy. Accept that there is nothing that may happen in your life which is outside of God. You are united in every experience, in every particle of your existence, in every atom of your being with your Divine Progenitor. Know this, accept this, and put aside the misconceptions you have been operating upon. When these misconceptions are put aside and you see the Divinity within you clearly, then you will see that there is no place you may go where you are not in Divine Grace, where the benevolent love of Guru is not drenching your being, where Divinity is not present. There is not one particle of your being that is not Divine. There is not one experience you may have that is not an experience of Divinity. You have accepted some misconceptions, and because of these misconceptions in the mind you experience a world of duality where there are highs and there are lows, where there are moments of ecstasy and moments of agony, where there is that which is within and that which is without, where you are separate from all others.

All of this is based on a misunderstanding. Break this misunderstanding with the pure light of the buddhi, that is of the pinnacled intellect. Use your discrimination to discern the true reality. Surrender every misconception in your mind, every thought of duality, every perception you have had, to your Lord. Give it all, keep none of it for yourself. Say, "Lord, I am yours completely. Wipe the delusions and misconceptions from my mind." Give your mind to your Lord. Then the barriers will begin to dissolve. Don't worry that you experience highs and lows, bliss one moment and pain the next. Think nothing of it. Offer it to God. When pain strikes and you begin to think, "I am not with Him. I do not feel Him," think again. Think, "These thoughts are not real. These thoughts are misconceptions. He is here right now. Even in my pain, He is with me. I surrender everything and accept Him fully in whatever form He chooses to come to me. I love Him. I open my heart one hundred percent."

Then pleasure and pain will become the same. There will be no difference. You will not seek the pleasure and avoid the pain. You will be immersed twenty-four hours a day in the experience of Divinity. It can be done, it will be done. It will happen to you. It is only your misunderstandings that stand between you and this experience. Put aside your misconceptions. Rectify these problematic experiences with continual ideation upon the Supreme, surrender to Guru, and utilization of pinnacled intellect to perceive reality at all times.