Before starting on our investigation, let us be clear about the distinction between religion and spirituality.

Religion, as we commonly understand it, has two aspects: its body and its spirit. The temples, churches, etc. and the holy scriptures are the body of religion. As our body contains within it the inner Self, so these outer manifestations contain within them the spirit of religion, the spiritual core or kernel of religion. That spiritual content is the essence of religion. That essence lives in the message and the teachings of religion. That is the inside of religion, not the outside. Spirituality consists in giving more importance to the message and the teachings of the religion rather than the outside of religion. It is spirituality that turns religion into a reality in our lives. We imbibe it and live it. 

Too ardent a devotion to the body of religion may lead to religiosity which takes us 180 degrees away from spirituality. Spirituality demands an authenticity on our part, an inner honesty and a readiness to live the teachings. The words and sentences are the body of teachings so they touch the body and the mind, not the spirit. But the inner teaching contained in the words is the spirit of the teaching. Once we get it, we are “It.” The spirit catches the spirit! 

Once a student was carrying books on Vedanta, which teaches the highest philosophy, unity of the soul and God. He was very proud of carrying those books. On his way his teacher met him and asked him, “Why are you carrying so many books?” 
He said “Sir, I am carrying books on Vedanta.” 
 The teacher replied, “So many books on Vedanta?” 
“Yes sir.” Whatever was in the library I got them.” He was very fond of studying religious scriptures from a very early age. 
The teacher looked at those books and said, “I really appreciate your love of philosophy.” 
When the boy started moving away, the teacher stopped him and said, “Do one thing. Go home. Put all those books on your bed, because they are so many maybe your desk can’t contain them. Close your eyes, pick up any book. Open it. And again keeping your eyes closed, put your finger anywhere on the open page. Whatever you read, make it your own. And then return all the books. That is all there is about learning—live it, not only read it.”

Some mountaineers or stunt men clearly put their lives on the line pursuing their respective object of passion. Is it too much, then, to expect the same from a spiritual person—to put his life on the line pursuing his or her inner convictions? It has happened. Spiritual people have chosen to be burnt alive, hanged, or to be put on the cross. They have given spirituality a seal of authenticity.

The problem is you never put this question to yourself, “Am I authentic? Am I honest when I say I believe in something?” If you look at the life you have already led, you will find you have accepted beliefs and concepts from others. They are not yours; they are borrowed. When they do not suit you, or don’t satisfy your interest, you forget them. Then you pick up another belief left on the roadside like a used garment. You should remember, you are your belief, nothing more, nothing less. Unless you make your belief run through your blood, move through your acts, vibrate in your thoughts, become “you,” you are a fake.

Why many of us end up as fake is because we take things for granted. Take God for granted and you have already killed your God. With this attitude you can destroy the greatest principle in a second, kill the most beautiful idea in half a second, and turn a divine relationship into a nightmare within a split second. This is not your fault. Since your birth you have been living with myriad philosophies. Everyone you encounter uses a cliché for a truth, a proverb for a personal experience. They use great Truths realized by others for their personal egoist purpose, which is a blasphemy, a camouflage to cover their own ignorance. So let us face it. Let us be real to ourselves.

We are not encouraged to ask basic questions. From basic, I mean pertaining to the purpose of our life. Your father will promptly explain to you how clouds are made, but look at you as if you are a freak, if you ask him, “Dad, “Why were you born on earth?”

It is important we ask ourselves all the questions in regard to the basic realities of life. We should not rest until we get the right answers. When our intellectual inquisitiveness has been well answered and we have reached some convincing truth, then, we have to breathe it, live it, be it.

Today is the anniversary of the Mahasamadhi of Swami Muktananda, when he left his physical body to permanently merge into his own eternal divinity. I was sitting with him and others and questioning within myself, “What is there for me to learn?” Then I heard him say, “I have only one thing to teach—your God lives in you, as you, for you.” You can’t take such an astounding statement for granted.

At this stage of our inquiry it would be appropriate to split this statement into four parts: 1. God lives 2. in me, 3. as me, 4. for me.

God lives
The inherent assumption here is that God “is.”
Most of those who assert God does not exist, object to his existence as defined by various religions, God as a personification of justice, mercy, wisdom, etc., judging men for their acts and dispensing justice, punishing or rewarding. That is only one perception offered for those who do not want to delve deeper into this concept. “Essentially,” God is not a person. He exists as consciousness. I do not think any sensible atheist will object to the proposition that consciousness exists.

Assuming God is consciousness, we automatically accept his existence. Thus, whenever I mention “God” it should be understood as meaning consciousness.

God lives in me
God is everywhere. He is not only in the church or temple but also in us because He is everywhere. God is in our bedroom. God is right there when you are making love. God is right there when you are telling a lie. God is right there when you are speaking the truth. God is right there when the thief is stealing or when the saint is meditating. Thus, God is in you, whatever or whosoever you are. Whatever you are doing, He is right there in you doing it. In fact, your ego of a doer pretends to be doing something, but ego cannot even exist without consciousness being there first.

When you meditate long, you will find Him as a flame of light as big as a thumb. When you will meditate on Him, to reach Him you take the help of the kundalini. Do you know what the Holy Ghost is? Jesus became Jesus Christ because he was introduced to God through the Holy Ghost, so the Holy Ghost is placed by the side of Jesus. He said, “I and my Father are one”, because that is what the Holy Ghost did. The Holy Ghost brings the soul and the supreme soul together and that Holy Ghost is in your body. If it is elsewhere, again, how will it help? It must be somewhere in your body. And that is explained by the Indian sages. It is called kundalini power, the power that sleeps at the base of your spine, the power that rises from there, purifying all the charkas until reaching the last one, the sahasrara. Then everything unfolds before you—all the mysteries, all the secrets, everything about God. You merge in Him, then you’re not different from Him. Although you have not merged in Him, He is in you working through you, helping you through kundalini to find your God in you.

God lives in me, as me
So when you say “God is in me, as me” then you reach this conclusion—he is functioning through you. He has borrowed your hands. He is consciousness. He has no hands. He has no legs. He has no eyes. He is just something that is ever present, everywhere without a body as supreme intelligence. So he has come into your body and is using your body and that idea gives such a vast experience of divinity. God is doing things through you because you don’t have the power to raise your hand without His power. So the power is not yours. And if God lives in you, he lives as this power. That is the right thinking that will lead to making God real for you in every moment and activity of your life. 

God lives in you as your consciousness and your power. What does he want? Why does he do it? Why is he living in you, as you? He is intelligence. He is a supreme intelligence. Look into the human body. You will find stupendous intelligence in every nerve, vein, artery, complex organs, etc. It is mind boggling. So what you see in the human body is God. God is intelligence in every little thing. An atom—look at the secret of the atom. Yet we do not know even 1/10th of it. We only know the tiniest bit of the universe, only as little as can be seen through our toy instruments. But the creation is endless. We know nothing about the rest of it. Whatever that vastness is, is God. And here, he is confined in your body. For some purpose he is living in you in your body calling Himself by your name. Someone calls your name, God raises His head and says, “Hello.” See the beauty of it? You are not there, he is. 

Why is He doing it? Have we ever realized the uniqueness that is characteristic of you? Is there any person in the whole universe exactly like you? There are no two leaves that are identical. I gave a handful of sand to my friend who is a scientist. She looked at it under a microscope and said, each grain of sand is totally different from the other when you look at it 1,000 times bigger. See how special you are. That specialty or uniqueness is God. There is no one like God, from that I mean there is no one like you. That uniqueness that you have, either you take it with great respect or destroy it by taking it for granted. When you take a great thought and put it in your drawer and say, “Yes, it is safely there,” it will only collect dust. Take it out, show it the sunlight of your understanding, and you will know God lives in your uniqueness. 

God lives in me, as me, for me
So if he’s living in us, the question comes, “What does he want?” He must have some reason because he is intelligent. He never does anything non-intelligently. He has given us this body which is so intelligently built it must have some purpose, and that purpose must be for you, not for your neighbor. So your God wants to do something through you which has nothing to do with anyone else. He can achieve that purpose only through your acts, through your speech, through your thoughts—so on and so forth. So suppose you understand it finally, that God is living through you and wants to express himself through you. So it is clear, he is in you as you, for you, to help you realize your real nature that is Consciousness.

Once a great master was giving an audience to some of his devotees. A man who was very well known in the film industry sat near his feet, quite close, rather too close to the master as his habit was. He was heard saying to the master, “Sir, could you help me meet with God? I feel no rest or joy in my life. I think I can hardly wait for Him any more. Please!”
The master kept quiet. The man kept entreating him persistently. Finally, the master turned towards him and softly said, “You are not waiting for God. God is waiting for you, in your heart. You are waiting for this meeting to be over so you may go back to your car and drink your beer. You are also eager to go back to your girlfriend. Your God is not interested in beer and has no girlfriend. Your God is yours. He has you and only you. He waits for you, and for ages has been waiting for you to just look in his direction.” The master gave him a momentary piercing look and dismissed him.
Later the man in a nearby restaurant said amidst tears, “The Master was right. He saw through my hypocrisy.”

We talk endlessly of God. We have to ask ourselves one question, “How authentic are we?”

Thus far, we have been given the address of God, shown a map of our journey and the direction we have to go. But the map does not show how the journey will feel or the essential mental or spiritual posture we have to adopt in order to get in touch with the spirit of our pilgrimage. What should we do to turn our search for God into a living experience of God? An experience of God has to be there, not only when we terminate our journey (because there is no point of termination), but there has to be a constant flowing experience throughout the journey right from this moment of starting. 

What do we do if we want to experience the sun? The essential nature of the sun is to give light and warmth. So, we go out and stand in the sunlight. The essential nature of God is to give unconditional love to one and all. We have only to stand there in the ever-flowing love and do nothing but experience it. Remember, the sun has no favorites. God gives love to all.

That is what we have to do. If we want to experience God, the easiest way is to give our love, not only to those we choose or like, but to all. Unconditional love is the kingdom of God. You are in that kingdom. You should give love to others and pray for them. Certainly do it for your family and friends, but extend it to include all those who you think are strangers or enemies. The moment you let the rose-white rays of your unconditional love wrap around all creatures, big or small, all living things under the sky, your search for God will bear fruit. 

There is no other practice or exercise more effective than to give love unconditionally to all in bringing about a transformation in the quality of your emotions and raising your consciousness to a higher level. Practice it day and night. At work, ignore the negative emotional vibrations coming at you from others. Do not oppose them, just ignore them and visualize a rose-white light going out of you and touching all the people around. Soon you will observe a change of heart among all people.

The same unconditional love should go to your friends and relatives without making any distinction between those you like and those you don’t. That is exactly the way God loves all beings. In this way you will understand and follow Baba Muktananda’s next teaching, “see God in each other.” In such a state of selfless, unconditional love, you will not have to look for God, God will look for you. That is the message of Baba Muktananda.
Thank you.