In plain words
Even a mother may be at a distance, but God is near to you. There is no one else as near as God is. Very nearest and dearest. Far more near than a mother. We are pushing away the divinity that is so near and dear. This itself is the Ajñāna within us. If this Ajñāna is to go, we must foster Prema. You yourself are God. All religions have taught this very thing. Christians too taught just this. Zoroastrians too taught this very thing. What did Christ teach? He said, ‘I am the messenger of God.’ This messenger stayed at a distance. He was a messenger. After some time He said, ‘I am the son of God.’ To say Son of God means the relationship has grown. After a while longer He said, ‘I and My Father are one.’ That is what the people of Bhārata called Dvaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Advaita and the turīya state. The turīya state is one of oneness. In the Muslim religion they have been saying this very thing. I am in the light. You have no freedom of your own. After some time, the light is in me; after that, I am the light: you yourself are the light. You must go on recognising this very principle, the truth that says, ‘I myself am God, I myself am God.’ I am man. That is only the form; you are not man. You are not the body. You are not the mind. You are not the Buddhi. You are not the citta. Nor the antaḥkaraṇa: you are just you. It is my kerchief. My kerchief is seperate from me. My flower. Flower is seperate from me. My body. Body is seperate from me. My mind. Mind is seperate from me. I am not body, I am not mind, I am not senses. Who am I? I am I. All these are merely matters. You are the master. So master the mind be a master mind. You must recognise that kind of truth and live by it. Only then will these sufferings not be there at all. How many kinds of suffering Prahlāda went through! Not one of them touched him, his body, at all. Even when hardships of that kind come, you must think of God all the more. You must love God beyond measure. Prema has no bounds at all. This Prema has no limit at all. No one can describe this Prema. There is no language for describing it. This worldly description belongs to some language. This is of Prakṛti. But what belongs to the heart is Prema.