Heaven, Hell ? Your Choice !

Good morning.

I say "good morning" because I love to make my videos early in the morning, right after I meditated. I get up in the morning, I meditate, after that I go to the bathroom and freshen up, and then I drink a glass of water, and then I sit down for the videos before I start my normal day; before the world awakens.

This morning, I want to talk about Heaven and Hell. These are pretty old expressions, but I like them, because they carry a lot of emotion. They touch something in us. We don't know what Heaven is, we don't know what Hell is, but we have certain associations with this; like, this what everybody in their lives is looking for, this elusive happiness, this Heaven. It's just a word to describe something we don't know anything about. And that's why I like to use this word, because it represents a feeling, and somehow, every human being knows this: this longing. And the same is true with Hell. Nobody knows what that Hell is supposed to be and where it is, but somehow, we all have some sort of feeling going along with this.

And first, I want to talk a little bit about Hell. I want to tell you about where Hell is and how Hell is. Well... There's something every human being knows. It's a kind of a permanent worrying in life, a kind of anxiety which is underneath everything we experience in life, even in moments where we feel happy, even when we are at a party and everything is great and we just love everything, we never get rid of this anxiety. Somehow, we never get rid of this conviction: "Life is difficult, life is dangerous, and if I'm not careful, if I don't work hard enough, if I don't struggle, if I don't fight hard enough, something terrible will happen." That's basically the compass everybody has built-in, and that rules the feeling most humans have in life. This is called Hell.

There's a saying I read recently from a famous writer. I forgot who that was, but the saying is: "The best prison is that prison where the inmates don't know that they are in prison," because then they don't try to escape. They have no clue that they're in prison. And exactly this is the nature of Hell. Hell is a prison where people don't know that they are in Hell, because it's so normal for them. They believe it must be like this. And that what I just described, this normal state of most human beings, that is so normal for us. We don't know anybody else who feels different. And that's Hell. But we are so used to it that we don't see it. We don't believe that it could be different.

And then, Heaven is the absence of those things. Heaven is the absence of anxiety, of worrying, the absence of dreams we are running after, hopes we are running after; the absence of fighting against something, the absence of this deep fear of life, the absence of this "I" who believes all these things: that's Heaven.

So, Hell is not a place where you might go to if you do the wrong things in life, and Heaven is not a place where you will end up if you do the right things in life. Heaven and Hell are descriptions of states of being, and that's why it's possible that you are in your normal Hell, in your normal life, and another person is right next to you in the same world, in the same situation, in the same circumstances, and he's in Heaven, or she is in Heaven, because she is totally different inside.

Now the thing with Heaven is an interesting one. I just described that Heaven is the absence of agony, the absence of worrying, the absence of problems, the absence of fighting. But the thing is that you are used to your prison, and I tell you: you don't want Heaven. You don't want it. You don't want to let go of your fighting. You are so convinced it is important to fight. You're so convinced that you must solve your problems, then you will be in Heaven. You're so convinced that life is dangerous, the world is dangerous, and that you must change life, you must change the world, you must change the circumstances, then you will be in Heaven.

And that's why everybody's fighting for a better world, that's why everybody is fighting for a better life. Everybody is fighting for happiness, and what they do is bring more fight into the world, bring more struggle into the world, more worrying into the world. It doesn't work, obviously. It never worked, for nobody, but we know nothing else, and we believe this is the only way.

And then, at some point in your life – if you're lucky – you are touched by a human being who is in Heaven, like the fisherman experienced when Jesus was around. The fishermen were at their daily work in the morning, and Jesus was passing by, and they experienced something they never experienced before. Suddenly, inside, they felt something totally new, a peace, a well-being. And then, Jesus just said: "Come, follow me!" And of course, they followed him. Suddenly, they were in peace. They didn't even know where it was coming from.

And then, we want this too. We realize: "This human being, he has something, he is something, I want this too! That's the way!" We know it. And then, we ask: "How, how can I reach where you are?" And it's no secret, he just tells you how to do it. It's totally simple, it's no big deal. He says: "Put God first. Trust. Turn inwards. Pray." He says: "Don't worry." He says: "Why do you worry?" And then we think this is crazy. We want what this being has. We realize: "Wow, this is amazing, this is new. I've never experienced this ever before. Nobody I know is like this. I want this." And yet what he tells us sounds... not impossible, it sounds stupid to us. We believe we know it better. We believe: "this can't be true."

And it's a funny situation: There is this human being who is in Heaven, and when you come into his proximity, you feel it in you. And yet, what he says we can't believe, because it goes against all of our convictions. And I just said: it's actually totally simple to go to Heaven, to be in Heaven. We don't have to go anywhere. The problem, the challenge is not that it's difficult. The challenge is not that it's a long way and you have to find the way and it's difficult and secret. No! It's all very simple and clear. The only challenge is: We don't believe that this is true.

We can't believe it. We just can't believe it. We rather believe our old convictions. They have not led us anywhere. They never let anybody in the world to anything good, and yet we know nothing but holding on to them. We can't believe what a Jesus tells us. We can't believe what a Guru tells us. These beings are in Heaven. They know how it works, and yet we can't believe it. That's the only challenge.

That's why Jesus said... there were people around him who were so touched by him that they actually did what he suggested: they started turning inwards, they started trusting, they stopped worrying. They experienced this peace inside when they were close to Jesus, and they decided: "Ah, I want to look into this direction, no matter what my head tells me, no matter what my thoughts tell me, no matter what I believe, no matter what my neighbors say, no matter what my friends believe. This I want! I go there!" And those people, they became happy. They were in Heaven. They got healed from their depression, from their agony, even from physical illnesses.

And Jesus said: "I didn't heal you. It's your trust that healed you." Your belief... trust and belief are, in that old language, interchangeable. Your ability to not believe the Hell but to choose Heaven instead, although all your old inner convictions, all your thoughts say: "No, no, no! This is stupid, this is unreasonable, that can't be true!" And yet, you trust that what you feel inside, this new Heaven you feel inside, you trust that. That's what healed them. That's what made them happy. That’s what created Heaven for them. And that's the only challenge we have in this life.

You live your life, and you know nothing about these things, but then comes a time where somehow, by some grace, you are touched by a human being who brings this experience to you, and this has happened in your life, otherwise you wouldn't watch this video; or you are so desperate and so in agony that you know no other way in the world and you are forced to turn into this direction, otherwise you wouldn't watch such a video. But no matter how it happened, there is a time in your life where you are being touched by this energy, by this "Heaven possibility", for the first time. And you can't do this. This happens by itself. This happens in your life.

You can't make it happen, but it happens. And then, the only challenge is for you to decide: "Do I do I go back into my worries? They feel so reasonable! I hate them, I suffer from them, but they feel so right. Do I go back into fighting? I hate fighting, I'm so tired, and yet it feels so right and so necessary. I'm so scared to not fight anymore, because then my life will break down." That's how we feel, right? "Or, do I give my attention to this new I feel, this peace, this unexplainable peace? I don't know where it comes from. It feels totally unreasonable. Where does it come from? Why is it here?" And that's the only challenge.

It's not difficult to reach Heaven once you know what you want. And it's an interesting dilemma. Once you are at this point in your life, it's like for a while you have two voices in your being. The one is these old convictions, and you can feel it. It's like: "I can't stop worrying! This is unreasonable! If I don't worry about all these important things in my life, my life will fall apart!" This is how we feel. We are so convinced that this is true. And we are so convinced that the world will become a bad place if we don't fight for the good. So, you have these thoughts, these convictions, in you, and in a way, you have to let them go. It's like you have to not believe yourself anymore, that's how it feels, and instead, turning to that which is also in you, this experience, this new experience of something you never felt before. You never thought it's possible, but you feel it. You experienced it.

And to give this your attention, to trust that instead... it feels unreasonable. All the logic, all the reasoning says: "I have to continue!" But you experience this Heaven and you know: "I don't care. This is the way." That's the only decision you ever have to make. And it's not a decision you make once. It's a decision you have to make every moment again: "Do I trust the old, leading nowhere? Or do I trust this unknown, this unreasonable Heaven?" You feel it. I know you feel it. And when you listen to me, and when you feel it, it's like: "Yes, of course, this is it! Yes!" Or when you're in the presence of a Guru, or when you read a book from a holy person who is in Heaven, then you feel inside yourself... it's not that you believe these words, no. You feel suddenly: "Oh, yes, this is possible! Oh yes, I'm here!" For these moments you sit in Heaven, or at least you can feel it.

But then this moment is over, the video is over, the book is left aside, and you enter your normal life again. You are at work, you are together with your family or with your friends, or you're alone with yourself and with your thoughts and with your worries, and then all of this is forgotten again. And then, you believe the old again. And then, whenever you remember the new, whenever you remember this new taste of Heaven, then you can decide again: "Oh, I want this! I won't listen to the old stuff in my head. I know, I believe so much in this old stuff, and yet I know: this is not the way." This decision you have to make again and again and again in every moment.

It's a very widespread imagination that it's an instantaneous event in one's life where you turn Hell into Heaven, and from that moment on, you are in Paradise. It is not so. You can be in Heaven in an instant. Maybe you feel a little bit of it right now, this quietness in you, this feeling that all the worries you had last night are so stupid and so ungrounded. This ease you can feel. It can happen in an instant like right now maybe. But to maintain it, to return to it again and again and again, that needs practice. And it's very common that people are touched by this for the first time in their life, and it's really like an earthquake. It's really like: "Wow, I did not know that this is really possible!" And you think: "I will never forget this again." You think: "This is it." There's no doubt: "Now I know the way!" And you cannot imagine that this will ever change again.

It's so clear, and yet it's not that the old is gone, it's in you. All your convictions, all your thoughts, it's all still there, and after a while, when this first happens in one's life, after a while it fades away again, and the old comes back into the foreground. And this is something totally normal. It is not that this new stays by itself forever. When it's new, for an instant it's easy, but then comes the time in life where you have to decide: "Do I want to listen to the old, or do I return to the new?" You see, you lose this feeling of ease in Heaven again and the old suffering, the old worrying, the old agony comes back simply because this is what you believe in.

It's not that Heaven slips away and you lost it, no. Heaven was there before, Heaven is still here, but your convictions, your beliefs were just being pushed into to the background for a short moment by this new experience. But they're still there, and they just come back. And then, the challenge is to decide again and again: "Oh, there they are. I don't want to listen to this. I want to look into the new direction, no matter how unreasonable it feels."

And there are things which help with this, with this challenge. The Samarpan Meditation I'm talking about in so many videos is helping you with this, because for half an hour every morning, you practice this letting go of all these thoughts, all these convictions, all these problems pulling on you. For half an hour you practice looking inside. It's something we have to practice. It's not difficult. It's not that Heaven is difficult to achieve. The challenge is that this new is something we never practiced. We never practiced to look into this new direction. For all of our life, and for all the lives before this life, we practiced looking into the world, trying to become happy by fixing the world or by fixing ourselves, by changing things. It doesn't work, and it never worked.

So, we just have to practice this, and the meditation is the tool for this. This is not any kind of meditation. There are many meditations out there, but for me, they are mostly not meditations but certain mind exercises. They feel good, they sound good, but they don't really point you into this direction of Heaven. All of them, maybe with the exception of a breathing meditation, they all somehow try to achieve something you think should happen. You want to manipulate the world; you want to become rich or you want to become healthy or you want to change the world so there are no problems in the world anymore. This is not meditation. Meditation is to turn away from all this and instead turn inwards. There are all these convictions pulling on you, screaming at you saying: "We are important! Without us, without your worries, your life will fall apart." The fighting in you says: "If you don't fight anymore, terrible things will happen!" And meditation is to let all this go and instead turn inwards; to practice this for at least half an hour in the morning.

That's very helpful for giving this new direction more space in yourself. And you have to practice it. As I said: most people experience this the very first time in their life and then they lose it again because these old convictions come back and they go back to it and get lost in it again. And if you don't practice this, you will lose it, not because you're bad, not because Heaven is not for you, but simply because you don't practice it. It's something you have to learn. It's easy. You just have to do it.

And there are two other things which you can do to support this in you. I said, this first experience of Heaven comes to you because somehow a human being entered your life who is in Heaven, and this makes this experience you feel in yourself possible. And when you stay in touch with a human being like this in some way, reading his books, listening to his videos, visiting his Satsang, no matter what it is... that supports that too. It's not about what such a human being says; it's about what you feel when you're close to such a medium of God. It sounds a little religious, a little funny: "medium of God", but what it means is: there is somebody who trusts life; there's somebody who is in Heaven, here, in the same world like where you are, but he's in Heaven. And when you are in contact with such a being, either physically close because you meet him, or you read the books or whatever, then you experience this yourself in yourself. It's never about the words. It's not that this person gives you good advice. Maybe he gives you good advice, but what it's about is your own experience of Heaven. That gets nourished. That becomes possible again. So, this is helpful.

And it's also helpful when you watch in which company you spend your time. There are certain times where you don't have a choice. For instance, you go to work, and the people at work are the way they are. But there are many times in your day, many times in your life where you can choose: "Do I want to spend time with people who look into the old direction, who believe: "Yes, you must worry, you must fight", or do I spend time with people who know Heaven, who try to learn the same thing I'm learning? And if you spend time with those people, then this is also helpful for you to let this new in yourself grow bigger.

And as you do this... it's a process, it takes time... as you do this, it becomes easier and easier and easier. It's a process, and I find it very helpful to know that it is a process, and that you can do something about it. It's not rocket science, it's not difficult, but you have to do it, otherwise you would just live the old way again and you forget all about it. And the only challenge, the only problem on this way is that this is something we don't want. I said it before. These old convictions about what is important are very strong.

That's for instance why Jesus said that it's easier that a camel will enter through the eye of a needle than a rich man going to Heaven. The "Eye of the Needle", that was the name of a gate in Jerusalem. Jerusalem had big city gates which were open during the day so the camels, the caravans could enter the city for trade. But at night, those big gates were closed. And there were tiny little doors in these gates, tiny little doors where just a man or a woman could enter through, but even these doors were so tiny that a man in full armor, in full fighting equipment, couldn't enter through this door. It was a security measure. So, a human being could just squeeze through this tiny little door, so a camel... it would be impossible for a camel to go through this.

And Jesus said: "It's easier for a camel to go through the Eye of the Needle, through this little door, than a rich man entering Heaven." And he said this not because Heaven has anything against rich people. It's not that being rich is wrong or immoral. It's not that being rich, accumulating wealth is something which prevents you from going to Heaven. This is not the case. But when you are rich, it means: you take wealth very important, and all the things you do to become rich and to stay rich, this is all very important for you. You think: this is saving me, this is giving me the security in life I need, this is giving me the happiness in life I need. Of course, in your life, if you're rich you find that this is all not true: you are not happy, and you are less secure than ever before, but you believe it with every inch of your being.

And that's why you will never enter Heaven when you are rich, simply because you take these things so serious and so important. For a rich man, for a rich woman, it's unthinkable to letting this all go, believing this is not important and instead turning inwards, giving the attention to something which feels like nothing. I said it before: the only challenge on this path is that the Hell seems so reasonable, so reasonable that we want it, and Heaven feels so unreasonable. Jesus said: "Why do you worry?" and we think the guy is great, but what he says is really stupid, this can't be true. We think: "If he would have my life, then he would know why I worry." But he knows better. But we can't imagine this.

There's another thing Jesus said. There were these people around him who got healed. They got healed from their depression, from their fear of life, they got healed from their Hell. They came to Heaven in Jesus's proximity. Even people with physical illnesses got healed. And he said: "It's not me who healed you. Your belief healed you." And what he points to is this: the word "belief" is... what it means is "trust". When he says... the translation, the English translation "your belief" means "your trust"... and what he means is: "You have all these old convictions in you like everybody else in this world, and yet, when you came close to me and when you felt Heaven in you, you trusted that. You trusted that what you felt in you more than all these old thoughts, all these old convictions. You trusted that, and that's what healed you."

So, coming to Heaven only depends on your ability to trust that what you feel in you... this new you feel, this peace... to trust this more than you used to trust your thoughts. That's all. And that's why I say: "It's your choice." This is the only choice you have in life: where do you put your attention to? Do you take the old important? Is this what you give your attention? Or do you want to give this new your attention? It's like with plants. Which plant do you want to water? Which plant do you want to fertilize? And the guide, your guide is only your inner experience. It's not what anybody says. It's not that a Guru or a Mikael or a Jesus tells you what to do in life to reach Heaven. No. Your guide is your inner experience, that's what guided the people around Jesus.

Now Jesus lived 2,000 years ago, he's not here anymore. You can still taste his trust. You can taste his Heaven, that's why he's still so attractive to so many people. But he's not alive. But the world works like this: if you want to discover Heaven, life will send you a living Jesus. He might not look the way you imagine him; it might be a woman. It's some being who lives in Heaven, now, while you are alive. A living human being. And then, you experience it yourself. And that experience you have in you, when you have this, then you know what I'm talking about, and that's your guide.

So, some people wonder: "How can I distinguish a false Guru from a true Guru? How can I distinguish between all these people out there who claim to know the truth and who claim to know the way, but who are idiots, and how can I find that one who is true?" And it's easy. It's about what you feel. There are people, you listen to them and they say beautiful words, wise words, and the feeling they create in you is one of restlessness, one of discomfort. It's subtle. And then you meet a human being, he might not even be attractive, maybe he talks in a way which is not so convincing, not so polished, maybe he doesn't talk at all, or she, but when you come close to him or her, or when you listen to him or her, you feel peace. You feel a space in you – in you, it's yours –, which you normally don't feel, and where you feel: "Ah, that's what I'm looking for." So, it's your inner experience which gives the answer to those questions.

And some people ask: "How can I distinguish these feelings in me?", but I tell you: when you experience this yourself, it's totally clear. You might have listened to idiots since many years, but then you come across a person where suddenly you feel in yourself what I'm talking about, and then you know. You immediately know: "Oh yes." So, it's not that you trust another person. You just trust your own inner experience, that's the guide.

I want to share a few experiences of my life, how it happened in my life, just to make it more understandable for you how that works in life, because this whole thing is not something mysterious, it's a normal process of life, but nobody knows it, so nobody talks about it. My first experience of Heaven I had about 25 years ago. At that time, I knew nothing about Heaven, and I thought I have problems, and I was in therapy. I was seeing a therapist because I wanted to solve my problems. But I was lucky. This man, he was living in Heaven. He still is alive; he still lives in Heaven. But he was a totally un... from the outside you wouldn't see anything special. He wasn't a charismatic speaker, he wasn't somebody who goes on stage and fills huge halls, no. He was just in Heaven.

And I had therapy sessions with him, and one day I was lying there and suddenly, for the first time in my life, I felt a complete absence of my agony, a complete absence of the horrors in me, the fears in me. All trauma, all horror was gone, all fear. No problems. I was totally alive, totally awake, more alive and more awake than ever before. But there was nothing. I was just in the space of rightness, it's difficult to describe. It's like I was bathing in my own being. Everything was good.

And of course, this experience ended after a while, and after a while also the therapy with this man ended because I didn't need it anymore. He was good. And it wasn't something he did. It wasn't that he told me the right words and then I plunged into this experience. It wasn't something he did. I was close to this human being, and the excuse was doing therapy. It doesn't matter why you come close to a being like this, but being close to him triggered this first experience in me. Then I went my way, my life continued.

And then, after a while, a year later or so, I don't know, I met my spiritual Master Soham, 23 years ago is this now. And I met him... I didn't look for a Master. I didn't look for anything spiritual. I didn't know what I want. But somehow, by some accident, I ended up in his Satsang. So, I was sitting in this room. I didn't know what to expect there. I never was in Satang before. I never met this man before. But then he entered the room, and he walked through the room and sat down in his chair, and I was sitting there and suddenly, I felt inside such a rightness, such an absence of any trouble. I was just in this space again, because this human being was close to me. He didn't do anything, he didn't look at me with a certain stare and said the right words and I fell into paradise, no. He didn't know about me, he didn't look at me, he was just there, that's enough.

And that's why such people always say the same things. It's not about what they say, it's about just giving people the excuse to be in his proximity, and then they have this experience, and that experience the people have inside of themselves, that's the guide. That's why I also... I have not much to say. I say the same things in each and every one of my videos. But the only thing I can hope for is that maybe, when you listen to me, you feel something inside of yourself. It's nothing I do. It's nothing I give you. It's your own. But it happens when you're close to somebody who knows about Heaven, who is there.

And then, it's your choice in every moment of your life. And it's never about... we human beings, we are so used to torture ourselves: "Oh, I did it wrong again!" Just know that this Heaven needs to be fostered. I mean, the Heaven is here. The Heaven is huge. The Heaven is all there is, and in reality, Hell doesn't exist other than in your head, but for you, Heaven is small, simply because you don't believe much in Heaven and you believe very much in all your thoughts, all your convictions, also the deep-down convictions, and that why it's a process, that's the only thing. It's an inner process of slowly slowly letting go of all these old things. And as I said: all these old things are the only problem, and we hate our problems and we suffer from our agony, but letting go of it feels impossible. Just foster this new. It just takes a little bit of time, it's not difficult.

The only difficulty is to stay at it, to make this choice again and again and again, every day. That's all. So, it's simple, but this you have to do. Nobody can do this for you. No Guru, no Jesus.

There is Judas for instance. Judas knew Heaven. He was around Jesus, but he believed more in his own thoughts. He was so convinced: "We have to fight for a better world, we have to do politics, we have to convince the powerful people, we have to change the world." Jesus didn't want to know anything about this. He said: "It's all inside", and all those people who could trust this, they got healed. And with healed it doesn't mean only physical ailments, it means: their soul got healed, they became happy. That was the miracle. But then there were also people like Judas. They believed what they thought. They still held on to their old convictions. And that's why he stayed in Hell.

So, this is an easy choice, but you have to make it. And when you meditate, when you sit in the morning for half an hour letting all these thoughts in your head go, you will feel: "Wow, this is a challenge, they feel so important! They feel so right. They feel so reasonable. And this Heaven I can sense feels so unreasonable." And yet you know. You know yourself what the right way is. I just want to point out to you the challenge, so you know how you can prepare for it. When you know your challenge, it's easy. That's why meditation is so helpful, because it strengthens that part of you which looks into the right direction. And that's why the presence of a human being who is in Heaven is so helpful, because he strengthens that in you which knows this. And that's why I make videos: to give you an excuse to spend a little bit of time with me.

So, the title of this video "Heaven, Hell? Your Choice!" it is not meant as a blame. It doesn't mean: "Well, when you are in hell, it's your fault. It's your choice! So why do you complain?" I don't mean this at all. This title of the video describes to you your only challenge in life, your only job. A job you have to do in every moment again and again: "Do I want Heaven or Hell right now?"

Sometimes it's easy to choose Heaven. When you listen to me it is maybe easier. And sometimes it's very difficult. When you are around your friends, they talk about their problems, and when you mention meditation, they look at you like: "What are you doing, lunatic?" Sometimes it's difficult to choose Heaven. That's your only job.

So, this title is a job description: "Heaven, Hell? Your Choice!" That's the only thing nobody can relieve you of. This choice you have to make in every moment again and again. The rest is very very easy.

Thank you for being here.

I love you.