HOW CAN I PLEASE GOD?

There is an evil power in this world. Christians call it Satan. There definitely is an opposing force to God, active in the world.. and active in people's minds.

In Vedanta you could say "Well that opposing force to God is part of the illusion, everything is an illusion. And everything in the illusion is done by God.. God is the creator, God created everything."

Look at the story of Rama..of the evil forces that opposed him and opposed what he was doing. Evil forces that opposed Jesus. Evil forces that opposed Yogananda. Most people aren't aware of those, but there were very evil forces that were opposed to him.

So in my belief, which means my personal way of thinking, is what I call belief.. wether everything is the will of God or not.. What does that mean to me? I am the person that I am. I want to please God. I want to improve, I want to purify, I want to become better and better and better. I don't think of myself as an instrument of God. I don't think that I'm being used as an instrument for the will of God. I don't think about those things because what does that add? Wether it's true or not..what difference does it make?

I mean if it is true, if everything is the will of God, why is it something that requires me to think about it? And if it's true that there are evil forces that are opposed to the will of God, what difference does it make to me if I think about that either?

I'm putting all of my thought and all of my energy into pleasing God. So I'm not thinking in the terms of everything is the will of God, I'm thinking in terms of 'How can I please God.'

That really sums it up as an individual. You are an individual. So are you going to live your life of an individual for pleasures? The things that you want to do for luxury, for pleasure.. for pleasure is really what it comes down to. Or you're not going to be interested in pleasure? You'll enjoy pleasure just like the next person.. it isn't something forbidden.. But it isn't something that you have to have. It isn't something you seek. Comfort isn't something that you have to have. It isn't something you seek..but when you have comfort, you enjoy it. But you don't feel less because you don't have it. And don't feel more because you do have it.

Look at the world. The world is teaching everybody. The world is the Guru for the people who make the world their priority. So the world is a good guru. The world is teaching you truth. In any worldly pursuit that the people do, for those who put the world first, the world is a very good guru. It's teaching them.

What are the consequences of what you do? The actions that you do..the good actions can have good consequences, they usually do but there can also be bad consequences to good actions. And there can be bad things that happen to good people. That's living in the world.

But it's a temporary life. Where are you going to be when you leave the world? Where are you going to go? That's determined by the kind of person that you are. If you're a pleasure seeking person, you're going to go to the realm of pleasures. If you're a God pleasing person you're going to go to the realms of God.

It's very easy with reasoning and with your experience to deduce that pleasures are not satisfying. Pleasures are pleasant but they don't satisfy.

The company of God satisfies. You experience this when you have a real meditation. You find something that the world cannot offer you.