Why Should I Invoke The Presence?

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This question can come in many forms, but basically it, and its variations, stems from the fact that we've been told by all the great spiritual leaders, both past and present, that we are God.  If we are God, then why do we have to pray to or invoke a God (the Presence) outside of ourselves?

In the many years I taught spiritual classes, before I ever met Amma Bhagavan, questions such as this were regularly posed by serious seekers.  In trying to answer the varied forms of this question, I usually began with, "It depends on what 'slice of time' you're looking at..."

Dasaji Radhakrishna, from the Oneness University in Golden City, India, answered this question quite beautifully when he was asked, "Why are we always looking to God outside of ourselves?  Does the search for an outside God interfere with the transcendent experience of Oneness?"

Below is his answer to this age old question.  For brevity and syntax it was necessary that I shorten and edit his message, but the wonderful wisdom of it remains intact and can be applied to many similar questions.

--P. J.
October, 2006

The experience of Oneness is internal, but the question is--at this time, can we really connect internally?

When we are fully in the state of Oneness, there is no inside or outside.  Inside and outside does not exist.  As we begin to go more and more internally, we begin to see that the whole universe is inside us.  The microcosm is the macrocosm, and the macrocosm is in the microcosm.

Remember, when we are in that state of Oneness with the Divine, there is no inside or outside.  But for now there is definitely an inside and an outside--at least that's how we are experiencing it.

When we are at this point of experiencing it as outside and inside, it's better to fall into that same rhythm, and after awhile we will suddenly awaken to the fact that there is no outside or inside.  Once that happens invocation is automatic.  Invocation itself will become unnecessary--it just happens and you will be in the Presence.

Until that time comes we definitely need to invoke.  If you are still feeling a difference between inside and outside, it's fine to pray from the inside to the outside.  Then slowly as you continue to soak in the Presence, you won't feel the difference.  Invoking is a thread that helps you go inside.

Once you have seen and "know" that there is no inside, no outside, then the question about invoking God outside of yourself will no longer arise.

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