In this monologue, the speaker (Prabhu) explores a non‑material conception of the divine, arguing that God is not a flesh‑and‑bone being but the embodiment of love, which he describes as the purest form of energy. He parallels this spiritual view with scientific insights that matter is largely empty space and fundamentally energy, using the atom and galaxy as examples. The speaker contends that love, experienced as an effortless, energizing force, is the highest human energy, influencing motivation and perception of effort. He then challenges the notion of individual agency, asserting that every action is interdependent with society, environment, and prior conditions, and invites listeners to consider any achievement that is solely self‑generated. Building on this, he frames spirituality as a continuous, moment‑by‑moment examination—testing patience, compassion, and joy in everyday situations such as traffic lights or phone calls. He concludes by emphasizing that the true measure of a spiritual life transcends religious labels, citing the Dalai Lama and Swami as examples of individuals who lived peacefully and practiced the teachings they espoused.
Chapters
I'd always thought that God can't just be flesh and bones. God has to be more than that. But I used to worry about things because I'd profoundly chosen to accept all the different paths. I used to read up on them. And one thing that really used to bother me was a quote from the Bible where it says, man is made in the image of God. We are made— man is made in the image of God. I used to wonder, how How can that be? Because God can't be a person. It's just, it's too simple. Maybe God might choose to become a person, but in his eternal form, God can't just be a person. And I used to ask myself simple things like, if God knows everything, then if God was standing there and I held something here, God shouldn't be able to know what it is because he can't see it. So God can't just be a person. When I was a kid, I used to think about stuff. And I then, I suppose, where things really came to a head for me was when I read that quote, love is God, God is love, live in love. It hit me that I felt like when the Bible said man is made in the image of God, it was that man, the very essence of man is love. And God is love. So man is made in the image of God, not in the flesh and bone sense, but in the eternal aspect of God. of man, man being truly a bundle of love, just love energy. Then I started reading up more on the scientific aspects of things. I would read, watch documentaries and read books about nuclear physicists saying that truly there is no matter. Because if you look at even, say, an atom that appears solid, if you go closely enough, you'll see it's 90% space. There's gaps everywhere. There truly is nothing solid, and if you look at what is solid within that, if you look at the electron, Within the electron, there is so much space. There truly is no matter, and really everything is energy, which is really now you're sort of looking at electromagnetic wave particles. There's no solid, there's no matter. If it's matter, it's only because we're looking at it and it appears solid, much like that image of the galaxy. It looks solid, but if you actually get up close to a galaxy, there are huge gaps. Our closest star is about, you know, 1,000 light years away, yet it looks solid from far away. And so the more we investigate, the more I investigate, everything's waves and energy. And I read a book on spirituality that once said that the purest form of energy is love energy. And I'm still trying to understand that, but all I know is when I feel a lot of love, I feel— I don't feel tired. You know, this is a very simplistic way of explaining things, guys, but I can only explain things from my perspective. When I'm, you know, when I'm— when I first got married, when I got married to my wife, yeah, and we'd go on a holiday, we're in love, we're still in love, of course. Yes. I'm not suggesting we're not for a second. But we're in love and, you know, nothing feels like effort. You know, darling, can you do this for me? Go this, go that. Sure, honey. Nothing feels like work. There's nothing— nothing feels hard when you're in love. And that was the ultimate energy. When you're upset, even a simple thing seems difficult. And I started to see very quickly my feelings and my thoughts were manifesting as energy, and that energy Kept me going. And the more positive that energy— compassion, kindness, goodness— the easier it was to do whatever it was to do. When I was passionate about something and I really believed in something and I wanted to do it, it never felt like work. Yet when I didn't want to do it, do something, even the smallest task would seem difficult. It made me see very quickly that positive thoughts and emotions, the apex being love, was really, truly an energy. And then I started experimenting even more. And let me share a few examples with you. I started to ask myself, well, if I'm not flesh and bones, and if really God is— there is a God, a divinity, a consciousness that is guiding everything, I started to ask myself, well, is there anything I can say that I've done which I can solely attribute to my own efforts. That is, I've done something and it hasn't been because of anyone else. I've managed to do something because of me. I did it. It was my effort. It was my outcome, my success. I'd like to ask you all about— give you 30 seconds to think of anything, even the minutest thing That you think you've done. Think of the most small, insignificant thing you've done and prove to me that you only did it because of yourself. I went really specific, guys. I even told myself, what if I walked? You read physics, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The only reason I walk And I don't fall through the ground when I put downward force on my leg is because the earth reflects my force back up to me. If it didn't, I wouldn't be able to walk. That's a fact, right? It's a scientific fact. Every action has an equal opposite reaction. Bang! If the earth doesn't reflect, my leg goes straight down. I can't walk. I breathe. Are you making a conscious decision to breathe right now? Have you been thinking about breathing? Perhaps your appearance. You put a bit of makeup on. You look very nice. Or did you make that makeup? Where'd you buy it? How much did you buy it for? Was it on sale because others weren't buying it and it was cheaper, and so you could afford to buy it? Was it that particular color because some company did market research and The number one product was that color which you also happened to like. Is there anything you've done in your life that's only because of you? Any success? You may say the birth of your child. Healthy child, you made that decision? So people born with children who are not perfectly healthy chose not to make them healthy? Is there anything you've done that's actually a function of your actions? Anything. Your studies? You wrote those textbooks you read? Yeah. You went into the exam? Perhaps you had a teacher that helped you out, that explained things to you, a good teacher? Is there anything you've done that's only because from your own doing, start to finish? Truly, a human being does not exist in isolation. We exist in a community, and we exist within the boundaries of nature. There is nothing we can do just by ourselves. Nothing. I can't. I still can't think of something, and I'd love to be corrected because we're all learning. But I can't think of anything I do that's not that's only because of me. Baba says that we are an aspect of society. And if we live just for ourselves in our day-to-day lives, if we are selfish and not selfless, then we have missed the point of spirituality. I suppose I'll finish off by saying that the thing that makes me love spirituality so much is it's the ultimate exam. It's the ultimate examination. When you're in a traffic light and you think it's going to go green but it goes red because The other direction has the right turn. Do you get a bit upset? Or you failed a spiritual test? Do you get angry when someone cuts you in on the road? You pick up the phone, you don't want to talk to someone, that very person calls. How do you feel? I feel angry. Spirituality is the greatest examination on this planet. Every single moment, every single second, can you live in happiness? Can you live joyfully? This truly, I think, is the ultimate test of spirituality. I mentioned before, the Dalai Lama goes to the pearly gates. There's no way he'll be rejected because I firmly believe, and this is just my opinion, I think it's in line with what Swami says, that it never mattered whether he said Jesus or he said Allah or he said Krishna. That never mattered. What mattered was whether He lived in peace, whether he thought of his fellow man, and whether he put into practice the very words that he taught of. And I always think we can talk all we want, but until we put something into practice, it just means nothing.
