Daily Devotion - Jan 10, 2026 (English)- Divine Encounter
An aspiring devotee's question: What does it feel like to interact with God face-to-face?
Shri Maharaj Ji's answer -
Interacting with God face-to-face is not a matter of mere feelings or perceiving some reflection. Nor is it the same as having divine sentiments or having an experience of illusion of having His vision - what is called 'darshanābhās' - which highly elevated aspirants experience at some point. When God grants His darshan, you interact with Him directly, just as you converse and engage with people in the world.
So, when will you see God face-to-face? When does God grant His darshan?
For this to happen, first, you must purify your heart completely - 100% - through continuous devotional practice, shedding tears of love, and nurturing a deep yearning to meet God. Then, the Guru bestows the gift of 'Swaroop Shakti' (personal power of God) into your purified heart. This divine power makes your senses, mind, and intellect divine. Only then can you have the divine vision of God, hear His divine words, and embrace Him. At that stage, your interaction with Him will be precisely the same as how you now interact with your worldly relations - not just in imagination.
All this occurs before death. Upon leaving this impure, gross physical body at the time of death, you will receive a divine body in Golok, for your senses, mind, and intellect have already become divine. Then, you will eternally experience bliss and be able to serve God forever.
However, this only happens after you receive divine power, when your heart has become 100% pure.
The sign of a pure heart is freedom from the influence of Maya. This means that the faults born of Maya, such as anger and greed, no longer affect you. Divine qualities, such as tolerance and humility, arise naturally in a pure heart. No one can provoke anger in you, regardless of how they behave. Anxiety, restlessness, and sorrow can no longer dominate you. These are the milestones of a pure heart.
The heart can be purified only through continuous devotional practice. But you do not practice devotion continuously. After doing sādhana for at most two to four hours, your mind remains attached to the world the rest of the time. You engage in devotional practice while simultaneously maintaining worldly attachments. You perceive, listen, and interact with the world, and its faults also enter your mind. Thus, the same mind you briefly purify during sadhana becomes soiled again and again. This is why the heart is getting purified very slowly. The destination remains far away.
In the lifetime in which you engage in devotion continuously - without even a moment's break - your mind will be purified quickly. Then, all the defects of Maya will depart from your heart, and you will attain your spiritual goal.
Recommended books by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj related to this topic:
