shanti always here - papa

Question: I am not aware of that presence while I am asleep.

Papaji: Yes, it is because "you" are not present. It is the "you" that you live through that decides these matters. For "you" presence is only felt when there is some obstruction to the awareness of the presence.

Question: "When there's obstruction, I can feel presence, but when there isn't, I can't." This sounds very paradoxical.

Papaji: Your sense of being a person is the obstruction.
Everything, all your experiences, or the lack of them, are mediated through this idea of individuality.
This obstruction rises from the presence and you either feel the presence through it, or you are aware of its absence.

The presence is there all the time, but you don't feel it in your deep-sleep state because this mediator, this "I", is not there. You don't know how to be aware of anything when this "I" is absent, so you declare, "Presence is not there when I sleep."

You use this obstruction to validate all your experiences but it has no inherent validity of its own.
Shanti, peace, was there before the obstruction arose, and when the obstruction subsides, shanti still prevails.

Your inherent nature is this shanti.
It is there both when the experiencer is there and when the experiencer is absent.

~ Papaji