Question: What can I do to get to God? Answer: Spiritual exercises.

The best time to chant may be between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m., and I know many who make beautiful spiritual progress who chant between 6:00 and 8:00 each morning. The issue of prime importance is, however, that you do chant the sacred names of God each day, for a consistent period of time. As you chant, you gain more in the spiritual world, which is commutable, meaning that it becomes available to use as part of your physical expression.

If we want to have Soul consciousness, we start concentrating our abilities into that. We start moving in and preparing the way. We see ourselves sitting and doing the spiritual exercises. The spiritual exercises, when we sit down and do them, are already being plugged into our level of consciousness because, as we keep concentrating on these things, we are preparing; we are creating.

If we have a clear intention toward a spiritual pursuit and are reading uplifting material or meditating on the intention, Spirit and mind will begin to converge. We achieve a heightened state of awareness, of knowing. As the point of convergence turns, our perception -- the way we see the world -- turns with it. We actually look into the unknown. When our moments of convergence end, we won't remember anything, even though we understood it at the time. (This sounds as if I am describing early senility but, trust me, I am talking about the spiritual process.) We know something happened, but we can't quite put it together. When when we return to the heightened state of awareness, that understanding returns to us, and we can't imagine how we could have forgotten.

The only wrong way to do spiritual exercises is not to do them.

Take yourself to a quiet spot. If it can be physically quiet, that would be beautiful. Often a good, quiet spot is in front of a picture on a wall that can help you enhance your attunement. And when you do this, you can say, "Peace, be still," and it will happen to you. The emotions will subside, the mind will quiet, and you can simply add, "Lord, I receive."

The physical world will always be a reflection. The inner world will always be a reality.

You do not have to sit and "space out" with some special posture, legs crossed, legs uncrossed, arms in the air, arms at your sides, and so on. You do not have to go around saying, "Oh, I'm so happy, everybody!" None of these external things really matter. But when you attain contact with that Divine energy, you will be able to say, even in the midst of deep depression, "I'm so darn blissful the depression doesn't bother me anymore."

With practice, you can condense the time needed to move from lower levels of consciousness to spiritual consciousness. When you are able to integrate all of these, you live fully on all levels simultaneously and spontaneously. As you move toward that, you are able to resolve physical-level dilemmas rapidly. You can work that level of knowing present with you.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus the Christ said, "The kingdom of Heaven lies within," He spoke the truth and gave us one of the greatest keys to enlightenment. If you would find the kingdom of Heaven, look within. If you would find the peace of God, look within. These things are not separate from you.