Shri Nathji often used to say:
God is present within you, but you cannot see Him because he is veiled by the covering of your desires. When the heart is full of desires of the world it is not in a pure state and therefore it cannot see God. It is only when all the desires of the world have been shut out that man sees God within himself. Shri Nathji frequently quoted Christ on this theme:
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
Shri Nathji explained this concept very simply and beautifully with another example using a cinema hall. You are sitting inside a cinema hall during the daytime.
All the windows of the cinema hall are open, letting in the sunlight. As a consequence, the picture that is being projected on the cinema hall screen is not visible.
But when all the windows of the cinema hall have been closed, the hall becomes dark and the film on the screen becomes visible.
Shri Nathji elucidated:
“The heart is like the cinema hall, and the windows are the windows of desire.
“For as long as the windows of desire are open in the heart, God, who is inside the heart cannot be seen, but when all the windows of desire have been closed, then God makes His presence felt inside the heart!
It was such a beautiful example that it led people to break out into exclamations of surprise. Many an intellectual and philosopher was converted by these beautiful and thrilling examples of Shri Nathji which had the modern day world as a setting, and were so simple that even a child could understand them.