The Four Grounds: What Your Heart Condition Is Telling You | Pillay Place Ep. 26

In Episode 26 of the Pillay Place Podcast, Rahul and Van Pillay unpack why the most connected generation is also the most overwhelmed — using one of the most practical teachings Jesus ever gave. Drawing from Mark Chapter 4, they explore what your inner life's "ground condition" reveals about your clarity, peace, and purpose. Van brings her mental health perspective on distraction and identity, while Rahul gets personal about what clearing the noise actually changed for him. Whether you're coming from a Catholic background, no spiritual background, or somewhere in between, this conversation meets you where you are. Themes include burnout, mental clutter, spiritual growth, finding your own voice, Christian mindset, faith and purpose, and biblical wisdom for everyday life. Pillay Place Podcast — faith, family, and finance for real life.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

He said that if you don't understand this story, then you're gonna have a hard time understanding a lot of my principles that I'm teaching. So there's four different grounds. So this is how it works. There's four different grounds. The sower goes out and he's he's planting this seed.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

So you're saying the ground is our heart condition.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Yes. And our heart condition determines our ability, right, to actually receive or hear from God.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

I think it's like most of us fall in the thorny ground.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Most of the time, the enemy doesn't need you to do evil things. He just doesn't need you to do good things.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

The weeds take over the person's ability to have peace, to have faith, and to have creativity. It's really emptying out and taking things out. It's important to um like quiet down the voices around you and listen to his still small voice.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Um, because the voices around everything is trying to grab our attention.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Hi, everybody, welcome to the Pillay Place podcast where we talk about faith, family, and finance. Um, you know, a lot of folks want to leave behind a legacy, right? And we decided to talk about faith, family, and finance. How do you leave a legacy of an amazing life filled with faith, family, and finance? And our focus really is the practical things on your day-to-day that you would do in order to leave that legacy for your for yourself and for your family. So, welcome to the Play Place podcast. My name is Rahul. This is my wife Van, and um, it's her birthday this week. So happy birthday. This month, yes. Uh it's actually this week. Oh, yeah, this month, I guess. Yeah. All right. So today, what are we talking about today?

SPEAKER_01 1:52

We're talking about the four grounds.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Yeah, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:57

I don't know. You tell me.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

You know, in the in the Bible, there is this um story that Jesus uh talks about, and and and he told his disciples, and these are people that were very close to him that learned firsthand from God himself about life. And um, he said that if you don't understand this story, then you're gonna have a hard time understanding a lot of my principles that I'm teaching. So all the years perked up, and they're like, What is this story? And he does a simple story about a farmer that goes out and sows seed, essentially plants seed on fields. And there's these four different grounds or four different fields that he sows seed in.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

So, how do we make this more practical?

SPEAKER_02 2:40

We we will um, oh, we'll try to get there. Um, but but the the biggest thing that this is referencing is our heart condition.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Okay, so you're saying the ground is our heart condition.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Yes, exactly. And our heart condition determines our ability, right, to actually receive or hear from God.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Do you think it's like I was wondering about this because I've heard like from our pastor and other preaching, it's like the ground is our heart.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

But do you think it's also our mind?

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Of course. Our soul, and our entire, I mean, I I think it actually is the soul, which is our uh mind, will, and emotions, right? And our mind has a lot to do with it because one of the grounds in here, the first one actually, has no um it says that this this the seed just essentially fell on this ground and it got taken away by birds.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

And can you go through the the four?

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Yeah, that's a good point. So there's four different grounds. So this is how it works. There's four different grounds. The sower goes out and he's is planting this seed. The first one essentially falls on the wayside. There's no depth whatsoever. The seed doesn't even enter the ground.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

And what does the seed represent?

SPEAKER_02 3:57

The seed represents in this case the word of God. Okay. God's teachings, God's word.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

The second ground is one that does get planted, but it actually is shallow, doesn't really have a lot of depth in the soil. So it grows very quickly, or you may see results very quickly, but it doesn't last.

unknown 4:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

And a lot of time, and and how the scriptures say uh how how Jesus actually explained it, he said that that ground, when the trouble comes, when the trouble comes, they cannot actually sustain. Right? And the third ground is essentially those that are planted amongst thorns. So the seed enters the ground, but there are other things, which I think is the biggest hindrance in our life today, is there are all these other things that are literally taking our attention away, our mind away from what's important. Yeah, that one is and before we before we get into that, just just to talk about the last ground. The last ground is the most productive ground. Okay, and God even describes the production 30, 60, 100fold. But, and I'm quoting from Mark chapter four for those that are want to reference the Bible, but but um the amazing thing about the fourth ground, it it had the least, it had the least amount of distractions, no thorns, least worries, right? It has just pure soil. Yeah, right. And if you think about it in practical terms, your heart is so eager and willing and and able to receive what God is g sending your way as in the form of instructions or lessons or life or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

The um I have down, like when I think of the good ground, I think of it being very absorbable. Like it's able to like not like it accepts the word, but then it absorbs the word. Yeah, right. Like you it sinks in. And a good soil is very it there's a balance between like firmness and softness.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Right? Like you don't want to be on hard ground, like you can't plant a seed on dry, hard ground. Like it's gonna be really hard for it to soak in. Right. Right. And and with the good ground, it there's a good balance of firm and soft.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

I love, I love that what you said. It's you know, for me, it actually represents our heart. Sometimes, let's just start off this way. We don't even value the things of God. We're so caught up in the everyday life that there is no value in the spirit, like anything spiritual, we don't even value. And that is a condition of a heart that can't even receive or hear, right? Like hearing from God is like such a foreign concept to a lot of folks. Yeah. And for us, sometimes every decision is like based on, well, what do you think God is saying about this? Right? Like we were talking about enrolling our kids in another program. We're like, uh what do you think God wants us to do?

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Yeah, I think I think a lot of people, like believers too, um, myself included, you too, whether you know it or not, I think, is like most of us fall in the thorny ground.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Yeah, I think it's not a not a everyday thing.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Like sometimes you're it's very settled, yeah. Because when you think about the the like the thorny ground, is that when there are when things are not look well it's I think it's important. Here's the practical piece is like when things are not looking fruitful for some time, it's good to look at your ground. Yeah, right, like what is in your ground? You're looking at your mind and heart condition, and then do you have the humility to absorb in the possibility that you have too much on your ground? Right. And being aware of what's on your ground, what's what are the weeds, what symbolically speaking, what are the weeds in your life? Yeah, right. And so with weeds, we want to pull it out. We don't because what the point of the weed, it's like it's not poisonous to the good seed.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Right? The the the weed really steals the soil, the space, the water, yeah, the sunlight from the good seed.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

You're you're getting you're getting very deep. So can we can we like bring it a little bit more practical right now?

SPEAKER_01 8:53

And well, the practical side is looking at what are the weeds in your life.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Yes, it is, and I and I appreciate what you're saying, but I want to slow it down a little bit. Okay, because I want to explain really what you're saying, because it's very important. Okay. Um, I'll use myself as an example. Quite recently I learned that I was spending a lot of time on my phone, and it came first as a the weed was, man, where's this time going? But then as I started dissecting what I am looking at on my phone, YouTube videos, right, these social media or whatever, it wasn't just a time suck. It was actually all this information that I was taking in that not only made me feel like I'm more way more busy than I used to be, but more importantly, I was stressed. By the time I got off work, I was way more stressed. Just removing my phone from my everyday. Like when I go to work, I put my phone away. When I'm going to sleep, I put my phone away. Right? I even ordered one of those dumb alarms uh on Amazon, you know, the ones that can't do much but beep in the morning. But like that, that that just removing that makes me feel so much freer and able to receive. My heart feels cleaner because of that. Now, it may not be everybody, like this is just personal story, but that is a weed that I saw in my heart.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yeah, I um it's so true because those are the distractions of this world, which is what the word says.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Which is literally what and what Van is saying, the word distractions is actually specifically used by Jesus in Mark chapter 4. Verse, let me just quote the address, verse 17.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

They hear the word and the cares of this world and the distractions of the ages. Yeah, the deceitfulness of the riches and the desires of other things. Yes, right. The thing is like we don't we don't know how much that takes away. That just adds well, it takes away from the quality time, but it is it's busyness around your life, right? Then because when you are I when I look at this, I think of okay, like spring is here and kind of supposed to be here. Yeah, right. And I like to go out to my garden bed and I tend to my seeds, my plants, my tomatoes, my peppers. I tend to it and I look for weeds. Yeah, do I need to pull this out? I tend to it, and I think that's how we should really tend to our heart. I was talking to like the ladies yesterday at a little ladies get together, and um one of the ladies there mentions, like, you know, when she was sick, when she got sick, she was like, you know, why am I not feeling better? Like, I read my Bible, I did devotion, I spent time with the Lord, like, why isn't it doing it better? And she told me that God told her that because we didn't f like she didn't focus on him, she's focusing, focusing on what she was doing. I did this, I did this, I did this. That's right. And it's amazing because you can be in the word and doing devotion and still be focusing on, I did that, yeah, and not focusing on God.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

Yeah, when when God when Jesus talked about the heart matter, he's actually talking about where is your heart at about this situation or issue. And majority of the time, and this is a and this is really what I want to bring up, majority of the time, we we the at the world is literally focused on getting our attention. Every ad is supposed to get our attention. If it doesn't, it's not gonna make money, right? Like that's the point of it all. But one thing that we need to be aware of is that there is a real enemy in the world. That's it's the devil. And so what is the evidence of that? Well, sin exists, it's a fallen world. Because there's evil exists, there's evidence that there's an enemy. And why do I say that? Because God is good, so so good cannot give you bad. God gives you good things. The enemy is what's really after your heart. Because reality is most of the time the enemy doesn't need you to do evil things, he just doesn't need you to do good things, or or doing things that you're not supposed to be doing. Yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

It doesn't have to be bad.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

It doesn't have to be bad, but just keep you focused off of what you're supposed to be doing.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Yeah, which is I think so many people get lost because they're focused on the wrong things, right? You know, yeah. Um let's see. I put down the weeds take over the person's ability to have peace, to have faith, and to have creativity. You know, you ever feel so excuse me, you always feel so stressed out or maxed out or burned out at work that you can't seem to think creatively or even reason or figure out a problem, right? It's because you're maxed out, you're burnt out and doing other things that you don't have that space on good ground, like good ground doesn't have a lot of things, right? So I think a lot of time instead of instead of having more to-do's, more things that you want to achieve, yeah, it's really emptying out and taking things out that that don't need to be there.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Yeah, it's amazing to me that we're the most connected generation, right? Most advanced generation ever, and yet we are the busiest generation than the than the days where you would have to literally hand carve buildings out of a hammer and a chisel, right? And how is it where we're way more advanced yet we don't have more time? And it's because all these things have taken us up. And I think one of a good action item from this would be to simply look at or take an inventory of all the things that occupies your attention. Because the point of this is at the end of at the end of it all, in in Mark chapter 4, Jesus says, those who have ears to hear, let them hear. Actually, he starts off that way. And and why what does that really mean? What is really meaning, what it's saying is, if you would just open up your heart and listen and receive what I have to say, right? Because he came to give us everlasting life. That's literally the point, is to give you a life that is all about filled with legacy, fulfillment, and enjoyment and pleasure and adventure. I mean, adventure describes our faith walk, right? The moment that we decided to follow him was filled with adventure.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Yeah, it's and it's important to um like quiet down the voices around you and listen to his still small voice.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Um, because the voices around everything is trying to grab our attention, right? Yeah, like do this and watch this, hear this, and then read this. Like the thing is like those those things takes us away, and they're loud. You know, they're loud, it's hard to not hear it. Yeah, so you have to be really mindful on like okay, those are sounds, yeah, and you can um you like listen to that still small voice. It's not God's voice is not obnoxious, it's not loud. It's very still, it's very still, a still, small voice is what you're looking for.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

And you feel it in your heart, and there's always peace around it.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

And the thing is that when those thorny when you're on thorny grounds or when you the the thorns represent like the desires of this world, the loudness, the voices of this world, right? Then the distractions, like you're not hearing, you're not hearing his voice. You're hearing, oh, my mom wants me to be this, my wife wants me to be this, my boss thinks I should take this certification. I think that I should grow my business because that's what I you know, all that, but that's everybody else's voice. Yeah, not your voice. I mean, I work with so many clients where they're like, Van, I don't know. It's just tell me, just tell me what to do. And I just go, I'm not a miracle worker in that way. Yeah, you know, like I can't just he was like, it's just so easy. You just tell me what to do and I'll do it. And when I hear that, it makes me sad because honestly, they don't know how to hear that internal voice.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

And we're talking about believers or non-believers, like they don't hear, they're like, just my mom thinks I should just, you know, go back to school and study this.

SPEAKER_02 18:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

And it's like, that's your mom's voice.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

What's your voice?

SPEAKER_01 18:14

What's your voice? What's God's voice telling you? Yeah. And send it.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

And what you're saying is really important because um God has given us these things. Um, those are gifts that we get to use. And what I love about God is he desires relationship. You know, the master plan of creation is he created us to be just like him. So if we want love, he wants love. If we want companionship, he wants companionship.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

I think sometimes people don't know what they want because they've been told what to do.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Right, exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

So and one of the questions by social media, by their friends, you know, by their parents. They've been told, but they never really learned how to hear God.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Yeah, or learn what they want in your in your specific example, right? Like I love what you said because I'm rephrasing, but this is what the Bible says about wanting and needs. He says that I will fulfill your needs. What is it that you want? And I I truly believe that what what God is saying in that instance is let's see what wants I have put in your heart, the desires of your heart, so that we can explore it together and go achieve it through adventure. But it does require companionship with him.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

And I think it always goes back to connection with him.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Um yeah, so I think what I want to end this with is that I would encourage you to kind of examine in your life what are the areas that just feels too much or feels cluttered, and what are the weeds in your life. And um and remove them. Remove the unnecessary, it's like kind of cleaning out or spring cleaning mode, you know, and we're just cleaning out. Not not everything has it's not just the bad, the bad things that needs to be removed. Sometimes it can appear like a good thing, but it's taking you away from like your real purpose and your intention.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

And if you have never encountered who God is and would like to know who he is, I think this is a really nice or good moment or opportunity for you to simply just ask, God, who are you and what is the truth? Because that's actually what led me to him myself. And um, and for those that that um are prepared to to see him, to receive him, we will post a prayer in this um description below. Please um pray that prayer with us, and we believe that the moment you pray that is when Jesus will actually reveal himself in a big way to you in your heart.