Initiation and drugs

by Param Sant Kirpal Singh (Ek-Onkar)

 

 

[Q]: Well, if you don't believe in the words of the Master before you have an experience, you have a lot of trouble having the experience, don't you?

 

[K]: I tell you, no. Books are there. A learned and unlearned man both have to do the same thing. An unlearned man does not require any rules or any evidences from the past Masters, this and that - he doesn't care. The learned man would like to know whether it is true, whether anybody else also bears testimony to it; he is taught very cautiously. There is a building with hundreds of stairs to reach up to the top. There are two men; one is learned, the other is unlearned. They are told, "All right, you go up to the roof, to the top of the roof and you'll see the sun rising." The unlearned starts going up. And the other one says, "How many steps are there? My foot might slip down. What will be the proof that I will be saved?" Then he goes up ten steps and says, "Oh, there's no light, how do you know there will be light?" You see? As you near the top, you have some light. When you go up, you'll see. That's all. It's something like that. Two men, one learned and the other unlearned, both went to a Master. To the unlearned man He said, "All right, I'll charge you a single fee." The learned man came up, "I think everything should be free." But the Master said, "I'll charge you a double fee." Why? "Because I first have to make you unlearned and then you can start. I will have to do this by explaining this and that thing." One lady came to me: "I don't want any theory, give me experience." She got an experience.

 

Children see Light. They don't want any theories or any discussions or what one Master said or what the other said. They simply sit and see Light. That's a boost given by a Master. That's the only criterion of judging whether a Man really has something to give. What He has to give may not be full but it is at least something. It is a start when you rise above body consciousness. Where all world philosophies end, there the religion starts. "Re" means back, "legio" to bind. People have forgotten, you see. They're giving their whole time to singing, lighting candles, this and that thing. That's all right. That's preparation of the ground: good actions. But you are the doer. First see and then say. The difference between a Saint and other men is that He sees and then says. The other men do not see; they simply read and say. So any one can say, "God is Light; God is all Light." But one who sees it says, "God is all Light," because he has seen He is all Light. A man who is blind from birth has never seen the sun. Similarly a man who has read in a book, "God is Light," saying "God is Light" is just like a blind man saying he has seen the sun. All outer performances of what you do are only to help you to further prepare the ground. There is reaction there, good reaction but there is no emancipation unless you become an initiate of a Saint and the criterion of a Saint is that he must give something to start with. A man gives a very good lecture on business lines, very wonderful, very convincing, very helpful, but if the men to whom he is talking have no money, what will he do? Talk to him, give him some capital to start with. So he must be able to give something. Is there any proof? Where is the proof? You will find there are hundreds of so-called gurus. Most of them advanced by hypnotizing, by mesmerizing, or by radiation. They're also very few. Other gurus simply say, "Go on and do this, you'll have more. Be rest assured your salvation is definite." This won't do. This is on credit, you see, you must have cash.

 

[Q]: Do those who take drugs such as LSD and have certain experiences, are they valid experiences?

 

[K]: No, no. They are hallucinations. Any thought reverberating, that brings forth a hundred times more, mind that. Why do we stop such intoxication, any intoxication; because we are conscious beings. Anything that makes the subconscious a little morbid we are not to use. That results in the death of soul. You follow me?

 

[Q]: Drugs result in the death of the soul?

 

[K]: The death of the soul, yes. Consciousness is lessened and naturally they have to go on to the lower planes. That is what all this intoxication starts.

 

[Q]: What about taking LSD then?

 

[K]: It is still more death of the soul.

 

[Q]: There's a great deal of talk that LSD is the foundation or a basis of a religion of the future or at least an improvement on the kind of religion that is now existent.

 

[K]: No, no, no. It is deterioration. Definitely going down to beastlihood. Their consciousness is marred. Animals are also conscious. Even a snake is conscious but they have a different degree of consciousness. Man's consciousness is very evolved. But if you use suchlike things your consciousness is affected. If you are intoxicated by such means your consciousness is affected, and you will have to go to the lower planes.

 

[Q]: Do those who come to you from a background of drug experience start then with a very definite handicap?

 

[K]: Surely, sometimes at initiation they are given a double sitting. They are made to sit twice. Hitherto, men were prepared for initiation: those who came to the Master had to live with Him for months. When they were ready, only then they were given something. Now the times have changed. Who can live with the Master for months and months? So some things are given all at once at the start. Then it should be maintained by self-introspection. It is wonderful, of course, how we can have this on the very first day. All do get something. Some more, others less, that's another thing; but they do get it. It's a special gift of God. In the Iron Age, the worst of times, still God's grace is more, so that many may be saved.

 

[Q]: Of course, it's obvious that when You initiate them here that everybody is getting an experience. I mean, you can see it, you can count it, but I don't knowif that is necessarily as obvious when Your assistants do the initiating elsewhere.

 

[K]: I tell you, if the group leaders use their own ego, then they don't succeed. But if they become a mere channel, all get It. I receive initiation reports. Most of them get something, some do not get. I tell the group leaders to give them a second sitting, sometime when they're fresh and buoyant. Sometimes they're hurrying, they come running in and are made to sit. How can they have an experience? The initiation should be done when they're calm and quiet and when he who is just the means, becomes a channel and is not exerting. So these things stand in the way. In my time when my Master once came to Lahore where I used to live, He initiated some people there. Then He told me, "All right, I have sown the seeds; you give them water. You water them." I told Him, "Master, I'm a mere pipe. The water that you'll send, I'll give them." You see? The other pipes are only there so that the water you send runs through them. Otherwise they are hurt. See the goal - not the personality. I say, "All right, you can give them a sitting." It doesn't mean that he's giving the initiation. The more of a channel he becomes, the more experience they get. Sometimes they are not ready or they are tired or they are hurried up, or the man does not surrender to the Master Power within. That sometimes stands in the way. Some do get very wonderful experiences. Of course, here and there we find some that do not see. Then I tell them, "Give them a second sitting." Sometimes there's some inaccuracy in their doing the practices, sometimes the instructions are given hurriedly, sometimes the channel is just feeling that he's the boss. Then the trouble arises.

 

[Q]: Would you recommend then before a person is initiated he undergo some kind of preparation for that initiation; I mean several hours of meditation or something of that nature?

 

[K]: You see, concentration can be done only when you have something to stand upon in an effective way. When you close your eyes and if you have nothing to see, to stand on, you've got the darkness before you. There you'll stay like a child shut in a dark room with the door closed; he'll break the door, he'll cry. But if he sees something that's attractive and enchanting, then he'll not cry. So there must be something to stand on. Most of the, excuse me for saying this, the so-called masters say, "All right, visualize my face." But I never recommend, never tell anybody that. Why? If you visualize anybody, God forbid if he is not perfect, then you'll become what he is. It's very dangerous. It is very dangerous. God is one who comes of Himself. That figure that appears of itself in the calm and quiet silence in the heart, that is from God. You are not to visualize. I never tell people to visualize. They should pray and sit. That's another thing. If somebody is of a higher level than you are and you visualize him, he won't come in fully. Some days you'll see his turban, some days his hand. Then you'll say, "I saw him there." The mind will be running. Those who are of your level or those who are below you, you'll just think and you see their face. So most of the people nowadays - I've come in touch with all these heads of religions - all tell to visualize a form. They give you a photo. Photos are only for remembrance just like a friend. What comes of itself within and manifests, that is true. That's the difference. That is why my way is different. Most do see something. But they stay, then leave. Naturally if they don't stay they don't get more. You can sit down on any chair, as a child, and you'll see His Face.

 

So light is the only thing to stand on. What light? Not physical light but the inner Light. That is the God-into-expression Power. Some people light the candle and visualize the candlelight. Think of the cow and the cow will become a sister, is it not? "I think of the Master, all right; he's got a very good face, very good turban; He is a very gentle man; very elegant; He's a very good actor." But what He is, you see, can be tested only by Initiation. There's a very vast difference, you see. Don't go by propaganda. Propaganda is made when a man fears or is incompetent. Don't go to such a person. I allow everybody to freely go. Go if you can get something better. Then all right. Take me with you. I'll be thankful to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drugs

 

[Q]: Do those who take drugs such as LSD and have certain experiences, are they valid experiences?

 

[K]: No, no. They are hallucinations. Any thought reverberating, that brings forth a hundred times more, mind that. Why do we stop such intoxication, any intoxication; because we are conscious beings. Anything that makes the subconscious a little morbid we are not to use. That results in the death of soul. You follow me?

 

[Q]: Drugs result in the death of the soul?

 

[K]: The death of the soul, yes. Consciousness is lessened and naturally they have to go on to the lower planes. That is what all this intoxication starts.

 

[Q]: What about taking LSD then?

 

[K]: It is still more death of the soul.

 

[Q]: There's a great deal of talk that LSD is the foundation or a basis of a religion of the future or at least an improvement on the kind of religion that is now existent.

 

[K]: No, no, no. It is deterioration. Definitely going down to beastlihood. Their consciousness is marred. Animals are also conscious. Even a snake is conscious but they have a different degree of consciousness. Man's consciousness is very evolved. But if you use suchlike things your consciousness is affected. If you are intoxicated by such means your consciousness is affected, and you will have to go to the lower planes.

 

[Q]: Do those who come to you from a background of drug experience start then with a very definite handicap?

 

[K]: Surely, sometimes at initiation they are given a double sitting. They are made to sit twice. Hitherto, men were prepared for initiation: those who came to the Master had to live with Him for months. When they were ready, only then they were given something. Now the times have changed. Who can live with the Master for months and months? So some things are given all at once at the start. Then it should be maintained by self-introspection. It is wonderful, of course, how we can have this on the very first day. All do get something. Some more, others less, that's another thing; but they do get it. It's a special gift of God. In the Iron Age, the worst of times, still God's grace is more, so that many may be saved.