INITIATION A
talk given by Param Sant Kirpal Singh during his second world tour in Miami on
January 1st, 1964 First
of all, we should know what Initiation means.
Initiation is no ceremony, no rite, no ritual, no offering. It is just like a school, in which a lesson
is given; and for that lesson, first
the inner theory is explained, and then an inner experience is given. We are all children of God. God is light, and we are also light, being
of the same essence as that of God.
But our light is enveloped by different coverings-physical, astral,
causal and super causal. It is just
like a lamp that has two, three or four coverings over it; it appears as if
there is no light there. But you shake
off one covering, you have some light; when you shake off another one, more
light; and, as you shake off all the
coverings, you see it is all-light.
Similarly, we are light, children of light, but we are enveloped by so
many coverings. Initiation means to
rise up our soul and shake off all the coverings: first, the one of the physical body, which is the Iron Curtain, I
would say: to rise the soul above body-consciousness-physical consciousness-and
open the inner eye to have an experience of light, and also to open the inner
ear to hear the voice of God, all the Music of the Spheres. This
is what is actually meant by the word Initiation: to be initiated into the
beyond. Learn to die so that you may begin to live. For
that, what do we have to do? We are
souls-conscious entities; the seat of our soul in the body is back of the
eyes. You must have seen some man
dying: the life withdraws from
underneath, goes up to the back of the eyes, and the eyes are upturned; then
the drop-scene*, which is called death, comes.
So the seat of the soul in the body is back of the eyes; but it
enlightens the whole room-the whole body.
Those rays of the soul, you might say, which are enlivening the whole
body, are to be withdrawn and brought to the back of the eyes; there the inner
eye or the single eye opens; we see the Light of God. That
is why Christ said, If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full
of light. Now
we have two eyes. How can the two eyes
become single? That’s a practical
question. Similarly all other Masters
said, the third eye that is back of the eyes should be opened. But that opens only when our life current or
sensory current is withdrawn to the back of the eyes. This is the first step. Many
ways have been prescribed for this. And
many of them are man-made; they are time-consuming, difficult, and hazardous, too.
And these days we are hereditarily not fit for them. They involve the prana system, breathing,
etc., or coming to some conclusion by intellectual wrestling-but that is not
seeing. So
it is a matter of practical self analysis: how to rise above
body-consciousness, how to die while alive.
Plutarch
tells us: Those who are initiated into the Beyond, their souls have the same experience that they have at the time of death. So
we have to withdraw our soul to the seat of it, which is at the back of the
eyes. If you can do it of your own
self, well and good. Anybody and
everybody is welcome; a blind man needs two eyes to see. If not, then in that case, we need the help
of someone who knows the Way, who is competent to do it. And who is competent to do it? Not the son of man, mind that. It is the God in him, which is manifest; that, with little thought, has
the power to raise our souls above the bondage of mind. That costs him nothing. God made all creation with one thought of
His. Of course, God resides in every
heart; there is no heart without Him; but God is not manifested there. What is the reason why? Our
soul is under the control of mind, mind is under the control of the outgoing
faculties, and our attention is diffused into the world outside through the
outgoing faculties: we are identified
with the world. So we do not know that
Power. That is there, of course. By withdrawing our attention from outside
and then raising above the senses, we open the eyes and see that it is
there. If you shut the doors of the temple of the body, you will see the light of the heaven. This
is what initiation really means. Before
we go to Him, our inner eye is closed and our inner ears are also closed. They are sealed, as the scriptures say, So somebody-Who is He? The God in Him, who
is manifest-comes across to those who are really hankering after God: There is food for the hungry and water for
the thirsty. The
Master appears when the disciple is ready.
That’ a God-made arrangement; no man’s
arrangement. He sees some child
is after Him; then He makes some arrangement to bring such a seeker after Truth
somewhere where He is manifest. And that manifested God is competent to give
him that experience of light and of hearing the Music of the Spheres. This
is what is meant by initiation. That
is why Christ said to his disciples: Blessed are you who see things that the old prophets and righteous men could not see. Then
He said, Blessed are you who hear things that the old prophets and and righteous men could not hear. Matthew 13:17 So,
is there something of seeing and something of hearing-hearing the voice of God
and seeing the Light of God. That is
already within us; that is the controlling Power which is keeing us in the
body; otherwise, we would have run out of the body: the two eyes are open, the
two nostrils are open, but we cannot leave it. So,
this is exactly what is meant by initiation.
That effects no religion; because religions are our schools of thought
which we have joined to have this very truth.
Truth is one: Gid is light and God is Music of the Spheres. A blind man is truly defined by Master, not
as one who has no eyes on his face, but as one whose inner eye is closed. In the terminology of the saints, a blind
man is one whose inner eye is closed, although he has two eyes on his face. When
you come to Him, you are blind. When He
gives you a meditation sitting, you see light; you testify it. When you return, you are not blind anymore. When you close your eyes, you see darkness;
the one who is competent removes that veil of darkness, and the light sprouts
forth; and you testify that it is so-that is what is meant by initiation. And here the ABC starts. This is not the end-all, mind that. Where the worldly philosophies end, there
religion starts. There are so many mansions in the house of the
Father. The
one who is competent to bring your soul up into the Beyond and give you an
experience of the light of God and the
voice of God is also competent to guide you when you rise above
body-consciousness and traverse into those planes. It is the God in Him, which is called God Power or the Guru Power
or the Christ Power. This
is the ultimate goal before us as a man; and the purpose of joining various
religions is only that. You’ll find
that a true Christian is defined as one who sees the light of God; a true Hindu
or a true Sikh or a true Mohammedan or a true anybody is defined in scriptures
as one who sees the Light of God. You’ve
joined various schools of thought; this
is the first step. To remain in some
schools or college is blessed; but if you remain there and don’t have that
purpose for which you have joined it, I think you have not derived the full
benefit of joining that particular school.
Of
course, we have taken the first step required for the preparation of the
ground; that is, the reading of the scriptures, the saying of prayers,
performance of certain rites and rituals.
What is their purpose? By
reading scriptures we know what the Masters said on the subject. You can only have their right import when
you sit by somebody who knows the Way.
Those who simply try to interpret the scriptures at the level of the
intellect cannot do full justice to the work.
>God is light,< they say.
But intellectuals say, >It is the light of the intellect.< It is substantial light. The
scope of reading the scriptures ends there: in creating an interest in us to
have those very experiences that the Masters had in their lives. So what does performing rites and rituals or
saying prayers mean? That is meant to
develop love and devotion in us for God.
Those are good actions; they are required for the preparation of the
ground. But seeing is still above
all. Seeing arises to the soul when it
is liberated from mind and the outgoing faculties. That is why all Masters
said, >Man, know thyself.< So
this is actually what is meant by initiation.
When Masters come, they don’t advocate one religion or the other. They simply tell us of the highest teaching
that all Masters gave, the teaching which we have forgotten, and which they
have revived. And who revives it? The God in them, that’s all. This is what is required. First,
who can unite you with God? Only God’s
grace, alone, can unite you. First
resign everything to God. Second, there
are some preparatory things required: a strict vegetarian diet-the avoidance of
all meat, fish, fowl and eggs.
Why? Perhaps people think that
these things give strength. What do
animals eat? How strong they are! They count power in terms of horse
power. Now there’s a campaign going on
in the West for vegetarian diet. About
fifteen world vegetarian conferences have been held so far. Only one has been held in India, and
fourteen have been held in the West.
There’s a campaign going on everywhere for the vegetarian diet. They have come to know that it is superior
to the meat diet in every respect. This
is one reason. The
second reason is that we have to have control over our passions. The use of anything that goes to flare up
passions, we have to avoid. That’s the
main thing. If a doctor comes and
advises you, the patient, not to take solid food, you have to obey. This is a helping factor. Similarly,
we are conscious beings. We have to become
more conscious. So the use of anything
that goes to make our consciousness morbid, we have to eliminate; that is all
intoxicants-all of them. And
further, have a good character. These
are the necessities-the helping factors-in becoming initiated. Even if you get initiation and don’t live up
to it. Take heed that the light which is within you is not
darkened. This
is what is meant by initiation, and these are the preparatory grounds. There is food for the hungry and water for
the thirsty. Perhaps, as the reaction
of the past or by passing through various vicissitudes of life, by
discrimination we know what to do. This
is a sort of hunger within us to have some refuge to go to-a haven. So God sees when this hunger has arisen in
such persons. He is within us. He makes some arrangement to bring us in
contact somewhere where we can be initiated into the Beyond. That does not affect any religion-that is
the basic principle of all religions, which we have forgotten-that’s all. By a parallel study of religions, you’ll
find that. They
all gave out the same thing: light and sound is the way back to God. This is the God-into-expression Power-the
two aspects of it. Remain
where you are; there is no need of changing any religion. Simply be true to your own religion. I’ve met the heads-the ministers-of most of
the various religions. These teachings
are there in their scriptures, but they themselves do not know it. They know only the elementary steps, and
they don’t refer to these things.. If
they do make reference to them, people ask, >Give us this, please!< Then? It is better not to mention them. To
err is human. We forget. Masters come from time to time to revive
that very forgotten lesson. So this is
no new religion, no new faith, no new formation. This helps everyone to be true to the teachings of his own Master
to whom he belongs. That’s all. I think this clarifies what initiation is
and what the helping factors-the requirements for initiation are. Where are you searching me? Behold, I am beside you! Neither I am in temples nor mosques neither in the Kaaba nor in Kailesh. I am not in outer rites and rituals I am beside you, with you, within you Kabir The
Greatest Fact in God’s Universe is God.
The
Greatest Need for humanity is to realize God.
And
the Greatest Intention of God is to manifest Himself to man. |