CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

SCRIPTURES AND THEIR VALUE

 

GURU IS A highly spiritual being with a sway

extending as far as Sach Khand. He has a firsthand

knowledge of And, Brahmand and Sach Khand: the

three grand divisions from physical to purely spiritual

realms.

 

Free from the clutches of body and mind, he is

charged with pure spirituality. Unless a jiva comes into

contact with such a being, his latent spiritual aspirations

are not stirred up. The Guru is really a lighted candle

that lights many blown-out candles. He can, by transmitting

his own life impulse, enliven others. Some persons

feel that by the study of scriptures alone they can have

spiritual light and need no Master for this purpose. We

may pause here and consider the value and worth of the

sacred books or holy scriptures.

 

These are, after all, nothing but the records of the

personal spiritual experiments and experiences of ancient

sages, seers, prophets, and men of piety. It is good

to read them with loving devotion. We should have respect

for them, for they constitute a great treasure-house

of spirituality which our forefathers have left for our

benefit.

 

The sacred books and biographies of the high-souled

personages create a spiritual longing and inspire us with

hope and courage. We may to a certain extent become

acquainted with the broad principles of spirituality, but

cannot learn their right import nor get the life impulse,

both of which come from a living Master alone.

 

Books are, after all, material things and matter cannot

impart Life.

 

Life comes from Life as Light comes from Light. It

is only an awakened soul that can rouse us from our deep

slumber. We may read scriptures for ages upon ages and

perform countless sacrificial deeds, but cannot have

spiritual awakening and spiritual insight.

 

Spirituality can neither be bought nor taught, but may

be caught like any infectious disease from one who may

himself be spiritually infected, nay rather, obsessed.

 

The teachings of the Saints have not only to be learned

but have also to be revealed. Besides knowledge of the

theory of the Path, it has to be seen, experienced and

verified. It is at once a science and an art, into the

mysteries of which only an adept can safely lead, guide,

and take us through.

 

God can best be served through devotion to a

Godman, for it is by his grace that we can

reach God.

 

Again, even the scriptures and the past Masters

emphatically exhort us to find a living Master.

 

Drink the washings of the Sadh's feet.

Make a holocaust of thyself for his sake.

Wash in the dust of his feet and be a sacrifice

to him.

Be ye a slave to the Saints - and this is all that

ye need to know.

 

Bhai Gurdas also tells us:

 

In the Guru lie hidden all the Vedas and the

sacred scriptures. A contact with him is

enough to help one to safely cross over the

ocean of life. We cannot know Truth without

the Master of Truth. God Himself has to

come down for this very purpose.

 

There are persons who studiously and scrupulously study

the scriptures all their lives. They know a great deal by

rote and can deliver learned discourses and give high-

flown talks on spiritual matters, but unfortunately are

altogether devoid of spiritual knowledge and spiritual

experience. Their life and conduct is as blank as that of

any other. They have not learned at the root nor drunk

the Water of Life at the fountainhead of life: the living

Master. In Sri Asa Ki War, we have:

 

One may stuff his head with so much learning

and accumulate a heavy load of knowledge.

He may raise and gather a regular harvest of

learning. All his life he may go on studying

from year to year, month to month, from

moment to moment. O Nanak! One thing

you may know for certain: he will become a

bloated ass.

 

O Nanak! One may study sacred lore by

weight and be engaged ceaselessly in this

task. What after all is the value of learning

when Naam lies far beyond all holy books?

 

Books, after all, contain a description of God's Knowledge,

but cannot actually deliver the goods.

 

Know ye for certain that the essence of all

knowledge and wisdom lies in Dhuni (Sound

Principle) and as such it is indescribable.

 

This essence then is within us, but we cannot have It

unless we know how to tap inside, as Emerson puts it.

 

Dr. J. D. Rhine, the parapsychologist and researcher,

tells us in his book Mind and the New World that there

is something in man that transcends all matter. If spiritual

knowledge could be had from books, then all the learned

people would by now be saints.

 

But in actual experience we see that in spite of all their

book learning they continue to be as material as the very

libraries that house these books.

 

Laden with the dead weight of book knowledge, they

may be likened to an ass staggering under the dead-

weight of sandalwood and experiencing not the sweet

scent emanating therefrom.

 

Like a ladle in the pudding, they are ignorant of the

taste of the pudding. In this age of learning, when the

world is literally flooded with books, there is,

unfortunately, no flood of spirituality and not even a

sprinkling of spiritually-minded people.

 

It is only the advent of a Master of Truth that brings

spirituality into the limelight and many there are who

become dyed in spiritual colors. A conscious spirit can be

activated and quickened into life by someone who is

more conscious. Neither books nor intellectual knowledge

can do this thing. No person, no matter how intellectual,

can infuse Life in another unless he himself has Life.

 

To talk of spirituality is much easier than to live

spiritually. Such persons only dabble in spirituality and

just make a show of it, and cannot do any real good.

 

Maulana Rumi says:

 

Come under the overall influence of some

Saint;

Thou canst not find the path from a mere

imitator.

 

In the Gospel we find the words of Christ:

 

Beware of false prophets which come to you in

sheep's clothing but inwardly they are

ravening wolves.

 

MATTHEW 7:15

 

An association with a Saint is bound to create in a

jiva a longing for spirituality. This, in fact, is the

touchstone for the worldly-wise. Such a being is worthy of

respect and adoration with all our hearts and souls.

Whoever comes in contact with him is magnetized and is

charged with spirituality and taken along to spiritual

realms.

 

My body, mind, and wealth all belong to the

Master;

His Grace has provided the Holy Grail and

made me whole;

The world holds no greater benefactor than he,

He who contacts a Sadh is ferried across safely.

 

The ideal of the Master is spiritual. He is not limited to

his physical body as we are. He is Word personified.

 

The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

 

The physical body is just like a raiment which has to be

cast off both by the disciple and the Master, the moment

this spiritual journey begins; as it is the untrammeled

spirit that has to tread the spiritual path. But so long as

he works on the physical plane as a teacher to the stray

brethren, blessed indeed is his form full of Godly Grace,

shedding Godly Light around him and charging all and

sundry with powerful rays of spirituality. Man is the

teacher of man and ideal man has ever been the ideal

of man.

 

Those who regard it as idolatry do not know the secret

of the Master's greatness. This "man worship," as

they call it, is much better than "book worship" or "idol

worship," because it is a worship of Higher Consciousness

by lower consciousness. Life can come from Life, not from

inert matter. Hazrat Khusro, a great Sufi poet, in his

well-known couplet, tells us:

 

People allege that Khusro has become an idol

worshiper,

Verily do I admit it, for the world has nothing

to do with me.

 

Again, another Persian poet from his sick bed said:

 

O ignorant physician! take thy leave, for thou

knowest not that for the love-sick there is no

other remedy except the sight of his Beloved.

 

Similarly, Guru Nanak in his childhood when afflicted

with the pangs of love asked the physician who came to

attend him to quit, as he could not find out the illness

of his heart.

 

There is nothing in common between a worldly-wise

man and a devotee. One who has never known devotion

cannot know the worth of a Master, who is a polarized

God, shedding kindly Light in the world.

 

Truly speaking, the term Guru is not an appellation

of any person. It signifies and stands for a dynamic

power that works in and through a particular human form

and is the ideal for us all.

 

This is the power that helps in spiritual advancement.

Like a floodlight he floods the world with his spiritual

Light, and one cannot see anything besides Light. The

aspirants for spirituality gather around him like moths

and make a holocaust of themselves in his august and

holy presence.

 

Kabir Sahib says:

 

The ignorant regard the Master as a human

being and are caught in the whirlwind of the

world and sink down. Their mind and body

are of no consequence and they cannot gain

anything. They cannot develop any devotion

in themselves, hence cannot escape from

bondage. Such jivas make a headlong dash

for hell-fire, and ceaselessly move with the

giant wheel of creation.