CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

 

THE PHYSICAL FORM OF THE MASTER

 

WE READ of peculiarities in the physical form of a

perfect Master. Physically, too, he suffers from

no deformity and has no weaknesses in him. His gait is

full of grace and dignity. His eyes shine like those of a

lion. He has a broad forehead, a mark of a lotus on his

feet, and generally a black mole on his brilliantly

luminous face.

 

Hafiz, a great Sufi poet of Shiraz, tells us:

 

If that beauty of Shiraz (the Master) were to

take charge of my wandering mind, I would

throw away both the worlds (earth and

heaven) at the altar of the wonderful mole

on His Face.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

 

THE INFLUENCE OF THE MASTER

 

 

IN HIS PRESENCE, the mind grows docile and feels

anchored.

 

How can we get the company of such a One

by looking at whom the ever-restless mind

gets lost, and Life Impulses swarm upon the

soul? The Beloved Master makes a True

Friend, and bestows God Intoxication.

 

He sheds around him rays of purity, saturated with dignified

humility, which exert a powerful influence upon the jivas.

His words are charged with Spirituality and drag the soul

into the beyond and administer a kind of living intoxicating

exhilaration.

 

If he were to disclose his secrets, my very soul

would swiftly soar Godward.

MAULANA RUMI

 

2. A steady gaze at his forehead and eyes reveals a

peculiar Light which gives a pull to the soul and

momentarily gathers up the all-pervading sensory currents,

and one feels his being in higher Consciousness.

 

3. He is a Prince of Peace, and is above the pairs of

opposites. His association releases in us currents of bliss

and benediction. He dispels all thoughts of antagonisn

and rivalry, and gives instead, equipoise to the soul,

leading gradually to the Godhead.

 

In whose company one feels blessed, is the

Master of Truth.

He purifies the mind and grants salvation to

the soul.

 

4. He is completely filled with the power of ojas (the

fruit of chastity), and his forehead shines with Godly

Light. One is irrestistibly drawn by the magnetism of his

charged words. From his eyes a peculiar Light shines

forth, which like an osprey paralyzes the mind. He works

like a leaven and quickens life in the desert of the mind.

 

5. With his lynx eyes, his gaze can penetrate deep

into the feelings and emotions of a person; and he adjusts

his instructions according to times and individual

needs. The physical raiment of a jiva or soul is for him

just like a transparent glass jar; though he can easily

detect what is therein, he never exposes it to public view,

and keeps his experience of each to himself. Whoever

goes to him, whether a beetle or a wasp, gets sweet

fragrance as from a flower. In the House of the Master,

everything is in abundance, and each gets what he wishes

for. Every person who contacts a Master Soul receives

spiritual impressions which, in course of time, are bound

to fructify. From the very moment an individual meets

a Master, better times are assured to him.

 

6. A Sant Satguru is verily the Son of God. He has

genuine love alike for persons of all religions,

nationalities and countries. He sees the Light of God

in all. His appeal is therefore universal to all mankind.

 

All are born of the same Light, and as such

there is no difference between man and man.

O Nanak! people of all denominations flock

into the fold of the Satguru.

Satguru is all-merciful and all-knowing. He

treats all alike, and does the work of all who

have faith in him.

 

He neither destroys the old church nor sets up another

church of his own. He is a Master of Truth and does not

care to what sect or creed a person may belong. All

that matters is spiritual aspiration, for that alone befits

a jiva for the Master's Path.

 

When one revels in Shabd or Word, he forgets

all about himself.

For the intelligent there is but One Path, no

matter be he a Pundit or a Sheikh.

 

KABIR

 

He fearlessly talks of the Spiritual Path that lies within

each one of us, in spite of our religious differences. One

who is able to establish contact with such a Master is

in fact a veritable pilgrim on the Path, and gets the

greatest benefit from him.

 

Maulana Rumi, therefore, says:

 

Should ye be anxious for a pilgrimage, ye must

take for a guide and companion any experienced

pilgrim, no matter whether he be a Hindu, a

Turk, or an Arab. Care not how he may look but

see only that he is competent and knows the Path.

 

We have, after all, not to establish any worldly relationship

with the Master. All that we need from him is spiritual

instruction and guidance, and if he can give us that,

it should be considered enough.

 

7. Master Saints are the manifestation of Godhead.

As heavenly truths dawn on them silently and subtly,

so do their instructions work quietly, and sink into the

very depths of the jivas without any word of mouth.

 

A Sheikh (Master), like God, is embedded in

the formless Beyond, and he imparts his

teachings without uttering a single syllable.

 

The instructions of the Master are in a language that

is speechless and can neither be imparted by word of

mouth nor by word recorded.

 

Why do ye not understand my speech? Even

because ye cannot hear my Word.

JOHN 8:43

 

Tongue of thought is his only instrument. It is a matter

of inner experience for the spirit.

 

Maulana Rumi says:

 

Soul is of the same essence as that of God;

it is God epitomized, and can express itself

without any outer aid (like organs of

speech).

 

In the teaching of the Masters, physical senses are not

of much avail. Everything is done automatically, despite

the senses.

 

One sees without eyes, hears without ears,

walks without feet, acts without hands, and

talks without tongue; for this is just like

Death-in-Life.

O Nanak! it is then alone that one can know

the Cosmic Will and meet the Beloved.

 

Maulana Rumi also says the same thing:

 

I fly into those Regions without wings, travel

there without feet; enjoy manna and elixir

without lips and palate; and see the glories

thereof by closing my eyes.

 

8. The aspirants seldom have to question the Master

to resolve their doubts, for the latter of his own accord

explains things that are uppermost in the minds of the

audience.

 

9. Time and again the teachings of the Master center

around one theme: Naam or Surat Shabd Yoga. In clear

terms they tell us that one cannot find God nor reach

Him by engaging in outer pursuits, for He is the Lord

of our very soul and must therefore be sought within,

by the process of inversion.

 

Saint Matthew in his Gospel tells us:

 

Verily, I say unto you, Except ye be converted,

and become as little children, ye shall not

enter into the kingdom of heaven.

MATTHEW 18:3

 

Again, in the Gospel of St. Luke, we have:

 

Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive

the Kingdom of God as a little child

shall in no wise enter therein.

LUKE 18:17

 

Great indeed is man, for his body is verily the Temple

of God and the crest jewel of knowledge shines forth

within.

 

Once again, St. Luke tells us:

 

The Kingdom of God cometh not by observation...

the Kingdom of God is within you.

LUKE 17:20-21

 

A Muslim Divine speaks in similar strain:

 

The human heart is the Masjid (Mosque) and

the body is the place of worship.

 

Again:

 

It does not befit a spirit (soul), the denizen

of the God-made mosque (human body), to

wander in search of the Beloved in man-made

temples.

TULSI SAHIB

 

 

Magrabi Sahib also tells us:

 

Thy Beloved is within thee, and thou art

ignorant of it. He is the very Soul of thy soul,

and thou art wandering without in quest

of Him.

 

Maulana Rumi in this context says:

 

Within the folds of thy brain there are wonderful

gardens and beauty spots. Should you like to

enjoy them, hie to a Murshid (Master)

for instruction.

 

Those who search without for the inestimable

Treasure are in stark ignorance. They wander

in the bewildering mirage of the desert

sands of the world, like a deer who runs

about looking for musk in bushes.

 

The Pind (human body) is the exact replica of Brahmand

(universe). The same spirit is working on both the microcosm

and the macrocosm. We cannot see, feel, and be one with the

Cosmic Spirit unless we establish harmony and come in touch

with the spirit within us.

 

Until the embodied spirit becomes disembodied and

rarified and rises above the sensual plane, it can hardly

harmonize itself with Universal Spirit.

 

Nevertheless, our quest for God or Universal Spirit

is all the time on the physical plane. We try to discover

God under the bowels of the earth, on the snow-capped

mountains, in the waters of the sacred rivers, and on

desert sands; in man-made temples and mosques, in

churches and synagogues; hence we fail to find Him.

 

If we know the inner Path in the body, we can hope

to experience and feel the influence of the great power

within. But this inversion or conversion is not possible

without the aid of an adept in Para Vidya (Science of

the Soul), for he alone holds the key to the Kingdom of

God and his words act as an open sesame that fling open

the secret door.

 

Just peep within as instructed by the Master,

and thou shalt find within thyself a veritable

Temple of God.

 

10. The teachings of Master Souls are perfect, and

their findings are as verifiable as in any other exact

science.

 

This experience and realization is, however, quite

different from book learning and intellectualism, nor is

it a figment of an obsessed brain, as some think.

 

The Saints always talk with conviction and authority,

for their utterances come from the depths of their souls.

Their knowledge is neither derived from books nor based

on hearsay testimony. They directly give us first-hand

experiences of their own, in pure, unalloyed and

unadulterated form. Again, they never ask for blind faith

and acceptance on authority. On the contrary, each aspirant

is asked to personally verify the result for himself.

 

Truth is that which must be experienced at once, and

not after ages, no matter how slight that experience may

be in the first instance. The Masters see things through

to their very roots, and then talk.

 

Nanak sees God right before him.

 

Sri Ramakrishna, being questioned by Naren (later known

as Swami Vivekananda) about seeing God, replied, "Yes,

my child! I have seen God as I see you."

 

In fact all Master Souls have actual experience of

the Godhead and they revel in His Light and Life and

in a way become conscious co-workers with Him.

 

Shamas-i-Tabrez says:

 

Better by far it is to see God with one's own

eyes and to hear the Voice of God with one's

own ears.

His Glory is hidden behind the darkness at

the back of the eyes and His Greatness may

be apprehended within.

 

In St. John we read:

 

When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son

of God ... they that hear shall live.

JOHN 5:25

 

Such great souls never depend on scriptures or sacred

lore, which after all are recorded experiences of souls

like them. They are truth personified, Word made flesh

and living among us. All the Vedas and Shastras originate

from the fountainhead within them. They are much more

than the scriptures, which constitute but an infinitesimal

speck of their personalities. The teachings of the Masters

are very liberal, and help the embodied souls in the task

of liberation and salvation.

 

I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me

shall never hunger; and he that believeth

on me shall never thirst.

JOHN 6:35

 

In Melar-ki-war, Guru Nanak tells us how to know a

Master Soul:

 

He who can show us the Kingdom of God in

this body is a Master Soul.

He can attune our ears to the Voice of God.

Even the grand divisions and minor divisions

of the Universe are in Perpetual ecstasy, for

they live by the music emanating from the

Seat of God.

The Master exhorts the jivas to listen to this

music in the Sukhman, the artery between

the two eyebrows;

Then he established in Sunnya (the Region

of Silence), with the result that all

oscillations of the mind would cease.

When the chalice of the mind thus turns into

the correct Position, it will get filled with the

Elixir of Life, making the mind steady and

self-poised.

The ceaseless music of eternity becomes a constant

companion.

All the aspirants attend to these five strains and

in course of time become Gurumukh (the

mouthpiece of the Guru), and attain the

eternal abode of Truth.

He who can with the aid of this music gain

back the Garden of Eden (from which he

has been exiled) is the beloved of God, and

Nanak would wish to be his eternal slave.

 

He never keeps his followers in delusion about the

inefficacy of outer pursuits. His cardinal tenets center

around one thing: contact with, and devotion to, Shabd

alone. The manifestation of ceaseless music within is a

gift of a Master Soul.

 

O Nanak! whoever contacts the perfect Master

hears within himself the Divine Melody.

 

Satguru is ever engrossed in Naam, and like a master

pilot safely ferries bona fide aspirants across and leads

them back to the Kingdom of God lost within them.

 

One dyed in the color of Naam is Satguru and,

in Kal Yuga, he acts as Captain of a ship.

He who confides and resides in him is carried

across and finds Truth manifested in him.

 

11. A Master Soul at times does uncommon things,

that may appear baneful to ordinary individuals. This he

does to keep the worldly-minded away from him, as one

would do in the case of flies, so that they will not obstruct

the way of true aspirants.

 

A darvesh (man of piety) needs no darwan

(gateman);

Yes, he does need one, to keep the dogs of the

world away.

 

An evil tongue or slanderer does work as a darwan for

darveshes, so that the worldly-wise are kept out of the

way.

 

In the biography of Bhai Bala it is on record that once

Guru Nanak said:

 

In Kal Yuga many Saints or manifestations of

God will come down, for the good of suffering

humanity.

 

Bhai Ajita questioned:

 

Master, will you tell us how we would know a

perfect Saint; what would be his expression

and how shall we recognize him?

 

The Master replied:

 

Whenever a Saint appears, some leaders of society,

religious bigots and caste-ridden individuals,

talk ill of him. Rare indeed are those who go to him.

The rank and file slander both the Master and his

disciples. The people in general engage in outer

pursuits, like reading scriptures, offering public

prayers in churches, temples and mosques, and

recitation of mantras, etc. They will not practice

Surat Shabd Yoga by tuning with the primal Sound

Current. When such conditions predominate, I will

come time and again to revive the Path of the Masters

and link people with Anhad Bani.

 

12. With the advent of a Saint, the refreshing showers of

Spirituality flood the dry and parched hearts encrusted with

the dust of ages. Everyone who comes to him, whether a devotee

or a sinner, derives benefit in his own way and gets solace

from him. Many a robber, murderer and highwayman has had a

complete transformation in his company. Like a master washerman,

he cleans our souls through and through of all impurities,

bodily, mental and causal; until they shine forth in primal

glory and become luminous and living selves.

 

We find in a Saint a living embodiment of selfless

love and sacrifice. His appeal is universal and directed

to the soul of man. The aspirants in thousands congregate

around him and are benefited by his teachings.

 

13. A Saint is truly a Son of God and shares with Him all His

Powers. His long and strong arm embraces the universe, and

his helping hands extend to all parts of the world. Distance

has no limitations for him. His saving grace miraculously

works wonders in strange and unpredictable ways, and people

escape unscathed from many a tense and hopeless situation,

even from the jaws of death.

 

Master of earth and the heavens, he guides the spirits

in their homeward journey through spiritual regions,

and his Lustrous Form ever keeps company with the

pilgrim soul as it transcends the body.

 

Maulana Rumi says:

 

The hand of a Master Soul is in no way shorter

than that of God. It is in fact the Hand of

God Himself.

Yes, it stretches across seven skies and inspires

spirits with hope and confidence.

 

These are just a few of the innumerable signs that indicate

a Saint.

 

Maulana Rumi says in this context:

 

An aulia (superman) has in him wonderful

powers and possibilities, which a man of piety

alone can see and experience.

 

The glory and greatness of a Godman becomes more

and more manifest to a spirit as it crosses over bodily

and mental limitations and proceeds onward in his company.

The Lustrous Form of the Master is ever with him now wherever

he may be, guiding his footsteps both within and without,

answering all his questions, the sole arbiter of his destiny

- his very Saviour. It is at this stage that a person gets

firmly established in him and cries out, The Master is

ever with me, for now he realizes the truth of the Master's

sayings:

 

Everyman, I will go with thee and be thy

guide;

In thy greatest need to be by thy side.

 

The world is full of people who profess to be Masters

and teachers of mankind. But all those who hanker after

pelf and power, name and fame, cannot possibly play

the role and perform this arduous duty, and one must

try to avoid such false prophets, who are no less than

ravening wolves in the garb of lambs.

 

It never pays to test and try a genuine Master. His

very presence will of his own accord magnetize the mind.

 

Maulana Rumi says:

 

None can subdue and still the oscillation of

mind except through the overpowering influence

of a Pir (Godman). Take thou a firm hold

of such a Person. If you are able to do

this, it will be by his own grace and then

his power will work in you.

 

He is an entity pure and desireless. Surrender your all

at his feet; body, mind and attachments, and he will

mold you to his fashion. How this can be done is the

question.

 

Kabir Sahib tells us of the way:

 

Give thy body and mind to him who has no

desire of his own;

With no thought of the self, be established in

him;

After the mind, what then remains? Not even

the body;

Nothing is left to be surrendered, says Kabir.

Having given the body and the mind, no burden

remains to be carried;

He who takes pride in this sacrifice will yet

have punishment;

For who can part with the seed-mind within?

O Kabir! How can that mind be subdued and

surrendered?

Along with body and mind part thou with the

seed-mind;

O Kabir! Only after hearing the Master, one

becomes fearless;

Place the seed-mind at the altar of the Lotus

Feet of the Master.

O Kabir! Now one sees nothing but the Luminous

Form of the Master!