CHAPTER THIRTY THE WORDS OF THE
MASTER WHEN A PERSON
comes to a Master, he must come with an
open-minded outlook. Since he knows that all his actions
hitherto, individual as well as social, have not so far
secured him salvation, he should bid goodbye to them
and ask the Master for his instructions in the matter of
spiritual practices. Having obtained
his instructions, he must then follow them scrupulously,
and that alone should constitute his sole devotion.
Whatever the Master ordains, that must be taken as Gospel
truth, no matter whether it stands the test of mere human
reason or not. Our intellect and our reason, after all,
are limited and cannot reach the depths to which the
Master penetrates. He knows the why and wherefore of his
instructions, and like a fully responsible Field Marshal
issues his commands. We must therefore
learn to obey him implicitly like a true soldier, and
do what he bids. Hafiz, in this context, says: Dye thy prayer
carpet in wine if thy Master so desires; For he is not
ignorant of the turns of the highway ahead. Mere lip loyalty
to the Master never pays. The Master wants full
devotion to what he says, for therein lies the ultimate good of
the disciple. In the Gospel it is emphatically
declared: If ye love me,
keep my commandments. JOHN 14:15 But be ye doers of
the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving
your own selves. JAMES 1:22 Again, mere
chatter about spirituality will be of no avail. The scribes and
the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:... but do
not ye after their works: for they say, and
do not. MATTHEW 23:2-3 For the kingdom of
God is not in word, but in power. I CORINTHIANS 4:20 As the body
without the soul is a dead carcass, so talking, if it be alone, is
a dead carcass. St. Paul says: Though I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels, and have
not love, I am become as sounding brass or
a tinkling cymbal. I CORINTHIANS 13:1 The same may be
said of darshan or having a look at the Master. It may
give you temporary peace and quietness of mind, but the
moment you go away the mind begins to run riot again,
and reigns supreme over body and soul. Thus, nothing but
doing and performance count on the Path of the
Masters. The Master's words sink deep into the heart;
one can hardly think of not following him. If ye abide in me,
and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what
ye will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so
shall ye be my disciples. JOHN 15:7-8 Wherefore by their
fruits ye shall know them. MATTHEW 7:20 But he that
received seed into the good ground is he that heareth
the word, and understandeth it; which also
beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a
hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. MATTHEW 13:23 The world is
compared to a harvest (Matthew 13:30) and men at harvest
regard nothing but the fruit. Accept the
Master's words as Gospel truth, and harvest well
the Fruit of Life. The words of the
Master cannot be detached from the Master. It is from
the abundance of the heart that the tongue speaks. The
Master is embedded in the Word and his words are
expressions of what is in him; that is, Word,
Life-impulse, and power. How then can the two be separated from
each other? His words undoubtedly pierce through the
hearts of the aspirants and none other can know the sweet
pangs from which they suffer. As longing for the
Lord grew keen, words of the Master pierced
my heart; the mind alone knows the pangs;
who else can know another's pangs? The more one gives
weight to the Master's words, the more he grows in
grace. True devotion to the Master consists in
acceptance of, and doing, what he commands. Guru Ram Das
exhorts us that the thought of the Master should ever be a
companion, no matter what we may be doing. The
Master is hidden in his words, and his words are in fact
the real Master. Holy is the Word
of the Master, and through It one gets the
Elixir of Life; for acceptance of his words gives
one immortal life. Remember ever the
Word of the Master, for herein lies real
devotion and truth. Act in conformity
to the Master's word; this constitutes
contemplation aright. The Word of the
Master ever abides with the initiates. No power on earth
can snatch it away. Fire cannot burn it nor can water
sweep it off. It is indestructible and immortal. It fathers
the fatherless and protects us at every step. It strikes
at the root of all doubt and skepticism. Even the angel of
death cannot come near it. Contact Ram Naam
through the instructions of the Master; This nectar can be
enjoyed in the company of Saints; Find thy native
home with the help of the Master; Then there will be
no more coming and going. One cannot come into
the treasure of Naam by the performance of
deeds on the plane of the senses. All persons no
doubt sing and hear the Gurbani, but only those benefit
from that who really believe in the words of the
Master as Gospel truth: Servants and
disciples as they come to the Master Chant the holy
verses from scriptures divine; Chanting and
hearing is alone acceptable From all who with
faith accept the words of the Master. Persons who time
and again meet the Master come to love him more and
more; and those who regard his words as Truth
become beloved of the Lord. Whatever the
command of the Master may be, it must be followed with
unswerving zeal; so that you will be able to take hold
of the Shabd, which will lead you back to your native
home. Whatever the
Master says, that ye must do; Following the
Sound Current, come ye to your own and win for
yourself laurels with the help of Naam. He who acts at the
Master's bidding, true comfort is his
reward; By following his
behests, O Nanak! one fearlessly crosses
over. It is absolutely
necessary to serve the will of the Master, for in doing so
lies the good of the disciple. Many people indeed
meet the Satguru, but that is not enough. For
salvation, one has to obey him in thought, word and deed. Everyone looks at
the Master, yes, the entire world; But salvation
cannot be had by seeing, without contact with Naam. The Master must be
an adept in Surat Shabd Yoga and be able to make
Shabd manifest within us; that Shabd which does not
exist within the nine portals, but is the characteristic of
the tenth alone. When such a Master
has been found, it behooves a disciple to
wholeheartedly submit himself to his yoke and mold himself
accordingly. In doing so, he derives the greatest benefit
from his human birth and renders a yeoman's service
to his ancestors as well as his descendants, and
has nothing of which to be afraid. Blessed indeed is
the birth of those who follow the will of the
Master; For they save
their families and bring much glory to their
mother. He who molds
himself in the way of the Master never gets any
ill; In his way lies
the Pool of Nectar and he easily gets to it. A disciple who
follows the will of the Master gets the Elixir of Life in
his own right, and wins the Kingdom of God as, his
birthright. O man! Follow thou
the will of thy Master; Dwell in thy
native home and enjoy life eternal. Who understands
the will of the Master and follows it scrupulously? One
in whom the grace of the Lord works. In whom the Lord's
grace works, he alone accepts and
follows the Master's words. There is no person
greater than one who, accepting the words of the
Master, realizes God. We must therefore aspire for the
Word and try to secure a contact with it through the Sant
Satguru. O mind! Always
remember the Lord's words; He who through
Word gains his native home is the crest jewel
among men. The blessings of
Hari Naam are too numerous to be recounted. One who
becomes dyed in the color of the Word always chants
the glories of God. All his works automatically take
the right shape at the right moment. What he wishes
must happen, for Nature herself is at his beck and call.
He is freed from all ills and all evils. He loses all
thoughts of I-ness and my-ness and never becomes
vainglorious. He rises above the
pairs of opposites: riches and poverty, comforts
and discomforts, pleasure and pain, fame and obscurity; for
he remains in a state serene and with equipoise. The poison of mind
and matter can have no effect on him. While in the
world, he is no longer of the world, but is unattached
and carefree; he moves about wherever he likes. The illusions and
delusions of the world do not affect him. He escapes
the sway of Kal (Time) for time has no bondage for
him, nor has space any limitations nor causation any
spell. He gains life
everlasting and once again wins back the Kingdom of God,
the Garden of Eden from which he was driven because
of his first disobedience to God. He not only saves
his own soul but through the power of the Word saves
the souls of many others who come in contact with
him; yes, the souls of his ancestors and descendants as
well. Blessed indeed is
a person who has the good fortune to come into the
fold of a Sant Satguru and thus gains the summum bonum
of life. [End] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the Back
Cover of GODMAN by Kirpal Singh: "Be ye
therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect." MATTHEW 5:48 Despite the long
story of unfulfilled promise and wasted opportunity that
is human history, here and there we find glimpses of lives
that differ from the majority as an oak tree differs from
an acorn. The ideal and possibility of the Godman - he
who has become one with God and is "perfect even as his Father
in heaven is perfect" - is found in all religious and
esoteric traditions; and most religions derive from the
life and teachings of one or more of these giants, whose life
work consists of demonstrating to us, by every available
means, that we also have the capacity and, in fact, the
birthright, to become Godmen. As the author
points out in his preface, it was his privilege to spend
twenty-four years at the feet of a genuine Godman - Baba
Sawan Singh Ji of Beas, India - and this book, an
exhaustive study of the origin, nature and mission of Masters of the
Highest Order, based squarely on their own sayings and
writings, was originally written in the days of his
discipleship as a supreme act of devotion to his Guru. But time
has added another dimension to the books authority:
since Baba Sawan Singh's death in 1948, the author has, in
obedience to his Guru's instructions, been functioning
as a great Master himself; so that this book is the first
of its kind - a complete and full study of supreme mystics by
one who is himself a supreme mystic.... |