Who can taste this Nectar

From the writings of the Masters it appers that one cannot taste this nectar until one learns to die while alive. One has, therefore, to "forsake the flesh for the spirit" *47 for "flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God" *48

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,

And take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it,

But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. *49

CHRIST

We have been leading a physical existence only. We know how to live on the physical plane and that we do with the help of our physical senses. We have never know that there is anything beyond and that we have senses subtle and causal, apart from the physical, and can make use of them by transcending the physical plane. There are tremendous possibilities in man, fashioned as he is in the image of God, but alas! In the mighty swirl of mind and matter we have lost hold of the lifeline within and are drifting headlong in the stream of life with no anchorage. A Master-saint is the only refuge and a have where one may for a while have a respite and time to think over his sad plight. And how does the Master help here? He shows one how to leave the body by withdrawing the sensory currents at the seat of the soul. This transcension of the physical body is called "death-in-life." It is the Open Sesame that unlocks the door leading into the Kingdom of God.

If thou wishest to have everlasting life,

Learn thou to die in the body, before death overtakes thee.

MAULANA RUMI

He who knows how to die while living drinks Amrit (the Water of Life),

My Mind is convinced of the need and is devoted to the Master's instructions. *50

GURU RAM DAS

Learn to die while alive, for in the end death over-takes all.

BABA FARID

Learn how to die that you may begin to life.

THOMAS A KEMPIS

Remember ye the Naam and love the Lord unceasingly,

Live in contant devotion to God's elect.

Those who love-in-death, drink the Water of Life,

And their minds get absorbed through the instruction of the Master. *51

GURU RAM DAS

Drink ye the Water of Life--a pure gift from the Master,

With an easy death, ye shall rise in eternal life. *52

GURU NANAK

Spiritual Comfort is God's free gift and not of our own merit. It comes only through the grace of some Godman. He is the "Way, the Truth, and the Life." The absorption in the Master alone helps one to gain the pool of nectar within and this is called a second birthor resurrection.

Amrit: How one gets It

(i) Through the Grace of God:

God's Word is the Water of Life,

One gets It through His grace.

Remember God every moment of your life,

And make this your contant practice. *58

GURU ARJAN

Everyone sows his field, but blessed are such as God approves of,

With the help of the Master is own the seed of divine Nectar,

And then one gets the fruit of the Tree of Life (Amrit). *54

GURU RAM DAS

(ii) Through preordination. By one's good deeds one may get Amrit within, if so ordained.

One with earned merit in the past ages may by preordination find Nectar within,

Highly blessed is God's Word; one may taste of It through the instructions of the Master. *55

GURU RAM DAS

(iii) Through devotion to Satguru. Amrit is all pervading in Its fullness, but we can hardly taste It on the plane of the senses.

Water, water everywhere,

But not a drop to drink.

Amrit is much sought after; even the gods and goddesses are in search of it, but one canpartake of It only through the grace of the Master.

Amrit, which is sought after by Rishis, Munis and gods, that I have found with the aid of the Master,

I have got Amrit through the Master's grace and Truth is now implanted within me. *56

GURU AMAR DAS

One cannot by his own unaided efforts get to the Haui-I-Kausar or the Fountain of Life. For this purpose we have of necessity to seek the aid of a living Master who has for himself found this Fountainhead and is competent to lead others to it.

And he showed me a pure river of Water of Life,

Clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. *57

ST. JOHN

The sovereign remeby of Naam lies in the pool of the crystal clear Water of Life which one gets by the grace of the Master,

Nanak therefore saith: one preordained to get It meets a Master and thereby says goodbye to his ills. *58

The elixir of life (Amrit) one gets from a Master,

And thereafter he lives by the bread of the holy Word,

All patterns, all colors and all designs are from Him,

A rare soul, O Nanak! lives by this Amrit. *59

O my Master! I would like to be a sacrifice unto Thee,

Thy very sight is a great bliss, for Thou out of compassion hast given me the elixir of Naam. *60

GURU ARJAN

God Himself directs and grants communion with His holy Word,

By His grace one meets the Master and drinks of the ambrosia (Amrit). *61

Shabd is Amrit and Bani, the Voice of God, as well;

By devotion to the Master, It has become audible. *62

GURU AMAR DAS

(iv) By acceptance of Master's Will and commandments.

If ye love me keep my commandments. *63

CHRIST

O mind! Lead a life acceptable to the Master,

For He shall lead thee to thy Native Home,

And grant thee the Water of Life to quench thy thirst,

And all comforts and blessings shall be thine. *64

The gift of elixir depends on the sweet Will and Pleasure of the Master,

A rare soul may get It without much effort. *65

GURU AMAR DAS

In the company of the saints ye partake of the precious Amrit. *66

GURU RAM DAS

A drop of the divine vintage is a great blessing,

You can drink of It through some Sadh. *67

O Nanak! he alone lives who practices the Naam,

And partakes of the Water of Life with saints. *68

GURU ARJAN

Amrit in Its fullness abides in a saint, and His glance of grace is enough to transorm a person.

Satguru is Amrit incarnate for He is one with Hari (God),

O Nanak! one remembers God through grace and find Him through the Master. *69

GURU AMAR DAS

Satguru is the pool of nectar and blessed soul dips into It,

And gets ckeansed of the dirt of ages and communes with the pure Naam. *70

GURU AMAR DAS

Man comes into the world just to find the river of the Water of Life and this he can do through a Master-soul. But all orders and sects based on outer observances are a source of sorrow, duality and affliction, and one cannot reach the Fountain of Life through such practices. Without the Amrit of Naam, nothing is of any avail, and whoever gets entangled in them cannot find a way out.

The precious Water of Life for which you came into the world you can get from a Master-saint.

Rise above all throughts of distinctive labels of various religious and clerical orders,

Cast aside all raiments and rituals as also all cunning and cleverness and mental oscillations,

These shall avail thee not on the Path. *71

GURU NANAK

Amrit: who can get It

Out of millions of devotees, only a rare one who sits at the feet of a living Master gets contact with the elixir of life.

God alone grants the heavenly ambrosia,

A rare soul out of myriads may get It. *72

Verily, verily the Amrit showers from above,

But a rare devotee partakes of It,

The mind blossoms forth and sings of His glory.

GURU AMAR DAS

A devotee of the Master engages in the pursuit,

And finds the Amrit and becomes truly blessed,

O Man! Commune with the Naam day and night,

Thou shalt lose all impurities and become sanctified. *74

GURU NANAK

The divine Amrit falls down is showers,

A devotee through the grace of the All-pervading gets It. *75

The enlivening story of God is truly sublime; we have had a taste of it through the words of the Master;

Heaven's light dawned, dispelling all darkness, just as sun chases away the night,

The Invisible, the Indescribable, and the Unknowable, became manifest through the instructions of the Master. *76

GURU RAM DAS

It is bubbling over in its fullness in the temple of the human body, but a man of the world cannot get access to it.

In the body lies the Fount of the Water of Life,

But a sensual person cannot have a taste of It. *77

GURU AMAR DAS

I would make an offering of myself at the feet of my Master, who unraveled to me the great mystery, the world without the Water of Life is but a wasteland, and a worldly-wise man does not even know of It. *78

GURU NANAK