The God-like Life
A Circular Letter from the Master November
5, 1969 Dear Ones: In my circular letter of June 14, it was explained in
detail what is the responsibility of each and every initiate, the true meaning
of Initiation and the life to be led by one who wishes to progress on the Path. In continuation, I should like to say a few words on
“Sadachar” or the righteous life, without which one cannot sit in the quiet of
his own self and, with concentrated attention, pierce through the inner
darkness. To achieve true spiritual progress, one must lead “ the good
life,” I may even say a “God-like life, “ before much inner progress can be
made. At the same time, one must be
fully dutiful to regular meditations, as both are essential. To lead a good life without devoting time to
one’s spiritual practices will not raise the attention to the seat of the soul.
Similarly, devoting hours to meditation without eliminating bad habits and
cultivating good ones in their place, will not get one anywhere. Purity of life is essential for fruitful
meditations. What is “the good life?” It is to have good thoughts,
good words and good deeds. Sadachar is
a life of continued rightness from beginning to end. It is for each initiate to occasionally pause and introspect as
to how far he has succeeded in molding his life in accordance with the
commandments of the Master. We talk of
God, hear of God, and read of God, but we seldom practice God in our daily
life. It is the practice of the
Presence of god that matters and we can only have the awareness of this
Presence by leading a God-like life; there are no short cuts on the way back to
God. Truth is higher than everything but higher still is true
living. Truth and true living are not
exclusive of each other but go together; one supplements the other and their
combination forms the God-like life.
One who practices true living will always earn his living by the sweat
of his brow and feed himself and his family on rightly procured foods
consisting of fruits, vegetables, nuts, cereals and permitted dairy
products. Furthermore, he will be
honest and aboveboard in his dealings with others. These three aspects of conduct are indispensable aids to true
living. One can gauge his or her
spiritual progress by the measure of conscious control that he or she has over
their thought pattern. One who has in
some measure achieved this control will not be swayed or upset by outer
conditions, stressed and strains that his environment may place on him. If
one cannot rise above, be in full control of and handle with ease the
circumstances of his outer environment, he will never be able to succeed in the
way of Spirituality. So the important thing is to first learn to handle your
outer environment, consisting of your home and/or work life. We are to be judged by our actions and not
by our words. It is from the abundance
of our heart that all actions result, whether physical, emotional or
intellectual. The mind is an index and
reflecting mirror and it truly depicts one’s inner state. A measure of success in how well you are
succeeding in handling your outer environment will be a gradual awareness that
you are becoming the master of your own thoughts. It is to achieve this success
that I introduced the self-introspective diaries. How many really keep their diaries properly? Very few, if any, I am
sorry to say. If the diaries were to be
taken advantage of, you would see a change in your behavior, your mode of
thinking and consequently, you would progress spiritually by leaps and bounds. The purpose of the diary is to reflect your
own inner state, so that you know where you stand. It is a tool, which if used properly, will chisel you into a
receptacle fit for the manifestation of the Master within you. You should put just as much devotion and
attention into keeping your diary as you put into your meditations. The following points will give you the right
understanding on the sublime purpose behind and benefits to be had from keeping
the diary: 1. when,
at the end of the day, you recall your failures in thought, word and deed, in
which direction will your mind be turned? Naturally, it will go to the One who
has asked you to keep it. So keeping
the diary is also remembrance of the Master; you are saying something to
Him. If you remember Him, well, He
remembers you, and in time, you will develop receptivity to Him wherever you
may be. There can be no true spiritual
progress without receptivity, and the daily maintenance of the diary with full
attention and a true yearning to be freed from the lapses which are recorded
therein goes a long way to developing this receptivity. 2. In
the Christian religion, I understand that those who wish may make a confession
of their weekly, but generally not more often than once a week. But by keeping the diaries, you are making a
confession every day. Let your confessions
be honestly and openly recorded in the various columns, so that you know where
you stand and can take rectifying action.
The best and easiest way to cure your ills is to yearn to be free of
them and, as mentioned above, to have sweet remembrance of the Master at the
time you are filling in your diary. 3. Last
and just as important as the foregoing, keeping the diary should not be allowed
stagnate into a mere recording of failures, which tends to become mechanical if
done with little or no attention. The
true purpose of putting these failures down in front of you is to make yourself
aware of them so that they may be weeded out.
To weed them out, it is not sufficient to cut off one or two branches,
you must uproot the cause. Once you
become aware of a failure, you should be able to trace it to a certain
situation, and this situation will help you to identify the cause of the
weakness in you that has to be strengthened.
By and by, the very cause of the failure will drop off by itself. Another important aspect of “the good life” concerns
outer behavior, which should be natural to the society into which one is born;
no acting or posing is required. There
are some dear ones who believe that they should adopt the outer symbols of
dress and name that characterize the society into which the Master was born, in
the belief that this is pleasing to Him.
The life of the spirit does not call for conversion to outer modes of
living in name, appearance or apparel.
The Masters do not come to make or unmake social orders. Their mission is just to fulfill the law of
God, which is to redeem His lost children.
They simply ask us to convert ourselves inwardly, to be poor in spirit
and pure at heart. We should cultivate
true humility, which is neither servile nor assertive. These are the things that will please the
Master and make us receptive to the gracious Master Power working
overhead. If you live a life of
humility and simplicity, you will have peace of mind. After all, what is there on earth that belongs to you? Why be
attached to the vanities of the world when the treasures of divinity lie within
you? If you live for God, all things shall work out in your best interests, not
only spiritually but also materially.
This is the fundamental law of God and can be realized by all who will
practice true living. The reward of true living will be that you will become
receptive to the Master Power working over your head. No real progress can be had unless this receptivity is
developed. By receptivity a disciple is
cast into the same mold as the Master, but before one can become receptive, he
must have right understanding. His is
given either by word of mouth by the Master at the Satsangs conducted
personally by Him or through His writings in the form of the many books and
circular letters to those who live afar.
Right understanding by word of mouth
or through His writings constitutes only one third of the teachings of
the Master; the other two thirds are achieved through developing
receptivity. Christ said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without
me ye can do nothing.” The first sign that a branch is receptive to the
life-giving sap that rises in the body of the vine will be blossoms, and the
second by the fruit that it will bear.
If a branch cuts itself off from the sap, then . . . ? it will become
but a dead piece of wood fit only for the pruning shears of the gardener. The vine gets its food through its roots
which are intertwined and embedded in the nutriment-giving soil. Therefore, the branch that is receptive or
attached to the body of the vine gets the same food. Similarly, the Master’s roots are embedded and intertwined in the
Godhead. So the disciple who is
attached to or becomes receptive to the Master can not only be fed by the
life-giving sap of the Master but can actually pass through His roots until he
too becomes embedded or intertwined in the Godhead, and this can only be done
by developing receptivity. To attempt
to gain the Godhead without being receptive to the Master Power is fraught with
danger. Maulana Rumi says, “Do not go within without the Master, as
there are many dangers inside.” If one
should happen to rise above body consciousness without being receptive to the
Master Power, he will become hopelessly lost in the lower astral planes and
runs a great risk in being deceived by the many manifestations of the Negative
Power. There have been instances where
even great Rishis have fallen because they relied on their own power to carry
them over the dangers that abound in the inner regions. So receptivity is important for success in all phases of
life, both mundane and spiritual, and it can be achieved by following the right
understanding given above. First, one
must lead a God-like life; second, the spiritual diaries must be maintained in
the accurate way as already explained, and third, you must learn to develop
receptivity. If you succeed in the
first two, the third will follow of itself. With all love and best wishes, Yours
affectionately, KIRPAL SINGH |