THE MASTER’S TALK

Inn of Madness

Man spends his whole life exploring the so-called wonders of the world in outer things and places, but few ever dream of exploring the inner depths of this wonderful house in which we live the physical form. Throughout history, few have solved the mystifying riddle of life.

When regarding the body, what do we see? Do we see but a five to six foot statue of matter? Do we not realize that some power sustains this human form, and is in fact imprisoned within it? Even thought the body has nine outlets, yet the prisoner within cannot get out through any of them. Why? Because it is being controlled. Breathing goes on incessantly, and when the breath goes out, it does not stay out; some power is drawing it back into the missinglines perhaps ten or twenty times – yet he does not die. On the other hand, he might slip when walking and break his neck – what a grand enigma! We have no knowledge of this power within; we never give a thought to it, or to that source from which it draws life and sustenance.

Masters have said that those people who do not believe in God, even though they may always be near the holy places, are atheists. However, those who do not know who they truly are, realistically speaking, are more atheistic. Excuse me, but where God is concerned, are we not all atheists? For no one has seen him. A small child is more conscious of his true self than an adult, but as he grows he becomes more and more aware of the body. When you ask him who he is he will open his eyes and mouth wide in an endeavor to express what he truly is; but when fully grown he will tell you, “I am Ram Das” or “I am Ram Singh” for he cannot differentiate between his body and his real self.

When you say, “This is my body”, have you ever taken it off as you remove your coat or shoes? We say, “This is my body”, but in fact we have become the body. We do not know who “I” is, or who it is that says “This is mine.” So it is a more damaging ignorance not to know one’s true self – that self which must eventually experience the overself. The self or soul is the conscious entity which enlivens the body, and which depends on something even greater for its very existence. As long as it is not conscious of its true nature, it cannot experience that greater nature, so in the true sense there are very few theists in the world; for a theist is one who has realized himself and has realized the Lord also. Intellectually, the whole world can say, “I am not the mind, I am not the senses, I am not the intellect, I am no the pranas,” and so on, but has anyone ever separated himself from these things? We can take off our coat and hat, but can we step out of the body and see who the indweller is?

Self-realized people say that the greatest book of knowledge is the physical form, through which all written scriptures have come. The explorers of the body, the rishis, munis and mahatmas, realized the truth of the mystery and found the power that controls the human being – and that is one’s true self. That in turn is sustained by the over self. Scriptures came through such men who were in tune from within, who, by analyzing themselves and rising above body consciousness, got into higher touch and became the mouthpiece of the greater power. Whatever they said came direct from that power: they did not speak at the level of mind or senses, and this is the big difference between words that come from a realized person and words that come from the intellect for the intellectual can only speak from that level, whereas the realized soul speaks as inspired from above.

Emerson said, Though thoughts which come without thinking are always perfect. A Muslim fakir says, Actually you are the mother of all books, and he also says, When your outer self finds your real self, Then you will see that something is within you and that God is speaking within you. Guru Nanak says, Whatever comes from the beloved, I give out. He does not speak from his own thoughts. Christs said, I have not spoken  of myself; but he father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what is should say, and what is should speak. When Philip asked to be shown the father, Christ reminded him, Have I been so long with you and yet thou hast not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me, hath seen the father…I am in the father and the father is in me. The words I speak unto you I speak not of myself; but the father that swelleth in me, he doeth the works.

For example, if one listens to a radio that is tuned in, one hears the sound. From what place does the radio catch the sound? From whatever station it is attuned to. A God-realized person is in tune with the Lord and in him the Lord speaks: Brahm speaks through the physical form, how would Brahm speak? That Divine link is in each human being: not more in one and less in another, but the same in all. However, only those who have come into realization and are the mouthpiece of God can see that I and my father are one. This is because they rose above the mind, senses and the net of illusion and saw that the sustainer of all life is the one Lord.

During the life of the Rishi Bhardwaj, a householder by the name of Shonak went to him one day and said, “Maharaj, what is that thing knowing which all else is known?” The rishi looked at him and saw that he was a householder. You should understand that householders are very different today. In those days a man would become a householder after twenty-five years of brahmcharya (chastity in thought, word and deed), during which time he gained extensive knowledge of the Vedas and Shastras, the ancient Hindu Scriptures. After twenty-five years of leading a householders life according to the teachings of the Shastras, he would enter the Vanaprastha ashram (secluded life, devoted solely to the realization of the Lord), cut off the from worldly life and worldly people. You might say that in this day and age the latter phase has become more like a business. A man reads one or two books an then starts giving lectures, but pays little attention to the inner self. If a mans eye is not open, what can he say on the subject?

Kabir Sahib once had a conversation with a learned pundit, and eventually remarked to him, Oh brother, your mind and my mind can never agree; I say what I see and you say what has been written. It is entirely different to speak from experience. One can never be fully convinced by reading someone else’s statements, for seeing is believing. God gave equal privileges to all human beings, and the only difference between a Master-soul and an ordinary man is that one is in tune and the other is not. The embodied soul has got consciousness, for while living in this physical form yet it is of the same essence as God, who is all consciousness. He is the ocean and we are the drops, but unfortunately we are under the influence of the mind; the mind in turn is being dragged by the senses, and the senses are dragged by worldly enjoyments. In this way, the jiva (embodied soul; soul in creation) has become the image of the body and the world, identified so much so with these that it has forgotten his own self, the matter of knowing the Lord is very far away. For this reason nearly all Masters have advised, man know thyself. Nanak says, without knowing oneself, this illusion will not go. And when does one see what the soul is? When the sense are stilled the mind is stilled and the intellect at rest, then only will one know the soul. It is for the soul to experience the Lord – he cannot be known by the senses, mind, intellect or pranas. It is very clear-cut.

Knowledge is like a child of all books. Love is the mother of all books, for God is love and the soul, being of the same essence as the lord, is also love? At the sense level we scatter it in hundreds and thousands of places. One heart and millions of desires; on top of that more desires; then where is the place for him to sit? If one withdraws from everything else and concentrates in one place, great power will spring forth. If a pipe has ten holes and you close up nine of them, the water will simply gush out of the tenth. Up to now our soul has been under the mind’s control, but by withdrawing from the outer influences and receiving strength, it can gain control of the whole being. Remember that God is all-attention, and the soul, having the same nature, is also all-attention in miniature. When that all-attention wished to become from one to many the whole of creation came into being. The soul also has great power, but under the mind’s influence it has scattered its attention hither and thither, thereby weakening itself. If only it would withdraw from the outer attractions, it could create a town, at least. It is with much sorrow that I say that the souls strength has been divided into so many avenues.

So all true Masters say that realizing God is a simple matter – what is there to realizing the Lord? Just uproot the attention from here and plant it there. It is simply a matter of withdrawing and gathering together the scattered attention. As you know the rays of the sun under normal conditions will not ignite anything, but if you pass them through a convex lens and thereby concentrate them, anything they settle upon will burst into flames. The whole of this life’s purpose is to become still – to withdraw from the outer environments, and to concentrate. You have strength in you, you are the child of a lion.

So when Bhardwaj Rishi answered the householder Shonak’s question, he sought to reply in such a way as to be of help to Shonak in his household duties. Knowing he was a literate man, the Rishi said, “there are two kinds of teachings. One is called apra vidya and the other is para vidya.  Apra vidya comes from books, scriptures, etc,. and creates some interest in the seeker , which leads to some devotion too. For this, customs, rites, pilgrimages, saying prayers and singing hymns, giving alms, fasting, performing austerities, etc. will help to create the bhakti (devotion to God). However this is all preparation of the ground and there is all preparation of the ground and there is no real satisfaction in it because it will not give salvation or realization. All these things come under the category of good actions, and one may gain a heavenly place through them, but again and again the soul will have to return to earth, for they are all at the level of the senses.”

These are the first steps to be taken toward the Lord, just as a child goes to school and first learns how to use a pencil, but you can see just ho much value these actions hold. You all have taken these steps at some time or other, but now God ahead. Make the best use of the foundation alone cannot take you to the ultimate goal, without your knowing the self. Brothers, withdraw, become conscious of your self, and get the contact with the over self. As Bharadwaj Rishi told Shonak the householder when you know yourself, you will know everything. Now you can see that his teaching is for all true seekers of God.

God made man, but he did not stick any label on him. The purpose of all religions is to realize God and to spend this life’s journey in peace, contentment, and usefulness to each other. These were the true aims, but what was the outcome? He started to realize God, but in between the mind turned turtle. You may ask, “Have we lost ourselves?” Yes, most decidedly yes.

One Muslim fakir says that the atrocities man has committed against himself could not have been done by even the blindest of all. And the biggest atrocity? Living in this house, we lost contact with the one who runs it. The mystery of  life must be solved , no matter to which religion a person belongs. The Masters who solved this mystery were born into various religions, just as were those who contacted them and who in turn were taught the solution. Ravidas was a cobbler, Kabir Sahib was a weaver, Tulsi Sahib was a Brahmin. Man made castes but God made the soul and embodied it within the human form. First rise above the senses, and then tell what you are and what is your religion. No matter which Masters hymns you take the subject will remain the same, even though language and expression may vary. Masters do not consider men from their religious labels, but rather they see everyone as soul in the body, and regard all from the level of soul. They are not Gurus of any particular religion but are Gurus of mankind. Satguru is one who brings all people together. For the satguru there is no conflict of caste or creed – no thought of breaking old traditions or making new ones. In fact they do say that there are already more than sufficient religions and sects in existence. Our Hazur would remark that there is no point in digging new wells when there are already more than enough to serve people. Man must either live up to his religion, or make a new one. Is it not better then to remain in your present formation? But while living according to is aims and precepts seek for one who has already solved the mystery of life and who can help you to fulfill the same. You may find such a personality in any religion, and you may call him by any name you wish.

To become proficient in any certain subject, one must go to an expert in that study. If a person has a sincere desire to learn about the soul, he or she should approach a competent teacher of spirituality – one who has realized himself and the over self. This is a matter of common sense, and needs no philosophy. All great teachers of this subject say that we are all embodied souls, living in the house of the physical form from which we can derive the greatest benefit if we but make the best use of the situation. The human form is the king of all the species and is the highest rung in the ladder of creation, for in this form God has placed the power of differentiation through which one can define truth from untruth and so achieve that which can be done in no other form. There is a prayer in the VedBhagwan which says, O Lord take us from the untruth to the truth. But of course if a man has no interest in either, what is the use?

Swami Ji Maharaj says, Hansni (a mythical swan like bird) separates the milk from the water.  You are a hansni, O soul. Hansni is said to have the ability in her beak to separate milk from water, and drinks only the milk. O soul, you are like that hansni and you can differentiate the truth from the untruth. Drink only the milk and leave the water. Think of this body as matter; God resides therein, and only he is the truth. The body and all things connected are in constant flux, for it is the nature of matter to be ever changing. Only the soul is true permanent and unchanging; try to recognize the soul. Atheist or devotee – manmukh or Gurumukh – what is the difference between them? To know the atheist – he is lost in the world; to know the devotee – the world is lost in him. The manmukh is lost – lost in the whirl of mind and senses. For the true devotee the world does not really exist, for he has the Lord intoxication and is awakened to the truth within himself, and has thereby forgotten both the world and the after-world.

Great is man. Do not think of him as merely of form – just a five or six foot puppet. If the god and goddess desire to gain salvation, they also must inherit this human form. The Upanishads say, soul is riding in the chariot of the body; Intellect is the charioteer, mind is the reins senses are the horses dragging it into the fields of enjoyments. So it means that the sole barrier between us and the Lord is the mind. If we could only cast aside the mind and the senses, we would realize our true selves, and the Lord. If this aims which has been founded in all religion is not achieved a man’s life is wasted. When Zoroaster was asked for advice, he said “join the Army of God”, when he was asked what qualification a person required to join this army , he replied, “Good thoughts, good words, good deeds.” This means, live a righteous life in every way, and this has been advised by all Masters. Of all dharmas, which is supreme? Take the name of God and live righteously. In the sikh religion, it is said, Repeat the naam and share your food with others. The teaching are all the same, and we want to enter the army of God; but we enter only the army of religion. And the result of this is that men are fighting among themselves. We put God aside and start saying, “I am a Sikh” or “I am a Muslim” and so on. Kabir Sahib says, No one is Hindu or Muslim; Think of us as one. God made the human beings; and man is older than all philosophies and religions, which were formed long after man’s advent for the noble purpose of realizing the soul. If this aim is not achieved where then is the purpose?

I can only say that if the leaders of the religions were to give the correct peace. Is it not the aim of all religions to pass one’s sojourn of worldly life in peace, to be of helpful use to each other, to realize God? Surely this is the true aim of all, and if all are devotees of the one God, then why all the conflict and strife? Hundreds of lovers, but one beloved for all. Customs and religions may be separate, but the aim is the same. But as things stand, brother is fighting brother, and both declare that their sect is better. Is it not clear that all are the same?

Do not say that the books are all lies; Liar is he who does not absorb. The holy scriptures record the words of realized people who have walked the path of spirituality. However many steps they took along this path, so accordingly they taught others. We have respect for all. Just consider how the Masters regard life. They are not bound by any special affiliation, and they are not dictated to by any politics. They are cosmic beings. Peace be unto all the world, under thy will, O Lord. Guru Nanak also said, O Nanak, the Naam is ever-ascending; through thy will the whole world benefits. The hearts of the Masters are so abounding everyone can have a place therein. When they come, they come for the upliftment of all peoples: all sects are theirs, all religions, all countries. When I was visiting the West, one place held a meeting for East and West, and I was invited to represent the East. To represent the West they invited a certain Frenchman, but at the last minute he could not attend the meeting, so the organizers said to me, “Well, we will leave both East and West to you.” I replied, “There is no doubt that the saying is East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, but some man has said that – not God. The whole creation is the house of the Lord, and there is no East or West in it. All these countries are but so many rooms in the one house of our father.”

Airplanes have eliminated the vast distances between countries. Today one may be in India and tomorrow in England – and the day after in America. But man is a man, no matter where he is regardless of outer garb or custom; all are devotees of the one Lord. When I was asked in America if I had come to found some Ashram, I told them that I had come to uplift the very ashrams that people carry around with them ( the physical form). “People have forgotten these things; I have come to awaken them. There is no need for introduction of anything new, for the thing already exists within, but I have come to revive what you have forgotten.” Masters regard situations with a very open outlooks, but those whose outlook is confined to their own closed sect do not give the true teachings.

Just before the partition of India and Pakistan (in 1947) fighting between Hindus and Muslims was going on, and our Hazur went to many such disturbed areas. People repeatedly told him, “if only you had come before, there would have been no fighting here.” I am trying to explain very clear and straightforward facts. Because of earning food for their stomach through the name of religion, so much misunderstanding has been born. If four drunkards can sit together and enjoy each other s company, then why not four devotees from different religions, for the purpose of love and understanding? It might be said here that the former have some kind of intoxication, but the latter have none. Kabir Sahib explains it this way: that a hans (a mythical swan like bird) once sat in a field of kodrai (kodrai is a rather inferior grain). The farmer saw the hans, and started to chase him with his stick. So Kabir observes: This poor ignorant farmer does not know that the hans never eats grain, but lives on pearls. So Masters never come to take from worldly people. Now listen carefully to Kabir Sahib’s hymn:

In the inn of the body, the jiva-traveler is staying;

But why so enrapt in this madness?

The body is like an inn; and we are travelers in this world for but a few days. The senses or outgoing faculties through which the worldly impressions enter are firmly attached in this inn or house. The eyes alone absorb 83 percent of all impressions. The ears take in 14 percent, and the remaining three percent is distributed among the other senses. When we sleep, we dream of the impression we have received in our everyday awakened state. As can be seen, our lives are very superficial; we have never taken a dip into our real self.

What is the purpose then of this inn-like body? Its purpose is to enable us to know our true self, and to realize God. If the soul does not do this, then? – if the life fades away without gaining the benefit, the advent of birth is wasted. Lord Buddha said the same thing: that within human life the Truth can be realized. Who knows when one will again receive the blessing of human birth? It was given for a definite use – so why get intoxicated with sense-pleasures? What will be gained this way? You go on seeing the worlds play, but the craving for more and more is never satisfied. The ears are always listening to the world’s tune, but are never contented with it. One thinks one is enjoying these sensual pleasures but it is not so. The sense-pleasures are enjoying you.

In the puranas (ancient Hindu scriptures) it is related that the God of food complained to Lord Vishnu that he was tired of the people eating him mercilessly. Lord Vishnu advised him, “Those people who eat you more than they need, well, you eat them up.” Over indulgence in food leads to degeneration of the physical organs. Indulge the senses only as much as necessity demands; do not create gluttony as a habit. If everything is used in a controlled manner, all things will be helping factors instead of doing harm. For instance, there is a certain poison which when taken in infinitesimal doses builds up the physical strength like a tonic, but when taken in large doses, it kills. All the pleasures of the senses were given for man to work through – but in perfect control. This house or inn was given for only a few days so that it should be put to the utmost advantage, but we are destroying it fast.

There are five senses of knowledge and five senses of karmas, and if only one sense gains control, what happens? A moth, for example, is governed by the eyesight, to the extent of burning himself to death in the heat of a flame or bright light. Fish on the other hand are governed by the sense of taste and although happily swimming about in the water, yet they will rise to the anglers bait – only to be caught on the hook and die in agonies of torment, flapping around on the earth. The large black bumblebee has a very strong sense of smell and through this easily loses his life to a certain tropical flower that has the ability to close its petals over any insect entering within it. The sense of hearing is overpowering in the deer. I do not know if you have spent any time in the forests, but I have seen a deer jump forward as much as twenty yards. Even the fastest horse cannot catch this fleet-footed animal; and yet he is easily caught. Deer hunters play a certain tune on a special drum, hearing which the deer is drawn helplessly toward it in ecstasy of that sound, until he quietly lays his course is captured. He spends the rest of his life imprisoned in captivity. In the male elephant, the sense of touch is very strong, even though he has the strength to uproot huge trees with his trunk. I once lived in the jungle for four or five months, and saw how they prepared to catch the elephant by digging a large pit and covering it with leaves, and then placing a female elephant nearby. When the male scents the female he loses all caution and rushes toward her, and falls into the pit which lies in his path. He is then starved for many days until it is possible for men to handle him and remove him. He then spends his life in captivity. So you can see that when even a single sense is ruling out of the five it can bring death or slavery. What then is the condition of a being who is slave to all five senses?

Your whole life is being wasted and finally you will be withdrawn from the world – you have to leave this body – even if you have no knowledge of when that time will come. The great emperors, the learned intellectuals, famous philosophers, and even God-realized people – where are the bodies of all these persons now? They have all left the scene of action, and we must also leave sometime; there is no exception to the rule. If only the thought remained uppermost in mind: “Who I am? Where am I going?” This could change the very pattern of our life. Just think for a moment: if you received a notice to tell you that you had to leave town tomorrow, how would you spend today? Would you not prepare yourself to leave? The time for leaving the body may already be fixed, but it is not known to you. It may come at any time. Kabir Sahib says, Become virtuous, repeat the Naam; tomorrow may never come. What to speak of tomorrow, we have no guarantee of the very next minute! The breath continues to return to the body and the man remains there – but if it does not come back? Try to see what is sustaining it, for alone it is just a mound of matter that we carry everywhere. The friend is enlivened as long as the companion is there; when the companion leaves, it is worthless matter.

When the soul leaves the body, four brothers pick up the inert form in a hurry, and rush it to the cremation ground. No one wants to keep it for long. But those with right understanding see the facts in true prospective. It is no new philosophy. Those who made the best use of the human birth and freed the soul from the rule of mind and senses gained knowledge of the self and also experienced the Lord, and for them there is no return to this world of action. But coming and going is not finished for those who live only and always at the sense-level, whether their actions be good or bad.

Lord Krishna says in Gita that there are only two paths: pritiyan path and deviyan panth.  Pritiyan panth is the path of the karmic wheel, and the soul which travels it cannot get off this wheel. But the soul which travels the deviyan panth – the path of light – never returns. It is the custom in the Sanatan sect of the Hindu religion to light a lamp and put it in the hand of a dying person, for it is believed that the soul will not otherwise gain salvation. But in fact this light should be lit while living – the inner light – for it is believed that the soul will not otherwise gain salvation. But in fact this light should be lit while living – the inner light – for only then can the soul become free from births and deaths. Where is this light? The light is effulgent in him who controls the ten senses. The light is already within all men, but one must separate from the senses to see it. There is no need to create it, therefore; just invert. You can say to turn the face inwardly or by self-analysis rise above the senses.

Kabir Sahib says, why remain intoxicated in this inn of the body?  It is common sense to see that for the soul who is at the level of mind and senses and has become the image of the body and therefore is doing all practices at the same level, how can it be possible to rise above the body, mind and senses? If anyone thinks he can do it, he is welcome to try. After all, what does a blind man desire? Just two eyes. But if you cannot do it, admit the fact and go to seek help from someone who knows the science of rising above the body consciousness. Such a Master soul may give a sitting to ten people, or fifty or one hundred or more, but by his single fraction of attention everyone will receive light. The proof of light will be seen with one’s own vision. So the path of the saints is called the reverse path, for they teach the seeker how to invert the senses. When you meet the Satguru, inversion starts; dying while living will unravel it.

When the soul inverts, the body becomes lifeless; he who dies while living becomes the one who experiences the Lord. Learn to die, so that you may begin to live. Maulana Rumi says that if you desire to have everlasting life, then learn to die while living. Dadu Sahib says, Dadu, die before; everyone dies when the time comes. All Masters have made similar statements on the same subject. That person who has unraveled the mystery of life has no fear of death. Die you must, so why not now? Stand aloof from the world. Such a death one can die a hundred times a day. To be able to rise above at will erases all fear of death. You are a guest in this inn of the body for a few days only – do not lose yourself in the madness of the senses and the sense-enjoyments. Do not forget yourself entirely in this outer madness, but try to reach the aim for which the human birth was given. If this opportunity to do the real work is wasted then who knows when you will be given another?

Rest for the night, leave in the morning.

It is a place where you can spend the night, but when daylight comes, you have to leave. Who stays permanently at an inn? Return to your own place, brother, why live in strange country? Do your own work and ignore alien affairs. This is not your country. You merely have connections with the physical form for a few days, and will soon have to leave. It can never be your permanent place; but where will you go? Have you ever thought about that? The house you must leave is tied in your mind; there is never a thought for your permanent home. You have imprisoned yourself in its environments, and you have given it the status of God. The true home has been completely forgotten. Who can say you are intelligent? Perhaps you are learned through books, but the Masters say that one who does not realize his transient condition and has no knowledge of his real destination is either a fool or an ignorant child.

When a spiritual person is also learned in outer knowledge, he wears this like a garland of flowers and uses it to explain the truth in a variety of ways. For instance, when Keshab Chander Sen went to Sri Ramakrishna, the latter said, “if you want to understand this teaching in one word then listen tome; if you would prefer to learn it through many words, then go to Vivekananda.” It is important that he mind should fully understand and be satisfied, for true spiritual experience can only be had when the senses mind and intellect are perfectly stilled. Nothing can be experienced while one is scattered at the sense-level, whether it be in enjoyments or in intellectual expansion. We should make the best use of the intellect for our own or another’s understanding, but remember that reasoning can be a help and it can also be a bar. Through reason we can come to the point of accepting that God does exist, but having done that, why not realize Him? And for that, the intellect must then be stilled.

Everyone must leave the physical form – and that includes you. One Master says, Where have the parents gone who gave you birth? You have no knowledge of their whereabouts. The facts are clearly evident, but the world’s grease has covered you like a greasy cloth which does not retain water on its surface. We read books and scriptures, listen to numerous lectures, but the truth penetrates neither mind nor heart: that we must also leave the world.

Those who know they must go, why worry and scheme?

Why increase the worries and troubles more than necessary when we must all leave this place one day? if you knew you had to leave the world at the end of this day, how would you spend it? A certain Master advises, spend each day thinking it is your last on earth. If this advice was rigidly followed, a person’s life would be transformed. We go deeper into the forgetfulness because we do not remember death. death is no bugbear, but is the name given to a change; or you can call it a transfer. That person can truly be termed intelligent who prepares for this event. How wisely we start preparing ahead of time for some worldly event, like a marriage or an examination, etc. The change of death can also be called an examination which lies ahead of us, but we do not know the date. We do nothing to prepare for this. Wherever the attention is, so do we go and reside. If one comes up above the body-consciousness our coming and going in births and deaths will cease. Otherwise, good and bad karmas are both binding, like gold and iron shackles. This is written in the Gita. On the path of pitriyan the coming and going continues, but the path of  light starts above the senses. Inside there are only two guides – light and sound – and they start when one rises above the senses. Where the world philosophies end, there religions start. You can also say that the ABC of spirituality starts from here. You will meet very few Masters who have knowledge of this. If only those who teach customs and rituals would also teach the true meaning or basis behind them, there would be love and harmony among men. We must love God, and as God is in each being, we must love all. If all men sincerely took this up as a principle, where would be the conflict? If each one had first hand knowledge of the soul, and that he soul is the same in all, would we not respect each other?

Tulsi Sahib says, the Guru who bows down to the disciple is called a Sadhu. The Guru whose eye is open sees the Lord in each individual. However, he whose eye is not open cannot be blamed for not paying his respects to the Lord in others. But what is happening today? Gurus stand proud and erect, and the disciples go on bowing down, bowing down, in all faith.

The Master is trying to help us understand that the time is now. It is night and we are staying at the inn; in the morning we must leave, and what have we accomplished up to the present? Man has achieved so much intellectually and physically? We know little or nothing about the Truth or about our true self. After all, material success is achieved and sustained through you, and you will have to leave it all one day. if you leave the body without solving the mystery of life, it will result only in paying the karmic debts of ignorance. The worldly people will only help and respect you out of their own selfish desires. Even if one person may have all sincere sympathies and fine qualities, what can he do to help you when you have to leave? He can only stand and pray, “O lord, have mercy on this soul.” At such a time only a God-realized soul can be of help to you. O Nanak, break from undeveloped company and seek the realized soul; they will leave you while living, but even after death he will never leave. Worldly companions cannot be with you always, so why not seek one who will be a constant companion? And who is that? He is what is known as a Master, Sant, etc. A Sant is not necessarily he who is seen in a particular garb, but rather is he who has realized the truth and has become the mouthpiece of truth. Whoever goes to such a soul will on the first day gain some experience in the science of rising above body consciousness, and will learn how to increase this daily so that the soul might leave the body at will – even one hundred times daily. All fears of death will be removed. And remember this: the truly realized person will never teach you outer practices, but recommends that whatever you have been doing up to now should be made full use of by going ahead.

Salvation can only be achieved by rising above. Put you attention on that Higher place, where even Shiva is meditating. That higher place lies above the senses, where it is said that lord Shiva is meditating. This is why the inner or third eye is sometimes called the Shiv Netra – Shiva’s Eye. Its position in the body is behind and between the physical eyes, but is above the senses. If one’s full attention can be concentrated there while living then the soul becomes free from the wheel of life. With a little right understanding one can soon see that this life was not meant merely for eating, drinking and gratifying all desires and passions. It has a far nobler purpose, and those who do nothing to accomplish this purpose in truth waste their lives.

This pure, priceless, bodily gown you have dirtied, spot upon spot.

It is a priceless gift, this human form – king of all the species. It is written in the Koran that when the human being was made, the angels were ordered to bow before that form. It is the temple of the Lord: keep it pure and clean. This body is the temple of God, wherein dwells the Light of Truth. We keep the outer temples in spotless condition, but what happens to the inner temple? We may spend thousands on toilet requisites and beauty treatments, but inwardly the human form is filled with filthy passions of the senses. Even a dog sweeps the ground with his tail before sitting, and even for an insignificant called one will quickly tidy up the home; and yet we want the Emperor of all existence to manifest in our heart. Can he manifest in a dirty heart?

Inside we are black with deeds, outwardly fair and attractive;

Yet we wish to copy the pure and chaste one.

The enjoyments and passions have blackened our hearts – we are filled with jealously, greed, anger, lust, backbiting and more. To all outer appearances however we are pure and clean and make a grand show by copying the God-realized person. If you cover a dunghill with silk, will it then issue a forth fragrance? Nature says no. if you cover a block of ice with a thick blanket, it will still give off its coolness. We have the human form, in which we can realize God , but we are daily soiling our lives with more and more spots. Even the dirt alone will eat away the texture. An ethical life is the most important stepping stone toward spirituality. Certain disciplines of the Hindus called yama and niyama were made for this, as was also the eightfold path of the Buddha, the four fasts of the Jains, and Christs Sermon on the Mount. O Nanak, take the Name of the Lord when the heart is pure; you are trying to absorb the lies of the world. His Name should not be on your tongue if you have a dagger in your pocket with which to kill someone. You may deceive the whole world, but can you deceive the Lord? Even for the world, the cat will be out of the bag sooner or later, for one cannot hide a lie forever, and in the end it will come out in the open.

Why light this worldly fire for only two days of life?

Why waste the only two days of life in the fire of enjoyments? Soon you must leave it all behind. And why were you given this life? Life is duty; life is Love; Life is the holy gift of God.

Anger, envy, arose in the heart of man, like a serpent.

These ugly things reside in the heart. But the soul is the image of love. For God is love, and he can only be realized through love. The purpose of all outer practice is to develop devotion, to incite interest, and to establish regularity. It is part of the soul’s innate nature to attach itself to something, but unfortunately wherever it attaches itself results it misfit. The soul is consciousness, and if consciousness is to enjoy peace and happiness is must attach itself to some higher consciousness. If it gains some brief enjoyments through attaching itself to matter, it does not means that the matter is responsible for that; it is but a reflection of the souls own happy nature, a reflection of consciousness. While the attention is focused on a certain thing, it will go on enjoying, but when the attention is withdrawn the enjoyment ceases. Is this not true? If this conscious entity, the soul, would rejoin the greater consciousness, the over soul, become fully charged and come into expression, all happiness would manifest in the whole being. But we do not enter that place where the happiness lies. Instead we spend all our lives searching in every other direction – North, South, East, West. Our Hazur used to say that we are like the weaver’s shuttle which goes back and forth.

We should have respect for all holy places; but why were they made? They are there for the health of the soul. If one’s physical body is sick, people say “Go to the hills and recuperate.” A few months carefree relaxation in the high altitude and fresh clean air is very beneficial and health giving. So the holy places had an ideal purpose; to strengthen the soul by allowing it to withdraw from all the worldly affairs, leaving all worries behind, and sitting at the feet of some realized soul. This was the true purpose of the holy place, but today we have made them into holiday resorts and have started our worldly enjoyments there also.

I have been to Hardwar (a famous place of pilgrimage) many times. Once a large number of Satsnagis gathered and requested a Satsang be held. When the Satsang started, I said, “Brothers, this place is very precious because many great rishis, Munis and Mahatmas have visited here at one time or another. Guru Nanak came, also Guru Amar Das visited here off and on over a period of seventy years. It is therefore a most auspicious site – but what have we done to it? When one travels toward town from the railway station one sees two cinema halls.” A man stood up and corrected me: “No, Maharaj, there are now three!” Now tell me, is it the fault of the holy place? Consider why they were built: was it due to thousands of the countries population flocking there? No, the holy places become holy because a certain one or more realized souls placed their holy feet there. Millions of people have been born in Jerusalem, but today it is held holy by the whole of Christendom due to one man – Jesus Christ. The greatness of each place of pilgrimage can be accredited to at least some realized soul. Now what has more value? The realized soul, or the place that became known because of him?

We do become devotees of the holy books, but we do not want that which the books recommend. We decorate our houses with photographs or pictures of certain Masters and surround them with artificial flowers, etc., but we have no respect for a living Master. When the Masters come to the world, we call them atheists or madmen. Many Masters have been treated like this during their lifetime, but after they leave the world we start worshipping the very ground they placed their feet upon.

So, very lovingly the Master is helping us to understand that the body is ours for a few days only, and eventually we must leave it behind. God is love. The soul is of the same essence as he, and is therefore also love. A true human being is one in whom love exists and is expressed. How can a man be truly human if he does not express love? He should have been the very epitome of love, he should have loved the Lord, and the Lord in all beings, but instead he became like black cobra. Do you know what happens when the cobra strikes? The place that he strikes upon starts burning; it is very poisonous. A wound from a sword for instance can heal within ten or fifteen days, but the wound from the human tongue never heals. When I visited the West, some people asked, “How can we stem the danger of atomic war?” I told them, “By living up to what your scriptures say.” And what do the scriptures tell us? They tell us to love the Lord, and as the Lord is in each being, to love everyone.

BIRTHDAY AT MANAV KENDRA

Russell Perkins reports

on the 1972 Celebrations

The first thing you see, coming along the highway from Delhi, is the big water tower with MANAV KENDRA on the top.

The second thing you see is the pool. Then a lot of images crowd in at once – Masters buffaloes, the buildings, the spaciousness, the Himalayas along the rim that just take your breath away – and you realize with an awful thrill that you are actually there.

There is no doubt that when Manav Kendra is finished it will be one of the most beautiful places on this planet. Even now, raw and unfinished and muddy, it has the capacity to grip the heart and mind and soul in a way that very few places can.

The pool is just unbelievable. No picture does it justice. Standing at its south end, looking across at the mountains, it seems very obvious that God piled up the mountains with one hand and scooped out the pool with the other. Inner peace comes of itself while standing there; more easily perhaps than anywhere except in the presence of the Master himself.

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We were told that at the January Satsang in Delhi, the Master asked the congregation whether they wanted to celebrate his birthday in Delhi or at Manav Kendra. A vote was taken, and Manav Kendra was the overwhelming winner. It was announced that free bus service from Delhi would be provided for anyone who wanted to go up, and as always, free food and accommodations (mostly under huge tents) were available for all.

By February 4 (two days before the Birthday) tents were erected all over – a huge tent in front of the main stage to serve as a shelter for Satsang as well as housing, tents in the back field. One big one marked SAWAN ASHRAM CANTEEN where you could purchase tea sweets if you are so inclined – the disciples had begun to arrive, and the visitors form the west (a dozen or so) were moved from their temporary quarters in the hospital (due to be inaugurated as such on the Birthday) to a bungalow about ten minutes walk away from the Manav Kendra. In the afternoon of the 4^th the first Satsang was held; a relatively informal affair, with swami Arvindananda as guest speaker.

Then that evening the rain began. It came down in torrents all night and all the next day, knocking down and rendering useless every single tent, turning the whole of Manav Kendra into a vast sea of mud, and forcing a cancellation of a days activities. Thousands of people had their temporary homes literally washed out from under them, and all day long on the 5^th, through the cold driving rain, busload after busload of pilgrims with bedrolls and blankets, arrived eagerly and hopefully to attend the Satsang – and there was no place for them….

What did Master do? First of all, every available building at Manav Kendra no matter its state of construction, was pressed into service. The hospital, just vacated by the Westerners (who had slept four to a room), was turned back into a dormitory with twenty to thirty in a room. The guest house, the Father Homes for the Aged, the dormitories for the workers, and the building which will eventually become Masters house, none of them finished, were all utilized and thousands were taken care of in this way (although the amount of space per person was considerably less than most Westerners would like). For the rest, Master and his staff, working unceasingly all day long, managed to find enough accommodations in the Dehra Dun area to house all those still unprovided for.

And Masters attitude was such a perfect example of his teaching. That night at darshan, calm and unruffled as ever after a day of wrestling with problems that would have buried any of us, Master said to me with his infectious chuckle, “Well what do you think of all our accommodations now? (laughing) Are they quite comfortable?”

That night the rain stopped; the next morning, Masters birthday, dawned bright and clear and cold and beautiful – with the mountains reflected in the pool and the clouds like living things hovering overhead.

Master asked that the 4 a.m. darshan be eliminated this year, and so the Westerners all stayed over in their bungalow. But the devotees at Manav Kendra turned up at 4 a.m. anyway, and Master came out, as usual, and gave them his darshan – just as if he had never asked them not to..

The morning Satsang was held by the side of the pool, because the area that had been set aside for Satsangs  was soping wet. So a temporary dais was erected and Master came over about 8 a.m. and put us in meditation. What a sweet meditation that was! Sitting on the hard ground, overtones of the storm still with us, the air fresh and bright and cold and the grace of the Master within. For forty-five minutes or so the outside world was forgotten and all of us were absorbed inside.

Then Master come back, took us out of meditation, and the Satsang began. Various swamis and yogis were there and spoke and that morning session was very and happy and free. The guest speakers did not speak too long, and one of them, swami Ved Vyasananda of Hardwar, was a positive delight. This gentleman, a mahamandleshwar with 50,000 sadhus owing him allegiance, is one of the really important Hindu leaders; yet he is very humble and differential with the Master, and his talk was full of good humor and laughter. Taiji (bibi Hardevi) turned up and sang one of the Masters beautiful songs; Bibi Lajo (baba Sawan singhs housekeeper for many years and the author of the Sakayan) made a surprise appearance and attempted unsuccessfully to garland the Master (who will not accept garlands from anyone; his usual practice is to take the garland in his hands and slip it over the other persons head before they realize what he is doing); Masters son, Darshan, up form Delhi, recited one or two of his award winning Urdu poems in praise of the Master; there was a great deal of music, including a beautiful hymn by Master Pratap Singh JI, the Music Master or pothi; and the Satsang concluded, after about four hours, with a beautifully serene discourse by the Master.

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While everyone was eating  from the langar, Mr. Sethi, one of Masters secretaries, called me over. “I want you to meet someone,” he said. He introduced me to the simplest sweetest poorest old man, wearing a turban and dhoti and little else. He said something in Hindi to the man, who came over and hugged me. And his hug was like a child’s hug, you know? Pure and gentle – very, very gentle – like a really young child. When he left, Sethi said, “that man has the form of the Master within twenty-four hours of the day and night. He is authorized to deliver messages from both Master and Baba Sawan Singh to others who cannot reach inside. And he is a very simple man”, he said, “a very simple man. At his initiation he had a very high experience; but afterwards, when Master was explaining that he had given them all some capital to start with, this man got up and said, “Where, Maharaj Ji? I don’t see any money.’ That is how simple he is.”

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we all gathered again for the afternoon Satsang at 4 pm. This time, the crowd was much larger (about 15000 people – approximately half of what it would have been in Delhi) and the speakers sat on the main stage, which is a permanently constructed building with a roof and addressed the congregation as it sat on the regular Satsang grounds, still soggy but now usable. The honored guests included, in addition to the swamis already mentioned, Swami Govindananda of the Shahansha Ashram in Dehra Dun; Maharaj Jagjit Singh, head of the Namdhari Sikhs and an old friend of the Master; and various Muslim, Sikh and Hindu leaders, both lay and clergy.

As we were taking our seats, an old man, very rough hewn and coarse and ragged, was singing his heart out to his own accompaniment on a tambourine over the microphone to the assembled sangat. The Masters platform is not only open to the so-called leaders, but to the followers too; to the obscure as well as the famous; to anyone, in fact, who has something to say.

About halfway through the Satsang, the Master and Jagjit Singh and a few others left the stage for a few minutes to dedicate the free homeopathic dispensary, functioning for the first time.

The following morning Master gave Naam to (or as we would say, initiated) about three hundred people. Of this number, a little less than half made contact with the Radiant form of the Master inside, and about half of the rest saw the strong sunlight inside. Some of these people – these dear, dear people, our brothers and sisters – were moving beyond words. One lady was sitting there in all humility with no eyes on her face at all – not even the sockets; she had been horribly burned in a fire, we heard. She got the Guru’s form inside. A young Sikh man, smiling so broadly it seemed his face would split apart, was so bubbling over with primordial joy that he could hardly contain himself nodding in ecstatic agreement with every word that Master said. A young, humble Muslim aspirant was given the Sufi Mantra; that is the five names that Master gave him were in Persian rather than Sanskrit and derived from the great Sufi Masters ( of course they have the same significance); Master is the embodiment and living fulfillment of both great esoteric lines and can initiate in either way.

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In a few days the crowds were gone, and Manav Kendra became again the way I remember it: a place of quiet hard work and gentle loveliness. Memories crowd each other – walking around and around the pool at dusk, wanting to stop but being caught and held by the exquisite beauty and peace; taking a walk around the center and meeting the Master unexpectedly (not possible in Delhi or most other places anymore, where there are always such huge mobs waiting for him) and sitting in a big room in the library where Master is living for long long darshans: an hour or more sitting at our father’s feet and talking things over with him in the sweetest and most direct way imaginable. Oh Master! One night he thanked somebody for something, and he said, “Thank you, so much! What more can I say? In English you say ‘Thank you’ if a man gives you a million dollars or a pin off the floor.” What more can we say? Thank you for giving us life, Master; Thank you for having it to give us. Oh Master! Where are the words?

The Master’s Circular of October 19, 1968

ON KEEPING THE DIARY

DEAR ONES: it appears that column No.6 on the diary form has caused some confusion among the dear ones, in that some record in this column failures to observe selfless service, physically and financially, while others treat it as a record of positive contributions made.

The confusion has apparently arisen because Column No.6 has its own total quite separate from the first five columns and is also adjacent to the positive record of time spent in doing the spiritual practices.

However, since it is desirable to have the diaries kept in a uniform manner by all, Column No.6 should be looked upon as a failure to observe the virtue of selfless service toward others, physically and financially.

In addition, it has been observed that few initiates have been informed as it how they should fill in the diaries. Instead of entering the number of times that they fail in thought word and deed in the appropriate columns under Ahimsa, Truthfulness, Chastity, Love for All, Diet and Selfless Service, there is a tendency to put ticks or crosses. It is the same case with filling in the column under spiritual practices.

The diary forms are divided into several categories deal with the failures to observe the virtues indicated by the heading of these categories, while category number seven is a record of the time spent in spiritual practices. In the first six categories, you are to enter the number of times that you fail to observe the virtues indicated, in thought, word, and deed. For example, if you fail in “non-violence” in thought, word and deed, four times in one day, you are to enter this figure in the column provided under the day on which the failures occurred.

It is also important that all must fill in their diaries for regular submission to me every three months. Representatives and Group Leaders are not exempt from keeping the diary, as it is just as necessary for them to maintain regular self-introspection, so as to set an example to others as well as to ensure their own spiritual progress. Those who do not maintain the diary will lose valuable ground in making steady spiritual progress. In time, they will cease to apply themselves to their spiritual practices and in consequence the virtues stressed on the diary forms will be observed less and less.

 The summaries of progress made in developing the Principles of Light and Sound, and any difficulties in the way of making such progress, should be written concisely, neatly and clearly in the boxes provided for this purpose on the right-hand side of the diaries. It would be greatly appreciated if notations, explanations, and even letter were not to be written on the backs of the diary forms but confined to their proper placed on the front side of the diary forms. Letters should always be written separately, if at all necessary. In this way, the report of spiritual progress made may be read at a glance from the diaries and other matters not relevant to the diaries, if any at all, should be included in your covering letter. Correspondence received shows that in about fifty to sixty percent of the cases, the letters are sent monthly and sometimes bi-monthly, which if avoided will lessen the burden of correspondence. In cases of real importance the usual time limit can be ignored by the Representatives and others.

The diary forms should be a true reflection of your own inner state. The failures made should be as an open self-confession of the shortcomings which stand between you and the Master. Similarly, devoting regular time to the spiritual practices is an indication of the positive efforts that you are making toward your spiritual growth.

If you live up to the sublime purpose behind the keeping of the diary, you will progress from day to day, and achieve your goal in this lifetime.

Satsang: all the dear ones are advised to read carefully Circular No. 4. This circular deals with the proper way to hold Satsang meetings. All Satsangs should be conducted strictly in accordance with the circular.

Satsang is not a meeting place for a hotchpotch of different schools of thoughts. The teachings of the Surat Shabd Yoga only should be the subject of discourse.

Books other than those of the Master should not be read from, sold or displayed at the Satsangs. Other books or saints which speak of the Surat Shabd Yoga may, however, be referred to in your talks.

All subjects such as astrology, palmistry, astral projection, psychic phenomena or other allied schools of thought, should not brought into the satsangs and discussed. You may refer to the book The Crown Of Life in which you will find how the teachings of Surat Shabd Yoga differ from all other Yoga and modern movements.

I cannot stress strongly enough that it is most important that All Representatives and Group Leaders must be fully convinced of the Supremacy of the teaching of the Surat Shabd Yoga, which is simplest and easiest way back to God. They must have this understanding as well as faith in the God power working through the chosen human pole of the living Master, otherwise they cannot deliver the teachings to others with the firm conviction that the Surat Shabd Yoga is supreme above all other paths. If, however, some Representatives and Group Leaders are not fully convinced of this at heart, then I am afraid that they will not be able to do full justice to the onerous work entrusted to them. We have, of course, respect for all other teachings that point the way back to God.

Satsang is of the Master and every initiate is also part of the Satsangs and can contribute to the general atmosphere of the satsangs by setting an example in living up to the Teachings of the Master. Christ said, “Let my words abide in you, and you abide in me.” The words of the Master are the Master, and the Master cannot be separated from his words.

With all love,

Yours Affectionately,

KIRPAL SINGH.

THE SUPREME LORD OF LOVE

George Arnsby Jones, Litt.D., Ph.D.

Before the creation of the universe  of mind and matter, God was an ocean of all consciousness. His nature was all love and all bliss, and he was sufficient unto himself. His basic form was love. No other being existed, and all was love. All creation was the result of love. The soul of man descended into the realms of mind and matter as a result of love, and the path of return to his true spiritual home is the mystical path of love. Every electron, every atom, every particle of dust in creation is imbued with love. There is no void, no place where love is not, no place where love is non-existent.

The meaning of supreme love, which is of God, is only apprehended when the lover merges himself with the object of his love. It is a surrender of the self to the Beloved. “I have become you, and you me.” Was the joyous affirmation of Shamas-I-Tabrez. “I have become a body and you have become my soul, my very life; so much so that none can say we have a separate entity.” Kabir also referred to this merging with the divinity of love: “Now I am one with thee and feel satiated and blessed…. Having reached the highest abode, I am  one with Him; so much so that one cannot distinguish Kabir from God.” And Christ affirmed: “I am my and father are one. He that seeth me hath seen the father.”

When the lover gives away his heart of love, he casts his gaze upon his beloved and transmits waves of loving devotion towards him. He sees no faults or errors in the being of the Beloved; he has become a servant of the beloved, and separation from the beloved brings despair and anguish. “The home of the Beloved is far off,” lamented Farid ud-Din Attar. “The road which leads to it is filled with mire on account of rain, but the lover has only the thought of the Beloved in his heart. When he walks on such a road his clothes become wet and he slips at every step on account of the mud. But he does not care and goes forward somehow. He does not wish to break the continuity of his love, and he cries out: ‘O God! This rain should be torrential rain and this blanket of mine should be drenched.’ With these words he goes on to meet his beloved so that his love may not wane.”

Love of the supreme Lord, who himself is all-love, necessitates constant remembrance of the Lord. “O God if it pleases you, then only does one really and truly try to love”, proclaimed Guru Nanak, “and the love of your devotees is constantly directed towards you. In such a state of love they do not care to sleep. They are not arrogant, because their minds are fully concentrated in your remembrance.” The lover becomes forgetful of his own petty self and concentrates his intense love for the Lord at the seat of the soul behind the two eyes. “if the thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light”, said Chirst; and Guru Arjun stated: “The blessed form of the Master is in my forehead. Whenever I look within, I see him there.”

When the lovers attention is focused at the seat of the soul, his love is like a small drop of water that has suddenly become transformed into an ocean of consciousness. Love thus concentrated within the sanctuary of the soul becomes the greatest force in the cosmos, and a true lover of the Supreme Lord emerges as an emperor of emperors. He loses himself in the bliss of merging with the Supreme Lord, and thus he becomes a liberated soul, freed from the wheel of births and deaths. In the BhagavadGita, Lord Krishna states: “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you give, whatever you worship, whatever penances you perform, O Arjuna, surrender them all to me; because by doing so you will be free from the consequences of actions, traversing the path of Renunciation, you will attain liberation and will merge with me.”

This liberating of the soul through love is no meaningless abstraction; it is a dynamic and conscious vivifying of the soul’s energies – which are the essence of God – that enables the lover to merge himself for ever in the consciousness of the Supreme Lord. “Give thy body and mind to him who has no desire of his own,” said Kabir; “With no thought of the self, be established in him; after the mind, what then remains? Not even the body…… 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!”

Love is a universal symphony whose melodies and harmonies can never be adequately described in words. Love is an agony of inexpressible sweetness. He who has attained the heart of love would never be able to forget this experience even if he lived a billion more lives upon this planet. A true saint, a mystic adept is one who is intoxicated with the love of the Supreme Lord, and if we look deeply into the eyes of such a holy man, we may discover what the nature of true love is. “You behold the face of the Beloved with the eye of love,” said Hafiz, “for the luster of his eyes spread from pole to pole.” And Maulana Rumi has also informed us: “The face of a saint is the answer to every question, because in his presence all our difficulties are automatically resolved without even mentioning them.”

Love transcends intellect, reason, knowledge and emotion; and the highest saint is one who has become merged with the Lord of Love, and who is thus an embodiment of the Lord of Love. “if you wish to meet  the Lord ,” stated Maulana Rumi, “go and sit at he Lotus feet of a saint; because his company, even for a moment, is better than a hundred years of sincere prayer.” Surrender of the self in love demands that the mind should become as clear as a polished mirror, cleansed of all stray thoughts and desires. If we entertain thoughts of greed and desire in our hearts, we can never attain the heart of love. “Devotion consists in withdrawing one’s love, ideas and thoughts from worldly objects,” stated Shandlya rishi, “and in thinking of the Lord alone, and keeping oneself wholly engrossed in this thought. It leads to lasting communion or contact with the Lord, by withdrawing one’s attention from the objects of the world.”

It is through one-pointed love alone that mystic adepts attain communion with the Supreme Lord. Love does not vacillate between condition of begin in love and the condition of being out of love. True love is eternal. If there comes a condition of loveliness in the life of any person, then there was no true love in the first place. “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.” Wrote Williams Shakespeare in one of his most beautiful sonnets, thus proclaiming an eternal spiritual truth. Love is not conditioned or altered by the fluctuations of the emotions, because a true lover is constantly engaged in adoration of the beloved. “Whoever has love, has found him,” wrote Tulsi Sahib, a great Indian Saint, in his Ghat Ramayana. And he continued: “Without love nobody has achieved anything on this path.”

God is omnipresent and permanent, and love – being of the essence and essential nature of God – is also omnipresent and permanent. Once the magnetic power of love is firmly established in the heart of the spiritual aspirant, it can never be banished from his consciousness. Mira Bai, another holy mystic, has said: “The world is happy with the intoxication of wine, but I have drunk deep form the fountain of love and devotion. Day and night I am intoxicated with its bliss.” Condemned by impious bigots Mira Bai drank a cup of poison as if it was the sweetest elixir of life. Love has been a condition of all the ages, for there was never a time when love did not exist. But man is the pinnacle of God’s creation in this world, and so he is able to experience love in all its fullness and sublimity.

The love of a God-realized mystic adept is of the love of God; and if the devotees of the mystic adept love him too, they will experience the majesty and splendor of the Supreme Lord. But such devotional love must be given without any thought of personal reward, as Guru Arjun Singh has pointed out: “We should worship God day and night. In this there should be no lethargy and negligence. And the way to worship of the Master with love and devotion having abjured pride and obduracy.” And Guru Ram Das has confirmed such an attitude of selfless devotion to the mystic adept; “only such service as is acceptable and pleasing to the Master is rewarding. And if he is pleased, all our evil karmas are obliterated. Indeed, by serving the Master we achieve God-realization. But if a person serve the Master for his own personal gain, that service goes unrewarded.” And Kabir ahs also said: “whoever is prepared to sacrifice himself can drink from the cup of love; but neither a greedy person not a selfish one can do so, even though he may swear by love and talk of love.”

An awakened soul, purified in the living waters of love, is the beautiful friend of all beings. To the spiritual devotee such a saint is the living embodiment of all loving friendship. “Beloved, I can think of no other,” said Ansari of Heart, “for in thy love I care for none else. My heart is thy dwelling place, for it has no room for any other.” And Bu Ali Kalander, another eastern sage, affirmed: “There is no room in my heart save for my friend, for none else can enter the private chamber of the King.” Such an abiding love has no room for duality, as Bu Ali Kalander further stated: “When I took two steps on the path of love, shorn was I completely of the distinction between belief and disbelief.”

God is beyond duality, and love is beyond duality. True love, therefore, cannot debase the lover, for it is wholly a power of spiritual elevation. Love ennobles and sustains the lover; it has as its true essence a simplicity and purity of motive. It sustains life throughout the entire cosmic universe; and even in the darkest depths of the lowest astral hell there is a redeeming spark of love. And the most depraved entity may be saved, if he would but reach out for that liberating flame. Love is a cohesive and unifying force; we are bound together by ties of love, whether we realize this or not. Love dissolves all evil tendencies and purifies the errant soul. Our faces reflect our state of mind, our wealth or poverty of love. Pleasures or pain, love or hate, health or disease, are mirrored in our expressions. A lover of the Supreme Lord betrays his love by the rapturous currents of love which emanate from the eyes.

God is love; and the creative word that brought forth the spiritual, causal, astral and physical universes is of the nature and essence of love. Love is the rainbow bridge of celestial light and supernal sound that the pilgrim soul traverses in order to reach the Abode of Love. This rainbow bridge is that creative principle of love to which great mystics of the past have referred as an abstract spiritual sound. Moses heard this inner sound when he stood alone upon Mount Sinai; Jesus heard it when the power God’s love manifested to him in the desert wilderness; Lord Krishna is portrayed as playing the flute of the spiritual sound in the Hindu scriptures; Lord Shiva, whilst in deep meditation in the fastness of his Himalayan cave, heard the same sound. It is the eternal symphony of love; and it is the only true path back to the abode of love.

Bells and gongs in temples and churches are meant to symbolize this inner spiritual sound, thus providing an outer reminder to the spiritual aspirant and devotee to dedicate himself anew to the path of love. Needless to say, this truth has been forgotten or ignored by the professional practitioners of religion. The word of God is love in action; and it is no mere coincidence that in the revelatory scriptures of all the major religions there are frequent reference to the word. The Upanishads refer to this creative sound as Udgit; the Vedas term it Sruti or Akash Bani; in Hinduism it is known as Naak; Islamic writings refer to it as Kalma; the Sikh scriptures denote it as Bani or Shabd; and in the terminology of the highest mystic adepts it is known as Naam or Shabd. In the scriptures of Christianity the following statement is made in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with the God, and the word was God.”

Through the grace of a competent mystic adept, the aspirant on the mystical path of love may contact the audible life stream, or sound current, as it is sometimes called. The mystic adept gives the devotee an initiatory experience of the sound current and reveals meditational techniques, which he must follow daily. The devotee is directed to sit in loving remembrance of the mystic adept, who is an embodiment of the Lord of Love, and to focus his inner attention at the seat of the soul in the body. This seat of the soul is also referred to as the “Third eye”. The mystic adepts refer to this third eye by its various oriental names: Tisra Til, Shiv Netra; Divya Chakshu; Brahmn-rendra; Triambka; Trilochana; Nukta-I-sweda; koh-I-noor; and so on.

At the time of initiation the mystic adept gives the  aspirant a spiritually charged verbal formula, which symbolizes the inner journey ahead of him and also provides a system of protective “passwords” on the spiritual planes. The formula is not repeated aloud, but is enunciated mentally. This inner technique also assists the devotee in collecting his scattered thoughts and holding his attention at the seat of the soul, the third eye center. This process of inner concentration automatically draws the soul currents towards the spiritual center in man. These currents are ordinarily dissipated all over the body through the minds preoccupation with the external world. The inner withdrawal of the soul is greatly helped by the repetition of the verbal formula. This repetition is termed simran by the mystic adepts.

“Real simran for a second cuts asunder the bondage of birth and rebirth,” stated Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth guru of the Sikhs. And Kabir compared simran to a rosary of the mind, which is far more potent than any outer rosary: “if you say the rosary of the mind you can have communion with the Master. When the soul has not become motionless of what use is counting on your fingers? You are counting on your fingers with you hands, but you mind is still strutting about. This is all futile.” Simran is the only technique suitable for contacting the divine sound current of love; and, as SwamiJi recorded in his treasure house of spiritual literature, Sar Bachan: “Save Shabd (the sound current), there is no other way to effect release from birth and death.”

when the devotee’s inward attention is centered with loving devotion at the seat of the soul, he begins to perceive the inner light, and the process of spiritual ascent is accelerated. The seeing of inner light leads in turn to inner hearing, and the devotee finds himself linked to the resonant strains of the sound current, the audible life stream. His ears are closed to external sounds, and he rapidly becomes absorbed in the supernal music of the spirit. He is drawn upwards into another realm of experience – a world that has far more reality than the gross physical world. Through is transcension of physical consciousness is achieved whilst living in the everyday world, and with minimum effort and difficulty.

As the devotee progresses on his inner journey, he finds that each level of ascent is more beautiful and more real than the last. Eventually, he meets the mystic adept – his spiritual preceptor – within and finds that the one whom he considered as an exalted human teacher on the physical plane is truly a radiant guide on the upward journey. Ultimately, he unravels the final mystery and finds that his spiritual guide and preceptor is one and the same as the Supreme Lord of love. Indra Mati, a fifteenth century queen of India, was a disciple of Kabir; but even this spiritual disciple could not grasp the fact that the humble poet-saint was God incarnate. After she had complete a course of spiritual discipline, Queen Indra Mati ascended to the spiritual heights, and when she reached the Realm of pure love she found that Kabir himself was seated on the throne of the Supreme Lord. When she returned to physical consciousness, she remonstrated with her spiritual mentor. “Master! Why did you not tell me beforehand that you yourself were the Supreme Lord?” she said. “I would have accepted you as such, right from the beginning.” Kabir smiled gently. “How else could I have convinced you, other than with evidence of your own spiritual consciousness?” he said.

 The world scriptures may tell of the divinity of the Supreme Lord; but the proof must be experienced by the individual soul. Under the guidance of the radiant form of the mystic adept, the aspiring soul is drawn upwards by the audible life-stream – the divine word or shabd – and ascends form region to region, plane to plane, divesting its outer sheaths, or subtle bodies, until it is revealed triumphant in its true nature of complete spirituality. It enters nature of complete spirituality. It enters a realm of consciousness where it recognizes that it is of the same essence as the Supreme  of love, and that the aspiring soul, the mystic adept and God are not separate entities but are one. In this realm of splendor there is naught but an ineffable ocean of all-consciousness, all love and all-bliss.

Thus the spiritual aspirant cannot become the recipient of the full blessings of love and knowledge of the Supreme Lord unless he receives these gifts from one who himself has become a living embodiment of the Lord of love. “In the sky has arisen a meteor”, proclaimed Guru Nanak; “only the blessed one with the grace of the Master can behold its splendor. Through the word, the Guru shows the way and the seeker attains fulfillment.” These blessings are bestowed by the special grace of God through a mystic adept, who is living pole of the spiritual power of love. Even when the whole world is immersed in darkness and destruction the loving devotee will constantly see the radiant form of the beloved before him.

People who depend on rituals for their prayers are those whose attitudes are fossilized into formal sterilities, but the prayers of a true lover rise beyond the state of ego or form. They are said in the stillness of his own soul, when he has risen above the consciousness of the lower world. And his prayer is a simple expression of love for the beloved. “Both within and without, live in his remember him inwardly as well as outwardly. In his worship make no one else a partner, for God is one without a second.” And Kabir has said: “Remember the name of the Lord with the same intensity of love as the fish has for water; for the fish cannot stand separate from water, else it dies.”

The spiritual aspirant is joyful in his remembrance of God and of the mystic adept, who is manifestation of the Supreme Lord. If such a lover of God loses his worldly possessions he knows that he has lost nothing. But if he has lost time that should have been spent in meditation and loving remembrance of the Supreme Lord then his loss is experienced in desolate pangs of separation. The true lover is no longer a slave to his emotions, for if love is served dutifully by the emotions, the fragrance of the lover’s spirituality permeates all about him. Heart reaches out to heart, and all are blessed with the healing currents of love. The supreme Lord , who is love, infuses the lover with constant awareness of his grace. This consciousness is transcendental and universal. Man, animals, birds, insects plants, trees and flowers respond to it. The entire cosmos is a hymn of praise to love, and we who are born into this world bring with us the gift of love.

Prayer

Oh, Master, I am infant crawling in

The earthly dust, eating of this dust

With relish, not knowing the dust of

Master’s feet is far sweeter,

The dust that quenches thirst.

Virginia Beale.