WISDOM
BABA SAWAN SINGH - THE SAINT FROM BEAS
compiled by HK/LS
Baba Sawan Singh was born in Jatana, a village in the county of Punjab on the 27th of July 1858, in a highly esteemed family. His father was a high-ranking officer of the Indian army. The boy was conspiciously intelligent and remarkably pious. Very soon he has been well known from far and wide for his ideal character and generosity. After his final graduation at the School of Engineering he joined the Indian army as an engineer.
For all of his life his soul was craving for something “not from this worldE His soul was longing for God, now, in this very life. The hope for salvation in the “other world hereafterEwas not enough for him. When he met with the great Saint Baba Jaimal Singh in 1894, at the age of 36, he finally found the one to show him the way how to arrive at a very concrete realization of God. Baba Jaimal Singh died in the year 1903, after having destined Sawan Singh in his succession. Finally, but not before 1911, Baba Sawan Singh could tender his retirement. From now on he was living in the “DeraEof his Master, a small colony at the western bank of the river Beas.
The Saint from Beas, how Baba Sawan Singh was called, brought new life into the philosophy of Sant Mat Esomehow fallen into oblivion before. The basic principle of this teaching, fragmentarily also found in the books of all world-religions, simply says: Nobody can find salvation without the help of a perfect living master. And: One cannot find God on the outside. Our body is His true temple in which He resides. As Baba Sawan Singh says, “Only the human form gives us the chance to work on our salvation, to free us from (our entanglement in) the net of the so called Maya (non-reality)E
Same as with all other saints, Baba Sawan Singh met also with fierce resistance. Members of all different confessions of the religion of Hinduism were fighting him and all conceivable sorts of rumours were spread abroad. One day, right before a lecture, handbills have been distributed, warning against “the so-called wise man of Beas who misinterprets the teachings of the Saints and confuses the people’s minds.EBut as a result they had to move to a larger place on that evening, due to the high number of visitors. And where ever in India Baba Sawan Singh was speaking, numberless people appeared on the scene, listening, hanging deeply touched on his words. Far beyond 100.000 people have been initiated. Seekers of truth from all around the world came to see him and the light of the teaching of Sant Mat reached even far distant foreign countries.
He himself was living a very simple life and he was also requesting his devotees to live on their own income and not on the expenses of others.
At the age of ninety years he left his mortal frame on 2nd of April 1948.
BIOGRAPHY OF SANT KIRPAL SINGH
compiled by HK/LS
In remembrance of Sant Kirpal Singh who received great recognition and respect worldwide as a spiritual Master of Sant Mat, even from the leaders of the religious communities.
Biography
Kirpal Singh was born on February 6th 1894 in Sayyad Kasran in Punjab, India.
He completed high school in 1910 and married Krishna Wanti in the same year. They had three children. Kirpal Singh earned the livelihood for himself and his family as a civil servant of the Indian army. Until his retirement in 1947 he had worked for 36 years and last worked as paymaster. His exemplary life earned him the respect of the people around him, his co-workers as well as his British employers.
Besides these worldly aspects, there are also some significant dates in regards to his spiritual life.
In 1912, after having searched for God for many of the preceding years, personal impressions while attending a funeral prompted his emphasis to abide by a self-imposed decision: “God first, world second.E
He meditated and visited many Sufis and Yogis, but he refused to take any of them as teachers without proof of their competency.
In 1917, Kirpal Singh began seeing an unknown, white bearded man in his meditations and assumed him to be Guru Nanak. For seven years Kirpal Singh had suchlike experiences until, in 1924, during a visit to the Beas River, he met the same white bearded man in an ashram. This man was Baba Sawan Singh, the competent living Master of Sant Mat at that time.
The next day, Kirpal Singh asked for initiation from Baba Sawan Singh.
From this day forward he devoted his live to the path of Sant Mat. For twenty-four years he served his Master, in addition to his worldly duties. While in his thirties, among other things, Kirpal Singh wrote the ‘Gurmat SiddhantEand conducted satsangs on behalf of his Master.
In 1939 he initiated over 200 people in the presence of his Master. Also, in the following years, Kirpal Singh regularly conducted satsang in Lahore and Amritsar.
When Baba Sawan Singh left this world on April 2nd 1948, Kirpal Singh retreated into the Himalaya Mountains for some intensive meditations. He knew, since a talk with Baba Sawan Singh in October 1947, that he had to take on the duties of his Master. During the following 26 years, Sant Kirpal Singh served humanity as a spiritual teacher and Master of Sant Mat. On August 21, 1974, Sant Kirpal Singh left his physical body.
The Work of a spiritual Master
Talks and travels
To recognize oneself and to find God is the purpose of life and the right of every man. The practical help of a competent living Master is of great importance to achieve this goal. Almost daily, Sant Kirpal Singh gave satsang, spiritual talks followed by meditation and gave meditation instructions on the inner Light and inner Sound. To this end, he frequently traveled throughout India and, to make the help of the Master available to all the people of this world, Sant Kirpal Singh undertook three extensive world tours:
1955 - First world tour to Europe and the US
1963 - Second world tour to Europe, US, South America and Asia. During this tour he visited
many worldly and spiritual leaders as the president of the “Unity of man ConferencesE
including pope Paul VI.
1972 - Third world tour
“Unity of ManE
Sant Kirpal Singh saw the development of humanity and recognized that, in order to realize the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God, new impulses were needed. At least the heads and priests of the various religious communities should recognize common values and further the spiritual life and co-existence of humanity. To accomplish this, he invited all religious leaders to the Unity of Man conferences. They all came in person or sent some well-known representatives and Sant Kirpal Singh was elected unanimously to preside each time.
Great efforts were put into these conferences that were held 1957 in Delhi, 1960 in Calcutta, 1965 and 1970 in Delhi, where political representatives also participated.
In 1962, Sant Kirpal Singh received the medal of St. John of Jerusalem (more known than then medal of the Knights of Malta) for his services to promote the religions and the peace. He was the first non-Christian to receive this medal.
Sant Kirpal Singh was able to accomplish a much through the Unity of Man conferences; for example, to create more understanding for the present standpoint, and to give the freedom of religion more significance.
For these efforts, there was one vital achievement: To stabilize the common platform and to practically work together for the spiritual well being of humanity.
After Sant Kirpal Singh’s death this platform lost more and more of it’s meaning as the egoistic views of the religious communities regained strength due to their sole claims to the salvation theory.
Manav Kendra EMan-making Centers
Sant Kirpal Singh decided to create suitable facilities where people, interested in leading a spiritual life style as provided by the path of Sant Mat, could gain practical experiences. And, away from the hectic day-to-day life, their understanding could be deepened and strengthened. The Manav Kendras Eas he called these centers- were to be places of spiritual education and development, places to meditate on the inner Light and Sound, places to learn to serve others. Accordingly, the outer life of the aspirant was to orient itself to the spiritual path, leading to ethical conduct and deeds. And learning to serving others, selflessly, was the primary objective of the Manav Kendras.
People farmed and kept libraries to study various religious literature. There were retirement housing facilities, hospitals, and schools with spiritual orientations and were supported solely through the volunteer efforts of the guests and by donations.
Guests returning to their everyday lives, their homes and families, took these lessons of selfless service, of moral and ethical conduct, and the value and benefits of the meditation practice, back into their communities.
The following Manav Kendras were developed in India:
1951 The Sawan Ashram in Delhi
1970 The Manav Kendra in Dehra Dun
1974 The Manav Kendra in Kandhari/Baroda
Publications EScience of the soul
Sant Kirpal Singh wrote quite a number of books in the English language:
1959 The Jap Ji
1959 Prayer: Its Nature and Technique
1959 Spirituality: What it is
1960 Naam or Word
1960 A Great Saint EBaba Jaimal Singh
1961 The Crown of Life: A comparative study of Yoga
1965 The Wheel of Life EThe Law of Action and Reaction
1967 Godman
1968 The Mystery of Death
Furthermore, Sant Kirpal Singh wrote essays on spiritual subjects and circulars to his disciples in which he presented the basic principles of Sant Mat in a comprehensive fashion.
These letters and additional transcriptions of spiritual talks of Sant Kirpal Singh were also combined into books:
1967 Spiritual Elixir
1970 Morning Talks
1975-76 The Teachings of Sant Kirpal Singh
At the end of his extensive lifework, Sant Kirpal Singh had approximately 600,000 initiates around the world, predominantly in India.
On August 21, 1974, Sant Kirpal Singh left the physical plane.
Succession
Like many Masters before him Sant Kirpal Singh did not officially name a successor. Thirty four people, disciples of Sant Kirpal Singh, and also two disciples of Baba Sawan Singh, claimed to be the spiritual successor. After a few years, only five people remained who seriously tried to continue the mission of Sant Kirpal Singh. Among them was Sant Thakar Singh.
In May, 1974, Sant Kirpal Singh asked his devoted disciple, Thakar Singh, to retreat from the world and devote his time exclusively for meditation, which he did until November, 1975.For several years Thakar Singh had already been conducting satsang in many places in India on behalf of Sant Kirpal Singh. He continued to do so and introduced many spiritual seekers to the meditation on the inner Light and inner Sound, the initiation into the path of Sant Mat.
On February 6th, 1976, Sant Thakar Singh held a large public satsang followed by initiation in the Ashram of his Master in Delhi. All who participated in the introduction into the mysteries of the awakening of the soul had definite uplifting inner experiences of the subtle Light and heard the Music of the Spheres. Many had inner experiences where they met Baba Sawan Singh, Sant Kirpal Singh and Sant Thakar Singh.
Today, Sant Thakar Singh has more than one million disciples and several hundred ashrams worldwide . Currently, he is the competent living Master of Sant Mat.
THE COMPETENT LIVING MASTER
by E.L. and L.S.
In order to realize ourselves, to recognize our own inner nature and to be able to lead a complete life, we have to search for and find the true meaning of life. Since time immemorial, saints and spiritual masters, who have themselves succeeded in this quest, stand as living examples for us to emulate. They have found the true life and have offered help and guidance during their lifetime. Sant Thakar Singh is the living, competent Master today and he says: "We should use this short life span in the proper way because the purpose of the human life is to realize oneself as soul and to find God."
Sant Mat, the science of the soul, is a natural and practical method for attaining self-realization and God realization. In Sant Mat, translated "the holy path", the following fundamental principles are recognized:
· the help and spiritual guidance of a living, competent Master
· the regular meditation on the inner light and inner sound.
and, especially helpful factors include an ethically pure way of life and selfless service which can speed up our development and inner progress.
Why do we need a Master?
Whatever we learn as human beings is being imparted to us by other human beings. From our parents we learn basic skills and information like how to walk, how to talk, how to eat, and what kinds of foods to eat, how we are to behave, etc. In school, we learn from a teacher, at the university, from a professor. The higher the goal, the more the necessity for a teacher who not only imparts knowledge, but who also gives practical help and guidance, a master in his or her field of study.
If we want to study and learn about the inner worlds and life beyond our physical boundaries, we have to entrust ourselves to somebody who knows this subject first hand. If we want to know if God exists and what God is, we have to turn to somebody who knows God and who is in conscious connection with God and who can help us to journey along the way to God.
God pervades the entire creation, including our own self. Like electricity, with which the atmosphere is charged, we can neither see nor feel it, nor can we derive any benefit from it unless it is transformed through a powerhouse into energy and fed through lines to be switched on and off at our command. Similarly, God is present in everything. The "energy" God is revealed to us through a direct experienced with the help of the Master, who, similar to a powerhouse, transforms the God current, and makes it available to us. All great mystics and spiritual masters have once been disciples of a Master themselves. Why then do we especially, educated and enlightened people, believe that we can achieve everything by ourselves?
It is a natural law that a soul entering into this physical world needs to come through the womb of a mother. Only in the human body can we receive a conscious connection with God and acquire God-realization during this lifetime in this world. It is also a law that we can only enter into God's infinity with the help of a true Master.
When we, as soul, separated from God, like a drop from the ocean, we clothed ourselves during our descent into the material world with various "bodies"; the "causal body cover", the "astral body cover" and the "physical body cover". These "body covers" themselves are already a great miracles of creation. How wonderful then is our soul, our innermost self or being? Despite all our efforts we are not able to fully understand all the functions of our earthly body, let alone control them. On the way back to God, the source of all being, the Master is freeing the soul by and by from all covers and restrictions.
This journey into our secret, inner self, surely is an adventurous and difficult journey. Many mystics spoke about the dangers, hindrances and temptations that this journey involved. The astral world alone, into which we usually go after leaving this physical world, has unlimited areas of existence, whose lower ones are described as "hells" and whose upper ones are described as "heavens". In the hells we suffer, surrounded by darkness and mental conditions which we have molded with our minds during our earthly life. In the upper heavens there is so much beautiful light, music and happiness, that we want to remain there. Whoever is able to journey to the causal worlds is filled with the prevalent wealth of joy and creating power found there, to such an extent that he/she mistakes this region to be the highest of God. Many paths and masters lead to this plane. But only a true Master can protect the soul from temptation and can guide it through the veil of the next higher plane into the plane at which it can be then called a "freed" soul. From here, the further journey of the soul commences without restrictions into unity with God.
The Masters come to help all humanity. For those who entrust themselves to the Master's care, the Masters act as guides and take the responsibility of leading them towards self-realization and God-realization. The relationship between Master and disciple is an inner relationship, and is not dependent on outer circumstances.
The spiritual path may also be called the path of love, for God is the source of love. But how can we love God? We have never met Him, and many do not even believe in His existence. God reveals Himself in His highest form in the Master who is the embodiment of this love and teaches us to love God. In this way we also learn to love ourselves, our neighbors and even our enemies.
Who is a spiritual, competent Master?
A competent or true spiritual Master is one who has developed in himself a permanent connection to that higher consciousness which we call God, and from this level of authority he receives the power and competency to act as the spiritual teacher for humanity.
The Master lives here physically among us as a human being, a living example of what the ideal life is. He has come to know, through personal experience, the highs and lows of the mundane human existence and understands the diverse life situations of all humans.
The human being is body, mind, intellect and soul. As soul we are a part of that which we call God. But at the time of our birth into this world we lost the conscious connection with our higher self, with God. The true Master has the capacity and ability to once again establish this conscious connection within us, to activate it. In doing so, he gives everyone, at the beginning or initiation, a personal, first-hand experience of the inner Light and inner Sound, the two manifestations of God through which creation came into existence.
Our actions in this world cause reactions, karmas, which we, according to the law of nature, - if not in this life, then in the next lives, are liable to receive. Impressions which are being imprinted onto our minds during this life determine our inclinations, dispositions and future patterns of behavior. The "wheel of life", a constant cycle of birth and death can not be broken by our own efforts, as all mystics teach us.
If the Master accepts a soul at the time of initiation, this then starts a great task for him. He has to free us from the effects of the karmas and has to clean us so that we become receptive to the highest form of energy, God. We are literally turned inside out. Deeply harbored fears and well-worn patterns of behavior will all be made visible and cleaned. The meditations on the inner Light and inner Sound are the best means to further our inner cleaning and development.
The Masters do not found any new religions. They want neither to be worshipped nor do they practice any rituals, rites or performances of austerities. They want only our sincere hearts and sincere endeavor to find God through meditation.
A Master is the embodiment of humility; with all his powers and greatness he never claims credit for anything. He is always a giver and never a taker. He earns his own living and does not charge for any of his services. He is at peace with all and never angry with anyone, but only loves and blesses whoever comes to him.
There has never been a time in which this world was without such a God-realized being.
What is initiation?
Initiation literally means the beginning or start of something new. Before initiation we, as soul, have been following the "binding powers" of creation (the matter creating power) - the so-called negative power. After, we will then be connected with the "detaching powers" (detaching us from mind and matter), the positive power, God power, Master power. The initiation works on the inner level and does not denote the joining of a new religion or institution of any kind. It is a personal connection between the Master and disciple and between the soul and the higher self. At the time of initiation, the soul is withdrawn from body consciousness through the power of the Master and is given a contact with the inner Light and Sound. The initiate is now starting a new journey, an inner journey and a new life, the life of an awakened soul.
The Master power, which awakens our new life, takes a permanent place in us at the time of initiation. Each initiate receives the "radiant form" (the Light form) of the Master, which becomes embedded with the soul of the initiate. From that time onward, the inner Master guides and protects the initiate not only on this physical level, but beyond the door of death, until the initiate has reached full completion in God.
EXCERPTS FROM TALKS
by Sant Thakar Singh
Following are excerpts from talks by Sant Thakar Singh highlighting the subject of the competent living Master.
Find God with the help of the Master
Really we have to believe the Master and the scriptures to some extent but we are also to develop our own inner vision so that we may be definite of what is there.
(Sant Thakar Singh, morning talk in Jesolo, September 16, 1997)
It has been given in all scriptures
"You are soul and your soul bears the seal of God. It belongs to God. Give it unto God." Where is God to whom you are to hand over your soul? He is in the Master who is the true one. Where is your Master? Master in not body, but Master is in you because when Master initiates you, he takes his seat as per his radiant form by the side of your soul here at the third eye center. Now it is very easy for you to hand over yourself to God through Master.
If you are to find a competent lawyer or some doctor, you may or may not find these in the world. But if your own father is a lawyer and also a doctor and he is living in your own home, then it is very easy for you to find him. Your Master is here in you (Master points to the third eye center between the eyes) and he has already offered himself to you. It is very easy that you may offer yourself to him who has offered himself to you, and he will readily accept you. So this is the great blessing of God, mercy of God. Master is really merciful to you in this age Ethat he will not leave you nor forsake you till the end of the world. You have some relatives, friends, and family members or some other companions in this world but they are not really competent as the human beings can only help you to some extent in this world. But further in the other world, where you are to go after leaving the physical body, they are not of any avail anymore. He is your competent Master who is well-known and having approach to God who is almighty God and can get anything done from Him for anybody´s sake. He is himself one with God and having all powers of God and competencies to enjoy the same lifestyle as that of God. But not only is he himself to avail all this but anybody or any number of person in this world whom he accepts and takes to God will all be accepted by God.
In the scriptures it has been given that such authority is given by God to his suchlike Master-soul that God may or may not do something but every authority is given to this Godman to do everything. That Master-soul is sent into this world delegated with full authorities, full powers. No doubt he is in this body form but according to his powers, he is just fully competent God.
If there is any sun, any moon, any stars, any family member, any relative or friend, it is this Godman, this soul which is sent to us by God. Your relatives, friends, and family members are incompetent in every way, but this is the competent one. He will not only attend to you or help you who have been initiated by him, but he will help all your family members.
Master in not some human being. He looks like that but he is God in a human being. But try to find this reality from your inner soul selves. Then not only you will be able to know him but you will also be able to find and avail everything that he is having for you.
(Sant Thakar Singh, talk in Odessa, May 18, 1999)
Dissolution of the karmic law
The law of karma, law of action and re-action, is only working and existing where the negative power is ruling. This law of karma is only applicable to human beings, not on any other species of life because all the other species of life are already working under its control and they will not manage anything to get rid of its control. It is only the human being who has got this chance to get rid of the control of the negative power and to join the kingdom of God and to enjoy God. It is only due to the mercy, forgiveness, and the grace of God that we are saved from the control and the clutches of the negative power. To any person who comes into this world some kind of karmas is added from the stock of the negative power. If the God power, the Master power which is working through the Master doesn´t use its supernatural powers, we would have never been released of this slavery.
That is why, when the Master initiates somebody, first he burns away all the big stock of karmas which had been accumulated by man under the arrangement of the negative power Emay it be good karmas, may it be bad karmas. These karmas would be the cause for further lives in the physical body and would keep us imprisoned in the cycle of reincarnations.
Our destiny is also mitigated in its hardness, and till the end of the life all those destiny karmas are arranged to be paid off. New seed karmas which we have to do are not done under the control of the negative power but under the control of God. When we are meditating, then the meditations on light and sound clean away all the effect of the seedkarmas which we do daily. Master arranges that when the destined time is there for the soul to leave the human body and to be released, no karma is left in the accounts of that person from the negative power. Some very hard, unbearable karmas are sometimes borne also by the Master himself which otherwise the human being would not have been able to bear.
With this great sympathetic power of God we are forgiven for everything we have done, and with mercy and grace we are saved. This is the only way that we can be saved and can go back to our Father and our own kingdom, and never we are to come back again to suffer.
(Sant Thakar Singh, talk in Jesolo, May 23, 1999)
Our last tenure of life in this world
When we go along with his holy instructions and lead our life accordingly then he goes on blessing us side by side. With our own limited efforts and powers we cannot accomplish that great, great work which Master has asked us to complete in this life.
But if Master says that you are not to come back again and you will find perfection in this life, then he arranges like that. A father comes to his children and tells them, "All of you go in this direction now and reach home." So some are strong, some are weak, some are slow moving, and some are fast but the father comes in the evening with his vehicle and collects all of those who have struggled and have not been able to reach home, gives them a lift, and makes them reach home. So some have reached home with their own efforts, no doubt, but others, who had struggled, and in spite of their best efforts they could not reach home, are helped in this way. But those who do not believe the Master, do not try even, and are still lost in wilderness, in darkness, are yet to go a long way, to await. Still Master has got a good heart for all, and anyone who is initiated is taken. But then those people who could not reach in this life will have to meditate in the higher regions. There they are purified, and when they are suitable for acceptance by God, then they are taken and accepted.
But over there the time factor is very great. What we can accomplish in one day over here, we will have to put in one year for that over there. The blessings of Masters are also plenty over here. Those who will struggle here in this world will be helped. All this world and everything and everybody belongs to God. The human beings have to understand that they are to live only for God, that everything belonging to them is to be used for God, and that all their services are also to be only in this direction.
(Sant Thakar Singh, talk in Taiwan, January 15, 1999)
Nowadays when the negative power is too hard and the meditators cannot really work upon the meditations successfully, then Master has to take up all this load. He assures everybody whom he initiates that, "This is the last tenure of your life in this world. Nevermore will you come again in this world." Because this world is a world of sufferings, and only when arranged and helped very, very strongly can the souls be taken away from the clutches of the negative power and can be initiated. It is very rare that any soul who is initiated once is to be sent again in the human body because it is very hard to recall those souls again to the Master to be initiated. Those souls, who have been initiated and may not have meditated but have still faith and confidence in Master, are not brought back in this world.
At the last moment the people are not taken by the angel of death or representatives of angel of death, but Master himself come as God and goes on paying all the debts of karmas one has accumulated in this life Emaybe previous lives or event in this life Ebecause it is a law. If you have got a child who has been sent somewhere and is raising debts upon himself there, then if he feels like coming back to you, those people who have to get something from him will not let him come back. But even if the father goes to take back his child, they will say, "Okay, if he cannot pay, then you have to pay for him." So they will not release the child till you have paid off all the dues which are there from your child. This is only the duty of the Master. There is nobody else in this creation of Lord God who has this authority to pay off the debts of karmas raised by the negative power. That is why with no other kind of meditations, practices, any other rituals, or customs one can be helped. The Master should also be a competent Master who has got this power and authority from God to deal with this karmic system from the negative power.
(Sant Thakar Singh, talk in Odessa, May 18, 1999)
The true Master and other masters
In the spiritual history of the world this had been going on that when one Master is sent by the God power, maybe one hundred or more souls are also sent by the negative power just as an imitation of him.
(Sant Thakar Singh, talk in Odessa, May 18, 1999)
There are so many kind of masters of lower grades up to the second region or the third region. They can give you or bless you with something of their own regions. As there are so many people who worship other kinds of powers like the angelic powers or some kind of these deities. They get something but it cannot satisfy you because the structure of your inner self has been made in such a way that till you don´t get whole of the kingdom of God including God, you cannot feel satisfied.
(Sant Thakar Singh, talk in Taiwan, January 15, 1999)
My Master travelled so much and worked so hard, my Grand-Master worked so much and so hard, and I am also doing my utmost but with very nominal results. All those masters, who have been raised by the negative power to work for it, are flourishing, enjoying, and are having a very good response from the public.
This is the trend and the situation of this Iron Age which is very hard, very hard for the innocent souls of God. No doubt, Master also suffers over here but still he comes from God and goes back to God. He only suffers for some time as long as he is here or as long as all initiates or all souls who have been initiated by him are taken back to the abode of God. The Master´s duty doesn´t end when he leaves his physical body; his duty is still continuing. The Master has to go on working for and helping each soul which is initiated by him and is not yet taken back to his kingdom.
(Sant Thakar Singh, talk in Jesolo, May 23, 1999)
Question about the Masters´ suffering
You know that the Master is in the world not for enjoyment but he has to regularly be on war and he has to go through so many sacrifices. You might have heard or read that Lord Christ was crucified. Perhaps you would have found that he was crucified once but perhaps he would have been crucified a thousand times because he has to work and also has to suffer at all levels Ephysical level, astral levels, causal levels. So he has to go through suchlike sacrifices for the sake of the safety of humanity.
Otherwise he is the rescuing power but some payments are to be made to the negative power for saving the souls from the clutches of the negative power. It is really true that Master cannot really act all freely, he has to pay for all that he has to do in this world. If he has to save the initiates from physical tortures, he will have to pay at the physical level. If he has to save the souls at the causal or astral levels, he has to sacrifice at the causal levels or astral levels. All the Masters had gone through suchlike processes that they had suffered. But these sufferings are there knowingly Ewilling sufferings Ebecause they have to go through suchlike payments. But these sufferings on the body of the Masters are in this way that one suffers but millions are saved.
(Sant Thakar Singh, afternoon talk in Oberbrunn, August 9, 1987)
Outer worship
You should keep your walls clean of any photos. Paint the walls white, do not even have a photo of Master because it will take your attention away from God! All that is needed of you is to close your eyes and God is there pure, just pure. You need not read any books or look at videos of the Master because it plants an impression in your hearts, and God is something you cannot imagine.
I need not give you satsang, darshan, because I am working in a special way which I have chosen and it will make your hearts so sweet that the people will run after you asking for initiation. Until today I was always counting how many souls have been initiated, how many satsangs were given Ewhy? A day will come there the whole world will be initiated.
(Sant Thakar Singh, talk in Chandigarh, August 17, 1995)
Master´s Love
The Master´s love is unconditional. My Master was telling his own phenomenon that Master accepts every kind of initiates. They may be very horrible, very hard, and only troublesome but he will not neglect them because the Master is not having this kind of understanding that, "I should select someone who should be useful to me, of some good to me." But he was always feeling that, "How many sufferers, how many people who have problems, worries and diseases are there who come to me?" so that he may be able to help all those sufferers who are having worries, problems, and diseases because he enjoys his own enjoyment sources and has come in this world only for helping those who are in problems, worries, and sufferings. So he loves those who need help and all other things from him, but we love those who are useful to us, who give something to us and do not demand anything from us. Then which is the true love? Is the worldly love that which we can depend upon or is it only Master´s love which is really needed by us?
But this right understanding is not yet available to you that you may be able to compare the Master´s love with the worldly people´s love. We are still more attracted and connected to the worldly objects because our mind is yet stronger than the understanding of the soul. Don´t be dependent and don´t love a small lamp if you have got a sun to love. If you find millions of small lamps, you will not feel satisfied but one sun will satisfy you. If millions of these worlds and its properties Egold, silver, jewels, diamonds Eare given to you, they will not be of any avail. As kings and emperors have got a lot of money, a lot of other things of this world, but they are also burning like burning on a fire because love, peace, happiness, and satisfaction are only available from the inner treasures which are there from the holy light and sound.
(Sant Thakar Singh, talk in Taiwan, January 15, 1999)
Sant Kirpal Singh´s search
My Master was telling about his own situation that when he was not initiated, he had known that there must be a Master in his life and that without a Master, this life is not worth living. But in the scriptures where this very, very dire need is explained to have a Master, there is also the information that you should have a perfect Master. If you fall into the trap of some false one, it will be better not to have a master. Therefore he was always praying to God, "My dear God, it is true that I have to have a Master and without a Master this life is really a curse. But my dear God, please let me be guided by you that you take me to the true one."
We are blind in all our knowledge and wisdom, and if a blind person holds the hand of someone, he cannot know if he is holding the hand of a person who is blind or one having eyes.
These very sincere prayers from his heart were approaching God, and seven years before he met his Master, his Master was coming into his meditations.
(Sant Thakar Singh, talk in Odessa, May 18, 1999)
Sant Thakar Singh´s initiation
When I was initiated by my Master, I also did not declare it and did not feel satisfied just after having been initiated by him although I could find some good light and sound experiences. But I continued with my meditations, as was directed by my Master, for about six months and could feel the approach to the fifth region. Then I could feel that my Master is a true Master and I can believe it and can follow it. But I have also got suchlike initiates who even have reached the eighth region.
(Sant Thakar Singh, talk in Odessa, May 18, 1999)
Master Sant Thakar Singh`s work
Some time in the beginning of my service to humanity, I was near Bombay and there was a satsang, a talk, followed by initiation. Then there was also a person sitting for finding the initiation who was having all skin disease and was disturbed very much by flies and the pain of the skin disease. I saw the person and felt that that person cannot go inside and concentrate because he is disturbed so much by his outer physical body. Then when he was going, my heart was a little palpitating and I was looking at him, thinking, "Where will he go and what will happen to him? He had come for the salvation of his soul, and if he had been initiated after having been accepted, then really he would have enjoyed this life of being in a physical body of a human being. Now he will only suffer in this valley of death Ethe whole world is like that Eand perhaps he may not be able to come back again because the negative power is working so hard." Perhaps some person may be able to come to the Master for help; otherwise it takes all the people away to suffer in its own clutches. So my heart did not accept that he should go away due to this rejection. I sent a man behind him and he was called back. Then he was initiated, and by God´s grace he was quite nicely initiated. He could find inner experiences on seeing and also on hearing. We left that place but one of us returned to that place after a week and could see that person. That person was very happy and was expressing his happiness that what he was enjoying inside was okay, but he has also gotten rid of the outer disease which was incurable. He had tried already all from this world but he could not be benefited anywhere.
This is the way. My Master also used to say that God is very merciful, all merciful. As the human being goes on being caught more and more by the clutches of mind and matter and is feeling helpless spiritually, morally, or socially, God power begins to be more and more pitiful upon him.
Almost every year I have been visiting western countries, and when I was visiting the foreign countries, sometimes certain persons where asking me a question: "There is such a vast world, five billion population is there, and you are one. If one Master is there, how will he be able to help all the humanity?" As per provisions, God has given this authority that one Master who comes in this world has the authority, powers, to initiate the whole population of this world and has the competency to bear the burden of karmas of all the sinners and sinners of all the five billion population even.
(Sant Thakar Singh, talk in Odessa, May 18, 1999)
THE SATGURU
by Sant Kirpal Singh
from "Crown of Life"
edited by E.L.
The Satguru
Sant Kirpal Singh explained: The first condition is that of finding a Satguru or true teacher who is an adept in this mystic science. The subject is one of practical self-realization, not of philosophic dissertation or intuitive feeling. If it were one of mere theory, then books and scriptures would e enough for our purpose, and if it were one of mere feeling then each could trust the promptings of his own mind. But the question before us is that of unlocking a "sixth" sense, one of direct transcendental perception, of inner hearing and seeing. However, this cannot be attained by reading books only. One born deaf and blind may, with the help of Braille, learn the most detailed expositions of man’s rich and varied audio-visual experiences, but his study can never give him direct experience. The most that he can get from books is the realization of an extensive plane of experience wholly beyond him, and this can generate in him the urge to discover means whereby he can overcome his physical limitations...
The attempt to interpret the rich spiritual heritage in our religious literature wholly in terms of our own limited experience might lead to a distortion of the true meaning. We might gather a great deal of psychological wisdom, but the inner significance would be lost on us, and all our intellectual theorizing would only land us in unending theological contradictions with which the various institutionalized religions are encumbered today.
Only one who has himself experienced what the great scriptures describe, can guide us to their real significance. But the task of a spiritual teacher does not end there. The elucidation of the true meaning of religion is no more than a first step. After the aspirant has understood the nature of his goal, he must pursue it practically and rationally. To know is one thing, and to do is quite another. It is only after he has explained to the aspirant the end to be attained that the Master’s real task begins. It is not enough that the doctor diagnoses the cause of the blind man’s ailment, he must perform the operation as well. So too the spiritual guide at the time of initiation gives the disciple a first-hand experience of the inner Light and Sound. He puts him into touch with the Divine Stream, be it at its lowest level, and instructs him in the sadhnas to be followed for consolidating and developing this inner experience to its full extent.
He is the inner guide as well, leading the soul from plane to plane to its ultimate destination, a guide without whose aid the soul would mistake the intermediate stages for the final goal and would encounter barriers which it would be unable to surmount.
The role of the Master being what it is, it is little wonder that all mystics who have pursued this way should have sung of him with superlative reverence and adoration. Without the munificence of the Master one gets naught, even if one engages in a million meritorious deeds.
Gurbani
All great spiritual teachers have maintained that without the help of a living Master, the spiritual journey is difficult and impossible to traverse to the very end. Jalalud-din Rumi, the Persian mystic, suggest this forcefully when he says:
Find a Master spirit, for without his active help and guidance,
this journey is beset with dangers, perils and fears.
In the Gospels it is the same strain that vibrates through the sayings of Jesus:
No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
(St. John 14:6)
No man knoweth who the Father is, but the Son;
and he to whom the Son will reveal Him.
(St. Luke 10:22 and St. Matthew 11:27)
Other gifts may decay and perish, but his gift, the gift of God’s Word, is imperishable, indestructible, ever shining, ever fresh, ever new, a boon in life, a greater boon in death...
From where does the Master derive this unique and superhuman power that makes him almost equal to God and, in the eyes of his disciples, places him even above God? Can mortal flesh compete with the Immortal and the finite outdistance the Infinite? This may well seem a paradox to the world, but those who have crossed with opened eyes to the inner Kingdom, see in this no contradiction, only the mystery of God’s greatness. The true Master is one who under instruction and guidance from his own teacher has learned to analyze the soul from the body, has traversed the inner path to its very end, and has beheld the source of all light and life and merged with the Nameless One. After merging with the Nameless One, he becomes one with Him and one with all that is. On the human plane he may appear as limited as any one of us, but on the spiritual, he is Limitless and Infinite even as God Himself ...
The Guru is but a lighted candle that lights the unlit ones. The fuel is there, the wick is there, he only gives the gift of flame without any loss to himself. Like touches like, the spark passes, between and that which lay dark is illumined and that which was dead springs into life. As with the lighted candle, whose privilege lies not in its being an individual candle but in its being the seat of the unindividual flame that is neither of this candle nor of that but of every essence of all fire, so too with the true Master. He is a Master not by virtue of his being an individual master like anyone else, but he is a Master carrying in him the Universal Light of God. Again, just as only a candle that is still burning can light other candles - not one that is already burnt out - so only a living Master can give the quickening touch that is needed, not one who has already departed from this world.
Those that are gone were great indeed and worthy of all respect, but they were preeminently for their own time, and the task they accomplished for those around them must, for us, be performed by one who lives and moves in our midst. Their memory is a sacred treasure, a perennial source of inspiration, but the one thing their remembrance teaches is to seek for ourselves in the world of the living that which they themselves were.
Only the kiss of a living Prince (Master) could bring the slumbering Princess (Soul) back to life and only the touch of a breathing Beauty could restore the Beast to his native pristine glory.
The kingdom of God cometh not with observation,
The kingdom of God is within you
(St. Luke 17:20-21)
He is a Guru in vain who cannot turn the darkness (gu) into light (ruh). And Nanak has said, "I will not take my Master at his word until I see with mine own eyes." If he is a genuine teacher, he will never promise salvation that comes only after death. Accordingly, to him it is always a matter of now and here. One who has not attained liberation in life, cannot hope to achieve it after death. Jesus too always urged his disciples to master the art of dying daily...
Life is one continuous process which knows no end, though it may assume different aspects at different levels of existence. As one passes helplessly from one plane to another, he is supposed to have died at the plane quitted by the soul; for we have yet no knowledge and much less experience of the life on other planes, where one is led by the propelling force of karmic vibrations. It is from this bondage and forced comings and goings that the Master prepares the way to liberation in this very life, by connecting a jiva to the eternal lifelines pervading endlessly through the creation, and gives one an actual foretaste of the higher spiritual regions, provided one is prepared to forsake the flesh for the spirit. "Learn to die, that you may begin to live," exhorted the Master Christian...
On this mystic path reasoning is the help, but reasoning is also the hindrance. Love alone can bridge the gulf, span the chasm, and knit the finite to the Infinite, the mortal to the Immortal, the relative to the Absolute...
The relationship of love between the Satguru and his initiate, the Godman and his disciple, covers many phases and many developments. It begins with respect for one knowing more than oneself. As the disciple begins to appreciate the Master’s disinterested solicitude for his welfare and progress, his feelings begin to soften with the dew of love and he begins to develop faith, obedience and reverence. With greater obedience and faith comes greater effort, and with greater effort comes greater affection from the Master. Effort and grace go hand in hand and each in turn helps in development of the other.
(from the book "Crown of Life" by Sant Kirpal Singh)
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