From jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca Mon Aug 31 01:35:52 1998
Newsgroups: alt.meditation.shabda
Subject: Factors Necessary for Progress
From: jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca (James Shannon)
Date: 31 Aug 1998 08:35:52 GMT






                      FACTORS NECESSARY FOR PROGRESS

                                    by   
      
                            Sant Kirpal Singh Ji


                     This talk was given on October 12,
                     1972, in New York City, during
                     Master Kirpal's Third World Tour,
                     and was published in "The Ambrosial
                     Hour" (1996; Sant Bani Ashram, NH).
                     -----------------------------------


   During these days here we have had four or five talks on the different 
aspects of Spirituality. Our purpose is to progress on the way. To progress 
on the way, there are certain things which are very essential. If they are 
not there, progress won't be there.

   First of all is regularity. As you take food daily for your body, twice
or three times a day, similarly you are here for the main purpose of giving
food to the soul. Bread of Life, Water of Life, the capital of which each
one of you have had. So the first thing is regularity. Regularity will only
give you better food if you maintain the diary for self-introspection
accurately. Generally we don't care about the maintenance of the diary
with respect to self-introspection. The result is not good progress on the
Path: sometimes we progress, sometimes we recede. For that, you know, I
have prescribed in the diary to have no ill will for anybody, even in
thought, word, and deed. Thoughts are very potent. You say, "Somebody will
say something against me, what should I do?" Blood cannot be washed away
by blood the Water of Life is required to wash it away. If anybody thinks
ill of you, just for a while consider calmly whether what he thinks - is
there any truth in it? Examine your own self. If there is anything, be
thankful for it. You see either an enemy will tell you something which is
not right in you, or sometimes a close friend will tell you, as a matter
of counsel and advice, because you have full love with that particular
friend. If that is not so, then - "Father, forgive them for they know not
what they do." - pray for them. That's the only way, otherwise this thought
is rankling in your mind throughout. You'll have no rest. Whenever you sit
that thing will creep up.

   The second is truthfulness. You know? No acting, posing - your heart,
your speech, your brain should be in unison. Only that is true, when these
three things agree. Sometimes we say something for outer show, while the
heart is thinking something else, and the brain is thinking something else.
These are the things to be watched very carefully. Nobody can watch you
properly, as you can yourself; you know better. If we do anything (untrue),
first we deceive our own selves. Not only do we deceive our own selves, but
the God in us. He is there watching our every action. He knows even the
very tendencies of our going. So this is further counsel.

   Then comes the chastity of life. Chastity is life, sexuality is death.
The more chaste you become, the better. That will pay. You will have
blessedness in you. When there is anything wrong - lies, or we have been
acting and posing to show something which we are not - the result is you'll
feel a big wall between you and the God within you. That curtain thickens.
So always be true to your own self. Don't spare yourself. If we want to
progress on the spiritual way these things are most necessary.

   Further still this thing comes up: we are all of the same essence as that
of God. We are drops in the Ocean of All Consciousness; we are all brothers
and sisters in God. No high, no low. According to the reaction of the past,
we have our own positions in life; some have difficulties in life, that's
another thing. All the same, God has given us equal privileges, as physical
body, as soul, as worshippers of the same Power which controls all Creation
and which controls us in the body.

   So man is one who lives for others. If our hearts are true - truth is
above all, and true living is still above truth. If there is light in the
bulb, and the bulb is besmeared with black dots, how much light will be
there? Light is within you: Take heed that the Light within you is not
darkness. This you have to watch. Nobody else can watch it for you. And if
anything might come to somebody's notice and they point it out to you, out
of enmity to defame you, or out of hearty love for Him, so that your brother
may not be misled. So these are the things most necessary. When money is
lost, nothing is lost. If health is lost, something is lost. And if
character is lost, everything is lost. As I told you, regularity first, but
these are the helping factors to have success in the spiritual way.

   These are no new things which I am putting before you. If you are one-
eyed you will know better. If you have to give a talk, I think you will
speak more creditably, more vehemently, with bombastic words, and with all
the force at your command. But the only thing is, we should be true to our
own self. If a man has a lamp in his hand, and falls in the pit - what to
do? So we want progress. That Power is within you; God is watching your
every action. Be true to Him, that's all. That's the only farewell talk I
can give to you. It should stand forever. If you take one step that way, a
hundred steps you'll come up. Otherwise, our failures in life - after how
long will you consider them? If you'll not consider the ones in you, you
see, He put's a thick curtain between you and Him. So that is why this
prayer has come: "O God, we are thankful to You that you have kept this
secret from the worldly wise, and given it to the babes." What does it
mean? To the innocent. Innocent men. The innocent man has none of these
failures in his life. So I wish you all progress, you see. That God Power,
Christ Power, Guru Power is within you. It sometimes speaks through the
human pole to guide you. Because we do not listen to the dictates given by
Him inside - He gives once, twice, thrice - if you don't listen, He will
stop. That you might call the Voice of Conscience. If you are true to your
own self, you are not to be afraid of even God, I would say. You are true
to your God within you. God does not reside in the heavens. He is permeating
all creation, controlling all creation, and controlling you in the body. He
is nearer to you than your hands and feet. Keep your diary, strictly. Don't
spare yourself. If anything comes to eliminate, weed out please.

   Otherwise, suppose you have a pain in your stomach, how far will you be
acting and posing? If you have caught on fire, how far will you keep quiet
and act and pose? You will cry. This is the most necessary factor which will
go to help your progress on the way. God within you is watching every action.
He is watching the very tendency that our mind is going.

   So in few words, perhaps you know, each of you, better than what I have
told to you. These are no new things which I am telling you. But the only
thing is: we are not true to our own self, that's all.

   Mouth should speak what is in our heart. Brain should think what we have
got in our heart. We have progressed in head, I would say, not with the
heart. That's the whole trouble. Brain thinks, you see, and becomes selfish.
Haughty. Narrow-minded. It becomes the boss, wants to control everybody. He
would even like to surpass everybody, at the sacrifice of all others. This
is a fact you will find in all the troubles going on in the world today.
They have no heart with them, you see. If your brain thinks, and your heart
- does it agree with you? I don't think so. If you think to kill somebody,
would your heart say, "Yes. Do it"? No!

   So heart is the seat of the soul of God within you. Progress by head, but
let the heart be with you, then you will be saved from many things. All
atrocities, all these things coming before you in the world today, they will
be re-ranked. All these things have come up, why? because we have progressed
only in head, not by head and heart. If those two had gone together, do you
think the shooting would go on?

   So whenever you are true to your own self, you see, remain where you are;
these are schools of thought. The basic teachings of all are the same. God
has created you with equal privileges. You have got body, soul and
controlling Power. All are equal. So we have joined different schools of
thought just to realize that unity which already exists. We are stuck to the
(boundary). This was meant to give us development, progress. You have not
come up to understand the principles for which God made man, and also for
which all these schools of thought came into being. Then there's conflict.
There's cleverness, so many things.

   So that Power is with you always, watching your every action. If you are
true to Him, you are true to God. Be regular. This is the Bread of Life, the
Water of Life. If your soul becomes strong - if a horse is strong, it will
be able to carry the broken carriage. The difficulty is the body has become
intellectually strong and spiritually weak. It is very feeble, very frail.

   This is all I can place before you. To the best as it has come to me now;
I have not thought over this before talking. But this is what we need. Be
regular in your meditations. That is the Bread of Life. You should develop
all around: physically, intellectually, and we should also develop
spiritually. Twice blessed is man. Remain in contact, physically too.
Through correspondence and that will be when you send your diaries - true
diaries. What do I mean to say by "true diaries"? That which truly
interprets what you are thinking in mind, word, and deed. "What have I been
thinking in my head?" In thought, word, and deed. Sometimes, the diaries
are almost blank, and the result is given: "I am putting in two hours,"
such and such, "and no progress." What should I believe? You can deceive
outside people but not the One within you Who is always watching you. If
your diary is all right and you put in regular time, accurately, there is
no reason why you should not progress. The Master Power works. That is the
Holy Ghost; it works from time to time to guide you back. Listen to His
voice. And remain in contact, that's all.

  We've been having a meditation hour, and I hope that each one of you must
have gotten better. If you go on like that, with due respect to your self-
introspection and weeding out all failures, under these heads that I have
put before you, which you already have in your diaries, God will help you
more from day to day.

  So as I told you, in my talks, every Saint has His past and every sinner
a future. There's hope for everybody. Don't be disheartened. You have some
Power to help you, over your head, those who have been initiated on the way
especially. You are not all alone. Listen to His words within you and, so
long as you are not in conscious contact with that Power, remain in contact
outside physically. I think what I am telling you, must be appealing to
each one of you. I am just talking from the level of man, as a man to man.

   So simple life and high thinking is what we want. A loving heart. No
high, no low. He is most beautiful who has got the Light of God refulgent
within him. That house looks very beautiful in which electric bulbs are
giving light. If there are no bulbs there, even the most magnificent house
looks all dark. So this is what is required. I think you should take these
things to heart and live up to them. And God will help you.

   My wishes will always be with you, here, there, anywhere. Because the
actual form of the Master is with you always. As I told you, until you
contact Him consciously face to face, within you, guidance from outside
from that human pole is necessary. I think this is the gist of all these
directions.

   So the minimum time is given as two hours: this is binding. If you can
do more, you will earn His pleasure. In 1912 I knew a Mohammedan professor.
You see, men of the same views will love. He would meet me; I also used to
meet him. This was in 1912, sixty years back. He had put a sign: "No
Admission without Permission" on his house. I was free to go to him.
Sometimes I went and he was saying prayers in his own Mohammedan way. In
their prayers, five times they sit, bow down, and then stand. That is the
general rule. When I went there, he used to say prayers for hours. One hour,
two hours, three. I was simply watching. I once asked him, "Well, dear
friend, prayers have only five sittings, and you go on for hours?" He said,
"Five sittings are binding to a Mohammedan, and this I do to earn His will
and pleasure." You see? So to put in two hours, that is a tithe; this is
binding on each one of you. And if you do more, it will earn His pleasure.

   This is your work; you have to do it. And then less is bad, of course.
Suppose a man is a thief. He wants any chance to grab money, day or night.
You are really after your spiritual progress. Snatch away time, any time
you can. The pity is - where there is a will there is a way - we have no
will. That is why we are not able to give full justice to the work. Manbody
is the highest in all creation, and this is the golden opportunity we have
got. If we can't do this, nobody else will do it for you. And even you have
to go.

   Last night I was telling people, how in lectures, in this and that thing,
I have been talking to you on death alone. The five talks main purpose was -
this is a golden opportunity - make the best use of it. What is meditation?
What is spirituality? What is a Master? ... You see? Where is God? How can
we find Him? All these things went on, from the commencement to the end, we
were talking on the word death, the name of which we do not like to hear.
But with all that we have to pass through it. Death is no bugbear; we have
to leave the body. And generally you'll find anyone, they don't give a talk
on that.

   So my best wishes are with you. That's all I can say. That Power is within
you, watching you, your every tendency, every thought. And It is extending
all feasible help and protection without asking for it. So it is a great
blessing to have somebody living on earth like us to guide (us). You are all
dear to me. Why? Because you have been put on the Path, as such we are all
brothers and sisters, real relatives, this is such a relation which cannot
be broken after death. How fortunate you are! If you do care, (pause) so
that's all right. This is the sum total of all teachings in these few words.
If you will live by them, you will progress even more than me. I pray that
you all become ambassadors. But we should be sincere in word, thought and
deed.

   Now I am going today (to the next stop on the Tour). All of you who have
come from outside, you should have your own way back. Those who would like
to go further, if they can well afford it, their circumstance they know, I
have no objection. But perhaps you will have to make your own arrangements.
Whatever possible those people also will do, but don't go totally dependent
on them.

   You follow my point now? Be regular in your meditations. No ill will for
anybody. Be truthful, be chaste in thought, and love for all. You are not
born to live for your own selves. You are man: man is one who lives for
others, not for his own self only. And be regular in devoting your time to
come in contact with All-Consciousness within you, which is controlling all
creation, and permeating all creation. Remain in any social body you like,
that makes no difference. The purpose of all that is to reach God. The
purpose of marriage is also to have a companion to help each other to know
God. That will give you permanent joy and peace. With these words I think
we should end. This is the best of the meditations, you see. Consider these
points which I have placed before you. Five minutes, ten minutes. Take it
to heart, and live up to them. Your faces will be shining gloriously if
you live up to them. Your eyes will be open, bright.


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