From jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca Mon May 31 04:24:33 1999
Newsgroups: alt.meditation.shabda
Subject: "Godman" - Kirpal Singh (2/10)
From: jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca (James Shannon)
Date: 31 May 1999 11:24:33 GMT





                                   GODMAN

                                     by
                                 
                                KIRPAL SINGH

                                  [Part 2]



                             
		                CHAPTER THREE

                           GRADATIONS IN MASTERSHIP


          MASTERS are of four different types: The father, the
        mother, the preceptor or teacher, and lastly, Satguru
        (Spiritual Guide or Murshid-i-Kamil). Of all of these,
        Satguru is the greatest teacher, for he imparts
        spiritual instructions alone. One who is well-versed
        in worldly wisdom is called acharya or preceptor, for
        he gives us rules of social conduct and of ethical life.

          Satguru or Master of Truth is also known as Sant Satguru.
        His relation with his disciples is purely a spiritual
        one, as he is concerned with the advancement of spirit
        and has nothing to do with worldly matters.

          From the viewpoint of spiritual attainments Gurus
        may be classified as:

                Sadh Guru,
                Sant Satguru, and
                Param Sant Satguru.

        A Sadh is one who has gone beyond the region of Trikuti
        (Onkar) which is the same as Lahut in Sufi terminology
        and Hu in Islamic theology. He has witnessed the spirit
        in its pristine glory, after having rid it of all
        coverings, and is now Trigunatit (beyond the three gunas:
        Satva, Rajas, and Tamas, in which all human beings work
        according to their natural and native instincts); beyond
        the five elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether,
        of which the physical world is composed); beyond the
        twenty-five Prakritis (the subtle forms in varying
        degrees of the elements); and beyond also mind and
        matter.

          In short, he is an adept in self-knowledge, or the art
        and science of spirit, and can, at will, disengage the
        spirit from various koshas (sheaths or caskets) in which
        it is enclosed like a priceless gem.

                The greatness of a Sadh lies beyond the three
                  gunas (as he is Trigunatit).

          By a process of self-analysis, he (a Sadh) has known
        the self or spirit in its real form-to wit, that it is of
        the same essence as God; and now he strives for God-
        knowledge.

          A Sant is one who is adept not only in self-knowledge
        but in God-knowledge as well. He far transcends the
        material, materio-spiritual, and spirituo-material realms.
        Master of Truth as he is, his abode is in the purely
        spiritual region, technically called Sach Khand or
        Muqam-i-Haq, the Realm of Truth.

          A Param Sant is the Grand Master of Truth beyond
        all description and hence ineffable. He is at one with
        what is variously known as Anami (The Nameless One)
        of Kabir; Nirala (Indescribably Wonderful), Mahadayal
        (Boundless Mercy) or Swami (The Great Lord of All).

          There is no material difference between a Sant and a
        Param Sant except in nomenclature.

          But none of them, whether a Sadh, a Sant, or a Param
        Sant, can act or function as a Guru or Master unless he
        is competent to impart spiritual instructions and
        he has been commissioned from above to do this work.
        Whoever holds this authority for spiritual work becomes
        a Sadh Guru, Sant Guru, or Param Sant Guru, as the case
        may be.

          There may be a number of Sadhs, Sants or Param
        Sants, but none of them can of himself assume Guruship
        or spiritual preceptorship without being commissioned
        for the work.

          So the terms Sadh, Sant and Param Sant have a
        much wider connotation than the term Guru, which is
        restricted to a spiritual preceptor alone - the rest
        being only spiritual adepts of varying degrees.

          The Guru holds a direct commission from God, and
        works under instructions just as any vice-regent would
        do on behalf of a king.

          Again Gurus are of two types:

          I. Swateh Sant Gurus: They are born Sants who
        come into the world with direct commissions; as for
        instance, Kabir Sahib and Guru Nanak.

          They start the work of spiritual knowledge and
        instructions right from a tender age. They need no special
        training from anyone, since they come from the Most
        High for this purpose. Such beings, when they come,
        simply flood the world with the light of Spirituality,
        and establish a line of Gurmukh Gurus for carrying on
        the work long after them. But in course of time,
        substance comes to be sacrificed for show, and gradually
        Spirituality disappears altogether.

          Then comes another Master Soul to re-orient this
        most ancient science according to the needs of the age.
        In this way, "old wine" remains in circulation for souls
        athirst. Such Master Souls do appear from time to time
        in different lands and among different peoples.

          2. Besides Swateh Sants there are Sants who by
        devotional practice and spiritual discipline under the
        guidance of some Master Soul acquire spiritual merit
        here and are granted a commission to work as a Guru.

          They already have a rich spiritual background ripe
        for fruition, and in the present span of life simply seem
        to complete the process. Gurmukhs are always in the
        making from life to life, and acquire perfection in this
        life.

                Kabir saith that he came directly from the
                  Kingdom of God and held an instrument of
                  instructions from Him.

        Bhai Gurdas, while speaking of Guru Nanak, tells us:

                First he got a commission and then he worked
                  it out.

        In short, the former come with authority, and the latter
        acquire authority while here. But there is absolutely no
        difference between the greatness of the two, the nature
        and scope of their work and the method by which the
        work is executed. Each of them is endowed with equal
        authority, and works out the grand plan of God according
        to the needs of the time and of the people.

          But the rest who claim this status and pose and act as
        Master Souls not only deceive themselves but misguide
        the masses at large. In this category are included
        persons who are either greedy and selfish or those who
        are after name and fame.

          In innumerably different ways and wiles they practice
        deception on the unwary and simple-minded seekers
        after Truth with a view to serve their own ends.

          It is because of such impositions that Guruship is
        being looked down upon by most people, and no wonder
        that the science of Spirituality is being stigmatized a
        a mirage and a fool's paradise.




                               CHAPTER FOUR

                             GURU: ONE OR MANY

          SHABD or Word (the Primal Sound Current) is the
        only Guru for the entire world and Surat (individual
        consciousness) is the only disciple, as the latter
        cannot do without the former. In fact, there is the
        principle of unity, for God is One, though He has
        manifested Himself variously.

          But as we look the other way and turn to the world
        abounding in diverse forms, we see a Pole-star shining
        in its majesty reflecting the Light of Heaven.

          Such a pure soul (Word made flesh or Godman)
        with authority to give spiritual instructions to the
        seekers after God, is as much a Guru as the Shabd Itself,
        for he himself is a living embodiment of Shabd and
        with Shabd as stock in trade freely distributes It to
        whomever he likes.

          Kabir speaks of himself:

                I come from the Kingdom of God to administer
                  the Law of God.

        Guru Nanak, too, was invested with a similar authority
        to impart spiritual instructions when he was in deep
        meditation in Veiny Nadi (the Water of Spirituality
        within).

          Both of them were Param Sant Satgurus.

          Kabir Sahib was born in 1398 A.D. at Lahr Talao
        near Benaras and passed away in 1518. Guru Nanak
        was born in 1469 A.D. at Talwandi, and left the
        physical plane at Kartarpur in 1539. Thus both of them
        were contemporaries for about forty-nine years, from
        1469 to 1518. In the same way Shamas-i-Tabrez and
        Maulana Rumi were also contemporaries for some time.

          Again, Guru Angad and Dadu Sahib lived together
        from 1504 to 1552.

          So also, Guru Arjan and Dharam. Das from 1561
        to 1606.

          These instances go to show that there can be more
        than one Guru at the same time, but a person cannot
        have more than one Guru for spiritual perfection. It
        does not matter even if a Guru after initiating a person
        passes away.

          Once he initiates an individual, the Subtle Form of
        the Master gets embedded in the disciple for he becomes
        from that moment the disciple's ideal and his
        instructions gradually begin to bear fruit.

          There is no power on earth that can render sterile
        the seed sown by a Master Soul. Master never dies. He
        may leave the body, as anyone else does, but he is more
        than a mere body. He is an ideal, a living Sound Current
        or a Life Principle that gives Life and Light to the
        entire world.

          After his passing away one may derive benefit from
        the Satsang conducted by a Gurmukh who is carrying
        on the duties of Guru, and may consult him in case
        he has some difficulty. It is, however, of the utmost
        importance that the Master is not to be changed on
        any account.

          Loyalty to the Master who has initiated the spirit
        and to whom the spirit has pledged his troth demands
        the recognition that the Master is competent to impart
        further guidance and instructions, even when he is
        working on the spiritual plane after having left the
        physical world.



                                CHAPTER FIVE

                               PRESENT MASTER
    
          MASTER OF THE TIME is a living Master who is imparting
        spiritual instructions to his following. But all
        Masters of bygone times are past Masters or Masters out
        of date. Each of these Masters had his own role to
        perform. The accounts of the ancient and outdated
        Masters and their teachings do a kind of spade work by
        cutting the untrodden soil and by creating a
        interest in us in esoteric matters of the spirit. Each
        of them lays emphasis on the need of the living Master
        and records his own spiritual experiences. It is from
        their exhortations that we are moved to begin the
        search. The innate urge in us is quickened and we are
        impelled to go in quest of one who can lead us Godward. 

          The work of imparting actual spiritual instruction
        and guidance is, however, done by a living Master.
        Highly charged as he is with higher consciousness, he
        injects the jivas with his life impulse. Spirituality
        can neither be bought nor taught, but it may be caught
        like an infection from one highly infected himself. As
        Light comes from Light, so Life comes from Life, and
        a spirit that is bodily ridden can only be moved by
        Spirit that is untrammelled by body and mind. This
        is the only way and there is no other way for spiritual
        training.

          Without a living Master there can be no escape from
        bondage for the spirit.

          Maulana Rumi, therefore, emphatically declares:

                Trust not thy learning, cunning, and craft;
                Do not break away from the sheet anchor of
                  the Living Prophet.

        Prophet Mohammed, too, says:

                He who has not sincerely approached the Immam
                  of the Time (living Master), the
                  Vice-Regent of Allah, the Perfect Guide,
                  cannot get anything.

        Again, the Great Maulana said:

                Hie to thy God through the Godman:
                Float not uselessly on the treacherous waters
                  of egoism.

        In the absence of a living Master, one cannot develop
        the devotional attitude so very necessary on the spiritual
        path. There cannot be any devoted attachment for a
        person or thing which we have never seen and of which
        we have no idea. The very term "attachment" signifies
        that there is an object of attachment.

          Some persons feel that this need for an approach
        to a living Master so emphatically stressed in Gurbani
        related to the time of the ten Gurus alone, but that is
        not the case. The teachings of the Masters were
        addressed to man in general and were for all times. Their
        appeal was universal and not restricted to any particular
        sect or any specific period:

                The teachings of the Masters are common
                  for all.

        Again:

                Bani (Word or Sound Principle) is the Guru,
                  and Guru is the Bani personified, and the
                  Elixir of Life gushes out of the Bani.*

                Whoever accepts what the Gurbani says, he
                  can be freed through the grace of the
                  living Master.

        Bhai Gurdas in this context says:

                 The Vedas and scriptures are the wares of
                  the Masters and help in crossing the
                  ocean of life; but without the Master of
                  Truth coming down and living among us,
                  we cannot apprehend the Reality.

        The esoteric mysteries cannot be fully explained in
        writing, as the inner process has its own difficulties
        and handicaps. In various ways the Master in his Subtle
        Form helps the spirit in the journey from plane to
        Plane. This work of guidance both within and without
        cannot be performed by past Masters.

* There is a vast difference between Gurbani and Bani. The former
refers to the sayings of the Gurus as recorded in the holy scriptures
(especially the Granth Sahib), whereas the latter refers to the
eternal Sound Current, sometimes called Gur-ki-Bani, reverberating
in all creation. It emanates from God Himself and He alone can
manifest it. Moreover, this Bani (Naam or Word) is sounding
throughout the four Yugas (ages) and gives its message of Truth.

          The nameless and formless Shabd becomes a form
        and assumes a name and dwells among us. In the Holy
        Gospel we have:

                The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

        Unless God comes down in the garb of man, we cannot
        know the Unknowable. The teachings of scriptures
        remain scaled to us under the heavy weight of ancient
        and archaic verbiage, unless a Master Soul who has
        actual experience of the Science of the Spirit explains to
        us the truth of these scriptures.

          Even the apparently simple teachings of the late Masters
        fail to yield the right import unless some living
        adept in the line tells us their true significance, and
        makes us experience the same experiences mentioned in
        the scriptures.

          By transmitting his own life impulse, he enlivens
        the spirit lying helplessly shrivelled in the body under
        the dead weight of mind and matter. Like a clever guide,
        he, in an inimitable way of his own, quietly gives her a
        new lead.

          Next, he lays bare to the spirit's view new heavens
        full of wondrous sights, charters her a plane (Shabd)
        and pilots her Godward himself. From day to day the
        spirit is wheeled around sharp corners, touches new
        spots, experiences unknown thrills, and enjoys
        exhilarating experiences too subtle to be described.

          All this and much more is the work that a living
        Master has to do.

          In the history of Sikhism, we find that the Holy
        Granth was compiled for the first time by the fifth Guru,
        Guru Arjan. In spite of the well-known and oft-quoted
        dictum that Bani is the Guru, implying thereby that there
        was no need of Gurus thereafter, the Gurus carried on
        the work of initiating people; and even today the Khalsa
        (Pure One) with perfect, resplendent Light within is
        authorized to carry on the work of spiritual instruction
        and guidance to seekers after Truth.

          Guru Gobind Singh says: We are the worshipers of
        the Great Conscious Light and defines the word Khalsa
        as: The pure Khalsa is one in whom the Light of God
        is fully manifested. He further goes on to say:

                Khalsa is my true form; I reside in Khalsa,
                  He is the life of my life, and my very prana
                Khalsa is my valiant friend, Khalsa is my
                  Satguru Pura (fully competent Master)
                I have told no untruth.
                I tell this in the presence of Par Brahm and
                  Guru Nanak.




                                CHAPTER SIX

                            THE NEED OF A MASTER

          THE FORMLESS GOD pervades the Universe in the form
        of Shabd or Word; but we cannot feel blessed unless
        we are enabled to contact It within.

          The entire atmosphere is charged with electricity but
        one cannot derive any benefit from it so long as one
        cannot reach out to an electric switch that controls the
        energy coming from the power-house.

          Once this contact is established, it gives us light, hot
        or cold breezes as we may need, and helps us in innumerable
        ways in sweeping the house, cooking our food and the like.
        It carries huge industrial loads like the proverbial demon
        and does work that a thousand persons put together cannot do.

          In exactly the same way, if one could but reach out
        to some human pole where God's energy in the form of
        Shabd is manifest, one can become truly blessed and
        reap a rich spiritual harvest beyond all measure. Saints,
        prophets, seers, and Master Souls are such manifested
        poles that radiate God's Light, Life and Love.

          They are the Children of Light and come to give
        Light to the world which is steeped in utter darkness.
        They are Shabd personified and, so to say, polarized
        God within the world.

                Holy men of God spake as they were moved by
                  the Holy Ghost.

                                                II PETER I:21

                The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his
                  Word was in my tongue.

                                                II SAMUEL 23:2

                Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a Light
                  unto my path.

                                                PSALM 119:105

        Satguru or Master of Truth is then the pole wherefrom
        God's energy works for the Divine Will. This energy
        or Shabd is the Subtlest Form of the Great Unknown
        and the Unknowable. It is through the Satguru that one
        can know even this much and come into contact with
        Shabd.

          It is from the physical that we move to the subtle.
        The Master and the Master's Sound Current are the
        means to the end. They alone can lead the spirit
        Godward. The Master solves for us the mystery of God and
        saves us from the tentacles of mind and matter.

          His long and strong arm pulls a spirit out of body and
        mind consciousness and makes it Spirit Consciousness
        by linking it with the Sound Principle.

          The Radiant Music next leads the spirit to the source
        or region from which It is emanating. The Master and
        the Sound Current are not two different entities; they are
        but two aspects of the same thing.

          As he works on the physical plane, he has to assume
        and work through a physical vehicle, without which
        spiritual instruction cannot be imparted. But as soon as
        he disengages a human spirit from the various sheaths
        and coatings, he also assumes and works through a subtle
        Form - luminous and resplendent.

          This process goes on until the spirit of man becomes
        identical with that of the Master. This is the grand
        purpose for the fulfilment of which Masters come into this
        lowest region which is so full of misery and woe. Armed
        with the Saving Grace of God, in the form of the Holy
        Ghost - variously called Shabd, Word, Naad, Bani or
        Kalma - the Master saves such souls as are ripe for
        redemption, listen to him, and work'out their salvation
        by following his instructions.

          Unless God comes in the garb of man and dwells
        among us, we cannot know of God in spite of His
        immanent presence everywhere.

          Someone must churn clarified butter from milk, and
        strike fire out of the granite blocks, before we can know
        that butter is hidden in milk and fire in stone. "Word,"
        therefore, becomes flesh and dwells among us, as we
        learn from the Holy Gospel.

          When spirits grow restless from their long exile into
        the physical plane, helplessly cry out for homecoming
        and see no way out of the clutches of Kal's all pervading
        limitations of time, space, and causation, the Saving
        Grace of God is stirred by the piteous appeals and comes
        into the world in the form of a Sant Satguru (Master
        of Truth) to help them out of the impasse.

          It is the living Master who can do this job. No one
        else can. It is through the Voice of the Silence that He
        speaks. His is an unwritten law and an unspoken language.

          Scriptures, however sacred and authoritative, contain
        bare references to spiritual regions and record the
        experiences of their authors, but can neither impart
        spiritual instruction nor be a guide on the spiritual path.

          The Word of the Master works as an "Open Sesame"
        to the heavenly regions. He holds the key that unlocks
        the Kingdom of God, now a lost province to us. It is
        out of compassion and love for the lost sheep that the
        Shepherd comes out of his fold, treads the stony path in
        an endless search, picking up lost souls here and there.

                I am the light of the world: he that followeth
                  me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
                  the light of life.
                                                JOHN 8:12


                             [End of Part 2]

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