From jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca Fri Apr 02 17:29:23 1999
Newsgroups: alt.meditation.shabda
Subject: Gurbhakti - A Lesson in Love (2/2)
From: jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca (James Shannon)
Date: 3 Apr 1999 00:29:23 GMT





                      GURBHAKTI - A LESSON IN LOVE

                                  by

                          Sant Kirpal Singh Ji

                             [Part 2 of 2]


                    This Satsang talk was given at
                    Sawan Ashram in Delhi, India, and
                    was published in the July 1968
                    issue of Sat Sandesh Magazine.
                    ---------------------------------


   Now, the question of questions is: Whom should we love? As love is
the law of life, we cannot do without loving one thing or the other.
We bestow all our love on the world and all that is of the world, the 
wife and children, the riches and possessions. But all these objects of 
the world betray us at one stage or another and leave us rueful sooner 
or later. We must love something which may be eternal so that our love 
is not falsified. The former is not love in the strict sense of the word
but blind infatuation commonly known as attachment. Why not then find
something worthy of our love and which can befriend us both here and
hereafter. In this context, I place before you a small hymn of Kabir so
that we may understand the subject better. "We must love One Who will
not leave or forsake us till the end."

   He alone is worthy to be loved Who will stand by us in all the
vicissitudes of life on the earth plane and also lead us into the Beyond
before the judgment-seat of God.

                O Nanak! Snap all ephemeral ties of
                  worldly relations and find the
                  company of a true Saint;
                The former shall break away in this very life,
                  while the latter shall abide with thee
                  even after death.
                                                -Gurbani

  The friends and relations in the world, howsoever near and dear
they may be, do not stand by through thick and thin. Some of them leave
off in poverty and indigence, some in prolonged illness and disease, and
some in adverse circumstances and misfortune. At the most, a few may help
you to the funeral pyre and that is all. The friendship of a Saint is
everlasting. He abides forever and forever and even stands by to help
you before the judgment-seat of God.

                When in affluence, all flock around thee
                  and feed thy vanity;
                With the turn in fortune all fly away
                  and more come near.
                                                -Kabir

   Even the most sincere stand by helplessly when you are at death's
door and gasping for breath. When they see you fighting and losing
battle against death and helplessly struggling for life, all that they
would do is to pray to God to relieve you from the tortuous agony of the
last moments. What else can they possibly do?

                Serve the true Master and develop the Holy Word.
                The Master receives them on death those who
                  have done their best to follow Him.
                                                - Gurbani

   We should, therefore, be the doer of the Word and practice it day and
night. It is the "comforter" of which Christ spoke. It helps us in
diverse ways when we are helpless in death's trap or in treacherously
odd situations. It materializes in the likeness of the Master to advise
and encourage us, no matter where we may be - on the snowy mountain
tops, in the burning desert sands, down in the ocean depths, or high up
in the sky. And again, when one is in the last moments of one's life,
the radiant form of the Master appears to escort the soul into the Beyond,
leads the spirit gradually from plane to plane; as and when He thinks fit,
He conducts you safely to the Abode-of-God. My Master used to say
that a Satguru, while revealing the Holy Word at the time of initiation,
actually reveals His real form (Shabd Swarup), which always remains
with the initiated soul till both merge in Sat Naam, the primal
manifestation of God Who then helps the soul to Agam (the
incomprehensible), Alakh (the ineffable), Anaam (the Nameless, without
form and attributes). It is because of this momentous and signal service
and sacrifice of an eternal nature that we are advised to cultivate love
for one who loves us eternally and befriends us both here and hereafter.
Maulana Rumi speaking of this love, tells us:

                Love is different from sensuality in men,
                  for senses feed upon the objects of senses,
                  and thrive upon the food we take.

   Thus we see that love is something sublime and sacred and should not
be confused with lust which is the outcome of base desires and sensual
appetites. It is love of the soul for the Oversoul or of the created
being for the Creator. How then can we come by love is the next question.

                Love neither grows in the field
                  nor sold in the market;
                Even the high and the might who aspire
                  for love have to pay for it
                  with their head.

   Love is the zest of life, for we live by the love of the Lord. Guru
Amar Das has said: "Accursed is the man whose heart is bereft of love."

   Love is the Light of Life in which we live. What does it avail to
have a human birth if we know not what love is and make the most of it?
We must taste the blessings of love and be really blessed. That is the
whole purpose of human existence. But what do we do? All the time we are
busily engaged in doing things on the plane of duality, and are lost not
only to God, but also to our own true self, forgetful of our essentially
divine nature. Is there no remedy then? The reply is: Yes, there is a
remedy: "The love for Godman inspires love for God."

   If you love One Who is Truth-personified, He will surely pass on
His infection to you. This is the way to be inspired with the love of the
Divine. Live in the divinely awakened and you will live in the divinity.
Hence the supreme need for cultivating love, the live-principle that will
abide with you forever and forever: "Without love, the mercurial nature of
man finds no rest."

   Tossed in the seas of sense-pleasures, we have lost our moorings and
are drifting rudderless along the stream of time. Until we find some safe
anchorage, a haven of peace, we are ever a prey to chance winds and storms
of life as it is. Every day we see strife and struggle everywhere, clashes
in households, men set against men, tribe against tribe, and country
against country. Why all this bother about? Because of the lack of loving
understanding, of loving toleration for the views of others. In spite of
our man-made artificial barriers - national, linguistic, religious, and
political - are we not members of one great family of man? So long as we
do not rise above these petty, racial, and clannish prides and prejudices,
which have bogged and clouded our vision, we cannot gain access to the
bright sunshine of loving unity and have peace within and without. And
this will be possible only when we rest our soul in the causeless cause.
St. Augustine tells us: "Thou hast created my soul, 0 God, after Thee; and
it is restless until it rests in Thee."

   During my last world tour I had an opportunity of meeting national,
religious, and political leaders in various countries; and I placed before
them the principle of "live and let others live," and it had a chastening
effect on them. I told them that God had put under their care and
protection millions of His children; and if they could not, for one reason
or another, take proper and adequate interest in them, they should pass
over a part of their burden to others. This line of thought appealed to
them; and at one or two places where relations had almost reached the
breaking point, better counsels prevailed by Divine Grace.

   Love works as a great healing balm in the affairs of the world. In
our households if we could make use of a sweet tongue, we would have
paradise on earth. A sword cut may get well in a few days, but the wound
caused by a sharp tongue festers all the while like a running sore. The
more one ruminates on the bitter words, the more do they rankle in the
mind. The great epic of Mahabharat war was the outcome of just a few
bitter words uttered inadvertently by Daraupadi. When the Kauravas
visited the queen's palace, at one place the glittering surface of the
courtyard looked like ripples of water. Naturally, they pulled up their
nether clothes. Thereupon, Daraupadi facetiously remarked that the
children of a blind progenitor could not but see things blindly. The
result was a great homicidal war in which the most ancient culture and
civilization of Bharat came virtually to an end. This weakness for
fault finding and sarcasm has unfortunately become a common feature of
the present day society. We are keenly alive to a mole in others' eyes,
but cannot see a beam in our own eyes. We try to be clever in making
allusions and speaking in oblique terms. This, in fact, is a very nasty
habit, for it deeply hurts others' feelings.

   I would suggest you all - old and new initiates - to maintain
introspection diaries; and at the close of each day, make a note of
all your failings during the day from the path of rectitude, viz.,
truthfulness, purity, straight forwardness, non-injury, selfless service,
and the like. In this way you will know your faults easily and try to
eradicate them one by one. It will also enable you unwittingly to
cultivate corresponding virtues on all levels - in thought, word, and
deed. Ahimsa parmo dharma or non-injury is the highest of virtues. If
you have love in your heart for all, you will not then try to deceive
any person, for in doing so you will in the first instance be deceiving
yourself. Far from this you will try to be of service to others.
"Service," you know, comes before self and becomes sanctified by being
selfless. All these are aids in purifying the mind; and the more the mind
gets purified, the more it is fitted to receive in the light of Truth
and the more you will be able to radiate It in your acts and deeds. I
have always insisted on keeping such a diary.

                A seer of Truth can lead you to Truth,
                And from death can take you to life eternal.
                                                -Gurbani

   This then is the purpose of the prayer that the ancients were never
tired of and repeated time and again: "O God, lead me from darkness to
Light, from untruth to Truth, and from death to immortality." And now we
have seen how we can make this time-hallowed and time-honored prayer
fruitful. Gurbani says: "He Who links you with the Power-of-God, take
Him verily to be God."

   For who else but God can lead you to God? This is a profound Truth,
and you can verify it for yourself when by mighty good fortune you find
a Godman or a Godman picks you up, for we all are engaged in the game of
blind man's bluff:

                Satguru Himself is doubtlessly
                  the Immaculate One,
                Despite the human garb in which
                  He appears.

   Again:

                Godman is but Godlike in spite of
                  the human cloak He wears.

   In crystal-clear words, Maulana Rumi declares: "When you approach a
Godman, you approach God; and when you move away from Him, you are farther
from God." Why? Because Godman is a deputy of God Himself on the earth
plane. When we sit near a living Master with a vacant mind, we are filled
with His Divine vibrations which penetrate through the very pores of our
body. This is the sign of His greatness and goodness. It is very rare that
we get a real Satsang, i.e., by a really God-intoxicated Person. If we do
get an opportunity, we hardly take full advantage of it. Unless we go to
Satsang with faith and receptivity, we do not feel the effect of the
radioactive rays that emanate from His person. When even a stone lying in
water gets the cooling effect of water, there is no reason why a person,
howsoever ignorant he may be, should not get intoxicated in the presence
of a Divine Being. He will surely breathe the exhilarating fragrance of
the Satguru, provided his mind is blank (free from worldly preoccupations).
A living Master is Word-made-flesh, and the atmosphere around Him is
highly charged with spiritual vibrations with the result that one begins
to feel their effect and experience blissful calm within. Once one tastes
of this, one grows indifferent to all the pleasures of the world.

   After all, there must be some specific spiritual gain in the company of
a Saint that all the scriptures of the world have spoken so highly of the
value of Satsang and its necessity for progress on the Spiritual Path. But
a Guru must be a perfect Guru and not a half prophet laying claim to the
whole truth. It is not a matter of acting or posing, but one of revelation
of the life-principle within. The bitter experience of fake masters compel
the people to disown even the greatness of real teachers, and they prefer
scriptures to direct experience. Once bitten twice shy. But with the aid
of a really perfect Master, there is no way out for a soul to escape from
the shackles of mind and matter in order to enter into spiritual realms
beyond to regain the Kingdom of God now and to enjoy life eternal. Love of
and obedience to such a Master unlocks the portals of heavens, and the
soul is led by the ever-loving spouse and Radiant Guru Dev safely from
plane to plane and becomes eternally united with the Satguru (Sat Naam
or Sat Purush, the True One):

                As the water of a river in spite of the enclosing
                  banks remains water,
                So doeth the Power-of-God manifested at a human
                  pole is Truth itself.

   Guru and Satguru are but synonymous terms being just two phases of the
Reality. Outwardly, He is a Guru for imparting spiritual instructions to
the disciples; but inwardly He is a Satguru, for in Him is working
manifestly the Power of Sat or Truth. He is, in brief, "Word-made-flesh"
and dwells amongst us for revealing to man the lifelines within each
individual:

                O Lalo! I speak nothing on my own; I open
                  my mouth only at His bidding.
                                                -Nanak

A Guru is One Who has become the mouthpiece of God. The devotion to the
Guru then is the first stage in Spirituality, and it consists in implicit
acceptance of His commandments. If you love me follow my commandments was
the exhortation of Christ to His followers. When you come across a real
Guru, forget everything else and listen attentively to what He says; and
even if you do not fully understand His language, it does not matter much.
His radiation will of itself have a soothing effect on you. His magnetic
rays have an unimaginably long range. If you sit quietly and listen, it
will be to your benefit. Try to live up to what you hear; your life will
take a change for the better. The sage Lukman used to say: "When you go
to a Saint, sit quietly before Him and listen attentively to what He says
on His own." But do we do so? We keep either talking with others or keep
interrupting the Saint by useless questions, with the result that we
return empty handed.

   Today we are celebrating the  birth anniversary of Hazur (Sawan Singh
Ji Maharaj). It would, therefore, be a befitting tribute to his memory if
you resolve to make your life a continuous saga of love and service - love
of the Lord and service to His creation. As you have not yet come face to
face with God, then for the time being you try to develop love for One in
Whom the Power-of-God is working for the good of humanity. The first step
in this direction is to do what He directs you to do: "There is no
difference between the Satguru and His words."

   We must learn to believe and have faith in what He says. Now that we
are sitting in the sweet remembrance of Hazur, it will be a great day for
us if we resolve to turn a new leaf in our life. For this purpose we must
maintain a spiritual diary. It will enable us to introspect. At present
we are unable to see the foibles lying hidden in the depths of our mind.

   But when you will try to plumb the unconscious, you will gradually be
able to see them at the surface at first in trickles and then in torrents.

   "O Mind! learn to love the Lord and love Him yet more." This is what
Kabir has said. In the same vein we have the words of Jesus: "Love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul,
and with all thy strength."

   And again: "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

   Asked as to what should be the Christian attitude towards wrong doers,
He declared: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and
persecute you that you may be the children of your Father-in-heaven. Be
ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

   This then constitutes the love in the teachings of all the great
sages from time immemorial, and it shall eternally remain the same. They
all exhort us to mold our life on these lines. Courtesy does not cost you
anything. All the time we are malevolently concerned with what others
say and do. The world would be much better if we could stop involving
ourselves in the sayings and doings of others. Again, we do not confine
our mistakes to ourselves, but all the time busily sprinkling folly among
our neighbors, with the result that we get from them hundredfold in
return. What good does it bring after all?

   On a day like this, I repeat with all the emphasis at my command, that
Hazur was a veritable Ocean of Love; and we should and must, if we love Him,
learn afresh our lesson in love by following in His footsteps by diligently
working at the spiritual practices that He gave out for our uplifting. By
withdrawing His self from the physical plane, He has not forsaken us, for
His Godly Power in Its full radiance still sustains within; and He is,
more keenly than ever before, waiting at the focus of our being to help
and guide us.

   God is not sitting on some throne in heaven. He is enthroned in the
heart of each one of us. We must, therefore, learn to love and serve our
fellow beings in distress and suffering. God Himself has declared: I love
he who loves my created beings. This is the great lesson that Hazur
taught us in the first instance; and if we put it into practice in our
everyday life, His grace shall most surely descend and help us in our
spiritual progress. Let us see what Kabir says:

                Poor Kabir, from His life-long experience
                  cannot help reflecting again and again,
                Self-effacement is the only way that will take
                  you to God and to your eternal home
                  in heaven.

   Kabir says that the only way to salvation lies through love. It is
by love that you rise above self and become selfless. Without
transcendence of the self (the ego) in us, the Light of God does not dawn.
When you are charged with love, love of God-in-man, you cross over from
the stage of duality to oneness. How can we get to fount of Divine Love?
Love can be imbibed from the love-laden heart of some God-inspired soul.
In a few words, Kabir has provided us with the Master key that unlocks
the door of heaven: find out a Godman and learn from Him the secret of
love. Try to understand what He says and then diligently practice His
teachings. He commands you to be chaste and clean in thought, word, and
deed and to cultivate love for all that exists by the love of God. As
God is not separate from His creation, you will see the spirit of God
enlivening the entire universe. You will not then feel isolated from the
world. Your little self, now cramped within the human mind, will expand,
become universalized, and embrace the totality of all beings. This is
the secret of success on God's Path. There is no other shortcut to it.
Try to be true to your own self and then you will not be untrue to
anyone. Alongside, do Bhajan and Simran (sit in sweet remembrance of the
Lord with rapt attention); make it a point to give daily nourishment to
the soul as you do to the body. This is the love of which Kabir has given
us a description in a few words. Mere lip-service and acrobatic feats
will not do.

   I would explain my point by means of a parable of two gardeners. A king
had a fine orchard which was entrusted to the care of two gardeners. One of
them was hard working and would silently go about his job tending to the
trees and flowers with due care and attention, keeping them in proper trim.
The other was lazy but had a glib tongue and strong lungs. Whenever the
king would visit the garden, the former would just pick up a few flowers
and humbly present them to his royal master, while the other who did
nothing would jump about and dance before the Master and sing of the
Master's virtues, deportment, and clothes. Now whom would the king like?
You can give the answer yourself. Certainly, the one who applied himself
to his work diligently and honestly without making any fuss. Similarly,
the All-Knowing Master looks to your innermost intentions, the sincerity
of purpose in you and honesty of efforts you make in following His
commandments, and bestows on you the gift of His spiritual wealth
according to your merits.

        Kabir concludes His hymn with the following memorable words:

                He who gives precedence to the Guru over
                  everything else and religiously
                  follows His teachings,
                O Kabir, such a person needs nothing to be
                  afraid of in all the three regions.

  There are three mind zones or mental regions in which the embodied soul
moves up and down in the giant wheel of life, propelled by the compulsive
karmic force: the physical, the subtle, and the causal with no easy way
of escape therefrom. Kabir tells us of a way out through the kindly grace
of some Master-Soul that can lead a jiva unscathed from these into the
Beyond, the purely spiritual realm Sachkhand or Muqam-I-Haq of the Muslims
or the Garden of Eden (New Jerusalem) of the Christians. The Master is the
greatest gift of God to mankind.

   Hazur used to tell us that we refrain from any evil act in the presence
of a child of even five years. But, strange as it may seem, we have not
even as much regard for the King of Kings - the All-Knowing Master Who
knows even the innermost latencies of our mind. We shamelessly indulge in
things which no sane person would do in the false belief that no one is
looking at us. We must at all times remember that the Master in His
subtle form is ever with us and watching all our deeds. Be careful to
avoid misdeeds and misdemeanors at all costs. And, last but not the least,
we should in no wise transgress the limitations imposed by Him and pledge
on this blessed day positively to follow His instructions with a
rededicated zeal. Please make a careful note of all these things so that
you may live in peace and be really blessed.

                         [End of Part 2 of 2]

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