From jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca Sat Aug 14 19:18:56 1999
Newsgroups: alt.meditation.shabda
Subject: The Mystery of Death (1/6)
From: jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca (James Shannon)
Date: 15 Aug 1999 02:18:56 GMT






                            MYSTERY OF DEATH

                                   by

                              Kirpal Singh 

                              [Part 1 of 6] 


                             Ruhani Satsang
                              Sawan Ashram
                             Delhi 7, India

                           First Edition 1968
                           (not copyrighted)
                                 


                               Dedicated
                          to the Almighty God
                working through all Masters who have come
                    and Baba Sawan Singh ji Maharaj
                           at whose lotus feet
                   the author imbibed sweet elixir of
                          Holy Naam - the Word



                                FOREWORD

            Sant Kirpal Singh, who has for years kept ablaze
        the torch of spirituality in his capacity as President
        of the World Fellowship of Religions, has for the
        good of humanity attempted in this book to throw
        light on a theme which has baffled the seekers of
        God and others through the ages. A careful study of
        it may have the effect of lessening the terrific
        fright that contemplation of death causes to countless
        millions by adopting means which are favoured by
        almost all the religions of the world, especially those
        of which God is the focal centre.

                                        Radha Krishna Khanna
                                                   M.A., LLB.



                            AUTHOR'S PREFACE

            `Death' is the greatest enigma in life. It
        has baffled humankind from times out of mind. And
        yet despite all attempts to solve the mystery, it has
        remained as mysterious as ever before.

            The Saints of the highest order - Sant Satgurus,
        or the Perfect Masters - who come down from the region
        of deathlessness and are ever in tune with the
        Infinite, know the shadowy character of death. They
        teach us that death is not what it seems. It is a
        joyous birth (born again) into a life more beatific
        than we ever dreamed of here. It is just as sun sets
        on this side of the globe and rises in the other part.
        They point out and demonstrate to us the way to
        conquer the seemingly invincible and terrifying death
        and thus become fear-free. This is the grand lesson
        that we can get from the Saints. They assure us that
        we do not die - we simply shake off physical vesture
        of body to work in other bodies: physical or astral or
        causal; and ultimately rise to realise our divine
        nature and see oneness in God - the All-consciousness
        and bliss.

            In the pages that follow, an attempt has been
        made to suggest the way to the solution of tangled
        riddle in succinct and lucid language which may be
        easily intelligible to the reader. The study offers
        a somewhat simplified approach to the abstruse and
        esoteric doctrines pertaining to the body and the
        soul, the relation between the two. It also offers
        the methods to control the mind so as to make it a
        willing and obedient instrument for transcending
        body-consciousness, which can be a foretaste of the
        actual death-experience which all of us have to
        undergo ultimately.

            The glory of a Perfect Master lies not only
        in teaching merely on the level of intellect but in
        encompassing a direct, immediate and first-hand
        experience of what he teaches. The science of the
        Masters is the only spiritual science which is
        demonstrable in the laboratory of the mind. It yields
        out-of-body experiences, opening up vast vistas of
        spiritual awakening into unearthly realms of
        indescribable splendour; and all this while living
        in the flesh. Salvation to be real must be gained
        right now and here.

            The way to the Spirit, and Power-of-God, is
        always open to the sincere seekers after Truth, but
        success on the Path depends on the divine grace
        mediated through some God-man. One who is fired
        with the love of God is sure to find the means to
        reach God. It is just a question of the intensity of
        yearning. Where there is sincere and genuine love
        of God, He comes in the garb of a Saint to lead the
        aspirants to Himself. May His Light be a lamp
        unto the feet of those who aspire for the Life of the
        Spirit, and lead the aspirants to a human pole where
        that Light shines.

            My heartfelt thanks go to Shri Bhadra Sena
        specially, and to other dedicated souls like him who
        in one form or another helped in bringing out this
        work; and spent long hours over the manuscript in a
        spirit of loving devotion.

        August 25, 1968                        Kirpal Singh





                              CONTENTS

          Chapter

                           Introduction

             I             Nothing Dies in Nature

            II             The Light of Life

           III             Life in Fullness

            IV             Death in Bondage

             V             What after Death?




                             INTRODUCTION

            `Life' and `Death' are correlative terms. In the
        realm of relativity we cannot think, speak and act
        except by putting one thing in juxtaposition to an-
        other. This is the way to understand what is
        phenomenal. In multiplicity, we are confronted at
        every step with complex jigsaw puzzles, and have,
        therefore, to follow an analytical process of sorting
        out the component parts in each case, to name them
        individually and to put one in relation to the other,
        so as to comprehend something of it on the plane of
        the senses and the intellect. Thus by the very nature
        of things, and by the nature of the cognizing faculties
        with which nature has endowed us, we live by the
        knowledge of the parts only and never get a true
        picture of anything in its totality. Since we have no
        knowledge and experience of the noumenon, we are
        content all the while with forms and colours of the
        things we see, their attributes and characteristics
        which may be apparent on the surface, without
        penetrating into the depth, the central life-principle
        which is the self-same in all in spite of the differences
        in the mass, the density, the volume, the weight and
        the shape of what we see and observe. Like the Lady
        of Shallot, we live all the time in the world of
        shadows as reflected in the reflecting mirror (of mind
        and intellect), with our back turned, as it were, even
        upon the objective world around us, what to speak
        of the subjective world in each one of us-the world
        of reality with wonders greater, vaster, more gorgeous
        and more glorious than anything in the physical.

            With the dawn of first flicker in man, of Divinity,
        the All-controlling and All-sustaining Power behind
        everything organic or inorganic, developed the
        consciousness of some principle which was the life and
        soul of the universe. This gradually led to the founding
        of various religions, each according to the insight
        that its founder had, regard being to the needs of
        the time and the people and the level of racial
        understanding and capacity to accept, digest, and
        assimilate the teachings of the Apostles, Messiahs and
        Prophets who came from time to time for the material,
        mental, moral, social and economic upliftment of the
        multitudes.

            All religions spring from the best of motives.
        The leaders of religious thought are as much the
        product of the time as the conditions they create for
        the amelioration of the masses among whom they
        preach. This being the case, it may not be far amiss
        to say that for the majority of the people, the superb
        teachings of the enlightened teachers, formed what
        may be said socio-religions, codes of social and moral
        precepts so as to make people live in peace with one
        another, rather than in a state of perpetual unrest,
        and fear of war - war of one against all and all
        against one.

            All good and virtuous thoughts, like other
        thoughts, proceed from the mind. In the case of
        world teachers such thoughts had their origin in the
        life of the spirit they lived. It is, however, very few
        who rise to their level, and profit by their intrinsic
        teachings, the practical aspect in each religion -
        mysticism - constituting the core of what they taught.

            Thus the practical central theme was imparted to
        the chosen few - the elect - while the masses were
        given the theoretical aspect of the teachings in the
        form of parables as might, in course of time, enable
        them to grasp and understand the true import of what
        they actually taught. Thus as one probes the bottom
        of all religions, one gets glimpses of the reality
        no matter how faint and vague at times they appear
        because we have not yet developed the eyes which
        their founders had. For the common man, religion
        remained, for the most part, a theory, a rationalised
        theory at the most, to improve his lot in life and
        make him a better man, a better member of the social
        order to which he belonged, a true citizen of the
        state, clothed with civic rights and obligations,
        social and family responsibilities, for the healthy
        discharge of which he was thus equipped.

            All virtues, all acts, all arts, all sciences
        and all crafts including statecraft, priest-craft, the
        gentlecraft have their basis in the lowest common multiple
        in varying degrees, of the underlying universal truth, as
        conceived by their progenitors; hence we see an amalgam
        of religion with social and moral trappings to make
        it presentable and acceptable to the generality of
        mankind. This is the aspect of religion that provides
        a firm basis to the social order of the race.

            If we move a step further, we come to other
        stratum in religion. It is one of moral virtues,
        arising, at different levels, as rites and rituals, forms
        and formularies, austerities and penances, humanities
        and charities, incantations to tame and reconcile
        irreconcilable powers that be, and invocations to
        friendly powers for aid and succour in times of need.

            Last, but not the least, come the yogis and
        yogishweras well versed in yogic disciplines as we
        shall presently see.

            At the apex of the hierarchy, are Master-saints,
        Perfected beings or God-men who not only speak of
        the Power and Spirit of God, but make It manifest
        in their initiates and consciously link individual souls
        with It. It must be said to their credit that theirs
        is the true religion, truly religious, etymologically and
        practically, binding men back to the Creator.

            The teachings of Masters do not form an
        institutional religion as it is ordinarily understood to be.
        It is a regular species of science - the Science of Soul.
        Whosoever faithfully practises this science as enjoined
        by the Masters, gets the same experiences and arrives
        at the same conclusions; irrespective of the social
        religion to which he belongs and the Church; High
        or Low, Papal or Anglican, Episcopal or Presbyterian,
        to which he owes allegiance.

            The Science of Soul is the kernel and the core
        of all religions. It is the foundation on which all
        religions rest. The Masters teach that there are
        seven planes - Pind, Und, Brahmand, Par Brahmand,
        Sach Khand, Alakh and Agam. And above all the
        cosmos, there is the eighth plane, called differently
        by the Saints as Anami (Nameless), Maha Dayal
        (Lord of compassion), Nirala (the most wonderful)
        or Swami (the Lord of all). The initiates of the
        Masters are given an account in brief of the
        distinguishing features of each of the first five
        planes and the characteristic sounds and lights
        prevailing in each; and the names of the presiding powers.

            The initiate who successfully crosses the first
        plane is called a sadhak (disciple). And the one who
        traverses the second is known a Sadh (a disciplined
        soul). He who is washed clean in the Par Brahmand
        of the lingerings and longings in him is called a
        Hansa (a purified soul) and he who goes further up
        is called a Param-Hansa (an immaculate soul). He
        who reaches the fifth plane (Sach Khand) is called a
        Sant or a Saint. And a Saint who is commissioned
        by the Supreme Being to teach Truth (Shiksha) and
        to demonstrate Truth (Diksha) is called a Sant Satguru
        (or a Perfect Master) having authority to guide
        jivas (human souls) into the realms beyond, to their
        ultimate Home (the Kingdom of God).

            Yoga means union of soul with the Oversoul.
        or God-power. There are so many forms of yoga -
        Mantra yoga, Hatha yoga, Ashtang yoga, Karam
        yoga, Bhakti yoga, Jnana yoga, Raja yoga, Laya
        yoga and the like. These yogic disciplines, more or
        less, deal with the training of the physical body, the
        outgoing faculties, the mind and the intellect. They
        aim at securing a healthy mind in a healthy body,
        so as to achieve health, physical fitness and longevity.
        Each has its own scope and purpose. But all these
        different yogic forms do not constitute watertight
        compartments but together they serve to integrate
        man to make him whole or an undivided individual.
        (For a detailed account in this behalf, reference may
        profitably be made to the study of "Crown of Life"
        wherein the subject has been dealt with at some
        length).

            There is yet another form of yoga - the Surat
        Shabd Yoga or Communion with the Holy Word
        (Sound Current). It is at the root of all religions
        and yet it is not properly understood by the theologians.
        It takes one to the ultimate goal - Anami or the Nameless
        Absolute Who is at the back of the entire creation both
        as its material and efficient Causeless Cause. As the
        Ocean of Pure Consciousness heaved, the Formless and
        Nameless Absolute came into expression, in many
        different forms with many different names by the Power
        of Its own heaving vibrations; the Sound whereof came
        to be called the Holy Word. How to get into direct
        touch with the Spirit and Power of God, the Primal
        Creative Principle (the Light of Life) is the subject
        of mysticism. While all philosophies deal with the
        manifested aspect of the Unmanifest and the creation
        of the Uncreate; mysticism, on the other hand, deals
        with the first Creative Principle itself, the vibratory
        force characterised by Sound and Light (Sruti and
        Jyoti).

            The process of Communion with the Word starts
        with a conscious contact with the God-into-expression-
        Power (the Naam or the Holy Ghost) and it grants one
        an actual experience of ineffable bliss of the higher
        planes, not on credit to be experienced in the
        hereafter (after death); but right here and now,
        while yet living in flesh in the material, physical
        world.

            These vibrations, resulting into various types of
        sounds, guide the initiate through the different
        planes of varying densities, material and spiritual,
        and ultimately lead the spirit into a purely
        spiritual world of Sat Naam. (the Kingdom of
        God), from where the Divine Harmony emanates
        which becomes the means of leading back the world-
        weary souls to the True Home of the loving Father -
        the heaven of bliss. Tulsi Sahib says: "A Sound
        from afar is coming down to call you back to God."
        Similarly, we have the testimony of Shamas Tabrez
        when he, addressing himself, says: "O Shamas!
        Hearken thou to the Voice of God, calling thee unto
        Him." Guru Arjan likewise says:

                He Who sent you into the world, below,
                  is now calling you back.

            In the Quran we have: "O thou soul! return to
        the Lord, well pleased and pleasing Him."

            A Perfect living Master is a `must' on the path
        Godward. In the Gospel of St. John, we have: "No
        man cometh unto the Father but by Me." (14:6).
        All the Masters say that there is always in the world
        a Master or a `Murshid' who functions as a Qibla
        Numa, or a pointer to the Qibla or the holiest of the
        holy, sanctum sanctorum, worthy of our adoration
        and worship. In the Sikh scriptures we have: "The
        teachers come in succession from age to age." St.
        Luke likewise tells us: "As He spake by the mouth of
        his holy prophets which have been since the world
        began." (1:70).

            The Law of Demand and Supply is always
        working in nature. There is food for the hungry
        and water for the thirsty. Where there is fire, oxygen
        of its own comes to its aid. But each Prophet and a
        Messiah works out his mission for the time he is sent
        into the world. Jesus said: "As long as I am in the
        world, I am the Light of the world." (John 9:5).
        But when one fulfils his commission, he is recalled,
        gathered up and passes away from the scene of his
        activity on the earth-plane. In nature, there is no
        such thing as vacuum. The Power-of-God cannot
        but continue the work of the regeneration for it is a
        ceaseless task. While withdrawing from one human
        pole, the said Power chooses another human
        pole for Its manifestation and work in the world.
        Such a human pole may be said to be the vice-regent
        of God. He steps into the breach, fills in the gap
        and carries on the work. It is just like replacing a
        fused bulb with the new one, to ensure continuity of
        Light. The Christ Power or the Power-of-God continues
        to shine undiminished from one pole or another;
        may be in the likeness of Zoroaster, Confucius, Jesus,
        Mohammed, Kabir, Nanak. Tulsi Sahib or Soami Ji.

            As stated before, the world is never without
        a Master. After Soami Ji, Baba Jaimal Singh Ji
        carried on his Master's mission in the Punjab and
        then his illustrious spiritual son and successor, Hazur
        Sawan Singh Ji whose grace continues to shine, even
        now, more than ever before, all over the world
        through `Ruhani Satsang' with its Headquarters in
        Delhi - a common forum where religious heads of
        the country and from abroad meet, from time to
        time, and work in cementing mankind into one
        brotherhood as children of God, irrespective of the
        social religious orders and the countries to which
        they belong.

            When the Saints leave the world, accounts of
        their valuable experiences in the course of their
        search for Truth are compiled and they add to the
        sacerdotal literature of the world, as extant today.
        In the twentieth century we are fortunate to have
        several scriptures coming down, from ages gone by. We
        have Zend Avesta, the Vedas, the Upnishadas, the
        great epics of Ramayana, and Mahabharata, the
        Bhagwad Gita, the old and new Testaments, the Al-Quran,
        the Ad Granth and many other books like Sar Bachan
        and Gurmat Sidhant. All of them deal with the self-
        same Truth which is one, and only one, but approach
        to Truth, is in a variety of ways each having its
        peculiar terminology and mode of expression. But
        most of us sticking to the teachings of the one or
        the other of the sages, find it hard to comprehend
        their import for lack of knowledge of the inner
        meaning of key-words employed and the language or
        dialect pressed into service. Unless a man of
        realisation who has himself experienced the truths
        propounded by the writers comes to our aid and
        explains them to us and in a way intelligible to us,
        we cannot get at the real meanings. In the hands of
        such a competent Master, the past records come alive
        and become a source of inspiration for the aspiring
        souls. It is, therefore, said:

                The scriptures are tools in the hands
                  of a Master and do help in ferrying
                  across the sea of life,

                But the scriptures become intelligible
                  only when some God-man comes
                  to interpret them.

            At initiation, the seeker after Truth is
        consciously linked with the Holy Word, the God-into-
        expression Power in the form of Light and Sound
        emanating from the vibratory motion in the depth of
        the Ocean of Love as God is. He is given a direct
        demonstration of the Power and Spirit of God and
        begins to see the Light of God and to hear the Music
        of Spheres, vibrating unceasingly everywhere, in
        space and out of space, for there is no place where It
        is not. Of Guru Nanak, fully dyed in the colour of
        the All-pervading Naam and always living in a state
        of continuous ecstasy, it is said that once in his
        travels he, while in Mecca (in Arabia), was one day
        found lying in the sacred precincts with his feet
        towards the sacred shrine `Qaaba.' The attendants of
        the shrine could not tolerate this apparently
        sacrilegious act. They rebuked him for the affront
        saying, "How is it that you are lying with your feet
        towards the House of God?" Guru Nanak who was
        conscious of the Spirit of God surging everywhere and
        in every direction, meekly asked, "Please tell me where
        God is not so that I may turn my feet in that direction."
        This is how God-centred Saints look at things. They
        see God everywhere and in all directions as an All-
        pervading Life-principle pulsating in all that is.

            Similarly, in Al-Quran, the Prophet has declared:
        "The Kingdom of God extends from east to west and
        the faithful can find Him in whatsoever direction they
        may turn their face towards Him, for God is sure to
        meet them in that very direction; as He is not confined
        to any particular space and is All-knowing, knowing the
        heart of each."

            Al-nisai, a Muslim darvesh, elaborating this
        point goes on to explain: "For me the whole earth is
        but a tabernacle of God and a holy place for offering
        prayers. My followers are free to say their prayers
        wherever they may happen to be, when the time of
        prayer dawns."

            In the Acts of the Apostles (17:24), we have:
        "God is the Creator of heaven and earth and He
        dwelleth not in temples made by (human) hands."

            Oliver Wendell Holmes, therefore, lays more
        emphasis on devotion than on anything else for loving
        devotion sanctifies the place, the time and mode
        of prayer. He says: "All is holy where one kneels
        in devotion."

            The Power and Spirit of God is All-pervading.
        It is ever-present and ever-vibrating. By attuning to
        the Divine Melody, the soul is spontaneously lifted,
        as it were in an electric lift, to higher and higher
        regions and one proceeds on and on in the wake of
        the tuneful Music which gradually becomes more and
        more subtle until it gets absorbed into the Source
        whence it proceeds - the Absolute, the Anami or the
        Nameless and the Wordless.

            We all are in search of God according to our
        own lights. The souls after passing through a long
        and wearisome evolutionary process of self-discipline
        and self-purification, are ultimately led by the
        God-power to the feet of a Master-saint for journey
        back to God. "No man can come to me except the
        Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise
        him at the last day." (John 5:44). The `last day'
        here means the day when one leaves the dross of the
        body, may be voluntarily in one's lifetime by rising
        above body-consciousness by the practical process of
        self-analysis; or involuntarily at the time of death
        when the sensory currents are wrenched out of the
        body by the Angel of Death. Guru Arjan says: "He
        that sent you into the world is now calling you back.
        Turn ye Homeward with ease and comfort."

            The inventions of radio and radar have now
        proved, beyond doubt, that the atmosphere around
        us is full of vibrating sounds which can be picked up
        and drawn down to be heard from any distance
        whatsoever provided there is an instrument well-
        equipped, well-adjusted and well-attuned to catch
        them. This is exactly what a competent Master does
        at the time of initiation when he tunes in individual
        souls and makes the Sound principle audible to them.

            The outer earthly music has great impact on
        man. The soldiers on the march are roused by the
        martial strains of bugles and trumpets. The high-
        landers in their tartan kilts march triumphantly
        with the sound of pibrochs or the bag-pipes. The
        sailors and seamen tug and pull at the sails and work
        at the oars with rhythmic shouts. The muffled drums
        play the funeral march to the sorrowing mourners
        accompanying a bier. The dancers dance in unison
        with the accompanying music and the jingling of
        their bracelets and anklets. Even the animals, like
        the chiming of the bells tied to their horns. The fleet-
        footed antelope is enticed from the hiding thickets by
        the beating of drums, The deadly cobras are charmed
        by the snake-charmer by the music of vina. The
        outer music takes the soul to the end of the material
        plane and raises emotions which otherwise lie too
        deep for tears. Such indeed is the power of music.
        John Dryden, an eminent English poet of the
        seventeenth century, speaks of it eloquently:

                What passion cannot Music raise and quell?
                When Jubal struck the chorded shell,
                His listening brethren stood around,
                And wondering, on their faces fell
                To worship that celestial sound.
                Less than a God they thought there could
                  not dwell
                Within the hollow of that shell,
                That spoke so sweetly and so well.
                What passion cannot Music raise and quell?

            When such is the power of the earthly music,
        one may well imagine what would be the power of
        the celestial Music? How inebriating and exhilarating
        it would be when one would begin to rise above
        body-consciousness and be in tune with the heavenly
        Harmony. The Word is the God-power come into
        expression. God is Symphonic Love, all bubbling out
        and brimming over. He is the Source at once of Love,
        Light and Life.

            The way to the Absolute leads through many
        mansions (planes and sub-planes) lying on the way
        from the physical to the Father's Home. The journey
        is fraught with danger. The mental planes are
        altogether impassable without a guide fully conversant
        with the turns and twists of the path. Hence the
        imperative need for a Guru (torch-bearer) or a
        competent Master, a regular traveller on the way,
        fully cognizant of the difficulties and hazards that
        beset the path. He alone who is conversant with the
        way Godward, can safely take the spirit through
        slippery regions of blinding light and bewildering
        shadows and through delusive siren-charms and the
        terrors of the unknown. Maulana Rumi therefore
        exhorts us:

                Find thou a traveller of the path for without
                  such a traveller,
                The path is full of untold pitfalls and
                  inconceivable dangers.

            We, on the other hand, are deeply engrossed in
        the world. Kabir gives us a vivid description of our
        helplessness in the fearsome sea of the world. He
        tells us that the way to real happiness is long and
        dreary; and we are snoring deeply on the plane of
        the senses. He asks us to wake-up and start on the
        tortuous uphill journey. We all are in the deadly
        grip of the steely tentacles of life carrying a heavy
        load of delusions on our head. Our so-called friends
        and relations are mostly our creditors and debtors
        and they are mercilessly pulling us to pieces in
        devious ways. The wonder is that we lovingly hold
        on to them and hug them to our bosom little knowing
        that they are bleeding us white. What we consider
        as our very own is just a mirage and is very
        often taken away from us in the twinkling of an eye.
        Again, the poor soul has, after death, to tread the
        solitary path to the judgement seat of God (Dharam
        Raj, the Divine Dispensing Power) all alone. With
        the worn-out boat of the body, we are floating
        rudderless like weeds in the treacherous streams,
        continuous prey to chance winds and stormy waters.
        How then are we going to cross over to the other
        shore? For a mere pittance we are constantly engaged
        in a losing game; and in the end pass out like a hunted
        quarry, and know not whither we go. We have no
        knowledge of the life beyond the grave. How can we
        be saved? This defies our understanding and we feel
        baffled and helpless.

            The Master promises to be with us all the time,
        both here and in the hereafter into the beyond. He
        gives a demonstration of it to the initiate by
        manifesting his Radiant Form within each one of the
        initiates. And he assures us in no uncertain terms:
        "Where I am, there shall ye be also."

            The initiate is taught the esoteric way to rise
        into the Kingdom of Heaven which lies within him.
        The inner journey starts with the opening of the
        single eye or `shiv netar.' It opens when the sensory
        currents are withdrawn and gathered up to the seat
        of the soul at the eye focus behind and between the
        two eyebrows. On entering into the beyond, the
        initiate can talk to the Master within and come back
        with a fully conscious recollection of the experiences
        gained on the inner planes. In the Kingdom of
        Heaven there is neither the chain of endless cause
        and effect nor is there space nor time. There is
        nothing but one continuous present in which one lives
        in a world of his own. The communication between
        soul and soul is through etheric thought-waves or
        vibrations.

            All this, and much more, can be achieved by
        daily and prolonged loving devotion to the spiritual
        sadhanas or practices. In this way, an initiate attains
        conscious contact with the Master on the higher
        planes and by degrees gets absorbed in Him, so much
        so that he becomes one with Him; and Paul-like
        begins to say:

                I am crucified in Christ: nevertheless I live;
                  yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life
                  I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the
                  Son-of-God, who loved me.

                                                -(Gal. 2:20)

            The Master is `Word-made-flesh', he is all the
        time in direct and constant communion with the
        Divine Word in him nay, he actually revels in It and
        often proclaims: "I and my Father are one," or as
        we read in Gurbani, "I and my Father are dyed in
        the self-same colour," or "I and my Father are in
        working partnership with each other" (so as to run
        together the spiritual administration of the world).
        In short, it may be said that the Master is a
        conscious co-worker with God of the Divine Plan.

            At times, the Master takes the initiate `under
        cover' far beyond certain planes which are bewitchingly
        beautiful so that he may not get entangled therein
        and be lost in the wonders of the way.
        Maulana Rumi therefore says:

                If you intend going on a pilgrimage (into the
                  beyond) then take thou a pilgrim for thy
                  companion,

                It matters not whether the said pilgrim is a
                  Hindu, a Turk or an Arab; but see that He
                  is a real pilgrim.

            A living Master is such a pilgrim. "Type
        of the wise who soar but never roam; True to the
        kindred points of Heaven and Home." To have a
        living Master is a great blessing. He never leaves
        nor forsakes the initiates even unto the end of the
        world. When one is initiated, the Master lives in
        him in His astral or luciform body and ever remains
        with him till the end of journey to Sat Naam or Sat
        Purush; and absorbs himself in Him and also makes
        the initiate-soul get absorbed in Him - the two 
	becoming one in Him. Even if at any time the disciple 
	goes astray or is led astray, he is brought back to 
	the path of rectitude either in this very life or in
        succeeding ones.

            Again, Christ and other Masters have, in course
        of time, to pass away from the earth-plane and yet they
        live in Shabd form within, but out of space and out of
        time. Bound as we are with one or the other of them,
        we naturally wish to live and die for them. But little
        do we know how to contact them within our own self.
        Such a contact is possible and well within our reach
        if we but find a Shabd swaroop or Word personified
        teacher competent to link us with the Word, nay
        transform us into the Word in which all Masters of
        ages gone by eternally live.

            I am reminded of a lady who met me in America
        during 1955. She used to greet Christ within herself
        and was thus self-satisfied and did not like to make
        further attempt to advance further on the spiritual
        path. One day I casually suggested to her to ask
        Christ as to what further steps He would prescribe
        for inner progress. The following day she came and
        warmly pressed for initiation, remarking that Christ
        had directed her to seek the guidance of the living
        Perfect Master if she desired to further advance.

            The Powers within never obstruct the seekers
        after God; and if one is in contact with an ancient
        Master, he readily and gladly tells his devotees what
        to do for the next steps on the spiritual path.

            A few of the initiates are taken up by the Master
        and shown the glory of the fifth region (Sach Khand)
        and most of the initiates are guided on to that plane.
        But as said before, there are in all eight regions, and
        the eighth is the ultimate goal which is reached by
        those who attain complete perfection.

                It is after transcending Sat Lok that one gets to
                  know the ineffable and incomprehensible,
                It is in the region beyond all these that Saints
                  reside and Nanak the lowly one also rests
                  there.

            St. John, the Divine, in the Revelations, gives us
        an exposition of his inner experiences:

                I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day and heard
                  behind me a great voice as of a trumpet,
                Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and
                  the last;
                And I turned to see the voice that spake with me.
                He was one like unto the Son of man.
                His eyes were as a flame of fire;
                His voice as the sound of many waters;
                His countenance was as the sun shineth in his
                  strength,
                And when I saw him, I fell at his feet dead and
                  he laid his right hand upon me saying unto
                  me - Fear not, I am the first and the last;
                He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
                  spirit saith:
                To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of
                  the fruit of life.
                He shall not be hurt of the second death,
                To him will I give to eat the hidden manna, and
                  will give him a white stone and in the stone a
                  new name written, which no man knoweth
                  saving he that receiveth.
                And he shall be clothed in,white raiment and I
                  will not blot his name out of the Book of Life,
                And I will make him a pillar in the temple of
                  my God.
                I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire
                  that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment
                  that thou mayest be clothed;
                And anoint thine eyes with eye salve that mayest
                  see.

                                             - Ch. 1, 2 & 3.
                                        

            In Ch. 12 of the second book of Corinthians,
        St. Paul speaking of his visions and revelations tells
        us of the third heaven when he says: "I knew a man
        caught in the third heaven (Brahmand), whether in
        the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God
        knoweth.

                "How that he was caught up into the paradise
                  and heard unspeakable words which is not lawful
                  for me to utter."

            All the Masters stop short when it comes to
        revealing the innermost secrets. Shamas Tabrez says:
        "When it comes to telling the tale of the Beloved,
        my pen falters and the page is torn." Maulana
        Rumi also forbids the giving out of the inner secrets:
        "Thou mayest tell thy vision, not a jot this or that
        even. Else He will blot out all that thou hast seen,
        as it had never been." So does Kabir emphatically
        declare:

                I beseech thee with all the force at my command,
                Be careful that the inner secrets do not go out.

            We may as well close this with the memorable
        words from the famous Masnavi wherein the great
        Rumi says:

                It is not fitting that I tell thee more,
                For the streams' bed cannot hold the sea.

            This then is the way that the Masters of yore
        kept hidden to themselves the Secret Doctrine of
        Divinity, as a sacred trust, and imparted something
        of it only to their trusted and tested disciples
        (gurmukhs). Indeed it is not a subject that can
        adequately be discussed in mere words. The proof
        of the pudding, however, lies in its eating. It is a
        practical process of self-analysis, tapping and inversion;
        and whosoever by the grace of a Perfect Master gains
        an access into himself and delves deep within is
        sure of find the pearl of inestimable value. A touch of
        reality makes one real beyond all relativity; and the
        mortal man is at once transmuted into an immortal
        spirit, dissolving the Gordian knot between the inert
        matter and the living soul. Thus is solved the mystery
        of `life' and `death,' for life alone exists through the
        passing shadows of all that is transitory, swallowing
        death in victory at every step.

            In the following pages, an attempt has been
        made to tell something of the Secret Doctrine in the
        three dimensional language at our disposal which is
        highly inadequate to express the ineffable. May the
        Power and Spirit of God help the readers to a better
        understanding of the subject at the feet of some
        Competent Master, capable of delivering the spiritual
        riches here and now in this life, for who knows whether
        the Truth will dawn or not in the hereafter as it is
        so solemnly and seriously held out and promised
        by so-called teachers with whom the world abounds.
        In this context Christ has given a solemn warning:
        "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in
        sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening
        wolves." (Math. 7:15). If a blind leads the blind,
        both shall fall into the ditch.

            It is, therefore, of paramount importance that
        one must make a thorough search for a Competent
        and Perfect Master and satisfy oneself of the genuineness
        before accepting and adopting him as an unerring guide
        and an unfailing friend on the God-way. It does not matter
        if one may have to spend his entire life-span in this
        momentous quest rather than be taken in by pseudo Masters
        and lose ones's only chance in life. A quest like this
        will not go in vain. `Seek and ye shall find.'

                         [End of Part 1 of 6]

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