From jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca Sun Jun 21 23:34:12 1998
Newsgroups: alt.meditation.shabda
Subject: Your Most Personal Work
From: jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca (James Shannon)
Date: 22 Jun 1998 06:34:12 GMT





                         YOUR MOST PERSONAL WORK

                                   by

                          Sant Kirpal Singh Ji


                   This Q & A talk was given on July 22,
                   1974 at Sawan Ashram in Delhi, India,
                   and was published in the September
                   1975 issue of Sat Sandesh Magazine.
                   ------------------------------------


     (This darshan session took place on Monday evening, July 22, 1974,
     approximately a month before Master's physical departure, at
     Sawan Ashram. Master is sitting on the floor beside an old woman
     who was dying. Her family was concerned that she wasn't seeing
     Light and Master helped her to withdraw her attention and
     concentrate within.)


[Master]: ... ready in a day or two. Her whole attention is outside, she
wants to see outside, not inside. Not everything is smooth. God will help
her. Yes? Any questions please? You? Anyone? We have got an hour today in
good company. A full hour more. Yes, please.

[Question]: I have a question for the young gentleman. He cannot speak
right now so I'll read it for him. {He had laryngitis) "I get left side 
sounds, and so I keep left ear unplugged during bhajan as instructed by 
You. I hear in addition to other sounds, a shrill piercing, high pitched 
sound mostly from right side."

[Master]: That's all right.

[Question]: "But when I plug my right ear for bhajan, some of this sound
persists in left side. I have difficulty in listening to sound with left
ear open due to environmental noise."

[Master]: Let your left ear be opened, not clogged. When it is not clogged 
he hears the sound from the right. What does he say? Pitch, high pitch 
sound from the right?

[Question]: "I hear in addition to other sounds, a shrill piercing sound
mostly from right side."

[Master]: Listen, that is approaching to draw his attention. That is coming
from the right. Amidst all other sounds that's the higher sound. He should
pay attention to that. That will remain, others will die out. That's the
only remedy. Yes, please?

[Question]: How can one know if one is true to oneself when one is working
at the level of mind?

[Master]: For a while you have to still your mind. When the outgoing
faculties are controlled, mind is at rest, and intellect, after
understanding something ceases to work -- only then That will come. So you
are under the influence of mind, which will carry you all outside. All
impressions which ready already embedded in the subconscious reservoir will
come up. We are not always working at the level of mind. We are, but not
always. For a while withdraw attention from outside. Be still, mentally
still also. You should be physically still and mentally still for a while.
If you are mentally still, your intellect and mind are both stilled, then
you have a glimpse of the Truth. Do you follow me? Do you follow now? You
are working at the level of mind all day. So to rise above we have to
control the outgoing faculties, and the mind has to be at rest. And mental
chattering should also be stopped, for a while. Then you can have a glimpse
of the Truth, not before. Unless you are working at that level, you will
never have.... Your attention is always outside. You are asked to just
withdraw inside, look inside now. You are there. For a while you have to do
this. For a while. That's the only way.

[Question]: When I attempt spiritual discipline, it seems to be accompanied
by a sense of doership. Pride in doing. How can I eliminate that?

[Master]: You are right. You are the doership. So long as you are the
doership, you reap as you sow. You will only be surrendered totally when no
doership remains. When you become a conscious co-worker of the Divine Plan,
knowing that He is the doer, not you, then you can leave off being the doer,
not before. Now we are doing everything at the level of mind, because we
have not become conscious of that Power working. Becoming a conscious
co-worker of the Divine Plan only comes when the mind is stilled for a while,
when you forget yourself altogether. Do you follow me? Spiritual discipline
starts when? When mind ceases to work for a while. Now we are all working at
the level of mind, not spirit. We are spirit in man. We are spiritual, but
now that spiritual aspect is working under the garb of mind. Do you see?
The difference will come to you when you become a conscious co-worker of the
Divine Plan, not before. That is why it is said, whether you sow good seeds
or bad seeds, in both cases you have to reap what you have sown. Good actions
and bad actions are equally binding when they are done at the level of
doership. So when you forget and lose doership, no seeds will be sown and
there will be nobody to reap the fruit. That's the coming gift. The more you
come in contact with the Light and Sound Principle within you, you'll slowly
see your doership and ego lessen. Doership will slowly die out. You remain.
Yes?

[Question]: Does love for the Master develop at the same time as Light?

[Master]: Inner love of the Master means ... love is the attribute of your
soul. You are love personified. You are just to think of the Master, who is
overflowing with love. That will give you a boost. So: "As you think, so you
become." This will give you the way up.... Please go on.

[Question]: I want to be free, Master.

[Master]: Free? You are bound? I wish you to be free. All are bound -- by
mind, by intellect, by outgoing faculties. Master comes to make you free.
When you know the Truth you are free, you are made free. You become free
only when no doership remains. Take the example of a mill that is run by a
powerhouse. The man sitting by the powerhouse says, "Not a single portion of
the machine can move without the powerhouse." And the man who is not sitting
there, but is sitting at the table where the machine is working, says, "Don't
put your hand here, it will be cut." You see, that's the difference. When
you sit by the powerhouse, you're free of dirt, everything will be all right,
no doership will remain. That power is working, all the machinery is working.
The grinding machine is going on. There is one handle by which the operator
holds and moves the wheel.

   All grain seeds which are put within the two parts of the machine will be
ground. Those which rise, coming near the handle will be saved. You move
along as a conscious co-worker, you see? That's the only thing. So long as
discrimination works, your intellect is there, you are bound. You have to
rise above discrimination, then everything will be clear to you. The whole
cause of coming and going is our ego. When ego does not remain, who will
come and go? Yes, anyone else?

[Question]: Master, I have another question. There's a person that said she
usually falls in a state in meditation that she doesn't know if she is out
of the body or sleeping. How can she tell?

[Master]: When you are in the body, you know the body. When you forget your
body, naturally for the time being our impression of self is gone. When you
rise above at will, you see your body down there on the floor and you
traverse into the beyond. That is when you really rise above. When you
forget all thought of your body, then you are not the body. But anyhow you
have not become a conscious co-worker, you have not risen practically above
it. When you rise practically above it, you'll traverse into the beyond.
You'll leave it, you'll see you have risen clear out of the body. So this is
a golden opportunity we have got to enter into the body and derive the full
benefit. While in the man body only we can derive that benefit. We are so
much identified with the outside things, congealed outside, we cannot think
otherwise. It is as difficult to leave as it is for a painting on the wall
to leave the wall -- we are now so identified with the world. And this
meditation means what? To withdraw slowly from outside, by regular practice.
Yes, anyone else, please?

[Question]: Master, what's the greatest obstacle to one's being totally
devoted to You?

[Master]: No ruling passion. Want of ruling passion.

[Question]: Want of ruling passion?

[Master]: That's all. When you have a ruling passion, your mind cannot go
anywhere else. You will try to withdraw from outside and put your whole
attention with something higher. Now we are identified with the world, as I
just told you, congealed with the world, just as paintings cannot leave the
wall. Paintings are on the wall and cannot leave the wall. Similarly, we
are so much identified with the body and outward environments that we cannot
think of leaving them. This work is done by regular concentration of
meditation. Ever since we are born, we have been receiving impressions
through our eyes and ears, and all other outgoing faculties as well. Eighty
per cent of these impressions come through the eyes, and fourteen percent
through the ears. So we are so much identified with these impressions that
we cannot withdraw from outside; they are embedded. So when you are
identified all outside, in the world, you cannot withdraw.

   Master gives a demonstration of how to rise above the body for a
while. Again try to go above it, by regular practice, then you can withdraw
at will. At present, it is difficult, because we are congealed, identified
with the outside things. We know we are not the body; we have the body. We
know we are not living in this house. This house is for this body. You are
not the body. You know that intellectually, but can you withdraw? This is
what has to be learned in meditation. Suppose a silken cloth is spread
over a thorny bush. If you drag it, that cloth will be torn. But if by daily
practice you try to remove the cloth from the thorns slowly, the first day
you might take a longer time, but after a week or ten days that can be
removed quicker. Then it is very easy.

   So concentration means that. It is no miracle to him who is adept in that.
He has had it. And the other man wonders how he got it. By regular practice.
That is why it is said, "Every saint has his past, and every sinner a
future." And Masters do own these things. Guru Amardas, when he came to the
feet of his Guru, became in conscious contact with God, within him. You know
how to come in contact with God Power, within? Withdraw your attention from
all outside: from the outgoing faculties, from the mind, from the intellect,
and body. He says, "I was one day like you, drowned in the abyss of the
outgoing faculties, the poisonous water of the outgoing faculties. Now we
are risen above it, ever since God's Grace descended to us through some
human pole. Now we are above it. We were once like you, that's all." So
there's hope for everybody.

   It is very difficult for the man who's identified with worldly things to
concentrate. Shut yourself in the closet of your body. Step by step. Then
from the body, too. That means regular practice. When you can completely
withdraw from the body, you may cut yourself and will not feel it. This is
by regular practice. When you leave the body at will daily, at your will
and pleasure, then there is no sting of death left. When a silken cloth
spread over a thorny bush is removed all at once, it is all torn. That is
why it is difficult at the time of death to leave the body. We are
identified with it. We have to induce -- don't think of the outside, give
it a little way up. But because he has formed habit and habit has turned
into nature, he cannot withdraw. That is why regular practice is required.
You must have had some practical experience of this in your lives. If
somebody calls you when you are sitting quite absorbed in some thought, you
do not hear. Why? Your attention is not in the ears. By regular practice,
you can withdraw completely from the body. Then, when taking an injection,
you say, "All right." You withdraw your attention. "All right. Inject." You
feel pain, but less, naturally. If you can completely withdraw, there is no
pain. This requires practice. Some people have got their background: well
and good; others have to do. So to think of oneself as body is the most
heinous crime. We daily strengthen our identification with the world - with
the body. There is a new world within you, you see. The outside world is
only a superficial way of living we have got -- superficial.

   He is all attention, you see. Attention is the force which carries on the
whole machinery of the man body. If you withdraw all your attention from the
body outside, then? All the machinery stands still. So the ABC of
spirituality starts when you rise above this. Where the world philosophies
end, there religion starts. World philosophies are connections with what? --
outgoing faculties, mind, or intellect, that's all. The self has to
understand certain things, up to a certain level, not beyond. You must be
reborn. All Master's teachings are like that. You have to leave the body
someday. Why not try now to leave the body? Learn to die so that you may
begin to live -- have an everlasting life. So spirituality starts when you
rise above body consciousness. ABC starts. Outer features tell if you are a
Hindu, you are a Christian, you are Eastern or you are Western. This is your
conscious entity, not the body. There was great bigotry going on between the
Hindus and the Mohamedans in the time of Kabir and Guru Nanak. There were
daggers drawn. A time did come when a Master (Guru Nanak) visited the earth.
Straight of He told them, "Look here, I am neither a Hindu nor a Mohammedan,
because God or Allah -- anybody whom you worship -- is the same."

   Now, we're born in the same way. No high or low. Our souls are all drops
of the Ocean of all Consciousness. All are brothers and sisters in God. But
Guru Nanak was asked, "You're standing under the label of Hindu. Tell me who
you are, tell me." He said "If I tell you I am bearing the label of Hindu
you will beat me, kill me, eve if I am a Mohammedan like you." Then He said,
"To tell you the truth, I am a conscious entity working in this man body.
The body is made of five elements. I am that -- that consciousness that
drags this body. That Power is neither Hindu nor Mohammedan. That Power is
the Godhead." Real unity starts from there. It is already there. We have
forgotten. As man we are One, born with the same privileges from God. As
soul we are all conscious entities, drops of the Ocean of all Consciousness,
brothers and sisters in God. That Power which controls us is the same Power
called by different names. We have forgotten that unity. When you see we're
all equally born, we're all brothers and sisters in the family of God, we
worship the same Power and you see no difference, then do you think you will
harm anybody?

   So the first criterion on the way back to God is not to torment anybody,
not to hurt the feelings of anybody. So Masters say, "Well, if you want to
meet God, don't harm the feelings of anybody." Thoughts are very potent, you
see. As you rise in this way on the Path, everything follows. We waste our
lives. It's all a dream, a role we are passing through. At the last moment
a man says, "Oh my Lord! What have I been doing?" What can you say? There
is no use crying over spilt milk. What can he do? And only then at that time,
you see, he becomes conscious co-worker of that Divine Plan controlling all
of us.

   We can know about that Power now if we rise above the physical body. You
are here only for what? Only for this. The more you can derive benefit, the
better. That is why I enjoin all of you not to fritter away time in idle
talk, gossiping, this and that. Put in as much time as you can in your
meditations or something on the subject. You will, just by radiation, be
affected by the company you have. It is better to have no company or only
such company who is on the way, or who is more advanced. So the foremost
thing that we have before us is to know ourselves. So Masters give us a
demonstration of that by withdrawing your Self for a while from the body,
showing that you are not the body, and giving glimpses of the beyond. He
opens your inner eye to see the Light of God and opens your inner ear to
hear the Voice of God -- Music of the Spheres. By regular practice, as you
daily come and go, you enjoy all glory and beauty lying within you. Then
you will very joyously go back. The world is afraid of it, but you will be
very jolly to go. This is why I enjoin you to put in more time; make the
best use of your time here. There you cannot have so much time at your
pleasure. You have got a hundred and one other things to be done --
physically, socially. There's action and reaction of the karmas in
connection with the children and others coming in contact with you.

   So this is most personal, most private work that we have to do; and for
that we say we have got no time. We always put off. This day an old lady
came before me at the last moment. (The lady referred to at the beginning
of the talk) "I know I have wasted my life." She is right. So it is high
time, you see. In man body we've got so much time at our leisure.

   When you go back, everybody will be after you to do this, do that, with
Satsang and so many other things. Now you're all free. But you know what we
do? We sit down, we think of the past, think of the future, making schemes.
The past and the future take away most of our time, most of our time - these
two sprites eating into our veins of life. So forget the past, forget the
future, live in the living present. When tomorrow comes, you'll see what
will happen. When you're here, be fully for the purpose you are here. That's
all. So that when you go back you'll know that you have had progress. So cut
off contact, from all outside, to rise above body consciousness. This is the
real way back to God which lies within you. This we have to learn, in one
day, one month, one year, one life, that's all. Whoever has learned this,
he's the wisest man, though he may be in the sight of others a very average
man. Develop your own self -- no obligation on anybody else. That's all.
Have pity on your own self, it will save you from coming and going.

   These are evident, self-evident truths, being put before you. We have got
the body, we have to leave the body -- no exception to the rule. Man body is
the highest in all creation. It's a golden opportunity in which you can know
God. To know God we must know our Selves. When knowing our own Selves is at
the level of feelings, emotions, or drawing inferences, this is subject to
error. Seeing is above all : to know your Self by self-analysis, by rising
above body consciousness. The demonstration of this Self may be given at the
feet of a Master. He gives you the way up, for a while. It is before us in
the man body. We can do this in the body which you have got already -- in no
other body. How far we have succeeded is for us to see. That is why I always
impress : be not aimlessly adrift. When we put our efforts into one thing for
some time, success follows. If we dig a pit, here two feet, there four feet,
there six feet, some seven feet, some five, all are there but no water. If
you go digging in the same pit, you get water, that's all. And further, what
you can do today never put off till tomorrow. Procrastination is the thief
of time. This is why we have delayed so far and are delaying even further.

   Now you've come to know what your real work, your personal work, your
private work is. It is to know Self and to know God. And for that purpose
you're here. So try to put in more time on this work, that's all I can say.
This work we are to do -- our own self for our own Self. Nobody can do it
for others. Others give a boost, that's all right. Come out of this delusion.
You have been in great delusion, working at the level of senses. All right.
God bless you.

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