                            Service Before Self
 Circular 29 issued Feb. 21, 1964, three weeks after the completion of the
                         Master's second World Tour
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Dear Ones:

With the unbounded Grace of my Master, it has been possible to complete
successfully this phase of the Master's Mission, which took about eight
months of continuous touring in so many countries of the West. The loving
assistance from all quarters was a source of great delight and inspiration,
and rendered the task much easier. I am really thankful to all who took
great pains in organizeing the tours, planning programs, arranging daily
talks and meetings, and helping me in diverse ways to carry the spiritual
message to seekers after Truth.

The work of Ruhani Satsang has considerably increased with the
establishment of new centers in many places abroad. It would be to the
fitness of things to manage the affairs in a more constructive manner. I
would therefore like to give you valuable advice in the larger interests of
your spiritual progress and ethical growth.

Love, Life (strength) and Light (intelligence) are the holy attributes of
Supreme Power  the Holy Naam  the God-into-Expression Power. This is the
Holy Trinity, and It is manifested to the fortunate few who develop
spiritually under Divine Guidance. These virtues reflect the inner
development of the spiritual aspirant and are granted as a gracious gift by
the Master. The holy meditations on the Light and Sound Principle bring a
radical change in our outlook upon the earth life, and hazy doubts and
skepticism are put to naught when we awaken to the Divine Call. One enters
into a new world, full of astral projection, where the gracious Master
Power is shedding gracefully all bliss, peace and harmony. Inner
receptivity, which grows gradually by implicit obedience and loving
devotion, reveals the untold treasures of Divinity already existing
therein.

An affectionate schoolteacher would welcome more discipline for the few
bright students who show keen aptitude for intellectual growth. How much
more cautious and vigilant would the Living Master be for the all-round
spiritual growth of his children whom he has accepted under His Divine
Will. The disciplined initiates are privileged to enjoy divine guidance in
their everyday life, and in turn become a source of help and inspiration
for their less gifted brethren. The initiates are blessed with the charming
Radiant Form of the Master within and can benefit from His unerring
guidance. He is most eager and keen for your progress. Better avenues of
prosperity open for the truly sincere and yearning souls, and many dear
ones have borne testimony to this sacred truth.

The representatives and group leaders have a significant responsibility for
managing the affairs of Satsang. They are the chosen few from amongst the
selected many put on the Holy Path and accordingly deserve special
attention. They, being the torch bearers, are required to be shining
examples of Truth, Love and Simplicity. True living does not warrant any
show or artificiality, but is a simple life full of selfless service and
piety. The basic necessity in this behalf is to stand on one's own feet,
which means earning one's own living, by the sweat of the brow, for the
maintenance of oneself and family. It has a deep significance, and all
Masters stressed the importance of such honest living, which builds a
healthy and contemplative body and mind suitable for spiritual growth. The
finer tissues of the physical body are manufactured through a smooth and
harmonious blood circulation. Peace and serenity fall to the share of the
honest and earnest.

The initiates are advised to render selfless service physically,
financially and intellectually, for their inner spiritual progress.
Physical service simply means the observance of strict control over body
and mind, service to the sick and needy, and leading a clean, chaste life,
which purifies the entire system through and through. Financial service
falls into the category of donations and offerings, which grant expansion
of the heart and broad mindedness. One enjoys the exclusive right of
Sonship of God while knowing fully well that all others are the children of
the same Father, and inculcating the loving bonds of fraternity. The
distinctions of high or low, rich or poor, vanish. Intellectual service
grants further impetus and personal conviction for the Path of
Righteousness and selflessness. Evidently, all this commences with the
physical health of the body, which is built from the intake of food and
allied necessities of living. Mystics have practiced penances and
austerities for attaining spiritual discipline, but the Masters of the
Highest Order have laid a far healthier law for attainment of the same
target. They have forbidden the use of anything for ourselves which does
not belong to us or to which we have no legitimate right. Such high living
grants both continence and contentment, the two strong pillars on which the
lofty edifice of spirituality is erected.

It is a well-known aphorism that a tree is known by the fruit it bears. The
seeds of spirituality have been sown far and wide and a plentiful harvest
is an assured reality. All that is now needed from the workersthe
representatives, the group leaders, the well-wishers and the sympathizers
in the holy causeis to work selflessly in a spirit of loving cooperation,
good will and sincere earnestness and attending to the needs of all and
sundry in the Cause of the Master, regardless of whatever may come in the
way.

Service before self counts for much on the Path of the Masters. The little
self or ego within has to be eliminated by dissolving it into service of
humanity. For all are children of one God, no matter how and where
situated, or in what inhibitions and limitations of one kind or another
they might be living. You may have to face heavy odds, for it is an uphill
task, but all adverse winds blow over. If one is able to efface oneself for
a higher cause, this in itself provides a shield and a buckler to the true
crusader, and helps in overcoming the seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
The tougher the struggle, the brighter shines the metal within. This helps
to liberate the finer instincts, until one has risen to a great spiritual
stature, towering like a beacon light, shedding rays of hope and
encouragement to the lone and weary traveler, shipwrecked on the stormy and
strife-riven sea of life.

Success in spirituality is not the difficult task which most of us take it
to be or make it to be; but it does require patient self-purification, a
watchful introspection, a careful weeding out of all undesirable elements
present and a pruning of outspreading ramifications, and above all timely
tending and nurturing of the tender spiritual sapling as it sprouts from
the soil of the human mind. This work hangs on the shoulders of every one
of you and I am sure you are fully alive to your responsibilities and
obligations in this behalf, which in your case are two-fold: one to your
own self and the other to your brethren, the new initiates on the Path, and
the skeptical and wavering all of whom look to you for day to day help and
guidance in all their difficulties, temporal as well as spiritual.

It is of paramount importance to those who have to give the lead, to be
aboveboard in every respect, so that no one has an opportunity to raise
even his little finger in censure or be misled by any action. Do nothing
that may be unbecoming to the Great Cause which you have voluntarily and
gleefully espoused. Work as a living embodiment of the God Power, making It
a sheet anchor for keeping a steady keel in all your endeavors. It will
protect you from all temptations of name, fame, worldly gain or the like,
for all of these are apparently very alluring and beckon siren-like to you,
but at the bottom they are truly baneful and in no time will hurl you to
abysmal depths, if you succumb to them.

Truth is above all, yet true living is higher still. A clean life, with a
frugal living from your own earnings will release a tremendous spiritual
force within you, and will enable you to shoulder the task that God has put
on your way. You can accept as custodians all the voluntary donations which
may be given for furthering the Master's Mission. These must be carefully
and reasonably spent for the Mission work alone, keeping proper account of
the same.

May Hazur bless you in your work.

My best wishes are always with you all.

With loving thoughts for healthy harmony of body, mind and soul,

Yours affectionately, KIRPAL SINGH

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