From jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca Sat Feb 21 09:07:04 1998
Newsgroups: alt.meditation.shabda
Subject: The Coming Spiritual Revolution
From: jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca (James Shannon)
Date: 21 Feb 1998 17:07:04 GMT



                     

   
   
                     THE COMING SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION

                                   by

                          Sant Kirpal Singh Ji

                             (1894 - 1974)

                 
		 This talk was given in Florida in Dec. 
                 1972, and was published in the recent 
                 book, "The Coming Spiritual Revolution"
                 (1997; Sant Bani Ashram, Sanbornton, NH)
                 ----------------------------------------

   

   DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, the people are crying for peace.
How can we have it? Peace should start from our hearts. We should give 
out peace as prayed by Guru Nanak: "Peace be unto all the world over, 
under Thy Will, O God." And for this, naturally, there must be a 
spiritual revolution.

   The world is already in revolution; but this revolution should be 
different. This revolution should not be of the body, but against the 
evil propensities of the mind which keep us away from God. This will be 
achieved if we give right understanding to the people at large, which 
will result in right thoughts. First comes understanding; then come right 
thoughts, which result in right speech, and right speech will result in 
right actions. The whole thing starts from right understanding.
  
   So you will find right understanding first lies in recognizing that 
there is a Maker of the universe who is the Controlling Power and permeates 
all creation. This world did not come out of itself; there is a Maker, and 
scientists lately have come to this conclusion, that the whole creation 
is controlled by some Power which is conscious.
   
   So this is the first thing: the whole world is the manifestation of 
God, no East and no West, the earth below and the sky overhead is His 
manifestation.
  
   Guru Nanak went to Mecca. At night he was lying down with his feet 
toward the Kaaba, the house of God. The clergy-men over there rebuked him, 
"Why are you lying with your feet toward the house of God?" He politely 
told them, "Dear friend, I see God all around, there is no place where He 
is not. If you think there is any side where God is not, you may turn
my feet that way." You see? So Masters say, "All is holy where devotion 
kneels." This is the first right understanding.
  
   A great Muslim Saint says, "The whole earth is blessed because God 
permeates all. If my followers find the time for prayers they can sit on 
any ground anywhere and say prayers to God. No matter what way their face 
is - because God is everywhere." The Koran, the Muslim scripture, also 
says: "God is everywhere." It matters little whether we face toward West
or East; say your prayers where you are.
   
   So this is the first right understanding: We are living in Him, have 
our being in Him, He is in us, outside us, above us, below us. Like fish 
we have our existence in Him. That is right understanding. And further: God 
made man with equal privileges, all born the same way, no high, no low; all 
have got the same outer concessions - eyes, ears, etc., - and all have the 
same inner concession: we are kept in the body by some higher Power which 
is the same for all. So this is right understanding: that we have this 
thing - God resides in every heart - and that all is holy where devotion 
kneels, all are born with the same privileges from God - no high, no low, 
no East, no West. And this will result in right thoughts.
   
   On my last visit a meeting was called for the East and the West. Others 
who were visiting America attended this meeting, and I was also one of 
them. Each man told us where he was from. When my turn came up, I told 
them: "It is said, of course, that `East is East and West is West and 
never the twain shall meet.' But there is no East and no West: the whole
creation is the House of our Father. All countries are so many rooms in 
that House. It is we who made these things, on account of our want of 
right understanding." So this is one thing; if you have this understanding, 
what will be the result? Your whole angle of vision will be changed; you 
will see that we are all children of God, the same Father. The true 
Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man will be cemented. So this is what 
I mean by spiritual revolution - from Godlessness.
  
   Kabir says, "Behold but One in all things." Guru Arjan says, "The 
visible and the invisible, all are His manifestation." Lord Krishna says, 
"He who sees me in all things and all things in me, he is my peer." So 
when Masters come, the first message they bring is, "There is God." They 
say, "We have seen God." With what eyes? - The eye which sees God exists 
in everybody, and is different from the eyes of flesh and blood; it is 
called Third Eye, Single Eye, Latent Eye. So the whole world, they say, 
is His manifestation, and He resides in every heart; and as such, these 
physical bodies we are having are the true temples of God. So by right 
understanding, I mean that; if this is brought to the notice of people 
at large, then from this right understanding will arise right thoughts, 
and from them will come right speech and right actions.
  
   Although we are wearing different labels of religions, all the same we 
are all one. These labels show only that we have joined some particular 
school to realize this unity. The ultimate goal of all religions is to know 
God; and to know God we must know ourselves first, because God cannot be 
known by the outgoing faculties, mind or intellect; soul alone can know the 
Oversoul. Like can know like. So God is one, though there may be many outer 
ways of worship, you see; but the ultimate, the inner Way, is the same for 
all. Rajab, a Muslim Saint, tells us, "The archers may be many, but the 
target is the same." And the Kingdom of God can come on earth; peace will
reign supreme in the world, if some spiritual Master is there who can give 
us a demonstration of the inner Way - which will give us true peace and 
right understanding. No politician has ever been able to bring peace to 
the world, and harmony, and cooperation. But if their work were in harmony 
and cooperation with the spiritual Masters, peace would be achieved quickly.
   
   When the Masters come they are conscious of God from the very beginning; 
even in childhood they are conscious of Him. Guru Nanak was sent to school 
to just have some education, and the teacher began to teach him, "One, two-" 
The teacher proceeded further, but Guru Nanak said, "Wait, stop, wait - what 
do you mean by one?" A child of four or five years old! And Nanak said, 
"This one means there is one God." You see, he was conscious. Then he 
said, "What is He, that all this creation has come out of Him? He is 
eternal; the Maker of all creation; the ruling Power; He has got no equal
- no enmity with anybody, no fear of anybody; He has come about of His 
own Self - no one is His maker."
  
   Then the teacher asked him, "What is this? How can it be had?" He said, 
"With the grace of a Master; it is the gift of a Master." Further, he said, 
"I do not mean, when I say `God is one,' that He is one; I mean, this `one' 
stands for something else which is expressed as `one.' But He is neither 
one nor two. He is something, which can be experienced. We can go into Him, 
absorb into Him; that experience can be given by a Master, and he can give 
us a realization of that for which the figure `one' stands." And how? He 
said, "Burn away all your outer attachments; burn them away, and from their 
ashes make ink, and with your conscious Self go on writing the praises of
God." As long as we are attached outside, we cannot know ourselves; when we 
know ourselves with our conscious Self we can see what He is. Kabir says, 
If I say "one," then the question of "two" arises; that amounts to 
calling Him names. God is neither one nor two; He is something, expressed 
by this word, "one." So, He is, within Himself something, which can be 
realized, not expressed in words. 

   Guru Arjan gives a reason for that - why we call Him "one." He says, 
"We are finite, O God, You are infinite; because we are finite, we can only 
measure with our finite scales." Is it not true? So the Absolute God cannot 
be seen by anybody, and nobody has seen Him so far - the Absolute God, 
Nameless God, Wordless God, which has not come into expression. That Power 
which came into expression, that is called "Word," that is called Naam; the 
outer expression of that Power is Light and Sound, and that Light can be 
seen, that Voice can be heard. That is why the Bible says, "Thy Word is a 
lamp unto my feet and a light on my path." 

   Every human being has a secret chamber within himself which is called 
the "closet of the body." That is higher than the mind and heart both, 
and provides mind with understanding to a certain extent, and the heart 
with feelings of love. This chamber is the Kingdom of God within us. This 
is the crest jewel, the pearl of great price. The Saints, when we come in 
contact with them, open this chamber by withdrawing all our attention from 
outside. The test of a true Master is the fact that in his company, the 
smallest realm opens up within us, and the Light, Divine Light, the 
expression of the God-into-Expression Power, is seen. Christ said, "If 
thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." Prophet 
Mohammed said, "The light of Allah is found where? In the human temples." 

   Why am I quoting these things? Because right understanding was given by 
Saints and Masters coming from time to time. Lord Krishna said, "I will 
give you divine light and you will see my glory within." Buddha said the 
same thing: "Every man possesses the bright mirror of illumination." This, 
all the Buddhas realized. Buddha further proclaimed that: "The way of the 
illumined ones is the growth of snow-drops behind the eyes;" and then 
Christ came, and it was as if a few crocuses opened their hearts to the 
winter sky. But now the time has come when we can have a rebirth; this 
is what Christ spoke of when he said that "the poor in spirit shall 
inherit the Kingdom of God."
  
   So Springtime is upon us now; there will be more fragrant Saints, I 
would say now, who will come up and give us through the grace of God, a 
contact with the God-into-Expression Power. And this is the revolution, 
the spiritual revolution, which is coming up - an awakening all around. 

   Why are all these people coming, you see? In the past, these things 
were told in the ears of the disciples after a long time of testing. Now 
it is given out from open platforms; people are having it without 
distinction, whether they are ready or not ready, they are getting 
something. This is what is needed - the times have changed now. And 
Masters come from time to time to bring these things into the experience 
of others who are born as man, because in the human body only we can 
know God, and in no other.
   
   So Absolute God, you know, is called Wordless or Nameless; when He 
wanted to be many, He manifested, and from the manifestation there were 
vibrations which result in two things: Light and Sound. This primal 
manifestation of God is called "Word" or "Name" (Naam) and is the cause 
of all creation. He is the Maker of all creation, Controller of all 
creation, and permeates all creation. This is why it is said in the 
Bible, "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word 
was God; all things were made by him and without him was not anything 
made that was made." The Vedas say the same thing: "In the beginning was 
Prajapati, with him was the Word, and the Word was verily the Supreme 
Brahma."

   They use the word Prajapati for God, otherwise it is exactly the same 
words. Similarly, Guru Nanak and all Saints tell us that Naam is the 
Creator of all this universe. So this Power has been given millions of 
names by Masters and others; some call Him Swami, which means "Lord"; 
others call Him Agam, "incomprehensible" or "indescribable"; Sat Purusha
means "eternal." There are many other qualitative names which go to 
express the Name of this Power. To differentiate between the two, these 
are some words given to denote that Power which is the cause of all 
creation, the outer expression of which is Light and Sound.
  
   So Masters differentiate and clarify the whole position. Guru Teg 
Bahadur, the ninth Guru of the Sikhs, asked, "What is that Naam, the 
remembrance of which leads to Nirvana?" Again he said, "What is that 
Naam, the repetition whereof enables a person to cross over the world 
of thoughts?" So that Naam is the God-Into-Expression Power, the outer 
expression of which is Light and Sound. To describe that Power there 
are myriads of names given by Saints.
  
   So this is the God-into-Expression Power, to contact which is possible 
only while in the body. Guru Arjan says, "A contact with Naam makes one 
self luminous - luminosity comparing with millions of suns." I am quoting 
only to show what the Masters really meant. We say "Ram"-Ram means, 
"permeating all." The word Ram describes what is permeating; but that 
which is permeating is different from the word used to describe it. So 
these words are used to express that Power which is the cause of all 
creation, which can be seen; not with the eyes of flesh and blood, but 
through the Third Eye or Single Eye which is opened by the Master.
  
   So, by the grace of God, a true initiate prays, "O God, manifest the 
Divine Light of Naam within me." It is already there; "take heed that 
the light which is within you is not darkness." So all Masters have been 
telling like that. Kabir says, "There are myriads of names in the world, 
myriads; but none of them can grant salvation." There are myriads of 
names given to God but none of them grants salvation. And which is that 
particular Name (Naam) which gives salvation? The Primal Name is a 
hidden one, and a rare soul can know and realize it. That is the Power 
permeating all creation, the outer expression of which is Light and 
Sound, which can be seen by the Inner Eye, and can be heard by the 
Inner Ear which exists in every man. So you will find, through the grace 
of some Master who can open this new world within us, we see.
  
   Take an example, you see, to understand the thing. Water is a liquid 
something, called by different names in different languages. In English, 
we say "water"; in Latin "aqua," in Hindi "jal" or "nir," in Persian "aab;"
in Urdu it is called "pani." These are the words which go to denote that 
liquid something, by drinking which you can satisfy your thirst - not by
repeating any of those names which denote that liquid. So the God-into-
Expression Power is called Word, Naam, Kalma; He is the Creator of all, 
and has two aspects: Light and Sound. And when Masters come, they contact 
us with that Power within us, you see? They open our inner eye by raising 
us to some extent above the physical body and outgoing faculties; we 
begin to see.
   
   That is why it is said, you see, "that Devotion to Naam is the only 
true worship." God is spirit; we can worship in spirit alone. Guru Amar 
Das says, "Everyone does worship but on the sensual plane only; so they 
get no results which end in salvation. But absorption in the Naam 
purifies the mind and bears fruit in abundance." You follow? Words are 
words; but what those words denote is a different thing; that is the 
Controlling Power of all creation, permeating all creation, and 
controlling us in the body too.
   
   So, the body is the true Temple of God, in which we dwell, and also 
that Power which keeps us in the body. "By the Word of the Lord were the 
heavens made, and aIl the host of them ... He spake and it was done; He 
commanded and they stood fast." That is what our scriptures say. Now do 
you follow what is meant by Naam or "Word"; or God? Christ said, "Man
does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of 
the mouth of God." So Masters say that there is God - very definite - 
Who is the Maker of all creation, permeating all creation; and further, 
they say that this world did not come out of itself, but is made by 
some Power which is conscious. So Masters tell us like that. Then it 
follows that all this manifestation is God's, because He is the Creator; 
there was nothing before Him. All this was made after Him and thus is 
the manifestation of Him.
  
   Now, the question arises: Why can't we see Him? When the Masters say 
that they do see Him, why can't we see Him? They say, Because He is the 
subtlest of the subtlest: "Alakh, Agam." Try to understand by an example. 
The air appears to be all vacant - nothing there; but if you look at it 
through a microscope, what happens? What you see is magnified seven 
hundred times, and then you find that the atmosphere is full of microbes. 
So if our eye becomes as subtle as He is, or if He becomes as gross as 
we are, we will be able to see Him. So Saints tell us, "Well, strange 
enough: While God is with us in the body, we see Him not." "O Tulsi, 
every man is stark blind - Fie on a lifeless life like this."  They see 
that the Light is within everybody. "Take heed that the light which is 
within you is not darkness." So Masters come to make people see who do 
not see. But it cannot be seen if it is not already there.
  
   Kabir says, "The entire world is groping in darkness. If it were a 
question of one or two they could be set right." But he says, "Wherever I 
look, I see all are blind" - in the terminology of Spirituality. Guru 
Nanak said, "To the enlightened ones, all are blind." If a man who sees 
Him is there, and other people do not see Him - naturally they are 
spiritually blind. When you come to a Master, he makes you see. So in 
the terminology of the Saints, the word "blind" does not mean those who 
have got no eyes on the forehead, but those whose inner eye is not opened. 
The eyes of flesh see Him not, but the Master illumines the eye, you see, 
within. A worthy disciple begins to witness the power and glory of God 
within himself. When the Master comes, he opens the inner eye.
  
   Why can't we see? Again, I would say, enveloped in darkness we strive 
for God by deeds not less dark; "for without a perfect man, none has found 
the way," nor can one do so. As I submitted yesterday, you know, we do 
need somebody to guide us in the outer ways-at the level of the outgoing 
faculties, mind, or intellect. And this is the Way which is where all 
philosophies end and true religion starts. So somebody is needed to 
usher you into the Beyond - to raise you above body consciousness and 
withdraw your attention from outside, and open your single eye to see 
the Light of God. Here such a person is required; there also you will 
need Him, to guide you further.

   So, before one comes across a perfect Master, he cannot see; when he 
comes to the Feet of a Master, he begins to see. We are dead before 
coming to him, in the terminology of the Saints; when he gives a sitting, 
we become alive. When we come to him, we are deaf, spiritually deaf; when 
he gives a sitting, we begin to hear the Sound, the Voice of God. Jesus
said, you see, "You see what the prophets and righteous men desired to 
see, but could not; you hear what they desired to hear, and could not." 
Are you people not most fortunate to have a living Master?
   
   So, "body is veritably the true temple of God and the Holy Ghost dwells 
within it." Emerson says, "Tap inside;" President Truman used to say, when 
he was tired with his outer performances and duties, he entered into 
the "fox hole of the brain." The Vedas call it "Brahmrendra."
   
   Perception, intuition and reasoning just help to understand Reality to 
a certain extent - not beyond. You are understanding all this, you see, 
at the level of the intellect; but seeing is believing. Seeing with one's 
own eye - the inner eye - that is an ingress we know little or nothing 
about. This is what the Masters give. Nanak says, "The blind know not the
door," and Christ refers to it, "Knock and it shall be opened unto you." 
And, "Whoever hears my voice, I will sup with him and he with me." So we 
will have to revert to the third eye, the latent eye or the "Shiv Netra" 
within us. God said, "Let there be light." The result was what? "There 
was light." Genesis says so!  And this is "the light that lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world; that light is the life of man." Such 
light is within you. "Take heed that the light within you is not 
darkness."
  
   All scriptures describe rays of Light vibrating with the Music of 
Life; they go hand in hand. The "Ringing Radiance," you might say; the 
Ringing Radiance emanating from the formless Absolute Existence when It 
came to manifest the world in its variegated colors and countless shapes 
and forms. Thank God! He has made all creation, and He is still not away
from that. He permeates in the world. He permeates in all creation; He 
is still quite above all creation.
  
   So This pervades all four grand divisions of the universe. Kabir says, 
I went to Mecca; on the way, God met me and began to rebuke me: "O Kabir, 
who told you I am residing here? Am I not in you? Why are you coming 
here?" If the One we are after resides in us, and we leave this body and 
go searching in outer things, can we ever find Him? At the most, they can 
give us an incentive toward our goal, that we should know God - nothing 
more. Places of pilgrimage, holy temples, they remind us that there is 
something, there is some God; they sing praises there.
  
   Can we see God? Guru Nanak was put this very blunt question; he said, 
"Yes, God is pervading everywhere." Masters say what they see; they don't 
give any reason for it, because they are competent to give a demonstration 
of that - and let you see. He is nearer to you than your hands and limbs; 
the Hindu scriptures say, "He is so near to you - Nothing in the world is 
nearer to you. He is the very life of you." Kabir says, "Once I was in 
doubt, but really it is so; because when my eye was open, I really saw 
Him - then all my delusions have gone, all my doubts have vanished. I 
see Him everywhere."
  
   This is one function of the Master. We confound him with the teachers 
of the world, with due respect to them all, at whose feet we have learned 
something. But this is something which begins where all philosophies end; 
when your contact with the physical body and your outgoing faculties are 
set aside. Shamaz Tabrez was asked, "What about God?" He said, "Don't 
believe unless you see God," you see. Masters also say, "Don't believe 
in the words of the Master unless you can testify yourself that this is 
so." You must have something to start with; it may be little, or more. 
How much depends on each man's background, but you must have something 
to start with. A man comes up and gives a very wonderful talk on business 
principles. It is very informative, but the poor fellows to whom the 
talk is given have no money to start with! So all teachers promise to 
go on doing this, doing that - "you'll have it after some time, you must 
be prepared, you must be ready, you'll get it at the time of death, be 
rest assured your life will be insured." Well, don't believe that. A 
bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. "Give your all and then 
you'll have everything?" No, I don't think so. You must have seen first. 
He does not want anything from you; he says, "I've come to give - it is 
God's gift - have it free!" Do you have to pay for sunlight, for air? 
Then why for the gift of God should we have to pay? That is the first 
thing, you see: Masters come to give - not to take. They stand on their 
own legs; and  as Shamaz Tabrez said, "You should be able to see the 
Beloved within you with your own eye which you have got within; and you 
should be able to hear His voice with your own inner ear."
   
   Now the question comes: How to open that eye with which He can be seen? 
He says, when you close your eyes, there is darkness. Look penetratingly 
into it; put your whole attention into it. That is knocking on the door, 
you see, and it shall be opened. You continue to look directly into that 
and you will find Light. Who will see that Light? Your very Self. You will
find all Saints - Tulsi Sahib, Shamaz Tabrez - all say the same thing.  
"Sit down in meditation, nothing comes up for years and years and years; 
Tulsi says, How to penetrate this darkness? Sit at the feet of a Master - 
He gives you a boost, you see Light." Is it not wonderful? Is it not a 
miracle? What more miracle is required?
  
   You see, unless a man rises above the life of senses, the inner Way is 
not open. It is you who have to see. That is why it is said, "Know thyself 
O Man, know thyself - who you are, what you are." What are we? Conscious 
entities. We have got attention. When the attention is diverted from 
outside and concentrated to our own Self, there you see the Light. Very
simple. Do you see the common sense point of what is being put before you? 
He says further, Why do we not see Him? Because of the ramification of 
the mind. Ripples are going on in the subconscious reservoir of our mind. 
Until those ripples stand still, you cannot see Him. It is something 
like a pond covered with weeds. If you take out the weeds little by little
every day, you can look in the water and see your face. And what are 
those weeds? Your body; body is the beginning of all delusion. We are 
having the body, and we are working at the level of the body. Body is 
changing every minute of life, being made of matter. All the world 
around is changing, since it is also made of matter, at the same speed 
at which our body is changing. As we are identified with it, this is 
an optical illusion; it appears to be stationary. How can we come out of
that? This is the demonstration which is given by the Master.
  
   If you are identified with the mind, outgoing faculties, and intellect, 
and you have recourse to the methods or practices which are concerned 
with those things, how can you rise above them? So rise above body 
consciousness; this is given out by all Masters. "Learn to die so that 
you may begin to live." Be reborn; be twice born. To withdraw your 
attention from outside and the body below, come to the seat of the soul 
in the body; this is called meditation. And meditation is the way back 
to God which can be had only in the human body, and in no other. All 
gods and goddesses hanker to have the human body, for this reason. So 
Kabir says, "O Man, why do you boast that you are the highest if you 
have not known God?" Your greatness lies only in the fact that you can 
see God. If you have not seen Him, how can you say anything? It is not a
matter of only speaking, you see, giving long or tall talks.
   
   Naturally, prayer arises from the failures of our own efforts - when 
all human efforts fail, there prayer succeeds. We pray to whom? A weak 
man prays to a strong man, or to God: "O God, we are helpless, we are 
stuck fast in this prisonhouse of the body. How can we come out? It is 
locked on all sides. O God, send us someone who can take us out of the 
box of the body!" This is what Maulana Rumi, Swami Ji, Guru Nanak,
and all other Masters pray. Someone asked Guru Amar Das, "How can you 
say what your outgoing faculties are?" He said, "Sit down and see." Sit 
down and see how your outgoing faculties are working. Then what happens? 
When your attention is withdrawn from outside, the body for all practical
purposes is dead; you have got no feeling in the body. When you rise 
above that physical level, you see the Light of God.
   
   If this is something you can do yourself, welcome you are; what more 
is wanted? Or go to the Masters, about whom we speak so much; if they 
can do it, well and good. That is why I have said, that a spiritual 
revolution is required; not at the level of body, but at the level of 
the evil propensities which have taken you away from God. Now springtime 
has come; the times have changed. The first thing required is a Guru or 
Master who has seen; who has seen and can make us see. Guru means the 
"light sprouts forth out of the most bleak darkness." That is the 
elementary criterion of a Master - not a lot of words: "you are not 
ready, you must be ready," this and that thing. In the old days, it was 
done like that; now times have changed. Who can sit at the feet of the 
Master for years? So they give you something to start with. Now maintain 
it: "Take heed that the light within you is not darkness." 

   So the first thing required is a Guru or Master. What is a Guru? "Word 
made flesh" is called a Guru; God has manifested Himself in a human body 
and called him a Guru. We respect him. The power house works through a 
bulb; there is light. But the power house can only work through a bulb 
which is not fused, you see. We respect the bulb, of course; but when it
is fused, then another bulb is put on. That light coming through is the 
God Power, called the Master Power or Christ Power; that never dies, it 
goes on working from pole to pole to guide the child Humanity back to 
God. This is one thing that is required. It is said, "If you want to see 
God, go to somebody who has seen God. He who has not seen God, how can he 
let you see?" So now you see what is meant by "Master" or Guru as compared 
with the other teachers of the world, for whom we have respect as they 
teach us something of the outer world. How respectful and grateful should 
we be to such a man who gives us this!
  
   Once it happened with our Master, you see - There was a Christian 
missionary at his place, Beas, who came to him and asked, "Look here, 
who is greater: Christ or your guru?" He very politely replied, "Look 
here, I have seen my Guru; I have not seen Christ. If you make him 
appear to me, I will meet with him too!" So these bodies leave; but 
that Power does not leave, that continues. There is food for the hungry
and water for the thirsty; demand and supply is a law of Nature. The 
child which was born a thousand years back, a hundred years back, or 
now - God made arrangement for milk in the mother before birth; don't 
you think that will continue further? This is the law of Nature, you 
see, God's law.
  
   The Master is the first thing required; second thing is true living. 
Ethical life is a stepping stone to spirituality. "Truth is above all 
and true living is still above Truth." We are all brothers and sisters 
in God, drops of the ocean of all consciousness; no high, no low; and 
that Power whom we worship controls us in the body. Don't have any 
hatred because you are a man of position, because you are a learned man,
because you are a rich man. All are equal. Some are standing at the 
table; some are sitting in the chair; that is due to the reaction of 
past karmas.
   
   Then comes chastity of thought. That defiles the whole body. You 
cannot expect God to manifest in a body that is full of filth. Then 
comes violence in word, deed, and thought. All this filth comes through 
the mind which defiles the human body. "Blessed are the pure in heart 
for they shall see God." You cannot expect God to manifest in a filthy 
home. He is there already; but He won't manifest. If a bulb is there 
with light within it, but it is covered over with black spots, can you
see any light? So this is what is required: true living. And the third 
thing is, you know, they take you and give you the direct inner Way 
back to God. They don't touch your outer rituals, forms, labels, outer 
way of living; they allow you to remain in your own social bodies. 
There are so many - more than seven hundred. He is not going to make 
another new form! Our Master was once asked by some people, "Why don't 
you start a new religion?" He said, "There are so many wells dug up 
already, why should I dig up a new one? The water is already there; 
the basic teachings of all Masters have been the same. Why not take 
it?" He did not form any new religion. Masters come to maintain; they 
come to fulfill; not to destroy. They love all. When they come, they 
are not the monopoly of any sect or religion; not the monopoly of the
East or the West. They come for all the world over - just as the sun 
rises and gives light to all the world over. They come for all. Their 
teachings are very simple and to the point, and are the most easy and 
most natural as compared with all other ways of yoga. They don't tell 
you to follow this ritual or that ritual, this form or that form, this 
level or that level; they simply give you a lift from the body, raise 
you above the body, and open your inner eye to see the Light of God. 
That is the capital they give you at the very first. After all, we have 
to leave the body; they give you a demonstration of how to leave the 
body.
 
   If you have day to day regular practice, what do you find? At the time 
of leaving your body (at death) you are jolly; you will go smiling, 
because you know how to leave the body every day. All glory and beauty 
lie within you. They don't give you the outer ways of living, or rituals, 
or the customs of the various social bodies, because they are not going 
to form any new religion. They come only to bring the religion of God: 
the religion of love. So this is what they say: that God resides in you, 
and the Master is one who can withdraw your attention, give you something 
to start with, take you out of the delusion of the human body so you can 
see for yourself; you are not to wait till the end of your life. As I 
just suggested, a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.
  
   This is it, you see: there is God, and He can be manifested by the 
Word made flesh; not by those who are embodied as men but have not risen 
above body consciousness. We have respect for anyone at whose feet we 
have learned something; but this is what is truly meant by a Master - he 
who can give you God as a gift, excuse me, like a fruit given to somebody.
So remain where you are. You have taken the first step; the next step is 
at the feet of someone who sees and makes you see; and for that, true 
living is required. But they don't want you to leave your outer customs 
or social bodies.

                                                - Kirpal Singh

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   SANT KIRPAL SINGH JI (1894-1974) was the towering spiritual figure 
of his time: a giant of Biblical proportions, whose remembrance lives on 
forever in the hearts of those who knew him. A seeker after Truth from 
the beginning, he met his Master, Baba Sawan Singh Ji of Beas (1858-1948), 
in 1924, after seeing him within for seven years. After a discipleship 
that was remarkable both for his closeness to his Master and for the 
degree to which he was able to become a living example of his Master's 
teaching,* he was entrusted with the Guruship when his Master left
the body in 1948.

(* For a wonderful eyewitness account of Kirpal's discipleship, see
"The Merciful One" in A. S. Oberoi's [book], "Support for the Shaken 
Sangat," pp. 57-94. [1984; Sant Bani Ashram, Sanbornton, N.H. 03269].)

   He established his headquarters ("Sawan Ashram," named after his 
Master) just outside of Delhi and gave solace and spiritual healing to the 
thousands of suffering refugees pouring into Delhi from the first India - 
Pakistan War. His reputation as an absolutely authentic spiritual Master 
grew and grew, and he expanded his mission constantly, making three World 
Tours (1955, 1963-64, and 1972), becoming President of the World Fellowship 
of Religions in 1957, establishing the Manav Kendra (Human Center) in 
Dehra Dun in 1970, and presiding over the World Conference on Unity of 
Man in 1974 - all of which were variations on the theme of effecting the 
spiritual revolution, as he explained later.
   
   But as this book makes clear, Master Kirpal Singh's main work was 
always and ever the bringing about of that revolution through the 
connecting of the individual seeker with the manifestations of God within 
his or her own Self, and the taking of that seeker from plane to plane 
until he or she reached his or her place of origin at the heart of the 
Universe. This is the eternal work of the Masters in all religious 
traditions, and it was the preeminent work of Kirpal. And when he left 
this physical plane, he entrusted that work to his gurumukh spiritual 
son and successor, Ajaib Singh of Rajasthan (1926-1997), who continues 
to ease the pain of those whom he initiated and show them the reality of
their being to this day, even though he has, to our great sorrow, left 
his physical body and is now with his Master in Sach Khand.

   Sant Kirpal Singh Ji did not use the term "spiritual revolution," as 
far as I know, until late in his career; but the term described a concept 
which had been central to his teaching from the beginning. Quoting Jesus 
(and John the Baptist), he would often say, "Change your mind! For the 
Kingdom of God is at hand" - "Change your mind" being a more accurate 
rendering of the Greek metanoeite, usually found in English as "repent."
But the word literally means "turn around," and implies the kind of 
shifting of angle of vision that we associate with the word "revolution." 
And all his life, Kirpal Singh taught the kind of turning around, or mind 
change, that enables us to see the presence of God in all life: to know 
that "God resides in every heart" and to act accordingly. This is the 
essence of the spiritual revolution, and it is a message that those of 
us living in this contemporary hell we call our world need to hear if we 
are to survive with a recognizably human soul.

   The talks found in this book were given over a period of ten years, 
from 1963 to 1973. Most of them were given in English on Kirpal Singh's 
second and third world tours (1963-64 and 1972, respectively), but two of 
them (talks 4 and 12) were given in India and are translated from the 
Hindi. All of the talks were published in Sat Sandesh magazine and have 
been reprinted from there. It was my great privilege and blessing to have 
been present when nine of these talks were given; they are among the 
happiest memories of my life - because when a great spiritual Master gives 
a talk, much more than a talk is given. I have observed many times with 
both Sant Kirpal Singh Ji and Sant Ajaib Singh Ji that when they hold 
satsang, the atmosphere is charged sometimes to a degree that has to be 
experienced to be believed; we know that the Master is working on many 
levels, and that our mind and soul are hearing the essence of the talk 
directly, as it were, at the same time as our ears are hearing the outer 
words. This dimension of course is not translatable to the printed page;
for that matter, neither audiotape nor videotape can get it; so that
the actual physical presence of the Master is something other. There is 
nothing like it in this world.
  
   Why the term "spiritual revolution"? Because the Masters are saying 
that the condition of the world in general is a natural expression of 
the human beings who make up that world; so that in order to change 
things, the human beings who make up that world have to change. It might 
seem an impossible order, but history shows that it makes more sense than 
anything else that has been said on the subject, and perhaps it is the 
only thing that will work.
  
   The Master lays great emphasis on "right understanding," which is a 
revolution of our world view along these lines: First, recognizing that, 
since the universe is created by a Maker and pervaded by consciousness, 
it has a purpose. Then, that each human being (in fact, each living being) 
is a manifestation of that consciousness, and so the way in which we 
relate to each other is the test, the definition, of whether we believe 
in God or not. The Masters have made this point repeatedly; it's also in 
the Bible:

        Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or
        sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or
        sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they
        have not seen. The commandment we have from him is
        this: those who love God must love their brothers and
        sisters also. (I John 4:20-21, NRSV)

This point cannot be made too often. Why? Because we must remember each 
time we meet somebody. Each time we think about someone, we have to 
remember, "He or she is my brother or sister, or father or mother, or 
son or daughter, in God." They are fellow expressions of the consciousness 
that created the universe, walking around in front of us. And this is the 
right understanding, that that consciousness created the universe, 
pervades it, and resides in the heart of every human being. And then, 
when the Masters come, if people have this understanding, they are open 
to receive the next thing, the opening up of what Master Kirpal calls 
the "secret chamber or closet" within them which in fact is a door into 
a new world: we go into the closet and we find that the other end opens 
into infinity, and we just keep on going. And the Master's point is, it 
is possible for the world at large to expect this, if the right 
understanding which the Master refers to above has been already 
inculcated.

   The talks in the book are divided, somewhat arbitrarily, into two 
parts. The talks in the first part are more general, and those in the 
second part more specific. But there is often a considerable overlap, so 
that some of the "general" talks contain very specific points, and some 
of the "specific" ones are very general in places. Within the parts, with 
the exception of the title talk, they are arranged chronologically.
   
   The Appendices have been added because they throw light on aspects of 
the Master's teaching not emphasized in the body of the book. "On the 
Role of Women," for example, is Master Kirpal's most elaborate statement 
of principles that he acknowledged all his life, and which he articulated 
very clearly in the following interchange in Chicago on October 29, 1972, 
as recorded by his long-time disciple and chronicler of the Third
World Tour, B. S. Gyani Ji:

   The following afternoon at the Palmer House, Master was asked, 
   "Can a woman become a Master? If so, why haven't there been any 
   women Masters?" Master said "Look to history; there have been women 
   Masters. A soul is a soul; it makes no difference, man or woman. It 
   is only according to Karma whether your body is male or female." 
   (Sat Sandesh, January 1973, p. 20)

Of course, Master Kirpal's use of language did not always reflect this; 
English was not his first language, and he spoke it the way he was 
taught. He used "man" and "human" absolutely indiscriminately, often 
using the word "man" to refer to a specific woman, as I observed on 
several occasions. But no one should assume from his use of the word 
"man" that he does not mean "human," or that women are excluded from 
the responsibility and the promise; it is just not so, as the above 
extract (and Appendix I) make clear.
   
   Although the talks included in the book stand on their own, and 
someone unfamiliar with Kirpal Singh can get a clear understanding of 
his teachings from reading it, study of some of his other books 
(particularly The Way of the Saints) would illuminate many passages; 
this book is in many ways a companion volume to that one.
   
   I am grateful to Sant Ajaib Singh Ji for his encouragement and 
support in preparing this volume, and for his allowing his words to be 
used as an Introduction. His perspective on Kirpal is invaluable 
because he is a gurumukh sant, someone who has completed the spiritual 
revolution within himself and become a living example of what Kirpal 
Singh is talking about throughout this book. He sees Kirpal as he 
really is, not veiled as he appeared most of the time to most of us. 
His story of not closing his eyes when Master put the dear ones into 
meditation (p. xxi) always makes me think of these lines of William
Blake:

                God Appears & God is Light
                To those poor Souls who dwell in Night
                But does a Human Form Display
                To those who Dwell in Realms of Day

It is the great good fortune of Kirpal's initiates that Sant Ji was
able and willing to obey his Master and take on the responsibility of 
guiding them and initiating new seekers in the years since Master 
Kirpal left; thank God for him. As Kirpal Singh says in the title talk 
of this book:

           So springtime is upon us now; there will be more fragrant 
           Saints, I would say now, who will come up and give us 
           through the grace of God, a contact with the
           God-into-Expression Power. And this is the revolution,
           the spiritual revolution, which is coming up -an awakening 
           all around.

And as Swami Ji says in Sar Bachan, "Whoever seeks the Satguru will 
surely find him, for the Satguru is an incarnation eternally present 
upon this earth."
                                                           
                                                  RUSSELL PERKINS

                                               - from the Foreword to 
                                                 the book, "The Coming 
                                                 Spiritual Revolution"


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