From jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca Wed Jan 27 09:23:11 1999
Newsgroups: alt.meditation.shabda
Subject: The Wheel of Life (3/3)
From: jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca (James Shannon)
Date: 27 Jan 1999 17:23:11 GMT






                           THE WHEEL OF LIFE

                     The Law of Action and Reaction

                                   by
                         
                              Kirpal Singh


                              [Part 3 of 3]




                               Appendix I


                               TRUE LIVING


        LIFE on earth, as we have it, has a tremendous bearing
        in building the body and the mind. We must, therefore,
        strive to simplify life and learn to live truly. It is
        true living on which everything else depends, even the
        search for the self and the Over-self. The importance of
        true living cannot be over-emphasized. It is rightly said:


                  Truth is higher than everything,
                  But higher still is true living.


          Simple living and high thinking has ever been an ideal
        with the ancients and they always strove for it. We in the
        modem age, have seldom paid much thought to it though
        we profess it at times and pay lip-homage to it. Though it
        may appear hard to achieve the highest type of life, yet it
        is worth our while to see what it connotes, the ways and
        means that may be conducive to attaining it and to adopting
        it for ourselves. In whatever we do, we always place
        some objective before us, ascertain the principles involved
        therein, study the methods that may lead to the desired
        goal, and finally make a periodical survey, a thorough
        check-up, to find how much nearer we have come to the
        end in view. In this connection, one has, of course, to
        devote single-minded attention and make an honest endeavor
        from day to day before one can note an appreciable
        improvement in his life and conduct, both toward himself
        and toward others around him.

          What constitutes the life of man? - one might naturally
        ask. The aged one with a lot of experience in life and fed
        up with what he has seen and experienced of the world,
        turns to self-analysis of life. Does life consist only in
        eating, drinking, sleeping, having Children; fearing, fretting,
        and fighting; snatching, hoarding and hating; in imprisoning
        and subordinating those that are inferior to us in
        strength, physical or mental, and in killing others and
        grabbing other people's possessions? Must we pass our
        days in enjoying the ill-gotten earthly gains with no other
        achievement in the end but to die a miserable death, with
        sorrow to self and to those around us, the near and dear
        ones who helplessly stand by and mourn? Again, what
        about the worldly attractions-lands, buildings, money,
        pets and other countless possessions which, perforce are
        to be left behind much against our will? In the face of all
        these hard facts of experience, should the hoarding of
        worldly riches then be our sole aim - the be-all and end-all
        of our existence - or should we strive for something
        higher and nobler, permanent and lasting that may abide
        with us here and hereafter? The reply is simple: the one
        Almighty Power, the original source and fountain-head of
        all life, our home of happiness, peace eternal, and the
        means of our liberation from fearful bondage of births,
        deaths and Karmas should be the main objective and the
        only thing worth craving and achieving, for it is the
        summum bonum of life.

          The highest goal, as enunciated above, cannot be had
        for the mere asking or just by wishful thinking. For
        attaining the highest goal, we must first search out and
        find someone who can help us practically to achieve it;
        one who has himself achieved and gained the Kingdom of
        God for himself and can help us to do likewise. As light
        comes from light, so does life from life. He will constantly
        remind us of our long forgotten home, the Garden of
        Eden, now the lost province to us, and then show us our
        short-comings in our every day life, and finally, help us
        to lead a super-active life of real purity instead of the
        superficial and purposeless existence which we have at
        present. This world is a house full of smoke and soot,
        where one cannot but get a smudge on his person here
        and there even if he keeps all his wits about him and
        despite all his endeavors to escape therefrom. Now these
        smudges and stains, deep, thick, and numberless as they
        are and permeating the very pattern of our life, cannot
        be washed off by our own unguided and unaided efforts.
        Each man is compelled by the propelling force of his
        nature to play his part on the stage of life, and to
        participate in vain acts which lead nowhere unless there
        is the guiding hand of some Master-soul, to steer our barks
        clear through sandbanks and sea-shoals. Such a divine helper
        is a holy Saint, one may call Him a Guru (or a torch-
        bearer), a teacher, a Satguru (a holy divine who is one
        with Truth), a Murshid-i-Kamil (a perfect Master), a
        Hadi (or guide), a brother, a friend, an elder or by any
        other appellation one may like.

          Further analysis would show that the life of man depends
        mostly on two main things: Ahar (his diet) and Vihar (his
        dealings with his fellow beings and others). These cover
        the life-program of a person. In both these spheres, one
        acts either on tradition or by the limited information
        gathered from books or from hearsay. These form the base
        from which be gathers his design of culture and
        civilization, which gets ingrained in him and occupies his
        mind and intellect.

          There hardly exists any common-sense course to guide a
        man systematically in his physical, mental or spiritual
        life. To escape from his chaotic state, one has to thrash
        out and analyse the subject to its barest component parts.
        A thorough analysis is needed for moulding life in its
        three-fold aspect: physical, mental and spiritual.



                            AHAR OR DIET


          Diet naturally plays a major role in the problem of life.
        We need food for the upkeep of our physical being. We
        are compelled by nature to exist in this world so long as
        our allotted span of life is determined by destiny, or
        karmas do not run out. For our very existence we have to
        subsist on one thing or another. Man is quite helpless in
        this respect. The law of Karma is nature's unseen method
        of keeping the world in its iron grip, so as to keep it
        peopled and going. It, therefore, becomes all the more
        necessary that man should guard against contracting eating
        habits thoughtlessly, heedlessly, and indiscriminately.
        As we cannot do without food, we must select at least
        such articles of diet as may prove the least harmful in our
        spiritual pursuit. Our diet should not contract for us
        unnecessary Karmic debts which it may be possible to avoid
        by a little care. With this end in view, let us study nature.

          Man's diet comes mainly from earth, i.e. land, air and
        water. We also see that life exists in all that is moving and
        static. The moving creatures live upon each other, as well
        as on static creation-to wit, vegetables, plants, shrubs,
        herbs, trees and the like. Man, however, makes friends
        with and loves creatures (birds and animals) as live upon
        the life in nature and makes them his pets. The ancients
        knew well that man, bird, and animal were all bound up
        with the same Karmic bond. Man with the thought of
        common brotherhood worked hard both for himself and
        for his pets. He tilled the land, grew fruits, and produced
        food both for himself, his bird friends, and his kine and
        oxen. But in course of time, he grew ease-loving, with the
        result that be first preyed upon the animals' milk and then
        upon their flesh as well.

          According to the moral, social, and spiritual codes of
        conduct, one must not interfere with the lives of any animal
        in God's creation. In India, this standard of living is
        enunciated as Ahimsa or non-injury to all living creatures.
        This led to the vegetarian diet as contradistinguished from
        the non-vegetarian diet. As we think deeply over the natural
        and unnatural phases of diet, we come to a better
        understanding of the problem of Gunas or the innate
        propensities, natural inclinations and latent tendencies
        that are inborn in all sentient beings.

          Diet must be classified into grains, cereals, vegetables
        and fruits which are classed as Satvic or Satoguni diet
        that is pure and produces serenity and equipoise, befitting
        sages and seers. The saints and hermits who retired to
        secluded caves and huts for meditation always preferred
        Kand (potatoes), sweet potatoes, zamikund or artichoke
        etc. which grow and develop under the ground. They also
        took mool and phal: the edible roots of which also grow
        under ground like radish, turnips, beet root. The phal
        (fruits) provided them with sufficient vitamins and organic
        salts in their original form to keep them fit for a life
        of concentration and meditation. Some of the foods
        naturally grow in abundance while others are produced with
        some effort. The grains and cereals were meant for the
        general public.

          Satvic, or pure diet of mool, kand, phal and cow's milk
        etc., prolongs life and cures a number of diseases and
        ailments. Its utility has come to be realized even by the
        medical science. Now-a-days many medicines are prepared
        from herbs, fruits and grains and these have been found
        to be very efficacious. Again, all natural curative methods
        of sun-bathing, sea-bathing, mud-bathing, water-bathing,
        massage, physiotherapy, nature-therapy, chromotherapy
        are producing wonderful results. The Satvic foods and
        simple living are conducive to the development of highest
        culture or civilization. We must remember that food
        is made for man and not man for food. Eat to live and
        not live to eat, should be our maxim in life. By following
        this course, we create receptivity for higher things in life,
        ethical and spiritual, leading gradually to self-knowledge
        and God-knowledge.

          Rajsic or energy producing diet includes besides
        vegetarian foods, products like milk, cream, butter and ghee,
        etc., from animals other than cows, if taken in moderation.
        In ancient India, the use of milk was restricted
        mainly to the princely order as the princes needed extra
        energy for keeping under their control rough, turbulent
        and barbarous people not living up to any set principles
        of life. The milking of dairy cattle was permissible only
        after the cows were bred and treated with extra care, and
        sufficient milk was left in their udders for feeding their
        own off-spring, the calf. The residue of milk was allowed
        to man under special circumstances. This special rule was
        intended to prevent degeneration of the early civilization.
        The limited use of milk was also made by rishis in ancient
        times, who lived in comparative isolation, all by themselves,
        and devoted most of their time to meditation in
        seclusion and they left a lot of milk for the use and growth
        of the animal progeny.

          The traditional custom of using only the residue of milk
        is still prevalent in some of the villages in India. But
        today, man in his lust for unbridled power is violating all
        the laws of nature under the pretext of the so-called
        freedom that he claims for himself. Man has unfortunately
        come to believe in the principle of the "survival of the
        fittest" and has, therefore, to pay dearly for his unwise
        choice in the matter.

          The only consideration of man, today, is to obtain as
        much milk as possible even at the cost of the calves
        themselves. In some places, be throws them in boiling water
        immediately after they are born, and applies milking
        machines to the udders to draw out the last drop of milk
        to keep pace with trade competition and profit-making.
        This is what some proudly call high technical skill and
        civilization. Our budding reformers of today thrust such
        trades and practices on man instead of improving agriculture
        and rearing and developing livestock, both of which
        are harmless pursuits and could relieve the pressure of
        want so much talked of these days.

          Tamsic or stupefying diet consists of meat and liquors,
        garlic, etc., or in fact any other diet, natural or unnatural,
        stale or fresh. Those who resort to free and uncontrolled
        eating, live to eat and not eat to live. Their aim
        in life is hedonistic and their slogan is "eat, drink and be
        merry." They indulge headlong in what they call the
        sweet pleasures of life. When blessed with small powers
        of concentration, they direct all their energies (mental
        and physical) towards glory of the little self in them, the
        egoistic mind. Man is pleased to term this course of action
        as higher reaction of civilization. This sort of living
        is strictly prohibited, by the Masters of the highest order,
        to those seeking the knowledge of the spirit in man and
        the final liberation of the soul from the shackles of mind
        and matter.

          Will thinking persons just stop a while to cogitate on
        and realize the true position of man? Why is be so proud
        to call himself, or to be called, the noblest of creatures,
        the roof and crown of the creation? Whither is man moving
        headlong? Is he not standing on the brink of a terrific
        precipice with an extremely sharp declivity, ready to topple
        down any moment? He has, by his conduct, exposed himself
        recklessly to chance winds of Nature's vengeance. Hourly
        he stands in danger of being swept to the deepest depths
        of physical and moral annihilation.

          Man has taken his lessons in diet from the beasts of the
        jungle and acts like a wild creature. He delights in taking
        the flesh not only of the harmless creatures like kine and
        goats, deer and sheep, the innocent fowls of the air and
        fish of the water, but actually partakes of the human flesh
        and the human blood to satisfy his insatiate hunger for
        gold and riches. He has not yet finished his course of self-
        aggrandizement which he proudly calls progress. He
        might well ponder over the basic principles on which the
        Masters advise and prescribe vegetable diet. Vegetables,
        too, contain life in a latent form, as has now been proved
        by scientists all the world over. Still, as we have to play
        our part in this panorama of life on the stage of the world
        and have therefore to maintain ourselves, to keep body
        and soul together, we have to depend on produce of the
        soil.

          Yes, of course, there is life in vegetables, fruits and
        grains. The essential element of life is growth and decay.
        The truth of this can be traced from the earliest times.
        It is not a new verdict, though some of the scientific minds
        have rediscovered this truth and lay claim to it as their
        own.

          Now let us come to the point. In the entire creation, the
        law of nature holds that life depends on life. Like creatures
        in other grades of creation, man also maintains himself by
        eating something containing life. Outwardly it appears that
        with regard to contracting Karmas, man is in the same boat
        with other creatures in the lower strata of life, animals,
        reptiles, and the like.

          Nature has one other propelling wheel working in this
        material world; the law of Evolution. It provides that all
        living beings pass from one position to another. As they
        travel from one order of creation to the next higher, each
        being has a separate value from the lower one. The basis
        of determining the face value as well as the intrinsic
        value is matter and intellect, the more valuable the
        constituents of matter, present in a being in prominent
        form, the more the intellect and more the value of the
        being. Saints apply this law in the solution of the problem
        of diet for man. Whether he heeds it or not, Saints place
        this law before man, so that be may reform his diet, and
        avoid, as much as possible, a heavy load of Karmic chains
        in which he is inextricably held fast.

          Each kind of diet has its own inherent effect on man,
        detrimental to the acquisition of the highest aim: self-
        knowledge and God-knowledge. This law coincides with
        what man generally accepts although he is unaware of
        the reason for his actions. Comparing the following data
        in everyday life will confirm, to man's surprise, that what
        he takes as acceptable in social living remains in total
        agreement with the law of nature here explained.

          The man's body, with all the five tatwas (or creative
        and component elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and
        Ether) in full activity is valued the most. This is why be
        tops the list of beings in the creation and is considered
        next to God - his Creator. Man's killing of fellow-creatures
        is considered as the most heinous of crimes, which merits
        capital punishment or the death penalty. Next value is
        placed on quadrupeds and beasts having four tatwas in
        active operation in them, the fifth, ether, being almost
        absent or forming a negligible portion. The wanton killing
        of another's animal, therefore, entails a penalty
        equivalent to the price of the animal in question. Then
        comes the place of birds, with three active elements in them,
        viz. water, fire and air and hence are considered of a
        nominal value. Lesser still is the value placed on creatures
        who have two elements active - viz. earth and fire - and the
        other three existing in a dormant or latent form, as in
        reptiles, worms and insects, which are killed and
        trampled without the least compunction as no penalty
        attaches in their case. Least value is placed on roots,
        vegetables, and fruits in which the element of water alone
        is active and predominates, while the remaining four
        elements are altogether in a dormant state. Thus, karmically
        considered, vegetarian and fruitarian diet, in fact,
        constitutes the least pain-producing diet, and man by
        partaking of these, contracts the least Karmic debt. He is,
        therefore, to be content with this type of food so long as
        he cannot dispense with it and take to something which
        may involve no consequence at all.

          Now let us see what the "Essene Gospel of St. John" says
        in this context:

            But they (the disciples) answered him: "Whither
          should we go, Master, for with you are the words of
          eternal life? Tell us, what are the sins we must shun,
          that we may never more see disease?"

            Jesus answered: "Be it so according to your faith,"
          and he sat down among them, saying:              XXI

            "It was said to them of old time, 'Honor thy Heavenly
          Father and thy earthly mother, and do their commandments,
          that thy days may be long upon the earth.' And next
          afterwards was given this commandment: 'Thou shalt not
          kill,' for life is given to all by God, and that which
          God has given, let not man take away, For I tell
          you truly, from one Mother proceeds all that lives upon
          the earth. Therefore, he who kills, kills his brother.
          And from him will the Earthly Mother turn away, and will
          pluck from him her quickening breasts. And he will be
          shunned by her angels, and Satan will have his dwelling
          in his body. And the flesh of slain beasts in his body
          will become his own tomb. For I tell you truly, he who

          kills, kills himself, and who so eats the flesh of slain
          beasts, eats of the body of death ... And their death
          will become his death ... For the wages of sin is
          death. Kill not, neither eat the flesh of your innocent
          prey, lest you become the slaves of Satan. For that is
          the path of suffering, and it leads unto death. But do
          the Will of God that His angels may serve you on the
          way of life. Obey, therefore, the words of God: 'Behold,
          I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is
          upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which
          is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be
          for meat; and to every beast of the earth, and to every
          fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the
          earth, wherein there is breath of life, I give every green
          herb for meat.'Also the milk of everything that moveth
          and that liveth upon each shall be meat for you;
          even as the green herb have I given unto them, so I
          give their milk unto you. But flesh, and the blood which
          quickens it, shall ye not eat..."                XXII

            Then another (disciple) said, "Moses, the greatest in
          Israel, suffered our forefathers to eat the flesh of clean
          beasts, and forbade the flesh of unclean beasts. Why,
          therefore, do you forbid us the flesh of all beasts?
          Which law comes from God? That of Moses or your law?"
                                                           XXIII

            And Jesus continued, "God commanded your
          forefathers: 'Thou shalt not kill.' But their heart was
          hardened and they killed. Then Moses desired that at
          least they should not kill men, and he suffered them to
          kill beasts. And then the heart of your forefathers was
          hardened yet more, and they killed men and beasts like-
          wise. But I say to you: Kill neither men, nor beasts,
          nor yet the food which goes into your mouth. For if you
          eat living food, the same will quicken you, but if you
          kill your food, the dead food will kill you also. For life
          comes only from life, and death comes always from
          death. For everything which kills your food, kills your
          bodies also. And everything which kills your bodies
          kills your souls also. And your bodies become what
          your foods are, even as your spirits, likewise, become
          what your thoughts are ..."                      XXIV

            "So eat always from the table of God: the fruits of
          the trees, the grain and grasses of the field, the milk of
          beasts, and the honey of bees. For everything beyond
          these is Satan, and leads by the way of sins and of
          diseases unto death. But the foods which you eat from the
          abundant table of God give strength and youth to your
          body, and you will never see disease ..."        XXV



                        VIHAR OR SOCIAL CONDUCT


          Man-making is another portfolio of a Saint. To make
        man fully entitled to the highest knowledge of soul and
        All-soul, is His first and foremost mission. From seekers
        after Truth, the Saint requires complete purification of the
        body, mind, and intellect since this makes a man complete
        and whole before undertaking the untying of the Gordian
        knot between body and spirit. A mutilated and a truncated
        man can neither know himself nor can he know God. What line
        of action then should the aspiring man follow? This is the
        most vital question and yet mostly ignored, and passed over,
        with not much thought. The scanty information that is
        available to the average man is derived either from society
        or from the stray hints dropped by the religiously minded,
        or from the study of the sacred books. No attempt is,
        however, made by man to take up any definite course or
        formula even on the intellectual level. In fact be never
        had time enough to pay heed to this problem. Perhaps
        religious bigotry or fear does not allow the clergy to
        draw the attention of the masses to this problem. They may
        find it a hopeless task to draw up a code of dietetics
        because of the energetic materialism prevalent everywhere.
        Still there are a few who have no biased views, and study
        the literature of the East with an open mind. But they have
        to face many difficulties because of the peculiar terminology
        foreign to them. The words are not explicit enough in
        themselves or hardly convey with exactness the intentions of
        the writers.

          The wise ancients - the Rishis and the Munis of yore -
        have thoroughly thrashed out the problem of human life.
        They exhaustively analyzed its various aspects to arrive at
        a feasible culture-program for man in search of perfection.
        In this way an acceptable standard of universal
        civilization or reform was evolved, which comprehended
        knowledge of self or soul and the attainment of the highest
        ultimate Reality - the great Truth. They began by
        methodically investigating Gunas (qualities) - the spinal
        back-bone and the primal source of all the activities of
        Karma on the fulcrum of which the mind swings. Next
        they dissected Gunas and divided them into three distinct
        groups, each being quite unlike the other.


          (1) Satogun - The most superior way of acting. It can
              be described as pure living with a mental equipoise.

          (2) Rajogun - It is interpreted as the middle course of
              acting in a business-like fashion of give and take.

          (3) Tamogun - It is the most inferior way of acting and
              may be called living purely for one's selfish ends,
              with no thought whatsoever of others.


          This subject can be easily understood by taking a couple
        of examples:

          (a) Consider, for example, the problem of service and
        help.

          (i) "X" has made it the principle of his life to serve
        others but does not expect any service or help from others
        in return for what he has done. Do good and cast it on
        the water, is his rule in life.

          (ii) "Y" serves and helps and expects the same in return.
        This may be likened to an exchange in service as in
        commercial establishments on the principle of give and
        take or barter - do unto others as you would like others to
        do unto you.

          (iii) "Z" neither serves nor helps others, but considers
        that he has a right to help and service from others for
        which he is not bound to give anything whatsoever in
        return.

          (b) Now consider the question of charity:

          (i) "Y' gives and forgets and does not like to accept
        anything in return - his principle being to render selfless
        service to the helpless and the needy.

          (ii) "Y" gives and expects a return for the good service
        rendered in one form or another.

          (iii) 'Y' only takes help and service whenever in need
        but never gives any in return, even when another may
        be in dire distress under his very nose.

          It will be seen that (1) the conduct of "V is the best
        and is Satogun. His good deeds earn merit for him in the
        eyes of every one in this and even his Creator's world.
        (2) 'Y' earns no credit for his good acts because he almost
        balances them by his business-like living of give and
        take, with no credit balance in his favor. (3) "Z" on the
        contrary loads himself with debt or liability for which he
        will have to undergo the Karmic process, perhaps spreading
        endlessly from generation to generation.

          The Masters, therefore, advise men to adopt course
        No. 1 and in no case to go lower than No. 2, if at all there
        be any need. Similarly, any one can chalk out his or her
        own program of life and determine the course of action.
        So much then for the dealings of man in life as a member
        of the social order to which be belongs. This, however, is
        not an end in itself but only a means to the end-the end
        being to become Neh-karma, that is to say, doing Karma
        not only without any attachment or desire for the fruit
        thereof but as a swadharm (an action in inaction) and
        then heading on toward unfoldment of the self within
        and experiencing the source of all Love, Life and
        Light; in which we actually live and have our very being
        just like a fish in water that knows not what water is.




                              Appendix II

                         LIFE OF SELF-SURRENDER


          THE problem of Achar or personal conduct of man as
        an individual is one of prime importance for success
        on the spiritual path. A loving faith in, and a complete
        surrender to, the Will of God or to that of His Elect, the
        God-man, constitute the basic principles for the life of
        the seeker after Truth.

          The sages and the scriptures alike all tell us that while
        living in the world, we should not conduct ourselves as
        if we are of the world, but maintain an attitude of self-
        abnegation or total detachment from the world and all
        that is of the world. We should, therefore, live like a
        lotus-leaf which has its roots in the mire below but raises
        its head far above in the light of the glorious sun shining
        over the murky water, or like a royal swan (a water-fowl)
        that sails majestically on the surface of the water which
        is its native habitat, and yet can fly high and dry if and
        when it chooses, or feels the necessity, to do so.

          This kind of disinterested isolation or separation from
        one's surroundings and above all from his lower self, the
        body, the mind and the mental world, comes only when
        one dissolves his ego or the individual will into the Will
        of God or the Will of his Guru, the God-man, for then he
        acts like a mere pantomime in a dumb show which dances
        and plays at the will of the wire-puller behind the screen.
        This is called complete surrender, which silently craves for
        "Not my but Thy will, 0 Lord," Such an attitude easily
        helps to make a person Neh-Karma. While apparently doing
        one thing, or another, he is now not doing anything on
        his own but is carrying out the Will of his Father-God or
        his Divine Preceptor for he verily sees within Him the
        Divine Plan as it is and he is just drifting along the Great
        Current of Life and finds himself a conscious instrument
        in the invisible hands directing all his movements.

          Self-surrender then means surrendering one's everything
        to God or His Elect, the Preceptor (God-in-man), including
        one's body, riches and his very self (the thinking mind).
        It does not mean a state of total bankruptcy for an
        individual, as some might be prone to think. The great God
        and His Elect are the giver of all these things and do not
        stand in need of those very gifts which they have already
        given freely and in abundance to their children for their
        best and legitimate use. We in ignorance think of these
        as our own and adopt an attitude of aggressive
        possessiveness and try to grab them by all means fair or
        foul and then guard them jealously with all our might and
        main. Attached to these gifts and clutching them fast,
        we forget the Great Giver Himself and herein creeps
        imperceptibly the great delusion, the root cause of all
        our sufferings. No doubt these things, having come to
        us, are ours but they have been given to us temporarily
        as a sacred trust to be utilized according to the Will of
        the Donor which, of course, is all perfect and
        immaculately clean with no flaw in it. But as we live in
        the realm of matter, we, with all our worldly wits about us,
        cannot escape attracting to us the gross impressions and
        allowing them to accumulate freely from day to day until
        they form a granite wall around us and we, losing clarity of
        perception, become blind to the reality and come to identify
        the self in us with the pinda and pindi-manas (the body and
        the bodily mind). With these smoke-colored glasses and
        blinkers added to them, we dwarf our vision and see not
        the white radiance of Reality as it is now covered by a
        dome of many-colored glass. The Saints tell us of the
        Reality and help us to break these false glasses, tear
        down the vision-limiting blinkers, and see the manifested
        world as a beautiful handicraft of God. They tell us
        that the world we see is a reflection of God and God
        dwells therein. This being the case, we must keep God's
        gifts of body, mind and riches, neat and clean as when
        they were given to us and use them wisely in His service
        and the service of His creation, according to His Divine
        Will which is already wrought in the pattern of our being
        (or else how could we exist?); but we have, by a continuous
        sense of separation from the Reality, lost sight of it
        in the mighty swirl of the world and also lost our hold on
        the vital Life-lines within: the Light and Sound of God.
        The Saints tell us to reverse the process from projection
        outside to the reality inside by understanding the true
        values of life, for "life" is much more precious than the
        flesh (body) and flesh more than the raiments (worldly
        riches) with which we clothe our little selves of the body
        and of the mind, wrongly thinking them as ours and making
        use of them recklessly and egoistically for sensual
        pleasures and earthly shows. If once we rise above body-
        consciousness, then we know what we are, how best to
        utilize our gifts in the service of God and Gods plan and
        not in sinful activities born of carnal appetites, self
        aggrandizement, or as means for acquiring temporal power
        or for personal benefit and gain. This was the great lesson
        which the sage Ashtavakra gave to Raja Janak after giving
        him a practical experience of the Reality. We have in
        fact to part with nothing but egoistic attachment to the
        treasure-house of the heart and this makes us none the
        poorer for it but attracts more of the love-laden gifts from
        the Supreme Father when He sees the wisdom of His
        child, a prodigal son before but now grown wiser. This is
        called surrendering the little self with all its adjuncts of
        body, mind and riches for the sake of the higher self
        (soul) according to the Divine Will and becoming Neh-Karma,
        the very goal of life.

          Now we will take an illustration to make the point
        more explicit. In the time of Guru Arjan, the fifth in
        line of succession to Guru Nanak, we have an account of a
        model sikh, Bhai Bhikari by name. A disciple once asked
        the Guru to introduce him to a Gurbhakta or a devoted
        disciple. The Guru directed him with a letter to Bhai
        Bhikari and asked him to stay with the Bhai Sahib for
        a few days. Bhikari received his brother-in-faith very
        warmly and entertained him to the best of his means. The
        day he arrived, his host was calmly sewing a piece of
        cloth which looked like a coffin-covering. The disciple,
        after spending a few days happily in his company,
        proposed to go back, but Bhikari requested him to stay
        on for some time more and to attend his son's wedding
        which was due shortly. At the loving insistence of the host,
        he agreed to do so. The wedding day came. There were
        festivities in the house but Bhikari was as serene as ever.
        The disciple like all the rest accompanied the wedding
        procession, witnessed the merry nuptials, and escorted
        the bride's procession back to Bhikari's house. The
        following day, as ill-luck would have it, Bhikari's only
        son, the newly-wedded youth, took ill suddenly and died.
        Bhikari quietly took out the cloth that he had prepared
        on purpose a few days earlier, wrapped the dead body of
        his son in it, took it to the cremation ground, and
        performed the last rites with his usual equanimity.
        Bhikari's steadfast attitude of composure all through this
        varying panorama of life, struck the disciple dumb with
        astonishment, for in Bhikari there was no trace of joy and
        sorrow, but perfect resignation to the Will of the Lord,
        which he knew right from the beginning; and he had acted
        accordingly, without exhibiting any personal feelings or
        emotions in the least.

          Guru Nanak used to pray: "0 Lord! Do nothing of what
        I say, but administer Thy Will." Similarly, Sant Kabir used
        to call himself a dog with Moti as his name and described
        all his doings, as those of his Lord who held the leash in
        His hands and dragged him wherever he liked. Christ
        always prayed: "Let Thy Will prevail on earth as it is in
        heaven." "May Thy Will be done" has ever been the concluding
        part in the daily prayer of the Hindu monks, Muslim darveshs
        and Christian priests followed by the words "Tatha Astit" or
        "Amen' all of which mean "may it be so."

          From the above, it should be clear how truly sincere
        disciples of the Masters and the Masters themselves always
        consider that they have no individual existence of
        their own apart from that of the God-man or of God. Such
        people read the past, the present and the future as an
        open book and do things in conformity with the Divine
        Plan. This leads one to the irresistible conclusion that
        God helps those souls who do His Will. But this is only
        for men of firm faith and is not to be taken as a means of
        escape by ordinary individuals living always on the plane
        of the senses, for they are governed by the law that God
        helps those who help themselves. The quality of self-
        surrender, with whatever degree of faith, does bear its own
        fruit, and quickly, according to the level at which it is
        practiced. By gradual experience one learns of its full
        value as he advances on the path until he reaches a stage
        when he altogether loses his own ego in the Divine Will
        and thus himself becomes Neh-Karma, the crown and
        glory of all human existence. A loving faith in the inherent
        goodness of God and complete self-surrender to the Divine
        Will lead one on the high-road to spirituality without any
        great continuing effort on the part of an aspirant. These
        two things constitute the secret "Sesame" and the magic key
        that flings wide open the portals of the Kingdom of God that
        lies within the temple of the human body which we all are:
        "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and God verily
        resides therein?" say all the Scriptures.




                    GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS AND NAMES
                        

        ABDULLAH  Disciple of Hazrat Mian Mir, a great saint

        ACHAR  Personal conduct

        AHAR  Diet

        AHIMSA  Non-violence; non-injury

        AKASHBANI  Heavenly Music; NAAM; Word

        ANIMA  The power to become invisible to external eyes; one
               of the eight sidhis 

        ARTHA  Economic or material well-being; one of the four
               spheres of human activity 

        ASHRAMS  The four stages in life, as envisioned by the
                 ancients 

        ASHTAVAKRA  A great rishi of old

        ATAM GUNAS  Attributes of soul 

        ATMAN  Spirit 

        AVTARAS  Incarnations 

        BABA FARID (1173-1265)  A Muslim Divine 

        BABER  The first Mughal King of India 

        BAHISHT  Paradise 

        BAIKUNTH  Paradise 

        BANG-1-ASMANI  Heavenly Sound; Word 

        BHAGWAT  One of the eighteen Hindu Puranas 

        BHAI BHIKARI  A devotee of the Sikh Gurus 

        BHAI MANI SINGH  A devotee of the Sikh Gurus 

        BHAJAN  Listening to Heavenly Music within 

        BRAHMAND  A Grand Division of Creation, involving three planes 

        BRAHMANS  Priests; the highest of the four Hindu castes 

        BRAHMCHARYA  The practice of celibacy; also, first
                     of the four ashrams, the stage of education 

        BUDDHA  The Awakened or Enlightened One; Seer
                of the Inner Light. Title given to Prince
                Siddhartha Gautama (583-463 B.C.), founder
                of the Buddhist religion 

        DARVESH  Muslim term for mystic or God-man

        DEVAS  Gods, divine beings 

        DHARITRASHTRA, KING  Blind ruler of the Mahabharata age 

        DHARMA  Moral or religious basis upholding and
                supporting the Universe; life-principle; group
                karmas of society or nation

        DHARMA-KAYA  Essence of the Universe; body pulsating with
                     Life Principle 

        DHYAN  Meditation; contemplation 

        DO JANMA  Twice born 

        ERAF  Purgatory 

        FANA-FI-SHEIKH  Self-effacement in the Murshid or Master 

        GANDHARVAS  A class of angels 

        GARIMA  The power to make the body heavy as one
                wishes; one of the eight sidhis 

        GREHASTHA  Householder; one of the four ashrams

        GUNAS  The three qualities: Sava (purity), Rajas
               (activity), and Tamas (inertia) 

        GURBANI  Writings of the Sikh Masters or Adi Granth;
                 esoterically, Shabd or Word 

        GURBHAKTA  A devotee of the Guru 

        GURU  Spiritual teacher or Master; literally, dispeller
              of darkness or torchbearer 

        GURU ARJAN (1563-1606)  Fifth Guru of the Sikhs

        GURU GOBIND SINGH (1666-1708)  Tenth Guru of the Sikhs

        GURU NANAK (1469-1539)  First Guru of the Sikhs

        HADI  Guide 

        HAZRAT MIAN MIR  A Muslim mystic, contemporary
                         with Guru Arjan

        HAZUR BABA SAWAN SINGH JI (1858-1948)  The Supreme Master
                          of the present living Master, Kirpal Singh

        HUMAYUN  King Baber's son 

        ISHTWA  The power to attain all glories for the self

        JAGAT GURU  Spiritual Master of the world; universal Master 

        JAPJI  An epitome of the Sikh Scriptures

        JIVA  Soul when encased by any or all of the three
              bodies: physical, astral, or causal

        JIVAN MUKAT  Liberated soul 

        JIVAN MUKTI  Liberation from the cycle of births and deaths
                     while living in the physical body; true Salvation 

        KABIR (1398-1518)  A great poet-saint, contemporary
                           with Guru Nanak 

        KALMA or KALM-I-QADIM   Audible Life Stream; Sound Current; Word 

        KAMA  Passion; desire; one of the four spheres of human activity 

        KARAM  Kindness, mercy, compassion, grace 

        KARMA-REHAT  Doing Karma in accordance with the Divine Plan;
                     being actionless in action

        KARMAN-SRIRA  Karmic shell or subtle body 

        KSHATRIYAS  Warriors and rulers; the second of the
                    four Hindu castes 

        KINNARS  A class of angels 

        KRISHNA, LORD  A great Hindu Incarnate of ancient times, whose
                       teachings are expounded in the Bhagavad Gita 

        KRIYAMAN  Karmas one performs freely in present earth life,
                  which will make or mar the future; willful actions

        KUKARMAS  Evil deeds 

        KURVAS  One of the parties in the great battle of Mahabharata 

        LACHIMA  The power to make one's body as light as
                 one wishes; one of the eight sidhis 

        MAHATMA  A Great Soul 

        MAHIMA  The power to extend one's body to any size;
                one of the eight sidhis 

        MAULANA RUMI (1207-1273)  A Persian Saint, author of Masnavi 

        MAYA  Illusion 

        MOKSHA  Salvation; liberation from the cycle of births
                and deaths; one of the four spheres of human activity

        MUNI  Sage or holy man 

        MURSHID or MURSHID-I-KAMIL  Muslim term for Spiritual Master
                                    or perfect guide

        NAAM  Word; Logos; Sound Current; the creative
              aspect of God; God in action

        NADIR SHAH  A King of Persia who massacred Delhi

        NASHEDH  Degrading, derogatory karmas 

        NEH-KARMA  Doing Karma in accordance with the Divine Plan,
                   as a conscious co-worker with the Power of God;
                   actionless in action

        NETYA  Required Karmas 

        NISH-KAMA KARMA  Karma performed without any attachment to
                         or desire for the fruits thereof 

        PANDIT  One learned in Hindu Scriptures 

        PIND  Physical universe; physical body; the lowest and least
              spiritual division

        PINDI MANAS  Bodily mind 

        PRAKAYMA  The ability to fulfill wishes of others; one
                  of the eight sidhis 

        PRAKRITIS  Twenty-five manifestations of nature 

        PRALABDHA  Luck, fate, destiny; that Karma which
                   caused our present life, and which has to be
                   worked off before death

        PRAPTI  The power to get anything one likes by mere
                wishing; one of the eight sidhis 

        PRASHCHIT  Repentance 

        PURANAS  Hindu Scriptures 

        RAJA JANAK  A great saintly king of ancient India

        RAJA PRIKSHAT  A Hindu king of old

        RAJAS GUNA or RAJOGUN  One of the three gunas; the quality of
                               activity; middle course, business-like
                               fashion, give and take

        RAJSIC  Pertaining to Rajas guna; as applied to diet,
                energy-producing

        RAMA  God 

        RAMA, LORD  A great Hindu Incarnate and hero of the Ramayana 

        RAM CHARITRA MANSA  Hindi Ramayana by Tulsi Das
                            (sixteenth century) 

        RIDHIS  Supernatural powers 

        RISHI  Sage or seer; usually refers to God-men of
               ancient times, such as those who compiled the
               Hindu Scriptures 

        SADH or SADHU  Disciplined soul; saint; popularly, wandering
                        ascetic

        SADHANS  Spiritual, mental and physical exercise

        SAKYA MUNI  One of the titles of Lord Buddha 

        SANCHIT  Stored Karmas
        
        SANT  Saint; one who has united with God 

        SANT SATGURU or SATGURU  Master of the Highest Order;
                                 Perfect Master; God-man

        SANYAS  One of the four ashrams; the stage of a
                spiritual pilgrim 

        SAROOP  Form 

        SATSANG  Discourse of a perfect Master; congregation
                 presided over by such a Master or His
                 representative; contact with a Master, on the
                 outer or inner planes; literally, association
                 with Truth

        SATSANGIS  Disciples of a perfect Master 

        SATVA GUNA or SATOGUN  One of the three gunas or qualities;
                               pure living with mental equipoise

        SATVIC  Pertaining to Satva guna; harmonious, tranquil; as
                applied to diet, those foods which produce harmony
                and tranquility, i.e., strictly vegetarian foods

        SAUDHYAYA  Reading of scriptural texts 

        SIDHIS  The eight extraordinary yogic powers 

        SIMRAN  Remembrance; esoterically, repetition of the Names of God 

        SUDRAS  The lowest of the four Hindu castes; manual laborers
                and servants of the upper three 

        SUKAMA  Good desires 

        SUKARMAS  Upgrading karmas 

        SURAT  Attention; the expression of the Soul 

        SURAT SHABD YOGA  Absorption in Holy Word or Sacred Sound;
                          the esoteric spiritual practice of
                          merging with the Absolute by uniting (Yoga)
                          the expression of the soul (surat) with the
                          expression of God (Shabd, Naam, or Word)

        SWADHARM  Action in inaction 

        SWAMI RAM TIRATH  God-realized person of recent times 

        SWARAG  Paradise 

        TAMAS GUNA or TAMOGUN  One of the three gunas or qualities;
                               inertia or dullness; inferior way;
                               living purely for one's selfish ends
                               with no thought of others

        TAMSIC  Pertaining to Tamas guna; inert, dull; as applied to diet,
                those foods which promote inertia and weigh down the soul,
                such as meat, fish, eggs, liquor 

        TAPAS  Austerities 

        TATHA ASTU  "May it be so," Amen; said at close of prayer in India 

        TATWAS  Creative and component elements; earth, water, fire,
                air, ether

        UND  The second division of Creation, just above the physical;
             the astral plane 

        UPAS  Legendary tree of multitudinous desires 

        VAIRAGYA  Detachment 

        VAISHYAS  Those engaged in commerce or agriculture;
                  third of the four Hindu castes 

        VANPRASTHA  Ascetic, hermit; one of the four ashrams 

        VARNS  Social orders; the four Hindu castes 

        VASHITWA  The power to bring others under one's influence
                  and control; one of the eight sidhis

        VEDAS  The four most holy Hindu Scriptures 

        VIHAR  Dealings, social conduct

        VIKARMAS  Prohibited actions 

        YAJNAS  Sacrifices 

        YAKSHAS  A class of angels 

        YAMA  Angel of Death 


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