THE MASTER ANSWERS PART NO.22, Mysticism, reading, forums, Numerology, Sun Signs, Divination

Posts: 5115 · Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 11:46 am

Q Do those who hanker after happiness and peace, require a Guru equally, the same as in mystical work?

A As I said in one of my lectures here, everybody wants happiness. There is hardly anybody who does not want peace. But the question is whether the place where we are trying to search for peace is the place where peace can be found. If we want peace politically, economically, socially, we will never achieve it. History does not encourage us. We will always be at war with each other. So many social reformers have come into this world, so many statesmen and world politicians have been here, but we are not better humans nor are we enjoying more peace. We are always fighting against each other. I think our approach is wrong.

If we try to find peace spiritually, on the spiritual platform, we will get peace within everywhere we go. If we are to find peace, we have to seek peace within our body. Unless you seek peace within yourself, you will never find peace outside. The nearer the humans will be towards the Lord, the closer we forget Him, the more we are deviating from each other, the more we are hating each other. So, if we really want peace, let us go back to the same goal, the same source or origin, the same destination. The closer we come to Him, the closer we come to each other. That is why Christ said. "Love one another." And we can only love one another when we love the Lord, when we love our own destination, when we stand on the spiritual platform. But in our search for peace we are ignoring the spiritual platform.

Even our politicians want to use the spiritual platform, not from a spiritual point of view but from a political point of view. They are interested only in power and votes, and not in you and me. They do not mind killing thousands and hundreds of thousands in order to gain power. Not that they are spiritual, but that they want to use the name of religion for their own selfish ends and means. But who listens to you and me?

We can find peace only within ourselves. Unless we seek that peace within ourselves we can never be happy even in this world. If sometimes you are in agony, you are at war with yourself, you are unhappy. Even if you live in a palace, you may have a thousand dishes before you, you may have many happy people around you, but you are not happy; nothing appeals to you. But when you are happy within yourself, then you find love and joy even from anything you pick up, every step you take, you just dance with happiness.

I often give an example; a child goes to the World's Fair, holding onto his father's hand. Everything in the fair appeals to the child. Somewhere children are playing, somewhere there are trained porpoise and whales performing, music, electric lights and so many other things to enjoy that the child probably thinks that he is getting happiness out of all that he sees and hears in the fair. But the moment he loses hold of his father's hand and is lost in separation from the father, then he begins to weep. The same things are still going on in the fair, but nothing appeals to him. Then he realizes that he could get peace and joy from this fair only as long as he was holding the hand of his father. Similarly, we have only one Father, as is mentioned in the Bible, "For one is your Father." As long as we remain in His Will, we are holding His hand, we love Him, we are devoted to Him, we are in communion with Him, or we will be happy and we will also find peace while in this world. The moment we forget Him, or lose hold of His hand, this whole world will be nothing but an agony.

Any number of politicians or social reformers may come into this world, but they will never be able to create peace in this world at all, merely on political and social levels. But if peace is attained on a spiritual level, then everything else is included, and that peace alone is permanent.

Q I read in one of the books that unless one has actually met the Master personally, it is impossible to go inside and reach Sach Khand. Is it a fact that one must actually meet the Master in person, first?

A Unless we have a Living Master, that is what it means.

Q I understood from the book that unless one had been initiated by the Master in person --- is that a fact?

A That may not have been understood correctly, for when the Master initiates us through somebody, he is responsible, for it is actually he who is initiating us. The one conducting the initiation is not responsible, as he is just an instrument on the way. So, by this means the applicant has actually met the Master. According to the philosophy of Sant Mat, we have got to contact or meet a Living Master. If we can come physically in his presence, that is very good; if we cannot do so, it is for him to connect us through some other channel. That is equally good.

Q How about the contemplation of the Master's form, the Dhyan part of it?

A While doing Simran (repeating the five holy Names), we should contemplate on the form of the master, keeping his form here, at the eye center. But if we have not seen the Master in person, we can just keep our attention here and do the Simran, and even then the Master will appear inside. We are just to hold our attention here, at the eye center, and do the Simran. The same Master will appear. If you have met him, have seen him, you can contemplate on his form, but you should never contemplate on any picture or photo. That is not advisable.

When the Master initiates, whether he does it personally or by proxy, he is personally present to initiate the soul. Space and distance make no difference as far as the Master is concerned, but definitely there are certain advantages that at least a disciple feels in the personal presence of the Master, which otherwise, perhaps, he does not feel. But in spiritual practice, the advantages will be the same, whether you have met the Master face-to-face or not, whether you are initiated by him personally or through someone designated by him to give the verbal instructions. It is the direct initiation as far as you are concerned. You will get the same result in your meditation that you would get otherwise. A disciple does always feel much better if he can come into the presence of the Master or have his own contact with the Master. However, from the meditation or spiritual achievement point of view, it makes no difference at all.

Q Master, to contact the Master, when we have to live and work like we do, who belong to the working class, there is no possibility of our going abroad and living in devotion with the Master?

A Brother, when you are convinced of the necessity of a Master, you will meet a Master?

Q Maharaj Ji, on the path inward, here in the West, we have so little opportunity for Darshan (beholding or seeing the Master). What is our answer there?

A Well, brother, real Darshan is inside. Everyone has to work for that. The outside Darshan is good, but then we have to take a practical view. So, in the absence of all that, we can hold small group meetings and read literature, and try to devote more time to Bhajan and Simran.

Group meetings are very useful, provided there are no bickerings, no petty jealousis, and provided there are no bickerings, no petty jealousis, and provided they bring us nearer to each other. We do not hold meetings to give vent to our differences, or to show our superiority, or to boss over others. That is not the object of the meetings, but is rather contrary to the very purpose of the meetings. The object of the meetings is to inculcate humility, in us and to bring us together, and to encourage each other on the path. Our example should be such that if anybody is in some doubt, it will help him to come back on the path again. That is the object, just to create that atmosphere. Because mere mechanical meditation, say giving time for two and one-half hours every day and then forgetting about Sant Mat, is not the right answer. We have to live in Sant Mat, is not the right answer. We have to live in Sant Mat, so that we are in it the whole day. And that can be done only if we carry Sant Mat in our own atmosphere around us. If we just leave the atmosphere in the house, again try to pick it up the next morning, in that way we are satsangis for only two hours or so, and not the whole day. We have to be satsangis for the whole day. We have to build that atmosphere around us so that whoever comes in that, automatically is influenced and affected by it. We have to do the same thing there, in India, as well as here in America. There is no difference. For a Master and a disciple, this space or distance does not count at all.

Q After having partaken of the Darshan by gazing upon the countenance of the Master in person, can one get approximately the same results after he is gone, by gazing upon his picture or photo?

A I will just explain to you what the meaning of Darshan is. Why do we look at our beloved? We love him. We do not want to take our gaze away from him, because we are in love with him. We always want to see and see and see him. If we try to analyze "why", perhaps we have no explanation for it. But we look at him, have his Darshan, just to have association, mental association, or because it is something we just cannot help. It comes from within ourselves.

The purpose of having the Master's Darshan is that when we sit in meditation, we should try to be able to contemplate on his form, when we have seen it. WE should never try to contemplate on a photo. Photos are only for refreshing our memories. We have photos in our houses of our friends and relatives. We never contemplate on them. When we are moving about and glancing at them, they are just to remind us of that friend or that relative, of our affection for them, of the good deeds that they have done and our obligations towards them. That is the purpose of our keeping photos in our houses. We do not worship these photos. They just remind us of those individuals and our affection for them. So we generally keep a photo of our Master in our house so that it may keep us reminded of him in the sense that we remain reminded of his teachings, of the principles of Sant Mat which he has taught us to follow. These teachings, as given by him, should always remain fresh in our mind. That is the purpose of the photo.

Q Is there an advantage in looking at the photo?

A No. There is absolutely no advantage at all. When I was still a child, the Great Master for a very long time did not permit himself to be photographed, lest people start worshipping his photo, as many people do of the saints who have departed, and start meditating on the pictures, which is against the principles of Sant Mat. The first photo of the Great Master was taken for the public when Dr.Brock wrote from America Persistently, "I want to see what my Master looks like, outside." So, the Great Master's first picture was taken just to be sent to America. From there, slowly and slowly, a picture was given to a few others, restricted to only a few people in India. I still remember the occasion. It was a great problem for people to get a copy of that picture because in those days photography was not so common that everybody could bring a camera for a snap. But later, when Mahattas became satsangis, and other professional photographers, too, came in, the Master could not conceal himself any longer. Wherever he went, everybody began taking his photograph. But he always insisted that these pictures or photos should never be used for meditating purposes. We should never contemplate on the photo.

Q Has the Master the power to help the disciple open the inner eye, while the disciple is meditating, or is it just that we have to be purified so much until it automatically opens of its own accord and then the Master helps us to open it?

A Brother, it takes both. We have to put in the effort, and the grace of the Master is always there. My Master used to tell us that if a disciple goes one step forward, the Master comes ten steps to receive him. If we go ten steps, he comes a hundred steps to receive us. If we are sincere and honest in our devotion, in our efforts, he never withholds his grace; it is always there.

Q Can a chela, a disciple, reach Sahansdal Kanwal without initiation?

A Yes. I do not say up to Sahansdal Kanwal, but with our efforts, our personal efforts without a guide, we can reach up to a certain stage, but then there is a block. We cannot go ahead. We can see a Light, we can hear the Sound to a degree, but by our own efforts or by just following the instructions given in books, we will be stuck there and cannot go ahead.

Q How far can one go without initiation?

A That again depends upon the karmas of the individual. Whatever little progress we do make without a Master is due to many factors of our past births. This is very difficult to describe. We do make some, but very limited progress.

Q Then we do not need the Sound Current to reach Sahansdal Kanwal, because you said yesterday that one could reach Sahansdal Kanwal...?

A No, I said that you could make progress to some extent with your own efforts, but you do not make much progress inside by your own efforts. You need a Master. The Master is nothing but the Sound, and Sound is nothing but the Master. Our real Master is Sound, the Word, the Bani, the Shabd, the Nam ---- give it any name. The Master just takes the form that Sound and merges back into the Sound.

Q Now you say we cannot reach Sahansdal Kanwal without initiation?

A Sahansdal Kanwal is not as small as this universe. It is a big region. You may reach the rim of the lower portion with your own efforts, yet you may not reach Sahansdal Kanwal itself. Sometimes you may see a reflection of what is there and you think that you have seen the whole thing. Actually, it is just a reflection, as you see that of the sun in the water. Definitely, with your own efforts, you can make some progress up to a certain extent, but that, too, only with exceedingly great effort. Beyond that, you can make no further spiritual progress by yourself. And then, by your own efforts, you have no way of knowing whether you are going in the right direction or in the wrong direction. You have got to have somebody to guide you.

Q That is right. Your devotion to your Master should be one-pointed. "A rolling stone gathers no moss." If you run from or shift from Master to Master, from place to place, you will get nowhere. We have got to build definite faith and devotion in our guide who is to lead us. Unless we develop that faith, our mind will not let us practice as we will have so many doubts coming in our mind, and then we will make no progress. So, what Christ meant was that we must have implicit faith in our Master. The other master is our mind and senses. It is not possible to be a slave of the senses and serve the Lord simultaneously, for the one is the exact opposite of the other, and we cannot go in two directions at the same time. Either we are bound down by the mind and senses, or we serve the Master by doing the spiritual practice and thus go back up and merge into the Lord. Christ also said, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon," meaning that it is possessions, wealth, family, friends --- anything that keeps our attention away from Him is mammon. That must not be our Master if we want to make any progress at all. Only our spiritual Master can help us reach our goal.

Q When on has professed to be a Christian and has no cause to doubt, the question arises that if one has got to be a satsangi, which Master would be correct, and how could one serve both?

A But are you sure Christ is your Master just by your becoing a Christian? That is the main thing. If Christ is your Master, or when you become a Christian he becomes your Master, then you do not need a Master. If it is just a deception in your mind that he is your Master, and actually he is not, then you need one.

Sister, the real teaching of Christ is something quite different from just embracing Christianity. According to the teachings of Christ, we have to find a Living Master, and the only way in which we can really follow his teachings is to be in the fold of a Living Master. Christ initiated certain people and took them to his abode. He indicated that as long as "I am in the world, I am the Light of the world." He said very beautifully to the effect that. "Now I am with you, but after a little while I shall leave you and then again I shall be with you. Now you have so many doubts, but when I shall be with you after a little while, you shall have no doubts." These are all mystic things. When Christ said that he was going to leave them, he meant only as far as the physical form was concerned. And that was said to certain disciples of his, and not to you and me today. When he said to his disciples those whom he had initiated in his lifetime., "A little while and ye shall see me," he meant that he had not only initiated them in the physical form, for after he had left the physical form he should be with them in his Radiant Form inside, permanently. Now you see me in the flesh and you have doubts, he said, but when you will see my radiance inside, after a little while, then you will have no questions. He explained all this beautifully to his personal disciples, pertaining to himself as their Living Master. You and I cannot make use of that personality now. If we are really followers of Christ's teachings, we have got to find a Living Master. WE have got to know the teachings of Christ from him, and to follow those teachings, and then we can be led to Christ too, if we are interested to meet him.