Illustration to
'Hymn of God’s Grace'

Guru – Guru Dev – Satguru: 

A real Guru is the true manifestation of God. He is, in fact, Satguru or Master of Truth, and manifests in the world the Light of Truth. 

The term Guru Dev, therefore, signifies the self-luminous form of the Master, which is free from and far above His physical body, and which the spirit actually perceives with its Inner subtle Light. When the spirit comes face to face with the astral Master, all doubts vanish and its labours get the crowning reward – the Summum Bonum of life. […]

It is this astral or self-luminous form of the Master that leads a spirit Godward through various planes intervening between the physical plane and Sat Lok or the Region of Truth. There is no distinction between Guru and Guru Dev and Satguru and God.

It is one and the same Current of Divine Compassion that assumes different names at different regions.

Following the law of similitude the Divine Current as It materialises on the physical plane for the benefit of the aspirants is called Guru or Master, Who by word of mouth imparts the Spiritual Instructions as any other teacher in physical sciences would do.

As the spirit of an aspirant leaves the body and is ready for the journey in the astral or subtle planes, that very Divine Current assumes a subtle form for the soul’s benefit and guidance.

This subtle form disengaged from the bodily form of the Guru is termed Guru Dev. It is self-luminous and lustrous with Light extending over miles and miles. Satguru or the Master of Truth is the Power of Truth or God that works through both Guru and Guru Dev. With roots firmly embedded in Sat or Truth, He directly derives His inspiration from the Eternal and Unchangeable Permanence, Sat, hence is known as Satguru.

Godman (First Edition, 1967) –
XVIII. Guru Dev,
by Kirpal Singh, 1894–1974

Inconceivable God: Agam Purush. Specifically refers to the seventh Inner Plane, the first – partial – expression of the Absolute God or Anami.

Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru in the line of Guru Nanak, came from this plane. He is the treasure-holder of the treasures and virtues of the Almighty.

Darshan: To look at a Saint, or to receive a glimpse of Him. The Darshan of the Satguru is worth hundred years of Bhajan. So, in our times, every initiate should aspire to have the Darshan of Kirpal within.
 
This term is also misleadingly used when someone is in the presence of an imperfect so-called master or a so-called spiritual teacher; but that is not its real meaning. The same applies to the so-called 'Darshan' of Kal or of people acting in the Anurag Sage who are no Saints. True Darshan can give Kirpal, Sat Purush and the other embodiments of the Master-Power, for instance. Kal, the various Gods or people, who are no Saints, cannot give it, even if they make use of the term.