The Importance of Arti

The householder devotees should perform the arti every Amaras. Kal dwells in the house where arti is not performed on Amaras. If arti cannot be performed that day, then perform it on every Purnima. Oh Dharam Das, if the disciple drinks the Nectar of Naam on Purnima, then he gets to reside in the happiness. If one gets Naam when the moon is at its fullest, and according to its power, one serves the Master, that Soul goes to Sach Khand. 

Dharam Das made this request:

Tell me how the Souls will be protected. In the Kali Yuga many people will be poor, so tell me some way for them. Oh Lord, all the Jivas are Yours, tell me how they all might be able to do this seva. All the Souls are the essence of Sat Purush. Tell me about them so that the doubts in my mind might be cleared.

The Satguru answered:

Oh Dharam Das, the poor can perform the arti once every six months. If arti cannot be performed every six months, then yearly they must perform the chauka and serve the Master. If one misses once a year, the Saints call him worldly. The Souls who perform arti at least once a year do not fall in deception. If he repeats the Naam of Kabir wholeheartedly, and meditates on your Naam, if he accepts the feet of the Master firmly, the Love for the Master’s feet will liberate him. The householders who will adopt this, by the Glory of Master, will dwell in Sach Khand.

Hymn

Oh Dharam Das, I have told you the ways of living of both renunciates and householders. They will hear the Shabd if they live up to the ways of living. This ocean of the world is deep, bottomless, and terrible: those who firmly catch the boat of Naam come to the opposite shore.

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Illustration:

Arti: In the Anurag Sagar, the symbolism of arti – presentation of light – stands for both initiation and Darshan.

(See also the subsection 'Arti' in the illustration to 'The Narration of Khemsari.')

Here the arti stands for meeting or having Darshan of the Master.

To the subject of initiation Kirpal Singh says:

First of all, we should know what initiation means. Initiation is no ceremony, no rite, no ritual, no offering. It is just like a school, in which a lesson is given; and for that lesson, first the Inner Theory is explained, and then an Inner Experience is given. We are all children of God. God is Light, and we are also Light, being of the same essence as that of God. But our Light is enveloped by different coverings – physical, astral, causal and supercausal. It is just like a lamp that has two, three or four coverings over it; it appears as if there is no light there. But when you shake off one covering, you have some light; when you shake off another one, more light; and, as you shake off all the coverings, you see it is all-light. Similarly, we are Light, children of Light, but we are enveloped by so many coverings.

Initiation means to raise up our soul and shake off the coverings: first, the one of the physical body, which is the iron curtain, I would say: to raise the soul above body consciousness – physical consciousness – and open the Inner Eye to have an experience of Light, and also to open the Inner Ear to hear the Voice of God, or the Music of the Spheres.

This is what is actually meant by the word initiation: to be initiated into the beyond.

Initiation – Talk given by Kirpal Singh
during His second World Tour in Miami,
on 1 January 1964
published in Sat Sandesh / December 1976

Purnima: Full moon.

Poor: They will not afford to travel to the Master. True Gurumukhs are always willing to make the journey for such disciples possible.

Perform the arti once every six months: In this day and age, 2012, one should attend the True Satsang at least once every six months with a following meditation sitting even if one lives farther away from the place of Satsang.

Yearly they must perform the chauka: In this day and age, 2012, this includes seva – selfless service – for the Sat Sangat, service to the Master, the attendance of True Satsang and a meditation sitting – for this purpose there are meditation sittings for people who received initiation some time ago and who could not spend enough time for regular meditations or could not visit the True Satsang regularly.