Quest for a True Master

VI

To explain the necessity of a living Master and how to find one.

As the path is essentially a practical one, the necessity of a competent 'Living Master' cannot be over-emphasized. All Saints and scriptures equally lay stress on the competency of a Master – an Adept in the subject of practical self-analysis, capable of giving us some first-hand inner-experience at the very first sitting, no matter the quantum thereof.

Again, it is the Master alone Who can give us a right understanding of the scriptures and teachings of the Saints, because He has Himself experienced what They have described. The Rishis of old, who practically experienced the Self and Over-Self, have left for us their valuable experiences in languages that are now archaic, and on acount of peciliar declensions etc. are not easily intelligible to us. In this twentieth century, we are fortunate enough to have a record of Spiritual experiences of all those who came in the past so far. We can not doubt read the scriptures of the past but their true import can not be realised until we hear the same from one, who like the acients, has Himself got a first-hand experience of the practical self-analysis and of going into the beyond. Intellectual giants alone can never hope to do any justice to this problem.

It is the fudamental law of God, that none can even conceive of Him, without the aid of a True Master.

Nanak

Again, 

Millions of actions based on the ego, go in vain and bear no fruit but of fatigue. 

Nanak

There are, of course, ways and ways of liberating the Soul or Inner-man. Some of them are difficult, laborious and time-consuming like Prana-yam, which involves control and discipline of the breath, etc. At the present time the majority of us are not physically and hereditarily fit for practising the same. But the natural ways are easier and quicker. Saints have taken the most natural method of concentrationby eliminating the pranas from their system. It is calles 'Surat Shabd Yoga' or 'Yoga of the Sound-Current' for in it contact or union is to be established of the spirit with the perennial Sound Current, by a regular process of inversion.

It is also known as 'Sahaj-Yoga', as it can be practised with equal easy be everyone irrespective of sex and age. Its practice like that of any other yoga, may be most fruitfully performed under the personal guidance of a Living Master, for without Him no one has himself been ever able to extricate the Higher Self or Inner-man from its outer environments and to contact the Sound Current and the Light of God. which is the Way back to God.

'To witness the Self as it is' is supreme knowledge ans true wisdom. For this knowledge and wisdom, one must go in search of a competent teacher, not only learned but one possessed with rich practical experience – (of Soul-withdrawal, at will).

Upanishadas

Again,

Blessed is the perfect teacher, who having destroyed His own I-am-ness, reforms the whole world by His teachings.

Nanak

We have profound respect for all the scriptures and for all the Saints, rishis and Master-Souls who came in the past ans we are indepted to them for the valuable record of their experience and our respect also goes to the 'Living One', Who has practical knowledge of the Self and Over-Self and can give us a first-hand experience therof thereof. You may call Him by any name you like – God-man, Murshid-i-Kamil, Sant Sat Guru or Master-Soul.

All the Masters deserve reverence, for each has His own worth; but one Adept in the Sond-Current, is worthy of our highest adoration.

Kabir

There is in the world much sham and much tinsel and false prophets abound. Christ in unambiguous terms warns us to 'Beware of false prophets', and compares them to 'ravening wolves in cheep's clothing.'

For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so much so that, if it where possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

St Matthew 24:24

We must not, however, despair but exercise caution and discrimination in our search for a True Master. We must like the Upanishadic sages learn to pray for a consummation of the right type, –

From the unreal. lead me the the real. from darkness lead me to light, from death lead me to immortality.

Brihadaranyaka Upnishad

In our struggle to achieve this, we must strive hard and stop not until the goal is reached. With a sincere prayer coming from the depths of the mind, that illimitable power does in His own inimitable way, lead a person to a Human Pole from where that power works in the world; for man alone can be the teacher of man. The Guru (Master) appears when the Chela (disciple) is ready, is an axiomatoic Truth.

The universal appeal of the Master is, –

Leave all else and follow Me.

Gita XVIII:65-66

Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

St Matthew 11:28

Abide in me and I in you […] Without me you can do nothing.

St John 15:4-5

and His pledge is, –

And Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.

St John 6:37

I shall abide with thee for ever and for ever, even when thou quitest thy abode here on earth.

Shamas-i-Tabrez

One who comes to His feet is exalted, for that is the pledge from the most High.

Nanak

Hence-forth, the Master takes charge of the spirit and guides it both directly and indirectly, visibly and invisibly on this earth and beyond, in life and after life and does not rest content until the final consummation takes place. It is now that one learns the truth of thje aphorims, –

Everyman, I will go with thee, and be thy guide, in thy most need to go by thy side.

Everyman

Lo! I am with you always even unto the end of the world, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

St Matthew 28:20

To meet a Master-Soul, is really the greatest blessing of God. He holds the keys to the Kingdom of God and leads the world-weary back to His Father's Mission. He rediscovers God for man in the silent chamber of His Inner-self. Hence our need for a living Master is the greatest as without Him we ever grope in darkness. Farid, a Muslim divine, says, –

Oh Farid! Get up and hie on, in search of a God-man, high and low, right and left, in all the four corners of the world; for such a 'One' alone can grant thee the Saving Life Line.

Without the True Master, none can reach Him, not even with millions of good deeds.

Nanak