Questions answered

The Master receives from devotees queries on various aspects of Spirituality. These may be personal or academic, but the Master’s answers have universal appeal for Spiritual Aspirants. We reproduce here some of the questions and answers from the Master’s latest book ‘Spiritual Elixir’ for the benefit of our readers.

Question: To what extent do the teachings of Sages of lower order help the sincere students of Sant Mat so as to hasten the day when we meet the Radiant Master within and be guided by Him thereafter?

Answer: The teachings of all the Masters, may be of lower order or higher order, are helpful to the initiates provided the latter do not indulge in controversial discussions. Like an intelligent swan – whose beak is blessed with the rare boon of separating milk from water – the disciple should accept goodness from wherever it may be available. The charming Radiant Form the Master manifests itself in due course by attaining proficiency in the Divine Principles of Holy Shabd – the Sound Current, and the Divine Lights, which are His astral forms. The faithful and disciplined initiates receive guidance at every step after the Radiant Form of the Master is manifested within. The Inner Receptivity of the disciple develops wonderfully by regular, faithful and accurate meditations. Ever since initiation, the gracious Master-Power becomes the constant and nearest companion of the disciple for escorting the soul to the True Home of the Father, with the aid of Holy Naam.

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Question: Please explain why the enactment of the drama of life?

Answer: It is all an expression of the inexorable Law of Karma. Desire is the root-cause of all bondage and rebirths. Unless one becomes a Conscious Co-Worker of the Divine Plan by complete self-surrender and annihilation of ego, the goal of Spiritual Perfection cannot be attained. Please refer to the book ‘Wheel of Life’ for exhaustive explanation.

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Question: Please explain the importance of initiation?

Answer: Initiation by a Perfect Living Master assures an escort in unknown realms by One Who is Himself a frequent traveller to those regions. He knows the presiding deities or powers of these planes, conducts the spirit step by step, counsels at every turn and twist of the Path, cautions against lurking dangers at each place, explaining in detail all that one desires to know. He is a teacher on all levels of existence; a Guru on the earth-plane, a Guru Dev – Astral Radiant Form – in the astral worlds and a Satguru in the purely Spiritual Regions. When everyone fails in this very life, at one stage or another, His long and strong arm is always there to help us, both when we are here and when we quit the earth plane. He pilots the spirit into the beyond and stands by it, even before the judgement seat of God.

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Question: Is every body entitled for initiation?

Answer: No, every body is not entitled to Holy Initiation into the mysteries of the beyond.

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Question: Can karma apply to nations as well as individuals?

Answer: Yes. The cumulative reaction of karmic debts of nations results in wars, epidemics, destruction by fire or floods etc. For exhaustive explanation, a reference is invited to the book ‘Wheel of Life.’

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Question: How would You differentiate between the soul and spirit?

Answer: There is no difference between the soul and spirit, both represent the consciousness pervading the human body.

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Question: If one could see the soul with these eyes, what would it look like?

Answer: Nobody can see the soul with these outer eyes and as such it is beyond the ken of human comprehension to know it. The soul is the enlivening principle pervading the human body and it can be realised within by introversion when the senses are controlled, the mind stilled, and the intellect silenced.

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Question: How can mind be stilled?

Answer: Mind is enamoured of pleasures and runs after them whenever and wherever they can be found. It is stilled in the physical presence of the Master. It is by His Divine Radiation that the souls are attracted towards Him, and the mind which gets consciousness from the soul is stilled for the time being.

Tulsi Sahib says:

Surat Sadh sang thehrai – tau man thirta kichh pai.

The attention or the outer expression of soul is controlled in the company of a Sadh. It is only then that the mind attains some stillness.

But pleasures of the flesh are quite different from True Happiness born of Inner Peace in the soul. If the mind is provided with the appetency to relish something sublime and gets an opportunity of doing so it knows the value of Real Happiness with the result that the sense-pleasures lose all their charm, and thereafter seem insipid and valueless. This is the way to still the mind and the way to control the hydra-headed monster by making manifest in the body the dulcet strains of the Music of Life, enlivening the entire creation. We have an instance of it in the life of Lord Krishna, where it is allegorically explained how the Lord tamed the many headed cobra in the river Yamuna – human body –, by the melody of his magic flute – audible Life-Stream.

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Question: What makes one stray from this golden Grand Trunk Road of Spirituality after finding the True Godman and receiving Sacred Initiation from Him?

Answer: It is the ego in humans which debars them from Spiritual Illumination. It can be annihilated only by stern Spiritual Discipline and a sacred schedule of Holy Meditations together with deep reverential humility. Sometimes uncongenial environments do affect the Spiritual Progress of the dear initiates, who should always pray for right understanding and Divine Grace.