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: People say they are searching ,for ‘Truth’; or they have found Truth. What does this word ‘Truth’ imply in the teachings of the Masters?

Answer: Truth in the teaching of the Masters is a definite science. It is called the Word or Naam. It has a practical aspect. It is universal and for all mankind. It is the natural Way back to God achieved during ones lifetime. It is a process of self-analysis and self-introspection in which first-hand experience is given by the Master individually or in a class by opening the Inner Vision to the Light within, called the Light of God and a contact with Sound or the audible Life-Stream of the Voice of God at the time of initiation, more or less, according to each man’s receptivity and background. The disciple must then develop it further by allotting time regularly each day with Love and devotion.

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Question: How can we become passive and attain absolute stillness and silence inside to enable us to obtain the bliss of the Light of lights?

Answer: There are no short cuts on the Spiritual Path. One has to work for the Spiritual Bliss. Mind, like fire, is a good servant but a bad master. While sitting for meditation, we have to free the mind of all thoughts, and the intellect of all reasoning. This can be achieved by a mental revolution. What in the world is after all ours? Nothing, not even the body, the mental apparatus and the wealth that one may possess. These are given to us for a legitimate use only. They belong to the Giver. Why not surrender them at the Holy Feet of the Godman when attending to the task assigned by Him: to wit, to sit at the eye-focus and lovingly gaze within with devoted undivided attention, mentally repeating the charged Words very very slowly, may be at intervals, so as not to disturb the gaze. Gradually it will, by practice, become a habit and a second nature with you and the Master-Power above will take care of you and without any effort on your part, you will find your Self rising above body consciousness into consciousness of a higher order. Love, longing and devotion are the keynotes on the Path Godwards.

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Question: What is yogic sleep?

Answer: It is a sleep in which the soul descends into the lower chakras and goes into deep sleep and sometimes sees dreams. It comes while contemplating, on some fixed idea. The Masters do not advocate or encourage it.

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Question: How can man free his body from all negation and achieve perfection or near perfection?

Answer: Man can free his body from all negation and achieve perfection by resorting to stern discipline, self-control and regular meditations faithfully under the guidance of a Perfect Master.

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Question: Why does the mind forget the bliss?

Answer: Forgetfulness is the chief attribute of human mind. It is due to the gross Maya or materialism that we forget the Inner Bliss and are overtaken by the sensuous urges. When Inner Consciousness grows gradually, mind forgets its lower pulls and relishes Inner Bliss perpetually with the Grace of the Master.

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Question: Can the Power of God work in our lives in spite of bad karma?

Answer: The Divine Power of God continues working for our Spiritual Welfare irrespective of the response. It is rather the enlivening principle in human body which sustains and maintains the life, and as such works ceaselessly throughout the physical sojourn. What we term as bad karma means lesser good and if one is granted the boon of Holy Initiation, there are ample chances of improvement.

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Question: How does karma work on lower animals?

Answer: Lower animals or forms of creation are bound by their past karmic debt and they do not contract any more karma during their life span. They simply are born to undergo their karmic liquidation.

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Question: What is the true meaning of the Word?

Answer: God is wordless and when It came into expression, It is called the Word or Naam in the terminology of Sant Mat. It is the God-into-expression-Power which when manifests itself reveals the Divine Light of God and the Holy Sound Current, the conscious contacts of which are granted by the Master to the initiates. Please refer to the book ‘Naam or Word’ for exhaustive explanations.

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Question: What are the five Shabds? Are these the charged names?

Answer: The five Shabds are the varying types of the Sounds heard within denoting the various Spiritual Planes up to Sach Khand. As a matter of fact the Sound Current is One but varies according to the density of the Inner Realms, where there is All-Consciousness predominating Maya, another region where Maya and consciousness are at par, and the last where Maya predominates and consciousness is at a lower ebb. The five charged Names denote these stages.

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Question: Why is it so difficult to hear Shabd?

Answer: Shabd is reverberating in all the universes, seen or unseen. The human soul and Holy Shabd are of the same Divine Essence. Those who develop their Inner Consciousness by regular, faithful and accurate meditations can listen to this Heavenly Melody anytime they choose to do so. The novices do feel some trouble in focussing their attention at the eye-centre and controlling their vibrations and thoughts carefully. Besides those who speak much and waste their precious energy in idle and loose talk cannot listen to this Heavenly Melody. It is the Inner single-minded Devotion and attention which grants this rapturous listening. Practice undertaken with perseverance and steadfastness invokes Divine Grace and the initiate can listen to the Holy Shabd Dhun.

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Question: Why does one put off practising Shabd when it is so very essential for Spiritual Progress?

Answer: Human mind is fashioned as such by providence that it resents silence and stillness at its centre – back between the two eyes. It is an agent of Negative Power attached to each human soul and relishes externality. It does not relish introversion. Besides, it is fond of sensuous pleasures, which cannot be eschewed easily. It is the gracious protection of the Living Master that He grants the conscious contact of this Heavenly Melody. Yet Satsangis do not pay proper heed to this most important aspect of Spiritual Discipline. It may be added that the dear ones who are engrossed in the pursuit of gross pleasures of flesh and matter seldom take to the Holy Path, and if per chance some of them may happen to be led to the Master and granted initiation, due to some past karmic evolution, they do not relish this Spiritual Discipline.

Human body is just like a radio set wherein these Divine Melodies are being received by all. The Living Master is the One Who can repair our damaged sets and grant us the knob and wave-length at which this Heavenly Song can be heard. Regularity and steadfastness coupled with untiring selfless service in a spirit of dedication are the chief helping factors for practising this Spiritual Discipline.

Mind has a varying set of tricks to unloose on the initiate for evading this listening. Sometimes it poses as a friend to coax the disciple by putting forth family obligations etc. and the dear one is caught in the noose of attachment. At other times it stands up in tough fight like a formidable foe. Besides, the temptations of worldly pleasures keep the mind constantly swinging and wavering. The only point where it can find rest is at the eye-centre, the seat of the soul. The putting off of practising Shabd is an age-old malady of the human mind for which Divine Grace of the Master is most essential.

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Question: Now that we have come down to earth from our Heavenly Home, do we have definite promise that we can remain there after going up with a Master?

Answer: Yes, there is a definite promise from the Living Master, supported by the statements of past Masters, that the souls merging with the Father within, are not to be reincarnated when blessed with the rare boon of Holy Initiation of Naam. The seed karma being the basis of future birth of the initiates is burnt in the fire of Holy Naam. Guru Nanak has proclaimed in the Granth Sahib, that having been blessed with the rare boon of Holy Naam, the accounts of the disciple are torn, and he or she has nothing to do with Dharam Rai – the judge, appointed by the Negative Power for administering justice to the souls, after the termination of their earthly lives. They can be sent to the earth to fetch back the souls to God, but not like a prisoner to reap the fruit of their actions.

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Question: How much are our lives pre-ordained, and what part does ‘free will’ play after we become initiates?

Answer: Six things are pre-ordained or covered by fate karma; viz. health and sickness, poverty and opulence, honour and ignominy. Strenuous effort, self-control and discipline do play an important role for our betterment with the Grace of the Master. Many dear ones with unhappy and chequered careers claim to have become Saintly Persons after Holy Initiation and faithful meditations on Holy Naam. For elaborate discussion, reference is invited to ‘Wheel of Life.’