Kirpal Singh

I. On the Birthday Eve

The Master gave this talk during the Evening Satsang on 5^th February.

Dear Brothers and Sisters

The things that you have heard, to Whom does the credit go for that?

Christ said,

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

This is the relationship between the Guru and His disciple. The Sikh or disciple is he who is accepted as such by the Guru. It is none of the disciple’s doing; it is all my Master’s work.

He said to me,

Look here, I have done this much, the rest you have to do.

I wept in anguish,

Master, how can I do it?

And He said,

I am with you.

So when the Sikh merges his identity in the Guru and becomes One with him, it is the Guru’s Power that works, for it is His work.

Hafiz says,

I am rid of all fears for I am embedded in my True Friend, my Master; he who has drowned himself in the Water of Life, what fear has he of death?

Ramakrishna once showed Vivekananda a plate filled with honey and said,

This is the sea of immortality and you are a honey-bee. How will you eat it?

Vivekananda replied,

I will start from the edges to save myself from getting stuck in it.

Ramakrishna retorted,

It is the sea of immortality! Plunge headlong into it.

Who is He – the Guru? Gurbani says,

He that is He is my Ewe one from beginning to end, Guru.

He in Whom God is manifest, that manifested God-in-man, we call by the name of Guru. It means no one else but God is the Guru. We also revere that Human Pole in which the Light of God is manifest. We value the bulb because it transmits the light. Guru is Light personified. The Sikh or disciple should become Gurusikh first. How? By obeying Him implicitly, doing what the Guru asks him to do. This is the first step. He should follow Him literally, one hundred per cent.

If you love me, keep my commandments.

That is the criterion. But we do not do that; we modify His commandments according to the dictates of our mind and intellect.

It is a bitter sweet thing, the intellect. It is good and it is bad. It is something we should thoroughly understand. It holds us in its thrall. What does Maya literally mean? Ma means ‘to measure’ and ya means ‘an instrument’ – so it is an instrument of measurement. That is what our mind or intellect is supposed to be. We have to understand it, to make the best use of it. It is a question of right understanding.

But the Guru-disciple relationship is something above and beyond that. A Muslim Saint says,

I am the body, and You are the life that animates it; You become me and I become You, so that people may not say that You and I are different entities.

When such a relationship is established between the Master and the disciple, then the Master does everything. It all depends on the Master’s acceptance of the disciple. Perhaps I was a spendthrift. My Master Hazur Maharaj Ji saw that this spendthrift would give away the wealth freely to all and sundry. And that was what He wanted, for His treasury of Naam is inexhaustible and will remain full forever. And that is why thousands are getting the benefit of His munificence. It is not my wealth. That is why I say that I am only a stalking horse. You must be under an illusion, so much so that you do not believe me even when I tell you that. But it is a fact nevertheless.

So whatever benefit you are getting, the credit is not mine. Some years back during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations so many things were said about me. I said that all the things that have been said here I have passed on to Him to Whom the credit belongs. If a cashier has with him a hundred thousand rupees deposited on his master’s account, the money does not belong to him; he is only a servant getting a hundred rupees a month.

The Power – Guru-Power, Christ-Power, God-Power, call It what you may – never dies. It manifests Itself time and again on various Human Poles to guide the child humanity. We respect all Those Who were commissioned by God to bring His children back to the Home of the Father. It is the Light of God that works in Them. And what do They say of Their mission?

I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

St John 9:38

When the attention is diverted from outward gazing and is inverted within, only then the Inner Vision is opened and one is able to see. The Commissioned Ones Who come are Light-houses; They are the Light of God, which manifests from the human body. They give out radiation and those who come within Their circle benefit from it. The credit goes to Them.

So Hazur Maharaj said to me,

When I am with you, you should have no fear.

I can only say that it is all His Grace working, it is none of my doing. In the morning Satsang today I said that when Godmen come They give the clarion call,

Come ye all, return to your True Home.

Christ said,

I am going back to the House of my Father.

Other Masters also said the same thing in Their own way. So Masters come to take the children of God back to their True Home. That is Their mission. To whom does the credit go? To Him Who sends Them.

The Commissioned Ones who have come from time to time have all referred to Their mission and commission, some directly, some in the third person.

Kabir said,

I know the secrets of the Eternal Home and have been commissioned by Him to do His work.

Some – like Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh – said,

I am His servant.

Some – Christ and Mansur – said,

I and my Father are One.

So a Sikh or disciple should become a Gurusikh¹ first, and what is a Gurusikh?

Gurbani says,

Verily the Guru is a True Sikh and a True Sikh is the Guru, and both of Them work to revive the same old old teachings of the Masters.

From a Gurusikh one should become a Gurumukh or mouthpiece of the Guru.

It is I, not now I, it is Christ who lives in me.

When he sees Him working, he forgets who speaks.

A Muslim Saint says,

When he speaks it is God speaking, though the voice seems to come from a human throat.

So the fact is, all the credit goes to Him. It is all His Grace working. I said in the morning session that the sun is about to set. Take heed before it is too late. Those who have had some capital to start with through the Grace of the Master should try to increase it.

My Master Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj used to say,

One who has studied and become a graduate in his lifetime will remain a graduate even after death. But he who has remained illiterate during his lifetime cannot hope to become a graduate after death.

So wake up before it is too late. You cannot depend on life.

What is a real birth? It is when one takes birth in the House of the Guru. Guru Nanak was asked,

When did You end Your coming and going?

He said,

When I was born in the House of the True Master I ended my coming and going.

One birth is this physical birth; the second birth is beyond that.

Learn to die so that you may begin to live.

This is the second birth, becoming twice born:

You must be reborn.

The Masters Who have the competence to give you the second birth, They are Word made flesh. They contact you with the Word or God-into-Expession-Power. Where does that take you? It will merge yo into the Wordless – Anami – from whence It came. This is the direct Way back to God. The Masters Who put us on this Way belong to all humanity. They are not the monopoly of any particular sect or country; They come for all mankind. They are the Light of the World as long as They are in the world (St John 9:5). We can derive full benefit from Their incarnation only when we become Gurusikh and progress further to become Gurumukh or the mouthpiece of God. This is the True Profit of human life.

Books and scriptures are full of ways to salvation; but only one who has contacted a Competent Master will attain salvation.

My Master used to say,

Living or dead, we are in the Guru’s lap; where is the separation?

The God-Power manifests on some Human Pole to give Its contact to the disciple – some capital to start with – and resides in him and does not leave or forsake him till, as my Master used to proclaim, It leads the soul of the disciple step by step to its final destination: Sat Purush or Sat Naam.

So the whole credit goes to the Enlightened Ones Who come to put us on the Way back to God. They are the True Friends of man.

Gurbani says,

Oh Nanak, leave the company of false friends and search for the company of Saints, thy True Friends. The false ones will forsake thee in life, while the Saints will not forsake thee even after death.

So this man body is a golden opportunity you have got. This is your turn to meet God. Avail yourself of this opportunity and stop not until the goal is reached.

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Footnote: 1) Guru’s man.