Refuge with Guru Dev
Selections from ‘Guru Dev: The Lord of Compassion’ by Rusel Jaque1
Arriving in Delhi, I took taxi for Ruhani Satsang at Sawan Ashram. What a precious sweetness in meeting the Living Master – our Beloved Satguru – Lumoroji! As Guru Dev, He gave me the paternal embrace and led me to His bedroom where I had tea with Him and Bibi Ji. For several hours I sat communing at the Holy Feet of the Emperor of Love and Beauty. Bibi Ji, Gyani Ji, and others were most kind and loving in their fellowship. Devindar Kaur Narendra Ji – the Princess, daughter of the late Maharajah of Jhind – was smilingly present with her gentle loveliness of the Blessed One!
This place truly equals the hub and core of the planetary regeneration. Love floods the Master’s presence and immerses the entire Ashram in its splendour. The melodic chirping of a sparrow came to us from near the ceiling.
The Master looked at me with a most gracious smile:
Even the birds love me!
Then, with His majestic Grace He escorted me to my quarters, one apartment removed from His blessed residence. In His fatherly consoling voice He reassured me:
You will be near to my place and free to see me at any time!
When I viewed the accommodations, I asked in surprise:
Is this for me?
– Yes!
He softly replied with His melodic laughter. I had been content and supremely happy with a fraction of the space … so near to Him for Whom my heart has cried in the quiet stillness of the night!
What equals this Holy Man and what defines His teaching? He represents a Master-Guide, a Saint of Saints, a Godman, a Satguru! Be not dismayed – be not incredible – be not disdainful, oh friend! Great Ones have walked the earth before, unrecognised by mortal mind!
Evening Prayers in Assembly Hall
In the evening at about 6:30 p.m., the ashramites gather in the assembly hall for prayers. After about thirty minutes of meditation, the children begin singing Spiritual Chants. Then some trained youth chants slokas from the scriptures – with the children singing the same refrain between the slokas. The Master comes soft-footed, and takes His position quite naturally sitting on the front edge of the dais. He most kindly translates His words into English for my benefit.
I tell them that they must go in and then up. At nighttime we retire to rest while darkness broods over everything in silence. So in meditation, you must leave off all thoughts of the body and the world – utterly and completely. Lose yourself in the sweet repose of God and the Master!
Joyous Life at the Ashram
Last evening the Master graciously explained to me how I could be of needed service in the paper-work at the Ashram. This morning, 28th January, 1959, He departed on a three day tour of some villages about eighty miles distant. He will generously take His soul-saving succor to thousands of villages who cannot afford to travel to Delhi to see Him at the Ashra. […]
Tour of the Villages
The Blessed One had told me that I could accompany Him on the three-day tour of some distant villages. As we sat with Him the night before His departure, He spoke to me in His sweet fatherly way.
I have been thinking that perhaps the tour might be hard on you since you are not accustomed to village life. They have no conveniences like we find in the towns and cities. One has to go out in the jungle for sanitary purposes. And, then, I will return on the third day!
The sky appeared overcast as the Blessed One left, and the rains came down. But the Master went ahead and carried His saving Grace to the villagers. Some of the younger men of His party had involuntary misgivings about the forging on. The Beloved One kept right on, often hiking down impassably muddy roads in advance of His younger workers.
While at one village, a certain woman stood up and addressed the Great Master:
You are betraying us!
– What do you mean?
I will tell, if I have Your permission.
– Go on, please!
In meditation I saw You and our Master Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj. You plead with Him to allow You to leave this world. He shook His head and handed You a long paper. ‘You will have to finish up all the undermentioned jobs written on this paper, which are to be complied with by You.’ He has gone away from us, and now You wish to forsake us and rob us of the Love, affection and care which You are giving us. This is betrayal of our great need!
To this the Master only smiled and departed.
You ask me for evidence of His exalted calling and High Estate? How can I measure the ocean with my two hands? How can I count the stars of the constellations with my two eyes? How can I define the indefinable, or describe the ineffable with my tongue?
Monthly Satsang in Delhi
On the Sunday morning of 1st February, 1959, the Blessed Master held Satsang for the love-hungry thousands. His poignant theme unfolded the drama of the soul’s salvation.
The world is a jungle and you must have a competent Guide to lead you through the confusion. To get out of it, we must go above body consciousness. Have we seen or heard anything within? If not we have not truly lived and still exist as mere animals.
I and my Father are One.
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
God is Light.
If thine eye be single, thy whole body will be full of Light!
Two visiting pilgrims, one from Philadelphia and the other from Arabia, spoke most stirringly in support of the Master’s theme. The Arab scholar exhorted the Master:
Please leave for world tour immediately so that the people of the East and West will be guided by Your Holy Words. They are the only weapon to end the danger of atomic war. Failing in this, I am one hundred per cent sure that atomic war will fall on earth and the people of all nations will suffer or perish.
Afterwards, the Master most graciously invited me to have lunch with Him and the guest speakers. Pushpa, the charming daughter of Bibi Ji, sat at the end of the table facing the Master. Her husband, Balwant Singh, served us the blessed food prepared under Bibi Ji’s supervision by the Master’s cook who has advanced quite far on the Spiritual Path.
In the evening I told the Master how delightful I found the lunch. He smiled sweetly and said:
Love makes everything delightful!
Solicitude of Guru Dev
The Blessed One almost daily inquires of me as to my comfort. He tells me that if I require anything to speak up and let Him know. He has so bountifully provided everything for this most lowly one of His household! I have a well appointed kitchen with Primus stove, water, cupboard, etc. Still, for lunch and at suppertime, I frequently receive an immaculate stainless steel tray with parshad food from the Master’s kitchen!
By frequent queries, Guru Dev discovered that I needed a writing desk. Tables and desks come at a premium at Sawan Ashram, where the native Indians usually sit cross-legged on their beds or work squatting on the floor. The Master considered well my need and directed that His books be shifted to another place so that His library table could serve my humble need! The inexhaustible quality of Master’s Grace and loving kindness appears to merge into the infinite ocean of NiraIa-Anami Purush – of which He is.
Several faithful ones sit at His Exalted Feet nightly while He goes over the countless letters to His far-flung family. If His children overseas could only see the Blessed One upon the floor beside His bed at 12 o’clock midnight, and often to the wee hours of one or two o’clock in the morning, reading, annoting and signing His loving letters to them … surely their hearts would become more faithful to His fatherly guidance.
At 11:30 p.m. one night He looked up sweetly and spoke ever so softly:
You may run along now!
Shri B.S. Gyani Ji, the superintendent of Sawan Ashram activities and services, kindly gave me some paper-work to help out with. I knew how the Blessed One always had a full schedule of letters, visitors, staff consultations, meetings, greetings. So I stayed quietly all day in quarters taking care of the joy-work for Him! Coming from evening prayers at the Assembly Hall, I saw His Sweetness at a distance standing in the gateway to His house, surrounded by worshipping disciples.
He called out to me like a goodnatured schoolmaster:
Where have you been all day?
Dear friend, listen to me for a moment! I did not approach Him Whom my heart adores as one would any other person. I found myself drawn by sinews of Love into the close aura of His healing presence.
In response to His radiant smile, I explained:
Master, I have been following Your constant example, working on the correspondence!
– Oh, that’s all right! Come on in!
He spoke very softly in a lover’s voice to His needy bride. What supreme gift from the very present Living Emperor of Love and Saviour of Mankind! I went in so happily to the Durbar of His Love Court in His blessed bedroom. If only to sit quietly near Him, observing the ceaseless flow of His Grace and loving kindness, that alone bestows the priceless boon!
Glory of Guru Dev
Tuesday morning, 17th February, 1959, found the Master’s party on tour in Chandigarh, the splendid new modernly built capital of the Punjab. Shri W.S. Mongia, Superintendent in the Ministry of Home Department, Civil Secretariat, took us to a large new bungalow he had recently acquired. Many Satsangis had preceded us and we sat together in meditation on the rooftop in the healing rays of the morning sun. After the Master had inquired of each one what Inner Level they had reached in their meditation, He stood before us in His sublime majesty as the Incarnate Divinity, beautifully bestowing upon the needy ones His fatherly counsel.
At this time one man came vaulting through the seated disciples, and prostrated himself at the Master’s feet. He sobbed convulsively that during meditation he had seen the Lord’s Sarup – Radiant Light Form – with the Inner Eye.
How dazzling with Light You stood, surrounded by garland studded with the rarest flowers of Nature!
He clasped his arms about the Master’s legs as he wept a flood of tears.
Give me the Grace that I should keep on forever looking into Your eyes and drink the ambrosia of Your compassion. Keep me always at Your feet. All my attraction to my field and the cultivation is lost. I want to be at Your feet forever! Don’t leave me!
The Master gently and lovingly patted him on the back and consoled him with such sweet compassion. Tears glistened in many eyes and bathed the cheeks of those who truly seek the Lord of Mercy and the Emperor of Bliss! The Master gave His disconsolate disciple a very kind and affectionate look and departed.
Morning and Evening Prayers
Sawan Ashram has an early morning cryer who chants quite loudly an Indian call to prayer at 4 a.m. each morning.
When first I came to the Ashram, he would pause outside my door with brotherly admonition:
Pray to God!
On one occasion at evening prayers, the Master instructed the Satsangis how to get the best results during meditation practice. He spoke to me in English:
I tell them that God helps those who do not help themselves. We must simply sit quietly at His door and wait for Him!
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Footnote: 1) Other selections from this beautiful, long out-of-print book may be found in the October 1970 and February 1971 issues of Sat Sandesh.