Kirpal Singh

The Master’s Talk: Enter at the strait Gate

‘Strait,’ as given in the King James Version of the Bible, has the same meaning as ‘narrow’ in modern English.This talk was given in Hindi by Kirpal Singh and translated into English by the Sat Sandesh staff.

I

The world is a panorama before us; and we, on the sense-level from the day of our birth, are absorbing impressions from it, perpetually increasing our subconscious reservoir. Approximately 80 percent of these impressions come in through the eyes, and through the ears about 14 percent. The rest enter via the other senses; by taste when eating rich foods and getting engrossed in their enjoyment, by the smell of various fragrances and odours, etc. The life we live, therefore, is a superficial one; and we have become the superficial image of it. Forgotten is the existence of an Inner Life; forgotten is the Inner Way to it.

In this panoramic world, all knowledge which is taught is directly connected with the mind, intellect, and senses – including the scientific degrees. The Spiritual Masters also come to the world, but They teach us: 

Oh man, within you is another life, another world, a new world, which you can seek and find in this human form.

These Masters explain the difference between the two types of knowledge – called Apara Vidya and Para Vidya, exoteric and esoteric knowledge. The former is gained via the senses, the outgoing faculties, the mind and the intellect. The latter can be realised only by going above all these – an experience gained only within the human physical form.

There is a story which tells of a certain mendicant who announced to the people that the following day a special breeze would come, which would cause an insanity in everyone whom it touched, and that the wise ones should hide themselves from this breeze. A few, perhaps ten or twenty people, believed in the integrity of the holy man, and obediently hid themselves indoors on the following day. When the breeze had passed by, they came out of their houses and found that all the other people had gone mad. The mad people looked at them, and seeing some difference, accused the sane people of being mad.

Similarly, whenever Masters come, the worldly people accuse Them of all kinds of things, including a non-functioning of the intellect. People have no appreciation for the Master’s worth, for they are deeply involved in all the superficial worldly knowledge, unaware that another life exists. 

When He saw this condition, Guru Nanak said:

If I utter a word, they say I am babbling; and if I do not speak, they say I am dumb; if I sit peacefully, they say I am mourning the dead; and when I leave, they mutter against me; in this world one cannot win; oh God protect us!

It describes the whole world’s condition. The majority who are mad, are accusing the few who are sane.

This madness can be more aptly termed a forgetfulness, to which all Masters refer.

Guru Arjan says:

Eyes are sleeping, but absorbing all illusory sights; ears are sleeping, but absorbing the gossip of low thoughts.

Since birth we have been busily absorbing all the outer impressions, with the result that we actually lead a superficial life; for man, having forgotten his True Self, has become the very image of the impressions he has absorbed. All the worldly sounds, gossip, backbiting, idle chatter, enter his being through his ears, joining the impressions from the other worldly pleasures; and he enmeshes himself more and more into this web. With the mind so occupied and intoxicated with this changing panorama of worldly life, who can awaken him from this deep sleep, this illusion, this forgetfulness?

Awake, oh beloved, why are you sleeping? The night has gone, but why lose the day also?

The Vedas say,

Awake, arise, and stop not until the goal is reached.

Do not even take a breath until you have reached your goal! In the Gospel of Matthew it says, 

Enter ye in at the strait gate … 

That gate, through which we enter the Beyond, is very narrow, but: ...

wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Those who do not find that gate remain in darkness. Through all the nine doors of the body – eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, and two below – we are going into dispersion, disseminating our attention in all directions instead of centralising it. There is but one road, and it is very, very narrow; and that Way is the Tenth Way which is apart from all nine doors: a gate which is situated behind the eyes. Upon entering this gate, the soul is awakened into a new world. This is the meaning of the strait gate.

The Path of the Masters is a narrow Inner Path, which many may try to approach, but few actually enter therein. Scriptures say the same thing in slightly different phrasing. St Luke entreated,

Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

Guru Nanak said,

Man is blind; he cannot find the way up.

He also said,

Close the nine doors, for in the tenth the True Abode is realised; there the Unstruck Sound rings day and night, and the words of the Guru’s teaching are heard.

How can we withdraw our attention from all the nine open doors? He says that we should close them; so if, for instance, you close your eyes, you will shut out the entry of outer impressions. All senses remain below the eye-level; so centre your attention there, and Enter into the foxhole of the brain, from whence the soul rises after withdrawing from all other parts of the body and centring at that point. If you have ever witnessed anyone’s death, you will remember that the dying person does not hear if he is spoken to – his eyes may be open, but he does not see anyone. This is because his attention is withdrawn. There is a rattling sound, and the eyes turn upward as the final withdrawal takes place. The Path of which the Masters speak starts at this very point.

Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

The Masters give hints and indications.

Christ advised that one should take up the cross and die daily. This is the cross – the body with arms spread wide; and to die daily means to go up, rise above the body, ascend daily. There are two definite paths, outer and inner; but we have no knowledge of the Inner One. The Masters come specially to give us that knowledge, but They are accused and derided.

Christ said:

It is better for thee to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

What does this mean? It means that there is another eye situated behind the two physical eyes, and at this point lies the practical way into the Beyond.

If you continue seeing with two physical eyes alone all through life, you will go further and further into dispersion, and further into attachment therefore.

As you sow, so shall you reap.

You are unhappy here, and after death there will be unhappiness, too. That is why Christ said that the Single Eye is better. And what is the Single Eye?

If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of Light.

That Single Eye must be opened, and then the whole being fills with Light.

You have a choice of two paths: to enter the Inner Way through the strait gate, which leads you to the Kingdom of God, the Father’s Home, step by step; or to pass through the two eyes, ears, and outgoing faculties perpetually, which take you further away from your True Home, for you are pulled more and more into the world.

We were once in the Lord’s lap and have not returned there up to now. Had we done so, we would have been of a vastly different colour. Instead, we became learned, intellectual, filled with all kinds of bookish knowledge, expert at exploring, and so on; but we, in fact, remained ignorant of and far from the Truth. You can get this outer knowledge anywhere; but as for the Inner Way, forgive me, man does not even grasp the reference to it, which is given in all the scriptures.

Tulsi Sahib said:

In the iris is a black spot which is filled with the secret of creation; perceive beyond this dark curtain.

Behind the iris of the eye there is darkness, and you have to go beyond this darkness to gain entry onto the Inner Path. Some people sit in this darkness for years on end and declare they are in samadhi; but the door does not open, and the darkness does not disperse. The name Guru is justly given to He Who breaks open the darkness so that one can see the Light revealed within, whereupon one can testify that there is Light.

If a lamp has many covers over it, naturally it would seem that there is no light at all. To remove our outer covers is a difficult task, and to rise above is even more difficult. Many yogis in the past have spent hundreds of years in attempting to rise above the body, but the Truly Enlightened Person can teach one the ABC of the science on the very first day, and thereby the Light is seen within. With the same method, in due course of time, each cover is removed until all four are gone; and the Effulgent Light is experienced.

Light a small candle in a very big hall and it will seem very dim, but by placing a shade over it that small amount of light can be concentrated. We have scattered our attention far and wide, and it cannot see anything of the Truth; but the Master withdraws that attention and centralises it, focuses it, with a little of His attention. The Masters have Their attention in full control, and can do anything with it. When Christ said:

Take heed therefore that the Light which is in thee be not darkness,

He spoke of the Inner Light and the Inner Way, the meaning of which I think you can now understand a little.

The knowledge taught by Masters cannot be learned through reading, writing, or thinking, because the God-into-Expression-Power Itself is that knowledge, which is also known as Naam, Word, and Shabd. When the Lord wished to become from one to many, there emitted a tremendous vibration, and that resulted in Light and Sound; and that Power sustains the whole of creation. To see that Light and hear that Sound is to experience the True Knowledge. You will find many references from various religious scriptures in the book ‘Naam or Word.’

You are standing on the fringe of a new horizon, and all Glory and beauty lie before you – within. And you start to experience that when you rise above the body consciousness and the senses. Those who can bring their soul above the cage of the body at will can be termed Rishi, Muni, Valli, Pegumber, or Master, or Maha Purush, which means a Great Man – Spiritually. All those who are imprisoned in this body, be they highly intellectual or not, are, in the eyes of the Masters, illiterate and untutored.

Many intellectuals, however, will not consider the possibility of higher knowledge existing, and brush the subject aside as a fable. But the Avatars themselves have a deep respect for the Saints, for they also followed a Guru; they also travelled the one Path.

God has given the beauty of the outer world, which may be appreciated; but the beauty of the Inner Sun of Maha Brahmand, in which that perpetual Sound is vibrating, surpasses all description. The secret teaching of this was given by Ingris Rishi to Krishna, the son of Devki. You will find reference to this teaching, and to whom it was given, in the Ramayana in the chapter called ‘Bal Kand.’ References and inferences you will find, but without the help of a practical Master you cannot have the practical knowledge of what is written.

During the time of our Hazur there was a very well known philosopher by the name of Kartar Singh Nabina, who attended Hazur’s Satsang one day. After hearing the Master’s talk he said, 

Maharaj, I am a person who is not easily won over during discussions; and very few people can stand up to me. However, today I feel like a small child sitting before You to learn his alphabet.

The Path of the Masters then is something very different from philosophy. 

In listening to the message by word, oh friend, do not forget yourself; the Master’s teaching is something different, and those who seek it will receive.

The Masters Who give knowledge of the Inner Way have been successful in the past, and still are today. The world is not without Them.

When Pythagoras spoke of Truth clothed in Light, it was an indication that the Truth is greater than the Light; but its expression is found within the Light.

Socrates spoke of the Music of All Harmonies, adding,

I heard a Sound which dragged me into a new world.

Plato called It the Music of the Spheres, and Zoroaster described It as an Unstruck Fire. In those days fire was started by striking two flint stones together, so He described the Inner Fire as one which burns without being struck. He then named It Sraosha, and in that Sraosha or Light is the Sound Principle.

The Saints and the True Devotees of God have all told of the Light and Sound. Whatever references I have found, by parallel study of religions, I have incorporated into the book ‘Naam or Word’; so if you are interested in the references you will find them there.

Masters want to take us into an entirely different world; and when you ascend above the body, you will yourself experience that audible Sound. A certain Saint says that the Sound, which is the God-Power, the Christ-Power, the Guru-Power, is telling us to

Come children; He is awaiting us above.

It is there, awaiting us, and is apparent in the form of Light, audible in the form of Sound, and leads the soul to its Source, where all is a wordless state.

Those who have succeeded in rising out of the cage of the body tell us that there are no other means of achieving this. So what steps must be taken? They tell us, furthermore, that to meet the Lord, the mind must come under control. Put one foot on your mind, and the next step will reach to the Lord’s door. If anything lies between the soul and the Lord, it is the mind. All nine doors are tasteless; the Nectar is at the tenth. The Nectar, which can sweeten the mind, exists only at the tenth door – the strait gate – so enter therein; there is no other way.

Guru Amar Das searched for this secret way for more than seventy years of His life, until He finally received the gift at the feet of Guru Angad. Then He said:

When the mind is dirty, everything is dirty; washing the body will not clean the mind; the world is an illusionary forgetfulness; few will unravel its enigma.

These few words are pregnant with meaning. The world is racing along in forgetfulness, busily engaged in cleaning the body, etc., but without a single thought for cleaning the mind.

All this dirt has entered the mind via the senses; and for as long as man remains at the sense-level, the mind will absorb more and more impressions, and will, therefore, become dirtier.

Thrust into a room filled with mascara, no matter how carefully, you will get spotted.

It means that you are imprisoned at sense-level, and you cannot stop these impressions from entering your being.

One Saint entreated the Lord, 

Oh God, You have placed us on a narrow plank and pushed it into the ocean; how can one keep dry under such circumstances?

The Masters come to air-condition us so that we are affected by neither heat nor cold of the worldly influences. References are given out in relation to those points upon which people desire information. They want to know what the Masters teach, and what They give. If the Inner Knowledge is explained outwardly it can be understood intellectually; and that is a stepping-stone. However, that kind of understanding goes up to a certain point only, and not beyond that point. To go further:

The Guru puts the true Surma (medicine) of Knowledge into the eyes.

This is a simple way of describing the Science of the Masters – but – you cannot get this knowledge until the attention withdraws above the senses.

Plutarch says:

Those who are initiated into the mysteries of the beyond, their souls have the same experience as the soul has when it leaves the body at death.

If you want to meet the Lord, then learn to control your mind.

Repeat, oh my mind, only one Naam; the Satguru has given me this wealth.

The mind can be cleansed only by ascending above the nine doors and entering in through the tenth, where there is a reunion with the God-into-Expression-Power, the two aspects of which are Light and Sound. No matter how many practices you may attempt, nor how much you may be able to control the body by force, nor how long you may learn to sit within:

The dirt of the mind will not go, nor the dirt of the ego.

Many years ago in Kanpur, I met a yogi who, through doing kumbhak, used to lie down on the ground and allow a road roller to stand on his chest. He would give a full talk in this position. He used to wind a thick rope around his neck and allow fifty people to pull on either side, tug-o-war style, but they could not make him move an inch. He could be buried for six days and nights on end underground, but remained unaffected by it.

One day, I asked him,

Tell me, what is the condition of your mind?

He replied,

For as long as I remain in kumbhak, it is all right; but when I come out of that state it goes back to its usual condition again.

Why am I making all these comparisons? Because intellectual people have their own interpretations of everything. The samadhi which the Masters teach is not jar-samadhi nor kumbhak. It is a connection with the Naam within, with the God-in-Expression-Power, the Light and Sound, tasting the Nectar of which renders all other tastes insipid. 

Renounce, oh friend, this barren place of passion; drink the Nectar of Naam.

The world is full of passion and low morality, which to the discerning man is a tasteless fruit; whereas there is a delicious Nectar in the Naam, and that is food for the soul – it is the Bread and Water of Life itself. By tasting this, a true and lasting satisfaction is enjoyed; by tasting this, the mind comes under control.

And how can you get it? You cannot get this by arrogance, force, or command, but only through devotion to the Master – neither will you get it by the weight of your worldly learning. The Master will give a spark of His burning fire – on the very first day He will start you on the Path, and make you see.

On my first tour of the United States, I was in Los Angeles for a few days; and there a blind doctor came for a meditation sitting. The blind people also have Light; it is but a matter of inversion. After the sitting, he admitted, 

Yes, I see Light.

So that Light is within all men. This is what Christ meant when He said, 

Take heed that the Light which is within thee be not darkness.

Another Master said, 

He is an emperor, who concentrates his attention behind the eyes.

The machinery of the body works because you are in the body, just as a factory functions through the power from the powerhouse. It may have numerous departments, all of which are connected to the powerhouse independently, and which can be switched off separately at any time. However, when the main switch is thrown, all the machinery in the whole factory stops. Like a powerhouse, we are the controller of the body’s machinery – although we are imprisoned in it, and cannot run out of any of its open doors of eyes, ears, nostrils, etc. If the attention is not with the ears, they do not work, and similarly with the eyes, and so on.
He is an Emperor whose eye is open – the Inner Eye. Guru Ram Das says, 

The Guru has taught me to control the house, and I am now queen over it.

Furthermore, 

Ten maidservants were put in my control.

Those ten maidservants are the five physical senses and the five senses of knowledge. As our condition stands, we are dictated to by all ten servants – what a grave difference! It is impossible to compare a Master with an ordinary man.

The eye is small, the iris smaller, and the pupil even more minute; but what a mighty secret lies hidden therein! The reason why very few people tread this Path is that their attention is scattered everywhere along that broad, open, consuming path that leads to destruction. The Inner secret Path is through the strait gate that leads to Light. How can a man who has fallen into a deep well get out of it by himself? No one can rise above body consciousness until he is pulled above it. Guru Arjan says that one needs such a Master Who will open the Path here and now and will also show one the pathway in the beyond, not one who promises all kinds of things after death. If you found one so recommended, would that person not capture your heart? 

Open your eye, that you may see the Lord’s radiance.

That eye is closed, even though the physical eyes are open. Kabir Sahib made the tragic remark that the whole world was blind; had there been at least one or two, He could have made them understand. 

The blind are not those who have no eyesight; blind are they, oh Nanak, who cannot see the Beloved.

In the opinion of the Masters, the blind people are those who cannot see through their Inner Eye. Another Master tells us to close the eyes and ears, and withdraw the attention from all outer things, and lo and behold the Inner Door will open.

You do want to see the Lord, do you not? 

Everything is in this house, nothing is outside; those who seek outwardly go into illusionary forgetfulness.

He also says, 

The Beloved is within you, but you roam aimlessly from door to door.

That requires another eye, with which one can see His beauty – not the eyes of the flesh, which when closed in death are finished forever. When that Inner Knowledge opens up, one can see the Glory of the Lord. The Masters describe the same subject in many different ways.

The Koran says that God has sealed our eyes and ears, but comes Himself in the human form to break those seals. That same Godman then makes us see and hear inwardly, and one bears witness to one’s own experience. What a vast difference there is between esoteric and exoteric teaching. Many teachers can be found for the latter; but for the former, very few, although the world is not without Them. It is a truly wonderful thing when the Master comes and turns the face of the child inward – towards God. If one stops chattering outwardly, one will start talking inside.

If you do not believe all this, why not try, and see if it is true? The seekers who came to Hazur also got the experience. It is not a new thing, but is the very ABC of Spirituality taught through the ages. All other practices are merely preparation of the ground for this one; and you will be able to see for yourself the difference between the True Master and the others, and to which points They can take you.

Sit in the closet of the physical body.

Shut your eyes and go beyond. He Who has already mastered the science can give another person a demonstration. 

Make both eyes into one.

Concentrate at the focal point of the two pupils, and the Inner Eye will open. Kabir says,

Put your attention on that imperceptible place upon which Lord Shiva is meditating.

That is also called the Shiv Netra, which lies behind the forehead, behind the point where the two optic nerves join. The practical demonstration is given at this location.