The most natural Way

IV

We must be sincere. If you have seen the Truth, only then ask the people to follow you. 

Dear friend, come and see and have it!

But if you have not seen the Truth yourself, then why, like the proverbial blind man, lead others into the pit along with you? We must be sincere to our own selves and to our fellow men and women. If you only know the scriptures in theory, say so. If you have seen the Light and can rise above body consciousness, and are also competent to give others some experience of it, well and good. Go and tell the people so.

You see, that is the difficulty. People speak so much about the scriptures. You must have heard so many speakers holding forth on the subject. But how many of them are there who have had the first-hand experience of Truth, and are competent to give you also that experience? To talk of Spirituality is just like giving a learned discourse on the principles of business without having any capital or practical capability to start the business.

While here, each morning people sit for meditation and get some experience of the Inner Truth. When you get experience inside, however elementary it may be, you are convinced of the Reality and can develop it to any length you may like, by regular practice.

Preaching was meant to be done only by those who had the first-hand experience of Truth. But preaching has become a source of income; and paid service in all social religions has made matters worse. I am not talking of any particular religion, but what I say is true of all religions. People have made a business of religion and so many have taken to it just as a means of livelihood.

But God’s gifts are all free. They pretend to serve Him, but at bottom it is all mercenary. The world is full of them and that is why we are fed up with the very word ʻmaster.ʼ But a Real Master does not seek worldly gain. He gives God’s gift – Spirituality – freely and free of cost. He has realised God. He is the perfect man. He has transcended the physical consciousness and has seen the Light within.

What did Kabir tell the pundit? 

Oh learned pundit, if you want an experience of the Reality, go to some Competent Living Master.

ʻWhat sort of Master?ʼ asked the pundit. Then Kabir went on to define Master as One through Whom God speaks. This is what all the Saints, including Kabir, have said.

Thus we have in the Bible:

[…] Holy men of God spoke as They were moved by the Holy Ghost

2 Peter 1:21

Guru Nanak says,

Poor Nanak only speaks what he is bidden,

and 

Oh Lalo! I only say that which my Lord speaks through me.

A Muslim Divine also says the same thing:

The records of the Prophet are the records of God, though they may seemingly appear to drop from a human tongue.

You too have the same possibility in you. But you have not yet come in contact with the Power working in you, because you are still bound to the physical body. As long as you do not lose this body consciousness, you cannot enter into the beyond.

The Bible says,

[…] flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

You must seek out One Who has risen into cosmic awareness and is a Conscious Co-Worker of the Divine Plan. He will no doubt be a man like any of you. But He has realised His own Self and experienced God within. When you sit with Him, you will find Him quite a different being, full of Love and compassion for all: a radiating centre of the Divinity in Him. The very atmosphere around Him is charged with the radioactive rays of Spiritual Bliss.

A man who has attained the highest degree of mastery in any field of activity will at first appear like an ordinary man. He is essentially a man first and last. But he has developed in his own particular way. When you sit with him, you will find him a giant in his own field. This is exactly the case with a Master-Soul. When you meet Him, you will find Him just like any other man at first sight.

He Himself will tell you:

I come to you as a man to man. I am a man just like you. I had the good fortune to sit at the feet of my Master and progressed in the Spiritual Way. Those who are in search of the God-way are most welcome.

A doctor is a man first and then a doctor. An engineer is a man first and then an engineer. Similarly, a Spiritual Man, a Master, is a man first and then a Spiritual Guide.

All possibilities are within man. Great is man. He who has developed in a certain line and has an experience of it, is able to guide you also if you are seeking the same way.

I told you in our meeting the day before yesterday:

Is not life more than meat, and body more than raiment?

And yesterday:

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.

That is what I emphasised: Seek ye first, i.e., that this is the most important thing in life, the thing that concerns you most.

ʻKnow thyselfʼ has been the theme of all the Masters Who have come so far. Know about yourself and not about others, They said. Know thyself: who you are and what you are. That is the most important thing before us. Those Who have known themselves – call Them by any name you like – will be able not only to put you on the Way but give you some experience of the Way. Then you can go ahead. That is why Sant Kabir asks us to seek such a man. That man is not an ordinary man, I tell you. He has of course a human body like any of us. But He has come in contact with the Truth within and become its mouthpiece.

Holy Men of God spoke as They were moved by the Holy Ghost.

What They say is not premeditated; it is all unthought of from the human level, and as Emerson puts it:

The thoughts which come of themselves from within are always perfect.

The Master is not the physical entity. He is the Divine Power working at the Human Pole.