The Night is a Jungle

IV

In the Upanishads it is written,

What is that, the knowledge of which makes everything else known?

The soul is a conscious entity; as long as it does not merge into the All-Consciousness, it will never be at peace. Furthermore, the mind can never be controlled while it remains without contact with the Naam or God-Power. 

When you get the Naam the mind becomes controlled.

In the life of Lord Krishna it is mentioned that deep in the River Jumna he encountered a thousand-headed serpent, which he overpowered by playing his flute. This serpent represents the mind, which has a thousand ways of poisoning us.

With victory over the mind, you have victory over the world.

There is no other obstacle between us and the Lord but the mind. If your heart holds a strong desire to realise God, then put one foot on your mind – to still it – and the next step will take you to the Home of the Lord.

In the Koran it is written that if a man can recognise his True Self, then he will recognise God. The same teachings are brought by all Masters for all people. A Light appears in the human form, and all religions are enlightened by It, for those who meet Him, receive the enlightenment. When each Enlightened Soul leaves, a new religion starts to keep His teachings alive; but without the practical guidance, a decline sets in. Everyone is over-zealous in upholding his own beliefs, and no one is willing to sit on common ground on equal footing to discuss Spiritual Matters. The True Teaching remains the same, age after age – Truth is One, for everyone. God is not different for Hindus, Muslims, Christians and so on; He is the God of the whole world and is not a Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, etc.

Even now a small amusing incident remains in my memory, which happened when I was in Peshawar, studying in the ninth grade. I used to take my books and study in a garden named Shahi Bagh, and one day a man whose name I still remember – Darbari Lal – asked me,

Where is Shahi Bagh?

I told him that he was standing beside that very garden, and he said,

I have come to settle judgement on a dispute, for I have been told that the Hindu God is crying because the Muslim God has beaten him up and broken his legs.

People gathered in Shahi Bagh specially for discussing different controversies. Even at that young age I was shocked to discover that people thought each religion had a different God.

Poor understanding is widespread because men do not rise above the worldly level to see the facts from a more accurate angle of vision. Up to the time of the tenth Guru, no Master had revealed the circumstances of His past births so openly as He did. In the latter part of His life He talked of many strange things, including the seven-pointed splendour of Hemkunt, a place of seven hills where He had performed many austerities in a past life, through which He lost individuality and became One with the Lord. He was there seated in great bliss, but the Lord gave Him orders,

Child, go into the world and work.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji recounts that He had no desire to return to the world, but was persuaded, so He said,

What are your orders, my Lord?

The Lord said,

Those who are there and most of those who have been there have encouraged the praise of their own names. Go and tell of My Name – show that there is God.

When Guru Gobind Singh was asked Who He was, He said,

I am the servant of the Most High Who has come to see the play in the world; know me as His servant, there is no difference between Him and me.

He has also said,

They who think of me as God will all go to hell.

God is sending His Water of Life through a vessel, but the vessel should not think of himself as the Doer. No True Master will say, ‘I am the Guru,’ for the ray is of the sun, but through being connected with that ray one can reach the sun itself. With one single ray of the Lord, the whole world was created.

From one source, millions of rivers emerged.

What and who exactly is God, no one can know, for man has exhausted himself in attempting to sing His praises.

In the Jap Ji, Guru Nanak says:

Some sing of His greatness, but only according to the power bestowed upon them; some sing of His bounties, taking them as His signs; some sing of Him as incomprehensible; some sing of Him as transmitting dust into life, and life into dust again: Creator and Destroyer, the Giver of Life and its Withdrawer. Some sing of Him as at once the nearest, and the most remote. There is no end to His description.

Nothing has been mentioned of God Himself – only the things He created.

You cannot know Him by talking, thou you may talk for millions of years.

Even the Masters have failed in the attempt. Finally, They resort to observing Neti, neti – He is not this, He is not that.

A Muslim prophet says,

Through philosophy, generations have passed in descriptive attempts, but God’s character remains unsaid.

Today is Basakhi and our new life should start. All differences in our hearts should be removed. A man once asked me why it was that no Master has said, ‘Put your attention on me,’ but rather They say, Put your attention on Him. I told him that the instructions must be properly understood.

Lord Krishna said,

Put your attention on that True Form of mine.

The method remains the same regardless of where the Power is manifesting. Electricity will sometimes heat and sometimes chill. Avatars and Saints are manifestations or phases of the same Lord. Misunderstanding and narrow-mindedness create separation of brother from brother, but God’s intoxication is one and the same. We are all worshippers of the Living Light, regardless of which religion we belong to.