The Night is a Jungle

V

Some Christians came to Prophet Mohammed and requested Him to give them a place where they could build a church, and what did He do? He gave them half the mosque for their church! Would anyone do such a wonderful thing today? Think carefully over His action and what it means. Are we prepared to follow in the footsteps of our elders?

Guru Har Gobind, the sixth Sikh Guru, built mosques and temples as well as gurdawaras side by side whenever necessary. In Amritsar, the foundation stone of the famous Sikh Golden Temple was laid by Hazrat Mian Mir, a Muslim Saint, at the special request of Guru Arjan. To rise above body consciousness means to rise above illusion; then one realises in Truth that there exist no differences – religious, sectarian or other. This is truly an Ultimate Goal; outer things are merely helping factors leading towards it, and man as a social being must live in some social group; otherwise, corruption starts its corroding process.

Once in Lahore, an atheist called people from various religions together to discuss the question, ‘Is religion necessary?’ Each religious leader spoke at length, proving the necessity of the different forms and rituals, etc. I was present, sitting in the front row. Then the atheist stood up to give his proof as to why religion is not necessary, giving various examples. Among these, he stated that when a marriage is to take place it is merely a matter of the priest, pundit or mulla placing his hands on the couple in blessing before a group of witnesses, to join them together, so as to prevent corruption. It does not make any difference if it is performed in one religious way or another.

I stood up and said,

Brother, is it not true that if ten or twenty thousand people were of your thought, then a new society or sect would have to be formed? In that society, some rules and regulations would have to be made. You desire to save yourself from organisations, but you are inadvertently creating another. If each man stayed in his own sect and learned how to know his True Self or soul and that Power which controls all things, would not that be better?

He was an atheist, but he replied,

What You have said is correct.

For as long as I lived in Lahore we used to meet on very loving terms.

There is a great deal of misunderstanding existing regarding this subject. In Holy Places only Truth should be discussed – and realised – for Truth is Truth. Keep the company of Someone Who has realised the Truth and get right understanding. We say, ‘God is One’ and even this is not true, but we are finite beings and must therefore use finite terms. 

Let us now take a hymn of Guru Gobind Singh on this celebrated day:

“Oh mind, take such a sanyas¹:”

This is a lesson for the mind, that it should adopt such renunciation that will still all desires. To leave one’s hearth and home is not the True Sanyas; one must become desireless, and then the very silence sprouts forth into Light and that same silence becomes vocal.

“Regard every place as a lonely forest; in the mind alone will complete silence come.”

You can make your home a lonely forest. Is not the night a lonely forest? Just consider for a moment. Those who have made the best use of their nights, by knowing oneself and the Overself, have themselves been made. Those who have wasted their nights in frivolous pursuits have wasted themselves. Even a student of worldly knowledge becomes intellectually strong if he makes full use of the night as well as the day. Those men who exercise the physical body through the cold nights become giant in muscle and strength; it is obvious how strong they are. And the disciples who spend their nights in sweet remembrance of the Lord become God themselves. If man can control the dim hours from sunset to sunrise, he becomes a True Human Being. But instead we eat, drink, enjoy the worldly pleasures until midnight, and then snore the rest of the night away.

One Master said that in the night, the Lord’s fragrance is given out – he who remains awake receives this precious gift. Do the worldly duties in the daytime, and at night consider that you are all alone, deep in the country. One’s duties and social obligations with family and friends should be performed with pleasure, because God has joined you together for the sake of give and take. But in the night you can feel free from all this and repose in His lap. It is not at all necessary to leave your home and family for meditation when you have the long lonely nights. When you are wholly absorbed in some object, it is a True Sanyas, cutting off from all other things; and if we start from today, most definitely our lives will change.

This invaluable guidance is written in the Sacred Books, but sadly it remains there, or it penetrates only to the intellectual level. We have to take the knowledge and live up to it; only then does it become a part of life. The night is a jungle – do your work in the daytime and then benefit from the night.

The True Purpose of having a human form is to make daily progress towards the Great Goal, so sit down each day and see where you are. The meaning of keeping a diary is of utmost importance, but very few fully understand it. Remove those things which are obstructing your progress – weed out the imperfections, one by one. A strong man revels in the strength and the weaker man wonders how he got it. When a wrestler walks abroad, people turn to stare and remark on his strength. He has not achieved that overnight, but through many nights of hard exercising. As the renunciate leaves everything and goes to the woods, you can sit down nightly in your own home, forgetting the world and freeing yourself from all entanglements.

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Footnote: 1)Sanyas means renunciation or ascetic discipline.