To gain His Pleasure

I

Any place where one can enjoy the intoxication of God has its own value, be it temple, church, mosque, or any other religious edifice. However, it stands to reason that the very best place to seek God and enjoy His presence is wherever His reflection can be seen. The stone-constructed places of worship were all made in the remembrance of God, but it is not possible to see the reflection of the Lord in any of them. That can only be found in the human form – a certain human form wherein God has manifested Himself. Such a Personality is just like God walking on earth. Those accomplished in religious lore, tied up in rituals and customs, will usually advise against seeking God in the human form, but the earnest investigator should consider carefully just what benefit can be derived from a Living Guru.

If we take the temple or the mosque for an example, we find the former dome-shaped, like the human head, and the latter forehead-shaped, both after the model of man-body, and with the great respect are the prayers done therein. These are given in the highest importance, while the true temple or mosque of the man-body is ignored; we never go in there. The Truth lies forgotten within us, and we are left with outer things as consolation. To make a model of the man-body is very easy, but we are constantly adding cover upon cover over the True Light of God within our being, and to stop doing this is extremely difficult indeed.

My Master used to give an example of the True Wife who, disregarding the good or bad remarks that the world may have for her character, will keep her attention constantly upon her husband alone, knowing that she is true to herself and to him. So we should go towards God with that single goal in mind, and never worry about what is said by others. Travel with unceasing attention in the Lord, for you are His and He is yours.

The target was always one and the same, for all religions, but what happened?

Hafiz Sahib explains that,

We were on our way to meet the Lord, but in between our attention was arrested.

Religious and customary rites have taken our attention from the true purpose of our journey, and as long as the mystery of life is not unravelled we may spend our whole life searching among outer things, but the Truth will never be revealed. Who are we, and what connection do we have with the physical form? In what way are we related to God? Before these questions can be answered, that eye must be opened through which, by actually seeing, the Truth will be revealed.

A Muslim Maulvi Sahib exhorts us:

Why do you scatter your attention in intellectual pursuits? Whatever path you walk, become submerged therein; deaf and mute to all else. With full concentration proceed towards your goal; take a headlong plunge! Weighing and doubting will only stop your progress.

Further on He says,

I am in Him.

This happens only at that grand meeting when two become One – when He alone is there, He Whose reflection we are. When the curtain of separation is drawn aside, there will be no parting and no meeting. There will be no yearning. 

Christ told us that

I and my father are One.

St John 10:30

Guru Arjan says

Father and son have the same colour.

When the soul reaches this awakened condition the wandering, searching, and sorrowful separation will cease. A True Guru is not separated from God: therein lies His greatness. By losing Himself in the Guru, one becomes the same as the Guru – a Gurumukh, or mouthpiece of the Guru.

St Paul mentioned this stage by saying

[…] yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

Galatians 2:20

Our Muslim prophet continues:

The place inside is so filled with my Beloved that there is no room for me; only He is there. In You, am I; look in my eyes and see the oneness. If you do not see, am I to be blamed?

Even the thought I am not there, does not occur. Within the eyes of an illuminated soul pulsates the power to drag you, like a magnet, into the beyond. This was the original reason for doing arti – a Hindu rite, with lighted candles.

At one Satsang, I was sitting beside the Hazur – He sometimes made me sit beside Him, just as a father would – and I said that there was an age in the past when the Guru would wash His big toe in water and give this to the disciples to drink, for there was a great changing in it. During the time of the tenth Guru of the Sikhs, He gave amrit, nectar, made from sweetened water, on drinking which they were infused with life; again due to the charging. Then in the days of the Tulsi Sahib and Swami Ji Maharaj, it became customary for arti to be done, sitting in front of the Guru, eyes level with eyes; but that age also passed. In the time of Hazur, my Master, the custom was to touch the Guru’s feet. Now that is finished and it remains only to look into the eyes of the Master and be absorbed into His radiance, as eyes are the windows of the soul. The purpose of all these gestures was for the disciples to derive the benefit of the changing from the Guru’s radiation, but when the Gurus leave, just the empty action remains.

The highest of the senses is the eyes. Nose, ears, mouth, etc., are on a lower level. When the two eyes meet at the practical point above the nose, they become single and the Inner Path is opened, through which we become familiar with the beyond. When the four eyes meet and become One, there is no separateness and no question of duality. From eye to eye the treasure is given. From eye to eye one gets an intoxication, and the physical body becomes insignificant – as nought. Even the thought of it does not remain. Criticism, ridicule and unpleasant worldly affairs ride harmlessly over one’s head. This is the knowledge of oneness.

Hafiz Sahib has said that the words uttered by the Saints are for those who are ready to receive them. This is their last connection with the world, for their hearts have become pure, and they have the right understanding. They are ready therefore to realise the Lord. The immature will continue with the outer practices, for their time has not yet come. Though Truth is in each being, yet it must be rekindled by the Guru through the eyes, for the changing involved in the process cannot be done through form and formularies. This charging is an intoxication never forgotten by the person throughout his whole life. There are those who think that the Guru’s succession can be accomplished on legal papers; but how is that possible or even feasible?