True Master and His Mission

IX

Human birth is a precious privilege. We must make the most of it. First things should come first. Our foremost duty is to realise God. How can we do this? We must make friends with One Who is God-realised so that He may help us to be likewise. God’s Power or the Word of God shines in fullness in One Who has realised Him. What is electricity after all? Can we separate it from the bulb through which it illuminates? If one bulb gets fused, we replace it by another. Electricity itself never dies.

Christ-Power is eternal and shines forth from time to time to meet the needs of the people. Whosoever comes in contact with the Christ-Power, through the agency of God’s Elect, wherever He may be, the Agent never rests until He delivers the goods to His principal – God. Who would not like to find the Elixir of Life and be a living soul forever? The people of the world befriend us so long as we are capable of serving their interests. They leave us one by one when we become helpless on account of poverty and indigence, prolonged sickness and disability, or otherwise when we cannot be of any use to them. Even the so-called nearest and dearest friends and relations whom we proudly claim as our very own may not stand by us till the last moment. They, too, can be of no avail to us when we are in the throes of death and gasping for breath. All that they can do is to pray for our easy and speedy exit from the world. We, therefore, stand in need of such a One Who may be our constant companion here and hereafter and be with us everywhere we may happen to be: in the deepest depths of the sea, on the snow-capped mountain tops, in the burning desert sands, suspended in midair, in wild forests, or even before the judgement seat of God.

Take hold of the garment of a brave soul, One Who moves freely between earth and heaven.

Maulana Rumi

We do need a friend capable of working on all the levels of existence so that we may have the benefit of His instructions and guidance here in this life, as well as in the life hereafter, on realms astral, causal, and spiritual and Who will take us to the home of our Father. Who then can do all this? None else than God Himself and He is the True Guide and Master:

One Who stands supreme from beginning to end, take Him to be our guide and friend. 

Swami Ji also says:

The Lord of the soul graces the earth plane in the garb of a man so as to guide the humanity Godwards.

Once Sahib Ji Maharaj of Agra came to Beas, and for His discourse He took up the hymn beginning with this couplet. He asked Hazur if there were in the Sikh scriptures any verses corresponding to these. Hazur presented several verses with similar connotations, and I give you just one of them:

He Who sent thee here, now calls thee back; return ye to His Eternal Home and live in peace.

Such kindly Souls come from afar, from the very bosom of God Himself. They hold a Divine Mandate. Why do They come? It is His will is the only answer They give. From One proceeds all things according to the Divine Will. When They come to the earth plane, They abide by the laws of the land where They live for the time being. We, too, do likewise here on earth and live accordingly. But here we are the bondage of the karmic law of action and reaction throughout the ages ever since we separated from Him.

When we suffer, and at times we suffer terribly under the heavy load of accumulated karmic burden, we feel helpless to get out of the magic maze of the Lord of this universe and piteously cry for help. When the Father-God within hears our tale of agony and torture, He is stirred to His very depths, takes pity at our woebegone state, and manifests Himself in the form of a Saint to lead us back to Himself. Thus, He Who sent us – from time out of mind – comes to call thee back.

What does He do? He by suitable instructions reminds us of our ancient lineage, gives us a glimpse of the saving lifelines provided by God in each individual. He connects our spirit with them and gradually helps us to untie the Gordian Knot between the body and the soul, until we become free from the body and capable to travel into higher planes along with Him in His radiant form – Divya Sarup. Mind that all this is done by a voluntary process of practical self-analysis under His guidance while living and without total disruption of the silver cord which finally takes place at the time of death – or dissolution of the material body.

A True Saint is the greatest gift of God as much as God is the greatest gift of the Saint.

It is said:

God is All-Wisdom; and when He manifests Himself on a Human Pole, He is known as a Saint.

Can we see God? This is the next question and here is an affirmative answer:

In the company of a Saint one sees the Lord in Himself.

In the holy Gospels, we have:

All things are delivered to me of the Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. 

St Matthew 11:27
St Luke 10:22

Nanak emphatically declares: 

God of Nanak is All-Apparent.

And Christ in no ambiguous terms says:

Behold the Lord.

Guru Arjan tells us:

On land and in the water, He is in His fullness.

He pervades the very fibre of all beings. This is how Guru Arjan sees the All-Pervading Power of God vibrating everywhere. Can we see likewise? Yes, we, too, can by becoming a Gurumukh – i.e. by implicitly following the instructions of a Guru, a God-realised Being.

Is it then possible to see God with the two eyes that we have?