True Master and His Mission
XI
A Competent Master-Soul may, if He so likes, put even a child on the Sound Current, which serves alike the young and the old, the learned and the ignorant. Everyone can derive benefit by communion with Holy Word, irrespective of caste, colour or creed, age, sex or vocation.
That is not possible in other forms of yogic discipline. Jnana Yoga, for instance, requires a highly developed intellect and skill capable to ratiocinate and deduce conclusions: If Jnana Yoga requires the intellect of Shankara, the Bhakti Yoga calls for the heart of Buddha; and the Karam Yoga, the hand of a warrior like prince Arjuna. With all these accomplishments and arduous disciplines, one still remains in the realm of duality; and until one is able to rise above it, one cannot reach a state of Oneness. In the present age, yoga has come to be associated merely with health and vigour and longevity.
The Surat Shabd Yoga – the Yoga of the Sound Current –, on the other hand, aims at the Highest Union, the union of the Surat or soul current with Shabd or the Sound Current, which is made manifest by a Godman, thus coupling the two in Eternal Relationship. This then is the direct way to God. A Real Godman is capable of giving this marvellous practical experience to any number of people at a single sitting, irrespective of their different religious faiths and beliefs, their social modes of life and their worldly status, and all other types of affiliations. All this He does by just imparting His own Life-Impulse. Once this seed is sown in the heart of an individual, it cannot but fructify in course of time, for no power on earth can render it ineffective:
Who is greater than God to annul His Power (once made manifest in man)? Oh, none.
When a Master-Soul appears on the earth plane, there descends along with Him an irresistible avalanche of Spirituality. The purpose of His descent, as I have been explaining, is to unite all the children of God at one level, the level of the soul in man, and then awaken them to the life of the spirit by revealing in them the Light and Life of God. Such Great Souls have always been very rare, and it is our proud privilege that we were associated with Hazur. Such Souls are never bound down by physical and mental limitations, though They may appear as such. Their Inner Power transcends all that is of the world, for it can work at will, at any level it may choose to do, whether in the Brahmand or even in the beyond into purely Spiritual Realms. Such Power is limitless and eternal. It never dies with the death of the body, but eternally remains working forever and ever, no matter in whose form and from what pole. He is, therefore, not to be taken as a mere human being. The human in Him has been trans-humanised in spite of the human form that He keeps up for the people of the world, for man is to be the teacher of man. Without His teachings and practical guidance here and in Inner Planes, we cannot know of God, much less practise Him, realise Him, and be One with Him. Hence, there is the greatest need to contact a Living Master, wherever He may be:
The Beloved by my side is a guardian angel. He guards me in all odd moments here and hereafter.
Gurbani
He is a never-failing friend and comes to our rescue, wherever we may be, even when we stand before the judgement seat of the Great Judge to render an account of our deeds:
Dharam Rai is obliged to tear the karmic balance sheet, oh Nanak, when the Master squares up the karmic account.
Like a master liquidator, He once and forever liquidates all our karmic debts and liabilities incurred in innumerable ages in the past, and in this life-span lying stocked and stored, heaps upon heaps, for future dispensations. It is not an easy task and none but a karmic free soul can discharge such a Herculean task of making one neh karma or karma free.
To meet a Competent Master is a great blessing indeed. Guru Amar Das, third in succession to Guru Nanak, was able to contact a Satguru, Guru Angad, after a long search of no less than seventy years.
Of His memorable meeting He tells us:
When I grew tired of performing countless deeds, all of a sudden I came across my Master.
When and how does a Great Master-Soul find His way to us, for it is He Who comes our way to help us; and it is not for the blind, as we are, to find our way to the Enlightened One:
Satguru picks us up in the fullness of time, and He attunes our spirit with the Holy Word.
The communion with the Word is the highest and the most natural Way back to God. Everyone, young or old, male or female, can benefit from this. But how? The answer is: Be steady and waver not, and depend upon the words of the Guru.
Those who love the Master and follow His commandments are ever blessed in this world and in the worlds beyond:
Whatever the Guru says, I keep tightly tied in my heart.
This is why Christ emphatically asked His disciples:
Be ye the doers of the Word and not the hearers alone.
And again:
Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine; ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my Love; […]
St John 15:4,5,7 and 10
We must learn to practise and live up to what the Master says so as to derive the greatest benefit from His teachings. My Master very often used to say:
What is the good of taking a medicine if we do not use it?
By keeping it in the cupboard we cannot cure ourselves of the disease. It may be that the seed of Naam once sown does not perish, and a human birth, in more congenial conditions, is assured in future; yet is it worth our while to come again in the prison house of the world for another round? Why not settle it here for all times to come, rather than to pass through the same process over again:
He who takes refuge in the Satguru, God Himself comes again to his rescue.
Gurbani