True Master and His Mission

II

In the words of Guru Nanak, the soul bursts forth:

Oh my Beloved, attend to my woebegone tale of sorrow. While Thou art happily settled in Thy ever blissful state, I am confined and entombed in a mould of clay.

All Masters say the same thing. Swami Ji says:

Oh spirit, thou wert a ray of the Eternal Truth.

The soul in us is a scion of the Royal Blood. It has a glorious origin. But alas, by constant association with the mind and senses, she has degraded herself to this wretched state! Verily mind is an abode of sense-pleasures and the various sense organs are full of filth; but we are so blinded by lusts of the flesh, that we do not see what is underneath the surface. If the soul were to become aware of its True Home – the home of Eternal Bliss and Existence – it would naturally strive to get back there, and a cry of anguish from the depths of the heart is sure to move the Lord of Compassion. It is nothing but an earnest prayer, a supplication from the torn and tormented spirit and cannot but move Him to pity. But our attention is all the time running out and downwards through the nine portals of the body – eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, rectum, and procreative organ quite unaware of the tenth opening or centre in the brain that provides us access to the Kingdom of God within. Howsoever we may try to escape from the body, we cannot do so, as we are subject to the Great Controlling Power of God – the Holy Word or Naam – of which we are yet quite ignorant.

Nanak, everything rests in Naam; but it is in the fullness of time that one gets to It.

It is the God-in-action-Power, the Holy Word, that is controlling and sustaining all that is visible and invisible. One who realises this Great Truth cannot but wander restlessly in quest of it. All the Great Souls have emphatically spoken of this vital Life-Force.

Maulana Rumi says:

Shame to thee, that hast Heaven as a True Abode, and yet are happy with shadowy forms and colours. How long wilt thou be playing in dust, and whittle away life like children.

Please remember that the heart which is stirred by this awakening for Inner Life gradually begins to yearn for it; and this yearning in course of time assumes the form of a ruling passion, so much so that day and night he piteously cries for it until God, the Great Ocean of Mercy, is stirred to His very depths and provides him with the means of a way out of his magic house of the body and draws him to Himself. This then is the power of a prayer coming out of the depths of the heart.

What should I say and to whom shall I turn? This is then the cry of a bewildered soul when it comes to its own. It turns around and sees no comfort on any side. As a last resort it calls upon the Lord God, the True Comforter and Saviour of us all. Prayer, as you know, is the last weapon in the armoury of man and also the most effective weapon. It is in these hopeless moments of despair that hope comes to illumine the way.

The Power of God then appears in the garb of a Godman and says:

Follow me. I am the Way, the Truth, the Life. I am the Imperishable Way, the Infallible Truth, the Eternal Life. I am the most Noble Way, the Ultimate Truth, the True Life, blessed and uncreated.

But when does God take pity and appear in the form of a Guru? The answer is very simple. The Master comes to the aid only when one abstains from all the lusts of the flesh.

Christ assured forgiveness even to the worst of sinners if they desisted from future wrong doing. He cried a halt to His followers, put a dead line to the past, and commanded: 

Sin no more.

Tulsi Sahib also said:

Adopt truthfulness, humility, and respect for womanhood; surely then shalt thou have God, and I stand guarantee for that.

Such a soul then pleads:

Oh thou who have access to the Kingdom of God, carry the message from one in exile; tell Him to take pity on one who is waiting all the while with eyes full of tears. With tearful eyes saying Thy praises and nothing to recommend, how can I approach the Beloved Lord?

Thus, the soul in the pangs of separation from the Lord cries to the Divine Messengers Who have a free access to His court and seeks Their help in this sad predicament.

The soul now pleads her inability to reach the Path Godwards of which she has no knowledge and hence conveys her helplessness through God’s Elect. Clouds always precede the showers. God’s Grace descends when the soul is in utter agony and cries in bewilderment with eyes full of tears and heart throbbing with Love. In mystic language this is called the dark night of the soul on the threshold of beatitude.