What is a True Satsangi

I

You know that Christ once said to His disciples,

I don’t want to make you slaves, but friends.

Slaves do not know what a friend can be. Slaves only know to do what is said. You can appreciate anyone if you work along with him and see what he is doing. 

So Christ said,

I make you my friends.

I think it is better that I address you as friends: because I have told you many times that I am a man like you, with the same privileges that you have from God. But I have developed in a certain way; you have not. And that development is due to the Grace of God, or the God working through my Master; that is, how to die while alive, how to be reborn, and how to be cut off from the attachments of the world, the body, and other things. That is a way within you already.

So I love you as friends, I would say. I regard you as the children of Light. Because I love God and that Light is everywhere, so I have to love you and have regard for you as well. 

What I would especially like to bring to your notice is that initiation does not mean that you have become perfect. It is a way to perfection. One does not become a Satsangi simply by being initiated. The word Satsangi means: sat means unchangeable permanence; and sangi means one who is constantly in contact with it. We have been put on the way to analyse our soul from mind and the outgoing faculties and to have some touch, some contact, with the God-Power. When you remain a constant companion of that God-Power, only then will you become a True Satsangi. Now you have something, of course, to start with: you have learned how to contact it. But unless you begin to be conscious of that power all through, you are not a True Satsangi.

We have to work up to that. We have to mould our lives in accordance with the principles of Satsang in thought, speech, and action. If you simply pick up medicine and put it on the shelf, will your disease go away? All Masters say that those who live up to what they are told are destined to have the Master become their slave.

Let’s say that a father has four or five children. Some children obey him, others do not, and some children – not just because of obedience – even surrender to the will of their father. As I told you yesterday, when you surrender, the Father becomes your slave. If a father has a very obedient son who just works according to his intentions and never asks for anything, what would the father do? When he leaves, he would simply hand over his key to that son, not to everybody.

The Master says,

Always look to the interest of others. Don’t let others starve.

That is what is required of those who live up to what they are told. Love requires, first of all: 

If you love me, keep my commandments.

We don’t keep the commandments. Some do with modifications which suit their own interests. Unless we live up 100 percent to what the Master says, we cannot truly get to know what God is. 

So, 

actions speak louder than words.

And thoughts are even more potent. A Satsangi must, in his daily conduct, reveal what he is – not what he says, but what he is. If he says, ‘Love all,’ then see whether he loves all. If he loves all, is he always ready to help others, without any show? If he still loves, is he ready to sacrifice his everything for them? 

Everyone can know so much about these things – libraries are full of them; scriptures are full of them; but it is just like – what do you say – loading an ass with books. What is it really? If a paddle or spoon moves through a sweet dish, will it get any taste out of it? To know so many things in your brain will do you little or no good; or perhaps it will do more evil than good, because then you will act and pose: ‘Oh, I know so much.’ But you don’t live up to it. So the main thing is, we must live it, and live it not willy-nilly, but with pure Love and devotion.

Obedience comes next. And obedience is also not sufficient: we should surrender. This is what is needed. All Masters have been saying that. If someone finds some shortcoming in you, what does he say? ‘Oh, a satsangi is like that. Perhaps the Master teaches that way.’ Some people have been writing to me on account of some shortcomings here or there. I always reply to them,

Pity it is that I have to carry on with imperfect people. They are all not perfect – they are all on the way to perfection. Those who are on the way to perfection, here and there, they do fall. So just forgive and forget. We should be on the way for the common cause of God.

That is why what is needed is to live up to it. Truth is above all, but True Living is still above Truth. People don’t know whether you can have a contact with the Light of God or not:

They will see how you live, how you behave, what your treatment of others is.

Are you fighting with others for selfish motives? Are you usurping others’ rights? Are you sucking the blood of others? They will see you from that level. Here’s a bulb. If the glass is besmeared with filth, although the light is there, it won’t give off light. So the bulb should be pure, quite clean, without any dirt. Our hearts must be pure: what we have in our hearts should be at our mouths, and what is at our mouths should agree with our thoughts. When there is agreement between these three, then consider that it is right. Sometimes we do one thing for many days; it becomes a habit. Habit turns into nature. It is very difficult to remove that habit that has formed itself to our nature. 

So, first of all, what are we to do? I would say, perform no action in secret. There is no doubt about it: you will find this a very helpful factor. Perform no action in secret. If anything requires secrecy, abandon it at once. Deeds of darkness are committed in the dark. This is the first thing. That is the criterion of a sin – you want secrecy. Just consider this in all your ways of life.

Then, further, do nothing which, after having been done, leads you to tell lies. That is also a criterion for something wrong. Lying follows a sin because you want to conceal it. I tell you, the criterion of a Saint is that you will find Him doing the same thing everywhere, inside or outside, at midnight or during the daytime, in the pulpit, or in private rooms. 

Hafiz says,

When we go to the pulpit we give very long yarns of talks, but when we go to secret places, we do otherwise.

Mind that, God is within you and the God-Power – the God in man – watches everything. How can you deceive Him? You can deceive others. Our Master used to say, 

If a child of five years of age is sitting by you, you won’t do anything unbecoming in his presence. You will require secrecy.

When you think that when the Master gives looks to the very thoughts that arise, and knows the very trend that you have to follow, then how can you deceive Him? So I always say,

Be true to your own self.

If you are true to your own self, how can you deceive others? This is the main criterion. 

And further, don’t desire evil for anyone, irrespective of creed or colour, even in thought – for anyone, not just necessarily your initiate brother: because whatever thought arises poisons you. Others don’t know it, but you will be poisoned. And because of their radiation, you will find that thoughts are more potent.

The other day I gave you the example of Akbar the Great, King of India. Birbal was his minister. He told the King that whatever a man thinks about anyone reacts in the other’s mind. The King said, How can that be proved? So the minister took him away to some place along the roadside. A man was coming at a distance and the minister told the King, Just think anything about him in your mind. The King was going bareheaded. He thought in his mind about that man who was approaching: I should shoot him. When the man came by, he passed the King, and the King said to him, Look here, tell me truly; I will forgive you if you say it; but what struck you when you saw my face? The man said, I thought I should break your head with my fist.

Thoughts react, do you see? Never think evil of others. When we say anything against anyone, what is that but thinking evil of others. When we backbite, what do we do? We think evil of others. When we make parties, one against the other, what do we do? We tell this side one thing and that side something else. You are deceiving your own selves, and the God in you sees you.

I may mention to you today one incident. There are always controversies going on. In my own life, Master once ordered me during His lifetime to initiate about 250 people in the monthly gathering. Those who were after the Mastership became worried:

What is going to happen? Everything is gone from our hands.

They made parties and spread a great deal of propaganda against me, in writing, through letters, and this and that thing. I was true to my own Self. The Master had ordered me to do it; and to give talks at Satsang places, attend the poor, the sick, the needy, everyone. Even when I left the office, I used to be attending the sick until eight, nine, or ten o’clock at night, and sometimes even later than that.

The Master had ordered me to do it; and letters about me, written by the parties concerned, began to pour in, in all languages, from different towns. They were all about the same subject:

He’s such a man; he’s such a man; he’s such a man.

And Master also knew about all the letters. There were heaps of letters from all around. 

My Master had always asked me, when I went to see Him,

Well, come on, please, and give a talk.

And what did I do? He was sitting there, and He made me sit near Him, like a son or a student. I would speak my heart to Him – I would open my heart to Him in a heart-to-heart talk – and the people enjoyed.

But they had arranged it so that for eight months regularly I was not permitted to go near the Master, not even to talk to Him. So much propaganda was being carried on!

But I would just look at His eyes, and that was sufficient for me: because eyes speak more than words.

My Master used to go to the hills. My elder brother went there – I did not even tell this secret to my brother. Why complain of the Master and His disciples to someone else? –, and I simply asked Him,

When you find yourself all alone with the Master, simply ask Him if there are any drawbacks or if there is anything I’ve done wrong. (The disciple can err; only Masters are saved from that.) I may have erred knowingly or unknowingly. Just talk with the Master.

When my brother came back, I asked him,

Did you ask the Master about it?

And he said,

Yes. The Master said, ‘I know he has done nothing wrong, either knowingly or unknowingly; but strangely enough, so much water passed over his head, yet he never came to me to tell me about it.’

So naturally, when Master returned – I never asked any time from my Master – I said, 

I want a few minutes with You.

Oh, yes, you’re welcome.

When the day had passed and it was about nine or ten in the night, He sent for me and said, 

Close the doors.

I was with Him, sitting by Him. I told Him,

I did not come to You because I know that You are in me and seeing my every action – watching my every action and also the trend of my life: You know where I am going. That is why I never came to You.

He was all wrath, He said,

Those people have created so much hell.

I said,

Well, I have not come for that.

What did He say the next day? I used to always sit at the back, just watching. He sat on the throne – on the pulpit – and said, 

Well, Kirpal Singh, come on, give your talk!

And those around Him who were making parties said,

No, Master, we won’t like to hear him; we would like to hear from You directly.

He said,

No, he will talk.

They insisted very much. And still He ordered me: 

You come here and talk to them.

Strangely enough, the tables were turned in one night. This is what I say: if at all anything appealed to my Master, it was my frankness, my being true to myself. I think it is a great qualification.