Spirituality what it is

Spirituality what it is

Talk given by Sant Kirpal Singh, London, 17 September, 1972

Manbody is the highest in all creation. It is an golden opportunity we have got, because in this manbody alone we can know God. And to know God we have to know ourselves first. Because God cannot be known by the outgoing faculties, by the mind or intellect. With the intellect we only try to grasp certain things. It is the soul alone that can know the oversoul, because soul is of the same essence as that of God. God is All-Consciousness and our soul is a drop of the ocean of AllConsciousness. So to know God we will have to know ourselves first. Like knows the like. But unfortunately our soul is environed by mind and outgoing faculties. Our soul is under the control of mind, mind is under control of the outgoing faculties and outgoing faculties are dragged like anything by the outer enjoyments. So all Masters said that we should know ourselves first. "Know thyself! " East and West makes no matter, you see. Those who have known God, they say the same thing. To know ourselves, we will have to know it not at the level of feelings or drawing inferences, but by self-analysis, by rising above body-consciousness. How to? The outgoing faculties will have to be controlled, mind to be stilled and intellect also to be ceased for a while after understanding what is what. Only then we can know ourselves. It is a matter of pure self-analysis, rising above the body-consciousness. To know God at the level of feelings or drawing inferences are subject to error. Seeing is above all. And this practical experience of rising above body-consciousness is to be had at the feet of someone who rises above body-consciousness daily. Saint Paul said: "I die daily." Dying daily means what? We have to undergo the same process as at the time of death, when the soul leaves the body. Plutarch tells

us: "Those who are initiated into the mysteries of the Beyond, their soul has the same experience of leaving the body as it has at the time of death."You know, the outer expression of the soul is attention. At the time of death the attention is withdrawn from all outside. When anybody goes to a man who is just dying, this man does not recognize anyone, because his attention is withdrawn from all outside. Then the lower body is benumbed, lower chakras are broken, we come up to the seat of the soul in the body which is at the back of the eyes. Then the eyes are upturned. Learn to die, so that you may begin to live! So knowing oneself as I told you, this experience or demonstration can be had at the feet of somebody who rises (above the body) daily. He is also competent to give you a demonstration of the fact that you are the very life in the body and not the body, you see? So this manbody is a wonderful house we live in; in which there are so many apertures: that of the eyes, of the ears, of the nostrils, mouth and two underneath. But we cannot run away out of it. We are controlled. So our body works so long as we are in the body. And we are in the body so long as we are controlled in the body by some higher Power, which is according to the scriptures the God-intoexpression-Power, called Naam or Word. When that Power is withdrawn, we have to leave the body. So, rising above body-consciousness by self-analysis gives you practically what is knowing oneself. When you know yourself, you see that some Power is controlling you. One is leaving the body when the karmic link is broken, when the silver-cord (which is based on the reactions of the past) is broken; such a soul never returns. But if you know how to rise above body-consciousness while alive, this process is the same, but then you watch some Power is controlling you. As I told you the other day, one atheist was at the deathbed. He had in his room a big motto: "God is nowhere!" A child came up and began to read: "G-o-d i-s n-o w h-e-r-e: God is now here!" And that dying man said, "Yes, child, some Power is there." So it is knowing oneself by self-analysis, it is just rising above body-consciousness. When you know that Power, which is controlling us now in the body, that Power

becomes apparent. In the manbody alone we can know God. All the world is full of practices (rituals and rites), you see, we do one way or the other, so many things. Those are only preparation for the ground. So, those are good actions, of course. But, to have some models before us, it is just to understand something, but to see that thing for which that model stands, that is something else. The other day I also explained that God is Wordless, Nameless, Ashabd. When He came into being, into expression, that Absolute God wanted: "I wish to be many", there was vibration that resulted in two things: Light and Sound. God is Light. God is Music of the Spheres Nada. These are the two outward expressions of God-into-expression-Power which is controlling the whole universe and also controlling us in the body. That can be contacted when we rise above body-consciousness to the seat of the soul in the body, which is at the back of the eyes. So, it is a practical question which can be demonstrated. When you see for your own self what is what, then only you can be convinced, not before. Man is afraid of dying for two reasons: The first thing, we do not know how to leave the body. We are not accustomed to it. We are so much attached outside that we cannot dare to withdraw from outside. Sometimes we wish to withdraw from outside, but we are so much identified with the outside things, even if you want to leave, you cannot leave, you see? So, for that reason we have to withdraw from outside. If you know how to leave the body day to day, if you die daily as Saint Paul said, if you take the cross daily (the upright standing man with his arms stretched out shows the cross), then death becomes a matter of joy. Because all glory and beauty lies within you. The astral plane is more beautiful than the outer physical plane; causal is still more, and higher plane is still higher beauty and higher bliss. So, once a man has an experience of that, he would like to go, any time even, he would possibly go. Now as you are not in contact with that, mind is just given up to the outward enjoyments and used to that little bliss. Now what are we doing? We make models of the manbody. Manbody is the true temple in which we live, and also that Power, that controls us in the body. Whom we want to contact and the one who wants to contact both are in the same body. But we cannot see Him, because our soul is under the control of mind, mind is

under the control of the outgoing faculties, and outgoing faculties arc dragged like anything by the outer enjoyments. We have ourselves identified with it so much, that we have forgotten our (real) selves. If you know how to rise daily, there is no sting of death in there. Hindu scriptures tell us, when the soul leaves this physical body, man experiences terrible pain, like a scorpion's bite. In the beginning it is just like pinching, then that gives terrible pain. Death can be compared to one thousand scorpions stinging together. Mohammedan scriptures tell us, "When the soul leaves the body, it feels pain like that, as a thorny bush is taken through the rectum and torn through the mouth." You see, how terrible man feels, if he has not learned how to die. Masters tell us, Learn to die so that you may begin to live!" All Masters said the same in their own language. And the second thing is, we do not know, what will be our fate after leaving the body. For two things we are afraid of death. If we sit at the feet of somebody who can give us a demonstration of how to rise above body-consciousness and gives us a link of the God-into-expression-Power which is Light and Sound that's the way back to the Absolute God, direct way, no by-pass is being made. That is natural yoga, you see? When mind gets that bliss, then naturally you would like to avoid outer enjoyments like anything. Now what are we doing? We have made the models of the manbody outside: all temples are dome-shaped (like the human head); churches are nose shaped and mosques are forehead-shaped. We have put in two symbols of God-intoexpression-Power: There is Light and Sound. We go there. There is a model to show that suchlike Light and suchlike Sound is within you. So long as there were practical people (with practical experience), they gave others a demonstration as how to rise above body-consciousness, how to have a contact with that Light and Sound which is the outward aspect of the God-into-expressionPower. They were convinced. But for want of practical people, these things have become the be all and end all. They were only models to show that suchlike Light of God and Sound Principle is within you. For want of practical people, there was nobody to demonstrate the Light within us. So we simply go to the churches and

the mosques and light the candle there, ring the bell there. Both things are outer worship. So you see, we follow the models which only show that suchlike Light is within you, and show that we are to rise above the physical body and have a contact with the true Light, with the true Sound which is reverberating within the man-body and all creation. So those who have seen that, they say, "Body is the temple of God!" Masters say, "Manbody is the true temple of God in which the Light of God shines." So we are so much given up to these outward models for want of practical people. We engage from day to day in these outward models which were made for the preparation of the ground, to let people understand, what is what. When the Master meets us, He opens the Single Eye, Third Eye or Shiv Netra so that Light is seen for oneself. When you experience this, it is very easy to leave the body; it is a matter of joy. Kabir said, "People are afraid of hearing the name of death. I am very much overjoyed when I hear the name of death. Because it is only then, that 1 can unite with the God overhead!" I am now talking about Guru Amar Das, the third Guru of the Sikhs. He was engaged in outward practices, models, all schools of thought for seventy long years. But naturally one is only then satisfied, when one sees. When you see for yourself, then you can say, "God is Light." If you don't see and only think, "God is Light", you are not in the Light of God. When you then say that God is Light, is it true for you? No. After the search of Guru Amar Das for seventy long years ("Knock and it shall be opened unto you"), God made some arrangement to bring him in contact with the second Guru of the Sikhs. He got that experience of rising above bodyconsciousness and his Third Eye or Single Eye was opened within, so that he saw the Light of God and said, "God is Light!" Then he said, "I have spent seventy long years only engaged in the outward, in the methods which concern the esoteric side only." These are good actions, of course, because they are meant for God, but the doership is there, ego. "Whatever you will sow, so shall you reap/' You have good thoughts, they result in good actions. You have bad thoughts, bad results. This coming and going (into this world) goes on like anything. You will go where you are attached.

But when you see that Power is overhead, you will say like the atheist I mentioned "Yes, my child, this Power is overhead." That you only come to know if you now rise above body-consciousness, if you see for yourself: that Power is controlling. Which aspect of God can you experience? Not the Absolute God; nobody has seen Him. Before coming into expression, He was Wordless, He was Nameless; when He came into expression, He was called Word, Naam or Shabd. So, there are two aspects of the Word. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet." By coming in contact with Naam, you see the Light, which can be compared to hundreds and thousands of suns rising together. In whomsoever that Light is effulgent, truly speaking, he is a real disciple (Sikh). Carrying one outer label or the other, belonging to different schools of thought or social bodies, does not necessarily mean, you have achieved that very object for which you joined that school of thought. One can be a true disciple only when one sees the Light of God. A true Hindu is one who sees the Light within. A true Christian is one who sees the Light of God. A true Mohammedan is one who sees the Light of God. The same thing for all, you see? When one, who does not see, says, "God is Light!", it is just like a blind man's work, you see? Only when you see that He is Light and He is the controlling Power keeping us, and we are mere puppets in His hand, naturally then all ego is lost, because you see that some higher Power is working (not you). When Guru Amar Das himself saw that, he said, "Saying prayers and praising Him without seeing Him is just like a blind man's work." See and then say. All Masters say that. Unless you see, your praising God is good, for the good thoughts are at least towards God. But your ego and doership is not gone, so naturally, "As you sow so shall you reap!" When we see that this Power is working and not you, naturally you lose your ego. So coming in contact with God-into-expression-Power, when you see, that it is this controlling Power that is keeping us in the body, and we are mere puppets in His hands, naturally ego goes. That can be had only when you sit at the feet of some really adept, called by any name you like, who opens your inner eye, so that you can see the Light of God within you. At that time Guru Amar Das gave all his gist or the digest of the teaching in one hymn. That I'm going to present before you. He said: "Look here, where is God?"

And he says: "God is in this very cave of the body!" A cave is always long and dark, you see? In this cave of the body He does live, you see, God, who is never ending and who is above all outgoing faculties. He lives in it. Body is the temple of God. Maulana Rumi tells us that prophet Mohammed told, that God says: "I am so great, that all this earth, sky and planes, higher and lower, all this creation is not sufficient to contain me in them. lam so great!" But He says: "Strange enough that I abide in the heart of a devotee. I am in everybody, I reside in every heart!" Kabir says, "I went to have a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. On the way? God met me. He began to fight with me, saying, "Who told you I'm there? I am in you!" You see? Kabir was after finding Him by going round from places to places. All Masters' digest I'm giving you, I need not to quote, there are hundreds of quotations there. They say: 'The One whom you want to, He is within you. He is your controlling Power. He also resides in the body. Body is the true temple of God!' Outward models are made to give you some idea: suchlike Power is within you? Unless we see that Power, we cannot lose ego; and so long the ego is not gone, we come round and round (to this world). So all Masters tell us like that. Guru Amar Das says, "God resides within you, just like take the case of madder. The more you grind it in water, the more red colour it gives. As the fire is in the wood, by rubbing it, you get the fire. As butter is in the milk, that is changed into the curd, and curd should be shaken, and then butter will come out, you see? So suchlike God resides within you!" All Masters tell us, "God resides in us! He resides in the heart of everybody!" But we do not see Him. Guru Amar Das says, "It is a sort of cataract. When this cover comes to the pupil, man cannot see. Only if that is removed carefully, sight is restored." Similarly (our inner sight is restored), when our attention is withdrawn from all outside and just taken to the seat of the soul in the body - which is at the back of the eyes - to the tenth door in the body which opens into the beyond; there you knock and it shall be opened unto you. So, Guru Amar Das gives the descriptions in all ways, how he got this and why people are going amiss. So first he said, "To whom you want to continue, to have it, He resides in your manbody. He is latent within you." You see? And all this outward expression (of the world) is only of God-into-expression-Power. All this came out of Him, then where is that place, where He is not?

If you see in the air, there is nothing to be seen. Is there nothing in this air? There is of course. When you see through a microscope that magnifies all things about 700 times more, you will see that it is full of insects. They are there even now; either those things are magnified to come up to our level, or our inner eye is so much etherealized, that we come to their level. Then we can see. There is God in us. Masters say that they have seen Him in this very man-body. Those who are trying to find Him in outward practices or observances, they will never get Him. These are good actions, of course. They (the Masters) don't deny, but ego is there, doership is there. You have to sow; and as you sow, so shall you reap! Good actions will bring you good, your coming and going will go round and round, you see? When you see that He is the worker, your ego is lost, naturally your coming and going is ended. So this is what Guru Amar Das said. When you come to the feet of a Master, He gives you a contact with that God-into-expression-Power, which is called Word, Shabd, Naam. Then you see for yourself: God is there! But God Absolute not, I tell you, God-into-expression-Power, the two aspects of which are Light and Sound. You see the Light of God, you hear the Music of the Spheres. Now he thanks God: "O God, I thank you very much, I sacrifice myself to you. I have been in a long, seventy years long search, then I thank to my Guru at whose feet I got this experience. I sacrifice myself not one time hundreds of times to the Master, who had made God manifest in me!" So you see, we need a teacher at every step. Even the children need parents, brothers and sisters to teach them. In schools we want teachers. In all outer aspects, all subjects which are related to the outgoing faculties, mind or intellect, we want guidance over there. And for this subject which is: How to rise above body-consciousness, to rise above outgoing faculties? don't you need anybody? You do need somebody! But we are afraid of it. Because the world is full of teachers, excuse me, now I say. Christ also said, "They come as lambs, but they are ravening wolves." There is so much acting and posing going on, the people cannot decide, what is what. And Masters lay out one criterion for that: Unless you see for yourself what the Master says, and unless you testified it, don't believe the words of the Master. It is really a great criterion! This can differentiate right from the wrong.

Guru Amar Das says, "O God, I am thankful to my Guru who had made that Godinto-expression-Power after which I was seventy long years - manifested. Thank God!" One who gets that experience, there is gratefulness in such a heart. Now he says, "First thing is that Naam, God-into-expression-Power, which has got two aspects. When you come in contact with it, that gives you everlasting life." Amrit means Water of Life which gives you everlasting life; you'll never die. Once you learn to die, you'll live forever. "Learn to die, so that you may begin to live!" That Water of Life is had only when you learn how to rise above bodyconsciousness physically. That gives you a taste, a sort of intoxication and bliss, with which mind forgets all outward enjoyments. In manbody only we can have it. And this thing we can have at the feet of the Master. He rises above physical body daily, hundred times a day at will if He wishes, and makes others to rise above body-consciousness. A practical demonstration of it is given by Him, and then they see for themselves really and rise above body-consciousness. Some get more, some others less (experience). But some capital is given to each one to start with. A man who is coming to give you a talk on business principles, a wonderful and information talk, but the men, to whom this talk is given, have got no money. What will your talk help them? When people come to us and give us very sweet stories of the Beyond, are they also able to give us something to start with? They are only giving beautiful talks. Where all the world's philosophies end, there the religion starts. You must have something to be able to start with, maybe little or more, you see? So man can have this experience. And it is very sweet there is sweetness, bliss in it. Now he says, to rise above physical body is very difficult. Yogis have spent hundreds of years to rise above the physical body. They performed kumbhak, control of the breath at the different centres (chakras) in the body. Ultimately the came up to the sixth chakra at the back of the eyes which is the seat of the soul in the body. Then they saw and came in contact with the Sound Principle. How long it takes! And when the Masters come, they give you little attention, and whatever number of people there may be all (their) outer attention is withdrawn, goes up, and the inner eye is opened. They get some experience of the Light and Sound Principle to start with. What a great concession that is in these days!

So how does He give? It is very difficult to rise above body-consciousness. And you are given some experience more or less of how to rise above bodyconsciousness. You get some capital of Light and Sound to start with. Then you have to develop further! Where the world's philosophies end, as I told you, there the religion starts. Religion means: "re" means back, "ligio" to bind; to withdraw your attention (which is the outer expression of the soul) from all outside and contact it with God within you.

Now the question arises, how Master gives this. Guru Amar Das gives the one example of collyrium which is put on the eyes, you see? God gives the collyrium of that inner knowledge, which is to be experienced at the seat of the soul (at the back of the eyes). It is given in a very practical way. When the collyrium is put in the eyes, you see. And similarly some Godman or some Saint or some name Him by any name you like withdraws your attention from outside, withdraws it and brings it to the back of the eyes. Then you see Light. How does the Godman or Saint give you this inner knowledge, this collyrium of Light and Sound? By withdrawing your attention from all outside and taking it to the seat of the soul at the back of the eyes, which Yogis were taken hundreds of years to have it. First there is all darkness, when you close your eyes. When He gives you a (meditation) sitting, your attention is withdrawn from outside, goes up and darkness fades away. You see Light! And you testify yourself that it is Light. He does not say you'll have it in hundreds of years, after this life, at the end of life or in ten years. He at once gives you something to start with. First it is all darkness, you see. Then, when you see for yourself, you are convinced. This is how Guru Amar Das tells his story. All Saints say that those who do not see God and praise Him are like blind men. In the terminology of the Saints a blind man is not one who has got no eyes on the forehead, but one whose inner eye is not opened and who is unable to see the Light of God. Kabir says, "I see all blind men sitting around me. Had there been one or two, I would have explained to them. What to speak, everywhere I look, all are blind!" Very sweeping remarks of course, but true. Teacher of the man is a man. God resides in every heart. But only the one, in whom He is manifest, can give you a demonstration of it, that's all.

The grace of God is working in a manbody, you see. "Word-made-flesh" you might say. God is manifesting in the manbody. And that Power withdraws your attention from all outside, takes it up, and then you see Light. Your inner eye or the single eye is opened. That happens when all your attention is withdrawn from outside and you rise above the chakras. You reach the seat of the soul in the body which is at the back of the eyes and you see for yourself! So, for this reason He says, "Those who are going to find God in all worldly things outside, practices, their whole labour is just like a man's (labour), who has to work day and night and still gets no pay." So all labour is lost in doing all outward expenses valued according to that. The real thing is: to know God. People practice all models. With all that we do not see God. Of course those are good actions, which will give us good results. But ego is not lost, and the coming and going will go on. So, those who are under the control of mind and outgoing faculties, identified with it, they say "How can there be light inside? Who says? When you close your eyes, it is all darkness?" They don't believe. When they see for themselves, then they have to say, "Yes, there is something!" So Master tells not to believe in anything what the Master says, unless you bear testimony to it (may be little or more). That's the work of a Master or a Saint, from where you can discriminate right from the wrong, ravening wolves from the lambs. Guru Amar Das says, "With the Grace of the Guru I have found God." How? By self-analysis. Macrocosm is in the microcosm. When he rose above physical body there are three different stages of mind: one is physical mind, the other is astral mind, the third is causal-mind he said, "When I rose from the physical body and the physical mind, then I saw some light. When I rose from the astral mind and astral body, I saw still more light. When I rose still above them, there was still more light." It is just like a lamp with three or four covers over it. When you light it, you see no light. If you take off one cover, you see some light. If you take off two covers, there is still more light. If you take off three covers, still more light can be seen. So God is all Light. When we have some experience of the Light and Sound Principle, it grows more and more and gets sweeter, as the densities of the different planes are changed. Guru Amar Das is telling all that, how he got God by analysing

himself, rising above the physical body and physical mind, astral body and astral mind, and causal body and causal mind. Now he says, "Godman or man-in-God, or call any name you like, Sadhu or Saint or elder brother or father, He gives you an experience of the Light by bringing your attention into the eye-centre. Then you see Light. When you sit there, truly you see, and you start to praise God. Those who praise God without seeing Him, they are like blind men! These are good actions of course, the Master does not deny, these are good actions, you see, but the doership is there. Natural: "As you sow, so shall you reap!" Now again Guru Amar Das further goes, "This manbody is a wonderful house; it has got ten doors. Nine are apparent, one is latent." Two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth and two underneath they are open, apparent. There are the nine doors open to the sense world and there is the tenth door behind at the back of the eyes, where the soul passes into the beyond by coming to that place where the single eye opens. He says, "As long as you do not withdraw your attention from outside, from the nine doors and come to the tenth door, you will neither see Light nor will you hear the Sound Principle." He gives very clearly all his life experience. People say that Saints keep this thing secret. No, no; they tell out from the platforms like that, you see? It is for all people. If you can go up yourself, well and good. If not, take the help of somebody! So what he says? "I withdrew my attention from outside, from the nine doors and came to the tenth door at the back of the eyes. There I heard the sweet melody of the Music of the Spheres, Nada. That is giving highest bliss." As long as we have no contact with that God Power which is called Shabd, Word or Naam, you will see darkness, when you close your eyes! When you withdraw your attention from outside and come to the back of the eyes, the single eye is opened and then you can see the Light. Christ said that it is better to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye, rather than two, which will cast you into hell. You see? "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light!" "Straight is the gate!" ("Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matthew 7,14) Read the scriptures! These are references to the beyond how the soul leaves the manbody.

Now Guru Amar Das says, "Unless the darkness is removed and you see the Light of God face to face, your coming and going (into this world) will not end!" When you see God, see that He is the power controlling you, your ego is lost and you are not to come back (into this world). But unless you see the Light of God within you, you are only devoted to the models given in the churches, temples and the mosques for daily worship. Amongst Hindus there is a custom, you see. When a man is on the deathbed, they light a lamp, give it to him and ask him, "Look into the flame of the lamp!" And they read a mantra that means, "This light will lead you to God!" You see, hand and light, both remain here. What Light will be there (in the beyond)? That light, which is within you already. You can see it when you reach the tenth door in the body and your inner eye, third eye or the single eye is opened. So he says, "Who has the key?" Suppose there is a man who has got a house. You want to enter that house, but the owner has locked up the door of the house and given the key to the agent or the servant or somebody. So first you'll have to seek the sanction of the owner of the house. If he gives sanction, then he asks the servant, "Go and open the door!" God resides where? God resides in the temple which is made in the womb of the mother. He resides in this manbody. He has locked it and given the key to whom? To the "God-in-man" or "man-inGod" or Saint, or any name you like. He gives you a sitting, withdraws your attention from all outside to the seat of the soul in the body and you see Light. Of course some get more (experience), some get less according to each man's background, but everybody gets something to start with. The key of success is with the Saint. The one who made that body God He locked it off and gave the key to the Saint to open it whenever He gives sanction. Not all are given initiation, it is God-chosen, we are chosen by Him. It is not with us to choose. It is Him who chooses. Whom He chooses? Now for an example, there is an office, where there are some appointments vacant. The officer-in-charge over there whose handwriting is carried off very wonderful, he asks all hand-written applications to come to him. He passes on all of them. Hundreds of applications he passes on. Whatever handwriting is very beautiful, he takes out. You see? Because he appreciates that qualification

which is in him. God sees those who are hankering more after God as compared for the world. God resides inside, He makes some arrangement to bring you in contact with someone who can put you on the path, that's all. He chooses you. Those who are very yearning for Him, He brings them in contact with someone so that they can be put on the way. Now Guru Amar Das repeats: "That manbody is the cave which is dark inside, and God resides in it." "He is so great", as prophet Mohammed said, "but He can just reside in the devotee's heart." He is latent, all this outer expression is also God, all you see is the expression of God. First you only see darkness but when your inner eye is opened then you see: "It is all Light, God is everywhere. There is no place where God is not." But how can that be done? ... It is already there. It is only a question of withdrawing from outside and coming up to the seat of soul. If you can reach there yourself- do your best! If you can what more is wanted? If you are not successful, then let you be helped by someone, as you also need the help of a teacher in outer things. Just sit by somebody who gives that free; all gifts of God are free: air, sun, water, earth. This earth is a gift of God. To sit at the feet of someone who gives you all this freely is necessary. The word "Gurmukh" means, when your eyes come in contact with the eyes of the Godman, and live is in tune. One third of the teaching is given by the word of mouth and two third by radiation. So devotion is necessary. In devotion you develop receptivity. And there you learn more. So Guru Amar Das says, "When you want to derive full benefit of the man-body, which is the golden opportunity you have got to know God, then sit at the feet of a Saint!" If real yearning is there, God within you sees that you are really crying for Him, He makes some arrangement to bring you in contact with someone where you can be put on the way. Then you will testify yourself that it is like that. You may get something, little or more (according to each man's background); you get something to start with.

So this is what Guru Amar Das gave out, when he came to the feet of his Master. He gave the digest of all his teachings in one hymn.

So every Saint has His past, and every sinner a future. There is hope for everybody. When Guru Amar Das came up to that state, he said, "I was like you some day. I've now come up with the grace of God." What did the grace of God do? "I was like a stone under water under control of the outgoing faculties, He dragged me up and manifested Himself to me." So there is hope for everybody, those who have got the manbody. That is why manbody is spoken of very highly. Even the angels are asked to bow down to the manbody. All souls of the rishis of the old, when they returned after enjoying the higher bliss of the planes, they chose the manbody to enter. You are very fortunate, you have got the manbody. So this is the highest time to know God. All other things are reactions of the past, give and take. The flowing pen of God has united us as a reaction of our past, some as brothers, sisters, wives, husbands or parents. So, a Godman or man-in-God brings you in closer relation which is already existing. When Christ was told, while many people were sitting near him, "Your mother had come!", he answered: "Who is my mother? Those who do the will of my Father, they are to me mother, brother and sister, they are mine!" This is a true relation in which a Godman unites us, you see? As man you are all one. As soul we are of the same essence as that of God, we are all brothers and sisters in God. We worship the same God called by different names. So it is high time to see Him. We have got the golden opportunity for it. All who are sitting here have got the manbody for such a long time twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years. But have you reached God? If yes, well and good. If not hurry up! So this is the high time now. This is what I found by the parallel study of the scriptures and by sitting at the feet of the Master just as Guru Amar Das has placed before you. He has passed seventy years in search of God, and when he got the experience of Him, he showed to others, "This is the way!" So I placed this before you. I may thank you for your patient hearing. What I found I have placed before you. So thank you for your affording this opportunity of snatching away your time from your busy hours to just have a patient listening to what I have come to know. So I thank you all for all that. One thing I have to say, specially for those who have already been initiated. For

them two things are necessary. First: meditation it is the bread of life and water of life. No day should pass without taking that food. You are asked to put in as much time as you can, at least two hours daily. When I went to my Master, I asked Him how much time I should put in. I was a family man, I had two children, I was serving also, earning my livelihood. He said: "Put in five to six hours at least, the more, the better!" You see? After all, it is us who have to work on it. So at least put in two hours, if more that's all right. It is helping yourself. Two hours of the twenty four hours are not much. One tithe is to be given. One tithe of the twenty four hours become two hours and twenty minutes. You are further given a concession of twenty minutes. The second thing is to maintain the diary. Hitherto these things were given only when the people were ready, when the vessel was clean. Now the times have changed. Who can sit at the feet of the Master for years? So you are given something to start with first and you are asked to maintain it by self-introspection, weeding out all failures in life and also putting in regular time daily. If you weed out all imperfections from within, and also put in regular time and get something to start with already, then that experience will develop from day to day. So for that, self-introspection diary is necessary, so that you may know yourself who you are, what the failures in your life are, you see? It is just like when we go to the church, to the priest, when we make confession and pray: "O God, I have done that, I won't do more!" You see, do it a hundred times a day. So when you get something to start with, that is always to develop, it is helping your own self, is it not? "Learn to die so that you may begin to live!" There is no fear of death, no sting of death to be left. So put in regular time to your bread of life and water of life. Give water of life to your soul first, then give the bread of life to the body. And God will help you.

The inner and outer man

By Sant Kirpal Singh, Sant Bani Ashram, USA, 11 October, 1963

Religions were made by man for his moral and spiritual uplift. These were made for man, and man was not made for them. The purpose of joining the religion is to know God, which is the highest ideal before us. Manbody is the golden opportunity that we have got, in which we can know Him, and in no other body. So all of us who are sitting here are fortunate that we have got the manbody and we have also joined various religions to achieve that object of life which we have got before us. We have to see now, how far we have succeeded in achieving the object of life which is before us.

Time does come that we have to leave the body. Body is not permanent, it is made of matter. Matter is made of elements and atoms, this is a composition of so many things which will decompose some time. So matter is changing, you see. We are the indweller of the body, the manbody. We are not the body, but we are the indweller of the body. What are we? We are conscious entities, conscious beings. This conscious being or our own self, as you might say, is made of one substance only and that is consciousness. What is made of one substance, naturally that has not to decompose or disintegrate. This is everlasting, unchangeable. But the body that we are carrying that is changing every moment of life. It has been said that the very particles of our bones are replaced, are renewed in seven years. So the whole universe is also made of matter, and matter is changing at the same speed as our body, which is made of matter, is changing. But God is all consciousness that is made of one substance, and as such cannot be decomposed or disintegrated that is everlasting. So God is everlasting, unchangeable permanence, and similarly, our soul being of the same essence as that of God is also eternal. But the body that we are carrying is changing.

You will find, all Masters have said the same thing in their own language. Soamiji tells us, "Well, o soul, thou are the essence of something which is eternal." Similarly in Guru Granth Sahib it is said: "We are spirit in man. And the spirit is everlasting, why do we fear that we have to die?" So we are also eternal. Our soul being a conscious entity, its true home is naturally the one which is all consciousness, the true home of our Father. But it has been environed with mind and matter and outgoing faculties, and identified with them so much so that we cannot differentiate our self from the body.

The body is changing. We have identified ourselves with the body so that we now think we are everlasting, but that is a reflection of God within us. We never think of dying. Soul can never die, but it

has to leave the body some day, you see. Our daily experiences show that our body is working so long as we are in the body, and we are in the body so long as some controlling power is keeping us in the body.

Manbody is a wonderful house we live in. It has got nine apertures: Two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, and the genital organs, but we cannot run away out of it. It is a wonderful house we live in. Breathing goes out and it is again pushed back into the body, it cannot remain outside. There is some power controlling it back into the body. That very controlling power is called by different names: God, and so many names.

So in the manbody we can know God, but first we have to know our own self because it is the soul only who can know God. Like knows the like. But as I told you we are so much identified with mind, matter and outgoing faculties that we cannot differentiate our self from the body. We say so many things: "I am not the body, I am not the intellect, I am not the vital airs (pranas)", but can we analyse ourselves? We say, "It is my coat, it is my watch, it is my hat." You can put it off, at will. We also say, "That is my body." Can we shake it off? But we do see that time does come, when we have to leave the body, and this body is carried by people to the cremation place or to the grave, according to the customs prevailing in all religions.

So what is that which is enlivening this body, and that we are? All Masters say that this world is temporary, not lasting. We are all under a grand delusion, the learned and the unlearned, the old and the young, the rich and the poor. Why are we under that grand delusion? Because we have not known ourselves. We are the indweller of the body. Body is made of matter and is changing at the same speed as the whole world (around us) is changing. As we are identified with the body which is changing, and the whole world is also changing being made of matter, we think (it is stationary). When two things are moving at the same speed, those who are identified with them, they say, it is stationary. You may take two trains that are running, we are sitting in the trains and the trains are going the same way both, at the same speed, sometimes it does happen. The men sitting in both the trains think: "O, we are sitting still here," although both trains are running fast. This is the delusion from which we have to come out.

Guru Nanak says: "So long as we do not know ourselves, we are all under grand delusion." How can we come out of this delusion? Simply, you know, how to leave the trains? The one sitting in one train goes out, he will be sure, "O, the train is very fast!" This is the delusion in which we all are. That has been the slogan with all Masters who came in the past. Christ said, "Know thyself!" Guru Nanak also said the same thing, the Upanishads say, "Know thyself!" Old Greeks also laid down the same thing: "Gnothi seauton."

So the purpose why Masters come is to awaken us: "Well, o man, you are identified with the body, and the outgoing faculties, and the enjoyments so much so that you have forgotten yourself." Manbody is the highest in all creation in which you can know yourself. How? By coming out of this delusion by selfanalysis, by rising above body-consciousness.

So, how to do? That's the point! We do leave the body some day, all, no exception to the rule, but if we now know how to leave the body, then this mystery of life is solved. If we know how to leave the body, we will come to know what is that power which is controlling us in the body. We become conscious coworker of the divine plan. All Masters have been saying like that. Maulana Rumi said, "Well, soul, you are the resident of the true home of your Father which is everlasting, unchangeable permanence. You are stuck fast in dust and matter. Why don't you awake?" He says further, "It is a shame for you," he is using the word 'shame' "being the son of God, being the daughter of God, you see, away from your home, you are led away by mind and outgoing faculties, long away from Him.

Where you are, just in a foreign country, you forget your home altogether. So think of your home, and who you are!" And how can we do that? In the scriptures we find, "Be still, and know that you are God!" We are spirit in man, we are conscious entities but identified with mind, body, and outgoing faculties so much that we have forgotten ourselves. One saint said that you have committed a heinous crime against your own self. What is that heinous crime? You are the indweller of the body and you have forgotten the indweller, your own self!

Now whatever we are doing we are doing at the level of the manbody. If you would ask a small child of three or four years old, "Who are you?" he opens his eyes, opens his mouth. He is experiencing something here (behind the forehead). As he grows in years you ask him again, "Who are you?" he says, "I am Mister Smith, I am Mister Josef, I am an American, I am a French, I am a German, I am an Indian." He has forgotten who he is. This is the delusion, you see. Forgetfulness or ignorance you might say, from which we have to come out. You can come out only when you analyse your self from the body.

All Masters who have come, they have been telling us the same thing, of course in their own language which was prevalent at that. In the scriptures we find: "Lay by thy treasures in heaven!" You see? "The treasures laying here will be eaten by moths and rust, and that is a place where no moths and rust can affect. There is something to store." Again they say, "Unless you lose your own self, you see, you cannot have everlasting life." We are living a superficial life at the level of manbody and we never dipped inside to see what we are, who we are. We are pinning ourselves to the outer casings of the walnut not caring for the kernel within.

Man has got three aspects: It has the manbody which is made of matter, it has the intellect, and man is soul embodied soul. So we are fortunate, we have got the manbody. We have made a great progress physically in having outer possessions. Intellectually we are also making wonderful inventions, but with all that, whenever we ask anybody, "Well, how are you getting on spiritually?" he even asks "What do you speak of?" We are living our lives of "eat and drink and be merry", an Epicurean way of life, never caring for our own self.

There are values of life, some are most important, some are less important, and some are the least important. So manbody is a gift from God, the highest rung in creation, the golden opportunity that we have got because in manbody only we can know God. Kabir says, "Maintain it as long as you can. Once it has passed out of your hands it is very difficult to get a manbody." Old Rishis have tried hard, they lived up to at least hundred years. Another Master said, "Well, maintain this horse which you are riding on!" "A strong mind in a strong body." So body must be cared for, it is not to be left alone. But at the same time we must see that we are not the body, we are the indweller of the body. You will find, "Is not the body more than the rayment, and the life more than the meat?" Are not the possessions that we have got less important than our own body? And are we not still more important than our body? If the house is on fire and you have escaped, you say, "Thank God, I am saved!" So body is more valuable than the possessions. If any accident happens you might pray for, God forbid! we say, "Thank God, I am saved!" Our own life is more valuable than the body. But how are we behaving? Whole the time, twenty-four hours of the day and night we are caring for having possessions outside or maintaining our body only. Never we care a fig for our own self. Who will tell us we are wise, you see?

So you are the most valuable treasure in this manbody. God has kept it, shut up in different boxes, you might say. Any valuable diamond, I think, you keep it in one casket, then in a second, then in a third one. Similarly, God has kept the form of Christ within us our own self, and that controlling power which is controlling us in the body. First is the iron casket, this physical body. Within that there is the astral body, still further we have got the causal body. So these are the three caskets, and being most valuable we are just kept inside. We have to shake off these to know our own self.

Prophet Mohammed says, "God says, I am the treasure hidden within you." You are God in man, you are spirit in man. When we are able to shake off these caskets, you know: "Father is in me and I am in the Father I and my Father are one." "Son is dyed in the colour of the Father, Father speaks through the son." This you will have experienced, but when? When you shake off this body. So macrocosm is in the microcosm of the manbody. We have to solve this mystery of life: what we are, who we are.

We have got certain values of life, we are advanced wonderfully physically, intellectually. But we have done little or nothing about our own self. With all these advancements physically, we have just found out so many systems, how to maintain the body, how it works, how it goes out of order, how it can be set right again. We have got so many systems, the oldest is the Ayurveda system, then comes the Unani system, then comes Allopathy, then Homeopathy, Naturalpathy, and many others, these are only to maintain your body.

Intellectually we are advanced wonderfully. We can hear the voices from thousands of miles through radios. We can now also hear and see who is speaking through television. The world has become small on account of the planes. In hours we can traverse from one end to the other end of the world. We can also go round the world in some hours. Wonderful! Now (1963) we are trying to reach the moon! But with all these advancements, are we happy? No! Every man is unhappy. Guru Nanak says, "Whole the world is unhappy." Kabir says, "I have not seen one man who is happy after coming into the manbody." And Tulsi says, "All are unhappy, either physically, financially or mentally." So is there any hope for a man becoming happy? We are all after happiness, is it not? We are earning money, we are having possessions, we are having buildings, we marry, we have children, only for what? For the sake of happiness! But we do not find happiness, still it is there. Real happiness is within you. So with all these advancements we have not been able to be happy. The reason is, the third side, our own self, the spiritual side is uncared for. If we say certain prayers, read certain scriptures or perform one way or the other rites and rituals, these are good actions. Reading scriptures, advancing intellectually is only a diet or a food to your brain, to the intellect. And from the physical food you give to the body, you become physically and intellectually strong. What have you given to your own soul? There is a bread of life and water of life. If we can have that, we can also become spiritually strong.

From where can we have that bread of life? Tulsi says, "Well, you should sit at the feet of a Master, so you can become happy. You will have the bread of life and the water of life. I hope you remember Jesus Christ when he went to a well, there was one Samaritan lady who had a pitcher full of water on her head. He asked her to give him some water to drink. But she said, "Well, strange enough, we are Samaritans. You people (the Jews) have nothing to do with Samaritans, why you ask me for water?" He said, had she known who he was who asked her for water, she would have given it to him. Then he told her, "Well, this water that you are carrying that only stills your thirst for a while. Again you thirst, again and again. But had you come to me, I would have given you the living water of life which would have finished your thirst forever." Then again he said, "I am the bread of life. I am the bread of life and this bread of life has come from heaven. Whoever eats me and drinks me has everlasting life." (Joh. 6,48 58) So a Master you may say, at the human pole God is speaking, who is the mouthpiece of God he can give you the bread of life and the water of life. And what is that bread of life or water of life? You will find (in the Gospel of Saint John), "Word was made flesh and dwelled amongst us." And what is the Word? God is wordless. Absolute God that has not come into being as yet. When it came into being, into expression, into action, that God-in-action-Power is called Word, Naam or Shabd. That is the cause of all

creation. "In the beginning was the Word, Word was with God, and Word was God. The whole creation came up after the Word." And where is that Word? "Thy Word is settled in heaven." This Word is the bread of life which has come from heaven, you see. Where it has manifested, materialized in some human pole (Master), he can contact your soul and withdraw it from the mind and matter and give that bread of life to you. So you can be happy only if you have the bread of life and the water of life. I am quoting to you these things from the Bible because you people are more conversant with the Bible (than with other scriptures). Exactly the same words we find in the sayings of other scriptures, too in their own language, of course.

So unless or until we have got spiritual progress, and have got the food of life, the bread of life, we are not happy. We have made so many inventions, and we are now in danger of atomic war. Thank God, that by His pity it has been shunned by now, you see. But still our own intellect has gone against us. Had we known our self first, well, all these things would have gone to help the humanity. Because we have known little or nothing about our own self, these very things are now hovering around us. Any moment it (such a war) starts, the world will end.

In a manbody only we can have this bread of life. Who can give you this bread of life? Who is Wordmade-flesh. It is the God-in-man, God-in-action, manifested in man which can give you a contact with God, the Word, you see. For this purpose we have joined various religions. These are the basic teachings given by all Masters whenever they came. Those who met them, they had the bread of life and the water of life. How could they have it? By rising above body-consciousness, by analysing oneself from mind, body, and outgoing faculties. It is a matter of pure self-analysis.

Religion truly means: "re" means back (in Latin), "ligio" comes from the root "ligare" to bind. "To bind back our souls to God again"; this is what is meant by "religion". One is the social side of religions. They have got their own customs, their own rituals, rites, and their own modes of prayer. These are all good actions. They lay down that we should read scriptures of our own. Well, what are scriptures? They are fine records of the findings, of the experiences of the Masters who came in the past, that they had with God and in knowing themselves, what things stood in the way, what were the helping factors. So this is a fine record of all that. You might say, past Masters (are) speaking through books. That creates in us an interest to have the same experiences that they had in their lives. And unless we have got the same experience, we cannot be fully satisfied. That creates an awakening in us, a desire or a craving in us to know God. They can create an interest, but cannot take us to have these ... experiences that they had. Saying prayers and performing certain rites and rituals, they are good actions, they develop in us love and devotion for God. They are good actions, they are for the preparation of the ground.

Kabir says, "Well, it is a pity, that manbody we have got, the highest in all creation, the golden opportunity we have got (but we do not use it)." He said, "O soul awake! If you do not awake now in the manbody, when will you awake?" Old Vedas say the same thing: "Awake, arise and stop not until the goal is reached!" The very words they are using! Rishis used the same words thousands of years back and Kabir only five hundred years back, you see. The same words were expressed by Guru Arjan Dev. He says, "Awake, stand up; awake, stand up, you are on the way back to God. Why you delay?" So what is this awakening? We are asleep. Where? At the level of the manbody and the outgoing faculties by identifying ourselves with that so much so that we are awake outside and asleep within. And that controlling power which is keeping us in the body we don't know. He is also within us. Guru Arjan says, "Two brothers are living in the same house, but alas! The brother does not talk with the other brother." And who are they? Our soul and Oversoul above. He is the controlling power keeping us in the body. Another Saint says, "Soul and Oversoul God are asleep in the same bed. But the soul is just identified with the outgoing faculties, enjoyments so much so that she is awake outside but asleep within. And God is waiting for her when she opens her eyes." God is anxious to have us. But we are quite ignorant about it. Child is playing outside in dust with the children like anything and mother is waiting for the child to come back and to have the food. It is something like that, you see. That is why Masters say, "Be like little children, for the Kingdom of God is for the children." Children have love for all. If the child of a king and the child of a man going by in the street, if they both are let alone, they will embrace each other, they will love each other and enjoy themselves. There is no duality, no question of high or low, no distinction. And we people? We are rich, we are more learned, we are higher, the others are lower. So this is what is meant by "we should be (like) a child", you see.

I mean to say that the ultimate goal before us is to know God. For that purpose we have joined various schools or colleges of religions. We have to see whether we have attained that object or not. In all religions Masters have come, you see. By a parallel study of religions you will find that all said the same thing, of course in their own language which was prevalent at the time. So to say that one religion has only the reserved right to know God, actually history does not prove it. Well, they say the same thing, that you should have respect for all men! And what are the Masters? They are speaking it is God speaking through them. "I and my Father are one." So they have known the truth, that Godpower is working through a manbody. Well, he who knows the truth, can let others know the truth. "Son knows the Father and others whom the son reveals." Tulsi said, "If you want to be happy, then sit at the feet of a Master."

What is He (the Master)? He is a man like you, having the same two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet, born the same way, inner construction of the body is the same. But there is a vast difference between Him and an average man: (Unlike Him) our souls are under the control of mind, mind is under the control of the outgoing faculties, and the outgoing faculties are drawn by enjoyments outside. We are not at our will and pleasure, we are not free, we are dragged like anything. Guru Arjan refers to an instance: Suppose there is a house, and there is a houselady there. And she has got some maid servants,

four or five. And no maid servant obeys her orders. What will be the state of the house, if nobody is caring for the houselady, what she says? So the first thing is that those servants given to us, they must obey our orders. We should not be dragged down by them, but they should be under our control. We are the indweller of the house the houselady, you see. There are five servants given to us: these outgoing faculties. There are five conscious outgoing faculties working through the gross outgoing faculties: Sight through the eyes, audition through the ears, smell through the nose, taste through the tongue and touch through the skin. These five servants have been dragging us outside, every moment of life. Sometimes you feel we don't like to do something but we are drawn like anything to these outgoing faculties. So we must control these servants first. You must see, but at the same time with your eyes remaining open you should not see (if you do not want to see). Have control over your sight! You have got open ears, but you must have control over your ears! Even while sitting in multitudes you should not hear....

You know what is that will? Attention is the outward expression of our soul, you see. So from attention these outgoing faculties work. You must have got this experience from from day to day life: Sometimes you are sitting in some very absorbed state of attention, fully riveted in some thought. Somebody calls you, but you do not hear, although your ears are open. Sometimes your eyes are open, but you don't see. (It is said that) Newton was sitting by a roadside solving certain mathematical problems. He was absorbed in that so much that when a playing band went by him (he did not hear anything). Later on somebody came up and inquired, "Well, Newton, has there a band passed by?" "No, I don't know." In daily life you find something that when you are very much absorbed, and somebody calls you, you don't hear, although your ears are open. Similarly, somebody comes and sits by you comes and goes away, you are so much riveted that you do not know who came and who went away. What is that? That is our attention, the expression of our soul which is riveted, controlled, that other outgoing faculties even do not work.

So first thing is to have control over our outgoing faculties. That you control with one thing: your attention. If you can control your attention on some certain subject in a certain disciplined way, what will happen in that case? Your outgoing faculties, these servants won't drag you away. Now we are letting our eyes pass, see a beautiful scenery, and something will drag you like anything. You have become aware of the habit of going somewhere for seeing some sceneries, some cinema or anything. Actually you don't want to go, but your legs go that way. Habit becomes nature. So this is the natural way. We must have control over these senses, then only we will be able to withdraw from outside within, to find God.

Where is God? We seek Him in the scriptures. In scriptures there are given the experiences of the past Masters who found God. Where? They say, "Tap inside. He is the very soul of your soul. You are residing in the body and that very controlling power is also residing within you." Wherever a thing is if you

would like to find it, you will have to go there where it is. So the nearest approach of God is within us. He is the Power direct controlling us in the body. When can we invert to see Him? We must withdraw from outside! And to withdraw from outside we must be able to concentrate our attention in a certain way to have it under control. You see? This is one thing. If you come from the burning sun and enter a vestibule of a building, you feel refreshed. Of course you feel refreshed, but that is not sufficient. You have to rise above the senses. There you find God. First you have to withdraw from outside. For that the best way, and the easiest and the natural way, the God-made way is the controlling of your attention, withdrawing from outside. But you cannot withdraw from outside. It is a difficult thing. I will give you an example. A child is shut up in a dark room. What will he do? He will break the doors and cry. But if the child finds something very interesting, very attractive, very fascinating within, he will keep quiet.

With our mind it is similar. Why does it not stay inside, but goes away outside? Because in the outside things he seeks some pleasures. The outside pleasures can be divided into two things: one, good scenery, beauty; the other, very enchanting or fascinating sounds, singing, voice. Outward these are the main things that attract our attention always outside and we are having these from day to day. That day to day practice has formed a habit in us, and habit has been just formed into nature in our daily life. This habit we have to unravel. We can only unravel it, if we find something more fascinating, more enchanting, more tasty within us. And God does provide it, that thing is also within you. And what is that? God is Word, which is the controlling Power of your soul within the body. That Word, God-inaction-Power, has two aspects: God is light and God is the sweet symphony of sound.

So when you withdraw from outside and see the light of God which is already within you, and hear the voice of God which is very enchanting, you see, when you have that taste or bliss inside, naturally you will leave all outside. It is something like that: there are two glasses of water and in one glass you put an ounce or half an ounce of sugar. In the other glass you may put in four or five ounces of sugar. If you taste the first glass, that will appear sweet to you, you won't like to leave it. But if you once had a drop from the other glass, and then you taste the first one, you won't relish it. It is not the mind to blame, I would say, we have given him such-like things, beyond that mind does not know any other higher sweetness.

When you meet a Master, he is competent to help you to withdraw from outside; He is competent to raise your soul above the senses. He can drag you up out of this iron curtain of the manbody, open the inner eye, so that you see the light of God which is most enchanting, most beautiful. He also opens the inner ear to hear that voice of God, the symphony of the spheres, the music of the spheres. They are most enchanting and beautiful all glory and beauty lies within you. Astral plane is more beautiful than the physical plane. Causal plane is still more beautiful than the astral one. When you transcend all these, there is the most beautiful and enchanting. Tulsi, a great Saint of the East, tells us that when he reached the third plane, Brahmand, he said, "Very beautiful plane it is." Further he said, "When I transcended the

Brahmand or the third plane, I thought, 'Oh well, Brahmand or the third plane was a filthy washing room."'

So these things you are tasting inside. When Masters speak of the most enchanting things inside, we don't believe it. Christ said, "Well look here, you don't believe what I say on outside things, how would you believe if I speak of the heavens?" You see? This is something lying within you. The light of God and the Word of God, the voice of God. You have got references in the scriptures. "If you shut the doors of the temple of the body you will see the light of heaven." "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." Others also say, "When your outgoing faculties are inverted, the light is there." You have not to create it, visualize it or premeditate it, it is a matter of pure inversion, tapping inside, as Emerson puts it, to peep inside, and then rise above senses you will find the same.

You find in the outer holy places of worship that we have got with us, that they are made after the model of man. Hindu temples are all dome-shaped like head. There you find the symbols of light and sound: a bell is ringing and the light is there. Go to the churches: they are cross-shaped or nose-shaped (in the ground-plan).Therein you find a candle burning, light of a candle and bells ringing. When they say prayers in the Hindu temple, they light a candle and ring the bell. So these are models (of the manbody) placed before us to let us know that such like light and such like sound principle is reverberating within you. You will find it when you tap inside, invert, go within. He, whom we have to find, He is already within you, the very controlling Power of your soul in the body. "O ignorant man, why have you been seeking amiss? Why not seek Him there where He is? The nearest approach to you." When your inner eye opens, you see where you are.

If you meet a Master, He gives you this experience how to tap inside, how to withdraw from outside, enter within the laboratory of the manbody. He gives you an illustrative experience, and you testify that it is so. When do you find it? When you are given that first sitting (at initiation). Before that, we are blind. Who is a blind man? Masters define it, "Those who have no eyes on the forehead, they are not considered blind. Blind are they, who have eyes on the outside body, but the inner eye is closed." When Masters come you will find in the history of all Masters they used to give "eyes". Well, these are the "eyes" they used to give.

Before going to them, you were blind, not seeing that light of God. Your eyes were sealed. He breaks the seals and you begin to see light. When you return, you are an "eyed" man, you see. When you close your eyes now, you see darkness within. And after that initiation, whenever you sit, you find light within, it is a vast difference, or not?

When you come to Him, you are deaf. He breaks the seals upon your ears, and you begin to hear the sweet symphonies of the spheres. How blessed it is to have a living Master who is competent to give you this experience to start with! Mind that, Masters don't give you false promises of seeing after death! Who knows you will see it or not, have it or not? They want to give us something practical cash, not credit! They say, "Well, while alive you are a learned man, even after leaving the body, you will be learned." If while alive you are quite ignorant, an unlearned man, by leaving the body you cannot become a learned man.

You are here in this room. If you go out of the room, you are the same as you are inside. So to have the experience in life (is a must). "A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush!" So Masters give you a cash, you see, something to have an experience in life. They even say, "Don't believe in the sayings of the Masters! Don't believe in the scriptures, too." You may take it up as an experimental measure but you cannot be convinced until you have the same experience yourself. This is what the Masters do. As a doctor is also a man but has developed that way by anatomy knowing how this system of the body works, similarly the man who has risen above body-consciousness sees the light of God and hears the voice of God. He appears to be a man like you, but He has the competency. When He wants He rises above body-consciousness, and traverses into the beyond. If anybody comes to Him, the God in Him He is God in man and man in God the God in Him helps others also to have the same experience. To solve the mystery of life, you are required to sit at the feet of somebody who has solved the mystery of life. To know God, naturally, you require the company of somebody who knows God. To speak of God is something else, to know God is something else. To speak of richness is something else and to be rich is something else. To speak of the laws of health is something else, and to be healthy is something else.

Whenever the Masters have come from time to time, they have given these very things, very practical things. "Son knows the Father and others whom the son reveals." The teacher of a man has to be a man, you see. When a child is born, mother is his teacher, his brothers are teachers. When he goes to school to learn something, some teachers are there. They are also man. When you have to develop in any way, any subject you want to take up, you naturally want somebody who is expert in that line. In all outward knowledges we are dependent on the outgoing faculties. Those who want to know God, who is beyond all senses, who is unfathomable, undefinable, whom you cannot bring in the scope of your intellect, for that don't you need anybody who can help you there? Decide in your heart of hearts! We do need somebody to have that experience, who has the competency to raise you up for a while, open your inner eye. You begin to see the light and you bear testimony to it, then and there may it be little or more according to each man's past experience.

Man is in the make. So that is why Christ said to his disciples, "Blessed are you because you see things that the old prophets and righteous men could not see with all their efforts. You hear things that the old prophets and the righteous men could not hear." Then he told them, "What you are told in secret, you

will go and speak on the house tops!" And you have found the truth. Solve the mystery of life to attract (to it also) the attention of those who are seeking after God.

We are fortunate to have the manbody. We have joined various schools of thought for that very purpose (to know God). Now we have to know whether we have reached these things what I have given you in a direct form of what all the Masters said and gave to who ever came to them for that purpose. If you got it, you are fortunate. If not, please you have taken the first steps. You need not change your religion, you see, remain where you are, these teachings are there already existing. Truth is one. All Masters who came gave the same truth. Now you need somebody who can be a step further. You are reading the scriptures good. But even to understand the right import of the scriptures you need somebody who has been on the way, because Masters gave out what they saw. If we are now going to interpret those scriptures at the level of intellect, we cannot prove justice to the work. When you have found somebody who has seen the way, the same experience he has had in life, he will give you the right import of this thing, you see.

Suppose you say, "This is a watch", by saying the word 'watch' I mean this watch only, not a dog or a house or an elephant or a building. Intellectuals give different versions of the same thing. If you like to have the right import of the scriptures, you must have somebody who has been on the way. Performing certain rites and rituals that is for developing love and devotion in you. That is the first step. They are good actions. You have taken the first step, now take the other step, just to rise above bodyconsciousness. "Learn to die so that you may begin to live!" You will say, "How can we die?" Saint Paul said, "I die daily." Guru Nanak said, "Learn to die a hundred times daily", you see. Mohammedan saints say the same things, and also all others. It is a practical subject to be reborn into the beyond, you see. They say, "Open the inner eye which sees the light which is already there."

So I am here not to advocate any new religion to you. Remain where you are. Be true Christians! What has Christ said? "Open the inner eye and see the light of God within you." Who sees the light of God, he is a true Christian. But if he had not seen the light of God, then? We joined that school, of course, but we have not yet become true Christians. Similarly, a Sikh is one who sees the light of God. You may have the outer forms (of your religion), that is the first step. To belong, to live in some religion is a blessing, but we must rise above. If we do not live in any religion, there will be corruption or either we have to raise a new religion. Why don't you stay in the religions which have stood the test of times? If there is any thing corrupt, you see, just leave it aside and follow the true teachings what the Masters gave from time to time. As I told you, I have not come to advocate a new religion. Remain where you are! This is the truth that has been given by all Masters. Just try to meet somebody who knows the way. You want a teacher in each line, you see, whatever subject we have to take. Let us sit at His feet (at the feet of a Master). He is your true friend, your true brother, and He is competent to give you some experience. All

credit goes to Him (God), no son of man can do it. But the God, who is manifest in Him, He is competent to raise you up and give you an experience of your own self.

They wanted me to speak something, what little I know, to the best, I have given you the digest of the same in few words. These words are for your calm consideration. If you have got true hankering, hunger, thirst for God, it is God alone who has to make the arrangements. He will bring you in contact somewhere where you can be put on the way. Whenever Masters come, they see from the level of the manbody or level of the embodied soul, not from the level of the outer badges or different religions that we are carrying. That is why His first work is to unite all children of God together not to blend their religions into one, but to let them remain where they are. Simply rise above body-consciousness to come to the truth. The Master has the competency to raise you up and have the experience within to start with.

What is true living?

Talk given by Sant Kirpal Singh, December 11, 1963 in Bace's Hall, Hollywood, California I have been addressing you as friends, but now I see that we have realized that we are all brothers and sisters in God: we are all children of Light. Most of us here have been able to have a glimpse of the Light of God which is controlling all the universe. Truth is one. Whoever realized the Truth, or became the mouthpiece of the Truth, always gave out the same thing: in the human body that we have which is considered to be the highest in all creation the highest aim is to know the Truth. You can have the experience of Truth when you rise above body consciousness and come in contact with it. That Truth is clothed in Light. There is Music of all harmonies emanating from the Truth. Those are fortunate who have had the good fortune to have a contact with It. That seed has been sown: it will bear forth fruit. The only thing that remains is that we live up to that Truth.

Our Master (Baba Sawan Singh Ji) used to say, "If you take some laxative pills, whether you take them by error or knowingly, they will give you motions." Similarly, whatever experience of Truth has been given you, if you live by it, knowingly or unknowingly, or by compulsion even, you will have the effect. The

only thing is that we should take it up and live up to it; and from day to day we will progress; and one day we will find the True Home of our Father.

God-into-expression has two aspects: Light and Sound Music of the Spheres and Light. To come up to them, we require love. Also, Truth is above all, but true living is still above Truth. Our true living will safeguard us from losing the Truth that we have got. And what is true living? Masters have been giving this out in their own way from time to time.

The first thing is, we should observe truthfulness. What we mean we should say; whatever we say, we must mean. Our hearts and tongues and brains should all agree with what we give vent to. This is what is called truth or truthfulness.

You will simply find that we have no control over the words of our mouth that go to express what lies in the heart of our hearts. The two things should agree: what is in your heart and what you are giving out with your tongue. If these two agree then there is one thing to test the usefulness of the truth you are telling; that is, if your truth goes to harm anyone. Say only that much that is required so as not to harm anybody else. Don't do the work of the unpaid apprentices of the C.I.D. of God. Don't carry tales. If somebody tells you some thing, mind your own business. What are you after, really? You are really after knowing God and adopting certain ways which go to help you on the way. If you see something wrong somewhere, just point it out to the person privately heart to heart; don't broadcast it like anything. A true friend is one who sees others to be on the right path. But there are ways and ways to say something. In the case of Father Abraham I read his life story, and it was given there he never spoke lies, but told half-truths. By a half-truth is meant only that part of the truth which does not go to harm anyone. This is one very important thing. If your heart and tongue and brain agree, your brain will test what you are going to say. Your intellect is to test whether what you express goes to the benefit of others or to harm others. If it is going to harm others, then don't speak. Then wait. Better set it right then and there.

As I told you before, don't work like the unpaid apprentices of the C.I.D. of God. It creates much trouble, first within your own hearts; because you have those things, which you don't need, in your own way. Those things go to stand in your own way, in the way of your own progress. The first thing is, we must be true to our own selves: what we think at heart we must give out. But before giving it out, think twice: What are you going to say? What will be the result of it? There you will use your intellect. And the only criterion is, not to give out anything that goes to harm others. This is the first thing.

Next comes humility. Water stays in a place which is low. it may be raining cats and dogs, in torrents; but the water will not stay on a steep place. It means that all good resides in a heart which is lowly, in those who are meek. St. Augustine was asked, "What is the way back to God?" And he said, "First, humility; second, humility; and third, humility."

When you are humble you learn something. When you know you know everything, you are naturally stuck fast in your own self-assumed ignorance, which may be taken as truth; but it may be wrong. You have taken up something, and that is good. If you hear that there is someone else who knows better, go to him, and hear him. Whatever you know, you know already. If you only hear from him what you already have in your mind, it will be confirmed. But if he has anything more to say, you can grasp it. You will find that many people do not have more of the truth, because in their own egotism, they consider that they are right; and that may be wrong. Only when he is humble can a man go to somebody. And if you go to somebody, then listen to what he says. What he knows he knows. Sometimes you simply say, "Oh, we know this already; this is no new thing." Just listen; he might have something new to say. If a glass is put under a tumbler of water, it will be filled. If the glass is kept above the tumbler of water, it won't be filled. Even if you have progressed on the way and you have known the Truth, you will still become truly humble. When a tree is laden with fruit, all branches bow down to the earth. You will find that the Saints who have become conscious co-workers of the Divine Plan are truly humble: because they see, "It is He Who is doing it, not I."

So the second thing required is humility. And the third thing is chastity. "Chastity is life and sexuality is death." Be chaste. Chastity opens the door of meditation. You will have quicker results. Marriage does not mean having unchaste lives, if it is lived according to what the scriptures say. The scriptures tell us that marriage means taking a companion in life who will be with you in the earthly sojourn. You should help each other to know God. This is the ultimate goal of the human body which we have. One duty may be that of begetting children, but it is not all of our duties. Try to adjust your lives according to the scriptures. And what did the Bible say? "Love your wives as Christ loved the Church." That is taking a companion in the earthly sojourn for some higher purpose.

So chastity is the ground on which the building of spirituality can be raised. First of all, those who are chaste have their body, brain and everything built on it. So if you are married, try to live up to what the scriptures say.

These are the three things. If you observe them, Tulsi says, "If you don't reach God, be rest assured: I am your surety that you will, you must." For this, you will find that we have to attain to Godhood. God and Godhood are not two things. There is God Absolute, which cannot be seen at any time. And there is

God-into-action, which can be seen and contacted. The expression of God-into-action Power, which is called Word or Naam, is Light and Sound. To come in contact with them is coming in contact with the Truth. They are the electric lifts: if you come in contact with them, they will take you to the ultimate goal from which they emanated. Fortunate are those who have been put on the way by having a lift above the Iron Curtain of the physical body! We are to develop that from day to day. But to do that, something is very important: purity of life. Purity of life has so many aspects. First is the purity of the body. The body is the temple of God, the true temple of God. The outer temples raised by people are made in the image of the human body; they are models of the human body.

The Light of God and the Voice of God are already within your body. You can hear it; you can see it. Christ said to his disciples: "Blessed are you who see things that the old prophets and the righteous men could not see; who hear things that the old prophets and the righteous men could not hear." So, there are seals: our eyes and our ears are sealed. With the grace of God in the Master, if those seals are broken, you have some experience of seeing and hearing. Then, we have to take heed of how we should keep this human body, which is the true temple of God. In this human body only you can have an experience of the same. If we keep the outer temples raised by the hand of man so clean and tidy, why should we not keep the human body, which is the true temple of God, in which God resides, clean?

There are two ways to keep it clean. The first is: "Cleanliness is next to Godliness." Keep your body clean. It is the true temple of God. Also don't put anything into it which goes to defile it. When we consider what we are to eat, the first thing required is that our livelihood has been earned by the sweat of our brow, in which there has been no dishonesty: you have been true to your work. Work is worship.

And further, whatever kind of food you take should be a helping factor spiritually. It should be food that does not go to flare up passions within you and that is digestible. You will find that this is generally fruits, vegetables, grains, milk and any products thereof. All Masters came and advised this. Even Christ said that. If you read the Essene Gospel of John you will find it there: "Whom you cannot give life to, don't take their life. Fruits, vegetables, milk and grain I give you for meat." This is the exact wording. All other Masters have had the same thing to say. So first, our livelihood should be earned by the sweat of our brow honest earnings. It does not matter whether somebody is seeing you or not: the God in you must see to it.

Two men went to a Master. The Master told them, "Look here, what have you come for?" They said, "We have come to know God." "All right." He gave them two pigeons, one to each, and told them, "Go and kill them where nobody will see you."

One man was very clever. He went round behind a wall and killed it and came back within a few minutes. And the other man poor fellow was tossing about from place to place: he could not find any place where nobody was seeing him. In the evening he returned. He said, "Master, I have not found any place where nobody was seeing me." And he asked, "Who was seeing you?" "The very pigeon was seeing me."

Mind that, when a man is initiated, that God-power resides with him and watches his every action. Our Master used to say, "If a child of five years of age is sitting by you, you will not do any thing wrong in front of him." You'll want secrecy. When you think that that God-power is already residing within you, how can you commit any sin?

And the last thing is: whatever things you have brought for your eating, the hands through which these things pass should also be of those with pure thoughts. Because little, little things charge those things which pass through the hands of people who are unchaste. I have read in scripture that unchaste thoughts are like dogs. So earnings should be pure and honest, and the quality of the food you take should also be clean; and the hands through which these things pass should also be clean; they should be of pure heart. Because everything is charged, you see. Whatever thought reverberates in your mind, you have that charging. Why don't you feel it? That's the point. We do not feel it because there is already so much filth in us, say tons, that if a maund or even a seer a kilogram is added to it, what difference does it make?

Those who are pure in heart, even little ounces will affect them. So, these three things are important: honest earnings; the quality of the food; and the hands through which these things pass should be pure. The first two things are, I think, for those who earn their livelihood and bring things in from outside. And the third part is for those who cook, who prepare the dishes. They should be pure, with very noble thoughts of God and love for all: with no anger, no enmity, nothing of the sort.

Then, last, will come good character. So these are the things which go to defile anything we eat. If your hearts are pure, you will feel that little things will affect you. For that reason, because it is the temple of God, we have to keep the body clean. And also keep it clean from within by giving it food that does not go to defile it and by living a way which is pure. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Even if a fish is put in a river, still the bad odour does not leave it. Water can cleanse your bodies, but unless your thoughts are pure and your mind is pure, your body cannot be pure. I will give you an example: every morning you take a bath; and if for one day you do not take a bath, you sense a bad odour in the body. That is due to the thoughts that cross your mind daily. Every thought has its own effect, its own odour, its own colour, mind that. I tell you, those who have lusty thoughts, the odour

from their body will be such that even if the body is cleansed every morning, they will again find that bad odour there. What results if you are feeling anger and are resentful or are always having something against somebody? That affects your body. Just smell your body. You will find a bad odour there, like the smell of a cloth burning. If you are very greedy in eating, too voracious, the smell of your body will be like the bad odour of a fish. So there are different odours. If your hearts are pure; if you have only good thoughts coming in you, striking you; if you have love, thoughts of love, thoughts of spiritual heights and love for God; then the smell of your body will be like that of jasmine.

These are the things which are not given in books; but this is how you feel. So the mind must be pure. If your mind is not pure, no matter how you cleanse your body, it will again give out a bad odour. That is why we use so much toiletry every day: we again find the bad odour there. For this, we have to keep our thoughts clean. In the human body of someone whose thoughts are clean, you will find the good ground for God to manifest. Tulsi tells us, "Just cleanse your heart, your mind." And what is the cleansing of the mind? Let no other thought other than that of God strike there. Even if you are living in the world, amongst your children, your families, your friends, the needle of your compass should be towards God. It is God who has given; it is God residing in them. If you always think: all men are alike; they have the same privileges from God and are born the same way; they are the same embodied souls, and the very same God-power is controlling them in the body; their bodies are the true temples of God; then, naturally, you will have respect for all. So this is the purity required for being able to progress from day to day.

And last of all comes selfless service, love for all, love for God and love for all others. All Masters said this same thing: Kabir said so; Guru Nanak said so: "Peace be unto all the world over, under Thy will, 0 God." Christ said so: "Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and love thy neighbour as thyself." So we have to love God; and love knows service and sacrifice. Love knows giving, sharing with others. Sometimes you will even sacrifice your own interests for the sake of others. That will go to expand your self. If need be, you will sacrifice your own life for the sake of others. Man is truly one who lives for the sake of others. Animals do live for their own selves; and they do love their children. What is the difference between a man and an animal? This is the only difference: a man lives for others, too. He should share with others; because we are all brothers and sisters in God. We are all sharers and partners in God. We are the limbs of the same body of God. And we have the same conscious essence working in us all and the same God-power controlling us in the body. For these reasons we must have selfless service. If we live for others, naturally others will live for us. "An example is better than precept." When you learn to give for the good of others, naturally you will feel joy; because your self expands. You will feel fresh. If you don't share with others and go on congealing or holding things for your own self, like animals, what will be the result? If there is a well from which no water is drawn out, it will give a bad smell. It will not even, I think, I be good for drinking. But the water of any well from which the water is taken out profusely is always fresh, and fragrant, too. For that reason, Masters say, "Let your boats of life remain in water; but let not water enter your boats." That

means that we should not live for outer attachments and outer possessions, but they should live for us. We have to make the best use of them.

You will find that these arc very important things, which are always helping factors. Being put on the way and given the contact with the God-in-action Power, which is Light and Sound, is just the commencement. Now you have learned a little bit how to rise above body consciousness. That Light and Voice whatever you have contacted is just the initial thing. That still has to grow more and change, to ultimately take you to the place from where it emanated: to the Wordless state of God. The word Satsangi means: Sat means eternal, unchangeable permanence; and sangi means one who comes in constant contact with the Truth. You have had some experience to start with. But you have to go on still further and live up to it. "Rome was not built in a day." Time factor is necessary. When you develop from day to day you will become conscious of that Light and Music of the Spheres that is reverberating throughout all creation. It will come like that in due course, but we have to work for that. Mind that, one does not become a Satsangi, truly an initiate, simply by being given an inner contact. Of course, some experience is necessary to start with. If you have no experience, it cannot be developed.

So, fortunate you are, that with the grace of God, all of you have some contact with that. Now we have to develop it, so much so that even while sleeping, working and being anywhere we will always be conscious of it. So the initiate must mould his life in accordance with the principles of Satsang in thought, word and deed. You must be pure and live up to what you are told, even in your thoughts, even in your own speech and even in your own actions. Live up to them. And the Master tells us, "Those initiates who live up to them, I am at their service."

So actions speak louder than words; and thoughts are even more potent. You are not to tell others that, "I am a flower; the flower is very fragrant." Let the flower emit that fragrance, and let others say that the flower is fragrant. Let your lives prove that you have something higher. Otherwise, these things already exist in our scriptures. Knowing something is not becoming something. Knowing means just having in your brains and in your memories something that such and such scripture says; but that does not really give you anything, unless you live up to it. People will judge you only by your actions and what you speak. Your thoughts are even more potent than that, because thoughts radiate: if you have loving thoughts, those thoughts will radiate love. In the lives of the Saints, events have occurred in which even snakes would not go to harm them. In one story of Guru Nanak, he was lying under a tree. His whole body was love personified, and love overflowed his body. He was lying under a tree, and he was in meditation. The angle of the sun changed, and the shadow which had been over his head also changed. Now the sun's rays were on his face. A cobra came up and stood in the rays, so that no rays of the sun should fall on his face. The ruler of the place passed by. He thought that Nanak was dead because the snake was there and he must have bitten him. When he went near him, the snake went away, and Guru Nanak was alive. Why? Love radiates from our lives.

We had a similar event in our Satsang meetings at Delhi. About two thousand people were sitting there; and while I was giving a talk, one cobra, a little cobra, came out and stood on the stage just like that (Master demonstrates) in front of me. And the people said, "A cobra is coming!" I said, "Never mind; go on with it. Let him come and stand here." And he that cobra stood for one full hour, hearing the talk that was going on, looking at me. When the talk was over, he sneaked away, and the people said, "Let us kill him." "Why? He has not done anything. Why kill him?"

So this all is meant to say, if you have love for all, even snakes won't harm you. We have got a proverb: "Be wise like snakes." Snakes are very wise, mind that. When you see a snake and think, "Oh, kill him!" the very thought goes out, and he safeguards himself by attacking. If you have no evil thoughts for anybody, they won't do any harm to you. So, I am telling you, thoughts are more potent.

The initiate's daily conduct must reveal that he is a follower of a true Master. When you are given something very unusual, the special gift of God, your duty is to maintain it: "Take heed that the light which is within you is not darkened." By not observing these things, whatever light we get inside or whatever music we hear is almost stopped. That is why you will find I have prescribed diaries for selfintrospection under certain heads: truthfulness no harm, non-violence, in thought, word and deed; chastity you see? the underlying principle; and love for all. All Masters, when they came, told us, "Love one another so that people may know you are coming to a true Saint." Masters are overflowing with the love of God and love for all humanity. They take up this role as given by God. Otherwise, if they were doing it in their own name, why should they be going around for no purpose, no selfish motive? They have only one motive: to just bring all children of God back to God. That's all. They don't need any payment; their talks are given free; they live on their own earnings; they are not a burden to anybody else. So when they say something, they say it out of their love for all. This is what is wanted.

Now, you will find that "an ounce of practice is worth more than tons of theories." Of what use is it to know the principles, if one does not live up to them? If you say, "Tell the truth," and you don't tell the truth; if you say, "Love others; don't think evil of others," and you still think evil of others; what is the use of knowing that? That's holding information in your brain. "Such and such scriptures say such and such; such and such Masters say such and such." Well, what is that to you? We should learn to live up to them. A learned man with no practice is no better than a beast of burden carrying a load of books, of scriptures, that's all. So it is infinitely better to practice than to preach. First live, then say. Otherwise, even though you may be a scholar and you may have written commentaries on certain subjects which sound outwardly very religious; even though you read scriptures and preach them to others; if you do not live up to them, then what is the sense of that? Truly, suchlike preaching does not carry any effect.

Only the arrow that is drawn to the chest goes to the target. The words that come out of our heart, as we live up to them, carry effect by radiation to others' hearts.

I remember a case of one woman who brought her little child to Gandhi. She said, "This child eats too much sugar." Then Gandhi told her, "All right, mother, bring this child back after three days." She went away, and she came back after three days. Then he told her child, "Well, child, don't eat sugar." And the mother said, "Well, Gandhi, if you have only that much to say, why didn't you say it the other day?" He said, "Because I was eating sugar then."

Mind that, if you don't live up to what you say, those words won't carry any effect. I think there is so much preaching going on nowadays: perhaps in the olden days nobody even dreamt of it. And with all that, how many lovers are coming up? How many Saints are there? With all our preaching, our lives have not changed. What is the reason why? The preachers are themselves not living up to what they say. Mind that, any wind that strikes a burning fire and passes by it, those men who are sitting on the other side of it will have hot winds. And if there is some ice mounds of ice, tons of ice, heaps of ice and if any wind passes by it, the man who is sitting on the other side will have cold wind.

So whatever thoughts are in our hearts and any words we give out come charged with those very things that are already there. If a man openly is very good "I am a very good man" and his heart is full of passions and he is not living up to what the scriptures say, naturally whatever words he utters even though they may be very sweet words will carry the effect of heat. And if there is a heap of ice and you put a black blanket over it which does not appear to be very cold, even then, anyone who strikes that heap of ice, apparently covered by a black blanket, will receive cold. Do you follow my point?

This is what is required. A spoon passing through a sweet dish does not have any taste of it. This is just the way it is with persons who have so much knowledge at the intellectual level, but don't live up to it.

As I told you, an ounce of practice is worth more than tons of theories. This is one thing. And above all, I would say, as I told you before, a pure heart is most essential for spiritual progress. You cannot expect a king to enter a filthy cabin. Even a dog does not sit in an unclean place: he cleans the place with his tail. How can you expect God to appear in a heart full of passions, greed, pride, attachment or egotism?

So, what is a Saint? He is a man like you, but he is developed in that way. A little word of his carries more effect than hundreds of lectures given by others. As I told you, so much preaching is going on in almost all the holy places of worship of the religions. And are many men changing? Not in the least.

Our body is the temple of the living God. It should not be polluted, I would say, with the intake, as I explained to you, of anything that would go to defile it, anything that is not a helping factor on the way, such as meat, fish, fowl, eggs and alcoholic drinks. We have to keep our bodies pure and simple and have a loving heart for all, a helping hand for all. For that reason, we should live up to what the scriptures say. Try never to harm the feelings of others. If a blind man is there and you say to him, "Oh, blind man!" he feels it. If you just sit by him and say, "Dear friend, how did you lose your sight?" the purpose served is the same. Little words carry much effect. These very words go to work either as a consolation or to flare up feelings. For that reason, we must live up to what we say.

This is one side: this is self-introspection. Along with it, put in regular time to your meditation practices. The secret of success on the Path is practice, more practice and still more practice. Practice makes a man. What is the way to concentration? There is no high road to concentration. The only high road is to concentrate, concentrate and concentrate. For this very purpose, diaries for self-introspection have been prescribed. They will make you regular in your practices. They will bring to your notice any shortcomings that you have in your life. When you know there are so many scorpions and snakes sitting under your seat, naturally you want to clean them out. You have to weed out these things from day to day. For that reason, what should we do? Keep a diary. It is a very helpful factor, I tell you. It can make a Saint out of a robber. Man, who has the human body, has the birthright to see God. We can change, especially when we are helped by others: by those who are competent to give us help, who will take us in their charge and who have good will for us not for us, but for our souls. They look to all the world over from the angle of God in them. They see all as the children of God, as their own children. When Guru Nanak left his hearth and home to carry the message of God to the world at large, he had two children and a wife. His mother-in-law came up and said, "Well, Nanak, what are you doing? Why are you leaving your family?" He said, "All humanity is my family."

They give and see from that level. This is also what Christ said. Once it so happened that his mother was seeking for him in the multitude and could not reach him on account of the greatness of the multitude. Someone told Christ, "Your mother is seeking for you." And he said, "Who is my mother? Who is my brother?" He pointed to the men sitting around him: "They are my mothers, they are my brothers, who hear the voice of God."

We already are brothers and sisters in God. Those who have been put on the way, they are true brothers and sisters in God. You see? This is the angle of vision from which the Masters look to us.

I'll tell you the story of a certain prince. He left his hearth and home to become a Saint. His name was Gopi Chand. He went to his Master. What did his Master tell him He said, "All right. Leave your hearth and home and come here." He sent him to beg, because they had nothing to eat or live on: "Go and bring alms from people's homes." But first he advised him to go to his own family, to his own wife, and then to others: to his mother and then everybody else. He went to his wife, begging. She said, "Now that my husband is gone, what are all these things for? I am left alone." She gave him all the ornaments that she had. Then he came to his mother. He had taken up that way of life under the advice of his mother. (Some mothers are very spiritual. They wish their children to be godly. So she had advised her son to take up that spiritual way.) She said, "Look here, I will give you three pieces of advice to live by. The first is that you must always remain in a strong fort." And Gopi Chand asked his mother, "Well, mother, there's no place to live in. Sometimes we'll have to pass our nights on the roadside. Why do you say that I should always live in castles in very strong fortresses?" Then she explained to him, "Look here, live always under the custody of your Master." That's a very strong fort, mind that. Master is one at whose pole God is manifest and radiates His protection and love, even from thousands of miles.

If you can catch a voice from thousands of miles through the radio, why can't you have the radiation from the human pole at whom God is working? By radiation you can have it. That means: live where you are, perhaps near or far; always think of that God-power. Mind that, God is the true Master in whatever human pole He is manifested: that manifested God is the true Master who pervades all creation. When you come under the custody of such a God-in-man, or man-in-God, when he initiates you, he resides with you always. Never forget him. And Christ said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." That everybody knows. We should live up to them one hundred per cent of the time, if we would like to derive the full benefit of the man's life and his teachings.

But Christ said one thing more: "Let my words abide in you and you abide in me." The first part, everybody can understand: "My words abide in you." Whatever you have been told all those things live up to it. But how can you abide in me? Whomsoever you remember truly at heart, that reacts in the heart of the one whom you remember. That reacts. By that reaction, you abide in his heart. What is meant by this? Never transcend what he says, and live up to it one hundred per cent. But all the same, always have your attention directed to that God-power which is working at some human pole which has given you contact with God. That resides in you at the very time of initiation. The more you think of Him: "As you think, so you become." And that reacts in the heart of the one whom you remember. That gives you receptivity; that gives you quicker results. You can have that radiation whether from near or far. Kabir said, "If your Master is living beyond the seven seas, and you are living on this side, direct your attention towards him. You will have radiation and effect."

That is why Christ said, "When more than one man sits in my name, I am there." Mind that, Christ did live before Jesus. Jesus was the human pole at which that Christ-power worked. What is Christ-power? It is the God-power; it is the Guru- power: not the son of man, but the God-power that never dies. Christ said, "I shall never leave thee nor forsake thee till the end of the world." That power always exists and resides in you from the very moment you are initiated.

So it is a great privilege to be put on the way, or initiated. It is no ordinary thing. It is the special grace of God. The very same thing that people could not have after many long years, you get on the very same day. Previously the Masters used to prepare men first. Only when they were ready, they gave them something. But the times have changed. Also, in those times, the initiates had to live with the Master for months and years. So now the times have changed. Now Masters give the initiates some thing within to start with and also take on the duty of "making" them by giving them a self-introspection report to keep and submit at regular intervals.

So this is the first advice that his mother gave to Gopi Chand. And the second advice was: "Always sleep on very soft, and very nice and elegant beds." Then again, Gopi Chand told his mother, "Well, mother, there's no place to sleep there. We might have to sleep on stones and on earth. How can you say that we should have very fine, very soft beds?" Then she told him, "Well, look here; don't go to sleep unless sleep overtakes you. When sleep overtakes you, there's no question of whether you're lying on stones or earth or in a bed."

These were two pieces of advice given by the mother to her son. And the third thing she said was, "What should you eat? Eat the very best dishes; very delicious dishes." Then again he asked his mother, "Well, dear mother, how can we, when we are begging alms? Somebody will give us dry bread; sometimes we won't even get anything to eat. How can you say that we should always have a very rich diet, very delicious dishes?" Then his mother told him, "Look here, don't eat unless you feel very hungry. Do you see? Very hungry. When you are very hungry, even the grams [ In India, a kind of beans or chick peas] that you eat will taste delicious."

So these are the three pieces of advice given by the mother of Gopi Chand to her son. If you live up to them, you will find how much good they carry. Live up to the sayings of the Masters. They say, "Have pure lives." They say, "Let your earnings be honest." They say, "Just have good lives, good thoughts, good words and good deeds." And they say, "Always have the sweet remembrance of God."

On spiritual health depends the life of mind and body, both the health of body and mind, both. You have been given something for spiritual health; that is, the Bread of Life. And that Bread of Life and Water of Life is the Light and the Sound Principle of God. That is the true food for bread.

You have to give your body something to eat. But we are not born to eat; eating is made for us. It is said, by way of a parable, that the things we eat and drink complained to the god of nourishment that "people eat us too much very relentlessly." And the god of nourishment said, "All right; those that eat more than is required for them you eat them up!" Do you see? If you eat what is digested, it will give you strength. If you eat too much, it is not digested; and it flares up diseases in us. If you have pure lives, normal lives, as required by scriptures, and live on hard-earned money, then you'll find that your body will also be all right. Nature has a curative power. Our soul has a curative power. Doctors simply help us to clear the way, that's all. When you leave it to nature, the soul has the curative power that cures all diseases of itself.

So these are the three instructions that were given by the mother of Gopi Chand on how to live his life. You'll find: "Never step out of the commandments of what the Masters. say." If you just carry this out and live within the four walls of the teachings of the Masters, you'll develop from day to day.

What do the Masters say further? They say, "Silence is golden. Speak as little as possible. Silence is golden. Speak as little as possible. When you speak, speak in the most kind and gentle manner. Don't lose your temper over anything. Always keep your tongue under control." This is one thing. The wound given by a sword will be healed in a month or so, but the wound given by the tongue is not healed. All through life, whenever you remember again, it becomes fresh.

So these are the things that we have to look after. Masters tell us, "Just fill one-half of your stomach with food, one fourth with water, and leave one-fourth vacant-empty." The more you keep the stomach empty, the more therein you will find the light of God developed. We eat more than what is required generally. We eat too much. We die of too much eating rather than of hunger. Yes, just consider; that is why Masters tell us this. I circulated in one of my circulars: simplify, simplify and simplify! Live in a simple way. You won't need to earn more money. You'll not have to cut the throats of others. Even from our hard-earned money, after you have spent what is legitimate, you can share with others. Generally you say, "We cannot live within our earnings." Where do they go? They are spent only on things which are not really required by us.

So, man becomes an angel by eating less, by not eating too much, and a beast by eating too much. Too much eating and sleeping clouds the inner vision, and over-eating always makes one feel sleepy and sluggish. The less we sleep, the more spiritual progress we make.

One man came to a Master in India, named Shivbrat Lal. (He came to America, too, some time back I think about sixty years or fifty years ago.) One man came to him and complained, "I've got a headache." He said, "Look to your stomach." Another man came up and said, "When I sit in meditation, I feel drowsy and sluggish." He said, "Take care of your belly." A third man came and said, "My mind is not under control." Then he said, "Look to your belly." So eating is made for us; and we are not made for eating. These are little, little things which, if you act up to them, you'll find of much help.

Daily find some period of silence; and night is the best portion of the day for that. The tenth Guru of the Sikhs tells us, "The night is your lonely place." Those who have utilized their nights have become Saints; they have become gods. And students have become scholars with the best use of the night, the right use of what it is: those who have spoiled their nights have spoiled their lives. If we go to shows and have company and other engagements at night up to eleven, twelve, one or two o'clock, how can we progress in any way? A student who has burned the midnight oil becomes a scholar. A lover of God who has put in his nights in the best remembrance of God, taking in that all-solitude, becomes a Saint.

So, silence is best. Then we also have to take up solitude. Try to live alone as much as possible. "Cease from men; look above thee." Just mix with others as required. Sometimes we simply, for enjoyment's sake, waste time, kill time. And we complain that we've got no time. Out of twenty-four hours, you'll find that the amount of time you put into your daily earnings is, say, eight hours, ten hours or twelve hours; not more in any case. You've got then, twelve hours at your disposal. Give to sleep, say, five hours or six hours six hours is due it; give two more hours to your eating, drinking and this thing and that; even then you've got four hours at your disposal. When people say, "We've got no time," they have to adjust themselves. Time has not to come from anywhere else; it is already there. We have to just adjust ourselves to it.

You'll find, the fewer wants we have, the happier we are. So cut down your wants, cut down your desires. Whatever subject you take up, put in more time towards it. You'll become a good scholar, a good scientist, a good lover of God, or good in any line you take up.

For that, as I told you, a pure moral life is required. As I told you, truth is above all; and true living is still above truth. A man is known only by how others find him. If you are true, you are helping, you are good,

and you set a good example, others will follow you. They will not even give you credit; but they will give the credit to the school to which you belong to the Master with whom you are connected.

For this, there is one principle to be followed. That principle is: perform no action in secret, except prayers. If any thing requires secrecy, abandon it at once. Deeds of darkness are always committed in the dark. Do nothing which, after being done, leads you to tell lies. And don't desire evil for anyone, irrespective of his creed or color, even in thought, word, and deed; because thoughts are more potent. Help some poor person, as He is in all; and do not hurt anyone by word and deed. These are the things which go to help us.

Always think that the God-power is residing within you and watching your every action. This is the first thing. And the second is: don't transcend the commandments given by him for you to live up to. If you do that, Kabir says, "You are not to be afraid in the three worlds, here and hereafter."

With all these things, devote regular time mornings and evenings to your practices, and do it fully, just like a child who has no wisdom: simply out of love, go to the lap of the Father or the Mother. Leave off all your wisdom and leave everything aside; go lovingly. In the evening, remove your evil daily life; and like a strict judge, try to weed out all the imperfections that you have, from day to day.

Even robbers have become Saints, I tell you. I met with suchlike robbers who were the heads of the dacoits. They took initiation, and now they are putting in six hours a day meditation. They even brought other bandits and recommended them for initiation. So man can change. There's hope for everybody. Every Saint has his past and every sinner a future.

Mind that, See no evil, hear no evil, talk no evil, and think no evil. If you follow these things, you will progress from day to day. And especially those people who are made group leaders: they should set an example for others who are coming on the way. They have not yet become Masters, I tell you. We are on the way. We may be selected as a Master; it is for God, I mean, to worry about whom He should give to continue the work. It is not our job, you see. We may be selected as a Master. But we should live up to what the Masters say. Those who live, they are selected as one.

I wish each one of you to become ambassadors of Truth. But that you can become only when you live up to what you say. And the diaries are meant for a very noble purpose if you live up to them, as I told you. Send me blank diaries; I will accept them: blank diaries I will accept. But how long will you continue

sending me blank diaries? You would not dare to send them blank every month. You'll feel morally that you're not doing right. You'll come round. I tell you, the diaries are not to be sent to the police station or broadcaster. They are meant for your own purpose, so that you may know what the shortcomings in you are; and further, to weed them out one by one. They are sent to me only for the purpose of guidance wherever necessary; because Rome was not built in a day. A time factor is necessary.

As I told you, these are a few of the words which come out of my heart to you all whom I hold dear the most. You are all more dear to me than my sons, my own family. I wish you progress, spiritually. You have the human body by the grace of God, and by the grace of God, you have been given a contact with God. That you have to develop with due regard to the self-introspection which will come up by keeping regular diaries sent to me at regular intervals, say quarterly. If you live up to it, everything will be cleared, I tell you honestly. If you sit by fire, all cold will go; if you sit by ice, all heat will go. If your soul comes into contact with the Light and Sound principle, all doubts will go. Doubts and other things arise because we don't live up to what we say.

These are the few words I'm telling you at the time I am with you physically. I may not be able to see you or you may not be able to see me physically, but the God-power, which is the true Master, now resides with you and "shall never leave you till the end of the world." It will take you to the true Father, and the true Father will take you to the Wordless state of God. My best wishes are with each one of you.

I wish you progress. This is the highest thing that I had in my life, with the grace of God; and through the grace of God working through my Master, I have passed it on to you, with His grace. Live up to them and derive the full benefit of this golden opportunity which God has given you.

So, with best wishes to you all, I'll be leaving tomorrow for Tustin. Those people who would like to come, I'll be too glad. And about the twentieth, I will have to leave for Dallas and to other parts of the U.S.; then go to Panama and South America. And after that, God willing, I may go back to India. But my heart: you are always on my mind. Keep regularly in touch with me through your diaries. If anything comes up that is very urgent a life-and-death problem you can write to me even before. But my real pleasure will go to you when you live up to this. You may be proud of me, but I will be proud of you, if only you become what I want. I want each one of you to become like myself, or more than me, I would say. This is the truth that has been given to you. Well, live up to it. Don't be misguided. All scriptures tell us about that which has been given to you an experience thereof with the grace of God. If you find anything puzzling to you, please write to me. If I find that that truth is more than what has been given to you, I will also follow you. This is what my Master used to say. He said, "The truth has been given to you. If you find any more truth, take it up and tell me; I will also go there." We are after truth, you see.