Excerpt of a text written by Dr Harbhajan Singh
(Published in “Sayings of Sant Kirpal Singh” edition 1987-2)
It is a primary thing to be learned and known in the world, that everything that exists is false and has no feet to stand or persist permanently here. it is like a cloud that does not stand at one place.
Nothing is stable in the world. The whole world is bound with evil intention and is caught in the net of covetousness. All human beings are miserably attached with the world and find no way to get rid if its effect, like a wall that does not leave the painted picture thereon.
In this struggle, man wishes something, but something else happens. the binding factors go side by side. We all to obtain peace beforehand, and we do efforts to avert pain. We only pay attention, when pain happens. The whole world, poor or rich, or king, are like beggars; but no one knows how to part with. The whole world is proud of falsehood, not knowing that it is not more than a dream.
This world is like a show staged in a dream which ends in a moment. Some attain their purpose and meet Master, others go in separation.
Due to Pralabdh Karma we meet together and separate one after another. Where are the brothers and friends? See with open eye: some have already gone, some are ready to leave.
Oh man, take it as guaranteed,
that all that you own and love
in this world is not yours!
In both ways you are the loser.
You suffer.
Either these leave you,
or you leave these things.
Great kings and warriors and their armies went like a caravan. Not one could stay in the world. There is nothing that belongs to man. Whosoever shall perish. This is all illusion.
Whatever is written in the holy Scriptures is from the holy body. Whatever is in the holy body, is not all in the holy Scriptures. To trust the holy Scriptures means to tap inside and see the manifested God.
There are references about the manifested God in the holy Scriptures, but not God Himself. These say and advise the person to tap inside. If really we tap inside, we obey and bow down to these holy Scriptures and the Masters. If we do not trust in what is written in the holy Scriptures or what is really within, we only trust to our limits.
Those who trust to their limitation and do not act upon the advise of an awakened one are the mouth-piece of the mind and thus they act as the ‘doer’.
There is no doer in the world except God Himself.
He Himself is everywhere and acts everywhere
and through all.
If we understood this very secret,
we would prefer to be mouth-piece of God.
He is pervading everywhere.
He is All-Consciousness
and the essence of All-Consciousness is Love.
He Himself is love and spreads love everywhere.
The other aspect of the same power is His play. Out of this play man entangles himself into the strong net of coming and going. When his mind compels him not to accept the play in full, man accepts the play, which is only in his favor. This is ignorance. With ignorance one loses the merits and collects demerits. If it is removed by the grace of God, then man sees through his own eyes:
He is the only Doer,
He sees that He is the fisherman, the fish,
the ocean and the net Himself.
He Himself is the metal ball of the net
and the bait.
He is the tank and He is the swan.
He Himself is the bride and the bride-groom.
He is the father, He is the mother,
He is the son, He is the wife.
We differentiate and so we create attachment against love and reality. We do not see the reality. We create artificiality according to our attachment. Both the ways man suffers. Man is suffering due to separation and attachment both. Due to separation and attachment together he cannot discriminate and is not helped spiritually.
And knowing not the reality, one is miserably in attachment. The reaction of the worldly attachment is never love. Instead it brings in lust, wrath, avarice, worldly love and ego. Five demons bring a lot of wealth in form of diseases, and a stream of fire begins to flow inside.
Just to hide down these short-comings and dirt, man begins to decorate outwardly and becomes the part and parcel and dependent and slave of the man-made remedies. Man becomes the slave of self-created problems.
He does not take the artificial things as such, but takes them as true. — This is illusion.
Illusion demerits the soul and the soul loses its power. Being weak, he takes most of the things beyond his power and when he sees these things partially or wholly done, he takes the other as the super-natural.
So man is bound in chains of illusion. Illusion creates fear. Out of fear the attention does not leave the illusion. You see the condition of the dreaded person. He appears deformed and terrible. Slowly, slowly time adjusts him in the environment, but man does not come out of its gear.
So the whole world is afraid of its own feelings. This is illusion. We are miserably misled as we do not know the only solution of the disease from where it started. The problem finishes at the place from where it originates. God Himself puts the mortal to various pursuits. But the place of departure was one and the same. Man plays the game in the right or wrong way, but does not feel the presence of the observer. It is illusion.
❊
Dhani Daram Das was a man of millions and a very pious and devoted man. Before meeting with Kabir he never knew whether he was doing in ignorance. He used to make prayer, but he never felt the presence of the observer. Later on Kabir seeing his devotion materialized and manifested and took away his ignorance in no time:
Dharam Das was taking meals at that time when Kabir called for him. His wife told Him to wait. After some time Kabir again gave a call. Dharam Das’ wife got angry and called Him a sinner. But Kabir retorted, »l am not a sinner, it is you, because in your oven living ants are being burnt.« He said so and disappeared. When they saw their oven, ants were really being burnt in a decayed wood.
The ignorance of Dhani Dharam Das had been removed by the grace of Kabir, and he felt sorry for the act of his wife and told her, »To our good fortune, a perfect soul had come at our door. But you have committed a great sin by insulting the Divine. You have not done justice with the old man. He was God. How will we get Him back? He has gone angry. What will become of lonely Dharam Das? He cannot live without His guidance.« Due to ignorance she took it very lightly and said, »A wealthy man like you can attract anybody just like flies gather round a place where molasses is lying.«
So Dharam Das performed a number of Yajnas (charity performances) at all places of pilgrimage in search of the Saint who had visited them. A large number of sages and seers came from far and wide, except Kabir. Thus he spent all his wealth on the charitable deeds, but could not attract the saint in whom he saw the Light of God.
At last he thought to throw himself into the river and end his life. He did not consider his life worth living. Neither had he any money left nor could he achieve the desired aim — to meet Kabir. He no longer enjoyed the old prestige and felt degraded in the eyes of others. When he was about to finish his life, Kabir appeared and caught him by the arm. Dharam Das was overjoyed and enquired the reason for so much delay. Kabir replied,
»l did not come earlier,
because I had no lust for your wealth.
Beforehand your condition
was like a dog in the house of mirrors
which barks at his own reflection.«
If it pleases Him, the Lord may manifest on His own. He cannot be lured by wealth, glamour and power. Dhani Dharam Das, when he was blessed with rare understanding of Kabir’s competency, he could himself recognize his ignorance. His wife felt her ignorance, too, but later on.
❊
Where there is ignorance,
there is consciousness also, but hidden
(which does not work at once),
but where there is consciousness,
there is no ignorance at all.
Consciousness dispels the ignorance.
Doing the temporal or the worldly affairs without the proper guidance or realization, is to lose the worth of human life. Some rare persons understand the reality at once, others cry afterwards. Wise persons proclaim, »lf you do not find any adviser, please ask from a wall standing nearby.« It means the observer and the adviser is the one. If we need His help He comes forward with millions of steps.
Illusion is like a cloudy day when you cannot see the sun or the rays of sun. You don’t think that the day light is there and the day light is due to sun, although it is behind clouds. Your attention is in the sun.
There may be many problems in your life,
but there is always a definite hope
if you take the advantage of His presence.
Once very holy places and now without a competent Master have become the part of our belief, where dancing, singing songs, outer rituals and rites, giving alms and taking alms have become very popular throughout the world.
It is better to go than not to go, but if we go, we must know the significance and the background of going and doing all. By realizing, so either we will never go or — if we go — then we will go as observer and the adviser.
In this respect the Masters remained the best observers and advisers.
In reality, singing songs and dancing can be the stepping stone to spirituality, but not the overall function. If throughout our life we harp on the same tune and do not move further, we cannot be a good musician. While singing and dancing, our attention is focused on our various organs to make them more effective to work for the audience. Whereas we need our mind, intellect and sense organs fully stilled to realize ourselves.
In reality the places were built for the right subject and the silence. Discussing there the political subjects and different homely affairs has spoiled the right subject and the silence. So, the singing of songs, dancing, outer rituals and rites to please the God Power has been minimized to a tradition alone.
The man of today is the traditional and not the spiritual. He is miserably misled and is identified into the world. He goes wherever he gets better respect and entertainment. His main faith is dormant, and he does not differentiate from faith to faith. Respect, outer entertainment and better hope makes him more shine like the mountain which sparks out its due color after a shower of rain.
Man does all the things normally without any shame or respect because of ignorance. Instead, the more one does in the better and effective way, the more he becomes popular and pious in the eyes of others. It is ignorance.
Without the help of a competent Master, these things get more and more powerful, and by no endeavors man can leave them. Such persons only preach whatever they do or see. Such persons come into the world as parrots and dwell in the temples.
Due to lack of proper guidance and ignorance about the right way of life one is accustomed to those outward rituals and rites. He shows outward devotion and outward humility, and even if he serves any noble cause, he does it with emotions. Outward devotion and outward humility have brought a major setback in the religions. The beginning seems to be very respectful and noble, whereas the end does not serve the proper cause.
Ignorant people do it and it is done among the ignorant ones. Right persons come out of it and sometime they are made to gear out. This is all done in ignorance. So all such places lack right persons.
Inward devotion and inward humility
bring vibration of love and stillness
and create a calm atmosphere.
The right purpose is taken into consideration
and the right cause is served
without outward feelings.
There is much difference between the conscious and the ignorant. The conscious person decides the matter there and then, and his sense of realization is very fast, and whatever he tells is based on truth.
In darkness he takes the string as string and snake as snake. Whereas the ignorant cannot decide the matter at once. His sense of realization being depressed works only with intellect and mind together, and whatever he tells can be based on facts also, but sometimes it can be by drawing inferences, emotions and feelings which can be subject to error. He takes the string in the darkness not fully as string and also not the snake fully as snake.
Out of ignorance man becomes the slave of his feelings and emotions and remains fully engrossed in it. This is why the worldly man may digest the purpose of human life to some extent, but cannot rely on it at once. He always needs the help of an awakened one in removing his ignorance’s one after another.
If we give due consideration to the ill feeling of others, we will also be affected in the same way, and it creates a hindrance in the higher value of life. It is illusion. Instead with due attention to what we do and observe, we learn a lot of lessons from our own life. The life is just like a bubble of water which leaves its form in a moment. The Master says, »Even then no harm is there if you determine your life right now.«
Man loses his faith for the sake of the world, but the world does not go with him. It is a big illusion. Man cuts his own throat by his own knife. Life is like a dream or a stage-play in which nothing is real. Everything is temporary only; one after the other is coming and going. Thus no lasting friendship is possible in this world because meeting and parting are due to the laws of karma.
Oh man, why are you happy in false pride?
This world is a dream.
There is nothing which belongs to you.
Everything in the world is false
and shall fall today or tomorrow.
Man is fully engrossed in this world. He who forsakes ego, worldly love, wealth, all sin, and to whom enemies and friends are alike, and to whom gold and iron are alike is above illusion and is blessed with Divine knowledge. Even if he learns to detach for moments from the world, he can feel the presence of the illustrious Lord within.
When one determines his life he gets free from illusion and does not come into illusion again; like a virgin girl who after marriage cannot become a virgin again. He knows the value of life and the disadvantages of illusion that hinder him.
Two things are true in this world: The death and the Lord who resides within and all else is untrue. Those who think of both alone recognize their aim. They remove flattery and slander. Master is holding them by the arm and ferries them across the dreadful ocean of life.
This world is a mountain of smoke, wherein the dust of pride, wishes, prosperity fly away. Man with evil intention is miserably attached to false avarice, wishes and pride which perish in a moment. This world is like a long dream. Man is swayed with evil intention in the world. Master says,
»Awake, oh man, what you brought with you,
even that will not go with you.
You have a momentary contact with father,
mother, son, wife and relatives.
Those who are very lovable to you,
they will not stand by you
when you set on your journey.
Take it for guaranteed, that the world lasts for you
as long as you are alive.«
» Why are you sleeping heedlessly?
Awake, and obtain your state of Godhood.«
Man is like a cracked pitcher, from where he is losing his water of goodness and fragrance of sublime in the form of mud and bad odour. An empty pitcher makes much noise. By talking and speaking much with the fools one gathers sins. Kabir says,
»The Saint does not abandon His Saintliness,
although he meets millions of impious persons.«
A Sandal tree is entwined with snakes, but it does not leave its fragrance and coolness. Every moment life is passing away like the water from the cracked pitcher. The black-bees have gone and the white cranes have settled in. Yet the man does not rely on truth.
»Oh man, be courageous, say,
‘I am a thief and cannot be called a saint’
and seek protection at the Holy feet
of a competent Master.«
The water does not remain in the unbaked earthen pot. When his soul leaves, the body withers away. You are summoned by the court of justice to come quickly and get up in the very condition. You are wanted there immediately. This all happens due to illusion.
Otherwise our purpose of human life is our turn to meet God. Our own actions become the hindrance in our life, otherwise the man is supreme in nature in his divine will and action.
»Oh man, think over, you are the offspring of God.
This is stable like the ink on paper
which is not erased from the paper.«
Yogis out of doubt wear saffron cloth. It is shadow or illusion on their personal life. Master says,
»Oh crazy man, deception will not take you anywhere.
Curse on the body, curse on its attachments
and curse on the worldliness
and doubly curse on the tricky mind
and its wit which established the roots.«
Due to ignorance man commits blunder from morning till evening and repeats and meets the reaction while sleeping. It is all mind play.
Mind creates something outside and shows the same thing inside, or mind shows something inside and brings the same phenomena outside.
But to whom? Who are mouth-pieces of mind. They boost off his knowledge and capabilities.
Guru Nanak tells that he gets all the power from Him. He says, he has no power to speak and no power to remain silent, no strength to live and no power to leave.
Maya (or illusion) is the miser’s daughter. She has forsaken the world and is sleeping with the world. So she is exceedingly beauteous and does not leave the man throughout his life. When man leaves the body, she quickly runs away barefooted. Only she has collusion with five evil passions. It is big illusion.
Within the Holy pool of the body,
there is peerless lotus flower,
where resides the Beauteous Formless.
The soul awakes only
with the Master’s instructions.
Only the chaste wife
knows the worth of her husband.
She sheds off her ego and enjoys
his independent love and happiness.
Our limitations are maximum up to our demands and up to our most loveable things, and sometimes we sacrifice the Master, His mission and the reality and do not pay importance in the higher values of life. It is ignorance. Christ said,
»Those who love their children
and brothers and sisters more than Him,
they are not His followers.«
If we do not give due consideration to our cause more than all important things of the world, we are ignorant. If we hear, speak of or act in anger, avarice, lust, egoism and attachment and criticize others, this brings reaction. This is ignorance.
God created the god of creation (Brahma), the god of nutrition (Vishnu) and god of death (Shiva). They are the servants of the holy body. Each one performs its own duty.
Man is engrossed to the three different ways, so it has created duality in him. All the deeds pertaining to the three qualities (of the physical, astral and causal planes) is duality. And duality is sin and reading books relating to these three qualities one remains attached to the sin and does not realize God. This is illusion. Their Father beholds them, but they do not see their Father. It is the biggest illusion in the world.
As the roof of the house does not stay without a support
And water does not stay without a container
As without the plough-man land is not sown
As without thread beads cannot be string
As without mother and father there can be no child
As without water the cloth cannot be washed
As without music there is no dance
So rejected by the Master the disciple is dishonored
The soul is the offspring of God and so without the grace of the Saint one cannot attain Godhood. If we know the purpose of human life and the competency of the Master Power, the illusion will leave us at once. Master Power comes into the world with full authorities and He has solution to every problem of us. If we have known the purpose of human life and have not known the competency of the Master, we cannot attain the higher value of life throughout our sojourn in the world. It is the greatest illusion in life.