January 24, 1968 — Morning Talks, chapter 32
I was telling you yesterday how love deteriorates into attachment. Love is the essence of the soul. It has to be contacted with the Overself. When it is attached to bodies, outer environments, it deteriorates and is called attachment. Yesterday it was explained how, on the way to God, we are stopped and, instead of going in the right direction, we are diverted downward. Today’s subject is not what is love and how it deteriorates but how love should be exercised. It is already in us. We are also love personified. We are a drop of the Ocean of all Love. So this love, as I told you yesterday, should go to God. Or if you have not seen God, then it should be given to the human body who is overflowing with the love of God. For example, if you see some advocate, naturally it will bring to mind the courts, and the cases going on in the courts. When you see a doctor, then your attention is diverted to medicines, sick people or hospitals. Similarly, when you see some man on the Way, your attention is directed to feel the work that he is doing. So the Master or the Saint is one, who is a labourer in the harvest of God. The harvest is much, labourers are wanted. If you think of Him, you will always think of God. Naturally that will come of itself. So you should always remember the Master. He is the prototype of God on earth and God is within Him. He is within you too of course, but not manifest. He is however, manifest at the human body of the Master. The Master loves even His enemies, for naturally He loves everybody, including those who speak ill of Him. He loves the worst sinner, just to raise him up to the level of manhood, then to the level of Godhood. So you should love God, but you cannot love God unless you see Him. So love of the human pole, or the Master, at which He is manifest, is love of God. When you see Him, you see God. As Christ said,
Those who have seen me, have seen my Father.
— John 14:9
The same thing is explained by all Masters who came in the past. Their language is different, but they say the same thing. Similarly, when you see a Master, don’t take Him as a son of man, but as God in Him. Only then are you saved and your love for God will overflow. If you take Him as a man like you, then . . . ? Even if you take Him as a good man, you can have only goodness from Him. So when you think of a Master as the prototype of God on earth, as the manifested God in Him, only then will true remembrance be over-flowing within you.
Generally, when you think of anybody constantly, you forget your own self. I was speaking of an incident in Guru Nanak’s life. He was weighing out wheat in the shop where He was employed and when He came to the word Tera (meaning both ‘thirteen‘ and ‘thine‘), He became intoxicated and went on repeating “I am Thine, I am Thine,” until He had given away all the grain. So those who have got love for God, naturally that love overflows. Such a disciple becomes absorbed in the Master. As Saint Paul said, “It is I, not now I, but Christ lives in me.” Similarly, saints in other countries said the same thing. One of them said,
I am so much overflowing with my Master,
that I have forgotten whether it is He or I.
The same expression is given by almost all Saints, of course in their own language. Their mode of expression may be a little different, but they say the same thing. So when you have such a love and you see the Master, you don’t see His body, you see the God in Him. That is also the true love of God. I gave you examples just before of when you see an advocate, remembrance of the courts comes in, when you see a doctor, remembrance of hospitals, sick people and medicines arise. Similarly, when you see a Saint, then you naturally remember God, because he is a prototype of the remembrance of God. He is overflowing with the love of God. Maulana Rumi says,
When you accept a Master,
you accept God and the Prophet in Him both.
If you read the preface of a book, it gives in digest form what is in the book. After you have read the whole book and you understand what it says, that can also be understood from its preface. Similarly, when you see a Master, you are reading the preface of God.
These are examples to show that when you meet a Master, you meet the God in Him. Such a God-in-man is met with only by the grace of God. If you want to contact God and are pining after finding Him, then He makes an arrangement whereby you are brought to the human pole where He is manifest. I gave an example of a disciple of a Saint named Bheek. He was so absorbed in the Master that he always used to remember Bheek, not God, but Bheek. He took his Master as a prototype of God on earth. His whole repetition was not of the five names but of Bheek, of the Master. This is but natural. He saw the God in Him, not the son of man. He was repeating all the time, “O Bheek, O Bheek.” He was living in the time of the Mohammedan reign and the Mohammedan people asked him, “Who is your God?” He replied, “My God is Bheek, my Master is God.” — “Who is his prophet?” . . . “My Bheek is the Prophet.” To say that was against the Mohammedan law, and so they passed a sentence of death against him. Such cases where a capital sentence had been passed were brought before the king for final approval. When the case was brought before him, the king saw that the eyes of Bheek’s disciple were intoxicated. “Well, who is your God?” asked the king. “My Bheek is my God.” — “Who is your prophet?” . . . “My Bheek is my prophet.” The king said to his people, “Leave this man, don’t mind him.” The people said that he would run away. “No, no,” said the king. The king then turned to him and said, “Well look here, we are having a dearth of rain in our country for the past few months. If you would kindly request your Bheek for some rain, we would be able to grow more corn.” . . . “Oh yes, I will ask Him,” replied Bheek’s disciple. Just like a child you see, that has all confidence in its mother. It has no doubt whatsoever that the mother cannot give what it desires. “All right, when will you return?” asked the king. “I will come in a day or two,” replied Bheek’s disciple. The next day there were heavy rains throughout the country. On the third day, Bheek’s disciple returned. The king said, “Well thanks to your Bheek, we have got sufficient rains. It was very kind of you and of your Bheek.” The king then offered to Bheek’s disciple the land revenue from 21 villages for his Master. Bheek’s disciple refused to accept the money, saying, “This is a material thing, I am not going to take this to my God. He does not need it.”
So suchlike remembrance gives you true love of God. As the needle of a compass, even though you shake it, always points to the north, so in worldly affairs, everything, you should always have the sweet remembrance of God. To look at the son of man who is overflowing with the love of God, is to meet God. This is the true state of affairs. All so-called masters are not Masters of course, then how can you recognize a Master? The only criterion is that He is able to give you some experience to raise you above the body level for a while, to give you something to start with. Big gatherings and propaganda can be brought about by very easy methods, by paying and other ways. You may appoint five or six people to go around and proclaim that our master is God, and pay them for it. A true Master is met with only through the grace of God. He is met with by one who is pining for God. God is within you, and it is He who makes the arrangements to bring you in contact with God who is manifest in some human body, because the teacher of man is a man. So suchlike love causes you to remember God, not the Master’s face or His coat.
I remember a disciple who lived for forty years with my Master. He was serving the Master while living in His home. One day, the Master asked him to go to one of the rooms in His house and get a certain book from one of the cupboards. The disciple wondered what cupboard and in which room the Master was referring to. Just think, how absorbed he was in the Master, that while living in His house, he did not know which cupboard was in what room. This is an example to show. Such love just transfuses you into Him. The love of the Master is the love of God.
The question arises that how should we know a true Master? There are so many masters. The only criterion lies in the fact that He is able to give you something to start with, not only the mere repetition of certain things or the performance of certain outward methods of worship. The true Master will give a little boost, some capital to start with, may be little or more. That depends on the background of each one. But everybody must get something. Even the blind man should get something. They do get, when they come for Initiation. One man came from Amritsar, was given half of the Initiation and then stood up and said that he had many doubts. I told him to leave and take time to have them cleared up. I met him in the evening and told him to forget all his learning for a while and sit like a child who knows nothing. He got the best experience. He then put a question that seeing Light during Initiation in the daytime was maybe due to the light outside. I said, “Well, here is a blind man next to you, he saw the Light.” So it is the inner Light that we have to see. Christ said,
I am the Light of the world.
Whosoever comes to me shall never walk in darkness.
All Masters say this and when you meet a Satguru you see Light, both inside and outside. When that Light is developed, you also see it outside.
So today’s subject was “How to Love God, or the Master.” Love of God is manifested in the Master and all of the qualifications of God are in the Master on a miniature scale, because God is reflected in Him. He is the prototype of God on earth.