January 17, 1969 — Satsang in Sawan Ashram (Morning Talks, chapter 40)
What is the condition of the lover of God or the Master? His attention is always rivetted on the Master, the God in Him, even while eating, drinking or sleeping. Sometimes you may become so much engaged in the Master that you do not remember whether you have eaten or not, who you are or what you have been doing, who has come or who has gone. This is the ultimate goal. Such a man is awakened within to the Master and asleep outside to the world. Now our condition is that we are awakened to the world outside but are asleep towards the Master, the God in Him within. For example, I see you before me but I am asleep from without. Asleep means that I am not conscious of what is going on in the world outside. Similarly, when I see directly in front of me, I am awake here but asleep from within. If I am awake within myself, to the God in me, or the God in the Master, then I am asleep from outside. Do you follow my point? So the lover of God is awake towards Him and asleep from outside, but he is not to actually run away from the world.
One saint in the West said, “When I want to be all alone, I go where? I go to an inn where people come and go, but I am unconcerned because I am all alone.” Pity it is that we are not alone but have so many thoughts that come from within and we are concerned with them. So this saint said that when I want all solitude, I go to live in an Inn, where people come and go, but I am not concerned with them. So this is a sort of awakening from within your own self, to the love of God in the Master. Well, if you are absorbed, you will become one with the Master. Shamas Tabrez said, “I become you and you become me. You become my soul, so much so that people do not differentiate whether it is you or me.” Saint Paul said, “It is I, not now I, but Christ lives in me.” All those who have gone within say the same thing, of course in their own language.
If you direct your attention, which is the outward expression of your soul, wholly and solely to God or to the God-in-man, then you won’t see His face, but you will see the Light emitting out of it. That is the criterion. Such a man is asleep from outside and awakened from within. So we are attention or surat, you see. Our attention is the cause of all this machinery going on in the body. The premi or the lover is really awake within and asleep outside. He is in the world, yet out of it. This is the ultimate feat of love, which is called charity. It is not lust, but love or charity and is innate in our own self. God is love and love is God, and that is part and parcel of our own selves. When that is withdrawn from outside by the concentration of the attention, then wherever it is directed, you are wholly and solely there. If you direct your attention to the Master, you will become what He is. Whatever is in Him will be transmitted to you, reflected in you. One Master said that the Master who has become a Master was once a sikh, or a follower. When a sikh or follower is fully absorbed into the Master, he becomes the Master, but first he has to become a true sikh, a true follower. When he is absorbed in Him, he becomes the Master. When he speaks, it is the Master speaking in him. These things are referred to in the books but cannot be explained like I am telling you now. These are practical things given by a practical man. His word is the law, the Koran, the Bible or the Guru Granth Sahib. What is in the Koran, the Bible or the Guru Granth Sahib? They are the sayings or words of the Masters, the God in Them. They are past Masters speaking through books. The Masters were once followers, but when they absorbed themselves wholly and solely into their Master, they too became Masters. The trouble is, that we want to become Masters, not followers. If you become a true follower and absorb your whole self into Him, mind, body and soul, then …….. ? People will say that you are a Master, but you need not say that you are a Master. Here, people make a grand heinous mistake, I would say. They want to become Masters, not followers. The result is, that they are retarded on the Way. So try to be a true sikh, a true follower, be wholly absorbed into the Master and you will become the Master. You need not ask for it. God will choose you, the Master will choose you. He watches everybody, though He does not say anything. All are in the make. Who becomes “that” will have it. You follow now, what is love?
Who is a lover? The lover becomes the Beloved and the Beloved becomes the lover. All differences of mind, body and soul are swept out of the door. This is, in a few words, who is the Guru and who is the sikh. So try to be wholly and solely a follower. I think you will then have what you are after without asking for it. So this is the subject referred to today. We should be awake from within to God or to the God-in-man and asleep from outside. That will come only, will result only, when your whole attention is absorbed in Him. The outward expression of the soul is attention and we are attention, is it not so? With one attention of God, the whole Creation came into being. God said, “I am one and wish to become many” and lo! — the World was formed. If we withdraw from the outside world and become absorbed in Him, we are micro-gods. These things are not given so vividly in the books, because it is a practical question. So try to be a true follower wholly and solely, in mind, body and soul. You will become Masters. You will see one day that you are not what you were before. Even now, if you will take a cursory view of the past, you will see that you are better than before. Now, you are not what you want to become one hundred percent, but you are ten percent, twenty percent, fifty percent, but improving. So go on to be a true follower of the Master, so much so that. you absorb yourself into Him. Then you won’t know who is in you, whether it is you or He, or He or you. You will have become “It is I, not now I, but Christ lives in me.” The follower should be, what you say, in the tomb of his Guru, he should enter into it and be absorbed. This (the Master gestures to His chest) is the tomb. The Living Master lives here and you are there, so you should leave your body and enter into His tomb. This is the ultimate goal of love, and you are just to see where you stand. It is a great good fortune to have a Living Master, a true Master. There are many ‘masters’, a hundred and one, a thousand and one, but they are only acting and posing, or on the way. Anybody who follows them is led away and those who help them are also led away. Furthermore, they do not derive the full benefit of coming to a true Master. So that is why I say, if you love the Master, you must keep His commandments. The ABC starts from this. If you become like Him, He is always with you, talking to you, going around you. Kabir says, “I am now so pure at heart that God is after me, calling my name — ‘O Kabir, O Kabir’ — Kabir is going forward and God is following Him.” God is seeking somebody who is awake to Him and asleep outside, that’s all.