A personal talk to an initiate departing Sawan Ashram on February 15, 1966 and later published as circular letter 49.
(source of talk in MP3 format)
Dear Millie: Now you are going back to your home, worldly home. I would like you to convey my message to my brothers and sisters over there. Tell them that God-Power or the Master Power is always with the initiates, and once that Power takes over the charge of any soul, that Power never leaves him until the end of the world. The work of the Master is just to take the soul to the lap of Sat Purush, and from there the Sat Purush takes the soul to the Absolute God in stages. They are fortunate, over there, to have had such Master Power working over their heads.
The criterion of a Master is that he should be able to give firsthand experience of rising above body consciousness. That is the only outer criterion that you can have. And, if one can give some personal experience like that, then I think that He can also be considered capable of leading you further. Tell them all over there that they are on my mind. If they remember me, the reaction is there, I do remember them. It is the Master who first loves us — our love for him is only reciprocal.
I wish them to lead a very righteous life, full of good thoughts, good words and good deeds. Let these words of wisdom reflect in their physical life, and not simply be repeated by lips. The initiates should remember the Master and actively live up to what he says. For that purpose, the initiates have been given self-introspection diaries, which they should maintain regularly and scrupulously. By this means they will be, at least, remembering the Master’s enjoinders during the day. If they don’t keep the diaries, they will simply forget to act up to what they have been told . . . so this is one good of keeping a diary. Moreover, when Master initiates someone, He resides with him; He watches all of his actions, guides him further where it is needed; especially those who turn their faces to Him. If you do forget, He does not forget.
Recently I had a mind to go to Europe, but for some reason or the other, I could not go. When the foreign tour program is prepared, there is hope, God willing, to see all of them over there personally.
One thing they might be told, one and all, is that this Corporation arrangement (This refers to the incorporating of Master’s work in the U.S., which had taken place about a year before this talk was given.) is only for management. Spirituality cannot be incorporated. So this corporation is not for organizing spirituality. For spirituality, all are directly under me. For the purpose of management, those who are in charge over there, including one and all, are there simply to see that management goes along all right. As regards the rules and regulations that have already been made, some people are under the impression that this corporation is only a worldly corporation — which is not correct. At the time of our Master, at first when there were not very many initiates and when there were still only a few groups operating, there was no need for any corporation, and so there were no rules or provision for management. But now there are many groups all over the world. About 71 centers are working in the United States (East, West and South) and in Canada and South America. Some formation is considered absolutely necessary for management of and coordination of all of them. It may, however, be mentioned that in the time of Hazur Maharaj Baba Sawan Singh, there were some rules to go by in Beas and at other places where Satsangs were carried on; although the groups were not registered under the government. Now, at Beas, there is a regular registered body to carry on the work.
To those who are under the impression that this corporation is meant only for control and material gain, I would say: No. I would think there is no control and no profit-making as with other corporations. This corporation is only to insure that the communications and temporal affairs among the Satsangis go on quite amicably. And about some other issues, I have already written to them. For example, if there are any rules and regulations which appear to be unworkable and harsh, I told them to just put their heads together and simplify them as best they can, so that there may be no difficulty in their operation. I am not after hard and fast rules, but simply that all should be able to sit together and cooperate together as one body at one place; and others who, for one reason or another, are not cooperating, should be induced to take part, to join them. If there is any inclination to supply anything — for example: circulars, books, and so forth — the corporation is there for their convenience. Suppose I should like to convey something to all of the brothers and sisters there, I will convey it to one center, which will convey such material to all of the members attending the Satsangs and also to those who are not attending the Satsang. It may be mentioned here that all Representatives and others who met at Washington and Chicago, on my last tour there, decided to have a corporation, which later on came into being. The corporation is only meant for this purpose.
If there is a fruit, then to save the kernel we need some casing. Even nature provides for that. If the casing is not there, the fruit is spoiled. So, inner spiritual work remains safe only if it is conducted with a little casing. The casing is required only when we have to keep the pure inner kernel in its natural state. If there is no casing, then the fruit is spoiled in a day. Some have referred to my Master, that when He was asked once He said that no corporation was required. Well, at that time, there were only a few initiates and as a consequence there was no need of it then. If a small group of initiates makes a beginning and after a while this small beginning expands into so many centers all over the United States and everywhere, then there must be some casing to insure that the activity goes along all right. If then there is any complaint, such as the non-supply of books, and so forth, it may be handled expeditiously. For example, I have already suggested that books should be printed in India and supplied from there in the required quantity.
So naturally these people in the centers over there have to carry on this work in a businesslike way. When these centers are working under a corporation, they have to abide by certain rules. Even here, I have a kind of corporation, duly registered under Government law. I have to submit all accounts to the Registrar to be duly audited by authorized auditors. So naturally we all have to keep accounts. There is no growling here about their calling for the current financial accounts and, for instance, how many books we have sold or how the selling of books is managed. Such questions are natural, you see. Such information is only for management’s sake.
So I tell them clearly that I love them from the very core of my heart. How can a father or mother forget his children? Can he? Never. The children might forget, might go astray, but the father cannot forget the children. Even the lost child is accepted, you see. So I have love for them all.
One thing especially which I would like to convey to them over there is that upon the spiritual health depends the life of mind and body both. We develop physically and intellectually; yet with all that, we are not happy and we cannot be happy. We give food to the physical body and we are physically strong; we give food to the intellect; but what food are we giving as the Bread of Life to the soul? The soul is a conscious entity. The Bread of Life or the Water of Life can only be a conscious Thing, and That is God. And where is God? God is the very Controlling Power keeping us in the body. So we have to contact Him.
I will give you an instance from the Hindu parables of how this is. Sometimes, you see, Masters give talks straight — sometimes they give talks through parables. Parables are more effective sometimes, you see. So with the Hindus there is a parable which says that Lord Shiva was residing at the top of a hill. And there was one Parvati who wanted to marry him. Some other people there asked her, “Well, what are you after?” She said, “I am only after marrying Shiva. Even if it may take millions of births, I must meet him for he is the solace of my heart.” So this is a parable to illustrate some point. What does this parable mean? The word Parvati means “one living on the mountain.” And what is that “one“? That one is our own self, our soul. The seat of the soul is at the top of the mountain of the body, just at the back of the eyes; and also located there is the very Controlling Power, the true Husband of our soul, God, waiting for her. So soul cannot find rest until she finds the Oversoul. Ever since the soul has been sent down to the world, she has not gone back to Him. Otherwise, you would have been in another state of affairs. Soul says, “I will try my utmost for years and years — hundreds of years — and won’t rest until I find Him.” So our soul is the same essence as that of God. Ever since it has been sent to the world, it has not gone back so far. So soul cannot find rest unless it meets the Oversoul: God. This situation is what the parable is to show.
So we are all embodied souls. All religions concern our bodies. Social and political affairs concern our bodies only. And soul is concerned with God only. We may remain in any society, in any religion, observing any outer forms or rituals, or anything we have customarily followed, and we can continue to follow them. But soul has now been identified with the body so much so that it has forgotten itself. Unless the soul is analyzed and withdrawn from the body and comes to its seat at the back of the eyes and gets some self-awareness or self-knowledge, she cannot know the Overself or have God-knowledge. So self-knowledge precedes God-knowledge. All Masters who came in the past have given out as the prerequisite that we should know our own self. We are conscious beings, not physical bodies. We are wearing these bodies only. All of these outer religions are schools of thought in which we are joined to know our Selves and to know God.
We have never been without Him. He has all along been with us. We are living in Him just like a fish lives in the water. The water is never away from the fish — the very life of the fish is water. So our very life is God, the Controlling Power which keeps us in the body. So, unless we know our own self, we cannot taste the kernel within. You may remain in any religion you like, because religions are only concerned with the outer forms — they are the casing only, I would say. We are to dip into this casing. We can taste the kernel by the only way that exists: by contacting the one in whom God is manifested.
God resides in every heart, but God is not manifested in every man-body. That same God which is manifested at the man-body of the Living Master resides in us, too; but as we are identified with the body, we cannot get a glimpse of Him unless we rise above body-consciousness. The one in whom God is manifested has the competency by virtue of the God in him to withdraw our souls from outer concerns. The outgoing expression of the soul is the attention, called surat. That Surat is withdrawn from the outside first. The man-body is the temple of God, into which we have to enter first. We live in the body, and Who we want is also living in the body, and is the Controlling Power keeping us in the body. The one who has got that control over his attention is truly Self-centered: the whole body-machinery works at his beck and call. Such a person, when he is met, has the competency or the power in him to enable us to withdraw from the outside and enter the physical body, and to raise us into the Beyond. That power is called the Master Power.
That power is also within us; just as the rays of the sun don’t burn us but, if we pass them through a convex lens, they will burn anything at the focus on the other side of the lens. In a similar manner, that very Power of the Master is within us too, but our attention is dispersed outward by being identified with the body and outside things. If we withdraw that attention, and go within to the seat of the soul in the body and become the mouthpiece of the Controlling Power, God, we can work wonders. So that soul which has manifested God has great power and has become the mouthpiece of the Overself. Then what can such a soul not do? God, with one Word of His, created the whole world; and the soul, which is a drop of the Ocean of All Consciousness, since we are of the same essence as that of God, also has a great power. But that power is frittered away by going outside, by identifying with the outside things.
So, with the grace of God, tell them over there that they have been put on the Way. Some experience is given to them at the time of Initiation, and they have to develop spiritually by regular practice and with due regard to how they pass their days, by self-introspection.
Consider the parable of the seed, given by Christ. The seed was sown. Some seed fell on the road; some fell in the thorny hedges; some fell on the rocks; and some seeds fell on the quite clear land which had been divested of all foreign matter. That seed which had fallen on the hard open ground or the road is eaten away by the sparrows; the seed that was thrown on the rocks grows but there is no depth of soil beneath such seeds and, little by little, such growth fades away; and naturally, those seeds which fell in the thorny hedges will grow, but they cannot fully grow — they are retarded; and any seed which fell in the quite prepared land will grow abundantly. If you put one seed in of anything, that will give you hundreds of seeds like that. For instance, you put one mango in the ground, and that will give a tree which will give you hundreds of mangoes. So there is abundance in nature. This parable, then, shows what? The “seed” is the contact with the Light and Sound Principle, which is the expression of Word or Naam in the hearts of the initiates. For those who simply take it, the negative powers use it up because they never put in time for that, although they are given the “seed” — the seed is sown in them — but as they do not put in time at all, and they don’t care, after Initiation the seed is lost.
Concerning those seeds that fall on the rocks and beneath which there is little or no underlying soil, after Initiation that seed should be fed, by Satsangs; for if those seeds are not watered by Satsangs, you see, naturally they fade away — they also don’t grow — they come for a few days, then leave it. So that is why I tell the people, “Leave hundreds of urgent works to attend the Satsangs.” Those seeds that fell in the thorny hedges won’t grow there encumbered by the distracting thoughts and other kinds of hedges; they are just like those who have too many irons in the fire, they have no time to attend to these things; they say they have no time. Such people also don’t grow. Only such a seed which has fallen in the quite prepared land grows fruit in abundance. So you will find that the purpose of this diary, which I always enjoin to be kept, is to weed out all imperfections from the soil of the heart. Those who keep the diary regularly, who put in time regularly, naturally they progress. If they are not progressing there is something wrong somewhere, which is explained to you by just referring to this parable given by Christ.
However, they are all dear to the Master, I tell you. Those who have got the seed are fortunate, for that seed cannot be burned away. That seed must grow; and if they have not put in any time in this physical life of the man-body, naturally they will have to come back; but they won’t come back below the man-body — that is the only concession they can have. Why not put in time, grow now, and finish this returning? You come into contact with the Light and Sound principle within, and by progressing, you are intoxicated with that. That has more bliss in it. We get more enchantment and more bliss inside and naturally we are withdrawn from the outside things. Such a soul can never return, and lives in and is kept in the Beyond after the death of the physical body. Such souls have to progress there too, but this takes a longer time as compared with the time it takes in the physical body. So it is always better to develop here, the more you can, the most you can, so that you can straightway go to that higher plane to which you have developed here. So tell them all that I wish them to progress. They have gotten, by the grace of God, first-hand experience at the time of initiation. If anything goes wrong, it is due to the result of these things as I have explained.
So I wish to see them, God willing, sooner or later, and I also wish them to be here with us whenever they can afford it. These people sitting over here have great love for them, their brothers and sisters over there. There is a loving relationship between those who are initiated by a competent Master, which is a permanent relationship, never dissolved at the time of death; they meet even after death. Our Master used to say, “When crossing a river, those who have crossed first will meet, there on the other side, those who come next. All others follow them sooner or later.” Between those who have been initiated, this is the true relation that we have been given by the Master, and this relation never ends. So they are fortunate.
Convey to them over there my love. No words can express love; love cannot be expressed in words. The love of the mother can only be known by the child who is devoted internally. Even if the child is not turning his face to the mother in his activities and playing and so forth, even then the mother cares. What for? The child must be fed, so she takes the food and forces him to eat it. Similarly, it is just like my enjoining them, “Put in more time, please.” Develop physically and intellectually, but that is not sufficient; you must develop spiritually also. For such spiritual development, the Master always enjoins that which results in most care for the child. So convince them over there of my love for one and all. All are dear to me. Though you are placed to carry on the work and are also dear to me, the others are not less dear to me.
As I told you, this corporation — tell them again — I think it has created some misunderstanding with a few people there. This corporation is only for management; by it no physical control or power is to be exercised over the people over there — they are directly under me. For example, once I went to Germany and there were some initiates who complained to me that their Representative would not permit them to talk with me directly. They were crying like anything. So I went there and told them, “Well, look here, you’re with me, you are under me, the Representative was put there only to help you.“
You observe how those speaking on television can be seen and heard over thousands of miles; so God-Power is also pervading everywhere. That is the very Controlling Power within this man-body keeping us in the body. Tell them over there that a child cannot, I think, imagine how much love the mother has for the child. Can he ever do so? I don’t think so. So even if they come to know some of my love for them, perhaps they will dance in intoxication. Convey my love to them as you are going there. They are all dear to me. They must live up to what they have been told from time to time. I am sending them messages, now and then, only as reminders to live up to that. Our teachings should reflect in our actions, We must be humble, sweet. A sweet word doesn’t cost anything. If we are all laborers in the field of the Master, then where is the ego? A little ego enters sometimes and that spoils the show. All this little grumbling sometimes is the result of ego. “Love and all things shall be added unto you.“
So convey them my love, the best you can; although I think that no words can express love. They should turn their faces this way and I hope they will get radiation too.
You have been here, so dear to us. But as a person has to go, after all, you go home with all my love and blessings. Convey my love to your dear husband as well, he is so good; so also to the followers who are working there; and to all others. I do remember them and think that they should live up to what they have been told and they will progress, sure and certain.
Thank you.