THE STUDY OF SURAT SHABD YOGA

The Yoga of the Celestial Sound Current

(Chapter 5 of Crown of Life)

KIRPAL SINGH

This music streams from a transcendent plane within

and is caught by a soldier Saint
–Shabd 9, page 94, Sar Bachan (Poetry)
 Instructions for Seekers
After Truth
Before the living Master [an adept in the science of the
Sound Current or Word], gives Initiation, he wishes that
every prospective initiate abide by the following instructions:

I. To cultivate and develop the five cardinal virtues which

constitute the bedrock of spirituality. These are:

1. Ahimsa or Non-injury to all living creatures, and

more so to fellow beings, by thoughts, words and deeds –
the injunction in this behalf being: “Injure not a human
heart for it is the seat of God.” We must have respect for
others’ feelings and tolerance for others’ opinions.

2. Satayam or Truthfulness: As God is Truth, we must

practice Truth in all our dealings. If Truth resides in every
heart, it must manifest itself in life and action. “Be true to
thyself and it must follow as night the day, thou canst not be
false to any man.” We must therefore avoid falsehood at all
costs. It includes, besides downright lies, hypocrisy and dis-
honesty, suppresso veri [suppression of truth], and sugges-
tio falsi [suggestions of false ideas].

3. Brahmcharya or life of Chastity: It includes conti-

nence in thoughts, words and deedhoughts within, for
“Chastity is life and sexuality is death.” If we want to tread
the Path of Life Eternal, we must be chaste and clean both

1
within and without.

4. Prem or love for all living creatures and more so for

all human beings. Let there be hatred for none. The entire
manifestation is the handiwork of God and must therefore
be loved and respected. “He who does not know love, can-
not know God”.

5. Nishkam Seva or Selfless Service to all living crea-

tures in sorrow and distress. If one limb of the body is in
torture, the other limbs can have no rest. “Service before
self” should therefore be our motto in life.

II. To practice these three purities – in Diet, Livelihood

and Conduct:

1. Ahar or Diet. What we eat goes to constitute the body

and the mind. “Sound mind in a sound body” is a well
known aphorism. We can neither have one nor the other
with unwholesome diet. A strictly vegetarian diet consisting
of vegetables and fruits, both fresh and dried, cereals, dairy
products like milk, cream, butter, cheese, yogurt, etc., is
essential for all aspirants for Truth. We must therefore avoid
meat, meat juices, fish, fowl, eggs both fertile and unfertile,
or anything containing any of these ingredients in any form
or in any degree. Every action has a reaction and flesh eat-
ing involves contracting fresh karmas and thus helps to
keep the inexorable karmic wheel in motion for we have to
reap what we sow. We cannot have roses if we sow thistles.

The above prohibitions apply equally to all kinds of

alcoholic drinks, intoxicants, opiates and narcotic drugs, as
they tend to dull our consciousness and make us morbid.

“The body is the temple of the living God” and it must

therefore be kept scrupulously clean.

Any prospective candidate for Initiation should there-

2
fore try the vegetarian diet for at least three to six months,
to ensure that he or she can adhere to it, when put on the
Path.

2. Vihar or Livelihood: Closely associated with diet are the

means of livelihood. There are no shortcuts in spirituality. The
end here does not justify the means, as it may be construed to
do anywhere else. Ignoble means to earn one’s living do
contaminate one’s diet, the very source of life itself. So an
honest living by the sweat of one’s brow is essential in this
line. The life plant has therefore to be nurtured with pure
water to make it sound and healthy, a fit instrument for the
efflorescence of spirituality.

3. Achar or Conduct: The above remarks apply equally

to one’s conduct in life. Every thought, every word and
every deed, good or bad, leaves an indelible imprint on the
mind and has to be accounted for. Hence the necessity for
right thoughts, right aspirations and right conduct, all of
which constitute the hedge around the tender sapling of
spirituality. The details in this behalf have been dealt with
under the five virtues discussed above.

III. Satsang or Association with Truth:

The guidance of the living Master is of supreme impor-

tance. A Master is a Master indeed, a Master in all three
phases of life: A Guru or Master on the physical plane, shar-
ing our joys and sorrows, guiding affectionately each one of
us in our worldly affairs, and above all imparting spiritual
instructions; a Guru Dev or Radiant Form of the Master in
astral and causal regions helping the spirit in meditation at
each plane, and Satguru or Master of Truth or Truth itself in
the Beyond.

The importance of attending Satsangs or spiritual gath-

erings cannot be overemphasized. Theory always precedes
practice. It is but necessary to understand clearly the teach-

3
ings of the Master in all their bearings before starting spir-
itual practice. The Master is the be-all and end-all on the
spiritual path. He does not ask for blind faith, however,
though experimental faith is necessary for the purpose, to
start with. He emphatically says: “Believe not the words of
the Master unless you see the Reality yourself,” or at least
have some experience of it yourself.

IV. Spirituality:

It is a path of love, discipline and self-control. After

the initial spiritual experience given at the time of
Initiation, the rest depends on relentless regular practice
as enjoined by the Master. Daily practice with loving
faith, in all sincerity and humility, is the cornerstone round
which each disciple must turn, so as to make progress on
the Path. Love for the Master means implicit obedience to
His commandments.

V. To Eschew All Symbolism and Rituals:

The observance of religious practices, rites and rituals,

keeping fasts and vigils, going on pilgrimages, etc., and
doing breathing exercises are the elementary steps only
which go to create in you a desire for turning to or meeting
God. You have made best use of them when you are put on
the way back to God, which is the science of the Word or
the Sound Current and is one for all humanity. A devotee of
this science need not indulge in the elementary steps. In
short, all acts involving physical labor belong to the realm
of the physical world while we have to rise above the body
and bodily consciousness to get contact with the primal
manifestations of the Godhead: Light and Sound. You can-
not pray God with hands. “God is Spirit and can only be
worshipped in spirit.”

VI. Record of Conduct and Progress:

Every seeker after God is enjoined to maintain a strictly

4
impartial record of his daily conduct, so as to find out his
weaknesses and try to weed them out one by one; to note
his/her progress on the Path and the various difficulties and
shortcomings in the way. The diary so maintained is to be
sent to the Master every four months for further guidance.
For this purpose regular forms are available and can be
obtained from the nearest center.

VII. Application for Initiation:

Every true aspirant for spiritual science, who can adhere

to the above, after preliminary abstinence in diet for about
three to six months, can put in an application on the form
prescribed for the purpose, giving his brief life sketch, age,
marital status and the like along with a copy of his or her
photograph. All applications for Initiation are to forwarded
to the nearest representative of the Master for His approval,
and instructions in Initiation are given only after the Master
authorizes them. The place and time of Initiation are com-
municated in each case by the representative.

VIII. Ruhani Satsang or Path of the Masters:

The science of the Living Masters is the most ancient

and the most perfect science the world has ever seen. It is
the most natural and the easiest to follow, and can be fol-
lowed by men of all ages. Married life, avocation, caste and
creed, social and religious beliefs, poverty or illiteracy, etc.,
are no bars. It is an inner science of the soul and consists in
contacting the soul with the Oversoul, with the help and
guidance of the spiritual adept, well versed in the theory
and the practice of Para Vidya or the Science of the Beyond
and capable of granting some first-hand spiritual experience
at the very first sitting. Nothing is to be taken on trust or
make-believe. Miracles, spiritual healings, psychic phe-
nomena, fortune-telling, akashic records and worldly
desires are all to be left aside, for these are positive hin-
drances on the Path. The entire energy is to be conserved

5
for internal progress.

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all things shall be

added unto you.

This is the highest Truth that has been taught from

hoary antiquity by sages and seers since the day of creation.
It is unalterable and shall remain so. God, Godway and
Godman can never suffer any change and shall ever remain
eternal.

6
 Surat Shabd Yoga
The Yoga of the Celestial Sound Current

I
n the first four chapters of the book Crown of Life, we
have seen how it has been taught since time immemorial
by the Indian sages that behind the apparent self, of
which we are conscious in everyday existence, the self that
shirks pain and seeks pleasure, that changes from moment
to moment, and is subject to the effect of time and space,
there is the permanent "Self," the Atman. This Atman
forms the basic reality, the final substance, the essence of
essences; and it is in the light of its being that all else
assumes meaning. Likewise, we have seen how the Indian
mystics have analyzed the nature of the Universe. Seen
from the surface, our world appears to be a queer compo-
sition of contradictory elements. Faced with these contra-
dictions, man is compelled to look for a Creator who holds
the opposing forces in balance and represents permanence
behind the flux of existence. But as he penetrates deeper
and still deeper, he discovers that the contradictions are
only apparent, not real: that far from being opposed in
nature, they are differentiated manifestations of the same
Power, and that they are not even "manifestations," properly
so called, but are illusions of the ignorant mind which are dis-
pelled in the light of realization when one begins to know
that the ocean is changeless, though it appears to change.

These two insights are basic to Indian thought, and on

closer examination will be seen to be not separate, but one.
The recognition of the absolute nature of the inner Self, the
Atman, implies recognition of the true nature of existence
of the Paramatman, the Brahman, while an understanding

7
of the nature of Paramatman or Brahman implies an under-
standing of the Atman. If behind the changing, time- ridden
self there be an eternal, changeless, and timeless One, and
if behind the flux of mutability of the creation, as we nor-
mally know it, there be an Absolute Immutable Reality,
then the two must be related and must, in fact, be identi-
fied. How can there be two Absolutes? How can the Atman
be distinct from the Brahman, when all that is, is only a
projection of Brahman?

The moment we realize these truths about the nature of

Self and Overself, or the One Truth about the nature of
Reality, the problem that inevitably poses itself is: Why do
we in everyday existence experience the world in terms of
duality and plurality, feeling ourselves separate from each
other and from life in general, and what may be the means
for transcending this unnecessary constriction of ourselves
and merging into the Ocean of Consciousness that is our
essential state? The answer to the first part of this question
has been that the spirit, in its downward descent, gets
enveloped in fold upon fold of mental and material appara-
tus which compel it to experience life in terms of their lim-
itations, until, no longer conscious of its own inherent
nature, the soul identifies itself with their realm of time and
space–nam-rup-prapanch. The answer to the second part
has been that the soul can bear witness to itself, provided it
can divest itself of its limiting adjuncts. The many forms
and variations of yoga that we have examined are no more
than the various methods evolved for accomplishing this
process of disentanglement or spiritual involution.

The one recurring theme in the teachings of all great

rishis and mystics has been that their insights are based not
on inherited learning, philosophical speculation, or logical
reasoning, but on first-hand inner experience or anubhava
– a word whose lucidity of expressiveness defies transla-
tion. They explain that seeming differences are not because
of any contradiction inherent in what they say, but because

8
men vary greatly in temperament; and what is possible for
the man of a cultured and refined intelligence is impossible
for the unsophisticated peasant, and vice versa. Various
rivers may wend through different plains, but they all reach
the sea. Patanjali’s Eightfold Path is the first major attempt
to correlate the many available avenues into a single coher-
ent system for spiritual reintegration. Later rishis and
teachers derived much guidance from him, but their teach-
ings implicitly embody the recognition that his system is
too exacting and tends to deny spiritual attainment to the
average man. Furthermore, it is so complex, that for the
majority of sadhaks (aspirants), it is likely to become a
maze in which they lose their way and mistake the inter-
mediate goals for the final destination. And so, while
Mantra Yoga, Laya Yoga, Hatha Yoga, and especially Raja
Yoga carry on Patanjali’s tradition in modified forms, there
emerge three other major forms that represent, in contrast
to the Ashtanga Marg, a great simplification and special-
ization. The Jnana yogin, the Karma yogin, or the bhakta
no longer need to retire from the world or undergo exact-
ing psycho-physical disciplines. Each approaches the goal
from a particular angle and reaches it by sheer purposeful
concentration.

The end of all yoga, as Shankara clarified, is absorp-

tion into the Brahman. All the paths, therefore, aim at
samadhi, in which state such experience can be attained.
But if Patanjali’s system and its derivatives have certain
serious drawbacks, it is a question whether the three other
major forms are wholly without them. If for the Karma
yogin freedom lies through detachment and desirelessness,
is it possible for him to be completely free? Does he not
seek emancipation in following his path, and is not that
itself a form of desire? Besides, is it psychologically pos-
sible for the human mind to detach itself completely from
its normal field of experience without first anchoring itself
in another and higher one? It is a universal characteristic of
man that he seeks kinship with something other than him-

9
self. This is the law of his life and source of all his great
achievements. The child is bound to his toys, and the adult
to family and society. As in the case of a child, you may
not, without harm, deprive him of his playthings until he
has outgrown them psychologically; likewise, to expect the
sadhak to give up his social and family attachments, with-
out first outgrowing them by discovering something
greater and larger, is to cut at the root of life. It will not
bring progress but regression, for the man who undertakes
it as an enforced discipline only succeeds in repressing his
natural desires. The result is not the enhancement of con-
sciousness but its numbing and atrophy, not detachment
but indifference. This, as Mr. T. S. Eliot has pointed out,
"differed completely" from both "attachment" and "detach-
ment," resembling

... the others as death resembles life, being between two

lives–unflowering, between the live and the dead nettIe.

The discipline of Karma Yoga is a necessary one; but if

it is to fulfill its end, it must be completed by another dis-
cipline of an esoteric kind, without which it tends to reduce
itself to an ineffectual attempt to lift oneself up by one’s
shoestrings.

As for the Jnana yogin, jnana may carry him very far
indeed. It may take him beyond the gross physical plane
into the spiritual ones. But can jnana carry him beyond
itself? And if jnana, which as we have seen, forms one of
the koshas that encompasses the atman, albeit a very rar-
efied one, how can it then give the soul absolute freedom?
Jnana is the help and yet it may prove to be the hindrance.
It has indubitably the power to rid the soul of all encum-
brances grosser than itself; but having reached thus far, it
tends to clog further progress. And since it is not of the true
essence of the soul, the Absolute, it cannot be wholly
above the reach of Kala or Time. Mystics distinguish
between the two realms of time, Kala and Mahakala, thus:

10
the first of these extends over the physical world and the
less gross regions immediately above it, whereas the sec-
ond stretches to all the higher planes that are not of pure
spirit. Hence, the gains that the jnani achieves may be out
of the reach of time as we normally conceive it (kala), but
they are not wholly beyond the reach of greater time
(mahakala). It need hardly be pointed out that what is true
of Jnana Yoga is also true of those forms of yoga that
depend upon the pranic energies. They, too, are not of the
true nature of the Atman and, as such, cannot lead It to a
state of Absolute Purity, beyond the realm of relativity.

Besides its inability to ensure absolute freedom, Jnana

Yoga is not a path accessible to the average man. It
demands extraordinary intellectual powers and stamina
which few possess. It was to meet this difficulty as well as
that posed by Karma Yoga, when practiced by itself, that
Bhakti Yoga came into prominence. He who normally
would not be able to detach himself from the world nor had
the mental powers to analyze the true Self from the untrue
could, by the power of love, leap or bridge the gap and
reach the goal. But how can man love that which has nei-
ther form nor shape? So the bhakta anchors himself in the
love of some Isht-deva, some definite manifestation of
God. But in overcoming this practical difficulty, he expos-
es himself to the same limitations as the jnani. The chosen
Isht-deva by its very nature represents a limitation upon the
Nameless and Formless Absolute. And even if the bhakta
reaches the level of that manifestation, can that limited
being take him beyond itself to that which has no limita-
tion? A study of the lives of the prominent exponents of
this system clarifies the point. Ramanuja, the well-known
mystic of the Middle Ages, failed to apprehend the teach-
ings of his predecessor, Shankara. He followed what in
Indian philosophy is known as the school of vasisht advai-
ta; i.e., that the Atman can reach Ishwar (God as the man-
ifested Creator of the Universe) and can get saturated with
cosmic consciousness, but it can never become one with

11
Him. What to say then of reaching God as the
Unmanifested, Nameless Brahman? The experience of Sri
Ramakrishna in our own time once again brings out this
limitation. He had always been a worshiper of the Divine
Mother, and She often blessed Him with her visions. But
He always perceived Her as something other than Himself,
as a power outside Himself and one for Whose operation
He could often become a medium, but in which He could
not merge Himself. When He subsequently met Totapuri,
an advaita sanyasin, He realized that He must get beyond
this stage to one where there was no name or form and
where the Self and the Overself became one. When He
attempted to enter into such a state, He discovered that His
earlier attainments became a hurdle, in spite of all His
efforts. He tells us:

I could not cross the realm of name and form and bring
my mind to the unconditioned state. I had no difficulty
in withdrawing my mind from all objects except one,
and this was the all too familiar form of the Blissful
Mother–radiant and of the essence of pure conscious-
ness—which appeared before me as a living reality and
would not allow me to pass the realm of name and
form. Again and again, I tried to concentrate my mind
upon the Advaita teachings, but every time the
Mother’s form stood in my way. In despair I said to
"the naked one" (his Master Totapuri),“ It is hopeless.
I cannot raise my mind to the unconditioned state and
come face to face with the Atman.” He grew excited
and sharply said, "What! You can’t do it? But you have
to.” He cast his eyes around for something, and find-
ing a piece of glass, he took it up and pressing its point
between my eyebrows said, "Concentrate your mind on
this point." Then, with stern determination, I again sat
to meditate; and as soon as the gracious form of the
Divine Mother appeared before me, I used my discrim-
ination as a sword and with it severed it into two. There
remained no more obstruction to my mind, which at

12
 once soared beyond the relative plane, and I lost
myself in Samadhi.*

It is clear, therefore, that while the bhakta can go very

far spiritually, can greatly enhance his consciousness, can
gain miraculous powers, and anchored in a higher love can
rise above the love of this world, it is, nevertheless, not
possible for him to get beyond the plane of "name and
form," and therefore of relativity. He may get lost in the
contemplation of the Godhead with His amazing attributes,
but he cannot experience the same in its Nirguna and its
Anami, its "Unconditioned," and "Nameless" state. He can
feel himself saturated with Cosmic Consciousness; but it
comes to him as something outside himself as a gift of
grace, and he is not able to lose himself in It and become
one with the Ocean of Being. If he does seek to attain that
state, his accomplishment as a bhakta, instead of helping
him further, tends to hinder and obstruct him.

The two things that emerge from an examination of the

popular forms of yoga that were evolved after Patanjali
are: first that the soul can rise above physical conscious-
ness, given means whereby it can focus its energies, with-
out recourse to the arduous control of pranas, and second
that full Spiritual Realization or True Samadhi is not mere-
ly a matter of transcending the physical (though that is nec-
essary as a first step), but is the end of a complex inner
journey in which there are many intermediate stages, the
attainment of which, under certain conditions, may be mis-
taken for the final goal and may thus debar further
progress. The problem that arises before the true seeker in
the face of such a situation is to discover a means other
than that of pranas, jnana, or bhakti of an Isht-deva, as not
only to enable the spirit currents to be released from their
present physical bondage, but also to enable the soul to be
drawn upward unhindered from one spiritual plane to
another until it transcends completely all the realms of rel-
ativity of naam and rup, of kala and mahakala, and reaches
*Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna (Mylapore–Madras, 1954), page 313
13
its goal: at-one-ment with the Nameless and Formless One.

The Sound Current

It is in the context of this problem that Surat Shabd
Yoga, or the yoga of the celestial Sound Current, assumes
its unique importance. Those who have mastered this yoga
teach that the Absolute, though free of attributes in Its pri-
mal state, projects Itself into form and assumes two pri-
mary attributes: Light and Sound. It is no mere accident,
they point out, that in the revelatory literature of all major
religions, there are frequent references to the "Word"
which occupies a central position in their pattern. In the
Gospels we have:

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with
God and the Word was God.
ST. JOHN

In ancient Indian scriptures we read repeatedly of

Aum, the sacred Word pervading the three realms of bhur,
bhuva, and swah (i.e., the physical, astral, and causal).
Again, Nanak says:

The earth and sky are of naught but Shabd (Word).

From Shabd alone the light was born,
From Shabd alone creation came,
Shabd is the essential core in all.
Shabd is the directive agent of God, the cause of
all creation.
PRABHATI

The Muslim Sufis declare:

Creation came into being from Saut (Sound or Word)

and from Saut spread all light.

SHAMAS TABREZ

14
 The Great Name is the very essence and life of all
names and forms.
Its manifest form sustains creation;
It is the great ocean of which we are merely the waves,
He alone can comprehend this who has mastered
our discipline.
ABDUL RAZAQ KASHI

Moses heard the commandments of God amidst thun-

der and flame, while in Zoroastrian and Taoist thought
alike, there are references to the "Creative Verbum," the
"Divine Light," and to the "Wordless Word," the silent
Word.

Some learned scholars and theologians in subsequent

times, because of their own limited experience, have inter-
preted these descriptions as metaphoric references to intu-
itive or intellectual enlightenment. On closer examination
such a position will be found to be untenable. The terms
"Word" or Logos, as used by the Greeks, Hebrews, and
Europeans, may be distorted to mean "reason" or "order,"
and "light" may even be made to mean no more than men-
tal illumination; but their equivalents in other religious lit-
erature–nad, udgit, akash-bani, shabd, naam, saut, bang-i-
Ilahi, nida-i-asmani, sraosha, tao, and jyoti, prakash,
tajalli, nur-i-yazdani, etc. — refuse to bear such a travesty
of their original mystic meaning. What is more, some seers
have stated their real connotation in such a way that there
can be no scope for equivocation or room for doubt that
what is involved is not figurative expression of ordinary
mental experience, but transcendent inner perception.
Thus, in the Revelation of St. John we have:

His eyes were as a flame of fire . . . His voice as the

sound of many waters . . . His countenance was as the
sun shineth in his strength . . .
And I heard a Voice from heaven, as the voice of many
waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I

15
 heard the voice of harpers, harping with their harps.

While in the Upanishads we are told:

First the murmuring sounds resembling those of the
waves of the ocean, the fall of rain and then running
rivulets, after which the bhervi will be heard,
intermingled with the sounds of bell and conch.

NAD BIND UPANISHAD

The Prophet Mohammad heard celestial music which

gradually assumed the shape of Gabriel and formed itself
into words, while Baha U'llah relates:

Myriads of mystic tongues find utterance in one

speech, and myriads of His hidden mysteries are
revealed in a single melody; yet alas, there is no ear to
hear nor heart to understand!
Blind thine eyes, that thou mayest behold My Beauty,
and stop thine ears that thou mayest hearken unto the
sweet melody of My Voice.

These references to Light and Sound, say the Masters

of the Surat Shabd Yoga, are not figurative but literal,
referring not to the outer illuminations or sounds of this
world, but to inner transcendent ones. They teach that the
transcendent Sound and Light are the primal manifesta-
tions of God when He projects Himself into creation. In
His Nameless state He is neither light nor darkness, neither
sound nor silence; but when He assumes shape and form,
Light and Sound emerge as His primary attributes.

This Spirit Force, Word, Naam, Kalma or God-in-

action, is responsible for all that is; and the physical uni-
verses that we know are not the only ones that It has creat-
ed. It has brought into being myriad regions and myriad
creations over and above the physical. Indeed the whole is
a grand unfathomable, illimitable pattern in which the

16
Positive pole (Sach Khand or Sat Lok) is a plane of pure,
unalloyed Spirit, while the Negative pole (Pind) is of gross
physical matter with which we in this world are familiar. In
between are countless regions which those who have jour-
neyed from one end to the other often divide into three dis-
tinct planes in accordance with the balance of Positive-
spiritual and Negative-material forces in each plane.

The Masters teach that the one constant principle that

links all these planes from Pure Spirit to gross matter is the
principle of the Flaming Sound or the Sounding Flame.
The Word or Shabd as it descends downward assumes a
varying density of spirituo-material forces. Mystics speak
of the purple light and the light of the noonday or setting
sun, and refer to the sounds of flutes, harps, violins, conch-
es, thunder, bells, running water, etc.; but though manifest-
ing differently at different levels, the Shabd yet remains
constant in Itself.

As a river springing from the snowy peak of a tower-

ing mountain flows toward the sea, it undergoes many
changes of setting, shape, motion and appearance; and yet
its waters remain the same.

If one could discover this Audible Life Stream within

oneself, if one could discover Its lower reaches, one could
use It as a pathway leading inevitably to Its source. The
currents might at certain points enter gorges and rapids, but
nevertheless they are the surest way on the upward journey.
Be a range howsoever unscalable, the waters will have cut
a pass and carved a passage; and he who will avail himself
of their guidance would never fail to find a way. And since
this Naam or Word current springs from the Anaam or the
Wordless, he who holds firmly to It will inevitably reach
the starting point, transcending plane after plane of varying
relativity until he arrives at the very source of name and
form, thence to merge into That which has no name or
form.

17
The Cornerstones
The Sound Current undoubtedly offers the surest way
to man for reaching from form to the Formless; but the
question arises, how can man get access to It and thus
accomplish his inner journey? Those proficient in this path
always maintain that there are three conditions that must be
fulfilled before success in this truest of all yogas can be
attained:

Satguru: The first condition is that of finding a

Satguru or True Teacher Who is an Adept in this mystic
science. The subject is one of practical self-realization, not
of philosophic dissertation or intuitive feeling. If it were
one of mere theory, then books and scriptures would be
enough for our purpose; and if it were one of mere feeling,
then each could trust the promptings of his own mind. But
the question before us is that of unlocking a "sixth" sense,
one of direct transcendental perception, of inner hearing
and seeing. One born deaf and blind may, with the help of
Braille, learn the most detailed expositions of man’s rich
and varied audiovisual experiences; but his study can never
give him direct experience. The most that he can get from
books is the realization of an extensive plane of experience
wholly beyond him, and this can generate in him the urge
to discover means whereby he can overcome his physical
limitations. It is the expert surgeon or doctor who alone can
effect a cure (provided his ailment is curable). And should
he fall into the hands of a charlatan, his condition will only
become worse and more complicated.

In like manner, the aspirant who seeks inner spiritual

mastery must seek the aid of one who has already mastered
the way. All his readings of scriptures, all his thinking, can
at best lead to a single conclusion, provided he is sensitive
to the point involved: the need for a Living Master.
Without such a Master he cannot even understand the true
import of the revelatory scriptures. They speak of experi-
18
ences beyond his level of experience; and even in his own
language, they can speak only in metaphors and parables,
for how can the discourses of the blind be made to express
directly that of the seeing? To attempt to interpret the rich
spiritual heritage in our religious literature wholly in terms
of our own limited experience might lead to a distortion of
the true meaning. We might gather a great deal of psycho-
logical wisdom, but the inner significance would be lost on
us, and all our intellectual theorizing would only land us in
unending theological contradictions with which the various
institutionalized religions are encumbered today.

Only One Who has Himself experienced what the

great scriptures describe can guide us to their real signifi-
cance. But the task of a Spiritual Teacher does not end
there. The elucidation of the true meaning of religion is no
more than a first step. After the aspirant has understood the
nature of his goal, he must pursue it practically and ration-
ally. To know is one thing, and to do is quite another. It is
only after He has explained to the aspirant the end to be
attained that the Master’s real task begins. It is not enough
that the doctor diagnoses the cause of the blind man’s ail-
ment; he must perform the operation as well. So, too, the
Spiritual Guide at the time of initiation gives the disciple a
first-hand experience of the inner Light and Sound. He puts
him in touch with the Divine Stream, be it at Its lowest
level, and instructs him in the sadhnas to be followed for
consolidating and developing this inner experience to its
full extent.

He who can find such a teacher is blessed indeed. But

to discover such a One and be initiated by Him is not
enough. The germinal spiritual experience that He gives
must be nurtured and developed to the point of full spiritu-
al efflorescence. To be able to do this, one must accept
whatever one learns and attempt to put it into practice. To
know such a Man is to love Him, and to love Him is to fol-
low His commandments. Until one can thus love and obey,

19
and so transform one’s life, the gift of the Guru remains as
a seed locked away in a steel vault where it cannot sprout
and grow to fruition.

Sadachar: It is the necessity for self-discipline that

makes sadachar the second cornerstone of the pattern. The
word sadachar is not easy to translate. One can find many
literal equivalents, but none of them really expresses its
extensive and many-sided significance. In brief, it stands
for the good and pure life. It does not imply any rigid code
or set moral formulae, but suggests purity and simplicity,
which radiate from within and spread outwards, permeat-
ing every action, every word, every thought. It is as much
concerned with one’s personal habits, good and hygienic,
as with one’s individual and social ethics. And on its ethi-
cal side, it is concerned not merely with one’s relation to
one’s fellow men, but to all living things, i.e., harmony
which is the result of recognition that all things are from
the same Essence; and so a worm is as much a part of
Brahman as the mightiest of gods, Indra.

The first lesson taught by a true Guru is that of "the

identity of substance," and he who has grasped this truth
will discipline his life accordingly. He will not be a prey to
inordinate desires; and his one aim will be to reach the still
point which holds in itself all actions, the point where to
have nothing is to possess everything. He will know that
the one path to fulfillment is through renunciation, and the
one way to reach the Almighty is through freeing himself
from all other attachments:

In order to arrive at having pleasure in everything,

Desire to have pleasure in nothing.
In order to arrive at possessing everything,
Desire to possess nothing.
In order to arrive at being everything,
Desire to be nothing.
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS
20
 Cleanse the chamber of thy heart
That thy Beloved may enter.

TULSI SAHIB

Where there is nothing, there is God

W.B.YEATS

Freed from the demon of desire (Kama), he will be

freed from the demon of wrath (krodh), which follows
upon frustration of desire. Liberated from these, he would
be freed also from greed (lobh), attachment (moh), and
pride (ahankar), which are but the extensions of desire.

His would be a life of detachment or of nishkama. But

detachment would not be for him a life of indifference or
of ascetic renunciation. To know all life is to discover a
new bond between oneself and the rest of creation. He who
knows this cannot be merely "indifferent.." He must per-
force be filled to overflowing with sympathy for all that he
confronts, and sympathy toward the whole must imply a
certain holy indifference to the part. He will no longer be
tied to his own narrow individual interests, but will share
his love and resources with all. He will develop, slowly but
surely, something of the compassion of the Buddha and the
love of Christ. Nor, will he feel himself called upon to
leave the world for the solitude of the forest, the mountain,
or the desert cave. The detachment must be an inner one,
and one who cannot achieve it at home will not achieve it
in the forest. He will recognize the great use of occasional
retreats from worldly affairs and cares to the silence of
solitary meditation and concentration, but he will not seek
to escape from life and its responsibilities. He will be a
loving husband and a good father; but while being these he
will never forget the ultimate purpose of life, always know-
ing how to give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and
preserving for God that which is God’s. The way for tran-

21
scending desire, he will know, is not through repressing it,
but meeting it squarely and overcoming it. To him, sanyasa
is not a matter of outer evasion or escapism, but of inner
freedom, an idea that is well expressed by Nanak thus:

Let contentment be your ear-rings,

And endeavor for the Divine and respect for the
higher Self your wallet,
And constant meditation on Him your ashes,
Let preparedness for death be your cloak,
And let your body be like unto a chaste virgin.
Let your Master’s teachings be your supporting
staff.
JAP JI

The two cardinal virtues that such a man will cultivate

will be charity and chastity. He will be large of heart and
bounteous, caring more for the sufferings of others than for
his own, and easily forgiving those that injure him. He will
be simple and restrained in his habits. His wants will be
few and easily satisfied, for one who has too many desires
and too many attachments cannot be pure of heart. For him
chastity will extend even to giving up meat and drink.
When all life is one, to live upon the flesh of other living
beings would be to defile oneself. And when one’s goal is
to attain even higher realms of consciousness, to resort to
narcotics and intoxicants is only to court regression. It is
not an idiosyncracy of Indian seers that they should have
made abstinence from meat and drink a necessary part of
the spiritual discipline. We have similar injunctions in the
Koran and the Holy Bible. Thus in Proverbs 23:20, we
find:

Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of

flesh.

And in Romans 14:21:

22
 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor
anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is
offended, or is made weak.

And in I Corinthians 6:13:

Meats for the belly, and belly for meats; but God
shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not
for fornication but for the Lord; and the Lord
for the body.

In the Essene Gospel of John (direct translation from

the Aramaic of the pure original words of Jesus), we have:

But they answered Him: "Whither should we go,

Master, . . . for with you are the words of eternal life. Tell
us, what are the sins we must shun, that we may nevermore
see disease?"

Jesus answered: "Be it so according to your faith," and

He sat down among them, saying:

"It was said to them of olden time, 'Honor thy

Heavenly Father and thy Earthly Mother, and their
commandments, that thy days may be long upon the
earth.' And next was given this commandment: 'Thou
shalt not kill,' for life is given to all by God, and that
which God has given, let not man take away. For I tell
you truly, from one Mother proceeds all that lives upon
the earth. Therefore, he who kills, kills his brother. And
from him will the Earthly Mother turn away, and will
pluck from him her quickening breasts. And he will be
shunned by her angels, and Satan will have his
dwelling in his body. And the flesh of slain beasts in
his body will become his own tomb. For I tell you truly,
he who kills, kills himself, and whosoever eats the
flesh of slain beasts, eats of the body of death. And
their death will become his death. For the wages of sin

23
 is death. Kill not, neither eat the flesh of your innocent
prey, lest you become the slaves of Satan. For that is
the path of sufferings, and it leads unto death. But do
the Will of God, that his angels may serve you on the
way of life. Obey, therefore, the words of God:
'Behold, I have given you every herb, bearing seed,
which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree,
in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it
shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and
to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth
upon the earth wherein there is breath of life, I give
every green herb for meat.' Also the milk of everything
that moveth and that liveth upon each shall be meat for
you; even as the green herb have I given unto them, so
I give their milk unto you. But flesh, and the blood
which quickens it, shall ye not eat.”

And Jesus continued: "God commanded your fore-

fathers, 'Thou shalt not kill.' But their heart was hard-
ened and they killed. Then Moses desired that at least
they should not kill men, and he suffered them to kill
beasts. And then the heart of your forefathers was hard-
ened yet more, and they killed men and beasts like-
wise. But I say to you: Kill neither men, nor beasts, nor
yet the food which goes into your mouth. For if you eat
living food the same will quicken you, but if you kill
your food, the dead food will kill you also. For life
comes only from life, and from death comes always
death. For everything which kills your foods, kills your
bodies also. And everything which kills your bodies,
kills your souls also. And your bodies become what
your foods are, even as your spirits, likewise, become
what your thoughts are."

With the chastity in food and drink will go another

kind of chastity, the one that pertains to sex. One will not
suppress all sexual desire, for repression can only breed
neurosis and prepare the way for a downfall; but he will be

24
ever seeking to sublimate it. He will understand that
nature’s purpose in this instinct is to preserve the race and
will channel it so as to fulfill that purpose, never making it
an end in itself, a source of physical pleasure; for when it
becomes that, it turns into a drug that anaesthetizes the
spirit and begins to defeat nature’s purpose of procreation
by encouraging the invention and use of contraceptives.

In short, the sincere and conscientious aspirant will

reorient his entire mode of life in eating and drinking,
thinking, acting, feeling, etc. He will gradually weed out of
his mind all irrelevant and unhealthy desires, until he grad-
ually attains the state of purity and simplicity that marks
the child.

Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and

become as little children, ye shall not enter into the
Kingdom of God.
ST. MATTHEW

All religious teachers the world over laid great stress

on higher moral values; and these, in fact, constitute the
groundwork for their teachings. A true Master always
insists on the maintaining of a record of daily lapses in
thought, word, and deed, from non-injury, truth, chastity,
universal love, and selfless service of all, the five cardinal
virtues that pave the way for spirituality. It is only the
knowledge of our faults that can make us weed them out
and strive in the right direction.

Through all this process of reintegration, his inspira-

tion will be the example of his Master and the inner expe-
rience He gives. His Master’s life will be a living testament
beckoning him toward the ideal of sadachar, and the expe-
rience he has of the Word within will stand as a proof of the
truth of what his Master teaches. Sadachar is no dry disci-
pline that can be attained by following certain set formu-
lae. It is a way of life, and in such matters only heart to

25
heart can speak. It is this that makes Satsang, or associa-
tion with a true Master, so important. It not only serves as
a constant reminder of the goal before the seeker, but
through the magic touch of personal contact, gradually
transforms his entire mode of thinking and feeling. As his
heart and mind under this benign influence grow gradually
purer, his life more fully centers in the divine. In short, as
he increasingly realizes in practice the ideal of sadachar,
his thoughts, now scattered and dissipated, will gain
equipoise and integration till they arrive at so fine a focus
that the veils of inner darkness are burnt to cinders and the
inner glory stands revealed.

Sadhna: And now we come to the third cornerstone of

the spiritual edifice, that of spiritual sadhna or discipline.
The one recurrent theme of a Puran Guru or Perfect
Teacher is that the good life, though highly desirable and
indispensable, is not an end in itself. The goal of life is
something inner and different. It is an ascension from the
plane of relativity and physical existence into one of
Absolute Being. He who recognizes this will mould his life
accordingly; first, because such a recognition implies a
state of mind that, being free from ego and attachment,
expresses itself in virtuous and creative action; and second,
because without cultivating such a state of mind and of
life, one cannot attain the poise and concentration required
for inner ascension.

So the basic stress of the Enlightened Teacher is laid

always upon the transcendental goal. He teaches that the
pranic and vigyanic energies are not of the essence of
Atman, but take their birth in planes lower than those of
pure spirit. He who would use them as a ladder may tran-
scend bodily consciousness, may reach the planes whence
they originate; but he cannot reach beyond. The spirit
being similar in all, the means to spiritual enlightenment
should likewise be accessible to all. But, as has been seen
already, such forms of yoga as are based on the pranas or

26
on jnana make special demands which all cannot fulfill.
The pranic systems are beyond the reach of the old, or
those of tender years, and also of those who suffer from
any respiratory or digestive disorders. The path of jnana
presumes mental and intellectual capacities that Nature
bestows only on few. If these approaches were, indeed, the
natural ones open to us, then the logical conclusion would
be that Nature is very partial in her blessings, discriminat-
ing between man and man. Why, if the sun shines for all
and the wind blows for all, should the inner treasures be
available only to the chosen few? They are also for the
learned and the unlearned.

Yogas that are so discriminating in selecting their

practitioners, and so exacting in their practice, cannot be
wholly natural. The method taught by the Masters of the
Surat Shabd Yoga is different. As mentioned earlier, the
nature of Creation and the way back to life’s Initial Source
is explained to the seeker. At the time of initiation, he is
given a first-hand inner experience which he is taught to
develop. The seat of the soul is between and behind the
eyebrows. This at least is accepted by all yogas. It is to this
point that mystics refer when they speak of shiv netra,
divya chakshu, tisra til, Brahmrendra, triambka,
trilochana nukta-i-sweda, koh-i-toor, third eye, single eye,
figuratively called the still point, the mount of transfigura-
tion, etc. It is at this point that the sadhak, having closed
his eyes, must focus his attention; but the effort at concen-
tration must be an effortless one and there must be no ques-
tion of any physical or mental strain. To assist this effort
the teacher gives the disciple a mantra, or charged verbal
formula, which is symbolic of the journey ahead. This for-
mula, when repeated slowly and lovingly with the tongue
of thought, helps the disciple to collect his scattered
thoughts gradually at a single point. What gives this
Mantra its potency is not any magic inherent in the words
per se, but the fact that it is given by One, Who by His own
Spiritual practice and mastery, has charged It with inner

27
power. When the aspirant, by his inner concentration and
by the mental repetition of the charged words, has brought
his inward gaze to a sharp and steady focus, he will find
that the darkness within that he at first confronted gets
gradually illuminated by shifting points of light. As his
powers of concentration increase, the lights cease flicker-
ing and develop into a single radiating point.

This process of concentration, or the collection of

surat, automatically draws the spirit-currents, normally
dissipated all over the body, toward the spiritual center.
This withdrawal is greatly assisted by simran or repetition
of the charged Mantra; and the perception of the inner
Light, leading to dhyan or one-pointed concentration,
quickens the process still further. In turn, dhyan, when
fully developed, leads to bhajan or inner hearing. The
inner light begins to become resonant.

Within thee is Light and within the Light the Sound,

and the same shall keep thee attached to the True
One.

GURBANI

The practitioner, when he shuts his physical ears, gets

rapidly absorbed into the music. It is a common experience
that though light can catch the eye, it cannot hold it for
very long and has no very magnetic quality about it. But
with music it is different. He who hears it in silence and
stillness is drawn irresistibly, as it were, into another
world, a different realm of experience. And so the process
of withdrawal that begins with simran, is stimulated by
dhyan, and is rapidly extended by bhajan. The spiritual
currents, already moving slowly, are carried upward, col-
lecting finally at the third eye—the seat of the soul. The
spiritual transcending of physical consciousness, or death
in life, is thus achieved with the minimum of effort and travail.

28
 When students of the other forms of yoga reach the
state of full physical transcendence, after a long and exact-
ing mastery of the lower chakras, they generally assume
that they have reached their journey’s end. The inner plane
at which they find themselves—the realm of Sahasrar or
Sahasdal Kamal, often symbolized by the sun-wheel, the
lotus, or the multifoliate rose—is, indeed, incomparably
more beautiful than anything on earth, and in comparison
appears timeless. But when the student of the Surat Shabd
Yoga succeeds in rising above physical consciousness, he
finds the Radiant Form of his Master waiting unsought to
receive him. Indeed, it is at this point that the real Guru-
shishya or teacher-student relationship is established. Up
to this stage, the Guru had been little more than a human
teacher; but now He is seen as the Divine Guide or
Gurudev, Who shows the inner way:

The feet of my Master have been manifested in my

forehead, And all my wanderings and tribulations
have ended.

GURU ARJAN

With the appearance of the Radiant Form of the

Master within,
No secret remains hidden in the womb of time.

Christ also speaks in the same strain:

There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed,

and hid, that shall not be known.

ST. MATTHEW

Under the guidance of this Celestial Guide, the soul

learns to overcome the first shock of joy and realizes that
its goal lies still far ahead. Accompanied by the Radiant
Form and drawn by the Audible Life Current, it traverses

29
from region to region, from plane to plane, dropping off
kosha after kosha, until at last it stands wholly divested of
all that is not of its nature. Thus disentangled and purified
it can at last enter the realm where it sees that it is of the
same essence as the Supreme Being, that the Master in His
Radiant Form and the soul are not separate but One, and
that there is naught but the Great Ocean of Consciousness,
of Love, of Bliss ineffable. Who shall describe the splen-
dor of this realm?

Only heart to heart can speak of the bliss of mystic

knowers:
No messenger can tell it and no missive bear it.
HAFlZ

When the pen set to picturing this station,

It broke in pieces and the page was torn.

PERSIAN MYSTIC

Having reached the journey’s end, the seeker too,

merges with the Word and enters the company of the Free
Ones. He may continue to live like other men in this world
of human beings, but his spirit knows no limitations and is
as infinite as God Himself. The wheel of transmigration
can no longer affect him, and his consciousness knows no
restrictions. Like his Master before him, he has become a
Conscious Co-worker of the Divine Plan. He does nothing
for himself but works in God’s name. If there be, indeed,
any Neh-Karmi (one free from the bonds of action), it is he,
for there is no more potent means to freedom than the
Power of the Word.

He alone is action-free who communes with the Word.

GURBANI

Freedom for him is not something that comes after

30
death (videh mukti); it is something achieved in life itself.
He is a jivan-mukta (free-in-life); like a flower shedding
fragrance, he spreads the message of freedom wherever he
goes.

Those who have communed with the Word, their

toils shall end.
And their faces shall flame with glory.
Not only shall they have salvation,
O Nanak, but many more shall find freedom with them.

JAP JI

In actual practice of the spiritual discipline, stress is

laid on Simran, Dhyan, and Bhajan, each of which plays a
specific role in unfoldment of the Self. The Master gives
Simran or mental repetition of the charged words, which
helps in gathering together the wandering wits of the prac-
titioner to the still point of the soul between and behind the
two eyebrows, to which place the sensory currents now
pervading from top to toe are withdrawn; and one becomes
lost to the consciousness of the flesh. The successful com-
pletion of this process of itself leads to dhyan or concen-
tration. Dhyan is derived from the Sanskrit root dhi, mean-
ing "to bind" and "to hold on." With the inner eye opened,
the aspirant now sees shimmering streaks of heaven’s light
within him and this keeps his attention anchored.
Gradually, the light grows steady in his sadhna, for it
works as a sheet-anchor for the soul. Dhyan or concentra-
tion when perfected leads one to Bhajan or attuning to the
Music which emerges from within the center of the Holy
Light. This enchanting Holy Melody has a magnetic pull
which is irresistible, and the soul cannot but follow it to the
spiritual source from whence the Music emerges. The soul
is helped by this triple process to slide out of the shackles
of the body and becomes anchored in the heavenly radi-
ance of its Self (atman), and is led on to the heavenly home
of the Father.

31
 The entire process is nurtured by Sat Naam, Satguru,
and Satsang, which in fact, are synonymous for the Master
Power at work. Sat Naam is the Power of the Absolute
stirred into compassion; and when It puts on the flesh, It
assumes the form of the Guru (Word made flesh), and
works through Him by means of Satsang, both outer and
inner, which helps the jivas ripe for regeneration. This
Power works on all the planes simultaneously according to
the needs of each individual, by word of mouth as a Guru
in human form, sharing in all joys and sorrows of the
human beings; by inner guidance as Gurudeva in his astral,
luminous or radiant form; and finally as Satguru—a verita-
ble Master of Truth.

There are two ways within: jyoti marg and sruti marg
(the way of Light and the way of Sound), respectively. The
Holy Light keeps the soul anchored and absorbed and, to a
certain extent, leads the soul as well; but the holy Word
pulls it upward and carries it across from plane to plane in
spite of various hurdles on the Way, like blinding or bewil-
dering lights, densely pitch darkness, etc., until the soul
reaches its destination.

A Perfect Science
Even the foregoing bird’s-eye survey of the nature and
scope of the Surat Shabd Yoga conveys some of its unique
features. He who studies it in relation to the other forms of
yoga cannot but note the completeness of its solution of all
the problems that confront the seeker when pursuing other
systems. On the plane of outer action, it does not base itself
on a dry and rigid discipline that is often laden with the
consequences of psychological repression. It holds that
some discipline is necessary but adds that it must ultimate-
ly be inspired by inner spiritual experience and be a matter
of spontaneous living, and not of rigorous asceticism and a
too deliberate self abnegation. The seeker must strive
toward a state of equipoise and must, therefore, cultivate
32
the virtue of moderation in thought and deed. The integra-
tion he thereby achieves enables him to gain greater con-
centration, and so higher inner experience; and this inner
experience must, in turn, have repercussions on outer
thoughts and action. The relationship of sadachar to inner
sadhna is a reciprocal one; each enlivens and gives mean-
ing to the other, and one without the other is like a bird
with a single wing. How can the spirit be brought to per-
fect onepointedness without the purity of mind and body,
and how can the soul transcend all human attachments and
imperfections without centering itself in the love of the
Divine?

When the qualities of the Ancient of Days stood

revealed,
Then the qualities of earthly things did Moses
burn away.
RUMI

The Surat Shabd Yoga not only provides a means for

achieving in practice the difficult ideal of sadachar, it also
offers a mode of life that, while raising one above this
physical world, does not enslave one to the realm of Name
and Form. The Masters of this Path know only too well that
abstract speculations about the non-attributive aspect of
the Absolute cannot lead one to It. How can man, condi-
tioned by name and form, be drawn directly to that which
is beyond name or form? Love seeks something which it
can comprehend and to which it can attach itself; and God,
if He is to meet man, must assume some shape or form. It
is this recognition that inspires the devotion of the bhakta
to Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, or Kali, the Divine Mother. But
these divine beings represent fixed manifestations of God;
and once the devotee has reached their plane, their very
fixity, as we have seen already, prevents further progress.
The Masters of the Surat Shabd Yoga wholly transcend this
limitation by linking the seeker not to a fixed, but to an all-
pervading manifestation of God, the Radiant Sound

33
Current. It is this anhat and anhad Naam, this unstruck and
unfathomable Word, that supports the various planes of
creation ranging from pure spirit to gross matter. Its strains
pervade every realm, every region; and it runs through
them like a river that flows through the valleys which it has
brought into being. And, like the river, it exists in a fluid
state, changing at every plane, yet ever remaining the
same. The seeker who has been inspired by the love of the
river of the Word is blessed, indeed, for he knows none of
the limitations experienced by those who adore God in
other forms. As he is drawn upward by Its beatific power,
he finds It changing, modifying, becoming even stronger
and purer, beckoning him on to higher and still higher
effort, never allowing him to halt or to loiter, but leading
him on from plane to plane, from valley to valley, until he
arrives at the very source from where the Unmanifested
comes into manifestation, the Formless assumes form, and
the Nameless, name. It was this completeness of the inner
journey made possible by the Yoga of the Sound Current
that led Kabir to declare:

All holy ones are worthy of reverence,

But I adore only one Who has mastered the Word.

The Surat Shabd Yoga is not only the most perfect of

the various yogas, but it is also comparatively easy to prac-
tice, and one accessible to all. Not only do those following
this path reach the ultimate end, but they do so with greater
economy of effort than is possible by the other methods.
The transcendence of physical consciousness that the
yogin pursuing the path of the pranas achieves, only after
a long and arduous discipline, is attained by practitioners
of the Surat Shabd Yoga sometimes at the first sitting at the
time of initiation. That this should be so is not a mere
chance or accident. The fact is that the Surat Shabd Yoga
adopts a more scientific and natural approach to man’s
spiritual problems. Why, it asserts, if the spiritual current
reaches the bodily chakras not from below but from above,

34
should it be necessary to master each of these chakras in
turn? A man standing at the heart of a valley, if he wishes
to reach the river’s source, does not have to travel down to
its mouth and then retraverse the distance. It further holds
that if prana and mind (even at their most refined) are not
of the true essence of the spirit, then how can they be the
best means of disengaging it from its encrustations? If it
could be put in touch with that which is of its own essen-
tial nature, like would draw like, and with the minimum of
effort the desired end would be achieved. It is from the
point of the tisra-til, the third eye, that the spiritual current
spreads itself into the body. All that is needed is to check
its downward flow at this point by controlling one’s senses
and it would, of its own accord, collect itself and flow
backwards toward its source.

Shutter your lip, your ear, your eye;

And if you do not Truth descry,
Then let your scorn upon me fly.
HAFIZ

The seeker has no need to begin from the very bottom;

all he has to do is to turn in the direction of the spiritual
stream and the rest will follow.

What is there in reaching the Lord?

One needs only to transplant the heart.

INAYAT SHAH

It is this simplicity of approach coupled with economy

of effort that have induced many to call the Surat Shabd
Yoga the Sehaj Marg or the Easy Way. It begins at the point
where other yogas normally tend to end. Sahasrar, the
region of the thousand-petaled lights, which marks the end
of the normal yogin’s journey after traversing the various
bodily chakras, is well-nigh the first step to be taken by the
follower of the Surat Shabd Yoga. Further, by refusing to

35
disturb the pranic or kundalinic energies, this yoga greatly
reduces the strain of physical transcendence. By contacting
the Sound Principle, the sensory currents are automatically
drawn upward without the practitioner consciously striving
to achieve this end; and the motor currents are left
untouched. Not only does this simplify the process of entry
into the state of samadhi, but that of returning from it as
well. The adept in this path needs no outer assistance for
coming back into physical consciousness, as is the case
with some other yogic forms; spiritual ascension and
descent are entirely voluntary and can be achieved by him
with the rapidity of thought.

The method of transcendental hearing is only an

extension of our normal daily practice. When we are faced
with some knotty problem, our entire conscious energies
tend to focus at one point—the seat of the soul—without
affecting pranicmotor energies functioning automatically
in our body. The Surat Shabd Yoga practitioner achieves
this concentration at will under controlled conditions
through simran and dhyan; and as soon as he contacts the
reverberating Word, the sensory spiritual current that is
still in the body is drawn irresistibly upward, and complete
physical transcendence is achieved.

It is this quality of sehaj, of naturalness and ease, that

makes the Surat Shabd Yoga accessible to all. The music of
the Divine Word is vibrating in all alike; and he who fol-
lows Its path needs no special requirements, whether phys-
ical or intellectual. It is as much open to the old as to the
young, to the sinners as to the saints, to the simple as to the
learned, to women and children as to men. Indeed, women
and children and the unsophisticated, owing to their sim-
pler modes of thought and their spontaneous faith, often
make quicker initial headway with this method than their
more sophisticated brethren. However, full attainment in
this field demands unwavering perseverance and effort,
which may not always be forthcoming. As no rigorous and

36
extensive disciplines of food, physical exercises, etc. are
required, it does not necessitate sanyasa or complete
renunciation of the world, and is as much open to the gre-
hastis, the married, as to the brahmcharis, those who are
under a vow of celibacy. Had the pranic and vigyanic sys-
tems been the most natural available, then we should have
had to conclude Nature to be partial, for the physical and
mental capabilities they require are distributed unequally
among men. If the sun and the air are available to all, why
should the spiritual gifts be reserved only for the chosen
few? Besides, prana and vigyan can, at best, lead one to the
plane of their origin; and as they are not purely spiritual,
how can they lead to the realm of pure spirit?

However, to say that the Surat Shabd Yoga is the most

perfect of the yogic sciences and the most natural is not to
say that it demands no effort, and that anyone can just take
to it and succeed. Had that been the case, humanity would
not have been floundering as it is today. The fact is that
competent teachers of this crown of all sciences are rare;
and that even when a teacher is found, few are prepared to
undergo the kind of discipline required. The spirit may be
willing, but the flesh is weak. Most men are so deeply
engrossed with the love of the world that, even after hav-
ing had a glimpse of inner treasures, they are reluctant to
give up their worldly ways and concentrate on the posses-
sion of that which makes one the master of all. Since the
stress in this yoga is always on the inner, never on the
outer, no path could in a way be more exacting for the gen-
eral run of men. Many can spend whole lives in outer ritu-
al and ceremonial, but few can attain perfect inner concen-
tration, undisturbed by mundane thoughts, even for a few
moments. Hence it was that Kabir compared it to walking
on a naked sword, while the Sufis spoke of it as the rah-i-
mustqim, finer than a hair and sharper than the razor’s
edge. Christ described it as the "strait and narrow way" that
only a few ever tread. But for one whom the world lures
not and who is filled with a passionate love of God, noth-

37
ing could be easier and quicker. He needs no other force
than that of his own urge and, purified of earthly attach-
ments by his sincere and strong longing, his soul shall
wing homeward, borne on the stream of Shabd toward its
point of origin, the haven of bliss and peace. Should the
soul confront any obstacles on its homing flight, its
Radiant Friend is always beside it to lead it past and pro-
tect it from all pitfalls.

The road through the higher planes lies charted before

the soul as completely as that for Hatha yogins of the lower
bodily chakras; and with such a Power to bear it, and such
a Friend to guide, nothing can deter or entrap, nothing can
disturb the steadiness of its course. "Take hold of the gar-
ment, O brave soul, of One Who knows well all places,
physical, mental, supra-mental, and spiritual, for He will
remain thy friend in life as well as in death, in this world
and the worlds beyond," exhorted Jalalud-din Rumi.

And sang Nanak:

He that has found a True Master and pursues the

perfect way of the Holy Word shall, laughing and
living in this world, find full freedom and
emancipation.

Again,

Like the lotus shall he rise immaculate above the

mire of the world and like the swan shall he shoot
forth from its murky waters untouched and
untramelled.

The Master
Apart from its scientific approach, its comparatively
easy accessibility, its quality of naturalness, and its free-
38
dom from the drawbacks of other yogic forms, another dis-
tinctive feature of the Yoga of the Sound Current is the
unique and pervasive emphasis it lays on the need at every
step for a Satguru, Pir-e-rah or Murshid-i-Kamil (a com-
petent, living Master). Though something on this theme
has already been mentioned under “The Cornerstones,”
much remains to be elaborated.

The Guru-shish or Guru-sikh relationship is important

in all forms of practical yoga, but it is pivotal here in a
unique sense. For the Guru in the Surat Shabd Yoga is not
only a Being Who explains to us the real nature of exis-
tence, instructs us in the true values of life, and tells us of
the sadhnas to be practiced for inner attainment, He is all
this and more. He is the inner Guide as well, leading the
soul from plane to plane to its ultimate destination, a Guide
without Whose aid the soul would mistake the intermediate
stages for the final goal and would encounter barriers
which it would be unable to surmount.

The role of the Master being what it is, it is little won-

der that all mystics who have pursued this way should have
sung of Him with superlative reverence and adoration.
From Kabir, we read:

I wish and long for the dust of his feet–the dust

that has created the universe;
His lotus feet are the true wealth and a haven of
peace.
They grant ineffable wisdom and lead one on the
path Godward.

And the Sikh scriptures sing:

Sweet are the lotus feet of the Master;
With Gods writ one sees them;
And myriad are the blessings that follow upon
such a vision.
GURU ARJAN

39
From the Sufis, we have:

If I were to sing praises of his countless blessings

till eternity,
I could hardly say anything of them.

JALALUD-DIN RUMI

Some mystics even go to the extent of raising his posi-

tion above that of God:

The Master is greater than God.

KABIR

The Guru and God both stand manifested, whom

may I adore and render obeisance?
Wonderful indeed is the Guru who has revealed
the God-power within.
SEHJO BAI

All this may lead the skeptic to suspect human idola-

try. He may ask: "Why this deification of a human being?
Why such praise heaped upon one who is mortal?" Mystics
at times have responded to this question with holy indif-
ference:

People decry that Khusro has turned idolator;

Indeed, I have, but what has the world to do with me?

AMIR KHUSRO

But sometimes, they have themselves answered it fully:

Without the munificence of the Master one gets naught,

Even if one engages in a million meritorious deeds

GURBANI

40
 Devotion to God keeps one entangled in this
(physical) life—just consider gravely,
But devotion to the Master carries one back unto
God.
KABIR

Enter within and verify for yourself,

Who is greater of the two: God or the Guru.

GURBANI

God drove me into the wilderness of the world,

but the Master has snapped for me the ceaseless
chain of transmigration.
SEHJO BAI

All great Spiritual Teachers have maintained that with-

out the help of a living Master, the spiritual journey is dif-
ficult and impossible to traverse to the very end. Jalalud-
din Rumi, the Persian mystic, suggests this forcefully when
he says:

Veiled from this was Moses

Though all strength and light,
Then thou who hast no wings at all,
Attempt not flight.

And makes His meaning still clearer elsewhere:

Find a Master spirit, for without His active

help and guidance, this journey is beset
with dangers, perils and fears.

In the Gospels, it is the same strain that vibrates

through the sayings of Jesus:

No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

ST. JOHN

41
 No man knoweth who the Father is, but the Son;
and he to whom the Son will reveal Him.

ST. LUKE AND ST. MATTHEW

No man can come to me, except the Father which

hath sent me draw him; and I will raise him up at
the last day.
ST. JOHN

While conferring apostleship on the twelve disciples,

Jesus said unto them:

He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that

receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me.

Wherefore, He was able to save them to the

uttermost that came unto God by Him, seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession for them.

The Master is, indeed, the "Intercessor" or Rasul, Who

moves between us and God, linking us to the holy Word;
and without Him, there could be but little hope of salva-
tion. No friendship could be greater than His friendship, no
love truer than His love, no gift greater than His grace.
Chance winds may blow others apart and death may come
to part the most faithful lovers; He alone is unfailing in life
as well as in death:

I have commanded you; and, lo! I am with

you always, even unto the end of the world.

ST. MATTHEW

He alone is a friend who accompanies me on

my last journey,
And shields me before the judgment seat of God.
GURBANI
42
 Other gifts may decay and perish; but His gift, the gift
of God’s Word, is imperishable, indestructible, ever shin-
ing, ever fresh, ever new, a boon in life, a greater boon in
death.

From where does the Master derive this unique and

superhuman power that makes Him almost equal to God
and, in the eyes of His disciples, places Him even above
God? Can mortal flesh compete with the Immortal and the
finite outdistance the Infinite? This may well seem a para-
dox to the world; but those who have crossed with opened
eyes to the inner Kingdom, see in this no contradiction,
only the mystery of God’s greatness. The true Master is
One Who, under instruction and guidance from His own
Teacher, has learned to analyze the soul from the body, has
traversed the inner path to its very end, and has beheld the
Source of All Light and Life and merged with the
Nameless One. After merging with the Nameless One, He
becomes One with Him and One with all that is. On the
human plane, He may appear as limited as any one of us;
but on the spiritual, He is Limitless and Infinite even as
God Himself:

O my servant obey Me, and I shall make thee like

unto Myself. I say, "Be," and it is, and thou
shalt say "Be," and it shall be.

BAHA 'U' LLAH - THE FOUR VALLEYS

The Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us.

ST. JOHN

The Word is the Master and the Prophet, full of

wisdom deep and profound.

GURU NANAK

43
 When I churned the sea of body, a strange truth
came to light,
God was identified in the Master and no distinction
could Nanak find.

GURU RAM DAS

Guru is Brahma, Guru is Vishnu, Guru is Shiva

and Guru is the veritable Par-Brahm, and we offer our
salutation to Him.

The Guru-shish relationship has very often been described

as below:

Who is the true Guru for a disciple?

Shabd indeed is the Guru and Surat the disciple of the
Dhun (Sound).

GURU NANAK

The Shabd-Guru is too deep and unfathomable,

Without (the Controlling Power of) the Shabd the
world would be but a wilderness.

GURU NANAK

The Word of the Master is Master indeed, full of

life-giving water,
He who follows His Word doth verily cross the
strands of time.

GURU RAM DAS

The disciple-Surat can traverse the Path only with the

Shabd-Guru,
Exploring the heavenly mysteries, it doth find rest
in the inverted well (of the head).
TULSI SAHIB

44
 Know it for certain that Shabd-Guru is the veritable
Guru,
Surat can truly become the disciple of the Dhun by
being a Gur-mukh (receptacle for the Word).

BHAI GURDAS

Guru resides in the gagan (spiritual realm above) and

the disciple in the ghat (between the two eyebrows)
When the two, the Surat and the Shabd, do meet, they
get united eternally.

KABIR

There is an essential and indivisible relationship

between God and the God-man, for he serves as a human
pole at which the God-Power plays its part and helps in the
regeneration of the jivas. It is needless to distinguish
between the magnet and the magnetized field, and it is
therefore said:

Devotion to the Satguru is devotion to the Lord,

Satguru secures salvation by giving contact with
Naam (the God-Power).

Uncovetous of worldly riches, He may seem poor; but

He is rich in God's Infinitude and, once the mortal coils
have been cast off, He is reabsorbed into the still center,
subject to no limitations. What gives Him His unique pre-
eminence is precisely this spiritual at-one-moment with the
Absolute, and to judge Him on the human level is to fail to
understand Him. Rumi has well said, "Never take a God-
man to be human; for though appearing so, He is yet much
more." It is by virtue of the extra-human potential that He
becomes the Master. Having merged into Divine
Consciousness He, in His human state, becomes Its agent
and speaks not in His individual capacity, but as the
mouthpiece of God:

45
 His hand is the hand of God
And the power of the Lord works through him.

RUMI

O! my friend, I speak nothing from myself,

I only utter what the Beloved puts into my mouth.

GURU NANAK

I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath

taught me, I speak these things.
ST. JOHN

The Master being what He is, it is not surprising that

He should be held so high. Being an instrument of the
Divine, to praise Him is only another way of praising God;
and to extol Him above God is not to set up an opposition
between the finite and the Infinite, but to assert that from
the human standpoint, the aspect of God which bends
down toward man to raise him to Itself (i.e., the cen-
tripetal), is higher than that which merely allows him to
run his ways in the world of relativity from birth to birth
(i.e., the centrifugal), even though both at the supra-human
level are seen to be one and indivisible.

A system in which the Teacher is so central to every

aspect of the student’s outer and inner discipline and
progress, and without Whose instruction and guidance
nothing could be done, must lay great emphasis on the
principle of Grace; and mystic literature is not wanting in
stressing and underlining this aspect. But, if from one
angle it is the Master Who bestows everything upon the
disciple, it must not be forgotten that, in doing this, He is
only repaying a debt He owes to His own Guru, for the gift
He bestows is the gift He Himself received when He was
at the stage of a disciple; and so He usually never claims
anything for Himself, but attributes His power to the grace

46
of His own Teacher. Besides, from another angle, every-
thing is in the disciple himself, and the Master does not add
anything from outside. It is only when the gardener waters
and tends the seed that it bursts into life, yet the secret of
life is in the seed itself and the gardener can do no more
than provide the conditions for its fructification. Such,
indeed, is the function of the Guru.

An ancient Indian parable vividly brings out this

aspect of Master-disciple relationship. It relates that once a
shepherd trapped a lion’s cub and reared him with the rest
of his flock. The cub, judging himself by those he saw
around him, lived and moved like the sheep and lambs,
content with the grass they nibbled and with the weak
bleats they emitted. And so time sped on until, one day,
another lion saw the growing cub grazing with the rest of
the flock. He guessed what had happened; and pitying the
cub’s plight, he went up to him, drew him to the side of a
quiet stream, made him behold his reflection and the lion’s
own and, turning back, let forth a mighty roar. The cub,
now understanding his true nature, did likewise, and his
erstwhile companions fled before him. He was at last free
to enjoy his rightful place, and thenceforward roamed
about as a king of the forest.

The Master is, indeed, such a lion. He comes to stir up

the soul from its slumber and, presenting it with a mirror,
makes it behold its own innate glory of which, without His
touch, it would continue unaware. However, were it not
itself of the essence of life, nothing could raise it to spiri-
tual consciousness. The Guru is but a lighted candle that
lights the unlit ones. The fuel is there, the wick is there; He
only gives the gift of flame without any loss to Himself.
Like touches like, the spark passes between; and that which
lay dark is illumined, and that which was dead springs into
life. As with the lighted candle whose privilege lies not in
its being an individual candle, but in its being the seat of
the unindividual flame that is neither of this candle nor of

47
that, but of the very essence of all fire, so too, with the true
Master. He is a Master not by virtue of His being an indi-
vidual master like anyone else, but He is a Master carrying
in Him the Universal Light of God. Again, just as only a
candle that is still burning can light other candles–not one
that is already burnt out—so only a living Master can give
the quickening touch that is needed, not One Who has
already departed from this world. Those that are gone were
great, indeed, and worthy of all respect; but They were pre-
eminently for Their own time, and the task They accom-
plished for those around Them must, for us, be performed
by One Who lives and moves in our midst. Their memory
is a sacred treasure, a perennial source of inspiration; but
the one thing Their remembrance teaches is to seek for our-
selves in the world of the living that which They
Themselves were. Only the kiss of a living Prince (Master)
could bring the slumbering Princess (Soul) back to life,
and only the touch of a breathing Beauty could restore the
Beast to his native pristine glory.

Where the guidance of a competent living Master is

such a prime necessity, the task of finding and recognizing
such a Genuine Soul assumes paramount importance.
There is no dearth of false prophets and of wolves in
sheep’s clothing. The very term Satguru, or true Master,
implies the existence of its opposite; and it is the false that
meet our gaze at every turn. However difficult it may be to
find a God-man (for such Beings are rare, unobtrusive in
Their humility, and reluctant to declare Themselves by
spectacular miracles or court the public limelight), it is
nevertheless not impossible to single Him out from the
rest. He is a living embodiment of what He teaches; and
though appearing poor, He is rich in His poverty:

We may seem beggars, but our actions are more

than royal.
SHAMAS TABREZ

48
 He is unattached to worldly objects and is never cov-
etous. He gives His teachings and instructions as a free gift
of nature, never seeking anything in return, maintaining
Himself by His own labors, and never living on the offer-
ings of others:

Bow not before one who calls himself a Master,

yet lives on the charity of others.
He alone is of the true path who earns his own
livelihood and befriends the needy.

GURU RAM DAS

Further, a genuine Master-soul never sets up any con-

tradictions in our minds; alI the distinctions between faith
and faith, creed and creed, vanish at His touch; and the
unity of inner experience embodied in the various scrip-
tures stands clearly revealed:

It is only the jeweller's eye that at a glance can

tell the ruby.
BHAI NAND LAL

The one recurrent theme of such a Master’s teaching is

that, in spite of all the outward distinctions that confuse
and confound us, the inner spiritual essence of all religious
teachings is the same. Hence, the Masters come not to
propagate new creeds or dogmas, but to fulfill the existing
Law:

O Nanak, know him to be a perfect Master who

unites all in one fold.
GURU NANAK

If He tries to convert, it is not the outward name and

form that He seeks, but the baptism of the spirit within. For
Him the inner life is a science that is open to men of all
creeds and nations; and whosoever shall take up its disci-

49
pline, to him shall all things be added.

Thus, it is the inner message that is ever paramount in

the teachings of a real Master. He can best interpret the true
import of the scriptures; but He speaks not as one who is
learned in such matters, but as One Who has Himself expe-
rienced what such writings record. He may use the scrip-
tures to convince His listeners that what He teaches is the
most ancient truth, yet He Himself is never subject to them
and His message moves above the merely intellectual
level; it is inspired by the vividness and intensity of direct
first-hand experience. "How can we agree," said Kabir to
the theoretical pandits, "when I speak from inner experi-
ence and you only from bookish learning?" He makes the
seeker turn always inward, telling him of the rich treasures
within:

Dost thou reckon thyself a puny form,

When within thee the Universe is folded?

ALl

The kingdom of God cometh not with observation,

The kingdom of God is within you.

ST. LUKE

Inviting and persuading him to undertake the disci-

pline that unlocks this treasure He says:

Cleanse thou the rheum from thy head

And breathe the light of God instead.

RUMI

And this discipline, if He be indeed a Perfect Teacher,

will focus itself not on Hatha Yoga or other such extreme
practices, but on transcendental hearing and seeing,

50
accompanied by a steady outer purification of one’s
thoughts and deeds by means of moderation and introspec-
tive self-criticism, rather than by torture, austerity, or
asceticism. But the most important and least fallible sign of
the Satguru is that His teachings will not only always be
centered on this inner science, but at the time of initiation,
He will be able to give the disciple a definite experi-
ence–be it ever so rudimentary–of the Light and Sound
within; and when the disciple has learned to rise above
body-consciousness, His Radiant Form will appear
unsought to guide him onward on the long journey.

The wondrous and luminous form of the Master

only a true Master can make manifest to the spirit.

GURU NANAK

He is a guru in vain who cannot turn the darkness (gu)

into light (ruh). And Nanak has said, "I will not take my
Master at his word until I see with mine own eyes." If he is
a genuine teacher, he will never promise salvation that
comes only after death. Accordingly, to Him it is always a
matter of now and here. One who has not attained libera-
tion in life cannot hope to achieve it after death. Jesus, too,
always urged His disciples to master the art of dying daily.
A Master will further maintain that spirituality is a science,
albeit a subjective one; and that every individual can and
must verify its truth in the laboratory of his own body, pro-
vided he can create the requisite condition, which is one-
pointed concentration. Life is one continuous process
which knows no end, though it may assume different
aspects at different levels of existence. As one passes help-
lessly from one plane to another, he is supposed to have
died at the plane quitted by the soul; for we have yet no
knowledge and much less experience of the life on other
planes where one is led by the propelling force of karmic
vibrations. It is from this bondage and forced comings and
goings that the Master prepares the way to liberation in this

51
very life by connecting a jiva to the eternal lifelines per-
vading endlessly through the creation, and gives one an
actual foretaste of the higher spiritual regions, provided
one is prepared to forsake the flesh for the spirit. "Learn to
die, that you may begin to live," exhorted the Master
Christian. Blessed is the man who daily prepares himself to
die.

Those in whom the eternal Word speaks are delivered

from uncertainty; and it is, indeed, the Master’s job to
make this Word audible in man.

O Nanak! snap all the ties of the world,

Serve the true Master and He shall bestow on
thee true riches.
GURBANI

He who has such a Teacher is blessed, indeed, for he

has verily made friends with God Himself and found a
Companion Who shall not forsake him even to the end of
the earth, in this life or after death, and Who shall not cease
to guide him until he reaches his final destination and
becomes as great and infinite as Himself.

A philosopher’s stone at best may turn base metal

into gold,
But glory to the Master who can transform the
disciple into His own celestial mould.

Whatever one’s problems, there is peace and solace in

His company; and association with Him gives strength and
stimulates inner effort, hence the pressing need for Satsang
(association with the True One) for those who have not yet
learned to commune with Him on the inner planes.

A seeker must certainly be critical and discriminating

in his search for a perfect Master; but having succeeded in
finding One (and he who is a genuine seeker will never

52
fail, such is the Divine decree), what will be the nature of
his relationship to Him? Will he continue to be critical of
what he is told and observes? Will he continue to test every
act of his Teacher with the microscope of his discrimina-
tion? To maintain such an attitude, even after having ini-
tially ascertained the genuineness of the Perfect One, is to
fail to appreciate His greatness and rightly respond to it. To
meet such a Soul is to meet One infinitely greater than one-
self, and to know Him to be One with God is to be hum-
bled and full of awe. To judge Him by one’s limited facul-
ties is to attempt to hold the ocean in a test tube, for He is
moved by reasons that we can never comprehend.

He who can appreciate the blessing of being taken into

the fold of the Satguru or the murshid-i-kami will forever
sing of His Grace, Beauty, and Perfect Love:

If the beautiful One were to take my wandering

soul under his wing, I would sacrifice all empires
for the lovely mole on his face.
HAFlZ

He will never question the actions of his Master, even

if he fails to understand them, for he knows that even:

If Khizr did wreck the vessel on the sea

Yet in this wrong there are a thousand rights.

RUMI

He will have to develop the faith of a child who, hav-

ing trusted himself to a loving hand, moves as directed,
never questioning anything:

. . . whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of

God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

ST. LUKE

53
 Even if he asks thee to dye the seat of worship with
wine, be not scandalized, but do it,
For He who is thy Guide knows well the journey
and its stages.
RUMI

The cryptic words of the God-man very often baffle

human understanding. His behests, at times, may apparent-
ly sound contrary to the scriptural texts or ethical injunc-
tions; but in reality they are not. One should follow them
in full faith, and in due time their true significance will be
revealed.

And like the child’s should be the devotee’s love, full

of humility and simplicity. The purity of its flame alone
shall burn away the dross of the world:

Kindle the fire of love and burn all things,

Then set thy foot unto the land of the lovers.

BAHA 'U' LLAH

Weld into one the vessel, which is now fragmented

into a thousand parts, so that it may be fit to contain the
light of God. It is the link between the seeker and his
Friend, and through Him, between the seeker and the
Absolute. How can one love the Nameless and Formless
but through Him, Who is His true embodiment, for as the
Lord revealed to Mohammed:

I dwell neither high nor low, neither in the sky nor

on the earth, nor even in paradise,
O beloved, believe me, strange as it may seem,
I dwell in the heart of the faithful and it is there
that I may be found.
RUMI

On this mystic path reasoning is the help, but reason-

54
ing is also the hindrance. Love alone can bridge the gulf,
span the chasm, and knit the finite to the Infinite, the mor-
tal to the Immortal, the relative to the Absolute. Such Love
is not of this world nor of this flesh. It is the call of soul
unto soul, of like unto like, the purgatory and the paradise.
Who shall describe its ecstasy?

Speak not of Leila’s or of Majnun's woe

Thy love hath put to naught the loves of long ago.

SAADI

Live free of love for its very peace is anguish.

ARABIAN POEM

A million speak of love, yet how few know,

True love is not to lose remembrance even for
an instant.
KABIR

Indeed, it is the quality of ceaseless remembrance that

is of the essence of love. He who remembers in such fash-
ion must need to live in perpetual remembrance of his
Beloved’s commandments and in perpetual obedience.
Such Love burns in its fire the dross of the ego, the little
self is forgotten, and the lover surrenders his individuality
at the altar of his Beloved:

If thou wouldst journey on the road of love,

First learn to humble thyself unto dust.

ANSARI OF HERAT

Love grows not in the field and is not sold in

the market,
Whosoever would have it, whether king or beggar,
must pay with his life.

55
 Carry your head upon your palm as an offering,
If you would step into the Wonderland of love.

KABIR

Again:

Accursed be the life wherein one finds not love for

the Lord;
Give your heart to His servant for He shall take you
to Him.

Such self-surrender is only a prelude to the inheriting

of a larger and purer Self than we otherwise know, for such
is the potency of Its magic that whosoever shall knock at
Its door shall be transformed into Its own color:

A lover becomes the Beloved–such is the alchemy

of his love;
God Himself is jealous of such a Beloved.

DADU

Calling on Ranjha, I myself become one with him.

BULLEH SHAH

It is of such a love that Lord Krishna spoke in the Gita,

and of such a love that St. Paul preached to his listeners:

I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet

not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

ST. PAUL

It is of this that the Sufis speak when they talk of fana-

56
 fil -sheikh (annihilation in the Master):

The vast expanse of myself is so filled to overflowing

with the fragrance of the Lord that the very thought of
myself has completely vanished.

It is of this that the Christian mystics declare when

they stress the necessity of "Death in Christ." Without such
self surrender, learning by itself can be of little avail:

Learning is only a child of the scriptures,

It is love that is their mother.
PERSIAN POEM

The world is lost in reading scriptures, yet never

comes to knowledge,
But one who knows a jot of love, to him all is
revealed.
KABIR

Such Love alone is the key to the Inner Kingdom:

He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.

ST. JOHN

The secret of God's mysteries is love.

RUMI

By love may He be gotten and holden,

but by thought never.

THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING

Verily, verily I say unto thee, that only they that

have loved have reached the Lord.
GOBIND SINGH
57
 And we have known and believed the love that
God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

ST. JOHN
We love him, because he first loved us.

ST. JOHN

This relationship of love between the Satguru and His

shishya, the Godman and His disciple, covers many phas-
es and many developments. It begins with respect for one
knowing more than oneself. As the disciple begins to
appreciate the Master’s disinterested solicitude for his wel-
fare and progress, his feelings begin to soften with the dew
of love; and he begins to develop faith, obedience and rev-
erence. With greater obedience and faith comes greater
effort, and with greater effort comes greater affection from
the Master. Effort and grace go hand in hand; and each, in
turn, helps in development of the other. Like the mother’s
love for her children is the love of the Divine Shepherd for
His flock. It does not discriminate between the deserving
and the undeserving; but like the mother, the depths and
treasures of His Love are unlocked only to those who
respond and return His Love:

He is with all alike, yet each gets his share according

to his own desserts.

GURU AMAR DAS

With his greater effort and the greater grace from the
Master, the disciple makes increased headway in his inner
sadhnas, leading finally to complete transcendence of bod-
ily consciousness. When this transcendence has been
achieved, he beholds his Guru waiting in His Radiant Form
to receive and guide his spirit on the inner planes. Now for
the first time, he beholds Him in His true glory, and real-

58
izes the unfathomable dimensions of His greatness.
Henceforth, he knows Him to be more than human, and his
heart overflows with songs of praise and humble devotion.
The higher he ascends in his spiritual journey, the more
insistent is he in his praise; for the more intensely does he
realize that He Whom he once took to be a friend is not
merely a friend, but God Himself come down to raise him
up to Himself. This bond of Love, with its development by
degrees, becomes the mirror of his inward progress, mov-
ing as it does, from the finite to the Infinite:

Love begins in the flesh and ends in the spirit.

ST. BERNARD

At its initial phase, it may find analogies in earthly

love, that between the parent and the child, friend and
friend, lover and beloved, teacher and pupil; but once it has
reached the point where the disciple discovers His Teacher
in His Luminous Glory within himself, all analogies are
shattered and all comparisons forever left behind; all that
remains is a gesture, and then silence:

Let us write some other way

Love’s secrets—better so.
Leave blood and noise and all of these
And speak no more of Shamas Tabrez.

RUMI

59