Anand Ka Path (Edition July 2000)

FRAGRANCE

The Guru is not a person, but the Guru is simply a presence. The person has disappeared. The flower is not more, it has become a fragrance, you can not hold the fragrance in your hand. The only way to come close to a Guru is to dissolve your person and become the presence; only then can one merge.

There are three stages of being with a Guru. The first stage is of a student, who thinks of himself as a person and is connected with words only. He is always desirous to know more, longing for more knowledge, information. He becomes more knowledgeable, more egoistic. In fact he will leave more sick than when he had come, more burdened by knowledge. He can not taste wisdom. He can not see beyond. He comes and goes back empty handed. He comes to the river and goes back thirsty.

The second stage is that of a disciple. Who comes a little bit closer, he starts feeling. Moving from the world of thinking to the world of feeling, he slips from the head to the heart. He will be able to hear not only the words, but the silence contained in those words.

The third stage is the stage of a devotee. He never thinks about the master, not feels about the master. He starts pulsating, he starts living in the same rhythm, he breathes, the way the mater breathes. His heart dances with the master's heart. He loses himself. He is not longer an outsider.

The student is an outsider, the devotee is absolutely an insider and the disciple is in between. The disciple is in the middle, on the way.

The outer master is nothing but a reflection of the inner master. To be with an outer master is for a certain purpose - so that the inner master starts getting synchronized with the outer. The real function of the master is to help you to discover your own master, your own inner light.

The real Guru never makes dependents of his followers and disciples; he helps them to be independent, t be free. He never gives them a certain pattern of life; he only gives them hints on how to attain light of their own. He helps them to be themselves their true self, he does not impose his personality on his disciples.

Our Gurudev was never interested in accumulating followers. He wanted only few souls, who would strive to be devotees, who would be really interested in attaining their true spirit.

The world is in darkness and the darkness is created by our unconsciousness. It is not part of the world, it is projected by us. It is very difficult to find a real master, who has eyes to see. Remember, out of one hundred, ninetynine will be false. And the falseness will appeal to you more than the reality because the false will speak your language and the fail will try to convince you, to argue. The false will quote scriptures, the false will console you. And the real is going to be harsh. Because of his compassion, a real master has to wake you up. He is always watching for the right moment to hit you. He is always trying to find the weakest points in you, so that you can be exposed to yourself because if you are not alert to your weakness, you can not grow. A real master gives you growth and takes away many thing. He takes away all the rocks hanging around your neck, although you may think they are diamonds. He takes away your securities, knowledge etc. He seems to be very hard - hearted but he gives you something, which you had not taste of. He transforms your life into a scripture. Coming to a master is reaching the streams, getting involved with the maser is entering the stream. And once you have entered the stream, you can relax, you can go with the stream to the ocean. Be a part of a master and your real journey will have started towards the ocean. The ocean of joy, of peace, of silence, of truth i.e. God.

There are two kinds of beliefs prevalent in the world. One type of people are meditation type who believe in the unmanifest and others are people of love who believe in the unmanifest and the others are people of love who believe in the Sakar i.e. manifest form of God, Meditation means the capacity to be absolutely alone and love means rejoicing, relatedness; meditation means rejoicing solituted aloneness. In both the paths the ego disappears. If you are really in love, you have to drop the ego; otherwise love will not be possible. If you want to go deep into meditation you will have to leave the ego behind; otherwise your will not be alone. The ego will be there and duality will remain. You will have to drop the mind if you want to go into meditation and you will have to drop the mind,if you want to go into love. The basic thing remains the same, the directions are different. The meditator goes inwards, he seeks inferiority and the lover goes outwards, he seeks the being of others.

Patanjali has said, God is only a device for the love type. Whether God exists or not is not the point at all. It is a device for prayer. The core, the essence is prayer, not God. The real purpose is love not the beloved.

If you can love, if you can pray, it does not matter whether God exists or not, whether your prayer is heard or not. Praying itself is transforming, being heard or not being heart, is beside the point. In deep prayer you dissolve your ego, but for prayer, you need somebody i.e. God.

Our path is the path of Love. Divine Love to the extreme extent, so that only love remains, no entity, no ego, no worship only 'LOVE'. It is easy for us human, with our weaknesses to focus on the Lord with form. Cry in ecstasy, with all your heart, all focus, all attention, all awareness of only your Ishta, Cry and Cry out to Him, again and again. No thought of the world, only your Ishta; the cry of an infant for its mother.

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GEMS OF WISDOM
By
SRI ANAND SAI (The Master)

SRI ANAND SAI
Speaks to Children
[A collection of speaches given by our Beloved Gurudev
SRI ANAND SAI to His child devotees]

You have to be very clear in our mind that whatever you are going to achieve in this life, materially or spiritually, it is going to be on account of the Divine Grace of Baba Sai Nath only. Whatever you achieve, whether in this world or in the domain of the spirit, is shall be wholly on account of His grace. The human intellect wrongly makes us understand that it is on account of our individual effort and endeavor without any results, while others without any toil, without any sweat of labour, get everything, says Guru Nanak.

In so many lives you simply sit idle in your place and you get everything. While in other lives, you sweat from morning till evening and cannot get even enough to eat. What does that mean? The Divine Grace alone is the deciding factor. Similarly, on the spiritual path some people seem to be going further at a terrific speed without seemingly doing much, while to others who are doing so much, doing all sorts of worship and pooja. Still do no seem to get any results. Why? Because everything depends upon the Divine Grace. Therefore, my children, crave for the Divine Grace rather than try to achieve results by your own efforts. Do your work, but don not put faith in your work; know who is making you do that work and the result is in His hands. He who gets the Grace of Baba Sai Nath, there is nothing to achieve for him. He gets everything unasked, undesired, uncraved.

What is the Reality? The Reality is the real substance which is beyond change which is eternal, everlasting. Form as decay but the Reality remains for ever. Reality sustains all forms. And Baba Sai Nath is that Reality.

Baba Sai Nath is Shiva and this whole manifestation is Shakti, 'His illusive power'. What is constantly changing, is unreal. What remains forever in the same state is Reality. He is one without a second. He is immanent in all forms, He has become many for His Divine play. He is in you, with you and in fact He is you yourself. In the last stage you have to realise that He and you are one. Bhakti starts with two the devotee and God, and culminates in One, the devotee merges in God. The shining drop slids into the shining sea and becomes one with it, so you have all finally to merge in Baba Sai Nath. Take Him as your final goal. You have to realise Him only and then the trammels of life and death will be over for you., You can realise Him through force and power of that love Him seeing Him in all beings. Think of Him at all times and on account of that unbounded love, one day, you will merge in Him. He is 'Sat-Chit-Anand' - you will also become Anand'.

If we want to realise God in this very life, if we want to avoid being born again and again, then we have to love Baba sai Nath whole-heartedly. Remember, even if we give one percent of love to the world and worldly affairs, we are bound souls. We have to come back. On this the Divinity never compromises. Baba\ Sai Nath wants hundred percent of our love. Only then He realizes us from bondage. You may live in the world, you may move about in the world, you may serve your people, you may lead a normal life but remember you have to offer all your heart, all your being to Him. You should proceed towards Him with all your faculties, with your full personality. You cannot go forward with a part for the satisfaction of your worldly desires and worldly ends. No, decidedly no. You have to move forward with your whole being, full being.Only then you can realise Him. The people proceed with a part of their personality and want to keep a part of their personality for the satisfaction of their worldly ends. They fail miserably. Our whole being has to proceed towards the Divinity, our hearts, our mind, our soul, indeed our physical, mental and spiritual being has to merge completely in Baba Sai Nath. Only then He shall allow us to merge in Hi, to be absorbed in Him. Even if we have got one percent attachment for any worldly thing or for any worldly being, that attachment will pull us back from the Divinity and we will never be able to get released from this bondage. Therefore, love Him with all your being. Give your full heart to Him. Don't keep even one percent for the world if you want to release in this very birth. It is not easy to get released mind you. So many saints and sages tried for hundreds of lives and they did not get released. That is he ultimate and the Highest Destiny, you will have to exert, and that exertion is this - that you must give your hundred percent mind, your hundred percent heart to Baba Sai Nath. He is Ishwara.

We must be crystal clear in our minds that we shall never ask anything worldly from Baba Sai nath. Remember, whenever we ask anything from Him, we are the losers. In the first instance, we adulterate our love, the purity of love no longer remains there. Secondly, even if we ask any worldly favours, usually Baba wants to grant us much more than what we are asking. We cannot imagine at a given time what Baba proposed to give us in future. Mostly we are asking for a farthing when Baba wants to give us a pound, then why should we at all ask for anything. Why not hand ourselves over to Him and let Him make us materially, and more important spiritually, whatever He wants to make us. So never, never ask anything from Him. When we do no ask, His mercy and compassion is unbounded. In His compassion, He grants us limitless Grace. Consequently we have a happy earthly life and what is much more important, we get rid of the trammels of life and death. It is a very great consolation, I can tell you, to have the feeling, that you have always entertained true love for God. It is a matter of very great satisfaction that gives you great you. Imagine your last moments. In your last moments if you get a feeling that in your whole life you loved your Creator selflessly, you never traded with Him; you will depart with a sense of fulfillment and joy. Love for Love's sake and in those last moments it is that pure selfless love which shall release you from bondage.

Is there any test by which we can know how we are progressing towards our goal? How can we know that we are nearing our goal? As we get near the Divinity, the Divine qualities infiltrate into us. What are these Divine qualities ? The three dominant Divine qualities are Love, Mercy and truth. When we are nearing the Divinity, we imbibe these three Divine qualities. The first Divine quality is Love. When we are nearing Baba Sai Nath, we begin to love all creatures. Creatures does not mean mankind only. Creatures include all forms of life men, animals, reptiles, birds etc. Love will flow from our hearts and go to all parts of the world embracing all creatures because Baba Sai Nath Himself is Love. So anyone who approaches God, in the first instance gets the Divine quality of Love. If someone tells you that he has realised God or is nearing god and you see him or her without this Divine quality of love, you have every right to doubt his bonafides. Anyone who has realised Baba Sai Nath, will be full of love for all creatures. Be very clear about this. This is the first test that should let you know that you are nearing Baba Sai Nath. If you have get hatred or malice or anger even for one creature in the world, you are quite away from Him. You have not realised God because the crux of love is that you have to see Baba Sai Nath in all creatures, in all forms of life. When you love all forms, you are loving God, you are loving Baba Sai Nath in these forms. When you show anger or hared or malice towards any creature, you are indirectly showing anger and malice towards Baba Sai Nath.

The truth denotes two things - one is speaking the truth. If you are nearing Baba Sai Nath, if you are near God, you will think a thousand times before telling a lie. You will know that if you tell a lie, you will go a hundred steps backward. Worldly people tell lies at every step. They do not realise how much harm and damage they do o themselves. A spiritual aspirant always speaks the truth in all circumstances, even if by speaking the truth, he has to suffer materially or physically, He does not mind. I have heard of cases where people have spoken the truth at the cost of losing everything that they had. Once you tell a lie, Baba Sai Nath runs away from you. He shuns to be with you. This is one way.

The second is living in Truth. Baba Sai Nath alone is Reality. God is called Truth, everything else that you see, or hear, or think, all these are unreal things and therefore false. Truth is inside you. learn to live in that Truth all the times. The Immanent Truth appears from time to time in the outside world, in some for, then you live in the contemplation of that form. It means living in constant thought of that form.

Therefore remember, Truth denotes two things - one is speaking the truth all times, never telling a lie and second living in Truth, in Reality, in Baba Sai Nath. You must imbibe these two things in life if you want to realise God and realise your cherished goal.

A negative quality which bars the progress of many a progressing souls, is the habit of talking ill of others. That is the most nasty habit and an unforgivable crime in the eyes of the Divine Government. So if you want you should have smooth progress in the spiritual path, you must never, never talk ill of anybody. If you say your prayers in the morning for hours and during the day you sit together and talk ill of others, be very clear in your mind that whatever merit you accumulated in the morning that was completely washed away during the daytime. You talked ill of others and your balance sheet becomes absolutely nil. Remember, whenever you are talking ill of others, you are talking ill of who? There is One and One alone in every form. There is one "atman" in every form and that is Baba Sai Nath. When you are talking ill of others, actually you are talking ill of Him, and He does not permit of this heinous crime. So be very resolute, that in your whole life time, you are neither going to talk ill of others nor are you going to listen to anyone talking ill of others. In the Bible, it is said - 'Judge Ye not others, because on the day of judgement, thou shalt be judged likewise.' 'Judge Ye not others'. What does that mean? If you are harsh with someone today, that he or she is bad, remember tomorrow on the day of judgement you will be judged harshly. So completely and resolutely give up this nasty habit of talking ill of others. If at all you want to see faults, see you own faults. Do not look to the faults of others. You should only look to the virtues in other persons. See that whenever you are talking of someone else, you are talking of his or her virtues only, no drawbacks, no shortcomings, no faults. This is spiritual life.

The real Haridwar, the real Gurudwar, the real Mosque, the real house of God is within you. Baba Sai Nath is within you. If you want to realise Him, you have to come within. Knock, and the door shall be opened. What is knocking? Surrendering to Him in all love and with all devotion, and praying to Him that you be allowed to merge in His Infinite Bossom. The key of the Inner kingdom is with Baba Sai Nath and He opens for those blessed would who have purified their minds of all wordly desires by acting on His advice, by treading the path shown by Him, and by loving Him with all their hearts, surrendering to Him fully and unconditionally, having no other desire whatsoever except realising Him. If you want Eternal life, if you want to be free from the cycle of lives and deaths, tread on the path that has been shown to you. Love Him with all you hearts. Take Him as your all in all. Surrender all your actions to Him, and some day by His Grace the blessed door shall be opened to you.

If you want your life to be peaceful and happy, believe in destiny. Destiny is nothing but the Divine Will at work. Know that your Prarabdha - your Destiny, was made first and your bodies were given shape later on. Whatever you are to get in this life, 'Sukha' or 'Dukha' it is all pre-determined. The aim of spiritual life is to beyond 'Sukha' or 'Dukha' and live an equanimous life, where you are not affected by pleasure and pain. Be very clear in your mind that all bodies are being worked from inside by that Supreme Infinite Power, Baba Sai Nath. All forms, all intellects are being guided, directed and controlled form inside. Whatever understanding you have got, that understanding is being given to you from inside. Whatever you have been able to achieve or whatever you shall achieve later on in your life, that achievement is not yours. That achievement is His, it is of that Supreme Power, Baba Sai Nath, who is directing the affairs of mankind from inside. Knowing this as an absolute truth, give up the false sense of ego, 'I'. Feel every minute of the day that you are just a part and parcel of Him, and integral part of that great Infinite Truth, Baba Sai Nath.

Remember you are a mere limb. The whole universe is the body of the Lord. All forms are its limbs.

As in a human body, all limbs move as per the command of the brain ! Similarly in this Cosmic body of the Lord, all limbs (forms) move as per the orders of the One Inner Central Intelligence System. All actions of the forms are therefore in reality, the blissful actions of the One All-Blissful Divinity.

Ah! what a grand panorama of the Universal Life lies before us. All actions emanating simultaneously from all forms in the whole universe appear as nothing but blissful expressions of the One All-Blissful Divinity.

O Children of Immortality! Enjoy his splendorous spectacle every moment and derive the real thrill out of life.