If we are in the hands of a real master, all the things necessary for 'man to be called man' gradually come out of themselves.

Sri. K.C.Srihari

Dear Brothers and Sisters

On this auspicious occasion of the 25th day of the month of Samavarti 139 Lalaji Era, I present a few thoughts regarding the seminar topic “If we are in the hands of a real Master, all the things necessary for 'man to be called man' gradually come out of themselves.”

The two sentences preceding this sentence in the message ‘Method of training’ gives a clue as to the state that one starts with. Master says in those sentences “What is the Self? It is the gross state produced by the charge of the mind. If I may be more vivid for the common understanding I can say that ‘self becomes the individual force with its separate entity’.”¹

There are at least 10 levels of being, five above and five below the human level as given in the book ‘Three truths and Trillion doubts’. We are expected to be atleast at the human level upholding the five precepts of Non-Injury (non killing), Non-Stealing, Non-Lying, Non-Sexual misconduct and not taking intoxicants and aspire for the higher levels of Deva, Brahmand, Para Brahmand, Prapanna and Realised.

It has been referred in previous occasions as to the two ways of progressing on this path

Holding on to the Master – It is our duty to practice the commandments of the Master, perform our meditational practices as advised.  In spite of all this, we still feel the separate entity due to the fact that “fear, greed and jealousy have gripped the man and every sense of value is lost”.  It is “only the torch of spirituality can remove the oppressing gloom and restore the real man.”².  This feeling of separateness can be removed only by taking regular sittings from our trainers, explain to them our difficulties in doing the sadhana.  This feeling of separateness is removed and we feel the particular feeling of unison, harmony every time we are offered Pranahuti, the gift to humanity given by Pujya SriRamchandraji Maharaj of Fatehgarh, U.P, India to whom we are forever indebted.  It makes us understand the unity of all existence and we want to be with that again and again.  That is what gives us contentment.

Being held by the Master – Master says in the same article “I can say with authority, that without the help of the preceptors a man cannot cross the higher regions”.  It is only with the master’s help that one can move on.  It may be considered by some that once we move on to higher realms, we don’t have to worry about the lower levels. As our Master referring his Master says “My Master unequivocally declares: 'Spirituality is my responsibility, as practice is your responsibility'.”³  It is our responsibility to adhere to the methods given by the Master if the beast has to be tamed.  Only when the anguish and helplessness is felt deeply, repeatedly in our hearts, does the prayer gain deeper root and we feel more and more dependent on the Master.

It is my experience and I am sure the experiences of fellow brothers that the more we progress, the more the feeling comes that our effort has not been that great and that it has been Master’s mercy and grace alone that has brought us up.  This makes it all the more clear as to our commitment for the pledge of sacrifice given to the Master, and what is the little sacrifice that is asked of from every abhyasi? That every night at 9:00 p.m. sharp, everyone should meditate regularly thinking that all the men and women in this world are one 's brethren and true love, devotion and faith for the Master is developing in all.

Fraternity as the principle is something that has been elusive for different civilizations.  It is a phenomenal yajna (sacrifice) that is expected by all of us to make this into a reality.  It is possible only when the feeling of separation is removed.  This feeling of separation is not something that goes off on one fine day.  It is a gradual process that unfolds as we understand the commandments 5, 6, 7 and 8 more and more.  Our progress/stabilizations in the regions of Brahmand, Para Brahmand and Prapanna is linked to how much we see the Master in all.  A few of the various qualities that we develop while progressing are given below not necessarily in any order.

·         Stability

·         Interest

·         Service

·         Discriminative Intelligence

·         Truthfulness

·         Contentment

·         Disinterestedness

·         Tranquility

·         Reverence

·         Vatsalya

·         Willingness to forgive

·         Love

·         Compassion

·         Piety

·         Devotion

·         Faith

·         Great Devotee

·         Daya, Karuna

·         Concord

·         Constant Remembrance

·         Fortitude

·         Forbearance

·         Surrender

·         Endurance

·         Eternal Devotion

·         Unqualified surrender

·         Nakedness

·         Self awareness

·         Realm of fraternity

·         Spiritual guide

There are many more and one may go through the notes given in the game of life for more understanding of these conditions.  It is such qualities that are “necessary for ‘man to be called man’” that are brought out by the real master and we move towards our potentiality.

The progress leads us to the Realised level mentioned before “When we know that all sentient beings have the nature of the Master and the true-thusness is everywhere equal, and know and act as if all sentient beings are sharing a single essence and when we know that everyone is a Master who is veiled, and when we work incessantly for the salvation of all, all the time we have realised our potentiality and are what Master calls Real Man.”⁴

The living at the consciousness of the 9:00 p.m prayer all the time is the key given by our Master to make this into a reality.  This requires people to live at a higher plane and this living at a higher plane is what a real master does.  A real master is one who takes a man and removes all the impediments on the way so that he in turn becomes a real master.  It is the nature of real master to see that “There remains the purity alone in all His work and environment which weaves the spiritual destiny of the persons with the Ultimate."⁵

The realms of humility really start here and it becomes all the more important to maintain orientation.  When the embrace of the Master is tight and total, the only view we have is that of the Master.  It is not as though we forget everything.  We forget our self as our thought is thoroughly soaked in that of the Master and it may be called self forgetfulness, which is not the same as memory loss.

I conclude with this message of the Master that puts it aptly “Let the light of the Real, shine in the heart of everyone so that we may rise up to the expectations of the Divine!”⁶

Pranams

References:

1.      Showers of Divine Grace – page 47

2.      Showers of Divine Grace – page 123

3.      Showers of Divine Grace – page 163

4.      Three truths and Trillion doubts – page 197-198

5.      Showers of Divine Grace – page 132

6.      Showers of Divine Grace – page 123