19th July 1994
In order to bring purity in
life, we have always been advised to go in for the company of saints. It is in their
congregation that we are associated with God. Water is water, but clean water is good for
human health, while contaminated water is harmful. Similarly, the company of saints
promotes joy, while that of the un-saintly persons causes pain and distress. That is why
wise men say:
SADHU KI SANGAR RAHE, JAU KI BHUSI KHAY;
HONHAR SO HOY HEIN, SAKAT SANG NA JAYE.
The call in favour o the company of saints had been given by the spiritual masters in all the ages. If there is a mention that man must attain salvation, the source has also got to exist, in all the ages. In fact, there is no truth, which belongs to Satyug, or, for that matter, any other single age. Once the human soul achieves communion with the Super Soul, man recognizes the self automatically. Man identifies himself with humanity in such a manner that nobody appears to be stranger to him. Caste, community or language does not stand in his way. He is convinced that every human body is composed of the same five elements.
The company of saints is useful not only to ensure happiness in this world, but hereafter also. That is why it is said:
KARON VINANTI SUNO MERE MITA,
SANT TAHAL BELA;
IHAN KHAT CHALO HAR LAHA;
AAGE BASAN SUHELA.
Saints believe in selfless service. That is one reason why they are anxious to share their blissful experience with every human being. They know that those who remain deprived of the truth will neither be happy here nor hereafter. Saints are like a lamp at the crossing, where everybody can avail their light. They want that everybody should behold the truth and be benefited; everybody should be able to realize God.
Saints do not feel satisfied with what they read or listen. They describe what they perceive or behold. Kabir Ji says:
BAITHA PANDIT PADHE PURAN,
BIN DEKHE KA KARE BAKHAN,
TU KAHE KAGAJ KI LEKHI,
MAIN KAHUN ANKHAN KI DEKHI.
Similarly it is said:
SUN VADDA AKHE SAB KOYE,
KEVAD VADDA DITHA HOYE.
We had been listening from saints and reading in the Vedas and Shashtras, but the reality was known only when we could realize it or behold it. This was, however, made possible only by those who were already blessed with the knowledge of truth.
We must realize God during this lifetime. We should not defer it because we do not know how soon is the end coming:
SWAS NAGADA KUCH KA, BAJAT HAI DIN RAT.
Every breath is an alarm of death; any breath may be the last. It sounds the warning that nobody here is immortal. Everyone has to go:
VAID MUA, ROGI MUA,
MUA SAGAL SANSAR.
What to talk of the patient, even the doctor who is supposed to save the dying is bound to die. In fact everybody in this world is to go. Lord Rama has gone, proud Ravana has gone. Whosoever has appeared in human form must go one day or the other. It is quite simple to understand that any creature, which is born, has its end also.
Then the question arises: ‘How should we live here, how should we complete the journey of life?’
BUDDHA HOA SHAIKH FARID,
KAMBAN LAGI DEH;
JE SAU VARYAN JIVNA,
BHI TAN HOSI KHEH.
Even if someone lives for a hundred years, he has to die. The human body must go back to the dust.
Man spends most of his time in the fulfillment of various ambitions, which are generally meaningless. Swami Vivekananda says that man must have the quest for realizing God. He should be as anxious to realize the truth, as a drowning man is to come out of the water and be saved.
No doubt, man is busy performing his worldly duties. The spiritual masters, however, do not advise him to leave all that as an essential requirement to attain spiritual enlightenment. This can be done in the normal day-to-day life. We should not postpone this noble task from childhood to youth and from youth to old age. Who knows at what stage one may breathe one’s last!
It is not proper to point out to others; we must act ourselves. In other words, we must start doing what we require others to do. Once a spiritually enlightened saint declared in a congregation, ‘I want reformers’. Many people came forward, the saint, however, repeated, ‘I want reformers, who can reform themselves’. Today also we need only such reformers.