MEET THE DIVINE INTERPRETER

- By: C.L.Gulati

It was in mid-sixties that I had been serving in the Punjab Civil Secretariat and chanced to receive an invitation to a Cultural Programme arranged in honour of a visiting Soviet Parliamentary Delegation in the State Guest House adjoining Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh. This invitation was the first of its kind in my life and I was very eagerly waiting for the moment to enjoy myself of the company of Russian friends.

The Cultural Programme was scheduled to start at 8:00 P.M. It was 7:45 P.M. and I was just hastening to leave for the Guest House. But to my utter surprise, I received an unexpected guest before I could leave my place. Really, he was to me like a fly in the ointment. I wanted to slip away but as he said, "Are you C.L. Gulati?" I thought he must have come for an express purpose. Psychologically, my response was not inviting, but to keep up appearance, I wished him good evening and inquired him of his purpose.

He said, "My name is Chahvan and I have come to you to elicit some important," Lo, he put me in a state of ambivalence. Two irreconcilable thoughts started haunting my mind: whether to attend to Mr. Chahvan or to attend the Cultural Programme. Willy nilly, I desired him to express his matter. Strangely enough, he took out the "Sant Nirankari", March, 1965 dog-earing its pages 11-16 and said, "Gulati Ji, your article on ‘Poor Mortals", though contains valuable ideas, yet its very purpose is defeated until there be cogent and convincing information about the Divine Master" (Satguru). Then I could not put him off; rather I told him of my engagement, "Dear Chahvan, I am programmed to see Russian friends and attend a Cultural Programme in the Guest House at 8:00 P.M. It is already 7:50 P.M. How nice, if you also accompany me and thereafter we shall have a detailed talk on the subject. Two persons are invited on this card. Please do accompany me."

Mr. Chahvan became friendly and readily acceded to my request. We reached the
Guest House exuberant with the ensuing fun and fair.

The first item presented in the cultural show was a Hindustani song. It centered round the Ganges and the Volga rivers, thereby dovetailing the common culture of the two countries. We enjoyed ourselves of the song very much but it was all Greek to the Russians and naturally, they could not share our happiness. Next item was presented by Russians and we were only mute spectators. After every item, the Interpreter, however, explained the contents to the audience. He knew the languages of both the countries. The programme went on till 9:30 P.M. leaving an indelible impression on us. We then enjoyed very sumptuous dinner and took our way home.

Mr. Chahvan suo-moto started expressing his opinion, "Gulati Ji, but for the Interpreter, we would not have been in a position to understand anything about the Sovietland and their songs. Likewise, they the would not have known about our cultural songs." I agreed. He continued, "Whatever the nationality of the Interpreter, it will have to be agreed that an apt Interpreter is a valuable ink between the two countries. In fine, an Interpreter is a prerequisite for obtaining any information from either country. He can interpret the discussion on the spot and no labour is involved on the part of the meeting persons".

Divine Master

I armed myself with Chahvan's views about the Interpreter and stole a chance to change the strategy of our talk, "Dear Chahvan as the Interpreter is an essential link between the two countries, so is the Divine Master who forms a real relationship between the human and God. As we could not understand the Russians sitting around us without the help of an Interpreter, similarly, we cannot perceive the Omnipresent God without the help of Divine Master, the True Interpreter. He can unveil the secret of Truth in no time, and is an essential link between the human being and God. On finding the Master, no labour is required on the part of an individual to realize God. If we, therefore, ignore the need of Divine Master we are doomed."

By then we had reached our home and sat in the drawing room. The discussion continued. Both of us were, however, not in a mood to disperse or go to sleep. Giving a turn to the discussion, I tried to draw Mr. Chahvan's attention towards another aspect of the role of the Divine Interpreter. Carrying the example of the cultural programme further, I just asked: "Mr. Chahvan, by the way, don't you think that the Divine Interpreter must be present in physical form, in person, in order to work as kink between the human being and God? For interpreting the feelings expressed in the songs, the Interpreter had to be there personally, physically."

Mr. Chahvan seemed to agree with me in principle. He however, feared that humanity had to wait for the Divine Master to appear in the world and declare his manifestation. In the mean time, he felt, mankind had to depend on holy scriptures as treasures of God-knowledge inherited from the Spiritual Masters.

To this I had three angles to react. One, why should any person taking birth or any soul entering human body during any period of time be deprived of being linked with Super-Soul, God? Is it not the objective of each and every individual to become God-conscious and thus make this life meaningful and purposeful? Is it not proclaimed by the Spiritual Masters of the past themselves that once this opportunity during human life is missed, the soul is bound to suffer the agony of being born millions of times as different creatures and continue to be separated from the Super-Soul till again it happens to be created as a human being? Secondly, suppose we had been given a valuable Russian book, could we make out anything during the cultural programme by just keeping it before us and without seeking any help from the Interpreter? Can you rule out the need of a teacher for the student simply because he or she has been provided the best available books on the subject? And lastly, when Interpreter is a must, one must be available somewhere all the time.

Confining himself to the realm of spirituality, Mr. Chahavan offered the answer apparently based on what he had studied. He said, "During the period when the Divine Master is not physically present, one could just do good deeds, avoid evils, and thus secure the soul's merger with God, ultimately."

I laughed at the very simplicity of his argument and asked, "Mr. Chahvan, who will tell you, what is good and what is bad? Who will interpret for your convenience as to what is noble and what is evil? Our purpose, a short while ago, was to understand Russian. We did not even mind as to whosoever the Interpreter was, whether he was Russian or an Indian. But the person must rise, come to the mike and address the audience in person. Let us also not forget that such an interpreter would be needed every time a Russian delegation visits India and the vice-versa, in future. Certainly it need not be the same Interpreter, but someone must be there in person to help the audience of the time understand both the sides, both the cultures."

Mr. Chahvan, as if suddenly reminded of something, asked inquisitively "Gulati Ji, in your article ‘Poor Mortals,’ you mentioned in a passing reference that Nirankari Baba is Satguru of the day. How do you hold it out?"

I brought out: "Chahvan, there would be no denying the fact that the present world, bankrupt of spiritual values, has become weary and dull; staggering and limping its fatigued way, burying itself reluctantly and slowly into an abyss of gloom and darkness. As per scriptural warrant, only and active Divine Master can convert this inferno of the fire of frustrations and dejection into cozy abode by establishing real relationship of one human being with the other. The Nirankari Baba aims at creating an understanding of spirituality through a living revelation of God, thus paving the way to universal peace, unity and fraternity all over the world. His Mission stresses the concept of one God for all and easily unfolds the idea of one religion of humanity that suits and emotionally binds the whole human race. The Sant Nirankari Mission has succeeded in achieving this end through revelation of God, the same for all religions known to the world, and ignoring the non essential rituals which are different for different faiths.

"Whatsoever approaches Nirankari Baba or anyone of his anointed saints is instantaneously gifted with an abiding perception of the Omnipresent God. He glorifies the spiritual masters of the past by revealing their real greatness and decoding their teachings into layman’s actual experience. It is for this reason that the followers of the Nirankari Mission do not feel converted to any new religion, but find themselves reverted to their respective faith with added firmness. The distinguishing feature of Nirankari Mission is that it first introduces the seeker to God and then leaves it to him or her to lead a godly life. The Nirankari Baba has no rituals to impose, no penance to subject his disciples to and no new religion to found."

Chahvan interrupted, "Do you really mean that Nirankari Mission does not set forth a new religion?"

"Yes," I explained to Chahvan, "it may be remembered that if religion lays open before us only outward superstitions and rituals, it is not a complement but a negation. Such a religion emanates when spirituality goes dormant. Snags in the way of Spiritual Masters are put mostly by such of their followers as interpret religion as dogmatic formalism. Spirituality deals with spirit, the inner soul. The Divine Master establishes real relationship of the soul with the Super-Soul, God. No differentiation is made on the basis of religion, caste, community, sex or colour. The Nirankari Baba’s message is for the human being in you and not for a member of any particular religion, community, race or nationality."

Sharing my own experience, I clarified. "The Sant Nirankari Mission is neither a new religion nor a sect, but an apolitical, all embracing spiritual movement dedicated to human welfare. It endorses and accomplishes the established age old truth that relisation of Fatherhood and God through the living Divine Master (Satguru) is the goal of human life and its spontaneous by product is the cherished achievement of Universal Brotherhood which is prerequisite for inherent peace of mind and overall progress of the mankind as a whole."

Visibly feeling convinced about the role of the Nirankari Mission, Chahvan made another searching probe: "Gulati Ji, every man is not well-versed in scriptures. How could you elucidate and bring out the relevance of the Mission to a common rational person?'

Dealing this delicate question in a scientific manner, I explained to Chahvan,"The Nirankari Mission believes that a human being comprises of five elements i.e. the earth, water, fire, air, ether (sound) plus the soul. The first five material constituents form the body, while the sixth represents the individual unit of consciousness. The human body fulfils its material needs form the counter-part mainstreams of earth, water, fire, air, sound working outside it. Whenever there is a deficiency of any of these five elements in the body, some sort of disease or disorder takes place. However, the deficiency of one element cannot be made good by any other. For example, the necessity of water cannot be met with by earth, fire, air or sound. Similarly, the lack of air cannot be replenished with water, fire etc. Exactly on the same pattern, no material elements can substitute the sixth i.e. the soul or the individual consciousness. To repeat, as the deficiency of water cannot be made good with an intake of any other material element, the lack of practical knowledge of cosmic consciousness also cannot be made good with any amount of material gains whatsoever. Even the most affluent who materially lack nothing in life find themselves face to face with situations when thy feel that they have lost every thing. This is the moment, when one seeks of that power which he has been negating hither to blinded by the materialistic galore.

"This mainstream of consciousness is a non-psychic-objective-reality, the experience of which is not only essentially but also instantaneously sharable. The living experience of this objective reality, imparted by the Nirankari Baba is quite indispensable for the fulfilment of human life."

Invisible Yet Concrete

To his question, "Why is it called the Nirankari Mission?" I told Mr. Chahvan, "The mainstream of consciousness has been termed as Nirankar (Formless God), though invisible yet all concrete, a cosmic force unifying the whole universe. The one who experiences it is known a Nirankari. The sole aim of the Mission is to impart the knowledge of Nirankar to the seeker’s soul, hence its name-, the Nirankari Mission."

Mr. Chahvan then asked, "Is the Nirankari mission exclusively devoted to imparting knowledge of Nirankar only?’ and hastened to add, "Does the Mission play any social role also?" Re-iterating the earlier points in a nut-shell, I told him-" From North Pole to South Pole the world seems to be like a vast seething cauldron. Bringing human beings emotionally and intimately close to each other through God-realisation is a king-pin contribution to the society on the part of the Mission. The Divine Knowledge as such, is the key to all vexing problems of the society. Otherwise also, the Mission is not paying mere lip service to the ideal of Universal Brotherhood, but it is practically devoted to this noble cause by bringing together people from different cultures, beliefs, castes, colours, creeds, races, without any discrimination. Rainbow is the best natural example of explaining the type of unity guaranteed by the Mission. All the seven colours of the rainbow are distinctly visible but are so mixed up with each other that one cannot be separated from the other. The objective result of the universal human family so founded is to be always one in pain and pleasure. With the gregarious instinct inside and social needs around, the Mission has practically reached the needy brethren possibly at all places and at all times."

Like a patent seeker, Mr. Chahvan did not resist asking another question, "Guru is a must. What is the practical test of the Satguru?" In reply, I told him emphatically, "When any member of our family falls sick our purpose is to have him treated properly. Our duty does not end in the mere formality of taking him to any doctor. We continue consulting doctors, one after the other, till the patient is fully recovered and becomes normal. Human malady lies in the broken relationship of human soul with God. To achieve panacea for all ills, our endeavour should, therefore, be to keep our search on till we come in contact with the Satguru who imparts us the knowledge of God, the real purpose of life.

"As the sun-light is in itself the practical proof of Sun-rise; likewise the practical instantaneous imparting of Divine Knowledge (Revelation of God) is the singular acid test of the Divine Master. The True Master is the communicator of Divine Truth. He himself leads a normal family life and does not require others to renounce the world in search of God. He inspires his devotees to lead a life of complete identification with God and show deepest regards and respect for all the past prophets and scriptures." Bringing home the point, I told him, "Taste of the pudding lies in eating it. So, you may please meet the Nirankari Baba and pray for instantaneous revelation of God. Afterwards, you will not be left with any question. Rather, you will be equipped with the Truth to satiate any query from any other seeker."

It was past mid-night and pitch dark outside. Chahvan bade me good-bye with a silver lining in his head and heart to meet at the earliest the Nirankari Baba, the Divine Interpreter of the day, whose teachings have become the house-hold word and whose Word (Brahm-Gyan) is spreading like the sound of a bell rung in the canopy of sky resounding the words: "No God, No Peace; Know God, know Peace."