What is the purpose of human life?
Is God - realisation possible? What is the source?
Why do we need blessings of the True Master?
It is said that one gets human body after passing through many other lives. It is said
that there are 84 lakh lives in all. Those who argue get stuck up on the question of the
number itself. They say, "How do you know they are 84 lakh?" Let us not enter
into argument. You go by the number of animals, birds, insects and other creatures you
have heard or known. Even then we find that human life has been determined and treated as
superior to all others;
AVAR JON TERI PANIHARI,
IS DHARTI PAR TERI SIKDARI
It means human life is the best. Then, its objective, its purpose should also be the
noblest!
In case the human being even after coming to this life and judged to be superior to all
others, continues to indulge in the same actions as can be performed by animals also, what
is the usefulness of this life? For example, if man makes the construction of houses the
aim of his life and spends all his time in its pursuit, what remains special about the
human life? Even birds make their dwellings. Even a sparrow constructs a beautiful nest on
the branch of a tree by collecting straws one by one. Even a tiny ant which is hardly
visible digs a hole somewhere and makes it a dwelling place. If we get children, even they
(animals etc.) procreate. Similarly, there are other activities that cover the entire
course of human life; they are also being performed by the creatures in other lives.
Animals are performing them, birds are also performing them. In fact, over and above man
has adopted an action from the life of animals. Like animals men also pounce upon each
other (over a piece of flesh) and cause bloodshed. Then, where is the difference? Where is
the superiority of the human being? His importance is there only when he establishes his
relationship with God. This is what has been accepted as the real aim of human life. This
makes human body important. Take for example a vessel, which contains valuable articles.
The vessel also becomes precious and it is kept with lot of care, it is kept under
constant watch. But we know that nobody cares for a dustbin. Similarly, this human body
has no value if man does not realise God. Man must, therefore, give top priority to the
realisation of God, during this very life, for this is the opportunity, this is only spell
to do so, and it not must be missed :
EHI TERI AVSAR, EHI TERI BAAR
You have got this opportunity, your turn to know yourself, to know the
Creator. Bible says, 'Know thyself.' Man must know himself, understand what he is. Do you
think that only this body which can be seen is everything? We know the body by the parts
it has - the eyes, the tongue, the hands, the ears, the feet, the fingers, the hair and so
on. All these parts of the body continue to exist even after death. Then, why don't they
move or work? Why does the body have no value? Unfortunately, man is ignorant and he
considers the body as his complete self. The body is, however, not ever lasting. It is a
composition of five elements. Once they disintegrate, the body is no more. In fact, who is
the man? Who does cause movement in this body? Which is that power due to which this body
is working? When you say : this is my hand; my head is aching; there is pain in my foot;
these are my eyes, my ears and so on - it means there is someone, who says: 'my ears' etc.
For example, when we live in a house, we do not say, "I am the house, I am the
almirah". We live within, we live inside the house. Unlike the house, we are living
beings. That is why we say : this is my house, this is the almirah, garage or drawing room
of my house. Similarly, we say: these are parts of my body. Just as 'I' is not the house,
similarly, 'I' is not the body even. Then who is this describing himself as 'I'? We must
know it, we must know the fountain-head, the source of energy that moves the body. We must
know this life force, that makes this body active, causes its movement, makes it act? What
is this life force that makes this body valuable? What is the use, if we did not recognise
the soul, recognise this God? When we know the basic truth, i.e., God, we come to know the
self also. We realise that 'I' is not this outwardly visible appearance, this body only,
'I' is infact a spirit originating and flowing from God, a ramification of divine entity.
The value of human life or importance of the human body comes from the very realisation of
this fact.
Now the question arises : How to realise God? We go to the school. We are taught a
particular subject by a teacher who is thoroughly familiar with the same and knows how to
teach it. Similarly, God-knowledge can be revealed to us only by a person who is fully
familiar with it. Only such a person can establish our relationship with God. The only
condition is that we must possess the requisite desire, the requisite will to receive the
divine knowledge. Without a strong desire for self-realisation, man may suffer from
hesitation and miss the valuable treasure. This quest is rather very essential.
The spiritual masters have repeatedly counselled man: "If you are in search of God,
if you have the desire to know God, please look for someone who knows God. Once you find
the one who is familiar with God, he will bless you with God-knowledge". Suppose you
want to learn a language, geography, history, mathematics or any other subject. There are
subjects of which even names are not known to many. There are a number of sciences, a
number of topics. But do we ever search for mathematics? Do we ever look for geography?
No. We search for a mathematics- teacher, a geography- teacher, the one who has the
knowledge of the subject. We send the child to such a person only. That is why the
spiritual masters seek to convey this basic idea, this basic principle to man; If you find
a person who is blessed with God-knowledge, you will also receive God-knowledge and thus
get rid of the cycle of births and deaths.
We admire Meera for her devotion. Did she not wander for years with Lord Krishna's picture
in her mind? But did she achieve complete realisation (of God) through this only? No. Even
though she always carried the loving image of Lord Krishna in her mind, finally she had to
approach Guru Ravidas (for the actual realisation). The divine truth which was once
revealed by Lord Krishna to Arjuna, Meera received it from Guru Ravidas. Only then she
felt fully satisfied and started singing:
SATGUR BHED BATAYA KHOLI BHARM KIWARI HO,
GHAT GHAT DIKHE ATMA, SAB HI SON NYARI HO, MOHE LAGI RAMKHUMARI HO.
There is a popular story about the great Sufi saint Bulle Shah. It is said that once he
was transplanting the onion buds. Somebody came and enquired about God-knowledge. Bulle
Shah, continuing to shift the buds from one side to the other, replied:
RAB DA KI PANA; EDHRON PUTNA TE EDHAR LANA.
It means it is quite easy to realise God. The only thing that you require is to seek the
blessings of a saint who is to detach man from the worldly wealth and attach him to the
divine truth.
There are many people who presume that realisation of God-knowledge or God is not an easy
affair. For this, they feel, one requires to pass through several lives. We have to tell
such persons: Let us agree, but is it not possible that this is the same life during which
man is to realise God? After the separation for several lives, this is the opportunity for
the reunion of soul with the Creator. Even if this soul, this being has been away from God
for several lives, their reunion does not require the same duration i.e. several lives.
Suppose a person has not taken food for a week. Do we presume that he has to go on eating
for seven days continuously to remove his appetite? A garment has been torn for one month.
Does it require full one month to stitch it? No. It does never happen like this. Given a
needle and thread, you may stitch it no time. Similarly, it takes no time for the soul to
be re-united with the super-soul, i.e., God. And this message has been reaching every
human being during every age and it is reaching him even today.
The realisation of God is quite simple and easy. The process can be completed in no time-
as soon as a spiritual master shows mercy and reveals the divine truth. Raja Janak
received God-knowledge in this way. His condition was that the process of knowing God,
understanding the difference between the truth and the falsehood, should not take more
than the time required for riding a horse, going from one stirrup to the other. When Lord
Rama approached Guru Vashishtha, he too was told that God-realisation requires very little
time, even less than the time taken to crush a flower. Once we come across the True
Master, Satguru, God realisation takes no time.
There are people who follow several kinds of (religious) practices for God-ralisation. The
desire is kindled, but the goal is the achieved. Suppose we want to increase our appetite.
Some may take lemonade, while others may use some other appetiser. Thus the appetite
increases. But suppose the meal does not arrive. The appetiser may cause pain in the
stomach or restlessness of the heart. What it means is that appetite, whether created with
the help of an appetiser or even if it is normal, does require food in both the cases. No
doubt, some people do possess the appetite, the desire to know God. They do follow the
practices like repeated recitation of the name of God, sitting close to the fire, etc. But
they do not get peace until they realise God. In other cases, people do not feel the
appetite at all. They approach the doctor, who tells them that there must be something
wrong with the liver, or the liver is enlarged and that is why they do not feel hungry.
Similarly, if you do not feel the desire to know God, you are sick; you must go in for
treatment.
Some people argue: Who does realise God in this Kalyug, the Black Age- the age of Iron?
Man gets the impression as to who can realise God now-a-days? It was possible only in the
olden ages which are gone. This brings the idea to our mind that when the very time to
know God is gone, why do we meditate now, why do we recite the words of great spiritual
masters, why do we listen to the same? If their thinking is correct, they should not
perform any worship or go on pilgrimage to any holy place. And if they are still doing so,
obviously it is to seek the blessings of the Almighty. In fact, whatever spiritual masters
have stated about God-realisation, it does not refer or relate to a particular period of
time. This is a principle that if a person does not seek alliance with God, his life goes
waste. So long as this condition is not fulfilled, the cycle of births and deaths
continues.
Methods or means have not changed with the change in times or ages. For example, since
ages, it is water that has been used to quench the thirst. Not that during those times
people would take food or put on attraction clothes and then their thirst used to be
quenched. It was quenched by drinking water only. Again, during those times, the grains
would ripen with sun-shine, germs would be killed by the heat of the sun. Whatever
functions the sun had during those ages, it is performing the same even today. Whatever
means or resources were there in the past, they continue to be the same till today. Then,
has there been any change in devotion? If humility was a part and parcel of devotion
during those days, has ego taken its place today? Has pride become the means to salvation?
No. We shall have to follow the same path, have faith in the same course even today, as
was shown by all spiritual masters who appeared in this world since olden ages and knew
God. If we adopt those principles even today, seek the benevolence of a spiritual master,
we shall definitely know the Almighty.
Some hold the opinion that man will attain the association with God, the soul will merge
with the Super-Soul, automatically. After all this body is a compound of five elements. It
is only a vessel. When it breaks, the soul will merge with God automatically. However, if
this principle were to hold good for all- that once these vessels break, the souls are
bound to merge with the Almighty- doesn't the body of a sinner decay? He may have remained
a thief, a murderer, a robber or created trouble for others throughout his life. His body
too is bound to disintegrate. Then, as per this principle, does he too merge with God
automatically? Was he not required to do any good deed during his whole life? Then, one
may commit any number of sins one likes. No. So long as this soul does not know its real
destination while dwelling in the body, it is not going to be liberated from the cycle of
births and deaths. We have an example. Suppose a person does not know English and someone
suggests that he should travel in a magnificent car and then he will learn English. He is
not going to attain the knowledge of English by travelling by car. And if we ask him to
get down and go on foot, even then he is not going to learn English. If he does not know
English, it is not going to change his position whether he sits in the car to gets down.
He will continue to remain ignorant about English. Similarly, it is the soul which is to
attain salvation; it is not the body. If the soul is ignorant, it does not attain peace
even while it dwells in the body; and it continues to wander even when it is outside the
carrier, the chariot or the body. There is only one way to get rid of this wandering, the
cycle of births and deaths and that is to realise God while human body is still there.
Some people think that truth (God) can be realised by merely talking or reading about it.
But the very mention of Truth is not going to satisfy the appetite of the human soul. When
the father takes food, it improves his health. His children must take their own food to
provide blood to their bodies. We have been hearing since childhood that nobody was able
to quench his thirst only by uttering the word 'water' repeatedly. Similarly, a boy goes
to the school and then to the college, works hard and receives the degree of M.A. And
there is his own younger brother who has never gone to the school or studied. He, however,
feels proud and says, "You see, I shall get a job within a month." But the fact
is that this degree has been obtained by his brother. It is, therefore, possible that he
may get a job. But how can you (the younger brother) hope to get a job on the basis of the
degree obtained by your elder brother? Nobody else is going to be benefited. Every
individual must go through the process personally, as laid down in the rules.
What is the process that must be adopted? What is the seeker of Truth required to do? The
only condition is that he should approach every person with the specific desire to know
God. Wherever he goes, whosoever he meets, he should express only one desire, i.e., to
know God. In case someone helps him to know God instantly, he should bow his head and
surrender. But if that person tells us to follow all kinds of religious practices instead
of bringing about our union with God, we should proceed and continue the search so long as
we do not come across the one who is capable of telling us about God, i.e., Satguru. You
must trust that God is merciful. Therefore, if you are truly interested, God Nirankar will
bless you and soon put you in touch with the spiritual master who will fulfil your desire
instantly. You should, however, not give up the quest. You must continue the search.
For the realisation of God, the urge in the mind of the seeker is as essential as the
benevolence of Satguru ( the True Master ). According to Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhans,
this urge should be comparable with the desire of a person to come out of the water, when
he is drowning, losing his breath. Such a person has only one desire and he concentrates
on it. He wants only to come out of the water, so that he can breathe freely; he wants
that his mouth should be out of the water. The way this man is feeling uneasy at this
moment, we should feel restless for this Almighty; we should have the same kind of
impatience to cross, to go out of this ocean of the world.
In fact man does not take the soul's thirst for meeting the Super Soul seriously. But when
his body needs water he goes out, calls everybody loudly and asks as to where he can find
some water. Somebody guides him and tells him that if he goes a little further and turns
right, he will find a tap, he will get water. The man goes, turns the tap but not a drop
comes out. Now will he stop there? No. He will inquire from someone else. This time, he is
told to go a furlong further, where there is another tap and where he may find water. He
goes but he does not get the water even there. Even then, will he sit back there thinking
that he has already come a long way and still found no water? No. The thirst for water
will make him restless and will continue to make him restless until he gets water. If
someone tells him to run, he will do it, do it even if there is a storm, because he is
thirsty, he is restless for the water. Similar is the case with a person who is impatient
to know God. He goes wherever he is asked to go. But if he is not satisfied, he moves
further. He must continue to make efforts and must not stop until God is revealed to him
in reality, until he understands that God is stationary, immortal, unperishable, it is
there in every particle of the universe, it is omnipresent, above destruction, above
creation and so on. Man is often found saying that he wants to know God, he has the quest,
he has the thirst. But if their thirst were real, they would not put off the search. If I
am thirsty now or I am feeling hungry at this moment, shall I say that I have no time, I
will take the food tomorrow or I will drink water the day after? No. If someone is really
hungry or thirsty, his throat will be dry after some time or he may get pain in the
stomach or feel restless. Similarly if man's hunger or thirst for the divine truth is
real, he will always step forward towards God and will never forget it.
In the absence of God, the man who seeks to realise it feels just like a fish without
water. If the desire is so strong God will definitely create a situation in which man
finds the True Master standing in front of him, who will bless him and fulfil his desire
(to realise God).
In this connection, some people think that God-knowledge need not essentially come from a
(living) person. We have so many religious books. They were written by those who had the
personal experience of knowing God. They contain all details about God. The various ways
and means (religious practices) are also mentioned. If we study them and adopt the
practices mentioned there-in, we should come to know about God ourselves. In this way, we
will not only avoid the hard labour required for going from place to place in search of a
spiritual master, but also fulfill the condition of meeting some one who has already known
God. However, the spiritual masters and holy scriptures themselves say that although there
is no doubt that the religious books are full of details about God and that they have been
written by the saints who knew God, yet it is a fact that even to appreciate what is
written we require a person who is familiar with God-knowledge. An ordinary person may be
able to read them, even learn them by heart, but not understand them. A book written by
doctors can be understood or appreciated by a doctor only. Anybody can go through the
words (terms) and the names of diseases and medicines used in a book on medical science,
but there meaning can be understood only by a doctor who knows the subject.
We are all family people. We send our children to the school. The book on Arithmetic does
not contain the sums alone; the methods to solve them are also given, solved examples are
also there. Even answers are given at the end. In spite of all this, in spite of the book
being so comprehensive, we have never told our children to learn Arithmetic by going
through the book alone. In order to learn Arithmetic and understand the Arithmetic book,
we send our children to the Arithmetic-teacher only. Similarly, in order to understand the
religious books, in order to know what is religion, we must approach some spiritual master
who is familiar with religion. In order to know God, to understand the books that speak of
God, we must go to Satguru, the one who has already known God. Even the religious books
mention that God-realisation can be attained only with the help or benevolence of Satguru.
Therefore, if we have faith in religious books and want to follow what they teach, we must
seek the blessings of Satguru.
This God, the Formless is omnipresent. There is no place where God is not present. If we
meet a holy person, receive the blessings of Satguru, God can be realised instantly, here
and now. For this, there is no need to give up normal family life, our duties and
responsibilities. Arjuna spent a number of years with Lord Krishna but all those years
were spent in ignorance. As soon as he expressed his desire and Lord Krishna considered
the moment appropriate, he revealed the Ultimate Truth to him in no time. If somebody may
suggest that we may leave home, give up all our worldly attachments and start living at a
remote, lonely place, he is mistaken. Lord Krishna blessed Arjuna with God-realisation
right on the war front, in Kurukshetra. Even if we accept that Kurukshetra here has been
referred to as field of action and not a battle-filed, even then it gets accepted that
Lord Krishna revealed the Eternal Truth to Arjuna when he was right in the field of
action. Lord Krishna did not require him to give up his action or run away from his
responsibilities before he could be shown the Ultimate Reality.
What we say is that God is present every where. We can remember it, realise it even while
performing our normal duties. Just as Arjuna could remove his misapprehensions only when
Lord Krishna removed his ignorance, blessed him with God-knowledge, revealed God to him,
explained this all-embracing and all-pervading divine spirit, similarly Meera did have the
devotion, she also worshipped Lord Krishna, but could realise God only when she approached
Guru Ravidas. Meera says :
PAYOJI MAINE RAM RATTAN DHAN PAYO,
VASTU AMOLAK DI MERE SATGURU KRIPA KARI APNAYO.
Today, here also we say the same thing. You can know this Formless, Almighty God. You can
align your soul with the Super-Soul, Nirankar. You can achieve the real purpose of human
life. What you require is only to seek the benevolence of Satguru, the one who knows God.
This is the only way, this is the only path and there is no other way, no other path.
How to recognise Satguru? He can be recognised only by the knowledge of truth, the
knowledge of God he has. A doctor is not known by his physical appearance or his dress. He
is known by the knowledge he has, by the skill he possesses. Similarly, only a person who
has studied law, who possesses the knowledge of law, is called advocate. Mere physical
appearance or black gown does not make one advocate. Similarly, we call a person saint
only if he possesses God-knowledge or knows God. The one who unites us with Truth, with
God, is Satguru.
Once we know this God, all misgivings and misapprehensions are over. The sense of
difference between our own and strangers is gone. The walls that tend to divide people as
high and low on the basis of caste, are shattered. There is no hatred, there is no malice.
This life is automatically filled with joy. And all this is possible only with the
benevolence of the True Master.