Our Life Support System

Time and again we have heard in spiritual discourses phrases such as make meditation the most important thing in our lives or meditation is our life support system. These fundamentals of Sant Mat that the Master imparts to us during his visits make us realize the lack of attention that we are giving to the path.

If the Master refers to meditation as our life support system, this implies that our lives depend on this. Just as a patient who can’t breathe on his own depends on respiratory machines, the Shabd sustains us in this creation. But most importantly, meditation is the link that allows us to be connected to the creator whilst we enjoy his creation.

The first step is to acknowledge how vital this meditation process is for our existence. In order to realize this, all we have to do is to take a look at our Master. To get to his stage, he too must have made meditation the most important thing in his life. If we want to achieve any goal in life, we must give it priority. If our goal is to get to the top of spirituality, that is, Sach Khand, it is fundamental to give priority to the daily practice of meditation.

The curious thing is that we sometimes think that meditation is something imposed on us as a daily punishment. However, this is a requirement entirely for our benefit, in which we are re-establishing our link with the Lord. Not only does it help us to go back to our home, but it also provides us with the support to live life with peace and stability. The energy derived from the Shabd allows us to ferry across the sea of life without drowning in the waves of our karmas.

This contact that we can make with the Shabd through our daily practice helps us to get to our ultimate goal – to reunite with the divine. This was the reason that we came on to the path. This was the reason we wanted to dedicate our life to the spiritual practice.

Let us now do some self-analysis. Do we still want to attain that objective? If we do, are our actions in accordance with what our aim is? If we wish to be a pianist, we must give regular time to practise playing the piano. If we waste time in other activities and do not practise playing the piano, then our actions defeat our goal. The same can be applied to the practice of meditation. We can’t fool ourselves into believing that we are serious on the path without doing what we are asked to do.

Our link on the path is the Master – he is our contact. In the outside world we look for contacts that can help our jobs to be carried out efficiently. We, lucky souls, have an inner contact who does not require anything other than our meditation. And that too so that we can be successful in what we chose as our goal. We just have to make him happy by carrying out our task in the best possible way. That is making meditation the most important thing in our lives, and by moulding our lives in accordance with this.

So let us stop and contemplate on the lifestyles we are living. Are they reflecting what the Master wants for us or what we want? Are we living according to what society demands from us or following what the Master expects from us? Let us set our priorities right and recognize that meditation is our life support system; let us make it our top priority and craft our daily engagements according to this so that we can please our Master, experience the Shabd within and reach our goal.