Given

The fundamentals in attitude, while may be correctly instilled into the novice on the spiritual path, do not take long before they are tainted with the ways and workings of the world. Meditation, a sacred and intimate space shared between Master and disciple, can often on our part be reduced to a mundane chore carried out rather reluctantly.

Perhaps on some level, we believe that the onus of the herculean task of transforming man into God lies on our feeble shoulders. Failure to observe any visible signs of progress, coupled with the innumerable ‘fleeting of time’ reminders in satsang can easily add to the pressure, leaving one with the feeling of much disappointment.

The solution to combat this mental state blatantly stares us in the face in almost all of Maharaj Charan Singh’s answers, “Attend to your meditation.” He did not say, “Do your meditation”, but attend to it.

Do you think your meditation is taking you up? Nobody’s meditation is taking him up to the Father. It’s absolutely wrong. It’s only the Lord and the Master who are uprooting us from here and taking us to that level. If anybody says, “I can reach back to the Father by my effort, by my meditation,” he’s wrong.
Everything the Lord is doing himself. What are we doing? Leaving all these things to one’s own effort, one could never go back to the Father.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Die to Live}

Clearly, given our current predicament, we lack both the capacity and the thrust to even initiate the ‘A’ of spiritual progress. The reason is obvious: we are thinkers, employed by the mind attempting to think outside of its limitations. Encapsulated within the confines of time and space, the mind can only guess at best what unfathomable elevated states of bliss lie beyond its reach.

It is critical, therefore, that the spiritual catalyst that we so badly desire must come from outside of our petty and finite parameters. The aid cannot be self-induced. It has to be given. And given by a Power that itself is not confined to the limited.

The perfect mystics are that Power. They transcend both time and space, and are the epitome of ultimate love and compassion. How immensely fortunate to come under the shelter of such a Master, where we are externally blessed with a physical mentor who offers spiritual guidance, while simultaneously we are watched over and protected from within.

Attending to meditation, as the Masters instruct, is to be present in that sanctified space. While silently bearing witness to our limitations, we learn to surrender not only the act of thinking, but eventually also the mind itself. Having become free from the burden of all thought of results, we are left emptied, ready to experience the mercy and grandeur of his love. We realize that what we once longed for, and much more, has already been given.

The Shabd is truly the essence of everything …
It is the greatest gift which can be given.
_{Tukaram, The Ceaseless Song of Devotion}