Our Wonderful Life

Probably we have all met many wonderful people in our lives. We may think members of our family, our friends, our partners or our teachers are wonderful, and it will have been our pleasure and privilege to have known them. The sad thing about all of these wonderful associations is that they cannot last forever, and no matter how wonderful the person, there is no guarantee that he or she will be there for us when we need them the most. Work, illness, accidents and death all have a nasty way of intervening when we need help. Human frailties and destiny also mean that even when we promise to be faithful, constant and true, it may not always be possible. Worldly relationships are something of a roller coaster – up and down, full of highs and lows. And of course no one can be with us as we go through death.

As initiates we are fortunate to have been graced with a non-worldly relationship with a purely spiritual being. We have received immeasurable grace from the Lord himself, allowing us to have heard of, read about, seen, met and even been initiated by a perfect Master. And for all of us, without exception, whether we understand and appreciate the gift fully or not, life is indeed wonderful because he is in the world; because he is in our world. He, the perfect Master, will always be there for us. He is not troubled by human imperfections and frailties. He is constant, true and faithful. His love, which is perfect, never wavers. His compassion never wanes. His Shabd form never ever leaves us, even when his physical body leaves this physical level of creation. What a wonderful world this has become for us, because of his presence. Our world has become a haven of love and security because he is in it – and of all our associates, he alone will accompany us through death and into whatever it is that awaits us.

Let us pause here for a moment and think back on our lives before we heard about a perfect Master, learnt about his teachings and received his gift of initiation. Doesn’t knowing about karma, destiny and reincarnation make life’s knocks easier to cope with? Before we started to learn about the philosophy of our path, the inequalities of the world, with its changing faces and its darkness, may have been difficult for many of us to deal with. Now at least we have a vague glimmering of understanding, which makes acceptance just a little easier. The knocks are still there, but perhaps less overwhelming.

Remember our lives before we were taught the five names. Remember back to the pre-simran days – to the days before meditation! Meditation may be the most difficult and frustrating task that we have ever been given to do – but who would be without it? Would any of us ever give it up? Would anyone give up those chances of being alone with our Master, no matter how fraught they sometimes are? Would anyone step off that glorious road that leads to his Radiant Form?

How bleak and scary the world was before we had our direct line to our Master through simran. We may not hear his replies to our calls, but we do know, deep down, that he hears us and responds. This is a wonderful comfort and security, a safe haven we can always access – because he has given us his gift of meditation and simran, to use throughout the day and night, every day, for the rest of our lives. That direct line is always open to us.

However, it’s mostly the knowing that he himself is in our world that has changed our lives so much for the better. What were our lives like before he called us; before he accepted us and before he promised to take us home? What were our lives like before we began to understand and accept who he is and to know that we sit in the palm of his hand from which no man may pluck us? Remember back to those directionless, pleasure-seeking, lonely days and then remember to give never-ending thanks for his divine presence and all that his presence implies.

Our lives are wonderful because of him, because of who he is and what he is doing for us. In The Odes of Solomon it says:

O what a greatness
that came down into bondage!
O unspeakable liberty
brought into slavery by us!
O incomprehensible glory
that is come unto us!

The Master is in our lives, and he is in this world for one main purpose, namely, to take certain marked souls out of the creation and reunite them with their heavenly Father. Were it not for this task, this perfected being would not be here interacting with us at our low level of existence. He would be in bliss in Sach Khand. We can have no idea what he must sacrifice to be here. We can have no idea of the love he must feel for his Father and for us. Isn’t it just extraordinary, mind-boggling in fact, to think that such a one has come into our lives and claimed us?

The Master provides us with the role model of perfection, and shows us what we can aspire to. He brings his light and his love into this world, whether the world perceives it or not. What on earth would our lives be like without him? It doesn’t really bear thinking about, does it? And we have no real clue about what all of this actually means. We have no real understanding of who he is and what it is, exactly, that he is doing for us. But do we know that we want him in our lives and to keep doing whatever it is that he is doing.

The Master lovingly protects and guides us at every step of our journey. He manages everything to make it possible for us to leave this level of creation forever. At the time of death it will be our loving and compassionate Master who will take control of our soul and send it on to its next destination. Maharaj Charan Singh says in Quest for Light:

Every initiate is being looked after by the Master and whatever comes to such a one, whether good or bad from the disciple’s limited point of view, is all within the knowledge of the Master and is for the disciple’s own good. The Lord has His own hand of protection on all those whom He has drawn to the path. Whatever pain, suffering, fear, unhappiness and whatever else such a disciple faces is all the settlement of his karmic accounts, which means the lightening of his burden.

So all of this is what it means to have a perfect Master in our lives. Isn’t that wonderful?

My Master has sown in my heart
the jasmine of God’s Name.
He has taught me how to captivate
the heart of my charming Beloved.
He keeps me in his thoughts eternally.
He makes me do his will.
He himself grants me his wisdom, O Bahu.
He moulds me into his own real Self
_{Sultan Bahu}