The Promise

O Master, I have promised
To serve thee to the end;
Be thou for ever near me,
My Master and my friend:
I shall not fear the battle
If thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway
If thou wilt be my guide.

O let me feel thee near me:
The world is ever near;
I see the sights that dazzle,
The tempting sounds I hear;
My foes are ever near me,
Around me and within;
But, Master, draw thou nearer,
And shield my soul from sin.

O let me hear thee speaking
In accents clear and still,
Above the storms of passion,
The murmurs of self-will;
O speak to reassure me,
To hasten or control;
O speak, and make me listen,
Thou guardian of my soul.

O Master, thou hast promised
To all who follow thee,
That where thou art in glory
There shall thy servant be …
O guide me, call me, draw me,
Uphold me to the end;
And then at last receive me,
My Saviour and my friend.
_{John Bode}

The beautiful hymn The Promise was one we used to sing when I was at school over forty years ago. It is written by a Christian, John Bode, and continues to be sung in churches even today. I’ve always been drawn to it because in reflecting a disciple’s feelings for his Master, it summarizes our feelings for Baba Ji. So, whilst the hymn was originally addressed to Jesus, from a Sant Mat perspective it can be interpreted as a prayer from a satsangi to his Master.

In the first verse, the disciple pledges to serve his Master “to the end”. This is like us at the time of initiation promising the Master that we will practise our meditation for our whole life. This is our way of serving him to the end. In the hymn, the disciple refers to the Master as a “friend” and, quite beautifully, beseeches him for his continual presence and guidance - “Be thou for ever near me” and “be my guide”. With the Master by his side, the disciple feels that he will not be afraid of the struggles that life may present or take the wrong course of action. Similarly, upon initiation, as our soul becomes connected with the sound current, and the astral form of the Master is now with us always, we too feel that life holds no fear. BabaJi makes it clear, however, that the Shabd is present within all of us and therefore, as long as the Lord is in our heart, initiated or not, none of us need fear anything.

In the second verse, the disciple conveys awareness of his weaknesses and acknowledges that these cannot be overcome without the protection of his Master. He implores the Master to let him feel his presence so that he may not succumb to the temptations of the world. Very succinctly, this verse encapsulates our plight, our awakening, and our need for the Master.

Like the disciple in the hymn, we are beginning to realize that the so-called pleasures of the world are an illusion - transitory, shallow, devoid of substance and meaning. Despite this awareness, most of us continue to let ourselves be drawn by maya. We become engrossed in the thrills and excitement until eventually we end up deflated and miserable as the very same pleasures turn into a source of suffering. We also have the five passions to contend with, referred to as “foes”. Being within us, they are always present and, whilst we may make some progress in trying to overcome them, we will never be rid of them completely until we reach a certain level of spiritual maturity.

In the third verse, the essence of the hymn, the disciple begs the Master to speak to him. Each time we sit in bhajan, we too are begging the Master to speak to us through the sound current. Like the disciple, sometimes we are desperate to hear the sound because we need reassurance that we’re headed in the right direction. We may reach a point in our spiritual journey when we feel as if we’re in a void, a desert, in which the bright lights of the world no longer really interest us, yet neither have we experienced the ecstasy associated with reaching a stage of super-consciousness.

The disciple also continues with the theme of the previous verse. He addresses the Master as the “guardian of my soul” and begs him to “speak, and make me listen”. Masters promise to look after the souls of all those they have initiated, and so the disciple, anxious about his weaknesses and limited self-control, urges the Master to “make” him listen. This sounds very similar to the requests we make to Baba Ji for grace to enable us to practise meditation. However, Baba Ji will only be in a position to “make” us listen to the sound current if we actually sit down for simran and bhajan.

In the final verse, the disciple refers to the Master as his “Saviour”. Similarly, we are aware that we cannot escape the cycle of birth and death without a living Master. In the hymn, the disciple reminds the Master that he has promised to take all his followers home. So, in this vein, the disciple makes a final plea, urging the Master to offer his guidance and protection until life’s end, when they can be joined together forever.

We don’t need to remind our Master about his promise; he is more anxious to see us home than we are to get there. So, like the disciple, we should pray (through our meditation) that we never forget the Master, that we feel his presence in us and all around us throughout the day. The Master has promised that he will stay by our side for as long as it takes for him to receive us in Sach Khand.

Even before we are able to travel on the inner path, the very association with or company of a mystic makes us feel relaxed and happy. A man with eyes enjoys both the beauty and the fragrance of a flower, but even a blind man can enjoy the fragrance of a flower. Before we make progress on the spiritual path we are all spiritually blind, but even then we can enjoy the spiritual fragrance of the Master. When our inner eye is opened through the technique given to us by the Master at the time of initiation, we too can enjoy the beauty of those spiritual experiences within.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Light on Saint John}