Love in Action

Being with the Master is always an extremely positive and uplifting experience. The Master’s love pours out constantly and doesn’t require a trip to Dera to be experienced. But what the Dera experience does do very well is to demonstrate love in action. There cannot be a more positive, almost tangible proof of love at work than witnessing the sevadars carrying out their selfless seva for their Master at the Dera.

It is no exaggeration to say that every square metre is cared for in every detail by this endless flow of seva. We can all learn so much from the sevadars with their positive attitudes. A positive attitude will get us everywhere – but complaining about our lot will get us nowhere!

Baba Ji has said that it is well known that a disciple’s karmic account is administered by the Master – who ensures that the rate at which we pay off our karma is within our capacity to endure. In other words, it is controlled by our Master to suit each individual’s level of tolerance.

He reiterates how important it is for us to maintain a positive attitude – even in the face of adversity and grief. When asked if the karma we have to pay off is heavier or accelerated because we are initiated, Baba Ji has indicated that this could be the case. He often explains that when a disciple is not doing his or her meditation, other ways need to be found to enable the disciple to reduce the karmic load.

There are many times when we feel spiritually barren and dry. We all know the situation well. We appear not to be making any progress on the path, and it is at these times that our worldly troubles are heaviest and drag our soul downwards. The mind is quick to capitalize on these spiritual lows and, before we know it, we are compromising our faith in the path and the Master.

Many of the questions put to the Master describe this frequently experienced and rather bleak aspect of meditation. Baba Ji insists that we must avoid sitting with expectations. The golden rule that he is extremely insistent on is to just be there and do our best – and leave the rest to him. He tells us to enjoy our meditation and not to agonize about whether or not we are making progress. Our meditation should be a light and blissful experience, not heavy, dreary and depressing.

The Masters give us a remedy for dealing with the difficult times during meditation. They tell us that our Master is waiting silently within, and we need to turn to him by sitting quietly in his presence. But that alone is not enough, so they have given us a powerful, fool-proof technique for assisting us to focus on him while sitting in silence − and that is simran. This constant repetition enables us to put aside the mind’s mischief and be with him.

It’s our simran that will eventually bring our minds to stillness – stillness in which we will finally sit in silence and find our way inward. Mother Teresa wrote:

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence.

Another key aspect of the path is that our progress depends strongly on our ability to develop a personal relationship with the Master within. It is a one-on-one affair. The Master is our guide and only dependable friend, and it is through our relationship with him that our transformation comes about and we develop the faith to cope with the insecurity of the illusionary world of death and rebirth.

When we can successfully still the mind and make him the concentrated focus of our attention, we will be confident to face our karmas and be able to quell our desires. Then he will lift us to unbelievable spiritual heights. All that is required is to face towards the Father in everything we do. We must conscientiously and meticulously focus on living our lives in his will. This is love in action, and this alone will foster that all-important faith, and grow our love for the Master.

But we cannot develop this love on our own – it is a gift from the Master. In Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. II, Maharaj Charan Singh answers a question on how we get that love, saying:

Brother, practically, it comes when it comes. You do not have the power to develop it. When his grace is there, it just comes.

So love develops naturally – but not without the Master’s grace. We have to be proactive on this path and make ourselves worthy of his grace, by being serious about our spiritual practice. The Masters make it very clear that their frequent reminders to us to do our meditation are not to be confused with suggestions or advice – they are to be regarded as instructions. The sooner we realize that we have no choice but to accept this, the sooner we will take our spiritual practice seriously.

The world is transient and impermanent, and is not worth depending on for our happiness. Lasting happiness and contentment are only attainable in the spiritual realms, and these realms are the destination that we need to set our sights on. We need to turn away from the world by withdrawing our consciousness inside. To do this constantly, with sincerity and purpose, is to practise love in action.