The Glance of Love

The Master in all his mercy and grace, takes on tremendous hardships and difficulties, to reach out to his disciples. He travels to different centres, with little rest or time for his own comforts. The Master does this because he loves us and because he knows how important it is for us to see him and hear his words.

Until the day we can reach the true form of the Lord within, the physical presence of the Master helps to motivate the disciple on his spiritual journey. The Master patiently repeats the same truth again and again, slowly chiselling the blocks in our minds that barricade us from the reality of our existence. And many times, words are not even necessary. Just sitting in his presence can have a profound effect:

Darshan makes an irresistible appeal to the inner being of the disciple, even when he receives no verbal instructions.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Die to Live}

It is difficult to adequately explain the nature of the experience. When we are in the physical presence of the Master, our troublesome minds, with their endless preoccupations, are suddenly at a standstill. Something inside us stirs awake and we feel a gamut of emotions - an outpouring of love and a sense of fulfilment beyond comprehension. The intensity of the experience goes beyond anything we are accustomed to. And it is an effort just to hold it all in - to channelize it inwards towards our meditation - as our Master wants us to.

No matter how hard we try to rationalize or explain it, we cannot. The effect on us is beyond words and leaves us totally overwhelmed. deep impression that it remains vivid in our hearts and minds years afterwards. Such is the effect of the Master’s darshan.

In the book In Search of the Way, the author recalls her first meeting with her Master, Maharaj Sawan Singh:

At last I arrived and there he was, impeccably dressed, an upright stately figure with a long snow-white beard and high turban and a countenance of quiet dignity, smiling into my eyes and holding out his hand, with a deep ‘Hallo’ of greeting. While he shook my hand, and I murmured a conventional reply, my mind felt as though it was metaphorically bowing at his feet. It is strange how we contain ourselves at such a time when our inner selves leap and dance for all the world like an exultant puppy greeting a much loved master after a long separation.
What magnificence was there in that face, and yet what a calm kindly dignity: the face, one might feel, of God the Father, such dependability and trust it engendered in one; a fearless eye, sometimes piercing in quality but when alighting on some fortunate person - full of gentle, caressing love.

The Master’s love for his disciples is self-evident. His objective is to pull us out of this dross, and he leaves no stone unturned in fulfilling his purpose. Even the love we feel for him is his gift to us.

You see, love always starts with the Father. Unless he pulls us from within, we can never worship or love the Father at all. Love always starts with the Master; it never starts with the disciple. The pull is always from within….
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. II}

The Master’s darshan is that nourishment that allows the seed of love to sprout and grow. He plants that seed and just as a gardener tends to his crop, the Master lovingly feeds us our soul-food. His darshan and satsang motivate us to keep meditating, to keep trying and to never give up. His every meeting, every word, every nudge is an encouragement to the disciple.

The glance of love is crystal clear and we are blessed by its light.
_{Rumi, as quoted in Hidden Music as translated by Maryam Mafi & Azima Melita Kolin}