The Ringing Radiance

The path we follow is called Sant Mat – meaning the teaching of the saints. Some people refer to it as Surat Shabd Yoga: connecting the surat, the soul, to the audible life stream, the sound current – the power that sustains the creation. This power is an emanation from the supreme Creator and, in fact, is the Creator. It has been eloquently described as the ringing radiance. It also is, literally, our ride home. It is sound, light and power, immense and unimaginably beautiful. It is nothing other than love.

How do we know that this is true? We don’t – not mentally with our limited human cognitive faculties. We cannot comprehend or imagine the size of an atom or, at the other end of the scale, the size of the universe. So, by what means can we begin to understand this ringing radiance, this boundless, impersonal love?

At least we can begin with the assumption that we have a soul. This thing we call the soul is itself an enigma. We cannot through rational thought or any science of the physical plane prove that the soul exists. We know that we have a body and a brain. We can fairly safely assume that we have a mind, because the dratted thing can get us into all sorts of trouble. And coupled to the mind is emotion, which gets us into even more trouble – and sometimes befuddles our thinking to the point of stupidity.

But still, somehow we feel ourselves connected to the underlying unity of the creation. We sense that there is something more. Humans seem to have some sort of built-in search engine that is continuously scanning to find the source and the meaning of our existence. In a sense, therefore, this enigmatic soul is the power source of the mind and the body.

And taking that to a logical conclusion, it too must have some way of replenishing its power. After all, electricity is generated by something: coal, water, nuclear, wind, sun or whatever. So from where does the soul draw its energy? It makes sense to assume that the soul draws its strength from the power which sustains the creation. If our convoluted and limited reasoning powers are anything to go by, this can be the only source that can power the soul.

Now, if this power of creation is so powerful (which of course it must be to have brought all of creation into being), why does it not just release us from our physical bodies and our minds and take us straight back home? Well, therein lies the catch. The mystics give a very simple analogy to explain it. They say that if a silk cloth lying on top of a thorn bush is pulled off too quickly it will be ripped to shreds. It has to be unpicked, thorn by thorn. Similarly, our soul is so interwoven with mind and matter that it cannot be simply ripped out of this dark lower end of creation. At our level our little lights are just too weak to withstand the power of the majestic sound current.

The mystics, when asked why we were put in this position, do not really give us a clear answer. Not because they don’t want to, but because we would not understand it. The poem The Robe of Glory offers a kind of explanation. It tells of a prince who was sent by the king to a far-off land to fetch a pearl and bring it back to the king. The prince set forth, but then fell under the spell of that land and its ruler to such an extent that he forgot who he was and thought that he was one of the inhabitants of that place. But of course the king knew what was happening, and he sent a message to the prince to wake him up.

What is this pearl that the prince was sent to find? The mystics tell us that it is gnosis or self-knowledge. In one way this tale describes a little of what has befallen us. We had to come into the physical creation to gain a full understanding of who and what we are.

Hazur Charan Singh said in one of his discourses that man seeks the Lord because he is man’s origin, and of the same substance. Maharaj Ji goes on to say that, having separated from the Lord, the soul has become entangled by maya or illusion in the snare of attach-ment, and has taken the company of the mind. Further, the mind itself has been enslaved by the senses and worldly desires. It thus gets still more entangled, and the soul has to bear the consequences of whatever thoughts and actions emanate from the mind, because the mind and soul are tied together. The soul has to suffer pain and remain imprisoned in the jail of the physical creation.

At our level we may not really understand this. However, one thing has now happened to us, we have received a spiritual email in a sense. The computer or cell phone went ‘ping’ and there it was. Suddenly thoughts that had been simmering and percolating for years, or lifetimes, come to the surface and something in us says: Where am I, what am I? I don’t belong here. What is going on?

This is a watershed point in the journey of any soul. A kind of separation is taking place – a tiny crack has appeared in the unity of soul, mind and body. However, our little soul is still feeble. It has been asleep for so long that all its faculties are weak and it does not know how to use them. Many of us, when we awaken from a normal deep sleep, are slightly befuddled. It’s exactly the same with the soul. The alarm has woken it up, but it needs help to get moving in the right direction. It needs a teacher, a Master, to help and guide it.

There is an old Eastern saying that when the disciple is ready the guru appears. Call this grace, providence, synchronicity – whatever you will. But how do we know that this Master who appears is the right one – or even a real Master? How do we know the Master is the embodiment of Shabd? We may want to believe that he is, but we do not know for certain. Apart from a possible feeling of ‘rightness’, at first we have no way of knowing.

There is a way, however. We can initially make an assumption and say: What he says makes sense. I will follow the methodology and prove it for myself. This is where meditation comes in. The Master gives an initiation in which we learn a specific method of meditation. Gradually, through our meditation, we come to appreciate what has been given.

Those of us who have been initiated on to this path have chosen, or were chosen – it makes no difference – to accept the Master as the embodiment of the Shabd. It is quite strange to think of the Master as Shabd. He seems kind of solid when you look at him just as everything around us and even we ourselves look solid.

But we know that this is an illusion – not only because a mystic has told us this, but because science is revealing it to be so. We consist of a bunch of tiny atoms, electrons and other minute particles, whirling madly in the dance of life and by common consent creating the illusion of solidity. And all this is sustained by the creative power. Which brings us back to the audible life stream, the creator and sustainer of all creation. If this power is withdrawn, nothing can exist any longer.

We have been told that the soul has certain faculties, which are seeing and hearing, and both are required to access the audible life stream, this ringing radiance. The mind does hear echoes of the inner sound and see flashes of the light, but only the soul can experience the true beauty of the Shabd. In the physical universe we hear only the echoes, but we have to go within to know its full glory. The light and sound of Shabd are already within us. All we have to do is sit very, very still and wait and listen; then we will hear.

Part of the Sant Mat meditation is a practice called bhajan – listening to or for the sound current. The mystics say that this is what will ultimately take us back to our origin. Although we have heard that the sound and the light are always present, initially we may discern them only very faintly. As our concentration grows, these will become stronger and start pulling us within. Of course, the Master is managing this process to make sure that we can withstand the force of the power behind all creation. In fact, he may withhold some of our gains until we are strong enough to bear the real light and sound.

At the end of the day, this is really a simple path. There is soul, Master and Shabd. That is basically it. Everything else is just part of the process or even peripheral.

God? Good question. Not even the mystics try to explain what God is. All they say is he is indescribable, unknowable. And of course God cannot be irrelevant – after all, there is just the One! And if there is just one, then soul, the Master and Shabd are not separate entities. What is left then is nothing but oneness – a oneness of sound, light and love!

Before the creation the Shabd was unmanifested and nameless.… Prior to its becoming manifest, there was no sun or no moon or sky. The Shabd was formless. The Shabd, however, is consciousness. All are under its control. Nothing can manifest without its help. The Shabd is the life, the essence, the root and the quintessence of every created thing.
_{Maharaj Sawan Singh, Philosophy of the Masters, Vol. IV}