The Master Answers

A selection of question and answers with Maharaj Charan Singh

Q: Every day we find ourselves faced with different situations. Should we just accept them as part of our karmic debt from past lives? And should we pay that debt now?
A: Well, sister, if you can know whether you have sown a seed, then you will be prepared to bear its fruit. But you do not know whether you are sowing a seed or whether you are going through what you have done in the past. You don’t know at all. So do your best, thinking of every action as a sowing of a seed. Because at this stage you do not know – you cannot say whether you are sowing a seed or whether you have sown the seed in the past and are reaping the harvest now. So you do your best.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. III}

Q: When a body is dead, if we say some prayers so that the soul may hear it, and to help the soul, does the soul hear us?
A: No, the soul does not hear our prayer. These prayers are said for the benefit of the bereaved ones. All that we do is to console those people whose relatives or friends have left them. Practically, we can do nothing for the departed soul. It has to answer for its own karma. All the ceremonies, prayers and things that we do after anybody dies are, in fact, to console the survivors and ourselves, and not that departed soul. We do not help the dead at all. His or her karma will take care of that. Generally when we pray for the dead, I think we are really praying for ourselves to be able to bear our loss and separation. We do not help the departed at all.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. II}

Q: Master, when we get to Par Brahm, are we alone with you or are there lots of other souls around?
A: You have no association with anybody there. If you are conscious of karmas with others, you will not be there – you will not be able to go to that level of consciousness at all. You’re concerned only with your Master, not with any other soul. And you are not attached to anybody. Concern is just here; attachment is just here. That is why we are not there. When we are there, we are not here. These attachments do not exist when we are there.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. II}

Q: Would you advise satsangis to continue family religious practices?
A: We are part of society, we are part of a certain chain, and we don’t want to look abnormal. If our family traditions demand our presence, say in a church or some family gathering, then what is the harm? Don’t we go to the movies and to the theatre? We shouldn’t be narrow-minded. If our duties and our family obligations demand it, there is no harm in doing it. As long as we are firm in our meditation, firm in the principles of Sant Mat on which we have to base our meditation, there’s no harm in going anywhere. We must be very open-minded. We may even get something good from going to a church or temple. If it pleases other family members, what is the harm in accompanying them? We shouldn’t be fanatical about these things. We must be open-minded and face the reality of life.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. II}