It’s All His Will

In letter number 14 of Spiritual Letters, Baba Jaimal Singh writes: “The blessing conferred by the Satguru cannot be undone by anyone. So what is left for you to worry about? You reached Sach Khand the very day you were initiated.” The gift of initiation into the path of Surat Shabd Yoga by the living Master of our time is constant and eternal. No matter if we try to deny the gift by our actions and behaviour, no matter how rarely we thank the Satguru for the gift, no matter what we do, his gift is permanent.

We are of different backgrounds, ages and personalities yet we share the most intimate relationship possible – disciple to Satguru. Our inner world is rich with light and sound even if we are not yet able to experience that joy. Sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, property and wealth are all unreal and will fade into the darkness of memory. If something is destroying our balance today, tomorrow it will become ancient history.

We are sheltered in the arms of our Satguru. We are as safe from the ills of the world as is possible. Our future is guaranteed. We can make the journey to our destination as painless as possible or we can kick and fight our way there. Baba Jaimal Singh also writes: “Believe it firmly, my son, that the creator of all worldly activities, of statecraft and everything else, is Radha Soami Ji himself. Every single thing is within his will.”

“Within his will” – our whole journey on the path is his will. What a comforting fact. All that we go through – our successes and failures in life as disciples – is all his will. Everything that happens to us is leading us closer to him. Behind the obvious dualities of life, behind what seems good or bad to us, painful or joyous, is his constant will, edging us closer to the eye centre. Merging with our beloved, becoming one with him is our destiny. This process is happening now.

But we need to be active partners in this journey. Our efforts in bhajan and simran please him. Our effort to live a positive moral life pleases him. Our role as a disciple is not a passive one but an active one. As disciples we need to be disciplined, in order to cultivate that atmosphere of gratitude which motivates us to further effort.

Baba Jaimal Singh writes: “The Guru is ready to ferry you across the ocean of the universe.… The Shabd-dhun, which is always resounding within your body, will never forsake you. Hold on to it. Have absolute faith that it will not rest until it has taken you to Sach Khand.” Our future is laid out before us. It is time to stop worrying about this and that and give our time and attention to the path. We often get confused because we think of Sach Khand as a castle in the air and not as Shabd. As long as we imagine it to be a far-off place we are trying to get to, then it will remain an unreachable goal. But if we realize that our destination is inside and already part of who we are, then it seems less distant. Shabd is as close to us as the hair on our head. We are, in fact, Shabd. Our body will turn to dust but that drop of Shabd inside us is eternal. We lose sight of the possibility of success, of contentment, because we dream of the realm of peace and quiet as a distant castle. It is here, now. It is inside us – if we would only make the effort to experience what is true instead of focusing on the temporary.

We should use our doubts to force ourselves to intensify our simran. We all have doubts. It is impossible to understand who the Satguru is and it is equally impossible to understand Shabd. We might be able to understand them intellectually, as concepts, but do we know them? Have we experienced the truth of the Satguru, of the Shabd? Until we experience them directly we will always have doubts about the truth of the path. Having doubts is a healthy thing, because our doubts can push us towards experience.

We might still feel lost in a dark forest, drowning in an ocean of dread because our karmas seem heavy and the way through them is painful and unclear. We worry about the future because we are still attached to what will happen to us, what is in store for us next. We lose sight of the big picture. There is a path through the dark and scary journey of life. It is well lit and we are walking it hand in hand with our beloved. Storms might be raging around us and in us but all is well. He is as near to us as he can be, guiding us home.

We have been given the greatest of all gifts – the Satguru. He is ours forever. Loving, alive, inside us. We will become one with him and there will be an end to our wanderings in this world and the pain of separation and loneliness will be ended by the embrace of our beloved.

Pain and pleasure, my son, are the consequences of our own actions, and the karmas from the past, the fate karmas, will certainly produce their consequences. So in pain or pleasure one should not become unduly perturbed. Fix your love in the Shabd-dhun all the time…. There is not a touch of pain in the land of Shabd-dhun.
_{Baba Jaimal Singh, Spiritual Letters}