The Master Answers

A selection of questions and answers with Maharaj Charan Singh

Q: At the time of meditation, what thoughts should we have?
A: I think we should have no thoughts at all. The purpose of meditation is to get rid of all the worldly thoughts which are bothering us day and night. We have to withdraw ourselves from all these daily thoughts. But the first question is, what is meditation? Unless we know what meditation is, we cannot know on what we have to concentrate. Meditation means withdrawing our consciousness to the eye centre and holding our attention there, then attaching ourselves to the Shabd or Nam, the sound current, which is within every one of us, and with the help of that, detaching ourselves permanently, forever, from the lower senses. That is meditation.
_{Die to Live}

Q: Life seems so painful. Why must we suffer so much?
A: You see, I don’t know our concept of suffering. Suffering is a comparative word. If our suffering can pull us towards the Father, that’s a blessing. If our suffering can keep the Lord in our heart day and night, and we have been able to tune ourselves to him, it’s a blessing. It’s not a suffering at all. It’s just a comparative word.

Kings also think they suffer. They have a whole country to rule, but still they think they are suffering. The beggar, if he gets just his bowl of rice, a little thing to eat to fill his stomach, on that day, he doesn’t think that he’s suffering. But a king, with all his possessions around him, he thinks he’s suffering, shivering in his shoes on his throne. So it just depends on your point of view, it’s just a comparative word.

Otherwise, we’re all suffering in this creation, suffering in separation from the Father. Separated from the Father, nobody can remain happy in this creation at all. Some are comfortably miserable; other people are just miserable. But we are all miserable in separation from him. We can never get peace within unless the soul goes towards the Father. Unless the soul becomes one with the Father, we can never be happy. No matter if the Lord gives us the whole creation at our feet, we can never be happy.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. I}

Q: Would you discuss obedience and the part it plays in our spiritual teachings? Many people have job conditions that require obedience of many types in their varied duties at work.
A: Obedience is another word for submission. And submission is another word for driving out the ego. When we are proud or full of ego, we do not like to submit to anybody, we do not like to be obedient to anybody. In other words, obedience means merging your will in the will of the other person. Driving your ‘self’ out of yourself and merging your will with the will of another, that is obedience.

This is the first lesson which is given to our children in our Indian homes. They must be obedient to their parents and do what the parents tell them. There is no question or reason why. They must learn to understand in life how to drive out their ego, how to respect the elders and be obedient to their wishes. Then it is for the parents to come up to that standard to demand obedience. But children are always taught to be respectful and obedient to their elders. When we go to school, we must be obedient to our teacher. We must submit our will to the teacher’s will. And we have to practise the same thing when we come on the path, which is obedience to the Master. But obedience will come only when there is love within us, for without love obedience can never come.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. III}