What Does It Take?

What does it take to be a good disciple? Someone asked Maharaj Charan Singh the following question: “Maharaj Ji, from a Master’s point of view, what are some of the characteristics of a good disciple?” He replied: “One who stands firm on the principles of Sant Mat and is attending to his meditation and living in the will of the Lord, naturally he’s the right type of disciple.”

It is this last requirement that might present us with some difficulties because we have never actually met the Lord, nor seen any record of his will. However, rather than leave us in the dark in this crucial area, the Lord has sent mystics and saints into this world to explain and exemplify his will.

Maharaj Jagat Singh – often referred to as Sardar Bahadur – was once described as the perfect disciple who became a true master. He had only one purpose in life: to please his Master. Sardar Bahadur’s obedience, humility and perseverance were how he demonstrated his love for his Master. These qualities completely and utterly ruled his life.

How do we, who are not perfect, go about following his example? How can we improve as disciples? What qualities can we cultivate to please him? We all understand how important it is to implicitly follow our vows taken at the time of initiation. We must be strict lacto-vegetarians. We need to completely avoid alcohol, mind-altering, dependency-creating drugs, and all tobacco and all cannabinoid products. And we must try our best to live honest, upright, moral lives.

Which leaves us with vow number four: meditation – our priority on the path of Sant Mat. It is in our approach towards meditation that we have the greatest opportunity to please our Master and become better disciples. Meditation is the route to developing obedience to his instructions, and perhaps even the beginning of submission to his will.

It’s not long after initiation that we begin to realize just what a task lies before us. Reading about meditation is one thing. Doing it – even just trying to do it – is quite another story. But the long and the short of it is that we must just show up every day – same place, same time – and give it our very best shot.

As with everything else in our lives, our best will vary from day to day. No two meditations will be the same – the vaguely good is likely to be followed by the horribly bad. But so what? Simply showing up, cheerfully and enthusiastically every morning, is often the best that we can do, and that perseverance and persistence alone demonstrate our commitment and desire to please and obey our Master.

All that the Masters want to see from us is our effort. Perhaps all they need is our effort, because that effort – no matter how pathetic it may seem to us – apparently can be used by our Master when it is needed most. And, perhaps, that bit of effort on our part allows the Master to shower us with his love and grace. The Masters look for opportunities, for excuses, to smother us in their love. Our efforts provide those opportunities.

The path of Sant Mat is a path whose ultimate goal is reunion with the Lord – with our Father in our original home, Sach Khand. It is the Shabd, God’s creative, dynamic power, that will draw the soul out of this sticky mess of karmas and attachments and take it home. Our job is to try to make conscious contact with the Shabd. We can only make this firm connection once we have reached, and entered through, the eye centre. The route to the eye centre is devotion to our Guru – Guru bhakti – manifested principally through meditation.

It is only through contact with the Shabd, the out-reaching power of God, that we can become free. It is this contact that can eliminate and loosen worldly ties and attachments, burn off karmas and take us home.

Now, we all understand that our funny little efforts are probably nowhere near enough to bring any of this about. It is Master’s grace and love that will do 99 percent of the job. But apparently our effort invokes his grace. Maharaj Charan Singh said:

When the disciple is putting in effort, the Master will not withhold his grace. The Lord is always there to help us.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. II}

The true living Master is the Shabd personified. He is God’s emissary on earth. When we try to meditate, we are trying to reach our Master’s Radiant Shabd Form, which awaits us at the eye centre. We are trying to merge into the Shabd, which will take us home. We can do this only through meditation – making it the most important activity in our lives. Not only does it allow us to try to live in the Lord’s will, but it can also move us towards the eye centre. It is vital on our path. It is what good discipleship is all about: meditation.

Sant Mat is often referred to as the path of love. Our devotion to our Master and our efforts to please him through obedience and meditation are our love-gifts. We have so little to offer. But we can offer our love, and we can keep trying to increase that love through meditation. So why not do it whole-heartedly and conscientiously every day? If we want to please our Master, be with him in thought, word and deed, then we need to attend to our meditation. That atmosphere of meditation, that peace and stillness, will then accompany us throughout the day. Constant simran will help us here – making us better disciples by helping to turn our thoughts, words and deeds towards the Master.

This is devotion to our Master: every morning getting up no matter the weather or our personal aches and pains; every morning fighting sleep and a wayward mind to try to move towards Master. This is Guru bhakti – devotion to and love for the Master. What a gift meditation is!

Meditation creates, strengthens and helps our love to grow so that it will become strong enough to take us to the eye centre, to Master’s Shabd form, and the Shabd that will eventually take us back home to God. In this, only our efforts matter. Only the effort is in our hands – the results are Master’s business. But surely, if meditation can grow our loving connection to our Master and the Shabd, making us better disciples as we struggle to persevere, then we really need to be giving it our best shot.

And what else, besides meditation, can we do to become better disciples? The Masters want us to be kind and compassionate; humble and hardworking. As Baba Ji says, just be a good human being. What other qualities would the Masters like to see?

Gratitude is high on the list, followed closely by positivity and cheerfulness. We have so much to be grateful for. We have been initiated by true Masters. We have been promised eventual release from this prison, and reunion with our Father. We have the Master’s Shabd form watching, guiding, protecting and loving us every second of every day. The example the true living Masters present to their disciples says it all. We need look no further than them for all the clarity and encouragement we might need.

No doubt we all want to be the best disciples that we can be. We know what this entails from the Master’s perspective. We must make our meditation the focal point in our lives. This involves strictly following the first three vows and approaching life kindly, humbly, patiently and gratefully.

So, let’s be joyous and relaxed as we travel this glorious path. The Lord has showered us with gifts beyond human comprehension, and as we strive to be better disciples, better human beings, we will draw closer to him, the One who will love us always, never let us down and bring us home.

A perfect disciple who became a true master, Maharaj Jagat Singh said:

Ask only for the Lord from the Lord. With the Benefactor will come all His gifts. … Why not put your hopes in – why not depend upon – the One who will be with you forever? Hold firmly onto Him.
_{In the Footsteps of the Master}