From His Point of View

If you were to put on a pair of glasses with green tinted lenses, what would you see? Everything would be green.

Our outlook towards life is based on how we perceive things. We look at life from different perspectives. Most of the time, we look at any given situation from our own point of view.

The tenth-century Sufi mystic Sheikh Abu Saeed, who was spoken of as “Nobody, Son of Nobody,” said: “Under this cloak is nothing but God. Introduce me as ‘Nobody, Son of Nobody’.”

When Sheikh Abu Saeed was ready for his final journey to the realm of the Beloved, he said to his disciples in his last sermon:

My last advice to you is, do not forget God, not even for a moment. Know that during my time, I did not invite you to myself. I declared that in reality we do not exist. I say that He exists and that is sufficient. He created us for non-being. Remember that a hundred years of praying is not worth as much as making a heart happy. Walk the path of God and see everything from His point of view. Look at the created beings from the Creator’s eyes.
_{Nobody, Son of Nobody, Renditions by Vraje Abramian}

How beautiful is this Master’s advice to his disciples; not to forget God – not even for a moment – and to look at everything from his point of view. What is his point of view? How does the Creator look at everything? The first answer that comes to the mind is with love. The Father is all love, all mercy and all forgiveness.

We, being the children of the Creator, should learn to be like him and imbibe his qualities. Sheikh Abu Saeed says to look at all created beings from the Creator’s eyes, with love pouring out of us towards all beings, towards the whole creation.

Christ taught the same to his disciples. The greatest commandment laid down in the Bible is: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” And the second commandment is: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

The eyes of the saints or masters speak volumes. From their eyes pour out an infinite ocean of mercy and forgiveness. Looking at the creation from their point of view is possible only when we develop a broader perspective in life. If we broaden our perspective to see beyond ourselves, we grow. It is about being a person of a spiritual mindset, enabling us to embrace beautiful virtues. Shifting our way of thinking from one level to another gives us a better understanding of others and greater empathy. It reduces negative thoughts, bias and judgment towards others.

Our Father is all forgiving. We, too, should adopt this same magnificent quality. Like our Father, we should learn to look up to others, see their positivity, focus on their strengths and uplift our fellow beings, having confidence in them, just like our Father has confidence in us.

When a true master looks at his disciples, he sees potential. Saints believe in us. This word ‘potential’ means having the capacity to develop into something in the future. He sees that energy within us and he believes in us. He has confidence in us but we lose confidence in ourselves. This is where our self-worth is critical.

We must understand that we are his children and he is our heavenly Father, but how can we know and experience this? By building a strong connection with the Lord through our meditation practice. Only through meditation can we become aware of our true potential.

When we start looking at others from the Lord’s perspective, we will realize that every one of us has that potential, every one of us has that energy within. A true master looks at every being as a beautiful drop of the divine ocean. This very drop is no different from the ocean itself. When he looks at us, he sees divinity.

There’s a profound quote by the thirteenth-century Persian poet Rumi (as quoted in Words of Wisdom): “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in the drop.”

Normally we tend to think of ourselves as just a speck in the big picture, but this quote by Rumi flips that. Each one of us individually is abundant.

True masters come to remind us of our true self. When a true master looks at his disciples, he sees nothing but love.

Once I was bathed in the Light of Truth within,
I abandoned all planning and scheming.
If you, too, seek this transcendence,
leave your lower self – then from head to foot
you will see your whole being as God’s refulgence.
_{Sarmad, Martyr to Love Divine}

Hazur Maharaj Charan Singh has explained that it is only through our meditation practice that we can fill ourselves with that Shabd, that creative power, that love. It is only when we tune in to this energy – this power of love – that our soul is charged with an inconceivable energy capable of soaring through the inner skies to the Beloved. That is why love is considered the be-all and end-all of true spirituality. Such will be our vision too, when we go within and seek the truth. Not only will our perspective be broadened but our whole being will be filled with love. When we put on glasses tinted with love, all we will see around us will be love, love and more love.

The single most important factor in developing spirituality is the cultivation of love for the true Beloved. It is hard to explain what love is. It is a pure and delicate feeling or emotion which can be experienced only by one who is in love. It is beyond the capacity of the tongue or pen to describe it.
_{Maharaj Sawan Singh, Dawn of Light}

Giving time to our meditation is like accepting our Master’s invitation to play the game of love – provided we actually ‘play the game’, by making an honest and sincere effort. The masters have explained that in this game we cannot lose.

As Saint Paltu once said: “In the game of love, I cannot lose; if I win, I get you, and if I lose, you get me.” So let us play this game of love with our Beloved. Falling in love with the Divine by keeping the company of saints, attending satsang, doing seva and most importantly attending to our meditation will change our whole perspective of life. We will slowly, but surely, start to look at things very differently and take the advice given by Sheikh Abu Saeed:

Do not forget God, not even for a moment….
Walk the path of God and see everything from his point of view.
Look at the created beings from the Creator’s eyes.