He Who Fills My Heart with Joy

One of the questions often asked is: How does one recognize a true master?

We have read in our literature and heard in satsangs that there are some prominent signs by which one can recognize such a saint. They come as benefactors and do not require payment from their disciples; they live off their own earnings and preach the way of the Shabd. These characteristics convince our intellect of the masters’ sincerity, and we need to satisfy our intellects before we embark upon any spiritual path or journey. However, as Maneri, a Sufi mystic, says:

It is unseemly that a novice go around weighing men of God in the scale of his feeble intellect, or should hope that he can see by his limited vision who has attained divine communion and become intimate with God!
_{The Spiritual Guide, Vol. 2}

But then, how would a seeker know that he has found his Master?

Since the Master is the human manifestation of Shabd, and we too are part of Shabd, when we meet the physical Master he seems very familiar. We may feel we have known him forever or that we have met before. In reality, at a deeper spiritual level, he is us. How can anyone be more closely connected to us? He is our own true Self. The only difference is that the physical Master is aware that his real form is that of Shabd while we are not aware of this truth.
_{Living Meditation}

The Masters or true saints are those beings who have realized God within themselves. Their souls are awake, fully energized with the Lord’s love. They are here to bring us that love in a measure that we cannot understand, given our limitations.

Ibn Khafif, another Sufi mystic, writes (as quoted in The Spiritual Guide, Vol. 2) that the seeker should look for someone “the sight of whom reminds you of God and the awe of whom will move your heart, someone who will counsel you with the tongue of deeds, not words.”

We do not know what God looks like or feels like. However, we do know that when we are with our Master, we are experiencing something that is not of this world, something that taps into the deepest recesses of our being and tells us that we are close to home.

The Master’s words come from his experience, so they have the power to convince our intellect. Similarly, we intuit that he is love personified, and so he captures our heart. Our Master tells us that we are all Shabd, that we are all drops of the ocean of God. But it is only when we feel that love, that comfort and freedom that he radiates through his being, that we actually begin to believe in the existence of God. The Sufi poet, Shirin Maghribi, writes about his Master:

With one alluring look, your eyes promise release from the discords of time for a thousand weary souls like me.
_{The Spiritual Guide, Vol. 2}

When we stand before our Master, we draw from this wellspring of bliss, according to our receptivity.

Not everybody feels the same way; not everybody feels drawn to the Master with the same intensity. But the soul who recognizes his Master will definitely be drawn to him, whether intensely or half-heartedly – the attraction and love will always be there. In fact, in the scriptures it is said that one of the surest ways to know that we have found our Master is to assess whether his presence brings joy to our heart.

One does not need hard facts and figures or convincing speeches and arguments to find a Master; all one needs is to feel that inner happiness in his presence.

In reality, it is the Master who is seeking us. We may think that we have some discretion to exercise here, but our efforts to find him and be with him will prove to be as limited as our capacity to understand him. It is our Master who draws us to himself; it is he who makes us feel secure and loved; and it is he who leaves us no choice but to strive for more of that bliss that we feel when we are with him – that bliss which he refers to as the Shabd.