Our Invitation to Love

Shabd is the “ringing radiance,” a confluence of both sound and light, a current of divine energy that is the true form of the Master. The primary duty of a true Master is to connect souls to the Shabd and then to guide these souls back to their original home with the Lord. The very presence of saints in this world is a reassuring sign that the Lord is very much present. They are the fragrance of genuine humility, love, and compassion. Masters are sent by the Lord to awaken us from the dream of this world. Only then can the soul be freed and realize its true purpose.

Our relationship with our Master is central to our spiritual practice. Although we are told that our real Master is the Shabd, the relationship begins with the physical form. We can only fall in love with someone who is at our level in the physical form. Maharaj Charan Singh states very clearly:

We wouldn’t need a master at all if we could worship the Lord directly. But if we have not seen him, then we cannot worship the Father directly. So we need a mystic or a saint who is at our level, like us, who can influence us with his love and his devotion, who can lead us on the path which leads back to the Father.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. I}

Saints from every place and time have always tried to redirect our attention toward the inner Master. The masters tell us again and again that the happiness we seek can never be found here in this transient world of change. Saints always point us toward the inner path. The relationship between master and disciple is one of love, a love that begins with the physical form and culminates in a spiritual love that transcends all barriers. Great Master expresses it so beautifully:

The Masters become a bridge for us to cross. By loving a perfect Master, our soul eventually comes to love the formless and indescribable one and only God.
_{Legacy of Love}

The physical form of the Master holds the key to our connection to the Lord and the Shabd within. This living, physical form is essential for our soul’s journey to its true home. We need a teacher, someone we can see and hear, someone in whom we can develop faith, and from whom we can learn the love and devotion that will ultimately connect us to the Shabd and lead us back to the Father. We can begin any discussion of the physical form of the Master and before we know it, we are talking about the Shabd.

Love and devotion for the Shabd within may seem wildly beyond our reach. But the Master gives us the method of meditation and the tools of simran and bhajan along with the guardrails of a lacto-vegetarian diet, abstinence from alcohol and drugs, and the high ideals of a moral life, all of which support the fourth vow of our daily meditation. Most important, he gives us the grace to try, to keep meditating to achieve the goal of going home to the Lord. That is the ultimate miracle.

Always, we come back to meditation, the answer to almost any question put to the Master, whether spiritual or worldly. It seems that virtually any human situation, no matter how difficult, can be better addressed when we are drawing on the resources of meditation. While many disciples often struggle in meditation, we are told by the saints it is the only way to focus the attention at the eye centre, wrestling with a mind that is bound and determined not to be tamed. In spite of this inherent struggle, meditation is what the Master has asked us to do. In Legacy of Love, Hazur Maharaj Charan Singh emphasizes its importance when he tells us: “The best gift you can give your Master is the gift of meditation. Nothing else matters.”

Through meditation, he is opening our hearts to the grace that is perpetually raining down on us, showering his blessings, and moulding our receptivity. We can only marvel at the range and reach of his grace. It is the Master who plants the seed of love in the heart of the disciple. The Master then nourishes this seed of love, creating the disciple’s desire and will to connect with the presence of the divine. Our meditation is essential to create the conduit with which to receive his help and grace.

Among the many gifts that spring from grace is love, the very essence of spirituality. Great Master writes in Dawn of Light:

The single most important factor in developing spirituality is the cultivation of love for the true Beloved…. By the currents of love the entire atmosphere is charged with joy, and the spark of God’s light is visible in love. Love, indeed, represents the very essence of God…. Love charges the soul with an inconceivable energy to fly to the Beloved. That is why love is considered the be-all and end-all of true spirituality….

How can we cultivate love? The true Master is the embodiment of love. Love comes as grace from him. The Master may bestow this gift on anyone he likes. Why, when, where, and how to bestow this gift depends solely upon the will of the Master.

The second way of cultivating love is by practising the spiritual discipline of simran, dhyan and bhajan, as enjoined by the Master. The more devotedly we attend to our spiritual practices, the nearer we come to Shabd or Nam, which is another name for love.

The Master has the exclusive power to grant this gift of love at any time, to anyone to whom he wishes to award it. His grace is infinite and can reach across vast oceans. The second way of cultivating love – by accepting the invitation to meditate – is also his gift and grace. It is a standing invitation, available to us at any time, regardless of our starting point. His love is the beginning and end of the journey.

Meditation is the ultimate way to show our love and devotion for the Master. Meditation is the only way out of this vast prison of birth and death. Meditation is the only way for the soul to return to its home. Meditation is the only way to realize the Shabd, which is the entire purpose of life itself. As Hazur Maharaj Ji tells us:

Our real master is shabd, that holy ghost, that spirit, that logos or word which is within every one of us. That is the real master.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. I}