Our Last Moment

The Saints tell us that real life begins with devotion to the Lord. A traveler was given a glimpse of this when he came upon a village graveyard. As he was going through the graveyard, he examined the birth and death dates on the headstones of those buried. He noticed that many died quite young, and was puzzled why most had such short lifespans. When the traveler asked the village elders he came across, he was told that the years carved on the headstones indicated the years of devotion to the Lord for each person, as physical years were meaningless. Only time spent in devotion to the Lord is worthy during life. Sadly, many waste their lives in superficial worldly pursuits.

What will our gravestone reflect – how many years did we devote to the Lord? True devotion requires that we shift our attention from all these outer desires to that one inner desire to go home to the Lord. This chance comes to us when we are given the gift of Nam or initiation by a perfect living Master. Initiation is the Lord’s promise to save us from this world. We need to value and make use of this gift. If we make a place in our heart for the Lord, we are left with just one desire to merge back into the Lord.

Saint Nivritti tells us:

Those who embrace the Name
  at the last moment of life –
  their home beyond awaits them.
  Those hearts in whom his presence lives,
  are done with this world.¹

Despite the sage advice in this poem, we seldom think about how to wisely use our last moment of life. We are deceiving ourselves if we think we have unlimited time in this world. In reality, we only have a few decades at most between birth and death. Most of us tend to ignore and deny that death awaits us. Yet, death is inevitable. No one can escape it. The question is, do we want our death to be an end or a beginning?

The beauty of death is that it presents an opportunity to escape from this world and go back home to the Lord. The only way to escape the illusion of this world and to attain real happiness is to devote ourselves to the Lord. The saints tell us that real life begins with devotion to the Lord. A lucky few are shown the true purpose of human birth – to return home to the Lord. Deep in our heart we know something greater awaits us beyond our existence in this world. Do we take advantage and listen to our heart’s desire calling us home to the Lord or get distracted by worldly desires?

Saints have one message for us. We can go home to the Lord. We just have to want it enough. We need to value and make use of this gift of initiation from a living Master through the practice of meditation. The Master showers us with grace and grants us the gift of spiritual salvation. He is our one true friend, who has been sent by the Lord to help us. However, our salvation depends on our willingness to accept him, and follow his guidance. We have everything to gain, and nothing to lose.

The Saints continually tell us this journey back home is possible and we are closer than we think. This simple message given by the mystics can only be realized with the help and guidance of a living Master. To reach our true home we must forge a relationship with a living Master and commit to following his instructions by turning our attention inward through meditation. Every moment in meditation is remembering the Lord. Rumi tells us:

The Sufi lives in the moment;
  tomorrow is but a mirage
  for those who walk
  on the spiritual path.²

Let us live in such a manner
  that on judgment day
  our actions, speaking for themselves,
  shall vouch for our inner selves.³

The Lord is inside all of us. Every living thing has a soul. Our soul is covered by this human body and has become a slave to the dictates of the mind. Yet, when given the gift of Nam or initiation by a perfect living Master we have the chance to go beyond the mind and go back home to the Lord. What is initiation? It is the Lord’s promise to save us from this world. We need to value and make use of this gift and not squander it!

While in this human body we have the opportunity to meet and heed the advice of a Master, a saint, an advanced soul. Even though right now we may feel trapped in our body, the body gives us the opportunity to meet a living Master, also in human form, who can take us home to the Lord. If we are lucky enough to get initiated by a living Master, we have a chance to loosen the attachments of this world, and become attached to the one thing that can save us – the Lord.

When blessed with the gift of initiation by a living Master, we are shown the way home. We are given instructions at initiation on how to meditate. By practicing daily meditation, we are advised to relax into our simran and bhajan, and the light and sound will follow. Put in effort, but relax – empty the mind, quiet your thoughts, sit in stillness, and just relax. The Master has given us everything we need to travel on this spiritual path. We are blessed and protected by the Master.

When we surrender, everything comes to us from the Master and we slowly fulfill the commitment we made at initiation. When we asked for initiation we were admitting that we need help. We can’t do this on our own. The mystics are sent here to help their marked sheep. They are here to support their disciples, not to judge them. So let go and trust him. Rumi tells us:

To share a path with a companion
  warms the heart and promises sanctuary,

But, looking more closely,
  our companion is himself the path.⁴

The Master is our companion and provides us with our spiritual salvation. But our salvation depends on our willingness to accept him, and follow his guidance. The Master is here to save us from this world, and to salvage us from this life of misery, pain and separation. He is our one true friend, who has been sent by the Lord to help us. With his grace, he pulls us out of this creation. We can go home to the Lord.

The saints assure us that we are closer than we think to God realization. Our success is assured through the guidance of a living Master sent to take this journey home to the Lord with us. Yet, the mind tries to fool us that we are far away from the goal of meeting the Lord by planting seeds of doubt in the disciple. Disciples often plead with the Master to hasten this journey, seeking reassurances that it is possible to get out of this world. The Master always tells each and every disciple that they can travel this path home by wholeheartedly putting in their very best effort every day. Once given the gift of Nam, we must be steadfast and sincere. When we make effort, we reap the reward at the time of death.

Rumi tells us:

When you are perpetually yearning
  and constantly searching for spirit,

You will, in time, conquer all obstacles.⁵

If you want to glean the mystics’ wisdom
  and learn how they’ve conquered their ego,

You need to sit with them,
  You need to keep them company.⁶

We need to sit with a mystic. What does that mean? Sit in meditation, tune in and turn inward. Close off and tame the mind. We are given instructions at initiation on how to meditate to strengthen the bond with the Lord. Often times people try their best, but feel their efforts are too little and they are not making progress.

Even when people feel like they fail, the teachings of the Saints help us put these “failures” in perspective. We are told there are no failures – they are learning experiences. If everything was wonderful we would never turn our thoughts to the Lord, or search for that real treasure inside each and every one of us. Everything outside will eventually fade and disappear. Only the effort to reach the Lord inside is our permanent treasure.

In the olden days Masters would subject their disciples to rigorous tests. A well-known test was when a Master asked his disciples to build mud platforms. Over and over he would tell each one that it was not right, to knock it down and do it over. You can imagine the frustration of doing such a repetitive task. It began to seem senseless to most of the disciples and one by one, they slowly left. Except for one disciple who repeatedly built and knocked down the mud platforms. Finally the Master asked him, why do you continue to build and destroy these platforms over and over. The disciple answered, because you told me to do it.

This simple and steadfast response is a very tangible example of faith, love and devotion demonstrated by this disciple for his Master. This disciple surrendered to his Master. Today our Master has really only given us one modern day test to perform – do your meditation. In doing so, over time we come to realize that this human body is temporary and when we go beyond the body and this physical creation, something much more beautiful and profound awaits us.

Mystics come to reveal the way home for their disciples. The living Master helps his disciples understand this spiritual path and instills in them the desire to go home. The Master is always guiding us and gives us the strength to rise above this world. Some may think it necessary to be near the Master’s physical form for such guidance, yet Legacy of Love tells us:

Some people being far away may be nearer to the Master than people nearer to him. This ’nearness’ and ‘far away’ doesn’t make any difference at all. How much love people have in their heart, that makes them near or far away – it is not the physical nearness that matters.⁷

The Master has given us everything we need to go inside on this spiritual path. We just need to let the Master take over. When we surrender to his will and let him take over we are fulfilling the commitment we made at initiation. When we asked for initiation we were admitting that we need help. We can’t do this on our own. If we are willing to embrace and cherish the one thing the Lord wants to give us, the gift of initiation, then we are able to open our heart to go back to the Lord and fulfill the one desire that counts – the desire to merge back into the Lord.

In Sant Mat we are told there are no limits. Anything is possible. If we embrace and cherish the gift of Nam given to us, then our hearts will open and our one desire to merge with the Lord will be fulfilled. That is our real and lasting treasure. Then death has no significance and no power over us. Being freed from the human body and reincarnation is a rite of passage of the soul returning to its true home with the Lord, taking us beyond death and this world.

Those who embrace the Name
  at the last moment of life –
  their home beyond awaits them.

Those hearts in whom his presence lives,
  are done with this world.⁸

Let’s seize this opportunity to merge into the shabd and soar back home to the Lord.