Let the Light Shine Through

Go on scratching and scraping and cutting
  the stone wall that bars your way….
Rest not for second, till your very last breath arrives.
Even a worthless effort is better than sleeping.
  For the Lord loves our effort, anxiety and struggle.¹

Rumi describes a profound truth: from that our mind behaves like a thick stone wall of ego, worldly attachments, desires, and karmas that block the path of our soul – going back to God. To break through this wall of mind and ego, we need a powerful spiritual tool given to us by a true living saint – the gift of Nam. This tool is the creative power of the universe that sustains the entire creation. When we use it, by meditating daily with maximum effort and consistency, we will reach our third eye, break through the wall, and experience the bliss, love, and radiance of the Shabd, the radiant form of our Master. And we will realize that the divine trinity of God, Shabd and our soul is within the temple of our human body.

This is what Maharaj Sawan Singh means when he tells us:

The sound current is a wave of the ocean of spirituality, of which the soul is a drop. The ocean, wave, and the drop are alike in nature. All three are one. If the soul catches the current and follows it, it can reach its destination, the ocean – and, by merging itself into the ocean, can itself become the ocean.²

At initiation, our Master places his radiant form at our third eye and is aware of all our thoughts, words, and actions. He wants us to meditate and meet him there, at the eye center, so that we can experience an inner spiritual awakening and develop a spiritual relationship with him. He knows this whole process is hard work, and he feels our frustration, but he also knows that our spiritual breakthrough is right around the corner. It can happen at any moment. So he tells us not to give up, to keep meditating, because we're almost there; the Shabd is always in reach. Maharaj Jagat Singh gives us words of encouragement and guidance:

We are all the recipients of immense grace. We are born as human beings, who alone have the capacity of God-realization. We have got a true master who has granted us the boon of Nam and has come to reside permanently within the eye centre of each disciple. It is now clear that our duty is to live up to His injunctions, develop constant love and devotion, and thereby reap the reward of eternal bliss. “In the union of the soul with the Shabd is happiness; in the realization of God is bliss.”³

Here is a story about letting our inner light shine:

A father took his seven-year-old daughter who was taking singing lessons, to see a master opera singer perform in a charity concert. While seated in the concert hall, the father saw some friends in the next aisle and went to say hello to them. His daughter, meanwhile, left her seat and wandered into the backstage area, curious. As the lights dimmed, the father returned to his seat and realized his daughter was missing.

Just then the curtains opened, the spotlights illuminated the stage, and he was shocked to see his daughter standing at the microphone. She started singing the gospel song “This Little Light of Mine, I'm Gonna Let It Shine.”

At that moment, the master opera singer, looking dignified in his tuxedo, walked out onto the stage and whispered in her ear, “Don't stop, keep singing.” Hand in hand, they both sang the beautiful spiritual that starts out, “This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine…” When they finished, they looked at each other, smiled, and bowed to the audience. The audience gave them a five-minute standing ovation. What touched them was seeing this young, innocent girl making a joyful noise and the famous opera singer, master of his craft, using his powerful voice to join with the girl, not overpowering her, but blending his voice with hers in their love of song. It was magical.

Similarly, our souls sing the praises of God through our daily meditation practice. The Shabd guru, in his radiant form, responds by coming and joining us at our third eye. Together, our soul and the Shabd guru sing in one magnificent voice of love and longing that is heard and celebrated all the way to our spiritual home in Sach Khand.

Our soul, what is it? The clue is in the name: S-O-U-L. Sound of universal love. Our soul, the sound of universal love, is a drop of the divine ocean of God. And the infinite spiritual wealth of Nam – the sound current, the audible life stream – it is our birthright, our heritage. Our Master is holding our spiritual wealth in trust for us. But we are responsible for keeping our body and mind clean and ready to receive our spiritual wealth by living the Sant Mat way of life.

Living the Sant Mat way of life, with Master's grace and our effort, builds a foundation so we can now engage in cleansing our mind and body. This way of life includes four vows that we take at the time of our initiation:

1. Following a lacto-vegetarian diet. We eat food to survive, but we choose to eat consciously, compassionately, and responsibly. Our body is the temple of the living God, no more treating our body like a graveyard for dead animals. This benefits our soul by lightening our karma by not taking life.
2. Abstaining from alcoholic drinks, mind-altering drugs, and tobacco products, because these substances damage our mind, body, and soul with addiction.
3. Being a good human being, including abstaining from sexual relationships outside of marriage. Just always think positive thoughts, speak positive words, and do positive actions, and you're on the path to being a good human being.
4. Practicing meditation for two and a half hours every day.

This is how we can best serve our Master and please him: by obeying his command, which is to meditate on Nam as instructed by a true living master. According to Rumi:

Work for a few days and then laugh the rest of your life.
Why put on this bandage? Your head is all right.
First put in full effort, then surrender to his will.
Have faith in him and trust his work.
Being lazy is like sleeping among robbers.
A bird found napping is sure to be killed.
Quitting is like sleeping. Do not sleep on your way.
March on and on until you reach the gate of his home.⁴

Social media is a “look at me” industry and it wants your attention. Content creators are serving us mental junk food, processing our thinking like fast food, leaving our thoughts superficial, artificial, and empty. All the videos, podcasts, and posts are becoming the imposter voices in our head that are hard to keep quiet. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is quietly shaping and influencing our choices and actions.

However, we can take back our attention, declutter our mind, and develop clear thinking by daily meditating as instructed by a true living saint. When we do this, something magical starts to happen. The mind becomes calm when it tastes the sweet nectar of Nam. It starts enjoying meditation. It becomes our friend, our ally. It switches from FOMO – fear of missing out – by being always online, to JOMO – joy of missing out – by enjoying our time being offline.

Maharaj Sawan Singh tells us:

You ask for a message. The message is that you develop the power to withdraw your attention, at will, from the outer objects and from the physical body, and concentrate it at the eye focus. Enter the astral world, make contact with the Astral Form of the Master, become very intimate with him, make him your companion, catch the sound current, cross the mind planes, and reach your eternal spiritual home in Sach Khand so that your wanderings in the worlds of mind and matter may end. Do it now, while alive. This is the purpose of human life.⁵

In this digital world we live in now, this fast-paced world of smart phones, smart watches, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and so on, gives the mind a big advantage over us, because now it knows more of our weaknesses, fears, and insecurities. The mind experiences “seva fatigue” with our daily meditation practice – that is, it loses its enthusiasm, appreciation, gratitude, and passion. It creates mental blocks of negative self-talk, for example: “I can't meditate. I keep falling asleep. This is too hard. It's not working. I’m not seeing any results.” The mind wants us to stay in bed, roll over at the time of meditation, go back to sleep, and remain a slave of the senses. When this happens, this is the time for, positive self-talk and action. We can tell ourselves, “All meditation is good meditation. Get up, Master is waiting! Practice is progress! Effort counts, get up! Show Master we’re grateful.”

Soami Ji Maharaj gives this example of the importance of daily spiritual practice:

Tell an imperfect swimmer to swim when he is about to drown. He will not be able to swim but will sink. Whereas, if you throw one into the river who has learnt swimming from boyhood, he will not drown…. Lifelong bhajan and simran is only for this reason: that one should not forget at the time of death. Therefore, practice Nam in such a way that you do not forget it even while moving about and talking.”⁶

So, here's the question that only you can answer. At the time of your death, are you going to sink or are you going to swim? We need to stay ready, so we do not have to get ready. We do this by mastering the art of dying daily in our meditation practice and ceaseless simran so that we can make a smooth transition at the time of our death.

Here's another question. Is it possible to experience a happy death? The answer is “Yes!” A happy death is a death we are well prepared for. At the time of initiation, the Master gave us everything we need to daily prepare ourselves so that when it's time to leave the body, we are ready, we're in a state of peace and inner joy. Then we can release our connection with our body, let go of all worldly attachments, and happily go with our Master back to our spiritual home.

Remember this simple truth. If you meditate, you will die. If you don't meditate, you will die. It is best to meditate and die while living to remove the fear of death forever. Ceaseless simran is a powerful practice that we need to master. Why? Because what you do frequently becomes your frequency. Simran repeated frequently becomes the driving rhythm of your daily thoughts and actions, and it focuses the mind at the time of meditation and at the time of death.

We are created for a higher purpose. We are divinely designed for spiritual accomplishment, engineered for spiritual success. We are endowed with the seeds of spiritual greatness. We do not need to wait for the perfect moment to remember God. We can make any moment, every moment, perfect by remembering God's name through the practice of ceaseless simran because that flow of simran, the repetition of the five holy names, links us to our Master’s presence within us.

How long does it take to reach our spiritual home? That pathis not measured in time or distance. The higher we raise our vibration of love, the closer we are to our destination. We need to meditate to lose ourselves in love for God. And when we have totally immersed ourselves in God, we are there.

It is important to remember that right now, the Shabd – waves of God's unconditional love – are surging through us. His presence is alive within us and his voice is passionately calling us home. It's time to throw open the doors of our hearts and step into God's divine embrace. Together, with unwavering faith and our Master by our side, let's blaze a trail back to our spiritual home, where our soul, the essence of universal love, will merge with God forever.