Longing for Love

The Gravity of Matter
When we are away from the Master and we look around us we might say that every step we take on the face of the planet Earth is a step in a mighty field of power. Every step we take is influenced by the power of gravity. This field limits our ability to move – every step we take is a struggle against the gravitational force of our home planet Earth.

When we set out on a trip from point A to point B on the face of this planet we have to overcome its gravity. We must strive against this power of matter when we raise our legs; we must overcome this power just to raise our hands. And we have to overcome this power when we want to rise from the ‘dead.’

In our current state, our consciousness is scattered, drawn to the objects of the physical universe and to events that all involve the physical universe in one form or another. We are constantly focusing on matter shaped into thousands of forms, and on fears and pleasures and wishes relating to this matter. Actually, we are totally absorbed by matter in our deeds and thoughts.

But there is one action we take in which Earth’s gravity shall not stand in our way. On the contrary, this action of ours shall be greatly helped by gravitational force – namely our fall. And be it a physical fall or moral fall it results in pain and suffering. Masters tell us there are five passions raging in our hearts that block our free passage to God. They all hold us down in the field of matter, and therefore stand in the way of God-realization:

Lust is very much connected to matter. It is but another form of material gravity when the pure spiritual longing for attaining unity with the Lord is distorted and replaced by the physical longing to be one body – to unify two bodies, to multiply.

Anger: We become angry when what is happening is not in line with what we want or what we think is right. My will is connected with how this material world functions and how I would like it to function. We become angry when our attitude of ‘My will shall be done’ is frustrated, instead of feeling at peace with the attitude of ‘Thy will shall be done.’

Julian Johnson says in The Path of the Masters that while lust draws us down to the animal level, greed draws us even deeper, down to the mineral level of creation.¹ We long for things. We long for sand and stones and mortar in the form of our houses; we long for the steel and plastic of our cars; we long for precious gold and precious stones. We long for fancy food. Underlying all of these longings, however, is our simple longing to find happiness, a feeling of security, a feeling of being special. And yet all our material desires, when we become obsessed by them, pull us down from the level of human beings to the level of dead corpses and stones.

Masters tell us that the fourth passion is attachment. We are attached to concepts about all the things and people around us. These things have no reality from the higher point of view, from a higher level of consciousness. Hazur Maharaj Charan Singh used to say, “The pity is that what we see, what we feel, what we touch is not real. What we don’t see, that is real.”² In other words, we only think we know what reality looks like, and we are very much attached to our concepts about reality.

Last but not least, our egotism stands in the way of our experiencing God. It blocks our way by telling us that we are the physical body, that we are this position and that possession, that we are this house and that car, that we are this child and that spouse. But Masters tell us that we are not physical beings striving for spiritual experience – they tell us that we are spiritual beings going through the physical experience.

Gravity of Spirit
So far we have been speaking about physical gravity. But if we take Master back home with us in our hearts from Dera, then we can say that there are – thank God – other forces in play as well. Let us think about spiritual gravity now.

Now we can also say that every step we take on the face of the planet Earth is also a step in a mighty field of power. By our good luck, the gravitational force of matter is only one part of a much greater power. Mystics reveal to us that the pull of this power is far greater than the gravity of matter and of the Earth itself. This is the power of spiritual attraction.

Gravitational force pulls our body and mind in a material direction – as human beings we are bound by the laws of physics and forced to focus on living in the world of physical limitations. Yet the power of spiritual attraction is greater; it influences not only our bodies and thoughts, but it also influences our spirit – our inner being – which the Master teaches us to realize. The Master welcomes us to a totally new level of power. He welcomes us to the supremely powerful field of the Lord’s gravity. This ultimate power that created everything and sustains everything is nothing but pure love. Once we are drawn by the Lord’s grace towards his field of power – into his field of gravity – we begin to long for Love.

By the Lord’s mercy we are put in connection with a perfect living Master, whose intention is to unify us with our source, with the Lord, with love. And how does he do this? Through love. This is our great benefit, this is our consolation and this is our hope. Because love is the only force that can undo the shackles of the laws of karma. Love is so powerful that it is the only force that can overcome the gravity of matter.

How can we realize that love? Masters tell us that the main name of the game is meditation. We all know very well that there is one thing that lies heavily on any satsangi’s consciousness: breaking one of the four vows that we have taken at the time of our initiation. And at the same time, we know very well that there is only one thing in this creation that can bring us happiness and peace of mind. We all know that it is meditation practised according to the instructions given to us by our Master.

Our Father is thoughtful and very compassionate. He loves our souls even more than we love our egos. We are not yet able to perceive the intensity of love he has in his heart. It is such a great power that it is beyond our wildest dreams.

Sometimes we might feel down. Sometimes we might feel we are inadequate when we see all our shortcomings, all our weaknesses, all our sins. We see that we are not as good as we would like to be. And yet, Hazur Maharaj Charan Singh said that everything that is to happen has already happened. And we know that once the soul has been initiated by a perfect living Master there is absolutely no chance of anything going wrong. There is absolutely no chance of us ultimately, in due time, not reaching our final destination. Not because we want to be perfect, but because he wants us to become perfect. Because he wants us to go to him, dwell in him and become him.

We are living in the midst of a beautiful power, an enchanting power that flows all around us, that encompasses us, that engulfs us, that supports us. This power is our friend; it is the source of our strength. This power is at the same time both wisdom and love. So we are floating in the waves of wisdom, we are floating in the tide of love. The only thing we have to do is to realize it. How can we realize it? By letting go of the concepts and pretexts and contexts that our own mind has woven around us. We ourselves, through our minds, have designed the most effective prison there is – the prison of maya, of illusion. This prison is constructed from our thoughts, our concepts, our fears, our hopes and attachments. We are our own worst enemy until the moment we understand that we cannot gain satisfaction on this level of consciousness. We are our own worst enemy until we realize that what we consider to be ‘me’ is in fact an empty shell.

We know that what the sensual pleasures have to offer is of a very transitory nature. We know there is no sensual pleasure that can grant us what we truly seek – pleasure everlasting. Human beings are programmed to seek everlasting pleasure and everlasting security. And Masters come to our level of consciousness to show us the path leading to this very state. Masters are not interested much in the current toys that we so much long to play with – our houses, cars, fancy clothing, physical attractions and the mental games by which we try to dominate others. They have not descended to our level of consciousness just to leave us on the hook of the world. For them, we are children of the Father, and the Father is calling us to enter his court. His court is noble and illustrious beyond our imagination. Our soul is of royal blood and the Master is there to explain this to us. And not only to explain – he is here to guide our soul, he is here to help her pay her debts and go home.

And so mystics and Masters tell us how to return to the court of the Lord:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.³

We are not aware of the great treasures that lie dormant within us, so Masters have to come to explain to us how to reach those higher pleasures that lead us to the lap of the Father.

A questioner asked Master Charan Singh, “Can we experience joy in this life?” Hazur clarified the path to joy:

You see the wars, people cutting each others’ throats. Read the newspaper. Listen to the radio. What is happening? Is it joy? All the bombs, tanks and bullets are being made day and night – is it for joy? We are deceiving ourselves that we are enjoying ourselves. Constant fear of death is there. It can come from anyone at any time, at any place. Then where is that joy? It is a self-deception….

The attempt to meditate is trying to escape the misery of the world. The more you open your eyes and try to find joy outside, the more miserable you become, the more unhappy you become. We are becoming more frustrated every day…. Where is that peace which we are searching for outside? We just live in illusion and self-deception. The more we try to find peace outside, the more miserable we are becoming every day. If there is any joy, it is within us. It cannot be outside at all.⁴

To conclude, there are two fields of human life. The first field is of matter and of material being – the gravity of matter. The second field is of spirit and of spiritual being – the gravity of spirit. We are caught in the middle of two great forces: the gravity of matter and the gravity of love. Which one will become the dominant force of our life?

We know what the final outcome shall be. Not because we want it to be so, but because he wants it to be that way. He wants us to come back home. He is pulling us, he is helping us. He is there for us twenty-four hours a day. We are sentenced to success despite our worries, despite our little faith and despite our shortcomings. It is only a matter of time until we shall become part of him, when we shall unite with him in our eternal home, the palace of love. It is all question of his grace. And we should always hold in our mind that only the gravity of love can overcome the gravity of matter. And we should always hold in our mind that it shall be overcome by the gravity of the Master and his love.

Of course, we have to do our part and meditate. The more we meditate the less our Master has to suffer. We have meditate, so that for every small step or stumble we make in the right direction towards him, he can take a thousand giant leaps towards us. And therefore let us end with a last beautiful quote of Christ that goes hand in hand with what our Master tells us:

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.⁵

In almost every satsang Baba Ji conveys to us the following simple principle: We should apply ourselves and meditate. And then let the Master help us with the rest.