Part IV
A Spiritual Bouquet
Points selected from Sardar Bahadur Maharaj Jagat Singh’s private and public talks
1. One does not become a satsangi simply by being initiated. One must mould his life in accordance with the principles of satsang. Every thought, speech and action must conform to them. Actions speak louder than words. Thoughts are even more potent. A satsangi’s daily conduct must bear the hallmark of excellence and must reveal that he is the follower of a true Master.
2. An ounce of practice is better than a ton of knowledge. What use is it to know the principles if one does not live them? A learned person without practice is no better than a beast of burden carrying a load of books on its back. It is infinitely better to practise than to preach.
Example is better than precept. Ravana, the king of Lanka, was not only a learned scholar but was also the best commentator on the Vedas. His actions, however, belied his great erudition, for he stooped down to kidnapping the wife of another and suffered the decimation of his entire race as a consequence.
3. A pure heart is most essential for spiritual progress. You cannot expect a king to enter a filthy cabin. Even a dog does not sit in an unclean place. How can you expect God to enter a heart that is full of the passions of lust, anger, greed, attachment and pride or egotism?
4. Our body is the temple of the living God. It must not be polluted with the intake of meat, eggs, alcoholic drinks, etc. Nor must falsehood, lust, anger, avarice, hatred, pride, vanity, egotism and worldly attachments be allowed to have their sway. They must be swept clear to make it fit for His residence.
5. Never hurt the feelings of anyone. This is a sin which even God Himself does not pardon, because it cuts at the very root of spirituality. We should not thrust our views on others. An attitude of humility should be adopted and we should always speak kindly. Sheikh Farid, the great Muslim mystic says:
Farid! If thou longest to see the Beloved,
Never hurt the feelings of any man.1If people give thee fist blows,
Do not thou beat them in return.
Rather kiss their feet
And take thou thy way home.2
6. Our inward path is infested with robbers, but the worst is the opposite sex. This chetan maya cheats by becoming sweet. Beware of this great danger. When the thought of the opposite sex comes into the mind, immediately stand at attention like a soldier. You do this by drawing your attention instantly to the eye focus and concealing yourself behind the Master’s form. Shut yourself in that cabin. This is taking the attitude of standing at attention in the spiritual way. Face the mind with courage and steadfastness. Do not lay down your arms before it. You never can win by prostrating yourself before an enemy. Give the mind a good slap in the face.
7. Cowards never conquer. Sant Mat is the path of the valiant. They come into the field of battle with their ‘heads on their palms’, as an offering to the beloved Lord. No sacrifice is too great to win the fort (the palace of the Beloved).
Sohni loved Mahiwal, who lived by a river. She used to swim across on an earthen vessel to meet him. Once the vessel was replaced by an unbaked one and the river was in spate. She knew well that crossing would mean certain death, but she did not retrace her footsteps. She smilingly laid down her life at the altar of love. In our love for the Lord, we should emulate this dauntless woman. Be steadfast in your meditation. Persevere with it and do not give up as soon as there is the slightest pain in the limbs. This latter is, in fact, a sign of withdrawal of the soul current from the (tomb of the) body which you so much adorn.
8. If you wish to tread the path of the Master, be prepared to surrender your body, mind and possessions. Still your desires, give up attachment and be prepared to suffer taunts and ridicule. If you cannot bring yourself up to these ideals, you can hardly expect to succeed. Remember! You do not and cannot get anything in the world without having to pay the full price for it. It is only a fool who tries to get something for nothing. Even a person who imagines he has succeeded has actually run into a new debt. So long as he owes even a farthing on this planet, he must return to make the payment. Not even a single grain that inadvertently enters your granary from a neighbour’s field can go unaccounted. You simply must pay for what you get. The law is inviolable and it cannot be set aside. The payment may be either in kind or in coin or by transfer of an equivalent good karma, but payment there must be.
There is no gain without pain. The price of pleasure is pain. Gold you must dig out of a mine and for pearls you dive into a deep sea. No child is born without labour. What sacrifices does a man not make to achieve his objects of love? Then how do you expect to realize the Lord without paying the proper price for it? You have to work hard and incessantly. You have to eat less, speak less and sleep less. You have virtually to shun society and glamour. You have to humble your mind and you must control your senses. All other desires must vanish and only the desire for God-realization must remain. There is no room for two in this narrow lane. There is place only for one, either God or mammon. If you want to realize Him, you have to give up everything else. If you cannot do this, then simply give up the pursuit. Do not talk any more of the Lord or of His love. You cannot deceive or defraud the Lord. You deceive no one but yourself.
9. The secret of success in the path is ‘bhajan, more bhajan, and still more bhajan’ (practice, more practice and still more practice).
With bhajan only for three hours, the scale will always weigh heavily on the worldly side. You ought to become wholly and solely God-minded. Throughout the day, no matter in what occupation you are engaged, the soul and the mind must constantly look up to Him at the eye centre. All the twenty-four hours of the day there must be a yearning to meet the Lord, a continuous pang of separation from Him. Nay, every moment, whether eating, drinking, walking, awake or asleep you must have His Name on your lips and His form before your eyes.
For the past countless ages we have been separated from Him and have been wantonly wandering out. We have been so much chained and dragged by the mind and illusion that we have completely forgotten the Lord and our divine origin. We need a complete reorientation. We must tell our mind that in thousands of lives have we acted according to its behests and now we are determined to dedicate this life to God and God alone. Every spare moment must go to bhajan. Now all our time must be His.
10. A young sadhu is like a young widow. Both should live in a fortress. Your fort is your Guru. Always remain under his protection. Never step out of his commandments and always remain within the four walls of his teachings. Make him your rock of refuge and your only sheet anchor. No harm will then befall you. Within that fortress you should build a tower of safety for your residence. Its four walls would be (1) silence; (2) eating only a small amount of food; (3) wakefulness; (4) solitude.
- Silence : Much physical and spiritual energy is dissipated by talking. Silence is golden. Speak as little as possible. Open your lips only when it is most necessary. And when you must speak, do so in the most kind and gentle manner. Never lose your temper over anything. You are not running this world. Leave that to Him whose function it is to do so. If a person behaves in a stupid fashion, you need not copy him nor adopt his ways. Always keep your tongue (the two-edged sword) under control.
- Eating only a small amount of food : This also relates
to the tongue. We eat much more than we require, because it appeals to
the palate. One should eat only as much as is necessary to keep body and
soul together. We should eat only enough to live in devotion, and not
live to eat, as some people seem to think. A man becomes an angel by
eating less, and a beast by eating more. Too much eating and sleeping
keep one away from the door of the Lord. Indulgence in these two
activities clouds the inner vision.
Keep thy stomach empty,
That God may fill thee with His love.
Shut your mouth,
That God may open your eyes. - Wakefulness : Sleep also is correlated to eating. Overeating always makes one feel sleepy. It makes one sluggish. The less we sleep, the more spiritual progress we can make. We do not need so much sleep as we usually have. A few hours sleep every night is quite sufficient. It leads to inner progress.
- Solitude (living alone as much as possible) : To be alone as much as possible is essential for a spiritual seeker. Mixing with people brings us down to the path of the mind. It is the path of the Master which we seek to follow. “Cease from man and look above thee.”
11. A satsangi complained of falling asleep during meditation. The Master said: “A practitioner (sadhak) should take advantage of the time when sleep overtakes him. At that time the tendency of the mind and senses is naturally towards the eye centre. So, welcome this sleepy feeling, but do not fall asleep. At the time of meditation you may feel sleepy, but should avoid sleep. Keep awake and fully conscious. Take advantage of this natural tendency of the mind and senses at this time and sit in your eye focus. This state of ‘waking sleep’ is a blissful state. Practise it for some days and you will find how it helps towards your inner ascent. But care should be taken that you neither fall asleep nor fully wake up. In this state, the mind often becomes one with the universal mind and sees many visions and sights.”
Do not sleep during or immediately after bhajan.
12. To one who had recently retired on pension, the Master said: “You should look upon this day as your most lucky day. You have played your game well. All your worldly duties have finished. Now you should do something for yourself. Up to this time, you have been doing others’ work. Now do your own. All desires and worldly cravings should be turned out from your mind. Tell your mind that you have finished your game in the world and now God’s inning begins. Take your mind out from family, children, houses, property, wealth, honour, country and all connections with the world. Bring your mind to such a state that the existence or non-existence of these things may have no effect on you. Now give all your thought, attention and time to God and God alone. Become His now. Cleanse your mind of everything else. Think day and night of bhajan and of nothing else. Work hard. Fight the mind fearlessly. The Guru is with you. With his help, subdue the mind.”
13. Much depends upon the type of food we eat. “As we eat, so our mind becomes” and “our food makes our mind” are old sayings which are very true. Bad (rajasik or tamasik)* food gives rise to bad thoughts. Pure (satvik)* food will develop pure thoughts. Pure thoughts will create good character, and good character is most essential for love of God. Without love of God, there can be no spiritual progress.
Always take pure (satvik) food. That too should be earned by honest means, and the right share given to elders and to all to whom it is due. Foods should be light and simple, and be prepared and eaten in a happy mood, in a small quantity, after duly thanking the Giver.
14. Impure thoughts are a great hindrance to spiritual uplift. They act as poison. Keep alert and immediately divert your mind from such thoughts. If you rub an itch, it will eventually become a malignant boil.
15. Always keep your mind in simran. Does it cost anything? Just go on repeating the holy names as the small boys repeat, “one, two, three, four”. Simran is a great force. By simran alone, you develop strong will power. Simran should be done patiently and vigorously, without a break. It should be incessant, unceasing, continuous and constant.
16. A satsangi complained: “Sir, my mind does not allow me to sit in bhajan, and when I sit, it makes me forget simran.”
The Master smiled and said: “Well, what else should it do? It is doing its duty most faithfully. Should you not do yours? Attack it with full force. At this stage, it is a fierce battle between mind and soul. Never give any quarter to the mind. The best way is to open the attack first and to go on repeating it, so that it may never find any time to return the attack.”
17. Meditation should be done with the attention fully concentrated at the eye centre. It is the attention that is to do the simran, while the body, mind, tongue, the power of seeing and the power of hearing are motionless and at rest.
18. Satsangis should form the habit of thinking – clear thinking. Very few people think. Why do we lose our temper? Because we do not reflect. Why do people fall prey to the attack of lust? Because they do not think. Why does a mother weep at the death of her child? Why do people commit suicide at the loss of property or wealth? Because they do not think. Vichar (clear thinking) is ninety per cent abhyas. Clear thinking is a blessing. It can easily be attained by a little practice. Most of our actions are done on the spur of the moment, without thinking. Always reflect calmly. If you knew how much harm anger does to your liver and heart, you would never lose your temper over anything. Ask a physician and he will tell you how blood becomes poisoned in a fit of anger.
19. Did worry ever help to solve any problem? It is born of confused thinking. Form the habit of clear thinking always and laugh away your troubles and sorrows. Even the devil himself can do nothing to a man so long as he can laugh. Does a laugh cost anything? It is as easy to laugh as to worry and fret. Only a little effort is required in the beginning. It becomes a habit after a time. Your worrying shows that you have no faith in the goodness of God or even in God Himself. Let Him accomplish things in His own way rather than in the way that you desire. Try to adjust yourself to all that He does and you will never be unhappy.
20. A wound inflicted on the body with a sharp weapon heals up in time, but not so the wound that the tongue inflicts on the heart of a man. Beware of hurting the feelings of any living being. This should be given as much importance as the vows of abstinence from meat, etc., that we take at the time of initiation. Bhajan and abhyas (meditation and spiritual practice) are impossible without following a strict code of discipline. The vow of abstinence from animal food is intended to impress upon the mind the idea of ahimsa – harmlessness or non-injury by thought, word or deed. Remember that life is dear to all. Patanjali Rishi has laid down ‘five don’ts’ (yams) and ‘five dos’ (niyams) in his Yog Shastra to be observed by the practitioners of yoga. They form very good rules of conduct and may be profitably followed by satsangis. The five yams are:
- Ahimsa – not to injure any living creature by thought, word or deed.
- Satya – not to tell a lie, i.e. truthfulness in thought, word and deed.
- Asteya – not to steal; never to desire or take what is not yours.
- Brahmacharya – not to look upon sex with lust, in thought, word or deed, i.e. chastity, continence and conservation of sexual energy.
- Aparigraha – negation of desire for possession; not possessing unnecessary articles; renunciation.
The following are the five niyams:
- Shauch – cleanliness.
- Santosh – contentment.
- Tap – self-discipline by voluntary submission.
- Swadhyaya – study of religious books.
- Ishwar parnidhan – unshakeable faith in God and complete surrender to Him. Effort at God-realization.
21. In a satsang, the Master was describing the grandeur and the glory of the wonderful Radiant Form of the Master within. A satsangi stood up and complained: “Master! I used to see daily your Radiant Form, but it has not appeared for a month.” Master said, “Some grief or pleasure must have assailed your mind.” The satsangi replied, “Yes, sir – I have lost my only son.” The Master replied, “Master is always there; when by concentration our mind ascends high, it gets his darshan (sees him) but when it is disturbed, it falls down and cannot see him. Did dwelling on grief ever solve any problem, or did worry ever help anybody? Attend to bhajan and simran, which alone are the source of peace, pleasure and happiness.”
22. To lead a good, pure, moral life in youth one needs the courage, bravery and resolve of a prophet.
23. You want me to define a true Master and tell what he gives? Well, the perfect Master is a man-God or God-man. He is a human being, in whose person the Lord of the universe, the eternal Sat Nam, the everlasting Shabd comes to reside on earth. He is the ‘Word’ turned into flesh. The Lord leaves His palace, conceals Himself in human garb and goes out in search of His child to the habitation of robbers who have kidnapped him. His child lives amongst them and leads the life they lead. His child does not recognize Him. Nobody believes what He says. With great difficulty He prevails upon His child to accompany Him to His palace to see for himself, with his own eyes, what great heritage by right belongs to him. From a hamlet, He brings His child to the royal palace and offers him the throne, and does not leave him till he is safely settled in the palace.
24. Happy is he whose wants are few. The fewer the wants, the happier the person. “Who doth not want many things is the king of kings.”3 It is our wants that make us poor. One who has no wants is the richest person. During his sojourn in India, Alexander the Great went to see a sadhu living on the banks of the river Beas, about whose supernatural powers he had heard a great deal. He found him sitting on a palm leaf under an umbrella made of banyan tree leaves. This was all that the sadhu possessed. On being informed that he had passed all his life there and had remained there even in torrential rain, burning heat or piercing cold, Alexander offered to build a house for him. This he refused, saying, “Why build a house? Are we to live here forever?” Then Alexander asked if he could do anything else for him. “Yes, please see that none of your men comes to me,” he said.
Alexander offered to give half his kingdom at the time of his death to anyone who could make him live just for as much time as would enable him to see his mother. But the physicians replied that, even if he gave the whole of his kingdom, they could not add one single breath to his life. Tears welled up in the king’s eyes, and with a deep sigh he said, “Alas! Had I known that a breath was so costly a thing, I would never have wasted them in useless pursuits.” Then he directed that, during his funeral procession, his hands should be kept out of his coffin with palms upwards so that the world might take a lesson from the great Alexander, who had planned to conquer the world, but was going away from it empty-handed.
25. I cannot lay adequate stress on living a pure moral life. High moral character is most essential for spiritual progress. Nam and kam (lust) cannot exist together. They are as antagonistic to each other as light is to darkness. Where there is kam, Nam does not enter. And when Nam comes, kam vanishes. A satsangi should be an example to the world. His eyes should radiate purity and a spiritual fragrance should issue forth from his body. Avoid the life of sensual pleasures, and turn out desire for lust from your heart. A life of virtue, peace and contentment is possible only when you rise above the nine doors of the body. To indulge in sex pleasures and to expect to enter the kingdom of heaven is sheer mockery. For such a one that door shall never open.
26. The astral form of the Master is so radiant, beautiful and magnetic that, after seeing it, one does not find any form or figure as beautiful in this world and so gives up all worldly attachments. A deep consuming love for the Lord and a burning pang of separation from Him are most essential for His darshan. The fire of love burns away all impurities; only desire to meet the Beloved remains.
27. Never speak ill of others. It is a great sin. There may be some pleasure or enjoyment in other sins, but tell me what pleasure there is in slander? Sheikh Saadi, the famous sage of Shiraz says, “If I were to speak ill of anybody, I would speak ill of my own mother; for if the merits of my good deeds are to go to any person, let them go to my own mother.”4 Maharaj Ji (Baba Sawan Singh Ji) used to say that all the good deeds of one who talks ill of another are credited to the account of the slandered one. The slanderer washes away our sins without charging us anything.
28. How profusely we thank those at whose hands we have received some small favours! Parents and teachers inculcate into their charges the rules of good conduct; but sadly enough, the children are starved of spiritual nourishment in their formative years. What greater lacuna in their training can there be than the ignorance of God – the fountain of all goodness and reservoir of all gifts? When this basic perspective is missing, life is full of confusion and bewilderment and traditions of respectful behaviour and unimpeachable morality decline. It is the duty of parents to tell their children of God and things divine to enable them to develop a healthy sense of values and lay the foundations of a virtuous life.
29. This life is but a link in an infinite chain of existence. The body perishes but the soul lives on – immortal, treading the path back from its painful separation and prodigality to its blissful return to the mansions of the Lord. Says Dadu, the great Rajasthani saint:
I was when the world was not.
I shall be when the world would cease to be.5
30. Do not indulge in idle, frivolous talk. If you are conscious of your spiritual poverty, devote every minute to becoming worthier to receive your rich heritage. Mere light-hearted gossip (frivolity) makes a mockery of your prayers before the Lord. It brands you a hypocrite and cuts at the very roots of spirituality.
Extravagant spending of precious time and energy is incompatible with your pleading for grace. Think more, and talk less.
31. Complaints often reach me from satsangis that the mind does not allow them to sit in meditation. They are too prone to yield to its suggestions. If the spirit is unwilling and the flesh is weak, where lies the remedy? At the slightest discomfort caused by maintenance of the posture and withdrawal of the soul current, the mind urges the practitioner to give up meditation. Let us remember the unfailing verdict: ‘No pain, no gain’. Only the most valiant of fighters, who are prepared to embrace death (closing the nine doors to worldly satisfactions), and storm the dark fortress of Kal and karmas, can achieve their purpose. Listen to what lovers say: “O Farid! (In my effort to reach His palace) my body is afire like an oven and my bones are burning like fuel. (Shall I tarry? No.) When my legs are withered and move no more, I shall walk on my head, if I could have only a glimpse of Him.”
32. In satsang, an American lady inquired about karmas and sanskaras. Master replied:
Karmas are our actions or deeds and their reaction or retribution – a self-operating law of cause and effect, and retribution. None can escape the result of his deeds. You shall have to reap what you have sown.
Sanskaras are tendencies inherent (but latent) in a man as a result of his past karmas, left as residue from his previous incarnations and affecting and shaping his actions in the present life.
33. The same lady put some questions about the function of reason and intellect in the search after truth and God. Master said, “Listen carefully! Intellect was given to us by our Creator to carry on the work of this world (of phenomena) only. Intellect is the faculty which enables us to analyse and retain the salient impressions of worldly experiences, in the light of which we can act with advantage. When the scope of activity of the intellect is so limited, how can it perceive the profound spiritual reality? For worldly experiences are associated with the nine doors that lead without; whereas the realm of the spirit lies within the tenth gate. Again with environment and tradition, age and clime, likes and dislikes, the reasoning process shows marked variations. A Russian and American, a young man and an old one, think in ways that are quite apart. In lust and anger, how grotesquely convulsed are a man’s thoughts?
“When this yardstick of reason is always changing, what reliance can be placed on its measurements?”
“Then on what should we rely for God-realization?” inquired the lady. Master said, “God-realization commences when the aspirant closes the nine outlets and turns his back upon this world to journey within.” The inner experiences and their comprehension are beyond the ken of intellect. The soul alone perceives them. No intellectual wizardry can unravel the mystery; but the soul sees and knows the naked reality, the truth. A spark of the divine itself, it can understand the divine and limitless as its consciousness enlarges; and when God-realization is consummated, the soul has united with its source.
Do not therefore expect this feeble, limited intellect to understand the spiritual subtleties by a mere play of reasoning. Even in the field of worldly phenomena, so much eludes our grasp. What shall we say of the worlds beyond the senses? Suppose a baby asks its mother, “Mummy, how was I born?” Mamma knows the answer, but also knows that the baby would not understand. She laughs and says, “I bought you for a farthing.”
34. A lady whose son was flying to Europe for studies approached the Master and said, “Sir, I am very worried these days.” Master inquired about the cause of her worry. She said, “My son is flying to Europe for further studies tomorrow.” Master just smiled a little (there was always a laugh on his lips) and said, “Well, what is there to worry? Is it his flying or further studies or tomorrow?” The lady laughed and said, “Sir, my heart sinks when I think of the dangers of flying.”
Master: “Why not think of the comfort, convenience and quick arrival at the destination?”
Then Master remarked, “This is how man creates worries for himself. Ninety-nine per cent of our worries are self-created and quite groundless.” He quoted a line from Shakespeare, which says that the dread of a coming misfortune makes us more miserable than the actual misfortune, which may come or may not come at all.
35. Our love for the Lord requires constant feeding. Like fire, it is apt to die out without fuel. Bhajan and simran are the fuel that sustains this fire. So never miss bhajan for a single day. One day’s negligence in bhajan retards the progress of the journey by one month.
36. Life is not worth worrying over too much. It begins in folly and ends in smoke. It has to come to an end one day whether you like it or not. And its middle portion also passes away. The best policy is to laugh its worries away.
37. A young girl who had recently lost her husband was so much overwhelmed with grief that she requested the Master to put an end to her life. “I want to die, sir,” she said. “Well!” replied the Master, “Will your death put an end to your karmas which have brought about this agony? No. You will carry these along with you in your next birth. Then why not pay off the debt now instead of adding another sin – the greatest of all sins, suicide – to the already heavy debt of karmas?”
38. My friends! On this path, it is most essential to toil hard. Unless one puts in all the effort and labour that lies in one’s power, and pushes hard, the door will not open.
39. Our prayers and pleadings are quite useless, unless these are supported by all the effort on our part to push the door open. The Master knows that we are only feigning thirst and desire for Nam. Our prayers are not sincere and true. Our mind is still steeped in cravings for the world and its objects. It is submerged in lust and greed. It is running after name and fame. It constantly lives in vanity and pride. Remember that a Master cannot be deceived or cheated. Unless the yearning to meet him is intense and true, he remains silent and inattentive.
40. So long as a baby is busy with its dolls and satisfied with its toys, the mother also does not worry about it, but as soon as it throws away its playthings and wants nothing but its mother, the mother cannot resist its cries and comes running to take it in her lap. Likewise so long as we lean on others, he lets us do so, but when after repeated disappointments we surrender to him completely, regarding him as our only sheet anchor, he comes to our succour instantly.
41. Where is the difficulty in doing simran (repetition of holy names)? Does it cost anything? Have you to carry any load or burden on your head? Or have you to face a bullet or a gunshot? What is the trouble in it? Just sit comfortably in a chair and go on repeating the names mentally.
A voice: “Sir, the mind wanders away.”
Master: “All right, let it wander. You go on doing your simran. Every moment spent in His memory is credited to your account. Twice daily, read two or three shabds (poems) from Sar Bachan or from some other Sant Mat literature. This will be of great help.”
42. All the actions of the devotees are opposite to the ways of the world. To see the Beloved they shut their eyes. People desire wealth; they love poverty. People run after pleasure; they seek pain. People adore life; they love death.
43. Write on the gates of all temples and mosques that the Lord resides in the heart of man, away from religions and creeds.
44. Master’s Form will appear in the heart only when all desires of the world are turned out of it.
45. Replying to a European satsangi, Master said: “Saints do not encourage showing of miracles or using spiritual powers towards worldly ends. It is not difficult for an advanced satsangi to cure a disease or give eyesight to the blind or to raise the dead, but why should it be done against the decree of the Lord? They have no vanity to feed nor an axe of their own to grind. They want the Lord to rule and not themselves.” You all know the story of Baba Atal, the nine-year-old son of Guru Hargobind Ji. When he went to the house of his friend, Mohan, to get his turn of the play that was left over the previous evening, he found him lying on the ground, with his parents and family members weeping around him. He was told that the boy was dead. Atal said, “No he is not dead. He is feigning death to cheat me of my turn of the game.” Taking him by the hand, Atal made him stand up and took him out to the playground. When Guru Hargobind Sahib heard of this, he summoned his son before him and said, “Now, child! For showing this miracle, either you shall have to leave the world or I shall have to go.” The boy agreed himself to suffer for his indiscretion and lay down on the ground then and there and breathed his last. You all have seen his white marble mausoleum near the Golden Temple at Amritsar. Huzur Maharaj Ji (Baba Sawan Singh Ji) used to say that these riddhis and siddhis (supernatural powers) are like prostitutes in the way of a satsangi and try to rob him of all his earnings. Beware of them always.
46. “The course of true love never did run smooth” says Shakespeare. The truer the love, the rougher the road. This is also true in the case of love for the Lord. The more you love Him, the more difficulties and trials He puts in your way. Gold, to be pure, must be put in the fire. Paltu Sahib says, “Love is not an easy affair. Are you willing to cut your head with your own hands? If not, then do not dream of love. It is not a sugar cube that you will swallow. A lover remains hanging on the cross all day and night. He dies while living and gives up all desires for body and life. Not a single drop of blood is left in him. Neither does he cry, nor does a sigh ever escape his heart. Renouncing all honour and pride, he even starves himself of food and sleep. Paltu! How foolish they are who become lovers, thinking it a feast in their aunty’s home.”
47. How we waste our precious human lives in running after sense pleasures, which bring only distress, disease, agony and pain in their wake. In fact, we do not seem to realize the great value of this precious gift which the merciful Lord has bestowed upon us. We get the human body after passing through millions of lives in lower species. As worms, birds and beasts we had father, mother, spouse and children. Love, hate, lust, hunger and greed we experienced even then. What then is the superiority of man? Our benign Creator’s main purpose in giving us intelligence was that we may know ourselves and seek and meet our Creator in this life. If we fail to do that, we are no better than beasts. Let us then avail of this gift in realizing God.
48. Tendency of evil is downward. A single evil thought will bring one down from the celestial heights of Brahmand to the lowest region of Hades. As a man slips down from a snowy peak, so does a lustful thought pull down a devotee. Lust and love of the Lord are a pair of opposites. They cannot coexist in a heart. Where lust is, the Lord’s love is not and where the Lord’s love pervades, lust makes itself completely scarce.
49. Distress, disease, sorrow and sickness are great chasteners. They make us human beings and bring us nearer to God. Lord Krishna says to Udho (in Bhagvat Puran): “I make three rare gifts to my most beloved devotees. They are: (i) poverty, (ii) illness and (iii) dishonour.” Lord Jesus Christ truly said that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Lord Krishna named love of body, vanity, pride, and attachment to worldly possessions as hindrances to God-realization.