This world is blind--how can I explain?
The color of the world, seen
through the eyes of an ordinary being, is different from
that seen by a Personality Who has become free from the
dominance of mind and senses, Who has realized Himself and
realized God. His angle of vision is different and He sees
the world in a different light. He sees the true condition
of the souls who, through influence from the mind and
senses, have identified themselves with the physical
covering. This false identity is so embedded that the soul
cannot differentiate: am I this body or am I its controller?
Am I the house or the indweller of the house?
The eye that views the world,
views it through gross senses, for so far the spiritual or
inner eye has not been opened to see the true nature of
things. All outer knowledge is gained through these gross
senses; man does not know how to rise above them, for
although the outer doors are all open, yet the inner door
remains closed and he cannot be released from the coarse
matter of the physical form. The subtle form and the subtle
senses lie within him, yet he cannot shake off his grosser
covering and experience this higher self. Can anything be
done about this predicament?
Maulana Rumi says that we
should learn how to close the outer shop and open the inner
shop. Those who have done so have developed a subtle eye,
and therefore regard everything with infinite accuracy of
vision. Kabir Sahib tells us that wherever He looks, the
world is filled with blind people. Those who have outer eyes
and those who have no sight are, in fact, all blind alike,
for their inner or subtle eye has not been opened.
We may not be able to see
anything in the atmosphere with our normal vision, but does
that mean that it contains nothing? Our atmosphere is filled
with microscopic beings, invisible to the normal physical
sight. These beings can be seen if the eye becomes as subtle
as they, or if they are made coarse to come within the range
of ordinary sight.
Guru Nanak has mentioned this
blind man and says,
Do not call him blind, on whose face there
are no eyes; Blind is he, 0 Nanak, whose inner eye is not
open to see the Lord.
The Vedas,
Shastras, and many other holy
scriptures tell us that God is all permanence and He resides
in each living form. In every atom He is vibrating; but He
is very, very subtle -- Agam -- incomprehensible,
inconceivable through mind or senses. Our eye is gross and
we cannot see Him, but Guru Nanak says,
Become as high as He is--then only can you
know Him.
If we desire to see Him, we must become as subtle and
inconceivable as He.
So, Kabir Sahib looks at the
condition of the world and declares that all are blind. If
there were but a few who could not see, He would be able to
make them understand; but all are in the same condition,
literate or illiterate, rich and poor alike, the master and
the servant. How can a blind man lead a blind man? Both will
surely fall in the ditch!
There was once a certain
fakir who went to a certain village. He had an abundance of
compassion in his heart, and he warned the villagers,
"Tomorrow a breeze is coming, and whoever the breeze touches
will go mad." A few of the villagers who had faith in the
fakir took notice of his words and when the time came they
hid themselves in their houses, shuttering the windows and
doors fast. All those who ignored the warning were touched
by the breeze and went mad. When the lucky ones came out of
hiding, they saw that everyone was mad, except themselves.
But the mad people, being in the majority, and seeing that
the few were different, insisted, "They are mad!" The
world's condition is something like this. Realized People,
Whose soul is free from mind and senses, Who have risen
above the gross environments, Whose inner vision is pure and
uncluttered, and Who see God in the tiniest particle, are
exceedingly rare; so who is there to understand the Truth?
If there were one or two, I would explain;
All have forgotten, in their selfish work
for the stomach.
All actions of this entangled
mankind are for the stomach. Everyone considers that the
physical form and its connections comprise the be-all and
end-all of life. Whether a man is a laborer or a
businessman, his aim is the same--to make money. Even most
of those who profess spiritual work, who take on the
responsibility of making perfect human beings and reaching
the souls to God, have the same aim. They were supposed to
teach the Word, but became themselves lost in the world.
Kabir says that man awakens when the Lord of
Death is on his head.
If the awareness comes only
at this final stage, what is the use of that? It is no use
regretting when the birds have eaten all the planted seeds.
It is a tragic fact that when God-realized People come to
the world to help and guide the souls, the learned and the
rich call Them atheists and accuse Them of misleading the
people. Guru Nanak was barred from entering the city of
Kasur. Even the large organizations in the name of religion
are in no better category. Corruption is rife, and those who
profess to be spiritual are more worldly than the worldly
man. Everyone's motto is "Eat, drink, and be merry,"
recognizing no life save that of the body and its
connections, which has become their god and their principle.
How will they begin to understand the true facts of life?
The air is the horse and the soul is the
rider.
Just as air is in a bubble of
dew with a thin veil of water outside, how long can that
stay? A little breeze will blow it away--such is the state
of the life of man. It is like a horse on which the soul is
riding. With a little breeze or warmth, a bubble of dew will
vanish leaving no trace, and similarly man lives only as
long as breath and the soul remain in the body. When the
companion of the body separates itself, the body falls over
lifeless. Then they quickly take it off to the cremation
ground. This is happening daily before our very eyes, but
the world is lost in illusion refusing to believe that all
must leave one day. So like the bubble of dew, we are here
for just a short time, and the last change which is called
death will come to each of us in turn.
The king and the subject will not
remain--the impious and the renunciate;
Each will go in turn--nothing is
permanent.
Many great Personalities have
come to the world, but even They have had to leave Their
body eventually. So the only solution to this inevitable
event is to learn how to leave the body at will and
transcend into the upper regions. If so, we will benefit in
two ways. First, we will know how to leave the body, as we
have learned to do so daily; and when death comes there will
be no pain and no fear. Secondly, by traveling frequently in
the higher regions and returning to the earth at will, the
fear of our unknown destination will vanish and we will
develop an unwavering conviction about the true life; its
mystery will be revealed. It is no use waiting for death to
discover the facts of life.
Christ told us,
Whosoever will save his life shall lose it;
but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall
save it.
He also said,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.
What is the value of the physical form?
Life is more than meat, and the body is more
than raiment.
The day our allotted number of breaths expire, this body
will fade away like a bubble of dew. And that time might
arrive any minute; so what should we do? We should
immediately learn this science of leaving the body, that the
fear of death may be erased.
Our soul is adrift on a deep river; the pilot
will throw a line.
The whole world is like a fast-flowing river, on which our
soul is drifting about helplessly. It must get a mooring
somehow; otherwise it will go under. The mind is an ocean
wherein huge breakers are perpetually rising. In perpetual
motion the waves of the mind are undulating with lust,
anger, greed, attachment, and ego. Man is tossed about amid
them, and what chance has he got of saving himself?. None
can cross the ocean of the mind without a competent Master.
In the company of One Who has controlled His mind and saved
Himself from destruction, others can also be saved.
That which we seek is within
us--it is the very Soul of our soul--but with a lighted lamp
in our hand, we search for it without.
That which lies in the house never seems
near; We search outside like a blind man--sometimes
in holy books, sometimes along the banks of rivers,
sometimes on the mountain peaks, and sometimes in outer
practices. And all the while we remain ignorant of the
Truth. The mind is dragged by the horses of the senses into
the fields of enjoyments--man has no time to invert and see
that which lies hidden within his very being, closer to him
than life itself.
I once met a man in Kanpur
who told me that in his search for Truth he had taken the
holy water from Gangotri on foot to Kanyakumari, and on
return by foot had taken the water of Kanyakumari back to
Gangotri--a total distance of many hundreds of miles--and
yet had not realized that for which he was searching. How
can the Truth be realized like this?
The thing lies in one place, you are
searching elsewhere; Kabir says you will find it when you
take the One Who knows.
We are always searching in the wrong place.
We cannot believe it lies in this
body--cursed be such a life; 0 Tulsi, this world is
suffering from cataract.
Our inner sight is there, but it is covered and needs a
qualified doctor or Master to perform the operation and
remove the covering.
God resides in each form--all Saints proclaim
this.
When Swami Ram Tirath was
residing in Lahore, He came out of His house one evening and
saw in the street an old woman with a lamp, searching the
ground for something. He asked, "Mother, what are you
seeking?" She replied, "I have lost my needle, son, and am
trying to find it." He at once began to help her, but after
some time of fruitless search, He said, "Mother,
where exactly did you drop the needle?" She said, "Oh, I
dropped it in my room." Naturally He pointed out, "But how
can you hope to find it here, when it has been lost in the
house?" You may smile at this story, but truly speaking,
what are we doing?
While the Lord sustains the
soul, it remains in the body. That Divine Link is in each,
and each is sustained by it, yet we seek in the expanding
scope of the senses, among outer things.
The fire will consume the whole forest;
Without the Guru's knowledge, man will go
astray.
The fire of desire is
consuming the world--each home is being sacrificed, each
community, each town, and each country. Like an infection it
spreads from person to person, for whatever company a man
keeps, he becomes like that. If you keep the company of a
worldly man, as each word of his is charged with a worldly
color, the influence will affect you, and you will soon be
wholeheartedly following his way of life. So Kabir Sahib
says that this fire is burning up the whole world, and only
those whose inner eye is open can see it; the physical eyes
cannot see these things. If only man would sit quietly and
see within himself, he would begin to have the awareness of
something burning him up. The hidden fire of desire eats
into the very depths of one's being, and only by the Guru's
knowledge can one be saved.
In the Gurbani it is written,
The fire consumed every blade of grass; but
an isolated plant remained green.
That plant must be in the company of a self-realized
Soul--must be connected to the evergreen Source. Maulana
Rumi says that the heart should keep the company of One Who
knows the heart's condition. He also tells us to sit under
the tree that is laden with fragrant blossoms--which issues
forth a sweet coolness. He then asks,
What is that?
and answers,
The company of a realized Soul Whose inner
eye is open.
A man who has been in the burning sun for many hours will
sit under a shady tree and recover himself in its coolness.
In the Guru's presence, the mind becomes still and serene.
If you want to save yourself, this is the only way.
The Satguru not only radiates
coolness but is able to give the knowledge. That knowledge
is not the worldly kind--Know
gyan and dhyan as the ineffable Sound, the Music of the
Spheres.
True knowledge and attention is that Sound--the Song of
Life--which permeates every pore and sustains the whole of
creation. To realize it is true knowledge, gained through
the grace of the Satguru. It is already there, but we are
not conscious of it.
She gets lost in illusion, looking through
the nine doors, and does not get the priceless treasure.
Those who do not turn inwardly through the Guru's connection
will be consumed in the fire.
Outer practices cannot save
you. One may escape for a few minutes, but it is not
lasting, and again one falls into danger. The fire of
illusion attacks through the senses, and once one has
learned how to rise above them and absorb the cool peace
within--the Nectar of Truth--then the outer heat will lose
its effect, something like sitting in an air-conditioned
room. No matter where you go, if your attention is centered
the heat will not have any effect. The misery of worldly
life plagues us because we have no knowledge of this natural
science--knowledge of the Beyond.
When Guru Nanak was thinking
of renouncing the worldly life, His mother-in-law, Moolo Ji,
brought His two sons before Him and said, "If this was your
intention, then why did You bring these two into the world?"
Nanak replied, "Mother, I have come to free the world from
that very imprisonment in which you are endeavoring to bind
me. I have come to put out the fire that is consuming the
world." He then prayed,
0 God, with Thine own mercy, save this world
from incineration; it can only be quenched from the source.
All Masters have tried to make mankind understand that
experiences of the senses can only bring unhappiness.
I have not seen a happy person in the
physical form; each one I see is unhappy.
By rising above the senses and the physical, one can
experience a better life. In the astral and causal regions,
there is greater happiness than in the world; however, they
are not free from unhappiness--for complete happiness one
must go beyond the physical, astral, and causal planes.
To awaken the souls, the
Masters take the burdens upon Themselves. They may hate the
sins committed, but for the sinners They have a true love
from the heart. They tell us that there is hope for
improvement in everyone--sinner or pious person--but only by
obedience to the Master's commands. We should give our
obedience and devotion and leave the rest of the work to
Him. Those who do not know how to love will never realize
the Lord:
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God
is love.
Our soul being of the same essence is also love. If the
outer coverings are removed, the love which lies under the
weight of them will awaken and blossom forth. One will then
become worthy of loving and of knowing that higher self
which is God--or God in that Pole where He has manifested.
Kabir says, Listen 0 brothers;
The day will come when man will discard
even his loincloth.
We should realize that in the
end we must leave everything--even the most necessary
coverings of our body. There is no exception to the rule;
each and every one will have to leave the world eventually.
If only the true realization of this would take hold of us,
our whole angle of vision would change, and life would be
seen in its right perspective with true values revealed. If
this opportunity is lost, it will never return again; we
have wasted this invaluable life. If we lose the chance of
this lifetime, where is the guarantee of getting another? We
can only learn to rise above the physical form and be free
from the mind and senses in the human life. Having wasted
our life in enjoying worldly things, what will be the
result? Wherever your attention is, there will you go; and
so again and again you will have to come to the world in
some form or other. To leave the body is no bugbear, if we
use our intelligence to help this life's condition, and the
life hereafter also.
There is a story of a kingdom
wherein they chose a new king every five years. During the
five years, the king was the supreme ruler and his every
word obeyed; but at the end of this period, the people would
take the king to a dense forest full of wild animals and
reptiles and leave him there. On the day the king was chosen
he would rejoice at his good fortune, but on the expiration
of five years, he would be led off to the jungle sadly
lamenting his lot in life.
Many kings came and went in
their turn, until one day a man was chosen who had the
serious thought, "What will happen to me after five years?"
He was a man of considerable intelligence and was duly
concerned for his future life. So after some careful
thought, he secretly started to send workers into the forest
to cut some of the trees and make a hugh clearing. They then
made orchards, gardens, beautiful buildings, and appropriate
surroundings, until the whole place became a luxurious
kingdom. A man can do wonders in five years, and when the
time was up and he was told that he must leave the throne,
he smiled happily and said, "Yes, let's go." The people were
naturally amazed and asked why he was rejoicing. He told
them, "I have already prepared my destination and have taken
possession there; so I have no fear of going. What is more,
I will actually enjoy more comfort there, for here I had
many responsibilities, yet there I will have none."
All souls have this golden
opportunity while in the human form and so we should make
use of it and prepare while we can, for the day will come
when we have to leave. No one has ever lived here
permanently and no one ever will. If we learn to leave the
body and traverse in the Beyond, which is also called "life
after death," then that experience will make us familiar
with our future home where there is happiness and peace, and
then where will be the fear of death?
The whole world is afraid of death and wants
to remain in the earthly life--only few seek true life; he
who dies while living with the Guru's blessing will unravel
the mystery of His will.
By meeting an Enlightened
Person, through His mercy we can learn to die while living
and in due course become the Conscious Co-worker of the
Divine Plan. One will then see that He is the Doer, and not
I; and the mystery of the Master's orders will be unraveled.
0 Nanak, whoever dies while living gets
everlasting life.
In this context, Swami Ji Maharaj says,
You have got a golden opportunity.
Our work is not merely eating, drinking, and looking after
the body, or doing things connected with the body and the
worldly life; there is another task to which we give not a
single thought.
Actually we are like the
pigeon who closes his eyes to shut out the sight of the cat
when the cat comes to eat him. Of course, the cat remains,
and the poor pigeon realizes it only when the cat takes hold
of him. We are not the body; we are the body's operator, and
although at present we view the world from the physical
level, this can change if we rise above to see and know what
is true. The world is changing and our bodies are changing
at the same rate. Scientists have proved that even our bones
change so much that every seven years a renewal is necessary
which takes place in accordance with Nature. If two things
are changing at the same rate, then the motion of change is
not noticeable. A drifting boat moves at the same speed as
the river's flow. The people in the boat may not notice its
movement, but someone on the shore will see it clearly and
will warn them, "Brothers, you are drifting along fast"; but
due to the illusion they will not believe him.
By rising above the illusion
we see from the level of the soul and it becomes clearly
apparent that the body is changing and so is the world. Up
to this point of pure perception, the world, the body, and
the things connected with them are everything to us; but
with true experience in the Beyond, the pinching effects of
the ups and downs of life are rendered impotent. Not only
this, but the fear of death will vanish and the outer tastes
will fade away, just by tasting the Nectar of the higher
contact. Everything will be seen in its true light, and all
we do will result in success, for our attention will be in
control to be directed in any field we so desire.
All Masters have told us,
Oh brothers, you are human beings, not
animals.
In particular, Maulana Rumi said that we should not behave
like animals, for Nature made them to face the earth; and if
they spend their lives eating and drinking, it is not so
strange. He says that the Lord made the heads of human
beings erect; so we should look toward higher things--we are
the highest of all the species. Man should safeguard his
heritage; he has the form to which the gods and goddesses
bow, and in this form only can God be realized. Accomplish
this work in this life and you will have made a success of
it. Once the pearl has formed in the oyster what difference
does it make when the shell is broken? If even a single drop
of water seeps into the shell before the pearl is formed,
there will be no pearl. Only in this condition is death a
bugbear. Kabir Sahib says,
That death of which the world is fearful
gives me intense pleasure; only by this death is complete
bliss gained.
When the veil of the body is removed, we are with the Lord.
When Maulana Rumi was lying
very sick, many people came to His bedside and prayed that
He might live. He opened His eyes and said, "Brothers, you
may benefit from this prayer--but do you not want this drape
which separates me from the Lord to be removed, that I may
be forever one with Him?" Such are the words of those Souls
Whose inner eye is open and Who have realized the Lord in
this life. No doubt, God is with us and we are not separate
from Him, but do we realize it? We have forgotten our true
self by working only at the level of the senses. We must
withdraw our attention from outside and invert within.
Emerson said, "Tap inside." It is a path of reversing the
senses. It is not necessary to kill the senses; in fact, we
should extract double work from them--inside and outside.
We can see out, but our inner
vision is closed; what are we, if not blind? The outer ears
are open and they hear, but we are deaf to the Inner Music
the Music of the Spheres. The Nectar of Naam is flowing
within us, but man is drunk with the taste of the world.
Shamas Tabrez says,
I have blessed thousands blind from the birth
with the sight to see God everywhere.
Many blind persons have been initiated, and with such joy
they tell how they have seen the rising of the Sun inside.
If you can see within, it matters little if the outer eyes
function or not.
It is unfortunate that very
few people are acquainted with this science. It is the
oldest of all ancient knowledge, but man has forgotten.
Whenever the Masters come, They renew the old, old Truth;
but when They go, again man forgets until another Master
comes to renew the teaching. The world has never been
without a Perfect Master. The law of demand and supply is
always at work, and there is food for the hungry and water
for the thirsty. The Guru appears when the disciple is
ready.
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