WE CAN GO BEYOND THE PATTERNS SET BY SAMSCARIC AND KARMIC VALUES
Any person can, in this very lifetime, reach the stage of Samadhi, or self-realisation, or experience oneness with Divinity. When we are born, we are born within and with a specific pattern. Say a child is born with an IQ of 100. Another child could be born with an IQ of 150. So, the child with an IQ of 150 has a greater mental capacity to reach a certain level, but the child with an IQ of 100 can be tutored and trained, with proper supervision, to achieve the same results as the child with an IQ of 150 would.
When we are born, we inherit a particular pattern set by our past samskaric and karmic values. The pattern is set, but that does not mean that those patterns are limiting. Those patterns can be transcended. We can go beyond those patterns. A river flows in this direction, and it is possible to change the course of the river by altering the banks whereby the course of the river could be changed. Likewise, in human life, it depends upon our sincerity, upon our honesty, upon our perseverance in our practices, and greater and greater unfoldment can come. When a person starts unfolding within, it snowballs very fast. In the beginning, the progress is slow, but as greater and greater unfoldment comes to him, his progress becomes faster and faster. Like a snowball rolling down, it is small, but as it rolls, it gathers more and more onto itself, and the bigger the snowball gets, the more it still unfolds within itself. Likewise, it is definitely within the reach of every man to reach self-enlightenment in this lifetime.
THE QUALIFICATION OF A SPIRITUAL MASTER IS HIS CAPACITY TO LOVE
A Spiritual Master does not go through the Universities learning the three R’s (reading, writing, and arithmetic). When you go to university, they tell you about a thing, but they do not tell you what a thing is. That is what you get at university. A Spiritual Master goes through the university of life, and his continual quest is to find what a thing is. His finding of what a thing is is not limited to his intellect. He goes beyond the realms of the intellect, and he is in touch with the reality that is within himself.
Finding the union between his small “i” and his Big “I” in annihilating the ego that stands in the way, and actually living and interpreting that reality that is within him in his daily life. That is the qualification of the true Spiritual Master. The qualification of the Spiritual Master is his degree of self-realisation, and how is that to be known? A Spiritual Master is a person who has only one quality: his capacity to love. He loves entirely, selflessly. There is no selfishness because, to him, he has not remained himself. I always say that a Spiritual Master is not the little flesh and blood that you would see that composes his body. I made a joke the other day that the composition of flesh and blood, its chemical value is only one shilling and fourpence. It is worth noting, perhaps, that with inflation it is two shillings and eight pence. So, the qualification of the Spiritual Master is his expansion of heart and his ability to portray that heart. Buddha, the Spiritual Master, was known for his great compassion. He could embrace the entire world in the folds of his arm. Christ was known as a Spiritual Master because of his intense love, which he gave his life for. Like that, you will find in the lives of true Spiritual Masters that they are dedicated to the cause of doing some good, trying to uplift their brethren. He is the one who really practises the Commandment, “Love thy neighbour as thyself.”
How can one love one’s neighbour as oneself? It is valid in its fullest sense only when he can identify with his neighbour. Then he can truly love his neighbour. A true Spiritual Master feels the joy that wells up within your heart and cries your tears for you because his nature is love. He is bliss. He is Ananda. Those are the qualifications of a true Spiritual Master. A true Spiritual Master does not have half a dozen diplomas hanging on the wall in his office, and the proof of the true Spiritual Master is not only in his teachings but in how he can transform your life. The proof of the pudding lies in the eating. That is how a true Spiritual Master is known. And a true Spiritual Master, if he claims to be one, must be tested in every way. No blind faith is involved. Do not accept the word of the man. It is not necessary. Prove it to yourself. It is a quality that the mind cannot analyze. For example, you can break up the sugar in the laboratory and say what the chemical components of that sugar are, what constitutes those grains of sugar, how it can be reproduced, how it can be refined, and how it can be synthesised. You can explain all that, but you cannot explain sweetness. You have to taste sugar yourself to know sweetness. In like manner, when it comes to the relationship between a guru and a chela, it is the experience that counts, not what the guru does for the chela.
A TRUE GURU DOES NOT ASK FOR DEVOTION, WHICH SHOULD BE A SPONTANEOUS ACT
We have Spiritual Masters, and most of them are so-called Spiritual Masters. The chela comes along, a practice is given, and it is said that this will cost you fifty pounds. Those are also Spiritual Masters. They call themselves Spiritual Masters. In our organisation, which is practically worldwide and continues to grow, no fees are charged for any teaching. What we want is only the person’s sincerity. That is the repayment. What we want is the happiness that develops in the person. That is the reward I want to see: happiness. If my life is filled with joy and bliss, then to keep it to myself would be selfish, and a Spiritual Master is never selfish. His life is a sharing. If I have experienced bliss, if I have been in contact with that which is Divine, it is my duty to share that Divinity with others and make others happy too, as many as possible, depending on the sincerity of the person, depending on the sincerity of the seeker. For it is not said in the Bible, “Seek and thou shalt find, knock and the door shall be opened.” So, a Spiritual Master is not to be approached with a sense of curiosity or questioning his credentials; it is to take his teachings, perhaps at first, experimentally, based on a bit of understanding and the little logic that can be applied to them, not on blind faith.
To find my guru, I went from guru to guru to guru until I was satisfied, but I had sincerity, I had proper yearning. I did not go around to various gurus to find out what each was worth. I wanted to know what I am worth and whether that guru could supply me with the answer, and in that search, I found what I wanted to see. So, the quality is sincerity and not diplomas on the wall.
A true guru does not ask for devotion; that becomes idle worship. Devotion is a spontaneous development. You are devoted to your boyfriend; you are devoted to your husband. Why? It was not something that your boyfriend or husband asked you. That devotion developed spontaneously because something happened that was within him and within you, and the flame sparkled. That is devotion. And then a Spiritual Master, when he sees that a chela is not worthy, he is under no obligation to teach that chela at all, under no obligation, although he would like to help. He will refer the person, come back, develop a bit more, come back a little later, then you might be ready.
SELF-REALISATION IS A CONSCIOUS EFFORT BACKED UP BY EFFORTLESS MEDITATION
When you engage in meditational practices and experience bliss, you will always find it uplifting and forever lingering. It will leave an indelible mark upon you. It will be evolutionary. Artificially induced experiences by drugs might have been hallucinatory. A drug is a chemical, and because of that chemical, it has only been working on the mind level. It has altered the chemistry of the brain so that the drug, that chemical, that was taken has disturbed a specific chemical reaction in the brain and thereby caused these particular experiences. And according to our studies of drug-takers, after the high, it has always left them with a very low feeling, and this has been experimented with in laboratory tests under proper psychiatric supervision.
But when it comes to meditation, you are going beyond mental chemistry. You are in touch with something Divine, and by drawing from that reservoir so that it permeates every cell of your physical body, every cell of your psychological makeup, it leaves an everlasting impression of great joy. And once you experience that, you will always want to live in that, all the time. And that is how you will progress along the path until one day you reach the stage of self-realisation, as discussed earlier. That is the difference: self-realisation is a complete integration of mind, body, and spirit, and drugs cannot artificially induce that integration. It would be the same as having instant coffee or instant pudding. There is no such thing as self-realisation. It is an effort. It is a conscious effort in daily living, and, of course, one does meditation that helps us in every sphere, both conscious and effortless. One helps the other. It is a circle that adds greater and greater joy to life.
Fasting does not alter consciousness, but it can help us eliminate accumulated toxins in our bodies. You can ask any person who is immersed in theology that, by fasting, by getting rid of various toxins in the body, the mind can become calmer. The body can become quieter, creating the necessary physical and mental conditions for deeper states of meditation. But fasting on its own does not alter states of consciousness; it makes the physical and mental systems more conducive to deeper diving into meditation. That is what happens.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang UK 1976 – 03
