The great saints and mystics tell us that the quickest way to progress on the spiritual path is to live up to the behest of the spiritual master — live an ethical life, meditate for the prescribed time, fill out the spiritual diary and attend the spiritual discourses. But if we attend to our spiritual discipline by rote, without love and devotion, then we are missing the essence of the spiritual path.
The spiritual path is one of love. God is love. Our soul, being of the same essence as God, is love. And the way back to God is also through love. On this path, the passport we need to gain admittance to the divine kingdom is that of love. The one who can arrange for our passage, and can guide us there in the quickest possible time, is the living master or the guru. He is, in fact, a resident of that kingdom and is sent by the king himself to serve as a guide and travelling companion for all those who wish to enter the eternal land of love.
Love is the golden key that opens the door to the kingdom of heaven. Without it, nothing has ever been achieved nor can be achieved on the spiritual path. But it is difficult to understand the meaning of love, its purpose and scope. In reality, it is as boundless as God Himself, and to know its full meaning is beyond our limited intellect. Love is innate in our soul, for we are, in reality, drops of the ocean of all love that have been separated from our source since the beginning of creation. Having originally come from the eternal kingdom, we cannot know lasting peace and happiness until we are reunited with our source.
Let us then analyse the path of love and see how we can gain this gift ourselves. It is the nature of love that it seeks to be attached somewhere. Although love is innate in our soul, we have not directed it to the proper object. We are caught up in the world of the senses and are driven helplessly by our desires. Our love has been directed to that which is transitory. As a result, we have forgotten our true nature. We are thus in a state of delusion, fast asleep. The Gurbani says that the whole world is fast asleep.
We cannot awaken ourselves, and those who are themselves asleep cannot awaken us. Only one who himself is awake can do so. We are like sleeping beauty, waiting to be rescued from our slumber by the magical kiss of the prince. We can develop the love in our soul and attach ourselves to its source only by coming in contact with someone who is an embodiment of love, and such a one is a living master. He treads the divine path, and having merged in the ocean of all consciousness, he overflows with love.
Love is not a business; it is not a commodity that can be purchased or sold. It cannot be bought, and it cannot be taught. It can only be caught like an infection from someone who is infused with it. A master is such a being. He radiates love to all around him. And whoever comes in his presence is infected with it.
Sant Rajinder Singhji, head of Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission, works towards promoting inner and outer peace.
He can be contacted at www.sos.org
