What is meditation, where to meditate, how to meditate, and who helps us to meditate?
It is said that the seat of the soul is here between and behind the eye-brows. But how can we transcend there?
Lecture given by Dr Harbhajan Singh
My dear brothers and sisters,
I have the privilege to see all of you. Today's subject is very beautiful. Spirituality really is not occultism! If we understand the subject which will be given today, I assure you that your angle of vision will be changed. Once you know the very purpose of your human life as taught by Christ and all other competent Masters in the world, I assure you, you will not be deluded because the purpose of human life is very definite indeed.
But we are not conscious about it. If we select the wrong way, not the right way, we are misguided once for all. So for that purpose we have to discriminate: We have to discriminate between the Creator and the creation. We have to discriminate between the outer man and the inner man. We have to discriminate what are the functions of gods, goddesses and avataras, and the negative powers, against the teaching of the Christ and all other competent Masters of the world. Beside this we have to discriminate between the body and the indweller of the body. We have to know about the astral, causal and this physical plane, and we have to know also where the world's philosophies end because our way will start from there.
Today's subject is: "What is meditation?". If you hear it and live with it, you will have a wonderful life and you will not be bewildered in the world, and you will not be deluded by anybody. Meditation, or you may say, the real purpose of human life, or the development of this consciousness within, or you may speak of the development of the soul – that is our subject, because we have a direct and independent contact with God. To discuss this – what is meditation – we have to discriminate a lot of things. This subject is a very long one but if you understand fully, you will have a gift of life within you.
The first question arises: Why should we meditate? How to meditate, where to meditate?
The answers to all these things will reveal you the truth. Some people meditate to fulfil their wishes, some meditate for peace of mind. Some people meditate to acquire supernatural powers, some meditate to influence others, and some people meditate for salvation. Only few people meditate out of yearning and love for God. Rabia Basri was asked, how she meditated, if God came first or whether she meditated first? She said: "No, I do not meditate first. It is my inner Beloved which comes first and then I meditate." She explained the signs of the appearance of the inner Beloved. You know, if you really see the beautiful vision of your inner Beloved, that is called the Christpower, you will leave all other kinds of meditation. There are thousand ways of meditation, which are merely a heap of dust, they would not take you anywhere.
So today we have to differentiate and you have to discriminate, what you need. (You must know) how you prepare your life and how you have to meditate. For that reason I will not tell you about any sect or "ism", but I will verify those negative facts with the positive facts. I must discriminate what are the negative facts and what are the positive facts. If you know the positive facts of life, naturally you will discard all the negative facts of life and you will have the higher values of life. The purpose of human life is to meet good end, and to meet good end, everybody needs to have the higher values of life. Only with the higher values of life, with higher consciousness, you can meditate. Otherwise meditation is mere itching.
I take you back to the very original criteria, to the very original path taught by Christ, Guru Nanak and Kabir. And that is your subject. If you do it, well and good, if you do not do it, then nobody can help you, only you have to do it. And this is a reality, I tell you the truth.
Just to begin with it, I will tell you on whom to meditate, who is the Master, who is the Christpower in the world. People all over the world are bewildered. I will tell you what is the play of the mind, what is going on, where it is going on, how it is doing, and regarding the astral and the causal plane. All these things we will discuss today, and you will certainly come to a conclusion.
This teaching which I tell you, that is not from me, that is from the holy scriptures and that is the experience of all the competent Masters who solved the mystery of life. They practised it and they preached this very truth. And their experience must become our experience. If you be very attentive and listen to everything, you will get something, that is for sure. Your soul will get some food today.
"I shall never leave thee, nor forsake thee till the end of the world." These are the words of Christ and not of Jesus. Christ lived before Jesus. Who is Christ? Christ is the Power, God-into-action-Power, who has created the whole creation and has created this holy body. And we have a direct and independent contact with that Power, and that will never leave us. Our contact with Him – God – is unbreakable and ever fresh and it gives us everlasting life. We leave the body, but that Power does not leave us.
So before we come to the subject we must know why to meditate, on what ground we can meditate and what are the pre-conditions for meditation.
Who is the Master of the whole creation? There is only one Master! It is from all competent Masters that the Christpower, Masterpower, Godpower, God-into-action-Power is our Master. That is also called the radiant form of the Master. It is called Guru Dev by Kabir. He is our Master. He is the Master of all human beings. But there are hundred thousand other "masters", and I will certainly tell you what they are, who they are, what their function is. All these things we have to verify. Those who claim themselves as Master, those who pose themselves as Master – as per holy scripture and as per all competent Masters – they can never be the Master. Because there can be no doer in the world. God is the doer, Christpower is the doer. No son of man can be the doer. So those who came, those who were commissioned from above, they said, they are the slaves of God. They are the borrowed servants of the Christpower, the Godpower. They never claimed themselves as Masters, because if at one time they claimed themselves as Masters, their contact with God would be broken for all the times. They cannot claim this because they see that Power working everywhere. They see this Power working in themselves, outside and inside. So they love all human beings because they love that Power and they see that Power in all human beings.
Take it for granted – it is from the holy scriptures – those who claim themselves as Masters and pose themselves as Masters can never be the Masters; and nobody should believe them. Who is the Christ? His teaching is the Christ, and if you follow that teaching by learning and yearning, you will get more in contact with that Power, because that Power is innate in the soul, and you have to learn it within – not outside. Whatever you hear today – if you live with it, you will have the yearning. When you have the yearning, you will develop a ruling passion in your life, and that Power which is very close, that will detach you from the body, that will detach you from the world and the worldly attachments. Thus you will begin to live unattached in the world of attachments. Your angle of vision will be changed. So far your angle of vision is not changed, there is no meditation (possible) and you cannot find your own Self with-in the body. When the house is burning, you cannot make a house in the house. (Before we can explain what meditation is) we have to discuss so many things, that are very important. This is why in the beginning I told you, if you follow what you hear today and live with it, in a month or so your angle of vision will be changed. I assure you for that because I tell you from my practical life, and I tell you from the experiences of the competent Masters.
It is from the holy scriptures: There is no Master in a million, maybe one in a bil-lion. When Christ came, how many came along with him? Many, many came along with him who claimed themselves to be a Master. Jesus was crucified by those who followed the religious teachers of that time. Kabir came and He was also given lots of punishments because He told that there is only one doer. You know who Kabir was? Kabir said of Himself: He came in all the four ages, as Sat Sukrat, Muninder, Karunamae and then as Kabir – in Golden, Silver, Copper and Iron Age. Kabir was asked, when He became a devotee. He said: "There was no moon, no sun, no earth, no gods and goddesses, there was nothing in the world, then I was to meditate." He was asked to work for It (the Godpower). So this is the Power that is called the Christpower. They are not two, they are all one. We say: "Christ is different than Guru Nanak or Kabir." No, they are all one. It is like that – now there are so many bulbs (in this room) – our attention is in the light and not in the glass. They (the Masters) are all one, they are all positive, though they come with different dressings. So all the competent Masters – whether they came in the East or West, came at different places and different times – they taught the very same truth with one opinion.
If you go back to your holy scriptures, this one opinion is there. So all the competent Masters had one opinion, and they spoke with one opinion. Whereas those hundred thousand masters who so far came in the world, their experiences do not agree with each other, because their ways are different. Their way was within the world, in the astral plane or in the causal plane. Physical, astral and causal world, however, they are all matter. These regions belong to the negative power. The so-called masters work for that power which is the controller of the astral and causal planes. So all those who meditated on the astral and causal plane, Kabir says that they are the evildoers. He said: "Don't sit by an evildoer, because sin will cling to your soul and your soul will fall down like the petal of the flowers."
So who are the evildoers, what they did in the world and what they are still doing that is open for everybody. If you read the holy scriptures very minutely, you can find everything there. Problem is only that we neither go back to our holy scriptures, nor do we search the consciousness in this manbody and so we remain ignorant. The question is within – the answer is also within. The disease is within – the remedy is also within. This manbody is the true church. It is the true Bible, it is the two-paged Bible. Open it and the whole teaching is there. Macrocosm is in the microcosm. What-ever exists in the physical plane, in the astral plane or in the causal plane, that all exists in this body. There is nothing that is not in the body. Whatever God has created, that exists in the manbody. This is why it is said: "Man is the prototype of the whole creation." These are basic things.
Along with it we must know so many things about what else there is in the body; to start with the subject, there are so many things that cannot be explained in one day. The teaching which will be told to you today is only little compared to that which you have to learn. There is no end to the competency of our Father and there is no end to our learning. One has to learn and live with it up to the last breath, because one has to live with one's Father for all the times to come, one has to live an eternal life with one's Father. So this teaching is not only that teaching which is written in the holy scriptures, because that is very little. It is said: "Whatever is written in the holy scriptures that exists in the manbody, but whatever exists in the manbody that does not exist in all the holy scriptures of the world." So this is why Christ and all Masters said: "Tap inside, go into this holy body." It is a wonderful house we live in!
It is said that here at the eye-centre is the seat of the soul (between and behind the two eye-brows). All people say: "Here is the seat of the soul – meditate over here!" But where is the seat of the soul?
It is a big problem – nobody really knows where the seat of the soul is. But we must know it. If we know where the seat of the soul is, then there is no problem. Do you know what happens at the time of death? We transcend from the lower extremities and transcending the throat ganglion, our attention, the spirit or consciousness goes to the root of the two eye-brows. From there it takes upward-trend, then it takes inward-trend, and here is the seat of the soul. It is said, "Here is the seat of the soul." But to reach there and to locate there is very difficult, because just very close to the seat of the soul there is the mind and there is the intellect. This body is not five-fold, it is eight-fold. Five folds have to finish with it when we leave the body, and three folds will never leave us: intellect, mind and ego. Those three are also matter and they reach up to the causal plane. Physical, astral and causal plane are all matter. There is no reality in them, these are the barriers for the spirit to go up.
Mind is the king in the body, mind is the king in the physical, astral and causal. All rishis and munis, all gods and goddesses, they became prey to this mind, and could not get rid of the tentacles of the mind. They could not get out of the attachment, lust, ego, everything is still there. So what is there in the astral and causal plane? Every-thing that is here in the physical form, that is also in the astral form, and everything is above in the causal plane. It is all matter there.
So, what do most people do, when they meditate? How do they meditate? First they have to overcome the intellect. Well, maybe they can overcome this, but they cannot overcome the mind. You know, when you create a wish, your mind at once identifies with it. Mind in this physical body is astral. Everyone has wishes upon wishes, and our mind identifies with them – so mind always remains astral. So when we create a wish to see something, at once our mind identifies with this and it will give you the light over here. If you stress more, it will take you to the astral plane, it will take you to the chakras. Mind will show you the light at once. Whereas the experience taught by Christ and all the competent Masters, that starts from the darkness – but that we will treat later on. First we have to tell all these things about the mind, because the activity of the mind is very large, very vast and wide. To know the mind and its activity is the foremost thing before meditation. Mind, matter, maya, negative power, they are all one. Everybody wants to be happy in the world. He creates a wish to be happy. Man has to create a wish in order to be happy in the world. Without a wish, nobody can remain happy in the world. He has to create his happiness. But when we create wishes, we also create sin, attachment, ego, we tell lies, so many things we create. Every wish, when it is fulfilled, brings us attachment and with attachment it brings ego. So after some time the same wish, that has been fulfilled, becomes fake and void and we have no interest in it. And so everyone has to create another wish just to be happy again in the world. Thus throughout life man goes on creating wishes upon wishes and he loses his life. That is the way of the negative power or the mind.
Now those who stress too much over here (between and behind the eye-brows) and who try to meditate by themselves, they go into the chakras and into the astral plane. Or they go down and their Kundalini-power is opened and it comes from behind to the top of the head and that sound* begins from that place. What is in the astral plane? There are the gods and goddesses and avataras. There are the cities of gods and goddesses, and they are controlling their own cities. There are 'riddhis' and 'siddhis' – supernatural powers – miracles and there is excessive light. When the soul goes there, it is just like a pitcher: you enter into it, but it is very vast and wide (and you are caught there). There are constant ups and downs, because mind takes you there. It is the astral mind which takes you there. Do you know what the mind is? Mind is called a snake. Anyone who – by the blessing of the Master – was shown his mind, he always saw a snake. Mind in the body is a snake. The outlook of the mind is always uneven. You know, a snake always goes very fast on a ground with ups and downs, it cannot move on a very soft and even place. So throughout life the mind creates ups and downs in the life of man, because its purpose is to take him back to the negative power. It won't let you go, because even in the beginning (when you start following the right way) it will try to convince you that the way you are following is wrong. It does so many things (to keep you off the way). It is called ‘thousand-headed cobra'. We cannot control one head of a cobra – mind is a thousand-headed cobra. The whole world is controlled by the mind. We do not differentiate whether we are mind or we are soul. Just to differentiate I give you an example: If my mind tells me, "Gentleman, what is going on behind you? Look at it!" I say, "If you have the power, you can look yourself – I do not look!" I will not obey, because I am not the mind. Why should I obey the mind? So mind, matter, negative power – they are all one. And what happens? We create wishes, and who fulfills our wishes? All holy scriptures tell us: "Be desireless!" So far you do not become desireless, so far you do not remain unattached in the world of attachment, your purpose cannot be solved, because when you have to leave this world, you have also to leave your attention from this world. If your attention will remain in the world, you have to come back again into this world. So we created wishes and negative power, mind helped us to fulfill it. Thus we strengthened the hand of the negative power.
In the beginning there was no hell and there was no heaven, because the contact of man was direct with the Godpower. Who created this hell and heaven in the astral plane? There is hell, there is heaven in the astral plane and there is another high heaven that is still in the causal plane. This is called Baikunth and it was made by the negative power. Master asked the negative power, "You have been sent into the world with man to serve the man – how could you create such barriers for man?" He said, "He created wishes and by that he strengthened my hand, now he has to give me back. He has to pay me much." So this negative power created hell for the sinners and heaven for the pious egoist. Both are living there and they will come down again into the world and they will go into the transmigration of souls. I tell you, no salvation is there. When there was no sin, there was no prison. Prison was made later on – sin came first. So of this hell and heaven all people say, "Let us show you the light, let us show you this heaven!" But this is not that heaven which was preached by Christ. Christ told, "Where the world's philosophies end, there the religion starts!" So the world's philosophies do not end with the astral or the causal regions. You have to rise above the astral and then to the causal. From there you see down and you can see the cause and effect of the world. When you see the cause and effect of the world, you are awakened. Then you can rise into the true Heaven.
So there is a big illusion inside which we are confronted with in the astral plane. There are the "riddhis" and "siddhis", which are called miracles. They are scattered on the floor like so many flowers, very attractive flowers. You need not even pick them up, if you only look at them, you will be affected. Then you will come out from the astral plane with these miracles. And those who meditated in the astral plane, what have they brought from the astral plane? – They brought the black magic, spiritual heal-ing, they brought mesmerism, hypnotism, they did Kundalini-Yoga, they did lots of things, just to influence others. What are the negative facts of life? These are all created by the so-called people who got in touch only with the astral plane, because the astral plane is fully controlled by the negative power and it is open for everybody. If you want to go to the astral plane, then you do not need a Master, because mind itself will take you there. It is said in the holy scriptures that there was one Saint and his disciple. Both were sitting in meditation to enter into the astral plane. The disciple was more receptive and he went more quickly than his master. It is open for everybody, but it is a death-trap. Once you enter there, you cannot come out of it. Now there are the references (in the scriptures). You read some scriptures from various rishis and munis, who meditated for a long, long period. It is said that they meditated for thousand years. They became the skeleton of bone, but they could not solve the riddle of life, because they could not come out of this region. They lost their whole life. What did they do? They lengthened their life by Prana-Yoga. To control the breath-system, this is Prana-Yoga. In short: In a minute we normally breathe nearly six to eight times. But if you control it, you can come down to even two or three, to four or five a day. So much they could control their breath. As our life is based on the number of breaths, and they could control the breath, they could meditate for a considerable long time. However they could not solve the mystery of death.
What are those miracles? Miracles are only illusions. There you see something, and you are influenced with it. Whereas the holy scriptures tell us that this holy light does not appear or never so far appeared on the world or the sea. It will always appear when you enter into the Heaven, taught by Christ. So these miracles, all these things are purely negative. What is there? Only the astral light, the astral dust, appears on the physical dust. We call him (who shows miracles): "He is a holy person!" He is not a holy person. Kabir says, he is an evildoer; he has come to mislead you, he has come to misguide you. What is there? You know, you play with fireworks. What is there in the fireworks? You see very beautiful sceneries, but these sceneries are illusions, because they have no essence in them and within a moment they will become dust, a heap of dust. If you really want to see the sceneries, you go to the garden, there are beautiful sceneries, but these fireworks are just like an illusion. So same thing is when the astral dust mixes into the physical dust and we think he is a holy person. He has shown a miracle, and those who take it to the heart, they are affected, they come into the clutch of the negative power. Those who are not affected, they cannot come into the clutch of the negative power. So this is what is going on in the world – it is all negative facts. To know the truth, to know the right subject, you must learn and yearn. And for that purpose, this is a very beautiful subject today. Now we have to know, what this manbody is and what our relation with the world is. All these things – it is a very big subject and I am going to cut it short, otherwise it will not be complete in itself. For that purpose you have to remain in touch (with us). And you have to learn it throughout life. There is no end to the learning, I tell you.
Once some man came to Kabir and said, "There is some master who maintains that Christ can be seen, that this or that power can be seen – and he shows it to every-one. You, however, say that self-analysis and self-knowledge are necessary in order to gain God-knowledge, and that learning and yearning is a must." Kabir replied, "Bring this person here." So Kabir met him and He told him, "That subject, which you are telling to all, by this you are misguiding and misleading all people. Please do not tell things like that." So he compromised with Kabir to a certain extent. Kabir said, "It is your mind which plays a double-role. It will let you see something within, and it will show you the same thing outside also." The man said that Lord Krishna also appears to him. Kabir advised him, "When you sit in meditation and he appears, then catch hold of his hand and don't let him go!"
This was spoken by a competent Master. When he sat in meditation, Lord Krishna appeared and he got hold of his hand. And while he was struggling, his eyes were opened and he saw that he was holding his own hand. This is the way of the negative power, I tell you. To know the mind, to know the negative power is very difficult. How to get rid of it? For that purpose you must have the consciousness, you must have the awakening – you must know what is what. If you know, what is what, then you belong to Him. It is not so difficult, it only deals with your right understanding. There is only one very precious thing in the world, it is a priceless thing in the world – that is the right understanding. When one leaves the body, these our eyes do not work. We leave this world. Now as our Third Eye is not opened, it is said that there is utter darkness. One cannot move inside, one cannot even see one's feet. And so one is taken back by the negative power. One does not know where to go, because at the seat of the soul it is utter darkness there. But when you transcend from the astral and the causal plane, there this Third Eye is opened. How? – It is very practical. Now I will tell you, where the Third Eye is and how it is opened. If you know it, then you may go everywhere in the world and ask those "masters", "Yes, here is the seat of the soul, please take me direct from this place above!" And you will never be misguided in the world. If you stay at this place, you will have the right understanding, you will have the awakening, you will become the conscious co-worker of the divine plan. But to reach there, you have lots of things to learn. Today I will give you a gift of life, a priceless heritage, and if you know it, you will never be bewildered in the world, and you will never be misguided by any "master" in the world. You have a direct and independent contact with Godpower. It is your subject, and you have to solve it. You need only a guidance. Those (true Masters) who came in the world, they were attached with that Power, they were sent by that Power. And what did they do? They did not attach any person with themselves. They helped others to attach with Him – God. It is from the holy scriptures. So we are all reading in one and the same class, though we are wearing the different badges of different religions, but our subject is one. Like in a classroom, like in the college, like in the university. The subject for all human beings is one and the same. So now we will come up to the very subject: What is meditation, where to meditate, how to meditate, and who helps us to meditate?
It is said that the seat of the soul is here between and behind the eye-brows. But how can we transcend there? It is said that there are three Nadis in the body – one is called Ida, Pingala and Sushmana. Ida and Pingala are the physical Nadis, because they only enter into the astral and causal plane, so they are physical, material, whereas the Sushmana, that is invisible (and reaches above the region of matter). Our soul has to transcend from the central nerves. There is an opening. Where does that lead to? That transcends above the astral and the causal regions. On the right side, there are the moon and the stars and on the left side there is the sun and the creations. So when you meditate and you have a wish, at once your mind identifies with this and it will take you either to the left side or to the right side; both are governed by the negative power. There are the creations, and these are the barriers (for the soul). What will happen? You will see the light, you will get emotional and you will drop down. That is what is going on with every type of these meditations. Whereas the Third Eye is a little opening, a very fine opening. It is said, it is just like one tenth of the mustard-seed. But it is this opening that is the gate to the (real) Heaven. So all Masters tell us that it is a very slippery way, even an ant cannot climb. Kabir says, "Even the feet of the ant can slip from that place." Whereas we go like loaded bullocks – how is it possible? So what happens? When our soul transcends with the help of a competent Master, He takes us direct to that place. And there is utter darkness. So the teaching or the meditation prescribed by Christ and all other competent Masters, that starts from the darkness and not from the light.
You know, Alexander the Great, whose master was Quazi Kidr. He wanted that he should not shed tyranny and murder in the world. He wanted to show him the Truth. He wanted to give him the Bread and the Water of Life. So Alexander was listening, but not fully cooperating. Forcibly Quazi Kidr took him to the seat of the soul – and it is said in the scriptures, that there was utter darkness and he could not drink the Water of Life there. And he came back, and he started with what had been his intention.
So when it is said, "If your eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light" – that means, when our attention transcends from the lower extremities and from the astral and from the causal region, it is not going this way or that way. First it transcends direct above the causal plane and there is an opening – and this is the gateway to the Heaven, taught by Christ. And what is there? There is the Bread of Life and the Water of Life. There is a serene vibration, there is the music of the spheres. Once you come in contact with it, you will be reborn. It is the same experience which happens at the time of death. Then you are twice born. Once you are twice born, why you come into the world again? When you take the Bread of Life, you will never feel hungry to come back into the world. You take the Water of Life, and you will never feel thirsty.
This is not the subject which is being taught everywhere. Some people tell us, "Yes, I am also initiated by a competent Master." There are so many groups! After one competent Master (has left the physical body) many people stand up and say, "Yes, Master appointed me as spiritual successor." That is what is going on. What they are telling (about themselves giving the experiences), you can experience yourself. You can enter there (in the astral plane) without the help of anybody. If you stress over here (on the forehead), you can have that experience, but it is all negative. You must be reborn, I tell you. You need the help of somebody who can guide you, so that you can transcend over here. And once you enter there, then the purpose of your life is solved. There you can meditate. Who can meditate there (on that plane of which) Christ said, "I and my Father are one"? It is only, I tell you, to do it! To come over here, it is very difficult. But sometimes you come here and you do not know it, you forget it. Perhaps in your life you came to this place many times, but you could not find through it. Nobody helped you, but you came over there. As for example, you have been to a certain country, there you were given a very warm welcome, there they loved you very much, they served you very good food. They helped you to see different places. Now you are back home. You are cooking the food, you are serving the food, you are talking with your friends, but your attention is going there. So far your attention is going there, your whole work is going on, but you are disconnected from the place.
Or somebody just passes by you and I ask you, "Well friend, have you seen this person who just passed by you?" You say, "No, my attention was somewhere else." Your eyes were open, but you could not see that person. What is that due to? Because here (between and behind the eye-brows) we die, here is the seat of the soul. And from here our five doors are opened to the outside. This is called the five outside faculties of the soul. Those five faculties are the ears, eyes, nose, throat, mouth and touch below – five senses. These are the five doors. When they are opened, we are getting reactions. Whether it is good or bad, we are getting the effects. But when these doors are shut from outside, then they open to the inside. You know the example of Newton? He was solving his mathematical problem, when some drum-beaters passed by him. He however said, "No one has passed." He could not even listen with his ear, because his attention was fully focused on his problem. His thoughts have become thoughtless. So when these five doors close from outside, and they open inside, it is called inversion. These are the inner five doors. So Christ tells us, "If you shut the ten doors of this temple, you can see the heavenly light within." In order to shut the ten doors of this temple, you must rise above the intellect and the mind and above all what is going on in the world. It is the same experience which happens at the time of death. So try to understand.
There is no concession – teaching itself is the concession. If you follow that teaching, then there is the law of sympathy and compassion that plays the biggest role in the life of the disciple. To the root of every hair, the skin is one. So with this subject, you can solve all your miseries and attachments of the world. In this body, in the astral body and in the causal body, our soul is mind-ridden, it cannot get free from the mind. But when it rises above the causal plane, then the soul is pure. When the Third Eye is opened, when it enters into the Heaven, then it is free from the mind. When it is free from the mind, at once it gets the Water of Life and the Bread of Life. It is a law. When you one time get the beautiful vision of your inner Beloved, you will be lost there. You will have a ruling passion in your life. It is so easy a subject, but people are bewildered due to ignorance. They are taught something, but they are given something else. Everybody will say, "Yes, this is this, this is this," but they will not be able to give you this experience, because it is a gift from Him (God). Nobody in the world says that He (God) alone gives it to you. If you know the competency of your Master and you learn and yearn, He will give it to you. You know if you have a worldly love, you give your heart. Where you give the heart, you also give the head. What does it mean to give the head? You give your intellect and mind also. You are wavering in the world, I tell you. It is a constant learning and yearning. There is nothing that is to be put inside you from outside; everything is already there. This serene love is there, it is wavering inside, but we do not go to that place. Nobody can help you to go to that place, because this is your subject which you must learn. Otherwise, there is no way out.
Better not to meditate than to meditate (in the wrong way). If you meditate only with the help of mind, if you meditate to fulfil wishes, this is a death-trap.
Kabir says, "There are ten avataras and many gods and goddesses who have come into the world. But they are of no use to you, since the weed is growing on their heads and they cannot see the Water of Life." When they cannot see the Water of Life, how can they give the Water of Life? So man is the highest rung in the whole creation. He is supreme in this creation – he is the first image of God. The child is loveable to the Father and human birth is the right criteria to go back home. If this opportunity is lost, who will save you? Our life in the world is very short, very short. All Masters tell us, it is but for four days. Some Masters tell us, it is only as short as one breath, as compared to the eternal life that we have to live with our Father inside. We are leading this life for only one breath, it is so short, and in so short a time we have to do a lot of work. Masters tell us, "Yearn for it, try to live with it, there are only two things to learn from the lives of Masters: Live and do for Him! If really you live and do for Him, your whole purpose is solved. You know, when Masters come into the world, they live hundred per cent for others. Their purpose is differ-ent. At least we must live for our Self. We only will prefer to live for our Self if really we live for others. We create tentacles on others and then we say, "We are living for ourselves!" – No, this is attachment. This leads to a further subject about our home and home-affairs, how we can set our homes, how we can develop our children. This all leads to a very big subject, I tell you. It is not a litttle subject – only a little is told to you. This subject is so wide and that you have to learn throughout your life. Every time it becomes more and more bright. When you become the conscious co-worker of the divine plan, you will learn each and everything by yourself. Because you will read that very Bible which is within. Everything came from inside. The question is within, the answer is within. Suppose, you put me one question that is very import-ant for you, and if I give you the wrong answer, you would never compromise with me, since you have the right answer within you. So far you do not get the right answer from me, you would never compromise with me. Because the right answer is within you. Everything is within – not outside.
So please, all these things, which are coming out of various kinds of meditation, this is not in your interest, but connects you with the negative aspect of life, rather Masters tell us, "It is a death-trap". Go back to your holy scripture! If you follow the teaching of the Christ, you are true Christians. To be a true Christian, a true Sikh, to be a true Hindu, it is one and the same – these are the (outer) labels. We all have to become human beings. He, who is a human being, he is a true Christian. Never so far in the world any competent Master created a religion in the world. Rather religion came into being only after the physical departure of those competent Masters, but by the so-called followers of the faith. So God made man and man made religion.
I am not going to bind you in any religion, in any sect or "ism"; remain, but become a true Christian. If you become a true Christian, you are a living example in the world – you are a human being.
*(This sound, that starts from there, is negative and has nothing to do with the sound-experience given by the competent Master.)
Extracts from lectures held by Dr Harbhajan Singh, in Graz, July 10, 1991 and in Landshut, September 17, 1991