There are many prayers. Some people make prayers just to fulfil their wishes on the level of mind and senses.
Prayer is the condition of the heart. Prayer is the condition of one's thought. Maybe it is not spoken, but it is there. Like the fire which is dormant.

So some people make prayers just to get rid of some problems. Some people make prayers to be very rich in the world, to be good in the eyes of others, they want to be popular. Some people pray for salvation. Some only (make) prayers for the sake of love of God.

 

So the prayer which we do on the level of senses that is for the worldly pleasures. If our prayers are heard, we say we are very happy. So in the world you see people who say, “No, I am not happy”, some people say, "Oh, we are very happy." We are happy, but we are not contented from within.
So we use the Godpower, we wish Him only on the level of worldly way. If our wishes are granted, or if these are given, we say, "Oh, God is very happy with us." If those wishes are not fulfilled, we even abuse the Godpower, "Oh, who is that Godpower? He has not done good things for me."

So what is the most important, which is the most loveable prayer, which all Masters stressed upon us?
Guru Nanak prayed, Sant Kirpal Singh also prayed, all other Masters: they prayed for Him (God): They wanted Him, only Him. So what is there? When one cries helplessly, the Godpower comes to help. Then help is there. So far we do it (on our own self), we pray with our own helps, (then) help is not possible. Help is only possible, when you become helpless, when you surrender to that Power. Then this Power comes to help you.

You know, there was one wife of the Pandus, Draupadi. And her test was there, because the other party could win her (in a play), and she came into the possession of those Kauravas. And now they wanted to make her naked in the presence of a lot of people. So she prayed to Lord Krishna, because she was devoted to Lord Krishna. But Lord Krishna did not reach. So then she became helpless.
Then the Power (came to help her), who is innate in us. We can call it by many names – Christpower, Masterpower, Godpower –  that is within each one of us. And He is the Master of the whole creation. That is within us, that is the life of our life. We are in the body due to Him, due to that Power. When that Power withdraws from us, we are no more in the world; we have to lose this body.

 

So what is the most important, which is the most loveable prayer, which all Masters stressed upon us?
Guru Nanak prayed, Sant Kirpal Singh also prayed, all other Masters: they prayed for Him (God): They wanted Him, only Him. So what is there? When one cries helplessly, the Godpower comes to help. Then help is there. So far we do it (on our own self), we pray with our own helps, (then) help is not possible. Help is only possible, when you become helpless, when you surrender to that Power. Then this Power comes to help you.

You know, there was one wife of the Pandus, Draupadi. And her test was there, because the other party could win her (in a play), and she came into the possession of those Kauravas. And now they wanted to make her naked in the presence of a lot of people. So she prayed to Lord Krishna, because she was devoted to Lord Krishna. But Lord Krishna did not reach. So then she became helpless.
Then the Power (came to help her), who is innate in us. We can call it by many names – Christpower, Masterpower, Godpower –  that is within each one of us. And He is the Master of the whole creation. That is within us, that is the life of our life. We are in the body due to Him, due to that Power. When that Power withdraws from us, we are no more in the world; we have to lose this body.

So that Power, which can materialize, can manifest, it has all possibilities. He is self-consistent, He is self-existent, there is no barrier for that Power.
That Power came to help her. So who was that Power? Ninth Guru, Guru Teg Bahadur, writes it was the Karuname. Karuname was the Power. He was the Power who created the highest place in the domain of God. He became the Creator. As Kabir came in all the four ages (as the Almighty Power into the world): as Sat Sukrat, Muninder, Karuname, and Kabir. So Karuname was that Power, who came in the Silver Age. So that Power is within us, that is called the Christpower. When we cry helplessly, this Power comes from within, and He solves all our problems. So that is what is also written in the Holy Bible. "I shall never leave thee, nor forsake thee till the end of the world."

So that Power would not leave us. He is our Father, or He is our Beloved. So far the lover does not yearn and does not become the Beloved Himself, then he cannot find the Beloved. He has to mould himself in the life of the Beloved. So that is what happens in the life of all Masters. They were Love-personified Forms, because love was overflowing through them. Wherever they went, they gave the radiation of that love everywhere, they scattered this love. If something is holding the whole creation, the whole manifestation, (then) that is out of the love. Love is a binding factor. And you cannot separate it from your life. This is innate in the soul. We are of the same essence as that of God.

So when Lord Krishna reached there, and Draupadi said, "I remembered You, and You did not come, why you have come (only) now?" He said, "To whom you remembered?" She said, "Lord Krishna." - "Of which place?" - "From Bindraban." He used to live at one place, it is called Bindraban. "Oh, then I had to come from Bindraban (and therefore it lasted)." - He said, "This Power was within you. Yes, that Power helped you." So this Power is too close, this is why it is said, we have direct and independent contact with that Godpower; there should be no person in between. That is the Power.

All that we have to get, all that is our heritage, we can find it in love.
That is something told everywhere, but there is something higher than love, and that is the outcome of love. When the love knows no limits!

You know, there is much difference between the worldly love and the love of God. Worldly love is: when our eyes do not bear the love, it transmits to the heart and from heart it transmits to the eyes. And in the form of tears it comes out. So when you weep over for some times, then you lose some of the love. This is the worldly love. Sometimes people say, "Oh, let her or him weep, so that the extreme love, the extreme separation is then minimized." That is a worldly love. So this is not a love, this is an attachment. But God-love is: the heart of the Saint is over here, at the seat of the soul. So from there it arises and goes everywhere, then it comes back over here (at the seat of the soul). It has a power that can radiate everything. That can create in its way, it has a colour, special colour. When you are dyed in this colour, you are the same as that of love. You cannot leave. It is a binding force, it will bind you. It will tie you in love. So you don't feel any separation. So then what comes out of? Devotion!
Love is good, but devotion is still higher than love. But still higher is the surrendrance. T
his is the outcome of the various phases of love. When you have love, then you have the devotion, then you have the power to surrender. Surrendrance only comes when you rise above the plane of senses and the shackles of the mind. Then these stages come in the life of man. Then he says, "Doesn't matter. Let people ask, let people say. What am I, I am." So one does not care. He is fully embedded in His Master.

So these things are there. Love, devotion and yearning! You know, yearning finds its place in the ruling passion. When you yearn for something, you have a ruling passion for it, to get it, "Okay, I will have. I certainly should have it." So you are determined, you determine your life. "Yes, I am after it." So this is a (special) way of life, an art of life.

Our life is really full of love, because it is of the same essence as that of God. We cannot separate it (from Him).
Why we feel different? Because, simply we are identified with the mind and the matter! Our attention is moving outside, if we come back to our house (within us), and we start (to seek) right from the house, then we seek these things (God and love for God). But we do not start from the house, so this is forgetfulness. We forget it. We have forgotten our (real) way of life. Actual way was to start from this man-body. We did not start it from our own self. We did it, as people do; we take the steps as others are doing it. No, we have to follow the footsteps of our Masters! And they remind us to start from our own self. It is a way of life. So far you do not start it from your own self, you are ignorant. You are misled, right from the house. Right from your own self, you are misled.

So Masters tell us how to create love, devotion and yearning, and the ruling passion in life. These are the devotional services unto our selves. Because only through it we can find the God, otherwise there is no way out.

So one time it happened that Lord Krishna had to go for six months to a distant place.
And Radha, his wife, she was very loving to Him, but they had to separate. They had to leave. So sometimes separation also creates all these things: It creates love, it creates devotion, it creates yearning, then it creates ruling passion in life. So we are separated from God. And once we know all the attributes or the competency of the Master, then this separation leads us from where once we separated. We can go back by yearning, by learning, yearning, by ruling passion. We can come very close to the perennial source. When you come back at the perennial source, you are addressed well. You are at the right place, you say, "I am now fine there." All Masters have claimed that status. They said, "Now we have decided. Now we have determination. And our determination will bring the fruit in our life." They started like this.

So Radha – due to this separation – was in sweet remembrance of Lord Krishna, so much so that one day after six months, Lord Krishna knocked the door. She said, "Who are you? Who is knocking the door?" He said, "I am the Lord Krishna." She said, "Now I don't need you, because I myself have become Lord Krishna."

So this is a (real) way of life. It is a very, a pure love. Pure love not only comes through love (devotion is also needed). Because when we only create a love, then we create hope, we create some hopes to have that love. No, (with pure love) hope is not there; there is no need of any hope. Hope is also a state of mind, it is a hindrance of the mind, it is an obstruction in the way of love. It is a barrier. All these hopes are the worldly way. We cannot put hope on those things, it is your heritage; you must get it! Why hopes are there? You are given this birth, you are entitled to come in the man-body only to have your heritage back. You are love-personified form, you are the same essence as your Father. So we have to become like Him. So our purpose is to create all these attributes, these are the attributes in life. More you gain, more you are close with Him. So Masters tell us how we have to create. It is such a thing, if that comes in the life that will change the life at once. Then you would never have a darkened view. You will have always the bright view. Because once the love settles in you, then you have a lot of attributes.

What are the main attributes you get? You know how to sacrifice everything for the sake of love, for the sake of meeting the Lord within you. You have a sacrifice. You wish to sacrifice everything, you say, "Oh, I don't need it." What the negative power does? He will create lot of wishes around you. So when you have a ruling passion, you say, "No, I have sacrificed everything." So those wishes would not have any meaning with you. You repel them like anything.

So one Master, the third Master of the Sikhs – Guru Amar Das – says, "If all the good things and all the riches of the three worlds, if they are put together, a person who has a yearning for his Godhood, he will never even look at it."
 Because this is useless for him. This is just like a matter, and he is very dreaded of this matter. Because he knows, we spoiled our life, and we are spoiling our life for lot of reasons. And these reasons do not leave us. We are fully entitled to them and they are entitled to us. And we cannot be free from those facts. So these can be the very hard facts of life. Masters went through them and they taught us the very lesson to get rid of those hard facts. If we have to go through the hard facts of life, the teaching is there (to lead us), so nicely it is written; we should believe it. Believe the testimony of the Masters, because whatever is there, it is for us. It is not for the beasts or for the animals; it is for those who have the discriminating power.
We have the discriminating power. We are in this holy body; it is the true temple of God because of the discriminating power. When our Master comes to you, whenever the God-into-action Power dwells in human form, dwells in flesh, He always comes with discrimination power. So He blesses all, He multiplies our discriminating power in lots of ways.

How many ways are there? A lot of people have different ways. So it is the Masterpower, it is the Beloved, how she can please her husband? She knows it. Master is the Beloved. She has all arts, the Beloved has all arts to please her husband. She knows, "I have not to leave my husband, I must cooperate." Like a good mother. So far the child is having those sighs in the breast, the mother hugs him again and again, till the child is silent. "Oh, my child is happy now." So Master makes us happy. He knows from where the problem has started, and how the problem will end, He knows already. So He knows the beginning and He knows the end. So He knows our habits, and He also knows how to overcome our problems, if we leave unto Him, if we surrender to Him. And that is only possible when you have the love for Him, when you are fully devoted to Him. Otherwise not, no yearning is there. So yearning is there when we say, "Oh, Master, now we want You, we wish (only) You."

Maulana Rumi has told, "Oh God, bless me with this very turn of life." This is a turn of life, a rare opportunity that we are given in this human birth. It is to meet God. He says, "I have been in this world like grass. I was cut millions of times and millions of times I grew again. So I was cut, I was growing. Oh, I am knowing my plight. I was so much disturbed and this much I know with Your Grace. Now it is my turn, please, bless me. Please, bless me at this very moment. I don't want to come again. I want to join You. Because I have come from Your source and there is no source. Hundred thousand births, ages upon ages, I have been here, I have not found any source in this life where I may be adjusted anywhere. I could not be adjusted. I did not find any place in the three worlds where I am entitled to. I have no heritage anywhere. So Your source is a loveable to me. Please, bless me with Your source. Bring me to Your lap."

So the Masters all yearn for it. They make prayers after prayers, thousand prayers. So one Master says, "How should I thank the Master? If my eyes become thousand eyes then it will not fulfil my desire to see Him. If from each pore of my body I start to look at my Master."

And who is the Master?  That is the radiant form of the Master. You don't look Him from outside, try to see Him in the radiant form (within), He is something else. He is very loveable. And so the Master of the whole creation is only the One, He is the Doer. (You attain Him) if really you cross over all these phases of life. These are the barriers, these phases are the barriers, without which we cannot live in this world. But why should we live in this world? When the purpose is to leave this world and go back! So Master reminds us in many, many ways.

I was telling you about the love of the Masters. The love which is within us, that is innate in our soul. It is awakened by the Masterpower through yearning. So what happens? Now we are identified into the body and beyond the body-consciousness. So with yearning we come back at the seat of the soul. And from there the Masterpower helps, through the soul, through our soul. And what is that love? It goes through all the body! It can make the body light and fresh. When really you have enjoyed the taste of love, you will feel that you feel very light. Your all wishes are fulfilled, you have no burden on your head or on your shoulders. You are very fresh, this is a sign of love. So what happens? It starts from the perennial source. And transcending and descending and descending from everywhere that comes again back at the perennial source.

So the food that is digested that will give you the strength. So that helps us to develop our soul. So this is a love of the Master. In worldly way people say, love is blind. Yes, it is blind, because when you have withdrawn your attention from others, they will say (you are)
blind, you are no more known to them, you have withdrawn from them. But that love has awakened into the heart of the Masters. So that is a love.

Love is like a holy fire, I tell you. That will burn all the impurities in man. And that cannot also exist separate. The lover and the Beloved become one. This is the only sign, sign of love.

So it is said the heart of the Master and the heart of the disciple beat together, no variation. They both go together. This is a sign of true love. Such a love Master creates in us. When such a love is there, you don't feel the shame or shun, what the people tell us.

So we are overpowered by lots of problems. This is due to the lack of love, due to the lack of yearning, due to lack of right understanding. Because all that happens due to the ignorance. Because we have not known the intensity of love. We only know (that there is) the love, that is sufficient. But we do not know the intensity of love, as how far it will morbid all the problems. So in this direction we are misled in the world.

So you know, when Bhai Nandlal went to Guru Gobind Singh, he had a yearning to see Him. But when he went to Guru Gobind Singh, he saw Guru Gobind Singh, he was sitting very carefree. He was a Master of Masters. He was fully absorbed in God, into the Ocean of All-consciousness. That was His stage. He was very carefree. So Bhai Nandlal thought, "He would not see to me." After all, we want His glimpses. There is a radiation in His glimpses. He is something from within. So until unless He does not open that view, it will not shine upon us. His words are very potent. And His radiation also sparks through His words. So he doubted, "He is sitting carefree, He will not look at me. He will not respond to my visions." So he looked at Guru Gobind Singh. In his own poems he tells his own experience, (what happened) when Guru Gobind Singh looked at him: that the attention of Guru Gobind Singh went through his eyes and directly hit his soul within. So he said, "I surrendered to Him for all the times." At once he surrendered. He had a love, he surrendered immediately. So this was a gift from God.

Who creates the yearning? Who creates the surrendrance in man? It is the Masterpower, Godpower. He knows the condition of our heart. He knows the ins and outs of the human body. He knows all our problems. And He also knows how to help us to get rid of those problems. Because He has come with bread of life and water of life. And He knows how to give and when to give. So far we are identified into the play of the three worlds, that is all miraculous, you cannot have that food. You want it, He will change your life. He will create a place for His dwelling. It is He who creates. If He has not created a place in our heart, at the seat of the soul, how we can get His love?  So He is responsible to create everything. And more you remain in contact, more you will get something from Him. A time will come when this automatically gift will be blessed upon you. You will be entitled to have your heritage back.

So these are the experiences of various competent Masters. Their life was fully changed. By what? By the sweet will, by the sweet will of God. So what is that will? We should not have any option. We should not have any imposition upon Godpower. We say, "Oh, give me something." It is no love! Love never demands anything! Love always wants to give something! You want to radiate your love to the one whom you love very much. You want to radiate your love, that is a way of the heart in worldly way.

So Masters say, "You are entitled to it. But you are not getting, for lots of reasons." And everyone knows what are the reasons. What are the underlying causes of our mistakes, what are the underlying causes of misunderstanding? What is the fault? What are those faults (due to which) we are misled in the world? We have to bring it into our sight. And then we have to destroy those facts. And how? Only with attention. Because your attention has the power to transcend all the barriers. If we don't use our attention, who can help you?

It is your entire will, because the very sweet will is working upon you, the sweet will of God. And that creates no wish, that creates no option, no imposition upon you, because it is a free will. So you are given such a free will in the world to decide about yourself and for your way back to God, and this free will is not given to any power in the whole creation, it is only the man who has got it. Such a gift we have got it and we have neglected it. And we should feel sorry for it. We are not worthy of it. Why? It is not our mistake. It is our background. Master says, "If there is no (good) background, you come to someone, who helps you to make a background." So those who listen to it, their background is already developed. They should not care if they have not come with background. So background is there, wherever you, wherever your devotion works. So wherever you are devoted, there is the God, there is the will of the God. So it is a free will, you can use it in the very free way. It is up to how you have to use it. We cannot say anything against the will. We cannot say anything in favour of the will. Favour and disfavour are again the imposition upon our will.

 "God, let me be abide in Your will." And to abide in the will is surrendrance to the Godpower, surrendrance to the Beloved. So Masters tell us – these are the very beautiful words of the Masters – Masters tell us, "Abide in His will. Be conscious that nothing disturbs you then." And to abide in His will, then no power can bring you back. Even your thoughts, your mind, your intellect and the outgoing faculties, these passions of the world, attachments are there, all become meaningless for you.

So Master will provide you holy life, a very beautiful life within you with which you have to live forever. Not only for a few days over here, you have to live with these thoughts all the time, that is a potent life, that is an eternal life. So for the sake of little, little reasons that we created ourselves, we imposed those reasons upon us, and those reasons have become binding forces upon us. And we find no way out. And for the sake of little reasons we are spoiling our eternal life, where is the sense?

So Masters tell us, Bhai Nandlal tells us, "Oh, now I have become His borrowed servant. Now I have no power to move from this place. So my place of birth and death lies in the lap of my Father. So I am no more a worthy person of the world." People say like this. So when you follow the right path, those people who are going to the wrong path, they will say, "He is a foolish, he is not right on the path." So these are the ways of the world. But the one who is awakened he has to help a lot of people to awake them. Master says, "If you are the swimmer, you know how to swim, your purpose is to help lot of people, to help them how to swim. They can also, they should start swimming." If you cannot help, you should at least be on the sea-shore to help somebody who is already drowning in the water. You can help them.
So all these things lead to the love of God. For the sake of love of God we love all human beings. We have to love, no exception to the rule. If you do not love all human beings and you claim have to be loved to the Godpower, you are the liar, you are not right to yourself. So those who are imbued in the colour of the Master, in the colour of love, they do not have hate, they don’t hate anybody. They have love for all humans irrespective of their thoughts, deeds or actions. They know, "My Father is sitting in everyone of us." He sees the Father sitting in everyone, so he loves everybody, from the core of his heart, not from outside. Whatever he says, there is no duality. His words are pregnant with meanings.

So Master also comes with all that you need. It is His will. What His will tells? Something this we can disclose out of His will that He has brought everything that we need. Not only over here, but hereafter also. So where He gives? He gives the food direct over here. He would never say, "Oh, I have fixed the heaven for you. Your seat is fixed, You can go there." No, He will give you everything, so that while in the body you can go (inside) and come back. He develops your soul without the knowledge of your intellect and mind. Before you go, you are sure that "I am going." He will help you to withdraw and see there. So when somebody sees to it, he says, "Master, now I am not fit person to stay in the world." Because he sees the competency of his Master. And thereafter he becomes one with Him.

So there are the intensities, various intensities of love. And wherever you put it, it will certainly bear fruit. If you put it in your house, it can create the whole house, father, mother, children, and all their home and home affairs will be set fully right. If you put it in the neighbour house, your neighbour will be happy with you. If you put it into your city, you will work like a flower which gives its smell everywhere. So that (form of love) is a condition. If you put it in the whole world, it will bring peace to all those who yearn for it.

People want this smell, but this smell does not come. So people are searching for it, that is not a problem with those who are searching for it, but this is a problem with those who create illusion on us, who say, "Yes, come to us, we can give it." I tell you, no, you have the direct contact, and direct contact with Godpower that is within you. You need only yearning, and that is possible in Satsang. When you know more and more about the competency of the Master, you are more close to Him.

You know, when Masters came in the world, wherever they went, people have made very beautiful pilgrimage places, "Oh, this Master was staying here." How long? (Maybe) He stayed only one hour. There we erected one temple. Now we remember Him. "Oh, this Master came over here." We love this place because of Him, He came here. So who is the bigger one? Is it the pilgrimage place or the devotee? We will say, the devotee. He who came there, He was a devotee of God. So devotee is bigger than these temples made of stones and bricks. So these places were made out of the remembrance of those powers. They were Love-personified Form, they will never get impure or impious. It is only when impious persons started to work there, people become impious. So such is the condition (today).

You know, it is said that Majnu, a great lover of Laila, when he used to go to the city of Laila, he used to kiss the earth. "Oh, my Laila dwells in this city." This city for him was a beautiful city. He used to love this city. "Oh, my Laila is living in this city. How beautiful persons are there who are living in this city. Such a great city, such a beautiful city. All persons there living beside my Laila." It was his feeling of his heart. Because his heart was fully devoted. He had a yearning to meet his beloved. So then he was kissing the trees which came in his way. He used to bring them to his breast. "Oh, how beautiful these trees are, they are growing in the vicinity of my Laila." So it was an extreme love he had. So one time it so happened, people saw him kissing the feet of a dog. They said, "Oh Majnu, now you have got out of your senses. Now you have no sense, you cannot know what is what. You are fully embedded in your thoughts, and your thoughts are fully embedded where? You know! It is an extreme madness. You should not do that. Why you are kissing the feet of the dog?" He said, "I do kiss." - They said, "Why you kiss it?" He said, "This dog occasionally, off and on, goes to the street of my Laila."

So the one who is now identified with the Godpower, who comes from that (inner) place, who has seen all the ups and downs of the life, he teaches you that very lesson, the lesson of awareness, the lesson of right understanding, that will surely bring you back to the Home Eternal.

So wishing you all that is good for you. So this subject was there, it started from the Master and all that is the grace of the Master.

Lecture, Dr. Harbhajan Singh

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