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THE ROLE OF THE MASTER

 

The Master's role in our lives is that of one who initiates the dormant forces of evolution. I have given you my idea that the human stage of life is something like an intermediate stage in the process of evolution. We are told that life began in the ooze, what they call the ooze, in the original oceans of this earth, millions of years back. And that life, which began in the oceans, developed progressively until it resulted in the human being.

Both science and mysticism agree on one thing, that the human being is the highest form of evolution, so far. But the human being forgets the two words "so far" and thinks that this is the peak of evolution, which is a gross mistake. Now it is said that the original life form evolved up to the present human form automatically, in the sense that it did not have to think and to do something. The price that it had to pay was, of course, the long, the enormously long, duration in time that it took. Now as far as the evolution beyond the human life is concerned, science has no answer, of course; but spirituality says, and our Master has also said, that once the human evolves into the next stage then, again, evolution is automatic.

So we come to this interesting fact that an enormous level of evolution is there below us, and equally enormous levels are there beyond us, but in between we are stuck in some sort of a layer where evolution has to be by our wish. It is almost as if it is a trap between two separate regions, and from this trap only the best go up. If you think of it that way, it is also a region where selective evolution comes, this selection being done by us ourselves when we choose to evolve. It seems as if we have been given an opportunity to decide whether we will evolve or not, because after we cross the human level, nature does not want unwilling participants any more, only willing participants are accepted. So, in that sense, it is an area of selection from which only those who are willing to evolve are taken up further, the rest remain and keep going round and round. So this whole question of cycles of birth and death - rebirth as we call it - is nothing but going round and round until the desire in us comes to go up, and we leave it forever.

Now if we are left to ourselves, we may never know what is possible, what we can achieve, what are the goals that lie before us, because, like the frog in the well, we can imagine that is our whole universe. I think that it is for this reason that the Master comes. It seems that the Master comes to tell us, "Don't think that this is all. However wonderful it may be, this is not all. I represent something which is far higher than you can ever imagine, and I have come to you to show you what that is, so that you may aspire for it and seek my help in achieving it." This is very common. I mean it's not difficult to understand, because once somebody does something, everybody else tries to do the same thing.

You see, so long as Mount Everest was not climbed it was thought it was impossible. But the moment one man climbed it, everybody started climbing it. It is as if the first man who does it shows us what is possible, and the rest are then able to achieve it. In that sense the powers of evolution are already within us. It is not that we don't have the requisite powers, it is only the need to help us to orient our powers in the right direction. Therefore, I have never been able to accept the need for power to evolve, and it is one of the most beautiful concepts in Sahaj Marg that the transmission is described as forceless force, powerless power.

Now, if you look at the possibility of evolution from the human level up to the final destination, there are several levels. And our Master has said that if you are liberated you will have to live in other stages of evolution until you reach the goal. But he has emphasized that it is possible to go to the ultimate goal directly also. So however high liberation may be, it is not the goal of Sahaj Marg practice.

Therefore our goal is that Ultimate which Babuji calls the Centre, because then there are no ideas of power and things like that which confuse us. When you speak of a God, we think of powers; when you speak of the Centre, all these connotations are lost.

So, coming back to Babuji himself, we have the interesting fact that he was a human being without what we think of as power in any sense. He was not highly educated. He spent probably only six or seven years in school, as he himself told all of us so many times. He did not have the power of money or influence or social position; nor did he have physical strength. We have all seen him, and we know he was a small man, frail, quite weak, often sick, so there was no question of physical powers in him. Before I went to Babuji for the first time I used to imagine what a master should be, and I am sure we all have had such similar fantasies, so much so, that when I first saw him, it was quite a disappointment for me. But later when I thought about it, I understood that it was necessary for him to assume such a form. Because in all human achievement some power or other is associated with it. If you see a man who has built a house or has got a car, people say, "Yes of course, he can do it, he is rich." Somebody else climbed the Matterhorn, or swam the English Channel, we say "Yes, of course, he is strong and powerful." So it has become a human idea, not only an idea, but it is deeply ingrained in us to associate success or achievement with one power or the other that is available to us.

Now we have to be assured that success in the spiritual adventure does not depend on any human powers. In Sahaj Marg it is claimed that it is a system universally applicable which can be practised by any human being who is willing to practise it. And this means that any human being, irrespective of whether he is educated or not, powerful or not, physically capable or not, rich or not, must be able to achieve it. Actually it must be practicable by one who has no education, no money, no physical strength, no culture, nothing. You see, this is the truth my Master showed us in his own person. And I am sure that what I felt you also would have felt when you saw the Master: that if he can do it, I can also do it. This was precisely the spirit and the confidence that he had to give us, for which reason he had to adopt that particular way of living, the form that he assumed for himself.

So this was the most important thing, you see, that human beings will not undertake anything, if they have no confidence that they will be able to do it successfully. And that was the master stroke of the Master. Because if he had come as a tall man, rich, powerful, influential, we would have said, "Yes, of course, he can do it, but what about me?" So here we have that phenomenon of what we believe to be the Highest, assuming the form of the lowest to guide us to Himself. I think that was his greatest act of generosity that not only did he come to us as a human being, but he had to come in such a form in which he had to suffer so much just to show us that, "With all my weakness, with all my suffering, with all my poverty, I am what I am, and this you, too, can become!"

The second lesson to us is: "If you are to be able to do the work as I am able to do it, you, too, must be simple." And therefore he says, "Be simple and in tune with nature." And therefore, in his physical and social life he showed us what the lowest human level of existence is, and in his spiritual inner life he revealed to us what the highest spiritual level can be, and this [pointing downwards] was meant to lead us to that [pointing upwards]; to teach us that being 'this', you can become 'that'. That is precisely the universal applicability of Sahaj Marg.

The second beauty of his teaching is that there is nothing in the teaching which needs any special capacity in us to practise it. If you have to do hatha yoga, there are so many physical requirements; if it is jnana yoga, you need intellectual powers of an extraordinary nature; if it is tapasya, or askesis as you call it, then you need enormous endurance of physical conditions, which normally human beings don't have.

That brings us to the most significant and important feature of Sahaj Marg, the role of the guru. We need no capacities, no qualities, precisely because he has everything that is needed to take us up to Himself. In Sahaj Marg the responsibility for practise is ours, the responsibility for progress belongs to the Master. I don't think that ever before has a system of such a nature existed. And the second factor is that in Sahaj Marg the Master never says, "Good." He says, "Yes, go further. This is only the beginning of spirituality."

So a man can begin this divine adventure owning nothing, possessing nothing, acquiring nothing, and as he grows, or as he advances, he acquires things which he is not allowed to keep, he has to transfer all back. The most important reason for this is that any possession leads to egoism, arrogance, pride. And the second truth is they become weights which we cannot take with us on our swimming. Then what is the end? It is a merging in the Centre which again has nothing - no powers, no qualities, nothing, you see.

So, therefore, dear brothers and sisters, in Sahaj Marg we have a unique system which any human being anywhere can practise. It needs nothing for it to be practised except willingness. It offers a practice which is very simple, very easy; and the Master takes upon himself the responsibility of taking us to the goal. And this is made possible by the fourth most important characteristic of Sahaj Marg - transmission.

Now we have heard a lot about transmission, that it is the use of the divine energy for the transformation of man. Now what is it that is really transmitted? And why?

Once when I was alone with Master, he casually said something, the significance of which I did not realise at that moment. What he said was, "People say God is love, and it is true. But yet when God comes to us, we are unwilling to receive His love." Later on I understood that this love could be what transmission is. It is the love that God has for us that is transmitted, and it is that love which makes us grow. And this also answered for me a very important question, why there is no compulsory discipline in Sahaj Marg; because love cannot demand or force; love must evoke. Therefore even the Ten Maxims tell us only what to do and leave it to us to do it when we have developed sufficient love for the Master and for our goal.

That is why in Sahaj Marg I believe we have a system which has a very human guru, promising the divine goal in a very human way of achievement. And all these three aspects our Master reflects in his existence. Though being divine Himself, he is in a human form, dealing with human beings in a very human way with human love and raising us to Himself.

Thank you.

(Excerpt from book titled The Role of the Master by Shri P. Rajagopalachari, "July 2, 1986", pp. 15 ff.)