A Short Course in Guru Bhakti Excerpts from Param Sant Kirpal Singh That Lord which even the great Brahma and the gods could not find, though they became exhausted in the search; that Lord is found by ordinary mortals through the grace of a Master. Therefore, says Kabir, Oh brother seeker, do the devotion of a Master who is the Lord incarnate. (Kabir) A person in whose heart love for the Master has been bestowed by God is really fortunate, because love for the Master is the method by which we come to love God. (Sant Kirpal Singh) (santmat-thetruth.de/index.php?option=com_book&book=3886&page=111)
-1- The love for Godman inspires love for God. The worship of Satguru is really the worship of God. Devotion to the Master is a step towards true devotion to God. The easiest way of developing the worship of God is to develop Guru Bhakti. Guru Bhakti is the easiest way for manifesting the Power-of-God within you. (ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptivity2.htm) The best and the highest method of meeting God is to love the Master and to remain at His Lotus Feet. This is the first step of the ladder towards God-Realization.
-2- Guru Bhakti is the be-all and end-all. Without it there is no way out. (ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptivity2.htm) Guru Bhakti alone is the secret of success on the path of Truth. This is the eternal law. (http://www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/thinkofdeath.htm) Devotion to the Master is the foundation of all practices. The other methods are all branches leading from it. All other practices are useless without devotion to the Guru. There is no other method of achieving spiritual progress except through devotion to a Guru.
-3- If one were to sacrifice one s life for the sake of obtaining devotion to the Guru, it should be considered a cheap bargain, because that is the only method of meeting the Lord. The main object of all spiritual practices and disciplines is that we should develop Guru Bhakti or devotion to the Guru which, of course, grows out of love. Extreme love is the essence of devotion or Guru Bhakti. (ruhanisatsangusa.org/riddle.htm) When God wishes to accept the love and worship of human beings, He comes in the form of a human being.
-4- We are human beings and we should love only a human being. We have not seen the Lord. How can we offer our love to Him? In other words, it is clear that in order to love the Lord we must love Him through one of His manifestations. Such a man is the Guru. God is an Unchangeable Permanence and Everlasting. But we have not yet seen Him; and without seeing Him, how can we love Him and inculcate devotion for Him? So we have, of necessity, to bestow our loving devotion on the human plane where the Power-of-God is manifest.
-5- Love for the Master is sweet and magnetic, and is able to bring happiness to the disciple. A Master has a unique magnetic power by which we are attracted to Him. It is true that love is not awakened unless there is real beauty in the beloved. The spiritual beauty of the Guru attracts thousands of souls by awakening love in them, and takes them beyond the limits of birth and death. The Master has a unique spiritual beauty and magnetic power of attraction. His form radiates thousands of blissful currents of attraction which invigorate the body and the mind.
-6- Even if one were to see the Master s face at all times, or for hundreds of times and with hundreds of eyes, the mind would never be satiated, because every time that face is seen it is beheld with a new light and a greater radiance. A true devotee will not look with the same amount of love at any person other than his own Guru, because his Guru is the support of his life, and the disciple will not accept any other support. (From Philosophy of the Masters, Series 2, Devotion) Bhakti is difficult and very rare. To follow outward observances is easy and common. Bhakti is not merely an outward practice. When one is blessed with the wealth of devotion, the Master becomes a part of every cell of the body of the devotee and guides him with His grace. But such devotion, full of intense love, is achieved only by one with good karmas.
-7- The sight of a true devotee becomes so keen that he sees his Beloved in every place and in everything. His thoughts, his contemplation and the intoxication of his love occupy his mind at all times, and his longing becomes intense. A devotee remembers his Guru at all times, with every breath of his life. He will never forget his Guru who is the manifestation of God and always remembers with his mind and with his body the sweet recollections of his Guru s actions. As you think so you become. It is as natural as anything. If you will develop loving remembrance of the Master in your heart, the same ideas will come to you manifold by His Divine Radiation. (http://www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/gurbhakti.htm)
-8- The purpose of our love for Him is that our love may be detached from all other objects and centered around Him. Why should we love the Master? It is done chiefly so that we may imbibe the nature and ideals of the Master. By loving the Master, His consciousness brings Light within us and we forget everything about this mundane world. By devotion to the Guru we are able to get rid of the worldly attachments. The gross attachments can be cut off only by means of Guru Bhakti, and the finer attachments of the mind will be sublimated by means of Naam Bhakti.
-9- If you attach your heart to the Master, that is known as Guru Bhakti. It is essential that we give our heart to our Master, for, when one gives away one s heart, one automatically gives one s whole body and puts one s entire life in the hands of the Master. If one has given his heart away, he has virtually given everything his body, his life and everything else is dedicated to the object of his love. This body, mind and life and even our religion, all bind us to this world. As soon as they are surrendered at the Lotus Feet of the Master, we become detached and shall not be born again. Then nothing remains in the way of the progress of the soul towards God-Realization, and our running about in this world is finished.
-10- Devotion to the Master is intense love for Him. If we love anybody, we serve Him. We are prepared to sacrifice everything for Him. A devotee gives away everything for the sake of his Beloved his body, wealth, mind and soul; in fact, everything is surrendered at the altar of the Master. In devotion one has to eliminate all other attachments, because this method is directly connected with the heart. If the mind is conditioned accordingly, so that other attachments are eliminated, then everything is achieved.
-11- We have, therefore, to rid ourselves of the personal ego, for it stands between us and God. A devotee ultimately merges in the Lord. His ego, which is the cause of his remaining in the cycle of birth and death, is destroyed, as his thoughts of mine or I-ness vanish. In this manner his cycle of coming and going is finished. A real devotee dedicates his very life to the service of his Master and dissolves his will in that of His. It is a life of complete surrender with no mental reservations. By devotion to the Lord, the entire attention of a devotee is dyed in remembrance of the Lord sitting, rising, coming, going, sleeping, waking, eating, drinking all these actions are surrendered to Him. As a result the devotee is freed from the shackles of the world.
-12- Guru Bhakti consists in obeying the instructions of the Master to the minutest detail. (ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptivity2.htm) Devotion to the Master is to love Him. It is to live according to His orders and directions physically as well as mentally. A Guru is One Who has become the mouthpiece of God. The devotion to the Guru then is the first stage in Spirituality, and it consists in implicit acceptance of His commandments. The words of the Master must be taken as gospel truth. Accept His words, practice them, and make them your own if you want to benefit from His radiation. (ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptivity2.htm) Now you will understand the basic need of Guru Bhakti. It does not mean dancing around the Guru or shouting this way or that. If you do not care to listen to what the Guru says or to understand and follow His behests, it is not Guru Bhakti at all. (hruhanisatsangusa.org/gurbhakti.htm)
-13- The first condition is to have only one object in mind, for devotion should be offered to one only. In His presence, one loses all thoughts of himself, of the world here, or of the world hereafter. From this stage begins Guru Bhakti. From now on, the disciple lives in and for the Master. (ruhanisatsangusa.org/search4truth.htm) In this world the mind of each individual is filled with thousands of ideas, but in devotion there is no such thing, for then the mind is fixed on one thing alone and will not be turned from it under any circumstances. (ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptivity2.htm) So long as devotion is not one-pointed, the idea of duality will be on one s mind, and consequently, there will be no concentration. Therefore, for true devotion, one-pointedness is most essential. In other words, the object of devotion should be one.
-14- A Master is full of spiritual qualities and powers, and we shall imbibe His spiritual qualities and powers to the extent of our love and devotion to Him. When we love someone, we imbibe his qualities and become like him. In accordance with this principle, if we worship our Master, we will imbibe all His qualities and we shall become like Him. So, if all the time we think of Him, no matter while we are engaged in worldly pursuits, we will gradually imbibe His spirit. Our outer entanglements shall not then bind us. In this way the more we will get off from outer attachments, the more His Divine Power will enter into us and transform us into His likeness. those who turn their backs upon the world and are wholly engrossed in the love of the Master, and make loving devotion as their ruling passion, they easily and quickly get transformed into the likeness of the Master.
-15- When our love is detached from everything else and is attached only to the Guru, then we are free from all the evil ties and attachments of the world, and contact God. By devotion all the desires of a person are sublimated, resulting in contentment; and he is therefore freed from the cycle of birth and death. His mind has no desires, because all his desires are fulfilled in remembrance of God.
-16- Because the path of devotion has many advantages, a seeker of Truth is always happy and eager to follow it. But so long as a human being is not able to purify his mind of all the low desires of the senses, he cannot enjoy its fruit. By devotion all sins and bad actions are annihilated and the mind becomes pure. By means of devotion all sins are washed away, because it is the sustaining factor of purity.
-17- Guru Bhakti then comes first and it eventually leads to Naam Bhakti. (ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptivity2.htm) So long as we do not complete our devotion to the physical form of the Master, we shall not be able to listen to the Shabd, nor shall we be able to meet the Lord. In fact, mind stands as a connecting link between body and bodily relations, and this linking up is bondage; while breaking asunder of this relationship is called salvation. The primary step in this direction is Guru Bhakti, or devotion to a living Master, and the next, is practice of Naam or Word, which ultimately leads to Sach Khand. (ruhanisatsangusa.org/swii/swii-viii.htm) So long as we do not meet a Guru, we cannot get Naam; and so long as we do not obtain Naam, the ties or cords binding our mind to the world cannot be cut. The essence of Guru Bhakti is that our thoughts and feelings be detached from all else and be centered at one focal point, the eye-focus.
-18- A devotee absorbed in love for his Lord is happy day and night, and does not desire anything else. He is full of love for his Beloved, for whom he has no thought of selfish love. Nothing else is needed by such a devotee. It is difficult to understand true devotion, because it is achieved without any selfish motive and by freeing one s self from all ambition. He who loves desires to sacrifice his all for the sake of the Beloved; and after having sacrificed all, does not look for any reward in return. This is what love demands from the lover and complete submission to the will of the Beloved without any rhyme or reason. Love is just a one-way traffic so far as the lover is concerned. It knows no bargaining.
-19- This is only a small fraction of the benefits resulting from devotion to the Master. Actually, the advantages are so great and so numerous that they are beyond description. Gurbani says: The true Lord is attained by Guru Bhakti. This is the way that He comes to dwell in us, absorbing the mind in Him. Hatred and enmity vanish by means of Bhakti. One remains intoxicated in devotion to the Lord, because the elixir-like sweetness of devotion keeps him indifferent to all pleasures and pains of the world. Devotion frees one from fear, pleasure and pain, and brings instead bliss, peace of mind, satisfaction of the heart and contentment.
-20- A Gurumukh is a devotee of the Lord. Such a devotee completely surrenders himself to his Guru and becomes one with Him in exactly the same manner as water merges into water. He is in no way separate. This Power-of-God as manifested on the human plane helps in liberating all human souls entombed in the meshes of mind and matter. The living Master is competent enough to unite with God such souls that seek His guidance. The prime job of a Master Soul is to unite all the children of God under His saving protection. intoxication and ecstasy which begin only when Guru Bhakti is complete and Guru appears within in His radiant form. (ruhanisatsangusa.org/receptivity2.htm)
-21- Love (Introduction to The Dawn of Light) Baba Sawan Singh The single most important factor in developing spirituality is the cultivation of love for the true Beloved. It is hard to explain what love is. It is a pure and delicate feeling or emotion which can be experienced only by one who is in love. It is beyond the capacity of the tongue or pen to describe it. Wherever there is love, there is life. Where there is no love, life is worthless. Love is the richest of all treasures. Without it there is nothing, and with it there is everything. He who does not have love in his heart is not entitled to call himself a human being. By the currents of love the entire atmosphere is charged with joy, and the spark of God s light is visible in love. Generally, people love God because they are attached to His creation. They know that He can bestow upon them the gifts of health, happiness, children, and all other desirable things and comforts of life. But if one were to love God, not for His gifts but for love alone, then that love, having no tinge of worldly attachment, would be regarded as pure and selfless. Saints are the only ones who selflessly love God for His sake. When we love someone we feel happiness in keeping his company and seeing him as much and as often as possible. A certain feeling in relation to that person is generated, which develops into a forceful current of attraction. The stronger the bond of love, the more difficult it is to part company with the Beloved. The mind is irresistibly attracted towards him and cannot bear a moment s separation. He is fully absorbed in the thought of the Beloved, who becomes his very life and breath. Separation from the Beloved brings tears to his eyes and burns his heart with a consuming fire. Love charges the soul with an inconceivable energy to fly to the Beloved. That is why love is considered the be-all and endall of true spirituality. Fortunate indeed is that eye from which pearls of tears are shed in remembrance of the Beloved. That heart is blessed which is being burned in the fire of separation from the Beloved, because the tears from the eyes, falling on the ground of the heart, will one day fill the heart with the joy of union with the Beloved. Just as the merciful rain produces multicolored flowers on the earth, similarly the eyes that are drenched with tears of remembrance of the Lord bring forth flowers of spirituality. A devotee achieves communion with God by
-22- floating across the flood of his own tears. Without the agony of separation a spiritual practitioner remains devoid of the gems of the divine treasure. Love is a kind of fire. When it is kindled, it burns away all blemishes of the mind. All the dross of attachments that the soul has accumulated during many births is at once reduced to ashes. The soul becomes whole. It shines in its glory and becomes worthy of merging into its Source. God is love, and the soul is a particle of Him. Hence, love is inherent in every person. But love is in a latent state because the soul is hampered by many hindrances. Therefore, if one longs for the sight of the Beloved, one must first wash away the dirt from within oneself with the water of love so that one may become pure and noble and ready for union with the Beloved. How can we cultivate love? The true Master is the embodiment of love. Love comes as grace from him. The Master may bestow this gift on anyone he likes. Why, when, where, and how to bestow this gift depends solely upon the will of the Master. The second way of cultivating love is by practicing the spiritual discipline of simran, dhyan and bhajan, as enjoined by the Master. The more devotedly we attend to our spiritual practices, the nearer we come to Shabd or Naam, which is another name for love. When the soul gets a touch from the Word, the light of love for the Lord is enkindled. Since the soul receives this touch with the help of the Master, it is imperative to develop devotion for the Master. True love brings true detachment, which is different from renunciation. Detachment is related to mind and spirit and has nothing to do with the body. One may be detached from the world and its objects while leading the life of a householder; but he who has renounced the world may be terribly attached to it from within. Saints stress cultivation of true love for the Lord because it is the most natural effective way of detaching the spirit from the body and attaching it to the Lord. This in turn is possible through devotion to the Master and the spiritual practice taught by him. Hence these are considered the pivotal points of Sant Mat.
-23- It is He Who loves us first, and our love is simply reciprocal. Mother loves the newly born child first, and the child loves the mother in return. Our love is but a kind of reaction of the love of the Master Who has drawn us to Him. Let the mind and the Sat Guru stand before you. If you obey the Guru, you overpower the mind; but if you follow the mind, you turn your face away from the Guru. Whoever has the pain of love will choose to follow the Guru, but one who has no fear (of offending the Guru) will be carried away by the currents of the mind. (Soami Ji) Kirpalct@yahoo.com For more booklets go to: kirpalsingh.org (Spiritual Quotations for Lovers of God)