Personal experience is the greatest teacher in the physical life. So also in spiritually we need the guidance of a true Master who has Himself travelled this Path, in order to save us from the many pitfalls, detours, and even from travelling faster in the opposite direction by thinking we are facing up whereas we are heading downward without being conscious of it. The Master consciously links us to the Voice of God, the Holy Shabd or Sound which directs us to the Goal of Eternal Bliss. Only a real Master can do this for us, as He alone is familiar with all the mirages and dangers on the way, because He has gone all the Way Himself, under the guidance of His Master. Even physically, we would not think of attempting to traverse an unknown jungle without the aid of a competent guide. Only a proficient artist can teach a great art, and the same applies to any profession, trade or science. Skilled teachers are a definite necessity in all educational institutions. How much more so is a competent Teacher necessary for Spiritual Progress!
In this physical life, mankind works hard and strains every nerve in order to earn a living and become successful. And when we stop to think about it, what is it all for? Only for the sustenance of the human body, which really needs so very little in order to function at its best. All this time in life is spent for mere physical and satisfaction of the vehicle which the mind and soul are to work. But even if we spend the whole of life in such endeavors, we can never find peace of mind, without which nothing can be enjoyed for any length of time. That peace of mind comes only when we allow the soul to lead the way, instead of permitting our senses to lead us by the nose. The soul, imprisoned as it is by the mind and senses, cannot lead the way until it is consciously put in touch with the Voice of God, the Holy Ghost or Shabd, by a living Mystic or Master Who is Himself merged in it. Then the soul, after having been cleansed is attracted upward by that Holy Grace, like an iron filing to a magnet.
So what about the soul life, our real spiritual re-development, which is our real object in coming here? When will there be a propitious day to do the Great Work for the Liberation of our own soul from this bondage in which we ourselves have carelessly placed it, and enter the Vineyard of our Lord and Creator in Reality?
These problems face each soul and must be solved by each one. None on the outside can aid the soul until it lights its own light of interest in its liberation from bondage, for the search of the soul jewels in this body and in this life. Then will he seek the guidance of a true Mystic or Master, and will himself become a master builder who works intelligently and erects the temple of God “not built by hands ‘’ in his own being, as a mystic architect. Until such a time he cannot claim the reward or wages of a master builder who journeys in many lands. The Bible states clearly, that only faith lived, and work done by faith is accounted as righteousness. In the process of this temple within, man fulfills God’s commandment and grows to the maturity of imitating the Great Architect of the Universe. The temple first seen by Moses on Mount Sinai is symbolic of the human body, the temple made by God Himself.