“Murshid,” asked Jiva, “what did Maharaj Ji mean by saying, ‘Anyway, they can’t see me?'”
“Well, Jiva, Maharaj Ji was making the point that the physical form isn’t the real guru. Our physical eyes can only see the world of duality. They can’t see the real guru which is Shabd, your higher consciousness, which is formless “
If you want to establish a real relationship with the guru, it has to be at the level of consciousness, not in the physical, not in the intellectual, not in the emotional. but at the higher consciousness level. In reality, I’m not my body, my personality, my thinking, or even my mind. All these are tools that will be left behind. I’m beyond forms. Your real guru is your higher consciousness. Do understand that?”
“No, I don’t, Murshid.”
“Jiva, the formless consciousness in you is your true guru.”
“OK, Murshid, but if the true guru is the formless Shabd, who are you?”
“A fraud?” answered Murshid. “
No, really, tell me!”
“I’m telling you; I could be the biggest fraud out here.”
“Come on, Murshid. Please don’t be humble or clever; just tell me: who are you?”
“Jiva, who do you think I am?”
“Murshid, I think you’re God!”
Then Murshid explained, “Jiva, if something has a form, by definition it has to be temporary and limited, and if it’s limited, how can it be eternally everywhere and in everybody? And if it’s not everywhere and in everyone, how can it be God? Shabd is everywhere, isn’t it? Shabd is limitless. It doesn’t have a form. Even though it doesn’t have a form it has more intelligence, wisdom and consciousness than all beings combined. Shabd has consciousness and it’s aware of itself. Shabd is what you call God and others might call Allah, Krishna, Christ, Buddha-nature, Tao, and many other names. It’s consciousness itself. It’s in all forms and it’s everywhere. Shabd is the real guru. It’s in you and you’re one with it. You can access it directly. Shabd is closer to you than your own nose, because it is you – the real you.”
“Well, Murshid, if Shabd’s the real guru, what do I need you for?”
“For nothing…? ” answered Murshid.
Jiva gave a puzzled look at his spiritual master and said, “Again you’re being humble. Please tell me, if Shabd’s the real guru, what’s your role?”
.”My role is to initiate you into the knowledge of your true self, so that you can realize that the Shabd is within you. I’m merely a friend who’s introducing you to another friend. That friend is Shabd. The problem is that Shabd is formless, so it’s not that easy to make contact with it. But remember, your consciousness is also formless.it seems limited only because you think you’re your body and personality. So, the first step is to become familiar before ‘noa with that higher consciousness within die. You don’t want to stand before death solely as a body, because you’ll suffer a lot.”
“But Murshid, if I don’t present myself to the Lord of death as a body, how can I present myself?”.
“As what you really are – higher consciousness.”
“You mean, like my good thoughts? As a better person?”
“Nope. That’s not the real you. The real you is that formless awareness beyond thoughts, feelings, and the body. Before death comes, you need to become familiar with your higher consciousness and realize that’s who you really are. Then, when death comes, you won’t say ‘I am dying,’ because the real ‘I’ doesn’t die.
It’s your limited body-identity that’s being discarded, not the real you. Then you’ll receive death as a friend: You won’t be afraid of it.”
“You see, Jiva, as long as you consider yourself as a physical person with a body and me, your guru, as a physical person with a body, you won’t be able to fully grasp my message and have the experience of oneness. But that’s the least of your problems. If you don’t make conscious contact with who you really are before you die,
you’ll still be trapped in this realm of consciousness. Tell me, Jiva, is that what you want? Is this teaching too hard to swallow?”
“Well, Murshid, it’s easier to swallow my very grande mocha frappuccino soy latte than your bedtime horror story. “
Jiva, why are you so afraid of death? Accept that one day your body and personality will die. So why not lose your identity now? On the day you die you’ll certainly lose it anyway! Why not become familiar now with your formless consciousness? Why not work on that now when things are going fairly well? There’s still time for you to experience who you really are. Ask yourself: ‘Who am I? Who’s the one going through this experience? Am I really just my thoughts or feelings?’ What do you think’s the answer to that question, Jiva?”
“That’s easy to answer, Murshid. I’m a combination of body, feelings and thoughts, right?”
“No, Jiva, you’re none of those. They’re just tools. You are Shabd. Say to yourself, ‘I’m not my body. I am Shabd. I’m the formless higher consciousness that is within me.”
,” said Jiva. “So, should I begin by telling myself that I’m Shabd, and fake it till I make it?”
“I see, “
Yes, why not?” replied Murshid “You can begin by at least knowing intellectually that you’re not your body, that you’re Shabd. See everything from that perspective and then practice and practice till you realize this truth through experience. Look, Jiva, when death comes, you should know by then that your higher consciousness is the real you. Meet death on those terms. Being that prepared will only happen when you make meditation and the spiritual life your priority. Otherwise how why will you truly know you’re your higher self?
How will you differentiate your intellect and feelings from your higher self?”
“Do you really think that by reading books and getting an intellectual grasp of concepts or by having feelings of love for the master you’ll attain your goal? All these aren’t enough. You won’t attain realization of your true self by doing mental, monetary, or physical Seva. All these help you become a better human being, but only meditation is seva for the guru. Only through meditation can you gain access to the real guru, to the higher consciousness in you”
“Murshid, what does that really mean? Can we even do meditation? Or is the guru the one who’s doing the meditation?”
“As I mentioned last time, we were in Cafe Maya, in this dimension everything is, and everything is not. Yes, you can do meditation and no, you can’t do meditation. Clear thinking is very important here. If you want to fly from one place to another, you have to get the ticket and get on board the spacecraft. But once you’re on board, you don’t have to do anything else. You just sit and enjoy the ride. “Bringing your body to the spacecraft is similar to bringing the attention to the eye centre. Buying the
ticket and getting on board are also essential stages of the journey. Without these, flying on the spacecraft wouldn’t be possible. In the same way, you have to sit for meditation and make the effort to keep your attention at the eye centre. Otherwise meditation doesn’t take place. Your guru’s given you the most precious gift there is. That supreme gift is Simran. Use it to get to the inner sound.”
“Will you please do this for me, Murshid? I’m sure I have too much ego to make any progress myself. “
No, Jiva. This is something you must do. And what would you gain if I did it for you? But don’t worry. You can use your ego to bring your attention to simran and to become receptive to the melody of the Shabd.”
“What? Murshid, this sounds like a tremendous contradiction. Isn’t it the ego that I’m trying to eliminate?”
“Look, Jiva, to succeed in anything you need that positive aspect of ego that says, ‘I can do this, I can succeed. Again, clear thinking here is very important. Ego has to play a role in the meditation process. Ego, or in Sanskrit ahankar, is a faculty of the mind. It shouldn’t be confused with who you really are; it’s not the real ‘I’ at all. But in meditation the part that for yourself is to raise your attention to the eye centre. That requires effort, effort requires determination, and determination is the attitude of ‘hey, I can do this. That’s all the ego can do. And it’s no small contribution. In this sense you yourself can do meditation, and do it yourself; no one will do it for you.”
“Your contribution,” Murshid continued, “is to keep your attention in the words, in the simran, and then to be receptive to the sound. If the attention goes astray, you bring it back. That’s your seva and that’s the meditation part you can do and that’s required from you. Once your attention’s anchored in the Simran, your mind will slow down until it reaches the inner sound. Once your attention is receptive to the sound, your mind becomes still It stops ‘doing’ Simran. Instead of ‘doing,’ it becomes receptive. It just listens, just as consciousness itself rises on its own, without your intervention. Once that happens, you can’t ‘do’ meditation. From that moment onward the higher consciousness takes over and everything happens without your intervention. So, from a higher perspective, all along it was your higher consciousness that was prompting you to make the effort, and in that sense, you didn’t do any meditation. In reality, all happens because of your higher consciousness. “So, even if you get distracted, I’ll always be patiently waiting for or when we meet again at the end of the next chapter for until you decide to resume the journey to a last cup in Café Maya.”
To conclude:
“The Master is in you, closer to you than anything else and He watches over you.
Whenever your attention is directed to the third eye, it hears your repetition and responds to you. But His answer, you do not hear it because your attention is unstable and is still dispersed to the outside.
I wish you to rise to Him and see Him face to face within you. ”
– The great Master Sawan Singh –