Living Master
Talk Delivered on the occasion of Sri Krishna Jayanti 2007 My dear fellow travellers in the Path, It is a great opportunity for us to gather here again on the auspicious occasion of Janmashtami. Lord Krishna we all know is the Avatar of the day and shall be so until the next Avatar emerges as ordained by the divine. Master has stated that “... with the advent of Lord Krishna the regime of Lord Rama was over. It is now the regime of Lord Krishna which is to continue till the next avatar comes into the world. This is the phenomenon of Nature which I bring to light for your understanding. (SS-110). Humanity at present is revelling and reeling under the never heard of acts of violence and terrorism in the history of mankind. It is not perhaps wrong to state that sadism and cruelty have become virtues now days. However it is the fortune of humanity that the divine willed the emergence of a special personality of almost the same status of an Avatar to mend the wayward mental tendencies of mankind which seems to be determined to ruin itself in constant conflicts and wars. This is an unique occurrence in spiritual history and this happened in 1944. He is ever active in his work entrusted by the divine and shall be there till the emergence of a new Avatar when divine wills so. We all know that Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur was born on 30th April 1899 and has left its mortal coil on 19th April 1983. The period of life our beloved Babuji we can see is thus not co-terminus with that of the Special Personality. The physical form of Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj was utilised by the Grand Master Lalaji Saheb to carefully structure and carve out a personality and Nature was waiting to use such a person as the Special one to guide the erring humanity. It is guiding humanity since then and also attending to such works entrusted by Nature. It is the imperience of all the aspirants in the Natural Path that it is functioning more effectively after he shed his mortal coil in 1983 from his true astral plane. However after he left his mortal coil in 1983 many started seeking for a person who is living in the physical plane who can replace beloved Babuji Maharaj. That he was the President of SRCM and there should be succession of President in SRCM is undisputable. However that there can be no succession for the status of Special Personality or the Master as we dearly call him is elementary gnosis. ISRC has answered this point several times in it’s about 16 years of functioning and the answers are available for those who really seek in our web sites also. However recently it was brought to my notice that someone from an European country asked us as to who is the Master now and whether women are not eligible for being a Master etc., I shall share today some of our clearly stated point of view. The question of the need for a living master is raised by many almost implying a demand that a master in order to be a master has to be in the physical plane. For persons who understand that masters work even when they are in existence in the physical world from astral plane only, there is no difficulty to accept the living master by virtue of their experiences and imperiences irrespective of his physical existence. If anything the master’s grace in the form of Pranahuti has been proved beyond doubt does not suffer the limitations of any physical form barrier to it. Form and Name are basic binding factors in our thinking which prevent our breathing our liberated status. But from childhood we are taught in schools and colleges to identify persons, objects and patterns by their form and name and this pattern of thinking makes many think that consciousness also should have a form and name. In this context it may be useful to remember the statement of Lord Krishna as quoted by our Master in his letter to Dr.K.C.Varadachari (EH- 335): “I am reminded of Lord Krishna’s predictions intercommunicated to me some time ago, that the time has not yet come for the people to have a full understanding of your (my: Ed) existence though it shall definitely come but when you (I) have given up the material form.” This makes it amply clear that Sri Ramchandraji whom we all feel every moment of our life through the practice of Constant Remembrance is a living master though he shed his mortal coil and it is a form that is formless universal presence responding to the cries and needs of persons by whatever name it is called and that is felt by us and not the physical one. We need to accept the function of the guru as Master has given it to us, as descending through the disciplic succession from Lord Krishna. It is stated by the Master that his master communicated to him to the effect that “All initiations shall be effected on my hand and their connection shall be (invariably) with Lord Krishna. At the time of initiation a promise will be made to the effect that all that Lord Krishna has enjoined as matters of principle, shall be observed(by the initiated persons).” EH.182. Most of the aspirants should be knowing the difference between introduction to this system of practice and spiritual initiation. Thus not only the Master is on record to say that he is living guru but Lord Krishna is the Jagadguru. Guru is not an ordinary man. That is why we celebrate the appearance day of the spiritual masters. It may be noted that here the words ‘appearance day’ are used instead of the usual ‘birth day’. Appearances are the only things that happen in the physical world to the great masters, as otherwise they live, move and have their being in the astral and divine realms. In a sense they were never born nor will they be dead. They are eternally living divine entities discharging the duties and functions as assigned by the divine. Lord Krishna the Jagadguru functions now as he did during his physical life on this planet. He has taken note of the emergence of the Spiritual Personality and is in a sense working proxy through the great master Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur who will be eternally working for the cause of the divine. We are worshiping our Master as he is a pure via-medium to Sri Krishna. Master wrote in his letter to Dr. K.C.Varadachari (EH-428) that “Lord Krishna appeared before you in dream and has given you a very mild transmission also.” He also stated that “Sri Krishna disappeared because He felt that you have got the difference between him and the master.” Thus there is no difference between Lord Krishna and the Master is fully established. Therefore it may not be wrong to say that “He is worshiped as "saksat Krsna" or "directly Krishna". It is morally and spiritually wrong to consider such a guru an ordinary man and it is also totally inappropriate to consider any ordinary man as the guru. Our Master classified the types of gurus and never brought in the concept of a living guru there. There are five types of gurus according to him. We know that our Master and Grand Master belong to the category of Guru Azli Fazli meaning that they are born gurus of the highest type. Every seeker has the opportunity of realizing his/her true nature and by a total dedication to the cause of the divine become a Fazli guru and assist humanity to work in harmony with the divine. Such gurus having gone beyond death during their physical life time itself never die and become dead. They are the ever burning torches showing the brilliance and beauty of the divine. The argument for a living guru is based on the assumption that the original master is a dead guru. It is necessary to prove this statement. One has to show that Sri Ramchandraji is dead in all planes such that he cannot deliver his blessings to us. The clarification given by the Master to Dr. K.C.V and the experiences of many of us, disciples of the Master Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur testifies that the Masters function from higher planes than the physical and they are capable of communicating and transmitting. To receive transmission it is not necessary to have a physically living master around us. Many disciples of the Master try to push the argument in favour of the "living guru" line, implying that our beloved Master is now a "dead guru" and no one can take shelter under him any more and that he is incapable of doing any spiritual service now. It is not true of course and the Master has quoted Lord Krishna’s’ statement that he will be more effective after his physical veiling. Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur is living still is understood by any one who experiences Pranahuti. A true and sincere aspirant takes refuge only in him and feels that his surrender is accepted, is bare truth of experience of many. It was never before possible for a spiritual master to be so vividly present after his physical departure from our material vision. There are surely many Masters in his lineage and that is the wish of the Great Master too. He categorically stated that he makes Masters. Not all claimants are necessarily of that standard since one has to be qualified. Any true master will not try to say, leave alone attempt to prove that the Great Master is dead as the concept of death itself is alien in the field of spirituality. Where and how one lives in the different planes of existence alone matters. A master in the lineage or order will simply present the message of his spiritual master and his spiritual master will live through him and this fact should be understood by all spiritual aspirants. The Masters are self effulgent and have their authenticity not by virtue of a group of persons governing an institution or any other agency than that of the divine order which follows self illumination. It is completely apparent to any non-envious person to understand that Sri Ramchandraji of Shahjahanpur is empowered by Lord Sri Krishna and Revered Lalaji Maharaj. This message we tried to pass on through our publication “Ganga Jamuni” issued last year on the auspicious day of Janmashtami. Some entertain odd and mystic notions about Pranahuti. ISRC has effectively proved through its research work that it is not so and the real nature of Pranahuti was brought to the public view without any prejudice. Our books and publications on this topic are available in the internet and any one can study them. Certain concepts regarding Guru is sought to be explained in this context. Traditionally the role of the Guru is to give Diksha. Diksha is a unique and rare process of making the life of a disciple more pure, more enlightened and more successful. Generally a human being remains under the sway of bad karmas of past lives which do not allow him to make the desired level of progress in spite of hard work and sincere efforts. In such cases nothing can work better than to receive Diksha to remove the baneful effects of past Karmas and propel the aspirant onwards on the path of success. Just as a cloth has to be washed thoroughly to free it of stubborn stains similarly Diksha is a method adopted by a Guru to free the disciple of his mental, physio-psychological and physical drawbacks so that he could make good progress with a free mind in the spheres of spirituality and materialism. Diksha is the foundation of a disciple, the fuel of spiritual life, completeness of the mind and the path to reach one's destination. The act, by which teachings are given and by which all kinds of animal instincts are sought to be demolished, which is granted by the Guru in charity is known as Diksha. It is not my desire to go into the merits and demerits of various paths shown by different gurus. All I desire to state is that in the system of Rev. Babuji Maharaj which utilises the power of Pranahuti the trainer introduces a new energy by means of transfer thus enlightening him and helping him in sadhana and realisation. At the beginning the transfusion of energy brings in a state of peace, settledness and balance. It is a subtle transfer of the divine energy of a Guru into the heart, soul and body of a disciple. This pure energy initiates a process of change in the person which ultimately leads to destruction of all evil and negative tendencies, and spurt of creative and positive powers which encourage him to strive for the highest and best in life. It is obvious that a man has a twofold duty here on earth one to preserve his life, and two to realise the true nature of his self. To preserve his life, he has to learn to work for his daily bread. To realise his true nature, he has to meditate, love and serve. The Guru who teaches him the knowledge of worldly arts is called the Siksha Guru. The Guru who shows him the path of Realisation is the Diksha Guru. Siksha Gurus can be many, as many as the things one wishes to learn. The Diksha Guru can be only one: the one who leads him to the state of realisation. This is the reason we have been insisting on having one and only one, our beloved Master Sri Babuji as the Guru/Master. Several persons of very high spiritual calibre do help us in the path and we are grateful to all of them but there is only one Guru. The trainer and masters of the order are all relevant but our focus and orientation is the real Guru only. It is obvious that the strength of the chain lies in its weakest link. This demands that the links we have and of which we are also a part have to be strong. That demands sadhana of a high standard and the aspirants and trainers have to work hard at it. We are all fortunate to have obtained diksha or introduction in this system but for making us attain our goal it is necessary to free the body and the mind of all impurities. The sadhana in this regard starts by implementing the First Commandment of the Master. Only when one is physically and mentally pure does the divine light that is within starts emitting its fragrance and we gain a glimpse of our true nature. It is very difficult for an ordinary person in the present age to become free of the evil tendencies on his own. For this he needs the help of an accomplished master who could instil his own spiritual power into the person and destroy his weaknesses. Master says only such a person who can transmit his own internal divine power to the aspirant can be a trainer. This is an act of kindness and love which the master has for us and it cannot be repaid by any other means than becoming truly spiritual and in turn carry the torch of spirituality into other hearts. It is not any ordinary power or energy that is transmitted but the original power at the root of creation which for our understanding may be called supreme consciousness. This is what we call Sri Ramchandra Consciousness, more to satisfy our desire to remember him who is all in our life: but in reality it is something that is beyond our comprehension. It is such a consciousness that is guiding the human destiny now as ever. It is just Love: a love that is not possessive and particular. It is Love Universal Omnipresent and Omnipotent. Sri Ramchandra Consciousness breathes through the firmament and all that it requires to be felt is an earnest longing for Him who loves all. Lord Krishna is called so because he is the Lord and he is the giver of immeasurable bliss. I pray on this auspicious day that we all live and move in that Consciousness of which all manifestation is an expression in the eternal present. Pranam to all the Master intoxicated co-travellers in the path. Pranam. |