The topic chosen for this seminar 'Murad and Malamita' essentially relates to the types of disciples and devotedness of the spiritual aspirants. It is necessary that we are clear about the thoughts related to devotion and piety before we can understand the concepts of Murad and Malamita. Master commands us to mould our living so as to develop true love and piety in others. Piety is Veneration or reverence of the Supreme Being, and love of His character; loving obedience to the will of God, and earnest devotion to his service. It can mean also duty; dutifulness; filial reverence and devotion; affectionate reverence and service shown toward parents, relatives, benefactors, country, etc.

In a famous dialogue Euthyphro says, Piety is an art of sacrifice and prayer. He puts forward the notion of piety as a form of knowledge of how to do exchange: giving the gods gifts and asking favours of them in turn. This is much similar to many in our society who visit temples, ashrams, gurus etc., Socrates presses Euthyphro to state what benefit the gods get from the gifts humans give to them, warning that this "knowledge of exchange" is a species of commerce. Euthyphro objects that the gifts are not that sort of gift at all, but rather "honour, esteem and favour". In other words, as he admits, piety is intimately bound up with what the gods like. The discussion comes to a full circle and yet Socrates faces a preliminary hearing on the charge of impiety as history records.

Such being the problem of understanding 'piety' we may try to understand the problem by studying the matter in the light of what our beloved Master has graced on this subject. He classified the disciples as:

            (a) Selfish;

            (b) Fazli;

            (c) Ahli;

            (d) Devotee; And

            (e) Murad.

He details their characteristics as follows.

"Selfish disciples are those who want to gain their own ends. Suppose a person comes to know that Shri X is a Mahatma and a devotee of God, he will immediately rush to him with the idea that he would get material benefit by that contact. Such persons who are concerned with worldly matters do not do any work. They join the Satsangh to achieve their selfish ends. They get things done by means of flattery. After that they will creep away. If their work is not done, then also they turn their back. They have nothing to do with love and attachment.

Fazli types are those who sit for meditation occasionally, if they are in a cheerful mood due to the pleasant atmosphere. They have no attachment of heart whatsoever. And Ahli are those in whom there are Samskaras of higher type of worship, and who want to worship and want to continue it. Some among them may progress and reach the position of the devotee.

Some, however, are such that they start from the very beginning with the condition of devotee, and a devotee is one who loves his Guru intensely. He always keeps himself internally connected with his Guru. Men of this type possess all those qualities that should be present in a disciple.

From among these devotees, rarely one or two acquire the condition of a Murad. A 'Murad' is one who has become the object of love of his Guru. In other words, the Guru's attention is always centered on him. He can also be called a beloved person and such people are rarely found. In these days 'Murads' are seldom found and likewise Gurus also are rare. Revered Lalaji had written to me in one of his letters that in these days as many 'Murids' are seen as the pores of the body, but 'Murads' are very rare."

Some clarification as to the meaning of these two words 'Murad' and 'Murid' is appropriate at this juncture.

The Difference between a Murid and a Murad: The travellers on the path of love for God are of two types. The first is called a murid [seeker], and denotes one whose progress is based on ones' own effort and worship. The second is called a murad [one who is sought for], and denotes a person whom the God as Beloved Himself wishes to draw near to Him.

The difference between a murid and a murad is traditionally understood by comparing the lives of Prophet Moses and the Prophet Muhammad. Prophet Moses was a lover of God, while the Prophet in Islamic tradition was the beloved of God. The ways of love dictate that the lover hopes and desires to meet the Beloved. Yet sometimes the Beloved also desires that the lover come to meet Him. And when the Beloved also wishes to meet, then it becomes easy to draw near to Him.

When the Most Beautiful One arranges a meeting, then the true pleasure of love is attained. When the lover knows the Beloved loves him well, then his happiness knows no bounds. The love of the lover manifests in deep sighs of longing, whereas the love of the Beloved is subtle and hidden. The love of the lover weakens his body, while the love of the Beloved invigorates the lover's body. When God Almighty bestows His grace upon a servant, He opens the way to reach Him. Then the remembrance of the Almighty predominates. But it should noted that the Grand Master has made the task easy by granting us the boon of Pranahuti which makes us feel the love of Master in every session of Pranahuti and enable us feel the 'centre yawning towards the circumference.' This unique feature of the system of our beloved Master makes us almost everyone of us a Murad. The oozing of the grace of Master is something that we imperience every day. God has become easier to be reached because He blesses us with His embrace that is hard to express.

However trying to fix persons according to some qualities has never been easy. Trying to classify people according to Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic types has never been accepted by all. As to the correctness of classifying one as belonging to this category or the other has also been not easy not withstanding Bhagavan Srikrishna going so very vociferous in His song celestial. We have on an earlier occasion discussed about the nature of devotees according to their feelings, (nine rasas) like Santa, hasya, vatsalya, adbhuta, shoka, Krodha, viraha and vismaya. Lord Krishna also gave another classification based on the pravrttis or nature of the person as daivi and asuri. Grand Master states that 'In addition due to insufficient knowledge of dharma every person has some supposedly good or bad fixed ideas and he is determined not to listen or accept from books any other than his ideas. Supposing that, he listens or sees them, he will never accept. Therefore there is no other way than to place before everybody a list of beliefs/faiths and try to make them understand to the extent possible. After wards whoever is having Divine grace will be granted His guidance.' After making the above statements the Grand Master classifies the devotees as persons having

1.) Ikhlas: That is they have a pure intention without any fluctuating temperament.

2.) Dayami Tavajja: That is those remembering Him again and again and having intimacy with Him is called Dayami Tavajja. It appears that the Master of the Grand Master affirmed that there is no other intimacy and attention than this is needed in spirituality. {We can better comprehend the importance of method of Constant Remembrance of our system}. Rev. Lalaji continues to state that 'It was the principle of elders and people of olden days to develop first faith, purify mind and gain stages because according to their mind, their only desire was to get nearer to Parmathma. As long as the mind is not cleaned and purified, these curtains will not go away. For the same reason, by cleaning of mind their faith becomes strong and they make their faith so strong that they do not have anything except that of Parmathma and whatever powers and attainments they had, they think them to have come from Parmathma and they belong to Him. {The origins of the method of cleaning given to us by the Master can be appreciated.}

3.) Vilayath avval is the first order of saintliness which means that the devotees have intimacy and nearness with Parmathma and nothing else. Such a yogi has "Khavarik" and "Tasrufat" {Khavarik are called so, as they are capable of miracles. Tasrufat is having access to some body's Atma or putting the thoughts in other person, influencing other person Etc. Perhaps this is what is now taught to us as Pranahuti. This type of aspirant is having the influence of Vilayath avval. It means that he may not help worldly people, and his attention and thought is always towards Parmathma. Their attention towards worldly people is either less or nil.

4.) Vilayath doyam is the second order saintliness which means that along with the attachment to Paramatma nearness is also with the world and such a yogi is accepted by people and they are his followers. His relation is with the entire Universe. The influence of Vilayath doyam is such that this type of Mahatma's attention though is with Parmathma, their relation is more with worldly people. They have the orders that their thought should be with worldly people, inspite of their being with God, so that they can help worldly people. The trainers of ISRC do have such a condition and it is their duty to live up to the expectation of their condition.

Grand Master states that Man's essential duty is realization of Maitri and love. Though this is so, Man brought with him from birth qualities like Tam, Raj and Sat. The things in the making of human body are natural. Man can neither live without them nor can he escape from their influence. The condition of Sat Chit Anand is also in the man. Sometime or other he will be in that Ocean of Bliss without fail. But he is now under the illusion of thinking that the artificial and temporary worldly bliss to be good fortune and is immersed in it. Sometime or other he will come out of it. When time of consciousness leaving the Jiva comes, the divine feelings and love, which are there in him, are awakened and love and devotion develops in him. The effect of this is that the person forgets everybody except oneself.

He states that 'There are seven layers of man's individuality; soul, heart, head etc. When the first layer is achieved, the remaining layers are also achieved by themselves one by one. That is why the knowledge of intermediary steps is hidden from the common man. He cannot have the discretionary knowledge of them. But Real Man or Poorna Yogya has the elaborate knowledge of the difference between the steps. Ordinary common man cannot have the knowledge of them. According to him, 'Common man' includes Pandit, Moulvi and some apparently learned people. This knowledge is only related to the abhyasis.

Grand Master classifies devotees of God according to their stages.

            1. Ayad or Abid

            2. Sufia

            3. Malamita.

Ayad (i.e. Abid): People of this stage perform external prayers for example Fasting, Namaaz, Sandhya, Pooja etc and are busy doing good things like yajna, vratas, daan, pilgrimage etc. They do not have the happiness and bliss like Sufis. If anybody from Abid category experiences happiness and bliss, he moves into the group of Sufis. People who do not practice the steps of Dharma, Dhyana, Samadhi and practice Japa, Pooja, Yajna, Havan etc and make others to perform them are called Poojari or Abid. They are not interested in Meditation and internal practices like Sufi and Sadhu and they have no experience of happiness like Sufis.

Sufia: They are blessed with total and higher state (Ucchatha). They do not hide their miracles from the entire creation. Their attention is always on God and they accept the creation as the expression of God. In this group there is some Ahankar and artificiality. These people practice Dharma, Dhyana and Samadhi etc. They get special kind of happiness by doing internal sadhana and they experience states and conditions. They are also called Siddha, Sant, Paramahamsa and Avadhoot. They exhibit their experiences and miracles. They do not hide themselves from the worldly people but they have a kind of attraction towards worldly people and they live separately. They think of themselves as having different individuality from the rest of the people and it is of a high order. That is why they have light and unknown ahankar in their temperament.

Malamita: These persons dress like common people and there is no difference between common people and them. They perform the duties of Sandhya, puja etc like other people but they do not exhibit any miracles and supernatural things and they do not pose themselves as famous people. They may try their best not to reveal themselves in social gatherings and among friends. They do traditional pooja like common people but they always do the internal sadhana also. They progress all the stages of dharma, dhyan, Samadhi etc step by step. They do not reveal the miracles. All their dealings will be like simple grhasta people but they try to maintain friendship and socialization to the extent possible. Their inner and outer is the same without any duplicity. They do what they talk and they talk what they do. This type is called Malamita. These people have hidden their identity from common people. For their interest, they copy God in this respect. It means that Atma cannot be clearly shown in this world and nothing can be known by these eyes. God has also hidden himself from the eyes of everybody in spite of His presence everywhere. For the same reason, often, generally people think other people in the world to be similar to them and know them as such. There is neither ahankar in them nor any desire or pomp. These have attained the state of Abhudiyat.

Malamita category inspite of being complete Jnani, do not think or act against Nature. They always have the disposition of a devotee and serf. A few of the Malamita category are considered as "thucch" as they like to exhibit themselves in such a way, which is normally objectionable to the common people but in fact that may not be against the law of dharma internally and people may not be able to understand its subtlety. For example talking incoherently, shouting like a mad man and doing several things which make people think that they are "thucch". Such people hold the entire creation in high esteem. Whatever they exhibit is all artificial.

'Will' is both a verb and a noun. As a verb, it means to choose between two things, to desire. As a noun, it means the mental power by which a person can direct his or her thoughts and actions. Will has been defined by those living a spiritual life as overcoming carnal desires, resisting animal appetites, and always preferring, in complete submission to His Will, God's wish and pleasure over one's own. A willing disciple (murid) never relies on his or her own power, and is absolutely submitted to the Will of the All-Powerful, Who holds all of creation in His Grasp. As for the one willed (murad), he or she overflows with love of God and never considers or aspires to anything other than obtaining His pleasure. Such a person becomes a favourite of God. The aspirants in our system who offer the prayer do so not for any material gain but desire total mergence in the Master. They desire/ will, only to gain His favour.

Will is the first station on the path to God and the first harbour (prayer) from which one sets sail for eternity. Almost everyone who sets sail for the infinite first comes to this harbour, from where an impetus to reach the ultimate destination is gained. Journeying toward this destination is proportional to the traveller's purity of intention, the degree and quality of his or her relationship with the world and material things, and the power of the driving force derived from this harbour (prayer) and from the inner desire to undertake this voyage. In proportion to the help of God and the strength of the disciple's willpower, some traverse the distance between the harbour and the destination at walking speed, others at the speed of a spaceship or light, and still others at a speed that cannot be measured. The spiritual growth of the Masters is to be taken as examples of what can be achieved by the will, the willing one, and the willed one when supported by the help of God/ Master.

There is a derivative relation between will and the willing one (disciple). Material or natural causes are veils between superficial views and Divine Grandeur and Dignity, such that who cannot understand the reality behind things and events should not blame God for what appears to them as disagreeable. Similarly a person's willpower is only a shadow of the shadow of the One Who does whatever He wills in whatever way He wills. Just as a shadow is dependent on the original, any will created is dependent on the Creator. The deeper implication of the 'centre yawning towards the circumference' can be appreciated if this is understood. Until the traveller perceives that one's personal will is a dim reflection of the Absolute Will of the All-Willing One and advances or rises as high as, the station of being the one willed or desired, a disciple will always regard his or her will as having a separate, independent existence. Indeed, a traveller is willing (murid) at the beginning of the way and willed (murad) at the end of it. Murid is one willing while searching the ways to be loved / desired and Murad or willed when seeing an imprint of Him on everything and weaving a lacework of spiritual pleasure with the threads of knowledge and love of God. One important source from which willpower is fed is the traveller's care and sensitivity in fulfilling his or her responsibilities and constant supplication to God. Moreover, it depends on the traveller's perseverance in extra acts or duties of worship so that God may become his or her eyes with which to see, ears with which to hear, and hands with which to grasp.

Eternity, in addition to meaning eternal life in the Hereafter, is also used to describe the expansion of feelings, emotions, and reflections that one feels inwardly. An individual has infinite, eternal desires and ambitions, and he or she can experience in his or her heart the (eternal) pleasures of Paradise and of being loved by God and loving Him. To them the only utility of God is when they are in distress or misery. They expect Him on such occasions to attend to their call to remove their troubles. They pray to Him chiefly for the supply of their wants. It is really far from the idea of true love and devotion. A true devotee is one who loves Him not for any favour or worldly interest but merely for love's sake. He always remains in a state of complete resignation to His will. He is perfectly contended with all that is bestowed upon him whether good or bad, joyful or unpleasant. Joy or sorrow is meaningless to him. Everything is a boon to him from his Beloved. Such complete resignation and unquestioning attitude in all matters is the highest form of devotion.(Babuji- reality at dawn- realisation)

There is yet another classification of disciples according to our Master Babuji Maharaj. As he explicitly graced us in this subject it is not intended to comment on the same. He stated that "Sages have classified the disciples under two main heads, the Manmata and the Gurumata. The former are those who approach the Guru with some particular worldly end in view such as relief from worldly misery, desire for wealth, etc. They submit to him only so long as they are hopeful in the achievement of their desires. When they meet disappointment in this respect they are off. For such disciples the question of obedience or submission even does not arise, what to say of surrender. Gurumata disciples are those who obey the commands of the Master in all matters and try to submit to his will in all possible ways. Submission begins with obedience. When we are deeply impressed by the great powers of a Master of higher attainments in spirituality, we feel inwardly inclined to follow his biddings. But often the effect remains upon us only when we are in his presence, and when we are away we become unmindful of him. Repeated association with him for some time brings us in close touch with the great soul and his supremacy begins to be established in our heart. We accept him as our guide in all matters pertaining to our spiritual advancement. The result is that we remember him frequently. When we are perfectly convinced of his superior capabilities, only then our submission in true sense begins. We go on with it and practise as we are directed. We think of pleasing him by our actions. The idea of right or wrong, too, begins to assume prominence in our heart and we feel inclined to refrain from evil. We consequently adopt the line of virtue so that we might be able to please our great Master. It is our primary motive for we wish to be saved from the miseries of the next life."

"But, so far, we reserve to ourselves the right of discretion and are, therefore, responsible for all our actions whether good or bad. At a higher stage of self -surrender such a discretionary power becomes almost extinct and a man does everything thinking it to be his Master's will. The question of right or wrong does not at all arise in his mind, or it becomes absolutely certain that by following his Master's will, he is doing the only right thing and he does nothing but the right, feeling it to be his Master's will." We thus see the Master exquisitely weaving the concepts of murid and murad in a practical manner and have given us the necessary guidelines for action.

Thus we find that Revered Lalaji Maharaj explaining the states and levels of spiritual growth of the saliks in the path and our beloved Master distinguishing the devotees based on the goals they have in joining a spiritual path. Times have changed enormously and today we are having amongst us all types of devotees mentioned by the Master. The humble effort of ISRC and Imperience is to make the devotees properly oriented to the Goal of Human life and strive to become Murads and Malamitas.

Pranam.