Dear Gail:
The second problem named in the letter on spiritual problems is “Where to find the Guru.” This is an important lesson in any case for the search to find the Guru might continue for a lifetime. Very often it does just that.
Once when Peter Openisky (I’m not certain if this is the way his name is spelled) was in search of a Guru, he wrote a friend in India that he was coming to that country to seek a religious teacher. Several days after the Indian friend got the letter, an old man appeared at the door stating that he was PO’s Guru, and that he wanted to stay there as a servant to wait on PO to see if he would be recognized. PO came to visit his friend, stayed for several months, looked for a Guru, and never found one, although the real Guru was acting as his servant, but not recognized. PO went back to England disappointed, to make a public statement that there were no spiritual teachers in India as so claimed by the thousands.
It is said that when the student is ready the teacher appears. I can vouch for this statement. Each time I’ve been ready to make another upward step, a teacher designated for teaching on that particular level appeared in some manner or other. I’ve found this always to be true, and never worried about learning what would be on the next higher level of the spiritual worlds. There are specialists in spiritual matters on the far side of the curtain well as on this side. These specialists are always saints, and in a manner of speaking all Gurus are saints, but all saints are not Gurus. A Sat Guru is a saint who has been appointed by the Supreme Sat Nam, ruler of the first plane of the fourth grand (the highest) division, sometimes known as the fifth plane. The Guru is
sort of a viceroy, or an executive officer who does his work on this plane. The Sat Guru who is the highest type of Guru (Sat means true and Guru, light-giver) is the chief instrument of the meaning true, and leader of the people into spirituality, and is the main channel of the Supreme Ruler to contact this world of humanity.
Most Sat Gurus have received their appointment from the Highest Ruler, and they only are capable of performing the duties of giving the initiation, and of leading their disciples to the home in Sach Khand. He is sort of executive officer for the Absolute. Three terms are always used in the matter of masters. They are: Master, Sat Guru and Saint, but they mean the same in all religions. When the Christians speak of a saint, they are speaking of a master and a sat guru synonymously. But it isn’t the canonical saint of the church.
Such saints are made saints by decree of the pope and his church, while the real saints develop into saints by their own hard work under the directions of their Gurus and by their help. There is no other way to become a real saint.
A genuine master is the super-man of history, and by virtue of his development, he has become the prototype of the race, the most splendid specimen of manhood, the noblest of the noble. He has the best of health, a high, keen, penetrating mind, quick of wit and sound of judgment. He may not be educated by formal education, but his mind has undergone the hardest training and discipline. He is the only man ever manifested in all history in whom individualism and universalism are combined in their full expression; this in spite of the assertion of some philosophers that such a combination is impossible. But you see the Master stands alone, for he is a law unto himself, does what he pleases, and he asks favors of no man.
Neither can any man hinder him in the execution of his
will, for he has all things at his own command, and if he suffers hardships, or inconveniences, that is because he chooses to do so for some purpose. He is the supreme giver, not a receiver and he always pays for what he gets. He is slave to no one, is no time server, is bound by no rule or custom outside of himself, and he is a citizen of the whole world. His life and teachings are universal. He belongs to no race or time, but to all nations and all times. He is a paradox in religion, teaches no theology, has none, yet he is the most religious of all. His system is not a religion, yet it leads to the most complete religious experience, and the happiest, for he is absolutely universal in all his teachings. He has no creed, yet he never antagonizes any creed, sect, or institution. He finds no fault with anyone or anything, yet he draws the sharpest lines between the good and bad. He considers human weakness only an illness brought on by aberrations or engrams.
If you are looking for a master, how would you go about finding one? This question is asked by all seekers. First, you look for the perfect man— I mean, one who has a perfect character. Secondly, listen to the inner voice, or the voice of intuition. The voice usually tells if your feeling is correct.
Thirdly, I know that once you see the Master in his radiant form, you have found him, and need not look any further.
Fourth, if you are seeking a master, you must realize that he is seeking you, rather approaching you, and it is only a question of time when this great event will come about. For the old saying goes, “When the chela (student) is ready, the Guru appears!”
The VARDAN Masters never boast of their mastership, or of their spiritual powers, or attainment. Masters never complain of their treatment at the hands of others. Masters never find fault or blame others. Masters never punish
anybody, but leave the punishment to the negative power whose business is to administer justice. Their lives are governed entirely by the Law of Love. Masters hardly give to ascetic practices or unreasonable austerities. Masters never beg for a living. Masters never perform miracles for public exhibitions. It is a fixed law that real saints never do miracles to win disciples. A genuine master teaches and practices the Audible Life Stream, or Sound Current, called the Shabda.
If one is prepared to find the master, he will appear. But a master will never appear to be a master, if one is not prepared. He can be your next door neighbor, make talks to people, and give them spiritual help, but many if told he is a master, would never believe it. Yet only a few can recognize his spiritual status. Those who cannot see the Master, because of self-blindness, die in spiritual poverty, when only the opening of their eyes would give them the vast riches of a new life. No one can discover a master when blinded by their own pre-conceived notions. IN OTHER WORDS NO ONE CAN DISCOVER THE MASTER UNTIL CERTAIN INNER PREPARATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE. This is the whole secret of the mystery of finding a master; you must be prepared in the inner-self, then he is able to step forth and see the master.
These letters in a sense are serving that purpose, not to prepare you, but to show you how to prepare yourself so that when you are ready, the spiritual blindness falls from your eyes and you see the Master in his radiant form — and then you no longer will have doubt of yourself and the direction in which you are traveling.
More later.
Paul
90. From Whence Came Evil If