God in Human Form
Sages, masters and mystics of all countries and times state that God has appeared in human form throughout history and continues to appear today in every generation . In Christianity, He is referred to as the Word made flesh. In Buddhism,he is the Buddha Nature who incarnates as a Boddhisattva. The Granth Sahib, which is a collection of the writings of dozens of masters of the Sikhs, call him Vah Guru. Kabir, and mystics of Islam such as Maulana Rum, Hafiz, Bulleh Shah, Sultan Bahu have described the path of the masters for the seekers of their respective times.
We have no difficulty in accepting the concept of God in Human form when it comes to past masters but when we approach a Living Perfect Master of our time there is a problem the mind rebels. All of the past masters including Jesus and Buddha were perfect Living Masters of their time. They were God in Human Form. Jesus was the Son of the Trinity and his worship forms the basis of Christianity.
These past masters were not recognized or accepted by every one for they lived like ordinary mortals. Many of them were not only rejected but were crucified. In Matthew it says that Jesus came eating and drinking and was a friend of publicans and sinners. This is also a complaint made by some initiates of the living, perfect master of our time. They say, "If he is god in human form, why doesn't he................? The living perfect master is as inscrutable as god himself and cannot be discovered by our intellect and reason. As Paltu Sahid says, "Love alone counts in the Court of the Lord."
Matthew 11:19 King James Version (KJV)
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
Even some of his disciples did not recognize his divinity.
Matthew 16
13When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
14And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
15He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
20Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
Peter went so far as to deny him.
Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
And Peter remembered the
word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt
deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.
Matthew 26:75
There is a blog site called Church for the Churchless where
initiates of a contemporary living master gather to discuss and
criticize the path of the masters. They were once ardent disciples
and have now decided to reject the path which they once accepted.
It is to read and shows
that understanding and following a contemporary living master is not all
that easy. My opinion is they they are "Throwing the baby out with the bath
water..” by confusing involvement with the organization as treading the path which is a way of life
and is internal. Once the disciple has
been initiated, he has been given everything he will ever need for
eternity. Even though it is recommended, he need never go to
meeting or attend an organized event nor does he have to look to anyone
except to the master to guide him. Living according to the
precepts of the master is all that is required. It must always be
kept in mind that it is a path of slow growth and transformation and one
of the qualities of the spirit is patience. It is not a trip to
Disney Land.
The path of the masters is a science of the soul. It adheres to the scientific discipline of experimentation and gathering data to obtain personal experience of what is stated in theory. Being a science, the experiments must be reproducible and the experience gained by the practice as taught by the living perfect master is also reproducible by any one who is willing to make the necessary effort. It must emphasized that for any scientific experiment to be successful all required conditions must be satisfied. If they are not, it is like striking a wrong note in music. Although the practice is easy, to be consistent is difficult. The elements of the experiment are found in the laboratory of the human body and consist of the mind and the consciousness. The mind must be made motionless at the eye center. To do this is like capturing and breaking a wild horse. One of the qualities one must develop is burning eagerness and icy patience. This is achieved by means of daily practice with love and devotion Love and devotion must not be confused with desire and emotion. Love and devotion are permanent while desire and emotion are temporary.
The description of a journey from beginning to end can be described within a few hours by reading a travel brochure, but the trip around the world will take its own time. The same holds true for the description of the spiritual journey from duality to oneness. Kabir Sahib has gone into great detail “See the Beloved Lord in Your Body". Soami Ji has also described the inner journey. The difficulties and problems the spiritual traveler faces are dealt with in great detail. A mention of this hidden path is given in the Bible .
1 Corinthians 2:9
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him.
This inner journey is revealed to Initiates of contemporary living masters. Keeping in mind the remarks above while reading while reading the blogs on Church for the Churchless will to give the reader a perspective.
From the Blog site:
“If the guru really, truly, actually knows that he is God, able to do all kinds of miraculous supernatural things, then he should be upfront about this. However, this isn't what the RSSB gurus do. They play the "I'm nobody special" game, which their initiates strangely consider to be a sign of divinity.
I find myself asking that question, if Baba Ji is GIHF (God in Human Form) and the honest answer I can come up with is, I Don’t Know! What would it take for me to know? I don’t know that either? If he told me personally that he was one with the Lord, would I still know? I have to say no, I wouldn’t, it would still be a belief. If ‘He’ done some ‘miraculous’ appearing and disappearing, would that be proof? I still say no. I think I am asking the wrong question. The question I see as more appropriate and more helpful is not WHO IS HE, but WHO AM I?”
"WHO AM I? " That is the proper question. Masters say that self realization is essential before god realization. Until we know ourselves, we cannot even begin to have an accurate conception of the master.
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“I am sorry that whoever is commenting really does not know what they are talking about. I was initiated by Charan Singh in the 60's and myself have had my share of doubts and criticism. I have been helped in many ways on a spiritual level through experience by Charan Singh and Gurinder Singh. These two Masters have great spiritual powers and have helped me through experience and are with me at all times which they have made clear through experience which is the only way one can really know anything. Not through mental analysis, which leads no where as I have tried that route. You are just missing great truths because you are trying to understand with your mental ability. When I stopped trying to figure everything out and realized mind can never understand, more became clear to me. This is a great truth and no one can convince me anymore of anything because experience speaks for itself. And I am sorry that David Lane had not enough experience to understand that there is more here than what meets the eye or that can be understood on a intellectual level. You may not believe me, but I was reading your posts and myself read some untruths as well as a lot of lack of understanding. Experience only speaks volumes. Posted by: Sharan | January 06, 2011 at 07:14 PM “
Editor (The Path of the Masters is one of love and devotion. The mind and the intellect have to be set aside.)
This post is challenged by the blog master.
“Sharan, I'm curious... Please share some of what you have learned from Charan Singh, who has been dead for twenty years, but who you say is with you at all times. What does he communicate to you? How do you know the presence you feel is actually Charan Singh, and not your own mind? What have you learned from the "inner guru" that couldn't be known otherwise? Please be as detailed as possible. You ended with "Experience only speaks volumes." So you must have a lot to say, given all the experiences you've had with Charan Singh and Gurinder Singh.
If sharing all that in a comment is too difficult, you can email me your experiences, and I'll share them in a blog post. Feel free to be as wordy as you like, and again, as detailed as possible. Many people, I'm sure, are eager to know what Charan Singh is saying to you so many years after his death. Posted by: Blogger Brian | January 06, 2011 at 08:25 PM “
Editor (Personal experiences are carefully guarded and are not shared with others as it only increases ego and does not solve the problem. The masters continually repeat the fact that one must gain one’s own experience and that “until one sees with one’s own eyes, and hears with one’s ears, one should not even take the word of one’s own master.)
“During one evening Q & A session, at the Dera in 2001, I heard a lady tell Master Gurinder Singh that she found it difficult to believe he was God. His reply, in essence, was that she was the only sane person in the room.”
Editor (The following quote shows the progress of the initiate and his understanding. It also shows that perfection is not automatic with initiation. Initiation means beginning and understanding comes in slow step by step stages. Spiritual growth, though slow is sure.)
“I do feel a sense of peace when attending Satsang. It's extremely rare in our society for a group of people to sit quietly in a room together -- even if our minds are wandering a bit. There is some interesting power in sitting around together contemplating the relative importance of our lives in the grand scheme of things. If nothing else, perhaps it's a brief time to reflect on this, which is different somehow than sitting in a room alone and meditating.
Although I have been an initiate for many years now, I've avoided talking with most satsangis as I have found a large percentage of them to be (a) extremely negative (b) worship the guru in ways I consider unnatural -- frankly I think our relationship is directly with the creator.
Matthew 6:6
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou
hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in
secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall
reward thee openly.
And...if the guru facilitates this connection in some magical or mystical way, that's cool, but it doesn't seem to serve much purpose to "worship". It seems kind of creepy actually. I feel the same way about worshipping the bible or any other book that is a collection of stories. Not that they aren't awesome works of mankind, but any historian can explain their human origins.
For the first time in my life I am starting to feel like I'm emerging from something - from some mind control over me and I'm listening to that still clear voice within that has always been there, that is my direct connection to the great link.”
Editor (Impatience and a desire for results inhibits the growth of understanding which comes only through practice. The quote below shows the confusion of mixing the organization with the personal guru-disciple relationship. This exists outside any organization. Without practice, one resorts to belief and belief cannot sustain. Practice brings experience and understanding.)
“Everything you have ever said about sant mat or RSSB can be read as metaphors of your own psychological state. You have simply projected all your loathing of religious authority, and your failure to realize anything about the path onto the path itself. This is understandable in today’s 24/7 want it all now culture, whereby if something is promised and not realised then the existentially disillusioned punter wants payback. This is getting more to the heart of why people like you leave sant mat and then endlessly rant on about it.”
Editor (On the path of love and devotion mind is the only obstacle. RSSB is a path of love and devotion. It states, Do not expect improved health, wealth or worldly advantage to ensue. It is for self and god realization only. Also, the literature states that it can be the work of four lifetimes. The real master is within in the form of Light and Sound. The outer master simply points the way, guides and helps. He does not do the work. Every disciple must to do that for himself. If a man has not, through his own experience, realized that the living perfect master is God in Human Form, he should look upon the master only as a friend, a teacher of meditation, or elder brother. The experience of others is not his and since the relationship of Guru-Disciple is strictly personal with no one coming in between. He cannot compare his experience with others. Also, he should not believe that the organization is the path for it is not. The organization exists because thousands of people come to the same venue at the same time to see the Master and logistical problems such as parking, traffic, sanitation etc. must be arranged. Refer to Matthew 6:6)