USE THE TIME YOU HAVE NOW
by
Sant Ajaib Singh Ji
A talk given in February 1987,
to a group visiting Sant Ji's
underground meditation room at
16PS Ashram, Rajasthan, India.
------------------------------
I am very pleased that God gave us this opportunity of sitting in His
remembrance for this period of ten days. Only because of His grace were we
able to spend time in His remembrance. But spending this time in His
remembrance can be worthwhile only if we maintain this, only if we continue
being in His remembrance, and only if we continue doing the meditation.
Then this time that we have spent in His remembrance can become worthwhile
and successful. If we do not continue doing the meditation, if we do not
remain in His sweet remembrance after we leave here, then the meditation
we have done for the past ten days cannot become successful. The meaning of
becoming successful in the meditation and in His remembrance is that we
should rise above the mind and the sense organs. God Almighty, our Master,
has given us the responsibility of withdrawing to the Eye Center, and we
can become successful in that only if we rise above the mind and sense
organs.
Dear Ones, those who come here in these groups and who continue doing
the meditation after going back from the group, when they get the
opportunity to return to the ashram again, they tell me about their
progress in meditation. I become very happy to know that they continued
doing the meditation after they left this ashram and that because they
continued meditating they have progressed a lot. They tell me about their
high experiences, which gives me a lot of pleasure; I become very pleased
with them. But those dear ones who do not meditate after going back from
the groups, when they come back here again, they complain that they cannot
still their mind, their mind wanders a lot, or they have pain in the back,
they have pain in the knees and things like that. They spend all their time
over here just complaining about those things.
So Dear Ones, you see that those who continue doing their meditation
get a lot of progress, they improve a lot in their meditation. Whereas
those who do not continue doing the meditation have all sorts of complaints
and they do not progress. You know that we can become competent in any work
only if we do it regularly and wholeheartedly. Even in worldly work, if we
do something for two days and then stop, we do not become as successful in
that as if we were doing it regularly.
I did not start doing the devotion just by looking at other people doing
the devotion. I did not learn to do the devotion by looking at others; it
was something from my own within which I started in my childhood.
This is why I call myself as the most fortunate one because right from
my childhood my thoughts were very pure and I was devoted to Almighty God.
So what Master Kirpal used to say, "There is food for the hungry and water
for the thirsty," that is exactly correct. And He also said that it is not
as difficult to realize God as it is to become a human being. He also used
to say that God is in search of man, if someone makes himself a real human
then God Himself will come and find him. That is why I understand myself as
the most fortunate one that, with His grace, my thoughts were very pure in
my childhood. That is why that gracious Almighty Lord Kirpal came to me
Himself and He awakened my sleeping soul.
You know that if someone is in love with someone outwardly, if he has the
physical love, even in that outer or worldly love, the lover does not feel
hungry, he does not feel thirsty; he gives up everything of this world just
because of that love. In the same way, those who have this divine love,
those who are in love with their Master, with Almighty God, they also do
not pay any attention to their hunger and thirst, they pay no attention to
the public shame or anything like that, because right from the beginning,
right from childhood, they have the real yearning, they have the real love
for God Almighty. Even though they have not seen the Almighty God, but still,
within themselves, they always feel as if they have lost something. They
always remain sad; they are waiting for Him. If someone asks someone like
that, "Why are you sad? Have you lost anything?" He would say, "Well, I
don't know." He always feels that he has lost someone or something.
Outwardly he may say, "I am all right." But deep within he feels that
sadness because of not seeing his Beloved God Almighty. All the Saints have
had this sadness. Guru Nanak also had this sadness, and because of it people
used to say that He had lost His senses, "He does not have that power of
intellect - "He does not have the power of thinking -" or "Some ghost has
taken him over." In the lives of many Saints such things have happened when
They have gone through this period of deep sadness. People have always
talked about things like this, but the dear ones, the Saints Who have felt
this sadness, only They know what They are looking for.
Such dear ones, right from their childhood, always get the messages of
love in their soul. If they are born in a rich family they throw away that
richness and do their devotion. If they are born in a poor family they do
not crave to become rich and they do not go on collecting the material
wealth of the world. Their effort, their desire, is only to find that thing
which they have lost, and they always crave for the Beloved. They always
wish that they had met the Almighty Lord, right from their childhood; within
them, they have this desire.
The true lover does not have any complaint if he goes through any painful
moment, or any difficult moment; he does not wonder why this moment came,
or "Why do I have to go through all this suffering?" because he knows that
the One Whom he loves, knows only to shower grace on him and that He knows
the best. The real lover only knows how to love.
You know about the love of the moth for the light. The moth loves looking
at the light and the moth is so much in love the light that the moth goes
there and it burns itself in the fire of that light, but it does not
complain, "Why do you burn when I am in love with you? when I live only by
looking at you?" He always maintains his tradition of love, that is whenever
he sees the light burning he goes there because of that love and he burns
himself in that.
Majnu and Laila were in love with each other. Laila was a princess and
Majnu was from a very poor family, but their love was not like the love
which the Majnus and Lailas of the present time have. Their love was pure,
free from all the worldly pleasures and indulgences. In the Muslim scripture
it is written that those who cannot maintain purity in the worldly love,
can never become successful in the Divine Love. Master Kirpal also used to
say, "Worldly love is like the bridge to cross over to get to the divine
love. The bridge is not the place to live, it is meant only for crossing
the river." In the same way, if we can become perfect in the worldly love,
it is only meant for getting to the real or Divine Love.
Majnu used to wander in the forest with the fakirs because in the love
of Laila he also had become a fakir. Once it so happened that Laila wanted
to have the darshan of Majnu, she wanted to see what Majnu looked like, how
he was at that time. So she performed something like a yajna to which she
in invited all the fakirs and the holy men. Because she wanted to see Majnu,
that is why she arranged that.
Now when she did that, everyone went to attend that feast. The fakirs
with whom Majnu used to wander told Majnu. "Let us go there, because Laila
has invited us and they will be serving good food there. Why don't you come
with us to eat the good food?" Majnu had become a fakir because of the love
of Laila, but he thought, "I should not go there unless I learn whether she
remembers me or not. I should do something so that I may be convinced
whether she remembers me or not." So he didn't go to attend that feast;
when one of his friends asked him to go with him, he said, "Well, I am not
going, but you take my cup." So he gave him his cup and told him that after
he ate the food, he should tell the servers to give him some food for Majnu.
He said, "You should make sure you say that this cup belongs to me, that it
belongs to Majnu."
When everyone went there to attend the feast, the people sat in lines and
as the servers served the food to them Laila would come out to see if Majnu
had come, because she had done that only to see Majnu, but Majnu didn't come
there. When the fakir who was carrying Majnu's cup finished eating, he asked
for some food for Majnu. He said, "This cup belongs to Majnu." Laila was
also standing there, she heard that, and she was upset, so instead of
putting any food in that cup, Laila kicked that cup with her foot and she
broke it.
That fakir went back and Majnu asked, "Dear One, did you bring any food
for me?" He said, "Well, what can I tell you? I didn't bring any food,
because Laila kicked your cup and broke it." He said, "Well, you should have
said that it belongs to me." He said, "I did say it, and only when I said,
`This cup belongs to Majnu,' that's when she kicked and broke your cup." At
that time Majnu started dancing in joy and said, "I am very pleased that at
least she remembers me."
So Dear Ones, I do not want to say a lot about myself; I do not want to
go on talking about myself. But since we are talking about this, I would
like to say about myself also - this is a true thing - that my love with
Beloved Master Kirpal was exactly the same as the love of Laila and Majnu.
When Beloved Lord Kirpal came in the human form and when He came to see me,
at that time I accepted Him as God Almighty, I welcomed Him, I respected
Him, and I believed Him to be Almighty God. I was so happy because I
realized, "At least He remembers me." Because I used to understand my love
with Him as the love of Majnu with Laila.
I went to many different communities and religions, at a time in India
when people believed in different castes and religions and they used to
consider these things very much. So I went to all the different groups,
because I was thirsty and I was looking for God Almighty. I did not
criticize anyone, I did not comment on anyone's practice or their path; I
went there with all my faith and love for them. When my beloved Master
came to see me, when I was thirsty, He came in the human form, He gave me
the Water (of Life) to drink and I drank that Water with all faith, love,
and respect for Him. I did not ask Him whether this Water belonged to the
Hindus, Muslims, or to the Christians, or to the Sikhs. I did not even ask
Him from which religion did He come, or what was His name, what was His
caste, what was His religion? I did not even care to ask Him from where He
had come.
Since I was thirsty and He had the Water for me, I drank that Water which
satisfied my thirst. Dear Ones, when He came here, I did not even ask Him
whether He was a renunciate or a householder. I did not ask any question
from my beloved Gurudev. You know that I was thirsty for Him right from my
childhood, and He had the Water for me, so He came. No one had told me any
critical words about Him and no one had even praised Him to me; I did not
know anything about Him.
You can very well imagine: how did He know about me? How did He know that
somebody had been sitting in His remembrance since childhood? He sent me a
message that I should stay at home because He would be coming to see me, and
He Himself came to see me. So you can see that He knew that someone was
sitting in His remembrance.
He made me leave that place right away and He told me to come and sit
here. He Himself made this place; with His orders this underground room was
made. We have not made any changes in this part of the building except for
the place where I am sitting now. Because we used to have a bathroom inside,
that is why we had to raise the level of this room, otherwise everything
else is the same. It was all His grace that He made me sit here in
meditation and this place was made according to His wishes.
I don't know why He wished for this place. He told me I should not come
out, I should not go to see Him, whenever He wanted He would come to see me.
And He also told me that I should not wait for Him, whenever I would
remember Him He would come here to give me darshan. Outwardly, there is no
way I can thank Him; one can really thank Him only after going within.
The Story of Love cannot be described in the words of the mouth; one can
understand the Story of Love only by mixing himself in the Love.
Those who have sowed the onions all their life long, how can they know
the fragrance of apple blossoms? In the same way, those who have always used
heavy, rough blankets, how can they appreciate and know the value of fine
wool and silk?
We worldly people have put the worldly pleasures on our head, we give
importance to the sensual pleasures. The Mahatmas give us the Elixir, give
us the Nectar of Naam, only when we divert our attention, our mind, from the
worldly pleasures.
Dear Ones, when the dear one goes within and manifests the Form of the
Master within, the Form of the Master is brighter inside, and there whatever
question the disciple asks, the Master answers that. Sometimes there are
even the moments of humor inside, when the disciple says, "Look what I am,
and what You are."
After going there one realizes, "How dirty I was, how impure I was, and
my Master is pure, He is a Holy Being, He is a Holy One and He had pity on
me; He had mercy on me and He brought me in."
All the Saints Who have gone inside, Who have gone within, have called
Themselves as the "guilty one," or as the "inferior one," and They have
always called their Master as the "Pure One."
Ajaib also confessed the same thing in front of His Master Kirpal; He
said, "The life of Ajaib is full of the bad qualities, You take me across."
When He showered grace upon me, He came here. And when they took me out
from the meditation in this underground room, at that moment I remembered
the times when I used to go from door to door searching for God Almighty.
I used to call my search, "going from door to door." Because when I was
searching for God Almighty, I had gone to so many different communities
and religions only in search for Him. So I said this couplet in front of
Him, I said, "I have gone from door to door praising people in the name of
God, and telling them to come and put the alms in my cup."
You know that the people who go begging from door to door always go on
rousing the people in the name of God. They shout aloud so that people may
wake up and come out and give them the things that they are begging for. So
I said, "My Dear Beloved Master, I went from door to door begging for the
alms and I roused people in the name of God so that they would give me the
alms. And when I roused You, when I came to Your door, You gave me the alms,
You gave me the donation. And those who will give the donation to me, their
desires will be fulfilled." This was a part of the couplet.
When I said this to Master Kirpal He laughed and said, "What desires of
mine can you fulfill if I give you the things? I told Him, "O Father, that
is true, there is nothing I can do for You, Your desires are already
fulfilled. But I am requesting You only to put the alms in my cup, because
You are All in All and You can do everything. But I want to say that Master
can get a true disciple only if He is the most fortunate one, just as the
disciple gets the perfect Master only if he is the most fortunate one. In
the same way a Master also gets a disciple if He has good fortune."
The reason for saying all these things to you is that you should not wait
for the future time; you should not think that as time passes we will come
close to Him. In this Path, time is not a factor. You should use the time
you have now. And also we should not say that we will meditate only if the
Master will shower grace on us. Dear Ones, you have to become receptive
to the grace; He is always showering His grace on you. You have to receive
the grace.
That is why Master Sawan Singh Ji used to say, "The man at whose door the
animals are tied, he knows when he has to give them water, when he has to
feed them, when he has to bring them from the shade to the sun, etc. So in
the same way, if we remain devoted to the Master, if we go on doing the Path
of the Master, then He is also aware of us and He also showers grace on us."
So that is why I say that we should not waste any time; we should
appreciate the time, we should make our lives pure and do the meditation.
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