MAN! KNOW THYSELF
Saints say that Nature has designed man
to leave his physical body at will, transcend to higher spiritual planes, and then return
to the body. The help each aspirant personally and each receives a practical experience,
however little it may be, during the very first sitting at the time of Initiation. A
person who is competent to give a man this personal experience of withdrawal or separation
(temporary) from the body, and who can thus put him on the way back to God, is a genuine
Master, Saint or Sat guru. The heads of different religious organizations were intended to
do just this, but we may judge for ourselves their efficacy today.
The first-hand experience we receive,
through the kindness of a real Saint, is in itself the solution to the problem of death.
According to the Bible, ‘Unless you are born anew, you cannot enter into the Kingdom
of Heaven’. So to be born anew is to leave one’s body and enter into the
Beyond-a transition from the physical to the astral plane. Some day we have to leave this
temporary structure, which like a building of bricks and mortar, deteriorates with time.
There is no appeal to the Laws of Nature against the ‘Death Sentence’. We fear
death because of the agony and suffering which it brings, and also about the uncertainty
that lies ahead in the Beyond. We fear illness because it brings us near death’s
door; so we struggle to live though we know that our end is certain. No soothing words
from doctors, friends, relatives or priests can bring peace and comfort to our minds at
the time that Nature’s destructive process commences. This is the natural course of
things and we cannot deceive Nature.
What then is the remedy? There is only
one way out of this abyss of despair, which is to adopt and accustom ourselves, during our
lifetime, to Nature’s process of the withdrawal of the spirit current from the body,
while still in a conscious state. This may be done with the help of a Master, and may be
accomplished without any suffering or trouble whatsoever. This is not only a possibility
but is a remarkable fact. Our joy will know no bounds when we come into possession of the
secret that has baffled man for so many centuries. We become Supermen, having possession
of a key to peace and heaven, the life of which we had till then only read about in sacred
scriptures. Arise, therefore, and awake! Before it is too late to put this Science into
practice. If we observe closely the process of death in a dying man, we see the pupils of
his eyes turn upwards a little (afterwards they may return to normal), and then he becomes
senseless. But when they draw upwards too much, he dies. Life ebbs out via the root of the
eyes and becomes disconnected from the ties of the physical body and the sense organs.
Knowledge of this process and the method by which we may travel this Way during our very
lifetime, is the solution to the problem of death. No physical exercises are necessary;
there are no drugs to swallow and no blind faith to cultivate. The mystery of life and
death is solved easily with the help of a Master-Saint, who will give you an experience of
the process and put you on the highway to the inner 'world’ Even when acting
indirectly through an authorized agent, he still remains the responsible power. Distance
is immaterial to the Masters.
What is there to be gained by this
process? This cannot be described in words. At the time of Initiation, the aspirant sees
the real Light within him, whereas normally the inner eye is covered by a thick veil of
darkness. He then realizes that the tradition of the lighted candle found in churches and
temples is to remind him of the Divine Light of Heaven within. This Light grows to the
radiance of several suns put together as he advances on the Way. He understands that the
unceasing internal Sound he contacts within is the Divine Link called ‘Word’ by
Christ, ‘Kalma’ and Nida-i-Asmani’ in the Quran, ‘Nad’ in the
Vedas, ‘Udgit’ in the Upanishads, ‘Sarosha’ by the Zoroastrains and
‘Naam and Shabd’ by the Saints and Masters. In time, he meets the Master within,
talks to him face to face and is henceforth certain of his grace, guidance and protection
wherever he may go, even to the other end of the world. With such evident proofs before
him, he is now confident of himself and of the Science. Only then can he be called a
theist in the true sense of the word and can smile at those who talk of religion as a
fool’s paradise, a phantom conjured up by crafty priests, and the opium of the
masses. He has found a sure ingress through the doorway of heaven in this life, and is on
the threshold of viewing, both internally and externally, the secrets of Nature. He is
verily ‘knocking at the door of heaven’ or ‘tapping inside’. Words of
opposition cannot shake his faith in the Science as the Master guides him onward. Death
becomes a voluntary process. Past, present and future merge into one, and he grasps the
incontestable Truth, the essence of Being, in the palm of his hand. Liberated from the
body, which now appears as a husk without the kernel, he knows that he is
‘Soul’, an inseparable part of the Eternal Spirit, and so he presses onwards to
his original source. The world appears as a dream to him, but under the instructions from
his Master, he returns to his mundane life, wise and fearless in the discharge of his
duties.