September 14, 1972
Published in Sant Bani Magazine, October 1990
This talk, given by Master Kirpal in Eastbourne, England, on September 14, 1972, has recently been transcribed from the tape made at that time. The title is the same as a title of a chapter found in the book Morning Talks, but the two are separate.
Those who can see say that we can see, only if we rise above body consciousness, and now we are identified with the body so much that we have forgotten how. So what do Masters say? They say that this man-body is the place where you can manifest God. All the Masters also say, “It is the place where God lives.” The Koran, the Mohammedan literature, tells us that God says, “I am the hidden treasure within you; why don’t you have it?” Guru Nanak also says this, “The treasure of divinity is within you, you can dig it up, delve into it and dig it up, if you but listen to the words of the Master.” Those who can see, They can also give out demonstrations for others to see. How? by rising above body consciousness.
What do They tell us? “O soul, this body and this world is not your home. You are a conscious entity, your true home is the True Home of your Father who is All Consciousness.”
God does send Masters from time to time to bring us back home. In this world all are unhappy, you see. So the Masters say, “Well look here, look to yourself, you are a conscious entity, a drop of the Ocean of Consciousness. This man-body is a golden opportunity which has been afforded to you to know yourself and to know the Over Soul Who is controlling you in the body. Your True Home is not the physical body your True Home is the True Home of the Father which is of All Consciousness.
Now this is the mystery which can be solved while in the man-body, so all Masters tell us that we should rise above it. But there are different ways of telling: amongst the Hindus, they say you must be twice-born. One birth in this body and the second birth into the beyond. In the old days five-year, seven-year, and nine-year-old children were made twice-born and were given the Gayatri mantra. Nowadays also that custom prevails amongst the Hindus, children are made twice-born and are given the same Gayatri Mantra. What does the Gayatri Mantra say? “Rise above body consciousness, accept the rays of the sun coming to you and be one with the sun within you. O God, direct our souls to you.” This is the Gayatri Mantra.
So in the old days, five-year, seven-year, and nine-year-old children were made twice-born and were given this mantra at the same time that they were given a demonstration of how to rise above body consciousness and see the Light within.
When God Absolute wanted One to be many, when He came into being, there were vibrations. Vibrations result in two things: light and sound. God is light and God is Nada, music of the spheres. In the old Mohammedan sayings God is known as Kalam-i-Kadim. Similarly other Masters say He is Jyoti Maharaj and Choti Maharaj.
So the first thing is you can know yourself only when you rise above body consciousness; you’ll feel that you are enlivening this body. Take the example of a factory run by a powerhouse. The lines from the powerhouse are connected with the different departments of the factory; whichever department you want to close, you turn off that particular switch from that department. If you want to close the whole factory then the main switch is shut off.
So the factory of the man-body is run by us. See? Now there are departments working in the human factory. They are the department of seeing, the department of hearing, the department of the faculty called taste, there is the department of the nose and eyes, smell and other contexts, attachments. So five departments are working under the control of the man-body, in the man-body run by us.
You know the outer expression of soul, what it is? It is called attention. You must have experienced suchlike things in your life, when you are sitting absorbed in some thought — somebody calls you once, twice, thrice — you do not hear. He comes up to you and tells you, “Look here, I have called you so many times why don’t you hear?” You say, “My thoughts were absorbed, my attention was not with the ears.” I think you may have had a feeling like that. Sometimes you are absorbed in thought when you are taking food and you don’t think whether it is sweet or what. When you must have an injection what do you do? You just direct your attention to some other place and say, “All right, now inject;” the pain becomes less. All these outgoing faculties get strength from us. But the whole thing is topsy-turvy now. Mind, intellect, outgoing faculties take strength from us and are able to enjoy outside. But the fact remains that outer enjoyments drag our outgoing faculties like anything, and outgoing faculties are dragging the mind, and mind is dragging the soul. The whole thing is topsy-turvy.
Masters come to teach us how to control the five outgoing faculties. They give you a boost, a demonstration of a self-analysis, how to rise above the outgoing faculties to the seat of the soul which is at the back of the eyes. Saint Plutarch tells us that those who are initiated into the mystery of the beyond have the same experience of leaving the body as one has at the time of death. So these enjoyments are had by the outgoing faculties and now the whole faculty ends where? up to here. [EDITOR’SNOTE — Master Kirpal often pointed to the third eye during talks like this.] Eyes, ears, nose, mouth — everything ends. The seat of the soul is at the back of the eyes, so direct your attention to the seat of the soul which is at the back of the eyes; when you rise above there, there you see the Expression of God, some glimpse of God. And that glimpse is the Light of God and Music of the Spheres. That will give you more bliss.
All the five dacoits attack you through the outgoing faculties of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Lust attacks us through the eyes. Anger attacks you through the ears. When you are angry, the more you hear, the more you become more angry. Attachment is formed by embracing. So these are the outgoing faculties. As you learn daily to rise above body consciousness, all these don’t detain you.
And moreover, the Masters tell us why the mind is attached to the outside enjoyments. The mind found outside bliss, joy, taste; so in the outside things these can be put under two headings: one — good scenery, beauty; and two — sweet music. God has provided the same thing in a much higher degree in the God-into-Expression Power. God is Light; all glory and beauty lies within you. God is Music of the Spheres. When you have the bliss of that, it is a hundred thousand times more than the outgoing enjoyments. So mind won’t leave outward enjoyments unless he gets a thousand times more bliss than this.
Take the example of two glasses: in one glass you put in one small spoon of sugar; in the other glass you put in eight or ten spoons of sugar. The first glass contains one small spoon of sugar; it gives you some taste. But once you taste the other glass, which has ten times more sugar, the first taste is gone. Similarly, mind does not leave the outer enjoyments unless it gets more bliss within. And that bliss is called by different Saints by different names.
But to have that, the first step to be taken, as I told you, is “Learn to die, so that you may begin to live.” You must be twice-born. You know Christ gave out, “Except you be born anew, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus was a very learned man; he came up to Christ and said, “How can an old man enter the womb of the mother and be reborn?” And Christ told him, “You are a learned man, everyone respects you; don’t you know that spirit is born of the spirit and flesh of the flesh?” He said, “You must be reborn.”
To be reborn, or twice-born, learn to die so that you may begin to live. This is the first step when you rise above, when you have that glimpse of God within you. That is called the Water of Life, the Bread of Life. Mohammedan Saints call it the Water of Life; Guru Nanak tells us the same thing. Christ once asked a Samaritan lady who was passing by with a pitcher full of water over her head to give Him water because He was thirsty. But because of a superiority complex, she thought she was of a higher family, she said, “Why do you ask water from me?” So Christ said, “Had she given me water, that would only have satisfied me once, again 1 would have felt thirst. But had she come to me, I would have given her such Water of Life, by having which, thirst of all kinds would be forever satisfied.” This Water of Life, Bread of Life, called by different names, you can have only when you rise above body consciousness.
Maulana Rum tells us, “This world is a prison house and we are prisoners in the man-body too.” This world is not our home. So how to escape all these outer things? He says, “Make a hole in the roof of the prison and go up.” The way I’m stressing is the old way. You cannot escape unless you rise above body consciousness at the back of the eyes, or you are twice-born into the beyond, or you make a hole in the roof and go up. These are different expressions telling the same thing.
So Masters tell us, “It is man-body alone in which you can have this blessing, you can know God.” You can first know yourself by rising above body consciousness, then rise above it and you’ll see that Power is working.
So learn to die-man is afraid of dying, why? For two reasons: one, he does not know how to rise above body consciousness. What is death? It is leaving the body. You have to withdraw from the body. When a dead body is lying before us intact, it is the same as the body we are now carrying, but the indweller is gone. And the power that controlled the body is withdrawn. This man-body, when that power has left, who cares for it? People place it underground or cremate it, that’s all. The whole respect of the body is on account of us. So for our Self only the body is respected.
So this is what Masters tell us, you see, “You have a golden opportunity in which you can rise above body consciousness and can know yourself and also the over Self which is controlling you in the body. So this practical experience is had when you sit at the feet of somebody, who may be called by any name you like, who is adept is this science, this practical science.
What are scriptures? Those who transcended the physical body, traversed into the beyond, whatever experience they had there, they put it in writing for our guidance. So there are many Masters Who went into the beyond and They put down Their experiences in the scriptures. And we are fortunate in the twentieth century that we have got the scriptures of many Masters. (Had we come before Them, we might have had only one or two Masters.) And they are parallel; the inner way is the same for all.
Social bodies are different of course. Man is social, he must have some social body to live in. If you break one, another will have to be formed. Nowadays there are more than 700 social bodies working in the world. The social bodies, or religions, what they now say, is that they came into being when? When the Masters came They gave out the Truth to all of what They had seen and They gave demonstration of that to others who came up to Them. When They left the scene, what did the people do? To keep Their teachings alive these schools of thought came into being, the labels of which we are carrying now.
Masters come at the time when there are differences, narrow-mindedness, bigotry, on account of ignorance of the unity that already exists. Guru Nanak came at such a time when there were two social bodies or social religions existing: Hindus and Mohammedans. Kabir gave out, “I am neither a Hindu nor a Mohammedan. I take both as the same.” It is their labels that we are carrying on our bodies. In spite of any labels you are carrying on your body, we are all the same as man. And man further is an ensouled body, a conscious entity, a drop of the Ocean of All Consciousness. We are all brothers and sisters in God, and we worship God by so many names, but the same Power controls us all. So this unity exists. Masters come up to have this unity realized.
Guru Nanak gave out time, “I am neither a Mohammedan nor a Hindu. The underlying God Whom we worship is the same.” Then the people asked Him, “Who are you?” He said, “Well, the label I am carrying is that of a Hindu, but I am not such a Hindu, and you are only considering the outer label which you call Mohammedanism, if you are a Muslim. And suchlike Muslim I am not.” Then they asked, “Who are you?” He explained, “The body is made up of five elements; this body I am wearing is made of five elements, I am the conscious entity that enlivens it. That I am.”
So this bigotry is reduced by becoming wide awake. So you’ll find the outward man-body is the true temple of God in which we live. Now you will find there are more than 700 social bodies. Masters, when They come, don’t touch the social bodies. They say, “You have taken the first step, all right. If you break one social body, you’ll have to form another. So the first step is all right, but the purpose for which we have joined these social bodies — that we have to think of.” And that is: to know God-and to know God we must know ourself. Because it is soul alone who can know God. He cannot be known by the outgoing faculties, mind or intellect.
So Masters come, They give out one very special thing: Truth is above all, and True Living is still above Truth. An ethical life is a stepping stone to spirituality. They say, “Be true to your own self — have true living.” And that is given out by all Masters. Those who are attached outside through the physical body have become ignorant. This ignorance starts from where? From the body. We are having the body, wearing the body, we are not the body. But we are identified with it so much so that we have forgotten. And we are attached to the world. Because soul is of the same essence as that of God -God is all love-and love is innate in our souls, its attribute is just to be attached to somebody. Soul has to be attached to God, All Consciousness, within us; but it is attached to the outside world. That is called attachment.
So all this ignorance starts from where? All this delusion starts from where for the man-body? We are having the man-body, but we are not the man-body. So the only way to come out of this ignorance is to rise above body consciousness or by “breaking the roof of the prison-house,” as Maulana Rum puts it. Or to be born anew, or to be twice-born. You know these thoughts are parallel everywhere.
But where can you learn this: how to rise above body consciousness? How to come in contact? Now I have given you an explanation that the seat of the soul is at the back of the eyes. The soul is controlled by mind and mind is controlled by outgoing faculties; and outgoing faculties are driven like anything by the outward enjoyments. We are identified with them. How to come out of this delusion? Christ says, “You must be reborn.” One birth is in the body, the other is into the beyond. The demonstration of which can be had at the feet of somebody who dies daily. Saint Paul said, “I die daily.” Take cross daily. What is that cross? It is the same teaching, the basic teaching, the same in all scriptures which are with us today. But for want of practical people we have forgotten.
Now, outward temples were made dome-shaped after the model of the man-body, and they put in the symbols of light and sound within. Churches were made nose-shaped; and there also you will find two symbols of Light and Sound. Mosques are built according to the forehead shape; there also you have got the symbol of Light. So a true Christian is one who sees the Light of God. A true Hindu is one who lights the candles and rings the bell when worshiping God, leaving those symbols outside; and a Sikh is one who has seen the effulgent Light in the man-body. The ultimate goal of all idealisms is the same; in all religions our scriptures have the same goal and the inner way is the same for all.
So Masters come up; this is something practical. Just see: if you want to become a doctor, for that a BS degree is a necessity. Whoever has it can join a medical college. There he sits at the feet of those who know how this system of the man-body works — how it is retarded, how the diseases arise, how those can be set right. They give you books that are written by the old doctors; but those who met the old doctors, were given demonstration of surgery by them. Now you read the same books, but those doctors are not there now. We need somebody now, who can give us a demonstration of surgery. This is what is needed. This wisdom, the old, old wisdom, is not new. We have been forgetting and the Masters have been coming to revive these things.
So we need somebody; if you can rise above yourself, well and good. Try it and see. If not, with one word of such an Adept — whether one sits, or twenty sit, or a hundred people sit — a Master will give a little boost, attention, and you will be withdrawn from outside. You rise above body consciousness and the inner eye or the third eye is opened. It is called the single eye: if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of Light. You’ll be twice-born. You’ll be born anew. So this is the highest thing; that goal is before us in the man-body, which is a golden opportunity given to us.
If we have got different labels — well, that school is better in which many students come out successful. So we have to see, we have been so long in man-body; we are sitting here, forty, fifty, sixty years old, even more than that. We have worn the labels of different schools of thought for years; we should now see how we stand.
Do we see God? Can He be seen? Masters say, “Yes.” They have seen Him. Guru Nanak was asked, “You say God is apparent everywhere; with what eyes do you see?” And He said, “Those eyes are different with which He can be seen.” In the Christian scriptures they say, “If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” Among the Hindus it is called the third eye, or latent eye, or Shiv Netra, which opens only when your attention is withdrawn from outside, rises above body consciousness and reaches to the tenth door to pass into the beyond; then that eye opens.
Now, you know how to rise? To open the eye? If you cannot do it yourself, why can’t you? That’s the point. The point is that our souls are identified with the man-body, the outgoing faculties. All these outer practices which we do perform, they either relate to the outgoing faculties, our body, or as a matter of intellect, drawing inferences. We are already identified with them, and we perform those practices which relate to them. How can we rise above them? So there is one exoteric side, and the other is the esoteric side. Exoteric side is different from one another, due to the climatic influences, or the customs prevailing in those social bodies. And the inner way-knowing oneself and knowing God, rising above body consciousness to be reborn, to be twice-born, learn to die so that you may begin to live, that is the same for all.
For that we need somebody who has done it. Now those very systems, which were founded with very good motives, the same formations have resulted in stagnation for want of practical people. And stagnation has resulted in deterioration. Masters again come up and tell you, “Dear friends, you are going amiss.” They revive this Truth which we have forgotten.
I went to America, there too, the outer churches, temples, all holy places were made after the image of the man-body, and the symbols of Light and Sound were put in them. They are made only to collect people. Know that suchlike Light and suchlike Sound Principle is reverberating within you. For practical people man-body is the true temple of God. With the grace of God we rise above body consciousness and see that the Light of God is shining within us. Those whose eyes are not opened as yet, they consider the outer models (which are made only for their guidance) to be the be-all and the end-all.
Pity it is, that we, who have to find God, are also working in the same body as that controlling Power which is called God-into-expression Power, the outer expressions of which are Light and Sound. That also exists within our man-body. Both live in the same body and we cannot talk to Him, for the reason that we are identified outside. We are given up to the life of senses. We have to rise above them, withdraw from outside, to know ourselves and then know God.
When we read the sweet life stories of those who transcended above body consciousness, who have known God, and whose inner eye was open to see God working in all creation, then we are induced that we should also see Him. Those who have got very strong yearnings for that, since God resides within us, in each body, He makes some arrangement to bring us in contact with someone where He is manifest. That manifested God-in-Him withdraws the attention from the outside, takes it to the tenth door in the body, and opens the inner eye to see the God-into-expression power, the Light and Sound Principle of God. Who can unite us with God? Only God alone can unite us. He has got no equal, no father, no mother.
So this is the mystery of life which we have to solve in this man-body, which you have got, the golden opportunity now. How far have we succeeded so far? If we have succeeded, well and good, we have achieved the object of life; if we have not yet succeeded, then we should hurry up. Do something. Outer scriptures only tell us what is what. Masters’ parallel thoughts are there. Now if you want to see them, we should unravel this man-body. Masters tell those who come to them to read the big Veda of the man-body, the true Bible of the man-body. Because all the experiences of the Masters Who tapped inside, and traversed into the beyond, Their statements are recorded in scriptures. If we read the scriptures, we are induced that we should also see. But if we learn how to tap inside, rise above body consciousness and traverse into the beyond, then we will see the very facts which are given in the scriptures for ourselves. So all scriptures came from where? From the man-body.
Those who transcended into the beyond, traversed inside. And they bear testimony to it; and those who come to them, when they get the experience, they also say the same thing. That is why it is given out, “Don’t believe in the words of a Master unless you see for your own self.” God is Light, that’s right. If the Master just opens our inner eye and gives us some experience of Light within, more or less, you can say, “There is Light, there is God.”
But what about those who have not seen it? Guru Amar Das was the third Guru of the Sikhs, He was in search of God for seventy long years. He visited all places of worship and met men who were following different scriptures and practices. When he came to the feet of the second Guru, and got this demonstration of God within, he gave out one thing, “Those who praise God without seeing Him are blind.” Like a blind man they are working. You read in scriptures: “God is Light.” If you see Light, then say, “God is Light.” That’s all right. Otherwise it is only doing the work of a blind man. Kabir said, “Look here, I see all around me are blind men.” Very sweeping remark, of course. But in the terminology of the Saints, a blind man is one who? — not the one who has no eyes on his forehead — but one whose inner eye is not open. Kabir said, “Had there been one or two, I would have talked to them, but wherever I look, all are blind.”
So Masters say, “See, and then say, ‘God is Light.’ ” When you don’t see how can you have full love for everyone? Excuse me. We have love for the world, why? Because we see them. We enjoy their company. And then we say, “God is Love; we should love God.” How can you know unless we see Him? And this seeing experience or capital, you might say, is given by the Saints. They open your third eye or single eye to see the Light of God and hear the voice of God. When you enjoy yourself, then naturally love overflows.
So this is the complaint of the people. “Well Master, You say, ‘Love God,’ all Masters say that. How can you love God unless you see Him? Or enjoy His company?” And for that reason, Masters say, “Go to a Master whose eyes are open. He’ll give you a demonstration of how the inner eye is opened, and you’ll get a first-hand experience of God. Then naturally love will overflow.”
I have not talked very long, I’ve only given a digest of the teachings, of the scriptures at our command. So Masters don’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. They don’t touch your social bodies. Remain where you are; that’s the first step you have to take, because you are social beings. The differences in these ways of living are according to the different climatic influences, or different customs prevailing. For instance, if you go to a Sikh temple, to sit with covered head is a sign of respect. If you sit bare-headed, then they take it as a disrespect. According to your custom, if you go to the churches, you sit bare-headed as a sign of respect. So these two differences are due to the customs prevailing there.
Masters tell you, “All right, become a true Hindu when you see Light within you. Become a true Christian if you see Light within. Become a true Sikh if you see Light within.” So these symbols you find in all outward churches.
Now the pity is, may I go further, those of you who have forgotten, for want of practical people, that the body is the temple of God, with the grace of a Master you can see. You can open the inner eye; you’ll see that the body is the true temple of God. For others who have not done that, the outer models were made to present that the man-body has suchlike symbols of Light and Sound. Those whose eyes are not opened, they say that outer churches or temples are the be-all and the end-all. God forbid, if any minaret or any temple or any holy place is broken or demolished, they are ready to demolish hundreds of the true temples of God. You see? So man-body is the highest in all creation. It is worshiped by angels. We are fortunate that we have got the man-body, the golden opportunity afforded to us by God to know Him and to know ourselves first. And that we can do only so long as we have got the man-body.
So make the best use of it. This is all the Masters say. They don’t touch your social bodies. All right, remain where you are. The purpose for which you have joined is to know God, and God cannot be known by the outgoing faculties, mind or intellect. It is soul alone who can know God. For that you must know yourselves. Like knows the like.
I have given you only a digest form, what little I have come to know by reading various scriptures and by sitting at the feet of the Masters. Suchlike Masters have been coming in all countries, east and west; Their thoughts are parallel. So I thank you, you have given me patient hearing, what I have come to know. And consider calmly how far you can derive benefit from it.
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