Transcript of the interview about oneness, service and love
Kirpal Sagar, 5th February 1994
Dr Schneider: This is Dr Richard Schneider speaking from Kirpal Sagar, in the Punjab, India, and with me is my today’s guest Dr Harbhajan Singh, chairman of Unity of Man. It is wonderful that you are able to take time out of your schedule to be with us in broadcasting for Radio For Peace International which of course goes around the world. Let’s get right to the point, what is the Unity of Man?
Dr Harbhajan Singh: Actually the unity already exists in man, but we have forgotten. All human beings are one, we are of the same essence as that of our Father. He is the ocean of all consciousness and we are a drop of this consciousness. We all have come from one and the same source and have to go back to the same source. Our cause is one and the same. We are differentiated in the world by various ways, and those ways are self-created, created by man himself, not by God, since God made man and man made religions. When his wish was not fulfilled, he created the outer rituals and rites thereafter, he created the shackles. All these problems in the world are not due to the true religion that is within us: that is one and the same for everybody in the world throughout humanity – but due to the shackles which are preached outside. There is an inner religion and the outer religion. The inner religion is one and the same for everyone, and that teaches us love, that reminds us of the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God. We are all one, and who is our Father? Who is our Master? Christ lived before Jesus, Christ has no beginning, no end. He worked on the pole of Jesus and he was called Jesus Christ. The same power worked on different poles like Guru Nanak, Kabir, Maulana Rumi, Guru Gobind Singh, and in the 20th century Sant Kirpal Singh. He was a Word-made-flesh-power. So when such powers come into the world, they are all one in God. Those who become conscious of themselves and realise God, they don’t differentiate among them. Sometimes this power came as Christ, sometimes He came as Guru Nanak, so our purpose with them is very unique and very positive and potent. Simply we have to determine our life and to live with it and do with it. How long? Up to our last breath. Because we have to become conscious. We are already conscious entities, but on the level of senses we have forgotten what we are, who we are, from where we came, how we came, and what is the purpose of human life. This we have entirely forgotten. There is hardly any reason to blame the religion, the true religion, but we have simply to become an example in the world. We have to be conscious in the world – conscious about our subject. And if we are conscious about our subject, then we are conscious about everything in the world.
Dr Schneider: That is a very wonderful and powerful and positive message, what advice do you have for man?
Dr Harbhajan Singh: Throughout generations, from ages upon ages, the purpose of man has remained the same, because this teaching is very, very old. When we came, this teaching came within us, and all that is written in the Holy Scriptures, that is the experience of our competent Masters. They went inside, and whatever they realised, they put into the Holy Scriptures, and their experience must become our experience. Whatever is in the Holy Scriptures, that is in the man-body, but whatever is in the man-body, that does not exist even in all the Holy Scriptures of the world. So this man-body is called a wonderful house we live in. It is a true Bible, it is a true church, it is a true Gurdawara or temple. So man is the highest rung in the whole creation, man is older than all the philosophies of the world. This teaching is within us. For example, 500 years back there was no Sikhism, similarly before Islam, Christianity and Buddhism existed, this teaching was already there. There was food for the hungry and water for the thirsty, at all times. Thus faiths came, went, and vanished, but this teaching remained in man. So man must become an apostle of truth, he must realise all his problems. Whatever these problems created by man are, now it is a time when he should solve them himself. The purpose is not to look like a man, but to be a man, a real human being rather. We are all one and we can bring unity into the world through this right teaching that is within us. As for example, there is only one question, and there is only one answer to it. You put me any question – if I gave you the wrong answer, you would never cooperate with me, since you have the right answer within you. So far, these are the higher values of life, if you live with higher values of life, you will only have one answer to one question. Otherwise the whole world is bewildered and stuck to the books. There is a mention about God in the Holy Scriptures, but God is not there, God is in the man-body. The Holy Scriptures tell us to tap inside and see ourselves, to ”See the glory of our Father that is within.”
Dr Schneider: This sounds like a great message of hope, do you feel that we are at a point of real hope in the world, where the transformation that is necessary can occur?
Dr Harbhajan Singh: Yes, there is a hundred percent opportunity as two and two make four. It is such a beautiful subject: Man can become a man, because the help is within. The Father wants that His child comes back. All Holy Scriptures stress upon this point, and for that reason, a lot of Masters sacrificed their life to uphold their mission to safe the humanity. We are not the man-body, we are the indweller of it, we have to leave it, but our contact (with the Godpower) in the man-body is eternal and ever fresh. So this reminds us at once that we are the children of light, our Father is in the heaven and we have to go back there. It is really no problem, but what do you need? You need one who is commissioned by the Godpower. And that one who is commissioned by the Godpower would never claim that he is a Master. He says, “I am a borrowed servant of the Master, because there is only one doer.” And who is that doer? The Christpower, Masterpower, Godpower. There is only one doer in the world. Those who claim themselves to be a Master they can never be the Master. It is said in the Holy Scriptures, that there is none in a million, maybe one in a billion. Who is that power? Who resides in every heart, that is the Christpower, Masterpower, Godpower. As we see so many bulbs over here, but our attention is in the light, not in the glass. So all Masters in whose name these blessed religions do exist they came for one purpose. It is we people who created these religions after their names. They never had the intention to found a new religion.
Dr Schneider: What practical application have you made over here in this centre?
Dr Harbhajan Singh: The higher values of life, because the purpose of human life is to meet a good end. There are not only the higher values of life, but after the higher values of life you have to see the very hidden values of life. At present our soul is fully controlled by mind, it is bearing the tentacles of the mind, spreading like a parasitic plant. And we are not conscious. Because whatever we are getting from the soul, that is digested directly by the mind and the senses and the outgoing faculties of the mind. So we are in the clutch of this sphere, it is called “Maya”. Maya is not money matter, as it is said by many (so-called) masters, Maya is a name for forgetfulness. Whatever we do in ignorance, that binds us. Anything that binds us in the reaction, that is called Maya. So Maya is a great force in the world. Whatever we are seeing and experiencing is putting us back into the reactions. So how to detach from the world of attachment? People say, “It is very difficult to remain unattached in the world of attachment.” But Master says, “No, it is not difficult.” It is very right. If there is somebody who can detach you from this body – because we have to detach from it – if he is able to detach you, then it is a very pleasant subject. The fear of death is only due to two reasons: That we have not learnt how to die, and next, that we do not know where to go after leaving the body. If we learn these two things then there is no fear of death. But now there is a very big problem, that this teaching is taught by many, but there are experiences given by the Masterpower and there are experiences given by the negative powers. Because all illusions, all wranglings are not created at the seat of the soul but below the seat of the soul. All people say that between the two eyes, behind the eyebrows there is the seat of the soul, but where is really the seat of the soul? First there is the intellect, then (a little bit above) there is the mind and then (above it) there is the soul. Most of the people stress over here (at the level of mind and intellect). Through imagination we cannot have the (positive) experience, it is a way of intellect. Master says, reading, writing, feelings, emotions, drawing inferences, all can be subject to error. Seeing is above all. So how can we see this reality eye-to-eye? Our third eye has to realise it. But what is going on in the world? When you stress over here, you must know that mind in the body is always the astral mind. So you are experiencing that light that appears from the mind. When you stress upon the mind, it will take you to the chakras. Mind is a matter, it will simply take you to the chakras, it cannot find a way out. Just as you throw a piece of earth into the air, its source is the earth, it will come down. Take one candle, you may turn it up and down, its flame will always go up, because the source of this light is above. So mind only is getting this light directly from the spirit and it cannot jump up. Since it is already working through the senses and the sense organs, it finds only a way downward, its trend is always downward. It never rises above. This is one problem. There are people who are meditating very much, but they lose their life. It is said about Rishis and Munis that they meditated for maybe thousand years, they became skeletons of bone, but they could not solve the riddle of life. But those who came in contact with the competent Masters, they said that they have solved the riddle of life. Because this first-hand experience which they (the competent Masters) gave, that will take you above the body consciousness, and that will also take you above the cause and effect of the world. One beautiful subject we learn from the teaching of Christ, that where the world philosophy ends, there the religion starts. The heaven that was taught by Christ does not exist in the three worlds, because whether it is the physical, astral or causal world, it is matter. So in these three worlds, how can the heaven of Christ be there? Most of the masters who go through there – I don’t mean to say that they are competent or not – they teach about that heaven that is within the three worlds. True religion starts above the cause and effect of the world. So far you do not rise above the cause and effect of the world, i.e. above the three worlds, you cannot have that experience. All those who rise above the cause and effect of the world and rise into the equipoise stage, they have one opinion. All Masters lived with one opinion, and we also can do that. Sant Kirpal Singh gave that experience at the very first hand. He said, “Sit (in meditation) and see.” I tell you this is also a very important subject – just for a positive and potent right understanding we have to discriminate. Man differs from the entire creation only because of the discriminating power within. He can know what is what. And there is no power with right understanding, with discriminating power in the three worlds, whether in the astral, causal or super causal. If there is one, he will rise above the cause and effect of the world. So far we do not rise above the cause and effect of the world, there cannot be unity, and suppose we cannot rise, even if we only live with this very teaching, then unity is there. To live with it, that will help us to unite. So that is the only hope, it is a spiritual link, it is a common link. We have a common thing in ourselves which is also resounding in the whole creation, that reminds us of our way back to God. It is called Music of the Spheres. What is that music? It is a music that reminds us of our turn to go back. If you listen to it even with your open ear, you will say, “Some power is calling me back to myself.” This is also a very positive and potent subject.
Dr Schneider: Finally I’d like to have you address the issue of service and love – I have read some of your writings and you make this very wonderful connection between service and love.
Dr Harbhajan Singh: Without love you cannot serve – very simple. If you have love for somebody you will even sacrifice all your wishes for him. So for that purpose selfless service is a very potent weapon. Wherever you serve there you are, your attention is there and you can win over the heart of all human beings. Love does not mean attachment, love means right understanding, love means to understand the true aspect of life. Love means to know the real religion. What is that true religion – to do good acts, to understand ourselves, to realise ourselves and realise God and go back home and help all others. When Masters come into the world they live hundred percent for others and they stress the need for us to do the same. If you go through the Holy Scriptures very minutely, you will see, to live beyond the necessities is a sin. Because if you live beyond your necessities, you have to bear the reaction. When you bear the reaction, you have to come back into the man-body. All Masters live for others, they say, “O God, this life is for others.” All Masters said, “O God, bless us to work for others, bless us to spend.” Some people demand like this. Those who are conscious say, “Master give me some work to spend.” If He gives the work, He will also provide you something to do with it. Now this Kirpal Sagar is going on and we all have demand for it. So we are doing it. It is an international institution, and it belongs to all human beings. There is no reserved right of anybody, it is just like an open book. It will belong to everybody all the times.
Dr Schneider: Thank you very, very much for your time, this has been a wonderful experience being here and I look forward to speaking with you again.