Life is like a journey
These contacts are for a temporary period, to wind up all give and take – just as you go on the train. When your station comes, you jump down. Others may be dragging you, but you don’t remain on the train, do you? Similarly, when the give and take is up, man has to go, whether all are crying or not, wishing you could remain – no. You cannot, you see.
Sant Kirpal Singh
From a talk by Sant Kirpal Singh, Fairfax, Sept. 25th, 1972:
“All glory and beauty lie within you; why, O man, are you going astray?” In the Koran it is said, “I am hidden within you, why don’t you find me?” And we go to find Him (God) outside! The one who comes to a Saint, he is advised what? to go inside. Withdraw from outside. He says, “If you can go inside and rise above body consciousness, you will have an experience of those very statements which are given out in the scriptures.” What do scriptures contain? What the Masters have seen. What they have seen, they have put in there, for the benefit of the child humanity.
So it is love, you see. Mohammedans have seen the Light of God; Christ also has seen the Light of God; you may be wearing any label, but unless you have got that God’s light effulgent within you – “Take heed that the light which is within you is not darkness” – that is the only way. Why don’t we find the light within us? Because our love is occupied outside in the world. We must direct our attention – attention is the expression of our soul, the essence of which is love – when our whole attention is directed within, love meets that. So all Masters say, “Love!”
You see, we have to leave the body. All Saints, all incarnations (avatars), all philosophers and great beings did have the man-body, and they did leave. And you? You also have to leave some day. I don’t think you have made any special arrangement not to go. So we have to leave the body: it is the first companion we have when we enter the world, but when we go, it does not accompany us. So what are we doing? It does not mean that you should not maintain your bodies, or that you should not pay off your debts to those members of your family with whom God has united you. It means that that is not the end-all. After all, we have to go.
You see, in the man-body we are bound within certain limits and free within certain limits. We have to square up all debts with those with whom we are connected as a result of reactions of the past. When those debts are paid off, we have to depart. Some come as sons, some as sisters, some as daughters, some as wives; there is a give and take, and when that is finished, then we have to go. Take the example of a train, you see? So many people gather together from different stations; when the train stops, some leave the train, others rush in. And if you make friends with those who are on the train, will it last long? No. For the time being, so long as they are with you, if you have sweet words, kind words, you will be friendly and the few hours on the journey will pass all OK. If you are fighting, then?
So we have to leave the body. And what are we doing? As we sow, so shall we reap. We are striking up friendships with the outside things. We are amassing things outside like anything. It is like we are, excuse me if I use the word, mad. It is sad.
There is a parable the Masters tell that has a very pregnant meaning. They say that God had four species left to whom He had not given the number of years they were to have on earth. One was man; one was donkey; the third was dog; and the fourth was owl. You see? He called for man and said, “Look here, I am sending you to the world.” “What will be my fate?” “You will be head of all creation, you will be next to me.” “For how long, sir?” “Twenty or twenty-five years.” “That’s not enough; can’t You give me more life?” …. “All right, wait; we will just see; if life is left over from the others, we will give it to you.” Then came the donkey. God said, “I am sending you to the world.” “What will be my fate?” “Well, you will be bearing burdens continually here and there, that’s all.” “How long?” “Twenty-five years, thirty years.” “I will be killed, dear Sir – give me less!” So He gave him ten to twelve years, and the remainder He gave to the man; He said, “Yes, you are getting more, you see?” Then the third one, dog, came up. God said, “Well, we are sending you to the world.” “Sir, what is my duty there?” “You will be guarding your master’s home, always half asleep, half awake; you will let nobody enter the building; you will bark at everybody.” “How long will this be, sir?” “Twenty, twenty-five years.” “My Lord, for God’s sake give me less!” So he was given some ten years or so and the rest was given to the man who was so fortunate to have it. And then came the fate of the owl. “We are sending you to the world.” “What will be my fate?” “You won’t be able to see during the day, only at night can you see; during the day you will be dependent on others.” “For how long?” “Well, ten or twelve years.” “I won’t be able to see during the day? Give me less, please!” “All right.” And the rest He gave to man.
Now you see what we are doing. Consider calmly: When we are about twenty or so, we are on our own legs, we are starting our family, we are a man; as we grow beyond that stage, this malady is upon us – amassing things, making our house like a storehouse, purchasing things from the store – carrying them back and forth, we buy dozens of unnecessary things. That is the period of the donkey he is enjoying, you see. Then he grows older, he has children who do not obey him, he is calling names, howling and growling like anything, guarding what he has stored up – that is the stage of the dog, you see. And when he becomes old, he cannot see well, he is dependent on others – no one to care for him, he is simply at their mercy and if they give him something or not he says all right, because he is dependent – this is the stage of the owl. So this is our fate.
Man-body is the highest in all creation. We should be more loving. Love God and all things shall be added unto you. We love the world, and all things are not added; but of those that are, not a single thing goes along with you. Even the body that you bring as your first companion, even that does not go along with you. How will all the other things you have got? So Masters say, “Look here, brother, you should do what? – Earn your money with the sweat of your brow, by honest means, and just make yourself stand on your own legs and others who are connected with you. And also if possible, let others share.” Man is one who shares with others, is of use to others. Animals are of use to their own selves and their families. If we also behave like that, then we are no better. One Saint says, “Look to the face of the animals – God has made it pointing down toward the ground. If they are attached to the world, it is all right. But O man, your face is upward – look upward to God.”
So to earn money is all right; but that money should be earned to let you stand on your own legs, pay off all debts to those connected with you by God as a reaction of the past, and also share with others who are needy, who are hungry, who are in bad condition. If you have love for God, won’t you give everything to others? Because we congeal everything to ourselves, you see, the result is selfishness, tyranny, sucking the other man’s blood; is it not? …
So the main object in the man-body is to know God. What we are doing is just like a man caught in conscription, you see? He has to work from morn to night; he is of no use to his own self, and no use to his household. Conscription. You have to work all day; but not for your own self, not for those connected to you. But when you go, you go all alone. The impressions of the world go along with you, and wherever you are attached, you will go to that very place. If you are attached to the world, you will have to come back to the world. If you have sucked anyone’s blood, now, in the next birth, he sucks your blood. On the surface it may seem to be, “he is being wrong with me, he is tyrant, he is cruel,” – but who knows what is the reaction of the past? You see? So things happen like that but then God’s grace descends because man-body is the golden opportunity in which we can know God. And the one on whom His grace and compassion descends, he is brought in contact with someone who can open his inner eye to see the God in him, the light which is already innate in him. All covers he shakes off. And he who has been able to shake off these covers, he is fortunate. When God descends, that is His grace to you. Because in man-body only, we can know God. This is what is meant by love.
Live always giving, giving, giving. You won’t lose, you see, mind that! The more you give, the more you will have. The more we congeal everything to ourselves, you see, the more miserable we are. So Masters always advise first: Stand on your own legs, by the sweat of your brow, honest means. Because if you squeeze the blood of others, naturally the reaction will come; they will also squeeze your blood some day. On the face of it, it appears somebody is just giving you trouble, squeezing your blood. We have done nothing in this life to deserve it; so it is a reaction of the past. And moreover these contacts are for a temporary period, to wind up all give and take – just as you go on the train. When your station comes, you jump down. Others may be dragging you, but you don’t remain on the train, do you? Similarly, when the give and take is up, man has to go, whether all are crying or not, wishing you could remain – no. You cannot, you see.