14 | Prayer: Part II | Love, devotion and yearning by Dr. Harbhajan Singh

The first part was about a true prayer being heard by the omnipotent Power that is within us, and that is meant by referring to the Master. The following part is focussed on the lasting love between soul and the Godpower.  

There is a love that transcends our body, mind or emotions, and this love can only be captured from someone who is imbued with it. It is very pure and its nature is to give and go beyond all thoughts of duality and separation between different human beings. It brings the solution to many problems that we face in our daily lives because most of us are identified with our physical bodies and the outer world that we see with our physical eyes.

There is a process within us of becoming aware of the inner love, if only the spark of longing for it is aroused. The Godpower that is innate in us develops the spark of this love in us and it enlightens our life.

Location: Sankt Gilgen, Austria
Date: 1990-12-23

Transcript of “Love, devotion and yearning”

I was telling you about the love of the Master. The love which is within us is innate in our soul. It is awakened by the Master-Power through yearning. What happens then? Now we are identified in the body and beyond the body consciousness. With yearning, we come back to the seat of the soul. And from there the Master-Power helps through the soul, through our soul. And what is that love which goes through all the body? It can make the body light and fresh. When you have really enjoyed the taste of love you will feel very light. All your wishes are fulfilled and you have no burden on your head or on your shoulders. You are very fresh – this is a sign of love. What happens? It starts from the perennial source and transcends and descends and descends from everywhere and comes back to the perennial source.

The food that is digested will give you strength. That helps us to develop our souls. This is a love of the Master. In a worldly way, people say, love is blind. Yes, it is blind because when you have withdrawn your attention from others, they will say you are blind, you are no more known to them, and you have withdrawn from them.But that love has awakened into the heart of the Masters. That is love. Love is like a holy fire, I tell you. That will burn all the impurities in man, and that cannot exist separately. The Lover and the Beloved become one. This is the only sign, a sign of love.

It is said, the heart of the Master and the heart of the disciple beat together, no variation, they both go together. This is a sign of true love. Such a love Master creates in us. When such a love is there you don’t feel shame or shun (“what the people tell?”). 

We are overpowered by a lot of problems. This is due to lack of love, due to lack of yearning, due to lack of right understanding. Because all that happens is due to ignorance. Because we have not known the intensity of love. We only know love – that is sufficient. But we do not know the intensity of love, as how far it will morbid all the problems. In this direction, we are misled in the world.

You know, when Bhai Nandlal went to Guru Gobind Singh, he had a yearning to see Him. But when he went to Guru Gobind Singh, he saw Guru Gobind Singh sitting very carefree. He was a Master of Masters. He was fully absorbed in God, in the Ocean of All Consciousness, that was His stage. He was very carefree. Bhai Nandlal thought, He would not see (look) to him.  After all, we want His glimpses. There is radiation in His glimpses. He is something from within. Unless He does not open that view, it will not shine upon us. His words are very potent, and His radiation also sparks through His words.

He doubted, “He is sitting carefree, He will not look at me. He will not respond to my visions.” He looked at Guru Gobind Singh. He says in his own poems that when Guru Gobind Singh looked at him – he tells his own experience – that the attention of Guru Gobind Singh went through his eyes and directly hit his soul within. He said, “I surrender to Him for all the time.” At once he surrendered. He had a love, he surrendered immediately. This was a gift from God. Who creates the yearning? Who creates the surrender in a man? It is the Master-Power, God-Power. He knows the condition of our hearts. He knows the ins and outs of the human body. He knows all our problems and He also knows how to help us to get rid of those problems.

Because He has come with the bread of life and water of life. And He knows how to give and when to give. So far we are identified into the play of the three worlds, which is all miraculous, you cannot have that food. You want it – He will change your life. He will create a place for His dwelling. It is He who creates it. If he has not created a place in our hearts, at the seat of the soul, how can we get His love? He is responsible for creating everything. And the more you remain in contact, the more you will get from Him. A time will come, when this gift will automatically bless you. You will be entitled to have your heritage back.

These are the experiences of various competent Masters. Their life was fully changed. By whom? By the sweet Will, by the sweet Will of God. What is that will? We should not have any options. We should not have any imposition upon the Godpower. We say, “O, give me something.” It is no love! Love never demands anything! Love always wants to give something! You want to radiate your love to the one whom you love very much. You want to radiate your love, that is a way of the heart in a worldly way.

Masters say, you are entitled to it. But you are not getting it for a lot of reasons. And everyone knows what the reasons are. What is the underlying cause of our mistakes? What are the underlying causes of misunderstanding? What is a fault, and what are those faults? We are misled in the world. We have to bring it into our sight. And then we have to destroy those facts. And how? It is only with attention. Because your attention has the power to transcend all barriers. If we don’t use our attention, who can help you? It is your entire will, because the very sweet will is working upon you, the sweet will of God. And that creates no wish, that creates no option, no imposition upon you – because it is a free will. When you are given such free will in the world to decide about yourself and for your way back to God, and this free will is not given to any power in the whole creation – it is only the man who has got it.

Such a gift we have got and we have neglected it. We should feel sorry for it. We are not worthy of it. Why? It is not our mistake. It is our background. Master says, “If there is no background, you come to someone, he helps you to make a background.” For those who listen to it, their background is already developed. They should not care if they have not come with the background. The background is there wherever your devotion works. Wherever you are devoted, there is God, there is the Will of God. It is a free will, you can use it in a very free way. It is up to how you have to use it.

We cannot say anything against the will. We cannot say anything in favour of the will. Favour and disfavour are again the impositions upon our will. “God, let Your will abide in me” And to abide in the will is surrender to the God-power, surrender to the Beloved. The Masters tell us – these are very beautiful words of the Masters – Masters tell us, “Abide in His will. Be conscious that nothing disturbs you then.” And to abide in His will then no power can bring you back. Even your thoughts, your mind, your intellect and the outgoing faculties, these passions of the world, attachments are there, all become meaningless for you.

The Master will provide you a holy life, a very beautiful life within you, with which you have to live forever. Not only for a few days over here – you have to live with these thoughts all the time, that is a potent life, that is an eternal life. For the sake of little, little reasons that we created ourselves, we imposed those reasons upon us and those reasons have become binding forces upon us and we find no way out. And for the sake of little reasons, we are spoiling our eternal life. Where is the sense?

Masters tell us, Bhai Nandlal tells us, “Oh, now I have become His borrowed servant. Now I have no power to move from this place. My place of birth and death lies in the lap of my Father. I am no more a worthy person of the world.” People say like this.

When you follow the right path, those people who are going to the wrong path will say, “He is foolish, he is not on the right path.” These are the ways of the world. But the one who is awakened has to help a lot of people to awaken them. Master says, “If you are a swimmer and you know how to swim, your purpose is to help a lot of people (learn) how to swim. They can also, they should start swimming.” If you cannot help, at least you should be on the seashore to help somebody who is already drowning in the water. You can help them. All these things leave due to the love of God. For the sake of the love of God, we love all human beings. We have to love, no exception to the rule. If you do not love all human beings and you claim to have love to the  God-power, you are a liar, you are not right to yourself. Those who are imbued with the colour of the Master, in the colour of love, do not have hate, they don’t hate anybody. They have a love for all humans irrespective of their thoughts, deeds or actions. They know, “My Father is sitting in every one of us.” He sees through the Father sitting in everyone, so he loves everybody from the core of his heart, not from the outside. Whatever he says there is no duality. His words are pregnant with meaning.

Master also comes with all that you need. It is His will. What does His will tell? Something we can disclose out of His will is that He has brought everything that we need. Not over here, but hereafter also. Where does He give it? He gives the food directly over here. He would never say “O, I have fixed heaven for you. Your seat is fixed, you can go there.” No, He will give you everything so that you can go and come back while in the body.. He develops your soul without the knowledge of your intellect and mind.

Before you go, you are sure that, “I am going.” He will help you to withdraw and see there. When somebody sees to it, he says, “Master, now I am not a fit person to stay in the world.” Because he sees the competency of his Master, and thereafter he becomes one with Him. There are the intensities, various intensities of love. And wherever you put it, it will certainly bear fruit. If you put it in your house, it can create your whole house – father, mother, children and all their home and home affairs will be set fully right. If you put it in the neighbour’s house, your neighbour will be happy with you. If you put it into your city, you will work like a flower which gives its smell everywhere. That is a condition. If you put it in the whole world it will bring peace to all those who yearn for it.

People want this smell, but this smell does not come. People are searching for it, that is not a problem with those who are searching for it, but this is a problem with those who create illusions on us. They say, “Yes, come to us, we can give it.” I tell you, no, you have the direct and direct contact with God-Power that is within you. You need only yearning and that is possible in Satsang. When you know more and more about the competency of the Master you are closer to Him.

You know when Masters came into the world, wherever they went, we made very beautiful pilgrimage places, “Oh, this Master was staying here.” How many? Only He stayed one hour. There we erected one temple. Now we remember Him. “Oh, this Master came over here.” We love this place because of Him, He came here. Who is the bigger one? Is it the pilgrimage place or the devotee? We will say the devotee. He who came there was a devotee of God. A devotee is bigger than these temples made of stones and bricks. These places were made out of the remembrance of those Powers. They were love-personified form, they will never get impure or impious. It is only the impious person who starts to work there. Such people, they become impious. Such is the condition.

You know, it is said that Majnu, a great lover of Laila, when he used to go to the city of Laila, he used to kiss the earth. “O, my Laila dwells in this city.” This city for him was a beautiful city. He used to love this city, “O, my Laila is living in this city. How beautiful people are there who are living in this city! Such a great city, such a beautiful city. All persons there live beside my Laila.” It was the feeling of his heart. Because his heart was fully devoted. He had a yearning to meet his beloved. Then he was kissing the trees which came his way. He used to bring them to his breast, “O, how beautiful these trees are, they are growing in the vicinity of my Laila.” It was an extreme love he had.

One time it so happened that people saw him kissing the feet of a dog. They said, “O Majnu, now you have got out of your senses. Now you have no sense, you cannot know what is what. You are fully embedded in your thoughts and your thoughts are fully embedded where? You know, it is an extreme madness. You should not do that. Why are you kissing the feet of the dog?” He said: “I do kiss.” They said, “Why did you kiss it?” He said, “This dog occasionally goes off and on through the street of my Laila.”

The one who is now identified with the God-Power, who comes from that place, who has seen all the ups and downs of life, he teaches you that very lesson, the lesson of awareness, the lesson of right understanding. That will surely bring you back to the Home Eternal.

This Satsang is over today, because the translation is still to come. Wishing you all that is good for you. This subject was there, it started from the Master, and that is all the grace of the Master.