Meditation Talk 07 August 2015 – Afternoon

How Are You Directing Your Affection, Love, And Devotion

IN SANT MAT, in our spirituality, to get liberation there is no fixed time. What is required is faith in our Masters, devotion, and love and affection towards our Masters. If we move our love and affection from this world and direct it towards the Feet of our Masters, then the progress will be faster.

I have given the example earlier of these fishermen who go diving for pearls. They fearlessly dive into the sea to search for the pearls and to do the farming of the pearls. There are so many animals in the sea that come to eat them, thinking that they are some sort of animal or insect. So, there is no animal that is bigger than a fish, because that has the biggest size in all of the 8.4 million life forms. In Andhra Pradesh, Machilipatnam in India, they have made a gate of a fish. Through the eye of a fish, even a truck passes. So, the eye is so big, you can imagine how big that fish would be. Some of these fish are so large, when they come in front of a trawler or a boat, big steamers also find it very difficult to pass through, because they appear like a mountain in front of the ship. And they have a blade in the front that, when it hurts the fish a little, then they move a little and the steamer passes.

So, when these divers go down for the pearls, these large fish may think that these could be some insects, or something like that, for food. And they come to eat them. Despite all these threats, they dive down and they collect those shells and they face all these threats. And then they come and, only after they have done all this, they get the pearls.

Unlike these people, there are others who want to get those pearls, but then they stand on the shore and they visualize these large waves and the creatures within the sea and the risks that they may have to take to get all those pearls. Such people don't get those pearls.

So, the gurumukhs have always looked at devotion as the sea in which they have to dive for liberation. They are not bothered about the worldly attractions. And they are not bothered about any other things, any other pains, and they have just taken the plunge into this ocean of devotion. They have got their liberation and they have been successful.

And then there are the others who go to the Masters also. They surrender to the Master, but then, they carry with them all their worldly attachments and they have all this baggage, which continues with them. They are unable to devote and take the plunge in devotion like the gurumukhs and, therefore, they are not as successful.

Agurumukh always looks at his Master as everything. He looks at the Master as his world. And he plunges into the devotion there.

And there are the others, who keep their world and their attachments as the primary objective then when they get time, they do meditation; sometimes they do meditation, sometimes they don't do meditation. But they do not keep their Masters as their primary objective. Because they have kept their world as their primary objective, their mind is filled with all of that. Their mind is filled with the attachments for all outward pursuits.

So, therefore, there is no fixed time for liberation. There is no fixed time for being successful on the Path of Spirituality. If you redirect all the love that you have for the world and your attachments into the love and devotion of your Masters, then there is no fixed time. You can get your success and you can move on your Path of Spirituality faster. It depends on how you are directing your affection and your devotion.

So, despite everything, if we follow the Teachings of the Master and we regularly do our practices then, slowly but surely, we progress on the Path of Spirituality. And one day we are successful.

Inaayat Shah was the Master of Bulleh Shah. Once, Bulleh Shah went to Inaayat Shah and He was sowing onions. So, when he was in His field, Bulleh Shah asked Him, “How do I get successful in spirituality?”

He said, “It is as simple as this.” And, from the nursery, He removed the sapling and He planted it on the farm. “So you just have to take out from here and plant it here.” Then, He explained that “As our mind is now intoxicated with maya and illusion, the moment it gets intoxicated with the God Almighty, the Masters, then your work is done.”

So, every day we should, with love and affection, do our Simran and Bhajan. And everything else that we are engaged in, all these other attachments, are only going to be there for a few days. So, the time is good and the place is quiet. We should close our eyes and do our Simran and Bhajan.