Evolution of love

Becoming a Hu-Man

The process of ascent back to the Source is just the reverse of that of descent down to the physical plane, and one has therefore to reintegrate himself, to gather all his wandering wits at the still point of the soul - in between and behind the two eyes - where time and Timelessness intersect, before the spirit comes to its own and launches upon the Sea of Life for an inner journey homeward. This, in fact, has been the sole theme of all sages and seers everywhere. None of them, however, wanted to set up any new creed or institutionalised religion.

God made man in His own image; and man made religions, each in his own image, and in his zeal made fetishes of them all. True religion in its inception is fresh and simple, like a newly-born babe bubbling over with vital life, but in course of time, like any other thing, it develops into an Institution; and with that it begins to deteriorate, tends to lose its native vital elasticity born of the living touch of the Master-spirit, and gradually comes to acquire a socio- economic appearance.

Instead of serving as a silken bond of love between man and man, it becomes a source of constant strife, rancour and ill will, tearing class from class and nation from nation. When the cup of human misery is filled to the brim, then comes the Saviour with the message of hope, redemption and fulfilment for strife-torn humanity. He tries to redress the festering social wounds and preaches oneness and equality to man in order to restore the equilibrium in the scales of human values.

In the religious thought of modern India the period from the middle of the fourteenth to the middle of the fifteenth century is one of outstanding importance. It is an era in which an attempt was made to reorient religion and present it in its simplest form: the form of true faith, universal love and single-minded devotion as against the rigours of priestly ritualism and fanaticism leading to intolerance and bigotry.

Among the great teachers of the period we find figures like Ramananda, with his principal disciples drawn from various walks of life (Raja Pipa, Ravidas the cobbler,Saina the barber, Kabir the weaver, Dhanna the jat, Narhari, Sukha Padmavati, Sursura and his wife, etc.); Vallabhacharya, the famous exponent of the Krishna cult; Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Nadia in Bengal, with his characteristic stress on Hari-bhole or chanting of the Lord's name;Namdev, the calico printer in Maharashtra; and the great Kabir and Nanak in the North.

None of them laid much stress on idol worship and observance of outer religious forms and symbols. Self-purity, love and inner yearning were their constant themes.
Namdev said:
“Love for him who filleth my heart shall never be sundered;”
Nama applied his heart to the True Name. As the love between a child and his mother, So is my soul imbued in God.
Kabir likewise said:
It is needless to ask of a Saint the caste to which he belongs;
The barber has sought God, the washerman and the carpenter;
Even Ravidas was a seeker after God.The Rishi Swapacha was a tanner by caste. Hindus and Muslims alike have achieved that End, where remains no mark of distinction.
Again he proclaimed:
“It is not by fasting and repeating the prayers and the creed That one goeth to heaven; The inner veil of the temple of MeccaIs in man's heart, if the Truth be known. “
So spoke Nanak:
“Abide in the pure amidst the impurity of the world; Thus shalt thou find the way to religion.”
This movement, however, attained its greatest heightsat the hands of Kabir (1398-1518) and his younger contemporary, Nanak (1469-1539). Both of them rose above the fetters of the world and transcended religious barriers and so were acclaimed alike by Hindus and Muslims both.
Their teachings mainly centered around God and man and the relationship between the two. Both of them were exponents of the Yoga of the Sound Current or communion with the Holy Word, and their writings extol this as the crown of life.
If we study the essential core of any of the religious teachings inits pristine purity and truth as it appeared in the original sayings of the Masters - what they themselves actually practiced and what they gave to their chosen disciples (Gurmukhs or apostles) - we cannot fail to get an insight into the reality that they were, one and all, in one formor another, votaries of the transcendental seeing and hearing, no matter at what level; though to the laymen they gave their subtle thoughts in the form of parables only, as otherwise they would not hear and much less understand their teachings.
Such world teachers serve as beacon lights in the stormy sea and try to save humanity from floundering in the quicksands of time. Children of Light as they are, they come to dispel the darkness of the soul and are naturally called Guru, the dispeller of darkness: darkness born of ignorance of the true values of life. They have unbounded love for all religions and religious heads and have equal respect for all scriptures. Theirs is a universal fold that takes in, in one long sweep, the entire humanity with all its variegated patterns and colours, and steeps them equally in the love of God.
Kabir tells us in this context:
“All our sages are worthy of veneration,But my devotion is for One who has mastered the Word.”
Guru Nanak also ceaselessly tells us of the great importance and supreme efficacy of the method of the Holy Word as the means of salvation:
“Like a lotus standing aloft out of the muddy pool, Or like a royal swan that flies high and dry out of water, So does one by communion with the Word cross unscathed the fearsome sea of life.”
This in brief is the grand message coming down to us from the dawn of creation, chanting out the path Godward. All the Indian Saints and many Christian mystics practiced the inner science and contacted individual souls with the saving lifeline within.
Time and again, as people forget the reality, God's grace materialises Itself in a human body, called a Saint, to guide erring humanity in the time-honoured eternal way.It is the privilege and the prerogative that the Most High confers, and this authority is passed on according to His behests. "The wind bloweth where it listenth" and no one can lay down or predict any rules of succession, place or time.
Thus we see that there is nothing special about places as such. They owe their sanctity to the sanctifying influence of the Saints who pass their time at one place or another. "All is holy where devotion kneels." It is not the places that grace men but men the places.
But Come O Come O Beloved!
To the Holiest of Holies, To the most Sacred Temple, The Sacred Heart Cave and meet the Ancient Fire Keeper, keeping this flame of love tended.

A few of these Living Masters of their times include Lao Tzu, Jesus, Pythagoras, Socrates, Agastiar, Bhogar, The 18 Siddhars, Matsyendranath, Gorakhnath, Kabir, the Sufi Masters, and mystic poets, Hafiz and Rumi, the Ten Sikh Gurus beginning with Guru Nanak, Tulsi Sahib. Adi Shankaracharya, Sivananda.

Mahavatar Babaji is the SatGuru of Shankaracharya, Sivananda,Kabir and Nanak. He is the living SatGuru of the Tradition of Divine Light and the Holy Word.