Sawan Singh

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"MIRACLES" OF THE MIND

A mahatma was once standing near a bazaar shop, looking at the
goods for sale, when a thought came to him, which he spoke out
to his mind:

"Oh mind," he said, "I have heard so much about you; why not
show me some of your miracles?"

The mind replied:

"Please wait a little while," and said no more.

Within a short while, a man nearby who was selling honey, dipped
one of his fingers in the honey and wiped it on the wall.  The
moment this happened, dozens of flies swarmed over to the wall,
clung to it and ate the honey.  Then more and more flies came and
fought to get at the honey. Suddenly a lizzard saw them and said
to himself:

"Those flies are my food, and therefore I have a right to eat
them all up along with the honey."  This he did.

Meanwhile, the pet cat of the keeper of the shop, where the
mahatma was standing, saw the lizzard, pounced upon it and
ate it.  A dog was standing nearby, and the moment he saw the
cat catch and eat the lizzard, he chased the cat and killed
it.  As this was the shopkeeper's pet cat, he lost his temper
and asked his servants to catch the dog and kill it.

But the dog happened to belong to a customer who was buying
something at the shop; and he became very annoyed at what was
being done to his dog.  He therefore abused the shopkeeper,
and the result was thaat they had a battle royal.

The mind then asked the mahatma:

"Are you satisfied, now that you have seen the kind of miracle
that the mind performs?  I am expert at creating desires of
every kind, and who knows to what these desires may lead?"

"Look at the desire of the flies for the honey.  Their tiny minds
and their senses created this desire.  And see what it led to.  A
bloody fight between two friends."

"If you wish, I can show you many other similar 'miracles', for I
am doing them every moment in every part of the world."

        "Reform thou thy mind, and preach thou to thine own
         mind.  If this mind cometh under thy control, then
         shall the whole world follow thee."
                                                    [Kabir]

        "If thou art a man, curb thou thy rebellious mind".
                                                    [Bu Ali]

        "Thou art at pains to guard the body, but the mind
         remains unguarded.  It desires the noble and the
         base; it devours both good and evil."
                                                    [Dadu]

        SS1-02

        THE PRICELESS MANUSCRIPTS

      Shams-i-Tabriz, the great Persian Saint, prayed earnestly one
    day to the Lord, beseeching Him:

     "O Lord, please give me some dear friend of Thine to be my
    companion, to whom I may recite the tale of love, and with whom
    I may share the agonies of divine separation and the joys of
    meeting."

      The Lord, hearing this heartfelt prayer of one of his favorite
    sons, replied:

     "It will be my pleasure to fulfill your prayer, my son, provided
    you are willing to pay the price."

      Shams-i-Tabriz, already having heard of the price asked by the
    Lord, immediately offered Him his head (his ego and its egotism).

      The Lord then led his devotee to Quniya, the dwelling place of
    a celebrated professor of philosophy named Maulana Rum.  When
    Shams-i-Tabriz came upon him, the professor was seated by a pool
    of water, pondering with knotted brow over some manuscripts.

     "You appear to be very busy, O Scholar," said Shams-i-Tabriz. 
    "May I ask what is so seriously engaging your attention?"

     "Ah! these are some priceless manuscripts," said the professor.
    "And in them are some of the deep, divine mysteries.  Insoluble by
    most of our eminent scholars, I am now engaged in solving them."

      He sighed with weariness.  Then turning to his visitor who as
    usual was roughly clad, he said:

     "These would be far beyond your comprehension, my good man.  For
    they are problems that only a highly-trained intellect could ever
    hope to understand."

      Shams-i-Tabriz smiled but said nothing.  Instead, he stepped
    forward, took the manuscripts from Maulana Rum's hands, and threw
    them into the pool.  As he did so he said:

     "Divine knowledge does not reside in books, my friend."

      Maulana Rum was both shocked and outraged at the loss of his
    beloved manuscripts.  But he did not grow angry, as might well
    have been expected.  Instead, he smiled sadly and said in a flat
    and weary voice:

     "What have you done, you uncouth Dervish?  Whatever you may know,
    you would never be able to understand what a tremendous loss the
    world has suffered through the ruin of those rare manuscripts."

     Again, Shams-i-Tabriz smiled.  Putting his hands in the water,
    he brought out the manuscripts undamaged and told the Maulana:

     "Please, I beg of you, my friend, do not break your heart over
    such children's toys as these."

     Maulana Rum, though stunned by what had happened, saw nevertheless
    that a new and more radiant pathway of knowledge was being offered
    to him.  Discarding his learned books, he changed his way of life
    completely, and shortly afterwards was initiated by Shams-i-Tabriz.
    As all the world knows, he then received enlightenment and became
    one of the most famous and revered of Persia's Saints.

        "If by reading books doth one perform yoga, success he
         shall not attain."
                                                          [Charan Das]

        "Why dost thou read so many books,
         And keep on adding to your load of suffering?"
                                                         [Bulleh Shah]

        SS1-01

             WHO IS REALLY A DISCIPLE?

      Once the pathis or  chanters for  Guru  Arjan,  the
  fifth Sikh Guru,  made a  request  that  he  should get
  them a donation of one rupee from each of his disciples,
  saying:
      "We are in great need and  this donation of a rupee
  from each disciple would help us greatly."
      The Guru replied  that  he  would  do  so,  and the
  pathis were very pleased indeed.  They felt that as the
  discipleship of the  Guru extended  as far as Kabul and
  Kandahar,  and  beyond,  they  would surely become very
  wealthy in a short while.
      A whole month passed  and  the  pathis had received
  not  a  single  donation.  They  again  made  the  same
  request to  the  Guru,  reminding him that they were in
  very   great   need   of  money  at  the  moment.   The
  Guru  assured  them  that  he would  comply  with their
  request.
      Another  two  months  went  by  without  any  dona-
  tions coming in,  and  without  any  evidence  that the
  Guru had  asked any  of the  disciples for  a donation.
  The pathis then approached the Satguru, saying:
      "Sir,   you  were  gracious  enough  to  promise us
  the  donation.     We  are  truly  in   dire  need  and
  would be  grateful  if the money  could be paid without
  delay."
      The Guru  replied that  this would be taken care of
  the next day.
      The pathis  reflected  that whatever  money came to
  the Satguru was never hoarded, but was spent in serving
  the Sangat.  How, then,  would the Guru be able to hand
  them the money  the next day?  Would he take out a loan
  for them?
      Early the  next  morning,  the Guru  handed over to
  them four and a half rupees.   Bewildered,  the  pathis
  said:
      "We do  not understand this.   There  are  so  many
  disciples,  yet a  total of only four and a half rupees,
  instead of one rupee from each disciple."
      Guru Sahib then smiled and said:
      "There are really only four  and one half disciples,
  O pathis! The first disciple was Guru Nanak, the second
  was  Guru  Angad;  the  third  was  Guru Amar Das,  and
  the fourth  was Guru Ram Das.  As yet, I myself am only
  half a disciple.   So I am  giving you exactly what you
  asked for - one rupee for each disciple."
      "Ah, brothers,"  he continued,  "it is  not an easy
  matter to become a true disciple. You must give up your
  longings for the  worldly things,  such as your beloved
  rupees. Instead,  you must give your hearts to the Lord
  alone.   For His Love  is beyond  the value  of all the
  rupees in the world."


   "Thou buriest endless wealth in the earth,
    Yet thy desire for it departeth not;
    They who depart desiring endless wealth,
    Shall lose the Endless Treasure."
                                  [Guru Nanak]

   "Come, for your worldly hopes are no more that a poorly
    built house; this life's foundations are based upon the
    wind."
                                  [Khwaja Hafiz]

   "The hunger for worldly wealth is never satisfied; the
    world's thirst is not quenched. But let a man detach
    himself from worldly attachments, and after his trial he
    shall prosper."
                                  [Guru Arjan]

   "Day an night mortals search and search for wealth;
    Among millions, few there be who remember God."
                                  [Guru Teg Bahadur]

     SS1-03

    PREDESTINATION VS. FREE WILL

      A will is free only so long as it has not acted.
Once it acts, then that very act becomes binding
on it. The second time it acts,   it does not act as
a free will, but as a "calculating will", for it carries
the experience of the first act with it.   And a cal-
culating will is not a  free  will,   but a limited will.
The very creations or acts of a  free will work as
limiting  factors  upon  it  and  guide it in its future
activity.   So, the  more  experiences one has, the
more his will is guided and thus limited.   And this
is real predestination.

There is thus no antagonism between  predestina-
tion, fate, karma, and free will.   We were free at
one time.   We  acted,  and then our acts became
binding upon us. They curtailed our initial freedom.
They now act upon us as unavoidable fate.   Since
our experiences have become complex and varied,
these experiences  now  appear  in  us as joys and
fears, hopes and desires,  each  of which in its turn
moulds or fashions our reason and intellect.

Intellect, reason and feeling,   being what they have
been fashioned to be,  now  determine  our actions
and make us choose the predestined course.  Thus
the acts of one life  determine the framework of the
next life.  Like farmers,  we  are  now living  on the
crop we gathered last, while  we  are preparing the
soil and putting in the seed of the new  crop.     Al-
though we must undergo our fate,  there  being  no
escape from it, yet all is  not  lost if we use the little
freedom  we  have  in  such  a manner as to lead to
our ultimate rescue.
      SAT-01

SS1 - Tales of the Mystic East
      Hazur Maharaj Sawan Singh
      Radha Soami Satsang, Beas, Punjab, India
    - 01  p.   90

    - 02  p.  146

   - 03  p.  141

SAT - Sat Sandesh, the Message
    of the Masters
        - 01 - July 1972, p. 20