THE SUBLIME RESULTS OF INNER STILLNESS
By Rajinder Singhji Maharaj
A soul infuses 'life' in the human body for a certain period of time. When the soul inhabits the body, it is still one with God. The soul, however, is overpowered by powerful forces, such as the mind, the body, and the outer world, which cause it, over time, to forget itself. The soul slowly begins to identify itself with the body, mind and world outside. It is attuned to only one channel - the channel of the world.
If we think of life as watching a television programme, we have multiple choices on what to watch. Just as there are a dozen network stations and then dozens if not hundreds of cable stations to choose from, so, too, there are many activities in this world to engage in.
Now, let us take a look at the other choices available to us. This physical planet is not a separate offshoot form all of creation and God. Most religions believe there are higher regions of existence to which the soul goes after it dies. Scientists and doctors have tries to verify this by documenting accounts of people who were declared clinically dead but had near-death experiences and described something in the nature of after-life. The question is, where are theses realms? They are not zones in outer space delineated by borders. These realms exist concurrently with the material or temporal realm. The reason we are not aware of them is because they operate on a different frequency or vibration.
The saints and mystics tell us that we have the choice to either stay tuned to this physical world, or to tune in to the channels of God. For this we must stop identifying with the body, mind and temporal world, and identify with the soul instead. When our outer programming is turned off, then in the silence we will experience ourselves as soul, or a condition of self-knowledge. Once we identify with the soul, we will pick up the frequencies the soul is capable of receiving. God has not made it hard for us to become aware of our true Home. It is we who have made it complicated.
Once someone asked the great saint, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, how long it took to get form the physical region to the highest spiritual region. Hazur closed his eyes, and then opened them. He told them, “I have just been there and back.” How? Because we are not going anywhere physically. We are merely shifting our attention from one state of consciousness to the other. The other state of consciousness does not exist in time or space. We are simultaneously in other realms and in God at the same time but are not aware of it because our attention is focused on the spiritual. So, if we meditate accurately we will we experience our selves as soul.
It is simply a matter of choosing where we want to put our attention. That is the true meaning of the anecdote about Bulleh Shah and Inayat Shah. When Bulleh Shah asked his Master, Inayat Shah (who was a gardener by profession), “How can I find God?” Inayat Shah pulled a plant and replanted it in another place. When Bulleh Shah asked what that demonstration meant, Inayat Shah said, “To find God it is merely uprooting your attention from one place and planting it in another place.” That is simplicity of spirituality. God did not make things complicated. It is simple. It is only we who have to choose to transplant the flower of our attention from the world into God's garden.
(Sant Rajinder Singh Ji is head of Sawan Kripal Ruhani Mission, Delhi.)