Who is a Perfect Master?
Excerpts from a discourse given by Guru Maharaj Ji, July 26, 1972 at the Guru Puja Festival, Montrose, Colorado
There are millions and billions of people who believe that God exists, but for them, actually, God doesn't exist. Because saying or believing is not going to help us. Only knowing that God exists is going to help us. How many millions and billions of people around the world believe that God exists? So many. But, why then is there war? Don't they know that everyone is a son of God, who has created everyone and everything?
So a Perfect Master always manifests himself into this human form. If he comes as a dog, we are going to chain him and put him in our house. If he comes as a cat, we are just going to pet him and that's all. If he comes as a buffalo, we are going to shoot him. That's all. So which is the most appropriate form for him to manifest himself? He does not manifest for cows, for dogs, for sheep and so on; he manifests himself for the human race.
God has come here
And it's not a question that God has manifested himself for one age only. Over centuries and centuries, years and years, ages and ages, God has come here. But, because of our simple ignorance, we couldn't realize him. He never made any philosophies. He never wrote any books. Jesus didn't write a book. Other people wrote the Bible. Jesus taught something to us and what he taught is not in the scriptures.
Know the Knowledge
You have to know that Light. You have to know the Knowledge. You have to see it. You have to understand it. How are you to do that? The only possible way is to approach the Perfect Master. Now who is a Perfect Master? A Perfect Master, first of all, is a very important point in your life. We dedicate our lives, our whole lives, to people, and our lives are useless. But then we ultimately come to a Perfect Master and then suddenly we realize, "Oh, we wasted our whole lifetime." And now is the time to understand who is the Perfect Master.
There is no computer that you can feed information into, and it will say, "O.K., He is a Perfect Master." The Perfect Master doesn't have a stamp on his forehead. The Perfect Master doesn't have any bodily sign by which you can recognize that he is a Perfect Master. So how do you know he is a Perfect Master? What test do you have?
Now just as there are so many experiments you perform, so in the same way, there is an experiment, there is a test for a spiritual master. This is not by asking me questions and getting answers. No. First of all, by listening to him, he will tell you about this Knowledge. And he will tell you about it in words we understand. He tells it to us in words of satsang. Now, that's one test. Many people don't respond to this test because their intellect is too great, it is fluctuating at such a high point, it can't absorb anything. But the second and best test is to receive this Knowledge, and to meditate upon it.
If this is true Knowledge, and if it's given by the True Master, it will give us peace; it will give us what we require. And if it's not, then it won't. Jesus was a True Master, yet there are so many Christian religions. Jesus is one. We all believe in one Christ, but some are Catholic, some are this, some are that. So why has this distinction been created? Krishna is one, but many people believe in him in different ways. Mohammed is one, but many people see him in different ways. Ultimately, God is one. So why do people see him in different ways? Why is this?
If I choose 10 people who had never seen the Taj Mahal, and I put them into separate compartments and if I told them to imagine, to create a picture of the Taj Mahal, they will each create a picture of the Taj Mahal. And when I see those pictures, each will differ from the other. Each picture will be different. But if I choose 10 people who have seen the Taj Mahal, and if I put them into separate compartments, when I see the pictures they won't differ at all. Why?
It's the same thing with religions. And all these differences of ideas give us a feeling, – that these people haven't seen God. Because if they had, why are there so many different types of religion? Why are there so many different pictures? There should be one thing. God is one. But because people haven't seen him, they try to create different images, different pictures with their brains, and they always get a different picture.
And why am I here? Why I am in the world? It's to show people one way. And that is the one way to God. God is one and there is one way to see God.
So understand and realize why I have come here, to show you one way, to show you one path. I don't want to change your religions. I, myself, am floating much higher than any religious imagination. I have seen God and I know God. But still I am away from the distinction of one religion against another, one creed against another, one caste against another. I am floating much highei than that. I know that because I am. And I will never plunge myself into that, because that will never give me peace.
The Master's Task
And now I have this work, and this is, that I want to elevate you to that point where you will have risen high enough to see what's going on. There are many people who go to temples and they say, "Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name." They bow their heads, but then they come into their office and start doing corrupted things. This is not believing in God, is it? God is omnipresent. Every man who believes in God says God is omnipresent, God is omniscient, God is omnipotent. So why does a man want to kill anybody'? Why does anybody want to steal something from somebody else? Why does anybody want to do something wrong?
If everyone really knew that God is omnipresent, God is omniscient, God is omnipotent, there would be no need of sheriffs, no need of policemen. Everyone would mind everyone. But a man believes and never knows. And that is why there is this crazy, crazy feeling around the world.
So now understand this Knowledge. I am giving this Knowledge to people, this Knowledge which has changed thousands and thousands of lives. So understand this Knowledge, receive this Knowledge. Test this Knowledge. Understand the path that I want to show you. People are really realizing how beautiful this Knowledge is, how important it is. You need this Knowledge, because you need to get high. You must get to that point where you can also reach the infinite state.