With aGreatMaster

in India

THE HOLY PATH

This Holy Path is not a theory. It isnot a system of beliefs or dogmas.It is not even a religion, althoughit embraces all of the values ofreligion. It is an actual Way, agenuine road to be traveled, involv-ing, of course, certain preparationand training as one goes along. Infact, the word "path" is not altoge-ther appropriate. It is more properlyspeaking "El Camino Real", or theKing's Highway. It belongs to theroyal Masters, and it leads the trav-eler from earth upwards throughkingdom after kingdom, fromcountry to country, each one moresplendid than the other, in anadvancing series until the travelerreaches his final destination, thefeet of the Supreme Lord of all reli-gions. It is a literal, actual highway,over which the Saints and their dis-ciples travel, passing through num-berless and vast regions, stoppingat different stations en route.

The passage is really a succes-sion of triumphs, for the disciplesof the Saints are enabled to mastereach region as they enter it, toabsorb its knowledge and powersand become citizens of it. TheSaint is the great captain leadingthe soul from victory to victory. It isa long and difficult passage, butthe Saint has been over it manytimes, and he is Master of it all.He is, in fact, Lord of all the inter-vening regions through which thishighway leads, and before himnumberless multitudes bow downas he passes. This spiritual journeyis, therefore, a long succession oftriumphs, until the traveler reacheshis grand destination.

THE AUTHOR

A devout theologian and outstand-ing surgeon, Kentuckyan JulianJohnson was also an ardent flierand distinguished artist. Above all,however, Dr. Johnson was a keenseeker after Truth. At the height ofhis wordly success, he abandonedall his activities except his searchfor Truth; he answered the call ofthe East for the second time in hislife. During his first sojourn inIndia he enthusiastically taught thegospel of Jesus Christ. When hecame for the second time, it was asif the hand of God had picked himup from a remote corner of theworld and was guiding him to thefeet of the Master.

He assiduously carried out thespiritual discipline taught by oneof the greatest living Masters andwas soon rewarded. He had thevision of the reality beyond allforms and ceremonies. He learnedthe ancient wisdom which all mes-sengers of God come to preach.He unmistakenly discerned thatthe same essence of spiritualityunderlies all world religions. In anotherwise divided and strifetornworld, he clearly perceived completeunity and calm at the foundation.

Dr. Johnson's love for his Masterwas unbounded, his faith implicitand his devotion unflinching. Henever returned to the land of hisbirth after meeting his Preceptorhere in India.

WITH A GREAT MASTER

IN INDIA

Julian P. Johnson, M.A., M.D.

RADHA SOAMI SATSANG BEASPunjab, India

CONTENTS

Preface to the Second Edition (1953)

Letter from Prof. Sardar Bahadur Jagat Singh (1933)Letter from Judge Sewa Singh (1934)Letter from Prof. Jagmohan Lai (1933)Letter from Rai Har Narayan (1933)

INTRODUCTION

vuixxxi

xiii

THE LETTERS

ONE3 June 1932, DeraTWO12 July 1932, KarachiTHREE9 August 1932, KarachiFOUR8 September 1932, DeraFIVE

25

32

45

54

13 October 1932, Kalabagh 63SIX10 November 1932, DeraSEVEN17 December 1932, Dera

74

87

EIGHT/ January 1933, DeraNINE2 February 1933, DeraTEN6 March 1933, DeraELEVEN2 April 1933, DeraTWELVE11 May 1933, DeraTHIRTEEN2 June 1933, DeraFOURTEEN4 July 1933, Palampur

GIST OF SANT MAT

SANT MAT OR THE TEACHINGS OF THE SAINTS

Local AddressesBooks on This Science

96

107

124

139

157

169

185

211

247253

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

Much water has flowed under the bridge since thisbook was first published. The author himself, who wasso keen on making the principles of Sant Mat known tohis countrymen, is no more, though he did not leave thestage before accomplishing his work. His book, ThePath of the Masters, is a classic on the subject and hasdirected many Western seekers to the feet of the Master.

The Great Master too, about whom a well-knownMohammedan Fakir (not a satsangi) used to remarkthat he often saw Him going up and up in the midst of ablaze of light till He was out of his ken, shook off themortal coil on April 2, 1948. Before He left this world,He appointed as His successor Sardar Bahadur JagatSingh Ji, a sweet and loving soul who carried on theduties entrusted to him by the Great Master with utmostzeal and devotion.

He was the retired Professor of Chemistry and theVice-Principal at the Agricultural College, Lyallpur.Even during His professional career He was known as'Guruji' because of His devotional and retiring habits aswell as unusually long periods of meditation. During theshort term of three and one-half years He initiated overeighteen thousand people. He departed from this worldon October 23, 1951.

Prior to this He had appointed as His successor,S. Charan Singh Grewal, B.A., LL.B., a grandson of thelate Master Baba Sawan Singh Ji. Everybody who hasmet the present Master and has seen Him at workexclaims that the mantle has fallen on worthy shoulders.Dignity, humility, earnestness and devotion are mostharmoniously blended in His expression and demeanour.

Vlll

Sardar Bhagat Singh, Advocate and one of the GreatMaster's favourite disciples; Rai Harnarayan, Secretary,and a devoted and trusted disciple; the highly developedbut simple and loving soul, Bhai Bishan Das Puri, sowell known in Punjabi literature; Sardar Bahadur SewaSingh, who translated Sar Bachan into English, and RaiBahadur Munna Lai (both Sessions Judges) have alsojoined the Great Master on the other side, and the cara-van moves on. Bhai Shadi, the devoted gurmukh andpersonal attendant of the Great Master, was also calledonly a few days back. And so shall we all have our exitwhen we have played our respective roles on life's stage.

Blessed are those who understood the value and sig-nificance of human life, sought and found a Master andwere initiated by him into the mysteries of Nam orShabd, the Word Divine which was, is and will be withGod and which, indeed, is God. For such, death has noterror because they have crossed the bounds of deathduring their lifetime.

Since the first edition was published, the SatsangHall mentioned therein has been completed and theDera has developed into a beautiful colony.

With the exception of the addition of the photo-graphs and this preface, the second edition of With aGreat Master in India is an exact reprint of the first andhas been brought out in response to a steady demand. Itis hoped that this book will interest and help seekers asthe learned author has incidentally thrown much lighton several interesting aspects of Sant Mat.

Respectfully submitted by(Professor) Jagmohan Lai,

January 7, 1953 now living at Dera*

*The Professor left this world in the interim of the 2nd and 3rd editions ofthis book.

Dr. Julian P. JohnsonTHE AUTHOR

IX

Letter from Prof. Sardor Bahadur Jagat Singh, B.A., M.Sc.Professor of Chemistry, Lyallpur Agricultural College

Lyallpur, the Punjab, IndiaDec. 30, 1933

The fourteen letters contained in this book, and thestatements in Part II, are based upon the personal obser-vations and experiences of the author, Dr. Johnson. Hehas lived in close contact with the beloved Master forover a year and a half and I regard him well qualified towrite on this subject. I wish to say that in no instance hashe exaggerated the Mastership or other qualities of theMaster. If anything, he has rather understated them. Wewho have known the Master intimately for many yearsfully believe him to be so great that no human languagecan possibly portray him as he is. We can never say howgreat he is. We can only bow at his holy feet and worshipin silence, joy, and deep gratitude.

For many years I have watched men and women ofall classes, from the coolie up to the shrewdest and mostcultured intellects, sit humbly at his feet while he sowisely pointed the Way. We sincerely wish this might bethe great good fortune of all who read this book.

Earnestly yours,Jagat Singh

Letter from Judge Sewa Singh, B.A.Senior Judge of the Civil Courts, Delhi, India

Delhi5th January, 1934

Dear Doctor Johnson,

I have read your letters which are going to be printedin the form of a book with great delight. It is wonderfulthat you have comprehended in so short a time theteachings of Sant Mat. As pointed out by you, the firstessential for a student of Sant Mat is the selection of theright Master. You are, no doubt, fortunate in selectingthe Master about whom you speak so much in yourletters. The greatness of a Master can be better expe-rienced than described. In my opinion your descriptionof the Master, if it errs at all, it errs on the side ofincompleteness. He is beyond description.

The doctrine, that souls can only work out their sal-vation if they come into contact with a perfect Masterand learn from Him the secret of the Word, is not a newthing. Almost all the religious systems are aware of it. Inthe Bible the Son is the Master; the Holy Ghost, theWord; and the Father, the Supreme Lord. The Vedas,Upanishads and other religious books of the Hindus,and the Quran of the Mohammedans are full of referen-ces to Shabd and Masters who could reveal it to individ-ual souls. The doctrine may sound a little new to theWestern mind, but I hope this book of yours will be ofimmense benefit to them.

Yours affectionately,Sewa Singh

XI

Letter from Prof. Jagmohan Lai, M.A.Professor of English Literature and History

Randhir College, Kapurthala

KapurthalaThe Punjab, India

Dec. 31, 1933

On a hot summer day in June, 1932, a serene elderlygentleman, very different from the average European orAmerican tourist, dismounted from a closed car andentered my house in Kapurthala. I had the pleasure ofentertaining him for two days. I noticed that the thingsusually sought and admired by tourists held no interestfor him. He was a typical searcher for the higher reali-ties, for Truth. There was evident a deep hunger of thesoul in this American traveller.

He and I soon came to know each other well andwhen he admitted me to his confidences, I discovered aman of remarkable wealth of experience and extensivestudy. He is an eminent surgeon, and since his coming toIndia, many have received the benefits of his surgicalskill, even though he came not here to practise his pro-fession. He had left a flourishing practice in America,and probably at the psychological moment, came toIndia in search of Light. Of course this could be foundonly at the feet of the living Master. For over a year anda half Brother Johnson has been engaged in an earneststudy of the Master's teachings and to the Master he hasdedicated his life. He has given to the Master love andfaith, the two things needed, if one is to make the inwardjourney to higher regions.

Dr. Johnson has had the good luck to meet a realMaster, and his keen and trained intellect, and broad

experience have enabled him to grasp the teachings quiteaccurately and assimilate them. I know that he has care-fully analysed every phase of this teaching, and weighedits every point. He has not accepted it blindly. He has soclearly mastered the teachings that he is now eminentlyfitted to put the very quintessence of Sant Mat before hisown people. Much of it is given in this little volume, andevery word of this book is true, to my personalknowledge.

May Satguru bless his efforts, and through him allAmerica and the world.

Sincerely yours,Jagmohan Lai

Xlll

Letter from Rai Har Narayan, B.A.Retired Deputy Director of Land Records, Punjab

Dera Baba Jaimal SinghVia Beas, Distt. Amritsar

Punjab, IndiaNov. 28, 1933

Dr. Johnson, the author of this little volume, hasasked me to write a few words regarding the Master. Iam happy to do this, although I fully recognize that nowords can be found to adequately describe him.

The Master was pleased to accept me as a discipletwenty-four years ago, and for the last nine years I havelived in constant close association with him. I have hadevery opportunity to study him and to know him well.

He is respected and honoured by all who know him.He is in this country not only highly venerated and lovedfor his noble human qualities, but he is regarded here asthe super-man, the ideal. His genuine Mastership is notquestioned by the tens of thousands all over this countrywho may have the privilege of bowing at his holy feet.He is our great Teacher and Exemplar. All men heredelight to serve him; for all love him beyond the powerof words to tell the story. It is the proudest achievementof my life to realize that he loves me well enough topermit me to serve him.

We regard the Master's teaching as the message ofimmortal life and the Master himself is leading us on-ward and upward. The Master is truly wonderful and hislife is a living wonder to us all.

It gives me great pleasure to fully endorse and totestify to the truth of all Dr. Johnson has written in thisbook. He has lived right here among us for a year and a

half, and is fully qualified to tell this story. Our gratitudeis due to this eminent American surgeon for what he hasdone and is doing to introduce our Master and his teach-ings to the English-speaking world.

Sincerely yours,Har Narayan

INTRODUCTION

"When the chela is ready, the Guru appears," is acommon saying among occultists, and is often repeatedin the literature. For a quarter of a century the writerkept trying to believe this statement; but he often won-dered if it was literally true, or was it just an optimisticexpression of those few who had succeeded in findingone. For a quarter of a century he had believed in theexistence of the Guru, the Master, the genuineMahatma. God knows there was plenty of need forthem. If they did not exist, there was in the economy ofhuman life a decided deficiency.

If one accepts the major premise of a supreme andbenevolent Creator whose fundamental nature is love,then he can scarcely believe that Creator would leaveuntold billions of his children to wander around likebabes in a wilderness, unguided, unenlightened and un-protected. If he sent us down into this world for somebeneficent purpose, then he cannot fail to look after usand to see that his purposes are ultimately conserved.There simply must be Masters. That is our first and rootconviction. They are necessary to any rational order inthis world. Without them, there is chaos, only blinddrifting, and chance. Nothing but hopes and vague un-certainties, groping speculations. Excepting the Mastersand their disciples, there is not a man or woman in all theworld who has any certain knowledge concerning themost important problems of the soul, or even of theexistence of the soul itself. All the rest only believe,imagine, speculate and preach; only the Masters know.

2 INTRODUCTION

Without the revelations of Masters—living Masters,not the story of Masters written in books, the origin ofwhich no man can tell—without the certain knowledgethat they possess, the scientific student is almost drivento the conclusion that man is only a physical structure,beginning with the foetus in utero, and ending in thedissolution of death. He may conjure up dreams toplease his fancy and feed his imagination, but they arehardly worth his time. Without the Masters there is noprovision for the soul of man. If the Creator has madeno provision to properly instruct and take care of thespirit, then there is no spirit. But happily we are not leftin the dark concerning these things. There are men whoknow.

To say that the people have a book to guide them isfutile, when but a small fraction of the human race hasever had access to any one book, and there is no generalagreement as to the value of any book as a guide. To saythat they have priests and other religious leaders to guidethem is likewise futile, even ridiculous, in the light of thewell-known fact that those teachers are practically all inthe dark themselves, leading worldly lives and driven bythe five common passions, just like other men. Besides,they are utterly lacking in any sort of agreement amongthemselves as to the most fundamental principles, orprecepts, by which they propose to guide their followers.To say that they have a divine spirit to guide them is onlya guess, a dogma. If that were the case, then the wholeworld would truly be guided aright and the results wouldbe uniform and highly salutary. Spiritual enlightenmentwould be universal.

So it is evident that this old world sadly needs realMasters who alone of all men can speak from posi-tive knowledge. For that is the one supreme mark of

ALWAYS ONE MASTER ON EARTH 3

distinction between Masters and all other teachers:they know; all others only believe.

Always one Master on earthAnd so it stands out as a vital fact, well known to

those who have had the experience, that the GreatSupreme Father in his loving kindness has provided thatthere shall always be at least one perfect Saint or Masteron earth in the physical body, ready to guide all who areready to go with him. And no matter where on earth asoul may be, even to the remotest islands of the sea, andno matter what his handicap or difficulties, if he makeshimself ready for the Master by always doing the best hecan under the circumstances, the very day and hour he isfit to stand before the Master and is ready to follow himin the right spirit, as certain as the path of a planet in itsorbit just that certainly will the Master appear and takecharge of his pupil. No matter how the meeting is to bebrought about—that may be left entirely to the Master.His wisdom and power are all-sufficient, for he is theviceroy of the Supreme King, appointed to do thatspecific work among men. The only concern of the stu-dent is to make himself ready.

A long and thorny pathBut the way of the Master's feet is often a long and

thorny path. Many are the weary years when doubtsspring up and the heart grows faint; when hope is nomore than a flickering candle to guide our sore and ach-ing feet. It often happens that a person struggles on foryears amidst his doubts and perplexities, gropingblindly, as it seems to him, when at last, just as he passesa turn in the road, suddenly and unexpectedly he standsface to face with realization. Then he is ready to exclaim

INTRODUCTION

with Cowper:

God moves in a mysterious way,His wonders to perform.

A sketch of my lifeI was brought up in a most orthodox environment.

When I was a boy, the sermons in the Baptist churchwhere I attended fairly smelled of brimstone, and anyonewho was not 'converted' and baptized by immersion waspretty sure of immersion in that lake that burned withunquenchable fire. But there were many questions Iwanted to ask; only those questions were generallysettled by the indignant assertion that the old devil wasputting doubts into my mind. As a boy I was reading andexplaining the Bible to everyone. There was no mysteryabout it. Only I found out later that some of my explana-tions were not to be tolerated. These were quite unor-thodox, and everything unorthodox was of the devil.The book of Revelation was one of my favorites. I knewall about it, even though many of the world's greatestscholars never claimed so much. However, only a fewdays ago I picked up the New Testament and read thatportion again, to see if my later studies had thrown anylight upon it. I found, somewhat to my amazement, thatnow I had not the slightest idea of its meaning. I wonderif the writer himself had any clear conception of it.

Licensed to preach at seventeenAt the age of seventeen I was licensed to preach and

spent the next seventeen years trying to convince theworld that the Baptist church was the divinely commis-sioned organ of the Almighty for the enlightenment andsalvation of mankind. At twenty-two I was graduated

A SKETCH OF MY LIFE 5

from college at Bolivar, Missouri, from which school Iobtained three degrees, and was then appointed a mis-sionary to India. That ancient land always held a pecu-liar fascination for me. As a boy, even the map of Indiaheld me spellbound. Now I was sorry for India andwould go out and set her right in matters of religion. Iwas not then aware of the fact that the great men ofIndia were adepts in religion and spiritual science agesbefore my own country was discovered by civilized man,even when my ancestors were pirates along the northerncoasts of Europe. But I was young, optimistic and egois-tic. Nothing daunted, I set out to convert the world. Butafter near three years in India, I returned to Americawith my orthodox egotism a bit deflated. I was like anautomobile tire with a small puncture, a little flat, butstill going. I had met a few men in India—although theywere not Masters—who knew so much more about every-thing than I did that I was mystified, amazed. Amazednot so much at my own ignorance as at their massivelearning. I had come to India to convert ignorant hea-then; but by the side of some of them I was still in theprimer class. I had my three diplomas tucked away in thetrunk and I never showed them to anybody after that. Ihad gone out to convert the heathen and the heathen hadset me to thinking, even if they had not converted me.

I was born with an irrepressible desire for knowl-edge. At least it was very early manifest. My mother usedto call me the standing interrogation point. I just mustknow the 'ins' and 'outs' of things, the 'whys' and the'wherefores'. I never could accept complacently whatwas dished out to me and ask no questions. And thistrait of character has often got me into trouble. It hasalways been quite impossible for me to fit myself into anice little stall some place and eat my hay along with the

6 INTRODUCTION

rest. First I wanted to analyze a sample of the hay; andthat a good horse is not supposed to do. I never couldtake gracefully to the harness, while some archbishop satup in the chariot behind me with his whip in hand.

Five years of intensive searchDetermined to get my feet on solid ground, if pos-

sible, in matters of mind and soul, I entered school again,this time in the great University of Chicago. There Ispent five years in an intensive search for Reality, grad-uating in two different departments, one of which wastheology. But my graduating thesis was a disappoint-ment to my dear orthodox professors. I chose as mytheme, "The Fundamental Principle of the Reforma-tion." I took the position that the real source and inspi-ration of the Renaissance and of the ProtestantReformation in Europe was the great principle of indi-vidual liberty, reborn, and now asserting itself in spite ofall church dogmas, both Catholic and Protestant. Thefact that a few great Protestant leaders, themselves onlyhalf-liberated from the tyranny of dogma, took a leadingpart in the general awakening, by no means obliged us toascribe to their teachings the real source of the Renais-sance. They themselves were the unconscious agents of agreater and deeper principle, of a far more gigantic force,which was now moving all Europe and the world.

But my beloved professors were deeply grieved that Idid not attribute the great awakening to the dogmas ofthe Baptist church. Their labor of love had been wastedupon me. I was hopelessly led astray by German ration-alism. Much was the pity. But as for myself, I was in aworse predicament than a man on the highway with aflat tire. I did not even have a highway. I was utterly inthe woods. I had a roll of diplomas, but they were of no

8 INTRODUCTION

right direction. It was deeply fascinating. But in it Icould never find the way to the feet of any man whocould speak with authority on any of the deeper prob-lems. If they had Masters, they were to me quite inac-cessible, and I was put off with many vague promises. Icontinued to flounder about in deep waters. I neverseemed quite able to get my feet on a firm foundation.

Finally, during a long course of reading, and espe-cially during the study of oriental philosophy, of theVedas, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, etc., the ideaof the Master gradually took shape in my consciousness.There was the ideal. Standing out among all creeds andsystems, yet above them all, was the living Master. Herepresented the highest and the best in actual life. For hehas himself actually achieved in his own person the high-est ideals of all religions, and by virtue of that achieve-ment he, and he alone, could speak with authority on thesubject. And the most appealing thing about the Masterwas the idea that by following him any man mightachieve the same results and himself become a Master.No one has any monopoly on spiritual attainments. Theidea of the Master appealed to both reason and intui-tion. I was quite sure that if there were no such thing asreal Masters, there ought to be. There must be Masters. Ibecame more and more convinced that if I could not findthe solution of all my problems in a living Master, thenthat solution could not be found on earth. Furthersearch would be useless, for I had now explored abouteverything else that offered any rational promise of light.So I began my search for a Master.

I wrote to everybody in the world that I had any ideahad ever seen one. Most of them did not reply, and thislist included many Indians who at that time were posingas Masters in America and collecting ready cash for a

INTENSIVE SEARCH 9

prescription purporting to make their students into Mas-ters, for so much per head. Those who did reply gener-ally put me off with some vague and indefinite statement.One man who claimed to have spent years with Mastersin India, replied: "When you become master of yourself,you are in the presence of the masters." But to one cryingin the wilderness, there is not much comfort in that.Once or twice I thought I had found a Master; but oncloser scrutiny and more critical study, I had to give upand begin my search all over again. But each time Irenewed the search with more zeal than ever. In spite ofmany counterfeits, the real Master must be found some-where. Every good thing in the world is imitated andcapitalized by designing men, and the better a thing isthe more cleverly it is counterfeited.

I was now convinced beyond a question that realMasters did exist somewhere on earth. Knowing thatIndia has been the reputed home of the Masters for ages,I would have set out for India at once; but after arrival inIndia, I would have had no way of locating the Master. Ihad heard of different men who had gone to India insearch of a Master and returned disappointed. I believedthen, and have since found out for a certainty, that thereare millions of people in India who have no knowledgeof a real Master, perhaps many who have never heard ofone. And I now know of scores of people who live lessthan three miles from the greatest Master in India, andyet they have not the least idea of a Master. They haveseen him pass through their villages time and again.They have heard him spoken of as a 'Holy Man'. And yetthey have no idea of his mastership. They pass him by asjust one more of the thousands of 'sadhus' who are moreor less revered as men who possess certain unusualknowledge and powers, but most of whom are little more

10 INTRODUCTION

than dirty beggars, going about collecting an easy living.The people have been so imposed upon that most of thempay but slight attention when a real Master does appear.But my search was a long distance one and I just had togo on waiting and searching for a clue.

A medical officer in the U.S. NavyIn the meantime I had spent nearly three years as

Assistant Surgeon in the United States Navy, during andafter the Great War. Later, I settled in California andresumed private practice. I built a hospital of my ownand developed a considerable surgical practice. Yearspassed and a heavy practice wore on me to some extent.But my interest in the eternal quest never abated. Ibecame entangled in world affairs; I made much money,invested it and lost it. Complications, involving businessand domestic difficulties, wove about me an intolerablesituation. All the while that inner urge for the eternalrealities became more and more dominant and insistent.I became more and more disgusted with the world andits false glamors. It seemed to me that the whole worldwas rushing on, madly indulging itself, and then when itgot the belly ache, it came to me for a pill or an opera-tion. I was sick of it all. So one day I rented out myhospital, filled up my gas tank and, all alone, I headedfor the south on a vacation. I didn't even tell my mostintimate friends where I was going. In fact, I didn't knowmyself. But I knew I had to have a change and a rest.And a few days later I drove into a grove of eucalyptustrees in Brawley, the Imperial Valley.

The darkest hour of lifeIt was then, during the winter of 1928-29, while visit-

ing in the Imperial Valley, California, that the darkest

AN OCEAN OF LOVE 11

hour of my life came upon me. It seemed as if I had cometo the end of all roads, the end of the trail. Ahead therewas nothing but the desert, the darkness and the end.Nothing but blank darkness. Bitterness of soul and des-pair settled upon me. I was ready to hate the wholeworld for leading me on in a series of constant disap-pointments. But finally, realizing that would only makebad matters worse, I at last resorted to humble prayer tothat Supreme Father in whom I had always believed, butwho, it seemed to me, had sadly neglected one of hisboys. Self-pity and blaming others is such an easy way ofsliding out of one's own shortcomings.

An ocean of loveWhether my prayers were heard and answered by

some gracious divine agency, or whether my attitude ofprayer simply brought me into harmony with the divinelaw, does not matter. The end results are the same. Iawoke one morning with a keen realization of havingbeen literally floating in an ocean of love. It seemed tome an actual experience, floating in an ocean of love. Icould think of nothing else all day that day. The aspectof the whole world had changed overnight. And the fol-lowing morning I had the same delightful sensation. Itwas evident that some vital and transforming change hadtaken place in me. I looked upon the world with neweyes. I loved everything that lived; and most gratefully Ibowed my soul before the Supreme Father.

The long search rewardedA few days later the impression came to me like the

strokes of a hammer upon my brain that I must gonorth. So, without further hesitation, I just put a noticeon my door—"Too hot; gone north." In fact, the weather

12 INTRODUCTION

was getting pretty warm by that time. I drove over toPasadena and Los Angeles, and then up the scenic coastroute. Returning by the inland Pacific Highway, Istopped in Ashland, Oregon, to visit an old lady, JuliaR. McQuilkin, whom I had known and loved for twenty-five years. She was then nearing her eightieth milestonein life's journey. But her brain was active and her soulradiant. She had lived a long life of useful deeds. Almostthe first thing I noticed on entering her sitting room,lying there on her library table, was a copy of RadhaSoami Mat Prakash. It struck me peculiarly. I began toread, and one of the first paragraphs my eyes fell uponread:

"The Supreme Being is a boundless ocean of spirit, orlove, and the human being a drop or current of spirit orlove from this ocean; and love being the very essence andmeans of existence of the whole creation, it follows thatno effort in any direction, temporal or spiritual, unlessactuated by love or affectionate regard, can be crownedwith success, and the work or labor rendered easy, sweetand harmonious."

Strangely enough, here was my ocean of love inwhich I had been baptized; and in the very same para-graph a complete and perfect explanation as to why Ihad failed in so many of my undertakings. It came withthe force of a personal message from the skies. I con-tinued to read. When lunch was ready, I fed myself withone hand while I held on to the book with the other. Iasked questions. Finally when the little volume had beenread through the second time, I asked my friend whereshe had obtained it. In all philosophical and occult litera-ture there was nothing like it. It carried a different mes-sage. My beloved hostess smiled and said that it was anexposition of the teachings of a Master in India. I eagerly

THE LONG SEARCH REWARDED 13

enquired what Master. She then told me that for sevenyears she had been an initiate of this Master and if Iwished she would give me directions as to how I mightget in touch with him myself. "If I wished." Would I wishto drink water, if I was dying of thirst? At last I was tofind a Master. I asked her why she had not told me of herMaster before, when she knew well that I had long beenin search of one. She smiled again and said: "You werenot ready before." Ah, that was it. I was not ready. Eventhough I had longed to see the Master, I was not yetready to stand in his holy presence. That was why myGuru had not appeared. We are so prone to think ofeverything else except our own unworthiness. But at last,thanks to that ocean of love and my good friend, I wasto find a Master. About eight months from that date Ireceived instructions from the Master himself to proceedto Port Angeles, Washington, for my initiation. I couldnever convey to another person any adequate idea of thedeep gratitude which I felt when this message came.

A little over a year from the date of my initiation, onefine day I laid down my surgical instruments, locked thedoors of my hospital, and slept soundly that night. Thenext morning I drove down to San Francisco to take asteamer for India. On the 24th day of March, 1932, Isailed out through the Golden Gate, headed for Hono-lulu and the Far East.

Studying Buddhism in HonoluluI stopped over in the Hawaiian Islands for two

weeks; but instead of much sightseeing, I put in most ofthe time studying with a very cultured gentleman by thename of E.H. Hunt, who is an accredited Bhikshu orpriest of the Buddhist faith, in charge of the beautifulHongwanji Temple. This faith is well known in the

14 INTRODUCTION

Islands, mainly because of the large number of Japaneseadherents. But the impression of this writer is that Bud-dhism, like Christianity, has seen its best days. It hasserved its purpose in the divine plan, has drifted into amere dead formality, and will eventually disappear, as amore vital faith comes to take its place.

The journey westwardOn the fifteenth of April we weighed anchor and

slowly moved out of Pearl Harbor, while the bandplayed the beloved Aloha. As we sailed away into thesetting sun, a gorgeous rainbow formed a perfect archover the entire city of Honolulu. We accepted that as ahopeful sign, a promise, that our quest would not be invain, and that we should return to American soil withthe fruits of success. Under the tricolors of Mikado, ourship set its steady course westward, while we lookedfondly upon the last receding speck of land over whichfloats the American flag.

Our outbound partyThere were in our party sailing from Honolulu five

Americans, outbound on four different missions quite asopposite to each other as the four points of the compass.One was a young man, ex-soldier, a lovable, jolly fellow,going to Singapore, or the Philippines, or wherever theship wished to carry him. His object was to spend time,his youth and money. It mattered not at all if fatebrought fortune, romance, or war. He would play hisguitar under the southern moon and forget that theworld had its problems. He couldn't be bothered.

There was another young man of about thirty yearsof age, educated, affable, and a bit serious. For he hadread Kant, Schopenhauer, Herbert Spencer, and of

THE JOURNEY WESTWARD 15

course, Nietzsche and Ibsen. But in Tokyo he easily foundthe pretty Japanese girls more interesting than the Cri-tique of Pure Reason. He was willing to agree with Keiser-ling that the Japanese had reduced lovemaking to a fineart, and he had always been interested in the best exam-ples of real art. He was going out to Shanghai to build forhimself fame and fortune in the newspaper business. As ajournalist and writer of philosophical story, he expectedto succeed H.G. Wells; perhaps, even blazing the trail intoworlds of high thought that Wells had never dreamed of.Such is the boundless optimism and egotism of youth.

There was then a middle-aged couple, husband andwife, bound for Tibet as missionaries. They had beencalled, so they said, to carry the gospel into that almostinaccessible region which was now the very last outpost ofthe known world where it had not been preached. Thiswas necessary, they explained, so that in the end thoseheathen might be properly damned, without excuse fortheir obstinacy, when the Lord Jesus should come in all ofhis glory to judge the world. The Lord was at thatmoment, they believed, somewhere in the highest heav-ens, all ready with his shining host, restraining his impa-tient angels, just waiting for the day and hour when he andhis wife had crossed to the western border of Tibet,preaching as they went. Of course, they did not know aword of the language which they were to use in preach-ing. But that did not matter. Then suddenly the end of theworld would come; the terrible judgment; the wholesaledestruction of the wicked, and the gathering up of theelect. That select and somewhat exclusive companywould consist of only a hundred and forty-four thousand,out of the total population of the earth. Of course, theyhad already received their tickets as members of the

16 INTRODUCTION

select party. All the rest of mankind, since the beginningof the human race on earth, were to be cast into hell fire,with the devil and his angels. Such was the cheerful out-look of our missionaries.

Lastly there was an elderly man, possessing the intel-ligence and scientific training of the average Americansurgeon, a contemplative mood, a philosophical bent ofmind and somewhat of a dreamer, now going out toIndia in search of a Mahatma—not Mahatma Gandhi.

It is astonishing how our friends suddenly becomeinterested in our welfare the moment we start out to dosomething which they think we should not do. There arealways plenty of people standing ready to whip us backinto line with the old order; but seldom is anyone willingto help push us out in search of the new. While myfriends in America were getting anxious about me, I wasbecoming quite solicitous about my missionary friends.They were evidently moving straight toward deliberatesuicide, fired with a fanatical zeal worthy of any cru-sader. They had only money enough to take them toYunan and their entire equipment consisted of a fewclothes, a roll of blankets, two Bibles and a guitar whichthey could not play. They had no organization back ofthem, and no sort of preparation for the rigors of thecold mountain regions ahead of them. They expectedJesus to miraculously enable them to speak the lan-guage, play the guitar, to feed and clothe them and toprovide means of travel. They were further handicappedby having with them their little boy only five years ofage. I wished to save them, if possible, from a fatal error.So, on separating from them at Hongkong, after tryingpersuasion in vain, I handed them a letter to be read attheir leisure, urging them to reconsider.

While my missionary friends were reading the above

THE JOURNEY WESTWARD 17

mentioned letter, I was reading many anxious messagesfrom America. The following letter will do for a sample.

Oakland, CaliforniaMarch 26, 1932

Dr. Julian P. JohnsonCare the American ConsulHongkong

Dear Julian:—Just received your note, too late tomeet you. I was out of town for a couple of days. I wasmuch surprised and shocked when I read it. I cannotfeature you doing such a thing and I hasten now to sendthis letter out, hoping that when it reaches you in Hong-kong, you will have reconsidered the matter and mayturn around and come back home. You, an educatedman, a skilled surgeon, with many years of experience, ahospital of your own and a good practice—just to drop itall and start out on a wild goose chase. If it were summertime, I would say the heat had affected your head.Mahatmas, masters? Who ever saw one alive? Thosebirds exist only in the warped imaginations of dreamers.If there were such men in India, certainly such eminentscholars as Swami Vivekananda and Tagore wouldknow about them. Anyway the Christian faith of yourmother, and in which you used to be a minister, shouldbe good enough for you. Why leave the good old U.S.A.in search of a chimera among heathen people, in astrange land and among a million strange gods? It isunthinkable—. Come back home and forget it, and settledown and enjoy life, while you may. You have manyyears of usefulness ahead of you yet.

Earnestly and affectionately yours,N. W. D.

18 INTRODUCTION

Affectionate warnings unheededI fear much that in both cases the benevolent interfer-

ence was in vain. Only other instances of love's laborlost. We are all such obstinate creatures. We all leftHongkong, bent upon our several errands, and nothingbut personal experience will ever convince us that we arein the wrong. My missionary friends will probably leavetheir bones beneath the drifting snows somewhere in themountain fastnesses of Tibet, unless indeed a miracleshould intervene.

And the one in search of a Mahatma sails on serenelyover the southern seas, bound for India and whateverdiscovery there awaits him. In the meantime, totallyunmindful of either missionaries or mahatmas, the beau-tiful moon climbs the eastern sky; soft breezes blow fromthe islands of the south; and the 'Southern Cross' beck-ons us on to Singapore. Tonight we stand on the deck ofthe steamer and watch the restless waves keep time to thesilent march of the stars, just as they have done for amillion years and more.

The arrival in IndiaIt is no part of the plan of this little volume to des-

cribe in detail the long journey to India. The space mustbe reserved for more important matters. The reader mayimagine with what emotions the writer beheld at last theoutlines of India. Dear old India. Much loved and muchmisunderstood India. We enter the muddy waters of theGanges. Calcutta lies on the distant horizon. Our jour-ney nears its end. Slowly we come to anchor at last, andthe American traveler sets foot upon the land whichholds so much of either success or disappointment forhim. The land of prince Gautama Buddha, the land ofthe Vedas, believed by many to be the oldest teaching

THE ARRIVAL IN INDIA 19

ever recorded by man, but which are quite modern com-pared with one other; the land of renunciation andascetic extremes; the land of Ram Chandra and Sita; theland of Kabir and Nanak; the land whence all religionshave emanated. For even Jesus received his inspirationhere. The land of wretched poverty and of immensewealth; the land of pitiful ignorance, and also of thekeenest brains, the broadest culture and the deepest wis-dom to be found anywhere on earth. The land of a mil-lion gods, and also the land where wise men teachearnest students to become gods. Such is India, themotherland of the world.

The story of him who came to India in search of aMaster will now be continued in the form of a series ofletters written to his friends and fellow students in Amer-ica, giving in some detail his actual personal experienceswith the Master. The facts set forth in these letters areduly attested by a group of men who occupy the highestpositions in the social order. The reader is at liberty towrite to any of them for confirmation of any part of thisstory.

Part Two will consist of a much condensed statementof the Master's teachings, commonly called Sant Mat, orthe teachings of the Saints. It is called the Path of theSaints, or the Spiritual Science of the Saints. It is alsocalled the Radha Soami faith; also the Yoga of theSaints, and many other names. But they all refer to thatsystem which has been taught and practiced by all Saintsof all ages and countries for countless years. It may beexplained that the term Saint (Sanskrit, 'sant') as usedhere has no reference to canonical saints, like those of thechurch. It refers to a great soul who has learned to live aperfect life among his fellow men, who has masteredhimself and made himself free from all limitations of the

20 INTRODUCTION

soul, developed his latent powers, risen to the highestpinnacle of achievement in the spiritual realms, and isnow able to conduct his disciples to the same sublimeachievement. Such is the real Saint, or the perfect Mas-ter; and such is the great Master portrayed in the follow-ing pages.

The Masters adopt modern methodsIf it happens to occur to the readers of this little

volume that this public statement is not in line with thetime honored method of the Masters, let it be noted hereand now that the modern Saints have abandoned the oldrigid rule of secrecy and exclusiveness. The reasons thatmade it necessary in past ages no longer exist. The Saintsnow make public appeal to modern intelligence, usingmodern methods. They freely give out their messagethrough books and public discourses. The only secretsnow withheld from the public are certain instructionsgiven to disciples at the time of initiation and duringtheir further progress on the Path; also the individualpersonal experiences of the disciples. Those secrets,while vital to the student, would be of no use to thepublic. To all disciples the Master's injunction is: "Freelyyou have received, freely give. Only do not waste yourtime trying to give to those who are not ready for it. Usecommon sense and discretion, tempered with love."

It may be well to call attention to one other fact inthis connection. Occult students have generally held theidea that the Masters accept disciples only after the mostrigid and searching tests; and so generally the disciples ofa great Master have been very few in number. But nowtheir methods are different. Great numbers flock tothem. Our Master here, for example, has initiated asmany as four thousand and nine hundred in one month.

THE FULL STORY CANNOT BE TOLD 21

The tests are not severe. Almost anyone who comes tothe Master honestly in search of the Way is accepted byhim, if karma is not too bad. In reality the Masteraccepts larger numbers not because he wishes a largerfollowing, but because he wishes to give to a largernumber the golden opportunity of spiritual redemption.No matter if many of them follow but indifferently, anddie at last straying from the Path. If they have beeninitiated, the seed has been sown, and in the next lifethey will be more spiritually minded and make betterprogress. In the following life they will do much better,and not later than the fourth life following initiation theywill, every one, come to the full light.

The full story cannot be toldHaving now had the inestimable privilege of living

for over sixteen months in close association with one ofthe greatest of these Saints, the writer is most happy tooffer this personal testimony to all who may be seekingthe Light. The major part, and the most vital, of all hisexperiences with the Master must remain untold. Theybelong in that category of individual experiences whichcan never be told to another, and if it could be toldwould serve no useful purpose. Only the most super-ficial, the least convincing, of all his experiences theoccult student may put into writing. Each student insearch of the larger reality must travel the Path for him-self. The most that even the Master himself can do atfirst is to point the way. If the soul of the reader is readyfor the Light, he will not fail to see the guidepost direct-ing him on the way; nor will he ever again pause until herests at the Master's holy feet. But if he is not ready, hemust pass again under the Wheel and wait for futureages to bring him to higher levels of consciousness.

THE LETTERS

A series of letters written to friendsand fellow students in Americaduring the first fourteen monthsof his sojourn with the Master.

One

Dera Baba Jaimal SinghPunjab, IndiaJune 3, 1932

Dr. and Mrs. H.M. Brock,Port Angeles, Washington, U.S.A.

My dear Friends:—I am going to write to you the veryfirst letter after my arrival here and the meeting with theMaster. All of this experience has made me feel morethan ever my indebtedness to you as the Master's repre-sentatives in America.

When I arrived in Calcutta, I found four letters fromthe Master awaiting me, giving me assurances of hiswelcome to India, and also giving me directions as to myprocedure on arrival. He desired me to come directly tohim, rather than stopping over to see other places justnow. He said he was going to Karachi shortly andinvited me to accompany him. Of course, I followed hisinstructions, and accordingly sent him a telegram that Iwas taking the first train out of Calcutta for JullundurCity and Beas. I had only about six hours in Calcutta,and saw but little of that great city. However that did notmatter. I was looking forward to something much betterthan seeing cities.

It took me two nights and one day, by fast mailtrain; and so, about six o'clock Thursday morning,June 2,1 arrived in Jullundur City, a nice little city abouttwenty-seven miles from Beas. Two of the Master's most

LETTER ONE

intimate helpers met me at the train. One was his privatesecretary, Rai Sahib, and the other was Sardar BhagatSingh, an attorney or advocate in Jullundur City. Thesemen extended to me such a cordial welcome that I soonfelt quite at home. The Master's secretary is all kindnessand goodness, and the attorney just radiates true nobilityand spirituality.

But the greatest of all surprises awaited me as Ientered the home of the attorney and stood face to facewith the Master himself. They had not informed me thathe was there. I expected to have to go on to the retreat atBeas to meet him. But he was so kind as to come on toJullundur City even the night before, so as to be there tomeet me and extend his gracious welcome. The attorneyintroduced me by saying: "And here is the beloved Mas-ter you have come so far to see." But I would haveknown he was the Master, if no word had been spoken.There is no one like him. I was simply unable to speak,scarcely able to think. I just grasped his hand and stoodthere. After a while, I was able to tell him that I was mosthappy to have this privilege of meeting him. I do notknow just what he said, but it was something about mebeing most welcome. It seemed that I stood there in asort of daze, but quite happy. A sense of great peace hadcome into my soul. One of the signs of true greatness isthat they do not awe you with their greatness, toweringabove you; but they inspire in you a subtle peace of mindand soul and make you glad.

All about the Master were grouped a number of menand women, some sitting on the rugs, and others actuallykneeling in an attitude of worship. Later when I had achance to notice them, I could see that their faces wereliterally shining with love and happiness. The Master satdown, after shaking hands with me, and I was given a

3 JUNE 1932 27

chair close by him, while all the rest sat on the floor so asto be lower than he was. This was to show their respectfor his exalted character.

At length I was able to find speech and told the Mas-ter that I was so taken by surprise at meeting him thusunexpectedly, that I was quite unable to express my deepappreciation at having this wonderful privilege of meet-ing and talking with him. He expressed delight that I hadbeen able to complete my long journey and assured methat he would do all he could to make my sojourn inIndia as comfortable as possible; but he expressed someconcern lest the food and such accommodations as theycould provide might not be what I was accustomed toand so might prove a hardship to me. I assured him thatmaterial food and physical comforts were of very littleimportance to me now. I had come to India for thatspiritual food which was of much more vital concern.His smile was most gracious and he assured me that hewould do his best to give me even that spiritual food as Ihad need.

First impression of the MasterAnd now I wish I could really describe him to you or

tell you of my impressions. But did you ever try to des-cribe a beautiful sunset? I was expecting to see an un-usual man. I knew he had a long white beard. I knew hewas an elderly man and an East Indian. The color of hisskin is about that of the average American with a goodcoat of suntan. He is five feet nine inches tall, and weighsone hundred and twenty-eight pounds. He wears a tallwhite turban and his general bearing is that of natural-born nobility. No king could be more graceful and dig-nified, and yet that dignity is so tempered with sweethumility that one is drawn to him. His voice is low and

28 LETTER ONE

clear as silver bells. His smile is extremely gracious andone can see that his heart holds loving kindness to all.

After an hour with him, about all I could do was tojust sit and think of his face. I could think of nothingelse. I could still feel the vibrating music of his voice. Icould fancy the whole environment was permeated by apeculiar light. Or was that a fancy? His followers here donot think that is a fancy. To them he is verily 'the Lightof the world'. And that is no exaggeration or hyperbole.Truly, as his secretary wrote several years ago, he is to beseen and not described. Since seeing him I can think ofnothing else. His image lingers before me all the while. Ihave never seen such a face before, nor imagined therewas one like it among the sons of men. If ever there was aface combining old age (he is now seventy-four years ofage) with beauty, majesty and calm power, it is his. Butbeyond all of that there is a sort of spiritual radiancewhich no words can describe, but which gives one afeeling of deep peace, as if the discords of earth were nolonger possible in his presence.

As you look into his face you lose all desire to talk,even ask questions. You simply absorb the light. Hisvoice is vibrant with love and his smile seems as if itlights up the room. He is as simple in manner as a littlechild, with no sort of pose or air about him. He alwaysappears as if he regretted being the center of an adoringcrowd. His spirit of good fellowship is enchanting. Yousoon feel at home with him and not only that, but youcome to feel that there is no real home except in his pres-ence. Thus he makes you a part of his own family at once.His manner toward all of us is like that of a mothercomforting her tired children and soothing them to rest.His manifest love is his supreme quality, as it appearsto me, and that is also the very essence of his gospel.

3 JUNE 1932 29

The spirit of true brotherhoodI had come from the very opposite side of this globe

to see the Master, and now the one hour and a half Ihave spent with him is more than abundant reward formy long journey. He and the entire group of discipleshave given me such a sincere welcome that I cannot findwords to express my gratitude. Their love appears toknow no bounds. They treat me as if I were truly theirown brother returning from abroad. In it all there is noformality of any sort. It is real brotherhood. It is a deepmystery how this has come about. I must have time tothink. At present I am conscious only of a deep peaceand of infinite gratitude that the Supreme Father hasdirected my wandering feet to stand at last in the pres-ence of a living Master.

At four in the afternoon I bade adieu to our worthyfriend the lawyer and the Master and left with the Mas-ter's secretary for the retreat at Beas. Dera really meanstent. It was originally the hermitage of Baba JaimalSingh, who was Guru to our Master. Now the place iscalled 'Dera Baba Jaimal Singh' in honor of him. When Ileft the Master in Jullundur City he was ready to start ona trip across country to visit his sons and other relativesat Sirsa, about one hundred and fifty miles from here. Atthe end of the week he will return here and we will startfor Karachi as the weather is now getting quite warm inthis section. We came to the Dera in a beautiful Dodgesedan belonging to our Master. I was made welcome byall of the good people of the Dera and was soon comfor-tably quartered in the guest house. Every attention wasgiven to my comfort. They are all so kind to me, and Isimply cannot give them money, not even the barber.They will not have it. They say it is their privilege toserve me as their brother and guest. I wonder if there is

30 LETTER ONE

another such group of people on earth? I doubt it, evenas I doubt if there is another such sublime faith knownto man. Here they live their religion. It is their dailybread, their life, from the Master down to the poorestlaborer.

A great monthly satsangLast Sunday was the time of the regular monthly

gathering, and over eight thousand people were here,they say. There were two thousand people applying forinitiation, and of that number the Master accepted andinitiated seven hundred and forty. And of the totalnumber initiated, two—and they were both women—were able to see inner light during the devotional periodwhich followed the initiation.

Meditation at three a.m.You will no doubt be interested and perhaps amused

when I tell you that promptly at three o'clock this morn-ing, at the ringing of a bell or gong, I got up and sat fordevotion for a period of three hours. It was never so veryeasy for me to get up early in the morning, unless it wasto go to the surgery for an emergency operation. I wasalways ready for that at any hour of the day or night. Buthere at the Dera the Master always rises at three o'clockin the morning for his devotions, and he generally sitsuntil six in the summer time, and until eight in the win-ter. Most of the others do not sit so long. This is notcompulsory on anyone; but all do it out of their love forthe Master, because they know it is his wish. The Masterregards the sitting as the most important of all our activi-ties. After a delightful period spent in meditation, I wentto sleep for a while only to be awakened by a bunch ofboys who wanted me to go for a walk with them. Among

View of the colony of Radha Soami Satsang Beas.

3 JUNE 1932 31

them was a grandson of the Master and a great grand-son, the latter a beautiful boy of about six years. So wewent for a delightful walk up the Beas river, just as thesun was coming up over the valley beyond. The riverhere is perhaps a quarter of a mile wide and it presents aweird and enchanting scene peculiar to this country.

The time passes, and as this letter is already longenough, I must bring it to a close. I will no doubt havemore to write later that will be of interest to all of you. Ihope I may thus be of some real service to the Americanstudents who may not have this privilege which I amenjoying.

With R.S. greetings and fraternal love to each one, Iam very happy to be your grateful fellow student,

Julian P. Johnson

Two

KarachiJuly 12,1932

Dear American Fellow Students:

In my last letter I gave you an account of my firstmeeting with the Master. Believing that a further ac-count may be of interest to you, I am going to give youin some detail the story of the last month with the Mas-ter. It must be understood in the beginning that Iacknowledge my utter inability to do justice to the sub-ject. But I will do the best I can. And I hope in the futureto be able to eliminate myself from these accounts; butjust now I regret that I am unable to do that because ofthe fact that I am writing about my own experiences andimpressions. These letters are therefore somewhat in thenature of a personal testimony, of which personal expe-rience must form the basis.

The man who brought the message to AmericaIt is the custom of the Master to give daily discourses

on some phase of his teaching in public meetings whichare called satsang. These satsang gatherings are largelyattended every day, and at the end of the month manythousands attend. It is then a sort of 'camp meeting'.There has been manifest the deepest interest and mostabsorbed attention in all of these meetings which theAmerican has attended. But the weather was getting veryhot, some days up to 120; and the Master, with a few

12 JULY 1932 33

others, was getting ready to leave for the coast. One hotevening we sat on the roof terrace of a building andconversed for two hours with Ker Singh Sasmus, theman who brought the Radha Soami message to Americaand gave the instructions to Dr. and Mrs. Brock morethan twenty years ago. He is now gray, with long beardand a patriarchal appearance, but very active; and hisface is full of light and love. He is so utterly unassuming,humble and kindly that it is a real benediction to meethim. I said to him: "And so you are the one who broughtthis great Truth to America and initiated Dr. Brock."Quickly he replied: "No, I did not initiate Dr. Brock; Ionly served as the beloved Master's helper. We can donothing of ourselves. It is the Master alone who initiatesall souls. He alone connects them with the SoundCurrent."

A journey into higher regionsI shall never forget another evening which I spent on

the roof with a small bunch of the Master's most beloveddisciples, and we listened to a lady give a detailed ac-count of her spiritual experiences, what she saw andheard during her journey through the first, second andthird regions, and up to where she entered the region justbeyond Daswan Dwar. The only trouble with the ac-count was that the interpreters became so absorbed inthe story themselves that they almost forgot to tell it tome. This was a rare privilege as disciples are generallyforbidden to relate their inner experiences to others. Buton this occasion we had special permission from theMaster. And this is only one instance of how kind andgracious he is to everyone. It will be impossible for menow to give you even a resume of this story. Perhapssome time I may do so. But it made the journey ahead of

34 LETTER TWO

us all a more vital and fascinating undertaking, thrillingto the last word. One could see the light of Truth and joyshining in her face as she told in simple language of themarvels she had seen. But she paused to say that therewere no words in earth language to describe many of thethings to be met with there. They were utterly unlikeanything familiar to earth travelers. But she told heramazing story with such unhesitating assurance of real-ity that it carried conviction. I believe she has been aboutfifteen years on the Path and is much loved by all whoknow her. She appears to be about forty-five years ofage. Her name is Bibi Rakhi.

Sight restored to blindOn another occasion a group of disciples sat on the

roof and we listened to stories of many kind deeds of theMaster in helping students. It may be known to all ofyou that as a rule the Master does not use his extraordi-nary powers to perform miracles. But they say that onspecial occasions, when the disciple has great merit andhis spiritual welfare can best be promoted by suchmeans, the Master does extend his grace even to theextent of a miracle. This is true especially when thekarma of the disciple is favorable. But it must be wellunderstood that this faith is not built upon miracles, noris any student to look for them in his own experience. Ifthey come, it is simply his good fortune and the bound-less grace of the Master.

One account was of a lady who went totally blind.The doctors had given her case over entirely, saying thatshe would never recover sight for the function of theoptic nerve was gone. She and her husband were bothdevoted disciples of the Master and their love wasextraordinary.They had advanced far on the Path. So

12 JULY 1932 35

on one occasion when this lady was traversing one of theupper regions in company with the Master and a fewothers, another radiant one walking with them said tothe Master in the hearing of the lady herself: "This ladyis quite worthy, you should restore her sight." The Mas-ter instantly replied: "All right." And on the morning ofthe second day thereafter the lady's husband came intothe room where she was sitting, and as she looked up tohim her sight was perfectly normal. While this story wasbeing related to the writer, the lady herself sat therebefore him, with large, clear and beautiful eyes smiling athim, confirming every word of it. She is the wife of RajaRam of Rawalpindi, a well-known businessman.

Many similar events are related by the Master's dis-ciples; but they are somewhat in the nature of secrets andthe Master does not like to have them given to the publicin such a way as to attract attention to himself. I mustnot go into them any further now.

Visit to the kingdom of KapurthalaI would like to give you an account of my visit to the

native kingdom of Kapurthala, only a couple of hoursdrive from Beas; of the drive through the grounds, visitto the palace, a veritable museum of ancient and modernimplements of war, many other historic relics, and thebeautiful art exhibits. The rajah is a lover of art andsome rare specimens adorn his palace walls. But thesethings can be told by travelers who have nothing moreimportant to write about. I must hasten on with my storyof the Master and his work. I may just mention in pass-ing that I was a guest in the home of a college professorby the name of Jagmohan Lai who teaches in an excel-lent school of higher learning in the capital city of thislittle kingdom. For two days the most cordial brotherly

36 LETTER TWO

love and kindness was extended to me in the home ofthis good man who is a devoted follower of our Master.It was through his kindness that the writer was admittedto the royal palace and grounds.

The Master is thinking of AmericaOne day the Master and a number of the leading

disciples were sitting in my room conversing, while I wasshowing them my diplomas. When I showed the Mastermy diploma in theology, one of the men remarked that itwas my certificate to be a 'padre'. The Master smiled andsaid: "Now you will soon be a real padre." And when oneof the men urged the Master to go to America, thiswriter said: "Yes, it would be a great day for America, ifyou would consent to go there and take them the Truth."The Master replied: "The work that I would do in Amer-ica you shall do for me, and that is why you have beenbrought here to prepare for it."

Love, the supreme lawOn the morning of the 20th I met the Master at the

bedside of a sick man. After a few minutes' conversationwith the sick man, the Master turned to me and said inEnglish: "Where there is love there is no law." I said:"Yes, because love is the supreme law." And the Mastersaid: "Yes, that is true."

Hard to remain here in the bodyOne day the Master seemed a bit sad and I asked him

if he did not feel well. He said, yes he felt all right. Andthen he went on talking about the higher regions, howthe soul so much disliked to come back down here andput on dirty rags, when it was used to wearing the finestrobes in the palaces of the Father's kingdom. He said: "It

12 JULY 1932 37

is hard to remain here in the body." On another occasionthe Master remarked that if one looks down upon thisworld from the higher regions, it all resembles a bunch ofgarbage cans and outhouses, in comparison. The veryatmosphere seems poisoned and so dark in comparisonwith the fair lands above. So it is difficult even for theunselfish Master to remain away from home and live inthis low land of shadow and uncleanness. Only his greatlove for human souls who so much need his help detainshim here. But there is one great compensation which hehas even now. He may daily visit his splendid mansionsabove and converse with the glorified inhabitants of thatregion. The joy of that then sustains him through all ofhis arduous labor here. He knows it is only a matter oftime until his work will be finished here and he will takeup his permanent residence there.

The Master's eldest sonI must tell you of the visit of the Master's eldest son.

He recently came to visit his father at the Dera. He is afine-looking large man, now with hair and beard gray,looking to be about fifty years of age. When I was intro-duced to him, I made the remark that I would rather bethe son of such a father as his than to be the Prince ofWales. He replied that he too was very proud of hisfather, and he added: "He is as God to me." I understandthat this eldest son was initiated by the Guru of ourMaster. The Master's family are all initiates, I am told.On another day when we all met with the Master forsatsang in Lahore on our way to Karachi, this same soncame to greet his father, and it was an inspiring sight towitness the devotion he manifested. There stood theMaster with dignity tempered by a beautiful humility,and a tall, stately old man, with long gray beard, the

38 LETTER TWO

Master's son, prostrated himself on his knees touchinghis forehead to his father's feet. I fancied such a sight wasrare on this planet.

Ninety-one years a satsangiI must mention an old satsangi who is a faithful

attendant at all of the meetings. He is one hundred andnine years of age and was initiated by Soami Ji himself,the founder of this science, ninety years ago. He is a bitstooped and feeble now, but is able to attend all of themeetings. He walks to them all and sits as close to theMaster as he can get. One day I asked him if he washappy and he said: "Oh yes, of course." Day after day hesits, the joy-bells ringing through his soul, waitingpatiently for his release. He is very thin. Evidently notmuch of his time does he put in consciously down here,when he can withdraw from the body and rest in thosebright upper regions with which he is already quitefamiliar.

(It may be added here that he passed to his Homeabove only a few weeks after this letter was first written,and his poor old thin body was reduced to ashes out onthe banks of the Beas river.)

The journey to KarachiAt 4 a.m., June 23, we left Beas for Lahore, the

capital city of Punjab, on our way to the sea coast. Thispart of the trip was made by motorcar. We stopped overa few minutes in Amritsar where, in the dawning day-light, several hundreds awaited the Master at the newhall. A wealthy man by the name of Shiv Shankar isbuilding a magnificent new Radha Soami hall and quar-ters for the Master to hold satsang in Amritsar. TheMaster inspected the work on the new structure and we

12 JULY 1932 39

then drove on, arriving in Lahore at seven o'clock. Wefound a crowd of about five thousand people awaitingthe Master and he gave an hour's talk. After a brief restand breakfast, the Master went on to a distant villagewhere about four thousand people were gathered togreet him, while the rest of us remained in Lahore. Atnine o'clock the next morning the Master met us at thetrain en route for the coast and we went on together.

At about eleven o'clock that morning our trainpulled into a station amidst a great throng of people,many thousands. They had heard that the Master was tobe on that train. He went out to meet them. They haderected a little platform and spread rugs for him. TheMaster never stands up and lectures to the people,American fashion. He always sits on the floor or on alittle raised platform, and, with legs crossed, talks tothem in a conversational manner. His voice is full ofmelody and it carries well to a large audience. At thisparticular station the train was actually held up forabout half an hour by the crowd, while they clamoredfor the Master's 'darshan'—that is, just to see him andgive him their Radha Soami and get his greetings. Canyou imagine a fast mail train in America being detainedby a mob of five thousand people pressing to get aglimpse of a minister or priest of some church?

Again it must have been about ten o'clock that nightwhen the train stopped and a great crowd came sweepingin from the platform, almost pulling the Master out ofhis bed, men and women all in one grand rush to get nearhim. They crowded into the compartment and then theMaster went out onto the platform and talked to themfor a few minutes. This was the last demonstration onthe way to Karachi, which we reached on the morning ofthe 25th.

40 LETTER TWO

Karachi by the seaKarachi is a beautiful little city lying along the

borders of the Arabian Sea, about fifty miles north of themouth of the Indus river. As we came near the city astrange sight greeted us. An airport lay out to our leftwith two modern planes standing there, one of them withthe motor going just ready to take off. Over to our rightwas the highway, and on it mingled modern motorbuses,ox carts, and a long string of camels forming a caravan,such as might have been seen on these shores long beforethe days of Alexander the Great, or even before the daysof Abraham, or the Babylonian empire—ages of historymeeting at a single point.

Arriving in the city we were met by friends, and theever-present motorcar always waiting for the Masterwherever he may go. This time it was a Buick andbelonged to Devan Sahib, a Government railway official,who is a disciple of the Master. We drove a few milesthrough the city and then out into the suburbs to anelevated region by the sea, where we found two bunga-lows all ready for us. Many friends who had preceded uswere waiting to welcome the Master. Here soft breezesblow in from the sea practically all of the time, day andnight. Like some places on the coast of California, thislittle city is rapidly building up as a summer resort.Many magnificent palaces are already built here andothers are under construction. The change is most wel-come after the heat of the Punjab plains and the dustof the long journey. A bath and breakfast and oncemore the world seems a fair place to live in.

The Master sits by the seaAnd now what shall I say? Am I still on earth, or am

I in some weird borderland? And how shall I estimate

12 JULY 1932 41

the values or describe the situation? It is all so strange, sounlike anything in the homeland. It is beyond words.Here we sit by the ever-surging waters of the ArabianSea calmly watching its white caps break upon shoreshoary with age and rich in history. We think of ancientreligious teachers who have visited this land and proba-bly stood upon this very spot, including Krishna andBuddha and even Jesus himself. For it is known that hevisited here. We try to recall some of the doctrines of theancient sages, prophets and Mahatmas; and all the whilewe are conscious of the fact that the greatest of them allsits on a bench here by us at this moment, calmly readinga book.

We have so often wished that we could have knownsome of those great souls who were the lightbearers ofthe human race; and yet right here by our side sits onewhose radiance is not dimmed by comparison with anyof them. For he has penetrated all the deep mysteries oflife and of death and he has conquered the last obstaclebetween man and the supreme heights. Here by usquietly rests one whose powers far transcend those of thegreatest prophets of old. And I sit here by the waters ofthe ancient sea, trying vainly to comprehend the situa-tion. As I sat there at his feet studying the situation, helooked up from his book and glanced across at the rest-less waves. Some children played near him and a smilelighted his face as he watched them.

This writer then asked the Master the following ques-tion: "When you know so much more than all the booksin the world, why do you read them?" He smiled andsaid: "I wish to familiarize the mind with the writings ofthe different Saints so as to use them in my discourses tosupport the teachings of Sant Mat. There are manypeople who look to some old authority which they have

42 LETTER TWO

learned to revere. We can often take advantage of that toconvince them of an important truth."

It is difficult now to fit myself into the picture here. Iam an American trained to different ideas—trained inthe materialistic West; that West which believes itself tolead the world in all modern achievements. As a productof that West, I sit here at the feet of the greatest ofmodern sages whose wisdom embraces and transcendsall ages and lands. I sit at the feet of one whose powersare not limited by time or space, whose word or willcould transform a kingdom or a world, whose veryglance has in it the power of death or of eternal life; aye,whose commands even the waves of this ancient sea mustobey, if he chose to command them.

And yet he is in outer appearance only a gentle oldman, with long white beard and a kindly smile for thechildren that play at his feet. The multitudes pass byhim, some haughty and vain, not even noticing him, benton errands of pleasure, pomp and ceremony. But occa-sionally comes a group of satsangis who bow adoringlyat his feet. I listen as he greets them with that sweetest ofall pronouncements—"Radha Soami." And so the daypasses. All the while I keep thinking, what a pity that theworld does not know him. The crowds pass him by as ifthey were utterly blind, and so they lose the goldenopportunity which might have meant so much to them, ifonly their eyes had been opened.

Glimpses of a marvelous TruthHow I wish I could do justice to the subject. But I am

as yet only a little child on this holy path. Day by day Iam trying to grasp the deeper meaning of this sublimeTruth; but much of it still eludes me. It is much like anexperience I had at Crater Lake, once, the first time I

12 JULY 1932 43

ever saw it. I went up and sat down at the rim, and forfour hours I sat there trying to let my soul grow bigenough to appreciate the majesty and sublimity of it all.So I sit today at the feet of the Master, trying to pene-trate the deep mystery, trying to open my consciousnessto an adequate appreciation of its sublime depths.

Aside from the Master himself, I try again and againto compare this system of Truth with other teachings,and daily I am more and more amazed at its solemngrandeur. It is like the peaks of the Himalayas, only afew hundred miles north of us. It is monumental, gigan-tic, overwhelming. But no man can absorb it all at once.At first there will be doubts and many things will aston-ish the student. Later he will come to wonder why all theworld has not seen its truth and hastened to make it theirown. It is so obviously true. After floundering about in avortex of religious and philosophical speculation for ahalf-century, I am prepared to welcome this teachingwith more than ordinary gladness. When one gets even afeeble grasp of its fundamentals he simply knows it istrue. It is so clearly rational and it meets all demands ofboth reason and intuition. It is a scientific fact and itsolves all of the problems of life, here and hereafter; andthey are solved in such a beautiful and simple mannerthat one instinctively knows he has reached the finalsolution.

And the center and soul of it all is the gracious Mas-ter himself, now living among us. He goes on loving andteaching and helping us, leading us up over all thedifficult places, up and up, until the last supreme heightis reached and we merge our souls into the Stream thatgave us being, bathed in infinite Light.

There is much more one could write, but not now.This letter is already too long. I will close it with a prayer

44 LETTER TWO

which I believe you will all like. It was written by ourfirst Master, Soami Ji, and was translated into beautifulEnglish by Pingle Rung Rao of Hyderabad, Deccan:

O August Radha Soami,Thou living Self and loving Master,Beneficent Father and Mother of all,Be merciful, make us thine own,And save us from the snares of time.Passed I through Sat Yuga, Treta and Dwapar,Unknowing of the heavenly melody proper;Now art thou merciful in this Kal Yuga hard,To chant in loud and lucid strains the Word,O Soami, descending into this plane below.

Helpest thou the living entitiesTo span the worldly ocean across;To cast the trinity off and reach the Fourth AbodeWhence the living Name unfolds,And the living mastershipBathed in glory and effulgent light;Thy servant tenders this solemn petition:Grant us even the regionless region,The chief abode, the sphere of bliss,The refuge at thy feet, My Lord.

With greetings of fraternal love, I am

Your fellow student at His feet,Julian P. Johnson

Three

Karachi, IndiaAug. 9, 1932

Dear American Children of the Light,

The time has arrived for this disciple to make afurther report to you concerning his experiences inIndia. On the second day of this month, just two monthsfrom the day he first met the Master, he made the follow-ing entry in his diary:

"For twenty-five years I prayed and longed for theday when I might stand before a living Master. Now,thank Heaven, I sit at his holy feet, look into his eyes,listen to his inspiring voice as he expounds to his dis-ciples and others the sublime precepts of his message. Iwonder how it has come about and yet it is a livingreality. Daily my consciousness becomes more absorbedin this glorious Truth, daily more enraptured in thesacred presence of my Lord."

The above entry gives some clue as to my presentattitude of mind after two months with the greatest of allteachers. But the Master daily grows upon one's con-sciousness. No beginner can fathom his depths all atonce. Often after years of constant association, the dis-ciple fails to appreciate fully what the Master is. Themind is so stupid, and it has wandered in the darknessso long.

LETTER THREE

Morning dawn by the Arabian SeaIt is now four o'clock in the morning, on the shores

of the Arabian Sea, where this disciple stands. The hushpreceding the dawn is only accentuated by the roar of thewaves breaking upon the sands. On the east coast ofIndia the red streaks of dawn are just beginning to bereflected in the sacred waters of the Ganges. Early pil-grims are gathering for their morning bath. Threehundred and fifty million people are at this moment justbeginning to stir with the activities of a new day. But thelight of this dawning day is material, and it brings norelief from the wheel of birth and death. The light of theSpirit is not yet shining in the souls of all of these mil-lions. There the darkness of the ages still broods, andeach soul keeps its silent vigil in the prisonhouse ofMaya. Age after age, through ten thousand times tenthousand lives, these poor souls have struggled upthrough the slime and ooze of earth—up and up, slowlyemerging into the light. And this disciple, listening hereto the ancient song of the sea, while the first streaks ofdawn light up the east, prays for the dawn in his ownsoul. In the dim early light he can see the vague outlinesof a bungalow, standing on the crest of a hill; and in thatbungalow at this moment quietly sits the Master in holymeditation. In that the disciple can see the hope of Indiaand of the world. For the hope of the world, the light ofthe world, is the living Master.

The Master always busySince the last letter this disciple has lived, apparently,

many years of ordinary life; so much of thought andexperience has been crowded into one short month.Indeed, after wasting millions of years, it is highly expe-dient that we should concentrate much activity into what

9 AUGUST 1932 47

time is left. The dear Master gives satsang twice a day toall disciples and enquirers besides many private audien-ces. We all try to spend as much time with him as pos-sible, and his patience is never exhausted, listening toquestions, some of which must appear trivial and silly tohim. Yet he always has a kindly answer for every one. Heprescribes spiritual remedies for all our spiritual ills. Heis the Great Physician. People continue to come from alldirections to see him. He came here for rest; but they willnot let him rest. The little informal talks in the sittingroom have grown into gatherings of two to threehundreds. Many of all classes and creeds come to see andhear the 'Holy Man'. Some out of curiosity, some toargue, and some to seek the Truth.

Only two weeks ago an overenthusiastic leader of theSikh religion came and tried to involve the Master inarguments. Later his fanatical followers started opposi-tion meetings nearby and some of them came and triedto create disturbances in our meetings. The police had tobe called once to dispel the mob and restore order. Everyinch of ground is bitterly contested. This Radha SoamiScience is much opposed all over India, wherever it ispreached, because it destroys the old superstitions andinterferes with the livelihood of the priests. It is particu-larly opposed by the Sikhs whose fundamental faith ispractically the same as this; but they have given up theidea of a living Master and bound themselves to thesacred writings alone. This fatal mistake of theirs nodoubt came about through a misunderstanding of someremark made by their last Guru just before his death.Anyway they now denounce all living Masters althoughtheir sacred scriptures teach the vital importance of aliving Guru. This is a very peculiar phenomenon in thehistory of world religions.

48 LETTER THREE

But in spite of all opposition, the Radha Soamiteaching is rapidly spreading. Having started publicly in1861, it now numbers something like a quarter of a mil-lion adherents. It may be said with truth that this is notreally a religion in the historical sense of that term. It hasno creed, no priests, no ceremony, no outward show ofany sort, and no organization. There is only the Masterand his disciples. That is all. The system itself may becalled, "The Science of connecting the soul with its Crea-tor." That is the Master's own definition. It is the prac-tice of the Sound Current, through a scientific system ofconcentration and meditation. It is not concerned withany external forms. It establishes no external authority.The individual simply follows the Master, as the studentof chemistry would follow his instructor in the labora-tory. It is a universal science and is worldwide in itsapplication to human needs. It is suited to all nationsand peoples. It is the only religious or spiritual systemever inaugurated in history that is absolutely universal inits application to the religious needs of mankind. Andwhile it is not actually a religion in the historical sense ofthe term, yet it amply satisfies the deepest religious needsof the soul; and in uniting the soul with its Creator itaccomplishes the summum bonum of all religions. Itanswers to the noblest aspirations of the finest spiritsamong men.

AH classes wait upon the MasterIt is quite interesting to note the personnel of the

Master's disciples. Just yesterday, out of a gathering ofabout three hundred, we noted sitting meekly at theMaster's feet, listening to him with rapt attention, fourdoctors, six college professors, five lawyers and judges,including one supreme court judge, and a considerable

9 AUGUST 1932 49

number of others, probably eight or ten, who havedegrees of Master of Arts, Doctor of Science, Bachelorof Arts, etc. It must be a marvelous message indeed thatcan appeal to such men so strongly and at the same timeappeal with equal force to the lowly and the ignorant.While they cannot follow the scientific aspects of thesystem, they absorb the spirit of it in their souls and soreach the goal at the same time as the learned and thegreat. It is a blessed thing that the ignorant can love aswell as the learned, and it is love that takes the soul up.

Wherever the Master goes he is loved and honoredalike by all. At his holy feet all meet on a common level,and all worldly distinctions are forgotten. Even rajashave bowed before him and sought to make gifts to him.But the Master accepts no favors from anyone, high orlow. He remains always the giver himself, never thereceiver. He insists that his mission in this world is togive and not to receive. In that respect, as in all others,he is our great exemplar. A few days ago this discipleattended a rich lady in sickness at her home. The hus-band gave him twenty-five rupees for the charity fund, asreward for his medical services. But the Master orderedthe money returned, with the message that we wantonly the love and goodwill of the people and not theirworldly goods. Where on earth is there an equal to this?

Two important things learnedIf you ask this disciple what is the most important

thing he has learned during these two months spent withthe Master, the answer must be that two things havetaken prominent positions in his consciousness.

The first one is the supreme importance of the Master.This great truth grows upon one as he advances in thestudy. He finds more and more that the Master is the

very center and soul and substance of the system. With-out him there is nothing. And this means that he must bea living Master—not one of past ages. It is in this respectthat all of the prevailing world religions have made theirfatal blunder. It is the reason why they have becomedevitalized, a dead formality, a lifeless shell. No soul canever be saved from the clutches of Maya and the wheel ofbirth and death without the aid of a living Master. Thereis no other way and there never has been any other wayfor a single soul to escape. Without the personal inter-vention and help of a living Master no one now or in anypast age has ever been able to shake off the bonds ofmind and matter and rise to higher regions. We are allutterly dependent upon his grace for our liberation.Without him each soul is as dependent and helpless as anewborn infant. Left to itself, it would surely perish.

The Master illustrates the situation by comparing usall to people in frail little boats out on an angry sea, eachby himself struggling on against inevitable death in thestorm-lashed waters. There is no possible escape. But inthe midst of the struggle, a great ship hoves in sight andthe captain calls aloud to all in the angry waters belowthat they may come aboard the ship and he will takethem safely to port. The captain is the Master and theship of salvation is Nam, the Sound Current. But in spiteof the fact that death is certain if they remain where theyare, yet very few accept the gracious invitation of theCaptain. This is because they are laboring under thedeceptive delirium of the physical senses, deceived by thegod of this world. The conclusion of the whole matter isthat all systems of religion or philosophy which makenot the Master the keystone of their structure must bediscarded and the living Master must be sought, as thevery first and most vital concern of the individual.

9 AUGUST 1932 51

What is a real MasterIn spite of the fact that he had believed in the exis-

tence of real Masters for a quarter of a century, thisdisciple did not have a very clear and definite idea ofwhat a Master is until he had contacted one. It isbelieved that occult students generally do not have a veryclear conception of the Master. Of course, the wholeworld is more or less familiar with the general idea ofmahatma, rishi, guru, or master. They are generallythought of as great men who have 'attained', who haverealized 'superconsciousness', who have miraculouspowers. Men and women talk and write learnedly ofmastership. The masters are conceded to be great andunusual men. But when we are told that a true Satguruor Master is in fact the Lord Creator himself, now andhere, operating in a human body, the student is some-what startled, to say the least. Many will be ready tothrow up their hands in protest. How can it be? And yetif you reflect but a moment, you will see that the Mastercould be nothing else than just that.

We speak of oneness with the divine. Unless that is amere rhetorical flourish, it must mean what it says. Andactual oneness with the Infinite means identical individu-ality. Hence the Master who has attained that onenesswith the infinite Lord is now identical with the Lord. Heis the Lord. We speak of a spirit of oneness amonggroups of individuals; but that involves no organic one-ness. It is a mere figure of speech. But the case is quitedifferent where individual men attain oneness with theSupreme Being. In that case they actually blend theirvery beings with the Supreme. They thus partake fully ofall of His attributes. So the lesser becomes identical withthe greater, one and the same being. That is the goal ofall development. It is beyond the highest heaven of

52 LETTER THREE

poetic fancy, or of prophetic vision. And that is exactlywhat the Master has attained. That is exactly what hasmade him a Master. The exercise of his divine preroga-tives is limited only by the human body in which heresides, and the laws governing the life of that body.

If one objects that this exalts the individual man toohighly, it may be replied that it exalts the whole humanrace along with the Master. If he be a god, then all menare potential gods. They are in fact gods already of alesser degree. If the Master is the Supreme Creator oper-ating in the human body, then all men are sparks of thatsame central fire. An illustration may help us to graspthe idea. The concept of oneness is fundamental to theoccult student for he must lose himself and not onlycome 'in tune with the Infinite', but must become onewith the Infinite. If we take a common electric bulb offifty-watt power and let it stand for the average high-class man, then we may compare the Master to one offifty thousand-watt power—although of course, the pro-portion is not correct. But the light in both is due to thesame electric current that comes from the same centraldynamo. Manifestly the only difference between the twolights lies in the amount of concentrated energy andpower and the intensity of radiation. In both cases latentuniversal energy has become dynamic. Each one is a partand parcel of the same universal Essence; but it is not allof that Essence.

So, the Master is the Lord himself; but he is not all ofthe Lord. For the Infinite Creator is Universal Spirit. Hebecomes dynamic in individuals, and thus sheds his holyradiance among men. The Master manifests the Lord,but he does not manifest all of the Lord in this onehuman body. Likewise the ordinary man is a spark of thedivine Essence, but he has not yet developed into that

9 AUGUST 1932 53

glowing, radiating Light that the Master has become.But the disciple looks confidently forward to the timewhen he also shall become a Master, when his light shallshine equally with that of other Masters. And that is theglorious outlook of all students on this Path. All aboutus here at the Dera are men and women who are wellalong on the Way, and the joy of attainment even nowillumines their faces. To lead the disciple to the goal ofmastership is the work of the Master, and without theMaster, no one can ever attain mastership. It is utterlyimpossible. Hence the vital importance of the Master inthe Radha Soami system.

Egotism our worst enemyThe second great truth so strongly emphasized here

during the last two months of intensive study is the factthat egotism is our worst enemy. It is the most stubbornand difficult force to be overcome before we can makeprogress on the inward path. And it is also the last one todie when the disciple has fought his final battle andstands on the very threshold of perfect realization. Thisis one of the five deadly foes that seek always to enchainus to the Wheel. It can be overcome only by the gracioushelp of the Satguru. Here again his vital importance tothe student is manifest. Without him we struggle in vainagainst these five deadly enemies of the soul. They arethe chief agents of the Negative Power, under the direc-tion of the mind, to keep us bound to earth.

We leave Karachi tomorrow on the return journeyby way of Agra. We should have some very interestingthings to report in our next letter.

With fraternal love and best wishesFrom your brother at his holy feet,

Julian P. Johnson

Four

The DeraSept. 8, 1932

Beloved Children of the Dawn,

Greetings from the beloved Master and from all sat-sangis in India. How we wish you could have been withus during the past six weeks. Many and varied have beenthe experiences. The delightful breezes of the ArabianSea were a blessing to soul and body. But the time cameto leave the coast. It appears that while time is no item inthe successive ages of the soul, yet to this short-livedbody time seems always to be crowding us. The Masterand party left the coast for Hyderabad on the tenth ofAugust, this disciple remaining behind to look after asick member of our party. He then rejoined the Mastertwo days later in Hyderabad where we were all enter-tained in the elegant home of Devan Sahib, an executiveofficer in the North Western Railway. He is of course adisciple of the Master. This is Hyderabad, Sind, to dis-tinguish it from Hyderabad, Deccan. It is a beautifullittle city lying along the banks of the Indus river. Herethe Master as usual held satsang, attended by enthusias-tic crowds.

Satsang in Hyderabad, SindAt the first evening satsang held here an old man

insisted on arguing with the Master, although he hadbeen an initiate for over thirty years. This is something

8 SEPTEMBER 1932 55

that is almost incomprehensible. How many humanbeings who have accepted the Master as a Master canthen sit down and argue with him is one of the deepmysteries to this student. Later this man came to askadvice of the Master, claiming that he had never beenable to go inside, or to get any satisfactory results fromhis meditations. Of course not. How could he expectresults? He was manifestly suffering from one form ofthat deadly malady—egotism. It is a disease that mani-fests itself in more forms than neurasthenia. Anyone whocan bring himself to contradict and argue with a Mas-ter surely has that disease in a malignant form. Howcould he expect to go inside? He may never hope forspiritual success so long as he has it. Happily this sortof thing is very rare among satsangis in this country.A beautiful humility is the rule, so far as this disciplecan see.

Along the banks of the IndusAugust 13, we accompanied the Master for a ride

over the city and out to a park on the banks of the Indusriver. The river is now quite swollen from rains and frommelted snows high up in the Himalayas. This river isprobably two thousand miles long and at this point isabout three-quarters of a mile wide, although in the deepmountain gorges it narrows down to sixty feet or less.We walked down the riverbank for a short way, close byits turbulent waters, and this disciple wondered howmany Mahatmas had left their sacred footprints along itsshores during the slow-moving centuries. Like theGanges and the Jumna, the Indus has long been consi-dered a sacred river by some of the natives.

56 LETTER FOUR

The old city of JaipurAugust 16, we went on to Jaipur, a native kingdom,

where members of the party were entertained in a lovelyhome of an old satsangi. When we went to leave thisplace after two days' delightful visit and rest, this discipleoffered his thanks to the host for his kindness. But hereplied: "I am not the host. That is the Master; He giveseverything." And that well illustrates the attitude of theaverage satsangi. They regard the Master as the giver ofall good.

One afternoon we visited the old and long aban-doned palace of this kingdom. It was built some fivehundred years ago and is now only a magnificent pile ofruins in weatherworn marble.

Light shines in the darknessIn the midst is a temple to the goddess Shakti, to

whom formerly one man a day was sacrificed, but nowshe gets only a poor goat a day. As our Master stoodbefore this ancient temple of idolatry—he, the very acmeof modern intelligence and spiritual illumination—thisdisciple recalled the biblical reference to Jesus: "Thelight shineth in darkness; and the darkness compre-hended it not." That was equally true at the momentwhere we stood. As we were about to leave these splen-did ruins, a huge monument of vanished empire andfaded glory, we paused and looked back for a moment.The old palace is on a mountain top, and in the days ofits glory was quite a fortress. Across the valley, the greenand purple of hills and sky mingled with the red and goldof a beautiful sunset. The Master turned and said to theyoung doctor who was acting as our guide and escort:"One who goes inside will see many palaces, rare andbeautiful buildings, landscapes, gardens and all sorts of

8 SEPTEMBER 1932 57

scenes vastly more beautiful than any that earthly rajahever built, or that man ever saw on this plane." As hespoke his voice was tender as that of a father and in hiseyes was light not of this world.

The birthplace of KrishnaLate in the evening we took a train for our next stop

at Mathura, the birthplace of Krishna. To all orthodoxHindus, this town is as sacred as Bethlehem is to theChristian. Our party took a third-class compartment, theMaster refusing to leave his disciples for greater personalcomforts. He never thinks of himself and is quite in-different to physical hardships. So the dear Fatherhad his bedding unrolled and lay on a hard bench,this disciple having the good fortune to be placed onthe bench alongside of the Master, only a board be-tween us.

As the disciple lay there during the long hours of thenight, he found but little inclination to sleep. He wastrying in his inmost being to realize the situation in itsright proportions. By his side lay the human form of theLord of vast regions of Light. He lay there so quietly, soutterly unpretentious, so humble; and yet in those brightupper regions so familiar to him, and through which hetravels in the utmost splendor, his very garments aremore gorgeous than any royal purple, and wherever hegoes, untold thousands bow down to him as their Lordand King. Notwithstanding all of that, here tonight hehumbly rests on a hard wooden bench in a third-classrailway car, while it rumbles along through the darknessand the dust. It is almost too much for human thought.But we know it is a literal fact.

58 LETTER FOUR

The Master's keen sense of humorThe next day as we rode along in the jostling old car,

the Master told a story of some stupid weavers who hada rickety, noisy old cart. One day when it ceased to makeas much noise as usual, they concluded that it must bedead. So they stopped by the roadside and actuallycremated the old cart, throwing the iron parts, as bones,into the river. The Master laughed so heartily that it wasa joy to us all. In fact he is always jolly and full of fun.He never fails to see the humorous side of things. He andhis closest disciples laugh and joke much and there isseldom a dull moment. All are happy and have a goodtime. There is no long face in the crowd. And whyshouldn't they be happy? They have infinite wealth andpower. Their lives are no longer limited to this land ofshadow and trouble. They can rise at will into regions ofunclouded splendor. They are the beloved sons of theGreat Father and they have only to ask what they willand it is theirs. And the beauty of it is that they know allof this to be true and are now in possession of it. It is notsomething to be dreamed of as a far-off inheritance. Andit is not a matter of faith. They have it now, and theyknow it. And so they are the happiest people on earth.Their job can never be put into words, and it is quiteincomprehensible to the average man of the world.

Sunset on the Jumna riverWe arrived in Mathura on the morning of the 20th.

Here are many interesting places, all sacred to thememory of Krishna. The city is situated along the westbank of r ie Jumna. The one thing long to be remem-bered in connection with our visit to this place was theboat ride across the Jumna river at sunset. The belovedMaster always does things the right way and at the right

8 SEPTEMBER 1932 59

time. When our party was told to get into a small flatboat, this disciple had no idea of what was coming.

The boat was pulled upstream along the shore forsome distance, and then pushed off and allowed to driftacross and downstream to the opposite shore. The riverhere is about a quarter of a mile wide. The scene grewmore beautiful every moment. Now we could see the cityspread out along the western shore. The sun was nearingthe horizon and the most gorgeous colors streakedacross the sky. It was one of the most beautiful sunsetsever witnessed. No artist could paint it. Deep red andgold clothed the low-hanging clouds in glory, changinginto purple a little higher up and finally shading off topale lavender and light blue, high up in the sky. At lastthe sun dropped down below a purple curtain and sud-denly spread out upon the river a great sheet of gold.This disciple sat at the feet of the Master as he watchedthe sun go down at last behind the city. The Master satquietly talking to a few enquirers concerning the way toapproach the inner worlds. His face was suffused with aholy light which was more beautiful than that of thegolden sunset. Someone remarked to the Master of thegreat beauty of the sunset colors. Glancing towards thewest for a moment, he said: "Yes, it is much like thecolors in Trikuti, the second region."

As we drifted across the river toward the city, whoselights were now beginning to be reflected in the ripplingwaters of the river, a disciple remarked to the Masterthat he wondered how many real Mahatmas had crossedthis river since first it began to flow. He smiled and said:"Many." And some of us believe that we had the honorand privilege of crossing that river today in a little flatboat with one of the greatest of all Masters who haveever crossed the sacred waters of the Jumna.

60 LETTER FOUR

The fire-waving ceremonyAs we drifted back across the river toward the city,

the gorgeous sun slowly vanishing, the dark mantle ofnight dropped over her, and then ten thousand lightsseemed to suddenly pierce the shadows. Our boat wasfinally drawn up to shore just beneath an old templewhere a fire-waving ceremony was about to begin. A sortof pyramid-shaped light was formed consisting of manysmaller lights. This was held up by a priest and wavedback and forth. The Master explained that this was asort of crude imitation of the light to be seen in Sahans-dal Kanwal, the first station on our inward journey. Butthe priests have long ago lost all knowledge of its originand inner meaning. The Master said he had brought thisdisciple here that he might get a look backward into theremote past of the Hindu religion. Krishna was bornhere perhaps five thousand years ago; or it may be tenthousand. From him the Vedas all originated. The Vedasand their authors knew nothing of the higher regions.And in them no word or hint is given of the SupremeLord of all.

Light again shines in the darknessOur next visit was to a magnificent temple in the

heart of the city. It has an imposing marble front, floorsand columns. It cost vast sums of money, all contributedby devotees, and is now a source of a very handsomeincome to the priests. For all who enter its sacred wallsmust pay, and it is constantly thronged by visitors. Butthey refused this disciple admittance although the othermembers of our party assured the priests that he was ofthe same religion as themselves. Evidently the pigment inhis skin was not sufficient. Afterwards the Masterlaughed and said next time they would doll me up with

8 SEPTEMBER 1932 61

some paint and a turban. This experience only confirmsthe old statement that one must be born into the Hindureligion. He cannot enter it by conversion. By conversa-tion with the priests at another time, it became evidentthat they could not give any reason for this attitude. Itwas simply the established custom, and that was the endof all argument. To the Hindu, custom is the one lawthat cannot be broken.

The others reported that as soon as the Masterentered the temple, word was quickly passed around thata holy man was present and dozens of the worshipperscame and prostrated themselves before him, leaving their,idols. Then hundreds more stood in respectful attentionwhile the Master spoke to them briefly of the way to goinside and see for themselves all of the lights and worldsthat are there. Even the priests forgot their collection ofmoney from the visitors and stood at attention listeningto the Master's words. He told them of the Sound Cur-rent by which alone men might rise to higher regions andgain eternal life and freedom from the wheel of birth anddeath. It presented a strange spectacle. There stood thereal Master in the very center and heart of orthodoxHinduism, expounding his message of Light, while bothpriests and devotees forgot all else as they listened tohim. It was another instance of the Light shining into thedarkness, this time at the most sacred point of ancientHinduism. Whether any of them comprehended orprofited by that Light, we could not say. But this weknow, the Master never idles away his time, not even insightseeing. When our party had witnessed this inspiringdemonstration, they understood why the Master hadvisited this old temple of the gods. To him it was not justa sightseeing trip, but was a part of his mission to dis-seminate the Light wherever men walk in darkness.

62 LETTER FOUR

Master's message to the BrocksWe have not yet reached Agra, the main objective of

our trip. Much of interest has already been omitted, andyet this letter has reached its limit. The rest must waituntil next time. This letter cannot close, however, until amessage from the beloved Master has been recorded. Hedesired to express his appreciation of the long and faith-ful service rendered by Doctor and Mrs. Brock of PortAngeles, Washington, on behalf of Sant Mat and theAmerican students. He sends to them particularly hislove and blessing. Every disciple now on the Pacificcoast, and their fellow student now in India, owes to theBrocks a debt of eternal gratitude. It has been throughthem that most of the others have received the Lightsince it was first taken to the coast by Ker Singh Sasmusover twenty years ago. And to this noble soul also we areall greatly indebted.

Sant Mat disciple most fortunateThis disciple wishes profoundly that it could come

within the power of human words, either spoken or writ-ten, to convey a proper sense or estimate of the wealthwe have come upon through initiation into Sant Mat.But the story can never be told. It must be experienced inthe innermost depths of the soul. You should permitnothing to ever cause you to deviate from this shiningPath. Full realization will come in due time, and perhapssooner than you expect. Suddenly some day the goldenglory will dawn upon you and then you will not need tohave any man tell you aught of the Path. The little sparkthat now draws you on will have become the InfiniteLight, flooding all your souls with unutterable joy.

Cordially, your brother at his holy feet,Julian P. Johnson

Five

KalabaghNorthwestern Frontier Province

IndiaOctober .13, 1932

Beloved Satsangis in America,

We left Mathura by motorbus on the 21st of Auguston our way to Agra. Seven miles from Agra, we pausedto see the tomb of Akbar, the Moghul emperor.

The tomb of AkbarThere it stands in solemn and lonely grandeur within

sight of the ancient Moghul capital. It was built by theemperor's son, Jahangir. While not to be compared withthe Taj, yet this tomb is a magnificent structure, beauti-fully inlaid walls in multiple designs and colors, sur-rounded by tall minarets, and in the midst, the mortalremains of the greatest of the Moghul rulers. From thetop of this monument we had our first glimpse of the TajMahal standing seven miles away on the banks of theJumna river. We are now in a region famed in history.Here the ambitions of man led him to unparalleled heightsin the achievement of empire, the amassing of treasure,and the building of splendid monuments. But thesemonuments, now weatherworn and faded, their immensetreasures scattered and gone, are all that is left of the vastempire and the glory of Akbar and Shah Jahan. It wouldseem that here the genius of man had made his supreme

64 LETTER FIVE

effort to immortalize himself in piles of marble. Andhere also the vanity of such an effort is most apparent.

Two opposing forcesAs this disciple saw the beloved Master standing in

the dim light before the black and silent sarcophagus ofAkbar, it occurred to him that right there in his presencewere two of the most illustrious examples in all historyof the two great opposing principles in Nature—destruction and construction. The one, representing theprinciple of destruction, sought to build up himself intoempire and glory at the sacrifice of tens of thousands ofhis fellow beings. At his feet he forced millions to cringein abject submission and fear. But now all that is left ofhim and of his vaunted power are a few decaying bonesencased in marble.

The other, embodying the principle of construction,is a genuine superman, a real prince among his fellows.Having achieved the greatest conquest possible tohuman beings, namely, the conquest of self and theemancipation of his own soul, he now seeks in utterforgetfulness of self to rescue others from the downwardstream of birth and death, and to lead them to thesupreme heights of immortal life and happiness. Theempire of the one, built upon force and bathed in blood,has vanished from the earth and his bones moulderamong its ruins. But the empire of the other, built uponlove, shall endure when the earth itself is dissolved.

In Radha Soami BaghWe arrived in Agra at 3:30 and put up in Radha

Soami Bagh, in rooms once occupied by Baba JaimalSingh, our Master's Master. Close by these rooms theyare building an extremely beautiful monument in white

13 OCTOBER 1982 65

marble to the memory of the first great Radha SoamiMaster, Soami Ji. When completed, it will in somerespects rival the world famous Taj Mahal itself, for insimple beauty and elegance of structure it would bedifficult to imagine anything superior to it.

We meet a nephew of Soami JiSoon after our luggage was unpacked and we had

washed off some of the dust of travel, our first visit wasto the bedside of Seth Sahib, a nephew of Soami Ji, nowseventy-four years of age and in feeble health. This wasthe real objective of our Master's visit to Agra; for thereis a very close bond of love between the two, and itwould appear that the end of the earth life of the one isnow approaching.

Two real Saints meetThe meeting of these two great souls was something

beautiful beyond the power of words to describe. It wasone of the supreme moments in the life of this disciple.The small group who were fortunate enough to witnessthis event stood in reverent silence while our Masterapproached the bedside of the other and with foldedhands bowed at his feet. This disciple was quite accus-tomed to seeing thousands bow at the feet of our Master,but never before had he witnessed the Master himselfbowing at the feet of another. By this sign we knew atonce that here was no ordinary man, and never did ourMaster shine more brilliantly, never was his own divinitymore apparent, than in that beautiful moment when hebowed at the sacred feet of another Saint. This disciplefelt that the event he was now witnessing was of evenworld importance, and he sensed that perhaps in the faroff heavens of Light that event carried deep significance.

66 LETTER FIVE

This great soul says he has never taken a morsel ofanimal food in his life. He was initiated by Soami Ji sixtyyears ago, and almost from childhood he has beendevoted to Sant Mat. He says that now Soami Ji him-self visits him daily, bringing blessing and good cheer.Meeting with this great soul was to this disciple a realbenediction, and will always be remembered withgratitude.

Model industries in Dayal BaghNext day this disciple visited the "Model Industries"

in Dayal Bagh, presided over by Sahab Ji, the leader ofthe large Agra Satsang. These industries are quite remark-able, actually manufacturing many of the most usefularticles of daily life, and putting out a very superiorproduct at a reasonable price. They incidentally affordemployment to a great many satsangis. They conduct adairy on modern lines, whose equipment and manage-ment are equal to the best in America. They are makingskilled workmen of thousands of men, a thing muchneeded in India.

The Agra Radha Soami groupThe Agra group of Radha Soami disciples contains

something over one hundred thousand members, and isthe largest group in India, or the world. It is now pre-sided over by Anand Sarup Maharaj Ji. This centeris not now and never has been connected with theRadha Soami movement in the Punjab, presided overby our Master, except by the ties of a common brother-hood and a similar teaching. There is amity and cordialgood fellowship between the two groups and theirleaders.

13 OCTOBER 1932 67

An American satsangi in AgraAt Dayal Bagh, Agra, this disciple had the pleasure

of meeting Mrs. Elizabeth Bruce, an American satsangi,who, so far as he knows, is the only other American inIndia devoted to this science. She is a very clever andbrilliant woman, making herself useful in some phases ofthe industrial work of the center, while she seeks light onthe inner Path. This disciple took lunch with her twiceand enjoyed some hours of pleasant conversation. Itrequires no little courage for an American woman toleave all of her friends and a successful business in thehomeland and come out to India to devote herself to aspiritual science quite strange to all her people. But Mrs.Bruce appears to be very happy in the pursuit of herspiritual ideals in Dayal Bagh, and we wish her allsuccess.

The old Agra Fort, and Shah JahanIn the afternoon we visited the old Agra fort, now

held by the British, of course; and then we visited the oldpalace of Shah Jahan the builder of the famous Taj.After a long reign over a vast empire, the building of theTaj Mahal as a monument to his favorite queen, Mum-taz Mahal, and many other noted structures includingthe Pearl Mosque and the Peacock Throne, Shah Jahanwas imprisoned by his own son Aurangzeb, who thenusurped the throne. After seven years of imprisonmentin a small room adjacent to the Pearl Mosque in thispalace, his strength about gone, and realizing that hisend was near, the old emperor begged that he might betaken to a small porch in the palace from which, lookingacross a bend in the Jumna river, he might get one morelook at his beloved Taj. His request was granted and hebeheld with much emotion that magnificent monument,

68 LETTER FIVE

shining in all of its glory. It is said that on seeing the Taj,the old and heartbroken emperor collapsed and diedright there. Thus ended so pathetically, in the year 1666,one of the most picturesque characters in history. Hepassed from earth as a victim of one of the strangestfreaks of fortune ever manifested.

It is told here that once when Shah Jahan was at theheight of his world power, he was visited by a spiritualGuru who admonished him about certain things; where-upon the king laughed at the Guru and asked him whocould interfere with the emperor. The Guru replied that"The words of the true Guru are always fulfilled, eventhough the greatest of emperors has to be made to eat likean ox in the field." And it so happened that during hisimprisonment Shah Jahan was taken for a ride one dayinto the country. Passing a field of gram, he asked hisguards to get him some of the grain. The guard refused,saying that he would endanger his own life by doing so,without the emperor's orders. But he offered to lead thecamel into the field, make it kneel and himself go awayto attend to other matters, leaving him to get the grainhimself. But his hands were tied so he could not get thegrain, and he had to content himself with kneeling andeating like an ox. When he had done so, he suddenlyrecalled the words of the Guru, his heart was softenedand real faith entered his soul.

The great Taj MahalThe next day this disciple visited the Taj Mahal.

Many books give elaborate descriptions of it. Perhapsthe best one will be found in the Stoddard lectures, so noattempt will be made here to describe it. It is sufficient tosay that it is no doubt the greatest, most beautiful, mostartistic and the most expensive structure ever built by

13 OCTOBER 1932 69

human hands within the period of known history. And itis equally certain that no such structure, or anything likeit, will ever again be attempted. It is said to haverequired the labor of twenty thousand men for a periodof twenty years to complete it. The whole world wasexplored for materials. Extensive portions of the Koranare written into the walls, making each letter of blackstone and then inlaying them into the white marble.Many beautiful designs and pictures in wonderful colorsare made by inlaying precious stones and costly gemsinto the marble walls. The building is nearly all of whitemarble, even the floors of the extensive courts andpromenades surrounding the Taj itself.

Majestic as it is, after three hundred years, the TajMahal stands today trying pathetically to defy the crum-bling hand of time, as only one more memorial of theperishable nature and vanishing glory of all thingshuman. To this truth the Taj will continue to bear tes-timony until its last marble column has returned to dust.

Crowds continue to greet the MasterAugust 25—We left on our return trip to Beas and

the Dera. Every hour or two all through the night, as thetrain stopped at the various stations, crowds gathered tosee the Master. At the capital city of Delhi a carpet wasspread and a chair placed for him. Hundreds gatheredaround him and listened to a few cheering words, andthen he gave them his parting "Radha Soami."

We arrived in the Dera the next morning at nineo'clock, where a crowd of several hundred were waitingto welcome him home, showing the utmost joy and devo-tion. It is always a great delight to see the beloved Guruagain.

70 LETTER FIVE

Many had already begun to arrive ahead of us for themonthly satsang. So, on Friday, the 27th, probably threethousand were present at satsang. The next day thenumber had more than doubled, and on Sunday theMaster was greeted by a multitude of twelve thousand.Loudspeakers were installed so the entire crowd couldeasily hear the Master's voice.

Many hundreds initiatedFollowing this meeting the Master initiated five

hundred and seventy-one, after deferring the usual largepercentage of applicants. During this gathering this dis-ciple was with the Master in an upper story of the Mas-ter's house. The Master stood by the window for someminutes, watching the crowds. Many had grown wearyand dropped to sleep on the ground all around the com-pound. Hundreds of others stood about in small groupsengaged in conversation. The Master turned to this dis-ciple and asked him if he had ever found anythinggreater than love. He then quoted one of his favoritesayings: "Where there is love there is no law."

The divine mystery of loveAnd what is the divine mystery of the love of a dis-

ciple for his Master? It is one of the most absorbingthemes of discipleship. It is something without a parallelin the ordinary walks of life. What is it? How can it beexplained? What is the mystery of that holy bond whichmakes men and women even in the hour of death utterlyforget all earthly ties and cling to the Master alone?Fortunately this is one theme upon which this disciplecan speak from personal experience, although he is wellaware, perhaps because of that experience itself, that hecan never give adequate expression to this theme.

Devotees anxious to catch a glimpse of the Masterand to pay their respects.

13 OCTOBER 1932 71

Since coming to India, this disciple has been blessedwith the daily companionship of many disciples whosedevotion to the Master has written one of the most beau-tiful pages in the story of his life. Not only these, but theabiding devotion of the Master himself to his Masteradds interest to the theme and crowns the relation itselfwith undying glory. It is a sacred bond that, onceformed, is never broken and its divine fragrance neverdiminishes through unnumbered years. But like otherfeatures of this holy path, the essence of it cannot bewritten down in words. It cannot be described in humanlanguage. To be understood, it must be experienced.

This disciple has seen hundreds of men and womenwaiting at the Master's door, even at the outer gate,waiting during all the long hours of the day and night,just for one look into his face and to hear his voice in oneword of blessing. And when he passes at last, they oftengather up in their hands even the dust where his holy feethave walked. Only last night as this disciple came downfrom the Master's rooms about ten o'clock, he witnesseda sight that would touch the heart of any man. Fourflights of stairs leading to the Master's room on the topfloor of the hall (in Rawalpindi) were literally lined withmen and women, crowded close together and standing,some women holding infants in their arms, all waitingthe possible chance that the Master might again comedownstairs and they might thus be near enough to touchhis garments as he passed. And this will continue, hourafter hour, until at last the word is passed around thatthe Master has retired for the night. Often the dearFather continues to see and talk to these people untilmidnight or later, and then he gets only two or threehours sleep; for he rises at three o'clock, or earlier some-times, to engage in spiritual devotions, or leaves the

72 LETTER FIVE

physical plane for his work in the higher regions. And sohe continues until six o'clock in the summer and eight inthe winter. It is love on the part of both Master and pupilwhich the world knows not of, and it is quite beyondtheir understanding.

The writer has seen men and women of all ages anddegrees of culture, sitting in satsang from one to twohours, listening to the Master's discourses, their eyessparkling with keen delight and frequently tears of joytrickling down their faces. One day he watched anelderly man of sixty years or more as he sat listening tothe Master. He scarcely moved his eyes from the Mas-ter's form, and for over an hour the tears constantlydropped from his cheeks while his hands remainedclosed in an attitude of profound adoration. And thiswas a cultured man, retired from the medical service ofthe government. Only last night in satsang, a man ofthirty-five years, educated, refined, and very wealthy, satlistening to the Master while occasionally the tearsdropped freely, apparently unnoticed by himself, soabsorbed was he in the light of the Master's presence.

This is a relation almost too sacred to write about;but the following extract, taken from his diary, will besuggestive at least. This writer is deeply conscious of hisown unworthiness, yet infinitely grateful to the Masterfor his loving kindness.

"October 5, 1932. Now, on the eve of our departurefor Rawalpindi, the beloved Father enquired after allplans and arrangements, and ordered a change in theplan regarding my servant, so that he could remain withme tonight and help me in the morning. Bless his holyname. No earthly father was ever more kind and solici-tous even of the material comforts of his children. Howcan I bless him enough! If only I could serve him better.

13 SEPTEMBER 1932 73

How has he become my very life? It is a deep mystery,but an infinite joy. And how has this heavenly mysterycome about in my life? It is so out of the beaten paths ofordinary experience. If the uninitiated were to read this,they would probably assume that the writer was a'mooning' girl sighing for the lover. To the average Wes-terner it is quite beyond understanding. But all who havethemselves walked this holy path know well that in allthe world there is no relation so close and so sacred asthat between Master and pupil. There is no other rela-tion so crowned with the frenzy of divine joy. When thedisciple feels that every ray of light that radiates from theMaster carries with it streams of life itself, he must lovehim. When he realizes in the depths of his being that theMaster is the embodiment of the Supreme Essence, nowengaged in recreating the disciple after the image andlikeness of the ineffable Lord, then he knows that lifewithout the Master would be an insufferable calamity.So his thought is always of the Master. In fact, he wouldsay in the words of Bulwer Lytton: 'Not to think of himwere the absence of thought itself."

With affectionate goodwill, I am

Your brother at his sacred feet,Julian P. Johnson

Six

The DeraNov. 10, 1932

Dear American Fellow Students,

October 6, at four a.m., we left the Dera again forour trip to Rawalpindi and the mountain stations. Thejourney was made by motorcar, and was very delightful.Much of the country in the north of the Punjab, and inthe foothills of the Himalayas, is similar to that of theCalifornia mountain regions. It makes the writer feelquite at home.

Arrival at RawalpindiThe Master stopped in Lahore for a short satsang at

seven o'clock where several thousand people were wait-ing for him. We then proceeded northward along a verybeautiful highway, much of it being shaded with trees onboth sides. We stopped at one village for a short talkfrom the Master to a small bunch of people, and thenarrived in Rawalpindi at 2:40. This is a nice little city ofabout fifty thousand people, lying at the very feet of thegreat Himalaya range and adjacent to the NorthwesternFrontier Province. It is an important trading center. Notfar away lies a fertile valley, the seat of an ancient civili-zation dating back far beyond the beginning of authenti-cated history. The valley was invaded by Alexander theGreat, the Greeks leaving their records, statuary, coins,etc., which have recently been recovered by excavations.

10 NOVEMBER 1932 75

This valley was once the bed of a great inland sea, some-thing like the Imperial Valley in California.

The R.S. hall in RawalpindiOn our arrival in Rawalpindi we went directly to the

new Radha Soami hall, recently built by Raja Ram, abanker and manufacturing jeweler. Of course he is adevoted satsangi of our Master's fold. The hall costabout one hundred and fifty thousand rupees. (At thepresent time [1932] the purchasing power of the rupee inthis country is fully equal to one dollar in America,although the rate of exchange is now close to four rupeesto the dollar.) This hall is a very beautiful structure; theonly drawback to it is the fact that it stands in the midstof the city, surrounded by all sorts of buildings. Thefurniture is modern and excellent. It has just enough ofthe oriental in design to add beauty and grace. The Mas-ter's rooms are delightfully arranged in two suites, oneon the third floor and the other on the fourth floor. Thesatsang hall, or auditorium, is on the ground floor, buthas only limited seating capacity—less than two thou-sand. At the several meetings held here by our Masterthis hall was packed, galleries and windows were full andmany stood in the streets near the rear entrance, andothers filled the main streets in front.

The Master, with his secretary, Rai Sahib, went tohis rooms in the satsang hall, while the rest of our partywas comfortably quartered in the home of Raja Ramand his wife. Here is a couple one would go a long way tomeet. Although he is a wealthy man, he is one of thehumblest and most unassuming of men. His wife is like-wise humble, gracious, kind and very spiritual, besidesbeing a beautiful woman. This is the lady whose sightwas suddenly restored after several doctors had declared

76 LETTER SIX

that she could never see again. They are both unusuallydevoted satsangis, and their love for the Master is aninspiration to us all. They are planning, as soon as theMaster gives consent, to turn over all business to hisbrothers and come to the Dera to live, building for them-selves a new house there. They would thus devote therest of their lives to spiritual things. A great many sat-sangis look forward to a complete retirement fromworldly affairs and coming to the Dera to devote theremainder of their lives to the Master's work. But theMaster does not encourage or permit this until they haveaccomplished all worldly karmas and in the later years oflife, when nothing stands in their way of going forwardon the Path.

At the very first satsang a great crowd greeted theMaster. This is a privilege they do not have very often.The early morning satsang was also attended by animmense crowd; and then after satsang and all throughthe day numberless individuals and committees soughtinterviews with the Master.

The great leper asylumAfter the first morning satsang this disciple enjoyed a

visit to the great leper asylum in this city, one of the bestin India or the world. Here a large number of the victimsof this dread malady are cared for. Contrary to popularopinion, the physicians and attendants have no fear ofcontagion. Here the patients receive the most moderntreatment, including chaulmugra oil, which was oncethought to be a specific cure, but is now considered to beonly a help, many patients making excellent improve-ment by its use, while others show little improvement.Some are actually cured and discharged, while othersremain for life. This is a disease still under scientific

10 NOVEMBER 1932 77

investigation and experiment. Many phases of it stillelude the investigator. One peculiar feature of leprosy isits very long incubation period, extending from sixmonths to twenty years between the time of exposureand the onset of the disease. No certain and definite curehas been developed thus far. Most cases are self-terminating, and leprosy itself seldom ever kills. There ispractically no suffering with it even though fingers andtoes may be lost. The patients in this institution seemedquite cheerful and the management deserves much creditfor the kind and efficient service they are giving to manyunfortunate men and women afflicted with this disease.

Climbing the mountainsAfter a few days in Rawalpindi we started, at five

a.m. on the twelfth, for the mountains. Presently wefound ourselves driving along over a good road built byour Master himself over thirty years ago, while he was inthe government service. That fact, together with theincreasing beauty of the scenery, added zest to the trip.Just after dawn, while the Master waited for the secondcar to overtake us, this disciple decided to walk on alone,as the air was now quite chilly and the exercise would dohim good. Anyway, he wanted to walk a little distanceover the road his Master had built.

We are now actually in the foothills of the majesticold Himalayas, but their snowy peaks lie yet a hundredmiles or more to the north. The air is already lighter andcooler. The traveler begins to feel a sense of exhilaration,also of deep peace, so characteristic of these inspiring oldhills. Finally, just as the sun rose over the mountain tops,pouring a flood of gold down the valley, the Masterhimself came along and picked me up in his car. Webegan the long climb up the slow grades.

78 LETTER SIX

At 8:30 we stopped at Abbotabad, a small mountaintown, and took breakfast. Several scores of devoted dis-ciples of the Master greeted him here, and among themwere a goodly number who had worked with him in theold days. Their love for him was quite manifest. Thewriter was served with a breakfast of rice, warm goat'smilk, dates, grapes and pears. The journey was then con-tinued four miles further in the car at which point wemounted horses for the remainder of the trip, the climbof fourteen miles further up to Kalabagh. This was byorder of the Master, as he said our party could betterenjoy the scenery that way. But some of us suspectedthat the Master did not deem the motor trip up the steepmountain grades altogether safe. The road is barely wideenough for the car, and many are the sharp turns, with ayawning precipice of from one hundred to one thousandfeet straight down below. The grades are very steep,some of them are apparently twenty to thirty per cent. Itwas not built for automobiles. All of this road was builtby our Master and it is a masterpiece of constructionwork. Much of it is cut out of the solid rock in themountainside. The ascent was indeed a pleasure rarelyenjoyed. A little over halfway up we paused at a water-ing place prepared by our beloved Master, so that alltravelers over this way, whether man or beast, mightdrink the purest of cold water.

We are climbing rapidly. The more or less desolateand barren mountains of the lower altitudes now giveplace to pine-covered peaks that tower above deep andcolorful gorges. Rich undergrowth abounds. Ferns andwild roses and daisies, and a few scattering violets, coverthe slopes. The air grows lighter; our ears tell us that weare in higher altitudes than usual. Three miles below ourstopping place, a group of fifteen men met the Master,

10 NOVEMBER 1932 79

a committee who had come on foot that far to welcomehim. This committee grew to a hundred or more by thetime we reached the end of our journey. These moun-taineers easily kept pace with our horses up the steepgrades, mile after mile. In fact some of our own party didthe same thing, walking the whole of the fourteen miles.The Master sat majestically on a spirited young horse,erect and princely as any rajah, the picture of grace anddignity, as we climbed the steep grades. Many were thetimes in years long gone by that he had made this sameascent. He is quite at home in the mountains, either onfoot or on horseback.

Kalabagh, the black forestWe rest in Kalabagh. The name means black park or

forest. It has a small British population connected withthe military establishment. The town lies on the moun-tain slopes at an altitude of between eight and nine thou-sand feet above sea level. The scenery is beautiful, someof it really grand. We unpack our luggage at last in oneof the most sacred spots in this region or in all of theHimalayas—a little stone house built by our Master andstill belonging to him. It has to be approached on footfor some distance. It stands on a point of jutting rocks atthe very brink of an almost perpendicular precipice twothousand feet in height. From the edge of the stone-rimmed little yard in front of the house, one can lookalmost straight down for nearly half a mile and at thebottom of the gorge runs a little stream of water lookinglike a silver thread through the purple shadows. Sittingten feet from the stone wall of the yard it appears as ifthe yard and house were suspended in midair.

To get a little clearer view of the situation, if onestands on the crest of the mountain above the little town

80 LETTER SIX

of Kalabagh and looks southward, he will observe avalley many miles long, east and west, something like amile wide. The walls of this rise to a height of probablythree thousand feet above the floor of the valley andright in the midst of this valley, rising abruptly from itsfloor, is a ridge about two thousand feet in height. Thisridge is connected with the north wall by another ridge,something like the cross bar of the capital letter H. Overthis cross ridge we have access to the great central ridgeand to the Master's house which stands on the extremeeastern promontory of that ridge.

Looking away across the valley in any direction, onemay observe what appear to be stair steps on the moun-tain slopes. They are little gardens made by digging intothe mountainsides, one above the other, and thus level-ing little strips of ground upon which these mountaineersraise their vegetables. The houses are made by digginginto the mountainsides, extending the roof outwards,and then covering it with dirt and gravel. In the wintertime these little houses are often covered with ten toeighteen feet of snow. They are frequently abandoned atthat time of the year, and the inhabitants go down tolower altitudes, until the return of spring weather.

Morning dawn in the HimalayasOctober 13. It is now early dawn. We stand upon the

rock-rimmed heights overlooking the deep gorge. Twothousand feet below us the lingering shadows hold every-thing in their dark embrace. But far above us the sunbegins to cast a roseate glow over the mountains.

The highlands catch yon Orient gleam,While purpling still the low lands lie:And pearly mists, the morning pride,Soar incense-like to greet the sky. —Burton

10 NOVEMBER 1932 81

At last its dazzling rim looks over the tops of thedistant pines, and a new day is born. We could fancy thatShakespeare, escaped from his dull and foggy island,stood on these heights when he exclaimed:

But look, the morn in russet mantle clad,Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill.

The scene is altogether enchanting. No words candescribe it, and no mortal artist could paint it. The hushof solemn grandeur adds to the spiritual inspiration ofthe place and the hour. It is the sacred hour of theMahatma. It is the holy hour of divine worship, andnone the less sacred because the call to worship is in atemple not made by hands. Its walls are the mountainsand its dome the sky, and the light of the sun points tothe worlds of light within. One instinctively thinks of theold Yogi morning salutation to the Giver of all life:

Hail, hail, to Him aloneWho is the one, the Primal,Pure, Eternal, Immortal, andImmutable, in all ages.

For a hundred thousand years and more these moun-tain trails and wind-swept pines have frequently heardthis salutation. Here men have long sought to unravelthe deep mysteries of God and of the soul, and here thedisciples of the living Master still seek the calm retreatthat enables them the better to meditate upon the holypath. Here many a soul struggling upward, striving torise above the dark chasms of mind and matter, hasfound the Light eternal. As this American stood uponthe jutting rocks close by the side of the dear Master

82 LETTER SIX

and looked into the dark valley below, he instinctivelyprayed that he might someday be permitted to stand bythe side of this same gracious Deliverer upon the radiantheights of Sach Khand. He longs with an inexpressibleyearning for release from the dense and chilling fogs ofthe spiritual lowlands. Too long he has groped his uncer-tain way through the dark and poisoned atmosphere ofignorance and passion. Gracious Master, open to us thegates of Light.

Satsang in the mountainsAt ten o'clock the disciple sat in the little yard by the

Master, enjoying the welcome sunbeams and listeningto the Great Teacher as he talked to a group of oldmountaineers—all satsangis now, literally worshippingthe Master. Some of them had worked with him ingovernment service thirty or forty years ago. But to themall now he is the Great Mahatma. They lovingly addresshim as 'Maharaj Ji'. This means something like verygreat and honored sir, though I think there is no exactEnglish equivalent. One old man could scarcely talkfrom excess of emotion, as he gazed lovingly at the Mas-ter and asked many questions. It had been several yearssince he had seen the Master.

One o'clock, and the Master rests. But the silent wor-shippers continue to gather in the yard. A group ofwomen sit around the rim of the yard, waiting patientlyfor the Master to come out. One by one others quietlyjoin them. Old men bent over their canes come one ortwo at a time, having laboriously climbed the steep trailsin order to sit at the Master's feet. Satsang was held attwo o'clock on a small level area just above the littlestone house. About four hundred had gathered to seeand hear their adored Satguru. These mountain folk are

10 NOVEMBER 1932 83

a sturdy people. Many of them having descended fromtribes who lived by marauding and highway banditry,they now live in an atmosphere of spiritual peace and ofsteadfast devotion to Maharaj Ji, for whom they wouldreadily lay down their lives.

The Master, a mountain climberAfter satsang, just as the sun sets behind the distant

purple hills, we all follow the Master for a little walk andclimb over the hills westward, along the crest of theridge. He inspects a proposed site for a new satsang hallwhich may be built by next year. The ground has beenpurchased for it. While some of the midd'e-agedmembers of our party pause for breath and hesitate asthey climb the steep trails, the Master steadily climbswith firm, unfaltering step. And when the summit isreached he shows not the slightest signs of fatigue. Talk-ing and laughing, he is king of mountain and valleyalike. He is always Master in every sense of the word.His quick wit, keen intelligence and physical vigor arequite astounding in one of his patriarchal appearance.

Teaching the childrenOctober 14, at eight a.m. The Master has twenty-

three children, sons and daughters of satsangis, seated ina semicircle in the yard, and he is teaching them theposition in which to sit and listen to the Sound Current.They are not given the names. But instructed in this way,they can better join with their parents during the hoursof meditation. He says many of them will come to hearthe Sound Current before the time comes for the regularinitiation. The Master compares little children to blankpaper, clean and white, nothing in the way to obstructtheir upward progress; and so they quite easily come in

84 LETTER SIX

touch with the Sound Current and the upper worlds. It isonly when the minds of the older people are filled withthe filth and illusions of the world that it becomesdifficult for them to approach the higher regions.

Leaving the mountainsIt is a little late in the season for this altitude. The

nights are cold. Sudden wind and hail storms sweep overthe region almost daily now, and so we must leave beforewe are overtaken by a snowstorm. October 18, we des-cended to Abbotabad, a charming little military station.This is one of the extreme outpost stations of the Britishmilitary forces in the Northwestern Frontier Province. Itis not far from the famous Khyber Pass, the entrance toAfghanistan. Here the Master held satsang for threedays, and was as usual greeted by hundreds of enthusias-tic satsangis and others. There seems to be no remotecorner of jungle or plain, in all of northwestern India,where our Master is not known and loved. Time andagain as we traveled over far stretches of country wewere met by groups of men and women waiting for himby the roadside. In many remote villages he paused for ashort satsang, where scores and hundreds of enthusiasticdisciples welcomed him. In one mountain town the Mas-ter was greeted by more than a thousand people. Herecame also the Sikhs, creating disturbance, advancingtheir old argument against a living Guru. In this town wevisited a place made sacred to our Master and all sat-sangis by a visit from Baba Jaimal Singh, holding sat-sang here back in the nineties.

The Taxilla museum and BuddhismOur next stop was at Taxilla, where is situated a

government museum containing many relics of the long

10 NOVEMBER 1932 85

ago recovered from buried cities nearby. Pottery, goldand silver ornaments, silver vessels, coins, Greek andBuddhist statues. This disciple, visiting the place as hedid in the company of our own adored Master, tookparticular notice of the large number of statues depictingthe Buddha in attitudes of spiritual meditation. Themaking of statues has always been a favorite method ofmanifesting devotion by the Buddhist disciples. Hereagain we are forcibly brought face to face with anotherhistorical phase of old world religions; namely, that ofthe inevitable tendency to externalize the religion and toforget its spiritual content. We were also reminded of theway men and things grow sacred in the public eye by thelapse of time, while they completely ignore the real gods,the living Masters, who walk in their midst today. One isreminded of the familiar couplet, regarding the greatGreek poet:

Through which the living Homerbegged his bread,

Seven cities claimed great Homer dead.

Here in this museum of ancient relics are scores ofstatues of the immortal Buddha which, after the lapse oftwenty-six centuries, hundreds of millions of men holdsacred; and yet right here in our party, visiting themuseum today, there are, we believe, at least three andprobably four men who have reached a degree of spirit-ual enlightenment above and beyond that attained by theBuddha while he was on earth. This we say not to mini-mize the attainments of the noble Aryan, or to detractfrom his sacred character. For in our hearts we bowreverently to the much-loved prince. All honor andpraise to him for ever. We say this rather to encourage

86 LETTER SIX

the living disciple. Besides our Great Master, we have alarge number in the Dera satsang who have gone beyondthe Buddha; for that also is well known here among us,by the grace of our Master. Others are reaching thoseheights all of the time; and you and I are expected toreach them, not in some future age, or in the next orfourth incarnation, but here and now. When the nobleSiddhartha had reached the very first stage marked outby Sant Mat on our inward journey, he no doubtthought he had reached supreme enlightenment, thehighest possible degree within the reach of man. But infact he had only started on the inward and upward jour-ney, as it has been traveled by all of the Masters. Pity it isthat the millions of Buddhists do not know this fact. Ifonly they did know it, they might honor their Lord Bud-dha vastly more by taking up the course of developmentunder a living Master. If they did this it would not belong until they could meet and talk personally with theirbeloved Prince in his present home.

As this letter has already grown too long, I must bidyou goodbye, wishing you all the blessing and love of theFather.

Your brother at his holy feet,Julian P. Johnson

Seven

The DeraDec. 17, 1932

Dear Fellow Travelers on the Path,

On our return from the mountains, Oct. 24th, westopped and spread our lunch, camp fashion, by a littlestream at the famous Panja Sahib around which aninteresting legend has been woven. The stream runs closeby a small mountain, on the top of which, the traditionsays, used to be a spring of cold water. By the side of thisspring sat a Mohammedan faqir in meditation. It was inthe time of Guru Nanak, in the fifteenth century. Oneday Guru Nanak with one of his disciples came alongand the disciple went up to ask water of the faqir, butwas refused. Reporting this to Guru Nanak, the greatSaint thrust a stick into the ground and a stream of coldwater burst forth at that point. At the same time thestream on the mountain ceased to flow. Seeing this, thefaqir was very angry and rolled a great boulder down themountainside, with intent to kill Guru Nanak and hisdisciple. But the Guru simply put forth his hand andstopped the boulder as it came near him. The print of hishand was left in the side of the rock, and those finger-prints are shown to the traveler to this day. The Sikhsaccept this story as actual history, and have built uparound it quite a place of pilgrimage. They are just nowlaying the foundation for a large dharamsala, or temple.

88 LETTER SEVEN

The problem of the Sikh religionWe arrived in Rawalpindi at three-thirty, and the

good Master sought a little rest as he took refuge fromthe ever-pressing crowds by going to his own suite ofrooms in the new Radha Soami hall.

We come now to one of the most peculiar problemsin the religious life of India. The Master's return toRawalpindi was hailed with delight by large numbers.Even a considerable body of the Sikhs who do not followthe orthodox majority welcomed the Master andpledged him their support. But equally demonstrativewas the opposition. The Sikhs did not like the enthusias-tic support the Master was everywhere receiving and sothey decided to interfere. They held private meetings andtook counsel among themselves as to what could bedone, just as the Scribes and Pharisees, leaders of theJewish orthodox body, did when Jesus became too popu-lar to suit them. They decided to break up the meetingsat the hall.

So this evening they came out in force, many of themcarrying the customary short sword and some few hadlong swords. If they had to fight they would be ready. Ofcourse, the Radha Soami disciples were not armed. Twoof the Sikhs sat at the writer's left, and these had longswords which they laid down at the very feet of theMaster. Soon after the meeting opened, one loud-mouthed Sikh arose in the hall and began to argue andto speak ill of the Master. He would not heed kindnessor listen to reason. He could not be stopped. So theystarted to eject him from the hall. This was the cue theSikhs were waiting for. The two at our left took up theirswords. Others went to the assistance of the first dis-turber. For a time the scene grew threatening; but fortu-nately someone had finally called the police force, and by

17 DECEMBER 1932 89

the time the melee had developed into a mild battle, thepolice arrived, and the armed Sikhs all suddenly remem-bered that they had urgent business elsewhere. They va-nished through the nearest exits as if by magic, and quietwas soon restored.

It is interesting to note that the Master had foreseenthis disturbance and advised the management of the audi-torium to have the police on watch. But they had neg-lected this precaution and, as usual when the Master'sadvice is not heeded, they came to regret it. In the midstof it all sat the Master, the only calm one in the house.This disciple had taken up a position close by the Mas-ter's side, saying to himself that he did so in order to helpdefend the Master in case of a personal attack. But itmay be that subconsciously he felt that near the Masterwas the safest place for himself. (Since returning to theDera, the Master has told us that all during the confu-sion his own Master stood by his side, clothed in lightand unlimited power, and that it would have been utterlyimpossible for anyone to have hurt him.)

After order was restored, the Master quietlyannounced satsang for seven o'clock the next morning,although he had not so intended before. This was held asannounced and all was as quiet as a night on thePotomac, a deep peace pervading the assembly. And sothere is the peculiar problem above referred to—that ofthe Sikhs and their bitter opposition to the Radha Soamimovement. Even the Mohammedans are much morefriendly, many of them seeking initiation of the Master.It may be of interest to note that our Master himself wasborn a Sikh, and so are a great many of our leadingsatsangis. But the orthodox Sikhs are quite irreconcil-able. What is the reason? How is their opposition to beexplained?

90 LETTER SEVEN

It should be borne in mind that there is nothing in theRadha Soami teaching to antagonize any religion, leastof all the Sikh religion, with which it is practically identi-cal. It has no dogmas to defend. It has no priesthood tobe supported. It does not fight any other religion. In fact,it is not a religion in the ordinary meaning of the term.The Master says "it is the science of connecting the indi-vidual soul with its Creator." It desires to set up no newcreed or church and cares not for the destruction of anyold one. With them all it has nothing to do, any morethan a science like astronomy has to do with a churchcreed. It teaches the Sound Current and the method ofyoga which takes the soul inward and upward to spiri-tual regions and to ultimate freedom. With this alone itis concerned. Consequently a devotee of any religionmay avail himself of it without antagonizing his ownorganization. It is a private matter and has to do onlywith internal practice.

The history of SikhismLet us briefly sketch the history of Sikhism. That

religion was founded by Guru Nanak in the fifteenthcentury, and partly in the sixteenth. Guru Nanak was areal Saint, a great and holy man, who had attained thehighest regions. His teaching, along with that of his con-temporary Saint, the great Kabir Sahib, also Tulsi Das,and later Tulsi Sahib also, laid the foundation for theRadha Soami system of practice. This is why the Sikhsoften contemptuously say that the "Radha Soami sect isonly a little offshoot of the Sikh religion." The RadhaSoami and the Sikh teachings are practically the same,with the exception of one point which we shall noticelater. Soami Ji of Agra only simplified the earlier teach-ing and gave it out in clear and lucid terms. The yoga or

17 DECEMBER 1932 91

practice of the Sound Current is the central theme ofI them both. Why then should the Sikhs, of all men, fightr the Radha Soami movement? It seems incredible. They

should be our strongest supporters and closest brothers.But they are our worst enemies. Why? The answer is:The orthodox body of the Sikhs has accepted the Chris-tian church dogma of a closed revelation and an inspiredbook, and they are now busy trying to defend thatdogma. Therein lies the whole secret of their opposition.

Guru Nanak had nine successors, each in turn carry-ing on the great work in the face of much opposition anddeadly persecution. That line of Masters included AngadDev, Amar Das, Ram Das, Arjan Dev, Har Gobind,Har Rai, Har Kishan, Tegh Bahadur, and GobindSingh, in the order named. Guru Nanak was born in1469, and died in 1539; and the last of his successors diedin 1708. The city of Amritsar was founded in 1572 byGuru Ram Das, and in 1588 his successor, Arjan Dev,completed the famous Golden Temple in Amritsar. It issaid, and the statement is confirmed by our Master, thatthis Golden Temple and its surrounding lake is an exactreproduction, as nearly as can be on this plane, of thereal Amritsar or Mansarover in Daswan Dwar, the thirdregion. (The word amritsar means the lake or waters ofimmortality.) But in Daswan Dwar, instead of a centraltemple, there is a gigantic flower whose bloom neverfades and whose perfume never diminishes.

The Sikhs become a great powerUnder the leadership of the tenth Guru, the Sikhs

became a power in the land. They were finally successfulin helping to overthrow the last remnant of Moghultyranny and to establish religious liberty under theKhalsa rule of the great Maharaja Ranjeet Singh. As

92 LETTER SEVEN

warriors, they came to be known as lions—the wordsingh meaning 'lion'. They were strong, brave and clean-living men. And today among them are to be found thefinest specimens of physical manhood in the Punjab or inall India. They offer perhaps the world's finest exampleof what a noble type of man can be formed by cleanliving, free from meats, alcohol and tobacco, and in-spired by a certain knowledge of the future of the soulin regions of light.

Theirs was a noble heritage indeed, and if they hadcontinued to follow a living Guru, instead of a lifelessbook, their greatness might have continued to the end oftime. But they had accepted a dogma which was destinedto work their downfall. By that act they had cut them-selves off from the fountain of their life-stream. Withouta living Guru their spirituality began to wane. Externali-zation of their religion took the place of internal practiceof the Sound Current. Instead of this internal practice,following the initiation by a living Guru, they simplyread the book. Their ultimate disintegration as a spiri-tual force was written in their fate. Kal had again scoredin his efforts to block the work of Saints. Gobind Singh,the last in their line of Gurus, died in 1708, leaving nosuccessor. A report became current that Gobind Singh,just before his death, had said that there would be nomore Gurus, but that the Holy Granth, the sacred writ-ings of all the Gurus, should henceforth be Guru to allSikhs. How this story originated, the authorities do notseem to agree, and it is by no means certain that he evermade any such statement. For it is fundamentally anddirectly contrary to the teachings of all the Gurus, asrecorded in the Granth Sahib itself. Anyway, the storywas finally accepted by the main body of the Sikhs and itis today the accredited dogma of that organization.

17 DECEMBER 1932 93

For nearly two hundred years the Sikhs have recog-nized no living Guru or Master, and they stoutly contendthat there can be no more. This has been the fatal errorof the Sikhs. Since they accepted this ancient Christiandogma they, like the church itself, have drifted more andmore into external forms and ceremonies, though not somuch as the church—bowing to the book as unto Godand utterly forgetting the priceless heritage of the SoundCurrent and the help of a living Guru, as was taught andpracticed by the noble founder of that faith. So far ascan be determined by inquiry, not a living member of theSikh organization, now numbering over two millions,even claims to go inside and make the journey to higherregions. In spite of this fact, they still contend that thebook is all-sufficient, even though the book itself teachesthe exact contrary. All the Saints of all ages, includingGuru Nanak and his successors in Sikhdom, haveemphasized the necessity of a living Guru. The Sikhshave thus taken up a position identical with that of thegreat body of Protestant Christian churches; for theyalso have staked everything upon a book, and they insistthat there can be no further or later revelation. The lastword has been said. Only the Roman Catholic church,more wisely realizing the insufficiency of the book alone,has placed the living pope above the book, thus occupy-ing a sort of middleground between the devotees of theinspired book and the disciples of a living Master.

Why anyone should ever have assumed that divinerevelation was closed for all time still remains a mystery.There is certainly no warrant for any such assumption,either in the scriptures themselves or in human expe-rience, or reason. But sooner or later all the world mustperforce come to realize that without a living Master allreligion is only a dead letter, only empty husks.

94 LETTER SEVEN

Our arrival in JhelumOctober 24th we arrived in Jhelum. This beautiful

city lies along the banks of the Jhelum river, one of thefive rivers of the Punjab. And in this large and fertilearea, so well watered, our Master lives. The Punjab isdoubtless the finest part of India. In Jhelum our Masterhas about two hundred disciples. As a father looks afterall of his children, so our Father tries to visit every sec-tion where his spiritual children live. It may take himtwo or three years to get around to them all, but heneglects none. One thousand people attended satsangthis evening. The attention was perfect, as usual. Allhung upon the Master's words as if they realized thatthose words carried the message of eternal life. This dis-ciple, in attending public meetings for sixty years, hasnever known a speaker who could hold his audienceswith such rapt attention and eager interest as ourbeloved Master can do. And the interest never seems tofail or decrease up to the last moment of the hour and ahalf or two hours during which he speaks to them in anordinary conversational manner. Though frequently ris-ing to heights of true eloquence, there is never anyattempt at oratory. Everyone feels that his discoursesflow from a great heart of love and a brain illuminatedby the light of divine wisdom.

A stop in LyallpurWe left Jhelum the next morning for Lyallpur, stop-

ping at several places along the way where the Masterheld short satsangs. Groups of from fifty to severalhundreds were waiting for him at many places. Arrivingat Lyallpur, there were five or six hundred gathered forsatsang. They were nearly all members of the collegefaculty and their families. Here is one of the greatest

17 DECEMBER 1932 95

agricultural colleges in the world, its experimental farmsextending for miles. It is doing much for all India. Thebeloved Sardar Jagat Singh, who has long been the Mas-ter's secretary who writes the American letters, is profes-sor of chemistry in this college. We were entertained inlovely homes and this disciple was served the most deli-cious fruit salad he had tasted since leaving America.

Crowds greet the Master in LahoreThe next day we came on to Lahore where the Mas-

ter held satsang at one o'clock, which was attended bymore than two thousand people. When we went to leavethere, lines of people had formed two blocks long,through which the Master's car made but slow progress.Every man, woman and child was anxious to get onemore nearby glimpse of their beloved Satguru. Manyhad tears in their eyes as they said the last "RadhaSoami."

The arrival homeThe next stop was in Amritsar, at four o'clock, where

a thousand or more devoted disciples awaited their Mas-ter. He gave them a brief talk and then, after a shortbusiness conference with some judges, lawyers, etc., con-cerning some public works of interest to the Dera, westarted on the last lap of our return journey, arriving atthe Dera about six-thirty.

It is a delight to rest again in our own little corner herein this holy retreat, far from the haunts of passion andthe marts of greed; where men are real brothers, and ourgracious Father looks with loving kindness upon us all.

Affectionately, your fellow disciple,Julian P. Johnson

Eight

A Christmas Meditation

The DeraJanuary 1, 1933

Beloved Friends in America,

Christmas morning on the banks of the Beas river inIndia, a solitary American sits in meditation. Tides ofmemories and emotions sweep over him. Far away in thehomeland this morning millions gather about theirfiresides in joyful reunion to celebrate the birth of a babynineteen and a third centuries ago. Why do they do it?And why is this American so far from his home thismorning here in a strange land? Who can penetrate theveil and solve the mysteries that constitute the pheno-mena of human life? Only the Master.

Wise men set out for BethlehemHere we sit by the slow rolling waters of an Indian

river. India, the changeless India, the eternal mother.From her mountains and plains almost two thousandyears ago went three wise men, Masters, setting out onthe long overland journey to an obscure village in aremote province of a Roman Empire. An event wasabout to transpire to which they alone had full knowl-edge. Over long and weary stretches of desert, of valeand mountain roads, the camels beat their steady treadwestward. Guided by the inner light, whose star burnedbrighter as they approached their destination, the wise

1 JANUARY 1933 97

men came at last to a little Essene inn, dug into thehillside in Bethlehem. The Masters know the significanceof all events. That is one reason they are called wise men.They know the value, also the past and the future ofevery soul coming into the world. As these wise menhalted in the silent watches of the night on the plains ofBethlehem and looked down upon the litt|e Judean vil-lage composed mostly of shepherds and farmers, theyknew that an illuminated soul was about to take humanbirth there; and their gladness and immeasurable lovedrew down from heaven a great chorus who startled thesleepy shepherds with their holy song. Thus heralded,came the Son of Mary. And now after the lapse of cen-turies, the sweet story is told in awed whispers about theChristmas firesides. And the holy melody lingers in thehearts of men.

A gloomy Christmas dayBut this disciple sits alone on the banks of the river,

far from his native land and about him there is noChristmas celebration. The day itself is dreary. Cloudsoverhang the sky and chill winds blow. The dear Masterof the Dera is in Agra today and only the Persian wheelat the well goes on forever as it has done for ages. EvenParas Ram, the servant boy, usually so good, is in anugly mood today because he could not have his own waythis morning. Christmas morning on the banks of theBeas. Here there will be no turkey dinner today. NoChristmas frolic tonight. No gathering of the kiddies toinspect armloads of toys. Far away in her Californiahome is a little one, "so mighty like a rose" in the sweetbloom of her childhood, so beautiful that it seems asif she had just stepped down out of Paradise bringingthe light of that world with her. Perhaps with dawning

98 LETTER EIGHT

intuition she sits today, waits and wonders. May theholy angels guard her "all through the night."

A tear drops by the riverAnd there by the banks of the Beas river a lone stu-

dent sits and wonders. But the unheeding river flows onas it has done for half a million years and more. Whatcares it for Christmas babies? What cares it for Saintsand holy shrines? What cares it for a hundred millionsouls ground down beneath the Wheel? Only time, timeand worked out karma, and the love of God, shall bringrelease. This far wanderer may be excused if he drops asilent tear today upon the banks of the unheeding riverYet why the tear? It would be hard to say. Does he wishtoday that he was back in America? No, a thousandtimes no. His emotions may be partly from thoughts ofloved ones so far away, partly from pity for those who,like himself, have stumbled so long through the dark-ness; and partly for pure joy, joy that he at last has foundthe way to the Light. Fifty years of searching up anddown the earth, restless, drifting, listening, hopingvaguely for—he knew not what. But at last the Masterwho knows and loves took his hand, like a graciousfather, and led him out of the wilderness. Over land andsea he almost dragged the wanderer, until at last herested at the holy feet of his Redeemer.

And strangely enough, that Redeemer in his humanform dwells here on the banks of the Beas river. The lightof this stupendous truth is dazzling to the eyes of percep-tion. How can it be so? Yet the pure white music oi it, theliving joy of it, fills the soul of the wanderer as he sitstoday upon the banks of the unheeding river. When theworld seemed but a prisonhouse of confusion and pain,the blessed Master came across the seas and touched my

1 JANUARY 1933 99

soul. He came to give freedom. He came in the stillnessof the night, while I watched and prayed. Suddenly hecame, and the light of a thousand suns shone about him,though my dull eyes could not see the glory of the light.He called me, and my soul heard the divine music of hisvoice. No fetters of earth can hold me now. They all dropaway like wax melting in white fires. He bade me cometo him on the banks of the Beas where he could teach methe wisdom of the holy path; teach me and train me, andwatch over me as a father, feed me on the bread of life,and help me to grow clean and strong and fearless, fit atlast to stand before the radiant Lord. No more wander-ing in strange bypaths. No more groping in the wilder-ness, but a steady climbing with him up to the heights.And when the awakened soul at last touches the purewhite Sea, this divine drop, grown all luminous itself,shall be absorbed in that shining Sea.

And so, after all, this Christmas morning may meanmore to the lone American on the banks of the Beas thanit does to millions of other Americans at their turkeydinners in the homeland.

Jesus and the JewsBut happy as this disciple is today at the feet of a

living Master, he can never forget, nor fail to appreciatethe dear son of Mary, even though the story of his lifecomes down to us dimmed by the intervening centuries.Like that of all spiritual Masters, his life was a sweetmystery, and its main value to us now is the love itbrought into the world. In that long ago, Jesus came tothe Jews as a light to guide their erring feet. They sadlyneeded him. For a long time fancying themselves thespecially chosen people of God, yet falling into diverseerrors and sins, now ascendant and now subject, they at

100 LETTER EIGHT

last pitifully sat and nursed their woes under the gallingyoke of Rome. But they fondly imagined that theirJehovah would come someday to their rescue and re-store to them not only their freedom, but give to themworld dominion. Thus they waited for the coming Mes-siah. While they fondled this egotistical dream, the greatTeacher came and they failed to recognize him. He cameas a light to both Jews and Gentiles, and they bothjoined in crucifying him.

Being full of enmity toward each other, nothing inthe world could have induced the Jews and Gentiles tojoin hands in any constructive activity for the good ofmankind; but they readily joined in the murder of thebest man in all the Roman Empire. Such is the venom-ous quality of religious prejudice.

His own great heart strained with grief as he stoodupon Mount Olivet and looked upon the city of David.Knowing their many weaknesses and being full of pity,he exclaimed, "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft wouldI have gathered thy children together as a hen gathersher chickens under her wings, and ye would not."

Jesus himself was born to Jewish parents, his fatherbeing a member of the Essene Brotherhood. He inheritedthe restless mind, the fiery impulse and the passionatelove of the Semite, as well as spiritual insight and loftyidealism. To this heritage he added the training in scien-tific yoga of mother India. (For he spent some time inIndia.) Returning from India, fired by an amazing love,he came to his own people like the flash of a meteor. Hetaught them and healed their diseases in vast multitudes,and then he passed to higher regions, leaving themdazzled at his light, but not comprehending it. So it hasalways been. Only those who know his inner life lovehim, and to them even to this day his memory is like the

1 JANUARY 1933 101

odor of sweet incense. He is worthy of all the love thatChristmas can bring him.

But one thing the American people have not yetlearned, which is vastly more important than the memo-ries of all past ages. That is the fact that more than oneChrist has come into the world and some of them are stillin the body carrying on their Great Work. The sameneed and the same divine love that brought one, hasbrought a long succession of them. The same GreatFather who sent one noble Son to Bethlehem has sent agreat number of them to many lands and in many ages.In fact the world is never without at least one of them.

Other Christs are bornOnly a few days ago this disciple visited the birth-

place of another of these great souls, the world's light-bearers and redeemers. In a little village called Ghoman,in the Punjab, was born in the year 1839 a child endowedwith spiritual possibilities of a transcendent character. Inthe humble quarters of a family of farmers in this littlevillage Baba Jaimal Singh was born. No angel chorusannounced his coming and yet he was born to a destinyamong the greatest of the sons of men. He became adisciple of the great Soami Ji, and later rose to realsainthood himself. He laid the foundations of this workin the Punjab.

While the star of that Saint burned brightly in theIndian sky, another star of the first magnitude arose overthe land of Five Waters. In 1858 another babe was bornhere who has become another Christ, and whose holymission has already engirdled the earth itself withstreams of light. It is he at whose holy feet this disciple isnow permitted to sit. His very name, Sawan, meaningshowers, points to the character of his work. As the

102 LETTER EIGHT

summer rains bring new life to the dry land, so this greatSaint showers the water of life upon all who come tohim. Other Saviors also have come and gone, in Indiaand in other lands. They came and their lights burnedwith intense brilliancy for a time and then disappeared.For this dark planet was not their home. But the per-fume of their holy lives has lingered like the odor ofsweet incense, like frankincense and myrrh. Many a soul,long ages under the Wheel, found release by the stronghand of these Masters, and vast numbers more wouldhave escaped if only they had heeded the voice of theseRedeemers. If this disciple ever spends Christmas inAmerica again, he will surely spend it, not in eating a bigturkey dinner, but in trying to show his people that theymay have access to a living Christ, abiding yet in thebody, and abundantly able to save unto the uttermost allwho seek shelter at his holy feet.

Sitting at his feetSome days ago this disciple sat at the feet of the

beloved Master on the very edge of the bank of thisunheeding river. He had gone there to see to the unload-ing of three barges full of reeds for use in the Dera. Thebringing of these reeds was purely a labor of love, no onereceiving any cash pay; and yet scores of men, and evensome women, engaged in the work eagerly. The reedswere carried in bundles on their heads up the slopes tothe Dera, from the steep river banks. The Master sat in achair and this disciple sat on the ground at his feet. To sitthere was better than to sit in royal chairs. Through all ofIndia, and to the ends of the earth, there is no place sosacred as at the feet of a living Saint. He who is privi-leged to sit there is blessed above all others. To look intothe eyes of divine love, to listen to his voice full of the

1 JANUARY 1933 103

resonance of the highest spiritual culture, to feel in thedepths of one's own soul the warm glow of his holylight—that is something never to be forgotten when onceexperienced. How precious the moments. After a pil-grimage through the long and weary years, life after life,slowly emerging from the slime and the darkness of sinand ignorance, at last to sit at the feet of a living Saint,and to know that never again shall the soul descend intothe depths, but shall mount with the Master up to theregions of light. This is a joy that no Christmas dinnercan give; and for this holy hour one may well travel allthe highways of earth and sail the seven seas.

Illustrating the extreme value of the privilege des-cribed above, a story is told of Lord Krishna. It is saidthat walking through the jungle one day he came upon acertain spot and stopping, began to weep. When askedwhy he wept, he said: "Ten thousand years ago a trueSaint sat down upon this sacred spot and I was not hereto see him and worship at his holy feet."

Now after seven months with this dear Master, theAmerican disciple feels that even the disciple himself nolonger exists as a separate individual. Besides the Mas-ter, there is no one else. There is nothing. The Master isall there is.

Sunset and moonrise on the BeasWe began the day on the banks of the Beas river. Let

us end it there. But the scene has changed. The cheerlessgray of the morning has given place to a great burst oflight from out of a gorgeously painted sky. The moonalso has just risen. Stand here by me on the banks ofthis unheeding river for a few minutes and let me showyou a most beautiful sight. For after all, the river is kindin spite of its apparent indifference to our emotions.

1 JANUARY 1933 105

the river. On the banks of a ravine some three hundredyards away sit two sadhus (ascetics) in meditation. No,at this moment they are chanting a sacred hymn. On thenorth side of the Dera can be heard the incessant click ofthe Persian wheel as it brings up water from a sixty-footwell, to the slow and monotonous tread of the oxen.Across the river to the east long levels of yellow sandbars are streaked with patches of dark brown earth.Beyond them are faintly visible numerous fields of yel-low and gray in the gathering shadows. And far away inthe east a greenish-gray line of trees meets the deep bluesky. Hung in that deep blue sky is the clear full moon,now a half hour above the horizon. Its silvery face isreflected in the river by a long path of white and spark-ling ripples, so gentle that their motion is barely per-ceptible. The flow of the river is slow, so it rolls alongwith just enough movement to break the glassy smooth-ness of its deep and silent waters.

The violet in the sky is now reflected from the riverforming a most unique border to the silver sheen of thereflected moon. The western sky gradually changes topale gold, while to the south the orange merges into redand purple and that into deep blue and steel gray. Thelight fades rapidly. The glistening waters of the river inthe north now stand out above the yellow sands leavingthem but a faint blur. The timber line on the easternhorizon has become a black border against the steel grayof the sky. Now the last sandbar disappears. Only theriver and the moon, and the shadowy earth remain, andthe silence of the night.

Finally the buildings of the Dera are sharply outlinedagainst the western sky. The eye of the observer searchesfor one bright electric light that usually shines at night,like a mariner's beacon, above the Master's house. But

106 LETTER EIGHT

tonight that light is absent. The Master is not there. Onlythe light of his love and goodness remains with us. Atlast only a silvery streak marks the waters of the Beasriver, merging into its black shorelines. The pale after-glow of sunset tells us that another day has passed.Mounting the eastern sky, the queen of the night is nowsupreme.

This disciple then asked the 'man in the moon' if hehad any message from his country and people so faraway on the opposite side of the earth; but the 'man inthe moon' replied, with a twinkle in his eye—"Nevermind your country and people; it is time you were get-ting back to your bhajan."

So, we must bid you goodnight, and"God be with you till we meet again."

Your loving fellow discipleJulian P. Johnson

I

Nine

The DeraFebruary 2, 1933

Beloved American Satsangis,

In this letter I want to give you first a few hintsregarding some of the difficulties experienced by a new-comer in India. You shall then have something better inthe last section of the letter.

A combination salad in CalcuttaOn board ship the writer made the acquaintance of a

very affable and cultured Hindu gentleman who was ofgreat assistance to him during the six hours he spent inCalcutta. After many weeks aboard ship saturated withunsavory smells, and finally free upon solid ground oncemore, one feels that a good square meal would be aboutthe most desirable thing imaginable. So we set off to finda restaurant where they served vegetable curry and rice.We heard of such a place. After walking sixteen andtwo-thirds blocks, we found the place, only to be toldthat they were just out, no more prepared just now. Butthey told us of another place. Walking nine and a halfblocks more—walking is good for one after a long seavoyage—we were told sadly that they never made strictlyvegetable curry. Why should anyone want vegetablecurry, least of all an American Sahib? They would servea choice chicken curry immediately for one rupee and ahalf. But we asked for a vegetable combination salad.

108 LETTER NINE

Yes, yes, they would serve it at once. Will the Sahibplease be seated.

After waiting about half an hour, a boy entered witha basket full of vegetables and passed to a back room.Fifteen minutes later the proprietor entered the diningroom, triumphantly carrying a broad smile and the com-bination salad. It consisted of three pieces of greenpeppers, one and a half slices of tomato, two pieces ofonion and nine shreds of cabbage topped off with a smallpod of red pepper, just to give it artistic effect. Asked fora salad dressing the proprietor looked pained and disap-pointed. His salad was not duly appreciated. TheseAmericans are such unreasonable creatures, anyway.They are all so rich and live in such unbounded luxurythat they are badly spoiled. Why should anyone wishanything else on a fine salad like that? Wasn't the redpepper sufficient for relish? My educated friend explainedin the vernacular and so after serious conferences withthe elders of the establishment, and much grave discus-sion, it was finally agreed that if the Sahib wished, theywould send out and get some olive oil. The Sahib did notcare.

Railway travel in IndiaGoing to the depot—they always say station in this

country—to take a train, one has to decide first of allwhat sort of a person he is—whether first class, secondclass, intermediate, or altogether third rate. If he thinkshe is first class and wishes to travel that way, he pays arate a little higher than the regular railroad fare in Amer-ica. But in this country it is much the same as in Eng-land, where they have a saying that only lords, Americansand fools travel first class. If one decides that he issecond class, or his purse is second class, he pays only

2 FEBRUARY 1933 109

about half of the first class rate. The intermediate isabout one half of the second class rate, and the thirdclass is much cheaper still.

Let us suppose that he elects to travel intermediate.He will get there just as soon as if he traveled first class.He looks about for a window where they sell that class oftickets. Getting his ticket, he then enters his compart-ment on the side, directly from the platform. He hasaccess only to his own compartment, which consists oftwo, four, or six benches. The backs of the benches areabsolutely straight up and down, even in the first andsecond classes. After sitting on one for twenty-fourhours, one is quite certain that if they could have madethem more uncomfortable, they surely would have doneso. The first and second-class compartments have elect-ric fans and cushions on the backs and bottoms of thebenches. The intermediate has only wooden bencheswith a very poor sort of cushion, and the third class isbut little better than an American box car with justwooden benches to sit on. The only cheerful thing aboutthem is the fact that they will take you to yourdestination.

Entering your intermediate compartment, it dawnsupon you for the first time in the confusion of manystrange things, that you will really have to spend thenight on the train and where are you going to sleep?There are no Pullman coaches; not even tourist sleepers.And this is a fast transcontinental mail train, the best inIndia. If your friends have not properly informed you tocarry your own bedding with you, you are just out ofluck. But if you have your own roll of bedding, youspread it out on the hard wooden bench, with its sugges-tion of a cushion, and proceed to make yourself ascomfortable as circumstances will permit. It is always

110 LETTER NINE

equivalent to many riches, if you learn to be satisfiedwith whatever your lot may be.

You ride along for an hour and a half, wonderingwhat the country outside is like, while the dust and hot !winds sift about the compartment. You begin to feel jsleepy and settle down for a nap. The train comes to a Igrinding stop. Loud voices rend the sultry night air. If [there is any one thing in India that is more obtrusivethan another, it is loud talking. It is the only thing theyever do in a hurry. Let two or three of the coolie, orlaboring class, get a little excited or angry, and the speedat which their mouths discharge noises is something thateven Einstein never dreamed of. The velocity of light is aslow pace. It sounds as if ten thousand words to theminute would be a conservative estimate. But of courseno one has ever been able to count the words, and so thespeed limit is not known. It is amazing how any humanmachine can work so fast and emit such volumes ofsound. Certainly no one can understand half of what issaid; neither is it important, or even desirable, that anyshould understand. It is simply an automatic explosionof the agitated ego.

But we must return to our train. Loud voices on theplatform. Mobs of people, vendors of soda water, fruitsand sweet meats, cry their wares. Your compartment isalready full; but in India there are three hundred andfifty million people. Now the door opens and five fat menand three boys tumble in, carrying sixteen bundles ofassorted sizes, ranging all the way from a jug of water toa chicken coop, filled with fancy hens, or it may be alitter of pups. They—the men and pups—look about. Noroom to sit down. Bundles are piled on the floor and theboys climb on top of them. The men fix their eyes onyou, lying stretched out on that bench. It is a sad case,

2 FEBRUARY 1933 111

but you simply have to get up. You have not paid for theentire bench. You roll up your bedding and sit upon it,leaning against the perpendicular wall. When morningcomes, as it always does come, thank Heaven, even inIndian railway cars, you are still sitting on your roll,leaning against the perpendicular wall. The fat men andboys are scattered here and there, over benches and bun-dles, crumpled up, nodding and snoring. The old menare chattering at each other, no one listening, while thetrain rumbles on through the dust and sultry winds.

The food questionOf course, the food question is a pressing one from

the beginning. Man usually has the foolish notion thathe must eat, every day or two, at least. He looks for arestaurant. He watches for familiar windows with a dis-play of appetizing foods. No sign of them in India. Whatis to be done? He soon learns that he should have carriedhis own food with him, as well as his bedding, soap andtowels. However, he can get meals on the big throughtrains if he is willing to eat them and pay the price. Hecan get lunches also at some of the principal stations.But for a strict vegetarian it is often a rather difficultproblem.

Comfortably settled at last at the end of his journeyand a faithful servant urging him to eat, the American isagain quite satisfied. The boy enters with a full tray.Little copper dishes each filled with something, the likeof which he never looked upon before; and on a largecopper platter a stack of something that resembles pan-cakes. You lift one. It feels hard and heavy. It is a 'cha-patti', the standard bread here, made of whole wheatflour, salt and water, and baked on a piece of sheet iron.In the Dera they bake them by the thousand per hour

112 LETTER NINE

when big crowds gather. In each copper dish a nativevegetable, literally swimming in grease, which they call'ghee'. In India ghee is much loved, and if they wish to beespecially nice to a guest, they simply add a little moreghee to his food. Besides the ghee, each vegetable isseasoned with two to six different spices of assortedflavors and odors wholly unlike anything you ever tastedor smelled before. One of the greatest difficulties encoun-tered by this writer has been to keep his servant fromputting all the fifty-seven varieties of seasoning spicesinto his food. Without them he thinks the food wouldbe tasteless.

The song of the mosquitoThe date is the fourteenth of June. Real summer in

the Punjab. The two small boys appointed to pull thepunka to keep the air in motion in the room have growntired of their monotonous job, and one of them isstretched out on the floor, sound asleep. The other one isso sleepy that his hand relaxes the rope, the punka slowsdown to a complete stop, and he leans back against thewall, asleep. Presently beads of perspiration stand out allover you. The temperature is 120 in your room. ParasRam, the servant boy, enters the room for the twenty-seventh time in two hours to ask if the Sahib will haveanother glass of lemon soda, which he calls lemonade.This drink is quite a welcome refreshment during the hotweather in India. When night falls the newcomer seeksrelief from the oppressive heat of the rooms below bygoing up to the roof. Here he is greeted by the silverymoon, just risen above the valley of the Beas river. Assoon as he can get rid of an overanxious servant, he liesdown on his cot to rest, and listen to the chanting of fiftywomen, in the Dera kitchen, as they sing in unison their

2 FEBRUARY 1933 113

song of devotion to Satguru, while they cook chapattis.The howl of jackals in the distant jungle and the persis-tent song of a quartette of mosquitoes keep him companyas he slips away into dreamland.

Talk less, eat less, sleep lessIn the morning your servant awakens you when he

thinks you have slept too long. He coughs a little louderthan usual, or rattles a dish. It is not good for you tosleep so late, especially after your tea is poured, pipinghot. Your servant knows what is best for you, and aboveall he knows what is 'tik' or proper. The very day thiswriter arrived here, a bright satsangi informed him thatas one advances in this Path, he eats less, sleeps less andtalks less. Your servant will see to it that you sleep less.With a little encouragement, he will volunteer to do mostof the talking for you; but if you should eat all he setsbefore you, you would not survive a single month. Inspite of pleadings and scoldings, he continues to serveenough for five men.

Seated at your breakfast table, your servant placesbefore you a pot of tea and two small biscuits—littlesweet crackers. You prefer coffee; but he sadly informsyou that there is no coffee in town. Besides it is quiteincredible that anyone should prefer coffee to tea. Doesnot every English gentleman in the world drink tea pre-cisely at six o'clock every morning? You surrender andreach for the tea; but the servant jumps for the pot andpours the tea himself. It is not 'tik' that a Sahib shouldpour his own tea. You look for the cream. At least youmight have cream in your tea, if you cannot have coffee.But he passes you a cup of milk, boiled and sweetened.Anyway, it is very strange that a man should want creamin his tea. One should use only sugar in tea. But these

114 LETTER NINE

Americans have such peculiar notions.Months after this American was settled here, in his

own little corner, he was able to get a man to bring milkto his own rooms, so that he could let it stand overnightand have cream for his coffee the next morning; also toavoid having the milk boiled and sweetened, which is theuniversal custom here. So the next morning he lookedforward to enjoying real cream in his coffee for the firsttime since leaving America. But when the coffee wasserved, a jug of milk was set before him. Asked about thecream, the servant exhibited a pained and blank expres-sion. He had carefully stirred the cream and milktogether again, thinking it would surely be much betterthat way. It was quite incredible that anyone sould wantpure cream in his coffee, when he might have milk andcream both together.

Hands made before towelsOne day, following a severe dust storm, a plate was

put on the table quite covered with dust. It was handedto the servant to be cleaned. He took it in the mostcasual manner and proceeded to wipe the dust off withhis bare hands. One day, after sending away to a distantcity for baking powder, the writer proceeded to makewholewheat pancakes, a la Americaine. Charcoal wasplaced in a little iron box and a plate of steel was setover the hot coals. Ghee was poured over the steel plateand the batter was spread. The pancakes were nicelybrowned at last. The servant looked on with eager snap-ping eyes, picked up the extra plate off the floor, wipedoff the dust with his bare hands, and then picked up thehot pancakes, one at a time, in his fingers, and put themon the plate. When told that he must handle them witha knife or fork—no pancake turners known—he was

2 FEBRUARY 1933 115

amazed that anyone should prefer clumsy instruments tohis own hands, even for handling hot pancakes.

There is no such thing as fresh butter in this country,except in a few of the larger cities that have moderndairies, or where the natives are especially taught tomake it. What they use for butter is extracted from milkafter a long process of boiling and mixing and separat-ing. The taste and the odor are both rather difficult foran American to surmount.

Beds and feather pillows unknownThere are no such things as bedsprings and mat-

tresses. Your beds consist of a roll of blankets spreadupon cots made by stretching ropes or strips of canvasover wooden frames which stand up on four legs a footor more from the ground. Then your pillows. You pickthem up and try to diagnose them. After a night spent onone, you still wonder. Certainly not feathers. They aremade of cotton, fiber, wood, or bricks; one cannot sayexactly which. The writer tried in the great city ofLahore to purchase a feather pillow. He went to a shop.No big department stores. Only shops, each specializingin certain articles. He asked for pillows. Yes, yes, plentyof pillows. They always say yes in this country, no matterwhat your question may be. Say to a man: "How are youthis morning?" and he will say: "Yes, thank you." It isconsidered polite to say 'yes' first. But his pillows were allof the hard variety. Asked for feather pillows, he said:"Yes, yes" and turned and asked another man, he a third,and he a fourth. Finally, the answer came back that theyhad no such pillows. Another shop was tried with thesame results. Then a third shop. Finally it became appar-ent that they had no idea of what was meant by featherpillows. When asked if they had any feather pillows in

116 LETTER NINE

India, the shopkeeper said: "Yes, yes," turned and askedanother man, he a third one, and he a fourth, then all ofthe bystanders were consulted. At last the answer cameback that they did not understand what the Sahib meant.The Sahib then tried to explain that feather pillows weremade by pulling feathers out of a duck or goose, or otherfowls, sewing them into bags, and using them for pil-lows. The shopkeepers and bystanders listened withgrowing incredulity, with half suspicious expressions ontheir faces, and glances from one to another, as if theysuspected that the foreign Sahib was actually exhibitingsigns of insanity.

A land of many languagesOf course the language is one of the big difficulties,

and the problem is doubly difficult here because it is acountry of many languages. It is said that more thanthree hundred different languages and dialects arespoken in India. The writer started out to study Hindi.He applied himself diligently for a time, making someheadway. He would work out a few sentences with muchpains and labor—one might almost say, with 'laborpains'. Then he would start out with malicious intent touse them on the first innocent native he ran across.Finally cornering someone, with deliberate aim, the sen-tences were discharged at the unsuspecting victim. If hewas unable to speak English, he simply looked puzzled,perhaps smiled a little, and passed on. If he could under-stand a little English, he would ask: "What did you say,Sir?" The Hindi sentences are repeated. He knots hisbrow and asks again: "I did not understand, Sir. Whatdid you say?" Then all crestfallen, the American repeatsin English what he thought he was saying in Hindi. Thekindhearted native then smiles sympathetically and asks

2 FEBRUARY 1933 117

to have the Hindi sentences repeated once more. It isdonfi with great care and painstaking effort, with strictregard for grammatical precision. The face of the nativelights up. He has understood. At last you have tri-umphed. But the native adds: "Yes, yes, that is quite allright; perfectly correct, Sir—only that is not the way wesay it." He is then asked to say it right, and he sayssomething which sounds not at all like anything theAmerican had ever heard before.

Urdu, Hindi, and Punjabi are all spoken here. Pun-jabi is sometimes called Gurmukhi. Asked to explain thedifference between these three languages, the averagenative will tell you in substance: "No difference at all;they are exactly the same, only different." They will thentell you how Hindi is made up more of pure Sanskrit,Urdu being a mixture of Hindi, Persian, Arabic and San-skrit, while Punjabi is a mixture of them all. Punjabiis to some extent a manufactured language, havingbeen modified by one of the Sikh Gurus, and so it isconsidered almost a sacred tongue by the Sikhs. Itis the language in which their sacred book is written.

The problem of traffic congestionIf you are traveling on the highways or city streets of

this country, the problem of traffic congestion is alwayspresent. In the main streets and on the sidewalks of Cal-cutta you may have to push the cows out of your way toget by. If you are in a motorcar on almost any highway,you are confronted by a mob of people, and filling in allof the spaces between the people are various assortmentsof cows, ox-carts, camels, buffaloes, calves, donkeys,dogs, and sometimes geese, ducks, and chickens. Thehorn is sounded nearly all of the time, but no one paysany attention to it until the car is right on them, and then

1

118 LETTER NINE

they jump, sometimes in the right direction. When thewriter was in India on his first trip, forty-two years ago,he was riding a bicycle one day down a broad and beau-tiful boulevard in Bangalore City. A crowd of nativesstrolled along in front of him in the center of the street.The alarm bell was rung and rung, but no one heeded thebell. Finally turning to go around a bunch of men whowere directly in front of him, just at that moment a manjumped, of course, in the wrong direction, right in frontof the wheel. There was a bump in the rear, which pro-bably left a bump in the same region. A general scatter-ment. Much loud talking by the crowd, while the two ofus sat in the midst of the street and looked at eachother—looked and wondered.

And so one might go on for hours, recounting theminor difficulties one encounters as a stranger in thiscountry. But to a serious student, here to follow theMaster, those things are as they say here 'kuchh nahin',nothing at all. Although this letter is already longenough, we cannot close it without some reference to theMaster. So let us make the closing section consist ofsomething more interesting and important.

A parable of the ballroomThe dance is in full swing. Costly gowns and spark-

ling jewels, bare white skin, powder and rouge, lightand music and wine, beauty and laughter and love, allmingle in one gorgeous night. During a pause in themusic, a couple slip away into the garden. What a night!The moon and the stars were never so bright, and theperfume of a myriad flowers saturates the night air. Anight just made for lovers and loving. They pass on intoscheduled byways. And all the while, five deadly foeswalk on either side of them and behind them. But their

2 FEBRUARY 1933 119

footsteps are not heard and their hideous aspects arenot seen. The wine has flushed the cheeks of our happycouple and emboldened their desires. The world is nowshut out. They hold each other in close embrace and mur-mur endearing words. Of adl sweet things on earth, she isthe most charming. Of all men in the world, he is the onejust made for her alone. Nothing shall ever again sepa-rate them. Though all others have had troubles, theywill never have any. Life shall be one long happy songof love. So they hold each other closer and press eachother's lips in a long delicious intoxicating kiss. And thefive deadly foes, all unseen by them, smile at each other,as they nod their approval.

The lovers are utterly lost to the world. They haveeach other. Nothing else counts. And they have life, reallife. Away with your narrow creeds of self-control andthe laws of karma. They are all right for old women, butfor red-blooded youth they are 'bunk'. Youth must live.Enjoy the present. The individual ego must express itself.Besides, we live only once and then—who knows what?Let wine and love chase away the shadows of the nightand banish dull care and old men's superstitions. Wemust know life as it is. Let the future take care of itself.Tonight we shall drink and love. So, time and space andGod, and the laws of karma, are all forgotten in a whirlof blissful frenzy, intoxication of passion. And whilethey float away in the ecstasy of sweet delirium, the fivedeadly foes creep up and each one injects into the veinsof the dreamers his own particular kind of poison. Someinner sense of danger causes them a little uneasiness; butthe resistless tide of passion sweeps them on. They willenjoy the moment, let come what may.The poison enterstheir bodies and permeates even to the bones.

120 LETTER NINE

Only leaves, dead leavesTime passes. It may be a day or a year, or forty years.

But it passes, and the gray dawn breaks at last. Thesleeper stirs and mutters some half-forgotten words ofendearment and extends his arms. But they close onempty space. His beloved is not there. He sits up some-what startled. He feels a dull pain in his head and limbs.His throat is dry. He feels about him and his hands graspa large bundle of papers. He looks. Only bills, bills, bills;and at the foot of each one are written the ominouswords: ''''Please remit.'1'' The words burn themselves intohis brain. In the sweet delirium of his pleasures, he hadforgotten that he must pay. He feels about for his purse,once bulging with banknotes. But now it is gone. Hereaches again. His hands grasp something. Only leaves,dead leaves, cold and damp in the fogs of the night air—leaves of faded hopes and burned-out passions. Only ahandful of dead leaves, and on each leaf are written theominous words: "Please remit.''''

Only dead leaves now, and the cold damp earth.Nothing more. He looks at his hand. He feels his face.The skin is rough and wrinkled. His hair is quite gray.The five poisons have done their deadly work. He is nowan old man, full of disease and pain. What could havehappened to him? Only a few hours ago, he was youngand full of joy and the sweet intoxication of love. Henever expected anything like this. And where was hisbeloved? Why wasn't she at his side? He struggled to hisfeet and walked on through the dismal woods that hadso recently been a garden of exquisite beauty, full ofroses and lilacs, sweet hyacinths and violets. But noweven the trees were bare and the chill autumn windswhistled through the dead limbs. Presently he stumbledover something and fell to his knees. Peering with

2 FEBRUARY 1933 121

amazement at the form before him, he exclaimed:"Mary, for God's sake, what has happened?" But a harshand accusing voice replied: "Aye, and what is the matterwith you?" Still gazing into the gaunt and haggard facebefore him, he thought: "Great God, is that thAhing Iloved but an hour ago?" Then out of the depths ofanguish and bitter disappointment, he cried aloud: "MyGod, my God, what is it all about?" Still looking anx-iously at the 'thing' on the ground, he muttered: "Water,water!" And then as he reached for the empty cup, hishand dropped, his chin rested on his chest, and the bodypitched forward to the ground. Another soul had passedunder the Wheel.

Master enters the dance hallGoing back to the dance hall, let us follow another

scene for a few minutes. In the midst of the gay whirl, anelderly man enters. He wears a tall white turban, EastIndian fashion, a long light-colored coat, rajah style,light trousers and tan-colored oxfords. He has a longwhite beard. His bearing is noble, as that of a born king,and his countenance is like the rays of the morning sun.His voice is low and musical and full of tenderness. Hespreads about him an atmosphere of holy peace. Eventhe dance hall seems sacred in his presence. But for themost part, he excites only a mild curiosity, and a casualremark or two. One half-intoxicated woman, leaning onthe chest of her escort, said: "Who is the old beard?Wouldn't it be fun if you had one like that!" The madwhirl of the dance goes on uninterrupted. The wine flowsas before. And the five deadly foes stalk through thecrowd unnoticed, except by the sharp eyes of thenewcomer.

But one lone couple, sitting apart from the crowd,

122 LETTER NINE

apparently in deep thought, took special notice of thestranger. They arose and hastened to meet him, a newlight beaming in their eyes. With a smile he greetedthem, and led them away from the crowd to a flight ofstairs leading to an upper room which was whollyunknown to most of the guests. Entering this room, thecouple fell down and worshipped him; for now they knewthat he was the Master. As soon as they had reachedthat upper room, they noticed that his form hadchanged. It had become all radiant and beautiful beyondthe power of words to describe, and each ray of lightstreaming from it, white and golden in color, seemed tocarry a stream of divine melody which was in itself thevery essence of life, truth and wisdom and love. Theyworshipped him with trembling and great joy—a joy theworld never can know. Taking their hands, he badethem rise and look behind them. Much to theiramazement, they saw that they had not entered theroom alone, but close behind each of them had comefive others whose aspects were extremely uninviting.They were the five deadly enemies of mankind: kam(passion), krodh (anger), lobh (greed), moh (attachment),and ahankar (egotism or vanity). These five coweredin much fear at the sight of the Master and would havefled, but they could not detach themselves from thosethey followed, being held by many fine, strong, but in-visible threads; threads that had required ages to weave.

N-A-M, the swordThe Master now presented to each of the couple a

most beautiful sword, a sword of the finest steel, finerthan the finest blade of Damascus. And the sword wasso constructed that if one listened carefully, he couldhear, emanating from it, the sweetest strains of music.

2 FEBRUARY 1933 123

On the golden hilt of each sword was engraved in shin-ing white, the letters: N-A-M. The Master bade themtake this sword and returning below among the com-mon walks of men, proceed to give battle to those fivedeadly enemies. They obeyed his commands at onerand right gladly. They fought, and long was the fight,sometimes discouraging; but always they fought on withincreasing determination. The radiant form of the Mas-ter never left them for a moment, always giving courageand strength. With every steady thrust of the sword theygrew stronger, while their enemies grew weaker. At lastthe battle was over, the victory won. While the strugglingsouls fought their way against the five deadly agents ofthe Negative Power, they were steadily advancing tohigher ground. When at last their victory was complete,they stood upon the heights of dazzling splendor uponthe plains of Daswan Dwar. The Master's approval wastheir greatest joy. But their journey was not yet finished.So they followed the Master onward and upward, pursu-ing their glorious way with increasing joy, until theyrested at last before the all-luminous feet of the SupremeLord. They had entered the realm of immortal life, andof immeasurable happiness.

With greetings of love and best wishesFrom your fellow disciple,

Julian P. Johnson

Ten

The DeraMarch 6, 1933

Dear Fellow Students,

I have been asked by some of you for my opinion onthe much discussed subject of'Swaraj', home rule, or theproblem of the British rule in India. The question of theBritish raj in India, which is now agitating the publicmind especially on account of the part played byMahatma Gandhi, is not a question to be settled by aforeigner. That would be equivalent to the old maidteaching parents how to raise children. It is a profoundand complicated problem. It is a question concerningwhich this writer is not well informed and in which he isbut little interested. Consequently, he will not attempt todiscuss it. But he might venture two statements, whichmay help the student in his study of the problem.

The problem of SwarajFirst, the British rule in India has, in many ways,

been a very great blessing to the country, and we believeit has been better for India, notwithstanding its faults,than any other existing government would have been. Ithas been set over India by the Supreme Will. Let us keepthat in mind. Because all kings and governments existonly by His Will. This writer only a few days ago askeda highly educated native gentleman the following ques-tion: "Don't your people like the British Government?

6 MARCH 1933 125

They certainly have done much for India." And hisreply was very significant. He said: "We like the BritishGovernment all right, but we certainly do not like themachinery by which that government is administered."Here is a distinction not well understood by the worldat large, and therein may lie the key to the final solutionof the problem.

Second, out of the turmoil and stress of the presentsituation will arise a government best suited to enableIndia to regain something of her ancient prestige andthen to go forward to achieve that sublime destiny nowlying latent and germinal in the souls of her great spiri-tual leaders. Whether that government will be the oneenvisioned by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian Con-gress, or a modified British raj, is immaterial. Only onething is certain—it will be the government best suited toserve the high destiny of this ancient and noble people.We may safely trust that to the Supreme Will, for HisWisdom, inspired by an infinite love, never makesmistakes.

Since the above was first written and later publishedin an Indian magazine, the writer has received a letterfrom an Indian patriot, telling him that he would havedone well to leave the subject alone, because India willbe satisfied with nothing but independence. Let that beas it may. If the writer of that letter, and others whothink the same way, had perfect faith in the SupremeWill, knowing that whatever He gives India will be thebest thing for India, there would be but little grounds forfurther discussion.

The great Indian epic, Ramaj anaIn these letters I find myself far behind in making

note of things I would like to tell you about. One of

126 LETTER TEN

them is the festival of 'Diwali' which literally means thefestival of lights. It occurred last year on the 29th ofOctober. It recalls the great Indian epic, Ramayana, andcelebrates the victorious return of Ram Chander, afterconquering and destroying his enemy, Ravana, inCeylon. The epic of Ramayana is one of the greatestever written. It is generally conceded to be far superiorto either the Iliad of Homer, or the Divine Comedy ofDante. It is unique in one respect, and for that reason Iam referring to it in these letters—it portrays the innerstruggles of the soul and its final victory over mind andmatter. This it does in well-adapted allegory. Itsspiritual meaning was fully set forth in writing by a Saintnamed Tulsi Das, about four hundred years ago. Butthe original story was written in the Sanskrit languageso long ago that one cannot now venture to assigna date to it—ages ago. One estimate is that it waswritten in Treta Yuga, which would place it near twomillion years ago. If this seems apocryphal to some ofyou, then have your own way. The author of the originalstory was Balmiki, a great sage or Saint.

The epic is unique in one other respect—it was writ-ten at least ten thousand years before its chief characterswere born, but who finally did appear and enacted theirseveral parts in actual history. For although this greatepic is an exact portrayal of what takes place in eachindividual soul who struggles to the light inside, yet theentire story was fully staged in history. The Masterexplains that the historical staging of the great epic wasan effort of the Negative Power to divert attention fromits spiritual significance, and so make it appear to allsubsequent ages that the story is nothing more than aclever poetical account of ordinary human exploits.

6 MARCH 1933 127

The story of Ram ChanderRam Chander is the hero of the story and his wife's

name was Sita. Ram Chander was the eldest son of KingDasratha, and was heir to the throne of Kosala, in north-ern India. The major part of the story is woven aroundthe abduction of Sita by Ravana, the evil-minded king ofLanka and the subsequent and consequent war betweenRavana and Ram Chander. Ram Chander raised anarmy, many of them being monkeys, and invadedLanka, attacked the vicious abductor of his beloved,finally meeting him in single combat on the battlefieldand slaying him. Thus he recovered his stolen wife whohad remained true to him in spite of the advances andthreats of her wicked abductor. To this day Sita is to allIndian women the model of virtue and faithfulness. Thevictorious return of Ram Chander to the kingdom of hisfather was celebrated by lighting every light that couldbe produced, making the scene a most brilliant one. Andso, down to the present time, all Hindus celebrate theanniversary of this great event by lighting all the lightsthat can be mustered for the occasion.

The spiritual meaning of DiwaliThe spiritual significance of this festival of lights is

the victorious entrance of the soul into Daswan Dwar,after its final victory over mind and matter. The lightspoint to the splendor and beauty of that realm whereeven the light of one inhabitant is equal to the light oftwelve of our suns.

1 would like to go into details concerning some of themarvelous spiritual lessons pointed out to the student inthis great epic of ancient India. But I cannot do so now. Ihave called attention to this, perhaps the greatest classicever produced by man, because it bears direct testimony

128 LETTER TEN

in support of the teachings of our Master and otherSaints. The poem contains twenty-two thousand slokas,or couplets, and is divided into five hundred cantos. It isa pity that even now but few of the Indian people under-stand its true meaning, although they are so devoted tothe story itself that every child in India is familiar with it.From the day that Ram Chander, with almost super-human strength and will power, won his wife Sita (soul)in a public contest by bending and breaking the bowof Shiva (penetrating the darkness, after controllinghis own mind), up to his final victory, it is said thatevery word in every sentence is rich in spiritual meaningto him who has the key to its understanding.

I believe you may be able to get a very good transla-tion of the Ramayana by applying to the State Univer-sity department of literature for information.

Personnel of the Master's inner groupI desire now to give you a short sketch of the person-

nel of the Master's closest disciples and personal assis-tants. This will help you to follow the work of our greatTeacher. One cannot say that he has twelve disciples, forhe has close to sixty thousand disciples, and most ofthem are devoted worshippers; but like all great men, hehas a few who stand closest to him.

1. Naturally, we must begin with his private secre-tary, Rai Sahib, whose real name is Rai Harnarayan. Heis always with the Master, wherever he goes, and is thusby his side to render assistance whenever and whereverneeded. He is a retired director of public records in thePunjab civil government, and draws a liberal pension forlong and meritorious services. Of course, he draws nosalary for his present services, which are given purelyfrom devotion to the Master and to the Master's work.

6 MARCH 1933 129

He is familiar with all of the languages spoken in thispart of the country, including English. He is educated,highly efficient, and insists that things be done properly.One of his chief duties is to see that the Master is notimposed upon by everyone seeking selfish advantages.He has been an initiate of the Master for twenty-threeyears, and has been constantly with the Master for thepast ten years. Evidently he is much loved by the Masterand his services are greatly appreciated, not only by theMaster but by all satsangis.

2. Next is Sardar Jagat Singh, professor of chemis-try in the great agricultural college at Lyallpur. He is thesecretary who attends to all of the American correspon-dence. All of the letters you get from the Master are inhis handwriting; but the substance of those letters is dic-tated to him by the Master. He comes here as often aspossible from a distance of one hundred and fifty miles.If answers to some of your letters seem to be delayed attimes, it is likely because he could not get time to attendto them. He is a mild-mannered man, gentle, of but fewwords, refined and deeply spiritual. In fact, he is a verylovable character. His devotion to the Master is an inspi-ration to all satsangis.

3. We may next introduce Sardar Bhagat Singh, acousin of the professor, although in this country theyspeak of cousins as brothers. He is an attorney-at-law inJullundur City, about twenty-seven miles from here. (Inthis country an attorney registered to practice before thehigh court is called an advocate.) Sardar Bhagat Singh isone of the recognized, outstanding men of his profes-sion, in all of the Punjab. He is a man of medium height,rather heavy-set, with slightly gray beard and a benevo-lent smile that betokens a kind heart and a radiant soul.He is a lovable man and it is a delight to know him. He is

130 LETTER TEN

highly educated, of a keen and discriminating intelli-gence, and he is a very successful lawyer. He is outstand-ing proof that a lawyer can make an honest living, for hishonesty and integrity are beyond question. He attends toall of the legal work of the Master, relating to the manybusiness affairs of this center. He may aptly be called the'Prime Minister' to the Master, a title which is com-monly given him by satsangis.

4. Sardar Gajja Singh, a man of about forty-five orfifty years, is one of the advanced members of the Mas-ter's 'cabinet'. He is a builder and architect. He is justnow retiring from long service in the government andwill be here shortly to assume charge of the constructionwork on the new auditorium to be built in the Dera, apicture of which appears in these pages. The bricks arenow being burned here in the Master's own brickyard.Sardar Gajja Singh, or Baba Gajja Singh as he is affec-tionately known here, is renowned for his spiritual devo-tion and also for his love for the Master. He is highlytrained and is a deep thinker in all matters philosophicaland religious, as well as in his own particular profession.He draws plans and superintends all important construc-tion work for the Master, although the Master himself isa civil engineer, and keeps his eye on everything thatgoes on.

5. Pritam Das fills an office not known in America.He is a chanter of sacred hymns and scriptures. At thesatsangs, a portion of the writings of some other Saint,selected by the Master, is chanted by this man, usuallyassisted by one or two others. The Master then uses theportion chanted as his text. He makes comments andexplanations. This takes the place of set lectures, inwhich the Master never indulges. This man used to beconsidered a master himself and had many hundred

6 MARCH 1933 131

disciples, although he is still less than forty years old. Hehad, and still has, the power to perform miracles, andalso the gift of prophecy. But of course he is now forbid-den to use those powers. He was highly venerated. Buthe realized in his own soul that he had need for a perfectMaster who could lead him to greater heights. Learning

| of our Master he came to see him, was convinced of ourMaster's superiority over himself and all others, andasked for initiation. He then brought all of his own dis-ciples to our Master, informing them of the Master'sgreat superiority over himself. He is now a humble ser-vant and helper to the Great Master while he applieshimself diligently to advance on the Path.

6. Perhaps we should here introduce a man who,though not so highly educated or prominent in the socialranks, yet occupies a position which, if rightly under-stood, might be envied even by the king-emperor. I amsure he would not exchange his present job for the crownof Great Britain. He has been the Master's personalattendant for the last seventeen years. He loves the Mas-ter with a devotion which is beautiful to see, and whichonly a true disciple can understand. He is over fortyyears of age and has never been married. He has alwaysinsisted that he cared for none other in this world excepthis Master. His name is Shadi, which means happiness.His sweet spirit is proverbial here. He is also a skilledmechanic and machinist. He is the silent watcher, as wellas worshipper of his Master, ready at any moment of theday or night to render any service needed. That service,rewarded only by a smile or a kind word from the Mas-ter, is his greatest joy. Like all the rest, he gets no salary.

7. There are three women, Bibi Lajjo, Bibi Rakhi,and Bibi Rali, who render great service to the Masterby preparing his food, doing his laundry, pressing his

132 LETTER TEN

clothes, and doing his sewing, mending, etc. (Bibi is asort of affectionate term for lady.) They also look afterthe management of numerous women engaged in thepublic kitchen and other departments of the Dera. Thesewomen are all spiritually minded advanced souls, andserve with a loving devotion that is rare on this earth. Ofcourse, they get no financial pay. They get only theirfood from the public kitchen and their rooms. Yet theywould not give up their present jobs for the salary of theGovernor General, with all its honors and emoluments.They consider that they are serving the King of kings.

8. There are many others who deserve mention.Among them are Raja Ram of Rawalpindi, a manufac-turing jeweler and banker, and Shiv Shankar of Amrit-sar, a rich merchant, who have both built magnificentand expensive halls in their own towns devoted to ourMaster's work. They are unassuming, humble, and beau-tiful in spirit, and much devoted to our Master. They arefrequently seen in the Dera. Besides these, there aremany other prominent men, judges, lawyers, doctors,college professors, bachelors and masters of arts, with-out number, all paying deference to our Master with asweet humility and loyalty that only a great Mastercould inspire in such men. None but the greatest of soulscould captivate and hold such a wonderful personnel ashis worshipful followers. All of these men, wise in theirown lines, esteem it the greatest privilege to sit at theMaster's holy feet and absorb the greater wisdom.

Each life is predeterminedOne of the best beloved of your number has asked

this disciple to try to give more of the Master's ownwords in these letters. Well and good. Last month heaccompanied the Master to Amritsar for a two days'

6 MARCH 1933 133

satsang in the new hall. Late one evening after the crowdhad been shut out, a few of us sat at the Master's feet, inthe upper room of the hall. One of us asked the Masterthis question: "Is it true that a certain definite number ofbreaths, a fixed amount of food, a certain number ofactions of different kinds, are all allotted to each personand all predetermined before his birth?" The Master re-plied: "Yes, everyone is allotted just so many breathswhich he may draw during his lifetime, a certain fixedquantity of food, and all other things which he mayreceive and may do during his life. Thus his whole life isset and arranged on the basis of his past earnings, of hiskarma. If then he uses up his allotment prematurely byoverindulgence, he cuts his life short by just that much."

The Master explained at another time that onereason the yogis have been able to prolong their livesfar beyond the usual periods was because their timewas spent largely in a sort of trance condition whereinbreathing was almost stopped. Question: "Then a manshould eat just as little as possible, and keep as quiet aspossible, if he wishes to live long?" Answer: "Yes, heshould eat only the minimum amount required to keephis body in good condition, and he should indulge innothing unneccessarily that causes rapid breathing, or anyother waste of vital forces. He should do nothing need-lessly that causes any expenditure of energy or life-force,or in any other way squander his allotment." Question:"But is long life always a good thing?" Answer: "No, along life is useless unless devoted to Shabd and spent inthe service of Sat Purush under the direction of Sat-guru." It was further brought out by discussion that theMaster's meaning was very clear to the effect that theexpenditure of one's allotment was to be limited to legiti-mate uses, and not to be squandered by any sort of

134 LETTER TEN

indulgence, just for the sake of indulgence or just togratify the senses. Only by observing this rule may onelive the full measure of his allotted days. Each one startsin life with a definite amount of capital which he hasearned in past lives. He is permitted to do as much as hepleases with that capital. He can 'blow it all in' as we say,in a short time; or he may use it properly and extend hislife to the limit of years.

Great crowds press upon the MasterAt this satsang a large number were initiated. The

interest was unusually great. Throngs came to the holySatguru from early morning until late at night and theywould have continued to come all night long if the Mas-ter had not gone inside and shut his doors. They sat ingreat numbers just outside of his rooms, waiting for hiscoming out, just hoping for another glimpse of him andpossibly another gracious "Radha Soami" from him.They pressed the doors and windows in mobs, andguards had to be stationed at the doors to limit thenumbers admitted. Otherwise the Master would havebeen thronged beyond endurance. They almost try toclimb over each other to get to him. Each foot of space iscontested to see who will get closest to him. But he meetsthem all, whether one alone, or ten thousand at a time,with a fatherly smile and a greeting of "Radha Soami."His kindly words of wisdom and love inspire them all.This writer has frequently watched the crowds thusthronging the Master, many of them men and women ofculture, offering some of the most phenomenal demon-strations of devotion. He has many times tried to analyzeit into its psychological elements. Often with tears intheir eyes, hands folded in an attitude of worship, and ontheir faces the radiance of joy and love. There is nothing

6 MARCH 1933 135

else like it to be found on earth.The writer has also watched the dull perfunctory

ceremonial worship of idols in some of the temples. Thefaces of the worshippers wore a fixed and serious expres-sion, usually what you would expect to see at a funeral.Occasionally some poor woman, looking the very pic-ture of despair, would implore her god to have pity.Seldom anywhere was seen even the light of hope, muchless of love. The writer is also familiar with the custom-ary forms of worship as carried on in the Christianchurches throughout the world. The usual awe and hush;the solemn mien and sonorous voice of the priest orminister, as he orates of things he knows nothing about;the dignified formality of the entire ceremony, the half-dubious expressions on the faces of the crowd in thepews, the set reading of the scripture and the songs of thechoir, all are carried out as punctiliously as if it were tobe their last act on earth hoping thereby to escape thedamnation of hell. In the old-time Baptist and Methodistrevivals, the above-described ceremonies generally gaveway to manifold demonstrations of emotion and hyste-ria. The writer has also watched the stern and set faces ofmen as they turned their attention toward Mecca atsunset, and went through with their formal prayers toAllah and the prophet of Islam.

But nowhere has he ever witnessed such beautifulspontaneous and joyous worship as that given to theMaster, the beloved Satguru. In their faces, thousands ofthem in one great throng, they show combined love andjoy and hope and cheerful realization. Sometimes accen-tuated by tears of gladness, their eyes sparkle as if lit upby the light of the third heaven. Here is worship withperfect understanding, mingled with love. They knowexactly whom and what they are worshipping. It is no

136 LETTER TEN

theological belief with them. Their living Lord is rightthere before their eyes, and he is not a theory. I am awarethat all of this is probably beyond the ken of the averageAmerican, brought up as we have been upon an unholymixture of dogmatic theology and materialism. But tothese people the Master is all there is of God and ofHeaven and of eternal life, combined and embodied inthis human form. The most astute and analytical philo-sophers among them see nothing inconsistent in the ideaof God and man being fully expressed in one form rightamong them. To them it is in fact the normal thing, andthey cannot imagine the full expression of divine love onearth in any other manner. When they have seen him,and learned to love him, they know that they can dependupon him for eternal life. They know in their souls thatseeing him now, today, they have that boundless lifealready. It is not a faraway hope, a vague intangiblesomething to be wondered about. It is a present posses-sion. And so why shouldn't they be filled with joy?

It would be idle to call this blind devotion. Thatwould be an unfortunate reflection upon the intelligenceand fair-mindedness of the person making such a com-ment. If you could witness this devotion yourself, youwould know that it is the intelligent worship of the soul.The worship of the Master is a living joy, unlike any-thing else on earth. In the Master's presence it is all light.No shadow can remain, and it carries with it its owninternal evidence of truth and reality. Borne up upon thisreality, the heart takes wings like an eagle. And yet prob-ably nothing but a personal experience would ever haveconvinced this disciple of that sublime reality. He doesnot expect everyone else to accept it all at once.

Huzur Maharaj Ji blessing prasad.

6 MARCH 1973 137

The Master is all in allUnder date of January 27, 1933, the following entry

appears in the diary of this writer:"This morning the sun shines again in all of his

golden glory. The Master has returned. I have seen him,have looked into his smiling eyes and heard his kindlyvoice in greeting. Life has returned and the Light of theWorld has dispelled the night of the soul. For threeweeks, the sun shone not by day, and the moon and thestars gave not their light by night. The birds forgot theirsong, and only the shriek of things in the distant junglebroke the oppressive silence. Men came and went likeships passing each other in the night. Only in bhajan wasthere life and light; for the Master's radiant form isalways there, if the scales but fall from our eyes, that wemay see. But this adorable earthly form was a hundredand fifty miles away."

If any of my friends should feel that there is someexaggeration in these words, let them come in person tothe Master. Let them live with him for eight months,watch his gracious ministry to thousands of eager dis-ciples, behold his tender forgiveness extended to hiserring children, receive his holy benediction upon theirown feeble efforts, learn to love him as their father, re-deemer, savior, realize all of this, and tell me if there isexaggeration. They will probably say that without him,the world ceases to exist and time itself stands still.This disciple daily grows more and more thankful thathe has found the way to the Master's holy feet. But thefeelings of a disciple will probably remain an enigma tothe average American until he himself becomes a discipleand has the same experiences with the Master.

138 LETTER TEN

Personal experiencesSome of your number have written urgent requests to

know what progress this disciple has made internally.Obviously, that is something which cannot be discussedwithout special permission of the Master. But this muchmay be said: This disciple's experiences with the Master,on the inner Path and otherwise, have been extremelysatisfactory. They have been of such a nature as to con-vert all faith into positive knowledge as to the Master'sgenuineness and leadership, and the truth of his message.The immediate future is very bright with promise ofgreater things. There is every assurance of success. Donot let your faith in the Master waver for an instant, nomatter what the difficulties in the way. Final success issure to attend your efforts.

Cordially and fraternally yours,Julian P. Johnson

Eleven

The DeraApril 2, 1933

Beloved homeland Satsangis,

These letters may be a little irregular in reaching you,but I am doing my best to get them to you as nearly ontime as possible. This disciple is one busy boy here. I toldthe dear Master some days ago, if he would give methirty-six hours a day in which to work, I would be gladto put in more time in the study of the language andother things of minor importance. And let me say righthere in the very beginning of this letter that every sat-sangi in the world who has been so fortunate as to getNam from our Master should consider it his primaryaim, purpose, and business in life to go inside and takeup the journey to higher regions. To that, everything elsemust be subordinated, even the making of a living. Andif you make this your main objective in life, you needhave no worries about business or other affairs. Do notforget that your Master is one with the Supreme Lordand he will take care of you.

A question often repeatedThe writer of these letters has been asked the follow-

ing question with so much persistency and urgency thatit seems necessary to attempt an answer. It appears tobelong in this series because the students of the Masterare constantly confronted by this very question. They

140 LETTER ELEVEN

should be prepared to meet it, and it is our fondest hopeto help remove every obstruction from the pathway ofapproach to the Master's holy feet.

The question is: "If the Christian religion is not ofGod and true in doctrine, how is it that that religion hasdeveloped so many noble, self-sacrificing characters inhistory, and has also produced the highest civilizationknown on earth; while the several religions of India havedone little, if anything, to elevate and liberate herpeoplel"

Since the writer was once an authorized representa-tive of the Christian religion, a graduate in its theology,but now is devoted to a faith originating in India, thisquestion comes to him with special emphasis and force.It is a question that cannot be evaded. Let us then facethe issue squarely. If the answer startles us, shocks us alittle, let us bear in mind that progress, as well as safety,comes by facing the truth and not by ducking our headsin the sand.

Christian religion not taught by JesusIn the second and third centuries of the Christian era,

the religion as lived and taught by Jesus underwentmany changes, going through a gradual process of crys-tallization into a formal religion, and drifting away fromthe pure spiritual precepts as taught and much empha-sized by the gentle Nazarene. When that process of crys-tallization was completed, the product was somethingvery different from that which was taught and lived bythe Master himself. So, in this discussion when referenceis made to the Christian religion, this latter product ismeant and not the religion actually lived by Jesus. Letthis fact be kept clearly in mind. It may avoid misunder-standing and prejudice. It will help us to get at the truthof the matter.

2 APRIL 1933 141

When that religion finally emerged from its cata-combs, after the era of persecution was over, and wasmade the state religion by decree of the emperor Con-stantine, a little over three hundred years from the dateof the birth of Jesus, that process of crystallization,externalization and formalization had reached its culmi-nation. Up to that time two powerful forces had beenexerting their sinister influences upon the great body ofChristian believers.

One of them was priestcraft and the other was abso-lute monarchism. Monarchism first persecuted it, andthen took it over as its darling child. In the meantimethat body itself had been remodeled out of all resem-blance to its former self. Those dark and malign forceshad for a long time, stealthily but effectively, concen-trated in Egypt as their center of operations. From therethey invaded Rome. They first converted the Romanrepublic into an absolute monarchy under the Caesars,and then the Egyptian priesthood slowly wound its ten-tacles about the new religion and finally absorbed it.When monarchism was finally seated upon the throne ofalmost universal empire, it espoused its twin sister,priestcraft, and from that incestuous union, the universalchurch was born. The three were then merged into onebody, and the politico-theological institution became theCatholic Church, with the pope-emperor as its head.

This new power, once thoroughly entrenched in Italyand adjacent territory, set about enlarging its powers byconverting the world. It invaded Europe. Arius andothers were sent out as missionaries. The scheme wasextremely clever. First let the priesthood bring thepeople under voluntary submission and then the mon-arch will assume control. It was better than conquest bythe sword. The Norsemen, the Anglo-Saxons, the Gauls,

142 LETTER ELEVEN

and nearly all of the Germanic peoples of Europe gradu-ally came under the sway of the pope. They found thefield ready for the harvest, for the people of Europe hadlong ago drifted away from their ancient moorings. Theyhad long ago forgotten the spirituality of their illustriousprogenitors and the pure simple faith of the golden agehad degenerated into a ceremonial formalism, having novirility or appeal to intelligence. They readily acceptedthe new system. The pope became virtually the emperorof Europe and the universal dictator. The principle ofuniversal authority became dominant in Europe, asopposed to individual rights. The church was everything.The individual was nothing. The individual existed onlyfor the benefit of the supreme organization, which wasnow both church and state. To more thoroughly estab-lish its authority, it arrogated to itself divine powers andprerogatives. The pope was the vice regent of God onearth, and absolute submission to him was the supremevirtue. Rebellion against him was the arch-crime. Andsimultaneously with the inauguration of this universalpower began the dark age, which hung like the shadowsof night over all Europe.

Why the dark age?The thoughtful student will ask, Why the dark age?

Why should darkness supervene at the very momentwhen the church had every chance to give light? If it werea divine agency, the moment was ripe for its supremedemonstration. It had a chance to open up an era of lightsuch as the world had never known in this age, if it hadbeen an agent of light itself. But the era of darkness setin at the very moment light should have dawned. Whythis darkness? Note well the answer to this question, fortherein lies the answer to our original query:

2 APRIL 1933 143

Organized religion has never done anything to bringlight into the world, to develop spirituality, or to estab-lish and promote civilizations.

Its entire genius and tendency lie exactly in the oppo-site direction. As soon as any religion is settled upon apeople in organized form, with its priesthood in author-ity, it begins its deadly work of suppression, of subjugat-ing reason to authority, of smothering the intellect, andof denying the right of individual thought and initiative.All progress ceases, and ritual and ceremony take theplace of spontaneous worship. Innovation becomes acrime against society. Religion becomes a dead letter,and the priests grow fat. Such is the history of all formalreligions, not alone the Christian religion. This fact is sowell known to the student of history that examples neednot be cited here.

Organization destroys religionThe primary evil lies in the very nature or fact of the

organization itself. There should be no attempt at organ-izing religion. The death of the thing itself lies in theprocess of organizing it. It is like encasing the entirebody of a healthy man in a plaster of paris cast. It is liketrying to build a cage around an eagle. It is analogous totrying to organize a science like chemistry, for example,and then building up about it a set of fixed dogmas and apriesthood to teach and interpret it. The science itselfwould be killed by that very process. Organized religionexerts the same destructive influence upon true spiritual-ity. Organized religions and priestcraft are essentiallyone and the same thing, even in its most liberal Protest-ant forms. If they think otherwise, they only deceivethemselves.

144 LETTER ELEVEN

Spiritual religion, a true scienceBut religion, or spirituality, as taught and practiced

by the Masters is something vitally different. It is a freeand exact science. It is subject to the same analysis anddemonstration as any other science. It is controlled bylaws of Nature just as rigid and universal in their opera-tion. Its methods are as exact, and its results as uniformas in any science known. The fact that the spiritual workof the Masters is an exact science is quite difficult forWestern students to grasp, accustomed as they are tothink of religion as a bundle of vague theories andbeliefs; yet the lack of scientific value in those theoriesand beliefs is the main thing that is now forcing themajority of Western college men and women to discardall religion. Their intelligence is forcing them to give upthe old, and they have not yet found anything better. Butthe spiritual Master's position is exactly like that of anymaster of science in his laboratory. Only the Master ismore than a teacher. There comes a time in the course ofeach student's demonstration in spiritual science, whensteep and rugged mountains must be climbed, even thedizziest heights. Then he needs not only an experiencedguide, but the strong right hand of that guide must sup-port him in places where he could never make the gradealone. Then it is that the values and absolute necessity ofthe living Master is fully realized. Then it is that the greatlove of the pupil for his Master is born. Though theMaster has all knowledge and all power at his command,and the pupil may submit himself wholly to the will ofthe Master, yet the Master never imposes any authorityor restraint upon his pupil.

There is one other point in this spiritual sciencewhich is apt to be overlooked. That is the fact that mor-ality itself must be made the actual foundation for the

2 APRIL 1933 145

superstructure of scientific spirituality. For this reasonall Masters insist that the very first step of the aspirantmust be to subdue all passions and regulate his lifeaccording to the strictest rules of good behavior. He canmake no progress spiritually until this is done. This isone thing that distinguishes the Master and his disciplesfrom all others. They have perfect self-control and theircharacters are perfect (assuming that they have reallyadvanced on the Path). Upon this foundation all of theirspirituality and their higher powers are built.

Organized religion deceives itselfThere is one thing in organized religion that shows it

to be an extremely clever design of the Negative Power,viz., while it is actually the world's worst enemy toenlightened progress, it firmly believes itself to be thegreatest friend and promoter of civilization. Besides, itinstantly seeks the destruction of anyone who dares chal-lenge its claim to beneficence. But to those who know,this very fact stamps it as an agent of the destructiveforces. Truth, righteousness and goodness never perse-cute their enemies. They seek only the good of all, at alltimes and by all means. They win by love and by theirown innate values. You cannot imagine a Masterfighting or persecuting anyone. He is just as gracious toan opponent as to a disciple. His love is universal, impar-tial, and his light is like that of the sun, it shines alikeupon the just and the unjust. But of course the one whoopens his heart to it gets the full benefit by it. Only error,feeling its own weaknesses, fights for its existence. Andby that very sign all men, if they were observant, wouldknow that it was error. That is one of the infallible indi-ces of the forces of the Negative Power, and by that youmay always locate them.

146 LETTER ELEVEN

The original question answeredWe are now ready to answer fully the question we

started out with. It is this: The Christian religion hasnever developed noble, intelligent and self-sacrificingcharacters; and it has never produced any high civiliza-tions, neither has any other organized religion. As saidbefore, their tendencies all lie in the opposite direction.The assumption that the various religions have done somuch for the world is only an egotistical claim of theirchampions. As a matter of fact, they have all been anunmitigated misfortune, and each in its turn has leftcivilization in a worse state than it found it. If this comesas a shock to some, it is nevertheless better to face thetruth and boldly seek the remedy. If you give unbiasedstudy to the question, you cannot fail to see the truth ofthe above statement.

The term 'Christian religion' must always be under-stood in its legitimate historical sense, as an organizedinstitution. It must never be confused with Jesus and hispersonal life and teachings. From the day that it becamean organized power, it has acted as all other organizedreligious bodies have done, to enslave the minds of men.It has smothered the growth of spirituality, even asweeds choke the fruitful plant in the garden. It hasstunted individual growth and development, and it hasdone its damndest to prevent all scientific discovery andincrease of knowledge.

Many noble Christian charactersSome of my readers will be ready with numerous

examples of noble men and women in the Christian faithwho have served mankind with unexampled heroism,some of whom were priests and ministers of the churchitself. Yes, the fact is cheerfully admitted, and it goes

2 APRIL 1933 147

down in history to their credit that they did so usually inspite of their church, or by its reluctant and forced con-sent. Besides, it should always be borne in mind thattheir spirituality and heroism derived its inspiration notfrom the church, but direct from the divine inner light. Itis a most gracious manifestation of divine Providencethat among all religions and in all ages, there have beenmany individuals whose love of God and man cannot bequestioned; but the beautiful flowering of their spiritual-ity has generally been in spite of the stultifying influenceof the organization to which they belonged. So long asmen say and do things to exalt the priesthood and sup-port their doctrines, they receive the plaudits of thechurch: "Well done, good and faithful servants." But themoment that anything to the contrary is even hinted at,the offender becomes anathema, and in former times, thethumbscrews, the dungeon and the stake awaited him.

A great modern schoolModern missionary enterprises, the building of

schools, and many other philanthropic endeavors, in thename of organized religion, have usually been inspiredby a peculiar mixture of fanatical church propagandatogether with individual spirituality and love of human-ity. Sometimes the one factor predominates, and some-times the other. As an example of the latter, we may citea great modern institution of learning, much loved bythis writer. To it he is greatly indebted. It is located in thecity of Chicago and is one of a half dozen of the world'sgreatest universities—the University of Chicago. Al-though only about forty years of age, its great light shinesto the ends of the earth and it has made for itself aunique position in history. Many thinking minds havebeen awakened to independent thought within its blessed

148 LETTER ELEVEN

halls. It was founded, promoted, and its work has beencarried on mostly by men connected with a certain reli-gious denomination. This church takes all the credit forthe institution, when someone points to its nobleachievements. And yet the orthodox body of that verychurch has never ceased to criticize and condemn itbecause its faculty are free to think independently and toexpress their findings. They would utterly destroy it ifthey could, but happily that power lies not in theirhands. The great work of this institution has been car-ried on by men in whom the very flower of moderncivilization has reached its highest expression, in spite ofthe hamper of the church to which they belonged. Longmay it live to spread its light among the nations.

A civilization without churchesThe question is often asked: "Where would the world

be today if it had not been for the church?" The answeris: It would probably be much further advanced in every-thing that makes for general enlightenment and happi-ness. Do not take this as a personal insult if you happento be a devotee of the church. You cannot help it. Youhave been only one of millions who have supported theidea of the beneficence of the church, under the delusionthat all civilization was to be credited to the church,when as a matter of fact it has made what headway it hasmade usually against the opposition of the church. If inthe last two hundred years certain Protestant bodieshave exerted some influence in favor of civilized policies,that does not affect the truth so well established byhistory that the influence of the church in the main hasbeen on the other side.

The flame of individual spirituality has ever burnedin the souls of noble men and women the world over.

2 APRIL 1933 149

These divine flames have often fed and kept alive theorganization to which they belonged, but much to thedetriment of the individual. If only these individualflames had been left free to shine out into the world'sdarkness, unobscured by the dark and sinister robes ofthe priesthood, their holy light would long ago haveilluminated the world.

The fatal discrepancyLet us now call special attention to one fatal discre-

pancy in the logic of those who propound this question.It has already been touched upon. They assume that thereligion with which their heroes were connected shouldbe given full credit for all that those heroes did, whereasin fact their major deeds of heroism and service tohumanity were generally done in spite of their religion,and often they died as martyrs at the hands of theirreligious leaders. Throughout history, noble men andwomen have arisen here and there, not only among theranks of the Christian faith, but from all religions, theMohammedan, the Buddhist, the Hindu, Zoroastrian,and Confucian, besides other smaller bodies. Thosegreat souls, nourishing a genuine spirituality born of aclose personal relation with God, rose to heights ofsplendid achievement.

From all organizations have come men and womenwho became the world's benefactors in science, inven-tion, in public charities, and even in religion itself. Butthey derived their inspiration, not from the organizedreligion to which they belonged, but from the InnerLight which knows no race, creed, time or organization.Many of these noble men actually believed that theirreligion should have all the credit. They forget the patentfact that their religions have also fostered wars, civil and

150 LETTER ELEVEN

international, race hatreds, strifes and contentions, with-out number. They overlooked the terrible tragedy of onenation at the throat of another, both professing the samereligion, and each side calling on their God to overthrowthe other side. How often that has actually happened inhistory! How amazingly that phenomenon was thrustinto our faces during the last Great War!*

When the debits and credits of all organized religionshave been counted up and a balance sheet printed, it willcertainly be found that the debit side is much heavier.

The great Saints of all ages, including Jesus himself,have generally suffered martyrdom at the hands of theestablished religion in which they were born. If not that,then at the hands of some rival religion. Glowing withthe fires of inspiration within themselves, they set abouttheir work, only to fall victims to the bigotry and preju-dice of the organization. But finally, when the world atlarge proclaims some of these men as heroes and bene-factors in spite of organized religion, then the churchfaces about and brazenly replies: "Yes, just see what weproduced!"

The holy flames lightedWhen the world is lulled to sleep and stagnation by

formal religions, then the Supreme Father lights the holyflames anew in the hearts of his advanced sons, in what-ever time or land his divine wisdom sees fit. Thus camethe great Renaissance in Europe and the awakening inIndia at about the same time under the gracious ministryof Kabir Sahib, Guru Nanak and Tulsi Das, and in Per-sia through the influence of Maulana Rum and ShamasTabriz. A little later the same influence was at work in

•World War I.

2 APRIL 1933 151

England and America through the ministry of the Wes-leys and then came the great light of the sage of Concordfollowed by the Unitarian and Congregational factors ofliberation.

These holy men drew their inspiration from withinand their work was the flowering of the living Spirit,rising above the cesspools of human slavery and ignor-ance, even as the sacred lotus puts forth its blossomabove the stagnant waters. Reformation after reforma-tion has come in many ages. Men have to be dragged outof the mire of superstition into which formal religionleads them, and they have to be cleansed and taughtanew that the source of all genuine religion or spiritual-ity is within and not without. It still remains a tragic factthat the chief cause of spiritual and moral degenerationand the wane of spirituality among all peoples and in allages has been organized religion.

Again at the Master's feetWe are now again at the feet of the Master, where we

started. We have seen that organized religion is not thefriend, but the enemy of mankind. It does not producehigh civilizations, but it destroys them. It does notdevelop noble characters, but it tries to subdue and sup-press individual initiative. It does not disseminateknowledge, but it does its best to close all avenues ofknowledge, lest that knowledge might upset its dogmasand disrobe its priests.

Of course, organized religions have done nothing toliberate and uplift the people of India. They are, on thecontrary, the very cause of the degraded condition ofmasses of people in India. Here, as elsewhere, religion inthe hands of the priesthood has thrown the halter overthe heads of the millions, and the priests have continued

152 LETTER ELEVEN

to ride them as they would other beasts of burden. Solong as priesthood endures, mental and moral slaverywill endure.

What have the Masters done?And the Masters? You ask what have they done for

the people? The Masters have done much that has neverbeen written in history, and cannot be written; butno apology is needed for them. If it were so, this writer isnot worthy to undertake such an apology. But he mayventure a word or two in explanation, so that the earneststudent may better understand the situation, and hispath to the Master not be blocked by misunderstanding.

The Masters are now and have always been very fewin number, while there are three hundred and fifty mil-lions of people in India. It is extremely difficult for theMasters in the physical body to reach any considerablenumber of the people. And if they were reached, they arenot capable of listening to the appeal of the Masters.There are people right here in less than a mile of ourgreat Master who have lived here by him for thirty years,have seen him going and coming through their villagesduring all of these years, and yet they do not know thathe is a Master, and if anyone should tell them that he is,they would probably pay not the slightest heed to it.Many of them do not even know what a Master is. It isall beyond their comprehension.

Masters follow the Supreme WillThe Masters do not find it consistent with the Will of

the Supreme Father to use extraordinary powers toupset the usual routine of life and set in motion novelreforms. The Masters understand that the Will of theSupreme is being carried out among the people. So they

2 APRIL 1933 153

are content to let the Supreme Father manage the worldin his own way, and they themselves obey with lovingsubmission whatever the Father directs them to do. Themanagement of the world may not suit us, but evidentlysuits the one who is doing the managing. So we had bestleave it at that. The Masters look upon the drama ofhuman life from a vastly higher point of view than mostof us, and so they understand it better. They are not insuch a hurry as we are to work revolutionary changes.They accept the principle that the Supreme Father isalready doing the best that can be done for the peopleunder the circumstances.

The Masters extremely busyThe Masters are extremely busy men, working gener-

ally more than twenty hours out of the twenty-four.They do not require as much sleep as most others. OurMaster here sleeps only about three hours per day agood part of the time. The rest of the time they areobliged to attend to the requirements of the physicalbody and to carry on the Supreme Father's work. Theydo all that lies in the power of men or gods to help thepeople. But spiritually the great majority cannot bereached or helped to any appreciable degree. They mustfirst rise to higher levels of evolution by their ownunaided efforts. The Master cannot pick a man up byforce and make him over. It is always a matter of volun-tary individual effort. It is a fundamental principle thatall self-improvement must come from within and mustbe due to voluntary individual effort and initiative.

Physical improvementsAs to the improvement of physical conditions, that

also must be left to the people themselves. Improvement

154 LETTER ELEVEN

cannot be thrust upon them against their own will andwithout their cooperation. One of the most fundamentalprinciples upon which the Masters have always insistedis that each individual will must be left free to act inde-pendently and upon its own initiative. Only in that waycan development take place. It has always been theworking principle of the Masters.

One other point may be mentioned here which maynot be so easy for the Western student to grasp. TheMasters are not much interested in trying to improveworldly conditions. They pay but little attention to secu-lar education, or to the establishing of material benefitsfor the masses. At first this statement is rather startling.It may seem to nullify all that a Master is supposed tostand for. We are so accustomed to think that the greatera man is the more he is interested in every phase ofhuman welfare. We are also accustomed to think ofmaterial benefits as matters of primary concern in thislife. But the Masters think primarily of spiritual benefits.To that all else is subordinated. It is true that the Saintslove all mankind with an abiding affection that the worldcan never understand, and there is nothing in the worldthat lies in their power to do for humanity which theywould for a moment neglect. But as said before, theylook upon the drama of human life from a much higherviewpoint than that of other men, and so they knowbetter than others what makes for the final betterment ofall, and to that they give their undivided attention.

Permanent improvement impossibleThe Masters know that no permanent improvement

can ever be made in the material conditions under whichhuman life is carried on in this world. Conditions im-prove or worsen with changing ages, but no immediate

2 APRIL 1933 155

and rapid changes can be effected. Each age has itsprevailing conditions of material existence. Those condi-tions cannot be modified to any great extent. The moreone meddles in affairs of that sort, the more troubles heruns into and the less good he accomplishes. If hechanges one thing for the better, something else is worse.The present lot of mankind, in every country and amongevery people, is exactly what has been ordered by theSupreme Will. If it were not so, the only logical conclu-sion would be that the Creator has abandoned the jobwhich he undertook at the time of creation, and hasturned it over to the people themselves, or to the devil, todo the best they could with a bad situation. But such athought is quite inconceivable to one who accepts themajor premise of a benevolent and omnipotent SupremeBeing. Saints do not wish to interfere with the workingout of that Supreme Will, but when the time arrives thatpeople themselves take up the improvement of theirmaterial conditions, it means the Supreme Will hasbrought them up to the proper time for such a change.

In the second place, if this material life could be sogreatly improved that disease and pain and sorrow andpoverty could be eliminated and all men made happy inthe enjoyment of long life and prosperity, just in propor-tion as that was done, men would lose interest in spiri-tual things, forget God and their eternal home, and settledown to a contented sojourn here for countless ages tocome. But that is just what the Supreme Father and theMaster do not want. They want to take souls out of thisregion, as fast they are fit, and take them back to theiroriginal home. That is the mission of the Masters, and ifpain and sorrow are needed to drive men to their feet,they look upon that pain and sorrow as a Godsend, eventhough the individual may regard it as a great hardship.

156 LETTER ELEVEN

Again at the Master's feetAnd so we arrive again at the holy feet of the Master.

The Masters' work is unique. They organize no church.They establish no authority to cramp the initiative of theindividual. They give out light to guide all who can seethat light, and they lend their strong hand to support theweak who are willing to lean upon them. No externalorganization is needed. Such organization only serves todraw the attention downward and outward, while thestudent should center his attention inward and upward.The Master's kind and potent assistance is all that heneeds. Any interference from an external organizationdetracts from the Path and leads the soul back todarkness.

Affectionately yours at the Master's feet,Julian P. Johnson

Twelve

The DeraMay 11, 1933

Dear Travelers on the Holy Path,

In some respects the month of March has been themost notable of all since this disciple arrived in India.The Master's work constantly expands and increases inmomentum. At every monthly satsang, thousands meetthe Master here and hundreds are initiated. DuringMarch almost twenty-five hundred (2,500) were initi-ated. And now the Father's spiritual family is increasingmore rapidly than ever before.

The Master goes to BombayThe first week in March the Master left the Dera for

an extended tour to Bombay and many other places. Hewas only three days in Bombay and initiated forty ap-plicants, they say nearly all of a very high class. Thenumber included Lady Joshi, whose husband was homemember, or prime minister, to the government of theCentral Provinces at Nagpur. Sir Joshi and daughterMrs. Bhide were already initiates. Mrs. Dey, wife of theCommissioner of Amraoti Division of the Central Prov-inces, was also initiated by the Master at Amraoti onthe 7th.

11 MAY 1933 159

Satsangs not unitedThis may be a good place to say, in answer to many

questions, that there is no organic connection what-soever between our Master and his satsang here, and theAgra center. There never has been any connection,except that of a similarity of teaching and a commonorigin. That satsang came down to the present leader,Anand Sarup, commonly called Sahab Ji, through theGurus mentioned in the discourses—Rai Bahadur Sali-gram, P. Braham Shankar Misra, and Sarkar Sahab.That group now numbers probably something over onehundred thousand members, and constitutes the largestsingle group of Radha Soami followers in India. Besidesthis one in Agra, there are five or six other centers ofconsiderable importance. I believe they claim ten alltogether, each with its own Guru, and standing out inde-pendent of all the rest. Of these smaller groups, the mainone is in Allahabad, with thirty to forty thousandinitiates. There are, in all India, now close to a quarter ofa million Radha Soami adherents. It should be kept inmind that in this Science there is no such thing as achurch organization, neither is it a 'lodge' or an 'Order'.The Master is the beginning and the end of the organiza-tion, although the general gathering of any particulargroup of his disciples is called a 'satsang'.

The Beas group, or centerOur own group had its inception through the work of

Saint Baba Jaimal Singh, who was a disciple of thefounder, Soami Ji, but was never connected with theAgra group. And so this center never had any connec-tion with the Agra Gurus. Baba Jaimal Singh becamethe Guru of our Master, Sawan Singh Maharaj Sahib,whom he initiated up in the foothills of the Himalayas in

162 LETTER TWELVE

come. This disciple went to the afternoon satsang, asusual, and took his seat on the matting and rugs in theopen compound before the little platform on which theMaster sits. Everybody sits on rugs or matting here. Nochairs. The people would not be comfortable on chairs.This disciple has learned to sit cross-legged with the restof them. This way many more people can occupy thesame floor space. It is not so uncomfortable as youwould think, after you get used to it. A little open spacehad been kept for the rajah and presently he came andsat down as unostentatiously as any of the rest. The onlything that indicated any difference was the fact that anattendant placed a silk embroidered cushion for therajah to sit on, and a little extra space was reservedaround him so that His Highness might not be crowded.This writer sat by his side and pondered how the highand the low alike all come to sit at the great Master'sfeet.

Here all are one. Earthly distinctions are forgotten.To the American, it was hard to realize that a real kingsat there, by his side with the rest, listening to the Mas-ter's gracious message as eagerly as anyone. The rani satin a little enclosure just back of the Master and to oneside, a group of ladies attending her, but with no pompor ceremony at all. A glance across the grounds showedan armed military guard pacing back and forth in frontof the guest house, the only sign that royalty was quar-tered there. During his discourse the Master said verydefinitely that all earthly distinctions counted for noughtin the realm of the soul. The rich man and the prince, theruler and the pauper were all on the same footing whenthey faced the great future. All were one before theSupreme Father, and before Him nothing counted butsubmission to the Supreme Will, and the practice of the

Devotees baking chapaties for the langar.

11 MAY 1933 163

Sound Current under the direction of a living Master.At the end of the satsang, the rajah bowed in obei-

sance at the Master's feet and would have caught hold ofthem, but the Master stepped back and would not permitit. That is a privilege he accords to a very select few, butkings and the rich are not among that few, unless theyare at the same time very devoted disciples who haveproved their love for him and the purity of their hearts.For three days the rajah attended satsang and listenedattentively to the Master's words. He was given severalprivate hearings also with a chance to ask questions.After that he asked for initiation, and on Monday he wasgiven Nam, making him a real disciple. His greatestdifficulty, he said, was to give up wine. However, he gavethe Master his promise that he would discontinue its use.On Tuesday the distinguished company left the Dera.They expect to return here for the May satsang. Therajah has invited the Master and the rest of us to hispalace next fall, when, he says, he will have every man,woman and child in his territory out to see and hear theMaster.

A Kashmiri pundit initiatedAbout fourteen thousand people attended this sat-

sang and at its conclusion four hundred and ninety wereinitiated. Included in this number was a pundit, alearned man, from Kashmir. These highly educated menare usually so set in their own ideas and vain of theirlearning, that they cannot be approached with anythingnew or different. And no doubt that is what blocks theholy way to many of the world's greatest scholars. Thevery thing upon which they pride themselves most istheir worst enemy, for by it they are blinded to all otheravenues of knowledge. But no obstacle seems to stand in

164 LETTER TWELVE

the way of approach to our Master. He draws all men,from every walk of life, as the magnet draws the ironfilings. Besides, the truth of the Radha Soami messageappeals alike to both heart and intellect.

Secret of Master's powersSome of the older and more advanced satsangis here

tell this disciple that the secret of the Master's power todraw all men to him can be known only after one hasgone inside and has followed him to the higher regions.Then it becomes clear to him. Looking at him as a mereman, one can form no conception of his true greatness.But if you go inside and travel with him to and throughthose upper regions, then and then only you see him ashe is. There, they say, it is no uncommon sight to witnesshundreds of thousands of souls, all radiant in their ownlight, but all following him and bowing at his holy feetin loving adoration. They say that the throngs attend-ing him there run even into millions, in one vast multi-tude. And the higher up you go with him, all the way upto Sach Khand, the greater he is seen to be. He is literallyand truly King of kings all the way through thoseregions of light. But returning to earth again, he saysnever a word of all of that himself and appears among ussimply as a kindly, patient father, going about minister-ing to his children.

Gracious God, only to be able to go with him everyday to those fair lands and behold his glory there! Is thereanything on earth to be compared with that? And yetthere are scores and scores, even hundreds, right hereamong us who can do it. Why not you and I? Isn't itsomething worth working for? What has the poor oldworld to offer anyone in comparison with this?

11 MAY 1933 165

Love, the gift of the MasterAt satsang one day the Master made the statement

that going inside and advancing to higher regions de-pended more on love than upon anything else. A satsangiasked: "Can that love be developed in every disciple?"The Master's reply was very significant and shouldbe remembered. He said: "No, that love is the gift of theMaster." Then the satsangi asked: "Will the disciplealways get it?" The Master said: "Why not, if he worksfor itl Everyone else pays wages earned, and so if anyoneworks for the Master, he must draw the wages due him."It is also highly important to bear in mind that 'workingfor the Master' means primarily to purify your mind andto sit for simran, dhyan, and bhajan. That is really theMaster's work. You are doing him the greatest servicewhen you prepare yourself for going inside. The Masteris so immeasurably above us that in the very nature ofthe case it is usually impossible to render him any serviceof a material sort. Only a privileged few can ever do that.But the one great service that all can render is the GreatWork of carrying forward one's own development.

In case you may not all be familiar with these threeimportant technical terms a few words of explanationmay be given here. 'Simran' is the repetition of the fiveholy Names, as directed when you are initiated. 'Dhyan'means contemplation of the Master's form, and that isdone simultaneously with simran, at the eye center.Those who have not seen the Master may feel that theyare doing the simran in his presence. Incidentally, it maybe pointed out that holding a photograph of the Masterin mind is not good. Then comes 'bhajan', which meanslistening for or to the Sound Current. These three shouldhave attention at every sitting. If at first you cannot hearthe Sound Current, you should listen for it for a shorttime, anyway.

166 LETTER TWELVE

The Master on tour againApril 2, the Master once more left the Dera on an

extended tour to many villages and towns. But he toldthis disciple that he was getting tired of these long toursand intended to cut them out and stay here, letting thepeople come to him, if they wished to see him. Butwhether he will do this or not, remains to be seen. He isso kind and generous-hearted that it is difficult for himto refuse their appeals when they beg him to come totheir towns. Of course he will be leaving about the firstor middle of June for the hill stations to escape the ex-cessive heat of this section.

Inexhaustible fountain of mercyWhen the great Father had gone and night had fallen

upon the Dera, this disciple made the following entry inhis diary:

"The Master has gone. His gracious Radha Soamihas been said, and we are once more left alone with ourmeditations and our holy memories. Often and often thisdisciple has wondered if the incomprehensible mercy andloving kindness of the Master would not some dayslacken as in the case of all other men he has ever known.We are so accustomed to witness, in the average man,exaggerated devotion for a time, only to see it give waylater to more or less indifference. After that, each onegoes his own way in pursuit of his own selfish ends. Butnow for almost a year we have watched the daily out-pouring of the Master's love to all of his nearly sixtythousand children as they come and go in a constantstream. Daily this unworthy disciple has shared in thatlove, and—incomprehensible as it may appear to theaverage American—the volume of this divine compas-sion grows greater all of the time instead of less. The

11 MAY 1933 167

holy light of it burns brighter every day, as the multi-tudes that come to see the Master constantly increase innumber. Daily the divine mystery of the Master himselfgrows upon us. But the intellect utterly fails to grasp thefull meaning of it. When we try to reduce it to ordinarylanguage and express it in terms of daily life we failcompletely."

The river and the holy secretAnd so this afternoon when the Master had gone,

this disciple turned and walked toward the jungle andthe riverbank, where he sat down to think. His head wasliterally dizzy with the magnitude of the problem. Weknow that the Master is able to do any sort of a miraclethat he may choose to perform, but he is himself thesupreme miracle. We know it is so, and yet we ask howcan it be? We know he is the superman toward whom allphilosophy points, as the goal of evolution. We know heis the embodiment of the noblest human aspirations. Butwhen you stand face to face with the living Master him-self; when you grasp his hand; when his gracious smileand loving words make your own soul glad with an inex-pressible delight; all philosophy vanishes from yourmind and just the joy of his living presence remains.

We sought the riverbank where in solitude we couldthink, where we might quiet the surging tumult ofthoughts that came unrestrained. So we sat down andasked that calm and emotionless river to tell us of themystery—this river that comes down so quietly from thesnow-covered Himalayas. Glancing northwards we cansee those majestic old hills, those age-old sentinels, tow-ering in their superb grandeur over the region of thePunjab, their pure sunlit summits pointing always to thehighest heavens. From their feet flows this slow rolling

168 LETTER TWELVE

river, this ancient river that for ten thousand generationshas kept its silent way, to empty at last into the Indusand the Arabian Sea. We begged this ancient river tounlock the holy secret and explain to us the perpetualmiracle of the Master himself. And the river replied, everso gently and without the use of clumsy words:

"As the river flows on forever, regardless of the waysof men, so flows the love of God. Be as constant in yourdevotion to the Master as the river is in its course, andhis love will carry you to that Supreme Ocean as surelyas the river flows to the open sea."

But, a little disappointed, we said: "Venerablestream, I knew all of that already. You talk like apreacher. I asked you to tell me more of the divine mys-tery of the Master himself." And then the river replied:

"O little soul, why does the drop try to swallow theocean? Only when you have become a Master yourselfcan you comprehend a Master."

And then, while the night fell over the valley of theBeas as silently as a feather drops from the sky, thislonely disciple took his refuge and returned to the soli-tude of his own room, but pondering still over the sub-lime mystery.

Affectionately yours,Julian P. Johnson

Thirteen

The DeraJune 2, 1933

Dear Fellow Students,

One year ago today this disciple first met the Masterin the physical body. For one holy year we have lived inclose association with the greatest of modern Mahatmas.Today there is so much that we would like to say to ourAmerican confreres, and the words forsake us. The heartis full, but the art of expression seems to be lost. Iwonder if I can write this letter at all. When the Masterbecomes such a large part of one's life, one realizes moreand more how impossible it is to tell one's friends thestory. He really longs to just take them by the hand andsay: "Come, see him for yourself."

Longing to be with the MasterToday I am reminded how for years and years I

wished I might have been with Jesus when he was onearth, to have been his disciple, following him over thoseJudean hills and down to Galilee and Jerusalem, watch-ing his gracious ministry, and if possible, giving someloving service. Often in years long passed, the thoughthaunted me day and night. But never did I imagine itwould be my good fortune to have that wish gratified insubstance. But now I have only to transfer the scenefrom Palestine to India and change the date, and in thisgood year of 1933, I am walking daily by the side and

170 LETTER THIRTEEN

sitting at the holy feet of the great living Master. Myimpulse is to grasp his sacred feet and thank him that hehas permitted me to see this fortunate day. Out of all thehundred and twenty millions of my fellow countrymen, Iconsider that I am the most fortunate.

Today I feel a sense of pity for the masses who do notappear to realize what a priceless privilege might betheirs. They are letting the golden opportunity slip bythem. They do not seem to understand now, any betterthan they did in the days of Jesus, that a great Master isamong them. They are so blinded by the god, or gods, ofthis world that the great Light which now shines amongthem is quite invisible to them. Truly the light is shininginto the darkness and the darkness does not comprehendit. Perhaps two thousand years from now, many whoread the history of our Master may look back with long-ing and wish they had lived in his day, so that they mighthave seen him and might have become his disciples.

Theological misconceptionsBut some of my American friends will say: "Yes, but

your Master in India is not Jesus. He is only a mere man,while Jesus was the son of God." Both of these assertionsare due to theological misconceptions. Jesus himselfnever thought that he was anything above and beyondthe possibilities of other men. In fact, he taught the exactcontrary. Get the New Testament and read his ownwords, not the words of Paul, the theologian. There isnot a word in the New Testament, except perhaps one ortwo interpolations, in which Jesus makes any claim to anexclusive, divine sonship. Such a thing was neverthought of until long after his death.

But let us say he was a son of God in a special sense.Divine sonship is the goal of all spiritual aspirations.

2 JUNE 1933 171

It is the very sum and substance of all yoga, whichmeans union with God. If Jesus became a divine son,other men can become divine sons. Why any set of theo-logical speculators should ever limit that sonship to onlyone man in all human history still remains one of themysteries. This divine sonship is exactly what makes aman a true Master. All Masters are sons of God in aspecial sense. They have risen to heights of spiritualunfoldment, and united their human attributes withthose of the Supreme One, and thus they have attaineddivine sonship. They are then no longer sons simply inthe sense of having been created by God, but they aresons by virtue of having united their spiritual essencewith that of the Supreme Father. Aye, they are evenmore than that; they are practically identical with theFather, because of this oneness. There is -no differencebetween them, except that the Master still resides here inthe human form.

This is the ultimate goal of mastership. But it is agoal toward which all men may look, if they make them-selves Masters, after the example and pattern of theirown Master. It must ever be borne in mind that master-ship and divine sonship are not limited to one individualon this planet, but it is an achievement within the reachof an unlimited number, running through all the ages ofhuman history.

A serious theological blunderIt must now be apparent to the student that it is a

fatal error to assume that there is, and can be, only oneChrist or divine son. By such an assumption a man shutsthe door of opportunity in his own face. He dooms him-self to continue wandering in the wilderness, when hemight sit down at the banquet table in the palace of his

172 LETTER THIRTEEN

Father. Besides, for such an assumption there is norational need. It is utterly without reason or fact to sup-port it. It accomplishes no good purpose, while doingvast harm. And it is a poor and limited view of theSupreme Father. Indeed, poor in resources would he be,if he were so limited that he could send into this worldonly one great Teacher during all the millions of years ofits history, and then under such circumstances that com-paratively few of earth's inhabitants would ever knowanything about him. The most ardent claimant of thisdoctrine is forced to admit that even if this doctrine weretrue, the entire scheme has been a dismal failure. In thefinal wind-up, a mere insignificant fraction of the humanrace will ever be saved by and through this system orscheme of salvation.

Let us therefore discard such notions and come andworship today at the holy feet of a living Christ. OurFather is abundant in mercy, and his gracious manifesta-tions are not limited to any one country, race or age. Letus come and follow the Master now to divine sonshipand mastership ourselves. Only in this way can we honorhim and the Supreme Father and share in his infinitelove to the full measure.

All Masters' teachings the sameThe teachings of all Masters are essentially the same,

though their methods may differ due to individual incli-nations and also to the country and people among whomthey manifest. Jesus worked many miracles, especiallyhealing the sick. Our Master here does comparativelyfew miracles. This is not because he has less power to dothem. It is because he does not consider that the bestmethod of carrying out his mission. Faith founded onmiracles is not enduring; besides, such a method draws

2 JUNE 1933 173

about the Master great crowds of curiosity seekers. Itfixes attention upon material benefits, while the work ofthe Master is to emphasize the supreme importance ofthe spiritual. It aims at spiritual benefits only. It seeks tobreak the bonds of this world which have held the soulsof men in thrall so long, and it aims to lift them up tospiritual freedom. The Masters have found by ages ofexperience that the best way to accomplish these ends isto convert people by righteous living, by gentle persua-sion, by holy precept and example; by convincing thereason, by appealing to intelligence, by wisely pointingout the holy path. When men are converted in this way,they are ready to devote their lives to the Master's Pathand to go with him all the way.

Things insisted upon by MastersIn all the ages the Masters have insisted upon three

things as fundamental. First, a clean and holy life, freefrom all self-indulgence in the pleasures of sense, andgiven over to good deeds. Second, the absolute necessityof a living Master to guide and to help the disciple overthe rough ways and to lead him inward and upward tohigher regions. Third, the inner Spirit, the creativeenergy, by whose operation and power the individualtransformation takes place. This inner power is called byJesus and his followers the 'Logos' or Word. In someplaces in the New Testament it is called the Holy Ghostor Holy Spirit. Some Saints have called it Kalma; others,Nad, and yet others, including our Master, call itShabd, or the Sound Current. By whatever name, it isthe same creative force, for by it all things have beencreated and by it they are sustained. It is the InfiniteFather reaching down to the individual man to giveillumination and power and finally to lead him to his

174 LETTER THIRTEEN

eternal home, after it has purified and fitted him for thatabode. Only a slight difference in terminology, but thecardinal facts remain the same. There can be only oneholy way to the highest spiritual achievements, to theultimate reality.

The Master on tour againEarly in the month of April, the Master left the Dera

on another extended tour to various cities and towns andcountry villages. As usual, everywhere he went, greatcrowds gathered about him, worshipping him and seek-ing deeper knowledge of the holy path. Everywhere theinterest appears to be growing, and the numbers areincreasing who seek initiation. This disciple remained inthe Dera for the greater part of the month, but finallyjoined the Master on the 27th at a little village in themountains by the name of Chalet. It lies up in the foot-hills of the great Himalayas. There is really no townthere, but a cluster of houses here and there, scatteredover a group of hills, all inhabited by the descendants ofmountain tribes who have for many years been con-nected with the military establishment. They are a peoplewith deep feelings and strong attachments, sturdy andloyal, kind and generous. They gave this disciple, as wellas the Master, a most cordial welcome to their homes.Among them the Master has a large following. This dis-ciple, accustomed to unusual manifestations toward theMaster, was quite amazed at the demonstrations wit-nessed in that mountain region. We left the motorbus ina deep canyon and climbed a steep hill, perhaps six oreight hundred feet, to a small area where satsang was tobe held. Streamers and decorations of all sorts had beenlavishly set up to welcome the Master. The Master hadnot yet arrived in this section when we arrived. He came

2 JUNE 1933 175

at seven the next morning. The good people, all devoteddisciples of the Master, made us welcome with the mostunstinted generosity and kindness. It happened to be theoriginal home of Paras Ram, personal servant to thisdisciple. He comes of a good family and all of his peoplejoined to make the American particularly welcome,some of them even offering presents. They said it was thefirst visit ever made to their homes by any European orAmerican.

Booming of guns welcomes the MasterIn the morning, just as the Master's car appeared half

a mile away in the canyon, a shot was fired from thelookout station on the hill. As he came closer, anothershot was fired. These shots were to announce to all thatthe Master was approaching, and to sound their firstnote of welcome. The people rushed to the tops of thehills, overlooking the canyon, all eager to see the Master.Many descended the hill to the place where his car was tostop. The people came in hundreds and thousands. Thehillsides were lined with them. Old men came, slowlyhobbling over their canes. They must be there for thedarshan of their beloved Maharaj Ji. It was a rare treatthat they were to enjoy, a treat which some of them wouldperhaps never have again in this life. A considerablenumber of us went down into the canyon to meet theMaster as he got out of his car. There he gave his loving"Radha Soami" to us; we then followed him up the steephill, which he climbed like a boy of eighteen, to a clusterof houses where quarters had been arranged for us all.

It was an inspiring sight to witness the devotion hereshown by the people to their adored Master. It was noordinary friendship or esteem; neither was it anything likethe ovations given to political leaders or national heroes.

176 LETTER THIRTEEN

It was worship actuated by the deepest affection. Theyall wanted him to set his holy feet inside of their houses,and he tried to accommodate them all as nearly as pos-sible. Many of them had spent days, even weeks, inpreparing special decorations inside of their houses, inanticipation of this notable event. If they had been per-mitted, they would have showered him with all sorts ofpresents. But that he will never permit. He accepts nopresents of any kind. But he is pleased when they showreal love.

He does not like them to bow at his feet and worshipthe outer human form. But this cannot always be pre-vented. He accepts their love with evident pleasure andin all humility. One woman here, the wife of a militaryofficer, could not control her impulse to worship him,and so threw her arms about his legs and bowed down tothe ground, holding his feet. He gently removed her andtold her that was not the right way to worship the Mas-ter. She should go inside and up into the higher regions,and there meet and worship the Master in his radiantform. The human form should not be worshipped, hesaid. But the people will worship the human form also;for great is their love. How anyone in the human form,even the divinest of men, can inspire such love and devo-tion as this Master does, has been one of the deep mys-teries which this disciple has been trying to fathom eversince he arrived in India. But it still eludes his grasp. It isone of the great miracles daily performed by this Master.We feel that it constitutes one of the visible evidences ofhis mastership.

Great satsang in the mountainsThe crowds continued to gather all day long and to

spread over the hills, until two o'clock when the Master

2 JUNE 1933 177

held satsang. More than eight thousand people wereseated before him. In such a mountain region, neces-sarily thinly populated, such a crowd is nothing short ofmarvelous. Where they all came from, one could onlywonder. From all the mountains and valleys round aboutthey continued to pour in. Many delegations of promi-nent men, officers from the military stations, headmen ofvillages, some of patriarchal appearance and also smartlydressed young officers, all came to pay their respectsto the Holy Father and to listen to his gracious words.

For four days, the Master held satsang for thesepeople; the crowds diminished not at all, but ratherincreased. Finally, the last meeting was held under a bigbanyan tree down in the canyon. This disciple sat nearthe Master's side and as the Master spoke, he watchedthe faces of the crowd. They fairly hung upon the Mas-ter's words. Deep interest was apparent everywhere.Here and there a tear could be seen dropping from some-one's face, and then smiles and laughter would burstforth as the Master related some amusing story to illus-trate his point. The Master is an adept at pointed stories,quotations and illustrations, to drive home his message.He is highly eloquent in the true sense of that term. Itmust not be assumed that this mountain audience was alot of illiterate people. Far from it. Among them werenumerous college graduates, hundreds of keen brainsand critical minds. Many of them were learned in theliteratures and sciences of this world.

As this writer watched and studied the faces of thepeople, he could at the same time glance up to the snow-covered Himalayas, towering just above us. The sightwas thrilling. For ages this has been the region of theMahatmas, the forest temples of those great men whohave become more than men, and yet linger here that

178 LETTER THIRTEEN

they may continue to teach all who seek the light. Thesemountain retreats and deep valleys, for untold genera-tions have witnessed Master and disciple walking theirtrails, or sitting upon some mountain crag, looking up atthose same snow-covered summits. But probably neverbefore since the dawn of creation, never since the firstMaster ascended those heights, have such crowds waitedthere upon the words of a Mahatma. Never before in thehistory of mankind have such large numbers flocked tothe holy feet of a living Satguru, as this American wasprivileged to witness today. If only its significance mightbe duly appreciated, it marked a distinct epoch in thehigher development of mankind. Usually, all through theages, it has been only the few brave and daring souls whosought the higher Path. According to the old systems ofyoga, the path was extremely difficult and even hazard-ous. But now, thanks to the most merciful One, the Pathhas been made easier and all may follow it who will.Infinite Love has opened wider the gates and now manymore are listening to the call and entering the goldengate of opportunity. One could almost fancy that thesedeep mountain retreats themselves were filled with glad-ness at hearing the divine voice of a living Mahatmaaddressing the people by the thousand.

Eight hundred are initiatedFinally the candidates for initiation were assembled,

after the last public meeting had been held. After manyhad been rejected, the Master initiated eight hundred.He personally inspects each and every one. Many aredeferred. No one but the Master knows who is to beinitiated and who deferred. He only glances at each one,as they stand in line. It is a deep mystery to everyone elsewhy this one or that one is deferred. Sometimes there is

2 JUNE 1933 179

sad disappointment, both to the applicant and to hispeople. But the deferred ones are told very kindly tocome back some other time, and in the meantime to givefurther study to the teachings and the duties and respon-sibilities of discipleship. Perhaps some of those deferredwill be ready the next time, or some years later. But theMaster knows instantly who is ready now. Only thosewho bear the mark are accepted. Only the Master knowswhat that mark is and he can see it at a glance. Everyonedesignated by the Supreme Lord for the initiation isstamped by some unmistakable sign which the Mastercan recognize instantly. Only they get the initiation.

The Master returns to the DeraThe finishing up of the initiations in this village,

together with a short satsang held the next morning in avillage on the way down out of the mountains, com-pleted the Master's work of this tour. He was ready toreturn to the Dera the next day, to which a few of uspreceded him, while he stopped overnight with attorneyBhagat Singh in Jullundur City. We reached the Dera onMay 2nd.

This tour of the Master has marked an epoch in thehistory of the Master's work; in fact, an epoch in thehistory of the Radha Soami movement in India. In mylast letter, I mentioned the fact that the Master hadinitiated about twenty-five hundred during the month ofMarch. We thought that a large number, and indeed itwas. But that number was greatly exceeded in April.

Thousands initiated during AprilDuring this April tour, many villages and towns were

visited by the Master. He was greeted everywhere bycrowds running into thousands. This has been the

180 LETTER THIRTEEN

banner month in the Punjab, and so far as we know in allIndia, and for all time, among the services of the Saints.During the month of April alone the Master initiatedfour thousand and nine hundred. This is the largestnumber ever initiated in one month by one Saint in thehistory of the world. This number exceeds the totalnumber initiated by Soami Ji, the founder of this system,during his whole lifetime. It constitutes about ten per-cent of the total number initiated by our Master since hebegan his work here about thirty years ago. So the devo-tion and the enthusiasm continue to increase. Such largenumbers applying for initiation would have been utterlyimpossible in the earlier ages and was not thought ofeven a hundred years ago. But the spiritual atmosphereof the whole world is rapidly changing, and the effect isbeing felt by large numbers who are turning their atten-tion to spiritual things, more than ever before since thismahayuga began, now more than three million yearsago. This is why among all nations the feeling is becom-ing more and more pronounced that an era of spiritualawakening is now dawning. And so it is. Old obsoleteforms are passing and people are beginning to seek theTruth, and everywhere the souls of men are catching thefirst gleams of the happy dawn. What the future willbring forth only the Master knows. But the outlook isexceedingly bright.

The Master is much overworkedThe hot weather is now upon us and we shall soon be

leaving for the hill stations to escape the excessive heatof this section. The dear Master shows the effect of theprolonged strain, continuous hard work, with almost notime for rest, day or night; and now the heat is making itharder for him, although he stands it all much better

2 JUNE 1933 181

than anyone else. We are begging him to drop the workand go at once to cooler regions. Just this morning hesaid so much work was pressing for attention, how couldhe leave it? They are coming to him from all over thecountry, in ever larger numbers. We begged him to con-sider his health and leave the pressing work and the heat.He smiled and made only a partial promise. When wetold him that there would be plenty of work to be donehere a thousand years from now, he laughed and said:"Yes, no doubt."

The May satsang was attended by something liketwelve thousand people, in spite of the busy seasonamong the farmers. About three hundred and fifty wereinitiated at the end of this meeting.

I am glad to announce that the English translation ofthe Sar Bachan is now on the way to the press and wehope it will be ready for distribution before so very long.It will be a valuable addition to our literature.

Also the Master has given his approval for the publi-cation of this series of letters in book form. It will con-tain a number of interesting pictures besides that of ourMaster, and will include a brief summary of the teach-ings of Sant Mat. We expect to send it wherever theEnglish language is spoken as a testimonial to the Mas-ter. It will be the first effort of this sort in history to letthe world know that there is a real Master on earth. Itwill be translated into many other languages, we hope.

Letter from Baba Jaimal SinghWe will now close this letter with a gem taken from a

private letter written by the Saint Jaimal Singh to ourMaster during the early days of his discipleship. He wasGuru to our Master and is still much loved and vener-ated by him. In value, this letter is just the same as words

182 LETTER THIRTEEN

from our own Master. It has, in fact, a very special valueto us, since its instructions were intended for our dearMaster during his early struggles as a student. It may beaccepted with the utmost reliance upon every word:

"Radha Soami. Radha Soami's grace be upon you.From Jaimal Singh to dear Babu Sawan Singh—RadhaSoami. The benign Lord, Radha Soami, Anami, iswonderful. There is no name or form there. It is only thetranscendent spiritual current. That current of grace andmercy is about to come to you, and it is coming to you.But there is one veil in between still. Leave thou thyself.All of the material that belongs to surat (soul), nirat (theeye of the soul) and of mind, and of nij-man (causalmind), and of pranas and body; all of the three bodiesyou must consider as states which come to you duringthe twenty-four hours. Do not desire things of thisworld, of physical matter, nor sensual pleasures, nor anymaterial thing, for any of the three bodies (physical,astral, or causal). And do not worry as to what willhappen in the future, or what you shall do. Leave all ofthis thinking and worrying. All of this material you gotfrom the Master at some time in the past, and youshould keep it all as you would hold the property ofanother. You should never consider it as your own.

"Now, inscribe the words of the Master on yourmind. Remember to hold in mind that you are nothing.Everything belongs to the Master. T do not exist. Allthings, soul, mind, intelligence, all things pertaining tothe material of this world are the Master's, and not'mine'. T am nothing. Turn out this T from your mind.

"Jiva is the name of the soul or spirit. Soul got mindand all material things as a gift from the Father in SachKhand so that it might carry on in this region of Kal bygetting Shabd from the Guru and, attaining union with

2 JUNE 1933 183

its dhun or melody, it might come back to Sach Khand.But under the influence of mind and maya, the soul hasutterly forgotten this command and lost it. And so they(the mind, etc.) consider everything as their own, andunder the spell of maya both the soul and mind areimprisoned—by maya, and by Kal who, by putting theweight of karmas over them, has pressed them down.

"So long as man does not stand aloof from the world,by leaving himself and resigning all to the Satguru, hecannot escape from this imprisonment and pressure.Therefore, utterly leave yourself and stand aloof. Thinkthat body, mind and wealth, all worldly material prop-erty belong to the Master, and not to 'me'. T amnothing. With this idea perform all actions. And do justas he bids you do. Then he himself will take you withhim when he finds you fit. Have true love for the Masterand unshaken faith in him, and in your mind always lieprostrate at his holy feet. Shabd melody has been givento you by the Master. This gift is indestructible, and oneday this melody will take you to Sach Khand. Every daygive your devotion and love to this Shabd Dhun; and forthis cherish a keen longing in your heart.

". . .You should gladly resign yourself to the will ofthe merciful Lord. . . . All should do their spiritual prac-tice every day without fail. This time you have less work,but be contented with that and do your bhajan. OnlyNam, that is Shabd Dhun, is your own. So, do fix yourattention on it with love and devotion. With hands andfeet and the use of the mind, go on doing your work ofthe world; but give the devotion of the nij-man to theholy feet of the Master.

". . . Radha Soami to you from all at the Dera. Thegrace of the Lord be upon you all—whatever is the willof the Lord, that is best."

184 LETTER THIRTEEN

And so this disciple sends his Radha Soami to youall. Do not forget the injunction of this letter, to fix yoursteadfast attention and love upon Shabd Dhun, and theholy benediction of the Master will rest upon you.

Affectionately your fellow student,Julian P. Johnson

Fourteen

Palampur, IndiaJuly 4, 1933

Dear Fellow Travelers,

This is American Independence Day; but I am think-ing more of the independence of the soul, of its emanci-pation from the five enemies that have so long enslaved itand from the domination of the Negative Power. I amthinking of

The Path of the Saints

that Royal Highway which leads to complete and eternalfreedom of the soul. I am thinking especially today ofthe Great Deliverer, the noble emancipator, the Master,the true Saint, by whose grace the sojourner in therealms of Kal is enabled to break the last fetter thatbinds him and reach his home in the Supreme Region. Iwould like to sketch this Path today, if I might, andmake it so clear that all men could see it. If only we couldmake it so plain and definite that it could not be mis-taken again, even by the casual reader! This holy pathshould be so differentiated and marked out that noneever miss it. Its main features should be so clearly setforth that it will be easily distinguished from all otherpaths of a religio-spiritual nature. This path of the Saintsis indeed unique and individual. There is no other waylike it, or even approximately similar. There is no otherway 'just as good'. For it there can be no substitutes; for

186 LETTER FOURTEEN

there is only one Way that leads to the Supreme Goal.This holy path is not a theory. It is not a system of

beliefs or dogmas. It is not even a religion, although itembraces all of the values of religion. It is an actual Way,a genuine road to be traveled, involving of course certainpreparation and training as one goes along. In fact, theword 'path' is not altogether appropriate. It is moreproperly speaking 'el Camino Real' or the King's High-way. It belongs to the Royal Masters, and it leads thetraveler from earth upwards through kingdom afterkingdom, from country to country, each one more splen-did than the other, in an advancing series until the upperterminus lands the traveler at the very feet of theSupreme Lord of all regions. And this is no allegory, nofigure of speech, no flight of the imagination. It is aliteral, actual highway, over which the Saints and theirdisciples travel, passing through numberless and vastregions, stopping at different stations en route. The pas-sage is really a succession of triumphs, for the disciples ofthe Saints are enabled to master each region as theyenter it, to absorb its knowledge and powers and becomecitizens of it. No Hannibal or Alexander or any Caesarever made such a triumphal advance. The Saint is theGreat Captain leading the soul from victory to victory. Itis a long and difficult passage; but the Saint has beenover it many times, and he is Master of it all. He is, infact, Lord of all intervening regions through which thisHighway leads, and before him numberless multitudesbow down as he passes. It is therefore a long successionof triumphs, even until he reaches the Grand Terminus.

Many splendid continents and worldsIn each region through which the traveler passes he

discovers new continents, new worlds, and meets their

4 JULY 1933 187

inhabitants. He beholds their dwellings and modes ofliving. He studies them, perhaps visits there for monthsor years, before he advances. Then he passes on to higherplanes. The journey may require many years, all depend-ing upon the difficulties one meets within himself, hiskarma and the general fitness with which he enters uponthe journey. But if he persists, by the grace of his Masterhe arrives at last at the end of the Highway, at theSupreme Region, the Home of the Saints and the abodeof the Supreme Father. And this is the end of the jour-ney, because there is nothing higher. He has reached theultimate region.

^>The journey made during life

This journey is undertaken by Master and pupilwhile both are living here in the physical body. In fact, ifit is not at least begun while they are both here in thebody, it cannot be accomplished after death. That is thesupreme value of this physical body. It offers everyonethe most priceless opportunity to escape from the en-tanglements and bondage of earth and return to histrue home above. But if he lets this opportunity passuntil death overtakes him, he must inevitably return tothis life before he can even begin his upward journey.

Not confined to this bodyBut the enquirer may ask: "How can you or a Saint

really make a journey to a far country while you are stillliving here in the physical body? You certainly cannottake it with you." This question reveals a misunderstand-ing which must be cleared up. We are not confined tothis physical body, even while we are still living in it.You are imprisoned in this body only because you donot know how to get out of it. The body is no part of

188 LETTER FOURTEEN

ourselves. It is only a covering, a house of clay in whichwe live for the time being. It is simply an instrument ofcontact with this physical world. That is all. If then wewish to travel in regions far above this plane, where thisclumsy body cannot go, we have only to step out of itand go. We need not break the connection. We canreturn to it when we like, and resume its use. This, all ofthe Saints and their disciples who have reached the firstregion above, do at will. They are quite free. How to dothis is one of the first lessons taught their disciples by theSaints. Naturally, it is the initial step to be taken beforethey can even begin their upward journey. But once gain-ing this freedom, the soul is ready to begin its long anddifficult but triumphal journey to distant worlds.

The reader is now asked to follow in his mind thejourney over the Royal Highway of the Saints, stage bystage, as it will be given in some detail. Let him makenote of its main features, so that never again will he havethe least doubt concerning the Path of the Saints, or failto understand how it differs from all other paths. The de-scription is necessarily extremely limited and meager.Only the merest hints can be given here, for it wouldrequire volumes to describe the Way, even if one werecapable of doing it at all.

Preparation for the journeyAs in all other cases of travel, naturally some prepa-

ration must be made for the journey. This usually meansthe gathering together of a lot of luggage to be used onthe trip, or at the other end of the journey. But in prepar-ing to start on this trip over the Royal Highway of theSaints, the process is exactly the reverse of the usualprogram—it consists in getting rid of all luggage.Though we may not fully realize it, it is nevertheless a

4 JULY 1933 189

fact that most of us are going around carrying on ourbacks piles of useless luggage which weigh us down andhold us in slavery. Our plight is worse than that of thepoorest coolie. The very first step is to break the ties thatbind us and rid ourselves of the useless luggage thatholds us down to earth. These consist of the manifoldevil ways, the gross sins, unholy desires, the self-indulgences, the passions, the love of the world, its pleas-ures, its pomp and vanities. All of these thingsconstitute the load of luggage each one is carrying aboutwith him, and by them he is hopelessly and literallyweighted down to earth and bound here. Until the souland the mind break loose from these and stand free fromthem, we cannot take the first step on the Path of theSaints.

How to break these bonds constitutes the moral phi-losophy of the Saints. But in this there is nothing unique.The moral philosophy of the Saints differs but little, ifany, from that of all great world religions. This knowl-edge is a common possession of mankind. No one has amonopoly of the knowledge of correct living. The Saintstake but little time to inculcate morality. That is takenfor granted. It constitutes but the most elementary stepon this Path. Perhaps no better system of morality hasever been formulated and given to mankind than that ofthe 'Eightfold Path' of Prince Gotama Buddha. But hereall religions meet on a common ground. In this respectthe Path of the Saints differs but little from all othersystems. We simply must disburden ourselves of thisworld. We cannot take this world and its ways with us tohigher regions. That is the sum of the whole matter.Disentangle yourself from the world and stand alooffrom it.

190 LETTER FOURTEEN

Morality alone not sufficientBefore passing from this point, it would appear

fitting to call attention to one vital consideration, usuallylost sight of by most teachers and systems. It is this:Morality, even though it be of the most perfect systemimaginable, and even though its every precept be mostscrupulously observed, is not sufficient to break thechains of slavery which bind every soul to this world andto the wheel of birth and death.

And this leads us to one point regarding the moralphilosophy of the Saints that must be especially noted.In this regard alone, it may be said to differ from theteaching of all other systems. The Saints tell us that itlies not in the power of any man to free himself by hisown unaided efforts. He is so entangled and bound hereby the chains of the five enemies that he cannot effect hisown escape without help. It is just here that the Saintcomes to the rescue of his disciple. The Master, and heonly, has the power to break those fetters. Without him,the individual may struggle as he will, he may fight man-fully to the end of his days, and all he can do is better hiscondition a little, store up more favorable karma forthe future. But in the end he is still bound, and he mustreturn to earth again and again under the 'wheel ofeighty-four'—that is, the endless circle of transmigra-tion. This is a vital truth overlooked by most teachers ofmoral philosophy. Many students boast that man is mas-ter of his own fate, that he must look to himself alone forliberation. It is a vain boast. For he will return here birthafter birth, age after age, until he finally places his des-tiny in the hands of a real Master. We believe that thisegotistical assumption of many students is a sort of natu-ral reaction against the useless intervention of the priest.But the position of the true Master in his relation to his

4 JULY 1933 191

disciple is as different from that of the priest, as day isdifferent from night. While the priest is not only uselessbut highly detrimental to the individual, the Master isabsolutely essential to spiritual liberation and upwardprogress.

Preparing to leave the bodyAssuming now that the outer preparation has been

made, that the student has divested himself of all evilluggage which bound him down and obstructed hisupward passage, his next step is to close all of the nineavenues of sense that connect him with the outer world,and then go inside and prepare to leave the body. Howto do this in the best and most effective manner everySaint teaches his disciples at the very outset. The methodis made so clear that he cannot mistake it and the studentis amply safeguarded against all possible errors. He can-not be misled if he follows instructions.

His first exercise is to concentrate his mind at the'tisra til' or third eye. He must pull in his wanderingthoughts, restrain his restless mind, and hold it steadilyat one point. The mind is often compared to a monkey,hopping around. But it must be brought to a stand-still, to absolute rest at the given center. In due time,if the process is complete, the individual spirit currentor substance is slowly withdrawn from the body, firstfrom the lower extremities which become feelingless,and then from the rest of the body. The process is iden-tical with that which takes place at the time of thedeath, only this is voluntary, while that of death is invol-untary. The whole spiritual being gathers at the givencenter, or focus, its powers increasing because of theconcentration. Eventually he is able to pierce the veilthat intervenes—which in reality is "not thicker than the

192 LETTER FOURTEEN

wing of a butterfly"—and then he opens what is called the"tenth door" and steps out into a new world. The bodyremains in the position in which he left it, quite senseless,but unharmed by the process. He can return to it at will.He may remain out of it for hours, or even weeks andmonths. The life processes slow down almost to a stand-still, but the body remains in perfect health until theowner is ready to return to it.

In all of this the student is neither asleep norunconscious—not for a moment. In fact, the reversetakes place. He is superconscious. He knows all that isgoing on in and around him and vastly more than heever knew before. He is intensely awake and will re-member all of his experiences vividly. He is now in aworld he never saw before and of the very existence ofwhich most people are unaware. But it is a world whichimpresses itself upon the traveler as being much morereal than this world. It is also much finer and morebeautiful and full of light. Here he beholds a great va-riety of scenery, of landscapes, of rivers and mountainsand trees and flowers and buildings. Here he meets withmultitudes of people, gathered from every nation andtribe of earth. He converses with them; for there all lan-guages are understood by all. The light and colors of thatworld surpass anything he ever saw before. All of thesethings the student traveler looks upon for the first time,and with a new pair of eyes which he never consciouslyused before. He is now operating in his astral body andusing his astral senses for communication, the same as heused the physical senses before.

Our student is now in the position of a man who hasbeen all of his life confined in a semidark prison and hasjust been given his freedom. He steps out from behindprison walls into a beautiful park or garden in front of

4 JULY 1933 193

the prison, ready to begin his journey home. In fact he isnow ready to actually begin to live. His freedom is intoxi-cating, joyous. And he is just now ready to begin hisjourney on the Path of the Saints, for that is the way thatleads to his homeland. Up to this moment all he hasdone is to prepare himself for the journey and to openthe door of the prisonhouse which held him in. Up tothis point there is but little that is absolutely unique inthe process of his preparation. Many others besides theSaints have reached this region. By dint of the moststrenuous efforts and the practice of certain yoga, manyof the ancients and some modern students have reachedthe astral plane. They have subdued but not overcomethe passions, and their excellent concentration has giventhem great powers of penetration into the lower astralregions. Their understanding and their powers over theforces of Nature have increased correspondingly. Manyof them, rejoicing at the great beauty and light of thisregion, have quite firmly believed that they have reachedthe highest heaven and that the Lord of this region wasthe Supreme God. But, in fact, this is only the verylowest threshold of that vast system of heaven-worldswhich lie above and beyond it. It constitutes the very firststage or resting place on the Path of the Saints. In real-ity, their journey begins here since this is the lower termi-nus of the Royal Highway of the Saints. And yet formost of the world religions, this is the end, for theirfounders never went beyond this region, and so theybelieved it to be the ultimate.

At this point the student traveler enjoys many newsensations, so much so that he is quite bewildered. He isfairly intoxicated with delight. He is conscious of a mar-velous influx of power. His vision is lucid. Space is oblit-erated. Time has disappeared; for now all events stand

194 LETTER FOURTEEN

before him clearly outlined, the past, the present and thefuture. He now realizes the shadowy nature of the lowerworld from which he has just escaped. He beholds itspitiful limitations, its passing deceptive show, its pano-rama of births and deaths, under the wheel of karma, orthe law of cause and effect. All of these things are nowclear to his illuminated consciousness, and yet he hastaken but the first step. For the Royal Highway beginsjust as you step through the tenth door, out of the physi-cal body, and into the first astral zone.

Student here meets his MasterIt is here on the very threshold of the upper regions

that the student traveler first meets his Master faceto face in his Radiant Form. From that moment on,through the remainder of his life, that Radiant Form ishis constant companion and he may always ask theRadiant Master any questions he may wish to ask andreceive an answer. From that happy day forward, heneeds no other teacher. All information on any subject isready at hand. It is this Radiant Master who now takescommand of the upward journey. He will be his guide allthe way. A few of the bravest of men have reached thisregion by their own unaided efforts, but even they doubt-less had the help of some men who had already gone thatfar. A few may advance a little further, but only theSaints and their disciples may travel the Royal Highwayto the higher regions. Fortunate indeed is the studentwho has a real Saint as his Master. For he alone will reachhis home in the exalted planes of the Region of Truth.

The Shabd or Sound CurrentIt is quite necessary to call attention here to the

Sound Current. For that is a vital factor in the Path of

4 JULY 1933 195

the Saints. From the very first, the disciple begins tolisten for its sound, during his hours of sitting. By and byhe will come to hear it at any and all times, even while heis about his daily duties. Gradually the sound becomesmore distinct and sweeter in tone. Only when he reachesthe first region, the true Sound is heard, the real Shabd.This Sound Current is the most vital factor in his furtherprogress. From it he constantly draws energy, and by ithe is enabled to overcome all hindrances and all weak-nesses. It is extremely musical, sweet and delightful. Itsattraction fairly pulls the soul upward; and throughoutthe entire journey, this Sound Current is his constantcompanion and support. Without it he could never makethe journey. Consequently, the Sound Current and theMaster are the two vital factors in making the upwardjourney. Without them both, it cannot be made. Thesetwo, then, are the all-important factors in the Path of theSaints—the Sound Current and the living Master.

Location of the first regionThe location of the first region should be kept in

mind. In the Radha Soami literature, mention is oftenmade of the three grand divisions of creation. The first,or highest, is that of the Supreme Being, his residence,and it consists of pure spirit, unmixed with matter of anysort, and is free from all imperfections. It is called theSat Desh or Sach Khand. In that region, there is noteven mind—only pure spirit. That region is so vast inextent that all the rest of creation below it appears nomore than a small cloud floating in its sky. It is inhabitedby vast multitudes of pure spirits who are not subject todeath or change. They are supremely happy.

Then comes the second grand division, called Brah-mand, the middle division. It is of a very high order of

196 LETTER FOURTEEN

creation, mostly spiritual, but is mixed with mind andother very fine sorts of matter. In fact, mind itself is anextremely high order of matter; for it is not self-conscious and is wholly dependent upon spirit for its lifeand function. This grand division is the realm of univer-sal mind. All souls, in their descent from Sach Khand,here take on their mental apparatus for purposes of con-tact with the worlds below; and here, on their upwardreturn journey, they discard it.

In this grand division are located all of the heavens ofthe great world religions, most of them in the very lowersections of it. Compared to the physical worlds, thisdivision is also vast in extent and is divided into number-less distinct regions, or planes, world above world, and isinhabited by millions and billions of refined beings,many of whom believe that they are in the highestheaven.

Then comes the third grand division, the physicaluniverse, called Pinda. In it are all of the suns, moons,stars, and planets, all of the unnumbered worlds notedby our astronomers, and far beyond the range of theirmost powerful telescopes still other universes withoutnumber. Our earth is only one of the small planetsbelonging to one of the suns of this system. The earth iscomparatively but a mere microscopic speck of dustfloating in the sky of one small universe.

Now, the astral region, which our traveler has justentered, lies at the top of this third grand division, justbeyond the topmost border, or frontier, of the physicaluniverse. It lies in a subdivision of Brahmand, calledAnda. Its substance, while very coarse when comparedwith the finer worlds above it, is extremely fine whencompared with the earth substance. It vibrates at a muchhigher speed than any known earth substance, and its

4 JULY 1933 197

light is much greater in intensity. It has its own laws andcharacteristics. It is a distinct plane of life and is the firstof the numberless sets of three dimensions, extendingupward beyond the earth planes. So, even this physicalplane of ours is only one of these sets of three dimen-sions, arranged in an ascending scale. There are otherplanes of life below us, coarser and poorer, and theirinhabitants are of a lower order of being than ourselves.As a rule, the inhabitants of one plane are wholly un-conscious of all other planes above them. They live anddie somewhat as we do and pass to other regions, astheir karma impels them. The duration of individual lifeincreases as you go from lower to higher regions. Alwaysthe passing from a lower to a higher plane depends uponthe life one has lived and the assistance of his or herMaster.

Such is the order of creation—plane upon plane,world above world, universe beyond universe, in endlesssuccession and variety. To break the bonds of one planeand to traverse other and higher regions is an accom-plishment. To do so, one has to qualify for a permanentresidence in the upper region. He need not stay therepermanently, but he must qualify for it. In fact he mustmaster each region before he passes to the next higher.That being done, he must then learn the secrets ofbreaking down the barriers in his way. These secrets canbe obtained only from the Master. But the Way is alwaysopen for those who earnestly seek the upward Path.

It may not be amiss to just mention in this connec-tion one of the most vital and important principles of allprogress. It is this:

Make yourself master wherever you are; then pass toa higher degree.

Now, our student, having broken the bondage of the

198 LETTER FOURTEEN

physical body, steps out upon the first of the upperworlds. But he has not yet entered the city which consti-tutes his first real station on the Royal Highway. Thereare many subdivisions in this, as in all other realms.There is much to be seen of that vast and beautifulregion called Sahansdal Kanwal, so named from a gigan-tic flower-like light, looking like a thousand-petalledlotus. This region has been briefly sketched by Soami Jiin his Sar Bachan. He calls them only hints. They are butlittle more than that. But let us read what he says:

Soami Ji describes the first region"I will give you the secret of the Path; a few hints

concerning it. First fix your mind and soul upon tisra til.Gather together mind and soul, again and again, andbring them inside. Then behold a window; and beyondthat an open maidan, or field. Concentrate the attentionupon that and hold it there. You will see a five-coloredflower garden, and inside of that, behold the Joti (candleor light). Enjoy this scene for some days. Then see theblue-colored sky appearing like a chakra (circular disc).Impelled by love and longing, pierce through this. Thengaze at the Joti with detached mind. Hear the unendingbell sound and become absorbed in it. Next you will hearthe conch. Let yourself become saturated with it."

This description is quite incomplete of course. Itomits to mention thousands of things of the mostabsorbing interest. In that region are suns and moonsand stars. In fact many of them are seen before you reachthe real Sahansdal Kanwal. There are people of manysorts, living in different styles and engaged in variousoccupations—of course, not of a commercial nature.Mostly, they spend their time in concentration, meditat-ing upon the lord of that region. For this, as all other

4 JULY 1933 199

regions, has its own lord or ruler, and he is the creator ofall below him, including the physical universe. Hederives his powers from the lord next above him. It is notsurprising that he is often mistaken for the SupremeLord of the entire universe of universes, by those who gono further than his region and who know of nothingbeyond that.

Just before the first region, near the entrance to thisregion at Ashtdal Kanwal, the student first meets theRadiant Form of the Master. From here on they makethe journey together. Let us now proceed to the secondstage.

Region number two, TrikutiWith our great Captain in command, we resume our

journey. He alone knows the Way, and he alone has thekey to all regions; for he has traveled them all manytimes, and besides, he is the recognized Lord of them allfor the time being. The true Saint is King of kings, and isuniversally recognized as Lord because he is one with theSupreme. His power and authority are recognized allalong the route. All other lords, rulers and people payobeisance to him. Under his protection we now enterTrikuti, the second stage on our journey. Here we mayrest and study for a long time, even years. There is muchhere to absorb attention; besides, one has to himselfgrow and develop before he can advance. Let us quote abrief description of this region from Soami Ji:

"Now, my dear companion, prepare to enter thesecond stage. Behold Trikuti, the abode of the Guru,where the sound of Onkar is heard perpetually resound-ing. Then you go on up and open a gate and enter 'bunknaF (the crooked tunnel), passing on to the other end ofit. Then you cross high and low hills. Now the vision

200 LETTER FOURTEEN

appears to be reversed, and one sees as if from the oppo-site side of the veil which he has penetrated. Lookingupward, he passes into a fortlike region which he entersand becomes master of it. He reigns there as lord of thatregion. Here the soul becomes adorned with the attri-butes of devotion and faith. Here the seed of all karma isburned, destroyed. You will see thick dark clouds, fromwhich peals of thunder constantly resound. When risingabove these dark clouds, behold, the entire sphere is red,with the beautiful red sun in the center imparting itscolor to everything.

"This is where the Guru really gives Nam, for theMaster's Shabd Rup is here. This Shabd is, in fact, theFifth Veda. Here you will see the red four-petalled lotusspoken of by the Saints, the details and colors becomingvisible as one comes nearer to it. Here the bell and conchsounds are left behind and the sound of mardang (like adrum) is heard.

"After that, the soul resumes its upward journey.Now comes the sound of a huge drum, beaten inces-santly. Here the soul has grasped the Primal Current,from which all creation emanates. Innumerable suns andmoons are seen here and many kinds of skies, filled withstars. The soul here realizes its complete separation fromPind, and rises to the upper Brahmand, as if intoxicatedwith joy. He sees and traverses deserts and mountainsand gardens. In the gardens are flowers arranged in artis-tic designs and groups everywhere. Canals and rivuletsof transparent water are flowing in abundance. Then oneapproaches an ocean, which he crosses by means of abridge. He then beholds the three mountains, or promi-nences, called Mer, Sumer, and Kailash. (From these theregion is named.) After this, he passes on to a region ofthe most unalloyed delight."

202 LETTER FOURTEEN

advances to the next. But as we are now traveling inimagination only, we may proceed. Quoting again fromSoami Ji, we read as follows:

"Now, the soul goes on up and opens the third veiland hears the voice of the Sunn region. This is DaswanDwar, with very brilliant light. The Akash* of SahansdalKanwal and Gaggan* of Trikuti have been left behind.The soul here bathes in Mansarover and joins the groupof hansas (swans). The soul then circles about and risesto the top of Sunn, and there hears the kingri andsarangi (stringed instruments, something like a guitar).

"After hearing this sound one penetrates and crossesTribeni (a place where three streams meet), there enter-ing the vestibule of Maha Sunn, where he picks up thesecret knowledge. This great sphere alone is seventypalangs in circumference and in this sphere there is atfirst pitch darkness. Four Sound Currents are heard ema-nating from invisible sources, the music varying, everyminute changing in tone. The sound of the jhankarpredominates and is indescribable in mortal language.One hears them and is entranced by their sweetness.Here are five egg-shaped regions or worlds all full of avariety of creations and each is permeated and governedby a Brahm. How can one describe the beauty of thesecreations? Each has its own predominating color likegreen or yellow or even white. They are quite vast inextent, in comparison with which the entire universebelow Trikuti appears very insignificant."

Students who attain this third region gain cor-responding increase of power and understanding in pro-portion as this region is vast in extent beyond thosebelow it. But there is constantly increasing difficulty as

•Sky.

I

4 JULY 1933 203

one goes on up in giving expression to anything relatingto those higher regions. They are further removed fromthe earth and its language, even its ideas. The very ideasin those upper regions are beyond the grasp of earth'sinhabitants until those regions have been traversed andthen one is unable to put them into earthly language.

Crossing this third region not only indicates anotherstage passed on our journey but it marks a distinct epochin the progress of the soul. Here he leaves the last rem-nant of earthly impurities, and the last of his three bodiesin which he lives and operates while here. In this region,wholly purified, the soul for the first time sees itself as itis, pure spirit, a child of the Supreme Lord. So, here forthe first time it truly knows itself. Here for the first timeit is absolutely untrammeled and free. And from here onits tendencies are all upward instead of downward. Theattraction of the still higher regions becomes overwhelm-ing and the soul is impatient to go on. From here hereturns no more to be born in the flesh—except thosewho come on special missions of redemption. Being nowfree from all impurities, the soul here attains a brilliancyequal to twelve of our suns, and now it rises rapidly tothe more perfect regions above. Let us then resume ourjourney. We traverse almost measureless space andapproach the fourth region.

Region number fourQuoting again from the descriptions of Soami Ji, we

read:"Now prepare for the fourth stage, O soul, and catch

the Sound. Cross the pass above the Hansni tunnel andenter the Rukmini tunnel, where you will see a strangeand beautiful mark, or structure, seeing which, the surat(power to hear) and the nirat (power to see) both attain

4 JULY 1933 205

to that of many millions of suns combined. It is utterlybeyond comprehension; but let us now enter his region.

Region number fiveSoami Ji, with increasing difficulty of expression, has

given a few hints concerning this region. We read:"In the fifth region is a f ortlike place wherein is situated

the throne of the King of kings. You should know him asthe true king. The soul now advances to a great andwonderful field, or park, the scenery of which is absolutelyindescribable. There is also a great reservoir, from belowwhich flow abundant streams of the most delicious nec-tar, and this nectar flows out through large canals, tosupply distant regions. Golden palaces are set in openfields of silvery light. But the landscape is indescribable,and the beauty of the hansas living there is incompre-hensible, the brilliancy of each one being equal to thecombined light of sixteen suns and moons.

"The soul then passes on up to the real entrance. Thewatchers by the gates are the hansas. Here the SahajSurat asks the soul: 'How have you managed to reachthis region?' The newcomer replies: 'I came across aSaint and he gave me knowledge of this region.' Sayingthis, the soul then pushes on and enjoys the darshan ofSat Nam, and rejoices with an exceeding great joy. Avoice then emanates from within the lotus, saying: 'Whoare you, and what purpose or object brings you here?' Heanswers, 'I met the Satguru and he gave me full instruc-tions. Through his kindness I now have the privilege ofyour darshan.' From this darshan the soul derivesimmense pleasure. Sat Purush then speaks of the mys-teries of Alakh Lok, and with his own powers and love,he aids the soul to make further advance toward the stillhigher regions."

206 LETTER FOURTEEN

Our traveler has now reached the highest Grand Divi-sion of Creation, the region of immortality and of Truth.While still in the lower regions of Brahmand, he isalways liable to return to earth, and to rebirth anddeath—the wheel of eighty-four. But when he reachesthis pure region of Sat Lok, the first plane of which iscalled Sach Khand, there is no more return to earth,except as a Redeemer. Here the student traveler entersupon the full reward of his long and arduous course oftraining. He becomes a Saint himself, and the mission ofhis Guru is finished, so far as this journey is concerned.But the soul has yet to travel over the most sublime andbeautiful part of his journey. Above Sach Khand thereare three other planes or regions, of utterly inconceivablesplendor. But from here on, the Great Father of SachKhand takes over the responsibility of guiding the soulto the end of his journey. By his great love and light, hedirects the advancing traveler through all of thoseexalted regions. First he becomes united in a mystic waywith the very essence of the great Sat Purush, and so,becoming one with him, partakes of all his attributes. Hethen advances to the three remaining regions.

The three higher regionsThe next one is Alakh Lok, presided over by the

Alakh Purush and the next after that is Agam Lok,presided over by Agam Purush. Finally, the travelerarrives at the end of his journey, the region of the name-less One, or of Radha Soami, the Supreme Lord of allthat exists. Although the name Radha Soami may beascribed to Him, it is fully recognized that no name candescribe Him. No thought can embrace Him. No lan-guage can tell of Him. He is the formless, all embracingOne. He is the impersonal, infinite ocean of love. From

4 JULY 1933 207

Him flows all life and spirituality, all truth, all reality. Heis all wisdom and love and power. All visible lords of allregions are His manifestations—He taking form, manyforms, in order that His gracious purposes might be car-ried out in all creation. They are all His forms; but noneof them expresses His totality. He may take millions offorms but He himself remains formless, impersonal, all-pervading. He is universal Spirit, universal life. Whymultiply words? No one can tell of Him.

When the traveler reaches this supreme region, calledby Soami Ji, the 'regionless region', he is so absorbed inits joys, so lost in its unutterable splendor, that he atonce realizes the futility of even attempting to tell thestory to earthbound people. Say what he may, they canform no conception of that region or the life there.Soami Ji finishes his descriptions by saying:

"The beauty of Alakh Lok is utterly incomprehen-sible. The soul, unable to describe those regions, goes onup and sees the Alakh Purush, the Agam Purush, andthen the Monarch of all, Radha Soami. From one stepto another the soul beholds strange things which cannotbe described in human language. Every region and every-thing is utterly beyond words. What beauty and glory!How can I describe them? There is nothing here to con-vey the idea. I am helpless.

"The soul has now seen the three regions above SachKhand, and the ruling Purush in each one. He has seenthem and united his own being with them. All he can sayis that here in these Holy Regions

Love plays the supreme part.It is all love.

So says Radha Soami."

208 LETTER FOURTEEN

We are now at the terminus of the Royal Highway ofthe Saints. We have finished the journey we set out upon,from the common level of earth life. It has been a jour-ney of the greatest glory and triumph. It has led us stageby stage from the low levels of earth to the highest con-ceivable realm of bliss. The traveler, the student, byvirtue of his advancement, has changed from the statusof a mere man, crawling in the dust of earth, to a realgod of such unclouded glory, wisdom and power, that nolanguage can recount his triumphs. What he has nowbecome must forever remain quite inconceivable to theordinary earth man. He may catch only a few glimmer-ings of it. And this is the Path of the Saints. Among allof the systems of religion or philosophy that have everengaged the thought of men, is there anything compa-rable to the achievements of this Path?

The position of the Master, or Saint, must now beapparent. The journey to the higher regions can never bemade without him, either in this life or after death.Therefore the Saint is the supreme necessity, if one is toreach those regions. For this reason, the way to thoseregions is called the Path of the Saints. The entire scienceis called Sant Mat, or the teaching of the Saints. Happyindeed is the soul who takes shelter with a Saint andundertakes the journey in company with him. Among allthe sons of men, he is the most fortunate.

With greetings of love and all good will, believe me,

Your grateful fellow student,Julian P. Johnson

GIST OF SANT MAT

THE YOGA OF THE SOUND CURRENT

A brief statement ofthe Radha Soami system

of spiritual science

Sant Mator

The Teachings of the Saints

THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY

This little volume is in the nature of a personal testi-monial to one of the greatest of Masters. After twenty-six months in daily personal association with him, and ofthe most critical study it is possible for a scientificallytrained man to make of another human being, the writersends out this testimonial with the utmost confidencethat he is bearing witness to the mastership of one of thegreatest, if not the very greatest, of all Mahatmas whohave ever graced this world with their loving presence.

The Master critically studiedWhile the author's love for the Master has become

the dominant factor in his life, it is believed that this lovehas in no way biased his estimate of the Master. He hasshut his eyes to no facts which could be discovered. Hehas sought for evidence, both for and against. He hasweighed in the balance carefully all points. He haswatched keenly every little incident of the Master's life.He has carefully studied the Master's reactions under allcircumstances, extending from his enthusiastic receptionby multitudes of ten to fifteen thousand people, down toa personal attack by a hostile critic.

He has watched the Master while talking, eating, sleep-ing, walking among crowds and climbing mountains,traveling in motorcars and railway trains, and horsebackriding. He has watched people worshipping him withthe profoundest adoration, and he has seen others

212 GIST OF SANT MAT

abusing him and seeking arguments with loud and bitterdenunciations. He has seen the Master at the bedside ofthe sick and dying, and at the funeral pyre of the dead.He has seen him enter and has followed him into thehovels of the poor, and he has gone with him into themansions of the rich.

He has witnessed many occasions when largenumbers of prominent men, such as lawyers, doctors,judges, college professors, and even rajahs and theirranis, have all sat at his feet with rapt attention. He haswatched the Master carry on his heavy daily duties in thesweltering heat of summer, and he has stood by him inthe chilling winds of winter, noting how calmly he meetsall conditions and works on tirelessly.

In all things, under all circumstances, he has neverseen the Master at fault, so far as he could tell.

He has never seen the Master exhibit any of the ordi-nary weaknesses of common men. As a man, the Masteris perfect, so far as twenty-six months of careful obser-vation can determine.

And as a Master, the preceding pages tell their ownstory.

Some astounding factsOne of the most astonishing things connected with

this science—sometimes called a religion—is the factthat it has no organization, no priest, no dogma, noritual, no ceremony, and nothing to be believed withoutevidence. Its entire structure is based upon positiveknowledge which any student may demonstrate for him-self. This is almost beyond the conception of the Westernstudent, accustomed as he is to mere beliefs in matters ofreligion. But the fact is that this is not a 'faith' or a'religion', in the ordinary sense of those terms. It is

SOME ASTOUNDING FACTS 213

strictly an experimental science, quite as much so aschemistry, or any of the applied sciences.

Another astounding feature of this system is its psy-chology. If you will turn to your standard dictionary,you will read that psychology is 'the science of the mindor soul and of its functions'. The science is thus confusedat the very outset by using the terms soul and mindsynonymously. The word is taken from the Greek, whichmeans soul—not mind at all. But many modern studentsand writers on the subject know no distinction betweenthe two. At best they consider the mind but a function ofthe soul. Some others deny the soul altogether; and a feweven question whether there is a mind at all, aside fromthe physical brain and its functions. Most modern writ-ers make psychology almost purely a science of themind. They have thus usurped the name and given it asignificance which Plato, Aristotle and Socrates neverdreamed of. To them all, Psyche was that beautifuldivine spark which never experienced death, eventhough all else might perish.

Now, it must be evident that any accurate science ofpsychology must deal with both mind and soul. And thisis exactly what the science of the Masters accomplishes.It is, therefore, the only exact psychology. And if wewere to give this science an accurately descriptive name,it would be: 'The Psychology of the Masters'. In thissystem then, ethics would become but a subdivision ofthe great science of the soul. If only the Western studentcould grasp this stupendous fact, his psychology wouldenter upon a new and glorious era.

But one thing which will astonish the Western stu-dent, and may possibly at first be difficult for him toconcede, is the fact that the mind and the soul are twodistinct and separate entities. The mind itself is material;

214 GIST OF SANT MAT

of course, of a very highly refined order. But the mindhas no independent self-consciousness. It cannot func-tion alone, being wholly dependent upon spirit to acti-vate it. It is no more a part of the essential being of manthan is his body. The mind is only another instrumentwhich the soul utilizes for its contacts with materialplanes of life. When in the course of its development andascension to higher regions it transcends the realms ofmatter, it discards the mind as of no further use to it, justas it discards the physical body when it leaves this plane.

Strange as it may sound to the Western student, theindividual spirit is freer, happier, and wiser when he nolonger has any mind to encumber his activities and limithis perceptions. This may sound like utter nonsense tothe student trained in the ideas of the West. But it is afact, nevertheless, which every student of this sciencemay and does prove for himself as he advances to higherregions. He does not prove this by any reasoning pro-cess, but by actual demonstration and personal exper-ience. There comes a time when he literally lays asidethe mind and discards it entirely, leaving it behind as aninstrument which he no longer needs and which is moreor less cumbersome, as the body is. From that time on,the spirit or soul knows all things by direct perception;and the range of its perception is vastly increased. Butthat can happen only when the soul has entered therealm of pure spirit and has left the regions of matter farbehind.

Some of these ideas may be quite unthinkable to theWestern mind. They will probably think that I have atleast mislaid my own mind, if I have not entirely lost it,when I set out to make this statement. But that isbecause their minds are full of the old misconceptions.My only purpose here is to state that this science offers

PROBLEM OF EVIL 215

to the world a new psychology, which is at the same timethe oldest psychology on earth. For it has been taught byall of the Masters of the East for countless ages.

The problem of evil solvedAnother astounding thing about this science of the

Masters is that it offers for the first time in history anadequate solution of the problem of evil. That is to say,in all history, this is the only solution that has ever beenoffered which satisfies the demands of both reason andfact. Around this problem wordy battles have beenfought ever since man began to think. Mountains ofbooks have been written. But the books have beenmostly efforts to fit the facts into some preconceivedtheory, with the inevitable result that the problem wasleft just where it was before, only perhaps a bit worseconfounded.

Many a poor student has wrecked both character andreason on the rock of this gigantic problem. Others havegiven up in despair, forced to the conclusion that therecan be no such thing as a just God in the universe. Forthe student can never reconcile the existing conditions oflife here with the idea of a beneficent, all-wise and all-loving Creator in charge. He may, indeed, shut his eyesto the facts and end up, like the Puritans of old, byrejoicing with his God over the tortures of the damned inhell. Otherwise, he can hardly find a solution thatsatisfies his conscience.

Some have taken to another alternative, quite asabsurd, and denied the very existence of evil. In a broadand metaphysical sense, the latter concept is quite true.But it must be understood to be true only in the sensethat whatever system the Supreme Father has institutedmust be the best, and in the end makes for the highest

216 GIST OF SANT MAT

good of all. But to deny the existence of what men termevil in this world, involving pain, sorrow and death, ismanifestly to shut one's eyes to the facts before him.

Now, here is a science which offers a perfect solutionof the problem. The key to its solution lies in the factthat this world, the entire physical universe, was created,and is now ruled over, not by the Supreme Lord of allcreation, but by a subordinate who is himself imperfect.Hence if you are forced to the conclusion that the creatorand lord of this world is not and cannot be all love andgoodness, you are quite right. But if you say that this isonly pushing the question back a little, and does notoffer a final solution, we still reply that the system hasbeen established by the all-wise Supreme Will and is thebest possible system for the purposes had in mind at thetime of creation.

This world is a theater of pain and struggle anddeath, and it is necessarily imperfect from the standpointof our immediate happiness. So is a jail, a reformatory,or a hospital. The fact is that this world is not, and neverwas intended to be a place of human happiness. It wasnever meant to be so. The lord of the region, himselfbeing imperfect, finds it his chief business to keep soulshere as long as he can, and subject them to all manner ofpain and other evils until they learn enough to seek away out. And that was what he was put in charge of thisregion for. When men reach this stage, they have ac-complished their periods of discipline. Their evolutionhere is finished, and they are ready for advancement tohigher regions. The purpose for which they were origi-nally sent into this region of sorrow and pain has beenfulfilled and the Supreme Lord of all is prepared to givethem a royal welcome back home.

That the great Supreme Father is infinitely higher

218 GIST OF SANT MAT

for them to know that this world at its best, when com-pared with even the lowest plane above, is nothing morethan a dirty outhouse. So great and multiform are themansions which the Father has prepared for those whoearn the right to enter them.

Now, when men learn wisdom, when their disciplineis complete, they will naturally seek a way out. And thatmeans they will search for a Master. He is the greatLiberator, and he alone has the key to unlock the prisondoors and set us free. Why was the matter placed in hishands? I do not know. But it was the plan of theSupreme Father, and it must be the best way. For hisinfinite wisdom and love would not fail to do the bestthing for his children.

In this connection one extremely suggestive fact pre-sents itself to the student. It is this: Vanity, or egotism, isthe chief thing that blocks the return of the soul to God;and the Master offers the only cure for that terrible evil.If there were no other reasons why individual redemp-tion has been placed in the hands of Masters, that onealone is quite sufficient. When the soul places itself at theMaster's feet, and surrenders all to him, with a readinessto follow him implicitly, that means the death blow toegotism. From that day forward, love and sweet humilityopen the doors to the regions of Light. If, however, theliberation of the soul and its spiritual exaltation were leftwholly in the hands of the individual himself, every stephe would take toward his goal, he would become moreand more vain of his achievement. This growth of vanitywould then act as an automatic stop to all further prog-ress, making self-liberation practically impossible. Andthis is exactly what always happens to those who en-deavor to climb the heights by their own unaided efforts;i.e., without a Master.

SUBSTITUTES IN RELIGION 219

We may also add that the task of individual libera-tion from the bondage of earth, and from the slavery ofthe five foes, is utterly beyond the powers of the individ-ual. He cannot accomplish the task alone. No one cando it. The resources at his command are altogether toolimited. He must have help. And so the Supreme Fatherhas determined that the living Master shall be the helper,the Guide, and the Liberator that man needs.

Substitutes in religionIt seems important to call attention here to one other

thing. In their wholesale abandonment of the churchduring the last half-century, many cultured and thinkingpeople have turned toward some sort of convenient sub-stitute, such as New Thought, Spiritualism, ChristianScience, Theosophy, and Rosicrucianism. Not a fewhave turned back to the ancient Vedas, and many alsohave taken to Buddhism. The high and noble precepts ofthe great prince have appealed to many. As an ethicalsystem, it is far superior to the ethics of the Bible. Onlythe Sermon on the Mount, given by Jesus himself, standsout as equal or superior to the 'Eightfold Path' ofBuddha.

If we could get the real teachings of Jesus, we mighthave a very fine system of moral philosophy, and per-haps some hints as to the method of the inner Path. Butit is practically impossible to secure anything direct fromthe great Son of Mary. He wrote nothing himself, andhis teachings have been obscured by his disciples, andmiserably interpolated by others.

But to those students of Buddhism in Europe andAmerica, it is only necessary to point out one thing.They may have an all-sufficient moral philosophy, butthe system is lacking a living Master. It is, therefore, like

220 GIST OF SANT MAT

Christianity, practically a dead letter, a lifeless husk. Toread it is like picking up beautiful shells by the shores ofsome ancient sea. They are beautiful to look at, but theyare lifeless.

Nowhere in the teaching of modern Buddhism, eitherin the northern or southern school, or in any of the manysects subdividing them, do they give you a clue to thatpower which alone can free you from spiritual bondage.They do not teach you how to go inside and find foryourself that kingdom of heaven spoken of by all theworld teachers. Neither do they offer you any help inovercoming the downward sweep of the great currents ofevil. They tell you what you ought to do, but they leave itall for you to do alone. And they are careful not to giveyou the exact method by which the gigantic task is to beaccomplished.

They point you to Buddha or to Christ as examples,but nowhere do they tell you exactly how to yourselfbecome another Buddha or another Christ. They actu-ally tell you, in substance, "Go on trying to be like him.But of course, you cannot do it." It is much as if youwere down in a deep well, its cold waters cramping yourmuscles and someone yells to you that you ought to getout of the well. You know that already, without doubt,but he offers you no help or definite information as tohow to go about getting out. In such circumstances,what benefit is it if a minister, in a Prince Albert coat andwhite necktie, stands at the top of the well and reads toyou a beautiful sermon?

All of these beautiful ethical systems tell you whatyou ought to do, and then they stand by and watch yougo on down to hell. They offer you a charming system ofmoral philosophy—and in fact, most religions are butlittle more than that—and when you have committed

SUBSTITUTES IN RELIGION 221

them to memory, or tacked them upon your wall, youpromptly forget them and go on following the five evilpassions down to your grave.

They all lack the dynamic force you need, and that isto be found only in the Master, the living Master, theone now in the human body. The one who has finishedhis work here and gone, is no longer able to help you.Those who look to such a Master only draw upon theirown imaginations for help. The living Master alone canrender the needed assistance. And that is exactly thesupreme value of his science. It not only definitely pointsthe Way, but it extends the help of the Master at thecritical moment and he is abundantly able to liberate allwho take shelter at his holy feet.

No soul, no God, in BuddhismThe Buddhist teaching is further weakened by its

denial of the individual soul and of a Supreme Being. Webelieve this is not the teaching of the Buddha himself,but of his later interpreters. This is the chief doctrine thatsaps it of its vitality. They might, with all consistency,add one more negative to their system, viz., there isnothing else. They need not stop to ask who is makingthese negations, for there is no one to make them. It is apractical certainty that the original Buddha neverintended to convey any such ideas. He was making themost strenuous efforts to overcome the obtrusive egoeverywhere so obnoxiously present, and to teach theoneness of all life.

His followers even to this day have been unable toreconcile the idea of divine oneness with the existence ofthe individual soul. But it presents no serious difficulty.A single organ or a single cell may exist in the humanbody, and yet that is not inconsistent with the oneness of

222 GIST OF SANT MAT

the entire body. Millions of fish exist in the sea, andcannot live outside of it, and yet that does not offer anydifficulty as to the inseparable oneness of the ocean andthe individual fish. In Him we live and move and haveour being.

Besides, if they had known the Sound Current, theywould have had the perfect key to this oneness—to theexistence of all souls as parts of the Supreme One. Hereis the divine trinity—the Supreme One, the individualsoul, and the Sound Current connecting the two andunifying them. They are one substance, and the soulshave no existence apart from the Supreme One, and yetthey have their own individuality. Each is merged intothe divine Whole, and yet each one remains a self-conscious unit of that divine Whole.

How much better this is than that cold and cheerlesstheorem which says there is no soul, nothing but abundle of accumulated tendencies called 'skandhas'.How this bundle of blind and unthinking skandhascould ever have imagined itself to be a soul is notexplained. How it could ever get the idea of a soul, if nosoul existed, and no one existed to do the thinking, is atrifle of a mystery which its advocates have never clearedup. But let us dismiss the idea. It is like the chill blasts ofwinter. It takes life, but gives none.

Cannot sinAnother fact most astonishing to the student is to be

noted here, and then we shall proceed with a brief state-ment of the cardinal teachings of the Masters. That factis this: When a student has reached a certain degree ofadvancement on this Path, he simply cannot commit asin. Not that the power to commit sin is taken from him,for he has vastly more power and freedom of choice than

OLD FORMS PERSIST 223

he ever had before. But he can now see the destructivenature and disastrous results of sin so clearly and in allof its ramifications that, for him, the act of sin would beequivalent to deliberate suicide. It is utterly unthinkableto him. If this is not a very practical result, then it wouldbe difficult to imagine one that is practical. That alonewould appear to be worth all the strenuous effortrequired on this Path. There is no more sublime achieve-ment on these lower planes. And with it the happiness ofthe student is so extraordinarily increased that the manof the world can form no conception of the vast treasurethat is his.

All the world is looking for happiness, but they areseeking it by the wrong method. They have never foundit that way and they never will. Happiness cannot befound in material enjoyments, not in the gratification ofthe senses, nor even in the satisfaction of the mind. Thepleasures of sense are but for a moment and are usuallydisappointing and fleeting. We no more than get settledin some situation from which we expect happiness, whenit changes in substance, or vanishes entirely, leaving usbut a dream, a shadow. The whole world is a passingshow, and its allurements only lead us on toward somevanishing mirage. At the end of the trail, we leave ourbones to bleach on the desert sands. In exchange for itsmomentary pleasures, the world forges around us freshchains of slavery, and then we go on, dragging ourchains with us. But the spiritual science of the Mastersoffers freedom, everlasting freedom, and joy beyondcompare.

How old forms persistIt has always been a mystery how and why men hold

on so tenaciously to old religious forms and concepts. It

224 GIST OF SANT MAT

makes no difference if they contain not the least shred ofcommon sense or fact. Yet once accepted, it seemsalmost impossible to turn them loose. But in offering tothe reader a statement of the Radha Soami teachings, letme urge that for the time being at least he should try todivest himself of all prejudice and assume an attitude ofopen-minded enquiry. Shut not the door of Truth inyour own face by assuming in advance that you cannotlearn anything new/To most of us there are yet "manythings in heaven and on earth not dreamed of in ourphilosophy." Neither should we be overconcerned to findthat which supports our own theories or creeds. Weshould look always for the Truth, regardless of anyman's theory.

When you have given this statement due considera-tion, then if you do not like it, no matter. Let it go. Youhave at least been fair to both yourself and the writer. Ifthe time comes when students of religious subjects findthat they have discovered something which carried thema step further toward the Great Light, then they mayrelax their hold on the old and take up the new. But thisthey should do, not as if they were casting aside some-thing false and worthless, but they should lay it asidereverently, as something which has well served its pur-pose, even as the growing child lays aside his primerwhen he advances to higher grades. For this also is inline with evolution. The comprehension of spiritual truthmust always be progressive, the light increasing as indi-viduals rise to higher levels of spiritual consciousness.

The name 'Radha Soami'It has been said that this system has no name. And in

fact it has none. But it was inevitable that some sortof cognomen or designation or label should become

'RADHA SOAMI' 225

attached to it. Many insist on calling it a faith. And so thename Radha Soami faith became attached to it. But theterm 'faith' is somewhat misleading, since this systemdoes not fall in the category of faiths, or religions, asthey are commonly understood. And the name 'RadhaSoami' was not given to it by its founder; it was given byRai Saligram, one of the chief disciples of Soami Ji. Butit finally had the approval of the great Master.

This name later came to be applied to the founder,and then to the system itself. The name has been appliedto the Supreme Lord; but this name is 'varnatmak' (thatwhich can be spoken or written) while the true Name,Nam or Shabd, is 'dhunatmak' (cannot be spoken orwritten). The true Sovereign of all remains forever name-less, Anami, for he is above and beyond all names ordescriptions in words of mortal tongue.

It was never intended to found a new sect or cult.And this system was not first taught by Soami Ji, assome believe. He gave it clearer and simpler expressionthan anyone else had ever done, and he made the exer-cises plain and easy to follow. For this reason only, he isregarded as the founder of the system. He began publiclyto expound the system in Agra, India, in 1861. But theteaching itself is the oldest science on earth, antedatingthe Vedas by untold ages, or any other teaching knownto history.

It should be said that while all Saints of all ages havetaught and practiced this system, it was not their fault ifthey did not give it out in plain words to the wholeworld. Each one had to be governed by the circum-stances and the times in which he lived. It has been onlyin very recent years that the heavy hand of fanatical per-secution has been lifted so that the Saints became freeto teach openly. Civilization has at last wrested from the

226 GIST OF SANT MAT

priesthood that power which for so many ages blockedthe progress of enlightenment.

Sant Mat millions of years oldThe teaching of the Saints has been one and the same

system since the first Saint ever set foot upon this planet,millions of years ago, in the days of the Golden Age,called Sat Yuga. It has never changed and it can neverchange, because it has been a perfect science from thebeginning, instituted and practiced by perfected men,who never make mistakes. It is a science based uponnatural law and personal experience. The Creator him-self is its author and founder.

But in quite recent years the Saints known to history,such as Kabir Sahib, Tulsi Das, Shamas Tabriz, Mau-lana Rum, and Guru Nanak together with his successors,have been the chief exponents of the system. Then cameTulsi Sahib, and finally Shiv Dayal Singh Ji, laterknown as Radha Soami, or Soami Ji, who simplified thescience and presented it to the world in practical form,for the larger numbers who were approaching readinessfor it. For this reason he is generally regarded as founderand-first exponent.

This system calls for no credulity. While it sets forthsome very startling statements, it asks no blind accep-tance, but proposes a method by which the student mayprove every word of it for himself. It offers the studentnothing to be believed without evidence, and it asks nofavors of any man. It never begs for money for its sup-port, and even the Master himself, giving his whole timeto the work, never accepts any material benefits from hisdisciples.

Sant Mat is not another cultural religion or philo-sophy. We may truly say that it is not primarily con-

SANT MAT 227

cerned with any system of right living on this earth. Thefield of its action lies in another direction. If a man isgoing to build a splendid dwelling for himself, he will notthink only of the foundation, and when he has finishedthat foundation, stop right there and go on talking therest of his life about that beautiful foundation. But thatis precisely what all religions do. They lay a beautifulfoundation of moral precept and culture, but they stopright there. They do not build upon the foundationwhich they have laid. Therein is their fatal weakness.

Sant Mat alone builds upon its foundation. It buildsa superstructure reaching to the utmost skies. And itsculture is that which is gained by the ascent of the soul tohigher regions. That is the highest and noblest culturepossible to man. It is a culture quite unknown to the manof the world, and it is almost impossible to put intowriting anything that would convey a correct estimate ofit. It is a priceless treasure quite beyond the grasp ofthose who have not had the experience.

But with all modern presentations of ethics and cul-tural standards the Saints are not directly concerned.Ethics is assumed by Sant Mat. It is the foundation uponwhich it builds its superstructure, but that foundation isalready in the possession of mankind. There is no needthat any Saint should spend time restating it. He hasmore important work before him. All men know how tolive correctly. If each one would act according to his ownhighest ideals, sin and crime would disappear, and right-eousness would prevail the world over. The world is notin need of cultural ideals. It has them in great plenty.

Let the reader here make special note of the fact thatthis writer does not mean to convey the idea that theMasters are not interested in ethics or moral culture. Thereverse is true. They always teach and emphasize its vital

228 GIST OF SANT MAT

importance. They are interested in ethics just as truly asany builder is interested in the foundation of his house.And their first lesson given to disciples is to impressupon them that they cannot make even a start on thePath until the moral foundation has been laid.

But unlike other systems, they do not stop there.Having laid this foundation, they proceed to build uponit. Consequently, while ethics is vital in their system, atthe same time it is not the chief interest of the Masters,and they spend only the minimum amount of time on itnecessary to impress its importance upon the student.The superstructure or spiritual character and achieve-ment is their chief concern.

It is quite true that no one can take the first step onthe Path of the Saints unless and until he has establishedhis life upon a broad and sound ethical foundation. He issimply told that this is his first step. It is the one primaryprerequisite. But he knows already how to do it. He isquite familiar with its principles. All of this being takenfor granted, the Saint has now to point out the Path ofattainment. That is his mission.

He is not so much concerned with fitting men to liveupon this earth, or the establishment of a moral orderhere, as he is in liberating men utterly and forever fromthe confines of this earth-life.

That is the supreme mission of the Saints, and to thatthey give all attention.

Essential teachings of Sant MatI have mentioned a number of things which this sys-

tem is not. Let us now endeavor to see what it really is.The great Saint at Beas has defined it in these words:"Sant Mat is the science of connecting the individualsoul with its Creator." This definition is extremely

SOULS DISCONNECTED 229

expressive and very accurate. It assumes that the ordi-nary individual is disconnected from his Creator. Itsprimary concern then is to reestablish that divine yoga oroneness, which in a real sense is the aim of all religions,although they have not the slightest idea how to goabout it.

A reunion with God is the fundamental aim of allspiritual aspiration. It is the one purpose back of allreligious teaching and ceremony. But the pity is that theyhave all lost the method by which that reunion is to beaccomplished. It has been lost and covered up in themaze of creeds and ceremonies and external forms. Andalthough the world is piled high with books and swarm-ing with priests, all purporting to teach the Way, yet theyactually do not know the first step on the Path. Thosewho follow them only become worse and worse en-tangled in the maze, and there is no escape until theylook to a real Master.

Souls disconnected from CreatorIt is assumed, then, that the individual is discon-

nected from his Creator. Each one comes into this worldso disconnected. He runs on for a time, only by themomentum with which he came, and then he slows downand dies miserably from lack of power. During the agesthat he has been wandering about the regions of mindand coarser matter, he has become separated from thegreat central dynamo. He is now like a motorcar fromwhich the battery has been disconnected. There is nolonger any spark to ignite the fuel and produce theneeded power to run on independently. It is just herethat Sant Mat lays down the science by means of whichthe battery is reconnected and power made available forindependent achievement.

230 GIST OF SANT MAT

You may see at a glance that this is not, and cannotbe, a system of beliefs. It is no mere theory. It is not amatter of opinions. It is not a cultural philosophy. Cul-ture, beliefs, opinions could never connect the discon-nected battery. It requires a very definite act from thehand of an expert. A concrete, definite act. Only whenthe hand of the master mechanic comes and lays hold ofthe apparatus and actually makes the connection, thenand then only will the motor come to life. And the Mas-ter mechanic works by strictly scientific principles andfrom exact knowledge. His is a science in the strict andtechnical meaning of the term. It is so because it is basedupon natural law, and its rules and principles of opera-tion are universal.

In all ages of the world, among all races and in allcountries, all who follow its formula get exactly the sameresults. That makes it an exact science. Therefore, theresults may always be predicted in advance. The studenton this Path may always know exactly what he will beable to accomplish. He may not know just how long itwill take him. For many individual factors enter here, asin all other lines of endeavor. But if he follows the for-mula faithfully, he may rest assured of the final results,with no shadow of variation and no possibility of failure.

Three great truths of Sant MatThere are three great fundamental truths lying at the

base of this system, and to each of these I wish to directattention for a moment.

First, the helpless condition of the individual soul. Imean by this the utter inability of the individual ever toextricate himself from the prison walls and multiformchains that bind and hold him in this world of mind andmatter, and in which he is doomed to be born and reborn

THREE GREAT TRUTHS 231

for untold ages. He has wandered far from the regionsof light, his original home. It would appear that he hasbeen sent down here for remedial and disciplinary pur-poses; in fact, that he might really finish the work ofcreating himself through individual struggle. In any case,he finds himself in the arena of individual struggle.

He is encompassed by adverse conditions, requiringpainful, prolonged and exhausting effort. These condi-tions are needed to supply the urge force to struggle. Ifconditions were pleasant, he would just sit down andtake things easy for a hundred thousand years. But afterhe has fought the battle to the limit, when he has donehis best to rise above the region of pain and struggle, hestands alone upon a lofty eminence and surveys the fieldof his struggles. He looks for a way to escape. But thereis none. Let him struggle as he may, he must return againand again to the theater of struggle. But if he is brave,and continues to fight manfully, on each successivereturn to the plane of struggle, he brings with him anearned increment of favorable karma, giving him a bet-ter placement.

At last he looks about him and is seized with aninexpressible yearning to return to his original home. Heis tired of this endless warfare. The million entangle-ments of this world of senses are galling to him. He praysearnestly for his freedom. He finds that he has struggledso long and so hard, but has never been able to extricatehimself from the Wheel. He recalls that he has triedevery scheme, but all to no avail. He now knows intui-tively that he never can release himself. So, when his egohas been conquered, when humility is born of bitterexperiences, he is ready for the second great truth of thisscience. It is this: The living Master is the divinelyappointed agent of individual salvation.

232

The Master, the great LiberatorAs said before, the individual has been disconnected

from the great central Force, which alone can enable himto regain his lost position and return to his originalhome. He is quite unable to effect his own release. Butnow comes the Master into his life. The Master alwayscomes when the soul is ready for him. When all else hasfailed him, and his ego has subsided sufficiently to permithim to accept the Master, the moment is ripe for thegreat Liberator to enter his life. The Master then con-nects the individual soul with his Creator. That is his firststep. He is the master mechanic whose skilled hands areable to connect the battery and give life to the motoronce more. In this particular instance, the machinery isfar too complicated and delicate for the ordinary pre-tender to know what he is doing with it.

When the connection is made, he has power to travelindependently. He then has the power to overcome all ofthe downward pull of earth, and to begin his ascenttoward the regions of light, where lies his eternal home.But without the aid of the Master, he could never makethat journey. He could never even begin it. This then, isthe second great truth emphasized by all the Saints—thefact that there is no ultimate release for anyone from thewheel of birth and death, from the regions of pain andstruggle, until the Master comes to his aid.

The Shabd or Sound CurrentThe third great truth of Sant Mat is the gigantic and

vital fact of the Sound Current. This science is some-times called the practice of the Sound Current. It is alsocalled the Yoga of the Sound Current, or Anand Yoga.The Sound Current is the most stupendous and vitalfact in all the realms of Nature; yet it has been almost

THE SHABD OR SOUND CURRENT 233

entirely lost sight of by the majority of modern students.For more than fifty years this student diligently

searched through everything printed in books, to thelimit of his ability. He ransacked the libraries of theworld, in different languages, eagerly looking for gleamsof truth. But never once did he run across a single intel-ligible word concerning the Sound Current, until lessthan four years ago.

Yet the teaching of the Sound Current has been inthe world since the earliest man began to turn his eyesheavenward, since the great Father started the humanrace on its career upon this planet. Time and again, ageafter age, Saints have come to give fresh emphasis to thisgreat truth; this is the most important of all truths. Butsoon after their departure, the negative powers begin tocover it up, and to obscure it, introducing a thousandschemes to draw attention away from it. Why? Because itis the one and only way or avenue of escape from theregions of the Negative Power. It is the one and onlypower by means of which man is enabled to break everyfetter that binds him, and remove every evil that ob-scures his moral sense or clouds his spiritual vision. It isthe one source of help that meets every need of the soul,and it is the open chariot in which he may ride back tohis eternal home at the feet of the Supreme Father.

What, then, is the Sound Current? It may not be soeasy to define it. It is called Sound Current because it canbe heard. It may be assumed that every force in theuniverse, moving from a static condition to dynamicexpression, is in a state of vibration, and therefore pro-duces a sound. Sounds are not limited to atmosphericvibrations, although our physical ear is so limited. Whenmusic is transmitted by a radio across the continent inthe fraction of a second, it is just as truly a sound

234 GIST OF SANT MAT

current, or sound wave if you prefer that expression, whileit is in transit as it is when again converted into atmo-spheric vibrations by the receiving instrument. Only itcannot be heard by the physical ear.

But a finer ear, so constructed as to respond to thosehigher vibrations, might easily pick up those electromag-netic waves without any other instrument. And that isexactly what happens when the finer ear of the astralbody, and also of the still finer body or bodies withwhich man is already endowed, actually picks up thefiner vibrations of the Sound Current. It only requiresthe proper training of the Master to enable the student toaccomplish this marvelous achievement.

Sound Current mentioned by JesusIt may be of interest to the student brought up in the

Christian faith to know that Jesus himself, at least in oneplace in the New Testament, very definitely mentions thefact that this Sound Current is to be heard. In the gospelof John, first chapter, it is called the Logos, or Word,through which all creation came into existence. It wasnot only with God from the beginning, but it was Godhimself. Then in the third verse of chapter three, Jesushimself speaks of contacting the Sound Current andcompares it to a new or second birth. (Bear in mind thatbirth means bringing to light.) He says that which is bornof the flesh is flesh; but it is the spirit of man which isborn of the Spirit—that is, brought to light by the Spirit.Then in the eighth verse, he clearly mentions actuallyhearing the Sound of this same Spirit Current whichgives the new birth. He says: "The wind bloweth where itlisteth and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst nottell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

SOUND CURRENT MENTIONED BY JESUS 235

Thus the matter is made very clear and definite thatjust as the body of man is born of woman, body frombody, so the spirit of man is born, brought to light, outof the dark womb of matter and its foul corruptions,through the action of the divine Spirit, in the form of theSound Current. When that takes place, he actually hearsthe sound of it just as distinctly as he may hear the rustleof the wind in the tall pines of the forest. But no one cantell whence that inner sound comes, any more than hecan tell whence the wind is blowing. Shamas Tabriz, agreat Persian Saint, speaking of the Sound Current, saysvery beautifully:

To me came the Sound incomparable,which comes neither from withinnor from without;

Neither does it come from the left,nor from the right,

Nor from the back,nor from the front.

You will ask, then,whence does it come?

It comes from the directionyou are seeking to go.

You will ask, then,which way shall I face?

The side from whichthe bridegroom cometh.

That direction from whichthe parched fish comes to lifewith the waters of immortality;

That direction whence the hand of Mosesbecame bright like the shining moon.

236 GIST OF SANT MAT

The direction whence ripenesscomes to fruit;

The direction from which stonesbecome diamonds.

Be silent and listento the Five Sounds from Heaven,

The Heaven which is beyondall senses and directions.

Every moment of life this wondrous Soundreaches down from the Courts of Heaven.

Fortunate above all the children of menis he who hears its enchanting melodies.

Jesus, speaking in the same poetical spirit of thisSound Current, says it is heard in the direction whencethe wind blows. And he also says: "Verily, verily, I sayunto thee except a man be born again, he cannot see thekingdom of heaven." He must be brought to light andthat light is inside of man himself. And for this verydefinite reason he says that the kingdom of heaven iswithin you. The kingdom of heaven being inside, ofcourse it can be seen only by going inside. And yet all theworld is busy seeking it everywhere else. To make themomentous discovery of the great kingdom of Light,man must go inside, and he cannot go inside except bythe aid of the Sound Current. Hence its vital importance.In every age of the world, time and time again, the Saintshave emphasized that one must be 'born anew'—in thewords of Jesus, "Marvel not that I say unto you, ye mustbe born again.''''

When the soul is connected with the Sound Currentat the time of one's initiation by the Master, that is thesupreme moment of his new birth. But the completion of

SOUND AND POWER THROUGH SHABD 237

that birth is a slow process, a gradual coming into thelight. The Master often refers to the birth of the soul intothis world of matter as a death, rather than a birth, for itis in fact a going down into darkness. But the real birthtakes place when he is connected with the Sound Cur-rent, and by its regenerating action is brought into Light.

Sound and power through the divine ShabdThis divine Shabd (which means 'word' or 'sound')

may be called the Current of the Supreme Being himself,vibrating through all space, and extending down to eachindividual soul. Now it has been proved that not onlysound can be transmitted by radio but also power canbe so transmitted. In like manner, the power of theSupreme Current can be transmitted to the individualsoul who is attuned to receive it. And here is the crux ofthe whole matter. One must be attuned to receive it. Thisis the primal connection between the Creator and thecreated. But the entire process of training to receive boththe Sound and the Power constitutes the course ofinstructions and exercises given by each Master to hisinitiates.

In this manner the Creator himself sends out streamsof life to the untold millions of beings who are dependentupon him. These streams reach to the outer bounds of allcreation. It is the supreme current of spiritual life, thevery essence of life, flowing out from the Creator toevery soul in the universe. It is the way he will ultimatelybring them back to himself, when their periods of disci-pline are over. This Current, then, vibrates through allspace and into each soul. Anywhere a receiving set is putinto operation, it will pick up the currents or waveswhich may be said to fill all space.

In like manner, any soul when properly trained, may

238 GIST OF SANT MAT

pack up this divine Sound Current and receive its power.But men have shut themselves off from vital connectionwith it. It is a living vibrant force and can be heard, andits power can be felt. But first each one must be con-nected with that Current by the master mechanic, theSaint. It is largely a process of 'tuning in', as we say inradio. But only the Master knows how to do that tuningin. And no man can tune himself in. In consequence ofman's degrading relations with these lower regions, hehas beome so disconnected—out of tune—that he can nolonger hear the vibrations of that Current or avail him-self of its power, until the Master reconnects him.

This the Master does at the time of initiation, andfrom that time on, he has only to train himself in thatsystem of scientific yoga, as prescribed by the Master,and sooner or later he is enabled to distinctly hear theSound Current within himself. It is at first feeble andmakes but little impression upon the student. But gradu-ally, as his concentration becomes more perfect, theSound grows more distinct and sweeter in tone, until atlength it is the most delightful musical note ever heard bymortal man. It enchants and transforms him, and by itspower he easily overcomes all temptations. It gives himnew strength and resolution. It literally draws himupward, and at the same time it cleanses him of all earthimpurities. It fairly recreates him. Under its benigninfluence, he begins his inward and upward journeytoward the highest spiritual regions.

There are five principal regions through which hepasses on this journey. These regions are gained by in-ward concentration, first enabling the spirit to leave thephysical body and then to travel abroad in those exaltedand shining worlds. These he traverses one after theother, until the highest is reached, the Master being

A DEAD MOTOR 239

all the while his gracious companion and guide. The lastof these regions is in the highest grand division of cre-ation, the realm of pure spirit, the Home of the SupremeFather. In those far realms of glory, so immeasurablybeyond the power of human words to describe, dwellsthe Supreme Father of all. Himself formless and bound-less, an infinite ocean of love, yet he takes forms, manyforms, visible to his children, fitting himself to theirneeds, in order that he may carry out his purposes of anall-embracing love. This is the ultimate home of the soul.

Thus the Master and the Sound Current are the twovital factors in the process of spiritual redemption; infact, in all real achievement. Without them both, theindividual soul is utterly helpless and is doomed towander forever up and down the desolate planes ofshadow and pain, of struggle and death. The soul whohas not a Master is indeed poor, though he may possessall the gold of the world. Even though he may be theemperor upon whose broad domains the sun never goesdown, yet he is poorer than the lowliest coolie who has aMaster.

These points are so vital and all-important, I amgoing to try to illustrate them a little further. To do thatpermit me to use the airplane and to recite a personalexperience. In that we shall find a very apt illustration ofall three of these great truths of Sant Mat.

A dead motor over mountain rangesI used to do considerable flying. I had some airplanes

of my own and gained a little skill in flying them. On oneoccasion, I was crossing the Siskiyou mountain range innorthern California, sailing along at an altitude ofalmost two miles above sea level. Those snow-coveredsummits and deep gorges, gigantic rocks and vast

240 GIST OF SANT MAT

forests, all lay unrolling beneath me in a gorgeous pano-rama. Old Mount Shasta stood out to my left and itstwelve-thousand-foot peak I could almost have touched,if my arm had been a little longer. Here and there milesof billowy clouds crept lazily along the mountainsides,far below me, shining white in the morning sun. I wasenjoying the flight with superb delight. I felt almost as ifI were floating through the sunlit skies sustained by theeverlasting arms. There was no thought of danger tomyself. I was exultingly happy.

Then all of a sudden my motor went dead. Noamount of coaxing could restore it to action. It wasdead, hopelessly out. I looked around in every direction,but no place to land without a crash. Nothing as far as Icould see—nothing but rocks and deep gorges and denseforests. Only one thing was now certain, beyondperadventure—I must soon come down to earth. Eventhe minutes allotted to me were counted, and only mygliding angle was left—eleven times the distance I wasabove the ground; and then I must come down to earth,whether I was ready or not.

But how to make a satisfactory landing when therewas no place to land? I continued to glide and look foran opening, or as the flyers say, an 'out'. Miles went byunder me, and all the while I was slowly but inevitablydescending. The pull of gravity was as relentless as deathitself, and held its victim as surely within its grasp.Finally, far to the east, perhaps six miles, I saw a fieldand headed for it. Shortly reaching it, I circled the fieldtwice to pick out the best approach, skimmed over thetops of some trees, side-slipped her down to break thetoo-rapid landing speed, and then set her down in thatlittle field, none the worse for my dead motor.

Now, here is the point. The airplane is the human

A DEAD MOTOR 241

body. The pilot sitting in it is the soul. The motor is theMaster, and the gasoline from which all power is derivedis the Sound Current. The mountain range, with itsstony crag, with its deep cuts, vast forests and low-rolling clouds, is this earth, the realm of matter. And myhome, lying some hundred and fifty miles to the south,may represent our eternal home in Sach Khand.

Let us now make the application, so that by allweans we do not fail to get the fundamental ideas fixedin our consciousness. Presumably I was headed for myhome, but now having no power to rise, because whollydisconnected from the source of power and being utterlyunable to continue the journey, I was slowly sinkingtoward the earth. This is an exact parallel to our situa-tion spiritually. It pictures the situation of the wholeworld. Each one rises but for a moment above thehorizon of life, spends that moment wasting the smallstore of energy he has acquired in former lives, and thenslowly sinks to earth, to die and be reborn, in an endlesschain of cause and effect, called karma.

But there is one avenue of escape, and only one. If heis fortunate enough to meet a real Master, he may findthe way out. The Master, like the motor in the plane, isthe connecting link between the source of power and theindividual soul. The source of power is the Sound Cur-rent and it is in all men, like the gasoline in the tank ofthe plane; but it is latent. To us it is practically useless,because without the Master its power is not available.Just as the plane needs the motor to convert the latentpower of the gasoline into dynamic energy, so the soulmust have the Master to connect it with the Sound Cur-rent and make its power available. This the Master doeswhen he gives the soul initiation.

From that moment on, the divine energy is available,

242 GIST OF SANT MAT

whereas before it was latent and useless to the individual.As the plane begins to rise the moment the power of themotor is applied, so the soul begins to rise the momenthe is connected with the Sound Current by the Master.But the man without a Master is exactly like the airplanewithout a motor. The utmost that he can do is to glide,and that for only a limited time. Most of the human raceare simply gliders, momentary gliders, drifters. Nothingmore. They have no independent motive power by whichto rise.

Now, the pilot in a motorless plane may have all thetechnical knowledge in the world. He may know how tobuild airplanes. He may be a master of all the sciences.Yet as he sits there in that motorless plane, all he can dois glide a little way. Precisely the situation in which allmen without a Master find themselves, no matter howwise and learned they may be. Search the hearts of thewisest and best of men, and ask them if they have powerto do as they please. They will tell you that they areheljpless gliders, with power only to modify their glidinga little.

In like manner, a man may have all the book learningin the world. He may have all the sciences of the world athis command. He may be able to quote verbatim everyline of the Vedas, the Shastras, the Koran and theBible—all of the sacred hymns and bibles of the world.But that knowledge will never enable him to overcomethe downward pull of earth's influences. Knowledge cansave no one from 'chaurasi da chakar'—the inevitablewheel of birth and death, called the 'wheel of eighty-four'. Only dynamic power can do that, and dynamicpower is not inherent in knowledge itself.

Also the pilot may be a model of moral perfection.He may be the most rigid of purists, the most punctilious

A DEAD MOTOR 243

of all in observing every moral precept, and he mayspend all his days in prayers; yet sitting there in thatmotorless plane, he is as helpless as the boldest scoun-drel. So the man of moral perfection is likewise helplesswhen it comes to rising against the downward pull ofearth's dominant forces which lead him ultimately todeath and rebirth. Without the Master, he also ishelpless.

Again, the pilot may have all of the training and skillof a Lindberg; he may be the most efficient and keenlyintellectual pilot that ever sat in a plane; and yet withoutthe power of the motor, he must come down to earth.The utmost that he can hope to do is to glide for a littleseason, and if he has favorable winds, he may stay up alittle longer than the other fellow who has less favorablewinds, and less skill. But the winds of fortune blow notin the favor of all men.

In the same way, a man may have attained the veryacme of human culture. He may be a marvel of erudi-tion. He may be the very flower of earth's superrefine-ment. He may contain within himself the combinedmastership of all the fine arts. He may speak everyknown language. In a word, he may have reached thesummit of all possible human culture and achievement;and yet all of that will never lift him above the down-ward pull of those currents which are an integral part ofthis earth life. With all of his erudition and culture, theutmost that he can hope to,do, like the pilot in themotorless plane, is to drift along a little above the darkstreams of earth's more sordid conditions, and with thefavorable winds of good fortune, he may glide on for atime; and at last all that his culture can do for him is helphim pick out a more favorable landing from which tobegin his next venture.

244 GIST OF SANT MAT

But the landing he must take. He has no choice. Hehas no independent power to ascend the skies and go onto his real home. He must return to earth and begin hisstruggle all over again. The wheel of birth and deathmust roll on forever, and he must pass under it. He ishopelessly bound to these regions of mind and matter, ofpain and struggle. But the soul who has the help of aMaster, and he alone, has the power to rise and freehimself, to shake off the dust of earth forever and mountto his eternal home.

From this illustration, it would appear that it doesnot lie in the power of any human being, high or low,ignorant or cultured, vile or saintly, to free himself fromthe bonds of earth and rise into the regions of Light. Andthat is exactly what all of the Saints teach. It is a fact ofexperience, not a theory, and it is fundamental in theirsystem.

The final triumphBut suppose while that airplane is gliding along over

the mountains, slowly descending for the inevitable land-ing, suppose that the motor suddenly springs to lifeagain. Once more the power is applied to the propeller,and the throb of life is again felt through every wire andrib, to the tips of her wings. We begin to rise. Oh, theglory of it! Only those who have had the experience mayever know what joy the pilot feels when he hears againthe blessed hum of that motor and feels his ship begin toclimb once more.The earth drops away beneath him andhe triumphantly ascends the shining path of the skies.The old earth may now pull all she pleases but there is apower within, which is able to overcome the downwarddrag. So he climbs higher and higher, breathing thepurer air of those upper regions until at last he beholds

THE FINAL TRIUMPH 245

his home on the distant horizon.Just so is the joy of him who begins to hear the sweet

sounds of the divine Current within, when he feels a newpower throbbing through every fiber of his being. He isnow conscious of rising above all downward tendencies,thrilled with a sense of well-being which he never knewbefore. His real Home, in the land of pure Spirit, is evennow on the horizon, and soon his feet will step upon itsgolden sands.

BOOKS ON THIS SCIENCE

SWAMI Jl MAHARAJ

1. Sar Bachan

BABA JAIMAL SINGH

2. Spiritual Letters (to Huzur Maharaj Sawan Singh: 1896-1903)

HUZUR MAHARAJ SAWAN SINGH

3. Discourses on Sant Mat4. Philosophy of the Masters (Gurmat Sidhant), 5 vols. (an

encyclopedia on the teachings of the Saints)5. My Submission (reprint of introduction to Philosophy of

the Masters)6. Philosophy of the Masters (abridged)7. Tales of the Mystic East (as narrated in satsangs)8. Spiritual Gems (dialogues and letters: 1919-1948)

SARDAR BAHADUR JAGAT SINGH MAHARAJ

9. The Science of the Soul (discourses, dialogues and letters:1948-1951)

MAHARAJ CHARAN SINGH

10. Die to Live (answers to questions on meditation)11. Divine Light (discourses and letters: 1959-1964)12. The Path (reprint of first part of Divine Light)13. Light on Saint Matthew14. Light on Sant Mat (discourses and letters: 1952-1958)15. Quest for Light (letters: 1965-1971)16. Saint John, the Great Mystic17. Spiritual Discourses18. Spiritual Heritage19. The Master Answers (to audiences in America: 1964)20. Thus Saith the Master (to audiences in America: 1970)21. Truth Eternal (a discourse)

BOOKS ABOUT THESE MASTERS

1. Call of the Great Master—Diwan Daryai Lai Kapur2. The Living Master—Katherine Wason3. With a Great Master in India—Dr. Julian P. Johnson4. With the Three Masters, 3 vols.—from the diary of

Rai Sahib Munshi Ram

BOOKS ON THIS SCIENCE

BOOKS ON SANT MAT IN GENERAL

1. In Search of the Way—Flora E. Wood2. Liberation of the Soul—J. Stanley White, Ph.D.3. Message Divine—Shanti Sethi4. Mysticism, the SpiritualPath,2vols.—Prof. Lekh Raj Puri5. Radha Soami Teachings—Prof. Lekh Raj Puri6. Ringing Radiance—Sir Colin Garbett7. Teachings of the Gurus (as given in Adi Granth Sahib)—

Prof. Lekh Raj Puri8. The Inner Voice—Colonel C.W. Sanders9. Mystic Bible—Dr. Randolph Stone

10. The Mystic Philosophy of Sant Mat—Peter Fripp11. The Path of the Masters—Dr. Julian P. Johnson12. Sant Mat and the Bible—Narain Das13. Yoga and the Bible—Joseph Leeming14. Kabir, the Great Mystic—Isaac A. Ezekiel15. Saint Paltu—Isaac A. Ezekiel16. Sarmad, Jewish Saint of India—Isaac A. Ezekiel17. A Soul's Safari—Netta Pfeifer

MYSTICS OF THE EAST SERIES

1. Saint Namdev, His Life and Teachings—J.R. Puri andV.K. Sethi

2. Tulsi Sahib. Saint ofHathras—J.R. Puri and V.K. Sethi3. Tukaram, Saint of Maharashtra—C. Rajwade4. Dadu, the Compassionate Mystic—K.N. Upadhyaya, Ph.D.5. Mira, the Divine Lover—V.K. Sethi6. GuruRavidas, Life and Teachings—K.N. Upadhyaya,Ph.D.7. Guru Nanak, His Mystic Teachings—J.R. Puri