Handout 3: Sahaj Marg and Science

(Taken from Principles of Sahaj Marg Set I, Pages 123-129.)

Master has been saying for the last few days that Sahaj Marg should be correctly understood and practised not only by our generation of abhyasis but also by future generations to come. Master is more concerned about the future generations of abhyasis. As far as the present generation is concerned, there is personal contact between the Master and his abhyasis. Because we have this advantage of direct personal contact with the Master, we have to consider ourselves as trustees of the system, holding it in trust for future generations to come. Master is, therefore, anxious that the present generation of abhyasis, that is all of us, should practise this system exactly as it is taught and prescribed; understand the Sahaj Marg system precisely as it should be understood; and thus preserve for our children, and for the children of our children, and their children, this unique system-this absolutely only system of attaining Reality which we have the privilege of having received direct from our Master.

So we have a double responsibility. It operates in two ways. We have to achieve the goal for ourselves, in our own lifetime; and we have to make the achievement of this same goal possible for future generations of mankind. That is, we have to consider ourselves as plants which not only produce grain or fruit for immediate consumption, but which also produce great quantities of seeds for planting acres and acres of the same crop for the future, again and again.

Master has emphasized in his message yesterday, that there is only one way; that there is only one goal; and that there is only one Master to lead us to that goal. Most of us have understood the fact that there is only one Master because we have physical contact with him, and it is patent that there is only one Shri Ram Chandraji of Shahjahanpur. It is, therefore, fairly easy for us to appreciate that physically there is only one Master. Still, sometimes, we tend to forget that the spiritual Master is also only one. We make the mistake of bringing in other sources of knowledge; other systems of practice; other systems of theology, etc., and thus dilute, and possibly entirely corrupt, our system. It is important to understand that though there may have been past Masters and past systems, they are not in the present and, therefore, are of no concern to us. Out of curiosity we may study their literature, etc., but if we practise any of those systems, the result can possibly be disastrous. It has specifically been stated that at any moment of time there can only be one such Master, not only here but in the whole universe. If we accept this statement, it follows that our Master is the only Master for the whole universe, in this particular epoch at least. It follows automatically that his way is the only way. It follows as a third point that his goal is our only goal. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that at any time there is only one Master, one goal and one way!

During our travels there has been much speculation as to whether there can be scientific approaches to Sahaj Marg. Science may have been a single discipline centuries ago; but today it is a hodgepodge, a mixture of multifarious disciplines, that goes by the name of science. All these disciplines have developed fantastically during the past fifty years or so. We have had intellectual giants who have penetrated into the mysteries of nature and of the universe in various disciplines. We have had great minds in the field of geology as also the biological and botanical sciences, all trying to penetrate into the secrets of the physical universe. We have had geniuses trying to probe beyond, far beyond, into the outer reaches of the universe-the astronomers! Quite recently some have tried to penetrate into the very heart of matter itself. These achievements in the material sphere are recorded and available to posterity; but in such records there is no mention of any spiritual achievements by these men of great genius that the past and the present generations have produced. We have also had the world of art-great painters, great sculptors-and if I have read their biographies correctly, many of them have led miserable existences, and have had no less miserable ends to their lives.

The field of scientific and artistic endeavour is one of gravity. The physical gravity of this earth holds us down here inexorably. There are other gravities equally dangerous. There are theologies and philosophies which similarly tend to hold us down, and prevent our rise to our spiritual goal. Please do not imagine for one moment that I am trying to decry even the smallest of the achievements in the fields of science, art, and philosophy. I have had some small familiarity with these disciplines, sufficient to give me an appreciation of the tremendous and truly magnificent achievements that human beings have made in these disciplines. At the same time, I have to say that I have not found anything of spiritual value in them. It is only during the last sixteen years of my association with my Master that I have been taught what spirituality is. Before I came to my Master, I had also practised very sincerely for some years, the various steps of hatha yoga - asanas, pranayama, mantra, meditation, etc. - but I only succeeded in making a psychic mess of my life. But for my Master's grace, I could very well have ended up in a mental home. It is his grace that he was able to extricate me from the shackles of my own foolish adventures into those dangerous fields.

It is my conclusion that no amount of research into the field of material science, whatever be the discipline, can ever lead one to spirituality. If somehow we can understand this, and we accept it in our understanding, then we are able to practise our system with this understanding embedded in us; then our acceptance of the Master and his method will be complete.

So I would request all of you not only to understand this properly, but to carry this understanding with you wherever you go. It is the duty, the most important duty, of our preceptors to see that this system is not diluted in any manner. If an abhyasi plays around with it, experimenting with it, well, he is jeopardizing only his personal spiritual welfare and his future. But if a preceptor plays about with the system, he plays not only with his own spiritual future but with the future of all the abhyasis given to his charge. Preceptors are, in a very real way, the link between the Master and his abhyasis. Please note that I say his abhyasis. The abhyasis are his, not ours! This link is a very important link, because it must not interfere in any way with the transmission of Master's teachings and with the transmission of Master's transmission. Nor must there be any interference in the possibility of achieving the goal which Master offers to his abhyasis. In accepting his own responsibility for the spiritual welfare of humanity, Master has taken upon himself tremendous burdens which we cannot even dream of. From the message he has given to us at Delhi, it is clear that preceptors have done very little to assist him in his work. Perhaps there is very little that they can do to assist him. But when we study what has been going on all around us, indeed is yet going on all around us-the dilution sought to be made in the system; the changes sought to be introduced; the teachings sought to be excluded on this or that consideration-it is very clear that much can be done by us to hamper his work and impede our own progress. It seems that our power to stop progress is much greater than our power to promote progress. I have always been concerned that the power to spread evil, the power to spread disease, the power to spread ignorance, this power seems to be so much more powerful than the power to do good. I asked Master about this once. Master smiled and said, "There is no such power, I mean evil power or power to do bad things. Our power acts in such ways because of the tendencies which guide the use of these powers. The tendencies are nothing but the working of our samskaras. It is, therefore, our own creation." This emphasizes the necessity for our own cleaning, both by ourselves in our daily routine as well as in cleaning sessions with preceptors.

We can understand very clearly that our grossness consists not merely of the impressions of past actions and past thoughts, but also of present actions and present thoughts; and much more importantly by the attachments we create for ourselves. I see that an engineer is only an engineer; a scientist is only a scientist; a psychologist is only a psychologist, and so on. These are also grossnesses. To put it very clearly in Master's own words, so long as we are not what we ought to be, there is always grossness. In Sahaj Marg the grossness of an engineer is no better than that of a chemist! The grossness of one who discharges his duties in a merely worldly sense is no better than the grossness of one who fails in his duties and obligations. Grossness is grossness. There is no such thing as good grossness and bad grossness. The nature of the grossness may decide the nature of our futures. But in Sahaj Marg, the true future is the futureless future! Social and educational conditioning makes us think that one who is educated is better than one who is not educated; that one who is higher up on the social ladder is therefore better than his social inferior. This makes us look up to educated people, cultured people, socially higher people as better people than those to whom these things have been denied. In Sahaj Marg, there is no such difference because every individual human being is a potential realiser of Reality. Master told me fourteen years ago, that it is easier for him to liberate a simple, uneducated person than a highly intellectual person, because the intellectual person has created for himself so many blocks.

Intellectuality demands research. We all do research in one way or the other. But the only correct way of research in spirituality is Master's way of research. Master often emphasizes this. In Sahaj Marg after one has achieved high stages of achievement, research is possible. Now the abhyasi knows what he has achieved, how it has been achieved, and so on. So he can do research. This is impossible at the lower levels. Master emphasizes this often.

In considering research, it is easy to make the mistake that experimentation will teach us everything. This is wrong. Master says that everything has its origin in the mind of the human being. We think; we brood deeply over what interests us, and then arrive at certain theories. Theories come first. It was by using his tremendous mental powers that Einstein evolved his brilliant theories of general and special relativity. Subsequent experimentation confirmed the truth and applicability of these theories. The experiments came after the theories had been formulated. Whatever be the nature of our achievement, they always originate in the mind. This is true whatever be the field of achievement. It is true of the arts as much as of the sciences, and no less true of spirituality. In fact in spirituality it is of paramount importance to realise this. It is wrong to think that the scientists are achieving what they achieve in a way different from achievements in spirituality. Both the scientist and the Sahaj Marg abhyasi work with the same instrument-the mind. The only difference is that the mind is turned towards a different field of endeavour. There is no difference between a road which goes from here to Frankfurt and a road which goes from here to Vienna. The difference is only in the direction one takes. If you think of the mind as a road, only the direction determines the destination or the goal we reach. It all depends on the direction.

It is for this reason that our Master has said that there is only one instrument available to us, whether it be for our annihilation or for our evolution to the Highest, and that is the mind. The mind is the sole instrument available to us. Master smiles and adds that liberation, realisation, all these things are so easy to achieve. "Just turn your mind from this to that," he says, "that is all that is necessary for this purpose." But from the way we are all struggling, it appears that it is not so easy. Why? Because we refuse to give up our attachments to our own personal ideas and disciplines. A doctor feels that he has spent so much money on educating himself to be a doctor. Another thinks that he has spent so many years working as an engineer. "How to give up all this?" is what they ask. Some people also ask, "Why cannot I accept Sahaj Marg and also hold on to all those other things?" Master says, "Well, I am telling you, if the powers of the mind are divided into many channels, no channel will get the full power. In each channel there will only flow a fraction of the power. So success cannot come, I mean complete success, in any of these fields. So what is the use? Select one and stick to that one. That may be anything, but it must be only one." This is the way of wisdom taught to me by my Master.

I am not at all suggesting that a Sahaj Marg abhyasi should not be an engineer, or a doctor or an artist. It is necessary for us to earn an honest living. However, the idea, the belief, that we can reach the goal through these scientific or artistic disciplines, that idea must definitely be given up. If our attachment to these material fields is given up, then, in a sense, our work in these fields becomes automatic. Master gives us the example of a sleeping person scratching himself without being aware either of the stimulus or of the response to it. A great advantage of this is that the idea of 'doer' is removed. One cannot say, "I did it," when we are not aware of having done it. Only requisite effort is used. There is no unnecessary waste of effort. Living adjusts itself. Sufficient energy is devoted to earning one's livelihood. One does not get obsessed with being a doctor, or an engineer or an intellectual. They fall into place in the overall scheme of things. To use Master's excellent example, we no longer use a crane to pick up a fallen needle! So we see that the canalization of the powers of the mind is of the utmost importance. The giving of a proper direction to the powers so canalized is of paramount importance. If these two are done, then the goal is at hand.

Thank you.