The four aspects of the spiritual experience

A mystic saint of India, St Brahmanand, has beautifully described the four aspects of the spiritual experience in one of his hymns:

“O saints! I have seen a great miracle. I have seen a bell, a conch and a drum creating music without being played. A deaf man hears this sound and, in ecstasy, totally forgets himself.

'A blind man sees light where there is no sun and there is a palace, without foundations, shimmering with Light. The wonder is that a blind man relates everything in detail.

'There is a well of Nectar in the middle of the sky. A lame man climbs there without a ladder and drinks that ever-flowing Nectar to his heart's content.

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Truth shines

The all-embracing unity of Cosmic Consciousness expresses itself unceasingly within and without. Truth shines in all its splendour with its four facets, the aspects of spiritual insight. Knowledge is knowing, practising and experiencing this. Realisation is the flowering of consciousness. Love manifests these aspects of Divinity, and the more they are manifested, the more love surges in the human heart. In this process, perfect love manifests itself and God becomes the love, the light and the joy of the devotee.
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Mother of yogis

Divine Ambrosia, or 'living water', 'soma of the gods', the 'Nectar of Immortality' are some of the words used to denote the endless, ever-flowing 'divine wine' within us. No artificially-induced intoxication can possibly compare with the bliss and ecstasy which this inner Nectar gives. St Brahmanand called it the “mother of yogis..which takes a person across the ocean of mortality.” Jesus Christ told the Samaritan woman, “Whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life.” The priests today not seems to be aware of this well of living water, but the early Christian saints did. St Augustine said, “My soul...tastes food that is never consumed by the eating.”
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St Kabir said

Music is divine. God is the expression of the highest harmony and melody, which resonates in the form of music. This is self-generating 'unstruck' music, which resonates in man when consciousness reverts back to pure consciousness. St Kabir said, “The whole sky is filled with sound, and that music is played without fingers and without strings. The middle region of the sky, wherein the spirit dwells, is radiant with the music of Light.” St Augustine also said, “My soul listens to sound that never dies away.”
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Gayatri Mantra

One of the most famous mantras in the Vedas is the Gayatri Mantra, which says “O God, the all-permeating, the all-sustaining Energy, You are self-effulgent Light. I pray that You withdraw my mind from all directions and focus it on Your radiant Form”. Lord Krishna told his disciple Arjuna, “You cannot see My true form with these eyes. I will give you the Divine Eye of Knowledge.” Through the 'third eye', or 'eye of Knowledge' this Light can be seen. Jesus Christ said, “If your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light.” To open the third eye, a living Master is essential.
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Light upon light

The scriptures also describe the form of God as pure and perfect Light. In the Koran it is said, “Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth. His light shines as a candle in a niche, although no flame has touched it. Light upon light!” Lord Buddha called it “Amitabha, the unbounded Light, the source of wisdom.” St Augustine described it thus, “With the eye of my soul I saw the light that never changes. It was above me because it was itself the light that made me. What I saw was quite, quite different from any light we know on earth.”
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Yoga of mental equilibrium

In Genesis we read, “God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.” The difference between a living body and a corpse is the difference of the Word. In the living body, the Word is circulating in the form of the life breath, while in the dead person it has demanifested. So real meditation is actually tuning into the life-breath and resonating with it. Tuning into the constant vibration of the Word makes the flow of energy natural and spontaneous within man. This is called in the Gita the 'yoga of mental equilibrium'. Lao Tzu said the same thing: “Continuous return to the root is called repose. The activity of everlasting Tao is in the inner kingdom. To possess inner life we enter by our own private doorway.”
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Guru Nanak

The Vedas describe the Word thus, “God was certainly alone before this universe. The Word certainly was His only possession. He then desired, 'Let Me emit this very Word. It will pervade the whole of space'. It rose upwards and spread as a continuous stream of life.”. Guru Nanak said, “With his one Word, in the cosmic reality of Creation with its vast expanse, the rivers of life burst forth.”
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The Masters

The Masters who had the direct living experience of God claim, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Here, Word does not refer to an alphabetical word, because all languages came into existence after the Creation. St John is referring to the Primordial Vibration that is the First Cause of creation. All vibrations are emitted by the Word and ultimately merge in it. This is the real Name of God. All other names used to describe God are not the real name as they are not all-permeating. As Lao Tzu said, “The name which can be named is not the real Name. The Tao which can be expressed is not the everlasting Tao.” Psalm 33 says, “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.”
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Spiritual Knowledge

Initiation into Knowledge gives us access to the four facets of Divine Energy – the Holy Word, Divine Light, Celestial Music and Nectar. We can know God through them. These four aspects are like the petals of a flower. Only a flower in bloom emits fragrance. Similarly, it is only through the manifestations of these aspects of the Divine that the full splendour of God is experienced and salvation attained. God unmanifest is like a bud – It is the potential energy hidden in every particle in the universe. When this potential energy becomes kinetic and manifests itself, it takes the form of the Word, the Light, the Music and the Nectar. When scientists split the atom, the potential energy in the atom expresses itself as blinding light, a tremendous sound, intense heat and powerful radiation. This indicates that the universe is a mass of energy. The greatest wonder of all is that everything is charged with energy but no one knows from where it comes. Science can observe and classify any expression of this energy in Nature, but it can't observe its origin. Spiritual Knowledge, on the other hand, gives a direct experience of this energy in its perfect and purest form – it can unite the Self with its Source.

The Kingdom of Heaven is within you

The sacred and revealed books of all times and civilisations glorify this Knowledge. They place man at the pinnacle of creation, because human beings can reach the plane of absolute Truth, Consciousness and Bliss and thus realise the ultimate Reality. Lord Buddha said, “There is a state where there is neither earth nor water, nor heat, nor air...neither infinity of space...it is without stability, without change. Here is the cessation of sorrow.” Jesus Christ was describing this state when he said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you” and, “Don't you know that you are the temples of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
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Universal Self

The Self in each one of us and the Universal Self are one in essence. Once the living links with God are revived and the channel opened, man regains God-consciousness. Spiritual Knowledge doesn't refer to information acquired via the senses or from books, but to the knowledge which is revealed from within, to the revelation and wisdom emanating from the depths of the inner Self.
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spirituality is the nectar

We see suspicion and prejudice everywhere and only spirituality can eradicate it. A bee visits different kinds of flowers and extracts their nectar, from which it makes honey. In the same way, spirituality is the nectar, the essence of all religions. Putting it into practice in our own lives and propagating it is the true religion of mankind. This is the ‘manav dharam’ described by all saints and scriptures since time immemorial.
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Dharma

Dharma (Religion) has been and will be around as long as human beings exist, because it is our true nature; it is the essence of what we really are. Experiencing the soul, which is our true form and following the path of self-realisation and let it manifest in our life is ‘manav dharam’, the true Dharma, the true religion.
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God is one

He sees all human beings alike. God is one and the same for all humanity, for all Hindus, for all Muslims, for all Buddhists, for all Christian brothers and sisters. The same earth, sun, water and air are there for everyone. The same power of God makes us all breathe, so the knowledge of that divine power must be one and the same for us all. The religion which is the same for all of us is ‘manav dharma’, which does not build up walls of caste and creed. So, we promote ‘manav dharma’ because it transcends the limitations of caste, creed and religion.
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Our objective

Our objective is to promote spirituality, which is the basis of all religions. It is the essence of everything. If religion is a story, spirituality (the experience of spirit) is its gist; if religion is a flower then spirituality is its fragrance. A flower has dimensions but its fragrance is dimensionless. When a person has the spiritual experience he no longer differentiates between people – all he sees is spirit. He rises above the dimensions of so-called religions and loves all mankind. He sees no difference in an ant, a dog, an elephant or a human being.
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Wars

Wars have been fought for many reasons and religion is one of them. To bring an end to all this there have been great souls who came into this world to break the shackles of religion, who swept aside the narrow-mindedness and taught in such a way that it enhanced the feelings of universal love within people.
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We all want brotherly love

We all want brotherly love, we all want peace and stability in our communities, we want to have unity, but what we actually see is mankind running in the other direction. Instead of oneness there is division, there is fighting everywhere, mankind suffers dreadfully from the disease of rivalry, consumed by the flames of envy and hate. Mankind has abandoned the power of love. In such disastrous times when people are crying out for help, there is a great need of ‘manav dharma’. So we hold programs (Manav Dharam Sammelans and Sadbhawana Sammelans) all over India and abroad, so that people may learn to love each other again, experience their inborn and natural dharma and become harbingers of love, peace and unity.
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Nowadays many religious

Nowadays many religious ideas are being spread but the need of the hour is for the religion which will unite us, not divide us. In this day and age we need something like a spiritual revolution, a religion which can encompass all human beings; a power which can combine and unify all the various beliefs. We need a unifying factor which can thread all the flowers of different sects and religions into a single garland and with this in mind we organise Manav Dharam Sammelans (spiritual conferences) all over India. Spiritual programs are held overseas as well.
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Satsang

We have to know that human religion which was part of us even before we were born and will remain so even after we leave this world. Our various rites and rituals performed after death are limited to the grave or the crematorium, but what is that religion which goes with us beyond the grave? That is man’s true religion, which we call ‘manav dharma’ (human religion). So religion is not merely a pastime, it is not merely a set of social rules and customs. It is to know the way, the truth of where we came from and where we will go and also our true compostion.
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Satsang

After Lord Buddha’s departure, we started believing in Buddhism. After Mahavir Swami we believed in Jainism. After Lord Rama and Lord Krishna we called ourselves Hindus. After Jesus Christ we became followers of Christianity. Since the time of Guru Nanak and the other Gurus we believed in Sikhism. But what religion existed before all these Masters? Before Christ, Buddha, Rama, Krishna, Mahavir and Mohammed came along, what religion did people believe in? We should know that eternal religion which has existed since time immemorial and will continue to exist even after the end of this world.
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Satsang

self-realisation is the soul of dharma. It is the basis of all religions; it is religion in its purest form. By bringing it into our lives we are not only evolving ourselves, but helping the human race to evolve. That is the true religion of mankind, and that is manav dharma. Nowadays, we have restricted ourselves, we have encased ourselves in the walls of religions and call ourselves Muslims, Christians, Sikhs or Buddhists, but before being Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, etc. we are human beings. So what is the religion of all human beings, what is “human religion” (manav dharma)? This is what we must consider and understand.
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What is Manav Dharam

Dharma is the practical experience of God. When a dumb man tastes candy, he experiences its sweetness, but he is incapable of describing it. Similarly, someone who has the divine experience forgets himself totally and is silent – this state of silence is ‘dharma’. So, dharma is the experience of the Self which is within each one of us. Swami Vivekananda said, “Religion means realisation”. When people preserve this experience in their lives, it is dharma. In other words, dharma is not book-knowledge but the practical experience of the Self and this experience is called atma-gyan or self-realisation. Real dharma is self-realisation.
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Satsang

Unless you have devotion for the Spiritual Master who is here in human form, you can't understand devotion to the Formless. So, search for the present Master and receive the spiritual knowledge by which you can evolve yourself and get enlightened.
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Satsang

First you have to discover how to target the mind. You must know the subject of meditation – only then can you meditate. The mind remains disturbed because you are not settled in meditation. When we go to Shillong or Darjeeling we see a lot of natural and picturesque places. But we get saturated even there after a couple of days and we go away. So, none of these worldly items can satisfy and give peace to us. The source of peace is right within us. Mind is also within us and the target is also within - you are only required to take shelter in the Spiritual Master to know it. You want a living friend or a living husband. Yet when it comes to God you say God is formless but you try to meditate on it. You say that, but even so you take help from pictures and statues of the Lord.
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THE FIRST STEP IN DEVOTION IS SATSANG

During his period of exile, Lord Rama, the ideal great soul, came one day to
Bhilni's ashram. He could see her love and reverence and so he taught her the nine steps of devotion and said, “ Mam darshan phal param anoopa, jeev paye nij sahaj swaroopa ”: “The ultimate reward of seeing me is that a person easily achieves self-realisation.” People create God with their own hands and they see God with their human eyes, whereas Lord Krishna says in verse 8, chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita, “ Na tu mam shakyase drastumnenaiv swachakshusha. Divyam dadami te chakshuh pashya me yogeshwaram. ” “Arjuna, You cannot see Me, as I really am, with your human eyes, so I grant you the divine vision by which you will be able to see my yogic might”.

St. Tulsidas writes in the Ramayana,“ Ghat me hai soojhe nahi, lanat aisi jind. Tulsi ya sansar ko, bhayo motiabind. ” “It is a shame that people do not see the life force within circulating in the heart. St.Tulsidas says that the whole world is suffering from cataracts”. If one is suffering from a cataract, his eye must be operated upon and treated to remove the cataract. Doctors can operate and treat the diseased physical eyes but, for treatment of cataracts which have grown across the inner vision, saints are required because only they can treat it. Unless one's inner vision is opened, he cannot have a glimpse of God, who is within. So, genuine seekers of Truth should serve true saints with sincerity, love and reverence and should please them. Only such aspirants can get Spiritual Knowledge. Those who do not possess deep love and reverence for the Master cannot love God. To reach God without spiritual Master is impossible. The love has to be indivisible and continuous. Devotion to the Master and desire for worldly things are opposite to each other. They cannot coexist. If one is estranged from the Master, he will have desires for worldly things and vice-versa. So, it is said, “ Guru bhakti ati kathin hai, jyon khande ki dhar. Hale dole kat mare, nishchal utre par .” “Devotion to the master is very difficult. It is like sharp edge of a sword. Those who are indecisive drop away and only a devotee with strong determination can succeed in the path of devotion.”
This body will be abandoned one day and all the material wealth which a man craves for and for which he ignores the Master will also be left behind. Salvation is possible only when one does service. We always remember the one we serve. A man is called a devotee of whatever he always remembers. If a person invests his resources in serving his master, then he will always remember the Master. Someone who puts all his energy and time into serving family and friends cannot remember the Master. Only they will remember the master, who are dedicated and are ever eager to serve Him. Those who tread the path as instructed by the Master will always remember Him and only such people will experience the real joy of meditation. So, saints say, “ Guru jo base Banarsi, Shishya samundar teer. Ek palak bisre nahin, jo guna hoy sharir .” True disciples do not neglect the Name even for a moment, even though they may be thousands of miles away from the Master.

Once Lord Vishnu was resting on the bed of Primordial Power (‘ Sheshnag '). Goddess Lakshmi, seeing the Lord's eyes closed, asked, “My Lord, are you sleeping?” The Lord replied, “No, I am meditating.” Mother Lakshmi exclaimed, “The whole world meditates on you. But on whom do you meditate?” The Lord said, “I meditate upon my devotees. Like a mother, who keeps an eye on her children lest they get burned by fire or bitten by a snake, I keep my eyes on my devotees and protect them from any bad actions. A cow does not allow anyone to go near her newborn calf and, likewise, I protect my devotees lest anyone harm them. This whole world has been created by me, I nurture all beings. Nobody is either my foe nor dear to me, but I tell you, whoever troubles my devotee, is my foe. At that time even heaven means nothing to me. I run, leaving even you, to save my devotees from trouble and to destroy the one who torments them.” Those who remember the Holy Name of God, serve the saints and the Spiritual Master, are remembered by God. There is a story in the Srimad Bhagvat that once the king of elephants, accompanied with ten thousand other elephants, went into a river to drink water. Suddenly an evil demon grabbed the elephant king's legs and started pulling him underwater. All ten thousand elephants pulled together to free their king from the demon's clutches but even so the demon dragged the king towards the deep current in the middle of the river. Ultimately, when all the elephants got tired, they abandoned their king. The king elephant thought to himself that, at such a critical time, all of them had deserted him and none was able to help him. The king and the demon fought for a long time but finally the king lost the fight. Just as he was about to drown, he prayed, “O Lord of Creation, the omnipresent, the knower of all hearts, please save me.” When He is called from the inner core of the heart, then God does not take any time at all to come to the rescue, because He is already aware of each and everyone's mind. When the Lord heard the grief-stricken call of the elephant king, He immediately killed the demon with His ‘ Sudarshan charka ' (wheel of light) and saved the elephant from drowning. It means that whenever a devotee calls sincerely from the depths of his heart, God definitely protects him. Devotion is both easy and difficult. When divine vision is opened within, all the miseries of the world disappear like night. A person can get hurt in the dark, whereas in daylight he can protect himself from injury. Similarly, one becomes sad and miserable due to ignorance. When he gets Spiritual Knowledge and meditates regularly, he is liberated from all worldly pain and misery, but this Knowledge can be acquired only from the Spiritual Master and none else. Someone who does not put effort in the service of Guru Maharaj Ji and does not see him even once a year, cannot reach the Master even in a dream, what to talk of seeing him in meditation. It is written in the Bhagwatam, “ Dhyan moolam Guru murti Pooja moolam Guru Paduka. Mantra moolam Guru Vakyam, moksha moolam Guru kripa ”: Meditation begins with seeing the Master, worship begins at his feet, his words are the root of all mantras and salvation comes from his blessings and grace. Nowadays people want to grab blessings forcibly. Blessings are not something verbal. When the soul is pleased, blessings come automatically. The Spiritual Master is none but God in human form who wipes out all sins, meaning that He eradicates our ignorance. Ignorance is the root cause of all sins. When there is no ignorance, the question of sin doesn't arise. So, have true love for the Master. The Master wants nothing from you - rather He wants to give. The Master wants you to possess true love. Even in the marketplace, things are sold at different rates ( bhaw ), then how can one expect to acquire Knowledge and blessings from the Master without any true love and feeling ( bhaw )? When you have the same love for the Master as you have for God, then the Master's Knowledge yields fruit. www.manavdharam.org

Satsang

As oil is hidden in mustard seeds, or fire is hidden in flint, that element is hidden within us - know that. How will you know? You have to find the living Master. If you will go to a living doctor, ruler and Spiritual Master, you will be benefited. If you don't, you won't get anything. A man will experience peace only when his heart is clean. Your heart will be cleaned by remembering the primordial Name of God and your inner vision will open up. Unless you see your inner Self, you can't get peace. You can fill your home with abundant wealth, but still you can't get peace.  So first, learn how to meditate, then do meditation. Believe in action, do not believe in lengthy lectures.
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Satsang

King Ashoka, who wanted only to kill others, was transformed by a Buddhist monk. Lord Buddha, whose name was Siddhartha, was the son of a king. He also could not find satisfaction in royal luxury. He saw the grief behind the riches, so abandoned his kingdom and got Spiritual Knowledge. You also are human, so do not lose your Self in this world. Everything is within you, but you have to know it. Nanakdev Ji says-“Jago re jin jagana, ab jagan di bar. Phir kya jage Nanaka, jab sowe panw pasar .” How will you know after you die? Everyone has to go one day but this net of attachment is such that a man is not able to extricate himself from it. Our condition is like the spider who weaves her web and ends her life in it. Due to attachment to worldly objects we have strayed far from God. He is near, but we wander here and there due to ignorance.
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Satsang

 saints impart to us the practical experience of the inner Name and Form of God. But since people do not understand the secret of the true saint, they stay unhappy.
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Satsang

 The person who does not realise God is bereft of true happiness and bliss; he also does not know what devotion really is. Lasting happiness and bliss cannot be experienced without devotion to God.
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Satsang

 A spiritual person knows that this human body is acquired with great luck. Even gods and goddesses desire this body so that they can work for liberation.
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Satsang

In the Almighty's creation, somewhere there are high mountains and somewhere else it is all flat, but there is always something lacking. A person tries to fill this gap but it is not filled up. Our saints always inspire us to uplift ourselves even though living in want.
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