Real Man

The topic of the seminar "If we are in the hands of a real master, all the things for 'man to be called man' gradually come out of themselves" is very important for any person who seeks to find a solution to the problem of life. It may be noted that we are considering the problem of life and not living. Prima facie this sentence would be appearing to provide an easy solution to the problem and once we are in the hands of a real master nothing need be done by us and every activity aimed towards the solution of the problem of our life would automatically follow. As persons treading the path we know that would be a simplistic way of looking at the issue. Before examining this aspect of sadhana let us focus on certain important points in the message.

Master in this statement brings into focus two pregnant concepts in his system of modified Rajayoga.1. 'Man to be called man' (real man) and 2. 'Real master'.

He clarifies about the real man as "A man can be real man only when his eye is diverted towards his inner self. Therein lies the real quest for Reality. One who adheres to it establishes his footing in the sphere from which everything descended by itself. In other words he connects his link with the main source. The only thing which remains then is its expansion for which the prescribed abhyas is sufficient."1

Master states that "It is commonly believed that God created man in His own image. All the religions, philosophies and sciences of the world are unanimous on this point. It does not mean that the physical form of God is the same as that of man, with the human body made of flesh, bones, skin, etc., possessing arms, legs and other limbs. It really means that a man possesses, or is composed of, all the powers, forces and energy which are present in Nature in the same order."2

If God has created all of us what more has to be done? Are we created incomplete? Perfect Being like God cannot create incomplete and imperfect beings like us. All these queries are not very relevant if we understand that everything that is required to be a real man has been granted to us by birth and it is for us to become perfect and thereby bring glory to God. Master states that "Things come and go but what lies in between these two is our real condition. This changeless condition of ourselves is the end of all spiritual activities. Blankness is another expression for this condition. The whole system is vacuumized in the end, and man becomes a real man. It has been found difficult to define man, but when we add the word real, it defines the beauty a man should have to belong to."3

Further he clarifies the characteristics of real man should be by answering the question "Who is man? Only he who is imbued with a sense of humanity."4 What is this sense of humanity? Some called us rational animals. Some others called us social animals. And so on. All are agreed that we are animals, only that we are a bit different. The gregarious nature of man is different from the gregarious nature of other animals which are all governed mostly by instinct. In man this tendency led to the noble concept of camaraderie and fraternity. The human traits of sympathy and empathy are off shoots of this tendency only. 'Tooth for tooth and claw for claw' is animality. When Reasoning takes deep root the need for compassion and forgiving dawn in the hearts of man and he is on the road to become a real man.

Master states that "When man first assumed his physical form he brought with him the things opposed to the real nature of his being; that means both the opposites were intertwined to give it a proper shape. It appeared in the form of an outburst similar to that caused by the contact of fire and water. When supplemented by the flow of air, it went on smouldering and increased the force of the outburst. The outburst is nothing but the action of the force coming in contact with the soul, thus exhibiting a display of the elements. Reality was lost sight of. Just imagine what the reverse use of things finally resulted in. We took into account neither the cause nor the effect thereof, to trace out the origin of this degradation"5

Master says that "We have to enter a new life, a life which is behind this outer life of ours - we might just as well say that the real man exists behind this, the apparent man. Now since you want to enter upon the real life, you have to seek for the real man, the man behind the man, or the man beyond man. Such a personality, if he does exist can be traced out only by the heart's eye and can be felt in every molecule and atom of the body. Though possessing a physical body, he shall in no way be attached to it and he shall be nearest to zero. His covering shall be the whole Universe wherein he shall have his own play. You will find him present in the sand of the desert, as well as in the waves of the ocean. You will find his presence in the light of the sun, the moon and the stars. He shall be in existence everywhere, in hell as well as in paradise. But how to trace him out is the real problem."6 A very important corollary to this thought is all our actions thus are in his sphere. The play ground is His. Another supplementary to this is that the play also is His. That being so the feeling of being a 'doer 'is untenable. Once this is understood we become humble and the process of getting rid of the Ego starts.

It is an interesting twist that Master when Master in his startling statement asserts that the real man is no different from the real guide."The real man, in the proper sense, can be he who makes a man the man that he ought to be, a thorough man in the real sense."7Thus he merges the concept of a real man with the real Master. The real man is the real Master and the real Master is the real man. The natural path leads to such a destiny. As Master puts it "It is only when we get closely in touch with nature that we begin to breathe in the purified air coming there from. By and by we begin to acquire identicality with it. In a word everything becomes possible and attainable when we get ourselves attached with the real man beyond man."8 It is no wonder therefore that He stated, He makes Masters. We are attached to the Master so that we become real man and in the process got a very high responsibility of being masters too.

He further asserts that "The main purpose of training is that a man should begin to imbibe within him as much of godly attributes as possible. If this is not achieved the system of training is defective and consequently of no avail. Proper making of a man must be the natural result of the right type of training. Proper making comprises of the right moulding of mind with due moderation in the exercise of all our senses and faculties. Thus the right type of training under the guidance of a capable master is by far the most important factor in our proper making without which higher attainments in spirituality are never possible. Most of the people have, in some way or the other, a natural inclination towards God, yet those who succeed in realizing God are very rare. The cause is defective guidance and wrong training which leads a man away from the real path with the result that he is lost forever. Now for a man of ordinary capacity it is a pretty hard task to judge whether his training is rightly directed or not. A man tamely and unquestioningly follows the instructions of one whom he has accepted as his Guru and practices as he is required by him to do. It is very difficult for him to ascertain whether he is being guided along the right path or not. This is a great problem before the people who are themselves quite ignorant in matters concerning realization. You will find numerous teachers of religion who will tell you not to eat garlic, onion or carrot and insist upon you to adopt Sadhanas and practices, which have no real significance or a hundred other, such triflings, which will never lead you, even a step nearer to reality. This is no training. Such teachers are really deceiving themselves as well as those whom they teach. You must be sure that unless internal peace, calmness of mind, simplicity and lightness follow as the natural result of your practices, you are proceeding on the wrong lines and that your training is defective."9

The real man obviously is a perfect man. In practical terms the perfect human is one who is in full control of senses, his feet and hands and his tongue and loins. More than anything else he is one who serves the interests of others selflessly. This concept it may be noted is something that does not accept the concept of original sin. Man is pure by birth and this is stressed in many places by the Master and His call has been to get back to the original condition of purity; purity of consciousness also called as the Home Land. Such a perfect man is what we have in our Rev. Babuji Maharaj which is a perfect copy of the original Creator or God.

The perfect man or real man incidentally it may be noted sees every individual of the human species completely as a copy of others. In none of them there is any lack in regard to what others have and limitations are but accidental. Like someone may have lost his hands or feet or even what we call mind. All the differences are due to samskaras only: otherwise each one of the human beings reflects others. This concept is crucial in understanding the possibility of empathy in us. But for these differences in samskaras the individuals are like mirrors facing each other reflecting fully each other. It so happens that there are people in whom we can find things present in potential while in others these are actually there.

The Real Man is a friend of God. Arjuna the Nara is a friend of God Narayana. Similarly when we have gained the link to the Master every one of is a Nara and has the God as our friend. Then we degree of perfection, we can find perfect ones and more perfect ones, but no one of us is gifted in this world with more of perfection than our beloved Master. His personal qualities, his inner stations, his deeds and several of his words testify to this. He is the perfect man. We when perfect and become friends of God connect ourselves to him like perfection to a higher perfection. He is the Maha Parishad around which evolve all the spheres of existence/being. He is the unique Special Personality who performs in different forms and persons according to His will and pleasure and according to the need of the hour and station of work.

One more thought before I conclude the paper. The difference between the words immediate and automatic should be clear. The word automatic would mean capable of operating without external control or intervention. The word immediate means instantly or spontaneously or without delay. To understand that we would become real man instantly on approaching the real master obviously is not what Master has meant. That is undeservedly greedy. It should be understood as meaning that the things required for becoming a real man would be accruing to us without any further assistance from any other source. The acceptance of the Master has to be total and integral and without any conditions to deserve such a gift from the Master. In short one has to be a murad to deserve a real master and it is our duty to mould ourselves as that most deserving person whom God seeks to be always with.

Pranam.

References

1. Silence Speaks - pages 39,40

2. Wisdom Unfurled - page 37

3. Showers of Divine Grace - page 36

4. Sparkles and Flashes - page 62

5. Silence Speaks - page 417

6. Silence Speaks - pages 99,100

7. Silence Speaks - page 45

8. Silence Speaks - pages 101

9. Basic writings of SriRamchandra - pages 231, 232