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THE 10 PRIMORDIAL MASTERS : Introduction

Source: CD-Rom -The 10 Incarnations of the Primordial Master -

10,00
-
In JANAKA I
16,000
B.C.
10,000-16,000
BC India
2,000 Mesopotami
ABRAHAM
B.C. a
2,000 BC
Mesopotamia
1,300
MOSES Egypt
B.C.
1,300 BC Egypt
1,000
ZARATHUSTRA Persia
B.C.
1,000 BC Persia
604
LAO TZE China
B.C.
604 BC China
551
CONFUCIUS China
B.C.
551 BC China
469
SOCRATES Greece
B.C.
469 BC Greece
570
MUHAMMED Mecca
A.D.
570 AD Meca
1469
NANAKA India
A.D.
1469 AD India

1856 AD India
1856
SAI NATH 1856 India1856
A.D.

Nirmala Devi as a limited attempt to provide information about -The Ten


Incarnations of the Primordial Master - the Divine Guru Principle.

We ask for Her forgiveness for any mistakes in inaccuracies contained herein.

The word 'religion' is a western term, the eastern word, Dharma, simply
means `duty. The Primordial Masters taught that of all Dharma, the best is to
utter sincerely the praise and names of God. That is the foremost of all
religions, and the work of The Ten Primordial Masters was the religion of
bringing the Lord and his Power, to all people.

They taught to all people that religion abides in every soul. It is the innermost
nature of everything that exists. It is the yearning of man to be perfect. As
there is Only One God, there is only one religion: Of the droplet of water to
become the ocean; of a flame to merge with the fire, of the incomplete man to
become complete, then he must receive enlightenment and realise the self.

A seeker without a spiritual guide is like an orphan child in the wilderness. The
word, Guru, means - Supreme Spiritual Light. When the seeker has
developed a permanent and firm conviction - that his intellect, his education,
and all knowledge of the world, without the constant inner guidance of a true
Guru, is actually complete darkness which will ultimately lead to delusion.

How much more blessed are we who have been allowed to call Shri Adi
Shakti as our Guru and Divine Mother who has granted us spiritual birth. The
Path through the Void Can spirituality be taught? The answer is No.

The prophets are the Divine Messengers because they each experienced the
sacred communion with the Holy Spirit by seeking to guide, help and awaken
the guru principle within each of us.

They each went into the "cave" and "mountain" within their own heart, with
only Faith and Devotion as their offerings, since the dawn of man they boldly
strode amongst the many tribes of men as immeasurable spiritual masters.

Can we rid ourselves of the darkness within our hearts by lighting lamps
outside? If the light of Faith and Devotion of the Guru Principle within us is not
lit within our own Void, then how can we begin to strive for illumination from
any outside source. Spirituality is an inherent, evolutionary quality gained by
perseverance on the steep climb towards total self-realisation. Instruction is of
two kinds: the inner guru principle who is within, the other is the holy, pious
teacher who provides crucial lessons and direction.

Throughout the Scriptures, the guru-disciple relationship is revered as the


highest relationship available to mankind. However, the disciple must first light
their own lamp within, to signify their readiness and worthiness for a teacher.
This readiness reflects the degree of obedience the disciple has for the
teacher and the teachings. The Guru is there as a Guide; it is the disciple who
has to ultimately walk the Path of their own ability and effort, being aware that
only the inner "Spirit" gives spiritual gifts, and universal blessings.

It is important to remember that none of the prophets ever acquired their


spiritual wisdom in a university, school, or institution. If universities could
"teach" wisdom and spirituality, then the world would be very different place,
because institutes of learning throughout the world have literally been
churning out graduates for many hundreds of years. Yet with time the basic
nature of society has not improved, in fact quite the opposite.
By observing the physical laws; prophets reveal to their followers spiritual
laws through their direct communion with the Atma, and the All-Pervading
Power of the Divine.

Prophets reveal the language of the Divine through mantras, prayers, and
instruction rooted in cosmic vibrations inspired by Divine Illumination.

The Prophets communion with the Spirit is a unique state of "being", to be at


one with the Divine, not thinking or theorising, but directly communicating the
message of the Almighty to its creation.

No amount of rational learning can prepare a seeker for the ultimate spiritual
experience because it is a mystic experience. While knowledge is acquired
and is the achievement of the mind, wisdom is the quality that evolves to be a
possession of the immortal, immaterial, and divine Soul. Spirituality is not
different from religiosity.

From the lives of The Ten Primordial Prophets contained we may learn that
they had the highest spiritual experiences, and were all fundamentally, and
innately religious. They attuned themselves with the Supreme All Pervading
Power and personally experienced its Divine Working through the different
colours of the spectrum and established their different religions accordingly.
They are all as One, yet their followers continue to bicker and dispute
amongst themselves about who is the greater.

Worshipping our Divine Mother, with others joined for the same purpose,
facilitates the hearts flight to the region of spiritual knowledge, where real
guidance and knowledge, not restricted by words can be found. One day,
when our hearts will beat in harmony with that of Guru then none of us can
then venture to describe what will happen as we begin to truly realise our
Guru.

As Sahaja Yogis we strive to become one with the World Guru for all times,
Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi and ever work to reveal Her Light in this world,
rejecting all falsehoods, and manifest the ultimate Truth, during our lifetime,
and to best of our abilities and effort.

In other words, it is, to become a perfect Sahaja Yogi devoted to Our Guru. All
other rules on this Path are only the means toward this goal. Without this , the
walls of ego severely limit all personal efforts to rise above human nature.
Because, all work feeds the ego, which simply assumes a more glorified and
intangible nature. Sahaja Yoga as an expression of the ultimate Truth is also
unique, and cannot be understood by the intellect. It does not match any
preconceived human ideas.

This is why Sahaja Yoga is the final path, the path to ultimate Truth, where the
seeker accepts Shri Mataji with humility as our Guru and where She quietly
plants the ways of Truth in our heart.
The tranquillity of the mind achieved through meditation, the experience of the
All Pervading Power must prevail so that the Soul can communicate with Shri
Mataji through Her formless nature, unhindered, and seek to become one with
Her. Only a spiritually enlightened mind, and not the mundane intelligence can
successfully overcome the fetters of the mind, and pave the way for the soul
to attune with the Spirit, then we would become The Spirit.

THE 10 PRIMORDIAL MASTERS : 1 - King Janaka

Source: CD-Rom -The 10 Incarnations of the Primordial Master 1 Raja Janaka

When the sages churned the body of Nimi, a child had manifested who was
named Janaka. Since, he was not born from a motherly body, hence he was
also called 'Videha'.

All the descendants of his dynasty were also known as Videha and Janaka.
By the grace of the sage Yagyavalkya, all of them achieved enlightenment. In
this very dynasty, Sita was born to 'Seeradhwaja' Janaka.

Marriage of Rama and Sita

Seeradhwaja Janaka was a great scholar and an enlightened person. During


the time of Sita's Swayamvara, a custom in ancient India in which a bride
selects her bridegroom according to her choice, kings and emperors from all
parts of the world were invited to the occasion. All of them had arrived there
with a desire to have Sita as their bride.

Vishwamitra had brought Shri Rama and Lakshmana to his hermitage with the
permission of their father, king Dashrath. The demons did not allow him and
other sages to perform religious rites peacefully, so he thought that Shri Rama
would protect him and all the other sages from the demons' atrocities.
Vishwamitra too had received invitation from King Janaka to be present during
the Swayamvara ceremony of Sita. So, he took both Rama and Lakshmana
along with him and proceeded towards Mithila. On the way, Shri Rama
liberated Ahilya, who had been turned into a stone because of a curse.

When all of them reached Janakpuri enjoying the magnificent natural beauty
throughout their way, they took their bath in the holy Ganges and stayed in a
garden to take rest.
When Janaka came to known about Vishwamitra's arrival, he immediately
rushed towards the garden to see him, along with his whole family and
brought him and Shri Rama and Lakshmana to his palace with great respect.
After Vishwamitra took his seat and Shri Rama and Lakshmana sat near his
feet, Janaka curious to know about the identities of Shri Rama and
Lakshmana asked:

"O lord of the sages, please do not hide anything from me, tell me who are
these two children? The supreme Lord in whose thoughts my mind is
completely engrossed, does the same Lord manifest in these two children?
My mind which has renounced everything and is not the least disturbed by
desires is behaving strangely today. The effects which the red-legged
partridge has on its heart after seeing the Moon, I am experiencing the same
after seeing these two children".

Janaka whose mind and heart was engrossed in thoughts of God, was
impressed by the sight of Rama and Lakshmana. The thought of the unseen
Almighty vanished from his mind and was replaced by the thoughts of Shri
Rama. It was but natural because who would like to run after the unseen, if he
is fortunate enough to see the 'real'.

Janaka's affection for Shri Rama was boundless. This is evident in the
following incident: After marrying Sita, Shri Rama was on his, way back to
Ayodhya along with the marriage procession. Janaka too came along with
them to see them off. Dashrath requested him to return back to his palace.
But, not willing to let Rama go out of his sight, Janaka refused many times.
After repeated insistence of Dashrath, he got down from the chariot with tears
in his eyes. He came towards Shri Rama and said:

"O Rama, I do not have words for your praise, you are the 'Swan' swimming in
the Mansarovar, compared with the minds of the sages and Lord Mahadeva
for the acquirement of whom, the Yogis (recluse) abandon anger, attachment
and arrogance and practice yoga".

When Janaka came to know about Rama's exile for the period of fourteen
years, he sent his spies to Ayodhya to get information regarding Bharat's
intentions. But he was satisfied when he learnt about Bharat's deep love for
Shri Rama. Later on, when he went to Chitrakoot to see Rama, he also found
Bharat there. So he could neither say anything to Shri Rama nor he could ask
anything from Bharat for he feared that it might hurt the feelings of both.
Janaka had mystical love for Shri Rama which cannot be described in words.
He was the supreme follower of Karma Yoga and one of the twelve
'Bhagwatacharyas'.

JANAKA, The Attainment of God

Once upon a time, king Janaka sent a message to the people in his kingdom:
"If there be amongst you a great scholar, a Pundit, a Mahatma, a Yogi, a
Maharishi, a Sage, whoever he may be, let him come and teach me the
knowledge of Atma." In his message he said that he expected to attain Atma
Jnana, Self-knowledge, within a matter of a few moments of being properly
instructed. Even while climbing onto his horse, before he was completely
settled on to it, he should have attained Atma Jnana. He said: "If the person
offering to teach me Atma Jnana is not able to accomplish this task of
providing me an experience of instant illumination, then I don't want to see
him, even if he is the greatest scholar, or the most learned person, or the
highly educated person in the land."

Well, all the Pundits and Rishis were a little frightened by this requirement.
They saw that this would be a severe test on their scholarship and learning,
and so none dared to come forth and offer himself to instruct the king and
meet the conditions that had been posed.

It was at this point that the boy Astavakra entered the kingdom. While he was
going on the road towards the capital city of Mithilapuram, he met a number of
people coming from there, including scholars and Pundits; all of them had
long faces, looking worried and grief-ridden. Astavakra asked them what was
the cause for their worry and grief. They explained to him all the things that
had happened. But Astavakra couldn't understand why they should get
frightened over such a small thing.

He added: "I will gladly solve this problem for the king."

So saying he directly entered the court of Janaka. He addressed the king: "My
dear King, I am ready to enable you to experience the knowledge of Atma as
you desire.

But this sacred knowledge cannot be taught so easily. This palace is full of
Rajo Guna and Tamo Guna. We must leave this place and enter an area of
pure Satva." So, they left the palace and went along the road leading out of
the city towards the forest. As was the custom whenever the emperor went
outside his palace walls, the army followed behind; but Janaka had them
remain outside the forest.

Astavakra and Janaka entered the forest. Astavakra told King Janaka: "I am
not going to fulfil your wish unless you accept my conditions. I may be only a
boy, but I am in the position of a preceptor; and you may be an all-powerful
emperor, you are in the position of a disciple. Are you prepared to accept this
relationship? If you agree then you will have to offer the traditional gift to the
Guru, the Gurudakshina that is given by the Sishya to the Guru. Only after
you give your offering to me will I start my instruction to you."

King Janaka told Astavakra: "The attainment of God is the most important
thing to me, so I am prepared to give you absolutely anything you want." But
Astavakra replied: "I don't want any material things from you, all I want is your
mind. You must give me your mind." The king answered: "Alright, I offer my
mind to you. Up to now I thought that this was my mind, but from now
onwards it will be yours."

Astavakra told Janaka to dismount from his horse and made the horse stand
in front of the king and then he told the king to sit down in the middle of the
road. Astavakra walked into the forest and sat quietly under a tree. The
soldiers waited for a long time. Neither the king nor Astavakra returned from
the forest. The soldiers wanted to find out what had happened to them, so one
by one, they proceeded to look for them.

When they went along the road leading into the forest, they found the king
seated there, in the middle of the road. The horse was standing in front of the
king. The king had his eyes closed and sat still almost immobile. Astavakra
was not to be seen. The officers were afraid that Astavakra might have
exercised some magic spell over the king and had made him lose
consciousness. The went to look for the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister came and addressed Janaka: "O King! O King! O King!"
But King Janaka did not open his eyes; he did not move at all. The Prime
Minister became frightened. Not only the Prime Minister but all the officials
were now getting frightened, because the time when the King usually took his
food and drink had passed and the king still had not stirred. In this way the
day went on and evening came, but the king did not move from his position,
sitting there immobile on the road.

Left with no alternative, the Prime Minister sent the chariot back to the city to
bring the queen thinking that if the queen spoke to the king, he would surely
respond. The queen came and addressed the king: "Rajah, Rajah, Rajah!"
The king did not stir; there was absolutely no response from the king.
Meanwhile the soldiers searched throughout the whole forest for Astavakra.
There, under a tree, Astavakra was seated
peacefully, in absolute calm and serenity.

The soldiers caught hold of him and brought him towards the place where the
king was. Astavakra told them: "Why are you all so worried? The king is safe
and everything is alright." But still they insisted and brought him before the
King seated on the road with his eyes closed, his body completely still. The
soldier said:

"Here, look for yourself! See what has happened to the king!".

Until that time, whether the Prime Minister, or the ministers, or the queen or
any of the other court officials or common people, had called out and
addressed the king, he neither opened his mouth in answer nor opened his
eyes in acknowledgment. But now Astavakra came and spoke to the king.

King Janaka immediately opened his eyes and replied, "Swami!"


Astavakra questioned the king: "Well, the ministers have come, and the
soldiers have come, and also many others have come, why did you not reply
to their entreaties?" Janaka answered:

"Thoughts, words and deeds are associated with the mind, and I offered my
mind entirely to you. Therefore before I can use the mind for anything, I need
your permission. What authority do I have to speak to anyone or use this mind
in any way without your permission and command."

Then Astavakra said: "You have attained the state of God-realization."

Astavakra told Janaka to put one foot in the stirrup and get up on the horse.
By the time he had climbed up and seated himself on the horse and put his
other foot in the stirrup, he had attained the experience of Atma. Once a
person has offered his mind, and with it all his words, deeds and thoughts,
then he will not have the authority or the power to perform any actions without
the permission of the one to whom he has surrendered his mind.

King Janakas Sage

Develop a sense of proportion and a due sense of values. Love the things of
the world with the love that is their due and not more. Suka, the purest of the
sages and the wisest, was teaching a number of disciples including the wise
emperor, Janaka. One day, Suka started his discourse late, for, Janaka had
not yet come. The others resented the extra attachment that Suka bestowed
on Janaka. They ascribed it to the fact that he was the emperor of the realm;
they felt that their Guru was unfortunately moved by those mundane
considerations. Suka knew how their imagination was weaving falsehoods
and prejudices. So, he decided to cast off this envy from their hearts.

After Janaka came and the discourse lasted for sometime, Suka so managed
with his mystic
powers that they could see in the far distance, near the horizon, the city of
Mithila, the capital of the
emperor, caught in flames and crumbling in the conflagration.

The disciples were listening to Atma Bodha, the lesson that the Atma alone is
real and that all else
is appearance, imposed on the Atma, by the fog of illusion and ignorance.
Every other disciple ran off, leaving the class and the preceptor, each on his
own self, afraid that the oncoming fire will burn his clothes or books. But
Janaka, whose capital city was being reduced to ashes sat unmoved for he
knew that what was being consumed by fire was only appearance and not
reality. Suka himself asked Janaka to go and assess the damage and try to
save what can be saved from the fire.
But Janaka replied that his treasure was the Jnana (wisdom) he was getting
from his master and that he was unconcerned about the objective world,
approachable by external instruments of knowledge.

At this Suka revealed that the fire was a make-believe, created by him to
show others the depth of real scholarship earned by Janaka in contrast to
their superficial learning.

King Janaka seeker after the Supreme Truth

Once emperor Janaka approached the sage Yajnavalkya and asked him, "O
Sage! please let me know the facts about my previous life". The sage replied,
"What is past is past. There is no use in recalling it. You have completed a
journey along a road. Do not bother about the road that has been traversed. It
does not help in your journey to your glory." Although the sage used many
arguments to dissuade Janaka from persisting in his request, Janaka was
insistent on knowing about his previous birth.

Yajnavalkya then resorted to his Divine insight and told the Emperor." Janaka,
your wife in the present birth was your mother in your previous life". On
hearing this, Janaka was shocked. He reflected, "What a wicked person have
I been to treat my former mother as my wife! I must give up such a wicked
life". From that moment be began to treat his queen as his mother, and giving
up all attachments to worldly things, began to pursue spiritual wisdom.

One night, Janaka Maharaja had a dream in which he dreamt that he had lost
his kingdom and became a beggar. He was going round the streets of the city
begging for alms. The pangs of hunger made him cry. Some kind-hearted
persons gave him some food, but to his great misfortune, even that morsel
slipped down from his hand. Just then the horror-stricken king woke up from
his dream. He found himself in his royal palace.

The king asked himself, "Which is real - the dream world or the conscious
world? " The queen who was observing him was also perplexed. They
decided to consult the great sage Vasishta. The sage told, "O king, both are
real in one sense but there is also another point of view. You became a
beggar in the dream world and you are the king in the conscious world. You
exist in both the worlds. While they are both unreal, You alone are real. You
are the absolute reality of the dreaming state as well as the conscious state".
King Janaka was a seeker after the Supreme Truth (Brahmajnana).

He sought knowledge for the sake of Self-Realisation and not for the sake of
creature comforts. He held an assembly of sages where he achieved fame. At
that assembly, Gargi carried on a debate with the sage Yaajnavalkya. The
debate was based on the scriptures. It was inconclusive. Then Gargi put a
question to King Janaka, "What is the mark of a Sthitha prajna?". The king
replied, "He is the one, who realises the Oneness of the Absolute". Gargi said,
"If you have realised this state of Awareness, you will be conscious of
Oneness alone. You are not in that state now. I wish to realise this
Awareness."

Gargi said, "Oh King! I have one desire. Will you fulfil it?" "Certainly," replied
Janaka. She asked him to marry her. The king said, "I have only one wife,
Sunetra. I dont wish to have any other wife." Gargi said, "You are a great
Jnani. You have good eyes and your queen is a good-eyed lady. May I ask
what reward you are giving to the great Yaajnavalkya?" The King said, "I shall
give him whatever he asks for."

Yaajnavalkya was no doubt a great scholar but he did not have total sense-
control.

Yaajnavalkya asked the king, "Give this Gargi to me in marriage. Celebrate


our wedding." There was a great uproar in the hall.

The great scholars present there asked, "What is the meaning of


Yaajanavalkyas request? " Gargi then asked Yaajnavalkya, "What is the
purpose of a marriage?"

Yaajnavalkya replied, "To have progeny" Gargi said, "No the wife is one-half of
the husband Ardhaangi.
This means that she should pursue Dharma together with the husband as a
Dharmapatni (a Righteous wife). Marriage is for the sake of pursuing Dharma.
It is not for enjoying worldly pleasures. Our emperor enjoys carnal pleasures
in his palace. The same is experienced by street dogs. Is that happiness? "

Ashtavakra Gita

The Advaita classic, a dialogue between King Janaka and the sage
Ashtavakra.

Janaka:
How is knowledge to be acquired? How is liberation to be attained? And how
is dispassion to be
reached? Tell me this, sir.

Ashtavakra:
If you are seeking liberation, my son, shun the objects of the senses like
poison.
Practise tolerance, sincerity, compassion, contentment and truthfulness like
nectar.

You are neither earth, water, fire, air or even ether.

For liberation know yourself as consisting of consciousness, the witness of


these.
If only you will remain resting in consciousness, seeing yourself as distinct
from the body, then even now you will become happy, peaceful and free from
bonds.

You do not belong to the brahmin or any other caste, you are not at any stage,
nor are you anything that the eye can see. You are unattached and formless,
the witness of everything - so be happy.

Righteousness and unrighteousness, pleasure and pain are purely of the


mind and are no concern of yours. You are neither the doer nor the reaper of
the consequences, so you are always free.

You are the one witness of everything, and are always totally free. The cause
of your bondage is that you see the witness as something other than this.

Since you have been bitten by the black snake of the self-opinion that 'I am
the doer', drink the nectar of faith in the fact that 'I am not the doer', and be
happy.

Burn down the forest of ignorance with the fire of the understanding that 'I am
the one pure awareness', and be happy and free from distress.

That in which all this appears - imagined like the snake in a rope, that joy,
supreme joy and awareness is what you are, so be happy. If one thinks of
oneself as free, one is free, and if one thinks of oneself as bound, one is
bound.

Here this saying is true, "Thinking makes it so."

Your real nature is as the one perfect, free, and actionless consciousness, the
all-pervading witness - unattached to anything, desireless and at peace. It is
from illusion that you seem to be involved in samsara.

Dialogue between King Janaka and Sage Yajnavalkya

'Yajnavalkya, what serves as the light for a man?' asks Janaka.

'The light of sun, O Emperor' the sage said.

'When the sun sets, Yajnavalkya, what exactly serves as the light for a man?'

'The moon serves as the light'

'When the sun and the moon have both set, Yajnavalkya, what exactly serves
as the light for a man?'

'The fire serves as his light'


'When the sun and the moon have both set, and the fire has gone out,
Yajnavalkya, what exactly serves as the light for a man?'

'Speech (sound) serves as his light'

'When the sun and the moon have both set, the fire has gone out, and speech
has stopped, Yajnavalkya, what exactly serves as the light a man?'

'The self serves as his light'. This is where the real inquiry into self starts.

The path of devotion: On this path one starts with the faith in possessor of the
universal power (God) and thus starts with dual idea of self and the God being
separate and long to be united with Him. The inquiry of where is He and how
can I see Him, leads to the God within which is his own self.

Source: CD-Rom -The 10 Incarnations of the Primordial Master 2 Abraham

Life History

Abraham or Abraham as he was later called, was brought up in the small town
of Ur of the Chaldees. There, along with everyone else, he worshipped the
many gods who were believed to have control over the different parts of
nature.

There Abraham encountered the One God who seemed to have control over
not only the whole of nature but history as well. This same God was willing to
enter into a special relationship (covenant) with Abraham and his
descendants.

No-one is quite sure how, or when, Abraham stopped believing in many gods
and came to believe in the one God. The time and place however are not
important. What matters is that Abraham's experience marked the beginning
of the Jewish nation, and Jews today speak, with great fondness, of 'Our
Father Abraham' (Avrham Avinu) Although his experience cannot be dated
exactly it seems to have happened sometime between 2000 BC and 1800
BC. Because of this Abraham moved from the town of Ur and travelled 1000
miles to the town of Hebron. It was in Hebron that God revealed to Abraham
that his descendants would be protected and would in time become a great
nation.
Abraham is often called one of the Jewish Patriarchs (Father Figure). The
other two Jewish patriarchal figures are Isaac (Abraham's son) and Jacob
(Isaac's son). An important event in Jewish history is the way that God tests
Abraham, by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac.

The One God

He believed that there was only one god. Even though many people believed
in the opposite, Abraham was firm in his beliefs and because of them a very
important religion was started, the Jewish religion. Abraham stuck with his
beliefs forever.

When Abraham was a child he lived with his father, Terach, and his two
brothers, Nahor and Haran. Abraham, along with his other family members,
grew up in a city called Ur. Every night in Ur the gates of the city were locked
in order to keep enemies out. Abraham and his two brothers loved watching
people come in and out of the gates.

Abraham always wondered who the creator of the world was. So, one day he
went to his father and asked him. Terach worked in a shop that sold idols, and
Terach pulled an idol off the shelf and told him that the idol had created the
world. Surely, Abraham did not believe his father so he went and asked his
uncle. His uncle told him that the moon and the stars created the world.

Abraham was not quite sure if that was true, but he got an idea that there
might be an almighty up in the heavens who created the world ... God.

God spoke to Abraham and made two promises. One, that he would curse
anyone who cursed Abraham, and bless anyone who blesses Abraham.

Two, he told Abraham to go and settle in the city of Canaan with his family.
Abraham travelled long and hard with many followers. Abraham and his
followers found a good life in Canaan. The people of Canaan gave him the
name of The Hebrew. It means the man from the other side of the river.

By now Abraham was happily married to a beautiful woman named Sarah. For
all of the time that Abraham and Sarah had been married they had lived in
Canaan, but one day there was a famine in Canaan, so they had to leave in
order to live. They traveled south to Egypt. Before they walked into the gates
of Egypt, Abraham requested that Sarah tell the pharaoh that they were sister
and brother, because Sarah was so pretty and they would take her and kill
Abraham.

So, Sarah did what Abraham had told her to do and they got to stay in Egypt
for a very long time. Until one day when the pharaoh found out that Abraham
and Sarah were not sister and brother, but husband and wife. He was very
mad because while they were staying in Egypt, Sarah and the pharaoh had
married! Immediately after he found out, Abraham and Sarah were thrown out
Egypt.

Abraham had longed for a child for many years. Abraham and Sarah thought
that her womb was closed and they could no longer have a baby, they were
both very upset. They both wanted a baby very much. So, Sarah told
Abraham to go and lay next to their slave, Hagar, and have a baby. Sure
enough, Abraham and Hagar bore a child named Ishmael. Hagar would have
to give up the child so Abraham and Sarah could raise Ishmael as their son.
Hagar ran away with Ishmael. After only a few days she returned because she
knew that she could not keep Ismael as her own. She had promised to give
the child to Abraham and Sarah.

Finally, Abraham had gotten his dream, he finally had a child at the age of 86.

At the age of 99, Abraham and Sarah found out that they could, indeed, have
a child. God told Abraham that within that year they would have a child. One
day a man came to the door of Abrahams tent and asked for some food, and
Abraham, being the kind man that he was, gave the poor man some food.

The man said to Abraham that he was going to come by at the same time next
year and he predicted that Abraham and Sarah will have a son. Sarah
overheard their conversation from the other room and laughed at the fact of
having a child at such an old age. Sure enough, when the man stopped by at
the time he had promised, Abraham and Sarah had bore a child. They named
him Isaac, which means laughter, because Sarah had laughed when the man
mentioned having a child.

As much as Abraham had wanted a child he believed so strongly that there


was only one god, and he was willing to do anything to prove his devotion.

So, one day God spoke to Abraham and told him to go up to the mountain-top
and sacrifice his son, Isaac. Although reluctant, Abraham did as God had told
him. Abraham had all of the wood and he had the altar, all that he needed to
sacrifice his child. When Abraham put his son on the altar, and Isaac was
laying there not understanding what was going on, Isaac asked Abraham
where the sheep was. He did not know that his father wasnt going to sacrifice
a lamb, but his very own son, the poor boy who was laying on the altar about
to be killed.

Abraham told Isaac that God was going to provide the lamb, not wanting to
tell Isaac that he was going to sacrifice him. As Abraham was just moments
away from sacrificing Isaac, God spoke to him, but again, and told him to
stop!

Abraham listened and did what God told him to do. God told Abraham that he
was not really going to make him kill Isaac. He said that it was only a test, to
see how much he trusted God.
Abraham was relieved that he did not have to sacrifice the child that he had
been waiting so long for. Luckily, God stopped Abraham just in time, because
if God did not tell Abraham to stop at the exact moment that he did, Abraham
would have killed his son. Abraham would do that because God told him to,
and Abraham believed that everything God said was probably meant to be.
Sarah died at a very old age and Abraham and Isaac were in mourning for a
very long time, so Abraham decided that it might be easier for Isaac to marry.
So, Abraham sent their servant, Eliazer, out in search of a wife for Isaac.
When Eliazer got back he had a wife for Isaac, her name was Rebekah. It
turns out that Rebekah was Isaacs cousin, but they still got married.

God's Promises to Abraham

The people of Ur knew nothing of the true God. They worshipped many false
gods, chief of which was the moon. The ruins of a temple built to the moon-
god have been found there.

A message from God

One day Abraham received a message from Almighty God. "Now the Lord had
said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred. and
from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee."

He was told to leave his own land, and his own people, and travel to a country
that God would show him. I wonder how we should feel if we received such a
message?

When He told Abraham to do this, God also told him:

"And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy
name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the
earth be blessed".

Abraham believed the promises that God had made, and he obeyed Him.

At length he reached the land of Israel with his wife, Sarah, and his nephew
Lot.

Lot chose the best of the land and Abraham was left to find pastures for his
flocks and herds in the more barren parts of the country. But God was with
Abraham, and enlarged upon the promises He had made to him in Ur:

"All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth" .

The land he was promised was the land he saw - the land now call Israel.
Besides this, God also promised it to Abraham's seed, or son. God promised
him a 'seed', or son, who should share the land with him. He also promised
that Abraham's descendants should become a great nation.

Time had gone by and Abraham was getting old. The promised son had not
been given. But once more God assured him that he should have a son, and
that his descendants should be as great in number as the stars in the sky. "He
(Abraham) believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness."

Abraham, like us, was not freen from sin; but he trusted in God and, because
of this, God was pleased with him.

These things happened nearly 4,000 years ago, and at first they do not seem
to matter very much to us.

But Abraham had a son who was greater than Isaac. The Bible speaks of
"Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham."

ABRAHAM - Viewpoint of the Old Testament

Abraham may be looked upon as the starting-point or source of Old


Testament religion. So that from the days of Abraham men were wont to
speak of God as the God of Abraham, whilst we do not find Abraham referring
in the same way to anyone before him.

So we have Abraham's servant speaking of "the God of my father Abraham".


The religion of Israel does not begin with Moses, l God says to Moses: "I am
the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham" and is common in the Old
Testament.

Abraham is thus selected as the first beginning or source of the religion of the
children of Israel and the origin of its close connection with Jehovah, because
of his faith, trust, and obedience to and in Jehovah and because of Jehovah's
promises to him and to his seed.

This trust in God was shown by him when he left Haran and journeyed with
his family into the unknown country of Chanaan. It was shown principally
when he was willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac, in obedience to a
command from God.

ABRAHAM - Viewpoint of the New Testament

The generation of Jesus Christ is traced back to Abraham by St. Matthew,


according to St. Luke, he is shown to be descended according to the flesh not
only from Abraham but also from Adam.
Moreover, as the New Testament traces the descent of Jesus Christ from
Abraham, so it does of all the Jews

John the Baptist says:

"Do not begin to say: We have Abraham for our father, for I say to you God is
able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham."

In the Bible the Jews, to whom Jesus was speaking, boast "We are the seed
of Abraham", and Jesus replies (39):

"If ye be the children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham".

Shared Beginnings

Abraham, and his son, Isaac, and Isaacs son, Jacob were the three
patriarchs. A patriarch is a founding father or a leader of a certain religion.

Abraham was also the first Jew and the founder of Judaism, the Jewish
religion.

The Arabs trace their ancestry to Ishmael, Abrahams oldest son, so in the
effect the tribes of Israel and those of Arabia who have been in eternal conflict
are descendants from the cousins Isaac and Ishmael and share their ancestry
with Abraham. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world today.
Unified by faith in the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed, Muslims
throughout the world make a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Ka'bah at Mecca, the cube-shaped building in the center of Mecca, the
holiest shrine of Islam, was built by the prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael.

THE 10 PRIMORDIAL MASTERS : 3 Mo

ses

Source: CD-Rom -The 10 Incarnations of the Primordial Master 3 Moses

Hebrew Moshe, Hebrew prophet, teacher, and leader who, in the 13th century
BCE (before the Common Era, or BC), delivered his people from Egyptian
slavery. In the Covenant ceremony at Mt. Sinai, where the Ten
Commandments were promulgated, he founded the religious community
known as Israel. As the interpreter of these Covenant stipulations, he was the
organizer of the community's religious and civil traditions. In the Judaic
tradition, he is revered as the greatest prophet and teacher, and Judaism has
sometimes loosely been called Mosaism, or the Mosaic faith, in Western
Christendom. His influence continues to be felt in the religious life, moral
concerns, and social ethics of Western civilization, and therein lies his
undying significance.

To deny or to doubt the historic personality of Moses, is to undermine and


render unintelligible the subsequent history of the Israelites. Rabbinical
literature teems with legends touching every event of his marvellous career:
taken singly, these popular tales are purely imaginative, yet, considered in
their cumulative force, they vouch for the reality of a grand and illustrious
personage, of strong character, high purpose, and noble achievement, so
deep, true, and efficient in his religious convictions as to thrill and subdue the
minds of an entire race for centuries after his death.

The Bible furnishes the chief authentic account of this luminous life.

Historical views of Moses

Few historical figures have engendered such disparate interpretations as has


Moses. Early Jewish and Christian traditions considered him the author of the
Torah (Law, or Teaching), also called the Pentateuch (Five Books),
comprising the first five books of the Bible, and some conservative groups still
believe in Mosaic authorship.

Opposing this is the theory of the German scholar Martin Noth, who, while
granting that Moses may have had something to do with the preparations for
the conquest of Canaan, was very skeptical of the roles attributed to him by
tradition.

Although recognizing a historical core beneath the Exodus and Sinai


traditions, Noth believed that two different groups experienced these events
and transmitted the stories independently of each other. He contended that
the biblical story tracing the Hebrews from Egypt to Canaan resulted from an
editor's weaving separate themes and traditions around a main character
Moses, actually an obscure person from Moab.

The reconstruction of the documentary sources of the Pentateuch by literary


critics is considered valid, but the sources are viewed as varying versions of
one series of events (see biblical literature: The Torah [Law, Pentateuch, or
Five Books of Moses]).

Other critical methods (studying the biblical text from the standpoint of literary
form, oral tradition, style, redaction, and archaeology) are equally valid.
The most accurate answer to a critical problem is therefore likely to come
from the convergence of various lines of evidence. The aid of critical
scholarship not with standing, the sources are so sketchy that the man Moses
can be portrayed only in broad outline.

The Age of Moses

According to the biblical account, Moses' parents were from the tribe of Levi,
one of the groups in Egypt called Hebrews. Originally the term Hebrew had
nothing to do with race or ethnic origin. It derived from Habiru, a variant
spelling of Hapiru (Apiru), a designation of a class of people who made their
living by hiring themselves out for various services.

The biblical Hebrews had been in Egypt for generations, but apparently they
became a threat, so one of the pharaohs enslaved them. Unfortunately, the
personal name of the king is not given, and scholars have disagreed as to his
identity and, hence, as to the date of the events of the narrative of Moses.
One theory takes literally the statement in I Kings 6:1 that the Exodus from
Egypt occurred 480 years before Solomon began building the Temple in
Jerusalem. This occurred in the fourth year of his reign, about 960 BCE;
therefore, the Exodus would date about 1440 BCE.

This conclusion, however, is at variance with most of the biblical and


archaeological evidence. The storage cities Pithom and Rameses, built for the
pharaoh by the Hebrews, were located in the northeastern part of the
Egyptian delta, not far from Goshen, the district in which the Hebrews lived.

Moreover, Edom and Moab, petty kingdoms in Transjordan that forced Moses
to circle east of them, were not yet settled and organized. Finally, as
excavations have shown, the destruction of the cities the Hebrews claimed to
have captured occurred about 1250, not 1400.

In as much as tradition figured about 12 generations from Moses to Solomon,


the reference to 480 years is most likely an editorial comment allowing 40
years for each generation. Since an actual generation was nearer 25 years,
the most probable date for the Exodus is about 1290 BCE. If this is true, then
the oppressive pharaoh noted in Exodus (1:22:23) was Seti I (reigned 1318
04), and the pharaoh during the Exodus was Ramses II (c. 1304c. 1237). In
short, Moses was probably born in the late 14th century BCE.

Years and Deeds

The formative years

One of the measures taken by the Egyptians to restrict the growth of the
Hebrews was to order the death of all newborn Hebrew males. According to
tradition, Moses' parents, Amram and Jochebed (whose other children were
Aaron and Miriam), hid him for three months and then set him afloat on the
Nile in a reed basket daubed with pitch.

The child, found by the pharaoh's daughter while bathing, was reared in the
Egyptian court. While many doubt the authenticity of this tradition, the name
Moses (Hebrew Moshe) is derived from Egyptian mose (is born) and is
found in such names as Thutmose ([The God] Thoth Is Born). Originally, it is
inferred, Moses' name was longer, but the deity's name was dropped.

This could have happened when Moses returned to his people or possibly
even earlier, because the shortened form Mose was very popular at that time.

Moses' years in the court are passed over in silence, but it is evident from his
accomplishments later that he had instruction in religious, civil, and military
matters.

During his education he learned somehow that he was a Hebrew, and his
sense of concern and curiosity impelled him to visit his people. According to
the biblical narrative, Moses lived 120 years and was 80 when he confronted
Pharaoh, but there is no indication how old he was when he went to see the
Hebrews. Later Jewish and Christian tradition assumed 40-year periods for
his stay in the Egyptian court, his sojourn in Midian, and his wilderness
wanderings.

Most likely Moses was about 25 when he took the inspection tour among his
people.

There he saw the oppressive measures under which they laboured. When he
found an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew, probably to death, he could
control his sense of justice no longer. After checking to make sure that no one
was in sight, he killed the tough Egyptian overlord. As a prince in the court,
Moses was probably in excellent physical condition, and apparently he knew
the latest methods of combat.

The flush of victory pulled Moses back the next day. He had removed one
threat to his people and was determined to assist them again. This time,
however, he found two Hebrews fighting. After parting them, he questioned
the offender in an attempt to mediate the disagreement. Two questions jolted
him: Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me
as you killed the Egyptian? The confidence of the self-appointed deliverer
turned into fear. One of his own knew his secret and soon Pharaoh would,
too. Realizing that he would have to flee, he went to Midian (mainly in
northwest Arabia).

Moses in Midian
In noting the flight to Midian the narrative says nothing of the difficulties
involved. Like Sinuhe, the Egyptian court official whose flight in about 1960
BCE was narrated in a famous story, Moses undoubtedly had to filter through
the Wall of the Ruler, a series of forts at the eastern border, approximately
where the Suez Canal is now located. From there he made his way southeast
through very desolate country.

Unfortunately, the Bible does not specify the part of Midian in which Moses
resided.

Midian proper was east of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the northern section of Hejaz
in Arabia, but there is evidence that some of the Midianite clans crossed over
the Arabah (the great valley south of the Dead Sea) and settled in the eastern
and southern sections of the Sinai Peninsula. While Moses was resting at a
well, according to the biblical account, seven daughters of the Midianite priest
Jethro came to water their father's flocks. Other shepherds arrived and drove
the girls away in order to water their own flocks.

Again Moses showed his courage and prowess as a warrior because he took
on the shepherds (perhaps with the girls' help) and routed them. Moses
stayed on with Jethro and eventually married Zipporah, one of the daughters.
In assuming the responsibility for Jethro's flocks, Moses roamed the
wilderness looking for pasture.

One day at the base of a mountain, his attention was attracted by a flaming
bush, but, oddly, it was not consumed. He had seen bushes brilliant with
flamelike blossoms, but this phenomenon was different, and so he turned
aside to investigate it. Before he could do so, he was warned to come no
closer. Then he was ordered to remove his sandals because he was standing
on holy ground.

Regardless of how one interprets the burning bush, the important fact is that
Moses was conscious of an encounter with Deity. This God, who claimed to
be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was calling him to deliver the
Hebrews from Egypt.

Although on his own he had previously been zealous to help his own people,
now that he was being commissioned to deliver them he expressed doubt
concerning his qualifications.

The underlying reason was probably fear - he had fled from Seti I, and he did
not relish confrontation with Ramses II. God reassured Moses that in the
future he and the Hebrews would worship at this mountain. Then Moses
asked to know the name of the Deity commissioning him. The God of the
fathers had been known mostly as El 'Elyon (God Most High) or El Shaddai
(God of the Mountain or Almighty God), but he identified himself to Moses as
Yahweh and gave instructions that he was to be called by his new name from
then on.
As the causative form of the verb to be, Yahweh means He Who Creates
(Brings Into Being). This revelation enabled Moses to understand the God of
the Hebrews as the sovereign Lord over nature and the nations of the world.

Even after further assurances, Moses was still reluctant to accept Yahweh's
call; therefore, he pleaded for release because he was a stammerer. Yahweh
acknowledged the defect but promised to help him express himself. Awed by
his assignment, Moses made a final desperate plea, Oh, my Lord, send, I
pray, some other person.

Although angry at Moses, Yahweh would not yield. Moses would still be
Yahweh's representative, but his golden-tongued brother Aaron would be the
spokesman.

Apparently Moses was ready to play the role of God to Pharaoh providing
Aaron would serve as his prophet. He returned to Jethro and requested
permission to visit his people in Egypt, but he did not disclose that he had
been commissioned by Yahweh.

Moses and Pharaoh

Ramses II became king as a teenager and reigned for 67 years. He aspired to


defeat the Hittites and control all of Syria, but in the fifth year of his reign
Ramses walked into a Hittite trap laid for him at Kadesh, on the Orontes River
in Syria. By sheer determination he fought his way out, but in the light of his
purpose the battle was an
utter failure.

Yet Ramses, like all the pharaohs, claimed to be divine; therefore, the defeat
had to be interpreted as a marvellous victory in which he alone subdued the
Hittites. His wounded ego expressed itself in massive building operations
throughout Egypt, and before his reign ended the boast of his success literally
filled acres of wall space.

It was probably only a few years after the Kadesh incident that Moses and
Aaron confronted Ramses with their demand, Thus says the Lord, the God of
Israel, Let my people go.' As a god in human form Ramses was not
accustomed to taking orders from lesser gods, let alone an unknown like
Yahweh. Who is the Lord, he inquired, that I should heed his voice and let
Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go. Thus
the stage was set for a long struggle between a distrustful ruler with an
outsize ego and a prophet with a new understanding of Yahweh and his
power.

The Prophet MOSES


He (God) said: "Fear not, Verily! I am with you both, Hearing and Seeing. So
go you both to him, and say: "Verily, we are Messengers of your Lord, so let
the children of Israel go with us, and torment them not; indeed, we have come
with a sign from your Lord! And peace will be upon him who follows the
guidance! Truly, it has been revealed to us that the torment will be for him who
denies (believes not in the Oneness of God, and in His Messengers), and
turns away' (from the truth, and obedience of God)."

Moses and Aaron went together to Pharaoh and delivered their message.
Moses spoke to him about God, His mercy and His Paradise and about the
obligations of monotheism and His worship.

Pharaoh listened to Moses' speech with disdain. He thought that Moses was
crazy because he dared to question his supreme position. Then he raised his
hand and asked:

"What do you want?"

Moses answered: "I want you to send the children of Israel with us."

Pharaoh asked: "Why should I send them, as they are my slaves?"

Moses replied: "They are the slaves of God, Lord of the Worlds."

Pharaoh then inquired sarcastically if his name was Moses. Moses said "Yes."

"Are you not the Moses whom we picked up from the Nile as a helpless baby?
Are you not the Moses whom we reared in this palace, who ate and drank
from our provisions and whom our wealth showered with charity? Are you not
the Moses who is a fugitive, the killer of an Egyptian man, if my memory does
not betray me? It is said that killing is an act of disbelief. Therefore, you were
a disbeliever when you killed. You are a fugitive from justice and you come to
speak to me! What were you talking about Moses, I forgot?"

Moses knew that Pharaoh's mentioning his past, his upbringing, and his
receiving Pharaoh's charity was Pharaoh's way of threatening him. Moses
ignored his sarcasm and explained that he was not a disbeliever when he
killed the Egyptian, he only went astray and God the Almighty had not yet
given him the revelation at that time. He made Pharaoh understand that he
fled from Egypt because he was afraid of their revenge upon him, even
though the killing was an accident. He informed him that God had granted him
forgiveness and made him one of the messengers.

God the Almighty revealed as part of the dialogue between Moses and
Pharaoh: God said: "Nay! Go you both with Our Signs, Verily! We shall be
with you, listening. And when you both come to Pharaoh, say: "We are the
Messengers of 'the Lord and Cherisher of the worlds' and So allow the
children of Israel to go with us."

Pharaoh said to Moses: "Did we not bring you up among us as a child? And
you did dwell many years of your life with us. And you did your deed which
you did (the crime of killing a man) and you are one of the ingrates."

Moses said: "I did it then, when I was an ignorant (as regards my Lord and His
Message). So I fled from you when I feared you. But my Lord has granted me
judgment (and wisdom), and appointed me as one of the Messengers. And
this is the past favor with which you reproach me, and that you have enslaved
the children of Israel."

Pharaoh said: "And what is the Lord of 'the Lord and Cherisher of the
worlds'?"

Moses replied: "Lord of the heavens, and the earth, and all that is between
them, if you seek to be convinced with certainty."

Pharaoh said to those around: "Do you not hear what he says?"

Moses said: "Your Lord and the Lord of your ancient fathers!"

Pharaoh said: "Verily, your Messenger who has been sent to you is a
madman!"

Moses said: "Lord of the east, and the west, and all that is between them, if
you did but understand!"

Pharaoh said: "If you choose an a god other than me, I will certainly put you
among the prisoners."

Moses said: "Even if I bring you something manifest (and convincing)."

Pharaoh said: "Bring it forth then, if you are of the truthful!"

The degree of the conflict expressed in this dialogue reached its apex; thus,
the tone of dialogue changed. Moses used a convincing intellectual argument
against Pharaoh.

However, Pharaoh escaped from the circle of dialogue based on the logic and
began a dialogue of another type, a type which Moses could not bear to
follow; a dialogue of menacing and threatening. Pharaoh deliberately adopted
the style of the absolute ruler. He asked Moses how he dared to worship God!
Did he not know that Pharaoh was a god?

After declaring his divinity, Pharaoh asked Moses how he dared to worship
another god. The punishment for this crime was imprisonment. It was not
permitted for anyone to worship anyone other than the Pharaoh.

Moses understood that the intellectual arguments did not succeed. The calm
dialogue was converted from sarcasm to mentioning charity, then to scorn,
then to the threat of imprisonment.
Moses said: "Even if I bring you something manifest and convincing." Pharaoh
said; "Bring it forth, then, if you are of the truthful!" So Moses threw his stick,
and behold, it was a serpent, manifest. And he drew out his hand, and behold,
it was white to all beholders!

Ramses increased the oppression of the Hebrews by the fiendish plan of


requiring them to gather the straw binder for the bricks and still produce the
same quota each day. Some of the Hebrews rebuffed Moses, and in
frustration he asked Yahweh, Why didst thou ever send me? Moses' doubt
was allayed by Yahweh's promise to take action against Pharaoh. Scholars
differ widely concerning the narrative about the plagues.

Some claim that three sources have been combined, but more recent
scholarship finds only the two traditions. While granting that some of the
plagues had a core of historicity, older critics tended to discount the present
accounts as fantastic stories with pious decorations. A recent school of
research suggests that, notwithstanding some later additions, all the plagues
probably had a historical core.

The basic cause, according to one interpretation, was an unusually high


flooding of the Nile. The White Nile originates in the lake region of east central
Africa, known today as Uganda. The flow is fairly even throughout
the year because of consistent equatorial rains.

The Blue Nile, on the other hand, originates in the headwaters of the
Ethiopian highlands, and it varies from a small stream to a raging torrent.

At the time Moses was bargaining with Ramses, excessively heavy summer
rains in Ethiopia washed powdery, carmine-red soil from the slopes of the
hills.

During these months Moses used the plagues of the frogs, gnats, mosquitoes,
cattle murrain, boils, hail, locusts, and thick darkness to increase the pressure
on Ramses. At first the King was adamant.

The Hebrews were not the only disgruntled slaves, and, if he agreed to let
them go, then other groups would want the same privilege. To protect his
building program, he had to suppress the slave rebellion at its outset. Yet he
could not discount the effect of the plagues, and grudgingly he began to
acknowledge Yahweh's power.

As an expedient attempt to restore order, he offered to let the Hebrews


sacrifice in Goshen. When this failed, he suggested that they make offerings
to Yahweh at the edge of the Egyptian border. Moses, however, insisted on a
three-day journey into the wilderness. Pharaoh countered by allowing the
Hebrew men to make the journey, but this, too, was rejected. As his final offer
Pharaoh agreed to let the people go. He would keep the livestock, however,
as the guarantee of their return.
Moses spurned the condition, and in anger Pharaoh drove him out. After nine
rounds with Pharaoh it appeared that the deliverance of the Hebrews was no
nearer, but, in contrast to his earlier periods of doubt and frustration, Moses
showed no despair.

Apparently he had an inner assurance that Pharaoh would not have the last
word.

From Goshen to Sinai

Chapters 1114 of Exodus comprise an exceedingly complex section, and at


times the traditions have contradictory statements. The drama is more blurred
than usual, and scholars vary tremendously in their interpretation of the
material. One tradition notes that Pharaoh was shaken when death took his
son and that he ordered the Hebrews to leave.

Another source indicates that Moses used the period of mourning for the first-
born son as the occasion for fleeing secretly from the country. In either case, it
is clear that Pharaoh finally had his forces pursue the Hebrews. Although
tradition interpreted the Hebrew text to claim that about 2,000,000 people left
Egypt, interpretation by critical methods reduces the number to 15,000 or so.

The Egyptian army cornered them at the Sea of Reeds (papyrus), which
barred their exit to the east. Later Jewish tradition understood the body of
water to be the Red Sea, and this erroneous interpretation persists today,
even in some of the most recent English translations of the Bible. Scholars
disagree as to the precise location of the Red Sea, but, since papyrus grows
only in freshwater, it was most probably a shallow lake in the far northeastern
corner of Egypt.

Hemmed in by the Egyptians, the people vented their complaints on Moses.


According to one tradition, Moses shared their uneasiness, and he called to
Yahweh for help.

Another account claims that Moses confidently challenged them to be calm


and watch for Yahweh's deliverance. A strong east wind blew all night,
creating a dry corridor through the lake and permitting the Hebrews to cross.

The pursuing Egyptians were destroyed when the waters returned. The timing
of this natural event gave the final answer to Pharaoh's arrogant question,
Who is Yahweh? Safely on the other side, Moses and his sister Miriam led
the people in a victory song of praise to Yahweh (Ex. 15:121). The style of
the poetry is similar to that of 14th-century.

Canaanite literature, and there is every reason to believe that the poem
virtually preserves the original form of the song, with its refrain, Sing to the
Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown
into the sea.
The route of the Hebrews is contested by scholars, but the most likely
possibility is the southern route to Jabal Musa, the traditional location of Mt.
Sinai (Horeb), in the granite range at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula.
The journey there traversed some very desolate country, and Moses had to
contend with bitter complaints about
the lack of water and food. Finally, however, he brought the people to the
mountain of God, where Yahweh had appeared to him in the burning bush.

The Covenant at Sinai

During the 14th century BCE the Hittites of Asia Minor made a number of
treaties with neighbouring rulers who came under their control. The
agreement was not between equals, but between the Hittite king (the
suzerain) and a subordinate ruler (the vassal). In the prologue the Hittite ruler
described himself as the great king, the one granting the treaty.

Then followed a historical survey of relationships between the Hittite suzerain


and his vassal. Special attention to the kindnesses shown the underling by the
overlord was intended to remind the vassal of his obligation to abide by the
treaty stipulations. The basic requirement was an oath of loyalty. Since Egypt
was involved with the Hittites in the international politics of the time, Moses
probably learned about the Hittite treaty form during his years in the Egyptian
court.

The appearance of Yahweh in a terrific storm at Mt. Sinai, narrated in chapters


19 and 20 of Exodus, was a revelatory experience for Moses, just as the
burning bush had been. Somehow he realized that the Hittite treaty was an
accurate analogy of the relationship between Yahweh and the Hebrews.
Yahweh had a claim upon them because he had delivered them.

The only proper response to his love and care would be a pledge of
obedience to his will. Scholars have tended to date the Ten Commandments,
or Decalogue (contained in the revelation at Sinai), after the conquest of
Canaan, but there is absolutely nothing in these guidelines to indicate their
origin in an agricultural context. More likely they were the stipulations in the
covenant ceremony at Mt. Sinai.

Because Yahweh was proclaimed the only true God, one of the first
commands was appropriately a ban against all other gods. Authorities have
debated whether or not this understanding was interpreted as monotheism.
Most certainly it was not the philosophical monotheism of later periods, but it
was a practical monotheism in that any gods recognized by other nations
were under Yahweh's control. Inasmuch as he had brought them into being
and authorized their presence in his council, he was Lord over all gods and
nations.
Another early command has been taken to mean a ban on making images of
other gods, but originally the prohibition applied to representations of Yahweh
himself.

Worship in the ancient world was unthinkable without some idol or image; the
uniqueness of Moses' restriction is all the more evident. Yahweh is the
unimageable

Deity who cannot be represented in material forms. Since Yahweh had


revealed the meaning of his name to Moses, it was fitting that the Decalogue
should also prohibit any magical or unethical use of his name. Undoubtedly
the ideas underlying commands came from the religious culture of his day, but
they were raised to a significantly higher level because of the holy, righteous
character.

Moses realized that, if the Covenant people were to have a stable, just
society, they would have to emulate their God. Concern for his creatures
would mean respect for them as persons. Murder, adultery, theft, lying, and
covetousness would never be legitimate because they lead to chaos and
breakdown of the community. Moreover, inasmuch as Yahweh had been
concerned to protect the powerless Hebrews in Egypt, they in turn would have
to guarantee justice for the orphans, widows, resident aliens, and any other
disadvantaged persons under their jurisdiction.

On confirmation of the Covenant, Moses and the people faced the task of
living by the stipulations. This called for interpretations of the commands, and
so Moses began issuing ordinances for specific situations. Many of these he
drew from the case law of his day, but insight as to their selection and
application probably came in the tent of meeting (a simple sanctuary tent
pitched outside the camp), where Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a
man speaks to his friend.

Breaches of the Covenant necessitated means of atonement, which in turn


meant provision of a priesthood to function at sacrifices and in worship. In
short, the rudiments of the whole Hebrew cult, according to tradition,
originated at Sinai. At Jethro's suggestion Moses instituted a system of judges
and hearings to regulate the
civil aspects of the community. It was at Sinai, perhaps, where the people
were organized into 12 tribes.
One of Moses' most remarkable characteristics was his concern for the
Hebrews, in spite of their stubborn, rebellious ways. When they reverted to
worshipping a golden calf, Yahweh was ready to disown them and begin anew
with Moses and his descendants. Moses rejected the offer, however, and
later, when pleading for the forgiveness of the people, he even asked to have
his own name blotted out of Yahweh's book of remembrance if the Lord would
not forgive them.

From Sinai to Transjordan


After leaving Mt. Sinai, Moses faced increasing resistance and frustration,
according to the narrative in the book of Numbers. Apparently his virility did
not diminish during these years because he took a Cushite woman as his
second wife. But Miriam, with the support of Aaron, opposed the marriage. At
Kadesh-barnea the pessimistic majority report of the spies who had been sent
out to reconnoitre thwarted Moses' desire to march north and conquer the
land of Canaan.

When he urged the people to reconsider their action they almost stoned him.
But here again, according to tradition, Moses interceded for the people with
Yahweh, who threatened to destroy them and raise up another and greater
nation. In one instance, however, tradition recalled that Moses' anger
overrode his compassion. At Meribah, probably in the area of Kadesh-barnea.

Moses addressed the complaining people as rebels and struck a rock twice in
anger, whereupon water flowed forth for the thirsty people. He had been angry
before in defense of Yahweh's name, honour, and cause, but this time his
anger stemmed from utter frustration with his contentious people. Although
tradition interpreted this lapse as the reason why Yahweh would not permit
Moses to enter Canaan, the remarkable fact is that Moses was able to bear
up under such continuous pressure.

In Transjordan the new states of Edom and Moab, vassals of the Midianites,
rejected Moses' request for passage. He wisely circled east of them and
moved north to conquer Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan.
Moses permitted some of the tribes to settle in Transjordan, a decision that
evoked opposition from the Moabites and their Midianite overlords. They hired
the Syrian diviner Balaam to put a curse on the Hebrews, but instead he
pronounced a blessing.

Some scholars interpret this as proof that Balaam was a convert to Yahwism.
If this was indeed the case, he must have reverted later on, because the
biblical tradition implies that Balaam incited his former employers to weaken
the Hebrews by religious seduction. Moses responded to the enmity of the
Midianites with a successful holy war against them not long before his death.

As his last official act Moses renewed the Sinai Covenant with those who had
survived the wilderness wanderings. From his camp in the Jordan Valley,
Moses climbed to a vantage point on Mt. Pisgah. There he viewed the land of
promise. The Hebrews never saw him again, and the circumstances of his
death and burial remain shrouded in mystery. Tradition claimed that Yahweh
buried him in the valley opposite Beth-peor, the shrine of the people's
apostasy.

Moses the man

Although time undoubtedly enhanced the portrait of Moses, a basic picture


emerges from the sources. Five times the narratives claim that Moses kept
written records (Ex. 17:14; 24:4; 34:2728; Num. 33:2; and Deut. 31:9, 24
26). Even with a generous interpretation of the extent of these writings, they
do not amount to more than a fifth of the total Pentateuch; therefore, the
traditional claim of Mosaic authorship of the whole Pentateuch is untenable.

Moses formulated the Decalogue, mediated the Covenant, and began the
process of rendering and codifying supplemental interpretations of the
Covenant stipulations.

Undoubtedly he kept some records, and they served as the core of the
growing corpus of law and tradition.

In a general sense, therefore, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible can be
described as Mosaic. Without him there would have been no Israel and no
collection known as Torah.

Moses was a gifted, well-trained person, but his true greatness was probably
due to his personal experience of and relationship with Yahweh. This former
stammering murderer understood his preservation and destiny as coming
from the grace of a merciful Lord who had given him another chance. Moses
had an understanding spirit and a forgiving heart because he knew how much
Yahweh had forgiven him. He was truly humble because he recognized that
his gifts and strength came from Yahweh.

Because of the uniqueness of his situation, Moses had to function in a


number of roles. As Yahweh's agent in the deliverance of the Hebrews, he
was their prophet and leader. As mediator of the Covenant, he was the
founder of the community. As interpreter of the Covenant, he was an
organizer and legislator. As intercessor for the people, he was their priest.

Moses had a special combination of gifts and graces that made it impossible
to replace him. Although his successor, Joshua, and the priest Eleazar, the
son of Aaron, tried to do so, together they did not measure up to him. Later
prophets were great men who spoke out of the spirit that Moses had, but they
were not called to function in so many roles. As tradition claimed, he was
indeed the greatest of the prophets, and, as history shows, few of mankind's
great personalities outrank him in influence.

Death and everlasting Glory

As a worthy legacy to the people for whom he has endured unparalleled


hardships, Moses in his last days pronounces the three memorable
discourses preserved in Deuteronomy. his chief utterance relates to a future
Prophet, like to himself, whom the people are to receive.

He then bursts forth into a sublime song of praise to Jahweh and adds
prophetic blessings for each of the twelve tribes. From Mount Nebo - on "the
top of Phasga" -
Moses views for the last time the Promised Land, and then dies at the age of
120 years.

He is buried "in the valley of Moab over against Phogor", but no man "knows
his sepulchre". His memory has ever been one of "grandeur". He is the type of
Hebrew holiness, so far outshining other models that twelve centuries after his
death, the only Christ Whom he foreshadowed seemed to eclipse him.

THE 10 PRIMORDIAL MASTERS : 4 - Zarathustra

Source: CD-Rom -The 10 Incarnations of the Primordial Master 4 Zoroaster

Introduction

The Zoroastrians of Iran were members of the Indo-European family known


as the Aryans. They called themselves Zoroastrians because they believed in
the teachings of the first Aryan prophet, Zarathushtra.

Zarathushtra was the first prophet to preach a monotheistic religion, and He


was born in Iran about 8000 years BC. He revealed that there was only one
God, Ahura Mazda and that life in the physical world was a battle between
good and evil.

As per man's actions, he would either cross the "Chinvato Peretu" or the
sword bridge after death, and reach Heaven, or fall from it and go to the
abode of the evil one. In the final days there would be a battle between good
and evil, evil would be vanquished and the world would be purified by a bath
of molten metal. Mazda would then judge the world, resurrecting the dead and
His Kingdom would be established on earth.

Zarathushtra's songs are called the "Gathas" which linguistically may be older
than the Indian Vedic scriptures. The Gathas are written in an ancient Avestan
dialect. This is a sister language to Sanskrit of India, and Greek and Latin of
the West. The reason is, the common ancestors (common to the ancient
Iranians, Ancient Indians, Greeks, and Europeans) were one and the same -
the Indo-European or Aryan peoples.

Surprisingly, many so-called Christian concepts actually were derived from


Zoroastrian Aryan ideas which thrived in Iran for thousands of years until the
Arab invasion of Iran around 1300 years ago.
Concepts such as heaven and hell, God and the evil adversary ahriman, the
coming of the Saviour or Saoshyant born of a virgin, the end-time purge of the
world by Fire followed by the resurrection of the dead, the making fresh of the
world and the final battle between good and evil leading to the final defeat of
evil. These beliefs filtered down to Judaism during the reign of King Khushru
(Cyrus) of Iran.

Zoroastrians also believe that all races in the world are created by God and
are equal - a true sign of the real ancient Aryan's nobility and tolerance.
Cyrus, King of Iran who was an Aryan rebuilt the temple of the Jews after
freeing the Jews from Babylon - for this, he is still remembered by the Jews
and called the "Anointed of the Lord" in the Bible.

The Jews still celebrate that act of the true Aryans in a festival. Many Jews
then stayed in Iran under Cyrus and his successors such as Darayus, as
equal subjects under the King. Books of the Bible written after this stay have
taken all these Zoroastrian concepts, from there they came to Christianity and
other religions. There are scholars who consider Zoroastrianism as such to be
the mother religion of the present day world's faiths.

In fact the edict of Cyrus proclaiming equality for all his subjects is enshrined
in the United Nations today. The original Aryans were realy multicultural and
tolerant of all races! So, it is probable that the Jews were influenced by the
Zoroastrian faith of Iran in those days - and took on the concepts of
heaven/hell, God's evil adversary, the resurrection and the final purification of
the world - the virgin birth, the Saviour etc., all these concepts being
Zoroastrian. There are other similarities too - certain purificatory observances
such as the impurity of menstruation etc. are found in both faiths. Indeed, the
very idea of the Messiah, and the very concept of Jesus could be Zoroastrian
in origin.

Zarathushtra's religion was the prominent one in Iran until the conquest by the
Arabs, around 1300 years ago, who converted Iran to Islam.

To preserve the Zoroastrian faith, this most ancient of faiths, indeed the
"mother" faith of all mankind, a band of the Zarathushtrians sailed by boat to
India about 1300 years ago, and settled in India where they were called the
Parsees (from "Pars" ie. Iran). The holy FIRE is kept in the temple as the
symbol of Ahura Mazda, and priests feed the fire with sandalwood and cedar
and intone the ancient sacred Mathras (verses of praise) in the ancient Aryan
Avestan language. The Mathric incantations have incredible divine potent
power, a power used to fight evil.

They also revere the elements of God such as water, earth, wind, and the
creations of God such as the Sun, moon and stars.

The Early Years


There is very little known about the early days of Zarathushtra. The little that
we do know is mainly because of the legendary stories that have been passed
down through the generations by memorizing the scripture. Therefore, below,
you will simply read different legendary and even mythical stories about
Zarathushtra. If any of it seems too far-fetched to be real, it probably is not.
We hope you enjoy these stories in the spirit that they were created:

Birth

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, in a distant land, by the banks of a
river, lived a large family named Spitama (meaning Most White). The head of
one branch of this family, named Hechadaspa (Stallions), had two sons:
Pourushaspa (Many Horses) and Arasti (Tidy & Neat).

Pourushaspa had married a young woman named Dughdova (Milkmaid), who


by this time was pregnant. It is said that when she was 5 months pregnant,
she had a dream in which she saw the world was being destroyed, and she
was very frightened. But then an angel came to her in her dream, and told her
that she was bearing a great prophet who would be able to change the
impending destruction.

Legend has it that on the 26th of March; the pregnant Dughdova gave birth to
a young and healthy baby boy.

However, this was a peculiar baby, since unlike other babies, he did not cry.
Instead, when this baby boy was born, he had a broad smile on his face, and
his face was shining with a divine glow. His parents decided to name him
Zarathushtra, (which according to one translation means Golden Light or
Golden Star, and according to another means Owner of yellow or old
Camels.) Arastis family also had a son named Maidhyoimangha or
Maedyoimaha (Mid Moon).

The Debate

Zarathushtra was growing up as a very intelligent and energetic young boy.


He was very observant and had a sharp mind. He had the ability to see
through the surface of things and penetrate to the depth of their cause and
meaning. Because of his inquisitiveness and natural curiosity, he always had
lots of questions to ask the priests and teachers of his time; however, he was
rarely satisfied with the explanations that he was receiving. When he was nine
years old, some of his friends arranged that he would have a meeting with the
head priest of his town, and discuss the questions that he had. Zarathushtra
was very much looking forward to this debate.

The story goes that on the day of the debate, Zarathushtra and the head
priests spend a number of hours discussing the questions that he had.
However, neither side managed to convince or satisfy the other. The depth of
some of his questions had troubled the head priest, and he left the place in
deep thought. Although when the head priest left, he was in good health,
legend has it that on his way home, he suffered a massive heart attack and
died. There are many other stories of how he had to face all sorts of magical
evil powers, and how he escaped them.

Youth

Zarathushtra spent much of his youth in the surrounding pastures of his town,
contemplating nature for many hours. It was during these meditations that
many of the questions that the priests could not answer, would unravel
themselves in ways that their answers would be revealed to him.

There is another story that says when Zarathushtra was fifteen, his four
brothers approached him to divide their fathers wealth among themselves.
Zarathushtra only took one item, symbolizing the spiritual life, and left the
entire wealth of his father to his four brothers.

When Zarathushtra was only twenty years old, he left home for about ten
years, travelling here and there, in search of Truth. And it was one early
morning at the end of this time that he was illumined.

It is also said that he married a woman named Hvovi, before his illumination,
although it is not known where and when.

He spent years in the wilderness communing with God before his first vision,
in which Vohu Manah came to him in the form of a huge Angel. All the
heavenly entities, the Amesha Spentas, instructed Zarathushtra in heaven,
and he received perfect knowledge of past, present, and future.
Zarathushtra's preaching to King Vishtaspa was enhanced by miracles,
especially the healing of a paralyzed horse that convinced the king to accept
the new religion.

Most of these motifs are familiar from the lives of other culture heroes such as
Moses, and Jesus. Whether any of this literally happened is a matter for
belief, not scholarship. Tradition-minded Zoroastrians do accept these
legends as truth about Zarathushtra.

Unlike Mohammed's recitation of the Koran, the Gathas of Zarathushtra are


not "channeled" - that is, the Gathas are regarded as the inspired composition
of a poet-prophet rather than a text dictated by a heavenly being.
Zarathushtra was inspired by God, through the Bounteous Immortals of Vohu
Manah, Asha, and the others - but he was not a passive recipient of the divine
wisdom. In accordance with Zoroastrian philosophy, he reached God through
his own effort simultaneously with God's communication to him.
Zarathushtra was never regarded as divine by his followers, not even in the
most extravagant legends. He remained a man like all others, though divinely
gifted with inspiration and closeness to Ahura Mazda. His life is an inspiration
for Zoroastrians of all persuasions, traditionalist and modern - in his
innovation, loving relationship with God, and spiritual courage he is a model
for all his followers. After his death.

Zarathushtra's great soul attains almost the level of a Bounteous Immortal, but
still is not merged in the divinity.

Illumination

When he was thirty years old, one early morning, he went to fetch some water
from the river. It was around dawn. The sky had just turned color and the sun
was about to rise. As he had gone into the waters of the river, Vohu Mana (the
angel of the Good Mind) appears to him, and opens the portal to the Divine
Light of Ahura Mazda. This was the first moment of Illumination and the first
Revelations of Zarathushtra.

In his vision, he perceived Ahura Mazda as the Wise Lord of Creation, and the
six emanations of Ahura Mazda, the Amesha Spentas as the guardians and
artisans of this physical world. He perceived the laws upon which the universe
operated, and understood the inter-relationship between Ahura Mazda, the
Amesha Spentas, and the Creation.

Perhaps we try to personify these images and abstract notions, and try to
think of them as angels, but in truth, Zarathushtra understood them as the
abstract notions that they were.

Propagation

After his illumination, Zarathushtra wanted to share his acquired wisdom with
the world, yet he did not know where to start. He made a decision to invite all
his family and relatives to listen to his teachings. And then in a family
gathering, he explained his understandings to them.

When he finished explaining, his cousin, Maedyoimaha, decided to join him,


and became the first follower of his teachings. And his wife Hvovi also
embraced his teachings becoming his second follower. His children, one by
one, decided to accept his philosophy as their way of life. (According to
another record, it took his cousin ten years before he accepted to follow
Zarathushtras teachings and become his first convert.)

Challenges
Zarathushtra then decided to share his teachings with his fellow citizens.
When he started teaching others in the street of the city, he met with a deeply
rooted resistance from the priests, who had based their entire life and
livelihood on the old religions.

Zarathushtra tried many different techniques, and every time he met with
renewed opposition and greater resistance. In fact, over the next twelve
years, he only managed to win 22 people over to his philosophy, including his
wife and children, and his first disciple, his cousin.

Having met such frustration, and such vehement opposition from the rulers
and priests of his own land, he decided to leave his homeland for other
countries. He then mobilized his followers, and the group of23 people started
their migration.

To whichever land they came, and in whatever city that stayed, he tried to
teach others about his philosophy, yet in every place they met with predictable
opposition, partly due to the self-interested preemptive strikes of the rulers
and priests, and partly because of the ignorance of the people, and their
unwillingness to change.

Finally, they had heard that a of the King of a nearby country, King Vishtaspa,
was a wise and just man and if there was one person in the whole world who
might be open to listen to new teachings, it would be him. And they set off in
that direction.

Breakthrough - King Vishtaspa

Zarathushtra was 42 when he and his followers finally reached the court of
King Vishtaspa. The wise King had granted Zarathushtra an audience, but he
had also invited all the priests and wise men of his court to attend and listen to
Zarathushtra and question him about his philosophy. The King had wisely set
the scene for a debate, if it need be.

At the debate in the court of King Vishtaspa, Zarathushtra eloquently spoke


and convincingly responded to all challenges and questions. The King saw
the wisdom of this man, and his teachings and embraced the religion. At the
same time, the King invited his subjects to also listen carefully and choose
wisely to follow the Zoroastrian religion. This was a major breakthrough for
Zarathushtra.

However, the story goes on to say that Zarathushtras enemies then plotted
against Zarathushtra and planted various objects of black magic in his
quarters, and finally by accusing him of such evil acts, prompted the King to
search his room. Upon finding such artifacts, Zarathushtra was imprisoned
and denied to eat or drink.
Yet the story has a favorable turning, as such stories inevitably do. It is said
that the Kings favorite dark horse is struck with an incurable deforming
disease. None of the physicians in the kingdom can offer any cure. When
Zarathushtra, who was now in prison, hears about this, he offers the King to
try to cure his favorite horse.

The King reluctantly lets Zarathushtra attempt his healing techniques, which
he duly does. The King then realizes the error of his judgment about
Zarathushtra, and embraces his religion. The King also punishes the priests
who conspired against Zarathushtra, and starts to promote the religion.

Now, these stories may seem somewhat difficult to believe. What we do know
however, is that once the King embraced the religion of Zarathushtra, it was a
breakthrough and a turning point in the fortunes of the Zoroastrian Religion.
From that time on, Zarathushtra had the backing and support of a powerful
and wise King.

He freely went about propagating his teachings throughout that land, and very
soon his message crossed the borders of the country to neighboring
countries. In a way, if Zarathushtras illumination was the conception, this was
the birth of the Zoroastrian Religion, as we know it today.

Two of the earliest converts, after King Vishtaspa embraced the religion were
two brothers named Frashaoshtra and Jamaspa, of the Hvogva family. These
two are mentioned in the Gathas, and they continued to be among
Zarathushtras disciples until the end.

There is yet another legendary story about a tree that Zarathushtra allegedly
planted. It is also mentioned in the Shahnameh that when Zarathushtra visited
Kashmar, he planted a Sarv (Cyprus tree). This tree which became
famous as Sarv-e Kashmar, is claimed to have grown for millennia, from the
time of Zarathushtra until it was ordered to be cut down by Caliph al-
Mutawaqqil, in the year 861 CE.

Zarathushtras Character

While there is much lacking in reconstructing the events of Zarathushtras life,


there is ample evidence of Zarathushtras character, all be it from his very
short Divine Songs, the Gathas. From the content of the Gathas it is
abundantly clear that Zarathushtra was a natural man. He was an
exceptionally wise and righteous person.

He was an Ashu one who has reached the apex of self-realization,


perfection, and thenceforth immortality.
He was loving and kind, yet resolute and intent on adhering to truth and
justice. He was wise and discerning. Possessed a very observant and incisive
mind. He had a clear vision and understanding of the physical laws and moral
principles of the world, and with a super-human power adhered to
righteousness. In short, he was the epitome of spiritual strength.

There is very little biographical material in the Gathas. What is there indicates
that Zarathushtra was cast out of his original home, wherever that was, and
forced to wander, along with his followers and their animals.

"To what land should I turn? Where should I turn to go? They hold me back
from folk and friends. Neither the community I follow pleases me, nor do the
wrongful rulers of the land... I know... that I am powerless. I have a few cattle
and also a few men."

Zarathushtra is said to have had six children, three boys and three girls. This
is not exact information, since the number and gender equals that of the six
Amesha Spentas and may be only symbolic. But the last Gatha is composed
for the marriage of Zarathushtra's daughter Pouruchista (Full of Wisdom) so
he is known to have had at least one child. Thus Zarathushtra married into the
king's court; Pouruchista, in turn, married the prime minister.

There is no exact or provable information about Zarathushtra's life at court,


though it may be assumed that it was here that he composed the Gathas, and
the names of king and court appear in the poetry as if, in oral recitation, they
were there listening to him.

The prophet may have spent almost three decades there, before his death at
age 77. One of the controversies about Zarathushtra concerns whether he
was a priest. He did not live in a religious vacuum, but was born into a society
that practiced the polytheistic rites of ancient Indo-Iranian religion. In the later
Avesta, Zarathushtra is used as a character in dialogue with Ahura Mazda; he
is featured in ritual texts and in law-texts, and great amounts of ritual and
doctrine are thus attributed to him, whether he was their originator or not.

In much later Zoroastrian traditions, some of which were not recorded until
centuries after the Arab conquest, the life of the Prophet abounds with
miracles and divine interventions.

His mother glowed with the divine Glory usually reserved for kings; the soul of
the prophet was placed by God in the sacred Haoma plant (which Z.
condemned in the Gathas) and the prophet was conceived through the
essence of Haoma in milk (though the birth is not a virgin birth, but the natural
product of two special, but earthly parents). The child laughed at his birth
instead of crying, and he glowed so brightly that the villagers around him were
frightened and tried to destroy him. All attempts to destroy young Zarathushtra
failed; fire would not burn him nor would animals crush him in stampedes; he
was cared for by a mother wolf in the wilderness.

Links with the Modern World


Ever since ancient Greek times the name of Zoroaster has stood for
mysterious Eastern wisdom. In Hellenistic times many esoteric and magical
texts were written using his name and Zoroaster was thought of as one of the
greatest magi, or mystics.

Once the Avesta had been brought to the West in the 18th century, his name
again became famous in the West - this time not for magic, but for the
humanistic, monotheistic, moral philosophy found in the Gathas.

Enlightenment philosophers such as Kant and Diderot mentioned him as a


model; the playwright Voltaire wrote a play called "Zoroastre." Here was a
philosopher from "pagan" antiquity who was monotheistic and moral without
any help from the Christian Church. The French composer Rameau wrote an
opera called "Zoroastre" and the free-thinking Mozart used a variant of the
name for his character Sarastro in "The Magic Flute;" Sarastro is the priest of
the Sun and Light who defeats the Queen of the Night.

In the 20th century Nietszche was inspired by Zarathushtra's example when


expounding his philosophy in THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSHTRA, though there
is no identifiable Zoroastrian teaching in the Nietszche work. The German
composer Richard Strauss, inspired by the Nietzsche work.

The Life of the Spirit

The word spirituality is derived from the term "spirit". "Spirit" has no size, form
or weight and therefore, it cannot be described physically.

Ahura Mazda, the Divine Fravashis and the Yazatas are Divine "Spirits"
having no physical existence. Their spiritual essence is present in material
manifestation but the "Spirit" itself is beyond the physical.
Like "Spirit", the Soul is the purely immortal, immaterial and divine principle
which resides in the heart of man.

Consequently, spirituality is the experience, the direct communion between


two Divine Entities: the "Spirit" and the Soul.

Anyone who has had a spiritual experience knows that such an experience
cannot be described with mere words and that spiritual experiences are much
more profound relative to the psychic ones.

Different prophets have revealed different spiritual disciplines to their followers


to attain spirituality. To put us in communion with Ahura Mazda, the Divine,
Zarathushtra has given us the sacred "manthra spenta" which are much more
than holy words and efficacious sounds written and recited in an archaic
"Avestan" language, as some believe.

It is the Soul of "Ahura Mazda" it is the embodiment of Cosmic Energy


originating from Ahura Mazda Who is the Source of Endless Light ("raevat-
khvarnvat"). Mantras as Divine Energy Mantras are rooted in "staot yasna"
which means the Primordial Sound (vibrations) created by the First Ray of
Light which burst forth at the beginning of Creation, and is diffused throughout
Nature. Being at the very root of Nature, "staot" brings into
existence the space-time continuum.

The utterance of the Primordial sound, transcend the space-time continuum in


order to find the reciprocal resonance in the spiritual world of light. Being
rooted in the natural laws of light and sound, the holy "mantra " are not
subjected to the man-made rules of grammar or language; therefore, it is
improper and inappropriate to explain or understand such holy words through
the medium of philology alone.

Communion between the Spirit, being of the nature of Light, and the Soul is
by the Primordial Sound or vibrations, its counter-part, is best achieved
through the language of light and sound which is the specifically states that
"mantras" are best for spirituality which will be attained by "yasna" or Union
with the Divine.

The utterance of "mantra" is best for the purity of the Soul in order to attain
spirituality.

Spirituality is also enhanced through prayers. During prayers, the Soul


becomes the receptacle of higher spiritual consciousness and attunes itself in
direct communion with the Divine through sound, motion and devotional
thought vibrations which constitute the Divine Light, waves of energy.

Sound and light, both being functions of waves of energy, the Divine sounds
of uttered physically are absorbed
into the rays of Divine Light instantly. The meaning behind "the utterance of
the Divine prayer protects the body",
may be better understood through more enlightened science which accepts
the potency of sound as "energy".

Fire

Besides the holy "mantra ", Zarathushtra has promoted Fire through which
spirituality is achieved. Fire is both spiritual as well as physical. Being
spiritual, Fire, is a Divinity; It is equated with Ahura Mazda's Own Inner Light
and Life or Energy.

As energy, Fire transmutes the physical (matter) into the spiritual. It is the
source of all Creation. No Zarathushti ritual is complete without the presence
of Fire. In the Gathas, Zarathushtra Himself expressly seeks a vision and a
communion with Ahura Mazda or the Divien through Fire, which is worshipped
as the "Spirit Holiest".
Fire and the Primordial Sound are both Divine Energies which attune a
Zarathushti to All Mighty. In all Zarthushti
homes, it is necessary to keep the "divo" or the hearth fire perpetually
burning. When a Zarathushti prays in the presence of Fire they communes
with Ahura Mazda Himself as science now proves that every particle of light
(photon) has intelligence, and Mazda is the Lord of Wisdom.

The hearth fire are the physical manifestations of the Divine Light which
permeates through time and space. Ahura Mazda, being Spirit, resides in the
spiritual world while He sends His Son, Fire, to adorn the Earth and propel the
entire Creation towards Frasho-Kereti. In addition to the utterance of "mantra
", performance of prayers and rituals, and the preservation of Fire,
Zarathushtra has also given us the spiritual munition of purity rules also
known as or the anti-pollution rules, and preservation of spiritual heritage.

Revelations

Zarathushtra was sent by Ahura Mazda to reaffirm the ancient faith. He was
also given the "AGUSTO-VACHO" ie revelations unheard before. He was thus
the first prophet, to be followed by three Saviours. When the final Saviour
comes, the world will be purged by fire and evil destroyed in a final great
battle.

Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda:

"O Ahura Mazda, righteous Creator of the corporeal world, who was the first
person to whom You taught these teachings?

Then spoke Ahura Mazda:

"YIMA the splendid who watched over his subjects, O righteous Zarathushtra.
I first did teach the Aryan religion to the Creator, prior to you.

"Yima spoke to me, and said he would like to spread the religion among
mankind by teaching others. It was then that I replied:

"O Yima you are not created for this task by Me. You are not learned enough
to increase the religion among mankind - you are not the Messenger of the
religion.

"Yima the righteous told me then:

"O Ahura, if I am not created for the task of increasing the good religion, then I
would like to advance the world, to increase it and be a righteous king and
protector. I ask You this, that in my kingdom there be neither cold wind nor hot
wind (neither extreme winter or summer), there be no sickness nor death.
That my subjects be undying and unwanting, and gloriously happy under my
reign.
"I Who am Ahura Mazda, was pleased with this. I brought Yima a weapon - a
Golden plough which was dagger shaped with golden forks, to signify that his
authority was divine, sanctioned by Me. He became the mightiest King
(KSHAETA) the Aryans had ever known, the most righteous and most
splendid Aryan man.

"When Yima's rule extended to 300 years, then the Aryan land had prospered
so much that the land became full of cattle, men, dogs, birds and red flaming
fire (the fires kept burning in the house of every Aryan). Place could no longer
be found for cattle or men.

"I made this known to Yima, and he proceeded towards the south, towards the
path of the high sun (west), increasing the land with his golden plough
(conquering and cultivating the lands). The boundaries of the Aryan kingdom
were thus extended in breadth, one third greater than before. The king stood
as an Aryan on the mother earth, praising the country with words fit for prayer.

"When Yima's rule extended to 600 years, the state of abundance reoccurred.
This led to Yima proceeding again towards the south and the west, extending
the boundaries of the Aryan kingdom two thirds greater than before. Thus
happened the second great migration of the Aryans.

"When Yima's rule extended to 900 years, abundance again led to Yima
increasing the land with his golden plough, towards the south and west. This
third great migration made the Aryan kingdom three times larger than before.

"In the first 1000 years of his rule, Yima the splendid enjoined righteous order
on his Aryan subjects. He controlled invisible time itself, making it so much
large in size so as to praise and spread the righteous law. "

That glorious age of the Aryans did not last for ever, O Zarathushtra! It was
time for the evil one's attack. I Who am Ahura Mazda spoke then to Yima
Kshaeta:

"O splendid Yima, towards the sacred Aryan land will rush evil as a severe
fatal winter; evil will rush as thick snow flakes falling in increased depth. From
the three directions will wild and ferocious animals attack, arriving from the
most dreadful sites.

"Before this winter, any snow that fell would melt and convey the water away.
Now the snow will not melt (but will form the Polar ice cap). In this place, O
Yima the corporeal world will be DAMAGED. Before in this seedland the grass
was so soft the footprint of even a small animal could be observed. Now, there
will be no footprints discernible at all on the packed sheets of hard ice that will
form.

"So, Yima; make a mighty VARA, an enclosure as long as a riding ground,


with equal four sides. Here bring the families of Aryan men and women, cattle,
dogs, birds and the red flaming fire.
"Inside the Vara, make water flow in a canal, one Hathra long. Keep earth
inside the Vara, to grow green vegetables as food. Make cattle pens, to house
the cattle of the Aryan people.

"Let love blossom unfailing in the enclosure, among the young couples therein
- make for them a residence, with rooms, pillars, long extended walls and an
enclosing wall."

Passing

There are a number of versions of how Zarathushtra died, all of them


legendary.

Many different accounts of this martyrdom follow, including some in which


supernatural forces intervene to kill the murderer of Zarathushtra. There is
another version that claims Zarathushtra ascended to the skies (much like the
resurrection of Jesus).

Another story claims that in his seventy seventh year, one night Zarathushtra
bid his family members farewell, and after his evening prayer retired to bed.
He passed away calmly and quietly in his sleep. In the morning, when his
family members noticed that he had not awaken, they went to his bed side to
find his body lying there in a peaceful state.

THE 10 PRIMORDIAL MASTERS : 5 - Lao Tse

Source: CD-Rom -The 10 Incarnations of the Primordial Master 5 Lao Tse

Early Life

According to tradition Taoism originated with a man named Lao Tzu, said to
have been born about 604 B.C. He is a shadowy figure. We know nothing for
certain about him and scholars wonder if there ever was such a man. We do
not even know his name, for Lao Tzu-which can be translated "the Old Boy",
"the Old Fellow", or "the Grand Old Master" - is obviously a title of endearment
and respect.

All we really have is a mosaic of legends. Some of these are fantastic: that he
was conceived by a shooting star, carried in his mother's womb for eighty-two
years, and born already a wise old man with white hair. Other parts of the
story do not tax our credulity: that he kept the archives in his native western
state, and that around this occupation he wove a simple and unassertive life.
Inferences concerning his personality derive almost entirely from a single slim
volume attributed to him. From this some conclude that he was probably a
solitary recluse who was absorbed in occult meditations; others picture him as
down to earth - a genial neighbor with a lively sense of humor.

The only purportedly contemporary portrait, reported by China's first historian,


Ssu-ma Ch'ien, speaks only of the enigmatic impression he left - the sense
that he possessed depths of understanding that defied ready comprehension.
According to this account Confucius, intrigued by what he had heard of Lao
Tzu, once visited him.

Appearance

His description suggests that the strange man baffled him while leaving him
respectful. "I know a bird can fly; I
know a fish can swim; I know animals can run.

Creatures that run can be caught in nets; those that swim can be caught in
wicker traps; those that fly can be hit by arrows. But the dragon is beyond my
knowledge; it ascends into heaven on the clouds and the wind. Today I
have seen Lao Tzu, and he is like the dragon!"

The traditional portrait concludes with the report that Lao Tzu, saddened by
his people's disinclination to cultivate the natural goodness he advocated and
seeking personal solitude for his closing years, he climbed on a water buffalo
and rode westward toward what is now Tibet. At the Hankao Pass a
gatekeeper, sensing the unusual character of the truant, tried to persuade him
to turn back. Failing this, he asked if the "Old Boy" would not at least leave a
record of his beliefs to the civilization he was abandoning. This Lao Tzu
consented to do. He retired for three days and returned with a slim volume of
five thousand characters titled Tao Te Ching, or The Way and Its Power. A
testament to humanity's at-home-ness in the universe, it can be read in half
an hour or a lifetime, and remains to this day the basic text of Taoist thought.

Tao Te Ching - The Way and Its Power

Lao Tzu didn't preach. He didn't organize or promote. He wrote a few pages
on request, rode off on a water buffalo, and that was it as far as he was
concerned.

How unlike the Buddha, who trudged the dusty roads of India for forty-five
years to make his point.
How unlike Confucius, who pestered dukes and princes, trying to gain an
administrative foothold (or at least a hearing) for his ideas.

Here was a man so little concerned with the success of his surmises, to say
nothing of fame and fortune, that he didn't even stay around to answer
questions. And yet, whether the story of his life is fact or fiction, it is so true to
Taoists attitudes that it will remain a part of Taoism forever.

On the Three Meanings of Tao

On opening Taoism's bible, the Tao Te Ching, we sense at once that


everything revolves around the pivotal concept of Tao itself.

Literally, this word means path, or way. There are three senses, however, in
which this "way" can be understood.

First, Tao is the way of the ultimate reality. This Tao cannot be perceived or
even clearly conceived, for it is too vast for human rationality to fathom. The
Tao Te Ching announces in its opening line that words are not equal to it: "the
Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao." Nevertheless, this ineffable and
transcendent Tao is the ground of all that follows. Above all, behind all,
beneath all is the Womb from which all life springs and to which it returns.

Awed by the thought of it, the Tao Te Ching bursts recurrently into praise, for
this primal Tao confronts him with life's basic mystery, the mystery of all
mysteries. "How clear it is! How quiet it is! It must be something eternally
existing!" "Of all great things, surely Tao is the greatest." But its ineffability
cannot be denied, so we are taunted, time and again, by Taoism's teasing
epigram: "Those who know don't say. Those who say don't know."

Though Tao is ultimately transcendent, it is also immanent. In this secondary


sense it is the way of the universe, the norm, the rhythm, the driving power in
all nature, the ordering principle behind all life. Behind, but also in the midst of
all life, for when Tao enters this second mode it "assume flesh" and informs all
things. It "adapts its vivid essence, clarifies its manifold fullness, subdues its
resplendent luster, and assumes the likeness of dust."

Basically spirit rather than matter, it cannot be exhausted; the more it is drawn
upon, the more it flows, for it is "that fountain ever on," to the Tao, his One.
There it marks inevitability, for when autumn comes "no leaf is spared
because of its beauty, no flower because of its fragrance."

Yet, ultimately, it is benign. Graceful instead of abrupt, flowing rather than


hesitant, it is infinitely generous. Giving life to all things, it may be called "the
Mother of the World."
Augmented Power: Taoist Yoga

Taoist practitioners were engaged in training programs of some sort, many of


them demanding - were not willing to settle for the philosophers' goal of
managing their allotments of the Tao efficiently. They wanted to go beyond
conserving to increasing the quota of the Tao they had to work with. In
accounting terms we can say that if Philosophical Taoists worked at
increasing net profits by cutting costs (reducing needless energy
expenditures), Taoist adepts wanted to increase gross income.

The word ch'i cries out to be recognized as the rightful entry to this second
school, for though it literally means breath, it actually means vital energy. The
Taoists used it to refer to the power of the Tao that they experienced coursing
through them-or not coursing because it was blocked-and their main object
was to further its flow. Ch'i fascinated these Taoists. Blake registered their
feelings precisely when he exclaimed, "Energy is a delight," for energy is the
life force and the Taoist loved life. To be alive is good; to be more alive is
better; to be always alive is best, hence the Taoist immortality cults.

To accomplish their end of maximizing ch'i, these Taoists worked with three
things: matter, movement, and their minds.

What they really wanted was a increase-increase and extension of the life
force, the ultimate guarantor of which would be the much-sought elixir of life
that would insure physical immortality.

Breathing exercises were also developed. Working with air, the subtlest form
of matter, they sought to draw ch'i from the atmosphere.

These efforts to extract ch'i from matter in its solid, liquid, and gaseous forms
were supplemented by programs of bodily movement such as t'ai chi chuan,
which gathers, meditation, yin/yang philosophy, and martial art into a
synthesis that in this case was designed to draw ch'i from the cosmos and
dislodge blocks to its internal flow. This last was the object of acupuncture as
well.

Meditation

Finally, turning to the mind itself, contemplatives, many of them hermits,


developed Taoist meditation. This practice involved shutting out distractions
and emptying the mind to the point where the power of the Tao might bypass
bodily filters and enter the self directly.

To arrive at this inwardness it was necessary to reverse all self-seeking and


cultivate perfect cleanliness of thought and body. Pure spirit can be known
only in a life that is "garnished and swept." Only where all is clean will it reveal
itself; therefore "put self aside." Perturbing emotions must likewise be quelled.
Ruffling the surface of the mind, they prevent introspection from seeing past
them to the springs of consciousness beneath. Desire and revulsion, grief and
joy, delight and annoyance - each must subside if the mind is to return to its
original purity, for in the end only peace and stillness are good for it. Let
anxiety be dispelled and harmony between the mind and its cosmic source
will come unsought.

It is close at hand, stands indeed at our very side; yet is intangible, a thing
that by reaching for cannot be got.

Remote it seems as the furthest limit of the Infinite. Yet it is not far off; every
day we use its power. For the Way of the Vital Spirit fills our whole frames, yet
man cannot keep track of it. It goes, yet has not departed. It comes, yet is not
here. It is muted, make no note that can be heard, yet of a sudden we find
that it is there in mind. Its dim and dark, showing no outward form, yet in a
great stream it flowed into us at our birth.

Selflessness, cleanliness, and emotional calm are the preliminaries to arriving


at full self knowledge, but they must be climaxed by deep meditation. "Bide in
silence, and the radiance of the spirit shall come in and make its home." For
this to happen all outward impressions must be stilled and the senses
withdrawn to a completely interior point of focus. Postures paralleling the
Indian asanas were recommended, and the breath must be similarly
controlled; it must be as soft and light as that of an infant, or even an embryo
in the womb. The result will be a condition of alert waiting known as "sitting
with a blank mind."

Realisation

And when the realization arrives, what then? With it come truth, joy, and
power. The climatic insight of meditational Taoism came with the impact of
finality, everything at last having fallen into place. The condition could not be
described as merely pleasurable. The direct perception of the source of one's
awareness as "serene and immovable, like a monarch on a throne," brought
joy unlike any hitherto known. The social utility of the condition, however, lay
in the extraordinary power it provided over people and things, a power in fact
which "could shift Heaven and Earth." A ruler who is desireless himself and
has this much psychic power automatically turns his subjects from their unruly
desires. He rules without even being known to rule.

The sage relies on actionless activity; Puts himself in the background; but is
always to the fore. Remains outside; but is always there. Is it not just because
he does no t strive for any personal end That all his personal ends are
fulfilled?

The Mingling of the Powers Taoism, vitalizing programs for increasing one's
individual ch'i, the three branches of Taoism all have the same concern - how
to maximize the Tao's animating te - and the specifics of their concerns fall on
a continuum. The continuum begins with interest in how life's normal allotment
of ch'i can be deployed to best effect.

To be something, to know something, and to be capable of something is to


rise above the superficial. A life has
substance to the degree that it incorporates the profundity of mysticism (Taoist
yoga), the direct wisdom of gnosis (Philosophical Taoism), and the productive
power of magic (Religious Taoism). Where these three things come together
there is a "school," and in China the school this text describes is Taoism.

Tao

In a way its virtue approached from a direction opposite to that of Confucius.


Confucius turned every effort to building a pattern of ideal responses that
might be consciously imitated. Taoism's approach is the opposite-to get the
foundations of the self in tune with Tao and let behavior flow spontaneously.

Action follows being; new action will follow new being, wiser being, stronger
being. The Tao Te Ching puts this
point without wasting a word. "The way to do," it says, "is to be."

How are we to describe the action that flows from a life that is grounded
directly in Tao. Nurtured by a force that
is infinitely subtle, infinitely intricate, it is a consummate gracefulness born
from an abundant vitality that has no
need for abruptness or violence. One simply lets the Tao flow in and flow out
again until all life becomes a dance in which there is neither feverishness nor
imbalance.

Far from inaction, however, it is the embodiment of suppleness, simplicity, and


freedom - a kind of pure effectiveness in which no motion is wasted on
outward show. One may move so well that a foot-print never shows, Speak
so well that the tongue never slips, Reckon so well that no counter is needed.

The natural phenomenon that the Taoists saw as bearing the closest
resemblance to Tao was water. They were struck by the way it would support
objects and carry them effortlessly on its tide. One who understands the basic
life force knows that it will sustain one if one stops thrashing and flailing and
trusts oneself to its support.

Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?

Water, then was the closest parallel to the Tao in the natural world. They
noticed the way water adapts itself to its surroundings and seeks out the
lowest places. So too, The supreme good is like water, which nourishes all
things without trying to. It is content with the low places people disdain. Thus it
is like the Tao.
Yet despite the accommodations, water holds a power unknown to hard and
brittle things. In a stream it follows the stones' sharp edges, only to turn them
into pebbles, rounded to conform to its streamlined flow. It works its way past
frontiers and under dividing walls. Its gentle current melts rocks and carries
away the proud hills we call eternal.

Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the
hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it.

The soft overcomes the hard; the gentle overcomes the rigid. Everyone
knows this is true, but few can put it in to practice. Infinitely supple, yet
incomparably strong - these virtues of water the person who embodies this
condition, says the Tao Te Ching, "works without working." Such a one acts
without strain, persuades without argument, is eloquent with out flourish, and
achieves results without violence, coercion, or pressure. Though the agent
may be scarcely noticed, his or her influence is in fact decisive.

A leader is best when people barely know that he exists. Of a good leader,
who talks little, When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, "We did
this ourselves."

A final characteristic of water that makes it an appropriate is the clarity it


attains through being still. "Muddy
water let stand," say the Tao Te Ching, "will clear." If you want to study the
stars after being in a brightly lit
room, you must wait twenty minutes for your eyes to dilate for their new
assignment. There must be similar
periods of waiting if the focal length of the mind is to readjust, withdrawing
from the world's glare to the internal
recesses of the soul.

The five colors can blind, the five tones deafen, the five tastes cloy. The race,
the hunt, can drive men mad and their booty leave them no peace. Therefore
a sensible man prefers the inner to the outer eye.

Taoism Values

Still following the analogy of water, the Taoists rejected all forms of self-
assertiveness and competition. The world is full of people who are determined
to be somebody or give trouble. They want to get ahead, to stand out. Taoism
has little use for such ambitions.

He who stands on tiptoe doesn't stand firm. He who rushes ahead doesn't go
far. He who tries to shine dims his own light. There is a profound naturalism
in Taoist thought, but it is the naturalism of a Rousseau, a Wadsworth, a
Thoreau, Those who would take over the earth and shape it to their will
never, I notice, succeed.
The earth is like a vessel so sacred That at the mere approach of the profane
It is marred and when they reach out their fingers it is gone."

Nature is to be befriended. Taoism seeks atonement with nature, not


dominance. Its approach is ecological. This Taoist approach to nature deeply
affected Chinese art. "Let the people return to the use of knotted cords. Let
them obtain their food sweet, their clothing beautiful, their homes comfortable,
their rustic tasks pleasurable." Travel was discouraged as pointless and
conducive to idle curiosity. "The neighboring state might be so near at hand
that one could hear the cocks crowing in it and dogs barking. But the people
would grow old and die without ever having been there."

It was this preference for naturalness and simplicity that most separated the
Taoist from the Confucian. The basic objectives of the two schools did not
differ widely, but the Taoist had small patience with the Confucian approach to
them.

All formalism, show, and ceremony left them cold. Confucianism here was but
one instance of the human tendency to approach life in regulated mode. All
calculated systems, the very attempt to arrange life in a shipshape order, is
pointless.

Another Feature of Taoism is its notion of the relativity of all values and, as its
correlative, the identity of opposites. Here Taoism tied in with the traditional
Chinese Yin/Yang symbol.

This sums up all of life's basic opposites: good/evil, active/passive,


positive/negative, light/dark, summer/winter, male/female. But though the
halves are in tension, they are not flatly opposed; they complement and
balance each other. Each invades the other's hemisphere and takes up its
abode in the deepest recess of its partner's domain. And in the end both find
themselves resolved by the circle that surrounds them, the Tao in its eternal
wholeness. In the context of that wholeness, the opposites appear as no more
than phases in an endless cycling process, for each turns incessantly into its
opposite, exchanging places with it. Life does not move onward and upward
towards a fixed pinnacle or pole. It bends back upon itself to come, full circle,
to the realization that all is one and all is well.

Conclusion

Circling around each other like yin and yang themselves, Taoism and
Confucianism represent the two indigenous poles of the Chinese character.

Confucius represents the classical, Lao Tzu the romantic. Confucius stresses
social responsibility, Lao Tzu praises spontaneity and naturalness. Confucius'
focus is on the human, Lao Tzu's on what transcends the human. As the
Chinese themselves say, Confucius roams within society, Lao Tzu wanders
beyond. Something in life reaches out in each of these directions, and
Chinese civilization would certainly have been poorer if either had not
appeared.

Of the Tao, Lao Tze wrote: There is a being, wonderful, perfect; It existed
before heaven and earth. How quiet it is! How spiritual it is! It stands alone
and it does not change. It moves around and around, but does not on this
account suffer. All life comes from it. It wraps everything with its love as in a
garment, and yet it claims no honor, it does not demand to be Lord. I do not
know its name, and so I call it Tao, the Way, and I rejoice in its Their highest
achievement is to identify themselves with the Tao and let it works its magic
through them power.

> THE 10 PRIMORDIAL MASTERS : 6 - Confucius

Source: CD-Rom -The 10 Incarnations of the Primordial Master 6 Confucius

Introduction

Confucius had a deep study of his countrys literature and history. He had a
strong conviction that just and righteous rulers only can protect the State and
make the people virtuous.

His ideal was to create a race of wise rulers like King Janaka. It was with this
view he wandered from State to State in search of a good ruler. Confucius
devoted himself to the improvement of Society. He ever thought of the well-
being of the Society. He tried his level best to contribute much to the social
welfare. The collection of sayings treats mainly of social welfare, human
peace and harmony in Society. He strained his every nerve in giving moral
training to people.

He laid very great emphasis on cultivation of ethical virtues. He tried to


remove the discordant or disturbing elements in Society. He had a strong
conviction that if the superiors and elders had a blameless character, others
would follow them and there would be love and universal peace everywhere.
As these social thoughts ever occupied his mind, he had no time to discuss
on God and life after death. Moreover, he did not find it necessary also to
dwell on these subjects.

The child was named K'ung, and his disciples named him K'ung Fu-tse or
Master Kung, which Jesuit missionaries Latinized into Confucius. When
Master K'ung was born, we are told strange music came from a mysterious
source, and a voice from the sky announced the event. It was said also that
two dragons patrolled the sky for the purpose of warding off evil influences,
while five old men, representing the spirits of the five planets, came down
from Heaven.

Early Life

Young K'ung dedicated himself to learning at age fifteen, becoming what we


would call a "universal man." He restored and edited the works of the Chinese
ancients - no mean feat. At age twenty-one he began to attract pupils,
teaching them ethics, philosophy, and government. It was the daily life of the
sage that gave meaning to his words. He sought to restore China to the
condition it had enjoyed under its first kings who were virtuous and ruled
wisely, whose people knew peace and harmony. He felt his duty was to hand
on the knowledge and methods of the ancients, not to create or innovate.

Undoubtedly he drank from the well of the eternal wisdom-religion, the origin
and goal of man's best and highest experiences on earth and beyond. In the
light of this, Master K'ung's Family of Man is the brotherhood of humanity
against a universal backdrop.

Four major works - the Analects, The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the
Mean, and the Works of Mencius - furnish the foundation of the Ju philosophy,
the name given to the teachings of Confucius. Some nineteen works in all are
credited to him as author or editor. After two millennia the teachings have
come down to us by many
routes, subject to the interpretations of the teacher's disciples and their
followers.

His Life

Confucius was born and died in the state of Lu. He lost his father at the age of
three and grew up in straightened circumstances, under his mother's care. As
a boy he liked to set up sacrificial vessels and to imitate the gestures of ritual.
At the age of nineteen he married, and a son and two daughters were born to
him. He was a large man of great physical strength.

At nineteen he entered the service of a noble family as superintendent of


parks and herds. At thirty-two he was engaged in teaching the ancient ritual to
a minister's sons. At thirty-three he went to Lo-yang, the imperial capital, to
study the customs and traditions of the Chou Empire, which by then had
actually split into numerous warring states of various sizes, and whose capital
remained solely a religious center. On this occasion he is said to have visited
Lao-tzu.
At the age of fifty-one he became minister of justice and finally prime minister
of Lu. Thanks to his ability, his prince became increasingly powerful. He
overcame the nobles of the region and tore down the fortifications of their
cities. The land prospered.

After four years of brilliant activity, Confucius gave up his position and left the
country, travelling slowly, with interruptions, always in the hope of being called
back.

He wandered about for twelve years, from his fifty-sixth to his sixty-eighth
year. He went from state to state in the hope that somewhere he would be
enabled to put his political doctrine into practice. In all the years he never lost
confidence in his calling as political mentor and orderer of the Empire, though
occasionally he cried out: "Let me go home, let me go home. "When finally, at
the age of sixty-eight, he returned to his native state, he lamented in a poem
that after all his wanderings in nine provinces there was still no goal in sight
for him: men are without insight, quickly the years pass. He spent his last
years quietly in Lu. He accepted no government position.

A profound change is said to have taken place within him.

Once a hermit had said of him: "Is that not the man who knows that striving is
without hope and yet goes on?" All through the years this had been Confucius'
greatness. But now he was old and strove no more.

One morning Confucius felt the approach of death. He walked about the
courtyard, humming the words: "The great mountain must collapse, the mighty
beam must break and the wise man wither like a plant."

Wisdom

Confucius is conscious of facing a great alter native: to retire into solitude or


to live in the world and try to shape it. His decision is unequivocal: "A man
cannot live with the birds and beasts. If I do not live with men, with whom shall
I live?" And "he who is concerned only with the purity of his own life ruins the
great human relations in evil times it may seem as though nothing else
remains but to go into seclusion and attend to one's own personal salvation.

Of two hermits Confucius says: "In their private lives they found purity; in their
retirement they found what the circumstances demanded. I am different. For
me there is nothing that is possible or impossible under all circumstances."

His tolerance toward the hermits only makes him more resolute in regard to
his own conduct. "If the world were in order, there would be no need of me to
change it."

In this devotion to man and his world, Confucius develops certain ideas that
may be stressed as his basic wisdom. They relate to the nature of man, to the
necessity of a social order, to the question of truth in language, to the nature
of our thinking, to the absolute character , and finally to the One which holds
all things together and to which all things relate. In every case, Confucius'
main concern is man and human society.

The nature of Man

The nature of man is called jen. Jen is humanity and morality in one: to be
human means to be in communication. The question of the nature of man is
answered, first in what he is and should be; second in an account of the
diversity of his existence. First: A man must become a man. For man is not
like the animals which are as they are, whose instincts govern their existence
without conscious thought; he is a task to himself. Men actively shape their life
together and, transcending all instinct, build it on their human obligation.

Humanity underlies every particular good. Only he who is in jen can truly love
and hate. Jen is all embracing, not a virtue among others, but the soul of all
virtues. It is described through its particular manifestations: piety, wisdom and
learning, righteousness. The ethical man puts the difficulty first and the reward
last."

Morality

Confucius never thought himself in possession of complete knowledge and


never thought such knowledge possible. "To represent what you know as
knowledge and what you do not know as ignorance: that is knowledge."

Confucius is aware of the evil in the world. It is rooted in the failure of man. He
laments: "That good predispositions are not cultivated, that what men have
learned is not effectual, that men know their duty and are not drawn to it, that
men have faults and are unable to correct them: these are things that grieve
me." Nowhere does he find reliance on the
love of humanity and on horror of the inhuman. "I have seen none who loved
moral worth as he loves women's beauty." When he looks around for a man
who might be a ruler, he finds none. He sees no saint; even to see a superior
man would be gratifying, but again there is none; there is not even a
preserving man.

Yet Confucius is far from regarding the world as evil. Only the times have
degenerated, as had often happened before. Accordingly: "He knows that the
truth will not shine through our day."

The Great Mystery


He becomes diffident at the approach of the ultimate and seldom speaks of
happiness, fate, pure virtue. When asked about death, nature, and the world
order, he gave answers that left the question open but because the matter
itself imposed such answers.

Confucius refrains from all direct statement on metaphysical questions.


Though such an attitude may be put down as agnosticism, it does not signify
indifference to the unknowable, but rather a reverence which is unwilling to
transform itself into rational knowledge.

For Confucius the impulse was toward the boundless and unknowable.
Confucius shared in the traditional religious conceptions. He did not doubt the
existence of spirits and omens. But in all his dealing with these matters he
showed remarkable aloofness and freedom from superstition. "The master
never spoke of magic powers and unnatural demons." "To serve spirits other
than one's own ancestors is adulation." Asked about the cult of spirits, he
replied: "If you cannot serve men, how shall you serve spirits?"

Heaven

Confucius speaks of heaven. "Only heaven is great, the seasons go their


course and all things come into being. But does heaven speak? ".

Confucius seldom speaks of prayer. Suppliant prayer, not to mention magic


prayer, is far from him, for he implies that his whole life is prayer. "If only the
heart follows the path of truth, you need not pray, the gods will protect you."

"Death and life are the will of heaven from the beginning all men have had to
die." Such maxims express Confucius' candid acceptance of death. "That
some things germinate but do not flower; that some things flower that do not
mature-alas, that happens." Death has no terrors.

"If you do not know life, how should you know death?"

The Golden Mean

" Because the innermost is revealed and everything is decided here at the
source, the greatest attention must be devoted to measure and mean:
Nothing is more obvious than what is secret, nothing more evident than what
is most hidden; therefore the superior man is attentive to what he is for
himself alone."

"To be magnanimous and mild in teaching and not to punish those who
behave badly: that is the strength of the south. To sleep and die in the stable
without having to: that is the strength of the north. But the superior man
stands in the middle and bends to neither side."
The root of human salvation lies in the "knowledge that influences reality. that
is, in the truth of idea that are translated into an inner transforming action.
What is true within takes form without.

"Things have roots and ramifications." The absoluteness of the origin enters
into the relativity of the manifestations. If the root is good, if it is knowledge,
reality, then the ideas become true, consciousness becomes right, the man is
cultivated, and further, the house will be well regulated, the state in order, the
world at peace. From the Son of Heaven to the common man, education is
the root. He who cannot teach the members of the household cannot teach
other men."

Truth and reality can never be embodied once and for all in any unchanging
state or dogmatic statements. Confucius "had no opinions, no bias, no
obstinacy, the superior man is not absolutely for or against anything in the
world. He supports only what is right, he is not partisan but for all. He
preserves his openness. When he does not understand something, he is
reticent. He is firm in character, but not obstinate, congenial without stooping
to vulgarity, self-confident but not self-righteous."

The necessity of order

Order is necessary because it is only in human association that the essence


of man is real.

"Do to no one what you would not wish others to do to you. In acting on this
rule be bound by a sense of equality.

Do not display to your inferiors what you hate in your superiors. Do not offer
your neighbours on the left what you hate in your neighbours on the right The
lover of mankind strengthens men, for he himself wishes to be strengthened;
he helps men toward success, for he himself wishes to achieve success."

But when Lao Tzu taught that one should repay hostility with good deeds,
Confucius answered: "With what then shall we reward good deeds? No,
reward hostility with justice, and good deeds with good deeds."

A second principle of order is this: Because men are so different, good


government is made possible only by degrees of power. The higher the
power, the more exemplary, and knowing the human, must be he who
possesses it. He must "march in advance of the people and encourage them.
He must not be weary."

Those who are capable of self-mastery, who have learned to do what is good
and to know what they are doing, will always be few. The people, on the other
hand, "can be led to follow something; they may not be led to understand it."
The fundamental relation of the exemplary man to the people is this: "The
essence of the prince is the wind, the essence of the crowd is the grass. If the
wind blows over it, the grass must incline." Order is possible only through
authority.

Thus the man capable of governing is independent of public opinion. "Where


all hate, he must examine; where all love, he must examine."

A third principle of order is: Once a development has begun, direct


intervention can no longer be fruitful. If it comes too late. Of course force,
laws, punishment can be brought to bear, but the result will be disastrous, for
those threatened with violence will evade it and hypocrisy will become
universal. Great effects can be only achieved indirectly. What is present in the
germ can be guided in a different direction or encouraged. Here decisive
action is possible. The human source must be made to flow; it is from them
that everything else follows.

When asked what is the first thing to be done in order to promote a renewal in
disastrous circumstances? Confucius gave a remarkable answer:

Words must be set aright. What inheres in words should be brought out. The
prince should be a prince, the father a father, the man a man.

But language is constantly misused, words are employed for meanings that
do not befit them. A separation arises between being and language.

He who has the inner being also has the words; he who has words does not
always have the inner being."

"If words are not right, judgments are not clear; works do not prosper;
punishments do not strike the right man, and the people do not know where to
set hand and foot. Therefore the superior man chooses words that can be
employed without doubt, and forms judgments that can be converted into
actions without fear of doubt. The superior man tolerates no imprecision in his
speech."

Confucius says: "No one can be regarded as a superior man who does not
know the calling of heaven; no one can be regarded as mature who does not
know the laws of conduct , no one can know men who does not understand
their words, morality is the love of mankind; wisdom is the knowledge of men.
But in all this we have lost sight of the One. In developing an idea related to
Lao Tzu's nonaction, he may find his supreme authority in a saintly ruler.

Traditions

This way of looking at the old was itself something new. Past realities are
transformed by present reflection. The translation of tradition into conscious
principles gives rise to a new philosophy which identifies itself with the old.
The Jewish Prophets proclaimed God's revelation, Confucius the voice of
antiquity.

He who surrenders is saved from the presumption of basing great demands


on his own infinitesimal self. Independent thought, springing from the
nothingness of mere reason, is futile: "I have gone without food and sleep in
order to think; to no avail: it is better to learn."

Eternal Values

Confucius distinguishes between the good and the bad; he selects facts that
are worth remembering as models to be emulated or examples to be avoided.

Moreover, he knows that in restoring what was good in the past one should
not try to make something outwardly identical. "A man born in our days who
returns to the ways of antiquity is a fool and brings misfortune upon himself."
What he advocates is not imitation of the past, but repetition of the eternal
true.

But this belief in a final, eternal truth derives movement from the way in which
we assimilate the old. It does not bar our way but spurs us forward.

Here for the first time in history a great philosopher shows how the new,
merging with the tradition flowing from the source of eternal truth, becomes
the substance of our existence.

If the truth has been manifested in the past, we shall find it by investigating
the past, but in so doing we must distinguish between what was true and what
was false. He laid the groundwork of school education, first of all with his own
private school in which he strove to shape young men into future statesmen.

With him the mode of learning and teaching becomes a fundamental problem.
The aim of all learning must be practical. "If a man can recite all three hundred
pieces in the Book of Odes by heart and, entrusted with the government, is
unable to preform (his duties) or if, sent abroad as an ambassador, he is
incapable of replying on his own, where is the good of all his learning?"

Manners and music are fundamental. Their essential is to shape men's


nature, not to quench it.

Li - Dharma the Righteous Path

Li: Order is preserved by customs . "A nation can be guided only by custom,
not by knowledge." The customs create the spirit of the whole and in turn
draw their life from it. Only through the virtues of the community does the
individual become a man. They are the forms which create the right frame of
mind in all spheres of existence: earnestness, confidence, respect, so that the
individual comes to experience the universal not as a constraint but as his
own being.

His vision embraced the whole world of Chinese customs or dharma, the right
way of walking, greeting, behaving in company, always in accordance with the
particular situation; the rites of marriage, birth, death, and burial; the rules of
administration; the customs governing work, war, the family, the priesthood,
the court, the order of the days and seasons, the stages of life.

"A man is awakened by the Odes, strengthened and perfected by music. Mere
form, like mere knowledge, has no value without the originality that fulfills it,
without the humanity that is enacted in it. A man who does not love his fellow
man-what will avail him?"

He who overcomes his self and takes upon himself the restrictions of the li -
the laws of custom he becomes a man. Although righteousness is essential, in
practicing it the superior man is guided by the li. There must be a balance
between the li and the content of a man's original nature. He in whom the
content predominates is uncouth; he in whom the form predominates is a
scribe. In the practice of the forms, the essential is freedom and lightness, but
the freedom must be regulated by the rhythm of set rules."

Confucius drew no distinction between custom, morality, and justice and thus
perceived their common root all the more clearly. Nor did he distinguish
between ethical obligation and aesthetic considerations involving no
responsibility, between the good and the beautiful. The beautiful is not
beautiful unless it is good, while the good to be good must be beautiful.

Music

For Confucius, music, side by side with the li, was a primary factor in
education. The spirit of the community is formed by the music it hears; in
music the individual finds the themes that order his life.

Nature and formation

Confucius assents to all that is natural. To each thing he assigns its order, its
measure, its place, and rejects nothing. He advocates self-mastery, not
asceticism. Nature requires to be shaped, but violence can only harm it. Even
hatred and anger have their place. The good man can love and hate in the
right way. For example: "He hates those who themselves are base and
slander those who are above them; he hates the bold who know no morality;
he hates the reckless, bigoted fanatics."
Social Life

For Confucius human interaction is the life element. "The superior man does
not neglect his neighbors. But in our association with men, we encounter both
good and bad. Have no friend who is not your equal," says Confucius, he
declares: "The superior man honours the worthy and tolerates all men." But in
his dealings with others the superior man keeps his wits about him: "He may
let others lie to him but not make a fool of him. The superior man encourages
what is beautiful in men; What makes a place beautiful is the humanity that
dwells there. He who is able to choose and does not settle among humane
people is not wise."

Human relations are governed by the following fundamental attitudes. Toward


the ages of life: "let me respect the tranquility of the ages; let me be loyal to
my friends; let me love children tenderly." The right conduct toward parents: if
respect is absent, wherein should we differ from the beasts?" A son must
cover up his father's mistakes.

Toward friends, Take no friends that are not at least as good as yourself,
loyally admonish one another and tactfully set one another right." Friends can
be relied on: "Even if the season be cold, we know that pines and cypress are
evergreen."

Toward the authorities: "A good official serves his prince in the right way; if
that is impossible, he withdraws. he will not circumvent the prince but oppose
him openly"; "he will speak cautiously."

Towards subordinates The superior man gives his servants no ground for
complaint that he makes insufficient use of them, but, he does not expect
perfection; he takes men's abilities into account and does not dismiss old and
trusted servants without grave cause.

Government

Government is the center of men's lives and all other considerations derive
from it. Confucius sees a polarity between what must be made and what must
grow. Good government is possible only in a sound social condition, moulded
by the li, the right music, the right modes of human interaction. Such a
condition can only grow. But though it cannot be made, it may be fostered, or
impeded.

Laws are a means of government. But only to a limited degree do they bring
results. And intrinsically, they are harmful.

Example is better than law. For where the laws govern, the people are
shameless in evading punishment. But where example governs, the people
have a sense of shame and improve. When an appeal is made to the laws, it
means that something is not in order. "When it comes to hearing complaints, I
am no better than anyone else. What interests me is to see that no complaint
arises."

A good government must be concerned with three things: sufficient food, a


sufficient army, and the confidence of the people. A government cannot do
without confidence. "If the people have no confidence, all government is
impossible." But in planning its policy, a government cannot begin with the
demand for confidence. Confidence cannot be demanded but must be
brought to grow spontaneously. As to policy, above all "make the people
prosperous." The next most important thing is to "educate them."

Leadership

Good government requires a good prince. He taps the natural sources of


wealth. He chooses carefully what work the people should undertake; then
they do not grumble.

He is superior without being haughty; whether dealing with many or few, with
great or small, he is not disdainful. He commands respect without a show of
force. Like the polestar, he stands fast and lets everything move around him in
its order. Because he desires the good, the people become good. If the
authorities love good conduct, the people will be easy to handle. If a ruler is
right in his own person, he has no need to command, things are done without
commanding."

"Do nothing overhastily; that will not succeed. Do not consider the small
advantage, for no great work can prosper in this way, a statesman must
govern with the consent and understanding of the people.

Such intervention in historical reality is subject to two main principles: (1) A


capable man must stand in the right place. "If a man possesses the throne but
lacks the necessary strength of mind, he should not venture to make changes.
Similarly, if he has strength of mind but not the highest authority, he should not
venture to make changes. The political conditions must be such as to make
effective action, the true statesman remains in hiding. He waits. He refuses to
compound with evil, to enter into relations with base people.

These principles contain an element of Socrates's belief that human


conditions will not improve until philosophers become kings or kings
philosophers. Confucius spent his whole life looking for a prince to whom he
might lend his intelligence. But in vain.

The superior man


All goodness, truth, beauty are combined in the ideal of the superior man
(Chun-tzu). Noble both in birth and endowment, he has the manners of a
gentleman and the wisdom of a sage.

The superior man is no saint. The saint is born; he is what he is; the superior
man becomes what he is through self-discipline. "To have the truth is the path
of heaven, to seek the truth is the path of men. He who has the truth finds the
right action without pains, achieves success without reflection. But he who
seeks the truth chooses the good and holds it fast.

He investigates, he questions critically, he ponders the truth and resolutely


acts on it. "Perhaps others can do it the first time; I must do it ten times;
perhaps others can do it the tenth time; I must do it a thousand times. But he
who really has the perseverance to go this way, be he foolish, he will become
clear headed, be he weak, he will become strong."

The character, cast of thought, gestures of the superior man are described.
He is contrasted with the inferior man. The superior man is concerned with
justice, the inferior man with profit.

The superior man is quiet and serene, the inferior man always full of anxiety.
The superior man is congenial though never stooping to vulgarity; the inferior
man is vulgar without being congenial.

The superior man is dignified without arrogance; the inferior man is arrogant
without dignity. The superior man is steadfast in distress; the inferior man in
distress loses all control of himself. The superior man goes searching for
himself; the inferior man goes searching in others.

The superior man strives upward; the inferior man strives downward. The
superior man is independent. He can endure long misfortune as well as long
prosperity, and he lives free from fear. He suffers from his own inability, not
from others' failure to understand him. He is slow in words and quick in action.
He is careful not to let his words outshine his deeds: first act, then speak
accordingly.

The superior man does not waste himself on what is distant, on what is
absent. He stands in the here and now, in the real situation. "The superior
man's path is like a long journey; you must begin from right here.The superior
man's path begins with the concerns of the common man and woman, but it
reaches into the distance, penetrating heaven and earth."

Doctrine

"How abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that belong to them!
We look for them, but do not see them; we listen to, but do not hear them; yet
they enter into all things, and there is nothing without them "Confucius was a
superior man that he wrote about - far ahead of the pack - who loved the
ancients and humanity and who had a spiritual message so simple and direct,
its words can still work magic.

To restore China to its Golden Age, Confucius gave the formula for restoring
harmony to the family of man. "My doctrine is that of an all-pervading unity."
As a Great Teacher he tried to illustrate illustrious virtue, to renovate the
people, and to rest in the highest excellence. Things have their root and their
completion. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is
taught in the Great Learning.

From the emperor down to the mass of the people, all must consider the
cultivation of the person the root of every thing besides. This is to say every
living thing is a seed of divinity at its heart - a divine truth. From purity and
innocence it must enter into the worlds of matter and learn all the lessons that
life has to offer. By the light of intelligence and self-consciousness it must rise
again to the divine state.

Confucius observes that men commonly miss the mark in their strivings:

I know now why the moral law is not practiced. The wise mistake moral law
for something higher than what it really is; and the foolish do not know enough
what moral law really is. I know now why the moral law is not understood.

The noble natures want to live too high, high above their moral ordinary self;
and ignoble natures do not live high
enough.

Learning

According to his teaching, mans chief end is to know and make the most of
himself as a member of Society. He preached to his disciples and the people
the principles of good life and social harmony.

Confucius said: "A virtuous man has three awes:(l) Awe for Heavens
decree, (2) Awe for great men and (3) Awe for saints words. When
worshipping God, one must feel as if He were visibly present."

Confucius said: "There was Tao, a way or road of righteousness, only when
fathers were fathers, when sons were sons, when rulers were rulers and when
ministers were ministers." Confucius laid great stress on the cultivation of
character, purity of heart and conduct. He exhorted the people to develop a
good character first, which is a priceless jewel and which is the best of all
virtues.

The nature of man, according to Confucius, is fundamentally good inclined


towards goodness. Perfection of goodness can be found in sages and saints.
Every man lead a virtuous life, possess a noble character, and do his duty
unselfishly with sincerity and truthfulness. He who is endowed with a good
character and divine virtue is a princely type of man. The princely man sticks
to virtue, and the inferior man clings to material comfort. The princely man is
just, while the inferior man expects rewards and favours. The princely man is
dignified, noble, magnanimous, and humble while the inferior man is mean,
proud, crooked, and arrogant.

Sayings

The way to become a superior man is to set ones affections on what is right,
to love learning, which is the source of knowledge and virtue, with which
nothing else can be compared. When righteousness is pursued with sincerity
and a mind free from self-deception, the heart becomes rectified.

Up to this stage the individual has been busy only with his own improvement;
but the cultivation of the person influences primarily those around him, and
ultimately the whole empire. Everyone, therefore, should carefully cultivate his
person, having a due regard for others besides himself. Each man must guard
his words and watch his conduct.

He must fly all that is base and disquieting, and must take benevolence as his
dwelling-place, righteousness as his road, propriety as his garment, wisdom
as his lamp, and faithfulness as his charm. Dignity, reverence, loyalty and
faithfulness make up the qualities of a cultivated man. His dignity separates
him from the crowd, being reverent he is beloved; being loyal, he is submitted
to; and, being faithful, he is trusted.

"The ancients", he said, "when they wished to exemplify illustrious virtue


throughout the empire, first ordered well their states. Desiring to maintain well
their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families
they first rectified their purposes. Wishing to rectify their purposes they first
sought to think sincerely. Wishing to think sincerely, they first extended their
knowledge as widely as possible. This they did by investigation of things."

"By investigation of things, their knowledge became extensive; their


knowledge being extensive, their thoughts became sincere; their thoughts
being sincere, their purposes were rectified; their purposes being rectified,
they cultivated themselves; they being cultivated, their families were
regulated; their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed;
their states being rightly governed, the empire was thereby tranquil and
prosperous".

Conclusion

In the "Great Learning" Confucius revealed the process, step by step, by


which self-realisation is attained and by which it flows over into the common
life to serve the state and bless mankind. Confucius sets it forth is as follows:
Investigation of phenomena, Learning, Sincerity, Rectitude of purpose, Self-
development, Family-discipline, Local self-government, and Universal self-
government.

There are three religions in China: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.


Confucius and Lao-Tze founder of Taoism, were contemporaries. They are
sages and philosophers. Lao-Tze was fifty-three years older than Confucius.
They met each other. Socrates and Buddha also were the contemporaries of
Confucius.

Lao-tse taught the Tao - the Way, a mysticism embodying the highest
principles which could not but lead the soul upward. He and Confucius never
claimed originality, seeking only to restore to man the knowledge that he is an
immortal soul, rooted in spirit or goodness and destined for godhood.

THE 10 PRIMORDIAL MASTERS : 7 - Socrates

Source: CD-Rom -The 10 Incarnations of the Primordial Master 7 Socrates

Socrates Early Life

As the heir of a wealthy Athenian sculptor, Socrates used his financial


independence as an opportunity to invent the practice of philosophical
dialogue.

Since he wrote nothing of his own, we are dependent upon contemporary


writers like Aristophanes and Xenophon for our information about his life. After
dignified service as a soldier in the Peloponnesian War, he lived for the rest of
his life in Athens and devoted nearly all of his time to free-wheeling discussion
with its aristocratic young citizens, insistently questioning their confidence in
the truth of popular opinions.

Socrates declined to accept payment for his work with students, many of
whom were fanatically loyal to him. Their parents, however, were often
displeased with his influence, and his association with opponents of the
democratic regime made him a controversial political figure.

Our best sources of information about Socrates's philosophical views are the
early dialogues of his student Plato, who attempted to provide a faithful
picture of the methods and teachings of the master. Here the extended
conversations of Socrates aim at understanding and, therefore, achieving
virtue through the careful application of a dialectical method that uses critical
inquiry to undermine the plausibility of widely-held doctrines.

Socrates systematically refutes the superficial notion of piety or moral


rectitude defended by a confident young man. Plato's Apologhma (Apology) is
an account of Socrates's unsuccessful speech in his own defense before the
Athenian jury; it includes a detailed description of the motives and goals of
philosophical activity as he practiced it.

During Socrates's imprisonment he responded to friendly efforts to secure his


escape by seriously debating whether or not an individual citizen can ever be
justified in refusing to obey the laws of the state.

Socrates investigated the nature of virtue, defending the doctrine of


recollection as an explanation of our most significant knowledge and
maintaining that knowledge and virtue are so closely related that no human
agent ever knowingly chooses evil.

Improper conduct is a product of ignorance rather than of weakness of the


will.

Socrates despite his foundational place in the history of ideas, actually wrote
nothing.

Most of our knowledge of him comes from the works of Plato.

The Apology of Socrates

The most accurate of Plato's writings on Socrates is probably the The


Apology. It is Plato's account of Socrates's defense at his trial in 399 BC the
word "apology" comes from the Greek word for "defense-speech" and does
not mean what we would think of as an apology. It is clear, however, that Plato
dressed up Socrates's speech to turn it into a justification for Socrates's life
and his death. In it, Plato outlines some of Socrates's most famous
philosophical ideas: the necessity of doing what one thinks is right even in the
face of universal opposition, and the need to pursue knowledge even when
opposed.

Socrates wrote nothing because he felt that knowledge was a living,


interactive thing. Socrates' method of philosophical inquiry consisted in
questioning people on the positions they asserted and working them through
questions into a contradiction, thus proving to them that their original assertion
was wrong. Socrates himself never takes a position; in The Apology he
radically and skeptically claims to know nothing at all except that he knows
nothing.

Socrates and Plato refer to this method of questioning as elenchus, which


means something like "cross-examination"
The Socratic elenchus eventually gave rise to dialectic, the idea that truth
needs to be pursued by modifying one's position through questioning and
conflict with opposing ideas. It is this idea of the truth being pursued, rather
than discovered, that characterizes Socratic thought and much of our world
view today.

The Western notion of dialectic is somewhat Socratic in nature in that it is


conceived of as an ongoing process. Although Socrates in The Apology
claims to have discovered no other truth than that he knows no truth, the
Socrates of Plato's other earlier dialogues is of the opinion that truth is
somehow attainable through this process of elenchus .

The Athenians, with the exception of Plato, thought of Socrates as a Sophist,


a designation he seems to have bitterly resented. He was, however, very
similar in thought to the Sophists. Like the Sophists, he was unconcerned with
physical or metaphysical questions; the issue of primary importance was
ethics, living a good life.

He appeared to be a sophist because he seems to tear down every ethical


position he's confronted with; he never offers alternatives after he's torn down
other people's ideas.

Philisophy

The one positive statement that Socrates made is a definition of virtue:

"virtue is knowledge if one knows the good, one will always do the good. It
follows, then, that anyone who does anything wrong doesn't really know what
the good is.

This, for Socrates, justifies tearing down people's moral positions, for if they
have the wrong ideas about virtue, morality, love, or any other ethical idea,
they can't be trusted to do the right thing.

The trial

The trial of Socrates took place in 399 BC when he was nearly 70. The
charges were that he refused to recognise the official gods of the state, that
he introduced new gods and that he corrupted the young.

There was a vivid political background to the trial, but this does not mean that
the charges were a sham and that the trial was really a political one. Politics,
religion and education were all intertwined in the matter, and, however you
looked at it, Socrates was saying the wrong things at the wrong time.
In 404, five years before the trial, a 27-year war between Athens and Sparta
had ended with the defeat of Athens. The Athenian democracy was
overthrown and replaced by a group of men, subsequently known as the
Thirty Tyrants, who were installed by Sparta. In the course of earning their
name, the Tyrants murdered so many people that they lasted for only a year,
though it was not until 401 that democracy was fully restored. Understandably,
the democrats were still feeling rather insecure in 399. There were plenty of
reasons to be uneasy about the presence of Socrates in the city.

It was felt that intellectuals were weakening Athenian society by undermining


its traditional views and values. Well might a man who captivated idle youths
with his questioning about justice have aroused suspicion. And whatever truth
there was to the rumour that Socrates disbelieved in the traditional gods - he
seemed to deny the charge, but not convincingly - there was no doubt that he
had an unorthodox approach to divinity.

The way he talked about his daimonion, his "guardian spirit'' or personal
"divine sign'', gave reasonable cause for concern that he did indeed
"introduce new gods'', as the indictment put it. That would have been a
grievous sin against the shaky democracy. The state alone had the power to
say what was a suitable object for religious veneration; it had its own
procedures for officially recognising gods, and anyone who ignored them was
in effect challenging the legitimacy of the democratic state.

All of this Socrates was up against when he faced the 500 Athenian citizens
who were to judge him.

Plato was at the trial; the Apology or defence-speech of Socrates which he


wrote a few years afterwards was probably his first work.

Socrates knew that his judges were already prejudiced against him and set
out to correct these false impressions. He is not, he says, a man who teaches
for money, like the professional "Sophists''. This seems to have been true
enough: he did not charge a fee. He also dismissed the slander that he taught
people how to win arguments by trickery when they were in the wrong. Far
from it.

This is the main theme of the Apology, which is more of a general defence of
his way of life than a rebuttal of the official charges. The nub of this defence is
Socrates's claim that he has positively benefited the Athenians by subjecting
them to his philosophical cross-examinations, but that they have failed to
realise this and merely been angered by it, which is why he has ended up on
trial for his life.

Socrates says that he is fulfilling the wishes of the gods when he goes about
and argues with people.

The Oracle
A friend of his once went to the oracle at Delphi and asked if there was any
man wiser than Socrates. No , came back the answer, which threw Socrates
into a frightful confusion - or so he says.

For he always held that he was not wise at all. "After puzzling about it for
some time, I set myself at last with considerable reluctance to check the truth
of it.''

He did so by interrogating all sorts of people who had a reputation for wisdom
or specialised knowledge. But he was always disappointed, because it
seemed that there was nobody whose alleged wisdom could stand up to his
questioning. He was always able to refute the efforts of others to establish
some thesis of theirs, usually by highlighting some unwelcome and
unexpected consequences of their views. He also questioned poets, but they
could not even elucidate their poems to his satisfaction.

After one such encounter:

I reflected as I walked away, Well, I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only
too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of, but he thinks that
he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious
of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small
extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know.

Then it dawned on him what the Oracle must have meant: whenever I
succeed in disproving another person's claim to wisdom in a given subject,
the bystanders assume that I know everything about that subject myself.

But the truth of the matter, gentlemen, is pretty certainly this, that real wisdom
is the property of God, and this Oracle is his way of telling us that human
wisdom has little or no value.

Wisdom

In other words, the superior wisdom of Socrates lies in the fact that he alone
is aware of how little he knows. He aptly describes himself as an intellectual
midwife, whose questioning delivers the thoughts of others into the light of
day.

But this skill in elucidation and debate, which he obviously has in abundance,
is not a form of real wisdom so far as Socrates is concerned. Real wisdom is
perfect knowledge about ethical subjects, about how to live.

When Socrates claims ignorance, he means ignorance about the foundations


of morality; he is not asserting any general sort of scepticism about everyday
matters of fact. His concern is solely with ethical reflection, and he cannot with
a clear conscience abandon his mission to encourage it in others:
If I say that this would be disobedience to God, and that is why I cannot "mind
my own business," you will not believe that I am serious. If on the other hand I
tell you that to let no day pass without discussing goodness and all the other
subjects about which you hear me talking and examining both myself and
others is really the very best thing that a man can do, and that life without this
sort of examination is not worth living, you will be even less inclined to believe
me.

Nevertheless that is how it is. His pious references to the wisdom of God are
apt to disguise how unconventional his attitude to divinity was.

When he says that only God has wisdom. The Delphic oracle was as
authentic a voice of God as any available: yet Socrates did not just accept
what it says but instead set out "to check the truth of it''.

He says elsewhere that "it has always been my nature never to accept advice
from any of my friends unless reflection shows that it is the best course that
reason offers"; he seems to have adopted exactly the same approach to the
advice of God.

Presented with the divine pronouncement that no man is wiser than Socrates,
he refuses to take this at face value until he has satisfied himself that a true
meaning can be found for it.

He seems to be speaking in a roundabout way when he refers to his mission


as divine, because the Delphic oracle did not explicitly tell him to go forth and
philosophise. He does at one point say that his mission to argue and question
was undertaken "in obedience to God's commands given in oracles and
dreams and in every other way that any divine dispensation has ever
impressed a duty upon man''. He probably came closest to the heart of the
matter when he said "I want you to think of my adventures as a sort of
pilgrimage undertaken to establish the truth of the oracle once for all''.

It was his conscience and intelligence which told him to interrogate those who
believed themselves to be wise. He could claim that this "helps the cause of
God'' because such activities do help to confirm the Delphic pronouncement
that nobody is wiser than Socrates. But the talk of God is largely a gloss,
which serves to mark Socrates' high moral purpose and to win the approval of
his hearers. His basic motive for philosophising was simply that it was him the
right thing to do.

Guardian Angel

Socrates says he is influenced in his actions by what he calls his daimonion, a


guardian spirit or voice which has been with him since childhood. This seems
to have been the unorthodox divinity or "new gods'' referred to in the charges
against him.
Once again the advice of the daimonion is treated as advice to be reasoned
with before it is endorsed, like the counsel of friends or the words of the
Delphic oracle. The voice of the daimonion is pretty clearly what we would call
the voice of cautious conscience. He says that "when it comes it always
dissuades me from what I am proposing to do, and never urges me on''.

The guardian spirit warned him off any involvement in politics, he says,
because if he had made a public figure of himself, he would have been killed
long before he could have done much good. That is why he chose to minister
to the people privately:

I spend all my time going about trying to persuade you, young and old, to
make your first and chief concern not for your bodies nor for your
possessions, but for the highest welfare of your souls, proclaiming as I go,
Wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other
blessing, both to the individual and to the state.

This persuasion seems to have been rather strident at times. He implies that
the Athenians should be "ashamed that you give your attention to acquiring as
much money as possible, and similarly with reputation and honour, and give
no attention or thought to truth and understanding and the perfection of your
soul''. He must have particularly annoyed them when he said, during his trial,
that he thought he was doing the Athenians "the greatest possible service'' in
showing them the errors of their ways.

This was at a stage of the proceedings when he had already been voted guilty
and was required to argue for a suitable penalty, to counter the prosecution's
proposal that he be put to death. Typically, he treats this responsibility with
irony.

What he actually deserves for doing the Athenians such a service, he says, is
not a punishment but a reward.

He suggests free meals for life at the expense of the state. Such an honour
was usually reserved for victors at the Olympic games and suchlike; he has
earned it even more than they have, he says, because

"these people give you the semblance of success, but I give you the reality''.
He ends this part of the speech by suggesting a fine instead, at the instigation
of Plato and other friends who offer to pay it for him. But the Athenians had
already lost their patience. They voted for the death penalty by a larger
majority than that by which they had found him guilty. This means that some
of them, having previously found him innocent, were so enraged by his cheek
that they either changed their minds or else decided to get rid of him anyway.

One story has it that as Socrates was leaving the court, a devoted but dim
admirer called Apollodorus moaned that the hardest thing for him to bear was
that Socrates was being put to death unjustly. What? said Socrates, trying to
comfort him. Would you rather I was put to death justly?
Socrates Spirituality

Socrates thought that what happens after death in the Phaedo, which purports
to give Socrates's last words before he drank hemlock in prison, he produces
an array of proofs for the immortality of the soul.

He thought that the soul was separable from the body, that it existed before
birth and that it would definitely continue to exist after death. Under
Pythagorean influence, he held that while it was tied to a physical body during
life it led a defiled and inferior existence from which it needed to be "purified''
and "freed from the shackles of the body''. What the good man can hope to
enjoy after death is reunification, or at least communion, with those
incorporeal higher forms of existence that are conventionally called "the
divine''.

The philosopher, in particular, should regard the whole of his life as a


preparation for the blissful release of death. As we have seen, Socrates lived
a poor and unconventional life that was certainly unworldly.

Socrates pursued the virtues because he felt morally obliged to, here and
now. Earthly life imposed its own duties, brought its own blessings and was
not simply a preparation for something else. One belief about virtue is that the
pursuit of goodness is not only a matter of acting in certain ways but also an
intellectual project.

Socrates believed that coming to understand the virtues was a necessary


precondition for possessing them. A man could not be truly virtuous unless he
knew what virtue was, and the only way he might be able to get this
knowledge was by examining accounts of the particular virtues. That is why
Socrates went around questioning people and arguing with them.

Socrates saw the search for definitions as a means to an end, namely the
exercise of virtue. Socrates' questioning really amounted to and what it ought
to aim at.

Socrates had a egalitarian approach to knowledge and virtue. His most


famous quote would have to be The unexamined life is not worth living.

This is not a fate to which he meant to condemn all but a chosen few.
Anybody could examine his own life and ideas and thus lead a worthwhile
existence.

Socrates would happily question and argue with anybody, cobbler or king, and
for him this was all that philosophy was.

In one of his dialogues, uses a geometrical example to argue that knowledge


of the Forms, which for him meant all the important sorts of knowledge, is
acquired before birth. The truths of pure reason, such as those of
mathematics, are not discovered afresh but are painstakingly recollected from
a previous existence in which the soul was disembodied and could encounter
the Forms directly.

Thus one does not strictly speaking learn these truths at all: one works to
remember them. When a soul is born into a body, the knowledge which it
previously enjoyed slips from memory: as Wordsworth wrote in his Intimations
of Immortality, "our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting''.

Socrates' questions to the slave are indeed leading ones (and the diagrams
help, too), yet it is nevertheless true that the slave comes to see the answer
for himself. He has not simply been told it as one might be told how many feet
there are in a yard or what the capital of Greece is. He has come to
appreciate something through his own intellectual faculties. So Socrates can
modestly make his usual claim that he has not handed over any knowledge
himself but has just acted as a midwife to bring it out of somebody else. And
there is another thing: as Socrates points out, in order for the slave to know
this piece of mathematics properly, it is not quite enough for him to work
through the example just once:

At present these opinions [of the slaves] being newly aroused, have a
dreamlike quality. But if the same questions are put to him on many occasions
and in different ways, you can see that in the end he will have a knowledge on
the subject as accurate as anybody's...

This knowledge will not come from teaching but from questioning. He will
recover it for himself.

Repeated doses of Socratic questioning are called for. In other words, what
the slave needs is exactly the sort of treatment that the real Socrates offered
the largely ungrateful Athenians. As he says in the Apology, if anyone claims
to know about goodness "I shall question him and examine him and test him''.
Thus in his fanciful story of assisted recollection, Plato has given us a striking
illustration of the sort of thing Socrates was doing when he claimed to help
other people deliver their own opinions. It is as if Socrates were drawing out
and firming up some knowledge that was already there.

Socratic Way of Life

For Socratic strength of mind was needed for the pursuit of happiness and
held that happiness was to be found not in satisfying desires, but in losing
them. As demonstrated by Socrates' indifference to wealth and comfort, and
turned this into an ascetic philosophy. Socrates, after all, had said that nothing
could harm a good man and that so long as one was good, nothing else in life
mattered at all. Socrates never denied that wealth or possessions were, in
their proper place, a better thing to have than to lack.
His apparent indifference to them was largely a by-product of the demanding
search for virtue and a healthy soul.

While Socrates was quite prepared to ignore ordinary ways and values when
his principles demanded it. If something was neither virtuous nor wicked, then
it did not make the slightest difference whether one did it or not.

As can be imagined, this was a powerful recipe for freedom, freed of the
desire for possessions, and liberated from conventional behaviour, the wise
man could wander around declaiming against society's matesialistic ways..

THE 10 PRIMORDIAL MASTERS : 8 - Prophet Mohammed

Source: CD-Rom -The 10 Incarnations of the Primordial Master 8 Mohammed

Appearance

Muhammad was of a height a little above the average. He was of sturdy build
with long muscular limbs and tapering fingers. The hair of his head was long
and thick with some waves in them. His forehead was large and prominent,
his eyelashes were long and thick, his nose was sloping, his mouth was
somewhat large and his teeth were well set. His cheeks were spare and he
had a pleasant smile. His eyes were large and black with a touch of brown.
His beard was thick and at the time of his death, he had seventeen gray hairs
in it. He had a thin line of fine hair over his neck and chest. He was fair of
complexion and altogether was so handsome that Abu Bakr composed this
couplet on him:

"as there is no darkness in the moonlit night so is Mustafa, the well-wisher,


bright."

His gait was firm and he walked so fast that others found it difficult to keep
pace with him. His face was genial but at times, when he was deep in thought,
there there were long periods of silence, yet he always kept himself busy with
something. He did not speak unnecessarily and what he said was always to
the point and without any padding. At times he would make his meaning clear
by slowly repeating what he had said. His laugh was mostly a smile. He kept
his feelings under firm control - when annoyed, he would turn aside or keep
silent, when pleased he would lower his eyes (Shamail Tirmizi).
Dress

His dress generally consisted of a shirt, tamad (trousers), a sheet thrown


round the sholders and a turban. On rare occasions, he would put on costly
robes presented to him by foreign emissaries in the later part of his life
(Ahmed, Musnad, Hafiz Bin Qaiyyam).

His blanket had several patches (Tirmizi). He had very few spare clothes, but
he kept them spotlessy clean (Bukhari).

On an occasion he enquired of a person in dirty clothes whether he had any


income. Upon getting a reply in the affirmative, he observed, "When Allah has
blessed you with His bounty, your appearence should reflect it."

He used to observe: "Cleanliness is piety".

Lifestyle

In the desert of Arabia was Mohammad born. The name means highly
praised. He is greatest mind among all the sons of Arabia.much more than all
the poets and kings that preceded him in that impenetrable desert of red
sand.

From the desert of Arabia a new world was fashioned by the mighty spirit of
Mohammad - a new life, a new culture, a new civilization, a new kingdom
which extended from Morocco to Indies and influenced the thought and life of
three continents - Asia, Africa and Europe.

When speaking about the holy Quran there is probably in the world no other
book which has remained twelve centuries with so pure text. The account of
Mohammad and Islam which were published in Europe before the beginning
of 19th century are now to be regarded as literary curiosities.

The theory of Islam and Sword for instance is not heard now frequently in any
quarter worth the name. The principle of Islam that there is no compulsion in
religion is well known. A pernicious tenet has been imputed to
Mohammadans, the duty of extirpating all the religions by sword.

This charge based on ignorance and bigotry and is refuted by the Quran, by
the history of Musalman conquerors and by their public and legal toleration of
Christian worship.

The great success of Mohammad's life had been effected by sheer moral
force, without a stroke of sword.
But in pure self-defense, after repeated efforts of conciliation had utterly
failed, circumstances dragged him into the battlefield. But the prophet of Islam
changed the whole strategy of the battlefield.

The total number of casualties in all the wars that took place during his
lifetime when the whole Arabian Peninsula came under his banner, does not
exceed a few hundreds in all. But even on the battlefield he taught the Arab
barbarians to pray, to pray not individually, but in congregation to God the
Almighty.

During the dust and storm of warfare whenever the time for prayer came, and
it comes five times a every day, the congregation prayer had not to be
postponed even on the battlefield. A party had to be engaged in bowing their
heads before God while other was engaged with the enemy. After finishing the
prayers, the two parties had to exchange their positions.

The Prophet of Islam taught the waring tribes self-control and discipline to the
extent of praying even on the battlefield. In an aged of barbarism, the
Battlefield itself was humanized and strict instructions were issued not to
cheat, not to break trust, not to mutilate, not to kill a child or woman or an old
man, not to hew down date palm nor burn it, not to cut a fruit tree, not to
molest any person engaged in worship.

His own treatment with his bitterest enemies is the noblest example for his
followers. At the conquest of Mecca, he stood at the zenith of his power.

The city which had refused to listen to his mission, which had tortured him and
his followers, which had driven him and his people into exile and which had
unrelentingly persecuted and boycotted him even when he had taken refuge
in a place more than 200 miles away, that city now lay at his feet.

By the laws of war he could have justly avenged all the cruelties inflicted on
him and his people. But what treatment did he accord to them? Mohammad's
heart flowed with affection and he declared, "This day, there is no REPROOF
against you and you are all free." "This day" he proclaimed, "I trample under
my feet all distinctions between man and man, all hatred between man and
man."

This was one of the chief objects why he permitted war in self defense, that is
to unite human beings. And when once this object was achieved, even his
worst enemies were pardoned.

Mode of living

His house was but a hut with walls of unbaked clay and a thatched roof of
palm leaves covered by camel skin. He had separate apartments for his
wives, a small room for each made of similar materials. His own apartment
contained a rope cot, a pillow stuffed with palm leaves, the skin of some
animal spread on the floor and a water bag of leather and some weapons.
These were all his earthly belongings, besides a camel, a horse, and an ass
and some land which he had aquired in the later part of his life. Once a few of
his disciples, noticing the imprint of his mattress on his body, wished to give
him a softer bed but he politely declined the offer saying, "What have I to do
with worldly things. My connection with the world is like that of a traveller
resting for a while underneath the shade of a tree and then moving on."

Amr Ibn Al-Harith, a brother in law of the prophet, says that when the prophet
died, he did not leave a cent, a slave man or woman, or any property except
his white mule, his weapons and a piece of land which he had dedicated for
the good of the community. He advised the people to live simple lives and
himself practised great austerities. Even when he had become the virtual king
of Arabia, he lived an austere life bordering on privation. His wife Aiysha says
that there was hardly a day in his life when he had two square meals. When
he died there was nothing in his house except a few seeds of barley left from
a mound of the grain.

He had declared unlawful for himself and his family anything given by the
people by way of zakat or sadaqa (types of charity). He was so particular
about this that he would not appoint any member of his family as a zakat
collector.

His manners and disposition

"By the grace of Allah, you are gentle towards the people; if you had been
stern and ill-tempered, they would have dispersed from round about you"

About himself the prophet said

"Allah has sent me as an apostle so that I may demonstrate perfection of


character, refinement of manners and loftiness of deportment."

By nature he was gentle and kind hearted, always inclined to be gracious and
to overlook the faults of others. Politeness and courtesy, compassion and
tenderness, simplicity and humility, sympathy and sincerity were some of the
keynotes of his character. In the cause of right and justice he could be
resolute and severe but more often than not, his severity was tempered with
generosity. He had charming manners which won him the affection of his
followers and secured their devotion. Though virtual king of Arabia and an
apostle of Allah, he never assumed an air of superiority. Not that he had to
conceal any such vein by practice and artifice: with fear of Allah, sincere
humility was ingrained in his heart. He used to say, "I am a Prophet of Allah
but I do not know what will be my end."
In one of his sermons calculated to instil the fear of Allah and the day of
reckoning in the hearts of men, he said, "O people of Quraish be prepared for
the hereafter, I cannot save you from the punishment of Allah; O Bani Abd
Manaf, I cannot save you from Allah; O Abbas, son of Abdul Mutalib, I cannot
protect you either; O Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, even you I cannot
save."

He used to pray, "O Allah! I am but a man. If I hurt any one in any manner,
then forgive me and do not punish me."

He always received people with courtesy and showed respect to older people
and stated:

"To honor an old man is to show respect to Allah."

He would not deny courtesy even to wicked persons. It is stated that a person
came to his house and asked permission for admission. The prophet
remarked that he was not a good person but might be admitted. When he
came in and while he remained in the house, he was shown full courtesy.
When he left Aiysha said, "You did not think well of this man, but you treated
him so well."

The prophet replied, "He is a bad person in the sight of Allah who does not
behave courteously and people shun his company because of his bad
manners."

He was always the first to greet another and would not withdraw his hand
from a handshake till the other man withdrew his. If one wanted to say
something in his ears, he would not turn away till one had finished . He did not
like people to get up for him and used to say, "Let him who likes people to
stand up in his honour, he should seek a place in hell."

He would himself, however, stand up when any dignitary came to him. He had
stood up to receive the wet nurse who had reared him in infancy and had
spread his own sheet for her. His foster brother was given similar treatment.
He avoided sitting at a prominent place in a gathering, so much so that people
coming in had difficulty in spotting him and had to ask which was the Prophet .
Quite frequently uncouth bedouins accosted him in their own gruff and
impolite manner but he never took offence.

He used to visit the poorest of ailing persons and exhorted all muslims to do
likewise. He would sit with the humblest of persons saying that righteousness
alone was the criterion of one's superiority over another. He invariably invited
people be they slaves, servants or the poorest believers, to partake with him
of his scanty meals.

Whenever he visited a person he would first greet him and then take his
permission to enter the house. He advised the people to follow this etiquette
and not to get annoyed if anyone declined to give permission, for it was quite
likely the person concerned was busy otherwise and did not mean any
disrespect.

There was no type of household work too low or too undignified for him.

"He always joined in household work and would at times mend his clothes,
repair his shoes and sweep the floor. He would milk, tether, and feed his
animals and do the household shopping."

He would not hesitate to do the menial work of others, particularly of orphans


and widows. Once when there was no male member in the house of the
companion Kabab Bin Arat who had gone to the battlefield, he used to go to
his house daily and milk his cattle for the inhabitants.

Children

He was especially fond of children and used to get into the spirit of childish
games in their company. He would have fun with the children who had come
back from Abyssinia and tried to speak in Abyssinian with them.

It was his practice to give lifts on his camel to children when he returned from
journeys. He would pick up children in his arms, play with them, and kiss
them. A companion, recalling his childhood, said, "In my childhood I used to
fell dates by throwing stones at palm trees. Somebody took me to the Prophet
who advised me to pick up the dates lying on the ground but not to fell them
with stones. He then patted me and blessed me."

Daily routine

The Prophet had carefully apportioned his time according to the demands on
him for

1. offering worship to Allah


2. public affairs, and
3. personal matters.

After the early morning prayers he would remain sitting in the mosque reciting
praises of Allah till the sun rose and more people collected. He would then
preach to them. After the sermons were over, he would talk genially with the
people, inquire about their welfare and even exchange jokes with them. Taxes
and revenues were also distributed at this time. He would then offer chaste
prayers and go home and get busy with household work . He would again
return to the mosque for the mid-day and afternoon prayers, listen to the
problems of the people and give solace and guidance to them. After the
afternoon prayers, he would visit each of his wives and, after the evening
prayers, his wives would collect at one place and he would have his dinner.
After the night prayers, he would recite some suras of the Quran and before
going to bed would pray:

"O Allah, I die and live with thy name on my lips."

On getting up he would say, "All praise to Allah Who has given me life after
death and towards Whom is the return."

He used to brush his teeth five times a day, before each of the daily prayers.
He was not fastidious about his bed: sometimes he slept on his cot,
sometimes on a skin or ordinary matress, and sometimes on the ground.

On friday he used to give sermons after the weekly "Jumma" prayers.

He was not annoyed if anyone interrupted him during the sermons for
anything. It is stated that once, while he was delivering his sermon, a bedouin
approached him and said, "O messenger of Allah, I am a traveller and am
ignorant of my religion." The prophet got down from the pulpit, explained the
salient features of Islam to him and then resumed the sermon.

On another occasion his grandson Husain, still a child, came tumbling to him
while he was delivering a sermon. He descended and took him in his lap and
then continued the sermon.

Trust in Allah

Muhammad preached to the people to trust in Allah (swt). His whole life was a
sublime example of the precept. In the loneliness of Makkah, in the midst of
persecution and danger, in adversity and tribulations, and in the thick of
enemies in the battles of Uhud and Hunain, complete faith and trust in Allah
appears as the dominant feature in his life. However great the danger that
confronted him, he never lost hope and never allowed himself to be unduly
agitated.

Abu Talib knew the feelings of the Quraish when the Prophet started his
mission. He also knew the lengths to which the Quraish could go, and
requested the Prophet to abandon his mission, but the latter calmly replied,
"Dear uncle, do not go by my loneliness. Truth will not go unsupported for
long. The whole of Arabia and beyond will one day espouse its cause."

When the attitude of the Quraish became more threatening, Abu Talib again
begged his nephew to renounce his mission but the Prophet's reply was:

"O my uncle, if they placed the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left,
to force me to renounce my work, verily I would not desist thereform until Allah
made manifest His cause, or I perished in the attempt."

To another well-wisher, he said, "Allah will not leave me forelorn."


A dejected and oppressed disciple was comforted with the words:

"By Allah, the day is near when this faith will reach its pinnacle and none will
have to fear anyone except Allah."

It was the same trust in Allah which emboldened the prophet to say his
prayers openly in the haram in the teeth of opposition. The Quraish were once
collected there and were conspiring to put an end to his life.

His young daughter Fatima, who happened to overhear their talk rushed
weeping to her father and told him of the designs of the Quraish. He consoled
her, did his ablutions and went to the Kaaba to say prayers.

There was only consternation among the Quraish when they saw him.

Then leaving his house for Madinah he asked Ali to sleep on his bed and told
him, "Do not worry, no one will be able to do you any harm"

Even though the enemies had surrounded the house, he left the house
reciting the Quranic verse:

"We have set a barricade before them and a barricade behind them and (thus)
have covered them so that they see not" .

Abu Bakr was frightened when pursuers came close to the cavern in which he
and Prophet Muhammad were hiding during their flight, but the Prophet
heartened him, "Grieve not. Allah is with us."

A guard was kept at the Prophet's house in Madinah because of the danger
that surrounded him but he had it withdrawn when the Quranic verse was
revealed:

"Allah will protect you from the people"

A man was caught waiting in ambush to assault the Prophet but he was
directed to be released with the words,

"Even if this man wanted to kill me, he could not."

A Jewess from Khaibar had put poison in the Prophet's food. He spat it out
after taking a morsel but a disciple who had his fill died the next day. The
Jewess was brought before the prophet who questioned her:

"Why did you do this?" "To kill you," was her defiant reply. She was told, "Allah
would not have allowed you to do it."

In the battle of Uhud when the rear guard action of the Makkan army had
disorganised the Muslim army and had turned the tables, the Prophet stood
as firm as a rock even though he had suffered personal injuries. When Abu
Sufiyan taunted the Muslims and shouted "Victory to hubal!", the Prophet
asked Umar to shout back, "Allah is our protector and friend. You have no
protector and friend. Allah is Great, Magnificent."

Again in the battle of Hunain, when the unexpected assault of the army had
swept the Muslim force off its feet and a defeat seemed imminent, the Prophet
did not yield ground. With trust in Allah he showed such courage that the
Muslim army rallied behind him to win a signal victory.

Justice

The Prophet asked people to be just and kind. As the supreme judge and
arbiter, as the leader of men, as general of a rising power, as a reformer and
apostle, he had always to deal with men and their affairs. He had often to deal
with mutually inimical and warring tribes when showing justice to one carried
the danger of antagonizing the other, and yet he never deviated from the path
of justice. In administering justice, he made no distinction between believers
and non believers, friends and foes, high and low. From numerous instances
reported in the traditions, a few are given below.

A woman of the Makhzoom family with good connections was found guilty of
theft. For the prestige of the Quraish, some prominent people including
Asama Bin Zaid interceded to save her from punishment. The Prophet
refused to condone the crime and expressed displeasure saying, "Many a
community ruined itself in the past as they only punished the poor and ignored
the offences of the exalted. By Allah, if Muhammad's (My) daughter Fatima
would have committed theft, her hand would have been severed."

The Jews, in spite of their hostility to the Prophet, were so impressed by his
impartiallity and sense of justice that they used to bring their cases to him,
and he decided them according to Jewish law.

Once, while he was distributing the spoils of war, people flocked around him
and one man almost fell upon him. He pushed the men with a stick causing a
slight abrasion. He was so sorry about this that he told the man that he could
have his revenge, but the man said, "O messenger of Allah, I forgive you."

In his fatal illness, the Prophet proclaimed in a concourse assembled at his


house that if he owed anything to anyone the person concerned could claim it;
if he had ever hurt anyone's person, honour or property, he could have his
price while he was yet in this world. A hush fell on the crowd. One man came
forward to claim a few dirhams which were paid at once.

Equality

Muhammad asked people to shun notions of racial, family or any other form of
superiority based on mundane things and said that righteousness alone was
the criterion of one's superiority over another. It has already been shown how
he mixed with everyone on equal terms, how he ate with slaves, servants and
the poorest on the same sheet (a practice that is still followed in Arabia), how
he refused all privileges and worked like any ordinary laborer. Two instances
may, however, be quoted here:

Once the Prophet visited Saad Bin Abadah. While returning Saad sent his son
Quais with him.

The Prophet asked Quais to mount his camel with him. Quais hesitated out of
respect but the Prophet insisted: "Either mount the camel or go back." Quais
decided to go back.

On another occasion he was travelling on his camel over hilly terrain with a
disciple, Uqba Bin Aamir. After going some distance, he asked Uqba to ride
the camel, but Uqba thought this would be showing disrespect to the Prophet.

But the Prophet insisted and he had to comply. The Prophet himself walked
on foot as he did not want to put too much load on the animal.

During a halt on a journey, the companions apportioned work among


themselves for preparing food. The Prophet took upon himself the task of
collecting firewood. His companions pleaded that they would do it and that he
need not take the trouble, but he replied, "It is true, but I do not like to attribute
any distinction to myself. Allah does not like the man who considers himself
superior to his companions."

Kindness to animals

The Prophet not only preached to the people to show kindness to each other
but also to all living souls. He forbade the practice of cutting tails and manes
of horses, of branding animals at any soft spot, and of keeping horses
saddled unnecessarily . If he saw any animal over-loaded or ill-fed he would
pull up the owner and say, "Fear Allah in your treatment of animals."

As his army marched towards Makkah to conquer it, they passed a female
dog with puppies. The Prophet not only gave orders that they should not be
disturbed, but posted a man to see that this was done.

He stated, "Verily, there is heavenly reward for every act of kindness done to a
living animal." Love for the poor The Prophet enjoined upon Muslims to treat
the poor kindly and to help them with alms, in other ways. He said:

"He is not a perfect muslim who eats his fill and lets his neighbour go hungry."

He asked, "Do you love your Creator? Then love your fellow beings first."
Monopoly is unlawful in Islam and he preached that "It is difficult for a man
laden with riches to climb the steep path that leads to bliss."

He did not prohibit or discourage the acquisition of wealth but insisted that it
be lawfully acquired by honest means and that a portion of it would go to the
poor. He advised his followers "To give the labourer his wages before his
perspiration dried up."

To his wife he said, "O Aysha, love the poor and let them come to you and
Allah will draw you near to Himself."

One or two instances of the Prophet's concern for the poor may be given
here. A Madinan, Ibad Bin Sharjil, was once starving. He entered an orchard
and picked some fruit.

A debtor, Jabir Bin Abdullah, was being harassed by his creditor as he could
not clear his debt owing to the failure of his date crop. The Prophet went with
Jabir to the house of the creditor and pleaded with him to give Jabir some
more time but the creditor was not prepared to oblige.

The Prophet then went to the oasis and having seen for himself that the crop
was really poor, he again approached the creditor with no better result. He
then rested for some time and approached the creditor for a third time but the
latter was adamant. The Prophet went again to the orchard and asked Jabir to
pluck the dates. As Allah would have it, the collection not only sufficed to clear
the dues but left something to spare .

His love for the poor was so deep that he used to pray: "O Allah, keep me
poor in my life and at my death and raise me at resurrection among those who
are poor."

While Mohammed was serving a sick slave, the latter asked, "Has my master
sent you to look after me?"

"Yes," said Mohammed, "the master of masters has sent me to serve you."

One day, a dying dog approached a follower of Mohammed. The man had no
means with which to procure water for the dog, for wells in the desert dry up
quickly. He noticed a small pool of muddy water in the vicinity. He tore his
shirt, soaked it in the water, placed the dog in his lap and moistened its mouth
with the wet cloth. Another Arab who saw this went to the Prophet and said,
"One of your followers has touched a filthy animal, a dog, and should
therefore not be allowed back here again." Mohammed questioned, "What
was he doing to the dog?"

"I do not know, but I saw him moistening its mouth with a torn piece of cloth
dipped in muddy water," replied the man.

"He is a better Muslim than you are, because he is kind to animals," said the
Prophet.
When Mohammed was in Mecca once, a poor shepherd from the hills came to
worship in the mosque. He worshipped in his own simple way, performing the
necessary ablution, kissing the stone and bowing before the sacred spot.
Tears flowed from his eyes as he prayed: "O adorable Lord of love, show me
Thy face. Let me be thy servant. Let me mend Thy shoes, apply oil to Thy
hair, wash Thy soiled clothes and bring Thee daily the milk of my goat. Let me
kiss Thy hand and shampoo Thy sacred Feet. Let me sweep Thy room."
Such simple words of the honest and straightforward shepherd offended the
priests who stood near him. They said to him, "What blasphemy is this ?
There is no need of such gifts for the omnipotent Lord."

They were ready to drive him out of the temple, when the Prophet called them
to him and asked, "When you are in distant lands, in which direction do you
turn your faces ?"

"We turn our faces to Mecca," they answered in reply.

He further asked, "When you are within this sacred walls, in which direction do
you turn your faces ?"

"All is holy here," they replied. "It does not matter which way we turn."

The Prophet then said, "Your answer is beautiful indeed. Within the mosque it
does not matter how you pray, as long as you have love and reverence. This
poor shepherd's simple prayer entered directly into the ears of Allah more
clearly than yours, as it was uttered from his heart with intense love, faith,
sincerity and reverence.

"Make room for God's poor lover near me. Let no one be ashamed to have his
company. He is humble, pure and exalted soul."

Universal Brotherhood

The principles of universal brotherhood and doctrine of the equality of


mankind which he proclaimed represents one very great contribution of
Mohammad to the social uplift of humanity. All great religions have preached
the same doctrine but the prophet of Islam had put this theory into actual
practice and its value will be fully recognized, perhaps centuries hence, when
international consciousness being awakened, racial prejudices may disappear
and greater brotherhood of humanity came into existence.

It was one of the first religions that preached and practiced democracy; for in
the mosque, when the minaret is sounded and the worshipers are gathered
together, the democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day when the
peasant and the king kneel side by side and proclaim, God alone is great."

There is a great indivisible unity of Islam that makes a man instinctively a


brother. When you meet an Egyptian, an Algerian and Indian and a Turk in
London, it matters not that Egypt is the motherland of one and India is the
motherland of another.

Mahatma Gandhi, in his inimitable style, says "Some one has said that
Europeans in South Africa dread the advent Islam - Islam that civilised Spain,
Islam that took the torch light to Morocco and preached to the world the
Gospel of brotherhood. The Europeans of South Africa dread the Advent of
Islam. They may claim equality with the white races. They may well dread it, if
brotherhood is a sin. If it is equality of coloured races then their dread is well
founded."

Haj

Every year, during the Haj, the world witnesses the spectacle of this
international Exhibition of Islam in levelling all distinctions of race, colour and
rank. Europeans, African, Arabian, Persian, Indians and Chinese all meet
together in Medina as members of one divine family, but they are clad in one
dress every person in two simple pieces of white seamless cloth, one piece
round the loin the other piece over the shoulders, bare head without pomp or
ceremony, repeating "Here am I O God; at thy command; thou art one and
alone; Here am I."

Thus there remains nothing to differentiate the high from the low and every
pilgrim carries home the impression of the international significance of Islam.
The league of nations founded by prophet of Islam put the principle of
international unity of human brotherhood on such Universal foundations as to
show other nations the fact the notion universal brotherhood.

Consider the state of Bilal, a Negro Slave, in the days of the prophet of Islam
nearly 14 centuries ago. The office of calling Muslims to prayer was
considered to be of status in the early days of Islam and it was offered to this
Negro slave. After the conquest of Mecca, the Prophet ordered him to call for
prayer and the Negro slave, with his black color and his thick lips, stood over
the roof of the holy mosque at Mecca called the Ka'ba the most historic and
the holiest mosque in the Islamic world, when some proud Arabs painfully
cried loud, "Oh, this black Negro Slave, woe be to him. He stands on the roof
of holy Ka'ba to call for prayer." At that moment, the prophet announced to the
world, this verse of the holy QURAN for the first time.

"O mankind, surely we have created you, families and tribes, so you may
know one another. Surely, the most honourable of you with God is the most
righteous among you. Surely, God is Knowing, Aware."

And these words of the holy Quran created such a mighty transformation that
the Caliph of Islam, the purest of Arabs by birth, offered their daughter in
marriage to this Negro Slave, and whenever, the second Caliph of Islam,
known to history as Umar the great, the commander of faithful, saw this Negro
slave, he immediately stood in reverence and welcomed him by "Here come
our master; Here come our lord."

Goethe, the greatest of German poets, speaking about the Holy Quran
declared that, "This book will go on exercising through all ages a most potent
influence."

Equality of women

It is this same democratic spirit of Islam that emancipated women from the
bondage of man.

Islam teaches the inherent sinlessness of man. It teaches that man and
woman have come from the same essence, posses the same soul and have
been equipped with equal capabilities for intellectual, spiritual and moral
attainment."

The Arabs had a very strong tradition that one who can smite with the spear
and can wield the sword would inherit. But Islam came as the defender of the
weaker sex and entitled women to share the inheritance of their parents. It
gave women, centuries ago right of owning property.

The Prophet of Islam had proclaimed that "Woman are twin halves of men.
The rights of women are sacred. See that women maintained rights granted to
them."

Law

Islam is not directly concerned with political and economic systems, but
indirectly and in so far as political and economic affairs influence man's
conduct, it does lay down some very important principles to govern economic
life. It maintains the balance between exaggerated opposites and has always
in view the building of character which is the basis of civilization. This is
secured by its law of inheritance, by an organized system of charity known as
Zakat, and by regarding as illegal all anti-social practices in the economic field
like monopoly, usury, securing of predetermined unearned income and
increments, cornering markets, creating monopolies, creating an artificial
scarcity of any commodity.

Gambling is illegal. Contribution to schools, to places of worship, hospitals,


digging of wells, opening of orphanages are highest acts of virtue.
Orphanages have sprung for the first time, it is said, under the teaching of the
prophet of Islam. The world owes its orphanages to this prophet born an
orphan. Mohammad was the natural voice of humanity, of pity and equity,
dwelling in the heart of this son of nature.
The Great Man

It was once said a great man should be judged by three tests.

Was he found to be of true metel by his contemporaries? Was he great


enough to raise above the standards of his age? Did he leave anything as
permanent legacy to the world at large? This list may be further extended but
all these three tests of greatness are eminently satisfied to the highest degree
in case of prophet Mohammad.

Historical records show that all the contemporaries of Mohammad both friends
foes, acknowledged his qualities, the spotless honesty, the noble virtues, the
absolute sincerity and every trustworthiness of the apostle of Islam in all walks
of life and in every sphere of human activity. Even the Jews and those who
did not believe in his message, adopted him as the arbiter in their personal
disputes by virtue of his perfect impartiality. Even those who did not believe in
his message but the best of them saw that a new light had dawned on him
and they hastened him to seek the enlightenment.

It is a notable feature in the history of prophet of Islam that his nearest


relation, his beloved cousin and his bosom friends, who know him most
intimately, were not thoroughly imbued with the truth of his mission and were
convinced of the genuineness of his divine inspiration.

He had not studied philosophy in the school of Athens of Rome, Persia, India,
or China. Yet, He could proclaim the highest truths of eternal value to
mankind. Illiterate himself, he could yet speak with an eloquence and fervour
which moved men. Born an orphan blessed with no worldly goods, he was
loved by all. He had studied at no military academy; yet he could organise his
forces against tremendous odds and gained victories through the moral forces
which he marshalled. Gifted men with genius for preaching are rare.
Descartes included the perfect preacher among the rarest kind in the world.

Head of the state as well as the Church, he was Caesar and Pope in one; but,
he was pope without the pope's claims, and Caesar without the legions of
Caesar, without an standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace,
without a fixed revenue. If ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by a
right divine it was Mohammad, for he had all the power without instruments
and without its support. He cared not for dressing of power. The simplicity of
his private life was in keeping with his public life.

After the fall of Mecca, more than one million square miles of land lay at his
feet, Lord of Arabia, he mended his own shoes and coarse woolen garments,
milked the goats, swept the hearth, kindled the fire and attended the other
menial offices of the family. The entire town of Medina where he lived grew
wealthy in the later days of his life. Everywhere there was gold and silver in
plenty and yet in those days of prosperity many weeks would elapse without a
fire being kindled in the hearth of the king of Arabia, His food being dates and
water.
His family would go hungry many nights successively because they could not
get anything to eat in the evening. He slept on no soften bed but on a palm
mat, after a long busy day to spend most of his night in prayer before his
creator asking Him to grant him strength to discharge his duties.

On the day of his death his only assets were few coins a part of which went to
satisfy a debt and rest was given to a needy person who came to his house
for charity. The clothes in which he breathed his last had many patches. The
house from where light had spread to the world was in darkness because
there was no oil in the lamp.

Circumstances changed, but the prophet of God did not. In victory or in


defeat, in power or in adversity, in affluence or in indigence, he is the same
man, disclosed the same character. Like all the ways and laws of God, the
Prophets of God was unchangeable.

An honest man, as the saying goes, is the noblest work of God, Mohammad
was more than honest. He was human to the marrow of his bones. Human
sympathy, human love was the music of his soul. To serve man, to elevate
man, to purify man, to educate man, in a word to humanize man - this was the
object of his mission, the be-all and end all of his life. In thought, in word, in
action he had the good of humanity as his sole inspiration, his sole guiding
principle.
.
He turned the attention of his followers towards the study of nature and its
laws, to understand them and appreciate the Glory of God.

The Quran says, "God did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is
between them in play. He did not create them all but with the truth. But most
men do not know."

Attributes of God

As regards the attributes of God, Islam adopts here as in other things too, the
law of golden mean. It avoids on the one hand, the view of God which divests
the divine being of every attribute and rejects, on the other, the view which
likens him to things material. The Quran says, on the one hand, there is
nothing which is like him, on the other, it affirms that he is Seeing, Hearing,
Knowing.

He is the King who is without a stain of fault or deficiency, the mighty ship of
His power floats upon the ocean of justice and equity. He is the Beneficent,
the Merciful. He is the Guardian over all. Islam does not stop with this positive
statement. It adds further the negative aspects of problem.

He is guardian over everything. He is the meander of every breakage.


He is the restorer of every loss. There is no God but the One God, above any
need, the maker of bodies, creator of souls, the Lord of the day of judgment,
and in short, in the words of Quran, to him belong all excellent qualities.

Regarding the position of man in relation to the Universe, the Quran says:

"God has made subservient to you whatever is on the earth or in universe.


You are destined to rule over the Universe."

But in relation to God, the Quran says:

"O man God has bestowed on you excellent faculties and has created life and
death to put you to test in order to see whose actions are good and who has
deviated from the right path."

On Truth

The real man of truth is the one who is true in his thought, true in his deeds,
and true in his work."

You should always endeavour to reach the highest point in virtue and truth. A
person who always speaks the truth should not stoop to cursing people. Do
not tell lies; speak only the truth, even if it is bitter and might hurt other
people.

On understanding

Devotion alone does not please God. It is only that part of devotion which is
offered to God together with understanding that God accepts. There are no
returns for prayers, charity and visiting holy places, unless they are
accompanied by understanding.

On Actions

All actions are judged by the intentions that impel them.

On Forgiveness

"Do not say: If the people do me good, I will do them good; and if the people
torment me, I will torment them in return." Tell yourself instead that if people
do you good, you will do good to them, and if they torment you, you will not
reciprocate by tormenting them.
On Jihad

The best jihad is that undertaken to conquer the self. The ink that the
intellectual uses is holier than the blood of the martyr.

On the Quran

The Quran talks of five things: lawful things, unlawful things, clear and
constructive principles, mysteries, and examples. Take the lawful as things
that can be done, the unlawful things as those which are forbidden, follow the
principles, believe in the mysteries, and take the lessons that the examples
teach.

On Knowledge

It is better to give more time to learning than to give more time to praying. It is
better to teach someone for one hour in the night than to pray all night.

The four sayings of Prophet Mohammed which form the essence of Islamic
law

1. Actions are judged by their intentions.


2. A sincere Muslim does not pay heed to anything that is not connected with
him.
3. A true believer wishes for others what he wishes for himself.
4. Some things are clearly lawful and some things are clearly unlawful. But
there are some which don't fall clearly in either category, and it is better to
stay away from them

There are no returns for prayers, charity and visiting holy places, unless they
are accompanied by understanding. Makes every man taste of what he has
done, be subjugated to a course of treatment of the spiritual diseases which
they have brought about with their own hands.

Beware, it is terrible ordeal. Bodily pain is torture, you can bear somehow.
Spiritual pain is hell, you will find it almost unbearable. Fight in this life itself
the tendencies of the spirit prone to evil, tempting to lead you into iniquities
ways. Reach the next stage when the self-accusing sprit in your conscience is
awakened and the soul is anxious to attain moral excellence and revolt
against disobedience. This will lead you to the final stage of the soul at rest,
contented with God, finding its happiness and delight in him alone. The soul
no more stumbles. The stage of struggle passes away.
Truth is victorious and falsehood lays down its arms. All complexes will then
be resolved. Your house will not be divided against itself. Your personality will
get integrated round the central core of submission to the will of God and
complete surrender to his divine purpose. All hidden energies will then be
released. The soul then will have peace. God will then address you.

"O thou soul that art at rest, and restest fully contented with thy Lord return to
thy Lord. He pleased with thee and thou pleased with him; So enter among
my servants and enter into my paradise."

THE 10 PRIMORDIAL MASTERS : 9 - Guru Nanak

Source: CD-Rom -The 10 Incarnations of the Primordial Master 9- Guru Nanak

Me, the bard out of work, the Lord has applied to His service. In the very
beginning He gave me the order to sing His praises night and day. The Master
summoned the minstrel to His True Court. He clothed me with the robe of His
true honour and eulogy. Since then the True Name had become my ambrosial
food. They, who under the Gurus instruction, eat this food to their satisfaction,
obtain peace. By singing the Gurus hymns, I, the minstrel spread the Lords
glory. Nanak, by praising the True Name I have obtained the perfect Lord.

- Guru Nanak, Pauri

Premonition of his Birth

In the Hindu epic the Rig Veda In Mandala 7, Ush 5, Mantra 5 of Guru Nanak
and the clan he belongs to is recorded "For the preaching of religious ways
and the earning of good karma, there will manifest Guru Nanak from the clan
of the Veithees" In the Bhavekhath Purana "Baavekhath" means "future
foretelling". There are also places where the advent of Guru Nanak is directly
alluded to.

"In the Kali Yuga when goodness in the world is deteriorating there will appear
a Prophet from the Beithi clan named Nanak who from birth will be endowed
with extra-ordinary spiritual power. He will preach on the nobility of life and the
eradication of the sinful ways"
"The Guru of the prophets, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiv ji is God almighty
himself. This very Creator will manifest itself as a human, in the form of one
whose name will be Nanak

Also recorded is the following detailed assertiveness about Nanak and the
type of mission and work he shall perform. It appears to emanate from the
Godhead itself.

"The Kali Yuga shall dawn on Earth with radical mainisfestation of destruction
of Karma and Dharma to such an extent that every situation shall be colored
by sinful activities. At that distressful moment, the Creator shall send down a
spiritual luminary in the form of Nanak from the Khatria clan.

He will spread the message of Naam, the Holy life Force, by introducing the
primacy of meditation and thus washing clean the sinful ways by the waters of
love."

In the Vishnnu Purana there is recorded an dialogue between Vishnu and the
Rishi Umbreek. Vishnu is said to have informed Umbreek that he will once
again take birth in the Kali Yuga. The Rishi then enquired when about will that
be and what will be your name then? Vishnu replied that this will happen
when the Kali Yuga has proceeded for 4500 years and that I will take birth in
the Shatri Sooraj Bansi clan, when I will be named, Nanak "Sri NANAK will
once again appear in the world in a variety of incarnations; this is for sure, this
is for sure, this is for sure."

It was during the time when the world was plunged into the dark world of
ignorance, feudal tyranny and oppression, religious and cultural strife, that Siri
Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, took his birth. Celestial music
resounded in heaven. Almighty host of gods, thus, hailed his birth, God has
come to save the trouble peace of the people of all communities. He came to
preach brotherhood and humanitarianism irrespective of caste, creed, colour
nor economic status. He brought vision of a common humanity to a society
which had become a place of violence and strife. He had faith in humanity.
For him, love of God implied love for his creation. Service of humanity
indicates one's love for God.

Like many of Primordial Masters, Guru Nanak's birth was accompanied by


supernatural signs and by celestial music. He lived his childhood in freedom
of nature, but manifested very soon an exceptional tendency to mediation and
isolation, refusing the company of his contemporaries.

Guru Nanak Dev's life was to serve as a beacon light for his age. He was a
great seer, saint and mystic. He was a prolific poet and a unique singer of
God's laudation. A prophet of peace, love, truth and renaissance. Guru Nanak
Dev served his life is a bridge between two shores of the river of unity.

His Life
The founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak was born on April 15, 1469 in
the Western Punjab village of Talwandi. He was born to a simple Hindu family.
His father Mehta Kalian Das was an accountant in the employment of the
local Muslim authorities.

A priceless jewel, a shining star, a divine light, Guru Nanak Dev shone
amongst his peers from his very early childhood. His wise questions and
spiritual leanings surprised all those who came in contact with him at home
and in school. When he was sent to school,

Guru Nanak Dev said to his teacher, "Teach me, only this one large lesson of
life. Tell me of the Creator, and the wonder of these Great World". He
confounded the school teachers by asking such questions. But to he utter
surprise of the teachers and others, Guru Nanak Dev gained proficiency in
Sanskrit, Persian and the local language.

From an early age Guru Nanak made friends with both Hindu and Muslim
children and was very inquisitive about the meaning of life. At the age of six
he was sent to the village school teacher for schooling in reading and writing
in Hindi and mathematics.

He was then schooled in the study of Muslim literature and learned Persian
and Arabic.

At age 13 it was time for Guru Nanak to be invested with the sacred thread
according to the traditional Hindu custom. At the ceremony which was
attended by family and friends and to the disappointment of his family Guru
Nanak refused to accept the sacred cotton thread from the Hindu priest. He
sang the following poem;

"Let mercy be the cotton, contentment the thread, Continence the knot and
truth the twist. O priest! If you have such a thread, Do give it to me. It'll not
wear out, nor get soiled, nor burnt, nor lost. Says Nanak, blessed are those
who go about wearing such a thread"

Guru Nanak Dev's father thought of initiating him in business undertakings.

He gave him a few silver coins to bring some articles from the town, which
could be sold in Talwandi for profit. On the way, Guru Nanak Dev came across
some needy saints, and spent the money in feeding and clothing them. He
returned empty-handed. His father was enraged by his reply that he had
struck the "True Bargain".

As a young man herding the family cattle, Guru Nanak would spend long
hours absorbed in meditation and in religious discussions with Muslim and
Hindu holy men who lived in the forests surrounding the village. Thinking that
if bound in marriage Guru Nanak might start taking interest in household
affairs a suitable match was found for him.

At age 16 he was married to Sulakhani daughter of a pious merchant.


Guru Nanak did not object as he felt that married life did not conflict with
spiritual pursuits. Guru Nanak was happily married, he loved his wife and
eventually had two sons Sri Chand in 1494 and Lakshmi Chand three years
later

These words are enshrined at the beginning of the Sikh Holy Scriptures, the
Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Nanak did not believe in a Trinity of Gods, or the
belief that God can be born into human form.

After three days Guru Nanak appeared at the same spot from where he had
disappeared. He was no longer the same person he had been, there was a
divine light in his eyes and his face was resplendent. He remained in a trance
and said nothing. He gave up his job and distributed all of his belongings to
the poor.

He first spoke the verse which is now called the Mool Mantra - the primordal
Mantra which appears at the commencement of every Chapter the Sacred
Scripture of the Sikhs. It is one of the most comprehensive definitions of God
and is amongst the most powerful of all the world's Mantras.

"The True One and only Omnipresent Immortal Essence of Reality. The
Creator, the Omniscient and Omnipotent, the Incomprehensible (the fearless).
Before all Beginnings and after all Endings. Beyond Time, Space and Form
(and enmity). Free from the cycle of Births and Deaths, the Self-manifested.
The Loving Merciful Enlightener (Realised with His Grace through total
Submission to His Will)."

When he broke his silence he uttered "There is no Hindu, no Muslim". Daulat


Khan asked what he meant when he said to Guru Nanak, "Perhaps the
Hindus were no longer Hindus but the Muslims remain devout to their faith."

Guru Nanak replied, "Let God's grace be the mosque, and devotion the prayer
mat. Let the Quran be the good conduct. Let modesty be compassion, good
manners fasting, you should be a Muslim the like of this. Let good deeds be
your Kaaba and truth be your mentor.

Your Kalma be your creed and prayer, God would then vindicate your honour."

The Great Pilgrimage

Guru Nanak was thirty years old at this time in 1499. The next stage of his life
began with extensive travels to spread the message of God. Accompanied by
his Muslim rabab player Mardana for company, Guru Nanak undertook long
journeys to convey his message to the people in the form of musical hymns.

Guru Nanak choose this medium to propagate his message because it was
easily understood by the population of the time. Wherever he traveled he
used the local language to convey his message to the people. He traveled
throughout the Indian Subcontinent and further east, west, and north to
spread his mission. Wherever he went he set up local cells called manjis,
where his followers could gather to recite
hymns and meditate.

Once when Guru Nanak came to the small town of Saidpur in West Punjab he
choose to stay there with Lalo, a low caste carpenter. At the same time the
local chief of the town Malik Bhago, who was quite wealthy and a very proud
man was holding a feast to which all holy men were invited. When Malik
Bhago found out that Guru Nanak would not attend his feast but instead
partook of the simple fare of his host Lalo, he was quite angry and had the
Guru brought to him for questioning.

When asked why he didn't join in the feast, the Guru sent for the meal served
by Malik Bhago and also some of the simple meal served by Lalo. Holding
these in separate hands he squeezed them, blood appeared out of the rich
food of Malik Bhago, while milk oozed out of

Lalos simple fare. Malik Bhago was put to shame and realized that his riches
had been amassed by exploiting the poor, while what Lalo offered was the
milk of hard earned honest work.

These long journeys gave Guru Nanak Dev a keen insight of the human
character and accordingly, he adopted impressive and effective methods in
persuasion of his Divine mission. His attractive rationalism brought about
amazing transformations in the life and character of all those who came in
contact with him. At Lahore, Duni Chand - a wealthy Khatri, who was a
money-monger, money grubber and enmeshed in money matters, once came
to see Guru Nanak Dev. By giving him a needle the Guru said, "Duni Chand,
keep it with thee and give it back to me in the next world. "Surprisingly Duni
Chand replied," Master, this needle I shall not be able to carry with me after
death, how shall then I return it to you?" The Guru then asked, "What use
then, Duni Chand, are thy millions to thee?'

Duni Chand was changed and he became Guru Nanak Dev's follower.
According to the advice of the Guru, he distributed most of his wealth
amongst the needy and the poor.

At Sultanpur, the Qazi took strong exception to Guru Nanak Dev's sayings
that there was no Hindu and no Musalman. He invited Guru Nanak Dev to the
mosque for offering namaz.

When Knob, Nawab Quasi and others were offering prayer, the Guru simply
remained standing. That added to his fury but he was surprised when the
Guru told him that though he was physically offering the namaz his heart was
looking after the foal his mare had delivered that morning.The Nawab at heart
was wandering in Kabul with his men busy in the horse-trade. Guru Nanak
Dev then advised them that true worship is a matter of the heart and not of
formal ritualism. According to Guru Nanak Dev "There can be no worship
without performing good deed."
After Guru Nanak Dev visited Tibet and Mansarover Lake, he passed through
Leh and Ladakh. There is a legend that a demon who was a terror to animals
and human being dwelled in that region. He was supposed to have devoured
an animal or a human daily. When the Guru reached there, everyone was
convinced of his omnipotence and begged him to save them from that terror.
Guru Nanak Dev agreed. He and his disciples went to a place called Nimmu
and settled there. In the middle of the Kirtan the demon came forth, but was
repelled by the deep spiritual brightness emanating from the Guru's face. The
demon was furious. Since he could not come near Guru Nanak Dev, he began
to hurl stones and rocks at him from a distance. However, none of these could
hurt the Guru.

He also opposed any sort of distinctions in humanity. He professed that noble


character rather than noble birth is the real test of human greatness :

What power has caste? It is the righteousness that is tested. Whosoever


tastes poison, Will die, no matter what his caste is.

Guru Nanak Dev also raised his voice for the uplift and parity of the down-
trodden, low-caste elements of the human society and that of the womenfolk.
He had complete sympathy for the so called downtrodden people. He flayed
those who were responsible for their notorious plight and asserted .Guru
Nanak Dev exalted the status of woman by saying :

"It is from women, the condemned one, that we are conceived and it is from
her that we are born. It is to the women that we are engaged and married. It is
the woman who is our life - long friend and it is she who keeps our race going.
It is women again who is sought when one loses one's previous wife. It is
woman through whom we establish our social ties. Then why denounce her
form whom even kings and great men are born."

Another time while camped out at a town during the rainy season, several
devotees would come to the Guru on a regular basis. One of them while on
the way to see the Guru, came across a prostitute and was allured by her.
Thereafter he would leave home on the pretext of going to see the Guru, but
instead visited the prostitute. A few days later his friend who daily came to pay
homage to the Guru was pricked by a thorn, while his neighbor, who visited
the prostitute, found a gold coin in the street.

The incident bewildered the Guru's devotee who came every day religiously.
He mentioned it in the morning prayer meeting where Guru Nanak heard it
and was amused. He told the Sikh;

"Your friend was destined to come across a treasure but due to his evil ways,
it has been reduced to a single coin. While on the account of your past karma
you were to have been impaled with a stake, but having reformed yourself,
you have been let off with the mere prick of a thorn."

When the Guru visited Kurukshetra in Haryana, a big fair was being held at
the holy tank to celebrate the solar eclipse. There were a large number of
pilgrims all over the country. On his arrival at the fair, Guru Nanak had
Mardana cook them a meat dish of a deer presented to them by one of his
followers. Upon finding that meat was being cooked on the holy premises, a
large angry crowd gathered in anger to attack the Guru for what they thought
amounted to sacrilege. Upon hearing the angry crowd Guru Nanak
responded;

"Only fools argue whether to eat meat or not. They don't understand truth nor
do they meditate on it. Who can define what is meat and what is plant? Who
knows where the sin lies, being a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian?"

When Guru Nanak stopped at Hardwar a pilgrimage center on the Ganges


river he found a large gathering of devotees. They were taking ritual baths in
the holy river and offering water to the sun. When the Guru asked "Why do
you throw water like that?" The pilgrims replied that they were offering it to
their ancestors.

Guru Nanak upon hearing this started throwing water in the opposite direction
towards the west. When the pilgrims asked him what he was doing, Guru
Nanak replied "I am sending water to my farm which is dry". They asked,
"How will water reach you crops so far away?". Guru Nanak replied, "If your
water can reach your ancestors in the region of the sun, why can't mine reach
my fields a short distance away?" The pilgrims realized their folly and fell at
the Gurus feet.

On an eastern journey Guru Nanak visited Gorakhmata where he discussed


the true meaning of asceticism with some yogis;

"Asceticism doesn't lie in ascetic robes, or in walking staff, nor in the ashes.
Asceticism doesn't lie in the earring, nor in the shaven head, nor blowing a
conch."

"Asceticism lies in remaining pure amidst impurities. Asceticism doesn't lie in


mere words; He is an ascetic who treats everyone alike."

Asceticism doesn't lie in visiting burial places, It lies not in wandering about,
nor in bathing at places of pilgrimage. Asceticism is to remain pure amidst
impurities. After his first long journey, Guru Nanak returned home after twelve
years of propagating his message. He then set out on a second journey
travelling as far south as Sri Lanka. On his return north he founded a
settlement known as Kartharpur (the Abode of God) on the western banks of
the Ravi river. Guru Nanak would one day settle down here in his old age.

It was also here that he met a young devotee who would later go on to serve
five of the following Gurus, Baba Buddha (the revered old one). On his third
great journey Guru Nanak traveled as far north as Tibet. Wherever Guru
Nanak traveled he always wore a combination of styles worn by Hindu and
Muslim holy men and was always asked whether he was a Hindu or Muslim.
Guru Nanak visited Sheikh Ibrahim the muslim successor of Baba Farid the
great Sufi dervish of the twelfth century at Ajodhan.

When asked by Ibrahim which of the two religions was the true way to attain
God, Guru Nanak
replied;

"If there is one God, then there is only His way to attain Him, not another. One
must follow that way and reject the other. Worship not him who is born only to
die, but Him who is eternal and is contained in the whole universe."

On his fourth great journey in life Guru Nanak dressed in the blue garb of a
Muslim pilgrim traveled to the west and visited Mecca, Medina and Baghdad.
Arriving at Mecca, Guru Nanak fell asleep with his feet pointing towards the
holy Kabba. When the watchman on his night rounds noticed this he kicked
the Guru, saying, "How dare you turn your feet towards the house of God".

At this Guru Nanak woke up and said, "Good man, I am weary after a long
journey. Kindly turn my feet in the direction where God is not."

When pilgrims and the holy men of the shrine gathered to hear Guru Nanak
and question him, he sang in Persian;

"I beseech you, O Lord! pray grant me a hearing. You are the truthful, the
great, the merciful, and the faultless Creator. I know for certain, this world
must perish, And death must come, I know this and nothing else. Neither wife,
nor son, nor father, nor brothers shall be able to help. I must go in the end,
none can undo what is my fate. I have spend days and nights in vanity,
contemplating evil. Never have I thought of good; this is what I am. I am ill-
starred, miserly, careless, short-sighted, and rude. But says Nanak, I am
yours, the dust of the feet of your servants."

While in Baghdad contradicting the Muslim priests views that their were only
seven upper and as many lower regions Guru Nanak shouted out his own
prayer saying, "There are worlds and more worlds below them and there are a
hundred thousand skies over them. No one has been able to find the limits
and boundaries of God. If there be any account of God, than alone the mortal
can write the same; but God's account does not finish and the mortal himself
dies while still writing. Nanak says that one should call Him great, and God
Himself knows His ownself."

In 1916 a tablet with the following inscription was uncovered in Baghdad, "In
memory of the Guru, the holy Baba Nanak, King of holy men, this monument
has been raised anew with the help of the seven saints." The date on the
tablet A.D. 1520- 1521.

On his return journey home he stopped at Saidpur in western Punjab during


the invasion of the first Mughal Emperor Babar. On seeing the extent of the
massacre by the invaders, Mardana asked Guru Nanak why so many
innocent people were put to death along with those few who were guilty. Guru
Nanak told Mardana to wait under a banyan tree and after a while he would
return to answer his question.

While sitting under the tree Mardana was suddenly bitten by an ant. In anger
Mardana killed as many ants as he could with his feet. Guru Nanak said to
him, "You know now Mardana, why do the innocents suffer along with the
guilty?"

Guru Nanak and Mardana were both taken prisoner by the Mughal's. While in
jail Guru Nanak sang a divine hymn about the senseless slaughter of the
innocents by the Mughal invaders. Upon hearing it the jailer reported it to his
king.

Babar sent for the Guru and upon hearing him realized that Guru Nanak was
a great religious figure. He asked for the Gurus forgiveness and set him free
offering him a pouch of hashish. Guru Nanak refused saying the he was
already intoxicated with the love and name of God.

After having spent a lifetime of traveling abroad and setting up missions, an


aged Guru Nanak returned home to Punjab. He settled down at Kartharpur
with his wife and sons. Pilgrims came from far and near to hear the hymns
and preaching of the Master.

Here his followers would gather in the mornings and afternoons for religious
services. He believed in a castless society without any distinctions based on
birthright, religion or sex. He institutionalized the common kitchen called
langar in Sikhism. Here all can sit together and share a common meal,
whether they were kings or beggars.

While working the fields one day in 1532 Guru Nanak was approached by a
new devotee who said, "I am Lehna," Guru Nanak looked at him and replied,
"So you have arrived Lehna-the creditor. I have been waiting for you all these
days. I must pay your debt." ("Lehna" in Punjabi means debt or creditor).

Lehna was a great devotee of the Hindu God Durga. One day having hearing
about Guru Nanak and his teachings, he decided to visit and see the Guru for
himself. Once Lehna met Guru Nanak he left his previous beliefs and became
an ardent disciple of the Guru. Lehna's devotion to Guru Nanak was absolute,
when he was not working on the farm, he would devote his spare time to the
contemplation of God.

Over time he became Guru Nanak's most ardent disciple. Guru Nanak put his
followers to many tests to see who was the most faithful. Once while
accompanied by Lehna and his two sons Guru Nanak came across what
looked like a corpse covered with a sheet. "Who would eat it?" asked Guru
Nanak unexpectedly. His sons refused, thinking that their father was not in his
senses.
Lehna though agreed and as he removed the cover he found that it was a tray
of sacred food. Lehna first offered it to Guru Nanak and his sons and then
partook of the leftovers himself. Guru Nanak on seeing this replied;

"Lehna, you were blessed with the sacred food because you could share it
with others. If the people use the wealth bestowed on them by God for
themselves alone or for treasuring it, it is like a corpse. But if they decide to
share it with others, it becomes sacred food. You have known the secret. You
are my image."

Guru Nanak then blessed Lehna with his ang (hand) and gave him a new
name, Angad, saying "you are a part of my body". Guru Nanak placed five
coins and a coconut in front of Guru Angad and then bowed before him. He
then had Bahi Budhha anoint Angad with a saffron mark on his forehead.
When Guru Nanak gathered his followers together for prayers he invited
Angad to occupy the seat of the Guru. Thus Guru Angad was ordained as the
successor to Guru Nanak. His end was near, the Hindus said we will cremate
you, the Muslims said we will bury you.

"You place flowers on either side, Hindus on my right, Muslims on my left.


Those whose flowers remain fresh tomorrow will have their way."

Then came the day of destiny. The Guru prepared to depart from the world of
mortals and his return to the Eternal Home. He addressed the disciples who
had assemble around him .

"The appointed hour hath come.


The hour of marriage and union with the Spouse divine.
Assemble ye, my Comrades:
Cluster round me and lift up your merry notes:
Sing the praises of the Divine, Comforting Lord.
Anoint the Bride,
Pour oil on her forehead,
Give her your blessings,
And pray that she may meet her Lord,
And he happy with him for aye.
Sing Ye, my friends, the praises of the Spouse;
For the appointed hour of union hath come."

He then asked them to prey and lay down covering himself with a sheet. Thus
on September 22, 1539 in the early hours of the morning Guru Nanak merged
with the eternal light of the Creator. When the followers lifted the sheet they
found nothing except the flowers which were all fresh. The Hindus took theirs
and cremated them,
while the Muslims took their flowers and buried them.

Thus having spread the words of reform throughout his lifetime, Guru Nanak
successfully challenged and questioned the existing religious tenants and laid
the foundations of Sikhism.
Shri Matajis Quotes on Guru Nanak

We can say on Guru principal Nanak Sahib came. Even in His time so many
could not know their Spirit. He was breaking his head advising the people. He
had taken human form but still he was not recognized. I was with Him (Guru
Nanak Ji), in fact with all of Them."

Shri Nirmala Devi Delhi, India August 18, 1979

Then a great personality like Guru Nanaka came on this Earth and He said
that, that all these nonsensical things are not what Kundalini is: "The Kundalini
is your Mother and She rises without any trouble through different Chakras."

"And the one who supported Him and explained Sahaja Yoga in a very good
way was the great personality of Kabira. And Kabira had described everything
about Kundalini but in poetry. But human beings have a great sense of how to
twist and turn everything into something that's just the opposite. Like he talked
of the Kundalini and called Kundalini as Surti. He lived in Bihar and he
preached about it in Bihar; and there people called tabacco as Surti! So you
can imagine how people twist the Truth into just the opposite to call tabacco
as Surti."

"So this has happened with every great Incarnation who came on this Earth."

Shri Nirmala Devi Delhi

One day I was travelling from London and there was one Indian lady who
came to see Me and she said, "I was surprised to see your disciples. Their
faces were shining with such light. I've never seen any disciples like that." I
asked her, "Who are you?" She said, "I'm married in Guru Nanak's family and
all the people in his family are just the opposite to what Shri Guru Nanak
was."

So I said, "Because they worship Shri Ganesha." So she said that, "In our
family nobody worships Shri Ganesh." I said, "It cannot be possible? How is
it?" They believe in the Nirakar, the formless God of Chaitanya. I said, "But
who is the Source of that Chaitanya? Why don't they find out who is the
Source? So they said that Nanaka has only talked up to this point.

He's not talked about the source. I said, "Better find out. Because in this book
maybe some things have been taken away."

And then somebody gave me a passage where he had described the


innocence, the Deity of Shri Ganesha also. He had described that the whole
creation was done by the Mother and not by the Father. Its very surprising
because is for people who don't believe in the forms of God, always talk of
Father, not of the Mother. It is true also about Christianity, also about Islam,
also about the Jews."
Shri Nirmala Devi Ganesha Puja, September 10, 1995, Cabella Italy

Guru Nanak about Shri Mataji

Obeisance, obeisance to Him, the Primal, the Immaculate, without beginning,


without end, constant through all ages. The One Mother existed Alone in
some mysterious way and She created the Three deities. One was the
Creator, one the Sustainer and one the Destroyer. The world moves as He
ordains and as He pleases. He see all, but no one sees Him; this is a great
wonder.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib

> THE 10 PRIMORDIAL MASTERS : 10 - Sai Baba

Source: CD-Rom -The 10 Incarnations of the Primordial Master 10 Sai Baba

Sai Baba of Sherdi grew into importance, he conquered Samsar (worldly


existence), which is the most difficult task, crossing the ocean of illusion.
Peace or mental calm was His ornament; He was the repository of wisdom;
He had no love for perishable things, and was always engrossed in self-
realization, this was His sole concern.

He felt no pleasure in the things of this world or of the world beyond. His heart
was as clear as a mirror, and His speech always rained nectar. The rich or
poor people were the same to Him. He did not know or care for honour or
dishonour. He was the Lord of all beings. He spoke freely and mixed with all
people, saw the actings and dances of Nautchgirls and heard Gajjal songs.
Still, He swerved not an inch from his mental equilibrium.

The name of Allah was always on His lips. While the world awoke, He slept;
and while the world slept, He was vigilant. His abdomen (Inside) was as calm
as the deep sea. His Ashram could not be determined, nor His actions could
be definitely determined, and though He lived in one place, He knew all the
transactions of the
world.

He told daily hundreds of stories, still He swerved not an inch from His vow of
silence. He always leaned against the wall in the Masjid or walked morning,
noon and evening towards still He at all times abided in the Self. Though a
Siddha, He acted like a Sadhaka. He was meek, humble and egoless, and
pleased all. Such was Sai Baba, and as the soil of Shirdi was trodden by Sai
Babas Feet, it attained extraordinary importance.

He was always engrossed in His Self as Existence, Knowledge and Bliss.


Shirdi was His centre; but His field of action extended far wide. Thus the fame
of Sai Baba spread, far, and wide, and people from all parts came to take His
darshana and be blessed. By mere darshan, minds of people, whether, pure
or impure, would become
at once quiet. They got here the same sort of unparalleled joy. Consider what
a devotee says in this respect.

Sai Baba First Advent in Shirdi

Nobody knew the parents, birth or birth-place of Sai Baba. Many inquiries
were made, many questions were put to Baba and others regarding these
items, but no satisfactory answer or information has yet been obtained.
Practically we know nothing about these matters.

Namdev and Kabir were not born like ordinary mortals. They were found as
infants in mother-of-pearls, Namdev being found on the bank Bhimrathi river
by Gonayee, and Kabir on the bank Bhagirathi river by Tamal. As a young lad
of sixteen under a Neem tree in Shirdi, he seemed to be full of the knowledge
of Brahman. He had no desire for worldly objects even in dream. He kicked
out Maya; and Mukti (deliverance) was serving at His feet.

During his youth he was described thus. This young lad, fair, smart and very
handsome, was first seen under the Neem tree, seated in an Asan. The
people of the village were wonder-struck to see such a young lad practising
hard penance, not minding heat and cold. By day he associated with none, by
night he was afraid of
nobody. People were wondering and asking, whence this young chap had
turned up. His form and features were so beautiful that a mere look endeared
Him to all.

He went to nobodys door, always sat near the Neem tree. Outwardly he
looked very young; but by His action he
was really a Great Soul. He was the embodiment of dispassion and was an
enigma to all. One day it so happened, that God Khandoba possessed the
body of some devotee and people began to ask Him, "Deva (God), you please
enquire what blessed fathers son is this lad and whence did He come".

God Khandoba asked them to bring a pick-axe and dig in a particular place.
When it was dug, bricks were found underneath a flat stone. When the stone
was removed, a corridor led to a cellar where cow-mouth-shaped structures,
wooden boards, necklaces were seen. Khandoba said - "This lad practiced
penance here for 12 years."
Then the people began to question the lad about this. He put them off the
scent by telling them that it was His Gurus place, His holy Watan and
requested them to guard it well. The people then closed the corridor as
before. As Ashwattha and Audumbar trees are held sacred, Baba regarded
this Neem tree equally sacred and loved it most.

Young Life

There lived in the Aurangabad District (Nizam State), in a village called


Dhoop, a well-to-do Mahomedan gentleman by name Chand Patil. While he
was making a trip to Aurangabad, he lost his mare. For two long months, he
made a diligent search but could get no trace of the lost mare. After being
disappointed, he returned from Aurangabad with the saddle on his back. After
travelling four Koss and a half, he came, on the way, to a mango tree under
the foot of which sat a young man. He had a cap on His head, wore Kafni
(long robe) and had a "Satka" (short stick) under His arm-pit and He was
preparing to smoke a Chilim (pipe). On seeing Chand Patil pass by the way,
He called out to him and asked him to have a smoke and to rest a little.

The Fakir asked him about the saddle. Chand Patil replied that it was of his
mare which was lost. The queer fellow or Fakir asked him to make a search in
the Nala close by. He went and the wonder of wonders! he found out the
mare. He thought that this Fakir was not an ordinary man, but an Avalia (a
great saint).

He returned to the Fakir with the mare. The Chilim was ready for being
smoked, but two things were wanting; (1) fire to light the pipe, and (2) water to
wet the chhapi (piece of cloth through which smoke is drawn up).

The Fakir took His prong and thrust it forcibly into the ground and out came a
live burning coal, which He put on the pipe.

Then He dashed the Satka on the ground, from whence water began to ooze.
The chhapi was wetted with that water, was then wrung out and wrapped
round the pipe. Thus everything being complete, the Fakir smoked the Chilim
and then gave it also to Chand Patil.

On seeing all this, Chand Patil was wonderstruck. He requested the Fakir to
come to his home and accept his hospitality. Next day He went to the Patils
house and stayed there for some time.

The Patil was a village - officer of Dhoop. His wifes brothers son was to be
married and the bride was from Shirdi. So Patil made preparations to start for
Shirdi for the marriage. The Fakir also accompanied the marriage-party. The
marriage went off without any hitch, the party returned to Dhoop, except the
Fakir alone stayed in Shirdi, and remained there forever.
Contact with Other Saints

Sai Baba began to stay in a deserted Masjid. One Saint named Devidas was
living in Shirdi many years before Baba came there. Baba liked his company.
He stayed with him in the Maruti temple, in the Chavadi, and
some time lived alone.

Then came another Saint by name Jankidas. Baba spent most of His time in
talking with him, or Jankidas went to Babas residence. So also one Vaishya
house-holder Saint, from Puntambe by name Gangagir always frequented
Shirdi. When he first saw Sai Baba, carrying pitchers of water in both hands,
for watering the garden, he was amazed and said openly, "Blessed is Shirdi,
that it got this precious Jewel. This man is carrying water to-day; but He is not
an ordinary fellow. As this land (Shirdi) was lucky and meritorious, it secured
this Jewel."

So also one famous Saint by name Anandnath of Yewala Math, a disciple of


Akkalkot Maharaj came to Shirdi with some Shirdi people. When he saw Sai
Baba, he said openly, "This is a precious Diamond in reality. Though he looks
like an ordinary man, he is not a gar (ordinary stone) but a Diamond. You will
realize this in the near future." Saying this he returned to Yewala. This was
said while Sai Baba was a youngster.

Babas Dress and Daily Routine

In his young days, Sai Baba grew hair on His head; never had His head
shaved. He dressed like an athlete. When He went to Rahata (3 miles from
Shirdi), He brought with Him small plants of Merry Gold, and after cleaning, he
planted and watered them.

A devotee by name Vaman Tatya supplied Him daily with two earthen pitchers.
With these Baba Himself used to
water the plants. He drew water from the well and carried the pitchers on His
shoulders. In the evening the pitchers were kept at the foot of the Neem tree.
As soon as they were placed there, they were broken, as they were made of
raw earth and not baked. Next day, Tatya supplied two fresh pitchers. This
course went on for 3 years; and with Sai Babas toil and labour, there grew a
flower-garden.

Way of Life

Sai Baba did not mix and speak with the people. He only gave answers when
he was questioned. By day he always sat under the Neem tree, sometimes
under the shade of a branch of a Babul tree near the stream at the outskirts of
the village. He used a Satka (short stick), which He always kept with Him. The
piece of white cloth on the head was twisted like matted hair, and flowed down
from the left ear on the back. He wore no shoes, no sandals. A piece of sack-
cloth was His seat for most of the day.

He wore a coupin (waist-cloth-band) and for warding off cold he always sat in
front of a Dhuni (sacred fire) facing south with His left hand resting on the
wooden railing. In that Dhuni, He offered as oblation; egoism, desires and all
thoughts and always uttered Allah Malik (God is the sole owner).

Turning Water into Oil

Sai Baba was very fond of lights. He used to borrow oil from shop-keepers,
and keep lamps burning the whole night in the Masjid and temple. This went
on for some time.

The Banias, who supplied oil gratis, once met together and decided not to
give Him oil. When, as usual, Baba went to ask for oil, they all gave Him a
distinct No.

Unperturbed, Baba returned to the Masjid and kept the dry wicks in the lamps.
The banias were watching Him with curiosity. Baba took the Tumrel (tin pot)
which contained very little (a few drops) of oil, put water into it and drank it
and forced it fall in the container. After consecrating the tin-pot in this way, He
again took water in the tin-pot and filled all the lamps with it and lighted them.
To the surprise and dismay of the watching Banias, the lamps began to burn
and kept burning the whole night. The Banias repented and apologized. Baba
forgave them and asked them to be more truthful in future.

Gentle Man

He always walked, talked and laughed with them and always uttered with His
tongue Allah Malik (God is the sole owner). He never liked discussion or
arguments. He was always calm and controlled, though irritable at times,
always preached full Vedanta and nobody knew till the last Who was Baba.
Princes and poor people
were treated alike by Him. He knew the inmost secrets of all, and when He
gave expression to them, all were surprised. He was the repository of all
knowledge, still He feigned ignorance. He also disliked honour. Such
were the characteristics of Sai Baba. Though, He had a human body, His
deeds testified to his connection with Godhood.

People were immensely benefited by having a darshana of Baba. Some


became hale and hearty; wicked people were turned into good ones. Leprosy
was cured in some cases, many had their desires fulfilled, some blind men
had back their sight and the lame walked. Nobody could see the end of His
extraordinary greatness.
His fame spread far and wide, and pilgrims from all sides flocked to Shirdi.
Baba sat always near the Dhuni and eased Himself there, and always sat in
meditation.

He used to tie a white turban on his head; and wear a clean Dhotar round his
waist, and a shirt on his body. This was his dress in the beginning.

Shri Sai Satcharitra

During his lifetime Sai Baba authorised the writing Shri Sai Satcharitra with
the aim of enabling description of his miracles would be interesting, and
instructive to His devotees; and would aid to remove their sins, and so began
to write of the sacred life and teachings of Sai Baba. The life of the saint is
neither logical nor dialectical. It shows us the true and great path.

The stories, parables, and teachings of Sai Baba give peace and happiness to
the people, who are afflicted with sorrows and heavily loaded with miseries of
this worldly existence, and bestow knowledge and wisdom, both in the worldly
and in spiritual domains.

"Let him make a collection of stories and experiences, keep notes and
memos; I will help him. He is only an outward instrument. I should write Myself
My autobiography and satisfy the wishes of My devotees. He should get rid of
his ego, place it at My feet. He who acts like this in life, him I help the most.
What of My life-stories? I serve him in his house in all possible ways. When
his ego is completely annihilated and there is left no trace of it, I Myself shall
enter into him and shall Myself write My own life. Hearing my stories and
teachings will create faith in devotees hearts and they will easily get self-
realization and Bliss; let there be no insistence on establishing ones own
view, no attempt to refute others opinions, no discussions of pros and cons of
any subject."

About the need for a Guru

Next day after Hemadpants meeting with Sai Baba, Kakasaheb went to Baba
and asked whether he should leave Shirdi. Baba Said, "Yes". Then someone
asked -"Baba, where to go?" Baba said, "High up." Then the man said, "How
is the way?"

Baba said, "There are many ways leading there; there is one way also from
here (Shirdi). The way is difficult. There are tigers and wolves in the jungles
on the way." I asked - "But Baba, what if we take a guide with us?" Baba
answered, - "Then there is no difficulty. The guide will take you straight to your
destination, avoiding wolves, tigers and ditches etc. on the way. If there be no
guide, there is the danger of your being lost in the jungles or falling into
ditches."
Sai Babas Sanction and Promise

"I fully agree with you regarding the writing of Sat Charita. You do your duty,
dont be afraid in the least, steady your mind and have faith in My words. If my
Leelas are written, the Avidya (nescience) will vanish and if they are
attentively, and devoutly listened to, the consciousness of the worldly
existence will abate, and strong waves of devotion, and love will rise up and if
one dives deep into My Leelas, he would get precious jewels of knowledge."

"If a man utters My name with love, I shall fulfill all his wishes, increase his
devotion. And if he sings earnestly My life and My deeds, him I shall beset in
front and back and on all sides. Those devotees, who are attached to Me,
heart and soul, will naturally feel happiness, when they hear these stories.
Believe Me that if anybody sings My Leelas, I will give him infinite joy and
everlasting contentment. It is My special characteristic to free any
person, who surrenders completely to Me, and who does worship Me
faithfully, and who remembers Me, and meditates on Me constantly. How can
they be conscious of worldly objects and sensations, who utter My name, who
worship Me, who think of My stories and My life and who thus always
remember Me? I shall draw out My
devotees from the jaws of Death. If My stories are listened to, all the diseases
will be got rid of. So, hear My stories with respect; and think and meditate on
them, assimilate them. This is the way of happiness and contentment. The
pride and egoism of My devotees will vanish, the mind of the hearers will be
set at rest; and if it has wholehearted and complete faith, it will be one with
Supreme Consciousness. The simple remembrance of My name as Sai, Sai
will do away with sins of speech and hearing".

"He will get some other job, but now he should serve Me and be happy. His
dishes will be ever full and never empty. He should turn all his attention
towards Me and avoid the company of atheists, irreligious and wicked people.
He should be meek and humble towards all and worship Me heart and soul. If
he does this, he will get eternal happiness".

"Be wherever you like, do whatever you choose, remember this well that all
what you do is known to Me. I am the Inner Ruler of all and seated in their
hearts. I envelope all the creatures, the movable and immovable world. I am
the Controller - the wire-puller of the show of this Universe. I am the mother -
origin of all beings - the Harmony of three Gunas, the propeller of all senses,
the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer. Nothing will harm him, who turns his
attention towards Me, but Maya will lash or whip him who forgets Me. All the
insects, ants, the visible, movable and immovable world, is My Body or Form".

Babas All-pervasiveness and Mercy


In the year 1910 A.D., Baba was sitting near the Dhuni on Divali holiday and
warming Himself. He
was pushing fire-wood into the Dhuni, which was brightly burning. A little later,
instead of pushing
logs of woods, Baba pushed His arm into the Dhuni; the arm was scorched
and burnt immediately. This
was noticed by the servant Madhava. They at once ran to Baba, clasping
Baba by His waist from
behind dragged Him forcible back ward and asked, "Deva, for what have You
done this?" Then Baba
came to His senses and replied, "The wife of a blacksmith at some distant
place, was working the
bellows of a furnace her husband called her. Forgetting that her child was on
her waist, she ran hastily and the child slipped into the furnace. I immediately
thrust My hand into the furnace and saved the child. I do not mind My arm
being burnt, but I am glad that the life of the child is saved."

Sagun Manifestation of Brahman

Though Sai Baba looked like a man, three cubits and a half in length, still He
dwelt in the hearts of all. Inwardly,
he was unattached and indifferent, but outwardly, He longed for public
welfare. Inwardly most disinterested, He looked outwardly full of desires, for
the sake of His devotees. Inwardly an abode of peace, he looked outwardly
restless. Inwardly He had the state of Brahman, outwardly He acted like a
devil. Inwardly He had the state of Brahman, He got entangled with the world.
Sometimes He looked on all with affection, and at times He threw stones at
them; sometimes He scolded them, while at times He embraced them and
was calm, composed, tolerant and well-balanced. He always abided and was
engrossed in the Self and was well-disposed towards His Bhaktas.

He always sat on one Asan and never travelled. His 'band' was a small stick,
which He always carried in His hand. He was calm, being thought-free. He
never cared for wealth and fame and lived on begging. Such a life He led. He
always uttered 'Allah Malik' (God the real owner).

Entire and unbroken was His love for the Bhaktas. He was the mine or store-
house for self-knowledge and full of Divine Bliss. Such was the Divine Form of
Sai Baba, boundless, endless and undifferentiated. One principle which
envelopes the whole universe, (from a stone pillar to Brahma) incarnated in
Sai Baba. The really
meritorious and fortunate people got this treasure-trove in their hands, while
those people who not knowing the real worth of Sai Baba took or take Him to
be a man, a mere human being, were and are indeed miserable.

Baba's Mission and Advice


The split between the two communities - Hindus and Mahomedans had
widened and Sai Baba came to bridge the gulf.

His constant advice to all was to this effect. "Rama (the God of the Hindus)
and Rahim (the God of the Mahomedans) were one and the same; there was
not the slightest difference between them; then why should their devotees and
quarrel among themselves? You ignorant folk, children, join hands and bring
both the communities together, act sanely and thus you will gain your object of
national unity. It is not good to dispute and argue. So don't argue, don't
emulate others. Always consider your interest and welfare. The Lord will
protect you. Yoga, sacrifice, penance, and knowledge are the means to attain
God. If you do not succeed in this by any means, vain is your birth. If any one
does any evil unto you, to do not retaliate. If you can do anything, do some
good unto other."

Sai Baba Sadguru

There are many false Gurus, who go about and make a show of their
spirtituality, they blow mantras into the ears of their disciples and extract
money from them. They profess to teach piety and religion to their disciples,
but are themselves impious and irreligious. Sai Baba never thought of making
the least show of His worth (piety).

Body-consciousness, He had none, but He had great love for the disciples.

The true Guru by their advice develop the good qualities in us, purify our
hearts and set us on the path of salvation, dispels our sense of difference,
and estalishes us in Unity by making us realize "Thou art that". Sai Baba did
not impart to us wordly knowledge, but he fixed us in our Nature, The Self and
carried us beyond the ocean of worldly existence, He is the Sadguru.

He saw Divinity in all beings. Friends and foes were alike to Him.
Disinterested and equal-balanced, He obliged the evil-doers. He was the
same in prosperity and adversity. No doubt, ever touched Him. Though He
possessed the human body, He was not in the least attached to His body or
house. Though He looked embodied, He was disembodied and free in this
every aspect of his life.

Though He ate, he had no taste and though He saw, He never felt any interest
in what He saw. Regarding passion, He was as perfect a celibate as
Hanuman. He was not attached to anything. He was pure consciousness, the
resting place of desire, anger, and other feelings. In short, He was
disinterested, free and perfect.

Sai Baba as Sagun Brahman


There are two aspects of God or Brahman: (1) the Unmanifested (Nirgun) and
(2) the Manifested (Sagun). The Nirgun is formless, while the Sagun is with
form, though both denote the same Brahman. Some prefer to worship the
former, some the latter.

As stated in the Gita (chapter XII) the worship of the latter is easy and
preferable. As man has got a form (body, senses, etc.), it is natural and easy
for him to worship the God with form. Our love and devotion do not develop
unless we worship Sagun Brahman for a certain period of time, and as we
advance; he leads us to the worship
(meditation) of Nirgun Brahman.

Baba's Control over the Elements

Once at evening time, there was a terrible storm at Shirdi. The sky was
overcast with thick black clouds. The winds began to blow forcibly; the clouds
roared and the lighting began to flash, and the rains began to descend in
torrents. In a short time, the whole place was flooded with water, All the
creatures, birds, beasts and men
got terribly frightened; and they all flocked to the Masjid for shelter.

There are many local deities in Shirdi, but none of them came to their help. So
they all prayed to Baba - their God, Who was fond of their devotion, to
intercede and quell the storm. Baba was much moved. He came out and
standing at the edge of the Masjid, addressed the storm in a loud and
thunderous voice - "Stop, stop your fury and be calm." In a few minutes the
rains subsided, the winds ceased to blow, and the storm came to a stop. Then
the moon rose in the sky, and the people then went back home well-pleased.

On another occasion at noon the fire in the Dhuni began to burn brightly, its
flames were seen to be reaching the rafters above. The people who were
sitting in the Masjid did not know what to do. They dared not to ask Baba to
pour water or do anything to quench the flames. But Baba soon came to
realize, what was happening. He took up His Satka (short stick) and dashed it
against a pillar in front, saying - "Get down, Be calm." At each stroke of the
Satka, the flames began to lower and slow down; and in a few minutes the
Dhuni became calm and normal.

Maya

After philosophising about the Self-Existent Brahman, His Power (Maya) to


create this world and the world created, and stating that all these three are
ultimately one and the same, the author quotes Sai Babas words:
"There will never be any dearth or scarcity, regarding food and clothes, in any
devotees homes. It is my special
characteristic, that I always look to, and provide, for the welfare of those
devotees, who worship Me whole-heartedly with their minds ever fixed on Me.
Lord Krishna has also said the same in the Gita. Therefore, strive not much
for food and clothes. If you want anything, beg of the Lord, leave worldly
honours, try to get Lords grace and blessings, and be honoured in His Court.
Do not be deluded by worldly honour. The form of the Deity should be firmly
fixed in the mind. Let all the senses and mind be ever devoted to the worship
of the Lord, let there be no attraction for any other thing; fix the mind in
remembering Me always, so that it will not wander elsewhere, towards body,
wealth and home. Then it will be calm, peaceful and care-free. This is the sign
of the mind, being well engaged in good company. If the mind is vagrant, it
cannot be called well-merged."

The Inscrutable Power of Maya

He was ever content and never cared for anything. He said, "Though I have
become a Fakir, have no house or wife, and though leaving off all cares, I
have stayed at one place, the inevitable Maya teases Me often. Though I
forgot Myself I cannot forget Her. She always envelops Me. This Maya
(illusive power) of the Lord (Shri Hari) teases God Brahma and others; then
what to speak of a poor Fakir like Me? Those who take refuge in the Lord will
be freed from Her clutches with his grace".

"Those who are fortunate and whose demerits have vanished; take to My
worship. If you always say 'Sai, Sai' I shall take you over the seven seas;
believe in these words, and you will be certainly benefited. I do not need any
paraphernalia of worship - either eight-fold or sixteen-fold. I rest there where
there is full devotion".

Dakshina

It is a well-known fact that Baba always asked for Dakshina from people who
went to see Him. Somebody may ask a question, "If Baba was a Fakir and
perfectly non-attached, why should he ask for Dakshina and care for money?"

The Shastras laid it down that, when one goes to see God, King, Saint or
Guru, he should not go empty-handed. He should offer something, preferably
coin or money. In this connection we may notice the precepts recommended
by the Upanishads. Baba collected money by Dakshina. He would distribute
the entire amount the same day, and the next morning He would become a
poor Fakir as usual. In short, Baba's main object in taking Dakshina, from His
devotees was to teach them the lessons of Renunciation and Purification.

He did not ask Dakshina from all. If some gave Dakshina without being asked,
He sometimes accepted it; and at other times He refused it. He asked it from
certain devotees only. He never demanded it, from those devotees, who
thought in their minds that Baba should ask them for it, and then they should
pay it. If anybody offered it against His wish, He never touched it, and if he
kept it there, He asked him to take it away. He asked for small or big amounts
from devotees, according to their wish, devotion and convenience. He asked
it, even from women and children. He never asked all the rich for it, nor from
all the poor."

"If you spread your palms with devotion before Me, I am immediately with you,
day and night. Though, I am here bodily, still I know what you do; beyond the
seven seas.

Go wherever you will, over the wide world, I am with you. My abode is in your
heart and I am within you. Always worship Me, Who is seated in your heart, as
well as, in the hearts of all beings, Blessed and fortunate, indeed, is he who
knows Me thus."

Self-Realisation

A seeker after a long journey went to the Masjid, saw Sai Baba, fell at His
Feet and said, "Baba, hearing that You show the Brahman to all who come
over here without any delay, I have come here all the way from my distant
place. I am much fatigued by the journey and if I get the Brahman from You,
my troubles will be well-paid and
rewarded." Baba then replied, "Oh, My dear friend, do not be anxious, I shall
immediately show you the Brahman; all My dealings are in cash and never on
credit. So many people come to Me, and ask for wealth, health, power,
honour, position, cure of diseases and other temporal matters. Rare is the
person, who comes here to Me and asks for Brahma-Jnana. There is no
dearth of persons asking for wordly things, but as persons interested in
spiritual matters are very rare, I think it a lucky and auspicious moment, when
persons like you
come and press Me for Brahma-Jnana. So I show to you with pleasure, the
Brahman with all its accompaniments and complications."

"Oh my dear friend, did you not understand all the procedure that I went
through, sitting in this place, for enabling you to see the Brahman? It is, in
short this. For seeing Brahman one has to give five things, i.e. surrender five
things viz.

(1) Five Pranas (vital forces), (2) Five senses (five of action and five of
perception), (3) mind, (4) intellect and (5) ego. This path of Brahma-Jnana of
self-realization is 'as hard as to tread on the edge of a razor'.

Sai Baba then gave rather a long discourse on the subject, the purport and
qualifications needed for for Brahma-Jnana or Self-Realization Mumuksha or
intense desire to get free.

(1) Virakti or a feeling of disgust with the things of this world and the next.
Unless a man feels disgusted with the things, emoluments and honors, which
his action would bring in this world and the next, he has no right to enter into
the spiritual realm.

(2) Antarmukhata (introversion). Our senses have been created by God with a
tendency to move outward and so, man always looks outside himself and not
inside. He who wants self-realization and immortal life, must turn his gaze
inwards, and look to his inner Self.

(3) Catharsis from (Purging away of) sins. Unless a man has turned away
from wickedness, and stopped from doing wrong, and has entirely composed
himself and unless his mind is at rest, he cannot gain self-realization, even by
means of knowledge.

(4) Right Conduct. Unless, a man leads a life of truth, penance and insight, a
life of celibacy, he cannot get God-realization.

(5) Preferring Shreyas, (the Good) to Preyas (the Pleasant). There are two
sorts of things viz., the Good and the Pleasant; the former deals with spiritual
affairs, and the latter with mundane matters. Both these approach man for
acceptance. He has to think and choose one of them. The wise man prefers
the Good to the Pleasant; but the unwise, through greed and attachment,
chooses the Pleasant.

(6) Control of the mind and the senses. The body is the chariot and the Self is
its master; intellect is the charioteer and the mind is the reins; the senses are
the horses and sense-objects their paths. He who has no understanding and
whose mind is unrestrained, his senses unmanageable like the vicious horses
of a charioteer, does not reach his destination (get realization), but goes
through the round of births and deaths; but he who has understanding and
whose mind is restrained, his senses being under control, like the good horse
of a charioteer, reaches that place, i.e., the state of self-realization, when he is
not born again. The man, who has understanding as his charioteer (guide)
and is able to rein his mind, reaches the end of the journey, which is the
supreme abode of the all-pervading, Vishnu (lord).

(7) Purification of the mind. Unless a man discharges satisfactorily and


disinterestedly the duties of his station in life, his mind will not be purified and,
unless his mind is purified, he cannot get self-realization. It is only in the
purified mind that Viveka (discrimination between the Unreal and the Real),
and Vairagya (Non-attachment to the unreal) crop up and lead on the self-
realization. Unless egoism is dropped, avarice got rid of, and the mind made
desireless (pure), self-realization is not possible. The idea that 'I am the body'
is a great delusion, and
attachment to this idea is the cause of bondage. Leave off this idea and
attachment therefore, if you want to get to the Self-realization.

(8) The necessity of a Guru. The knowledge of the self is so subtle and
mystic, that no one could, by his own individual effort ever hope to attain it. So
the help of another person-Teacher, who has himself got self-realization is
absolutely necessary. What others cannot give with great labour and pains,
can be easily gained with the help of such a Teacher; for he has walked on
the path himself and can easily take the disciple, step by step on the ladder of
spiritual progress.

(9) Lastly the Lord's Grace is the most essential thing. When the Lord is
pleased with any body, He gives him Viveka and Vairagya; and takes him safe
beyond the ocean of mundane existence, "The Self cannot be gained by the
study of Vedas, nor by intellect, nor by much learning. He, whom the Self
chooses, by him It is gained. To him the Self reveals Its nature", says the
Katha Upanishad.

After the dissertation was over, Baba turned to the gentleman and said - "Well
sir, there is in your pocket the Brahma (or Mammon) in the form of fifty-times
five(Rs.250/-) rupees; please take that out." The gentleman took out from his
pocket the bundle of currency notes, and to his great surprise found, on
counting them, that there were 25 notes of 10 rupees each, Seeing this
ominiscience of Baba, he was moved and fell at Baba's Feet and craved for
His blessings. Then Baba said to him, "Roll up your bundle of Brahma viz.
Currency notes. Unless you get rid completely of your avarice or greed, your
will not get the real Brahma. How can be, whose mind is engrossed in wealth,
progeny and prosperity, expect to know the Brahma, without removing away
his attachment for the same? The illusion of attachment or the love for money
is a deep eddy (whirlpool) of pain full of crocodiles in the form of conceit and
jealousy. He, who is desireless, can alone cross this whirlpool. Greed and
Brahma are as poles asunder, they are eternally opposed to each other.
Where there is greed, there is no room for thought or meditation of the
Brahma. Then how can a greedy man get dispassion and salvation? For a
greedy man there is no peace, neither contentment, nor certainty
(steadiness). If there be even a little trace of greed in mind, all the Sadhanas
(spiritual endeavors) are of no avail. Even the knowledge of a well-read man,
who is not free from the desire of the fruit or reward of his actions, and who
has got no disgust for the same, is useless and can't help him in getting self-
realization.

The teachings of a Guru are of no use to a man, who is full of egoism, and
who always thinks about the sense-objects. Purification of mind is absolutely
necessary; without it, all our spiritual endeavors are nothing, but useless show
and pomp. It is, therefore, better for one to take only what he can digest and
assimilate.

My treasury is full, and I can give anyone, what he wants, but I have to see
whether he is qualified to receive what I give. If you listen to Me carefully, you
will be certainly benefited. Sitting in this Masjid, I never speak any untruth."

There are many Saints, who leaving their houses, stay in forest, caves or
hermitages and remaining in solitude, try to get liberation or salvation for
themselves. They do not care for other people, and are always self-absorbed.
Sai Baba did not retreat not shun the world. He had no home, no wife, no
progency, nor any relations, near or
distant. Still, He lived in the world (society). He begged His bread from four or
five houses, always lived at the foot of the (Neem) tree, carried on wordly
dealings, and taught all the people how to act. and behave in this world.

He was Sat Guru who, after attaining God-vision, strive for the welfare of the
people.

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