Extract of afternoon questions and answers at Berkeley given by Sant Kirpal Singh, California, 14 November, 1972.

Comment: This man has been practising all kinds of yoga. So I told him he will have to quit that thing and not mix it up with this, if he wants Initiation.

Sant Kirpal Singh: We have to row one boat, please. Do follow one thing wholly and solely and see the results. On this Path you will have something to start with to your satisfaction – something at least. Though you will have to develop further by regular practice.

Question: The day before yesterday, I was coming from Vancouver and I stopped at a friend's house. After I saw him I was sort of lost because I was really spiritually intoxicated. And Master's voice came to me and told me exactly what to do on several occasions.

Sant Kirpal Singh: Oh, guidance comes. That's all right. That is right. Master sometimes materializes and takes him by the hand and guides him, too. That's not the only way.

Comment: Sometimes you can have very remarkable things happen in a car that protect you. There are many – many in here – who have had this happen. And we know it when it happens.

Question: There are people in this room here who couldn't even meet the outer requirements for Initiation. What should they do until they are able to meet the requirements?

Sant Kirpal Singh: They should wait until they are ready. The normal thing is they should be ready to follow from today, although there are exceptional cases.

Question: What if they were able to do other things that might be spiritual – some type of karma yoga, or some kind of work they might have to do while trying to overcome . . . or prepare themselves for the Initiation?

Sant Kirpal Singh: That I have replied already.

Comment: He has already replied to that. I think that if they feel that this is not the time – eternity is a long time – you are alive now and . . .

Sant Kirpal Singh: There is no question of eternity. When he is ready, he can send in an application that can be given to him, in my absence, too.

Question (repeated): The question was that he is studying psychology. He wants to know if it interferes. He wants to know how he can apply psychology – treating people – in with the path . . . if he can combine them?

Sant Kirpal Singh: No. He should not mix them. He should not mix – not mix them up – psychology with that. That's only for some relaxation he can have.

Comment: No, no he is going to be a professor.

Sant Kirpal Singh: Never mind. He should take up that subject of its own separately, not mix it up with this subject. That (psychology) is only an elementary step for relaxation.

Comment: Use that subject for your livelihood. Don't mix them.

Comment:He says when he was in Vietnam, he was protected in many miraculous ways. And this was before he was initiated. He wonders if You were watching over him then?

Sant Kirpal Singh: He has got some background. He has got the background. So after that (Vietnam), he was initiated?

Comment: Yes.

Sant Kirpal Singh: Well, that's all right. His problems worked through because he had some background of the past.

Questioner: Would you repeat that (reply)?

Comment: Background!

Sant Kirpal Singh: Man is in the make, you see. When he comes here (on earth), man is in the make. When he comes here, he has got some background and that will now guide him again to the Master. That power works, protecting him.

Comment: The Master-power protects you because of your background. And that is why you were brought home to be led to the point you are now.

Question (from a boy): A lot of times Master is with me. His eyes are on me, looking at me: when I go to the bathroom, on the toilet, He just . . . He chooses to be . . . everywhere I go, He is turning His head at me.

Sant Kirpal Singh: Because He loves you.

Boy: I get embarrassed sometimes, too, when I . . .

Sant Kirpal Singh: Now, He loves you much. Master loves him much, you see. You are dear to Him.

Comment: You heard that – "Master loves him much". Oh! To be that age with that vision.

Sant Kirpal Singh: Children's minds are clear.

Question (repeated): He said he was married over a year ago and made many mistakes. And he is wondering if he has to come back again to work out those mistakes?

Sant Kirpal Singh: Is he initiated now? Is he initiated? Are you initiated, please?

Comment: Are you initiated? Yes.

Sant Kirpal Singh: So put the sheet-anchor against the past. Don't repeat those mistakes and for the future remain in contact with the light and sound-principle within you, which will wash away all sins of the past.

Question (repeated): He says, "Are you the only Satguru?"

Sant Kirpal Singh: Did you hear from me these words? The only criterion is, you see, who is able to give you something to start with, who is able to just: "What you do not see, you will be able to see" . . . something (within) to start with is given to you. Then, further, you can see what he is. Take Him as your elder, as your father, as your friend, who is in sympathy with you. When you find something to start with, you can also consider what you may be given further.

When I went to my Master (Hazur Baba Sawan Singh), people asked me, "How great is your Master?" I told them, "I don't know how great He is. That's all. I know that He is far above what I want." That's all we can say. Truly speaking, when we know a Master, we become a Master.

What does he (another questioner) want? He is welcome.

Question: (repeated): He said that John the Baptist recognized Christ as a perfect Master. And he was wondering if other Masters recognized you in this respect?

Questioner: Not "Masters". I said "wise men" had recognized Christ.

Sant Kirpal Singh: That's all right. If I say, "yes", how will it help you? I did, but if I say so, how will it help you. You will find it is your own business. Have you found any?

There is one story of Majnun. Majnun was a great lover of Laila. In the East, that's a very famous event. So, someone passed by and Majnun was taking the picture or the photograph of Laila as she was lying on the ground. He took it (the photo) up and began to hug it. Then he told the bystander, "Well, you must find your own Laila. Your own . . . why are you following me?" Each man has to find his own, you see. And each student is not you.

What does he (the same questioner) say?

Comment: He says that you say you came to show them the way. Are you (to the same questioner) talking about another Master? Could it be the Maharishi? Yes? Now, I begin to understand.

Sant Kirpal Singh: Just listen attentively to what the man's question is and what is the answer given. If you laugh, then the whole thing will be gone.

Yes, you have found your Master? Well and good.  Have you found Him? That's all right.

The same questioner: Well, I recognized you, I recognized Ram Das and I recognized . . .

Sant Kirpal Singh: (interrupting): Then, you recognized none of us (chuckle). Look here, what is the Master? He is the "Word made flesh." (Those) who are "Word made flesh", they are all the same. To take an example, if He has given you something to start with, all right. Go on with it. But I will always advise you to row on one boat not two, three, four.

Comment from someone in the audience: There are many "masters" of a certain status, but there is only one living Master at any time.

Comment: That is not true.

Comment from the audience: That is according to Maharishi.

Sant Kirpal Singh: That's right. Each man has to be chosen and to choose. Whichever you have chosen, go on with it. By whom you have been chosen, if you have got conviction of it, go on with it. Don't mind others' business. Mind your own: how you stand for your self. And decide by the self within you.

Questioner: Yesterday, I asked Master about something He wrote in "Morning Talks".

Comment: Yes. Will you read it loud enough so we can hear it?

Sant Kirpal Singh: What? No, this won't do. Bring the book here.

Comment: Bring the book!

Master Kirpal Singh: (chuckle) He should have brought it to me separately, why amongst hundreds? What does it say?

Questioner: Shall I read it?

Comment: Yes.

Questioner (reading aloud): "Even those who are given a contact with the Lord within will lose it if they do not keep their self-restraint. Only if you have something . . . ".

Sant Kirpal Singh (interrupting): Lose it temporarily, it means – not permanently. Once it takes anybody under its care, it (the Master-power) does not leave him till the end of the world. That you must have also read before: linking it with what is before in the book. These things are clear when you link them.

For the time being, he loses. But that power never loses him until the end of the world (Sach Khand).

Question (repeated): She wants to know if the experience she has in meditation – and that other people have – is sometimes karmic, from your past karma, caused by your past karma?

Sant Kirpal Singh: You see, those who have got their backgrounds, they may have got more, others less. But the point is: those who have got background, they start from here, and those who have not got backgrounds, they will simply start from (back) here. If the man is regular – I mean wholly and solely devoted, keeps his life quite pure . . . I mean by self-restraint . . . weeds out all imperfections and goes on with the meditations regularly – he may advance further than the man who has got the background if he is not regular, he is not doing it in full, right-earnest.

Background does help, of course. That gives you something. But further, you have to develop by the accurate way and devotion.

Question: He wants to know: "What is the difference between Zen Buddhist light (Sartori) and the light on the path?"

Sant Kirpal Singh: The Buddhists do also refer to it. They have got two branches: one is Hinayan, the other is Mahayan. The Hinayan are atheists. The Mahayan do believe in the light and sound-principle.

But even the Buddhists don't know the basic teachings which are given by Buddha – most of them are ignorant. But they have got those symbols in their churches, of the light and sound. They make their voices hoarse just to interpret those mantras and also beat the small drums.

There is a mantra there: "Om-mani-padme-hum" that is very light-giving and the sound is like thunder. Practical people are few who can give you that first-hand experience there. There are, but few. This has been their basic teachings.

Comment: One who believes in the light and the sound, and those who do not.

Sant Kirpal Singh: They (Hinayan) are atheists. They are atheists – they don't believe in any God.

Comment: There are two kinds of . . .

Sant Kirpal Singh: I have told them. There are two (audience interrupts with laughter) . . . Don't laugh, please! There is no question of laughing. The point is, you see, there are two parts of the Buddhism. One is called Mahayan, the other is called Hinayan. The Hinayan parties don't believe in God – they are atheists.

And the Mahayan people do believe and their basic teachings are the same as those of other Masters. But still, for want of practical people, very few really can convey these things. But in their temples you will find the same thing – (symbols of) light and sound. They make their voice hoarse when they utter the mantra, they say, "Om" like that (Master Kirpal Singh imitates the hoarse voice) and they beat small drums. The symbols are there. For want of practical people, there are very few who are able to give you a contact with that.

Lord Buddha, toward the end of his life when he was going to leave the body, sent for all his disciples and asked them, "What does lead to the golden samadhi?" So, many of his disciples came up. They gave reference to the light they saw and the sound-principle they heard. The last judgement that he gave was: "Well, intrinsic hearing is the way back to golden samadhi."

Comment: The last instruction he (the Buddha) gave was the way back to the golden samadhi.

Sant Kirpal Singh: "Intrinsic hearing" – the sound-principle.

Question: Does Master have a dharma successor?

Comment: He wants to know if you have a (spiritual) successor?

Sant Kirpal Singh: Well, the God will select, not I. It is a selection from God, not by votes. Yes, if it is a guidance from above, what has that to do with you?

Comment: That doesn't have anything to do with us.

Sant Kirpal Singh: So long as He (God) is taking work from me, I am amidst you. And it is His job to send somebody. And it is for Him to decide; not by votes that you will select anybody.