Adjusting Our Sails

The sea is vast and seemingly endless. Anyone who has been on a ship or looked at the horizon from a beach can relate to this perception. Imagine the time when sea routes from one continent to another were not yet discovered. Explorers set out on voyages to discover unknown lands. Many of these attempts failed. Some had mishaps and some ended up in unexpected places. As an example, Christopher Columbus sought a western sea passage from Europe to India and instead came to West Indies. It was another explorer, Vasco Da Gama, who discovered the correct sea route to India, linking Europe to Asia through a sea route.

The spiritual path is a similar one; vast and seemingly endless. Not everyone is able to navigate its vastness and get to the right port. A true living master is like a captain who has travelled the seas and has a map to the port of our final destination, our true home. Fortunately, we, as seekers, do not have to discover the route, as someone whom we can place our faith in already knows the way. Instead, we have to find this someone – a Master, and become a sailor on his ship.

There are so many obstacles in the way. There are so many temptations to lead us astray. Unless there is somebody to guide us and keep us straight on that path, we can never travel on it. This is what we know outside. Internally, it is even more difficult to travel without a right guide, without a proper teacher. There are so many temptations inside. We find so many stumbling blocks when we concentrate and come here, at the eye centre, to follow our spiritual journey inside. Without a guide we will be lost.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. 1}

Many of us do not know of the existence of a spiritual path much less a Master. We are born unaware and spiritually blind. It is the Lord who draws us to himself through a Master – we do not choose him. Each of us recognizes our own Master at the right time through our own individual circumstances.

When we are really sincere within ourselves – we want to follow the path but are worshipping the Lord by a wrong method, not the right sort of meditation – it is for the Lord to put us on the right path. What we need is a real yearning and devotion for him. Then it is his responsibility to work out how to put us on the path. He has his own ways and means of bringing people to the path, whatever country they belong to, or in whatever country they take their birth. He knows how to draw those souls.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. 1}

The Master takes us on-board by initiating us and teaching us the method of meditation, just as a captain teaches a sailor how to navigate the seas. In the course of a voyage, the vessel may encounter powerful winds and turbulent tides. A sailor cannot control the direction of the wind, but he can adjust the sails. When a sailor stops doing this and gives up, he is at the mercy of the sea and can end up anywhere. In our everyday lives we experience many such forces. Letting ourselves get carried away takes us farther away from our true destination or even leads us to an unknown, unintended destination. In response to these pulls of the world, we have two choices. The first is to go with the flow and let the tides take us where they may; the second is to obey our Master and adjust our sails until we reach our true destination.

You see, that obedience will lead to concentration. The Sant Mat way of life will lead you to concentration and your progress. That is the foundation on which you have to build. The way of life is the foundation on which you have to build your meditation.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. II}

Once we are sailors on the ship, we do as the captain instructs. Similarly, we place our faith in the Master’s navigation by doing our meditation. Just as one can never reach port without sailing, we cannot reach our true home without doing our meditation. Meditation is the steam, the force that powers and steers the ship of Nam. The sea can be rough, the tides high, and the winds stormy but a high-powered ship can cruise along and reach its destination.

Every moment we spend in meditation takes us closer to our true home. Just as tides and winds can carry away a drifting ship, the ways of the world can lead us astray. To be successful in this voyage, we must have faith in the Master’s navigation, adjust our sails and practise meditation sincerely and faithfully.