MASTER is in truth the perfect manifestation of God. Filled with Godly Light he is the torch-bearer of God. He is the pole from which God works out His plan of redemption. God, having made man after His own image, placed an iron wall between Himself and the spirit, owing to the first sin of disobedience to Him. Man was thus driven out from the Garden of Eden and placed  in the physical world, so the story goes, to earn his bread with the sweat of his brow, and to work out his salvation through a Saviour - the Son of Man, in which garb God Himself comes with the key to unlock the Kingdom of Heaven for leading in the lost sheep.
    The Word becomes flesh and dwells among us, God's Light shines through his eyes, God's voice speaks through him, and God's Grace works out salvation for those who hunger and thirst for Him. Like a common man) he lives among us, shares our joys and sorrows, gives us instructions in spirituality and guides us on the path. Embedded in the Father he works out His Will.

       All things are delivered unto me of my Father:
        and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;
        neither knoweth any man the Father,
        save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
        will reveal Him.
                                                                                                                                     MATTHEW 11:27

Maulana Rumi also says:

        In the Master is lodged both God and the Mediator. There is in fact
        not the least distinction between the two. Drive all thought of duality
        from thy mind, or else thou shalt get lost in the wilderness, and so
        also shall be the fate of thy first lessons in spirituality. He who
        considers the two as separate entities has not yet learnt anything from,
        or known anything of, the Master.

Master is the form of the formless God - the form that we can see and have relationship with. It is this very form that imparts to us the knowledge of God, and again it is this very form, luminous of course, that accompanies us on the journey Godward and directs our footsteps on the path.
    In each plane, physical, causal, and beyond, there is increased splendor of the Master, and his limitless sway and power becomes more manifest to the companion spirit as it travels along.
    Godman as he is, in the world his form is the Kibla and Kaaba of the Muslims, the altar of the Christians, the eternal light of the Zoroastrians, the temple, the synagogue and the Gurdwara, for he alone is fit to be worshiped.
    Like electricity in the atmosphere, the universe is charged through and through with God. There is no place where He is not, and yet He is hidden from view;  and Guru or Master is the mighty switch, the source and fountainhead that makes it possible for us to witness His greatness and get glimpses of His power.
    In short, Master is the pole at which God actually works, and therefore he may fittingly be called polarized God as distinguished from the latent state in which He is at one with everything and yet we know Him not.
    The greatness and the puissance of God is manifested in the Master in abundance. So long as a person does not come in contact with some Godman, God just remains an idea with him, a mere figment of his everyday mind, a shadow with no real substance at all.
    In the Godman, one finds a living God on earth, just as anyone talking and smiling with us, guiding us by word and example and helping us through from stage to stage. Blessed indeed is a spirit that can establish a living contact with, a living Master - the greatest gift of God to mankind.
    Man indeed is the teacher of man. Unless a Godman gives us Light, we cannot have the Light of Reality, and like blind men we grope in utter darkness.
    In the physical world we, with physical eyes, can see nothing but physicality around us. The subtle vision can see the subtle world, and the causal can view the causal universe. Master of all three and even beyond, he bestows inner Light that illumines the inner darkness and one begins to witness an endless panorama of spiritual vistas ever expanding and bringing to view new delights at every step. All this work he does by means of the Sound Current or the Voice of God, hearing which the dead are quickened with Life and attain life everlasting. He is the connecting link between a soul and the Oversoul. With roots embedded in God and branches spreading throughout the world, laden with flowers and fruits of Paradise, he provides spiritual food to all who come to him.
    Maulana Rumi in this context says:

        O Friend! sit near one who knows the condition of thy heart
        (and who can make it whole). Rest a while under the shade of
        a tree that is laden with fresh and fragrant flowers. Loiter not
        in the market place from shop to shop, as idlers do. Go straight
        to one who has a store of honey with him.

        Take hold of the garment, O brave soul! of one who knows well
        the various planes: physical, mental, supramental, and beyond;
        and is able to remain with thee like a true friend, whether in life
        or in death, in this world or in the next.

    The form, physical or astral, of the Master or God-in-man  which helps us through in our journey Godward, is better by far than the native invisible form of God which is beyond all thought and contemplation.
    Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Ishwar (Niranjan) and Parmeshwar (incarnations of Brahma) are all worthy of our respect and adoration.
    We have read much about them, religiously, in sacred lore. They figure as heroes and heroines in mythological tales, but as such are nothing but figments of human imagination.
    When Satguru or the Master of Truth takes charge of a spirit (at Gaggan), He gradually reveals the true significance and way of each of them. All of them have existed since creation, and are engaged in carrying on the duties assigned to each of them.
    But we cannot know them or their handiwork and authority unless the Satguru takes us along and shows us the nature of this mysterious hierarchy.
    God Himself in the garb of man (Saints and prophets) informs us of His Own Natural Self. Guru Amar Das has therefore declared:

        It is the basic principle of God that without a Master of Truth,
      no one can even think of Him.

Sant Kabir also tells us:

        The Master is greater than God. Ye may very well think over
        this dictum. Devotion to God keeps a person entangled on this
        side (in the physical plane); but devotion to the Guru leads
        him across to God.

    The greatness of the Master lies in this: that he connects the souls with the Unknown Reality, and puts a stop to the cycle of births and deaths. The Oversoul, even when with us, could neither manifest Itself directly nor could It take the soul out of the physical plane and liberate it.
    Only through instructions from a Guru (Master Soul or Godman) and association with Shabd (Word or God- in-Action) can one achieve these wondrous results.

        Without Word one can have no escape (from bondage).
        Word Personified is the Master and he can manifest It in us.
        God may turn His back and one may not mind, but if
        the Master does so, none can bring about reconciliation.

                                                                                                                                                           KABIR

        If Siva gets estranged, the Master can reconcile us to him;
        but who can reconcile us to the Master?

    In this respect Sehjo Bai, a lady devotee, sings to us in melodious strains of the greatness of her Master - Charan Das:

        I may give up God, but cannot for a moment forget the Master,
          for God Himself cannot come up to him.
       God drove me into the wilderness of the world, but the Master has
          snapped for me the ceaseless cycle of transmigration.
       God set on my heels the five deadly sins (desire, anger, greed,
           infatuation, and egoism), but the Master taking pity on my
           helplessness saves me from them.
       God entangled me in the meshes of the family ties,
          but the Master cut asunder these bonds.
       God delivered me to disease, decay and death, but the Master
          with his yogic powers delivered me from them.
       God bound me hand and foot in the web of karmic reactions,
          but the Master revealed to me my true nature - and I have now
          found out that I am soul, the spirit of the universe.
       God in me hid Himself behind a curtain, but the Master with his
           torch of Truth revealed God to me.
       Again God created both bondage and salvation, but the Master
           put an end to all these chimerical fantasies.
        I would sacrifice my very body and soul for  Charan Das, my Master.
           I would rather surrender God for the Master's sake.