PRAYER
It's Nature and Technique
 
 

What One Should Ask from the Godman

    THE Master is the mouthpiece of God. He is the Pole at which God manifests His Godhood. He is the bathing ghat or beach where a person can safely enter into the sea for a dip. He is like a switch, which has in it the concentrated energy of the powerhouse. The Son and the Father are one and administer the same Law. "I and my Father are one," says Christ. Clothed in Heavenly Light, He radiates Light into the world.

I am the light of the world, and he that followeth me, shall not
  walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. 149
                                                                                                               CHRIST
God or a Godman is the Treasure House of Naam. Naam is God's Master-instrument with which He created the Universe and with which He is sustaining it. The moment He withdraws this power of His, the result is disintegration, dissolution and death.

    Saint John calls It "Word:"

In the beginning was, the Word, and the Word was with God
  and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
  All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made
  that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of man.
  And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not. 150
A prophet, a saint, an apostle is truly the repository of God's Power. He is the veritable abode of God Himself:
God comes into the world in the garb of a Sadh (saint). 151
                                                                                                                 GURU ARJAN
Whoever then has a longing for God must hasten to a true Saint and seek God from Him. Nothing but the Saving Grace of the Master can work a true transformation in the worldly-wise man, fully identified as he is with the sensual plane.
I think of Thee and lovingly long for Thee,
I pray to the saints to manliest Thee in me. 152
I pray to the sadhs for I hear God is of His devotees,
Nanak has an intense longing for Him, O! have mercy. 153
                                                                                                            GURU ARJAN

Separate for ages, unite now O Lord,
This is the greatest desire of my heart.
Hear my prayers through the Master,
Nanak has no other wish but this. 154
                                                  GURU RAM DAS

I pray to the saints for union,
That is what Nanak asks for.155
                                            GURU ARJAN

The souls that have realized the Lord, I shall  inquire of them,
In all humility, I shall supplicate to know the Way to Him. 156
                                                                                                                       GURU NANAK

Saints are the representatives of God, and to them we pray,
We are but filthy worms, O Satguru, grant us the light of Naam. 157
                                                                                                                                      GURU RAM DAS


Bhai Gurdas has given us a beautiful specimen of prayer for the Sikhs:
 

I am a depraved sinner and a heretic,
A thief, a gambler and a housebreaker,
A thug that lives on illicit gains,
A constant prey to all kinds of lusts,
A slave to the five passions, viz., lust, anger, greed, attachment and egoism,
A betrayer, an ungrateful wretch, abhorred by all.
0 ye, with all these faults, and still more,
Remember the Satguru for He is compassionate indeed. 158


Once this relationship of Master and disciple is established, the latter becomes fully dependent upon him. The acceptance of the disciple by the Master means acceptance of the entire responsibility of his Karmic debt or burden, including Prarabdh (fate or destiny), Kriyaman (actions or deeds performed from day to day), and Sanchit Karmas (the storehouse of unfructified karmic impressions). Like an official liquidator, it is now his job to liquidate the debts of the disciple, wind them up and free him from them so as to put him on his feet again for the second birth leading to the life of the spirit.

We are now of the Master, a bond-slave unto Him,
O Nanak! with the relationship of Master and servants save us now. 159
                                                                                                                                             GURU RAM DAS
I long for an eternal friend,
Ever true, from end to end.160
                                          GURU ARJAN

I pray to the Satguru to lead me to the Friend,
By meeting whom, peace descends and death vanishes. 161
                                                                                                               GURU NANAK

O Master! may I live by beholding Thee,
And my life's aim be fulfilled.
O fulfill my prayers that I may live by Thy Word,
May I ever abide under Thy protection,
Whose value only the blessed few may know,
And that too only through the Master's Grace.
Grant this boon, O my Beloved,
That Thou may ever dwell in my mind.
Nanak has but one wish alone,
That he may never forget the fountainhead of all virtues. 162

Everything is in Thy Controlling Power, O Destroyer of fear,
So saith Nanak, save the ignorant, O Merciful One. 163
                                                                                                        GURU ARJAN

Seeing that the whole world is being consumed in invisible flames of fire,
I come to Thy feet, I pray, O perfect Master, save us as Thou wilt. 164
                                                                                                                                            GURU AMAR DAS



Appendix  Contents