SAT SANDESH (December 1955)

THE MASTER’S AMERICAN TOUR
Letter from Abroad
Bonn (Germany)
Nov 1-1955,
    By the time this reaches you all, Maharaj Ji will be in India for He leaves on the 1st November and reaches there on the 3rd afternoon though news of Him will now be no longer required for He will be admidst you again but this being the last and concluding record of His tour, it will still hold some interest. We will have to go back to 15th October, 1955, in England to continue from where we broke off.
    15th October: Today Maharaj Ji leaves Sussex for London for he has to catch a plane early next morning for Berlin, Germany. Mrs. E. Upton came up to the Railway Station to see Him off, the train left at 9:30 a.m. The last that was seen of Mrs. Upton was the tearstained face, she found it very hard like all others to wish Him farewell. Mr. J. Busby accompanied the Master up to London and after safely seeing Him in Grosvenor Hotel, Victoria, and taking lunch with him, we left for Sussex with a heavy heart.
    16th October: Left London by air early in the morning, landed in Berlin at 2 p.m. where Mr. and Mrs. Walter Kaul, Mrs. Hahn, Miss M. Moyat and some others awaited Him and they greeted the Master with flowers at the airport. The Master was taken to Mr. Kaul's apartment where arrangements had been made for His stay.
    In the evening a reception was held at Mrs. Hahn's house where many heads and representatives of various groups were gathered to hear the Master. Maharaj Ji gave a talk on the highest purpose of man's life, after this short talk many questions were asked and answered by the Master. A head of a spiritual league of Berlin got very excited and tried to involve Master in a heated discussion on spirituality, but as a father humours an ignorant child who thinks he knows everything, so did the Master. He just went on smiling at him and in a few minutes the head of the spiritual league was agreeing to all that the Master said in His calm and sweet way. Master gave a short talk again and explained His mission on this Earth.
    In the night the Master was invited to hear a lecture by a renowned spiritual Healing Leader, he spoke in German but the interpreter M. Moyat was translating all that the spiritual Leader said to the Master.
    17th October: 32 people came for the morning meditation. The leader of the spiritual group who had a heated discussion the night before also came and all had experience of the Beyond and were satisfied. In the afternoon an 84 year old man by the name of Nicolai Schimmorman came over to see the Master, he came from Sweden and 50 years back he was a great friend of Tolstoy of Russia and was doing the reforming work of the villages in those days. He met Inayat Khan the Great Sufi leader and was initiated by him but as he got no experience and the search of higher knowledge was great in him he heard of Swami Shiva Nanda and got initiation from him too, but to no avail but Schimmorman did not give up hope, went on searching and waiting patiently for God's will, so that by the great grace of the All-knowing he was today led at last at the feet of Him, who is all. At 84 years of age, this old man who came and went in into the Master's room came out after two hours a changed man with heart uplifted with hope again. At 4 p.m. many gathered to hear the Master and Nicolai Schimmorman was the one who questioned the Master most.
    They wanted to know how a man can get salvation while living on this Earth.
    Master said as God is all consciousness, so are our souls - the conscious entity put through birth after this birth on illusionary world we have so identified our true self to the mind and matter that we today cannot differentiate our true self from the body we are wearing on for the time being. It is just like an electrical bulb which having no one to dust it, goes on gathering the dust around it, till one day it is so hidden by the thick layers of dust that even the bulb loses its shape, then it is only a clod of earth, but when the owner of the place comes and switches on the light, but no light shines, so what does the owner do? He quickly starts dusting and polishing the bulb till it is crystal clear and fills the room with light again. So it is with us today. We have not only forgotten who we are but have identified ourselves to much to the matter surrounding us that we think we are that only, wherever one is attached one wants to stay there, so for salvation the soul has to be analysed from the body and has to be shown the true but hidden beauty of the truth, that which we call God. As all glory and beauty lies within this man-body, so when an inner contact to God is given by the opening of the inner eye, and one sees the beauty and glory within, naturally one gets more and more attached to that and a soul has to go where it is attached, so one is liberated never to return to this earth again, but this can not be realised by one's own efforts. We must have a Master of this science who can give us a contact with the Light of God and the Sound within. By His help only we can learn how to rise above the body-consciousness and contact the word within which is the way back to God. All enchantment of the outer world is lost when once one comes under a true Master and works as He commands, such a soul truly gets salvation, never to return. To get salvation one has not to run away to wilderness or neglect his duty to his family or dependants living in this world but performing all duties laid on his shoulders one can get salvation. The only thing needed is a true Master and whilst leading an ethical life just put in some time for meditation regularly and with all devotion.
    Other questions were, whether we should heal diseases through spiritual powers and what is the criterion of judging a true Master from so many who claim to be so and are truly not. The Master said spiritual healing is not advisable in the way the people are taking it. The spiritual powers one has, should be utilised for the purpose for which the power have been placed at your disposal, i.e., to realise yourself and realise God. When one becomes fully conscious of God working through him, the others are healed of themselves even by touching the end of his garment. Then Master told them how easily a real Master can be recognised from a crowd of those calling Masters and the criterion to judge was themselves who can give first-hand experience, He also explained the difference between a Saint and an Avatar. He said both are of the same essence just as electricity derives power from the same powerhouse but as different mechanism of the input are differently made so that the same output when contacted can give heat and cold, so are the ways of the Saints and the Avatars.
    This same evening two men were given initiation by the Master for these two had to leave for the Russian border and could not wait for the morning.
    18th October: Meditation was given to over 30 people this morning including Nicolai Schimmorman who is doing humanitarian work, all had wonderful experience.
    During the day Master spent most of the time sorting out the mail and sending replies to some and got seats reserved by air from Bonn. In the evening at 5 p.m. many newcomers came to hear the Master, lots of questions were put to Him and as usual answered to their entire satisfaction.
    Master said even reading the holy scriptures without the help of a practical Master will not lead you inside to see the Light of God. All holy books speak about this "light" but for want of a practical Master this light mentioned in the scriptures is taken in an entirely different way. - viz. people have commenced to think it to be the light of intellect, whereas it is not so. This is the Light of God, which a practical Master shows to you by unlocking the door inside and through His Grace and help in bringing you above the body consciousness and connecting you to the light and sound. When once connected you can develop the same day by day, by regular practices. When you advance in the inner planes the negative power obstructs your way, but as the Master Power extends all feasible help in protecting you from all evil, there is no fear of danger meeting you on the way, that is, it is for you to obey Him word by word and with faith, love and devotion. God has afforded all mankind an opportunity to go back to their true home in the form of a Living Master, so it is for the seekers after the truth to make the best use of it. This, meeting a Master, is a sort of a gift given by God. And when the Master comes, He comes with love for all mankind and gives the valuable treasures away free to all who are desirous of it. He is not a businessman. So has no position to make. He has realised all that has to be realised and needs nothing, there is only one want left in Him. And that is to give, give and give all free, as nature's gifts are all free.
    "Every one who has come, had has first hand experience," the Master said, "but all credit of this goes to my Master. And those who have doubts let them come sincerely and see for themselves."
    19th October 1955: 35 people came over for the morning meditation and all had experience, four of them through the blessing of the Master saw Him and His Master within because they had never seen Baba Sawan Singh Ji before, they wee a bit puzzled, but on showing His pictures recognised Him instantly. And five others saw the Master.
    This evening a series of talks started in a big hall hired for the purpose. It was a beautiful hall, there were 500 seats, each of them was taken and the Master, it is indescribable, the glory of that moment could only be felt and cannot be related. It was like a starved soul being given too much nourishment all at once, so the feeling of giddiness overpowers one and it was a feeling of not being able to take in any more. He was dressed in all white from top to bottom but a heavy overcoat of dark blue nearly black, outstanding against the white made the picture perfect. Then when He feeling the room a bit stuffy took off the blue coat, the white he was wearing came out - it seemed to many like a dream too good to be true. Master gave all the talk standing up on the stage with Margaret Moyat, the interpreter beside Him, the talks was given out in short sentences in English, then He used to pause and Miss Moyat used to translate it in German. Master tonight dealt on all outer religions and their purpose. The true import of all religions, he said was the same, to reach the same goal, that is to realise God. The difference if any in the teachings are in the non-essentials but not in the essential part of religions, for in that they are the same.
    Master said God made man and man made social religions. These social religions were made to uplift all mankind and teach them to love one another, so that by making the best use of them they should become the main helping factor in our life in being able to realise ourselves and realise God. True religion is for all mankind and is not a reserved right for any one particular class or creed. A man in any social religion can realise God, just as the doors of all schools and colleges are open for all mankind, so are the doors of the mansion of God forever open for all true seekers of Him. Of course if one is really in search of the truth, there are qualifications required, one of them, the main, is an ethical life.
    Master said God gave equal privileges to all, the outer form and the inner mechanism of all mankind is the same and works in the same way. There is no question of the people in the East being able to realise God and not the west, and as all social religions were made by man so it is up to the man himself to come above the bondage he himself has placed himself in and embrace the true import of it, which is, love God and love all humanity. If we can only do this then all other things to bring you nearer God will follow by themselves. God, the all knowing, sees all and everything and if the searcher of God is even a little sincere in his search God, lays down plans through which either he is taken up to His representative which we call a Master or sends the Master to him. So all that is needed today is sincerity and truthfulness and the rest should be left in the hands of the All-knowing.
    To study this Science of spirituality so that we can realise God, we should go direct under the care of a practical man who has realised himself and realised God. It is dangerously harmful to learn this science from a man who himself knows not anything about if from the practical side of it. Most of the teachers are only paid servants. They can only teach you what they have been told to teach. They dare not do otherwise for fear of losing the means of earning their bread. There are few who sincerely teach what is written in the holy scriptures, but these too cannot help you much, because for this science a realised soul is required, which they are not. "We should, first of all learn to sit on one common ground", the Master said, "while living in our own social religions we can learn spirituality through a Master of that science. Masters come to unite man to man and not separate, if we can only learn to do this, then Kingdom of God will surely come to Earth."
    After the talk the Master had great difficulty in reaching His car for people just mobbed Him from all sides.
    20th October 1955: In the morning meditations Nicolai Schimmorman saw the Master and Hazur Ji in all light.
    Master spent the afternoon attending to the correspondence. In the evening again the hall was full. This evening the Master gave a talk on the higher values of life and of man know thyself. There were various questions from the audience. The Master brought home to the people the importance of self-knowledge, as that is the foremost thing or God-knowledge and explained he comparative values of physical, intellectual and spiritual life.
    21st October 1955: As a result of last evening talk 50 people came for the morning meditation, all had experience and two saw Master with His Master, five saw Master alone, one saw Christ. In the afternoon Mrs. Hahn and Mr. Kaul had a long talk through the interpreter, with the Master. In the evening there was not a single seat vacant in the hall. Master gave a talk on the Kingdom of God, the single eye and on the Surat Shabd Yoga which is the natural yoga, in detail. After the talk the people thanked the Master and said for the first time they have realised the true import of the Bible, then over one hundred pamphlets were handed over to the Maser by the admirers for autograph. These pamphlets were the ones which were distributed to the public, all had Master's picture on it.
    22nd October 1955: 22 were initiated this morning, all had experience, one saw Christ, two saw Master with His Master and four saw the Master in all light.
    During the day the correspondence was attended to.
    In the night Mr. and Mrs. Kaul came and thanked the Master for blessing their house by staying in it. Master said, He had not come to this house as to a stranger's house but as to His own children's home taking it as His own and not as a stranger's. Then they discussed the future plans to carry on the work. They asked permission to have the "Man know Thyself" translated in Swedish and Nicolai asked if he could carry on the Master's work in Sweden. Master, the Beloved Lord, as is always the humblest of all humbles, said this is how Hazur's Grace works. Through those, a few simple words, Master in all innocence shows His Greatness.
    23rd October 1955: Although it was raining, six more came for initiation as they could not the day before. All had wonderful experience.
    As usual Master spent the day reading and writing answers to the letters which are always piled up daily on his table.
    At 4 p.m. all initiates gathered in the sitting room and Master gave a farewell talk. All were feeling much this parting from the Master's physical form.
    At 8 p.m. left for Bonn by air, many initiates came to see Him off and Mrs. Kaul was crying like a baby, all were feeling very bad and wished the Master good bye with tears.
    Landed at Dusseldorf at 10 p.m. where Mr. O.P. Malhotra was awaiting the Master's arrival. Drove to Bonn and reached Mr. Malhotra's house at 11:30 p.m. The Master is going to put up at Malhotra's house for his stay in Bonn.
    24th October 1955: In the afternoon some people came to pay their respects, a professor Roy of a University here came for interview. In the evening a talk was given in a hall of a German School arranged by Mr. Siddiqui, the President of the Indian Association here, about a hundred specially invited people came over. There were professors of Theology and other colleges. Master gave a talk on the Fatherhood of God, brotherhood of man and how to enter the Kingdom of God. Professor Roy was taking down notes and after Master had finished he translated the talk in German for those who could not understand English. All were very much impressed by the Master's talk.
    25th October 1955: 24 men and women came up for meditation, all had wonderful experience; one saw the Master in radiant form.
    This evening in honour of the Master, Mr. and Mrs. O.P. Malhotra threw a tea party in which the Indian Ambassador and all the Indian Embassy staff were invited; all came and had a long talk with the Master for nearly two hours on the science of the soul. The Master suggested to the Ambassador to have a contact with all Indian students in Germany and keep them informed of the various important developments and ask them to lead a life of exemplary character for the good name of their country. Accordingly a meeting of all of them has been arranged.
    26th October 1955: In the morning 24 people came for meditation, all had experiences. This evening a German came who had been in search for years and has spent 25 years in doing meditations, but has not been able to get much results. After talking to the Master, he was thoroughly convinced that the way of the natural Sahaj Yoga is the best.
    27th October 1955: 18 people came for meditation: all had experiences. After meditation several of them put questions to the Master regarding the various yogas. Master said Sahaj Yoga is the most natural and easy yoga, any man can derive benefit from it, whereas the other yogas are fit for only those who are physically strong.
    28th and 29th October 1955: In the morning meditation was given to dozens of men who came up, and all had first-hand experience. During the day important correspondence was attended to.
30th October 1955: 18 men and women came up for initiation including heads of two spiritual and cultural formations. All had wonderful experiences and six men saw Master and Master's Master and one saw Christ.
    31st October 1955: The whole of the morning Maharaj Ji spent attending to the correspondence.
    In the evening he gave a farewell talk to all initiates who had gathered together to have the last message He had to give personally before leaving Germany for India. He told them that now that they have been blessed with the great blessing of being put on way back to God, they should from now onward do their best to keep on putting more and more time in their daily practices and with each step they take the Master power will help them on a thousand steps forward, then the Master said that they observe chastity of thought, word and deed and forgive all and forget it with love, if you want to punish anyone for the harm done to you then punish him with love. Love is the strongest weapon you can arm yourself with. Love can even shatter the strong barriers of hate. So you should have love for all and hatred for none. Maharaj Ji always says "Hate the sin but not the sinner. "If all these things were observed most of the difficulties on the way back to God will be removed the inner darkness will turn into all light. When sitting down for meditation one should completely relax and keep the mind and attention away from all outer things, then with one fixed inner gaze start your meditation but always give regular time.
    The Master power, He said, never leaves. You have faith and love, the Master power will always be by your side to help you clear of all difficulties which the Negative power tries to place you under many times. Walter Kaul, the Editor of a German paper and Mrs. Habers, President of a social works were detailed to carry on the work of Master's mission in Berlin and at Bonn respectively.
    1st November 1955: Left Bonn at 11:30 p.m. for Dusseldorf but before leaving the Master had a meeting with some of the initiates regarding the work which is going to be carried after the departure of Maharaj Ji. All were feeling extremely bad and when the Master's car left all were standing on the pavement like a group of lost and lonely children gazing after the car as if their very life depended on it. Had to wait at the airport for 2 1/2 hours for the plane was late due to bad weather. O.P. Malhorta, Miss Moyat and a few others came up to the airport and stood on still till the plane took off.
    At Geneva airport Maharaj Ji had tea. Then an announcement was made saying due to engine trouble the plane was going to be delayed, up to the time of announcement Maharaj Ji was walking up and down waiting impatiently for Mrs. ? who was supposed to come to the airport to see Him. She is an old Satsangi of Baba Sawan Singh Ji. After announcement all passengers were taken to hotel for the night. After dinner Mrs. ? concerned, came to see the Master at hotel and said she did not get the letter which the Master had written hence her not coming to the airport. She only found out when He telephoned to her. It could be seen easily that if she had missed seeing Him she would have been very unhappy.
    2nd November 1955: Left the hotel at 6:45 a.m. and took off at 8 a.m. Had lunch at Cairo airport and after two hours stay took off again for India. As Maharaj Ji stepped into the plane He said, "They ought to change the plane for the engine is worn out. But I trying to be knowing and clever said, "No Maharaj Ji, every bit of machinery is thoroughly checked before taking off." He turned his face towards me and with expressionless face and eyes made as innocent as a babe, said, "Is that so?" What utter fools we turn ourselves into when we try to be even a little clever in front of him who knows all, as will be seen from what happened in the next hour. Before the plane took off, everyone as usual were told to fasten the belts, all took up straps and fastened it around the waist. Now Maharaj did a very peculiar thing, which when asked, He first laughs in reply with those beautifully living eyes twinkling like two bright stars, the answer you get out of Him is – Isn’t it enough that Hazur has saved everyone? But to go to that day when everyone strapped their bodies Maharaj Ji quickly tied both His knees with the straps, when asked He said He had pain in the legs, then strapping His knees as tight as possible He sat very quiet, then all of sudden He said, "We should remember the name of Lord" and smilingly said, "so that we should reach safely India." The plane had flown about 15 minutes when the pilot ran for the air hostess and when she came out of the cockpit she had a very worried look, by which could be seen that she was scared of something, then the crew were going up and down hurriedly, doing something or the other in and out of the cockpit. Then the announcement was made that due to the engine trouble the plane was returning. We were then 150 miles from the landing ground.
    After about 10 minutes Maharaj Ji did a strange thing - accidentally the belt loosened around the Master's knees and Maharaj Ji gave such a start this action was just like a driver's who at steering wheel of a fast-going vehicle goes day dreaming and then with a start wakes up when seeing himself driving straight in to something ahead and the start he gives when he sees that if he did not turn the wheel quick then there is death waiting in that crash, it was exactly the same way that the Master with a sudden involuntary movement and in such a hurried way caught hold of both the ends of the belt and tightened them tight around the legs. Again at that time His muscles on the face had grown taut, seeing the tensiveness in His body, though it lasted only for a few seconds, made me feel very strange and set me a thinking, then all of a sudden the realisation that if the Master had not been on the board there would have been without any question a gruesome accident in which all passengers would have lost their lives. Then all lights went off, and the plane was in pitch darkness. All passengers and crews were in great tension, except the ones who were in the beloved lord's party. Seeing state of their minds a great pity overcame me and the urge to stand up and shout out to them that there was nothing to fear for the saviour was on the board with them, so whatever would happen would happen for the best. But the thought that no one would ever believe in me in this great truth kept me quiet. After few minutes one engine completely failed. The second was going out, so the plane glided down, the landing in which condition is most difficult, so now a wonder miracle (I ask you and everyone forgiveness for calling it miracle for even if you know a little of the power of the Master you would of course jump on poor me saying, "You call this little thing miracle? After being near the lord for all these days.") But no other suitable word occurs to me at the present moment, anyway whatever it was today I am so overwhelmingly grateful to the Great Lord for being so merciful to the whole world for saving that plane in which He was traveling. Just five minutes before touching land the second engine also almost went out. All of a sudden the first started roaring with life again and the pilot was successful in making a beautiful landing. Today the debt which the world owes to the gracious Master (for not letting anything harm his precious body) is so great that even if we tried to pay back it will take us thousands of births, even then we could not pay back a millionth part for this thing which he has done for us. So the only thing we can do is to humbly and in all sincerity pray to Him to give us strength to make us able to keep His commandments. After landing again at Cairo, Maharaj Ji got very impatient when told that He will have to spend the night in Cairo and will not be able to get any plane until the next day. With impatience in His voice he told the captain, "I must reach India by tomorrow," so the man said we will try to get you seats on the T.W.A. which takes off at 3 p.m. but he advised that it would be better if Maharaj Ji spent the night in a hotel and got some rest, for it was the second day of continuous flying, and every one was very tired. Maharaj Ji said, "Rest for me, when my beloved Sangat is restlessly counting the minutes and is waiting with so much impatience in India." So the whole night He sat up on a chair or walked up and down while all other passengers slept in comfortable beds. That night seeing His great love of the people brought out our unworthiness glaringly out.

this completes the report of the 1955 Tour of the West as related by members of the touring group.