Chapter Thirteen
Shri Hans Ji Maharaj's Message to World Leaders

(published in 'Amrit Patrika' Allahabad, Sunday 13/1/55)

Everyone can see for himself what is happening in the world today. Those who are supposed to be the leaders of mankind are engaged in their own selfish pursuits. They all meet each other and hold conferences to solve the problems of food and shelter confronting their nations.

But who took care of us during our nine months in the womb? Who protected us? Who produced milk for us in our mother's breast? Who caused our teeth to emerge and who provided us with different types of nourishment?

Our leaders hold all kinds of conferences in their concern to provide food and shelter, yet at the same time they manufacture nuclear bombs! Nor will they live to see the outcome of their mad arms race. Hiranyakashipu, Duryodhana, Bhishma and other such powerful warriors didn't. Contemporary dictators such as Hitler, Stalin and Lenin didn't. Leaders such as Roosevelt, Chamberlain and India's 'Iron Man' Sardar Patel didn't, nor did Mahatma Gandhi, who, through his teaching of truth and non-violence was able to evict the British from India. If they didn't survive how will their successors? It is impossible for anyone to live forever. We all have to go through the portals of Death. Food, clothing and shelter are for the maintenance of the body, but what is the purpose of the human body? Is it just to spoil fine silk, wool or pashmina fabrics? Is it just to turn into cream, fruit, cereals, desserts and bread into excrement? We ruin the environment by building on it. Even after we die, money is wasted on coffins and memorial services, and good land is used up for graveyards, tombs and mausoleums. Is

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this the purpose of human life? To waste natural resources? I humbly request politicians, gurus, saddhus, mahatmas, mandaleshwars, Jagatgurus, mullahs, padres and priests, if you don't realize the Truth, which the Vedas and other scriptures instruct us to know, while you are alive, how will you when you are buried under the ground or when your soul passes into another species?

Before India was free, our respected leaders were obsessed with the idea of evicting the British. The British gave us our freedom and left, and now our top people are busy with our country's welfare and development. Unfotunately they don't know what real welfare is. All the scriptures and all the great masters of the world urged people to know the Truth, otherwise the 1human lifetime passes in vain. They said,

'Eating, sleeping, Malang and reproduction are common to both man and beast - man without Spiritual-Knowledge is no better than a beast.' Because of fear, for- instance, man has manufactured destructive weapons like the atom bomb.

'Your kingdom may stretch from sunrise to sunset, and your wealth may be incalculable, but if you can't take it with you, then what's it all worth?'

Tulsidas has this to any about someone who owns the world, but doesn't remember God:

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'Shame on those who are lazy when it comes to meditation but active when it comes to food.'

These are the kind of people that Surdas called thoroughly ungrateful.

'Can there be anyone as sly, bestial and sensual as I?
How ungrateful I am, for I have forgotten Him
Who bestowed this precious human body on me.
Constantly trying to satisfy my hunger,
I run after desires like a village pig after refuse.
I serve the men of the world, forsaking the men of God.
Surdas says, Hear me, Lord!
Can there be a place in Your heart for one such as I?'

Such people are no better off than pigs. There are willing to bow and scrape any number of times to fill their bellies, but they never remember, even in a dream, that Great Power which gave them their body. Is what everyone is busy with the aim of human life? In the Bhagavad Gita, 9:34, Lord Krishna said,

'Seek the enlightened seer, the knower of the soul, prostrate to him, ask him for Knowledge and when you have pleased him with your service, he will reveal to you the Knowledge.'

That Knowledge, to receive which the Gita says you should prostrate and ask a great soul, is the Knowledge of the Name of

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God. All other scriptures say the same thing. Lord Krishna says further:

'Arjuna, at all times remember Me and fight.' Guru Nanak said the same thing:

'Remember the Name while standing, sitting, asleep or awake, and you will be successful in all that you do'

'This Name, which can be remembered even while you are asleep and dreaming, is beyond vowels and consonants. This is the same Name which Dhruva and Prahlad, the devotees of old, remembered and which Lord Shiva always remembered.

'Lord Shiva Himself meditates on the Mahamantra and reveals it to the people of Kasi to ensure their salvation.'

It is called Mahamantra because it has no beginning or end. On the other hand all other mantras have a beginning and an end. This is the Name by which Shiva is said to have turned poison into Nectar. This is the Name by meditating on which Hanuman had even Lord Rama in the palm of his hand. This Holy Name is within every being. God is in every heart so His Light (Form) and Name must be,

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'God is within every creature, but if a person doesn't see Him, his life is in vain. He is like someone with cataracts over his eyes. The musk deer searches everywhere for the source of the scent which emanates from its own navel. Similarly, God is in every heart, but people don't realize.'

Guru Nanak said,

Why are you searching for Him In the jungle? He is everywhere, He dwells within all, exists everywhere and is with you like the fragrance of a flower which permeates the entire plant God is everything, so look for Him within. The Guru unravels the mystery of how God exists both inside you and out. Without the Guru you can't realized yourself. The moss of confusion won't be removed.'

Lord Krishna said in the Gita, 15:6

'There is a place beyond the light of sun, moon and fire, reaching which the soul never has to return.'

In other words, it is liberated from the wheel of birth and

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death and is freed from all worldly sufferings. Humanity's welfare lies in knowing the real purpose of life.

When will you realize that Light, which is called by different scriptures Bhargo, Parent Prakash, Noor, Chanda, Divine Light, etc? When you are in your grave or reborn in another species? If you haven't been able to control your mind and still it while you are alive as a human being, do you think you'll be able to after you die? This can be achieved only by living human beings if it is to be achieved at all, because animals can't practise such techniques. Most people think that stilling the mind is extremely difficult, and so did Arjuna:

'O Krishna! The mind is restless, wayward and stubborn. It seems to me to be as difficult to control as the wind is difficult to stop: (Gita 6:34)

Lord Krishna answers,

'Undoubtedly, the mind is restless and difficult to control, but it can be through non-attachmcnt and practice.'

So now we have to consider which method should be practised and to which things we should be unattached. Does nonattachment mean living in a forest or in the mountains? Will so doing control the restlessness of the mind? Saints and mahatmas have always instructed that the mind should be contained within the Self, and that fluctuations should be prevented from arising, but people put their minds into purely external techniques such as pilgrimages, prayers, rituals, going to temples, churches, mosques and gurudwaras, reading scriptures, etc. People flock to Mecca,

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Medina, Mathura, Badrinath, etc. but these are all external. The abovementioned practices can never bring the mind under control. People don't know the correct internal technique for controlling mind, and so they are caught up in the external. But as a saint said,

'Merge your mind with the Holy Name, there's no need to say anything. Close the outer doors and open the inner.'

Going anywhere or chanting anything is nothing more than physical exercise! Hindus sing in Arti:

'You are imperceptible, the Lord of all that lives. How can a person such as I possibly see You?'

They mouth the words, 'Lord, You cannot be perceived through the senses,' yet when they see an idol they say that they are seeing God! Lord Krishna himself said,

'You cannot see Me with your ordinary eyes, therefore I give you the eye of Knowledge through which you may see My Divine Form.' (11:8)

People chant mantras such as the Gayatri, but where is it written in the Vedas that these mantras have to be chanted? The Gayatri Mantra says, '0 Lord, I meditate on Your Light.' So If they don't see that Light, what is the use of reciting the mantra? St. Kabir said,

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'Those who talk a lot but don't do anything are just idle babblers. They will be disgraced in the Court of God.'

Having received a human body and then losing it to go into an inferior species is a disgrace in itself. No scriptures or rituals can save you from suffering then. No Divine Master ever taught that these external practices are necessary. Three things are necessary for knowing Truth. Firstly, the words of the Scriptures, such as this reference from the Ramayana:

'Shiva knows thoroughly the power of the Name, because of which He is the font of blessings, even though He looks inauspicious.'

All the scriptures glorify the Name. Secondly, the words of the Guru:

'I bow to the Feet of my Guru, who is the ocean of mercy and God in human form. His word dispels ignorance as the sun disperses darkness.'

Thirdly, the Guru's Word revealed within the Self. If it is not already existing there, then it is not the True Word. The True Name is that which is praised by the scriptures, explained and revealed by the Guru, and which is already present in the Self. Guru Nanak said,

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'Meditate on the One Word which permeates land, water and air. Why meditate on any other word which a beginning and end?'

This Word permeates earth, water, air and all creatures, but only human beings can know what it is. So the saints and scriptures of all creeds teach us to search within and realize. You won't find outside. Mantras and tantras all are creations of man. St. Kabir said.

'All mantras and tantras are false. Don't anyone be fooled. You can't cross the worldly ocean without knowing the Name which is the essence of all. Without the Name, the Mind is lost in the dark. … Without finding the 'exit' of the Name, you have to continue revolving in the cycle of birth and death. The most natural sound is within you all time.'

He further said,

'You twist the rosary beads with your fingers and twist your tongue in your mouth, while your mind flies in all directions. This is not meditation. Ages have passed turning rosaries, but still you don't know where the mind goes. Break the external rosary and turn the inner.'

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If tantras and mantras can't control your mind, what is the use of repeating them? If all the scriptures say that we should experience the Inner Light, but you have never seen it, does this mean that the scriptures are wrong in saying that there is a Light which is not the light of sun, moon and fire?

So many meetings, marches and assemblies are held. The top people of every country are busy formulating grand plans and projects for the welfare of their people. But what is it which will truly benefit all mankind? All the leading personalities of the world should get together to decide what is Truth and rid the world of all the cheats and frauds.

Everyone talks about Yoga, but what is it? They don't know what it really means. Yama, niyama, pranayama, dhyana and samadhi are the eight steps of Yoga. But I ask you, if the object of meditation is unknown, how is meditation possible? Then samadhi is impossible and the highest Reality is known only in the state of samadhi. All else is in vain, and if not, someone please tell me on what we should meditate so that the mind may be brought under control. Lord Rama said,

'A soul is extremely fortunate to get a human body, which is rare even for the gods to get.'

A lot of people read the Ramayana and learned academics give their interpretations of it. So if they understand that this human form is rare even for a god to get, why do our religious teachers waste their precious life worshipping deities? Obviously they don't understand. Lord Krishna said, (Gita, 9:1-3)

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'Arjuna, to you who does not find fault in others, I will reveal this most secret Knowledge knowing which you will be free from all suffering. This Knowledge is the purest and greatest of all sciences and secrets. It is experienced directly, it is easy to perform, and is imperishable. But someone who has no faith in this Knowledge, instead of attaining Me, wanders around in this mortal world.

This Knowledge is called the sovereign science and is more secret than anything else. Vedantic scholars teach or to say, Aham Brahmasmi - 'I am God.' You are God, but you have forgotten yourself. But the point is, if Godhas forgotten Himself, then who'll remember? Realization of God is the object of spiritual practice, not the means. The Lord Himself called this Knowledge easy to promise,

The Ramayana says,

'Devotion is independent and a mine of joy, but is impossible without satsang:

Those without faith cannot realize Him. Once God is realized, there is no longer any question of having faith. Faith is necessary in spiritual practice.

The Gita, 11:12, says,

'The Light of a thousand suns could not produce the Light which Arjuna saw.'

So if you don't see this Light while you are a human being, will you be able to see it if you are reborn as a pig, a donkey or a dog?

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'(My Cosmic Form) cannot be seen by practising rituals, nor by charity, fasting, austerities, studying Vedas nor practising techniques.' (11:48)

Neither by Vedas nor by charity, austerities nor rituals can this four-faceted Form of Mine be seen as you have seen it. (11:53)

'Only by singleminded devotion can I be seen, and in reality known and even entered into, as I can be realized only by Love.' (11:54)

'Only he who works solely to attain Me, who is surrendered to Me in word, thought and deed, who is devoted to Me and who feels neither attachment nor hostility to many being, only such a person of singleminded devotion can realize Me.' (11:55)

St Tulsidas said

'Yoga, yagya, chanting, fasting, austerities, ritual worship and recitations, etc. are not necessary on the path of devotion.'

I urge and encourage everyone, throughout the world, to know and practise this true devotion (whether one realizes it via dedicated action or by Yoga) by which we can achieve true peace.