Commandment 4:
Be Inquisitive to Know the Lord
The fourth commandment is that one should have special interest to know the Lord.
Sanat Kumara says that one should have spiritual interest to know the Lord. The intense desire to know the Lord is already a blessing. It happens to an individual through the grace showered by the Lord. It is called fiery aspiration, Tapas. When there is such fiery aspiration it means, one is blessed by a cosmic Teacher called Narada. This cosmic Teacher exists in us also, since we are micro-cosmos. When Narada exists in macro-cosmos, he exists in us – the micro-cosmos. The continuous attitude to know is seen to be due to the impulses that he gives from within. Lord Krishna says in the 10th chapter of Bhagavad Gita that Narada is the cosmic principle that initiates the impulse to know, to know the Lord. For this reason the knowers always invoke Narada along with the other Kumaras and the Seven Seers. Narada is a Kumara that helps the aspirant to know. In the scripture Bhagavatam the story of Narada comes in the very beginning. It is purposely instituted there so that the readers would gain the touch of Narada who enables experiencing the Lord. I am reminded of Narada, as Sanat Kumara gives his fourth commandment to know the Lord.
Commencing from Narada, the cosmic Teacher, there is a hierarchy of Teachers up to the World Teacher. They constitute the ladder that helps beings to know the Lord through the regular steps of the ladder. The World Teacher is the Teacher on this planetary plane. He developed through time a team of Teachers who are available on the planet to help sincere seekers. Those who have special interest to know the Lord and those who are in keen inquisitiveness are helped by a Teacher to establish a contact with them.
In the modern days the aspirants try to appoint their Teachers, in the sense they keep saying, “My Teacher is Maitreya, my Teacher is Krishna, my Teacher is Christ, my Teacher is Morya, my Teacher is Sai Baba” and so on. But the truth is otherwise. It is the Teacher who knows the student. The student can never know his Teacher until after certain revelations that happen within. A Teacher guides invisibly a student for twelve lives, before the student knows his or her Teacher. It is therefore childish for the students to say, “My Teacher is CVV or EK or MN or Kut Humi or Djwal Khul.” When you hear such statements from the truth seekers, know that they are still childish.
The Teacher, the Anchor
The world is so engrossing that man tends to be a wanderer, not only in the physical plane but also in the emotional and mental planes. To this non-directional wandering a Teacher provides himself as an anchor. Just like a ship or a boat is not swept away by the current of water when anchored, students who look for the Lord do not get swept away by millions of concepts of wisdom in the presence of a Teacher. Initially students become crazy with too many concepts of wisdom. They get excited and they do not know systematised adaptation to the concepts to enable their progress. They remain non-directional and engaged by wandering in the ocean of wisdom concepts. They move vaguely with no specific direction and feel glamorous of the information they gathered about wisdom concepts. The information they gain about various concepts of wisdom is mistaken by them as their knowledge. The concepts have to be lived through, then the information transforms as realisation. For this a Teacher is needed.
A Teacher of wisdom imparts silence, right speech, right thought and right action. To those who are aligned in their thought, speech and action he gives further implements such as colour, sound and symbol. Initially the Teacher works as Saturn working on the limitations of the student. Later as the student gains the rhythm and conducts life as a ritual he gives the Jupiterian touch for expansion of consciousness through daily practice. Blessed are the students who stand by the Saturnian training and become eligible for the occult tools of training. When such tools are utilized with reverence, the Teacher gives the touch of Jupiter. In the initial stages the student himself would not know consciously the expansions happening in him. He knows it in retrospect. From time to time he would also receive the touch of Venus from the Teacher. Thereby he feels comfortable in consciousness from time to time. The Teacher ensures the student’s settlement in consciousness. When the student thinks of settlement in personality consciousness, he does not let it happen. Settling in soul consciousness is of paramount importance instead of settling in personality consciousness. Personalities are unstable, soul is stable. The Teacher emphasises therefore upon comfort of soul consciousness, but not of personality consciousness.
The Teacher, the Guide
The stories of the scriptures show how sincere souls with grand personalities are frequently destabilised and re-stabilised in the soul consciousness. The story of Yudhisthira is a message in that direction. He was well settled in Indraprastha after Rajasuya, but he settled down in the personality. He was glamoured of the splendorous life and even started being showy. The Teacher Narada had to come to give a turn to the events. The Teacher Narada ensured that Yudhisthira was saved from his own personality. Krishna also contributed to that. Personality comfort is secondary. Soul comfort is primary for a Teacher with respect to his students. True Teachers do not praise the personalities of the students, for it could be counteractive to the progress of the student. The more the student advances, the more he finds frequent encounters with the fire of the Teacher. Teachers supply sweet and bitter pills according to the need. One cannot hope or dream that he can be always in a fantasy world being around the Teacher.
Find the Teacher Within
Working with the Teacher is no doubt magical, but it has its own challenges. He gradually leads the student to transcend the personality into the soul. The related steps could be very trying. The ultimate trial for the student is to face the threshold of death all alone, all by himself with no external support whatever. The nectar of life is offered only to those who meet crises and death with no external support. The Teacher at the times of crisis disappears and stands at a distance to watch how the student performs in crisis. Only the student who finds the Teacher within can stand all by himself in every crisis. The Teacher withdraws the outer support mechanism so that the inner support mechanism is initiated as sheer necessity. “Necessity is the mother of invention”, is a saying in English. “The inner man raises from within, when there is no support around.”
Many students initially think that initiations are like the sweet dreams. They happen in bitter crisis. It was so with Jesus. It was so with Buddha. It was so with Arjuna. Arjuna received his initiation at the threshold of a global war. The scriptural stories mostly give this hint. I inform you of this not to scare you, but to put you in a better state of being pre-informed.
The path to the Lord is pervaded by Masters of Wisdom. Denying their help is unwise. Many imagine that they don’t need a Teacher. But such ones invariably fasten themselves with their own intellect. For such intellects virtues are helpful, more than intelligence.
The Teacher Informs
The way the Teacher trains, the student knows not. Hercules the initiate was originally guided by the Teacher Jupiter. He was put to different labours at different times by the Teacher. The Teacher led Hercules through the path of light, which is the path of sun. Likewise every Teacher has a different mechanism with respect to different students. There is general guidance for all and specific guidance to some according to their state of awareness. He leads the students through the hall of learning, the hall of wisdom, and leads them to the hall of experience. He does so strictly according to the orientation of the students. He guides as much as the student orients. From time to time when the student is disoriented he waits in silence. There are as many regulations to Teachers as there are to the students. People think that the Teachers are above all regulations. The Teachers can be beyond, but while training the students they respect utmost the individual freedom of the students. They do not interfere, they do not intimidate, and they do not impose. He informs the students about the nature and the characteristics of God, of creation, and of the creation of human being. He informs that every being is a soul and also informs, while at action to experience and fulfill oneself.
Teacher – a re-presentation of God
The Teacher is but a re-presentation of that grand energy called God. It is verily God present in a human form who helps the sincere aspirant. His work is to drive the student to find the God within and thereby find the God all-around. He frequently speaks of life and of death. He speaks of the life beyond death. He essentially provides the needed material for a student to rise from where he is seated. A student sits in mind. The Teacher provides tools to the student to rise from mind and find a seat in Buddhi. Thereafter the path to the Lord is visioned by the student to be followed.
One More Aspect of the Teacher
The Teacher is the forerunner. At all times the Teacher is ahead to ensure safety to the student on the path. The Teacher is former and the student is later at all times. The Teacher clears the path and the student follows it with much ease. The student cannot follow the Teacher, if he discontinues the practice of teaching given by the Teacher. The student can stand aligned with the Teacher only when the student follows the teaching in the daily routine. Know that the sole link between the Teacher and the student is the teaching. When the student overlooks the teaching he cannot stay aligned, he cannot follow the path. Such is the significance of the teaching of the Teacher. When we follow the teaching of Lord Sanat Kumara, the Lord gets oriented to us. When we disconnect with the teaching we lose his orientation towards us. Know that the teaching is the cord that keeps you in eternal link with the Teacher. You cannot follow the Teacher without following his teaching, and there is no teaching without the Teacher. The student would do well to serve the Teacher and the teaching. This would enable him to realise the purpose of life without too many hurdles on the way.
… to be continued
Taken from the book
The Teachings of Sanat Kumara
Dhanishta Publications: dhanishta.org
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