THE RELIGION OF LIFE — Part 2

 
Man can be dislodged from the sandy land of empty words, only when he voluntarily and wholeheartedly surrenders himself to a Perfect Spiritual Master, who in his example, brings to him the Religion of Life.

The Religion of Life is not experienced by mechanically repeated formulae of the unenlightened, purblind and limited intellect. It is dynamically energised by the assimilation of Truth, grasped through lucid and unerring intuition, which never falters and never fails, because it has emerged out of the fusion of head and heart, intellect and love.

The Master is important and indispensable in spiritual life, not only because He shows the Path, but also because He takes the disciple to the goal. Because of His unity with the One Divine Self, which is in all selves, the Master becomes the Divine Beloved for the disciple. The Master as Truth represents the Highest self of the disciple and therefore has supreme and unquestionable claim to the undivided loyalty and unqualified surrender from the disciple. It is only when the disciple dedicates his entire life to the Master, with complete and unswerving faith, that he can fully benefit from the unfailing and abundant life-current, which flows to him from the Master.

Those who desire to invite upon themselves the psychic transformation that brings them in tune with the Infinite, should, after satisfying themselves about the spiritual perfection of their Master, unhesitatingly and unreservedly surrender themselves to him.

The complete spiritual transformation, effected by the contact with the Master has a very instructive parallel to the metamorphosis in the life of insects. Just as the caterpillar goes through the transitional encased stage of chrysalis before it becomes a full-fledged butterfly, the aspirant has to go through the transitional stage of self-surrender to the Master, before he is spiritually reborn in the image of the Master and becomes Truth-conscious.