The Inner Peace of Soul
Satsang of Shri Mata Ji at Porchester Hall, London.W2, 8 Jan 1972

Dear aspirants,

Happy New Year and may God bless you and bring happiness into your life and may this New Year be blissful for you. The New Year can only be fruitful for us when we follow the path of Truth, when we accept good ideals and put them into practice in our daily lives. Today everyone is engaged in some kind of action, but whatever action man is performing he is just concerned with his physical life, and just to satisfy his bodily needs. What is the best work that a man can do in his life? He cannot understand this by his intellect and mind. A man can only perform actions according to the limits of his intellect, but the holy scriptures say that the actual real path that can bring happiness and real satisfaction is quite different to this. They encourage us to live in this world peacefully and cheerfully, so that we can love each other and lead a happy and blissful life. History tells us that man now thinks that he is very intellectual and he has developed so much in this material world, but at the time of the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna put a head of a man on a tree and enabled him to see all the war which was a very big war, the Mahabharata. His hands and body were separate from his head and Krishna showed him everything, whatever happened on the battlefield.

You know the fire that burns man's heart is anger, and man wants to control this anger but he doesn't know how to control this very horrible fire which burns his life away, only a Great Master knows flow to control this anger, how to save man From this fire; He alone knows the right path, the right means to control this anger, this fire. There is no time when there is not a Great Master among mankind to teach how to get peace and how to live in this world peacefully and cheerfully. He always comes to teach them the technique to live and let other people live, but whenever He came in the past most of the people criticised Him and did not take full advantage of His Knowledge. History tells us this, it repeats itself again and again. You all know that from time to time a Great Master comes to save the world, that is why you celebrate Christmas day, you burn candles and decorate your houses and markets and so many other important places, for what? To remind yourselves of the holy birthday, the happy birthday of Lord Jesus who came to protect mankind, to teach mankind the right path to attain peace. You decorate your houses in order to invite the Lord to be with you, but when He came very few people recognised His glory and followed Him. And in the future the Lord will come from time to time to awaken mankind from the sleep of ignorance and to teach them the path to enlightenment. And the Great Master's divine activities will be recorded in history which will remind mankind about these Great Masters and then will sing Their praises, over and over again.

Man learns so many arts, and so many technological things, to build beautiful houses and roads, cities and so on, in order to bring comfort and happiness into his life. The Lord has given us this human form, this precious gift, which is a very, very important thing, not only for this material progress, not only for the satisfaction of material life, but to attain perfection, to attain complete realisation of God. God alone can bring permanent satisfaction, permanent peace. Material things can give us little pleasure but not permanent satisfaction. Man has Forgotten His Creator. Because of his intellectual development he thinks that he knows everything, that he is everything. When such a time as this comes, the Lord then incarnates Himself to direct mankind on the path to bliss, happiness and real peace. When we were children, we didn't know my language, we had no intellectual development, we were unable to speak. But what is that Holy Name of God which a child remembers when he is in his mother's womb? By external languages no one can communicate with God. What is that language which enables a man to communicate with God, which enables a child to speak with God, in his mother's womb? Know that Word, know that Name, know that primordial vibration which is so capable of enabling a man to reach God, to merge with God. Know that Word, know that language.

We need a living doctor, a living leader, and a living Master. A Master who was born in the past is not going to bring real Knowledge into your life, only a living Master can give you True Knowledge, can reveal to you the practical experience of God. People accept living doctors and living leaders but they do not accept the present, living perfect Master. But tell me, how can a picture of a past Master give us True Knowledge now? It is obvious that we require a living doctor, and a living political leader, so also we require a living Perfect Master to show us the right path to God. Nowadays mankind is standing like a house without a foundation, at any time the house can fall. He is standing on the brink of total destruction, he has invented so many destructive weapons to destroy himself. Russia and America are the two biggest nations and it they fight with each other, not only will they be destroyed but many other countries of the world will be destroyed. Man does not want to be humble, everyone wants to become a great national leader or wants to develop his own country, yet they don't want to be humble and love mankind. But no one can get real happiness and peace if they do not have real Spiritual Knowledge, for this alone can bring about true peace and happiness.

Man has now become his own enemy. You know this very well because of your past before you received Knowledge, the way you used to live and the methods you tried for peace and satisfaction. You know this very well and when you received the Knowledge of Guru Maharaj Ji you got real satisfaction and peace within yourself. Man doesn't know that peace lies within himself, he wanders outside in search of peace, after sensual pleasures, but the real source of peace and contentment lies within oneself.

There is a beautiful ashram in India called Prem Nagar - there are many other ashrams in India but Prem Nagar is especially beautiful - and many western people came to see Guru Maharaj Ji before they received Knowledge. At that time they were wandering in India here and there listening to many different types of sadhus - some gave them rosaries, some gave them mantras, some gave them other means. They grew their hair long and put ashes on their body and became sadhus, and Mata Ji asked them, "Have you seen the Light which shines within yourself?" And they said, "No Mata Ji, we haven't seen it." "Have you realised the Holy Name of God which lies within your heart?" They said, "No. We have received these rosaries and mantras, but no Master gave us the inner Light, the inner Word." Then Mata Ji said, "Why are you wasting your time? This is not the way to attain liberation, to attain enlightenment. Follow the true Master who can give you Spiritual Knowledge, who can show you the inner Light and reveal to you the inner Word of God." And when they heard satsang they received Knowledge, and after receiving Knowledge they gave up their dhotis shed all external hypocrisy, you can say, and adopted the right path. And now you can see their lives have been completely changed. No one can say they are not active, no one can say that they are dirty, for every true devotee of Guru Maharaj Ji is really pure externally and internally. They are performing their worldly duties and following the path of Truth and by this they are increasing peace, love and harmony throughout society. Many sadhus have come to see Mata Ji in India, they used to do so many different actions to attain enlightenment, and when Mata Ji asked them, "Have you seen the Light?" They said, "No, we have not." "Have you experienced the Holy Name?" "No, Mata Ji" they said. Then Mata Ji said, "What are you doing? You're wasting your life. You are neither serving your family, nor yourself, nor society. Why are you wasting your time?" And then they began weeping, they shed tears saying, "Mata Ji, no Master showed us the right path, no Master directed us on the path to enlightenment. Please give us Knowledge." Then they received Knowledge by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace. Now they are spreading this message, the Knowledge of Guru Maharaji and bringing peace into other people's hearts and really have been completely changed and are leading a very beautiful spiritual life.

One boy, who is from England, was coming to Delhi from Hardwar just two weeks ago, he was travelling on a train in a second class compartment, and three wicked people entered into the compartment where there was no one except that premie. They robbed him and attacked him, and in that time he began praying to Guru Maharaj Ji, "Oh Guru Maharaj Ji, I'm not afraid of death but I have one regret in my heart that, after receiving this Knowledge, I could not serve you. Oh my Lord, give me the opportunity to render some service to you, to spread your Knowledge." Then he began meditating on the Holy Name and fell unconscious. Those wicked people took his passport, his money, his clothes, everything, and when the train stopped at the station they ran away. At that time there were some policemen standing there and they became suspicious about the men and they arrested them. At the same time, the premie regained consciousness and he began to shout and when the police saw that his clothes were full of blood they came and asked him what had happened and he explained everything. So he was sent to a doctor for treatment and the three wicked people were arrested and put into jail. After two or three days he regained his health and he got his passport, his clothes and everything else back, and then he came to Delhi and saw Guru Maharaj Ji. He told Mata Ji, "I have experienced two things. Firstly, how death comes suddenly and man doesn't know that it's coming; he is happy, cheerful, laughing, but death comes suddenly and takes him away from this earth. Secondly, I have experienced the Grace of Guru Maharaj Ji, the power of Guru Maharaj Ji. For at that time I did not remember anyone else in the world, I just remembered Guru Maharaj Ji when I was attacked and I asked Him to help me, to protect me, to give me the chance to serve Him, and I received His Grace; He saved me at that time. They had tried to kill me and they thought I was dead, but by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace I got my consciousness back." So he was telling about his experience how death can come at any time, with no invitation. But if you take refuge in Guru Maharaj Ji and pray Him to help you, then He comes to help you. This is the nature of life, no one knows when this body is going to die. So know that Knowledge that Guru Maharaj Ji gives, because it is the Knowledge of Truth, the true Spiritual Knowledge and when you know this Knowledge, meditate on it and put it into practice, then you will never die. Many of you have experienced this inner peace of the soul after receiving this Knowledge. The soul is neither small nor big, it is pure consciousness, it is the divinest part of the Almighty Lord. It never grows nor decays. If our soul within our hearts could grow, then also our stomach would grow and it would become bigger and bigger, but it's not like that. The soul is always the same, equal and constant, the subtlest vibration; if it could grow, then it would decay, because where there is growth there is decay, then it would die. But no, the soul is pure consciousness which remains all the time unchangeable. So meditate on the soul and you will get inner peace. But how can those who do not know this Truth meditate? They cannot. So receive this Knowledge and then you will be able to direct your mind and senses inwards, and when your mind is inward you will be able to get peace from within yourself.

Guru Maharaj Ji's lilas are so divine, so perfect, but only devotees can understand them, other people cannot, especially newspapers. They write so many things about Guru Maharaj Ji, they don't understand, they are not enlightened souls, they are not realised personalities and so they cannot understand the Knowledge and the wisdom of Guru Maharaj Ji. People did the same thing when Krishna and Rama were here. Ravana, who was a very great learned king of Ceylon, opposed Lord Rama. He criticised and published so many false accusations against Lord Rama. Krishna was born in prison. His parents were put into jail for ten months, but Krishna performed so many miracles, so many lilas, so many great activities, but still at that time very few people understood His Divinity or realised His greatness. Some of the people and kings of that time simply opposed Krishna. When Lord Jesus came, the same thing happened. Some disciples spread His message and inspired people to follow and worship the Lord, but one or two betrayed Him, they were also disciples but they did not realise His power, His spirituality. Other people also criticised and crucified Him.

Now that you have received this Knowledge meditate on it and spread Guru Maharaj Ji's teachings because this Knowledge alone can bring peace and satisfaction into the hearts of mankind. You should not concern yourselves with other people's activities, your aim is to meditate and spread the Divine Knowledge of Guru Maharaj Ji so that you may lead a perfect spiritual life. Spread Guru Maharaj Ji's Knowledge for this Knowledge has given you peace and will give other people peace also!

One student who came from Germany to Prem Nagar Ashram and then to Delhi was searching for this Knowledge for a long time; he had studied many scriptures, many philosophies. His parents are in China and when he received this Knowledge, he said to Mata Ji, "This Knowledge is very wonderful. I must spread this Knowledge in China." And now he has gone to China, his parents are there and he is studying in the University getting a degree.

We should not care about infamy or praise, we should not be affected by these things because Great Masters are above all praise and criticism. Shri Maharaj Ji used to say, "My message will be spread more by my critics than by my devotees. If I spend hundreds of thousands of rupees still this message will not be spread, but when my critics criticise me, I don't even spend a single penny and they just spread my Name throughout the world, and they have already done so." Everyone knows Guru Maharaj Ji nowadays, everywhere! So He says, "I love my critics more than my devotees!"

(Mata Ji sings) This song means: when the Lord comes, He inspires people to criticise Him so that lie may see whether His devotees are firm on the devotional path or not, whether their faith is stable or not. He wants to know where they are standing and how much they love Him. On one side people criticise the Lord, and on the other side some people praise Him. Now is the time to realise stability of mind. A true devotee never gets confused, because he knows the Truth, he knows this from the experience of the Knowledge which he has received from his Master, so whatever happens, happens according to His Will. He wants to test His devotees so that He may know who is a stable-minded person, who is firm on this right path, who loves Him for the sake of love. So whatever happens, happens according to His Will.

Many premies, both from America and England, have sent letters to Guru Maharaj Ji requesting Him to come soon, but as He had returned to India after being away for ten months, and as there are millions of devotees who never before have missed the Guru Puja and other festivals, but now because Guru Maharaj Ji is travelling from country to country they couldn't have Darshan for ten months, so now their love is keeping Guru Maharaj Ji in India. Many educated people, politicians and ambassadors from other countries are going to see Guru Maharaj Ji, they go to Punjabi Bagh and get appointments to talk to Guru Maharaj Ji, so he couldn't come here so soon, but He has sent Holy Mother and very soon He will come if your love is powerful enough to call Him. The call of the heart compels the Lord to come, not just writing a letter, but the call which comes from the heart inspires Him to rush to see His devotees. So develop your love, make it so strong, so powerful that the Lord will come very soon. Mata Ji will give you satsang from time to time.