Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, Spiritual Gems, Letter # 197 (Great Master’s Correspondence With Satsangis)

The Master, in His Astral Form, is always with you inside, and if you go in you can see Him personally and even talk to Him. The answers to your problems are:

1. Yes, the Master never dies. While living He helps His pupils externally by means of sound advice and guidance. He also helps them internally, in His Astral Form, after they have gone inside. When He leaves the physical frame, then His external work is carried on by a successor appointed by Him, but He always helps his pupils internally in the Astral Form.

2. When the pupil dies, the inner Master has to decide as to whether he is again to be sent to the physical world or to be stationed in some intermediate region from where he can rise upwards. This depends on the pupil’s tendencies and desires. If there is desire in the mind of the pupil for any worldly pleasure or worldly attachment, he has to be sent back to this world. As on rebirth the memory of his previous birth is washed away, he has to get Initiation again from a living Master. But on rebirth he is bound to get Initiation and begin his course again from the point where he left it during the previous incarnation.

3. Yes, the obligation does not come to an end until the pupil has reached Sat Lok. Even if the obligation is transferred, it does not matter to the pupil because the Masters are all one and the same. The real Master is Shabd (Word), which never dies.

4. He need not know. When he gets Initiation in the second incarnation, he will be guided by the then Master.

5. Has already been replied in (2) above. When the pupil has crossed the second stage he need not be reborn.

It may be pointed out that after the Master has left the physical body and His Successor has come in His place, the pupil initiated by the deceased Master need not contemplate and concentrate on the form of the Successor. He may continue to contemplate and concentrate on the form of the Master who Initiated him.

Posture: Any posture in which you can sit comfortably will do. You can get a chair made with cushioned arms on which you can rest each elbow, and close your ears and eyes with your fingers. The object is to get concentration, and any posture which can bring it about is sufficient. But sitting on the feet is considered to be helpful in concentration, and in this posture the sound is clearer. The reason seems to be that in this posture one remains free from sloth and feels alert.

No doubt it is difficult for you but I could give three hours at a stretch in this posture. You may give only so much time in this posture as you comfortably can. The distance between the feet should be so much as to keep the spine erect and straight. At first it seems very difficult, but as the concentration grows the position naturally becomes right.

No particular posture is prescribed by the Masters excepting the one on the feet, but any other posture can be taken according to one’s taste and convenience. Frequent change of posture hinders concentration.

Yes, not a single case of toppling over has come to my notice. In India a large proportion concentrate in the prescribed posture.

Food: Yes, extracts of cod liver and so forth are to be avoided. But they can be prescribed to non-initiates.

There is no restriction regarding wearing apparel.

The Master is not allowed to accept anything for His personal use or for His family. He lives upon His pension or private earnings.

At Repetition, the five Holy Names are to be repeated without any thought of light or sound. Whether slowly or rapidly, does not matter. What matters is that no idea should be allowed to arise in the mind during Repetition.

When alone, Repetition may be done so that others cannot hear. This habit aids in concentration.

Listening to a gong does not aid in concentration. After practice in Repetition, the sound will become audible

There is no ‘a’ after ‘Sat’ in ‘Sat Nam’, ‘ph’ in ‘gupha’ should be pronounced like ‘ph’ in ‘philosophy’, ‘ch’ is to be uttered as ‘ch’ in ‘rich’.

Yes, ‘Radha Swami’ is the name of the highest Master and is used in greetings here.