The following section contains the collected quotes from Satguru Sirio Ji and earlier Masters of Surat Shabd Yoga.
“Constant Simran practice is the most helping factor in keeping the consciousness up and also in training ourselves in developing this habit, which then has to become a second nature of repeating the Simran. So, in all the mystical paths, this practice of constant repetition and constant remembrance is very much praised and advised, because that’s the way to keep tuned in with the Divine Presence. Because it is said that between the Named One and His Name, there is no difference. So if you repeat the names of what is your divinity, then you get tuned in with it and you get lots of blessings.”
“What is said in Satsang it’s precious, and it’s for improving our understanding of life and things. So, it’s a teaching that we should take to our heart and try to apply it to our lives. Food if it’s eaten gives us nourishment. If we leave it there, it will not nourish us. So, the teachings are the same thing. It’s nourishment for your soul, for your mind, and for your life. Use them!”
“Death is a blessing. It’s the best good luck that might happen in the life of a person. It’s the time of the reunion. It’s the wedding with the Infinite. We are going back into a love, which is thick as cream. And for people who are on a spiritual Path that will be the Supreme bliss. So, don’t be afraid of dying. Death is a blessing. And when somebody dies do not be sad, just be happy. He/She has gone back to His/Her Beloved. So, when somebody dies we have to rejoice.”
“Through all the experiences, which you gather in your meditation, you become more and more detached from everything and everybody. You will be able to use things and not be used by things. And if you have the all wealth of this world you take it, and if you lose it you don’t care at all. In an easy situation, you won’t be enthusiastic. And in difficult situations, you won’t be broken, you won’t be depressed, you just take it. What comes well and good, what goes well and good.”
“Intense spiritual retreats are the training ground where we train ourselves as spiritual people, as meditators to improve our meditation, our spiritual practice and try to get something out of it. Because let’s be real. In our daily lives, it’s not so easy to meditate when we are by ourselves unless we are a blessed, determined, and strong person.”
“Any meditation sitting that we have, it’s a process for learning how to die. So, what should a Satsangi do? Should do as much meditation as possible so that you learn how to die. So, that’s how we prepare the best way for death by doing meditation and trying to experience this process of dying while living, while we are in this body. “Learn to die that you may begin to live.” So, the more we learn this process and the more we experience it the better beings we will be, the most happy and fulfilled we will be. Because an effective meditation it’s what transforms us from common, ordinary human beings into special human beings.”
“Once we are Liberated then we will be sent only to those situations in which we can be of help for other people to grow because that’s how life evolves. A good person brings his/her goodness around himself/herself. Helps others to improve. So, anybody who becomes a better human being is used by the Supreme Being to be a help to others. That’s how it works. So, we should try once we are on the Path, once we have understood the dynamics of life, how it works, what we should do, and what’s the purpose of this life then we should do our best to use the tools that we have the best way we can. So, has to accomplish the best progress that we can in this life.”
“Initiation is a transmission of spiritual energy. But that doesn’t mean that the Master by giving this transmission has less energy or loses anything by it. Master Kirpal used to say that the storehouse has always a supply of energy. And it doesn’t matter how many switches you connect with it, still the supply doesn’t diminish. So, Initiation is a blessing, a transmission of energy. It’s not just a ritual, a ceremony, or a teaching of a mantra, and that’s it. No. Master Kirpal used to say Initiation is transmitting a life impulse from the Master to the disciple. The life impulse is a spark of the Supreme Divine Power or Satguru Power, God-into-expression Power that is transmitted to the person who is being initiated. And because of this blessing, because of this transmission, the one who has been initiated feels an upliftment, a certain withdrawal from his/her consciousness, from his/her physical body, and the Inner Vision is opened and gets to see the Inner Light and sometimes even much much deeper and profound experience. Then he/she is connected to the Shabd, the Lifestream, the Sound Current, or the Voice of Silence. You can call in many ways. That’s what Initiation is.”
“Master Kirpal always talked about developing a ruling passion for God. Because it’s the only way we will be taken into consideration. We say the Path doesn’t work with me. I’m not able to meditate. It’s because we are not enough sincere. Because we don’t do what we are meant to do to succeed on the Path.”
“If you take a Path, there are certain practices which we have to do. And if we want to it work we have to do these practices otherwise it doesn’t work. And it’s not because the Path doesn’t work, it’s because we do not work. We don’t do what we are meant to do. Sant Ji always said those who say that the Path doesn’t work, it’s because they don’t do anything on the Path. They don’t use it. So, how can it work? You have a tool, and you want to do something with this tool, but you don’t use the tool. You go with your hands or you even don’t try to do it. How can it work? A musician for example, who wants to become good at playing an instrument and those who are musicians know it you have to busy yourself. Those who become great musicians play their instrument 6-7-8 hours per day. So, those who want to become good meditators have to meditate 6-7-8 hours per day. Just the same. We are an instrument. We have to play it if you want to get out some good notes, some good melodies.”
“The attitude by which we do anything in life is what determines the result that you are going to get into whatever you are doing. So, for Initiation is very important the attitude by which you go to it and prepare yourself for it.”
“You want to realize God that is love. So, be a loving person. Be somebody who shares love with others. Be a smiley person. Because a smile costs nothing and makes everybody happy and makes everybody laugh and smile back at you.”
“There are some things on the Path, which are advised and repeated again and again. Raise above lust, anger, greed, attachment, and egoism. So, these are the requirements. Make an effort, and try your best to raise above these evils, which are sickness and diseases for all of mankind. Try to get above these tendencies.”
“Simran helps very much withdrawing the consciousness, the attention from the physical body and going into the beyond. That’s the purpose of the mantra repetition. So, Simran, or as they called it on some other Path Japa, the Hindus call it Japa, and Sufis call it Zikr, so is the repetition of the Holy Names of God. Because as you think so you become. So, if you get very much into it then you can have wonderful experiences, even while living and acting in the world.”
“After the theory is given at Initiation, it explains the Inner Journey, the Mantra is given and then we practice. Because it’s through practice that we experience what it means to become in touch with the Inner Light. In this hour of meditation practice, the blessing always comes to everybody who is initiated. Of course, not the same for everybody because nobody is the same. We are all different. We all find ourselves at different levels of our inner progress. So, according to how we are, the way we are, and where we stand in our evolution, we are allowed to have contact with the Divine Light, which can be less or more intense, but everybody gets something. Everybody at Initiation feels that it’s a special event that touches the Inner Being, the soul and you feel that you are blessed to a certain degree.”
“In India, Initiation is called “Naam Daan”, which means giving the Name. What is giving the Name? So, this Supreme Being, this Supreme Reality has been given so many names by different Masters. This is what is called mantra, or Simran. At Initiation besides the explanation of the Inner Journey is given a mantra, which is the names of God, charged up by your own Master who has been meditating on these Names for most of His / Her life and also by the lineage of the Masters of this Path. They have all meditated on this Simran, on this Mantra. They are charged words, which are given to you and help you withdraw your consciousness, and your attention from the physical body and take it to the spot in the body from where you can exit the physical body and enter into the astral plane, into the astral body.”
“Once you are ready and have changed your lifestyle and understood the teachings, and you want to take it, then the Master will give you Initiation. And at Initiation, the Master will explain to you very well what is the Inner Journey. What we are as human beings and what we are not and we think that we are. But there is also something of us that we don’t know about, the Inner Being, the Inner Man. We are not only this physical body, but we have also an astral body, we have also a causal body. And there is an astral plane, there is a causal plane, which we have to cross to reach the adobe of Truth. So, this is the theoretical part of the Initiation.”
“The purpose of a Master is transmitting to you. First of all, He is explaining to you the teachings and makes you understand what the scriptures talk about. And then give you the experience. The experience of coming in touch with the Inner Light and Sound. That comes through Initiation. So, what is Initiation? Initiation is that session in which the Master explains to you what is the Inner Path that you have to follow to reach your destination. Sach Khand, the abode of Truth.”
“What is the Master’s grace? What is the Master’s blessing? The Master’s grace reduces anything in a harmonious way, which is going to be helpful and not harmful. Master Kirpal is used to say, “The Master’s grace is such that it will reduce the sentence to death into hearting yourself a little bit.” So, in this case, the person who hurt himself could have maybe died. But it was reduced so much that He was just hurting Himself a little bit. The other person, if He had gotten so much more gold, which maybe was meant to happen, would have just left the spiritual Path and forgotten everything about and become a worldly man and spoiled His life and become very corrupt. But it was reduced to just finding a bit of gold, so it would just help His life to go better. So, how does the Master’s blessing and grace work? It works in such a way that whatever happens in your life is going to be like a helping factor and not a harmful factor, something that is going to spoil your life. So, whichever is the case, we get something pleasant or we get something painful, whatever it is, it is meant for our growth and betterment. So, the Master’s grace works in this way once you are coming to the Master’s aura and you take initiation whatever is going to happen then on in your life it’s meant to be a helping factor for your growth. Whether it is sorrow or it is joy.”
“According to the example that we set, the change that people see in us they will also benefit because there is no better teaching than a living example.”