Post 2
Among the gurus in the text I found the Saint, the Mother and the Master to be my choices as favorites. I am not sure if these were necessarily my favorites or more likely the ones that I believe to be possibly the most sensible. I offer my opinion on the Sage and the Monk as a basis for my decision choosing the three gurus I did. I do not disagree with the views of the Sage and the Monk or other animal rights activists, although I do not agree with placing animals on the same level as human beings. I feel this way simply because animals although they appear to possess senses they do not (as far as I know) possess a conscious. Therefore a religion based on the rights of animals I cannot see myself following. I do not doubt that these kinds of beliefs are benefiting the Earth which I respect, for but I cannot attest that these ideas are religious in nature. Mother Earth should be respected but not necessarily worshipped or considered parallel to humans.

First the Saint, Huzur Sawan Singh, represents his faith in naturalistic terms. The Saint, as Lane refers to Sawan Singh, describes his faith in terms of ripples in an ocean. The use of descriptive words has without a doubt caught my attention due to the beautiful picture that is painted. The attractiveness in description helped me to see how simple the path appeared to be to reach Sach Khand. The description of the course to reach Sach Khand appears to be easy yet is actually quite difficult. There may be only a few steps but the level of difficulty is quite high. Due to this complexity I feel that only the individuals that truly desire to find inner peace and find Sach Khand will be able to reach it and only through practice and patience can that be done. This is why I place the Saint and his faith as my number one in the top three because the directions are in black and white waiting to be put into use by anyone that desires to find the peace of mind through finding the light (literally) and harmonious musical sounds such as bells to guide them along their path of enlightenment.

Next I chose the Mother, Yogini Mataji, a kind hearted woman that left a lasting impression on everyone she met. I am drawn to follow in her footsteps of discovering the truth because I believe that the most important requirement that she possesses and explains that every follower needs to have is love. One of the paragraphs goes into detail about the process one must take to find the truth. Lane asks how can one sit so still, repeat only holy names and constantly think of God? Mataji’s response was simply this, “By falling in love. Because when one is truly in love nothing but the beloved can enter one's mind. So the secret of surat shabd yoga and of mysticism, is not necessarily practice and more practice, but love. To be so devoted to one's Lord that nothing can stand in the way.” When I read this I could feel how important God was to her and it is easily placed into perspective because I have been in love and know that feeling although my love is not on a deep level that Mataji’s is. Only a love for God can be that deep and impressionable.

The third person that I chose was the Master, Maharaj Charan Singh. The section on the Master was not so much about his religious travels but more so regarding how a person should treat other people and treat Earth, one’s temporary surroundings. The Master appears to be someone who wants to beatify the world that he is living in and take care of the people around him because they are all important and a piece of the whole. Every person is a “drop of love in the sea of God”. The way that people revere the Master by traveling from across the world to some and see him and listen to him speak demonstrates the effect that one person can have on many. When people see what he himself with the help of God’s love and other followers are capable of doing this love attaches to people’s hearts and travels with them everywhere they go. I learned when I was a little girl that I should always treat other people’s belongings with the utmost respect. What I and most people tend to forget is that Earth and everything on it belongs to someone else and we should treat this place with the utmost respect, which unfortunately is not the case today. The reading reminded me of this lesson I learned long ago and made me realize that it only takes one person to do such a thing.

All of the individual readings were very interesting. I found myself falling into the belief systems of two of the men. I found it interesting that although their systems of belief are very different and each individual has different reasons for why they practice their faith, the paths to reach the Sach Khand and the truth and God are very similar. It seems that every faith follows a variation of the correct path to God. Why then are there so many conflicts? The study of religion could reduce much of the tension in the world if people only realized how similar their beliefs actually are.

Surat shabad yoga is the ascending of the soul through four main levels of faith. In order to traverse these inner levels a person must first desire and practice to reach the first through versions of meditation. The levels from then on up must be guided by one’s guru. Once the guru’s figure becomes visible one is considered to be half way through their journey. The next level is only able to be reached by following the sound of drums and traversing a crooked path in order to ward off spirits. This level is difficult to pass through and may take many attempts. The third level appears to have beautiful flowers and décor that is more breathtaking than anyplace on Earth. Many individuals forget their purpose and end their travels here. This is not the end. The next stage is a stage of darkness. One must be guided by the hand of God because it is impossible to traverse this stage alone. God must bring them to the next stage. This final stage is said to be indescribable. No words can explain the beauty that lies within and must be experienced to be understood. Above these levels there are more stages to be explored but only few have traveled these depths of the inner soul and there are no notes regarding there contents.

I found the explanation of surat shabad yoga to be quite interesting. I felt rather inclined to attempt myself to see if I could find these stages within my inner being. Honestly, I have not attempted this yet but now that I have the directions I have some sort of outline on where to go. I think that this form of meditation is probably attractive to many individuals that want to explore their inner being but they do not want to go without instruction or an outline of what to expect. I’m sure that many religions encompass the same types of inner exploration just maybe not the exact layout.