Journey of the Soul

Our spiritual journey starts from the soles of our feet and goes up to the top of our head. In this body, the spiritual Journey has two stages: the first is up to the eye center, and the second is from the eye center to the top of the head.

In our body, the seat of the soul and the mind knotted together is at the eye center, in the wakeful state. From here, our consciousness is spread into the whole world. Even when we close our eyes we are not here, we are never still. Rather we find ourselves thinking about our worldly ambitions and worldly affairs, about our relations or our daily activities. And about whomsoever we are thinking, their forms automatically appear before us. Therefore, by thinking, by contemplating on the forms of the world, our consciousness has spread outward into this world of illusion. Guru Ram Das says:

Wildly, the mind keeps running in this world of illusion; It takes not abode in its home, the eye center.

Unless we withdraw our attention to the eye center, we cannot concentrate within and take even the first step of our spiritual journey Homeward.

As Christ mystically expressed it: "Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:" We seek the Path leading to our Home, and once on that Path, we ultimately find the Lord. We finally merge into that One for whom we have been so ardently searching. The first step, then, is to withdraw our consciousness to the eye center. The Lord is within. It is we who have kept our attention focussed outside, in this world. We must knock from outside so that the door leading to our Goal within may be opened. We have to withdraw our consciousness from the world and bring it back to the eye center. Only then can the door be opened.

The eye center, where we come in contact with the Holy Spirit or Voice of God, has also been called by Indian Saints the "tenth door." Guru Amar Das says:

Stop the mind from running out through the nine portals And open thou the tenth door, Which will lead thee to thy true Home. There the Divine Melody ringeth day and night, And it is through the instruction of the Master That thou canst hear it.

That Spirit, that Shabd and Nam, is within every one of us forever resounding in resplendent glory. Unless, through meditation, we withdraw to the eye focus we can never be in touch with that Divine Melody. But having once contacted it, we find that Sound Current so fascinating, so charming and tempting, so captivating, that immediately we become attached to it, and automatically we become detached from the senses.

Christ said, "If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." When we are able to open that single eye, to withdraw our consciousness to the eye center and open the door to the kingdom within this temple, we shall see that Light and hear that Divine Sound, about which Namdev says:

Where the effulgent light is seen, there rings the boundless Shabd ... The Unstruck Melody has the lucency of the sun.

And with the help of that Light and Sound, we ascertain the direction of our Home and travel the Path leading there. By seeing that Light and hearing that Sound we are able to truly repent for all our past sins, thus releasing the soul from the snares of the mind. Then only can the soul once again become whole and shine In Its own pristine brilliance; then only are we able to go back to the level of the Father to become absorbed in the Ocean of absolute bliss and everlasting peace.

When we are able to withdraw our consciousness to the eye center, our mind, just like a needle drawn to a magnet, catches that Sound, that Melody within When we are attached to that Melody, automatically; we are detached from the senses. Now the tendency of the mind is downward, towards the senses. The senses are always pulling our mind down to their level But when we are able to withdraw our mind to the center and attach it to the Holy Ghost, the Spirit within us, that attachment automatically creates detachment.

By austerities, by disciplining the mind, it is Impossible to withdraw permanently from the senses, for detachment cannot create attachment in anybody; only attachment can create detachment within us. When our mind is attached to that Divine Music within and It sees that Light within, automatically that attachment creates detachment from the sense and frees the mind. Soami Ji says:

On hearing the Sound within the mind becomes calm and still. Through a million other means the stubborn mind refuses to yield. Only on contacting the Shabd within does the mind become docile.

The technique for withdrawing the consciousness to the eye center and joining it to the Word, the Shabd within, is available only from an Adept, a perfect Master. For such is the Lord's design, that though the treasure is within each one of us, it can be obtained only with the help of the Saints and Adepts who have themselves traversed the inner Path. The Maker has placed the key to the treasure in the hands of His beloved devotees, the true Masters, who alone can impart the secret to us.

The Master alone has the key; None else can open the door. - Guru Amar Das

Without a Master, no one can obtain the Name; Such is the law laid down by the lord. - Guru Amar Das

Let no one be under any illusion: Without a Master, none can cross the ocean of existence. - Guru Arjan