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QUESTION: If

an angel were never incarnate in a human body, it would still be subject to the law of cause and effect? [Reno Sirrine answered, "Yes."] Then this angel, the devil . . . but if an angel has never reincarnated, how can it rehabilitate?

THE MASTER (Sant Kirpal Singh): These are the appointments, as a man is promoted from private to corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, major, or general. They are all subject to the law of cause and effect. If they make any mistake, they are brought to the court. Only God Himself is immune from that, or those who are connected with Him. Others are all under the law of cause and effect. Even incarnations,* you'll find, have to undergo the law of cause and effect. Lord Rama struck and killed some man. In his next birth, Rama became Lord Krishna, you see, the incarnation of that age. And the man he had killed became a hunter and killed him. They are not immune. Even a military officer may control a town, but if he breaks any law he is brought to court. * That is, avatara, or incarnations of the Negative Power. He also explained the difference between a Saint and an Avatar. He said both are of the same essence just as electricity derives power from the same powerhouse but as different mechanism of the input are differently made so that the same output when contacted can give heat and cold, so are the ways of the Saints and the Avatars. Perfect Saints always show us a way to lead our lives so that we are freed from bondage, that we may never return again to this world. They make us wear strong shoes that the thorns may not prick us on life's journey. There are two kinds of Masters Who come: one is called a Sant or Saint, the other an Avatar. Both work with the same Power, just as electricity can give us both fire and ice, even though the source remains the same. The Avatars explain, "Whenever there is more sin in the world, and righteous living is gone, then I appear." So you can see that the working of that Power is different. They are not bound by karmas, but come only for a great purpose. That is why They advise that one should not meditate on the outer form of the Master, but on the true form of the Master--Word made flesh. The Avatars' work is such that They sometimes have to take a sword in hand to further Their task of punishing the wicked and upholding the righteous. They must keep the world in proper balance.

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The Saints say, "Whosoever comes to me, I will connect him back to God." The difference between Saints and Avatars can be further illustrated by taking an emperor who has a viceroy ruling the affairs of one of his countries and a commander-in-chief over the army. Both these men have different ways of dealing with matters. The viceroy will never order anyone directly but will say, "In the name of the emperor, I order you to do this," while the commander-inchief will say, "I order you to fire." The latter knows that he is under the emperor but is in complete control of the army, giving promotion or demotion, and will never allow anyone to go out of his jurisdiction. The viceroy never orders, but says that he is announcing the wishes of the emperor. Kabir Sahib says, "I know the Truth, but I have come to tell you the wishes of my Lord." So Avatars improve the condition of the world by giving punishment and reward, and Saints give salvation. Two kinds of Gurumukh come to the world - one is called an Avatar, and the other a Sant - but Both do the Lord's important work. When They meet, Both highly respect each other; but Their work is different. The Avatar is like a Commander-in-Chief, without Whom the world would be in a topsy-turvy state; so His work is very necessary. He works at the outer level when man's righteousness is at stake, punishing the wrongdoers and rewarding the righteous; but the Sant's mission is to unite man with God at the level of the soul. Whosoever meets Them becomes at once connected back to God. The Tenth Guru (Guru Gobind Singh), whose birthday was celebrated yesterday, played the role of a Saint as well as an Avatar. [Q]: Was that story that's told about Kal a true one, that he told Sat Purush that he couldn't be happy up there and wanted his own realm? [M]: That is a way of expression. After all, this power has been given by Whom? Suppose I give you now one example. There is a king. He appoints a commander-in-chief. He's the appointing authority. And he's also the appointing authority of a viceroy. But their functions are different. The commander-in-chief never says, "I convey to you the orders of the King." He says, "I order you." Because he fully knows that power has been given to him from the higher power. He has so many colonels and majors. They get a very handsome salary and many concessions but he won't let those go out of his control. He'll haul them up, court martial them. When the city is in trouble it is handed over to the military. It punishes some men and others are set to put the

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condition of the town in order. But the viceroy never says, "I say;" he says, "I convey to you the orders of the King." All these avatars: Lord Krishna, Rama, and others, their duty is a different one. They come to punish the wicked, help those who are righteous and set the world in order. Saints' ways are different. They don't punish anyone; They seek to bring them around, you see. Their work is just to give them contact with God and let them go back to the Father's Home, not to come back as a prisoner. They might come back as a teacher. That's the difference. They depopulate the world. The avatar, you see, keeps the world in order, does not let the population grow less. Avatars come to the world with their own mission. Lord Krishna said, Whenever righteousness fails, I take the form of an Avatar, to punish evil-doers, uphold the righteous, and to maintain the world's equilibrium. The Saints' work is to join back the souls to God--to reduce the world's population. Saints and Avatars respect each other, for both carry out the Lord's work in different ways. The Negative and Positive are both created by the one Lord. They imprison one in illusion. Both are necessary for the furtherance of the world's purpose. Just as the single power of electricity can make fire or ice, so it is that the positive and negative aspects are different phases of life. A perfect Master is Word-personified, and he connects whosoever meets him with the Word. The Saints are Ministers in the Kingdom of God. They hold the portfolio of God-Power and come into the world to take the jivas back to God. Avatars or the incarnations of Brahman keep the world agoing on an even keel. Thus, we see that there is a great difference between the true Saint and the avatar. And yet incarnations, as well as the Saints, derive their Authority from One and the Same supreme Power called "Absolute God," for carrying out their respective missions. Their respective positions may be likened to that of the military Commander-in-Chief and that of the Viceroy, both of whom hold a direct Commission from the Emperor King, authorizing each to work in his own sphere. Both of them, however, point to the same Power but in a different way. For instance, Lord Krishna, while manifesting his universal Form, was commanding the whole show of the battlefield at Kurukshetra. Kabir has beautifully described this position: The time and the timeless, both are the creatures of the Great Power. God created them to carry on the administration of the world. We are the worshippers of the God-Power at the back of them both. Each of them has his own sphere of work. We respect them both. In times of disturbance and unrest, it is the avatars who come to our aid. Then, the administration of the world is handed over temporarily to the Brahman Power, and It works relentlessly in crushing down the evil elements

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in the world so as to restore normalcy. Even in the most chaotic conditions, the avatars respect the Authority of the Saints and do not touch their disciples, for the Saints hold a permit of Naam and can freely move about unmolested. Thus ends the hymn of Guru Amar Das.
Even the Avatars or incarnations, the embodiments of the Powers of God, are not immune from the inflexible working of the karmic wheel and are also called to Judgement. Like a soldier in an army, an Avatar is not immune from liability under the civil law, in addition to his obligations under the military law governing his profession. Even if he may be doing his duty under the command of his superiors, which is law unto him under military regulations, he may incur a civil liability under the civil law. His is a two-fold responsibility: one, under the army law to wit, to obey implicitly what the officers order him to do on pain of being court-martialled if he disobeys; and, the other, under the civil administration if, in the discharge of his duties, he is found to have exceeded the limits of his military orders. Gods and goddesses, and the incarnations of the various powers of God, are therefore included in this category, so far as the Law of Karma extends. With all of their privileged position, they, including the entire hosts of angels, are under the Law and not above the Law. This is why they, too, seek human birth, in which lies the possibility of escape from the toils and struggles onward to the Abode of Peace-eternal and Life ever-lasting. The Avatars are incarnations of the various powers of Brahm, and their function is to keep the world going in a balanced and orderly manner, by holding the balance of the social order aright between righteousness and unrighteousness.

Regarding that, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj states the following in a letter to His disciple: The teachers from Brahmand, the Avatars ascent with the three LightCurrents, the three Gunas, which arise behind the eyes. After they transcended Sahans Dal Kanwal, the thousand-petalled lotus, they reach the second plane and end at the peak of the mountain Sumer and they cannot rise higher up. 0n the other hand those who practice the Sound-Currents, the Saints by means of the Sound-Current go upwards to the first plane, from there they go downwards through some kind of a tunnel to the second plane and from there further to the third and from there finally to the 8th plane. Between the two exist the three following differences:

Avatars and Gurus Page 5 of 6 1. The Saints reach the eighth stage where as the Brahmand-Avatars do not go beyond the second one. 2. The Saints use the Sound where as the Avatars voyage with the light or with the Sound of the second stage. 3. Because the second stage lies within the domain of "Kal and Maya" and the covers of all three bodies, i.e. the physical, the astral and the causal cannot be taken off until the third plane is reached - the souls of the Avatars are not that steady towards temptations. And hence they always come back again into this world in certain periods of time. Hence the souls of the Saints are cleaned from all impurities of Kal and Maya or Brahm, their souls pace further on and from stage to stage they attain always more power, until in the eights stage they merge into the Highest Being, becoming 0ne with Him. Another difference is that a Perfect Saint is always on the earth plane whereas an Avatar comes from time to time - Sandy

QUESTION: Is the nature of angels positive or negative? THE MASTER (Sant Kirpal Singh): Even the avatars are under the law of cause and effect. Incarnations, what to speak of angels! Yes, surely. They are higher, of course, they have done some good actions; they get bliss for a longer time, in the higher planes, then come back again. In the Upanishads it is said that the souls of the Rishis, when they returned after enjoying the bliss of the higher plumes, selected the man body, because in the man body alone can the soul reach God

QUESTION: A

good man once spoke to me about the devil being an angel who has rebelled against God. Can this be true?

THE MASTER: That is metaphorically speaking. There are two powers. One is the Highest Power which is the Creator of all. Then, at a lower level, the Negative Power is made; that is always going into expression for the purpose of formation of the world. That is Brahm; it is made for that. So there is nothing devilish... Kabir says, God created two powers, Negative and Positive. Positive

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has its own work and Negative is going into expression. One goes in toward the Source, the other recedes outward. So truly speaking, there is no Satan, only those Powers are created Kal and Akal, Negative and Positive. They each have their own work Those under the command of the Negative Power, they always like to go out into expression. And those who want to come back again to their Home, naturally they follow the Positive way. That is given through the Saints: Contact with God into expression, called Naam or Word, which has got two manifestations, Light and Sound. When you are contacted with that, it will take you direct to the Source from where it emanated: the true Home of our Father. So there is no antagonism, but that [Negative Power] is made for the purpose of Creation; because He had to make the Creation. If you light a candle, the flame will go up because the Source of light is the sun. If you invert it, even then the flame till go up, because the source is above. If you throw a clod of earth into the air, however forcefully you may send it, again it will come to the earth because the source of the clod is beneath. Similarly, mind is negative in its affect. It is always working to take you into expression. But the soul is of the Positive side, it wants to take you up to its own source. When soul is freed from the mind, that goes to God. So mind is made the purpose of keeping the world going. Without mind, the world could not go on. Kal and Akal both are expressions of the Absolute . . The Absolute is from where they all come. This is an intricate question, of course, but it can be understood this way.