Ishwar
C. Puri

Before a single breath was drawn, the universe had already announced his arrival. In the months preceding his birth, Ishwar Puri's mother experienced a vision so vivid and so tender that it could only be called divine. She saw a baby boy seated upon the mantle of her home — and then, impossibly, the child raised his hand and began to give her a spiritual discourse. Shaken by the depth of what she had witnessed, she sought the counsel of her spiritual teacher, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji, the Great Master of Beas.

The Great Master listened in silence, smiled, and replied with perfect certainty: "Yes — this is the sign of a sadhu who is coming to you. He has lectured a lot in the past and will continue to do so in this present life."

Twenty-nine days after his birth, his father carried the newborn to the Great Master for blessings. The Master looked at the infant with an expression beyond ordinary recognition — and spoke not as one greets a baby, but as one greets an old friend: "Do you recognize Me?" The child only smiled. In that moment, the Great Master named him Ishwar — meaning Lord, or God. From that day forward, Great Master watched over his upbringing, instructing his parents to treat him not as a child to be corrected, but as royalty to be revered.

At the age of just one year, Great Master invited the infant to sit upon the stage beside him during a two-hour Bhandara discourse. To the astonishment of all present, the child remained utterly still and focused for the entire gathering — a feat unheard of in one so young.

During a discourse, Great Master spoke of a sacred transaction available to those who truly love the Lord: the ability to offer the Divine something in exchange for something received. Ishwar Ji listened — and then approached Great Master with a proposal that was at once cheeky, clever, and utterly sincere.

"Can I give to you all the pain and suffering I am to experience in this world — in return for all the joy and bliss that you have?"

Great Master paused. Then, to Ishwar Ji's astonishment, he agreed. The deal was struck. And from that day forward, Ishwar Ji handed all his worries, all his troubles, all his fears — entirely to his Master. And his Master, in return, gave him abundant, unbroken joy.

This, Ishwar Ji would explain in later years, was the secret behind his extraordinary lightness — his nonchalance, his countenance of effortless peace. It was not the absence of life's challenges. It was the presence of a Master who had agreed to carry them. The universe was not indifferent; it was, and had always been, skewed in his favor.

At the very center of Ishwar Ji's teaching lies a truth so ancient and so universal that it cuts across every religion, every tradition, every spiritual vocabulary: the universe vibrates. Not as metaphor — but as literal, living reality. The great mystics have always known it, though they have named it differently. In the West: the Word, the Logos, the Primordial Sound. In the East: Shabd, Nad, Om, Bange-Asmani.

The Audible Life Stream — as Ishwar Ji taught it — is not merely a sound one hears with the physical ear. It is the very substance from which creation is made. It moves outward from the source of the universe in a centrifugal wave, carrying all life into manifestation; and then it moves inward again, centripetal, pulling all life back toward its origin. Every soul rides this current, whether it knows it or not.

Ishwar Ji taught that this inner music — infinitely more enchanting than any sound composed in the physical world — is available to every human soul. It can be perceived by one who is prepared to truly listen. To tune inward, past the noise of the mind and the clamor of the senses, and discover the cosmic symphony that has always been playing at the very core of one's being. The soul is a drop of this ocean. The Master is the wave that shows the drop the way home.

"The Sound Current," as he quoted Great Master, "is a wave of the Ocean of Spirituality of which the soul is a drop. The ocean, the waves, and the drops are alike in nature. All three are one."