Reverend Charles Gibbs from the USA, Episcopal priest and Executive Director of the new international interfaith organization, United Religions Initiative, has come to Maharaj ji. This is the first time he has come to India, and he is stunned by the poverty that exists side by side with lavish wedding celebrations of the rich. He is also very impressed by the overt spirituality he has encountered everywhere in India. Today he had lunch in our langar and then a tour of Gobind Sadan, capped by his amazement at seeing our statue of Jesus where He had appeared to Maharaj ji. He says it is “startling and inspiring” to see Jesus so deeply loved in a community of people of other faiths. He is even more amazed that Maharaj ji has an intimate and ongoing relationship with Jesus. After the tour, he has the precious opportunity to have a long audience with Maharaj ji. 

Maharaj ji asks him, “How is your country?”

Rev. Gibbs answers, “Its soul is deeply troubled.”

Maharaj tells him,

Practice only that which comes from the tongue of prophets, and then there will be peace in society, because their loving vision has no self-interest. The prophets are only telling how to remain happy, how to love, how to love God in society.

 On one side there is Jesus; on the other side there are egos. One side is love; the other is hatred. We want to believe in God according to our own thoughts, our own way. But we must first pray to Jesus and get Love from him. Only he knows what Love his Father gives and wants. 

In my work, I have seen that throughout the world there is no love and happiness. We don’t follow what our spiritual master has taught. To read the Bible is not so important as to follow it. To go to church is not important; to follow Jesus’s teachings on the way is important. 

We should try to remove our ego. Then our mind will be very clean. With that clean mind, His love, His faith, his willingness to serve will come within us. 

But neither are our minds clean, nor do we want to clean them. Once Buddha said, “Why meditate? Its meaning is that there are weaknesses and evils within us and others are coming from outside. Meditation is to remove the inner evils and bar the outside ones.” 

Jesus spoke of seeing God’s Love in flowers. It is also there in mountains, in water. But as you know very well, we have reached such a state that instead of seeing God in flowers, we cannot even see God in other humans. Once Guru Gobind Singh said from enlightened wisdom, “God is in water, God is on land, God is in the heart, God is in forests, God is in mountains, God is in the cave, God is in the earth, God is in the sky, God is here, God is there….” He said, “When I saw You in my vision, the whole cosmos is full of Your love. Everybody knows that Your love is the greatest.”

We must consider whether we want to bring peace or crime into this world. God gave us free will. Are we misusing it? He gave us free will because He trusts us. He wants us to lovingly use His qualities such as Love, Faith, and Service. But instead we speak in anger and hatred. We hurt each other and are full of ego. We are also afraid. Where there is His Love, there is no fear, no ego. Where there is His Love, people cannot imagine hurting anyone. 

We should take one point to the world: We should act according to the teachings of the messiahs and prophets. If we use our own ideas, they will clash. We should unite under one idea: Love, Light, Service, and Truth are one. When we unite under that thought, we are one family.

There is Something behind everything. When prophets saw with enlightened vision, they saw His Power behind everything. 

I think the best thing for us is to ty to improve ourselves inwardly. What should we develop? That which springs from great Love, Truth, and Service. We don’t follow what we don’t understand, but one day we will have to accept that our Master has much more enlightened wisdom than us. We cannot become the Master, but we should take His Love and use it. We say that times are not good, but [if we do that] this will change into love, wisdom, and service. Then perhaps our society will be happy, and so will we. 

The main thing is that we are not happy ourselves. Very quietly, with inner love, try to see Him. At once you will feel that His Love is falling on us all but it is going to waste. No one is taking it, but His ocean of love is flowing 24 hours a day.

  So this is our responsibility: to spread that love that God has given us in society. He has so much love that even if everything in the whole cosmos takes great quantities, it would still be as little as a bird sipping from an ocean. But how can we give others what we don’t have? First we must get that supply. Not just one of us—the whole world needs that love. 

When humans arrive, the environment becomes spoiled. But people’s prayers and love can also clean the environment. We can see the pollution in the air, but we can’t see the great poison that comes from our speaking in anger. To clean the air, to clean our minds, to love God, we must do one thing: We will have to practice what He has told us. It is not difficult. He has created the whole cosmos. We must look toward Him. We are not knocking on His door. We should. He is ready to open it 24 hours a day. We should extend our hand of flesh, and He will extend His hand of Light to us. That meeting is indescribable. 

We must meet that Power. When we start walking toward Him, such things will happen that today we cannot even imagine. Son, move toward Him. He is so kind, so forgiving so loving. It should not happen that we are just going round and round while He waits. Then the little love we bring He fills with His great Love.

 Take that Love to your society, your neighbours, your country, and neighbouring countries, because His Love is everywhere. People have created boundaries, not God. Neither He nor His Love have any bounds. So let us love the One who wants nothing from us in return. Like a very loving mother keeps embracing her child, our Father keeps clasping us to his breast again and again. He will give us Love that is priceless.

When we even think of Him, that is a blessing. When we think of others with love, that is also His blessing. When we give love to someone who is unhappy, that is also His blessing. Keep your thoughts very pure and take them to Him.

Charles Gibbs says, “Thank you for seeing me, for the privilege of spending a few hours in this holy place, for the inspiration I take from here for my work.” 

Maharaj answers,

He will surely give you blessings since you listened with love. This house belongs to everyone. Whatever is here is for all. This is what He has taught—share everything. And we are to stay happy, even if we don’t feel like it. Be very strict about not allowing any thoughts that will upset you. 

May God bless you, so that you may love people and love God. This is what is necessary. You can’t find this love in any market. It is only with God, and He gives it freely. He is already giving it to you, and He will give even more. May He bless you. Take this elephant load back to your country and distribute it there. It will affect others since it is from your heart. 

You have come with great love, and listened with great love. You haven’t just knocked on that door. It has been opened.

Charles says, “I travel all over the world and meet with people of all faiths. I feel my role is to be a carrier of God’s love. I will do that better after being here.”

Maharaj says,

It is good. Keep on giving love and practicing it yourself. The whole world is sick. The medicine they all need is love. Keep on taking it yourself and giving it to others.

Charles: “I got a good dose of that today.”  

(Charles Gibbs was so touched by this meeting with Maharaj ji that he wrote a beautiful article about it, “Jesus appeared to Babaji,” published in the book My Neighbor’s Faith: Stories of Interreligous Encounter, Growth, and Transformation, by Jennifer Howe Peace, Or N. Rose, and Gregory Mobley, Eds., Orbis Books, pp. 177-181. He has also posted it on his website: https://www.revcharlesgibbs.net/essays/2016/11/28/jesus-appeared-to-babaji