After fifteen minutes, however, Kishan Singh joined the group at Baba's residence, whereupon Baba dictated:
Today, I want to explain naaz and niaz. In olden days, Sufis always stressed this point about naaz and niaz, shama and parvana [candle and moth]. Later on, these terms became so common that every Muslim poet, big or small, started using them.
Now, naaz literally means nakhra , coquetry, hard to please, never satisfied, and is said to be one of the chief attributes of the Beloved. Sufis refer to God and Perfect Masters as the perfect personification of naaz — always full of naaz. Why? Because they are independent and indifferent, beparvah — no care for anything, completely detached.
Now, you might think that God, Who is the source of everything, and the Sadgurus, who are God personified, how could they be beparvah? It sounds absurd. It is because God is absolutely independent and indifferent.
Niaz means to dance to every naaz [whim, outrageous demand] of the Beloved, to his every mood. Niaz does not mean obedience, but surrenderance.
To carry out the nakhra of God and the Sadgurus is a great thing. It means to dance to every tune of the Beloved, who is absolutely independent and indifferent. So also is God. And a lover of God is dependent on every whim of the Beloved. It sounds absurd that a Sadguru is indifferent and independent, and his lover is totally dependent — dependent not on the Sadguru, but on every independent nakhra of the Sadguru. But this is so.
Now the second aspect is most wonderful. We just now talked of God and the Sadguru's independent nature. That "nature " is of the Infinite Reality; but the Sadguru has taken a form of illusion. In the form of a Sadguru, God, with His full indifference and infinity behind Him, takes the cloak of illusion. Now what happens is, that as soon as this illusory garb [the body] is worn, the Sadguru takes upon himself all the sufferings of the whole universe, [which are] caused by ignorance, which is the basis of illusion.
Now I will explain the paradox of why a Sadguru or the Avatar, who enjoys infinite bliss, is said to be simultaneously suffering infinitely.