The Paathi sings a Bani by Shri Kabir Sahib ....
Jaag piyari ab kya sovae
Raen gai din kaahe ko khovae.
Jaag piyari ab kya sovae
Raen gai din kaahe ko khovae.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Kabir Sahib. Saints have forever been coming into this world and in the future also they will keep coming into this world. The world will never be without the Saints being there. Kabir Sahib says, "If Saints were not to be here in this world, then this whole world would have burned." It is with the Grace of the great Masters that the world is continuing, and in the future also, Saints will come into this world."
Saints are of two types. There are Saints Who have gone to Sach Khand-Sat Lok but Their identity as a Saint is not known to people, but They’re Saints nevertheless. They only let the others know Their identity when Their Masters come and instruct Them, or God Almighty instructs Them to do so. If They do not have these instructions, They are very happy and content in the Grace of Sat Purush and in His remembrance. They do not have any needs of Their own and They do not want to stay away from the Feet of God Almighty, of Sat Purush. And when They leave this world, They give Naam to one disciple.
Only Saints Who have been instructed to do so let the others know Their identity. And They come and They teach the Path to others.
Saints come into this world as has been ordained, and God Almighty has ordained that They keep coming into this world to give salvation to the souls who are a part of God Almighty.
That way, all of us are seemingly awake in this world but, actually, all of us are asleep and we are not aware of the true purpose for which we have come into this life. Whenever we have had this opportunity to stay in His remembrance, the mind and Maya have fooled us. And then following the mind and Maya, the only thing that happens is that, at the end when the precious life is over, one is in sorrow.
So, Kabir Sahib addresses the soul in this Bani and He says, "O soul, you should get up, you should wake up." He addresses the soul and asks the soul to wake up because it is daytime. Human life, He is addressing as ‘daytime’. And the nighttime is when the soul goes back into the 8.4 million life forms. So, during daytime, one has to get up and go about his routine activities. So, Kabir Sahib addresses the soul and asks the soul to wake up, as it is daytime.
In the 8.4 million life forms, one element, ether, is not there. And, because of that, they are unable to pray to God Almighty and they’re unable to get salvation in those life forms. That element is there in the human form. And it isonly in human form that one can pray and get salvation. Therefore, Kabir Sahib says, "It is daytime. You should wake up and go about your task of going back to God Almighty."
So, we should sit back and think as to who we are, and why are we here, and why have we been taking so many lives, and why have we been going in the cycle of life and death? And what is it that we should be doing to get out of this?
Jin jaaga tinn maanik paaya,
Bauri sab soye gavaaya.
Then, He says, "Those people who use their day properly, those who have earned their meditation and have gone within and have got salvation in this life, they have been able to get that precious gem, that precious pearl of enlightenment within." And then, He again addresses the soul, which is sleeping and says, "You have been wasting your time asleep and you have lost the opportunity of that enlightenment, of getting that precious jewel. And you will be going back into the cycle of life and death.” And then, you never know when you will get this opportunity, which has been so gracefully given to you, and you never know when you will get this human life form again. Because, once this opportunity is lost, the soul is then pushed back into those 8.4 million life forms. It goes in the form of trees and it lives like trees, then it goes into insects, then it goes into birds, and then animals, so that way, over several lives, it keeps getting promoted through those life forms.
So, rishis and munis have said, "There are so many lives.” And they have estimated how long it may take to complete one cycle. There are nearly three million types of trees and 2.7 million types of insects. And if one sees the life of the trees, trees like the pipal tree, they have had very, very long lives. Even though the seed is very small, the tree is very big. And whereas, other trees may grow and live for about five hundred to six hundred years, the pipal tree lives for nearly a thousand years.
Even the insects and the crawling animals, like snakes, some of these animals have very long lives. Some of the snakes live for more than a thousand years. So, if one sees how long one has to live in these life forms, one can imagine that in 8.4 million life forms, when you have to go through all of them and come back to this human life, human form, how long it will take.
Therefore, Masters say, "Wake up. In this day you have been given the task. It has been set out for you. So, go about doing that task."
Jin jaaga tinn maanik paaya,
Bauri sab soye gavaaya.
Piya tere chatur tu moorakh nari,
Kabahun na piya ki sej sanwaari.
Masters have called the soul as the wife and the husband as God Almighty. So, Kabir Sahib addresses the soul and says, "Where is your husband?" He says, "Your Husband is smart and you have not been paying attention to Him and you have continuously ignored Him. And, as a result, He has felt unhappy and He has deserted you." So, the soul could have loved God Almighty, but instead, it has focused all its love and affection for all the things created by Maya. And, as a result, God Almighty has felt unhappy about this.
God Almighty has been taking care of you, the soul, and when you were in the womb of your mother, even there you had the support of God Almighty and He took care of you. And before you were born into this earth, into this life, He took care of you. He took care of you, having your family, and all the things that you would require. He has taken care that you get all of that. And inside the womb, you had been telling God Almighty that, other than praying to Him, you would not be doing anything when you were taken out of that darkness. But, then, when you came out, you forgot all about that. And that is why God Almighty has become unhappy with you.
Piya tere chatur tu moorakh nari,
Kabahun na piya ki sej sanwaari.
Tein bauri bauraapan keenhon,
Bhar joban piya apan na cheenhon.
Then, Kabir Sahib says, "You are a fool. In your youth, you have not used your youth to remember God Almighty. Instead, you have wasted your time elsewhere. He says, “Had you remembered Him like you remembered Him when you were in the womb of your mother then, even now, He would have taken the same care of you like He was taking care when you were in that womb." He says, "Just like you remembered Him when you were in the womb, you should remember Him now. He's full of Grace and He will shower His Grace even today on you. But you should remember Him."
You would have seen that all the great Masters Who have done Their meditation and remembered God Almighty, God Almighty has taken care of Their every need. And He is God Almighty, He is All-Gracious. But, instead, we have not remembered Him. We have not remembered our Husband, and we have been waylaid by Maya and she has betrayed our trust. Because we have been following all the betrayal of Maya, we have been following materiality and all of our desires here, and when life comes to an end, we have to leave all of these things behind. So, Maya betrays us.
Now, we have spent our lifetime doing this, of following the things being offered by Maya and, as a result, at the end even God Almighty who is All-Merciful, even He is unhappy because we have been pursuing the things of Maya. And He also doesn't extend His Grace to us at that time and we go back into this cycle of life and death again. And then, at that time, the soul again falls back into the darkness of this cycle of life and death, and this cycle of sorrow. And she does not get the Grace of God to get salvation from this.
Tein bauri bauraapan keenhon,
Bhar joban piya apan na cheenhon.
Jaag dekh piya sej na tere,
Tahi chhaadi uthi gaye savere.
So, Kabir Sahib addresses the soul and tells the soul, "See. Wake up. You have been sleeping on your bed. Your Husband came and you continued to be asleep on your bed and He has left you. So, you have been asleep. You have not waited upon Him. You have not loved Him. You have not been waiting in your love and affection for Him and, as a result, you have slept out this day and your Husband who had come, He saw you asleep and He has gone back."
Sant Ji used to give an example of how we follow all these worldly things and, as a result, we do not follow God Almighty and we do not get His Grace. So, He used to relate this story quite often.
This was about a king and this king had six queens and he had gone abroad for a tour. And he wrote about ten days before he was to return. He sent a message and wrote to his queens, "Besides telling me and giving me the news about home, you should also let me know if you need something from here, which I can then bring back for you."
So, accordingly, all the six queens then replied to him and they told him about the situation there, etc., and they gave him the news of the palace, and they also made a list of the things that they required. So, that way, five queens gave their request lists, but the sixth queen did not write anything. Instead, on a blank paper, she just wrote “one“ and sent that letter.
So, when he received these letters, he addressed all their request lists and, accordingly, purchased all those things and packed them in their respective bags. And he marked those bags for each of these queens and for whatever they had asked.
When he read the sixth letter, that letter of the sixth queen that was blank with that “one” written on it, he was a little confused on reading that letter. He was also a bit annoyed because he felt, "This lady has not written what she wants and what am I supposed to now buy for her and take for her?”
So, to shed more light on it, he summoned his minister and he asked the minister to interpret that letter. Now, ministers being more intelligent, he saw that letter and said, "Since there is nothing written in this letter, it means that everything is fine back at home, and the “one” that is written, she is addressing it to you. So, she is saying that you should come back to her.”
The king was very happy to hear that, and then when he returned, he brought all those bags of various things that he had got for different queens and, accordingly, when he came to the palace he sent those bags to those respective queens. And then he himself went to meet the sixth queen and he went to her palace and he had kept her letter in his pocket. And it is said that wherever the king is, the entire kingdom comes there. The other queens who had asked for various material things, they got those respective things, but they did not get the pleasure of the king himself. But that queen who had asked for him, she got the king himself. She got to rule the kingdom and she got the kingdom also.
So, it is the same that applies to us. When we ask for only those material things, then it is only those material things that we get, but we lose all the other glory of God Almighty. So, whatever little material things that we get, at the time of death, we have to leave those also.
So, during the lifetime, we have lost the opportunity of doing devotion of that God Almighty. So, that devotion and His Grace is not forthcoming, and those little bits of material things that we have got in this lifetime, even that has to be left behind. And those who have asked the Master for Himself, who have had their love and affection at the Feet of the Master, they get the fulfillment of that devotion. They get the Grace of their Masters and they go back to God Almighty. They go back to His kingdom and they get the pleasure of that entire Creation of that Kingdom.
Jaag dekh piya sej na tere,
Tahi chhaadi uthi gaye savere
Kahae kabir soi dhan jaage,
Shabad baan urr anthar laagae.
So, those who have done the practice of Naam and who have manifested the Sound Current within, they have awakened in this ‘daytime’. And all the others who have not done their devotion, they have continued to sleep through this ‘daytime’. So, only that soul who has done the devotion of God Almighty, she has the pleasure of the company of her Husband, the God Almighty, Who blesses her and who graces her and gives the Glory of His entire Creation to her.
Kya sove ved parath ke maare,
Jaag jaag uth jaagi re.
Kya sove ved parath ke maare,
Jaag jaag uth jaagi re.
So, Kabir Sahib says, "While you are lost in this stupor and while you are lost in this sleep, you should awaken and do your work."
Kya sove ved parath ke maare,
Jaag jaag uth jaag re.
Aur tere koi kaam na aave,
Guru charanan uth laag re.
Then, Kabir Sahib clarifies here and says, "All those things that you have been holding so dearly, all those relationships that you have been holding so closely, and all of those things that are there, which you have been pursuing, all those are with you only as a result of your karmas, your past karmas, and they are not yours. None of these belong to you and you will have to leave all of these at the time of death.
He says, "If there is anyone or if there is anything that is yours, there is only one God Almighty and the other is your Master." All our family and friends that we have are all a function of the past karmas and our past give-and-take that we have with them. And all that is embodied in the form of a family or in friends. And once that karma, or that relationship, comes to an end or is redeemed, then that relationship stops and they will leave you in this life.
All these relationships are only related to this body, which you have here, which you have been given in this life. And when that body has to be left behind, all these relationships also, automatically, have to be left behind. The only true relationship that you have is that of the soul with God Almighty, and your Master has come to connect you and take you back to your God Almighty.
The Master, even in this life form, He is supporting us here, physically and spiritually. And, at the time of the death also, He is there with His Grace, with His Darshan. The soul is protected. And then, He takes the soul in higher planes, and then He is always with the soul, protecting the soul and taking it back to God Almighty. And He does not leave the company of the soul till He has got the soul connected back with God Almighty.
So, therefore, one who does not leave us in this life and at the time of death, and even in the planes above, that is the true company, that is the true relationship that we have.
The Masters keep telling us about this reality, about this truth. But we do not understand this reality and truth until we do Simran, and with continuous Simran, go within.
When we go past the Tenth Door, we see for ourselves this reality. From there, when we go within, with this, we witness all our previous lives, we see all the kinds of lives in which we have taken different forms, how we have suffered in various forms. We also see all the family members that we have and our friends. We understand where they have all come from, what had been their relationship with us in their previous lives. So, all that becomes very crystal clear when we go to that level.
So there, when we see for ourselves, see all of this, we see the reality there, all our doubt about all of what Masters have been saying goes away. We see for ourselves this reality. And then, we take this life and all our relationships here for what they're really worth.
So, till our Third Eye opens, this reality is not known to us and we still live in duality. We live in doubt until such time.
Utham chola bana pola,
Nagad gag par daag re.
Do din ka rain jagat mein,
Jagat moh ke aag re.
Kabir Sahib says, "God Almighty has graced you with this beautiful human life, and He has given you a very clean cloth, this clean cloth of this human life. But, when you have come here under the realm of your mind, you have started doing good and bad deeds and you have started staining that cloth. And this cloth, in the form of your mind, has got soiled because of these deeds that you have done under the realm of the mind. So, you have to redeem these and go back in the cycle of life and death and pay for all of these stains that you have put on it.
Kabir Sahib says, "All these relationships, which you hold so dearly, none of them are going to help you on this. You should, therefore, have your love and affection and surrender in the Will of the Master and surrender at the Feet of the Master. It is only the Master Who is going to help you.
Swami Ji Maharaj addresses all our relationships as sweet thieves, as sweet thugs. Because they very sweetly take away that precious treasure of breaths that has been given to us in this life. So, all the breaths that we have we spend on pleasing them or taking care of them and taking care of all these relationships. So, Swami Ji Maharaj addresses as sweet thugs.
Jan sarai mein jeev musafir,
Karatha bahut baag re.
Rain basera karle tera,
Chal na savera taak re.
Kabir Sahib says, "This life is like a Dharamsala. A Dharamsala is like a dormitory or a guest house where you come and just stay for the night and leave in the morning."
In various pilgrimages in various places, there are these big dormitories where pilgrims come and they stay the night and then they leave in the morning. So, they have just been created to give them that shelter for the night.
So, Kabir Sahib says, "This life is like a Dharamsala.” This life is like that dormitory.
Now, when we stay in the dormitory, there's no point complaining whether the color of that wall is not gold, or whether that toilet is not properly cleaned or it's not set to our liking. Because, finally, in the morning, you are going to leave. You're not possibly going to come back again there.
He says, "This life, or this world, it's like a dormitory where people come with the baggage of their karmas and they come for that night to stay with their bag of karmas. And when they come and stay the night, they meet fellow travelers. They talk to the fellow travelers. They have a good time talking. They may fight with some fellow travelers. They may have some dinner with some, they may eat together, and then they go to sleep. And then each one, in the morning according to the time he has to leave, some may have to leave at four o'clock in the morning, some leave at six o'clock, accordingly, when the time comes, that traveler picks up his baggage of karmas and goes away. And they do not even wake the others, because they feel, "Let them continue sleeping. I will go my way." And Kabir Sahib says, "This world is like that dormitory where all of you have come with your karmas. You meet people here. You develop relationships here. And, at the time of death, you simply pick up your bagged burden of karmas and you walk away without telling the others where you are going."
Eh sansar visay ras maathe,
Dekho samaj vichar re.
Man bavara tazi visay ke manko,
Chal begam ke baag re.
Kabir Sahib gives another example. He refers to this world as a garden of poisonous flowers, where there is no nectar but there is poison in the flowers. And He addresses the mind as a beetle, or as a bee. And he addresses the mind and says, "Don't waste your time gathering this poison from these flowers here, instead you should go to that garden of God Almighty where nectar flows, where there is no pain, there is no sorrow, there is no joy and you stay in bliss in the nectar of those flowers." He says, "Here, when you take the poison of the flowers, as a result of that poison, you have to die in this garden. But go to the garden of God Almighty where there is nectar. There is no life and there is no death. You have bliss.”
Kechuli karam daga chit mein,
Hua manush de daag re.
Baitha naahi samaj sukh saagar,
Bina prem vairag re.
Kabir Sahib gives another example of a snake. The snake sheds its old skin. But before it sheds that old skin, it develops a new skin, which covers the snake completely. And for some time, the snake is even unable to see beyond that skin, because it is fully covered in that new skin. So then, it searches for places to get rid of that old skin and come out of it.
So, Kabir Sahib addresses the soul and says, "You are like that snake within that skin, and you are unable to see and you are going in all of these tight places to get alleviated from this sorrow. You are suffering with that skin, that covering, and you are unable to see. And, in the company of the mind, you are doing all kinds of karmas and continuing to remain in sorrow.
Saahab bhaje so hans kahaave,
Kaami krodhi baag re.
Kahe kabeer suno bhai saadho,
Pragate pooran baag re.
Then He says, "Those who have done their devotion and who have done their meditation, they are like the swans." So, all those Masters are swans. And all those people who come in connection and who do their Simran, the effect of the Simran is that it takes care of all of your vices. So, whatever be your vice, it will be taken care of by your Simran when you do it. And all of you will get transformed into swans.
The Simran and Naam have so much power that all the biggest of karmas that you have and the worst of karmas that you have, all of those are burned and destroyed and they are cut off by the Naam, by Simran.
Saahab bhaje so hans kahaave,
Kaami krodhi baag re.
Kahe kabeer suno bhai saadho,
Pragate pooran baag re.
Kabir Sahib, at the end, says, "Only those who have manifested the Naam within are the lucky ones and they have the Grace of God Almighty.” So, only those who have manifested the Naam within, they are the lucky ones. They have good fortune.
Ordinarily, when someone wins a lottery or earns a lot of money, we say he's lucky or he’s got good fortune. But, that is not good fortune because all the material things have to be left here at the time of death.
So, only those who have manifested the Naam within, they are the fortunate ones because they have got out, they have got salvation, they have got out of this cycle of life and death.
Saahab bhaje so hans kahaave,
Kaami krodhi baag re.
Kahe kabeer suno bhai saadho,
Pragate pooran baag re.