The paathi sings the Bani of Paltu Sahib Ji from the book: Paltu Sahib Ki Bani, Part 2, pg 53
Hamatha mamatha ko dhoor karein
Yaheen tho mool janjaal hai jee.
Hamatha mamatha ko dhoor karein
Yaheen tho mool janjaal hai jee.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Paltu Sahib. As I have informed earlier, Paltu Sahib was a very evolved Saint in northern India, and He hailed from Ayodhya. His life was quite similar to the life of Sant Ajaib Singh Ji. He also spent about fifteen years in the practice of pranayama and other spiritual practices, and later, he met a Saint Who taught him the Path of the SuratShabd, and he practiced that. And He was a very fearless Saint.
So, He points out in this Bani that there is one very core issue, which brings us, again and again, into this world, and that is ego. It is that ego, which keeps bringing us back to this world. It is this ‘me’ and ‘mine’, which always keeps bringing us back. And we go to the Saints so that we can sacrifice, we can shed off this ego, and we can shed off this ‘me’ and ‘mine’ business.
As we follow the Teachings of the Master and we do our Simran and Dhyan, gradually, our attention gets focused within, and we come out of our focus on worldly matters. And our ego, as a result, also is reduced. And, when we tread on this Path with humility, then we get the Grace of the Masters.
So, Paltu Sahib says, “It is this ego, which keeps bringing us back into this world, again and again. And, only by sacrificing and leaving this, we can get peace.”
If we very candidly look at our life, we will see that, when we were born, we had nothing with us and, after we die, we are not going to take anything with us. We came empty-handed, and we will be leaving empty-handed. For these four days of life that we live here, we get so many things, and all these things and attachments that we have here are belonging to Kal and Maya. So, when we come here, we get those things, and when we leave, we have to leave these things behind. But, because of our ignorance, we start believing that these things are ours. And, day and night, we are thinking about these things and all these attachments. And, when life comes to an end, what happens is, we feel sad.
Chaah achah ko chodi devai,
Yahi sahaj subhaav ki chaal hai jee.
Chaah achah ko chodi devai,
Yahi sahaj subhaav ki chaal hai jee.
When we come to this life, our Pralabdh has already been cast out for us, our karmas have already been cast for us, and we get according to our Pralabdhkarmas. So, these Pralabdhkarmas, these fate deeds, have already been written on our foreheads before we were born, and we will be getting exactly as per these fate deeds, or these Pralabdh karmas. But, we should not keep getting attached to these.
So, what should be the state of mind of a devotee? He should not be too wishful about these things, and he should not be too sorrowful about these things also. He should live in surrender to the Master and accept the things as they come to him.
Mahatmas say, “Whatever comes your way, be happy in it. Live your daily lives. Go about your daily lives as you would but, in the morning, spend two and a half hours in meditation, and do that regularly.”
If we go about our duties, and we spend these two hours, two and a half hours in the morning remembering Him, then the Grace of the Master is always on the head of the devotee, and he will always be graced and get the help of the Master.
Those people who are completely lost in their worldly duties and they've completely forgotten about this practice, and they keep asking for help from the Masters, how will they get this help?
Mor au thor bikaar chutein,
Sab se milai har haal hai jee.
Mor au thor bikaar chutein,
Sab se milai har haal hai jee.
These feelings of ‘me’, ‘mine’ and ‘someone else's’, all these feelings as one does meditation and Dhyan, these feelings wane away. And he gets less attached to all of these, to ego. So, one starts dropping away all of this, and starts loving one and all, as if they are all equal and the same. So, he gets transformed with this meditation and Simran.
The soul is a manifestation of Love. God Almighty is also Love. And the Path for meeting the God Almighty is also Love. So, when that Love manifests within, then we start becoming successful on the Path.
Paltu Sahib says, “In this world, there is nothing like ‘mine’ and ‘yours’. Everyone is the son of God and everyone is equal.” So, whatever you have got is as per these fate deeds. And ‘mine’ and ‘yours’, which you do in this life, it is only as a result of the fate deeds and the karmas that have been given to you. In your next life then, you are either in the same family, or you may be in a different family, or you may have different associations with people.
So, this whole world is only about give-and-take. It is to come here and redeem our fate deeds, to give what comes our way as per our fate, and to give as per that. And, once this part of giving and taking is over, you leave this body and take the next.
So, that way, after the children, the grandchildren, and the great-grandchildren, the bondage continues. And, in between these, the soul leaves that body.
So, the Love that one gets when he sees the Master within is the Love the Saints talk about. That is the Love that is required for a devotee to grow on the Path. And that Love keeps increasing as one goes within, and it never decreases.
Paltu jin baasanaa beej boona,
Vohee sahib ka laal hai jee.
Paltu jin baasanaa beej boona,
Vohee sahib ka laal hai jee.
Paltu Sahib says, “The devotee who sacrifices all his desires and wishes for outwardly things and only focuses his love and attention to the Master, he is the true disciple. He is the true devotee.”
If you see even the life of Sant Ajaib Singh Ji, and you go to the meditation room, you take the Darshan of that room, then what do you see inside? You’ll see a wooden platform. And you see an earthen vessel for water. So that is all, there was no other luxury that He was enjoying. And it is this, when He slept on this wooden platform also, He didn’t feel sleepy because, then, that wood was hard.
All of this is for focusing your attention and for the love of the Master. So, all this, why was it done? It was all done for the love of Master. And when one sacrifices, and sacrifices other desires and wants, only for the love of the Master, then why will the Master stay away? Even He comes and showers His Grace.
Paltu jin baasanaa beej boona,
Vohee sahib ka laal hai jee.
Meri meri tu kya karei
Meri maahai akaaj hai jee;
Meri meri tu kya karei
Meri maahai akaaj hai jee.
Paltu Sahib says, “Why are you doing ‘this is mine’, ‘this is mine’? You lose as a result of this behavior of yours.”
So, therefore, you should be discerning, like I said earlier, if you candidly look at yourself, then what have you come with? You have not come with anything. And what are you going to go with? You're not going to go with anything. So, a person is born empty-handed, and he leaves empty-handed. When one sacrifices all these desires outside and focuses on the love and affection of the Master, then one starts becoming successful.
Sahib sab kaam sambaar levai
Meri se avai baaj hai jee.
Sahib sab kaam sambaar levai
Meri se avai baaj hai jee.
Paltu Sahib says, “When one sacrifices all his desires and gets in the love and affection of the Master, then the Master looks after and takes care of his desires.”
Kirpal Singh Ji had also told Ajaib Singh Ji that there is no need for him to come to Delhi to visit His ashram. And He said, “I will keep frequenting your place.” And Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj used to go once in six months, or thereabouts, to Ajaib Singh Ji’s place, which was more than six hundred kilometers away.
In those days, it was very barren, and there were hardly any roads also. And Sant Kirpal Singh Ji used to take all the trouble of going through this place to meet Sant Ji.
So, therefore, when a devotee leaves his desires and truly loves his Master, then the Master also truly starts loving His disciple. Then, on a worldly note also, the Master helps His disciple.
Jiskaa tu daas kahaavathaa hai,
Tisko is baath ki laaz hai jee;
Jiskaa tu daas kahaavathaa hai,
Tisko is baath ki laaz hai jee.
Paltu Sahib says, “Once, as a devotee, you have now come and surrendered to the Master, then the Master also cares for you. He is also mindful of your needs.”
So, the essence of Sant Mat is to truly love and have affection for your Master. And when you really have that love and affection for your Master, He takes care of your needs also.
Otherwise, if you just focus on your duties, and you are not focusing on the Master then, sometimes, you do not get that success the way you have desired it.
So, whatever little meditation we do, or Simran we do, that definitely goes to the account of that disciple. But, the thought behind that meditation, and the thought behind that Simran and that affection or love, is also very important. So, all those disciples, who have truly loved their Master, have definitely got in return the Grace of the Master.
Paltu tu meri chod devai,
Teen lok teraa raaz hai jee.
Paltu tu meri chod devai,
Teen lok teraa raaz hai jee.
Paltu Sahib says, “If you sacrifice your ego, then you will rule the three worlds, and you will have the Grace of the Master.”
So, if we truly believe that everything that is given to us is with the Grace of the Master, and we say that nothing is ‘mine’, and everything is what the Master wishes and what the Master has given, then we get the Grace of the Master also.
In Punjab, there was Guru Arjan Dev, and His disciple, Bhai Manj, was there. Bhai Manj was a very rich agriculturalist and he had a lot of land, which he used to farm. When Bhai Manj heard the Satsang, he had a transformation, and he felt like going to his Guru and taking initiation. So, he went to Guru Arjan Dev Ji and he asked and requested for initiation.
Earlier, in those days, initiation was not as easy as it is today. Masters would take a test of the disciple before giving that initiation.
Guru Arjan Dev Ji noticed that there was a piece of land within this farm of Bhai Manj, where there was this shrine of Sheikh Sarwar. And the whole village used to go there and make their offerings at the shrine of the Sheikh Sarwar.
So, Guru Arjan Dev Ji told Bhai Manj, “Go back and clear that shrine from your farm, level that land, and then come for initiation.”
So, Bhai Manj called his farmhands, and some five, ten people in the night broke down that shrine and leveled the land, and then he went back to Guru Arjan Dev Ji and asked for initiation.
Then, Guru Arjan Dev Ji saw within that, yes, he has leveled that land and broken down that shrine. And then, He initiated Bhai Manj.
So, after he was initiated, Guru Arjan Dev Ji started testing Bhai Manj. And, one by one, there were several misfortunes that he suffered. Sometime some cow or some cattle would die, sometime some horse would die, sometime some family member would die and some losses would come.
So, seeing this, all the villagers would keep taunting him, “It is because of that shrine that you have broken that this misfortune has come upon you. And you should now re-create that shrine, and then, you will be saved of this misfortune.” But, Bhai Manj then refused to rebuild that shrine, and he continued.
Now, gradually, all the fellow workers also stopped coming to work, because they also feared this. And, since there were no farmhands, there was nothing to cultivate. So, he had to then make his living by selling parts of his land and making a livelihood from there. So, he started selling his land parcels, sometimes to meet the expenses of some marriage in the family, sometimes to meet funeral expenses in the family. That way, he gradually started selling all the land. And, in about one and a half to two years, he ended up with no land available to him.
So, all the family members also, gradually, were either married away, or they all moved out. He was finally left with himself, his wife, and his twelve-year-old daughter. Then, he felt that, since he was not getting any income, he felt he would go to someplace where there is water and land, where he could work as a farmhand and earn his living. So, they tied two parcels, one was of clothes, and one was of utensils, and they left their house. One parcel was carried by his wife and one by himself, and they moved away.
He moved to a place where there were canals, and there was some water in some other people's land, and there he built a small hut and he was working as a farm laborer.
So, Arjan Dev Ji once then contemplated, and He sent a letter through a sevadar to Bhai Manj and He said, “Hand this letter over only after you are paid twenty rupees.”
So, this sevadar met Bhai Manj and he brought this letter and Bhai Manj was very pleased to hear about this. And, when he asked for that letter to be given to him, he said, “No, you have to give twenty rupees, and then I will hand you this letter.”
Then, he went into his house and asked his wife, “What can be done to give this twenty rupees?”
So, she took out some jewelry, which she had saved, and this was about half a kilogram of silverware and gold jewelry. He took this jewelry and went to a jeweler’s shop and, in exchange, he got exactly twenty rupees. He came back, and then, he offered that twenty rupees for that letter.
When he took this letter, that sevadar left with his twenty rupees, and then Bhai Manj was very happy. He opened this letter and he read this letter. It read, “How are you? I hope this finds you in good health. I am also fine here. And good wishes to you.”
So, Bhai Manj was very pleased to read that letter. He was very happy that his Master had remembered him. Sometimes he touched that letter to his chest, sometimes to his head, sometimes to his eyes, and he was very happy.
So, six months passed by. Once again, Arjan Dev Ji wrote another letter and sent a sevadar to Bhai Manj and, again, said that he should collect twenty rupees for that letter.
Again, when he came and offered that letter, when Bhai Manj asked for that letter to be opened, he said, “You have to pay me twenty rupees for this letter.”
So, Bhai Manj once again went and talked to his wife on what could be done to get that twenty rupees. Now, they had already sold off their jewelry, and they didn't have anything else to take to the pawnshop, or collect any further money, so they thought between themselves. Then, Bhai Manj remembered that there was a wealthy farmer in a nearby village, who had once asked for one of his daughter’s hand for marriage for his son and, at that time, Bhai Manj had refused to give his daughter in marriage to that family. So, he said, “Maybe that daughter I didn't give, but I have this daughter, so I can maybe go there again and request for her hand to be offered in marriage and, in view of that, he can give me twenty rupees.”
So, when he went to that farmer, that farmer was a wise man, and he felt, “Bhai Manj is very poor and he is wandering around, so his daughter is also suffering these hardships along with him. Why not do what he is suggesting? And, that way, his daughter will also be happy in our family.” And he accepted the offer of Bhai Manj, and he married that daughter to his son and offered twenty rupees to Bhai Manj.
So, when Bhai Manj opened this letter it was written, “In whatever state you are right now, come to the ashram.”
He immediately told his wife, and then, they felt they had only very frugal belongings of clothes and utensils. So, they packed that and went to the ashram.
This is a story of around six hundred years back. And, in those days, there weren't many travel modes. So, Bhai Manj, when he and his wife went to the ashram, they walked for about a day and a half, and then they reached the ashram. And when they reached the ashram, they were standing in the queue for taking Darshan of Guru Arjan Dev Ji. And when Bhai Manj bowed there to the Guru to take His Blessings, Guru Arjan Dev Ji ignored him and He looked the other way. He pretended that He didn't take notice of this.
Guru Arjan Dev Ji was talking to somebody and He didn't notice Bhai Manj. So, Bhai Manj bowed and took the Blessings, and walked away. And, that way, Bhai Manj and his wife were doing seva at the ashram, and about a week, week and a half passed that way.
So, next when his wife was standing in the queue for taking Darshan, Guru Arjan Dev Ji asked the sevadar, who was standing a little ahead in the queue, and He asked him, whether Bhai Manj has come to the ashram. He inquired with him. So, his wife was actually listening, and so when Guru Arjan Dev Ji asked the sevadar whether Bhai Manj has come, he said, “Yes, he has come. And he is doing seva.”
So, Arjan Dev Ji said, “So, he eats here and he does seva. So, what is he?” (He said, basically, he is doing seva and he is eating in the ashram, and he is not really saving much.)
So, his wife was listening to all of this, so then, she went and met Bhai Manj and she told him about this incident.
Bhai Manj then told his wife, “Yes, Gurudev is saying the right thing. He is saying we are eating here and we are doing seva, so there is nothing that we are adding to the ashram. So, what we'll do is, we'll stop eating here.” And he said, “We will not have the food here.” He advised his wife, “You clean the utensils in the langar, you clean at both the times, but don't have food in the langar. And, what I will do is, I will go early morning and I will cut wood, and I will collect that wood, making two parcels. So, one parcel I will give as seva in the ashram, and the other parcel I will sell in the market, and with whatever money I get from that, I will buy some food, like puri bhaji, and that I will bring for you and me, and we'll eat that. So, that way, you will be able to do your seva free of anything that you take from the ashram, and I will bring this wood, and I will also be doing seva free, without eating anything from the ashram.”
So, this way, about six months elapsed and every day he would bring one parcel of wood cut from the forest and give it as seva in the ashram. And the other, he would take to the market, sell it, and buy food with that. And, with that, he and his wife would eat.
So once, while he was doing this, there was a storm. There was a lot of dust and a lot of wind. And, while he was carrying these wood parcels on his head, there was a very strong wind, which was pushing him back. And, as a result, he fell in a well, which was there in that forest. And there was about four feet of water, but he fell in that and he was holding those wood parcels.
So, it was nine o'clock when this happened, and Guru Arjan Dev Ji was giving His Satsang at that time. And, as soon as this incident happened, Guru Arjan Dev Ji stopped that Satsang and, immediately, ran towards the forest. While He was running to the forest, His sevadars also started following Guru Arjan Dev Ji. So, He advised one of them to bring a ladder and a rope also with him.
So, this well was about two kilometers away. When Guru Arjan Dev Ji was running there, He stopped about a furlong before the well, and then, He instructed His sevadars, “Go down further, one furlong into that forest, and there is a well there. And, in that well, Bhai Manj has fallen. Get him out of that well.”
Guru Arjan Dev Ji had purposely stood at a little distance, to see how these people talk, and when these people were there, away from the Guru, when they threw this rope, Bhai Manj said, “You take this wood up.”
They said, “What are you talking?”
He said, “No, this wood belongs to my Guru. I have to give that.”
They said, “What ‘Guru’, ‘Guru’ are you doing? Because of your ‘Guru’, ‘Guru’ you have lost all your wealth, you’ve lost your farm, you’ve lost your family, and you are in this hole, in this well, because of that.”
So, Bhai Manj said, “No, no, don't talk like this about my Guru.”
Then, they said, “Okay we'll ease the ladder inside the well.”
So, he climbed up a little with that wood. And then, he tied a rope and they pulled up the wood first, and then Bhai Manj climbed out. And that's when Guru Arjan Dev Ji also ran towards that well.
But, Bhai Manj said, “No, no, no, I don't want these three planes. If I have got You, then I don't need any other thing. What am I going to do with all of that?”
So, Guru Arjan Dev Ji said, “No, I'm very happy with your seva. So, you ask for something.”
Bhai Manj then said, “There are going to be very difficult days in Kali Yuga as we go forward. So, my request is that these kinds of things and these kinds of tests not be done on disciples.”
So, he took all this pain, and he underwent all this difficulty, and that benefit now goes to all the disciples. Any one Saint, when He passes any rule like this, then all the Saints follow that, and all respect that. And that is why this now is the prevalent practice. So, in earlier days, when a disciple would get fully ready to imbibe the Grace of the Master, only after that, he was initiated.
So, after Swami Ji Maharaj, now the doors have opened. And, now, initiation is easier. A soul is initiated, and even if he is not up to it, They know that, if not in this life, then the next life, he will come. Because the seed of Naam is indestructible, and once the disciple is initiated, once the soul is connected with the Shabd within, then that soul has to reach Sach Khand.
Paltu tu meri chod devai,
Teen lok teraa raaz hai jee.
Paltu Sahib says, “If you leave this ‘me’ and ‘mine’, then you will be able to rule the three worlds, and you get the Grace of the Master very easily.”
Paltu tu meri chod devai,
Teen lok teraa raaz hai jee.
Paltu tu meri chod devai,
Teen lok teraa raaz hai jee.
Radhaswami.”