The paathi sings the Bani of Paltu Sahib from the book: Santon Ki Bani, Vol 1, pg 341
Dil ka hujra saaf kar jaana ke aane ke liye,
Dil ka hujra saaf kar jaana ke aane ke liye,
Dhyaan gairon ka utha uske bithaane ke liye.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Tulsi Sahib. Tulsi Sahib was born in a Peshwa family in Pune. Tulsi Sahib, since early days, was a recluse in his mind. His father often wanted him to take over the reins of the kingdom. So, Tulsi Sahib, by his behavior, was a recluse. Now, the king wanted him, his father wanted him, to take over the reins, and he got him married early at the age of sixteen. Even after his marriage, Tulsi Sahib continued to remain bent in his mind towards the spiritual aspects, and he did not count much on the side of wanting to rule and all the family side. At the age of nineteen, he left his home and he moved around in northern India. He settled down at a place called Hathras, near Aligarh, in Aligarh Jila in U.P. ”
So, He settled down and He made His ashram there and, even today, there are disciples of Tulsi Sahib. He had settled in a village called Jogiawala village there also. He was a recluse all along, and His soul was focused inwards. His attention was completely focused inwards and, throughout the year, He was clothed in a shawl that He would drape over, and He was dressed like that all through the year. So, He was a recluse and this is His Bani.
One of His disciples was Sheikh Taqi. Sheikh Taqi had gone all over, wandering, and while on his pilgrimages, he had gone to Mecca-Medina and he had not got peace of mind. So, he came to Tulsi Sahib. And he asked Tulsi Sahib, “How I will get peace of mind?”
So, Tulsi Sahib told Sheikh Taqi, “God Almighty is not outside. He is within this temple of your body and, for that, you need to cleanse your body.” Tulsi Sahib told Sheikh Taqi, “You have to cleanse your mind. There are desires within you. There are wishes within you. You have to cleanse all of these. There, your family is within. You have filled up your within by all of these outwardly things, that is, your family, thoughts, desires, needs, and so forth. And that needs to be cleaned out. So, when you cleanse your mind of all of this, then God Almighty is within you. He will come and reside within you.”
So, the process of doing this cleansing is by Simran and Dhyan. This is how Saints teach us. That cleansing of the mind is by doing your Simran and Dhyan Bhajan. That's how you will cleanse your mind.
As we do the Simran of the Five Names given to us by our Masters, gradually, our mind gets purer. And, as we also do the contemplation of the Form of the Master within us, our thoughts and our attention get focused within. As our attention gets focused within and, as our outside thoughts are reduced, and our focus and attention within improves, we start getting to see the Radiant Form of the Master, and we start getting peace of mind.
Once the mind becomes pure, then God Almighty has kept the Sound within us, and He has kept Light within us. We get to see the Radiant Light and we get to hear the Sound, the Shabd.
As long as the mind is impure, we are unable to see that Light within. We are unable to clearly hear the Sound within.
So, by Simran, which is given to us, we gradually cleanse the mind, and that's how we start getting to see the Light and hear the Sound within. When we close our eyes and listen within now, there are six planes within the body, below the eyes. So, the sound that comes from these chakras, or these planes, which are called Das Vidhi Nad, those are the sounds that we hear. Now, when the mind stills a little, we get to hear these sounds. When the mind becomes wavering and outwardly focused, then we stop listening to these sounds.
So, the importance of cleansing the mind is there. We have to cleanse the mind, and that is done by repeating the Names, by doing Simran, and by contemplating the Form of the Master within at the Eye Center.
Chasham dil se dekh yahaan jo jo tamaashe ho rahe,
Chasham dil se dekh yahaan jo jo tamaashe ho rahe,
Dilsitaan kya kya hain tere dil sataane ke liye.
Tulsi Sahib refers to the Eye of Knowledge within, the Third Eye. When we do our Simran and we focus our attention within, gradually, the attention of the soul gets focused at the back of the Eye Center. And we gradually open the Third Eye, or the Eye of Knowledge, as Tulsi Sahib says, and we start seeing from the knowledge of this Eye. And then, we see everything within.
With this Eye, we will see more than thirty-three crore gods and goddesses within. We will see Brahma. We will see Vishnu and Mahesh. And we will see the planes within us. Once we go to the Eye Center, we see the sky within us, which is like the sky outside.
This is called Chidakash. So, we get into this plane, and once we cross the sun, the moon, and the stars, then we come to the Radiant Form of the Master within. Once we get the glimpse of the Radiant Form of the Master within, that Form of the Master never leaves us.
So, thereafter, whenever we close our eyes, within a few seconds, we are able to see the Radiant Form of the Master within. Once the Radiant Form of the Master manifests within then, whether we are in the United States, or we are in a jungle, or we are traveling anywhere, at all times, the Radiant Form of the Master is always with us. Then, the Radiant Form of the Master takes us further up, and He gets us to see the Jyoti, and then the Sound. The Sound Current starts manifesting and we start hearing the Sound Current, or the Shabd, within.
So, the first process is the cleansing of the mind. When we do our Simran, we cleanse the mind, we become purer. And the journey of the soul — or the attention of the soul getting inwardly focused — starts. And then, once this attention starts getting focused within, and the mind starts becoming purer because of the Simran and the contemplation of the Master, the focus comes at the back of the Eye Center. When we come to the Eye Center, the Third Eye opens, which is the Eye of Knowledge. Once that Eye opens, we first get to see ourselves, that is, the soul, which we are. Then, we rise above to the Chidakash, or the sky within, and within that sky then, we go further up, across the sun, moon, and stars, and then, see the Radiant Form of the Master.
So, Tulsi Sahib tells Sheikh Taqi, “If you want to see, go and see by the Eye of Knowledge, and there you will see how Maya and Kal have created this complete illusion for you.”
Because, once we go within, we get to see how Kal and Maya have done this creation, and how the souls are suffering within this illusion. And when we see all this, our love and attention, automatically, get away from all of these outside, worldly matters and starts getting focused at the Feet of the Radiant Form of the Master within. And then, we start developing the Real Love, the True Love, which all the Saints have talked about. And that love always keeps increasing, day-by-day. It never diminishes.
But, the love that we have today for the Master, this keeps going up sometimes and going down sometimes. So, Kabir Sahib also refers to this difference in love, and He says, “The love that we have, which comes a moment and goes a moment, it is not this Love. The Love that I'm talking about is the Love that stays throughout and at all times.”
So, Tulsi Sahib says, “If you want to see, go within. Do your Bhajan Simran, go within and see how Kal and Maya have created this whole illusion.”
Ek dil laakhon tamanna uspai aur zyaada havis,
Ek dil laakhon tamanna uspai aur zyaada havis,
Phir thikaana hai kahaan uske tikaane ke liye.
Tulsi Sahib says, “Today, in your mind, in your temple, which has been given by God, which is in this temple within, you have currently filled it with all desires, various wishes, and worries of your families, temptations, and everything possible outwardly, and there is no space. There is no place for you to keep and make space for God Almighty to sit within.”
If we see that when we call even a local politician or a minister toward the village, the village undergoes a transformation. People clean the village, and they put up a tent for getting the politician to sit and talk. And everything is cleaned around. When we are doing this, when a village is being cleaned like this for a local politician or a minister, just imagine that when we have the biggest Minister, that is God Almighty, and when we have to ask Him to come and reside in the temple, which is our body and our mind, then we need to cleanse that mind. We need to cleanse that body.
So Tulsi Sahib says, “We have put all sorts of filth within, and there is no space for getting the Almighty to come and reside within. So, clean that mind and allow Him, make a place for Him, to come and sit.” Therefore, we have to cleanse the mind for getting the God Almighty; and that we should do by doing Simran and Dhyan Bhajan. And once we cleanse the mind, then the God Almighty comes in the Form of the Master within.
Nakli mandir masjidon mein jaaye sad afsos hai,
Nakli mandir masjidon mein jaaye sad afsos hai,
Kudrati masjid ka saakin dukh uthaane ke liye.
Tulsi Sahib points out, “We pay so much attention to clean these temples, or the masjids, or other places of worship. And we spend so much time cleaning those. But, we are not spending any time to clean this six-foot temple that God has Himself created.”
Because this outward temple, and places of worship that we have created, these are of the bricks and mortar that we have only prepared and made. And the deities that we keep within those places of worship are also our own creations.
But we are not spending time on that temple, which God has created over a nine-month period. That is this body. And then, within that body, He has resided with His full Kingdom and all His wealth. So, we do not search for God where He is actually residing. We go outwardly and start searching for God in a place that we have ourselves created.
Tulsi Sahib tells Sheikh Taqi, “It is very disappointing to see that we are not searching for God within, where He is actually residing. We are going and searching outside, in various temples, mosques and other places of worship. And, more unfortunate, is that we are even killing those temples where God is residing.” So, He says, “Nobody has ever found God Almighty outside. It is only within that you will find God Almighty.”
There was Namdev, and He was to become a Saint. Earlier he, out of his determination, had manifested Lord Vishnu within. So, he had manifested Vithal, which is one form of Vishnu. And Vithal used to give him darshan thrice a day, every day. So, as a result of this, Namdev’s real love and devotion kept increasing, and Vithal felt, “He’s, no doubt, meeting me thrice a day, but it is important for me to give correct direction to his love and affection.” Vithal felt that Namdev only feels that God is in the temple, that Vithal is in the temple, and he doesn't realize that God is omnipotent. He is everywhere.
So once, it so happened, that Namdev went and sat in the Satsang of Gora Kumbhar. Gora Kumbhar was a potter, and He was a great Saint. So, Gora Kumbhar realized that Namdev has come and he is attending the Satsang. And He felt, “It is time for me to awaken Namdev.”
So, Gora Kumbhar was a potter and, typically, the test of a pot is that you put your hand inside, and there is a small wooden piece that is there for checking whether the pot is ready or not. And that is lightly tapped on the pot. So, if the pot is not fully ready, then it breaks. Otherwise, it makes a particular sound to know that it has been properly made.
So, after the Satsang, Gora Kumbhar took this stick, took this wooden piece, and he started lightly tapping everyone's head, to see and check whether they are ready or not! And all those initiates who were there, He tapped on them and said, “Yes, he is ready!” Now, when it came to Namdev, He tapped a little hard on his head, and He said, "Oh, he is not ready!"
So, Namdev felt very insulted. And he felt, “I am a person who sees Vithal thrice a day, and this potter, God knows what, he is saying that I am not ready.” And he walked off from that Satsang, and he went away cursing Gora Kumbhar. He felt, “Now I will go, and I will speak to Vithal, and I will make sure that he causes some harm to this person who says I'm not ready.”
So, he went to this temple and started praying. Usually, Vithal would come immediately when Namdev would start meditating or contemplating his form. But several minutes transpired, and still, Vithal didn't manifest. So, Vithal, who used to come within a few minutes only, had not come, and it was more than half an hour that he was trying to contemplate and see the glimpse of Vithal.
Now, Namdev felt very sad that he had been firstly insulted by Gora Kumbhar, and Vithal also was not manifesting within. So, he felt, “Enough is enough. I will now bang my head on the wall until he shows himself, or I will kill myself.”
So, when he started to do that, Vithal came. He caught his head and stopped him from doing that. And he said, “Nama, why are you troubling me?”
Namdev told him, “Look, you used to come and manifest within three minutes. But, now, it has been more than thirty minutes, and you have not shown yourself. What is this?”
So, Vithal told him, “Nama, you only feel that God is in the temple, but God is omnipotent. He is everywhere and in the Saints. God resides within the Saints. And you have walked all the way, insulting that temple, and insulting that Saint, and coming here. How do you expect me to show myself to you?” So, Vithal told him, “You are still in delusion and you need to go to a True Master to get rid of this delusion.”
So, Namdev asked him, “Okay, where will I get such a Master?”
Vithal then directed him to go to a temple. This was a temple of Shiva in the forest and he gave him directions to go there. He said, “There is an old man there. He is your Guru. So, you go and meet him.”
Vishoba Kechar was in this temple, and Vishoba Kechar saw within that Namdev was coming towards Him to seek initiation. So, what He did was, He kept His feet on the deity. This is Shivling. So, Shivling, it’s a ling on which He kept His feet, and He kept His head towards the entrance of the temple and pretended to be asleep.
So, when Namdev came inside the temple, he was shocked to see this. That this old man was sleeping with his feet on the deity. And he didn't have enough manners to see and sleep properly. He was putting his feet on the deity and sleeping. Vithal also had searched and found such a person that he had to come and meet for initiation, so he felt that he couldn't stand this sight. But then, he felt that he should not just walk away. He should, at least, get the old man awake and tell him how he is disrespecting this deity. So, he shook that old man, and he said, “Get up old man. You don’t even know how to sleep.”
Vishoba Kechar kept lying down, and He said, “Look, I have walked a lot of distance today. I am very tired. So, if you are feeling that there is disrespect like this, then why don't you help me lift my feet and put them somewhere else? Because I'm too tired to move.”
So, Namdev picked up His legs and he moved them away. He set them in the southern direction. And where he set His feet down, the deity manifested there itself. And as he set His feet down, again, the feet were on the deity. Again, he picked up the feet and he put them in an eastern direction. When he was setting the feet down, that deity appeared again there. Then Namdev realized that this is not an ordinary person. So, finally, he lifted those feet and kept them on his own head.
Then, Vishoba Kechar felt, “Okay, he has realized his mistake now.” And then, He gave him a Satsang, and He explained to him, “God is not only in temples. God is everywhere.” And then, He gave him Satsang for seven or eight days and He gave him initiation. And, thereafter, Namdev started, once again, going to the Satsangs of Gora Kumbhar.
Once he started going to the Satsangs of Gora Kumbhar, he started understanding those Satsangs. It is only after initiation when we understand some of the nuances of the Satsangs and some of the points that are mentioned there.
So, for fifteen, twenty days, he didn't go to the temple to meet and contemplate on Vithal.
And then, Vithal wondered, “Nama has not come for a long time.” So, Vithal visualized within and saw that Namdev was going and attending Gora Kumbhar’s Satsangs every day. And he was the first person to go and sit in the Satsang and the last person to leave that Satsang. And he was attending this every day. So what Vithal did was, he took the form of an old person and he went there. He took the form of this old man and when Namdev was leaving after the Satsang, Vithal caught his hand and he took him aside. And he told Namdev, “Namdev, you have completely forgotten me.”
So, Namdev realized, “Oh, this is Vithal.” And he bowed to Vithal, and he said, “Yes, now I have realized the Truth.” So, thereafter, Vithal embraced him, he hugged him, and he said, “Okay, now you go wherever you feel free.”
So, thereafter, Namdev went to north India and He settled in a place called Ghuman. He has His shrine, which is made there in Ghuman. That is the birthplace of Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj also. His tomb is there. So, how He became such a great person is by going in the company of a True Master.
So, gods and goddesses are good. And they are helpful. And when they see that there is a strong urge in the soul, then they also help and direct the soul to go and find a True Master.
So, Tulsi Sahib says, “We go and pray. We go in search of these man-made temples and places of worship, and we give trouble to the temple, which God himself has created.”
Kudrati qaabe ki tu mahraab mein sun gaur se,
Kudrati qaabe ki tu mahraab mein sun gaur se,
Aaa rahi dhur se sada tere bulaane ke liye.
Tulsi Sahib tells Sheikh Taqi, “Go within the temple of the body and, when we do Simran and we do this contemplation of the Master within, we focus our attention at the back of the Eye Center and we get inside our temple. And there, God has created the Light and He has created Sound. And there, we can hear the Sound, we can hear Shabd, and we can see Light, which then helps to go towards God Almighty.” So, Tulsi Sahib says to Sheikh Taqi, “Go within. Go to this temple within and hear the Sound and see this Light.”
Kyon bhatakta phir raha tu ai talaashe yaar mein,
Kyon bhatakta phir raha tu ai talaashe yaar mein,
Raasta shah rag mein hai dilvar pai jaane ke liye.
Tulsi Sahib is telling Sheikh Taqi, “Why are you wandering all over the place to search for your Friend, your God? God is within you. He is within the Shah Rag.”
Shah Rag is a vein. It is called Sushumna in the Hindu religion, and the Urdus call it Shah Rag. So, He says, “For God Almighty, you enter the Shah Rag, or you enter the Sushumna, and you will see God Almighty.”
There are three power flows within the body. These are not physical, but they are power flows within the body. There is Ida and there is Pingala and there is Sushumna.
So, from the base of the spine, there you get Ida and Pingala, which go up. And Sushumna starts at the back of the Eye Center. That is as fine as a sesame seed, one-tenth of that sesame seed.
So, yogis use the Ida-Pingala. These are power flows, which go through the spine, right from the base of the spine to the top of the spine and behind. And so, yogis use these to rise within the body and then go to the Sushumna, which starts at the back of the Eye Center.
Tulsi Sahib says, “The Path to God Almighty starts from Sushumna.” You can, straightaway, start from the Sushumna, which is at the back of the Eye Center. So, he says, “Go to a True Master, and a True Master will show you the right Path. And then, practice what He teaches you, and then He will show you the Path within.”
Murshide kaamil se mil sidak aur saboori se taqi,
Murshide kaamil se mil sidak aur saboori se taqi,
Jo tujhe dega faham shaah rag ke paane ke liye.
Tulsi Sahib says, “How will you go to the Shah Rag? For going to the Shah Rag, or the Sushumna, you should go to a True Master. And when you go to a True Master, you go with humility. You go with contentment. And you go with truth.”
So, once you go to the True Master, He will show you the Path of how you will then enter the Shah Rag, or the Sushumna, and go within.
Goshe baatin hon kushaada jo kare kuchh din amal,
Goshe baatin hon kushaada jo kare kuchh din amal,
La ilaah allahu akbar pai jaane ke liye.
Tulsi Sahib is telling Sheikh Taqi, “When you meet your True Master, and He shows you the Path, then you follow it with devotion and full faith. And, when you do it with devotion and faith, you will start doing what He has asked you to do, and your attention will start getting focused at the Shah Rag, or at the Sushumna, at the back of the Eye Center.”
So then, once you go within the Sushumna, then your Master will show you the Path, and then you will go from the astral, causal, Brahm, and above, Par Brahm, and then, Sach Khand. These are the planes you will go within.
So, like we refer to the astral, causal and Brahm, Par Brahm, the reference in this context is in the way Mohammedans use different words. They are ‘La’, ‘Illah’, ‘Allah’, ‘Akbar’. ‘La’ is the astral, the Sahansdal Kamal. ‘Illah’ is the Brahm. ‘Allah’ is the Par Brahm. And ‘Akbar’ is God Almighty, or Sach Khand-Sat Lok.
So, the Path of going within and meeting God Almighty will be shown to you by a True Master.
Yah sada tulsi ki hai aamil amal kar dhyaan de,
Yah sada tulsi ki hai aamil amal kar dhyaan de,
Kun quraan mein hai likha allahu akbar ke liye.
Tulsi Sahib says, “Taqi, it is my wish that you follow the instruction that I've given you. And once you follow the instructions then, with the Grace of the Master, you will go within and you will rise above to God Almighty. So, this Path that I am mentioning to you has been mentioned in the Koran. It is also mentioned in the Hindu Scriptures. This is the Path you should follow, and you will, with the Grace of the Master, go within. If you do not do the practice what has been told to you by the Masters, then you will not be able to get success. So, it is my wish that you do the practice as I have told you.”
He says, “You should practice what has been told to you. And, with this practice, you will get the Path. And, with the Grace of the Master, you will be able to go to Par Brahm and Sach Khand. This is written in the Koran. And this is also written in the Shastras. And there is no difference between the two. It is the same Path and the same process. It is only because of a lack of understanding of them that we have all these conflicts.”
Yah sada tulsi ki hai aamil amal kar dhyaan de,
Yah sada tulsi ki hai aamil amal kar dhyaan de,
Kun quraan mein hai likha allahu akbar ke liye.
Radhaswami.