The paathi sings the Bani of Swami Ji Maharaj from the book:Santo Ki Bani, Vol I, pg 63
Kaal ne jagat ajab bharmaaya,
Main kya kya karoon bakhaan.
Kaal ne jagat ajab bharmaaya,
Main kya kya karoon bakhaan.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Swami Ji Maharaj. In this Bani, Swami Ji Maharaj has tried to explain how Kal has created this illusion for everybody, in order to entice and keep everyone within his purview. So, He has explained how Kal has kept people in delusion, and he has kept them doing devotion of God, but they still remain deluded, and how he is creating this delusion for everybody. So, he has created this delusion, even for devotees wanting to meet God Almighty. And this delusion is created so that people who are devotees, will believe that God is within Brahm so that they won't go outside of the realm of Kal.
The four Vedas, essentially, teach people to do rituals. There, people are doing all sorts of practices, pranayamas, fasting; they are treating trees as their deities. They are treating idols as their deities. So, in all of these different ways, Kal is making sure that, though they remain devoted, they are devoted to him within Brahm.
Jo saadhan the pichhale jug ke,
So kaljug mein kiye pramaan.
Jo saadhan the pichhale jug ke,
So kaljug mein kiye pramaan.
He also points out that, measures taken earlier for getting salvation in earlier yugas, those also he has brought into this Kali Yuga. And he has deluded people to think that, if you follow those earlier practices, those penances, those hardships, then you will meet God Almighty, which is not possible in today's time. So, these are like pranayamas, Ashtanga Yoga, which are very difficult, and they are not possible to follow and do in Kali Yuga.
In the earlier yugas, where the life was also very long, the lifespan of a human being was a hundred thousand years, and the power of a human being was equivalent to almost ten thousand elephants. So, that was the time when these kinds of practices were prevalent and were possible to achieve. But that is not so today.
Even in the second yuga, that is the Treta, lifespan decreased to a tenth and it became ten thousand years. And the power of a human being was also reduced to one thousand elephants.
In that yuga, Vishvamitra was a very established and profound sage. He had left his kingdom, and he had practiced and had done his penance for sixty thousand years. And, in this period of sixty thousand years, he was living only on air. Because, in those times, the mind was much purer, compared to what it is today. And it was easier to do all of these penances in that period.
Now, as time progressed, the mind got more and more impure. And impurity set in, so it was not possible to do meditation and concentration, as it was possible earlier. So, to do those practices, one has to do a lot of other austerities and has to refrain from a lot of other things. So, one has to fast for a long time, do the cleansing with neem, with the leaves of the neem tree. He has to remain celibate for his life, and only then these kinds of practices are successful.
In Kali Yuga now, the essence of life is food, and if we do not get food once in a day at least, it is not possible to survive. So, that has become the essence of this yuga.
In Sat Yuga, the essence was the bones, and life was in the bones. And, therefore, even if the muscles would wear off, and even if the blood would dry up significantly, life would still remain, so long as the bones were intact.
In the Treta Yuga the essence of life moved from the bones to the skin, and though the lifespan reduced to a tenth compared to what it was earlier, even then, it was a very long period that one could live.
So, after Treta, in Dwapar Yuga, life moved from skin into blood, and again, the lifespan reduced to a tenth and it became a thousand years. So, even in Dwapar, people lived for a thousand years.
In the current yuga now, the essence has moved from blood to food. So, therefore, food has become the essence of living, and without food, one cannot survive.
So now, these practices, which were prevalent earlier, are, therefore, not possible to do in the current context in the current yuga. However, many people continue to do these practices.
Even Somanath Baba Ji had done pranayamas, but He had, as a result, developed an abscess in His stomach, which caused Him a lot of pain.
Once, when He had gone for a checkup also, the doctor, when he inspected and saw this, felt this was like a cancerous growth that had happened in the stomach. And he advised Baba Ji to undergo an operation, so that could be cut out and removed. However, Baba Ji knew that this was caused because of the pranayamas that He had done. And, therefore, He did not agree to do that operation. And then, He lived a long life, till ninety-one years, after that.
So, in this Kali Yuga, it is very difficult to refrain from food and fast to be fit for pranayamas, and to remain celibate the way people used to remain in those earlier yugas.
Moorakh praani man sailaani,
So atke jal aur paashaan.
Moorakh praani man sailaani,
So atke jal aur paashaan.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Those people were illiterate or ignorant and they, as devotees, followed practices of idol worship or going on pilgrimages.” He goes on to explain, on the basis of the intellect of people, how they have adopted different practices, different means of devotion.
Buddhimaan abhimaani jo nar,
Vidya naari ke huye gulaam.
Baaki jeev beech ke jitne,
Na moorakh na ati buddhimaan.
He explains that those people of lower intellect started adopting practices of doing the worship of trees, worship of idols, and going on pilgrimages, and so forth. And people, who had a higher intellect, who were more literate, and people who were more intelligent, they adopted practices of devotion, which required them to recite verses from the Vedas, read the Vedas, and intellectualize on the Vedas and other Scriptures.
So, they adopted this process as a means of devotion. And these people of higher intellect started criticizing verses from the Vedas and Scriptures and started doing arguments and discussions and discourses on these Scriptures and holy books. And they believe that is the means of salvation.
So once, during Kabir Sahib's time, there was a person by the name of Sarvajeet. He was, again, a person of this intellectual type, and he had read the four Vedas and the Scriptures, and he considered himself as a pundit, or an expert, on all of these books. And he would always go and challenge people to have a discussion on the understanding of these Vedas or these Scriptures. And, in those arguments, he would defeat people with his arguments and his understanding of the Vedas and the Scriptures.
So, he became quite popular, known as Sarvajeet in Varanasi, and in north India. So, they started calling him Sarvajeet. Sarvajeet in Hindi means ‘the winner over everyone else'. So, people used to refer to him as ‘Sarvajeet’. And he used to feel very elated when he was called by that name.
But his mother, of course, called him by his original, earlier name. So, he used to feel unhappy when his mother would call him by his original name. And he once told her, “Look, everyone's calling me Sarvajeet, and why are you calling by this old name?”
So, she told him, “I agree that you have been winning all your arguments with everyone and you are called ‘Sarvajeet’. But why don't you do one thing? There is a weaver nearby, Kabir Das, and He does His daily work of weaving and meeting the needs of His family. Why don't you go and take your arguments and your understanding of your literature there, and see if you can win Him over? And, if you do that, then I will also call you Sarvajeet.”
So, he told her, “That is no big deal! I have defeated so many high-ranking pundits all over, so going and talking to a weaver and winning an argument is not a big deal. I will go right away and do it.”
So, he got his disciple and he got a buffalo on which he loaded all his books, all the Scriptures, Vedas, and he got all of that loaded on that buffalo. And the disciple led that buffalo and this pundit, this Sarvajeet, was walking behind him. So, asking for the weaver’s address, Kabir Sahib's address, he finally reached His house.
Kamaali, who was a daughter of Kabir Sahib, opened the door, and he asked her whether this was the place where Kabir Das stays. So, she recited a verse when he asked whether Kabir Das stays there. She recited a verse, which basically meant, “You are asking for the house of Kabir Sahib. His house is above the seven skies. And there, even an ant cannot put its foot. And you are carrying books on buffaloes, and you're trying to go to his house?”
So, thereafter, he entered the house, and he was feeling quite embarrassed by what she had said, but he entered. Saints are always very humble, so Kabir Sahib was there inside. He put the mat on the floor and He asked him to be seated. Kabir Sahib asked him why he had come this far to His house.
So, he told Him, “I have come to argue with you on the Vedas and the Scriptures.”
When he said this, Kabir Sahib said, “Look, I am an illiterate weaver. You are such a great, learned person and I am not fit for a discussion with you on this. It doesn't look nice. So, what is the reason that you have come?” He said, “What is the point? I mean, you are already such a learned person. So, why don't you just write down that you had an argument with me, and you won, and Kabir Das lost, and I will sign wherever you tell me.”
He wrote down that he has won and Kabir Sahib has lost, and Kabir Sahib signed below. So, he was happy that this argument had ended before it started, and he had also won it. He took that written declaration and went back to his mother. When he showed her, she said, “I don't know how to read, so why don't you only read it and tell me what is written?”
So, when he went to read it, he was astounded to see that he had written 'Kabir Sahib has won the argument and Sarvajeet has lost the argument'. He was really shocked because he himself had written it. He read, again and again, but it was the same thing. He felt that maybe he had made a mistake. So, he went back to Kabir Sahib. He came and Kabir Sahib, again, asked him why he had come. So, he said, “No, I think I have made a mistake while writing.”
Kabir Sahib said, “No problem. You write again.”
So, he again wrote and, this time, he wrote very carefully, read it two or three times, and he wrote 'Sarvajeet has won and Kabir has lost'. He wrote it and, again, took the signature of Kabir Sahib. But, when he went back again and read it to his mother, again, the same thing happened. It was ' Sarvajeet has lost and Kabir Sahib has won'. So, he felt, “Maybe Kabir Sahib is using some mantra or some mystic powers, and he is making me change all this.”
Then, his mother told him, “Look, what Kabir Sahib is, it is beyond your comprehension. And you will not get your salvation from doing what you are wasting your time on. So, go to Kabir Sahib and seek His blessings and take His help.”
So, he went, thereafter, to Kabir Sahib and he bowed and took Kabir Sahib's blessings. And then, he was also later initiated by Kabir Sahib, and he did his practice and he was a good devotee.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Therefore, those people of lower intellect, they do this practice and devotion of stones, idols, and water, etc. And those of intellect get into all of this reading and writing, and follow these Vedas and Scriptures, etc.”
Then, there are the third types. There are those of low intellect, and there are those of higher intellect, and then, there are those in-between, who are neither of low intellect nor of high intellect. And they are people who are more adamant and headstrong. These are the headstrong people, the adamant people, who then go to other practices like Hatha Yoga and pranayamas, and pursue all these various austerities, and try to do their devotion and see if they can get salvation in that.
So, these people try to do all of these practices. And when they are not successful, then they go back to their regular, worldly life.
Baaki jeev beech ke jitne,
Na moorakh na ati buddhimaan.
Jap tap vrat sanjam bahu dhokhe,
Panch agni mein jale nidaan.
Dekho charitr kaal karta ke,
Koi sir koi pair rundhaan.
Bhatak bhatak bhatkaaya sab jag,
Koi na lagaaya thaur thikaan.
These people who are in the middle, who are neither very intellectual nor of low intellect, they work and they carry their practices on lines of austerities. They do pranayamas, they do Ashtanga Yoga, and they stand inverted on their head.
Oftentimes, you will find in pilgrimages such people standing, and that is more to get attention and to satisfy their ego than any other thing.
Then, there are people who light fires. There are four or five fires, which are lit around, and the person sits in heat in-between these fires.
So, these are the kinds of difficult practices that these people follow.
There is this person in Agra who once had come to the ashram. So, this person from Agra was a very strong person. He was staying in Mumbai. And, in Mumbai, in the docks, he was working by cleaning these fish baskets and carrying all of these fish baskets, which were very heavy. And he was earning good money there. But, he was doing that work. He had done all sorts of things, even doing those acrobatics part-time, which people perform on the streets and all, to get some money. He had even done those kinds of things. So, he was basically an illiterate.
And once, when he came back after doing all of these things, he found our address. He was from Bellary. So, he searched for our address and, asking for our ashram's address, he came and met me in the ashram. He stayed also for a couple of days. And, after that, he asked me that, “Can you tell me something which I can do, something which I can show, where I can make some money? So, I will act as if I am an achieved soul, I am a mahatma, and I can do something like that and show off to some people, and then earn some money like that.” So, he came and he asked me, “Teach me something where I can do this whole thing about religion, and show off a bit, and make some money.”
I told him, “Look, in my ashram, my Guru has not taught me to do any of this. I do Simran here, and we do Bhajan here, that's all. So, you will not get anything like that here.”
So, he left, after two days, he left the ashram. Now, he went around and he learned from somewhere these kinds of magical tricks, which people play, of getting some ash or getting yibhuti from somewhere or getting some ring out of thin air. These are hand tricks and other things that people do. You'll find people gifting you, suddenly, a ring, bringing it from the air, or giving some yibhuti, or some ash, in your hand and those kinds of tricks.
So, finally, there was a minister who had an orphanage near, close to our ashram, actually, a little further away. It's on the main road towards Hyderabad, Bangalore, at Chikballapur. So, this minister had an orphanage created there. (Actually, it was more an ashram for old-aged people, more than an orphanage.) And this person somehow enticed that minister, showed off some tricks to him, and the minister asked him then to take care of that old-aged home. And that’s where he made his ashram.
So, he dresses like Sai Baba, wears orange clothes, has grown long hair, and he does all these kind of things. So, apparently, he has also come here in this ashram. About four years back, he had come here. And he was also trying to tell me that, “Why don't you ask all these foreigners to come to my ashram?”
So, I told him, “Look, your tricks will not work on them. They have got initiation from True Masters, and they will not get caught in all of this.”
So, he did earn a lot of money doing all these tricks. And he also claimed to build a temple, and he was collecting a lot of donations for that temple. He would keep collecting their donations, and then, he would keep buying land in his village. So, this way, he collected a lot of money. But, a while ago, someone made a complaint against him, and there was a criminal case filed against him, and he was arrested, CBIA and the police arrested him. He later was discharged, but now he is back in his village.
So, these are the type of people whom we find, the in-between types, not the intellectuals, nor of the real low intellect, who try to find their way by doing something like this in-between. Both, the people of lower intellect, and the higher intellect, quite often, also follow these people in the middle. But, they don't understand anything of spirituality, and that’s what Swami Ji Maharaj is saying.
Aisi haalat dekh jagat ki,
Sant satguru pragte aan.
Guru seva aur naam mahaatam,
Satsang satguru kiya bakhaan.
Kal has created these kinds of impediments on the way of devotion, and these kinds of illusions, where people get misled and misspend their lives.
God Almighty has seen all of this and, from time to time, He sends Saints into this world, so that They show the correct direction, and They take the souls back and show them the correct Path.
There are only three measures that are there for salvation. They are gurubhakti (the devotion of the Masters), Satsang, and Bhajan Simran. So, to do these things, one doesn't have to take austere measures. He doesn't have to leave his home. He can do it in his own home, and it is a simple way of life. Through Satsangs, we come to know what is right, what is wrong, what is the correct Path, what is Reality, and how we should go about our life and follow this Path.
Saadhan teen saar un barne,
Aur saadhan sab thothe maan.
Bed shaastr aur smriti puraana,
Parrhna inka birtha jaan.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “These are the only three means for salvation: Satsang, devotion of the Master, and Simran Bhajan.”
Now, these are measures for us to get inwardly focused, and all other things and all other practices, which Kal has created, are all outwardly focused. So, they take you out, away from Reality. And these are the only three practices that bring you within.
If we intellectualize, we spend a lot of time reading outside Scriptures, holy books, and all of the other material for devotion, then that also causes illusion. It causes confusion in the mind. We end up intellectualizing a lot because each of these books has a particular path that is shown as a particular way of doing it. So, we end up getting outwardly focused and spending time on intellectualizing all of this.
SSo, Saints say, “You leave, you forget all of these books and all of these other materials. There is no need for that. Just focus on doing Simran and doing Bhajan. That is the only thing that you need to do.”
Pandit bhekh pet ke maare,
Ve santan par karte taan.
Hit kar sant unhen samjhaaven,
Ve maani nahi maane aan.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Saints come and speak the Truth.” And it is the other pundits, the other scholars and other sages who wear robes, such people who then, basically, oppose the Saints, because They are stepping on their earnings and their livelihood. So, they have made all of these outside practices their means of livelihood. And when Saints come and speak about the Reality, which is quite different from what they’re preaching, then they get affected and they start slandering against the Saints. So, they are lost in their ego about what they're doing, and they engage in slandering against the Saints.
Is jug ki vidya nahi parrhte,
Taante ulte giren nidaan.
Deen gareebi mat is jug ka,
Aur guru bhakti kar parmaan.
So, these people do not take the measures that are preached by Saints, which are Satsang, Dhyan Bhajan Simran, and seva. And they go and start intellectualizing from the old books and they keep reciting old verses, which are irrelevant in today's context. So, they do not take the help of the Saints, and they do not go on that Path.
Saints always try to help the soul. And they always try to reduce the burden of karmas on the soul. And that is done through Satsangs, where they redeem some of the karmas. They redeem out of Simran Bhajan, which the soul does. And also They ask the souls, the devotees, to do some seva, which also redeems a lot of karmas.
So, the Saints focus on trying to reduce the burden of the soul, which is something that these outwardly focused people do not accept.
Such people, who are outwardly focused, do things that increase their burden of karmas, and as a result, they go back into this cycle of life and death.
Taate nirmal nishchal chit hoye,
Gagan charrhaao shabd nishaan.
Surat shabd maarag antarmukh,
Paanch shabd ka gaho thikaan.
Saints teach the Path of the Five Names. And They teach us how we should liberate our soul from the current burden it has, and rise and go within by use of these Five Names.
So, this is something, which these people do not comprehend and do not follow. Such people do not comprehend what the Saints are trying to teach. They feel that their ancestors have done it differently, and Saints are coming and trying to preach something different, which is not what they have been following, and which may not have been written in their Scriptures and Vedas.
Even Sant Mat, for the liberation of the soul, has had different measures that were taken earlier in different yugas. And even in Dwapar, when Karunamai had come. He was the earlier avatar of Kabir Sahib. And so, those measures undertaken then were a little different from what measures are taken now. Now, what is preached is very clearly to do Satsang, to do Simran and Bhajan, and do devotion of the Masters.
The world changes and the environment around us changes, and our life, our body, and our lifespan, also changes. So, considering all of this, Saints have done a very simple, straightforward measure and practice for achieving salvation.
So, these people who are intellectualizing outside, they are people who do not understand and comprehend. They feel this is some new path that is being brought about. And they are not willing to come and do this practice. Such people also go to the extent of torturing Saints, and even Paltu Sahib was burned alive by such people. So, when Saints came into this world to explain, such people offered a very strong resistance to that, and they tortured those Saints in all kinds of respects.
But today, Sant Mat is well accepted across the world, and there is not so much resistance to Sant Mat.
Shabd shabd paurri pai charrh kar,
Pahuncho sachkhand satnaam.
Taate pahle guru ko dhyaao,
Aur kaam sab peechhe jaan.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “The Path to go within is the path of the Shabd, the Sound Current. But, to get to the Sound Current and take the ladder of the Shabd to God Almighty, we have to first manifest the Master within, because it is only with the guidance of the Master within that we are able to climb this ladder and go back to God Almighty. And we need His guidance throughout, across all the planes, to go above.”
So, the first step that we have to take on this Path to go within is to do gurubhakti, is to do the devotion of the Master. And how do we do devotion of the Master? It is to attend Satsangs, to do Simran Bhajan, and to do seva. These are the measures to take to please the Master and to get the Grace of the Master and manifest the Master within.
So, once we manifest the Radiant Form of the Master within at the back of the Eye Center, then both the Master and the soul, they both go upwards on the Sound Current. And then, the Master is there with us at all times and through all of these planes that are there, and right up to going into Sach Khand and Sat Lok. He is with us.
Shabd shabd paurri pai charrh kar,
Pahuncho sachkhand satnaam.
Taate pahle guru ko dhyaao,
Aur kaam sab peechhe jaan.
Radhaswami