The paathi sings the Bani ofSwami Ji Maharaj...
Naam nirnay karoon bhaai,
Dudha bidhi bhed batlaai.
Naam nirnay karoon bhaai,
Dudha bidhi bhed batlaai.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Swami Ji Maharaj. In this Bani, Swami Ji Maharaj has explained different types of Naam. He has described and explained different facets of Naam, and this Bani is on Naam.
Varna dhunaatmak gaaoon,
Dou ka bhed darsaaoon.
Varn kahu chaahe kahu akshar,
Jo bola jaaye rasna kar.
He first says that there are two types of Naam. One is Varnatmak, and the other is Dhunatmak.
Varnatmak Naam is what can be spoken, what can be talked and written.
DhunatmakNaam is the Naam, which cannot be spoken or written. It is the Naam, which only the soul can listen to and see. Within this DhunatmakNaam are encompassed seventy million other mantras. Each mantra is there for a different deity. All of that is encompassed within the Dhunatmak Naam.
Everything that is part of the Varnatmak Naam is destructible.
DhunatmakNaam emanates from God Almighty, from Sach Khand-Sat Lok, and it reverberates behind the Eye Center at the Tenth Door. It is indestructible.
The soul has got attached to the mind, and the mind has got attached to all of the outside world. So, the Masters take the help of the outward Varnatmak Naam for the soul to withdraw from the outward, worldly matters and withdraw to the Eye Center. The mind has gotten completely focused outward by repeating and focusing on outward matters, the world, and attachments, etc. By doing the Simran of the Naam given by the Masters and focusing at the Eye Center, we withdraw from all of these worldly matters and concentrate our soul at the Eye Center.
So, in order to cut our attachments of the physical kind, the Varnatmak, or the physical Naam, is given. And that enables us to transcend beyond the six chakras of the body. When we come to the seventh chakra, that is the pedestal for emancipation. That is where we open the Tenth Door.
So, our passage and journey with the help of Varnatmak Naam end at the Tenth Door. And there we see the Radiant Form of the Master. The Dhunatmak Naam, or the Shabd, reverberates there. So, we get attached to that.
Masters refer to Shabd as the real Naam, because that Naam emanates from God Almighty and brings us up to the Tenth Door. And that is something that cannot be written or spoken.
Likhan aur parrhan mein aaya,
Use vartnaatmak gaaya.
Lakhaayak hai yahi dhun ka,
Bina guru phal nahi knika.
Varnatmak Naam, given by the Masters, helps us to withdraw and go within. It is only a Real Master Who can give you a VarnatmakNaam to enable you to go within. And, for a True Master, any word that can be described, or any Varnatmak word, is good enough for Him to withdraw the soul.
So, the Naam given by the Masters, the Varnatmak Naam given by the Masters for Simran, is the Naam thatThey have Themselves practiced. And there is a lot of charging behind that Naam. And when we do the Simran of that Naam, no mantras, or tantras, nor any other mystic powers, nor any ghosts, or any other kind of negative powers, can distract or disturb the soul.
Initially, when Babaji would take disciples to Sant Ji, the first Satsang was held at a village called Melkunta. So, this village is the village where Narayan stayed. And, in fact, Narayan’s elder brother’s wife had been possessed by a ghost for over twelve years. She was really tormented by this ghost who possessed her. And the ghost would often try to get her into his form and, thereby, kill her. So, very often, he would try to take her towards the well where she could possibly kill herself. So, many times, she would wake up in the night and go to kill herself. And the family members and her husband would run and try to stop her from doing that.
When I first did Satsang in that village, I had mentioned that, in front of the Naam, no other mantra, tantra, or ghost, or anything of that form, can last. And, in fact, the villagers were inspired by these words. That's how they came to meet me, and they attended the Satsangs. So, in fact, they enrolled for taking Naam. And four members of that family decided to take Naam, because of this quality and trait of Naam. And some other villagers also decided to enroll and take Naam. This was the enrollment for taking the people to the Bombay program to have them initiated by Sant Ji. The moment they wrote their names and enrolled for taking Naam, this ghost, who possessed this lady, vanished.
So, from then until now, there is no trace of this ghost, and she has since delivered three daughters also.
Many such incidents have happened in those areas. And, by Naam, by listening to this, they have been encouraged to come and take initiation.
So, therefore, everything that is Varnatmak Naam is the Naam that is spoken or written.
Milen guru naam dhun bhedi,
Surat dhun dhuni sang bedhi.
Ekta naam aur naami,
Karaaven jo milen swamy.
A True Master knows the secret of Dhun. When He initiates a person, He connects the soul with the Sound Current, or Dhun. The Dhun is resonating at the back of the Eye Center at the Tenth Door. The Master goes within and connects the soul there to the Dhun. This connection of the soul with the Sound Current is the real initiation and, thereafter, with the Grace of the Master, the soul manifests the Sound Current within.
So, when a devotee has strong pangs of separation from his Master or God Almighty, he becomes successful faster in manifesting the Sound Current within.
If a devotee is attached outwardly and has no pangs of separation and he is not very devoted then, even though he is initiated by a True Master, his soul does not progress within.
Naam varnatmak gaaya,
Naami dhunatmak paaya.
Varn se surat man maanjo,
Bahuri charrh gagan dhun saadho.
When the True Masters meet us and They connect our soul with the Shabd, or Sound Current within, thereafter, we have to do our Simran and meditation to manifest that Sound Current.
When our soul reaches the Tenth Door, at that point, we go beyond intellect and the tongue stops functioning. There is nothing that can be spoken by the senses there. There, the Sound Current manifests. And our soul, which has been connected to the Sound Current, feels the Sound Current and gets itself attached to that Sound Current.
Dhuni dhun ek kar jaano,
Surat se shabd pahichaano.
Shabd aur surat bhaye eka,
Naam dhunaatmak dekha.
The Sound emanating from Sat Lok-Sach Khand is only one sound. But It passes through five different planes and, therefore, sounds differently in those planes. Only a True Master, Who is aware of this aspect of the Shabd, is able to explain these matters.
The True Masters give the initiation of the Five Holy Names. These are the names of the lords of these five planes and they are very pure. And they have never had any incarnation. They are very pure and completely indestructible. So, by taking their names and doing the Simran of their names, our mind also gets pure. Then, the soul transcends through these five planes while going to God Almighty, and these lords help the soul within their planes.
Guru bin aur bina karni,
Mile kas kaho yah rahni.
Chaah anuraag jis hoi,
Bhaag barr gurumikhi soi.
Swami Ji Maharaj says that “This is possible only with the Grace of a Master and with the efforts and devotion of a devotee.” So, towards making progress and towards getting on the Spiritual Path, both these things, Master’s Grace and devotion, are necessary.
So, even if we get a True Master, but we do not do the meditation, or we do not do it with devotion, then we do not get success on this Path. And, if the Masters had not connected our souls to the Sound Current, then we would not get that protection. The Masters protect the soul at the time of death with the help of the Sound Current with which the soul has been connected.
Naam naami dou gaaya,
Abhedi bhed samajhaaya.
Guru ki mauj main sab kuch,
Jise chaahe karen gurumukh.
Swami Ji Maharaj now says that He has explained what a Varnatmak Naam is and what Dhunatmak Naam is.
And I have explained to you how a True Master gets the devotee connected to the Sound Current and helps him go within.
The progress of a disciple lies in the Grace of the Master. If the devotee has pangs of separation and is devoted to God Almighty, then the Master graces the devotee.
Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj spent a lot of time trying to find a True Master Who would give him the initiation of the Five Holy Names. And, after a lot of searches, he finally found Swami Ji Maharaj in Agra.
After he was initiated, Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj expressed his desire to stay and do seva in the ashram and continue his meditation and practice there. Swami Ji Maharaj, on this request, refused to allow him to stay in the ashram and asked him to go and earn his living and do his practice.
So, Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj underwent a lot of hardship, but he continued his practice. He joined the military. And, after his duties were over, in the night he would sit in a trench of about five feet. And he would keep his rifle down and keep a blanket on that, and then he would sit for meditation there.
So, therefore, He says that, if there is a strong longing and there is a lot of devotion, then you easily get the Grace of the Master, and you get success faster.
Gurumukh hoye tan dhan se,
Kare phir preet nij man se.
Lage tab jaaye sun dhun se,
Gaye tab teen goon tan se.
Once on the Path, the gurumukh sacrifices his body, his wealth, and his mind, and then he starts progressing on the Sant Mat, on the Path. So, we all do all our actions according to the three gunas that determine how we act. These three gunas are rajo, tamo, and sato. These three gunas are inter-driven by the three gods.
Rajo is driven by Brahma. Tamo is driven by Shiva. And sato is driven by Vishnu. So, the people under the rajogun are typically people who are in administration, or they are ministers, or they work on an intellectual basis. Then, there is the satogun, where you find people more religiously inclined. You will find priests, or such type of people, with a strong bent of the satogun. And the tamogun are people who are more like fighters, dacoits and such people; they like aggression. That’s the trait. So, all work within these three gunas. When the Shabd emanates, and when we get connected with the Sound Current, then all these three gunas no longer affect us, and the virtues of the Master get imbibed in us.
So, Valmiki was a dacoit and he was driven by the tamogun. After he was initiated, he did his meditation and rose above, he inculcated the satogun and became aBrahm Rishi. And he wrote the Ramayana.
Varn dhun bhed dou barna,
Vaach aur laksh in kahna.
Vach varnatmak jaano,
Laksh dhun dhuni pehchano.
Swami Ji Maharaj points out that there is Varnatmak, which can be spoken or written, and there is Lakhshatmak, which can be heard by the inner ear of the soul.
Varn main bhekh jag bhoola,
Marm dhun sant koi tola.
Varn jap jap pachen bheki,
Mile kuch phal neki neki.
Swami Ji Maharaj points out that most of the world, as we know it, is within the Varnatmak Naam. So, if we look at the sages, or we look at pundits outside, or temples, or the mantras, all these are Varnatmak.
And the Dhunatmak is Naam only given by the Saints, by a True Master Who is aware of the intricacies of the Dhunatmak Naam. And all the others are not aware of this DhunatmakNaam, or the Sound Current.
Once, I had taken about thirty people from Karnataka for the program. And, thereafter, we went to Varanasi and we visited the Kabir Ashram.
There were these priests there, and they had donned white dhotis and a half cloth covered above. And so, these people were attending to the people visiting that ashram and we asked them about the Teachings of Kabir. They produced a very big book, which was their understanding of Kabir Das Ji. They were completely misinformed on the Teachings of Kabir Das Ji. That book basically contained everything outwardly that they could possibly understand, all the Teachings of Kabir Das.
None of us purchased that book.
So, these people have, from their intellect and their mind, interpreted the Teachings of Kabir Sahib. And the Shabd also, that He refers to, they were talking of the outwardly shabd that we speak. So, the word that we normally speak is what they have referred to. The meaning is completely different from what the true meaning of Shabd is.
Bhed dhun ka nahi paaya,
Naam phal haath nahi aaya.
Japen nit sahas aur laakha,
Khule nahi nek un aankha.
Swami Ji Maharaj, therefore, says that all these pundits have passed their lifetime, and all these other outwardly teachers have passed their lifetime, in only the Varnatmak, or the outward description of the Shabd. None of them have understood the true meaning of the inner Sound Current, and they have just passed their lifetime in this misunderstanding.
So, even if we look to our Masters, we see that Baba Somanath Ji also spent more than twenty-five years in various spiritual practices outside, pranayamas, and so many other practices that he did, from which, in fact, he got a lot of mystic powers also. But there was no peace of mind. Finally, when Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj met him and He initiated him and showed him the Truth Path, only then did he progress on this Path.
Likewise, Ajaib Singh Ji also spent so many years in all the various austerities and various other practices, and he had also gotten a lot of mystic powers, but no peace. Finally, Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj gave him the initiation, and only then he could progress on this Path.
Like this, there was this yogi who was meditating for a lot of years and he was in the Himalayas. He was doing pranayamas and other practices. Once, he got a dream of Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj telling him to come to Him for getting salvation. So, the yogi told Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, when he saw His form within, that he would definitely come. But he said that his feet had become weak with all the practices that he had done for so many years. So, he would take some time to reach there.
In those days, there weren't too many modes of conveyance, so people had to walk. And it took about three or four months for him to reach Beas.
Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj had given him an indication to be recognized. He showed him His right foot, which had a Padma Rekha, lotus-like curves, on the foot. He said, “When you come and meet me, you will recognize me when you see this.”
So, when he reached Beas, he attended the Satsang. He was quite satisfied with the Satsangs and he believed and recognized that, yes, it was this Saint only Who had come in his vision. And, in the evening, when he went to meet Him, the sevadars stopped him from going and meeting Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj.
Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj instructed the sevadars to escort him up. And then, they took him to meet Maharaj.
So, he was trying to see this Padma Rekha. After the Darshan, he wanted to just recheck whether it is that same right foot and that same marking on the foot, which had come in his vision. He kept trying to see the downside of the right foot, but the sevadars kept stopping him from doing that.
And, finally, Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj showed him that Padma Rekha. So, thereafter, he stayed for three or four days and he listened to the Satsangs. He had a lot of questions, which were answered by Maharaj Ji. And, after that, he got initiated.
And then, Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj told him that, “Now you know the True Path. So, you go back to the place where you came from and you do this practice now.” The purpose of telling this was that, till you get a True Master, one does not get the knowledge of the Sound Current and its ways.
Timar sansar nahi jaave,
Moh mad kaam bharmaave.
Dhuni dhun bhed nahi cheenha,
Surat aur shabd nahi leena.
So, a lot of the other practices, which use Varnatmak Naam, people do these japas, they practice a few thousand times, a few hundred thousand times also, but the Third Eye does not open. And, as a result, they are still within the intellect and the mind, and they are subjected to all the lust, anger, attachment, greed, ego, and all of that. And they’re not able to rise above all of this because they do not have the DhunatmakNaam. The ego gets the better of them, so they feel that they have done a lot of japas. But they waste their time doing all of this.
Mile nahi guru dhun bheedi,
Lakhaave dhun mite khedi.
Kal ne budhi un chhedi,
Muft nar deh un de di.
So, therefore, such people are unable to fathom the strength of the Sound Current. They are unable to get a True Master, Who shows them the Path. They are lost in whatever practice they are doing. And their time just passes away like this.
Daya kar sant gohraaven,
Zara nahi chitt main laave.
Paachn dhun bhed batlaaven,
Surat ki raah dikhlaaven.
So, Kal and Maya put a covering on their intellect and their understanding. And these people, even if they get connected, or get in the presence of a True Master, they are still unable to fathom the Teachings. And, in fact, they feel that the Masters are teaching something completely different. There is no reference to any deities. They are not teaching them to believe in gods, as they know them. And, that way, they start criticizing the Path of the Masters, and they are unable to take any benefit from this.
Guru Amar Das Ji spent about twenty-two years going to pilgrimages, and he felt that emancipation, or his salvation, lied in this. So, he did a lot of pilgrimages. Fortunately, he met a yogi. And when he talked to this yogi, he got to know of the Truth. So, when he got to know, he searched and he found Angad Dev Ji as the Master there. And when he went to Angad Dev Ji, he was only feeling bad that he had spent his whole lifetime of seventy years, before he went to Guru Angad Dev Ji. He felt that a lot of his life was wasted. So, he was repenting for the time gone by.
But, Guru Angad Dev Ji told him that, “No, every jiva, every soul has a time fixed for emancipation. So, you do the practice now.”
After he was initiated, he stayed there. He didn't return home, and he did a lot of seva. He used to carry water for the ashram, and he used to do a lot of seva there. And, in only twelve years, with Simran, devotion, and seva, he was liberated.
Dhuno ke naam darsaaven,
Roop ashtahan kah gaaven.
Surat ka jog lakhvaveen,
Jeev nahi kahan un maane.
He mentions that the True Masters give initiation. They explain, when They give the initiation, the Five Names that are given and the Lords and the planes from which these names have come.
But, unfortunately, the devotees do not do the Simran, and they do not do that much devotion.
So, He says, “It is because they do not do their devotion and do not do their Simran. If they listen to the Teachings of the Master and they do about two and a half hours of meditation every day, then soon, they would progress. And they would get the Grace of the Master and all their problems would be solved.”
Surat le gagan charrahvaaven,
Pind main saar batlaaven.
Charre brahmand tak parkhe,
Sahasdal madhya kuch nirkhe.
He says, “For those who do the meditation, who follow the Teachings of the Masters and do their devotion, they transcend beyond the six chakras and the doors and go to the seventh door and the seventh chakra, and then they get emancipated from there.” That is where the Sahasdal Kamal also is experienced by them. And they get connected to the Sound Current and they see the Light Form also.
So, the Masters don't tell us to go into jungles, or do some penances, or sacrifice all our other things and do our meditation. What They say is just, “Do your meditation where you are. Spend two and a half hours every day doing this meditation, earn an honest living, and continue to do your devotion and your practice.”
Bank charrh tirkhuti dhave,
Sunn das dwaar gati paave,
Mahaasun jaaye harkhaani,
Bhanvan mein ja suni baani.
So, now Swami Ji Maharaj is explaining that, for those people who have done their practice, who are meditating, have devotion, and have risen to the Tenth Door, what those experiences are. So, the soul, when it reaches the Tenth Door, goes to the SahasdalKamal and, after that, it gets connected to the Sound Current and sees the Light. From there it progresses to Trikuti. The path that connects the SahasdalKamal to the Trikuti is a crooked path, so it goes through that Bank Naal, which is the crooked path and reaches the Trikuti. After the Trikuti, it crosses the Brahmand and it goes into the ParBrahm. After the Par Brahm, it crosses into the Maha Sunn.
Now, up to this place is all under the purview of Kal. So, it goes into the MahaSunn after this. And the MahaSunn is such a beautiful plane. It is unimaginable. So, it is so beautiful, therefore, Masters don't take the souls through the MahaSunn. They take them through the Bhanwar Gupha to Sat Lok-Sach Khand.
Amar pad mool ja dekha,
Been dhun ka mila lekha.
Alakh aura gam bhi pekha,
Naam ka mool ab dekha.
So, the Masters take the soul through the BhanwarGupha to the Sach Khand and the soul reaches its True Home. It meets its True Father, Sat Purush. And there it listens to the BeenDhun. So, it is the Masters Who take the soul and help the soul progress to Sach Khand. After that, the Sat Purush takes the soul further into Anaami.
Alakh aura gam bhi pekha,
Naam ka mool ab dekha.
Kahoon kya khol rahasoami,
Sain yah samajh parmaani.
So, Swami Ji Maharaj says that “After Sat Lok, there are three further planes. Now, there is nothing that we can give a simile of, or explain the grandeur of, those planes.”
So, after this, Sat Purush takes the soul further into these three planes. That is the Alakh, Agam, and Anaami. And Anaami is where the Sound Current has originated. So, the soul reaches there. It gets its True Country, its True House, its True Father. And when it reaches there, it becomes the Almighty.
Alakh aura gam bhi pekha,
Naam ka mool ab dekha.
Kahoon kya khol rahasoami,
Sain yah samajh parmaani.
Radhaswami.