The paathi sings the Bani of Swami Ji Maharaj from the book: Santo Ki Bani...
Sun re man anahad baina,
Ghat mein mat nirko naina.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Swami Ji Maharaj. The biggest reason for bondage is not the body. It is the mind. The body is given to redeem some deeds. So, the body is made for the redemption of certain deeds that we have incurred in the past. But, it is the mind, which is constantly with us, and whatever deeds that we do, that is because of the mind, and those are imprinted on the mind.
The soul is free of all of this. The soul does not have any deeds. All the deeds are imprinted on the mind. The soul has no life. It has no death. It is the essence of God. The only thing is that the soul has been imprisoned with the mind. It has been encased with the mind and this is not for one life. It is for millions and millions of lives that the mind and the soul have been tied up together.
So, all the deeds are done by the mind and all the karmas are imprinted on the mind. But, for suffering, for redeeming those karmas, the soul, since it is tied up with the mind, gets pulled into all of this, and it has to suffer along with the mind.
This body given to us is a cage, but it is only for this lifetime. As soon as our life ends, we get out of this cage. And whichever new form, or life form that we are going to go into, we have that as our covering, or as our cage. But, the mind is forever with the soul. The mind has come tied up with the soul from Brahm. And, ever since then, when it has come into this life, along with a soul, it is tied up with the soul. The bodies keep changing. We keep shedding off our bodies. But, the mind and the soul, since they are tied together, they continue in all the other bodies also.
Therefore, the reason for salvation and for bondage is the mind. And lots of great mahatmas, rishis, and munis have tried and done a lot of practices to free themselves of the mind.
The Masters also, through Their Satsangs, through Bhajan, through Simran, are trying to convey to the mind. So, Swami Ji Maharaj has also said, “You may try a million different measures, but the only measure, which will satisfy and quieten the mind, is the connection with the Sound Current.”
The mind is forever in pursuit of happiness. And, whatever gives it more happiness, it shifts there. And, that way, it keeps going from one thing to the other. The mind, with the Simran and Bhajan, clears the nine doors and goes to the Tenth Door and there it gets the Darshan of the Radiant Form of the Master within. And, with the Grace of the Master, the mind and soul are connected to the Sound Current. And when it gets connected to the Sound Current, the happiness is unparalleled. And, therefore, that enables it to quieten down. Because, that happiness, that ecstasy, of getting connected with the Sound Current, that bliss, is unparalleled. And, with that attraction, the mind sacrifices everything. It kicks off all the other pleasures of this world and gets intoxicated and lost in that Sound Current.
So, when the mind gets connected with the Sound Current, the karmas that it has got imprinted of not only one life, but of tens of millions of lives that it has on itself, all those get immediately burned when it gets connected with the Sound Current. When it gets connected with the Sound Current, the mind realizes that it is not the senses, it is not the sense organs, it is none of these vices. And it belongs to Brahm of a higher plane. And then, it rides on the Sound Current along with the soul. And, in the company of the Master, they go upwards in the higher planes.
Swami Ji Maharaj, in this Bani, says, “Oh mind, the Sound Current is resonating at the back of your Eye Center. Go at the Tenth Door. Go and listen to it.”
Sun re man anahad baina,
Ghat mein mat nirko naina,
Guru shabd gaho updesha,
Ras pi pi karo pravesha.
Swami Ji Maharaj is addressing the mind, and He says, “Oh mind, come inside. Get connected to the Sound Current at the Tenth Door and enjoy and drink the nectar of the Sound Current. And, with that, you will get completely satiated.” And then, all of our desires, all of those, are vanquished and we understand the work of God, we understand God Almighty, Who is within us.
God Almighty has created sixteen planes within us, and each plane is more and more beautiful compared to the earlier planes. And there are souls who live in those planes. There are precious gems and precious gem-studded bungalows in those planes. Masters have always told us that God Almighty is within you. They don't tell us that the God is in the forest somewhere and you get Him from austerity, but God Almighty is residing within your body, in this temple, which is your body. And, if anyone has met with God Almighty, it is only in this temple of your body, and not outside.
Tulsi Sahib also, when explaining to one of His disciples, has said, “Cleanse your mind within. And cleanse it for allowing God Almighty to come and reside in your temple.” So, Tulsi Sahib has said, “You cleanse your mind within. Cleanse your mind of all the thoughts that you have of this world. And in the mirror of your mind, in the mirror of your intellect, the family members who are there, and all your other attachments that you see in there, you cleanse that further and allow that mirror to reflect God Almighty.” That is why Masters tell us to do Simran and Dhyan because, as we as we do our Simran and Dhyan, the mind becomes purer.
Our intellect becomes purer and our visualization faculty, which is there, that becomes cleansed of all the other things that we keep seeing in our mind. Like when we clean a mirror, we can see our clean image in the mirror. Likewise, when we cleanse the mind by doing Simran, we see ourselves in that mirror of the mind, because both the mind and the soul sit together at the Tenth Door.
So, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Oh mind, you go within and listen to the Sound Current and you will find the temple of God within this body.”
Guru shabd gaho updesha,
Ras pi pi karo pravesha.
Chakkar ab phero aayi,
Dhun shabd tabhi khul jaayi.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “To go inside, it is very important that you have to cleanse your mind and intellect and your faculty of visualization by doing Simran and Dhyan.” Till the temple-like mind gets cleansed, it will not be able to reflect on God Almighty. It will not be able to go within.
All the Masters in the past have done a lot of hard work and They have done a lot of Simran and Dhyan. They have not looked at whether it is daytime or whether it is nighttime, and They have sacrificed so much in their lifetime to do this cleansing of Their mind.
Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj, Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, They were doing so much practice. Both of Them were employed. They used to look after not only Their jobs, but also of Their families, and They would also look after the work related to agriculture. And yet, They would take out time and do Their Simran Dhyan throughout Their lives. Like that, if we look at the life of any of the Saints, They've all worked hard to do this.
If we look at Swami Ji Maharaj Himself, He did such difficult meditation and devotion for eighteen years and He would eat only one roti a day. He would sit in a closed room and sit for meditation all the time.
Saints tell us to sit for at least two and a half hours daily because we have families. We have our work. We have our occupation. So, considering all of that, They say, “At least take out one-tenth of the time for yourself, for God Almighty.” So, one-tenth of the day, out of twenty-four hours, is two and a half hours, approximately. So, you should sit for that much time, at least, and give that for your meditation. In that, at least two hours you should sit for Simran and Dhyan and about half an hour you should give for Bhajan, for listening to the Sound Current.
If we do like this and we sit for two and half hours every day then, definitely, the Master will shower His Grace on us. If we do not do that, but instead we spend the whole day in our attachments, desires, and all the worldly matters, then the end result of that will be only repentance at the time of death.
Bina naam nahi gati paayi,
Satguru yon kahin bujhaayi.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Without Naam, you will not [advance quickly] on this Path. You will not be able to get your salvation. So, you have to do your Simran. You have to be devoted and take Naam.”
Sukhdev Muni had the knowledge of the universe in the womb of his mother. And he felt, “I am the all-learned and I don't need any Master.”
Once, he went to Vaikuntha. And, when he reached Vaikuntha, the doorman there did not allow him to enter, saying that he did not have a Master. So, that doorman did not allow him to enter Vaikuntha. Even to enter Heaven or Vaikuntha, our Kailash, one needs to have a Master.
So then, Sukhdev Muni came back and he cried at the feet of Vyas Muni, saying, “I have got all the knowledge in the womb of my mother and I have been chaste throughout my life. Yet, I have not been allowed access to Vaikuntha.”
Vyas Muni told him, “How much ever learned you are, how much ever you know about your soul, you will not get salvation without a True Master.”
So, he asked Vyas Ji, “Who is a Master like that Who will teach me?”
Vyas Ji told him, “In Mithila, there is a King Janak. You should go to Him and seek His blessings.”
So, Sukhdev Muni told Vyas Ji, “I am such a learned person and I am a chaste brahmachari, and you are asking me to go to someone who is a king and who is lost in all these worldly things. And you are asking me to make him my Master?”
Vyas Ji got angry at him and he said, “No, you should go to Him and you should take His help.”
So then, he left for the place where Lord Janak was, Mithila, and he reached there and he crossed the river Sharayu. When he went to meet Janak, King Janak showed him some miracle by which he had to believe.
So, when he went and met King Janak, he left his one stick and one small bag with his clothes, etc., at the gates and he went inside to meet King Janak. What he witnessed was, Janak, sitting there, one foot immersed in fire and the other being pressed by his wife. He was amazed at this sight and he asked King Janak, “What is this? You have one foot in fire and your other foot is being massaged by the queen. So, what is the meaning of this?”
Then King Janak told him, “Look, for me, I have one foot in fire, but I don't make any sorrow of that. And my other foot is being massaged by my wife. I don't make any pleasure of that. For me, both are equal.”
Then, another miracle happened. The palace caught fire from one side and it started quickly spreading and the fire came towards the main gate. So, the guard came running, and he said, “The town is on fire and the palace is also catching fire. It’s about a kilometer away, and it is coming with great speed. Everything is catching fire.”
So, King Janak said, “It is harijan, it is the Will of God.”
Then another gatekeeper came running and he said, “The fire has come very near the palace door.”
Again, King Janak said, “It is the Will of God.”
Then after, one more time, the gatekeeper came and he said, “The fire has come at the gate.”
Sukhdev Muni was sitting there and witnessing all of this. He remembered that he had left his bag and that stick at the door. So, he left and started running to keep them protected. As soon as he started running, King Janak stopped him and he said, “Where are you going?”
So, he said, “I have left my bag at the door and that fire has come there, so it’ll get burned. I have to protect that.”
King Janak told him, “You are going, running for protecting your small bag, which is maybe two, three paise, and my kingdom is getting burnt here, my city is getting burned, my palace is getting burned and I am leaving it to the Will of God. So, who is more detached in life? Is it you or me?”
Then, Sukhdev Muni came to his senses. He realized because he had this ego, that he has to go to a king for making him his Master. So, after that, he realized and he bowed at the feet of King Janak. And King Janak initiated him.
After initiation, King Janak felt that still, he may have some ego left. So, what he did was, he gave a plate, and that plate, he filled it to the brim with oil. And he kept that plate on the head of Sukhdev Muni and he summoned two of his guards. He said, “Okay, take a round of the palace with him and, even if one drop of oil falls, then you have your swords, behead him! And you can leave now!”
So, Sukhdev Muni was perspiring and he took this plate and he had heard this order of the king. He very carefully walked across around the palace. It took him about half an hour to forty minutes to take a round of that palace. And without dropping a single drop of oil, he came back.
Now, when he came back, he took this plate off and King Janak asked him that, “Did you pass that beautiful garden when you were walking on one side of the palace?”
So, he said, “No.”
“Okay, to the east there is this beautiful well in the garden. Did you observe that?”
Sukhdev Muni said, “No, I had my full attention on that plate, because you had said that, if I drop a single drop, I will get beheaded. So, my full attention was on that plate.”
He said, “I see. Then in the south, there is a beautiful lake, a palace lake. Did you observe that? Did you kind of see that?”
He said, “No, no, no, I did not see anything. My attention was on the plate only.”
So then, King Janak said, “Yes, exactly. Like that, I am also sitting here and ruling. And my attention is forever at the feet of my Master within. So, the same thing is there when you're passing by all these beautiful things, but your attention was at the plate. So, likewise, my attention here in this kingdom is always at the feet of my Master within. This kingdom is also of my Master. This kingdom has been given to me by my Master and only He is running it. So, I'm just his devotee and just his servant, and my attention is always at His feet.”
So then, Sukhdev Muni went back to Vyas Muni, and when he met Him, Vyas Muni asked him, “Okay, tell me about your Master. Is He as bright as the sun?”
Sukhdev Muni said, “Yes, He is as bright as the sun, but He doesn't have the heat of the sun.”
So, he said, “Okay, is He as luminous as the moon?”
Sukhdev Muni said, “He is as luminous as the moon, but He doesn't have a stain on Him.”
So then, Vyas Muni embraced him. And, thereafter, Sukhdev Muni again went to Vaikuntha. And there the doorman took him in respectfully, and he showed him the way to Lord Vishnu. And he met Lord Vishnu also.
Swami Ji Maharaj, in this Bani, says, “It is only with the Teachings of the Master, it is only with His Grace and Teachings, that someone can go within and get the benefit of going inside.”
Satsang ab karo banaa'i,
Guru gaho aan sarnaayi.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “The first thing is to attend Satsang, go to Satsang. And, in the Satsang, think through, ponder on the Satsang.”
So, when we attend Satsang, our mind is going all over the place and it is not still and it’s not imbibing everything that is being said in the Satsang. The mind is all scattered when we are listening to Satsang. So, all the pearls of teaching are not able to get contained within and they keep getting scattered.
You have to sit still and listen carefully and merge into the Satsang. And then, you will be able to collect all of that.
When you listen to the Satsang, you have to ponder on it. You have to assimilate the Satsang. And then, you have to bring that into practice in your daily routine in your life. And, only then, you will get the benefit of that because, if we just listen without attention, we will keep listening to Satsang from one ear and taking it out from the other ear. So, even if we spend decades listening to Satsang, do the pilgrimage of Satsang, we will not be able to take the dip.
Even when we listen to Satsang at home on a DVD, we should make sure that we complete all our other chores and we sit in rapt attention on and listen to the Satsang. Either, we do it early morning, before we start our other activities, or later in the evening, or in the night when we have finished our work. Then, we should sit quietly and focus our attention and listen quietly to the Satsang
So, if other family members do not want to listen to the Satsang, then you may sit in a room, you close the room, and then focus and merge into the listening of that Satsang. Respect each word said by the Master, and when we listen to it like that, then we can listen to a Satsang. Even if we are far away, it is as if we are listening in front of the Master.
If we do not pay attention like that and we do not respect each word of the Master, or if we have put on the Satsang for listening and someone is cooking food, that noise is there, some children are playing here and there, the television is on, or some music is playing on the side, we lose our respect of the Master speaking. And we lose respect of every word that he says. And then, when we are actually sitting in the presence of a Master also, the mind is behaving in the same manner. It is not, even for a second, paying proper attention. It is getting scattered all over the place.
Jag bhog rog sam jaano,
Dhan maal chaah dukh maano.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, "All these luxuries that you have, all the other things of importance you have in life, all this will go with the body.” So, as soon as one leaves the body, all these things that we so dearly feel are our possessions, are left here only. So, get detached from all of these. And, every day, listen to Satsang. Every day, sit for meditation. That is the mark of a disciple.
Bhau saagar phaat apaara,
Doobe sab uski dhaara.
The ocean of this world is so deep and is so vast that no one can fathom the depth and the vastness of this. So, people come in and they dive into it, they get out, and life is just moving on. We have been given this human life to get out of this ocean of this world. And if we again fall into the same treachery of desires and all of the other attachments and everything that we feel for this world, we waste this precious moment, this precious opportunity. And then, only repentance is left.
So, each breath that we take is priceless. It has more value than all the three kingdoms. So, with each breath, we should do our Simran and we should be devoted to God Almighty because Kal and Maya have spread so many different things in this world. They have made so many different complexities in this world that it is very difficult for the soul and the mind to get out of this.
If we look at the life of Bishan Das. He was born in a princely family. And, in those days, this is far back, he did his studies, his Ph.D., in London. In those days, only very wealthy people and people from princely families could do this. But, despite having all this kind of wealth and luxury at his behest, he chose to live an austere life. And he chose to move toward spirituality.
Even Sant Ajaib Singh Ji, his foster parents were his uncle and aunt. And his uncle was very wealthy. He had hundreds and thousands of acres of land and he wanted Sant Ajaib Singh Ji only to run all of that after him. But, Sant Ajaib Singh Ji wanted to earn his own means and he got himself recruited in the army. And then, with the earnings of what he earned in the army and his pension only, that took care of his needs.
Later, when he had done this, a lot of his other family members had forcefully encroached and occupied the land belonging to his foster parents and, later, he acquired all of these land parcels back, but he distributed them amongst the poor.
So, the purpose of saying this is that, if we are working towards salvation, if we are working towards spirituality, then keeping austerity in mind is important. Because, if we keep our mind attached to all of these things, keep these worldly attachments and all the luxuries foremost in the mind, and only superficially we want salvation, then that is not going to be possible. Because, on the Path of spirituality, we have to go through this austerity. We have to go through hardship. It is going to be difficult for the mind to get there. We are going to suffer pain when we sit for long hours, so we have to overcome that pain. We have to overcome the mind and we have to continue and sit and do our devotion.
Guru bin koi paar na paaya,
Bin naam na dheeraj aaya.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “No one has got salvation without a True Master. And no one has got peace without Naam.”
So, if we want true peace within, then we have to be devoted to the True Master and Naam. There is no happiness and peace in wealth and luxuries. There is no peace in positions in society. There is no peace in ruling kingdoms. The only peace is the peace in Naam within.
Nanak Sahib says, “The whole world, everyone, is suffering and everyone is unhappy. The only people who are happy are those who are connected inside with Naam.”
Ab surat samhaalo aayi,
Jo shabd haath lag jaayi.
Man indri tan bharmaayi,
Dukh sukh mein gaye bhulaayi.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Get your mind connected to Naam, because, otherwise, the mind will get pulled by the senses and they will run towards outward satisfaction in this world.” Because the mind is an agent of Kal, and it is his duty to make sure that the soul does not leave. Therefore, he constantly is working towards getting and dissuading the soul from doing the devotion.
Haun haun kar janm bitaayi,
Karta ki bhooj na aayi.
Ab soch karo tum man mein,
Kuch roko man nij tan mein.
Now, He says, “In all our previous lives, we have been suffering. And it is only now that, in this human life, we have to stand still and think on whether we want to continue with this suffering.” So, He says, “This whole chaurasi is a sea of suffering. And there, unfortunately, we cannot even think that we are suffering. We simply have to suffer.”
In this human life here we are also suffering, but here we can think. And we can decide to step aside from that. In this life also, everything is preordained. We have got our karma set up for us and, yet, we are constantly hungering for more. And, if we have one lakh — or a hundred thousand — rupees, we want ten hundred thousand rupees. And, likewise, constantly we want to increase our wealth. It is the mind, which is constantly in the greed of wanting more. And when we are unable to satiate this desire for more from the mind, then we start suffering.
Ab soch karo tum man mein,
Kuch roko man nij tan mein.
Therefore, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Hold your mind within and get it connected with Naam within. And then, you will get salvation. You will get the Path to go to your True Home.”
We will never get satisfaction and happiness by leaving the mind to its own because the mind is a devil. It will keep running and it will never get satisfied. So, it is important to hold the mind and keep it connected with Naam within.
Radhasoami kahat bujhaa'i,
Tab surat shabad ghar paai.
If you hold your mind within, you hold it still and get it connected with Naam, when it gets connected with the Sound Current, then it will, along with the soul, go inwards. And then, the soul will be able to go back to its True Father and to its True Home.
Radhasoami kahat bujhaa'i,
Tab surat shabad ghar paai.
Radhaswami.