The paathi sings the Bani of Swami Ji Maharaj from the book: Santo Ki Bani...
Dhun sun kar man samjhaai,
Dhun sun kar man samjhaai.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Swami Ji Maharaj. Before I start with the Bani, I would like to pray at the feet of SomAjaib Who have graced me so much to make me fit for this Seva. I had the fortune of doing the seva at the feet of Somanath Baba Ji for three years. After He left His body, I continued to do seva there for five years, but I got the fortune of doing seva at the feet of Sant Ji for eleven years. Somanath Baba Ji made my life. I had no knowledge of Sant Mat. So, when I went to the ashram, I thought Baba Ji was a yogi, so He may be dressed something like that. But He was dressed in simple white clothes. So, I was a little surprised to see Him in such simple white clothes. When I went there, there was a very expansive ashram and there were about one hundred and ten sevadars there.
It was Somanath Baba Ji only Who instructed me to do seva there at the ashram. So, I stayed there and I used to do seva throughout the day. I used to sleep only between 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM. I had night duty, and early morning also I used to do seva after that. So, I got to sleep between 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM. The ashram was very big, about sixty-five odd acres, and there was farming on those sixty-five acres. And there was a lot of work. None of the sevadars had even a moment to spare, and the seva was very tough.
I had come from Bombay and I was not used to that kind of work. But, with the Grace of the Master, I got used to doing that kind of seva also. I did not indulge in talking to people. I was always doing my seva quietly. And, day and night, I used to do this seva. This whole energy and the strength to do this seva was all the Grace of my Master.
I used to do Simran throughout the night, especially when I was doing the seva, and in about one and a half year’s time, my attention of the soul started getting withdrawn from the body. So, when this happened, when the attention of the soul started getting focused and going inwards, the pang of separation with the Master was so strong. So, when I used to do this and this started happening to me, I used to feel so much of this pang of separation from the Master.
He used to give Darshan twice. But, even then, I used to keep wanting more and more Darshan. And then, He would walk for Satsang. And when He would walk, I would continuously keep looking at Him. I was actually not allowed to attend those Satsangs, because of the seva. So, I used to see Him from outside and, just by seeing Him, my soul would withdraw inside.
This happened two, three times. When, after about two, three days this had happened, Baba Ji immediately asked about me. He pointedly asked, “Does Ram Singh come to attend the Satsang?”
So, they said, “Yes, he is there.”
Then, He gave me instructions that I should not attend the Satsang, and I should go to the coconut trees and do my duty. This coconut plantation was about half a kilometer away. So, He told me to go and do my duty there, because these coconuts would keep getting stolen from there.
So, though that Satsang stopped for me, that pang of separation was, indeed, very strong. The point of telling you this is that it was Somanath Baba Ji Who made my life on this Path.
After Baba Ji left His body, I continued to do seva in the ashram and I was there for about five years. But, gradually, the conditions there were not very conducive, and I did not want to stay there. I later went to Betta, which is an ashram nearby of Somanath Baba Ji’s. So, I was there sitting in meditation for some time.
After that, I used to go to various places. I used to go Mumbai. I used to go to different places but, gradually, that attention, which I had enjoyed, that inner bliss I was enjoying, diminished.
But, in 1978, I was there at the residence of Mr. R.R. Singh in Mumbai and, like I had mentioned earlier, by doing Simran there, again I could concentrate very well. And Sant Ji came and I got the Darshan of Sant Ji, and then He also did a Satsang.
Thereafter, I returned to Bangalore and, from Bangalore, I returned back to Betta. And, that way, about eight, nine years passed.
So, after nine years, the story is very long, but Sant Ji asked me to do the duty, to be in this place and continue with seva. And I used to take groups of people who wanted to get initiated and who wanted to attend Satsang. So, we used to go in groups and attend Sant Ji’s programs.
And once, I had taken nearly one hundred twenty people. And, out of one hundred twenty, there were ninety people who took initiation. And there were so many people they were all made to stand in a line, and Sant Ji walked along the line and decided who was to be given initiation, and who was not.
So, the point of telling you this is that after Somanath Baba Ji, it was then Sant Ji Who held my hand. He held the hand of a drowning man and He brought him back on the Path. And it is only with His Grace that all of this is happening.
Everything that is happening here and happening now is the Grace of these two great Masters. And They have always been showering Grace, and They will continue to shower Grace. So, it is the Grace of these two Masters, otherwise, I am a simple person. I was an impure soul, but it is Their Grace, which has made me fit for the Seva of the sangat. Everyone who comes here, and everyone who comes to me, I take these people to the feet of these two great Masters. And it is the Grace of these two Masters only that everyone is getting.
So, all of you have come here. It is with the Grace of these two great Masters, and it is Their Grace only that is making all this happen. Like Kabir Sahib says, “You should bow down continually to your Masters because the amount of Grace that the Masters shower upon you transforms you. It is unfathomable.”
That is the kind of Grace that the great Masters have showered on this poor soul and It is continuing for all of you for this program. So, the two Great Masters have been showering Their Grace, and They will continue to shower Grace on all of us.
This is the Bani of Swami Ji Maharaj. And He says, “If you even try a million different measures to control your mind, the mind is not going to get controlled till you bring it at the back of the Eye Center and get it connected with the Sound Current.”
There are hundreds and thousands of munis and rishis who have tried so many different measures and austerities, but they have, till now, not been successful. The only way is to meet a Master, come within, and get connected with the Sound Current.
The True Masters connect the soul with Sar Shabd. And the pleasure of being connected with the Sar Shabd, the Anahad, is unfathomable. There is no parallel in this universe or all the worlds that is equal or near to the pleasure that you get in being connected with the Sound Current. So, when the mind gets connected to the Sound Current, it gets so intoxicated in the pleasure of that Sound Current that it kicks off all its worldly desires, pleasures, attachments and everything. It realizes that it is different. It is the mind, different from the sensory organs, different from the senses, which have been controlling it. And it understands that it doesn’t belong to this world. So, that same mind, which has been an enemy of the soul in not allowing the soul to progress within, that same mind becomes a great friend of the soul and helps it to go within.
Koti jatan se yah nahi maane,
Dhun sun kar man samjhaai.
Jogi jukti kamaaven apni,
Gyaani gyaan karaai.
He says that the yogis have been trying to do their austerities, trying to do pranayamas and control their mind. But these efforts have been futile because the practices lead them up to the Brahm, not beyond that. The mind comes from Brahm, so it is not possible for them to control the mind. Therefore, sooner or later, the mind gains command over them, and the efforts of the pranayamas and everything that they are doing, become futile.
Then, there are the others who read all the scriptures and all the holy books, and they use these books. They have these utterances, and they are very learned and knowledgeable about these scriptures and all the holy books. But, by doing that also, they have not got satisfaction or salvation. All these scriptures and holy books are very good and we should read them, but it is more important that we conduct ourselves and we act on these books. That is how we get the benefit of these books. It is not by reading these books again and again.
Tapasi tap kar thaak rain,
Jati rahe jat laai.
Dhyaani dhyaan maansi laaven,
Vah bhi dhokkha khaai.
Then, there are the people who do japas and tapas, and they do all kinds of penances. But all these penances again are not able to get them beyond their mind. There are also many people who maintain silence by not talking to anybody, and that also does not give them or get them salvation. By keeping silent outwardly and not talking, that doesn’t get us to control our mind, because our mind is talking inside.
So, when we want things, we write and we get those things, or we convey it some other way. But, when we do not talk, that does not help us control our mind. So, these measures do not grant inner satisfaction and salvation.
Again, if we look at Somanath Baba Ji and Sant Ajaib, They also did a lot of austerities. They did a lot of pranayamas and they also got success in that, in terms of being able to get mystic powers. But all of that did not get them salvation, did not get them inner peace. They got that only when they met their Masters, Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj and Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj. And then, with Their help, they did the practice of Surat Shabd, went inside, and they got connected with the Sound Current. And then, with that Sound Current, they went back to God Almighty. That is how They got Their salvation and Their inner peace.
Pandit parrh parrh bed bakhaane,
Bidya bal sab jaai.
Buddhi chaturta kaam na aave,
Aalim rahe pachhtaai.
All the pundits and all the learned people, they embraced reading and explaining and talking about the Vedas and all the scriptures, but that again did not give them peace. They remained as they were. There are also people who have tried to control their mind by their own intelligence and intellect. So, they have tried to suppress their mind or control their mind, through their intellect.
But what happens is, at the time of death, when the attention of the soul withdraws and it goes through chidakash where the soul is going to be pulled up, there the tongue and intellect both stop functioning before the soul is pulled out. So, everything they have done by virtue of their intellect is of no use because, at the time of death, this cannot help them.
At the time of death, the faculty of the tongue to speak, and the mind, and the intellect, all these stop functioning. And, finally, the person who has tried to do this with intelligence, he has to carry his own karmas. And that process goes on. So, controlling with intellect and all does not help.
What happens is, when Masters initiate, They connect the soul with the Sound Current inside. So, at the time of death, when the attention of the soul is getting assimilated at the back of the Eye Center and all these things happen, when the faculty of the tongue and mind cease and the connection of the soul is made with the Sound Current, They are able to pull the soul up. When an initiate dies, the attention of the soul gets pulled up in the normal instance. The faculty of tongue, or speaking, gets curtailed. Then it goes up further. The mind and intellect also stop functioning, and then the soul continues to be pulled up. But, when it gets pulled up beyond that, there is the Sound Current. So, with the Grace of the Master, the Sound Current is manifested and the soul gets connected to the Sound Current. Then, it rides on the Sound Current with the Master and goes further up inside.
Therefore, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “All these people, the yogis, tapis, the gyanis, the people of knowledge, and all of these people who have tried, they’re afraid and they have not been able to control their mind.”
Aur amal ka dakhal nahi hai,
Amal shabd lau laai.
Guru mile jab dhun ka bhedi,
Shishya birah dhar aai.
So, after explaining these measures, which are futile, Swami Ji Maharaj comes to talking about the Surat Shabd Yoga. And He says, “If you meet a Perfect Master Who is fully knowledgeable about everything within, and He meets a disciple who has the pang of separation, who wants to meet God Almighty in this lifetime itself, then there is success on this Path.” He says, “Even if the Master is perfect, but the disciple is sitting with all his wants and desires of this world, even then, success is difficult.”
Surat shabd ki hoye kamaai,
Tab man kuchh thaharaai.
Hirs havas se haath na aave,
Tan man dev charrhaai.
He says, “When there is a perfect Master and the disciple also, who’s an initiate, does that practice and follows the Teachings of the Master then, with the Grace of the Master, he gets success in being able to control the mind.” As he keeps doing his Simran and he keeps doing his meditation, gradually, the mind becomes purer. And his attention of his soul starts withdrawing internally, starts leaving the nine outward doors and comes to the Tenth Door inside.
So, in Sant Mat, practice and effort are very important. If we do not do our practice and we do not put in the effort there, then we will not be successful.
Bulhavasi aur kapti jan ko,
Nek na dhun patiyaai.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Those people who are lazy and those people who have deceit, the Word inside — the Naam — does not believe these people and they are not successful.” So, to be successful on this Path we have to be resolved to do that effort, to do the practice regularly and face all those hardships that come our way while doing these practices, despite living in this world and living in the surroundings around us.
Yesterday also, I mentioned earlier about the story of Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj, when he was getting his pension. There was enough wealth that he had and there was enough money that he would be getting regularly out of his pension. And there was no need for him to take all these efforts, but he took all these efforts. He dried the rotis. He would make those rotis and dry them on a rope, and then, while eating, he would dip them in salt water and then eat. What was the need to do all this? Then, there was Bibi Rukko. She could have cooked food for him and given food to him to eat, but then she was also asked to do meditation. So, he wanted to do all this. He wanted to make this effort and to do that practice.
So, Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj’s life is something that we should take a lesson from. It’s an ideal life where he forever sacrificed everything and focused on his meditation and practice. When he was working, the whole day he would do very tough work and duties. And then, in the night he would sit for meditation. After he retired from the army, he went back. And there Swami Ji Maharaj’s wife, Radha Bai, as per instructions of Swami Ji Maharaj, gave him the Guru Granth Sahib. And she told him, following the instructions of Swami Ji Maharaj, that since he had come from Punjab, he should go back to Punjab and do the preachings there. He should spread the learning of the Surat Shabd Yoga there. So, that’s how He went back to spread the Teachings.
So, He went back. His is a life of effort, of doing this practice, and the sacrifice that He put in. In fact, when He went back to preach also, and He was spreading the Teachings of the Surat Shabd, He insisted that nobody should ever take His photograph. And anyone who takes His photograph would go to hell. So, He made it a point not to leave any of His own physical traits behind and, when He passed away also, He handed over everything to His loving Son, Sawan Singh Maharaj, Who was His initiate. So, how great was His life!
Therefore, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “If within the disciple, he has the yearning to go back to God Almighty, the yearning to do the practice and go within, and he meets a perfect Master, then he will definitely be successful and he will get the Grace of his Master.”
Yah dhun hai dhur lok adhar ki,
Koi pakrren sant sipaahi.
Swami Ji Maharaj, in this Bani, also has a direct reference to Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj, because He says that the Shabd, the Sound Current that comes from God Almighty, can be held only by a ‘Santsipahi’. ‘Sant’ means a Saint and ‘sipahi‘ means soldier, ‘Soldier Saint’. Jaimal Singh Maharaj was highly respected, even in Agra. Everyone really respected Him for the kind of effort and sacrifice He was making for doing this practice of Surat Shabd Yoga.
Man ko maar karen asavaari,
Gagan kot vah len ghiraai.
So, to go within is to fight the mind. It is to fight a war and battle with the mind. Only a ‘Soldier Saint’ can do that; by his yearning to go and meet God Almighty, by his devotion, by his effort, and by his practice. Only by all of these will we be able to vanquish the fort of the mind.
So, we have to make our efforts. If we make our efforts, then we get the Grace of the Master. But the essence is making the effort and the sacrifice to sit there and do meditations. Only then, we get the Grace of the Masters.
This is the work of brave people who sit there and do that effort and wage that war. It is not the work of cowards who procrastinate, push it away, say it is not the right time to do it, it is too early to sit for meditation, and so on, so forth.
So, in this, the resolve of a person is very important. You have to resolve to do this. You have to resolve to keep this as your primary objective. And all of your other worldly tasks and duties, and everything else should be secondary.
When we hold our Master before everything else and before the rest of the world, then we will get success. If we hold the world before the Master, and we don’t even consider the Master equal to the rest of our desires and our attachments of this world, then we will not be successful.
I have seen with a lot of the sangat and a lot of the loved ones, that at the drop of a hat, at the slightest difficulty that they face, they are willing to leave their Master. If they have faced some difficulty, they say, “Our Master has not graced us.” And, therefore, they develop an ill will against the Master. If some loved one leaves them, they are bereaved with that, and they feel that Master did not shower Grace, and they’re willing to leave the Master.
So, if we do not respect the Master, even equal to the rest of the world that we are attached to, then how will we get the Grace of the Master?
Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, if we look at His example, his young son had just completed engineering training and he had a new job. And about six months into that, he became unwell, and then he developed loose motions and vomiting.
At that time, there were a lot of these epidemics that used to happen; like the plague, or malaria, etcetera. So, Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj took two days leave.
Now, his son was unwell for almost a month and he had become very weak. So, Sawan Singh Maharaj decided to take two days leave and take him to Beas. They used to stay in Sirsa, which was a little distance away. But, unfortunately, during that journey by train, when they disembarked at Beas station, His son expired there at the station.
So, we can just imagine, that the station is just three kilometers away from the ashram and Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj was taking his son so that he could go and meet his Master. And when this son expired at the station, just imagine what we would ordinarily be thinking.
But Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj had no remorse, and he said, “Okay, if he has passed away here, there is no point in taking the dead body and showing it to the Master.” So, he decided to take the dead body of his son back.
Now, he was a gurumukh-shish and he was very close to Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj. So, he felt, “If I take my dead son like this to Him, it will also cause a lot of grief to my Master unnecessarily.” Therefore, he decided to turn back and take that dead body back to his place, and that’s what he did. And then, he cremated him back at their village.
So a gurumukh disciple always looks at his Master before the world. He always sees his Master as the most important thing.
If we look at Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj also, when he would be paid his salary every month, he would not take it to his family, but he would go and place it at the feet of Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj. Then, after that, Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj would decide how much money would be used for seva and He would send the balance back to Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj through a sevadar.
So, therefore, for a true disciple, his Master is everything for him.
If we look at Sant Ji also, how much love He had for Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj. And every time He would start a Satsang, He would talk about Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj. He would bow down at the feet of Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj, and after a Satsang also. And every time, whenever He would say something, He always remembered Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj.
Khaai sunn paar maidaana,
Mahaasunn naaka parmaana.
Bhanwar-gupha ka phaatak torra,
Sheesh mahal satguru dikhlaai.
So, therefore, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Only a brave person goes within, gets connected with the Sound Current, then goes beyond the Brahm, goes to Par Brahm, and then, further, goes on to Sach Khand-Sat Lok. And that’s how he becomes successful.”
Adbhut leela ajab vahaan ki,Kiran kiran sooraj darsaai.
Swami Ji Maharaj explains Sach Khand-Sat Lok here. He says, “The vision of that is unparalleled. It is beyond explanation. And there, there are millions and millions of suns, the luminance of that coming from each cell of Sat Purush. And there it rains nectar.” The beauty of that cannot be explained. Only for those who can go there and who see it themselves, only they can understand. There the soul merges into God Almighty and becomes God Almighty.
So, like God is omnipotent and He is everywhere, like that, the soul also becomes omnipotent and it is everywhere. But the soul has the brilliance, the luminance, of about sixteen suns, and there is no counting or measure of the luminance of God Almighty. So there, the soul, when it meets God Almighty, the soul’s Father, which the soul has been away from for so many millions and millions of years, it dances in joy. And there it meets its lost Father and it meets its Family.
So, therefore, Masters keep saying, “This world, which we are in, this is a world of sorrow, this is a world of life and death. This is not your world. You are the soul. Your world is Sach Khand-Sat Lok. There, there is no life and there is no death.”
Sooraj sooraj jot niraari,
Chandr chandr kotin chhabi chhaai.
Ghat akaash aughat parkaasha,
Lakh akaash kotin parsaai.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “To go to Sach Khand-Sat Lok, we have to invert our soul and mind.” It is outwardly focused. We have to invert it. And then, when we go to Sach Khand-Sat Lok, there are countless skies. It is not one or two skies, but there are countless skies there.
Yah leela kuchh ajab pech ki,
Ulat palat koi gurumukh paai.
Kahaan lag barnu bhed agaadha,
Jo koi laave sunn samaadha.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “This can only be sung and explained by people who have gone there, who have inverted themselves and gone within and gone there. Only such people will be able to understand this.”
Samajh boojh goonge gurr khaai.
Akath akah ki baat niraali,
Kyonkar kahoon banaai.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “The three planes beyond Sach Khand are something that cannot be explained here. It is beyond our comprehension. It is like you give jaggery to a mute person. He will not be able to tell you what it is and how it tastes.” So, that experience is only understood by someone who has gone there.
Akath akah ki baat niraali,
Kyonkar kahoon banaai.
Radhasoami raaz chhipe ko,
Pargat kar sarsaai.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “I have explained the secret to you. This is a secret. It is not known to anyone. I have explained all this to you now.”
Akath akah ki baat niraali,
Kyonkar kahoon banaai.
Radhasoami raaz chhipe ko,
Pargat kar sarsaai.
Radhaswami.