The paathi is singing from the Bani of Swami Ji Maharaj from the book: Santo Ki Bani...
Guru kahen pukaar pukaar,
Samajh man karlo sumiraniyaan.
Guru kahen pukaar pukaar,
Samajh man karlo sumiraniyaan.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Swami Ji Maharaj. In this Bani, Swami Ji Maharaj has praised the importance of Simran. The first step on the ladder of devotion is gurubhakti— or the devotion of the Master. And devotion of the Master does not mean that we take some incense or some candles and light them and do such outward rituals. The devotion of the Master is, basically, doing our meditation, doing our Simran and Dhyan, and doing seva at the feet of the Master. These are the first steps on the path of devotion.
The Names that have been given to us at the time of initiation are the names of the Lords of the planes in the higher regions. These are the Lords Who have never taken an avatar and come into this world and They are very pure Lords. So, taking Their Name and repeating that in our mind makes the mind also pure.
So, Simran is our first step on this ladder. Till we are able to do Simran to the level where it starts happening automatically in our mind, we will not be able to progress much on this Path. That is why Masters lay a lot of emphasis on Simran. And They say that you should do Simran when you're cooking food, or you're walking, or you're traveling, or doing anything in a routine. You should do as much Simran as possible. It is Simran only that will take the attention of the soul and get it out of the nine doors and bring it into the Tenth Door. So, Simran is a very important thing and till we become good at that, we will not be able to progress much within.
The mind is prone to doing simran of the world and it does not like to do the Simran of the Naam that has been given by the Masters. So, every time we sit for trying to do Simran, the mind pulls us outwardly. It takes time to do this.
Initially, we have to forcefully do it because the mind is used to going outward. We have to force it to sit and do Simran. And it is a slow process because of the habit of the mind. One cannot say whether it will take a certain number of days or a certain number of months or years. But it takes a bit of time for the mind to get accustomed to this.
Initially, we repeat the Names with the tongue; and, silently, we repeat Them in the mouth with the tongue. Because we are used to repeating that way, it comes more easily to us. But later, we start repeating the Names in the mind. That is called jap. So, initially, this is done with the mouth, then consciously with the mind.
And then, when it becomes automatic in the mind, it is called ajapa. So, once the mind starts doing it automatically, then we will get successful and we will be able to quickly go within.
Therefore, we should try and spend more and more time doing Simran.
Guru kahen pukaar pukaar,
Samajh man karlo sumiraniyaan.
Swaanso swaans ghate teri poonji,
Chali jaaye yah umraniyaan.
Swami Ji Maharaj warns us and awakens us, saying, “Our treasure is getting depleted with every breath, the biggest treasure that we have in this life is the treasure of the number of breaths that we can take in this life. And with each breath, we are losing and depleting that treasure.”
It is said that we will lose about 21,600 breaths every day — we take about fifteen breaths in a minute. And that way, in the whole day, nearly 21,600 breaths are lost to us from our current lifetime.
If we look back and think it through, then every minute we are losing fifteen breaths, and in a day we are losing 21,600 breaths. Considering that, if we look at six months back or one year back, what is our remaining age today? If we look back, we should see how much breath we have just thrown away.
Kabir Sahib says, “Beating a drum, I say this repeatedly. With each breath, you are losing the value of three worlds.”
Therefore, instead of wasting this breath, we should value this breath. And when we say that we value the breath, it means that we should do Simran with each passing breath because that is the only treasure that we will be taking beyond this life. So, with each breath, you should do Simran. And, that way, you will be collecting this wealth of Simran and your bank balance of Simran will increase. This is one wealth that only the person who does Simran can keep with him and take after this life also.
Today we are wasting this breath — on this world, on our relationships, and on everything around us — because we are so much lost in our desires around this world and we are wasting all our breath. When this treasure of breath comes to an end, we realize that we will have to leave this world behind, we have wasted all our breath in this, and this whole thing has been futile.
No one can take what he has in this world today with him. Kabir Sahib says, “Nobody has ever been able to take anything from here, even the great Rama and the great Ravana who had such big armies and such big kingdoms, they also were not able to take anything from here.” We have to leave all of this behind.
God Almighty has given you this lifetime and given you this precious opportunity, and this is the opportunity for you to get out of this ocean of life. Now, if we waste this in our mundane activities — taking care of our families or taking care of our livelihood and our food and all that — even the animals do this. So, what is the difference between them and us? You have to use this opportunity for which it has been given to you.
God sits in this human body and He has provided this opportunity to get a salvation and go back to Him. Now, if we have wasted this opportunity, we have wasted that opportunity that God Almighty Himself has created for us.
Swaanso swaans ghate teri poonji,
Chali jaaye yah umraniyaan.
Vakt mila yah takht-nasheeni,
Chhorr been ab ghubiniyaan.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “You have come into this life, and this opportunity has been given to you to go back and reacquire your throne from where you have come. You belong to that kingdom and your throne and your crown await you there.”
This body is not yours; it is just made of mud and it is going to be left behind. You do not belong to this world. This world is not yours. You belong to God Almighty and you have to go back. God Almighty had sent you here only to observe and see this circus for a while. But you have become a participant and you have become stuck and stayed here only.
So, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “This was a wonderful opportunity that had been given to you to get salvation and go back to God Almighty but, instead, in this world, you are collecting cow dung.”
This world and all the desires and everything around this world, He relates as cow dung, which is littered all over the place and on the roads. So, leaving your True Home you have come here and you are collecting all this cow dung. He says, “You wake up! Because this opportunity that has been given to you to get salvation, if you lose this, then you're going back into that cycle of life and death. And then, God alone knows when you will get the next opportunity like this.”
Nearby, from this ashram, just under ten kilometers away, there was a mahatma called Narayan Tata. He made an ashram there and the story of his is very interesting. Today also, people come there and they are given some food in the ashram.
Earlier, he used to do this occupation of selling bangles. Now, those who have a tendency toward devotion and a tendency toward spirituality, they do not make good businessmen because they are generally very generous. So, young girls would come to him and he would, out of generosity, give them bangles for free. And, that way, every day he would come home, and then, he would have a fight with his wife who’d complain that he had given these bangles free and he was not doing proper business.
So once, after he had closed shop, he was returning home after selling these bangles — usually, it was a barter trade where people could give him some grains or something like that because currency was not that much in vogue. So, people would barter some grains or some such other thing. And so, he was carrying his bartered items on one side, and on the other side, he was carrying the remainder of his bangles of that day as he was going home.
On the way back, near a tree, there was a sadhu who was sitting. So, seeing him, he felt like going and meeting him because one person who takes to devotion or likes spirituality, likes other Godmen also. So, he went and thought he'd spend some time with that sadhu.
So, he met that mahatma and that mahatma settled a lot of his questions in their discussion that took place. And, at the end of it, he requested for being initiated by that mahatma, who initiated him right there.
He gave him the initiation and he gave him that mantra. So, Narayan Tata felt that he had been initiated too soon and he was not sure whether this really was true. So, he questioned the mahatma and said, “You gave me the initiation on my request, but then how do I know that the mantra that you have given has an effect internally? How do I come to know about it?”
The mahatma then looked for a small pebble and he gave him a pebble, and he said, “ You keep this in your mouth when you meditate. And when this pebble becomes sweet, you will understand that my mantra is working.”
When he got that pebble, he was excited about it and he felt that he should try it out right away. So, as he was walking towards his home, he left the bag of bangles and the other consideration that he had received below a tree and he walked toward a small hillock nearby which had a cave. He went and sat in that cave.
He didn't bother about whether someone would give him food the next day or what would happen to him. But, he sat for meditation there, not bothering about how he would take care of his food, etc.
Now, the next day, he continued. There were some cow herders who used to bring their cows for grazing nearby and they noticed that there was this man who was sitting and meditating. So, they left about a half a liter of milk in a vessel outside, so that he could consume that as their offering to him.
Every day, they would do that. In the morning, they would leave that milk for him and he would drink that milk during that day. So, like that, he would take that milk and continue to do meditation throughout the day, only going out for his bare necessities, and he continued to do meditation.
And, after about three years, when his meditation improved and he could do very good simran, the attention of his soul went up to the Eye Center and his Third Eye opened.
Now, when this happened, he also noticed that that pebble — which he had kept in his mouth all along — had become sweet like sugar. And he started wondering whether only that stone, which was in his mouth was sweet, or any stone was going to be sweet now? He picked some other pebbles and put them in his mouth, and even those became like sugar. So, every pebble that he put in his mouth became like sugar.
Now, those cow herders who used to come every day noticed that this old man was now tasting all the pebbles. So, they also came to him and he offered them also those pebbles. And when they also tasted those pebbles, it was like sugar. And, that way, they went back to their village and they told others about this.
So, the villagers nearby — about three or four kilometers away — also came to know and they also came for his blessings. And, to whoever would come for his blessings in the afternoon when he would come out from his meditation, he would offer them those pebbles. And, that way, everyone started getting that sugar — and, today also, when people go there, as parshad, they get that sugar only.
So, back then, the villagers requested that he should come and stay in the village and that they would make a house for him because there in the jungle there would be animals, etc., and he had to stay alone. So, they created a place for him.
And, today also, his tomb is still there in that village. He had a lot of mystic powers and a lot of followers are devoted to him even now. He wrote a book about the future. So, a lot of future events that will unfold, he has written that in that book of his.
So, therefore, everything is in Simran. The more and faster Simran you do, the faster progress you will get. And the slower Simran you do, the longer you will take.
Vakt mila yah takht-nasheeni,
Chhorr been ab ghubiniyaan.
Yah maarag ab guru bataaven,
Pakarr gaho tum ur dhuniyaan.
This Simran is given to you by True Masters. You should practice that Simran and focus at the Eye Center. The Masters have given it as the Simran for us to do. We have to do this Simran, and when we do that, we go to the Eye Center.
Once we are at the Eye Center, we manifest the Form of the Master and, with the Grace of the Master, the Sound Current is also manifested and He enables us to have the Darshan of Jyoti and Niranjan.
The Master Who has given you the initiation is waiting for you to come to the Eye Center. That much duty is ours. We have to go to the Eye Center following His instructions. After that, the Master will take you further. All that is His duty to do.
Yah maarag ab guru bataaven,
Pakarr gaho tum ur dhuniyaan.
Shabd sang tum surat lagaao,
Raho nitt guru mujraniyaan.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “By doing Simran you manifest the Form the Master within. And once you have manifested the Master within, He will always be there with you, every second. And then, the Sound Current, which is resonating at the Eye Center, will take you further up. And on the Path from one Sound Current to the other Sound Current, it will take you back to God Almighty.
Shabd sang tum surat lagaao,
Raho nitt guru mujraniyaan.
Daya lev tum har dam unki,
Saran parro un charnaiyaan.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Once you have manifested the Radiant Form of the Master within, then He extends His Grace to you. And all that you require, He takes care and fulfills all the things that you want, and He is always there with you — whether you go to America or you go to India or anywhere — He is always with you.” And during such time that you haven’t yet manifested the Form of the Master, you should do Simran. And, whenever we are in difficulty, if we have a practice of doing Simran, then we remember Simran in that difficulty and we get the Grace of the Master.
One of the proofs that our Simran is being done correctly is that, in any kind of difficulty, we first remember Simran. When we are facing some difficulty — even in a dream state — and we start remembering our Simran and we start doing Simran in that state, then you can say that your Simran is now on the right path and you are doing it correctly. Because, in case of difficulty, your Simran should always come to your mind and not go to some other person. Wherever there is Simran, there is the Master.
If you have not done your Simran properly then, when you face some difficulty, you don't remember Simran. Instead, you call out for your mother or you call out for your father or you call out for some other person.
So, we have to make a habit of doing Simran correctly and this one test is that, in case of difficulty, we remember Simran. Like that, when we are doing our Simran regularly, even at the time of death, we will automatically start doing our Simran.
Simran does not come automatically to us unless we develop that habit. So, whenever in difficulty, if Simran is coming to us, then we are developing the correct habit.
If we don't have the habit of doing Simran, then at the time of death, we will not get it automatically. We will not be able to do the Simran. And otherwise, in difficulty, whoever we are trying to call, that manifests again at the time of death also.
So, we have to develop this habit. If we notice that there is some satsangi or there is some dear one who is unable to remember his Simran at the time of his death then, at the time of that death, we should try to remind him of Simran. We should get any non-satsangi out of that place, or kids and all that, we should ask them to leave, and we should remind him of the Simran and ask him to do that Simran.
Daya lev tum har dam unki,
Saran parro un charnaiyaan.
Vah to bhed bataaven ghat ka,
Pakarr shabd bhau tarnaniyaan.
So, He says, “We should follow the Teachings of the Master. And, we should not get outwardly driven because Masters do not get us to do any outward rituals.” So, whatever Teachings They have — which is Simran and our meditation — we should do that, following Their Teachings.
Another thing that the Masters tell us not to do is to contemplate on any photograph of theirs. Whatever photographs we have of our Masters, it is just a simple memory. That's all. It is not to be contemplated upon.
We have to always remember the Form of the Master as we actually saw Him. And the Masters strictly prohibit doing any puja or doing any rituals around that photograph or trying to contemplate on that. The photograph is also an inanimate object and it is not going to help you if you get into any difficulty.
So, Masters always want you to practice, go within. Everything that They explain is for us to go within. And so, that is why we should contemplate on the Form of the Master and do our Simran to go within.
When we go within after doing Simran, then we open our Third Eye, and there we first see our own soul. The soul has a shape. It does not have a physical body or anything; it has a shape when we first see our own soul. When we see our soul, we develop the true longing for our Master. We understand that we are not the body, but we are the soul. Our true love and affection for the Master comes there. And that love only keeps growing every day and it never reduces.
Vah to bhed bataaven ghat ka,
Pakarr shabd bhau tarnaniyaan.
Laagi lagan bahur nahi soojhe,
Surat ajar mein jarnaniyaan.
Once we go inside and we manifest the Sound Current, then our true pangs of separation with God Almighty— we become true to that — and we want to go back to God Almighty from there. Once we go there, we come to know of the reality. We see the reality with our own eyes there and we see how Kal and Maya have created this full illusion and all of this world. We also see what we have been in all our previous births. We see and witness our own lives, our earlier lives.
So, seeing all this reality, we automatically lose that affection which we had for the world and all the worldly desires, etc. All of that goes and we start having a true longing for the Master and the true longing for God Almighty.
Laagi lagan bahur nahi soojhe,
Surat ajar mein jarnaniyaan.
Jin jin sang guru poore,
Chhuta janm aur marnaniyaan.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Those who have got a true Master, their cycle of life and death has come to an end and they will go back to God Almighty. Those who have earlier had the company of the Masters have gone back to God Almighty. And those who have the company now will go back to God Almighty.”
We have not had this opportunity before — of meeting the Masters or being in the company of the Masters — because, had we had that company of the Masters, then we would not have come into this world now. We would be now in some higher plane or we would be in Sach Khand-Sat Lok.
It is only because this opportunity has been given to us now that we have the company of the Masters and we have a human body. That has only happened now.
So, therefore, this opportunity, which has come to you, should be understood and we should follow this. We should try and practice our meditation and work hard towards making the most of this opportunity and not waste it on trying to pursue all our worldly desires and things and collecting all of that which you will have to leave at the time of death. The whole world will be betraying us at the time of death. So, we should make the most of this opportunity that has been given to us.
Therefore, every day in our schedule of activities, we should make sure that we have the priority of doing meditation. We should take out time in the morning for doing meditation, first thing. And, in the evening, we should set out some time for our Satsang.
Jin jin sang guru poore,
Chhuta janm aur marnaniyaan.
Jagat jaar itaj saar samajh tu,
Mite chauraasi bhrmaniyaan.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “You can look around and assure yourself that everything that we see is subject to destruction. What is there today may not be there tomorrow. What is there tomorrow may not be there the day after.”
So, everything that is there that we see is subject to destruction and is very dynamic. If we start loving things that are subject to destruction, then we are setting ourselves up also for destruction. We should focus our initiatives towards the thing that is beyond destruction. And, what is that? That is Naam. So, we should focus our attention to gather that Naam as much as possible.
Masters say, “Leave what is false — which is the world and the desires around it. And pursue what is truth— which is Naam and the Master.” By following and pursuing the truth, you will be able to go back to your True Home and sit in the lap of God Almighty, your True Father.
Jagat jaar itaj saar samajh tu,
Mite chauraasi bhrmaniyaan.
Satsang karo preet ghat dhaaro,
Dekh roop charrh darpaniyaan.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Leave the falsehood — that is the world and all the desires — and pursue what is truth.” And the Masters, in the Satsangs, show us the way to discern between what is truth and what is false.
So, we should pursue the truth and go to the Masters and try to assimilate what They are trying to teach us. Therefore, listen to Satsangs, go to Satsangs, and every day, spend time doing your Simran Bhajan. And whatever precious time has been given to you, make full use of it. Do Simran and meditation every day and, with that, leave the nine doors and go to the Tenth Door. And there, see for yourself. See who you are.
It is like seeing in a mirror, and there you see and notice that you are the soul and that you are not the body. And you get a lot of happiness realizing that you are not the body. All these doubts and impressions that we are carrying in our mind get settled and come to naught when we see for ourselves and see the soul.
Gagan gira parkho dhun baani,
Yahi kamaai karnaniyaan.
Pahuncho jaaye adhar mein pyaari,
Gaanth khule tab tan maniyaan.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Do your Simran. Come from the nine doors to the Tenth Door. And, when you come there, this love and affection that you have for your body will go. The mind and soul that are attached to the body, that attachment goes. And, even the mind there, when it gets connected with the Sound Current, realizes that it is also not the body. It is of a higher element and belongs to Brahm. So, it is also then very keen to go back to its true home.
Once the attention of the soul goes up, we see the soul for ourselves, and the soul recognizes itself. It realizes that it is not the body.
The mind, once it gets connected to the Sound Current, realizes that it is not these senses, which it is today completely manifested in. So, it realizes that it is different from the senses, which it is following.
And both the soul and mind today are lost in this world. The soul is lost and the mind is also lost. Once the soul realizes and it sees for itself, and the mind gets connected with the Sound Current, both realize who they truly are and both start going towards their true homes.
Once they reach the Brahm, there the knot, which has been tied for several hundreds of millions of years between this mind and this soul, gets untied. And the soul, thereafter, is free to go to Par Brahm and go back to God Almighty.
Ya jag mein koi sukhi na dekho,
Gaho guru ke bachnaniyaan.
Dukh ke jaal phanse sab moorakh,
Tu kyon un sang phansnaniyaan.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “I see in this world that no human being is happy. Everyone is unhappy, whether one is a king or whether one is a pauper. The king is unhappy because his desire to get more wealth burns inside and he is unhappy and he is not satisfied. And the pauper is unhappy because he doesn't have wealth and his desire to have more wealth burns him.”
So, any person we see in this human life, who has taken the support of this world, or is trying to fulfill his desires around this world, is unhappy. And what to speak of all the animals and all the other creatures that are there? The human being has been given the best of opportunities in the body, and if humans are unhappy seeking their desires in this world, what to speak of all the animals? They are terribly unhappy.
So, the only people who are happy — the only humans I see who are happy — are the servants of the Masters. They are the only happy people because they have made Naam and they have made their Masters their support in life and they have not sought support from this world or the desires around this world.”
Therefore, take strength in the support of Naam and in the Master because no one has ever been happy in the past, and no one will ever be happy in the future in this world taking the support of all the desires around and chasing all these worldly desires.
Dukh ke jaal phanse sab moorakh,
Tu kyon un sang phansnaniyaan.
Main tu mor tor sab tyaago,
Gaho radhasoami sarnaniyaan.
Towards the end of this Bani, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Leave ‘me’ and ‘myself’’ and things that we want to say belong to us. It is this ego of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, which is forever bringing us back into this world of unhappiness. It is only ‘me’ and ‘mine’ that brings us back.”
So, leave this ‘me’ and ‘mine’ and surrender to the Will of the Masters. It is only this ‘me’ and ‘mine’ which is forever bringing us back into this world again and again and causing all the suffering. It is this ego around us, which is causing all the suffering.
So, leave this ego behind, surrender to the Will of the Master, and focus your love and attention at the Feet of the Master and in Naam. Focus your love and devotion towards your Master and Naam and get yourself free from this ego of ‘me’ and ‘mine’.
Dukh ke jaal phanse sab moorakh,
Tu kyon un sang phansnaniyaan.
Main tu mor tor sab tyaago,
Gaho radhasoami sarnaniyaan.
Radhaswami.