Kal And Maya—Mahatmas Call This The Ocean Of Life
The Paathi sings the Bani of Swami Ji Maharaj from the book: Saar Bachan Sangrah, ppg 117-118
Yaha tum samajh soch kar chalana,
Yaha tum samajh soch kar chalana,
Yeh tho raah badi athi tedee,
Man ke saath na padanaa.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Swami Ji Maharaj. Swami Ji Maharaj, in this Bani, tells us, “We should tread very carefully in this world.” When Mahatmas say something like this, there is a reason behind it.
Mahatmas have always been saying, “This world, in which we are staying now, is not our world. It is not a place where we belong. It is the place of Kal and Maya.” We are also not this body. We are the soul. And who is there for the soul? It is God Almighty, Who is there for the soul.
Maya has created a delusion, and she has kept five guards. They ensure that the soul doesn't leave the compound of Kal and Maya. These guards are lust, anger, greed, ego, and attachment. So, between these guards, one of them is dominant at any given time. And each of them ensures that the soul doesn't leave from here.
We are identifying with this body and, as a result, we are wasting this very precious time that has been given to us. This world, which we are calling ours, day and night, we are spending time, thinking about this world, and all of these attachments that we have here. This world is going to leave us at the time of death, and the soul and the mind are attached to this world. And, where there is attachment, in the next birth, the mind and soul will assume a body in that same place. But, when they assume the next body, they will not, necessarily, get a human form only. And, as a result, they have to assume a lower life form. And, because of that, there is a lot of suffering and they get pushed into the chaurasi.
Therefore, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Tread very carefully in this world. This body, which has been given to you, and this time, which has been given to you, is very precious.” After a lot of suffering in the 8.4 million life forms, when the soul is tormented and is in deep sorrow, then God Almighty has mercy on it and gives it a human form This time has been given. This is a door of salvation, this human life form. It has been given to you to get salvation and go back to God Almighty and get away from all of this cycle of life and death.
This has not been given just to carry out our occupation or livelihood. That is also done by animals, birds, and other insects. But, it is given for salvation. God Almighty has very carefully crafted this human form. And, He has kept all His Creation, His sixteen planes, within this human life form. And He is also there, sitting within this life form. This characteristic is not there in any other life form.
This time, which we have, just goes away in ignorance and, at the time of death, the soul is very unhappy, and it is only repenting at the end. Therefore, Mahatmas caution us, and say, “You tread carefully and think on this in this world.”
Yeh tho raah badi athi tedee,
Man ke saath na padanaa.
Bhaujal dhaar bahe athi gaharee,
Bin guru kaise paar utharanaa.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “This path, the path of this world, is very crooked. And we are not aware, in terms ofhow many jivas are taking birth, how many are dying, and how this path is exactly.”
Ever since the soul has come from God Almighty and got into the realm of Kal and Maya, in this net of theirs, the soul has been going into this cycle of life and death. One cannot estimate the expanse of this world of Kal and Maya. Therefore, Mahatmas call this the ‘ocean of life’, and They say that we cannot fathom the depth and the expanse of this ocean.
So, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “This path of this world is very crooked.” And, later in the Bani, He explains to us how we have to tread on it. Mahatmas say, “This path is of Kal and Maya, and this is all an illusion. It is only there for three or four days.” The timeframe of this is finite. Pundit Thakur Dutt had estimated it, and then, Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj had corrected that time estimate of how long this world will be. So, They had estimated this, and there is still a very huge, very long period, left.
After every four yugas, there is one Jal Pralay water dissolution. And, one Chaukriyuga is four such yugas together. And this is for one thousand chaukriyugas. That is one, ek, kajavra. And one thousand such chaukriyugas will be one Kalpa. So, one thousand chaukriyugas is the life of this world. Earlier, it used to be printed, but then, they have discontinued that information.
Sat Yuga is approximately 1.7 million years (1,700,000). And, Treta is about 1.294 million years (1,294,000). And Dwapar Yuga is about eight Lakh, 64,000 years (864,000). And Kali Yuga is about four lakh, 32,000 years (432,000). It is approximately five to six thousand years that have passed in the Kali Yuga. So, Kali Yuga can be estimated from the end of Mahabharata, because it started at the end of Mahabharata. And, approximately, five thousand to six thousand years have passed since Mahabharata. So, years remaining should be about four lakh, 25,000, roughly (425,000).
After four yugas, there is a water dissolution. And, in that, the land that we see today is overcome by water, and that becomes the ocean. And the land, which is under the ocean today, it becomes land. So, that gets converted. All the jivas, all the souls, go to Brahm.
Brahma is the creator, within the lower three worlds. And, all the souls, because they go to Brahm, become pure. And then, the souls come back and they go to where the land now will be. Because they go to Brahm, when the soul becomes pure and comes back, it is the start of SatYuga again, and the human being has the lifespan of one hundred thousand years. And the strength of that human being is equal to ten thousand elephants.
But, once he comes here, again, the karmas start building up and, in the next yuga, the life gets reduced. So, from one hundred thousand years, it becomes ten thousand years. Then again, in the next yuga, Dwapar, again, the life gets reduced to one thousand years. Again, in that yuga, because of the karmas, the burden of karmas, again the lifespan gets reduced. In Kali Yuga, it gets reduced to about a hundred years.
After fourteen Jal Pralays, there is one Vairag Pralay. Vairag Pralay, in that dissolution, the entire Creation extends to Par Brahm only. Everything from Pind up to Brahm gets destroyed. And then, after some time, there is Maha Pralay. And, in Maha Pralay, even beyond Brahm, up to Sat Lok, everything gets destroyed. And, all these souls who were there, they go back to Sat Lok. And that will be the end of the Creation. After that, there will be no Creation.
Many people asked Swami Ji Maharaj this question, “After we struggle so much, and do all meditation and go back to God Almighty, what if He gives us back to Kal again?”
So, He replied, “This Creation, after Maha Pralay, will not happen again. And, once a soul goes back to Sat Lok, he is not going to come back in the realm of Kal.”
Bhaujal dhaar bahe athi gaharee,
Bin guru kaise paar utharanaa.
Guru se preeth karo tum aisi,
Jas kaami kaamin sang dharanaa.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “It is not possible to fathom the depth and expanse of this ocean of life. And, it is not possible to get out of this, without the help of a Master.” So, even if we pursue other spiritual practices, like we do pranayamas, Ashtanga Yoga, or we do japas, tapas, then these souls who go higher, at best, will go up to Brahm. Most of them go only up to heaven, or up to Kailash where, again, there is a finite amount of time. Again, most of the behavior that we see here continues in Kailash, in the heaven, also. The time one gets in Kailash, in heaven, that is less than the time one would get when he goes up to Brahm. And once the good deeds that have taken the person, or the soul, there are redeemed, then again, he has to come back into this world.
So, Mahatmas say, “Till we get the Teachings and help of a True Master, we will not be able to get salvation from this world.”
Guru se preeth karo tum aisi,
Jas kaami kaamin sang dharanaa.
Sang karo chetak chit raakho,
Man se guru ke charan pakadanaa.
Swami Ji Maharaj gives different examples. He says, “There has to be, even though you have a living Master, you should have love and affection at the feet of the Master. You should have a deep pang of separation from God Almighty. And you should have strong devotion to be successful.”
We possess only one love and, today, that love or that affection is in worldly things, and in our families and our beloved ones. Till we have that manifestation of that affection and love at the feet of the Master, we will not be able to be successful on this Path. So, we have to have that love and affection at the feet of the Master.
But, Mahatmas say, “We have to be in this world also, and we have to do our spirituality also.” So, Mahatmas say, “We should understand that this world is only temporary. And, therefore, we should withdraw our love and affection from this world, and have that at the feet of the Master. We should live in this world as if we belong to the Master, and we are doing this for the Master.”
There have been several Masters Who had families, and Who had a marriage. And, They also have been successful on this Path, because They have been able to withdraw Their love and affection from this world and focus that at the feet of the Master. And, They have lived in this world, doing all Their activities and everything, thinking of it as a duty that They’re performing for Their Master. But, instead, if we go overboard, in terms of our love and affection for this world, and then, we still want to be successful on our spiritual Path, then that will not happen. We have to carry out our duties in this world also, because these duties, this give-and-take that we have been given for this world, is according to our Pralabdh, according to our deeds. And we have to carry out that also, in this world. We should continue to do that as if we are doing the duty of our Master. By doing so, we will be successful in the duties that we do for this world, and we will also be successful in our devotion to our Masters. And, as we do that, as we continue to keep our love and affection at the feet of the Masters, our devotion will also grow towards our Masters.
Chal bal kapat chod kar baratho,
Guru ke bachan samajhnaa.
Dar the raho kaal ke bhay se,
Khabar nahi kab maranaa.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “We have to get rid of our vices. And these are Chhal, bal and kapat.” Chhal is where we are engaged in deceit. We try to deceive other people. That is Chhal. Bal is where we are trying to use our strength, our wealth, or our physical strength, and we are trying to cause harm to others. That is bal. And kapat is where we are trying to have a duality; we pose as something when we are, actually, something different. That is kapat. So, we should get rid of our Chhal,bal and kapat. Another form of kapat is where we show outwardly that we are very devoted, but inside, we are in love with this world. So, if we get rid of these vices, then we get success in only a few days.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “You get rid of these vices and follow the Teachings of the Master. Go to Satsangs and understand and follow the Teachings of the Master.” When we get rid of these vices then, automatically, our love and affection will go to the feet of the Master, and we will be successful on this Path, and we will actually start following the Satsangs. Because, when the mind is pure, then only, we actually start understanding the satsang.
Dar the raho kaal ke bhay se,
Khabar nahi kab maranaa.
Then, Swami Ji Maharaj talks about what is the essence of devotion. So, the essence of devotion is like the two wings of a bird. A bird needs both the wings to fly. First, in devotion, we need love and affection of the Master. And second, we should also have a fear. We should also have a fear of death in us. We should have this fear that tomorrow, we may live, we may not live. We don't know how much breath we have and how long we will live. So, that fear should be there. And, we should have true love and affection at the feet of the Master.
Swaasho swaash hosh kar boure,
Pal pal naam simaranaa.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Awaken and be aware of each breath. We should be sensitive about each breath that we are taking.” And, Kabir Sahib also says, “Each breath of yours is of more value than all the three worlds. And I beat the drum, and I keep repeating this.”
When, at the time of death, even if we want one additional breath, it is not possible to get it. We have been given a limited number of breaths and our lifespan is determined by that number of breaths that are given to us. When our breath comes to an end, then we are not left here, even for one second. Immediately, the angels of death come and take the soul away.
So, Mahatmas say, “We should value our breath. With each breath, we should gather the wealth of Naam.”
Yahi ki gafalath bahuth sataave,
Phir aage kuch nahi ban padanaa.
Then, He says, “Day and night, we are thinking about this world, and we are not thinking about the future, our future. We are not thinking about our soul, because it is our ignorance, and we do not know how precious this time is.” And, we believe that we have been given this world only to enjoy and go about our routine things that we are doing. What we do, we can also do in other life forms. All of those other creatures also do the same thing. The only thing that we cannot do when we are in another life form is devotion, which we can only do in a human life.
Mahatmas say, “With each breath, we should do Simran. We should remember God Almighty.” Our breath is a continuous process. That is a continuous cycle that we are doing when we are breathing. And, Mahatmas say, “If you are able to do your Simran, if you're able to do your remembrance of God Almighty with each cycle of breath that you take, then you will get light within.”
So, Masters keep reminding us of this in every Satsang. They keep reminding us of the importance of each breath of ours. And They also say that, in the past, whatever time we have spent in our ignorance, we have not done anything that we can leave behind, but at least we should use the remaining breath that we have and make use of that.
So, whatever time we have left, we should use that for devotion. We should not waste this remainder of our breath, but spend it towards devotion.
Whatever we have at the time of death, whatever attachment we have, or whatever our desires are, after our death, we go towards that desire. That determines our next life.
There was a Mahatma and he had a lot of mystic powers. He had riddhi-siddhis. And he had a lot of devotees also. He was a Vedanti. He knew the Vedas very well, and people would come to listen to his discourses on the Vedas. And, it so happened that, he was unwell for some time. A lot of medical treatments were given to him to see whether his health could be revived, but it was towards the end of his life. And, when his final moments came, there was a tree of berries, in front of the temple. And, during his last moments, he was laid to rest on a bed, near that tree.
So, towards the end, while he was lying on that bed, he saw this very ripe berry, which was there on the tree. He had, earlier, also announced, “When I pass away from this body, when I leave my body, there will be a bell in the heaven, in the sky. You will all hear a bell and, with that, I will pass away from this body.” But then, what happened was, he was looking at this berry and he passed away, but that bell did not ring. Nobody heard the bell. So, then they announced his death, and a lot of people came from different places to pay homage.
There was also one prostitute who stayed in a nearby village. She also came. And she also heard of this, but then, she felt that if the mahatma is dead, then the bell would ring, so whatever he had said wouldn't be wrong.
A lot of people were also wondering that the mahatma had said this bell would ring. And they were all talking amongst themselves. And this lady also came up and she walked through that crowd and asked as to where that mahatma had been laid in his final moments of death. Where was he?
So, they told her, “When he passed away, he was laid to rest on this bed, on this cot, below this tree.”
When she saw the view that the mahatma would've had, she noticed this berry on this tree, and she told them, “Please, take that berry out. Please, bring down that berry from that tree.”
So, they got that ripe berry down, and then they cut that berry. And, in that berry, they saw that there was a very small, newly born, insect in that berry. So, they killed that insect, and then, that bell rang.
So, she said that the mahatma had died thinking of that berry, with the desire for eating that berry. And that is how he had become this insect and got into the berry to eat it.
A lot of people wondered how that lady knew this? How she guessed all of this? So she said, “In my previous birth, but I was a princess and I was a devotee and I was unmarried. And, around the age of forty, I became unwell. I was seriously unwell, but I was a devotee and I had very pious thoughts. And, during that time, I was lying down on a bed, and my family suggested that I should be moved from that bed and kept on another bed. A male carried me from this bed to the other bed. Now, I had never been touched by a male, and it was only during that brief moment where I thought of this male and I liked that touch and I got a desire, which I had not had till such time. And, in that desire, I died. And then, I had to be born as a prostitute. So, since I knew this, because of my previous birth, I guessed that even this mahatma would have had something like this. And that is why I came to know what it could have been.”
Therefore, when a person dies having a certain desire, he is reborn again to meet that desire.
Jo kuch bane so abhee banao,
Phir ka kuch na bharosaa dharanaa.
Jag sukh ki kuch chaah na raakho,
Dukh mein iske dukhi na rahanaa.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Whatever you have to do, whatever devotion you have to do, do it now. Don't wait for the future to unfold, because you do not know how that's going to be, how many breaths you have, how long your life will be.”
Many people feel that they will start meditation and devotion after they are seventy years of age. But, by then, most of the organs are failing you. The importance in the family is not there. And the mind becomes very, very wavering. It is very unsteady. So, in that kind of a state, how are you going to do your devotion and meditation?
Therefore, Mahatmas say, “When you are healthy, you should do your devotion. When your mind and your body is in good condition, you should do your meditation.”
Swami Ji Maharaj also says, “Don't keep aspiring for happiness in this life. Treat happiness and sorrow evenly, and go about your life, because both are temporary.” You will go through the experience of happiness and sorrow as per your deeds. They will keep coming, whether you work towards that, or you do not work towards that. You will go through phases of happiness, and you will go through phases of sorrow. So, there is no point wanting to aspire for happiness and to be without sorrow.
Dukh ki ghadee ganeemat jaano,
Naam guru ka chin chin bhajanaa.
Sukh mein gaafil rahat sadaa nar,
Man tarang mein dam dam bahanaa.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “In fact, when you are in sorrow, you should consider yourself fortunate because, in sorrow, you remember God Almighty. Because, when you are in a state of happiness, then you are overcome by your ego. Maya deceives you in that state, and you are lost in your ego.” So, He says, “Both happiness and sorrow are temporary, and they are false. When this world is only false, then why are we carrying so many worries about happiness and sorrow?”
Thaa the cheth karo satsangat ,
Dukh sukh nadiyaan paar utharanaa.
Apanaa roop lakho ghat beethar,
Phir aage ko surat bharanaa.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Attend to Satsangs attentively, and after you listen to Satsangs, try to imbibe the Teachings of the Master that He explains in the Satsangs. After you listen to a Satsangs, try to spend about two hours thinking on that Satsang and how you are going to bring up those teachings and those suggestions into your life.”
When we do this, then our behavior, our thought processes, and our life will get transformed and changed on this Path.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “When we do our meditation lovingly at the feet of the Master, then the soul withdraws from the nine doors, and it comes to the Tenth Door. And, at the Tenth Door, we witness our ‘selves’, we see our ‘selves’.” Because we, as our souls, are sitting there. There is no form and shape of the soul, but the soul is sitting at the Tenth Door, and it is in the form of Light, and it is in the form of Sound.
Apanaa roop lakho ghat beethar,
Phir aage ko surat bharanaa.
Radhaswami kahein bujhai,
Shabadh guru se jaakar milanaa.
Once we go in, we manifest the Radiant Form of our Master within and, with His Grace then, the Sound Current is manifested, and we get the Darshan of Jyoti. So, it is our responsibility and our duty to go there and manifest the Form of the Master, and after that, it is His duty, He takes us further from there to God Almighty.
Radhaswami kahein bujhai,
Shabadh guru se jaakar milanaa.