The paathi is singing from the Bani of Sant Paltu Sahib...
Paltu neech se oonch bha neech kahai na koi.
Paltu neech se oonch bha neech kahai na koi.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Paltu Sahib. Paltu Sahib was a great Saint Who came from Ayodhya. Paltu Sahib has sung the praise of Naam and He says, “I have surrendered to the Will of the Master and I did the devotion of the Master and Naam. Now, there is no one who will tell me that I am of a lower caste.”
When any initiate gets the initiation of Naam, there is no further caste-ism. He is of the highest caste. The great Master Ravidas had his disciples, Mira Bai and the King of Pipa from Rajasthan.
Kabir Sahib says, “There is no greater relationship than my Master. And there is no greater giver than the Sadh. And there is no greater family than God Almighty. And there is no greater caste than harijan — that is the devotee of God Almighty.” Harijans are those people who are devoted to God Almighty. So, they spend their time in the devotion of God Almighty here in this life. And, after this, they go back to God Almighty.
Paltu Sahib says, “I was born in the caste of a trader, a bania. And now, after I have been initiated by the Master, there is no one there to tell me that I am of the lower caste.”
Neech kahai na koi gaye jab se sarnaayee.
Neech kahai na koi gaye jab se sarnaayee.
Naara bahi kai miliyo gang mein gang kahaee.
Paltu Sahib says, “I am no longer of a lower caste because I've been initiated by my Master.” And he gives an example.
This is like the bad and dirty sewers of Varanasi — Benares — which go into the river Ganges. And once that dirty water of the sewer goes into the Ganges, it also becomes the Ganges. People fill up that water and call it ‘gangajal’ and they considerate it of great value. So, like that dirty-smelling sewer water becomes ‘gangodak’ — it becomes a part of the Ganga — like that, all the sinners who surrender in the Will of the Master also become pious, and they become mahatmas.
So, the water of the sewer is very dirty and it only is considered to be on this higher pedestal because it merges with the Ganges.
Valmiki, the great rishi, who was earlier called Ratnakar, used to kill people in a forest. He would steal things from them. And, as a souvenir, he would keep their little finger — he would cut the little finger and he had made a garland of those little fingers of all the people he had killed.
He was such a great sinner and he had killed so many people that the garland of little fingers that he had made used to touch the ground. It was that many people that he had stolen from and killed. And he was, indeed, a very great sinner.
But, when he got the grace of Narad Muni and Narad Muni gave mercy, he gave him initiation. And he repeated those words, which Narad Muni had given him. He got transformed from Ratnakar to Valmiki Rishi and he became a Brahma Rishi — so he ascended up to Brahm. And there, he had the opportunity of writing the Ramayana in the Sat Yuga about ten thousand years before Rama was born.
That way, so many sinners who have got the Grace of the Master have been carrying the burden of their sins for so many previous lives. They have also been redeemed and got salvation with the Grace of the Masters.
Paaras ke parsang loh se kanak kahaave,
Paaras ke parsang loh se kanak kahaave,
Aagi mahai jo parai jarai aage hoyi jaave.
Similarly, like iron, when it is touched by the philosopher's stone, it transforms into something of much higher value. What was selling for thirty or forty rupees a kilogram, now sells for thirty thousand rupees for ten grams. That is because it has come in the company of the philosopher's stone.
He says, “The worst of the sinners, when they come in the company of the Masters and they surrender to the Will of the Masters, they also get transformed; and others also consider them to be mahatmas.”
When we get initiated, the Master connects our soul to the Sound Current. And when the soul experiences or gets in touch with or manifests the Sound Current, then not only one life but several hundreds of previous lives — all the sins that it has committed, all the deeds that it has committed, in all of its previous lives — all those get redeemed.
So, that Sound Current is a very pure Sound Current. And that is the Sound Current that is resonating at the Eye Center.
Ram ka ghar hai bada sakal augun chipi jaayi,
Ram ka ghar hai bada sakal augun chipi jaayi,
Jaise til ko tel phool sangh baas basaayi.
He says, “The house of God Almighty is very big. And the sinners, when they do Simran and they get in touch with the Naam, the greatest of the sinners and their sins get redeemed and they get transformed. That is the greatness of Naam.”
Gautama Rishi has said, “In Ramayana, when Rama touched Ahalya —Ahalya was the wife of Gautama Rishi and been cursed to stone— and when Rama, the avatar of Vishnu, touched her, she got transformed back into her original self.”
So, they say that he could only transform one person like that. But, the influence of Naam has transformed thousands and millions of souls.
We often have questions when Saints talk about Ram, who is an avatar of Vishnu. Saints say that there are four Rams.
One is the Ram who is the avatar of Vishnu and who was born in the King Dasharath’s house.
The second Ram is the Ram that is the soul that is there in everybody. The third Ram is the Brahman who is omnipotent and who rules in these three worlds.
And the fourth Ram is God Almighty. He is Sat Purush.
So, Saints always refer to God Almighty, the Ram as God Almighty, and They don't refer to Ram, which is the avatar of Vishnu, because Vishnu is also under the influence of karmas and Kal. And Vishnu has, so far, taken twenty-four avatars and God knows how many more avatars he will have to take under the influence of karmas.
So, Saints refer to the Ram, the God Almighty, Who is unique and Who is separate from all of the rest and Who is sitting in Sach Khand-Sat Lok.
Paltu Sahib says, “Naam is a very high thing and it transforms people like the sesame seed is transformed.”
The sesame seed imbibes the essence and smell of flowers. In India, they make what is called ‘attar’. It's a perfume that is made in India. And the way they make this when they want the smell of a flower, they will put a layer of those flowers in a vessel and they will sprinkle a little water on that. Then, they will put one layer of sesame seeds on top of that. And again, on top of that, they will put another layer of the petals of that flower and again sprinkle water. That way, they make a full, tight vessel and they leave it for a while.
Now, that water, which has been sprinkled, absorbs the essence of that petal, the smell of that petal, and in turn, the water is absorbed by the sesame seeds. Then, they dry the sesame seeds in shade. They dry the sesame seeds in shade because, under the sun, it will evaporate the water and the essence. So, in about six to seven days, the seeds are dry and the water then comes out of those seeds, but the essence remains within the seeds.
Then, they take the oil out of the sesame seeds through small machines and they get the extract of that oil. So, the sesame seed oil, which trades for a few hundred rupees a liter, now trades for more than a thousand rupees. That essence itself trades for more than a thousand rupees for ten grams.
So, in that way, the soul manifests the Naam. The value of that soul also gets much enhanced.
Bhajan kere partaap te tan man nirmal hoyi,
Bhajan kere partaap te tan man nirmal hoyi,
Paltu neech se oonch bha neech kahai na koi.
Paltu Sahib says, “By doing the meditation and Bhajan, I have got the body and the mind both transformed.”
So, everyone has to do Bhajan to reach that stage where the mind gets purified. All have to do their SimranBhajan to get there.
Hasthi bin maare marai karai simh ko sangh.
Hasthi bin maare marai karai simh ko sangh.
He gives an example of an elephant. An elephant is a huge animal and it doesn't fear any other animal except a lion. So, elephants get very scared of lions. It is said that if an elephant even dreams of a lion, that many elephants have died like that. So, only a lion has that power to bring down an elephant and kill it. Other animals cannot do that.
Kare simh ko sangh simh ki rahani rahana,
Kare simh ko sangh simh ki rahani rahana,
Apano maara khaay nahi murda ko gahana.
The lion kills and eats its own food without assistance. Similarly, Saints also earn Their own livelihood and They are not dependent on anybody for Their livelihood.
Lions do not eat the flesh of other animals killed by someone else. They kill their own prey and eat it.
So, He gives this example to say that Saints are like lions and, in these worlds, They stay like lions. Even Kal is scared of the Masters. Otherwise, Kal is not scared of anybody.
Nahi bhojan nahi aas nahi indri ki thista,
Nahi bhojan nahi aas nahi indri ki thista,
Aat siddhi nav nidhi thahi ko dekhat bishta.
Saints seldom depend too much on food because They are connected internally with the Naam. If They want to keep Their body hungry, They can still survive on Naam. So, therefore, They earn Their own livelihood and They eat the food that is earned by Themselves and They do selfless service and help others.
All the siddhis and all the other mystical powers are at Their doorstep. But They do not take help from any of these mystic powers. So, at their doorstep, the eight siddhis stand and, now, nine riddhis stand. Nine riddhis are Lakshmis or different forms of the goddess Lakshmi. And all the siddhis are different mystical powers.
So, all these powers stand at the doorstep and plead for the Masters to use them. But, the Masters are in the love of Their God Almighty and Their own Master, and They seldom pay any attention to these mystical powers and these riddhis.
Mystic powers come very early in the phase of meditation. When we do our meditation and our legs become numb and we reach the first chakra — which is synonymous with the anal site — the ruler of that chakra is Ganesha. And Ganesha is the controller of the eight siddhis. So, anyone who does this meditation and comes to the first chakra, Ganesha becomes happy with that meditator and he grants him these siddhis.
Anyone with that much meditation also is able to immediately show mystic powers. And that is why we see a lot of people showing some powers like this with a very little bit of meditation.
But Saints caution us and caution the devotees that all these are pitfalls of Kal and Maya and one should not make use of any such mystic powers because our objective is to go to God Almighty.
Dust mitr sab ek lage na garami paala,
Dust mitr sab ek lage na garami paala,
Asthuthi ninda tyagi chalat hai apani chaala.
Masters are not swayed by either praise or by slander. And they are not swayed by wealth or any other thing. They look at everyone — one and all — equally. Whether it is a friend or an enemy, the Masters look at everyone equally because Their gaze is at the soul and the soul is neither an enemy nor a friend. All these are only outward traits. So, all these traits are only in the mind. The soul is pure. It was always pure before, and it will remain pure after also. So, the Masters always focus on the soul and not on the mind.
Palatu jootaa naa tikeh jab lagi lage na rang,
Palatu jootaa naa tikeh jab lagi lage na rang,
Sasthi bin maare marai karai simh ko sangh.
Paltu Sahib says, “Only those Masters, Who are connected with Naam, attain this high pedestal. All those imposters who stand as Masters but who are not connected within to Naam — reality and truth will prevail; a lie cannot stay forever — they will get exposed sooner or later.”
So, it is only due to connection with the greatness of Naam. Where the Master is connected with the greatness of Naam, that Master will continue and He has all the greatness.
During initiation also, the Masters explain to us that when we are sitting for meditation and we get some experiences and we see things within — or we see some forms within — then we have to test it with Simran. And when we do the Simran then, if it is from the Kal power, then that image will not stay. If it is from the God Almighty or from the Masters or Naam, then only that form will stay.
Even if we have not done too much meditation and we have not progressed much in meditation, we should always make a habit of doing Simran all the time. Because, at the time of death, if we feel that we will do our Simran and everything will become right, it won't happen — because the whole day you are carrying other thoughts of the world. So, if you are not habituated to doing Simran in a time of difficulty, then you will not remember Simran at the time of death also.
So, whenever there is difficulty, you should have your habit, which will make you do Simran immediately facing any difficulty.
This incident is during the time of Guru Nanak Ji. Guru Nanak Ji was a great soul. He was a ready-made Master Who had come and descended to help and awaken the other souls. But, in those days, the practice was new and not many people were aware of it. So, if someone got initiated in the family, there were a lot of members who were then cajoled into taking initiation also who really did not understand any of this.
So, one such incident happened during His time that, in a family, one of the older members was asked to take initiation. He was about seventy-five years old and he was given initiation. However, he did not really believe much in the Master and he continued to do everything as he was doing earlier — of eating or drinking and doing all such other things. His attention was not there on the Master. And, gradually, for the next ten years or so, even the Master's attention did not remain on him. As a result, at the time of death, he did not remember the Master or Simran. He died and the Lord of Judgment took his soul to hell.
So, accordingly, the Lord of Judgment put him in hell and he was put in this Kumbi Narak. So there, in Kumbi Narak, he was in that filth. He was in that hell. But, even then, he did not remember his Simran because he had never done his Simran.
Now, while he was suffering there, it so happened that Narad Muni was passing by, and he noticed that this was a soul, which had been initiated by Guru Nanak Ji. And he thought, “How come he has come to hell?” So, inside only, he went and told Guru Nanak Ji, “Your disciple is lying in hell in the KumbiNarak.”
So, when Guru Nanak Ji became aware of this, He went within and He went to the gate of hell. And there, He was met by the Lord of Judgment.
The Lord of Judgment, with both hands, bowed down to Guru Nanak Ji and said, “How come you have come here? This is not a place for you to be.” He knew that if He entered hell, then hell would become pure, so he met Guru Nanak Ji at the gate. Guru Nanak Ji told him, “I want to see what arrangements you have inside.” So, the Lord of judgment said, “No. Please, don't enter.”
Guru Nanak Ji said, “Why have you kept my soul with you? Why have you kept that soul in hell? So, I will go where my disciple is.”
So, He went in Kumbi Narak, and there, He dipped His toe. And once He dipped His toe, that initiate started to remember the Simran and he started doing his Simran. When he started doing his Simran, seeing him and hearing him, all the other souls in the hell also started reciting that Simran and everyone started doing it. So, the whole hell became clear of souls. All of them got out of hell. And from there, they all went into the 8.4 million life forms.
Thereafter, the Lord of Judgment has ordered that no soul, which is a disciple of any of the Masters, will be brought into hell.
So, if a disciple loves the Master — even if he has not done his Simran or meditation — at the time of his death, the Master definitely comes to fetch him. And then, with His Grace, He gives him the Darshan. And with that, automatically, the soul becomes pure and remembers Simran and he manifests the Sound and Light within.
So, once the Sound and Light manifests within with the Grace of the Master, automatically, that soul and that mind — where they were living in the world — all of that comes off because their attention now goes completely towards that Light and Sound, which is manifested within. And they're very easily willing to leave this world behind and go along with the Master. And then, the Master does not send them back into this Earth. He keeps them at a higher plane. And then, they get their salvation later. That way, the Master helps the soul to be able to leave easily this world at the time of death. Otherwise, none of us are willing to leave this world. We are too attached to it.
Swathi ko jal ek hai apani apani khaani.
Swathi ko jal ek hai apani apani khaani.
Paltu Sahib says, “It is like the Swati Nakshatra — the constellation of Swati — when it rains, the rain is similar but it causes a lot of different effects.”
In the same way, the Naam given by the Masters is uniform. And it is uniform to all. But, the effect is different because the love and affection of different devotees is different, and their effort that they are putting into doing their Simran and meditation is different. So, they all get different results from the same Naam that is given to them.
So, everyone is given the initiation uniformly — there is no more and no less that is given to anybody — everybody is given initiation equally. Everyone has that Sound Current, which is resonating equally within them, and everyone's soul is connected at the time of initiation with that Sound Current. So, there is no distinction between people there. But, because of the Pralabdh karmas, and the effort that each one puts into the love and affection they have for the Master, their effect is different. And, therefore, some people are able to go within faster and manifest the Sound Current within, and some people take longer time.
Apani apani khaani seep se moti kahiye,
Apani apani khaani seep se moti kahiye,
Heera hoy hiranj, seesh gajh mukkah lahiye.
So, Paltu Sahib says, “It rains uniformly under the constellation of Swati, but the effect of that rain on different substrates is different.”
Like when that drop of rain falls on an oyster, then we get to see a pearl forming in the oyster.
Likewise, there is a stone called hiranj, and that stone is found when farmers till their land. Many times that hiranj stone comes out while they are tilling the land. And this drop of rain in that constellation, when it falls on that particular hiranj stone, that stone converts into a diamond.
In Andhra Pradesh, there is a station called Guntakal. So, there is an area near that station called Vairakarur, and this particular area — spread out of over a hundred fifty acres — has this particular stone, this hiranj stone. It is found in greater density there. And when it rains, diamonds are actually formed and lots of people from outside come there scouting for diamonds and a lot of people get diamonds also from that area.
The same water of the Swati constellation, when it falls on an elephant during that period, there is this bird called chandool. That bird has a long beak and it’s a very small bird. That particular bird starts making a small hole in the head of the elephant. When that raindrop of the Swati constellation falls in that hole, a very precious stone called gajmukta is created in the head of the elephant.
Similarly, when that water accumulates on a stone or a rock formation, and deer drink that particular rain, they develop the kasturi in their stomach.
And, likewise, there are yellow-colored toads that come out in that particular period. And when they drink this water from the drops of water that fall down, they also create a precious stone in their stomach. It is called mohra.
So, in bananas, in the stem of bananas, where there are new leaves forming, when that drop of rain falls on the banana tree, then camphor is produced by that same rain.
Keraa pare kapoor bane te lochan byaalaa,
Keraa pare kapoor bane te lochan byaalaa,
Ahi mukh jahar samaan upal te loh karaalaa.
So, that water, when it falls on the banana tree, it creates camphor. Camphor is made by that tree.
Likewise, there are snakes, which drink this particular rain. And, when they drink it, they develop a precious stone within themselves and there is a yellow luminance in those stones.
Likewise, when that drop of rain falls on a bamboo shoot, it percolates down to the roots of the shoot and banslochan is prepared. Banslochan has a lot of powers. It is used as a medicine.
Now, the uniqueness of that particular bamboo shoot is that when banslochan is prepared, there is a certain sound or music that is created by that bamboo shoot which is different from the others. So, where vaidics search for this banslochan, they listen to that particular music and then they figure out which shoot has the banslochan. That powder of banslochan sells for a very high value.
So, like that Swati Nakshatra, in that constellation when it rains, it rains uniformly, but depending on the substrate that absorbs that water, different kinds of precious stones and other things are formed.
In the same manner, the words spoken by the Masters and the initiation given by the Masters is uniform to everybody. But, depending on each one's vessel and their love and devotion to the Master, the results of that devotion are different for different people.
Gow lochan gow seesh mirag madh naabhi the jaanau,
Gow lochan gow seesh mirag madh naabhi the jaanau,
Binn binn gun hoyi neer ek hi pehchaano.
Like that, similarly, where that water accumulates on a stone and it doesn't get mixed with mud and a cow drinks that water, they also develop a particular stone and that also has high medicinal value.
Palatu khamid ek hai nische prem pradhaan,
Palatu khamid ek hai nische prem pradhaan,
Upajai bastu subhav the apani apani khaani.
So, He says, “All the devotees have the same God Almighty and the Master. But, depending on how devoted they are, or the extent of their practice, the results of that devotion are different for different people. The Satsang spoken by the Saints is of a very high value. And there are multiple dimensions in what they are trying to convey through the word-of-mouth and through the Satsang. It depends on how we assimilate what is said by the Masters.
Now, if we listen to Satsangs every day for several years, but we just listen from one ear and take it out from the other ear, then whatever we do for that pilgrimage of Satsang, it is like going and having a bath every day but it having no effect on us. So, whatever is said by the Masters, we have to mull on that. We have to ponder on that and think through what the Master is trying to convey to us. And, after a Satsang is over, we should not immediately start talking to other people and forget what was spoken. We should try to remember what the Master has said – what Babaji has said. We should think through on the words that He has spoken and keep reiterating those words in our mind and trying to understand what is being conveyed to us. And then, we should bring that in our life and try to implement what is being said. Then see how high, of what value, a Satsang is because that Satsang will be able to completely transform you. It will transform the way you think. It will transform the way you behave. And it will radically change your life.
So, we should not listen from one ear and leave it from the other ear. We should make an effort to really understand what is being said. And, for two hours, we should keep thinking on what is being said by the Master.
Palatu khamid ek hai nische prem pradhaan,
Palatu khamid ek hai nische prem pradhaan,
Upajai bastu subhav the apani apani khaani.
Radhaswami.