The paathi sings the Bani of Swami Ji Maharaj...
Brahm aur par brahm sat nam,
Teen lok aur chautha dhaama.
Guru seva me sab ki seva.
Ranchak marm na maano bheva.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Swami Ji Maharaj. We are continuing with the same Bani, which we had taken yesterday.
Yesterday, Swami Ji Maharaj had explained that all the devotion of the 330 million deities, gods, and goddesses, all of that is encompassed in the devotion of the Masters. Yesterday, it was explained that all the rivers flow into the sea and oceans. And it is the evaporation of this water from the oceans that again rains, clouds reform, and then it rains, and again rivers are formed. The essence of all rivers is contained in the ocean.
So, the devotion of the Master is, therefore, the essence. Now, it is further explained that after Par Brahm also, for all the planes above also, the devotion of the Masters encompasses everything. So, all the lords of those planes also are encompassed in the Masters.
Taate baar baar samjhau.
Guru bhakti chin chin gaaun.
Gurumukh hoye guru agya barto.
Guru barti ek chin me tarte.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Why do I sing the praise of the devotion of the Masters? It is because when the devotees do the devotion and they go within, then all the lords of the different planes also bow down to them. They are also afraid of those devotees, because of their devotion to their Master.”
Then, He says, “Those people, who live a life where they belong to the Masters, and they go about their worldly matters and do their devotion with love and affection, they get salvation within a second.”
When the Masters initiate the devotees, and the devotees move to higher planes, the Name that is given also belongs to the lords of the higher planes. So, when the soul passes through those planes, these lords also help the soul in the onward progress.
Guru mahima mai kaha lag gaau?
Guru saman koee aurna paau.
Guru astut hai sab mat maahee.
Guru se bemukh thaur na paaee.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “However much praise I sing of the Masters, it is not enough. All the Vedas, all the Puranas, all the Scriptures and all the great writings, they all talk about the greatness of the Masters.” All the gods and goddesses, and Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, all of them, also respect and bow down to the Masters. And they also respect and bow down to the devotees of the Masters.
Bhog bilaas hukumat jag ki dhan
Aur haakim ke bas rahatee.
Haakim seva tum kas karte dhan
Aur maan badaaee lete.
So, now, Swami Ji Maharaj is talking about a different subject. He says, “All these people who are well off, like kings, ministers, politicians, they have got wealth, they have got power.”
Why do people bow down to them? Why do people praise them? That is because of their wealth and because of their power. They go there and do their duty. They perform their duties for these people. And they listen to them and they follow their orders with humility. It is only because of their power. It is only because of their wealth.
Aagya uski as sir dharte.
Khaan paan nidra bhi tajte.
So dhan jod kiya kya bhaaee,
Jagat laj me diya udaaee?
So, they do this with humility, lose their ego and they work like this. And they accumulate that wealth. And they are not afraid to be humble and drop their ego also for earning this. And, having accumulated this wealth, they spend it again to get the same power to appease their own ego.
What could be performed or achieved with lesser money spent, they will spend more money for.
For example, a wedding. They spend a lot of money on the wedding, or other ceremonies, that they perform. All this they do to satisfy their own ego.
So jag ki gati pahele bhaakhee.
Chaar din fir nahi baakee.
So dhan karan haakim seva
Aisee karte kyaa kahu bheva.
So, He says, “There is no permanence in this world. This world is not everlasting.” And, even for this world, we spend all our time, spending late hours for our occupation, for earning our incomes and, even nowadays, for jobs.
The earlier jobs used to be till five o'clock, and people would go home after that. But now, even for those jobs, people have to work very late night, till ten o'clock, eleven o'clock. They also work very hard.
So, we spend all our time and a lot of effort in all of these occupations earning this money, and then, we spend this money on the same thing for appeasing our ego.
So, if people are in employment, they have to do all sorts of things to please their bosses. To make sure that the boss is not unhappy, they have to work hard and they have to put in a lot of effort. So, to do that, to please the boss and to earn that money, all humility is shown and hard work is put in. And we are willing to lose everything for that, to earn that money.
This world is not permanent, but we are doing all of this effort for this impermanent world.
Guru seva jo sadaa sahaaee,
Taako aisee peeth dikhaaee.
Din nahi paksha maas nahi barsaa,
Kabhi na darshan ko man tarsaa.
By giving all these examples, the purpose is to say that we spend all of our time, effort, and a lot of energies, in this way. We are willing to even be very humble to do all of that. And we do this to earn our livelihood for this world, which is not permanent. We spend a lot of time for this. And we are not giving time for devotion and for spending time for our meditation for the Masters, which is permanent, and which is going to take us out of this ocean of the world.
So, we don't put all this effort for meditation and for sitting in Dhyan and Bhajan, and that is the real work. That is the work, which is going to take us out of clutches of this ocean of the world. But we are not willing to give any time to that.
The mind doesn't allow us to focus on this Path and come to this side. We, oftentimes, don't even remember to go and meet our Master over a period of a month, or two months, or even six months. And the mind completely deludes us and we forget. We do not aspire to follow this Path and we don't spend any time in effort on this side.
Kaho kaise tumhara udhaaraa.
Narak niwas dukh chau dhara.
And, if we don't have this, we don't aspire to do this, and we don't feel like spending time there, then how are we going to progress? Because then, the mind is going to build the karmas, and our desires and our attitude here is going to bring us back to this cycle of life and death.
At the Feet of the Masters, this devotion of ours would take us outside of the clutches of this world. And yet, we have been misdirected by the mind and we are not spending our time there. Instead, we’re coming back into the clutches of the world.
Many long times, for more than a year or so, devotees don't remember their Master. They don’t feel like coming and meeting Him, and they are unable to do their devotion.
Us dukh me kaho kaun sahaaee guru
Se preet na karee banaee.
So, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “When this person is going to suffer in that 8.4 million cycles of life and death, then who is going to help that soul? Because, when the time comes, he will not have been doing his devotion and he will not have gone to the Masters.”
So, only those who have gone and done the devotion at the Feet of the Masters, they are getting the Grace from the Masters.
All those others who have not felt like doing this work, not done their devotion to the Masters, who have not gone to the Masters, who is going to protect them?
Jo iski prateet na laao,
To mai apna yo samjhaao.
Og dukh neet prati sataayee.
Maut piyade hai yaha bhaaee.
The people who have not got the devotion of their Masters, who have not gone on Their Path, their karmas build up. And then, who is going to protect them?
Even for those people who have gone to the Feet of the Masters, got initiated, but have not done their devotion, even their karmas keep building up. And then, they have to suffer at the time of death and redeem these karmas, because these do not get redeemed during their life period because of lack of devotion.
So, for such people then, the Masters take them to the higher planes and make them do their meditation there, and then, redeem their karmas gradually there. For the others who have not got the benefit of the Master, who have not come to the Feet of the Master, nobody is there to protect them.
So, for everyone who has been initiated, they should do their meditation, their Simran, every day. And they should make an effort to redeem their own karmas. Some karmas they are able to redeem, and some karmas the Masters have redeemed with Their Grace.
For those who do not do their meditation, Dhyan Bhajan, every day, then their karmas are building up, and they will definitely have some problem and some difficulties at the time of their death.
So it is, therefore, advised that everyone should do their devotion and Dhyan Bhajan every day, so that they are able to, gradually, reduce their karmas. And they help their Masters to help them. So, if they are doing their devotion every day, then there is not much suffering at the time of death. And the Master also comes a few days, one or two days, before the death and informs them. And there is a lot of bliss that the devotee enjoys at the time of the death then.
Mrityu hone me nahi kuch saunsha.
Vaha to kare sakal jiv hinsa.
Yaha hinsa tum par bhi aave.
Ek din kaal sees par dhaave.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Death is a very strong thing. The Kal is also a very strong thing. And death is an absolute reality. It comes to everybody and it will also come to you.”
So, while you are in this birth, you should remember that always, and do your devotion, so that at the time of death, when you're leaving your body, it will help you.
In Agra, there was a father and son who were devotees. And when this boy was fifteen years old, he had a lot of sickness. He was sick for fifteen, twenty days, and he was bedridden.
So, his father spent a lot of money and made a lot of efforts to give him medical attention and try to help him. But he continued to remain sick. And, after about a month and a half, he was going to pass away, when his soul became attentive and the attention was focused at the Third Eye.
So, this boy’s Third Eye opened and the father was weeping, because he was going to pass away. But, the boy told him, “Father, don't cry. I am going to live. I see it within.” So, he said, “Father, I see that I was a babul tree in my previous birth. And because I was a babul tree, some devotee took some part of me, some tender branches, and Swami Ji Maharaj used that for cleaning His teeth as a toothbrush. So, it is only because of that good deed that I have got a human life. But, because of my karmas, I am still very weighed down by my karmas and I am unable to do anything in the body. So, I am now going to be going into another human birth. And there, I will be born in a good family and I will be doing my devotion. So, in my next life, I will be born in this family. It will be a wealthy family and I will have lesser karmas, and I will go to the level of a sadhu in that life.”
So, many times, the Masters shower Their Grace like this. They shower Their Grace on some tree or some bird or some animal also, and with that, the following birth is the birth of a human being, because of the Grace of the Masters. Now, in that birth they can either do their devotion and they can take initiation and progress further, or they do not take that benefit, and then, they go back in that cycle of life and death.
Us din kaa karo kuch upaaee,
Dhan haakim kuch kaam na aayee.
Par jo samajhwar tum hote,
To dhan se tum karaj lete.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “You should remember the time when the Kal will pull out your breath from your life. And, at that time, none of your wealth and none of the power that you possess, or the position that you have or enjoy, is going to help you.”
Par jo samajhwar tum hote,
Yo dhan se tum karaj lete.
Karaj lena yaha hai, bhaaee,
Guru seva me kharch karaaee.
Guru nahi bhooka tere dhan ka.
Unpe dhan hai bhakti naam ka.
Par tera upkaar karaave bhooke
Pyaase ko dilwave.
So, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “If you are smart, then the wealth you have accumulated will be spent on the Masters. And, with the wealth that you spend on the Masters and the wealth that you spend selflessly helping others, you will be wise in doing that.”
Now, the monies that we spend, or we give to the Masters for spending, that money is always used for a good purpose. It is useful helping some poor people, or some other purpose to that effect, and it helps you on your Spiritual Path.
So, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “It is not that the Master is hungry for your wealth.” The Master has a lot of wealth of His own Naam. He has a huge amount of wealth of Spirituality within Him. He is not hungry for your wealth. But He does a favor for you when you give your wealth to Him. He does a favor for you by using that wealth and putting it to a good cause.
So, for example, if we are giving some money to the Master, then when the Master builds a house, builds a room, or builds a hall or bridge, some structure where the people come and do their meditation and they do their spiritual practices there, then the benefit of that also goes to the person who spends that, or who gives that, as seva to the Master.
Whenever we do seva and we give seva to the Master, it should always be remembered that your wealth will never be reduced because of that seva. And that is the benefit that the Master is, effectively, giving you. You're gaining from giving that seva to the Master.
Unki meher muft tu paave,
Jo unko prasanna karaave.
So, we get the happiness of the Master by doing this. There are three types of seva that we can do.
The seva of tan, or the body, where we expend our bodily efforts, we do our physical activity, to do seva for the Master. We perform things like working in the langar, or wherever we can help from a physical perspective. Whatever we can do selflessly for the Master, that is the seva that we do in tan, or the physical body.
The other seva is manas, which is the mind. The seva of the mind is the Simran and Dhyan Bhajan that we do. So, the more Dhyan Bhajan and the more Simran that we do, we are doing as the seva of the mind, or the manas.
The third seva is the seva of dhan, which is the seva of wealth. So, oftentimes, where we are unable to do physical activity, or even if we are doing a little less in the mind, we can still do seva of the wealth to the Master.
All these three are sevas, which please the Master. And the Master then helps us also. So, all these three sevas are what we should perform and do for the Master.
Unka khush hona hai bhaari.
Satpurush nij kirpaa dhaari.
Making the Master happy is the biggest thing to be done. Because making the Master happy is making God Almighty happy.
Guru prasanna hoya jaa upar,
Vahi jeev hai sab ke upar.
So, while receiving the greatness of the Master by making the Master happy in these forms, by doing seva of the physical body, of the mind, and of the wealth, we are pleasing God Almighty.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “The devotee who does this is a great soul and receives the pleasure of the Master because, by that, he has pleased God Almighty.”
Everything that I have got in Spirituality is because of the seva I did for my Master, Baba Somanath Ji. When I got initiated, after about two or three months, Baba Ji asked me to do the seva of night duty at the ashram.
Now, that was a very difficult duty that was to be performed. And I thought it was being asked to be done for one night. So, I readily accepted, and I told Him, “Yes, I’ll do that seva.” And I started that.
So, this was a very difficult duty. Actually, even Baba Ji was quite distressed because of this duty, because there was nobody who was doing this duty. It was difficult because it was in the night, and it involved quite a lot of physical activity. And most people would eat their food, and then do this. And, oftentimes, with such strenuous physical activity, after that, they would fall sick. So, there was seldom a person who was available for doing this seva, and that seva is what Baba Ji asked me to do, and I was able to do it.
Baba Ji had also asked four other sevadars to do the seva with me but, gradually, these people also stopped, because of the nature of that seva. And for a long time, I was doing that seva alone.
I used to go in the night and do this security. I was to walk around the entire ashram and come back. And I was afraid, actually, to tell this to Baba Ji, that I was doing this alone. But I continued doing it.
So once, after doing that duty, when I was having coffee at the building where Baba Ji stayed, Pushpama told Baba Ji, “Look, Ram Singh is doing this seva all alone. And it is nighttime and it’s a forest area. And there are all these people who come from Tamil, Tamil Nadu and other states also, to steal the sandalwood and things like that. And it is very risky. Because, if he is there and someone hurts him, or kills him also, and throws him aside, then no one will even come to know. So, we should see if we can give him some help in this.”
When Pushpama told this to Baba Ji, Baba Ji closed His eyes and thought for a minute. And then, He opened His eyes and said, “No, no, it's okay. Let Ram Singh do the duty alone.” He was actually quite worried about this duty for quite some time. Then, He told her, “Look, let him do it.” And then, He called us in His room.
When we went in, He said, “Look, after I have my meals, whatever is the food that is left, you put that in a box and give that to Ram Singh. Let him eat that. And also, give him a glass of milk every day.” This was because I was very, very frail doing this duty. It was a very heavy physical activity, and I had become very, very frail doing it.
So, what I used to do is, I used to get that tiffin, which was the food that came from Baba Ji, and that usually had some roti and some vegetable, dal, so on, and I used to have that milk, which was given to me in a thermos every day.
So, I used to eat a little bit of that roti, and I used to drink that milk, and then, I used to share that tiffin with a lot of others as Parshad of Baba Ji.
I used to give it also to Bernard and all the other sevadars over there. So, therefore, pleasing the Master is a very great thing. And, this way, I could please Baba Ji. And once He was pleased, His Grace was with me, so there was nothing to worry about. I used to do my Simran, and then, I used to go about my seva. And I knew that He was with me all the time.
It is a great thing to please a Master. Because, whatever we do, if we can please the Master, we should do that. Because pleasing the Master is like pleasing God Almighty. And then, someone who is pleasing the Master and God Almighty like this, no one can do anything to him.
Guru raaji to kartaa raaji.
Karma kaal ki chale naa baaji.
Guru ki aan sab mil mane.
Shukdev, narad, vyaas vakhane.
So, therefore, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Where the Master is pleased, God Almighty is pleased. And, where God Almighty is pleased, Kal and all your karmas will not work against you.”
So, the greatness of the Masters is such that, not only Their praise is sung by the gods and goddesses, but also by all the rishis, sages, and the mahatmas. They also sing the praise of the Masters.
Sukhdev was tested for fifteen days. And then, when he passed those tests, he was initiated. And then Vyas Ji asked Sukhdev, “How do you see the Master inside? Is He like the sun?”
So, Sukhdev said, “He is like the sun, but He doesn't have the heat of the sun. He is as bright as the sun.”
Then He asked him, “Is He like the moon?” Sukhdev Ji said, “He is like the moon. But the moon has a stain. The Guru does not have a stain.”
So, He said then, “How is the Guru?” Sukhdev Ji said, “Guru is the Guru. And there is no one in all the three worlds like the Guru.”
So, Vyas Ji then hugged him and, being pleased with him, He said, “Now you can go anywhere you want and nothing can stop you.”
Tate guru ko lev rijhaaee.
Auran reejhe kuch na bhalaaee.
Guru parsanna aur sab roothe,
To bhee uska roam na toote.
So, Swami Ji Maharaj, therefore, says, “Please the Master. One should please the Master. There is no need to please anybody else. Because, if you’ll please the Master, nobody can disturb even one hair on your body.”
I listened to the instructions of Sant Ajaib Singh Ji. And He told me to go to Andhra Pradesh and do this seva. And because I followed His instruction and did that seva, that is why I am here like this.
Otherwise, I was to go to Kashi. I’d changed my mind, and then, I came here on His instructions. Had I followed my mind and I had gone to Kashi, then I would also be wandering around like all of you! So, it is because of His instructions and His direction and advice that I could do that seva, and I did whatever was required to be done there. And that is what you are seeing now.
It is all His Grace, and that is happening through this entire program. So, when I had gone to Ajaib Singh Ji, when I was going to take His Darshan, I had, in fact, even informed my parents that I'm coming home. And they were also very pleased and very happy that, after fourteen years, at least I was coming back home.
So, when I went for the Darshan, Baba Ji told me, “No, you have to go to Andhra Pradesh.”
Now, I started crying, because for fourteen years I had been here, and I was completely depressed with this place. And I was completely put off here and I wanted to go back to Kashi. So, I had very much made up my mind.
But then, when He told me that I have to come back here, I started crying in front of Him. And then, He kept explaining and I kept crying in front of Him. So Baba Ji told me, “Don't worry. You go there. Everything will be done by the Masters only. You just go there.”
So, for almost forty-five minutes, He explained like this. And then, I got scared, because I felt that if I now disobey a Master, then I will never be able to be happy. So then, following His instruction, I came here. It was really a small instruction that way. It was a small direction that He had given me. But, just because I followed it, and just because I did His seva, and just because I did the seva of Baba Somanath Ji, They have showered all this Grace on me. And the result is what you see now.
Auran ko prasanna jo kartaa,
Guru se droh ghaat jo rakhtaa,
Guru ki neendaa se nahi dartaa,
Guru ko manushya roop samajhtaa…
Then, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “For those who try to please the others by engaging in slander against the Masters, and talking all sorts of things, and going against the Masters just to please the others, for such people, there is no protection from hell.”
So, such people do this for getting some position in life or getting some wealth in life, or for some such pursuit. And they then engage in slandering against the Masters also, if required. These people then suffer.
So naraki jano apghaati,
Us sang doot kare utpaati.
Yaate samajho bujho, bhaaee,
Guru ko prasanna karo banaaee.
Then Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Those people who have turned their back on the Master, who have gone astray, and who have gone to please others, or do other things, these people will be given all sorts of troubles by the messengers of death.”
So, therefore, Swami Ji Maharaj says that "You should please the Masters.” And how do the Masters get pleased? The Masters get pleased by doing Bhajan Simran and by doing seva.
Kul kutumb kuch kaam na aaee
Aur biraadari kare na sahaaee.
Yah to chaar din ke sangi.
In nij swaarth me buddhi rangi.
Swami Ji Maharaj says that “We turn our back to the Masters, and we engage in all sorts of things to please our family and work for our families. And, at the time of our death, none of our family members, near and distant, come and help us in any way. It is only the Master Who comes.”
So, all our family members and all our other relationships are only our give-and-take from our earlier and previous births. So, whatever karmas have been left to be given or taken, those are now getting redeemed by this giving and taking in this transaction, in this lifetime. And once that is done with each of such members, that relationship is finished.
So, this relationship of theirs is only with our body. It is only for a few days while the body is there. It is not with the soul.
The relationship of the soul is with the Master and with the God Almighty. So, that way, we should do our Simran and we should do our Bhajan. We should focus and remove our thoughts from the other, worldly matters and do the BhajanSimran. And we should also, while belonging to the Master and being detached from worldly matters, perform our duties as if we belong to the Masters, because redeeming those karmas are also equally important.
So, we should, therefore, go about our life like this. We should get our love and attention refocused from other, outwardly relationships and matters. And then, put that at the Feet of the Master and love the Master with great love and affection and do our duties in this world. And then, we are able to become successful, both on the worldly side, before doing all the things that we are supposed to be doing, and also on the Spiritual Path.
Kul kutumb kuch kaam na aaee
Aur biraadari kar na sahaaee.
Yah to chaar din ke sangi.
In nij swaarth me buddhi rangi.
Radhaswami.