The Paathi sings the Bani of Swami Ji Maharaj from the book: Saar Bachan Sangrah
Atak tu kyo raha jag mein,
Bhatak mein kya mile bhaai.
Atak tu kyo raha jag mein,
Bhatak mein kya mile bhaai.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Swami Ji Maharaj. In this Bani, Swami Ji Maharaj points out that some people think that if they are living in the families, and they’re looking after their children, etc., then, they will not be able to get salvation. And then, they leave their families and take some austere measures and go into jungles and on pilgrimages.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Why are you wandering around in this world? There is nothing outside, and there is no salvation outside. This six-foot temple is your body, and your God is within.” If you go within and search within your body, you will get God Almighty. He is residing within your body. And, in the future also, whoever is looking for God Almighty, he will get Him within the body only.
If one wanders outside in search of God Almighty, then he faces several different types of difficulties, and he adorns different kinds of clothing, like saffron clothes, etc. As a result, he also builds an ego around him.
Therefore, we can stay very much in our own families, looking after our children, and yet, do the devotion of God Almighty.
Saints have adopted three measures for attaining salvation in this life. One is Satsang, second is seva, and third is bhajan Simran. Satsang is very important because, when we go and attend Satsangs, then we come to know of the importance of this life form that has been given to us.
Without Satsang, we do not come to know of the Reality. We are, continuously, in a state of delusion. The ‘mahatmas’ who are trying to search outwardly, they also put you in a delusion, when you are going and seeking solace with them. They also will be putting you in delusion because, they are, themselves, not aware of the Reality.
Khatak tu dhaar ab man mein,
Khoj satsang mein jaai.
Therefore, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “You should develop your own pangs of separation with God Almighty, and you will get the Path within.” Having a pang of separation with God Almighty is very important. We should be aware of our separation from Him, and we should feel a yearning to go back to God Almighty.
When we don't have a yearning to go back to God Almighty, then we just go outside, look at others, and seeing others take initiation, we also go and take initiation. Or, because some family member of ours has got initiated, we also go for initiation. But, until we have the yearning to go and meet God Almighty, that transformation, that turnaround, will not happen within us.
When we have an element of devotion, when we go to listen to the Satsangs, and when we go to the Masters then, what the Masters say in those Satsangs, those words impact us, and then, we start moving on the right Path. So, if we have that devotion and love, and we have the yearning to go and meet God Almighty, then we will get the impact of the Teachings of the Master.
If we don't have these things, but we are still continuing to go to Satsangs and listen to the Masters, it will take a little longer for that to impact us.
In our devotion, it is very important that we listen to Satsang every day. If we listen to a Satsang once in two months, or even longer, then that is not going to have the desired impact. So, we should make it a point to listen to Satsang every day, whether it is on the DVD or a VCD or otherwise, but we should take out some time and keep in our routine for listening to Satsang on a daily basis.
Also, we should take out time for our Bhajan Simran every day. In our daily routine, we should make sure that we are giving first priority to our Bhajan Simran. And, accordingly, we should take out time for that.
So, if we listen to Satsang every day, and we do Bhajan Simran every day, then we will definitely get success on this Path, and we will be fit for getting the Grace of our Masters.
Birah ki aag jab bharrke,
Door kar jagat ki kaai,
Lagaa lo lagan satguru se,
Mile phir shabd lau laai.
By listening to Satsang every day, and doing our Bhajan Simran every day, our affection towards our Master and towards God Almighty will increase. Our yearning to go and meet God Almighty will also increase. So, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Put your love and affection at the feet of the Master, and that will increase your yearning to go back and meet God Almighty.”
Because our love and affection today is in all our worldly matters, in outside material matters, and our attachments, when we sit for meditation, it is very dry. We do not get the enjoyment of sitting in that meditation, and we do not feel that we are getting enough experience. There is only one love that we have and possess, so either we direct that love to all the outside worldly matters and our attachments outside, or we direct it at the feet of our Master. But, Masters say, “We are living in this world. And we have to carry out our duties and perform all of those things also.”
So, one wonders, how is that going to be possible? Masters say that it is very much possible. Even Masters have had Their married lives. They have had families. Even Guru Nanak Sahib had two children. He had Lakhmi Chand and Sri Chand. And He also was engaged in farming. So, that way, Masters have also been in families, and They say it is very much possible.
Even Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj had three children. And he also used to do a lot of Bhajan Simran. The whole night, he would stand and do his meditation, his Simran and Bhajan, but he had his love and affection at the feet of his Master. Even when he got his salary every month, he would first take that salary and offer it to his Master, and not take it and give it to his wife. And then, Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj would take out some money out of that salary and that earning and keep it for seva and the rest, He would send it in the hands of a sevadar to the family of Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj.
Even Kabir Sahib, He earned His livelihood from making silk saris. So, He also carried out His living like that, but He always kept His love and attention and His yearning for God Almighty.
If we keep our love and affection at the feet of our Master, and we go about our worldly duties (assuming those as duties that we are performing for our Master), and we do our Simran while we are doing those duties, then there is no deceit in that. We will be able to succeed in our worldly duties, and we will also be able to get success on the Path of spirituality.
Chhutega janm aur marna,
Amar pad jaaye tu paai.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Those who go about their worldly activities, thinking of
those as duties that they’re doing for the Master, then, in this life itself, they
will get success and they will go back to Sach Khand -
Sat Lok.”
What is it that brings us, again and again, into this ocean of life? It is only our attachment to our family and our desires that bring us back here.
So, therefore, if we are doing our duties here, thinking of our Master, with our love and attention focused at our Master, then His hand, His Grace, is always there on us, and our worldly activities also get done smoothly. And, the Master also graces us and helps us in our worldly duties, and then, He also takes us back to our True Home, to Sach Khand.
Bhaag tera jage sota,
Naam aur dhaam mil jaai.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “If you do like this, then you will get your True Home. You will go back to God Almighty.”
Mahatmas say, “This world in which we are staying today, and this world with which we are identifying today, it is the world of Kal and Maya. And, it is the world of joy and sorrow.” So, the whole world is all joy and sorrow, and the entire foundation is on that, and it is continuing on this basis. So, it is these two, joy and sorrow, on which this whole world is settled. Kal and Maya have settled this whole world. Everything that we do, our families are a matter of joy and sorrow, our egos, our stature in society, whether it is high or low, that is also joy and sorrow, other happiness and sorrow, everything, is factored in on these two aspects. And this is the foundation of the world, and this will continue to be the foundation of the world.
In this world of joy and sorrow, everyone is transient. They come and go. Nobody will ever permanently be staying in this. And, nobody has been able to fulfill all their desires here. Everyone has always come and has some unfulfilled desires when they leave from here.
So, Kabir Sahib also says, “Great avatars, like Rama and even Krishna, all of them have come here, and they have left. There is nothing permanent in this world. And it is just an illusion, it is like a dream.”
Ravana was also a great king who came here, and he, with his austerities, gained a lot of progress, even on the gods. And he also believed, because of the boons that were given to him, that he was indestructible and there was no death for him. But, even he had to die, though he had drunk nectar, and he had nectar in his stomach. Even then, he had to die, because this world is a world, which is not permanent.
When Rama won the battle of Lanka, and Lanka was destroyed, on the tenth day of the battle, when Ravana was dying, Rama told his brother, Lakshman, “Today, a very great person is dying. He is one of the greatest administrators. He is one of the bravest of warriors. And he is one of the most intellectually, well-read persons. And, he is dying today. He is a great pundit. He knows all the four Vedas, like the back of his hand. So, now, after this battle, we will be going back, and we will be governing Ayodhya. We will be ruling over our kingdom of Ayodhya. So, it will be very helpful if we get some advice from such a great man.”
But, Lakshman was hotheaded, and he had an ego also. So, he told Rama, “Ravana is our enemy. Why should we be taking any sermons from him? Why should we be taking any advice from him?” But, nevertheless, he followed the instructions of his elder brother. And, as directed, he went to Ravana. But then, when he went there, his element of warrior stepped in. He was a Kshatriya. So, instead of standing and bowing at the feet of Ravana, he went and stood by his head. So, he stood by the head of Ravana, who was dying, and he told Ravana, “My brother, Rama, has asked me to come and seek some advice from you on administration.”
Ravana didn't even bat an eyelid. He didn't bother to look at Lakshman. So, Lakshman felt very insulted and went back to Rama.
When he went back, Rama asked him, “What did he say?”
Lakshman said, “No, I told you before only, that he is our enemy, and he didn't
even open his eyes when I asked him to give me advice.”
So, Rama inquired where he was standing, and how did he go about it?
Lakshman told him, “I went and stood near his head and asked him.”
So, he said, “If you are going to take advice, and you are making him your guru,
then you should go and pray to him. You should stand by his feet and ask him for
his advice. If you go and stand on his head, how do you expect that guru to give
you advice? And, who do you think he is? He is not an ordinary person. He is a very
great person. So, you should go and seek with full humility. You should go and stand
by his feet and pray for advice that he may give you.”
So, Lakshman went, again, to where Ravana was lying. And, this time, he went there with humility, touched his feet, and prayed before him, that his brother had requested him to come and seek advice from him on administration since he was to go back to Ayodhya and rule Ayodhya.
Ravana laughed and he told Lakshman, “Yes, now if you are standing like that and asking me, as a disciple, I will give you advice, but you have made it very late. Now, I only have only a few breaths left to give you and talk to you. Now, when you go back to Ayodhya, what you should do is follow a practice that is, ‘what you have to do tomorrow, you should do today’. And, ‘what you have to do today, you should do it immediately’.
Even I had a few desires. I wanted to do a few things, which were possible if I were to do them. Only, I kept procrastinating it. And I thought, ‘I'll do it the following day’. And now, my breath is going away.
The first thing I wanted to do was make all these oceans and seas, which have saltwater, I wanted to make them all with sweet water, convert them into sweet water. And, I'm sure I could have done it. But, because I thought I was immortal, I felt, ‘I can do it later’. But now, the time has come for me to go.”
Ravana loved gold. And, in his conquest of the heavens, he had brought gold from there, and he had made the entire country of Lanka, full of gold. So, he said, “I loved gold, and I felt that, if I am able to add a scent, a perfume, to gold, if it can smell good also, besides being what it is, then that would have also been a great thing, and I am sure I could have done that also. But, again, I felt, ‘I’ll do it after some time’. So, again, that is something, which is now not possible.
The third thing I wanted to do was, from this world, from our world, I wanted to make a staircase, build a staircase, to heaven. And, I knew I could do that, but then, that also is now something, which I cannot do. So, if any brave person wanted to go to heaven, he could have gone by that staircase. But now, that work is also left. So, taking my example, when you go back, you should make sure that whatever desires or plans you have to do for the following day, you should do it immediately, on that day, and you should do it there and then. You should not wait for later, because one never knows when your breath is going to stop.”
And, having said that, he then passed away.
Kabir Sahib has also said, “What you have to do tomorrow, you should do today. And what you have to do today, you should do it now because, in a second, the breath can stop, and then, you will not be able to do it.”
So, Masters say, “You have been given such a wonderful body and this wonderful occasion of converting from a human to God. And this occasion, this opportunity, should not be missed.”
All that we have to do, while we are living in this world, is simply to take out our love and affection from all our worldly attachments, and direct it at the feet of our Masters. And, if we can direct our love and attention and affection at the feet of our Master, then our worldly activities, our worldly duties, will also become easier. And our activities and duties will have the blessings of our Masters also. We will also make the most of this opportunity that has been given, to get our salvation and go back to God Almighty.
Kahoon kya kaal jag maara,
Jeev sab gher bharmaai,
Nahi koi maut se darta,
Khauf jam ka nahi laai,
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “What can I tell you? All the inhabitants here in this world, all the animals, all the human beings, they are in a complete state of delusion, which has been created by Kal and Maya.” And, in this world of delusion, we forget that we are going to perish and it is only temporary.
So, we have to, forever, remember. Keep that in front of our eyes, that there will be a time where we’ll have to leave this, where we will cease to exist here. And, when we keep that in our mind and in front of our eyes at all times, then we will not keep procrastinating. We will do our activities that we have to do, and our devotion that we have to do, to get salvation and get out of this world.
For flying, a bird needs two wings. Like that, for us to get our salvation and to move on this Path, we also need two things. One is devotion and love and affection for our Master. And the second is the fear of our death. So, with the fear of our death in front of us, knowing that we have to go from here, and with the love and affection at the feet of our Master, we will get success on this Path.
Parre sab moh ki phaansi,
Lobh ne maar dhar khaai.
He says, “You have been so badly entangled in this world by Maya and Kal. One is the very strong chain of attachments that have entangled you here, where you have your love and affection with your near and dear ones, and all the other things, those other chains, that are keeping you entangled here. And, on top of that, is greed. So, that greed is the other very strong entanglement that you have built for yourself here.” And, it is these two things that are keeping you away from your devotion. It is these two things, which are keeping you anxious, and you are facing all kinds of difficulties, and it is also affecting your health. You are, continuously, having tension and anxieties about all your attachments and your greed. You are going to the doctors, and taking medicines, and doing all of that for this.
Mahatmas say, “Everything that you are going to get here is all predestined. You are not going to get a grain of sand more, and you're not going to get a sesame seed less. So, whatever is there is all predestined, and you will exactly get according to that.”
So, therefore, Mahatmas say, “You should do your Bhajan Simran and have your love and affection at the feet of the Masters, and by just worrying about these things, about all your attachments, desires, and having all the greed around you, it is not going to change anything for you.” Instead, if you have your love and affection at the feet of the Master, then your duties towards your family and all the other things, and your livelihood, all of that also gets attended to with the Grace of the Master. And you have a smoother life and your affection continues to be at the feet of your Master.
When we are faced with difficulties, and we are faced with sorrow then, we can look at that as an opportunity to do more devotion and do more of Bhajan Simran at that time. But instead, our mind deludes us at that time. The mind deludes us, and it doesn't even allow us to think about this Path of spirituality, about our Masters, about Bhajan Simran, it just keeps us focused on all these difficulties. And, as a result, we get a lot of anxiety and tension, because of all of these worries.
Chet kaho hoye ab kaise,
Guru ke sang nahi dhaai.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “How will you awaken if you don't have love and affection at the feet of Master and you’re not making efforts on this?”
Our love and affection and devotion all get manifested in our outside worldly desires, and we don't listen to Satsangs properly, and we don't do the devotion of our Masters. There are so many satsangis, who have taken initiation, and have spent so many years, and they neither value their Masters nor do they value the Bhajan Simran. They are, continuously, lost in their love and affection for the worldly matters, for material things, and all of their attachments here, and they have completely identified themselves here. And, that is why they are sad and they are in sorrow, because of this.
When we spent so much time, all our energies and efforts in a lifetime, trying to accumulate all of this material wealth and build up all our attachments here, at the time of death, we get a very rude shock that we have to leave all of this here. Because, we have to leave all of these things here, which we so dearly work for, which we wanted all our lifetime, which we have spent a lifetime for getting. That is something, which we are leaving behind now. That is because we have not listened to Satsang properly and, if we have listened, we have not tried to understand the Satsang properly.
Now, that is why these people have to face this situation. And such people only increase the burden of their karmas and, because of the burden of karmas, and because their mind remains impure, they are unable to come to their Masters.
Kaam aur krodh bich bich mein,
Jeev se bhaarr jhonkvaai.
Guru bin koi nahi apna,
Jaal yah kaun tudvaai.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Such people, they get lost to lust, and they get lost to anger, and they waste all of this precious time that they have.” When we don't listen to our Masters, and we don't do our Bhajan Simran, then we are engaged in lust and we are engaged in anger and, because of that, our burden of karmas also increases, and we get further away from devotion. So, He says, “Till we have our love and affection and our devotion at the feet of our Master, or we follow the Path of doing Bhajan Simran, more and more Bhajan Simran, till such time, we will not be able to get success on this Path.”
Guru bin koi nahi apna,
Jaal yah kaun tudvaai.
Kutumb parivaar matlab ka,
Bina dhan paas nahi aai.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “All the relations that we have and all the attachments that we have, these are all for selfish motives. And that is what determines all our relations.”
All these relationships are determined by our karmas and are of selfish motives. They are not permanent. So, when one leaves the body, he has to leave all these relationships here and get into another body. And, when he gets there, then new relationships, which are similarly determined by karmas, are set for him there. If we look at our relationships, all our relatives and friends would like to be associated with us, so long as we have stature in society, so long as we have wealth, and so long as we are healthy.
So, there was an old lady, and she had a daughter. And that daughter, when she was married off, she was keeping unwell. This lady was about seventy years old and she got to know that her daughter was unwell, very seriously unwell, and the likelihood of her continuing to live would be difficult.
When the girl was about to pass away, they sent a message to this old lady, that her daughter was unwell, seriously unwell, and was likely to die. So, she was sitting next to her daughter and she started praying to God, saying that, since she was old, she prayed that her daughter should get a longer life and, instead of her daughter dying, it was she who should die. So, that is what she was praying to God. And she was praying to the angel of death, “Instead of taking her, you take me.”
Meanwhile, what happened was, outside, there was this big earthen vessel, which was black at the bottom, because of the fire. Because it was kept on fire, it had all the carbon below, and it had become black. And a cow came to eat something from that vessel, and it got its horns stuck inside that vessel. So, that cow could not see, and her head was stuck inside that vessel. And, in that blindness, it was trying to run around, here and there, trying to free itself. It was banging from one wall to another. And, instead of running outside, she came inside the house, because the door was open, and then, she continued to do that.
Now, this old lady thought this is the angel of death, which has come. So, she quickly ran away, and she told that angel of death, “Look, I am the old lady. That other girl is sleeping down there." So, she told that angel of death, "See? That girl is the one who is dying. Take her!”
And she ran away, outside the house.
So, at the time of judgment, all these relationships and all these things don't last. At that time, everyone cares for his own self and tries to protect his own self.
Now, also, during the British government, they had tried this experiment on a monkey. And they kept this monkey with a baby. It was a mother with a baby inside a water tank. And, it was such that the monkey could not jump out. And then, they started filling that water tank with water. They wanted to see that behavior of that monkey.
So, as the water filled, the monkey first kept that baby on her shoulder and, as the water level increased, she further kept that baby on her head to try to protect it. But, when the water level went above her head, she kept that baby down and stood on that baby.
Therefore, they realized that all these affections that we have are only limited to the time that one has to determine and take care of one's own self and continue his own or her own life.
So, for us, our life is most important. And all the other relationships that we have, and the affections that we have, are limited, to some extent. So, therefore, Masters say, “You should stay in this world and carry out your duties towards others, thinking of those as belonging to the Master. And then, we should carry out and go about our worldly relationships.”
Kahaan lag kahoon is man ko,
Unhi se maas nuchvaai.
Guru aur saadh kahen bihu bidhi,
Kahan unki na patiyaai.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “How much can I explain to a jiva? How much can I explain to a soul? Because, finally, the satsangis, how ever much I explain, they again get caught up in this affection and Maya.”
In the Satsangs, Masters always explain this. And They always try to explain how we should conduct ourselves, how we should go about our worldly relationships, and how we should have our love and affection at the feet of the Masters. This is explained several times, over and over again, in the Satsangs by the Masters. And satsangis listen to all of this, time and again, repeatedly, but again, they go back and do the same things. And, when they go back, they again develop their love and affection for all the worldly relationships and all the material things around. And, as a result, when they have their desires stuck there, they have to come back into this life and take another birth.
Guru aur saadh kahen bihu bidhi,
Kahan unki na patiyaai.
Mehar bin kya koi maane,
Kahi radhasoami yah gaai.
So, in the end, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “The Masters and sadhus, They try to explain this, again and again, in Their Satsangs. The jiva listens but doesn't follow that. He, again, goes back to listening to his mind.” And then, again, he brings about sorrow for himself, and he is unable to get happiness in this life. He is unable to get peace for himself.
So, it is what Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Until the Masters shower Their Grace on us, we are not going to be able to understand what They're trying to teach us.” And, to get the Grace of the Masters, we have to listen and follow Their instructions. When we start following Their instructions, then They will, automatically, shower Grace on us. And, when we have Their Grace on us, then we will easily be able to tread through this Path of Kal and Maya, and get salvation.
Guru aur saadh kahen bihu bidhi,
Kahan unki na patiyaai.
Mehar bin kya koi maane,
Kahi radhasoami yah gaai.