The paathi sings the Bani of Swami Ji Maharaj from the book: Santon Ki Bani, Vol I, pg 85
Satguru saran gaho mere pyaare,
Karam jagaat chukaaye.
Satguru saran gaho mere pyaare,
Karam jagaat chukaaye.
THIS IS THE BANI of Param Sant Satguru Swami Ji Maharaj. Before I explain the Bani, I bow to the feet of my Masters Som-Ajaib Who have graced me and made me fit for this seva. I bow to Their Feet Who have made me fit for this seva. Otherwise, I was a villager from a small village and no one would value me for more than four annas. So, it is only with the Grace of these two great Masters, where one Master graced me and He got my life on track, and the other great Master helped me spiritually, and even in a worldly manner. And this is the Grace of both of these two great Masters only. So, these few stanzas that I'm trying to explain here, it is possible only by the Grace of these two great Masters, because it is not the capability of a soul, who can sit at the plane of the mind and intellect, and try to explain the Banis of great Saints.
Before this Bani, the prayer that we just sang, the Bani, ‘Sant Satguru Sat Swaroopa’, that Bani was written in 1946. Somanath Baba Ji had taken a few disciples and had gone to get them initiated in Beas. And he had gone to Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj. And there, these two Banis were recited. This was the first one, and the second one was ‘Din Bandu Din Nata Dayal Satguru Jar Tarka’. So, these two Banis were recited there.
This Bani, which we just sang, which we just recited, completely describes the greatness of the Master, and the whole Bani is written on those lines.
Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, when He heard this, He said, “This is a prayer. This is a true prayer and you should recite this as a prayer.” And, thereafter, in all the Satsangs of Somanath Baba Ji, this was always recited first, before the Satsang, as a prayer, singing of the greatness of the Satguru and the Master.
So, Saints have sacrificed everything and have surrendered to the Masters. And They do everything on the directions of the Masters that are given to Them. You are more aware of Sant Ajaib Singh Ji and Kirpal Singh Ji, so Sant Ajaib Singh Ji, at every instance, would always sing the praise of Kirpal Singh Ji. He would always mention Kirpal in His discourses and in His statements. So, He would always remember His Master.
In this Bani, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “Take the protection of your Master. Surrender to your Master.”
When Swami Ji Maharaj wrote this Bani, Agra was a center of all kinds of rituals and all outwardly kinds of spiritual practices. During such a time, Swami Ji Maharaj had written all of these various Banis and had praised and explained the importance of the Masters, surrendering to the Masters, the importance of Naam, and all of the various aspects of Sant Mat, which were explained through His Banis in that period.
Surrendering to the Master is a very difficult thing. Surrendering to the Master means to surrender our mind, body, and our wealth. But now, it is very difficult, or practically impossible, to surrender to the Masters, because the mind is impure with several millions of previous lives, where it has done its karmas and all this burden of these karmas and these impurities are on it. So, it is very difficult to surrender to the Masters. Therefore, the Masters today insist on us doing Simran and Dhyan for the purification of the mind.
As we do more and more Simran and Dhyan, our mind becomes purer. And, as it becomes purer, we start contemplating on the Form of the Master, and we progress on this Path. So, as we do that, the mind purifies, and the attention that we have now got outside in the world, and on other things, and our desires, all that attention starts getting inwardly focused. And, as the mind becomes purer, and our focus improves within, then our spiritual Path within starts.
The soul's attention within starts focusing at the back of the Eye Center. And, that way, when we go within, and the attention, because of the Simran and Dhyan, starts getting focused at the back of the Eye Center, we manifest the Radiant Form of the Master within, and we see the Jyoti within, and we get connected with the Sound Current.
Once we see the Radiant Form of the Master within, this surrender, which we are talking of, automatically happens there. And once we go in, the Kriyaman karmas, the Kriyaman deeds that we have been incurring, those get redeemed completely. And the store of Sanchit karmas, which is there with us, that also significantly gets lightened.
The Pralabdh karmas continue because the body is made on the basis of the Pralabdh karmas. So, Saints do not disturb the Pralabdh karmas. But, when we do our Simran and Dhyan, it oftentimes happens that our major karmas get significantly lightened, and our suffering reduces from that of a guillotine to a small thorn prick.
So, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “To get out of this cycle of life and death, there is only one means, and that means is to surrender to the Master.”
Satguru saran gaho mere pyaare,
Karam jagaat chukaaye.
Bhool bharam mein sab jag pachta,
Achraj baat na kaahu suhaaye.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “The soul is so badly stuck in this illusion created by Maya and Kal, that the words explained by the Master, and the thoughts explained by the Master, are not understood by that jiva.”
Just like the soul is an element of God Almighty, the mind is also an element of Kal. And the orders and directions to the mind are to ensure that the soul does not leave the compound of Kal.
So, Mahatmas always say, “There is no enemy outside. All the people outside are your brothers and sisters. The only enemy that you have is the one sitting within you.” They say, “These souls are all daughters of the God Almighty. And they are all drops of the ocean of God Almighty. And they are all pure.” So, Mahatmas say, “If you want to get salvation and go back to your God Almighty, then do not listen to the mind. Listen to the Masters.”
The Masters, through Satsang, give us directions and bring us on this Path. After initiation, the Masters sit at the back of the Eye Center. And They are always concerned about having this soul come back and realize itself. When we go inside and we see the Radiant Form of the Master within, then the faith in the Master becomes absolute. And then, we become the right vessels for assimilating the Grace of the Masters.
This world is all running behind delusion. And delusion, or duality, is when we understand what is false to be true, and what is true to be false. So, all that we see is destructible. The world is untrue. Our relationships are untrue. This body is untrue. And all of these are simply manifestations of the karmas that we have incurred in the past. And all of this is subject to destruction.
And, on the contrary, the soul is Truth, Master is Truth, Naam is Truth, God Almighty is Truth. So, if we take the support of these Truths, then we will not get affected by what is false.
Bhool bharam mein sab jag pachta,
Achraj baat na kaahu suhaaye.
Bhaag-heen sab jag maaya bas,
Yah nirmal gati koi na paaye.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “The soul is unfortunate in this world. It is lost in all of these outwardly pursuits. And, therefore, it is not getting the True Path of salvation.” All the Saints have got Their salvation and have come to Reality only with the surrender to Their Masters.
We see Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj also spent ten years trying to search for a Master. And when he did that, he went to Swami Ji Maharaj and he wanted to spend his life in the devotion of Swami Ji Maharaj in the ashram.
Swami Ji Maharaj told him, “No, you should not stay at the ashram. You should find some means of livelihood and continue to do your devotion.”
And, following this instruction of his Master, Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj was recruited into the army in the Sikh regiment. And there, he would work very hard during the day. He had dug a trench of five feet, and when everyone else would be asleep, he would be sitting there in that trench, with his gun kept, and with a blanket on that, and he would sit for meditation all night. He did not have a family, as he did not have a wife or children. He had his mother, but it had been quite some time since he had left his mother.
So, he worked till his retirement age, and he spent his whole life dedicated to, and in the devotion of, the Master. He lived a very difficult life, where he worked the whole day, and then, he would do his meditation and devotion in the night.
If we examine the life sketches of all Saints, you will find that They have done a lot of things to please Their Masters. Therefore, if we do not do our Simran and Dhyan, we do not do our meditation, and we do not follow the Teachings of the Master, then we will not be able to progress on the Path of Spirituality.
Bhaag-heen sab jag maaya bas,
Yah nirmal gati koi na paaye.
Jin par daya aadi karta ki,
So yah amrit peevan chaahe.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “God Almighty, for the souls that He wants to get connected with Him, He graces these such souls, and He motivates these souls, to do His devotion. And then, with that devotion, they go within and meet God Almighty.”
With the good karmas of several hundreds and thousands of lives and lakhs of lives, we get the benefit of a human life. And it is only with the Grace of God Almighty that, in a human life, we get the company of the Masters.
Jin par daya aadi karta ki,
So yah amrit peevan chaahe.
Kahaan lag mahima kahun is gati ki,
Birle gurumukh cheenhat taahe.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “How can I praise this greatness of being a Gurumukh? Only a True Gurumukh will understand this greatness.”
There is so much intoxication in the Sound Current, in Naam, that Guru Granth Sahib also refers to Naam as nectar. And there is so much intoxication in this nectar. There are so much enjoyment and bliss in this nectar.
The mind is forever wanting to go to things that give it pleasure. So, it is a pleasure seeker. It will keep on going to things, which give it more and more pleasure.
When the Anahad Nad resounds within, and when we go within and get connected to that Anahad Shabd, to Naam, or the Sound Current then, when the mind gets connected to the Sound Current, the intoxication, the bliss and enjoyment it gets from that, is unparalleled. It gets the best pleasure, and then, it kicks away all of the other pleasures of the world and stays intoxicated in Naam.
After the mind gets connected with the Sound Current, the mind also awakens from its sleep. And it also realizes that it is not the body, it is an element of Brahm. And then, it also starts making efforts to go back to Brahm.
So, the same mind, which is an enemy today, which is not allowing us to do meditation and do our devotion, this same mind starts helping the soul to go back. The same mind wants to go back to Brahm. And it starts helping and making the soul to do meditation and devotion. So then both the mind and the soul go upwards to Brahm. And there, in Brahm, the knot that is tied between the mind and the soul, which has been tied for millions of lives, that knot gets untied.
So, thereafter, the soul gets freed from the mind. The mind goes to Brahm and the soul goes upwards with its Master. And then, when it dips in Mansarovar, or the Pool of Nectar, it gets pure.
There, the Master is also the manifestation of the Sound Current, and the soul also manifests itself like the Sound Current, and there is no male, and there is no female.
Kahaan lag mahima kahun is gati ki,
Birle gurumukh cheenhat taahe.
Bin guru charan aur nahi bhaave,
Is aanand mein rahe samaaye.
So then, Kabir Sahib says, “What is the state of the Gurumukhs? They do not even want to stay for a second away from their Masters.” He also says, “Once the Sound Current starts resonating within, and we get in touch with the Sound Current, then the devotion of the Master becomes so strong that, even a second that we spend deprived of seeing the Master, the pang of separation is so strong that we feel we have passed fifty years in that.”
When Amar Das Ji wanted to select His successor and choose the Gurumukh, He gave an exercise, a test, to all of His disciples then. In a mango plantation, He asked everyone to make a chautra. It is brickwork that surrounds the tree to keep all the mud and the manure inside. It is a covering around the tree. So, that way, everyone volunteered to do that. And He had directed them to make these two or three feet in height, and about ten feet in diameter. And two people would work on that and they would start making it. It would take a day for them to complete this process.
So then, He would come in the evening and check what was done. Then, He would tell the disciple, “No, this is not done correctly. You go and make it around the next tree.”
So, that way, it went on, and He would come in the evenings, check it, and then He would say, “No, this is not properly done. Break it. Make it around another tree.”
Amar Das Ji’s age then was a hundred and eight years. And, seeing this behavior of His, a lot of disciples stopped doing that seva. And they started feeling that, even after sixty years or sixty-five years, a person becomes senile, so He is now a hundred and eight years. So, that way, some would stay for two days, four days, in that way. Very few people continued for about ten days doing this, and then they also gave up. And, finally, it was only Ram Das Ji who was continuing to do as per the instructions of the Master. So then, he was working alone, and it would take him two days to make one chautra. And then, after that, his Master would come and say, “This is not properly built. You go and do it at another tree.”
So this went on, and then, for almost about twenty times he did this, of building and breaking. The other disciples would come, and they started telling him that, “Look, the Master seems to be of unsound mind now to continue like this. Have you also lost your mind? You are also doing this.”
Ram Das Ji told them, “No. Don't talk like this. If you want to talk like this about me, it is okay. But don't talk like this about the Master because, if the Master becomes of unsound mind, then the whole world will become of unsound mind. And, if my Master tells me to make this and break it, I’ll spend my whole life doing that.” So, that way, he finally built and constructed this and broke it seventy times.
So, seeing his devotion, Amar Das Ji made him sit on His throne, on His gaddi. And, that way, he cared about his Master's words and about His instructions, more than giving importance to his own self.
Bin guru charan aur nahi bhaave,
Is aanand mein rahe samaaye.
Darshan karat pind sudh bhooli,
Phir ghar baahar sudhi kya aaye.
Swami Ji Maharaj explains, “These Gurumukhs, when they go and meet their Masters, they completely forget themselves. They completely forget where they are standing, what they're doing, whether they are standing inside the house or outside the house. So, they completely lose bearing about everything else, other than the Master.”
When I used to take the sangat for initiation, or to meet Sant Ji in the Bombay program, sometimes sixty people, sometimes seventy people, would come. In the last program, I had taken a hundred twenty people, of which ninety people took initiation.
Now, they were all habituated that, when they would meet Sant Ji, out of habit, they would bow down at the feet of Sant Ji. Sant Ji would always sit at a height on a slightly elevated platform. And these people would bend down and touch their forehead to the floor below. And Sant Ji would often tell me that, “You have not explained well to these people. They come here and they hardly get a few seconds, a fraction of a minute, to meet me. And they spend that rubbing their forehead on the floor.”
So, the correct thing that we should do, when we meet a Saint, is to see His eyes, to see His forehead, because God Almighty Who is there within, His only means of getting reflected through the body of a Saint is through the eyes. It is through the eyes that the Saints redeem a lot of the karmas of the disciples. And it is through the eyes that They shower the Grace. So, it is through the eyes that one can see and feel God Almighty. That is where we should go and look, whenever we meet the Masters. So, Masters come into this world to grace the souls and to give to the souls.
So, unknowingly, when we are not aware of how to take that Grace, we are mostly ignorant about how we should accept that Grace. And, unknowingly, we lose that opportunity of taking that Grace also. So, we should take that Grace properly from the Saints. However, if we see worldly mahatmas outside, the others who are supposedly ‘gurus’, or supposedly ‘Saints’, they take pleasure in having their disciples bend at their feet and bow at their feet and take their blessings. And, sometimes, they also get displeasure if someone doesn't bow to them.
Paltu Sahib says, “In this world, Saints have come to give but, unfortunately, no one takes anything from Them.”
So, to absorb the Grace of the Masters, we have to create the right vessel to assimilate the Grace that the Master is showering on us.
Darshan karat pind sudh bhooli,
Phir ghar baahar sudhi kya aaye.
Aisi surat prem rang bheeni,
Tinki gati kya kahoon sunaaye.
Even during Swami Ji's period in time, there were a lot of souls who had gone within and who had seen the Masters within. So, during Swami Ji Maharaj's time, there was a Bibi Shibbo, and she had opened her Third Eye, and she used to go within. She was a great devotee. And once, it so happened that she was having a bath. And, in those days, the houses were of mud and clay, and these bathrooms were there within the house, and they were made of mud and clay.
One yogi came outside and he was singing songs of the Masters, songs of devotion, and songs of the pangs of separation from the Masters.
So, when she heard that yogi singing outside, the pang of separation from her Master was so strong, and she felt so much, that she just came out [unclothed], and she ran towards her Master in Agra. And He was in Panni Gali. So, that was some distance away. Her house was about one and a half kilometers away from the ashram, and she went through all those lanes like that.
And then, when she went into Swami Ji Maharaj's house, there were a few other disciples sitting there. So, she went there and bowed at His Feet there.
Swami Ji Maharaj told her, “How come you have come just like this, not wearing any clothes?” He asked the bibi in His house, the ladies, to give her some clothes. So, she had come those one and a half kilometers.
Now, the thing that happened was, not a single person saw her. And when she went through all of these busy lanes, nobody saw her. Even those disciples, who were sitting with Swami Ji Maharaj, they also didn't see her.
So, when the soul is so lost in the love of the Master, the Master also protects.
Aisi surat prem rang bheeni,
Tinki gati kya kahoon sunaaye.
Jog bairaag gyaan sab rookhe,
Yah ras un mein deekhe na taaye.
Swami Ji Maharaj says, “The enjoyment, the bliss, that you get in the devotion of the Master, you do not get in any other pranayama, or any other austerity, or penance, or any other learning.”
So, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “The amount of Grace that the Master bestows on the disciple cannot be fathomed.”
It is ever since this creation has come that we have been building up our karmas, and we have been building such a huge burden of karmas. It is bigger than the Himalayas that we carry with us. And, in one short lifespan, the Master graces the soul so much that He destroys all of these karmas, all of this burden, and in that short span, He takes him to God Almighty within.
So, this kind of a Grace is unimaginable. We cannot fathom this kind of Grace. Only a true Gurumukh, Who has gone in and Who has met the Master within, only He can understand the greatness of the Master and the Glory and the Grace of the Master, and the kind of pleasure that we get and the bliss that we get in the company of the Master. That is something only He can say.
At the time of initiation, the Master takes over and assumes all of the karmas of Their disciple, which would, otherwise, require that disciple to go and suffer in hell to redeem those karmas. So, a lot of these karmas, which are going to take that disciple to hell, are taken over by the Master at the time of initiation. And, after initiation, the Master sits in meditation and goes to Mansarovar and washes these sins. Because, if these sins, or these karmas, continue with the disciple then, at the time of death, while taking the soul, the account will have to be given to Kal of these deeds. Those have to be taken over by the Master, and it is only with the Grace of the Master that He assumes all of these sins at the time of initiation.
So, the Master’s Grace us through Satsangs, by giving Parshad, by giving Darshan, and by getting us to do Simran and Bhajan. And, that way, in such a short span, They get all of these such mountain-equivalent karmas redeemed, and get the soul out of the tangle of this illusion of Maya and Kal.
Kabir Sahib also says, “If I make all the land masses into paper, and I convert all the trees and forests into a pen, and I use the ink of all of the seven seas, even then, I will not be able to write the greatness of the Master.” He says, “With this tongue, with this mouth, we cannot sing enough praise of the Master. And we cannot sing enough praise of the Master Who, in this lifespan, has redeemed us, has given us salvation.”
So, it is important for us to, every day, sit two and a half hours in meditation and Simran and Dhyan. And, that way, we also reduce our burden of karmas. All of that burden has got to be taken over by the Master. And we will also then reach Sach Khand-Sat Lok in this very life.
And, if we don't do that, and we do not spend time in Simran and Dhyan, and we keep increasing our burden of karmas, then we will also be sad, we will also be suffering. And the Master will also be suffering, because if we are suffering, then the Master is also suffering with us.
So, we should also have mercy on our own soul. And we should work towards that. We should do our Simran and Dhyan, and have the mercy on our own soul.
Jog bairaag gyaan sab rookhe,
Yah ras un mein deekhe na taaye.
Barr bhaagi koi birla premi,
Tin yah nyaamat mili adhikaaye.
We are indeed fortunate to get the company of Masters in this life and get initiation in this life. It is the good karmas of millions of lives, which get us to this door, this life of human form. And it is with the Grace of God Almighty that He brings us in the company of the Masters. When God Almighty wants that soul to meet Him and come back to Him, then God Almighty brings that soul within the purview of a Saint and takes it to the Saint.
So, we should consider ourselves indeed fortunate for this. He says, “The company of the Masters and Satsang is something, which not everyone gets. It is only the fortunate ones who get this.”
The wives, brothers, family, everyone gets, whether we have good deeds, or we have bad deeds, we also get that. And all those relationships that we get, like any other person having those relationships, those are only out of the karmas. And those relationships do not get us connected to God Almighty. It is the company of the Masters and the Satsangs, which get us connected with God Almighty. The amount of Grace that the Masters shower on their disciples cannot be fathomed.
Saints often say, “You take one step and I will take a thousand steps.”
Barr bhaagi koi birla premi,
Tin yah nyaamat mili adhikaaye.
Radhasoami kahat sunaai,
Yah aarat koi gurumukh gaaye.
So, Swami Ji Maharaj says, “You should do the aarti by going within.” What is typically meant by ‘aarti’ is the offerings that we give to deities, or we give to gods. The typical offerings that we give to gods are that we take in a plate, some flowers, we take some camphor, we take a light, a lamp, and some incense, and then we go in front of the god and offer all of these. We light the camphor, we light that lamp, and we ring the bells, and we turn it around, and we do all that. All that lasts only so long as that camphor is there, and so long as that oil is there in that lamp. And, once that oil gets over, and that camphor gets burned, then the god is also in darkness, you are also in darkness.
But, what He means by the aarti that we should do is − the word ‘aarat’ means to go from outside to go within – so, what He says is, ‘come from outside and go within’, and see the Radiant Form of the Master within. Once you see the Radiant Form of the Master within, you will see that specter, and it is only to be seen and believed where the lamps are burning of their own, where the conches are sounding out, where the bells are ringing of their own, and it is a completely different grandeur that you get to see, and that is never-ending. It is a continuous thing, and it is must be seen to be believed.
So, you should do that aarti. You should come within and see the grandness of your Masters within. And the amount of Light that comes out from the Master, from each cell of the Master within, it is something, which is unparalleled. So, even if we get that for a second, if a gurumukh sees this for a second, then it’s not one deed, but it’s crores of his deeds that get redeemed in that one vision.
Barr bhaagi koi birla premi,
Tin yah nyaamat mili adhikaaye.
Radhasoami kahat sunaai,
Yah aarat koi gurumukh gaaye.
Radhaswami.
The last Satsang of program closes with the traditional Swami Ji bhajan of ‘Karubinanti’.