This article is presented with the grace of the great, great Guru and God who is unapproachable, unfathomable, imperceptible, endless, infinite and is the blessed, blessed Supreme Lord and Master:
Let us pray to God and Guru with pressed palms in prayer position, with countless humble prostrations at their lotus feet. With countless thanks to them with every breath of ours. With our head pressed at their lotus feet forever. For all ages to come may we remain at their lotus feet, with our heart cloaked in humbleness.
May we have utmost humbleness in our heart, full belief, commitment, trust, faith, true love and true devotion.
May we have true and unconditional devotion, without any worldly demands, with unconditional love in our heart for all His Creation and with our head pressed at the feet of the entire creation.
May we always keep God, Guru and Guru’s congregation in first place and everything else at second place.
May God and Guru give us the wisdom to understand what the divine meaning of the word Munnmukh is so that we can understand and bring inside our Hhart the following points :-
· what makes a person a Munnmukh ?
· what are the characteristics of a Munnmukh ?
· what are our own qualities, character and personality in light of the meaning of Munnmukh ?
· are we Munnmukh ?
· Or are we making efforts to steer ourselves in the right direction?
The right direction means
· Heading towards the discovery of Eternal Truth,
· Towards the achievement of our real objective of this human life,
· To become a Gurmukh ,
· To achieve salvation,
· To get relieved from the shackles of the Maya ,
· And be one with the Origin, One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth, Beyond Maya Embodiment of the Immortal Being.
First of all let us pray for the God’s grace to understand the meaning of the word Munnmukh .
This word comprises of two words "Munn" and "Mukh" :
MUNN
"Munn" means your own mind. The mind is an invisible part of your body, which is controlled by your own Mat meaning wisdom. Self-made wisdom is called the Munn Mat . It is based on your own education and also the rules of the society you live in. This is also called the worldly wisdom Sansarik Mat . Both the Munn Mat and Sansarik Mat also contain some element of the Dur Mat .
The Dur Mat is the evil wisdom which prompts you to :
· do bad deeds,
· commit sins,
· get involved in all kinds of deeds which make you selfish,
· involve you in slander, gossip and back-biting,
· doing bad to others,
· hurting others,
· cheating and deceiving others and so on.
Basically all the Munn Mat falls under the operation of Maya . All the actions and deeds conducted under the influence of Munn Mat happens under two of the three parts of Maya :
1) Rajo
(Desires & Negative Criticism) which includes hopes, all-consuming desires, wishes, slander, gossip, back-biting and
2) Tamo (Five thieves) which includes lust, anger, greed, selfish attachment, ego. Prompted by luxuries, young beauty, wealth, material things, beauty, tastes of tongue, smell and feel of touch.
In a nutshell the mind operates under the directions of wisdom that is self-made, worldly and evil (Munn Mat , Sansarik Mat & Dur Mat ). All of that wisdom is gained under Rajo and Tamo parts of Maya .
In order to blessed with the Guru’s Divine Wisdom Gur Mat we have to start by practicing truthful deeds. That comes under the third part of the Maya called SATO. It means we have to practice:
· kindness,
· forgiveness,
· humbleness,
· love;
· religion, the eternal truth, One God Named Truth,
· meditation on God’s name,
· practicing God’s Primal words,
· practicing truth in daily life,
· being truthful in all actions and deeds,
· work towards getting a control over the mind and five thieves,
· restrain from doing slander, gossip and back-biting,
· restrain from harming, cheating and deceiving others;
· helping others,
· giving tenth of time and money to Guru or charity,
· surrender to the God and Guru,
· selfless service and generosity,
· efforts to achieve the salvation,
· efforts to get out of the shackles of MAYA ,
· work towards relieving yourself of all kinds of doubts, delusions, illusions and distractions;
· contentment,
· controlling desires,
· no greed
· patience and
· stability
All these truthful deeds take us towards reforming our self-wisdom MUNN MAT with divine wisdom GUR MAT .Gur Mat shows us the path to defeating the three states of MAYA and going beyond it into the fourth state which is the Eternal Truth. This is the path to becoming a Gurmukh.
MUKH
The second part of the word Munnmukh is the word "Mukh". This literally means FACE. Whichever way your mind is facing “MUKH” defines the path you are following. The direction you are facing defines what influences your actions and deeds in your daily life.
The word Munnmukh describes the person who is facing towards the worldly mind. Whereas a Gurmukh has his face towards God, Guru and God’s Primal words. The word Munnmukh basically means the person who follows his own wisdom. But his own wisdom is nothing but a mixture of Sansarik Mat (learned form the society prevailing around you) and Dur Mat (evil wisdom). The result of his own education, his own learning from his environment and the rules of the society he lives in. In a nutshell the Munnmukh is the person who operates under the influence of Rajo and Tamo attributes of Maya . A more practical and easy to understand preview of the qualities of a Munnmukh are briefly described as follows:
1. Who has no belief in God, Guru and God’s primal words.
2. Who is not committed to the God and Guru and God’s primal words.
3. Who has no faith in the God and Guru and God’s primal words.
4. Who has no trust in the God and Guru and God’s primal words.
5. Who has not completely surrendered himself to the God and Guru.
6. Who doesn’t follow his Guru’s words of divine wisdom.
7. Who doesn’t give 10% of his time to the God and Guru by not involving in the selfless service and remembrance of God and Guru.
8. Who doesn’t give 10% of his earnings to the God and Guru.
9. Who is ruled by the five thieves. Whose life is ruled by any of all of the Five thieves (Lust, Anger, Greed, Selfish attachment, Ego).
10. Who is ruled by the desires.
11. Who is involved in the negative criticism Slander, gossip and back-biting.
12. Who doesn’t practice the divine wisdom Gur Mat or God’s Primal words in his daily life.
13. Who doesn’t love all the creation of the Almighty.
14. Who is full of hatred and discrimination.
15. Who doesn’t recognize that all are equal, all are human beings.
16. Who doesn’t think and do good to others.
17. Who lives a life full of delusions and illusions.
18. Who has no humbleness in his behavior.
19. Who is not kind to others. Who is not kind hearted.
20. Who is not honest in his deeds.
And the list goes on.
The bottom line is that :
The person who is not a Gurmukh is a Munnmukh .
A person is a Munnmukh UNTIL he has :
· become a Gurmukh, he will remain a Munnmukh .
· Completely realized Almighty he is a Munnmukh .
· all his divine doors including Tenth Door & Divine Eye open.
· been blessed eternally with the God’s Grace of un-struck divine music nectar.
· been eternally blessed with the activation of Seven Centers of the spiritual energy with in the body.
· been eternally blessed with the highest ambrosia which is Soul Bliss/Enjoyment of God within.
· become completely truthful by virtue of a supreme light fully bright in his spiritual heart.
· merged in the Almighty’s body of light completely.
Only a complete saint is not a Munnmukh .
Only a complete knower of God is not a Munnmukh .
Only a complete truthful person is not a Munnmukh .
Only a divine soul who lives in the royal court of God is a Gurmukh. And until that happens a person remains a Munnmukh because his inside is not completely cleaned up. And until the inside is not completely cleaned up and becomes a completely truthful person and capable of seeing, speaking, hearing, delivering and serving the complete eternal truth, the person will remain a Munnmukh .
Dassan Dass (Slave Of God’s Slaves)