The word “KIRTAN” is a divine word which is very commonly used in our day to day religious life. The true Eternal and Divine source of any word in Gurbani is the Eternal Truth, the Dargahi Truth, the Nirankaar’s Hukam. It basically presents the Param Tatt; the Braham Tatt; the Divine Essence, the Divine Jyot; The Divine Light. That is what the phrase “Shabad Guru” means. The Eternal Truth part of any word is the Guru part, the Divine Jyot and the Param Tatt part of any word is the Guru part, which enlightens us from inside and removes the darkness of the Maha Kaal – KalAge – the Dark Age from our Hirda and Soul and unites us with the Almighty, Paar Braham Parmesar, the Param Jyot and Atam Rus Amrit on a continuous basis forever and for all ages to come. This is due to the unlimited spiritual power of the Shabad (Divine Word).
Every shabad has a Divine Essence in it, due to which it is called shabad Guru. Each and every word of the Gurbani is a Shabad Guru due to the presence of the Sat Tatt; the Braham Tatt; the Eternal Truth; the Divine Light and the Divinity in it. that is why every word is a Guru because it tells us and provides us the Divine Wisdom to achieve highest status in the Divinity, which is merger in the Almighty Himself and thus be a Jivan Mukt.
The Shabad is the Hukam (order of God). And the mother of all shabads is the shabad “NAAM, THE GURPARSAAD”. This is the highest Hukam of the Akal Purakh. There is a deep divine connection of this Highest Hukam with each and every word that is in Gurbani, because this Highest Hukam of Naam, the Gurparsaad, is the Origin. Everything has emanated from this Origin. The entire Gurbani is the explanation of this Origin. This Origin is Akal Purakh Himself and His Gur Parsaadi Naam “Ik Oankaar Satnaam”. Let us see how the word “KIRTAN” is connected with this Highest Hukam of Akal Purakh “ The Naam – Gur Parsaad – Ik Oankaar Satnaam”.
The word “KIRTAN” can comprises of two words: KIR and TAN.
KIR means
- to stabilize (in Punjabi it means Keelna),
- to become stable,
- to keep it away from all kinds of distractions,
- delusions and illusions,
- to control,
- to keep it in a stable position,
- to keep it tied to,
- motionless,
- no movements,
- silent,
- calm,
- no thoughts,
- emptiness of thoughts,
- concentrated around a pivot,
- become a pivot,
- become still,
- no effect of any outside worldly things.
The second word TAN means the Physical Body. The body is constructed out of the five primal elements- air, water, fire, sky and earth, and this body has five senses. These five senses are directed by our mind to act and react, to perform and function, to think and do, to behave and misbehave. Under normal daily circumstances the mind is directed by our own wisdom, the worldly wisdom, the wisdom of the society around us, our own education and so on. The mind is the key of all our actions and reactions, all our deeds and deeds and is governed by the self-wisdom or the worldly wisdom. In a summary we can say that: the basis of the physical body is the five senses; the basis of the five senses is the mind; the basis of the mind is the self or worldly wisdom.
The existence of our TAN – the physical body is due to the life element in it. This life element comes in our physical body due to the presence of the Divine Element which is the Soul – Atma. This is a part of the Param Atma the Almighty, the Braham Tatt, The Param Tatt, the Divine Jyot, the Divine Light. We breath and remain alive due to this Divine Element. The moment the Soul leaves the body, the body dies and all the five elements it comprises of are discharged back to their respective elements in the universe.
Combining these deep divine meanings of these two words KIR and TAN will give us the deep divine meaning of the word “KIRTAN”. By virtue of these divine meanings the essence of this word comes out to be :–
stabilization of our mind, (keep in mind that the body is directed by five senses, mind is directing the five senses and the mind is directed by self wisdom and the basis of the mind is the self wisdom and there is no divine wisdom anywhere in this operation of the self wisdom, mind and five senses),
- make the mind calm and motionless,
- keep the mind away from thoughts,
- keep the mind out of distractions, illusions and delusions;
- keep the mind calm and empty (of any kind of thoughts) without any effect of the outside world;
- have a complete control over the mind;
- infact win over the mind;
When such a status of mind comes into being the Soul, the Divine Element comes in control of everything. The Divine Light and the Divinity gains control of everything. The Param Tatt, the Braham Tatt comes in to control the mind. Hence the five senses are then directed by the Divine Wisdom. This means that the mind and five senses start to operate according to the Divine Wisdom. This is known as the Puran Hukam state of the Soul and Mind. Such a state is described as the “KIRTAN” state of the mind and soul.
Such a state of mind and soul comes in when the Naam takes over the Mind and Soul and so the five senses come under the Highest Hukam “ THE NAAM HUKAM WHICH IS GUR PARSAAD”. Such a state is called the Smadhee and Sunn Smadhee. This comes when we are instituted in the Karam Khand and Sach Khand of our Bandgi, when the Gur Parsaad goes in to the Surat and Hirda, mind and soul are filled with Naam Amrit and we continuously recite inside our Surat – mind and Hirda and eventually in every bit of our body the Gur Parsaad the Naam the Ik Oankaar Satnaam.
This is the state of our soul and mind when we win over the mind, when we conquer our mind, we conquer over the five vices and all our desires, when the Naam Simran goes on to a automatic and continuous mode inside our mind and Hirda. This is what “KIRTAN” means, and since at this stage of spirituality the Dassam Dwaar also opens and all the seven centers of spiritual energy are activated and also the Anhad Naad word is heard in the Dassam Dwaar on a continuous basis, it becomes the real “AKHAND KIRTAN” because it never stops, it goes on 24 hours a day for ever.
Listening to KIRTAN means listening to the Anhad Naad word in Dassam Dwaar. Singing KIRTAN means the Rom Rom Naam Simran, which is the Amrit Rus, the Atam Rus and is the Divine Pilgrimage, the inside pilgrimage.
The singing of Gurbani with tongue is the Rasna Rus (taste of the tongue) and listening Gurbani with ears is Kanni Rus (taste of the ears), this is the Atsath Tirath – outside pilgrimage.
Dassan Das (Slave Of God’s Slaves)