Sat Naam (Truth Name) is the Primal name (before the Ages began) of the Supreme Transcendent Lord. This name, “Truth”, is the one which is the complete Truth, which is the Beej Mantra (The Beej Manter – the Seed Mantra, is the source of spirituality, Divinity, spiritual wisdom, divine wisdom, Tat Gyan, Braham Gyan about the entire creation. Beej Manter is “Ik Oankaar Sat Naam.”). As well as supporting of all the inner spiritual realms and outer physical worlds, this naam ferries our mind across this world, it brings our mind under control, it calms our mind, makes our mind free from the hold of Maya and five vices, it makes our hirdha completely Truthful.
This naam in itself is Pooran Parkash (The field of pure and very strong spiritual energy, the aura, around the people who attain the stage of Puran Brahamgian. Please be sure to understand that when we say Parkash we really physically see this Parkash, it is not just said in GurBani, it happens to us physically and our body is filled with this divine Jyot and Parkash and we can physically see this Divine Light.Therefore, please do what GurBani is telling us to do and enjoy everything that GurBani says will happen to us. All this really happens, it is not any illusion, it is a divine truth).
This naam is the one who gives birth to all, looks after all, is Agam-Agochar (cannot be seen or observed through the five senses. The Divine Eye – Dib Drisht, is required to see, hear and feel Him within through Naam), it is endless, it cant be measured, it is infinite, has the power to make man one with itself and makes him like itself, it in itself is the nectar for the soul and it is that whose praise cant be narrated.
The following explanation is just a glimpse of the praise of the word (Shabad) Sat – Truth.
The word Sat – Truth, is the root word (source of all words) and contains within it everything you need for completing your devotional path. It contains within it all the supreme Infinite Divine Powers and all the supreme infinite divine virtues. It describes the complete divine state of God. It gives the infinite divine support to the whole creation which has been created by God Himself- the Infinite Divine Power.
The Infinite Divine Power is itself (beyond the Creation) in its Atal Awastha (totally stable state). It is always existing in its formless state. But as Sat, It supports the whole creation. This has been described by great, great Truth Guru Nanak, the king of the kings.
This divine word Sat tells us what the meaning of Infinite Divine Power God is; what the His formless nature means. His formless nature is beyond the three aspects (gunn) of Maya-
1) Rajo gunn – Desire aspect of Maya, includes Asa (hopes), Mansa (wishes) and Trishna(strong desires),
2) Tamo gunn – Darkness/Ignorance aspect of Maya includes the Panj Doots (five thieves/inner demons). The people in this level of consciousness are called Tamus. The five thieves are:
· Kaam- lust,
· Krodh- anger,
· Lobh- greed,
· Moh-attachement and
· Ahankaar- pride/ego.
Other dark aspects are:-
· Nindya – slandering,
· Chugli – gossip,
· Bakhili- back-biting,
· Raaj – power/kingdom,
· Joban – youthful beauty if it promotes the feeling of lust,
· Dhann – wealth that causes greed and corruption is no good. Money for living earnt honestly is the right way. Take out Daswandh (tenth of earnings and 2.5hrs of time every morning for doing Naam Simran meditation) for the Guru,
· Maal – material things that cause greed and corruption,
· Roop – as part of Maya it means the beautiful form of others that causes attraction of mind and brings in the feeling of lust,
· Ras – tastes of the tongue,
· Gandh – smells that distract our mind with a feeling of desire e.g. perfumes,
· Shabad- (under Maya) bad words, foul language, (otherwise Shabad means divine words)
· Sparsh – touch that causes the feeling of lust.
3) Sato gunn: goodness aspect of Maya. Comprises of qualities such as:
· Daya – kindness,
· Daan – giving eg charitable donations,
· Dharam – path to union with God. However, Dharam is commonly translated as religion, but a lot of religious acts are untruthful nowadays and do not unite us with God. The divine meaning of Dharam is to follow the divine wisdom direct from God and not the man-made religious belief systems. The real divine meaning of Dharam is union with God by following the divine wisdom, the Gur Mat and Gur Bani – Guru’s word.
· Kindness is the mother of Dharam – “Dhaul Dharam Daya Ka Poot.” Jap Ji explains this divine wisdom of the highest order. This means that kindness gives birth to Dharam. This means that kindness is the foundation for union with God. We are kind by nature. We have a naturally kind Hirda. Union with God means we become part of nature. Nature is God. Nature is another meaning of the word Dharam. So following our natural habit of kindness, makes us full of kindness.
· Sanjam – patience; humbleness; humility,
· Santokh – contentment.
God, the Infinite Divine Power is Sat, it has no end, it cant be measured, it is infinite, it is the self-created Creator who is Infinite, has no boundaries and has no dimensions and is full of all the super divine powers. This Sat is the Guru. Gurbani is the divine wisdom form of Sat and that is the reason that Gurbani is Guru. Gurbani is the divine wisdom form of this Sat and that is the reason that Gurbani is Nirankaar (Formless).
The word Sat defines Amrit (Our own soul is basically, the Amrit. The life element is the Amrit. It is the Amrit that breathes life inside our physical body and keeps it going. Bandgi is nothing but the discovery of this Amrit within our own physical body and this can only and only be achieved by the GurParsaad. And GurParsaad is the Amrit that has been realized by a Puran Brahamgiani. By virtue of this realization of the Amrit, such a Puran Brahamgiani Himself becomes a source of the GurParsaad, a source of the Amrit. When this inner Amrit is given to us then this Amrit activates all of our internal sources of Amrit, the Sat Sarovars (seven chakras that are part of the astral body), which opens all of our divine doors. The only issue is that this Amrit cant be given to anybody and everybody. It can only be received by those who are destined to receive it, or the ones who are capable to receive and retain this Amrit. The condition that makes us eligible for this Amrit is to reach a stage where we can completely surrender to the Guru with Tunn, Munn and Dhann).
Sat is that supreme power, that undying limitless power, known as Mansarovar. (The immortal Being is an unlimited sea, Mansarovar, of divine qualities and divine powers. This Mansarovar is the Origin from where our soul has been created. This Mansarovar is also called the Gur Sagar (Guru Ocean) or the Nirgun Saroop (Beyond Maya Form) of Paar Braham Parmeshwar (Supreme God). Every creation has emanated from this Nirgun Saroop of the Immortal Being. Our existence is only due to this connection to the Mansarovar. Mansarovar is the One which is providing life in this physical body,“Jaat meh jyot, jot meh jata…” Jaat means the physical body. Jyot (Dine Light/Soul) is the Mansarovar and Jataa is the Immortal Being. The above line means that the physical body resides within the Jyot/Mansarovar and the Jyot/Mansarovar resides within the Immortal Being.)
Sat, Truth, remains forever, it is from the beginning of itself, it exists now and it will exist for all the Ages to come. Falsehood cannot stand in front of Sat. In the end it is only Sat that remains, falsehood dies. Everything which is running under three aspects of Maya is perishable and false, is caught in the process of reincarnation.
Sat, Truth, does not have any beginning Itself, but is the beginning of everything. It is nothing but the all powerful Infinite Divine Power God. His own existence has come from Sat and He is in perfect existence from the beginning, is in perfect existence now and will remain in perfect existence as Sat. It is one which is out of living form, never dies, is out of time and worldly cycle and is out of the birth and death cycle.
This is the infinite and unique supreme divine power which has created all the universe and the one which is running the whole world, which has been formed by itself with Its base as Sat and is looking after itself. Sat is beyond any animosity, loves its every creation so much that it has placed its own self in its every creation. The one which is omnipresent, is inside all of us, is the only doer, which is the Infinite Divine Power and so is full of all the super divine powers means is the owner of all types of infinite powers. Sat is capable of doing anything which is beyond human imagination, is beyond the reach of five human senses. The foundation of this infinite power is the word Sat.
Sat is the divine essence inside the Guru. That is why the Guru’s divine essence makes the darkness disappear and enlightens us from inside about the universe and the complete divine wisdom. Guru is whom we follow in our daily routine and no one here is higher or better than Sat. That is why Guru is also Sat Naam. The Guru of Guru’s is Sat Naam. The Guru of Gur Bani is also Sat Naam. Once we begin to practice this divine word then gradually we start becoming Truthful and consequently we become completely Truthful. Our deeds are our Guru and if our deeds are truthful only then Truth is our Guru. If our deeds are untruthful then falsehood is our Guru, meaning that we are Guru-less because falsehood cannot be the Guru. If we operate under Maya, then Maya is our Guru which again means we are Guru-less because Maya cannot be the Guru.
When we merge with the Sat part of the Infinite Divine Power and become one with it we only see the Truth, speak the Truth, do the Truth and spread the Truth. By doing this we are serving the Truth and this is the highest service to all powerful Infinite Divine Power and all pervading Supreme Father. This is highest service to Sat which is the highest Amrit, the highest level of enjoyment and eternal happiness. A never-ending eternal happiness known as “Sat Chit Anand” (bliss of Truth consciousness) and enjoyment of the pure light of the Lord, Param Jyot Puran Parkash Darshan. It is the highest level of Amrit which is formless state of Param Jyot Puran Parkash.
The practice of Sat merges ones soul into Sat and the human who becomes one with Sat, becomes a form of the Infinite Divine Power and this means that the soul becomes the source of Braham Gyan (divine wisdom). It becomes the source of Sat, it becomes the source of Amrit for others and it is called Braham Gyani(The highest spiritual status of a soul, Atmik Awastha, that a person can achieve).
In fact, in the word SatGuru, the Guru is actually Sat. That human being which merges in Sat and becomes one with Sat, then Sat becomes the Guru. The soul which is capable of seeing Anaad Sat (Anaad-which has no beginning), speaking Anaad Sat, listening Anaad Sat, spreading Anaad Sat and is capable of serving the Anaad Sat and on top of all this it becomes one with the Infinite Divine Power and becomes Anaad Sat itself and such a soul becomes Guru because such a soul can enlighten us from inside and can give us Amrit, can break all our illusions and delusions, can guide us to Sach Khand on our path of devotion and as a result can lead us to salvation.
For a brief exchange of views, let us discuss the complete divine wisdom – Gurbani. Shabad (divine word) is also Gurbani. It is the complete divine wisdom. Every word of Gurbani is nothing but the explanation of Sat and due to this virtue of it, Gurbani itself becomes Sat and Gurbani itself says that we must become Gurbani which means we must become Sat which means that we must become one with the Infinite Divine Power.
Practicing Gurbani is practicing Sat. This will mean practicing Anaad Sat, which is practicing Gurmat and by practicing Anaad Sat continuously we will ourselves become Sat and this is what Gurbani tells us to become, the divine essence of Anaad Sat which makes Gurbani a Guru, which makes Gurbani a form of the formless God.
Shabad is Hukam – The will of God that prevails. It is Hukam that is why it is Sat, which is the highest will of Immortal Being, God Himself. Becoming Sat is the supreme hukam of the Immortal Being (hukam- will of God that prevails). This is the highest praise of the Immortal Being. That is why Sat obedience of Sat is the key to Dargah (Divine Court of The Lord. God and His Bhagats run Sach Khand, their command is issued from Dargah. In the Dargah, God is represented by Himself and among this world of Maya, God is represented by these Maha Purakhs. For a spiritually illiterate person the Dargah and the Earth are two ends, and these Maha Purakhs make both these ends meet through them. The Infinite Divine Power of Dargah is present on the Earth in the form of these Maha Purakhs. In both places this Infinite Divine Power is prevailing. Both the Dargah and world is being run by this Infinite Divine Power. The ones who follow His divine laws with His own command and achieve the Gur Parsaad, are blessed with this Infinite Divine Powers while physically sitting on this Earth, but at the same time sitting in the Dargah as well. That is why GurBani says wherever there is a Sant sitting the Dargah is right there. Wherever there is a Braham Gyani sitting, the Dargah is right there. Wherever there is a SatGur, sitting the Dargah is right there. And where there is Dargah there is no rule of Maya. So sitting at the Charans of a Sant is sitting in Dargah and beyond three attributes of Maya. This is why a Sant is the Mahima of Akal Purakh, because God makes the Dargah appear where there is a Sant present on this Earth and that is where both ends meet – Earth and Dargah. Earth becomes Dargah. Earth becomes Dhan-Dhan where there is a Sant sitting).
The compliance of Sat with complete trust and belief, surrendering ourself completely before Sat and with divine grace and blessing of Aad-Anaad Sat Infinite Divine Power Amrit when we become Sat and obey Sat then we make a place for us in Dargah forever. This is the reason that the divine essence Guru is Sat . This means that Guru Himself is the Infinite Divine Power. In fact, in a complete Braham Gyani, in a complete Sant, in a Bhagat this Sat part exists which is beyond the three aspects of Maya, and is the Guru part, Braham part, part of complete divine wisdom, part of complete divine essence wisdom, which is param Jyot Puran Parkash. (Bhagat is the one who is absorbed in God. God lives and appears in every breath of a Bhagat. God lives and appears on a continuous basis in His Bhagats. God Himself is Bandgi, God Himself is Naam, God Himself is Naam Ki Kamai, God Himself is GurParsaad. Therefore, the ones who are absorbed in His Naam and GurParsaad become Puneet – are purified, their Hirda goes into Puran Sachyari Rahat, complete internal compliance, compliance of defeating Maya, compliance of Atam Ras Amrit, Brahm Gyan Amrit)
Thus the word Sat is:
· Param Atma (Supreme Soul – God. The soul, Jyot, that goes beyond three attributes of Maya, “Trihu Gun Tey Parey”, becomes Param Atma),
· Master of the whole creation,
· Father of the whole creation,
· Beyond explanation.
Although, the word Sat is beyond explanation but with Gurparsaad, it has been tried to explain a glimpse of it. That being which is completely absorbed in Him and has become one with Him, all the deeds of that being are Sat. Such a being who has become the form of Sat has become so for the purpose of seeing, listening, speaking, serving Sat and spreading Sat and only Sat.
All these are divine virtues of great, great Supreme Transcendent Lord. He is:
· Sat
· Parmatma (Supreme Soul – God.The soul, Jyot, that goes beyond three attributes of Maya, “Trihu Gun Tey Parey”, becomes Param Atma )
· Maalik (Master)
· GurParsaad (The Eternal blessings and Eternal grace of Akal Purakh. GurParsaad is the key to spiritual success. GurParsaad is the divine super power of the highest order )
· Full of all the virtues and containing all the supreme divine powers, so who can be more beautiful than Him?
· The one who is achieved by one among millions.
· Inexplicable – His supreme divine powers are description-less. His creation is description-less.
· The supreme Truth and unique.
Everything He says is a divine law. When His words, His divine laws are followed with love and devotion, trust and faith and surrendering completely before Him, then He can be achieved. However, all this is GurParsaad. So, please always keep praying for His grace and Gurparsaad. We can get to learn about Him by GurParsaad of Naam, Naam Di Kamaai (earning of naam. This is the real service of a Sant, because this is the highest level of the service to Akal Purakh. Doing Naam Simran with GurParsaad, taking Naam into the Surat (mind) and Rom-Rom (every part of the body) is the real service of a Sant and Akal Purakh), Pooran Bandgi (Bandgi reaches the Puran state with winning over Maya. The ones who win over their own mind win over Maya and are accepted in the Dargah of Dhan-Dhan Paar Braham Pita Parmeshwar Ji as Puran and are decorated with the Param Jyot Puran Parkash Atam Ras Amrit and are merged in the Sat forever) and Seva (Service. Humbleness and humility are very powerful divine weapons to kill our Haumai. Death of Haumai brings Jivan Mukti to us. We all as human beings are very fortunate to be blessed with the divine power to exercise this divine quality of humbleness and humility in our daily life. By doing so we keep on enhancing this divine quality and eventually our Hirda is filled with so much humility and humbleness that we are able to reach the door of the Dargah. This is the reason why Jodyan Di Seva (wiping shoes of the Sangat) is given so much importance. Cleaning the utensils of the Langar (Gurus Kitchen) also is a Seva that brings humility inside our Hirda. Doing Dandauth Bandhna at the Sat Charans of our Satguru is another very important weapon to beat our ego and bring humility into our Hirda. Therefore, whenever we meet our Guru and Sangat, please do Dandauth to them. Whenever we go to the Gurdwara, do Dandauth to Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and also the Sangat sitting in there. We are able to gain much more spiritually by doing Jodyan Di Seva, Langar Di Seva and Dandauth to the Satguru than by doing anything else, except focusing on Sat Naam Simran.
By completely surrendering at the Sat Charans of our Satguru we are able to please the Almighty and our trust, devotion and love brings the Gur Parsaad of Puran Bandgi. This way when our Seva is accepted in the Dargah as completed then we are able to achieve Totality – Puran Awastha, Atal Awastha, Param Padvi, Puran Braham Gyan, Puran Tat Gyan and we are a Puran Purakh. There is a very important point about Seva that needs to be understood and that is only those deeds are regarded as Seva if they are conducted without any wishes or pay back. This is called Nishkaam Seva, meaning the Seva behind which there is no desire, no Kamna. Only Nishkaam Seva will help us to become a Sevak. Seva means doing Parupkaar and Maha Parupkaar )
This is the reason that the praise of the word Sat is Infinite and endless, so great,great Truth Guru, king of the kings, Nanak ji has called Sat as Naam in the great Mool Manter and honoured it. Bhai Gurdas ji also has described the divine glory of Sat Naam in his first vaar.
The Sat Naam Mantra (By Bhai Gurdas ji)
Bhai Gurdas ji had on him the endless and infinite Gurkirpa (Eternal grace) and Gurparsaad of Shri Guru Amardas ji, Shri Guru Ramdas ji, Shri Guru Arjun Dev ji and Shri Guru HarGobind Sahib ji. He was a Brahm Gyaani and great scholar. He got the honour of writing the very first copy of Great, great Shri Guru Granth Sahib ji.
The Bani (eternal words) of Bhai Gurdas ji have been written in the form of 40 vaars (divine verses/stanzas) and has been greatly respected by king of the kings Fifth Guru. He has called it the key to Gurbani. The real meaning of this is that with infinite kindness, Bhai Gurdas ji has explained the highly important divine laws, the laws of complete devotion in simple words in his bani and once you understand this bani than it is very easy to understand the Gurbani.
With infinite kindness, Bhia Gurdas ji has written these vaars to describe the divine Truth that what were his actual experiences in terms of Gurbani. He has explained his divine knowledge about Gurbani in simple language. After Shri Guru Granth Sahib ji and Tenth Guru ji’s bani, Bhai Gurdas ji’s bani is known as the next level of Gurmat . As Bhai Gurdas ji was directly under the divine blessings of Guru Arjun Dev ji, there is no reason for not accepting his bani as Gurmat.
Bhai Gurdas ji, with infinite kindness has described the divine importance of Sat Naam and word Sat at the beginning of his Vaars. Here, the first part of his first vaar is:
Namaskaar Gurdev Kao Sat Naam Jis Mantar Sunaaea
Bhavjal Vichon Kadh Ke Mukat PadaarathMaahe Samaaea
Janam Maran Bhao Kateaa Sansaa Rog Viyog Mitaaea
Sansaa Eh Sansaar Hai Janam Maran Vich Dukh Sabaaea
Jam Dand Siron Na Utrey Sakat Durjan Janam Gavaaea
Charan Gahe Gurdev Ke Sat Shabad De Mukat Karaaea
Bhaao Bhagat Gurpurab Kar Naam Daan Isnaan Dridhaaea
Jeha Beeo Teha Fal Paaea
(Bhai Gurdas ji Vaar 1)
Bhai Gurdas ji has clearly explained that Great, great king of the kings Guru Nanak ji has with infinite kindness, brought the Sat Naam mantra from Dargah for us. When king of the kings Guru Nanak ji went inside the waters of the river in Sultanpur Lodhi for three days, then after coming back, he recited The Mool Manter “Ik Oankar Sat Naam Karta Purakh Nirbhao Nirvair Akaal Murat Ajooni Saibhang Gurparsaad”. Then he said “Jap” meaning keep on reciting the Mool Manter. Then he said that Sat, Truth, is the centre of this Mool mantra, “Aad Sach Jugaad Sach Hai Bhi Sach Nanak Hosi Bhi.” Sach also means Truth. He defined Sat as the Naam.
The word “Sat Amrit”, represents the Param Jyot Puran Parkash of Nirgun Saroop great, great supreme transcendent Lord father who is the highest level of Atam Rus amrit (The highest Amrit. The highest level of enjoyment and Eternal happiness. A never ending Eternal happiness, “Sat Chit Anand” and pure light of the Lord, Param Jyot Puran Parkash Darshan ) (Nirgun Saroop-The Infinite Divine Power that is beyond three attributes of Maya is called Nirgun Saroop. Experienced as Divine Light).
This word Sat means Truth and Truth is the name of great, great Supreme Transcendent Lord Father. Large number of people and preachers call Sat Naam as true name which is not correct. When they say Sat Naam Vaahiguru, then they mean that true name is Vaaheguru. This is not correct. Sat Naam means Sat is the name, Truth is the name. Satguru is also termed as true guru. Preachers than come to this conclusion that Sikh Gurus are true gurus and all other gurus are false gurus, they spread intolerance and violence amongst the people towards so called “false gurus”. The real meaning of Satguru is that Sat is the Guru. Bani is Sat that is why it is also Guru. Bani is Sat that is why it is Nirankaar and the Hirdha (heart chakra) in which Truth resides is the Guru.
The word Sat is the only one that defines the most important and necessary virtues of Akal Purakh (Immortal Being). Sat means the one which never changes, remains stable and remains without any changes, is always as it is. Every second thing changes with time because everything is Maya and Maya has countless forms and change every second. Sat never changes and is Sat from the beginning, is Sat now and will remain Sat forever.
Bhavjal is avast sea of darkness caused by the influence of Maya. A soul living under the influence of Maya – Panj Doots and desires is like a stone lying in the deep sea of scum – that is what is Bhavsagar – sea of the scum of Maya. Bhavjal is sea of Maya and the whole world comes inside it but the word Sat is beyond Maya. Bhai Gurdass ji writes that Sat is the Mukat Padaarath – (Liberting gift). This means that the Gurparsaad in Sat Naam Mantra has the supreme divine power to ferry us across this ocean of darkness and back to the the Nirgun Saroop of great, great Father Supreme Transcendent Lord. When this happens, then we get freedom from the great sorrow of birth and death.
Whilst living in this world, we continuously face the fear of birth and death which is considered as the highest level of sickness. Taking birth and then again going through the same sorrows, pains and sadness, the same good and bad times, without any everlasting happiness, no eternal blessing, living in the deep falseness of Maya is the greatest sickness. If we do not achieve the Gurparsaad of Sat Naam and we do not surrender ourselves towards getting the virtues defined in the Mool Manter and do not become Sat Roop (form of Sat), then we will be called Saakat (A person who is totally ignorant about his responsibility towards the Creator. His ignorance is not innocent, it is intentional. A Sakat will make no effort to do any of the Sato Karams. A Sakat believes that there is no God ) and Durjan (bad being) in Dargahi terms and we will lose this priceless human life which has been gracefully given to us by the grace of All Powerful Supreme Transcendent Lord to become Sat Roop and merge in Him.
That is why we should be very thankful to great, great king of kings Guru Nanak ji who has given us the Gurparsaad of the word Sat with extreme kindness which if earned with surrender, belief, trust, faith, devotion and love can take us back to the source great, great Father Supreme Transcendent Lord.