Sukhmani Old

Section 4 – Maya

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Before we begin, there are some very important spiritual points to understand.
 
We do Bandgi (devotional worship) to :-
 

  • get out of the cycle of birth and death,
  • clean us up from inside,
  • cure us of all the mental sicknesses,
  • win over Panj Doots and all the desires,
  • win over Maya completely,
  • win over our mind,
  • clean our soul up so that we can meet the Almighty, obtain salvation,
  • be able to see, speak, hear, deliver and serve the Eternal Truth,
  • be one with Akal Purakh,
  • become a Sant Hirda.

In the first three Ashtpadis of Sukhmani Bani Guru Pancham Patshah Ji has very kindly given us the divine wisdom which explains the Mahima of Naam and of Naam Ki Kamai.  Now, in the next three Ashtpadis Guru Patshah Ji has very kindly given us the divine wisdom about Maya.   This is the most important thing to understand on the Puran Bandgi Marag.  Puran Bandgi is nothing but waging and winning a war against Maya: BANDGI – WAGING WAR AGAINST MAYA. 

 
(  https://satnaam.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=81&Itemid=16  )
 

Those who get the Gur Parsaad of Naam, Bandgi and Seva and commit themselves to the Puran Bandgi.  They do so with complete surrender to the Gur and Guru and move forward with full and complete commitment, belief, faith, trust, devotion and love.  They realize the Ultimate and merge in the Akal Purakh. Here are some insights into the relationship between Maya and Puran Bandgi which this Dass has experienced and learned with the Gur Parsaad and Gur Kirpa and wants to share with the Gursangat Ji. 
 
Why do we do Bandgi? Why do we need to do Bandgi?  And what exactly is doing Bandgi like?  We do it to bring in all the qualities of Akal Purakh into us.  Once we become Jivan Mukt then we serve others, we help others to obtain salvation. There are some other by products of doing Bandgi, such as :

·         makes our daily life cleaner and smoother,
·         brings us inner peace all through our daily living,
·         keeps our mind balanced,
·         we don’t get excited, or depressed
·         we get the mental strength to deal with the ups and downs in our daily life
·         being able to deal with the sorrows we face in our normal life,
·         it keeps us aware to not speak or do untruthful acts or deeds,
·         it makes our conscious clear and clean,
·         we don’t hurt anybody,
·         our efforts are directed to do everything truthfully,
·         the obstacles in our daily life are minimized
·         everything starts to fall in the right place for us,
·         we don’t get angry at others,
·         our heart becomes kind,
·         we become humble and earn humility,
·         our character becomes cleaner,
·         we earn respect from our family, friends and society,
·         our wisdom gets better and better,
·         we start to understand the divine wisdom and put it into practice in our daily life,
·         slowly, but surely, we keep on marching closer to the Almighty.

We are very fortunate to be born as human beings in this life of ours.  This human life is very precious, it is very difficult to get.  Only in a human life can we do Bandgi and get the advantages of all the above narrated benefits.   The basic purpose of human life as described in Gurbani is to achieve salvation, to meet the Almighty, to be one with Him, to merge with Him. 
 
All the human deeds, actions and reactions are performed under the control of and due to five human senses: seeing, speaking, hearing, touching and smelling.  These five senses operate under the direct control of human mind.  The human mind gets all the directions from the human wisdom.  The human wisdom is the worldly wisdom, the wisdom that operates under the influence of the three attributes of Maya.  They are :
 
TAMO :-
 
1.        Kaam (Lust)
2.        Krodh (Anger)
3.        Lobh (Greed)
4.        Moh (selfish Attachment)
5.        Ahankaar (Pride).

These five enemies of our soul reside inside our body, they are also called the Panj Doots.  In addition to these attributes which are called mental sicknesses there are a few others –
 

 

  • Nindya Chugli Bakhili (Slandering of all kind),

 

  • Raj (Kingdom, worldly poitions brings ego in us),

 

  • Joban (Young Beauty of opposite sex promoting feeling of lust ),

 

  • Dhan (Money cause of greed and corruption),

 

  • Maal (Material things cause of greed and corruption),

 

  • Roop (Beauty of the opposite sex causing attraction of mind and bringing in feeling of lust),

 

  • Ras (Tastes of the tongue) ,

 

  • Gandh (Smell that distracts our mind with a feeling of lust eg perfumes);

 
RAJO :–
 
·         Asa,
·         Trishna and
·         Mansha (Desires);
 
 
SATO :-
 

  • Daya (Kindness & forgiveness),

 

  • Dharam (Religious Acts),

 

  • Daan (Charity donations- Dasvandh donations),

 

  • Santokh (Contentment),

 

  • Sanjam (Patience, Humbleness, Humility).

Some people take the literal meaning of Maya as only money, which is not true, the divine meaning of Maya is described as these three attributes.
 
In Gurbani, Maya has been called the darkness, it has also been called the scum, the mud we are living in.  It has also been called the Nagni, the cobra sitting on our head at all the times ready to bite. 

We can at any time do a self evaluation of any deed we perform and we will find that all our deeds fall under one of the above attributes of Maya. Only a Sant, a Sadh, a BrahmGyani, a Puran Khalsa is beyond these attributes of Maya.  That one has :

·         merged in Akal Purakh,
·         has a Puran Jyot Parkash inside,
·         has reached the Param Padvi,
·         has completed inside pilgrimage,
·         has won over the mind and Maya,
·         is living in Puran Sachyari Rehit,
·         is living in Sach Khand,
·         sees, speaks, hears , delivers and serves the Eternal Truth.

Only such a divine soul is beyond these three rajo, tamo and sato attributes of Maya.  The rest of the world operates under the directions of Maya.  As long as we keep on following our own wisdom, we will be under the dire influence of Maya.  As long as we are operating under the Tamo and Rajo attributes of Maya, we will never be able to achieve our objective of human life, which is Jivan Mukti – Salvation. Salvation is beyond these three attributes of Maya.
Salvation is not operating under the influence of Maya, but to win over Maya and be beyond these three qualities of Maya. Salvation is nothing but to liberate our soul from the shackles of Maya, it is the Mukti from Maya.  Salvation can happen only by eliminating our own and worldly wisdom.  By eliminating our own mind and bringing the five human senses under the direct control of divinity and to follow the divine wisdom.
 
Whereas two qualities of Maya (Rajo and Tamo) are anti-divinity, the third quality (Sato) is pro divinity.  This Sato quality of Maya helps us move towards salvation. This Sato quality of Maya helps us defeat the other two and reach a level where we can receive the Gur Parsaad – Eternal Blessings.  Then we can move on to the path to Sach Khand, do our Bandgi and be one with Almighty.
 
For moving towards salvation and to gain all the benefits in our life as explained earlier, we will need to wage a war.  A war against the Rajo and Tamo qualities of Maya with the third quality – Sato on our side.  As we practice and perform under the influence of the Sato quality of Maya we keep on winning and winning and winning.  When we reach a high stage of goodness, we will receive the Gur Parsaad.  Then our progress in winning the war against Maya becomes much faster.  Then if a concerted effort is made on a constant and consistent basis success comes.  We win this war against the Rajo and Tamo qualities of Maya and reach salvation stage, the liberation stage.  We liberate our soul from the Shackles of Maya. 
 
The important thing to understand is which weapons we should be using in this war.  Which weapons will help us the most?  Which weapons are very effective in fighting against the Rajo and Tamo enemies of ours?  Which weapons will help us to win in a the most efficient manner? The most important thing in the commencement of Bandgi is to develop a complete and full belief, commitment, trust and faith in the Gur, Guru and Gurbani.  The higher the degree of trust, belief, faith and commitment the easier and faster it will be to win this war against Maya.
 
The first and the foremost weapon is the Naam.  Concerted, consistent and constant efforts on Naam Simran will bring the best rewards.  This is the highest service of Almighty,  “Prabh Kaa Simran Sabh Tey Oonchaa.”   Naam is the highest Hukam of Akal Purakh.  Gurbani says that  everything else except Naam is Kood.  This means all other deeds are untrue.  Even the true deeds are not spiritually rewarding unless we do Naam Simran.  If we do Naam simran, then the Naam Amrit takes us through the internal pilgrimage which is the highest spiritual and divine pilgrimage.  When the Naam Amrit comes inside our Surat (mind) and Hirda then and only then can we complete our inner pilgrimage. 
 
Naam Simran opens the Bajjar Kapats including the Dassam Dwaar.  Naam Simran activates the seven centers of spiritual energy in side our body which are called the Sat Sarovar in Gurbani.  This brings Naam Amrit inside our soul and mind.  The Naam Amrit helps us through the inner pilgrimage, the real and the divine pilgrimage.  This takes us closer to the Almighty. 
 
Naam Amrit is the Dori, the inner rope, which when held and used for climbing up this path to the eternity will lead us to the Ultimate.   Naam Amrit is the ladder that takes us into Sach Khand.  Naam Amrit makes us completely truthful from inside and out.  It makes us Ik Drisht (seeing all as One), fearless, kind, humble, sacrificing, loving, helpful.   Naam Amrit brings in us all the divine qualities.  When this starts to happen then all the mental sicknesses of Maya start to leave our body, mind and soul.  Eventually our soul and mind is liberated from the shackles of Maya.
 
Wherever there is Naam there is no effect of Maya.  That soul and mind which is drenched in Naam Amrit becomes so stable that it can’t be distracted by Maya at all.  Naam Amrit is the Gur Parsaad and is defined in the very first line of Gurbani – which is called the Mool Mantra: “Ik Oankaar Satnaam”.   All the other religious actions and deeds, the true deeds, which form a part of the Sato quality of Maya brings us closer to the achievement of the Gur Parsaad.  When we have accumulated enough of these truthful deeds and by virtue of our religious actions and deeds, we are blessed with the Gur Parsaad of Naam.  The real Bandgi starts after receiving the first weapon against Maya, the Gur Parsaad of Naam from a Puran Sant, Puran Brahmgyani. 

How do we please God so He bestows the Gur Prasad of Naam on us through His Puran Sant, Puran brahmgyani?   Well, we have to acknowledge that we are responsible for building our own destiny.   Whatever we sow today we will reap at some point later in this life or in future lives.  Whatever we have sowed in our previous lives, we are reaping today.  If we sow only good deeds, truthful deeds, Sato deeds, and sow Naam by doing Naam Simran, we are bound to finish our account of all the bad deeds of the past and become eligible for receiving the Gur Parsaad. 
 
Therefore, until the time we reach a point where we will receive the Gur Parsaad, we should :
·         keep on accumulating the Sato Karams
·         keep on praying for the Gur Parsaad
·         focus on performing our daily activities as truthful as we can
·         watch all our actions and deeds and make sure that they are not prompted by any of the Rajo and Tamo qualities of Maya,
·         engage ourselves in continuous prayers, repeated prayers during the day and night time asking for forgiveness of the untrue deeds or the deeds performed under the Rajo and Tamo qualities of Maya during our day.

In this way, slowly, but surely our behavior will start to improve, our actions and deeds will start to become more and more truthful.  God will look kindly upon us and say it is time to bless us with the Gurprasad so that eventually we will become completely truthful.

Once we receive the Gur Parsaad we need to commit ourselves completely to the Gur and Guru who gave us this priceless diamond of Gurprasad.  This is the second weapon to fight against Maya.  We need to surrender ourselves completely to the Gur and Guru.  Then we will keep on going up and up the spiritual ladder.  We will be able to beat Maya and win over its Rajo and Tamo qualities.

The remaining weapons to fight Maya are :
 
·         Practising gurbani in our daily life is very important.  It brings in us humbleness and  that humility will kill our ego.   Just reading or listening to Gurbani and thinking that in itself is a good deed is not right.   Read, sing or listen to gurbani and put it into practise. 

·         Developing a sense of forgiveness will diminish our krodh. 

·         Loving our family as if they are Gursangat will relieve us from moh.  Loving and respecting everybody as Sangat will eliminate Moh from our inside and convert it to pure and pious love for the entire creation and will bring a single vision within us. 

·         Bringing in kindness will relieve us from greed and selfishness. 

·         Giving Dasvandh to the Guru will also relieve us from the greed for money and attachment to worldly possessions. 

·         Bringing in contentment and conquoring craving for worldly things, will bring our desires under control. 

·         Prohibiting ourselves from slandering others will remove hatred from in us.  It will also develop a sense of  respect for everyone in the society. 

·         Focusing on our own bad qualities and not pointing the finger at others faults, will make us realize how bad we are and what do we need to do to improve ourselves.  

·         Earning inner poverty,  Garibi Ves Hirda, will make us Nimana and will bring humility inside our soul and mind. 

·         Considering ourselves lower than everybody else will bring humbleness in our mind and soul.

·         Helping the poor and giving charity donations will bring kindness in side us, as long as we do it as nishkaam seva, without any desire for reward or recognition.  Desires can only die by doing Naam simran.  So do naam simran whilst doing seva, then it become nishkaam seva.

·         Placing Gur, Guru and Gursangat above everything else and developing unconditional devotion and love for them will bring tremendous spirituality inside us.

The practice of these weapons described above and the golden rules cited above will help us win the war against Maya without much difficulty.
 
nirgunee-aar i-aani-aa so parabh sadaa samaal.
jin kee-aa tis cheet rakh naanak nibhee naal. ||1||
 
Almost all of us with the exception of those who are really into the Puran Bandgi Marg are dependent upon our own wisdom.   We rely on our worldly wisdom for conducting ourselves in our daily responsibilities and activities.  But Guru Patshah Ji have ruled it as a divine Hukam and divine law that the self wisdom and worldly wisdom do not work on the path to Puran Bandgi. 

For doing Puran Bandgi to realize our spiritual dreams and meeting our objective of achiving salvation in this human life we have to leave our own manmat, worldly wisdom.  We have to replace it with the Gurmat, Guru’s wisdom.   By taking on board the Guru’s wisdom and putting the Guru’s wisdom into practice in our daily life we are surrendering our mind to the Guru.

Whatever we have learned and achieved through our education and experiences and whatever we have learned and experienced by way of interacting with people around us in the family, society and work environment, will not qualify us for Puran Bandgi.   The only way is to call ourself a nirgunee-aar i-aani-aa, a worthless and ignorant fool, and pray to the Almighty for the Gur Parsaad of Naam Puran Bandgi and Seva. 

The Shabad Puran here is of paramount importance, because without doing Puran bandgi we  will not be able to reach the Ultimate and may end up having to go through another cycle of birth and death. So the only way is to call ourself a worthless ignorant fool  and keep on dwelling on the Naam and keep on collecting Naam Ki Kamai. 

The Creator has been very kind on us, that is why he has given us this human life.   God can be realized only in a human life and no other form of life.  Bringing God inside our Hirda is possible only in this human life.  So let us all pray for the Gur Parsaad of Naam, Puran Bandgi and Seva.  Once we are blessed with these priceless diamonds and jewels then we have to dedicate ourselves to the Naam Ki Kamai.  Eventually the Naam will saturate our Hirda and we reach salvation stage.

Only Naam Ki Kamai will go with us when we leave this world, nothing else goes with us.  Everything else is Maya.  Maya’s place is the world and Naam’s place is the Dargah of Akal Purakh.
 
Astpadi:
 
rama-ee-aa kay gun chayt paraanee.
kavan mool tay kavan daristaanee.
jintooN saaj savaar seegaari-aa.
garabh agan meh jineh ubaari-aa.
baar bivasthaa tujheh pi-aarai dooDh.
bhar joban bhojan sukh sooDh.
biraDh bha-i-aa oopar saak sain.
mukh api-aa-o baith ka-o dain.
ih nirgun gun kachhoo na boojhai.
bakhas layho ta-o naanak seejhai. ||1||
 
Akal Purakh is an unlimited sea,  Mansarovar,  of divine qualities and divine powers, “Sarabh Kala Bharpoor.”  This means that whatever we need to become a Sant Hirda is contained within the Mansarovar.   All divine qualities and divine powers are contained within the Mansarovar.  This Mansarovar is the Origin from where our soul has been created.  By virtue of this Akal Purakh becomes the owner of our soul or we can say that our soul is a part of the Akal Purakh. This Mansarovar is also called the Gur Sagar or the Nirgun Saroop of Paar Braham Parmesar.  Every creation has emanated from this Nirgun Saroop of Akal Purakh. 

 

When our soul was created it contained all the divine qualities and supernatural powers.  It was like a clean piece of white cloth and was instructed by the Almighty to remain as a white and as clean a piece of cloth as it could without gathering any stains whatsoever.  Then Akal Purakh sent our soul into this world and for doing so it had to enter a human body.  But within a few years after birth, slowly but surely Maya took over and the white piece of cloth started to bear some stains.

In a new born infant there are no Doots.  The infant’s Dassam Duaar is open and is connected with the Akal Purakh.  But as the child grows and starts to comes under the influence of Maya,   then the connection with Akal Purakh is slowly disconnected.  The white piece of cloth becomes stained.  With the passage of time and under the influence of Maya, the cloth keeps on collecting more and more stains.  Until finally Maya takes over completely.

Ideally, we should not let ourselves get stained, but that only happens in very rare cases.  Perhaps one soul in tens of millions is born with the blessed destiny of keeping this piece of white cloth stainless.  They remain spotless and fully absorbed in all of the divine qualities and supernatural powers.  They retain a direct and deep connection with Mansarovar.  However,  most people lose the ability to keep this piece of white cloth stainless. 

The hard influence of Maya has been called a poison in Gurbani, as well as mud or scum.   It is a sweet poison which we take willingly.  But it poisons the soul with its Tamo and Rajo Birti.  It stains the purity of the soul with its mud and scum.   Operating under the influence of Maya has buried almost the entire population of the world under forty feet of Maya’s scum.  Please believe us when we say this.  After we receive the Gur Prasad of Naam, then we will go into smadhi, deep meditation, then we will see this scum in its physical form clinging to our body.   This happens in the realm of Karam Khand.  We only see our own filth by God’s grace, in the realm of Grace.    Then Akal Purakh will come to us in the form of a Sant soul which will clean it up for us. 

When we are blessed with the Gur Parsaad of Smadhi and Sunn Smadhi and we completely surrender ourself to the Gur and Guru then it becomes the responsibility of the Guru to take care of us.  He will remove all the stains from the whiteness of this cloth and purify the soul to its original level.  As we keep on collecting the Naam Ki Kamai and eventually restore this white piece of cloth to perfect purity, then we are accepted as a Sada Suhagan of Akal Purakh in the Dargah.

It is believed that the human being is the highest creation of the Akal Purakh.   Just look at the history of the mankind.  Look at the progress made in society, education, science and technology, medicine.  There has been surprising progress made in every sphere of life.  This shows us that the human being is the best creation of the Akal Purakh.  That is what Guru Patshah Ji is telling us here, that Akal Purakh has crowned the human with all the powers that have lead us to the modern day living standards.  He takes care of the human in the womb of the mother, after the birth, in childhood, during youth and through the old age.  He meets all of our physical and mental needs.  He is the only Doer, Karta Purakh, and does everything for us to keep us going through all these stages of life.  However, He can only give us according to our Karni from the previous lives and so on.

Most people get deluded here.  Due to their Haumai they think they are doing everything for themselves.  They forget the One who has created them and fulfills all of their physical and mental needs according to their karni.  They think they survive due to their own wisdom and worldly wisdom.  Without giving any thinking to the existence of the Almighty and His divine wisdom they exit the world having wasted their life.   However, the awareness to understand the existence and powers of the Creator comes only with the Gur Parsaad and Gur Kirpa and only those who are blessed with the Gur Parsaad of Naam, Puran Bandgi and Seva.  

We should all be always praying for getting blessed with the Gur Parsaad of Naam, Puran Bandgi and Seva in order to reach the Ultimate and break the shackles of Maya.
 
jih parsaad Dhar oopar sukh baseh.
sut bharaat meet banitaa sang haseh.
jih parsaad peeveh seetal jalaa.
sukh-daa-ee pavan paavak amulaa.
jih parsaad bhogeh sabh rasaa.
sagal samagree sang saath basaa.
deenay hasat paav karan naytar rasnaa.
tiseh ti-aag avar sang rachnaa.
aisay dokh moorh anDh bi-aapay.
naanak kaadh layho parabh aapay. ||2||
 
Guru Pancham Patshah Ji  is continuing to give us divine wisdom about the unlimited grace of the Almighty on us for our survival in this world. Look at the Gur Kirpa and Gur Parsaad we already have:

·         The first and the foremost Kirpa is that we have been given the human life to realize our spiritual goals.

·         Next, He has created all the basic elements necessary for our survival.  These are priceless natural resources – air, water and fire.  He has  given them to us in abundance and free of cost.  The air is available to us all of the time and everywhere we go in abundance.  It is the essential for keeping life going on.  The supply of water is free from all natural resources.  However, man has now started putting a price tag  on it in the big cities.  Water is necessary for the Earth to grow the food needed for our survival.  We need water for our survival and the survival of the entire universe. 

·         God is now giving us this divine wisdom through Shri Guru Sahibans via Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.   He has been very kind upon us and given us all the divine rules and laws which if followed will make our life worthy  and useful to everybody else.  It will bring us salvation and unite us with the Almighty when our time to exit comes.

·         He has given us all the amenities for leading and enjoying a comfortable life according to our Karni in the past lives.

·         He has given us a wonderful family to live with.

·         He has given us various kinds of foods to sustain us.

·         When he created us He gave us a beautiful body consisting of hands, legs and feet, ears, eyes and tongue to really enjoy our life to the fullest extent and as well make use of this life to its fullest extent.

It is worth noting here and which is very important to understand and realize, that without all these things our life would have been a curse.  Look at a person who is handicapped.  Imagine a blind person, a lame person, a deaf and dumb person and compare our life with this kind of a person.  Then think how fortunate we are to be having all these elements of our body intact.  In fact, the ones people who are handicapped in this life are because of their Karni in the previous lives.  Similarly poverty comes because of our Karni in previous lives.  One of the great Saints said that all the beggars we see around were kings or very rich people in their previous lives, but they didn’t do any Daan Punn ,so they became beggars in this life.  That is what Gurbani says,  “Jeyha Bijey So Luney Karma Sandra Kheyt.”  That is why it is necessary for all of us to concentrate ourselves on Sat Karni which will bring a comfortable and prosperous life to us in future.

In summary, there is an unlimited amount of happiness, comfort and all kinds of amenities available to us.  But, it all depends on our Karni what we get.  If our Karni is good then we get more and more.  If it is bad then we can be a handicapped or a beggar etc.  However, we are so selfish and idiotic that we have forgotten the one who is giving us all of these things.   Forgotten the One who has been very kind on us and given us this human life to enjoy all of these things and still be able to reach salvation.  He has given us a golden opportunity to live a happy and prosperous life and meet the Almighty, but unfortunately we have forgotten Him.   However, its  not too late.  Even now if we wake up and realize the Superpower behind all this and start praying to Him for the Gur Parsaad of  Naam, Puran Bandgi and Seva, then He is very kind.   He will give us His grace and we will be able to realize our spiritual dreams as well as enjoy the human life to its full extent.  Only the Gur Parsaad of Naam, Puran Bandgi and Seva can make us win over Maya and reach salvation stage.
 
aad ant jo raakhanhaar.
tis si-o pareet na karai gavaar.
jaa kee sayvaa nav niDh paavai.
taa si-o moorhaa man nahee laavai.
jo thaakur sad sadaa hajooray.
taa ka-o anDhaa jaanat dooray.
jaa kee tahal paavai dargeh maan.
tiseh bisaarai mugaDh ajaan.
sadaa sadaa ih bhoolanhaar.
naanak raakhanhaar apaar. ||3||
 
Guru Sahib Ji continues to tell us about our unscrupulous nature, our ignorant nature, our idiotic behavior and  our selfishness.  Guru Sahib Ji reminds us how we are being unfaithful and ungrateful to the Almighty, the One who has given us so much and continues giving us everything  we need for running our human life.  

The basic reason behind this human nature is the influence of Maya – which is a sweet poison as explained earlier.  While living in this world we all are absorbed in Maya so much, that we have altogether forgotten about His unlimited super powers.  We have forgotten that He has been showering his Eternal grace on us since our creation and will continue to do so forever and till the end of the universe.  We have also forgotten that He has alot more to give us if we remember Him.  By His unlimited grace He has been taking care of us for many ages.  If we develop devotion and love for Him, if we commit ourselves to His service, if we believe in Him, if we have trust and faith in Him, if we surrender ourselves completely to Him and dedicate ourselves to His service and ask for Naam Puran Bandgi and Seva,  then He can give us all the eternal treasures. 

We will also receive alot more from Him than we can even ask for.  He can basically, save us from the shackles of Maya , bring salvation to us and give us a place in His Dargah. It is believed that until a child is born heit remembers his previous lives’ history and knows that he has to work towards getting the Gur Parsaad.  He knows he has to work for achieving salvation and promises with the Almighty that this time he is going to live only for Him.  But once the child is born then the effect of Maya comes into picture and the child forgets his promise to God.  He comes under the strong influence of Maya and turns his back, becomes blindfolded and loses all his loyalty to God.  The One who has very kindly given him the human life along with everything he needs for achieving salvation.   The child forgets the grace of the Almighty and bceomes trapped in the web of Maya. 

Fortunately, God doesn’t forget the child.  God keeps on giving him chance after chance to work towards getting the Gur Parsaad and then to achieve the highest eternal treasures.   The Almighty is Beyant, is beyond any limits and boundaries.  We should always and forever be thankful to the Almighty for giving us everything we have and keep on thanking him forever.   Keep on praying for His Gur Parsaad of Naam, Puran Bandgi and Seva.   He is very kind and will for sure give His Gur Parsaad to us and will take us out of the web of Maya.

ratan ti-aag ka-udee sang rachai.
saach chhod jhooth sang machai.
jo chhadnaa so asthir kar maanai.
jo hovan so door paraanai.
chhod jaa-ay tis kaa saram karai.
sang sahaa-ee tis parharai.
chandan layp utaarai Dho-ay.
garDhab pareet bhasam sang ho-ay.
anDh koop meh patit bikraal.
naanak kaadh layho parabh da-i-aal. ||4||
 
The worldly possessions have no value in the spiritual world.   Whatever we might have or are struggling to collect has no value at all in the real eternal sense.  All the properties, money, bank balances, jewellery, gold and diamonds collected by us have no value in reality.  In truth, when we leave the world everything remains here.  Nothing goes with us at all except our Karni.  If our Karni is good then our future birth and life will be good.  If our Karni is bad then our future will be formed accordingly.   If the Karni is mixed then so will our future be.  It  all  depends upon our Karni.
Sat Karni and Sat Rehat is the best way to make our future bright and happy, otherwise the outcome is obvious.   Worldly possessions, properties, money, family, infact whatever is visible to the naked eye is Maya.  The Eternal Truth is beyond the reach of the naked eye, it is beyond Maya.  Maya will not accompany us when our soul leaves the body.  Inspite of knowing this,  we are still  attached madly to all of these worldly possessions.   We are very deeply attached to this world of Maya, even though we know that all of these things have no real eternal value.  We have to win over Maya to go beyond Maya and merge in the Almighty.

The human life has been called a diamond,  “Hirey Jaisa Janam”.  Naam has aso been called a Rattan.  This means Naam is a priceless diamond, but we have discarded it  for the scum of Maya.  We were given a human life to dedicate ourselves to the Naam and Naam Ki Kamai, Puran Bandgi and Seva.  But we have completely ignored our spiritual life and instead drenched ourselves into the quicksand of  Maya.   We are living under the illusion that these worldly possessions are mine, and if they are mine then they should not leave me.   But no, they will leave me.  When the soul leaves this body when I die, they will not go with me.  So ask, “Why am I so much in love with these things which are not mine in the real sense?” 

We need to understand that everything belongs to the Almighty and He has given us these things  to use for living, but when our life is over then He will take all of these things back and give them to somebody else.  If we realize that nothing belongs to us then there will be an internal detachment.  We will then be able to concentrate more on that which will actually be going with us – our Karni, Naam Dhan, Naam Ki Kamai, Bandgi, Seva, Parupkaar and Maha Parupkaar. These are the things that will go with us and will decide our future in the best possible way.

God has been very kind on us by giving us the human life and all the amenities of life but we have forgotten His kindness and His grace, His Naam, Bandgi and Seva.  Instead we have  absorbed ourselves in Maya like a donkey who loves to rolls around in the mud.  We are no better than a donkey.  We have left the Sandalwood Paste.  Sandalwood is a special wood whose fragrance is very charming.  Any other trees which grow in the vicinity of a sandalwood tree also become fragrant like sandalwood.  Sandalwood paste is very fragrant and was used by ancient Saints who applied it to their forehead.  We have left the sandalwood paste and become like a donkey who loves to live in the mud.  We are buried in the scum of Maya and left the priceless diamond of Naam, “Naam Rattan Anmolak Hira”. 

We have not done Naam Ki Kamai, Puran Bandgi and Seva. So we have fallen into the deep dark pit filled with mud of Maya. Only God can take us out of this dark, deep pit filled with the mud of maya.  Only His Gur Parsaad of Naam, Puran Bandgi and Seva can take us out.  But even now it is not too later.  Better late then never.  Let us pray to the Almighty for His grace, Gur Parsaad, Naam, Bandgi and Seva.  He is very kind and will shower his Eternal Grace on us and take us out of this scum web of Maya.
 
kartoot pasoo kee maanas jaat.
lok pachaaraa karai din raat.
baahar bhaykh antar mal maa-i-aa.
chhapas naahi kachh karai chhapaa-i-aa.
baahar gi-aan Dhi-aan isnaan.
antar bi-aapai lobh su-aan.
antar agan baahar tan su-aah.
gal paathar kaisay tarai athaah.
jaa kai antar basai parabh aap.
naanak tay jan sahj samaat. ||5||
 
Guru Pancham Patshah Ji has very kindly continued to give us the divine wisdom that will enable us to look inside to see what we truly are compared to our image.  Our outside appearance and conduct is very different from our inside behavior and thinking.  Understanding the difference between them is of paramount importance.   The difference is the duality of our personality and has a profound effect on our Karni.   Wherever there is duality, there is discrimination and hatred, which takes us away from the Almighty.   Duality is hypocrisy,  duality is Pakhand.  Only by becoming Ek Drisht, single vision,  can we go beyond duality, animosity and hypocrisy – Pakhand. 

As long as we are in duality, Pakhand,  we can’t be in Sach Khand.  Only by having a single vision, Ek Drisht, can we become Nirvair.    The Guru is telling us that God has been very kind on us and given us this human life to live it truthfully with a single vision without any duality.   This human life is for us to be with the Creator, to remain united with the Creator.   But look at our Karni.  It  is full of duality and such untruthful, hypocritical behavior doesn’t fit into the human behavior acceptable to the Guru.

The behavior under the Rajo and Tamo Birti is considered worse than animal behavior.  But that is what we are engaged in our daily life.  We have become more materialistic, we are engaged in hatred, abuse, discrimination and selfishness.  We make money by unfair means, by cheating, stealing, extortion, bribery and dishonesty.  We indulge in wrong sexual behavior which then makes our daughters, sisters and mothers life very difficult.   This is the reason why in Gurbani  Guru Nanak Patshah Ji has very kindly explained that wherever He looks He finds only ghosts.  All human beings look to Him like ghosts,  “Kali Ander Nanka Jinna Daa Avtaar.”  Devoid of good qualities, human beings are just empty inside.

I we are engaged in wrong activities then can we be called human beings?  Human behavior should be filled with all divine qualities such as, love, compassion, sacrifice, selflessness, helping others, donating to serve the poor, serving and respecting our elders, utmost humbleness, kindness, humility, fearlessness, no animosity and single vision.   All these qualities should be reflected in our behavior. 

We should be pointing the finger of criticism at our own self and not towards anybody else.  But, we do the opposite.  We enjoy pointing out other people’s faults, but defend or cover up our our own ones.  By doing so we may think we are protecting our image and status in society, but actually we are becoming further drenched in the scum of Maya.  
Physical cleanliness and looking good on the outside doesn’t make us clean from the inside. Although that is the image we trying to present to others.  Unless the Panj Doots leave our body,  we will remain wrapped in the scum of Maya.  Just by wearing religious robes we will not become clean from the inside.  Just by complying to the outer rehats, rules and regulations, of religion, we will not attain Jivan Mukti.  Unless we meet the mandatory divine requirements of the inside cleansing of Panj Doots and desires, and then win over our own mind, we will not be able to meet the inner rehat, internal compliance required by God.

No matter what we do to keep ourself clean on the outside, for example by wearing all kinds of religious robes, the dirt sticking to our inside will tell our real inside story to the rest of the world.   From the outside we may be able to show others that we are very knowledgeable and engage ourselves in meditation.  We may be able to show others that we are able to torture our physical body by performing religious rituals.  But, still inside we may be burning in the fire of desires and the greed of a dog.

Maya is like a great big stone attached to our neck.  It will not allow us to swim across the terrible ocean of the mind.  It keeps us drowning under forty feet  of scum that we have accumulated by our bad karni.  In order to get out of this web of Maya only the Creator can help us.  Only the Gur Parsaad of His Naam can help us.  Only His eternal blessings can help us.  We should all pray for His Gur Kirpa and Gur Parsaad of Naam, Naam Ki Kamai, Puran Bandgi and Seva.  When we get all of these divine blessings and move on this path to complete realization then we will be able to clean up our inside.  We will be able to adhere to the inner rehat, inner compliance requred by God.  We will be able to free our inside from Panj Doots and desires, win over our mind and Maya and make our Hirda a Puran Sachyara Hirda.  Only then Paar Braham Parmesar will come and live in our Hirda.  Only then will we be able to merge in Him and stay always in Sehaj Awastha.
 
sun anDhaa kaisay maarag paavai.
kar geh layho orh nibhaavai.
kahaa bujhaarat boojhai doraa.
nis kahee-ai ta-o samjhai bhoraa.
kahaa bisanpad gaavai gung.
jatan karai ta-o bhee sur bhang.
kah pingul parbat par bhavan.
nahee hot oohaa us gavan.
kartaar karunaa mai deen bayntee karai.
naanak tumree kirpaa tarai. ||6||
 
Guru Patshah Ji has been very kind on us by giving us the divine wisdom about the status of our human life under the dangerous influence of Maya.  Maya has been called a snake, “Nagni Jin Bin Danta Jug Khaayeaa”.  Maya is such a Cobra Snake that it is eating the entire world whilst having no teeth.  The poison of Maya has crippled us completely.  Under the influence of Maya we have been blindfolded.  Our eyes don’t see the Eternal Truth.  Look at a blind person, unless somebody holds his hand he can’t go from one point to the other point, so is the case with us.  We are blind to the Eternal Truths.  We are blind to the purpose of human life and hence can’t reach our destination, salvation.  We need somebody holding our hand and guiding us through this dark age of Kalyug. 

If we are drenched in the world of Maya, we have become deaf and dumb.  We cant hear the Eternal Truth due to the disinformation being provided by religions.  Or if we are fortunate enough to meet someone who tells us Eternal Truth, we still can’t hear it because we cannot tolerate what they are saying.  It maybe going against our man made religious beliefs.   Drenched in the world of Maya, we cant speak the Eternal Truth, because we don’t understand the difference between the darkness of the Kalyug and the divine light, “Param Jyot Puran Parkash.”  

We can’t understand the difference between munnmat, the worldly wisdom and gurmat, the divine wisdom.  We can’t understand the difference between durmat, the bad wisdom and gurmat, the divine wisdom.  We are just  following our own wisdom, Munnmat, combined with worldly wisdom, Sansarik Mat, and Durmat, bad wisdom.   We have lost all abilitiy to move in the right direction to realize our goal of achieving salvation.  This is due to the crippling effect of Maya on our life. Our spiritual condition is like a blind person, whose limbs have been crippled and who is deaf and dumb.   We don’t have any divine wisdom to distinguish between good and bad, truth and non-truth, divine light and darkness of Kalyug, divine light and the dark scum of Maya.  We are totally lost in this world of Maya and have forgotten the Creator altogether.  We have forgotten the objective of our human life, which is to unite with the Almighty.   

The question that then arises is, “What should we be doing to get out of this situation we are in ?”   The answer is very simple and straightforward.  God,  the Doer, is very kind and listens if we call Him with full and complete belief, trust, faith, devotion and love.  He does listen if we pray to Him and ask Him to hell us to take us out of this forty foot deep well of scum we have been hanging in for such a long time.   God is full of kindness and will give us the Gur Parsaad of His Naam, Puran Bandgi and Seva.  With this we will be able to bring Maya under our control and win over our own mind and clean up our Hirda completely, fill it with Naam and all the divine qualities and make it a Sant Hirda.
 
sang sahaa-ee so aavai na cheet.
jo bairaa-ee taa si-o pareet.
baloo-aa kay garih bheetar basai.
anad kayl maa-i-aa rang rasai.
darirh kar maanai maneh parteet.
kaal na aavai moorhay cheet.
bair biroDh kaam kroDh moh.
jhooth bikaar mahaa lobh Dharoh.
i-aahoo jugat bihaanay ka-ee janam.
naanak raakh layho aapan kar karam. ||7||
 
Guru Patshah Ji is continuing to tell us the status of our crippled mind and soul under the influence of Maya.   The influence of maya upon us is a deep mental sickness.  Kaam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh,  Ahankaar and desires are all deep mental sicknesses that are the weapons of Maya.  All of these Doots form the scum and the mud of Maya in which we are badly buried and crippled mentally.  Due to constact attacks from them we have forgotten the One who is always with us and is ever ready to take us out of this quicksand of Maya.  Maya has been called an enemy of our soul mind and body.  Maya is a sweet poison which we are willingly absorbed in.  Beause of maya we are not paying any attention to the Jyot that is present within us.

The life element in our body is Illahi Jyot of Akal Purakh.  We have totally forgotten about it and we have absorbed our self in the scum of Maya.   This world of Maya is a castle of sand, but we think it is permanent.  We are dancing  whilst attached to the puppet strings of Maya.  Whatever Maya wants us to do we are doing without understanding the divine truth behind the whole game of Maya.   We have gotten accustomed to life being this way.  We have taken our life for granted and think this is the truth.  But we have forgotten death, Death is the reality. 

We have forgotten that we have been taking birth and dying for a long time in space and time.  And we will continue to do so under the influence of Maya.  Maya uses us throughout our life then throws us into the hands of the Jam Doots.  When we come back Maya again uses us and this cycle continues.   We have been living for so many ages under the illusion that Maya is the reality that we forgot that death is the reality.  Naam, Bandgi and Seva is the real eternal truth that will take us back to the Almighty.  Maya is just an illusion and false.  

We have absorbed ourselves so much in animosity, hate, conflict, sexual desire, anger, emotional attachment, falsehood, corruption, immense greed and deceit so much that these things have become our way of life.  Hence, we are being forced to go through the cycle of birth and death for a long long time.  Now the question is, “how can we be frre from the poisonous shackles of Maya?”  The answer is we can be freed by Gur Kirpa, Gur Parsaad of Naam Bandgi and Seva.  Only Akal Purakh can give us all this through the Guru.  That will happen only if we pray to Him with full and complete commitment, belief, faith, trust, devotion and love.  And completely surrender our self to the Gur and Guru.   In the next Pauri Guru Patshah Ji is telling us how to pray for the Gur Parsaad.
 
too thaakur tum peh ardaas.
jee-o pind sabh tayree raas.
tum maat pitaa ham baarik tayray.
tumree kirpaa meh sookh ghanayray.
ko-ay na jaanai tumraa ant.
oochay tay oochaa bhagvant.
sagal samagree tumrai sutir Dhaaree.
tum tay ho-ay so aagi-aakaaree.
tumree gat mit tum hee jaanee.
naanak daas sadaa kurbaanee. ||8||4||
 
 
Guru Pancham Patshah Ji is very kindly giving us the divine wisdom on how to pray to the Almighty for the Gur Parsaad of Naam, Naam Ki Kamai, Puran Bandgi and Seva and how to unite with Him. Utmost humbleness, Puran Nimrata, is the key to success in making a successful prayer.  If our prayer is not made with utmost humbleness then it will not be accepted.  If our prayer is not made with full and complete belief and commitment, faith and trust in Gur, Guru and Gurbani and if it is not made with devotion and love, then the chances of acceptance are very remote.  But if we do so with full surrender to the Gur and Guru, then even a one-off prayer will bring unbelievable rewards.   So what should the prayer contain?
 
First of all, with folded hands and with full humility do Kottan Kot Dandaut Bandana and Shukrana to the Almighty and the Guru.  Remember and believe that these Highest Divine Entities are omni present.  Then do the same thing to the Guru Sahibans, Sants and Bhagats, Brahmgianis of all ages and present time.  Then do the same thing to Guru Granth Sahib Ji.  Then do the same thing to the entire creation.   Unless we become the Charan Dhool of the entire creation we can’t achieve the utmost humbleness.

Next start our Ardas, prayer, as follows,

“Agam Agochar Anant Beyant Alikh Adikh Dhan Dhan Paar Braham Parmesar please accept our prayer.  Everything belongs to You.  Nothing belong to us.  This body mind and soul is all ours.  You are the Creator.  You are the Doer.  You are our father and mother and we are just our humble children.  We are just our humble servants.  Only our Eternal grace can bring us the real eternal and unending happiness.  Nobody has been able to find out our unlimited super powers and nobody has the power to do so.  You are the Highest of the High.  You are the Supreme.  You take care of all of us.  You are the Giver of Everything.  You give us everything to live this life.  You have given us this life with our great kindness.  The entire universe is our creation and belongs to You only.  You are the only owner of everything that exists in this universe.  Everything happens under our command – Hukam.  Only You can know our own super powers.  Only You can know our capacity and limits.  We are a sacrifice to our kindness and for everything You have given us.   Only Your kindness can bring us the Gur Parsaad of Your Naam, Puran Bandgi and Seva.  Only Your grace can only take us out of this deep well full of the scum and mud of Maya.  Please help us achieve the objective of this human life and attain salvation.   Please give us the Gur Parsaad of Naam, Puran Bandgi and Seva and unite us with Yourself.”