kaam kroDh ar lobh moh binas jaa-ay ahanmayv.
Naanak parabh sarnaagatee kar parsaad gurdayv. ||1||
Dhan Dhan Shri Guru Arjan Dev Ji is very kindly giving us the divine wisdom about the Mahima of Gur Kirpa and Gur Parsaad in this Ashtpadi.
The very base of our life is the Gur Kirpa. Under Gur Kirpa everything happens in our life for the best. Because of the Gur Kirpa we can win over the Panj Doots: Kaam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh and Ahankaar.
The karams we have under the influence of the Panj Doots in this life and in past lives greatly effect our fortune, behavior and performance in the remainder of this life and future lives. So we can see how important it is to win over the panj dhoots.
Let us talk about a few way to get rid of the negative influence of our past actions on our present life. First of all, what is the aim of our life? We want to become a truthful person, a SACHYARA.
Kiv sachyara hoiaa.
Kiv kuray tutay paal
The SACHYAAR, the Paar Braham Parmesar, lives only in a SACHYARA. A SACHYARA is a soul and mind which is :-
· beyond the three attributes of Maya,
· beyond the shackles of Maya,
· a Jivan Mukt,
· a truthful person – a person full of Truth,
· the one who serves the Truth and delivers the Truth,
· the one who sees the difference between Truth and non-Truth,
· the one who speaks the Truth,
· always truthful in their actions and reactions,
· truthful from inside and outside,
· completely absorbed in Eternal Truth.
Secondly, we know that everyday our life is being influenced by what we have sown in the past. All of our actions, decisions, reactions, the way we conduct ourself in daily activities, the way we interact with others, our habits, our character, our way of communicating with others, our outlook for others, our intelligence level, our bent of mind, our preferences and priorities are all greatly influenced by the way we have been behaving, acting, doing, speaking, living, interacting, performing in the past of this life and more importantly in past lives.
The actions and reactions are carried under the direct control of our mind and for a normal person, the mind works under the direct control of panj doot – kaam, krodh, lobh, moh and ahankaar. These are tamo attributes of maya. Asa, trishna, mansha are rajo attributes of maya that also influence the mind.
When we are trying to be truthful and avoid all the asat karams, the untrue deeds in our current life, we still get effected by our previous habits, good or bad – sanskars. Our habits are not just a result of our present environment in which we have been raised, but are also more greatly influenced by our previous lives.
Our wisdom is based on our own instincts, experiences, the rules of the society, the norms of the society, and the environment in which we operate. This in turn greatly influences our mind’s behavior. Our mind is reflected in our actions and deeds.
In order to understand the mechanism of how we come to perform good or bad actions in our daily life please read the following text very carefully. We will show how the different parts of our body come together to perform various deeds, actions and reactions in our daily life.
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A. ELEMENTS OF THE PHYSICAL BODY
PANJ KARAM INDREES
These are the parts of our physical body with which we physically perform our deeds. These are:
1. arms and hands,
2. legs and feet,
3. tounge and mouth,
4. anus and
5. sex organ.
The creation of a human being is the most beautiful creation of the Almighty. Look at these five super divine powers given to us to make use of our physical body and be a part of the creation and participate in the process of creation.
OUR FIVE GYAN INDREES
These are also called the five senses which a human is blessed with to interact with the rest of the creation and enjoy the creation. These are:
1. eyes – seeing,
2. ears – hearing,
3. nose – smelling,
4. skin – feeling and
5. tounge – tasting.
These are super divine powers that are given to us by Akal Purakh to live this life and enjoy the nature in its correct perspective and in accordance with the divine wisdom – gurmat.
OUR PANJ DOOTS
These are the most powerful emotions within us. They are :
1. kaam,
2. krodh,
3. lobh,
4. moh and
5. ahankaar
The power behind these panj doots is desire, trishna and its lesser forms asa, hopes and mansha, wishes. For example, we desire to be rich but instead of working honestly, we become greedy and lobh controls us. Someone may hurt us and we desire revenge, so anger runs us.
Trishna drives our Panj dhoots which determine the actions we take. Infact, these doots and desires prompt us to misuse our panj karam indrees and our panj gyan indrees. We forget they were meant to be used for good as they are the super divine gifts, the super divine powers, the super divine blessings given to us by Akal Purakh. Misusing them is how we get trapped in maya. This is where Gur Parsaad is essential to breaking free.
OUR BRAIN
Our brain stores our own wisdom. Our own wisdom is based on our formal education, our education through our family and friends and our education from society. All of these wisdoms are considered operating under the three attributes of Maya.
OUR MIND
Gurbani says that our mind, just like the body, is said to born from Panj Tatt, the five essential elements:-
1. water,
2. fire,
3. air,
4. earth and
5. sky.
From that perspective the mind resides in every cell of the body. The mind directs the body.
B. HOW THE PHYSICAL BODY PEFORMS AN ACTION, A KARAM
1. The five Gyan Indrees send electrical signals to our brain.
2. The five dhoots and desires feed our brain.
3. Past wisdom is stored in the brain.
4. Parts 1+2+3 results in the brain thinking.
5. The Mind processes the thoughts and decides what action to take.
6. The Mind directs the brain by sending it thoughts.
7. The Brain sends electrical signals to the Karam Indrees to perform the action.
The input comes from the senses, the wisdom comes from brain, the decision is taken by the mind based on desires, the action is performed by the body.
As long as the decisions taken by our mind are based on the information it receives from our brain’s wisdom, we are operating under the influence of the three attributes of Maya. That is the main reason for the instability of the mind. Instability means a continuous speaking of the mind through a never ending series of thoughts.
So how do we make our mind stable? We need to understand our spiritual body.
C. ELEMENTS OF THE SPIRITUAL BODY
JYOT
This resides inside our body. It is the base for the DIVINE WISDOM. Our life is due to this divine Jyot. Our life element is our Atma, Soul. It is a divine element. Our breath and life are due to the presence of this eternal light, jyot, inside us. We were born due to this divine light, jyot, inside. When this divine light is withdrawn from our body, we die. The problem here is that we become absorbed in an attitude of “me, my and mine.” We forget about this divine light inside. This is due to Haumai. This division between the divine light and our mind is the Haumai. Haumai is nothing but Maya.
SUKHSUM SAREER
The Suksham is part of the soul. It is the source of life energy and power that keeps the physical body in senses and operation. All the energy and breathing process, running of blood in the veins, and all other operations of the organs of the body are all run by this life energy which comes from these seven sources of spiritual energy. These are called Sat Sarovars in Gurbani. Sat Sarovar is the true divine definition of these Chakras. Sat Sarovar means seven sources of spiritual energy – or seven sources of life energy, or seven integeral parts of the soul, this life energy is called Amrit.
Some people think that the Sat Sarovars are part of the physical body, that they can be mapped to points in the nervous or endocrine systems. These nerves and glands are physical parts of the body, whereas the chakras have no physical existance. They are all in suksham. They are parts of the soul. The soul is is suksham too. The Sat Sarovars are located within the sukhsham sareer in the areas at the top of the head, third eye, throat, Hirda, Navel, Sex Organ and Kundalini. Some people say Solar Plexus instead of Sex organ, but that is not correct.
D. HOW DO WE MAKE OUR MIND STABLE?
Our panj karam indrees are responsible for our actions or deeds or karams. The panj karam indrees are directed by our brain, the control centre. The brain is directed by the decisions of the mind. And remember, our mind bases its decisions on the wisdom stored in the brain. Our own wisdom is a combination of self wisdom, worldly wisdom and durmat – bad wisdom. All three of these wisdoms are a result of our experiences whilst living in maya.
Our own wisdom is a result of our life lived under the panj doots and desires. That is why all our daily karams fall under either panj doots or desires. This is how the decisions of the mind are controlled by panj doots and desires.
But there is a way to be free. Above our mind resides the Param Jyot. However, this has lost connection with our mind. This param jyot is the super divine power which is basically running our breath and gives us life. However, our mind doesn’t recognize this super divine power, the param jyot. Our mind has decided that it is the one in charge and the one that is deciding everything. By doing this, our mind is trapped in maya and is therefore, operating under maya and not directly under the param jyot.
So our mind is the culprit. It is stubbornly refusing to recognize the Param Jyot that is running our breath and giving us an opportunity to recognize and realize this param jyot.
What is the remedy? How do we eliminate this stubborn mind? The elimination of the mind will provide a direct connection to param jyot with the panj gyan indrees and panj karam indrees.
By eliminating our mind we come out of the trap of maya. We realize the real divine power within us. Our body, thoughts and actions are now run completely by that real divine power and not by desires and doots.
Our body’s very existance is due to the breath and life provided by the super divine power, the param jyot, and not otherwise.
So when the mind is eliminated then our panj gyan indrees and panj karam indrees come under direct control of param jyot. Once that happens then all our karams will become sat karams.
Elimination of mind is the key to success and this is achieved by gur parsaad of naam simran, naam ki kamai, puran bandgi and seva. Puran bandgi is the stage when the mind gets eliminated and param padvi is achieved.
All other methods and techniques are again self wisdom, worldly wisdom or durmat – and will not take us out of the trap of maya. Only puran braham gyan, puran tatt gyan and puran bandgi takes us beyond maya, where there are no panj doots and no desires.
Until our mind is eliminated, ardas for forgiveness is a divine blessing. Let us always be praying like this,
“Hum maha paapi hain, maha pakhandi hain, maha kaami hain, maha krodhi hain, maha lobhi hain, maha mohi hain, maha ahankari hain. You are kind and forgiving. Please forgive my bad deeds and sins.”
Praying like this all through the day and night, whenever we remember, will help us a great deal.
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We become Sachyara when whatever we do is NOT done under under the influence of the three qualities of Maya, including Panj Doot. We become Sachyara when our mind is NOT operating under our own wisdom and we are no longer completely separated from the DIVINE WISDOM. We become Sachyara when the divine light, jyot, inside us is no longer trapped under a very powerful and dark curtain of Maya.
The only way this Jyot will become a Param Jyot and unite with the Supreme God, is to go beyond the three qualities of Maya. The Param Jyot gives us the divine wisdom, brahmgian. brahmgian replaces our own wisdom and hence our mind. In this way all of our deeds, actions and reactions come under the direct control of Param Jyot. Which is the Divine Wisdom. The sant and brahmgiani maha purush don’t have any of their own wisdom. They are under the direct control of divine wisdom which is the hukam. Their mind is 100% absorbed in mansarovar, God’s Mind. They are liberated from the shackles of Maya. That is why they are called brahmgiani because they have realized the essence of the Paar Braham. They have learned the definition and existence of the Param Tatt. They have experienced the Infinite. They have felt and experienced the Akath Ki Katha. The existence of Paar Braham Parmesar inside them is the reason why they know everything past, present and future. However, this divine wisdom is used only for the good and betterment of humanity. If used for other purpose it will result in loss of this Agami power.
Though it is a very difficult task to eliminate our mind and wisdom, in order to bring us under hukum, but believe us it can be done. It has been done by the bhagats, sants, gurus and brahmgianis, in the past. It is still being done in the present time, and will continue to be done in the future.
We will have to completely clean up inside in order to become completely truthful, to become Sachyara. This is the only way to progress in our spirituality and to reach the level where our mind and our own wisdom is eliminated. Then we obtain the divine wisdom. How will we do it? By receiving the Gur Parsaad, the Eternal Blessings, of Naam, Naam Ki Kamai, Puran Bandgi and Seva. Then work towards accepting responsibility for all of our past misdeeds.
One very important thing to understand here, is that as a new born child we were completely pious, pure and truthful. We were unaffected by the Panj Doot. Our Dassam Dwaar was open. All of our actions and reactions were under the direct control of param jyot, the hukum. But, as we grew up a year or so later and started to say “My mummy, my daddy, my bottle, my toy” then that is where the Panj Doot showed they had become active. Our habits, our nature and attitude to life we developed were not just down to this life, but greatly influenced by our deeds from our past lives.
If we are able to clear our mind, chitter gupt, from the influence of our past lives then we will be able to clean up our soul from the negative effect of all the past bad deeds. What we have to do is very simple and easy. We will take one Doot at a time. Let us start with kaam first of all. It is the easiest one to handle.
Tommorow morning after doing ardaas and after doing simran for about 15 minutes to settle the mind down, say:
“KIRPA KAR KE KAAM VAS KITE SADHE SARE GUNAH SANOO DEKHA DE,
AASI APNE SARE GUNAH KUBOOL KARNE HAN JI”
Please with Your kindness show me all my sins
that I must have committed under KAAM in my whole life.
Then scan through our entire life. We will see that all of our sins will start to appear before our eyes, like a film. First of all we will see the most serious sin committed by us. Followed by another one and another. Keep on accepting responsibility for these sins of ours. Ask for forgiviness with our whole heart and it will be pardoned. Keep doing this until we feel completely cleansed. It may take a few hours. It may take a few hours for a few days. It may even take more than a week or even a month. No matter how long it takes, just keep doing it and don’t stop until we are sure that our mind has been completely cleansed.
Then repeat the process for each of the remaining dhoots : krodh, lobh, moh, ahankar. Deal with only one at a time. It may take a few weeks or even a few months or even longer before we are completely done. But stick with it. Following that, then stay alert by watching our daily deeds, actions and reactions continuously. Remain focused on the truth. Make all of our deeds truthful. Every morning after doing ardas and starting simran, it is a good idea to scan through all the previous days deeds to see if they were done under the influence of the panj dhoots. Then to accept responsibility, ask forgiveness and cleanse the mind.
If we want to make it more quick and effective, we can accept our misdeeds in the Sangat. Even with the best care exercised in our daily routine, we are still bound to make mistakes. To remove the effect of these mistakes we will have to keep on accepting our misdeeds and pray for forgiveness. These prayers should be conducted several times in a day in addition to the one we will be doing at the time of doing our morning and evening Naam Simran. The requirement here is to make our Karni a truthful Karni, and once our Karni becomes truthful, then our inside will also be cleaned completely and eventually we will become a sachyara.
This process will work best only if we are dedicated and fully surrendered to the Gur and Guru. We need to be giving Dasvandh to the Guru, ten percent of our time every morning to Naam Simran and also ten percent of our earnings to the Guru and to charity. This process once complete will completely change our behavior. We will become very cautious in our daily activities. We will notice the moment a bad thought is enters our mind. We will stop it right there and then. Believe us, this does wonders for our daily life. Our spiritual journey goes on a fast track. We feel the difference within ourself. Our family sees the change in us. Our family and friends are also effected in a better way with the improvements in our character and behavior.
The key to success is the Gur Parsaad of Naam, Naam Ki Kamai, Puran Bandgi and Seva, Parupkaar and Maha Parupkaar. This is granted only when we go to the sanctuary of the Gur and Guru. This is granted only when we go to the Charan Sharan of the Gur and Guru and earn the Gurbani by practicing it in our daily life. When this happens then the real Bandgi starts and with the Gur Parsaad and Gur Kirpa, all the five Doots and desires come under our control. Then we no longer remain under their control. This is what is meant by winning over the mind. Then the mind comes under direct control of Param Jyot and all our senses and body part operate under Puran Hukam of Akal Purakh. There is no self wisdom left, only divine wisdom prevails.
Astpadi:
jih parsaad chhateeh amrit khaahi.
tis thaakur ka-o rakh man maahi.
jih parsaad suganDhat tan laaveh.
tis ka-o simrat param gat paavahi.
jih parsaad baseh sukh mandar.
tiseh Dhi-aa-ay sadaa man andar.
jih parsaad garih sang sukh basnaa.
aath pahar simrahu tis rasnaa.
jih parsaad rang ras bhog.
naanak sadaa Dhi-aa-ee-ai Dhi-aavan jog. ||1||
When we are under the Gur Kirpa, the eternal blessings of the Akal Purakh, then everything that happens in our daily life is good. When we are under Haumai we say “I am doing it,” or “I am capable of doing it.” When we are under Gur Kirpa we realise Haumai doesn’t do anything, neither is Haumai capable of doing anything. It is very simple : if He is the Karta Purakh, the only Doer, then how can Haumai, the “I”, be doing anything at all?
We need to reach this understanding that everything good happening in our life is all thanks to God’s grace and not by any other means. Then the sense of self, the “me, my and mine” attitude, will start to disappear from our life. This will kill our ego, Haumai, altogether. We are eventually relieved of the serious and chronic mental sickness of Haumai. Once this happens there remains no difference between us and the Almighty Himself.
The panj dhoots only exist whilst we have a sense of our own precense, our Haumai, ego. Haumai is the hardest to kill or go. Haumai gives rise to the dhoot Ahankaar. This is pride of our self and our achievements, status in society , name and wealth. Haumai and its result Ahankaar, are the hardest to win over. But once we do win over them, we go into to a complete and utmost humble state of mind. This is a mandatory divine quality necessary for the union with God.
When something good happens, most people under the influence of haumai, will take the credit for it and don’t thank Almighty for His grace. We don’t recognize that He has been very kind on us and have given us everything we need to live a good life. Instead, we engage ourselves in self praise or self recommendation. This is all Ahankar as a result of Haumai.
Conversely, when anything bad happens in our daily life, under Haumai, we start complaining to God and hold God responsible for it. We blame God for all of the bad things that have happened in our life. In some cases we will curse our fate and blame God for writing that desinty for us. The truth is that whatever happens is a result of our own Karni in the past and previous lives.
The way to deal with Haumai is this: whenever something good happens thank God for His kind grace. But, whenever something bad happens, just accept responsibility and see it as something we can learn from. By blaming God, we forget that God is very kind and never does bad to anybody. But, its our own Karma that is teaching us again and again when bad thing happen, that we should stop doing Asat Karams and start doing Sat Karams. By planting good deeds our future is trouble free.
By taking credit for all the good and cursing God for all the misfortune, we become deeply drenched in the scum of ego. We fall victim to the deep mental sickness of Haumai. This is the main reason for our soul reincarnating through birth and death.
Guru Pancham Patshah Ji is very kindly giving us Brahmgian that allows us to eliminate Ahankaar from our head. This will free us from the deepest mental sickness of Haumai and allow us to be one with God.
Guru Sahib ji is very kindly reminding us that whatever good happens in our daily life is only due to the divine grace. We should remember and practice thanking God in our daily life. By doing so, whatever delicacies we eat become Amrit. By thanking God for his grace we become blessed to remember God continuously. We never forget Him and eventually He goes into our mind. This replaces our ego mind with Paar Braham Parmesar, the Param Jyot, Puran Parkash. We go into a state of Ajapa Jaap Naam Simran. The mind becomes Param Jyot itself.
Due to the divine grace of the Almight, we have products to keep our physical body clean and smelling good. But how do we clean our sukhshum sareer, astral body? By firmly believing in the grace of God and remembering Him continuously. We reach that level of spirituality where our astral body becomes pure like 24 carrot gold, Kanchan Suksham Dehi. The Amrit keeps on flowing continuously. Naam vibrates over the entire body continuously. When this happens then we reach the Param Gath stage. This is Param Padvi, the Gur Parsaad of Param Pad is achieved.
The One by whose grace we have been given a nice place to live and all the facilities to enjoy our human life, should be kept in our mind all the times. We should never forget that whatever we have is all due to the grace of God.
The One by whose Eternal grace we enjoy all of our relationships, we should always keep His Naam on our tongue. This means whilst living with the comforts of this world, we should always keep the Giver of all these luxuries and comforts close to heart. We should keep on thanking Him continuously.
The One Who gives us all the things to eat, and life to live and enjoy should always be remembered. He is the only One who is taking care of all of our needs and His grace should always be recognized and praised. He is the only One we can trust and depend on. This is worth everything and keeps us going. So never forget that He is the foundation of our very existence and survival.
jih parsaad paat patambar hadhaaveh.
tiseh ti-aag kat avar lubhaaveh.
jih parsaad sukh sayj so-eejai.
man aath pahar taa kaa jas gaaveejai.
jih parsaad tujh sabh ko-oo maanai.
mukh taa ko jas rasan bakhaanai.
jih parsaad tayro rahtaa Dharam.
man sadaa Dhi-aa-ay kayval paarbarahm.
parabh jee japat dargeh maan paavahi.
naanak pat saytee ghar jaaveh. ||2||
Guru Patshah Ji is very kindly continuing to remind us about the Eternal Grace of the Almighty. With the grace of God we get to wear beautiful and expensive clothes. We forget that we have already been blessed with more than we deserve. Due to our greed, we need to constantly decorate our physical body. We always go after more and more. We are never satisfied with what we have and long for more.
To accumulate more than we need is a very dangerous mental sickness. The urge, or the desire, to accumulate more and more is a deep mental sickness. The entire life is spent on doing this without any spiritual gains. Desires are the basic reason for unhappiness, sorrows and pains. If fulfilled they may bring a short lived happiness, but if not fulfilled they bring sorrows and pains. The accumulating effect of desires on us is mental depression, mental sickness and physical ailments.
We should always remain contented with our belongings and possessions and remain thankful to the Almighty for whatever He has given. Only contentment in Truth, Sat Santokh, can bring an end to our desires and hence and end to all of our pains and sorrows. We should always keep deep inside our Hirda that it is only by the grace of the Almighty we get to sleep on cozy beds. He is the only One who takes care of us at all times. When we do so then we will always be in a remembrance stage. Remembering God is the Simran. That is what Guru Patshah Ji is telling us to do. To remember the Giver of everything to us, continuously. When we do so, then eventually the Simran goes into an auto pilot mode inside our Hirda and mind. Meaning Simran happes without our conscious efforts. Then it goes into each and every cell, the Rom Rom. This all happens with the Gur Parsaad. Nothing is possible without His Gur Kirpa, Eternal grace.
All the respect we achieve from the society we live in, is only by the grace of God. We need to remember that are just nothing. A worthless creature on the face of this earth. He is the only Doer and Giver. He takes care of all our needs, so we need to always keep on praising Him by all means. Only by His grace are we able to walk on the path of religion. The real path of religion is the path of Truth. The Shabad “Dharam” has a very deep, divine and eternal meaning. Please read the following explanation for understanding the Shabad “Dharam”.
https://satnaam.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=214&Itemid=26
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Let us pray to “Paar Braham Parmesar” (Supreme Transcendent God) who is
· Agam (Beyond our reach)
· Agadh
· Agochar (Beyond our 5 senses)
· Aprampar
· Anant (Without Limit)
· Beant (Infinite)
· Param Dyalu (Supremely Compassionate)
· Param Kirpalu (Supremely Merciful)
and the Guru
for their Gur Kirpa – Gur Parsaad (Eternal Blessings)
to make us all capable of understanding the true and divine meaning of the word (divine word) “Dharam”.
This has been grossly misunderstood and misinterpreted by religious circles, society and hence by the masses all around the globe. Let us try to understand and remove the confusion about the word “Dharam” based on :
· divine wisdom
· Gurmat
· the Dargahi definition
· the presence of the Eternal Essence in the word “Dharam”
· presence of the Param Tatt – Sat Tatt (Supreme Truth Essence)
· and what was understood, exercised, explained, written and promoted by the Guru Sahibans, Sants, Bhagats and Brahmgianis.
Each and every divine word of Gurbani tells us a Divine Truth (SAT) about the Essence Of Supreme God (Param Tatt Paar Braham Parmesar):
· either His Naam (Name),
· or His Praise (praises)
· or the Praise (praises) of Sants, Bhagats, Brahmgianis or Satgur.
Each and every divine word (Shabad ) of Gurbani removes the darkness of our mind and soul. It gives us the divine light through the divine wisdom present in every Word. By such virtues each word of Gurbani is called a word Guru – Shabad Guru. The word “Dharam” is also a Guru. Each word :
· contains the presence of Supreme Truth (Param Tatt Puran Braham Gyan) hidden in it
· has the dimensions and the depth of Akal Purakh Himself
· is unlimited and infinite like Paar Braham Parmesar.
· is an integeral part of the Almighty Himself.
The word “Dharam” represents all the divine essence of Paar Braham Himself.
A Sant Hirda is the person who follows the word “Dharam” and brings into himself
· its essence
· the eternal truth hidden in it and
· the Braham Gyan hidden in it.
By practicing in “dharam” in his daily life he becomes
· a Pargatyeo Jyot, (God’s Light manifests inside them)
· one with Almighty
· merges in the Almighty.
How does he do it?
To most people the word “Dharam” means religion and heavily influences their
· particular group – normally what they are born into
· sacred language,
· dress,
· customs
· eating habits and so on.
To most people “Dharam” defines a particular group’s rules and regulations. These are used to govern individuals’s social values, religious behavior and lifestyle.
A person is born into a family and will be raised in the cultural set up of the environment surrounded by his own family.
The family in turn operates under the umbrella of the particular sect of the society. That is what is responsible for building the values and concepts of an individual as far as the character, behavior, the outlook, the religious values and other social behavior patterns are concerned.
For example, a baby born into a Sikh family is given a Sikh Dharam. If the same baby had been born into a Hindu family he would be called a Hindu. Then the baby would be brought up with the family’s religious values and practices. The baby would grow up with the particular group’s :
· social behavior,
· social values,
· language,
· eating habits,
· dressing patterns and so on.
The baby has been taught to become part of one particular group. His practises and beliefs will be different to other groups. Each group gives themselves a name eg Hindu religion, Sikh religion, Christian religion, Islam and so on.
These divisions of society, or to be more accurate, these divisions of the humanity, these divisions of the human race into various sects are just man made creations. These boundaries between so called different sects of humanity, the human race are just man made creations. These divisions are never present in divinity and divine wisdom. Divine wisdom says:
“Manas Ki Jaat Sabhey Ek Hi Pechanbo”
Recognise the human race as one.
Guru Gobind Singh Ji.
In the real sense of divinity and spirituality, in the real sense of Gurmatt – the divine wisdom, there is no eternal truth in the man made boundaries. The only eternal truth is the humanity or the human race or the human life, which is the most precious and most beautiful creation of the Creator.
The eternal truth is that we are all human beings only and all of us are born from the same Jyot – Light of God:
First, Allah created the Light;
then, by His Creative Power, He made all mortal beings.
From the One Light, the entire universe welled up.
So who is good, and who is bad? ||1||
SGGS 1349
“Ek Noor” – One Light – is the Creator and all of us are born from the same Creator. So where is the question of having a division based on the sects of the society, when the Creator created us all as human beings?
Where is the question of various different religions all over the world, when the Creator has created only one race – the Human Race – One Junie – the Human Junie?
When the Creator recognizes us all as one Jaat – race – Manas Ki Jaat – human race, then where is the question of divisions into different religions or Dharams?
Therefore, there is only one religion, there is only one Dharam, and that Dharam is the Almighty Himself. And he is the One who creates the rules and laws under which the human being is required to exist, live, perform, act and react.
His constitution is the Divine Commandments, which are the divine laws framed by Him for us “THE HUMAN RACE”. The foundation of His Kingdom or the foundation of Himself, or the foundation of this most beautiful and precious creation of His – Human Race is the Eternal Truth – “SAT”.
He is “SAT ROOP” because He Himself is the Eternal Truth. He is the only one Who is the Truth. Absolutely everything else is perishable and is just a part of Maya. Only He is the One who is beyond the three attributes of Maya: Trihu Gun Tey Parey.
All His divine rules and laws direct the Human Race to be absorbed in the Eternal Truth, to stay as His “SAT SAROOP”, and nothing less than that. To stay beyond the three attributes of Maya, to be like Him. This is the true and Divine meaning of the Dharam.
To be like Him is the Dharam.
To be Truthful is the Dharam.
To be a “SACHYARA” is the Dharam.
To be able to see, speak, hear, deliver and serve the truth is the Dharam.
To stay as a human being in its eternal true essence (like a baby in the Jyot) is the Dharam.
To always stay as one with Him is the Dharam.
To remain merged in Him is the Dharam and this is the religion in eternal reality.
The true religion exists in that soul and mind which is beyond the three attributes of Maya. The word “Dharam” therefore, signifies that Akal Purakh Himself is the definition of Dharam. The “SAT TATT” the eternal truth, and therefore, to become like Him will be to become a “SACHYARA”. A completely truthful person
· from inside out,
· without any hypocrisy,
· no duality,
· no Pakhand,
· no animosity,
· single vision,.
The real and divine meaning of word “Dharam” is that Dharam is only a yardstick for measuring the truth, and eternal truth and nothing but eternal truth.
Sukhmani says:
Of all religions, the best religion
is to chant the Name of the Lord and maintain pure conduct.
SGGS 266
This will make us follow the real divine religion of becoming a “SAT SAROOP” (Embodiment of Truth) and that is the soul and mind where the Almighty resides.
In light of the above discussion, the divine meaning of Dharam is to follow the Divine wisdom direct from God, and not the man-made divisions of religion. The eternal essence (sat tatt) of the word “Dharam” is a set of rules, regulations and divine laws for us to remain under the :
· unlimited Kingdom of the Almighty
· the Kingdom of eternal truth
· the Kingdom of spirituality and
· the Kingdom of divinity.
These divine laws have been there from the beginning. They are here now. And they will remain here forever. Anybody who follows these laws of Eternity will be able to enjoy this Kingdom of Akal Purakh. They will be able to enjoy the eternal blessings and the real eternal Dharam – religion.
These divine laws are very clearly and well defined in Gurbani. They were exercised by the Guru Sahibans, Sants and Bhagats and promoted to be used by the masses. They were compiled in the form of a “Consitution of Eternity’s Kingdom” in Shree Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The entire Gurbani is the definition and very detailed description of these divine laws.
For ease of understanding and without getting into the details of the entire Gurbani, we have put some of these divine laws formulated and kept in the Mansarovar – unlimited sea of divine light – Puran Param Jyot Puran Param Parkash. These divine gifts are available to everyone around the entire creation. They are same for all of us. They never change. They will remain intact forever, and they are listed below:
1. Full and complete belief, trust, faith, Shardha, Preet, devotion with unconditional love and commitment in and to the Gur, Guru and Gurbani
2. Full and complete surrender to the Gur and Guru: Tan Munn Dhann Sabh Tera; Tan Munn Dhann Sabh Saup Guru Ko. The Guru is great and very kind, if we give 10% of our time and earnings to the Guru and follow His words, He will pay for the remaining 90% from His own pocket.
3. Giving 10% of our time to the Guru. Spend this time in Amrit Vela to do Naam Simran: “Prabh Kaa Simran Sabh Tey Oonchaa”. This is the highest service of the Almighty and this is the only means of cleaning us up from inside and keep us like that and eventually take us beyond the three attributes of Maya. This is the only way we can win over our mind. Win over Five thieves and desires. And win over Maya completely.
4. Always pray for Gur Parsaad. Nothing can be done by us. Everything that happens is in Hukam. The will of God prevails no matter what happens. Only by having Gur Parsaad can we live under the Will of God without any issues. Gur Parsaad will bring Naam inside us. It will take us to Jivan Mukti – salvation.
5. Always see, speak, hear, deliver and serve the Truth. This is the highest service to Almighty.
6. Exercise utmost humbleness in our communication with others. Consider ourself the lowest of the lowest: “Aapas Ko Jo Janey Neecha So Hi Ganye Sabh Tey Ooncha”. Consider everybody else is above us. Concentrate on self reformation. Don’t point fingers to others. Keep the finger pointed to ourself. Humbleness is the only weapon to kill our Haumai – ego. Utmost humbleness and humility – Garibi Ves Hirda. Utmost Nimrata (humilty) inside is the key to the Kingdom of Akal Purakh – Dargah of Akal Purakh.
7. Delete “me, mine and my” from our conversations and communications. Always keep in mind that our existence is due to the life element inside us. And this is due to the Eternal Jyot inside us. There is God inside us. Always keep this Eternal Jyot element which is the “SAT TATT” and the “PARAM TATT” above us. Use “we, ours and us” in our communications by keeping this divine element recognized all the time inside us.
8. Accept our sins and bad deeds. Open confession in the sangat is the way to wash our sins and clean us up from inside. To make us truthful and take us closer to the Creator.
9. Do not involve ourself in any kind of negative criticism (Slander), gossip (Gossiping) and jealousy (Jealousy).
10. Do not hurt anybody’s heart (Hirda). Unconditional love for all His creations will determine how much we love Him. There is no place for hatred for anybody in the Mansarovar – Amrit Sagar Nirgun Saroop. Unconditional love with devotion and sacrifice is the language of Almighty. Only love, sacrifice and service with devotion can bring us closer to the Almighty.
11. Don’t crave for anything. Thank the Almighty for everything He has given us and keeps on giving us. Remain contented in whatever we have and whatever we are getting. Desires are the root cause of all the problems.
12. Exercise forgiveness in our day to day communications with others. This is the way to control our anger. Wherever there is forgiveness there is God. Forgiveness is a divine quality and brings kindness inside us. Together these divine qualities will make our heart very vital. We will not have any hatred and animosity with any one. This will make us single vision – Ik Drisht. We will become Nirvair, which is one of the most vital qualities of divinity. Forgiveness will make us anger free. Anger and ego are complementary to each other. Anger comes due to ego and ego brings in anger. So both these mental sicknesses will become our slaves, they will not hurt us.
13. When we give 10% (Dasvandh) of our earnings to charity, we will eventually become greedless. The feeling of greed prompted deeds we have been committing will start to diminish. Our heart will become kind, loving and sacrificing, serving the poor and needy. This will eventually relieve us of the Greed – greed, which is another deep mental sickness.
14. Consider our family and friends, our parents and children as a Sangat and serve them with the same feeling and in the same way we serve the Gur-Sangat. Love them and respect them the same way we do to Gur-Sangat. This will remove the “Attachment” (selfish love) from our inside and will convert it to the real deep divine love with compassion and sense of sharing and sense of selflessness and sacrifice in our Hirda.
15. Other than our wife, respect every women as either our sister, mother or daughter. Other than our husband, respect every male as either brother, father and son. This will remove the feeling of lust (Lust) from our inside. This is a deep mental sickness and can be cured by exercising this rule.
16. Delete the past, don’t think about the future and seize the current moment. Be truthful in our current moment. Engage ourself in truthful and only truthful deeds at the current moment. Once our current moment is truthful our future will be truthful. Eventually this will erase all the negative effects of the past from our deeds (Deeds). A truthful deeds is the key to shape our own destiny. To shape our own future, if our present is truthful our future will eventually come very rewarding.
17. Practice Gurbani in our daily life. Whatever little bit we understand, please bring that eternal essence inside ourself right away by practicing it in our daily life. Gurbani is an eternal prescription for all our problems and mental and physical ailments. By doing “Naam Ki Kamai” (earning Naam) and practicing Gurbani we will be able to eliminate all these sicknesses from our mind, soul and body. This will make them absolutely clean of the scum of Maya. Watch our daily deeds in light of the Gurbani and keep on reforming it for ever. There is no end to the divine qualities. We will be bringing in these priceless jewels of divinity inside us. This will reform us completely from inside out. Eventually we will become a Puran Sachyara (Completely Truthful one) and the Sachyaar (Truth Almighty) will come inside our Hirda for ever.
18. Involve ourself in Seva with devotion and love. Do a selfless service to the others. Serve the poor and needy. Serve the orphans. Serve the sick. Serve our own family with love and devotion.
Always remember that the highest service to the Almighty is Naam Simran. And all the above points when exercised with Naam Simran will bring in tremendous rewards and results and will make our life
· sublime,
· full of eternal enjoyment,
· full of happiness,
· full of eternal blessings
· and eventually our spiritual dreams will come true.
We will become a Sant Hirda, we will become Jivan Mukt and will be able to achieve our objective of this life by being one with Almighty, and this is the real Dharam.
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This can only happen with the Grace, the Gur Parsaad, of Dhan Dhan Paar Braham Parmesar.
jih parsaad aarog kanchan dayhee.
liv laavhu tis raam sanayhee.
jih parsaad tayraa olaa rahat.
man sukh paavahi har har jas kahat.
jih parsaad tayray sagal chhidar dhaakay.
man sarnee par thaakur parabh taa kai.
jih parsaad tujh ko na pahoochai.
man saas saas simrahu parabh oochay.
jih parsaad paa-ee darulabh dayh.
naanak taa kee bhagat karayh. ||3||
Guru Pancham Patshah Ji is very kindly giving us the divine wisdom about the “Arog Kanchan Dehi’ – our body free of all mental sicknesses. These mental sicknesses are Rajo and Tamo qualities of Maya, namely the Panj Doots and Asa, Trishna and Mansha.
The human body is considered to be a pot to collect Amrit, but the Panj Doot and desires act as holes in this pot. Whatever Amrit is collected is drained out through these holes. In addition to these holes in the pot, there is the dirt of sins sticking to it forever. The net effect is that Amrit collected by doing Sat Karams does not last long as it is eaten up by the dirt and the holes.
The holes in the pot are chronic in nature and can only be repaired by the Gur Parsaad of Naam, Naam Ki Kamai, Puran Bandgi and Seva, Parupkaar and Maha Parupkaar. Only after getting the Gur Parsaad of Naam and Bandgi can we go into Smadhi (Liv Lagee) and Sunn Smadhi. Meaning only with Gur Prasad of Nam can we go into meditation and deep meditation. Then the Naam goes into the Surat (mind) and Hirda. Only then do these Doots leave our body, leaving our body free of these mental sicknesses. Only then does the pot get cleaned and the holes filled by the Naam. This is whay Gurbani says that Naam is the cure for all the diseases. Gurbani is the prescription for curing these chronic mental ailments and filliing these voids in the pot and make it worthy of collecting the Amrit.
When we win over the Panj Doots and desires we become completely clean inside and out. We become a Sachyara to house the Sachyaar inside this Hirda. Sachyaar, meaning Akal Purakh, the Param Jyot, the Puran Parkash, the Nirgun Saroop lives only in a Sachyara. This cleaning process of the human body mind and soul happens only with the Gur Parsaad and doing Naam Simran in Smadhi.
When the Gur Parsaad of Naam and Smadhi comes to us only then is our Bhagti account opened in the Dargah of Akal Purakh. The real Bandgi only starts with the Gur Parsaad of Smadhi and Sunn Smadhi. This happens when we are accepted by God into Karam Khand (Realm of Grace). This is just one step before Sach Khand. The body starts to become Arog Kanchan Dehi in Karam Khand and becomes complete in Sach Khand. Guru Pancham Patshah Ji has touched on a very important part of the Bandgi in these divine words. He is telling us that if we follow these divine words then we can reach that stage. We can be relieved of all the chronic mental sicknesses and be one with God.
When we become the lowest of the low on the face of the Earth, when we become very humble and full of humility, then we are respected in the Dargah of Akal Purakh. Achievement of utmost humbleness results in the death of Haumai. This is the spiritual achievement of the highest order. Utmost humbleness takes us to the heights of spiritual world. Becoming the Charan Dhool of the entire creation and seeing none as lower than us, seeing ourself as the lowest of the low, as the slave of the slaves – Sagal Ki Reena, takes us to the continuous Gur Parsaad of the Atam Rus – the highest Amrit. It takes us to the Dargah of Akal Purakh and we become very highly respected in the Dargah of Akal Purakh,
The highest level of humbleness results in the death of Haumai. This happens only with the Gur Parsaad. The One and only One who gives us this Gur Parsaad of the highest order, should always be remembered and praised. By doing so we reach that level of Bandgi where we are blessed with the Gur Parsaad of utmost humbleness. We become Sagal Ki Reena and by doing so we reach the Param Padvi.
When we take permanent refuge at His Charans and saturate our Hirda with only His Charans the Almighty becomes so happy with us. He comes and lives in our Hirda by making the Jyot inside us a Param Jyot. He then takes care of us completely. Everywhere he is our saviour. He keeps us above all pains and sorrows. He saves our honor and respect. With His eternal grace nobody can go against us. Nothing goes against us. Everything falls in place for us. All of this happens only by doing Naam Simran continuously.
In fact, the Maha Purakhs who reach this level are on an autopilot mode. They are always doing Naam Simran. Naam goes on in the entire body at all the times. Anhad Naad music is heard in the Dassam Duaar continuously. Amrit keeps on flowing throughout the body continuously. All of this only happens with the Gur Parsaad. So keep on praying for the Gur Parsaad of Naam, Naam Ki Kamai, Puran Bandgi, Seva, Parupkaar and Maha Parupkaar.
This human life is a priceless gift because only in this human life do we have the ability to unite with the Almighty. The very birth of ours in this human life is the Gur Parsaad in itself. We have already been most fortunate to be given a chance to be one with Almighty. So why waste this human life when it was very hard to get? God has given us the Gur Parsaad of this human life and He has also given us the Gur Parsaad of a chance to be united with Him. This can only be achieved by doing Puran Bandgi so let us all dedicate ourselves to Puran Bandgi and make our life sublime.
jih parsaad aabhookhan pehreejai.
man tis simrat ki-o aalas keejai.
jih parsaad asav hasat asvaaree.
man tis parabh ka-o kabhoo na bisaaree.
jih parsaad baag milakh Dhanaa.
raakh paro-ay parabh apunay manaa.
jin tayree man banat banaa-ee.
oothat baithat sad tiseh Dhi-aa-ee.
tiseh Dhi-aa-ay jo ayk alkhai.
eehaa oohaa naanak tayree rakhai. ||4||
Guru Pancham Patshah Ji is very kindly continuing to give us the divine wisdom about how can we eliminate our own self completely and be one with the One who is beyond description and infinite. Let us dive a little deeper into the Mansarovar and try to get a glimpse of this unique quality of the Almighty.
It is of prime importance for a person to develop an understanding about the process of human life and death. Here is an outline:-
· our soul left the Origin, Ik Oankaar Satnaam,
· sooner or later our soul entered and remained in the mother’s womb for nine months,
· took birth,
· entered the world of Maha Kaal, Ghore Kalyug, the dark age,
· involved itself in the game of Maya, Maya Da Khel.
· burned in the fire of desires,
· became controlled and run by the Panj Doots – Kaam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh and Ahankaar,
· spent its whole life in the illusion of Haumai and other chronic mental sicknesses,
· became totally over powered by Maya and fell far from the Origin,
· physical death came and the soul went back either into the 84 Lakh Junie, or reborn as a human depending upon the deeds during the previous life.
By understanding this cycle of life and death we can learn how to escape from it. This cycle of life and death has been defined as the worst sorrow in Gurbani. We have all been going through this for Ages together. By learning how to escape from this cycle of life and death, we can be free from this highest sorrow forever. Let us try to understand the entire process in more detail.
Originally our soul has come from the Origin, the Mool, as defined in the Mool Mantra : the Ik Oankaar Satnaam, the Braham, the Param Jyot, the Puran Parkash, the Ik Ras, the Atam Rus, the Amrit. Therefore, to begin with, our soul is part of the Origin. If we consider the moment of original departure from the Origin, we see there is no difference in purity between our soul and the Braham. Since it is a part of the Braham so it is like Him. Our soul is like the Param Atma, the Eternal Truth. Being a part of the Origin, our soul has all the divine qualities of the Origin, the Paar Braham.
As our soul departed from the Almighty it made the transition into this world of Maya. Our soul is a part of the Creator. It may live in any form of creation. It is not known or at least to us or not explained anywhere in Gurbani what was the first form that the birth that a soul was born in. It is unknown what the sequence that the creation followed or wether the entire creation was created just at the same time. This is all infinite, there is no beginning or end. So how can we or anybody say that how was it done or who was created first. It is impossible to find an answer to this question, because it is infinite. Where, when and what happened or happens is unknown to us and only known to Akalpurakh. After leaving the Origin, wether we came directly into the human mother’s womb or went through various other life cycles is unknown. But it is true that our soul is a part of the Creator, the Sargun Saroop of the Paar Braham Parmesar Ji. Sooner or later is has come through the womb of the human mother.
At the time of departing and also during its stay in the womb of the mother, the soul pledged to Paar Braham Parmesar that it will perform deeds according to the mandatory divine laws during its stay in the world. The soul was like a clean piece of paper, the soul was as clean as Braham Himself. Our soul promised Braham that during its stay in this world, it would :
· stay as pure as Him during our stay in the world,
· remain free from the distractions of Maya,
· keep control over the Panj Doots,
· abide by all of the divine laws,
· perform all its worldly duties without being affected by their outcome,
· keep to all of the divine qualities of the Braham,
· perform deeds according to the will of God,
· perform all actions and reactions under Puran Hukam,
· work to serve humanity
· try and unite the rest of the population with the Almighty,
· live a Puran Sachyari Rehat,
· see the truth,
· speak the truth,
· hear the truth and serve the truth,
· remain absorbed in the Almighty
· move and stay on the path of Truth, Seva, Simran and Parupkaar.
By keeping our promise, when the end comes and our soul leaves the body, it will be as clean as it was at the time of original transition into the womb of the mother. The Almighty will accept it back and absorb it in Himself and give it a place at His feet in the Dargah.
Such a clean soul will always remain at the Charans of Dhan Dhan Paar Braham Parmesar. By virtue of such divine qualities such a soul is called a Pargatyeo Jyot Puran Brahmgiani, a Puran Sant Satguru.
These are some of the infinite qualities of Dhan Dhan Shree Akal Purakh. We should have remained absorbed in the Infinite part of Himself. This was the destination of our soul. This was how we should have performed and remained. This was how we should have lived our life. This was how we should have done and remained one with Almighty, but instead what happened to our soul?
As soon as we were born and our soul was transplanted into this new body, the Maha Kaal, Ghore Kalyug, Dark Age surrounded us. What is prevalent in this Dark Age? The deadly and negative forces of Maya and the resulting deep mental sicknesses. Even in our own family, our own parents, brothers and sisters, those who were not absorbed in the Almighty, were absorbed in the Panj Doots and desires. These are the the deceiving and cheating illusions. They appear sweet and attractive, but they are not so in the real sense, because they are responsible for taking our soul away from the Almighty.
The entire environment is polluted with these mental sicknesses, so how could we survive these deadly and poisonous mental viruses floating around us? When we were born, we were considered as the Roop of Dhan Dhan Paar Braham Parmesar. As we progressed in living in maya, our soul started disassociating from the Braham Jyot. Maya’s servants are the Panj Doots, Asa, Trishna, Mansha, Raj, Joban, Dhan, Maal, Roop, Ras and Gandh. Until we become sant hirda, we operate under the control and influence of these Thugs. They cheat and delude us. This part of the Infinite God is called the Infinite Loop Of Maya, because our soul keeps reincarnating around in birth and death infinite times within this loop, with seemingly no escape. The mathematical symbol of Infinity is a good way to visualise the Infinite Loop of Maya that all souls are reincarnating through :
Outside of this loop is the Infinite God, the Braham, Puran Parkash, Param Jyot. This is called the Nirgun Saroop of Braham. Our soul was originally part of the Nirgun Saroop and entered into the Sargun Saroop – a soul. When the soul received a body, it entered into the Infinite Loop of Maya.
The Nirgun Saroop is outside the Infinite Loop of Maya. The closed loop is the Maya. Outside the loop is Braham and is in Puran Hukam. But, the closed loop is being run by three attributes of Maya. Maya is not the Sargun Saroop. The matter is Maya. The life element, the divine power, that keeps the creation together is the Sargun Saroop. For example, the life element in us is the Sargun Saroop. Our soul,which keeps our breath and blood running, is the Sargun Saroop. All of the Sat Sarovar in our soul is Sargun Saroop. But our physical body is Maya, it is matter, so it is Maya. Anything that is visible to the naked eye is Maya, so Maya is visible and the Sargun Saroop is not visible. As long as we operate under the three attributes of Maya and don’t know the Braham part of our existance, then our body is running under the influence of the three attributes of Maya. This is the infinite loop of Maya. As soon as we achieve the Braham Gyan and become Jivan Mukt, we no longer remain under the influence of the three attributes of Maya and hence we go outside the loop of Maya. Then we go and merge in the Infinite side and become a part of the infinite. This is when Nirgun and Sargun become one, when the soul and God become one.
When we were born our Dassam Duaar was open. Our soul was in direct contact with the Infinite Part of Braham. Overtime we were overpowered by Maya and the Dassam Duaar closed. Our soul came under the complete rule of Maya. The closing of Dassam Duaar normally happens between the second and third year after birth. If we can keep the child absorbed in Gurbani, by playing Kirtan and Gurbani by his side continuously, then the child can be saved for longer from from the effect of Maya.
However, once our soul has been overpowered by Maya, getting out becomes very difficult. This is exactly the situation with the most people. Almost the entire population is operating under the control of the Maya. Only a few rare souls which are eternally blessed are not under the control of the Maya. Infact, Maya is under their control, maya comes to serve them. These rare souls are the Puran Sant Satgurus, the Puran Brahmgianis. They remain one with the Almighty. They are served by Maya and Maya remains at their feet. This is because there is no difference between the Almighty and them. The Almighty is greater than Maya. The Creator is always greater than His Creation.
Whilst our soul remains under the control of Maya, it keeps reincarnating in the Infinite Loop of Maya forever. That is true for everyone except the Brahmgiani. All souls that are not in Sach Khand, remain either in Heaven, Hell or 84 Lakh Junie. Heaven is the place where the devis and devtas reside. It is one step below the dargah, sach khand. Hell, narak, is where those souls who did really bad deeds go to bear the results before they are sent back to the junie. 84 lakh junie is the creations with life in the universe. Reincarnation takes place into life bearing creations and not stones. Stone and other materials are part of the Earth. However, trees and plants are life bearing creations so we can be reincarnated there.
We have been through this reincarnation process many times. For example, this kookar of Gur, Guru and Gursangat has been reincarnated 236 times just in human lives and unknown number of times through the 84 Lakh Junie. The most important questions to ask now are :
· What is the solution to this problem?
· How we can break out of this Infinite Loop of Maya?
· How does the control of Maya over our soul go?
· How do we break the barriers of Maya?
· How do we win over Maya and go back to the Origin, the Infinite Part of the Braham, and obtain salvation, Jivan Mukti?
Let us try to find an answer to this question, because the answer to this will decide the destination of our fate and soul, so please listen carefully.
This kookar of the Gur, Guru and Gursangat will give some solutions to this very serious issue facing all of us. These solutions are not just mere words. They are based on our actual physical and spiritual experiences under the Agam Anant Apaar Beant Gur Parsaadee Gur Kirpa of Dhan Dhan Shree Par Braham Parmesar and Guru.
The solution to coming out of the Infinite Loop of Maya is the Gur Parsaad. But, everyone can’t be eternally blessed immediately, because it is all predestined depending upon our deeds in previous lives. The Gur, Akal Purakh, is pleased when we have accumulated enough good deeds, Punn Karams. This is when our Gurparsaadi Game begins. This is when Akal Purakh Himself eternally blesses us. Some very, very special souls like Guru Nanak Patshah Ji were blessed directly by Akal Purakh. Most others though receive the Gur Parsaad through the Gur Parsaadee Gursangat of a Puran Sant, a Puran Brahmgiani. Just like Bhai Lehna Ji was blessed by Akal Purakh through the Gursangat of Dhan Dhan Guru Nanak Patshah Ji. With the Gurprasad he became Guru Angad Dev Ji.
Only such a Puran Sant Satguru can :-
· give us the Gur Parsaadi Naam of Ik Oankaar Satnaam,
· eternally bless us,
· open our Bajjar Kapaats,
· enlighten us with the Gur Parsaadi Prabh Jyot,
· make us Suhagan and Sada Suhagan,
· help us complete our Bhagti,
· bless us with Brahmgian by opening of the Dassam Duaar,
· help us achieve salvation,
· show us how to win over Panj Doots,
· lead us to eventually winnin over Maya completely,
· helps us to obtain the Param Padvi,
· break us out of the Loop of Infinity and
· take us back into the Infinite Braham.
This is how we will be able to break free from the Infinite Loop of Maya and merge into Dhan Dhan Shree Paar Braham Parmesar.
So how do we beginto please Akal Purakh so that He will be pleased and bless us with the Gurprasad? We need to :-
· pray to the Almighty to eternally bless us with His Gur Parsaadi Gur Kirpa,
· keep on doing Naam Simran,
· keep listening to Gurbani,
· make efforts to understand Gurbani,
· start practicing Gurbani in our daily life,
· earn humbleness,
· follow all the mandatory divine laws,
· completely surrender to the Guru.
In this way we will accummulate enough punn karams to definitely be blessed one day with the Gur Parsaadi Game. We will be blessed with the Gur Parsaadi Gur Sangat. And with that Gur Sangat of the Puran Bramgiani we will receive the Gur Parsaadi Naam, Ik Oankaar Satnaam.
In the end it is our most humble and earnest request at the Charans of the Gursangat, to evaluate ourselves in light of the above divine wisdom. To look inside and find out exactly where we stand.
If we are already a part of the Gur Parsaadee Game, then we are very fortunate and are on our way to break the Infinite Loop of Maya. Otherwise, we should concentrate and do whatever we can do, to make our life truthful. Start by practicing Gurbani and doing Simran, Seva and Parupkaar. We will definitely be getting closer to the Gur Parsaadee Game by doing so.
The above words have given us a glimpse of the Shabad “ayk alkhai.” This shows us how deep the meaning of a Shabad of Gurbani can go. This is just a glimpse and if we practice what Sukhmani says then we physically experience this state of “ayk alkhai.” We become Dhan Dhan. It cannot be explained, it can only be experienced. But, still we have made an attempt to give a glimpse of the depth of the Mansarovar.
Everything we have is by the grace of the Almighty. He has been very kind on us and given us this human life. Only by His eternal grace was the human being created. Only by His Eternal grace can we :-
· decorate ourselves,
· use facilities to make our life comfortable,
· have land, gardens and properties,
· replace our limited mind with His Param Jyot Puran Parkash,
· bring our mind under control,
· win over Maya and go under the Puran Hukam and unite with Him,
· be saved and respected in the Dargah.
Everything that happens to make us comfortable is only by His Eternal grace. So understand that His Eternal grace is very important. Realize that everything that happens in our life to make us happy is all His Eternal grace. By doing so we realize that we need to dedicate ourselves to His service. Such a deep and loving devotion that He Himself comes and lives in our Hirda, mind and Rom Rom. Such a deep and loving devotion will be achieved by a complete surrender at His Charans. Give Tann, Mann and Dhann back to Him. Absorb ourselves in His Bandgi, Seva, Parupkaar and Maha Parupkaar. By doing so we become the Shabad “tiseh Dhi-aa-ay”.
jih parsaad karahi punn baho daan.
man aath pahar kar tis kaa Dhi-aan.
jih parsaad too aachaar bi-uhaaree.
tis parabh ka-o saas saas chitaaree.
jih parsaad tayraa sundar roop.
so parabh simrahu sadaa anoop.
jih parsaad tayree neekee jaat.
so parabh simar sadaa din raat.
jih parsaad tayree pat rahai.
gur parsaad naanak jas kahai. ||5||
Guru Pancham Patshah Ji is continuing to give us the divine wisdom about the unlimited eternal grace of the Almighty.
The Almighty is the One who has very kindly given us this human life for achieving our most important objective. Which is to reach the salvation stage, to come out of the loop of Maya and to go back and unite with the infinite part of Dhan Dhan Paar Braham Parmesar.
Our human life is considered to be the most beautiful creation of the Almighty. Why? Because this is the only opportunity :-
· given to a Jiv Atma to unite with God,
· for to us for reaching salvation,
· given to us by the Almighty to reach the Param Padvi,
· to attain a respectful status in the Dargah of Akal Purakh,
· when we can win over the Maya completely and make her a servant of ours,
· for us to become a Sant Hirda, a Sada Suhagan and fill our Hirda with all the divine qualities,
· for us to reach the Tatt Gyan- Brahmgian,
· for us to become Apras Aparas, meaning to be able to help others unite with the Almighty,
· when we can get the Gur Parsaad of Gyan, Dhyaan and Ishnaan and complete our internal pilgrimage,
· we have been given by the eternal grace of God when we can win over the Panj Doots and our desires,
· to reach the highest level of peace and happiness,
· we have been given by the grace of God when we can absorb ourselves completely in Naam Ki Seva, Akal Purakh Ki Seva, Sat Ki Seva,
· we can serve the truth and deliver the truth to the masses and make their lives also sublime.
This is why this human life has been called “sundar roop” and “neekee jaat”. All this can happen only with the Gur Parsaad. Everything we have and everything that happens for our benefit and comfort is the eternal grace of God. We are not capable of doing anything at all. We are all just worthless creatures on the face of this earth. With His grace we have been born as human beings and given a chance to worship Him continuously. A chance to give everything back to Him, to dedicate ourselves 100% to Him and to do Naam Simran, Seva, Parupkaar and Mahaupkaar.
All the Punn Daan we do happens only with the grace of God. All our Sat Karams and our daily chores are performed due to His grace only. All the respect we command and everything good that happens in our daily life is due to the eternal grace only. Nothing happens without the grace of God. When we get this understanding that everything that happens is under the Hukam and grace of Almighty then our ego will vanish and we will become very humble and full of humility. This will take our Surat, mind and soul into the depths of the Mansarovar and we will become a swan – Hans – a Sant Hirda. And a Hans can only reside by the Mansarovar so we will be absorbed in the Mansarovar continuously. We will be enjoying the Atam Rus continuously and this is what is the meaning of Shabad “Dhyaan.”
We will never be deprived of the divine grace – Gur Parsaad. We will always be absorbed in the Seva of Akal Purakh. This will put an end to our reincarnating into the cycle of birth and death and we will become Jivan Mukt.
jih parsaad suneh karan naad.
jih parsaad paykheh bismaad.
jih parsaad boleh amrit rasnaa.
jih parsaad sukh sehjay basnaa.
jih parsaad hasat kar chaleh.
jih parsaad sampooran faleh.
jih parsaad param gat paavahi.
jih parsaad sukh sahj samaaveh.
aisaa parabh ti-aag avar kat laagahu.
gur parsaad naanak man jaagahu. ||6||
When we want to learn or achieve anything in our life the best way is to pray to the Almighty. So let us pray to the Almighty now so that we may understand and get a glimpse and feel the depth of the Mansarovar.
With the Gur Parsaad let us all thank countless times with every breath of ours the Primal Being, the One Supreme Lord, the Agam Agochar Dhan Dhan Paar Braham Parmesar and the Dhan Dhan Guru. Let us thank them with folded hands, with our head at their lotus feet and with complete surrender. Let us thank them :-
· countless times for their unlimited eternal blessings,
· with full and complete belief, commitment, trust and full faith in their existence,
· for their unlimited spiritual powers, love, devotion, kindness, humility and all their divine qualities, their divinity and their divine wisdom,
· for their sacrifices and patience,
· for their forgiveness of our misdeeds,
· for blessing us with the Gur Parsaad Naam, Bandgi and Seva, their Gur Sangat and Amrit Vachans, and
· for the wealth of this human life.
With all this Agami Gur Parsaad let us try to understand the most complicated yet, very simple mechanism behind the existence and operation of our mind. “Our” doesn’t mean our physical body it means our soul, the Atma, the Jyot, the Parkash. Let us understand the most powerful enemy and cheat known as “The MIND” and what happens when the condition of “gur parsaad naanak man jaagahu” is achieved and how it is achieved.
The mind is a non-visible part of the physical body of a person. The mind is like a distorted mad horse. It is very difficult to control. Just like a mad horse jumps around and keeps on doing so. It is very difficult to control. This means that the mind is very unstable. It moves around at a very high speed. It never stops as there is a continuous stream of thoughts, good and bad. These keep the mind running and jumping around like a mad horse continuously.
Another way to understand the operation of mind is as follows. Consider our physical body is a chariot which is being pulled by the five horses. These five horses represent the five senses. The reins of these five horses are being held in the hands of the driver of the chariot. The driver is mind. The reins represent the nerves, body and brain that carry and process the signals. Ultimately, the driving directions of this chariot are being given by the mind.
Now, under the influence of Maya , the five sense-horses get bombarded by worldly attractions. The mind-driver receives these signals from the sense-horses via the reigns. The mind-driver becomes instantly attracted, decides how to react and forms the thoughts that trigger a physical action.
The five mad sense-horses are responsible for a continuous stream of thoughts in the mind. In order to relieve the mind-driver from these thoughts, all five sense-horses will have to be controlled. The owner of this chariot is the Sleeping Giant. This is the jyot, the soul, the atma. The power of the owner, the Sleeping Giant, is immensely more than the driver of the chariot. The powe of the owner is beyond description. It is a part of the Braham. It is the divine light. It is the life element in the body which keeps the body breathing and alive. It is the divine entity. It is the AMRIT. But, since it is not activated, the Sleeping Giant is sleeping under the curtain of darkness. This is created by the mind being prompted by these five mad horses. The mind-driver doesn’t let the Sleeping Giant do anything. The mind-driver lets Maya take its toll forever and keeps itself separate from the Nirgun, the Paar Braham Parmesar.
If we are fortunate and our deeds from previous lives are good. Which means that if we have accumulated some SAT Karams, and if we have done some Bandgi in the past, then this Sleeping Giant will start feeling the pinch of the darkness. This means the soul will start to wake up. Now and again at first, but then more frequently. The soul will feel the importance of controlling these five mad sense-horses. Then by accumulating more SAT Karams a breakthough happens. We receive the eternal blessings, the Gur Parsaad. This can only be given either directly by the Almighty, or by the Almighty through a Satgur, a Brahmgiani or a Puran Sant. This is why Gurbani says:
Ik Oankaar Sat Naam Gur Parsaad.
When the Sleeping Giant is awakened more often and for longer it receives more and more Gur Parsaad. This is in the form of Seva, Simran & Parupkaar. The soul keeps on accumulating Amrit. It gains more and more divinity, divine wisdom and divine awareness. Eventually, the Bajjar Kapaats and the Sat Sarovars are activated. Then a direct and continuous contact is established with the Nirgun Saroop of Akal Purakh. The Anhad Shabad is received as Gur Parsaad continuously. The Sleeping Giant goes into the full awakened state. The Jyot grows to become a Param Jyot.
When the Sleeping Giant is awakened more often and for longer it receives more and more Gur Parsaad. This is in the form of Seva, Simran & Parupkaar. The soul keeps on accumulating Amrit. It gains more and more divinity, divine wisdom and divine awareness. Eventually, the Bajjar Kapaats and the Sat Sarovars are activated. Then a direct and continuous contact is established with the Nirgun Saroop of Akal Purakh. The Anhad Shabad is received as Gur Parsaad continuously. The Sleeping Giant goes into the full awakened state. The Jyot grows to become a Param Jyot.
The soul becomes very powerful and at this point the driver of the chariot – the mind, is put aside. It is eliminated practically and the Soul, the Param Jyot takes over the reins of the five mad horses and obtains the full control over these mad horses. These mad horses then don’t remain mad anymore, they become the servants of the Soul, servant of the Param Jyot. This stage has been described in Gurbani as:
Munn Jeetey Jug jeet.
The key here is to exercise SAT Karams, to do Naam Simran, Seva and Parupkaar, and receive the Gur Parsaad. The Gur Parsaad is the only way. There is no other way to have control over the mind, to win over it, to defeat it and to replace it with the Param Jyot.
The soul that is constantly awake is in the awakened stage known as the “Param Gat.” This is also known as Param Padvi, or Puran Brahmgian Awastha, or the Sahaj Awastha, or the Puran Sukh Awastha. It is the stage of complete silence, complete eternal happiness, no thoughts and always absorbed in the Mansarovar.
The rewards at this stage are beyond description. The physical and practical experiences are beyond description and are very surprizing. Some examples are :-
· seeing divine light – Puran Parkash,
· telepathically communicating with plants and animals ,
· hearing divine music continuously,
· having Guru Darshans and Darshans of Sants and Bhagats,
· having Paar Braham Parmesar Darshans.
When one reaches this stage then whatever he speaks is called Amrit Vachans, the complete eternal truth. Whatever that person says will definitely happen. His words will always come true. That is why they are called Amrit Vachans.
All these things happen with the Gur Parsaad of the Akal Purakh. So why do keep ourselves deprived of all these eternal treasures by drowning ourselves in the scum of Maya? We should all work towards the awakening of our soul and stay in this awakened stage continuously. In this way we help ourselves achieve the benefits of this highly spiritual stage.
jih parsaad too pargat sansaar.
tis parabh ka-o mool na manhu bisaar.
jih parsaad tayraa partaap.
ray man moorh too taa ka-o jaap.
jih parsaad tayray kaaraj pooray.
tiseh jaan man sadaa hajooray.
jih parsaad too paavahi saach.
ray man mayray too taa si-o raach.
jih parsaad sabh kee gat ho-ay.
naanak jaap japai jap so-ay. ||7||
God is the Origin, the Mool, of the creation. Everything has come from the Almighty. The basis of the entire creation is Naam and so is the basis of the human life. The life element in the human is the God element. The Jyot keeps the five elements of the physical body held together. These panj tatts are – air, water, fire, earth and sky. They are held together by the divine Jyot.
When the Jyot leaves the body, the physical body dies and the five elements go back to nature. When we keep the divine basis of the creation, the Naam, in our mind, then eventually it replaces the mind with its full presence which is the Param Jyot. When this happens the soul reaches the heights of the spiritual world. God himself appears in the world in the form of a Puran Sant, a Puran Braham Gyaani, a Puran Khalsa.
The person who is blessed with the Gur Parsaad of Naam will try and keep the Naam in His mind continuously. This means when he starts doing Naam Simran, the Naam goes into his mind, Surat, Hirda and then Rom Rom. All sat sarovars are activated within the body. All the bajjar kapats open, and a permanent connection is formed between the soul and the Mansarovar. This is the benefit of keeping the Naam in the mind so let us all practice it.
The meaning of the Shabad “parabh ka-o mool” is the Gur Parsaad of Naam. God first created Himself and then created His Naam, which became the Mool. The Naam forms the basis of the Creation. Everything has originated from Naam. It is so powerful that it contains all the eternal treasures. Once the Naam replaces our mind then we become the custodian of all these eternal treasures. Then our Wadyaaee spreads all over starting from the Dargah of Akal Purakh. All of our tasks are done successfully, when God comes and lives in our Hirda. God lives in a Sant Hirda. There remains no difference between God and a Puran Brahmgiani. There remains no difference between God and a Puran Sant. A Puran Khalsa is a Nirankaar Roop. By virtue of achieving the highest status of spirituality a Puran Sant is authorized to deliver the Truth, to deliver the Gur Parsaad of Naam to others. A Puran Sant is authorised because he has achieved the complete eternal truth by practicing it in his daily life. A Puran Sant is absorbed in the SAT, the Eternal Truth, the Nirgun Saroop of Dhan Dhan Paar Braham Parmesar forever.
There is only one thing that can save every one of us and that is for a Puran Sant to bless us with the Gur Parsaad of Naam, Naam Ki Kamai, Seva, Parupkaar and Maha Parupkaar. Then we can attain Jivan Mukti.
aap japaa-ay japai so naa-o.
aap gaavaa-ai so har gun gaa-o.
parabh kirpaa tay ho-ay pargaas.
parabhoo da-i-aa tay kamal bigaas.
parabh suparsan basai man so-ay.
parabh da-i-aa tay mat ootam ho-ay.
sarab niDhaan parabh tayree ma-i-aa.
aaphu kachhoo na kinhoo la-i-aa.
jit jit laavhu tit lageh har naath.
naanak in kai kachhoo na haath. ||8||6||
Guru Pancham Patshah Ji has very kindly summed up the divine wisdom in this Paurie. We are told that our spiritual progress is due only to the grace of God. It is only Gur Parsaad, eternal blessings, that elevate our spiritual levels and eventually take us back to unite with Him.
Naam Japna, Naam Simran, Naam Ki kamai, Naam Ki Seva, Parupkaar and Maha Parupkaar happens only and only with the Gur Kirpa, the eternal blessings, the Gur Parsaad. The Tatt Gyan and the Brahmgian comes only and only with the Gur Parsaad. Enlightenment comes only with Gur Parsaad. Sift Salah of Akal Purakh is an eternal blessing to us.
God is only pleased with us if he gives His own eternal blessings. Activation of the sat sarovars in our body is only due to the eternal blessings and grace of the Almighty. Blossoming of the Hirda Kamal, the lotus of the heart and lotus of the belly button, Nabhi Kamal only happens with His eternal blessings. All the bajjar kapats, the divine doors, only open with His eternal blessings. Dassam Duaar only opens with His eternal blessings. Anhad Naad music is heard only with His divine and eternal blessings. Our Hirda becomes a house for all the divine qualities and makes us a Sada Suhagan only with the eternal blessings of the Akal Purakh. All the eternal treasures are achieved only with His eternal blessings and grace.
There is nothing that we as human beings can take credit for. All spiritual progress is by His grace and eternal blessings. In summary, we human beings have nothing in our hands. There is only one Doer and he does everything for us and around us. We should all engage in Naam Simran, Naam Ki Kamai, Naam Ki Seva, Parupkaar and Maha Parupkaar. By doing so we will be able to get all these Gur Parsaads and achieve the objective of our human life- Jivan Mukti.