THE TWO WAYS
by
Sant Ajaib Singh Ji
This talk was given on July 4, 1980
at Sant Bani Ashram, N.H. and is the
first in a series of fourteen talks
on the Gauri Vars of Guru Ramdas Ji.
------------------------------------
This is the bani or the writing of Guru Ramdas Ji, the fourth Guru of the
Sikhs. In this bani, he will tell us how the great souls come into this
world to liberate us other souls, and how, when They do that job, They are
opposed and harassed by the people, and what happens to the people who
crucify the Saints and give Them a hard time: how they, after having done
this bad deed, try to justify themselves and convince people that they are
still true; how they proclaim this "truth" after they have done this very
bad deed: and what happens to them after they leave the world.
In this bani, Guru Ramdas Ji will tell us who comes to the Path of
the Masters and how they come; how the souls are deluded by the Negative
Power even after coming to the Path; how those souls who obey their minds
leave the Path; and how the Master Power again brings them onto the Path.
Further, He will tell us the difference between the manmukhs and
the gurumukhs ("those through whom the mind speaks" and "those through
whom the Guru speaks," respectively). He will tell us what their qualities
are and what happens to them when they leave the world. All this means
that many aspects of the Path of the Masters will be covered in these two
weeks that I'm here (at Sant Bani Ashram), and later, I hope that these
talks will be available to you on tapes, or maybe they will eventually be
published in the magazine or as a book; and then you will know a lot about
the Path which you have not known up until now.
Those who think that now we are on the Path and have been initiated,
so we can do anything we want - we can do any bad deed we want, we can
criticize anybody - they should listen to this bani very carefully, and
pay attention to it: because it is a law of nature that whatever bad deed
you do, you will definitely be punished for it. Master Sawan Singh Ji
always said that the Negative Power gives no concession: every karma,
good or bad, whatever you have done, that has to be paid off. You have
to suffer or enjoy the reaction of that karma. Either the disciple has
to pay off the bad karma, or the Master has to do it; but every single
karma will have to be paid or the Negative Power will not let you go.
During this time of two weeks, you will even learn from this bani
that nobody can become a Saint overnight. If one is to become a Saint,
he has to work very hard; he has to meditate. If he has become a Saint
by meditation, His power and His competence will not decrease; and if
some people form a party and say that he is a Saint, and if in fact he
is not, if he has not done the meditation, he does not become a Saint
in that way. Nobody can become a Saint just because he has the support
of a few people. The great souls Who come in this world work very hard,
give a lot of pain to Their body, and keep themselves involved in Bhajan
and Simran day and night; and only then can they achieve this high status
and become Saints. They do all these things because They have to
demonstrate to other people, and make them do the things which They have
done. Unless one has done something, He cannot make other people do it.
Masters do not generally criticize anyone in the satsang, and moreover,
They do not personally criticize anyone. And They never allow any of
their disciples to criticize others, because They want to keep Their lives
pure and they want their disciples to keep their lives pure; because by
criticism we carry the dirt of others.
In His old age Guru Amardas Ji served His Master, Guru Angad Dev, very
much. He was so humble that after Guru Angad Dev left the body and He
started doing Satsang, Datu and Dasu, sons of Guru Angad Dev, came; and
when they saw that Guru Amardas was doing Satsang, they were very upset
and kicked Him off the dais, saying, "You used to be the servant of our
house, and now you have become the owner of the throne of our Father. How
is that possible?"
When Guru Amardas was kicked off the dais, He didn't get upset with them.
Instead He started massaging their legs, and He said, "Forgive me, because
I have this old bony body, and I am afraid that because of these bones,
you might have hurt yourself when you kicked me." He was so humble that
he didn't get upset at them: instead he said to them, "Take this dais, you
sit on this, I don't have to do anything with this gaddi, this throne."
And Guru Amardas left that place quietly, taking his mattresses and his few
possessions. On his way, He was robbed by some thieves, and he became a
homeless person. Eventually he came to Goindwal, a place in Punjab. The
chief of that village was a shepherd by profession named Gondar. He didn't
recognize Guru Amardas; he was following the sons of Guru Angad Dev, so
he started opposing and criticizing Guru Amardas.
Despite the criticism at Goindwal, Guru Amardas started His satsang there.
But you know that the Satsang of the Perfect Master is such that if anyone
comes there to see Them with full love and faith in Them, and if they are
very receptive, they always become of the Masters. So whenever anybody went
to the Satsang of Guru Amardas, he would appreciate Him and become His
disciple. But in that village there lived a yogi who used to perform
austerities. Before Guru Amardas came there and started His satsang, people
used to come to him, but after Guru Amardas came, not many were left with
the yogi, and he bcame very jealous of Guru Amardas. So he joined with
Gondar, the chief of the village, and he told Gondar, "There should be some
way to throw Guru Amardas out of here."
Once there was a drought in the area. People were very worried; all the
crops were dependent on the rain. So they came to Guru Amardas and requested
Him to shower some grace on them. Guru Amardas replied, "It is all in the
Will of God. Let us see what is in His Will. If He wants us to have rain
and to have a good crop, we will definitely have it." But that was not
enough for the illiterate farmers. So that yogi took advantage of the
situation: he told Gondar, the shepherd who was chief of that village, "If
Guru Amardas is thrown out of here, then this area will have rain. Guru
Amardas is an atheist; he doesn't believe in the existence of gods and
goddesses. How can we get rain when we have such an atheist in our area?
If you want to have the rain, you should throw out this Amardas."
Illiterate farmers do not think of the future; they just do whatever
they are told to. So they were misled by that yogi, and they threw out Guru
Amardas from the village. But still there .was no rain. Later on, Bhai
Jetha, a disciple of Guru Amardas, came there, searching for the Guru.
Somehow he knew that he had been living in Goindwal but when he came, he
didn't find Him there. He was very worried, and asked people, "Where is my
Master?" They replied that he was thrown out of the village because with
his presence there was no rain in this area, and they were told by the
yogi that if they threw him out, they would get some rain. So Bhai Jetha
said, "Did you get any rain after you threw my Master out?" They replied,
"No, we didn't get any rain."
Bhai Jetha was a great meditator and he possessed many supernatural
powers. He thought of taking revenge and teaching a great lesson to that
yogi. So using his supernatural powers, he told the farmers, "This yogi
is so blessed and precious, that if you will take him to your fields,
wherever he will step, wherever he will take his body, in that part of
the village, you will have rain." So everybody wanted that yogi to visit
their field so that they may have the rain. And it worked; they took the
yogi from field to field because they all wanted the rain very badly. And
the time came when everybody wanted the yogi to visit their field. And in
that way he was chased, pulled and pushed; he was so much pulled and
pushed that he died on the spot.
Eventually Bhai Jetha found the place where Guru Amardas was living; the
Guru, after leaving Goindwal had made a hut in the wilderness. He had
closed the hut, and was sitting inside. Because the Masters, those who
have done meditation, when They see that the people are not receptive to
Them and they don't want to take advantage of Their presence in this world,
They just go away from the world. They have nothing to do with the world,
They aren't attached to the world, and They have no interest in the world.
They have come into this world only to give out the Message of God; and if
the people don't want to accept it, then what is the point of Their living
in the world?
So thinking that, Guru Amardas went away in the wilderness and He didn't
want to see anyone. He put a sign on the front door of the hut: "Nobody
should come through this door." So when Bhai Jetha, Baba Budha, and Bhai
Gurdas, all devoted disciples, came to that place, they were very surprised
to see this sign. But they said, "Master has told us not to open this door;
but we can break down the rear wall!" So they broke through the rear wall,
and in that way they had the darshan of their Master. But Guru Amardas was
displeased with Bhai Jetha, because he had used supernatural power to teach
a lesson to that yogi. He didn't give him His darshan; He turned his back
on Bhai Jetha. And Bhai Jetha was so sorry that he said, "Master, why are
you displeased with me?" Guru Amardas replied, "Listen, I didn't tell you
to use your supernatural powers to defeat those who are opposing me.
We have to live in the will of God, and we are not supposed to do that.
Why did you do it? Why did you go against my teachings? I didn't tell you
to convince people that I am the Real One. Why did you do it?" So Bhai
Jetha apologized. And then they all cooperated and helped Guru Amardas very
much, because after that, He started giving Initiation and holding Satsang.
This particular bani on which I am going to comment now was written by
Guru Ramdas, the fourth Guru, Who was the successor to Guru Amardas. In
this bani, he will show us exactly what happened to Guru Amardas and how
things went when He was opposed. Despite the criticism of the people, and
their opposition, He still worked. He gave the secret of the Naam, and He
gave Initiation to the people.
The Negative Power received many boons when this creation was created.
One of the boons was that whenever Perfect Masters come into this world,
They should not be allowed to perform miracles to attract people. That is
why, when Masters come,They do not perform any miracles. It is not a big
thing for Them to give an eye to a blind man, or a leg to a crippled man:
They can do it very easily; it is just play for Them. But They are not
allowed to do that. If They were allowed to do it, just one Perfect Master
would have been enough to liberate the whole creation.
Another boon which the Negative Power asked for and got from Sat Purush,
is that wherever souls get birth, they should be content with it and not
complain. They may try for better, but they should not complain, and they
should be pleased with whatever they have been given. So you know that the
body of a pig is very difficult to live in; he has to eat dirt, he is
always dirty, he is not comfortable at all. But still he is very contented
and happy in the body which he has been given. He never complains; not
even pigs want to die. If you try to kill them, they will scream and resist.
The third boon was, wherever the souls are born, they should not have
any knowledge of their past. They should not know what bad karma they are
suffering from, and what good karma they are enjoying.
These are the boons which the Negative Power received, and this is why
Masters never attract disciples by performing miracles. But you know that
even if the perfume seller doesn't want to sell his perfume, sometimes it
happens that his bottle is left open; and in that way people know who is
selling perfumes, and they come to him by themselves. In the same way,
even though Masters do not perform any miracles, those who are receptive
to the grace of the Master, and those who have an open heart for Him,
they recognize the perfection of the Master somehow. That is why they come
to the Path of the Masters. But Masters never perform any miracles: They
never curse anybody, and They never prophesy that "You will have this" or
"you will not have this." They are not allowed to do that. Even though
they are able to do this without any problem - it is very easy for them
- still, They are not allowed, so They don't.
The Satguru is the Gracious One
in Whose eyes everyone is equal.
Now Guru Ramdas Ji says, Whenever God wants to liberate us, He puts His
power, His skill, His competence, within some human pole; and using that
human pole, He liberates us and gives us good teachings. If He tried to do
that through the animals and other lower creatures, we would never have
been able to take advantage of that. Because we are human, He keeps His
power, His skill, within some human form. On one side Master is connected
with God, and on the other side He is connected with the world: He is the
only person who brings the message of God and gives it to us.
But for Him everybody is equal. He looks at His Sangat with the same eyes,
or with the same sight, as He does His physical children; for Him the foe
and friend are equal; He has an equal angle of vision for everybody. By
meditating, He has reached up to this point: He can see God working in
every leaf, and in every creature in this creation. That is why He sees
God functioning everywhere. He has complete knowledge of how God is
absorbed and is present at every place, and how he has to see God working
within everyone. When our soul rises above the level of mind and the organs
of senses, and when we look from above to the world below, then we can
easily see that God is working everywhere. When we rise high enough to see
the world below working, then we can easily see God functioning everywhere;
and then we can say that God is living, or God is present, in every leaf,
every creature, in the friend and in the enemy God lives.
When we look at things from below - from the level of the mind and the
organs of senses, then we see different faces; we see different people.
That is why we say, "One is good, one is bad"; and that is why we
discriminate between people and find differences in them. Guru Sahib says,
"As long as one is involved in duality, he says `good' and `bad.' But
Gurumukhs have become one, they have absorbed Themselves in the Ultimate
One, in God, and that is why They see Him working everywhere."
He looks at everyone equally, but each
receives according to his receptivity.
Master looks at us with the same sight. His feelings towards us are equal;
for everyone it is alike and He has the same amount of Grace for everybody.
But we receive from Him according to our receptivity. The more receptive
we are towards Him, the more Grace we will feel; and the less receptive we
are, the less we will feel. It is like a father who has two sons: One son
obeys him, takes his advice to heart, goes to school, and obeys the
teachers and the masters there; and in that way he awakens the power of
knowledge which he has within himself. Whereas the other son does not obey
his father; he doesn't go to school, he doesn't obey his teachers; and
therefore he doesn't do anything to awaken his sleeping knowledge. When
both of them become older, the one who obeyed his teachers and his father,
becomes a good, respected man in the world; whereas the other one, because
he is illiterate, doesn't get a respectable job or any respect in the
world. But still they are the sons of the same father; the affection, the
love and the attention of the father was the same for both of them; but
because their receptivity was different - one was obeying his father, the
other was not - their future was different.
In the same way, in the Path of the Masters, no doubt we all are the
children of God. But if we don't obey the Master, if we don't do what He
wants us to do, then our condition is like that boy who was not able to
get a respectable job. That is why, in the Path of the Masters, there are
both gurumukhs and manmukhs - the gurumukhs are those who obey the Masters,
and the manmukhs are the ones who don't obey the Masters, who may not even
come to the Path. We are still the children of the same God, but there is
no way that gurumukhs and manmukhs can be called similar or the same, even
though they are children of the same God. Guru Ramdas says that in the
Path of the Masters, gurumukhs and manmukhs are like water and oil - they
can't mix - they will always remain different. Their qualities are
different, everything is different. Again, a father has two sons; one
passes his examination, the other fails. The Gurumukhs liberate the souls,
whereas the manmukhs take the souls in the other direction, and keep them
in this world.
In the Satguru lies the Nectar
and the highest status of the Lord.
Sant Satgurus have worked very hard and after meditating very completely
They have manifested the Naam within Them. They have spent a major portion
of Their life in this direction. Because of Their constant hard work, They
have been able to manifest Naam. That is why that Naam is compared with
nectar: because it is not an easy thing to manifest it within ourselves.
It is the only thing which is worth receiving, or asking for, from the
Master: the wealth of the devotion of Naam which He has collected and which
He has manifested. This is the only thing which will go with us; it is such
a thing which will never be destroyed, which can never be stolen by anyone;
and it is the only thing which helps us in this world, as well as in the
world beyond. As long as the Masters live in the physical body, They do
not say, "You take me as your Master." They say, "Your Master is within you.
That is the Form of the Shabda, that Naam which is manifested here." They
don't attach Their disciples to Their body. They connect the disciples with
the Shabda which is working and which is manifested within them. The body
of the Master is not going to exist forever in this world; neither is the
body of the disciple. The form of the disciple is the soul, or Surat, and
the form of the Master is the Shabd. Even if the Master leaves the body
right after initiating the soul, that disciple does not need to go to any
other Master, because his Master is still within him. The only difference
that the departure of the physical body of the Master makes is, that the
disciples of that Master are no longer benefitted by the physical darshan
of the Master. Such dear ones, whose Master has left the physical body, can
go to the Satsang of their Master's successor; and if they have any
questions to ask, they can ask them of Him; and if they have any obstacles,
any hindrance in their meditation, they can request Him to help them; and
in that way they can get the benefit of the living Master.
The Master who has left the body cannot come back and initiate the new
souls. Only the new Master, the living Master, can initiate new souls.
Nanak says, "By Grace one meditates on the Lord;
Rare Gurumukhs obtain Him."
We go in the company of the Master only when God showers Grace on us. And
we get connected with Shabd Naam only if Master showers grace on us.
Egoism and maya - both are poison.
People lose continuously in this world.
Egoism is the great big wall or obstacle between us and God. As for maya
- nobody has ever been contented with maya. Even if we get the wealth of
the whole world, still we are not contented; there is no peace or happiness
in collecting the maya of the world. Maya never stays at one place forever;
it is not permanent; it goes on changing. It is like the shadow of the tree
which is at one place in the morning, in the afternoon at another place,
and in the evening at another; and then there comes a time when the shadow
is gone. So that is why the Masters say, there is no peace or happiness in
collecting maya. Even if God gives us the wealth of the whole world, still
we will not be contented. Guru Nanak says, "Even if you collect the wealth
of the whole world, still your hunger will not be satisfied."
Profits lie in the wealth of the Lord,
which is acquired by meditation
on the Shabd of the Gurumukhs.
Gurumukhs meditate on Shabd Naam on this physical plane, and when they go,
they take nothing but the wealth of Shabd Naam with them. And they make
their disciples meditate only on Shabd Naam.
The filth and poison of egoism are removed
by keeping the Nectar of the Lord in the heart.
Why do we have to do the meditation of Shabd Naam? Because the valley - the
obstacle, the hindrance of egoism - which is between us and God, can be
crossed only by doing the meditation of Shabd Naam. That is why it is very
important, if any one wants to realize God and reach Him, to first of all
remove this wall of egoism.
Those Gurumukhs on whom the Lord showers His grace,
accomplish all Their works.
Doing the meditation of Shabd Naam does not give us any defect in our body;
nor does it make us lose in our worldly business. Instead of losing, we
gain a lot if we are meditating. It helps us make progress in our worldly
business also. Whatever work we start, if we do meditation before it,
definitely we will have good results and we will become successful in it.
So it is very important; even to get worldly success, if we meditate, it
helps.
Nanak says, Those who meet the Ones
who are already united with Him
meet the Creator.
Only those who have come in the selection of God from the very beginning,
come and take the gift of Shabd Naam; only they remain in touch with the
Shabd Naam; only they meditate on it.
O Lord, You are the True Lord and You are True.
Now Guru Ramdas Ji says, "O Lord, You are True." "True" means that which
never perishes, is never destroyed, and which is existing from the very
beginning. He says, "You existed even before this creation was created,
You will exist after it also, You exist even now. You are the Giver to
everybody and You are the Lord, the Master, of everyone."
All remember You; and all cling to Your Feet.
Now He says, "Those who appreciate You, sing Your praise, and do Your
devotion, they are good. Those who do all this, reach their Home." Even the
animals and birds express their gratitude and thank God in their own way
and in their own language. Farid Sahib says, "I sacrifice myself on those
birds who live on the branches of the trees in the forest, and who go and
search for food on the ground, and who suffer so much, but still do not
give up the hope of God, nor forget God."
We know that the birds wake up early in the morning, before we do, and
they start singing the praise of God in their own language and in their own
voice.
On the other hand, a man has been given many comfortable things. But
even if he eats many good things, when he has to get up in the morning to
do his devotion, he makes excuses. He says, "My body is not feeling good.
I have pain in my knees, ..." etc. He finds many excuses for not doing
the meditation. So Farid Sahib says, "Even the birds, those who get up
early in the morning and remember the Name of the Lord, they are better
than those men who don't get up in the morning to sit in the remembrance
of God."
Your praise is beautiful;
You take the ones who praise You across.
Now he says, "O Satguru, O Lord, Your glory is very beautiful, and those
who appreciate You, who sing Your glory, Your praise, they never remain in
this world; they become detached from this world, and get liberated."
Mahatmas tell us that we can sing the praise of the Master and appreciate
Him, only if we have love for Him. But we don't have enough love for Him,
so instead of appreciating His existence in this world, we appreciate the
existence of the worldly things; because we are in love with the worldly
things.
Gurumukhs get the fruit;
They remain absorbed in the True Naam.
Gurumukhs appreciate and sing the praise of the Master always. Whether they
are asleep or awake, whether it is day or night, no matter what they are
doing, they continuously sing the songs of praise of the Master. And what
do they get from God? What is the reward that God gives them? God loves
them; God embraces them; God welcomes them to His Home, and God honors
them. That is what they get from God when they appreciate Him.
My Lord, You are great and great is Your glory.
"You are the donor and giver of life to everybody; You give to everybody
in this world; that is why Your glory is great. And those who sing Your
praise, those who sing Your glory, they also become great."
All the praise and talk is tasteless
without the meditation of Naam.
Whatever appreciation we have for the worldly things, no matter what we
praise in this world, we do not get any taste of it. If we do not praise
the Master, if we do not sing the praise and the glory of meditation, if
we do not involve ourselves in that, we do not get any taste from worldly
things, because they are tasteless.
Manmukhs praise their egoism and fight
because of attachment and ego.
Even if manmukhs come to the Path, because their egoism is very strong,
whatever they do in the Path, is also full of egoism; they follow the Path
only to feed their ego.
Master Sawan Singh Ji used to say, "All that you have done becomes
undone when egoism comes." He used to say, "You may do a lot of work, of
good things, but then if you have the feeling of egoism - if we say, `we
have done this' - it is as if we had put some ashes all over delicious
food."
Those whom they praise, die;
And those who criticize also die.
Manmukhs are involved in praising the world and worldly things. They say,
"I have done this, I have done that." And, "That relative is very good; he
has a great post," etc. But what is going to happen in the end? All the
relatives and everything are going to be left here, and nobody will go with
us. So what is the use of appreciating and singing the praise of those who
are not going to go with us?
Nanak says, Gurumukhs get liberation
by meditating on the Lord
and His Supreme Sound.
What do Gurumukhs do? They do the devotion of Naam, they sing the praise
of Naam, they praise and appreciate Master. Because they sing the glory
of Naam and meditate on it, they easily get liberated from this world.
O Satguru, show me the Naam of the Lord
so I may meditate on Him within my mind.
Satguru comes onto this physical plane to tell us, "Do the meditation
of Shabd Naam because your soul is thirsty from ages and ages, and if you
will do that meditation she will get satisfied and become alive again."
Nanak says, The Naam of the Lord is pure.
By repeating it one removes all pain.
Masters tell us that Naam is very holy, and those who meditate on it,
and within whom Naam is manifested, they also become very holy. Naam is
not just a few words; Naam is the attention of the Master; Naam is the
power of the Master. He within whom it is manifested, becomes holy;
moreover, he within whom Master puts his Naam also becomes holy. That is
why Kabir Sahib says, "Even the leper whose body oozes dirt and blood,
and who smells bad-if he is doing the meditation of Naam, he is much
better than someone with a body made of gold but who is not doing the
meditation of Naam."
You yourself are Nirankar (the Formless One)
and Niranjan (unaffected by maya).
Those who meditate on You single-mindedly
lose all their pains.
Now Guru Ramdas Ji sings the praise of the Lord. He says, "You are
unaffected by Maya, and You are above everything in the world, and those
who do your devotion also rise above all this, they become free from the
pain of birth and death, and they get liberated."
There is no equal to You,
To whom one may tell his pains.
Now the Master says, "O Lord, You have no equal that we may go to and tell
about our pains and sorrows, instead of coming to You. So it is better for
us to come and kneel before You and tell You about our pain."
O Lord, You Yourself are the giver;
You are unaffected by Maya;
You are the Truth; and You are pleasing to me.
You are my True Lord, and Your Naam is also True.
Now He says, "O Lord, You are the giver, and You create the yearning
within the souls to come to the Master; You inspire them from within. You
Yourself bring them to the Feet of the Master. Distance makes no difference
to him who is being inspired by You and pulled by You." That is why the
disciple may be living millions of miles away from the Master, but if he
has been inspired by God, he will come to the Master. Many times it
happens that those who are not inspired by God, who have not been chosen
by God, even if they are living close to the Master, do not take any
advantage of it. That is why He says, "You are the Giver. When You give
such a gift to someone, You never repent."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT CHAPTER
BACK TO CONTENTS
HOME