IN SEARCH OF THE FRAGRANCE
by
Sant Ajaib Singh Ji
This talk was given on July 10, 1980
at Sant Bani Ashram, N.H. and is the
seventh in a series of fourteen talks
on the Gauri Vars of Guru Ramdas Ji.
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Those who are kicked by the Perfect Master (Guru Nanak)
are now kicked by the Satguru (Guru Angad).
Even if they desire very much to be united with Him,
The Creator Himself does not allow this to happen.
Showering a lot of His grace, God has sent us into this world, after making
us the leader of the 8,400,000 (eighty-four lakhs) kinds of creatures. If
we miss this golden opportunity, then there are many chances that we may
again go back in the cycle of eighty-four lakhs births and deaths. Then who
knows, maybe we will take birth in such a place where we cannot come to the
Path of God even in the state of forgetfulness.
If after reaching Sach Khand we look at the world from above, then we
can easily realize that everything is in the hands of God and God Himself
is doing everything in this world. That is why there is a great difference
between the Saints and the worldly people. The Saints look at the world
from above and they do not see even one place where God is not working.
We, the worldly people, are the slaves of our mind and senses. That is why
we always look at the world from below. And that is why ego and other
negative things come and bother us.
So here Guru Ramdas Ji says that those who didn't get the Initiation
from Guru Nanak, they came to Guru Angad; but still they were not
successful. He means to say that once we have lost the opportunity of
getting Initiation, then who knows how many more births we have to take
before we come back to the Master and take Initiation.
This truth is known by only those souls who leave, rise above the body
and reach Brahmand. Those who become one with God, only they realize this
fact. Only they know who is kicked by the Master and who is welcomed by
the Master, and who is given Initiation by the Master.
They do not get entrance in the Satsang, The Master thinks
about whether to accept them or not;
Even those who meet such people are kicked by the angels
of death.
From the Sangat, Master sees and thinks about the dear ones, who is able
to get Initiation and who is not able to get Initiation - who is fit for
it and who is not. Those who are rejected by the Master, those who are
rejected by God, if people go in their company, they also become like them.
And they also remain away from the devotion of the Lord. Master used to
say that one fish can spoil the whole pond. In the same way, one devotee
of the Lord, if he comes into the world, one gurumukh, can liberate many
other souls; whereas one person who is obeying his mind can pollute many
other people and disturb them.
Many people used to attend Master Sawan Singh's Satsangs, but many of
them did not have the yearning to get Naam. Now when I see them, they
repent and they say, "No doubt we used to attend the Satsangs of Master
Sawan Singh, but still at that time we didn't have any yearning to get
Naam."
Those who were rejected by the Guru Baba (Guru Nanak)
were also rejected by Guru Angad.
The Third Guru (Amardas) thought: "What is in the hands
of these poor ones?"
The Guru has appointed His fourth generation
Who has liberated all the sinners and critics.
Now Guru Ramdas Ji says, "No doubt Guru Amardas showered a lot of His grace
on all the souls, but there was nothing in the hands of these poor souls,
because they were rejected by God. Even though Guru Amardas showered a lot
of His grace on the souls, still they were not able to take any Initiation;
they were not able to get any benefit from Him. But with the grace of God,
God put a lot of grace and mercy in the fourth Guru (Guru Ramdas, the author
of the hymn) and all those who were far from the devotion of the Lord,
those who turned away from the Masters and were criticizing Him, they all
came and got Naam. And now they are all liberated."
If in our past lives we had met any perfect Master and received Naam
from Him, then we would not have come back in this suffering world and
taken up this suffering body.
Whether His son or His disciple, Whosoever serves Him,
He makes his work accomplished.
For the Master, the family in which He was born is dear to Him. But all the
other dear ones are as dear to Him as His family is. So Guru Ramdas Ji says
that no matter if the physical son of the Master does His devotion or the
disciple of the Master does His devotion, He always takes care of all his
works. He always makes him able to finish all his works; He always connects
his soul with Shabd.
Whatever he desires, he obtains: son, wealth, and riches;
The Lord unites him with Himself and liberates him.
Those who do the devotion of the Master, all their works are taken care of
and they always succeed in that. And those who have done the devotion of
the Lord in their past lives, when such souls come in contact with the
Master, it is like dry gun powder coming in contact with fire. As soon as
they come in contact with the Master, they get benefit from Him and they
go right up.
All the Treasures are in the Satguru, within whom
the Lord resides;
He gets the Perfect Satguru on whose forehead
this destiny is written.
Satguru is the owner of all things, because God is manifested within Him.
But who gets such a perfect Satguru? Only those in whose fate it is
written by God.
Nanak asks for the dust of those disciples of the Master
who are beloved friends of the Master.
It is a matter of great good fortune. If we have fortune, only then can
we get such a Master. But even if we get the disciple of such a Master,
that also means that we have very good fortune; it is not an easy thing
to meet the disciple of the Master, because within the disciple the Master
Himself is residing.
Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj says, "If I meet a disciple of my Master, I
may bow down to him and touch his feet. I may tell him about the pain in
my heart. And in that way, I may remove all the pain of my heart."
Those whom He Himself glorifies, at their feet
He Himself makes the world bow down.
One would be afraid if anything were done by him (the
individual), (but) The Creator Himself expands everything
with His own skill.
When God has done everything, it means that He has His gracious hand on
our head. So why worry about anything, and why be afraid? When God has done
everything, He is protecting us. Saints and Mahatmas always remain in the
Will of God, and they are never afraid of anyone, because they know that
God has put His gracious hand on their head. He says that we should be
afraid only if we follow our mind.
Guru Sahib says, "I don't know even one word of mine. Whatever is coming
in the Will of God, I am telling that to the people." He says, "Whatever I
am speaking, that is not of my own; I am not saying that. Whatever I am
telling the people, that is coming from God."
Behold, O brother, this arena of the True Beloved Hari,
who by His Own power makes all bow down.
Hari, The Lord, protects His devotees and He causes the
faces of the critics and wicked people to be blackened.
This world is like a big field in which God Himself inspires and brings
the souls to the Master, and He Himself makes them bow down to the Master.
As children are dear to the mother, in the same way, Saints and Masters
are dear to God. That is why God performs everything for them.
Guru Gobind Singh says, "When I was ordered by the Lord to come into this
world, at that time I didn't want to come into this world, because my surat
was attached to His feet, and I didn't want to leave His feet. But God told
me, `I am sending you as my son; and whenever you need me, I will come to
protect you.'" The one who is connected with the beloved does not want to
suffer the pangs of separation. But the great souls cannot disobey the
orders of the Lord. Whenever they are sent, they have to come in the
orders of the Lord.
The Glory of the Satguru increases manifold every day.
He Himself makes one praise and do the devotion of the Lord.
The glory of the Satguru increases by leaps and bounds - because They
always sing the glory of the Lord.
O the disciples of Master, meditate on Naam day and night,
so that Satguru,
Who is the form of Hari the Creator, may make you dwell
in your Own Home.
Now Guru Ramdas Ji is saying to the disciples of Guru Amardas, "O my dear
ones, O my friends, O the disciples of my beloved Master, do the meditation
of Shabd Naam according to the instructions of my Master, Guru Amardas; so
that when you do the meditation, He may take you to live in Sach Khand, His
real home." The disciple of the Master who manifests Master within Him,
connects the disciples with His Master and He never disconnects them.
Understand the Bani of Satguru as the truth.
O the disciples of Master, Hari the Creator has Himself
uttered it from His mouth.
Now He says, "Listen, O disciples of my Master: Whatever Master has told
you to do, you should do that; because the words of the Master are not
ordinary; they are not coming only from Him. Master speaks those words
only which God makes Him speak."
Beloved Hari brightens the face of the disciples of the Master,
and in the world He makes everyone say,
"Victory to the Master."
Humble Nanak is the servant of Hari. Hari protects the
honor of His servants.
If the disciples sit together and do the meditation of Shabd Naam, their
faces are brightened in the court of the Lord, in Sach Khand, and they are
honored there. The servants of the servants are always honored by God, and
God always protects them.
Often I have said how much love the disciples of the Master should have
for the other disciples of the Master, if they become the real disciples
of the Master. When the disciple of the Master meets another disciple of
the Master, both of them try to touch the feet of each other and both of
them bow down to each other. This is the way the disciple of the Master
should meet another disciple of the Master, because this is the way of the
devotees. But this path of devotion is very sharp. It is much sharper and
much thinner than the edge of a razor. The disciple of the Master who
forgets to bow down to the other disciple of the Master, Master will not
manifest within him. Those who do not love and respect the other disciples
of the Master, Master will never be with them.
You yourself are the True Lord. You are our True Emperor.
O Lord, make firm in us the capital of Naam. We are your
traders (of Naam).
Now He says, "O Lord, You are our real Emperor, and we the disciples have
come to you as traders to deal in the real merchandise of Naam."
We serve the Truth. We deal in true merchandise.
We sing Your qualities.
He who meets the Master, becoming His servant,
the Master beautifies him with His Shabd.
You are the True Lord, and untraceable. Only by the Shabd
of the Guru may you be found.
"O Lord, You are the True One and the disciples of the Master come into
this world to deal in the merchandise of Naam. No doubt You are hidden and
nobody can trace You; You are Alakh. But those who take the secret of Naam,
those who take Naam initiation from the Master, and those who do the
devotion of the Master, those who meditate on Shabd Naam, they trace You
and they realize You."
In whose heart there is jealousy for others,
he will never do well.
No one obeys what he says, he stands alone in the desert
and cries.
In the previous lines, Guru Sahib was teaching the disciples of the Master
how they have to love the other disciples of the Master and how they have
to meet the other disciples, because we are all children of the Master.
Now He talks about those dear ones who have jealousy for other people,
for other dear ones. He says that those who are jealous towards others and
have hatred for others, no matter if they go on calling, nobody listens to
them. Swami Ji Maharaj used to say that if the Negative Power cannot
succeed in playing any of his tricks on the Satsangis, then he tears the
Satsangis apart, taking his seat within them, and creates the feeling of
disharmony and disunity among them.
In whose heart there is back-biting, and who becomes
known as a back-biter -
he loses all that he has achieved.
We call them back-biters, who have the habit of back-biting. Even if he is
a very good man, even if he does a lot of devotion; if he has this habit of
back-biting, then whatever he is doing is nullified, and he loses all the
benefit of it.
He who does the untrue back-biting of others, cannot show
his face to others as it has become black.
In the Kali Yuga this body is the field of Karma;
As one sows, such he will reap.
This body is like a field in which whatever we sow, we will have to reap
that. If we do bad karmas with this body, we will have to suffer the
reaction of those bad karmas on this body. And if we do good deeds, then
we will enjoy the fruit of those good deeds in this body.
Justice is not given by mere words.
He who eats the poison dies instantaneously.
No one should think that he will become the great one by reading books
and learning many things to talk about and by learning to debate and argue.
In that way you will never be able to become the great meditator. No one
can expect to survive after eating poison.
Brothers, behold the Justice of the True Creator.
As one acts, so one receives.
To humble Nanak all this True Understanding has been given.
So He speaks of the affairs of the Court of the Lord.
Now Guru Ramdas Ji says, "Brothers, see, this is the way that God works. If
one does good deeds, he gets the fruit of that. And if one does bad deeds,
he gets punishment for that. And this is what's happening in the court of
the Lord. This is His justice. I am not telling you anything to frighten
you, but because God has made me aware of what is happening in His home;
and what I have seen there, only that I am telling you. Don't think that I
am telling you these things because I want to frighten you."
Once there was a Punditani, the wife of a pundit, and her young boy died
because a snake bit him in his youth. She was very upset, because her son
was her only hope. She started calling God bad names and cursing God. So
God appeared there and said, "Look here, I didn't kill your son, a snake
has bitten him. I have not done anything in that." So she started cursing
the snake: "Why did you bite my son? Why did you kill him?" So the snake
also appeared there and said, "I didn't kill your son. I was born, I was
living here even before your son was born. When his time came, he came in
front of me and I just bit him and in that way he died. But truly speaking,
I should not be blamed for his death. You should blame his time."
So she said, "Who brings the time? Who causes the time to happen?" So the
snake said, "It all happens when the sun rises and the sun sets. When the
sun rises the day begins, and when the sun sets the day ends. And in this
way, the time is happening." So that lady started cursing the sun god: "You
have become the means of the death of my son," etc. So the sun god
appeared and said, "I have nothing to do with this business. I have not
killed your son. People do the karmas in my light and when I am away, then
also they do the karma. And what they do in their time, they have to suffer
and enjoy according to their good and bad karmas. So you should curse the
karma of your son, who brought about his death." So then that lady realized
that it was maybe because of some karma which her son had done in his past
life, that he was dead. So she stopped cursing God, and the snake, and the
sun god, etc. She realized that it was his time and it was because of his
past karmas that he was bitten by a snake and left the body. So Swami Ji
Maharaj also says that whatever karma you have done in this world, you will
have to suffer and enjoy the reactions of. Farid Sahib says that whatever
karmas you do in this world, they all are seen in the court of the Lord.
Those who are separated from the Master when the Master
is still present, they do not get the place
at the door of the Lord.
If any go and join those critics, their faces become flavorless
and people spit in their faces.
Now He says that if our Master is living, and after taking Initiation
from Him, we leave Him and join the critics, God doesn't allow such persons
to enter in His court, and He never appreciates them.
Those who are cursed by the Master, by the Satguru,
are cursed by the world.
Every day they wander here and there.
Those who hide from their Master,
they wander about sighing.
Those who leave the Master after taking Initiation from Him, they always go
on revolving in a circle. They never get to go in one direction. And they
always are puzzled. Those who leave the Master and join the critics, they
do not find support anywhere. And when the angel of death comes, then also
they have a very hard time in leaving the body.
Their hunger is never satisfied.
They constantly cry out in hunger.
No one listens to them. They die gradually.
Such people's hunger is never satisfied and they always remain in illusion.
We leave the Master only when we have unfulfilled desire. We people don't
know what we should ask from the Master. Often I say that Master does not
give us those things which are not good for us; but when we don't get those
things which we desire, then we leave the Master. And when we become the
critic of the Master, then our hunger is never satisfied.
In the shop of the Satguru, there is Naam, and Naam is the precious gem.
We can get those precious gems from the shop of the Satguru, and we can
not get the other useless things. If we go to a shop where they sell only
diamonds and pearls, and if we ask for useless things, we will not be able
to get them. No matter if we curse that shopkeeper or whatever we do to
him, still he will not give us the things which we desire, because he
doesn't have them.
Those who cannot see the glory of the Satguru,
they find no place in this world or the world beyond.
Those who go and join those who are cursed by the Satguru,
they lose whatever honor they have left.
The disciple of the Master who is not pleased by looking at the glory of
the Master, he never gets any place to live in this world; and when he goes
to the court of the Lord, he is not respected. Those who join the critics
of the Master, they also lose their honor.
Those who are cursed by the Master, they further become lepers;
and those who join them also suffer leprosy.
Don't have the darshan of those who have attached their
mind to another love.
Those who have criticized the Master and made their soul leprous, we should
not go in their company and we should not have their darshan. If we will
go in their company, there are many chances that our souls will also get
leprosy; we may also get the habit of criticizing.
There is no remedy against what is written
by the Creator Himself.
Nanak says, Meditate on Naam to whom no one can reach.
Who doesn't want to do the meditation of Naam and who doesn't want to be
a good person? But we can not do anything beyond our efforts; because
whatever God has kept within us, only that comes out. Even if we want to
do all those things, still we will not be able to do that, if God doesn't
want us to do that. So Guru Ramdas Ji says that we all have to do the
meditation on Shabd Naam because there is no other practice which can
compete with the practice of Shabd Naam.
The soul became the slave of mind only when she disconnected herself
from Shabd. And now if we will connect ourself with Shabd, only then will
our soul be able to control the mind.
The Glory of Naam is great. It increases every day.
He who is appointed by the Master while the Master is still
in the body, His glory is great.
To Him all the world bows and falls down at His feet.
His fame is spread all the world over.
The one who is authorized by the Master to continue the work after He
leaves, such a soul gets glorified and everybody in the world sings the
praise of such a person. The one who is authorized by the Master, while
He is living, to continue His mission, Master Himself is responsible
for Him.
To Him on whose head the Master has kept His hand,
The divisions and grand divisions of the Creation salute,
and He becomes perfect.
The world will no doubt bow down to such a person. But even Khand and
Brahmand will bow down to Him, because the perfect Master has put His
perfect, gracious hand on his head, and made Him perfect.
The Glory of the Master increases manifold every day,
and no one can reach it.
He has nothing of His own. The glory which He has, in fact, that is the
glory of the Master which increases by leaps and bounds. If anyone tries
to compete with Him or imitate Him, nobody becomes successful in that;
because He has nothing of His own; all that He has is of His Master. Guru
Arjan Dev Maharaj says, "What can even millions of hands do against such
a person who has Master in His favor?"
Nanak says, "'The Lord Himself is the Creator
and He Himself protects His Honor."
He has not become a Saint or Master by Himself. God and Master both sat
together and decided about Him, and they both have authorized Him. That is
why when One is authorized by the Master and God, He has nothing of His own.
All that He is doing is of God and Master.
When Kabir Sahib started preaching Naam, the people of the Hindu sect and
the Muslim sect opposed Him, and criticized Him. As you know, Kabir Sahib
was born in a very low family and he was not very wealthy. So in order to
humiliate Him and make Him feel embarrassed, once His critics wrote letters
to people everywhere, inviting them to attend the feast which Kabir was
hosting. This was a false thing, because Kabir Sahib was not able to afford
such a feast. But because His critics wanted Him to face ridicule they
invited people from everywhere to Kabir's home. So when all of them appeared
there, to have the food and attend that bandhara, Kabir Sahib was very
surprised; because He had not invited anyone, and He had nothing in His
home to feed them. But when Mata Loi (who used to be with Kabir Sahib)
became nervous, Kabir Sahib said, "Don't worry, don't be nervous. Whatever
we have, we should start serving that, and if we are blamed, if our honor
is lost, we should not worry because it is the honor of the Lord. And if
we are glorified and if people sing our praise, then also we should not be
excited about it; because it is the glory of God which will be increased.
So don't worry, if we lose the honor, then also it makes no difference."
It is written in history that Kabir Sahib had only one vessel full of food,
a small vessel, from which he ordered Mata Loi to give food to people.
And it is said that all the people who came to Kabir's home were fed well.
And they liked the food so much that they started appreciating Kabir and
praising Him. When they all praised Kabir, He replied, "I did nothing. I
had nothing. It is all the grace of my Master. It is all the grace of my
God. And I don't know how much grace He has showered on all the people,
that everybody is singing the glory of Kabir."
In the body is a limitless castle in which there are shops.
Whatever business the Gurumukhs do,
they collect the things of Hari.
They deal in the wealth of the Naam of the Lord,
and collect the diamonds (Knowledge of God),
and gems (yearning).
Those who search for this wealth outside their bodies
are fools.
They are deluded as the deer is deluded by the sound.
This body, our body, is a very beautiful fort. It is a very beautiful
palace, in which God has kept many beautiful things. Gurumukhs, those who
know the secret of the beauty of the body, go within the body and get many
beautiful things. Whereas the other people, the manmukhs, are like that
musk deer who doesn't realize that the fragrance he seeks lies within
himself. In search of that fragrance, he goes from one place to another,
and he doesn't find it. So the manmukhs wander here and there outside in
search of truth and peace. They do not get it because the real truth and
peace lies within. So Guru Sahib says that without going in the body and
searching for the real things in the body, those who go outside are like
ghosts who wander from one place to another but get nothing.
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