THE JEWEL OF HAPPINESS
The Sukhmani of Guru Arjan
a commentary by
AJAIB SINGH
Chapter 11
GOD IS THE DOER
God alone is the doer, there is no one else;
Nanak says, I sacrifice myself on Him Who is present
in water, on land and everywhere.
He himself is the Doer, He Himself is the Creator, and He Himself
is the One Who sustains it. He Himself is present in the sky, He Himself
is present in the world below, and He is everywhere. I sacrifice myself
on Him Who has created this creation.
The Creator alone is competent to do everything;
Whatever He wishes, that happens.
God Himself does everything and, residing within the people, He makes
them work. He is the only One Who can do anything. Whatever He
wishes, only that happens. When the disciples asked Guru Nanak,
"When it is said that everything that happens, happens in the Will of
God, and God Himself does all the things which happen, then why are
the souls blamed that they are doing good or bad?" Guru Nanak replied,
"As long as the souls really understand that it is all God working,
they are not blamed." But when they think that it is "I" who is doing
and when the sense of egoism comes, then they are held responsible.
In a moment He can create and destroy;
There is no limit to His Powers.
He can create this creation in one second, and if He wants, He can
destroy this creation in one second. And when He works in this way,
how can one know His limits?
He creates and sustains the creation by His Will:
By His Will all is created and by His Will all
is absorbed in Him.
God creates this creation by His Will, by His Naam; and with the support
of Naam He sustains it, and everywhere His Naam pervades.
By His Will high and low (good and bad) work;
By His Will are performed many different things.
People do good or bad deeds only in the Will of God, and only in the
Will of God people enjoy many different things.
After creating He sees His greatness;
Nanak says, He is present in all.
Residing within everybody and making them work according to His Will,
He feels His Greatness and, in a very unique way, He is All-Pervading.
If God wishes, man gets liberation.
If God wishes, He can make even the stones swim across.
If it is God's Will, and if He wishes, only then can a man get liberation.
And if He wishes, and if it is in His Will, only then, can even the stones
swim across.
In a place called Saharanpur there used to live one trader who was
very miserly. He never came in the sangat and he never did anything
to do with God. He had two sons and both of them were married. All
his life long his sons told him to sit in the company of some Saint
and do devotion, but he never did that because he was very miserly.
You know that death never waits for anyone and old age also never waits
for anyone. So when he became old and was not able to move his body,
he was put on a bed. All day long he would go on talking and cursing
his daughters-in-law and his sons. He was so miserly he wouldn't give
them anything, and his sons and daughters-in-law didn't like him.
So he would act like that and he would suffer much. After suffering
for some time, his sons came to him, saying, "Father, you have grown
very old and in your lifetime, when you were in good health, you didn't
go in the company of any Master or Saint. But we will be very happy
to take you to Hardwar, because in Hardwar many Masters and Saints
and Sadhus and religious people get together. So there is a chance that
you will find some Master there, some Mahatma there, who will give you
Satsang. And in that way you will be able to do a little bit of devotion
of God. So you come with us."
But since he was very miserly, he said, "No, I don't want to go there."
His sons requested him in many ways but he didn't believe and he didn't
obey them. After some time, when the sons were not able to take him,
they told their relatives to tell him that he should accompany them.
They wanted very much that their father should do some devotion and
that he should spend his last days in some holy place so that when he
would leave this world he might go to Heaven. But their father was
not interested in doing that. Even when some relatives told him, "Your
sons are very good and they are thinking very well of you. When they
are willing to take you to the holy place, why are you not going?" He
was still not interested and he said, "I know that in Hardwar all the
deceivers get together, because all the Saints or whatever, all the
people who go there, they are all deceivers. And I don't like the air
around the River Ganges. I won't be able to maintain good health there,
so I don't want to go in that area." He made many excuses.
When he died, his sons thought, "Our father didn't go to Hardwar
or any other holy place when he was alive. Now let us take his body
to Hardwar and cremate him there. He will get some benefit if we cremate
his body on the bank of the River Ganges. Maybe he will go to Heaven
or some good place." So they made a sort of coffin and they put his body
in it, and some other relatives also came to help carry it; and they
started for Hardwar.
They were walking, so when the night came they had to spend the
night in some place on the way. All the people had so much respect
for that dead man that they put the coffin in the room and they all
slept outside. In the place where they were sleeping there was one leper,
who had been living at that place for a long time, but was unable to
get any food or any good things because not many people came there
and he was not getting many donations. So he thought, "Let me take
out this dead body from this coffin and I will take its place. They
won't know the difference and in that way I will get to Hardwar. There
are many people there and I can get a lot of money begging, and spend
my days more easily." So he did that: he removed the dead body and
in place of it he lay down in the coffin.
The next morning, when all those people got up, they didn't know
any of this, so they took the coffin, thinking that the dead body of
their father was still there. When they came to Hardwar and opened
the coffin, they saw some movement. At first they thought that maybe
their father had come back to life, and they became very happy. But
they saw that it was the leper, and he told them the whole story,
all became very sad. So some of them stayed at Hardwar while others
returned to that place where they had spent the night to bring the
dead body. They tied the body on a horse and again set out for Hardwar.
After traveling for some time, something happened and the horse
went wild and ran away. Instead of going to Hardwar, he went back
to Saharanpur where that old man used to live. When the people of
that city saw that this was the same old man who had been taken by
his sons to Hardwar for cremation, they were very surprised. The
relatives and sons were informed that the body was back in Saharanpur,
so they all came back from Hardwar. Although they wanted to cremate
the body in Hardwar, they couldn't because the body wouldn't reach
Hardwar. So they cremated it in Saharanpur.
People in India believe that if you put the ashes of the dead body
in the River Ganges, the soul goes to Heaven or some good place. So
according to that, they called one pundit and told him to take the ashes
and put them in the River Ganges. He was given a lot of money and
he was told to go to Hardwar and put the ashes in the holy River Ganges.
He thought, "I should first go to my home and put all the money and
gold that I have received in my home. If I take it along with me maybe
some dacoits will plunder me." But he did not take the bones and ashes
of the old man with him. Instead he tied the bag to a tree and went
home.
Someone saw the bag: a very poor man who earned his living by
cutting wood in the forest. And when he saw a very good piece of cloth,
he was attracted and he took it; he dumped out its contents on the
ground and gave that piece of cloth to his wife. When the pundit came
back, he saw that there was no bag there, and no bones or ashes. But
he went to Hardwar anyway and told the pundits there, "You write
to the sons of that old man that I came here with the ashes and we
performed all the ceremonies and now the ashes have been put in the
River Ganges and he will get liberation and all those things like that,
so that they may be convinced that I have done my job. But truthfully
I don't know where the ashes went. So you write this false letter to
them." And they did.
After some time, the wood cutter's wife made a dress from that piece
of cloth, and when she wore it, one of the sons of that old man saw
it and recognized it. So he called her and asked her where she had gotten
it. First she didn't help him, but later on she confessed: "It is the
same piece of cloth which you gave to the pundit; my husband stole it."
So the family called the pundit and asked him, "How did all this happen?
We received letters from the other pundits that you went there and you
did all the ceremonies and everything, and threw the ashes in the Ganges.
But what is this? How is this piece of cloth still in this city? Does
this mean the ashes didn't get to the Ganges - not even one part of the
body of our father went to the Ganges? What do you have to say?"
He said, "When all of you didn't succeed in taking your father,
alive or dead, to the River Ganges, how could I take him to the Ganges?
I was all alone, whereas you were all the family and you all tried your
best, but you were not able to do that! How could you expect me to
do it by myself?"
So the meaning of this story is, that if it is in God's Will only then
can one come in the company of the Master. If it is in God's Will, only
then can one go to a holy place. If it is not in God's Will he will never
get the company of good people, and he will never visit holy places.
So whatever happens in this world, happens only if it is in the Will
of God.
If God wishes He can sustain one without breathing;
If God wishes man can sing His praise.
If it is in God's Will, one can live even without breathing. And if it
is in God's Will, only then can we do the meditation on Shabd Naam,
and progress on the Path.
If God wishes He liberates the sinners;
He Himself does whatever He thinks.
If God wants, many great sinners get liberation, and many bad people
get improved.
He is the Lord of both (sinners and good people);
The All-Conscious God plays and enjoys His creation.
He is the only Savior for sinners as well as for good people and, residing
within everybody, He sees everything. And as for requesting Him - "Do
this thing for us," or "Give us that thing" - only those who do not
understand Him do that. Those who know Him and understand Him do not make
these requests.
He gets done whatever He wishes for;
Nanak says, No one else like Him is seen.
Whatever He wants, He makes us do that. If He wants us to meditate
on Naam, He makes us meditate on Naam, and if He wants us to do satsang,
He brings us into satsang and we are able to do that. And sitting behind
the veil, He is doing all the things by Himself. That is why the Masters
say, "We do not see anyone else except Him."
Tell me, what can a man do?
What He wishes, He makes him do that.
What can a man do? A man has very little power, very little strength.
And whatever a man is doing, it is God Who is making him do it, sitting
within him.
If it were in the hands of man, he would
have taken everything;
But whatever He wishes, that happens.
If it were in the control of any man, then he would never allow anyone
else to have any wealth, or to make use of the resources which we see
in this world. He would want to have all those things for himself. But
the Guru says it is all in the hands of God - "Whatever He wishes, that
happens."
Once there was an illiterate farmer who did the devotion of God.
And when God became pleased with him, He asked him to ask for anything
he wanted. So the farmer replied, "Lord, I don't have much food or
possessions; You should give me something." So God gave him a little
bell and told him, "Whenever you want anything, just ring the bell and
I will appear there, and whatever you will ask for, I will give you. But
whatever you ask for, your neighbor will get double - double what you
get." When God gave him that bell he was very pleased, but when he heard
that his neighbor would get double what he would get, he didn't like
that. So he went home and told his wife, "I have got this bell. But the
condition is that whatever we get, our neighbor will get double. And that
is why I don't want to ring this bell and I don't want to get anything
from God." Many days passed, and he went on becoming poorer and poorer,
but still he didn't ring the bell because he didn't want that his
neighbor should prosper and get more than he got. So he didn't ring the
bell and he didn't get anything.
Many times his wife said to him, "Why should you bother about the
neighbors? If they get, with the grace of God, double what we get, let
them have it; they are also human beings. But let us at least have what
we need!" But he said, "Why should they get anything? I did the devotion,
I pleased God and He has given me this boon! Why should I use the boon
and let them take advantage of it? I don't want to do that."
God put him through many tests, and he became poorer and poorer,
but he preferred not to ring the bell because he was afraid that his
neighbors would get more. At one point things got so bad that he had to
leave his home to find work because there was nothing in the house
to eat, but still he didn't take advantage of that bell. So he left his
home, looking for work, leaving his wife behind. After he left, and his
wife had nothing to eat, she thought of ringing that bell and asking for
things from God. She had a different attitude from her husband's; she
thought, "What's wrong if the neighbors get something? They are also
human! They should also have what we have." So she rang the bell and God
appeared there; and whatever she asked for, she got it all, and the
neighbors got it double. Many days passed and she became prosperous, and
the neighbors became twice as prosperous. People started talking about
them: that it was curious that when the man was still at home there
was nothing there to eat, but once he left, everything came there.
It was not written in the fate of that man to enjoy all those things.
It was not until he left that the family could get them.
After some time that man came back, and he was told that his family
was living very happily and prosperously and that as soon as he'd
left they had gotten all their things, and that it was all the grace
of God. But he said, "No, it's not the grace of God! It's my bell! She
has rung my bell and has made God appear and she received the things
from Him." And he became upset. And when he saw that the neighbors had
twice as much as his family, he didn't like that. So he at once rang the
bell, and said, "God, I want one well in front of my home." So he got
one well and the neighbors got two. And then again he rang the bell
and said, "God, I ask you to make me one-eyed - to take one eye."
So when he said that, he became one-eyed and the neighbors became
blind. So after that, when the neighbors came out of their home, they
fell in the wells and died, and he was contented.
So the meaning of this story is, that if it were in the hands of
man, whoever was in control would never allow other people to enjoy the
blessings of God. He would always keep everything - all the blessings
from God - to himself. But God has not done that. God has kept
everything with Him and if He wants, only then He gives to people.
Whatever amount He wants to give to people, He gives. And He has not
given the control of this to man; He has kept it in His hands.
Because of his ignorance man is involved in poison,
If he were wise, he would have saved himself.
Man doesn't know that he will have to pay for all the good and bad
deeds which he is doing. And, in ignorance, after committing bad deeds,
he is putting the snare about his own neck.
Lost in illusion, he runs in all ten directions;
In the twinkling of an eye he comes back
after wandering in the four corners.
He has fallen in illusion. What is illusion? Whatever we see with our
eyes is all illusion. Whatever we see in this world is all illusion.
When we leave this world, nothing will go with us; so when nothing goes
with us, it means that all that we see is illusion. Man has fallen in
the illusion and he is not aware of good and bad things. By his thoughts,
man is wandering here and there in all ten directions. Climbing on the
horse of thought, sometimes he goes to Germany, sometimes he goes to
America, he goes and wanders here and there, everywhere in the world.
His body sits still at one place, but his mind takes him all over the
world.
Upon whom He showers grace, He gives devotion,
Nanak says, Such a one gets the Naam.
Only such souls can swim across the ocean of the world on whom God
showers Grace, and gives His Naam.
In a moment He gives a Kingdom to a low worm;
Par Brahm is merciful to the poor ones.
If He wants, in one second He can give the whole Kingdom to a pauper,
and He showers grace on the poor ones. That's why Master Kirpal used
to say, "When you come to the Master, you should come as a poor one,
as a humble beggar."
He who is not seen anywhere,
In a moment God makes him famous in all ten directions.
If God wants, He can write in all the worlds the name of that soul
which is not counted anywhere, about whom not even his family members
or relatives know or care. God can make him famous throughout the
world, if He wants. "The low one who is not recognized or known by
anyone, if he meditates on Naam, becomes famous in all the four
corners of the world."
He upon whom He showers His gift,
(Of such a one) The Lord does not ask for accounts.
When God showers His Grace on a Master, and the Master gives it
all away, God doesn't ask the Master, "Why did you spend this much
Grace?" Once He has given Grace to any Master or Saint, He doesn't
ask for the account of it.
The soul and body are His creation;
The perfect Light of God is manifested within all.
He is within everybody. The soul is His, and the body is also His.
He Himself has made Himself;
Nanak lives looking at his greatness.
No one created God. No one has made God. God has made Himself, and
Guru Nanak Sahib says, "Looking at this Glory and Greatness of God,
we are surprised."
Man's strength is not in his own hands;
The Lord is the Doer of everything.
God Himself is the Doer of everything in this world, and the poor souls
have no strength; they have no power. Our body is like an engine in
which different parts are fitted. If you don't supply the fuel or the
current, the parts of the engine will not move, and the engine will not
work. It is the same way with our body. In our body we have hands, feet,
mouth, eyes and all those things; but if God doesn't put His current
in this body, not even one part of our body can move - we cannot lift
up our hand, we cannot open our eyes, we cannot speak - we can do
nothing if the Power of God is not working in our body. So, "This is
all in the hands of God," means that God is the Doer of everything.
The helpless soul is obedient:
Only that which pleases God, happens.
This poor soul is obedient, and wherever God wants, this poor soul
follows Him.
Sometimes a man is high, sometimes low;
Sometimes he is colored in depression and
sometimes in happiness -
Sometimes the poor soul has anxiety, sometimes he is happy, sometimes
he becomes depressed, sometimes he is born in the lower body,
sometimes he is born in the higher body -
Sometimes he criticizes and thinks of others' business;
Sometimes he rises up in the sky and sometimes
falls to the world below -
Sometimes this poor one criticizes the world, sometimes this poor one
praises the world, sometimes, using thought, he flies in the air, and
sometimes, using thought, he travels in the world below -
Sometimes he obtains divine Knowledge.
Nanak says: The Lord Himself is the One Who unites us
with Him.
And sometimes he becomes the knower of God. God has kept all these
things in His hands. Guru Sahib says, "God Himself is the One Who
unites us all with Him."
Sometimes he dances in different ways;
Sometimes he sleeps day and night.
Sometimes he dances and plays musical instruments; and sometimes he
is interested only in sleeping.
Sometimes he looks terrible because of mighty anger;
Sometimes he becomes the dust of the feet of all.
Sometimes he shows an aspect of such terrible anger that he troubles
the people living with him; and sometimes he calls himself and considers
himself the dust of other people's feet and says, "What can I take from
this world?"
Sometimes he sits on the throne as a great king;
Sometimes he wears the dress of a beggar.
Sometimes he becomes worse than the beggar, and sometimes he considers
himself as a king.
Sometimes he is defamed;
Sometimes he makes people praise him.
Sometimes he says, "All the people in this world should praise me, and
wherever I go I should always get praise."
He lives as God wants him to live:
Nanak says this truth with the grace of the Master.
Guru Sahib says, "We are telling you all these things by the Grace of
the Master." In whatever way, or in whatever condition, God wants
the soul to live, it happens.
Sometimes he becomes a pundit and gives discourses;
Sometimes he keeps quiet and contemplates on Him.
Sometimes he becomes a learned one, and comments on the Shastras
and the holy scriptures; and sometimes he becomes the one who keeps
quiet and doesn't speak.
Sometimes he takes baths at places of pilgrimage;
Sometimes as a seer or meditator he preaches knowledge.
Sometimes he goes to the places of pilgrimage, sometimes he becomes
a seer, and sometimes he goes deep into meditation.
Sometimes he lives becoming an ant, an elephant or a moth,
And wanders in many bodies.
Sometimes he goes in the body of an insect, sometimes in the body of
an elephant, sometimes in the body of a horse. He wanders from here
to there, from one place to another. He wanders in many other bodies
also.
As a mimic shows his many forms,
As God pleases, so He makes him dance.
As the mimic takes up many different forms and imitates people, in
the same way, God makes a man work like a mimic, and He makes him work
according to His wishes. Gurumukhs know that in whatever way God wants,
He makes the people dance.
What pleases God, happens.
Nanak says, There is no one other than Him.
Only that happens, which pleases God; whatever is in the Will of God,
only that happens. Guru Sahib says, "We do not see anyone else. Who
is doing all these things from behind the curtain except God?"
Sometimes he gets the company of Saints;
Sometimes he does not come back to that place.
Sometimes this poor one, after wandering a lot, comes in the company
of the Master. And sometimes when he is tricked by the mind, he goes
away from the company of the Master for many, many years. What to speak
of coming near the Master: he doesn't even think about Him.
From within, the Light of Knowledge illuminates;
Then that place never perishes.
When Light is manifested within one, after coming into Satsang, the
darkness never returns; once the Light is manifested it always remains
there.
The body and soul are dyed in one color of Naam;
They always reside with Par Brahm.
Those who come in the company of the Master are always colored in
the Name of the Lord, and God resides within them.
As water blends with water,
So the light merges in the Light.
As the dirty water after mixing with the water of the River Ganges,
becomes the holy water of the River Ganges, in the same way our light,
when blended with the Supreme Light, becomes that Light.
Transmigration is finished and he gets rest;
Nanak says, I am ever a sacrifice to God.
Now the Guru asks, "What benefit have we got from doing the meditation
on Naam, from doing the devotion of God, and from coming in the
company of the Master?" And He answers, "By coming in the company of
the Master and doing the meditation on Naam and the devotion of God,
our going and coming to this world has come to an end, and God has
given us a place near Him; and we have got this only by the grace of
our Master, only by the grace of God. And God, Who has given us all
this - Who gave us Naam and Who made us meditate on Naam - on Him I
sacrifice myself."
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