THE JEWEL OF HAPPINESS
The Sukhmani of Guru Arjan
a commentary by
AJAIB SINGH
Chapter 13
THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN
He who gets the refuge of the Saints will be liberated:
Nanak says, The critic of the saints will be incarnated
again and again.
Whatever the Masters say is all true. Because Masters have lived a life
of experience and they speak from that experience, whatever they say is
weighed and correct. Always the words which are spoken by the Master come
true. Those who make the Master's words the base of their life, they live
happily and easily; and it is easy to take their soul back to Sach Khand,
their Real Home. Those who mold their lives according to the words of the
Master get the Supreme Bliss and eternal happiness. Whatever stories the
Masters tell, if people take those stories to their heart, and work
according to the Master's words, they can achieve the great happiness.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: In this discourse, Sant Ajaib Singh discusses two kinds
of criticism - criticism of others in general, and criticism of the Saints.
The former is dealt with by a kind of transference of karma from the person
criticized to the critic, but the latter cannot be dealt with in this way
as the Saints have no bad karma to transfer. That is why criticism of the
Saints is called "unforgivable," and why it is dealt with at such length in
the Sukhmani and the other hymns: because it is so dangerous. Jesus makes
the same distinction in Matthew 12:30-31: "All manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall
not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the son of
man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost,
it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to
come." The Saints are "Word made flesh," and when we criticize Them we are
criticizing the Word or Holy Ghost working through Them. Of course, They
have the option to forgive the critics and They may or may not exercise it;
the point is that there is no normal provision in the Karmic Law to work
off that particular sin.)--(Russell Perkins)
--------
So Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj says that one who takes refuge at
the feet of the Saint gets liberated. What is the meaning of liberation?
Liberation means that He takes his soul back to the place from where
it was separated, back to Sach Khand.
Whereas, "the critic of the Saints will be incarnated again and again"
means that many times he will take birth in this world and many times he
will die and go back from this world.
By criticizing the Saint, life is shortened;
By criticizing the Saint, one does not escape
from the angels of death.
In this ashtapadi, Guru Arjan Dev is describing the condition of the
critic of the Saint. Later on he will tell us more about what happens
to the critic of the Saint.
Once there was a king who had no children. Somebody told him that
if he would perform a yajna or Hindu ritual, he might get a son. So
he performed a big yajna and invited many rishis and munis and other
religious people. But it so happened that a snake came and left its
poison in the food which was cooked for all the people who were invited
there. And when they ate the food, they all died.
The king was very sorry for them, and he became very sad. He
thought, "I am the cause of the death of all these people; it is better
for me now to give up this kingdom and go into the wilderness and do
the devotion of God, so that I may become free from the sin of their
deaths." So he went into the forest.
On the way he stopped in a village to spend the night. In that
village there was a widow who was not respected by the other people in
the village. So when the king came there and asked the villagers if
there was any place where he could spend the night, they told him, "Yes,
there is one home here in which lives a widow; you can spend the night
there." The people thought that if this man, who was very young, spent
the night with her, they would have more excuses for criticizing the
widow whom they were already giving such a hard time.
So the king went there, and he did not know that she was not
respected. When the widow saw that someone was coming towards her
home, she became very surprised and happy, because nobody liked her.
Everybody thought that she was a bad woman and nobody paid any
attention to her.
So when the king came and asked her to allow him to spend the night
there, she said, "Yes, you are welcome, my brother." And she called
him her brother and he called her his sister, and he spent the night
there; and this gave the people one more excuse to criticize both of
them. They started saying "The widow is a very bad woman; now the young
man has come and they are enjoying," etc.
Next morning, before the king got up, an angel of God came to him.
The angel told him, "The entire burden of sin which you had - of killing
those people who attended your yajna - now all that is removed from your
head; and all the people who have criticized you, now they have that
burden. And since all the people in this village have criticized you and
this widow, they have a lot of sin on their heads and they will have to
be punished - so they are all going to be burned alive. You should leave
this place as soon as possible and take this widow with you. As soon as
you leave, the village will be burned and everyone here will die, because
this is the punishment which the critics have earned, and God has decided
to do this."
When the king got up, he told that widow all about why he came
there and what had happened. He told her the whole story about the yajna,
and he said, "If you believe in me, if you take me as your brother, let
me tell you that now I am free from all that sin, and the angel of God
whom I can see although you cannot, is telling me to leave this place
with you, because this village is going to be burned, and everyone will
die."
As soon as they left, the village started burning from one end and
people went there to extinguish the fire, but then they realized that there
was also a fire on the other end. When the fire surrounded the village,
they were all caught and burned alive. Guru Nanak Sahib says that those
who are criticizing others are the worst sinners and get the worst
punishment from God.
The law applies to everyone. Nobody should ever think that because
he or she is a satsangi this law doesn't apply to him or her. No. The
law is for everyone. And the ones who know about this law, if they
commit any mistake, if they incur any guilt, they are liable for more
punishment than the one who doesn't know about the law. That is why
Saints always say that when you come in the company of the Saints -
since in the company of the Saints it is always said, "You should not
criticize anyone, criticism is bad, if you want to criticize you should
criticize only your mind, and if you want to praise you should praise
only your Master" - if after knowing all this and knowing the
consequences of criticizing others, the satsangis still are criticizing
others, they are liable for more punishment than ordinary people.
Guru Nanak Sahib says that Masters and prophets take responsibility
for only those souls who are obeying the instructions of the Master.
Master Sawan Singh Ji used to say, "Criticism cuts the root of spirituality;
it cuts the root of your meditation." The person whom you are criticizing
will get the benefit of the meditation which you are doing, and all his
sins will be transferred into your account."
That is why Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj says, "The life of the critic
of a Saint is shortened and he can never become free from the clutches
of the angel of death."
By criticizing the Saint, all happiness goes away.
By criticizing the Saint, one falls into hell.
Saints never curse anyone. But it is a law of nature that if anyone is
criticizing the Saints, it affects the happiness of that person. Guru Arjan
is saying that those who criticize the Saints, all their happiness goes
away. And afterwards, the Negative Power does not spare them; he also
punishes them.
By criticizing the Saint, one's wisdom becomes clouded;
By criticizing the Saint, one is deprived of Glory.
By criticizing the Saints, the intellect, or wisdom, gets clouded and dirty
and goes bad, and that person, the critic of the Saints, starts talking
nonsense. Eventually his glory, his respect in the world, gradually goes
away and he is left alone.
Master Sawan Singh Ji used to say that one who is criticizing is making
the means to become a mean person.
He who is cursed by the Saint is kept by none;
By criticizing the Saint, all places (touched by the critic)
become polluted.
Now he says that those who are accursed of Saints and those who are doing
criticism of Saints, nobody keeps their company and nobody welcomes them;
and places touched by them become polluted.
If the merciful Saint showers grace,
Only then the critic gets liberated with the company
of Saints, says Nanak.
By criticizing the Saints, one becomes so corrupt that he becomes the
food of the Negative Power and there is no way for his liberation. Except
one: if the Saint Whom he was criticizing showers grace on that critic and
forgives him, only then can he get liberation and become free from the sin
of criticizing the Saints. There is no other way.
By criticizing the Saint one's face becomes ugly.
By criticizing the Saint one croaks like a crow.
The person who criticizes the Saint affects others as the crow does. You
see, when the crow comes and sits on the door and starts croaking, nobody
likes his voice. But no matter if a cuckoo is sitting far away, still
everyone likes to hear its voice; but nobody likes to hear the crow. In
the same way, nobody likes to hear the voice of the critic, and if that
critic does find some people in front of whom he may criticize, later on
they also tell him to go away. Nobody is ready to listen to him.
By criticizing the Saint, one gets the body of a snake;
By criticizing the Saint, one gets birth as creeping worms.
The critic of a Saint goes in the body of snakes, scorpions, and creeping
worms; he goes in many different bodies.
By criticizing the Saint one burns in the fire of desire;
By criticizing the Saint one cheats all.
No matter where the critic of the Saint goes and takes birth, still he
is never satiated; his desires are never satisfied, no matter how much
he gets. And he deceives people whenever he talks, because whenever
he is criticizing the Saints, he allows his ulterior motives full sway.
Eventually he becomes unable to stop deceiving people.
By criticizing the Saint all glory goes away;
By criticizing the Saint one becomes the meanest
of the mean.
Whatever virtues or glory the critic of Saints has - it is reduced daily
and one day it is gone. And then the critic of Saints becomes the meanest
of the mean and takes birth in low bodies.
In the Third or Copper Age, Lord Krishna was born into the yadav
caste. Once some yadavs took a young boy whose name was Sambha, and they
tied some clothes and things on his stomach and came to a Saint called
Durvasa Muni to play a joke on Him. They had dressed that boy up as a
girl and were pretending he was pregnant, so they came and asked Durvasa
Muni, "If you are a perfect Master, tell us what she will have - a boy or
a girl."
Durvasa Muni knew everything, and He said, "That will come out from
her stomach which will finish your lineage, your community, your family."
So when they returned home, they opened all the clothe and found an
iron-like ball there. They realized that it was a curse by the Saint. So
they came to Lord Krishna and asked him what to do. He replied, "Well,
whatever curse he has given, that will definitely come true. But you
should go and bury this on the bank of some river."
They buried it on a river bank, but it sprouted and some wild bushes
grew up from it. Once it so happened that in the course of a celebration
in which they were all drinking wine, they all came to the river bank
where that wild bush was, and after enjoying and dancing for a little while
they started fighting with each other, using the branches of the wild bush
as swords. They fought until nobody was left alive, and the words which
the Saint had spoken came true.
So this is what happens to the critics of the Saints. Whatever the
Saint tells them always comes true.
The critic washes others' dirt from birth after birth;
And then gets the suffering according to his own deeds.*
(*The hymn starting with this verse is not part of Sukhmani, but is
another hymn by Guru Arjan, on the same subject, from the Granth Sahib,
Asa M.5.)
Now Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj says that by criticizing someone, we are not
removing his dirt only of this lifetime, but of his previous lifetimes also:
we purify his karmas of many lifetimes. Whatever the critic sows here, he
eats the fruit of that when he goes into the Court of the Lord.
He has neither happiness here nor any support
in the Court of the Lord;
He goes to the country of the angels of death.
There is no happiness for the critic in this world, and the Lord never
allows him to enter His Kingdom, either. When the angels of death come and
pull the critic out of his body, then he repents. But what is the use of
repenting then?
The critic loses his birth in useless things.
Man came into this world to do the devotion of Naam; but instead of
doing that, he started criticizing the Saints. He came into this world
to improve his life by doing meditation; but instead he is defiling it
by criticizing.
He cannot reach Him by talking;
He does not get any place in the beyond.
The critic cannot achieve God by talking about Him and by criticizing
the Saint and other people. One who criticizes others, he doesn't get
any place.
It is the karma of the critic;
What can the poor one do?
Now Guru Arjan feels very sorry for the critic and has pity on him;
He says, "What can the poor critic do? It is not in his control to stop
criticizing because it is written in his fate." No matter how much he
tries to remain aloof from criticism, still he has to do it. Even though
he may say that criticism is bad, still, because it is written in his fate
and he is supposed to do that, he is involved in it.
He, the bad one, is not accepted by anyone;
Where can he pray?
The Negative Power throws the critic into such a place from where he
cannot call anyone or pray to anyone. There is justice in the kingdom of
of Kal, and whatever karma one does, according to that he definitely
gets the punishment.
There is no liberation for the critic;
This is the Will of God.
Every sinner gets liberation. But there is no liberation for the critic,
because that is the Will of God.
As people go on criticizing the sadhus,
The sadhus go on becoming happier.
As people go on criticizing sadhus, they become more happy, because
the critic is washing away the sadhu's sins and the sadhu becomes free
from the burden of the sin. In that way he becomes light and free of
the burden of his sins in his journey toward God. The true sadhu always
says, "Criticize me, criticize me, because I want to realize God."
O Lord, the Saints have Your support.
You are Their helper.
Saints live in this world having the support of God, and God always
helps the Saint at all places and in all circumstances.
Nanak says, God protects the Saints;
Whereas the critics get thrown away.
God has protected the Saints in all ages; He has helped Them in all
ages; and He has glorified Them in all ages. Whereas He has thrown
the critics as we throw a ball.
The critic of the Saint has no place;
Nanak says, If the Saint wants, he also can get liberation.*
(* With this verse, the Master returns to the text of Sukhmani.)
There is no destination for the critic; he doesn't know where to go;
there is no place for him to go and reside. Only if the Saint Whom he is
criticizing showers grace on him can he get liberation.
The critic of the Saint is a terrible evil doer;
The critic of the Saint gets no rest even for a moment.
If someone puts a house on fire in which people are sleeping; if
someone gives poison to anyone without his knowledge; if he takes over
the property or land of anyone with deception; or if anyone takes away
the wife of anyone without his knowledge and with force; if anyone kills
another person when he is sleeping; if anyone deceives another person
and in that way takes all his wealth and kills him: the one who does all
these six sins is called the greatest sinner. But here the Master says
that the critic of a Saint is worse even than the great sinner who has
committed these six sins, because the sin of criticizing the Saint is
worse than these sins.
The critic of the Saint is the worst criminal;
The critic of the Saint is accursed of God.
Now Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj says that the critic of Saints is the
greatest of the great sinners and he is accursed of God. Many people
criticized Kabir Sahib, and Sikander Lodhi, the king of that time, tried
many times to kill Him: once by tying his hands and feet with a chain
and throwing him in front of the mad elephant; once by throwing Him,
all tied up, into the water of the Ganges; and once by burying Him
alive in the ground. When Kabir Sahib was in this world, there were
two big religions - Hinduism and Islam - and both of them were against
Him.
Once the learned pundits who were jealous of Kabir Sahib announced
that Kabir was hosting a lunch for all the people and everyone was
invited - even though Kabir knew nothing about it, and He was poor
and unable to give food to many people. But the pundits said, "He is
called a Saint, let us see if we send people to His house whether He
will feed them or not."
So many people went to Kabir Sahib's to get food on that day. There
was no food in the house, and Mother Loi (Kabir's wife) didn't know
what to do. But Kabir Sahib said, "Don't worry about anything. If we
are defamed and lose our reputation, we should not worry because it
is of God; and if we are praised, we should not feel we are praised,
because it is God Who will be praised. Take this basket and remember
God, and go on serving those who come." And, with the grace of God,
everyone who came to the home of Kabir Sahib was well fed, and
hundreds of people went, eating well from the house of Kabir. And
they started praising Him; but He said, "I have not done this nor can
I do this: No one's body can do this thing which my God has done."
He said, "Instead of praising me, praise the Almighty God."
So at that time Kabir Sahib taught the critics by saying, "Oh dear
ones, criticize me, criticize me."
Criticize, criticize, criticize me, O people:
Criticism is very dear to me,
Criticism is my father, criticism is my mother.*
(*The Master is now taking a hymn of Kabir, also from the Granth Sahib
- Gauri Kabir).
Kabir says, "Criticism is very dear to me and the critic also is very dear
to me. I understand criticism as my mother, and my critic as my father."
If one is criticized, he goes to the heavens,
And the Naam can be manifested within him.
If people criticize us, we will go to the heavens; if people criticize us
the burden of our sins will decrease, and we will be able to do the
meditation on Naam easily.
If one is criticized, his heart is purified:
Critics wash our clothes (sins).
Saints see God in both enemies and friends, and that is why they never
criticize anyone, nor do They even allow their disciples to criticize
anyone. So Kabir says that if we criticize someone who doesn't see any
difference between enemies and friends, who sees God in both, then his
heart becomes pure and ours is defiled.
He who criticizes us is our friend;
My attention is always in the critic.
Kabir Sahib says, "Those who criticize me are my friends, and I'm always
worried about them. I don't want my critic to get sick, or to have any
problems; because if he does, he will not criticize me, and that means
he will stop doing my work."
He who removes our criticism is the critic;
The critic wishes our long life,
The improver of our life is our critic.
Our criticism is our love;
Criticism liberates us.
We love to hear the words of the critic, because criticism is the thing
which liberates us.
Kabir says, How is the criticism good?
The critic is drowned and we go across.
Now he asks, "How does criticism help us?" By criticism, our critic
takes the burden of our sins, so that we are able to cross this Ocean
of Life easily; but the critic, who takes on the burden of our sins by
criticizing us, is drowned in the Ocean of Life.
The critic of the Saint is without the Kingdom;
The critic of the Saint becomes miserable and poor.*
(*Here the text of Sukhmani is resumed.)
Once there were two people who daily visited a Saint. One used to bring
Him milk, and the other used to stone Him. It went on like this for a
long time. Once it so happened that the person who was bringing the milk
stepped on a thorn. On the same day, the person who was stoning the Saint
dug in the earth and found a chest full of ashes, with one gold coin. So
he said to the first man, "You see? Daily I throw a stone at that Saint,
and I haven't had any problems - I didn't step on a thorn - whereas you
are taking the milk for Him, and you are having a problem. And I dig up
this gold coin. You see? I am better than you. That Saint is giving me
more than He is giving you."
So the person who was bringing milk was disappointed. When he
removed that thorn, he went to the Saint and asked him, "Baba Ji, what
was the reason that the person who throws stones at You got a gold
coin and has no problems, whereas I stepped on the thorn and had much
pain and I couldn't even bring the milk for you today? What is the
reason?"
The Mahatma replied, "It was your destiny to be hanged today. But
because of your devotion and service, that heavy karma was reduced
to this little thorn-prick. And that chest which the other person found
was once full of gold coins which were meant for him. But each time
he threw a stone at me, some of that gold was reduced to ashes. One
was left only to show him what he could have gotten." So that is why
Guru Arjan says that if we criticize the Saints, we can lose all our
property and wealth, even a kingdom, and become paupers.
The critic of the Saint suffers all diseases;
The critic of the Saint is separated forever.
Whenever the critic of the Saints takes birth, he suffers from disease;
he is always separated from God, and beset by many problems.
Criticism of the Saint is one of the biggest sins;
Nanak says: If the Saint wishes, the critic can also
get liberation.
If the critic of the Saints is having any suffering or any pain it is
increased because he is criticizing the Saints. But if the Saint Who is
being criticized wishes, and if He showers grace on the critic, then even
he can get liberated.
The critic of the Saint is always impure;
The critic of the Saint is no one's friend.
The critic of the saint is impure and is nobody's friend, because he
deceives everyone.
If he bathes in sixty-eight places of pilgrimage;
If he worships twelve rocks -*
(*Sant Ji is now taking a hymn of Ravidas, from the Granth Sahib -
Raga Gond Ravidas.)
Mahatma Ravidas was born as a cobbler, and in those days the cobblers
were considered as the low-caste people, and nobody wanted to have any
relations with them. But the Queen of Chittor, whose name was Mirabai,
wanted to realize God, and when she asked the pundits and scholars of
her kingdom about God-realization, nobody could quench her thirst. So
she came to Kashi to get Initiation from Ravidas the cobbler, because He
was a perfect Saint of that time. When she took Initiation from Him,
people started criticizing Mirabai because of her low-caste guru; the
people of her kingdom also started criticizing her, and while Mirabai
was still in Kashi, they slandered Mirabai to her husband.
So when Mirabai came back to her kingdom and heard that everyone
was criticizing her and her Master, because he was a cobbler by caste, she
thought of inviting Ravidas to her home and having food there. She thought
that if she would invite all the pundits also, maybe they would stop
criticizing him. So Mahatma Ravidas was invited and the food was cooked,
but the pundits who came there said, "If Ravidas is going to sit with us
and eat with us, we are not going to eat, because it will pollute all the
food. This Queen has done a very bad thing - first she took a cobbler as
her Master, and now she has invited him to eat food with us, pundits of
high caste." So they refused to eat food with Ravidas.
The Master said to Mirabai, "Daughter, don't worry about it, because
I have come here to glorify you and not to defame you. If they want that
I should sit apart from them to eat food, I'll do it. Whatever they want,
I'll do it." So Ravidas sat in one corner and ate His food, and the pundits
were eating food just by themselves; nevertheless all of them saw Ravidas
sitting with them and having food. It was a miracle. When everybody saw
that there were many Ravidases, and everybody was eating with Him, they all
stood up and stopped eating, saying, "This is not good. We told Mirabai not
to let him sit with us and eat food, but now we see that he is sitting
everywhere and eating food." So they started criticizing Ravidas. So that
is why in this hymn Ravidas is teaching the critics.
In India there are sixty-eight places of pilgrimage, and people think
that if they go to all of them they are doing very virtuous deeds. And
there are twelve mountains (called by Ravidas "rocks") which have
religious significance, and people think that if they go and visit those
mountains they are doing very good deeds. But Ravidas says that no matter
if you go and visit those places, whatever fruit you will get from that,
you will lose it if you are criticizing.
He may construct a well for others' benefit.
But if he criticizes it all goes in vain.
Suppose there is a place where there is no water and people are dying
of thirst: if someone graciously digs a well there and brings water out
of it and saves people, and then if the same person later on starts
criticizing others, he loses whatever fruit he had earned by digging out
that well.
How can the critic of a Saint get liberated?
Understand: over his head the hell is hovering.
Now Ravidas Ji Maharaj says, "By no means can the critic of Saints get
liberation." There is no way. Hell is hovering over his head, and
definitely, after his death he will go there.
If he donates a lot at the time of Eclipse -
even his wife with all her ornaments -
and hears all the Simritis with his own ears;
If he criticizes, he loses all the fruit.
The place called Kurukshetra is a holy place, and it is believed in India
that at the time of an eclipse, solar or lunar, anyone who donates while
standing on that place gets many fruits. So Ravidas says that if at the
time of eclipse one goes to Kurukshetra and donates his wife, with all
her ornaments and everything, and hears the holy scriptures with his
ears, whatever fruit he gets from that he will lose by criticizing.
If he feeds many hungry people,
Donates land and gets a temple constructed -
He may feed the hungry, donate land, make shelters for homeless
people and build temples - but if he is criticizing he will lose the
benefit of all these good deeds.
Losing his own he gives to others -
But if he criticizes he wanders in many bodies.
He may help others and do good for them at his own expense, but if
he is criticizing, he will not get any benefit from his good deeds, and
will no doubt go to hell.
O people of the world, why do you criticize?
The condition of the critic is obvious to all.
Ravidas says that we should not criticize anyone, because criticism is
neither bitter, nor sweet, nor sour. Can we not see the condition of
the critics - how much they are suffering?
The Saints know the fate of the critics;
Ravidas says, The sinner goes to hell.
Now Ravidas Ji Maharaj says that the Saints and Mahatmas know about the
critics - what happens to them. And that is why They always want that
anyone meditating on Naam should never criticize others. Because hell and
the cycle of eighty-four lakhs birth and death are ready for critics, and
anyone who is criticizing will definitely go into both after he leaves the
body.
The critic of the Saint gets punishment;
The critic of the Saint is abandoned by all.*
(*The text of Sukhmani resumes here.)
Now he says that the critic of Saints gets punished in the court of God,
and one by one, everyone leaves his company.
The critic of the Saint is the great egoist;
The critic of the Saint cannot stop doing evil.
The critic of a Saint is full of egoism, and thinks that nobody else is
greater than him. He goes from place to place and does the work of
criticism, and gradually the temptations and bad qualities of the world
come to him and surround him.
The critic of the Saint takes birth and dies.
The criticism of the Saints destroys all happiness.
The critic of a Saint is always involved in birth and death, and his
criticism costs him his happiness.
Kabir Sahib says, "O Kabir! No one should criticize my Saint,"
because it accomplishes nothing. No matter how much dirt you may throw
at the moon, it will not affect it. In the same way, the Saint is not
affected by your criticism.
The critic of the Saint has no place to dwell;
Nanak says, If the Saint wants, He may make him united
with the Lord.
Now Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj says that there is no place for the critic
to dwell; but, if the Master wants, He can take that critic to the Court
of the Lord.
The critic of the Saint breaks down midway;
The critic of the Saint does not succeed in anything.
This is the bani of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, and He says that the critic of
the Saint never gets any work done; he cannot accomplish anything nor can
he achieve anything. Whatever work he may start, he doesn't reach his
destination but is always lost midway; whatever work he has started is
never finished. In this way he neither accomplishes anything in this
world or in the world beyond.
This is the teaching for the critic of the Saint: Hazur Maharaj
Sawan Singh Ji used to say, "Criticism is a tasteless sin." By committing
other sins or mistakes, you may get some enjoyment, some taste. But not
by criticizing, because criticism itself is a tasteless thing - it tastes
neither bitter nor sweet - it has no taste; but still, everybody is
involved in doing it.
The critic of the Saint wanders in the wilderness;
The critic of the Saint is led on the wrong path.
What punishment does the critic of a Saint get? He gets birth and then
death; that is his punishment.
The critic of the Saint is hollow from within,
Like the body of a dead man, without breath.
Nothing remains within the critic of a Saint. He becomes void of
spirituality, and his body becomes hollow. His soul always blames him and
curses him, "You are the sinner, you are the sinner," and he becomes
hollow like a dead body with no life in it.
The critic of the Saint has no determination:
He himself sows, he himself eats.
The critic of a Saint has no determination; and whatever he sows, he
himself has to eat that. The Emperor Jehangir made Guru Arjan Dev Ji
Maharaj sit on hot coals, and ordered people to throw burning sand on
His head; he thought that Guru Arjan Dev was just a hypocrite who was
misleading the people. Time has proven though, that now no one remembers
Jehangir or takes care of his tomb; whereas there are many gurdwaras
or temples in the name of Guru Arjan Dev, and many people who visit
those gurdwaras and remember the name of Guru Arjan Dev with much love.
People celebrate the day of Guru Arjan's death by distributing sweet
water to other people, because they remember that on that day He was
tortured to death, and they remember Him with much love and affection.
But nobody remembers Jehangir or visits his tomb, except the pigeons
who make it dirty.
The point is that the name of the Mahatma, or the Master Who has
done the meditation, always remains in this world as long as the Name
of God is remembered in this world. You see how people still remember
Christ, Guru Nanak and Prophet Mohammed. This is only because They were
doing the devotion of God; because of that devotion of God people still
remember Them. Whereas, the critic of a Saint is forgotten while he is
in this world and nobody remembers him when he leaves.
In Punjab there is a village named Sanghu; it is a very old village,
five or six hundred years old, and I had the opportunity to visit it.
It's very small, really. Five hundred years ago this village was also very
small, with few people and seven or eight homes. Once it so happened that
the people of that village made a fort, and they wanted to put one of the
walls at a place where there was a cottage of a perfect Mahatma. They told
the Mahatma to leave that place so they could build the wall of the fort.
He said, "Well, if you want to make the wall, why not leave my cottage
alone and make it just a few yards back?" But they didn't do that, and
instead they tied that Mahatma's hands behind his back and tortured Him
to death. Before leaving, that Mahatma prophesied, "You will never prosper.
Your families will always remain like this." So now also you can see that
there are only eight houses in that village. Sometimes there are seven
families living there, but never have even nine families lived there.
When I went there I asked people why there were only a few houses there,
even though this village is very old and their families are very big.
They told me that their ancestors had tortured a Sadhu to death, and that
he had cursed them. Whatever words the devotees of God speak, always come
true. People who are intoxicated by worldly things never get happiness.
The worldly people try to acquire the qualities of the Saint, and they
think that by criticizing they will attract people and people will follow
them; but from within they are burning in the fire of egoism, they cannot
acquire the qualities of the Saint. When they are cutting the root of
spirituality, how can they expect the branches of the tree of spirituality
to remain alive? When they are fighting the Saints, Who have no enmity,
then the Lord of Judgment gives the punishment according to their deeds.
No one else is the protector of the critic of the Saint;
Nanak says: If the Saint wishes He can liberate him.
No one protects the critic of a Saint. But if that very Saint Who is
criticized wants to, He can liberate that critic.
The critic of the Saint cries,
As the fish without water twists itself with death pains.
The critic of a Saint suffers as the fish suffers without water. As the
fish dies without water, when the death of th* e critic of a Saint comes,
he also dies in that way.
The critic of the Saint is always hungry, he never gets
satisfied,
As the fire is not satisfied with firewood.
No matter how much God gives to the critic, still the fire of desire will
go on burning within him. As the fire never gets satisfied no matter how
much wood you put into it - it will just keep on burning - in the same
way, no matter how much praise the critic gets, how much wealth he gets
from God, still that fire of desire will burn.
The critic of the Saint is left alone,
As the barren sesame stalk is abandoned in the field.
The critic of a Saint is left alone, because gradually all his relatives
and all his near-and-dear ones and all his friends leave him, and the day
comes when he is left without anyone's company. His condition is like a
stalk of a particular kind of sesame seed which stands alone in the field.
This plant grows normally and bears fruit, but in that fruit there is only
ash and not the real sesame.
When the farmers are harvesting sesame, they don't touch that plant
because its fruit is useless. Guru Nanak Sahib says that those who do
not get awakened by the Master, those who feel that they are awakened
by themselves and don't seek the company of the Masters, they will
be separated by God as the farmer separates that stalk of sesame which
bears useless fruit.
Guru Nanak Sahib means that the critic of a Saint, no doubt, has
sons, daughters, wealth, good health, and everything which good people
have. But since he has done criticism, nothing is left with him; and
no matter how many good deeds he has done, no matter how many austerities
he has performed, how many religious deeds he has done, still he will
not get the fruit of any of it, because by criticizing he has lost all
the fruit of his good deeds.
The critic of the Saint is devoid of religion,
The critic of the Saint always speaks untruth.
The virtues of the critic of a Saint, all his virtues, get destroyed and
he has no morals left: wherever he goes he always lies.
The work of the critic is determined from the very
beginning;
Nanak says: Whatever pleases God happens.
God has written in the fate of a critic of a Saint to do criticism, and
that is why he cannot do anything else except criticism. No matter how
much time he spends in the company of the Master, the habit of criticizing
will not leave. The crane cannot change his habit of searching for fish;
even if he goes and lives in the Mansarovar, the Pool of Nectar, he will
search for fish even there because it is his habit.
Regarding the critic of a Saint, Hazrat Bahu also shares his thoughts
with us: He says, "No matter if you take a bitter squash on the pilgrimage
to Mecca, you cannot turn it into a watermelon. And no matter if you put
a hundred pounds of sugar in a stagnant well, you cannot make the water
sweet."
The critic of the Saint becomes deformed;
The critic of the Saint gets punished in the court
of the Lord.
The critic of a Saint gets a bad reputation and is punished in the Court
of the Lord. Why is he punished? Because he went to the Saint for
meditating on Naam and doing the devotion of God, but instead of that he
became His critic; that's why he is punished.
The critic of the Saints is always grasping at birth
and death;
The critic of the Saint is neither dead nor alive.
The critic of a Saint falls into the cycle of births and deaths.
Wherever he goes he takes birth and then has to die, and again he has
to take birth and again he has to die. No matter in which body he goes,
he is always subjected to births and deaths.
No desire of the critic of the Saint is fulfilled;
The critic of the Saint leaves disappointed.
We people criticize the Saint because we are envious of His popularity.
We think that if we criticize and slander a Saint, those who are following
Him will leave Him and start following us. But when we are not successful
in that, when we cannot make people follow us, then we become sad and
disappointed, because our desire is not fulfilled. In this world we become
disappointed as our desire is not fulfilled, and when we go into the world
beyond, the Lord of Judgment also gives us punishment. He says, "You were
sent to the Master for doing the devotion, but instead of that you started
criticizing Him." That is why nobody protects that kind of critic of a
Saint except the Saint Who was criticized. When we leave the body at the
time of death, Master is responsible for us - if we obey His commandments.
By criticizing the Saint no one will be satiated.
The man becomes as He wishes him to become.
No one can remove what is written in his fate.
Nanak says: Only the True One knows this.
Now Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj says that whatever is written with the pen
of the destiny writer in the fate of a man, he will have to work according
to that. If it is written in his fate to do criticism, he will criticize.
It doesn't matter how much time he spends in the company of the Master and
listening to Him; still he will continue doing his work.
There was a dear one of Guru Gobind Singh whose name was Gungu Brahmin.
He lived for twenty-one years with Guru Gobind Singh, cooking his food. You
can imagine how many Satsangs he must have attended and how much he must
have heard of the Master's teachings - because twenty-one years is a long
time. But that Gungu Brahmin, just to get a little reward, gave the two
innocent sons of Guru Gobind Singh to the Mogul Emperor, and in that way
he betrayed his Master. When Guru Gobind Singh was surrounded by the
Moguls, and he had to leave Anandpur and go to a village called Murunda,
that Gangu Brahmin took the two sons of Guru Gobind Singh and their mother
into his home; and when he heard the announcement by the Mogul people that
they would give a reward for them, just for that little prize he gave
those two innocent boys into the hands of the Mogul Emperor who buried them
alive.
The association of twenty-one years with the Master didn't change him,
because whatever karma he was supposed to do, he did that, even though he
had spent twenty-one years with Guru Gobind Singh. Then, after two hundred
and fifty years, the same Gungu Brahmin was brought into the sangat of
Master Sawan Singh Ji. You can imagine, in two hundred and fifty years, how
many bodies of suffering he would have undergone! After that, when he again
got the human body, he was brought into the company of Master Sawan Singh.
And there also, his habits were of backbiting and criticizing other people.
Sunder Das, who used to live with me, was very close to Master Sawan
Singh; and he told me that Gungu Brahmin had the habit of back-biting and
criticizing so much that other people were upset at him, and they
complained to Master Sawan Singh. The Master asked them, "Don't you
recognize him? Who is he? He is the same Gungu Brahmin who, after living
with Guru Gobind Singh for twenty-one years, gave his two innocent sons
to the Mogul Emperor. Now he is just criticizing and backbiting, and that
is a lesser sin than what he did with Guru Gobind Singh."
Because Saints care about the souls whom They have initiated, that
is why, no matter what the disciple does-even the worst sinner - if he is
the disciple of a Master he is liberated sooner or later; because Masters
care about their initiates, and They always maintain the reputation of
Their Mastership.
And regarding the critic of a Saint, Paltu Sahib also has written
something which shall be presented to you now:
Long live the critic, so that our work may be done -
Our work may be done, as he is the unpaid servant.*
(*With this verse, the Master leaves the text of Sukhmani and begins
commenting on a hymn of Paltu Sahib.)
If we criticize the Saints, They do not imitate us - They do not respond
to our criticism. Mean persons always present excuses to justify
themselves and to prove that they are true, but wise men always wait for
time to prove that they are true. Saints always wait for time, because
they know that time will tell people what is the truth.
You may attend the satsang of any perfect Master or read His writing,
and you will not find even one single line of criticism of other people;
They don't criticize others because They have love and respect for all.
Paltu Sahib says, "May the critic live for ages and ages," because
our critic is doing our work. People come asking for employment; but
without getting any payment, the critic is doing our work.
He travels, becoming alert, and glorifies us
in the three worlds.
If someone's back has pain and he wants to be alert, he ties a piece
of cloth tightly around his waist. So here He says that the critic has
tied that piece of cloth around his waist, and he is always alert. Going
in all the three worlds, he is glorifying our name. He tells whomever
he meets that that Saint is not good, He has bad qualities, etc. And
in that way, when he talks about the Saint to other people, those who
don't know about Him also come to know about Him. And the dear souls,
those who have love for the Master, think, "Let us go and see what that
Saint looks like, whom he is mentioning." When they come, as they are
dear ones, they get the benefit from the criticism of the Saint.
Once Master Sawan Singh went to a place called Ebtabad, and the
Akalis, those who were opposing Master Sawan Singh, started criticizing
Him. The dear ones who had arranged for Master Sawan Singh's visit there
came to Him and asked if they could do any advertising or at least
announce that He had come there. So Master Sawan Singh said, "Why are
you worried about that? Those who are supposed to do that work, you will
see that very soon they will start."
So after some time, the Akalis, who were opposing Master Sawan Singh,
put speakers on a jeep and went all around the city, saying, "The Guru of
Radhaswami has come, and you should not go to see him because he has such
an attraction in his eyes that he will perform magic on you."
When people heard that announcement they thought, "Let us go and see
how that man can perform magic with his eyes and how he can attract people."
Master Sawan Singh was standing on the roof of a building with the dear
ones who had arranged for his visit there. He saw that this publicity was
going on and He told them, "You see, they are doing your work. Are they
doing it or not?"
So many people came into the satsang that the tent which they had made
wasn't big enough and many people had to sit outside. Afterwards, it was
heard that many said, "We thank the Akali brothers who told us about such
a great Master." If they had not criticized such a Master, they would not
have come to meet Him. So this is what happens when the Saint is
criticized: those who are criticizing the Saints are not actually
criticizing, but they are glorifying the Saints' name.
Mahatma Chatterdas says, "I don't know what happens, but when one goes
to the home of the Satguru he never wants to come back, because in the
home of the Satguru all the problems are solved and all the differences of
caste and religions are removed. Further, He says, "Ranjha gets Hir"; that
is, "the lover gets the Beloved."
The critic is worried for us, not even for a moment
does he forget us;
Day and night he keeps working and lovingly abuses us.
Now He says, "We are less concerned about ourselves than our critic is
concerned about us; day and night with much love, he is abusing us, he is
criticizing us, and he's telling people about us."
Saints speak with determination and make people leave
the illusion;
The critic is our Master who makes us unite with Naam.
Saints come into this world with a strong determination, and They are
not afraid of the critics. That is why They always respect the critic:
They know that if there were no critics They would never have become
free of sins. Only the critic takes the burden of the sins without getting
paid, and relieves the devotee of God of his burden.
Hearing this - that the critic has died - Paltu wept.
Long live the critic so that our work may be done!
Saints do not weep, no matter how much They lose in this world. But
They weep when They hear that that critic has died, because only by
the grace of the critic, are They able to manifest Naam; and They know
that now that the critic has gone, who is there left to carry the
burden of the Saints?
If you find someone criticizing the Saint,
Plug your ears - otherwise you will be sinning.
If anyone is criticizing the Saint and someone is listening to that
criticism, the one who listens is also counted as a sinner. Paltu Sahib
says that first of all you should not visit any place where people are
criticizing the Saints, but if you should go to such a place, you should
plug your ears.
Once one dear one came to Master Kirpal when I was also present there.
He asked Master Kirpal why he was not having good meditations. So Master
asked him if he was having the problem of lust. He said, "No." Master said,
"Maybe you are having the problem of anger?" He said, "No, I don't have that
problem." So Master asked him about many basic problems, but none of them
applied. Finally, Master asked him, "Perhaps you are doing criticism?" He
said, "No, I don't do that." Then Master said, "Well, maybe you are hearing
criticism; do you do that?" He said, "Yes, I do that. I have this habit of
hearing criticism." So Master said that the one who criticizes and the one
who hears criticism are both sinners and they both lose.
By committing sin you will go to hell;
Beware of it and run away.
If you are hearing the criticism of a Saint, you will be a sinner, and
you will go into hell. So whenever you hear the criticism of a Saint,
run away from that place.
If the critic is your friend, understand him
as an evil person,
Run away from the place where the Saint is criticized.
If we have any friend, and he turns into a critic of the Saint, we should
leave his company, understanding him as an evil person, and break our
friendship with him.
Slave Paltu says: Those who criticize or hear criticism,
will beg in hell.
Those who either criticize the Saints or hear the criticism of the Saints,
they go into hell and there they live the life of a beggar.
Looking at the critic, I bow down to him:
"Blessed are you who washed my devotee."
Now, Paltu Sahib says that even God folds His hands in front of the
critic and says, "You are the blessed one who has washed away the sins
of my devotee, and you are the blessed one who has purified my devotee.
Because of you, my devotee has come to me." Even God pays homage to the
critic.
For the liberation of the devotees you came into this world.
The devotees got rid of their dirt without paying for it.
Now Paltu Sahib says that God says to the critic, "You have done a
very good job at this work, because without asking for any payment
you have done the work of the devotees - since you have washed away
their sins."
With your glory I have become famous;
You glorified me in all the world.
Now He says, "Because of you (the critic), the Saint became famous in
this world, and the ones who did not know about the Saint came to know
about Him, only because you criticized Him."
Slave Paltu says: By the death of the critic,
I have lost a lot, so I wept a lot.
Again Paltu Sahib says, "When my critic died, I wept a lot - because
now there was no one who would work for me without taking any payment."
All the living beings belong to Him, He is the Doer;
Ever and ever I bow down to Him.*
(*With this verse, the Master returns to the text of the Sukhmani.)
Now Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj says that both in enemies and in friends
God resides., in birds and in animals God resides; God resides everywhere.
So all those who have souls in them, understanding that they have souls
in them, we bow down to them.
Day and night praise God;
Remember Him with every single breath.
Always sing the praise of God; day and night spend the time in remembrance
and do His Simran.
Everything happens in His Will;
Everyone becomes such as is willed by Him.
All is happening in the Will of God. Only He decides from whom He has to
receive the devotion, and whom He has to send in the cycle of births and
deaths, and whom He has to make to criticize the Saints - everything is
happening in the Will of God, and God knows all this.
Plays are His, He Himself is the Doer -
Who else can advise Him?
Manmukhs can never even think about this, because God has created
these plays and God is doing everything. Only the gurumukhs can know
this; manmukhs have no idea of it.
He gives His Naam to those on whom He is gracious;
Nanak says: Such ones are very fortunate.
God keeps those connected with Naam on whom He showers His grace and
mercy; and only those souls are fortunate ones who keep connected with
Naam.
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