THE JEWEL OF HAPPINESS
The Sukhmani of Guru Arjan
a commentary by
AJAIB SINGH
Chapter 20
WHY FORGET HIM?
O Lord, after wandering a lot I have come to Your refuge,
This is the request of Nanak, O Lord, attach me to Your
devotion.
Hazur Maharaj Ji used to say that God has everything with Him, except
humility. Since He is Almighty, since He is Omnipotent, with whom should
He be humble? That is why He does not have humility; otherwise, He has
all other things. If we want to please God, if we want to meet God, first
of all we need to develop real humility within. When will we develop real
humility in ourselves? Only when we rise above our mind and sense organs.
And after making our soul free from the clutches of mind, when we connect
her with the Shabd Naam, only then will real humility be developed within
us. All the Mahatmas who got the opportunity of becoming one with God,
always mentioned the grace of the Master - the grace of God. They never
said that it was because of their merit or their effort that they were
able to fulfill their task. They always said that it was the grace of
the Master, the grace of God, that they met Him.
So here He says, "After being separated from You, I have wandered
a lot, and after wandering a lot I have come to You. I am requesting
of You - I am offering a prayer to You - to please graciously give me
the opportunity of doing Your devotion. O Lord, after wandering a
lot, I have come and taken refuge in You. This is the request of Nanak:
To graciously make me do Your devotion." "We have been separated from
You because of our deeds and karmas; O Lord, shower grace on us and
unite us with You." "We have wandered in all the four directions, and
in all the other places also; now we are tired and we have taken refuge
in You, O Lord." "Our condition was like that of the cow who was not
giving any milk." The cow who doesn't give any milk is not taken care
of by anybody - nobody keeps her with him. "He who does not have the
Lord as his companion is useless, like the cow who does not give any
milk."
O Lord, I the beggar, beg for a gift from You;
Graciously give me the Naam of the Lord.
In this hymn, the disciple has made himself like that beggar who is
standing in front of a householder. He is like a beggar in front of his
Lord, his Master, and - like the beggar - he does not leave the door
without getting a donation from the householder. No matter if the
householder abuses him, calls him names, or beats him, still he remains
there, and insists on receiving a donation from the householder. It is up
to the householder to give him the donation sooner or later, or if he
doesn't want to give to him, he won't. But it is the job of the beggar to
remain there at the door until he gets something. So like that beggar, we
should also make our mind stand in front of our Master, and we should also
remain at His door doing our Simran; and we should go on requesting our
Almighty Master to give us some donation, and we should never leave that
door without taking something from that Master.
"I have come to Your door as a beggar. What do I beg for? I am not
asking for any worldly thing. I don't want any sons or daughters or any
worldly things. I am asking for the donation - I am asking only for Naam."
I beg for the dust of the Saint's feet;
O Par Brahm, fulfill my hope.
"I have come to your door, O Lord, having this faith in You, and asking
from You the dust of the feet of your Sadhus - of your dear ones - because
my liberation will happen only if I get Their dust. O, Almighty Lord, Who
is present everywhere and knows everything, Nanak is making one prayer to
you: Make me the dust of the feet of Your Saints so that I may be
liberated."
I may ever sing Your praises,
I may meditate on You at every single breath.
"If you will shower grace on me, if You will become merciful on me, and
if You will give me Your Naam, day and night I will go on remembering You,
and doing Your Simran, and I will not let even one single breath go
without doing Your Simran, without remembering You, and all the time I
will have the remembrance of You in my heart."
Once upon a time, Moses became proud of his love for God, and he said
to God: "Is there anyone who is dearer to you, or who loves You more than
I do?" God replied, "Moses, what to speak about humans - there are many
people who love Me and remember Me more than you do. Even many birds love
Me more than you do." Then Moses asked God, "How can I become convinced
of this?" So God told Moses to go and talk to one bird who was sitting on
one tree. Moses replied that he could not speak and understand the language
of the birds. So God gave him that power, and told him "When you go and
talk to that bird, you will understand him and be able to communicate with
him." So when Moses went to the bird and asked him if he had any problem -
if he could do anything for him - that bird replied, "Moses, you know that
I do the Simran of the Lord. I remember Him with every single breath. The
only problem I have is that when I have to fly for drinking water, you
know that the pond is very far from here, and the time I spend in flying
to that pond is wasted, and I cannot do the Simran of the Lord at that time.
So if you want to do something for me, please bring that pond closer so
that I don't have to waste so much time flying there, and in that way I
won't be disturbed in my Simran."
When Moses heard that, he was surprised to hear that the bird loved
God so much that he didn't want to give up his Simran even for the second
required to fly to that pond. When he compared his condition with the
condition of that bird, he realized that he was forgetting the Simran of
the Lord for many hours and still was not having any resentment. But the
bird was giving up Simran only for a second, but still was very sorry for
his condition. Then the pride of Moses was broken, and he realized that
there were many other souls in this world who had far more love for God
than he did. Sant Farid says, "I sacrifice myself to those birds who live
in the forest and who live outside on the earth and eat only natural
things, but not even for one second forget God."
I am in love with Your lotus feet,
I will do Your devotion, O Lord, always.
Now He says, "With Your grace, now I am in love with Your feet.*
I am always attached to them, I am devoted to them; and daily, all the
time, I am doing your devotion. This is all because of Your grace."
(*This refers primarily to the Lotus Feet of the inner Radiant Form of
the Master, or to the (figurative) Feet of God. See Kirpal Singh,
"Naam or Word," pp. 299-327.)
You are my only shelter and only support;
Nanak craves for the essence of Naam of the Lord.
There is the support of only one God, and only one God is our Saviour.
Here Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj is requesting to that Almighty One, God:
"O Lord, I am begging You for Naam only: please give me the gift of that
Naam."
Supreme joy comes through the glance of God;
Only some rare ones get the Nectar of the Lord.
Fortunate are those souls on whom the Gracious Light of the Almighty Lord
is cast. This nectar of devotion is shared by only fortunate souls, and
rare are the souls that get this nectar.
Those who taste it are satiated,
They become perfect and never waver.
Those who have tasted this nectar of devotion - this nectar of Naam -
such people never become unstable; they never go here and there from
the Path; they become perfect men.
They are filled to the brim with the sweetness
and joy of love;
In the company of Sadhus, the yearning is created.
They are the oceans of love, and the oceans of love are filled to the
brim. When we go in Their company, the desire for bathing in that ocean
of love is created within us. And then we also, after taking Naam from
Them, think about going within and drinking that nectar. This is the
only benefit of coming in the company of the Saints: that when we come
in Their company, the desire for going within and tasting that nectar of
love arises within us and we also swim in and absorb ourselves in that
nectar.
They give up everything and take refuge in God;
The Light gets manifested within Them and day and night
They remain connected.
We have to go to the Master, giving up our own self, and when we do that,
Master will connect us with God; and then we will be connected with God
as that Mahatma is. By doing the meditation of Naam, the Light equal to
many suns gets manifested within us, and the darkness of ignorance is
dispelled.
Very fortunate ones meditate on the Lord;
Nanak says, happiness comes by being dyed in Naam.
If there is anyone in this world who is the most fortunate, it is the one
who meditates on Naam, becomes one with Naam, and absorbs himself in Naam.
Those people who do the meditation of Naam get the real respect, the real
happiness and the real contentment. Blessed is the day when we met the
Master. The day when we came in contact with the Master Who is One with
the Naam was a blessed one, and we sacrifice ourselves on that day,
because we met the Master then.
The desires of the devotee are, fulfilled
When he obtains the pure teachings from the Master.
When the colors of the world leave us, and the color of Naam comes upon
us, then that desire or wish with which we took Naam initiation - the
desire of God realization -is fulfilled, and we manifest that Naam, that
God, within ourselves. Were we able to do all these things by our own
efforts? Was all this because of us? No. This was not because of us. It
was all because of the grace of our Master. Because Master was gracious
on us, He gave us Naam initiation; and after that, He made us do the
meditation, and He made us travel on the path of the Masters; and later
on, with His grace, He manifested Naam. within us. It was all due to His
kindness and grace.
God is gracious on His people;
He makes His devotee happy.
God gives happiness, and He always makes him prosperous with whom He is
pleased. "If Satguru looks at you with gracious Eyes, you get million-fold
happiness and kingdoms."
After cutting the attachments the devotee
gets liberated;
His birth and death, pain and illusion,
also come to an end.
Graciously the Satguru cuts down all the attachments which the souls had -
the attachments of physical, astral and causal bodies - and after removing
them and making the soul free from the clutches of mind, He gives
liberation. Swami Ji Maharaj says, "First of all there is the binding of
the body, and then the binding of the wife comes, and later on the
attachment or binding of the son comes, and then the grandsons come; and
in that way the attachments - the bindings - go on increasing, and in
the end one does not learn anything from them."
One's desires are fulfilled and the faith bears fruit;
One is united with God Who is ever present with him.
The desire which we had of realizing God was fulfilled. When did that
happen? When we did the devotion of Lord, having all faith and love in
Him. After that, He fulfilled our desire of realizing Him. Now what is
the condition? Always God is with us, whether we are sitting in a room
or traveling; He is always with us. We are always accompanied by God:
even if we are sitting in a closed room and it is a dark night and
nobody can come to us, still God is with us. Whether we talk to someone
or we go here or there, everywhere God is accompanying us.
God has united him who belongs to Him with Himself:
Nanak says, He is absorbed in the devotion of Naam.
Our soul is the essence of God, and that very God took pity on us and
came into this world, taking up the human body, and graciously gave us
initiation; and then, graciously and lovingly He made us unite with Him.
You go where you are attached. When the attachment of the disciple is
with the Naam, and with the devotion of Naam, then Nanak says, "According
to your attachment to the devotion of Naam, you got attached to the Naam."
Why forget Him Who does not allow the labor to go
fruitless?
Why forget Him Who recognizes whatever is done?
When his eyes are opened, the disciple comes to know that Master, God,
is with him, accompanying him like a shadow. Not even for one moment
does God leave him alone. Then the disciple realizes that God was not
far from him, that God was always with him. So here Guru Arjan Dev Ji
Maharaj says, "Why do you forget such a God Who always accompanied you
like a shadow, and Who always gave you the fruit of your every single
moment's devotion? All the good deeds you did, all the times you spent
in His remembrance, you were paid for, so why forget such a God Who does
such good things for you?"
Why forget Him Who gave everything?
Why forget Him Who gives life to all beings?
Why forget such a God Who has given you everything? First of all He gave
us the body, and then He Himself came in the human body and graciously
gave us His secret. And there are many other things which He gave us. So
why forget such a God? He has given us the Light, and if He had not put
His power in our body, we would not be able to function in it. You know
that, at the time of death, when He withdraws His power, when He withdraws
the ray of the Shabd from our body, then no doubt all the parts of the body
are still there, but they do not function. Our eyes do not blink, we
cannot speak, we cannot take even one step, we cannot move our hands; we
cannot do anything. So what is that by Whose presence we are functioning?
That is the Power of the Shabd, that is the ray of the Shabd, and when
God withdraws His ray of Shabd from the body, then this body becomes
useless. So why forget Him Who has given us so much? Mahatmas say that you
should remember Him Who is sitting within you and Who is working for you,
sitting within you.
Why forget Him Who saves the child in the fire
of the womb?
Some rare one understands this with the grace
of Master.
Guru Arjan says that in the womb of the mother, when the bones are being
made, it is very hot, and it is unbearable. Why forget such a God Who
saved you when it was so hot in the womb of the mother? Rare are the
souls who, with the grace of the Master, understand that God is taking
care of them. Masters do not mean to say that you should give up all
your duties and sit idle. No; it is your duty to work. There was one
disciple of Mohammed who thought like this when Prophet Mohammed said,
"Everything happens in the Will of God." That dear one used to do the
seva of taking care of the camels. It was a very hard job for him
because it used to take a lot of time to tie the ropes to the camels;
and when he heard Prophet Mohammed say that "Everything happens in the
Will of God," he thought, "When everything is going to happen in the
Will of God, then what is the use of tying ropes to the camels and taking
care of them? If it is the Will of God that the camels should be stolen,
then they will be stolen no matter whether I put the ropes around their
necks or whether I take care of them or not."
But Prophet Mohammed replied, "No, that is not true. It is your
duty to tie the ropes and take care of them, and if, after all that,
still they are stolen, then you can say that it was the Will of God. When
you do not succeed even after trying hard, then you should understand that
it is the Will of God; otherwise you should always try your best; you
should always perform your duty."
Why forget Him, Who protects us from the poison
And unites that which was broken for birth after birth?
The soul is affected by the poison of pleasure, and she is wandering
here and there without any understanding. Why forget such a God Who
takes the soul out from the poison of pleasure, and connects the soul
back to God, from Whom she was separated - from whom she was broken -
for so many ages? Why forget such a God Who brings her back home?
The perfect Master has made the devotees realize
this reality:
Nanak says, The devotees meditate on their Lord.
Since our Masters have told us this reality, this fact - that meditation
of the Naam is the only thing that will go with us, and that it is the
only successful thing in this age - that is why giving up our own
intellect, giving up our thoughts, we have taken up the Path of the
Masters, and with Their grace we have done the devotion of the Lord.
With Their grace, we have become one with the Lord. So that is why
we will always say that meditation on Naam is the only thing that will
go with us, and we should do that.
O Friends, Saints do this work:
Leave all else and repeat the Naam of the Lord.
Saints come to this world and say, "O dear ones, O friends, giving up
the enjoyment of pleasure, what should you do? You should do the
meditation of Naam, because this is the only thing which will come
to your rescue; this is the only thing that will be counted."
Do Simran, Do Simran, and by doing Simran
get happiness.
Meditate on Naam yourself and make others
meditate on it.
Whether you are sleeping or awake, whether you are sitting or standing,
do the Simran of the Lord. You yourself should do the Simran of the Lord,
and if anyone comes to you, inspire him to also do the Simran of the Lord.
Lovingly you can tell him, "Dear one, by doing the Simran of the Lord, I
have got this, and if you understand this, and you want this, you should
also do Simran and get its benefit."
By loving the devotees one can swim
across the world;
Without devotion the body will become ashes.
We can cross the ocean of life by loving the devotees of the Lord, and
if after getting the human body, we do not utilize it in doing the
devotion of the Lord, if we do not cross the ocean of life, what will
happen? We will make ashes out of this body, and go empty-handed from
this world. Guru Ramdas Ji says, "He within whose heart Naam is not
manifested, it would have been better for his mother not to give birth
to him. Because without the Naam, his body is empty, and he is wandering
here and there like a useless man."
The Naam is the treasure of good fortune
and happiness,
The drowning mortal obtains support.
Up until now, all those who have got benefit - all those who have got
liberation - have done so only by doing the meditation of Naam. They
were able to meet God only by doing the meditation of Naam. If anyone
is drowning in the ocean or in a river, and is picked up by a boat, he
becomes very happy; because then he is sure that he will definitely
cross that ocean and be saved, and not drown. In the same way, we don't
know how many ages have passed since we have been drowning in this ocean
of life. When we get Naam, Naam is like that ship on which we can cross
this ocean of life. So when we get Naam, because we are suffering a lot
after drowning in this ocean of life for ages and ages, our soul becomes
happy, and we know for sure that now, since we have got Naam, we will
cross this ocean of life easily and safely.
All the pains get destroyed:
Nanak says: Meditate on Naam, which is
the treasure of virtues.
What are the qualities of Naam? You know that whenever we take birth,
whether we take birth as a bird or an animal, or even as a human being,
there are always pains and problems. The only way to avoid these pains
and problems is the meditation of Naam, because the meditation of Naam
is the only cure for all the pains and problems.
The love is created, and the yearning to taste
the love is created within;
In the mind and body one has this.
Within us, love for God has been created, and day and night we have
this happiness: that God has given us this opportunity to do His
devotion.
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