THE JEWEL OF HAPPINESS The Sukhmani of Guru Arjan a commentary by AJAIB SINGH Chapter 22 ON THE PROTECTION OF GOD O, Lord of men and other living beings! You are present everywhere. The One God Himself pervades, and no other can be seen, says Nanak. In today's Ashtapadi, Guru Arjan Dev is singing the glory and praise of Almighty Lord by saying, "O Lord, you are present everywhere, You have created everyone, and you are protecting and nourishing everyone." All the Mahatmas - those who have done the meditation and have realized Him - have always said, "O Lord, there is nobody else except You and there is no one else whose devotion we can do. So when only You are present everywhere and when You are the One Who does everything, we cannot describe Your glory because there is no one else equal to You. So how can we compare You with anyone and how can we sing Your glory?" When we see God within ourselves and when we manifest Him, He becomes our personal experience. Wherever we look, we see God everywhere, in enemies, in friends, whether it is human, animal, whether it is bird or anything else, wherever we look we always see God present. He Himself speaks and hears Himself He is one and He Himself is many. O Lord, You Yourself sit down and read from the Holy Scriptures, and You Yourself sit down and listen to what is being read. O Lord, You are One, and whenever it comes in Your Will, You become many from one and You spread, You expand Yourself. When it came in Your Will You created the creation. And absorbed it in Yourself in Your Will. When it came in Your Will you created this creation and when it comes in Your Will You dissolve this creation and make it one with You. There is nothing without You. You have strung everyone in Your String. There is no creature - nothing - without You. You are present within everyone and You have tied all the souls, all the creatures in Your rope. God is in the soul and the soul is in God. But you can know this secret only with the Grace of Master. He, whom God Himself gives the understanding, Gets the gift of True Naam. God makes those souls meditate on Shabd Naam to whom He wants to show His play, to show that He is residing everywhere. By the meditation of Naam one comes to know that everything happens because of Naam, and without Naam nobody can do anything. He, who looks on all men with an equal eye, realizes the Reality. He conquers the whole universe, says Nanak. What happens by doing the meditation of Shabd Naam? We acquire the qualities of God, and as God looks at everybody with equal sight in the same way we also become like Him; and we become the knower of the ultimate Truth, which is God. One becomes the knower of all the things in the world and one becomes the conqueror of the world. Conquering the world does not mean to fight with the world and control it using arms and weapons. He means that when one conquers his mind he becomes the conqueror of the whole world. When we control our mind, we become the Owner of the One who has created this Creation, because when you have eliminated mind from within yourself, then nothing stands between you and Almighty God and you become one with God. All men and other living beings are in His hand; He is kind to the poor and is Lord of the orphans. The strings of all the creatures are in the hands of Almighty God and He is the Father of all the orphans. No one can destroy those whom He protects; Whoever forgets God is dead. No power in this world can destroy the one protected by God. Who dies? Who is destroyed? Only those who forget God and only who therefore do not get His love and protection. Once a pregnant deer was sleeping, and seeing her sleeping a hunter trapped her on all four sides. On one side he put a trap and on another side he lit a fire. On the third side he had his dog standing there, and on the fourth side he stood with his bow and arrow. The deer was sleeping and she did not know what was going on around her. But when she felt the heat of the fire and heard all the noise, she saw that she was trapped in all four directions and there was no way to escape from this hunter. At that time she prayed to Almighty God, "O Lord, save me from all these problems." You know that even the birds and animals remember God and do His devotion in their own way. And it is natural to pray to God whenever you are trapped in any danger. This is the nature of all creatures: whether they believe in the existence of God or not, whenever they face any danger or any problem, it is natural for them to remember God because He has created all the creatures. So when that deer prayed to Almighty God, what did He do? Suddenly there was a big storm and the fire spread wide and burned the trap, and the hunter thought the deer was trying to escape but he couldn't see correctly and he shot his dog instead of the deer; and at the same time a snake bit the hunter and he was also killed. Whether one is man or animal, whether one is bird or any other creature, if he remembers God with a true heart and if he prays to God, God will always come there to help him. Where can one go after leaving Him? One God, Who is unaffected by Maya, is the need of all. It is a pity that people - giving up such a God Who protects everyone and gives life to everyone, nourishes everyone and brings help to everyone - go and worship other things. Is there anyone who can help us, is there anyone worth being devoted to, to worship, except that God Who has given life to everyone? There is one very famous story in the Hindu scriptures about two brothers. One was called Hota and the other was called Brahma. They were both very learned pundits. Once it so happened that they were invited by some householders to attend a feast, and they were served very good food, they were given some money for the wear and tear of their teeth, because it was a custom in the olden days that when learned people were invited by householders, after being given food they were also given some money. It so happened that Brahma, who was less learned than Hota, got less money. Now Brahma was very clever and when he saw that Hota was getting more money than him, he thought, I should get some money from his share also. So he said, "Listen brother, no matter if they have given us more or less money, we should collect this money and share it equally." Now Hota said, "Well, they gave me more and gave you less. It was all written in our fate that we should get that much, so there is no question of sharing it equally; we both got separate money; I shouldn't bother about that." But Brahma said "No, you should definitely share, because you are my brother," and things like that. But Hota didn't do what he wanted. So Brahma got angry and said, "You are very egotistical and you are not listening to me. I am giving you this curse: that in your next lifetime you will become an elephant." Now Hota was also a pundit and he also had the power of cursing others; so he said, "You have cursed me, that in my next lifetime I will become an elephant. Well! I curse you - that in your next lifetime you will become an octopus, and you will always remain in the water and have many problems." In the olden days when these learned pundits were giving curses to each other, they meant it: they also had some powers. So in their next life both brothers according to their curses got the bodies of the elephant and the octopus. And it is written that once that elephant came to drink the water and the octopus was there living in the water, and suddenly the octopus came out and caught hold of the elephant. The other elephants who came to the water tried their best to release the elephant, Hota, but they were not successful. And he also resisted the octopus wanted to pull him into the water but the elephant was resisting. It is said that it went on for thousands of years, and during that time the elephants brought food for Hota, and the octopus didn't have to go far for food because he was an animal of the water and he was getting his food from the water. It is said that after thousands of years, when the elephants stopped bringing the food, and the elephant Hota started losing his strength, it so happened that the octopus was able to pull the elephant into the water, and when only his trunk remained out Hota requested the Lord, "O Lord, now I have only your support: I am praying to you to save me from this calamity." So it is said that the Lord came down and cut the bindings, the arms, of the octopus, and released the elephant. This is a very famous story and Guru Nanak has mentioned it in his writings. He says, "O Lord, save us in the same way that you protected that elephant from the octopus." He in whose hands are the ways of all living beings - Understand Him to be internally as well as outwardly with you. God has the schedule of all the souls. He knows when the souls should be sent in the world and when they should be brought back. And sitting within, He protects and nourishes the soul and when the nighttime comes He brings that soul back. When we manifest that God within we can easily see that the same God Who was helping and protecting us within was helping us outside also, and He is always accompanying us like a shadow. In all vegetation there is life; there is curd in all types of milk; in the same way God resides in everyone. God is the treasure of all qualities and is without any limits. Servant Nanak is ever a sacrifice to you. The Perfect One remains gracious forever. He is merciful to all. God is perfect, He is gracious, He is merciful on all, and He protects all. And it is not true that He is pleased only with those who do His devotion and He is not pleased with those who do not do His devotion. He says, "Whether someone does Your devotion or not, You are pleased with them, You are gracious on them. Even if one abuses You, then also You are gracious on them." It is not true that God gives pain and unhappiness to those who do not do His devotion and those who abuse Him. We suffer pain only because of our own karma; God does not give any pain, because He is gracious on all. He Himself knows His plays. The all conscious One is present everywhere. God Himself knows about His plays. He is all-conscious, He is all- pervading, He is almighty. He knows everything without your saying, then why pray to Him? No doubt we become happy and we please our mind by praying to Lord, but there is no need for it because God knows everything about us even without our asking. He protects and nourishes everyone in different ways. Whatever He has created, meditate upon Him. He protects all the creatures who He has created and they are all expressing their gratitude towards Him in their own language. To whomsoever He likes, He blends him with Himself. Such ones do His devotion and sing His praise. Now He says that no doubt God is within everyone and we all are expressing our gratitude toward Him in our ways and our own languages. But who becomes one with God? Who manifests that God within them? First of all God brings those whom He has to make one with Him into the human body. Then He gives them the knowledge of the Shabd Naam. And after making them do the meditation of the Shabd Naam He makes them one with Him. "Those who forget the Path of the Naam, in the end they repent. Nanak says, This is the truest statement of all: without Naam nobody can get liberation." He who believes in the reality of God with firm faith in his mind Realizes the Doer, says Nanak. In order to do devotion, first of all we need faith. Only if we have faith can we do devotion, only then will God open His door to us. Since He is sitting within us He does not open His door to us if we are not faithful to Him, if our faith is shaky. He is sitting within us and He knows everything. Kabir Sahib says, "Sitting within us, God is looking at the service we are doing to Him. And He gives the prize according to the amount of service we are doing for Him." He who is attached with the One Naam of God; His hopes never go in vain. When those who start doing the devotion of Shabd Naam have the desire of realizing God, of seeing God, definitely they do it. We cannot become successful if we go on doing the old practices which we did before we started doing the devotion of Shabd Naam. If we do the practice of Shabd Naam along with our old practices, we can never become successful. Swami Ji says, "When a soul comes and takes refuge in the Saint He should give up all rites and religions, all other religions. Whatever Path Master shows to the disciple, that practice becomes his religion and his everything." Before taking Naam initiation, no matter how many deeds we do they are all counted in our search, because we are still searching for the Naam. But after we get Naam from the Satguru, whatever He tells us to do, we should do it with firm determination. It becomes the Seva for the servant. By understanding the Will, one gets the highest status. The disciple should do his Bhajan and Simran, his meditation, under- standing it as a service to the Master. And he should meditate without missing it. If lovingly we do our meditation without missing it, then what do we get from the Master? Master gives us the highest status for our service, for our meditation for Him. Up until now all those who have done the meditation of Shabd Naam, all those who have done the service of the Master, have not returned empty-handed from His court. There is no thought above it For those within whom the formless One resides. There is no one above the Naam of God. And when there is no one above God, then the disciple should not have any other understanding. When he has got the way of doing devotion to God, when he has got the Naam, then he should not look here and there and for any other thing. Many times I have said that once in a Satsang like this, Master said that if anyone wanted to see God they should close their eyes. Everybody did that except me. So one dear one complained to Master, saying that I was not closing my eyes. And when Master came and asked me, I said, "Well, you have said that those who want to see God should close their eyes. But I am seeing God with my open eyes, God who is six foot tall, and has two legs, and Who is moving here and there. Why do I need to close my eyes to see something else? Because I don't want to see any other God except You; I don't want to believe in any other God except you; and when I am able to see You without closing my eyes, then what is the use of closing my eyes?" Guru Nanak says, "Understand the Lord and Master as One. Whatever is in the will of the Master, only that happens." Kabir Sahib says, "Both Master and Lord are standing in front of me. To whom should I pay homage? I will definitely pay homage and respect to my Master Who made it possible for me to meet the Lord." "O my mind, go on repeating Master, Master, because without Him I am nothing. Day and night have the support of the Master Whose gift cannot be destroyed by anyone. Master is the Creator, Master is Perfect, and Master is the Almighty Lord." Their fetters are broken and they become free from enmity; They worship the feet of the Master day and night. Master has cut down all the attachments so we don't have any attachments with anyone. We don't have any enmity for anyone because now we know that God is present in everyone. Nobody is our enemy, and now with the grace of the Master we have come to know this. And Nanak says, "There is no one except God." They are happy in this world and the world beyond; Nanak says, God Himself unites them with Himself. The soul has got peace. When we are at peace in this world, our life becomes successful. When we leave this world, in the other plane also we will remain peaceful because Master is the One who is going to take us. It was not within our reach or our power to obtain this peace; it was the Grace of Almighty God Who came in this world in the form of our Master and gave us the knowledge of the Shabd Naam. After making us do the devotion of Shabd Naam He will take us back Home. It was because of His Grace that we were able to obtain all these things. Get joy in the company of the Sadhus; Sing the praises of the Lord, Who is Supreme Joy. If you want real happiness, what should you do? You should go in the company of some Sadhu Who has done meditation. What will be the use of going in the company of the Perfect Sadhu Who has done the meditation? You will get the bliss of God and that Mahatma will make you do the devotion of the Almighty Lord. Kabir Sahib says that even if you don't get good food to eat, you should still remain in the company of the Sadhu. It is much better than being in the company of worldly people who can provide you with good food. Kabir Sahib says, "Don't leave the Path on which the Saint is coming, because when you see Him you will become pure. And when you meet Him, you will start doing the meditation of Naam." Meditate and ponder over the Naam of Lord and Its essence. Make the precious body successful. Once you are in the company of the Sadhu, don't waste your time in sleeping or in criticizing others. Utilize it in doing the meditation of Shabd Naam, and make the precious gem which God has given to you, this human body, successful, and utilize it for the purpose for which it was given. Sing the nectar-full words of God's Praises: This is the method of liberating the soul. Mahatmas are full of nectar; their words are full of nectar. If there is any way by which you can get liberation, it is by obeying the nectar- full words of the Master, molding your life according to the instructions of the Masters. See God near you for all the eight watches of day, Then the ignorance and darkness will be removed. What is the use of going in the company of the Master? When we go in His company, Master creates the desire within us to do meditation, and removing the darkness of ignorance from within us, He lights the lamp of knowledge. Hear and absorb the teachings into your heart. Nanak says, then you will get the fruit according to your desires. Whatever the Master says, make that dwell in your heart, and always keep it there. If you draw a line on a stone, it stays there. In the same way, whatever Master says, keep that in your heart. If you do it, then the desire you have of realizing God will definitely be fulfilled, and you will be successful in that. We should not become like the stone in the water when we come to the Satsang. As Swami Ji says, "The stone remains in the water but does not absorb any water from it." When we come into the Satsang we should not make our hearts like stone, so that when we are sitting in front of the Master we receive the impression and the effect of all that He is saying, but when we leave the Satsang we don't have any effect. We should always keep all the Master's words in our heart and we should always obey. Whenever the Masters say anything, their words are full of nectar and in their words is real happiness. Drinking the nectar of the words of the Master, you can satisfy your thirst. Once Guru Gobind Singh went in the village of some thieves in the Malwa region. Guru Gobind Singh asked them what their purpose was. They answered that they were thieves. Guru Gobind Singh said, "You should not continue doing this because nobody is going to come and rescue you; nobody will help you if you continue doing this." They replied that they could not leave that business. The Guru replied, "Well, if you cannot leave this business, at least you can keep an account of how many times you have stolen things from other people's houses. And you should know that as many times as you have stolen, you will be punished." So when they started counting the times they had stolen they were terrified, looking at the number, and they thought it would be terrible for them to face the Lord and His court when they left the world. So they all decided and promised that they would never do that business of stealing things again. When once again Guru Gobind Singh went into their village, he asked how they were doing. So they replied that they had left that business completely because once they counted how many times they were doing bad deeds, they were afraid that in the Court of the Lord nobody was going to help them, and they were collecting a lot of sins. "Now since we have left our old business and we are not stealing things anymore, You will be the One who will rescue us and You will have to help us." So that was the way in which Guru Gobind Singh told them to stop doing their bad deeds: by counting how many times they had done them. In the same way, our beloved Master Kirpal was very gracious on us and He invented this way, in this age, of keeping the accounts of our deeds: he invented the procedure of keeping the diary, and it is the best way to know our faults. It is very good to keep account of our faults because when we do so we can tell our mind, "Look here, how many times you have done this bad deed!" It is a very good way of making your mind ashamed of your bad deeds. Keeping the diary is like a cashbook so we can know for sure where we stand and how many times we have committed bad deeds. So we should wholeheartedly keep the diaries, and once we do any bad deed we should never repeat it. Improve your life in this world and in the world beyond By keeping the Naam of the Lord within your heart. If we manifest the Naam in our within, we improve in this world as well as in the other. The teachings of the Perfect Master are perfect. He in whose heart these teachings dwell, realize the Truth. The Initiation of the perfect Master, the Naam of the perfect Master, is perfect. And those who get that, and practice it with faith, they themselves know this for sure: they can test the Naam initiation of the Master. When the Saints give Naam initiation they don't leave room for doubt in their disciples, because They connect the souls with the real home. Repeat the Naam with mind and body Then the pains, grief and fear will leave the heart. Master never dies; even if He leaves the body right after giving initiation, He is always living for those disciples who have received the initiation from Him. If the disciples have any problem, any difficulty in meditation, they can go for guidance to the spiritual successor of the Master, who will be very happy to guide them and help them in any spiritual problem. When the Master leaves the body, His initiates do not have the benefit of His physical darshan. But that is the only thing they miss; every inner thing remains the same, and He works on the inner planes as usual. New people can become initiated only by the spiritual successor of the Master. O Trader, do the trading of Truth: Your cargo will be valued in the court of the Lord. If you are a businessman you should know that Naam is the only commodity in which you should deal. The merchandise of Naam is the only thing which is accepted by God; and God is pleased with those who do this business. Many times I have said that the receiving of Naam is like getting a passport or visa to enter into another country. If our documents are not properly stamped or written nobody will allow us to enter into a foreign country. In the same way if we don't have the stamp of Naam on us they they will not let us enter our real Home. When the Satguru gives us Naam He puts His stamp on us and nobody asks for anything from those souls who have got the stamp of the Satguru on them. And those who have got the stamp of the Satguru are welcome and accepted in the court of Lord without any problem. Keep only one support in your heart. Then you will not come and go again, says Nanak. Now He says that one should have faith in the Masters, one should have love for the Masters, one should understand only the support of the Master. Such a disciple does not have to come back in this world again and again; all his coming and going from this world comes to an end. Where can one go away from Him? One is saved by meditating on the Preserver. If anyone says that he has left the Master, it is his misunderstanding, because where can he go when the Master is sitting within him? And even if he leaves the Master outwardly, he cannot leave the Master inwardly: not only is Master sitting within him, He is protecting him from within. Master used to say that it is very possible that the Master might leave the rope very loose for the disciple and that He might wait for the disciple for a long time. But after all, the one end of the rope is still in the hands of the Master and he can pull it back any time He wants. All the fears vanish by meditating on the Fearless One. Man gets liberation with the grace of the Lord. To do the devotion of the Lord we cannot be afraid of anyone: we have to become fearless. When we do the devotion of the Lord fearlessly, we will become one with Him; we will also become the Fearless One and we will not have to be afraid of anyone. He who is protected by God doesn't have any suffering. By meditating on Naam he gets happiness within. He who has accepted the support of the Lord, he who has done the devotion of the Lord, may live in the world, but still he does not become dirty with the dirt of the world. Because the souls of those who do the devotion of the Lord get the strength to face the pain and suffering of this world. Kabir Sahib says, "Everybody gets the punishment because he has got the body. The one who has the knowledge about it bears the pain happily, and the ignorant one who does not have this knowledge bears it unhappily and complaining." The worries go away and egoism vanishes. None can reach such a devotee. By doing the devotion of Naam worry goes away. Then you don't have to worry what is going to happen next, tomorrow, and like that. And by doing the devotion of Naam egoism also goes away, and the devotee who does the devotion of Naam cannot be reached by anyone: nobody can become equal to him. The Brave Master is watching over his head; His affairs get completed, says Nanak. After giving us initiation the Master does not become worryless; He is always concerned about us. He says, "My Almighty Master Who is Perfect is always on my head and He is always protecting me. And He is helping me in every single thing." The only difference is that unless we have complete faith and love for Him, we cannot see Him working for us; but He is still always with us. Many dear ones come and tell me about those people who have never seen me, but still they felt and experienced the Grace of the Master. I have told you the story of Harnam Singh many times: that how he had the darshan of the Master while he was driving in the car. He was not initiated but still when he left the body Master came there to protect him. He whose wisdom is superb and whose glance is full of nectar: By whose mere glimpse the entire creation is liberated. The teachings of the Master are perfect for the disciple. In the darshan of the Master is Nectar, and if the Master wants He can liberate the whole world just by looking at them. Hazrat Bahu has said, "If the Master looks at hundreds and billions with just one loving glance He can liberate them all. But even if millions of learned men look at the world, they cannot liberate anyone." That is why Bhai Nand Lal, a devoted disciple of Guru Gobind Singh, told Him, "O Lord, on Your side it is the question of one glance; but on my side it is the question of my whole life." Once Master Sawan Singh was traveling and He met a sadhu who was wearing colored robes. Looking at him that sadhu said, "Well, after all, you have come here." And Master Sawan Singh replied, "Yes, I have come." Then they talked about many things, and the disciples who were with Master Sawan Singh couldn't understand what was happening. After the meeting was over the disciples asked Master Sawan Singh if He knew that sadhu. Master Sawan Singh replied, "Yes, He is a great meditator sadhu and he has done so much meditation that if he wants, looking at anyone, he could take them to Sach Khand. But he is not showering his grace on people." There are so many Mahatmas, so many meditators in this world who have attained that position and have become perfect; but they are not showering grace, they are not spreading their will in this world. He whose lotus feet are unique - Whose darshan is successful and whose form is beautiful. His Feet are very beautiful and we cannot describe the beauty of his form. Guru Nanak describes the beauty of the Master; He says, "O Master, having Your darshan I live my life. Whenever I look at You, my object in coming in this world is fulfilled." Swami Ji Maharaj also describes the beauty of the Form of the Master by saying, "If anyone looks at the beauty of my Master, he may become astonished and surprised." Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj says, "I wish I could look at my Master all the time, because whenever I look at Him I feel at peace. Whenever I don't look at Him, whenever I am away from Him, I wander here and there like a madman." I also requested the same thing of my beloved Master. Once we were sitting on the same dais and there were so many people there and Master asked me to sing something and say something. So I told Him, "Oh my Beautiful One, Oh my Beloved, I wish that I could go on looking at You, making You sit in front of me." Master never let me sit in front of Him, and I always wanted to sit in front of Him so that I could have His darshan. But He never let me do that. Always He would have me sit on His side, and He never let me sit in front of Him and have His darshan. Blessed is His Seva and His servant who does it. He is the Supreme Being, the All-Conscious One. Blessed is that disciple who does the seva of the Master. Don't think that Master is not aware of your seva, He is the all-conscious One and He knows everything. If you donate in His Name, or if you do the meditation of Shabd Naam, whatever you do in His Name, He accepts that and keeps account of it. Those within Whom He dwells become blessed. Kal cannot come near them. He within whom He dwells, day or night, whether he is sleeping or awake, whether he is standing or sitting, Kal cannot come near him and Kal cannot do anything. They become Immortal and attain the status of Immortality. Nanak says, They meditate upon Him in the company of Sadhus. God is immortal and Master is sent by God to bring the souls back. He works like the bridge between God and the souls. Since God is immortal the Master also is immortal, and the place where Master takes the souls back, the Home of God, that also is immortal. Guru Nanak says, "By going in the company of the Masters we have also become immortal, because of their grace, and because of doing what they have told us to do." Guru Nanak says again, "After searching a lot and going within, we have come to one conclusion: O brother, there is no difference between Master and God. Master is Lord, and Lord is Master. My Satguru is always present; He never comes, He never goes. He is all-conscious, all-pervading and He is always present." Earlier, Guru Arjan Dev told us the glory of the Lord and that the Lord is present everywhere, the owner of all Creation, the creator of all creation, and sitting within everyone, He protects them. Later he told us of the glory of the Master Who makes it possible for us to meet the Lord, what the point is of going in the company of the Masters, and what Master does. Like God Master is also immortal and He takes us to His immortal Home. He takes us to the Anami place which does not fall in dissolution or Grand Dissolution. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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