HEAVEN ON EARTH
by
Sant Ajaib Singh Ji
This talk was given in May, 1987
at 16PS Ashram, Rajasthan, India,
as part of a series of comments on
the "Asa Ji di Vars" of Guru Nanak.
Once Guru Nanak Dev Ji was going somewhere when He saw a person talking
very rudely to somebody else. So looking at him, Guru Nanak lovingly
explained to him, "Look here, O dear one: by speaking rudely, we become
rude. It hurts the feelings of others, and it brings a great loss to us
also."
Once in a marketplace, a person was calling someone names, and he was
using very bad words. A father and a son came there. The father paid no
attention to the rude behavior and the bad words of that person, but the
son was innocent and he told his father, "Look here O father, look here
dear father, how that person is calling bad names, how rudely he is
behaving!" The father replied, "Dear son, in this world, which in fact is
a marketplace, everyone has come to sell his own merchandise, to do his
own work. You should not pay any attention to what other people are doing;
we should mind our own business." No one else was paying any attention to
the rude behavior and the bad words of that person because everyone was
doing his work.
Kabir Sahib says, "If someone understands how to speak, speech is
priceless." Only if someone understands and knows how to speak, can
speech be priceless: if we are speaking good words, if we are speaking
sweet words, we can even turn our enemy into our friend. But if we do
not know how to speak, if we are speaking rude words, bad words, then we
can even make our friend an enemy.
Kabir Sahib lovingly tells us, "Those who speak sweet words, those
who work in this world humbly, they do not lose anything."
Guru Nanak says, "O ignorant mind, by speaking tasteless or rude words,
we hurt our own heart, our own inner self, and those words are not accepted.
The words which are spoken sweetly, the words which are accepted in the
Court of the Lord, are the only words which are appreciated."
This is something which all the satsangis should consider and think about
patiently. Almost one hundred percent of our problems, all the problems which
happen in our lives, in our homes, are due to our rude words: the tasteless
words we speak. Only because of our rude behavior and rude words, husband
and wife do not get along with each other, father does not get along with
son, and we have all these problems. But the problems are created only
because we do not speak in a good way.
Once there was a husband and a wife who always had difficult times
together, because the husband was proud of doing his devotion; he was a
very devoted person. He used to welcome dear ones who would come to his
home, and he would do satsang, and talk about meditation, and things like
that. He would inspire people to do meditation and to keep their lives pure.
The wife had other things to do, and she was proud of her own practices. One
day the wife told the husband, "Every day you tell people that they should
keep their lives pure and do meditation - you tell them so many teachings
and so many good things, and you try to make them good - but it doesn't
affect anyone! No one accepts your teachings. No matter how much you try,
no one does exactly as you tell them to do. But I am so competent, whatever
I tell people to do, they will accept it in a minute, and they will do it."
So he said, "Well, let me see how that is possible." She said, "Okay,
tomorrow I will show you how words spoken by me will have an effect, and
how people obey me."
So next day, the husband went out to do his worldly work, thinking that
after finishing it he would come back to his home, meet the dear ones, do
satsang, and talk about meditation, as usual. But just before he came back
to his home, some dear ones came for satsang, and they asked his wife,
"Where is the devotee?" She said, "Well, what should I tell you? He has gone
crazy, and whoever comes to see him for satsang, he ties them with ropes
and beats them with a stick. So if you want to be spared that, you should
run away as soon as possible. If you don't, he will treat you the same way
he has the others." Now nobody wanted to stay there and get a beating, and
they all ran away. After a few minutes, when the devotee came back to his
home, he asked his wife, "Didn't any dear ones come?" She said, "Yes, they
came, but they asked for some rope and a stick, and when I didn't give it
to them, they got upset, and left." The husband said, "Well, dear one, you
should have given them what they wanted, because they are the devotees of
God, and my life is dedicated to God. So you should have given it to them."
She said, "But my dear husband, how could I do anything without your
permission? I didn't want to do anything against your wishes. That is why
I wanted to wait until you told me to do it." So the husband said, "Okay,
give me the rope and the stick, and tell me in which direction they have
gone." So, carrying that rope and stick, he went after them.
When the dear ones saw him coming with the rope and the stick, they were
afraid; they thought, "What the wife said is true! Now this devotee has come
to tie us up and beat us." So they started running, and the devotee who was
carrying the rope ran behind them, shouting, "Dear ones, please wait, take
the rope and the stick. Don't be upset with me!" but they would not listen
to him. They thought, "He has definitely gone crazy, and that is why he is
chasing us."
After a long chase, the dear ones who were running thought, "Well,
there are more of us than him; let us see what he does to us." So when they
stopped, the devotee said, "Dear ones, why you are running away from me? I
welcome you so much. I respect and appreciate your coming to my home so
much. I enjoy your company, and every single step you take towards my home,
I understand that you are honoring me. I value your coming to my home so
much - why are you upset at me? Just for the sake of this rope and this
stick? You can have them." Now they were surprised, because it was a
totally different story than his wife had told.
So this is what happens when the husband and wife do not get along
with each other. If both the husband and wife walk on the same path, get
along with each other, are in tune with each other, only then can they
become successful in the path of spirituality; only then, in their worldly
lives, can they make their home like heaven on earth. Otherwise, what
happened to that devotee of God can happen to them also.
Whenever Saints and Mahatmas come into this world, They tell us that we
should maintain peace in our home. We can maintain peace in our home only
if we learn how to forget and forgive the faults of each other. We people
find faults in each other just for little things, and that is why we create
trouble. When we do not forget the faults of others, when we do not forgive
the faults of others, how can we expect to maintain peace and harmony in
the family?
And when we do not maintain peace and harmony in the family, how can we
progress in spirituality or in worldly life? A hymn of Guru Nanak Dev Ji,
from Asa ji di Var, is presented to you. Listen to it carefully.
O Nanak, by speaking tastelessly,
the body and mind become tasteless:
He is called tasteless, and his glory
becomes tasteless.
Guru Nanak says, "By speaking rude or tasteless words, our body and mind
become rude and tasteless. And by speaking rude or tasteless words, our
glory fades out: people say, `He does not know how to talk.'
In the Court of the Lord, a tasteless one
is thrown out;
The face of the tasteless is spit at.
He says, "Even in the Court of the Lord, a person who speaks rude or
tasteless words is not accepted. There the angels of death curse him and
spit on his face." Even in this world, those who speak rude words are not
welcomed or appreciated by people: everyone curses and blames them, and
everyone spits on their face in the form of curses and blame, and no one
glorifies them. Everyone says, "He cannot get along with anyone."
Baba Bishan Das Ji used to tell about an incident he witnessed
himself. Once he was going somewhere, and he saw a person hurriedly coming
out of a home; he had something in a piece of cloth which he was carrying,
and some water was dripping out of that. Baba Bishan Das was curious, and
he asked him, "Dear one, what is this which you are carrying, and why is
water dripping out of it?" That person replied, "This is the taste of my
tongue." So Baba Bishan Das asked him, "What do you mean? What is your
story?" Then that dear one told Baba Bishan Das his story. He said, "I am
a trader, and I had come here in this village to do some trading, and I was
carrying some wheat flour." (In those days, there were not many hotels or
restaurants, so people used to carry wheat flour; and whenever they went to
any village they would request some woman to make chapatis for them, and in
that way they would eat.) So he said, "I was carrying some wheat flour with
me. I went to this home here and requested the old lady who lives here to
make some food for me. I gave her my wheat flour, and while she was making
dough - you know the quality of the mind, he cannot remain idle, he cannot
sit there without making mischief - I saw that the door of that home was
very narrow, and I saw a buffalo coming in through that door, and suddenly
a thought struck my mind: I thought, `While this buffalo is alive, he can
come through the door; but suppose the buffalo dies! Then how will they
carry the dead body of the buffalo outside? Because then this door will
be too narrow for the dead body of the buffalo.' I could not control myself,
and I asked this question to the old lady. I said, `Dear mother, if this
buffalo dies, your door is too narrow to take the dead body of the buffalo
outside-how will you do it?' She rebuked me: `Dear one, don't talk like
that.' She was upset, but since she had already promised to make the food
for me, she thought, `Let me make the food quickly so that this person may
go.' So she continued making the dough, but another thought came in my
mind, and I asked her how many sons she had. She replied, `I have only one
son.' I asked her where he was. She said, `He has gone on his job, he is
serving somewhere.' So the thought came in my mind: suppose her son dies!
Then what? So I asked her, `Dear mother, if your son dies in the service
where he has gone, then what will happen?' She got upset and said, `Dear
one, are you all right? Are you normal or crazy? You should not ask such
questions. You should not say such things. At least you should talk in your
senses, speak good words.' But she had already promised to make the food
for me, so she continued making the dough. Then a thought came in my mind
to ask her about her husband. So I asked her where he was, and what he was
doing. So she replied, `My husband is also gone for service.' So I asked
her, `What will happen if your husband also dies in that service?' Then
she really got upset at me! By that time she had put some water in the
dough, and she gave the dough back to me and slapped me, and told me, `At
least you should have spoken good words.' And she told me to leave the
home right away. So this is how, by speaking rude words, I hurt her
feelings, and I hurt myself. The water which is dripping from the dough
is the taste of my tongue. I was saying all those words only to please
my tongue, and as a result I did not get any food."
The tasteless one is called foolish;
He gets beaten with shoes.
Now He says, "Those who speak tasteless or rude words, people say they
are foolish; and sometimes such people even get a beating with shoes."
Those who are false from within but
who outwardly show honor:
They are only show-offs in the world.
Now Guru Nanak Sahib talks about those people who are false from within
but outwardly show that they are very good people. They do not show
outwardly what they have inside. With the help of a party and other people,
they call themselves "good ones," but inside they are false: they do not
have any goodness in them. Guru Nanak says, "Such people may be able to
impress the people of the world, but they cannot deceive God Almighty Who
is sitting within them. We can deceive our own selves; we can deceive the
people; but God Almighty cannot be deceived because He is sitting within
us and He is seeing everything: how much goodness we have, and whether we
are false or true within. And since He is sitting within us, and whatever
service we do for Him He pays us for, there is no way we can deceive Him.
Even if we are able to deceive other people, we can never deceive God
Almighty, because He is sitting within us."
Even if they bathe in sixty-eight
places of pilgrimage,
Their dirt will not be removed.
In India, much importance is attached to the sixty-eight places of
pilgrimage. Whenever people manage to collect some money, they go to all
these places and say, "We went to this place of pilgrimage, we went to
that place of pilgrimage; in this way, we are now free from all the burden
of our sins." But Guru Nanak says here, "Your sins cannot be removed by
bathing in any place of pilgrimage. Instead of removing sins by going to
all those places, you have taken up more sins."
When Guru Nanak raised His voice against this practice of going to
places of pilgrimage, the people who believed in pilgrimages, and who
inspired others to go on pilgrimages, opposed Guru Nanak a lot; and once
some of them came to Guru Nanak, and invited Him to go with them on a
pilgrimage. Now, whatever the Masters do, there is always a secret in it,
a reason behind it. So Guru Nanak Sahib gave them a bitter squash, and
told them, "Dear ones, I cannot go with you on this pilgrimage, but you
should take this squash with you, and make sure that you bathe it in the
holy waters; and when you come back, I will make a dish with it, and serve
it to you." So those people went to all the places of pilgrimage, and when
they came back to Guru Nanak, He cooked that squash; but when it was
served to them, they did not like it, they spat it out because it was
bitter. So Guru Nanak then uttered this hymn, and told them, "Dear ones,
this squash has only seeds and fruit, and it was bitter. You could not
remove the bitterness of the seeds even though you made this squash bathe
in so many different holy places. How can you expect to remove the
bitterness within you, the poisons of your body which are many in number?
Your body has the poison of lust, anger, greed, attachment and egoism,
and so many others: How can you expect to remove all that poison just by
bathing?" Then He lovingly told them, "If you want to remove the poison
from within, you should do the meditation of Shabd Naam; because that is
the only way."
The pilgrims went for bathing; their minds were false and their
bodies were thieves. They bathed the squash from outside, but within it
there was very serious poison. It is better for sadhus not to bathe than
to bathe everyday and not remove the dirt. Nanak says, "The thief will
still be a thief, even if he bathes in holy waters."
Kabir Sahib says, "What to speak about getting liberation just by
bathing in holy waters! Even if you make a home on the bank of the river
Ganga, and everyday you drink the holy water, still you cannot get
liberation without doing the meditation of Shabd Naam." Kabir Sahib even
says, "Look at the condition of those creatures who live in those holy.
waters! They bathe there everyday, they eat there everyday, and still they
do not get liberation!" He says, "If just by bathing in the holy waters
one could get the liberation, then the frogs should be liberated; but
they're not. Just like the humans beings who go there for bathing, the
frogs again and again come back into bodies."
Those who have soft silk within
though rags outside -
They are the good ones of the world.
Who are glorified in this world, and who are glorified in the Court of
the Lord? Only those who are clean and pure within: whose hearts are
sincere and pure. No matter if they don't know how to speak well
outwardly: if they are pure within, if their hearts are pure, they are
glorified in this world as well as in the Court of the Lord.
For they are attuned to the love
of the Lord;
They always yearn to see Him.
Such beloveds of God, who do not do outward devotion to impress other
people, who do not create outward activities to impress people, such
beloveds of God are united with Him.
Kabir Sahib says, "He who says, `I know everything,' is in fact the
ignorant one. He who knows everything cannot remain hidden." He says that
those who say that they know everything and have realized God, in fact
have not done so; they are ignorant. But those who have realized God,
those who do know everything, even if they don't tell people, still, they
never remain hidden. The beloveds of God, the devotees of God, always find
out that God resides in him.
In His color he laughs; in His color he cries;
In His color he even keeps quiet.
Now He says, "Such a Mahatma laughs in the color or will of God. Such a
Mahatma weeps in the will of God, and sometimes in the will of God, such
a Mahatma even keeps quiet."
For they don't care for anyone -
Except for the True One.
After achieving God Almighty, such a devotee does not remain the servant
of the world. He is not afraid of lust, nor of anger, greed, attachment,
and egoism. We people are afraid of all these things, and only because
we are afraid of them, we follow them, and we get involved in them.
At the door of the Lord
he asks for sustenance:
He eats when He gives him.
What does he ask from God Almighty after going to His door? He does not
ask for any worldly things, or worldly riches, or the comforts of this
world. He only asks for sustenance - the devotion of the Lord. He only
asks for His darshan.
Your Court is one; Your pen is one;
Justice is equal for low and high.
Nanak says, In His Court when He asks
to settle the accounts,
One gets the pain of seeds in an oil mill.
He says, "Such a Mahatma knows that in the Court of the Lord, the word
or pen of that God Almighty is effective." Whatever He wants, only that
happens. But we people, giving up such an Almighty Lord, get attached to
the love of our children, our family, and to all worldly things.
He Himself asks for the accounts. Whatever account we have made of
ourselves after doing our karma, we ourselves have to settle that and He
Himself asks for it. At that time the pain which we feel is like the pain
the sesame seeds feel when they are churned in the mill to make oil.
Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj says, "The Creator Himself is the One Who asks
for the account of your karmas, and He will churn you in the mill like the
sesame seeds are churned."
You Yourself have created the Creation;
You Yourself are sustaining it.
The Mahatmas, the Gurumukhs, sing the glory of Almighty God. They say, "O
Lord, You Yourself have created this world, and Your power itself maintains
this world and makes it function."
You see what You have created:
You take care of the immature
as well as the ripe.
Now Guru Nanak says to Almighty God, "O Lord, only You know which crop is
ready and which crop is not ready: when it's time for You to bring someone
home, and how much longer You have to keep someone here."
He who has come has to go:
Everyone's turn comes.
Now He says, "O Lord, no one lives in this world forever. We all come
according to our turns, and we leave this world also according to our
turns."
Those who are created will be destroyed one day, whether today or
tomorrow. Nanak says, "Giving up all the entanglements of the world,
remember the Almighty One."
Rama went; even Ravana, who had a big family, had to leave this
world. Nanak says, "This world is no more than a dream."
Sheikh Farid has said, "If anything of this world is broken, we try to
repair it: we push nails and put that thing together. But this body is
such, that when it is broken and the time is up, we cannot put it
together. And no matter if one was a great saint or fakir, or if whatever
he said always came true-no matter how powerful one was, when his time
came, he also had to leave this world." Further he says, "Whether one is
king or a pauper, when their turn comes they leave this world."
Why forget such a Lord
To Whom life and pranas belong?
God has given you this soul. God has given you this beautiful body to
live in, He has given you this beautiful earth to live on; He has given
you food and so many things-why are you forgetting such an Almighty Lord,
Who has given you so much? Why you are not remembering Him? Why, falling
in laziness, are you not doing His devotion?
With your own hands,
Accomplish your work.
Now He says, "Do not postpone the work of today till tomorrow. Don't
procrastinate." Baba Sawan Singh Ji also used to say, "When the Master
has given you initiation, you also have some responsibilities. It is your
responsibility to come to the eye center. When you come to the eye center,
you will find your Master waiting for you there, and He will perform His
duty well. But it is your responsibility to vacate the nine openings and
come to the eye center." So here Guru Nanak Dev Ji says, "You have to do
your work yourself." That is why Masters always say that our work is to
reach the eye center. Our work is to rise above our body and reach the
tenth door; once we are there, then the Master's duty starts. As I said
earlier, the Master never becomes lazy in doing His work. Before you reach
there, He is always there to help you. But we also have certain
responsibilities to attend to, and it is our job to rise above the body
and come to the eye center.
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