O MAN, WHY ARE YOU AFRAID?
by
Sant Ajaib Singh Ji
This Satsang was given on June 24,
1977 at Kirpal Ashram, Surrey, B.C.,
Repeating the Name of God,
Namdev became one with God.
This is the bani Of Dhanna Bhagat. Dhanna Bhagat was born into a
farmer family and he was not educated in any school or college. In the
beginning he was an idol worshiper; but after that he became a Param
Sant. He was born in the village Dhanna, province Rajputana (present
day Rajasthan), in 1414, and he earned his livelihood by farming. When
he grew up, after he stopped worshiping idols, he went to Kashi and he
got the initiation from Swami Ramananda. He was an illiterate; but in
the end he achieved high status and became a perfect Saint.
Once Dhanna Bhagat went to Trilochan who was an idol worshiper,
and asked him, "What is all this?" Trilochan said, "This is thakar, (i.e.,
these are gods)." So Dhanna Bhagat asked him to give him one of those
idols. But Trilochan said, "It cannot be given free. You have to give me
one milk-giving cow and then I will give you one god." So Dhanna, who
was a farmer and had many cows, brought one very good milk-giving
cow and gave it to Trilochan and for that he got one idol, one thakar.
And Trilochan gave him a thrown-away idol - not a good one.
But when Dhanna returned to his home, he put the idol aside.
And when he saw Trilochan again he asked him, "Brother, do they ever
speak, all these idols?" Trilochan replied, "How can the stones speak?
How can the idols speak?" Dhanna replied, "But that thakar which you
gave me speaks, talks with me, and is doing all my work: he is plowing
my fields, he is looking after my cows, and he is doing every job for
me." Trilochan was very surprised and he remembered that in order to get
a cow from him, he had given him a thrown-away idol; so he asked, "Can
you show me how your god works for you?" Dhanna said, "Yes, I can
show you." Because one who has seen God, it is very easy for him to
make another person see God. So Dhanna Bhagat told Trilochan, "Come
on! I will show you how the god is working for me." When both of them
reached the field, Dhanna told Trilochan, "Look there, he is plowing
my fields! Look there, he is taking care of my cows." And in that way
he showed him at many places that the work was being done.
But Trilochan couldn't see anyone working there, so he was very
surprised again and he said, "But I don't see anybody working there; I
don't see any god working there." So Dhanna rebuked Trilochan and said,
"You cannot see Him until you remove the dirt from you." And it is the
law that when a doctor is treating any ulcer, first of all he removes all
the dirt, all the pus, from that ulcer, and then he applies the medicine.
So in the same way Dhanna told him, "You have the dirt of lust, anger,
greed, attachment and egoism within you; how can you see that pure and
high God? First of all you have to remove all this dirt from within and
after that you can develop in such a way that you can see God."
So Trilochan made up his mind that he would give up all these
evils. Then he said to Dhanna, "Yes, now I have given up all these things.
Now you please make me see God." So when Trilochan made up his mind and
Dhanna gave his attention he showed God to Trilochan; and the life of
Trilochan was started.
And now in this hymn Dhanna tells us everything about his
devotion: how he started doing his devotion. In the first line of the hymn,
he mentions Namdev, who repeated the name "Gobind, Gobind." Namdev was of
the cloth-dyer caste. In India at that time people were believing much
in caste and creed, and the dyer caste was very low. So Dhanna said, "I
saw Namdev becoming one with God, becoming the form of God, after doing
the meditation on Naam; and I saw that even the person of the very low
caste, after doing meditation and the devotion of God, was also worshiped
by the people."
Being intoxicated in the devotion of God, once Namdev went to a
temple. And looking at him, the priests of that temple didn't allow him to
come in because he was of such a low caste. So when the priest told him
that he couldn't come in the temple, he went around the back of the temple
and he sat there. When he heard the sound of the people playing the
musical instruments - conches, harmoniums, and things like that - and they
were singing devotional songs, he thought, maybe God is pleased only by
playing musical instruments. He took off his shoes and started playing
those shoes, as though they were a musical instrument. And he didn't
even realize the difference between the musical instruments and the shoes
because he was so intoxicated in the devotion of God and he was connected
with God. So at that time the door of that temple was turned to the side
where Namdev was sitting. And that's why that village was named Ghuman,
which means "turned around"; and Baba Jaimal Singh was born in that same
village.
Namdev's life was such that he had six brothers; and they were
also doing the same business of dying cloth and selling it in the market.
For six days of the week they would dye cloth, and on the seventh day they
would go to the market place and sell what they had dyed. Namdev was
working with them, and once it so happened that he went with his brothers
to sell that cloth. When they came to the market place, the other brothers
started doing their business, selling cloth, and he sat for meditation.
So the other brothers came back after earning a great amount of money.
But he came back carrying all the cloth which he had taken to the market,
without selling even a single piece.
His mother asked him, "Why didn't you do any business there? You
should have given that cloth even for credit!" So he said, "If you want
me to give the cloth for credit, I will go and give them now." So he went
out and spread all the pieces of cloth on stones; and he took one small
piece of stone. And he said, "I have given all the cloth for credit, and
they will pay after one week; and I have brought this witness also who is
responsible for the payment."
Then he sat for meditation for seven days. On the eighth day,
when nobody came to pay that money the family members reminded him,
"Nobody has shown up to pay you." He said, "You don't worry about that.
I have this witness with me." And that stone was turned into gold; and
Namdev told them, "You take from this the price of all your cloth and
give me what is left." So in that way God protected him and in that way
God was working for him.
A person worth half a penny
became worth millions of dollars;
Rising above weaving, Kabir became attached
to the feet of God,
Thus a low-caste weaver became a high intellectual.
Now he gives the example of Kabir Sahib. Kabir Sahib also came in a
very low-caste family, the caste of the Muslim weaver or julaha.
Especially at that time, when the Hindus were very strong in India,
they were not happy even seeing the faces of people who belonged to the
julaha caste. So he says, "Kabir Sahib was a weaver and throughout his
life he wove cloth; when he withdrew his attention from the loom and all
those things and connected himself with God and did the meditation of
God, even the great kings and emperors came to him and got initiation
from him. And getting the true knowledge of God, they also were
liberated. "
In the time of Kabir Sahib, once on the banks of the River Ganga
a person of low caste was bathing and a pundit was passing by. And it
happened that one drop of water from the body of that low caste man
touched the body of the pundit, and he became very upset because he
considered himself polluted; but Kabir Sahib told him very lovingly, "Oh
Brahmin, you also were born of a woman; how can you be called brahmin
when we shudras (lowest caste people) came into the world from the same
place and we were born in the same manner? How can you say that we and
you are different? You have blood and we also have the same blood!" So
Kabir Sahib lovingly explained to him that all men are the same.
Ravidas, who carried the skin of dead animals
and was detached from Maya,
When he came in the company of Saints
he got the darshan of God
and God manifested within him.
Similarly in Kashi (Benares), Sant Ravidas also came; and he was a
cobbler by caste. The cobblers were considered much lower even than
the weavers by the Hindus. He used to carry the dead bodies of animals
in order to obtain the leather for making shoes. But when he did
devotion, when he became the form of God, many kings, emperors, and
great people came to him and were benefited. In the beginning he was a
cobbler; but in the end he got high status and he also became a perfect
Saint.
Hearing the praise of Ravidas, the queen of Chittor, Mira Bai,
came to Kashi and got initiation from him. When she got back after getting
initiation from Ravidas, all the pundits and other Hindu people abused
Mira Bai saying, "You were a very high-caste Hindu and you have taken
a cobbler as your Master." And they were very upset with her. So Mira
Bai invited Ravidas to come to her country and he held satsang there;
and then she also invited everyone to the langar. Ravidas was also
present and he was going to eat in the same langar so the pundits said,
"Either you send this Ravidas away from you or you will have to leave
this community and go outside the village and dwell there; because it
is not a good thing for a Hindu to sit with a cobbler and eat." When
Ravidas heard this, he told Mira Bai, "Daughter, I don't want to break
anybody's worldly ways and that's why I am going. Because you've invited
them, let them have food. I am going; I don't want to eat food here."
But then he created such a will that there was no pundit in that langar
with whom Ravidas was not sitting and eating. There was one Ravidas
with each pundit. In that way everybody was surprised, and they got up,
leaving the food and saying, "Ravidas was sitting with me and eating
with me." Others also said, "Yes, he was sitting with me also." In that
way, people came to know about his reality and got initiation into Shabd
Naam from him. So Ravidas was a cobbler by caste; but still a queen like
Mira Bai came and got initiation. And other kings and emperors came to
him and got initiation from him; he was a Param Sant.
So many people taunted Mira Bai, saying, "The disciple is living
in big palaces and enjoying, but the Master is mending the shoes of other
people and is living in a small hut." It is natural that no disciple will
ever be happy in hearing abuse or anything against his or her Master. So
Mira Bai came to Ravidas taking a valuable ruby and she told Ravidas,
"Master, I have brought this ruby for you. And using this you can make
big palaces and live very easily." But Ravidas replied, "Daughter,
whatever I have gained in this Path I have gained that living in a small
hut and mending the shoes and smelling the bad smelling water also. I do
not need these things." But Mira Bai thought, "Maybe Master is hesitant
to take this." So she left that ruby in the roof of the hut. And she told
Ravidas, "Master, I am leaving this ruby here." So Ravidas told her, "All
right, daughter, whatever you wish." And Mira Bai went back to her home.
One year after that, Mira Bai again came to see Ravidas and she
thought that maybe her Master had spent that ruby in making big palaces,
and maybe he was living his life very easily. But when she came there
again she saw the same hut and Ravidas was doing the same business. So
she told Ravidas, "Master, I left one ruby here last year." Ravidas
replied, "That should be where you left it." Then she saw that the ruby
was at the same place.
Similarly King Pipa of Gagaraungarh was an idol worshiper in the
beginning. When he would go to the temples, the voice of God would come
and would say to him, "Pipa, you go and search for a perfect Master.
Otherwise Negative Power will take your skin off." In that way he became
very afraid. So he asked his attendants, "Is there any perfect Master
or Saint living?" They replied, "Kabir Sahib has left the body; but
there is one Ravidas who is called a Param Sant, but the problem is
that he is a cobbler by caste."
Now King Pipa was a Kshatriya, of very high caste. He thought,
if I go to a cobbler, even if he is a perfect Saint, what will people
think about me? All the people living in the kingdom will speak against
me! So he was hesitant to do that.
But once it so happened that all the people (including those in
the palace) went to the River Ganga to bathe, because of some festival
there. Taking advantage of that occasion, King Pipa went secretly to
Ravidas. At that time Ravidas was putting water from a water tank into
a leather bag. And when Ravidas saw King Pipa coming there, he thought,
"Even though he is the King he has come to me. I should give him
something." And when he cupped his hands Ravidas gave him some water to
drink from his leather bag. But the King's mind - because you know that
mind doesn't allow anyone to take advantage of the company of the Saints
or take anything from the Saints, but rather becomes the obstacle between
the disciples and the Saints-it came in the mind of King Pipa: "He is a
cobbler and he is giving me water from that leather bag. Maybe I will
also become a cobbler!" He was wearing a shirt with very open, wide
sleeves. So he didn't swallow that water, but he let it all pass through
into the sleeves of his shirt. And then he came back to his home thinking,
"Thank God I didn't drink that or otherwise I would have become a cobbler!"
After that, he called a washerman and told him, "Go at once and
wash this shirt. And nobody should know that I have given you this shirt."
So that washerman went home and told his daughter to suck the stains from
the shirt; because if a washerman cannot remove a stain by any other
process, he sucks that stain with his mouth and spits out the dirt. So
the washerman started some other work and gave that shirt to his young
daughter, who began to suck the stain; but she forgot to spit out that
water and she swallowed it instead. And because that water was blessed
by the Param Sant and had become the parshad, when she swallowed it her
inner vision was open and she started talking about meditation and
acting like a Saint. And everyone came to know that "The washerman's
daughter is acting like a Saint and is talking about God-realization."
In that way many people started coming to her.
So King Pipa, because he was very anxious for God-realization
and because he was searching for a Perfect Master, also came to see that
washerman's daughter. And when he came there, the washerman's daughter
stood up and treated him with respect. So the King said to that
washerman's daughter, "Daughter, I have not come here as a King. And
I have not come understanding you as a washerman's daughter, but I
have come here understanding you as a Saint; I have come here to take
initiation and the knowledge of God-realization from you." So that
washerman's daughter replied, "King, I know that and I have not stood
up to respect you because you are the King, but because I am grateful
to you and I thank you. Because whatever I have achieved, I have got
that only from your shirt. And this is only your grace because if you
had not sent this shirt to us, I would have not been able to get this."
So when the King realized what a mistake he had made by not
drinking the water given by Ravidas and when he thought that he did
not drink the water because he was afraid of worldly shame, he started
thinking ill and abusing worldly shame. And he went again to Ravidas,
saying, "Master, now give me that thing." But Ravidas said, "No, that
was grace. Now you take initiation and work hard and meditate on what
you are given. Eventually you will get that thing." So King Pipa
received initiation from Ravidas and he worked very hard on his
meditation; and he also became a Param Sant, and in the Guru Granth
Sahib his hymns are also included.
Similarly, Hazur used to say, "When one Saint comes, He makes his
disciple also of the same state - same position - as He is." He used to
say, "When one is having the disease of itching he gives that disease of
itching to other people who come in his company." The Saint who cannot
make another one as a Saint - it is useless to worship him.
This is a very bad thing that we say that there is no successor
of Master after He left the body. I didn't want to say this thing, but I
am compelled to; that's why I am saying it. If we say that there is no
successor, we are saying that our Master was not perfect and that He
couldn't do anything. Because you see how Master Sawan Singh showered
grace on Master Kirpal Singh and how He made Mastana Ji of Baluchistan.
Our Hazur was also owner of the same status - same position. And those
who did the meditation according to His instructions and obeyed His
commandments, He made them also as His own form. I am saying this truly:
that until there is a perfect disciple we cannot recognize whether
the Master is perfect or imperfect. When a true disciple comes the fake
master runs away; because he knows that he is going to ask for something.
Sain the barber, who carried messages from house to house,
Became the matter of discussion in all the houses;
When Parbrahm manifested within his heart,
He was counted with the devotees of God
Now Dhanna Bhagat gives one more example of a devotee who was of
low caste - Sain the barber. In India the barber caste is also
considered to be low. The people who belong to the barber caste go to
other people's houses and work there without expecting anything from the
owner. It is up to their worldly master whether to give them food or not;
but still they work.
Sain the barber used to give massage to Emperor Akbar. And once
it so happened that he sat for meditation and spent all his time that way;
and he couldn't go to Emperor Akbar to give him the massage. So his
Satguru, his Master, that God, He came in the form of Sain the barber
and He gave the massage to Emperor Akbar. On the next morning when Sain
the barber came to Emperor Akbar asking for forgiveness because he hadn't
come the night before to give him a massage, Emperor Akbar replied, "How
can I believe that you didn't come and give me a massage? You came and
gave me the most beautiful massage ever! " But Sain the barber replied,
"No, that is not true. I did not come. How can you say that I came?"
But Emperor Akbar told him, "No, you came. Maybe you have forgotten.
You came." And Sain the barber realized that whatever was done, was done
by his Satguru.
Emperor Akbar also requested Sain the barber to give him
initiation. And when he got initiation from him, and when he did the
initiation, after that he realized who Sain the barber really was. When
anyone dies in the Muslim religion, they put the head of the dead body
facing towards the Kaaba, towards Mecca; but Emperor Akbar told the people,
"When I die you should put my feet towards the Kaaba because those things
are all fake, they are not true." And the tomb of Emperor Akbar is made
in the same way; his feet are towards the Kaaba.
Hearing these things, a farmer got up
and he started doing devotion,
And he met God face-to-face;
He was the blessed Dhanna.
So the meaning of all these stories is that Dhanna bhagat is saying,
"When I heard all these stories, how all these people did the meditation
of God and how they realized God, then looking at all these people the
longing - the yearning - of doing the devotion of God also came to me,
and I also started doing the devotion of God. And in this way I realized
Him." He says that, "Even though I am a farmer and my brain is not very
sharp and I am illiterate, when I saw that these people got God after
doing the meditation and this way they realized God, I believed in them.
And I thought that because I have the yearning, I have love for God, I
also will get this. And in that way when I did the devotion of God I saw
God face-to-face and now God is doing everything for me. I am seeing
God. "
O being, why don't you remember the Gracious Lord.
Is anyone else like Him?
Wherever you go, in Brahmand or Khand, you'll find
everything happening in His Will.
Now Dhanna says, "When we read all these stories of the people who
realized God and who did the devotion of God we also think in our
mind, `What is difficult in doing the devotion of God? What is difficult
in realizing God? I can do that.'" But Dhanna says, "No, that is not
true. Because this is all in His hands to make us do the devotion. Because
only He knows and it is in His hands who He is to bring in the company
of the Mahatma, which body He is to bless and to dye in the color of
Naam, and whom He makes united with Him. " He says, "We cannot do
anything in this direction. Our effort will be of no avail because this
is all in His hands."
In the womb of the mother
He creates the body of nine openings,
Keeping it in the fire, He gives it its food.
Such is our husband (God).
Now Dhanna says, "My God has given life to everybody. You see how
He is creating the child in the womb of the mother; how he fixes the
nose, the eyes, the ears and all the parts of the body, and prepares
the bones in unbearable fire for ninety days. And even then, when that
unbearable fire is burning in the womb of the mother, then also God has
arranged to supply food and water for the child who is going to get
birth." He says, "Within the mother all this creation is going on; but
that woman doesn't even know what is going on." He is taking the picture
in such a way without a camera; whatever shape He wants He makes that
shape.
The turtle lives in the water
and she doesn't have any wings or nipples;
still her babies are fed.
O man, look within and see how that almighty,
bliss-giving Lord works in you.
Now Dhanna Bhagat says, "Now you see one more play of my God, you
see one more grace of my God. The turtle is living in the water but she
lays her eggs in the sand. While she is living in the water, the eggs
are hatched; she doesn't have any nipples; moreover she doesn't have any
wings to fly to the babies and give food to them. But still God supplies
them with whatever they need."
The insect, which lives in the stone,
doesn't have any way to come out,
Still God sends him food.
Dhanna says, O man, why are you afraid?
God gives to everybody."
Now Dhanna Bhagat says, "My God, my Wahe Guru, my Master, that
Akal - that timeless Lord, what does He do? If there is any worm, any
insect living in stone, surrounded by the stone on all sides and with
no inlet or outlet to go in or come out, still God supplies food and
everything which that insect needs to survive at that place."
Kabir Sahib says, Don't criticize the Saints, don't understand
them as men, because "Saints" and "God" are the name of one and the same
thing.
Guru Nanak says, He Himself takes the form of Sadh. He says,
Whenever God wants to give light to the souls He goes in the form of a
Sadh.
Guru Arjan Dev Ji says, I am the dust of the feet of the Saints
and I am in the refuge of the Saints. Then He says, My protection is of
the Saints and Saints are the ornaments of my body. Then He says, My give
and take is only with the Saints and my only concern is with the Saints.
Whenever I talk or deal with anything that is only with the Saints. When
Saints gave me that wealth the deception was gone. He says, "When the
Saints gave me the wealth of Naam the deception of the mind, which was
from ages and ages, was gone." Then He says, What is the Lord of
Judgment going to do? The Saint has torn the page of my accounts.
Sunder Das was a disciple of Sawan Singh. And when Hazur Maharaj
Baba Sawan Singh was making the Satsang Hall in Beas, He graciously
gave Sunder Das the seva or service of supplying water to the workers.
It took one year to complete that Satsang Hall; and because he did that
seva Master Sawan Singh was very pleased with him and graciously He told
him, "Sunder Das, your son will die, your wife will die, your daughter
will also die. And because all your family will die, you will go mad.
And in your madness you will commit murder and they will try to release
you, saying that you are mad and have done this murder in madness. But
you should not let them release you; you should confess that guilt and
go to prison. You will be sentenced for twenty years, but you will stay
in prison for only six years; after that I will look after you. You
confess that guilt; and you go to the prison; and after that I will look
after you."
So whatever Master Sawan Singh told him about his future that
happened, in God's Will. First his son died; then his wife died; and
after that, when his daughter died, he went mad. And in that madness
he committed murder. Master Sawan Singh had told him, "The King of
Fruksier will try to set you free; but you should not take his help and
you should confess." When he was brought in front of the judge, the King
of Fruksier, who was a dear friend of Sunder Das (because Sunder Das
belonged to a very high family) requested the judge, "He has done this
murder in madness and he should be set free." But Sunder Das didn't
agree with that and he said, "No, I am not mad." He told the judge, "I
will recite the Jap Ji Sahib and you tell me if I make any mistake or
you recite the Jap Ji Sahib and I will point out your faults. If I am
mad I will not be able to recite the Jap Ji Sahib very well. I am not
mad. Why are you not giving me punishment; why are you not sending me
to jail?" And there was one Muslim man standing there and he said,
"Sunder Das, tell them that you are mad." So he said to the other
people, "Look at this Muslim. He is telling me not to confess." And
in that way he confessed guilt and he went to prison.
But after six years of his imprisonment the independence of
India came and the partition of India and Pakistan happened, so all the
prisoners who were supposed to be in prison for twenty years were set
free. And Sunder Das was one of them. So when he came out of jail he
was carrying bones and doing crazy things. When he was coming down
the road, the children were throwing stones at him because he was doing
crazy things. But as soon as he saw me, he threw away the bones, and
after that he behaved like a good man; after that he didn't have any
problem of madness. Because he had full faith in Master and he did
whatever his Master told him to do, that's why the disease of madness
was removed from him.
He had so much faith in the Master that once a man came to him
and told him, "Sunder Das, you should learn to ride on the cycle." But
Sunder Das said, "This thing comes in my mind, that I should break the
legs of the persons who are riding on the cycle; because why has God
given us legs - to ride on the cycle or to walk?" That man replied,
"What will you go and tell the Lord of Judgment when he will ask you,
`Sunder Das, why didn't you learn cycling?'" Sunder Das said, "What
have I to do with the Lord of Judgment? I am going to give him a
beating with my shoes because my Master Sawan Singh is going to come;
why should I bother about the Lord of Judgment?"
And it so happened that when he left the body, Master Sawan Singh
came with Master Jaimal Singh. And I was sitting with a lot of sangat
like this and Sunder Das had told me that he was going to leave the body
then. Twenty days before, he had purchased his coffin and had made all
the arrangements for his departure from this world. So before he left
the body we made parshad and it was served to all the people. And I asked
him at his last moment, "Sunder Das, do you have any desire? You tell me.
Don't take any desire with you." So he said, "I have only one desire: that
my sister who is ninety-five years old and is very much suffering in this
world, that she should now stop suffering in the world and she should also
come with me. Master Sawan Singh should take her also with me, she should
leave the body with me."
So I called his sister and when we were talking about that she was
very afraid of death and she left that place; she sneaked away without our
knowledge. After that when he left the body he said, "Now sprinkle the
water because Master Sawan Singh has come with Baba Jaimal Singh and I am
going with them." So when he left the body in his full glory both Baba
Jaimal Singh and Baba Sawan Singh came to liberate him. So after he left
the body his sister came back there. And holding the hand of Sunder Das'
dead body, she started weeping, saying, "Brother, why didn't you maintain
the religion of brotherhood, why didn't you take me with you?" And in that
way she started weeping. But I told her, "At the time he was telling you
to come, you were afraid of death; now you are lying."
So I am talking about the faith of Sunder Das: how much faith he
had in the Master and how much he was devoted to Sawan Singh. Because of
his faith all his sickness was removed. And in the end Master Sawan
Singh - because he had promised that he would come to liberate him, he
would come to take his soul up - He came. He not only came, but He came
with Baba Jaimal Singh to take him. So this is the result of having full
faith in the Master and being devoted to the Master.
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