LOVE ATTRACTS US IN ITS NEWEST FORM
by
Sant Ajaib Singh Ji
Love is always in its newest bloom;
Love attracts us in its newest form.
This is the bani of Bulleh Shah, a great Saint of India. He was born in Rum
and was brought up in a place named Kasur in the district of Lahore, where
he completed his studies. His father was a Kazi in the mosque of Lahore and
from his very childhood Bulleh Shah had a strong desire to realize God. But
as his father was a Kazi, he also took up the same career and both father
and son were Kazis - that is, priests in the mosque of Lahore - for forty
years. And daily they were doing rites and rituals according to the law of
the Muslim religion; that is, offering prayers and calling out the prayer
and doing all other ceremonies accord-ing to the Muslim law.
So once Bulleh Shah met an initiate of Inayat Shah, who told Bulleh Shah,
"Oh Mir, why are you shouting so loudly and daily for God? Go to Inayat
Shah so he can break the seals of your ears so that you could know that God
is not deaf. He is within you." So Bulleh Shah went to Inayat Shah who was
a perfect Saint or Master at that time; and he was a farmer. At that time
Inayat Shah was uprooting young onion plants from one side of a field and
was planting them on the other side. So Bulleh Shah asked Inayat Shah to
tell him how God was achieved. Ina-yat Shah replied, "0 Bulleh Shah! What
is there in achieving God? One needs only to transplant his heart."
This is a very simple example: because at that time Inayat Shah was
uprooting the plants and planting them on the other side, he gave this ex-
ample. But the meaning in this example was very deep. Inayat Shah was not
an educated man; he was illiterate. So he gave this type of example. But
his meaning was that you have to uproot your attention from the world and
you have to plant it towards God.
In the law of the Muslim religion, it is believed that after Prophet
Mohammed there can be no more prophets or Saints, that he was the last
Saint to come to this world. All religions proclaim this about their
Masters. When Saints are living in the body, in the physical plane, only
'then are their teachings circulated in their true meaning. But when they
leave, the disciples give the form of religion to their teachings for their
name and fame and for their own vested interests. They say that there can
be no Saint except their Master.
But if we accept this, we forget everything. You see, previously God was
having mercy on the souls and He wanted them to come back home with the
help of the Saints. And now also His attitude is the same. It is not true
that previously Saints came to help the souls to go back home, but now they
are not coming or in the future they will not come. Just as the world is
developing or changing or renovating, in the same way God also continues to
send the Saints.
Now old prophets and Saints were on the physical plane in old times; maybe
four hundred years back or four thousand years back or whatever. We also
may have been here then, but during this long period of time we have
changed our bodies many times. Just as we are in a new body, so God also
comes in a new body and with a new name. That God comes in a new body
sometimes as Kabir, sometimes as Maulana Rumi, sometimes as Shamaz Tabrez,
sometimes as Swami Ji. Sometimes he helps the souls to go back nome in the
form of Jaimal Singh, sometimes as Baba Sawan Singh, and sometimes as our
Satguru. So the meaning of this song is, since we are new, God also comes
in a new body, in a new bloom, new color.
Mastana Ji used to say, "Those who are in the company of Fakirs are
embraced by God. And after that God is always with them and they are always
with God." So, in the hymn, Bulleh Shah says, "Love attracts us in its
newest form; love is always in its newest bloom." Further he says, "I had
not known that God has come in the form of Inayat Shah; but He has assumed
Inayat Shah's body. And concerning the law that there can be no prophet or
Saint after Mohammed, it is not true. That is wrong. He has come and is
becoming new. Since my form is new, He also has come in a new form."
Burn the prayer mat and break the vessel;
Do not carry the rosary or stick.
Lovers of God, shout from the rooftops:
"Don't argue that you are eating bodies lawfully!"
Love attracts us in its newest form.
Maharaj Sawan Singh used to say, "One gardener plants the saplings, another
gardener gives them water and makes them flourish. One Saint initiates,
another may give the water of Satsang, and make them flourish. He makes
them spiritually prosperous by making them meditate; thus they become able
to realize God." But what is happening? When a Saint leaves, His disciples
say that no one can be Master except Him. But what does that say about the
Master? What is the use of a teacher who cannot make even one student pass
the examination? What is the use of the coming of a Master or a Saint if
nobody can be successful among His disciples? But it is because of our
narrow-mindedness that we say that no one is successful.
How can we recognize a Saint if among His disciples, no one attains that
position which the Saint attained? Maharaj Sawan Singh Ji used to say,
"When Saints come, they bring their own staff with them." When one finishes
His duty, another starts doing His work. If the Saints do not bring their
own staff with them, who will recognize them in this materialistic world?
You can think yourself: were we, the insects of maya, capable of
recognizing Maharaj Sawan Singh? Think of how Master Kirpal Singh Ji
brought glory to His name in all the world, and how Mastana Ji spread His
name to Rajasthan. Could we, the insects of maya, have done that, or
brought glory to His name?
Guru Nanak says, "People act and pose like those who are one with God. But
in reality they are millions of miles away from Him." So Maharaj Sawan
Singh Ji used to say, "Saints bring their own staff with them. And when
their work is finished in one part, they start in another part." The
worldly people are always uselessly shouting against them, but when the
time comes He starts doing His work no matter if others do speak against
Him. You see, many people of other persuasions were always troubling Master
Kirpal Singh Ji; but still He founded Ruhani Satsang and showed them what
the Truth was. When people slander or criticize the Saints, their name is
spread more in the world. I am telling you a truth: if there were no
slanderers or critics of Saints, nobody would have known about them.
Once Maharaj Sawan Singh Ji went to a town for doing Satsang. Some people
asked for His permission to do publicity. But Maharaj Ji said to them, "He
will make it done. God will do it by His own self by one means or the
other. Don't you worry about that." So at that time the Akalis and Arya
Samajis* were opposing him. They wanted to prevent the people from coming
to Satsang. So they announced through loud speakers that were fixed on
jeeps going around the town, saying, "Don't outside; but he also emphasizes
inner purity. He says that it should not be that on the outside you act
like a Mahatma and within you are nothing. No. Whatever there is within
you, only that should be shown to the people. Then Bulleh Shah says,
"Whenever I look anywhere, I see Him only; my beloved is there." It is just
like when you are standing in a palace fitted with mirrors all around -
wherever you look you will see your own image. Whether you look from the
front or back or right or left, you will see your own image. In the same
way when from within and without one is purified, one sees his Master
everywhere.
[* The Akalis are a politically militant sect of the Sikhs; the Arya Samaj
is a reform Hindu movement which has accomplished great good, but which
rejects all post-Vedic developments in Indian thought, and which also takes
a militant attitude toward those it sees as its opponents.]
Guru Nanak also says, I see only you, 0 my Master. There is no one except
You anywhere. Kabir Sahib says, Saying You, You, I was elimi-nated from me;
since I was eliminated, wherever I see, I see only You. But what is our
condition? Maharaj Ji used to tell one story about a Mirati (a member of
the hereditary musician caste). This Mirati went to a mosque where devotees
were offering prayers. They told him also to do prayer. So he asked the
advantages of it. And the devotees replied that by doing prayer, the
radiance of God comes on one's face. He said, "All right; I don't have time
right now but I will do it in my home." Among the Muslims it is allowed to
do ablutions before prayer with sand if water is not available at any
place. Now this man was in the habit of drinking and had an aversion to
using water, and he was drunk that night when he went back home. So he
decided to use the sand, and he rubbed his hands on the earth. Now there
was a chapati pan lying there which was black, and unknowingly he rubbed
his face with that. After doing the act of prayer he went to sleep.
When he woke up in the morning he asked his wife to see if there was the
radiance of God on his face. Now his wife had never seen the radiance of
God; how could she say? But she said, "Look here, I don't know what the
radiance of God is; but I can say this, that if it is black then it has
come in abundance; if it is other than black, then your own radiance has
come."
So this is our condition. If we could achieve God by slaughtering animals,
by backbiting, by criticizing, by thinking evil of others, then everyone
would have got Him. But if He is achieved only by purifying from within and
without then we have lost the other taste also. Guru Nanak says, Rare are
the best ones in the world. Only a few are purified from within and
without.
Hir and Ranjah* were united.
Ranjah was playing in my lap and I was
searching for him outside;
I was not aware.
Love attracts us in its newest form.
[*Hir and Ranjah were immortal lovers in the Punjab, comparable to Majnun
and Laila in Persia. Mystics have used them to symbolize Soul and
Oversoul.]
Now he says, "What happened when I was purified from within and without?
Hir and Ranjah were united;" that is, soul and Oversoul were united. Soul
says, "I did not realize that my beloved was within me. I was searching for
my beloved in forests and mountains and in this world. But when I looked
within according to my Master's instructions, I saw my beloved Ranjah
(Shabd) playing in my lap." Then she says that when soul inverted, she met
Ranjah within-Shabd manifested within. When soul went back to her true
home, Sach Khand, who was there? Her beloved Ranjah, the Oversoul, God.
Now Hir, or the soul, says, "By calling Ranjah, Ranjah, I myself have
become Ranjah. All my friends now call me Ranjah. None should call me Hir
now." She's going and asking her friends, searching for Hir, ask-ing, "Have
you seen Hir?" When her friends say, "Who are you?" she replies, "Ranjah,"
meaning she has forgotten herself also. In the same way, one who keeps his
Master's love in his heart, or one who always remembers Him, becomes His
form. Guru Nanak also says, 0 Nanak, this is His will. The Guru makes His
disciple a Guru. But those who are not rising above and not going to higher
planes can't see what the Truth is. And what do those people do? They
neither take benefit for themselves nor do they allow others to take
benefit. So she said, "My God, my Master, that Shabd is within me. I am
playing with Him, and He is playing with me."
People are tired of reading Vedas and Koran,
Doing Sijdha their foreheads are worn out.
God is neither in Mecca nor in any other sacred place.
One who has realized Him has done so by going within.
Everything lies within.
Sijdha is a prostration in Mohammedan prayer in which you are kneel-ing and
touching the ground with the nose and forehead, the eyes being directed
towards the tip of the nose; and Mecca is the sacred place of the Moslems.
So Bulleh Shah was very much an intellectual and learned man, and he had
done all these things. Here he explains how he doubted the worth of it all;
he says, "I am tired of reading Vedas and Koran."
Further he says, "By doing Sijdha or prostration-my forehead was worn out."
Some Saints when they come, they go to all the sacred places as Guru Nanak
went to Mecca. In the same way Bulleh Shah went to the sacred places of
Hindus and he went to Mecca. But he says, "God is neither in Mecca nor in
any sacred place." He says, "I went to Mecca also, but I didn't find Him
there." In this context Kabir, who was also a Muslim, says, When I was
going to do Haj, [pilgrimage to Mecca] God met me on the way. He was
displeased with me and rebuked me, asking me from whom I had learned that
God is in Mecca? God is within all. So Bulleh Shah says, "My forehead is
worn out doing the Sijdha. Whoever has achieved Him has achieved Him from
within. Nobody has ever found Him from outside or elsewhere and nobody will
ever find Him from anywhere except from within."
Guru Nanak also says, Reading made us tired but there was no peace. Without
Satguru none can get Naam. This law is made by God Himself. He says, If we
read all the books and scriptures but ignore Naam and Master, brothers,
there is no means of liberation. Without Satsang our introspection is not
completed and yearning is not developed in our hearts. Only through
Satsang, Saints create longing and yearning to meet God in our hearts.
Your love has made me forget the Sijdha
And now there is no need of repeating the old habits,
0 Bulleh Shah, everything is within.
Love attracts us in its newest form.
After getting Initiation, Inayat Shah told Bulleh Shah, "There is no need
of outward rites and rituals; the only thing that is now required is to go
within." Then Bulleh Shah replied, "It is very difficult to leave them," as
he was a Kazi in the mosque. So Inayat Shah told him, "All right; you
meditate." And now, after doing meditation, when his inner vision was open
and when he had seen the reality within him, he said, "Your love has made
me forget the Sijdha. I find that there is no need of repeating the old
habits, because everything is lying within." When we have got initiation by
a Master, after that there is only one thing for us to do; that is
meditation. What is the use of fighting with others? You have got what you
need for your salvation. Mind your own business. You can go within and see
who is perfect and who is not, who has been given orders and who has not.
Just look within and see. From where does one have to take orders? From
men? From worldly people? From the insects of maya?
Kabir Sahib says, 0 Kabir, once meditation becomes established, we will get
its fruit even if seven oceans are coming in our way. So one who has
meditated will get its fruit. This is the matter of Master and disciple.
It has nothing to do with the registration and transference of worldly
things. Did Guru Nanak make a will for Guru Angad? Did Baba Jaimal Singh
get this wealth of spirituality through a will from Swami Ji Maharaj? Or
did Sawan Singh get it through papers? Only materials can be transferred by
wills and papers and not spirituality. So in the way of the Saints, eye
gives to eye. Nectar is flowing through the eyes of Saints. But what is our
condition? We are not even making our eyes the receptacle for their grace,
for the grace of the Master. And what have we to give? We have nothing to
give our Master. We know only how to slander, to criticize, to abuse other
people and to comment on other people. This is the matter of Guru and Sikh.
This is the matter of Master and disciple. Everything is given only through
the eyes and there is no other medium through which spirituality can be
given.
Once Bishan Das, my first Guru, held my neck and told me, "Look into my
eyes." And whatever power he had he gave me through the eyes. And Master
Kirpal also gave me through the eyes. Whatever He gave me He gave me
through the eyes only. Hazrat Bahu says, "If Master looks once through His
gracious eyes He can liberate millions." Everything is done with the eyes.
You see, one who can liberate millions only by looking once, why does He
have to consult others for decisions? Because He is perfect He can liberate
millions only by his one sight. Since He is capable of doing each and every
thing then why does He have to consult other people for making decisions?
He can decide on his own.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
BACK TO CONTENTS
