OF GOD AND THE GURU
by
Sant Ajaib Singh Ji
May 10, 1977,
Sant Bani Ashram
Sanbornton, New Hampshire
I may leave God, but I will not forget the Master;
I will not consider God equal to my Master.
This is the bani of Sehjo Bai and Her Master was Charan Das. She was
so intoxicated in the love of Her Master that She forgot God. She didn't
even remember that there is something called God. But She always
remembered Her Master.
Those who have caught the Master, those who have loved the Master,
they have been able to love God. But those who have tried to love God
without the help of a Guru have not been able to do it.
Sukhdev Muni was the son of Ved-Vyasa [a great Rishi, author of the
Mahabharata] and he had knowledge right from the time when he was in
the womb of his mother. It is said that God suspended the action of
Maya for five seconds so that he could be born. He had access to the in-
ner planes and heavens from birth. But when he went into the region of
Lord Vishnu, he was thrown out-because he did not have any Master
over his head. He was very proud that his father was Ved-Vyasa, who
was called yogishwar (or "great yogi") and because of that he thought
that he didn't need any Guru or Master.
So when he was thrown out from Vishnu Puri, he came to Ved-Vyasa
and asked him, "They won't allow me to enter that heaven. Do I also
need some Master or Guru?" Ved-Vyasa said, "Yes. The law is the same
for everybody, whether he is the son of a Rishi or Muni or anyone. This
law is applicable to everybody because it is made by God Himself. No
man has made this law; God Himself has put the Guru in between Him
and the soul."
Then Sukhdev asked Ved-Vyasa whom he shouid accept as his Master.
Ved-Vyasa replied, "At the present time, only King Janak is a perfect
Saint; and only He has been given permission from God to give out the
knowledge of Naam-the practice for the realization of God." Now
Sukhdev Muni was a renunciate and King Janak was a householder. He
thought, "I'm a renunciate! How, can I take a householder as my Guru?"
It is said in his history that he was born as an avatar, with twelve
supernatural powers. So he would go to King Janak, but he kept coming
back without getting initiation; because he was always thinking
something bad about King Janak. And each time he came back he lost
one of his supernatural powers: because this is the law of nature, that
if we criticize or abuse any Mahatma or beloved of God, we lose whatever
we have.
So in that way, as he was losing his supernatural powers, Rishi Narada
had pity on him and wanted to make him aware of what he was doing.
So Rishi Narada created a false river and disguised himself as an old
man and, when Sukhdev Muni was passing by, Narada began throwing
basketfuls of sand in that river. When Sukhdev Muni came there and
saw this, he said, "Oh, old man, what are you doing? You are a fool.
This is not the way to build a dam. First of all you should arrange some
logs of wood and then place some big rocks among them and, after that,
you should put sand on it. If you simply go on throwing in sand, that will
just be washed away by the flow of the river, and your time will be
wasted; you will not be able to build this dam in this lifetime."
Then Rishi Narada told Sukhdev Muni, "You are looking at what I
am losing. But there is a bigger fool than I am, and he is Sukhdev Muni,
the son of Ved-Vyasa. He does not realize that through criticizing a
Saint, he has lost ten of his twelve supernatural powers." When Sukhdev
Muni heard this, he was stunned and fainted dead away.
When he regained consciousness, he saw that there was no river and
there was no Rishi Narada. He became conscious of a very great loss and
started off to see King Janak to get initiation. But he was still very proud
that he was a renunciate, and he could not understand how a house-
holder could initiate into the Naam, or how a householder could be the
Master of a renunciate. But he went, and, in the courtyard of King
Janak's palace, he put down his piece of cloth and one small drinking
vessel-his only possessions. He left them in the courtyard and then
went to see King Janak.
As soon as he met Him, one servant came in and reported to King
Janak, "Maharaj Ji, the cantonment is burning." Hearing that, King
Janak was not even surprised and said, "It is God's will." Now Sukhdev
Muni thought, that in the cantonment other people's husbands and
other people's sons are living. If his own sons were living in the canton-
ment, he would have gone to extinguish the fire or he would have made
some arrangement to save them. But he is not an able king because he is
not worried about his people.
Then another servant came and he reported, "Maharaj Ji, now the
city is on fire." Again King Janak replied, "It is God's will." And again
Sukhdev Muni thought, this is not a good King, because he is not doing
anything to put out the fire.
Then another servant came and reported, "Maharaj Ji, now your own
palace is burning." Hearing that, King Janak was still not affected and
he again said, "It is God's will." But Sukhdev Muni remembered that he
had left his cloth and small vessel in the courtyard of the palace, and he
became very concerned about them. He immediately started running to
go and get them. But King Janak stopped him and said, "Now, you tell
me: who is the renunciate and who is the worldly man? Are you a renun-
ciate, who is concerned about that small vessel and that piece of cloth
which is not worth one rupee? You tell me who is the renunciate and who
is the householder!" Hearing that, Sukhdev Muni had no reply.
Up to now in the present Iron Age, Saints have come with grace and
mercy. They initiate souls without testing them. But, in the previous
ages, Saints gave initiation to their disciples only after putting them
through very hard tests. At that time King Janak refused to give initia-
tion to Sukhdev Muni and told him, "You will have to wait." He went
back to his father Ved-Vyasa and told him, "Father, He won't give me
initiation." So Ved-Vyasa replied, "My son, there is no substitute for it,
because He is the only perfect Saint and you are to get initiation from
Him." Then he advised him, "Just as you were criticizing and thinking
ill of King Janak, now you have to repent for that, and you will have to
develop humility." And Sukhdev Muni learned that lesson; it is said that
he waited for twelve years in the garbage dump outside King Janak's
palace. He stood there, and allowed that garbage to fall on his head and
in that way he developed humility.
Regarding him, Guru Nanak Sahib writes in his bani, "He allowed that
dirt to fall on his head for twelve years but he didn't allow his mind
to criticize King Janak-because he was very desirous of getting Naam
and he knew that this was only the punishment for his wild mind."
So after twelve years he got initiation from King Janak, and when he
came back to his home his father asked him, "Did you get the initiation
from your Master, King Janak?" And he replied, "Yes, I got
initiation." Then his father asked him, "How is your Master? What is
He like?" Sukhdev didn't reply. So Ved-Vyasa asked, "Is He like the
sun?" Then Sukhdev replied, "Yes, He is radiant like the sun, but the
sun has heat; He is without heat." Then Ved-Vyasa asked him, "Is He
like the moon?" Sukhdev Muni replied, "Yes, He is cool like the moon,
but the moon has a stain. My Master is stainless." And then he said,
"How can I praise my Master? He is Himself-whatever He is, He is."
He said, "I don't have a tongue with which I can praise my Master
because He is all in all, He is perfect, He is all pervading."
Similarly, in this hymn, Sehjo Bai says, "I cannot forget my Master. I
can forget or I can give up God, but I cannot forget and give up my
Master - because I have not seen God, but I am seeing my Master. He is
before me."
God gave me birth in this world;
Master finished my births and deaths.
This doesn't mean that Sehjo Bai does not respect God or that She is
saying something bad about Him. But She is presenting the truth. She
says, "God sent me into this world, but Master has liberated me from the
coming and going of this world. Why should I love and remember that
God Who sent me into this world? I will love and remember only that
Master Who has finished my cycle of births and deaths, my cycle of
coming and going to and from this world."
God gave me the company of five thieves;
Master saw I was an orphan and freed me from them.
Now Sehjo Bai says, "What has that God done for me? He gave me five
dacoits within myself." Now you can see that if even one dacoit, or one
thief, is coming into our house, he does not leave anything behind; he
takes whatever we have. So what to say about the five dacoits?
She says, "God gave me five dacoits, but what has Master done for
me? Master understood me as an orphan, and He saved me from all
these five dacoits. After giving me Naam He saved me from the five
dacoits." Lust, anger, greed, attachment, and egoism, they are the five
dacoits or bandits, and they are very great dacoits. They are rising from
within us, and they are destroying us from within.
So Kabir Sahib says, "Awake, traveler! In your town the thieves are
coming. All the people who are sleeping-get up! In your own town the
dacoits and thieves are coming." And seeing them asleep, they are
carrying away their wealth.
Lust, anger, greed, attachment and egoism trouble those who forget
their real wealth after coming into this world; only they are tortured by
these five dacoits. So Sehjo Bai says, "I don't want to remember God
because God attached me to the five dacoits. But my Master understood:
my Master had pity on me, saw I was an orphan, and saved me from
these five dacoits."
God threw me into the snare of family;
Master has cut the shackles of attachment.
Now Sehjo Bai says, "What else has God put within me? The desire to
have a family." You see, when we come into this world, and especially
after we grow up, we try to have a family; we always want to have
relatives. We ourselves know that there is no happiness in a wife, there is
no happiness in a family, there is no happiness in worldly affairs; but still
we are very much attached to all these things. So She says, "God filled
me with the desire of having a family, but Master cuts the shackles of the
attachment from within." Master says that neither your family, nor
your sons and daughters, nor even your body, nor any of your worldly
wealth are going to accompany you. The only thing which is going to
accompany you is your Master - Shabd or Naam.
God involved me in pleasure and pain;
Uniting with Him, Master liberated me from pleasure and
pain.
Now she says, "What has God done for me? God brought me into this
body and then gave me disease. He kept pleasures in me, and the more I
enjoyed the pleasures, the more my body enjoyed the pleasures, the
more the disease kept coming into my body. But Master showed me the
practice of union; and He united me with God."
God deluded me with the theory of good and bad deeds;
Master made me realize my own Self.
Now Sehjo Bai says, "After that, what did God tell me? God told me
that if you do good deeds you will go to heaven, and if you do bad deeds
you will go to hell. And according to His instructions I was always com-
ing and going to and from the hells and heavens, and I was involved in
only this coming and going. But when my Master came and I met Him,
He neither showed me the heavens nor talked about hell: He showed me
the Light of my own soul." Rabia Basri was a Muslim Saint, and She
says in Her writing, "Oh God, if it was in my control, I would have
burnt all Your heavens and thrown all Your hells into the ocean so that
no one would do Your devotion with the desire of going to heaven or the
fear of burning in hell. Whoever did Your devotion would do it only for
the love of uniting with You."
God hid Himself from me;
But Master made me see Him burning in the lamp of Divine
Light within me.
Now Sehjo Bai says, "What has God done for me? God hid Himself
within me so that I was not aware of Him; He didn't tell me that He was
hiding within me, and even though He was there, I was still coming and
going in this world; I was not liberated from this world. But when I met
the Master, Master lit the lamp of Knowledge within me, and He showed
me that my God, my Beloved, was within me."
She says further, "What else has God done? He made many Rishis
and Munis, many hermits, many holy places of pilgrimage; and it was
preached by those priests that these are holy places and those who come
here, and those who do these particular rites and rituals, only they will
get heaven in their next life. But who knows where one will be in his next
life? Still I was involved in that illusion and that was made by God
Himself; but when I met my Master, Master cleared up all my illusions
because He showed me the Truth."
Now Sehjo Bai's Master was Charan Das; and she says, "I sacrifice
my body, my mind for my Master, because I need Him. I can forget God
but I cannot give up my Master because I need Him."
In this hymn, Sehjo Bai has lovingly differentiated between God and
Guru. She has very clearly explained to us how God brought Her into
this world and into this body, and how Guru liberated Her from this
body, and how He cut the cycle of births, the coming and going from this
world. She has explained how God involves the soul with the five
dacoits, and how the Master comes and saves the soul from those five
dacoits; how God traps the soul in the snare of family and worldly rela-
tions, and how Master cuts the shackles of attachment.
In this way, Sehjo Bai has pointed out the difference between God and
Master; and that is why She says, "I can forget God, but I cannot forget
Master; because my Master has done so many things for me in comparison
to the work of God."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BACK TO CONTENTS
