EK ONKAR, ASHABD, ANAAM
By Sant Kirpal Singh
...continued

God has given us the human form, and it is a great thing. He has also brought us to the feet of the Satguru. It is another great gift from Him. But we have not yet come into contact with the Naam-Power. The greatest good comes only by communion with the Word. Those who commune with the Word, all their labours end, O Nanak! Their faces shine with glory, and many escape from the wheel of life. A Gurumukh (a chosen vessel) has a great potential in him. With just a particle of the Naam-Power in him, he can help myriads of souls to cross over. One who is commissioned and has an authority, he can at a single sitting help hundreds of souls together to an out-of-body experience. The disciple can develop this initial experience by daily practice according to the Master's instructions.

Those who follow the dictates of the mind do things blindly, and they are ever raging about wildly. They do not understand the melody of the Holy Word, nor do they know of the divine Light of the Word. After having explained the benefits accruing from devotion to the Satguru, the Master is now telling us about a Manmukh. He then goes on to explain what a Manmukh is: “A Manmukh is one who is not aware of the Sound-Current, nor does he know that He is all-knowing.” The Word, as explained, dwells in the eye-focus which is far above the plane of the senses. As such, one cannot enjoy the glory of the Word and acquire a taste for it until he transcends the senses. A contact with the Word comes only from a perfect Master. Even when one may meet a perfect Master, it is necessary that he should have faith in the omniscience of the Master. Otherwise, the result is that he continues doing things on his own mental level, and does not care for the instructions of the Master. “Seeing they see, but do not perceive; and hearing they hear, but do not understand”. Perception and audition are very essential on this path. God has given us eyes to perceive and ears to understand the glory of the Power and Spirit of God. The Word or the Bani is within us. It is made manifest by the Guru. It is, therefore, said that the Word of the Guru resides in every (human) breast - the eye-focus. The Word of the Master permeates in all that is, it is He who makes it manifest and contacts us with the same. Before the Master came to us, the Word lay unmanifest in us. It is His grace that makes the unmanifest manifest.

The question arises: Since when has the Word been in existence? The scriptures tell us: “The Word has been resounding in the universe throughout the ages; coming from the Truth, the Word leadeth to the Truth”. Again, it is said: “In us is the Light of God, and from within that Light there emits the Holy Melody. If we merge in the inner music, we come nearer the Truth”. The God-into-expression-Power is nothing but vibration. Where there is vibration, there is bound to be Light as well as Sound. By getting in touch with this vibration, we begin to see the Light and hear the Sound, without which we are blind inwardly and deaf on the inner level. The Godman in whom the Power of God is in full vibration, raises us up and gives us a contact with these inner manifestations of God. But mind, this is not our ideal. It is just a way back to God, from the Word to the Wordless. There is no other way besides this. Mere talk will not help us. The mind and intellect do not help us in this inner awakening. From outer words we have to catch the inner Word. One who has not yet risen inwardly, is yet mind-ridden. Thus, we are all blind in the terminology of the saints. We might be proud of the eyes we have. The Gurbani, however, tells us that in spite of these eyes, we are nothing but blind. We cannot call a person blind simply because he has no eyes, O Nanak! Blind is one who is cut off from the Power of God. Blindness then depends upon the condition of the inner eye - Divya Chakshu or the Shiv Netra. If this Single Eye has not developed, one is nothing but blind in the real sense of the word. And the result is that such a person is an abode of anger, envy, ill-will and other vices, his life is being consumed by the invisible flames of lust of flesh.

A mere repetition of the words signifying God will not give any solace. We, for solace, have to get into touch with the God-Power which is characterized by inner Light and inner Sound. The contact with this Power will keep you cool and collected. It will drive away all mental ills from which we usually suffer. You will then see within you: “All the creatures are embedded in the Creator, and the Creator in the creation. O ye, do not delude and deceive yourself, for the Power of God is surging in fullness everywhere”. This, then, is the condition of one who has awakened to the Reality.

The knowledge of the scriptures, the high-sounding talks, the narration of the epics and wise discourses cannot open the inner eye. An awakened person will certainly awaken you. Yajnavalkya, with all his learning, could not awaken Raja Janak. He could simply discuss in detail the theory of the subject. He was bold enough to admit that he could not give anything more -- no practical experience. Raja Janak, once again, called an assembly of the sages and seers to get a practical experience of what Yajnavalkya had explained to him so beautifully on a former occasion. The Raja addressed the sages and invited anyone among them who was competent to give a practical demonstration of the Reality to come to the stage. No one had the courage to come forward except Ashtavakra, a sage with eight humps in his body, but a really awakened soul. He took his seat on the stage. The appearance on the stage of humped Ashtavakra excited derision and laughter in the assembly. Seeing this, Ashtavakra asked the King, “Do you want an experience of Jnana (inner knowledge)?” The King replied in the affirmative. Thereupon the sage remarked, “If so, why have you summoned an assembly of cobblers who look only at my body?” Such, then, is the state of an awakened soul.

This is why the Vedas and other scriptures speak in such glorious terms of the glory of an awakened soul. The world is, no doubt, full of false prophets and half prophets, of whom one must beware. They are “wolves in sheep's clothing”. Thus, we see that a mind-ridden person has no knowledge of the inner awakening and always dances to the tune of his mind. He may offer obeisance, but inwardly he may be no better than a butcher. Such souls cannot possibly turn inward. Sheikh Saadi, a Persian mystic writer of great repute, compared such a person with an ass overloaded with a mass of books. Similarly, Guru Amar Das, speaking of such a person, compares him to a ladle in a pudding, for the ladle itself cannot have a taste of the pudding in spite of the fact that it helps in its preparation. A manmukh, likewise, dabbles in all kinds of scriptures, reads them studiously, but is unaware of the practical process of self analysis and of the consequent experience of the soul that follows as a natural consequence. They are not aware of their inner wealth, nor do they put faith in the Guru's words. The real Jnani communes with the Guru's word made manifest and is ever in tune with the Power and Spirit of God.

A Manmukh does not know the spiritual riches in him. And if the Guru tells him of the inner Light and Sound, he does not believe the message. On the contrary, he might assert that in spite of his having 40 to 50 years of practice, he could not get any such experience. This does not mean that the science of spirituality is wrong and that others cannot derive the benefit therefrom. Saints tell us: “The worthy disciple of the Guru sees the Reality with his own inner eye.” A perfect Master always teaches and shows the spiritual path by precept and by example. He tries to engrain in us the truth of what the sages and seers have said in this connection. For our benefit, he gives pertinent references from the Vedas and Upanishads, the Quran, the Bible, and other scriptures. He does so simply to convince us by varied testimonies because we are all bound with the scriptures, and these come as handy aids to him to lead each one of us from the line of least resistance.

A perfect Master is a rare gift of God, and such a Master tries by various means to convince us of the Power of God within us and helps us in contacting the same. The Master offers this experiment free, as a gift of nature like air, light and water. Where, then, is the harm of bringing an experimental faith and having a trial? When I was in the West, I laid emphasis on the power of Christ and presented parallel thoughts from other sources in order to strengthen the belief of Christians in their own Messiah. I would then ask them to attend the meditation on the following day. Those who sat for meditation would invariably get some inner experience. It is the attention of the Master which momentarily helps the disciple to rise above body-consciousness. It is not something new, nor is it out of nature's course. It is the most ancient science which, unfortunately, we have forgotten. It is to revive this forgotten science that saints come from time to time. Moreover, it is an eternal and established science which does not admit of any addition and alteration. It is so from the beginning of time. It is God-made and not man-made. A real Jnani may not have any academic degrees. He may not have passed any examination. A Jnani is defined as one who has inner awakening. A Jnani, whether literate or illiterate, rises into higher consciousness. This is why Swami Ji asks us to contemplate the conscious Self in us. Thus, a Jnani is one who has realized himself by a process of self analysis and sees the Over-self working in and around him. He is always in touch with the Power and Spirit of God, in the form of Light and Sound.

The divine harmony is very attractive and keeps a person attuned to itself and pulls him up to higher regions. Plato speaks of It: "The Music of the Spheres is so intense and swift that It pulls me up in an instant." The Word of the Guru is made manifest within. It is Something which is quite different from outer sounds. It vibrates in fullness in the disciplined souls, and they are always in tune with It and actually dwell in It. They see the Light of God reflected everywhere: The whole creation is the manifestation of the Holy Light and, as such, all are the Children of God.

This inner Light is a valuable Treasure. We are all gifted with this Treasure but are unaware of It. As we, all the time, keep busy on the plane of the senses, we never get an opportunity to come nearer to this inestimable Wealth. Therefore, It remains buried within us and we remain a pauper all our lives.