Jagdish Singh Mohali – Man Tu Mat Maan Kareh
by Bhau Ji
O divine beings, detach yourself from worldly wisdom and immerse yourself in God’s meditation
SIMRAN 11
Exactly in the same way when a part of the external air of egoism enter our mind while doing simran then the grace of Satguru Ji on us begins to reduce. In this situation our simran becomes simran which lacks faith, that is unenjoyable, insipid and our spiritual progress becomes stagnant.
- As long as this mind is inconstant, man indulges in great pride and ego. He relishes not the Guru’s Word and loves not the Naam. His service becomes unacceptable and fretting, fretting, he feels miserable. 1247
This means what while doing simran, the truth seeker’s mind should:
1. Not be having egoism
- Ego is at variance with the Naam. The two cannot dwell in one place. 560
2.Not be having any desire or motive.
- He who renounces all hope and yearning, remains desire free in this world. 633
3.Do simran with faith and love
- The gurmukh (guru orientated) man contemplates his Lord with hearty love. 941
The thought of egoism sprouts from forgetting God. It is necessary to change this egoistic desire of me-mine by doing just the ‘ opposite – the play of love’ by remembering God and doing simran. This love with faith, and meditation with love, is the blessing of the Satguru, is the deed of favour, is the grace of the Satguru which are automatically obtained while associating with the Sadh sangat.
- Without the society of saints, Lord’s love wells up not and Without love, your service cannot be performed. 694
This attachment – affection -love, is God’s enlightened form just like sunshine is to the sun or fragrance to the flower. For this reason God is referred to as ‘The Dearest’, ‘ My Beloved’ ‘Love Personified’.-
- The fascinating Lord, the winner of the heart, the ornament of the soul is the support of life. 542
- My groom is the lover of affection. 1306
To explain this love-filled faith more examples are given.
A child is brought up by the mother. He can also be brought up by a nurse. The mother brings up the child with faith filled with love and sacrifices herself but the nurse carries out this duty without this love. There is a subtle difference between the efforts of these two- and its effect is deep on the child from the time of his early upbringing to the various stages in his later life. A child who doesn’t get his mother’s love during his childhood is clearly seen to be lacking something in his life.
In the same way, doing the simran or contemplation, of the so called saints and ascetics, that is devoid of worship with love or faith filled with love, is the stubborn effort of the mind in which ego is partly present. Their aim in life is limited to:
- Achieving mental powers
- Lengthening their lives
- Obtaining spiritual powers
- Witch-craft, charms
- Pleasure giving performances
- miracles
- Spoken word manifesting itself
- Forcasting
- Blessing – cursing
- Reading the mind
- Tantric charms
- Juggler’s performance
etc.
With these miraculous powers, their subtle ego gets inflated and they begin to show miracles, bless and curse people, thereby attracting the common people who have some need to fulfil. In this way unconsciously, the seekers’ minds succumb to subtle honour – praise. With this honour – praise glory they become intoxicated with mental egoism and get deeply entangled in these mental prowess. These then become their only mind gratifying activity and prime path. But according to gurbani:
- Riches and miracles are all worldly attachments and hence the Naam cannot abide in the mind. (593)
- Without the Naam, in vain are all the robes and dishes and accursed is the saintliness and accursed is the supernatural power. 650
The seeker of truth gets such subtle intoxication with this honour-praise that he becomes absorbed in it and forgets his higher spiritual destination. With this, his spiritual progress stops and passing slowly through a period of ‘stagnation’ he slides towards hell (degradation) in other words he puts on a big show by performing mind boggling deeds and gets trapped among his disciples and followers.
- Kabir has made many disciples and followers, but he has not made God his friend. HE had set out to meet his God, but his mind failed him half-way. 1369
In history we get many examples such as Gurakn Nath, Bhangar Nath, Nur Shah, Wali Kandhari etc. whom guru ji saved from empty adamant yogic contemplation and guided them towards contemplation of love.
Nowadays the practice of stubborn, hollow and mechanical ‘simran’ is predominant and is the established practice. In India and other countries, many spiritual institutions are found where such mechanical ‘simran’, and time-bound courses are being sold and that too at a high price.
The desireless, mental and mechanical simran or the repetition of a hymn in such institutions can take the truth seeker up to the stage of thoughtless state of mind but cannot take their lives to spiritual intutional height. Such unpleasant and thoughtless state of mind of the ascetics is confined to their physical contemplation; in the stage of wakefulness such thoughtlessness has no meaning or benefit.
The focus of such truth seekers is like the ‘flight of a cockerel’ – it is limited up to space or vacuum only. Beyond this they cannot enjoy the blissful taste of the spiritual world. The stage of the thoughtless state of mind is a subtle and strong obstacle in the spiritual path of the truth seeker from which the ascetic cannot escape by himself.
Gur Vichar 