2520 - Khajana Darshan February 4, 2023 – Bulandpuri Sahib
2520 - Khajana Darshan February 4, 2023 – Bulandpuri Sahib
English Transcription and Translation
Transliteration Key for Gurbani
Black text - as uttered by Baba Ji; Blue text - translation
ੴ ਸਤਿਨਾਮ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ॥
॥ ਜਪੁ॥
ਆਦਿ ਸਚੁ ਜੁਗਾਦਿ ਸਚੁ। ॥ ਹੈ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਹੋਸੀ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ॥
Those of us who remember everyday, the utter importance of God, Gurprasaad, God’s grace on this path; who remember this everyday, can you please raise your hands? Thank you!
ਅਉਖੀ ਘੜੀ ਨ ਦੇਖਣ ਦੇਈ ਅਪਨਾ ਬਿਰਦੁ ਸਮਾਲੇ ॥
a-ukhee gharhee na daykhan day-ee apnaa birad samaalay.
In this hymn, Maharaj Ji says whosoever comes at His door, He never lets that person see a difficult moment. This is so amazingly perplexing that what is a difficult moment? Those who have recognized what life is and how to live - what is a difficult moment?
Few days ago, a daughter of mine called. She was trembling with fear. I asked her: Betay, what’s the matter? She said, my exams are coming, exams are so important, and I feel my teacher is going to fail me. I said nothing is outside the will of the Divine. Remember, that teacher of yours is not outside of God. Secondly, don’t think that you are alone, and it is going to be entirely up to you to pass or fail. God is with you; work hard, give it your best and ask Him to help you. Beg for his help and he will help you. On both sides, He’s involved. Instantly, her voice changed; she remembered something and her insides became still. I could feel the confidence in her, that this truth brought with it. She said, I have a few days off during exams so I will come to Barsee during that time. To begin with, she was trembling with fear, and now she had the courage to say that she would travel for sangat during exams. What happened? She just remembered the truth. Nothing changed, the teacher is the same, the student is the same. She just remembered the truth.
When He says that I would never let you see a difficult moment, what does He mean? Whenever we are in our world, me and my world is there. We don’t have to remember it, it’s engraved in that consciousness of the ‘I’. Then we are in a difficult moment; we are all alone. Maharaj Ji is not saying that when some problem comes to you, it is a difficult moment. He says that to remain in the ‘I’ is to remain in problems. He says that mental paralysis and anxiety takes birth out of the extensive self consciousness. I will repeat it. Please hear it. To forget the truth and remain in the falsehood that I am separate from God, my existence is separate from God is the difficult moment; it is an illness. And the impact of this illness is that consciousness cannot hear the truth or talk about truth; it is paralyzed. The ill effect of this extensive self consciousness cripples our consciousness, and makes us home of anxiety, and this thing can be blown away just by remembering the truth about this so-called ‘I’.
We should keep testing ourselves if all of our consciousness is available for hearing. Am I hearing the sound of the speaker’s breath? A thought will come, when I had my exam so and so happened; we won’t be able to catch what is being said.
Every word in Gurbanee is amazing! When He says simar:
simar simar simar sukh paavhu.
The word simar is so densely packed, and Maharaj Ji uses it so many times. Simar means to become conscious about, and there is so much condensed in this word. He says remain conscious about what’s the truth of your being. On one hand there is a thought and on the other hand is to become conscious about. Thoughts would keep coming to us regarding the ‘I’, and the world of the ‘I’. We don’t have to become especially conscious to do that; that keeps happening to us; thoughts are the disease, the reason for un-peacefulness. But to remember, to become conscious of the fact that I’m not alone in this body, there is me and Him (at this stage we can say there is me and Him). Right here! Not somewhere out there in the skies. I am not alone. This is not a thought; it is consciously becoming aware about the truth. Maharaj Ji says:
simar simar simar sukh paavhu.
He says that until you remain in the ‘I’, you will be in a difficult moment; every moment in that ‘I’ is misery. Mind has designed a way to get out of the misery of I-ness by creating dreams, that I’m going to have a house like this, a car like this; dreams to protect itself from the misery of ‘I’. If we understand that every moment is a difficult moment when I do not remember the truth, our life can change instantly. Now, the ‘I’ goes away instantly and that is replaced with the awareness that God is within me, and this truth will make our insides peaceful. That’s the meaning of simar but this word is so deep that only the rare ones are able to grasp it. To remain consciously aware about the truth of life that I am not separate from my creator, I cannot become separate; the bubble cannot be separated from the ocean. That knowledge alone, not a thought; that knowledge alone transports us from the earth, the home of misery, to the skies, freedom; freedom to fly whichever direction we want to, and that freedom he calls kaytee chhutee naal, freed from the I-ness. We would think that aukhee gharhee (difficult moment) means that some big problem has come but Maharaj Ji says, you are asleep; you have not seen a peaceful moment so you don’t know what a difficult moment is. You have not seen a peaceful moment so you don’t know that your way of life is a difficult way to live.
We should feel our insides moving, trembling, or feel the presence of the truth within us.
aad sach jugaad sach.
hai bhee sach naanak hosee bhee sach.
It is there, it has always been there, it is there, it is going to be there.
All we have to do is to feel Him. That’s all! That’s as simple as it is. But the world thinks it’s the most difficult thing. It’s the simplest thing!
There is an instance from 1698. Maharaj Ji is in Anandpur Sahib, a Sikh comes from Kabul and offers 5000 gold coins at Maharaj Ji’s feet. Maharaj Ji says, it is accepted but now, please take them and throw them in the Satluj river that is flowing by. The Sikh was very surprised; he thought I have been collecting these 5000 gold coins for years. But Maharaj Ji said these are not yours; I have accepted them so they are mine; go throw my gold coins in the river. He had to do it because they were not his gold coins anymore. It was summer time; some children were bathing in the river as well. He threw one coin at a time in the river and kept counting. Every time he threw a coin, people would run after it and retrieve it from the river. A long time passed. Maharaj Ji said it has been quite a while and that Sikh hasn’t returned; go check on him at the river and see why he hasn’t come back. Two Sikhs went there and saw that he was counting the gold coins while throwing them. They reported this back to Maharaj Ji. Maharaj Ji said that it is quite strange that one counts while collecting but what is the point in counting while throwing. Maharaj Ji said go and tell him to throw all the coins together and come back. The Sikh heard Maharaj Ji’s message, threw the coins, and came back. Maharaj Ji asked him, did you understand what I was trying to make you understand? He said, not at all, I can’t understand that you could have used all these gold coins for so many things but you made me throw them away. Maharaj Ji said, we will talk about that later but first understand this. When you were collecting these gold coins, it was in your consciousness that I am collecting this wealth and I am going to give this to Guru Sahib and that will make them happy. I did this. Even while throwing these coins you were showing to the world that my state of consciousness is so high that throwing these gold coins doesn’t affect me; your ego was showing that you are not attached to worldly things. If that was the truth then even without me asking you to throw it, if you were not attached to this wealth, you would have used it for some good purpose, perhaps by helping someone in need. It wasn’t your internal state, it was your ego that was throwing those coins. I wanted to show you that your ego has made you so weak that you don’t have the capacity to even hear what I am saying, let alone have it enter your consciousness.
Until we develop the capacity to hear, we won’t understand these things. When God is not in our life or maybe we remember Him once here and there which is equivalent to nothing, the ego is doing everything; ego cannot hear or develop any true understanding. By remembering Him (simar), we become humble. That humility makes us capable of hearing, makes space for His utterances to come within us, and becomes the reason for our transformation.
The more we remain conscious about the fact that I’m not separate from his existence. This conscious thought immediately makes us so humble. When we feel the Divine at our heart area, at the hirdaa, that makes us so humble. It makes us recognize that I cannot be separated from Him. When we forget about God, we do not feel Him. It doesn’t mean that we have become separated from Him, that we have become disconnected from Him. No! We become unconscious about the fact that I remain connected with Him.
Maharaj Ji says that only the Divine can make us merge with Him; we cannot do this act. He would only make us merge with Him if we have so much love for him.
ਸਾਚੁ ਕਹੌ ਸੁਨ ਲੇਹੁ ਸਭੈ ਜਿਨ ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਕੀਓ ਤਿਨ ਹੀ ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਪਾਇਓ ॥
saach kahou, sun layho sabhai jin praym kee-o tin hee prabh paa-i-o
When we forget God, I-ness comes into our consciousness and makes it blind and deaf. When Maharaj Ji brings us to the hirdaa, He fills our consciousness with love, and that love transforms our consciousness. Once we start loving Him, then one day we will feel that suddenly some big shift has happened in my consciousness, and that shift has made me kind of intoxicated, carefree; I feel less worried, less anxious; something has happened. We start having a vague realization that I am part of the whole existence. It is vague, not clear yet.
Maharaj Ji calls this stage the nij pad, or aslee aapaa, the true self. We start feeling that there is no I but there is this; this is so beautiful, you start loving this. Actually, even this is not. This cannot make sense; sense is for the mind. Our true self just hears and understands without even saying. It doesn’t make sense. Unless this happens to us, it’s difficult to imagine. We would feel that this power, so obvious, so powerful, is occupying all my insides - this power, this thing; the word I does not come to us. But whatever is left, it loves that and that is our true self. When we see ourselves full of God, that is our true self, and that true self loves itself. It loves itself!
Then very beautiful thoughts spring out of that true self - loving thoughts, thoughts of compassion, thoughts of gratitude. We do not love that self for any reason that so many virtues, thoughts are coming to me; no, no, no! That love for this true self is unconditional because you recognize yourself that you are love! There has to be no reason for it. But this can only be experienced. You would feel love, love, love, love. You would feel compassion, compassion, compassion. You would feel gratefulness, gratefulness, gratefulness. How beautiful our true self is! Anybody who realizes that, wants to cry out to the whole world: recognize yourself, recognize yourself, you are so beautiful! Don’t live in these moments of misery.
ਅਉਖੀ ਘੜੀ ਨ ਦੇਖਣ ਦੇਈ ਅਪਨਾ ਬਿਰਦੁ ਸਮਾਲੇ ॥
a-ukhee gharhee na daykhan day-ee apnaa birad samaalay.
One who goes to Him wholeheartedly, He never lets that person fall back into the misery of I-ness.
ਹਾਥ ਦੇਇ ਰਾਖੈ ਅਪਨੇ ਕਉ ਸਾਸਿ ਸਾਸਿ ਪ੍ਰਤਿਪਾਲੇ ॥
haath day-ay raakhai apnay ka-o saas saas partipaalay.
He protects His devotee by placing both hands of protection on him. Protecting from what? Protecting him from falling back into the misery of the I, into the blind well.
ਪ੍ਰਭ ਸਿਉ ਲਾਗਿ ਰਹਿਓ ਮੇਰਾ ਚੀਤੁ ॥
parabh si-o laag rahi-o mayraa cheet.
The Divine has revealed Himself within me, and I remain so happily attached to Him, within; means I keep happily feeling Him.
ਆਦਿ ਅੰਤਿ ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਸਦਾ ਸਹਾਈ ਧੰਨੁ ਹਮਾਰਾ ਮੀਤੁ ॥
aad ant parabh sadaa sahaa-ee Dhan hamaaraa meet.
Right from the moment one goes to Him till the moment one is dissolved in Him, He protects one from falling back into the I-ness. Such glorious, beautiful, is my true friend!
ਮਨਿ ਬਿਲਾਸ ਭਏ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਕੇ ਅਚਰਜ ਦੇਖਿ ਬਡਾਈ ॥
man bilaas bha-ay saahib kay acharj daykh badaa-ee.
My inside is filled with bliss now. acharj means amazement, a wondrous miracle!
daykhhu achraj bha-i-aa.
ਜਿਹ ਠਾਕੁਰ ਕਉ ਸੁਨਤ ਅਗਾਧਿ ਬੋਧਿ ਸੋ ਰਿਦੈ ਗੁਰਿ ਦਇਆ ॥
jih thaakur ka-o sunat agaaDh boDh so ridai gur da-i-aa. rahaa-o.
Maharaj Ji says what a miracle! acharj! I used to hear that God is so far away but He has revealed Himself in my hirdaa, in my heart.
Only if we could stay in the present moment, would we recognize the misery of I–ness.
ਮਨਿ ਬਿਲਾਸ ਭਏ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਕੇ ਅਚਰਜ ਦੇਖਿ ਬਡਾਈ ॥
man bilaas bha-ay saahib kay acharj daykh badaa-ee.
I remain delighted, intoxicated because of feeling Him, feeling the truth within. This is His marvelously glorious greatness.
ਹਰਿ ਸਿਮਰਿ ਸਿਮਰਿ ਆਨਦ ਕਰਿ ਨਾਨਕ ਪ੍ਰਭਿ ਪੂਰਨ ਪੈਜ ਰਖਾਈ ॥
har simar simar aanad kar naanak parabh pooran paij rakhaa-ee.
He says when you have thoughts, those thoughts would be about I and the world of the I, and those thoughts would be accompanied by worries - that’s a difficult moment (aukhee gharhee). But when you remember Me (simar), something will also come along with that simran, along with that remembrance, and that would be sahaj and love. Now it is up to us whether we want to stay in thoughts or remembrance.
When we completely wake up, we will realize and say Maharaj Ji this was so simple, that with your complete grace, I began to remember that you are always with Me, and I started remaining intoxicated in love all the time, away from worries, in bliss, sahaj. So simple!
Yes, it’s that simple but it happened with my grace. You were hungry to remain in My remembrance. I made you remember Me and this happened. Beg for this from the bottom of your heart that may I please remember You!
mohi na bisaarahu mai jan tayraa.
It’s so simple. All we have to do is remain conscious about the truth of existence that He is with me, I am with Him, and I can feel Him.
ਹਰਿ ਸਿਮਰਿ ਸਿਮਰਿ ਆਨਦ ਕਰਿ ਨਾਨਕ ਪ੍ਰਭਿ ਪੂਰਨ ਪੈਜ ਰਖਾਈ ॥
har simar simar aanad kar naanak parabh pooran paij rakhaa-ee.
Please see what precious things are condensed in the word, simar - to remember Him. So much condensed in this word!
Let’s please feel our whole insides throbbing with life, while singing.