2480 - Khajana Darshan August 8, 2022 – Edmonton
2480 - Khajana Darshan August 8, 2022 – Edmonton (English Translation)
English text in BLUE - English portion of Khajana Darshan as uttered by Baba Ji.
English text in BLACK - translated from Gurmukhi portions of Khajana Darshan.
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ੴ ਸਤਿਨਾਮ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ॥
॥ ਜਪੁ॥
ਆਦਿ ਸਚੁ ਜੁਗਾਦਿ ਸਚੁ। ॥ ਹੈ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਹੋਸੀ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ॥
A sangat from Edmonton gave me a letter in which the writer says that we were deprived of the holy congregation for the past two to three years and it has made me realize the greatness of the holy congregation. But if I were to state the glory of the holy congregation, I would be lost in finding the words. Could you please speak about this ?
It is a beautiful question. Please focus wherever it is easy for you to focus - forehead, heart, navel point, pubic bone, root point, back of the neck, or top of the head. In Moolmantar, Maharaj Ji mentions the broad characteristics of the Divine and then Gurparsad - that the Divine can only be met through the grace of the Guru. We forget this - when we meditate, we say I focused, I felt Him, I experienced this and so on. Let us please understand this.
ਜੈਸਾ ਸਤਿਗੁਰੁ ਸੁਣੀਦਾ ਤੈਸੋ ਹੀ ਮੈ ਡੀਠੁ ॥
jaisaa satgur suneedaa taiso hee mai deeth.
ਵਿਛੁੜਿਆ ਮੇਲੇ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਹਰਿ ਦਰਗਹ ਕਾ ਬਸੀਠੁ ॥
vichhurhi-aa maylay parabhoo har dargeh kaa baseeth.
The Guru connects us with the Divine. Let’s say we focus at the heart and God is revealing His presence; the part that connects our consciousness with feeling the Divine is the Guru. We can never ever make our consciousness feel the Divine on our own. It is the Guru who connects us with the Divine and that is His grace. There is no difference between God and Guru. In most shabads (hymns) in Gurbani, directly or indirectly it is stated that meeting the Divine happens with the grace of the Guru. But these are very subtle things; it takes a long time to understand. Gurbani states the truth and after a long time we come to the state of hearing and understanding Gurbani. In one of the shabad’s that we started reciting in Calgary, Maharaj Ji says:
ਹਉ ਵਾਰੀ ਜੀਉ ਵਾਰੀ ਹਰਿ ਕੈ ਨਾਇ ਸੋਭਾ ਪਾਵਣਿਆ ॥
ha-o vaaree jee-o vaaree har kai naa-ay sobhaa paavni-aa.
One remembers the Divine by taking His name. I remembered Him all the time and gradually became my true self and received honor in His court.
satgur sayv sach chit laa-i-aa
When all of our consciousness is involved in hearing the Guru, that is worshiping the Guru, that is having ishq with the Guru. In this verse, Maharaj Ji says that when we brought all of our consciousness to the Guru, we became the hearing consciousness, the Guru became happy with us, and when all of our consciousness was at the feet of the Guru, very mysteriously without letting us know, He connected our consciousness with God. The Guru connects us with the Divine but His hands are so subtle that with magic He connects us with God and we never come to know that a third party was involved.
gurmatee sahj samaavani-aa.
Gurmat does not mean the wisdom of the Guru imparted to us. It is the process of realizing the truth. The Guru holds our hand and takes us along this path. He doesn’t just sit on the throne and tell us what to do. Walking on the path with the Guru, one realizes one’s true self and merges with God.
satgur sayvan say Dhanvantay
Those who become the consciousness, the whole consciousness becomes hearing consciousness and hears at the heart, that consciousness serves the Guru. He says those who hear their Guru, they earn the most precious wealth.
ਸਤਿਗੁਰੁ ਸੇਵਨਿ ਸੇ ਧਨਵੰਤੇ ਐਥੈ ਓਥੈ ਨਾਮਿ ਸਮਾਵਣਿਆ ॥
satgur sayvan say Dhanvantay aithai othai naam samaavani-aa.
Maharaj Ji says that If we are in ishq with the Guru, then the Guru makes us reach the state of consciousness in which whether we are sitting in meditation or while we are living in this world, we remain absorbed in the truth. Gurbani is love songs, His love letters to us. We will understand this more in the coming days.
When we don’t get sangat, the holy congregation, our consciousness falls down to the mind again which is full of worldly thoughts and desires. We saw how Maharaj Ji frees us from the blind well and raises our consciousness. If we can focus our consciousness on the forehead, that consciousness is not in the blind well. Without sangat, it falls down again and we are in our mind, which is nothing but worries, anxiety, and sorrow.
We have been singing this dhaarnaa; this is about when we didn’t have sangat for three years.
ਵੇ ਮੈਨੂੰ, ਤੇਰੇ ਬਾਝੋਂ ਜਿਊਣਾ, ਗੁਨਾਹ ਲੱਗਿਆ
vay mainoo, tayray baajhoN ji-oona, gunaah lagi-aa
ਤੇਰੇ ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਦੇ ਖਤ ਅੱਜ ਇੰਝ ਚੰਨਾ ਲੱਗੇ
tayray praym day khat aj, injh chanaa lagay
Today again I read one of your love letters in the holy congregation.
ਜਿਵੇਂ, ਦਿਲ ਉੱਤੇ ਗ਼ਮਾਂ ਦਾ, ਪਹਾੜ ਚੁੱਕਿਆ
jivayN, dil utay gamaaN daa, pahaarh chuki-aa
Today I understood your letter when it was read in the holy congregation. Previously I never gave much importance to this gathering and I feel guilty that I didn’t realize how precious your letters were.
ਤੂੰ, ਆਵੇਂਗਾ ਤੇ ਦਿਲ ਵਿਹੜੇ, ਫਿਰੂੰਗੀ ਮੈਂ ਫੁਲ ਬਣ
toon, aavayNgaa tay dil vihrhay, firooNgee maiN ful ban
When you come I would start dwelling at the hirdaa, the heart area, which is the house of love, peace, and compassion.
ਇਸੇ, ਆਸ ਦੇ ਸਹਾਰੇ, ਰਾਤ ਦਿਨ ਕੱਟਿਆ
isay, aas day sahaaray, raat din kati-aa
I passed my days and nights with the support of this hope of mine.
ਵੇ ਮੈਨੂੰ, ਤੇਰੇ ਬਾਝੋਂ ਜਿਊਣਾ, ਗੁਨਾਹ ਲੱਗਿਆ
vay mainoo, tayray baajhoN ji-oonaa, gunaah lagi-aa
To live out of the mind is to live a low life. We have seen how the words we hear affect our consciousness, change the state of our consciousness. If someone says words of love, our consciousness becomes thankful. If harsh words are said, we may experience anger. Let’s first see this at the level of the mind - when we hear music, the worldly songs - if we are still in the mind, that will affect our state of consciousness. If bhangrhaa (Punjabi folk dance) is going on and the dhol (drum used in bhangrhaa) is beating, and we are in our mind, our surtee (consciousness) starts to beat in the same rhythm as the drum beat, the heart starts to beat in that rhythm. What does that mean ? That all of our consciousness comes in the rhythm that it is hearing from the outside. Please make notes and listen repeatedly to understand these things. Our consciousness becomes that and responds to that external stimulus. If harsh words are said, the mind responds with similar words.
Our consciousness wants to participate in whatever it hears or sees on the outside, provided it is not a sinful deed. If you watch someone dancing, doing bhangrhaa, our consciousness starts to dance. What happens? The bhangrhaa on the stage is surtee (consciousness) that has become dance, so our consciousness also becomes dance. Note - the surtee is not doing dance, it has become dance - please notice the difference in the two. Similarly, when we listen to any worldly song or poetry, it influences and changes our consciousness, and if we are in the mind, we also want to sing along.
Listening to some great poetry awakens a poet within us, for a moment we open to a poetic vision, we feel some doors have opened for us, a new mystic environment surrounds us. Something within us responds to that song or poetry. The whole story is about consciousness. On this path, similar things happen but at a very high level. When we are in the mind, it is related to the body and its desires and affects our consciousness accordingly. Gurbani is poetry but it takes us in the skies; our hirdaa (heart) is in the skies. The worldly songs emerge from the blind well up to the navel area. If they are good, clean songs they come up to the navel otherwise it is in the blind well. Gurbani is pure and affects the area from the heart and above. So, the poetry of Gurbani affects us in a similar manner, but it is at a very very high level and takes us up in the skies. Thousands of times in Gurbani, Maharaj Ji asks us to sing. Why ? Because He is making us a poet and God is a very noble poet. The story starts with singing. He says to sing Gurbani with love and hear it with love. Then He says to become His utterances. His utterances are the embodiment of the truth, His utterances are the truth itself! He says to become His utterances!
ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਕੀ ਬਾਣੀ ਸਤਿ ਸਰੂਪੁ ਹੈ ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ ਬਣੀਐ ॥
satgur kee banee sat saroop hai gurbaanee banee-ai.
What does that mean ? Become the song! Earlier you used to sing, now become the song! These things are very deep! You can give something in writing to someone and ask them to sing, but becoming a song yourself! Our surtee (consciousness), which became the dance and was dancing to the bhangrhaa when it was the mind, now becomes a sacred song! Maharaj Ji says, become a sacred song. He says become an infinitely pure pious song. This is our true self! We will talk more about this later.
Maharaj Ji says,
man ray ki-o chhooteh bin pi-aar.
Without becoming ishq, how can you be freed from the mind, from the cycle of birth and death. If you want to find out the reality of life, become ishq; Gurbani is ishq, our true self is ishq.
He says how can you be liberated from your mind, which is nothing but constant thirst, hunger, greed. The only way is that you become the ishq, holy love, yourself.
Dhaarnaa:
ਕਾਲੇ ਰੰਗ ਦਾ ਗੁਲਾਬ ਕੋਈ ਨਾ
kaalay rang daa gulaab ko-ee naa
ਸਜਣਾ ਸਵਾਲ ਕੀਤੇ, ਸਾਨੂੰ ਆਇਆ ਜਵਾਬ ਕੋਈ ਨਾ
sajnaa savaal keetay, saanoo aa-i-aa javaab ko-ee naa
He asked me some questions but I had no answers.
He asked, man ray ki-o chhooteh bin pi-aar, and I had no answers.
ਅਖੇ ਦੇਸ ਸੀ ਮਨਮੋਹਣਾ, ਸਭ ਕੁੱਝ ਹੀ ਹਾਜ਼ਿਰ ਸੀ
akhay days see manmohnaa, sabh kujh hee haazir see
He said the country you are living in is beautiful, everything is available here.
ਸਨ ਵੇਕੀ ਬਜ਼ਾਰ ਇੱਥੇ, ਤੇ ਵਾਜਾਂ ਮਾਰਦੇ ਸੌਦਾਗਰ ਸੀ
san vaykee bazaar ithay, tay vaajaaN maarday saudaagar see
Vaykee means many types of things. The country was beautiful and bazaars of immensely numerous things were available, and the traders were calling you out loud.
ਬਾਬੀਹਾ ਫਿਰ ਵੀ ਪਿਆਸਾ ਕਿਉਂ, ਤੇ ਨਾਲ ਕੀਮਤੀ ਖਿਤਾਬ ਕੋਈ ਨਾ
baabeehaa fir vee pi-aasaa ki-oN, tay naal keematee khitaab ko-ee naa
How come you are as thirsty as ever, if not more ? And you don’t have any valuable title like you have become your true self, you have become ishq, you have become a Gurmukh, or you have become a song!
ਸਜਣਾ ਸਵਾਲ ਕੀਤੇ, ਸਾਨੂੰ ਆਇਆ ਜਵਾਬ ਕੋਈ ਨਾ
sajnaa savaal keetay, saanoo aa-i-aa javaab ko-ee naa
He asked me some questions but I had no answers.