2517 - Khajana Darshan February 1, 2023 – Bulandpuri Sahib
2517 - Khajana Darshan February 1, 2023 – Bulandpuri Sahib (English 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॥
There are two things which can happen in our lives - we can either expand or we can grow. Maharaj Ji has created this world as a game, a play, where we expand. When a plant germinates out of the soil, it either grows upward or it spreads on the Earth. The worldly life, to live in the world, is to expand at the same place, and that expansion is the ego. More properties, more wealth, more power, better looks - all these things are expansion, and this is not an expansion of the Self, but expansion of our ego. The world does not give us an opportunity to grow, it can only let us expand at the same point where we are. No real growth can happen in the world. There’s no possibility, there’s no environment, there’s nobody making us aware that this is what is going to happen to you. They all are busy expanding themselves - bigger circle of friends, bigger circle of properties, power, all that.
In the world, we can only know how to become more proficient in the world, more clever; when to buy, when to sell, how to get a better job; clever, not wise. There is absolutely no possibility of growing. Here, when Maharaj Ji becomes merciful to us, He brings us to the holy congregation and the sole purpose of the holy congregation is to provide us an atmosphere to grow, to provide us knowledge on how to grow, to give us the freedom to grow. In the world, there is no freedom to grow. Why? Why is there no freedom to grow in the world if we live only worldly life? Not that the world does not give us the freedom to grow, our minds do not give us the freedom to grow. Correct?
With His great great mercy, we are blessed with the holy congregation where we are given freedom. With that freedom comes responsibilities too. When Maharaj Ji says that you have the opportunity to be liberated from the “I”, that freedom does not mean that we would be free to do anything. Freedom brings with itself responsibility. If there is no responsibility attached to freedom, then it will not be freedom, it will be a sure path to destruction.
He brings us to the congregation, He reserves a special spot for us in the congregation, He gives us the opportunity to grow, He tells us how to grow. Beyond that, it’s our responsibility what we are going to do with all these blessings. The holy congregation respects us, we are respected here, but what we do with that respect is up to us. What do we see as our responsibility in response to that respect, our responsibility towards the congregation, towards the place? We must be very sensitive. We must please recognize that up to a certain point on this path, we remain very fragile. Just a careless remark can damage somebody. Mind is another thing. You say something insensitive to the mind, to the worldly consciousness, it would make sure that you pay for that. But here, nobody is going to even tell us that our remarks did the reverse of helping them. In the world, people are expanding to show others how big they are. Here we grow, not to show anybody, but to hide that growth from everybody.
ਹੋਨਿ ਨਜੀਕਿ ਖੁਦਾਇ ਦੈ ਭੇਤੁ ਨ ਕਿਸੈ ਦੇਨਿ ॥
hon najeek khudaa-ay dai bhayt na kisai dayn.
Maharaj Ji says that on this path as you move closer and closer to God, to Allah, you start hiding from the world. If somebody says that you are lucky, you are walking this path steadfastly and all that, those remarks will not comfort you, they will make you alert. You would say, no, no, don’t say anything like that, I’m nothing. Because you are coming to know that I really am nothing; it was all an illusion. In the world, we show ourselves. Here, we hide ourselves. See the stark difference. So we should be very sensitive to others because we should remember that we all are fragile here. We can be broken. The falsehood must be broken, but the truth in us must be cherished, must be protected so gently. We should be sensitive to the truth in others. Our real selves are really so tender, so we must protect the tenderness in others, salute to that tenderness, that humility, in others. This can only happen if we are awake, and if we ourselves are experiencing our tenderness.
The falsehood must come off us, but our true self must be cherished, must be worshipped. So the freedom which we receive here, we should recognize our responsibility which comes with it. The respect we get here, we should recognize our responsibility towards that. That fragility of the true self must be respected with utmost sensitivity.
Holy congregation as we know is something so precious, so special, that it does not belong to this world. It belongs to the world which is beyond the see-able. Maharaj Ji says:
ਮਿਲਿ ਸਤਸੰਗਤਿ ਖੋਜੁ ਦਸਾਈ ਵਿਚਿ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਹਰਿ ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਵਸੈ ਜੀਉ ॥
mil satsangat khoj dasaa-ee vich sangat har parabh vasai jee-o.
We are here to grow. Maharaj Ji talks about knowing the true self. He also talks about meeting the Beloved, and He also talks about growing. All these three things are one and the same.
If it appeals more to us, to grow, then we should grow upward; growth happens upward along the spine. At the end, we would find that the very one who had started to grow, when it becomes exposed, comes out to be the Divine, the truth.
If it appeals to us that I want to know the truth, as we start knowing the truth by waking up and climbing upward, at the end we are going to realize that the one whom I have been calling “me”, “is”, “has been”, and “is going to be the truth”.
If it appeals to us to meet Him, then we take the same path to meet Him, and at the end there would be no “I” left; it would all be Him, the truth.
So whatever appeals to us, it’s going to take us to the same destination but we should be very clear. This path that Maharaj Ji takes us on, He takes all these three aspects at the same time. He says:
ਕਿਉ ਪਿਆਰਾ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮੁ ਮਿਲੈ ਮੇਰੀ ਮਾਈ ॥
ki-o pi-aaraa pareetam milai mayree maa-ee.
Oh my mother, how do I meet my Beloved?
sunhu ray too ka-un kahaa tay aa-i-o.
Listen, oh dear one, who are you and where have you come from?
ਮਿਲਿ ਸਤਸੰਗਤਿ ਖੋਜੁ ਦਸਾਈ ਵਿਚਿ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਹਰਿ ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਵਸੈ ਜੀਉ ॥
mil satsangat khoj dasaa-ee vich sangat har parabh vasai jee-o.
Maharaj Ji says by remaining in the holy congregation, ask what is the path to find out who I am or how to meet the Divine? What is the path to find the Divine? Maharaj Ji says, I will be present in the sangat, I will operate in the sangat. Those who are truly motivated to grow, they will become so concerned that I have already lost so much time and those who are worried about losing their worldly belongings won’t gain much. The mind keeps us in thoughts. If we remain in our mind even after coming here in the holy congregation, then we never started the work that we came to do. Time and again, Maharaj Ji takes us out of our thinking habit and asks us: now hear me, ask what is the path, and start walking the path. We again start thinking: how long is the path, how is the path? He says, I told you, do not think, ask me what is the path. But, the futility of the mind! The mind will resist our growth with all its might. Please understand this:
ਇਹੁ ਮਨੂਆ ਅਤਿ ਸਬਲ ਹੈ ਛਡੇ ਨ ਕਿਤੈ ਉਪਾਇ ॥
ih manoo-aa at sabal hai chhaday na kitai upaa-ay.
Maharaj Ji says the mind is extremely powerful, and it is going to use every ounce of its energy to stop you from growing. Again and again, it will put before you how to expand, and not to grow because in expanding you can see beautiful dreams and we can become intoxicated in dreams. In dreams, we can even enjoy something which is not there, but in reality we enjoy what is there. We only know how to enjoy the dreams. Once we start enjoying the reality, the truth, enjoying it, only then we can see the real face of the world, the real face of the mind. Until then, we are very fragile and can break at any point. We have become so accustomed to seeing dreams that we are completely oblivious that there is something real. We remain intoxicated in the dreams. If the dreams can be so intoxicating, how would the truth feel? Maharaj Ji says give me the dreams and I will give you the truth. When you wake up and enjoy the true intoxication, you will see what is more enjoyable - the momentary intoxication of the dreams or the permanent intoxication of the truth.
He says, we should remain in the sangat, come to know the path, and then keep walking the path. Then He says that God is at work in the holy congregation. He will be there to wake you up. He will be there to make you grow. So, we should remain very awake to this reality that we are not sitting in a room, we are not sitting with a bunch of people, we are sitting in the presence of God, and we have our responsibilities. If He has come and surrounded me, if His love for me is such, then what are my responsibilities towards Him, or towards the Self? He does not want anything from me and He came to gift Himself to me. I have some responsibility too.
ਵਿਚਿ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਹਰਿ ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਵਰਤਦਾ ਬੁਝਹੁ ਸਬਦ ਵੀਚਾਰਿ ॥
vich sangat har parabh varatdaa bujhahu sabad veechaar.
Maharaj Ji says that God is at work in the holy congregation. He wants to work on you if you let Him. He wants to remove the falsehood and bring forth what you truly are, but He doesn’t force anything upon anyone. He says, it is up to you. If you are wise, then you will see what needs to be done. He says that through meditation, you can become silent, and your inner silence will enable you to hear Me. If there is so much cluttering, so much chatting, noise in your mind, you cannot hear Me, let alone know anything. All of us please, we should recognize how silent we are becoming and how loud and persistent is the noise and chattering in our mind. Through meditation we become silent within. The moment we start hearing, the moment we become silent enough to hear, to feel, that’s when our consciousness becomes free of the mind, free to hear Him, to hear His utterances. Once we become capable of hearing, from then onwards it’s a highway, or just a rocket ride upwards along the spine.
ਵਿਚਿ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਹਰਿ ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਵਰਤਦਾ ਬੁਝਹੁ ਸਬਦ ਵੀਚਾਰਿ ॥
vich sangat har parabh varatdaa bujhahu sabad veechaar.
He says that through meditation, we become free of our minds; the sensitivity in us, the tenderness in us comes forth, and that feels the presence of God; not the mind which is full of dreams, and is not even available to feel anything.