SIMRAN LEKH NUMBER-16

SIMRAN 125 Part 16

Burn such a practice that might cause my beloved to leave me.

When a girl gets engaged slowly her attention and consciousness becomes weaker towards the parental side gets pulled towards her in-law’s home. She dreams about her ‘beloved’ and her interest in the happening around the in law’s home increases. In this way her ‘love-link’ with her ‘beloved’ firmer. Her mind, heart, her whole self’ automatically dwells upon the ‘;remembering’ or ‘simran’ of her beloved.

This ‘life of simran’ is the ‘meditative’ level. In this level she is spontaneously and unknowingly absorbed with her ‘hand at work and mind with her ‘mate’. The girl in her parental home continues to discharge all the responsibilities in this emotional state.

Some people express doubt that if they get absorbed in doing simran, who will do the worldly work.

This practical example of an engaged girl in her parental home is a suitable answer to these doubters.

When a seeker partakes of ‘Amrit of Khande dha Bata’ he becomes a disciple of the guru and his ‘pull’ or ‘love’ towards the house of the guru continues to increase.

As a gursikh continues to associate with the company of ‘the sadh sangat’ (evolved souls), and through simran practices the shabad (the word), his consciousness enjoying affection, love- being an embodiment of love gets pulled by the chord of divine love. This chord of love does not lose its tensions nor does it break.

1.1 I have contracted love with my Beloved.
The Lord of Wealth has drawn me with such a string that by breaking, it breaks not, and by letting it go, it goes not. 827







16.2

2.1 From my mind I do not forget my God now.
This love has become very strong now and it has burnt other sinful affections. 1121

In this way the consciousness of the gursikh, with the pull of divine love chord soars in the divine world environment of self fulfilling love. He becomes intoxicated in the relish of the divine hue. The attachment and the ‘pull’ of the materialistic world does not affect him. Inevitably he lives a ‘life of detachment in the materialistic world.’

2.2 Gursikhs are yogis (who have developed full) awareness. Living a worldly life they remain detached. Var BG 29/15

2.3 Exceedingly sweet is the love of the World Lord,
That one forgets all other loves. 1199

2.4 Those who turn Guru-ward, keep aloof from him ( self centered person)
They leave his association and sit near the Guru. 303 - 304

2.5 The Actor has set up attachment to worldliness as a play for the mortals. The blind irreligious ones remain clinging to it.
The Guru-wards remain detached & embrace affection for God. 230

Actually in a gurmukh’s worldly and spiritual life, the guru keeps holding the gursikh’s chord of consciousness. Through his divine grace the guru is

always at hand
managing the play
bestowing love
affectionately nurturing
looking after everything
protecting from conflicts
building faith
bestowing fruits of love
bestowing the company of truth seekers






16.3


taking care
promoting meditation of the Naam
bestowing a life of simran
involving him in sewa


The extraordinary, unusual play of divine ‘life of simran’ is further clarified in Gurbani as follows:

3.1 With the True Name my soul is attached.
With the people I have but artificial dealings. 1.
My ties are but external and I am happy with all.
Like lotus in the water I live separate from them. Pause.
By word of mouth I talk with all.
But my Lord I keep close to my heart. 2.
Though I appear to be very terrible,
But my mind is the dust of all men’s feet.
This slave O Nanak, has found the perfect Guru.
Within and without, He has shown me the One Lord. 384-85

In this way when the seeker’s consciousness is focused in the ‘Name of the Lord’ then like a guest he lives a ‘detached’ life in this world.

3.2 The gursikh never forgets the Lord, like a guest they know they will have to leave (this world when the time comes) Var BG 32/1

3.3 In the world (the gursikh regards) himself as a guest. He does not make any claims but surrenders instead. Var BG 29/13

In the mind of an opium addict the ‘simran of opium’ is inevitably going on. The reflection of opium can be seen on his face, in the way he looks, speaks and does things in his daily life. He becomes a embodiment or a form of opium.

Similarly the blessed gurmukhs do simran not only with their mouths, but also with their body, mind, consciousness, sub-consciousness to the extent that the ‘whole self’ becomes absorbed with word consciousness and does simran without pause.



16.4.



4.1 The God conscious being remembers God through every hair of his. 941
4.2 At every breath he ever remembers the Lord and not a single breath of his passes in vain.
His fear of birth and death departs, and he obtains the honour of an eternal life. 556

Every aspect of their life, like their

speech
deeds
life style
dealing
thinking
recalling
rights and rituals
labour
worship
religious pursuit
service
selfless assistance
love

is coated with the colour of the Naam.

Through his looks, vibrations speech, you get the glimpse of the intoxication of the divine love and his life becomes an embodiment of ‘simran’.

4.3 Life giving is Your contemplation O Lord. 743

4.4 The life, fruitful is the life of him, who hears of His Lord and remembers and contemplates Him and thus lives eternally. 1019

4.5 Daily, everyday and ever I sing Your praise, O Lord, as my soul lives by hearing Your Name. 562

4.6 If one forgets not the Name, then alone one obtains eternal life.
Nanak makes this supplication (ardas) 1214

16.5

In this way a gursikh person, as a house holder living in ‘detachment’ remains intoxicated in the wondrous joy of the love and affection of the Beloved.

Enjoying the self fulfilling love of ‘word consciousness’,

to be tied to the chord of love

to experience the pull of the chord of love

to experience agony of separation

to bear the piercing arrow of Bani when doing kirtan of the Lord

to listen to the message of the beloved

to enjoy the rapture of the Naam

to bear the jerks of the waves of love

to be lost in the infinite celestial music

to be lost while serving


-belonging to the Divine World all these are-

waves

swings of love

jingling celestial love

uninterrupted music

a novel play

To experience through intuition, the full innate Divine play’ of word consciousness and become wondrous is the result, manifestation and symbol of

‘simran’

16.6

This lofty of the loftiest, purest of the pure Divine play is novel, without blemish and arduous (difficult). But with the ‘Blessing of the Guru’ and the help from the sadh sangat (company of spiritual seekers), the difficult play can become easy.

6.1 Associating with the saints and by the Guru’s grace, I captured the king of the fortress. 1161-62

6.2 O dear soul , put in the earnest endeavour and seek the society of saints and the true Guru.
Attached with the Saints congregation, meditate on God and the Lord master shall go with You. 234

This ‘Divine’, ‘Intuitional level’ or ‘love commodity’, can only be attained through the merciful glance of the TRUE GURU. This ‘Divine gift’ cannot be attained through stubbornness or force.

6.3 (I have) no power to gain understanding of Divine Knowledge and Lord’s meditation. 7

6.4 The Bounteous Lord has kept the bounties in His hand and he gives these to him alone, whom He likes. 604

6.5 By one’s embracing the love for the Lord is embraced not, even though, all may long for it.
This cup of love belongs to the Lord. Whomever He pleases He gives. 1378

6.6 O Lord, those who have love and attachment for You, You Yourself have attached them to Yourself 1422

To get possession of this ‘Divine gift’, Gurbani explains the ‘way’ as follows:-

6.7 Surrender all your body, soul and wealth unto the Guru and submit to his will, thus shall you obtain the Lord. 918

6.8 O my mate, hear the way to meet your Lord.
Dedicate your soul and body to Him, and lay aside the idea of feeling shame from the people. 737

6.9 I praise my Guru and bowing low fall on his feet. Banishing self conceit from within me. 756

6.10 She ought to dedicate her soul and body to her spouse and nurture affection for His word. 89

16.7

Our limited intelligence cannot grasp the inner intuitional ‘game of love’ of simran.

7.1 Slave Nanak says, the play is arduous, only the rare guru orientated one knows this. 219

Even then, Gurbani has this to say about this extraordinary divine ‘love drama’ to be witnessed or experienced even momentarily by our gross mind -

7.2 There ever is bliss and merry-making and resound there the celestial music.
Meeting together the holy men sing Lords praises and hail Him. 545

7.3 Divine music and the divine music plays to the accompaniment of the air of the musical instruments.
My soul and my soul is imbued with the love of my Darling Beloved. 436

7.4 The whole day long, my soul and body remain imbued with the love of my Beloved.
Show mercy onto slave Nanak, O Lord, that he may abide in peace by meeting the Satguru. 301

7.5 The Lord’s love is supremely sweet unto me.
When I meet with the congregation of the holy persons, God the peace-incarnate, came unto my mind. 607

7.6 Those imbued in the word consciousness narrate the unnarratable shabad of the Guru. Var B.G. 6/14

7.7 True Love I have joined with You, O Lord.
Attaching myself to You, I have broken with all others. 659

7.8 Nama is in love with His Lord.
Easily he has become detached. 1164

7.9 With the true Name, my soul is attached.
With people I have but artificial dealings. 384

As the spiritual love of the seeker becomes intense and sharp, separation from the Lord increases his longing. In his restlessness he continues to supplicate and beg for the audience or sight of the Beloved.

16.8


8.1 Let someone come and make me meet my darling Beloved. For the sake of seeing the Lords sight, I will sell myself to him.
If the Lord shows mercy unto me, then He makes me meet with the true Guru and I contemplate the Lord Master’s Name. 757


8.2 Thirsty with desire , I wonder, thinking when I shall behold my Lord. O Nanak is there any friendly holyman, who may unite Him with me. 928

8.3 To see the vision of God, my soul remembers Him.
In the hope and thirst of seeing my Lord, day and night, I think of him. Is there any saint, who may intimately unite me with Him. 204
8.4 My mind longs to meet my God. How can I behold His vision ?
I deem to obtain lacs of rupees, if You, O Lord talk of me even for an instant. 1098

8.5 Mother, O my mother, tell me of my Beloved Lord.
Without God, I cannot live even for a moment and I love Him, as the camel does the creeper. 369

8.6 Without God my soul can live not.
If the Guru unites me with my life like darling Lord God, I shall not, again, go round the dreadful world ocean. 711

Only some rare gurmukh experiences or unravels this extraordinary love filled pangs of separation -

8.7 He alone realises the worth of this love, on whom is Your grace,
O Lord. 1016

In such an intense ‘emotional’ state when the grace of the Guru descends then suddenly through ‘Divine illumination’ the ‘link’ is established with God , the ‘Beloved’. This ‘wonderful moment’ has been described thus in Gurbani and the Vars of Bhai Gurdas -

8.8 On meeting the Lord I lost all sense of sensation ,
all sense of wisdom and all sense of mind presence.
Consciousness turned unconscious, awareness into unawareness,
Knowledge turned to no knowledge, ritual into a non ritual Kabet B.G
16.9

9.1 The Guru-God, the bewitched has bewitched my soul.
Seeing my Guru, I have been wonder-struck and entered the realm of beatitude. 836

9.2 O my mother, I am wonder-struck to see my Lord.
My soul is bewitched by the unstruck melody, wondrous is whose relish. 1226

9.3 Lord, a wondrous thing has happened.
The Lord whose knowledge is spoken of as unfathomable, Him, the Guru has enshrined within my mind. 612

This is the pure state of the fourth level of the amazing and wondrous ‘game of love’ of the ‘Divine World’ that through the grace of the Guru, manifests itself with the help of the practice of‘internalised simran’ or word consciousness. Here the borders of the materialistic world get shattered and like clouds, the materialistic form takes flight.

It is impossible for our meager intelligence to understand, unravel or express this pure and sublime ‘game of love’ of the divine world -

9.4 Kabir, how can I tell you, the extent of the joy of the Lord’s lotus feet Its sublimity can be describe not. It can only be seen and realised. 1370

9.5 A dumb man tastes the flavour of great elixir; if you ask him, he cannot describe it. 657

9.6 Wondrous is this commodity, which cannot at all be described.
It is incomprehensible commodity, O brother. 883

9.7 When I saw within, I was astonished and astounded. Its glory I can narrate not. 821

This is the stage of the ‘linking of the word consciousness’ which is also called the fourth level or ‘spontaneous (effortless) meditation’. For a seeker to detach himself from this divine ‘joyous love’ is equivalent to ‘death’ -

9.8 By repeating Your Name, I live. By forgetting It, I die. 9

9.9 O Nanak, the moment I forget my Lord, at that very time my soul ceases to live. 562
16.10

10.1 Without God, I can live not even for a second.
As an opium - addict dies without opium, so perish I without the Lord. 668

This spiritual state has been expressed as follows in Gurbani -

10.2 In profound concentration, I am ever attached to the love of my God.
I live by singing the Lord’s praise.
Imbued with the Guru’s word, I have become detached and in meditative mood, bide in my very home. 1232

10.3 Your servant, O Lord, is intoxicated with Your elixir.
He , who obtains the treasure of the nectar of love, forsakes it not to go elsewhere. 532

10.4 Night and day, such a mortal remains absorbed in the celestial trance and meditates on the profound and unfathomable Lord Master. 574

10.5 O sire, by quaffing the Name-Necter, the mind becomes intoxicated and easily remains absorbed in Lord’s love. 360

In this condition the heart of the ‘gurmukh person’ is overwhelmed and from within he cries out -

10.6 Excellent, excellent, excellent, excellent, excellent is Your Name.
False, false, false, false is the worldly love. 1137

10.7 Hear O people, I have obtained the essence of love. 370

10.8 The Guru-God, the bewitcher has bewitched my soul.
Seeing my Guru I have been wonder-struck and entered the realm of beatitude. 836

This condition of the ‘Divine World’ :-

is the ultimate destination

is the merging of the word - consciousness

is the success of the spiritual efforts
16.11

is the flight in the sky for the self fulfilling love

is the intoxication of the joy of love

is the sweet scent of love

is the treasure of the Naam

is the sublime joy of Naam

is the unparalleled hue of the Naam

is the magic of the Naam

is the pull of the Divine chord of love

is the jingling of the eternal celestial sound

is a thing of love

is the devotional meditation

is the treasure of meditation

is the culmination of ‘the life of simran’

is divine grace

is the joy of being in grace

is spontaneous meditation

is the unnarratable narration

is the ultimate level

11.1 Kabir, I have become dumb, insane and with ears being blocked.
I have also become tame footed for the true Guru has pierced me with His arrow. 1374

11.2 A dumb man tastes the flavour of great elixir; if you ask him, he cannot describe it. 657

16.12

12.1 Within my mind and body is the love of the infinite Lord.
Every instant immense faith wells up in my mind.
Seeing the Guru, my minds yearning is fulfilled, as the pied cuckoo is pacified, when after plaintive cry, the raindrop falls into its mouth.
Meet, meet me, O my mates and utter to me the Lord’s discourse.
The true Guru has mercifully united me with my Lord.
Chopping, chopping off my head, I offer it to Him. 836

12.2 My mates meet me and say, “Tell us of the distinctive sign of your spouse”.
I was so filled with the elixir of His love that I could not say anything. 459

Yes sir!

Filled with the joy (I am) unable to speak

Filled with the joy (I am) unable to speak

Filled with the joy (I am) unable to speak




This is the last of the 16 essays written by the pen of ‘Khoji’ on the topic of Simran.

This is a humble attempt to translate the original articles written by gurmukh piare ‘KHOJI’ ji ( satkaryog Bhai Sahib Bhai Jaswant Singh Ji)