“Those who obtain God….
Good morning friends,
As soon as human beings, on earth, are born,
And indeed even before we leave mother’s womb;
To the cycle of hunger and thirst we are sworn,
Often adding to our dissatisfaction and gloom.
And such longing is not just for basic needs,
It also includes our desires and greeds.
No matter how rich and powerful you become,
Such hunger and thirst never leaves you;
You don’t find anyone who doesn’t succumb,
These are overcome by the rare and the few.
How can one ever be happy and satisfied?
All one’s efforts are gradually nullified.
The Name of God* is the only true solution,
To the eternal problems of hunger and thirst;
Each one of us is in a state of destitution**,
Until we think of God in everything first.
“God for tomorrow and its needs I don’t pray,
Let me be happy and content just for today.”
I hunger and thirst only for you, my God,
You are my only and true emancipation;
Without you, I am often sad and overawed,
With you I can happily face starvation.
If Krishna could feed thousands from the same bowl***,
Surely, you can provide me enough for body and soul.
*Name of God = different for different people. In Sri Guru Granth Sahib, for example, it is mentioned as Hari.
**state of destitution = normally poverty in material things. Here, I have included spiritual things too.
***Krishna feeding from same bowl = As described in Mahabharta, in order to save the honour of Draupadi, Krishna took a single of rice from the Akshyapatra (bowl given to the Pandavas) and that was enough to deed Duravasa and all the sages.
….don’t hunger and thirst anymore.”
Dear Ravi Sahib,
At the outset I would like to Thank You for your untiring effort in thinking and composing such beautiful GM messages in poetry form and posting it for igniting the mind of the readers of your blog. Indeed it is a herculean task. People like me can’t even imagine in their wildest dreams to undertake such a task/project. You deserve full praise for that. Ofcourse you are absolutely right in your thought from wordly point of view i.e. what we see experience or learnt/ imbibe from our elders, associates or by reading religious scriptures and gathered from GGS. As long as we just recite and say something from here and there without going deep research and without taking guidance from the adept, sometime we are likely to miss the real hidden message saints intended conveying to us.
Since I was involved with some other important personal work I could not respond /comment on your last 5GM posts 259 – 263.
Therefore I would like to comment express my views the way I understand the subject covered in your GM messages not separately but collectively as final theme of the messages by and large is same. Ultimately everything is falling under purpose of Human Life, human behaviour, our longing for God, whether God is doing everything right or we can effect some change to make his functioning more flawless and how is to be contacted/ met etc.
We all have have experienced and probably well realised also that with all the comforts, possessions and pleasures man has in this world today he doesn’t seem to be happy. He is not satisfied with himself nor does he derive any real satisfaction from worldly goods. There is no dearth of religious dogmas and moral principles today. Every man considers himself a follower of some religion or creed. But he finds no happiness in material wealth and derives no lasting/permanent pleasure from religious practices. This is due to the natural inclination of the soul towards its origin. The soul is part of the Lord. So long as it does not merge back into its Source it cannot find true peace.
True religion is universal. It is the same for every man, the same for the whole world. You have all brought out the same in your excellent composed poetry. We all agree with that.
Undoubtedly, the outer forms of religions are different from each other, but if we go to the roots of every religion we shall find the same aim and principles working at the core. It is universally applicable. As human beings we belong to the same fraternity and our inner Source is also the same. This also you have mentioned in your GM messages in a very good way and rightly so. To elaborate little further more – God created human beings. They became Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists or Jains later. We can retrace their history to ascertain when they came into existence but they were not there before. This narrow demarcation between religions, casts, creeds and nations are man-made. In reality, all men whether of East or the West, have been created by the same God and are all equal.
Coming to the core issue – the real aim of human life is to attain God realisation.
We are ignorant of that glory and have forgotten our true home with God and we therefore suffer a perpetual round of misery and trouble. Our ignorance, however is not intellectual, this forgetting is not mental.it goes deep into our being, it is stuck firmly to the root cause of our existence. If we are anxious to shake off this chronic lethargy and come out of this universal oblivion,we should try to find the Shabd.
Shabd can neither be heard with the ears nor uttered by the tongue. Pen cannot write it and language cannot describe it. Shabd is the essence of all reality and existence- the divine With, the heavenly harmony, the celestial music. Naturally,it transcends the physical senses and mental faculties. Guru Angad sahib says as recorded in GGS ji:
ਅਖੀ ਬਾਝਹੁ ਵੇਖਣਾ ਵਿਣੁ ਕੰਨਾਂ ਸੁਨਣਾ।।
Without eyes is it seen and without ears is it heard.
Similarly Bible says : Having eyes ye see not and having ears ye hear not.
Shabd is mentioned in the sacred books of all religions under various names, but those religions are unaware of it, confining themselves to the surface meaning of words. The profound mystic significance of Shabd can be unearthed only through transport of soul into realms ethereal and divine.
In GGS ji – the teachings of the Guru Sahibans in the line of Guru Nanak and other mystics known at that time, this essence of God or Being of the most High has been expressed by such words as Naam (ਨਾਮ), Name ; dhun ( ਧੁਨ), Music; Saar shabd, Essence Word, Sach, Truth; sat shabd, Anahad shabd, ( ਅਨਹਦ ਸ਼ਬਦ), Un-struck Sound (ਬਾਣੀ), Word; gurbani, Guru’s Word; akath Katha (ਅਕਥ ਕਥਾ) Untellable Tale; and ajapa jap(ਅਜਪਾ ਜਾਪ), Unutterable Utterance.
Hindu call it naad (ਨਾਦ), Music or Akash Vaani (ਵਾਣੀ) , Heavenly Voice,
Christian call it logos, the Word, and the Name, Holy Spirit, the Sound.
Muslim call it Kalaam-i Illahi, God’s Word; nida-i aasmani, Harmony from the skies; or ism-i Azam, Greatest Name.
In GGS ji Guru Amar Das Sahib says:
ਬਾਣੀ ਵਜੀ ਚਹੁ ਜੁਗੀ ਸਚੋ ਸਚ ਸੁਣਾਇ।
Bani resoundth in all the four yugas
And maketh one hear the absolute Truth.
Kabir sahib says
ਆਂਂਖ ਕਾਂਨ ਮੁਖ ਬੰਧ ਕਰਾਉ
ਅਨਹਦ ਝਿਂਗਾ ਸਬਦ ਸੁਨਾਉ
Close thou thine eyes, thine ears and thy mouth
And listen thou to the subtle Anahad Shabd.
Guru Amar Das ji in GGS ji says
ਘਟ ਅੰਤਰੇ ਸਾਚੀ ਬਾਣੀ।
Inside ourselves is true Bani.
From all above can very well analyse that to realise or see Him we have been fully equiped and facilitated. We have to enter in our body and carry out the research and listen to that creative power which is residing within us it needs no particular language to read or recite but only listen. It is our ignorance which has separated from each others teachings because our ego and ignorance and propoganda of so called religious teachers which has taken the unsuspecting mortals for a ride for serving their own purpose and fulfill greed by organising religions and exploiting it to their own advantage.
All are sincerely requested to please ponder over without prejudice but with utmost concern and sense of urgency. Time is fleeting very fast no one knows when are we going to take last breath?
If readers evinced interest we can discuss further various aspects of this important subject of God realisation.
As Farid sahib says :
ਚਾਰ ਗਵਾਇਆ ਹੰਡਕੇ ਚਾਰ ਗਵਾਇਆ ਸੰਮ
ਲੇਖਾ ਰੱਬ ਮੰਗੇਸੀਆ ਤੂੰ ਆਇਓ ਕੇਹੜੇ ਕੰਮ
Thanks n regards
Harbans Dhillon