Holy Name Dries Up The Worldly Ocean

By Author: Sikha Dawan
Total Articles: 7
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Our great Divine Masters united society by imparting the experience of Spiritual Knowledge. They tried to eradicate all strife and feelings of division. Their aim was not to fracture society, rather to unite it. So, even today, we admire and revere all the great Masters. Only the living Master makes a disturbed man peaceful by giving him the Spiritual Knowledge. satpal maharaj
Saints say that realising the soul is spirituality; they all agree on that. In the Upanishads it is written that once an argument cropped up among the organs of the human body. Each of them said that it was superior to all the other organs. Finally it was decided that each organ, one after the other, would go away for one year. First the eyes left the body. After one year, they came back and asked the body how it lived without them. The body replied that it had lived like a blind man. So, one after another, each organ went away for one year but the body lived and functioned in their absence. However, when the soul started to depart, then all organs started to fail. Then they understood that the soul alone ...
... is the king, the ruler of the body and hence the Knowledge of the soul, the Knowledge of the King is the sovereign Knowledge. The Knowledge of the soul is easy to practise and its practical technique is imparted by the grace of the living Spiritual Master.
It is the tradition in India that when we go to the Master, we bow to him, then ask him for the precious Knowledge of the soul. Water tanks are installed on the roof of our house because, due to gravity, water flows from a higher level to a lower level. Similarly, the Knowledge of the soul flows from the feet of the Master. We bow to him so that we may also experience the Knowledge. That is why it is said-
“Guru ko kijiye dandwat, koti koti pranam.
Keet na jane bhring ko, guru kar le ap saman.”
“Prostrate thousands of times at the feet of the Master . An ordinary insect does not know the bhringi (which turns it into a bhringi like itself). In the same way, the true Spiritual Master makes his disciple like himself.” The bhringi wasp uses a humming sound to transform an ordinary insect into a bhringi. Likewise, by listening to satsang, we come to realise that we have to wake up, we have to tread the path of salvation, we have to know our soul and this is also what the scriptures have explained.
Lord Shri Krishna imparted the practical technique of Spiritual Knowledge to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Knowledge alone is worshipped. When we purchase a statue and install it in a temple, first of all Pran Pratishtha rituals (for infusing life-force into the statue) are done. The statue is worshipped only when this is completed. In other words, we worship the Life force and this is what the Spiritual Master and all the divine personalities talk about.
“Ram ek tapas tiya tari.
Nam koti khal kumati sudhari.
Ram bhalu kapi katak batora.
Setu hetu shram kinha na thora.
Nam let bhaw sindhu sukhahin.
Karahu vichar sujan man mahin.”
It is written in Ramcharitmanasa that Lord Shri Rama redeemed only one person, a woman renunciate, but the Holy Name has already redeemed millions of sinners. Lord Rama built the bridge from Rameshwaram to Lanka with the help of an army of monkeys and bears, whereas simply remembering the Holy Name dries up the worldly ocean itself. Please think about this! What could that Name be? When we call someone by name, that person comes to us. Similarly, when we remember the Holy Name of God, then God appears within our heart automatically. By remembering the true Name of God, God manifests. Such is the unique power of the Holy Name.
So, we should receive Knowledge from a true saint and then meditate daily and remember the Holy Name. If a variety of food is placed before us and all we do is look at it, our stomach will not be filled. We have to eat the food those dishes contain. Likewise, once we have received Knowledge, we have to remember the Holy Name and meditate daily as a matter of rule. The Knowledge which we have acquired will go on increasing if we sow it within the fertile field of our heart. So, we have to increase it by regularly meditating and remembering the Holy Name every day. Only then will we achieve the goal of life.
Our saints talked about the vibration of the Holy Name, which is known as Shabda Brahma. Guru Nanak Dev Ji says –
“Sabad hi dharati sabad hi akash,
Sabad hi sabad bhayo Prakash.Sagali srishti sabad ke pachhe,
Nanak sabad ghata ghat achhe.”
“Earth is made by the Word, the sky is made of the Word. Light manifests from the Word. The entire creation is made of the same Word which dwells in everyone’s heart.” There is a vibration in light also. The same Shabda Brahma is present within us and the Master shows us how to experience it practically. Meera Bai also says –
“Ghoonghat ke pat khol ri,
tohe piya milenge.
Ghat ghat mein wah sain ramata,
katu vachan mat bol ri,
Tohe piya milenge.
Ghoonghat ke pat khol ri, tohe piya milenge.”
“Draw aside the veil concealing your face and meet your Beloved. The Lord pervades every heart, so do not speak harsh words. Then you will meet your Beloved.” Here, ‘veil’ does not mean a curtain of cloth, rather the filth and confusion in our mind. So, when we remove this veil of filth and confusion, we will see God. Because such knowledge manifested within Nam Dev Ji by the grace of his Master, he gave Ganges water which was to be offered to Lord Shankar, to a thirsty donkey. Then Lord Shankar manifested and said, “Namdev! You have truly realised Me.” It is written in Ramcharitmanasa–
“Siya ram may sab jag jani.
Karahu pranam jori jug pani.”
“I know that Sita and Ram permeate the entire creation. So, I salute all with folded hands.”
Lord Shri Rama permeates the whole world. There is no place in the world where Rama and Sita are not present. We have to salute them, we have to honour them. Our saints told us this simple and easy path to meet God. It is said that when the saints and sages used to do penance and meditation, celestial nymphs such as Rambha and Menaka would come and try to disturb them, to divert them from meditation. But, as the saints say, those who possess a determined mind, cross all such hindrances and remain fixed in their practice. Saint Brahmanand Ji sings in a devotional song:
“Niranjan mala ghat mein phire din rat,
Upar jawat niche awat, swans swans chal jat.
Sansari nar samajhe nahin, virtha umar vihat,
Niranjan mala ghat mein phire din-rat.”
“Turn the untainted and pure rosary within the heart day and night. It goes up and comes down with every breath. A worldly person does not understand and wastes his life for nothing.” Everyone breathes. Birds and animals also breathe. That is why Guru Nanak Dev Ji says –
“Eko sumaro Nanaka, jal thal rahyo samay.
Dooja kahe sumariye, jamme te mar jay.”
“Remember the One who permeates land and water. Why remember anything else, which is born to die? “ The One, the Almighty, is present within everyone. He is omnipresent. That is why He is called ‘Rama – ‘Ram ramante yoginah.’ “That Rama vibrates within all yogis.” The One, which is omnipresent, does not need to come or go. He is within each particle, He is present everywhere. Our saints gave this message to mankind. St Kabir said –
“Kahta hoon kahe jat hoon, kahoon bajaye dhol.
Swansa khali jat hai teen lok ka mol.
Aise mahange mol ka ek swans jo jay,
Choudah lok na pat tare kahe dhuli milay.”
“I say again and again with a beat of drum that you are wasting your precious breath which is worth the three worlds.” So, let us ask and try to understand the worth of each breath. Yoga teachers talk about ‘Pranayama’(breath control). They can treat you with the help of pranayama, but this is only possible if the power of breath is keeping you alive in the first place. From time to time, saints imparted the Knowledge of the life breath to true seekers. Guru Nanak Dev Ji says –
“Je sou chanda ugawen, sooraj charhen hazar.
Aita chandana hondiyan, Guru bin ghor andhiyar.”
“If hundreds of moons and thousands of suns were to rise simultaneously in the sky, even then, despite all this blazing light, without the Master you would still be in the dark.” So many high voltage electric bulbs are lighted to dispel darkness. In earlier days, people used to light hurricane lamps. Despite all these lights, however, darkness is not removed totally. Likewise, the darkness of ignorance is not removed even by doing various types of rituals. In the absence of Spiritual Knowledge man becomes like an animal or a monster. When the Light of the Soul is shining, he becomes a true human being. That is why Knowledge is such a dire necessity today.