In his third travel, Guru Nanak Dev Ji went northwards to Kashmir and other places and reached Kailash mountains. This is also called Sumer. Here is the sacred lake called Mansarovar. From Shimla up to Mansarovar, there are all high mountains, but habitation is there, even in the higher reaches. One can find signs of Guru Nanak Dev Ji's visits at many places.
Guru Ji was nearing Mansarovar when the Sidhas, who had already reached Mansarovar, heard about his coming. They felt uneasy. They started coming down and began discussions with Guru Ji. These Sidhas were practising Hath yoga. They had renounced their families and homes and were living in solitude in the forests or high mountains.
Today, they were amazed to see Guru Nanak Dev Ji having come up in these high mountains. They were astonished to see someone who was not from their sect Then they asked: O Gentleman, what power has brought you here? Your name is not counted in Sidhas and besides Sidhas no one has got supernatural powers.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji: The source of all power is the All-powerful Lord. I am not after supernatural powers. I have loved the powerful Lord. All powers are His, and I belong to Him.
Sidhas: Please be good to tell your name.
Guru Ji: My name is Nanak. I have got salvation by remembrance of the Lord's name.
Sidhas (expressing scorn): Then he is not a Sidha. He is not an ascetic. He is some family man.
Guru Ji: If one is humble, only then he can reach the Lord's palace and meet the Lord. If one thinks highly of one's self then one remains in ego. There is no place for ego in the Lord's palace. On listening to this, the Sidhas felt a bit
ashamed. They exchanged gestures among themselves. Then they asked some questions. When they listened to the replies, they felt un-easy. They said: He is not an ordinary man. Then they became soft and started conversation.
Sidhas: O dear Nanak, tell us something about the world.
Now, it was time to complete the mission for which Guru Nanak Dev Ji had gone there.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji: O Sidhas, Truth is the moon. Falsehood is darkness. In the world, it is darkness all over. The moon i.e. the Truth is not visible. I am travelling and searching for the moon i.e. the Truth. It seems religion has vanished from the earth and evil is the order of the day.
Sidhas: Is there no one to stop it.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji: Those who call themselves Sidhas or so to say sensible, they make their aim 'Let us go to the mountains and live in peace', like you are hiding here. Who should guide the world?
Sidhas: Our disciples are going from house to house and spreading religiousness.
Guru Ji: Your disciples are without any religiousness in themselves. They only know how to rub ash on their body and beg for food. There is no one to guide. No one is capable to show the true path to the people. There is no consideration for right or wrong. Nobody follows one's faith religiously.
Like animals, everybody is running in greed.
Sidhas: Are the rulers not looking after the welfare and rights of their subjects?
Guru Ji: The rulers instead of looking after the citizens are eating them up. They have become a source of suffering for the citizens. The rulers are commonplace run-of-the-mill.
Sidhas: Why don't the citizens get together and select a competent ruler?
Guru Ji: The citizens are un-educated, without knowledge and have become powerless and hypocrites on account of slavery and cruelty. Under the influence of fear, man becomes weak and hypocrite.
Sidhas: What about the priests?
Guru Ji: They are in dance and merriment. The disciples play the music and the priests dance. They enact theatrical performances depicting Shri Krishna and Shri Ram. It is a sport and merriment. They are not in religious teaching.
Sidhas: With each learned scholar, two hundred to four hundred families were allotted and they gave guidance. Are those old people not doing anything?
Guru Ji: They have become like beggars. The families are busy in their worldly chores and the scholars go to their houses once a year to collect money and give them amulets to wear and come away.
Sidhas: The Mohammedans are ruling. Are their Muslim priests not doing justice?
Guru Ji: The Muslim priests have become corrupt. They take bribe and deny one's right.
Sidhas: There were very good family men with large families. What has happened to them?
Guru Ji: The family system is gone. Family means love of husband and wife. Good Lord. O hell! The love has vanished. Now it is love of money only. There is no sanctity of family living.
On listening to all this, the Sidhas pondered: What should be done?
After pondering deeply, it occurred to them, that if this Nanak becomes our disciple and enhances the glory of our sect then our Gorakh sect that is dying fast, will become powerful again. In this thinking, they asked Guru Ji to fetch water from the lake. Guru Ji smiled and went. But he saw diamonds and pearls instead of water. The Sidhas by their supernatural powers had transformed the water into diamonds and pearls so that Guru Nanak Dev Ji is impressed by their supernatural powers and is influenced towards them.
But Guru Nanak Dev Ji's mind, that was immersed in the love of the Lord, and had the strength of the Lord in him, how could he be influenced by such supernatural powers? He didn't even touch the diamonds.
He came back and said: There is no water in the lake, only false stones.
So, the Sidhas came to understand that he could not be influenced by supernatural powers. Now, they started intellectual questioning.
Mahadev: O Nanak, Are you a householder or 'in renunciation'?
Guru Ji: How do you define householder and 'in renunciation'?
Mahadev: A householder means, a family man absorbed in worldly desires. 'In renunciation' means, one who has left his family and house and is detached from worldly desires.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji: Can a family man remain detached from worldly desires?
Mahadev: No, not at all. This is impossible.
Guru Ji: Yes. He can remain detached. Your interpretation of householder and 'in renunciation' is not correct.
Mahadev: Then you tell the meanings.
Guru Ji: Householder is he, who lives in this world but his mind is detached from worldly desires. He earns honestly and gives charity. This householder is pure, like the water of Ganges.
Mahadev: The Lord who is the Supreme power is formless. This householder has a body. How can he become one with the Lord, unless he has apathy towards the body?
Guru Ji: A householder, the one who loves the Lord and lives in devotion and remembrance of the Lord, his soul is awakened.
Mahadev: He gets enlightenment but how is he detached from the worldly desires. You give some example,
Guru Ji: Like, the lotus grows in muddy water but is not affected by the muddy water. The duck swims in water but is not affected by the water. Its body remains dry.
Mahadev going into deep thought, said: You tell the meanings of renunciation.
Guru Ji: 'In renunciation' is one who is immersed in the love of the Lord and desires nothing else and has killed his ego. Whether he lives in the family or leaves the family is of no consequence. He can be 'in renunciation' even while living in the family.
Renunciation is detaching the mind from worldly desires and not necessarily renouncing the family, house or city.
So, 'in renunciation' is he who has detached his mind from worldly desires.
Mahadev: It appears you are not considering householder and 'in renunciation' as separate persons. You also appear to be 'in renunciation'.
Guru Ji: There is no difference between a householder and a person 'in renunciation'. Both can remain detached from worldly desires. I am detached from worldly desires.
Mahadev: You have not understood what I meant Can a person be a householder and 'in renunciation' at the same time.
Guru Ji: The detachment from worldly desires has to be of the mind, and it is not necessary that the body should also renounce the family and house. A householder will be considered as 'in renunciation' living in the family when he has detached his mind from worldly desires.
Machchinder Nath (in an angry tone with face red in anger): Then are the scriptures untrue and those who have renounced all wrong?
Guru Nanak Dev Ji: Untrue is one's own mind or one's own behaviour. The aim has to be to control the five senses.
Gorakh Nath spoke: That means, you don't believe in renunciation.
Guru Ji: Renunciation is detaching the mind from worldly desires.
In Guru Nanak Dev Ji Prakash is written: In this way, there were many discussions. When all the Sidhas lost in the discussions in every way absolutely, then Mangal Nath and Bhartari gave some good suggestions to Gorakh.
At this time Bhartari yogi was on a visit to the Sidhas hermitage. His mind was already enlightened by Guru Ji's discourse. He had already experienced the ecstasy in the Lord's Name, and was in the recitation of Name but he was
still in this sect He told his mentor Gorakh that he had already met Guru Nanak Dev Ji and that Guru Nanak Dev Ji is a prophet, a prophet of prophets.
He told Gorakh: When I met Muni in my meditation, then Muni had praised the path of Name. Then when Guru Nanak Dev Ji came to my hermitage and met me, then I became sure that what the Muni had said was true. Guru Nanak Dev Ji is a prophet and he preaches Name. His discourse is very intellectual and he takes you out of mistaken beliefs. I am filled with ecstasy after meeting him. It will be beneficial if we stop arguments and welcome him.
Gorakh: I am Head of the sect. How can there be two Heads?
He can be the Head or I can be the Head. If he becomes my disciple then it will be auspicious.
Bhartari: For him to become a disciple is expecting rather too much because he is a prophet, but Shri Krishna and Shri Ram had adopted Guru Sahibs while in human form, just to keep up the custom. In this thinking, if you wish you may try.
With this view in mind, groups of Sidhas went to the place where Guru Ji was staying and tried their best to influence him through supernatural powers and discussions. When all the intelligent Sidhas lost in the discussions, then Gorakh said: O Bhartari, you know him since long. You go and bring him with respect We should all sit together and listen to his doctrine.
Bhartari went. He met Guru Ji with great respect, devotion and regard and gave Gorakh's message.
Now, Guru Ji went to the hermitage of the Gorakh sect
Again, there were discussions and the Sidhas tried to influence him but Guru Ji won in the discussions.
In the gathering of Sidhas, Bhartari prayed to Guru Ji: Everybody has had discussions with you and listened to you but there are certain misgivings. You tell your doctrine so that everybody is benefited. You also reply to the questions that the Sidhas have in their mind.
Then Guru Ji said: Bhartari yogi, whatever questions that the Sidhas have in their mind, let them come out. Then I can reply to the questions and explain my doctrine side by side.
Well, the doctrine is that the Lord is the Supreme power and is omnipresent He is here, there, everywhere. It is not an inert power. He is a living power. He is the creator. He is the giver of nourishment to all. He is the saviour. He looks after His creation.
The path to reach the Lord is holy company.
In the holy company, praises of the Lord are sung, by which we start loving Him and we meet Him.
By singing the praises of the Lord and by loving Him we come to 'Reciting His name'. Name is love. Name is the support in life.
Bhartari: Sidhas wish to ask, how do we get rid of the worldly attachments and passions? We do yoga practices to control the body passions and renounce the world to keep away from worldly attachments. How do you do that?
Guru Ji: One thing is Guru Ji's discourse and reasoning, that keeps the mind in control. Second, the holy company is a fencing that keeps the person away from vices and the dirt of the already done vices is also washed when we are in holy company. Because in the holy company, praises of the Lord are sung, and by singing the praises of the Lord, the dirt of vices on the mind goes away. So, the previously accumulated dirt and the present dirt that comes on the mind even while in endeavour is washed in the lake of the holy company.
The lake of the holy company is never dirty. So, it is always capable of washing the dirt.
Bhartari: The yogis are asking that we recluses don't need to speak and your path is remembrance and recitation that the tongue has to do. So, do you ask your disciples to keep their lips shut and remember silently or in some other way?
Guru Ji: We tell the devotees not to waste their time in idle gossip, speak but that much that is essential. Rest of the time recite the Lord's name and sing His praises. In this way, they are able to do recitation and their worldly chores also go on. Later, when the recitation becomes automatic, then the ecstasy that they feel from recitation keeps them away from un-necessary talking.
Bhartari: The yogis say, that in their yoga they reach the tenth door and get into thoughtlessness. Your disciples practice recitation while living in the worldly entanglements. Then how can they get into thoughtlessness?
Guru Ji: The thoughtlessness what you say and you think, it is something non-living. When we say tenth door, we don't mean it is a non-living sphere. It is a living spark and it is all pervading. Like, the reflection of light on water lights up the water, in the same way our tenth door is a living spark. It emits light. When our mind becomes crystal by recitation of Name, then this spark pervades in the crystal mind. We don't go into thoughtlessness on reaching the tenth door. The living spark pervades in us. The meaning is that the spark that pervades in the crystal mind is the Lord.
Reaching the tenth door does not mean thoughtlessness. Reaching the tenth door is reaching the living spark i.e. the Lord. This is the Lord that pervades in the crystal mind. The soul does not mean thoughtlessness. It is a formless pervading living power It is the flawless Lord:
Bhartari: When we sit in meditation, we drink nectar. How do you drink that nectar?
Guru Ji: Whatever nectar is there in the body, it automatically comes by concentration. But we know there are seven nectars in the body. Five are of the body and two are of the outer mind and the intuitive mind. But they all reflect the Lord's Name nectar. We clear the misgiving in understanding the nectars. We identify the five body nectars separately. In this way, we drink only the sacred Lord's Name nectar that gives ecstasy.
Bhartari: What is the practice?
Guru Ji: Name.
Bhartari: Our yogis, by doing Hath yoga practices live for hundreds of years. How do you win over period of life?
Guru Ji: When our disciple recites the Lord's name, he recites it with a conviction that 'He is there'. Name washes all the dirt of the mind, and the mind becomes crystal and pure. Then one starts loving the Lord. Then one gets an awakening. The Name settles in the mind and gives a sensation of the presence of the Lord in the mind and body. The recitation becomes incessant. This is meeting the Lord. It gives rapture. This meeting the Lord is a victory over time. Time is passing in moments. When our disciple is in the incessant recitation of the Lord's name, then he is living in the presence of the Lord in the present moment He is not bothered about the past or the future. Now, he is in recitation at the present moment. This present moment becomes the past moment and the future moment becomes the present moment. So, he is reciting in all the moments, past, present and future and thus wins over time.
Rest is the body. It is a dress. Sometimes one may wear and sometimes one may take it off. The life that you prolong by controlling the breath, what is the advantage of that? When you are sitting in thoughtlessness then you are neither enjoying the body passions nor getting the nectar of the soul because you are in thoughtlessness. Then what is the benefit? To live a life in unconsciousness or to die, there doesn't appear to be any much difference.
To win over time, one has to join the moments and get into incessant recitation. Second, winning over time is to get out of the cycle of births and deaths. That also, is the fruit of Name.
Another yogi who had more of anger in him impatiently spoke: O Bhartari, you ask him if he has any method of burning anger.
Guru Ji: When something happens against our wish or we wish and ask for something to be done and it is not done, then we become angry. Second, if somebody has not understood something properly and he makes a mistake, then we get angry and scold him. In this way, we get angry on the disciples as
well. Or so to say, when our ego gets a beating then the ego comes out in the form of anger. To control this anger, our method is to control the thinking of the mind, because mind is the instrument of ego. It is the mind that brings out the ego, in the form of anger, when our ego gets a beating.
So, we go by Guru Ji's advice to remain in forgiveness. If somebody makes a mistake, then ignore the mistake and forgive him. Again, if somebody does something and your ego gets a beating, then win him with reasoning and patience but forgive him.
Guru Ji's advice is that forgiveness is a virtue and anger is a fire. It burns. When forgiveness comes anger goes.
Then in practice you will know that the sensation of Name weakens when you have anger. When we go by Guru Ji's advice, then the sensation remains constant. Guru Ji is forgiveness. Our mind is anger. The mind that has forgiveness is strong and in elevation. Forgiveness burns the anger.
Bhartari: The yogis do meditation. Do you also do meditation?
Guru Ji: With the recitation of Name, an elevation comes in the mind. This is a feeling of the sixth sense. This shuttles in the tenth door.
This elevation is not pride. It is an elevation of the mind. The mind is elevated. It is also called 'Immersion in the love of the Lord'.
When the Name is incessant, or so to say, Name gets into the breath, or so to say, the sixth sense shuttles to the tenth door, or so to say, the subconscious mind gets filled with Name, then we get the incessant sensation of Name in the mind and body, and our body soul gets immersed in the Supreme soul. This is our engrossment, or so to say, meditation.
Other meditations are only till you are in a sitting posture.
When you are sitting you are in meditation but when you get up then there is no meditation. This immersion in the love of the Lord is an incessant meditation. We call it relaxed meditation or Sahaj yoga.
Now, you will ask how the fire of worldly desires is extinguished?
Without the fire of desires being extinguished, the mind cannot become crystal. So, I know that by meeting Guru Ji, this is also extinguished because the advice of Guru Ji rids us from desires.
Another impatient yogi: Bhartari, you ask him, When someone becomes his disciple, then in the beginning, how they kill his ego? How do they teach humility? We rub ash on our body, the moment we renounce the world, so that we look ugly, and think ourselves ugly, and remain in humility.
Guru Ji: We tell him the 'Ideal of service'.
We tell him: When you have started treading on the path of recitation of Name, then: Do service to holy people with your hands Recite the Name with your tongue Remember the Lord in your mind. This is, serving the Lord. Do goodness to others.
This is service to the people. But this is a service to the Lord also, because you are serving the Lord's children. This 'Ideal of service' is our rubbing ash on the body. With service, the ego goes and man lives a comfortable and peaceful life. By serving others one gets humility. By serving the holy people you get their blessings, and the mind gets dyed in the love of the Lord. By serving the Lord you get salvation.
One young disciple (looking towards Bhartari): We play music by blowing the trumpet The mind concentrates with that music. What do they do?
Guru Ji: The mind may concentrate by blowing the trumpet but blowing the trumpet in the morning, daytime, evening and night while roaming would be helpful in begging for food. Our devotees earn food by working and are happy in God's will. They don't have to beg. But so far as the mind is concerned, we sing the praises of the Lord with music. We sing the divine sacred songs with music. This is our blowing the trumpet
Bhartari: How do you have a glimpse?
Guru Ji: We are dyed in the love of the Lord. This is our glimpse. Bhartari: Do you go for pilgrimage?
Guru Ji: The recitation of the Lord's name is washing our dirt and sins. This is our bath at a pilgrim centre.
Another yogi to Bhartari: We worship the idol of Shiv and other gods. What do they worship?
Guru Ji: We have the Lord's temple in our body. We worship the Lord. He is a living Lord, not a stone idol. He is capable of immersing our body soul in Himself. In His love, we are engrossed and in ecstasy. In this way, immersed in the love of the Lord, who is sitting on a throne inside our body, we are in ecstasy. Our devotee does all this in the thinking that it is all Lord's grace that we are doing all this, otherwise who can meet the Lord. It is only His grace that one gets His sensation in the mind and body.
Bhartari: How can one be detached while living in the family?
Guru Ji: Like the lotus. It remains in muddy water but is not affected by the same. Similarly, a person in recitation of the Lord's Name appears to be in worldly desires but actually he is away from these. He lives in the family and the world, with mind detached.
O Bhartari yogi, The Lord is omnipresent Whatever He wills happens. I accept His will. I sing His praises thinking that He is present here and everywhere and I live in pure Name.
Bhartari: Is pure Name different from Name.
Guru Ji: No Bhartari. The Lord's Name that we recite with the sole desire to meet Him is pure Name. It means, when one is reciting the Name, the person has no other desire but to meet Him.
Bhartari got so much love for Guru Ji that he wished to leave the Gorakh sect and accompany Guru Ji, but Gorakh did not let him go.
But later, when Guru Nanak Dev Ji was at Kartarpur, then he left the Gorakh sect and went and settled at Kartarpur and the rest of his life he spent with Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
Guru Ji's discourse to Sidhas is summed up: 'Do service to holy people with your hands Recite the Lord's Name with your tongue Remember the Lord in your mind' Let us also recite:
'Waheguru, Waheguru, Waheguru.'
'O Lord, O Lord, O Lord'
Starting with at least five minutes a day.
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