Bhai Maalo and Bhai Maanga came to Guru Nanak and with folded hands said: O gracious and benevolent Guru, bless us that we do not come in the cycle of births and deaths.
On listening to their prayer, Guru Nanak said: Gentlemen, you have to do meditation. Without meditation, the dirt of the mind does not go.
Then they respectfully, said: O prophet from the heavens, you tell us, how do we do meditation?
The Guru said: Gentlemen, meditation is of many types. You listen and then you may select.
They said: Please be good to tell us.
Then the Guru said: First is hard meditation such as standing in water, standing in heat, keeping fasts, tolerating cold and hot weathers, hanging the body with head down, standing for long hours, eating leaves etc., to stay in caves and roam sacred places. These are the hard ascetic practices to suppress the mind.
Second is concentration of mind by breath control.
For both these practices it is somewhat essential to renounce the world.
The third is: To listen to the divine music. To read and understand the Holy Scriptures and then imbibe the qualities mentioned in the scriptures.
The first one is very difficult. The second one is less difficult. The third one is easy. Now, the first one that is very difficult, its fruit is very little.
The second one that is less difficult, its fruit is more than the first one.
The third one that is the easiest, it is the most fruitful.
Then Maalo, with respect, said: O Benevolent Guru, people say, the fruit is equivalent to the effort. The more you labour the more you get. But how is it that where the labour is more the fruit is less and where the labour is less the
fruit is more. We do not understand this point. Please explain this to us.
Then the Guru said: Gentlemen, you see, the carpenters cut the wood and the labourers carry the weight on their heads. They do so much labour and get very little money for that. Then the grocer who has a shop does less labour but he earns more money. Similarly, the cloth dealers and jewellers labour still less and earn still more. Then the diamond merchants do the least labour but their earning is the most.
Similar is the case with the first and second type of practise. The effect of the first type and the second one is more on the body. But the third one is mainly for the mind.
To control the body and the senses with the first and second type of practise is a hard job.
As I have told you the third one is the easiest. If one turns the mind and controls the body passions in this way, then the fruit is much more.
The most important thing is to rein the mind and turn it towards the love of the Lord. For that you have to read the scriptures, understand its meanings, sing the divine songs and do what the scripture tells. The dirt of your mind will go quickly. You will become good and you will do goodness to others. Then your mind will be attracted towards the 'All goodness Lord'. The attraction for the Lord will reach you to the Lord who is the Lord of the heavens.
After listening to the discourse of the Guru, Maalo and Maanga started reading the scriptures, reciting the Lord's name with love and singing the divine songs. They got salvation and many more people got salvation through their holy company.
Bhai Gurdas writes: Bhai Maalo and Bhai Maanga felt ecstasy and rapture by reading the Holy Scripture and singing the divine songs.
Bhai Mani Singh writes: Bhai Maalo gave discourse of the divine hymns and Bhai Maanga listened with all the attention of his mind, and then both of them sang the divine songs with music. People were filled with ecstasy by listening to their divine songs. Their vices vanished and they got into honest earning and sharing and started service to the congregation. The entire town became holy.
This was the fruit of the discourse and divine songs of Bhai Maalo and Bhai Maanga. Such persons are required for giving discourses and singing divine songs.
One thing was that the Guru blessed them. Secondly, they obeyed the Guru's words and acted on it Acting on his words was reading the scriptures daily with attention and understanding its meanings.
Now dear reader, you should also sit in solitude and read the Holy Scripture and understand its meanings.
The scripture tells us to keep the body away from vices. The scripture tells us to keep the mind away from wandering. Turn it towards the Lord. Again if it wanders, again turn it towards the Lord. In this way your will to turn towards Lord becomes stronger and the mind will be reined. When the mind is reined then the senses will not go for passions. When the mind and the senses are reined then what is the need to make the body suffer? The biggest suffering of mankind is that the mind is wandering and in distress.
Now the second thing that the scripture commands us is to recite the Lord's Name. If you act on this command then this suffering will also go. The scripture tells us two things. One is to read the scripture and understand the meanings. This will help in reining our mind and controlling the passions of the body. The singing of the Lord's praises will turn the mind towards love of the Lord. The mind will get dyed in the Lord's love.
Second is reciting the Lord's Name with the aim that He is our loving Lord and His remembrance should always remain in our mind. When the remembrance becomes incessant then the forgetfulness or so to say the distance between our self and the Lord will vanish. Then the sacredness of the Lord, His good qualities, His love will come in us, so much so that we will get the sensation of the Lord in our body.
See, whatever one thinks one becomes. A thief thinks of stealing and then steals. He becomes a thief. Similarly, recitation of the Lord's Name brings positive results. The Lord is the ocean of love and goodness.
First we love the scripture, the scripture makes us love the Lord. Then we get a longing for the Lord. Then the scripture tells us recitation of the Lord's Name. The Name becomes a remembrance. Remembering Him is to love Him. Love is the cement that can bind us to the Lord. As the lime binds the bricks gum binds the wood. Similarly, the binding material for binding the soul with the soul is love. Love is the strong bond that binds the human soul with the Supreme soul. Our Guru has provided the very best way, 'The way of ecstasy' or so to say, 'The way of wondrousness'.
In the Japu ji, the opening composition in the Scripture is recorded the way for a person to become virtuous. Herein, the Guru has discarded all paths except the path of 'Acceptance of the Lord's command and will' and in the scripture the path of 'Acceptance of the Lord's command and will' is described as: 'Singing the praises of the Lord is accepting the Lord's command and will'. Singing the praises of the Lord takes you into ecstasy and ecstasy makes you understand His will.
This is the way of love. For ecstasy the path is 'Singing the Lord's praises. The Guru has said;
To whom the Lord has bestowed 'Singing His praises' He is the King of kings, says Nanak. Again it is said:
Sing the Lord's praises and ovation, says Nanak. By singing the Lord's praises, the dirt of the mind goes. The poison of ego that is spread in the mind vanishes. By singing the praises, the mind and the body get peace and rapture.
When one is immersed in praises of the Lord, Then the mind and body become luxurious, says Nanak. But, everybody is not blessed with this path. 'Singing the praises and devotion', the Lord has given to a few only.
What is the path of 'Singing the praises of the Lord'? The true path is: SAYING PRAYERS, PRAISING THE LORD, TO PRAY TO THE LORD THAT HE MAY BLESS 'RECITATION OF HIS NAME' TO US.
This is the first step. The divine scripture is full of the Lord's praises. It is an ocean of His praise. Reading the divine scripture with love is His praise. Singing His praises with music is a priceless gem. The Lord's praise is the holy company Blessed by His utmost benevolence
'O Lord', we are singing your admirations at your door.
The Name that the Guru has given us is the most sacred thing.
'O Lord' is the name blessed by the Guru. The Ego goes [Ego is the veil between us and the Lord] by chanting His Name.
Reciting His name is singing His praises. You are great You are great.
Who is great? The saviour who has awakened our sleeping soul is great.
'O Lord', 'O Lord, is His praise. Reciting His Name is singing His praise.
This Name is the stairs to get the sensation of the Lord and ecstasy.
When the mind wants to get the sensation of the Lord, one has to recite the Name or when the sensation becomes slack, one has to recite the Name with earnestness. One has to chant the Name so that the mind becomes exuberant to sing the praises and that will make the veil of ego thinner and thinner. When you are immersed in the loving Name, then the ego (the veil between us and the Lord) cannot stay there.
In this way laughing and playing in a child's nature, we reach the Lord. We get salvation while living and we start doing goodness to others.
The scripture tells us: To listen and practise gives salvation.
But if we listen and do not practise, we read and do not practise, we understand and do not practice, then what can we expect?
The Guru has said: Listening to the praises, understanding and imbibing in the mind with love, washes the dirt of the mind for which one wants to go to sacred places.
From whatever written stories we have regarding Bhai Maalo and Bhai Maanga, we get to know that the Guru narrated to them the hard meditation and other practices and then told them the easy way of singing the praises.
Then he explained to them the practice to win over ego. It is the ego that is in us as selfishness. Being selfish in the world, to think of one's own gain all the time and not bother about the other person's welfare is ego.
It is written that as the Guru had told them they became honest in their business and whatever earnings they had, they started sharing with others. This way the ego goes, that is a veil between our self and the Lord.
Secondly, the Guru explained to them that the hard meditations are for the body only. At the most you can control your body passions. Then again you have to start a search for the Lord.
The Guru put them on the path of singing the praises of the Lord. He told them that this is easy and the fruit is much more. This takes you straight to the Lord. Some of the ego will go away when you recite the Lord's Name and imbibe kindness in you. Then when you sing the Lord's praises and recite the Lord's Name with love, the ego will vanish and you will meet the Lord.
Those who are on the path of singing the Lord's praises and get dyed in the love of the Lord, their ego is gone. And when they get immersed in the love of the Lord and dyed in His love then they have met the Lord.
The Guru's command to Bhai Maalo and Bhai Maanga is repeated once again:
The true path is:
'Singing the Lord's praises and Recitation of the Lord's Name with love'
Let us recite:
'Waheguru, Waheguru, Waheguru.'
'O Lord, O Lord, O Lord'
Starting with at least five minutes a day.
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