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Question: - A gentleman said that – ‘I do not consume any intoxicating substance. I am away from all the vices. I consider others’ sisters and daughters as mine. I do not commit any sin. I do not need to do true worship. I have seen such men and women going to satsang who used to commit all sorts of evil deeds, and had a bad reputation.
Answer: - Like, there is a two acre land. One acre land has been ploughed and cleared, that is, digging the weed, bushes and grass out, ploughing with a plough or tractor, it has been cleared up, but the seed hasn’t been sown.
In the second acre land, all the weeds, bushes and grass are growing. Then both of them are useless. If ploughing and clearing the second acre land, someone sowed wheat in it and did not sow anything in the first cleared land, then the second land is much more useful then the first one, which was left after clearing and no seed was sown in it.
Therefore, if you are free from defects/vices, then you will have to sow the seed of bhakti. Only then the field-like body of yours will prove beneficial.
Those, who used to perform wrongdoings, gained knowledge. On quitting the wrongdoings, if they do bhakti, then they have changed their way of life; they have cleared it. Their destination has come closer.
You will further read that a prostitute listened to the satsang of God Kabir and changed her way of life. Taking initiation, she started going to satsang. The people of the city did not use to like it. They started talking in whispers that – ‘Infamous women go to Kabir’s satsang. He is not a good saint. Only such men and women go to his satsang. Do not let your sister or daughter go there.’ On hearing these views of the people, some devotees also started speaking the language of the village people to Guru ji. Then Supreme God Kabir told that: -
Kushti ho sant bandgi keejiye |
Je ho vaishya ko Prabhu vishwas, charan chit deejiye ||
Meaning: - If a devotee has leprosy and he has started doing bhakti, then the devotee society should not hate him. They should greet him like they do to the other devotees. They should respect him, encourage him. His life will become successful by doing bhakti and his disease will also get cured. Similarly, if a prostitute daughter or sister has thought of doing bhakti, of coming to the satsang, then she has developed faith in God. If she will listen to the teachings of satsang, she will quit her vice. Her welfare will be done. Vices will disappear from the society. If she will not even come to the satsang, then how will she come to know about her sinful deeds? Like, if a dirty cloth will not come in contact with soap and water, then how will it become clean? Therefore, if such infamous woman also does bhakti, then greet her also with special respect so that she does not hesitate to come to the satsang. If you will stop her, then you will incur sin. To know the story further, read “Tests of disciples by Kabir Ji”.
The same evidence is also in Shrimad Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 Verse 30. It is written that even if someone is a very wicked person, but he has started doing bhakti of God with faith, then he should be considered equivalent to a Mahatma. He will be reformed after listening to the viewpoints of saints, and he will get his welfare done. Therefore, a human being after acquiring the refuge of a Guru should definitely do bhakti of God, auspicious deeds and charity.
Venerable Supreme God Kabir has stated that:
Kabir, maanush janm durlabh hai, mile na baaram-baar |
Tarvar se patta toot girey, bahur na laage daar ||
Meaning: - God Kabir has explained that O Human being! This human life (man/woman) is obtained with great difficulty after eras. It is not obtained repeatedly. Do bhakti of God and perform auspicious deeds while you are in this body; otherwise, once this body finishes, you will not be able to attain the same state again, that is, will not be able to attain the human body. Like a leaf after detaching from a tree does not get reattached to the same branch.
Therefore, do not lose this opportunity of human life. Kabir Ji has then said that: -
Kabir, maanush janm pay kar, nahin ratae Hari naam
Jaise Kuaan jal bina, banvaya kya kaam
Meaning: - If one does not do bhakti in human life, then that life is like a beautiful well with no qualities of a well. If a well does not have water in it, or it has water, but it is salty (not worth drinking), still it is called a well, but it does not have the merits of a well. Likewise, if a human being does not do bhakti, then he/she is also called human being, but he/she does not have the qualities of a human.
_On growing up, after gaining education and finding a job, I will get married and look after my family. I will provide higher education to my children. Then they will get jobs. Then we will marry them off. God will grant kids to our children. Then our duty will be over. Many times, elderly people of the village and the neighbouring village used to gather together and ask about each other’s well-being. One of them said, “By God’s grace, I have two sons and two daughters. I toiled to bring them up and educated them. Now I have married them off. All of them have sons and daughters. My task has been accomplished. I have turned 75. Now I can die; my life has been successful. The family line has commenced; my name will remain in the world.
Interpretation: - Whatever was obtained in the above-mentioned account was pre-determined in the fate. Nothing new was obtained.
A man got married, and had a daughter. It has been a belief of the human society that if one does not have a son, his clan does not propagate. (But from the viewpoint of spiritual knowledge, there is no difference between a son and a daughter.) He hoped that the next child would be a son. The second was also a daughter. Then he hoped that on the third occasion, God will grant him a son. The third was also a daughter. In this way, he had five daughters. He never had a son. It is clear from this example that neither one gets what one wishes for, nor what one does. Whatever happened was destined to happen. This is God’s rule. A human being in the present life should take initiation from a Complete Saint and do bhakti. He should also definitely perform charity, religious and meritorious deeds; otherwise, finishing the fruits of the auspicious deeds of previous lives, he will go empty-handed to God’s court. Then he will have to suffer in the lives of animals etc.
Like, a farmer sows wheat, chickpeas etc in his field. Then after working hard and making them mature, he brings them home and stocks them in his storeroom. If he does not sow the seeds again and prepare a crop, and is only eating the wheat and chickpeas from the previous year, then currently he will not face any problem because the wheat and the chickpeas from the previous year are still remaining, but one day those already stored grains will finish and that family of the farmer will become poor. In a similar manner, whatever is being obtained in the human life is a collection of the previous lives. If one does not do bhakti and auspicious deeds in the present time, then the future life will become hell.
After gaining spiritual knowledge, a man like a wise farmer will sow the crop of charity, meritorious deeds and recitation of mantra every year in every season, and will consume it after storing it in his house, and will also sustain himself by selling it, that is, after taking initiation from a Complete Guru, he will collect his wealth of bhakti by doing worship and charity in every Samagam as told the Guru ji. Therefore, a Supreme Saint teaches the way of life to a human being. It is based on the true spiritual knowledge that is certified by all the holy scriptures.
Like, in the aforesaid account, an elderly person said, “Raising all my children, I have married them off. The aim of my human life has been fulfilled; my life has become successful. Now I do not mind dying.” It is a point to consider that he has only spent whatever was previously accumulated. He has done nothing for the future. As a result of which, his human life has been wasted.
Kabir Ji has said that: -
Kya maangu kuchh sthir na rahayi, dekhat nain chalaa jag jaayi |
Ek lakh poot sawa lakh naati, us ravan kae deeva na baati ||
Meaning: - If a person wants to maintain his family line forever through a son, then it is his misconception. Like, King Ravan of Sri Lanka had one lakh sons and one lakh twenty-five thousand grandsons. Currently, there is not even a single person of his family (lineage) to even light a lamp at home. All got killed. Therefore, O Man! What is this that you ask from God that is not even permanent? This desire arose due to lack of spiritual knowledge. God gives you whatever is in your fate. Nothing is happening as a result of your efforts. If we believe that old man’s statement that by having a son, one’s family line propagates and one’s name remains in the world. In a village, initially there were only four-five people. Hundreds of families have been formed from their descendents. Their family line is continuing. Their name is also continuing in the world. But because of not doing bhakti according to the method mentioned in the holy scriptures, according to God’s rule that gentleman may be suffering somewhere in the life of a donkey. By propagating the clan of donkey there, then he will take birth as a dog. Then by propagating that clan, he will take birth in the lives of other creatures and suffer for infinite births. The import is that a person in human life, while doing worldly tasks, should also perform task of self-welfare. As a result of which the blows of previous sins about to befall the family will also be averted. The family will remain prosperous. Otherwise, due to the results of both good and bad deeds, one has to intermittently bear the havoc of happiness and sorrows.
Once, this Das (author) was doing a three-day Satsang-Paath (Spiritual Discourse + Recitation of a Holy Book) in a village. A relative of that very family brought a four years old boy with him. During a conversation, he said, “I had four sons and two daughters. I married them all off. Perhaps, there was no one as happy as me in the village. Then things reached such a pass that within two years my family got ruined. Two sons were going on their motorcycle to their in-laws. They died in an accident. Their wives got married in other villages. A year later, at night another son got stung by a snake on the tube well in the field. He was found dead. Due to this tragedy, the fourth son died from heart attack. All the daughter-in-laws also left home. My wife became mentally disturbed. This is my eldest daughter’s son. I am passing my days with him. I have kept my daughter at home.” It is a request to the dear readers that act with discretion and acquire the true path of human life. Definitely do true worship.
Whether you will have a child or not is based on the deeds of your previous lives. If the child does not know about correct religious practice and meritorious acts, then no matter how noble he/she is, he/she will certainly commit a mistake sometime. It will all occur due to the effect of sins. A person told, “My father-in-law was a Jaat farmer and owned four acres of land. By working hard day and night, he acquired in total sixteen acres of land, that is, he bought another twelve acres. He had four sons and one daughter. He married them all off. At the age of sixty years, my father-in-law suffered from stroke. All the four sons used to live separately.”
“For some days, he stayed with his eldest son. But only after six months, his clothes started to smell. Then he stayed with the third son at his place. After a few days, he also gave up. In this way, all the four sons got frustrated with looking after him. The Panchayat (village council), with the motive of getting my father-in-law looked after, decided to give two more acres of land to that son who would serve him. Lured by this, the youngest son accepted to take care of him. After six months, he said that it is not my cup of tea. The relatives gathered. They counselled all the children in every way, but nobody got ready to take care of him.” That devotee was saying that – ‘My father-in-law could not even speak. When his young grandson came in front of him, then by moving his neck he indicated that – “Come to me, I will give you a cuddle.” This is the misconception. Sons have brought laurels and now grandchildren are pending! A servant was kept for him by giving those two acres of land on contract, and he had a terrible death.
Just think that even if such a hardworking person had this knowledge that without bhakti and meritorious deeds, a human life becomes hell, then at least along with that he would have also done Bhakti of God and would not have suffered such a plight. His children would have also served him. These very teachings are given in satsang. Devotees are taught the lesson of kindness and meritorious deeds. During a satsang, elderly people, people who are ill, disabled, women with small children, sisters and daughters come to the ashram. Male and female devotees are delegated in the ashram to look after the visiting elderly people, the sick and other helpless people. They give them a bath, wash their clothes, and bringing blessed food from the kitchen, they feed them in the hall (Pandal) itself where they are sitting. They serve them tea and milk at their place. Just think that those children (who go to satsang) and daughters, sisters, mothers and devotee brothers, who serve the unrelated people coming to the satsang, will serve their own parents, brother-sister, father and mother-in-law in their homes with the same attitude, because it becomes their nature. They are filled with compassion in their hearts. They thoroughly know the rule of God. In the previous topic about the hard-working farmer who suffered from stroke and got ignored by his children, if those sons and daughter-in-laws had been attending the satsang, they would have taken a lot of care of their father. If that farmer had done bhakti of God, his body would have remained healthy and due to his bhakti, impressed by the splendour of the worship performed by him, his family would have automatically respected him. For example, sadhu-saints only do bhakti. As a result of which, the entire village serves and respects them. Likewise, because of doing bhakti, the power of God automatically inspires others and makes favourable circumstances for the devotee. That is why, saints urge to do bhakti. The way of life becomes good through Satsang.
Yeh dam tootae pinda phootae, ho lekha dargaah maanhi |
Us dargaah mein maar padegi, jam pakdenge baahin ||
Nar-Narayan dehi paay kar, fer chaurasi jaahin |
Us din ki mohe darni laage, lajja rah ke naahin ||
Ja Satguru ki main balihaari, jo jaaman maran mitaahin |
Kul parivaar tera kutumb kabeela, maslit ek thahraahin |
Baandh pinjari aagae dhar liya, marghat koon le jaahin ||
Agni lagaa diya jab lamba, foonk diya us thaahin |
Puran utha fir pandit aaye, peechhe Garud padaahin ||
Meaning: - The day when these (dam) breaths will finish, on that very day one will leave this body-like Pind. Then there will an account of virtues and sins in the court of God. Messengers of Yam will take those who do not do bhakti or who do bhakti contrary to scriptures by holding their arm. He will be beaten even if he is a king of some country. Supreme God Kabir had met Sant Garibdas. He had taken his soul above. After showing all the Brahmands (Universes) and imparting the entire spiritual knowledge to Sant Garibdas, Supreme God Kabir left him back in his body. Sant Garibdas ji is narrating the eye-witnessed account that: - O human being! You have got a man’s body, which is similar to the form of Narayan, that is, God’s body; it is His image. Other living beings have not got this beautiful body. After acquiring this, one should do God’s bhakti throughout one’s life. After acquiring such a body similar to that of God, because of not doing true bhakti, you are again going into the cycle of 84 lakh births. Shame on your human life! I am worried about that day; I am frightened that if my bhakti would be less, I may not be able to preserve my honour in God’s court. I am frightened even while I am doing bhakti that it might not be sufficient. You do not even do bhakti. If you are doing, it is against the scriptures. You will suffer badly. I would advise that choose such a Satguru who will eliminate the chronic disease of birth and death. What happens after death to those who do not do true bhakti? The people of the family living nearby get together, and then all of them take a unanimous decision – ‘Carry him’. (They carry him to the cremation ground and burn the pyre. They break the chest of the dead by hitting with a stick or a rake, and burn the entire body. They take out whatever is in his pocket. Then those who make others perform religious practices opposite to the scriptures, and those who do it, recite the Guru Garud Puran for the wellbeing of that living being who has died.)
It is mentioned in Tatvgyan (Sukshm Ved) that the living being died after completing his human life. His account will be checked in God’s court. According to his deeds, he would be standing in a queue somewhere to become a donkey or a dog. What use will that recitation of Garud Puran be to him after his death? It is a useless ritual against the scriptures. While he was alive, he should have been made familiar with the law of God, so that he would have become aware of good and bad deeds and made his human life successful.
Pret shila par jaay viraaje, fir pitron pind bharaahin |
Bahur shraadh khaan koon aaya, kaag bhaye kali maahin ||
The meaning is that the rituals that are against the scriptures that are performed after one’s death for the welfare, that is, salvation of a living being are futile. For example, recitation of Garun Puran was organised for the salvation of the deceased. Then the bones of the deceased were immersed in Ganga for his salvation. Then a ‘Hawan’ was performed and a ‘Bhandara’ (communal meal) was served on the (Terahvin) thirteenth or the (Satrahvin) seventeenth day after his death for his salvation. Initially, a ritual was performed every month for a year for the salvation of the deceased. Then in the sixth month, they used to do “Chhmahi” ritual for the salvation of the deceased. Then, they performed a ritual every year for his salvation. Then they offered ‘Pind-Daan’ for his salvation. They performed ‘Shraadh’ for his salvation. On the day of ‘Shraadh’, the priest himself prepares the food and says that put some food on the roof of the house. Your father might have become a crow. When a crow eats the food, they say that – “Your mother or father, who has died and for whom we are performing this entire ritual and this Shraadh has been performed, has become a crow and now his/her Shraadh has become successful.” It has become clear from the above-mentioned description that, that person, for whom the aforesaid ritual was performed, has become a crow.
The priests who carry out Shraadh say that by performing Shraadh, that soul gets satiated for a year. Then Shraadh has to be performed again after a year.
Please ponder: - A person who is alive consumes food three times a day. Now how can he/she be satiated by having food once in a year? If food is kept daily on the roof, then that crow will have food daily.
The second thing is – All the rites performed after death were done with the objective of salvation of the deceased. In the end, those unknowledgeable gurus led him/her to become a crow! He/she is suffering in the life of a ghost on Pret Shila. Here, the priest and the crow are enjoying the food in their absence. The benefit of offering Pind has been described that one gets rid of the life of a ghost. Let us believe that one gets rid of the life of a ghost, but then he/she becomes a donkey or an ox, then what salvation have they attained?
Journey on the Path of True worship
Until one becomes aware of spiritual knowledge, one had forgotten his/her goal in the stupor of (Maya) wealth. Like, it has been mentioned above that a drunken person was lying in the afternoon in the scorching heat of June, sweating and covered in sand, and still he was saying that he is enjoying himself. But on becoming sober, he realises that he is lying in a jungle and his home is far away.
Kabir Ji has stated that: -
Kabir, yeh maya atpati, sab ghat aan adi |
Kis-kis ko samjhaayun, ya kuyae bhang padi ||
By consuming the medicine of spiritual knowledge, a living being overcomes his/her intoxication. Then one walks on the path of bhakti because one has to reach God who is one’s Father, and that Satlok is one’s own home.
A person who sets forth on a journey cannot take all the objects. One only takes the necessary objects for the journey. Similarly, in the journey of bhakti, we will have to travel with bare minimum. Only then we will be able to reach our destination. To tread on the path of bhakti, it is mandatory for one to have mental peace. The causes of mental tensions are our customs, intoxication, pride and honour, ostentation. These are futile burdens e.g. big bungalows, expensive car, to do make-up, wear expensive jewellery (gold jewellery), collection of wealth, to give or take dowry in marriage, to play band or DJ, the entire family shamelessly dancing at the time of the bridegroom mounting a horse, to feed people after a family member’s death, to celebrate on the birth of a child, to burst crackers at the time of some celebration, to do extravagance etc. Because of being obstacles in the path of bhakti, one will have to relinquish these.
