Online Magazines > Manav Dharam (August 2007)
Discourse - Param Sant Sadgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj
KNOW THE TRUTH
St. Kabir, in one of his devotional songs, says, “This world is blinded by ignorance. Had there been one or two eager to listen I would have made them understand, but everyone is engrossed in the routine of earning their bread and butter. They do not see the Truth within but search for it outside holding a lamp like a blind man.” This body is made up of 80% water and runs on pranic energy. A day will come when it will fall like drop of dew.
Param Sant Sadgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj
St. Kabir warns that that day is not far off when we will have to depart from this world, shorn of all possessions. A poet also says, “The world is too much with us. We spend our life in getting and spending.” Guru Nanak Dev Ji also says, “After circulating in 8.4 million species, we get this human body. Hold fast to the Holy Name, otherwise that day is approaching again.” People think that offering water, food and medicine to others, or to take someone to the doctor, are acts of charity. But these, in fact, are not so. The word Paropkar (charity or doing good to others) is comprised of ‘ par ' which means ‘others' and ‘ upkar ' which means good action. Acts which are done for helping and doing good to others are called ‘ paropkar '. All such activities which people think of as ‘p aropkar ' are left behind in this world. What, then, will accompany a person after death? St. Tulsidas says even if you are a billionaire and your kingdom stretches from sunrise to sunset, what use is it when death is certain?
All worldly possessions, immense wealth, or ruling the entire world are of no use after death. We know that every person, from President to a low-paid office boy, are only working to fill their bellies. It will be wrong to say that someone has become President or Prime Minister simply to serve the people. A soldier, who gets killed by a bullet in war, also serves for the sake of his stomach. This is the root of all evils. The whole world is dancing for this one thing. Having got such a rare human body, if one does not remember the Holy Name of God, then he is plunged back into the 8.4 million other species.
We take birth as a human being by the grace of the Almighty, after having suffered in many species. The human body is not the result of any worldly action. Only when the Almighty showers His grace on a being, is it granted a human body and if by mistake he does not remember the Holy Name but wastes his human life in futile worldly things, if he gets engrossed in various worldly activities and does not acquire Spiritual Knowledge, then he again will revolve in the wheel of birth and death. One may become an ox and has to pull a cart or plough while enduring the owner's whip on his back. If we become an ass then we will have to carry heavy loads from one place to another and we will not be given even grass to eat. So, don't waste this invaluable human body chasing unreal worldly things, but search for the Truth.
Anyone who found the highest peace, got it in a human life. Worldly things do not give peace because the world has been described as an ocean of temptation. Man wanders around unnecessarily throughout his life, but his thirst is not quenched.
In the desert land of Mewar (Rajasthan), when a deer feels thirsty and searches for water, it mistakes sand, which sparkles due to sunlight, as water. It runs ahead in the hope of getting water. As it goes closer, the mirage of shining sand particles becomes more visible. Because it has been running all day, the intensity of its thirst increases. In the evening the sun sets and the mirage vanishes. That deer, tired and hungry and thirsty, falls on the hot sand and dies. Similar is the condition of each human being.
When we were small children, we thought that we would be happy when we grew up but when we grew up, we thought that we would be happy after finishing our education. We thought that we would get happiness from academic degrees. But we did not get happiness anywhere. We thought that we would get happiness when we married. So we got married, but still we did not get happiness. Then we thought we would get pleasure from having children. But this also proved illusory. “My son became sick, so I ran to a doctor. My son suffered, cried and finally died,” we cried in grief. Similarly, a poor man thinks that after earning a lot of wealth he will be happy, but once he becomes rich, he becomes restless and sleepless due to fear of thieves. But all these worldly things are temporary and will be left behind. In the end even great kings also had to leave their kingdoms behind. The human body, of which a man feels so proud, will also be left behind one day. Nobody will come to the rescue of anyone else. What to talk of wife - even our own body does not belong to us. The body came with us from our mother's womb, but when we die, it will be left here. So we have to do that which will help us in this world as well as after death.
Wife, children, wealth and property will not accompany us after death. Therefore, it is said that we should do that which makes our mind clean and pure, makes it fully concentrated, gets rid of worldly attachments and hooks it to God. Adopt that path, know how the soul can be uplifted and we will be happy and prosperous. If we do not know that method now, when will we know it?
The Almighty gave us such a beautiful human body yet we forgot Him. We started doing the most menial things, forgetting God, just to fill our belly. We feel ashamed to bow our heads before saints, prophets and Spiritual Master. Man today wanders here and there only to fill his stomach like an animal. A man works at a job for a whole month, gets a salary, buys items of daily use for his family and fills his belly. Next morning he goes to work again and thus he continues throughout his life. Out of what he has eaten, a percentage forms excreta and the remainder makes blood, bones and muscles for his body, which ultimately is buried or burnt after death.
In a village we see a small grinder for grinding wheat. In big cities, there are big mills for making flour in which thousands of tons of wheat is crushed to make flour. A poor man eats bread and salt whereas a wealthy man drinks milk and eats various rich dishes. Both these people sleep at night. Both are in the same state while asleep, even though a wealthy man is sleeping in a palace whereas the poor man is sleeping on the ground beneath the sky. In the morning both of them produce excreta. The poor man, who has eaten bread with salt, may be compared to the small village grinder and the rich man, who has eaten costly and rich food, may be compared to a big city mill.
The silkworm is nourished by the mulberry tree. The worm eats the green mulberry leaves and produces silk thread, so it is called a silkworm. The worm is known by the name of what it makes. So who makes dung? A man! So, is it wrong to call him a dung-mill?
After filling their bellies, people are running towards worldly things, jealousy, hatred, criminal activities. If we take out a worm out of dung, it will either die or hurry back to the excrement. The same is happening with all worldly people. An animal goes out in the morning, not for a morning walk but to fill its belly, and in the same way a man does so many things, from morning till evening, which are totally related to filling his belly. Whether the President or the Prime Minister or a great king, all of them are busy filling their bellies.
So, leaving aside all such worldly activities, we should pursue that which will help us in this world as well as hereafter and that is remembering the Holy Name of God, the knowledge of which is imparted by the Spiritual Master within the heart of a disciple, knowing which one is released from the cycle of birth and death. We should acquire that and make our life successful in all respects.
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