Brahman the great Power

Brahman is a great power, too great for the human mind to conceive, and of the beyond, none but the Saints know of and can speak with authority – not the formally canonized saints as we know of but Saints of the status of Sant Satguru, authorised and commissioned by Truth – the Truth that was in the beginning, the Truth that now is, and the Truth that shall remain hereafter – to teach mankind and initiate such aspiring souls into the mysteries of the beyond and beyond the beyond state; as may be ripe for the purpose of understanding correctly and properly the causeless cause of all the causes that operate down below, in each of the worlds; and are ready to live the life of the spirit as jivan muktas or liberated beings while yet in flesh:

A jivan mukta,

says Nanak,

is one who knows and practises the art of death-in-life and when he finally quits the stage, he quits it for good, never to return again.

This is what Para Vidya or the knowledge of the beyond teaches.

Apart from this, there are many categories of teachers of Brahma Vidya which is Apara in character and paves the way for the Para, and all of them teach people in the ways of Brahman, each according to his own capabilities. 

The Prophets and the Messiahs generally prophesy the coming of great events, train mankind to live a godly life and bring to them the tidings and messages of God – Brahman. 

The Avtaras are incarnations of the various powers of Brahman and their function is to keep the world agoing in a balanced and orderly manner, holding the balance of the social order aright between righteousness and unrighteousness. 

The yogis and yogishwars remain within the sphere of their yog maya, mind-force, and lead their initiates up to the highest point within their yogic powers.

The Brahm Lok has many sub-loks called Puris, Bhavans, Tabaqs or Divisions, each allotted to one or other of the powers of Brahman like Brahma Puri, Vishnu Puri, Shiva Puri, Indra Puri, etc., to each of which the souls of the worshippers of these powers collectively called Brahman are irresistibly attracted and drawn in course of time, each to his own destination in the place to which he belongs.

The ancient Greeks speak of this three-fold aspect of divinity as the Three Sisters of the Spinning Wheel – one engaged in spinning the thread of life for each, the other in adorning and embellishing the thread of life and the third in cutting the said thread of life when the allotted time comes to an end. Similarly, in the Christian theology we have first Logos, the creative principle in nature, the second Logos and the third Logos, who carry on similar duties of their own. This is the famous Doctrine of Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Where all the philosophies of the world end, there the True Religion begins. It is only after soul, the dweller in the body, sheds its dross personality comprising as it does, the three vestures or vehicles of body, mind and intellect, and becomes an entity in its pristine simplicity, an undivided whole, the great immortal tree, evergreen and ever fresh in its native essence, in spite of the ever-changing panorama of life around; it can break through the magic hall of multi-coloured mirrors and transcend the trigunatmac egg of Brahmand and escape into the beyond. 

One has to be born anew like a new-born phoenix, arising out of the ashes of its own previous self with renewed youth and vigour, so as to be able to live through the life of the spirit that lies ahead.

To cross the mental world is not so easy as it may seem to the untrained in the mysteries of the beyond. It is the most delusive world where even the mahatmas and the rishis with all their learning and tapas, fail to hold on to their own ground. What is there in that vast universe which Brahman would not like to offer to those earnest souls who try to escape through his domains and reach the True Home of their Father!

At every step, be it in the physical world, the astral or the mental, he tries to block the way of the aspiring souls. The great Prophets and Messiahs and all others have given their experiences of the fierce encounters that they had with Satan, Mara, Ahirman; the evil spirits, – Asuras, Demons and their agents in countless ways, fair or foul, whereby they try to obstruct the way, to win over the seekers after Truth by assurances of worldly kingdoms and principalities; and if they do not succumb to these temptations, then by threats of violence by fire, thunder, earthquakes, heaven-splitting, cloud-bursts, lightenings and what have you. 

(See the insertion below: 'I saw a Light'; Editor’s Note.)

It is in predicaments like these that one can only stand these trials and tribulations when one has by his side, his Guru or Murshid, for the Guru-Power then draws and absorbs the disciple-soul into Himself and takes him along the Path of Ringing Radiance.

For each soul the Brahman stakes his all, and does not yield, unless he is convinced that the seeker clings to the protection of the Master-Power – Akal or the Timeless. 

*****

I saw a light – the flame of the universe. A voice rumbling strong and loud like endless thunders. This voice without a visage asked insistently and definitively as it asks everyone who approaches it.

Who is your Master?

Unterrified but pondering on what I should answer, the following possibilities streamed through me because nothing wrong I wanted to do nor lose this vision: Should I answer 'Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj?' or just 'Kirpal Singh?'

But my soul out of itself shouted out only the name 'Kirpal' with all power and passion.

In the same moment the light manifolded itself many thousand times and the same voice asked again:

Who is your Master?

Yet, the power of the voice had manifolded itself infinite in its forcefulness and profoundness like millions of thunders on earth. Every individual part of my being was then steeped in by this question. – There was no way back, no hiding, no 'just for-once.'

Intrepid and strengthend by the first reaction I repeated

Kirpal,

I shouted it out of myself with all power and creed, knowing that Kirpal is my protector in the here and there. Now, all Light that exists opened itself in front of me and I saw the Light of Lights itself, no more obstacle, no more barrier, no more hindrances.

Only Life, Light and Love. I have been free.

Thank You Kirpal for this blessing, the blessing to have escaped the ruler of creation.

You, Kirpal, are alone and I in my imperfection are Your humble servant.

Bhai Jamal

*****

Do we not see even in the material world that the rulers and governments of one state seal their borders to prevent unauthorised emigration of their subjects, and devise laws to control such outflow ?

Great indeed is the power of time and none can conquer it, and yet time itself is in mortal dread of the timeless music, lest he himself may get lost in the Divine Harmony.

We had exegesis of Dharam Khand by Nanak elsewhere in these pages ['The Mystery of Death'; Editor’s Note]. After that the Great Teacher goes on to describe the journey of the pilgrim-soul through various regions culminating in Sach Khand. The next two regions, he respectively calls Gyan Khand – the realm of knowledge – and Saram Khand – the realm of ecstasy. 

In the former, the soul’s horizon expands immeasurably for it comprehends at once the manifold nature of all created things with infinity of forms and phenomena and understands the immutable laws of the workings of nature. In the latter, the soul becoming attracted by the Power of the Word, gets a taste of, and insight into the real nature of things.

Next comes Karm Khand or the realm of Grace. With the purification wrought by the Holy Word, soul is freed once and for all times of even the faintest, vague and indefinite traces of the dross in the form of vasnas, and matter no longer blinds the vision, and one becomes fully conscious of Him, coming as he does, face to face with the pure essence of the Word, the Light of Life, giving birth to Brahmand and all the worlds included therein.

Finally, the soul reaching Sach Khand – the abode of Truth, realises in fullness, complete oneness and harmony according to His will –

All hearts filled with God, they live beyond the reach of death and of delusion … All destined to move according to His will … Such is the beauty that to describe it is to attempt the impossible.

This arising of the soul into super-conscious awareness is termed as said before, Life Everlasting from which there is no return.

What Nanak has described above, falls within the realm of Vijnana – subjective Inner Experience, direct and immediate –, as distinct from jnana or theoretical knowledge which the Master expounds and imparts to the disciple through a correct rendering of the scriptures. 

A Perfect Master is all the scriptures combined and something more. The scriptures after all are the records of the experiences of Holy Men Who appeared from time to time to teach mankind in the ways of God. 

We can, no doubt, read the scriptures if we are proficient enough in the ancient and archaic original languages in which they are written; but cannot get at their True Import nor can we reasonably reconcile the apparent differences and explain the discrepancies in the scriptural texts of various religions. He Who has an access to the Inner Fountainhead of the life and spirit of all these texts, which of course is common to all men, with His first-hand Inner Knowledge, makes things easily intelligible to us all in a way simple enough both for Himself and for us.

_______________

Illustration:

I saw a Light: Insertion by the editor. – Contemporary text regarding the escape from the ruler of creation.

Power of time: The time is Kal, the Timeless is Akal. Guru Gobind Singh often reported about the Timeless and wrote many hymns in praise of Akal.