Is your Destiny awakened

III

But, the difficulty is that people do not understand what Naam is – some do not even know It exists. They think the outer practices are all in all, but this is wrong. Outer practices are useful; they are like a nursemaid or governess, and the best use should be made of their training, for this helps one along the Way towards Spirituality. But, if one desires true and lasting happiness, and peace of heart and mind, and the release from births and deaths, all this can be gained only through regular contact with Naam. If you remain enamoured of the body and the surrounding environments, you will not be able to enjoy the Naam; for to experience It fully, one must rise above the body through self-analysis.

The secret of this Spiritual Science can be learned only in the company of a realised Soul. While in His presence one receives a little experience, which is then increased by daily meditation, and one progresses further. One will oneself admit to experiencing this. It is not like an unproved promise of gaining something after death. Logically, there is hope of more if one gets a little to start with.

“Always do the Gurumukh Bhakti – oh all living beings!”

Everyone should do bhakti, devotion, through the Gurumukh. This indicates that there is another kind of bhakti done at the level of the outgoing faculties and mind.

Guru Amar Das Ji defines the Gurumukh as, He Who is the mouthpiece of the Guru. Then He says, in further praise of the Gurumukh:

Through Gurumukh Bhakti the Sound becomes audible; then immortality is assured.

There are nine different kinds of devotion, and all are meant for preparing the ground for Spirituality:

Tulsi Das said in His Ramayana,

If you want the Light to be lit within and without, then meditate on the Naam-Power with your life.

All the nine types of devotion are at the level of the senses; and although they help to prepare the way, yet you cannot get release from coming and going as long as the doership stands.

As you sow, so shall you reap.

For complete release it is necessary to follow Gurumukh Bhakti, which starts above the senses. This is the Naam contact.

This is why it is said that where the world’s philosophies end, there religion – ‘re’ means back, and ‘ligio’ to bind – really starts.

How to win over the senses – that is True Knowledge. Outer knowledge does help, just as the midwife helps in bringing the child into the world, but she does not give birth to it. To realise the Truth, you must get a higher contact than the outer knowledge; and this is received above the senses.

“Your heart will be flooded with Light, if devotion is there; through the Guru’s knowledge, God’s Naam will be yours.”

It is very clear; there can be no misunderstanding. The devoted heart – that is full of devotion to the Gurumukh – will be full of Light.

By meditating upon Naam, the Light of millions of suns becomes apparent; the darkness of illusion is dispelled.

In this way, True Love for the Lord is born.

Meditation on God’s Naam comes with the Guru’s knowledge.

It means that everything depends upon the Guru’s bestowing His knowledge upon one. If one does not get that knowledge – the connection – then the secret which came hidden with us at birth will remain hidden and never be realised. Only the attention and help of a realised Master can reveal that secret of bringing the attention or soul above the body and the senses.

So, Guru Ram Das says that we cannot gain that without the Guru’s help; this is a fundamental principle. So, take this principle into your heart.

In one section of the Gurbani, Guru Amar Das says,

The Beloved’s orders have come from the Beyond: that without the Satguru there is no realisation.

It is a statement that the Lord Himself has declared: until the soul meets the realised Soul Who is the Truth Personified, the Lord will not come into that soul’s consciousness. Only One Who is not governed by, or under the control of the senses, can perform this Spiritual Task. Otherwise, how is it possible that one who is under the control of the senses can do it by himself? The Light cannot be revealed by one’s own efforts or by any other practice, save that of devotion to the Gurumukh.

If through some previous background one has already some experience, it is well and good; but without further help one cannot go ahead and will remain in the same position.

You can only love something you can see – how can Love develop otherwise? There is outer knowledge and Inner Knowledge. Outer knowledge comes in the form of scriptures of the different religions man lives in, according to his birth; but this does not give any Inner Knowledge.

Inner Knowledge comes only with the Guru’s knowledge – and that is Naam.