Book I / III – (iv)

How Naam is reached

  1. Through the pure and simple Grace of God:

    Naam would sink deep into the heart of one whom God would like to be blessed with. 

    Guru Amar Das, Sri Rag M3

    He alone gets to Naam, as God may so ordain. 

    Guru Arjan, Kanra M5

    There is no treasure greater than Naam, that comes through the Grace of God. 

    Guru Amar Das, Asa M3

  2. Through ordination of God:

    Such alone get attached with Hari Naam who are so ordained by God; for they get peace and hear within them the unceasing Divine Melody. 

    Guru Amar Das, Ramkali M3

    Naam means and includes the merit of all Japas1, Tapas2and orderly living, for without Naam there cannot be purification of the mind, it is in the fullness of time that one gets hold of the Divine Link of Naam and merges into It. 

    Guru Amar Das, Sri Rag M3


    Oh Nanak! It is with mighty good fortune that one gets Naam. 

    Guru Ram Das, Vadhans M4

    He alone engages in Naam who is so destined. 

    Guru Ram Das, Asa M4

  3. Through the Grace of Sant Satguru or one established in or grounded in Naam:

    Through Naam the whole creation came into being. The experience of ambrosial Naam comes through a Satguru. 

    Guru Nanak, Suhi M1

    Whatever Thou doest, that alone is true. The nectar of Naam is bestowed by a Satguru. 

    Guru Nanak, Asa M1

    None but the Satguru is the munificent Lord, for He gives us the support of Naam.

    Guru Amar Das, Shalok M3

    Worship Naam is full faith and devotion, oh Nanak! This can be done with the Sadh.

    Guru Arjan, Gauri M5

    Virtueless as I am, God has still been mercyful, oh Nanak! Sadh alone can make Naam manifest.

    Guru Arjan, Gauri M5

Life originates only from life. A living Master and no one else can transmit a life-impulse to others. The sages and seers have always emphasized that Naam should be made manifest within by whoever may be able to do it; and then the experience obtained from the competent Master-Soul must be developed.

Go wherever thou wilt to get contact with the pine Link, and then with the grace of the Guru develop this experience. 

Guru Nanak, Asa M1

A Muslim pine says the same thing:

Should you like to go on a Haj (pilgrimage to Mecca), take with you a Haji (one who has been to Mecca) for a guide, no matter if he be a Hindu, a Turk, or an Arab.

For an experience of the pine Link it is necessary to contact a Sant Satguru, for he alone can explain the theory and grant a practical demonstration of the Reality within each one of us. The charged words of the Master, his magnetic influence and the life-giving rays emanating from Him, quickly help in withdrawal of the sensory currents from the body; for unless the spirit, surging downwards and rushing headlong into the world through the outgoing faculties, is concentrated at its own seat, behind the two eyebrows, it cannot reflect upon itself.

It is a practical experience of self-analysis or separating the inner man (Soul or the higher self) from the outer man (lower self consisting of mind and material body). By force of age-old habits we are unfortunately clinging to the outerman and are reveling all the time in the outer world with which we have identified ourselves.

There is a regular process of inversion or receding, tapping inside, as Emerson puts it, or conversion into a little child, as Christ called it; and none but an Adept on the spiritual path can help in cutting the Gordian Knot and separating the spirit, for a while, from the mind and outgoing faculties. It is, in other words, a supramental experience of the spirit on a super-sensual plane and can successfully be imparted by a Master-Soul. 

This experiment cannot be practically performed by reading scriptures and holy books, for they can neither speak nor explain their true import; nor can they be a guide to the spirit as it transcends the physical plane and traverses higher regions, most of which are fraught with subtle dangers and difficulties from which the Master in His luminous from can protect and lead the spirit safely from plane to plane. Those who take up the Way without a competent Master are likely to be deceived by the Negative Power and misled. In Surat Shabd Yoga, the importance of the Master cannot be over-emphasized. He is in fact the central figure, from the beginning to the end, in life and after life, helping visibly and invisibly beyond the ends of the earth, right up to the Judgement seat of God and even beyond.

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Explanation: 1) Japas: Pepetition of mantras or verbal formulae. 2) Tapas: Performence of austerities and penances.