Book II / X
Where does Shabd dwell and how can It be contacted?
There are ten portals of the body, of which nine are visible while the tenth is invisible.
The citadel of the body has nine open doorways, while the tenth is closely shut in secret, none can have access through the tenth, the Way in, except through practice of the Guru's Word.
Guru Amar Das, Ram War M3
Enter ye in at the Strait gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate and narrow is the Way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
St Matthew 7:13-14
Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
St Luke 13:24
As long as the soul is wandering in and out of the nine portals of the body, it is always unwillingly being drained of its secret energy or Johar. With this constant flow of energy outside, it remains a complete stranger to the Reality within its own self and does not know the latent potentialities of Godhood lodged in its very nature.
A whore (mind ridden soul) madly in love with the nine portals can hardly get to Reality.
Kabir, Gauri Kabir
Guru Amar Das also advises that we should close down our nine portals, still the mind and then tap inside (as Emerson puts it) and push our way into the mansion of the Beloved from where unceasing Music is flowing down day and night, which can be contacted through the practice enjoined by a Master-Soul.
Closing down the nine doors, seek ye the tenth that leads to thy True Home, there the ceaseless Music plays round the clock and can be heard through the Master's Dispensation.
Guru Amar Das, Majh M3
Guru Nanak describes this so beautifully:
Sukhmana, Ida and Pingla cannot be known unless the Inconceivable makes one conceive, oh Nanak! the True Master makes the Word audible by bringing one above the three.
Guru Nanak, Ramkali M1
This means that one cannot fully commune with the Word of the True Master unless one completely transcends body consciousness. In the realm of mind and matter, as far as the five tattwas reign supreme, the Sound Current works through them for the benefit of the physical creation; but beyond them is the Word in Its primordial form unalloyed by any of these things.
The Sound Principle stands by Itself and is independent of everything for It is self-existing.
The siddhas once asked Guru Nanak,
Where does the Sound abide that ferries us across the ocean of delusive matter? Whereon stand the Pranas (vibrations), as they extend out ten fingers from the nostrils?
Guru Nanak thus replied,
The Sound Principle abides in us; though indescribable, yet I find It immanent everywhere, the Pranas are rooted in the region of silence, but the Sound Principle is All-pervasive in Its fullness and is self-existent.
Guru Nanak, Ramkali M1
Shabd is the very life of our life. It is a part of our being and we cannot do without It even for a single moment. But we cannot contact It unless we rise above body consciousness.
Search for the Sound (the soul essence) in the body, and thou shalt be saved, by devotion to the Master, I enjoy perpetual peace, for in me is Sound, the crest jewel of all virtues.
Guru Nanak, Ramkali M1
Our human body is a receiving set for catching the Sound Current and like a radio, has to be adjusted properly to bring it in tune with the ethereal waves. The Master, at the time of initiation, connects the spirit within with the lowest link of the All-pervading Sound and this contact can be developed by day to day practice, to any length one may like.