Thief of your Life’s Breath

I

Bhajan is imperative to Right Living, for the true meaning of Bhajan is to go within and rejoin the Lord – nothing more nor less. It has ever been the aim of all True Masters to teach people this kind of Bhajan: the Inner Bhajan through which, by contact with God within, the mind becomes intoxicated with His presence. The Music of the Spheres or Akhand Kirtan – perpetual melody – should be constantly audible to the devoted soul, thereby intoxicating it; for the soul is itself a part of that same Sound.

The Audible Life-Stream has power to render this world’s odious taints totally ineffective, and so we are urged to regularly attend Satsang – the only place where we can be in company with Truth. Our soul is not free from mind and senses; it is not fortunate enough to have as yet achieved oneness with the Truth; so it desperately needs the company of One Who is at one with Truth.

Get dyed in the colourless Naam.

When the Masters dye the souls in the Sound of Naam, no other colour can take effect, but for the unfortunate undyed, the world’s influence continues to apply stain upon stain. The cause of all our distress can be traced to the fact that we have not been drenched in the True Colour of Naam.

From where does this colour come?

He is the overflowing intoxicating colour of Love; the company of the Saint infuses a Real Desire.

In the company of Him in Whom the Love of God, God’s intoxicating colour, is overflowing, one can absorb the radiation of this very nature. If then, through His Mercy, we also get a contact or connection with the God in Him, we will have that intoxication with us twenty-four hours a day.

The intoxication of Naam, oh Nanak, inebriates night and day.

And if we study the matter, we find that all the grumbles of the world arise from lack of this contact.

When anyone would complain to Hazur about inability to still the mind, He would reply,

Your Simran is not constant enough.

And for the complaint of not being able to sit for long in meditation, the same reply was given. Our real difficulty is that the world’s colour has drowned us! If it could be bleached out then we would become clean and ready for a new fresh colour to enliven us. A dirty cloth must first be washed clean before attempting to dye it. Our heart and intellect are stained with that colour coming from the level of mind and senses. We are stained with the actions of life, and added to this are the stains of the past – birth upon birth. Even if you put aside past lives and consider this life alone … how many years have passed already? It might be, that through the Mercy of some Master you were fortunate to be in His company and enjoy the benefit of a little of that Naam colour, but even so it is said that we must, Do Simran and serve the Satguru.

We are dyed in the worldly colour through doing the world’s Simran, and it can only be washed out by doing the Simran, remembrance, and Dhyan, contemplation, of the Lord.

So you can say that the first step is Simran – controlled thought – and it should be constant, without a break. This is the washing process, before the soul is ready to be drenched in the colour of God.

One jap (repetition), one thought. Think of One, sigh for One, sing the praise of One. Through mind and body, with Love repeat the Lord’s Name.

With True Service of mind and body, in Love and devotion, one should increase one’s remembrance of the Lord until there is nothing but constant sighing for Him. Then there is indication of awakening. We sigh for worldly things, but it is rare to find someone who sighs in remembrance of the Lord.

Simran is the first step. Logically, one will be drenched in the colour of the one in whose name the Simran is done.

If you keep someone in your heart, you will reside in theirs.

If the disciple remembers the Guru, the Guru will remember the disciple. And if there is remembrance on both sides, that creates receptivity, and the Guru and disciple become One.

Satguru protects the disciple with His life.

In such condition, the disciple becomes suffused in the Guru’s colour. In the clear heart, the True Knowledge becomes apparent. Naturally, those who do Simran will be dyed in that colour. When Masters feel so inclined, They reveal Themselves somewhat and great wisdom comes forth – for our benefit, in whom the colour of the Lord is not yet fast.

Realise that the soul is a conscious entity; it is ever-existent, all wisdom and perfect bliss. When the mind and senses are washed clean from their dirty colour, and the soul which is attention gets connected to the greater attention, then without effort it will radiate bliss. It is said that those who do not do Bhajan will never be free from misery:

Lethargy will constantly torment them.

They are always lazy. When does this procrastination come and when does it go? 

For the negative work he is all attentiveness; while waiting on the Naam, he slumbers and slumbers.

To gratify the senses, he is wide awake and ready, even at midnight. But for Bhajan … ‘not now, we will see tomorrow.’ This is mainly due to his regular association with outer enjoyments; he has inclination towards them. He has done little or no Bhajan to speak of, has not drunk deep enough to enjoy its sweet nectar, and therefore feels disinclined. With lethargy, procrastination becomes the thief of time … ‘not just now, wait awhile … we will do it tonight, no, tomorrow morning … let us just finish this work, and then …’ The tragic result? If you put off the moment, the other moment which one imagines will be more opportune, will never come.