Light and Sound on the Path -- Sant Mat Satsang Newsletter: February 3rd
Below: Words of Light and Love for the Spiritual Journey from the Masters -- Past and Present:
Sant Mat As Presented by J.L. Chaudhari (Chand, Mataji, Radhasoami);
Mystic Poetry About the Countless Worlds: "Many millions are the skies and solar systems" .... "Through the Word the Worlds Converse";
Document: "The Definition or Explanation of Sant Mat";
One of the Prayers Recited Daily in India: "Hail All Sants";
New Podcast at SoundCloud on the Ahimsa-Ethical Foundation of the Masters of Inner Light and Sound;
More Material Added to the Sant Mat Library;
Wisdom from the Gospel of THOMAS;
Scanned Pages from the Narada Bhakti Sutras, and Kabir;
The Story of Quan Yin (Avalokiteshvara);
Songs of Kabir, by Rabindranath Tagore: https://archive.org/details/cu31924023165248/page/n49/mode/2up?view=theater
"People keep thinking and living on-borrowed-dharma." (Baba Devi Sahab)
Rumi: "So long as a spirit does not rise above the body-consciousness, it remains a stranger to the spiritual realms beyond".
Meditation: "O traveler! Seek the path that lies within you. You and your Beloved are in the same body. Your Beloved is pervading everywhere but not being perceived. Those initiated by Guru are able to recognize God within their bodies." (Maharshi Mehi)
Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras: "The soul's inner eye has not opened, and though he has his external sight, he is really blind, that is, cannot see things in their true perspective. Without the Satguru, he will drift in the lower centers and will never be rid of his worldly attachments. No other Yuga [epoch] can be compared with Kali Yuga in which Sants [Saints, Heavenly Beings, Enlightened Masters] incarnate themselves. If the Jiva-soul adopts the Saran [refuge] of a Saint, he will get across the ocean of material existence. When the soul (Surat-disciple) meets the Master (Shabd-guru), the Path will be traversed."
"So plunge into the Truth, find out who the Teacher is. Believe in the Great Sound!" (Kabir)
"The beginning of the Turiyaa state has been said to be the Aajnaa-chakra (the Guru instructs about the Point in between the two eyes where the vision of both unites [Third Eye Center]), and the destination of this is in Kaivalya -- the State of Oneness -- Pure Consciousness." (Swami Bhagirath Baba)
"When you reach the state of concentration, then you are surrounded by a protective aura automatically. No power on earth can harm you then. Therefore, do simran and be anxiety-free." (Anurag Sagar, Volume Two)
"Seeing without eyes
Hearing without ears
Walking without feet
Working without hands
Uttering His Name without tongue
And dying while living
Is accepting His Will."
-- Guru Angad
"If you are an ocean, I am like a wave; I rise from you and I retire and return unto you." (Swami Ji Maharaj)
"If you know you're alive,
find the essence of life.
Life is the sort of guest
you don't meet twice."
(Guru Kabir, The Bijak -- Sakhi 10)
Through the Word the Worlds Converse
And the Highest One gave the Word to his worlds,
which interpret his own beauty,
recite his praise,
reveal his thought,
are instructors of his works.
For the swiftness of the Word is ineffable.
Its course knows no end,
it never fails, it stands.
Its decent and its Way are incomprehensible.
And through the Word the worlds converse.
The mouth of the Highest One spoke to them
and he was made clear by his Word.
The dwelling place of the Word is man
and Its Truth is Love.
(Book of the Odes, Syriac/Aramaic, First Century AD)
"Hiding in this cage of visible matter
is the invisible lifebird.
Pay attention to her.
She is singing your song."
(Kabir)
"Look around inside you,
The blue sky opens out farther and farther,
A million suns come forward with Light
When I sit firmly in that inner world."
(Kabir)
Many millions are the skies and solar systems.
Many millions are the moons, the suns and stars.
Many millions are the sources of creation and continents.
Many millions are the jewel containing oceans.
Many times has the universal expanse occurred.
The Lord has strung all the creation in His thread.
His limit no one knows.
Many millions go about in many existences.
Many millions have been the incarnations.
Many millions are the creatures of various descriptions.
Many millions of beings, the Lord has made of good many descriptions.
Many millions are the celestial singers.
Ever and ever, the Unique Lord remains the same.
From the Lord, they emanate and into the Lord they merge.
(Adi Granth, Sikh Scriptures)
Added to the Sant Mat Library of Recommended Reading
PDF File of the Shri Satyadeo Baba translation of "Philosophy Of Liberation";
Kirpal Singh: "Dangers Of Spiritual Healing, Yoga and Occult Powers" (Sant Mat is not a "new age" psychic path);
Kirpal Singh Poetry: "Divine Melodies";
Darshan Singh Poetry: "Love's Last Madness";
Western Plagiarisms of India's Sant Mat Tradition: "The Making of a Spiritual Movement – The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar", authored by David C. Lane;
"Evaluating Spiritual Teachers" – In Search of a Worthy, Genuine, Competent, Qualified Spiritual Teacher, by Don Howard;
"The Bijak of Kabir" – Ahmad Shah Translation;
"57 Health Benefits of Going Vegan";
"Why I Don't Eat Faces – A Neuroethical Argument for Vegetarianism", by David C. Lane;
Youtube: "The China Study" – Lecture by T. Colin Campbell;
"Vegans Are Cool", by Kathy Divine;
New Vegan Cookbook;
"The Book of Compassion – Reverence For All Life" (Vegan Jain Publication);
"Reducing Our Himsa (Violence) Footprints";
"Lost Books of the Bible", and, "Summarizing the Spiritual Message of the Gospel of Thomas in the Context of Syriac Mysticism";
"The Stranger of Galilee – The Sermon on the Mount and the Universal Spiritual Tradition", by Russell Perkins;
"Sophia's Passion: Sant Mat and the Gnostic Myth of Creation", by Dr. Neil Tessler;
John Davidson: The Gospel of Jesus – In Search of His Original Teachings (via Google Books)
The Sant Mat Library:
"If your spiritual guides say to you,
'Look, the divine Realm is
in the sky,'
well then the birds
will get there ahead of you.
If they say,
'It is in the sea,'
then the fish will precede you.
"No, divine Reality exists
inside and all around you.
Only when you have come to know your
true Self will you be fully known --
realizing at last that you
are a child of the Living One.
If, however, you never come to know
who you truly are,
you are a poverty-stricken being,
and it is your 'self'
which lies impoverished."
(Yeshua, Saying Three, The Gospel of Thomas --
Wisdom of the Twin, Lynn Bauman translation)
"In all truth it can be said that the fall of the human being took place when he began to forget himself. That is to say: to forget his Supreme Being, the mysterious Source whence he emerged." (The Law of Attention - Nada Yoga and the Way of Inner Vigilance, Edward Salim Michael)
"We are in physical bodies. We are conscious entities. We are so much tied up with mind and matter that we cannot differentiate ourselves. We have to leave the physical, transcend the astral, go further beyond the causal, supercausal, and reach the true home of our Father. That is the true destination for each one of us." (from, The Night is a Jungle, By Kirpal Singh, Ruhani Satsang Books)
Kabir says: "God suits His language to the understanding of His hearer."
"The whole process of evolution, for the spirit, is an awakening to the truths, and the means of implementation of those truths, that are eternally present in itself. What was implicit has to become explicit... When you discover for yourself, however dimly, that you are rooted in something that is infinitely vast potential, you have found the soil wherein you grow unconsciously into a most wonderful tree, the Tree of Life blended with knowledge." (Lord Mahavira)
The Definition or Explanation of Sant Mat
1. Stillness or steadiness is the essence of Shanti.(A)
2. He who has attained Shanti is a saint.(B)
3. Sant Mat encompasses the thoughts and teachings of the saints and sages.
4. It is natural for human beings to desire Shanti. Inspired by this inherent desire, seers of ancient times searched for the inner peace and found the path to attain this inner peace, and expounded this way in the ancient teachings of the Upanishads.(C) Similar views have been expressed by saints in more recent times such as Guru Nanak and Kabir Sahib. They expressed their teaching in the Punjabi and Hindi vernaculars, respectively,(D) for the inspiration and edification for the common masses. The teachings of these latter saints are referred to as Sant Mat.
However, the Upanishads are considered to be the foundation of Santmat, because they uniquely and abundantly describe the means for attaining Shanti, and contain a comprehensive explanation of the Divine Word-Sound which leads to the Highest Wisdom. The Upanishads explain the yogic techniques and present a systematic path for transcending thought in order to attain the Absolute through the use of sound (the Yoga of Surat Shabda).(E) Santmat follows the yogic path prescribed in the Upanishads and specifically, employs Surat Shabad Yoga in its practices. [Therefore, it is to be understood that the teaching of the saints is a later expression and development of the teaching within the Upanishads.]
When viewed on the surface, the teachings of various saints sometimes seem to contradict one another [or even to contradict the principles of the Upanishads]. But upon deeper analysis, it becomes apparent that there is an unbreakable unity in the spiritual views of all saints. Saints have appeared in different times and in different places, and their followers name their tradition in respect to the particular saint [for example, Kabir Panth and Dadu Panth]. The apparent differences can be attributed to variations in time, place, language, and labels given to the views, but in reality, they are the same. It also happens that excessively zealous followers tend to accentuate these seeming differences. When sectarianism and the forms of the particular time or place of the teachings of a saint are removed, the basic principles of Santmat are in unity.
Footnotes by Veena Howard
(A) Shanti is a Sanskrit word which can be understood in English as peace, tranquility, and bliss. It is the peace which results from participation in some degree of Divine communion.
(B) The term "Sant" is derived from the Sanskrit Sat (truth, reality). Thus the "one who knows the Truth," and who has experienced Ultimate Reality. Even though the word sant does not cognate with "Saint" it is often translated in English "Saint." In this book, for the sake of convenience, we use the words 'sant' and 'saint' interchangeably. A saint in the Santmat tradition is one who experiences the mystical state; it is a title conferred because of yogic achievements. This is different from the way this word is commonly understood in Western traditions, where a saint is considered to be morally correct and is only canonized as a saint after death on the basis of some form of miracle that he/she had performed during their life times. In the Sant Mat tradition, a saint is a living person who leads a moral life and has achieved realization of the Divine. Clearly, many of those who are considered to be saints in the Western view would also be included in the Santmat definition of saint.
(C) The Upanishads are ancient Vedic texts that define and categorize the mystical teachings and the philosophy of Yoga. In the chapter on the Vedanta, we have dealt with these teaching in great detail.
(D) The seers of the Upanishads composed in the Sanskrit language. This was not a language of the common people. Guru Nanak and Kabir Sahab describe the same Upanishadic views in languages understood by the common man.
(E) Surat Shabad Yoga is the practice of transcending the mind in order to enter the level beyond the mind. This is the level of ultimate unity. The vehicle for this inward journey is sound.
-- Maharshi Mehi, quoted in the book, Harmony Of All Religions, and, Philosophy Of Liberation:
"Through inner meditation the jivatman (individual soul) begins its ascent toward the Soundless State [Realm of God/Ultimate Reality Beyond Light and Sound] where it will eventually merge with the Divine. When the soul thus experiences oneness with the Divine, it will attain ultimate peace and supreme joy. Sant Mat teaches a path to the attainment of this joy and peace. This is the significance of the way of saints and the importance of Santmat." (Swami Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj)
The Path of the Masters -- The Way of Inner Light and Sound
"The real message of man's life is 'Be Man'. The question is, how to follow this principle and what should we do to adopt this principle and formula for finding a way to God, which is nothing but salvation.
"The only way is to surrender oneself at the lotus feet of a spiritual master. After this surrender, the disciple and master become one, because a true surrender makes a man free from the bondage of senses, dilution, affection, etc, etc... So far as we are under the control of worldly desires, the surrender is not possible. So the first step is to be free from worldly desires. But that does not mean that the needs for earthly life should not be fulfilled. In fact, needs should be fulfilled, and not the desires. If we have taken birth as a human being, some food (energy) is necessary for the body to work, but it is not necessary that we always aspire for multi-course meals. It is necessary to put on some cloths to cover the body, but not necessary that silk linen is put on. It is necessary that there is a small shelter for living, but not necessary that a marble fitted house is something to be attached to.
"As a human being we have to survive in this world without caring for ourselves much, without looking to the ills of others. Rather, by looking towards the ills of ourselves, purifying ourselves first, we then can do something for the purification of others. This is the life of a "lotus" on a pond, and this is why Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge, wisdom and intellect, sits on the lotus. The lotus flower blossoms in a muddy pond, but any one looking at the flower exclaims, 'Wow! How beautiful this flower is!' The whole world is a muddy pond and we have to survive in the midst of mud like a lotus flower, which does not care for mud but it blossoms for the pleasure and happiness of others. Every morning with sunrise, the lotus blossoms. This is what we should also follow. The divine Power and Light emanated by the spiritual master makes us to blossom like the lotus flower, provided we have full trust and faith in our spiritual master.
"Sant Mat does not look at the race, cast, sect or any other identification for a person. Rather, it looks to the true sense of service, sacrifice, surrender, devotion, determination, trust, and belief of a person towards the master. Those who have such characteristics may belong to any cast, race, country, or direction. Those of any identification can join this Yoga. But for this a true spiritual master is a must. I don't know whether you have adopted some spiritual master or you are under the shelter of someone as a spiritual master. If so, please do surrender yourself to him or her for all what you desire to attain and achieve. The spiritual master is not the body. Rather, it is the Divine Light, the Divine Sound, and your own wisdom, your own conscious, and your own perception, which is selfless and without any expectation from anyone on this earth."
Yours in Him,
J.L. Chaudhari
"Listen within day and night; you will hear blissful inner Sounds. Within everyone, reverberates Shabd [Sound Currents], about which no one knows. The Brahmand [cosmos, inner planes] is represented in the body in every respect. Says Tulsi, open your inner eyes, and the Sant will show it to you.
"Glittering Light shines in the region of the Sky, which only a brave one can behold. If one seeks the Truth, one will not go down the transmigratory cycle. If one meets the Merciful Sat Guru, one will come to know of all the secrets from Him. If one renders service to a Sant, he will tell one of the whereabouts of the Abode. Says Tulsi, it is only by being dead whilst alive* that one can find the Perfect Guru." (Sant Tulsi Sahib)
*NOTE: "Being dead whilst alive" or "death before dying": a popular saying used by Sants and Sufi poets espousing the view that rising above body-consciousness or soul travel during meditation practice is a preparation or rehearsal for the afterlife. Hazrat Sultan Bahu: "Let us die before dying, O Bahu, only then is the Lord attained."
Hail all Sants,
Hail all Sants!
Oh, too mean is our intellect
to extol the Sants!
Hail all Sants!
Smashers of sorrows,
breakers of worldly fetters
Treasure of wisdom,
they are the world's benefactors!
Yoga of Light,
Yoga of Sound,
In an easy way everywhere they propound!
Hail all Sants!
Great are all the Sages, great was Lord Buddha
Foes of sins, great were Shankara and Ramananda.
Glory to Sant Kabir who was so great
Glory to Guru Nanak who was so great!
Hail all Sants!
Goswami Shri Tulsidas Ji
Great benefactor Sahab Tulsi
Dadu, Sundar, Sura, Svapach,
Ravi the great seer
Jagjeevan, Paltu -- they robbed us of all fears!
Hail all Sants!
Satguru Devi (Sahab) and all those who have been, are
And who ever will be! Prostrate at their feet we are!
I, Mehi, sing their glory, express my appreciation
And place at their lotus-feet all my expectation!
Hail all Sants!
O Hail all Sants!
(Prayer of Maharshi Mehi,
Translated into English
by Pravesh K. Singh)
A great book is, Narada Bhakti Sutras, 1-4, Translated by Swami Tyagisananda.
"Receive initiation from the Guru in the true secrets of Shabd. Practice the modes of Surat Shabd Yoga with love and affection. Listen to the reverberations of Anhad Shabd within you. Regularly practice Surat Shabd Yoga. Contemplate the Guru's Form. Behold beautiful scenes and spectacles within. When Radhasoami Dayal [the Merciful Lord of the Soul] is pleased to shower His grace, He will elevate your soul along the Current of Shabd. You will then ascend to your True Home." (Huzur Maharaj, Prem Bani Radhaswami)
"One grasps the central Sounds of the lower realms and progressively is drawn upward to the Sounds of the higher realms. Ultimately, one reaches the center of the Original Sound, the Essential Divine Sound, and thereafter attains the Ultimate State, Sabdatit Pad (State beyond Sound). The Yoga of Sound must be practiced in order to attain the Nameless State (Anami, Anadi)." (Maharshi Mehi, Philosophy of Liberation)
Kabir says: "If you merge your life in the Ocean of Life, you will find your life in the Supreme Land of Bliss."
Youtube: Bodhisattva of Compassion: Meditating Within and Being Compassionate Without -- The Story of Quan Yin (Avalokiteshvara):
Countless Are the Earths, Spheres, and Devotees: Countless are the gospels, sutras, odes, upanishads, gathas, quatrains, abhangas, gitas, granths, vanis and vedas. As Guru Nanak says in his Morning Prayer (Jap Ji): "Endless are the harmonies played by the minstrels; the players prepare endless tunes and measures to sing to Thee, 0 bountiful Creator. Thy Light is within the beings and the beings are all within thy Light..... countless are the countries, earths and spheres. Millions assign to Him ever new names, 0 Nanak."
