(Excerpts from Discourses of Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji)
Saints are never arrogant and vain. They are always humble
and modest. They know: ‘Nothing is mine, everything is Yours. I lose nothing by
giving away, what is not mine.’ They lead a life of dedication and devotion, that is
why they have no ups and downs in their life. They are peaceful, blissful and contented.
Saints are never proud, if ever they are proud of anything it is the Master, because he is
the bestower of everything.
Once a saint was to see somebody. He was late. The man asked him as to why he was late.
The saint told him that some people were quarreling. They were shouting Me-Me. If they had
been saying to each other ‘you are very nice’, there won’t have been any
quarrel.
When one gets some honour, his deeds become great. When he does something wrong, he
becomes miserable.
If a man falls from the first step he does not get hurt so much, but when he falls from
the top, you know very well what will happen to him. So if a saint’s behaviour
becomes malignant, we can well imagine, what will be his situation. That is why saints
always pray to be blessed, so that nothing untoward is done by them.
An arrow made from bamboo tree can hurt, a flute made from the same bamboo tree can sing
melodies, but the condition is that it must be prepared to be hold through. This is the
same with man. If he wants to sing nice melodies he will have to be modest and humble
through and through.
Devotion means submission, shedding ego, submitting to the Lord. Arrogance is the greatest
hindrance in the path of a man. This is the real cause of unhappiness. If we have
renounced wealth and kept ego we renounced nothing. By renouncing temptation and
allurements we can enjoy the bliss of real devotion.
Whatever span of life a devotee gets, he spends it in praise of God, because he knows, He
is the source of all Creation. By linking with the Supreme, his visit widens, his outlook
broadens, his deeds become noble, his words become sublime. If we are not linked with Him,
we are zero (0), unless accompanied by one (1), it is nothing. It attains it’s value
only when joined by the One (God). As long as the ‘One’ does not abide in us, we
are like zero.
When we read the biographies of saints and prophets, we find that they fulfilled their
family obligations well. when Rama came, he lived in family and fulfilled all family
obligations with propriety. Saint Kabir worked as a weaver to earn his livelihood. Many of
the Gurus had to do the same. It is not that God designated some special corner for them
to go and live comfortably, without doing anything. They had to experience stress and
strain as everybody else, but because they were linked with God, they did not get lost in
the whirlwind of worldly life. That is why they lived in contentment, and that is their
greatness.
To live under the will of God is to be a real saint. Unattached actions make him great. A
saint always does noble deeds and not hideous things. He does not take the credit for any
of his deeds, he leaves it to the will of god.
Whatever the circumstances, saints live under the Supreme bliss. There is true happiness
in it. In fact devotion is happiness. Everybody is prone to worries, but saints are saved,
because they have left everything in His divine hands.
If we are not arrogant, serve the Lord with devotion, we will not be afraid of any worldly
power. By the grace of the almighty we will be happy. If ever we are to be afraid of
anything, it is Nirankar (God).
We should think that if we have offended anybody we have in fact offended God. We are not
to utter any harsh words, lest we get in trouble with the Lord.
People are dividing themselves in the issue of language, caste, creed and religion. It is
very dangerous for the society. Not believing in caste, creed or colour, the Nirankaris
can save the society from its misfortunes. Nirankari means the one who believes in God and
serves all.
Unless we believe in the dignity of labor, the situation in the country is not going to
improve. Devotion doesn’t mean running away from our responsibilities. To do our duty
by devotion is the true service to mankind.
Man’s greatness is in that being rich he is not proudish. Renouncement of worldly
wealth is not such a great act. When an insect sits on the bulb, its shadow falls on the
wall. If we go on scaring the shadow, insect is not going to leave. So, even if, we have
renounced the worldly wealth but still have greed in us, we haven’t renounced it yet.
Saints are linked to that limitless energy, which is imperishable, indestructible, eternal
and changeless. Man can only be happy by putting that in mind.
Saints know that true happiness does not come by the acquisition of worldly assets, i.e.,
wealth, power, honour and fame, it comes by the acquisition of the wealth of
‘Nam’ (God’s name).
Every action of a saint is to inspire and strengthen his faith. He feels pleased to see
the honour and respect given to others, whereas ordinary person becomes jealous, and says,
“Why have I not got that?” It never comes into the mind of saints, because they
have submitted everything to God.
World does not know that, you saints not only wish well of others in words, but prove it
by your actions. This is the true test of a saint. To appear pious, one does penance, goes
on pilgrimages, but if he is jealous, does not like his neighbour, cannot tolerate others
praise, what sort of a saint is he? He can deceive the world by his appearance, because
the world’s eyes can only see the outside. But O man! You will be answerable to the
One who knows you from in and out, the hidden and the seen both.
The true measure of our saintliness is our toleration, our submission. If we can remain
calm and composed in face of insult and offense, in face of wealth being lost, and can
remain steadfast in our belief in God in those circumstances, then we are truly saints.
If we love other Gurmukhs (disciples) only then we will be able to share their love and
affection. We are to start this from our home. If we can’t love our family; how can
we love other people? On the other hand, if we love other people, not our family, we
cannot love people. By love and affection we are to spread the Eternal Truth.
To love god is to love His people. By lifting the fallen, by feeling the wounds, we can
please Him. But if we hurt others, make plans to divide them; we have not realized Him. He
will not be pleased with us.
As long as the wheel revolves round its axle, it goes round, but when it moves away from
its centre, it becomes unbalances. so long as a devotee acts like a devotee, he is a
devotee. The devotee likes to hear the praise of god. A saint always lives by the
traditions of saintliness.
Human is the one who shares others’ grief and suffering, is pleased to see others
prospering. Those who are jealous of others prosperity are not human beings.
Soul is salvaged linking it to the Supreme. By linking with the Divine, one becomes
Divine. He becomes limitless, cannot be enclosed. He rises above the pettiness of the
world. He acts as a human being. He doesn’t hate anybody, Nobody is his enemy.
A saint lives by linking himself with the Supreme. This is the vehicle of all the
pleasures. One who is pleased of his linkage pleases others.
Everybody can understand the language of love. It is not difficult to understand any
language, if it is love oriented. You don’t need any language, only love is needed.
The world has recognized that your wishes for the well being of humanity are not simply
phony words, they are practical and sincere. I pray to the Almighty that you stick to the
path of righteousness and go on marching forward with this sentiments in your heart, to
make the world know glorious traditions of sacrifice, devotion and dedication. those
saints who have sacrificed their loves for the Mission, should receive our gratitude.
Their families should get our love and total support. They are part and parcel of our
divine community.
I pray again, that the honour and respect, which you have earned by the sacred blood of
yours, should stay with you for ever. We should solder our words with virtuous actions,
thus marching forward to the Divine goal of taking the banner of Truth to the remotest
corner of the world.
Saint’s life is a life of bliss and happiness. He can contain the grief of the whole
world. The one who only knows the language of violence and hatred is not a saint. From the
lives of the saints of the world, from their actions, it does not appear that they ever
tried to divide the world. They , rather tried to bring humanity together.
By putting different human flowers in the bunch, you have given it a divine fragrance. May
God bless that the whole world becomes a bunch of flowers to give a divine fragrance. All
different flowers go on blooming to give their fragrance.
To be a disciple, Kabir, the great Indian saint told man to be like a stone of the road
which everybody could trample, and shed the ego. But the stone can hurt somebody. Then he
suggested man to be like the dust of people’s feet ; but then dust can spoil
people’s clothes. Then he advised man to be like water, which could be so mobile to
take any shape, which ever is wanted by the Master. In the next breath he says,
‘No’. Water can be too hot or too cold to burn or freeze anybody. In the end he
advised man to be like Him (God) meaning the one who submits and submerges completely into
the Lord. Then he becomes a real disciple. He then will have nothing of his own,
everything will belong to Him.
Where there is love, there is happiness. It only dawns when one sheds ego completely. If
he has ego in him, he will look down upon others. This will develop into arrogance, enmity
and jealousy. Where love is ushered, tolerance, forgiveness, sublimity come which make man
noble and virtuous.
Today often we hear that religion is in danger, save it. Religion is not in danger from
any outside force; it is threatened from within. When we don’t obey religiousness,
then we disgrace religion.
Politics is used to prop up religion. Religion is pious, lofty and divine. It does not
need political support to survive. We will have to use methods worthy of it.
If we want to get something from a high place, we use a ladder, but if the ladder is
rotten, we would not be able to get it.
We are not to do anything which will bring a bad name to our Satguru and congregation. We
should not do anything which might harm the people.
Our lives should be such as to inspire people as a natural way of life. People should be
compelled to say, how sweet we are, how humble we are.
If you make a hole into a bag of sugar, only sugar will come out of it. Saints’ lives
give sweet fragrance, not foul smell.
Fire burns the dead bodies, but worries kill the living ones. So the saint should not
worry. They should develop the super consciousness, which will keep them away from
worries.
Consciousness does not mean you save only yourself. It means that whatever we do, whatever
we say doesn’t harm anybody, does not hurt anybody.
You might have heard that a shopkeeper saint used to charge more from his saint customers
than others. When he was asked why he was doing it, he said, “If I don’t make
profit from saints, from where else do I do”. I say unto you: Yes, you are to profit
from saints, but not by charging higher prices. What you are to profit from saints is to
adopt their good qualities, noble deeds, and kind words.
If somebody finds a piece of gold in the dirt, he will pick that up, without bothering
about the dirt. So virtues are the gold, you are to pick them up even if they are lying in
the dirt. From the dirt of the society, the saints pick up the gold of virtues leaving the
dirt of vices there.
Today the world is like a torn garment. If you try to repair it with rotten thread and
needle, it will get worse. By proper needle and cotton it will be mended. So we are to
heal the wounds of society by love and dedication, that is the best needle and cotton.
If we want to cut a piece of cloth, we will need only a pair of scissors, and can do it in
no time, but if we are to make a garment out of it, it will need a lot of time and lot of
things. Saints are destined to do that difficult task of healing the wounds of the
society.
To love God’s people by knowing Him is the best religion. Everything glitters with
His (God’s) spark. One who indulges in hatred against man, hates God.
Once the dogs decided not to quarrel among themselves. When a piece of meat fell among
them, they forgot their decision and resolution and pounced upon each other. Saints
don’t put much faith in such resolutions. They think well, and once they have
decided, they stick to it whatever may happen. To love, to be humble and honest are our
decisions and principles. We are to stick to them, whatever happens.
The dire necessity of the time is to follow the principles of Prophets and Gurus. It is no
use simply learning them by heart and repeating. They must be put into practice.
If we do not do that, we cannot march ahead. If we are not integrated into the company of
saints, our mind will wander.
It does not behove saints to talk ill of others, to be jealous. The world can only be
saved by our dedication, nobody else has the courage and determination to do it.
Renunciation of worldly wealth is not a real renunciation. The real renunciation is the
renunciation of ego, hatred, violence, and arrogance. We are to pay homage to the
sacrifice of the saints, and mould our lives according to their teachings. To serve and
save ourselves from ego and arrogance, we are to join the humanity with the Lord.
I have just remembered an incident of 5/6 years ago. A sister could not bear the insult
from another sister saint. She cursed her. Within a few days the same curse fell on
herself. She was in great pain. The one who has not moulded his/her life according to the
teachings of the Guru, utters only such like words. The devoted one is always humble, does
not utter acrimonious words.
If we don’t pick the flowers for fear of thorns, we cannot have the flowers. Saints
are not put off by hurdles. They pick up the flowers of goodness from anywhere. They know
if they get detracted by the fear of worldly thorns, they will not be able to perform the
task, which the Lord (Nirankar) has entrusted to them.
People think if they kill a particular Nirankari, they will kill the Mission. They must
know, the Mission is not a person. It is a philosophy, it is the principles, it is the
voice of God. As long as the principles stay the Mission will stay. The Mission will
remain there forever.
As the family grows, its responsibilities grow. As your Mission has grown bigger, its
responsibilities have also grown bigger. Keeping that in view, some shape has been given
to it. All the Committees are formed according to the needs of the Mission. It does not
mean that if someone has been entrusted with some responsibility, he has grown higher than
the rest of them. Wherever you are, whatever you are, low or high, you are servant of the
saints. If we have such like intention in our mind we will be successful.
Where you are told to love the world, this family of yours needs your love and affection
as well. As long as this is not done in this spirit, we will face difficulties. All of you
together have to do this. A great responsibility lies on the shoulders of those who have
been given jobs of responsibility.
I have come to know that a devotee was admitted to a hospital. No responsible
person/office bearer went to see him. This is not the right thing. If we do not share each
others’ grief, our great divine dream is not going to be true.
The one who has attained some high position or has some extraordinary skill, may be
honored any way. The saints have got the loftiest skill of God-knowledge. We should give
them due recognition. If we don’t honour the saints how can we honour God?
The way you have been respecting and honouring the saints in the past, I want you to keep
carrying on in the same way in future. Live your lives according to their teachings. Only
saints understand, worldly people simply cram them. Simply repeating will not do.
I am saying it quite clearly that you pray for those who even persecute you. You should be
able to understand that saints do not give up their principles. They cannot be deterred
from the path of truth and righteousness.
We should help people to get rid of irrational customs and traditions. As social beings we
should share their pains and pleasures. We are not to think they are not our people, do
not belong to our Mission, we are to share and stay with them.
A person is not a Nirankari, if he mistreats others, only because he has received Gyan
(God-knowledge) and the other does not belong to our Mission, he belongs to some other
sect or community. We are to rise above these petty and sectarian feelings.
Saints speak with one voice. We don’t do things like the worldly people. Whichever
place we are, whatever situation we are in, the intention behind our actions should be the
same, and that is of saintliness. Who-so-ever adopts this, whichever job he is in, he is
always successful. He is loved and honored. But the one who forgets these principles,
whatever position he is in, cannot be successful. Therefore, you are all to stick to this
principle and work as a single entity. Because where there is unity, no power on the earth
can harm them. The greatest of might cannot do any damage to them. Moreover, you did not
get organized for any worldly gain. The mission came into existence for a Divine cause.
Such an organisation, such a movement never fades, does not fizzle out, does not
dismember. It goes from strength to strength. May God bless you to work unitedly, for the
lofty teachings of your Satguru, take the divine banner to the last corner of the world.
I am linked with you whether you are here in front of me or thousands of miles away.
Nobody should ever think that Babaji cannot be seen. You can see me anytime. I am
available to all of you. Any Gursikh or devotee can come any time to speak his mind to me,
there is no problem, there is no hindrance at all.
If we want to sweep, we will have to put all the bristles into a brush, only then we will
be able to do the job properly. On the other hand if we have only few bristles, it will
make the job worse. Everybody belongs to the Mission. Everybody is Guru’s beloved. We
are to take the voice of the Mission conjointly to the world. Whatever is happening, is
happening under the divine will of Nirankar (God). You are not to be afraid of anything.
We are to put ourselves right, then nothing can go wrong. This is Mission of peace. This
is for the whole of humanity.
Those who submit to the Lord, Nirankar does their jobs Himself. In the last Camp ( 34th
Annual Believers’ Conference) the tents were small and short. Though this year there
are more tents than last year, we are still short of accommodation. May God bless that
tents go on increasing and accommodation goes on getting shorter. But we are to be careful
that our hearts do not get smaller. They should rather get bigger and bigger.
Wherever we are, whether in a city or in a village, wherever we congregate we are to
praise God. This is our aim of life. I had said earlier that ‘Sangat’
(congregation) should do its job, the Sewadars (volunteers), heads and preachers theirs.
If we do our own job properly, everything will be all right. If we gossip about, nothing
will be accomplished.
If we go no passing the buck to others, nothing will be accomplished. Therefore, we are to
do everything together and in cooperation, and not to indulge in extraneous things.
Due to vast expansion of the Mission, sometimes some worldly things come in the way. We
are to be very careful. Wherever there is a congregation, we must maintain the atmosphere
of love, affection and brotherhood. We are to avoid worldly atmosphere, we do not
discriminate between high and low, poor and rich, men and women, young and old. I was
pained to hear that at one or two places, people have started saying, “They are of
lower caste, we are a higher caste”.
I want to say unto you : We have received God-knowledge, we are all one, nobody is high or
low in the eyes of God (Nirankar). We are to rise above petty things. We have become one
by destroying the walls of inequality. If ever it comes into the fore, it will not be
tolerated, because it is against the principle of ‘Universal Brotherhood’.
Whether it is said in a congregation or by the individual outside, it shell not be
tolerated.
It was made quite clear in the Mussoorie Conference as to what sort of life we are to
lead. Discrimination on caste, creed or colour basis has no place in our Mission.
Everybody has his/her own opinion, his/her style of life and thinking but everybody’s
intention is the same that Mission should progress and prosper. Everybody should be
respected. Therefore, we can express our opinion, but what has been agreed to is to be
adhered to. We are to make the Mission a success. We are not to think that because my
suggestion is not accepted, so I have nothing to do with it. We are to keep this in mind
that whatever and wherever something has been accepted, we are all to put our efforts to
make it a success. I will pray that with this intention you all go forward.
We are not to indulge into pettiness. We are to follow the Mission’s principles with
dedication and devotion. We are to be positive all the time, and not to indulge into any
criticism and argument.
We are to perform simple marriages. We should have simplicity in all our social
activities. I had the chance to attend some marriages in the recent past. I was distressed
to see the atmosphere there. There was nothing of the Mission. It was completely the
worldly atmosphere.
I want to say unto you: If you can’t perform the marriage according to the
Mission’s tenets, I should be excused from attending. We are to have the stamp of the
Mission on us, not our own stamp on the Mission.
We should refrain from drugs and alcohol. There is no place in our Mission for
intoxicants. We are not to hate those who take them, but try to persuade them not to take
them. We are not to start rebuking them. It behoves saints to abide by the Mission’s
principles. If we do not act on the teachings of the Mission, it is no use organizing big
congregations (Samagams). It will have no effect on the people. First we are to accept
ourselves. What I want to bring home to you is the need of restraints because when we are
under the influence of intoxicants, we lose our sense of judgment. Our faculty of judgment
is impaired. We are unable to differentiate between the right and the wrong.
Those who along with Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji, have sacrificed their lives for the great
cause and lofty principles of the Sant Nirankari Mission are our greatest divine treasure.
It becomes our duty to adopt those principles in our lives. Everybody knows that the blood
of saints does not go unrewarded. That reward is not short lived, it lasts till eternity.
They are remembered for ever. Their sacrifice and greatness doesn’t need the
recognition by the worldly power and authority. They are great in their own right. Their
sacrifice will be rewarded if we imbibe their teaching in our hearts. If after receiving
Gyan (God-knowledge) we still indulge in worldly vices, we will have to think twice if we
have repaid the debt of their sacrifice.
To-day, the world’s eyes are directed towards the Sant Nirankari Mission. We are to
take the light of the Mission forward with devotion and dedication. People will be
attracted to the Nirankari Mission through our examplary deeds and actions of love,
modesty and affection. We are to become the model to the world, to our family, then our
neighbour and finally to the whole world.
You will know countless, who will utter lofty words, but keep the villainous and
acrimonious feelings in their hearts. In this way we cannot raise ourselves higher. The
eagle flies high in the sky but keeps her eyes on the ground, so that she could pounce on
a piece of meat if sighted. So the one who does not understand the reality of religion,
will talk aloft about the teachings of saints and seers, will refer and quote great
leaders. The people will also take him to be a great speaker and preacher, but his lust
for worldly pleasures will denigrade him to the lowest ebb.
People are coming nearer to your Mission by the examplary deeds and extraordinary
sacrifices the Nirankari saints have made. To keep that image you are to rise higher and
higher in the eyes of the world. You are to keep steadfast on the path of truthfulness. So
if you live up to the great ideals, you will keep alive the feelings and sentiments of
Godliness in the hearts of the people. If you discard these Godly sentiments from your
heart, then these who have already gone astray will continue to move away from us.
For the sake of Eternal Truth many Nirankari saints have sacrificed their lives. It is our
duty to make their sacrifice sublime. Our words and manners should be courteous; our
actions should be modest. We should not hurt anybody. We should love every single person
in the world. We should be modest to the last. When our words, our deeds, our actions
become such, then everybody will be attracted towards us.
You know it fully well that in spite of the repression and slander, people could not stay
away from us. Then what keeps people away? That is our wrong actions. When we deviate from
the saintly actions, then our bad actions will repel people from us. Let us not become the
reason of people moving away from us. We should not contribute putting people away from
our Mission, we will have to be very careful.
To build a house, we lay the foundation, we put bricks and mortar into it. The house which
is built belongs to us. It has never happened that our material will build somebody
else’s house. Nobody should have any doubt about it that the blood (mortar) of our
saints will build somebody else’s building. In fact it is the ‘Nam’
(God’s word) which surges us further and further. Whenever this building of
‘Nam’ has been built, it has always been built on the blood of saints. Many
saints have sacrificed their lives to build this glorious building. The day is not far off
when you will be hailed victorious.
To keep people away from the divine truth, fanaticism has been the major cause anyway. But
the biggest factor to attract people is our own actions. If we make our actions great,
then nobody could be kept away from us. Today, at this time, we are to make our actions
great and worthy. God always does the best. We are to be modest in our speech and in our
actions.
Baba Avtar Singh Ji has said, “First a saint remains a saint only. His worship starts
when he gives himself to the service of the divine. When he realizes that, his life
becomes sublime, he is then revered. This is true life of a saint. May God bless everybody
to attain that bliss.”