Surrender at the Feet of a Perfect Saint

Below are some main points from the satsang (spiritual sermon) delivered by Maharaz Darshan Das Jee in the United Kingdom (audio cassette: S3 Side A and part of side B).

Maharaz Darshan Das Jee begins the satsang with the following verses from the Gurbani.

ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ, ਮਹਲਾ ੫
Raag Bilaaval, mehla panj
Fifth Mehl

ਭੂਲੇ ਮਾਰਗੁ ਜਿਨਹਿ ਬਤਾਇਆ ॥
Bhoolay maarag jinėh bathaya
One who guides the lost back onto the right path

ਐਸਾ ਗੁਰੁ ਵਡਭਾਗੀ ਪਾਇਆ ॥੧॥
Aisa Gur vadbhaagi paya
Such a Guru is indeed found by great good fortune.

ਸਿਮਰਿ ਮਨਾ ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮੁ ਚਿਤਾਰੇ ॥
Simar mana raam nam chitraye
O mind, meditate and reflect upon the Lord’s Naam

ਬਸਿ ਰਹੇ ਹਿਰਦੈ ਗੁਰ ਚਰਨ ਪਿਆਰੇ ॥
Bas rahe hirdai gur charan piaray
The Beloved Feet of the Guru abide deep in my heart

Maharaz Darshan Das Jee explains: This is the writing of Guru Arjan Dev Jee, who explains that humans are trapped in attachment and worldly concerns and have forgotten God. We attempt to reach God in various ways, yet we still do not attain peace or union with the Divine. However, if God truly comes into one’s home and life, then everything one needs will follow naturally; there is no need to ask for anything.

So how do we meet God? Guru Arjan Dev Jee explains that without a Guru, one cannot reach any destination: one cannot meet God, free oneself from the burden of human existence, or attain peace. What does one receive from the Guru? One receives Raam Naam, that Raam Naam which has always existed, which is eternal and unchanging.

Some people are stuck in the false belief that God has come to earth only once (as a saint, messiah or guru) and has or could never come again. If this were true, then the progress humanity has achieved would never have been possible. If a father has several sons and daughters, raises them, provides for them, builds homes and factories for them, marries them off, and cares for them in the best way he can, yet believes that no father greater than himself will ever exist, he is deluded.

God is the same; He is One, and He repeatedly sends his daughters and sons who are saints, avatars, devis (gods) and devtas (goddesses) on earth.

Sikhs recite five prayers from the Guru Granth Sahib each day, and Muslims pray five times a day. I ask, then: is it only those who pray five times a day who are happy? Is everyone else unhappy? Do people say that since Guru Nanak Dev Jee and Guru Gobind Singh Jee, we have never suffered or experienced illness?

Raja Ram Chandar Jee was banished for fourteen years, and he obeyed the command of his stepmother. Can any of you do this today? And given Ram’s greatness, if Hindus say that there is no one greater than Ram, nor will there ever be, or if they say there is no one greater than Shankar (also known as Shiva); Shiva sits with snakes around his neck, while you cannot even put a thread around your neck. Shiva drank the poison of the world, while you cannot bear a negative comment made against you. Let us consider Prophet Muhammad; he was a true prophet, and yet today there are so many different sects and divisions. This does not mean that what prophets and saints say is untrue. [Here Maharaz Darshan Das Jee explains that saints and prophets are not confined to a single time; they continue to take birth and deliver messages of the time. Maharaz Jee explains below that Perfect Saints always pay respect to Saints of the past].

God sends prophets to the world in His own image. We are puppets in His hands. All of you here, look within yourselves: are you true Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, or Hindus? Are you following the right path? You have sunk deep into the material world; your thoughts are focused on accumulating worldly wealth, on scheming even against your own family; your body is full of suffering. You have forgotten your true home and are sitting in a foreign land. I am not referring to you being in a different country. I am referring to you being away from Sachkhand (heavenly abode), your true home.

Maharaz Darshan Das Jee notes: I have written in the Yashvanti Niradhar:

ਸਗਲ ਦਰਥ ਤੁਮਾਰੀ ਰਾਮ ਜੀਉ,
Sagal dharth tumaree ram jio
All purposes and goals are in You, O Lord

ਹਮ ਬੇਯੋ ਕੀਤ ਪਤੰਗਾ।
Hum bheyo keet patanga
I am like a helpless insect or moth

ਤੁਧੁ ਆਗੈ ਅਰਜੋਈ ਹਮਾਰੀ,
Tudh aagay arjoi hamari
Before You, I place my humble supplication

ਕਾਟੋ ਜਮ ਕਾ ਫੰਦਾ।
Kaato jum ka phanda
Cut away the noose of rebirth

Maharaz Darshan Das Jee explains: The whole world is yours, dear Lord; we are like your insects. We plead with you to free us from this noose of repeated birth and death. The whole world is yours, dear Lord, bound together by true love, so why are there differences based on religion?

Whenever a Perfect Saint has come to earth, the Saint has always shown reverence for Saints of the past. After Ram Chandar Jee shot an arrow at Bali, Bali asked, “Dear Lord, you are the Lord of not two, but the three worlds, so then why did you hide and shoot the arrow? Why did you not face me directly?” Ram Chandar Jee replied, “It is not because I fear you. Rather, you had received a vow from your elders that half the strength of whoever stands before you would flow into you. If I had faced you, my strength would not have flowed into you, and the vow given by your elders would not have been upheld. I could not violate that vow, because those whom you revere, I revere as well.”

Maharaz Darshan Das Jee further explains: Without a Guru, you cannot receive the Ram Naam. I am not referring here to Ram who was born in Ayodhya. There are several meanings of Ram:

1. The first Ram is Raja Dashrath’s son, who waged a war to save his wife, Sita.
2. The second Ram is the Ram of the mind—“I feel like eating something, I feel like going somewhere.”
3. The third Ram is the cosmic principle, the Ram associated with Brahma, the one who sustains and oversees the world.
4. The fourth Ram is the Divine, whose abode is Sachkhand, who pervades every pore, who is everywhere and is omnipresent. This is the Ram to which the Fifth Guru refers in his writings.

In explaining the search for God, Maharaz Darshan Das Jee quotes the famous poem by Professor Mohan Singh (1905–1978), a renowned Punjabi academic and poet.

ਰੱਬ ਇਕ ਗੁੰਝਲਦਾਰ ਬੁਝਾਰਤ,
Rabb ik gunjhal dar bujharat
God is a complex puzzle

ਰੱਬ ਇਕ ਗੋਰਖ ਧੰਦਾ ।
Rabb ik gorakh dhanda
God is a complicated business

ਖੌਲਣ ਲਗਿਆਂ ਪੇਚ ਇਸਦੇ,
Kholan lagyaan pech is de
When trying to decipher his mystery

ਕਾਫ਼ਰ ਹੋਜਾਏ ਬੰਦਾ ।
Kafar hojae banda
One can become a disbeliever

ਕਾਫ਼ਰ ਹੈਣੌਂ ਡਰ ਨਾ ਜਾਵੀ,
Kafar hono dar na javien
Don’t be afraid of being a disbeliever

ਖੋਜੌਂ ਮੂਲ ਨਾ ਖੁਂਝੀ ।
Khojon mool na khunjien
Don’t give up your search of knowing God

ਲਾਈ ਲੱਗ ਮੌਮਨ ਦੇ ਨਾਲੋ,
Laai lag momin de nalon
Compared to a believer, just in name

ਖੋਜੀ ਕਾਫ਼ਰ ਚੰਗਾ
Khoji kafar changa
A disbeliever who is searching for God is better

Maharaz Darshan Das Jee explains: There is a shakti (female power) in Hindustan known as Vaishnu Mata. I had heard about her power from my elders: it is said that anyone who enters the temple with negative thoughts will temporarily become blind. This is something I personally witnessed.

I visited that temple once. My mother’s sister, whom I regarded as a mother figure in my life, had negative thoughts in her mind, and each time she went into the temple she would become blind. When she stepped outside, she would be fine again. I ask: do any of you have such powers? I challenge all religious leaders, or any learned person in the UK, can you explain such power? What I am saying is being recorded and can be heard anywhere. I have no fear. Why?

ਤਿਸ ਤੇ ਉਪਰਿ ਨਾਹੀ ਕੋਇ ॥ ਕਉਨੁ ਡਰੈ ਕੈਸਾ ਭਉ ਹੋਇ ॥
Tis te upar nahi koe, kon daray, dar kiska hoye
There is none above Him; who should fear, and of whom should there be fear?

Maharaz Darshan Das Jee says: I sometimes say in my satsangs in Hindustan, “Now I have no fear”. Not because I am in the UK, no, it is because I have now lived my life. When I was 17 years old, I knew nothing, I had short hair. Now I have long hair, in fact in Hindustan my picture is often with short hair. Long hair is the identity of Rishis and Munnis (ancient spiritual sages from the Indian sub-continent). This is why Sikh’s do not cut their hair; the Sikh Gurus have kept the tradition of the spiritual sages.

Maharaz Jee explains that we should understand the symbolic meaning behind some of our religious traditions. For example, the Sikh have the 5 Ks [The Sikh 5 Ks are five articles of faith: Kesh (uncut hair), Kara (steel bracelet), Kanga (wooden comb), Kachera (cotton undergarment), and Kirpan (ceremonial sword) [worn by initiated Sikhs to symbolize devotion, discipline, moral conduct, and readiness to protect justice].

But if your hair falls off and your two Ks disappear (your hair and your comb) then what will happen? Will Guru Gobind Singh Jee disappear? No. Follow the path that Guru Gobind Singh Jee has shown. What has he said? Help those in need; become the support for those without support; abstain from meat and alcohol.

Some people have been away from India for 20 years and have not seen the homes they left or their parents and siblings. These people tell their children, “Don’t go to India; it is a very poor country, you will die of hunger. Newspapers report that every day 5,000 die of hunger in India”. But I say this: here in the UK, you go to bed hungry… in India, people do not go to bed hungry. Here, you eat bread, but there, they do not eat bread; they wash their utensils, knead the flour, and make fresh chapattis themselves, with love. Here, you subsist on bread, who knows how long it has been lying around, or who kneaded it. So, who are the truly hungry? Those here, or those in India?”

Maharaz Jee says: “Do something in this world so that you are remembered after you leave”.

Gurbani verses are quoted from here

(Please note that we included a translation of the poem by Professor Mohan Singh in Newsletter 13).