The Love of the Very First Day
Sant Ajaib Singh Ji
This question and answer session was given at Village 77RB, Rajasthan, India.
December 1, 1978
MASTER, I'VE NOTICED that when I sing the Five Words my mind takes to it better and sticks with it. Should I take that as a full-time method of doing Simran? And also, last night I had very much trouble with sleep and it was defeating me, and then I stood up again to meditate and I was able to succeed and meditate that way. So I was wondering if perhaps I should take that as a full-time method of meditating?
IF YOUR SLEEP is bothering you very much then you can do that. And when you are standing and doing your meditation, at that time also if sleep is bothering you, you should walk a little bit or wash your face.
Truly speaking, we have the problem of sleep only when we are careless in our meditation. As we are very careful in our worldly work and when doing our worldly work the sleep doesn't bother us, in the same way, if we are careful in doing our meditation, we cannot have the problem of sleep very much.
Master, on one occasion at Sant Bani, You told us the story of Sussi and Poono and the great love which they shared, and You said that unless we had the same type of love for the physical form of the Master we would not be able to see Him in the within. I realize that my love for You feels very strong, very great, but at times I feel as though that love disappears. Does this mean that my love is essentially emotional and superficial, and what can I do about this?
Kabir Sahib says, "Love came, but where did it go?" Then He says that love doesn't come from outside; it is within us. We feel that the love is coming and then it is going, but that is not true. It is only our mind which makes us feel love at one moment, and at another moment he makes us dry from our within. But the love is always within us and it is always residing in our within. Because we don't have any control over our mind, that's why we feel that the love is coming and going. But that which comes one moment and then goes cannot be called love.
Kabir Sahib said, "Love, love, love, everybody talks about love, but nobody realizes what love is. Only he can be called a lover who always remains wet in the love for his Beloved."
In the story of Sussi and Poono, Sussi had so much love for her beloved that even though she was a princess, but still out of love for her beloved she didn't hesitate to go into the desert and walk on the hot sand barefoot [searching for her lost love]. She didn't sacrifice for the lust. It was only for the love that she left everything and went searching for her beloved. It was only [because of her] love that she came out of her comfortable palace.
Looking at her sacrifice and love at that time, it is said that Sun, who was shining very brilliantly, hid himself behind the clouds so that he might reduce some heat from the air. It is written that at that time the sand was so hot that if you would put some grain on it, you could roast the grain without any other source of fire. But because Sussi's love was constant, that's why she was not afraid of the heat. Her mind didn't waver.
Fakir Hasheem Shah has written about her that, even looking at the burning sand of the desert, the mind of Sussi didn't waver, and still she continued searching for her beloved.
Fakir Hasheem Shah has written that Sussi had very soft feet, due to the cosmetic lotions which she used as a princess. She was walking on the burning sand and her feet were as hot as a furnace, and looking at her sacrifice, even Sun went and hid himself behind the clouds. Looking at her patience, Hasheem Shah said, "If one has so much patience and sacrifice for the Beloved, he can definitely achieve Him."
You see, in her love she suffered a lot, but in our love we don't have to suffer. We just have to sit and in that also we become dry.
Kabir Sahib says, "All are the dead bodies [in front of] the mind, but only the Sadhu is like the dead body in front of his Master." Those who understand this have solved their purpose.
Once in Satsang Guru Gobind Singh said, "There are the disciples of the Master, otherwise all are the disciples of the mind." He says that most of the people are the dead bodies [in front of] the mind because whatever their mind tells them to do, they do that. As the dead body does not have any will of its own, and wherever you move that dead body, he will move, in the same way, we all are dead bodies in front of our mind. Wherever our mind wants us to go, we go there, and whatever our mind wants us to do, we do that. There are only a few disciples who are really the disciples of Master and they always do what Master wants them to do; otherwise all are the disciples of mind.
Once in Satsang Guru Gobind Singh said, "There are the disciples of the Master, otherwise all are the disciples of the mind." He says that most of the people are the dead bodies [in front of] the mind because whatever their mind tells them to do, they do that. As the dead body does not have any will of its own, and wherever you move that dead body, he will move, in the same way, we all are dead bodies in front of our mind. Wherever our mind wants us to go, we go there, and whatever our mind wants us to do, we do that. There are only a few disciples who are really the disciples of Master and they always do what Master wants them to do; otherwise all are the disciples of mind.
When Guru Gobind Singh said this in the Satsang, one disciple stood up and said, "No, True Lord, I am Your disciple and I am not the disciple of my mind." So Guru Gobind Singh said, "Okay, it's all right, tomorrow you should bring me a piece of cloth from the market, a unique piece of cloth. I want such a piece of cloth which shouldn't be easily available in the market and it should be very valuable and very unique." So the disciple replied, "Okay, Master, I will do that."
After the Satsang when the dear one was going back home, he went to the market and bought a very precious and very good piece of cloth for the Master. When he came back to his home, his wife saw that piece of cloth and she liked it very much. She asked him what that piece of cloth was and why he had bought it. He replied, "Master told me to bring Him a unique piece of cloth, and I am taking this piece of cloth to our Master." He said, "There is no other piece of cloth like this in the market, and that is why I want to give this to my Master."
When his wife heard that there was no other piece like that in the market she felt like taking that, and she said, "Give this piece of cloth to me, and you can tell the Master that either you didn't get the piece of cloth or you are trying and you will get it some other day - but give this piece of cloth to me."
But he replied, "No, I cannot do that because I have promised my Master that I will bring a piece of cloth for Him."
So his wife said, "If you will not give this piece of cloth to me I will get upset with you and maybe I will leave you. Don't you love me? If you love me you should give this piece of cloth to me and go and tell Master that you will get another one some other day."
Because he was not the real disciple of the Master, and he was the disciple of his mind or of his wife, that's why he left that piece of cloth with his wife and went to the Satsang. His wife also accompanied him, and she was hiding that piece of cloth with her when she came to the Satsang. When they came to Satsang, Guru Gobind Singh asked that disciple, "Come here, Dear One; did you bring that piece of cloth for me?" So the dear one started making excuses, saying, "Master, I searched a long time but I didn't find a very good piece of cloth; there is no good cloth in the market. Maybe someday I will get you a very good piece, but I am Your disciple and I will do whatever You want me to do some day."
When he said that, his wife at once said, "No Master, he is not Your disciple; he is my disciple, because the piece of cloth which he bought for You, he has given that to me. That is why he is not Your disciple; he is mine."
Regarding love, Kabir Sahib says that if we maintain the love of the Master, what is the question of our own liberation? We will get liberation; moreover such a person who has maintained his love for the Master can liberate many other souls. In the couplet He says, "If a disciple can maintain the love with the Master just as he had on the very first day, at the time of the meeting with his Master, what is the question of his own liberation? He can liberate millions of other souls."
Guru Nanak Sahib said that such a lover liberates his own self. Moreover, he liberates all his family, and when he goes in the court of God he gets much respect.