From jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca Thu Feb 12 02:53:14 1998
Newsgroups: alt.meditation.shabda
Subject: Naam or Word: A Study of the Sound Current (1/9)
From: jamesjs@unixg.ubc.ca (James Shannon)
Date: 12 Feb 1998 10:53:14 GMT



                         
                             NAAM OR WORD
  
                                  by 

                         Sant Kirpal Singh Ji

                             (1894 - 1974)                           


                                [PART 1]
                            
                      Third Revised Edition, 1970
                      Ruhani Satsang, Sawan Ashram                   
                              Delhi 7, India
                        
                        ----- No Copyright -----

                            

                              Dedicated
                         to the Almighty God
              working through all Masters who have come
                   and Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj
                         at Whose lotus feet
                  the author imbibed sweet elixir of
                         Holy Naam - the Word



              "In the beginning was Prajapati (the Creator),
                    With Him was the Vak (the Word),
                  And the Vak (the Word) was verily the
                             Supreme Brahma."

                    
                         

TO THE HONEST SEEKER

    We have an Upanishadic text that tells us that Truth is one, though 
sages have described it variously. But to define It is to limit, and since 
Truth (i.e., the whole Truth) is illimitable, It, by Its very nature, 
remains undefined. It is more a matter of inner experience and realization 
than of comprehension and apprehension on the intellectual level.
     
     "The surest way unto Truth," says Henri Bergson, the great philosopher, 
"is by perception, by intuition, by reasoning to a certain point and then 
by taking a mortal leap."
    
    Again, "True knowledge is an action of the soul and is perfect without 
the senses," says Ben Jonson. The Reality can neither be known by the 
senses, nor by the mind or the intellect, nor by the vital airs that keep 
the physical frame, both of the Universe and the individual, going.
    
    "Man is a little world made cunningly of elements and an angelic spirit" 
(John Donne). He is a composite entity that unites in himself the physical, 
the subtle and the causal principles: the body, the mind, the supermind and
the soul, one behind the other, the last one being the source of all life, 
the very life principle enlivening everything that lives.
    
    There is within the all-comprehending ambit of animal instincts, some 
secret urge which drives the chosen few, called the elect, toward the 
transcending of animal impulses, leading to complete disinterestedness by 
total disregard of the animal-ego on the one hand and willing submission to 
a self-sought death on the other, in spite of the strong opposition of 
instincts, impulses and ego arrayed against an inspired soul. 

There is a subtle communication between mystery and mystery, between the 
unknown soul and the unknown Reality and it is only at one particular point 
in the texture of life that the hidden Truth seems to burst through the 
enveloping veils of ignorance; and this happens only when one is able to 
disimprison the soul from the facts of life. John Keats, the great Romantic 
poet, speaks of this blissful state:
        
        
                Wherein lies happiness? In that which becks
                Our ready minds to fellowship Divine
                A fellowship with Essence; till we shine
                Full alchemized and free of space.


The secret of Truth then lies in the little "great self" in Man, the self, 
the seemingly little thing of no consequence neglected and cast aside and 
almost lost in the mighty swirl of mind and matter, and yet a great thing 
once it comes to its own after breaking through the prison bars of life; 
the senses that keep one enmeshed all the time. The inner man or the spirit-
in-man is, therefore, to be freed from the tentacles of the outer man, 
consisting of matter and mind, before the Self can rise in self-consciousness 
and become aware of the Cosmic Awareness.  All this is a practical 
possibility by a process of self-analysis and withdrawal, and not a figment 
of the imagination as most of us might think. 

As "self-knowledge" precedes "God-knowledge," all the sages and seers have 
from time immemorial laid emphasis on "Gnothe Seauton" or "Nosce Teipsum" 
as known among the ancient Greeks and Romans respectively.  And to know 
oneself, one must detach one's self from the life of the senses. This is 
exactly what Jesus meant when he taught, "He that findeth his life shall 
lose it" and "he that loseth his life shall find it." 

Thus one has to choose between the two lives: the life of the senses and 
flesh on the one hand and the life of the spirit and Awareness on the other, 
for one cannot have both at the same time; and unless one is able to rise 
above body consciousness, one cannot make his or her choice between the two. 


        "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the 
        one and love the other, or else he will hold to the
        one and despise the other." 1  
        
Guru Nanak has said:
        
        Without actual transcendence of the spirit
        The magic spell of the world dissolves not.

This then is the way Truthward or Godward. "Truth is one," says Nanak, "and 
comes as a pure and simple gift from a Master of Truth." When we say "One," 
that too is incorrect for that means limiting the Limitless and finitizing 
the Infinite. Kabir, therefore, speaks of God or Truth:

        If I say He is one that too is inapt,
        The idea of duality in Him is but a blasphemy.
        He is what He is, neither the one nor the other,
        Something, yet whole and self-contained.

The numeral "One" is but a pointer and an index to the Great Being beyond 
numerology itself.  Guru Nanak, speaking of Truth, tells us:
            
        Truth was when there was nothing:
        Truth was before all ages began;
        Truth existeth now, O Nanak!
        And Truth shall exist forevermore. 2

"Absolute Truth" is of course imageless, but when it came into being, Its 
primal manifestations were the Sound and the Light Principles, collectively 
called Nad in the Vedas, Udgit in the Upanishads, Sraosha in Zend Avesta, 
Word in the Holy Gospels, Kalma in the Koran, Naam or Shabd in the Holy 
Granth - all signifying the two-fold aspect of the Divine Nature or the 
Creative Life Principle in Nature.
        
        Nameless and devoid of all forms He is,
        And yet all names and forms are His.

The great Rishis and Munis, we are told, had a direct inner contact with 
Truth or the Godhead within. To Moses were revealed the sacred precepts of 
the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments in the midst of Thunder and Flame
signifying the twin aspects of Truth Itself. The Prophet Mohammed had to 
cut his way through the moon - Shaq-ul-Qamar - as he ascended on the wings 
of lightning (barq). 

Prince Siddhartha, when he contacted the Light within, came to be known as 
Buddha or the Enlightened One.  Christ assured his following of his true 
nature, in no idle words:
    
    I am the Light of the world, and he that followeth
    Me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
    Light of Life. 3

And again,
    
    If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full 
    of Light. 4

"Mysticism," says Dean Inge, "is the core of religion," and language has 
no means of conveying the super-sensual experiences of the mystics.  "The 
Light shineth in the Darkness and the Darkness comprehendeth it not," 5 
is the fate of the common man today.
   
    Man's spirit can return to God through the deepest of
    man's conflicts and negations . . . (and by) total
    denial of his finite being.
                                                
                                            A. C. BRADLEY

Walter De La Mare, in the "Dreams," gives us a glimpse:
        
        And once - from agony set free -
        I scanned within the womb of night,
        A hollow in-woven orb of light.
        Thrilling with beauty, no tongue could tell,
        And knew It for life's Citadel.

Both soul and God live together in the holy temple of the human body, but 
alas! one has not known the other. About this inborn relationship, St. 
Catherine tells us,
     
        God is in the soul and the soul is in God,
        As the sea is in the fish and the fish is in 
        the sea.

But can we have this beatific vision? "Yes," say the Masters, "as surely as 
two and two make four."
    
        Feel we these things? that moment have we stept
        Into a sort of Oneness, and our state
        Is like a floating Spirit.
                                             JOHN KEATS

To return to the point from which we began - namely, that Truth is infinite 
and can be only inwardly realized and not mentally comprehended - let us 
touch upon the claims of science. Science too declares that it seeks to 
arrive at  Truth in an objective and a detached fashion, called the 
"scientific way," and most of its adherents even go on to say that science 
is the only means to Truth, for mysticism and spiritual realization are too 
personal, too subjective and too rare a phenomenon to be trusted. 

But can science really bring us to Truth? Can we equate factual knowledge 
with Truth? 

Does not Truth imply a knowledge not only of the various objects composing 
the sum total of existence but also their interrelations to the finest 
degree, and is not this aspect of Truth the more important one? Science of 
course does give us factual knowledge about objects and to some extent their 
interrelations as well. But science, at least at present, seems to be an 
endless process: the findings of today being outdated by those of tomorrow. 
Thus its picture of Truth, whatever it may be, is an ever shifting one and 
in fact it can never be a picture of Truth, for Truth in Its very nature 
is changeless. 

The adherents of science fail to see this significant limitation of science 
for they mistake knowledge for Truth and forget that if science is to be 
our only means to Truth, then man can never hope to reach that goal. 

Looking on the other side of the picture, the side which we have already 
discussed, there is the incontroverted testimony of the saints and the 
mystics who tell us that Truth can be realized by man, and who go on to 
say that a pursuit of objective factual knowledge is a distraction from 
It. The poets speak of intuitive moments when they feel the presence of 
a spiritual unity behind the material diversity.
                       
        And I have felt
        A presence that disturbs me with the joy
        Of elevated thoughts: a sense sublime,
        Of something far more deeply interfused,
        Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
        And the round ocean, and the living air,
        And the blue sky, and in the mind of man.
                                          
                                                WORDSWORTH


While the mystics of all times and climes tell us with one voice that this 
Inner Reality or Truth is not only a matter of intuition and feeling but 
of actual super-sensuous realization, and it is in this connection that the 
study of Yoga - Surat Shabd Yoga in particular-reveals its importance.

We cannot, if we really seek the Truth, afford to ignore spirituality, as 
so many modern thinkers have tended to do, for It is a highway to Truth, 
and as suggested, perhaps the only highway to Truth. It is in this context 
that an attempt has been made to explain in this book the basic concept 
(which of course is the same in spite of an endless variety in nomenclature) 
of the various words used by the Masters to signify the Wordless in His 
primordial manifestation - the life current creating, sustaining and 
controlling the endless creation.
 
 My heartfelt thanks to Shri Bhadra Sena especially and others who took 
great pains in helping to bring out this work and spent many hours in this 
labor of love.
                                 
                                              
                                                     - KIRPAL SINGH

-------------------------------------------------------------------


                       Table of Contents

                           BOOK ONE
                         NAAM OR WORD

                       
  1.  INTRODUCTORY                                        
      
      Greatness of Naam and its need                      
      Various Names of God                                
      What is Naam?                                       
      Devotion to Naam is the only true worship          
      Naam is the great Controlling Power                
      Naam is the Great Master Force                   
      Naam: What it is                                  
      Naam is the Sound Principle                       
      The seat of Naam or Word                          
      Time for practicing spiritual disciplines         
      Why is Naam inaudible?                            
      Naam is a subjective experience                    
      Real Naam: Incomprehensible and hidden             
      Naam: Divine link between man and his maker        
      The Path of Naam leads to Sehaj State              
      Naam: The most efficacious sadhna in the present age   
      Naam: The saving factor in all the four ages       
  
  
  2.  EVIDENCE FROM VARIOUS RELIGIONS                    
      
      Hinduism                                           
      Buddhism                                           
      Jainism                                            
      Zoroastrianism                                     
      Judaism and Christianity                           
      Islam                                              
      Bahaism                                            
      The Teachings of the Masters                       
    
  
  3.  A STUDY IN NAAM                                    
      
      The riches of Naam are lasting and inexhaustible   
      Attributes of Naam                                 
      The spiritual practice of Naam                     
      How Naam is reached                                       
      Naam is the heritage of the Gurmukh                
      The merits of the Word                             
      Hari Naam and Ram Naam                            

  
  4.  HARI RAS                                         
  
      Hari Ras: What It is                            
      Hari Ras: Where It is                            
      Hari Ras: How to get It                          
      Hari Ras: Who gets It                            
      Hari Ras: Its merits                             
      Guru Naam or Gurmukh Naam                         


  5.  CONCLUSION                                       
     
      Disadvantages of not contacting the holy Naam    
                  
                  
                  

                         BOOK TWO
                          SHABD
                    The Sound Principle

   Shabd is God and is live principle                   
   Shabd: What It is                                    
   Shabd is the Creator                                
   Shabd is not the subject of reading, ritual or 
   reciting                                            
   All religions teach of Shabd                        
   Shabd signifies Sound Principle                     
   Why do we not hear the Sound Principle?             
   How can we listen to the Sound Principle?            
   Where does Shabd dwell and how can It be contacted?  
   Sound and Light                                      
   Shabd and Truth are synonymous                       
   Shabd is the Water of Life                           
   Shabd is the essence of all worship                  
   How to contact Shabd                                 
   Devotion to Shabd: What it is                        
   Shabd is the heritage of a rare devotee of 
   the Master                                           
   Shabd: What It does                                  
   Shabd: Its blessings                                 
   Shabd: Anhad (Limitless) or Anahat (Self-Existing)   
   Panch Shabd or The Five Melodies                     
   Musical melodies within                              
   Musical melodies without                             
                                    
---------------------------------------------------------------------------


                          BOOK ONE

                         NAAM OR WORD


I. INTRODUCTORY

    NAAM is easier said than known and practiced. It 
is only an adept in the mysteries of Naam who knows
its true significance and the great power that lies hidden
in it. Apparently it is just a syllable, but what it connotes
is beyond understanding even by the most learned in book
knowledge; though it may be possible to apprehend it
through the grace of one well versed not only in the theory
but in the practice as well of the Word.

    "Name" and the "named" are, in fact, one and the same.
There is hardly any distinction between the two: one is the
abstract form of that which is concrete. Light cannot be
separated from the sun. The two go together all the world
over. Similarly Godhood and God cannot be demarcated
and set aside in watertight compartments as two separate
entities. The former is just an attribute of the latter.

"Naam" is nothing more nor less than Godhood of God;
one may call it what one may like - the Holy Spirit, the
Comforter, etc. It is the primal manifestation of God, 
responsible for the entire creation. It is the primeval 
form of God. St. John speaks of it thus:
                          
      In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
      with God and the Word was God. The same was in
      the beginning with God. All things were made by 
      Him, and without Him was not anything made that
      was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light
      of man. And the light shineth in darkness; and the
      darkness comprehendeth it not. 1

In these memorable words, St. John has tried to give us
some idea of the marvelous nature of the Word or Naam,
as it is also called. It combines in it the triple 
principle of Creation, Sustenance and Destruction - the 
Trimurti of the Hindu mythology of Brahma, Vishnu and 
Shiva - the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer 
respectively, all the three deriving their motor power 
from Godhood or God-in-action, Naam or Word.
 
 Hazrat Moieen-ud-Din Chishti, in this context, says,
               
        Name and the Named are but one,
        Light of Name witnesseth His glory.

All that is, is of and from Naam, for it pervades 
everywhere. It is the life principle of the entire creation. 
He in whom this Word or Naam becomes personified is called
a saint for it is said that, "Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us." Such a one has reached the summum bonum
of life and gained the El Dorado of human existence. 

For him there is nothing more to wish for and aspire for. 
On the other hand, one who has not been able during his 
lifetime to establish a contact with Naam, at the time of 
death quits the body like a defeated gambler who leaves a 
gambling den with empty hands. Sant Kabir says,
    
    Better by far is a leper with weeping sores, 
      if established in Naam,
    Than a fine stalwart swain who knows not the value
      of Naam.

      
GREATNESS OF NAAM AND ITS NEED
 
 The access to spiritual regions cannot be gained except
with the wings of Naam. A Persian poet says,
    
    It behooves thee to fly to the higher realms and 
    that thou canst do with the wings of Naam.

Again,
    
    If thou wishest union with Truth, thou must get united
    with Naam (i.e., Word or the manifest form of Truth
    unmanifested) for therein lies the only possible union
    with Truth. The constant meditation of Name means
    constant companionship with the Named.

A touch with the Divine current purifies a person of all
iniquities. All doubts and distractions disappear and the
mind becomes steady and firm, with the result that God's
light is reflected therein.
    
    If thou wert to cleanse the mirror of thy mind with
    the sweet remembrance of His Name, His glory shall
    surely shine within thee.

Kabir Sahib has beautifully described the value of Naam:
   
   Naam may appear but a monosyllable compared with
     the countless sins that abound;
   But a little dose of the Naam when taken, reduces the
     entire garbage to a heap of ashes;
   And the practice of the Naam rubs clean all the 
     mental impurities;
   For the Naam acts as a spark of fire in a powder 
     magazine;
   By communion with the Naam, one transcends the
     limitations of the flesh,
   And reaches far beyond the realm of the pairs of
     opposites.
   All the supernal powers serve but Naam;
   Blessed with Naam, one becomes the abode of all
     powers.
     
                                                KABIR


A contact with Naam assures salvation to all, whether
good or bad, learned or unlettered. As sun and fire give
warmth and light to all, snow and ice give exhilarating
freshness, so Naam cannot fail to produce its effect, no
matter how the contact may come about, with or without
faults. Khwaja Nizam-ud-Din Chishti says,
     
   The glory of God's Naam has attuned my body and soul,
   The parched and thirsty get honeyed nectar from it.


 
VARIOUS NAMES OF GOD

    The sages and the saints have described God in 
innumerable terms, as for instance Swami or Soami, meaning
Lord God; Nirala (peerless or without a compeer); Anami
(the nameless); Har Rai, Agam or Alakh (the 
incomprehensible or the ineffable); Ram Rai or Sat Purush 
(the eternal Truth or unchangeable permanence); 
Ek Ankar (the one life breath or live principle); Puran 
Chetan Purush (complete consciousness); Akal (timeless or 
the deathless one).

    All these are just attributive or qualitative names 
- names signifying one or another of God's attributes. 
Such names simply describe any one aspect or facet of God 
as appealed foremost to someone's individual liking. 
Thousands of such names appear in holy scriptures: Ram 
(all-pervading), Rahim (gracious or merciful), Girdhari 
(encompassing), Murari, Allah, Khuda, Wah-i-Guru, and the
like. The Jews call Him Yahweh or Jehovah. All these
names are worthy of our adoration for each one of them
tries to single out some aspect of the Beloved.
                     
        I revere each one of Thy names, O God! 2
                                            

WHAT IS NAAM?

  We talk and hear a lot about Naam, but never for a
moment pause to ponder over what it is, and how to gain
salvation or Nirvana through it.
    
    What is that Name, the remembrance whereof leads
    to Nirvana? 3
    
    What is that name, the repetition whereof enables a
    person to cross over the world of sorrow? 4
                                        
                                        GURU TEG BAHADUR

In fact the Lord God is nameless, but we have given Him
myriads of names. What name can indeed describe the
Formless, the Limitless, the Incomprehensible, one beyond
the grasp of senses and the intellect?  Still man has,
through the ages, endeavored to put Him in the trammels
of words and clothe Him with epithets just for the sake of
expression, though all combined together fail hopelessly
to do any justice to Him. After all words do come from a
limited source and cannot possibly limit the Limitless:
    
    If all the mountains were pounded into ink-powder
    and mixed with the waters of the oceans, pens were
    made out of all the forest trees, and the entire earth
    were a sheet of paper, the glory of God or Naam of
    God-into-expression Power could not even then be
    described.
                                              SAHJO BAI

    All names are Thine and so are all forms Thine, but
    all fail to enumerate Thy countless attributes. 5
                                              
                                              GURU NANAK

    Thou embracest in Thee all powers and potentialities,
    all riches and treasures, for Thou art the Primeval
    Cause, the Causeless Cause both material and efficient. 
    The Lord of all, Thy names are numberless. 6
                                             
                                              GURU ARJAN

    God has names beyond our comprehension. He cannot 
    be known and no name can describe Him.
    The learned and the unlettered have done their very
    best but have not been able to evaluate even a
    particle of His greatness. 7
    
    O God! so many art Thy names, that the poor tongue
    faileth to enumerate them. 8
    
                                              GURU RAM DAS

Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the tenth Guru of the Sikhs, says,
    
    Who can sing of the glory of all Thy names?
    Still the wise tell us of Thine attributes.

All names fall into two categories:
   
   (i)  Karam Naam or names indicative of gunas 
        (qualities) or swabhave, that is, qualitative or 
        attributive names; like Ram, Rahim and Karim 
        (i.e., all-pervading, merciful and compassionate).
   
   (ii) Pura Purbala Naam or personal names which are
        all-comprehensive, ancient and eternal.                  
     
     We generally sing the glory of God with man-made
       names,
     But His Great Name-Sat Naam-is eternally the
       same. 9
                                            
                                            GURU ARJAN


The question that now arises is one of choice: which of
these countless names is the most efficacious and speedily
fruitful? The Hindus in general glorify "Om" and speak
highly of "Ram-Naam." The Muslims prefer "Allah" and
the Sikhs "Wah-i-Guru." Every religious order has thus
adopted one or the other name as a central tenet and
makes use of it in their daily worship and devotion. To
confine one's self to any of these exclusively would mean
making God partial. Our quest leads us to a number of
issues such as:
  
  (a) Selection of the most fruitful name.
  
  (b) Mode of repetition: Should the name selected be
      repeated mentally or through meditation on the
      meaning of the word selected.

If we refer to the Sikh sacred literature, we come across
varied references, some dealing with Japa or repetition,
others with Sunan or hearing, Manan or acceptance, Dhyan
or meditation and last but not least, Self-illumination and
Sound Principle as well.
   
   Remember Naam, O my brethren-in-faith,
   This grants peace, O keep the mind ever fixed in
     Naam. 10
   
   By hearing Naam, the mind gets stilled,
   The  greatness  of  Naam  is  known  through  the
   Master. 11
   
   Commune with Naam till the last breath of life,
   This brings proximity to God and He saves in the
     end. 12
   
   Those who contact not the Naam, why do they come
     into the world?
   Arid is the field of life for them and they die a 
     miserable death. 13
   
   The devotees of the Lord are His representatives and
     unto them we pray,
   We, the filthy worms, are at their feet, let the Divine
     light fill us through. 14
   
   A contact with the Sound Current gives self reali-
     zation which is the summum bonum of life. By it
     one is washed of all impurities of the mind and
     easily merges into Life Divine. O Nanak! this con-
     tact is established by a rare gurmukh. 15

                                        GURU RAM DAS
     
   A contact with Naam makes one self-luminous, with
     luminosity vying with myriads of suns. 16
                                   
                                        GURU ARJAN
    
  By Thy grace manifest the Divine light of Naam. 17
                                    
                                        GURU RAM DAS

In Naam there is perfect food, both for the eyes and the
ears. Next we hear of the sinking in and dwelling of
Naam in the tablet of the mind. It is clearly stated in the
sacred Sikh scriptures that this contact can only be had
beyond the domain of senses and sensory organs:
   
     Naam is not the subject of the eyes. It is 
     something wonderful and indescribable. 18
                                          
                                        GURU NANAK

References like these lead to but one irresistible 
conclusion: that the true Naam is something beyond this 
or that word. It is a great magnetic Power, and a force 
that can grip the mind. It is characterized by sweet strains 
and melodious tunes, which can be heard, and powerful light
which can be seen and witnessed. It is this Naam or Power
and Force of Godhead which cannot be comprehended by
the senses and can only be realized and experienced in
Super-sensual planes. It is a Life Current that pervades 
the entire creation and is hence called Ram Naam or 
All-Embracing Impulse. Kabir Sahib says:
    
     There are myriads of names in the world, but none of
     them can grant salvation.
     The Primeval Name is a hidden one and a rare soul
     can know and realize it.

Oral repetition of names has its own place and utility, 
and is needed for some purposes, but it cannot lead to 
self-realization and God-realization, both of which can be
achieved only through contact with God-in-action, call it
what we may - Shabd, Ram-Naam, Kalma, Word, Sruti, Sraosha,  
etc.;  and this contact can come about only through the 
Grace of some competent living Master.
    
    Everyone is repeating the monosyllable Ram but gets
    no touch with the Power Ram behind the monosyllable:
    
    It is the Grace of the Master alone that can give a
    living touch with the All-Embracing Life Impulse
    and the wish-yielding Elixir.

A thirsty traveler can not quench his thirst by simply
crying for "water," unless he actually gets the substance,
water. Yari Sahib, therefore, says:
    
    The tongue tires itself out by repeating the word Ram,
    The repetition of the word "water" never quenches
      the thirst,
    One may slake the thirst by taking a draught of water.

Kabir Sahib, in this context, speaks thus:
    
    Mere repetition of this or that name, without an actual
    touch with the named, is of no avail. If one were to
    become rich by calling for riches, then there would
    hardly be one who is not rich.

Nameless is He and yet all names are His. If one can but
get in touch with His Power, all names become 
inconsequential, for actual contact is what matters and 
not the words. If a thirsty person gets the substance, water, 
to quench his thirst, it does not matter if he calls for it as
ab (Persian), water (English), aqua (Latin), eau (French),
ma (Arabic) or hudor (Greek), for his purpose is served
by any of these words. 

Similarly, the word "bread" is quite a different thing from 
the real bread. While one is just an expression used to 
distinguish it from other things, the other is the real 
bread that dispels hunger. So one must strive to contact the 
Reality rather than run after the shadowy words that stand 
for the Reality.
  
  From a mere name one has to get to the named before
one can have the real benefit, a satisfaction to the 
ever inner urge for filling the inner vacuum of the soul. 

Maulana Rumi saith:
    
    O thou repeater of the Name, go and search out the
      Named,
    Without the Named, how can a mere name give thee
      comfort?

Sant Tulsi Das, the famous author of the Hindi Ramayana
or the biography of Lord Rama, has given precedence to
Naam over both Rama and Brahma, since Naam is at once
the Creator and the controlling power of Brahma, 
Parbrahma, Sat Naam, Alakh and Agam.

 (1) In magnanimity and large-heartedness, Naam far
     excels both Brahm and Rama.
 
 (2) Personal and Impersonal God are the two aspects of
     Brahm for He is at once Indescribable, Beginningless,
     Incomprehensible and Formless. I feel that Naam far
     transcends these two; for both of them are within its
     controlling Power, from age to age. Though both
     Brahm and Ram are beyond comprehension, yet they
     can be known and realized through Naam. I therefore
     say that Naam is greater than both Ram and Brahm.
 
 (3) I cannot possibly sing the greatness of Naam. Even
     the blessed Lord Rama himself can hardly do any
     justice to the glory of Naam.

The last dictum of Sant Tulsi Das is significant indeed.
Rama is said to be the incarnation of Brahm, and the latter
with the entire hierarchy upward is the by-product or
creation of Naam. In Jap Ji Sahib, Guru Nanak also refers
to it pertinently:
   
     There is one Spirit that has created the Universe; and
     given over its control to the three guardian angels:
     Brahma, Vishnu and Siva: one of whom is entrusted with 
     the task of creation, the other with that of sustenance 
     or maintenance and the third with that of administering 
     justice according to the Divine Law. That Spirit always 
     keeps a watchful eye on the works of all the three, but 
     the latter have no knowledge of It. 19

The majority of the multitudinous world has forgotten
the Reality - the Ever-enduring Spirit of Naam - and are
mightily busy in parrot-like repetition of the so many
names of that Spirit, with the result that they keep 
engrossed all the time in gathering husk and chaff instead of
the grain. Hence all their hard labor goes unfruitful and
they live in a famished state without getting any 
satisfaction:
   
   Those who ignore Naam or the Power of God and
   are busy with various other names are just like 
   muck-worms wallowing in filth. 20
   
   The scriptural studies, the religious debates are all
    Mayaic or illusory and shadowy nothings,
   O Nanak! except Naam, nothing is stable, and all acts
    not centered on Naam are fruitless. 21
   
   Verily, verily, O Nanak! the true study is the study
     of Naam. 22
   
   Bookish knowledge is all worldly wisdom. 23
   
                                             GURU AMAR DAS
   
   Hari Naam is the essence of all religions. 24
                        
                                          GURU TEG BAHADUR

   Everyone wants happiness but gets what God may ordain,
   All acts of devotion and charity count for nothing
       when compared with Naam. 25
                                        
                                              GURU NANAK


   Naam far excels Japa, Tapa, deeds of charity and
     the like
   A contact with Naam gets all desires fulfilled. 26
   
   One cannot by the study of the scriptures cross the
     ocean of life
   Naam far transcends all acts of piety and charity. 27
                                        
                                              GURU ARJAN


Naam is a Power and Motor Force behind everything and
hence outer actions like pilgrimages to holy places, acts of
charity, fasts, penances, yajnas or sacrificial oblations to
fire and the like are of no avail to a seeker after Truth.
Naam alone is the link between God and man. It is with
the help of Naam that one can traverse to higher regions.
It serves as an electric lift that can safely carry a spirit
yearning for God-realization. Except Naam, there is no
other Path Godward.
     
     The body may be consigned to the flames or cut to
     pieces. The mind and the body may be made an
     offering and allowed to be consumed from day to
     day. All such penances and austerities are of no 
     consequence when compared with Hari Naam.
       
       The body may be cut in twain and the head be cut
     off for an offering or else it may be allowed to rot
     in the Himalayan snows, yet none of these acts can
     cure the mind. Alas, these have no efficacy, for we
     have tried them all with no avail.

       One may give millions in charity including horses
     and elephants, lands and kine, yet these will make
     him a bloated coxcomb. It is only Ram Naam (the
     all-pervading Sound Current ) that can still the mind,
     and It comes as a pure gift from a Master-soul. All
     intellectual wranglings, Hath-yogic practices, 
     scriptural studies, are but the varied types of karmic 
     bondages. The only way to freedom and salvation is a 
     Master-saint. 28
    
     Truth is greater than everything but higher still is
     true living. 29
                                           
                                                GURU NANAK


In Sukhmani, we have a wonderful account of Naam:
    
     The rosary, the penances, knowledge and thinking,
     The study of shastras, smritis and scriptures,
     The yogic practices and the performances of rites 
       and rituals,
     A life of solitude in the deep recesses of the forests,
     All endeavors of various types, including deeds of
       charity for name and fame, cutting of limbs in
       self-conceit,
     All these and more still, do not come up to the merit
       of Naam,
     O Nanak! a beloved of the Master is ever engaged
       in communion with the Word.
     Circumambulation of the globe and a life of longevity,
     Observance of austerities coupled with renunciation,
     Life spent in the midst of five fires, or one devoted to
       charitable deeds like giving away of worldly 
       possessions,
     The observance of Niyoli Karm* and many other
       yogic postures as enjoined by Jain scriptures,

(*One of the Shat Karma or six acts in Hatha Yoga, in which the 
breath is held inside and the bowels are made to move both sides, 
right and left, so as to clear away waste matter from them.)

     And even a holocaust of one's body inch by inch,
     All these and still more fail to purify the dirt of egoism;
     Nothing comes up to the merit of Naam,
     O Nanak! a beloved of the Master saves himself
       through communion with the Naam.
     Even the desire to die at a sacred place does not rid
      one of his egoism,
    All efforts to purify the body cannot sanctify the
      mind,
    All physical practices cannot drive away the mental
      impurities,
    All the methodical washings of the body cannot wash
      clean the clay-house,
    The Power of Naam far transcends all these,
    O Nanak! it has saving grace even for the worst of
      sinners. 30
                                               
                                                GURU ARJAN

    
    The Vedas, the Smritis and all other sacred scriptures
    unanimously proclaim that besides Naam there is no
    other Sadhan for spiritual advancement; all else is
    mere idle talk. 31
                                                
                                                GURU ARJAN


    Nanak has the riches of Naam to dole out. 32
                                     
                                                GURU ARJAN


    Nanak and Kabir both taught the science of the
      Naam,
    And I too have manifested Naam within me,
    Dhru and Prahlad were intoxicated with the elixir of
      Naam,
    And Lord Siva too is ever engaged in meditating on
      Naam.
                                                DULAN DAS


The world reveres those who have sought the path of the
Naam for Naam can transform sinners into saints, for it
ennobles and purifies:
   
   By practicing the science of inversion, one becomes
     world famous,
   Even Valmik, a well known highwayman, acquired
    the status of a Brahm.
                                                         
                                                TULSI DAS


The lovers of God are ever engaged in the practice of the
Word:
    
    Whether awake or asleep and in whatever condition,
    O Nanak! while doing everything they remain 
       contacted within. 33
                                                
                                                GURU ARJAN


In the scriptures of all the religions, there are references
to the Power of the Word:
    
    All the religions are deeply rooted in the Naam,
    There is no religion higher than that of the Naam. 34
    
    The practice of the Naam is the noblest of all 
      virtues. 35
                                                
                                                GURU ARJAN



DEVOTION TO NAAM IS THE ONLY TRUE WORSHIP

 The significance of Naam (the true devotion of God)
cannot be put in words:
   
   Rare indeed is the devotion to Naam (or Hari),
   We cannot do full justice to the greatness of Naam.36

                                                GURU AMAR DAS

Naam alone is immaculate and everything else is of no
consequence. What then can we give in offering?
      
      But we are all as an unclean thing,
      And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. 37
      
                                                ISAIAH


Whatever we say and utter in praise of Naam is inade-
quate. The entire mankind is indeed engaged in singing
praises of Naam and in the performance of devotional
exercises. But as all this is being done on the intellectual
level and on the plane of the senses, it does not bear any
appreciable fruit. A rare soul here and there, who is born
anew through Naam or the Power of God, is truly immac-
ulate. Only such a devotion is acceptable at His Court.
There is no other devotion like that. Such a soul always
cries out:
    
    Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto
      my path. 38

                                                THE PSALMS


The Bible tells us,
    
    The Word of God is quick (living) and powerful and
    sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to
    the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the
    joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts
    and interests of the heart. 39

As we do not know what Naam is and its true significance,
we live as if in a dome of many-colored glass which by its
bewildering effect deludes the senses. All our prayers are
but a confused jargon, and our words, though loud and
strong, vanish into thin air and yield no results.
    
    Everyone does worship but on the sensual plane only,
      and so gets no results,
    But absorption in the Naam purifies the mind and
      bears fruit in abundance,
    Those who are devotees of the Naam are truly pure
      and beloved of the Lord,
    But for Naam all other worship goes in vain, and the
      people at large are deluded.
   The beloved of the Master (Guru-mukh) knows him-
     self by coming in contact with the all-pervading
     Word (Naam).
   The Immaculate Lord Himself becoming the guide
     contacts the soul with the Sound Current,
   Those who worship with no proper guidance, remain
     wandering in the realm of duality,
   A devotee of the Master alone knows the Path and
     bows before His Will. 40
   
                                                GURU AMAR DAS



NAAM IS THE GREAT CONTROLLING POWER                           
 
    By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made; and
    all the host of them .  . He spake and it was done; He     
    commanded, and it stood fast. 41
                                                      
                                                THE PSALMS
    

    Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word
      that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 42         
    
                                                CHRIST                  
                                                                               

Naam or Word is the chief Controlling Power. It is the
only support that one can have either in this world or in
the next:
    
    I need no obsequies after my death,                        
    I depend wholly on Sat Naam, the maker of all, and        
       pervading all, here and hereafter. 43
                              
                                               GURU NANAK

Naam is beginningless and endless. It is invariable and   
Unchanging Permanence, ancient and eternal.
    
    Leaving aside all thy learning and cunning, worship
      the Great Formless beyond Brahm.                     
    Except the Naam all others fall away. 44
    
                                                GURU ARJAN

    
    Excepting the True Naam, the rest is all trash. Four
    things alone are eternal and lasting: Naam or Sound
    Current; Sadhu or a disciplined soul well established
    in Word; Guru or Word-personified, with a divine
    commission to contact others with the Naam; and
    lastly, Gobind or the Lord God - the Eternally
    Formless One. 45
                                                 
                                          GURU TEG BAHADUR


Everything is within the Controlling Power of Naam:
    
    Naam is just a pure gift from God;
    He alone may get the gift through the Guru, to
      whomsoever He may grant it,
    O Nanak! all is within the mighty grip of the Naam,
    He alone is blessed with Word, who may be so
      ordained. 46
      
                                         GURU AMAR DAS

                                       

NAAM IS THE GREAT MASTER FORCE

  Word or Naam is the Sound Current or Sound Principle. 
This current or principle lay merged in the Great
Silence and was hence nameless. There was then nothing
but Deep Silence with no name or pattern, no design or
form and no color or shade. The life vibration (principle)
hidden therein, stirred the Great Deep and there came a
Great Sound called Word and the whole creation came
into being, and is being sustained by this. 

With the withdrawal of the Naam or Sound there sets in 
disintegration and decay in all that lives, with consequent 
putrefaction, and the result is dissolution which in common 
parlance is known as death. Thus this Sound is at once the 
beginning and the end of all that exists:
    
    He - the Nameless - expressed  Himself  and made
      the Naam or Word. 47

                                                GURU NANAK


It is called variously as Sound, Sruti (that which is heard),
Shabd or Akash Bani (voice from the heaven), Udgit,
Sraosha (music of the beyond), Word or Harmony, Logos
or the Holy Spirit, Kalma or Bang-i-Ilahi (call from God)
or Nida-i-Asmani (heavenly sound).
   
   Thou manifested Thyself as Naam and set up the
     creation.
   Out of the Formless proceeded forms in varying
     degrees. 48
                                 
                                               GURU NANAK


This entire extensionalism is just of the Naam and there
is nothing which is not of Him:
        
        Thou art immanent in all;
        And nothing is where Thy Word is not. 49
                                 
                                              GURU NANAK


Again,
   
   All that is of life and all that is of matter is from the
     Naam ( whether visible or invisible ) ;
   Without a Master-soul one cannot have contact with
     the Naam. 50
   
                                             GURU AMAR DAS


It may here be necessary to describe in brief the four
Grand Divisions of the Universe. These Grand Divisions
are:
  
  (i)   Sach Khand or the region of Sat Naam: This region
        is of pure spirit unalloyed by matter.
  
  (ii)  Par Brahm: Here spirit and subtle form of matter
        combine in varying degrees, yet spirit is the ruling
        force.
  
  (iii) Brahmand: Where spirit and matter in its gross
        form combine. Here the spirit, for its manifestation,
        has to depend on matter. It consists of Trikuti and
        Sahasrar (Und).

  (iv)  Pind or the physical plane: Where the spirit lies 
        dormant under a heap of matter in its grossest form.


Naam or Word is both the Creator and the Sustainer of
the Universe:
   
   The Naam or Word is the Power of God that has
     created the Universe,
   The same Power is sustaining all by its immanence
     in every form. 51
     
                                              GURU RAM DAS

   Everything comes into being and lives by the Naam
     or Power of God,
   Forgetting the Naam, we breathe hollow. 52
                                                          
                                              GURU AMAR DAS


   Upholding all things by the Word of His Power. 53
   
   And He is before all things, and by Him all things
     consist. 54
   
                                             ST. PAUL


   By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made,
   And all the host of them . . . for He spake, and it was
     done;
   He commanded, and it stood fast. 55
                                                          
                                            THE PSALMS


   Through faith we understand that the worlds were
     framed by the Word of God . . .56
                                                             
                                            ST. PAUL
   

   By the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the
     earth standing out of the water . . . But the heavens
     and the earth which are now, by the same Word
     are kept in store . . .57
                                                                 
                                           ST. PETER

   
   Word is at once the Creator and the Sustainer of the
     Universe.
   Word transcends all forms and all names,
   They who worship the Word, alone live. 58
          
          
        Word sustains the entire creation,
        He is the Kernel in every shell. 59
                              
                                          GURU ARJAN


John Dryden, in his song for St. Cecilia's Day (1687),
refers to it as Harmony:
       
        From Harmony, from heavenly Harmony,
        This Universal frame began;
        When Nature underneath a heap
        Of jarring atoms lay,
        And could not heave her head
        The tuneful voice was heard from high
        Arise, Ye more than dead!
        From Harmony, from heavenly Harmony
        This Universal frame began:
        From Harmony to Harmony
        Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
        The diapason closing full in Man.


Word or Naam is the great Progenitor or the Primeval
Cause of the entire creation with the various divisions
high and low. We have the testimony of Guru Arjan in
this behalf:
    
    Naam is the life-principle in all that lives,
    Naam is the foundation-stone of the Cosmos with its
      divisions.
    Naam is the Creator of Heavens and nether lands,
    Naam is the Manifester of all forms.    
    Naam is the sub-strata of all regions,
    Naam is the liberator from all bondage. 60
 

The various Khandas or planes exist because of Naam
and different Yugas or classifications of time owe their
origin to Naam:
    
    There is but one source of the different divisions of
    time and Universe. This has been revealed to me by
    the Master-soul. Naam is a great storehouse of all
    that one may wish for. Why then should I move out
    for this or that? 61
                                                     
                                             GURU ARJAN
                                          

                            [End of Part 1]
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