Birds Don't Go To College

There is a Sufi tale: Becoming angry with his prime minister, a king had him confined in a very high tower with no way to escape; if he tried to jump he would surely be killed. The king did not know it, but on his way to the tower the prime minister had whispered something in his wife's ear. On the very first night she came and left an ordinary insect on the tower wall. She applied a little honey to its antennae and the insect began to climb up the tower in search of the honey, but she had also tied a thin silk thread to its tail. Slowly the insect climbed the three hundred feet of the tower where the minister was waiting for it. He grabbed at the silk thread to which the wife had tied a string, and to the string she had tied a cord, and attached to the cord was a strong rope. The minister pulled till he had the rope in hand, and with its help he climbed down from the tower.

The story states that not only did the minister escape the prison, but he also discovered the means to escape from life's ultimate prison. If even the thinnest, weakest thread comes to hand, there is no difficulty in attaining liberation. The weakest thread can pave the way to beautitude, but the thread must come to hand. A slight ray, once recognized, can lead to the sun.

All religions, all gurus, have reached God by catching hold of one thin thread or other. These threads are many, and can be tied to many kinds of insect. It isn't necessary to smear the insect's antennae with honey; you can apply anything that tempts the insect to climb to the prisoner. The thread becomes the bridge.

The thread that Nanak caught hold of is so crystal clear, but since we are both deaf and blind, we cannot hear him.

If you observe life closely, you will find that the most outstanding thing in existence is song. The birds have always been singing; each morning at the break of day they herald the coming of the sun with their song. The wind brushes against the leaves of the trees, and there is music. The waterfall has a melody all its own. The clouds clash with tumultuous sounds. The sound of the rivers as they flow, and the waves as they lash against the shores, have a quality of their very own. Look at life all around and listen! Existence sings from every corner.

Nothing in existence is clearer than music. It stops at death when life has become silent. Life is full of resonance, but man is deaf; therefore, though the thread is clear and within our hands, we do not grasp it. If life is so full of song, then it is certain that God's hand is behind it. God is somewhere hidden behind the song. If we could sing, if we could lose ourselves in the rapture of His song, the thread will be grasped. To be absorbed in the song is the thread that leads to Him. Then it will not be long to escape the prison of samsara, this every day world, and reach liberation in God.

Nanak made his sadhana, his practice, out of song. Sometimes you must have felt the intoxication creeping up on you in the exhilaration and ecstasy of singing. But people are afraid to sing. Birds do not care whether their voices are sweet or not, but man is very careful. Only a few people sing, those with good voices; the rest sing only in the bathroom where no one can see and no one can hear. Singing makes you feel fresher than a bath, for bathing only touches the surface while the song sinks deep within. He who cannot hum has lost connection with God; he retreats further and further from existence, like a living corpse.

Kabir has said about this country: "This is the land of corpses, for the song of life does not play here.

No one dances in celebration, no one sings with a full heart, and no one loses himself in song."

It doesn't matter whether your voice is sweet or not, for song isn't a commodity to be sold in the marketplace, but rather an expression of gratitude and happiness. A song is made meaningful and beautiful by you being enraptured by it, not by the quality of your voice. You can be so immersed in your song that you are no more, only the song is - the singer is lost, the song remains. It can happen so simply, and there is no easier thread. If birds can sing, plants hum, and the waterfall babble, are you so useless that you can't stand amongst them? Are you so incapable that you can't compete with the stream or with the birds and the trees?

The fact is that you are frightened since song has been made into a sellable commodity. As a result, it is no longer a natural act in life but a product for the market, and you worry about making time for it and whether your voice is adequately trained. No stream stops to learn music; it is as natural a flow as a river. Music is already within, so it needn't be learned.

All you require is the courage and daring to be a little mad, and then the song will spurt out of you.

Birds don't go to college to learn music; they don't worry about who says what; they are not anxious whether their song will sell; they sing with joy and abandon. Why not you?

Since we started selling our songs in the bazaar another calamity took place; we stopped singing and became listeners. We are passive: if someone sings we listen, if someone dances we look.

Think of how impoverished and wretched we have become. The time will come when someone will be happy and we will be the audience. What a difference between watching someone's happiness and being happy yourself! Imagine looking on while someone is making love, and you don't make love yourself. Do you see the difference? Can love be known by watching? No, it can only be known when you yourself love.

If you listen to a person singing, no matter how melodious the voice, and how great the artist, you will not know what it is to sing. This is borrowed pleasure; you sit like a corpse and listen, not connected with the music at all. You must actively enter into the music. Dance can only be known by dancing, not by watching. Watching is a mere substitute; it is false, inauthentic.

Slowly, slowly man is leaving everything to others. Some few perform, most watch; some dance, the rest watch; some sing and many gather to listen. If you neither sing nor play nor dance what is the purpose of being alive? Is life to be carried on by a few specialists?

Neither spectator nor performer gain anything from this, for the latter's attention is totally into making money. The dance comes not from the soul; it is merely superficial skill. The dancer is actually not dancing at all, since the dance doesn't penetrate enough for him to lose himself in it; his mind remains apart, involved with the money he is making.

It happened this way: The emperor Akbar told Tansen one day that he would like to meet and hear his guru. He said, "Last night when you left, a thought came to my mind that there has never been a singer greater than you, nor will there ever be. You are the ultimate in music. But then it occurred to me that you must have learned from somebody. You must have had a guru, and perhaps he is even better than you. So I would like to meet your guru and hear him."

Tansen replied, "That is very difficult. I do have a guru who is still alive, but you cannot call him to the court for he does not sing on request. His songs are like the songs of the birds. A cuckoo will never sing at your request. The more you plead the more silent he will become, for it will begin to wonder why the request. You can hear my guru only when he chooses to sing. If you are that eager we shall have to go and hide behind his hut and listen secretly. If we approach him directly he might stop singing."

Tansen's guru, a fakir named Haridas, stayed in a hut on the bank of the river Jamuna. At three o'clock every morning, before dawn, he would sit by the river and sing in ecstasy. His singing was like the song of the birds; his songs had nothing to do with anybody.

Akbar and Tansen reached the hut at two o'clock. At three the singing began. Akbar listened as if hypnotized, his eyes raining tears. When they rode back he could not utter a single word to Tansen.

In fact he totally forgot that Tansen was there.

As he stepped down from the chariot he told Tansen, "I was under the impression that you had no equal, but today I see the your guru far surpasses you. Is there some reason for it?"

Tansen replied, "Is there really any need to ask? I sing for you, but my guru sings only for God.

When I sing my eye is on the gift you will give me, for singing is my business. My guru doesn't sing to get anything. In fact, it is the other way around; he sings only when he receives, when he is so filled with the emotion of God from the grace he received from above, when his throat is full, when waves of ecstasy arise in his heart. When he is flooded with His grace he sings, he flows, he bursts into song. Singing is like His shadow to him. But for me, I sing first, then receive. My eyes are always on the fruits of my effort, therefore I am lowly. You are absolutely right: how can I stand next to my guru? No matter how skillful I become, however practiced my hands or competent my voice, my soul will never be able to enter into my song. I am a specialist, not so my guru. His song is like the song of the birds. I am nothing before him."

The singers you hear today are professionals. The listeners sit passively while they do their jobs, so far have we come from the song of God. Whoever is making love on the screen is a professional doing his job. He acts and viewers watch, nothing more, just glued to their chairs.

The realities of life can only be known actively; you must enter into these realities. Just to see a person swimming, how can you enjoy the pleasure? If seeing gives so much pleasure, how infinitely joyful must be the act of being and doing.

Sing, dance, but forget the world for it is the thought of the world that prevents you from singing and dancing. Dance, sing - and you stand in the footsteps of God. Nanak says it in such poetic words:

WHERE IS THAT DOOR? WHAT MANSION IS IT WHERE YOU SIT AND OVERLOOK YOUR CREATION?

INfiNITE SOUNDS ARE RINGING, AND INfiNITE ARE THE PLAYERS; INfiNITE THE SINGERS, AND INfiNITE THE MELODIES THEY SING.

WATER, fiRE AND WIND SING YOUR GLORY, AND THE GOD OF DEATH SINGS AT YOUR DOOR; CHITRAGUPTA, SHIVA, BRAHMA, DEVI - ALL SING YOUR GLORY; AND INDRA ON HIS THRONE AND ALL THE DEITIES, AND HOLY MEN IN MEDITATION, AND REALIZED BEINGS IN THEIR SAMADHI.

Nanak asks? Where is His door? Where is His abode? And He provides the answer that infinite melodies play and infinite are the players. Nanak is saying: There is your door, hidden in the sound.

You are looking after the world, and Omkar is Your door.

If even a part of the song comes within your grasp, with the help of this thin thread you can reach to His door. When the music, the Omkar, begins to sound within you, when you lose yourself in the sounds, that very moment you find yourself before His door.

He says: So many ragas and their variations, so many melodies, so many sounds, you singers!

They are all your door. From morning till evening, from evening till morning, infinite melodies play.

Begin to recognize these melodies in life. Man's music is derived enturely from existence. All his musical instruments, all his melodies are derived from sounds of nature: the song of the birds, the sound of the waterfall, the sighing of the wind.

Try to recognize the melody in the world. Early in the morning when you wake up direct your attention to the sounds around you. Once you catch these melodies you will keep hearing them all day long, for they are continuous; only you are deaf.

Sit in the silence of the night and listen to it. This sound of stillness is very close to the ego. When Omkar begins to sound within you, at first you will hear only the sound of stillness: its echo is like the chirping of a cricket in the silent night. You can hear it all day long, anywhere - in the market, at the office, in the shop. The resonance is everywhere. It may be faint or seem to get lost in the noise of the marketplace, but it is very much there. Once you grasp it you will recognize it more and more often. All day long there is a festival of melodies at His door.

Whoever has known Him has called Him 'Sachchidanand' - truth, consciousness and bliss. When a person is filled with joy he is filled with song. Joy and song are so close. Except in films no one sings in sorrow; tears flow, not song. Whatever you do in moments of happiness will be filled with song; even if tears flow it will have the tinkle of music in it. In your sitting and standing, in your gait, in your very breath, music will play; your heartbeats will lend rhythm to your song. Truly music is His door, for within resides the supreme bliss.

Ultimately the music stops, for it is only a door; once you pass through it the music stops. A moment comes when your music becomes a hindrance. Then only His music sounds. Infinite melodies play within you, but you have no music of your own; you are like an empty house.

Our temples are designed for sound to reverberate inside, their construction based on it. The temple is always absolutely empty. This signifies the ultimate state of a seeker; it is a symbol. When the Omkar sounds, we shall be empty within - aboslutely empty. A bell is hung at the temple door; whoever comes first rings the bell, for the nada is at the door.

These are all symbols. No one should enter the temple through that door of doors without ringing the bell, for only through the sound itself can you enter. The uniqueness of a bell is that it keeps resounding long after you ring it, so the resonance keeps sounding as you enter the main entrance.

In that sound alone is the key to your entry into the temple.

Through the sound, as it were, you enter into God's abode. The temple is a symbol of God's dwelling.

When it is sounding constantly you need not ring the bell, but we have formulated a method with the symbol. When you return from the temple ring the bell again. You have to journey back amidst the reverberating sound. All worship, all prayers start with the ringing of the bell.

Nanak says infinite nadas are ringing and infinite are the players. He does not speak as an observer.

He describes it as one standing at the door; therefore, his words are straightforward and simple. As if this is happening before his eyes he says:

WHERE IS THAT DOOR? WHAT MANSION IS IT WHERE YOU SIT AND OVERLOOK YOUR CREATION?

INfiNITE SOUNDS ARE RINGING, AND INfiNITE ARE THE PLAYERS; INfiNITE THE SINGERS, AND INfiNITE THE MELODIES THEY SING.

WATER, fiRE AND WIND SING YOUR GLORY, AND THE GOD OF DEATH SINGS AT YOUR DOOR.

CHITRAGUPTA, SHIVA, BRAHMA, DEVI - ALL SING YOUR GLORY; Understand that Dharmraj, the god of death, signifies the zenith, the climax; he is the deity of virtue and ethics. To investigate what is good and what is not good in its finest subtlety is the work of Dharmraj. Nanak says that even he sits at Your door and sings.

There can be no one of a more serious nature than Dharmraj. His very name implies one who has a very grave and weighty temperament, for he thinks in the minutest detail: what is right, what is wrong, what should be done and what should not, what is worth doing and what is not? Nanak also finds such a person singing in ecstasy.

Chitragupta's job is to note down and keep an account of the sins and virtues of people. What can he sing? Even high court judges are only minor Chitraguptas, and just visualize how they carry themselves, sitting stiffly in their chairs in black clothes and white wigs - such grave faces! Laughter is taboo - in contempt of court - and singing is out of the question. Imagine, this is the state in the lesser courts, and Chitragupta sits in the ultimate court!

Nanak says: I see even Chitragupta singing at Your door. All his seriousness has vanished, it would seem; His door is the door of celebration.

Understand that your attention should not be concentrated on keeping an account of good and bad deeds in your life, for in so doing your life becomes cold and heavy with solemnity. He who becomes grave, loses. Do not be lost. Do not become dry. Don't contract in the constant anxiety of what is good and what is bad, for there is no entry to His door for such dehydrated, unfeeling, long-faced people. Dejection and melancholy cannot gain entrance here. Only those who dance and sing have access. Therefore it invariably happens that your so-called 'holy men' remain distant from Him, for they have become so very grim.

Remember that gravity is a part of the ego. A solemn person can never be egoless, and an egoist is invariably conceited and arrogant. There is no sign of the simple, the childlike, the artless in him.

Nanak's full name was Nanak Nirankari. The very name 'Nirankari' means egoless.

Mardana sits at Nanak's side, always ready with his instrument to play. Ask Nanak the most serious question and he answers with a song. To all solemnity he responds with cheerfulness. Ask him a profound question, his answer is filled with festivity and rejoicing. Do what you will, Nanak always sang in answer while Mardana played his instrument. There was a special reason why Nanak chose to do that: to bring home to us the fact that music plays at His door.

Rejoicing is characteristic of the truly religious man; whereas an ordinary so-called 'religious' man has just the opposite disposition: stiff with arrogance, his eyes filled with scorn and censure. The constant thought of good and bad reduces them to this state. They kill themselves this way. When do they have time to sing? They are forever worried: what to eat, what not to eat; whether to get up this time or that; whether to dress this way or that - or not to dress at all. All their time is taken up in the boredom and insensibility of rules and regulations.

It is true that rejoicing also has its regulation, but it is not superimposed, it arises from within, it is an inner discipline. Solemnity has its own rules that are superimposed: whatever is inside, wear a solemn expression on your face! The body becomes lifeless. This is not the characteristic of a religious man. In fact, these are the ways of a frightened man. He is so frightened that he dare not laugh for he fears that laughter may lead him to some sin. So laughter has become sinful, and a grim, long face a symbol of virtue.

In Nanak's method there is song and festivity. Holding on to this sutra of celebration and festivity one can reach His gate.

AND HOLY MEN IN MEDITATION, AND REALIZED BEINGS IN THEIR SAMADHI, AND ASCETICS, CHASTE WOMEN, CONTENTED PEOPLE AND WARRIORS, AND PANDITS, rishis, AND THEIR VEDAS THROUGH THE AGES, AND BEAUTIFUL MAIDENS OF HEAVEN, AND fiSHES THAT DWELL IN THE DEPTHS, AND THE FOURTEEN GEMS CREATED BY YOU, AND THE SIXTY-EIGHT SACRED PLACES, HEROES AND GREAT WARRIORS, AND CREATURES OF THE FOUR KINGDOMS SUSTAINED BY YOU, ALL CONTINENTS, ALL SPHERES, AND THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, THOSE IN YOUR FAVOR AND DEEPLY IMMERSED IN YOU, SUCH DELIGHTFUL DEVOTEES, THEY ALL SING YOUR PRAISES! AND HOW MANY MORE, I CANNOT CONCEIVE OR INFER.

Nanak never tires of saying that His song sounds in all of creation. From all sides existence is a celebration. God laughs; he does not cry, nor does He like crying faces. Melancholy has nothing to do with existence. In fact, to be grim and sad is to be cut off from existence, to be turned away from God.

If sadness and sorrow overtake you in life, you must have taken some wrong step; when you suffer, know that you have gone astray. The suffering is only a pointer, don't make it your life style; don't become masochist, for masochism is a disease from which many people suffer.

Sacher-Masoch was the writer after whom this illness is named. He described whippings, pricking with thorns till one bled; he described fixing nails to the soles of one's shoes so that they made wounds with each step. Such masochists are everywhere. You will also find them lying on beds of nails in Kashi. There are ill people who revel in self-torture. You will find them fasting, you will find them rotting, decaying in various temples and hermitages - and common people worship them!

Why? There is yet another parallel illness, sadism. The sadist revels in others' torment and agony.

The sadist and masochist are paired; one loves to see the other in agony, and the other delights in having pain inflicted on him. Keep in mind whenever you revere a sad, suffering, self-tormenting individual, you suffer from the other's illness. Since these illnesses are complementary, sadists gather around masochists. They say, "How wonderful you are to lie on a bed of nails. Such self- sacrifice." Thus their egos are inflated and they are coaxed into tormenting themselves even more.

Keep it well in mind not to support a man who is in suffering or troubled, for that is a sin and equal to inflicting pain on him. It is a very subtle device. Should I want to pierce you with a dagger it would be a sin. But if you thrust a dagger into your chest and I say, "Wonderful! What a sacrifice! You have become a martyr!" it is sinful and I am partner to the act. A man lying on a bed of nails is a sinner all right, but those who come and offer flowers and coins at his feet are also partners in his sin. They are offering him encouragement by calling him a saint. These are two types of sick people; both suffer from a perverted state of mind. Beware of them both.

A healthy man troubles neither himself nor others. As a person becomes more and more healthy, he becomes more and more cheerful, and begins to share his joy with others. He always respects joy and cheer. When you see a man singing and dancing with joy, offer flowers at his feet. But you have never done this, or else the ashrams and temples in this world would have been quite different: they would have been filled with celebration.

Unfortunately, our ashrams and temples are filled with sick and diseased people, with people who are mentally ill, who should be treated by psychiatrists. And they are that way because of you. You have revered them and encouraged them. Have you ever honored a man who is cheerful?

Only yesterday a sannyasin told me of a strange event taking place. As her meditation is getting deeper and deeper, she experiences more and more joy. But with this, she is feeling that something wrong is happening, some transgression, as if she is following a wrong path. This is bound to happen to you when bliss enters, for we have all been groomed for suffering since childhood - not for happiness. If the child sits in the corner, dull and despondent, the parents say, "Good boy." But if the child dances and prances about with joy, the whole household gets after him, "Keep quiet! Don't make so much noise." Whenever he shouts in glee there is someone to reprimand him. He is made to feel that he has committed some error whenever he is happy, but that everything is all right when he is sad and dejected. Gradually the feeling penetrates the subconscious that it is wrong to be cheerful, but to be sad is a sign of virtue.

Whenever a person progresses in meditation the opposite process begins, he moves towards happiness and song. The closer he approaches the door of His abode, the more pronounced the celebration becomes. As the internal festivity begins, suppressed desires, the gaze of the outside world, and a sense of guilt raise their heads and stand in the way. The need to suppress it finds a thousand and one ways to thwart your happiness.

A friend comes and says he is making progress in his meditation but one thing plagues him: when all the world is plunged into suffering and sorrow, isn't it just plain selfishness to seek happiness for oneself?

Now he has devised a rational device to express the deep fear of his own joy. Six months earlier he came to me saying he was so unhappy, so miserable. All he wanted was to be happy. Then he wasn't concerned with God at all. Now that he is coming closer to joy, when the first chink has opened and the first tune has begun to play, he is seized with fright! He switched off his mind at once. He said, "I have stopped meditating. It seems too selfish." I told him, "Be sad and unhappy to your heart's content. To feel that way will be a great service to others. Cry aloud, beat your chest, torment your body, kill yourself - and you will deliver the world!"

Now how can your suffering deliver the world? Your misery will increase the suffering of others; it raises the ratio of suffering in the world. If you are happy you make suffering that much less in the world. One single person's happiness and joy raises currents strong enough to make those around him happy.

If a single house has a lamp, it helps make the neighbors conscious that their houses are in darkness. When one lamp is burning it is not difficult to light others with it. One lamp can light the lamps of the entire world.

But the mind is trained only for suffering. The whole world is divided into two kinds of unhappy people: there are those who wish to be made to suffer, and others who are always looking for someone else to oppress and torture. Neither group has any bearing on religion; for neither can ever hope to hear the music within. They are the two sides of the coin of sorrow, and sorrow has no relationship to God.

When your connections are broken you become unhappy and you suffer. Illness means your connection with nature is broken. Suffering means your connection with God is broken. When the body conducts itself against the principles of nature, illness results; when it flows along with nature, there is health and well-being. When the mind follows paths away from God, suffering is the result. When the soul moves in the footsteps of God, when it flows with the universal principle, there is bliss.

Nanak says there is music at His door. No, music is His door. Celebration, festivity are His practice.

The whole of existence is filled with song. You are deaf. That's what the matter is. You cannot see, you cannot hear. On every leaf, on every flower this message is written. He has filled the universe with so many colors and it is His music that vibrates in the rainbow of infinite hues. All creation is always celebrating this festival.

THOSE IN YOUR FAVOR AND DEEPLY IMMERSED IN YOU, SUCH DELIGHTFUL DEVOTEES, THEY ALL SING YOUR PRAISES! AND HOW MANY MORE, I CANNOT CONCEIVE OR INFER.

HE AND ONLY HE IS THE TRUE LORD. HE IS TRUTH - SATNAM.

HE IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE. THOUGH ALL VANISH HIS REALITY WILL NEVER LEAVE.

HE CREATED MAYA...

Nanak has very skilfully removed the sting from the word maya. He has deleted the feeling of contempt that is associated with maya. The mystery that Shankara himself could not unfold, Nanak has revealed. Shankara was a very rational thinker who founded a whole philosophical school. His sole aim was to explain the whole universe through logic and reason. He found himself in great difficulty over maya and Brahma.

On the one hand, Shankara knows that maya is a myth; it does not exist, for maya means that which is not. Maya is visible to the eyes but does not exist in actuality; whereas, that which is not visible, but which is, is Brahma. Maya is forever changing, kaleidoscopic, like dreams. Brahma is forever, the eternal truth, the creator.

Shankara represents the Advaita-Vedanta theory that is non-dualistic. It faces the question: 'How is maya born?' If it is entirely nonexistent, then how could there be any problems? Then it would be foolish to tell a person: Why are you involved in the illusion of maya? How can a person be entangled in that which does not exist? Then it is mere nonsense to exhort people to shun maya - something that is nonexistent.

And if maya does exist how can it be without God? His support is absolutely necessary. The dream arises only when there is someone to see it. So Advaita-Vedanta is concerned with this problem:

If it is God who has created maya, then all the mahatmas who preach against maya are preaching against God. And if God himself is holding on to maya, how are we expected to leave it? It is not within our power. When it is by His will, then His will is supreme and cannot be wrong.

Where does maya come from? If it arises out of Brahma, then how can that which is born out of truth be an untruth? What is born out of truth can only be truth. Or, if maya is an untruth, the Brahma from which it is born must be an untruth, too. They must both be of the same nature: either both are real or both are false. Shankara could not solve this problem.

But Nanak can resolve it. What philosophers cannot unlock devotees easily unravel. For Nanak, maya is the festival of colors and music that goes on at His gates continuously. The multitude of colors in the flowers and the trees, in the birds and the bees are all an expression of His bliss. He manifests Himself in so many forms; He blooms in so many flowers and delights in all the forms He assumes. It is all an expansion of His supreme energy. So maya and Brahma, the creation and the creator, are not the opposite of each other. All creation is a festival, a dance of Brahma, the creator - his song.

Shankara's concept of Brahma is very dry, for he eliminates maya entirely. His is a mathematical concept, devoid of all music and color, all joys and sorrows. It is like the void, an emptiness. How can you love the Brahma of Shankara? How can you make love to a mathematical theorem? That and feelingless.

Nanak's Brahma is absolutely different. It is not the concept of a mathematician, but of a poet who adores beauty. Nanak is a poet, not a philosopher. And what a philosopher cannot solve, a poet can. The philosopher is caught in his logic, the poet doesn't concern himself about it. He can afford to be illogical. His imagination makes incongruous things become consistent. All conflicts and contradictions become harmonious in his love and his devotion.

Keep it well in mind that to Nanak maya is God's festivity. Therefore Nanak never advised his followers to leave the world. How is one to leave, and why should one shun anything that is His?

He would tell His disciples, "Stay right in the world and seek Him there, for the world also is His.

Seek out your path from this very samsara, the material world that is part of the wheel of birth and death. Don't be afraid of maya, it is only His play."

One thing is certain and imperative: don't lose yourself in this play. Always keep your mind on the player - this is 'remembrance'. Don't get lost in the dance. Keep constantly in mind Him who directs the dance. Look at the trees, hear the song of the birds, but do not be so lost in them that you forget the One who is behind them all! Maya means the manifest Brahma. Keep seeking the unmanifest within the manifest, the invisible within the visible.

THEY ALL SING YOUR PRAISES! AND HOW MANY MORE, I CANNOT CONCEIVE OR INFER.

HE AND ONLY HE IS THE TRUE LORD. HE IS TRUTH - SATNAM.

HE IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE. THOUGH ALL VANISH HIS REALITY WILL NEVER LEAVE.

HE CREATED MAYA - THINGS OF VARIOUS COLORS AND EMOTIONS AND DISPOSITIONS.

HE CREATES ALL THINGS AND WATCHING OVER THEM, HE ALSO GIVES THEM GREATNESS.

What a wonderful thing Nanak has said. He says God makes the creation, and having made it, He looks at it, just as a painter paints a picture, then steps back a little to view his work. He observes it closely, he steps to the right and looks, steps to the left and looks again. Then he views it from a distance, then he takes it up to the window to scrutinize it in the light and in shadow. He examines it in a thousand ways, as does a sculptor.

HE CREATES ALL THINGS AND WATCHING OVER THEM, HE ALSO GIVES THEM GREATNESS.

Thus He gives prominence and importance to His creation. So God is not against samsara or else why should He create it?

Nor is he maya's enemy, or why should He bother with it? So the difficulty encountered by logic had no ground with the devotee. Nanak says not only does He create but He admires His creation and looks at it exultantly, thus giving it honor and importance.

Remember, God has created you and having created you he has examined you from all sides, and He is still looking at you constantly as a part of His own handiwork, giving you dignity and importance; and on its own all sin will fade away from your life. If you remember this you will move about as a creation of His. You will speak and hear, fully conscious of the fact that you are His creation. In all your dealings you will be conscious of the fact that you are His and He is looking after you all the time.

He watches over you constantly. He provides you with comfort and care. He looks at you lovingly, again and again. He never tires of looking at you. He is pleased with you for it is He who has made you. He is neither disappointed nor disheartened by your ways or else He could destroy you so easily. No matter how bad and sinful you become, His flame of hope for you never burns out. No matter how far you wander away from Him, no matter how completely you forget Him and turn your back on Him, His loving gaze is still fixed on you. For He knows that if not today, tomorrow you are sure to return. Sooner or later the prodigal must return, his coming back is certain, for the further you go away from Him the more unhappy you will become, like a little child who has run away from home.

A little child, barely four years old, ran away from home. He took a small bundle of clothes and set out. A policeman found him going back and forth along the side of the road a number of times. He approached him, thinking he needed help, and asked, "Where do you want to go? Where have you come from?"

The child said, "I have run away from home but Mother always said not to cross the road, but to stay on this side. Now I don't know what to do, since I can't cross over."

How far can a small child stray? Even if he does, Mommy has always set a limit and how can he disobey her?

How far will you wander from God? Even if you are angry with Him for some reason, you will keep shuttling between home and the road crossing. How far can you go and where will you go?

Wherever you roam it is within His boundaries. Wherever you are will be within Him. Your anger is the anger of a little child; it is nothing but a part of love. He is never displeased by your displeasure.

Nanak says: He gives you importance and glorified you. What He has created He surveys, and He likes what He surveys.

HE DOES WHAT PLEASES HIM. NONE CAN INTERFERE WITH HIS ORDER.

NANAK SAYS, HE IS THE KING OF KINGS. ABIDE BY HIS WILL.

One must remain well within His order and abide by His will. If you go outside His rule, He will not be displeased or annoyed, only you will have suffered unnecessarily. The suffering is not a punishment by Him, but the direct result of going against His will.

If you try to pass through the wall instead of going through the door, and injure your head in the process, the wall cannot be blamed. You are totally responsible for not using the door.

That door is His will. When the door is available why should you want to pass through the wall?

You will only break your head. Remember, too, God is not breaking your head. You suffer because of your own foolishness. Existence feels only compassion towards you even when you break your head; again and again existence tends to your wounds. No matter how much you wander, no matter how much you injure yourself, existence sets you right again and again, ad infinitum. For infinite births you have been knocking your head against the wall, and still you are well and whole! Nothing is broken in you. The soul cannot be broken. The only thing is that you have unnecessarily caused yourself suffering by your own hands.

Therefore, Nanak says, remain within His order and abide by His will.

How is one to know what He wills? How to be sure what His order is? Even great thinkers have not found an answer. Granted one should abide by His will, but what is His will? How will you be sure that in the medley of thousands of voices the voice you hear is His and not your own, or someone else's?

There is a way to know His wish, but not through the medium of thoughts. The way unfolds as you drown in His melody, as your ego disintegrates, as you are immersed in meditation and samadhi.

At once His voice becomes audible. Usually the noise and tumult of your ego prevents you from hearing His voice. As the ego abates and the tumult of thoughts dies out, you will be able to hear His voice. He is forever calling; His voice has never left you.

An inner self lies within man. Just as you see with your eyes and hear with your ears, so the soul is also the mechanism within you that catches the voice of God. The eyes catch the rays of light; how, the scientists don't as yet fully know. How the eye grasps the light from outside objects and reflects it in the mind is still a mystery. The hands touch, but how does the mind get word of the touch, whether the hand is rough or smooth, tender or velvety? The touch happens at the tip of the fingers, but how does the brain get the right message, and at that very instant?

As there are five sense organs to ally us to the world of objects, so also is there a sixth sense organ called the antah-karana, the 'inner voice'. This inner voice is not the conscience; it is not the sense of right and wrong you were taught in childhood. It is not the voice that punishes you for what you did or what you thought. It is the wordless voice of understanding - of consciousness - deep in the heart. It is the sense - deep, deep within - of knowing. It is tuned to God, tuned to the order in the universe. In that sense it knows what is right. But it only speaks to you when all other voices inside have been stilled.

But you are preoccupied with other things. The milling crowd of thoughts within suppresses the voice. When there is complete silence within, you suddenly experience the existence of this voice and realize that it was always there.

Nanak says abide by His will! But first you have to seek out His will, and this is not difficult. Right and wrong cannot be decided by your mind. Stop thinking, eradicate all thoughts, and you will hear what is right. Then there is no more anxiety, no more responsibility for which you are answerable.

Everything is His will. You do His bidding.

'His will' is Nanak's path. Therefore he refers to the supreme thread of life as the divine order. And you have a device to relate to Him. You were born with it, but have never made use of it. Meditation leads you up to your antah-karana, which then joins you to God. It is the cord that keeps you connected with God, telling you at each moment what you should do and what you should not.

Nanak says, when you begin to hear the voice of consciousness, remain within its field. Then sorrow cannot touch you and life becomes one long downpour of festivity and celebration.

Kabir has described this moment: "When bliss is born, clouds thunder and nectar rains." As soon as you establish contact with your heart, with the voice within, you are directly joined to God. This contact always is - from God's side - but it is missing from your side. To be silent is the art of establishing this contact. Only silence is the way.