How to contact Shabd

 

(1)         By the Grace of God.  God may, in His mercy, manifest Shabd in whomever He likes.

By His glance of Grace, Shabd becomes manifest within, dispeling all skepticism,

The body and the mind both get purified and the pure Sound of Bani (the Naam) is implanted in the heart.  *85

                                                                                            GURU NANAK

None can understand Thee unless Thou doeth it for one,

None can meet Thee unless Thou so decreeth,

Then one sings of the Bani through Shabd all the time,

And remains absorbed in the True One.  *86

                                                                                   GURU AMAR DAS

Those who come within the ambit of His favor, for them Shabd is minted in His true mint and they alone engage in the practice of Naam.

Only in such a mint, can man be cast into the Word,

Buy they alone who are favored by Him, can take unto this Path.

O Nanak, on whom He looks with grace, He fills with everlasting peace.  *87

                                                                                            GURU NANAK

(2)         By the grace of Sant Satguru and Sat Sangat.  God may, in His inimitable mercy, lead one to His accredited representative on earth who links the soul with Shabd by making Shabd manifest within..

In the fullness of time, He leads one to a Satguru,

Then one takes on the Path of Surat Shabd Yoga.  *88

The Perfect Master makes the Shabd manifest,

Rising above the three Gunas one rests in Turiya.  *89

Satguru, the greatest Donor, manifests the Shabd,

And then all restlessness cdeases and one gets eternal rest.  *99

                                                                                   GURU AMAR DAS      

Guru is Word personified, Word made flesh, and he alone can make it manifest.  It is, in fact, the gift of the Guru and no one else can help in the matter.

Why hold back what one holds in trurst?

There can be no peace until the trust is discharged,

The Word of the Master can be implanted only by the Master,

No one else can make the Word manifest.  *91

                                                                                   GURU RAM DAS

Shabd is an unspoken language emanating of Itself from God, and like Him, the Master imparts the Power of God in an unspoken language.  In this context Maulana Rumi says:

The Master, like God, acts without any outer aids,

And imparts knowledge to disciples in an unspoken language.

The Master, at the time of initation, explains the wondrous and formless Word, and then, with the lever of His own life-impulse, raises the spirit up and contacts the initiate with the Naam.

(3)         By complete self-surrender at the feet of the Master in all humility after casting away the pride of birth and caste, riches and possessions, knowledge and wisdom.

At once rid thyself of the pride of knowledge and penances,

Take a single draught of the intoxicating wine.

                                                                                                     HAFIZ

So long as the soil is not ready and the seeds are not sownin season, they do not bear any fruit.  Similarly, until the thorns and thistles of life are weeded out of the mind, it cannot be stilled.  However, it grows gradually domesticated by the practice of the Shabd, and in course of time gets rarefied or etherealized and comes to acquire single mindedness with the result that the Light of Heaven comes to be reflected therein.

So long the mind is swayed by passions,

It is full of all kinds of pride and prejudices,

It can neither relish Shabd nor love Naam.  *92

                                                                                   GURU AMAR DAS

So inner cleanliness is far more important than outer cleanliness, for without it one can hardly make any progress on the Path.