BOOK
FOUR Kirtan
Celestial
Music or Divine Harmony ORDINARILY, when the hymns
of the saints are sung with accompaniment by musical instruments, it is called
"Kirtan." This music--vocal
or instrumental--has a great appeal to the mind because of its power of
attraction. It does for a while produce
stillness in the mind and the subtle faculties. Instrumental or vocal music
plays an important part in almost all religious congregations of Yogins,
Hindus, Sufis, Christians and Sikhs. Each one of us is attracted
by one or the other of two things: beautiful forms or patterns, or sweet music;
and the latter is far more magnetic than the former. It has a gripping influence on all living creatures. Take for instance the fleet-footed stag, the
antlered monarch; no steed can compete with him inspeed. But he is entrapped and captured huntsmen by
the power of music. Similarly, the
poisonous snake, for the time being, forgets his nature under the influence of
the snake charmer's vina, and of music on human beings is also tremendous, but
one feels enraptured only as long as the music lasts; one does not get beyond
the emotional influence and remains in the elemental sphere. From the study of the sacred
lore and the teachings of the Masters, we learn that the Inner Music of the
Soul or the Sound Current or Harmony is ceaselessly going on in each individual
and can, if contacted and listened to attentively, lead to ultimate
salvation. This Dhun is described in
the Granth Sahib as Akhand Kirtan or Unending Harmony. In this age know ye that
Shabd is the Kirtan; Devotion to Shabd dispels
all egotism. *1 GURU
AMAR DAS The blessed Naam is the
veritable Kirtan of the Lord in the Kali Yuga (the Iron Age) and is the essence
of all devotion, Once can engage in Kirtan of
Hari Naam through the teachings of the Master.
*2 GURU
RAM DAS The Kirtan or Naam or Shabd
is the only means to spiritual advancement.
The reverberation of this Kirtan is all-pervading and all-embracing, but
It becomes manifest only when one, by a process of practical self-analysis and
inversion, rises above body-consciousness.
It is characterized by a "Dhun" (Musical Sound), the
experience whereof one gets in the Sukhman or Shahrag, the central chord in the
forehead. The Music of Sehaj playing at
Thy door doth become manifest in my forehead.
*8 KABIR In this Iron Age, the last
in the series of cyclic ages, there is no other spiritual practice as fruitful
and effective as Kirtan or Naam or Hari Kirtan, and this is the be-all and
end-all of all types of religious and meritorious deeds. In the Fourth Age, O Man!
Naam is a priceless treasure; Repetition, strict
disciplines and pilgrimages suited the earlier ages, In this age Kirtan of Hari
Naam is the sovereign remedy. *4 GURU
AMAR DAS This is the season of Hari
Kirtan And Hari Naam is the highest
devotion, O saw thy farm with the
seeds of Hari Naam, The sowing of all other
seeds will be of no avail, A sheer waste of time and of
labor. *5 GURU
RAM DAS One can get a living contact
or touch with this Kirtan through the grace of some Master-soul. The crest-jewel of Ram Naam
Kirtan (the Divine Melody) is with the Master, And he who follows the
Master's teachings, the Master makes that manifest to him. *6 GURU
RAM DAS In the scriptures, it is
stated that those alone can practice and commune with Hari Kirtan who come in
close contact with some Master-soul. Is
is by devotion to the Master that one can contact the Grand Harmony. He who is devoted to a
Satguru, Is ever engaged in Hari
Kirtan. *7 GURU
AMAR DAS From the day a person comes
in close touch with a Sadhu, he takes a turn for the better, Ever in bliss, he engages in
Kirtan and comes close to the Creator and Designer of destinies. *8 GURU
ARJAN In this age Hari Kirtan is
the highest discipline, for one meets Hari through the Satguru; I shall offer myself as a
sacrifice to my Master, for it is He who has manifested in me the hidden
Word. *9 GURU
RAM DAS He gets the Food of Unending
Kirtan, Whoever, O Nanak! meets a
competent Master. *10 Blessed is he who serves the
saints, Through saints one engages
in Hari Kirtan. *11 Through a saint one gets
into touch with the Naam, Through a saint one sings
the Hari Kirtan. *12 Through a Sadh one sings the
Hari Kirtan, Nanak saith--blessed soul
gets It. *13 Through a Sadh, I have got
the merit of Kirtan, The Path of death has faded
away from my ken. *14 GURU
ARJAN I have got love for the
lotus feet of the Lord, Through a saint, the mind
has become purified, And I am ever engaged in the
Kirtan (Song) of Hari. *15 KABIR The mind is dyed in the
elixir of Naam and is fully satiated, And through the grace of a
saint, sings the Soung Divine (Kirtan), And the Imperishable dweels
therein. *16 Through a Sadh, one delights
in the holy Music, in this age, O Nanak! hereafter, he does
not return to this world. *17 GURU
ARJAN They who follow the Satguru
ever listen to the holy Harmony, The elixir of the Word
abides in them and they get absorbed in the True Sound. *18 GURU
AMAR DAS The holy Music comes from a
Sadhu and communion with It is the highest virtue, Nanak saith: he who is
preordained alone gets this gift. *19 GURU
ARJAN The Hari Kirtan is a pure
gift from the Master and one cannot merit It until one transcends the
body. Just as a lodestone attracts a
piece of iron, similarly the Dhun or the Word emanating from Godhead attracts
the soul and pulls her up to the feet of her Lord. the human mind is always hankering after pleasures of one sort or
another, but no worldly pleasure can secure for it any degree of
salvation. The only remedy for stilling
and subduing the mind is Hari Kirtan or Naam, hearing which this hydraheaded serpent
gets intoxicated as it were by some magic potion, andlies still as if in a
death-trance, unmindful of the sensory organs through which is usually
works. Whoever has subjugated his mind
has had to do so by means of Hari Kirtan or Naam. With It soul is roused from age-long slumber and rises into
cosmic and super-cosmic awareness. This
is anew birth, the birth of spirit, called regeneration or resurrection. Henceforth the spirit escapes from the
network of Karmic impressions, which get singed and are rendered
infructuous. It restores the Kingdom of
God to the spirit and grants her everlasting peace and salvation. A
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. *20 EZEKIEL The
manifestationof the Sound Current then depends upon the sweet Will and Pleasure
of a Master-saint, and one cannot contact it until one transcends the sensory
plane of the physical body. This is the
only Way to salvation from the bondage of mind and matter; there is no other
Way. All
ecstatic gesticulations and chanting of songs are of no avail to one blind and
deaf, Full
of greed and scepticism within, he cannot have Heaven's Light to guide him on
the Path. *21 GURU
AMAR DAS While
engaged in sinful pursuits one sings Ragas (songs) And
bears testimony to the truth of what they say, Little
knowing that without the Word all is a farce.
*22 GURU
NANAK |