Dhun
Atmak Bani This
is the Eternal Sound Current reverberating endlessly in every living
thing. It is an Unwritten Law and an Unspoken
Language. It is above the ken of
elements and the six chakras. It
becomes audible, however, when a spirit rises above body-consciousness. In Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred scriptures
of the Sikhs, the Sound Principle is generally referred to as Naam down to
Trikuti; and below Daswan Dwar, where the causal region extends, it is called
the Trigun Bani, or Sound within the regions of the three gunas. It is also described as Brahm Janjalla, the
network of Brahm, the God of creation.
This Trigun Bani or Brahm Janjalla is still within the domain of Kal or
Dissolution and hence must disintegrate.
Kabir Sahib says: Japa (oral), Ajapa
(soundless) and Anhad (the limitless Sound), all have an end, The Surat when absorbed in
Shabd alone escapes. Guru Amar Das says, The Bani that is within the
three gunas is a great network of the Creator (Brahma); It keeps on talking,
reasoning and thinking within the realm of Kal. *4 The Sound Current beyond the
reach of Kal is known as Sar Shabd, described as Sachi Bani or True Word, and
It alone is the real Life Current of Life Chord capable of linking the spirit
or soul with the Oversoul. The Word of the Master is an
elixir True, O Nanak! through the Word,
one can cross over. *5 The True Word bursts asunder
the three-fold egg, O Nanak! It is the Saviour
that saves all. *6 GURU
NANAK He Himself draws in and
absorbs, making the spirit neat and clean, He is Truth, True is His
Sound that effects the Union True. *7 Wonderful indeed is the Bani
that unites one with Truth, Nanak saturated in that
wondrous wonder, has neet the Lord; One gets to it only through
great good fortune. *8 He alone meets God whom God
or ordains, And in him the True Bani
manifests as Shabd, O Nanak! thenone eve sings
of the virtues of the True One, And so singing gets truly
absorbed in them. *9 The fearless Donor comes to
reside in the mind, And the True Bani descends
in the heart of a rare fortunate soul.
*10 The fortunate with a
virtuous past alone meets a Master-soul, And the Word of the Master
makes the True Bani manifest. *11 The elixir of Guru's Bani is
delectably sweet, A rare disciple of the
Master may taste of It. *12 GURU
AMAR DAS Rare souls alone get
absorbed in the Bani through the grace of a Master, The Bani of the Lord takes
one to the Eternal Home of the Father.
*14 GURU
NANAK True is the Shabd and True
the Bani, A devotee of the Master
reaches It, and sings of It in every age.
*15 GURU
AMAR DAS This does not mean that
whatever the Saints utter by word of mouth has no value and is
ineffectual. On the contrary, it means
that of all the Varan Atmak words and sounds, these occupy the highest place,
for the flow of their words comes from out of the inexhaustible fund or
reservoir at the back of all Fuqra-I-Kamil or Master-souls, and they speak of
nothing but what they actually see and experience in the depth of their soul. Their words are worth tons of gold and
emeralds for the seekers after Truth.
They do not speak at the intellectual level, but their words well out of
themselves and are charged with inner inspiration, and carry in them the weight
of conviction. Whatever comes to me from
the Father, That do I utter, O
Lalo. *16 GURU
ARJAN The spirit of the Lord speak
by me, and His Word was in my tongue.
*18 KING
DAVID Holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. *19 ST.
PETER Lowly Nanak speaks out only
when he is bidden to do so. *20 GURU
ARJAN The writings of the saints
are wonderful and valuable records of their spiritual experiences and serve the
pilgrims as guide-posts on the Path of spirituality. Except the words of the
Master, nothing is up to the mark, All the writings and sayings
are verily imperfect, Imperfect is the speaker and
imperfect will remain the listener as the words come out of the imperfect. *21 GURU
AMAR DAS O ye the disciples of the
Master, sing the Naam eternally, for God Himself makes It manifest through a
Godman, Believe ye the words (Bani)
of the Master as really true, It is only God who speaks
through the human pole. *22 Blessed is the devotee of
the Lord and blessed are the words (Bani) he utters for the good of mankind, He who attends to His
discourse in all sincerity, God Himself helps him through. *23 GURU
RAM DAS The words (Bani) of the Sadh
are ambrosial, Whoever puts them into
practice, reaches the goal and always speaks of the Word. *24 GURU
ARJAN The words (Bani) of the
devotee are divine, He presents the Eternal
Truth in varied forms, Blessed is such a life, for
not only does he attain salvation but many another through him. *25 GURU
RAM DAS The writings and discourses
of the Saints point out to us the True Bani, which is the very life of the
creation and grants Nirvana or salvation.
It is the actual Truth, the Formless and Absolute, Sehaj Katha (the
Perennial Language), Akath Katha (the Unspoken Language). It is the Voice of God, self-flowing Nectar,
call it Naam or Shabd, Word, Amrit or Logos, Kalma or Bang-I-Illahi, or
Sruti. It is the source and spirit of
the creation; It is the very life and light, self-luminous, shadowless and
eternally radiant. The Word of the Master is a
sweet Harmony (Bani) And sings of Hari Naam day
and night, The True Lord abides in the
core of the heart, A heart like this pure
indeed. *26 Bani or Shabd is verily the
Great Truth, O! Love them with all your heart; With the Word or Naam
dwelling inside, one is rid of anger and egotism. *27 Shabd or Bani (Divine Music)
is the Water of Life (Amrit), And comes to reside in one's
soul when one follows the instruction of the Master. *28 Engage ye in the True Bani,
the True Melody and the True Sound, To live always in Truth is
fortunate indeed and blessed is the one who does so. *29 GURU
AMAR DAS The Jnana, the meditation
and the Dhun Bani (Inner Music) are all one and describe the Indescribable, The Word (Shabd) speaks of
the True One but the Word can be experienced through the Master. *30 GURU
NANAK Take mercy one me and accept
me as Thy bondsman, And snap all my bonds and
take me out of the net, Let me live always in the
sweet remembrance of Thy Word (Naam) or Thy Sound Principle (Bani), Nanak Thy salve would gladly
offer himself as a sacrfice unto Thee.
*31 The untold tale of the Voice
of God (Prabh Bani) is the true Water of Life (Amrit); Nanak says: a truly wise man
lives in communion with Him (Bani). *32 How great His glory and
life-giving His Bani (Sound Principle), Let His Word (Naam) alone
abide in my heart. *33 Listen ye the blessed one,
to the sweet Music of the Amrit Bani (life-giving Sound Principle), He who is so destined, in
his heart alone It becomes manifest.
*34 GURU
ARJAN In the Vedas we have a
wonderful account of It. Vak Devi (the
Divine Voice or Word) says: All Devas (gods) have their
abode in me, and I look after each one of them. I am the efficient and the material cause of the very creation
and I am sustaining the same. I am
Knowledge and Englishtenment. *35 RIG
VEDA Again, I am the Creator of all
regions and the demons and I am all-pervading like the Pranas or vital airs in
all forms and bodies. I occupy all space
and girdle the Universe in the form of ether.
In fullness I exist here, there and everywhere, beyond the earth and sky
with hosts of solar systems; and by the power of my inherent nature, they have
assumed all forms and all colors. *36 ATHARVA
VEDA This Vak Devi or Bani is
characterized by Dhun or Harmony, for It is Sound Principle, the primal
manifestation of the Formelss God (Kustastha). The unstruck self-existing
Sound (Anhat Bani) pours forth symphonies from the wondrous throne of God, The Melody of that Sound
bewitches me, O Lord. *37 Naam, Dhun or Bani is the
manifestation of God, So say the Smritis, the
Shastras and the Vedas. *38 GURU
ARJAN What is the signpost of the
Abode of God? There springs forth the
perennial Harmony. *39 BENI
JI It is an Eternal Sound
Principle not bound by time and space. Everything rests n andis
sustained by Sound; In the four divisions of
time, This Sound Principle was
ever heard; Emanating form Truth, It
speaks of Truth. *40 Sterling true is the Word
(Sound Principle), Godman have manifested it in
every age. *41 GURU
AMAR DAS The True Sound (Bani) has
been adored in all the four ages. Everything is from that
Truth and there is othing besides Him.
*42 The True Sound (Bani) has in
all the four ages been described as the Water of Life, With great good fortune, one
preordained is taken to and rests in the Word (Naam). *43 I sing of the Lord, should
the Lord be so pleased, With the fragrant Word
(Naam) and the Sound (Shabd) beating the core of my heart; Gurbani (the Word of the
Master) is heard reverberating on all sides, Springin right from Truth,
It ends in Truth. *44 Gubani is Naad, Vedas and
still more, and The mind when saturated in
It gets fully absorbed, Like Sarang in Water. *45 The wondrous Bani is from
the Formless One, And nothing outshines the
glorious Bani. Its extent and its depth
surpass all imagination, For it is Truth Himself and
naught else. *46 GURU
AMAR DAS Now the question is, where
is this Sound Principle which has been reverberating throughout the four Yugas
(divisions of time), and how can It be found out? Guru Nanak tellsus, The True Bani (Sound) is
reverberating in the body, Should the True One so
ordain, one can know himself, It is with the knowledge of
the Self that the True One becomes known, and Truth manifests itself. *47 GURU
AMAR DAS The sweet Nectar of Thy
Voice (Bani) Abides in the heart of Thy
devotees. *48 GURU
NANAK The tuneful trumpet of Thy
doorway, Sounds in the middle of my
forehead. *49 KABIR It is all-pervading both
within and without for there is no place where It not in Its fullness. Thy Voice is both within and
without, Thou speakest and makest It
manifest. *50 The Word of the Master
(Gur-ki-Bani) resides in every heart, He Himself manifests It and
he does hear It. Whoever communes with It is
freed from bondage, And goes to an Everlasting
and Eternal region. *51 GURU
ARJAN The Voice of God springs
forth from the Light of God. True
devotion, therefoe, lies in the worship of the Sound Current, for It links man
with God. Paltu Sahib says, In the inverted well of the
head there burns a lamp, The lamp burns, but without
any wick or oil. Through six seasons and
twelve months it burns night and day, But none may himself see the
Light, except with the Master's grace. A Voice springs forth from
within the lamp's flame, In the stillness of the
soul, one may hear the Voice, O Paltu! Blessed is the one
that hears this Voice, For in the inverted well of
the head, there burns a lamp. PALTU
SAHIB The disenchanted mind is
freed from illusions, Whenit gets disciplined
through comunin with Shabd; From Heaven's Light within,
there spring forth Harmony, Which keeps one one absorbed
in the True One. *52 GURU
NANAK The famous Decalogue or Ten
Commandments that constitute the core of Mosaic Law was delivered to Moses in
the midst of thunder and flame. The
very creation lives by the Power of Naam or the Light and Sound of God. Oh! The one life within us
and abroad, Which meets all motions and
becomes its soul, A light in sound, a
sound-like power in light, Rhythm is all thought, and
joyance everywhere. S. T.
COLERIDGE Saint tell us that the Sound
Current is reverberating within Sukhman, the central channel between Ida and
Pingla, the two side nerves in the middle of the forehead. The True Voice of the Master
adept, Is heard in the Sukhman with
mind at rest. *53 GURU
AMAR DAS It resides in each one of
us, but only a Saint or a Master-soul can make It manifest to us: Wonderful is the Voice of
the perfect Master, Manifested by the Master, It
merges one in Truth. *54 By Practice of the True Word
(Sachi Bani), one is rid of all pains, sorrows and afflictions, The devotees are ever in bliss
through the favor of the perfect Master.
*55 GURU
AMAR DAS Through theinstructions of
the Master, the Bani is made manifest within, The True Word (Sachi Bani)
sings the glory of God. *56 GURU
NANAK Ambrosial is the Bani of the
perfect Master, In His mercy, He may make It
manifest within, No more doth noe remain in
the gyres, But gets eternal peace and
rest. *57 GURU
ARJAN When one gets It, he knows
of It, Without true Jnana, one
knows naught, Master's gift ever abides in
the heart, Bani then remains eternally
manifested. *58 The Voice of God (Bani)
arises from and leads back unto Him, His untold tale can be
listened to in the Word made manifest by the Master. *59 One can knowof the Voice of
God through the grace of a perfect Master.
It comes as a pure gift from the Master, and we cannot have It have by
any other means. Truly speaking, Guru
is Word Personified, and each revels in abundance in the other. Guru Arjan addressed his Guru,
"Glorious are Thou with Thy melodious Harmony." The Word is the Maste and
the Master the Word (Bani) personified. In the Word lies the Pool of
Nectar (Abritsar); The devotee of the Master
practices the Word, And the living Master
rescues Him. *60 GURU
RAM DAS The above is clearly borne
out by Bhai Gurdas when he says, The Vedas and the scriptures
are but handy aids to the Master, The Way to true salvation
lies in His hands; and Unless the Guru appears, one cannot see God. *61 BHAI
GURDAS In
Guru Granth Sahib, It is spoken of as Gupti Bani or the Hidden Voice, the Anhad
Bani or the Limitless Voice, the Aghur Bani or the unspoken (unmanifest) Word. The
Hidden Voice becomes manifest. O
Nanak! only the True One knows of It.
*62 GURU
NANAK Limitless
is the treasure of Sound, Godman
holds the key to the Sound. *68 GURU
ARJAN With
a true love for the Lord, The
unmanifest Word becomes manifest. *64 GURU
NANAK |