The Ocean of Love, Part 1 - Kabir

8/14/2019 The Ocean of Love, Part 1 - Kabir

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The Ocean of Love

The nurag Searof abir


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TH E OCE N OF LOVE


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T H E O C E N OF LOVE


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The Ocean of ove

he nurlig Sagar o Kabir

Translated and Editedunder the direction of

Sant Ajaib Singh Ji

Sant Bani AshramSanbornton New Hampshire


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Transla ted f rom the Bra j by Raj Kumar Bagga wi th theassistance of P ar ta p Singh an d Kent Bicknel l

Edited with Introduct ion and Notesb y Russell PerkinsIllustrated by Michael Raysson

First printing 1982Second pr int ing index add ed 1984Th ird pr in t ing 1995

ISBN: 0-89142-039-8Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 82-050369


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Kal d id the devot ion o n one foot see page23)


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Kabir and haram as

y Sant Ajaib Singh JiR SINCE the Almighty Lord started coming into this world

in the fo rm of the Saints, it has always happe ned th at du ringa Saint 's l ifetime only a few people care t o know ab ou t his life:where the S aint was bor n, ho w he used to live, wha t qualities hehad, an d why he came into this world . They do n ' t care abou t allthese things while the Sain t is alive; bu t w hen the Sa ints leave thisworld , their incredible power an d their teachings which chang ethe lives of many people impress the people of the world, andonly then-when the Saint is gone-do th e people of the worldstar t th inking ab ou t them a nd devoting themselves to them . S otha t is why, according to the unders tanding of the people, storiesare told about the Saints. I t is very difficult to f ind out muchab ou t the M ah atm as of the past-their birth, their place of birth,

their paren ts, their early life, etc. W hateve r people have writtenab ou t the G reat Masters has been writ ten ma ny years af ter theirdepa rture f r om this world . T ha t is why Kabir 's l ife sketch hasdifferent versions. According to mostof the tradit ions, KabirSah ib was b o rn in 1398 in Benares a nd he died in 15 18, living f or120 years.

The re ar e ma ny different s tor ies of Kabir an d of his effect o nothers , som e of which ar e told in the Introduction t o this book .Dh ara m Da s was Kabir 's urumukh disciple a nd successor, w howas a very wealthy person and an idol-worshiper. It is said thatonce when he was doing his worship, K abir appeared to him a ndaske d, W hat ar e these litt le idols? If this big idol is G o d, whatare these small ones? an d then disappeared, leaving Dh ar amDas t o th ink abo ut what had happened . At th at t ime, of course ,

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V l l l THE OCE N O LOVE

he didn ' t know th at i t was Kabir Sahib w ho had appeared to him.Second time Kabir appeared to Dh aram Das was in the form o f

a sad hu . D ha ram Das a nd his wife were sit ting by the fire, an dKabir Sah ib said to Dharam Das, "You are a s inner." D ha ramDas's wife could n ot bear this criticism s o she said, "H ow canyou say tha t he is a sinner? You are a sinner " Th en Kabir Sa hibreplied, "Dh aram Da s, look in the wood that you are burning-an d you will see what you a re really doing." W hen they look ed,they saw many insects in the wo od, and Kabir said, "You are

burning so many insects alive What is this? Are you notsinning?" After saying this he again disappea red, and D har amD as realized the tru th of it: "I a m a great sinner."

Because he was a good soul devoted to G od and he wanted theknowledge of God, he remembered that he had met someonebefore who had asked him a bo ut idols, and he realized b oth of themwere the same person. Now Dh aram Das repented very mu ch, a ndhe thought that if his wife had not got upset at Kabir Sahib, hemight have been able to get the knowledge of G od . Wh en he toldthat to his wife, she said, "W ell, flies come to the sugar. You haveso much m oney; if you perform some kind ofyajna and announcetha t you are going to d on ate things to the sa dhu s, many s adhus willcom e. It is possible that this sadhu will also come, a nd you can talkto him and get some knowledge of Go d from him." S o D hara mDas performed many yajnas in the town of Benares, but KabirSahib never came there. Then Dh aram Das went to other places an dthere also he performed manyyajnas but Kabir Sahib never came.In tha t way he just went on spending his money, and even after heperformed his lastyajna afte r selling every single thing, Kabir Sahibstill didn't come.

So when D haram Das had lost all his money a nd still didn 't get tosee the Sa dh u, he thoug ht, "Why should go back hom e whenIhave lost everything? It is better to com mit suicide." S o he went to

the bank of the river an d was ab ou t to jump in when Kabir ap -peared there. And then Dharam Das touched Kabir Sahib's feetan d said, 0 Lo rd, I f I had met You before, would have givenYou all the w ealth which 1 ha d, instead of w asting it perform ingthe yujnus. Kabir Sahib replied, "This was the right time foryou to come to me. I f you had come to me earlier, when youhad all that wealth, i t is possible that you would not becomewhat you will become now."


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K A BI R A N D D H A R A M DAS ix

So Kabir Sahib gave him initiation and, after Kabir Sahib left

the body, Dharam Das continued the work of giving initiation intoShabd Naam. A nd the book nurag Sagar is in the form of ques-tions fro m Dharam Das an d Kabir Sahib s replies to those ques-tions.


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Table of Contents

Introduction

I. Th e Life of K abir11. nurag Sagar x

I Prologue 1 3

Invocation 3

Manglacharan: Hym n of God s Grace 3

The Signs of a Lover 4W ho is Mritak? 8

11 The Story of Creation 1 8

1. IN THE BEGINNINGQuestion About the Creation 18

What Was in the Beginning 19

2. T H E FAL L O F KAL

The Devotion of Niranjan and His Acquisitionof Mansarovar and the Void 2 3

How Niranjan Got What He Needed to CreateHis Universe 5

In Mansarovar: The Swallowing of A dhya by N iranjanAfter Being Attracted to H er: The Curse of Sat Purush 3 2

3 TH E CREATION O F TH E LOWER WORLDS 36

The Churning of the Ocean: The Creationof Fourteen Jewels 40

Adhya O rders Her Three Sons to Create The Universe


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Th e Four Kinds o f Created Beings 4 4

Special Account of the W orld s Creation 624 TH E FOUR KINDS O F LIFE 62

H ow the Eighty-four Lakhs Are Distributed 63ecognition of the Souls from F ou r Kinds of C reation 66

5 KAL TR A PS TH E JIVA SKal Creates a S nare 74

111 The Coming of Kabir / 85BEFORE TH E INCARNATIONS 85

By the Orders of Sat Puru sh Kabir Sahib Com es towaken the Souls; o n the W ay H e Meets Niranjan 85

2 IN T H E SAT Y U G A: Th e ncarnation as Sat Suk rit 95

Th e Story of King D hondal 96

he Sto ry of Khemsari 96

3 IN T H E TR ETA Y U GA : Th e ncarnation as Ma ninder 101

he Story of Vichitra B hat in Lanka 102

he Story of M andod ari 103

he Story of M adhu kar 107

4 IN THE DWAPAR YUGA: The ncarnation as Karunarnai 109

he Com ing of Karunam ai in the Third Age 109

he Story of Queen In dra M ati 112

Indra M ati s A mazement. After Reaching Sat L ok. to Findarunamai and Sat Purush as the Same Fo rm 124

Indra M ati s Request to Bring Her H usban d.ing Cha nd ra Vijay. to Sat Lok 126he Story o f Supach Sudarshan 129

I N THE K LI YUGA: Th e ncarnation as Kabir 33

he Story of the Establishment of J agan nath Tem ple 137

he Story of Establishing Four Gu rus 140


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he Story of Dharam Das s Previous Births 141

he Description of Performing Arti 150escription of the Twelve Paths 159

Dharam Das Sahib Has the Darshan ofhe NOTM Essence 165he Manifestation of Ch udam ani 167

The Establishment of the Kingdomf Forty-two Incarnations 168

IV The Story of the Future 172he Beginning of the Story of the Future 172

iranjan s Orders to His Four M essengers 173Description of Fo ur Messengers 176The Ways of Remaining Safe from These Messengers 184

Speech Abo ut the Future-Different Subjects 184Th e Praise of the Incarnation of Nad 188

Th e Importance of the Guru 189

The Ways of Living of the Guru an d the Disciple 197

V Epilogue 2 1

The Knowledge of the Lotus Body 202Sins and Virtues of the M ind 206Th e Character of Niranjan 207The Signs of the P a th W hich Gives Liberation 208Th e Ways of the Path 09Th e Qualities of the Detached Renunciates 209Th e Qualities of the Householders

211Th e Importance of Arti 212The Consequences of Carelessness 213Precaution 214Description of Parmarth 16

ndex 220


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List of llustrations

al Did the Devotion on One Foot vabir and Dharam Das v

at Purush Creating Kurma 2

ogjit Expels Kal from Mansarovar 38

al Falls Through the Void 39

dhya s Sons Churn the Ocean 42

Kal Torments the Souls; Kabir Approaches 76KaI Meets Kabir Coming to Rescue the Souls 84

avana Attacks Kabir 1 4

ndra Mati Meets Sat Purush 122

Dharam Das Pulls Narayan to Meet Kabir 154

KaI and the Four Doots 80

The Disciple as Moonbird


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IntroductionI . The Life of Kabir

As S ant Aj aib Singh points o ut in his Forew ord , the life of K abir is lostin the mists of legend and it is very difficult, from this point so farremoved in t ime from K abir s l ife, to know man y hard facts abou t i t .Still , there ar e certain elements of that life ab ou t which the traditionsseem to agree an d abo ut those we can be reasonably sure .

T I M E A N D P L A C E

As Sant Ji said, it has been generally agreed for centuries that Kabirlived from 1398 to 1518. There are variations on those dates: o ne alter-native that is propose d is 1380 to 1440, an d an oth er f ro m 1440 to 15 18.Neither alternative is based o n tradition, however; they ar e speculativereconstructions by modern scholars who apparently have difficultywith the abno rma lly long life sp an . But while the spa n is long, even fo rspiritual Masters, it is not unprecedented:a minority of Indian holymen have always been long-lived. The celebrated Trailanga Swami,

wh o ap pare ntly lived for three hu ndred years in Benares in relativelym od ern times in the full glare of the BritishRaj , is a case in point; on eof his disciples, a woman, Shankari Mai Jiew, born in 1826, was stillalive in 1946-precisely Ka bir s life sp an .

I t was my ow n good fortune to meet the Maharishi Raghuvacharya,a well-known yogi of Rishikesh w ho be cam e, in his nineties, a discipleof Sant Kirpal Singh Ji. I met Raghu vacharya on t wo occasions-in1965 an d 1969-when he was well over 100 years old. H e died in 1970 ,aged 115, in full control of his powers; whenI had met him th e year

I S e e P a ra mh a n s a Yo g a n a n d a , Autobiography of a Yogi pp. 291-295, for an in-teres t ing account of Trai langa Swami; but h is remar kab le age is a t tes ted to by manywitnesses . As this book was going to press, the B oston Glo be (Fe brua ry9 1982) carrie dthe obi tuary o f Ike War d, bo rn in to s lavery in 1862, dead f rom old age (without hav ingbeen through a period of i l l health) at 120.

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xviii T H E O C E A N O F L O V E

before h e ha d given every impression of being a vigorous6 5 Yet hislong li fe and b i rth d a te was known t o hundreds of people , as he had

lived in Rishikesh all of his life.S o while i t is unusual fo r Kabir t o have l ived su cha long life, it is by

n o means impossible; and s ince t radi tion has f ixed on those dates fro mearly times, a n d nothing else ab ou t Ka bir 's l i fe is any less unusual, i tseems reasonable t o accept them.

It is also reasonably certain th at he was b orn in Benares ( then calledKashi) and l ived there most of his l ife, dying in the nearby town of~ a ~ a h a r .

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CIRCUMSTAN CESIt is as certain as anything can be abo ut K abir that he was a Muslim bybirth and belonged to thejulaha caste. Strictly speaking, Muslims arenot supposed to have any caste; but in India this idea has tended toerode under the pressure of mass conversions of lower-caste Hindus,wh o, in attem pting t o escape the difficulties of inferior caste, only suc-ceeded in bringing them w ith them into Islam. T his would a pp ea r to bethe case with the julahas, apparently a Sudra caste that converted en

masse between the twelfth an d fo urteenth centuries. The wordjulahameans weaver in Persian, an d the mem bers of the caste ar e usuallyeither weavers o r farm ers. Their social status was and is very low, a ndtheir conversion did not raise it , either in the eyes of Hindus or ofMuslims.

From the very beginning, Kabir has been identified as ajulaha. In-dee d, he identifies himself th at way. Although his songs an d poetry ar enot rich in autobiographical information Anurag Sagar is particularlydisappointing in this respect) what infor m ation they d o con tain isespecially valuable; a n d the fact is tha t Kab ir happily , perhap s gleefully,lets the world kn ow tha t he is ajulaha:

am of low community, my caste is julaha;have only one advantage and that is of Naam.

Since the julahas were by definition Muslims, and sinceKabir is anIslamic na m e (it is actually Arab ic an d is fou nd in the K oran ), his Islamicfaith would appear t o be beyond dispute. It has been disputed, thoug h,on the grounds that his teaching appears to be given entirely within aH indu fra m e of reference.Anurag Sagar is a case in point: while muchof th e poem is dedicated to exploding H ind u theology, i t is done f romwithin: the ideas are stood o n their head, as i t were, by some one whoknows them inside out a nd w ho refutes them by showing the truth that

2. See n o t e o n page 5 below [ Kashi ].3 Songs sf the Macters p 16 T h i s s o n g S f r o m t he G r a n t h S a h ib . G u j a r ~


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INTRODUCTION ~

they are supp osed t o reflect. Th ere is very little Islam inAnurag Sagar,or in Kabir's poetry in general (although many of th e songs contain briefreferences t o Islamic ideas).

The re are various explanations for this, one of th em being the obviousone that K abir w as concerned w ith the here and now : most of the peoplein the are a of his mission were Hi ndus, an d he wanted to reach them viatheir own religious languag e. A nother is tha t the conce rns of theAnuragSugar are in areas where Hindu mythology is very rich, and thecharacters and events of that mythology lent itself to Kabir's poeticgenius in ways that t he comparative ly barren Islamic tradition could no t.

An d then there is the fact that the am ou nt of Islamic educationjulahasreceived was very small: the caste as a whole was and is illiterate, anddoes not rank high on the priority list of Muslim educators. Kabir'sguru, as we will see, was a Hindu, and Kabir is generally considered aHi ndu saint by m odern Hindus: in fact, he has become a Hind u god, andidols of him are found in Hindu temples-ironic fate for a Saint w ho de-nounced idolatry as strongly as any Hebrew prophet. His Hindu ad-mirers d o not deny his Muslim origins, bu t they either ignore or explain

them away. Nevertheless, that a S aint who was not only a Muslim b ut a nilliterate, low-caste Muslim sh ould s o win the hearts of Hindu s an d riseto such a position o f eminence am on g them is totally w ithout parallel inall history and testifies eloquently t o the incredible power Sant Jimentions in his Foreword.

His parents, wh o figure in theAnurag Sagar, were Nim a (his mo ther)an d Niru (his father). They were no t, according to Kab ir himself, his ac-tual physical parent s, as his birth was miraculous; but he chose them , forreasons explained in the poem, was brought up by them as their son, ac-cepted the limitations of their low caste, an d learned the weaver's tradefr om his f ath er. Ther e is evidence in his writings that his mo the r ha d avery difficult time dealing with his Sai nth ood a n d all that it implied, an dalso with his use of Hindu concepts in his teaching:

Kabir's mother weeps bitterly, worrying:H ow is this child going to live, God? .

Kabir says, Listen, mother,Go d is the only giver for all of us.

[Kabir's moth er asks:]W h o in our family has ever invoked Ram?

When he grew up, he married Loi, who was also his disciple, had twochildren-a son Kam al an d a dau ghter Kamali-and earned his living as

4 Ibid.5 Granth Sahib, Bilaval4


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Xx T H O C E N O LOVE

a weaver. Loi and Kamali are not mentioned in Anurag Sagar butKamal is, in a context that makes it clear that he was Kabir's physicalson. Thus it is very unlikely that he was not married, as some of his Hin-du followers (who find the concept of a married holy man difficult to ac-cept) maintain. In the Sant Mat tradition it is not unusual for a Master tobe married, and as Kabir was the founder of that tradition there is noreason why he should not have been. Those who object to this maintainthat Loi and the children were all disciples only; but as the traditionsclearly depict all three in an intimate relationship with Kabir on a dailydomestic basis, it is extremely unlikely that they were not his physical

family.

K B IR N D R M N N D

The Anurag Sagar maintains, and Sant Ma t tradition affirms, that Kabiris the proto-Master or original Saint, who has descended directly fromGod four different times, once in each yuga or time-cycle, founding aline of Masters each time, and that his incarnation in the present time-cycle or Kali Yuga-that is, the life of the historical Kabir-is thus onlya fraction of his totality. In the Anurag Sagar Kabir goes into greater orlesser detail on each of these four incarnations, as well as his pre-incarnate activity, and his account is accepted by the Masters of SantMat as a straightforward accurate approximation of actions and eventswhich are ultimately too tremendous to fit easily into our verbal and con-ceptual framework. His description of his various incarnations, likemany other parts of the poem, is as true as it can be, given the limits ofthe medium it is conveyed in, and forms a basic and important part ofthe body of ideas and stories that constitute the verbal tradition of Sant

Mat; and the Masters who have come after him have accepted Kabir asthe founder of the various lines of Masters.

Nevertheless, tradition affirms, and Kabir's writings bear it out, thatKabir took initiation from a Guru, and the Guru was Ramananda. Thismay seem contradictory; but it is a basic pillar of Sant Mat that everyoneneeds to sit at the feet of a Master. As Jesus said to John the Baptist,when the latter in amazement asked him why he had come to him, Thusit becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. 6 The situation is exactlyanalogous; and just as John's question implies that he should be comingto Jesus, rather than the other way around, so the tradition affirms thatultimately Kabir liberated Ramananda. But still Kabir outwardly sat atRamananda's feet and humbled himself before him in the eyes of theworld. Sant Kirpal Singh Ji has written:

All born Saints, though very few, come into the world with esoteric

6 M a t t h e w 3 : 15


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INTRODUCTION X X ~

knowledge right from their birth but have for fo rm 's sake to ad op ta Master. [ Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. ]

Kabir Sahib, fo r instance, had to accept Shri Ram ana nd a as hisaster.'

Sant Ajaib Singh Ji has commented on the relationship of Kabir andRamananda in detail as follows:

Kabir Sahib was all-powerful an d even if he had not taken anyoneas G ur u, still it would not m atter much. B ut still he didn't break thelimits and traditions and that's why he took Ramananda as hisMaster. But the fact was that R am ana nd a was liberated by K abirSahib. Ramananda was an idol worshiper and didn't have anyknowledge of spirituality. But the Hindu people were taking him asa very great holy man, and they were also criticizing Kabir Sahibbecause he didn 't have any Master or g uru, saying that to tak e init-iation o r to ta ke a man tra f rom him is a sin. Kabir Sahib was a veryclever M aha tm a, and he thoug ht that if he took any small M aha tm aas his Master, then these people would not believe. So he shouldtake somebody who is well-known among all these people as hisMaster. But since Ramananda was not happy in even seeing anyMuslim, and because Kabir was born in a Muslim family, there wasno question of taking initiation from Ramananda. It was impos-sible for him .

Ram ana nd a used to go , every morning, to the River Ganges. So,because Kabir Sahib wanted to take him as his Master, Kabirchanged his form into a small child. He lay down on the steps onwhich Ramananda was coming back. It was very dark, and acci-dentally Ramananda stepped on that child. And Kabir, who wasthat child, started weeping. Wh o knows whether R am ana nd a reallystepped on Kabir Sah ib or not? But still Kabir wanted some excuseto weep, so he started weeping. Ram ana nd a was very much afraidan d he said, 0 man of Go d, repeat 'G od .' 0 m an of G od, repeat'Go d' --like that. But Kabir Sahib went o n weeping. A nd heagain said this thing, 0 m an of Go d, repeat 'God . ' An d

Ramananda came back home and Kabir disappeared from thatplace.

A fter that Kabir Sahib started saying to people, R am an anda ismy Master. I have got initiation from Him. So the Hindu peoplewere very upset with Ramananda, and they came to him, saying,You have got thousand s of Hin du disciples but you a re still

hungry for more. Why did you make this Muslim your disciple?In those days, people were believing very much in caste. o Rama-

7 Kirpal Singh, Godman p 62


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xxii T H E O C E A N O L O V E

na nd a said, "W ho said he is my disciple? I do not know a ny Kabira n d I have not given init iation to an y Kabir." S o all the Hin du peo-ple cam e t o Kabir Sa hib an d to ld him, "You come with us to Ram a-na nd a. Y ou are saying that he is your Master bu t he doesn't believethat . You com e with us." S o Kabir went to Ra ma nan da 's hom e.And a t tha t t ime Ramananda was worsh ip ing an ido l o f LordVishnu . B ecause he was never happ y to see the faces of M uslim peo-ple, he ha d a curtain a nd K abir Sah ib was sitt ing on th e other side ofthe cur ta in . Ram ana nda was playing with the idol an d at the end heput the crown on the head of the idol , but he forgot to put the chaino n the neck. So he was very confused at what to d o then, because ifhe removed the crown from the head that meant d isrespect andthere was n o other way to p ut the chain on th e neck. S o KabirSah ib, who was all-conscious, said, "Master, G ur u Ji , why are youso confused? Just u nho ok the chain an d then again hook it an dthen you will be able t o put the chain aroun d the neck." W he n hesaw Kabir Sah ib was sitt ing there on the o ther side of th e curtainan d couldn ' t even see him, he thought , "Ho w did he know I had

this problem? A nd he ha s solved my problem " He was very sur-prised. S o he ta lked with him an d said , "Whe n didI initiate you?"Kabir Sa hib reminded him of the incident an d he told h im, "Youstepped on me and you to ld me to repeat th is th ing, soI a mrepeating tha t, an d you a re my Master."

So Ram ana nda said , "That was a child; but you are Kabir." H esaid, "If you want m e to become a child,I can show you. Now alsoI can ch ang e myself in to a child an dI can show you that I a m t he

sam e thing." S o when Ra ma nan da cam e to know all th is he said,"If you ar e all-conscious, the n why is there this curtain between youan d me? Remove that cur ta in ." S o af ter that Kabir S ahib l iberatedRamananda .

Even thoug h R am an an da h ad received a lot from Kabir, sti ll hewas involved in all the practices he was doi ng, rites and rituals an didol-worshiping. Once R am anan da w as performing the ceremonyin which they ma ke ma ny goo d fo ods an d they give it to the people,saying, "This is going to o ur fathers and forefathe rs, those whohave died a n d who are residing in the heavens." Fo r that ceremonyRamananda sent all his disciples including Kabir Sahib into thevillage to get some milk t o m ak e rice pudding a nd other things. S oKabir a lso went a nd there he saw that there was o ne dead cow, a ndby force he star ted put t ing som e food in the mo uth of that deadcow. Because she was dead, she couldn't eat by herself. But byusing a s t ick , he was forcing the food in her m outh . H e startedmilking her. But she was dea d; how could she give milk? S o the


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I N T R O D U C T I O N xxiii

other disciples, when they saw Kabir doing this thing, they came to

Ramanan da and reported it. Ram anan da called Kabir and rebukedhim and said, "Oh m an , the dead cow cannot eat food and she can-not give milk." So Kabir Sahib said, "Guru Ji, are you sure tha t thedead cow canno t eat anything or give any fru it?'' So he said, "Yes,tha t is definitely true." So he said, "Well, how are you sure tha t thefood that you are giving to other people, saying, 'This is going to goto your fathers, those who are residing in the heavens?' will reallygive you fruit?" Ram anan da didn't have any reply to that. AndKabir Sahib only did this to teach him a lesson because Kabir Sahibhad made up his mind to liberate ~ a m a n a n d a . ~

KABIR AN D HIS CONTEMPO RARIES

Kabir's impact o n his contemporaries was profo und . M any stories ar etold which illustrate his power, insight, an d various aspects of his extra-ord inary personality-including his honesty, unforced humility, totaldependence on God, compassion and bluntness. Baba Sawan Singh,after being praised by many for having performed a miracle, told this

story which emphasizes the human-ness of this most transcendent ofSaints without diminishing his glory:

The people attribute this incident to my miraculous powers. It is justas it once happened with Kabir Sahib. The pundits, the pseudo-Saints and the well-read people were jealous of Kabir Sahib.Accordingly they proclaimed throughout the town that on a certainday there would be a handara (a religious gathering and feast) atKabir Sahib's place. Kabir Sahib came to know about this trick theevening before. How could He feed thousands of men? [He was ofcourse very poor.] He left the place in the evening and hid Himselfin the jungle, remaining there until the next day. From His place ofhiding He could see the people returning from His home the nextday, and all of them were remarking, "Well done , Kabir W ha tdelicious food you provided for the Sadhus "

Kabir Sahib did not know what this meant.. He returned homeand His family told Him , "Well, you were here all the time an d you

yourself fed all the people." Kabir Sahib at once understood tha t itwas all the mercy and blessing of the Supreme Father. [He isreported t o have exclaimed: "Kabir did not d o it, could not do it,would not d o it; it is God W ho has done it, an d the credit has goneto Kabir 1 The same is the case in this incident. The Saints alwaysremain within the Will of

8. Ajaib Singh, Streams in the Desert p. 381.9 . Quoted by Rai Sahib Munshi Ram, With the Three Masters Vol. 2 pp 184-85.


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xxiv T H E O C E A N O F L O V E

Sant Kirpal Singh used to tell a marvelous story which demonstratesKabir's power as well as his humor and wisdom:

At the time of Kabir Sahib there was a certain pundit or religiousteacher. His story is written in the scriptures, and it tells of how hestudied the holy and other books extensively and became the mostlearned man for many miles around, so he called himself Sarbajeetmeaning one who has won above all others. On completion of hisstudies, he returned to his mother's house. She was a follower ofKabir Sahib, and he said to her, "Mother, I have become Sar-

barjeet; you should call me that from now on." She replied,I

will, if you can beat Kabir Sahib in knowledge." Worldlyknowledge often encourages pride, and carelessly picking up hisbooks he said, "Oh, that is nothing," and went off to Kabir Sahib'shumble dwelling.

Kabir Sahib said to the young man, "Well, Punditji, what hasbrought you here?" The proud pundit replied, "I am Sarbajeet,and I have come to beat you in knowledge." Kabir Sahib smiled athim and saad, I do not want to argue over this, so you just writedown that Sarbajeet has won and Kabir has lost; and I will sign it."The pundit was very pleased that Kabir had given in so easily; hequickly wrote the words and got Kabir to sign it. He went home,and flourishing the paper a t his mother, he said, "Now you willhave to call me Sarbajeet, for Kabir Sahib has acknowledged it."She took the paper and read aloud, "Sarbajeet has lost and Kabirhas won." Unbelieving, he read it for himself, and said, "How isthis possible? There must be some mistake-1 will go back to Kabir

Sahib." On arriving at the Saint's house, he blurted out, "Maharaj,I made a slight mistake, so I want to rewrite the paper." KabirSahib amiably agreed, and signed the new declaration. When thepundit reached home, his mother read the paper and said, "But it isstill written, 'Sarbajeet has lost and Kabir has won."' In frustrationhe shouted, "I will go again to Kabir " and hurried off. It is a rulewith all great Masters that they never belittle a person, but with lovethey make the people understand. If one does not listen even then,

they will go to the extent of operating, like a doctor who will do hisvery best to cure a tumor, even if it means resorting to surgery. So,with great kindness, Kabir Sahib pointed out to the pundit, "Howcan your mind and mine become one? I say what I have seen, andyou say what you have read from printed matter.'"'

Sant Ajaib Singh tells a brief story which is very revealing:

10. Kirpal Singh, The Jewel o f Infinite Valu e, SatSandesh Vol. 3 , N o . 10 pp . 4 5.


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INTRODUCTION XXV

In the time of Kabir Sahib , once on the banks of the River Ganga aperson of low caste was bathing an d a pundit was passing by. And ithappened that one drop of water from the body of that low-casteman touched the body of the pundit, and he became very upsetbecause he considered himself polluted; but Kabir Sahib told himvery lovingly, "Oh Brahm in, you were also bo rn of a wom an; howcan you be called brahmin when we shudras came into the worldfrom the same place and we were born in the same manner? Howcan you say that we and you are different? You have blood an d wealso have the same blood " So Kabir Sahib lovingly explained t ohim tha t all men are the same.'

Revolutionary sentiments like this have endeared Kabir t o such modernIndian visionaries as Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, buthad the opposite effect in his own time.A caste-conscious Hind u societyand an o rthodox Muslim establishment both viewed the presum ptuousjul aha with ho rro r, and he was persecuted a num ber of times, primarilyby the Emp eror Sikander Lodi. H e was drowned in the Ganges chained

in a boat full of stones, but either was miraculously saved at the lastminute o r resurrected from the dead; he was buried alive, but survivedthat also; he was bound and thrown in front of an elephant, but theelephant refused t o touch h im. These stories ar e part of the tradition , bu tof course are no t verifiable; nevertheless, that Kabir's teaching and ac-tions brought him into conflict with authority and eventually persecu-tion is overwhelmingly probable; to survive such persecution eitherthrough divine intervention or resurrection is not without precedent; an d

in any case, Kabir's survival is well attested , as is his death in M agahar a tan advanced age.Th e earliest written reference to Kabir outside of the Sant Mat trad i-

tion is in the Bhakta M ala , a poem on the lives of various Saints, writtenby Nabh a Das about 16 (eighty years after Kabir's dea th). It is a veryinteresting and accurate brief summing-up of his career as seen fromoutside:

Kabir refused to acknowledge caste distinctions, or to recognize the

authority of the six Hindu schools of philosophy;.. . H e held thatreligion without bh akti [loving devotion for God] was no religion a tall, and that asceticism, fasting and almsgiving had no value ifunaccompanied by bha jan [meditation]. By means of ramainis,shabdas and sak his [different types of songs] he imparted religiousinstruction to Hind us and M oham medans alike. He had no prefer-ence for either religion, but gave teaching that was appreciated by

11 Ajaib Singh, Streams in the Des ert p 174.


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INTRODUCTION xxvii

T H E M E

Th e poem centers around the impact of Time on Eternity, and Eternity'sresponse. It is Eternity which is theanuragsagar or ocean of love,'' andit is Time's perversion of that part of Eternity which it touches whichproduces the bhav sagar, ocean of the worldv-the only reality mostof us know, the mock world we are trapped in. The creator of thebhavsagar, the butcher Kal Kal means, literally, Time) is mad: one of the

sons of Eternity SatPurush, Tru e or Original Person), Kal or Time wasunable t o handle the separation from his Father tha t the creation processdemanded, and went mad. Ignoring the wishes of Eternity, he misusedthe tools of creation entrusted to him and, through his impatience andmegalomania, created a sewer where a garden was intended . Convincedthat he is Go d, demanding to be worshiped as God , an d setting u p a Lawso stringent that no on e can keep it, he presides to this day over a closed-circuit universe that would be utterly without hope if it were not for the

fact that, as the poet Blake puts it, Eternity is ever in love with the pro-ducts of Time. Because Eternity does love those of us caught in the trapof Time, It has set upaseries of invasions in which the true Reality entersinto the mock universe and illumines it, awakening those who ar e readyto grasp the truth and showing them the way out. These invasions, in-itially in the person of the successive incarnations-Sat Su kra t,Maninder, Karunamai, and Kabir-of the Son of Eternity who is bo ththe hero and au tho r of the epic, and then in the person of his successors

whom he raises to the same stature as himself, are the subject of thepoem; and its core is the painstaking, infinitely patient search forDharam Das, the slave of Law, the freed soul who has blown it, theignorant disciple who becomes the Master and w ho is, in fact, all of us. Itis in the search for Dharam Das that the true nature of the ultimateuniverse-the Ocean of Love-is most fully revealed, an d the form oftha t Ocean's action-the principle of Grace-is dem onstrated mostcompletely. No matter how obtuse Dharam Das reveals himself to be, nomatter how thoroughly he has forgotten his true nature an d how soundhis sleep is, the Master never lets up: relentlessly pursuing him throughincarn ation after incarnation , He shows him-and all of us-how muchHe cares abou t him-and all of us-just because he is. We are childrenof the Father by v irtue of our existence; trapped in Time we may be, butour Father loves us and H e will find us.

This is an old old story, the original story; in one fo rm or another ithas been told many times, although seldom so explicitly or with suchauthority as here. The Western world is most familiar with it throu gh theGospels although the Gospels as we have them are incomplete; scholars


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xxviii T H E O C E A N OF L O V E

ar e daily, i t seems, discovering ancient m anuscripts a nd fragm ents thatshed new light o n how th e teachings of Jesus were understood by his con-temporaries, particularly thos e mu ch-maligned early Christians calledGnostics or Knowers who understood this s tory very well a nd wh o com -

1 4mented o n i t over an d over again. It did not begin with the Gospels nordid it end with the suppression of the Gnostics; l ike the Master H imselfas H e searches for us , i t surfaces again a nd again, confronting us whenwe least expect it. In the dialogues of Plato, the poetry of Blake, theopera s of M ozart, a n d the latest science-fiction paperback the story istold, a nd in a h und red o the r places besides.I5 It is truly the main stre amof h um an culture, East or West, although it is thoroughly repressed inmost of us.

T I M E A N D S PA C E

Anurag Sagar postulates two basic premises, which form the back-grou nd against which the sto ry takes place:

1) T h e physical universe we know is only a tiny par t of th e universe asa wh ole, which rises in a mig hty series of levels until Etern ity is reach ed.

The original creation of Sat Purush is sharply differentiated from thethree worlds created by Kal: In the regions abo ve Kal, creation pro-

ceeds as originally planned, whereas the three worlds are fallen. Thethree worlds are: the physical plane, th e universe kno wn to us throug hou r senses an d their extensions; th e astral p lane, ano ther universe sur-roun ding an d enveloping th e physical, existing o n a subtler frequency.and containing a number of heavens and hells as well as regions in be-tween; a nd the causal plane, subtler than the other two, su rrounding an d

enveloping them, which is the current home of Kal or Time and thesou rce o r cause of t he energy activating the lower planes. Reincarnationtakes place within th e framework of Kal 's L aw, th e Law of Ka rma , inon e or anoth er of these worlds; i t is also possible to experience the tw ohigher worlds th roug h v arious techniques of meditation or yoga. But it isimpossible to leave th e three worlds an d enter the real universe-i.e.. at-tain liberation or salvation-without the grace of someo ne w ho hascom e f ro m there .

2) Th e three worlds a re at their highest an d optim um state at th e mo-ment of creation; their whole subsequent history is on e of progressivedegeneration, winding d ow n, o r entro py. Th is takes place overmillions of years, which a re divided int o fo ur divisions or agesyugas)according to the changing conditions of life. O n e of the ways in which

14 So m e of the mo re spectacular f inds in recent years a r e discussed inTheN ag HammadrLibrary Jam es Ro binson , ed i to r ; The Secret G ospe l Mo r t o n Sm i t h ; The Meaning o f t h eDead Sea Scrolls A . Powel l Davies .

15 Phil ip K. Dick, Valis; Ha rlan Ell ison, Dea thbird ; C S Lewis, That Hideous

Strength and David Lindsay, A Voyage to Arcturus. are a l l var ia t ions o n this theme.


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I N T R O D U C T I O N X X ~ X

the theme of A nu ra g Sag ar works ou t is in the story of th e incarnations

of the auth or-h ero in each yuga. A t the end of th e cycle of fo ur yugas,the lower universe dissolves Wralaya) a nd is withdrawn int o the higher;all souls stuck in the three worlds experience a com atose state fo r as longas th e three worlds remain latent-a period exactly equivalent to th eperiod of manifestation, four yugas. At the end of that period Kalcreates the lower universe again (or it recreates itself according to thepattern he originally laid down) and the cycle starts again, to be con-tinued until all souls-i.e., all life o r jivas-are liberated fr om the lowerworlds a nd are once again in Eternity or S atLok.

Thi s scheme of the cosmos, b oth temporal an d spatial, is accepted bythe Masters and in fact ultimately derives from them; nevertheless aword of caution is in order. In the notes to this poem, the yugas aredescribed in terms of orthodo x H indu theology, for information al pur-poses a n d to show th e relative co nditions of each yuga; b ut the Mastersd o not necessarily endorse th e specifics-the nu m ber of years, life-spans, etc.-as given by the H in du priests. It is in precisely this contextthat Sant Kirpal Singh, in his comm entary on Gu ru Nanak's J a p Ji ,wrote:

Nanak here is referring to the ancient Indian doctrine of the fourYugas or cycles of time, which somewhat parallels the Westernbelief in the Go lden Age, the Silver Age, the B ronze Age an d theIron Age. Nanak makes frequent use of such concepts and doc-trines from ancient Hin du lore; but H e refers to th em no t in a spiritof scientific trut h, b ut often as a Divine poet, wh o emp loys allusion

an d mythology to dr ive home His poin t . I6The refore while accepting the basic idea of the universe runnin g do wn(invo lution rath er tha n evolution)-an idea not at all philosophically in-com patible with the current Big Bang theory of cosmic origins-amu ch longer hum an history than current thoug ht allows, an d its divisioninto fo ur ages, we need not worry a bo ut the particulars of those ages an dhow they fit in with modern scientific theories of human evolution.Tr ut h is tru th, an d when-if ever-the scientific discoveries ar e com -

plete, they will dem on strate the tru th b ehind th e yuga mythos. As it is,new discoveries ar e constantly changing our un derstanding bo th of t hedate of h um an origin an d also the nature of ou r prehistoric past. I t ap-pears now, for example, that Neanderthal man was a member of thehuman species after all, and very likely a gentle vegetarian in somerespects more advanced than we are. ' ' A nd evidence is mo unting th atour pre-historic ancestors were in possession of a highly technological

16. Kirpal Singh, The Jap Ji: Th e Message of Guru Nanak p . 9 4 .17. See Boyce Rensberger, Facing th e Pas t, Science 81 Vol. 2 No. 8.


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XXX TH E OCEAN O F LOVE

culture which ultimately destroyed them an d caused hu man ity t o startfr om scratch at th e beginning of the Kali Yuga (abo ut3000 B.C.). SantKirpal Singh was very specific abo ut th at pa rt of the Yuga theory, an daff irmed m any t imes that the Maha bhar ata W ar, the traditional end ofthe T hird A ge, w as not the simple struggle depicted in the epic of thatname, but a nuclear war involving the whole world, with devastatingconsequences. T he fact tha t it is not traditiona lly represented t ha t way(although there are references to airplanes, television, etc., half-understood by the author and presented as magic) simply reflects thecondition of the time in which the M aha bha rata was written-after theholocaust. T he auth or explained the s tory that h ad com e down to him a sbest he could in the light of what he himself knew.

A N U R A G S A G ARAND SANT MAT

Anurag Sagar occupies a very unusual place in the literature of theMasters; i t is at once on e of th e most venerated an d least know n of allesoteric books. It is the M asters themselves who venerate it , an d theyhave often ma de use of it in on e way o r another; they themselves are ableto read it, but most of their disciples know it only by hearsay, mostlybecause it is written in the pre-Hin di dialect called Bra j which, acco rdingto the leading modern scholar on Kabir, ha d already by Kabir 'stime . .bec om e the lyrical languagepar excellence' 9 but which is ex-tremely difficult for modern Indians to read; it relates to Hindi asspoke n today som ewhat a s Chaucerian o r Middle English relates to ourlanguage. There are also problems of interpretation: as with othermythopoeic trea tme nts of these themes (particularly those of Blake, wh o

of all Western writers is closest to Kabir both in spirit and in poeticgenius20) the poem is dense, at t imes enigmatic, an d always dema nding;so that to und erstand it fully without a n autho ritative com me ntary is noteasy. T han ks t o the grace of t he living Son of E ternity, San t Ajaib SinghJi, eighteenth in the line of direct spiritual descent from Kabir, suchacom men tary has been provided.

Sant J i 's interest in, appreciation of , an d respect forAnurag Sagar hasbeen s hared by all of the Mas ters in the line, w ho have draw n up on it ful-

ly in their own books , discourses an d songs. T he alert reader of Swam iJi 's Sar Bachan or the books of Sant Kirpal Singh will notice manypoints of contact. Tulsi Sahib devoted a major portion of one of his

18. See Ivan T Sanderson, Investigating the Unexplained, pp. 129-210. The late Dr.Sanderson was one of the world's leading zoologists, and his research into this subject waslifelong and fruitful. Also of interest is Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier, The Morning o fthe M agicians.

19 Charlotte Vaudeville, Kabir (Vol. I , p 6 520. See William Blake and Sant Mat by the present writer, Sant Bani, Vol. 4 , No. 7

(January 1980) p. 12.


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I N T R O D U C T I O N X X X ~

principal books to a detailed commentary on certain aspects of the2 1poem. Baba Jaimal Singh considered it to be the most authoritativ e

book on the teachings of the Masters as the following account by hisdisciple and successor Sawan Singh shows:

On the fourth day I went to attend Satsang. Baba Ji [Baba JaimalSingh] was at that time explaining the meaning of Jap Ji Sahib.Well, I started my volley of questions-so much so tha t the au -dience got tired and began to feel restless at the large number ofquestions I had put . . . Now he wanted to point ou t the way, butI

had read Vedanta. WhenI read Gurban i, my opinion was different;when I read Gita my opinion was again different, andI was unableto com e to a decision. At lastI applied fo r eight days leave to enableme to study the teachings of Baba J i. He advised me to read KabirSahib's Anurag Sagar. I immediately ordered eight copies of thisbook from Bom bay so thatI could also give some to my friends.. .

After several conferences with Baba Ji,I was thoroughly con-vinced and received initiation from him on the 15th day of Octoberin 1894."

That Baba S awan Singh continued to holdAnurag Sagar in high regardafter he became Master is shown by the following account, written byone of his secretaries:

Hazur [Baba Sawan Singh] one day told Seth Vasdev, whose car isalways at Hazur's disposal, that he should read Kabir Sahib'sAnurag Sagar (The Ocean of Intense Love). Hazur said thatwithout studying it, one cannot fully understand the difference bet-

ween Kal (the negative power) and Dayal Mat (th e Pat h of the tru eand Merciful God), nor can one fully grasp the teachings of Sant

at.'^Among the members of the Kabir-panth, the religion basing itself onKabir's teachings, the book has spawned a mass of imitations, man y ofthem written much later and emphasizing characteristic Kabir-panthconcerns (such as the hereditary Guruship) whichAnurag Sagar is atpains to condem n. It is a pity that modern scholars, who have otherwisedone excellent work in regard to Kabir, d o not recognize the differencebetween the original and its imitators both on linguistic and doctrinalgrounds.24Th e poem is written in the Braj dialect, as we have seen; one

21. Translated into English by S.D. Maheshwari asPurum Sant Tulsi Saheb.22. Quoted by Kirpal Singh,Babu Juimal Singh p. 76.23. Rai Sahib Munshi Ram , With the Three Musters Vol. 11 p. 187.24. F.E. Keay, Kubir ond His Followers (1931) does not mentionAnurug Sagar at all,

either in his list of K abir's g enuin e wo rks or in he Kabir- panth writings. Vaudeville,op.cit.1974) lists it in passing (with its title misspelled) among the Kabir-panth imitations.


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xxxii T H E O C E N O F L O VE

leading Indian scholar, according to Vaudeville, draws th e conclusionthat the bas ic l anguage of Kabir 's verses is ~ r a j . ~ 'ince the derivativeKabir-panth literature is all in relatively modern Hindi, and since thosewh o are in a posit ion to judge the doctrinal content best-Kabir's com -petent spiritual descendants-are in una nim ous agreem ent that the bookis genuine, it seems that mo der n sch olarship should seriously consider itsclaims t o authenticity.

THE TEXT

Ka bir, as we have se en, was alm ost certainly illiterate; there is no ques-tion of his having written anyth ing in th e m od ern sense. Yet as a poethe is widely considered the fathe r of H indi poetry. His composition wasentirely oral, a nd his songs an d longer work s were either written do w n atthe t ime by a disciple who had so me education (such as D har am Das) orcom m itted to m em ory by his followers an d written do wn later. It is im-possible t o say with c ertainty exactly howAnu rag Sagar was written, bu tthere is an excellent chance tha t i t was dictated t o D ha ra m Das.

Our text is from the edition published in Bombay in 9 4 by SwamiYugalananda, who says in his Hindi preface that he used forty-six dif-ferent versions of Anurag Sagar thirteen of them hand-written, inpreparing his edition, an d tha t he carefully a nd painstakingly collated allthe versions an d comp ared all variant readings in orde r to arrive at thepresent book. This edition was specially recommended by Sant AjaibSingh as the basis for the English translation, as it is the only textavailable based o n this kind of care ful scholarship.

It has been three years since work on this project began, a n d all of us

who were privileged to have been associated with this blessed work areextremely grateful to the l iving Master, S m t Ajai b Singh Ji Ma har aj ofRajasthan, for his determination to make this edit ion happen, his in-spiration a nd e ncouragem ent extended t o us all along the way, his never-fail ing patience in answering question after question about the work(even as Kabir answered Dharam Das), and the constantly extendedgrace which made i t possible for us al l to work way beyond our ownlimited capacity. Truly it is his book in every p~rticular.

RUSSELL PERKINS

February 6 982


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I. rologueINVOCATION

SATYA SUKRIT, AD1 ADLI , AJAR: ACHINT PURUSH, MANINDER,KARUNAMAI, KABIR, SURTI YOG SANTAYA N, DHAN I DH AR AMD A S , C H U D A M A N I N A A M , S U D A R S H A N N A A M , K U L PATI N A A M ,P R A M O D H G U R U B A LA P I R , KE WA L N A A M , A M O L N A A M , S U R ATS U N C H I N A A M , H A K K N A A M , PA K N A A M , P R A G AT N A A M ,

D H I R A J N A A M , U G R A N AA M , G R A C E O F G O D , T H E G R A C E O F T H ELINEAG E O F FORTY-TWO INCARNATIONS.

MA N G LA CH A RA N : HY MN O F G O D'S G RA CEFirst of all I salute the Satguru, Who showed me the Inconceiv-

able God-W ho , lighting the lam p of the Master's Knowledge and o pening the

veil, m ade me have His darshan.With Master's graceI have achieved Him , to achieve Wh om , schol-

ars worked very hard.His fo rm cannot be described; His soul is the nectar in whichI have

absorbed myself.

IN V O C ATIO Nhe nam es l is ted here a f te r Dharam Das and Chud am ani a rethe nam es of their successors in th e Kabir-panth l ine; the invocation in

i ts present form wa s inserted after the t im e of U gra Naa m, and is not anintegral part of th e poem .

SATG U R UMaster of Truth or True Master. Exoterical ly, i t refers to anyMaster, such as Kabir, who has descended f rom the f if th p lane or Sa tLok, or wh o has merged w ith the Posit ive Power o r Sat Pur ush . In thissense i t is used throughout theAnurag Sugar as a sy nony m for Kabir.Esoterically, t refers to the Ma ster Po we r manifesting o n the level of SatPuru sh, as d is t inguished f rom the sam e Power manifes ting on t he lowerinner p lanes as the Radiant F orm orGurudev and o n the phys ical p laneas the Guru. Th is trin ity of SatgurulGurudevlGuru is roughly analog ous tothe Buddhis t Dharma KayalSambhoga KayalNirmana Kaya or th reebodies (for m s or manifestat ions) of the Budd ha.

I N C O N C E I VA B L EO D Ag am Purush. Refers specifically to th e seve nth inn erplane, the f irs t (part ia l)expression of th e Absolute G od orAn a mi .

D A R SH A N Ohave a look at , or to get a gl impse of, som eon e- usually some -one holy. The d arshan of a ge nuine M aster is in itself a valuable s piri tualpractice.


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PROLOGUE

Gurudev is perfectThe Master is an Ocean of Grace, He showers grace on the

miserable ones.Rare a re those wh o kno w His secret: H e manifests Himself in those

w ho recognize H im .

W ho deserves it?H Y M N

On ly the connoisseur, w ho will test the Sh ab daA nd listen to th e teachings with full attentionAnd within whom these teachings will dwell, only he will under-

stand this.H e within w hom the Sun of K nowledge will manifest an d remove

th e darkness of attachment-only he will unders tand this.I a m telling you this Anuriig Sag ar (O cean of Love)-only rare

saints will u nderstan d.

Without love one cannot achieve itCOUPLET

Any learned saint who thinks over my words and has love in hisheart will achieve Nirvana.

T H E S IG N S O F L OV ER

Dharam Das saidSatg uru, folding my hand s beg You, please clear u p this do ub t

of mine:H ow d o recognize the on e within wh om love manifests?W ha t does a lover look like? W ithou t love the jiva can no t be

liberated-my G o d , tell me ab ou t th at love, a nd give examples to explain it

to m e.

Examples of a lover s qualities

The Satguru saidDhararn Das, I will explain to you the qualities of the lover; listen

attentively so that you may recognize him .

Example of the deerIntoxicated by the music, the deer runs an d comes t o the hunter.H e doesn t have any fear, n ot even when he sacrifices his head.


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PROLOGUE

Hearing the music he sacrifices his life-a lover shou ld do the sam e.

xample o the mothlover should be like a moth when it goes near light.

xample of SatiDharam Das, listen to more examples and manifest the Satguru's

Shabda.Be like the woman who burns herself with her dead husband, and

while burning doesn't move her body;One who leaves her house, wealth and friends, and in the pain of

separation, goes alone;She doesn't stop even when people bring her son before her, and try

to catch her in attachment-W hen people say, Your son is weak and will die, an d without you

your home will be lonely -W hen people say, You have plenty of wealth, com e back

homew-She is in the pain of separation from her husband and nothing at-

tracts her.

TEST H SHA BD A hat is , to take the teachings so seriously that one putsthem into practice and sees for oneself

SH A BD A he Sound C urre nt ; a lso called Naam or Wo rd. The projectedCre ative Force of th e Positive Power or Sat Pu ru sh , ultimate ly re sponsi-ble for the entire creation an d present in each individual in the form ofLight and Sou nd, which can be seen and h eard , and w hich a re the agen-cy that pulls th e individual back to hislher essenc e, Sat Pu rus h.

J I VA The soul w he n b ound and forgetful. Th e liberated fully-conscious soulis called atman, but th e two term s are often used in tercha nge ably.

SA TI It is a curious parad ox that Ka bir, w ho uses sati as an image of a bsolutefaithfulness and love here and else wh ere in his poe try , shou ld haveresolutely opposed it in practice; but i t is the differen ce betw een theideal and the reality. These lines explicitly portray a wife so identifiedwith her husb and that she has no abili ty to live on a plane w he re h e isnot, and so follows him in d ea th, volun tarily, joyfully, and despite the

conventional wisdom of friends and relations- exactly as a tru e devo teefeels about G od . But the ugly reality of th e custom as it becam e a H indulaw w as som ething else: a terrified wi do w , forced by public opinion toburn herself and going along with i t because she literally had nofuture-when her husba nd died, she lost her identity and became a no n-perso n. Far from urging he r to live, her neighbors an d friend s forced h erto die ; and i she som ehow evaded her fate , she became an un touchable.All M asters, including Kabir, opposed this vicious cus tom ; but th ey alsoco ntin ue d to use th e ideal as poetic image of the love of the truedevotee for God.


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PROLOGUE

H Y M N

People try to persuade her in many ways but the determined wom an

doesn't listen.Sh e says, My condition is such that have nothing t o d o with

wealth and property.In this world, one lives for a few days, and in the end none is our

companion-S o , dear friends, understanding this have caught hold of my hus-

band's hand.

COUPLETT hu s with d etermination she climbs the funeral pyre, a nd taking her

husband in her lap,Sh e becomes Sati, repeating the n am e of the L ord.

Qualities o the real loverDh ara m Das, understanding the reality, a m telling you ab ou t

love.

Th ose who meditate o n N aam in such a way that they forget theirfamily,

W h o d o not have the at tachment of son an d wife, and wh o under-stan d this life as a dr ea m , are real lovers.

Bro ther, in this world life is very sh ort, a nd t he world d oesn 't helpat its end.

In this world w om an is loved the most; n ot even parents ar e loved so

much.But the wo ma n for who m on e lays dow n his life doesn't help at thetime of death.

Sh e weeps fo r her ow n self an d at o nce goes to her parents' hom e.Son, kinsfolk and wealth are dreams, so my advice to you is to

achieve Sat Naam .No thin g goes with us in th e end-not even the body which we love

so well.

W h o can release us from KalBrother, do n't see any one w ho can release us at the end time,Ex cept One-W hom will describe-loving W h o m yo ur purp ose

will be served.T h e Satguru is the only on e W h o can get us released; believe this as

true.


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PROLOGUE

What does the Satguru doDefeating Kal, H e takes the soul to the Motionless Plane, where Sat

Purush is.Reaching there, o ne finds infinite happiness an d is freed fromcorn-

ing back to this world.

H E RPARENTS'OM E Note the difference between the attitude of the wo m anpictured here and that of the sati described above. This is a far morerealistic d escr iption , obviously of a society w he resati was not forced.

SATN AA M The Expression of Existence; The T rue Na me given to the PrimalSound Current as it comes into Being at the stage of Sach Khand as SatPurush or the Positive Po we r. Some times used in this book as a syn ony mfor N a a m or Shabda the Sound Current as a whole.

KAL Literally, Time or Da rkne ss ; he na m e of the Negative Pow er, or thataspect of the O ne God that flows dow nw ard a nd is responsible for th ecreation a nd maintena nce of the causa l, astral and physical planes. A ver ylarge part of Anurag Sagar is concerne d with Kal, w ho , as explained below ,is on e of t he sixteen sons of t he Sat Purush or Positive Po w er, and w ho fellfr om grace and favor through dem anding the sovereignty of the thre eworlds. He is the father of B rahma , Vishnu and Shiva, and se nds his in-

carnations into the world from time to time both to maintain justice andredress wrong s, and also to mislead seeking souls and prevent th em fromleaving the confines of the three worlds. Kal is not necessarily evil-acarefu l readin g ofAnurag Sagar will show th at, given th e fact of th e low ercrea tion, his w ork is necessary yet neither is he good: he is most cer tain-ly not God, yet he dem and s to be worshiped as though h e wer e. Becausehe d oes his best to keep individual souls from leaving the lowe r creation,he is the ancie nt foe of th e Saints, or incarn ations of Sat Pu rus h, Wh os ework is precisely to help souls leave the lower c reation. In th e Jewish-Christian tradition, he is in som e ways analogous to Satan, in othe rs to the

priestly conception of Yah weh in the Old Testamen t (n ot, how eve r, tothe prophetic use of that n am e w hich refers to a God of m ercy a nd love ).The Gnostics called him the Demiurge, and understood him very well.Perhaps the closest analogue in Western literature is William Blake'sUrizen w ho like Kal, functions as the great law-giver (co m pa re Kal's

other na m e, Dhar am Rai ) using his laws to trap huma nity, and w hodem and s to be worshiped as Go d. Although Kal is often referred to inAnurag Sagar as unju st, hat is from the perspective of Sat Pur ush andKabir: within t he context of th e worlds that he ha s ma de , he is absolutelyfair and just, dema nding an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, an d get-

ting it. Since with in the f ram ew ork of th e Rule of Law a nd t he condition ofthe lower w orld s, w e canno t avoid s in, it is true that w e get exactly wh atw e deserve according to the Law of Karma; but since the ultim ate Realityof the h um an condition is that we a re children of Sat Pu ru sh , drops of Hisessence, Kal, seen from that perspec tive, prevents us from realizing ou rfull personhood and th us is monstrously unjust. Ou r mind is related to Kalin the sam e way a s our soul is related to Sat Purush .

MOTIONLESSLANEAvichal all the spiritual creation from Sat Lok upward.SATPU R U SHTh e Tr ue Being: th e first full expression of the Absolute G od .


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8 PROLOGUE

Who can reach the Motionless Plane

H Y M N

O ne w ho will climb the P at h o f Tr uth believing my words,Like the warrior wh o marches ahead in battle and doesn t worry

ab ou t wh at is behind-S o become like the warrior an d th e Sati , and take the Knowledge of

the Pat h from the Saint.Ta ke refuge in the Satguru an d, developingMritak rid yourself of

Kal s pain .

Rare are those who deserve t

COUPLET

Kabir says this, after reflection: Only the brave one w ho do es thiscan achieve the Beloved.

W H O IS MRITAK?Dharam Das said:

my G o d, tell me the qualities ofmritak so tha t t he fire which isburning in my mind may be extinguished.clou d of nec tar, explain t o me-how can this life die?

Examples of Mritak

Kabir said:Dharam Das, this is a complicated thing.Only a few can learn this from a perfect Master.

Example of bhringiTh ose w ho serve th e Saints as Mritak , ultimately-grasping Sh ab da

-achieve the Pa th to G od .Ju st as the insect who, com ing in contact w ithbhringi develops its

body.Bhringi attacks the insect with its sou nd , an d o ne wh o catches that

sound

Is taken by th e bhringi t o his hom e, w here he tur ns it into his ownform.

T he insect w ho catches the sou nd of bhringi, itself becomes bhringi.Rare are the insects who catch the soundo bhringi at the first

attempt.So m e catch it at a second attem pt, som e at a third, a nd sacrificing

their body and mind they become the form of bhringi.


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PROLOGUE

The insect who doesn't catch the sound of bhringi remains as anordinary insect forever.

Dharam Das , the disciple should receive the knowledge fr om theMaster as the insect receives the sou nd fro m bhringi.

How does one achieve the quality of bhringiOne who is determined to accept the teachings,I make him My

own form:Th e jiva who has n o duality realizes Me.

One who believes the words of the Masters, only he becomes thebhringi.

W hen the crow merges itself in to Sh abda an d leaves all her desires,she becomes a hansa

What is a hansaCOUPLET

He w ho leaves the path of the crow an d dwells on the true S ha bd awith in, eating pearls-

W h o gives his life to Sat Purush by following the P at h show n by theMasters-is a hansa.

More examples o f MritakHear Saints, the nature of Mritak; rare are those wh o practice the

Path of Go d.

Called also the S uprem e Fathe r or the Posit ive Po w er, He is th e Lord ofSach Khand a nd is th e highest form of God that c an be called perso na l.Also called Sat Naam.

M R I TA KLiterally, dead while alive ; refers to being totally de tach ed fromthe wor ld and a wa re of G od , as a dead person w ould be .

BHRINGI h is cur ious phenomenon, which is apparent ly natura l h is toryan d not my tholog y, is com me nted on by Sant Kirpal Singh Ji as follows:

Bhringi (a n nsect) af ter almost kill ing a keet (a no the r nsect) revives thelatter to life by bestowing i ts powerfu l at tention o n i t . The k eet w he ncharmed back to l ife is no longer a keet but becomes a bhringi-beingsaturated w ith th e l ife im pulse of th e latter. In just th e sam e way Kabirsays that one who does Simran and gets f irmly engraf ted therein willhave ne w bir th and ne w life quite distinct f rom th e old sensu al life hehas been l iving hitherto . (TheWa y o f the Saints p p . 121-22

HA NS A A mythological sw an wh ich l ives on pearls an d is used by M astersas a synlbol of the l ibera ted hu m an soul ( as , for exam ple , in th e termpararnhansa wh ich m ean s l iterally great sw an ) .


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1 PROLOGU

He ar m ore attributes of Mritak: M ritak serves the Satgu ru.Mritak manifests love within him, and receiving that love the jiva

gets liberation.

Exam ple of the earthT h e earth hurts n o one-you be like that .So m e pu t sandalw ood on her, som e throw dirt on her-still she

hates n o one.M ritak also hates n o one-He is very hap py even when opposed.

Example o the sugar caneListen to m ore attributes of M ritak, an d step on the Pat h shown by

the M aster only afte r testing an d und erstanding it:Wh en the farmer makesj ggery out of sugar, he cuts the sugar cane

into pieces;Then it is crushed in the press and the juice is heated in the caul-

d ron .

Afte r boiling t he juice jaggery is made, an d boiling the jaggery, rawsugar is obtained.Hea ting the raw sugar, refined sugar is obtain ed.W he n sugar again bu rns herself, rock candy is obtained .Kabir says: F ro m rock cand y, sugar candy-which is liked by every-

one-is made.In t he sa me way, if t he disciple bears all his sufferings, with Mas-

ter s grace, h e can easily cross the O cean of Life.

W h o can develop the qualities o MritakH Y M N

Dharam Das, to develop the qualities of a Mritak is hard; only abrave soul can d o it .

T he coward cann ot bear to hear it . H e runs away a nd feels as if hisbody and mind are burning.

Only those disciples wh o are looked a fter by the Master can bo ard

the bo at of M aster s Knowledge.And this is true: tha t o ne who gets that knowledge, definitely goes

to his eternal home.

Only Mritak is a SadhuCOUPLET

Only he who becomes Mritak is a Sadhu and only he realizes theSatguru.


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PRO L O G U

H e removes all illusions and even the gods depend on h im.

Who is a Sadhu?Dharam Das, the path of the Sad hu is very difficult. H e who lives

as Mritak is a perfect S ad hu .He who has controlled the five organs of senses and drinks the

nectar of Naam day and night is a Sadhu.

Controlling the organ of seeingFirst of all control the eyes, and meditate on the Naam received

from the Master.Seeing the Beautiful F orm of G od is the only worship fo r these eyes;

he should not desire any othe r.O ne who understands beautiful and ugly as the same, an d

doesn't look a t the body, enjoys happiness forever.

Controlling the organ of hearingHis ear should be fond of hearing good words, an d should no t like

to hear bad w ords;But he who bears both-good and bad words-likes the Know ledgeof the Master to remain in his heart.

Controlling the organ of smellThe nose is controlled by pleasant smells, but the clever saints keep

it in their control.

Controlling the organ of tasteThe tongue wants pleasant tastes: sour, sweet and delicious tastes.But the Mritak does not know any difference between tasty and

tasteless things.He does not get excited even if he is brought the Five Nectars.H e does not refuse food without salt, and lovingly accepts whatever

is served him.

S A D H UOn e wh o has reached D aswan Dw ar or the th i rd p lane ; a very h ighsoul. In popular usa ge , a wand er ing m on k, usua l ly wear ing saff ron oryellow robes: but that is not usually its meaning in nurag Sagar or inother writings of the Masters.

GOOD N D BAD Th e p arad ox h e re i s t h a t g o o d a n d b a da s w e n o rm a l lyunders tand the m , a re dual ist ic and have mea ning only in re ference toKal 's worlds ; but in Sant M at , goo d me ans tha t whic h leads us towardsGod and bad, that which keeps us aw ay f rom God .I n th is couple t ,the first line refers to good and b a d in the second, esoteric sense : thesecond line to their ou ter, dualis t ic sense.


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2 PROLOGUE

Contro lling the m ale genital organTh is orga n is wicked a n d very sinful. Lust is conq uered by only a

few ones.lustful wo m an is the m ine of Kal. Leave her comp any an d be-

come the Knower of the Guru .

Contro lling lustW henever the wave of lust comes on e should wake himself u p.H e should put his a t tent ion into Sh abd a and , keeping quiet , should

drink the Nectar of Naam.W h en he merges in to the Elementless, lust will be finished.

Th e god of lust s a robberH Y M N

Lust is a mighty, da ng ero us an d pain-giving negative po we r,Which made the gods, munis, yakshas, ghandharvas, indulge in

sex.All of them were plundered-only a few w ho remained determ ined

with the quality of their knowledge were saved.Th ose wh o have the Light of the Satguru's Knowledge an d are with

H im , have the secret of the Path .

The ways of escaping from lust the robberOUPLET

Enlighten y our inner Self with the L a m p of Knowledge.

M editate o n the Satgu ru Sha bd a and the thief o f darkness will runaway.

Example of the anul birdW ith the grace of the M aster the jiva is called Sad hu, an d , be-

coming the a n d bi rd, goes back to his e ternal home.Dh aram Da s, understand these words: I a m telling you abo ut the

anu l bird,

W h o lives in the sky a n d is suppo rted by the air day a nd night .She performs the sexual act through the eyes an d in that way be-comes pregnant .

She lays her eggs in th e sky, where there is n o su ppo rt :T h e egg is nourished while falling;in the sky it is hatched and the

youn g bird takes birth;It is on th e way th at i t ope ns its eyes, a n d o n th e way th at i t gets its

wings.


43/47


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4 PROLOGUE

W he n he forgets son , wife, a nd all the enjoyments an d keeps him-self attached t o Satguru s feet.

[Then he becomes like an an ul bird.]

What does the Master give to such a SadhuWith the grace of the Satguru he gets relief from the unbearable

pain a n d achieves Sat L ok .

How does one get to the Motionless PlaneOUPLET

By remaining in the Master s remembranc e, in tho ugh t, w ord,an d deed, an d by obeying the orders of the Master-Ma ster gives one wh o doe s this the gift of liberation a nd merges him

in Naam.

The greatness of merging in NaamAs long as the jiva doesn t merge himself in N aa m, he wande rs in

this world.

W hen he contemplates o n the Formless an d merges into Naam , allhis dou bts go away.If he merges into Na am even fo r a mom ent, Its greatness can not be

described.Everybody talks about Naam but rare ones achieve the formless

Naam.Even if one lives in Kashi for ages, without the Essential Shabda

he will go t o hell.N imkhar, Badri D ha m , G ay a o r Prayag-even if he bathes in these

holy places,A nd goes to all the sixty-eight places of pilgrimage, yet w ithout the

Essential Sha bd a illusion can not g o away.W ha t can say further ab ou t that Na am , repeating which the fear

of Ya ma goes away?

What does one get who receives Naarn

O ne w ho gets Sat Na am from the Satguru goes to Sat Lok climbingthe rope of Naa m.

D ha ra m Rai bows his head t o him whose soul merges int o the ele-mentless.

What is the Essential ShabdaT h e Essential Sh ab da is a bodiless for m . T he Essential Sha bd a is

beautiful, wordless.


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6 PR O LO G U E

It is neither a word no r a simran no r a jap a. It is a perfect thingachieving which o ne can co nquer Kal.

T he supp ort of the soul is in the head an d nowI will tell you of therecognition of Shabda.

O ne w ho gets connected with the Unrepeated R e ~ e ti t i o n ets to seethe infinite-petaled lotus.

W hen he reaches the astral do or he [ultimately] goes to Aga m a ndAgo char [by way of] the Tru e Pat h.

His inner Self-where Ad i Pu rush resides-gets enlightened .

Recognizing Him the soul goes to Him-and H e takes the soul toits origin.T h e soul is of the same essence as Sat P urus h an d is also calledJiva

Sohang.D ha ram Da s you are a wise sa in t . Recognize tha t Shab da

which gives l iberation.

The method of meditating on the Essential Shabda (Raam)-The way of practicing Master s Path

H Y M N

Repeat th e Unrepeated a nd with the grace of the perfect Mastertest it.

Keeping the wing of mind at rest see the Shab da; an d climbing themin d finish your Ka rma .

Reach the place where the Sou nd is produced without tongue a ndthe rosary beads ar e moved w ithout h ands:Merging into the Essential S hab da g o to the world of im mortality.

COUPLET

T he glory of the Inconce ivable is limitless-millions of suns andmo on s cann ot vie with o ne hair.

T h e radiance of on e soul is equal to the light of sixteen suns.

The jubilation of Dhararn Das:G o d sacrifice myself a t Your Feet. Removing my pain You

have mad e me happy.Hearing Yo ur words I a m as ha ppy as a blind ma n given eyes.


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PROLOGUE 17

Kabir said

Dharam Das, you are a pure soul, who , meeting with me, have re-moved your pain.Just as you have loved me, leaving your w ealth, home an d sons,In the same way, the disciples who will do this and, with determina-

tion will attach their mind to Master's Feet,An d will manifest love within themselves fo r Master's Feet, sacri-

ficing their body, mind and wealth on the Satguru-They will be most dear to me, and no one can ever stop them.

The disciples who won't sacrifice everything, and keep fraud intheir hearts while showing love on their faces,

Ho w can they go to S at Lok? W ithou t manifesting Master withinthey cannot achieve Me.

Dharam Das confession of gratefulnessAll this you have done, my God; I was very dirty.Showering grace on me You Yourself came to me a nd , holding my

han d, have saved me from Kal.

JA PA Repetition of a m an tra , usually orally, wh ich d istinguishes it from

Simran-a l though the two words are somet imes, as here , used assyno nym s. This line means that the ultimate Path of the Sou nd Cu rrentis above all Simran or Japa , because only those wh o have com pleted an dgone beyond that practice can walk it .

U N R E P E AT E DEPETITIONjapa jap; often used in Sant Mat to refer to theSound Curren t or Shabda

ADI P U R U S HOriginal Person; another name for Sat Purush.SO HA NG I am you. I ts use here as a nam e for the soul emphasizes the iden-

tity of th e soul and God referred to in the first part of the line; its co u-pling withjiva und erline s the irony of th e soul 's bound an d forgetful con-dition when seen in the light of its true nature.

K A R M AThe law of action and rea ction, based on desire an d I-ho od, w hichcauses continual wa nde ring in the cycle of birth and de ath (tran sm igra-t ion) throughout the three worlds (physical ,astra l, cau sal) ruled by Kal,

The Ocean of Love, Part 1 - Kabir

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