Gobind Sadan
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See God in all Creation
To a Russian scientist on methods of spiritual attainment
The Fifth Sikh Guru said there are 84 yoga postures used to purify the mind, but even by doing them, one will not necessarily become an enlightened being. If one wants to meet God, there is no method for doing so, except one. Whosoever loves God, God loves him.
Guru Nanak said that there are millions of galaxies, millions of suns, millions of planets. He could see them through clear inner vision. He was not using any posture or any method of meditation. But love is so powerful that when one meditates, one does so with God’s blessing.
What is meditation? Guru Gobind Singh said, “I meditated so intensely that my light became one with that great Light of Enlightenment. From two, we became one.” Guru Gobind Singh says that the soul is a ray of that greater Enlightenment of God. Teach your soul that it has come from that Ocean. Tell your soul: “Don’t just remain a small ray, enter the Ocean of Light.”
When the Enlightenment of God awakens inside, you may continue eating food or associating with bad or good people, but that inner concentration will be unaffected. How does one attain enlightenment? It comes by itself. It does not come from preaching or pilgrimage to holy places or temples. It is an inner thing.
I say this because from childhood, I never went to any place of pilgrimage. I never visited any temple or gurdwara or any spiritual person. I was simply sitting in meditation. Great attraction towards Him developed as I sat. As that attraction grew, I used to sing hymns to Him, day and night. I was looking at Him and weeping as I saw Him. I did not meditate by concentrating on my forehead, on this chakra (portal) or that chakra. The One upon Whom we are to meditate said, “Look at Me!”
If anyone asks me, “What is God?” I can say that if from within you have received the enlightenment of your Guru, it is the Truth. Look at a tree, and it will talk to you. Look at the earth, and it will surely talk to you. Why? The One Who has trained you is Master of the whole Creation.
The saint sees the cosmos
It is our misfortune that the scientist and the saint have never sat down together. The scientist thinks the saint is illiterate. He feels, “I am a learned man. Why should I sit with an illiterate person?” For his part, the saint is in his own world. He feels, “The scientist is an atheist. What have I to do with him?” But both are carrying out research. Neither is an atheist. The scientist is carrying out research into the Creation, and the saint is asking, “Where is the Creator who has created this Creation?” The scientist concludes, “Everything develops from genes.” The saint says, “It is the work of the Creator. When I went to the Creator, He told me, ‘You have seen one sun. You have been meditating on one earth. Now come! Let me show you millions of suns bigger than that one.’ I went along with Him, and He showed me many earths, many suns, many moons, millions and millions. Then I said, ‘You Yourself understand Your own Power. I have now seen so many celestial bodies. But how can I describe them when I return to earth?’ He replied, ‘Say only this: That the distance between planets is kharbs of yojans.'” (1 kharb yojan = 250,000,000,000,000 miles)
The Fifth Guru said, “You do not meet Him by working hard or by serving. You meet Him all of a sudden. You may have been developing occult yogic powers and practicing the 84 postures. Thus you will gain long life, but then you will die and have to be born again, and you will not attain union with God.”
God is Master of the whole Creation. In describing Him, Guru Gobind Singh said, “God is in water, God is in the earth, God is in caves, God is in mountains, God is here and there. He pervades everything.”
The Vedas (ancient scriptures of India) came from Brahma from time immemorial, through the enlightened sages, but those scriptures were lying in a heap, written on palm leaves. Ved Vyas (the great saint) gathered all this knowledge and organized it into four Vedas. What was their essence? To describe God he wrote, “Neti, neti (infinite, infinite). No matter how vast You have appeared, You are beyond that.”
Guru Nanak said, “God is One. Accept Him as Truth.” The Prophet Muhammad said, “Allah is pure and without equal. Believe in this.” Jesus came, calling God “My Father.” He said, “My Father is One, King of the Spirit.” Guru Gobind Singh likewise said, “When I had communion with God, He said, “You are My Son. I hand over all My rights to you.”
Contemporary science has not yet discovered what Guru Gobind Singh, Guru Nanak and the Vedas were talking about. They said that eventually you may see planets where the people are very beautiful. But the inhabitants may prevent you from reaching there, because they are living in love for each other, in peace, in enlightenment. If you go there, you will surely bring deceit and trouble. How long they can hide from you is uncertain, but they are trying to keep the curtain drawn.
When you see that celestial drama, you question this earthly drama in which we are living. This is just a tiny area in the vastness of the cosmos.
I have never spoken about yogic postures or said, “God resides in this or that part of the body” Where does He live? He lives in all places. When He meets you and speaks with love, the whole Creation will speak to you with love.
God says, “Let it be so!” and it happens
What is God? While I was developing the farms at Shiv Sadan, I’ve had many opportunities to meet Him in His Creation. Once as we were driving by the fields, Balwant Singh said, “Maharaj, water is pouring into this rice paddy. From your inner vision, please tell us what to do. Should we block the water or not?” I said, “We will ask the rice itself whether it requires water. I believe in God.” Immediately the rice appeared in the form of a boxer. He said, “Tell them to let the water come. My muscles will become very strong.” I told them not to block the water.
Another time we were traveling by a field in which crops sometimes turned yellow. I said, “We will ask this soil, “What disease do you have that makes the crops yellow?’ ” As the answer came to me I had the driver record which nutrients were deficient in this field and what had to be added. “There is an acute Zinc deficiency here,” said the earth. “Why is that so?” I persisted. The answer came from the earth, “Many times I have been washed away by floods. Each time, zinc is washed away.” The earth added, “Stop putting urea fertilizer here. There is already too much in me.” Whatever was said was all recorded on tape.
An agricultural director came from Pune (a major city of India). He said, “Babaji, we want to sow a crop here for research purposes. We will first take a soil sample for testing.” I told him, “Use any land you like.” The result of their soil test was late in arriving. Before it came, the earth from that field itself told me, “Such and such things are present in me.” When the letter arrived describing the results of the soil testing, we compared it with our tape recording of what the earth had said. The results were the same. Our “laboratory” is so powerful that we had stopped our vehicle only for a moment and recorded the whole “test.” God’s laboratory is so powerful that you may ask about anything anywhere on the earth. I think He will answer as soon as you stop moving your lips to ask.
What is God? God is That which says, “Let it be so!” Whatever you say after taking the name of God will be fulfilled. Even things which are impossible will happen.
Sometimes even the person who speaks God’s words does not know what is happening. Recently a couple came who had two daughters but no son. They said to me, “We want a son.” I innocently said, “Do volunteer service at the sacred fire (havan) for seven days, wave Chauri Sahib (fly whisk) over Guru Granth Sahib, and distribute fruit to the congregation. Then you will get a very splendid son. God will say, ‘Let it be so!’ It is not a big thing for Him.”
Then the man told us, “My wife is already pregnant. The doctor has checked and has said, ‘The child in her womb is a girl.'” I said to them, “I do not know who spoke. Do this sewa (voluntary service) for seven days. It is not difficult for Him to make a boy from a girl.” Yesterday the child was born, and it was a boy. The father was stunned. He said, “The doctors have failed.” I told him, “The whole world fails before God.”
Where there is dharam, oceans and oceans have coalesced. Scientists will eventually come to the same conclusions that dharmic people have already reached. Science is closely linked to dharam. It is our misfortune that we have not been able to explain dharam at a level that scientists could understand.
The power of the saint is not created by any method of sitting or standing. If one could meet Him by doing postures, you could meet Him by doing any asana you like. Or if you could meet Him through strength, wrestlers would be the first to meet and grasp Him.
What is God? God is Love. It is not that we love God. God loves us.
If your mind is totally focused on your Guru, you see Him in everything. If you are in Samadhi (spiritual absorption) and you look at a fan, you will see that your Guru is behind it, moving it with his Light. If you love your Guru, when you look at the ocean and wonder how it is moving, you will see that it is moving by his command. Then you will see God in everything. Saint Nam Dev said, “Everything is God. Everything is God. There is nothing without God.” What has happened? As Guru Gobind Singh says, “From two, we have become one.” Because of our past karma, there is a wall between us, as thin as a butterfly’s wing. When enlightenment comes forth within us, ignorance vanishes, and then we see that everything is God.
When the flame of enlightenment is illumined within you, when you have merged with Him, then you will see only the Light. You will see it in trees, you will see it in water, you will see it in mountains. You will see the Light of God everywhere. This will happen only after meditating, after focusing your mind on your Guru. Once your inner light is inwardly merged with your Guru’s Enlightenment, that Light spreads everywhere.
If anyone asks me, Guru Gobind Singh is not defined by any dress or boundary. Guru Gobind Singh is He Who is the Creator of the cosmos. He is born of it, and he pervades it. Even today he is within everything. How we see God is a matter of a person’s faith – God will assume that form.
I have seen only Him
God is very powerful, enlightenment is very powerful, and the saints have spoken extensively about science. But our misfortune is that we get stuck in issues of what to eat, what to wear, how to sit, how to speak, which direction to face when we meditate. The great potential for enlightenment is spoiled by such things. Enlightenment sits to the side, saying, “I have no customers. The people are only concerned with their eating and drinking habits.”
Guru Nanak has simply said that any food which provokes evil thoughts is bad, and if some food does not suit your stomach, don’t eat it. If by drinking something you feel superior to other human beings or lose control, don’t drink it. The Guru has left everything to the individual. He says, “Keep control over your self. Thermometers have been placed in you. Why are you worrying?”
Actually, there is so much potential for enlightenment in a person. Sometimes I think, “If a person wants, with the Grace of God, there is so much power within him that he can change the whole Creation.”
One day a woman here asked the volunteer who was irrigating the fields to give water to her fields. He said to her, “You’ll get water tomorrow.” She quarreled with him, to no avail, and then sent a small boy to me: “Ask Maharaj to send rain.” The child came to me, saying, “Babaji, Naniji (grandmother) says, “Ask Maharaj, ‘Let there be rain.'” I said, “It’s amazing! So much faith!” I told the child, “Before you return to her with the message, it will rain.” I said this with faith. Before he reached her, the rain had begun. I told him to ask her, “Are your fields filled?”
If someone asks me, “What is God?” I will say that the whole Creation is bound under His command. Wherever He points, it moves.
They say that one reaches this stage and that stage in meditation. I have not seen any stages. I have seen only Him. I have not asked Him, “How many stages are there? How many levels of enlightenment are there? What is Your House like?” I say, “If You are there, that is sufficient. You are everything for me.”
I have seen only One Thing. I do not speak much about these things. I only say, “Love. He is very merciful. He is forgiving. He is compassionate. He is the Giver of everything. A person who believes in Him will not be disappointed. A person who believes in Him has victory in his grasp, for victory is on his tongue.” I have seen that anyone who has faith becomes so lofty in his thinking that no evil remains in him.
Stories from my youth
You speak of healing allergies and such, but these are very minor, ordinary things. When I was so young that I did not have a beard, I wore a sheet around my waist and people used to gather around me at one village. They were fond of drama, and I was immature; not yet accustomed to these spiritual powers. They brought the dead body of a boy and laid it before me. I said, “It is written by the Fifth Guru in Sukhmani Sahib (the psalm of bliss) that if God so wills, He can keep a person alive without breath. Perhaps He may want to do this since they have brought this boy here as if it’s a drama.” Gyaniji (a devotee who Babaji had blessed with visionary powers) was with me. I asked him to recite Sukhmani Sahib.
When Gyaniji had completed eight verses of Sukhmani Sahib, the breath returned to the dead body. When sixteen verses were complete, the dead boy rose and sat up. When all twenty-four verses were finished, the boy cried, “Bole so nihal? Sat Sri Akal!” (We are uplifted when we proclaim, Truth is Eternal!), the traditional Sikh slogan.
From then on life became very difficult for me. Wherever I would walk, people would pick up the soil from beneath my feet. When I used to take a bath, people crowded around, trying to take a handful of my bathwater (for its blessing power). It became very difficult. I thought, “What have I done?”
It is not a big thing to bring a dead body to life, to cure a person’s disease, or to heal someone’s arm or leg. If we were to write about such instances, there have been hundreds of thousands of such happenings in my life. But I don’t want to give much importance to this.
There was a boy who had been blind from birth. He came from Patti village in Amritsar district. Someone told him, “If you go to Babaji, you will be okay when he touches you with his hand.” When he entered the boundary of my village, Sarawan Bodla, he told his father, “That is a very big building” (referring to the mosque in Sarawan, which is quite tall). His father wondered, “How does he know?” The boy said, “I can see now.” But I don’t attach much significance to the fact that God can heal someone’s eyes. After all, Who has given these eyes? They are His. Therefore, what can’t He do?
Once a woman came who was a very clever journalist. She asked me, “When will I be married?” Immediately the message came from God, “You are a divorcee. The boy you are now seeing is a very rich person. You are afraid to tell him for fear that he may refuse your proposal.” She was so surprised that she wrote a big article in her paper, with bold headlines. “I saw a person who was sitting very happily, smiling, like a lion, and full of peace. When anyone passes before him, he reads the person’s whole life and continues smiling. Whatever I asked him, the replies were accurate.” She was surprised: “What is all this?” I told her, “Don’t worry. Meditate. Then you will also be able to see these things. Your inner mirror has become dirty, nothing more. Clean your mirror and it will start shining. You don’t need to change the mirror. It just needs to be cleaned a little, nothing more.”
Go straight to Him
What is the problem today? Religion has not remained religious. Ignorant people are talking about enlightenment. Irreligious people are talking about religion. Those who do not even dream of being just are talking about justice. Truth has been set aside and individuals have put themselves in its place. When you go deeply into dharam you will know what it is, what yoga is, what postures are, what enlightenment is.
The Fifth Guru spoke from the place where the Great Enlightenment comes from. He had to say, “I have seen that by performing these yogic postures and developing occult powers, people have not gained clear inner vision. They are just confined to the postures – ‘Do this asana, do that asana.'” He says, “Your whole attention is focused on your body. When will you reach There? You have to keep your legs like this, your arms like this. Your thoughts are on sitting. When will you get There? You will not achieve anything by confining yourself to these postures. Go straight to Him.”
Now the person is sitting tensely, trying to meditate: “Sit like this, look straight, look at this.” Oh people, you are looking at these things, but you don’t know where He is.
Kabir says, “I do not want a kingdom; I do not want liberation from rebirth. You may say, ‘Take this liberation,’ or ‘Take this kingdom,’ but if You are not there, what is liberation to me? I want You. I do not want liberation; I do not want a kingdom. I only want the love of Your lotus feet. You are sitting in every leaf.”
Those who have clear vision have understood – “Where You are is not known. You appear as many, then again You become One.” Guru Gobind Singh says, “You have no form, no features, no caste, no class, no lineage. No one can describe Your form, Your colour, Your contour, Your garb. You are eternal, immutable. You are self-illumined, and Your power is limitless.” Looking at God in meditation, the Guru says, “Your Light is in the whole world. No one can specify where You live. Your Light is present in every particle.” He says to the person, “You are searching to find where He lives, but when you go there, He may not be in that house. Instead, see Him in every leaf.”
A person has only one tongue. With one tongue, how can we ever describe the existence of God? The Guru says, “Even if every hair of the body had a tongue, even then we could not describe You.”
Nothing affects gyan
When enlightenment arises within, one’s attention does not go anywhere else. The person may be sitting among people who are drinking liquor. He himself has also become intoxicated with God’s presence. They do not want his intoxication; they are looking at him and laughing. Their intoxication will go away in the morning, but his bliss will never leave, for his entire life. If he is among people who are watching a film, he will say, “Those actors are not in the movie that I have seen.” He is sitting in his own world.
What did they do with Mansur (the Sufi saint)? They tore off his skin, cut off his hands, cut off his head. Mansur said, “You have cut off my hands of flesh, but the hands of my gyan are still firmly in their place. You have cut off my head, but the head of my gyan is firmly in place. You have torn off my skin, and you want to annihilate my voice, but even if you destroy my body I will still say, “An al Haqq! (I am the Truth! I am Allah!)” They burnt his body and threw the ashes in the water. The sound, “An al Haqq!” came from the very ashes. When they threw the ashes in the water, “An al Haqq!” came forth from the bubbles. Where the ashes touched a tree, the sound came: “An al Haqq!” The voice said, “Oh my Friend, they want to annihilate my gyan. But my gyan will never end. They are pleased that they have destroyed my body, but wherever the ashes of the body are placed, ‘An al Haqq!’ will be heard. The water and the tree have become my body, and they are saying, ‘An al Haqq! An al Haqq!'”
Such cruel means they have used to try to destroy the saints. One person was sawed in half head first; people were boiled alive. The Fifth Guru was set on a hot iron plate, but still he was still singing God’s praises. Gyan is not affected by anything. Water cannot drown it, weapons cannot cut it, nothing can dry it up, nothing can throw light on it. Gyan is gyan.
More stories from the farms
From childhood, I have thought that God is so great that no one can describe Him. We cannot say, “This cannot be done,” “That cannot be done,” for everything is possible. Set a goal and love God. So much can be done that the person does not know how he is doing it.
I used to stand in the fields the whole day as long as people were working. Once we went to Surajpur (one of Gobind Sadan’s early farms). The whole night went by, and the next day, and the next. A full 70 hours passed while I was standing in the field, and it had no effect on me. I was under the effect of that divine intoxication. I was so happy to see how successfully the work was progressing and how hard the people were working. Because they love me, they thought, “If he is standing here, why shouldn’t we work?” So they kept on working. In the morning, I said, “Let’s go.” Balwant Singh said, “You don’t realize it but 70 hours have just passed.” Prior to that, I had not known it; I just kept standing.
Once at Shiv Sadan there was a great pile of wheat – thousands of bags – lying in the open after harvesting. My attendant, Gurbux Singh, was sitting next to my cottage. The hukam (divine order) came: “Tell him to take this stick and make a line around that pile of wheat reciting ‘Ek Onkar Sat Nam Siri Wahe Guru,’
(“There is one God whose name is Truth, Praise the Ever more wondrous God”), and sprinkle this water there.” I did not know that it would rain cats and dogs that night, but He knew. It rained and rained, but not a single grain of wheat was touched. It rained so hard that there were pools of water standing about, but not a grain was spoiled.
What Name can we call Him? What place is there where He is not?
Sugarcane is subject to red rot, a very serious disease. They say that once it enters a field, it affects the whole area. I was standing next to a field in Shiv Sadan while sugarcane was being planted. As is customary, our volunteers were laying sections cut from the previous year’s cane in the furrows. The District Cane Officer arrived, and after him, his senior officer came.
They asked me to stop sowing the crop, saying, “You are sowing a great disease which will spoil the whole area.” I told them, “This is the difference between you and me. You senior officers have seen this red rot today. There will be no disease even in this part of the field, let alone the rest of the whole area.” When the sugarcane matured, they came back. I asked them to cut a sample of the cane. When they did, they found that there was no disease even in that very place. One officer said, “Babaji, this is something entirely new for us.” I told him, “It is new for you because you have no faith in God. For us, the hukam was to take water, touch it with a small sword (kirpan), and sprinkle it on this cane. When that water was sprinkled on the cane, the disease vanished.”
Early one morning, I was sitting in meditation, and the Goddess of the River Ganges came and said, “Come to my banks today and drink tea.” I called Balwant Singh and asked him to prepare tea for me and the others. He understood, because he was very fond of farming, and he had seen the results of the hukams. Actually, these spiritual Powers are very friendly. Worldly friends may become angry with you sometimes, but the spiritual Powers do not become angry.
It was a very surprising scene. I was sitting there on the banks of the Ganges (which formed the eastern border of Shiv Sadan). At once, Mother Ganges came and said to me, “I have called you for this purpose: I want to give this entire area to you.” If you go to that place today you will see that the River Ganges has left the entire area; it shifted its course a mile away from where it was then. When Mata Ganga came to me, She said, “I will shift to that side now, and on this side I will wash away many places.” There was a gurdwara in a nearby village on our side of the river. She said, “That gurdwara will be washed away. Tell them.” Now you will see a rice crop growing in the riverbed on our side. The wheat crop we sowed there earlier this year produced 240 kilos of wheat per acre. And in that area where She said she would flow, She is now washing away thousands of acres of land. How can I comprehend that water begins talking to me? But these things are recorded.
In reality, if someone asks me, “Where is God?” God is everywhere. Water is under His command. The entire cosmos is under His command. We are also under His command.
You cannot meet Him through methods
Do not let your mind become confined to small things. He can make a poor man a king, and a king a pauper. If He wants, He can say, “Let it be so! You will become a king!” The whole world may be against that person, but he will become a king. In my life, I have seen that He is such a great Power that we cannot describe Him.
I have not gone to any person; I have not read any book. I have talked directly with Him and I ask Him the questions. When you came to me, He Himself is giving me instructions. I am just speaking. It is a circle.
You are telling people, “If you do such and such, you will see Him.” Listen carefully, you will not meet Him with all these methods. The Third Guru wrote, “All the girls went to entertain Him in their own ways. I thought, ‘When He looks at them, perhaps He will look at me also.’ So I innocently followed them. They knew how to sing and play musical instruments. I did not know anything; I was not beautiful. I was just standing behind them. But what happened? When He came, I was simple and homely, but He liked me, and He came straight to me. They were all singing their songs, but He was standing by me and asking, ‘How are you?’ He gave the entire enlightenment to me, while they were busy singing their songs.”
Actually, one does not know what will please Him. The Fifth Guru says, “I have no method or sweet song for attracting the Master. I said, ‘Please accept my innocence and bless me.’ He blessed me so much and looked at me so mercifully that He took me to God.” He is unique. You cannot meet Him through any methods.
The dervishes used to travel by flying; they had such spiritual powers. Guru Nanak used to close his eyes and carry his two companions along with him, and thus they would reach their destination. But Guru Nanak says this is not a matter of any yogic posture. It is a matter of love alone. Where can He not carry you? He can show you the entire Creation.
They tell me you are a great scientist and have met many great people. By meeting good people you will gain knowledge. But don’t become so immersed in your books that you do not know where He is. A book is for reading. A book will not carry you to Him.
Saint Ravidas said to God, “I was bound by my ignorance, and now I have bound You in the bondage of love. By meditating upon You, I have been freed from ignorance. Now try to free Yourself from my love.” God replied, “Before love, I have no recourse.”
God can be seen everywhere
God is everywhere, the Giver of Light, of Enlightenment, of Love, He pervades everything. Guru Gobind Singh saw God in everything. He was an enlightened being, and he was also a hero, for the times were such that he had to defend the people. Women were being abducted and the people were being oppressed by tyrannical rulers. He said to God, “You are the arrow, You are the shield, You are the spear, You are the sword. You are the cry of victory, and
You are the Hero of the World. Sometimes when I unsheathe my sword, even the sun is frightened before its glory. Your glory is so great that it cuts out hordes of fools and casts them aside.”
Guru Gobind Singh said, “I have not come to tell people to close their eyes and be hypocrites. I have come to rise above hypocrisy. I have not come to pitch a tent as an obstacle on the road where people have to pass. I will repeat whatever He has said to me. I will not remain silent in this ephemeral world. I have come to awaken courage in the people. I have no enmity against anyone. I have come to make everyone victorious.”
In his enlightenment, Guru Gobind Singh saw God everywhere. He used to see God even in his horse: When the horse ran, he said, “It is You who are racing.” He said, “You’re the Dancer of the Dance. You are setting the whole world dancing, and You are looking at the spectacle. You are the spear, You are the arrow, You are the shield. When they are in my hands and You are with me, there will be victory, for I have taken up arms to protect the weak.”
Guru Gobind Singh explained heroism, as well as meditation and enlightenment. He also taught very high moral character. He said to men, “You should not violate the honour of another man’s wife even in your dreams, and your love for your own wife should increase every day. All day you meet people; keep your gaze pure. Consider women of your own age your sisters, younger women your daughters, and older women your mothers.”
If anyone has faith in God, his mind will never waver. The whole world may be against him, but He is the pinnacle of courage.
In military service, one learns what faith is. There was one Brigadier Randhawa (a great devotee of Babaji). A battle was going on in Mizoram (an Indian border state). Brigadier Randhawa was sitting in his vehicle as his forces were being fired upon. See how God saves His devotees: As if by chance, Brigadier Randhawa stepped out of the vehicle. Within one minute, the vehicle was hit. What happened? God had told him, “Get aside.” Then he immediately got back into the same vehicle. Why? Because he had faith, and also innocence. He said, “God is already with us, standing by our side.” Another person may say, “God, God,” as much as he wants, but there is nothing in it. If he passes a snake, he will run away in fear. If anyone merely threatens him, he will run away. Faith gives inner courage. The Ninth Guru gave this instruction: “Neither intimidate nor be intimidated by anyone.”
Therefore, my feeling is, What is God? God is Grace, Heroism, Love, Willpower, and continuous Blessing. There are great stores of everything in God. What lessons we take from them, is for us to consider.