Why wouldn't God's highest name be Truth, Sat Naam?
Don't believe what I say, don't believe what the preachers say, let's just believe what gurbani guru, dhan dhan Guru Granth Sahib ji says . Once you believe your guru then do it right away too.
Let's look at the first and foremost divine verses in gurbani guru, jap ji by Guru Nanak dev ji. First of all they wrote "ik onkar sat Naam.. One god name sat, Truth".
Then they said, God is, was, and always will be the Truth. "ad sach jugad sach habhi sach nanak hosibhi sach."
Then in the very first verse they ask the question "so how will be become truthful, full of Truth too? " kiv sachyara hoeeaa?" How will the veil of falseness be torn apart? "kit kuray tutay paal."
Then the rest of japji takes us on a journey. First, of all the ways that don't work, that are false. Like external pilgrimages, charitable donations, vows of silence, bathing in holy places and so on. By themselves are not going to give you even a sesame seed amount of honour in God's court. "ik til na tamaai."
Halfway through dhan baba nanak ji begins to tell us that if we really want to clean up, then clean the sins inside us by washing with truly loving God's name. "bhareea mat papaa ka sang. O dhopay navay kay rung."
Then they take us through the inner journey, of listening deeply, having full faith and doing with love what guru says. Only then do we do the real pilgrimage of our heart and wash our sins. "sunnia munnia munn keeta bhao. Antargat teerath mul lao."
Then they tell us all that once we have blessings of naam, then all that matters is repeating God's name. That if they had millions of tongues they would only recite the name of the one God millions of times. "ik du jihboo lac hovay, lac hovay lac vees, lac lac gera akheeaa ik naam jagdees." When you are in love you just lose yourself in your lover's name. They didn't tell us anywhere in gurbani guru to read endless ritual readings of even jap ji and gurbani guru on a daily basis.
Then they take us through the 5 spiritual realms our soul goes through in the last part of the journey.
At the end, when we reach the highest destination, they say that the formless God lives in the realm of Truth, "sach khand vasay nirankar".
So why wouldn't God's name be Truth, Sat Naam? If we still do not understand what dhan baba nanak ji has left us in gurbani, then it means we do not yet have God's grace (gur parsaad) upon us. Because without gur parsaad no one can understand the name "Truth", Sat, "Sat naam".
This is the other highest Truth revealed by Dhan baba nanak ji. That no one goes to God's realm of Truth without God's grace, gur parsaad. The realm before sach khand, is called karam khand. Karam here means grace. Because this is a game of grace and love, "gur parsaadi khel." "Jo tho prem khelan ka chao, sir Dar talee galee meree ao. Those who want to play the game of love, come to me with your head on your palm."
So again let's unravel this thread in jap ji. How does the game of grace play out?
At the beginning is described the One God, name Truth, creator being, fearless and without hate (i.e. pure love), immortal image, beyond birth and death (creator doesn't physically enter creation like the rest of us, only by manifesting as spiritual divine light in a heart full of Truth. Pargatio jyot. That is known as sat guru, meaning that sat is the guru sitting on the throne of the enlightened heart). God is self created and then dhan baba nanak ji puts the stamp "GUR PARSAAD".
This means that the God (the origin/mool) described above in the mool manter, is beyond our physical senses and beyond our physical and mental efforts. The creator is in the spiritual realm of Truth but we are in the physical (body, mind, emotions) creation. And the only way we are going to go beyond is with his grace as sat guru.
So how do we get the grace, gur parsaad? By great good destiny do we meet sat as the sant guru to bless us. "bhaag hoa gur sant milaaya."
Destiny, karma, hukam and gurparsaad these words confuse people. Let's see how this is explained in jap ji.
God's name is Truth, it cleans our sins and takes us to the realm of Truth. But God's name is also gur parsaadi, only received by his grace. So some preacher or parent or friend can tell us chant Sat naam, but with no gur parsaad attached, it's just a word with little power to go beyond our body and mind. That's why in gurbani it says God is beyond mantras. You can't get to him by chanting words that aren't blessed.
Bhai Gurdas ji in his first verse called "sat naam" as the supreme mantra, because it's blessed to him by the divine Guru, to whom he bows. "namaskaar gurdev ko jis Satnaam par manter sunniaaya." So we need the satnaam name blessed by the divine Guru to make it Gur parsaadi naam.
So right at the beginning of jap ji this important thread is explained. Baba nanak ji asked "how do we become truthful, full of Truth? How is the veil of falseness torn apart? " "kiv sachyara hoeeaa kiv kooray thutay paal?"
Then dhan baba nanak ji tells us how to begin our journey to getting the Naam. "hukam rajaee chalna nanak likhiaa naal." "live in the hukam, go with what's written."
But what is hukam? How can I live by it when I don't know what is written for me?
Baba nanak ji says, because of the hukam the creation came into being but still we can't explain the hukam. "hukami hovay akar, hukam na kaahia jaai."
But in simple terms we can say the hukam, the command of God is carried out by all of God's laws, both laws of nature and divine laws that govern our souls journey. Think of his hukam as His constitution that the creation abides by and is under. His hukam cannot be escaped by anyone, just like no citizen can escape the law of the land, "hukamay andhar sabh ko, bahur hukam na koi."
The number one law is to do Naam simran "eko Naam hukam ha." The second law is the law of karma, that what we do we reap. So in jap ji guru nanak ji has said "aapay beej aapay he khao, nanak hukamee avay jao." What we sow we eat, we come and go as per this law of his (hukam).
When we know how the state of our mind becomes whatever we repeatedly think, and the state of body becomes what we repeatedly eat and drink. And we have got right now what we have sown in the past. So in the future we will get what we are doing right now. That is how we are creating our own destiny. And that is written in our karmic accounts, lekh. God's law of karma says we must live for good and bad what we have written for ourself. When we accept what it is happening to us then we are living according to our person hukam. If we can't accept our pains and complain and blame we sow more negativity in our mind and body and reap more suffering later.
So in answer to "how do we become full of Truth?" when we accept we are suffering because of our past sins and don't complain or blame anyone else but ourself then we can say we "live in the hukam, going with what's written."
And how can we use knowledge of the law of karma running us? Stop doing bad, start doing good.
So what else have we reaped from our past deeds. It's not all bad, we must have done something very good to have got this cloth of a human body to wrap our soul this time. Baba nanak. Ji says it " karmi avay kapra". But how do we now go from this physical body to God's door of liberation . We need his look of grace. "nadri mokh duaar." Again it comes back to we suffer because of bad deeds, but good deeds got us a human life, but now grace is required to go beyond.
Grace comes through a divine heart, then how do we go beyond our writ? As long as we have karma we have to be reborn to repay it. What is the way out? Well when we accept our bad deeds and ask for forgiveness they are wiped. When the sat guru gives us Naam, he takes our writ in his hand and forgives us. And remember law number 1, "eko Naam hukam ha"? Only one being can overrule the karmic mess we have made for ourself, and that is Satnaam himself. He made the laws, only he can overrule them for the ones who love him.
The law of karma runs everything. But the law of Gurparsaadi naam overrules karma.
Because of our karma we suffer, but because of his grace we are freed.
If we keep sowing Satnaam Satnaam Satnaam Satnaam into our mind it will then go into our heart and we get honoured in the realm of Truth. Say Truth , Truth Truth and like a river we flow into the realm of Truth. Same law of karma, we reap what we sow.
So if we are reciting some other blessed names of God they are going to take us where they came from. So waheguru is very popular with the modern Sikhs. When we recite waheguru waheguru waheguru waheguru what are we saying? Wonderful guru, wonderful guru, wonderful guru. And in gurbani guru the only place the word waheguru comes is in the section in praise of guru ram das ji. "waheguru waheguru waheguru wahejeeo... Wonderful guru, wonderful guru, wonderful guru, wondrous being."
Where does waheguru fit in our journey to Truth? Well we reap what we sow. We chant waheguru and one day we will meet a wonderful guru like the fourth guru who had Satnaam in their heart.
Gurbani guru says in praise of the fourth guru, "Satnaam karta purakh chit vasaayia" that they had the creator beings name sat, in their heart.
And coming back to the praise "waheguru waheguru waheguru wahejeeo" this is commonly sung by Sikhs. But it is only the second half of the line. The whole line is
Sat sach sri nivaas
Ad purakh sada tuhi
Waheguru waheguru
Waheguru wahejeeo.
It says that guru ram das resides in the true abode of Sat, that he himself is the eternal primal Being.
So the guru himself is residing in Sat, that why he is Wonderful guru, wonderful being.
So waheguru takes us to the wonderful guru. And the wonderful. Guru blesses us with Satnaam to take us to the realm of Truth where he himself is sitting.
So why wouldn't the name of God be Truth? Start praying for Gurparsaadi naam from a wonderful guru.
God bless all.
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