Make the Bhajan Your Prayer

1989, July

A talk given after bhajan singing, July 1989, in Bangalore.

From Sing the Praises of the Satguru.

Very good, all of your bhajans were very good, very loving; they were very sweet. I hope that the enthusiasm with which you have sung the bhajans will come from your heart also. Every single line which you sing in the bhajans should come out from your heart. We should pray in front of our Beloved Master as if a patient, as if a sick person is praying, making a request to the doctor, "We have come to you, please treat us." So you should make this like a prayer, like a request to Almighty God, "We have come to Your door and You have to improve our condition."

This is the reality: we came into this physical plane only because we did sins in the past lifetimes, and also we did some good karmas. In order to suffer the punishment for our bad karmas and in order to enjoy the fruit of our good karmas we have been sent into this world. But nobody here gets any lasting contentment by enjoying the fruits of the good karmas, what to speak of getting any contentment by suffering the punishment of the bad karmas. You know that everyone here is unhappy. You also know what is the result of good karmas we have done in past lifetimes – if we have done good karmas in the past we get good health, we are born in a good family, we have a good intellect, and our worldly life is very smooth. If we have done bad karmas, we are born in poverty and we always have difficulties. Our life is miserable in this world. Neither the person who has done the bad karmas in past lifetimes is happy here, nor is the person with the good karmas happy. Only those people are happy who do the meditation of Naam and who take their soul back to the Real Home. So when we sing the bhajans, all those lines, every single word of the bhajans should come out from our heart; and we should be singing with the understanding that we are praying this prayer in front of our Beloved Lord.

Only a thirsty person appreciates the water. Kabir Sahib has said, "A thirsty person will appreciate the water; a person who is not thirsty, even if you carry bags full of water to him and ask him to drink the water, will not drink any water because he is not thirsty. He does not value or appreciate the water. But one who is thirsty will beg for the water and he will appreciate it very much."

So if we realize that we have lost something – we have lost our Beloved Lord – He is not away from us, He is within us, but we do not know where He is and we do not know how to get in touch with Him. So if we have the understanding that we have lost our Beloved Lord, and Master is the One Who can help us to contact our lost Lord again, Who can really make us one with Him, then we will appreciate the Master.

What you were just singing, "I have wandered all over in the world but I did not get any support" that is very true of my life. You know that I lived my life in a practical way. I went to many different societies and religions, in search of God, but I did not get support anywhere until I came to the Feet of Beloved Lord Kirpal. I got support only when I met Kirpal and I realized that God Almighty Who was within me but was separated from me. It was only because of Lord Kirpal's grace that I was able to meet God, so that is why I appreciated Him. If we also realize that God Almighty is within us, but Master is the One Who makes us realize Him, then we would also appreciate the Master.

Last night in the Satsang I said that if we are benefited by the Master, if Master has done something for us, and if we understand His grace, our heart should be overwhelmed with gratitude for the Master and we should never hide the glory of the Master. When the Master has done something for us we should always be grateful to Him and we should always appreciate that.