Concentrating the Mind, Retracing the Consciousness from the Body, and Stepping up the Ladder Inside – This is How One Reaches the Door of Liberation
An Excerpt from Baba Kehar Singh’s Commentary on the Ghat Ramayan of Sant Tulsi Sahib, A Sacred Text and Spiritual Classic in the Sant Mat Tradition of India
“Generally it happens that after a true Mahatma leaves this world, the disciples forget his real teachings and get involved in rituals. Like this the greedy world forgot the real teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and turned the faith into shops to earn money.”
“The power of Naam [the Sound Current, Shabad] is within everyone, but its secret is known to very few. It is beyond the expansion of words. All persons following the mind are stuck in the world and cannot vacate the nine doors [of the senses] to know Its Secret.”
“Stuck in worldly affairs and unaware of God, we continue sleeping. We do not clean our temple (mind). Our real Friend is the Supreme Soul, so understanding His Status and Power, we should welcome Him. He comes to us and extends a friendly hand, but stuck in attachments, we do not even look up.”
“The bani [hymn] referring to Paori, which has already been explained (above), means a ladder (meditation) which takes us from one level to the next higher level; and this is to be practiced in our day to day life. Using the example of a ladder, Tulsi Sahib, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Dadu Sahib, Kabir Sahib, and other Mahatmas have referred to the ‘Inner Ladder’. It passes through Sahans-dal Kanwal [astral, thousand petaled lotus], Trikuti [second spiritual region], and Daswan Dwar [third spiritual region, tenth gate], taking us to Bhanwargupha [fourth spiritual region]. We are to go still further to Sach Khand [fifth plane, true, eternal, timeless, spiritual realm]. The ladder has three more rungs, which take us to the Invisible [Alakh, the 6th], Inaccessible [Agam, 7th], and Nameless Region [Anami-Radhasoami, The Eighth]. Reaching there, everything ends; the drop merging in the Ocean takes the shape of the Ocean. The soul gets engrossed in the Shabad, and reaches the rooftop of the Nameless Region. Our journey comes to an end.
"Reaching that region, birth and death, pain and pleasure, etc., are no more. Only a peaceful and blissful environment exists there. The entire Bani is in the shape of Paori’s (ladders). Unfortunately, a person keeps on reading, but never thinks what the bani is trying to convey. Some rare person ponders over it and reaches his original Home – the Nameless Region.”
“Palak Ram then says to Tulsi Sahib: 'Through your explanations, I can now follow the hidden secrets of Sant Mat taught by Guru Nanak Dev Ji. I was under the false impression that reading the Paori of Gurbani [hymns, scriptures] was the way to liberation, but you have made it clear to me that by getting Naam from the Master, concentrating the mind, retracing the consciousness from the body, and stepping up the ladder inside; that is how one reaches the door of liberation.’”
– From the Conversations between Param Sant Tulsi Sahib and Palak Ram, the Nanak Panthi, in the Ghat Ramayan of Sant Tulsi Sahib, with commentary by Baba Kehar Singh: http://www.Scribd.com/doc/130801528/Ghat-Ramayan-Tulsi-Sahib-Commentary