Sar Bachan Poetry was written by Seth Shiv Dayal Singh or Soami Ji as he was known affectionately by his disciples. Born in August 1818 in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Soami Ji began giving discourses on the mystic teachings of the Saints after many years of meditation. Saar Bachan Nazam yaani Chhand Band was published a few years after his death in 1878. One of his disciples, Rai Bahadur Saligram, prepared the text of Sar Bachan in two parts one prose and one poetry. Another disciple, Baba Jaimal Singh, was responsible for bringing Soami Ji's teachings to Punjab when he settled near Beas at the place where today the Radha Soami Satsang Beas has its headquarters.
Baba Jaimal Singh published the first gurmukhi edition of Sar Bachan in 1902, and for more than a hundred years now, Sar Bachan and the Adi Granth have been the two main sources quoted and used extensively as satsang texts by the Masters of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas.
The mystics' teachings come down to us in the language of their time and place. Thus the Gurus' shabds in the Adi Granth are mostly in the Punjabi of the twelfth to sixteenth centuries, whereas Soami ji's shabds are in a simple spoken Hindi that he felt would best communicate his message to his audience in Agra in the late nineteenth century.
As we begin the twenty-first century, there are many disciples and seekers living outside India-including a large number of people of Indian origin, born and educated in the West, who are familiar with spoken Hindi but do not read the traditional script. With this three-language edition of Sar Bachan Poetry, the present Master at Beas has responded to the needs of his multi-cultural followers around the world. Sar Bachan Poetry (Selections) consists of English translations of the original Saar Bachan Chhand Band, with the corresponding Hindi text given on the facing page in devanagari script as well as roman script. The romanized version of the Hindi has been kept as simple as possible, with ease of reading preferred over scholarly considerations.
The poems were selected to convey the teachings of Sant Mat, the mystic path taught by Soami Ji. As becomes clear from reading his poetry, Soami Ji found many ways to share the fundamentals of the mystic path-sometimes through poems of love and longing, faryaad aur pukaar, or prayers to the Master, binti aur praarthna, some- times through poetic dialogues, prashan-uttar, between disciple and Master or between mind and soul, sometimes through warnings and wake-up calls, chitaavani.
Whatever the mood of the text, Soami Ji typically refers to a whole spectrum of teachings in anyone poem. Most contain references to the practice of the Word, shabd, or Name, naam. Since the Name and the Guru are intrinsically linked, the poems mention both---coming in contact with a living perfect Master being the first step on the mystic path.
By implication or through an evolving discussion, the poems address the essential questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? Is there a rational explanation for the disparate events of our life? Where can we go to get guidance on our personal evolution? Is it possible to achieve our human potential and fully realize our life's purpose? If so, how?
Soami Ji's emphasis throughout is that now is the time to go into action to reach the level of consciousness where there are only answers, no questions-to go beyond mind, beyond pleasure and pain, beyond the endless circling of transmigration. “Let us turn home- wards, friend why linger in this alien land?” (dhaam apne chalo bhaa'i, paraa'e desh kyon rahana) is his entreaty to us all in the shabd taken by Maharaj Charan Singh at one of his last satsangs.
We are grateful to the present Master, Baba Gurinder Singh, for bringing to successful completion this new edition of Sar Bachan Poetry-a comprehensive collection of Soami Ji's poems in English.
Preface | Xlll | |
Translator's Note | xv | |
POEMS | ||
1 | Those who sing Radha Soami's Name | 3 |
2 | I offer my supplication to Lord Radha Soami | 5 |
3 | Come friends, let us sing a song | 7 |
4 | Radha Soami has taken a human form | 17 |
5 | While I rejoice in the bliss of his darshan | 19 |
6 | Establish your base at the third eye | 21 |
7 | Fear and doubt besiege my mind | 23 |
8 | I see the uniqueness of the path | 27 |
9 | Supreme bliss fills my inner being | 31 |
10 | On this auspicious day, my friend | 37 |
11 | Lord, your humble devotee | 43 |
12 | Today, friend, my soul offers a prayer | 49 |
13 | I enshrine my Guru's feet in my heart | 53 |
14 | With hands joined in prayer | 57 |
15 | I have found my Master | 59 |
16 | My love for my Guru deepens | 61 |
17 | O friend, the Guru bestows true understanding | 63 |
18 | Listen to the tale of love, 0 loving soul! | 65 |
19 | My Guru's feet now abide in my heart | 67 |
20 | Take refuge in the true Master, dear soul | 71 |
21 | Today I have come under the Master's protection | 73 |
22 | Oh what folly | 77 |
23 | How can I spell out all the subtle ways | 81 |
24 | Hold fast to the Shabd with the Master's grace | 87 |
25 | Without Shabd humanity has gone blind | 91 |
26 | Listen to the melody of Shabd | 93 |
27 | The two kinds of Nam | 97 |
28 | Listen, my friend, while I tell you | 103 |
29 | Do not be deceived | 107 |
30 | A debased version of the Guru-disciple relationship | 109 |
31 | Search for a true Guru, my dear friend | 111 |
32 | The soul, having separated from Shabd | 113 |
33 | Soul, who are you? | 115 |
34 | Come, let someone give an inspiring discourse! | 117 |
35 | Why don't you listen, dear soul? | 119 |
36 | I know, dear soul, that you have been in distress | 121 |
37 | O soul, what foolishness you are caught in! | 123 |
38 | Heavy, intense darkness prevails in the world | 125 |
39 | Come now, dear soul, to the Master's country | 129 |
40 | Your concern with social standing | 131 |
41 | Be on your guard, O wayfarer | 133 |
42 | None of your companions are truly your well-wishers | 135 |
43 | Keep the fear of death in your heart day and night | 137 |
44 | You have come into the world and entangled yourself | 139 |
45 | My mind, abandon this abode of pleasure and pain | 143 |
46 | Observe how the whole world is going adrift | 145 |
47 | Will someone please heed my words! | 147 |
48 | Why do you tarry in this world, brother! | 11 |
49 | Now that you have received this human form | 155 |
50 | Go through life with understanding | 157 |
51 | O mind, why be proud! | 159 |
52 | How can man be on guard against this world? | 161 |
53 | How can I rid myself of the misconceptions? | 165 |
54 | Let me explain to you, brother | 167 |
55 | You faltered through a million lives | 171 |
56 | Accept your Guru after thorough scrutiny, brother | 179 |
57 | Do only as the true Guru bids | 181 |
58 | Live in the will of the Master, my friend | 185 |
59 | A good part of your life | 189 |
60 | Contemplate on the form of the Master, dear soul | 193 |
61 | Without the Master | 195 |
62 | Attach yourself to the melody of Shabd, dear soul | 197 |
63 | Take refuge in the Master, O yearning soul! | 199 |
64 | The Master washes the mind clean | 201 |
65 | Go to the Guru's ghaat, O mind | 203 |
66 | O mind, listen to the strains of the unstruck music | 205 |
67 | Everyone is blind, says the Master | 207 |
68 | Why are you confused and disheartened, dear soul! | 211 |
69 | Why not submit to the Master? | 213 |
70 | Kill your mind, burn your body | 217 |
71 | Let us turn homewards, friend | 219 |
72 | O mind, see how sick this world is | 223 |
73 | Practise meditation and be absorbed within | 225 |
74 | The Master explains fully | 229 |
75 | Turn around and listen | 231 |
76 | Hold the mind still and grind it within | 233 |
77 | Why do you drink water, 0 swan soul? | 235 |
78 | Separate water from nectar, 0 swan soul! | 237 |
79 | Be gentle of heart | 239 |
80 | Put your mind to satsang | 243 |
81 | I have fallen in love with your beautiful form, Master! | 245 |
82 | I rose into the sky and saw the light | 247 |
83 | I am in love with the form of my Master | 251 |
84 | The drop that is the soul left the ocean of truth | 255 |
85 | To whom shall I reveal my secret, brother? | 259 |
86 | The whole world is overwhelmed by delusion | 261 |
87 | Mighty Kal has set out | 263 |
88 | The soul now asks the Lord Radha Soami | 265 |
89 | The Lord laughed and said | 267 |
90 | Learn, dear soul, about your own secret self | 269 |
91 | Now the Vedantists thought all this over | 271 |
92 | People who learn from books and theorize | 273 |
93 | As the soul prepared to leave | 275 |
94 | My heart aches with the pain of separation | 277 |
95 | My heart is distraught with anguish | 279 |
96 | O friend, my sleeping fortune has woken up today | 281 |
97 | The Master has arrived to grace my home | 283 |
98 | Take hold of my arm, my Master | 285 |
99 | My Guru is the benefactor, I am the slave | 287 |
100 | How can I sing your praises, Master? | 289 |
101 | I have looked within, my friend | 291 |
102 | How can I free myself from the grip of this mind? | 293 |
103 | My restless mind doesn't listen to me | 295 |
104 | How can I get along with this mind, my friend! | 297 |
105 | Superficially you sing the praises of the Guru | 299 |
106 | O mind, listen to the one petition I place before you | 303 |
107 | The mind spoke to the soul | 305 |
108 | My helpless mind now cries for darshan | 309 |
109 | Every moment the fear of death overshadows my heart | 313 |
110 | Give me the gift of Nam, 0 Master! | 317 |
111 | Cast your merciful glance on me, Master | 319 |
112 | You have come all the way from your eternal home | 323 |
113 | Let me come to your primal home, 0 Master | 327 |
114 | Reveal your own real form to me, Master | 329 |
115 | Listen, dear soul, and let me explain | 329 |
116 | Open the window of my heart | 333 |
117 | An intense longing for darshan | 335 |
118 | The vessel of my heart is filled with love | 337 |
119 | My Master has given me the alchemy of Nam | 339 |
120 | Peeping through the window of my heart | 341 |
121 | Without Shabd the soul | 343 |
122 | Everything my Master has taught me is upside down | 347 |
Glossary | 353 | |
Index of Hindi First Lines | 367 | |
Subject Index | 369 | |
Addresses for Information and Books | 373 | |
Books on This Science | 379 |
Sar Bachan Poetry was written by Seth Shiv Dayal Singh or Soami Ji as he was known affectionately by his disciples. Born in August 1818 in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Soami Ji began giving discourses on the mystic teachings of the Saints after many years of meditation. Saar Bachan Nazam yaani Chhand Band was published a few years after his death in 1878. One of his disciples, Rai Bahadur Saligram, prepared the text of Sar Bachan in two parts one prose and one poetry. Another disciple, Baba Jaimal Singh, was responsible for bringing Soami Ji's teachings to Punjab when he settled near Beas at the place where today the Radha Soami Satsang Beas has its headquarters.
Baba Jaimal Singh published the first gurmukhi edition of Sar Bachan in 1902, and for more than a hundred years now, Sar Bachan and the Adi Granth have been the two main sources quoted and used extensively as satsang texts by the Masters of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas.
The mystics' teachings come down to us in the language of their time and place. Thus the Gurus' shabds in the Adi Granth are mostly in the Punjabi of the twelfth to sixteenth centuries, whereas Soami ji's shabds are in a simple spoken Hindi that he felt would best communicate his message to his audience in Agra in the late nineteenth century.
As we begin the twenty-first century, there are many disciples and seekers living outside India-including a large number of people of Indian origin, born and educated in the West, who are familiar with spoken Hindi but do not read the traditional script. With this three-language edition of Sar Bachan Poetry, the present Master at Beas has responded to the needs of his multi-cultural followers around the world. Sar Bachan Poetry (Selections) consists of English translations of the original Saar Bachan Chhand Band, with the corresponding Hindi text given on the facing page in devanagari script as well as roman script. The romanized version of the Hindi has been kept as simple as possible, with ease of reading preferred over scholarly considerations.
The poems were selected to convey the teachings of Sant Mat, the mystic path taught by Soami Ji. As becomes clear from reading his poetry, Soami Ji found many ways to share the fundamentals of the mystic path-sometimes through poems of love and longing, faryaad aur pukaar, or prayers to the Master, binti aur praarthna, some- times through poetic dialogues, prashan-uttar, between disciple and Master or between mind and soul, sometimes through warnings and wake-up calls, chitaavani.
Whatever the mood of the text, Soami Ji typically refers to a whole spectrum of teachings in anyone poem. Most contain references to the practice of the Word, shabd, or Name, naam. Since the Name and the Guru are intrinsically linked, the poems mention both---coming in contact with a living perfect Master being the first step on the mystic path.
By implication or through an evolving discussion, the poems address the essential questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? Is there a rational explanation for the disparate events of our life? Where can we go to get guidance on our personal evolution? Is it possible to achieve our human potential and fully realize our life's purpose? If so, how?
Soami Ji's emphasis throughout is that now is the time to go into action to reach the level of consciousness where there are only answers, no questions-to go beyond mind, beyond pleasure and pain, beyond the endless circling of transmigration. “Let us turn home- wards, friend why linger in this alien land?” (dhaam apne chalo bhaa'i, paraa'e desh kyon rahana) is his entreaty to us all in the shabd taken by Maharaj Charan Singh at one of his last satsangs.
We are grateful to the present Master, Baba Gurinder Singh, for bringing to successful completion this new edition of Sar Bachan Poetry-a comprehensive collection of Soami Ji's poems in English.
Preface | Xlll | |
Translator's Note | xv | |
POEMS | ||
1 | Those who sing Radha Soami's Name | 3 |
2 | I offer my supplication to Lord Radha Soami | 5 |
3 | Come friends, let us sing a song | 7 |
4 | Radha Soami has taken a human form | 17 |
5 | While I rejoice in the bliss of his darshan | 19 |
6 | Establish your base at the third eye | 21 |
7 | Fear and doubt besiege my mind | 23 |
8 | I see the uniqueness of the path | 27 |
9 | Supreme bliss fills my inner being | 31 |
10 | On this auspicious day, my friend | 37 |
11 | Lord, your humble devotee | 43 |
12 | Today, friend, my soul offers a prayer | 49 |
13 | I enshrine my Guru's feet in my heart | 53 |
14 | With hands joined in prayer | 57 |
15 | I have found my Master | 59 |
16 | My love for my Guru deepens | 61 |
17 | O friend, the Guru bestows true understanding | 63 |
18 | Listen to the tale of love, 0 loving soul! | 65 |
19 | My Guru's feet now abide in my heart | 67 |
20 | Take refuge in the true Master, dear soul | 71 |
21 | Today I have come under the Master's protection | 73 |
22 | Oh what folly | 77 |
23 | How can I spell out all the subtle ways | 81 |
24 | Hold fast to the Shabd with the Master's grace | 87 |
25 | Without Shabd humanity has gone blind | 91 |
26 | Listen to the melody of Shabd | 93 |
27 | The two kinds of Nam | 97 |
28 | Listen, my friend, while I tell you | 103 |
29 | Do not be deceived | 107 |
30 | A debased version of the Guru-disciple relationship | 109 |
31 | Search for a true Guru, my dear friend | 111 |
32 | The soul, having separated from Shabd | 113 |
33 | Soul, who are you? | 115 |
34 | Come, let someone give an inspiring discourse! | 117 |
35 | Why don't you listen, dear soul? | 119 |
36 | I know, dear soul, that you have been in distress | 121 |
37 | O soul, what foolishness you are caught in! | 123 |
38 | Heavy, intense darkness prevails in the world | 125 |
39 | Come now, dear soul, to the Master's country | 129 |
40 | Your concern with social standing | 131 |
41 | Be on your guard, O wayfarer | 133 |
42 | None of your companions are truly your well-wishers | 135 |
43 | Keep the fear of death in your heart day and night | 137 |
44 | You have come into the world and entangled yourself | 139 |
45 | My mind, abandon this abode of pleasure and pain | 143 |
46 | Observe how the whole world is going adrift | 145 |
47 | Will someone please heed my words! | 147 |
48 | Why do you tarry in this world, brother! | 11 |
49 | Now that you have received this human form | 155 |
50 | Go through life with understanding | 157 |
51 | O mind, why be proud! | 159 |
52 | How can man be on guard against this world? | 161 |
53 | How can I rid myself of the misconceptions? | 165 |
54 | Let me explain to you, brother | 167 |
55 | You faltered through a million lives | 171 |
56 | Accept your Guru after thorough scrutiny, brother | 179 |
57 | Do only as the true Guru bids | 181 |
58 | Live in the will of the Master, my friend | 185 |
59 | A good part of your life | 189 |
60 | Contemplate on the form of the Master, dear soul | 193 |
61 | Without the Master | 195 |
62 | Attach yourself to the melody of Shabd, dear soul | 197 |
63 | Take refuge in the Master, O yearning soul! | 199 |
64 | The Master washes the mind clean | 201 |
65 | Go to the Guru's ghaat, O mind | 203 |
66 | O mind, listen to the strains of the unstruck music | 205 |
67 | Everyone is blind, says the Master | 207 |
68 | Why are you confused and disheartened, dear soul! | 211 |
69 | Why not submit to the Master? | 213 |
70 | Kill your mind, burn your body | 217 |
71 | Let us turn homewards, friend | 219 |
72 | O mind, see how sick this world is | 223 |
73 | Practise meditation and be absorbed within | 225 |
74 | The Master explains fully | 229 |
75 | Turn around and listen | 231 |
76 | Hold the mind still and grind it within | 233 |
77 | Why do you drink water, 0 swan soul? | 235 |
78 | Separate water from nectar, 0 swan soul! | 237 |
79 | Be gentle of heart | 239 |
80 | Put your mind to satsang | 243 |
81 | I have fallen in love with your beautiful form, Master! | 245 |
82 | I rose into the sky and saw the light | 247 |
83 | I am in love with the form of my Master | 251 |
84 | The drop that is the soul left the ocean of truth | 255 |
85 | To whom shall I reveal my secret, brother? | 259 |
86 | The whole world is overwhelmed by delusion | 261 |
87 | Mighty Kal has set out | 263 |
88 | The soul now asks the Lord Radha Soami | 265 |
89 | The Lord laughed and said | 267 |
90 | Learn, dear soul, about your own secret self | 269 |
91 | Now the Vedantists thought all this over | 271 |
92 | People who learn from books and theorize | 273 |
93 | As the soul prepared to leave | 275 |
94 | My heart aches with the pain of separation | 277 |
95 | My heart is distraught with anguish | 279 |
96 | O friend, my sleeping fortune has woken up today | 281 |
97 | The Master has arrived to grace my home | 283 |
98 | Take hold of my arm, my Master | 285 |
99 | My Guru is the benefactor, I am the slave | 287 |
100 | How can I sing your praises, Master? | 289 |
101 | I have looked within, my friend | 291 |
102 | How can I free myself from the grip of this mind? | 293 |
103 | My restless mind doesn't listen to me | 295 |
104 | How can I get along with this mind, my friend! | 297 |
105 | Superficially you sing the praises of the Guru | 299 |
106 | O mind, listen to the one petition I place before you | 303 |
107 | The mind spoke to the soul | 305 |
108 | My helpless mind now cries for darshan | 309 |
109 | Every moment the fear of death overshadows my heart | 313 |
110 | Give me the gift of Nam, 0 Master! | 317 |
111 | Cast your merciful glance on me, Master | 319 |
112 | You have come all the way from your eternal home | 323 |
113 | Let me come to your primal home, 0 Master | 327 |
114 | Reveal your own real form to me, Master | 329 |
115 | Listen, dear soul, and let me explain | 329 |
116 | Open the window of my heart | 333 |
117 | An intense longing for darshan | 335 |
118 | The vessel of my heart is filled with love | 337 |
119 | My Master has given me the alchemy of Nam | 339 |
120 | Peeping through the window of my heart | 341 |
121 | Without Shabd the soul | 343 |
122 | Everything my Master has taught me is upside down | 347 |
Glossary | 353 | |
Index of Hindi First Lines | 367 | |
Subject Index | 369 | |
Addresses for Information and Books | 373 | |
Books on This Science | 379 |