The Science of Naad and Gurbani
Anyone who has recited Gurbani with his or her whole heart knows that it has the power to alter one's consciousness. The whole language of Gurbani has the power to make a person divine simply by reciting it correctly. One need not be concerned with its meaning in order to experience this change in consciousness. It is intrinsic within the actual vibration of the Gurbani itself.
Gurbani has to be understood by the heart, not by the head. There is no power in the head. It is in the heart. The head is to give to God and the heart is for you. That is why on that historic Baisakhi day in 1699, Guru Gobind Singh asked for the head, and not for the heart. Whosoever lives with head to God and heart for self, that prayer is complete. The entire Siri Guru Granth Sahib is the calling of the lover for the Beloved. It is in naad.
Naad means "the essence of all sounds." All languages contain sounds, which relate to one or more of the five elements of air, fire, water, earth and ether. Gurbani is a perfect combination and permutation of sounds relating to all the five elements in complete balance.
When Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru Nanak, compiled the Siri Guru Granth Sahib in 1604, he only put in those selections which were composed in naad. These compositions were called the Guru's Bani, or Gurbani.
When we break up the words, ’Siri Guru Granth Sahib,’ into their naad, the syllables of each word tell the essence of the meaning of Siri Guru Granth Sahib. Every word has a naad, and every naad has a combination.
Siri means the entire light of the sun's creativity, Lakshmi. Whatever has been created, whatever is possibly created, shall be created or can be created, is called siri, “great.”
Guru ("Gu" means darkness, and "ru" means light) means from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge. Guru is one who gives you the technology to remove your ignorance.
Granth ("gra" means knot, "an" means ultimate, and "naath" means owner, master, God) is that which creates the ultimate knot with God. Anything which creates the ultimate knot with God is called a granth. Granth is not a book and can never be a book. Sahib (saa means “light,” infinity, and hib means “now”) is the totality of here and now.
Here is the progression:
- Gur is the “formula.”
- Guru, is the “one who tells you the truth of the formula,”
- Siri Guru, is the “one who tells you the universality of the formula, the application of the entire applied formula.”
- Siri Guru Granth Sahib always tells you what you need to hear in order to be able to rise above the limitations of the particular time and space.
- Waheguru is the “ecstasy of the experience of the application of the formula.” In other words, by doing what the Guru says, you experience the blessing of that.
The Siri Guru Granth Sahib is the Guru, and it contains the Guru, the formula for experiencing one's own divinity. Siri Guru Granth Sahib has the power to give one the experience of God because it is a Siri Guru.
Experiencing and Understanding Gurbani
The Guru's Word (Gurbani) is what the Guru spoke. It is the imprint of the essence of God. It is the pathway to God. If the ordinary human being speaks it, it will always elevate him or her to that state of consciousness of the Guru. The Guru's consciousness is united with God, so the person will automatically get united with God if he speaks the same words. It is a scientific and direct way to unite the finite with the Infinite Consciousness. The hypothalamus will get the same tingling. The impulses of the pituitary will function the same way and get the other glands to secrete also in the same way as it did in the body of Guru Nanak.
Gurbani is nothing but a total illustrated, facilitated science of naad for human knowledge. It is an individual effort. Read Gurbani in the way Guru says it, and understand it, and you will be in such ecstasy you will not believe it!
Concentration on the construction of the word, and the sound is the proper way to recite Gurbani. Then you must You must listen to your own construction of the Gurbani. As you are creating the sound, the meaning will automatically come to you, now or later. You do not need to study it. You simply have to experience it. It is just a matter of time and space.
There are two ways to go about understanding Gurbani. The first is to know the meaning through purposeful study; and the second is to recite it, and you will automatically understand the meaning intuitively. Gurbani has to be recited with the tongue, through japa. But, when you read meditatively for the purpose of understanding the meaning, it is okay.
In the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, each shabad has its own individual domain, power, riddhi (worldly riches), siddhi (spiritual power), and nau niddhi (nine treasures). All occult powers are there. The recitation of shabads gives you the power to redeem the environments. Shabad is a part of the power of God, and when the Shabad merges in you and becomes you, then you experience your own divinity.
