SHABAD, NAAM, BANI, GURBANI - WHAT IS IT?

The Shabad dwells deep within the nucleus of all beings. God is invisible;
(also visible) wherever I look, there I see Him (sggs 944). Creation and
destruction happen through the Shabad. Through the Shabad, creation
happens again (sggs 117). The created universe is the manifestation of
God's Name. O God, without Your Name, there is no place at all (sggs 4).
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The terms Shabad, Naam and Bani (pronounced Baanee) are essentially synonymous and refer to the Divine Essence — Divine Word, Divine Name or Mantra. As indicated in the Gurbani (Sri Guru Granth Sahib, SGGS), the Transcendental Spirit perpetually expresses through the Shabad (Naam or Bani). Therefore, the Shabad is God and God is the Shabad. The Guru and God are also indicated to be one and the same. Hence, the Shabad is the Guru and the Guru is the Shabad.

Therefore, in essence, the Shabad is of the Nature of God. As the Supreme Reality is Homogeneous Oneness, so is the Shabad. Just as the All-pervading Reality is woven in all His creation, so does His Shabad. Because of It's Eternal Nature, It has no beginning, middle, or end. To put it otherwise, It existed before the Creation, It exists now and It will exist in the future.

After reading this, a question may arise in the mind: If the Shabad existed before the creation, where was it? As indicated in the Gurbani, Before the creation comes into being, the Shabad resides within the Unmanifest Spirit in the form of "Profound Trance" (Sunn Samaadhi). Since the Divine Substance and the Shabad are one and the same, the Shabad ever remains full of all Divine qualities and virtues.

In this way, the entire creation (subtle and gross) comes into being from the Shabad, remains sustained in the Shabad, and merges back into the Shabad. The relationship between the Shabad and creation is the same as between the one ocean and countless waves, the one gold and many ornaments made of the gold, the one clay and numerous clay-pots, the one thread and many beads strung on that one thread, and the one sun and countless rays that emanate from it.

During the "Sidh Gosati" (sggs 938), the Sidhas posed many questions to Baabaa Nanak. Three of these inquiries were: "Who is your Guru? How do you become a disciple? Where does this Shabad reside?" Baabaa Nanak responded as follows:

If the Divine Light is a coin, the Shabad and Naam (God's Name or Bani) are the two sides of the same coin. While the Shabad, as stated earlier, is the Essence of the Dynamic Truth; the Naam may be thought of as the dynamic activation of this Dynamic Truth. Therefore, in Divine-Essence, the Shabad is the Naam and Naam is the Shabad. In the cosmos, there is no space without the presence of Shabad. The Gurbani affirms that everyplace, everything and everybody is controlled by God's Hukam (Divine Will or Eternal Law), which none can escape. To be in His Hukam is, in essence, the same as to be connected to His Shabad (Naam or Bani). In other words, understanding of God's Hukam is the Realization of His Shabad, Naam or Bani. Therefore, in essence, the Shabad is Hukam and the Hukam is Shabad (Naam or Bani).

When the Shabad expresses through the Realized Souls in poetic expressions of the inexpressible Infinite Truth, it becomes Gurbani (Word-Guru, Shabad-Guru, Celestial Song, Gurmat, Scripture or Granth). Thus, the Gurbani is the manifestation of this very Eternal Shabad. Viewing it from an another angle, the Gurbani can be looked at as an interpreter between the man and the God. It's the mighty river that directly links to the God-Ocean. Although the term "Bani" as appears in the SGGS is predominantly used to indicate "Shabad" or "Naam", but occasionally it may also appear to indicate Gurbani.

Therefore, the Gurbani is a Transcendental Vibratory Sound. Each Sound is like a real hammer-stroke that nails God's Love, Infinite Wisdom (Agaadg Bodh) and Name (Naam or Word), on to the vague comprehension of all early disciples who are genuinely serious in their pursuit of the Absolute Truth. It is a Song-celestial. The Divine Poet in all Masters and Saints is let loose in the 1430 pages of the SGGS. Each verse is sure and striking example, pregnant with the highest all-round ideals and Divine Knowledge (Aatam-Giaan) for the aspirants, capable of dispelling the darkness of ignorance.

The Gurbani is a living Word of God. It's also called Gurmat — the Divine Teaching (Matt). It is Giaan-Kalaa. It is given to the entire mankind to meditate upon it; to feast upon it; and to drink in it! The Aatam-Giaan (Self-knowledge) is boxed in it as fragrance is boxed in a flower. Any devotion (Bhagti) without Self-knowledge is empty as a married life to an eunuch!

Hence the True Gurbani is the Shabd-Guru or God, and True Guru or God is the Gurbani. For that, the Gurbani is not an ordinary poem or song; it is the Divine Word, which has descended to the mankind from the Original Source. Therefore, the Gurbani contained in the SGGS is not a few hundred years old, but it is Timeless as the Akaal Purakh (Timeless Being) Himself. It is as Eternal, Immortal, and Divine as the Supreme Being. It is the Channel of God. It is the Essence of God. Accordingly, it's called Dhur Ki Bani, pronounced as Dhur Kee Baanee.

In fact, in the SGGS, the Baanee is called "Nirankaar" (i.e., Formless Lord), Truth, Amrit, and so on.

From the above verses of the Gurbani, it becomes clear that the Shabad, Guru, Satguru, God, Naam (Divine Name), Divine Light, Word, Anhad-Dhuni, Naad (Divine Sound), Hukam, Bani, etc., are virtually synonymous. It also becomes clear that the Shabad or Naam not only resides in the bosom of all beings, it also pervades the entire creation as butter in the milk, and as fire in the wood. It is the Unstruck Celestial Sound that vibrates, creates, guides, controls, directs, sustains, and animates every particle of the cosmos.

To put it in simple language, the Shabad or Naam is akin to a subtle bridge between the Source and His material universe. One must cross this bridge to go back to his Divine Home ("Nij Ghar") or True Nature (Joti-Svaroopa) within. This is to say that, without Realizing the Essence of the Shabad (Naam, Bani, etc.) within, one can not link with his True Being.

But, as the Gurbani says, rare is the one who, by becoming a Gurmukh (Spiritual Being), reflects on the True Shabad (Naam) within. Rest of us — stumbling around in delusion — search for It in the gross objects of the mirage-like fleeting, perishable or changeful world!

— T. Singh
www.gurbani.org

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Updated on Thursday, August 19, 2010 1:39 PM (PST)

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