Focus
An Explanation by Maharaj Sawan Singh in Spiritual Gems
Simran of worldly things to which man is accustomed is to be changed into simran of the names in the focus. This must narrow down the mind and this is what is called concentration. And there is no reason, if the mind sticks to the focus and is engaged therein in simran or hearing the current, that the extremities of the body – the hands, feet, arms, legs – and finally the trunk of the body – should not go numb.
There is nothing to feel disheartened about. We are up against mind, the mind that keeps all souls out of the focus. Kings, dictators, presidents, the commoners, and all are running outside the focus. Yogis, sanyasis, ascetics, and philosophers fail to catch it. War is the outcome of the mind running wild. It prevents the soul from rising up. It is the veil that hangs between our soul and our Creator. Now we have found it out, its true nature. It is our enemy. We are at war with it and we are to capture it. Guru, the experienced warrior and veteran, is guiding and supporting us. He has armed us with Nam – the sound current, the current that is finer than the mind current. So long as our attention holds the sound current, the mind is still; and as our hold on it gets firmer, the soul gets stronger and gains supremacy over the mind. In time the position is reversed – the mind becomes a faithful servant of the soul.
In our ignorance and weakness, we strengthen the lower mind. The Master awakens the slumbering soul, develops in us our latent strength, through the practice of simran and Nam current, and makes us fight our weaknesses and overcome them here, thereby making us fit to enter the eye focus and go beyond. Step by step he brings us to the pitch that with the exception of the Guru and the Nam, everything else becomes a superficiality and ceases to have a hold on us.
When we are away from the Master and the satsang, the world imperceptibly impresses itself on us so much that, in spite of our regularly giving time to simran and Nam, we often begin to feel discouraged, dry, and desolate. In such a state faith and love are our support; and if faith is firm, the Master responds. He is always with us – within us – watches as a mother watches her child. So long as we are on this side of the focus, we do not see him working. But he is doing his duty.
Your worries and cares are Master’s worries and cares. Leave them to him to deal with. Having become carefree, your business is to cultivate his love. He is not going to let you drift. You will go up.
Examine your mind – the thoughts it secretes and the things it runs after. When in bhajan, the mind must do bhajan and nothing else. The door of the tenth gate opens automatically when mind and soul go in that direction and knock at it. If they run in another direction, the door remains shut. Nam is the rendezvous for all beings. It cures all sorts of ills. Guru Nanak says, “The whole world is miserable. Only he is happy who has taken to Nam.”