On Nitnem Sahib: Give yourself a beautiful song to sing!

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

श्री भगवान भजे बिनु भूपतय,एक रात-ई बिनु एक न लेखई।

~ तव प्रसाद सवैए (नितनेम साहिब )

Without reciting the name of God, even though he be a King, any effort to meet Him leads to nowhere.

~ Tav-Prasad Savaiye (Nitnem Sahib)

Question: Acharya Ji, Pranaam! Nitnem praises the Supreme Lord, and Nanak Ji says that remembering God is important. I remember that you have also mentioned the importance of continuous remembrance of Truth.

For me, a stupid song or a catchy tune playing somewhere gets stuck in the brain, and loops for hours. I don’t even like the song necessarily. Some days I have gone to the bed with the tune in my head, and when I wake up the tune resumes again.

How do I make my brain loop with the Truth and the Supreme Lord twenty-four into seven into three-hundred-sixty-five?

Please guide me.

Acharya Prashant: First of all, good. You are already closing in a bit. So what happens is that we hear something, it could be a catchy tune, or some issue, or somebody’s words, or whatever, and then it just starts going around in a circuit. As you said that it starts going around in a loop within.

And here are the Gurus telling you, “Without reciting the name of God, even though he be a King, any effort to meet Him leads to nowhere.”

Guru Gobind Sahib is advising you that you must continuously recite the name of God. And instead of the name of God, what is it in circulation within? Some random tune, some miscellaneous issue, some incidental word, some common song.

And you are asking, “How do I make my brain loop on the Truth and the Supreme Lord continuously, twenty-four into seven into three sixty-five?” I like this — twenty-four into seven into three-sixty-five. It’s simple. In fact, your question contains the answer.

The mind has a tendency to zero in upon something.