To attain that higher state of 'sehej', one has to put in a lot of devotion to meditate on Waheguru. The mind is to be instructed in the wisdom of the Guru so that the soul could be enlightened through Gurbani. The True One is realised through the purity of the soul. If we link our souls with the Supreme Soul (Waheguru) and have full faith in Him, He will shower divine peace and bliss on us.
Nanak differentiates between body and soul
Besides the body, there is an entity, which has consciousness. This conscious entity uses its body as an assemblage of sense organs (Nose, Ears, Eyes, Tongue and Skin) and action organs (Feet, Hands, Mouth, private organs). It experiences pleasures and pains through these organs of the body. This is called the soul, and the body is constituted of the five elements of matter- Fire, Earth, Water, Air and Ether (Sky).
The soul perceives objects through the senses of smell, hearing, seeing, taste and touch. The soul makes judgements and acts through the appropriate mechanism of the brain and the body.
Thus, Guru Ram Das differentiates the body from the soul using the simile of bride and bridegroom:
• "The body bride is clung to the rambler groom. She is involved with him and enjoys peace and pleasure. Through the coincidence of past actions, they have met together and indulge in festivity.
• "Whatever the groom does, to that, the bride forthwith submits. Adorning the bride, the groom keeps her with himself. Meeting together day and night, they dwell in concert and the husband comforts his wife.
• "On the bride's demand, the spouse runs in many ways. Whatever he finds, he comes and shows that to his bride. Unto one thing, he can reach not and so the bride remains hungry and thirsty.
• "Joining both her hands, the bride makes supplication. O my groom, go you not abroad and dwell you in home (body). Transact you such a business within the home that may rid me of hunger and thirst."
• "All rituals and religious rites the bride performs in this age, but without the Lord's Nectar, she finds not even an iota of peace. When, O Nanak, through saints' association, the Lord becomes merciful, then the bride and groom enjoy peace and pleasure."
• "The bride is blind and the groom restless and wise. Of the five elements, the creation (body) is created. The business for which you have come, that is received only from the Guru (God).
• "Says the bride, "O my blissful, young and dear groom, bide you ever with me. Without you, I am of no account, so give me your word, that leaving me you shall go nowhere."
• "Says the groom, "I am bound by my Commander (God). He is my great Master, who fears none and depends not on anyone. As long as He shall keep, so long I shall bide with you. When He summons me, then shall I rise up and depart."
• "Though the groom utters the true words to his bride, being restless and inexperienced she understands not anything. Repeatedly, she asks for the company of her groom and deems the words as a mere yoke.
• "The order arrives and the groom is called back. He consults not his bride nor asks her opinion. He gets up and marches off and the discarded bride mingles with dust. See, O Nanak, the falsity of worldly-love and hope." (Guru Granth Sahib, pp. 1072-73)
Communion of soul with the Supreme Soul in equipoise
The soul, therefore, is an entity that has existence separate from the body but it has committed the error of identifying with the body. Body-consciousness (Haumai) leads to fear, anger, tension, and unsteady state of Mind and to vices: sex-lust, wrath, greed, worldly attachment and ego.
So, Nanak seeks the refuse of Him, who is Destroyer of sorrow and pain; who makes him merry and whom Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh dwell upon and whom thirty-three crores gods remember. Guru Nanak, thus, becomes a young bride of his Lord to establish a communion with Him, when he says:
• "Intoxicated with the wine of the prime of youth, I know not that I am but a guest at my parents' home. My soul is soiled with sins, and without the Guru, virtues enter not my mind. I know not my Groom; I see not His Home and Vision. My Beloved's celestial bliss pleases me not. Nanak, in the tender age, I am going without the Spouse. O father, wed me to God, I like Him as my Spouse, I belong to Him and am devoted unto my Lord."
• Guru Nanak says that the Lord enjoys the virtuous brides and keeps afar from the unchaste ones. God's bride is ever a happy spouse, she is widowed not, nor bears she dirty clothes.
• "O father, have the auspicious moment calculated, when I too may go to my in-laws."
• The marriage moment is that, which the Lord fixes by Order. The Groom, the illustrious member of the marriage party, is the Purifier of the mortals and is the Lord of three worlds.
• "The father has married me afar and I am delighted to see near my Beloved, Who enjoys me and in His Home (Paramdham) I look beauteous. My True and Beloved Spouse wanted me and He has united me with Himself. My intellect is now rendered perfect and very sublime. I have obtained a comfortable place. I have been rendered virtuous through the Guru-given gnosis. Chastity, contentment and truthfulness I ever gather in my lap and my Spouse loves me for my true speech (Bani). Nanak, I shall not now suffer pain through separation and by Guru's instructions (Gurmat) shall I merge into my Groom's lap."
Regarding the descending of the Groom, Nanak says:
• "My Spouse has come into my house, the place is adorned and His Name (Word) has harmonised mine affairs. Applying the salve of the great elixir of gnosis to mine eyes, I have seen the Lord's form in the three worlds. Meet me, O my mates, and sing with zest the songs of rejoicing for my Spouse has come into my house. My mind and body are bedewed with Nectar. O the Supreme Lord, true is Your play. True is Your play, who else can make me, understand You?"
• "O my Lord, I have faith in You. Seeing Your Sight, I have become desireless and my pain of birth and death is ended. Nanak, I am a sacrifice unto my Friend, the true ones He comes home to meet."
• Nanak says that when the Friend comes into the home, then is the bride pleased and greatly renewed in the association of virtues. The perfect Lord Creator destroys her sins and roofs her home with virtues. (Guru Granth Sahib, pp. 763-65)
Heart to heart conversation with God
Thus, the young bride has found her Bridegroom, and her hope and aspirations are fulfilled. It is virtually a dialogue with God in Sehej- a ripple of heart to heart conversations with Him during the ambrosial hours (Amritvela) of the day. It is an equipoise phase where that one is charged with His Presence. This Blissful State is a pleasure of the highest order beyond any sensuous pleasures of this mammoth world. And that is why it is called the sweet of the dumb because its taste cannot be explained in words but can only be felt and experienced in the state of equipoise:
"Great are one's pleasures, in Sehej," says Guru Nanak, in Srirag.
God-realisation is a person's highest destiny, and it can come by first dying to the self. The implication is that for entering the soul, dying to the self is a necessary requirement. The loveful remembrance of God kills the ego and paves the way to merge with Him. Then the soul comes to perfect equipoise position or cosmic balance. This position is called the Sehej where it gets concordant with the Almighty.
