After emerging from the dark void, the Maha Sunna, the soul reaches that inner level known as Bhanwar Gupha (Whirling Cave) in the terminology of the eastern mystic adepts. This is the fourth inner realm above the physical plane, and it is a region of spiritual substance with the admixture of very little matter. As the soul progresses onwards, it crosses a high luminous pass above a vortex of spiritual power known as the Hansni tunnel; then it enters the massive entrance of the glorious Rukmini tunnel, and there it beholds an incredibly beautiful structure.
The radiation from this structure impinges upon the sight of the soul, and thereby causes the soul's nirat (power to see) and its surat (power to hear) to attain complete consummation and true peace.
The soul then transcends to a higher level of this spiritual realm, seeing on its right side bright cosmic islands of unfathomable beauty, and on the left side many continents with radiant palaces, which appear to be constructed of pearls, with their top stories fashioned with rubies and studded with emeralds and diamonds. The beauty of all these cosmic scenes fills the soul with a wonderous intoxication. Bhanwar Gupha is ruled by a great spiritual Lord, whose name is translated as "That am I!" in the terminologies used by the mystic adepts of the Middle East and Far East alike. In fact, the Sufi adepts know the entire region as Anahu, which again has the meaning of "That am I!"
It is within the region of Bhanwar Gupha that the soul comes into its fullest realization of its kinship with the Creator, consciously knowing itself as a drop of that divine Essence in the Ocean of all-Spirit.
Maulana Rumi has written about the plaintive strains of a flute, played upon a mountain top, which tells of the separation of the soul from its true Source. The music pervading this realm is that of a supernal flute, and it was this music that sounded in the consciousness of the great Rumi. Nevertheless, here again there is nothing in the physical world that can compare with the beautiful strains of the melody of Bhanwar Gupha.
This enchanting sound emanates from the glorious cosmic mountain which rises majestically above this region, and above which the soul beholds an immense sun that shines with a dazzling white light, thousands and thousands of times more brilliant than the physical sun of our solar system. Of this region Guru Nanak has sung:
Higher still stands Karm Khand,
the Realm of Grace, Here the Word is all in all, and
nothing else prevails.
Here dwell the bravest of the brave,
the conquerors of the mind, filled with love Divine,
Here dwell devotees with devotion,
incomparable as Sita's illumined with beauty ineffable,
All hearts filled with God, they live beyond the reach of
death and delusion.
— THE JAP JI
Bhanwar Gupha is truly a realm of beauty and light, and the souls who dwell there imbibe the elixir of the Sound Current as we on the physical plane take in our daily food and drink. However, Bhanwar Gupha and all the regions below it supercausal, causal, astral and physical must eventually go into dissolution, according to the mystic adepts. Dissolutions of relatively short durations extend to the top of the causal region, whilst the immeasurably long Grand Dissolutions extend through the supercausal realm of Daswan Dwar into the realm of Bhanwar Gupha. And so the aspiring soul must journey further upwards in order to attain true spiritual liberation, for only Sach Khand, the fifth inner region above the physical plane, is unaffected by any cosmic dissolutions, great or small. And Sach Khand is the True Home of the soul.
This purely spiritual region is termed Sat Lok in Hinduism, Muqam-i-Haq (realm of Truth) in the teachings of the Sufi sages of Islam, and Sach Khand (the name used by the Indian mystic adepts or Satgurus) in Sikhism. Sach Khand is entirely devoid of physical, mental and spiritualized matter. In the words of the mystic adepts it is "unchanging and eternal; all joy and all bliss; all wisdom and all love; the Abode of God. Here, in ineffable wonder, dwell the perfected spiritual beings and the supreme saints of all time." Guru Nanak has said: "Here dwell the Bhagats or Sages drawn from all regions, who rejoice in the True One and live in eternal bliss."
In Bhanwar Gupha, the realm below Sach Khand, there are eighty thousand universes, and the inhabitants of these universes are all followers of spiritual adepts who have themselves attained access to that region. But in Sach Khand itself, tens of millions of spheres come under the benign rule of the True Lord, and cosmic Isles of the Blessed revolve around this realm, as our tiny earth circles its own sun.
These spheres are the abodes of hansas, pure souls who have never descended to lower planes. In Guru Nanak's words:
Sach Khand or the Realm of Truth
is the seat of the Formless One.
Here He creates all creations, rejoicing in creating.
Here are many regions, heavenly
systems and universes,
To count which were to count the countless;
Here, out of the Formless,
The heavenly plateaux and all else
come into form,
All destined to move according to
His Will.
He who is blessed with this vision,
rejoices in its contemplation.
But, O Nanak, such is its beauty
that to try to describe it is to
attempt the impossible.
— THE JAP JI
The Lord of Sach Khand is known in the oriental terminology as Sat Purusha, the True Being. The esoteric scriptures state that this Lord of Love radiates a light that is equivalent to the light of billions of suns, although this is still a poor description of Him, for He is beyond the capacity of human language or intellect to describe. Sat Purusha directs and controls the creation and dissolution of the entire cosmic system of universes beneath Him, but His own realm is immune from any such change. This True Being ultimately draws His power from the highest Lord of all, known to the mystic adepts as Anami Purusha, the Nameless One.
Sach Khand can only be inadequately described in the language of poetic imagery and symbolism, for the mystic adepts state that there are no possible comparisons that can be made with even the most beautiful things in this world. Sach Khand is the Father's House, and the Father is Sat Purusha, and the soul is an emanation from Sat Purusha, from Whom it descended eons ago. According to the mystic adepts, the soul has the light of sixteen suns and moons combined when it reaches this realm.
Guru Nanak has sung of the region of Sat Purusha in his inspired hymn:
How wonderful Thy gates:
how wonderful Thy mansion,
From whence Thou watchest
Thy great Creation.
Countless the instruments and harmonies that play therein,
Countless the measures,
countless the singers that sing Thy praises.
— THE JAP JI
Swami Ji has also described the palace of Sat Purusha as a fortress-like structure of ineffable beauty. In Swami Ji's description, the pilgrim soul must locate the supreme Lord of Love upon His throne when he arrives at that region, and must know the Lord of Love as the True Lord of the entire universe of universes. Swami Ji has described the wonderful fields and parks of the forecourts of the palace of Sat Purusha, but again repeats that the scenery thereof is utterly indescribable in earthly terms. Reservoirs of spiritual nectar abound on this plane, from below which f(ow abundant rivers of light to supply distant regions with spiritual sustenance. Golden palaces appear to hover above cosmic gardens of silvery light, and the beauty of the hansas, the pure souls who dwell there, is incomprehensible.
The pilgrim soul advances to the vestibule of the palace of the Lord of Love, Sat Purusha, and a guardian hansa enquires of the newcomer how he managed to reach this lofty region.
The soul replies that it came to the holy feet of a mystic adept or Satguru, when it was dwelling on earth, and the mystic adept bestowed upon him the inner knowledge of that high realm. The soul is then led into the palace, where he confronts a shining lotus of ineffable beauty. A voice sounds from the central light of the lotus and asks the soul its identity and for what purpose or object it has ascended to that region.
Swami Ji describes the soul's reply as: "I met a Satguru and he gave me full instructions. Through his kindness I now have the privilege of your darshan (blessed sight)."
It is now revealed to the soul that he is truly in the presence of Sat Purusha, Whom he now recognizes as the spiritual power that ensouled the mystic adept on earth and in the lower spiritual realms. The soul now rejoices at his supreme good fortune and derives great pleasure from the spiritual sight, or darshan, of the Lord of Love.
Then the Supreme Lord informs the soul of the mysteries of the higher regions, and with His own spiritual power of love He aids the soul on its further ascent through these regions. The mystic adepts have said that the music of Sach Khand may be compared to that of a vina; all the spiritual masters who have spoken of Sach Khand have testified to the enrapturing wonder of its music. Like its heavenly music, the light of Sach Khand is inexpressible in worldly language, even in terms of billions of suns.
The mystic adept who initiated the aspiring soul into the mysteries of the beyond thus has the duty of accompanying the soul safely to its True Home, Sach Khand. Thereafter, it is Sat Purusha Who infuses His own divine energy into the soul and sends it into the higher spiritual regions of Alakh Lok (Invisible Region), Agam Lok (Inaccessible Region), and Anami Lok (Nameless Region, which is the highest spiritual realm of all.) To all intents and purposes the spiritual aspirant can only grasp the concept of Sach Khand as being the highest spiritual realm, and it is certainly a region of pure spirit and the True Home of the soul. Nonetheless, the mystic adepts speak of the three higher realms beyond Sach Khand, although they deem it completely pointless to endeavor descriptions or explanations of these realms of spirituality.
Sufficient to say that, through the grace of Sat Purusha, the soul is impelled into the next spiritual region of Alakh Lok, and then proceeds to the cosmic palace of Alakh Purusha, Lord of that realm. When the soul has received the darshan of Alakh Purusha, it goes higher to Agam Lok, where it beholds the Lord of that region, Agam Purusha, and receives His darshan, Again the mystic adepts endeavor to describe the radiance of these regions in terms of billions and billions of suns. Concerning the final region of Anami Lok, the mystic adepts keep silent.
In a few words Swami Ji has said:
"From one step to another, the soul beholds strange things which cannot be described in human language. Every region and everything is utterly beyond words. What beauty and glory! How can I describe them? There is nothing here to convey the idea. I am helpless!"
The soul has now beheld the ruling Lord of each of the spiritual realms beyond Sach Khand, and it has united its own being with them. This is the summum bonum of the Mystical Path of Love, for the mystic adepts have said that love is the supreme power in these holy regions. When asked about Anami Lok, Swami Ji said simply: "It is All Love!"
Thus, on the Mystical Path of Love, the combination of the mystic adept and the Shabd lead to jivan mukti, or spiritual liberation, and the ascension of the soul to its True Home. If the spiritual aspirant faithfully fulfills the mystic adept's commandments, if he lives completely the way of love, this spiritual liberation may be completed in one lifetime. The aspirant will hear the continuous symphony of love, the supernal Music of the Spheres, and he will realize that his true Self and the divine Word is of one and the same essence.
The music is so glorious that the chattering of the unregenerate mind is stilled and the focus of the soul is absorbed completely within the audible life stream, and is thereby drawn upwards beyond the planes of mind and matter.
As the aspirant rises into the higher realms of life, he discovers that this is indeed the only true freedom to which a human being can aspire. It is the freedom from bondage to his lower self, the fears, fantasies, hatreds, preferences and dreams which haunt him as he walks the long road of recurring births and deaths. Man, individually and collectively, can never be truly free on this physical plane of existence; only the individual who has attained higher spiritual consciousness, fulfilling his true birthright, has attained freedom in the most complete sense of the word.
The liberated soul may never again be enslaved by the false appetites of the lower self or by the machinations of those who believe that they control the transient world of man by virtue of their own temporal power.
Spiritual consciousness is both the reason and the summit of man's evolution, and its nature is beyond words, which are merely invented symbols of human ideation, for it is a truly wordless and timeless state of beatitude. He who has attained this spiritual consciousness knows at the very center of his being that he is a free spirit, living in the eternal realms of spiritual
liberation. He has risen on that celestial symphony of the spirit, as Guru Nanak has reiterated:
By practice of the Word, one rises
to universal consciousness and
develops right understanding;
By practice of the Word, one develops
clairvoyance and transvision of the whole creation;
By practice of the Word, one is
freed from sorrow and suffering.
— THE JAP JI
Once he has transcended physical consciousness, the spiritual aspirant becomes fully aware of this tonal power of the universe.
In the inner realms its radiant tones are experienced as a miraculous mosaic of subtle energies, sounding lights and luminous tones. As Kabir has said: "The natural inner music is continuously flowing of itself, but only a rare soul knows of this communion; the true simran consists in the perpetual attunement of the soul with the inner music without any outer aid. He who contacts this hidden crest-jewel is our true friend."
Through contact with this inner music the aspirant loses his lesser identity and eventually becomes "at One with God." Though he continues to live out his allotted span in this world, he is "in the world but not of it," being a jivan mukti, a liberated being. He is no longer an impotent slave of the mind and the senses, but is established in true Godhead. He lives perpetually in the divine light of the spirit and listens constantly to the divine music in his soul. Eventually he returns to Sach Khand, the Abode of Bliss or Muqam-i-Haq, the home and source of the sounding light and of the soul itself. The spiritual aspirant is now a conscious and liberated soul. This is the true Salvation, Moksha or Nirvana, in the ultimate and most complete sense of all.