God cannot be known by the outgoing faculties, by the intellect or the vital airs called the pranas.
He can be known only by the soul: like alone can know the like. When is the soul liberated? When it is analysed from mind and the outgoing faculties.

Sant Kirpal Singh

Devotion to Naam is the only true worship

From the book "Naam or Word", written by Sant Kirpal Singh


The significance of Naam (the true devotion of God) cannot be put in words:

Rare indeed is the devotion to Naam (or Hari),
We cannot do full justice to the greatness of Naam.

GURU AMAR DAS

Naam alone is immaculate and everything else is of no consequence. What then can we give in offering?

But we are all as an unclean thing,
And all our righteousness are as filthy rags.

ISAIAH

Whatever we say and utter in praise of Naam is inade­quate. The entire mankind is indeed engaged in singing praises of Naam and in the performance of devotional exercises. But as all this is being done on the intellectual level and on the plane of the senses, it does not bear any appreciable fruit. A rare soul here and there, who is born anew through Naam or the Power of God, is truly immac­ulate. Only such a devotion is acceptable at His Court. There is no other devotion like that. Such a soul always cries out:

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
THE PSALMS

The Bible tells us,
The Word of God is quick (living) and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and interests of the heart.

As we do not know what Naam is and its true significance, we live as if in a dome of many-coloured glass which by its bewildering effect deludes the senses. All our prayers are but a confused jargon, and our words, though loud and strong, vanish into thin air and yield no results.

Everyone does worship but on the sensual plane only, and so gets no results,
But absorption in the Naam purifies the mind and bears fruit in abundance,
Those who are devotees of the Naam are truly pure and beloved of the Lord,
But for Naam all other worship goes in vain, and the people at large are deluded.
The beloved of the Master (Gurumukh) knows him­self
by coming in contact with the all-pervading Word (Naam).
The Immaculate Lord Himself becoming the guide contacts the soul with the Sound Current,
Those who worship with no proper guidance, remain wandering in the realm of duality,
A devotee of the Master alone knows the Path and bows before His Will.

GURU AMAR DAS