The Word

This passage by the Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan appeared on page 181-182 of the “Mind, Mantra and Meditation” section of the book, The Man Called the Siri Singh Sahib, which was published in 1979:

What is God?  God is a word.  That is why it is said, ‘In the beginning there was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’  The whole Christian society reads that quotation from John, but nobody understands it.  I am aware of it.  Because if you just understand that God is a Word, that every word is a word, so whatever word you utter, you utter like God, then there will be peace and harmony, beauty and love on the earth.   

If you could start uttering words as God is, because God is the Word, then all problems would vanish.  You know how simple this truth is?  What is God?  It is a word; it consists of three letters.  Is that true or not?   

And in the whole dictionary, how many words are there? Thousands of them.  Among those thousands of words there is the one word which is ‘God’.  

So, this is a family of words.  If all words are like that and if you select and choose your words, and you utter your words with the consciousness that it is a given unit of the psychic situation of your life and existence, you can bring peace to yourself.  When yourself is in peace, then all the surroundings shall be in peace. 

Now you must know one thing:  Everybody hates himself, and then uses another man to express it.  Nobody loves anybody.  Everybody loves himself and uses another man to express himself.  This has to be deeply understood.  Those who hate you need more compassion because they are only using you.  In reality they are definitely in a deep hatred of themselves. 

There is no way you can learn it, but you must acknowledge the foundation of the word.  Only then will your building of life, which is a personality, be okay.  If you do not learn all your life to choose your words, and to express yourself through words, this world does not belong to you.  This world, w-o-r-l-d, belongs to only those who have learned the knowledge of the word. 

The word is a very powerful thing.  Each word can carry you further upward or each word can put you down into the depths.  You have a car and it may have four hundred horsepower, but there is an equally strong mechanism in the brakes.  The car may be going at full speed, but if you want to stop it, you’ll stop it right then and there.  Exactly that energy is in the word. 

A word is very energetic.  You have to choose to apply it.  And you also should have the power to withdraw it; you should have the power not to let it out of this gate, the mouth.  If unexpected words leave you from this mouth, they can cause you to leave this world.  Nothing can hurt more than the word.  Nothing can repair more than the word.  Nothing can enlighten a person more than the word.  Nothing can damn a person more than the word.  The highest science is the science of the word.  That is why they say, “Those who praise the Lord on this earth are praised on this Earth all the way.” 

What is awareness?  Awareness is the selection of the word.  Your words should express your spirit, because it takes praanaa to speak the word. Prananaas are given to you by the Infinity, and they are given to you to work in the finite.  So, when you utter a word, you create a contact within and without.  That is the secret of within and without.  If a person does not learn this great secret, every other learning does not mean a thing to him.  Isn’t it a far-out situation?  Because nothing you gain and nothing you lose means anything if the word is not known to you. 

For example, if somebody does a great favor to you out of love, and you don’t thank him, you just miss those words, ‘Thank You’, that person will convert into an enemy.  Or, if there is an enemy who comes and stabs you, and you say,’ Thank You’, and even though the other blade is ready, if you say, ‘Why don’t you use that one too?’, his knife will fall from his hand. 

 The fact is that when you tell somebody you love him or her, whatever the case is, in reality, you know that you don’t love that person, but you do use the word.  And the power of the word is that it hypnotizes the consciousness of the other person.  The word ‘love’ is so powerful!  Through experience and through time, we get betrayed, hurt, exploited, whatever you want to call it.  But the power of the word ‘love’ is that it lets you do whatever you want to do.  Don’t you understand the power of this word? 

When you ask for guidance from your teacher and he gives it, then obey.  When he commands, act.  That’s the greatest philosophy in life.  You cannot command if you do not know how to obey.  You know, in the company of the holy, learn to control your holes.  This very big hole, the mouth, needs a lot of control.  It’s priceless to know what to say because everything is a vibration of the word.  The choice of the word can make or mar a thing.