I, Me, Myself, my Guru and my God

  

30th November 2020 was the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak ji, whose disciples are known as the Sikhs.

A few acquaintances of ours wanted to accompany and join us in the celebrations of the Guru's birthday. So we set off for the 'Gurudwara', (Sikh congregation hall) where they could partake in the prayers and the singing of hymns and receive some prasad.

I remembered a similar visit of Gurpurab about a decade ago.

My chest expanded with pride, as I answered their questions about Sikhism and the Gurus. On and on, I went about religion, My God, My Guru. Suddenly I had an epiphany. I realised and felt very foolish as I realised that not only was I boasting, as a Sikh I was taking  ownership of God, Guru, and all of Creation.

It dawned upon me that my expression was just the jabbering of a petty, arrogant and unawakened mind. Foolishly rather mindlessly like countless myopic followers of various faiths  I too was blinded by my arrogance, I too was trying to usurp not only God and Guru, but everything I came into contact with.

'My Guru, my God, my Faith'. How could I for even a fraction of a moment presume that all these belonged only to me?  Me, an insignificant piece of creation was now claiming exclusive ownership over Guru, God, all Creation.

Guru Nanak ji, was not a Sikh Guru, he was a Jagat Guru. A Guru for the entire universe. I realised I had begun my journey as a Sikh (student), leaving the path of the follower to become a disciple. Luckily my companions did not comment. They either did not notice or were too gracious to overlook my ignorance.

Anyone who knows God cannot describe God. Anyone who can describe God does not know God.

Where did her soul come from?

Many of us wonder what happens to all the knowledge which the being acquires during a lifetime?  What happens when a person dies.

What is it that dies?
What happens to the knowledge that we acquire in a lifetime?
What happens to the soul?

____________________

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The real life story of my niece, Harpreet.


No one can say with certainty what happens. My learning, and experience leads me to the following understanding.

For us humans each one of us is made up of  3 components, they are body, mind and soul.
Think of the three travelling together in a vehicle.
The soul is the silent, non participating owner,  master, and passenger.
The body with the brain is the vehicle.

The human brain is like a computer hardware, it's just a processor.  As with all creatures the human brain comes at birth with a certain prepackaged set of biological instructions that facilitates body function. These are breathing, vision, digestion, sleep, etc.

Humans are the only known creatures to possess imagination and consciousness.
Therefore unlike other animals, we alone have the potential to evolve and be more than the mere biological functions that we are born with.

I would like to clarify here, that what we think of as the mind is not the brain.  All evolution, knowledge, and wisdom is generated, experienced, and stored by the mind.
The mind is in every cell of our body. For we begin life from a single cell multiplying into approximately  5 trillion cells. Each cell is a living being.

The mind is a continuously expanding software program both in memory storage and in processing capability.
The mind is the driver of the vehicle.


The mind because it's an extension of the body also perishes when the body perishes.
The mind is constantly expanding its knowledge but its function is the protection, enhancement of the body and to provide direction and pace to the soul.

Therefore the consequences of our actions and inactions, which we call as Karma, the mind sets the direction and location of where the soul will travel to, and what support and resistance it will receive in its journey.

Because of excessive or under stimulus to the body and mind caused by pollution, chemicals, drugs, and unnatural lifestyle, the body,  and the mind cannot communicate effectively. As a result the mind tends to become confused, or worse, deadened, which loses most of its connection with the soul the master.

To continue with our analogy of the vehicle to explain.
Like a drunken driver in a bad vehicle, the mind is unable to direct nor control the vehicle. As a result the master is flung about and out onto the road.

This soul which has no vehicle lands itself in another new vehicle. It then begins another journey in another time and place.
With the death of the body the mind also perishes.

The '[Atman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ātman_%28Hinduism%29)' (soul) feels nothing, remembers nothing, its only function is to provide consciousness.

Having said that, there are two real life examples directly from my own circle of life. which oppose what I have just mentioned. Therein lies the dichotomy.

With Ayurveda and all forms of healthy living permits the mind, body and soul working together as whole (hence holy). The ancients in many parts of the world learnt that the mind and body can unshackle the soul from the body and mind at will.

Sometimes but rarely the mind can go with the 'Atman'. They can journey together.

My niece Harpreet (name changed) was born a day after her mother witnessed a horrific road accident of a young woman hit by a speeding bus and died later that night in the hospital.
My cousin shocked by having witnessed the accident immediately  went into labour and was rushed to hospital. She delivered my niece Harpreet a day later with great difficulty.

When she was born Harpreet had extensive blue and black marks over her body, particularly the thighs, the chest, abdomen, stomach, and on the back.

Fortunately for Harpreet now 41 years of age,  most of the blue and black marks began to fade away starting from age 4 and almost disappeared by the time she was 8. She still has some light marks on her thigh and stomach.

A strange thing happened when she was 2. She kept on crying 'longing for her children', often saying "My children are hungry, they are missing me. I want to go to them."

At first Harpreet's behaviour was cute and entertaining, but soon the parents grew concerned and then seized by panic.

At first they felt that she had become possessed by some evil spirits. However that thought ran counter to what a lifetime of Sikhism had taught them. They had faith in the Guru.

Her parents religious Sikh were deeply concerned. All sorts of prayers were offered. She was taken to various pilgrimages, but the child kept on moaning and wailing. After about 6 months, a wise old aunt counselled the parents not to dismiss Harpreet's utterances. Maybe they should probe further.

The aunt conversed with now 3 year old Harpreet and tried to make sense of her uttering.
Surprisingly Harpreet was able to describe the area and landmarks near the place where her children lived. A bit of detective work and they reached the place and the child pointed the way until they reached a small but decent house in the old city part of Pune.


Speaking to neighbours and the residents of the house. It emerged that the house was that of the young lady that had died in the bus accident which my cousin had witnessed.

At the home of the deceased woman Harpreet was almost instantly drawn to and became friendly and loving towards the 3 children of the home.
The husband and the in-laws of the deceased young lady confirmed that she had died after the horrible accident because of a lot of internal bleeding making her entire body black and blue.

Harpreet's father could not reconcile himself with the contradiction with what he had witnessed and what he had grown up learning. After they returned home he announced that never again would the family discuss this matter again with anyone.

However the matter is most important and relevant and I have shared it after taking permission of Harpreet on the condition that her real name and details would never be revealed.

____________________________________

Written and Posted: July 2020  by ~ Gurvinder Singh.
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Ref: G0612

Who are You?

During his reign as emperor of China, Emperor Wu of Liang (502–549 AD) embraced and promoted the golden age of Chinese Buddhism. He came to be seen as the Chinese counterpart of the Indian Buddhist Emperor Ashoka the Great. 

Bodhidharma, the first Zen patriarch of China, came to visit Emperor Wu around 520 AD.

The emperor told Bodhidharma, " I have built numerous temples and given financial support to the monastic community. Please tell me how much merit will I get for these deeds?"

Bodhidharma replied, "None whatsoever.You have not done anything out of piety nor out of wanting to do good. Pretending to do good you only wanted to purchase merit, but remember that merit cannot be purchased."

Furious and perplexed, the emperor asked Bodhidharma, "Who are you to tell me such things? I demand to know, who are you?'

Bodhidharma replied, "Your Majesty, I don't know."

What can be learnt from this great historical encounter?

'Know thyself and then be thyself'. 

Everyday we have people who do not know who they themselves are, telling others what to be or become. 

Even those who know a little about themselves are trapped in a state of confusion, trying to be someone else.

Who are we? 

We are nothing, but existence at play.

We are given a name, a religion, a country, a race, various official qualifications, a work title and finally a social title. In the end we will die to be relegated to the dustbin of existence, clueless about who we really are.

We know we are nothing, and we will remain nothing. Everything is given to us by others. All that is given to us will one day be taken away from us. 

So we create this delusional concept that we are something or someone, who is going to journey to some far away place, where we will be surrounded by sweet music, where angels dance for us, where rivers of alcohol flow. In paradise we will feast and dine on the most wonderful of foods and be attended to, by beautiful virgins who will ceaselessly fulfil our every sexual desire.

Somehow this ridiculous notion survives, and we ridiculously foolish humans, lap it up and swear by it.  So we will go out there, maim, kill, destroy for our place in this fantasy called heaven and 'paradise'.

Even as we know we are nothing, we believe so greatly in our puny intellect to analyse and discover the so called reason of our existence. 

The birds, the flowers and the animals never ask this question nor do the seasons, the sea, and win. They bestow unconditionally their wonderful grace and sometimes their awesome fury upon us.

Who are you? 

Spiritually speaking shorn of all those props and labels, you are merely another nobody, just like me. Someone who is on a journey from birth to death in a body that is perishing slowly by the moment.

Let us just, live and let live. Find harmony and balance between us and our world. To celebrate life, amongst its splendid wonders and bounty, and to die happily. 

If there is a paradise, heaven or a hell, it is here and now.

Truth is not attained, it is realised.

'The Truth lies within us'. What did the Gurus and masters mean by that?

What did Jesus mean when he said, "The kingdom of God lies within us"?

Therein lies the answer. God called by a thousand names in numerous language are just another name for the Truth.

Truth is not an acquisition that has to be sought. It is not a goal to be attained. 

It is a realisation and an awakening. 

If truth cannot be attained, then how is it realised?

To be truly happy and liberated, then to the core of our being we must travel.

Answers, we will not find outside of ourselves, but only within.

We must journey within ourselves. We must abandon all that is not the truth.

To travel inwards we must get rid of all that is superfluous to our being.

What are these superfluous elements?

Its important note that anything that comes and goes is not us.

Our possessions, attachments, desires, and anger, they are things that will come and go. We believe that they are us, but they are not. They are mere acquisitions. These are the things that will not permit us to journey within ourselves.

Then there is the ego, the 'I'.

As long as the 'I' exists, it inhibits us from discovering the truth. When we let go of the ego as the Guru explains, the truth is realised not by seeking but by letting go. This is because we do not enter the divine, but make ourselves open to let the divine emerge from within us.

Hence the symbol of Truth is represented by the 1000 petalled lotus. Each petal as it opens represents the unfurling of a falsehood and an untruth shedding away.

What are the falsehoods that we pursue to arrive at the Truth?

Rote learning of scriptures, rituals, pilgrimages, mere muttering of prayers, endless intellectual discussions and debates about the truth, contemplation, patronising charity, pursuit of power, influence, wealth, lust, anger attachments, ego, tolerance etc. 

What are the pathways to realise the truth?

We cannot find these pathways by our seeking. 

As the Guru says, "Sat Sri Akal" meaning 'Truth is God'. Just be truthful in every thought, and action.  Work, live, play and meditate truthfully. 

The pathways to the Divine, the Truth automatically emerges when we are truthful.

We will know that it is the right path when we become compassionate, friendly, loving natural, and develop not a tolerance but respect for all people, all creatures, all things, in fact all of existence.

Once upon a time I was young, very successful, had significant wealth, socially busy and a member of a large family. Then over a few years everything simply fell apart and slipped away. 

I became a pauper, only my wife, sons and a handful of individuals stood by me. I became socially undesirable. This entire world was too small a place for me to retreat into.

Wallowing in self pity, I developed an intense negativity about everyone, everything and life itself. When this happens, at first one is seized with incredible rage, wanting to unleash destruction on all and sundry.  I came to appreciate, how mass murderers were created. Thankfully this insane phase ebbed away as I lacked the time and resources to give effect to the entities that had brutalised my being. 

I had to survive, so like a drowning man I struggled and I struggled, but to little avail. 

I met with people and institutions who I believed had the power to make all my problems go away. They had the necessary placebo effect on me. 

Though my actions were directed outwards, my thoughts flowed inwards, constantly contemplating. Nothing exhausts a man more than negative thoughts and all this blame game was consuming me still further.  

Nothing in our lives is useless, all that contemplation worked as a catharsis.  I realised that  unless we expel all the negativity within us, there is little or no scope for the positive to enter our being.  

I concluded that I  alone was responsible for my situation and there was no worldly solution to my anguish. 

When all worldly doorways shut , there is always one doorway, the spiritual  which opens to the true seeker.  

Eventually I surrendered to the force that moves the stars and the planets. The energy that gave life to each being and the mystical power that makes events unfold. I realised the Truth, which is called by a million names in a thousand languages as God.

The doorway lay in my own being, where the little drop I was merged into the infinitely vast ocean of God. I found that through silence, then meditation.

When one surrenders, the fight goes out of us, we are emptied of everything. Emptied of  all emotion, all thought, all desire all wants and needs.

The less I seek the emptier I become. I am attaining nothing yet I am awakening and realising the  infinite.

It will pass

We will always see the divine in the form we have been taught all our lives in our places of study and worship or in our literature and art.  
If that should happen, then we should know that we are not experiencing the divine. 

The human mind is so powerful that it easily fools even us ourselves. When we desperately long for something, our mind is easily capable of conjuring it up for us. 

Our minds are very powerful, therefore it projects whatever we desperately seek. We feel we are conscious but in reality we hallucinate.

It is not necessary for us to seek the truth, like insects we can be born and like insects we can die. However if we wish to be truly happy and liberated, then to the core of our being we must travel.

Answers we will not find outside of ourselves, but only within.  
To travel inwards we must get rid of all that is superfluous to our being. 
What are these superfluous elements?

Its important note that anything that comes and goes is not us. 
Our possessions, attachments, desires, and anger, they are things that will come and go. We believe that they are us, but they are not. They are mere acquisitions. These are the things that will not permit us to journey within ourselves.

Then there is the ego, the 'I'.  
As long as the 'I' exists it inhibits us from discovering the truth. When we let go of the ego 
As the Guru explains, the truth is realised not by seeking but by letting go. Because we do not enter the divine, but make ourselves open to let the divine emerge from within us. 

Letting go will occur when we realise that all existence is an illusion or what the ancients call "Maya'. This realisation can come to us when we achieve great success, great failure, great anguish, sorrow, or exhilaration which leads us to meditation.

Meditating because we are merely seeking or because we are bored will produce what the student discovered, that it too will pass and we are back right we started from. 

___________________

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Fascinated by Bio-Rhythms

We all experience good days and sometimes bad days as regards our outputs, moods etc.

All living beings in nature exist in a cyclic manner. The most common being the 24 hour cycle called the Circadian Rhythm which affects our feeding and sleep patterns. Thus we feel sleepy and more alert at about the same time everyday even without looking at the clock.

There is a field of science called Chronobiology which deals with the study of periodic (cyclic) phenomena in living organisms and their adaptation to solar- and lunar-related rhythms etc. called biological rhythms.

Western scientists have tried to establish  over past 150 years how these rhythms can be mapped and use a mathematical model to predict highs and lows and peak mood and performance timing for each individual.

'Theory of Biorhythms' suggests that our physical, intellectual and emotional performance rises and falls in a predictable cycle. The lengths of the cycles are 23 days for physical factors, 28 days for emotional and 33 days for intellectual factors.

Impact of Biorhythms

Since ancient times, civilisations have used biorhythms in their social practices.  Modern scientists have for long studied the theory of biorhythms but the jury is out on the effectiveness of biorhythms  on predicting moods and performance. 

One of the advantages people like me have is we have a good experience and understanding of both tradition and modernity, theory and practice, rooted in both Judeo-Christian and Indian thought and values of the West and the East.

The approach of the West is based on postulating a theory and then working on it to prove it by scientific means. Once established it is imposed through the various institutions and often mandated by law. If it cannot be proven, it is simply discarded.

The approach of the East is based on observation of effects and impact, and empirically validate an approach. Once stated by wise people it is assumed to have merit and be relevant. It is then simply practiced by those who choose to. If it works people stick with the practice, if they do not find it effective or appropriate they simply abandon it.

Cumulative Impact

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. If scientists are not able to conclusively prove some phenomena,  does it mean that the practice has no relevance?

Biorhythm based performance is ridiculed by some as pseudo science and others swear by them.

Using the Biorhythm Calculator, it might be interesting to map one's biorhythms and maintain a diary on moods, behaviour and performance and see for yourself if biorhythms works for you. 

'Know thyself' say the wise people. 
It's possible that we will learn more about oneself and have fun in the process of our own evolution.

__________________________________

Interesting Links:

• Calculate your biorhythm.
• Biorhythms - Wikipedia
• Biorhythms explained based on ancient Indian life energy forces & Chakras
• What is Circadian Rhythm?