Paths to Truth

 

Most of us are in search for the truth, whatever that means.

The meaning of truth differs for different people and differs for the same being at different times.

There are three paths to discover the truth of reality. One is the scientific approach, the second is the logical approach, the third is the spiritual approach.

The scientific mind will experiment, and test repeatedly in the objective world. Only when there is proof, the scientific mind accepts.

The logical mind, by using philosophy, evaluating pros and cons, reasons out the truth and conclusions are drawn. No testing is carried out. The entire exercise is subjective and in the mind.

The spiritual approach, where one experiences the truth. They often know not why it is so, but it is.

Scientific approach is of the material world and the exterior, it deals with the objective. In this category belong great people like Newton, Aryabhatta, Ramanujan.

The logical approach is pure mind work and it deals with the subjective and is of the interior. In this category belong Socrates, Kautaliya and Einstein.

The spiritual is the link between the interior of our existence and the exterior world in which we exist. Linking our being and our world, and in this category belong Guru Nanak, Gautam Buddha, Jesus, Kabir Das, etc.

Every individual has a natural inclination and sometimes the gift of teaching and guiding others. Some go the scientific route and some logical and some spiritual.

The scientists often laugh at the spiritual and the logical people for their lack of hard facts and truth.

The philosopher thinks the scientist blind in his arrogance, and the spiritual being as a fake.

The truly spiritual being, simply smiles in bliss and says nothing about others. He or she simply knows.

We are like water, each one a droplet. We take birth springing out along with other droplets of water soon to form a stream. Soon streams merge to form rivulets and they in turn become the river.

Some rivers flow almost straight some wind their way forward. Some rivers flow east, others flow west. Thousands of rivers known by a million names some mighty and some little but all will eventually flow into the ocean where no one can describe which water came from which river.

Each droplet with all its arrogance will eventually return to the ocean. Who knows which drop is right and which is wrong, which is greater. No drop is insignificant but none is also eternally significant.

So it is with each individual and our truths Each one originating from the same ocean as a droplet and returning to the ocean through a long journey back to the ocean.

Truth is so evident and yet so elusive. It is like the air, we cannot grasp it with our hands and minds. It can only breathed in and experienced.

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Note: I am grateful to my elders and various friends and teachers who taught me so much and help me awaken even if so little.

In service of Humanity - Bhai Kanhaiya Lal

There are no enemies nor strangers

Bhai Kanhaiya Lal

Bhai Kanhaiya Lal (1648-1718), left his service as an officer in the Mughal army, and came to serve the 9th Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bhadur ji 

After the martyrdom of the Guru he longed to meet the noble Guru's successor, [Guru Gobind Singh ji
, the 10th Sikh Guru. 

Arriving at Anandpur (Panjab) in 704 C.E. Bhai Kanhaiya found that the Guru and his followers under attack by the combined forces of the Rajput Hill Chieftains and the Mughal army.


The Rajputs and Muslims who together ruled over much of India, simply could not tolerate any other political or self defence entity.

The greatly outnumbered and outgunned Sikhs were fighting valiantly to defend themselves and the battlefield was littered with wounded and suffering soldiers from both sides.

Amongst the wounded wandered a solitary figure, the Sikh,  Bhai Kanhaiya trying to help those he could and giving them water from a mashk irrespective of whether they were Sikh, Hindu or Muslim.

The Nihang the Sikh warriors were very annoyed with Bhai Kanhaiya, they dragged and threw him in front of Guru Gobind Singh ji for suitable punishment for aiding the enemy.

The Guru asked Bhai Kanhaiya if the charges of treason were true? 
Bhai Kanhaiya replied, "I see no enemy, all I see is you, my beloved Guru. Have you not taught us, that to destroy enmity, we see the divine in each being? That is why I assist and serve water to the wounded irrespective of who they are.


The Guru proclaimed to the Sikhs "Bhai Kanhaiya is a true Sikh. He has understood and imbibed the meaning of the universal brotherhood of Sikhism. His service towards others without discrimination is highly praiseworthy. He is an inspiration to all of humanity and I bless him that in time he establish a great movement to selflessly serve humanity. I ordain that none will come in Bhai Kanhaiya's way to perform his noble duty."

The Guru blessed Bhai Kanhaiya and handed over to him a large medicine chest and requested Bhai Kanhaiya not only to serve the wounded with water but to apply these medicines to heal their wounds.

Many Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus who received the selfless love and service of Bhai Kanhaiyalal and survived, were drawn to his noble cause. Upon leaving the service of their Masters they either joined his mission or started selfless service on their own. 

The Sewapanthi also known as the Addanshahi order of Sikhs which started by Bhai Kanhaiya a hundred and fifty years before the Red Cross
was founded in 1864  by another great being Henry Dunant in Europe. 

The Sewapanthi order continues to render noble service to people irrespective of religion, caste or gender across numerous centres across North India. Proving once again, 'When the Guru blesses, it is certain to succeed'.

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The base of the lamp is always dark.

Called by thousands of names Prophets, Gurus, Murshid, Teacher, Messiah, all of them unselfish masters have since time immemorial come showed humanity the way and then left. They were a light unto themselves and humanity tried to follow them.

Politically inclined people can spot opportunities much easier than the masses. They have always seen great power and wealth to be made by appointing themselves as the exclusive marketing agents of the Gurus, Messiahs.

So these self appointed agents set up gigantic multinational institutions called organised religion, to market and take full advantage of the goodwill, and light of the now departed masters.

While masters possess the breath of life itself, a religion is lifeless, a mere body without a soul.

When real masters are replaced by paid preachers or teachers, the magic of the message is greatly diluted if not completely lost. What remains are empty words, mere songs, complex rituals and soul-less political establishments.

Religions use complex rituals, nuances, etc. written and spoken in undecipherable language. They expect the masses to follow unnatural behaviour, demand total obedience and following by the faithful to a small group of priests.

Institutions are political in nature, and whenever there is politics, the worst aspects of human nature tends to come to the fore. Power struggles are common, and power seeks only its own absolute monopoly and continuity.

To increase their power, every religion employs an army of priests, assistants and missionaries to spread the 'message', which is nothing more than recruitment drives under various guises and to acquire wealth an power for the religious institution. The 'message' also conveniently grants religious leaders special privileges and the masses to merely serve the religious leaders.

Now preachers try to replicate the energy and light of the Masters to guide people. They resort to holding up holy books /scripture as divine lamps. The mangers of organised religion and the paid priests have granted themselves exclusive rights to hold up the lamp for others to unquestioningly follow.



They ask that people follow the persons carrying the lamp. But have you noticed the base of the lamp is always dark?


The lecturers, preachers and the leaders are themselves in the dark. A darkness possibly created by a mix of greed, lust, vanity, power, wealth, and anger,  and the insatiable desire to possess your mind, body, possessions, wealth and influence.


The ones in darkness hold up the lamp, beckon us to follow them along their path. They want you to surrender all that is yours to them including your soul. If you do not surrender they will legislate it, and enforce it.  History is full of examples of religious leaders fabricating, misleading, manipulating, etc, and if not successful with these measures, confiscate wealth, torture, and kill to take followers to the promised land and heaven.



The priests need the power of rulers and the State to stay in power and the rulers need the priests to legitimise their reign. A convenient symbiosis, where two sets of people in the dark thriving off each other. Look closely and you will find that politicians and religious leaders share the same characteristics.

_________________________

Sadly, man lives in fear. Fearful creatures are easily confused and will cling to any thing that offers a way to mitigate their fear. The priests know this and there is a race to recruit followers as soon as they are born and often even before birth. More the number of followers of any religion, the greater the hordes of people to be used and sacrificed and greater wealth at there disposal.

We, each one of us, has great individual potential. In fact that is the only true potential we possess. However to realise that potential we must be one with ourselves not with the crowd or the mobs. Each one of us has our own lamp, that we can use to illuminate the path ahead. The base of this lamp is bright and there is nothing hidden from the glare of this lamp. All we need to do is turn it on.

But we dare not to turn it on. We are fearful that we will discover horrid things about ourselves. So what? As there are nights, there are also days. We humans all have strengths and weaknesses, look within and you will find many wonderful things in life and within you.

We are all originally divine and we can realise our divinity through meditation.

Once discovered our divinity will automatically drop all negativity. Then fear is banished, wonder fills us and childlike we will become, innocent, pure and fearless.

Be your own lamp, for your existence begins and ends with you and your spirit, and not that of the other person holding up their own lamp.