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.

Meaning of being Spiritual

I am the universe, and the universe is within me.

To know this and to live accordingly, is to be spiritual.

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Its fashionable for people to say, 'I am not religious, I am spiritual'. They usually mean that they do not go to Church, Temple, Gurdwara or Mosque, but they believe in God. Probe further and one can expect silence or a scowl.  What does spirituality mean?

Nearly all people are seeking heaven and trying to avoid or atone for sin.

We indulge in many rituals, do all sorts of things to ourselves, and to others in an attempt to get to heaven, failing which we try to avoid hell.

It is the arrogance of man,to place himself or herself above all of creation and decide, what is right and what is wrong? Who must do what and how?  

For ourselves we indulge in rituals, penances, prayers, charity, pilgrimages etc. Others we seek to seduce, persuade, bribe, coerce, and threaten, even wage war, and smugly kill other humans and creatures to this end

Alas the only truth is that, heaven and hell, God and devil, are within us. We cannot discover God, we can only discover ourselves. We cannot acquire God we can only dissolve within this ocean of creation.

The ocean beckons us just as this drop seeks the ocean, and once it returns to the ocean it dissolves into it. 

That ocean is within us and we are within the ocean. All that is stopping us is we ourselves and our ego.

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Quote  by Gurvinder Singh

Image: by unknown artist

Heaven and Hell

Many people search all their lives to determine if there is hell and heaven and if so where they exist.  The following story might help us to find out.







Long ago in Japan,  a big burly Samurai (warrior) came to a Roshi (wise man) and said, “Tell me the nature of heaven and hell.”

The Roshi looked at him in the face and said: “Why should I tell a scruffy, disgusting, miserable slob like you?”  The Samurai's face turned purple and his hair stood up, but the Roshi appeared not to notice and continued, “A miserable worm like you, do you think I should tell you anything?”

Consumed by rage, the Samurai drew his sword, and was just about to cut off the head of the Roshi when the Roshi said, “That’s hell.”



We all are inherently good, we just seem to have lost touch with our pure selves.  The Samurai suddenly realised, that he had just created his own hell. He had permitted himself to be filled with so much arrogance, and anger,  that he was about to kill someone.

Suddenly aware, the Samurai's eyes filled with tears he put his palms together and bowed to the Roshi.

The Roshi said, “That’s heaven.”

Thanks to my friend Sangeeta Karkhanis for this piece