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Issue 60 |
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The
Creator is in the creation and the creation is in the Creator This
teaching lies at the heart of Sikh thought and life. The realisation
that God lives in every heart like a reflection in a mirror, fire within
wood and fragrance within a flower means that God is present within you
and all beings and all things. Developing a relationship with the
Divinity within makes you a mystic. Service of the Divinity in others
makes you a revolutionary. Hence a Sikh is a saint and a soldier, a
sant-sipahi. Note that the Gurus are not saying that God becomes a human
being, or is a human being. Rather that the human being or more
precisely the human mind-heart is the temple of God. God has made you to
live in you and with you, but we have installed the idol of self-centredness
and denial of God inside. As we remove this, God comes to dwell with and
in us as intended. We have tried to seal off the temple so we can own it
and big ourselves up, yet God is always knocking on the door of our
conscience, and into our consciousness through the reality of everyday
life in the cosmos. The Truth is within us and all around us. It is not
hidden from us; we are trying to hide from it. We were made to flow, to
leak lovingkindness from God gurprasad/grace to all things
meeta/sweetness/lovingkindness. By blocking it we make meanness and
ultimately weep tears of regret wishing, pleading for another chance to
do things right. We wish we could change things. As we open the door, we
appear to lose what we had bottled up, but actually more flows through
us coming in on all sides. In time we are re-made by the force of the
flow, re-born, having given ourselves up to love. We weep tears of joy
and thankfulness for the chance. One in the flow, still the flow and
channel are separate. Lovers unite in oneness, yet beyond that want
otherness. They do not seek to devour the other, but to enjoy the other
in their otherness. So
God wants us to be. S/he has made humans perfect in form and function.
Accepting this Sikhs do not cut their hair, nor have any fear of the
menstrual cycle regarding it as perfect. For religions this was regarded
as a curse, divine punishment, etc. Since women were regarded as unclean
they were not allowed to perform religious rites and were banned from
holy places during their cycles. The Gurus taught that such views were
themselves the real filth and thus liberated half of humanity. Realising
that God is in us and wants our success, has made us for success means
that one is free from doubts and thus all fears, except fear or
mindfulness of the face which you have to show your Creator and
Well-wisher. For at all moments we are in the Court of God and at all
days it is the Day of Judgement when all secrets are revealed and we are
judged, our good deeds against bad, our witnessing of God vs. our denial
for fear or favour among the world, our flowing in lovingkindness or our
meanness, our private power trips. This is what the Guru means by
nimrata/ humbleness/ emptiness. Where I am not, You are. When the idol
of self-centredness has been removed by us, Gods Doings become
visible the saviour of those who seek Him, the destroyer of powerful
evil-doers, saviour of prostitutes, hypocrites, punished sinners, those
of all who turn to Him from within different faiths or with no faith,
e.g. bhagat Namdev. God is known to us as qualities as Light, as
Love, as Mercy, as Forgiveness, as Guru. Guru does not refer to a
person, but to Grace and Enlightenment. Hence the Guru is eternal. The
Sabd or Word is God living in every heart; externally as Guru Granth
Sahib Ji it cleans the rust of forgetfulness of God imparted by the
colour of the world; it takes us back to what we all know to be true, in
the secret chambers of our hearts and deepest layers of the mind.
Through music it applies the dye of God more easily. One interested in
fitness has a regime. Hence the code of conduct or reht maryada has a
uniform structure for gurdwaras training centres, and a basic
regimen for the individual disciple of the Guru Khalsa, one
consciously trying to turn ones life to God, in particular
transforming the five energies of life pride, anger, lust, greed and
attachment through the five ks kara - slave of God, kirpan -
martial artist, kachera sexuality for and within family context,
kanga all things perish like your body is perishing, ie dead strands
of hair, and kesh keeping natural form, freedom from slavery to
daily fashions. The turban represents the spiritual sovereignty of the
individual, a crown, for freedom in God means freedom from secular or
religious powers. While
the form of the Khalsa sets Sikhs apart from others, arguably the
philosophy of Gurmat sets Sikhs more apart. If the human is the temple
of God then there is no such thing as place of pilgrimage, since God is
within; no special time, since God is always there; no special priest
since God wants to be with you directly like husband and wife without a
third party. The Gurdwara is where you receive the teachings Guru
Granth and practical exercises Guru Panth. On site you are expected
to follow them, e.g. cover your hair. The turban is not your crown but
Gods for God is seen in the godly as a cow is seen in a calf. The
godly are known by their deeds and while it is easy to dismiss any
religion it is hard to dismiss any good person. Other religions of the
time disagreed with the Gurus new message Buddhists and Jains do not
believe in God, Hindus believe in varna meaning colour based caste
system, where the conquering peoples such as the Brahmins are twice born
and the conquered people, the dalits allegedly pollute others and so
were not allowed into temples or to drink the same water. The Gurus
included the writings of dalits in the Guru Granth and made many wells
which all used. In Guru-ka-langar all cook and eat together. Caste as it
exists among Sikhs has relevance for only two things politics and
marriage. But for Hindus it still has huge relevance for religious
attendance Brahmin men are still the only ones to interpret
scripture and determine the special times for the idols, worship of 33
million gods and goddesses, etc. and for absence and disqualification of
land ownership, use of wells for dalits. People without caste were
regarded as out-caste, malech and were not allowed to eat with people
with castes. Though it includes all non-Hindus, over time it was
reserved for Muslims who are regarded as malech. Muslims, like Christian
regard heaven as their privelege. Christians believe Jesus is God to
reject Jesus is to reject God and to go to hell. Muslims believe all
previous revelations were distorted and the one law of the One God in
its final form is known only to them. Those who obey the law are the
Muslims, those who disobey the kafirs, rebels who will be punished in
hell. In this life it is the duty of the law-abiding to stop the
activities of the law-rejecting through persuasion where possible, ie
conversion, or force where necessary. Namdev writes that the Hindus are
blind and the Muslims one eyed. The Hindus have neither One God, nor one
humanity. The Muslims have one God, but divide humanity. For
the Guru, creeds mean nothing, deeds are what count. Everyone is
necessary and needed. All slip away from the law of love, unchanging
through time and space. All are born with perfect natural form all
beings are Sikhs seekers. The Guru Inner Light is in all.
Daring to defy the world to walk in your Inner Light, to bathe in it, to
inspire others, to care for oneself as God cares for you and wants you
to be, to be a temple for all where the Light of God is clearly visible.
To reject any person is to reject God. Thus, a Sikh opposes meanness,
zulm, oppression, but not the person. Bhai Kannayya saw the Guru in all,
friends and foes and so provided water to all, and on the orders of Guru
Gobind Singh, dressed their wounds also. The Sikh opposes zulm in
oneself and others, the self-killer and world-butcher, killer of
conscience. Zulm for oneself and zulm for others. Gods burden is
light love. Love is the rope from darkness to light. Love knows no
why? Love does not force itself, but offers choice. One chooses to Love,
or chooses not to. In choosing not to, one destroys oneself, in fear or
favour of the world. In going with the flow of love, one becomes
incomparably great, a channel for the greatness of God, a light for the
blind, an inspiration to the cowards, a loving being, a spiritual hero
recognised by all warm hearts, appealing to all but the most darkened
minds and envied by them. The Truth is within you and all around you.
Love has made you for a home to dwell in. Love knows no why? The law of
love binds all from angels to demons, we get what we choose, but in our
hearts and cleared minds the obvious choice, the wonderful, joyous
choice, our first instinct is Gods voice, the deepest nature of the
universe itself. God does not want to punish you, but wants you and
helps to make right choices. When you slip, He is there to pull you up,
if you would but reach and trust in Gods actions Saviour,
Forgiver, Purifier, etc. We are never abandoned or alone whatever we
have done or think we have done. We Are made from Love for Love through
Love and by Love. Living Matters It Is Dancing Love. |
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