Waheguru

Every day the broadcast news is filled with more hatred, more violence…The innocent being killed, the guilty becoming hardened, angry, empty and lost…

Yet, I propose that it is fear of our similarities that make us feel “different” than the other; likewise it is our differences that can reveal our similarity, and in doing so can bring us healing, wholeness, happiness and life, and cause us to want others to have the same.

Our Beloved Guru Nanak Dev Ji exlaimed “There are no Hindus, there are no Muslims, there is but the parenthood of God and the universal brotherhood of mankind” (my paraphrase). Waheguru created us, black, brown, white (”flesh” colored), red, yellow and every shade in between. By His command, are we born Indian, American, Asian, African, European etc…again, by His command we find ourselves raised in a Christian culture, Jewish culture, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Zoroastrian, etc…

Growing up disabled, I always found myself comparing myself and being compared to others…and falling short of their expectations. I will never forget the day a dear one said to me:

“This world is like a grande orchestra….there are kettle drums, flutes, french horns, trumpets, violins, etc…and while each of these alone can at times sound odd or even off, annoying, “out of place,” if one of these were to drop out of that orchestra then the entire musical company sounds out of place…Some of us are a flute, some a violin, some, like yourself a tuba, but we all have our own unique part to play in the orchestra of Life.”

While it took me many, many years to truly grasp what she was trying to tell me, I’ve carried this with me all my 45 years…and continued to reflect upon it’s implications.

If we are to save this planet from our abuse and destruction, we must save ourselves first. We may play a violin, they might play the oboe or French horn…and we may not even like oboes or French horns, we think they sound awful, they drone, etc…yet we are incomplete without them. The constant barage of media tells us that we individuals are the most important thing, that our needs, desires, likes and dislikes come first…not only that, but we want them right now!

Do we ever take into consideration, that if we all “want it all, right now” that there mightn’t be enough to go ’round? Food and water are becoming extreme and immediate needs for more people on the planet than ever before in history. Is this because there isn’t enough to go around? NO, it is because the few hoard and waste…governments and corporations enjoying extreme wealth, such like a pig rolling in its own feces, all the while knowing and even counting on this great need continually increasing.

I believe that if we recognize other’s differences, we will find that they are not altogether dissimilar to our own…that in fact they are the thing that ties us together. We are a children of the one Parent…May we never forget this.

~daas

ggn mY Qwlu riv cMdu dIpk bny qwirkw mMfl jnk moqI ]
Sky is a plate, the sun and the moon are the lamps, and the stars are pearls. (Guru ji is describing the Arti: lamp-worship, performed by nature)

DUpu mlAwnlo pvxu cvro kry sgl bnrwie PUlμq joqI ]
The (burning) incense is the wind from the hill that is laden with the sandalwood fragrance, and this wind is the Chanwar: whisk (hair-wisp), fanning over You. All the plants are an offering of the flowers to You, my Luminous-Lord!

kYsI AwrqI hoie ] Bv KMfnw qyrI AwrqI ]
What an Arti (lamp-worship) of Yours this is! The Lord, Savior from this (fearful) world-ocean, this is Your (wonderful, natural) Arti: lamp-worship!

Anhqw sbd vwjMq ByrI ]rhwau]
(In this joy: Arti) the flute of the Anhat-Shabad - celestial-sound, is playing. ||Pause||

~Kirtan Sohella

This most profound prayer of the Guru is perhaps my favorite shabd.  The arati/arti in the ancient religions was thought to be a worship offering to an incarnate form of God, in the form of food, water, incense, light, beautiful flowers…

Our Gurus reminding us that in reality Waheguru is inrMkwr (nirankaar); without form, all embracing, all encompassing, imminent and at the same time transcendant, viewed the visible creation in this manner:

• They viewed visible creation as the manifest worship of God

• They viewed visible creation as having its source and continued existence in God

• They viewed the Unseen creator as experiencing joy at viewing His creation.

It stands to reason, that we, loving and worshipping, meditating upon Him would both view and behave towards the creation in like manner.

Yesterday was Earth day… a day to remember that while we exist in these bodies, this Earth is our home, she is our mother, as creation comes from Waheguru, in like manner we “take” our bodies from this Earth.  This existence, and this precious human body give us the opportunity to become Sikhs, disciples of the Guru, enables us to return to our true Home.

Let us be ever mindful to see the creation the way our Beloved Guru, our Source sees it.  Let us treat it with respect.  Let us not waste it.  Let us not abuse it.  Let us not cause useless and preventable harm.  Let us treat her, and each other in the manner we would ourselves wish to be treated.

For if we do so, He promises that we will become absorbed in his Naam, His Voice, the melody of His fingers playing on the strings of the Cosmos.

~daas

Apnw jnu Awpih Awip auDwirE ]
He Himself saves His humble servant.

AwT phr jn kY sMig bisE mn qy nwih ibswirE ] rhwau ]
Twenty-four hours a day, He dwells with His humble servant; He never forgets him from His Mind. ||Pause||

brnu ichnu nwhI ikCu pyiKE dws kw kulu n ibcwirE ]
The Lord does not look at his color or form; He does not consider the ancestry of His slave.

kir ikrpw nwmu hir dIE shij suBwie svwirE ]
Granting His Grace, the Lord blesses him with His Name, and embellishes him with intuitive ease.

mhw ibKmu Agin kw swgru iqs qy pwir auqwirE ]
The ocean of fire is treacherous and difficult, but he is carried across.

pyiK pyiK nwnk ibgswno punh punh bilhwirE ]
Seeing, seeing Him, Nanak blossoms forth, over and over again, a sacrifice to Him.

~Raag Nat Naaraayan

The way of Sikhi, the universal path…but what does it mean?  The etymology of the word “sikh” certainly can be traced to the Sanskrit word “s(h)isya”, or disciple…and certainly within our congregation, we define a Sikh as:

Any human being who faithfully believes in

• One Immortal Being,
• Ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak Dev to Guru Gobind Singh
• The Guru Granth Sahib,
• The utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus and
• the baptism (Khande di Pahul) bequeathed by the tenth Guru,

• and who does not owe allegiance to any other religion, is a Sikh.

In a sense, both definitions are absolutely true.  If Waheguru Ji dwells or meditates upon His creation 24/7, disregarding, form, ancestry, race, or group, this must be so.  For He (Waheguru is neither male nor female, but for the sake of the English language usage I’ll refer to Waheguru as “He”) is Parent and Creator of all that is, and nothing has its existence outside of Him.

He grants His Name or Naam, His true essential nature to any who would look to and serve Him alone.  This essense, in turn creates and sustains all that is…It is “24/7.”  If we are to be like Waheguru, then it stands to reason, as He meditates upon His beloved without distraction that we, doing the same, become in character and nature likened to Him.

And through the Guru’s Grace, this happens not through human effort, rather as the Guru’s words above an “intuitive ease.”  I take this to mean a supremely “natural” state of being, that purpose for which He created and sustains us.  It is this world that is treacherous and difficult; yet being caught up in it, we don’t realize we live like a rat running on a wheel, with no purpose, no destination…When we can cling to His Naam, His Name we, by His Grace clearly begin to understand our real situation; this dawning realization a free gift from Him…When we see His Face and hear His Voice, we are so drawn into His love we no longer remember, cling to, or believe maya: or the illusion we previously had been living.

This Grace, this Love, His Naam is a free gift for all those who would, without reservation gaze upon the Wonderful Face…He granting His Darshan or “sighting”, all our suffering is relieved…and we, filled with contentment, and bliss cross the ocean of fire, never to return.

~daas

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siq nwmu inrBau inrvYru Akwl mUriq AjUnI sYBM gur pRswid

One Universal Creator God

The Name Is Truth Creative Being Personified No Fear No Hatred Image Of The Undying, Beyond Birth Self-Existent By Guru’s Grace

Such was the answer to the cry of Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj from Waheguru; the Wonderous Destroyer of Darkness…

Then the beloved Guru Nanak having been granted the Darshan, or sighting of the Divine responded in awe to this Wonder:

jpu

Awid scu jugwid scu hY BI scu nwnk hosI BI scu

Remember, Chant, Meditate:

True In The Primal Beginning True Throughout The Ages True Here And Now O Nanak, Forever And Ever True

And so, we look to this Light, passed on from Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj and all the Ten Nanaks, embodied forever in our Beloved Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharah. May I be found worthy to cling to the dust underneath their feet.

~daas