Sikhmysticism

Sikhism is the 5th largest religion in the world. Its premise is extremely unique and its message is
completely universal; as it was 500 years ago so it is today. It is a tragedy for human consciousness
that the message has neither been highlighted enough nor properly propagated by its followers. It is
very easy to find faults with others but the bitter truth is that every one associated with Sikh system of
thought is responsible for not clearly understanding the message of its masters and then sharing it
with rest of the world selflessly. The net result is that it has also become a collection of familiar rituals
imitating other religions.

Needless to say that, all great religions of the world intended to be great system of thoughts in their
early days of inception. Every system of thoughts was meant to guide the human race in leading a
loving and peaceful life on the planet Earth while maintaining a spiritual relationship with the all
pervading Creative Energy. All through the ages, various messengers have appeared on the planet
Earth and have tried to remind the human race about its real purpose during its life time. These types
of reminders some how got turned on their heads and instead ended up creating more disharmony,
divisions, and destruction on the planet. It is a matter of historical records that killings, torture,
mutilation, suppression, and shedding of human/animal blood in the name of religion has surpassed
all other (political, economic, social) reasons/excuses/causes combined for such actions.

Sikhism is the most modern and latest message sent to the humanity to remind us about the real
purpose of life and how to live it. In less than 500 years, its purity has been compromised and its
uniqueness completely obliterated. This article is a humble attempt to highlight some of the lost
messages of Sikhism.

The lifes purpose on the planet and the way to accomplish it is documented in the form of a scripture
called Shree Guru Grunth Sahib (SGGS). This scripture is revered by Sikhs like no other scripture by
any other religions followers. SGGS has many unique characteristics when compared with other
scriptures of its kind. However, the most important uniqueness of SGGS is that it was created by the
founders of Sikhism (respectfully revered as Gurus) in their own life time and is maintained as is
without any changes by any one regardless of his/her qualifications. Numerous thinkers have
published commentaries on the scripture from their individual perspectives. For example, translation
published in the times of Maharaja Faridkot had a bias in favor of mythological, historical, anecdotal,
and philosophical aspect of analysis. Commentaries/Translations by subsequent authors like Bhai Vir
Singh, Professor Sahib Singh, Advocate Manmohan Singh, etc. have focused mostly on the linguistic
(Grammatical), philosophical, and historical perspectives. But the experience has shown that despite
such a large body of work; the understanding of the message from SGGS has remained elusive to
the masses. Even apparent superficial contradictions have not been resolved to any bodys
satisfaction. The practices prescribed by the established organizations have not led to any visible
growth in his/her spirituality or peace of mind of its followers and practitioners. Yet the organizations
and scholars alike are hesitant to ask probing questions for the fear of probable confusion and turmoil
it might create in the short run. On the contrary, any one who makes such an attempt is immediately
labeled delusional and mischief monger and suppressed mercilessly. The whole Sikh Diaspora is
walking on the path as if in a trance not to be disturbed by any one. The end result is that the coming
generations are being deprived of one of the most important lessons of life causing them to drift away
into other system of thoughts and better organized religious institutions are exploiting this situation to
their advantage.

Numerous people have invested life times of practices on the path described by the organized
religious forces. However, when each person reviews the life journey, he/she finds out that there is
no significant movement in the inner consciousness. In other words, they have not been able to free
themselves from the bondage of senses and sensual pleasures. The hankering for the physical
pleasures remains the same regardless of the duration and intensity of their practice. On the other
hand, the life journey process detailed in SGGS led to the enlightenment of 5 Gurus in less than 100
years (4-5 generational times). All of the bards (Bhatts) and Bhai Mardana Ji achieved the
enlightenment following on the foot steps of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Then what might be the reason(s)
that the past 300 years have not produced a spiritual revolution in the land of its inception!! The
entire Sikh world is lost in the pursuit of outer identity and the inner world has been completely
ignored.

We dare not ask the question How did Bhai Lehna become Guru Angad (Angad means to become a
part of the Creative Energy) when there was no SGGS and no documented scripture? What
process/sanjam/maryada was prescribed to him by his guide (Shree Guru Nanak Dev Ji) who led him
to the spiritual heights? Has the current process prescribed and being followed over the past two
centuries produced comparable results? If not, why not? Could there be some flaw in the process
prescribed and being followed by millions? Such enquiries are considered to be provocative and
blasphemous. Is there a way out of this dilemma? I think and sincerely believe that it is not too late
to turn the tide against the forces of business as usual.

The followers of Sikh system of thought owe this to the humanity to ask such probing and provocative
questions and seek the truth, no matter where it might lead. Keeping silent about such an important
aspect of life is also unforgivable. The Highest Creative Energy delivered the message to be
propagated to the humanity at large. We have no right to suppress the reality and turn it in to another
system of rituals. If Shree Guru Nanak Dev Ji had decided to not to upset the proverbial cart, then he
would have stayed silent 500 hundred years ago. There were plenty of ritual then and the masses
had enough of confusion about them. There was no need to introduce another system of rituals and
compound the confusion. Shree Guru Nanak Dev Ji visited the planet at that time to remove the
confusions introduced by the ritualistic systems of thought prevalent at that time. It was irrelevant if
the confusion is caused by Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Buddha, or Christian rituals; he just wanted to
provide the most straightforward and true answers to the questions puzzling the humanity at large.
When he is questioning his teacher about the popular system of education, he is not condemning any
thing. He was pointing the short coming of the prevalent education system. And till today, we have
no university/college/institution where physical life and spiritual life is taught together as if one can not
coexist with the other.

When we look at all of the stories being repeated from the religious podiums a little carefully, they all
have a deep message for the humanity at large. But we have turned them into just ritualistic/
miraculous stories. When Nanak was telling his father that he had spent the money on feeding the
hungry saints that is not the real message. The real message is the need to spend time in the
company of spiritual people and make long term investment in life as well as short term investments.
Since the father was only focused on the short term (this worldly) investment, he pointed out the need
for long term (Other Worldly) investment as well. When he started throwing the water of Ganges at
eclipse of Sun at Hardwar festival in the opposite direction of the Sun, he was not mocking any body.
Instead he was pointing out the navet of the simple minded people. Water thrown in the direction of
Sun can not reach the people who have passed on to other dimension. Every parable has a very
deep mystical message but one needs to have that type of mind set to begin with to seek out the
meaning of the parables.

Let us now look at some of the key messages of Sikh System of Thought.
Concept of Universal Creator

There is only one Creator of every thing, seen or unseen. This Creator is very different from an
ordinary creator of a statue, a painting, a building etc. In the case of an ordinary creator, the creation
and creator always remain different and separate from his/her creation. Where as the Universal
Creator is part of the creation.

AwpIn@Y Awpu swijE AwpIn@Y ricE nwau ] duXI kudriq swjIAY kir Awsxu ifTo cwau ]
AwpIn@Y Awpu swijao AwpIn@Y ricao nwau ] duXI kudriq swjIAY kir Awsxu ifTo cwau ]

This briefly means that the Creator is manifested inside every type of creation, stone, plant, animals,
birds, human, microbes, etc. HE first created the whole creation and then hid HIMSELF inside HIS
own Creation. Thus HE is watching every thing and is in complete state of blissfulness. There no
concept of HE different and separate from me in Sikhism. There is no concept of GOD OUT THERE
some where in Sikh system of thought. In this model, there is no one out there to pray to. All prayers
are to the Creator hidden inside the self. And the only valid prayer is to seek the experiential
awareness of this phenomenon rather than just an intellectual concept. Once understood, this
concept will free every one from all kinds of exploitations by the outsiders. The preacher who is
interested in maintaining his/her control over the practitioner will always fight against this thought
process. He wants you to come to him for praying to Creator on your behalf and charge you for his
services. Only two types of people are vested in continuing the thought process of a Creator
separate from the creation, preacher and politician. Sikhism alerts the humanity about the intentions
of both of these groups in all religions of the world.

But what do you say to those who say HE/SHE/IT is a figment of imagination, and not a reality?

puhp miD ijau bwsu bsqu hY mukr mwih jYsy CweI ] qYsy hI hir bsy inrMqir Gt hI Kojhu BweI ]1]
bwhir BIqir eyko jwnhu iehu gur igAwnu bqweI ] jn nwnk ibnu Awpw cInY imtY n BRm kI kweI ]2]
puhp miD ija bwsu bsqu hY mukr mwih jYsy Cwe ] qYsy hI hir bsy inrMqir Gt hI Kojhu Bwe ] 1 ]
bwhir BIqir Eko jwnhu ehu gur igAwnu bqwe ] jn nwnk ibnu Awpw cInY imtY n BRm kI kwe ] 2 ]

In brief, as the fragrance of a flower is hidden inside but no one questions its existence even though it
can not be seen or touched. Out of the five senses, only one sense has some idea yet its existence
is completely acceptable to every one. On the other hand a reflection in a mirror has no existence,
yet every one accepts it as a reality. It is interesting to note that all senses are subject to mistakes.
Eyes can mistake a rope for a snake in darkness, nose can miss the fragrance when stuffed, ear can
hear some thing totally irrelevant and remain convinced of its authenticity, and skin can completely
misjudge the temperature under certain circumstances. Yet we insist that one must experience the
Creative Energy with these senses. (How naive?) The Creative Energy is all pervasive like the
fragrance and like the reflection. Even though HE/SHE/IT exists inside and outside, the egotistical
mind set can not and will not be able to pull him/her self out of the ditch of confusion. This disbelief
does not have any impact on HIS/HER/ITS existence. IT is so and Sikhism does not waiver about
this reality.

Concept of a Messenger

The Creator has been sending the message to the humanity though worthy and chosen messengers.
The messenger is chosen based on his/her state of spiritual evolution. When a human body
transcends all desires, anger, greed, attachments, and ego (kwm, kRoD, loB, moh, hMkwr), then it becomes
an empty shell. It is like a flute which has nothing of its own to contribute or take out of the music
being played by the artist. It is a complete state of Samadhi. The message flowing through that body
is the direct message of the Creator (Dur kI bwxI). Such messages are documented on returning back
to the state of Satori (sqorI) which is one level below the state of Samadhi. In the state of Samadhi
the messenger is not aware of what is flowing through him/her. He/she becomes aware of the
messages after returning to the next lower level. As the memory is fresh at this stage, documenting
the message become easily possible. If the messenger him/her self is not the documenter of the
message, some thing is bound to be lost in transcription. These messages can not be compared to a
composition of an inspired poet as the poets ego is always present during the time he/she is
composing. Neither these messages can be interpreted and understood simply by applying common
logic and linguistic grammatical rules. One has to go deeper into the symbolism applied to
understand the true message. Earth has never been without the true messengers. They are always
present on the planet to help those who need and sincerely want the help to grow spiritually. There is
no claim of these messages being the last one.

Concept of Holy-Unholy; Angel-Devil

The entire creation is HIS (There is no gender implied here since there are no human characteristics
which can be associated here. It is only for linguistic convenience. You are free to choose your own
symbols but all be incomplete and inaccurate) Creation, no exception. Nothing is good or bad. It is
just the nature of the things. All labels are human creation. The life moves in duality as it is a drama,
a Lila, A Rasa. You can not write a good story without setting up opposing forces. Just as
Dharyodhna is not a villain in Mahabharta, same way Arjuna is not a hero. They are just playing the
assigned roles. We have chosen to give them labels. Think about an actor in a movie. He/she plays
the role as perfectly as possible as soon as the director says Action. Once the director says Cut
the actor goes back to his/her real world and forgets the role completely. Imagine the plight of the
actor who sincerely starts believing that he/she is that character instead of a role player. This is
exactly the problem with every human being. We have turned every role into as if it is a reality. If we
could remember all the time that it is just a role, then the cause/effect hold disappears. If you are
really not the doer, then there is nothing good or bad, no reward or punishment; just roles to be
played during this incarnation until the final curtain on the drama stage.

Does it mean the killing; stealing, raping, etc. are all OK? Since they exist, they are choices created
by HIM. You can not make a choice that has not been already created by HIM. For example, you
can not force a cow to eat meat or grass to a lion. HE has also created various effects of these
choices. Fighting under certain circumstances was the whole subject for scripture called Bhagvat
Geeta. If I make a choice to steal, then I should be ready for any one of its consequences like getting
caught, getting beaten, getting punished in jail etc. The problem is the human mind looks at just one
side of the drama and only one outcome of the choices. Every one who decides to steal does not
want any other result except getting away with it. And that is not how the life drama has been written.
You can not predict or control the outcome of your choices which is also the message in Geeta. As
said earlier, if you make a choice as an actor, then whatever the outcome is, is also a role to be
played afterward. If I played the role of a thief, I may be required to play the role of a jail bird
following that role. In that sense nothing is right or wrong just choices.

Can the society exist under such paradigms? YES. It is not a Utopia. It has happened before and it
can happen again. Those times were called Sat Yuga or Dharma Yuga. In those days every human
being understood the true purpose of human life, their choices were such that it got them closer to the
Creative Energy rather than pushing them away from it. The time has come to start a grass root
movement to free oneself from the yoke of the preacher and the politician.
Purpose of Creation

The life, being a play, has no other purpose. A play exists for its own purpose. Think of a little child
playing on the beach. He/she is busy and completely absorbed in building a sand castle. Why? He
is just playing. He is bringing the sand and water all day to build a structure. Do we ever ask what
the purpose is? We already know the child is playing. Then at the end of the day, with the same
delight he/she breaks the castle. He enjoys the breaking the structure as much he enjoyed building
of it. Similarly, the Creator is creating and enjoying the effects without any attachment. The word
enjoyment can be slightly misleading here. It is not the kind of enjoyment we are familiar with, it is
very difficult to express it in words so I will seek your forgiveness for my incapability to choose the
proper words. I hope you can hear what I am trying to say without having said it.

Purpose of human body

The purpose of the human body is quite different than the animal/birds/vegetation/stone etc. When
we are told to be an honest man, we know that no animal is dishonest. When we are told to work
hard, do not cheat, do not tell a lie etc; we all know that the animals and birds kingdom have all of
those qualities. They breed; they raise their children just like human. The purpose of human body
can not be to be just like animals and birds. Sikhism points out a new potential inside every human.

BeI prwpiq mwnuK dyhurIAw ] goibMd imlx kI ieh qyrI brIAw ]

In brief, this is the only incarnation which has the possibility of transcending the cycle of life and death
and become one with ONE.

keI jnm Bey kIt pqMgw ] keI jnm gj mIn kurMgw ] keI jnm pMKI srp hoieE ]
keI jnm hYvr ibRK joieE ] 1] imlu jgdIs imln kI brIAw ] icrMkwl ieh dyh sMjrIAw ]1]
ke jnm BE kIt pqMgw ] ke jnm gj mIn kurMgw ] ke jnm pMKI srp hoeAo ]
ke jnm hYvr bK joeAo ] 1 ] imlu jgdIs imln kI brIAw ] icrMkwl eh dyh sMjrIAw ] 1 ]

In so many incarnations, you were a worm and an insect; an elephant, a fish and a deer. You have
been a bird and a snake. In so many incarnations, you were yoked as an ox and a horse.
Now is the turn to meet Him, the Lord of the Universe. After so very long, this human body was
granted you. Now it has become possible for you to end this perpetual cycle of life and death.

HIS Will vs. Freedom of Choice

Is every thing according to HIS Will or we have a freedom of choice? It is a very common confusion.
Every thing is according to HIS Will and we do have a freedom of choice. Sikhism says that there is
no contradiction in this statement. Since it is a game, then all of the rules of the game are set by HIM.
While playing the game a player can choose to commit foul, or throw the ball outside the defined
boundary of the field and there will be associated consequences of that choice. Since you are not
allowed to make your own rules, every thing is according to HIS Will. All choices will be made
amongst the available variations. But you do have the freedom to play the game as you like. It is that
simple.