Friday, March 21, 2008

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, The Bad

The purpose, I believe, in the religion of Guru Nanak Sahib is not of morality, but of the cosmic appreciation of the one Being. Doing good in one’s life, knowing the difference between good and bad, or bringing the qualities of Vaheguru into a person's life is not the purpose of the Sikh, it is but a mere consequence of a life lived in the cosmic appreciation of the one Being. Those personalities who teach and preach to others to be “good people” are I believe the ones who have misunderstood and continually belittle the meaning of Sikhi.

I have for the longest time held the belief that morality is not the purpose of Sikhi, for I believe morality has been taught much before Guru Nanak Sahib came into this world, and can be learned by any individual attending any University by partaking the courses of Sociology and Ethics. If we were to say the purpose of Sikhi or religiousness is to be good people, then I believe the purpose of religiosity and Sikhi for those who think that may have come to an end, for you may gain this knowledge anywhere on the internet or a university.

No, I believe what Guru Nanak Sahib expounded on over and over again was the feeling of cosmic appreciation. The humility in the being which has come to appreciate the harmony in which the Universe works, and the longing of that being to expand the personal self and experience life connected as the Universal self. This feeling is appreciated by and evidenced through one such writing of an inspired-soul, Professor Puran Singh, who in his book The Creation and Purpose of the Khalsa states, “The religion of Guru Nanak is one thing needful to the soul of the individual, as well as the souls of groups of individuals. Nature is God. It is personal and alive with feeling. It is a reservoir of inexhaustible life, inspiration and love. Acceptance, amazement, and the spirituality of things are Guru Nanaks exact words. Religion is function of life, as it is driven to function.” If one reads The Spirit Born People, more of this cosmic appreciation is expounded on by this great inspired soul.

It is furthermore evidenced by writings by Guru Sahib himself when he states “ham nahi change bura nahi koe” Shabad Panna 2784, “jo tho prem khelan ka chao, sir dhar tali gali meri aao, eith maarag pair dhareejai, sir deejay kaan na keejai” Shabad Panna 1412, and “sach kahon sun leh sabhai, jin prem kio tin hi prabh paayeo” by Guru Gobind Singh Ji in Savaiye 9th pauri. In all of these Shabads Guru Sahib continually speaks of one message, which is the appreciation of the one Being. This appreciation is through living a life of Love, and this Love is discovered in a life of Truthful living; the second word in Guru-Granth Sahib Ji, “Sat-Naam.”. This Love then is expressed in innumerous ways such as service, moral living, sharing, etc. This is why morality is not the purpose. There is no purpose. There is just the feeling of cosmic appreciation, Love. True Love has no purpose other than to Love.

And The Ugly

The Ugly is the state of the actions of our personal and communal lives, and I will not say Panthic because the Guru is Panth and the Panth is forever blossoming. To cut this short, and without ranting on for another ten pages, I will briefly say that because we have forgotten the message of cosmic appreciation, living a life of true love, it is why our community and our personal lives are in the state they are in. It is why we have become a group of judgmental imbeciles who cast eyes of opinions, rather than love, upon each other in the community and other human beings. And, as long as we continue this tradition of separation based on our foolish idea of our genius wisdom, proclaimed by our tradition of sourcing evidence on meaningless names and figures of history, and whilst forgetting the cosmically inspirational Shabad of our Guru, not living a life of Love, as a community and as individuals we shall perish into the dust of time and history having accomplished nothing but egoism and self-indulgence.

May Vaheguru have compassion on us for we possess the incredible ability to cremate beauty in our daily lives.

Lastly, stay in chardi-kala! =)

- Sevak -

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