Columnists

Letter & Spirit:
A New Weekly Column
# 1 - Master and Servant

YUKTANAND SINGH

LETTER & SPIRIT - AN INTRODUCTION

Sant Naranjan Singh ji used to say: The rain-bird may live on a river bank, but seeks a drop of water from the clouds above. In contrast the vulture flies high in the clouds, but its attention is set on the carcass below.

Similarly, at least in matters spiritual, our intentions determine the outcome.

We spend a lifetime learning to improve and polish our behavior, even meditate and practice simran, but we make little effort to correct our intentions. Gurbani strives to correct our inner intentions, towards God, towards ourselves, towards others, and towards the entire world.

But all the lessons from gurbani could fit on a postcard. In fact, gurbani says that there is only one lesson to learn. There is not much to say and we can spend a lifetime trying to learn gurbani’s lesson.

The spiritual lesson of gurbani is hidden behind the words, in the spiritual state that gurbani was uttered from. Under proper conditions, by God’s grace, the taste of this state slowly trickles into our heart. It transforms us and creates a shift in our priorities. We cannot fully grasp the Guru’s intent until we have tasted it.

Often we try to apply gurbani to answer all questions of the world. This works many times, but gurbani was not written to replace various books and manuals, nor do philosophy, psychology, science, yoga, and other manuals replace gurbani.

Gurbani was written for a very specific purpose: Someone, who is drowning deep in the ocean, needs oxygen. This is not to say that the other needs are unimportant and that they should be ignored. An ideal life is balanced, wise, fulfilled and vibrant, but it must not lack oxygen.

When we are unable to absorb the oxygen from gurbani, we are drawn towards its secondary benefits, e.g., worldly fulfillment, inner peace, relationships, activism and reform, even charity, while living spiritually suffocated.

This new weekly column - LETTER & SPIRIT - is created for learning how to absorb the oxygen, the spirit of gurbani, in a practical manner.

In view of non-Punjabi readers and the youth, while posting your comments, please include explanation of terms in plain English and avoid unnecessary Punjabi words and references. We will attempt to discuss only the spiritual aspect of Sikhi here, in short instalments, weekly if possible.

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MASTER & SERVANT
 

This week, as our inaugural piece, let us consider a shabad popular and oft sung:

“jo maangeh thaakur apne te so-ee so-ee devai” [GGS:681.18]. Meaning: Whatever (a servant) asks for, the master gives it.

The secret is revealed in the beginning: “With his power prevailing in all directions, he has placed his hand upon my head”. The universe runs to the order (hukam) of his power.

Hukam (command) is often translated as God’s will. We could also call it God’s love or his desire. But Guru Nanak says in Japji that hukam cannot be defined. Thus no words can truly describe it.

Some say that ‘hukam’ stands for the laws of nature. This is not correct because gurbani says that if God so desires, even a stone floats on water, a living being survives without breath, etc. Thus, clearly, nature and its laws are manifestation of, but subordinate to, hukam. They are not hukam. Hukam is not subordinate to laws of nature.

Gurbani does not support chance, randomness, or coincidences, in Waheguru’s (God’s) world. Even though they are true, and very useful to us, as any statistician will agree, but this is so only in our world. Just as flowers appear randomly in a field. But from a distance we are able to see that the gardener had a pattern. Similarly, when we have faith in what gurbani says, that not even a leaf quivers without an established order, we are then able to find sanctuary in Waheguru’s hukam. God then places his hand on us.

“Gazing upon me with his mercy, he has dispelled the pain of his slave.”

Wait a minute! Doesn’t gurbani say that God is always merciful? Yes, but without the proper inner state, the state of realizing his hukam prevailing everywhere, we are unable to receive his merciful gaze.

Additionally, God is not a passive reservoir of mercy for us to tap into whenever we are ready. Even when we take God’s sanctuary, mercy is still under God’s own control. He bestows it as he pleases, but he is influenced by various factors. Above is one such factor.

In other words, Waheguru or God is awake and active. We will see that this theme is repeated in gurbani. Further, philosophical understanding can be hopefully supplied by others, or we can discuss it under another topic.

“The Guru, the Lord of the universe, saves his humble servant. Hugging him close in embrace, the merciful, forgiving Lord erases all the faults.”

The only way to successfully get rid of our inner faults is when God erases them.

When the conditions in the first two stanzas are fulfilled then: “Whatever (the slave) asks for from his lord master, the master gives it. (In fact), whatever the slave utters, it becomes true, here and hereafter.”

[The author traveled with Sant Naranjan Singh of Patiala during the late sixties and took notes. He is unable to lose that passion for gurbani. He practices medicine in a suburb of Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A].

July 3, 2012

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