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Gurmukh Sikhia -
The Way of the Sikh:
Letter & Spirit # 11

YUKTANAND SINGH

Bhai Vir Singh Ji was a brahmgyani, a saint-poet. Most people saw him as a writer.

In the coming weeks, I will be posting an informal and abridged translation of the audio series, ‘Gurmukh Sikhia’ by Bhai Vir Singh. Consisting of 28 parts, it was recorded during the year 2010 in the voice of Giani Joginder Singh ji Azad.

Part I - INTRODUCTION

Bhai Vir Singh was a picture of sehaj, describing unreachable secrets, a poet whose heart and pen flowed with gurmukh emotions and love of God’s creation. He was also a source of great spiritual guidance to the seekers within his circle of sangat.

Countless Sikhs flocked to his darshan, to ask questions to help untangle their spiritual knots, and to understand gurmat from him.

During these meetings, Bhai sahib, being soaked with supreme love, diffidently answered various questions in the light of gurmat … e.g., re recognition and darshan of ‘karta purakh’ (The Creator-Doer), how to understand one’s own mental state, our worldly obligations and relationships, and how to obtain Guru’s mercy, etc.

Some gurmukh seekers noted down those replies. This series is a collection of some of those notes, approximately from the years of 1951-57. Some items have also been extracted from Bhai Sahib’s writings.

They are all presented here without any title or in any particular order.

Part II

“ratan laal ja ka kachhoo na mol” [GGS:186.2] - ‘(gurbani is) an inexhaustible and immeasurable storehouse of priceless jewels and rubies.’

Some seekers asked about the meaning of these sacred words in relation to simran.

Bhai Sahib replied:

Simran means love of God and losing one’s distance from the Lord, and thus becoming one with the Lord. If we can grasp this, mere verbal repetition is like an act of a dead soul.

Kirtan ignites the necessary emotion. Thus, kirtan helps awaken the love between us and God. Just as pieces of wood are joined together with glue, in the same manner, love joins us with God.

Making the mind unpolluted is very important. When the mind is clean then our condition is the same as, “Lord follows after me, calling, Kabir! Kabir!” [GGS:1367]. When a flower regains its fragrance, then the bumble bees spontaneously seek it and gather around it. The real act is having a clean heart.

People deluded with various other ways are simply playing with the spirit world. Instead of attempting to see Guru Nanak materialized in a physical form, or we could say that instead of seeking vision of Guru Nanak, we only need to lift our own character. It is most important that we have a clean heart to welcome Guru Nanak in it. How can a king visit a dirty house?

Real virtue is naam-simran. People see it as a minor act and don’t take it seriously. They prefer to do yoga practices. But opening of the ‘tenth-door’ or solving the ‘kundalini’ is accomplished spontaneously (sehaj) and easily in gursikhi through naam simran.

One who engages in simran needs to also rise above the desire for wealth, personal fame or spiritual powers. They are hurdles on the path. One needs to completely surrender oneself to God. Then He protects and nurtures us, just as a cat nurtures her small kitten.

A fakir (mendicant) trusts God for everything. Having eaten today he must not worry about provisions for tomorrow. ‘sir-sir ri-jak sam-bahay thaakur’ [GGS:10] - “The Lord Master provides sustenance for each and every person, why then the anxiety?“

There was a fakir, and the king wanted to marry his daughter to him. The fakir said, “A princess raised in a palace will not be able to live the simple life of a fakir. She wears silk and velvet. I wear rags and I rely only on God.” But the king admired and trusted him. His daughter also had become attracted to a life of simplicity and poverty.

The fakir married her and brought her to his hut made of mud and straw. One day, the king’s daughter saved a small piece of stale bread for the next day. When the fakir noticed it, he became sad. He said, “We need to rely only on God. A fakir who saves and hides food for tomorrow, still lacks trust in God’s sustenance: The birds and the dervishes never pack food. Those who seek God, they always get their sustenance.”

These discourses progressed to the next level: Looking for some light behind the eyes or seeking vision of Guru Sahib in one’s samadhi is like self-hypnosis or a circus-play assisted by the spirit world. Even if someone has power to revive the dead, it has no value.

The real value lies in inner peace.

Simran changes our character: “Even a cat does not eat flesh placed in front of her, a fierce butcher throws his knife away’ [GGS:898.15].

With touch of his toe, King Ram (who, in Hinduism, was an incarnation of God) emancipated one ardent seeker, Ahallya, who had been transformed into a rock due to her husband, sage Gautama’s curse. But raam-naam emancipates countless individuals. Bhagat Tulsidas describes it this way: How can I describe the greatness of raam-naam, even Ram (God) cannot sing praise of naam (one has to be a human first).

(In the beginning), naam needs to be repeated with the tongue. As long as we are in a physical body, a spiritual act needs to be associated with a physical act. The tongue is for that purpose. Naam repeated with the tongue gradually descends into the heart and it takes us there with it and dwells in our breath. When we place a lamp in the foyer it sheds light both ways, inside and outside the house. Similarly, a verbal repetition illuminates our inside and outside.

Introspection and simran need to go together. Simran has power. If someone who is angry and does simran, it will strengthen the anger. For this reason, it is important that we examine our each thought and each act.

Simran must not be forced beyond the comfort level. We need to kill the haumai by walking on the path shown by a gurmukh in the light of gurbani. First, simran removes the dirt from our heart. Then simran makes Waheguru dwell in the heart thus cleaned.

Daily simran, even for a short period, gradually turns into ‘liv’ (a constant flow) that strings into an eternal link. Our true Guru did not make his Sikh a rat in a rat hole, someone hiding in the mountains to attain samadhi.

We are householders who live within the world. We feast and drink, play and laugh, but we stay in a spiritual sphere that is above the traps of worldly attachments. Thus, by living in a higher spiritual state, we become a gurmukh.

October 10, 2012

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