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The Spirit Within ... The Way of the Sikh:
Letter & Spirit # 18

YUKTANAND SINGH

Translated from Bhai Vir Singh's ‘Gurmukh Sikhia’

PART IX

The more critical something is for our survival, the more our Lord has created it in abundance so that we can have it readily.

For example, we have to spend a lot for milk, butter, etc., but we can live without them. That is why they are expensive.

Water is essential for every living being. This is why it is available in abundance and it is also quite inexpensive.

Air sustains our life. We cannot live without air, not even for a second. For this reason, our body is equipped with a system to absorb it naturally without any effort on our part, and we continue to absorb oxygen from it without even thinking about it.

Similarly, our body works with power from God. Life cannot exist without Him.

For this reason, He is within us. We can thus find Him, meet Him, quite easily.

The Gurus have given us a great gift, telling us that Waheguru is nearer than the nearest, and He dwells within each individual. “kaa-hay re ban khojan ja-ee ...” [GGS: 684] - “Why go searching for Him in the forest when He lives within everything, always untouched; He dwells within you.”

Waheguru is with us. “The Guru is with me, always very near to me” [GGS: 394].

But we keep forgetting it. This forgetting is the real delusion and the origin of our pain.

Let us see how valuable remembering is and how much loss lies in forgetting:

Someone hid a one hundred dollar bill at a safe location in his closet. He owed a hundred dollars to someone who came for his money one day. But this man forgot the whereabouts of his one hundred dollar bill. He could not pay him back. This spoiled his reputation in the entire town. Thus, the outcome was the same as if he did not have the money (even though he had it hidden somewhere at home.)

Similarly, when we forget that Waheguru is with us and that He is sitting inside us, we become anxious and miserable unnecessarily. The root cause of all our worries, doubts and fears is this one fault.

This error is eliminated by remembering (simran of) Waheguru. We need to be mindful of Waheguru. One who is mindful of Waheguru has already met Waheguru.

“har simran meh aap nirankara” [GGS: 263] -  “He Himself dwells within our recollection of Him.”

Thus, we must keep repeating ‘Waheguru … Waheguru’. This is the entire essence. But the so-called sadhus and sants have made meeting Waheguru a difficult subject. In order to sustain their own livelihood, they call it a very difficult task, and then they prescribe their own concocted methods to meet Him.

A short while ago, a Muslim mendicant who had performed great feats in various mosques, came to Amritsar. His followers acclaimed him as someone who could perform miracles. Numerous men and women living in Amritsar visited him, forming long lines. He made many followers and after a while he was quite well off.

Some people suggested to me that I too should meet this man of God. But I did not want to say anything. In fact this mendicant did have some inner awakening. One day, he himself came to my office with some people. He talked a lot, for a long time … that it is very difficult to meet God, etc. I told him that we should talk alone at some time.

One day he came by himself. I told him that meeting God is not difficult at all. It is in fact very easy. God sits inside you as well as in me. He is not far away from us. We simply forget this truth. The only need there is, is eliminating this fault. This fault is eliminated by continued calling on Him, by remembering His naam.

The mendicant was pure of heart. He agreed with me and said, “What you have said is true and correct. Even the Koran says this somewhere. The trouble is that something as simple as this is not sufficient to strengthen people’s faith. They expect tall lectures. So, in order to satisfy them, as well as to maintain our livelihood, we have to do everything else that we do.”

When we do simran of someone, that entity’s presence becomes established within our subconscious mind. Meditation (dhyan) is included in simran. A yogi’s samadhi is short lived but with simran the mindfulness and a longing for God is established forever.

This is our Samadhi.

Majnu was lost in Laila’s thought, by repeating ‘Laila … Laila!’ Laila had come and to reside in his heart. He became so absorbed in the inner Laila that when Laila came and addressed him, he was not aware of her any longer. Why, because his Laila was living inside him now.

Just as when we sit and lean on the back of a chair, we can feel the chair's support. Our dear Lord's presence is felt in the same manner.

November 30, 2012
 

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