Images: courtesy - Sharan.
Columnists
Simran:
The Way of the Sikh
Letter & Spirit # 29
YUKTANAND SINGH
Translated from Bhai Vir Singh's ‘Gurmukh Sikhia’
Part XIX
Giving up of the haumai (ego) does not mean negativity or self deprecation. It means coming down and staying off from the height of false pride of our ego or the ‘me-and-mine’.
This does not mean escaping into some spiritual state and sitting like a rat in a rat hole. We need to ascend, but ascend towards a positive state, a state of ‘chardi kala’.
In that state we feel pleasure in doing what is good for everyone. We, then, do only virtuous deeds.
“A God-conscious being acts in the welfare of others” [GGS:273].
We practice these three:
1 Flawless conduct (this includes proper rehat)
2 Flawless recital of gurbani, and
3 Simran
The path of Waheguru’s bhagti (devotion) is a path free from failure.
Why?
When a bride leaves her parents, lives with her husband and surrenders to him, then the husband assumes the responsibility of her welfare. Similarly, when we surrender ourselves to Waheguru, then Waheguru Himself is responsible for our success.
Thus, giving up of the
haumai does not mean having a mental emptiness, also known as ‘sunn’ or zero. Instead, it is living in ‘chardi kala’ ... by becoming Waheguru Ji ka Khalsa and having trust in
His fateh, His victory.
The practice of simran saturates our subconscious mind with simran. Simran, then, continues without any conscious effort on our part.
Our life then, becomes worthwhile.
April 14, 2013
Conversation about this article
1: Kulwant Singh (U.S.A.), April 14, 2013, 7:47 PM.
Haumai is a combination of two words: Hum Hai. This means "I am". When you give up your haumai, you realize that there is no "I". You break the illusion of maya which tricks you into thinking that you are separate from the rest of the universe. Everything that exists is made of the same clay.
2: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), April 14, 2013, 8:14 PM.
Life of the Khalsa is oftentimes described as living on the sharp edge of a sword ... where life and death are precariously balanced and so detachment from maya (materialism, relationships, wealth, greed and ego) becomes smooth and the Creator's presence overides everything else.
3: Ajit Singh Batra (Pennsville, New Jersey, USA..), April 17, 2013, 1:28 PM.
Re #1: "Everything that exists is made of the same clay ...". The potter when, he beats his clay and moulds it into a pot, the result is a lifeless pot. But the Great Potter whom we call God when He moulds His clay, He has to mould and shape His pots into evolving entities. He creates and develops a living consciousness which in the case of human beings, is called 'conscience'. It is the conscience which plays part in the curtailment of the ego.