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In The Hut:
Letters From Espanola

EK ONG KAAR KAUR

Lately, my mind has turned to Guru Amar Das. Especially the story of what happened to him after he received the Guruship from Guru Angad.

It is a very painful story - emotionally painful. 

Here was Guru Amar Das, age 73, sitting on the Guru's throne at Goindwal. He was carrying on the mission entrusted to him by his beloved teacher and guide, Guru Angad.

Then Datu, one of Guru Angad’s sons, comes along with a posse of his “supporters.” Datu physically kicks Guru Amar Das off of the throne, then berates and insults him in front of the people gathered in the court.

With absolute grace and humility, Guru Amar Das massages Datu’s foot and says, “I am an old man with hard bones. I am afraid those bones must have hurt your foot.”

After which, he simply walks away.

Guru Amar Das walks to his home in the village of Basarke. Doesn’t tell a single soul where he has gone. Closes himself up in a hut to meditate. And puts a sign outside that says, “If you open the door to this place, you are not my Sikh and I am not your Guru.” Basically, "Leave me in peace."

The Gurus showed by their actions that they lived on a higher plane, achieving much vaster states of consciousness than the average person. But to think they did not feel pain, like any other human? I personally don’t believe that.

Could they conquer pain? Rise above it? Be true to their dharam and to the Will of the Divine inspite of the pain?

Absolutely.

But not feel the pain at all? I don’t think that is possible.

The soul when it enters the physical body is a very subtle, sensitive and innocent being. It has incarnated for a purpose. And it waits for time and space to mature the body and mind so that the soul-purpose can unfold like a flower. Then, the fragrance of the soul can be shared with all of those around it.

This is a very sacred process – this process of the soul coming to the earth and blooming. The problem is, we forget how precious this process truly is.

Guru Amar Das writes about this in Anand Sahib.

"By Your own inclination,
O Love,
You come into form.
And You love
Being in the midst
Of Your beautiful family.
But the devotional love
Of the soul slips away,
And we become bound
By our own desires.

This happens
Under the pressures
Of the world around us.
In this Creative Play
We forget
The Essence of the Divine.
Infatuation arises.
And we focus on loving
Other people.
Other things.

Says Nanak,
Those who are blessed
By the sound of the Wisdom
Become bound by love
Attuned to the Divine.
They live with devotion
Even in the midst
Of the world.”

[Free interpretation of Paurri 29]

Dharam and the Guru, all things that we follow have one purpose and one purpose only. To help the soul remember.

To remember its sacredness, its innocence, its purity and sensitivity. As the soul remembers, it has a chance – just a chance – to express the reason it incarnated. Minus that realization, religion becomes a hollow and empty experience.

The problem, though, is that when the soul begins to unfold its purpose, time and space present a challenge. The pressures of the world come along and say, “You have no right to be this. You have no business expressing your soul like this. Who do you think you are to sit on that throne?"

And you know - these moments hurt. Like a flower when it blooms, the petals do get bruised.

That deep soul-pain happens when the social world gangs up on someone and rejects the True Identity of the Inner Being.

So what did Guru Amar Das do? Disappear without a word. Not tell anyone. He wanted to be alone. Just like any of us would. When the soul feels wounded, it wants to be alone. In that aloneness, a person can shut out and ignore the negativity that surrounds him. Heal the deep pain of that rejection.

How? By quietly sitting and re-establishing the connection with his own Inner Light and fragrance.

Sitting in that hut, without anyone knowing, what God did Guru Amar Das really meditate upon?

In my study, there is only one God that Gurbani tells us we can definitively know. The Divine within the heart. To love that purest, most precious spark within is the love that can heal someone. Self realization is not a cold experience. It comes with self-appreciation, self-gratitude and self-love. When the pressures and rejection of the world hit, the only true power a person has is to behold and honor his own Divinity.

Guru Amar Das sat and meditated. Felt the Naam, felt the Creator. And in the depth of that inner connectivity, whatever pain he may have felt as a human being with a sensitive and innocent soul found relief.

But the story does not end with the hut, or with the aloneness. Baba Buddha and a group of Sikhs searched tirelessly until they found the Guru. They figured out a way around the sign, and cut a hole in the wall of the hut instead.

Worldly pressures and social rejection are not the only truth when it comes to the blooming of the Spirit. There are also those who need the soul to reach its destiny. When a soul fails to remember its purpose, that has a cascading effect throughout the entire community. But when a soul makes it, there are those who need the fragrance it has to offer.

Guru Amar Das, within himself, did not need anyone else. But when he heard how much the Sikhs needed him, he relented. Came out of his aloneness, and shared himself, his True Self, his heart of Light, with those who asked.

In our lives, we go through a similar journey on a more modest scale. It is not just that each of us have a destiny, it is that other people need us to live up to our destiny. This is the real purpose of life.

But in those moments of challenge, when the soul gets hurt, it is always okay to take some time, and go into the hut to heal.


November 20, 2014
 

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