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The Carafe & The Goblet:
The Way of the Sikh
Letter & Spirit # 27

YUKTANAND SINGH

Translated from Bhai Vir Singh's ‘Gurmukh Sikhia’

Part XVII

Gurmat teaches a seeker to develop continuity instead of intensity. When naam is accumulated through an unbroken endeavor (simran), it enables the seeker to feel Waheguru’s presence and His fellowship.

Just as straw burns faster than wood, in the beginning, naam incinerates the bad karam of our minor mistakes. Then it is the turn of our major faults. But they resist. They create obstacles and try to lead us astray from our Giver.

For this reason, we need to be vigilant and be careful not to be proud of having naam.

Hafiz has said, in Persian: “Even if your teacher says ‘color your prayer mat with liquor,’ do it without delay.”

A teacher once gave some money to his pupil and said, “Go and visit a prostitute.” This pupil enjoyed perfect faith in his teacher. So he went. To his surprise, he found that his wife was sitting there. After he had left home, some crooks had kidnapped her and had sold her there. Thus, being a slave of his teacher resulted in the rescue of his wife.

Such is the benefit of obeying our spiritual guide. If we want something from our teacher then we must always see him as greater than us, only then we are able to receive. The goblet cannot receive anything from the carafe as long as it is not below the carafe.

One major difference between other paths and gurmat is that in gurmat, even after having received brahmgyan (God-consciousness) a Sikh continues to endeavor accumulating the wealth of naam: “A brahmgyani leans on naam for his support” [GGS:273.7].

Everyone’s welfare is then natural to his acts: “A God-conscious being delights in the welfare of others” [GGS: 273.4].

Everyone’s inner state is not the same everyday. For this reason, each idea, written in several different ways, is imbedded in different shabads. This way we can absorb that idea from a shabad that attracted us at that moment.

A doctor may have many medicines reserved for various illnesses. But he gives us only the one that is appropriate for our particular illness. That is the medicine we need to take, not all of them. We need to also avoid what he tells us to avoid.

A gurmukh purifies us by making us understand this secret. A gurmukh is familiar with the path. We are supposed to walk the way a gurmukh tells us to walk on the path.

Naam leads to a superior inner state. This leads to a sense of being higher than others, just the same as a king sees himself as above others: “living in your naam is my living as a king; singing of your kirtan is my practice of yoga” [GGS:385.10].

A king’s seeing himself above others is due to his power and his haumai. This is a rajasik quality (one of the three qualities of nature - from the Sankhya school of philosophy: satvik or peaceful light; rajasik or restless energy; and tamasik or inertia of darkness).

Someone who lives in naam does not lean on the haumai or the ‘me and mine’. Such an individual possesses the satvik quality, he resides in God’s presence, he is above others, and he has no further needs.

The consciousness of a common man is horizontal and flat. The consciousness of someone who does naam simran is vertical. It rises to a spiritual height. Such a person does not allow himself to be influenced by the objective world and by society.

Singing of kirtan makes our inner attention one-pointed, just as a yogi who meditates to make the mind one-pointed to connect with the inner self. Waheguru becomes the support of someone who practices naam and then, He Himself bestows all these rewards.

Healing is also a form of power. A doctor with self confidence can benefit his patients, but if he is proud then he will fall. Similarly, the prayer of someone who practices naam becomes powerful. This power needs to be endured, with humility.

To avoid pride we need to serve, knowing that we cannot understand which one of our acts will attract Waheguru’s benevolence and will make him reward us with his mercy.

Seeing some light, hearing voices, and having visions, has nothing to do with the spiritual truth. A seeker is thus deluded, made to follow someone through hypnotic suggestion. These visions and voices conform to whatever one was told to see or to hear.

(When Guru Nanak worked in a shop, he used to lose count whenever he reached the number 13 or ‘tera’ because this word also means ‘I am yours’).

When we do naam simran then Waheguru Himself listens to it. In fact He sits within us, and He Himself makes us repeat His naam. When Guru Nanak kept saying ‘tera’ … ‘tera’ … I’m yours … I’m yours - Waheguru kept repeating ‘you are mine‘ … ‘you are mine’ in response.

Progress on the path of simran is indicated by: emergence of a peaceful point in the heart; whenever we say ‘WaheGuru’ it makes us want to say it again; and lust, anger, greed, attachment, etc., the faults that cause pain, continue to wane day by day.

“O Nanak, one whose heart is aligned with naam, gets to know the Immaculate Lord” [GGS:281.11].

March 26, 2013

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