Seeker of One

Manoj, the coolie

2009-02-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

Manoj worked as a coolie at Mumbai's busiest railway station. He didn't particularly like the job, nor did he particularly like being called a coolie, but it paid for the education and welfare of his two sons and daughter back in his village in Himachal Pradesh.

He sent his family pictures of him wearing a borrowed three-piece suit and told them that he had a great job as an officer so that they would not know about his coolie job. He hadn't seen them in over two years. His budget simply did not allow him the luxury of a trip back home.

But now his daughter planned to get married. A little nervous but with excitement mounting, he prepared for his trip home. He bought two big suitcases and filled one with gifts for his family and all the villagers. He stuffed the other with the best clothes for his future in-laws. On the day of his departure, he took a taxi halfway across the city to catch the train. He dressed up finely with a new haircut and drenched himself fully in expensive perfume. He smiled to himself when he thought of the surprise that would show on his wife's face when she saw his new personality.

He got on the train, generously tipping the coolie who carried his two suitcases. He expected a bow and a hearty "thank you, Sir", but instead he got a curious look and a slight smile. He quickly dismissed the coolie, avoiding his eyes. The coolie slowly walked away looking back several times.

Most of the people in the crowded cabin including Manoj had to ride standing up. The passengers did not return Manoj's smiles but seemed to openly stare at him. He got a more little nervous but decided people stared simply from being jealousl of his clothes and perfume. Nevertheless he felt glad when at the next train station most of the passengers got off. Before the cabin filled up again, he quickly found a seat.

The new passengers not only stared at Manoj but whispered and smiled at each other. Manoj became quite unsettled and unconsciously checked his clothes. Perhaps his fellow coolies had played a trick on him - perhaps they had somehow written something on his clothes or even his face. He got up, giving up the precious seat and joined the line to the single bathroom in the cabin. Now the smiles turned into mutterings - Manoj distinctly heard "coolie" several times. He shifted nervously on his feet while waiting his turn.

It came a full ten long minutes later. He quickly entered the bathroom and stared at his reflection on the rusty mirror. He could see his face and hair still shining with the oil he had applied that morning. His clothes had become slightly wrinkled but nothing seemed out of place. He checked and rechecked all his body and his reflection several times until the impatient knocks on the door forced him back into the cabin.

When he came out, the passengers erupted into open laughter, pointing in his direction. This time the words "coolie" were loud and clear. Manoj forced a smile to show that he was in on to the joke but the sweat on his face betrayed his lost composure and panic.

He glanced around and found a friendly face of an elderly lady. He got close to her and asked "Mother, why are people calling me .. a coolie?" The lady smiled and pointed to his head - he felt his head and then he realized - he had been carrying both of his suitcases in perfect balance on his head the entire time!

~~~~~~~~~~

Best spiritual morals for Manoj sent by readers:

Anonymous

Manoj, like most of us, is unnecessarily carrying the baggage of past and future.

Kristie Anderson

The baggage Manoj is carrying on his head stands for his truth, his connection to God, his eternal self. In our uncertainty, discomfort and even in outright rejection of who we are or the path we are given God will never abandon us. We may imagine it as a burden or weight, we may not understand why we must carry it. Manoj became a fool when he ignored the truth, as we all do.

Mike Ozen-Anandjot

When we attempt to make ourselves other than who we truly are, we are on the wrong path. Although Manoj tries his best to appear to be a "successful man of the world," his true nature comes through - even without him realizing it! As "the impostor" attempts to convince the world that he or she is wealthy, happy, smart, sophisticated, or whatever... Read More, we actual move further away from our true self. In doing so, we step further away from our Soul, our essence of G-d within. Our true self wants to come out and, like Manoj, will often break through the masks we choose to wear. If you want to bring love and joy into the world, do not try to "impress" others with a facade. Instead, let your true self shine with the Light of G-d that is always within you! You'll never have to worry about others finding out your secret identify, or remember a lie, or be uncomfortable about being you! Wahe Guru!!!!!

Prabhu Singh Khalsa

I liken it to the people who think that nice clothes and a good outward showing can hide the weight of ones karmas clearly hanging over their heads. Their ego doesn't allow them to see what's so obvious to the rest.

My five spiritual truths

2009-02-10T11:24:00.000-08:00

1. There are only two mutually exclusive states we can exist in:

SatNaam (infinite and joyful) or Ego (finite and suffocating).

2. Seva (service) immediately takes us away from state of ego and closer to state of SatNaam (ceaseless state of which is called simran).

3. There is no Hell - only how far we are from our heavenly innate nature of immortal Truth, pure Consciousness and deep Bliss.

4. We are *unconditionally* loved - doesn't matter whether we are religious, spiritual, agnostic, atheist or simply mixed up.

5. Thoughts become our (perception of) reality so only think positive thoughts .... and there ain't nothing more positive than SatNaam :)

25 completely random facts about me

2009-02-07T19:24:00.000-08:00

1. I read somewhere that if we want to progress spiritually we should wake up way before sunrise; since then I have started waking up 23 hours before sunrise.

2. I read somewhere that we have 1,000 thoughts in a blink of an eye; I was like WaheGuru! imagine if I could sell these thoughts?! I could make a fortune. If they go at even a penny a thought, I could easily gas up my car after 2 blinks. Then I started thinking - what if I create a car which runs on thoughts only; then I could blink all the way to Alaska.

3. I have this recurring dream where I am lying horizontally and then I go vertical. Then some liquid falls all over me. It's pretty weird. The people are mostly the same in every dream and I usually do the same stuff over and over again (like eat, go the work etc etc). The dream usually ends in me lying horizontally in the same place where the dream started.

4. The most creative Halloween trick-or-treaters I ever saw were these 2 teenagers - one was dressed up as a witch, the other wore a black dress. I was like "WaheGuru! ur (that's teenager lingo for "you are") a witch, but what are u?” The girl in black said, "A bitch!" I was like "WaheGuru! dat kool!" (that's teenager lingo for "WaheGuru! that's neat").

5. The most creative fund-raiser I ever saw was this teenager girl with her 9-year-old brother. She knocked at my door and said, "I'm going to Brazil for my summer vacation, but I don't have money. If you donate $5 towards my trip, I will let you break an egg on my brother's head." I was like "WaheGuru! dat kool! What is your rate for breaking coconuts?" She was like "$50". I was like "OK". The brother was, like, gone.

6. They say Chuck Norris is the toughest guy around because he can block a toilet with his pee. They obviously haven't met my cousin who can block it with his fart.

7. Once I went without solid food for 91 minutes straight!!! I did have a couple of donuts, but they were the soft kind, not solid.

8. The earliest memory of my childhood is.... is.... darn! I forgot it now! The greatest memory of my life is .. is... darn! darn! OK, who removed "The Greatest Memories" CD from my brain?!

9. People always ask, "Who came before WaheGuru!? (that's Sikh lingo for "God"). I'm like "That's easy, duh! Mama WaheGuru!" (that's Sikh lingo for "Mother of God").

10. If we are all from Mars or Venus, did someone bring a return ticket? Or even a contact number/website address- cuz I kinda want to go back.

11. I'm a seeker of Truth. Or hot muffin with ice-cream will do too.

12. Once I was hitchhiking and had the same jeans on for 2 weeks. One dog liked my jeans so much that he actually tried to mate with it. I was like "This jeans smells so bad, why do you want to mate with it?" But then I thought, maybe it smells like perfume in dog world. I wanted to take off my jeans and give it to the dog, but I hadn't changed my underwear in 2 weeks either, so thought I better not risk it.

13. Most people don't know this about me, but I am a quite a runner. Once I ran away from the Boston marathon. I have run away from a lot of other things too.

14. Once I had this really weird experience. I got into this long metal tube, hung out for a while, came out and I was in a completely different place (and time I think). All the people there had different color of skin (actually it was more like my skin color) and had a different word for everything. I wanted to get back to the tube but this big guy was like "Namaste, No Sir!” But the natives there were pretty nice; they took me home and fed me everyday for like 23 days and then brought me back to the big guy. This time he was like "Namaste, Yes sir!" It's amazing what 23 days can do to a guy's attitude. I got back into the metal tube, hung out for a while, came out and I was back in the same place I was at 23 days ago. I know, pretty weird huh?

15. I had this really odd experience as a baby. Someone put me in this container - I cried like hell. Thankfully that container had holes, otherwise I would have died. I think the one who put in it forgot about me cuz I have been in the container for like 45 years now. There is also this other container who looks like my container but is much nicer and softer. The one inside the other container is very beautiful too and I think it's a girl - I think that girl likes me cuz she's has been around me for like 17 years. Although I don't think she likes to hear me talk - I say that because in my container I have a hole through which I can say stuff (I like to call that my talker) and she is always covering up my talker with her talker. It's really nice though. I am always looking forward to seeing her through my see-ers and hear her voice through my hear-ers.
16. I went to this building when I was a young man and they made me sit and listen to the older people. And then they wanted me to pay them! The gall! I was like "*I* come here, *I* sit here, *I* listen to older people, *I* do all the work and you want me to pay you?!!" Many years passed like this, then I went to this other place where I went and sat; and *they* paid me!!!! Maybe they felt guilty or something cuz they paid me much more than what I paid them. I was like "WaheGuru! why didn't I just come here in the first place?"

17. In my youth I routinely did things that I would be so afraid of doing in my adult years eg hitchhiking, sleeping anywhere, tenting anywhere, throwing stones at strangers etc etc

18. Once I tented on a golf course – what could possibly go wrong? At 5am, the sprinklers started – one of them was right underneath my tent and another one right by the door. Three words: wet wet wet.

19. Once I tented at this government building (kinda like a city information center). It was about 8pm, what could possibly go wrong? At 9pm, a spotlight comes on, illuminating my tent for miles and miles. I could barely sleep – it was Friday night and apparently this building was a teenager hang-out spot; and apparently teenagers love to shout words that start with F and end with K at tents in the middle of the city. Teenagers! What are we going to do with them? Except maybe let them grow and become like us.

20. Once by a lake, there was a really nice breeze, so I decided to sleep under the stars. The breeze suddenly died just as I was lying down and a million and half mosquitoes showed up. My arms were literally black with them! I quickly pitched a tent in the dark – but about half a million mosquitoes managed to get into the tent. There were a lot of happy mosquitoes and one unhappy human that night. hmmm…. On a re-read, this story is too negative (and I believe in being positive), so I’m going to change it: One night, by a lake, my body served half a million souls. This assumes mosquitoes have souls. If so, how does WaheGuru manage to pack a soul into a mosquito? Or into a Republican for that matter? Just kidding – we both know Republicans don’t have souls.

21. I recently saw a close-up picture of Obama’s right hand and I was astounded by how similar my and his hand looks! He has four fingers, I have four! He has one thumb, I have one too! …that’s kinda of where the similarity ends though – the lines on his hands are way different from mine. My wife looked at one of his lines and said that’s the leadership line. I looked at the same line on my hand ….. with some luck and a lot of hard work, I have the potential of becoming a Gurdwara president one day.

22. Once I was taking an evening stroll in an deserted area in Green Bay, WI while on a work-related trip (note to self – don’t take evening strolls in Green Bay, WI in deserted areas) and these two big guys came up to me and angrily asked “DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU LOOK LIKE?” This was shortly after 9-11 and I was wearing a white turban (note to self – don’t wear a white turban while on a evening stroll in an deserted area in Green Bay, WI, especially shortly after 9-11). The first answer that came to my mind was “Your Mama?” But since I hadn’t done my kirtan sohila (Sikh evening prayer) yet and wasn’t quite ready for the afterworld, I said, “Elvis?” The guy just broke into a smile and walked away shaking his head and laughing. Elvis lives!

23. Once I was jogging in Cary, NC and passed a bunch of teenagers (about 25 of them). One of them shouted, “Osama!” - I immediately turned and started running towards them – the way they dispersed was classic. One minute they were there, the next … poof! they were gone.

24. Kundalini Yoga is great – it’s a powerful and easy path to the REAL deal – SAT NAAM!

25. There are only 2 secrets to a happy, fulfilling life: 1. Be positive, no matter what. 2. Serve others, no matter what.

Tough times

2008-09-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

I saw this raving mad man shouting "The End is near!" at the street corner - I stopped the car and gave him some change and said, "Take it easy - my broker says the economy is going to bounce right back."

He peered at me closely and replied, "I am your broker!"

~~~~~

Then I went to get some cash from the ATM machine - it wanted to borrow $42 till Friday!

Divinity is Where There is no Duality

2008-09-26T14:05:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from an amazing workshop given by Kartar Singh (VA) at Summer Solstice 2008. Reproduced with permission.

Synopsis
“Fake it and you will make it.” This course explores what is a landscape of emotion and thought that encourages the movement from duality and pain to divinity and joy. It includes a powerful cleaning of the subconscious mind, an amazing activation of each of the chakras and a deep meditation with the gong.

~~~~~

Ek Ong Kar Sat Nam

There is One Spirit Beyond
Moving within the Creation—
Coordinating
Consolidating
Continually
Creating,

And this Spirit
Within me
Is my True Identity.

Most of us, maybe many of us here, are touched by these words. They vibrate compatibly with us; we have come to sense that there is One Spirit beyond moving within the Creation.

The challenge part is “And that Spirit within me is my true identity.”

The other night I was at the MPA graduation and one of the students read the famous quote from Nelson Mandela that goes “It is not our darkness that scares us, it is our power, our unlimited selves.”

When everything is obviously manifesting in a way that is congruent with our wishes, we are happy, even ecstatically happy.

But when things are manifesting in a way that doesn’t show an obvious correlation to what we want, we often turn away.

Our vibrational offering is based on what is, and not on what we want to be.

We pray, we have desires, we tell God what we want. Often, to get that there needs to be a process through which we can learn it.

You may ask for patience, and what you get is a situation again where you have been very impatient.

The universe wants to help you, it provides the opportunity. The decision to do it differently is your own.

So you pray for patience, you ask for patience---and what you get is the opportunity for patience.

So it is easy to let your vibrational offering be based on what is rather than what you want to be.

“Fake it and you’ll make it,” the SSS said. Said in other terms, let your vibrational offering be at the frequency of what you want, not what you had or something that is evolving that you may feel is not what you want.

Let me say this in a different way. The SSS would say, if you want to have something, if you want to know something, vibrate at the frequency of it.

If you want more money in your life, don’t keep harping on the same old thoughts of lack.

If you want more empowerment in your life, then don’t keep harping on the same old fears and insecurities.

Everything is vibrational first. A new life is vibrational before the sperm ever touches the egg.

Your vibration is totally within your control.

This doesn’t mean that if you want more money you think and think of riches. That would be like trying to drown out your poverty thoughts with richness thoughts.

That’s work, that’s tiring, that’s going upstream.

The universal energy, the Ek Ong Kar, and especially the Sat Nam, is all downstream.

If you are moving in the direction of relief, if you are moving downstream, if you can feel the current, you are on your way.

It’s not that you need to work and work and work to change your vibration. Just offer it, and if you want to work, work at finding all the ways you can be happy and grateful while your desire is manifesting.

Gems in the River

2008-09-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

I gazed at her in awe. Her breathtaking beauty mesmerized me. I whispered inwardly, “She is beautiful”. Nay, to describe her merely as beautiful would be to do her disservice, for I beheld actual beauty itself incarnate.

Her raiment appeared as a bluish garment of sparkling light. Her face radiated a peace and composure I had yet to experience. She stood beside a river. The rising sun shimmering on its surface reflected the dawn in all its glory. Entranced I observed the rapture of day unfolding before me.

She held a bulky bag heavy with stones. Only when she reached to pull out one of the stones did I realized it was nothing ordinary. No, a gem surpassing the brilliance and elegance of any jewel I had ever previously seen glittered in the morning rays of sunlight, nearly blinding me.

Then she did a rather peculiar thing.

She threw the gem into the river. Before I could say anything she repeated her action. Over and over again she tossed unimaginably flawless gems into the streams current. I couldn't’t fathom why she would do such a thing or how such beautiful gems could be so easily discarded by her. Couldn't she see how precious, how valuable these gems were?

Once in a while, she would inspect a particular jewel holding it out to reflect the light. After caressing it fondly she would put the gem into her pocket. But then she would go right back to dropping beautiful gems, one after another, into the river.

Finally I broke out of my spell and asked, "Who are you"?

She looked at me and her eyes sparkling with life and mirth, said, "I am you".

It completely shocked me to think that I could be that beautiful. "But", I stumbled, "I am ugly and dirty, you are so pure and...?"

I could feel her laughter inside. "I am your soul."

Like a flash of lightening, I completely understood her. I saw her and me as one. My dirt and ugliness reflected the false and fleeting me. She embodied the true me.

Like a jewel wrapped in rags, I had hidden her from the world. Nay, I had hidden her from me.

I pointed to the gems in the river - she smiled and explained,
"The bag of stones actually represents our lifetime in the human body and the celestial beauty is indeed our soul. She is standing by the ever flowing river of time, spending the treasure of precious but limited number of breaths that the body is blessed with. Each breath spent in meditating on the Beloved is a priceless gem that she will carry with her as her spiritual treasure when the body breathes its last. Each breath spent on useless, materialistic pursuit is a gem wasted, never to be found again."

~~~~~

Above reply by me-ever-radiant-and-lovely-wife, Gurpreet Kaur Singh.

~~~~~

Other notable explanations sent in by readers:

Sukhmandir Kaur

How can one remember Thee, unless first we meet
Oh, but the nearness of Thee taste divinely sweet
Please bless and fill me with Thy Grace
Granting this unworthy one a glimpse of Thy Face
Blind me with thy Blinding Light
Empty me of weakness, and fill me with Thy Might
Once met,
How could one forget
Waheguru waheguru waheguru wahegur

Amrit Singh Sangha
That gem is your life breath being washed away with the strong current of the river.

I do not understand O my beautiful soul.

You have been given this human life to remember the One Lord’s Name with every breath. Each breath that passes without the remembrance of the One Lord’s Name, that gem is thrown into the river never to return again.

I felt a chill down the back of my spine and the hair on my neck stand.

She said all is not lost, that Gem is safe, which goes in my pocket. That Gem and only that Gem which is in service of the One Lord’s Name is safe.

I gasped and said "O my beautiful soul my breath of life is a priceless Gem that is being wasted away in thoughts other than the One Lord’s Name."

She looked at me, smiled with a gaze that pierced my mind and said now go meditate on the One Lord's Name. I do not know how many Gems I have left in this bag and my pocket feels Light weighted.

With these words she disappeared.

Sonu Kapoor
The gems were priceless moments/memories of life, good or bad they were all beautiful ... the soul was simply carefully selecting the ones it would keep with it and cherish forever, while letting go of the rest that did not mean much.

Gems made out of naam, simran and love for god were kept in the pocket , while the memories of friends family and loved ones were all discarded back into the river of maya. (depending on a person's beliefs, this can be vice versa).

Please see the comments too.

The Aquarian Footprints in the Sand

2008-09-23T17:45:00.000-07:00

One night I had a dream. I was walking along the beach with God. Across the sky flashed scenes of my life. For each scene I noticed ONE set of rather deep footprints.

I fell on my knees and cried, "O great and glorious LORD, thy ...

"Enough of that LORD-ing!" she scolded, "and to tell you the truth, I'm pretty tired of the thy-s and thine-s!"

"But, but.." I protested.

She kindly pulled me up to her level and said, "Now stop your buts and watch this..."

The deep footprints continued - when the saddest and the lowest scenes of my life appeared in the sky, I noticed two sets of footprints!!!

"But.. but," I protested again, "Isn't there supposed to be only one set of footprints when I was sad - I remember that story when the Lord picked up the person when he was sad..."

And she replied,

"You see, for most of the time, your heart was open to me and we were one. Then there were hard times where you closed your heart and soul, and I was forced to walk beside you. Those were sad times for me as well, as it pained me not to be able to reach you and that you thought you were all alone. Remember you are never alone. Even when you feel cut off from God's love, I am right beside you. Say the word, and I'll come home."

~~~~~

Above reply sent by Kehar Kaur.

~~~~~

Other notable replies:

Sukhmandir Kaur
The times we are the saddest and most troubled is when we are in duality (vijog), the state of separation and viraag (deep longing), thus two sets of footprints. When we are happiest is when we merge into our Lord and become One experiencing sanjog union (so only one set of footprints needed :) The alternative could be whenever we are unhappy we turn to each other most, cuz misery loves company ;)

Anonymous
Okay - now let's see how She gets out of this one! By the way, I saw Her in the Gurudwara last night in the form of the sweetest little old lady dressed all in white. She was sitting next to me during kirtan. G said to her, you are great and she said innocently "acha...?" I hugged her and her essence is still with me.

Me
I had you in my lap all the time, but you decided to jump off!

Sheri Mahoney

It occurs to me that when we are separate from _ourselves_ we are under the illusion of being separate from God. Only the illusion suggeststhe separateness, though. Separateness from God is not actually possible, since he/she is in everything, no matter what its form.

Ratan to the Core

2008-09-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

EkOngKar Singh, a dear friend of Didi, my awesome naami aunt, seldom spoke. Quite an interesting guy - to communicate, instead of talking he would say only "waheguru" for “yes” and "gurwah!” for “no”. He would show up once in awhile, hang around for a few days (saying even fewer words) and then would disappear for months. Nobody really knew where he came from and where he went. All I know is that whenever he showed up, more meditations, more singing, and a lot more dancing took place.

One beautiful spring day, h appeared and indicated that he would like us to go hiking with him in the nearby hills. On such a day, it would have been a crime not to take up his offer so we (me, sis and Didi) whole-heartedly agreed.

While we readied ourselves for the outing, I asked Didi to tell me about EkOngKar Singh.

"He is a very intriguing man," Didi began. "Believe it or not, only a few years ago everyone considered him to be one of the top diamond traders in the world. He traveled the earth searching for the most precious stones. One of his fellow gem-hunters, a man known as Ratan Singh, is largely responsible for the transformation into the fellow you see today. It's best if we ask him to tell his own story..."

We took off n our hike and started doing the WahWalk (repeating WAH! when we lift the left foot and GUR! when we step on the right). We clambered along for about 40 minutes, this way until we came to a shady place near a creek with a little waterfall. Deciding this to be the perfect place for a rest, we all plunked down. I found a nice smooth rock which looked like it would make a great pillow.

Didi asked my sister to read Guru Nanaks' Jap Ji stanza #6, while I translated (best as I could).

tirath naavaa jay tis bhaavaa vin bhaanay ke naa-ay karee
Only with grace can one bathe in the inner ambrosial nectar;
without grace, the outside bathing at pilgrimages is kinda mostly useless.

jaytee sirath upaa-ee vaykhaa vin karmaa ke milai la-ee
All of goodies we have are a result of karma, but...

mat vich ratan javaahar maanik jay ik gur kee sikh sunee
The gems within are revealed by grace - then we listen to the Guru's one gospel
(and then we bathe in the inner ambrosial nectar mentioned previously).

guraa eik dhaehi bujhaaee sabhanaa jeeaa kaa eik dhaathaa so mai visar n jaaee
I ask the Guru for this: that I never forget the Giver of all souls.

We kept quiet for while just enjoying listening to the silence and meditating on the meanings of the stanza. I drifted off. I could hear the gurgling sounds of the creek which has this really weird name (Bush Kill Falls), and it got me to thinking about life and death…

When I have finally met my end
Departed this path I'm on
Please commit my memory
To a stream that runs down to the sea
Tumbling over around a bend
When it seems I've finally gone
You will discover me presently
Found in the green of a tree
Whose rustling leaves echo in the wind
Answering to the song
Of ashes tumbling o’er a stony ree
Far scattered to the lee
How befitting a way to blend
Buoyantly carried along
Coursing over falls swept free
By a current wept out from me

Startled out of my morbid reverie I heard Didi ask EkOngKar Singh "Why don't you tell the young ones your special story?".

EkOngKar Singh smiled, flashing an amazing set of white teeth. "Where I begin? Long story... OK, me this guy who care only for money. I look for diamonds in remote places. I have everything - money, cars, friends, but inside I very lonely and sad. One time, me go Ivory Coast doing diamond-trading. [yes, yes, I know - his English is not perfect - please bear with me - he's going to go into silence soon] Rebels capture me. This one fellow Ratan Singh, who in Africa that time, come and give them *all* his money to free me. I very grateful. We fly back home together. He very carefree fellow, always happy, make me feel happy too. I never so happy before. I love him more every hour! We go my house and I take him to my vault and show him my all gems. I tell him "You take anything you want". Inside my heart, I very scared that he take everything, but he take nothing from there.

He remove only a small rock from my backyard. "This to remind me of this moment," he say and leave me. I very, very happy that time. But later I again get very, very sad. *I wonder how come he happy with dirt, but I not happy even with diamonds?* Next time I see him, I ask him. So he tell me his story."

EkOngKar Singh took a deep breath, it was obvious that talking was hard for him - he was definitely out of practice (perhaps I could arrange talking-lessons from my always-ahead-of-you-by-at-least-200-words-half-of-which-were-"OMG" sister). He waved his hand indicating Didi should tell Ratan Singh's story.

She began, "Ratan Singh, before he partook amrit [ie became a Khalsa], had an unusual nickname. Everyone called him 'Rock' since childhood, because of his love for stones. Not surprisingly, Rock grew up to become a geologist. While hunting for geodes on one of his solo camp outs to the Indian mountains, he fell severely sick after eating some leftovers. He lay in his tent delirious with a perilously high fever, retching, shivering, sweating and shaking; thinking that this might be his last night on Earth. Very late that night, towards morning, he heard the sounds of hooves. A mysterious light approached. Rock thought perhaps the fairy spirit of a sacred cow had come to carry him off to the netherworld (he was delirious remember). Then suddenly the apparition came to a stop right outside his tent. With great difficulty, he lifted the tent edge nearest where he lay, and peeked out frightfully.

Lo and behold, a magnificent sight awaited him!

Astride a blue horse sat a man emitting brilliant white light. A royal white turban adorned his head. The horseman looked directly into Rocks eyes. His searing white hot gaze seemed to penetrate; piercing him as though he had been struck by an arrow. His commanding voice reverberated in the sick mans ears, like echoes in a cave, when he spoke, ordering "Ratan Singh, wake up!"

Rock fainted away into a dead sleep. Much later when he awoke again he discovered he had been completely healed. Sitting up, he remembered the vision (how could he forget?), but shrugged it off thinking he had to have been hallucinating. He stretched, stood up and stepped outside his tent. Looking down, he observed tracks appearing to be horse hoofs. Shaking his head in disbelief he bent over to examine them more closely and then to his utter amazement he spied a small silver arrow with the name "Ratan Singh" inscribed on it. You can imagine the shock Rock felt upon discovering that his vision had indeed been real. Soon after returning home, he realized the one in his vision to be none other than the Great Guru Gobind Singh ji! Before long he had partaken amrit, receiving at that time the very name of Ratan Singh."

When he heard this last part, EkOngKar Singh became very excited and jumped up interrupting Didi. He told us, "So when I hear this tale from Ratan Singh, I want to be like him – I want this amrit too. I want to be happy and carefree. Ratan Singh tell me, "Do WaheGuru WaheGuru early morning, read Jap Ji and Guru Gobind Singh come to you too!"

After few months, I partake amrit and get the SatNaam diamond inside me. Enough talk, now we sing!"

Saying that, he started singing,

Guru Raam Daas Ji
I searched and searched and through Guru's Grace, found the True One, my Friend, the One who pervades and presides over all.
Within the walled fortress of my golden body, the True One's SatNaam is revealed.

The True One's SatNaam is a jewel, a diamond; by which my mind and body are pierced through and through.
By great good fortune, I have found the True One. Nanak is permeated with the One' sublime essence (sggs 449)

Morals for the Genie

2008-09-12T16:50:00.001-07:00

The top 2 morals for the Genie story:

Anonymous
The Genie is the mind - let it do Sat with inhale and Naam with exhale, otherwise it will eat you up!

Beth Webb, Hurst, TX (www.bbyoga.biz)
Sometimes we THINK we have so much to do that our thoughts keep us from actually "DOING" the WORK.

The Genie

2008-09-09T16:55:00.001-07:00

Once there lived a very a wealthy man with many farms and businesses all over the world.

He was also a devotee of a yogi who lived in his city. No matter how busy he was, he would visit the yogi at least once a day. The yogi was quite pleased with him and one day told him, "Ask for anything and you shall receive it."

The wealthy man thought awhile and said, "I have too much work and not enough good workers. I want a servant who will do things at very fast speed."

The yogi said, "There is a genie I have under my control who could be of service to you. The only problem with it is that it has a condition attached to his service."

The wealthy man said, "And what might that be?"

The yogi answered, "The genie is alright as long you have work for it, but as soon as it is free, it will eat you up!"

The wealthy man laughed at that and said, "Oh, no problem with that, I have plenty of work for it."

The yogi warned him again. Once again the man laughed it off. So the yogi gave him the bottle the genie lived in. As soon as he got home, the wealthy man eagerly broke open the bottle. A big genie appeared and said just one thing, "Work!"

The man told him to till his land. The genie disappeared and re-appeared in a few minutes!

"Work!" he demanded. This greatly surprised the man. He took a look outside his window and sure enough, all his land had been tilled. He said, "Now sow all the seed into it."

Once again the genie disappeared and re-appeared in a few minutes and demanded, "Work!"

The man remembered the yogi's warning and had to think quite hard to come up with work for the genie. He told the genie to feed all his animals. Once again the genie disappeared and re-appeared in a few minutes and demanded, "Work!"

Now the man started sweating. Surely he would be eaten soon because he didn't have much more work for this genie.

With panic, he thought hard and told the genie to deliver all his mail personally around the globe. The genie disappeared and the man quickly ran to the yogi shouting, "Save me! Save me!"

The yogi laughed and reminded him of the warning. The man told the yogi, "You were right, yogi jee, you were right! Now save me! For surely I am doomed!"

The yogi said, "This is what you should do. As soon as the genie returns, ask him to build a pole outside."

The man interrupted, "But he will do that in 2 seconds - you don't know that genie, please think of something else. Please save me.."

The yogi said, "NOW CALM DONE AND LISTEN! ... After the genie has built the pole, tell it to climb the pole. Once it is up, it should climb down. Then it should climb up again. And it should continue this until you have some other job for it. After which it should start climbing and descending the pole again."

~~~~~

If you have a spiritual moral for this story, please send it to daljitMsingh@gmail.com

The Hot One on the Beach - 3

2008-09-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

read previous part...

So I'm sitting here on the beach with the hottest One EVER at my side. She just told me the secret of life and I am having a ball realizing how awesome life really is. Tornado, my 5-year-old wired cousin from hell (ok, I take that back - my sweet cousin from heaven) is busy counting the grains of sand on the beach [what a dork! - ok I take that back - what a cutie pie].

Most of the questions I have about life, birds and bees (and the 'emerald-eyes' girl in my class) have vanished completely from my mind. While we are on the subject of girls, I have to tell you that the girl I just mentioned - she and me are like... like... -have it- on! Like ... we are on the same wavelength, if you know what I mean! you know.. like ... we are like seeing each other.

ok, ok, we are not really seeing each other - she did however look in my direction once when we were in the chemistry lab; and winked. Yes, winked! Not once, but several times. ok, ok, she didn't really wink, but blinked - she had an allergic reaction to a chemical that was dropped on the floor. But so what? She still did look in my direction, didn't she? ok, ok, it was I who dropped the chemical on the floor. You should have seen...

What?! oh, you want me to stop my blabbering and ask some good questions while the Hot One is still around - not a bad idea I must say, not a bad idea at all.

One question pops in to my head - I turn to the Hot One and ask, "So what's the deal with the Guru? If we are all one why do .."

But before I finish my profound question...

~snap~

I am ... standing in the middle of the Ocean! Whoa! What happened?! I can't move! It's dark all around, only the wave crests are white with the reflection of the moon. I can't move anything ... except my eyes a bit - even those barely. OMG! What happened? And it's freezing!! Am I dreaming?! I am going to try to move eyes downwards to see what I am standing on - it's weird out here in the middle of the dark Ocean.

OMG! OMG! I see a thing sticking out where my nose should be.... it's a CARROT!!! And my cheeks are all white ... I... am.. am.. a SNOWMAN!!! A SNOWMAN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN!!! THIS IS CRAZY!! WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS? A SIMPLE QUESTION!! I CURSE THE BUMPER STICKERS WHICH SAY "QUESTION AUTHORITY" AND...

WHAT?! OH?!!! YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN?!! CALM DOWN MY ... ... OMG OMG DO I STILL HAVE AN...

OK, OK, you have a point. What does my Kundalini yoga teacher always say? "Mul Bandh!" (no! not sure if that's possible in these circumstances) ... "Deep inhale deep inhale"... but HOW DO I INHALE THROUGH A CARROT?!.. I'M DYING. GOODBYE READERS, HELLO GRAN-DADDY!

This is probably the last half-story I will write. Oh, why did I listen to you readers?! You sitting in your cozy chairs somewhere warm and I freezing my butt off (if I still have one - and mine is/was a really good one!) and have a carrot for a nose ... and... and what ELSE has been substituted by a vegetable? OMG?!! Dear readers, save me.. the girl with emerald-eyes.. ohhh, she really looked in my direction... really! I wasn't lying about that...

ok, ok, I got to calm down - I can't go out like this! Dear readers, please tell my sister that I really thinks she awesome - I only say mean things about her because I'm.. I'm jealous! Please tell the Principal that it was I who painted her poodle pink. I am getting really cold...really cold... and last thing, my blog's password is....

Wait a minute... I see something rising right in front of me. It's like an iceberg! It's getting to be dawn too, so I can see a bit better. The tip of the iceberg is a few feet away from me. It's directly in my vision, so I can't help but look at it. And... and, I hear a sound. Oh... it's the most beautiful sound! I'm melting into this sound. The sound is getting stronger and more beautiful. And more subtle. It's .. it's bliss! Bliss! Bliss! I am melting. I am in bliss. I am bliss! I love it! I love me; I love you. Love, love... Oh, I can't take this - it's too wonderful! I am melting, I am melting. This is not possible. This is too beautiful! I can't ... I can't.. describe it.... I'm melting into the sound and the waves below me. Ah, the warm, warm embrace of the waves... They gush over me... I am going into the water.. warm, blissful water.. Here I go into the water...

I am the water! I am everywhere at once! This is incredible! I am the Ocean, the rivers. I am the clouds and I am the trees! I am the mountains. I am everything! I am human and and I am animal and I am vegetation and I am rock! This is incredible. I can't describe it! I have melted into everything. Everything is ALIVE! I am vibrating with LIFE! I FEEL everything! All emotions are mine. All love is mine. I am Love and Love is me. I love you. I love me. I hear everything. It's a perfect symphony! I am one! I am all!

~snap~

I am back in my body lying next to the Hot One. I look at her and cry out. I don't know why I am crying, but I am. I can't keep the cries inside. She, me, you are too beautiful. There is too much depth and beauty for me not to cry.

She turns to me. She is indescribably kind. Everything about her is love and kindness. She is ... is... I cant' describe this - she is love. Bliss. ALIVE! So alive...

My sobs end. I take a deep breath. Oh the delicious breath! Incredible! I didn't realize how sweet breath is. I feel the power and joy of each breath particle, each molecule of air going into my alive body. My body is alive with vibration. All parts of my body are singing! I didn't know they could sing! And the song is breathtaking! It's joyous! It's bliss! bliss bliss.

I take a breath, eternity passes,… I visit each wonder of the cosmos in an instant, I breathe all that is beautiful, all that is sad, the drama of each life plays out before me joyously, tremulously. I live and die myriads of times in myriads of existences, taking place in myriad of worlds, in oceans, in sand. A wave washes over me, I exhale…

Tornado whips by showering me in a wave of sand still counting, as only a child who can't count can, one billion gazillion trillion, 39 billion gazillion trillion, 2 hundred 89 thousand hundred trillion gazillion billion zillion; he scoops and tosses handfuls of sand showering me and the Hot One who smiles sweetly, sizzling each grain into threads of spun glass, which shimmer and fall back to the beach to be swept out to sea by an incoming wave on its way out.

I become aware of a sand crab tickling my toes, I watch as it climbs my leg. It scuttles up my torso and climbs my neck and pauses to whisper into my ear. I hear its crabby little voice say… "breathe". I hear my breath as I inhale and exhale in a long sigh as my air is coming out.... I inhale the present and turn to Hot One in awe of blissful eternity, still hearing the ringing of its song through my being…thrilling my fibers of existence.

"I... I.." I hopelessly begin, "didn't know!"

She nodded.

"I didn't know you cared so much?!" I finally managed to say, "I .. thought you were carefree!"

"The Guru is part of me which cares.
The Guru is the part of me which loves.
The Guru is the part of me which sings to you.
The Guru is part of me which unites me and you!"

~~~~~

Guru Nanak's Jap Ji, stanza #5
The immaculate and pure One cannot be established or created.
Those who serve, experience the One. O Nanak, sing of the One, the treasure of excellence.

Sing ... and listen, and let your mind be filled with love. Your pain will be replaced with peace.
The all-pervading Guru's Word is the sound-current of the Naad and the wisdom of the Vedas.

The Guru is Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Paarvati and Lakhshmi.
The True One cannot be described in words even by those who know.

The Guru has given me this one understanding: may I never forget the giver of all souls.

Morals for Sher Singh

2008-09-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

I got several great responses - here are the top 3 (please see Comments for more).

Parvati, Enid, OK
"DON'T MESS WITH EMS!"

Anonymous
Mughal = Ego, Sher Singh = Guru, Sher Singh's sword = SatNaam
Any questions?

Sonu Kapoor
The Spiritual Moral of the story goes back to a Sakhi ["true story"] related to Guru Gobind Singh Ji [the tenth Sikh Master], a moment in his life period where he was once surrounded by enemy forces and a Mugal leader who challenged him for a dual.

Guru Gobind Singh ji offered 3 chances for the Mugal Leader to gain victory, when the 3rd attack came close and touched Guru Gobind Singh Ji, he then took his turn and finished off the Mugal Leader with one strike.

Allowing the enemy to go first, allows a saint to stand behind his principals with confidence, it also brings self assurance that he/she is Right and therefore has the support of the almighty. It is a test of confidence and faith in the principals of one's beliefs; "if I am wrong, than may I die, but if I am right, than victory shall be mine" The moment the first blow of the enemy is missed/altered, the saint gains confidence and assurance that he is correct and therefore uses that bliss of energy to return a blow back to his enemy and gains victory.

Often in a battlefield the weaker opponent will strike first because of fear, by resisting the desire to strike first the stronger opponent projects confidence in himself and in the almighty.

Sher Singh let his opponent go first, being alone in a battlefield, surrounded by mugals and not choosing to take the first strike, showed his confidence in his Guru "ja ko rakhe sahina mar sake na koye". The method which Sher Singh used to strike his opponent sent a clear and precise message to the entire mugal army "You may talk all you want, but the moment you make a move against what is right, you will crumble to the ground, for neither your head nor your body will support your useless talk"

Sher Singh and the Moghul leader

2008-09-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

One morning after EMS (please see http://seekerofone.blogspot.com/2008/09/beware-of-ems.html for the dangers of doing this Early Morning Sadhana/meditation), Sher Singh was travelling into the forest. He was drowning in the spiritual bliss of SatNaam and walked right into a Mughal soldier's ambush (yet another danger of using the EMS drug - you walk into Mughal soldier's ambushes).

Since he was an adept saint-soldier, he had no problem escaping the trap. The Mughal leader called out to him, "I have heard much about the Khalsa and their Guru - come and show me what your Guru has taught you!"

Listening to the challenge to his Guru - Guru Gobind Singh ji - Sher Singh could not resist the Mughal's call.

So he returned.

The Mughal growled, "We will each show our swordsmanship - the winner will walk free."

Sher Singh agreed. They stood a few feet apart. First, the Mughal took his sharp sword and with "whooshs" filling the air, managed to unhook Sher Singh's battledress clean off.

All the other Mughals soldiers were impressed - they shouted something in ALL CAPS.

Then Sher Singh took out his sword and a few "whooshs" later, re-sheathed it. Apparently no damage had been done to the Mughal leader.

The Mughal smirked, "What good is that?!"

Sher Singh suggested, "Move your head..."

The Mughal leader turned his head and lo and behold, it came clean off his body.

~~~~~

Yes, there is a spiritual moral in this story. And no, it ain't "The Mughal leader had it coming!" If you can come up with the spiritual moral for this story (I bow to you), please send it to daljitMsingh@gmail.com - the best one(s) will be published.

Beware of EMS!!!

2008-09-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

Beware!!!! Deadly drug on the streets - EMS! (Also available in Italian http://www.olistic.it/News/ems.htm)

I usually don't write about stuff like this but THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! Please do read.

There is a lethal drug on the streets - it's called EMS (aka AVSN by old users). A friend cried to me about it the other day; said she, "It COMPLETELY changed my life," she told me between tears, "I no longer enjoy anything without a dosage of EMS!!!" she admitted.

It was heartbreaking to see someone so lively BECOME SO STILL!!!
This friend used to love hanging out at the malls for hours - NO MORE!!!
She used to have great arguments with her friends about the latest fads - NO LONGER!!!
She would spend hours on the Internet - YOU GUESSED IT, THE MOUSE SITS IDLE ALL DAY!!!

I'm telling you: do what it takes to avoid this drug. Someone who is beloved to you MIGHT ALREADY be hooked onto this drug. People who take this drug usually do it because of peer pressure - SO PLEASE DON'T HANG OUT WITH PEOPLE ON THIS DRUG!!!

How can you tell who the users are - well, here are some common symptoms:
~ EXCESSIVE stillness
~ IRRATIONAL cheerfulness
~ COMPLETE LACK of gloomy outlook
~ UNCOMMON health, happiness and holiness
~ UNHOLY wholesomeness
~ UNNATURAL love of trees and stars and rivers and lakes
~ NON-ATTACHMENT to monetary things (gasp!)
~ UNGODLY loving and hugging of other humans
~ HIGHLY DISRUPTIVE "enjoy the moment" mindset

This drug, EMS - Early Morning Sadhana (meditation) or AVSN (Amrit Vela Sach Nao, as Guru Nanak calls it) is DANGEROUS!! It has ruined many lives and it will surely ruin yours (as you know it). The whole of civilization (as we know it) is at stake here.

Here are some expert opinions:
~ Guru Nanak (jap ji stanza # 4)
True is the One, True is One's Name - speak it with infinite love.
We beg, "Give this to us, give that to us", and the great giver keeps on giving.

So what offering can we (the receivers of gifts) place before the One (giver), by which we might see the One's court? What words can we speak to evoke One's love?

The answer: In the Amrit vela, meditate on the True Name, and contemplate One's glorious greatness (Amrit Vela btw is the ambrosial hours before dawn - the time when it is hardest to get up, since the blanket is ohhh soooo comfy and the snooze button is ohhh sooo seductive - I am thinking of getting a alarm clock which has snore-recognition - if I'm snoring, it should unplug itself).

By the karma of past actions, the robe of this physical body is obtained, but the gate of liberation is found only by grace.
Nanak says: then (and only then) we realize that the True One is the only one around!

~ Guru Amar Daas jee
If a seeker cries (to the beloved) at amrit vela, those cries are heard in One's court (sggs 1285)

~ Guru Ram Das jee
One who calls herself a seeker of the Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on One's Name (sggs 305)

~ Sheikh Fareed Ji
If you do not awaken in the early hours before dawn, you are dead while yet alive [zombies rule!] (sggs 1383)

~ Yogi Bhajan (more of Yogi ji's views on Sadhana)
"SADHANA!!!!"
Only word in Yogi Bhajan's reply-letter to a long, long letter from a seeker who asked for a cure for his fledgling spirituality, lousy prosperity and failing relationships.

~ Bhai Randhir Singh ji, a great Sikh spiritualist
The seeker that does SatNaam at amrit vela, is assured of enlightenment

~ Baba Nand Singh ji, another great Sikh spiritualist
(Upon finding out that someone will be writing his (Baba jee's) biography)
Imagine an almond. It has the outer shell, the brown part we all see. Then it has a white inner part that is not seen. My life is like that almond. The biographer will be writing about that brown outer part - what I did, what I said - but my real life, the inner white, is from 1 am till 6 am. Nobody can possibly even imagine that life, let alone write about it. Only I know that real life.

~ Rumi
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill
Where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.

Morals for Inka, the Monk

2008-08-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

There were several astoundingly insightful and inspiring responses. I picked the top four - here they are (in no particular order).

Sukhmandir Kaur Khalsa, CA (http://sikhism.about.com/)
Because he had not achieved total awareness. Think for instance of a ninja master who is able to jump through a moving fan. He has to be absolutely aware.

I've known a few people with heightened awareness, I was aware enough to catch on to the fact that they were aware of something I had not yet become aware of, like an approaching car and the person in it, a half mile away.

Once when I had first learned breath of fire I was doing it for 31 minutes sitting out in the woods while some friends were doing some winching with a jeep pickup truck which had a come along on the front bumper trying to pull out a tree stump. Suddenly the wench broke and the truck sprang back several feet.

In an instant of awareness I swear I levitated, I moved instantly (snap your fingers) without changing position (sitting in lotus) over to my left as the truck flew back in that same instant to where I had been sitting. That was not an isolated incident.

A master would be in that state at all times. We window-shop, she owns the store. Continual uninterrupted awareness is a big key to the whole master concept.

The master in this case was aware that the student was unaware of the umbrella. Also the student had way too much ego worrying about the outcome.

Rob Abbott, NC
In that one moment, he was living in the future with anticipation ignoring the present. To be a true master one can only live in the present not wasting time in the past which cannot be changed and the future which you cannot predict nor control. The only moment you can control is the present.

I see the umbrella being included in the surroundings of the present moment and he was unaware of its position.

Gurpreet Hothi, NC
The mind projected itself into future, through hopes/expectations, and thus missed out on the present. The present was the misty and breezy weather, of which the Master was aware, and thus prompted an act in the present, i.e. securing an umbrella.

Inka (the Master, NOT!) got caught up in the expectation of being declared a Master and so busily projected himself in this future and thus neglected living/acting in the present. Sehaj was still eluding this seeker.

Enlightenment is when there is transcendence of even the recognition of enlightenment (from other and even oneself). There is just being, nothing more. No dwelling on what happened in the past to the ego-self, or projecting hopes/expectations for the ego-self into the future. Only acting in the present.

In the present, there is the immaculate mind devoid of egocentricity. As soon as the past and future are brought in, the mind becomes tainted by relating to past failures and successes of the time-bound false-self, and acts from this falsehood and loses the focus on the present. Actions, good/holy or bad/evil, arising from the false self are ALL false.

Siri Kirpal Kaur, OR
Yogi Bhajan always used to say, "If you love me, don't question me; if you question me, don't love me." The student does not become a Master until he or she knows the Master's mind without question.

The Monk and the purple Umbrella

2008-08-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

Today with the sunrise, Inka's annual testing day had come. He felt serenely confident that on this day, the 24th anniversary of his entering the Monastery, he would be named Master. His own Master had discontinued giving him formal lessons months ago. Surely it could be considered a sign that the Master believed Inka's learning to be complete.

Even the misty and breezy weather showed itself perfect for this occasion. Inka felt a deeper than usual joy. He knew himself to be enlightened, not in a prideful way, he simply recognized it to be true. His mind dwelt only in the present, like a tranquil lake in which no ripples of worry over past or future disturbed the surface. He loved his fellow monks. All the animosities of earlier times had disappeared, fading with the years gone by. His brethren treated him with utmost respect and love as did the Master.

Inka walked into the Master's room. He knelt down, humbled with gratitude and awaited the formal announcement.

The Master, his eyes clouded with age, looked at Inka and smiled. He spoke softly, his voice quite weak. Inka leaned closer to hear his words. "My purple umbrella is by the door. Is it on the right side or the left?

Inka thought for a moment. In shock, he realized that he was not yet fit to be Master. He bowed deeply and left the Master's room. He would have to try the following year.

~~~~~

Can you figure out why Inka thought he was not fit to be Master? If so, please send your response to daljitMsingh@gmail.com and the best one will be published on my blog - along with the sender's name and place of residence (if available).

The Hot One on the Beach - 2

2008-08-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

read previous part...

I sat in dumbfound-land for a while staring at the Hot One - she wore sunglasses (the reflective kind) and looked simply ... well... divine! Slowly it dawned on me that I could ask all the questions about life rushing around in my head I’d had since I was yeah-high. But somehow none of them seemed important enough to ask anymore.

Tornado came running up and asked me, "What comes after 999?"

"1,000" I answered distractedly, "Er... why do you want to know that?"

"I am counting all the sand grains on this beach!" he said proudly. He turned to go, but stopped and looked at the Hot One, cocked his head for a while and said, "You are so full of light - awesome!"

They high-fived and he ran back to his counting. "What a sweet soul" she murmured.

I had heard several descriptions of Tornado. The most polite one being "handful" but usually "wired", "high-strung", "impossible" were the adjectives muttered along with his name. Never, ever (going all the way back to when I was yeah-high) had I heard the word "sweet" associated with him.

She looked at me, "All souls are sweet."

"You made all the souls sweet?" I asked.

"No, we made all the souls sweet!"

"What do you mean?!" I wasn't ready to take that kind of responsibility!

"Let me tell you a story...so there was this one Being all by herself. She didn't mind being alone, but decided it would be fun if there were more of her kind. So she split herself into many parts (and here is the real fun part), she made all the other parts forget her!

Ok, ok, you are old enough to know the truth. I am that Being mentioned in the story; and you, my fab friend, are me too. You have just (quite conveniently) forgotten who you are, and are on an epic and unique quest to find out that you are me! Isn't that just the most marvelous plan?"

"Uh... uh..argg..." I managed to say.

"Yes, it is!" she answered herself.

"So... so... " I stuttered, "What is the secret?"

"I ... I ...I .. " she imitated me, "just told it to you!"

"It can't be that simple!" I almost shouted, "There have been volumes written about how to .. how to .. get on your good side.."

"Surprise! You are already on my good side and ... ," she leaned close to me and whispered, "I guess you can be entrusted with this knowledge - I don't really have a bad side."

Now I was furious. Surely all the spiritual stuff I did made me .... well... better then .. say my shallow and petty, party-obsessed sister?! It had to! She did nothing remotely spiritual! And I, on the other hand, did deep things - like reading, meditating, and philosophizing.

"Your sister is such a sweet soul! All the stuff she does is just her way of singing Wow! Life is awesome!" she injected into my thoughts. "Tornado is saying the same thing by counting sand grains."

I sat there staring at her. Could this be true? Could it be so simple and easy?

The Hot One pointed to a group of kids playing in the sand. Their grandma (presumably) sat a bit away watching with a perpetual smile on her face, "So what do you think granny wants her kids to do on the beach?"

I stared at the scene for a while as gradually it began to dawn on me - I turned to the Hot One, "You just want us to experience different things .. and have fun .. creative fun. No matter what we do, you are pleased."

"Yes!" the Hot One exclaimed, "You are getting it, kiddo! I watch (quite blissfully, I might add) everything you do. You know how a baby starts baby-step walking, and goo-goo talking, the mother always goes ga-ga. But if you really think about it, walking is not much of an accomplishment, because almost everyone does it eventually. I look at you in the same way, and get goose bumps (well, formless ones) whenever you do something creative and passionate - I don't care if it's a Mona Lisa or a stick-figure - I go ga-ga over it."

"But" my mind refused to accept this simple truth, "what about the hurt and pain we go through? I mean..."

She pointed out at a couple of guys playing Volleyball. Just then one of them dove and took a pretty bad spill (I'm sure she had something to do with it) and completely tore up his shirt (again I'm sure she did that too - shirts don't usually get torn up playing beach Volleyball, because guys are not usually wearing them). He lay there for a while, sat up, grinned, stripped his shirt off, and put on a new one. Then he got up and began playing again.

"The soul doesn't really get hurt, the body it’s wearing does, and you get to change it when it gets really messed up."

We sat there in silence - I think I understood. I looked around and started seeing everything quite differently – When I quit judging, everybody looked quite interesting - in fact, they looked downright awesome!

"Wow!" I said after getting awed-over with everything, 'Life is awesome!!!"

read next part...

The Hot One on the Beach - 1

2008-08-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

So Didi, my fav naami aunt, and my 5-year-old cousin brother Tornado (more about his name shortly) from hell (more about his origin shortly) were relaxing at the beach. Well, I was trying to relax - it's not that easy to relax with a 5 year-old cousin brother named Tornado from Hell terrorizing the seagulls and all other species on this planet (seen and unseen).

Didi care-freely meditating, suddenly opened her eyes, turned to me and asked me to recite the 3rd stanza of Guru Nanak's Jap Ji. I had just rubbed suntan lotion all over my 12-year-old fab bod and was ready to impress some female members of the human species. But when Didi asked you to do something, you basically did it because ... because .. come to think of it, I'm not sure why - but you just did.

So she read the gurmukhi part, while I translated best as I could:

gaavai ko thaan hovai kisai thaan
The True One's praises are sung with the amount of strength that the True One bestows upon the singer (and usually the inner strength is reciprocally proportional [who said middle-school mathematics won't help you in real life] to the amount of outer strength - you know - book-thumping, foot-stomping, such-and-such-is-the-lord-ing).

gaavai ko dhaath jaanai neesaan
Some sing of the One's gifts using these as a sure sign that the True One is around (and listening, so more gifts would be on the way).

gaavai ko gun vaddiaaeeaa chaar gaavai ko vidhiaa vikham veechaar
Some sing of the True One by discussing the True One's virtues (you know, Ek-Ong-Kaar, Sat Naam, Karta... wow!Guru! WaheGuru) while other take the more scholarly approach (you know, Ek-Ong-Kaar, Sat Naam, Karta... wow!Guru! WaheGuru).

gaavai ko saaj karae than khaeh gaavai ko jeea lai fir dhaeh
Some sing that the True One creates the bods (like my fab one), and then again reduces it to dust (ouch!). Some sing that the One takes life away, and then again restores it (somehow this reminds me of the movie "The Sixth Sense" - if you haven't seen it - oh, you are missing a fabulous one, dearies).

gaavai ko jaapai dhisai dhoor gaavai ko vaekhai haadharaa hadhoor
Some sing that the One is infinitely far away, while others see the True One all over the place.

kathhanaa kathhee n aavai thott kathh kathh kathhee kottee kott kott
There is no shortage of words uttered in the One's praise. Millions upon millions of sermons and stories have been delivered (to millions of millions of sleepy ears).

dhaedhaa dhae laidhae thhak paahi jugaa juga(n)thar khaahee khaahi
The Great Giver keeps on giving, so much so that the receivers grow weary of receiving. Throughout the ages, consumers consume (entire economies of nations depend on consuming - hope they don't take it away).

hukamee hukam chalaaeae raahu naanak vigasai vaeparavaahu (3)
All walk on the path of the True One's will. O Nanak, while the True One watches blissfully, carefree and untroubled.

"Thank you!" Didi said and promptly got up and left! Pretty unusual - she usually had a story or something after we read the Guru's words. I stared lazily at her for a while, shrugged my fab shoulders and decided the Sun and some fab females members of the human species needed some fab attention.

The next thing I know, Tornado was shaking my fab elbow and grinning (his grin usually meant calamity for some species), "What comes after 99?" asked he.

I told him after deciding it's not worth the effort to find out why he wants to know. He grinned again - showing his yellow teeth. "Tornado, when was the last time you brushed your teeth?!" He was thoughtful for a while and asked, "What year is it?" I let it go and waved him away - sometimes ignorance is bliss.

You probably already have an idea why his name is Tornado and why he's from hell. But let me divulge into it a bit more...

Well, just suppose you have a sister who really annoys you and sometimes even embarrasses you in front of others and just suppose you want to get back at her and you want to leave no traces whatsoever and just suppose Tornado is visiting you (from hell) and your sis happens to be at a slumber party with her dorky friends - please note this is all just suppositions - nothing like this ever happened.

So this is what you would do - hide a can of Coke (or any caffeine-fueled beverage) and a bunch of candies in sis's neat, manicured room. Then take Tornado to her room; tell him where the can of Coke is; slowly back out of the room (keeping your eyes on him while you leave) and GET AWAY (after locking the door from the outside) as far as you can (having an alibi is highly recommended). Within minutes, her room would be unrecognizable. There, that's how he got his name.

Of course, some of you smart ones are saying, "Well, didn't Tornado simply tell on you?"

Well, dear smarty ones, Tornado, by my calculations, is coherent only 18% of the time - and he was in the 82% mode when the interrogation happened (I mean *would* happen - once again, no such thing happened).

Anyway, let's get back to my fab bod on the beach...

So I'm hanging out when I felt someone sitting next to me - thinking maybe Didi had come back, when I turned around to see... (I'm not sure how to stay politically correct here) .. the hottest young female member of the human species I have ever set my eyes on sitting next to me. I mean sizzling hot! (No, I am not falling for the "How hot was she?" routine this time).

All my ten bodies (yes, we have 10 of those) went into high red alert. My spine involuntarily elongated. And I turned to her (all puffed and macho) and said, "You come here..."

"Often?!" she completed my sentence, "Oh Pluuuease! Is that the best you could come up with, kiddo?"

Five of my fab bods deflated. But there were still 5 left (including the outer fab one), "I am not a kiddo! I am actually ..."

"12 years, 5 months, 2 days, 14 hours, 23 minutes and 57 seconds old. Yes, I know! ... And please deflate the rest of your bodies, I know the actual true puny dimensions of all of them!"

I stared at her and unconsciously covered my fab (now in non-fab flab mode) bod.

"Who are you?!!" I managed to ask through my bewilderement.

"I am the One!"

I stared at her, "The One?!"

"Yes, the One who pervades all!"

"But you are so..."

"Hot?! Yes, I know."

"But I thought you would be ..."

".. an old-ish man with a gray-ish beard pointing my old-ish gray-ish judgemental-ish finger at you?! That is soooo Piscean-ish... This is the new age, kiddo - get used to it!"

read next part...

The really really Nasty Villain

2008-08-15T14:19:00.000-07:00

Once, a traveling theater came to a Village. A dashing Hero and a beautiful Heroine starred together in a play which, of course, featured a nasty Villain. The nasty Villain was really, really nasty - how nasty, you ask? So nasty that rainbows would turn black and white whenever he came on stage.

The Villain had done just about every bad thing possible: robbed the hero's father; poisoned the hero's dog; neutered the heroine's cat ... and that's just before breakfast.

In one night time scene, after extensively frolicking with the Hero (who had to rush home so that he would not be late in giving his old mother her medicine), the Heroine had to walk home alone just as it got dark.

Hiding behind a tree, twirling his nasty mustache, the nasty Villain lurked waiting to kidnap the fair maiden. Having completed his customary evening chores of tipping over all the cows and painting all the sheep purple; he smirked in his nasty self-satisfied way rubbing together his hasty hands and grinning a nasty grin on his nasty face showing all his nasty teeth and nasty gums.

The Heroine slowly approached the tree...

Well, one of the audience sitting in the front row - a Villager - had had enough of the Villain. The Villager shouted out to the Heroine, "HEMA JEE!!!! WATCH OUT!!!! I WILL SAVE YOU FROM THIS ##@@@##!!!" (if you want to know what ##@@@## is, please send a note stating you know Punjabi).

Saying that, the Villager took off his slipper, and waving it about jumped on the stage and starting slapping the Villain with all his might!

Of course, there was much running around. Many stage-hands tried to save the Villain but the furious Villager (especially about the cow-tipping) mistook the stage-hands for the Villain's goons and beat even some of them!

The director had the good sense to turn on all the lights and bring the Villager back to "reality".

The Villager turned out to be no less than the sarpanch - the Village headman. He felt quite embarrassed and walked away mumbling some sanskrit mantras and adjusting his dhoti.

This is a true story and it is said that the actor who played the Villain refused to give back the Villager's slipper prizing it above any acting award.

~~~~~ Guru Nanak's Jap Ji; second stanza ~~~~~
hukamee hovan aakaar hukam n kehiaa jaaee
The True One's True Will (hukam) creates the Universes (and cool stuff like that). Hukam is too infinite to be told in a hopelessly finite human language.

hukamee hovan jeea hukam milai vaddiaaee
Hukam creates the birds and the bees and it is hukam, (not Hollywood or even the Queen), which bestows greatness upon us.

hukamee outham neech hukam likh dhukh sukh paaeeahi
It is hukam (once again) which is responsible for our highness and lowness; and for our pain or pleasure.

eikanaa hukamee bakhasees eik hukamee sadhaa bhavaaeeahi
Due to hukam, some are graced (with enlightenment) while others are not; and some wander aimlessly (Author's note: My sister certainly fits in the aimless lot because I have seen her wander aimlessly in and out of malls for hours).

hukamai a(n)dhar sabh ko baahar hukam n koe
Everyone, yes even the mighty I, is under the power of hukam.

naanak hukamai jae bujhai th houmai kehai n koe
Nanak says the ones who understand (and experience) hukam, don't say "I exist"

The Old Man and the Ferrari

2008-08-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

My amazing naami aunt - Didi; my older sister and I were hanging out in the park, when we heard a car rev up and drive off angrily leaving a lot of dirt and gasoline smell in the air.

My aunt smiled and told us this story:

~~~~~

Once a teenager with a hot new Ferrari was revving up the engine at a red stoplight. An old man on a bicycle squeakly came alongside and leaned into the window admiring the car. The light turned green and the impatient teenager pealed out tires squealing.

The teenager laughed as he thought of the old man eating his dust. But lo and behold, he saw the old man racing really fast on his bicycle. Unbelievably, the old man zoomed past him (while the car was doing 100+ mph). Then lo and behold, he saw the old man riding backwards and zoomed past him again at top speed. Every time the old man passed the car, he shouted "STOP!!"

"What the..." the teenager was heard to mutter as he slammed on his brakes. The old man and the bicycle still zoomed past him in both directions a few times until finally the old man stopped by the car and panted, "Please O please, don't drive off - my suspenders are tangled in your rear view mirror!!"

~~~~~

We laughed and laughed until Didi asked "What's this story got to do with Guru Nanak's first stanza of Jap Ji?"

"OMG! OMG! I know this! I know this! Is this, like, a game - like, guess what the color of the car is? OMG! This is so easy - it's a red Ferrari!!" my sister happily exclaimed while I rolled my eyes into my thinking turban on and started wondering - what DID this joke have to do with Jap Ji's first stanza?

Didi asked my sister to read the stanza in gurmukhi while I translated as best (read loosely) as I possibly could...

sochai soch na hova-ee jay sochee lakh vaar.
Even if we purify our body to the zenith level, our mind is not going to become pure.

chupai chup na hova-ee jay laa-ay rahaa liv taar.
Even if we take the vow of silence, our mind is not going to shut-the-heck-up.

bhukhi-aa bhukh na utree jay bannaa puree-aa bhaar.
Remaining hungry or getting overloaded on food will not get rid of our mind's hunger.

sahas si-aanpaa lakh hohi ta ik na chalai naal.
Our intellectual capabilities (even if they do impress the beauty sitting next to us) are not of much use on the spiritual path.

kiv sachi-aaraa ho-ee-ai kiv koorhai tutai paal.
Then how can we get purified enough to merge with the True One?

hukam rajaa-ee chalnaa naanak likhi-aa naal.
Guru Nanak answers: by flowing with the True Will (hukam, Tao ...) that is written within us.

Didi smiled again, "In other words,

be here now
relax
stop and smell the roses
be cool
don't worry, be happy
just chill!

Our mind is never in the present. It's either racing into the future or the past. It zooms by the present. Guru Nanak says, bring it into the present. And Guru Nanak gives us the tool for bringing it into the present; and that wonderful tool is SatNaam. It is perhaps the easiest and definitely the most fun way of being in the present.

When we are listening to Naam, we are in the present; otherwise we are not. Only in the present can we detangle ourselves and become free."

At the End of the Rope

2008-08-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, a traveling fair come to a Village. All the Village children went running to see it. The child-like Village simpleton too was very excited. But the simpleton had been told that it is easy to get lost at fairs, so he was quite scared to go to one. But he desperately wanted to go.

So he decided to consult one of the Village elders. The elder knew that there was no chance for the simpleton to get lost. So he pretended to think for a while and said, "I will show a way of not getting lost."

The elder then put a short rope around the simpleton's neck (not much unlike a necktie) and said, "Whenever you feel lost, just pull at the rope. You will always be at the end of the rope."

The simpleton tried it a few times and sure enough, he was always at the end of the rope. So he joyfully clapped his hands and joyfully went to the fair. The simpleton walked around the fair feeling good. Whenever he felt a little overwhelmed in the crowds, he would pull at the rope around his neck and say, "Aha, here I am." And would continue feeling good.

A Village joker was also at the fair and was, as usual, on alert to play jokes. When he saw the simpleton, his mind went "Bingo!" He asked the simpleton about the rope. The simpleton joyfully told him. The joker joyfully listened.

It was afternoon by that time. And everybody in India takes a short nap in the afternoon! So the simpleton found a nice shady spot and dozed off. Of course, the joker did not - this was work time for him!

The joker quietly stole up to the simpleton and carefully removed the rope. Then he went to a nearby sleeping Villager and carefully put the rope around his neck. Quite satisfied with his work, he retired to a corner.

As soon as the simpleton woke up, he felt for his rope and completely panicked - he started running around shouting, "Where am I? Where am I?"

Then he came up to the still dozing Villager wearing the rope. The simpleton gave a cry of joy and pulled at the rope. The rudely awakened Villager was naturally quite cross and said, "##@@@###" (if you want to know what "##@@@###" is, send a note stating that you are over 21 years of age).

The Village simpleton exclaimed, "The Village elder told me that I will always be at the end of the rope. Therefore, I am you! I am you!"

~~~~~

I had several thought-provoking morals sent by readers for this one. The response that completely blew me away was this one:

Karen Peters (Winnipeg, Canada) http://karenfood.blogspot.com/

wow! even the village simpleton knew that all was one. :) Its so obvious to him and no one else. Of course he would want to be assured of his connectedness to oneness since he was labeled an outsider. No one else had that need since they were unaware of their connectedness.

Note: I heard this story from a recording of Baba Isher Singh jee, a great Sikh spiritualist. The moral he attached to the story was:

The trickster Maya has taken the rope of consciousness from our soul and put it around the body; thus we think we are the body.

The WaheGuru Ocean

2008-08-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

OMG! Didi is just amazing! She's like ... totally .. totally amazing! OMG! It's like she knows the secrets of the Universe and all the planets! Even the ones outside it! Like totally! I mean she does this thing ... this thing .. called Naam. It's like SatNaam Wahe... Wahe.. whatever... - like "SatNaam" is like totally cool! It's like the best thing EVER!!!! It means ... like...

Thank you sis, that will be all.... That was my older sister. She is fifteen years old - please forgive her. Sorry you had to read all that - just imagine having to hear that all the time! No wonder I am interested in deep spiritual stuff.

OMG! My little brother is like soooo ... froggy! I mean he's like planet zitface! Like...

Again I apologize - she is fifteen. Only three older than me yet .... I often wonder where I went wrong with her ... girls tch tch.

But I promise - no more interruptions.

So me, my sis-OMG!-ter and Didi, our really cool Naami aunt were on a hike. Didi stopped at this huge oak tree by the river and sat down. We sat down too.

My sister was about to say something (my guess is "OMG! The water is like totally amazingly wet!!") when Didi raised her finger to her lips and indicated "shhh".

Didi softly whispered, "Listen."

We listened - suddenly we heard stuff we had not noticed before. The wind embracing branches of trees - its breeze dancing in among the leaves. A nut breaking free and a soft plop as it landed in a mossy nest of tall grasses. The pattering of tiny scampering squirrel feet carrying the nut to its nest. A tirade of scolding chatter and a far-away sound of bird wings flapping to carry away the nut in its beak. The sound of water droplets carried along in a gurgling current caressing river rocks and softly stroking the finger like tendrils of lacy tree branches which stooping low reached out to touch each drop trickling by.

We discovered another world within our world - a world full of sound and sights which we had completely tuned out and ignored before.

My senses quickened, heightening my inner awareness. I felt a little more awake; a little more happy; a little more graceful; a little more pure than I had just a moment before

Didi told us a story:

~*~*~*~*~*

Bhai Sahib Veer Singh jee, a great Sikh spiritual writer, once went sight-seeing in Shimla. There he went to a certain place where there was a very deep and big lake. There were many fish in the lake and the people who ran that place had built a small pond adjoining the lake.

The pond served the owners and the tourists very well; the tourists would throw food into the pond and fish would come out of the lake, grab the food and rush back into their lake. This way the tourist would get to see some very exotic fish (and the owners would get to see some very exotic tourists).

Spiritual people like Bhai Sahib see small truths in everything. Bhai Sahib was greatly inspired by this and later wrote,

"Spiritual people are like the fish in the lake. They stay in their deep spiritual state at all times. But if there is need to come out to work, they come out and as soon as the work is done, rush back to their deep spiritual state."

~*~*~*~*~*

There was complete silence for a little while (except for the gentle sounds around us).

Didi smiled, "When we sit for meditation, our mind wanders. Our body might be reciting WaheGuru, but our mind is shopping online!

But as we progress spiritually, a day comes when the opposite happens - our body might be working or driving; or even talking; but our mind will be in deep meditation.

Longing to merge with the blissful WaheGuru, the mind is tuned to Waheguru in the way that...

a mother remembers her child while going about her chores
a child flying a kite chatters with friends but is always conscious of the string
a young girl in love giggles with her girlfriends extolling the virtues of her husband-to-be
a bride plans her wedding ...

the mind is ever merged in the blissful deep ocean of the One WaheGuru."

The Rose

2008-07-31T16:27:00.000-07:00

We were driving to Sadhana (early morning meditation) and Didi was at the wheel. Not exactly the best place for her - since she mostly drove with her closed eyes! My older sister had told me I didn't have to worry because her third eye was always open - but when you are twelve years old, worry becomes your middle name, especially if you have an sister with a princess-syndrome (aka "I am a princess while you, little bro, are a slimy frog" syndrome in psychologists social circles).

But despite my young age (and handsome pimple-less face - ok, ok I had a few but whats a few dozen zits between a writer and readers), I had seen a few things that had convinced me that Didi was no ordinary naami (naami btw means "the one who is imbued with naam - which, btw, means "essence of One WaheGuru").

I know most of you are thinking, this can't really be true - a twelve-year-old can't possibly know so much. To that charge, I admit guilt. Yes, I am only twelve years mentally; biologically, I am forty-something and chemically eighty-something. Psychologically, I have barely just lain down on the couch and spiritually, I am a tiny dot on some ultra-sound result (maybe even just a tiny yellow spot on a pregnancy test). Astrally, I am at the south end of the first chakra of the first chakra; Yogically, I'm just rubbing my hands......

What? Oh, you want me to get back to the story .... I don't blame you ... and being the great listener I am, I will oblige.

But only after I tell you that all of my characters in my stories are a deep metaphor for either things I lacked in my childhood or I had too much of - wow! I can't believe I just wrote that! That's like a major breakthrough... wait a minute... wait a minute... that sentence I just wrote is an exact copy of what I read on a website somewhere... geez, at this rate, I will never have a psychological breakthrough, let alone a metaphysical one (or even a chemical one).

OK, OK, back to the story .. where were we? Oh yeah, in the car, at early morning, with eyes-closed driver-Didi; sister with an advanced case of the princess-syndrome; and me, a handsome young man with more wisdom than a well full of old frogs.

Didi asked, "So what is the importance of early morning meditation?"

Before my sister could give her definitive answer, I ribbited in, "Guru Nanak calls it Amrit Vela. Mrit means death, A-mrit means deathless; thus "Amrit Vela" mean "the deathless time"".

My sister's jaws dropped at my wisdom (thank you, website!) and Didi smiled, "Good job! Of course, the next question now is why it is considered the deathless time?"

Before I could google that (or yahoo it or wiki iti ... wow! I just came up with that - "wiki iti" - told ya I was clever), she asked my sister to read the fourth stanza of Jap Ji:

True is the One, True is One's Name - speak it with infinite love.
Many beg and pray, "Give to us, give to us",
and the Great Giver gives gifts.

So what offering can we place before the One,
by which we might see the True One?
What words can we speak to evoke the True One's love?

In the Amrit Vela, the ambrosial hours before dawn,
chant the True Name,
and contemplate the One's glorious greatness.

By the karma of past actions,
the robe of this physical body is obtained.

By the One's Grace, the Gate of Liberation is found.

Then, Nanak says, we will know that there is none other than the True One.
(Guru Nanak, sggs 2)

Didi had just started to say something about this stanza when we saw tiny ~*sparkles*~ coming from her huge bag (there was this huge bag she carried around - it had enough stuff in it to run an emergency Sikh youth camp). Didi clapped her hands and exclaimed excitedly, "Oh, excellent! I have been waiting for this!"

We all got excited too. (I even forgot to worry that Didi had now taken her hands off from the steering wheel; on the plus side, all her three eyes were open now). She nudged my sister, "Open it and read it quickly! It's a letter from Sukhmandir Kaur - my sakhee!"

My sister opened Didi's bag while explaining to me (as if I didn't already know), "sakhee means spiritual soul mate" and took out a glowing piece of paper which shimmered incandescently, lighting up the inside of our car. We all just stared at it. It was beautiful; its words glimmered, etched in soft light - emanating a mellow blend of bright white and sunrise yellow. Even more astonishing, when my sister read from the letter, its gleaming lights gathered forming to create miniature characters who played out the scenes described.

My sister read, while we listened (and watched)...

~*~*~*~*~*~

A young girl had been captured and enslaved by 5 cruel masters. At first they had appeared inviting and seemed entertaining, but once they had lured her into their trap and caught her fast she knew no mercy. Her life became an unbearable infliction of horrors. No recourse availed her but to seek escape. Heavy chains bound her preventing any possibility of flight so she sought sanctuary in an imaginary garden of her own invention.

One day news came that the King traveled their way. As he passed by, the 5 miscreants threw themselves to the ground - faces pressed into the dirt bowing in subservience. The girl, seeing opportunity, struggled against her bonds. She'd heard rumors of the monarch's mercy and a tiny spark flared in her heart. Hope of rescue prompted her into action. Dragging her heavy chains, she attempted to attract attention to her plight.

The kind king did indeed take notice of her effort and commanded that she be freed and employed in his service. His attendants paid her captors a sum, removed her shackles and carried her away with them to the royal palace. When they left her, she found herself in a bare room built into an alcove of a stone wall. Weary, she sank onto a pallet in a corner and fell into a deep slumber. Hours later she woke. In another corner she discovered a spinning wheel, a loom, and a basket of flax. There were plain provisions provided and a pitcher of water. She ate her simple fare, drank the clear water, washed her hands and set to work.

She had no idea at first of how to go about her task. The gratitude in her heart made her determined however, and soon she found she could twist the long flax stems. With the spindle she fashioned a length of thread which she wound on to the loom and shuttle. By days end she had woven a bit of cloth. She removed this and finished the edges. The sun had set. She finished her provisions and slept.

After a few hours she woke to an enchanting fragrance. Enticed, she slipped through the door of her hut and found herself in a garden. The dark night sky glittered with stars and the moon shone faintly illuminating the landscape before her in pale light. A sultry breeze blew gently. As her eyes adjusted she became entranced for all around her petals opened releasing their scent. Her heart swelled. Overcome in awe at the beauty she beheld, tears formed in the corners of her eyes, not tears like those of yesterday's captivity, but tears of unfathomable joy. She reached for the scrap of cloth she had woven, pulled it from her pocket and dried her tears. She sought for and found a perfect rose. The first rays of morning sun glistened on fresh dew droplets wetting the rose. She plucked the rose and folded it gently into the cloth she had woven, the perfumed essence permeating it.

When attendants came with her morning meal, she asked to be shown to the king so she might express her gratitude. She quickly washed, covered her head and arranged her robe as best she could, then followed them to the throne room. Lowering her eyes she crept to the king's feet. Before him she placed her offering of his lovely sunrise garden's flower petals bloom oozing droplets of perfume, wetted by morning dew mingled with tears. Bowing low, she backed from the room.

Her days and nights passed similarly in this way. Devotedly she spent her mornings weaving, her afternoons tending the garden, and evenings nurturing the rose bush. Every morning before the sun rose she reveled amongst the perfumed petals of the rose garden seeking the most perfect blossom to convey her gratitude to her sovereign. As the weeks passed, unbeknownst her beauty increased the traces of her former life struggles erased by the blooming devotion in her heart. She began to hum during her work making up songs to sing.

Merciful master you freed this slave,
Every wonderful thing to her gave
My king you are perfect in every way
Yet of others you have only good things to say
Your ways are so gentle so sweet and so kind
Desire to serve you is first in my mind

Loving you has given me reason to live
I only wish I had something worthy to give
That I might somehow in someway repay
All the joy that I have in living this day
Your ways are so gentle so sweet and so kind
Desire to serve you is first in my mind

So I offer to you this scented bloom
Upon a cloth woven from my simple loom
Soaked in my tears and wetted with dew
I realize it to be hardly fitting for you
Your ways are so gentle so sweet and so kind
Desire to serve you is first in my mind

You are so gracious to compassionately accept
This boon from one so utterly inadept
Your ways are so gentle so sweet and so kind
Desire to serve you is first in my mind
Your ways are so gentle so sweet and so kind
Desire to serve you is first in my mind

Repeating his name over and again she sang,

Emanating Light
Particles shimmer golden
Floating suspended
Sparkling on soundless waves
In the spectrum of Thy Name
Sultry breezes waft
Scenting the night with perfume
Of a thousand blooms
Intoxicating this one
With the essence of Thy Name

Though the girl thought herself to be alone when she sang, there are many ears in a palace and her songs came to be known to the king. One day when she had come to place her rose at his feet, He bade her look up at him. What he saw in her eyes moved him completely. Her unending gratitude and depth of devotion awed and overwhelmed him stirring him to request that she sit by his side as his bride. She could refuse him nothing although she knew herself to be his inferior and requested only that she be allowed to continue serving him in her humble way. That she might always present to him the budding blooming fragrance of her heart.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Right at the end, when we heard the words "blooming fragrance", a delicate white rose formed in the center of the sakhee's letter. Right before our eyes, it opened up and from it came the lushest, most tantalizing intoxicating scent - we just sat there enraptured by it as it seeped into us. The letter slowly dimmed, but the fragrance lingered on.

A special joy permeated me. I felt wonderful and without want. Although this had been the most fantastic morning in my life, somehow it felt perfectly natural that I should feel this way - this was my inner most right; I was created to feel like this!

After a long time, Didi said, "Wow! That was special. What timing!" It was rare to see Didi so moved. "That Sakhee! Oooh, I am going to send her a big hug right now!" And to our utter amazement, we saw a small glow of bright light come from Didi's heart and streak out of the window into the dark sky!

Me and my sis said this simultaneously, "This can't be happening. Am I dreaming? Ouch! I guess I am not. Didi, what was THAT?"

Didi laughed, "Well, where should I begin? … Ok, the story sakhee wrote in her letter is the story of our soul. The True One has given us so much, what can we possibly give back? The enchanted Guru Nanak says there is one thing that is worthy of the True One and that is one of the most beautiful things that the True One has created and given to us. Do you know what that is?" she asked me.

Normally, I would have thought about this for a long time (before answering "no"), but today the answer came quickly, "The mind."

"Very good!" Didi continued, "That is the gift that is hardest to give - the mind is very difficult to capture, let alone present as a gift. But Guru Nanak says (and here is the essence of this stanza) that we can capture it at Amrit Vela, wrap it with Naam and praises, and present it to the True One. When our gift is accepted, we become the True One's bride and we see the True One permeating all. Then we recognize the essence of everything (including ours) to be

Ik-Ong-Kar - consciousness,
Sat Naam - deathless Truth,
WaheGuru - bliss!"

We drove the rest of the way to the Sadhana in silence. By the time we arrived, it had already began and it was a special one for me - every time I said or heard "Ik Ong Kar, Sat Naam, WaheGuru" I felt the most awesomely soothing wave wash over me. I kept having visions of the rose releasing its scent - every time the rose opened up, I could sense, even taste, its pure scent filling and pervading the room...

My eyes are wet with the Nectar of the True One,
and my mind is imbued with True One's Love, O Lord King.

The Lord applied Truth to my mind, and made it pure gold.
Through the Guru, I am dyed in the deep red color,
and my mind and body are drenched with True One's Love.

Servant Nanak is drenched with True One's Fragrance;
blessed, blessed is my entire life
(Guru Raam Daas jee, sggs 448)

Baba Bakale

2008-07-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Merchant was a devout Sikh and he loved to recite and explain gurbani (Guru's writings) to the not-so-spiritual-ship-captains like me and even-less-spiritual-sailors like my crewmen. He had hired me along with my Ship and my men a few weeks ago and we had become good friends because of his warm and generous nature. Slowly I had developed a taste for this spiritual truths; the hours spent with the Merchant discussing Guru's words had fast become my favorite pastime.

We had had fair weather throughout the day and my cabin was gently rocking when we sat for dinner when unexpectedly a strong wave slammed into our Ship, throwing us off our seats and onto the floor.

We stumbled up to the deck. I had seen never such a sudden storm. Wave after wave washed over our Ship, beating and hammering it relentlessly, making it roll wildly and groan as though it would split at the seams. The frightened voices of my men could be heard above the howling winds, calling to each other as they struggled to lower the sails. We could see large dark menacing rocks looming along the jagged coastline waiting to break and smash our ship to bits.

Soon, tipping at a crazy angle the ship began taking in water. Before long I stood up to my knees in water - the end seemed inevitable. The morale of the men completely dropped and slowly they all stopped their activity and as if the Merchant could save us all, they started quietly looking towards the him.

He looked back helplessly at us and shrugged; then a sudden inspiration hit him and he knelt down. His lower body submerged, he raised his clasped hands and he prayed, "O Guru Nanak, light that shines in every heart, please have compassion and mercy on us. Please deliver us, for without thee we perish. Please give us the shelter of thy Embrace. Please make it possible for me to return to the Guru a small part of what was given by the Guru. If it is your will that I live, I vow that as soon as I set foot safely on shore, I will come and present to thee 500 gold bars personally. Our safety lies in thy hand, O beloved Architect of destiny, please uplift us and carry us across this dreadful sea. We are surely lost without thee. Thou are the True captain, thy gurbani the True life boat."

And lo and behold, almost immediately, the fury of the storm subsided. A great heave cleaved the waters. Our sinking ship righted and set afloat. The men collapsed in relief (and in awe of the power of prayer). The men looked at the Merchant with even more reverence; and I decided I will visit the Merchant's guru at the first chance I got.

~~~~~

As soon as we made landfall, the Merchant and I set out in search of Guru Sahib. We soon learnt though that Guru Har Krishan, the Sikh's eighth Guru, had recently left the earthly abode. His final words had been "Baba Bakale," indicating the Guruship would be passed to one residing in Bakala.

We made haste for Bakala, but upon reaching there discovered that there were not one, not two, but 22 people claiming to be the true guru. The Merchant came up with a plan saying he couldn't live with the debt of 500 gold bars on his conscience. He decided to give each of the "gurus" 2 bars to see what would happen.

I, on my part, felt extremely disappointed that I couldn't see the Guru right away. I had become thirstier and thirstier for the Guru's sight. I had been reading Jap Ji quite regularly by that time and it's ever-deeper-meanings had been a source for comfort and delight for me. I silently did a prayer in my mind asking that the Guru answer my question "When did the Creator create this World?" with the answer of "Only the Creator knows" (Jap Ji pauree 21, sggs 4). That was my naive plan but that's the best I could come up with (we sailors are not known for sophisticated ideas).

We started our search. The first "guru" (actually rugu, for "ru" means light and "gu" means darkness and these adepts led away from light and into darkness!) we went to was a piece of art! We noticed right off how he sat with his back towards the men and his one wide eye fully on the women and the other on the money in front of him. He would remark, "Oh, that's a wonderful suit you are wearing," to the young pretty women in the congregation, "It fits your slender supple body perfectly!" The Merchant didn't even bother giving this one any gold bars.

I have to say, we did not make a good start. But it did get a little better. One of the tricks we noticed was that when we got close to the rugu's place, the resident rugu would send his agents to meet us and check us out. Seeing the Merchant's royal clothing they would make inquiries attempting to get information. Then they would sneak back and tell whatever they had learned about us. Once we entered the place, the clever rugu would say things like "So how your trip from the sea?" hoping to impress us with his "divine" knowledge.

We caught on quickly and fed the agents ridiculous knowledge about ourselves; one of the rugus, after closing his eyes and then dramatically opening them and looking at the Merchant exclaimed, "You should go ahead and marry Pipia - she really does love you - she will make a great wife and bear you many strong children!" That seemed like pretty good advice, except for small fact that Pipia was my pretty Parrot!

To be fair, some rugus were pretty serious and even had some bona-fide spiritual aura about them. But none could answer my answer correctly; each of them had their pet theories about creation but none of them matched up with what I had read in Jap Ji. Finally we ran out of prospects having interviewed each of the 22 rugus. We returned to our rooms at the Inn, disappointed and feeling quite lost.

~~~~~

The next morning we had breakfast on the terrace and discussed what we should do. The merchant had decided that he would give away the rest of the gold bars to the poor of the city and be done with it. All our humor had abandoned us. In a foul mood we just sat there silently watching people milling about.

Then… we saw a tall man making his way through the crowd. There was nothing extraordinary about him; but there was nothing ordinary about him either. Yet it seemed as though a spotlight shone on him. He walked with a carefree gait that reminded me of Merchant's rich friends, yet he was dressed quite modestly.

The Merchant asked, "Do you see him?" I nodded and kept watching. He turned the corner and disappeared from our sight. That shook us out of our stupor and the Merchant shouted to the bellboy below, "Stop that man!" The bellboy, without looking at the merchant's pointing finger, ran towards the corner where the man had turned. We ran and caught up with him.

He turned to us. His eyes and face were brilliantly lit up. He might have been a disguised King, or a fantastic blissed-out artist of some sort. "How can I help you gentlemen?" he asked in a wholesome voice. We caught our breath. The merchant requested that he join us for breakfast so we could talk. He declined politely saying that he was already late for a meeting. So the Merchant quickly explained that we, for personal reasons, were looking for the Sikh Guru.

"Oh, there are plenty of those!" he laughed indifferently. Then he narrowed his eyes scrutinizing us intently for a moment. His aloof attitude gave way to interest. He accepted the invitation to join us for breakfast.

He divulged to us that there was one other Guru by the name of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. But warned us the Guru does not host guests preferring instead to remain in meditation. It was this guru he was on his way to meet when we had seen him. Indeed as it was per his daily routine, he would go to Guru before starting his day spending blissful moments in his company. His countenance shone divinely while recounting these details so that we readily believed him.

We begged him to take us along. He kept quiet for a little while, before speaking very deliberately. "I am getting a message inside that I should take you to the Guru!" He looked at our delighted faces and added, "Indeed I felt the same when we were talking earlier but I thought perhaps I had misread the message. But ... I don't wish to sell you anything that you don't want to buy. I will gladly take you to the Guru's house. I will also gladly ask the Guru if you can visit him. But if he says no, that will be the end of our acquaintance. Because it is possible that I am misreading the message from within – I have done so before."

We eagerly agreed and followed him to the Guru's abode. He told us to wait outside on the porch. He entered the door and paused; he looked at me and winked, "The answer to your question is "Only the Creator knows!""

Needless to say, we were overjoyed and waited with abated breath.

He came out a few minutes later, very excited, "The Guru has agreed! This is the first time in years that he has said "Yes" to anyone!" He held our hands and said, "I have been waiting for this for a long time!" We looked at each other; excited and a little apprehensive. We knew this was it. If this turned out not to be the real thing, a misinterpretation had been made of the 8th Guru's final words. A moment later, upon entering, all our doubts left us.

This was indeed the real One!

The tranquility in that place seeped even into an old Sailor like me. Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib sat alone, eyes closed, quietly absorbed. I had set my eyes on a great many awesome sights in my travels - ocean sunsets, mountain sunrises, exotic waterfalls, glorious Islands, but these paled in comparison to what they now beheld. The Guru was beauty itself! A stunningly overpowering magnetic radiance surrounded him. We stood there for a long time, just drinking the Guru's aura blissfully.

After what seemed an eternity, the merchant moved close to the Guru and bowed respectfully; placing an offering of two gold bars in front of him (the merchant later told me that he already knew this to be the True Guru, but offered 2 bars out of sheer habit). The Guru opened his naam-filled eyes and with a voice that resembled the freshness of an early morning, he mirthfully expounded, "That leaves 498 mohars still owed to Guru Nanak's house!"

Prostrating himself, the merchant grasped Guru Sahibs feet with both hands. Overcome, he wept wordlessly. When finally he could speak, his voice trembled; thanking Guru Sahib profusely for protecting and saving him along with the ship and it's men. "Guru Sahib jee, words are inadequate to express the depths of my most sincere heartfelt gratitude..." he attempted helplessly.

Gathering his composure, the merchant withdrew the five hundred gold mohars tied at his waist. In deep gratitude and undying love, he placed them at Guru Sahib's feet. He spoke reverently saying, "My wonderful, compassionate, kind, generous life-giving Guru, I have been searching so long and have found you at last. Guru Sahib jee, please accept my humble offering. Please accept what is already yours, what rightfully belongs to you. I offer you my all; these are the five hundred gold bars I promised you. They have not been touched. They are for you only, no other!"

I just stood mouth agape in complete admiration as I observed the scene unfolding before me. The merchant straightened up joyfully. He looked in to Guru's Radiance confirming aloud, "I am yours and you are mine!"

Determinedly grabbing me by my arm, he took me up to the rooftop of the house. Waving a flag, he shouted out declaring, "Gur Laadho Rae! Gur Laadho Rae! The Guru has been found! The Guru has been found! I have found Him at last, after searching, I found my TRUE GURU, Dhan Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib! He has been right here all along. Come Sikhs, come and join me in joyous celebration for I have found the TRUE GURU. Let us together beseech him to come forward now, and lead us to the True One's abode!"

Hearing this, the Sikhs came running, and on evidence of the Merchant's tale and seeing Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib's naam-drenched eyes, begged the Guru to claim his rightful seat, as their own One True Guru, on Guru Nanak's eternal throne.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Wrong Key

2008-07-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

Once, a friend and I were standing in the Gurudwara kitchen hall when a young boy came and asked for the keys to the supplies store - the supplies store is one of the rooms located on the outside of the Gurudwara building.

I fished out the keys and gave it to the boy. He ran off and came back a few minutes later saying, "This is not the right key."

I was quite surprised since that sure looked like the right key. But anyhow, I fished out another bunch of keys and told the kid to try those. He ran off and came back with the same answer.

I asked my friend about it - he took a good look and selected a key from the first bunch and told the kid, "This is the right one for sure. Try to push the door inwards when turning the key. Sometimes it needs quite a bit of strength to open the supplies door."

After several minutes, the kid came back, all puffed up and panting, "No, that was not the right key!"

My friend decided to investigate. He came back smiling.

I asked him, "What happened?"

"Oh, nothing," he replied, "the kid was trying the wrong door!"

~~~~~

There were several excellent morals sent in by the readers for this story and it was really tough to pick one. Perhaps too tough for me, sooooo I picked the top ones and here they are (in no particular order):

Jim Moore (NC, USA)
The moral is to not assume that you know where God's treasure is. As humans we complicate and obscure the truth by inventing rules and traditions pretending religion is from God. Religion is just the door where we try to enter and understand God.
A better ending to the story would have been "the kid was trying the wrong door, but it was not locked anyway!"

RajPratap Singh (Toronto, Canada)
A fortunate few are blessed with the perfect understanding and given the correct perspective for living (the key). But unless we make the effort to practice that knowledge in order to change our habits and outlook (finding the right door) - we continue to suffer, and nothing will seem to work out (wrong door). Having reached nowhere, we will return to question and argue over the interpretation of the teachings (the key).

Reema Dhawan (Winnipeg, Canada)
In my perspective, the right key means that we are spiritual beings from core, that this identity is the real truth (Satnam). So we do have this key and all we have to do this to find the right door. Right door can be found through shabad guru. We keep on keying the wrong door, the door of 5 evils which is wide open all the time.

Rob Abbot (Cary, NC)

Not that the above is "spiritual moral" per say, but it sortive fits in a weird way. The sufficient conclusion is the kid knows that he must use keys to unlock the door. The insufficient premise is he does not know he is lost and the keys will not complete his journey as he is headed in the wrong direction.

Possibly one could say, "be centered / balanced... know where you are and where you are going and get off of autopilot". Like the saying goes, "you can not use the same thinking to solve a problem that was used to create it". The kid seemed to be focused on the keys and not all elements of that situation.

Ok, so I'm not too deep, but working on it. I know there is transcendence and beauty in this situation, but I'm not enlightened enough yet to see it.

My near death experience

2008-07-24T11:44:00.001-07:00

Once, I almost forgot my wife's birthday.
<(((:-)>>>

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Priceless Naam

2008-07-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

Once Guru Nanak sent Bhai Mardana Jee into a city with a gemstone and asked him to sell it to the highest bidder. Bhai Mardana Jee first went to a street vendor who was selling spicy samosas and showed him the gem. Amazingly beautiful, the flawless stone shimmered and sparkled with inner fire. It completely captivated whoever looked at it. As though they had peered into a mirror where dreams come true, they could almost feel their innermost longing about to be fulfilled - but then what else would you expect from a stone which Guru Nanak had touched?!

The vendor stared into its magnetic magnificence. Unable to tear his eyes away from its spell he offered, "I can give two trays of spiced samosa and fresh milkcake made this morning by my mother's own hands." Bhai Mardana Jee smacked his lips appreciatively, but moved on; quite sure that he could get a better price!

Then he showed it to a merchant wearing expensive silks heavily embroidered with gold threads. Extremely impressed, the merchant rubbed his hands together, his fat fingers bulging with gold rings. He reached beneath his outer garments, took out his purse and counted 5 gold coins holding them out on his pudgy palm to pay for the Jewel. When Bhai Mardana Jee hesitated, the merchant tempted him with three shimmery lengths of colored silk, one vermillion, one azure, and one saffron colored. Smiling in admiration, Bhai Mardana Jee, commented on their luster but shook his head and turned to go. The merchant called after him, "Take these two fine embroidered robes as well," but he kept walking.

Next he entered into a market where the shopkeeper, quite busy with customers, impatiently asked him, "Yes, what can I do for you?" Bhai Mardana Jee showed him the gemstone. The shopkeeper took him aside. He stared at the precious stone for a long time forgetting all about his waiting customers. Tearing his eyes away with a sigh, he looked at Bhai Mardana Jee with new respect and put his hands together with a slight bow, "O Sadhu, I can give you whatever you want. Take anything. Please just name your price!" Bhai Mardana Jee looked around at the variety of goods. Telling the shopkeeper that he might be back after getting an appraisal from a jeweler, he moved on.

He noticed a Jewelry store just up the street and stepped inside. The Jeweler, an extremely spiritual man, had an eye not only for precious quality of stones but for the precious qualities of people characters too. He respectfully bowed to Bhai Mardana Jee and motioned his assistant to bring a comfortable seat and some refreshment for their esteemed guest.

When shown the gemstone, the jeweler lost all his bearings and muttered, "Such beauty! Is it possible that such beauty exists?" The entrancing aspect of both the stone-bearer and the stone itself enchanted him. Focusing on the beauty within himself, he involuntarily closed his eyes, catching a glimpse of his soul. A vision that he had spent his entire life pursuing had been instantaneously revealed.

He opened his wonder-filled eyes in awe and looked from Bhai Mardana Jee's face to the gemstone and back again several times. After several minutes of complete silence, the Jeweler softly clapped his hands. His assistant came forth and he whispered some instructions into his ear. The assistant left returning with a chest which he set in front Of Bhai Mardana jee. The Jeweler pulled a key from beneath his robes and unlocked the chest. He opened it and placed 1000 gold coins in front of Bhai Mardana Jee.

He murmured, "O Great Sadhu, I bow to you and to your Great Guru who has made you so exquisitely beautiful. This gemstone, just like you, Sir, is priceless! I give you this gold as merely a token for the unparalleled pleasure in glimpsing the enticing treasures within it. I cannot, nor could anybody, possibly place a value on this gemstone".

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Tiger vs Tusk

2008-07-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

As usual, I poked Prashad Maker to wake him up after the meditation. I wish I knew a politically correct way to say this, but Prashad Maker was fat; very, very fat! As his name applied, he made the Prashad (the good Lard only knows how much of it he kept for himself). While he was waking up from his slumber, a Singh came running and prostrated himself in front of Guru Gobind Singh jee.

"There is bad news, Sire!" he began, "We have just heard that the Moghuls have devised a weapon to break down our Fort's door. They have a very big bull elephant with enormously long tusks. They plan to feed it gallons of liquor all night until it gets reeling drunk and then send him crashing through our gate. Our spies tell us that they plan to attack in the morning!"

Some of us laughed because a drunken elephant seemed so absurd. But seeing the concern on the Jathedaar's (group leader) face, we sobered up realizing this indeed to be a serious situation. We fell silent and looked towards the Guru - he smiled. Something about the Guru's smile made everything worldly seem trivial and we all relaxed, confident things would be ok.

Guru looked around. His eyes rested on Prashad Maker, who shifted a little nervously. Then the Guru spoke, "We will send our elephant to fight theirs!"

All eyes fell enviously on Prashad Maker. For most, to be chosen by the Guru was the greatest honor a Sikh could hope for. But Prashad Maker didn't seem to think so. He nodded slightly. As soon as the Guru left the room, the amply endowed Prasad Maker ambled over to our leader and said, "Jathedaar Jee, it is an honor to serve the Khalsa but I think there has been a terrible, terrible mistake – as you know I am not a fighter and…"

The Jathedaar smiled replying, "The Guru makes no mistakes. Consider yourself blessed that you have been chosen personally by the celestial King!"

"Yes, of course," Prashad Maker continued, "But if I go and WaheGuru forbid, I don't come back; who is going to make the Prashad? You personally have told me on many occasions that no one else knows how to make it as deliciously as I do."

The Jathedaar grew a little impatient and said, "That, my portly petulant perfectionist, can be arranged. You still have the remainder of the night; perhaps you can teach someone your finer prashad-making tricks."

"But," the Prashad Maker continued, "Who will do the prashad distribution if I am gone?" The Jathedaar answered, "I will do it!"

There was silence for a moment before the dismal postulator implored desperately, "But who will eat the left-over prashad, Jathedaar Jee? ... Please save me from this ordeal, please!"

The Jathedaar patted him on the back and said, "Don't worry. The Guru saves everyone!"

~~~~~

The next morning, after Sadhana (early morning meditation) we all looked around for Prashad Maker. His usual leaning-against-the-wall-snoring behind the-ones-performing-keertan station had been abandoned. We soon discovered that he had escaped during the night by tying himself to a rope and lowering himself along the back wall. Alas, the rope could not sustain such an assault and broke before Prashad Maker had finished his descent. His friends hauled him home; his hulk sustaining a dislocated haunch; and hung hamstring, but happy to be not fighting elephants!

Once again we looked at the Guru for guidance. This time his eyes rested on a tall and lean Singh by the name of Bachitar Singh. The Guru spoke, "We will send our tiger to fight their elephant!"

Bachitar Singh, at first, too stunned to react, straightened up; the color of his already Naam-drenched face deepened with joy and bliss. He then stood with folded hands affirming, "Your grace, Sire, can make an ant defeat an army. It is an honor to be chosen …" his voice quivered emotionally and he stopped, lest he break down with joyous gratitude.

The Guru signaled him to come closer – Bachitar Singh knelt down in front of Him. The Guru put his eternal-life-giving hand on the Singh's shoulder saying, "WaheGuru is with you! Bliss, Singh, Bliss!"

I swear Bachitar Singh's sprits rose so high that his feet didn't touch ground as he prepared for battle. Tears freely flowed from his eyes as he sang shabads upon shabads about the greatness of the Guru and the gift of Naam.

At mid-morning, the Jathedaar summoned us stating, "Today, yet again, we are being attacked by an enemy who knows only hatred. But as our Guru has taught us, we fight back – oh boy, do we ever fight back – when the enemy refuses to negotiate, understanding nothing but the sharp edge of a sword!" Saying that he unsheathed his sword which reflected the sunlight into eyes.

A Singh called out a spontaneous jaikaraa (Sikh war cry), "Joo Boooole Sooo Nihaaaal!" (the one who utters the Timeless Truth's name/naam becomes blissful).

And we answered "Saaaaaat Sri Akaaaaal!"

We were ready to face any bloody enemy in the world!

~~~~~

Soon enough, we heard the Moghul forces coming towards us, chanting something or the other and waving their customary green flags. Right up in front, staggered the enemy's drunken elephant almost out of control. Heavily armored, the elephant bore seven iron plates layered on its head for protection. Two sharp spears were tied on the end of its trunk, which he whipped about madly. The heavily shielded driver appeared also intoxicated. He stood atop the elephant, madly bellowing the sorts of crazed things drunks (or men about to die) are known to yell!

The Jathedaar instructed us mount our horses inside the Fort. He then signaled Bachitar Singh to go out through a side-door. It opened just wide enough to let Bachitar Singh charge out. His steed, a dark brown horse, had seen plenty of battles. As it bolted out the door, it seemed surely destined to become a Khalsa in its next life for it had no knowledge that the letters f, e, a, r could be used as a word! Nor it seemed did Bachitar Singh. He rushed towards destiny the way a man rushes home to his newly wedded wife!

The pernicious pachyderms driver sobered up a little bit and sat down when he saw the Singh flying towards him. This was not at all what he expected; one Singh against an army of ten thousand?! He thought the Singh must be mad! No matter; he hid behind his shield. His enemy would know that he, the driver, would be the weak link in the attack. He followed instructions to take utmost care against flying arrows and soaring spears.

But the Khalsa is unlike others! They do not go for the weakest link but strike against the strongest link! And so too in this battle; Bachitar Singh, singing a shabad that we could no longer hear, charged the elephant. The enemy forces shouting slogans proceeded slowly towards our fort. They had either not seen the Singh coming towards them or simply didn't take him to be a serious threat - in reality that proved to be their weakest link and ultimately their undoing! To ignore a naam-drenched Singh flying at you with a long spear with a spiral end (nagini) in one hand, a meter-long sword close to the other, Guru's Words on his tongue and Guru Gobind Singh jee's blessing on the head; is a fatal mistake!!

Bachitar Singh got so close to the elephant that his horse suffered a slight cut from the elephant's sword. Raising his nagini and shouting "gurrrWAH!!" so that all could hear, Bachitar Singh raised his arm. With careful calculation, he speedily took aim. He threw with all his might and every particle of his devotion.

With the blessing of Naam, his force drove the spear so that it split the seams of the seven iron plates. The nagini dug through the leathery skin deep into the beasts' alcohol-addled brain. Not done yet; as he flew past the elephant, Bachitar Singh swiftly stuck his sword stabbing the elephant's right eye. The Elephant reeled up nearly knocking the driver off it's back. It plunged about wildly stomping soldiers on either side. The Singh spun on his limping horse, spurning it on. Coming at the elephant from the left he thrust again. Half blind, drunk, a nagini stuck into its face, the frightened elephant turned attempting to flee from the approaching Singh.

The enemy forces had just begun to catch on to what had happened. Disoriented, they looked back towards their battle leaders for directions; unprepared to deal with this sudden storm of a Singh. Our Jathedaar let out a Jaikaraa war cry. Our Fort doors flew open and we galloped out in force. Like the wind, naam on our lips, and Guru Gobind Singh jee's graceful eyes on our backs; we hurled towards the enemy. Swords slashing, we fought like there was no tomorrow (for them!).

Guru Gobind Singh jee unleashed three gold-tipped arrows . They struck into the enemy generals. The leaders fell with loud thuds - their troupes echoed their cries of fear.

The incoherent Elephant trying to avoid further injury turned, crashing into the enemy forces. Bachitar Singh approached him from behind. Diving into the air, his thirsty sword's naked blade in one hand; he grabbed the elephant's tail and climbed up onto his back. The driver trying to regain his balance saw the tiger of a Singh's red naam-blissed-out face. The sun reflecting off the Singh's armoury blinded him momentarily. He put up his shield to block the light and the Singh. The Singh's sword smashed into the driver's shield, knocking it out of his stunned hands.

The driver knew he was no match for the fury of the Singh. He threw his sword down. He knelt on his right knee and lowered his head, indicating defeat. He pleaded for the Khalsa's legendary mercy. The Singh lowered his sword motioning the driver to jump off.

The treacherous driver pulled out a dagger from his belt and raised it to strike. Yes, the Khalsa are merciful but they are not fools! The Singh anticipating this parry gave a hard swift kick behind the driver's left knee. The driver's right leg buckled as he tumbled down head first, screaming in pain and surprise.

As we fell upon the enemy forces, their leaders lay in the dust. The Khalsa controlled their chief weapon which they had so confidently groomed. The crazed elephant stampeded through their ranks. Trunk slashing, tusks thrusting wildly, it tossed and slung them about.

Victoriously we cheered our spirits rising as we sang out in a single voice ...
WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA
WAHEGURU JI KI FATEH!!!!

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Mai Bhago 3 - Into the light

2008-07-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

Reader discretion advised - some of the battle scenes are quite bloody.

Mulling over the situation as they retreated, the Moghuls quickly realized that the main force of the Khalsa lay beyond the pass. They understood that the barrage of arrows had come from just a few in an effort to tire them out and slow them down. They sent out two scouts to get an assessment of the Khalsa's size and positions with instructions to report back as quickly as possible. The Khalsa, expert in this type of war tactics, easily intercepted the scouts.

After about an hour or so, the Moghuls realized the scouts would only be reporting to their maker, and would not be coming back. Frustrated, they needed water quickly otherwise their mission would miserably fail. An extremely impatient young Moghul captain told the chief commanding officer of the assault, an old Moghul general, "Sir, we should charge them. By my estimate they are no more than 50 men strong."

The old Moghul General, who had done his share of fighting with the Khalsa, sighed stating, "That's too many!"

The captain stared at him in disbelief, "Sir, fifty men is too many?!"

The General replied insisting, "50 of them are too many!"

The captain sneered disrespectfully and moved away. The General looked after him with distaste. The General had become more and more disillusioned with his men and with his superiors, who broke promise after promise to the Khalsa. Indeed it had been only a few days ago that the Guru had been promised a safe passage from the besieged Fort. But soon after his departure, the General had been ordered to pursue the Guru. Disgusted with such dishonorable behavior, he wished that he was somewhere else, fighting for a just cause.

The Moghuls capitulated, figuring each minute they lost, the Khalsa up ahead gained to rest and plan their defense around the lake (although in truth each minute took the Khalsa further and further from the reach of Moghul forces). They decided that they couldn't afford to give ground and would overwhelm the Khalsa by sheer brute force of numbers. The eager young captain was given the task of eliminating the small rogue band of Singhs no matter how high the cost of lives to his men.

The captain set fire to the brush along the pass to provide a smoke screen, flush out any Khalsa Scouts and force the others higher into the hills. He decided that the Singhs had to run out of arrows sooner or later. Since he had to lose men until they did, he figured he might as well sacrifice the inexperienced soldiers. He ordered two hundred young recruits to charge through the pass. He assumed the Khalsa wouldn't dare come out in the open to fight this large a force since it would be suicide for them.

The Moghuls forces charged through the pass without a single loss; cheering as they reached the other side. Thinking the smoke had given them all the protection they needed, they broke rank, riding in circles kicking up dust, whooping and hollering in relief.

The Khalsa anticipating this behavior, had mounted their horses and waited just out of sight. Almost out of arrows, they used up their remaining arrows ones taking careful aim. After knocking some sense into the foolhardy Moghuls, they charged the somber soldiers. The captain feeling very foolish for not predicting such a possibility hotly commanded a few dozen more men to join the fight. But there was yet another thing he hadn't predicted - the smoke had cleared making it a lot easier for the Singhs to use their arrows.

Seething, the enraged Captain sent yet a few dozen more men to root out the remaining Singhs from the trees. He needn't have bothered - the Singhs, their arrows spent and the cover of tree no longer of any use, came charging out on horseback.

The Singhs fought courageously but within two hours, more than half the Singhs and most of their horses had fallen.

So, as previously planned by Mai Bhago Jee, they banded into groups of five fighting hand-to-hand. They hoped to engage the enemy long enough for the Guru to get completely out harm's way. For another ninety minutes of relentless combat, the enemy's swords, arrows and spears whittled away at the valiant Khalsa. At last there remained only a small brave band of three Singhs, my husband one of them.

An arrow had struck his right shoulder and his bleeding arm hung uselessly at his side. Obviously in pain, he held his shield with his left hand. He and the other two Singhs crouched back to back; their shields blocking arrows which flew fast and furious from the Moghul hoard surrounding them.

The Moghul captain held up his hand to signal the archers to stop shooting. Quite clearly there could be no escape for the badly injured Singhs. The greedy captain's eyes squinted in anticipation of the glory he should receive could he capture the Khalsa. A feat so exceedingly rare, that it would undoubtedly catapult his career and his monetary worth to unknown heights. He called out to the Singhs, "The game is over for you! Throw away your shields. You have fought honorably, do not resist and you shall live!"

When no response or movement came from the Khalsa, a nerve-wracking silence pervaded the scene. The young Moghuls nervously shuffled their feet. This was the first time that the majority of them had seen the Khalsa up close. Deep within themselves a lot of them questioned their role in this "holy" war. The Khalsa did not look at all like the demons they had been described as. On the contrary, the Khalsa appeared noble, honorable and wholesome. The strength and the endurance of the Khalsa greatly inspired yet terrified them!

The Captain tried another tactic, "Now, now, we are all reasonable men here. I personally give you my word that I will let no harm befall you if you give up the fight. You may live to see many a fine day yet!"

Still, the three huddled Khalsa made no move to surrender. The impatient young captain worried that his precious prize might be slipping through his fingers. Perhaps the Singhs had already perished. Wondering what to do to break the stalemate, he unsheathed his sword and moved a little closer to take a look - an extremely fatal move for his career and his men!

The three surrounded Khalsa sprang up like tornadoes and several logic-defying events occurred instantaneously.

My husband threw his shield at the Captain with all his might bellowing "gurrrrrWAH!" - the motion made him lose his balance and he began to fall. The shield meanwhile hurtled spinning towards the Captain. He ducked, but it cut into his forehead with a loud "thud" snapping his neck with a sound clearly audible (as was the gulping of several young Moghul throats!) As he fell, the sword slipped out of his hand and landed in my falling husband's outstretched left hand!

In the meantime, the second Singh swung his shield towards a nearby Moghul on horseback who held an arrow in his right hand and a long spear in his left. The second Singh tripped over a fallen body and undershot his mark. The spinning shield ripped into the horse's neck, breaking it instantly. The beast stumbled, falling head-first jerking the Moghul forwards. He grabbed the horse's mane with his right hand to steady himself. When it hit the ground, the horses head bounced upwards so that the Moghul leader fell heavily onto his own arrow. It pierced his throat so swiftly that he did not even scream but crumbled silently. The spear bounced on the ground flying towards the Singh who grabbed it in midair!

The third Singh, virtually blind from blood streaming into his eyes, hurled his shield aimlessly. A Moghul saw it spinning towards him and dived onto the ground. It flew over his head. He breathed a sigh of relief rolling over to see where it went. Just as he turned to look, it struck a horse just behind him. The velocity of spinning shield had subsided somewhat. It bruised the beast but spooked it causing it to rear up in surprise. It jumped forward, its flailing hooves striking the surrounding men. The horse came down heavily stamping the ribs of fallen Moghul smashing them to bits. The Moghul's horrifying screams filled the air. He thrashed about waving his sword wildly before passing out and further terrifying the animal. Nostrils flaring, it reared up again. Loosing its balance it stumbled and fell backwards crashing heavily on its rider crushing him. His blood curdling cries further unnerved the surrounding soldiers. The blinded Singh staggered about groping with outstretched hands. Finding his very own sword thrust into a fallen Moghul, he pulled it free, and whirled it menacingly.

Everything occurred simultaneously; so swiftly and with such perfection that it even surprised the Singhs. They stood stunned for a split second not believing what had befallen them. In acting to avoid being captured alive, preferring death, life had been granted them.

The astonished young Moghuls, looked on open-mouthed, bewildered beyond action! They too could not believe what they had witnessed. Their leader had fallen. The Singhs who had been weaponless and all but finished a moment before, now ominously faced them brandishing weapons.

Dread and wonder descended on the troops silencing them. The second in command raised his sword to rally them.

They heard the "whoosh" of a gold-tipped arrow from Guru Gobind Singh jee. They watched it fly past hitting their new leader squarely in the chest. He dropped to the ground with a heavy thud. Completely unnerved, the Moghuls screamed in terror. "These are Gods, not men," they shouted. Running blindly in panic, they stumbled, clambering over each other rushing to get away from these immortal beings!

Revitalized, the three Singhs shouted energetically. "Dhan Guru! Dhan Guru!" Maybe, they hoped fervently, they had a chance to see the Guru after all and ask personally for his forgiveness. Perhaps they might even live to fight with him another day!

Wiping the blood from his eyes with his sleeve, the nearly blind Singh shouted at the other two to run for the cover of the trees. He chased after the fleeing Moghuls, stumbling and falling over dead humans and beasts. But the young Moghuls didn't look back to check on his progress. Hearts in their mouths, they wanted only to escape the baffling madness! They cursed the day they had joined the Moghul army and cursed their leaders for pitting them against such supernatural deathless creatures!

The Moghuls not directly engaged in the fight, had at first thought when the captain stopped the arrows that the ensuing quiet meant the Khalsa had been destroyed. They had turned their attention to other matters, such as counting their dead and planning their next move. When hearing the vocal outburst of jaikara, they assumed it to be the final battle cry of the defeated Khalsa. This proved to be only partially true. For there is no such thing as a "defeated Khalsa"! How could there be when? …

WaheGuru Ji Ka Khalsa, WaheGuru Ji Ki Fateh (The Khalsa belongs to WaheGuru, Victory belongs to WaheGuru)!

Observing a hundred or so of their comrades running away from a blinded Singh, they shook their heads wondering what went in the amrit that the Guru fed his Singhs!

I could see my husband and the other Singh nearing safety as they made their way to closer towards the cover of trees. I could not believe this change of fortune. I cheered them on, shouting with all my might, "Come on! Come on! Only a few feet more!" (I realized fully well that they couldn't hear me but I couldn't keep my excitement bottled up any longer!)

The old General quickly put together a team of expert archers and almost with regret gave them the orders to shoot down the Singhs. He thought to himself, "If only I had one of those Singhs on my side, I would have won all wars!" He wondered what the Guru of such lions would be like. He decided there and then that he was done with this barbaric war in which he had to shoot down such noble warriors. He resolved at the very least to go and meet the Guru as soon as he could. He'd heard of the Guru enemies who after going to see him out of curiosity ending up swearing their allegiance to him. Secretly, he hoped that he might be one of these.

Several arrows struck each Singh before they fell just inches from the shelter of the trees. Besides the arrows piercing my husband's body, he had received numerous cuts at every conceivable place which bled profusely. I felt sad and yet a kind of peace came over me that he had fought so valiantly. He had made the enemy pay dearly. He'd bought precious time for the Khalsa with his life. The thought that my Singh had gone down fighting with such valor lifted my spirits immensely. Mortal bodies must perish sometime - this is exactly how this one had always wanted to go! One against 125,000!

As I looked on, a light-form similar to mine, but much more brilliant, rose and departed from my husband's physical body. He checked out this new dimension of himself, grinning ecstatically! Then he noticed me and winked, "Woman, do you have to follow me everywhere?!" He came close to me, our lights merging.

After embracing me with his luminous form, he ascended, disappearing from my sight. Quite suddenly he returned, still in his brilliant form, but very definitely less ecstatic. He explained he had not been able go any higher because a Guru-less person cannot enter the finer realms! We looked around and we saw all of his party of Singhs in a similar state of dejection.

Down below, the Moghuls forces, after rejoicing in their "victory", moved on towards the lalake bedgathering up their dead as they went. They left the Singh's bodies behind lying in the field. This time they proceeded with more caution, sending scouts on ahead to check for ambushes. The scouts soon came galloping back, "It's a trick! The lake is dry!" they shouted.

The remaining Moghul leaders huddled together. They decided to pull out. The Khalsa would have to be eliminated and their Guru captured or killed, another day, and by another group of Moghuls. They had run out of water; and supplies had dwindled. They had suffered humiliating losses. The soldiers' morale already dangerously low, continued to erode with each passing moment. The late hour of day meant darkness would be upon them. No sensible Moghul wanted to face the Khalsa at night! Their legendary uncanny ability to attack and seriously damage Moghul forces had been proven beyond a doubt by the afternoon events! No Moghul leader in his rightful mind wanted the responsibility spending a night even remotely close to a Khalsa encampment. So the old general gave the order to retreat.

The Singhs spirit bodies glowed brightly as they rejoiced realizing what an amazing feat they had helped to accomplish. Against all odds, because of the Singhs selfless sacrifice, the main body of Khalsa, had survived to live another day and fight another battle.

Somewhat uncertain about what would happen next my husband commented, "All is in WaheGuru's will." He used to passionately describe to me how he imagined it would be like in Sach Khand (The Realm of Truth); freedom from worldly care, continual keertan being sung in the presence of naam-imbued souls. Not impatient the least little bit; he knew that only ones who had been fully graced by a perfect Guru could go there. I understood how much he had been hoping to be one of those sikhs. So we waited... I prayed silently for intervention. Somehow I knew something great would happen...

Miraculously we saw Guru Gobind Singh jee riding into the battlefield where our fallen warriors' bodies lay. I had seen the gloriously and incomparably beautiful Guru many times in my life. But in that moment he seemed perhaps a million times more beautiful.

In addition to viewing his earthly body, we also were blessed with a glimpse of his immaculate inner-self. I believed what I saw to be his soul; although I am ignorant of such matters and unable to distinguish between a soul and light-forms such as we had become. Absolutely stunning to behold, the Guru emanated pure light white as milk. My husband had told me of seeing light within during meditation, brighter than a thousand yellow suns. But his description paled beside the True Guru's radiance.

Around the Guru's brilliance, revolved the living luminosity of millions beings who had chosen to serve the Guru. At a subtle level they circled the Guru twinkling in ecstasy and in awe. Outside the immediate radius of light orbited the glow of beings in human form. These seemed to be naami Sikhs, who after their physical deaths retained their Earthly shapes to stay and watch over the Guru. No worldly words could do justice to the luster of the light illuminating their Naam-imbued faces.

I silently bowed to the Guru and thanked him profusely for allowing me to view him in this way. Stunned, all of the Singhs bowed deeply to the Guru's luminous brilliance. I might have only imagined it but it seemed as though the Guru also gave a slight nod in our direction. I *wanted* a face like the naami sikhs surrounding the Guru. The importance of my previous existence diminished. I knew from that point on, everything would be different. My remaining life's goal would be to get immersed in the light of Naam.

Surveying the battlefield where his fallen ones lay, the Guru jumped down from his horse. He strode quickly to Mai Bhago jee and knelt by her side. Badly wounded but alive, we could hear her moaning "Dhan Guru, Dhan Guru" softly. He gave her water. She opened her eyes to look up at him with wonder. She, like most of us, had never seen him so close before. I could tell from her eyes that she found him breathtakingly beautiful.

His lips drew back in a gentle smile and he exclaimed, "Wah! Khalsa Jee! Wah! You have surpassed my expectations! Ask Guru Nanak for anything and you shall receive it!"

Mai Jee humbly joined her hands, "Sire, I wish to spend the remaining breaths that you have bestowed upon me to serve you and you only."

The Guru's put his hand on her head and blessed her, "Like the moon lights up the way for lost night-travelers, your name will guide and inspire generations to come in this dark age of Kalyug!" He instructed the Sevadaar accompanying him to tend to her wounds and needs.

He then walked to one of the Singh's body. He tenderly turned the bloodied lifeless Singh's face towards him and wiped it with his hand saying, "Wah Singh jee! Wah! You are my 5 hazari! – Honour, Tribulation, Exaltation, Accepted Servant and Dearest Companion." Immediately, the Singh's luminous floating body immensely brightened by maybe five thousand times.

One by one, the Guru took all the fallen Singh's faces in his blessed hands and graced them with gifts that our minds could not comprehend. My husband too received his blessing. Not only did he brighten up but the intensity of my luminous body also increased.

At last he walked over to a body and sat down. Gently he raised the Jathedaar's head and pillowed it on his lap. He turned the Jathedaar's face towards his and wiped it lovingly with his hand; clearing off the dried blood and debris. To all our surprise, the Jathedaar opened his eyes and looked at the Guru's face. He spoke in wonder, "My love! I have found you once more. How beautiful you look in Sach Khand!"

He lifted his hand and touched the Guru's face, stroking it gently with immense love. "Never will I leave you again; you just watch! There is no escape for you now!"

The Guru smiled and kissed the Jathedaar's hand. The Guru's kiss made the Jathedaar aware of his Earthly surroundings. He realized that he was touching the face of the One who is the Lord of this and the unseen world. Quickly he withdrew his hand, thinking he had been too forward with his brash behavior.

Looking at him with love, the Guru lifted the Jathedaar's hand back to his face and held it there pressed against him. The Guru spoke, "You have done well, my precious son! Guru Nanak is pleased with your Sikhi - ask for anything and you shall receive it!"

A tear formed in the Jathedaar's eyes. His voice quivered as he pleaded, "I ask for one thing only, my Sire. Please oh please, tear up the decree! And tell me that I am yours and that you are mine again."

The Guru removed the decree from his waist band. As I watched from above, a great lump arose in my throat. An ache crept over me, I wanted to weep profusely in sorrow and cry aloud with joy all at once. The Singhs moved beyond words, looked on in wonder. The Guru had held on to this dastardly piece of paper and kept it safe even in the battlefield where one keeps only what is most precious.

An immense longing took hold of me and then relief flooded my being as he tore it up into several pieces and threw it into the wind. The Gurus engaged the Jethadaars eyes with his compassionate gaze as the pieces lazily floated away.

The Jathedaar smiled. He tried to join his two hands to say thank you, or perhaps to say Fateh, for at that very moment, his head fell backwards. We watched his immensely brilliant soul take leave of his body.

My husband turned to me. He smiled, and then disappeared. My heart told me that he had been finally accepted into the dimension that Guru Nanak calls the Realm of Truth.

Mai Bhago 2 - Reflection

2008-07-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

I had nearly completed my preparations when my husband woke up murmuring, "Dhan Guru Gobind Singh Jee, Dhan Guru Gobind Singh Jee".

It took him a minute to get his bearings. He jumped up. Seeing me at the door in military regalia seemed to revive the spring in his step. The spark came back into his eyes. He looked like my lover again. He came up to me and took me by the shoulders. He gently pushed my shield to one side and the sword to the other, then took me into his arms. I melted into his embrace, snuggling into his raggedy, dusty, crusty, bony frame and murmured, "I missed you".

He stepped back, still holding onto me, "I love you, and I LOVE Guru Gobind Singh jee. And guess what, he still loves me!!"

He danced a little bit confiding, "I had a vision … or a wonderful dream. I lay on the floor in an extremely cold room next to a fireplace. Several other people with children huddled close to the fire warming themselves, while looking down upon me with pity in their eyes. One child cried out in pain when his hand got burnt by the fire. His father came running in from the outside. He first harshly scolded him, but then embraced him warmly. Then the father looked down at me and it was none other than Guru Gobind Singh jee! He recited

... his father teaches him,
and scolds him so many times,
but still, he hugs him close in his embrace.
(Guru Arjan Dev Ji, sggs 624)

"Yeah, it's true I have royally screwed up. But hey who doesn't once in a while?" This was more like my husband - he always took things in stride, nothing ever got him down for too long.

I asked him, "So what is your plan?"

"Well!" he replied quite importantly, "The first thing I have to do is retrieve my sword from a certain woman who stole it from me while I was sleeping in her bed!"

He took the sword from me and put it back on, "And then I am going to eat many delicious pranthas made by that same woman and then I am going to go kick some Moghul butt! Isn't that a great plan?"

I nodded with relief and happiness! Hearing this exchange Pita Jee knocked at the door and came into the room. My husband just flung himself at Pita Jee's feet. "Please forgive me, father. I am your most ignorant child!" Pita Jee, patted his head apologetically and replied, "I spoke harsh words out of despair, son! I hope you forgive a foolish, raving man!" They hugged each other for a long time.

We got moving quickly after that. While my husband bathed then stuffed himself with quite a few potato stuffed pranthas - a few too many perhaps, if you ask me, to load into a belly that had gone so long without food. The children woke and came sleepy-eyed into the room. Not at first recognizing their Father, they soon squealed delightedly climbing into his lap. They soon became quiet awestruck by tales about the great feats their father had accomplished in the company of the world's greatest warrior. As we rearranged his packs, stuffing in even more dry food in hopes he could slip back into the Fort, we heard a knock at the door.

The Jathedaar (group leader) who had presented the decree to the Guru stuck his head through and looked around. He was a charismatic man and I felt sure that he had played a big part in arranging the 40 men's "liberation". I cautiously greeted him, not wanting him to change my husband's mind.

He asked me, "Where is Bhai Sahib?"

Had his tone been less jovial, I would have sullenly kept quiet or given him a piece of my mind. Something in his demeanor imparted to me his change of heart. I could tell we all belonged to the same "side". I told him everything.

He smiled and announced, "All of the men are going back. I just wanted to let him know that we will be leaving in an hour!" He turned to go.

I called after him, "Wait! Jatehdaar jee, what changed their minds?"

"Oh," he replied, quite eager to talk, "One thing or the other. For me personally, Mai Bhago Jee came and inspired me. Well, actually …once I arrived I felt like the lowest and filthiest most-cowardly creature to ever walk on this Earth! Mai Bhago Jee scolded me reminding me that I am a Singh worth 125,000 ordinary men. I knew her to be a stalwart Sikh, but I never realized how deeply imbued with Naam she was - each of her words pierced straight like an arrow into my heart. And her punctuation, haha, my head barely missed her rolling pin," he laughed, "She told me,

"You sit here at home and take care of the children; and we women will go in your place. We will return with food for our brothers and weaponry to fight with and give our lives if necessary."

I realized that I could make a difference by returning. I couldn't talk her out of coming along too. I pity the Moghul who crosses her path!" he laughed again.

He turned a little serious, "To tell you the truth, even on the way "home", many of us already deeply regretted leaving. In fact, as soon as I handed over that… decree to the Great Guru, we all felt quite forlorn. The further we got away from the Guru, the emptier we felt. All our hopes for better days and lives just vanished. Once we lost it, we realized what the Guru has given us with Naam is life itself! After all this time with the Guru, we took Naam for granted. We only experienced the utter desolation of a life without Naam after we gave it up. Severing our connection with Guru severed our Naam and we became broken men depleted of Naam. I am sure you noticed your husband's empty state? … We felt miserable! Royally miserable! We realized halfway home that a desolate life starving for Naam is far worse than any death from hunger. To make things worse, we had hoped to be welcomed home by our womenfolk and families…"

He fell silent, and then added, "I am extremely sorry. I don't know what happened. I guess the lack of food, sleep and the relentless onslaught eroded our morale. I just don't know … we have gone without food and sleep for extended periods of time before, but nothing like this even cropped up in our minds before. I suppose we fell for the enemy's plan to divide and conquer by offering us a way out. However we will make this work to our advantage and go back fresh and renewed and much wiser to our Gurus Service. The first thing I'm going to do is the burn up that cursed paper that I wrote up!" he paused, "If the Guru has bothered to keep it. Perhaps he gave up on us?" he asked me as if I knew the answer.

This answer I did know, "No! He has not given up on you and never will!"

And so 40 Singhs, and several women who valued certain death beside their beloved Guru over an uncertain life without him mounted their horses. Led by Mai Bhago Jee and the Jathedaar, they rode out singing shabads about their love for their Guru and his inherent forgiving nature.

~~~~

At the back of my mind, I kept wondering (especially when the kids were acting up!) how it would have been if I had gone to battle. It would be such a great feeling to be doing something as noble as defending the Khalsa in it's hour of need.

I pictured myself first fighting bravely and then pleading to the Guru to remove my husband's name from that dreadful decree.

One day, after my chores were done, I sat down thinking how wonderful it would be if my husband could somehow make it back to describe what had happened after he rode away. Of course he had no chance of coming back, but the Guru is mysteriously great…

I felt my eyes drooping and I decided a nap would serve me well. I nodded off. After several minutes of dozing, I woke from my slumber, and discovered myself suspended a couple of feet above my body!

I thought this must be the dream that my husband often talked about finally happening to me. I looked at my floating self with wonder. My body seemed to have no physical substance. Instead a soft radiance gave it shape. I found my clothes most interesting. They seemed to be woven with threads of colored light. I wondered whether our village tailor could manage such a design!

I hovered idly musing for a few moments until a sudden chilling thought entered my mind. Could I be dead?!! I panicked! What about my children? They would be orphans. The instant I thought of them, I found myself looking down on them. I could see them sitting with other children for lessons. They listened drowsily, struggling to stay awake, as their teacher, while swatting absently at flies, droned on and on about some historically great, but boring, personage. I felt very confused. How had I gotten here? Had I truly died? Instantaneously my body appeared beneath me.

I looked closely and noticed it heaving up and down with each breath it took. Then I perceived a slender silver thread linking my transparent radiant body to my sleeping body. I relaxed - deciding that I still lived. I had no idea what to do though - I tried to remember if Pita Jee had ever mentioned anything like this before. Immediately I saw Pita Jee below taking his afternoon nap. He slept soundly as I watched.

Aha! Suddenly I dawned on me. I realized that I traveled by thought in this form. I remembered my husband had mentioned something like this happening to him but I had ignored him at the time. Some of the things he had told to me just had seemed too bizarre to believe. But perhaps in this place, where this form of myself existed, things were indeed peculiar!

Thoughts of my husband projected me over a field above some riders. Looking down I saw my husband riding along with others! I could not believe my luck - I had been wishing for just this.

~~~~~

The sun shone high. Not even a wisp of a cloud graced the sky. Though I couldn't feel it, by the looks of the horses panting tongues, it appeared to be scorching hot. It hadn't rained for weeks. With each step the ponies' hooves kicked up dust which stuck to sweat trickling down the faces of the riders. Sparse dry vegetation dotted the landscape. The Jathedaar signaled the riders to stop under a stand of scraggly parched looking trees. After they had rested for a little while, the Jathedaar and Mai Bhago Jee discussed something quietly and then I heard him say, "Khalsa jee! Time is against us! The Guru will soon be attacked by a large Moghul force. We are all veterans here and I will not lie to you about the dire situation we are in. By the time we get to the Guru, it will be too late. More than warriors, the Guru needs time. We must act now!"

He looked at Mai Bhago Jee. Her voice thundered as she spoke, "It is true that time is against us. It is true that there are 500 moghuls for each of us. But it is also true that the Guru has made each one of us capable of fighting 125,000 of them! Remember Khalsa jee, a single light destroys a roomful of darkness! Remember Khalsa jee, when we took amrit, we first laid down our heads! This head belongs to the Guru and it is time to present it to him!!"

So much Naam reverberated in her voice that the Singhs just stared at her with open-mouthed awe as though a Goddess had suddenly appeared before them! There was silence for a few moments and then a Singh came to his senses and let out a piercing Jaikara (Sikh war cry) that shook the tree leaves… "Jo Booooole Soooo Nihaaal!" The thunderous reply of "Saaaat Sri Akaaaaal" echoed through shivering tree branches across the plain leaving no doubt of the warrior's deadly intent!

Mai Bhago Jee continued, "We have come up with a plan to delay the enemy giving the Guru an opportunity to get into a position where he has a better chance to fight the enemy. Prepare yourselves for the other world!" Impressed with Mai Bhago Jee's Naam spirit, the Singhs would have done just about anything she would have asked and this sounded like a great plan!

After a short search, they found the perfect spot for an ambush, a large clear pass surrounded on either side by low hills dense with trees. They knew the enemy would have to come through this pass for the only other alternative, a route around the hills, would take at least half a day. So they hid themselves among the trees along the way and waited.

From my vintage point, I could see the enemy approaching. I could also see the Khalsa with the Guru up far ahead. They had spread white and blue sheets on the ground bordering a small lake bed. I guessed they did this to fool the enemy into thinking the Khalsa had camped there in yet another warfare trick to delay and confuse their adversaries. Driven by a prevailing thirst, the enemy rushed blindly towards the lake not realizing it had dried up in the summer heat. Not expecting that the Khalsa would camp around a dry lake, the enemy had thrown caution to the wind. They rode ferociously towards the water envisioning an easy victory, abundant water and much-needed rest.

Because of their confidence, the enemy didn't bother sending scouts out ahead to detect any possible ambushes. The summer heat seriously eroded their morale and ability to persevere. The ill-humored, battle weary men and their fatigued horses just wanted their ordeal to be at an end.

The hidden Singhs waited for a few men pass by before they made their move. At the Jathedaar's signal, a volley of arrows whistled through the trees hurtling into the oncoming forces. Stunned, the enemy froze gaping at their fallen comrades in surprise. As a second torrent came raining upon them, they turned to face it raising their shields against the onslaught, waiting for orders from the leaders. A volley of arrows whizzed in from the other side of the pass biting in to their unprotected backs, shoulders and bottoms.

The Moghuls troupes panicked scrambling chaotically trying to get out of range. Their leaders quickly converged to formulate a defense. From an entirely new direction, directly into their midst struck arrow after arrow in quick succession.

Rapidly taking the leaders down, gold-tipped arrows flew arcing from a high mound up ahead where the greatest Warrior ever to walk the Earth stood bow in hand.

The hidden Khalsa cheered enthusiastically, but silently, at this totally unexpected turn of events. The group's confident fighting spirit soared; overjoyed that the Great Guru had come back to help aid them. Only sharp orders against any jaikaras prevented any outbursts of elation. The enemy fell back rapidly fleeing in the only safe direction – behind them!

next part...

Mai Bhago 1 - Liberated One

2008-07-18T14:08:00.000-07:00
Amongst great Sikh women warriors, Mai Bhago probably is the most well-known and well-respected. When forty Sikhs deserted Guru Gobind Singh jee during a Moghul siege, it was chiefly Mai Bhago who rallied them to re-seek the sanctuary of the Guru. This story is a first-hand account of the wife of one of those forty Sikhs (who Sikhs remember every day in their prayer as the "chalee mukte" or "the 40 liberated ones").

~~~~~

A sound from Pita Jee's room woke me up. I looked out of my bedroom window at the dark landscape and guessed it to be nearly midnight.

I listened carefully and heard Pita Jee trying to get out of his bed. I got up quickly and ran to his room. Approaching his 90th birthday, he had been getting increasingly weak, but continued to refuse help, doing things his own way.

Pita Jee was my father-in-law. Our love for each other had developed into father-daughter love; and then over time transcended into spiritual-love. When I had come to this house, I didn't know anything about gurbani (Guru's writings). He had patiently taught it to me; instilling the meanings of gurbani into my heart. He wouldn't ever let me read a line without first reflecting on its meaning.

One of his favorite lines was Naam is the cure for all ills (Guru Arjan Dev ji, sggs 274).

He not only evoked it frequently, but lived it too. He had never gone to the village doctor. Instead he relied on gurbani, insisting the true physician is the Guru. Whenever scolded by Mata Jee, my mother-in-law, he would sing My doctor is the Guru (Guru Arjan Dev ji, sggs 618)

If ever he did get sick (which happened more often as he aged), he would simply ask someone (usually me) to read gurbani at his bedside. It never failed to amaze me how gurbani affected him. I could actually see his face change color from pale to bright red after hearing just a few gurbani lines. In fact he used to declare that he only got sick when he didn't get enough gurbani into his blood!

I briefly knocked on his door before entering it – I was right, Pita Jee was trying, quite unsuccessfully, to get up from the bed. I ran up to him and whispered so as not to wake Mata Jee who was snoring away, "WHAT are you doing?"

He held on to my shoulder and said, "I need some gurbani!"

I whispered, "Do you realize its midnight?"

He nodded and after sitting up told me, "There is something very wrong, daughter, very wrong!"

He had been complaining about something being wrong for a few days now and I, for one, couldn't pinpoint anything wrong with him. He ate well, went for his daily walks, discussed gurbani enthusiastically and had slept soundly, up until a few moments earlier.

I sat close to him and asked, "What's bothering you, Pita Jee?"

He smiled weakly, "I don't know, dear one. Just something inside me has dried up. I feel as if my whole foundation has been shaken. I just don't know, I just don't know – I have never felt like this. Perhaps my time has come and this is what it is supposed to feel like??" He looked at me for re-assurance.

Inside, I knew he might be right, perhaps the time had come for him to go, but I smiled and said, "Hey! How will the world survive without you?"

His weak smile reached his eyes this time and he said, "Please read some gurbani."

After reciting Jap Ji Sahib, I asked Pita Jee if he felt any better. He looked sadly at me, "A little better but the … emptiness is still here," he answered clutching his heart - this really worried me.

After giving him a drink of water, I gently put him back to bed. On my way to my room, I heard someone trying to open the back door! My heart missed a beat. At this hour, only a thief would be prowling about! I coughed loudly to warn the thief of my presence. The door swung open creakily.

My hand went to my kripaan (sword), "Oh Guru Jee, please help me!" I prayed.

The intruder stumbled around in the dark; I stood there frozen, wishing the prowler would go away or I that would wake up from this nightmare. The burglar found a lantern and lit it! How daring! I had to do something. I mustered my courage and called out - lowering my voice as much as I could and trying to sound as brave as possible, I demanded, "Who is there?"

"It's me," replied the wavering voice of my husband!

I ran and hugged him. "Oh, my love; you have come back … alive and well!!" He hugged me back weakly. "Let me look at you!" I said pushing him back a little to get a good look at him.

I knew he would be lean and thin after so many months of war and hunger, but seeing the emptiness in his eyes shocked me into complete silence! For a moment, I thought there had been a mistake and that I embraced a stranger. I almost let go of him - I had never seen him like this. The man I held resembled a weak and broken shadow of my husband. Something was horrifically wrong!

He saw the shock in my eyes. I prodded him silently to tell me what had happened to him? He lowered his eyes and asked, "Is there any food?"

In a way, I was glad he didn't tell me right off. I wanted to prepare myself mentally first. As I warmed up food leftover from the night before, I went through all the possibilities of what could have gone wrong. Perhaps he had received some bad news from my village? Perhaps the battle had been lost and the Fort given up to the Moghuls? Perhaps… perhaps.. the Guru had fallen? No, it could not be possible. I would have felt it. Then my heart sank - perhaps this is what had made Pita Jee uneasy! I silently prayed, "O Guru, make me strong."

Pita Jee and Mata Jee had woken up, but quite surprisingly the children still slept. They came and welcomed their son - they hugged him asking lots of questions.

He gave short answers and kept his eyes on the floor. Mata Jee, like always, carried on and on, "Oh, it's so good to see you. You should sleep, my son, you look very tired. You're too thin. Eat something. Ahhh, good! Here's warm food, and your favorite too… perhaps the Guru knew that you would be coming? Eh?" She trailed off into an awkward silence...

My husband ate slowly and silently, looking at the food with apparent disgust. Eating seemed to become more and more unpleasant for him with each bite. He pushed away the plate, leaving most of the food untouched. He tried to get up, but he appeared confused. He sank back down, staring at the food with lost, bewildered eyes. Pita Jee and I looked at each other.

Had his parents not been there, I would have held my husband close and comforted him. I touched his arm and asked, "Sleep?" He slowly nodded and tried get up but just dropped down again. He bent over and put his face into his hands resting his head on his knees.

Mata Jee's face contorted in anguish as she insisted "My son, go to sleep. Whatever has happened, it will feel better after a good night's sleep…."

My husband replied slowly, "No mother, it will not."

Pita Jee finally spoke up, "OK, Son. We need to know what is going on!"

My husband sat in silence. Pita Jee asked the question we all had dreaded asking, "Is .. is the Guru … alright?" To our relief, my husband nodded.

Pita Jee decided that whatever had occurred, needed to be drilled out of his son. So he started his interrogation, "Is the Guru safe?"

"Yes, as far as I know. When we left, he was still in the Fort," my husband answered.

"So why did he ask you to leave?" Pita Jee asked.

No reply came from my husband. This visibly concerned his father. "Answer me!" he almost shouted raising his frail voice.

"He .. he .. did not say to go," my husband stammered.

"What do you mean, he didn't say to go?" asked our perplexed Pita Jee, "You mean you left without permission ... against his wishes?!"

My husband nodded his head. "You don't understand," he replied in a tortured voice, jumping up agitatedly. Suddenly quite animated and verbose, as if a flood gate had been opened, the words spilled out. "Our relentless attackers lay siege to our fort, cutting off our supply routes completely. We went without proper food for months. In desperate hunger we ate whatever we could find - even the trees within the Fortress. We stripped them bare of leaves which we boiled and ate; and fed their branches to our Ponies.

The Moghul forces sent messages offering save passage. They said that we, along with our… with the Guru could leave. The Guru refused. We pleaded with him to go, but without any success. He insisted we would be walking out into a trap. Finally a few of us, 40 to be exact, decided on our own to leave. We didn't want to face a meaningless death by starvation! Our presence only added to the burden of hunger the others faced." He walked over to the window and peered out into the dark night.

"Guru had us sign a bedava, a decree which declared that the Guru is no longer our Guru and we are no longer his Sikhs. We left the very same night …." He trailed off, turned around and sat down as if the last bit of energy in him had been spent justifying himself. He looked older and more worn than even Pita jee, who appeared even more stunned than the rest of us. I could not believe my ears. My mind could not take this in - my husband is no longer a Sikh of Guru Gobind Singh jee?! How could this have happened to a man whose very being revolved around the Guru? What madness drove him to this state?

After a long silence, Pita jee stood up with a fury usually only witnessed in much younger men. He flung the plate of uneaten food at my husband's face. Lentils splashed his face, smearing his beard and dripping to the floor. My husband didn't flinch from the impact nor attempted to clean his beard. He just sat there unmoving and shamed - his eyes still and cold, like 2 black lumps of coal.

Pita jees eyes flared, flaming like two red hot fiery burning pieces of coal. He lowered his voice. When he spoke he trembled with icy reserve. His words contained such impact they cause my husband to recoil.

Pita Jee pointed to the food on the floor. "You gave up Sikhi for this?!" He demanded, "Now eat it! EAT IT!! Eat this and fill yourself to your spineless content! I can't believe that you are my Son! Do you have any idea of the sacrifices my father made to get Sikhi?! You have thrown it away for food you won't even eat. You ungrateful … dog! Lick it from the floor. I am completely shamed by your actions! This family is forever disgraced!"

Then his fury turned to his wife, "I can't believe he came from your womb! Why did we bring such a son into this world? Why?!"

We sat in absolute silence for a few minutes. Even Mata Jee, who had never before let Pita jee go uninterrupted for long, sat unspeaking with a grave look on her face. Pita Jee hobbled over to a wall where his old sword hung. He turned around and said, "You slunk away when you were needed the most by the Khalsa. I," he straightened up "will have to bring honor back to this family!" His frail hands lifted the sword as he determinedly stated, "I will go and fight along the Guru!"

In his youth he had fought alongside Guru Hargobind Sahib Jee. He refused to let old age get in the way of his determination to continue fighting for the Guru! But alas, his aged body could not support his fighting spirit. He couldn't even unsheathe his sword despite many determined attempts. He let it slip from his hands disgusted with himself. He crumbled to the floor holding his head in his hands and wept.

Mata Jee slowly got up; turning to her son she said, "Rest, my son, the Guru will …" she stopped. Usually she would insist, "The Guru will take care of everything," but couldn't bring herself to say it. She went over to Pita jee and helped him walk to their bedroom.

Only I remained in the room with my husband. He looked at me pleadingly. He wanted reassurance from the person who he knew loved and supported him the most. I looked away, my confusion apparent. I couldn't meet his eyes. Wondering how this could have happened to him I took his hand. I cleaned his beard, drew his head on my shoulder and stroked his face. I knew, more than words, he needed my comforting touch. As though I could somehow redeem and relieve his anguish, he clung to me.

I knew from experience that he needed to let go of the grief and guilt clouding his heart before I could talk to him effectively. I felt his body heave as his tears came, flooding from him, shaking his fragile body. Between sobs he looked at me despairingly, "I am so sorry!" he insisted repeatedly. "I miss the Guru so much. I see His face continually. It never leaves me. I cannot sleep or eat. How could I have let him down … how?"

I held him close until all his tears had been released. I helped him up and took him to our bedroom and lay him on our bed.

I whispered softly "Sleep my love, sleep now, we will talk later."

He turned to me and asked me like a child would ask a mother, "What should I do?"

I whispered urgently, "You MUST go back and fight alongside the Guru!"

He shook his head, "No, there is no strength left in me. My Naam has gone! I am but a wasted walking skeleton now."

He wanted to say more but I softly interrupted him, "Sleep my love, sleep."

He slowly drifted off.

I thought about the situation. One thing seemed certain; my husband's wasted body, devoid of spirit could no longer fight. Neither could Pita jee's frail body, despite his devotion go to battle. So … so … I could think of only one alternative. I had to do it! I had the strength. I had vigor, vitality and valor. I would redeem my family's honor fighting alongside my Guru. It seemed so simple, why hadn't I thought of this before?! I felt a smile break across my face like the sun dispelling a dark cloud. In relief, I grinned giddily, gleefully ecstatic.

Carefully removing the sword from my sleeping husband, I put it on. Its weight steadied me. I felt a kind of calm and surety of purpose. Like all Khalsa, I had undergone martial training. My fighting spirit awoke rising within me. Although I had never seen any battles, there is always a first time, I thought to myself - I felt confident in my Guru's guidance. I hummed to myself excitedly. I felt ready to die fighting gloriously on the field of battle.

I heard a knock on the door and Pita Jee walked in. He looked so much older now, as if something holding him up had been taken away. He looked at me wearing the sword, "Yes, yes, that is precisely the right thing to do for you! As for me, I desperately need some gurbani. Please recite something with your angelic voice!"

Eager for the consolation of gurbani, we sang this shabad together:

Relying on your Mercy, Dear Lord,
I have indulged in sensual pleasures.
Like a foolish child, I have made mistakes.

O Lord, You are my Father and Mother.

It is easy to speak of and talk about it,
but to follow your will is the most difficult task
(Guru Arjan Dev Ji, sggs 51)

I couldn't remember the rest of that shabad and so I started another one:

A child who innocently makes thousands of mistakes
is first scolded and then is hugged close in a fatherly embrace;
the father forgives the child's past mistakes
and teaches him the True way for the future.
(Guru Arjan Dev Ji, sggs 624)

After our keertan, Pita Jee felt better; he wearily admitted, "Even this is in the Guru's will!" He stroked his soundly sleeping son's face saying, "Perhaps I spoke too harshly to him." He bade me goodbye and urged me not to see my children before I left, lest I get mired down in attachment.

To tell the truth; thinking of my children made me uneasy with my decision. Yes, I was attached to them, but more than that I worried that they would be raised by a man whose spirit had broken. I always believed that WaheGuru gave children to parents who could help them reach their spiritual potential. I knew my husband could no longer serve as their father in the spiritual sense. But, I rationalized; the children had come to this world with their own destiny. Perhaps they would reach their potential in precisely the situation they were going to be thrust into.

But despite my attempts to encourage and comfort my misgivings, I felt a tug in the deep recess of my heart while I readied myself for the journey. Remembering the starving condition of those besieged, I began packing as much foodstuff as I could carry.

...next part

Raam Daas Puri 2

2008-07-15T11:11:00.000-07:00
Mostly-true account of a White Tantric day at Summer Solstice.

10... 11 ........ 12 ............... 13 .... I stood on my yoga mat doing frog poses (for those of you who don't know what a frog pose is - it's where you squat and then heave your body upwards; and then repeat - all the while using your breath like there is no tomorrow) - anyways, when you are doing frog poses, tomorrow is the last thing on your mind. The only thing on your mind is how to survive the next heave up.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the facilitator move towards the mic - "Aha! This is it!" my mind shouted in joy; she is going to say, "Relax" and that will be the end of this pose.

But what did I hear? "Keep up!!"

Ahhh, come on ... I can't keep up much longer, I'm dying, you hear me? .... 14 ..... Ahhh, I curse all the frogs and their poses - and come to think of it, I have never seen a frog repeatedly doing this pose - why should humans have to do it?! I thought we were on top of the food chain - why do we have to imitate the lowly amphibians? ... 15 .....

She's moving towards the mic again... this is it, THIS IS IT!!

"Half way there!" she said sweetly. YIPES! I looked around to check on my partner (who looked half my age but was only a decade and half younger - more about that in a minute ... after I die)... he kept on going strong! Everyone kept on going strong - except Yours Singh Truly.

I looked up and I swear I saw an angel laughing his head off at me!! I couldn't believe it - out of the infinite number of caring angels in the heavens, I get Peeves!! For those who don't have children, Peeves is the naughty spirit at Hogwarts. What? You don't know Hogwarts either? Well, that's the school that Harry Potter went to. If you don't know Harry Potter, then you obviously have been spending the last few decades in a cave up in the Himalayas - if so, I have one (long) word for you (after I bow to you)... OOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG!

I stuck out my tongue at Peeves. That made roll over in laughter.

Ok, Ok, I breathed - this too shall be over! And sure soon enough, "Inhale" came the command. "Hold, hold, hold...." OMG, I am dying... "Relax!" I flopped on the floor. Sweat dripped from every pore...and from every pore's pore. I looked at my young partner for some sympathy .... naah wrong place - a wide grin danced across his young face from young ear to young ear (not sure if I mentioned this - he looked half my age but was only a decade and half younger). He looked at me, I immediately smiled and gave him the thumbs-up sign. "Piece of cake, give me more!" I said in the best macho voice I could muster. He smiled sympathetically.

"26 more frogs!" - I couldn't believe it - somebody listening in to my wishes had granted the wrong one at the wrong time!!

2 minutes later, I dropped and flopped again - I had managed only 6 frogs (and a couple of tadpoles). How would I ever survive the day? I asked myself.

Let me just step back and tell you about the beginning of the day. Well, the previous day, this person, who I will call Niraj (although that's not her real name - in fact, her name doesn't even start with a N, it starts with a "R" and "upinder" comes after that. You might ask why use the name "Niraj"? Great question! Well, because she reminds me of this great friend I had during my College days (yes, I did attend College). Actually, I don't want to reveal my College friend's real identity either, so let's just call her Nargis. Mainly because she looked like Nargis, the Bollywood yester-year star. Anyways, Nargis married this great spiritual guy Vijay, who we all called Gandhi, because he reminded everyone of Gandhi...). But that's another ahimsa story...

So "Niraj" had promised to be my partner today. She is this strong, spiritual soul who just draws people to her like a magnet. Not sure why she even bothers with me; but I think I remind her of herself ... before she became spiritual and strong.

Anyway, I got pretty excited about being her partner. I always hoped for a really spiritually strong partner who would give me the strength to go through some of the tough spots. But she met me that morning and announced casually that she had found a new partner ... AND (to put masala to the wound) she had the gall to introduce me to him!!!

Well, he didn't look like much. I counted just three ways it could be argued that he could possibly be better than me – 1) better-looking, 2) physically fitter and 3) more spiritual. Other that, he had nothing on me, nothing! (ok, maybe he was 3 or 4 decades younger too). I told Niraj (in my mind) "Sure go ahead ... you will come crawling back to me when... when... ," I couldn't think of anything, so I stuck out my mind's tongue at her third eye, "whenever!"

Anyway, out of her pitying heart, she found me another partner and introduced me. As it turns out, this guy, Karen (not real name, real gender though - why "Karen" and not some boyish name like .. I dunno ... "Alex", you ask - mainly because he reminded me of this great friend I had in Grad school - ok, ok, not actually in Grad school but how else could I have casually mentioned that I have been to Grad school?).

Karen turned out to be my long-lost brother and who, at the end of the day, kept punching me in the arm like younger brothers do. We became such good buddies, that we giggled literally for hours on end - and he turned out to be one of the highlights of my trip; but that's another gigglish story.

Let's just get back to the exercises. So we start this long 31 minutes exercise - "keep your eyes 9/10th closed, look at the tip of your nose and listen to the mantra." I felt determined to have a spiritual experience. And it did come; almost at the end. I saw this blue light shimmering in front of my eyes. I got really excited and couldn't wait to tell my partner.

His muted reaction seemed a little unenthusiastic. He smiled and asked me what shade of blue I had seen - I described it. He pointed to the yoga mat we were sitting on, "Perhaps this color?"

"Uh.." I said blankly (I'm good at saying "Uh" blankly ... but more about that later). Karen smiled sympathetically.

I couldn't believe it! I had been looking, through my 9/10th closed eyes, at my blue mat! I abruptly got up, mumbling, "bathroom" and went looking for someone to share my experience with. This Karen guy... yeah he may have been my long-lost brother and we may have giggled a lot, but what did he know about spiritual experiences?!! Nothing! I tell you, nothing! He had barely even been born when I had my first one - this time a friend named Mushrooms (real nickname) showed up at my apartment building ("Stoner Manor") with a wicked guitar and some really goooood herbs. But that's another smokey story...

Back to the tantric - so I saw this person sitting there looking miserable, rubbing her shoulders. I thought she is the one I can surely impress with my blue-light experience. I approached her, "Tough day, eh?" She brightened up like a flower, "Not at all - I had the best experience! I saw this Being come and touch the top of my head and I had mega-downloads of wisdom. It felt fantastic. Did you have any experiences?"

"Uh.." I said blankly (I think I mentioned I'm good at blankly saying "Uh").

"Well," I began, "I saw this amazing blue light... totally different from the color of the yoga mat I sat on.."

She raised her eyes skeptically, "Oh?"

I leaned close to her and whispered, "To tell you the truth, my mat is not even blue, it just appears bluish in this light...".

"Ahh, that's wonderful, really. But would you mind NOT stepping on my sheepskin .. it has high vibrations, you know?"

I suddenly had to go the bathroom again; she smiled sympathetically.

Well, lunch time finally rolled around and it was time for ... tantric burgers. And what comes after tantric burgers?

Tantric burger gas!

Karen is an engineer of some kind and he suggested we use the gas for fuel - precisely that moment our giggling started; I suggested it might be better suited for anesthesia.

The good thing about everybody eating the same thing is that you can't really distinguish the gas inevitably produced - so it could be anybody - I kind of depended on this little fact. And I had picked up a really good tip from Niraj/Nargis (yes, the aforementioned partner-dumping one) - that you let out gas right after a long group inhale and just before the mul bandh (those of you who don't know about mul bandh ... well... it's ... kinda like ... lemme get back to you on that one).

Anyway, I used that really great tip during the post-lunch warm ups. And when it came time to inhale again, the coast had, ahem, cleared ... but when I looked up, Peeves lay there pretending to have passed out! While all the other angels gathered around; pointing their astral fingers at me; and shaking their astral heads in a sad sort of way.

Great! Exactly what I need - an astral guilt trip!

~~~~~

The exercise began again and then it happened!

After a 31 minute long exercise of "keeping up" while in excruciating pain, I suddenly stopped experiencing any pain at all; instead I started watching the body experiencing it. I completely became aware of every part of my body and knew exactly which position (spine straight, arms stretched out completely) reduced the discomfort that the body (not I) felt. I stretched up - Karen gave me a short smile - he knew I had caught on.

At the mental level, my mind just zoomed away to wide skies and remote snowed-packed mountain tops. A Sikh master had told me long time ago that when the mind becomes high, it seeks solitude. Solitude away from humans, animals and even the subtle "I am-ness" of vegetation. The mind feels scrubbed clean and it wants to go where the most pure and formless WaheGuru energy can be found.

I knew in that state, I could have an answer to any question I had. I asked the question that had been bothering me a lot lately, about my ego (you may have noticed from my writings that I have a major ego issue).

Up there in the mountains, I had become super-sensitive to my ego. In fact, within a minute, I could detect several ego-loaded thoughts arising within me. They hurt in a heart-shriveling sort of way; shrinking me away from me!

The question I asked was, "How do I kill the ego?"

The answer came: You cannot kill the ego. But you can choose to step out of it. There are only two states your mind can exist in - SatNaam or Ego. When you are in SatNaam, you are not in ego; and vice-versa, when you are in ego, you are not in SatNaam. These two states are mutually exclusive.

I promised that I will be in SatNaam with each breath (and kept the promise for the most part while I was up there).

Then the major one happened!

This is the hardest one to explain and perhaps the least interesting one on paper; but the most profound one for me. It happened during a 62 minute exercise while listening to mool mantra.

Mool mantra, like a Sikh Master once told me, is the most powerful mind-cleansing mantra available. In fact, the master suggested mixing it with the WaheGuru mantra just to ground it. There is a story about Baba Bhouche Vale, a great spiritual Sikh, who only meditated on the mool mantra all his life and had to cover his eyes at all times because they became so intensely powerful that they would set bushes to fire!

I hadn't given that story much thought - until then. In one exercise, I knew the power behind white tantric.

And it is this: after we (with vigorous body and breath exercises) have dislodged the mind from it's perceived "reality"; it becomes rootless; we take that opportunity to make it *listen* to powerful mantras. With the power of the mantras, it is flung back to it's original reality - the one which existed before thoughts invaded it. And it loves it! It is powerful, pure and wonder-filled again.

I saw and felt ... nay, experienced the formless One - WaheGuru - peering out of Karen's eyes. My jaw literally dropped and my eyes opened in wonder! So that's where you are! I said. Not only in Karen's eyes but in all eyes; in all forms of life.

There is no one to fear; because the One in all (including me) was my Beloved One! Loving me, watching me and delighting in every part of my existence (no matter how small and insignificant).

(Guru Amar Daas jee, sggs 440)
O my mind,
you are the embodiment of the Divine Light - recognize your own origin.
the Dear One is with you;
through the Guru's Teachings, enjoy the Dear One's Love.

I smiled through the rest of the exercises and indeed through the rest of my time up there in the mountains.

~~~~~

PS: As an epilogue, after I returned home; I remained relatively joyful. But I did feel some of the joy leaking out slowly. How much it leaked out I felt acutely when I attended a keertan 12 days after I had returned.

During the keertan, I saw that my ego had regained complete control of me. It had slowly (but very very surely) covered me up in it's suffocating "darkness" again. But I am wise (read old) enough to not get too depressed about it - like a writer once wrote,

Be grateful for the gifts you have received, not remorseful for the ones you haven't.

Raam Daas Puri 1

2008-07-07T21:08:00.000-07:00
Semi-fictional account of my first Summer Solstice. Some of the ideas are by my wise-for-her-age 9-year-old daughter RasNaam.

"It hasn't rained here in weeks," lamented the driver, "too hot and dusty!"

I hadn't expected anything less - this was summer in New Mexico after all. We were on the shuttle from the airport. The driver was less interested in driving, more in conversation. Mostly about how much he loved his 6th or 7th daughter from his 3rd or 4th wife. He was a sweet guy but when it comes to drivers, I prefer mine to be safe first; then they can be sweet, talky and impatient.

We stopped at the gas station to get water. I noticed another driver of a parked van listening to music full-blast through his earphones (still the sound made it to me). Boy, I thought, drivers sure are plenty safe here in this land of enchantment.

I was the first out of the store. And I noticed an old woman bent over and moving ever slowing behind the parked van. To my horror I realized the driver was backing up (still listening to music) and hadn't noticed the lady. I shouted out but neither the old lady nor the driver (surprise, surprise) paid me any attention. Without further thought I lurched forward and just managed to push the lady out of harm's way - but couldn't do the same for my own body - the van brushed my left hip. I fell besides the old lady with a cry. The van backed away and went merrily on it's away without a care in the world.

I quickly asked the lady if she was OK - she was. She saw me grimace and quickly put her hand on my left hip and closed her eyes. I might have imagined it but I felt a lot of heat coming from her hand - healing heat. I felt the pain dissipating and within a minute, my hip was almost perfect. She opened her eyes and once again, I might have imagined it (New Mexico Sun can do wonders for budding spiritualists) but I saw a bluish light in her eyes. She said something in her native American Indian language and got up with surprising agility and left me staring after her as she disappeared behind the store.

Our driver meanwhile came to me and asked what I was doing on the ground. I mumbled something - he helped me up (told you he was sweet) and I repeated the lady's mutterings to him. He looked at me curiously and asked me where I had heard it, but he didn't wait for an explanation (told you he was impatient) and said, "May your deepest wish be granted"

"Uh ..." I said blankly (I am quite good at saying "Uh" blankly).

"That's the translation," he explained, "Say, lemme show you the cutest picture of my 6th or 7th daughter from my 3th or 4th wife...."

~~~~~

We reached a long dusty upwards road with "Dangerous Curves" warning signs all over the place. The driver decided this was the perfect time to make up for all the time lost in the store and hit the gas. He also decided one of his hands was enough for the wheel - with the other he pointed out various landmarks to us. Perhaps he envisioned himself a dangerous guide rather than just a mere dangerous driver.

He also explained about the mountain we were climbing, "Our people used to meet here every century as a Nation. Then bad things happened and we stopped. But in our legend, a group of spiritual people wearing white clothes were going to show up and start meeting here regularly - for spiritual well-being of the planet, you know. When such people arrived, our elders gave them this land. And here you are," he laughed loudly, "wearing white!"

Despite the best intentions of our driver, we arrived safely at top of the 7,000 feet mountain and a pretty angel of lady came and greeted us with "Welcome home!"

The air felt was different at home - "permeated with divinity" as someone put it. I walked around seeing the people milling around - laughing and enthusiastic for the coming days. Whenever anyone found out it was my first time here, they said a few words of wisdom and advice. The advice I took to heart was "if there is only one daily program you can attend while you are here, make it Sadhana - the early morning meditation".

Determined, I slipped into my sleeping bag at 9pm, but my body and my mind, perhaps due excitement and tiredness, refused to comply. I lay for minutes; many long minutes ... hours trying every relaxing exercise I knew, but to no avail - at about midnight I decided I wasn't going to make it for the first morning Sadhana after all - I promptly fell asleep.

~~~~~

At exactly 2:30am I heard someone playing music really loud. I groggily got up and peered through my tent window wondering who would be doing this. I saw a rather majestic looking man, with a long beard and beautiful turban singing. There were others around him surrounding my tent (doesn't anybody take their sleep seriously anymore?). The man sang with clear and powerful voice,

Rise up Rise up sweet family dear
a time of the lord and remembering
love is here
love love is all you will say
if you are awake and rise up right away
Lord will bless in so many ways
if you will rise up right now
and sing this praise

The singers moved away and my mind shouted, "Go back to sleep, you can't function on 2 hours of sleep!" My body creaked and complained noisily. But my heart sang loud and clear "RISE UP!" I listened to my heart and jumped out my sleeping bag.

And I am glad I did - the morning air and the full moon created a breathtakingly beautiful scene. After a quick refreshing shower, I headed to the meditation shelter. There were already hundreds of people there.

The Sadhana started and the time passed wonderfully. I felt nourished and filled. The Sadhana music kept filling me more and more until I felt I would burst, and burst I did when a mourn-full voice sang,

ik ardas bhat keerat kee guru raam daas rakho saraniae
Guru Raam Daas, only one prayer I ask of thee - keep me in your sanctuary

My heart spilled over - I covered my head with my shawl and freely wept. Every time the voice sang "Guru Raam Daas" I felt waves of beauty arise out of my depths. It was too much for me and the only way to express this was to cry with joy.

My mind, for once, just stood aside quite befuddled; not knowing how to handle this situation. My heart seized this opportunity and washed me with it's nectar. In a rare instance, I felt that I deserved this love, this joy, this bliss. I realized it was my birthright to receive this love - I had just denied that to myself for a long time.

After the songs ended, I needed solitude. I knew as soon as I started talking, my mind would take control again and would dilute this feeling of depth and wonder - I headed towards the sunrise into the meadows. I sang the Guru's words and experienced an awe of the Guru's word - how can it be so deep, so perfect, so beautiful, so intimate?

The rising sun made the clouds gloriously golden and fresh. I found a nice shady spot and lay on it. As I did so, I felt a slight pain in my left hip and remembered the previous day's events. The magical lady had granted me a wish - I closed my eyes and vibrated, "My deep wish is to see you, Guru Raam Daas!"

Almost immediately, I shot out of my body. I was lunging forward at the perhaps the speed of light. Quite surprisingly it didn't feel strange to be out of my body and moving so fast; rather I felt free and exhilarated in anticipation of the adventure awaiting me.

~~~~~

In the distance, far far distance - perhaps billions of light years away - I saw a golden star shimmering with light and life. I knew this was my destination. I shouted the Guru's words with glee and added my own gibberish and nonsense. The star grew bigger and bigger; and more and more beautiful. My shouting soon stopped in complete awe of the beauty and love emitting out of this heavenly star. I gaped at it - how could such beauty even exist? I wept and sobbed; and like a mad man, kept muttering, "love love love". I knew if someone had asked me to sacrifice my very own self in exchange for a place on this star, I would have gladly done it.

To my disappointment, I slowed as I got closer and soon came to a complete halt. By now, the star filled the see-able Universe. It seemed infinite in all directions. Cool blissful waves of love emitting from it washed through me. I lunged towards it - hoping to touch it even though I knew it was still billions of light years away; yet I couldn't resist the magnetic pull and kept trying.

Finally I gave up and just hovered there waiting for something to happen.

After what appeared to an eon, it dawned on me that perhaps my journey was over. With that thought, I began moving backwards. I shouted out, "No!" and with all my might and concentration vibrated, "Guru Raam Daas!" I immediately halted.

A zooming bright pure white light - perhaps the size of our Sun, detached itself from the illuminating star and moved towards me. Hope buoyed me up again.

Its brightness too vast and penetrating to look directly into, I shielded my eyes as the light came close. I bowed and murmured, "Guru Raam Daas..." because only the Guru could be so beautiful and powerful at the same time. The light laughed mirthfully, "Sorry dude, no Guru! But the Guru's Garbage man ... at your disposal!".

Astonished I looked up. The light shone from a man dressed in all white. Emitting lightening-like brilliance, he shimmered beauty and wonder. If this is how the Guru's servant appeared, I wondered how the Guru would look. After staring at him in wonder for a considerable amount of time, I pointed to the star and asked, "Raam Daas puri?" He looked a bit puzzled. I asked again (or rather I thought because all communication here occurred via thoughts only), "Is that the home of Guru Raam Daas?"

The man laughed heartily. "No, my young friend, that is Guru Raam Daas!"

But of course! Now it made perfect sense. I had expected Guru Raam Daas to be a person, but the pictures I had seen of him were only his earthly form. I witnessed the presence of Guru Raam Daas in the true form! I gaped and gawked. Infinite beauty beyond words the finite mind could conjure filtered through the shambles of my senses flooding me with what can only be called love. Helplessly I repeated over and over "WahGuru WahGuru WahGuru WahGuru WahGuru WahGuru WahGuru..."

The man in white pointed downwards. To my surprise, I saw my body lying in the Sun absorbing rays of light emanating from the Guru. I marveled seeing other millions of beings surrounded and protected by the Guru’s miraculous love and brilliant energy. I bowed prostrating myself before the Guru and the Guru's wondrous ways.

I could have contently stayed there for an eternity but we both knew my time was up. I reluctantly turned to go, but the man in white grinned, and said with a twinkle in his eyes, "Watch this, young traveler ... Ek Ong Kaar!"

The Universe flickered.

Glad that it wasn't over yet, I exclaimed, "Wow! What was that?"

Mirthfully the man in white declared, "Ek!"

I watched as everything - stars, galaxies and space - completely vanished. I blinked and rubbed my eyes to be sure, but nothing at all could be seen. "This is before anything was created; only the Formless One - WaheGuru - existed," I heard the man in white say. Although everything had disappeared, incredible sensations and feelings of pure joy, clear awareness and unexplainable beauty washed through me. The only word that comes remotely close to describing that feeling was love - true, intoxicating, cleansing, beautiful, pure Love. It became clear to me the Formless One is love!

The Man in white uttered, "Ong Kaar."

From the Formless One, an energy tsunami sound wave explosion "Ong" occurred; surging forth the living visible vibration as rippling light and sound - bringing into being all the stars and the galaxies. "This is how it started," the man in white explained.

I wanted to see more - I reverently whispered "Sat!"

A multi-dimensional screen suddenly sprang up and surrounded us. The screen showed images of Earths history going backwards. We saw the Iron Wall falling; then we saw how it had been built. We observed the British leaving India and next their conquering it. This process sped up until we were seeing millenniums passing within micro-seconds. We saw the dinosaurs disappearing and then appearing on Earth. We went back even further until Earth did not exist; further back we saw the "Ong" contracting back into the Formless One and nothing, except the Formless One, existing. The screen blanked out at this point.

The man in white exclaimed brightly, "You ain't seen nothing yet, Sonny!"

Suddenly, the screen erupted again. This time reeling backwards at lightening speed. I could see many great civilizations being built and destroyed in a blink. Then I would see an "Ong" contracting back into the Formless One. The incredibly swift rate at which this occurred made me feel queasy in my astral tummy as we witnessed millions of "Ong"s contracting back into the Formless One in a single millisecond; the velocity ever-quickening. The man in white asked, "Enough?"

I nodded.

But someone didn't think so - the screen erupted again and this time we went into the future. We saw destruction of everything except the Formless One and then "Ong" being emitted again and the creative cycle restarting. This time, thankfully, the screen flickered out after showing just a few incidences which had made it clearly obvious that these cycles occur endlessly, both in the future and past.

The man in white said, "What is common in all this?" Without waiting for an answer, he replied, "Sat. All else comes and goes; but Formless One doesn't go any-where ... any-time."

Completely blown away, I realized the immateriality of my tiny life to be nothing but an invisible speck on the one of an infinite number of life spectrums. To say that I felt insignificant would be the understatement of the last million Ong cycles.

"Naam!" I ventured. We went back to the Formless One state. This time the Ong sound wave exploded out in slow motion. We could see the vibrations of kaar forming infinite little balls comprised of light photons (for a lack of better word). Each light photon itself had several material outer layers of pure physical sound energy covering inner layers of less and less physical; and more and more subtle spiritual energy. At its very core, the immaterial substance of the "material" matter of the Formless blended into One. (I know, I know, it's kind of hard to explain, but using form-full words to explain form-less stuff is tough).

The man in white chuckled deeply, his eyes twinkling like miniature Universes igniting and diminishing as he explained, "This Naam - the "WaheGuru" we say is only the outer part of Naam - with meditation, we go deeper; deeper leaving the "am" of self until we reach the "am" of Formless One. The true purpose of reciting naam is to reach the Formless One!"

"Karta" I whispered. The giant multi-dimensional-screen reappeared. This time it had a simple picture of a single white cell of a Monarch butterfly.

The cell had just being fertilized and it was lying there all small and helpless - suddenly the screen went into a finer, detailed mode. It showed the Formless One, via Naam, actively managing this cell!! I really thought I couldn't possibly go into a deeper awe, but there I was. The great, infinite, powerful-beyond-imagination Formless One was managing a small white cell just as an Empress would manage a great empire!! All microscopic activities within the white cell were being directed by the Formless One; tiny and unique life forms were being created and destroyed to accomplish the given task.

I, of course, had heard that the real doer of everything is WaheGuru, but to see WaheGuru being the real do-er at even the minutest level stunted me into dumb silence. It is not everyday that you realize you have been wrong about everything in your life - I had believed it was I who was in control; it was I who did everything. But in reality, I was nothing, did nothing and could do nothing. I felt small and was overwhelmed so much with helplessness that I started muttering gibberish.

The man in white came close to me and held me in his arms. I felt calm again. The feeling of helplessness slowly lifted and instead I felt completely free. Joyfully free. There was nothing to worry about! There was nothing expected of me! Huge burdens of guilt and unrealistic expectations left me. I felt like a child in a mother's lap. Feeling so free, so beautiful, so alive and so unconditionally loved, tears of gratitude welled up making it impossible not to weep. How could I possibly be loved so much?

"One more,' the man in white said, "Purakh!".

Like when you wear those laser-detecting glasses and suddenly you see lasers all over the place, I saw the formless One permeating everything. There was absolutely no place, no matter how tiny, where WaheGuru was not. I looked at myself and realized that I too was completely permeated with the Formless One. In fact, there was no space left for me to exist!

I looked up in wonder at the man in white and he smiled, "Yes, it is you!" There! Within moments of being completely wrong about everything, I was proven wrong again. Indeed, I was everything! I had done everything and I and the formless One were One - there was no other. There never had been another and there never will be another. The duality had been an illusion - I did not exist - only the Formless One did!

For a few glorious moments, an incredible power drew me in and engulfed me. I lost all feeling of being separated. Whatever I experienced as outside myself seemed actually to be coming from within. No difference existed between me and that which I felt. I melted into love. Love came from my very core. I no longer existed as anything but love. The same Formless One being that I experienced outside, I experienced 'being' from within.

"Our real self is formless," the man in white murmured softly, "but you can't have everybody walking around feeling like this!" He smacked me softly on the head and I became separated again; but I now knew the Truth. Actually I re-knew. I had known this all along but had forgotten. And this time I would not forget, I promised the Guru.

The man in white smiled. I smiled back and laughed. He strongly hugged me and whispering, "Enough of sight-seeing - now go SERVE!" he gave me a gigantic push that sent me hurtling back to my body.

Within moments, I slammed back to my body - the first thing I felt was raindrops on my face - sweet, fresh, earthly raindrops. Just as I slowly got up; relishing the breath flowing in and out of my body; I heard the man in white bellow, "And don't forget to see God in all!"

I got up drunk with joy and eagerly looked around and forward to ... the rest of my human experience.

Goodbyes

2008-06-15T21:07:00.000-07:00
Bhai Sahib Vir Singh jee, perhaps the greatest modern Sikh spiritual writer, once was sent a message from his old college friend who he had lost touch with since college. His friend was in the hospital and asked Bhai Sahib to visit him there urgently. Surprised and also eager to serve, Bhai Sahib promptly went to the hospital. His friend was dying and the doctors had given him a few weeks to live.

His friend was not at all spiritual oriented. Seeing Bhai Sahib he started weeping and said: "I have led a wasteful and useless life. Now death approaches and I am afraid."

Bhai Sahib was very soft hearted (read his books and you will attest to this) and said: "There is always mercy in the Guru's house - start meditating on the Guru's Word - SatNaam WaheGuru".

It is a common saying that a drowning man will hold on to a twig with all his might. So his friend dived deeply into Word meditation. Bhai Sahib came back home and gradually forget about his friend (he was never close to him during college years).

A few weeks later, Bhai Sahib had a dream about his friend. His friend was sitting atop the berry tree at the Golden Temple in Amritsar and was joyfully eating berries. He looked down at Bhai Sahib and said: "Guru Nanak has taken me in. I am free! Here - have a berry...", and threw one at Bhai Sahib. This startled Bhai Sahib jee and he woke up.

Bhai Sahib was a deep researcher into spiritual matters. He realized this was no ordinary dream, therefore he noted down the day and time in his diary - it was 1:16 am. He also resolved to visit his friend that day.

Later that day, Bhai Sahib jee went to the hospital and found his friend's bed empty. Upon inquiry, he was told that his friend died at 1.16 am that morning.

~~~~~

A somewhat similar incident occurred recently. My Uncle passed away last year. He was an extremely spiritual person who spent all his life in meditation, keertan and Guru's service. When my Uncle's body died last year, his soul visited a man in Seattle that he spiritually loved very much. The man personally related this incident to me:

He said he was awoken up at 4am that day. He saw two figures standing near his bed - one close to him and one standing a few feet behind. The one in front was dressed quite royally and was glowing with light. Without a word, the figure gave a smile and a slight bow and vanished. Later that day, he found out about my Uncle's passing at 4am that morning and he realized it was he who had visited him.

A little bit of glimpse into my Uncle's spiritual life:

Once, in the 70s, he decided to recite Jap Ji for 2.5 hours for 40 days. He would do this at night while walking back and forth in his backyard. Quite interestingly (since his house was in the middle of the city) many snakes would suddenly appear in his path, hang around for a minute or so and disappear! He told me it was Maya (I never could figure that one out).

He also had a vision of the Sikh tenth master, Guru Gobind Singh jee, on two occasions. Once he was sitting in sangat (a congregation of people listening to keertan or in meditation) and he saw the tenth master walk up. This was so real that my Uncle stood up. The Guru held up his hand in my Uncle's direction as a way of blessing him. My Uncle bowed and the Guru vanished. Other people wondered why my Uncle was standing and bowing - he realized this and made a excuse of going out for a water break.

Another time, the Guru came to him while he was alone in his room in meditation (probably on one of his 40-day meditations - he was usually in the midst of one of them!). When my Uncle bowed to touch the Guru's feet, the Guru vanished again - my Uncle told me the next time the Guru shows up, he is going to keep one eye on the Guru when he bows!

Beloved

2008-06-07T19:55:00.000-07:00
This story has a special place in my heart - it is based upon a vision of an enlightened soul who I dearly loved.

Now all I do is sit at the window and look toward the road for the message from my beloved...

~~~~~

Any day now the King would be sending for me. I would become his queen. Now that I am ready, the time seems to stretch more and more. Each moment without my Lord is an eternity to me now. Although I do all the chores, my eyes, my ears, my whole being is always at the window looking for the messenger from the Lord, my soon-to-be husband.

I look around the room I am living in. I will miss this place. I have a profound fondness for this place. This place prepared me for my marriage to the Lord. I remember the time when I was living an orphan's life in the village....

~~~~~

It was early morning and I had come out with all the girls to get water from the well. I enjoyed this activity the most. We would laugh and play all along the way. Even though I had no family, the villagers made me part of their lives. Along with the other girls, I too was given the responsibility of getting water to the village in the mornings.

The villagers tried their best to make me feel like one of the family. They would hug and kiss me along with their children but the warmth with which they hugged their own children would cause me to cry silently. But despite those moments of loneliness, I was happy. In fact, everyone lived happily and with peace. Perhaps the main cause of this happiness was our King.

Our King was benevolent and kind. He was generous and just. There was none like him and I was told there never had been or will be one like him. But his quality that shone the most was his love - his love for the people, his love for justice, his love for the world and all its creatures.

I had never seen him, of course. Only his queens could see him. It was a great mystery how these queens were chosen. No one seemed to know how the King would select an ordinary girl and make her a queen. All girls fantasized about being his queen.

Except me.

Looking back, I realize that the thought of me being a queen was beyond my imagination. There were so many beautiful, elegant and cultured girls that the King could choose from. I, on the other hand, was ugly and knew only simple words. To confess, I had several times fantasized about being one of his queens' servant. I imagined myself preparing food for her. Washing her clothes. Washing her feet with my hands. Fanning her on hot days. Living in her will. Looking after all her needs.

~~~~~

We were just a few feet from the well when we heard the sound of horses coming from the side of sunrise. We all looked at the approaching horses and the rider. The rider rode one horse and held the reins of another unmounted horse. The rider wore royal blue clothes and had two swords. We knew this was the King's rider.

My friend nudged me. Her whisper was urgent: "Don't look at the rider! Kneel down!"

I was ignorant of such things. Feeling rather foolish, I knelt down.

The rider came by and stood a few feet away from us, then approached our group.

I felt a tap on on my shoulder. I felt weak - surely I must have done something terribly wrong.

The rider said: "I bow to you. Be joyous, for you will be his queen."

My heart beat so fast that it was a wonder I did not faint.

Me! one of his queens.

Perhaps there had been a mistake. I shyly looked towards the rider and pointing to myself mumbled, "Me?"

The rider smiled, "Yes, you. Say your farewells, we leave soon for the Guru's abode."

Yes, it was true.

Me, an ignorant and dirty village girl, a queen! I felt drunk with joy.

~~~~~

The kind rider helped me on a horse. After a whole day of travel we reached a castle. A woman came out and took me down from my horse. I immediately took to liking her. She hugged me strongly. It was rather strange but this total stranger gave me the kind of hug I had been craving - even more strange was that I felt I had known her for a lifetime.

I thanked the rider and went inside. There were several women there. They were all extra-ordinarily beautiful. Some wore jewelry. The jewels did not resemble any jewels I had seen before. They seemed to be made of light and shone brilliantly. For a few moments I thought I was in the King's palace and these women were his queens.

I knelt down and bowing down I quickly said, "Forgive me, my queens, I know not manners."

There was silence for a moment. Then they all came and hugged me. With fondness, one of them said, "Dear Chhotee, not queens yet."

To date I do not know why she called me Chhotee, but the name felt familiar and I became to be known by that name.

The whole place felt rather warm and homely. It seemed to be permeated with love and life. I felt completely at ease here. Ma (the woman who had taken me off the horse - I didn't know her name, but somehow I started calling her Ma) told me to bathe. And with much fussiness and pampering she dressed me in a white robe. It was evening by then; after feeding me, she tucked me in a fine feather bed.

~~~~~

I was woken up by Ma . It was much before sunrise. Surprised I asked, "Am I going somewhere?" She just smiled and told me to bathe. Reluctantly I obeyed. Then she led me to a room where all the women were sitting and told me to do the same.

As soon as I sat down, I felt like I had never felt before - I felt as if I had grown to the size of the room. I felt I was somehow above my body. I could hear a soft chant of a Word which I had never heard before. This Word was no ordinary word. This Word was wondrous and magical.

Little did I know that this Word would become a dear companion who would never desert me. A Word that would cloth my nakedness forever. That would quench my thirst forever. That would fill my hunger forever. That would never leave my heart. That would play with me like a childhood friend. That would make the whole world my friend. That would make me sing with bliss. That would make me cry with joy. That would make me rich beyond all dreams. That would show me my dazzling, wonder-filled self.

That Word was "WaheGuru".

The time passed wonderfully and before I knew it, it was dawn. Then one of the women started reciting a verse. It was rather strange, because I did not know this language yet I completely understood what they were saying. It was praises of the King, his love, his greatness, his aliveness and his youthfulness.

Afterwards, we all ate. Ma took me aside and explained to me a few things, "You are indeed blessed, because you will be his queen one day. You are here for you must prepare yourself for him."

That was all. Quite surprised, for I had a million questions, I silently nodded. She understood my baffled look. All she said was, "Everything with due time."

As I was soon to discover, the women didn't talk much. Only the most necessary words were spoken. The Word "WaheGuru" was freely and openly spoken though. I too couldn't help but say the Word over and over again. The most amazing thing was that I didn't know what this Word meant, yet after a few days, I could not help but say it with my tongue, my mind and my heart. Even during sleep, I dreamt about it. It would start spontaneously in my heart the moment I woke up and no matter what I did, it continued all day. I simply could not understand it! I tried several times to ask the women, but all I got was smiles, hugs and an occasional, "Be patient now, Chhotee."

One day, Ma and I went out to get water. This was the first time we were alone since I had come here and I was determined to ask her about the Word.

As soon we were out of earshot, I immediately began: "Ma, pray, tell me one thing."

"WaheGuru?"

I nodded. Silently Ma took me to the edge of the well. She pointed to the water.

"What is that?" she asked.

I replied, "Water."

She said, "How do we get to the water?"

I thought awhile and said, "With the rope, of course... please ... Ma tell me about..."

She interrupted me, "My dear Chhotee, there is nectar inside your heart. Only when you are cleansed with it can you become a queen."

She continued after a pause, "Just like we need a rope to get to the water, similarly we need the Word to get to the nectar in our heart."

After that, she firmly motioned me not to talk anymore. Although, I didn't really understand her--I was after all a simpleton from the village--her words calmed me down and I resigned to patience.

~~~~~

Life here was simple and beautiful. I would wake up shortly after midnight. I would sit with the women and listen to the Word ring within me. At dawn, verses, which I too had memorized, were recited. Sometimes we would all sing. I looked forward most to the singing. During singing even I felt like one of the women. During singing we all--beautiful, ugly, jeweled and simple--became one throat, one mouth, one body, one being.

At the far side of the castle there was a special room. That was the Guru's room. Only few of the women would go there. These usually were the most beautiful ones. I never had any hopes to go there for I was not beautiful.

But despite my ugliness, I desired and longed to go there. I saw the happiness in the faces of the ones who were chosen to serve the Guru. Upon return, their eyes would be drunk with love and their faces would glow with bliss. They would walk without touching the floor.

But I knew I had no chance of ever seeing the Guru. Just being in the company of beautiful beings did not make one beautiful. Or so I thought....

One day, I especially longed to see the Guru. I had heard so much about the Guru's love and glow that I thought surely I would die without seeing the Guru. For the first time since I came here I felt unhappy, for I saw no hope for me ever serving the Guru. I was the ugliest one here. I was sitting feeling rather dejected in my room when Ma came in.

She laughed and said, "What's the matter, Chhotee?"

I could not conceal my desperation. Tears welled up in my eyes. "I want to see the Guru...," I blurted between tears, "but I am ugly and ...." Tears wouldn't let me finish my sentence.

She softly wiped my tears and motioned me to be quiet. She went and came back with a mirror (a rare commodity in the castle).

"Here, look at yourself in the mirror."

Still crying, I put the mirror in front of my face. To my utter astonishment I saw a most beautiful person in the mirror.

"I...?"

Ma smiled, "That is you!"

I looked and looked. Gone were the deformities. I was transfixed with my own beauty. I could not believe it was me. My eyes were as bright as the morning sun. My face shone like the moon.

To my even greater surprise, I wore jewels. Before I could ask, Ma said, "The jewels were always within you. The jewels show in the one who travels on the path of the Guru."

For the first time, I clearly understood the importance of that place. It had transformed a foolish, ill-mannered village girl into an enchanting angel.

~~~~~

Now I suddenly found myself changing from the inside too. Although I had noticed a change inside me a long time ago - I was much calmer and more patient than before. Now rather big changes started to take place. Whereas before I looked forward to being with the women to go out for walks and laughs, now I looked forward to being alone and looking at the wonders inside me. The colors inside me were so intense that I could look at them for eternity without my fill.

Then the blessed day came when Ma told me that I would be the one to serve the Guru with food the next day. Heart flooded with emotions, I could not sleep that night. There was fear too, since despite the wonderful things I had learnt here, I was still a simpleton at heart and knew no sweet words. I spent the whole night wondering how it would be to see the Guru.

But I could never have imagined how wonderful the next day would be...

When the blessed time came, Ma handed me the food plate. My hands shook, rattling the plate; and my heart pounded, making me shiver. Ma held my hand and calmed me with her looks.

I looked at Ma with uncertainty. "Now go," she said firmly.

For what seemed an eternity, I walked to the other side of the castle. The door of the Guru's room was open. As I approached the door I heard the most melodious music. It was like no music I had ever heard. It wasn't coming from any particular direction. To my surprise it was coming from within me. For a long time I stood there quite dumbfounded with utter astonishment. Only with a great amount of will did I break from the spell.

"How foolish I am, the food is getting cold!" I scolded myself.

I walked into the Guru's room.

I thought I had seen a lot of beautiful things outside me and within me. But I wasn't prepared for the Guru. Such beauty. Such grace. Such elegance. Such kindness. Such light. Such life. Such royalty. Such compassion. Such wonder. Such intensity. Such love. Such love. Such love...

It would not be right to say that I saw the Guru, rather I basked in the Guru's being. I danced in the Guru's being. I swam in the Guru's being. I overflowed with the Guru's being.

With much difficulty I put the food plate in front of the Guru. Despite my self, I collapsed at the Guru's feet and openly sobbed.

No! the Guru could not possibly love me so much.

No! I was not worth this grace.

No! I was dirty, I did not belong here.

No! the Guru could not love me so much.

No! so much love could not exist.

My heart could not contain the love that was pouring out of the Guru's feet. My body shook violently with sobs. I could not stand the feeling and I pleaded with the Guru, "Please, no ... not so much. I cannot bear it, please, I am not worthy," I cried out.

The Guru's kind hands touched my head. With the touch of the Guru's hand, I expanded beyond the room. The love from the hands filled me and kept on filling me. I kept expanding until I occupied many earths and many moons and many suns. Still the love kept filling me. I could get no bigger and I begged the Guru to stop the pouring of love.

My plea was heard. I stopped sobbing. I felt complete.

It could have been a moment or it could have been an eternity - I lay on the Guru's feet feeling fulfilled, warm, loved and at peace. It was as if I was home. It was as if I had found something I had been looking for many days, many months, many years, many eons, many lives. It was as if I finally found my center, my being, my beginning, my end, my life, my light, my love, my existence.

The Guru lifted my head. I quickly averted my eyes. I knew I had not enough strength to look at the Guru's face. Thousands of years of preparations could not have prepared me to look into the Guru's eyes. The Guru whispered, "WaheGuru."

The nectar Ma had told me about suddenly overflowed out of my heart. It filled my throat, it filled my eyes, it filled my head, it filled my whole being - my body, my mind, my soul. I shut my eyes and I saw the Guru inside my heart. I saw the Guru everywhere within me. I saw the Guru filling the whole room, the whole of the Earth, the whole of the universe. I was wonder-struck.

~~~~~

Then the gracious, kind, elegant, beautiful, fatherly, motherly Guru guided me to the source of all love. It was none other than the King. He was mine now. He was my Lord. He was my beloved.

Strangely I felt such love for him that in my heart of hearts I was already his and he was mine.

I rejoiced. He was mine and I his.
I sang. He was mine and I his.
I laughed. He was mine and I his.
I danced. He was mine and I his.
I loved. He was mine and I his.
I flew. He was mine and I his.

Finally! I belonged to someone. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his. I was his...

My training at the Guru's abode was complete. All that was left was to wait for my lord's messenger of love.

~~~~~

Now all I do is sit at the window and look toward the road for the message from my beloved...

ps: the vision of the enlightened soul I mentioned at the beginning of the story continued to an actual union with the Lord. But some things cannot be captured in words so I stop here...

Dhanna

2008-05-30T21:36:00.000-07:00
Dhanna was a simple hearted farmer.

One day, Dhanna was passing a pundit's house who was "feeding" a stone idol. Dhanna was quite perplexed by this. So Dhanna asked the pundit about it. The pundit was kind of hungry and wanted to get this feeding over as soon as possible and really wasn't in a mood for Dhanna's simple inquiries.

He replied, "Oh, nothing, just feeding God. Now if you will excuse me..."

"Really?! What does God give you if you feed it?"

Pundit: "Everything. Now, I really must ask you to leave..."

Dhanna liked this idea of giving a little food and getting back everything! So Dhanna asked the pundit if he could also have a God to feed.

At this time, the pundit's stomach was audibly complaining about lack of food. So he hastily picked up the nearest stone off the ground and said, "Here! First feed it, then you eat. Goodbye!"

Saying that the pundit dived into the food left over by God. Dhanna held the stone closely and hurried home.

As soon as Dhanna got home, Dhanna cooked the best meal he could for God. He placed it in front of the stone and said, "Here God, please eat. Afterwards, I want to discuss many things with you. I need a new cow for example, but for now, please eat."

Saying that Dhanna sat in front of God and waited. And waited. And waited.

After a while, Dhanna said, "Look God, I really have no time for your silence. Come and eat at once! I have many chores to do."

After several hours, Dhanna was thinking that perhaps God was annoyed at him. So Dhanna tried to persuade God to forgive him: "Look here God, I haven't eaten in a while. Now it is entirely possible that I have done something to annoy you but believe you me, we can discuss this much better after we have some food is in our stomachs."

Slowly the night deepened. Dhanna said, "Look God, I have one nerve left and you are dancing on it. Either eat your food or I will....", Dhanna couldn't really think of anything so he just stomped his foot in anger.

Pretty soon, it became daylight. Now Dhanna was quite disoriented. Sometimes Dhanna would curse God, sometimes Dhanna would hug God and sometimes Dhanna would cry.

Two long and hungry nights passed in this manner. Then at early morning on the third day, when Dhanna was too weak to curse any more, WaheGuru decided to do the thing WaheGuru does best - play.

WaheGuru appeared inside the stone. It was the most beautiful human body that Dhanna had ever seen - it seemed to glow with light and life. Dhanna forgot all his fatigue and anger and hunger; and just gaped at WaheGuru.

WaheGuru stepped out of the stone and said, "Dhanna, sorry, I am late - had to deal with a couple of universe creations - but would you be kind enough to warm up the food."

Dhanna, keeping one eye on WaheGuru, warmed up the food and presented it to WaheGuru. WaheGuru joyfully ate and fed Dhanna too.

It was daylight by then. Dhanna said, "Look God, I am tired - I haven't slept for 2 nights - and all I can think of is bed. You, on the other hand, haven't done much. How exhausting is sitting in that stone anyways? So if you don't mind, would you feed the cows while I take a short nap?"

When Dhanna woke up, WaheGuru had finished all the farm chores and prepared a delicious yogurt drink for Dhanna. Dhanna drank and said, "You know God, you are just too good. I don't know why but I feel so close to you. You feel like my best friend. In fact, you feel like ... me! Now lets go and work on the farm."

Saying that, Dhanna put his arms around WaheGuru and went to the farm.

Dhanna fell head over heels in love with WaheGuru. He couldn't resist being with WaheGuru. They spent the next few days literally arm in arm. Even at night, Dhanna would hold WaheGuru's hand and listen to WaheGuru's songs - WaheGuru sang a lot - and would drift off to sleep.

A week later, the pundit was passing Dhanna's hut. Dhanna saw him and ran to him and said, "Oh, you wonderful man, thank you so much for that God..."

Pundit, "What??? Oh, yeah, sure, anytime. Look, I am in a hurry. I am going to the conference KPPARR (Keeping Poor Poor And Rich Rich)."

Dhanna: "But please come and drink some yogurt-drink. God makes the best yogurt-drink."

Pundit: "What now? God makes something?"

Dhanna: "Oh, the best stuff. Just look at God - how beautiful!"

Pundit looked and indeed someone was pushing the cows on the farm. And yet there was nobody to be seen.

Pundit: "Who is that?"

Dhanna: "Why, that is God, of course. Oh, you should hear God sing..."

Pundit was quited intrigued by now. And repeatedly asked Dhanna about this strange phenomena. After a while Dhanna realized that Pundit could not see God. Dhanna promised that he would talk to God about this.

After the pundit left, Dhanna went to WaheGuru and said, "God, how come pundit can't see you?"

WaheGuru: "Oh ... mainly because he really doesn't want to see me. He is more interested in my maid - Maya."

Dhanna: "But I don't understand. How can one see you?"

WaheGuru: "One has to become pure. And in this age, Dhanna, the easiest way to become pure is by reciting the True Word."

Dhanna: "True Word?"

WaheGuru: "Yes, Sat Naam - Sat Naam is the magic of this age. Even a little bit of it will open your eye that is needed to see me."

Dhanna: "But, I haven't recited Sat Naam. How come I can see you?"

WaheGuru touched Dhanna's forehead - Dhanna went inside. Inside he saw that he, Dhanna, had done heavy religious efforts for over 100 lifetimes. He had stood in water all night and in the hot sun all day for many lifetimes. He had hung upside down for several others. He had been a celibate in one lifetime and a moni (ones who don't talk) in another. But he had progressed spiritually very little.

Then in his previous life, he had met an adept guru who had shown him how to recite Sat Naam. And by reciting Sat Naam for just one lifetime, Dhanna had become pure.

Dhanna fell at WaheGuru's feet and cried, "Please forgive this fool, I treated you as an equal..."

WaheGuru picked him and held him close, singing songs of comfort, "Dhanna, now the time is right for me to leave. The way you see me now is the superficial way of meeting me. The real way is inside. Now you must start Sat Naam again and then I will meet you inside."

Saying that WaheGuru vanished into thin air. Dhanna was enlightened now, else he would cursed WaheGuru. Immediately he started Sat Naam with each breath.

Within days, Dhanna met WaheGuru in WaheGuru's real form - the formless one - inside.

Lions

2008-05-23T21:20:00.000-07:00
SukhChan Singh (from Nanaksar) personally related this true story to me...

It was during the anti-Sikh riots. I was at that time living in the Gurudwara (Sikh place of worship). There were 7 other people living there besides me. Trouble started brewing early in the morning. We noticed about 50 young men gathering outside a few hundred metres away from the Gurudwara. We didn't really pay too much attention to them.

By noon, the group had turned into a rowdy crowd of about 300. We became quite concerned at that point. Our telephone wires had been cut, so there really was not much we could do. But we were still in high spirits.

At about 3 pm, a truck driven by a Sikh was driving along when the crowd attacked it. The Sikh gave up the truck and ran to the Gurudwara. Some of the goons overtook him and injured him but he was a strong guy and managed to escape. Still, he was quite bloody when he came in. That increased our number to 9. The number outside had increased to about 500 by evening. They were very loud and obnoxious by now.

We tried to ignore them and began our evening program at 6 pm. But as the darkness approached, the rabble become more and more bold. In fact, soon they started stoning the gurdwara. We stopped the evening program and placed all the Guru Granth Sahibs in the safest place possible.

At 7.30 pm it was very dark and the rabble became so bold that they put fire to the gurdwara's gate. It hit us then how serious the situation was - we soon would be killed!

Our group leader (the Jathedaar) gathered us and said, "We have faced worse situations then this - we have gone through two holocausts but we live and will live in freedom forever! We have never given up and will never give up. The enemy stands outside - there are 500 hundred, we are 9 but remember Guru Gobind Singh jee (the Sikh 10th spiritual master) has made each of us equivalent to 125,000! Get prepared to fight!"

He said this in such high spirits that our body hair stood on their ends. Even though I had been seriously ill for the past 3 months, I too was ready to fight. He then told us that we must make two groups. The first group of five will go out first and fight the enemy. The the rest (4) can go later. Everybody agreed - he then chose 4 other men. I was not chosen, most probably due to my illness.

The five put on the martial uniform of the Sikhs. Then the Jathedar did prayer to Guru Gobind Singh jee saying, "Dear father, we are coming to your land. Please prepare for us!"

Then the five then took out their swords and with the Sikh war cry
BOLE SO NEHAAL! SAT SRI AKAL!
BOLE SO NEHAAL! SAT SRI AKAL!
(the one who utters "Sat Sri Akal" (timeless Truth) becomes blissful)
filling the air, came out the face the enemy. You will not believe what happened then. Seeing 5 Sikhs in the uniform of Guru Gobind Singh jee, the rabble of 500 ran away!

It was as if 5 lions were chasing 500 hyenas away!

WahDuu!

2008-05-23T21:17:00.000-07:00
Translated from "Se Keneha" by Bhai Seva Singh

Once a lady came to Baba Harnaam Singh jee and said, "Baba jee, I have a brother who is physically and mentally disabled. He can neither hear or speak. He also has a difficult time walking. I used to take care of him but now I am married and must leave him behind. But I am afraid no one will take care of him after my departure. After much thought I have come to you, Baba jee, please take care of him. He is a simpleton and needs love and patience."

Baba Harnaam Singh jee was the personification of love and patience. He was a simple, beautiful Sikh who lived a life according to the Guru's will. He smiled and said, "Daughter, this is Guru Nanak's house. The Guru is the support of the support-less. Please bring your brother, the Guru will look after him."

The lady thanked him and next day, brought her brother to Baba jee. Her brother who was referred to as "Sadhu" was indeed a simpleton. His legs were quite bent which made his walk quite difficult and somewhat comical. Only with much difficult could he listen or speak. He also looked hungry, so Baba jee straight away sent him to the kitchen. After sometime the people from the kitchen came running to Baba jee and said that Sadhu has already eaten eight chapatis and wants more. "We are afraid he might get sick," they said. Baba jee laughed and said, "Let him eat his fill. Only the Guru's house can satiate the body and the soul."

Sadhu ate twelve chapatis before raising his arms in surrender and happiness.

Baba jee called him and said loudly in his ears, "WAHEGURU WAHEGURU!!"

Sadhu, after some difficult, started saying, "WahDuu WahDuu."

Baba jee was extremely happy and gave him a rosary and showed Sadhu how to use it. Sadhu took the rosary and started saying "WahDuu". At morning and evening time, Baba jee would call Sadhu to come and join him during singing and meditation. Sadhu also started to work in the farm. And would he always keep on saying "WahDuu WahDuu."

After three months, with the power of the mantra he became quite well both physically and mentally. He started walking much better and also could hear better. He now started saying "WaheGuru WaheGuru" correctly. He would never miss morning meditation and singing even though he did not understand anything.

After six months, Sadhu became quite normal. He could walk quite well. He took on several easy responsibilities in the kitchen. After a year or so, he became a baptized Sikh - he was renamed Sadhu Singh.

After that, many changes started taking place in Sadhu Singh. He would always say "WaheGuru". Even during sleep several people heard him say, "WaheGuru WaheGuru." In fact, Baba jee too once came to see him during sleep. After hearing this he was very pleased and remarked that "The guru has done grace on Sadhu Singh because he says "WaheGuru" all the time and does so much selfless service of others. In addition, he does not care for any fruit to bear from either of his actions. Indeed he does not even know the deeper meanings of Word-meditation and why it should be done - he simply does it with 100% of his mind and body. Also he neither hears anybody's slander nor does it. He is simple-hearted, therefore this spiritual miracle has happened."

Even more subtle spiritual things happened on Sadhu Singh. He started hearing un-struck sounds within him. Since he was still very much a simpleton at heart, he didn't really understand what the sound was and would often climb on the roof to see where this sound was coming from! He would also often complain, "Someone is playing music all the time and someone is singing "WaheGuru" - I can't even sleep because of this!" Then he would be very puzzled when other people told him that they couldn't hear any sounds.

Sadhu Singh became quite famous. A lot of people started believing that Sadhu Singh's words became true. And they would try to please him with clothes and food. His brother from Ludhiana, Punjab started visiting him regularly. One day his brother decided to take Sadhu Singh to Ludhiana.

Disaster struck! Sadhu Singh's brother had a television (this was a rarity in those days). Sadhu Singh, being a simpleton, immediately became engrossed with it. He spent a week in Ludhiana and he watched the television from start to end.

When Sadhu Singh came back, he was a different man. Although he still carried the rosary around and did "WaheGuru WaheGuru", his mind was engrossed with the scenes he had seen on television. In fact, he would tell anybody and everybody about it. He would say, "On the trolley (he called television "trolley"), there are mountains, women dancing, farms, even holy temples. People fight and die on trolley." Everyone was quite amused at first but then it became a serious problem since Sadhu Singh replaced praises of WaheGuru with praises of trolley! Baba Harnaam Singh jee too scolded him and told him to stop talking about television. Sadhu Singh nodded but still went on singing the trolley's praises. This lasted about two months. After that Sadhu Singh somewhat returned to his old self, but his spirituality diminished drastically. Although he didn't talk about the trolley that much, he was constantly thinking of it.

Then his spirituality was struck a fatal blow - his sister took him with her to Delhi. Sadhu Singh stayed with her for one full month and watched television to his heart's content. He became a total devotee of television.

Sadhu Singh became so engrossed with television that even when he came back to live with Baba jee he would still go to a nearby house at evening time to watch television. He no longer heard any un-struck. His Word-meditation too became a mere mouth function.

Songbird

2008-04-25T12:27:00.001-07:00
Taan Sain was the best musician in Emperor Akbar's court. Each evening he would sing for the Emperor. The Emperor was a lover of the arts and would greatly appreciate the musician. He would shower many gifts and praises onto the musician.

One evening, after a particularly beautiful performance by the musician, the Emperor called Taan Sain to his palace and said, "Today you overwhelmed me. While I was listening to your song, a thought occurred to me that you are the best musician on this Earth. But as soon as that thought had trespassed my mind, I thought about the teacher who taught you - that teacher must be great too. That's the reason I asked for you. Pray tell me, how can we arrange for your teacher to come to this court to perform for the kingdom."

Taan Sain smiled and said, "Sire, my teacher is full of wonders. But I know him enough to tell you that he will not come to this court."

"Of course we will pay quite handsomely..."

"With due respect, Sire, no amount of money will bring my teacher to your court."

This greatly intrigued the Emperor, "Surely there is a way that I could listen to your teacher sing. If he will not come here, perhaps we can go to him."

Taan Sain again smiled, "Sire, my teacher is carefree and he might not like us going to him."

"But surely my good man, there must be a way."

Taan Sain thought a while and said, "Well, there is one way. My teacher usually sings in the early mornings by the Ganga River. If your majesty insists, then we must be discreet and hide nearby and listen to him at that time."

The Emperor was a spiritual man and he did wake up at early hours of the morning anyway, so he arranged for them to be taken to a place where Taan Sain's teacher bathed and sang. Both the Emperor and Taan Sain reached the river bank at midnight and hid in nearby bushes. Shortly afterwards, as was the daily routine of Taan Sain's teacher, he came to the river, bathed and sat on the river bank and sang.

His song was so great that it completely mesmerized the Emperor. The Emperor could not speak or move, and just sat like a stone idol for entire time the teacher sang. Even after the teacher had left, the Emperor had to be nudged by Taan Sain. The Emperor half-dreamily walked back to the carriage which had brought them there and remained in this state for the whole ride back and indeed, the whole day.

That evening the Emperor summoned Taan Sain to his palace and said, "Taan Sain, your teacher is wonder itself. I am very, very curious at one thing. I love your singing but if you wouldn't mind, I would request you answer one question."

"Sire, please ask this servant any question."

"With much due respect, I used to think that you were the best musician on this Earth, but your teacher far, far suppresses you. Indeed your song is like a rose in a vase, but your teacher's song is like ... fresh and fragrant roses dancing in the wind."

The Emperor continued, "I do not wish to offend you in any way, but please tell me how is it possible that your teacher's talent is eons deeper than yours?"

Taan Sain laughed and said, "With due respect Sire, I perform for you; my teacher performs for the One Being that pervades all."

Devotion

2008-04-25T12:24:00.000-07:00
Mukhi was the head organizer in the ashram of the old master. He was largely responsible for running the day-to-day ashram business. He and the master loved each other immensely. There was little doubt that once the master transitioned into the beyond, Mukhi would take over the duties of the ashram.

Each night, Mukhi would massage the master's feet. It would also be the time for Mukhi to ask about spiritual matters. The master spent the day in meditation and normally was not available for any questions. But at night, when everything was calm, the master was more susceptible to inquiring spiritual minds.

However one particular night, Mukhi's question was not quite spiritual, "Master, who is your greatest disciple?" he asked. There was no doubt in his mind that it was Mukhi who the master would pick

A small hint of smile caressed the master's lips. It seemed like he was expecting this question from Mukhi. After pausing for a minute he said, "I would have a hard time deciding about that, but Mohna comes to mind."

Mukhi's heart froze.

Usually when the master answered Mukhi's question, Mukhi would not ask anything back; rather, he would ponder over it on for a day or two and then ask further questions. But today Mukhi's heart was trembling and he couldn't think straight.

So he blurted out, "Why?"

The master smiled, "That you have to see for yourself." This was said in a tone which clearly marked the end of the conversation.

That night was a difficult one for Mukhi. There was no doubt that Mohna was a good and decent person - he would come to the ashram once in a while and sometimes sit in meditation - but him the greatest disciple?!! In fact, Mukhi remembered several times when Mohna had not attended the main meditation session they held monthly.

Mohna lived about two hours walking distance from the master's abode. Mukhi decided to visit him the very next day. Mohna was overjoyed to see him. When Mukhi informed him that he planned to stay there for a few days, Mohna was overwhelmed and with tears, thanked him profusely.

In the following days, Mukhi kept a sharp eye on Mohna's daily routines. Quite surprisingly, Mohna did not wake up until 6 am. And even more shockingly, Mohna sat down for meditation for only 5 minutes before setting off to his farm. Mohna spent the day at the farm and at night, after dinner he did 5 minutes of meditation before dozing off.

After observing Mohna's schedule for a few days, Mukhi was quited baffled. He did not see a single spiritual thing that Mohna did that made him worthy of being the master's greatest disciple.

What Mukhi noticed was that Mohna was an extremely busy person. He worked very hard on the farm and was exhausted when he got home. He was so tired that he had trouble just staying up for supper. During meditation too, Mukhi saw him dozing off on several occasions. Mukhi repeatedly asked Mohna if indeed this was his daily routine; to which Mohna replied, "It gets even busier in the Summer."

After a few days, Mukhi, greatly perplexed, made his way back to the master. At the first chance he got, he blurted out, "Why is Mohna the greatest disciple? He spends all his day on the farm. In fact, he only meditates for 10 minutes everyday!"

"Only 10 minutes", Mukhi emphasized.

The master smiled and asked Mukhi, "And how much spare time does Mohna have?"

It was then that it all dawned onto Mukhi's mind.
"10 minutes," he dreamily replied.

Essence 10 - Departure

2008-04-20T17:03:00.000-07:00
Something inside has changed. There is a feeling inside. I’m not sure why I feel like weeping so much. Everything is here. We get up everyday, do meditation. Life is full. My heart is full; so full it is spilling over again and I can’t stop the tears from flowing.

I spent the afternoon with Sat Kartar Singh, he is moving to another country. He has duties to serve others in the world. I never really realized how important he was. He was so humble and treated us just like his own, always kept us close. It turns out that he is one of the most highly respected spiritual teachers alive at this time. I didn’t find that out from him, rather some very self-important fellows who came to collect him. He cleaned their shoes, when they were busy with arrangements.

When he said goodbye, I clung to him like a child, wrapping myself into his hug and weeping. He squeezed me hard and whispered, “SatNaam - your essence is Truth!”

It was as if he had squeezed the false self out of me – I realized the farmer who I and everybody knew as me was just a temporary covering over me. I had had many temporary coverings before – queen, thief and countless others. The current covering of the farmer was going to go away one day, but I wasn’t. I, the real me, was ageless – the farmer was surely going to die but I wasn’t!

He let go of me and I stared at him breathlessly. I silently bowed my head to him. He smiled and said, “The Guru’s Word, my friend, the Guru’s Word is the magic!”

As he was walking away and was almost out of sight, he turned around and pointed to me. I shook my head because I did not understand; he shouted “Eyes – look in your eyes.”

I ran inside and looked in the mirror – my eyes, they were awake!

Essence 9 – Guru’s Path

2008-04-20T17:02:00.000-07:00
The thing is since that time I have undergone so many changes. Nothing has been easy, everything has been very difficult, and sometimes a real struggle. Some of my closest former friends are shunning me. I know it is not because they do not love me. They are uncomfortable, and so am I. But my farmer comes in from the fields happy now. He looks at me and says, “I feel so alive.” He tells me I am beautiful and the daughter of the Guru. The Sikhs give me so much love and treat me as their sister. But inside I feel so unworthy of their love.

It is a struggle to wake up and do meditation. Sometimes we are so sleepy, we want to go for the bed, but we look at each other and remember how it was before, that is enough to wake us up again. I envy those born to this path, so pure and innocent; they don’t feel the traces of dirt.

~~~~~

I put the papers down, and woke my wife, I pulled her into my arms, and looked in to her eyes, and there was beauty there that I had never noticed before.

“I didn’t know, you should have told me.” I said, “I have been so selfish, thinking everything was about me all this time. I thought you just did this for me. Forgive me."

We both started weeping in to each others arms. “It will be ok, we’ll get through this with SatNaam WaheGuru.” Then we were weeping and laughing together.

The children came in and found us. They just looked at us like we were crazy, “What’s for dinner?” the little one piped.

…next part

Essence 8 – Guru’s Word

2008-04-20T17:01:00.000-07:00
Later Bibi ji came to take me to the kitchen. I asked her “How does one become a Sikh?” She said “They must imbue themselves with the Guru’s Word.” There was so much to learn. But I was so thirsty to hear everything. I can’t explain even now, to myself what was happening to me. It was so bewildering. I just knew I did not want to leave Bibi ji’s side.

She said “Let’s go and sing.” She sang for one hour, the same line over and over,

The Guru’s Word is drenched with Ambrosial Nectar (sggs 449 Guru Raam Das)

She was weeping. I was weeping. A beautiful young girl wiped the tears from her face as she sang. I wondered where Bibi ji’s children and husband were. It was obvious to me that she was in some sort of deep mourning. I thought she must have lost a child. I learned later that this mourning was called “vairaag” by the Sikhs. It meant deep and urgent longing for the Guru. I felt so much love for her.

That evening when we went for sleep, I asked her if she would wake me too in the morning. She agreed, then disappeared beneath her shawl.

Early next morning, I was sleeping face down, I heard “SatNaam WaheGuru.” Just as I turned, she touched me, and I gasped. An electrical current shot though my body shocking me. “Are you ok?” she asked. I replied only that I had been startled. How could I explain?

Beside her I felt utterly filthy, to my soul. I started weeping, I couldn’t stop myself, “Not even the Guru’s Word can ever clean me,” I sobbed. She put her arms around me, lovingly and said, “No, my precious child, the Guru can wash you clean in an instant.”

Later, we went to join the others. We heard “SatNaam WaheGuru” over and over again. Everyone together, in once voice was calling “WaheGuru”; it was very comforting.

When I met my husband again, I said, “I want to become the Guru’s.” He looked deeply into my eyes and smiled. It felt as though he touched my soul.

…next part

Essence 7 – Her Story

2008-04-20T17:00:00.000-07:00
We attended several more singing sessions – each one was more beautiful than the last.

One day, I came in from the fields and found my wife sleeping, her head was down on the table, and there were some papers in her hand. Without disturbing her I gently removed them and read what she had written.

She wrote,

Everything has been changing so suddenly, I don’t know who to tell, there is no one to tell, but I must tell someone, so I am just writing this to myself to try to organize my thoughts, to try to find some sense, to all the changes, recently in my life.

My husband had been acting so strangely, weeping and talking about sleep and death. Then he met this unusual man, Sat Kartar Singh. This man is a Sikh. He wears a beard, and has uncut hair which he keeps bound in a turban. After this meeting my husband was much calmer, less disturbed, and happy even, but still nothing has ever been normal again in the usual sense.

We went for Sat Kartar Singh’s home. The music was very beautiful. It wrenched my heart, and made me want to weep, I didn’t say anything, because I felt so strange, and the children’s father seemed so happy I didn’t want to break the spell.

A few days ago, we went to a Sikh gathering and it had the most unusual effect on me. It is hard to describe, but I must try. It has changed my whole life...

I met a very unusual woman there. She was a Sikh. I think she was the most beautiful woman I have ever met in my life. Her face was radiant and glowed with such light. Her eyes had such depth, when I looked into them it was as though the universe opened up its mysteries to me.

This woman, Bibi ji, was unlike other woman. She sat quietly and greeted me quietly and softly. From the very first I was drawn to her. So many were staying at that gathering, she asked me to come and sleep with her and the other ladies. My husband joined the men, and children went off with others their own age.

Bibi ji slept completely covered with a black shawl. Or I was never sure that she was sleeping, she was so still. I found myself yearning to be like her. Like the Sikh men, she also kept her hair bound in a turban. I thought of all the women in my village, with their jewelry, makeup lipstick, and nail polish, none were as beautiful as Bibi ji. She had only 2 changes of clothes, very simple, one blue, and one white, and the ever present black shawl.

In the morning everyone began getting up very early, I heard strange sounds, as though there were many lovers, I was frightened and covered my face with my blanket. I slept very late. No one disturbed me.

…next part

Essence 6 - Songs

2008-04-20T16:59:00.000-07:00
At last, came the day when I would again meet with Sat Kartar Singh. Carefully we prepared, bathing and dressing in our finest clothes, we approached his house. He greeted us and motioned us to sit close to the people performing the singing. Looking around I noticed right away, that the others dressed very simply.

Sat Kartar Singh sat in front of the harmonium; he closed his eyes and began to sing.

The lovers of the Guru’s Word remain awake and aware, day and night.
Following the Guru’s teachings, they know the Love of the True One (sggs 1024 Guru Nanak)

I felt as if he was singing just to me, just for me. I couldn’t take my eyes off his face. It was incredibly beautiful, bathed in light, it made me want to weep inside, that there could exist such beauty; all over again my longing started.

As he sang the light around him increased its glow until it shone so brightly that all the others in the room seemed pale and transparent, almost unreal and unmoving. It was as if only the two of us existed, and were real, the others were merely a background on which we were painted in golden bright light.

After an undetermined amount of time, his song came to an end. I was filled up inside with beauty. I longed to ask him many questions. He just looked at me with his deeply aware, awake eyes and nodded.

…next part

Essence 5 - Sat Kartar Singh

2008-04-20T16:58:00.000-07:00
I was lying in my bed early next morning when I heard a man singing,

O one with splendid eyes, awake and chant the Guru’s Word
and listen to the un-struck Word of the One.

Rare are the ones who through the Guru’s Word
understand this state of utter stillness

Merging in the Guru’s Word,
their false self is eradicated (sggs 843 - Guru Nanak)

This song struck an arrow into my heart. I felt truth in these words. I knew the creator of this song knew about my state. It seemed that the singer was singing directly to me.

I jumped out my bed and barefoot, ran to the man singing this song. The man was a middle-aged man. He looked like a farmer. I ran up to him. He stopped singing and looked at me. The first thing I did was look deeply into his eyes.

Yes! He was awake!

I hugged him and he hugged me back. His hug broke the depression within me and I started sobbing. Without a word, he tightly held me. He let me cry without any attempts at consolation.

Finally, my tears dried up and I looked into his eyes again. It would be wrong to say they were beautiful. They seemed so unnatural. I had never seen such eyes. They appeared not to blink.

I asked, “Am I dreaming?”

He replied, “Yes.”

With my breath held short, I again asked, “Is there a way to wake up?”

“Yes.”

“Please show me the way.”

An indescribable light I had never seen before flooded his eyes. He sang,

Chant, O my mind, the True Name, Sat Naam, the True Name.

In this world, and in the world beyond, your face shall be radiant,
by meditating continually on the immaculate One being (sggs 669 - Guru Raam Das)

After a short silence, I humbly asked about him. His name was Sat Kartar Singh. He was a Sikh of Guru Nanak.

I briefly told him about my state of affairs. And I quite bluntly asked him how I could become like him.

He humbly shook his head, “No, not like me; but like your true self.”

I invited him to my house, but he said he was on his way to a singing session. He smiled at my sad face and invited me to his house in a week’s time. He said there would be singing by many lovers of the Guru’s Word there.

I thanked him and went home and took a long nap. My wife and children thankfully hugged me and my life started again.

...next part

Essence 4 - Prayer

2008-04-20T16:57:00.000-07:00
That night, my wife held me closely and tried all her charms to bring back her farmer. But I was too frightened of the world and no matter how hard I tried; I could not open up my fears to her. I could not sleep all night. Next morning, my wife suggested we go to the temple and visit the pundit.

I beamed at the thought. My family and I used to visit the temple on the full moon’s night and I vaguely recalled the pundit saying that we were all living in a dream. I could not wait to get to the temple. The pundit must know about my problem and would surely have a solution.

My wife and I walked to the temple. She was pleased to see me happy again. But my happiness was short-lived - as soon as I saw the pundit, I knew something was wrong. One look into his eyes told me what it was. He was sleeping too! In fact, he seemed to be sleeping even more deeply than I!

Greatly depressed, both of us returned home. This depression only got deeper by the day. My wife and children were visibly frightened of me and there was a heavy silence in the whole house. They talked in hushed voices and avoided me as much as possible.

I spent my days in bed or in front of the mirror. Once while I was staring into my eyes, I saw a sparkle of awake-fullness in them - they appeared radiant and full of splendor - but this moment was so brief that I dismissed it as an illusion due to fatigue.

Even though my wife forced food into my mouth, I became weak and after five days, I was so weak that I had difficulty getting up from my bed. Depression hung over me like never before. That night at sunset, I did something I hadn’t done in a long time - I prayed.

The pundit had said that all prayers are answered. Of course, I hadn’t believed him then and I believed him even less now, but there was no other hope. So I knelt on the side of the bed and prayed,

“O Creator, please wake me up.”

I was quite surprised to hear these words come out of my mouth. I surely hadn’t planned to say them; they had just come quite spontaneously. I felt a little better and a little lighter.

…next part

Essence 3 – Farmer

2008-04-20T16:56:00.002-07:00
I woke up with a cold sweat - my hand went to the right side of my head. Surprisingly, there was no blood there. Then I remembered who I was. I jolted up in my bed. That too had been a dream! I looked around. My wife lay by my side, snoring softly.

I touched my face. It was covered with sweat. I tried to calm down. I got out of the bed and drank some water. I then looked at my children’s peaceful faces. But my heart kept on beating wildly.

I was walking back to my bed when a paralyzing thought arose within me: “Am I still dreaming?” This thought shocked me so much that I sat down right there on the ground. I touched my arms and legs. They felt real enough; but so had the police officer’s baton and the prince’s face. Dizzily, I walked back to my bed and tried to sleep. But I was too frightened to sleep.

In the morning, my wife and children were alarmed by my state. I no longer cared to say anything to them. Just the thought, “Am I still dreaming?” kept eating away at my heart. I didn’t go to the farm that day. What was the use? It was not real, why did I need to do anything when I knew it would soon end.

That day, I spent many hours in front of the mirror looking closely at my face. I tried to see if it had any similarities with queens and the thief’s face. But none existed. Everyone and everything told me I was not dreaming. But my eyes told a different story. I looked deeply into them and saw only sleep in them.

My wife and children were greatly troubled by my low spirits and tried to cheer me up by talking about the expansion of the farm which I had been passionately pursuing, but I couldn’t help but laugh at them. I looked closely into their eyes and even in them, I saw nothing but sleep invasion.

That day went slowly. I sat on the bed waiting for the dream to end. I no longer knew who I was.

Was I the thief? Was I the queen? Was I the farmer?

...next part

Essence 2 – Thief

2008-04-20T16:56:00.001-07:00
Screaming, I woke up. Instinctively, my hand went to the back of my head. Surprisingly, there was no blood there.

The gang member sleeping next to me angrily slapped me for disturbing him. The slap brought me back to reality. A sigh partly of regret and partly of relief escaped my mouth. I wasn’t a royal queen, rather just a street thief. I lay down again and thinking how real the dream had been, dozed off.

That night we bust open a jewelry shop. Unluckily the police was in the area. Before we realized it, they were upon us. I ran but my foot slipped on the pavement. I fell down and hit my arm heavily against the gutter. A police officer came and grabbed me by my neck. There was no hope now - I would be badly beaten and locked up for months or even years.

The police officer ordered me to strip off my clothes; right there on the street! I spat at him. I felt his baton hit the right side of my skull...

…next part

Essence 1 - Queen

2008-04-20T16:44:00.000-07:00
Startled, I woke up. I was sweating and breathing heavily. Then I remembered where I was. With relief I said out aloud, “It was just a dream.” Immediately my maid came and asked me if I needed something. Quite alarmed at the sweat on my face she asked, “What is wrong, my queen?”

I lazily waved her away, murmuring “Just a bad dream.” I calmed myself. The dream had been so real!

I silently tiptoed into my little prince’s chamber. He was sleeping quite peacefully. Reassured, I returned to my bed and silently prayed for my king’s well-being. He was a gentle man and had brought peace to the land after decades of bloodshed. But a few weeks ago, a rebellion had broken out in the southern province and he had gone there for negotiations.

I was about to go back to sleep when the door opened and the chief minister, along with a few soldiers entered my chamber. A cold chill went up my back. He said, “My dear woman, I am afraid, there has been a little change. The king is dead and has been dead for a week now.”

I screamed out, “You are lying!” I ran to the window and shouted to the sentry. “Come here at once!” The sentry looked at me and shifted uncomfortably on his feet but did not move. The minister laughed softly, “Please understand your position now. You no longer can command.” He softly spoke again, “Guards, behead the prince now.”

My body shook with fear. “NO!” I screamed, “Please no!” The guards started going to the prince’s chamber. I ran up to them and tried to hold them back. One of them roughly pushed me away. I fell down and with a loud thud; the back of my head hit the stone wall...

…next part

Village 2 - Music Makers

2008-04-16T14:06:00.001-07:00
He began...

My grandfather used to be the spiritual leader of this village. Each day, well before sunrise, he would call out to the people and to the heavens with his prayer. One such morning in the midst of prayer he heard music from the outskirts of the village. Quite horrified to hear music at such a holy hour, he immediately sent his assistants to put an end to such paganism.

None of the assistants came back - the music meanwhile continued.

After a long wait he himself decided to put an end to the activity. So, quite angrily, he strode towards the music. The closer he came, the more he realized that rather than his anger being responsible for his hurried strides, the exquisite beauty in the music drew him to itself. Finally when he got close enough to see the music makers, not only did his body lose the ability to move, his mind too completely stopped. He literally stood rooted to a spot for the duration of the recital.

The music cast a spell on him - he traveled inwards to subtle places he had read about only in the scriptures. He would often look back at that moment and dreamily acclaim, "I drank life to the fullest during that song".

The music makers, the great Guru Nanak and his companion Mardana lowered their heads bowing humbly when their concert finished. At the end of the recital, my grandfather and all the others present simply surrendered to the Guru prostrating themselves before him. This act though merely symbolized the moment each of them had first seen the Guru for in that instant they had lost themselves quite utterly to him.

The Guru graced this village for three days and three nights. The Guru's message simply invoked remembrance and service of the One Being which pervades each and every one of us.

The village became heaven-like. Generation of animosities vanished, broken families reunited, and shattered promises became fulfilled. The village prospered in plentiful abundance. To this day, we of the village observe those three unique days like others observe birthdays. Indeed those days gave birth to the village's inner life.

But, not long after the Guru's departure the village began returning to its normal numb existence. This greatly troubled my grandfather and others like him who had become the Guru and Guru's only. They tried very hard, through teaching and preaching, to keep the message of the Guru alive.

After all normal means failed they started a tradition which continues to this day.

Each villager keeps a diary. It is mandatory that each night before sleep, each person make an entry in the diary - simply tallying the amount of time during the day spent in remembrance of the One Being or in selfless service of another.

At the end of the person's life, the entries are accumulated and that, my dear traveler is the "years of life" entry you see on the tombstones. It is perhaps that which allows us to be free with our love - we are reminded each and every day what real life is. The time spent in the presence of awareness of One and in service is the only life we consider as been worthy of been called life.

~~~~~

A long silence ensued after the elderly man had finished his story.

After a while, I felt my eyes closing, my back straightened of its own accord, and I felt a musical sonata arise within me. It began like melodious bees buzzing in distance but soon swelled into symphony filling me within my entire being. My sinews seemed to vibrate as string struck by an unseen hand pouring forth the sweetest notes of longing and fulfillment, first high, then high and low, tenuous and crescendo-ing by turn. I thought I heard singing in a high fluting voice, a song without words. I listened closely. I could almost detect a single word in an unknown language being repeated again and again, incessantly. It created a kind of madness of intoxication in me so that I felt as though I might burst with it. A symphony swelled within me, its crescendo conducted from one end of the horizon fading into the other.

Listening to this music, my mind seemed to disappear. My thinking all but vanished.

I realized that I was not my thoughts!

Indeed I could "see" my thoughts appear outside of me. I could follow them or not. I decided that I could function quite well without them, so I paid no attention to the few thoughts which did arise until they drifted away into nothingness, leaving me to feel utterly still and perfectly content.

I enjoyed this feeling for a few moments until one thought captured my consciousness, "Is it possible to feel like this all the time?"

I opened up my eyes to ask about it. To my great astonishment everyone had gone. Hovering low above the horizon, the sun slowly disappeared leaving me in twilight as the moon began to rise. What seemed like mere moments had actually been hours!

Someone had put a blanket around me. I discovered apples and water in front of me. I took a bite from an apple and chewed slowly while mulling over my musings.

l decided that my searching days were over, smiling at the thought.

Village 1 - Graveyard

2008-04-16T14:05:00.002-07:00
Something about the village graveyard set it apart. Usually graveyards are somber and resigned under the weight of death. But this one was different: besides been well kept - which in itself was not unusual – the design appeared to be more like a garden of life than a cradle of death. Its' shady trees, sunny flowers and general cheerfulness seductively invited me in.

During my travels, I had seen hundreds of graveyards and they were my favorite resting places. I had left home when I had turned twenty. I hadn't been sure what I hoped to find when I set out but, I had yet to find it. I had traveled to majestic temples, sober ashrams, holy rivers, visited renowned Gurus and any other religious place I had been told about, yet my restless mind knew no lasting peace. After more than twelve years of searching, I had given up hope and had reluctantly decided to return home and begin a worldly life. I had begun the journey back to my home when I came upon this unusual graveyard.

The mid-morning sun lit the path before me. I gave in to my aching muscles and entered the graveyard through a small wooden door. I put down my knapsack and looked at some of the tombstones. The inscriptions always reminded me of my transitory place on earth. But this graveyard was full of surprises - even the grave markers were unlike any I had seen before.

There were three entries on each stone: name, year of death and quite intriguingly "years of life". Even more peculiarly, the "years of life" very seldom went above ten. Although it took me all morning, I visited each and every tombstone; and to my utter astonishment, I could not find any "years of life" over fifteen. And there were quite a few with "zero" years of life.

A curious person by nature, I decided to visit the village to try and make sense of this graveyard and walked about a mile to the village gate. The friendly villagers greeted me warmly. Almost all of the villager's manners resembled the innocent nature of children. Their smooth faces had a glow of purity. They came and not unlike children, touched and greeted me, offering me all sorts of refreshments and foods. Their attention and love quite overwhelmed me.

In their presence, I noticed a difference within myself. Everything around me took on a sharp distinctness I hadn't before perceived. Colors became deeper and brighter, yet somehow softer, and comforting. Everywhere I looked, whatever I saw seemed to be outlined with an etching of light. Shadowed hues had a depth that drew me, a kind of magnetism to them.

Outwardly I heard each sound of the village - the villager's greeting me, the children laughing, water pouring from the nearby well buckets - quite distinctly, yet all coordinated as in an orchestrated symphony. I spoke in exclamation uttering for the sake of hearing my own voice which sounded musical, both lilting and full of depth. Whatever entered my mind spilled from my tongue quite without any reason at all!

Someone handed me an apple. I bit into it. A tart sweetness met my lips. Flavor flooded my mouth. I closely examined the apple to make sure that I indeed held an apple for I seemed to be eating many fruits all at once. I breathed deeply trying to make sense of it. A scent of orange blossoms and gardenias perfumed my nostrils tantalizing me.

I hadn't a clue as to the source of my unusual experiences, but I couldn't help grinning widely and immensely enjoying myself.

I noticed a group of elders sitting around an old shady tree. I decided to ask them about this rather heavenly place. I approached the men - they greeted me warmly and at an appropriate time I asked: "Respected Sirs, I have seen many places and many people. But even at the most holiest of these places I could not find the life and love that pervades this place. Perhaps I am in a dream..." I trailed off.

They all smiled. I hurriedly continued, "I would very much like it if you would kindly explain this rather peculiar place. I was also very intrigued by the graveyard at the entrance of the village. Is it where you bury your young ones?"

After a short pause, the most elderly man spoke. "Traveler, you look like a man who would benefit much from the story I will tell you - listen carefully."

All the villagers within earshot came and sat attentively to hear the old man speak.

...next part

Warrior 8 - Realm of Truth

2008-04-16T14:05:00.001-07:00

He too could not resist me. With his sweet, life-giving hand he wiped my face. His touch deepened my red color. His touch brightened the light within me. His touch sweetened the nectar inside me.

If I cherish Thee than I assume the deep red colors

A thousand voices lifted together in song, a chorus
waheguru
yet there was utter stillness

A thousand burning suns shone behind my eyes
waheguru
yet not even one star lit up the darkness

A thousand red petaled perfumed roses fell at my feet
waheguru
yet there was not one petal to be seen

A thousand humming birds fed me nectar gathered by a thousand bees
waheguru
yet they too remained unseen

A thousand arms caressed me
waheguru
carrying me, as if a dream

A thousand kisses showered on my face waheguru
In absolute beauty, I separated and became One with Everything

Creek water danced over pebbles again - the Guru spoke, "Beloved one, I live in the Realm of Truth."

Saying that, he vanished as suddenly as he had appeared.

~~~~~

There was a short pause before Warrior looked up at both of us and pleaded, "Now, I beg you to release me so that I may once again drink his sight."

Without waiting for an answer, he ran into the castle; we followed. He quickly made his way to the hidden door and with one strike of the Sword of SatNaam, broke it down. He then jumped into the pond of water. When he came out, he was no longer a man - he was an angel of immense brightness.

It would be incorrect to say that he entered the Realm of Truth; rather he merged into it. A great celebration broke out in the city – music and songs filled the air.

We stood there completely enchanted. Even my guide was under a spell. Finally he broke away from it and nudged me. I reluctantly followed him outside. We flew towards my body. My guide was expecting a flood of questions like I normally asked after such a visit. But my thoughts were so deeply entrenched into the hidden city that I could not speak.

But just before I entered my body, I turned around and desperately pleaded, "I don't want to enter this cold and heavy body. Please...", I begged, "Please ... I want to go the Realm of Truth."

My guide's face beamed - pointing to my body he said, "In there lies the Realm of Truth."

Warrior 7 - Guru

2008-04-16T14:04:00.000-07:00
The Guru had blossomed spring within me after a long and deadly winter. The Guru had turned a dry well into an ocean of bliss. The Guru had replaced my darkness with overflowing colors.

The Guru spoke - the Guru's voice was soft wind through the trees; it was morning sun shining through the twilight; it was creek water dancing over pebbles.

He said, "You are now stronger than a thousand lions, you now have more compassion than a thousand mother's hearts, you are now higher than the highest Himalayas peak. You are now Khalsa - the pure one. Go and defeat the five and enter the Realm of Truth."

Saying that, he turned around to go.

Although I was his servant now and the work of a servant is to obey and obey only, the dread of him leaving broke my will and in desperation, I caught his angelic hand. I held his long and beautiful hand close to my face. I kissed his soft and wonder-filled hand.

Tears freely flowed from my eyes. My heart sobbed and begged him to take me with him. I wanted to sing my loyalty to him. I wanted to say,

Don't leave me, my Lord.
You are my heart now.
You are my breath now.
You are my very being now.

I don't know how to reach you
But nothing else satisfies
After loving you
All else is death and lies

Cruel ... Kind
Wake me .. Love me ... Then leave me behind
Do you know how many lifetimes I waited for you
How many lifetimes to hear and utter WaheGuru

I can't reach you!
I can't reach you and so I die
It hurts so much inside even to cry
I try to drown my sorrow, but nothing satisfies

I'm left alone in the dark without your light
Hopelessly waiting for some spark to ignite
And light up my heart once more
With the love that lies behind the hidden door

Forsaken, alone, forlorn, I weep and pine
I die a thousand deaths with every breath
Waiting for such love as satisfies
Why should I not die of weeping until thou comest into my mind

But I could not utter a single word. I could neither confess my love for him nor my dread of his absence.

All I managed to utter was, "Mercy!"

…next part

Warrior 6 - Longing

2008-04-16T14:03:00.002-07:00
I spent many months drunk in this bliss of the Guru's Word. Slowly spring arrived. I would go out and eat fresh fruit. I would visit the river everyday and play in its lap. I discovered the river too sang the Word! Indeed everything - trees, wind, animals – sang the Word. In fact, everything had always sung the Word - I just hadn't heard it before.

I would sometimes imagine how this Guru would be. But no matter how hard I tried, I could not even begin to imagine the wonder of this Guru whose Word was so enchanting. Then I started experiencing a new feeling within me - I started missing the Guru. It was quite beyond me to think how I could miss someone who I had never seen. But I felt immensely close to the Guru. He appeared to be closer to me than even my own self. This feeling deepened so much that it consumed me all day and all night. I felt that he was near me. I felt that he was loving me - nay, I felt that he was in love with me.

My hunger to see him turned into a passion - a burning passion. I could no longer sleep - not even for a moment. I could no longer eat – not even a bite. I could no longer think of other - not even for a moment. I would spend the whole day lost in his remembrance. Sometimes this craving for him would swell inside me so much that in desperation I would run outside and shout, "I love you" over and over again to the sky. After I was spent, I would come back and with a sigh sit down and continue listening to the Word. I knew that I could not bear his separation much longer.

All I could think of was how he would look. How he would talk. How he would look at me. How I would touch his feet. How I would shyly tell him that I loved him. How I would live and die for him.
Then one morning, long before dawn, I was sitting with closed eyes listening to the Word when suddenly I felt sunshine on me. Quite surprised, I opened my eyes.

He stood at the entrance of the cave!

The intense white light emitting from him sent waves of coolness into me. He was dressed in pure white - his turban was majestic. His clothes were flowing. His two swords were shining. I cannot even begin to describe his eyes: they were breathtakingly beautiful. Their golden glow put a thousand sunrises to shame. Their gentleness surpassed the softness of a thousand roses.

I just sat there in rapture drinking the bliss from the glow of his face. After several minutes, I came to my senses. I knelt down and said, "Welcome, this servant awaits your commands."

He walked into the cave and motioned me to raise my hands.

He then placed the Sword of SatNaam in my hands.

A downward-facing flower appeared inside me from nowhere. Suddenly, a golden ray traveled from the Sword of SatNaam and flooded the flower. With full glory, the flower bloomed.

Along with the flower, I bloomed. I became the flower. From the bottom of my stem, nectar arose. It traveled upwards filling every part of me with bliss. My petals glowed with a deep red color. Each part of me was maddeningly drunk with nectar. Each part of me was singing with indescribable joy. Each part of me was bowing to the Guru in thankfulness.

...next part

Warrior 5 - Word

2008-04-16T14:03:00.001-07:00
Without any sense of direction, I walked on. My eyes were barely open. My face was completely frozen - I was toying with the idea of simply giving up when suddenly I went into an opening and into warmth. I could not believe my fate - I had walked right into a cave!

Thankfully, I sat on the ground. My hands felt some kind of a frame on the ground. With joy, I realized it was actually a fireplace. There was even dry wood neatly stacked up. Quickly, I built a small fire by the entrance. It was quite obvious that someone had lived in this cave a long time ago. A wooden shelf ran along one wall. I saw a big bag on the shelf. I opened it up and there were nuts and dried fruits in it! How they had survived for so long, I do not know. Nor did I care - I quickly devoured some of them.

Quite warm and content, I lay down in a little area which apparently had served as a sleeping place. Immediately, my eyes fell upon two sentences written on the cave roof. The first sentence read,

"The five can be defeated by the Guru's Word".

This surprised me so much that with a jolt, I sat up. Vividly my memory went back to the "mad" man at the tavern: he too had mentioned something about a Guru.
A question arose within me, "What is the guru's Word?"

The second sentence answered me,

"WaheGuru WaheGuru WaheGuru Wahe jeeo".

I instantaneously fell in love with this Word. My mouth uttered it, "WaheGuru." My tongue savored it, "WaheGuru." My heart sang it, "WaheGuru." I could neither believe not understand this Word but I did not really care - it was such a bliss just uttering it that all I wanted to do was to sing it over and over.

Like a crazy man, I shouted the Word over and over again: "WaheGuru WaheGuru WaheGuru ...

I spent the whole night celebrating with the Word. I would sing the Word for a while and would then keep quiet. The falling snow, the whistling wind and the swaying trees would echo back the Word. It would get softer and softer. Then I would sing it loudly again, then listen again. This Word was indeed magic. Even though I had had nothing to eat except the few nuts, I felt strong and fulfilled.
By next morning, I had enough strength to fight a hundred men. I could have gone back and defeated the creatures but a strange thing happened - I no longer cared about my castle or my treasures or my brother – even the hidden city faded away from my desires. The only thing that mattered was the Word.

I followed the same pattern on that day too - I would say the Word a few times, and then listen to it. Slowly the saying got shorter and shorter while the listening got longer and longer.

After a few days, I no longer had to say the Word - I would listen to it ringing from everywhere. I would sleep whenever I felt tired. I would eat some of the fruit whenever I got hungry. There were just enough food and firewood for me to pass the winter.

...next part

Warrior 4 - River

2008-04-16T14:02:00.000-07:00
I went and stood by the river. The river was a powerful one. It gushed with a loud roar under the bright autumn sun. I jumped into the deep side of the river. Initially I went under the cool water but the river brought me up again. I coughed with pain. I was ready to die, but the river refused to kill me. Like a mother, it carried me on its waves and carefully deposited me on its bank.

I could not help but laugh at my predicament - I could not even die! I sat on the bank and laughed. Soon the laughter turned into deep sobs. Remorse engulfed me - I cried for my lost brother, my lost castle and most of all, I cried at the lost chance to go into the city behind the hidden door.

I sat and wept there for several hours. Finally, exhausted and spent, I lay down. I must have nodded off because when I awoke, night with its crisp sounds had arrived. Half awake, my attention went to the night sounds. The night, the river and the trees seemed to be saying something to me. I listened intently.

All the sounds merged and murmured, "One."

Quite puzzled by this, I fell asleep again and woke up just before the sun did. Slowly I sat up. I was stiff from the cold. I stretched out - my arms were up in the air and just then the sunlight burst through the air dispelling the night's reign of darkness.

I cannot put into words what happened to me at that moment. The brightness and the warmth of the sun, the merriness of the river, the coolness of the air, the dance of the trees all joined together and invited me to become one of them. I now understood "One" - we were all one.

I was one of them and they were one of me. I was in them and they were in me. I could not exist without them nor could they without me. I closed my eyes and heard everything say, "One ... One ... One."

Slowly I lowered my arms. That one moment had completely rejuvenated me. I got up and turned around to go back to the city. One look at the city far away in the mist was enough to drain some of me. No! I decided, I would not go back to that heartless and dreadful place. I looked back at the river and it smiled at me. I smiled back. Once again I listened to the river. To my great surprise and joy, it invited me along. That was the first friendly thing anybody had said to me since I lost my castle.
Indeed everything was friendly here, the river, the trees, the leaves, the shrubs, the sky, and the clouds. I felt cherished and needed.

I looked at my new friends. The trees wanted me to dreamily sway with them. The leaves wanted me to join their festival of colors. The blue sky wanted me to fly into it. The soft clouds wanted me to put my head on them. The birds wanted me to share their songs. The river wanted me to travel with it.

I took the river's invitation and started following its flow. I would walk along the river bank all day; when hungry, I would eat from the trees; when thirsty, I would drink from the river; when tired, I would sleep on the Earth.

I learnt how to build a fire from twigs. I would start one in the evening and would let it simmer all night. In the morning, I would bathe in the river's waves and let sunshine dry and warm me up. Although, I now felt healthy and quite happy - happier than I had ever been before - not a day would pass without my thoughts going back to the city behind the hidden door. But I knew I did not have enough strength to face the creatures, so I would force myself to think of something else.

Many months passed like this. Slowly winter arrived. With winter came scarce food and weakness. I walked less and less. Even though food was rare, the trees would somehow provide it for me.

One fateful morning I woke up shivering and covered with snow. The trees were slowly going to sleep and wishing me luck. The sun was now distant and cold. Even the river was slowing down. I rubbed myself for warmth and listened to the river. It weakly but urgently urged me to walk with it. I slowly got up and started walking with its flow.

At late afternoon that day, it suddenly became very cold. A strong icy wind started blowing. A blizzard came out of nowhere. Slowly, it became difficult to walk or even see. I went close to the river to listen. To my shock, I realized that it too had given up. I felt completely abandoned. I did not know what to do! I could not imagine living without the river's guiding songs. In desperation, I shouted out to it, but no one answered back.

...next part

Warrior 3 - Warrior's Tale

2008-04-16T14:01:00.002-07:00
Warrior told his story.....

This castle belongs to me. And the creatures you saw submitting to the Sword of SatNaam were actually my servants but had become the masters of my castle. I am the only one to blame though; I myself was absent from the castle and never cared to manage it. One day, I had returned from a long journey and with a shock realized that my servants had turned into grotesque creatures. They picked me up and threw me out of my own castle.

Although I didn't care for the castle - I had mostly lived outside it — I did however care about the treasures inside. So that night, I stole back into the castle to get the treasures, but the creatures had already removed them. Although it was my own castle, I felt like a stranger in it. I must have made a noise because one of the creatures came to investigate. I silently ran inwards to get away from it. I bumped into a wall. It was rather dark and the creature immediately ran back to get a lantern. I realized that the wall I hit was actually a door. I tried hard to open it, but it would not budge. I noticed a light streaming out of its keyhole. I peeped into the keyhole and that moment changed my life.

What I saw inside that door was inexplicable beauty. I saw a path leading into a city, which glowed with light and life. It was the most wonderful place I had ever set my eyes on. I was so lost in its beauty that only when one of the creatures grabbed me by my shoulder did I remember where I was. The creature dragged me and roughly threw me out again. Although I was badly hurt, I could think of nothing else but the city behind the door. I lamented heavily at my old foolish ways. If only I had spent more time inside the castle, I surely would have discovered the hidden door.

I decided to get help from my brother. I went to the tavern where we both had spent a large portion of our lives. Sure enough, I found my brother - drunk with wine as usual. I immediately told him about the hidden door. He and everybody within earshot burst out laughing. I even told him that he too should not trust his servants, but this only brought more laughter from everybody. No matter how hard I tried, they simply refused to believe me.

Finally, when they could no longer stand my raving, they pushed me out of the door. I could not blame them - I too had done the same to a man who had come into the tavern one night and had warned us about our servants and preached about the hidden door. I had called him mad and laughed at him. If only I had listened!

I sat outside the tavern trying to decide what to do and where to go next. I really had nowhere else to go, so I went in again. But I was no longer welcome there. My brother refused to even recognize me. I begged my brother and others to help me, but their eyes told me that now I, without my treasures, was no longer of any interest to them. Sadly, I left the tavern. Hungry, thirsty and in low spirits, I crumbled down on the side of the road. I had no desire to get up. I was completely crushed.

The side of the road became my new home. I would sit all day and night facing the ground. Once in a while, someone would notice me and give me food and advice. But I would stare at them lifelessly and they would leave me alone. My brother would pass by without paying any attention to me.

After a few weeks, the disgust with myself consumed me so much that I decided to destroy myself. Death and only death seemed the only way out my misery. I slowly made my way to the nearby river in the forest.

...next part

Warrior 2 - Sword

2008-04-16T14:01:00.001-07:00
Without answering, my guide motioned me to accompany him. We went to another castle - it looked very similar to the first one, yet something was very different here - there was a mighty battle going on!

The five dark creatures were present but they didn't look strong and mighty as before; rather they were weak and exhausted. Their faces were washed with fear and three of them were lying on the ground in submission. It looked as if an army of thousand had descended upon the creatures. But to my great surprise, there was only one man who was fighting all of these creatures. The man wore a white turban and a blue robe. His face was shining with determination and was a warrior in the true sense of the word - as agile as a deer yet as powerful as a lion.

In his hands, he held a rather strange-looking sword. This sword was sharp on both sides and it shone with a brightness that I had not witnessed before. He was using the double-edged sword to strike the dark creatures. With each strike they fell down but then would stagger up again to fight him. But his sword was a magic sword - with each strike, the creature grew weaker while the sword became more powerful and bright. It was as if the sword was seeping the strength of the creatures into itself.

With a loud cry of pain, the fourth dark creature fell into submission. The last creature left was the most powerful and cunning - he would hide and come back in many forms - sometimes a hissing snake, sometimes a hellish devil, sometimes an alluring maiden, sometimes a feeble old man and sometimes a wailing old woman.

However Warrior was no fool! It looked as though the most adept teacher had trained him. He would let the creature get close to him and then would strike him down again and again. It was no secret that before long the last creature would surrender and the castle would belong to the warrior.

I was fascinated with the warrior's power and asked, "What gives him so much strength?" My guide pointed to the double-edged magic sword in the warrior's hand and said, "Sword of SatNaam."

Soon the last creature surrendered and lay on the ground. Warrior quickly turned around and headed into the castle.

My guide called out to the warrior, "Sir, a moment please." To my astonishment, Warrior turned around to look at us - he gave us a slight bow of his head and said, "I must hurry!"

My guide quickly said, "Please Sir, could you please tell us about yourself?"

Warrior laughed as if this was the most impossible request. Turning around, he dreamily said, "Not now, it is time for me to meet my beloved."

My guide called out, "Please ... in the name of your Guru."

Immediately Warrior turned around and knelt on one of his knees. Bowing his head in humility, he said, "I am a servant of the one who utters my Guru's name. What do you wish from me?"

My guide said, "If you could tell about how you became such a warrior..."

...next part

Warrior 1 - Hidden Door

2008-04-16T13:51:00.000-07:00
He woke me up and said, "It is time."

Gently, he pulled my spirit out of my body and guided me in a flight across the sky. We flew side by side for a while until we came to a castle. The castle looked formidable - murky and dark waters surrounded the castle. Even darker were five creatures closely guarding the castle. These creatures looked big and strong. The whole sight was rather gloomy. I felt frightened upon seeing all this and firmly held on to my guide. He reassured me, "Don't worry, they cannot see you."

Silently he took me inside the castle. The cobwebs on the walls and the floor indicated that no one had been there for ages. Darkness, dirt and gloom permeated everything. He led me to the north side of the castle. There was a door well hidden behind a curtain of deep darkness. While all the other doors (I counted nine) of the castle were open, this one was tightly shut. It was coated with rust and looked inaccessible. But we, being spirits, easily slipped through it.

To my utter amazement, I discovered that it was actually a doorway to another wonderful world! This world looked completely different from the one that existed on the other side. Everything shone with inner light and looked as though it had been sprinkled with eternal youth. There were flowers everywhere and their subtlety sweet scents filled the air. There was a path from the hidden door to a big pond of rather inviting clear water. Then, a path led from the pond to a city which shone like the morning sun. Exquisite music could be heard from the city. My guide explained, "One has to cleanse oneself in order to get to that city. The city is called the Realm of Truth."

I understood little but I was so enchanted with that place that no questions arose in my mind. It looked so peaceful here! I wished I could live here forever. But soon it was time to leave. We slipped out through the door again. Overcoming the spell, I asked, "Who owns this castle?"

My guide led me outside and away from the castle. Far from the castle, there was a small hut. Its roof and walls were crumbling. Inside sat a miserable looking man - hunger and thirst dominated his face. He wore dirty rags and sat at the window looking mournfully toward the castle.

"The castle belongs to this man," my guide said.

I could not believe what I heard and blankly repeated, "The castle belongs to this man?"

He explained, "His is a rather sad story. He lived in the castle a long time ago and led a gay and a wasteful life. He would never come home for days and even when he did, he would stay only for a short while before going out again. The dark creatures you saw were his servants. He trusted them so much that he gave them complete power in managing his castle. Slowly, the guards became the masters of the castle and he the servant. Then a day came when they banded together and banished him from the castle."

My guide must have known that I was thinking about the city behind the hidden door because he said, "No, he did know about the Realm of Truth - the poor man was so engrossed with life outside the castle that he never even discovered the hidden door."

I felt pity for this man who was a king yet lived like a pauper. "Isn't there someway for him to get his castle back?" I asked.

...next part

Leper 4 - Spring

2008-04-16T12:12:00.001-07:00
Sunlight on my face brought me back to this world। They had departed - a pain shot through me at seeing the bed empty. For a moment I wanted to run and find him, but the quietness of the trees told me they had already gone far.

Slowly I got up from the spot in which I had spent the joyful night। What a night, I thought; the trees were certainly justified in singing about spring - he was spring. For a brief moment I thought this was all a dream - perhaps I was still in a dream. But instantly I realized this was real - on the bed lay a small book. With excitement, I picked it up - it was the verses his companion had recited.

I quickly read the first page and turned it। My heart missed a beat - it was the sight of my hand - its sores were dry!

I carefully put the book back on the bed and with trembling hand and heart examined my body। Yes, all my sores were either dry or were drying up. He had cured me!

He, the angel of the One, had cured me। He had come to my unclean abode and purified me. Tears welled up in me when I thought of his mercy. Me, a sinner's sinner, an unclean, filthy untrue animal had been touched by his grace.

I bowed to the book, I lovingly kissed it, I pressed it against my heart.

Leper 3 - Guru

2008-04-16T12:09:00.000-07:00
He was wearing a white robe, wooden slippers and a white turban. Although his robe was faded and old, he looked like a king. Although his beard was white, his face was overflowing with youthfulness. Although his eyes were half-closed and hidden in the dark, a thousand suns could not match their brilliance; a thousand moons could not match their serenity.

Instinctively I sank to my knees and bowed. Without a word he and his companion both entered my hut and sat on the bed. I was quite dumb-folded and tongue-tied. I just kept staring at his feet. At times, I would quickly glance at his face, but it proved to be too intense an experience for me and I would quickly avert my glance back to his feet. I wanted to say words of welcome, I wanted to thank him for being there, I wanted to ask for forgiveness for my sinful being, but my throat would not, could not form words.

With his signal, his companion opened up the instrument and started playing it. Ah, the wonderful music captivated me.

Then ... he sang.

The song entered me ... nay, flooded and imprisoned me. I drank his song and lost my thirst. His song opened the dam of tears in me and I wept.

With one note of his song, I was drenched in bliss. With one note of his song, my thoughts ceased. With one note of his song, I separated from the pained and diseased body.

He sang about light. He sang about darkness that enveloped me. He sang about the world within. He sang about sorrow-less and death-less truth. He sang about merging with truth. He sang about the wonderful SatNaam. He sang about the blissful utterer of SatNaam. He sang about One, One, One, One, One, One, One, One...

After hearing these songs, I heard songs of utmost stillness.

Without a word, his companion filled a bowl he was carrying with water from my water pitcher and started reciting verses. Whereas the songs were wrapped in love and longing, the verses were wrapped in wisdom and One's greatness. I listened. I felt wise and clean. For the first time in my life I felt completely pure and spotless. At that time everything was pure; my clothes, my hut, and the forest around us. Blessed was my bed, which was serving them - the angels of One. How fortunate was his companion - throughout the songs and recitation the companion gazed at his face with intent of a child looking at his mother.

The companion finished the verses and motioned me to drink the water. To my surprise, it was sweet. I gulped it down - never had I tasted such contentment. I felt intoxicated. I felt I belonged to him, and he to me. I felt his love, his grace, I felt him in me.

He leaned towards me, and in my ear whispered “Sat Naam Wahe Guru”.

A thousand bright suns dawned in me,
A thousand blissful winds blew in me,
A thousand colorful flowers bloomed in me,
A thousand joyful fountains sprang up in me,
A thousand celestial chords played within me,
A thousand angels sang to me.

All the suns, winds, flowers, fountains, in chorus with the angels sang

waheguru waheguru waheguru waheguru waheguru waheguru…
...next part

Leper 2 - Dream

2008-04-16T12:03:00.000-07:00
I had heard several times from the Village pundit that the soul was an entity distinct from the body - I, of course, hadn't given it more than a fleeting thought. But that day, I fully realized the joy of it - I cannot express the relief I felt knowing that the deformed and rotten body was not really me. Not only was I free from disease and death - I was beautiful beyond description.

I stayed in that state of utter bliss for several moments. Despite my efforts (or perhaps because of them) I drifted back to my body. Not long after I was back in my body and feeling the heaviness of it.

That day was a few years ago - since then, my life had revolved around getting that detached sensation back. I have tried all the methods that I have heard about. But even though I have become still inside and can listen to nature more easily, that bliss-filled feeling never graced me. Most of my days are still spent drowned in thought and depression.

But today I felt different. I couldn't go back to sleep no matter how hard I tried. Finally at dawn, I got out of bed and looked out the window. The sun had just risen, making everything golden. The birds and the wind were joyfully singing of love. Did they always sing that beautifully or were they, like me, feeling especially jovial today, I wondered? With a twinge of sadness, I decided that they always did sing with such beauty, it was only I who hadn't heard them before.

But that sadness quickly faded away with sunlight streaming on my face - I stood there for a long time bathing in freshness. For the first time in many years I decided to go for a walk during daylight. I had been an avid walker at one time, but the look of horror on a boy’s face when he had accidentally seen me, kept me locked inside since. But today, all of that just didn't seem to matter - I felt a trace of life and excitement in me.

I spent the whole day seeped in nature, waiting for something to happen. At the end of the day, I was more surprised than disappointed that nothing had happened.

I lay on my bed and dozed off.

The same man with a white turban appeared again. This time he held me by my hand and took me to the river. He signaled me to go into the water. I looked at my reflection in the water and with a shock realized that I had been cured.

I looked for the man but he had entered a hut on the riverbank. I ran and knocked on his door. No answer. I knocked again...

With a start I woke up. Someone was knocking at my door. It took me several moments to convince myself that I wasn't still in a dream.

The knocking continued persistently. I had always turned away accidental visitors with a warning of my disease - but I knew from a depth within that these visitors were not ordinary visitors.

I opened the door - a middle-aged man stood at the door. he had a small bundle of what appeared to be books and clothes on one shoulder, and a box, which appeared to be a case for a musical instrument, on the other shoulder. A few steps behind him ... stood the man from my visions.
...next part

Leper 1 - Banished

2008-04-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

I woke up earlier than usual - something seemed different that day. With difficulty I lifted my head and peeped out of the small window of my hut.
Although I could not see anything due to the pitch darkness of the night, I sensed some activity in the tree.
I closed my eyes and listened. To my surprise I sensed the trees were in the same jovial mood as they were when spring was approaching. Winter had just started; it would be months before even the slightest hint of spring. I lay down my head back on the pillow and realized that I too was in a jovial mood - my heart too hinted at some hope and excitement.
That was quite a change from the past few years of my painful existence.

It had been almost twenty years ago that I had been diagnosed with an incurable form of leprosy. This had been the first such case in the memorable history of my village and the people did not know what to do with me. I had been quite a cheerful and promising young boy before the village doctor noticed the state of the perpetually open wounds on my back.
My life changed drastically after his announcement of my disease.

The elders banished me despite my family's pleas. My brother built a hut for me three miles from the village and promised me daily visits.
At first, all my relatives and friends came each and every day, and brought me gifts and tried their best to lift the dark and heavy depression that was suffocating me, but soon it was only my mother who was visiting me. She would come and clean my hut; bathe and feed me.
In the beginning, I eagerly awaited her visits. I asked her about all my friends. But gradually, it only pained me to listen to her. Soon after, I started bolting the door and would ask her to leave the food outside and go away.
This continued for over ten years. My condition got worse - although I was in my early twenties, I felt like an old man. Lying all day in bed and being angry and depressed had certainly taken their tolls. I had a hard time even going to the nearby river to get my supply of water. My bones would groan and creak at every effort. My mind had turned into a dull and a stagnant vessel, which would not hold any thoughts except for the immediate bodily needs.
Then one day, things suddenly changed - my mother was taken seriously ill with tuberculosis. She asked my nephew to deliver food to me. Consider it fate, but for reasons known only to my nephew, the food was not delivered to me.
The first day without food I cried and shouted out to my mother. I had tried to eat berries from a nearby bush; but due to ignorance, had eaten poisonous ones. This only made the situation worse. After three painful, lonely and sleepless days I assumed my mother was dead and I too would decay into death.
I decided to end my life. It was the middle of the night and death seemed like an inviting and pleasant escape. I slowly got up from the bed and made my way towards the river. I envisioned myself jumping in and drowning. I had made it halfway to the riverbed when I tripped on a bush and fell heavily on my face. Due to my general poor health and lack of food, I could not lift myself up again. Only with a tremendous amount of effort, I turned and lay on my back.
Miraculously, I fell asleep.
I dreamt that a man with a beard and a white piece of cloth wrapped on his head took my hand and led me to two big doors. Although I could not see the man’s face, he appeared to radiating grace and elegance. With his hands he pushed open the doors. A ball of white light immediately engulfed me and with a jerk lifted me a few feet out of my body.
The jerking movement woke me up - my body was breathing slowly and deeply. I felt light and limber. To my joy, I realized I was still hovering slightly above my body.
...next part

Foam on Ocean

2008-01-17T12:30:00.000-08:00
Today morning, I read from the 5th Sikh Guru that we are like the foam on Ocean waves - for a few moments, the foam appears to be different from the Ocean but it really is and always will be part of the Ocean.