Guru Nanak: Without grace and guidance of Guru we cannot discover God's home inside us

[Guest guest]

Note: In a lengthy but crucial conclusion [to " Mool Mantar - The true

Guru has made available (for me) the glimpse of this truth " ] that

allows us to further comprehend and confirm that the Gurparsaad of

the Aykaa Mayee leads to the eternal afterlife, i quote from " The

Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices " by William Owen Cole

and Piara Singh Sambhi. There would have hardly been a difference if

this article was titled " Jesus Christ: Without grace and guidance of

the Comforter/Holy Spirit we cannot discover the Kingdom of God

inside us that leads to the eternal afterlife " .

 

William Owen and Piara Singh conclude that " Guru Nanak was also

practical and we must turn not only to the concept of liberation but

to the techniques which Sikhism advocates for attaining liberation " .

Shri Mataji, as the incarnation of the Divine Feminine entrenched in

all Holy Scriptures, has given humanity the concept and technique of

attaining liberation/resurrection into the eternal afterlife.

 

The underlying unity and sacred knowledge of all Holy Scriptures is

that salvation is only attainable from within ourselves, where God

resides! That is why it must be again repeated that if you have to

take even a single step in any direction to seek the Divine you are

going the wrong way. God's home is within us on this physical plane.

Only in the afterlife will liberated souls experience it without as

Sach Khand (the Sphere of Eternity).

 

 

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The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices

Cole, W. Owen; Sambhi, Piara Singh,

 

" The search for God might be the consequence of dissatisfaction or

of 'meeting the Guru'. Someone may succeed in the moral struggle, in

the practice of asceticism, in visiting pilgrimage centres or

mastering the Vedas or philosophical systems and yet be aware that

something is still missing. On the other hand, it may be that without

conscious effort, perhaps as a result of karma, someone hears the

voice of God and the latent divinity is activated so that release is

obtained. At this point we come to the difficult concept of the grace

of God. The problem sometimes exists for the western reader who may

already be aware that the word has a Christian context, and even if

he has not studied Pauline theology he knows something of the term

because of its popular usage. A word used in the Adi Granth that is

translated as 'grace' is `nadar', which has to do with `sight'.

Sikhism is above all else a particular kind of guru cult and it might

help to consider a similar word to `nadar', `darshan', the Guru's

glance, as we may try to understand grace.

 

India is a land of villages, pilgrimage places and gurus. Almost

every day there is some local festival, some holy man whose

anniversary is being commemorated and in many villages there is a

guru to whom people turn for enlightenment and guidance. Some of the

gurus become famous beyond the locality and the roads to their

teaching centres are busy with travellers.

 

Others have only local reputations and are visited by a small but

steady trickle of devotees. Outside the guru's home the faithful and

the hopeful will sit and wait for him to appear (most gurus are

male). He may be away from the village in which case they will remain

until his return. When he does appear there need be no words, merely

a benign look of acceptance that is enough to convey a blessing. That

glance is darshan. It is this that Sikhism has in mind when it speaks

of God's grace. God is the supreme Guru. Experience teaches that some

people make the hard journey of asceticism or moral effort but do not

receive this glance of acceptance. Others with but little struggle

are not only smiled upon, they are initiated into the close

fellowship of disciples. Acceptance or rejection is not arbitrary or

the result of some quixotic impulse; the person who sought darshan

and was refused it may be disappointed but the guru knows best. Even

the disappointment is a pronouncement. It may be that the seeker must

try harder, is being tested, is not yet ready for enlightenment.

`Baba knows everything'; even that the time for release may not be in

the present life; perhaps the next birth will bring acceptance. One

thing is certain; the hopeful pilgrim believes that the guru is

necessary for liberation. With this concept of guruship in mind it

may be possible to understand such apparently harsh sayings as:

 

All bounties come from God. No one can claim them as a matter of

right. Some who are awake do not receive them, others are roused from

their slumbers to be blessed. (AG 85)

 

Good actions may procure a better existence, but liberation comes

only from grace. (AG 2)

 

God cannot be understood or realized through cleverness (AG 221)

 

God cannot be won through rites or deeds. Learning cannot give help

in comprehending the Divine. The Vedas and eighteen Puranas have also

failed to reveal the mystery. Only the True Guru has revealed the one

to me. (AG 155)

 

In Sikhism grace is the word which describes the way in which God

focuses attention upon a person. No one is ever beyond God's care;

God `takes care of everything, though remaining invisible' (AG 7).

Even to those how have not found God there is knowledge through

dissatisfaction:

 

You are clearly present in the world because all crave for your Name.

(AG 71)

 

Grace is the means by which this longing is met. It is the special

notice which God takes of someone. It can even be a glance of

disapproval but then its consequences are disastrous: `A displeasing

glance from God reduces even monarchs to straw' (AG 472).

 

In the Japji Guru Nanak describes the five stages of human

development. The first is the region or stage of piety (Dharam

Khand). This is the realm into which all humans are born. They may

practise devotion and so reach the realm of knowledge (Gian Khand) in

which they become aware of the vastness of the universe and the

mystery of existence. The seeker may progress further, to the realm

of effort (Saram Khand). In this stage mind and intellect become

perfected or attuned to God. A person has now gone as far as possible

in developing natural gifts. The stage of grace (Karam Khand) is only

possible with the help of spiritual strength, which comes from God.

Help to enter this realm is willingly given by the loving God…

 

It is the region in which only the great saints (bhagats) live in

divine bliss.

 

In the realm of grace spiritual power is supreme, nothing else

avails. Brave and strong warriors in whom divine spirit lives dwell

there, those who are blended with the One by songs of praise. Their

beauty is beyond description, the Divine Being lives in their hearts.

They do not die and are not deceived. The congregations of the

blessed live there too. They dwell in bliss with the True One in

their hearts. (AG 8)

 

Grace in Sikhism has therefore a number of meanings. It is the glance

which a Guru bestows upon the disciple denoting acceptance and

conveying a blessing. It is also a glance which liberates the devotee

in such a way that the efforts which were once taken to win

recognition are now acts of loving service. Grace also transforms the

disciple from being a hopeful seeker to being someone who has found

the meaning of personal existence and is now at ease and at peace,

having realized God.

 

However, Karam Khand is not the last region; there is Sach Khand, the

region of truth where God exists in a formless state. It cannot be

described, only experienced by the liberated soul.

 

In the realm of truth dwells the formless One who having created,

watches over creation, looking upon them with grace. People live in

bliss. There a world upon world, form upon form. All have their

functions as God's will [hukam] ordains. God sees creation and seeing

it rejoices. To describe it is hard, hard as steel to the hand. (AG

8).

 

Guru Nanak was acutely aware of the paradoxes which are part of life,

of seeking for God but not finding, of striving but not being

satisfied, of knowing that God is latent in everyone, yet many are

unaware of how to become God-realized. The solution lay in the Indian

concept of guruship which Guru Nanak accepted but interpreted in his

own particular way. Two passages sum up both the paradox and the

solution:

 

Inside you is the royal throne from which justice is dispensed. By

the shabad we discover God's home is inside us (AG 1092); Without the

grace and guidance of the Guru we cannot know the essence of the

truth, the unfathomable God lives in everyone. (AG 1093).

 

Guru Nanak was also practical and we must turn not only to the

concept of liberation but to the techniques which Sikhism advocates

for attaining liberation. "

 

1. The Sikhs: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices

Cole, W. Owen; Sambhi, Piara Singh, 1973, pages 79-82

Sussex Academic Press

ISBN-13: 9781898723134

ISBN: 1898723133