Remedy

The Mission describes it as pollution of mind and suggests that it should be cleansed from within. The very thinking of man which has become vicious with adverse feelings of hatred, jealously and discord, must change. It is convinced that even if produced, no weapon by itself can cause any harm; it will become dangerous only when some human mind overwhelmed by negative thoughts and feelings takes the charge and operates it. Hence the remedy to the human tendency towards hatred and violence lies in taming the mind and bringing it to the path of truth leading to love, peace and understanding.

In order to imbibe the sublime human qualities, righteous traits and moral values, one must get united with their source i.e. God. So long as the man’s actions and pursuits are determined by his own mind, intellect and wisdom under the overall command of ‘ego’, he is bound to give preference to what is visible even though perishable. The soul will remain subdued and veiled from what is true, permanent and steadfast i.e., God. This is where the Mission helps one and all, with the blessings of the True Master, presently His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj. Once God is revealed, the soul meets its source, the super-soul and emerges from the veil of darkness into the realm of divine light. Automatically, it takes the charge of all that one thinks and does. The mind, intellect and wisdom surrender in its favour and so does ‘ego’. In fact ego bows out, along with all its manifestation i.e. hatred, jealously, ill-will and so on. Now there is love, cooperation and understanding; there is peace. And once there is peace within, the calm prevails outside also.

A spiritually enlightened person realises the Fatherhood of God leading spontaneously to the brotherhood of mankind. He or she finds the image of the one and the same Supreme Father in every human being. The whole human society thus stands unified into one world-family, universal Brotherhood. And with this the very attitude of man stands transformed from hatred into love, jealously into cooperation and violence into non-violence. All that is created by God looks beautiful, charming and truthful. There is no intention to violate it, destroy it.

Tolerance

In order to tackle the demon of communal hatred and religious intolerance, the Mission explains that God created all as human beings. Their religion, if at all, should be humanity, the religion for all. All religions known to the world are man’s own creation. Even then, they should have no reason to clash, as God they seek to worship, adore or praise is one and the same. God may be given different names in appreciation of the vast variety of the Divine traits, but that should not mean that we have as many Gods, different for different groups of people inhabiting different parts of the world, subscribing to different religious faiths and belonging to different sects, castes or communities.

Truly speaking, all religious faiths do recognise that God is one, formless, omnipresent, all-pervading, eternal and infinite. But when it comes to God worship, different people follow different ways. Some go to one place or worship while others go to some other. At times, they undertake long and hazardous journeys because they have faith in a particular shrine. They sit in penance by the side of water or fire. They read and recite holy scriptures—different for different faiths. And the most important fact is that each dislikes the others, so much so that there is hatred, jealousy and, many times, violence. Perhaps there would have been no problem if they had chosen to follow their own path and feel blissful. But they run down each other, which leads to conflict. According to one estimate violence flamed by religious intolerance has caused more loss of life than all other wars in the world; and it is further believed that more than 95 percent of the wars were related to religious intolerance directly or indirectly.

The Mission seeks to help such people by explaining to them that following different modes of worship does not mean that we have as many Gods. Hindus do not have an exclusive God of their own, different from that of Muslims, simply because they worship Him in a temple and not in a mosque, Rama is not different from Allah, God or Whaeguru; they are different names given to one and the same Supreme Entity; and they are all equally loveable, respectable.

It is, therefore, pointed out here that one must know God before adopting any mode of worship. Even Lord Christ advised man to ‘Know God Ye worship’. Once God is know from the one who is already familiar with the Divine Secret i.e. the True Master, there shall be no clash, no dispute no controversy—whatever the name, whatever, the place used for remembering God. The Mission tells its followers that realising the presence or existence of God all the time everywhere and remembering the Almighty in all circumstances is the best mode of God worship, rather devotion to God. And this can be adopted by any individual irrespective of his or her religious faith. Tolerance on this account shall be spontaneous, automatic. There will be on reason, no ground to run down one another or come into clash. There will be peace within and harmony outside.

The Mission considers any dispute in the name of religious faith, the great spiritual masters and holy scriptures as futile. It tells the world that we must show respect and reverence to all saints, Gurus and prophets and value all religious scriptures as precious treasures of God-knowledge. The Mission’s emphasis is, however, on practical approach to their teachings. After God-realisation, one worships God by submitting to the Divine will and not merely b reciting the Divine Name. A devotee cannot be True to his or her faith unless he or she acts on the teachings of the spiritual master he or she believes in and the principles enunciated in the holy scripture he or she reads or worships.

Similar is the Mission’s approach to rites and rituals, which unfortunately tend to differentiate one religious faith from the other. It explains that all human effort by way of repeating God’s name, sitting in silent trance or penance by the side of fire or water, undertaking pilgrimages, taking holy dip and other religious practices will have no meaning unless and until one knows the God one worships. And, once God is realised, there will be no disputes whatsoever based on these rites and rituals.

Tackling Ego

The Mission seeks to tackle the devil of ego, where it springs from. It tells its followers that all worldly assets should be treated as ultimately belonging to the Supreme Giver, God. These may include physical strength, intellectual ability as well as material wealth. Man should treat himself as a trustee. He should make use of the same so long as ordained by the divine will. He should at no time declare himself as the ultimate owner or the doer.

Once this is understood, man will never take pride in whatever he possesses, including physical strength, intellectual ability and material wealth. Since he has surrendered the idea of being their owner in favour of the Almighty, he will have no reason to be proud. He will be convinced that all that visible, all worldly wealth, is a false shadow and not permanent. He will, therefore, not look down upon those who are less fortunate. Nor he will envy those who happen to be richer and wealthier than himself. On the other hand, he will be grateful to God for making him ‘the trustee’ of whatever is at his disposal. He will feel contented and hence happy.

Similarly, a man with lesser possessions will not complain of poverty. He will not feel jealous of those who happen to be more fortunate. He too shall feel contented with whatever he has at his disposal. He too shall, therefore, be happy. In both the cases the real happiness will flow from Divine knowledge, the realisation of the presence of the Formless One everywhere, all the time and in every object—animate as well as inanimate. As often pointed out by Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj, here Janak is not happy because he is a king and has all the worldly wealth at his command, nor Kabir’s lacking in worldly comforts is a hindrance to his happiness. The two are equally happy because the source of happiness is the same treasure of wealth of Divine knowledge.

Going a step further, this principle will help its subscriber or follower to eschew the sense of greed and passion. He will not exploit others in the race for becoming more prosperous and feeling superior. Naturally, He will neither have tension for himself, nor cause it for others. Since there will be no clash, there will be no animosity, no discord, no conflict, no suffering, no sorrow.

This Mission further says that one should not be proud of one’s caste, creed and colour and discriminate against others on this account. Somebody’s faith in a particular religious faith or the mode of worship should not become a reason for looking down upon him or her as inferior. When Truth is one and the same, why should the seekers quarrel or fight? They should rather love each other and co-exist in a spirit of equality and fraternity. One should appreciate that all human beings are the creation of the same Almighty. They should, therefore, be loved as such without any consideration whether one belongs to one religious faith or the other. Even otherwise, religious faith, whatsoever its nomenclature, should unite people and not divide them.

So, this principle being suggested by the Mission to its followers also seeks to save them form the evil of pride and promote communal harmony, religious tolerance and social understanding. Once all human beings are looked at as God’s children, the very reason for discrimination and hatred does end, giving place to love, goodwill and peace.

Similarly, one should not hate or criticise others on account of their diet, dress and culture, declaring one’s own as superior and pride-worthy. The Mission is convinced that such diversities are bound to exist, because they are dictated by Nature through different climates. Moreover, what one eats, drinks or wears is related to the body, having nothing to do with the soul. One may, therefore, eat, drink or wear what one likes, but in no way it should become a reason to be proud. One should not preach one’s own choice and thrust it upon others and thus add on to the dimensions of discord, tension and conflict.

In fact, no uniformity can and should be imposed on this account. Human unity can be realised in spite of these diversities. In a way, when one rises above different religious ideologies, he or she should have no problem in tolerating any dress and food habits, which are bound to very from region to region. One must value the soul, which cannot be defiled by anything one eats, drink or wears.

Notwithstanding this ideal approach to food and dress habits of others, the Mission, however, advises its followers to refrain from taking any kind of intoxicants. It considers the same as the root cause of various social evils. It means that one must avoid the evil, but posses no feeling of hatred towards others on this ground.

There is a general feeling that God cannot be realised unless one gives up one’s domestic life and all the responsibilities it carries. There are instances where we see people becoming ascetic or recluse just because they are keen to know the spiritual truth. They think that unless they sit in silence penance and meditate in a lonely place in forests or in the hills, they cannot be counted among the devotees of God. The Mission, however, proclaims that God can be realised while performing normal duties of daily life, the only effort required being to seek the shelter or the one who has already know God, i.e. the True Master. One should not run away from his or her responsibilities towards self, the family and the society at large on this pretext and become a burden on others. The Mission believes that one must behave like a responsible citizen and work hard, earn his or her own livelihood and save as much as he or she can for the service of the community or the mankind. Secondly, it does not favour becoming an ascetic or recluse because this is also likely to make one egoistic and proud. One may think oneself to be superior as a ‘devotee of God’ and condemn others rather hate them as ‘sinners’ who to perform all kinds of duties of a householder, pleasant and unpleasant. So, here again the Mission seeks to attack the evil of ego and pride by persuading its followers to make their life purposeful and useful not only for themselves, but others also.

COMPANY OF SAINTS

Whereas the Mission does not propose to offer a new religion to a seeker of truth, whereas it gives full freedom to stay with one’s religious faith, and whereas it shows respect to all such faiths and holy scriptures, the only advice it gives to its followers is that one should spend as much time in the company of saints as possible. This will make the devotee’s faith in God steadfast and safeguard him or her from all kinds of worldly hazards. It also inspires the participants to serve the fellow-devotees and others selflessly. Today the Mission is organising congregations at different places throughout the world and millions are taking advantage.

A Nirankari congregation centre or Satsang Bhawan is, however, not a place of worship. It is a house like any other house in the locality, the only difference being that it is open to one and all who seek to know the Truth, perceive God and praise the Almighty.

Experience shows that a person in the company of the True Master and fellow—devotees will not think of anything that may make him or her clash with others. He or she will be praising God and expressing gratitude to the True Master who has bestowed the divine light upon him or her and made life meaningful, purposeful and useful.

TRUE MASTER

All agree that only an enlightened soul can help another soul to realise the super-soul, God and enjoy the bliss of the way of life discussed above. And here is the True Master, the Nirankari Baba, who shows us the way to know the Truth and associate the Almighty Nirankar, the Formless God, with all our thoughts and actions. Every seeker of Truth is welcome here, notwithstanding his or her religious faith, caste, creed or colour, social status etc. The message here is that of love, humanity, peace and prosperity. This has already endeared the Sant Nirankari Mission to millions in India and abroad. Everywhere the Nirankari Baba has been welcomed as apostle of peace.

TURNING POINT

Today, the mankind has reached a turning point. Going straight or continuing the journey of life on the path of falsehood, hatred jealously, cheating and exploiting, suppressing and oppressing, clash and conflict, it may fast approach a total collapse. As we have seen, the world arsenals are fully equipped to supply the arms and ammunition; man has only to trigger them off. This is the way leading to moral degradation and degeneration of noble feelings of love, peace and tolerance. This is the way where one fails to find unity, equality and fraternity. Treading this path, one may be found in pursuit of what is illusion, unreal and perishable, thus gaining no lasting happiness.

The other way is, of course, the way being shown by the Nirankari Baba and his Mission, the way of Truth, love and peace. This is the way of tolerance, amity and unity. Here man is contented with what he has. He is liberated from ‘fear and want’ as also the ego and the ills that it broods—jealousy, hatred and violence. This is the way that makes man a man; this is the way where one does not come across any discrimination. This is the way where every consideration is given to the fundamental human right, worth and dignity, social progress and better standard of life’—all that the world has been aspiring to achieve through the UN Charter and other measures. Here the effort, however, does not involve any stress and strain, toil and tears, simply because the route adopted it that of spiritual awakening. Peace here is found within, so that calm prevails outside automatically. The effort towards world peace and prosperity has, therefore, better prospects of success here than elsewhere.

The choice is with the present generation. If we want to deface this earth by nuclear weapons and be cursed by the generations, if any, that succeed, we may continue the journey, the pursuit of Mammon and face the disaster. Otherwise, we may follow the Nirankari path, the path of realising God, knowing the Supreme Father and living as one human fraternity enjoying all the benefits of unity and equality. His Holiness, Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj is here to bless us all with the Divine Light that will enable us to see the image of God in every human being and extend love, respect and cooperation to one and all.

And let us not forget that the time at our disposal is quite limited. The world is already on the verge of destruction. And luckily, the alternative is also here, within the reach of all. We have only to make the choice and make ‘The Choice Today’.