By : Brother Weldek (U.K.)
Recently, during an early summer morning while exercising round a lake in the local park, I witnessed a drama, a dog that had been released by its owner, started chasing a duck. It was a big dog; so it must have used up a lot of energy in this pursuit. It selected just one duck out of the large population of wildfowl and just swam after it.
With only it's head protruding above the water, the dog swam up to the duck. As soon as it came within reach, the duck would flap it's wings and accelerate out of the range. And this was repeated again and again throughout the entire episode, zigzagging all over the lake. The dog ignored all the other ducks and geese; it just followed this one duck which was getting more irritated by the minute, but was obviously in no danger. The chase took on a different character when it passed through the roosting grounds of other birds, who then
began gibing the dog a good sound pecking and raising a general hullabaloo. It was around about this point that the dog gave up the chase and swam back to its much-relieved master.
As I sat there, I began to ponder over what I had just witnessed, and as I did so, I began to laugh. Anyone who would have witnessed this, would have thought me mad. But a realisation had dawned on me. Recently I had been involved in just such an activity. I had been pursuing my own kind of 'duck', and every time the object of my desire seemed within reach, off it would float. I also ran the risk of suffering a united front of resistance, Is this the behaviour expected of a Nirankari? Certainly not. Does not a Nirankari strive to shed his or her ego and live to serve humanity? Is not this sort of behaviour the complete opposite of the teachings of the Satguru? Of course, it is.
How often, does the pursuit of egotistical desire produce just such adverse results. One pursues an objective oblivious of the havoc caused in its wake, and even if one gains victory, the enjoyment is spoiled by the resulting enmity and hatred from all those hurt in the process. Yet this very same drama is enacted in one form or another in every cornet of the world. The sum total of which we can see 'a hell on earth'. People are even encouraged to behave this way; in fact, they regard it as a virtue. Anyone, who has reached a certain standard in this 'art', is esteemed and regarded as a role model for all to emulate. But it is a monstrous lie. Such souls and any that follow them are blind and ignorant. For there is a universal law that every action has a reaction and as sure as night follows day; reparations will have to be made.
Recently by means of technology the whole world was party to a spectacle so horrendous that it defies description. A host of supposedly advanced nations threw a lot of highly sophisticated bombs at another less 'advanced' nation, resulting in the indiscriminate wholesale slaughter of the citizens of that nation. And for what? How shamelessly did the perpetrators of this atrocity celebrate their so-called victory. With what glee and much rubbing of hands did the manufacturers of these 'wonderful' weapons congratulate themselves on their technological expertise. Yet, so great is their ignorance. They do not realise that these same bombs will return to them one day, perhaps not in the same form, but the result may be just as horrendous. Every day one has only to switch on the television to see scenes of what at one tine would have been regarded as unimaginable horror, yet humanity has grown so numb that hardly a comment is passed. Yet, these catastrophes are not the results of nature, but human activity. From time to time, under the burden of oppression, people have managed to unite and violently overthrow their tormentors with much bloodshed and subsequent suffering, and then the very means with which a temporary peace and progress is brought about, turn into even stronger shackles. The entire planet seems to be slowly smoldering and if this is not put out, a major conflagration may occur. How can all this madness be stopped? What is the cure?
Man is the cause, and man is the solution. Must the problem be solved by so much mutual destruction that man becomes extinct? Man must live in harmony not just with nature but also with his own nature. Man must learn to master and exercise control over the powerful emotions, which are indispensable to the dynamics of life. Instead of mutual exploitation, there must be mutual love. A lot of work needs to be done, but there is a solution.
The truth is that man is ignorant of his own nature and that is why man behaves worse than an animal. The only way out of this hell is for man to realize the TRUE SELF. Man is not in-charge on this planet. Man only has that illusion, blinded by ego. God is in-charge here. God is not an entity in man’s imagination. God exists here and is the TRUE SELF. All of life is God’s blessing and holy man’s ego is a lie and in contradiction with the harmonious process of life. But man has no perception of God. Therefore, he invents all manners of gods and even commits crimes in the name of God. There are some that take the position wrongly that God being unknowable, the question is not worth asking. But perhaps that is better than someone who does not know where he is going but insists everyone following his every step.
I was lucky enough to have met a man who actually did know God, and I got an introduction to God. It was the best ‘gamble’ of my life. I realize, I was blessed with this meeting and that without God nothing moves. God has blessed me with my life, given me a chance so to speak and instead of fruitlessly swaggering about and causing trouble, I ought to make myself useful. If God has blessed that dog in the park, that duck would have hopped into its mouth. The man I met was a Nirankari and in our time in is only through such as these that one can get an introduction to the TRUE SELF, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye; on fuss, on ritual.
A Nirankari is one who has been blessed with a lasting perception of God or Nirankar, which translated into English reads as Formless. The Revelation of the TRUE SELF is in itself miraculous: one transcends from ignorance and darkness into knowledge and light, like entering a new world: even a definite change of external circumstances, for one now lives in and surrounded by God and, therefore, one’s way of thinking changes.
To a Nirankari, God is a living entity: a Nirankari sees God in the same way as one sees the sun of one’s own relatives. A Nirankari has the perception of the true nature of God despite the fact the God is a spirit. The true role model for a Nirankari is the true role model for mankind. A Nirankari understands that all that exists and all that occurs are the blessing of God. Seeing only God everywhere, a Nirankari lives in harmony with and by the will of God. Submitting to the will of God, a Nirankari is, in turn, blessed by God: a true human being, a useful member of the species from whom springs the true salvation of mankind. The same laws apply to a Nirankari as do to the rest of mankind. But being shorn of ego, his actions do not result in chaos and destruction. After all, are not those the blessings that egoists, in their ignorance, really ask for? A Nirankari endeavours to be a servant of mankind instead of an exploiter of mankind, and without such a way of life, how can there be peace on earth.
In conclusion, I urge those, who have a thirst to know the TRUTH, to contact nearest Nirankari they know, seek him out if necessary, and they will not be disappointed; they will find a ‘permanent home.’