By: Robin Mitra (Australia)
God-knowledge is awareness (bodha) of God. When Prince Siddhartha of Kapilavastu became aware of truth more than 2,500 years ago, he came to be known as 'The Buddha'. It is the awareness, that all desires and cravings lead to sorrow (dukha). The mind, body and wealth, which contribute to the fundamental basis of ahamkar (the I-maker), are but ephemeral; it is the superfluous gimmickry of Maya, which the Buddha called Mara (the Evil, the tempter, the destroyer, the God of lust, sin, death, etc.). Similarly, Sage Valmiki when he was feared far and wide as Ratnakar, the Dacoit, could only utter 'Mara' instead of Rama when coaxed by Sage Narada to give up his malevolent life. In utter ignorance, both his mind and body were then indulged in the illegal accumulation of wealth. In this context it is deemed worthy to be mentioned that the first tenet of the Nirankari Mission emphasizes the surrender of mind, body and wealth to the Master. They are the hosts of Mara, which ensnares us deeper into the phenomenal waters of the sansara (world) with the delusory sense of ' I ' and ' Mine', as a result, we fetter ourselves in false ego and self-imposed limitations. The Satguru (True Master) , never negated the sansara. In fact, the benevolent Satguru, out of compassion to protect us from the destructive clutches of Maya (materialism), always emphasises the utilisation of mind, body and wealth as 'Thine', not 'Mine'. Maya is a good slave but a bad master. Like the façade of a building, the ' I ' may express itself through personality (one of the many aspects of Name and Form). Personality comes from the Greek word persona, which literally means a 'mask' that was worn by the actors in ancient Greece to mimic another. Through personality we codify ourselves as an adaptation to the existing society. The sense of ' I ' and 'Mine' is tremendously resilient and is bound to return again and again to disturb the primal repose of the mind, however hard one may endeavour to get rid of this sense. Many of us are aware of the mind chattering in the backgrounds. It 'chatters away' until our fears, doubts and worries are turned into a phantasmagoria of a lunatic. Therefore, constant vigil is indispensable. Ahankara (the I-maker) is very subtle in nature and may strike all mortals. Leafing through history we shall find even great religious personalities being swayed by 'I', one time or the other in the course of their life.
A devotee is likely to turn egoist because of the service he renders. Egoism is, indeed, a subtle malady that may strike him unconsciously.
-Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji
(Precious Pearls, 1992)
Perhaps Abhimanyu (The proud), the nephew of Lord Krishna and the scion of the mighty Arjuna, can serve as a good example. His pride and false confidence in the strategies of warfare got him Ensnared in the chakravyuha (the round stratagem), which eventually led to his death in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Thus, just as a tiny drop of ink in a tumbler full of water spreads out slowly until all the water takes on a different hue, the phantom sense of ' I ', eventually, forges the chains that ensnare the mind into a pit of misery and weaken the physical body. For, accumulation of negative attitudes and emotions through time can drastically affect the immune system, which functions in consonance with the endocrine system and its interaction with the autonomic nervous system. If one harbours the notion that the sense of 'I-ness' and the consequent desires can be negated, denied or suppressed by a supreme effort of the will, one is sadly mistaken, for the force of will being yet another dimension for the mind, is a conflict in itself, which, in turn will envisage every possibility of inflating the ego .
Thus the concept of 'extinguishing' the sense of ' I ' and thereby fettering the unruly impulses of the mind has been the unequivocal motive of all spiritual quests through the centuries. In this context the Nirankari Baba has always asserted that if the sense of ' I ' cannot be altogether annihilated, let it remain as the servant of the Nirankar (God Formless), so that there is a perpetual sense of 'Thy-ness' and our actions free from the stains of egotism and hence devoid of the karmic (past deeds) debts, which the Bhagavat Gita emphasizes as 'Action in Inaction' .
To a modern biologist, who according to the concept of natural selection, which works on genetic variation to bring about substantial evolutionary change, may, in fact, comprehend a strong sense of ' I ' in all humans and other living species as an important factor in the genetic blueprint for self-preservation. For him a strong ego is a necessity to survive in this 'concrete jungle' where the values of 'grab and take', selfishness and individuality, superior intelligence and strength are biologically meaningful to weed out the misfits as a means of "the survival of the fittest" in the ladder of social evolution . In this way, all life is thus selective and has since existed on this planet for almost four billion years.
But woe to the strong sense of ' I ' and 'Mine' which has soiled the mind of humanity and poisoned the wellsprings of life. Instead of preservation, our planet stands at the brink of extinction today. Pesticides have bio-magnified at the top of the food chains, the ozone layer had been punched with holes, and, as a consequence of nuclear explosions, radioactive fallout bombard our environment. The tempo of chaos in the name of religion alone stands as a living witness to the testimony of degradation of human and moral values. Thus it may be worthwhile to ponder: "Does this supra-gigantic process of biological evolution through millions of years serve only to optimise the conditions necessary for the continuation of life on the face of this planet or does the biological evolution in resonance with spiritual evolution aid the manifestation of the higher self ?" Although no physical or purely materialistic or a scientific explanation can be ascribed for the above question but the answer gradually dawns within oneself with vivid clarity after the attainment of the Brahm Gyan (God-knowledge), which unfolds the purpose of our presence on this planet:
Ek ko jano, Ek ko mano, Ek ho Jao.
(Know the one, believe in the One and be one):
This us the basis of spiritual evolution.
Through Brahma gyan the Master cuts asunder the veil of Maya (illusion) and reveals the One, the Primal Truth, to the aspirant. The aspirant then realises the One, becomes one with the One, transformed and ultimately merges in the One, during the curse of which seva (selfless service), satsang (Congregation) and Simran (God-remembrance) serve as powerful instruments to aid his evolution into higher realisaion. It is a state of awareness (bodha), of illumination, of liberation (moksha0, of victory, of transcendence over the transitory. The supremacy of the puny " I " is shattered. Brahma Gyan installs love for humanity, where the mind is weaned away from the superficial fantasies of all forms and their attachments. One is liberated from the trammels of the world whilst living amidst the murky floods of ignorance and passion. As Jesus said: ‘Be in the world but not of the world.’ Quoting the couplets of Kabir:
Ab to jaiya chadhe singhasan
mil bo sarang pani
Ram Kabira ek bhai
koi na sakey pahchanee.
(I have risen high and integrated with God: God and I are now one).
- Adi Granth, P.969
It is the Kali Yuga or the Dark Age, the age of psychological torture steeped in anxiety and disintegration of human morals. The beacon of Truth, the Sadguru is here and ‘Operation Moksha’ is in full swing. Let us awake from the slumber of ignorance and not fervently cling to the negation ‘Truth does not Exist’. The Truth is ever present; it was present and shall always be present, both without and within. The Truth is the ‘Self’. It is the common heritage of humanity. All we need is the ‘Wisdom Eye’ to behold it and the Satguru (True Master) to introduce us to it through the token of Brahma Gyan (God - knowledge).
The human eye can see everything except itself. To see it, one needs a mirror. Similarly, one can ‘see’ one’s real self only in the mirror of God-knowledge.
Baba Hardev Singh
(Gems of Truth, 1995)