A Bit Closer

What's the chance this year will start and end 

the same way as the last? / Photo Credit: bennylin0724

New Year’s day was a very climatic occasion for me 8 years ago. On this day in 2000, I smoked a massive amount of cannabis. I’d already stopped drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and eating meat/fish/eggs by this point but cannabis was my favourite and therefore remaining vice. So I thought let’s go out with a bang. With The Satguroo’s Grace, I haven’t looked back since the…erm…big bang.

I’m living proof - a New Year can lead to a New You. There’s a mystical power behind it, a psychological catalyst which gives a unique impetus. We get to judge where we are, where we’re heading and if we like the thought of heading there. That’s the only time it’s actually worth something. Apart from that, with the drugs, nostalgia and noise removed, let’s be honest - it’s just another day. Another day bringing us a bit closer to death.

The Satguroo teaches us to challenge death head-on, and realise that it has no power over us. All those beauty products, which fight wrinkles and tired skin, all those younger fashions and all that make-up which will knock a decade off you; they all point to one thing. We all want to defeat death via its symptoms. We haven’t challenged it head-on.

Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh, one of the greatest sikhs of the 20th century,

photographed at the moment of mortal death - smiling.

We see our bodies change, we see death slowly but surely looming closer and closer, so we fight the way it manifests. We fight this fight every day yet we don’t acknowledge what we are truly fighting. The advertising industry blatantly plays-upon this. There’s a lot of money to be made out of such a common fear, such a universal insecurity. In this consumer ego-driven society, we are all too willing to play the game. Our bodies, to which we are so attached, are reduced to a house of death:

ਖਾਵੈਭੋਗੈਸੁਣਿਸੁਣਿਦੇਖੈਪਹਿਰਿਦਿਖਾਵੈਕਾਲਘਰੇ ॥
khaavai bhogai sun sun dhaekhai pehir dhikhaavai kaal gharae
He eats and enjoys, listens and watches, and dresses up to show off in this house of death.

ਬਿਨੁਗੁਰਸਬਦਨਆਪੁਪਛਾਣੈਬਿਨੁਹਰਿਨਾਮਨਕਾਲੁਟਰੇ ॥੫॥
bin gur sabadh n aap pashaanai bin har naam n kaal ttarae 5
Without the Word of the Guru's Shabad, he does not understand himself. Without The Everblossoming’s Name, death cannot be avoided. 5

ਜੇਤਾਮੋਹੁਹਉਮੈਕਰਿਭੂਲੇਮੇਰੀਮੇਰੀਕਰਤੇਛੀਨਿਖਰੇ ॥
jaethaa mohu houmai kar bhoolae maeree maeree karathae sheen kharae
The more attachment and egotism delude and confuse him, the more he cries out, ""Mine, mine!"", and the more he loses out.

ਤਨੁਧਨੁਬਿਨਸੈਸਹਸੈਸਹਸਾਫਿਰਿਪਛੁਤਾਵੈਮੁਖਿਧੂਰਿਪਰੇ ॥੬॥
than dhan binasai sehasai sehasaa fir pashuthaavai mukh dhoor parae 6
His body and wealth pass away, and he is torn by scepticism and cynicism; in the end, he regrets and repents, when the dust falls upon his face. 6

Ang 1014 - read complete shabad (verse)

I had no hope before sikhee. I was the worst kind of loser - a loser who thought he was winning. Who thought temporary pleasures and the temporary contentment they afforded was the point of life. A mind so lost in the search for pleasure that poison seemed sweet, and nectar tasted bitter.

The Satguroo offered me The Pinnacle, Perfect Enlightenment, and on The Path towards this, he has already blessed me with so many gifts. Faith in Him is evidenced, the gamble, the leap, has been justified over and over again. It's not a matter of faith any longer.

It’s a simple equation: You + The Satguroo = sikhee. So discard the experiences you’ve hard-wired amongst those neurones. Of caste and booze, of boys dating and girls not being allowed, of religious rituals and rules, corrupt gurduaraa committees, of wolves wearing sheep’s clothing, domestic violence and preachers angrily preaching. I’ve been there; I know how they stunt the seed of sikhee’s spirituality. But they can never kill it. Because your soul is the seed.

Make this a year for you to reclaim - reclaim the seed you may never have nourished, beg for the moment that will unfold an epiphany. You’re one year closer to death - why not use it to get a bit closer to The Satguroo?

( ( ( :- )>>> Atma Singh