I have received several comments and some questions - on the blog as well as in personal email - regarding “Sakaar vs Nirankar”.
I feel obliged to answer and add my thoughts further on this topic - according to my understanding and personal experience.
1. I have only known Baba Hardev ji as my Satguru. and for almost 20 years I always prayed to him or with his picture in front of me or in my heart. I find it hard to accept the change. I know that Mata Savinder ji is Satguru now but whenever I pray or want to do Simran I think of Baba ji and not Mata ji. What should I do? Please guide. (NK)
2. The Sakaar is bound in space-time continuum and Nirankar is beyond that...the Guru is the medium through which we begin the path to the realization of such wisdom at which point there is no separation between me and Guru ... it's all ONE... (G Taneja)
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I see two points in this statement made by Taneja ji, a very learned young saint from Canada.
1
Undoubtedly, the Guru is the medium through which seekers can strive to know the Truth and achieve the final goal of life, that is ‘The Moksha’; the ‘Ultimate Freedom’.
All Gurus and most great saints of India have emphasized on the need of a ‘Living Sadguru’. Nirankari mission has also maintained this ideology from the beginning of the mission, and it has been taught / preached by the Gurus, most revered old saints and senior preachers of the mission as well. After Baba Avtar Singh ji transferred his ‘Jyoti’ or position of the Guru to Baba Gurubachan Singh ji in 1963, he used to emphasize “if you need anything then go to Baba Gurbachan Singh ji. He is the Guru now, not me. I don’t have any power anymore”.
Clearly, he wanted to turn our attention towards the right direction; towards the ‘Living, present Guru’.
He and other great saints of the mission always emphasized that we must respect all Holy Scriptures, the past Gurus and all great saints - read their precious ‘Banis’ and try to learn from them. But in order to receive the Gyana, one needs to approach a Living Guru; just like in order to get anything done in the material or political world, one has to approach a living officer, judge, teacher or employee of the concerned department. People from the past, even past prime-minister or president of the country cannot help anyone anymore. They further said that ‘past is past’; even if a person has left a month, a day or even moments before may not be able to help anymore. They used to apply the same analogy for spirituality as well.
Avtar Bani also says:
"बीते नूं ललचाइयाँ नज़रां नाल तकाना* माया ऐ" (शब्द 85)
“Beetay nu lalchaayian nazraan naal takaana* Maya ae”
To look at the past with longing - or the precise translation would be - To glorify the past to make others hearts and minds longing for it, is Maya – illusion or false and wrong. (Avtaar Baani - Shabad 85)
We are what we are today because of the past. The world, as it is now, is because of the past. We should remember and try to learn from the past but in order to live in peace, we must accept the change and live in the present.
We need a medium - Sakaar Guru to reach to Nirankar.
But Grace comes from the living Guru.
We should respect all past Gurus EQUALLY but have complete faith in the living Guru.
‘Rajan Sachdeva’
To be continued….
* Takaana .......... To show, to make others see, to convince others
I feel obliged to answer and add my thoughts further on this topic - according to my understanding and personal experience.
1. I have only known Baba Hardev ji as my Satguru. and for almost 20 years I always prayed to him or with his picture in front of me or in my heart. I find it hard to accept the change. I know that Mata Savinder ji is Satguru now but whenever I pray or want to do Simran I think of Baba ji and not Mata ji. What should I do? Please guide. (NK)
2. The Sakaar is bound in space-time continuum and Nirankar is beyond that...the Guru is the medium through which we begin the path to the realization of such wisdom at which point there is no separation between me and Guru ... it's all ONE... (G Taneja)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I see two points in this statement made by Taneja ji, a very learned young saint from Canada.
1
Undoubtedly, the Guru is the medium through which seekers can strive to know the Truth and achieve the final goal of life, that is ‘The Moksha’; the ‘Ultimate Freedom’.
All Gurus and most great saints of India have emphasized on the need of a ‘Living Sadguru’. Nirankari mission has also maintained this ideology from the beginning of the mission, and it has been taught / preached by the Gurus, most revered old saints and senior preachers of the mission as well. After Baba Avtar Singh ji transferred his ‘Jyoti’ or position of the Guru to Baba Gurubachan Singh ji in 1963, he used to emphasize “if you need anything then go to Baba Gurbachan Singh ji. He is the Guru now, not me. I don’t have any power anymore”.
Clearly, he wanted to turn our attention towards the right direction; towards the ‘Living, present Guru’.
He and other great saints of the mission always emphasized that we must respect all Holy Scriptures, the past Gurus and all great saints - read their precious ‘Banis’ and try to learn from them. But in order to receive the Gyana, one needs to approach a Living Guru; just like in order to get anything done in the material or political world, one has to approach a living officer, judge, teacher or employee of the concerned department. People from the past, even past prime-minister or president of the country cannot help anyone anymore. They further said that ‘past is past’; even if a person has left a month, a day or even moments before may not be able to help anymore. They used to apply the same analogy for spirituality as well.
Avtar Bani also says:
"बीते नूं ललचाइयाँ नज़रां नाल तकाना* माया ऐ" (शब्द 85)
“Beetay nu lalchaayian nazraan naal takaana* Maya ae”
To look at the past with longing - or the precise translation would be - To glorify the past to make others hearts and minds longing for it, is Maya – illusion or false and wrong. (Avtaar Baani - Shabad 85)
We are what we are today because of the past. The world, as it is now, is because of the past. We should remember and try to learn from the past but in order to live in peace, we must accept the change and live in the present.
We need a medium - Sakaar Guru to reach to Nirankar.
But Grace comes from the living Guru.
We should respect all past Gurus EQUALLY but have complete faith in the living Guru.
‘Rajan Sachdeva’
To be continued….
* Takaana .......... To show, to make others see, to convince others
I think another reason that we require a living Guru is because this world we live in is not static, on the contrary, it is progressive, dynamic and ever changing. New technologies, new points of view, new situations and new lifestyles are always showing up that make us question what we should do, how we should think and how we should implement our lives around them. If we rely on past teachings and writings, we will be relying on an interpretation of how to apply these old teachings on an issue that did not exist during the time when they were written. Then we rely on the interpreter.....and no two interpretations are ever exactly the same. With a living Guru there is no doubt as the relevance of the teaching or command. The living Guru is here during our life time, experiencing the situations with us, listening to our issues first hand and speaking directly to us using a language we can comprehend without an interpreter or middleman. Without this our thoughts will not progress, our spirituality will not grow and we be stuck in time and literally living in the past.
ReplyDeleteThank you Uncle Ji and Manminder Ji, very good points and article. What has happened is the "Idolization" VS " Idealisation" of the Living Guru. What I mean is although the Nirankari Mission is based on the Knowledge of the Formless God as the basis and source of the Universe, the focus goes on the Living Guru because it is very difficult to focus on Nirankar or Formless God because it is so "Sooksham" or Subtle. In Avtar Updesh, or Baba Avtar Singh jis vichars Baba Ji clearly states that Nirankar is the Power that does everything, anything you want or you want to happen ask God directly as even the Guru does only what Nirankar Wills. However, Baba Avtar Singh Ji then said the purpose of the living Guru is so you can serve God as the power through the Saints and Satguru, because they have a body and it is more tangible.
ReplyDeleteWhat has happened is, that the Satguru is the medium, example or Ideal of what we should be and we should obey and follow the Satguru. However the WORSHIP should be of the Formless God, it has always been that way. Although because it is so subtle any image to focus on Nirankar can help however, the end game is merger with Nirankar.
I also feel that yes we have to move forward an look at the present etc. But it takes time and we cannot force anyone to do anything. I would request the Prachar Department to realise this and instead of repeating that this is the Present Guru etc, the message should be Nirankar has always been our Satguru and always will be. The body is a medium only and we love, respect and adore it, however our real Satguru is the Brahm Gyan.
David Dhanoa.