To a devotee, Satguru is next only to God since it is He who has blessed him with divine realization and has decorating his life with all that is good, noble and blissful. He is conscious of the fact that whatever he is today and whatever he is not, it is because of the divine guidance and blessings of the Master. He is, therefore, always keen to be at the Satguru’s holy feet and feel blessed. No wonder, he would not like to miss an opportunity even if he has to travel hundreds of miles to meet the most beloved One i.e., Satguru.
This is exactly what had happened in the Middle East during the visit of His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj and his esteemed spouse Pujya Mata Sawinder Ji accompanied by Rev Harbans Lal Arora, Member Incharge, Foreign Department and Rev Puneet Ji, from Delhi, from January 4 to 14, 2012. As soon as the devotees received the information, they rushed to the place of the Divine Couples halt to seek their blessings. One can imagine the solace and the bliss derived by the devotees when they meet the Master thousands of miles away from His homeland.
Most of the devotees of the Sant Nirankari Mission in Middle East have left India in search of employment. Very few of them are settled there with their families. They have, therefore, to sanction a leave from their place of work to meet His Holiness. And fortunate are those whom Baba Ji blesses at their own places.
On their arrival from Delhi in Dubai, His Holiness, Pujya Mata Ji and other saints were received at the airport by Rev Gurnam Singh Ji and other devotees. Baba Ji blessed various devotees in Dubai and moved on to Kuwait on January 6. Here also He met and blessed the devotees at various places and returned to Dubai on January 9.
The highlight of this visit was Baba Ji’s meeting with the ruler of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) His Highness Shaikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi on January 12. Baba Ji apprised him of the Mission’s contribution towards universal brotherhood based on spiritual awakening, which the Shaikh appreciated a lot.
Friday, January 13 being a holiday from work, several devotees arrived in Ras Al Kahimah to seek the benign blessings of His Holiness. Besides Ras Al Khaimah, devotees came from Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Ajman. Some of them came from Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman also.
Blessing the devotees, His Holiness said: “Saints I feel very happy to meet you all here in Middle East after a gap of approximately two years. Sitting together in this congregation all of you are remembering and glorifying this Formless Supreme Lord, this Allah and also making an effort to take your life’s journey towards right direction by linking your mind with this Supreme Lord.
The new year commenced quite recently; all of us congratulate and wish each other good luck upon new year’s arrival. On this occasion we also pray so that we may also make every moment of our life beautiful; so that we may make our life fully useful; so that we do not let our life go waste; we may realize the full value of every moment of our life. To realize the full value of every moment of our life means to tread the path of humanity while living every moment of our life. All the saints, sages and prophets born in different times asked man to move in this very direction and humanity indeed is true religion. A poet has rightly said, ‘Dharam Hai Bas Insaan Hona, Koi Aur Dharam Imaan Nahi’.
But man does not live his life as a human; that is why he does not tread the path of humanity even when all the saints and prophets inspired man to do so. Today their is a lack of humanity; if such was not the case, the prevailing circumstances of the world would have been different; had humanity been alive, mankind would not have passed through hellish circumstances; there would have been a heavenly atmosphere upon earth; there would have been only love and people would have helped and embraced and wiped each other’s tears instead of condemning and exploiting each other on the basis of caste and creed. Had humanity been alive, men would not have looked at each other with a discrimination vision. It is this discriminating vision which makes man hate instead of love and condemn instead of embrace fellow humans. It is because of this very reason that others’ feelings are hurt by using and speaking hurtful words against them.
Such behaviour on man’s part makes saints’ efforts to pull man out of darkness, even more arduous and difficult. Saints have always made an effort in every age to teach man the true way to life a beautiful life. Saints’ message as we read in Holy Quran, Bhagwad Geeta, Ramcharitmanas or the holy words of innumerable other saints who came from time to time, made an effort to remove the prevailing darkness by pulling mankind out of innumerable doubts and delusions; so that inhumanity ends and humanity lives.
Those who are living presently are the ones who should understand this message; it is because they are the ones who can either make their life beautiful or destroy it. All that is happening in world happens only in present; we breathe only in present, what we breathe today is not last years’ breath! Similarly who are living presently in the world are the ones who have to decide what contribution can they make for the world; how should they think and behave and what feelings should they adopt to make this world a beautiful place to live in. When our present becomes beautiful, the future automatically becomes more beautiful. The prevailing atmospheric pollution, the speed at which jungles are being cut and earth being vandalized, makes us often say that we should also care and think about the future generations; if we do not control this pollution now in the present, the future generations will suffer tremendously! All of us want that our future generations should also live in a healthy and non-polluted world. So, it is only in the present that we can improve and mend our ways. Thos who are living in the present are the ones who can decide how they should live their life to make it beautiful.
A saint has said, ‘Parhit Saras Dharam Nahi Bhai.’ This is the definition of religion; this is what is called humanity. By doing others’ bad instead of good and harming others man proves that humanity has died even though man lives! Man’s identity and significance lies in keeping alive humanity; Unless the ‘essence’ lives, unless man’s feeling to do good for others lives, he is no better than a dead even though still alive! He is only a moving corpse! Often a corpse is buried in earth. But those who have still not attained a true life are also nothing but ‘walking corpses’! So instead of becoming a walking corpse and a burden upon Earth, man should live such a life whereby he makes this world a beautiful place.
It is the responsibility of every man irrespective of whether he lives in Middle East of Far East or Asian countries or other parts of the world. I studied Civics which told us that the most important factors needed to have a government in an area is the population; unless there is population, who will be governed! So, it is all the population of earth, the people living in all the countries who should live a beautiful life. In every country there live innumerable men who believe in religions as well as those who run the religion. It is the responsibility of all those who believer as well as those who run the religion to know what is the definition of religion as told by Gurus, saints and prophets; what are those virtues which make a religion worthy of being called a religion. And once again we come back to the same point, ‘Dharam Hai Bas Insaan Hona, Aur Koi Dharam Imaan Nahi’ – that religion means humanity which means the virtues love, kindness, compassion, brotherhood, tolerance, large-heartedness etc; as long as these virtues are there, religion is being practices and strengthened; in the absence of these virtues, by living with cruelty instead of compassion and narrow-mindedness instead of large-heartedness and hatred instead of love, those who are teaching as well as learning it, prove it themselves that they do not practice religion because being religious means to be truly human. ‘Daya Dharam Ka Mool Hai, Paap Mool Abhiman, Tulsi Daya Na Chhodiye Jab Tak Ghat Mein Pran’ – that compassion is the root of religion; just as a tree cannot live when its root gets cut or a building cannot stand once its foundation moves, similarly the edifice of religion can also not stand once the feeling of compassion is erased and forgotten.
That is why saints inspire man to analyze his life to see in which direction is he running; with every passing moment he is wasting away the capital of his precious life span; once lost, he will never regain this wealth; the time lost will never come back. So man should life his life imbibed with beautiful feelings; he should live every moment of his life in God-awareness while remembering that this is how all the saints, sages and prophets wanted man to live his life.
The teachings of all the saints and prophets are based upon love, compassion and tolerance; All of them wished to establish it upon Earth. And it depends upon man to fulfill this wish of saints. Quite often man performs certain actions with an aim to please the prophets; he reads and recites scriptures, undertakes holy baths and pilgrimages to please the Supreme Lord. Do we ever pause to think what was it that the saints considered utmost significant? Did they say that man could attain salvation merely by putting a large ‘Tilak’ upon his forehead or telling rosary beads or undertaking holy baths and reading and recitation while there was no love and large-heartedness in his life? Did the prophets wish this? Did the prophets give such a judgment that those who live in such a manner would attain heaven or attain a lofty status in God’s kingdom? No such thing is written anywhere? Rather all of them said that man attains a high status in the eyes of God when he lives with love, helps the downtrodden and fallen, given a smile to someone who is crying and helps rehabilitate those who are helpless and needy.
If man treads the path as shown by them and somehow cannot do holy bath and pilgrimages, he is still doing what is utmost significant and would be accepted by God. This is what man has to understand. And this is what man has somehow not been able to understand despite the passage of so many centuries. The reason for the prevailing atmosphere of the world is because man does not understand this significant aspect.
Today, all the saints gave this message in the congregation and spoke about Truth, how we should live our life and bring glory to religion, saints’ sages and bring glory to religion, saints’ sages and prophets’ name, how we can make this Earth a beautiful place to live upon. All men should not only pay serious attention to this aspect but also think and act according to saints’ teachings i.e., we should live with love instead of hatred, be humble instead of proud. In every age man has nurtured pride and ego either in the name of religion or caste or creed or wealth or power or intellect. Saints have always said that pride has always sunk and pulled man down from his lofty status. And God also does not link pride; ‘Har Ji Hankaar Na Bhavai’ – God does not like ‘I’. A saint has said, ‘Mein Meri Tu Mat Kar Meri Mool Vinaas.’ Another saint says, ‘Jad Mein Tu Bann Gayi Taan Gal Ban Gayi’ – that when this ‘I’ becomes ‘You’, when this ‘I’ is erased and surrendered to ‘You’, only then was the task truly accomplished. As long as the ‘I’ continues and does not change us ‘You’, nothing is attainted. Attainment is possible when we adopt ‘You’ and leave this ego. Looking at man’s tall proclamations about his achievements, Lord Jesus Christ had to remind man that despite all his achievements, man still was unable to stop his black hair from greying! Based upon his thinking that he can do anything, mand nurtures pride; he also feels proud on account of his higher caste, creed and beliefs! But saints tell man to not to nurture pride since all men are same. ‘Paanch Tatva Ka Putla, Nanak Mero Nao’ – since all men are made of similar five elemets, how can one man or one caste be higher than the other? There is no sixth element involved! Everyday innumerable children are born in this world; does any newborn child’s body have a special sign or mark to indicate his caste, creed, language or religious faith? No, there is no such mark; all get born as a human! It is only man’s ignorance and delusions and wrong thinking which makes man deluded and nurture pride on various accounts. A proud rich man often shooes away a poor man and turns his back towards him. But the same rich man does not know that his wealth will not always accompany him.
But those who erase their ignorance also rise above every delusion; they do not nurture pride either on account of their body or mind or wealth or other factors; they always nurture pure feelings and live in thankfulness. Pride is nurtured by those who live in delusion, instead of ‘You’, they remain fixed only upon their ‘I’. That is why they never attain a lofty status. They live all their life only in their misunderstanding and delusion and consider themselves a ‘doer’ as well as significant and superior. For this reason saints asked man to live a virtuous life wherein there is not place for hatred, pride, narrow-mindedness and bitterness of mind. They hoped that man would live his life imbibed with virtues.
Saints also spoke to man about another important aspect; to redeem his soul after getting born as a human upon this Earth; to unite the soul with its Source, the Over-soul. It is because of this attainment that a birth in human species is considered utmost fortunate. It is the most important task for man to illumine his soul with light of God-knowledge to remove its ignorance and delusion. Because of ignorance the soul does not know its True Identity. That is why it is said, ‘Know Thyself’. The soul should know its True Self and realize its Source and Know that it is a part of Supreme Lord; self-realization through God-realization. ‘Self’ does not mean one’s physical form; True self is our soul; so self-realization through God-realization. ‘Know God Ye Worship’. It is through the knowledge of God that the soul attains self-realization. Unless the soul knows its Source, it cannot attain Self-realization; it will remain bonded in delusion; it will continue going through births and deaths. It will continue going round in the cycle of life and death just as an ox tied to a pole continues going around it while thinking that it has covered a great distance since it has walked a great deal; of course it has walked a great deal but still it has not reached anywhere! Walking is different from arriving. Here we use the word ‘arrival’ for those who attain God-realization and then self-realization through it. Only then will the soul’s darkness and delusion be erased and it’s bondage of life and death end; only then will it attain salvation and become One with God; only then will it rise above physical forms.
For man to attain salvation, he should know God. Mere reading and recitation will not do, unless the truth is known, salvation is not possible. So man should know this Truth which is worth knowing. Bhagwad Geeta implores man to know this Truth which is worth knowing which is neither born nor dies. Only its knowledge can give salvation. Saints tell man that every moment of his life invaluable because of this reason. With every passing moment man’s gift of a certain life-span as give by God, diminishes. Saints ask man to realize the utmost value of this opportunity given by God and attain salvation by attaining the Knowledge of Truth. The wealth of man’s life-breath is invaluable; this human body is a golden chance given by God to man to redeem his soul. Man proves his foolishness when he does not realize the true value of his human life and wastes it upon vices and evil actions while living with greed, avarice, hatred, jealousy etc; once death overtakes, man will not be able to make this attainment. It is now while he is still breathing that man can attain salvation.
May God give strength so that all of you continue treading the path of humanity and spreading love. May all the people of the world live with beautiful feelings to make this world a beautiful place to live in.”
