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| Guru Gobind Singh |
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December 26th, 2008
While preparing for the day, the thought on my mind was how peaceful my life has become after a lifetime of horrendous betrayals followed by greater and greater revelations, ever under God’s Protection.
Today’s Golden Temple Hukam confirmed these perceptions:
Sorath, Fifth Mehl:
The Lord is always with me. The Messenger of Death does not approach me. God holds me close in His embrace, and protects me. True are the Teachings of the True Guru. ||1||
The Perfect Guru has done it perfectly. He has beaten and driven off my enemies, and given me, His slave, the sublime understanding of the neutral mind. ||1||Pause||
God has blessed all places with prosperity. I have returned again safe and sound. Nanak has entered God's Sanctuary. It has eradicated all disease. ||2||24||88||
Guru Arjan’s words are guidance for my day, to maintain a neutral mind and feel cozy and well in my home, Guru’s sanctuary. It is the perfect scenario for working with the book, website, farmyard and household chores. It is still a holiday, so if the required work gets done, we will go out for another movie, one that friends told me of yesterday, about a man who ages backwards.
Aging backwards is a real process given through meditation on timeless subtle realms, known to me through Guru’s love, where years of stress and age are erased from one’s face and bearing.
Now to do my chores—washing the world with the Gurus, aging backwards; tending to the animals, cleaning out what I believe is a squeaking mice nest beneath a wooden file cabinet in Guru’s closet.
The source of squeaky baby mice was not found, but in washing the world and cleaning out the Guru's corner and related areas I found lost treasures meant to go into the book and special writings and photographs to go up on the website.
And the movie? It is three hours long. Fitting it in will be tricky with my other priorities. I’ll see what friends are doing tomorrow at the Bhog. Today I did what I had to do, not what I would have chosen for fun. It was necessary to stay home and wait for Dish Network folks to come by and adjust my satellite dish—or Golden Temple kirtan will be cut off once they go digital. They never called, never showed. Probably snowed in again in Albuquerque.
But so much got done! Wahe Guru! So rewarding! My office is now efficiently organized with essentials easily accessible and storageables in storage. All projects are set to dive deep into tomorrow.
December 27th
Last night I was so wired from reorganizing the office and personal papers, it took over an hour to fall asleep, even with laying on my belly with a double fist pressed into my navel, which usually does it! Guru filled my ocean, land and sky with beauty. Why to turn it off??? The work I had not wanted to do, but did anyway, was in the flow of God and meant to be.
I woke in time this morning to do Nit Nem Paath and prepare for the Bhog, and arrived in time for the Hukam.
Afterwards folks sat as usual in cozy circles in the Gurdwara by Guru’s alcove, pleasantly chatting.
Much of the conversation among my friends was about movies. They were surprised I liked Seven Pounds—others had walked out thinking it was a crappy storyline. But it was not difficult to defend—how the drastic message could be taken to a higher level of one’s life being a sacrifice for others. Sacrifice does not require death. It is selfless death of the ego. People admitted that through great sacrifices in life, great blessings are bestowed upon the world. Such sacrifice marked the lives of all the Gurus.
I no longer feel a need to see the movie about aging backwards. The only comment about its value was, “They did a seamless job of aging him into a baby, only the end was kinda sad.”
My inner movie is timelessly more enjoyable!
That inner movie turns inside-out with the energy of the Golden Temple of Amritsar. Guru’s kirtan reverberates in my soul. We meet inbetween, in the breath, through the formless Guru resounding everywhere in the air. In that realm of beauty my work took place, writing in my memoirs, entering new material onto my site, adjusting font and color inconsistencies on the website and in my life, my words and emotions. All of me is reflected upon those pages, a self creation, Guru’s creation, God’s Will.
The website is a window into my memoirs, replete with treasure albums of photographs that would not be feasible to have in the book. They have separate purposes, as will a DVD version, in which each Hukam will be coupled with the appropriate Raag.
Other work flowed into fulfillment afterwards—feeding the animals, washing the world, shopping for daycare groceries, doing Rehiras while cleaning the kitchen.
It was a good thing. That afternoon a sangat member hosted a special evening of remembering the four young sons of Guru Gobind Singh who were martyered in the space of a week, nobley not relinquishing their faith in the face of terrible religious persecution. There was to be recitation of Rehiras at 4:30 followed by stories, animated videos, songs and Langar, too.
When I arrived people were standing around talking. “Has Rehiras started yet?”
“Oh, tonight it’s digital. Listen!”
Yes, there was the sound of Cherdi Kala Jatha reciting Rehiras emanating from a shelf. Only one person sat with her Nitnem open, following along—a dear woman who has helped me along the way. She paid for my new iMac and Quark software, and asked only to receive repayment after the book is published, along with a copy of the book.
Other friends of mine came, a lovely Punjabi family that lives down the street and have had me over for dinners and Guru’s healing Ardas. The couple walked in with their two small children and hugged us but were unable to stay long.
They did not notice that a video was going on behind them depicting the bloody carnage of Sikh babies speared at the hands of laughing Moguls. Their children know of these happenings, but have yet to see such a vivid portrayal.
The Gurus were present, listening attentively to the stories of Guru Gobind Singh, his mother, Mata Gujari, and the four Sahib Zadas, deeply reminding my soul of those gallant, heroic times, when Guru Gobind Singh, having lost every thing dear to him, claimed victory!
Forced from his fort at Anandpur Sahib Guru Gobind Singh took refuge with his family, the five beloved ones and soldier saints in the small hill-top fort Chamkaur Sahib. Sikhs rode out on horseback five at a time to face Mogul troops numbered in the thousands. These brave Sikhs positioned themselves in an outward facing circle, fearlessly killing hundreds before being themselves slain, one by one. Included in the slaughter were Guru Gobind Singh’s two teenage sons.
After cutting off water and all supplies, the Moguls assured Guru Gobind and his remaining troops safe passage from the small Chamkaur fortress. To test their word, Guru Gobind Singh sent out a caravan of wagons filled with manure, covered with rich trappings, only to see them annilihated by Mogul forces.
With the Mogul’s ruse exposed, their emperor wrote a promise of clear passage, vowing with his hand on the Koran to keep, or be cut off from Allah his God. The emporer’s note was delivered to Sikhs at Chamkar Sahib held high over the carrier’s head, honoring the note as we honor the Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
Guru Gobind Singh was waiting for known reinforcements and did not intend to abandon Chamkar Sahib, but a Punj of five Sikhs convinced him otherwise. One man bore a great resemblance to the Guru. Adorned with Guru's turban and warrior apparal he stood in view of Mogul troops while Guru Gobind Singh, dressed as a Muslim Pir, and his family and beloveds left in the cold, black night. On foot and on horseback they slushed through a driving rain until they reached the Sirsa river at the foot of the hill. Here their paths diverged and all Guru’s belongings, passed down from the Gurus before him, were swept away by the force of the river—including the only copy of Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
Guru Gobind Singh wrote a declaration of victory while in the jungle, barefoot on thorny ground, upon learning of the deaths of his mother and two younger sons at the hands of Mogul treachery--his sons brutally bricked within a wall while still alive. In his statement he praises the Emperor for his bravery, for his rulership over vast dominions, great armies and riches, and adds that the Emperor is the one who has lost--neither is he a true Muslim nor has he any knowledge of God, for he did not keep his word.
No one knew where Mata Sahib Kaur was during those grueling days of trial.
Her spirit was thriving in Guru’s love unseen within the Five Beloved Ones, Guru’s children, his fearless warrior saints and within Guru Gobind Singh’s noble heart.
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