In years of adversity, we stood as Khalsa. In adversity comes confrontation. In confrontation you have to meditate, whether you like it or not. Meditation is not what you do in the morning; that’s a practice. Don’t misunderstand: meditation does not belong to people who meditate. I have seen people who have meditated for years and years, and when a confrontation comes, they are the only ones who go berserk and everybody else goes normal.
There comes a day of test where you stand alone to test your own meditation and your own freak outs. Nobody’s going to meditate for you, and nobody’s going to freak out for you. Nobody’s going to sell you, nobody can do your public relations, nobody can tell you that you are a saint, nobody can tell you that you are a devil, nobody can tell you that you are good, nobody can tell you that you are bad. That person who is one with God, “Aad ant madh,” (Beginning, End, Middle) is where the reality of religion is.
But when adversity comes, automatically we meditate. We cannot survive through adversity without meditation. Meditation is a process through which you take your total self and your total pride and your total ego and your total spirit and you put it on the line. Meditation is not closing your eyes. That’s not meditation.
You don’t even understand meditation. Meditation is the power in the individual to take him through ALL adversities. And prosperity is a proportionate available of circumstances in which man has to practice to be together. Just understand, everybody freaks out when they are rich and happy. Nobody freaks out when they are struggling, because struggle itself is a very unifying factor. Challenge doesn’t come to small people. Great challenge comes to great people.
Guru Gobind Singh
When you are dead, what goes out of you? Spirit. Soul leaves you. When the soul leaves you, the sole purpose leaves you. The entire solar university is closed on you. This universe which has a university, it is run by the sun. It is the solar energy, it has the sole purpose, you have the soul and that goes off. You are the same person, as beautiful as you are today. But what do we do? We put woods, put you on, put fire underneath, and we feel happy. But there are those who are put on that fire pyre and they burn to ashes and out of the ashes their soul lives, phoenix rises out of the ashes. They are Amar (immortal). Aad, madh, ant. Their words stand. That is what you have got in Guru Gobind Singh.
You have got in Guru Gobind Singh a practical knowledge of transformation. Don’t love Guru Gobind Singh as a Guru. There are so many Gurus in the world and he’ll be one of the guru’s. If you do that, you will just drag your feet in the spiritual world. You won’t have what you want to have. But you are not Sikhs because a yogi came from India and gave you the message. You are not Sikhs because you want to be Sikhs. You are not Sikhs because it is a matter of convenience. You are Sikhs because you are destined to be Sikhs and you’ll remain Sikhs so long as you are destined. The day you will lose your destiny, give you a distance, you shall not be Sikhs. And there’s no regret to that. Play is a play. And God plays it. It is HIS chess game; nobody’s a part of it. But just understand, so long you are a Sikh, what is available. There is available a role, a model. There is available a profile. There is available a Zafarnama — the Song of Victory. It is a role, where Guru Gobind Singh wrote this Song of Victory to the emperor, when he didn’t have a blanket to put on himself. Look at the beauty of comparative study.
There is a role model available to you, and to every human being, in the one who has become one with God such as Rishi Dushtdaman*. There is a role model. Understand Guru Gobind Singh. Don’t just jump to conclusions. A Rishi who meditated at Hemkunt Sahib, the place where you go. When you go, you say, “Ahh, ahhh, it is so high up and God, it is so cold!” You go and dip and you run back. At that place there sat a man who meditated. In his own words he became One with God and God became One with him. He is a role model. It’s no lie. And God told him, “Go back to the world again, at my request.” And he said, “I don’t want to go.” It is between a father and a son. Son doesn’t want to go, and father says, “Go. You are the best, so you go!” What did he come back as? He comes as Guru Gobind Rai. That part in the history is always forgotten, never emphasized and never understood. Rishi Dushtdaman, who became One with God, absolutely got united, didn’t want to come to the planet earth. But look at the love! You have to understand the theory of love. What can be more love than when God is in the presence of you and you are in the presence of God? Is there any greater miracle that can happen? At that stage he was told, “No, you go! Do the job.” He comes back as Guru Gobind Rai, the Guru. At nine years old he becomes the Guru and is known as Guru Gobind Rai. Guru Gobind Rai, not Guru Gobind Singh.
Guru Gobind Singh
One man got to the height and became a rishi. That’s why you tie the rishi knot. This is in honor of Rishi Dushtdaman. This is in honor of Rishi Dushtdaman, the root, the soul of the Khalsa. That is the answer of why God gave man a beard and hair, and why man’s hairs are longest among all mammals. That answer is there. Because whereas Guru Nanak said, “Akaal Moorat,” Rishi Dushtdaman practiced to face God. And in that practice, Rishi Dushtdaman and God confronted each other. And God said, “Son, you go back.” He said, “No, I want to visit you.” It was an affair of love, of REAL love; not the love we make. A REAL love. He loved and he was responded with love. And union took place. And in that union he said, “I want to be with you.” And He said, “No. You want to be with me? Then go and do the job. You are the only one who can do it. I have waited three and a half million years to purify and crystallize what you are. Three and a half million years.” In the word of Guru Gobind Singh, he dictates the entire history of five thousand years. It is there he explains how stage to stage, this throne of Raj Yog continues.
He explains in his own words. And it does accurately verify with the history. So the God said, “I have taken three and a half million years. You have merged in me. You have confronted me. I have confronted you. Please do my job.” Every father will say, “What is in the Infinity is in the finite.” What is in burmande, soe pinde. What is in the universe is within you. There’s no two differences. He said, “Please do the job.” So then he was born as Gobind Rai. At nine years old, (look at the stages) he became Guru Gobind Rai. That’s not enough. That doesn’t work out. What worked out was when Baisakhi came. This line you should tell your children; this should be your bedtime story, this should be morning ardas: that Guru Gobind Rai, who was a perfect nirvana, sought, already God confronted-oriented-shaken-hands man, who got born under the Will of Guru, God Itself — as Guru Gobind Rai, became Guru Gobind Singh — he took a sword at this time and asked for a head.
From Rishi Dushtdaman came the second stage of Gobind Rai — a child born to be a Guru. A man born at the parallel line of destiny and fate. And he became Guru Gobind Rai. From Gobind Rai he became Guru Gobind Singh. That Guru Gobind Rai took five men’s heads and then dressed them himself, and gave them the bana. He gave them the Akal Moorat. Because as Rishi Dushtdaman, as the great yogi, as the great human and great excellence, he became one with God, he talked with God, he understood the command, he came and at that time he performed one act in his life, open and honest. “At the price, offer your head.” He said that. He reads it: “Jao tao prem khelan kaa chaao. Sir dhar talee galee meree aao. It maarag pair dhareejai. Sir deejai kaan na keeja” – If you want to play the game of love with me, and walk in my street of love, put your head on the palm of your hand, and walk into my street. If you cannot offer the head, you have no need to come in. (Guru Nanak Dev Ji).
Painting by Sewa Khalsa
And when those five came, what was in that five? Love. Love, one with God. Love, obeying the order of God. Love, serving the God. Love, creating the God. With his own hands he gave them bana. We never got anything, but first we got bana. He dressed those five himself, and then brought them out. Then all those who were in doubt, they said, “Heh, heh, heh, I should have offered my head. If I would have known in the tent that everybody’s going to come alive and so beautiful, so radiant, Hah! My God, I missed the chance, I missed the bus.” Bastante, because it was in their mind ‘bus’. Those five came. Guru Gobind Singh after 72 hours gave them the Amrit. Bana, bani. Decorated them, and told them, “You are Khalsa.” And then he kneeled before them. Guru kneeled before a disciple saying, “Now make me Guru Gobind Singh.” They said, “Hey, wait a minute. We gave you our head. Remember that day when the sword was saying, ‘I need a head.’ Remember that? We gave you head. We didn’t know whether we’ll be alive or not. We had at that time no relationship to death. We became deathless. We became Akal Moorat. You confirmed on us Akal Moorat. You gave us the bana. Now tell us what you will give.
Nothing is free in this world. Don’t be a free rider. Come on. First of all you are our Guru. Now what are you doing? Is this another drama?” He said, “No. It’s a humble request. I have kneeled before you. I have folded my hands with you.” They said, “You could give us the Amrit. Why do you want it?” He said, “Without having it, things don’t go right. The beast cannot be conquered. Make me the Singh.” They said, “What you will give?” He said, “I’ll give you my promise that I’ll keep giving and I’ll never stop giving. My head belongs to God, the righteous and the truth.” I say to you today that so long as one Sikh will live, sacrifice shall continue because they will never tolerate injustice. It is not in their genes. It is not in their product. They will always conquer death. They will always become deathless.
Knowledge cannot be achieved from outside. It is always within you. Happiness cannot be achieved from outside. It is always within you. Purity and piety cannot be achieved. It is always within you. Just understand what Guru Gobind Singh gave us. Akaal Moorat: deathlessness. He knew he had to drop his body. I know I have to drop my body. You know you have to drop your body. Why to stick to it? Go out, today, as sons and daughters of Guru Gobind Singh. As Sahibzada and Sahibzadi of Guru Gobind Singh. As a he and she of Guru Gobind Singh. With one message in your heart.
Read this lecture in it’s entirety at Sikhnet.com here.
© Teachings of Yogi Bhajan 3/21/89
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