Yogi Bhajan Lecture Archive
Lecture by :
Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogi Ji
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Lecture on: 10/16/1989
Category: Gurdwara
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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Birthday of Guru Ram Das Ji


WAHE GURU JI KA KHALSA, WAHE GURU JI KI FATEH!

Today we have assembled to celebrate the divine essence of Guru Ram Das. Not only we are blessed that we have walked on this path, but we have realized it, as human beings. I am not talking of the politics. I am not talking of the virtues. I am not talking of those who have every possession in the world but they are very empty inside. I am not talking of those personal people who think they have reached God, and God is in the palm of their hand. I am not talking of those who sell God and I am not talking of those who compromise spirituality because of the pressure. I am talking of the essence of that dignity and that divinity which Guru Ram Das represents.

Guru Ram Das has a special place in the heart of all of us. Because you have to understand... Sikh religion does not mean anything at all if there is a personality problem, or if there is a personality worship, or there is a personality to adhere to. The fundamental of Sikh religion is very simple, because what we have here is the Shabad Guru. It will never change. We may change or not, that's our problem. We may understand or not, that's our insecurity, our bad luck. We may not have that knowledge. We may try to pretend that with our force and with our might we can overrule things. But what a wonderful situation it is that we have Guru which will say the same thing that it said on the day one, what it says today, and it always will say.

This is the beauty where every man can rejoice, where every man can understand. Guru should be one who should take you from darkness to light, but Guru should not be a person or a place or a thing which can change it to a status. It is status of all statuses. It is the ultimate refuge of the mankind and that's what Siri Guru Granth represents today. We don't understand. We still call it "holy book." That is very naive on our part. We don't understand the greatness and the grace of the word spoken and said, and recorded and written.

We have problem finding in ourselves the satisfaction. There are millions of ways in which mankind can always find satisfaction. There are a lot of feelings, there are a lot of emotions. There are a lot of desires. I was talking to somebody on the telephone today and she said, "I brought a dish and a wish on the day of Guru Ram Das' birthday. It didn't happen. Should I bring the dish and the wish today?" I said, "It did happen." "How you know? You don't know the wish of anybody. And you don't know what dish I took there." I said, "There's nothing to worry about. You took a few pizzas and put before Guru Ram Das. And your wish was that your boyfriend should come through. And in seven days he left you totally." She said, "How you know?" I said, "No, you have now questioned it therefore I have to tell you. It is not a question. If you had not asked... provoked... I might have let it pass, but now you have challenged the status therefore I have to tell you, status is true.
You brought a few pizzas and you came that day and you wished that your boyfriend should come through. Is that true or not? First tell me that." She said, "Yes, that's true." "And then within one week he left. Good-bye to you forever." She said, "That is true, too." I said, "Now tell me, are you lucky or unlucky?" She said, "I am lucky." I said, "Look, Guru worked. Now you want the Guru to work YOUR way. That is not the problem, that is not the question. You ask Guru a question, 'Fulfill my wish.' Now how can he fulfill in a wrong way? He filled it perfectly. And you can never be sorry for it." She said, "I never understood it." I said, "That is the Western difficulty. It has nothing to do with the East." You want the way YOU want, but on the other hand your aggressiveness, your faith, your desire shall make it prevail.

The world shall come to an understanding, and that's what is going to happen, that we, a handful of Sikhs when we'll reach in ourself the purity and piety, when we will have the dignity and the divinity, when we'll have the essence of one single line: "Ang Sang Wahe Guru," when we'll understand in the all realms of our tattwas, in our chakras, in our gunas, in our being, in our projections, in our rejections, in our pain, in our pleasure, in our richness... when in all that we reach ALWAYS for Guru Ram Das, there's nothing we should worry about. Our affairs will be adjusted.

I understand. I understand you that you want certain things. I know everybody wants certain things. It's not wrong to want certain things. But when you want something and as the God and Guru adjust it, then you accept it. That is the beauty of the man. The difference between animal and man is only very simple. When a man desires something, his state of ecstasy, in micro consciousness to macro consciousness to his magnetic field, has the projection of that attraction but under no circumstances it is finalized, because the entire divinity in its own projection correlates to it, but when an animal desires something, it is one pointed. Either it gets it or it does not. Our totality is sometimes so limited, our desires are sometimes so few, that even the birds laugh at us: "What are these humans doing?"

What is happening in the Western world is very beautiful. First time man has found out that he can worship something which is steady, steadfast, clear, pure and conscious. First time! There's no man here. No man ever shall be. That's the beauty of Sikh Dharma. A poor person can come and bow before Siri Guru Granth. A rich person can come and bow before Siri Guru Granth. He may understand or not understand. This is first time that we have to understand that even if we are very wise... if we put all the bibles on the donkey we are not going to get priest out of him, and if we collect all the priests in the world, we are not going to get Christ out of him. It is a question of consciousness. It is that one line: "The Sikh who calls himself the Sikh of the Guru may rise in the ambrosial hour." This one line. It is one line. The question is, are we willing to obey or are we willing to delay?

Guru said something very beautiful: "Ik Ong Kar Sat Nam Karta Purkh Nirbhao Nirvair Akal Moorat Ajoonee Saibhang, Gur Prasad." It is a very tall order. If you want to look at it, it looks like it is impossible. But it is a very simple order. Guru answered it. How to achieve it? "Jap! Aad Sach, Jugaad Sach, Heibhee Sach, Naanak Hosee Bhee Sach." See the truth in all. See that dignity in all. Do not separate the Creator and the creation.

If you see a terrible situation, be grateful that you are not a part of it. If you see a wonderful situation, be grateful you could be something. God made you in His own image as an individual. You have to progress that individually and collectively to understand one thing: that Guru is the guide. It will carry you through. It will carry you through to your real house... real home.

We are here to pay our samskars, our karmas. Somebody's lucky enough, he becomes rich, he doesn't understand. He feels very wonderful and he gets all the facility on this earth. But there is emptiness in him. Richness does not mean that you have reached with your own consciousness. Your own soul may not be your friend. Your own consciousness may not come through. Your own intuition may not serve you.

The idea is to remain pure every day, idea is to repeat the words of the Guru, idea is to understand Gurbani is not the hassling job... it is a science, simple enough, that when your tongue will rotate with those twists of permutation and combination, when you will read Rehiras and it will make the hypothalamus to totally compute for you the atmosphere through which you have to go through the night. Then you have not to pour bourbon on the rocks and make your head sore and do weird things.

You need energy. Without this you cannot live. You think by taking vitamins and taking that kind of stuff you are going to be fine. That's not true. Your spirit is hungry. Then your entire being is empty. You feel the shallowness. But when you repeat the gurbani, when you do the simran, it gives you the essence to do seva.

Seva is what? Seva is not to show off. Seva is to serve with the feeling that you glorify the Guru. You wear bana. You wear it. It identifies you with the oneness of Guru. You read bani, it identifies you with the oneness of the Guru. You do seva and simran, it identifies with your identity. Once you find your own identity in a pure form, you are above all. Then the pair of opposites do not affect you. That is the status of the Raj Yoga of the House of Guru Ram Das, where miree and piree, shaastra and shastra, seva and simran, bana and bani are the essential features. These are the essential essences.

If you wear a kara and you are not locked in consciously with the Guru and you keep on doing things which are not right, what is the use? Kara reminds you, Guru reminds you that you have come from the Infinite. "Oh finite! You have to merge in the Infinite." The environment reminds you.

Question is why God has created all around us? Very funny. There is a video tape available. You should all buy that and see it. "Life," they call it. And see how 8.4 million lifetimes... just see it, how horrible it will be if we go through the cycle again. Understand it. Darwin's theory is we started from a lizard and we walked out of the ocean. We started walking straight and then we became gorillas and we became this and that. Well, these are all theories. I'm asking you, do you want to relate to all that? Do you want to become an eel in the ocean in the bottom of the sea?

You go in restaurant and you eat these crabs, whatever, I don't know, break them up and open them up and put them in the butter and enjoy it. But you know, you all have come through it. There's no difference. Because soul is dormant... soul doesn't feel anything except the urge to merge with God. There's only the urge to merge with God, and soul has processed through 8.4 million lifetimes and thus we found the Guru. And now it is up to us. It is free and clear.

Khalsa... Khalsa means "pure one"... "piety". And Khalsa also means "Khaal-saa". It means 'special.' It means one who belongs specially to a certain pure discipline. It means piety. "Khalsa meraa satiguraa pooraa." Khalsa is my true perfect Guru. I challenge you... go and tell any Sikh, ANY Sikh, I don't care, he may be a saint or no saint, tell him: "You are the perfect True Guru." He'll say, "No, no, no! Go! Please! I am very humble." At that moment he is humble. Rest of the time he wants everybody to worship him. Rest of the time he says, "Which is the rich student?" "Which is my rich disciple who comes?"

It took me seven years in India to go and watch out how these personal gurus work. I vomited. I couldn't believe it. They have no eyes. You take a big thing and take a lot of money and take a lot of fruit and go to them. They'll say, "Oh, welcome. You are beautiful." If you go before them just in rags and just pretend you are nothing. They'll say, "Hey, get out, get away, get away." Look, you are the same person.

It's very funny. They can't see anything except money, maya, chaya, jugat labaya. They can't see. They don't trust God that it will come. Everybody will teach you to love God, believe in God, worship God, do everything called God, but nobody will tell you to trust God. Trust God and stick with it. "Kete dukh bukh sad maar, Eh bhee daat teree daataar. Bhand khalaasee bhaanai ho-eh, hor aakh na sakai ko-eh." Ask God to come through. Have a direct relationship. You are born in the image of God. You ARE God! There's no other God but YOU. That is what Guru says.

"Eh man meriaa too sadaa raho har naale. Har naal raho too man meree dukh sabh visaarnaa. Angikaar oh kare teraa kare sabh savaarnaa. Sabanaa galaa samarath suaamee so ko man visaare. Kahe naanak man meree sadaa raho har naale." There are million ways you look at it. There are absolutely thousands of religions you can look at it. There are hundreds and thousands of practices. Look at it. But look at the house of Guru Nanak: "Akal Moorat Ajoonee Saibhang." Guru gave you face. Guru gave you a grace. Guru gave you identity. Guru gave you the reason to be in Infinity, WHILE YOU ARE ALIVE, not tomorrow.

What your fashion is for? Somebody asked me what is the secret to become very pure. I said, "It is very simple. Stand before the mirror, look in the mirror and see whether you please yourself, or you please your friends, or you please your environments, or you are pleasing to the Guru. That one moment of self examination should decide your entire Infinity. And then look at your face. Does it look like the face that God gave you, or look like the face you made up?" If you cannot carry the face God gave you, a policeman cannot carry the uniform which the department gave him, where will you go?

Now you can ask me a question... "All these mean people are stupid?" Yes. I'll give you answer, "yes." Man has always been stupid. Man has always played the ladder and snake game. It comes to 99, sits on the snake head, goes back to 1. People do it. Because here we beautify ourselves for the sake of our beauty, not for Creator's beauty. Not for whose creation we are, not who is ours and who we are for.

Guru says: "Nirbhao, Nirvair." Have no fear and no vengeance. We are afraid, "Where are you going?" "I am going for an interview." "What are you doing?" "I am nervous." Can you believe that? When you are nervous going for an interview, when you have an interview with Dharam Rai what you are going to get? Your legs will break up instead of shaking up. But you don't worry. You don't understand that one day we have to go. We see everyday people going away. We see everyday people dying. We always see people sick.

It's very funny. We always see everything and we feel for others. For ourselves we don't. That's why the beauty of Siri Guru Granth is that it talks to your very mind. It talks to your very being. It talks to your very essence. It tells you again and again: "Wake up! This is the time! This is the last stop! This is the time of deliverance!" The essence of deliverance is in our own purity. Not that somebody can tell you. I can tell you... everybody can tell you everything... you're not going to believe it. To be goofy is one of our own habits. We love to slip. Because we understand that commitment and confinement is not our purpose.

Some people say: "Why to get up at 3:00?" I answer them: "What is the idea of sleeping whole night and going left and right? And then you have to take sleeping pills. And then you end up with a lot of dreams. And then you have all the sweaty dreams. What is the idea of going through all those horrible things at night?"

"Why should we meditate?" Why not to clean your mind so that your mind may be yours, and all the garbage of the world may not go through your mind and be the overriding factor? You don't have anything to do with your mind. There are simple things. If you are not clear, you are a weirdo.

And as a human you have a problem. You have three seconds to totally computerize, and nine seconds to act. You don't have more time. Within this range of time, you can sustain your totality. If your totality is shadowed, what is your reality? Forget about God. Forget about Guru. That is where Guru tells you: "Be to be so that you can be. And then take others with you." That is a Sikh. "No say 'no' when you have to say 'no'." That is the House of Nanak. And you have differentiations: "This is an Indian. This is a German. This is a Japanese. This is white. This is black. This is brown." You have so many problems because we always create clans. We create tribes. "Dharam naih dhare hoage." There's no dharam. There's no infinity. It is all bisected into sections. So everybody swallows a section and sits on the top of it. "This is my section. This is your section." But Guru's section is one section.

That is why our father, Guru Gobind Singh laid it out very clear. He set the rules. Everybody has to obey it. It is the price of love. It is the price of mental peace. It is the price of mental tranquility, and there's no two other opinions about it. And Guru said it very proudly and authentically: "Rehit piaare mujh ko, sikh piaaraa naahe." These are the sects of life. These are the facts of life. These are the effects of life. A Sikh shall live and then he's a beloved of mine. Not as far as he is to do himself what he wants. It is a prescribed religion. Doctor gives you a prescription. You obey it or you don't. If you obey it, your disease will go away. If you don't, it won't. Now don't falsify the doctor. Doctor is not at fault.

Sikh Dharma has a great future. It cannot be undermined. It shall be the religion of every man because it is not a religion of hypocrisy. It is a religion of the simple science of life and art of living. It is a very simple religion. It is not that I can do it and you cannot do it. Everybody can do it, and everybody is everybody. That is the beauty of Sikh Dharam. We have sangat, pangat, we have rehit marayada. We are absolutely into shastra and shaastra. We are absolutely in our own essence.

It may not be understood for a long time. But how old it is? 520 years. We are 18 million people on this earth and we have stood all tragedies. We have stood many many tests. We shall continue. We shall continue with that fact. And today let us Hail Guru Ram Das and let us Heal the World of physical mental and spiritual sickness!

It is upon you. This is your karma. This is your dharma: that you go wherever you go and spread the glory of your Guru. Spread out. Heal people. Lift them. Elevate them. And when they thank you, humbly thank them for giving you a chance so Guru Ram Das could come through.

There are millions of miracles you can record. "Dhan Dhan Ram Das Gur Jin Siriaa Tinai Savaariaa. Pooree Hoee Karaamaat Aap Siri Jan Haare Dhaariaa." It is the House of Miracles. It will happen.... but don't boast. You are the channel. Therefore you must face the challenge.

You know, Siri Ram Kaur and Nirinjan Kaur went to Malaysia for doing kirtan. And they said, "What should we do?" I said, "Nothing. Should people ask anything, some of you should say, 'Wahe Guru,' and the others should just sprinkle some water and say, 'Guru Ram Das bless you.' See what happens." It was unbelievable what happened!

Trust your Guru. Trust your God. It is in you. That's what Guru Ram Das totally stands for. Today we may feel that Sikh Dharma is going through changes. We may feel that we cannot visit the Golden Temple. These are all physical restrictions, but who can take away from us our Golden Temple? It is in our hearts. It is in our memory. It is in our breath of life. Anybody can attack Akal Takhat, but on every sixth of the month, we celebrate that day, and we'll keep on celebrating till Akal Takhat will never be in a position that it can ever be attacked again. We are going to be a nation all around the world.

Look at you. Right in Argentina, right in Brazil, right in Chile, right in all these countries you are. Look at Europe. You are everywhere. You are not going to stop. God doesn't want you to stop. Keep going and have trust. Give Guru Ram Das a chance to come through you. World is in suffering. World needs to be healed. World needs help. World needs the word of the Guru.

You and your generations will be totally redeemed of karma if you spread the word of the Guru. What you can give? Wealth, money? Nobody wants it. Everybody is rich here. They need the word of the Guru. Go and say: "Guru Ram Das bless you." Leave it there. Trust. See for yourself. Count your blessings, not your weaknesses. Count your trust. And see the thrust of your God's trust. You are the one who has come to the house of Guru. Nobody brought you here. You came because you belonged. Now time has come. You cannot stop, otherwise you will stink. Something which stops, stinks and rots. Therefore don't stop. Move on. Spread out. Give ALL the blessing of Guru Ram Das! That is the vow you should take today.

From '84 to '88 we went through the very, very testful time. Now time and tide is in our favor. Now we should do what Guru commands us to do. Now we should do what Guru wants us to do. Now we should do what we are supposed to do. Let us do it!

This is one day. May your wishes all be granted in the channels of the justice of God. May your life become graceful in the dignity of the Guru. May your personality represent the totality of the Guru's teachings, and may you have the strength and power and courage to go out and touch everybody without discrimination, in the name of Guru and heal people.

Hail Guru Ram Das and heal people. That's the only last word if you ever heard me so many years. That's the last word you should hear and it should resound in your ears, in your heart, and in your head. There's nothing more to it. Don't try to talk too much and debate things. It won't work. Have Nogun. Become Nirgun. Let Sirgun work through you. Give it a chance.

It's a simple thing we have to do. Bad and good as we are. We belong to him. Have no condition, because he accepted you without condition. Therefore glorify and serve him without condition. Spread out in the world, wherever you are, whether you are in Germany, whether you are in Japan, whether you are in Malaysia, whether you are in Indonesia. Whether you are in any part of the Europe... right from Oslo onwards... you are all spread. Guru has blessed you with a complete network. Now is the time to heal the world at large by hailing Guru Ram Das. That is what I could say to you today.

Let Guru work. It's not our problem. Let Guru come through. Guru is samarath. Guru is partakh. Guru is perfect. Guru is competent. Guru is Infinite. Guru is ultimate anchor of ours. Let us call on it and let us go through the storm which the world is going through.

You are destined to be that. Don't give distance to your destiny. Don't count your weaknesses. Count your strengths and see the miracle yourself! You don't need a witness. You don't need somebody to prove you. You don't need convincing, so don't ask for it. Just go in his name and feel him in your heart. You may not know prayer, you may not know ardas -- but just say: "Guru Ram Das, please! I don't know what is going on, but could you do something?" Simple things: Walk straight, simple straight and with a smile, and Guru shall come through.

We have job to do. We have years ahead of us where your doors will be knocked upon, where people shall come to you. They'll ask you weird questions. Don't discuss. Touch them in the name of your own great Guru. Feel them in the name of your own great Guru. Serve them in the name of your great Guru. And let Guru take the rest.

That is how it is going to be. That is how it should be. It is not that you have to go and provoke the situation. Situation all over the world is very provocative. There's no peace of mind. There's no peace of heart with people. There's nothing happening. It is again, and again, and again the same story of suffering.

Guru Ram Das came, he took the black crows, made them into white swans. It was nothing but a miracle. That is our history. That is the story of Mata Rajani. Her father, the egomaniac Doee Chand said: "You said I am not great. I'll prove it to you." He married her to a cripple... diseased and a pauper. She accepted the will. She accepted the fate. She walked unto that place which is called 'Harimander' today. She left her crippled husband to go into the town. She came back and found a most beautiful, healthy man. Though he showed her his pinkie and said, "I am still the same man," and he dipped it. She said, "No. This just will be done before Guru." She came and Guru said, "Yes. We have found a place. We'll become the center of healing."

That is what Harimander is. It's God's temple where all can come to get healed. It is not a place of politics... of doing things. It is a spiritual center for the whole world to heal. Therefore you should understand that you are also Harimander wherever you are. The nectar of Harimander is in you. The words of Guru are in your heart and head. Please go wherever you can and take charge of it. Time is now, and now is the time. You should not feel sorry, why you didn't do it yesterday. You should not feel sorry why you didn't do it today. There's no sorrow. There's a joy now. Reconcile with your joy and spread out. Go!

That's the real seva. That's the real simran. That you put your bana on, take the bani of the Guru, and in the name of the Guru and heal people in all walks of life. Stop for nothing. If you are a Christian, do it as a Christian. If you are a Jew, do it as a Jew. Guru Ram Das doesn't differentiate a person... personality... identity. You all belong to God. There are a lot of people in a lot of faiths, in a lot of walks of life who just need your touch. They just need you. They just need your vibration. They just feel good when you talk to them and you are around them. Please do not deny it to anyone! Time is now, and now is the time!

Let it be recorded that in 1989 on the birthday of Guru Ram Das, we made a pledge to ourselves: We shall touch all... all in his name, in his grace, and in his privilege, and let us prevail through us.

WAHE GURU JI KA KHALSA, WAHE GURU JI KI FATEH!


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END OF TRANSCRIPT
10/16/89
YOGI BHAJAN
Transcript by Tej Kaur Khalsa, Los Angeles, CA

Above Article Copyright © Yogi Bhajan 2002. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.



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