Yogi Bhajan Lecture Archive
Lecture by :
Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogi Ji
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Lecture on: 03/11/1979
Category: Class Lectures
Location: Unknown
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Gurdwara, A Karma Yoga

In the history of mankind there are great things which are known and those which are unknown. The things which are known can be collaborated and explained elaborately. But things which are unknown can only be accepted or denied. There’s a technique of greatest meditation which is unique in the realms of spiritual consciousness: that is, coming to Gurdwara. Subjective mind, in the reality of its polarity, has an objective mind. And the subjective mind in relationship to objective mind constitutes the greater mind. When an individual comes and his feet are washed, his hands are washed and he walks the path and bows to the Word, his clarification is direct to the institution in himself which is the Word itself, and this way he subjects himself to the objectivity of the Unknown. This is what is called the glory of the Unknown.

The technology which has been applied to clarify the mental state of the Sikh to the purity and highest elevated consciousness of what is called Khalsa, is not a secret, though it remains a great secret. It is not what you do, what you are or what you know. The Unknown is so infinite that you are not going to know it, but you can experience that unknown experience when you subject yourself to the Word of the Guru and Guru’s words are not subjecting to you. In their domination and in that acceptance, a situation happens which is so subtle that it ordains you to the level of purity. Kirtan, speaking, doing everything, are just the provocative instruments triggered to bring you to the lotus feet of that subtlety. I call it paraphernalia. If at that moment you are still subject to the paraphernalia, you don’t understand the depth or the specialty of a meditative mind. By subjectivity to objective mind you achieve the object of divinity. There is nothing else you can relate to.

Sometimes coming to Gurdwara you feel a great, self-centered resentment. Why? Because the sky is too high and you can’t fly. If you want to achieve the impossible, you have to have some means which are possible. Through the possible you can achieve the impossible and through the known you can achieve the unknown. That’s the law.

Why don’t we call the Gurdwara a temple, a church, or sadan, House of the Guru? We call certain places House of the Guru, House of Guru Ram Das. There you come and are blessed. How dirty or ugly you are doesn’t matter. But every place cannot be the House of the Guru. For a House of the Guru there is a maryaadaa, a discipline, a law which must be obeyed, established in perfect form. Otherwise it cannot be called the House of the Guru.

But when the congregation of the Guru happens, we have a Gurdwara, the Gate, the Door of the Guru. The moment you enter that door, Guru accepts you without caring who you are. This unique mystery you won’t find anywhere else. Either you are in or you are out. That is why we call it Gurdwara. Once you are one step in, you are in the very heart, the very “in” of the Guru – or you stay out. You will find that some people remain outside the Gurdwara and talk in spite of their trying to come to the Gurdwara. They remain outside a certain boundary, a certain orbit. And a star which is out of orbit is out of the magnetic field of the universal reality of the polarity of the law.

What happens inside is very unique. You come, you bow, you place your offering. But while bowing down, do you relax? Or is it a ritual and you do not surrender? The law of siphoning is that the one which gives has to be longer and the one which takes has to be shorter. You have to bow and relax to receive. If you carefully watch you will see that people who come and bow and kneel down before the Guru are of three types: 1) uptight, ritualistic, 2) beautiful, innocent and 3) worshipping, sophisticated pure ones. For the pure ones, bowing before the Guru is a meditation, a karma yoga. Ecstasy in karma yoga comes through the existence of your own experience in the variety of such movements where you find yourself humble enough to find the depth of you. Immediately in relevance to that, when you have found the depth of you, you have found the height of you. One who has not found the depth can never measure the height.

My thoughts have been derived from the very concept:

E man meriaa too sadaa raho har naale,
har naal raho too man mere dukh sabh visaarnaa.
Angeekaar oh lare teraa kaaraj sabh savaarnaa.
Sabhnaa galaa samarath swaamee so kio manho visaare.

O my mind, hold fast to the thought of God.
Yes, in this way, be ever with Him and he will make you free from all sorrow.
He, the Lord, will be your support and He will guide your affairs.
The Master is all powerful, so why forget Him?
I have derived from this concept of the Third Nanak the application of manipulative mind to reach to the unison of karma yoga. Guru addresses his own mind to remain with God. “If you remain with God, all pain and discomfort shall be forgotten. He is with you limb by limb and cell by cell. He takes care of everything. Don’t worry. That Lord of God, the Infinite of you, the Unknown of you knows everything and does everything for you. Why be upset? Why forget Him?”

Sometimes you think that remembering God means chanting to God. No, remembering God is just remembering that God does everything. God doesn’t want you to chant to Him all the time. Why yell and scream at Him? He knows. Just remember, just relax. The One who does all for you and stands with you in thick and thin is your best Friend. He is the Unknown of every known. Every known in the law of polarity and reality has the Unknown but sometimes we forget. Such karma or actions which are done in dedication or remembrance of God, acknowledges that all the prana, all the life, comes from God, therefore it all goes to God. It all leads to that. I hope you will remember.
© 1979 YB Teachings, LLC
Above Article Copyright © Yogi Bhajan 2002. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.



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