Many years ago, when I first got into the Dharma, I thought that people on a spiritual path would not be plagued by the same issues I found in my counseling practice with the general public. How naïve was I? Over time I found that the Dharma was really a cross-section of humanity, dealing with all the same issues people had in the general public. However, there iss one big difference—we have the Guru as a touchstone and a lifestyle to uplift us.
How blessed we have been all these years with a living teacher who was intent on giving us teachings, technologies, a lifestyle, and the Guru to carry us through our lives. I began to see a difference between people in the Dharma and those in the general public.
The difference was our practice of this lifestyle for daily transformation. From our wake-up exercises before ever getting out of bed to read our final Banis of the day, we were given a multitude of practices to heal our neuroses and uplift our consciousness. The bottom line was that we had to practice!
Yes, certainly there are countless paths, processes, and information people utilize to navigate their life’s journey. However, nowhere have I seen such a gestalt of daily practices that transform, transmute, and uplift souls in consciousness as we have in this way of life. Perhaps the most striking of these technologies is our beloved Guru.
The Guru Formula
“Gur=formula. Guru=the active formula. Siri Guru=the universality of the applied consciousness of that formula. So, just less than Wahe Guru is Siri Guru, and our Guru is called ‘Siri Guru Granth.’ Granth means that the Guru is tied down. It is not a human being as a Guru, it is a Granth, a volume.”—The Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji, (1995) Victory and Virtue p. 32
The Siri Singh Sahib goes on to say, “Guru Granth Sahib is written like a city of divinity: it has trees, it has house numbers, it has boulevards, it has freeways, it has staircases, it has doors, it has windows. Read it properly; you’ll find it is a whole city. The entire Siri Guru Granth Sahib is written in Japa Sutras. When you put your mind into reading Siri Guru Granth, it stimulates the central nervous system we call shushmanaa. All that movement of your most subtle and sensitive part of the body, the tongue, is there to create positivity.” (1995) Victory and Virtue p. 33
Simply by reading Guru properly or singing our sacred Shabads, we can stimulate our positive mind to see the world through that lens. What a difference this perspective gives us with all the forces that are around us at this time. We are indeed blessed for we have found the true Guru, a sacred touchstone to navigate our lives.
Humbly,
SS Dr. Sat-Kaur Khalsa
Secretary of Religion
THE SECRETARY OF RELIGION
SS Dr. Sat Kaur Khalsa has served as Secretary of Religion since 1991 and was ordained as a Sikh Dharma Minister in 1975. As Secretary of Religion, Dr. Sat Kaur oversees and is ultimately responsible for the delivery of the functions of this Office. Dr. Sat Kaur is a long-time member of the International Khalsa Council and the Khalsa Council Executive Committee. She maintains a full-time psychotherapy private practice in Santa Monica, California and Santa Fe, New Mexico, counseling individuals, couples, and families to support their personal and spiritual growth. She is a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher, a facilitator of White Tantric Yoga®, and a published author.
