Ask the Bhai Sahiba Column
Winter 2009
A few years back, a man approached a group of us going to have breakfast. He asked us about our Dharma. He didn’t know much, but what he did know was revealed in his opening comments: “Oh, you are ‘the chanters’.” I chuckled internally. Over the years we have been identified with various virtues. Now, this man was recognizing us as the lovers of the Shabd, the worshippers of the Shabd.
Don’t we LOVE the Shabd Guru? That great Eternal Sound as Teacher, carrier of the flow and rhythm of the movement of the creative pulse of Infinite Consciousness—like a spiritual DNA that awakens our potential.
The Shabd Guru has existed throughout all Time. Guru Nanak was a worshipper of the Shabd. And through his masterful surrender and flow, there came a point in the Infinite Flow of Time, when the Shabd was ready to be revealed for humankind as the Shabd Guru.
The Shabd is the Guru
On one of Guru Nanak’s travels, he visited with a group of Siddhas. These yogis asked Guru Nanak who was his Guru. It was important to them which lineage one came from, who was one’s teacher. The yogis asked: “What is the root, the source of all? What teachings hold for these times? Who is your guru? Whose disciple are you?”
Guru Nanak answered: “From the air came the beginning. This is the Age of the True Guru’s teachings. The Shabd is the Guru, and I lovingly focus my consciousness on the Shabd; I am the chela, the disciple.”
The Shabd Guru exists beyond time and space. It was the Shabd Guru that Guru Nanak bowed to (and all the “Nanaks” that followed); they merged with, donated their subtle bodies to, and became one with the Shabd Guru.
And through the miracle and mercy of God, to serve the Age of the True Guru, the Shabd was “knotted down” in a Granth—the Siri Guru Granth Sahib— so that the human psyche could have easy access to it. It was as if the Shabd Guru incarnated in a form that could be utilized by the human.
This perfect incarnation of Shabd as teacher cuts away any ego identification. All pitfalls of the mind are identified, ego is cut out of the picture, and the way is revealed consistently. And it is done in a sahej way. The path of Siri Guru Granth Sahib is a Sahej Yoga. Liberation of the mind…with “ease.”
Shakti and Bhakti
In our relationship to the experience of the Shabd Guru we find Shakti and Bhakti.
SHAKTI. We raise our frequency through the technology, using specific mantras, shabds, and reading from the Siri Guru Granth for a particular experience, effect. The can bring one to Bhakti. giving the desire to we bow in great gratitude and great devotion.
BHAKTI is the experience of pure devotion for the miracle of it, which draws the person to the Shabd Guru and the Dharma in an inexplicably devotional way. This eventually invokes Shakti, and a great desire to reach excellence through the Shabd.
These two facets are as intricately combined and interdependent as are the teachings of the Siri Singh Sahib and the way he perceived, lived, and delivered them. May we carry this on.
Siri Sardarni Dr. Bibiji Inderjit Kaur Khalsa is the Bhai Sahiba, or Chief Religious Minister of Sikh Dharma. Mukhia Sardarni Sahiba Guru Raj Kaur Khalsa answers on behalf of Bibiji and the Office of the Bhai Sahiba. Please feel free to submit your dharmic questions to [email protected].
The Bhai Sahiba
Internationally renowned teacher, author, and spiritual leader, Bhai Sahiba Bibiji Inderjit Kaur Khalsa is the beloved wife of the Siri Singh Sahib of Sikh Dharma. She has published a book called Mantra: Personal Guidance Through the Power of the Word.
