Duality dwells in the consciousness of the people of the world.
Humans destroy by sexual obsessions, rage, violence and egotism.
Whom should I call the second, when there is only the One?
The One Immaculate Reality is pervading all.
(Pause and reflect on this)
Our dual-minded evil intellect speaks of a second.
Those who harbor duality come and go and die.
In the earth and in the sky, I do not see any second.
Among all the women and the men, the Light is shining.
In the lamps of the sun and the moon, I see Light.
Dwelling among all is my ever-youthful Beloved One.
Mercifully, Creator/Creation has tuned my consciousness to One.
Guruji has led me to understand the Infinity of One.
A Gurmukh experiences only the One.
(Gurmukh literally means “wise mouth” or “one who speaks wisdom” - also means “one surrendered to the Sikh Guru’s teachings”.)
Subduing duality, we come to realize the Word of the Shabad (we experience the teachings of the Sikh scripture/Guru).
The Divine Command prevails throughout all worlds.
From the One, all have arisen.
There are two routes, but remember that their Source is only One.
Through the Word of the Guru’s Shabad (the SGGS),
recognize the Hukam; the Command of the Cosmos.
The Beloved One is contained in all forms, colors and minds.
Says Nanak, praise the One!
Guru Nanak
SGGS page 223
13 Comments
July 9, 2008 at 11:47 am
Hello Soulbride!!
I love, love all your writing. You are by far the most intersting person I have read in a long, long time. Take care and keep learning…
Harjinder
August 4, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Good post. good luck.
August 19, 2008 at 8:52 am
Hello Kamalla!
I hope you remember me. We met back in 1994/95 when I was living in Seacliff with Dayan, Steve and James.
I remember walking out to the cliffs with you one afternoon and talking about life, being a woman and how all the cats would try to sleep on the holy books in the ashram.
Your website is deeply interesting to me. I would love to talk with you about it. I married (in a somewhat “arranged” fashion) a Punjabi Sikh man in 2003. We have been together for 5 years now and had a “real” (traditional Sikh) wedding in Punjab in 2006.
I live in a joint family. Most of his family is secular, whether or not they practice a few “Ks”. He is a “cut sird” if you will, but he feels very much a Sikh.
I would love to talk with you about the dynamic of Sikhs vs. Sikhi. Your writing on this subject has made so many murky areas of our lives clearer to me. I love reading about your experiences in Gurudwaras, with the online community, etc.
Please write to me!
Much Love,
April Richards-Virk
August 21, 2008 at 12:12 am
Amazing! I have emailed you.
October 12, 2008 at 1:43 am
Reading your post sure made my Saturday morning. My father use to say understanding the meaning of Gurbani in both Gurmukhi and good English crystallizes underlying message.
BTW: In Punjabi ‘mukh’ refers to ‘face’. So Gur.mukh is someone who is ‘Guru-facing.’ Opposite is ‘man.mukh’, someone who if following lower aspirations of their mind. In this way ‘mukh’ also means who you are following.
December 30, 2008 at 3:35 am
I recognize that our intellect, in labeling and categorizing and judging the world, brings us into duality and unnecessary suffering. I also recognize a great interconnectedness of everything, although I am averse to “creator god” notions. I am interested in your philosophy and how one may go about ‘undualizing’ oneself or reuniting with the infinite.
- from your CEP ex-co-worker friend -
December 30, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Blessings Adam!
How you feel about a Creation God?
Sikhs do not believe in a Creator, in the Western sense, nor in original sin. “Creator” and “Creation” and “Spirit” and “Nature” are All One for Sikhs.
Using the metaphor that life is a movie, we know that your life’s story/production is completely distinct from my life’s movie, and the lives/movies of all other beings. You were born into a different era, with different sets and settings and also different personal roles to play. Yet you are a character in my movie and I am a character in your movie too. Our films overlap and merge.
It is easy to get fixated on the you and me aspect, my movie is not your movie. But truth is, it is all One show.
Sikhs do not believe that Sikhi is the “only Way”, not one bit. It is all the Play of the Creation (God). Sikhs “practice” non-dualisitc consciousness by reminding ourselves – as much as we can remember to remember – that it is All One.
But when Sikhs achieve non-dualistic awarenenss, it is by Grace. “I” can’t get there alone, so to speak.
Here are a couple posts to get you started. Leave comments and questions anywhere.
The Amrit Vela
http://kamallarosekaur.wordpress.com/2008/02/08/the-amrit-vela-by-kamalla-rose-kaur/
Do Not Be Concerned with Public Opinion
http://kamallarosekaur.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/do-not-be-concerned-with-public-opinion/
January 2, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Hi,
Very interesting and informative site.
Keep up the good work.
And a Happy New Year to you all.
February 24, 2009 at 11:05 am
Hi,
I’ve been doing a lot of research on Sikh culture, communities and literature and i found this website to be very informative and interesting. I was wondering if anybody knew of any modern poets, writer’s or other literary figures who have articulated some of these ideas in their work ? Work that focuses on the Pacific Northwest, or Western interpretations in general would be very helpful..
Thanks!
July 26, 2009 at 12:39 am
My comments are related to your response to Adam on Dec 30, 08.
In one word ‘Beautiful.’
This concept of ‘One’ is really liberating. As you say we just have to ‘remember to remember.’ I also agree that it is by Grace one starts to comprehend this paradigm. If I may, we can expand upon Grace and say it is a Blessing or alms. And our Guru says, ‘If a beggar cries out at the door, the Master hears it in His Mansion.’ -Page 349.
November 30, 2009 at 10:42 am
Hi Kamalla Rose,
Your site is like a pool of water beckoning to be bathed in at one of those moments when one would welcome a bath … and please email me in response to this, and let me know how I can send an e-mail to you which would not be part of the public website …
- Brother Varid
November 30, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Hi, I have just stumbled upon this website whilst hunting on online as I am looking for some info on wall ovens!. It’s an informative blog so I bookmarked you and I will come back tomorrow to allow more time for a proper browse when I can give it more time.
January 13, 2010 at 11:54 pm
“Sikhism and Tantric Yoga” is a rare and out of print book I discovered during my two years in India. “Sikhism and Tantric Yoga” has been a real eye-opener for me and makes complete sense when I think about the last thirty years of my life with Yogi Bhajan. Written by the esteemed Dr. Trilochan Singh, author of over twenty books on Sikh history and philosophy and lecturer at sixteen Universities, “Sikhism and Tantric Yoga”, describes the Sikh mystical path and is critical of Yogi Bhajan’s Tantra and Kundalini Yoga. I have included here a sample of one chapter and the entire book can be downloaded at:
GurmukhYoga.com
What I learned in India about the Sikh Mystic Path
By Guru’s grace, while being detained by authorities in India, I lived for almost one year at the Golden Temple. After visiting Guru Sahib at the Harmandir Sahib everyday, singing the divine Gurbani Kirtan and contemplating God’s Name, the Guru showed me, how all the Yogic asanas I performed over the last 30 years were a complete waste of time and cannot match to 1 percent of the devotional contemplation on the Name of God.
“In contrast to Patanjali’s Yoga, and other schools of Hindu Yoga (Hatha, Tantric, Laya, Kundalini, etc.), the Sikh Gurus call Sikh mystic path, Brahm Yoga (the Yoga which does not use any yogic technique but concentrates on God and achieves Him through devotion and contemplation). It is also called Gurmukh Yoga (Yoga of the Enlightened), Sahajya Yoga (Natural Yoga based on spontaneous devotion and contemplation). The word Yoga is used just to mean union with God.” Dr. Trilochan Singh.
II
Eight Steps of Sikh Mystical Path
…….Thus Guru Nanak clearly rejects the eight steps of spiritual progress as enunciated by Patanjali and replaces them with ethical and spiritual discipline of his own. The Sikh scriptures also clearly reject asanas (physical postures), pranayama (breath control), nauU-dhautz (cleaning the intestine with a piece of cloth inserted in the mouth and taken out through the anus). Those followers of Yogi Bhajan who frequently quote him as saying that the Scriptures of the Sikhs sanction all these Yoga practices, voice only his glaring ignorance of Sikh scriptures. I have not known any saint or seer in contemporary or past Sikh history who ever practiced these Yoga asanas. But all saints and all scholars have firmly called these and more so Tantric practices as directly opposed to Sikh doctrines. The following quotations, from Adi Granth make it clear that there is no place for Yoga practices in Sikhism:
If a man learns all yogic asanas of perfect adepts, If he controls and subdues his senses through such feats;
Even then impurity and dirt of his mind cannot be removed.
The filth of egoism will not depart from the heart. The human mind cannot be cleaned and made pure, By any yogic discipline and restraint. It can be made pure and controlled only by seeking, Through love the sanctuary of the true Enlightener.
Adi Granth, Guru Amar Das, Vadhans p 558
For me the only asana (posture) worthwhile is to fix steadfastly the mind on the Vision of God and let the heart and soul be absorbed in such a spiritual condition of transcendent revelation as to continuously reflect on His Presence and listen to the enchanting melody of Unstruck Music (Anhad Shabad)
(a) Savikalp Samadhi (ecstasy within the realm of consciousness): to be absorbed in the meaning and philosophical and mystical contents of the Divine Word is Savikalp a samadhi. (b) Nirvikalpa Samadhi (ecstasy of the Transcendent vision of God): to be absorbed in the Spirit and Essence of the Divine Word is Nirvikalpa samadhi.
If one does the nauli dhauti karma (of cleaning the intestine with a piece of cloth), and becomes adept in eighty-four asanas, and yogic exercises, he cannot attain any peace of mind by these yogic techniques. Let him do such Japa or Tapa through such techniques for years and years and wander about in search of perfection, he will not attain genuine inner peace even for a moment.
A. G. Guru Arjan, Majh, p 98