The Sikh story, from Guru Nanak all the way to the 11th
Guru, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS), is a superb story. It is great because
there is so much wonderful drama in it, so much to be learnt from it, so much
that can make us better human beings within ourselves, to others, to worthy
causes and thereby fulfil the purpose of our existence in a deep and meaningful
way.
I have no hesitation in calling the events of Sikh History
‘Drama.’
All our gurus have called life a great drama staged and orchestrated by the great Author and Dramatist of Life.
Guru Nanak says, jag supna baajee bane khin meh khayl khaylaa-ay: the world is a drama staged in a dream; in a moment the play is played out.
He also says elsewhere You Yourself write and stage the drama of the world; You Yourself judge the actors.
This is the ultimate advait, a vision of the world as One, non-dual. Guru Gobind Singh, our tenth Guru, called his autobiography Bachitar Natak, the Resplendent Drama. It is replete with untold tragedies that elicited strength of character and courage unimaginable. And yet he had the detachment and vision to see beyond his tragedies and call his life ‘splendid.’
It is the same vision that Guru Nanak manifested when towards the end of his life (in my book, Into the Great Heart) he praises all of life.
All our gurus have called life a great drama staged and orchestrated by the great Author and Dramatist of Life.
Guru Nanak says, jag supna baajee bane khin meh khayl khaylaa-ay: the world is a drama staged in a dream; in a moment the play is played out.
He also says elsewhere You Yourself write and stage the drama of the world; You Yourself judge the actors.
This is the ultimate advait, a vision of the world as One, non-dual. Guru Gobind Singh, our tenth Guru, called his autobiography Bachitar Natak, the Resplendent Drama. It is replete with untold tragedies that elicited strength of character and courage unimaginable. And yet he had the detachment and vision to see beyond his tragedies and call his life ‘splendid.’
It is the same vision that Guru Nanak manifested when towards the end of his life (in my book, Into the Great Heart) he praises all of life.
Here is the quotation from Into the Great Heart.
Bhai Buddha, the spiritual prodigy who lived for 125 years and served six gurus, is the narrator of most of the stories in the book.
Bhai Buddha is describing and translating Guru Nanak’s shabad ‘vismaad naad vismaad vayd. vismaad jee-a vismaad bhayd. vismaad roop vismaad rang. vismaad naagay fireh jant,’ to Aziza, Bhai Mardana’s granddaughter who is in Burqua and forbidden to attend the gurdwara by her parents.
This, in the book, is the last shabad Guru Nanak sings before his death.
“It was as if Baba, standing on the threshold of Invisibility looked over his shoulder
and burst into praise of every aspect of every particle of existence.
His great paean to life celebrated all of it, excluding nothing: sound, words, music, silence, form, colors, tastes, our scintillating senses, each and every species on Earth, every force of nature, both creative and destructive --wind, water, fire, earth; people, straight and crooked, no one excepted; all of human existence and the varied and colorful ways in which it is lived; the nadir and zenith of human experience, shadow and light, the tragic and joyous human condition; procreation, attachments together with detachments, closeness and distance, union and separation, hunger and satisfaction, wilderness and the path. There was no ‘or’ for Baba anymore, only ‘and’ as he stood at the door sill of the Great Silence, the country without a name that borders life on all sides, like the Great Ocean from which we come and into which we flow again. The refrain of his song was ‘Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!’ The word bounced off every visible thing in sight and resounded all around and within us. His wonder and awe at every bit of creation, positive and negative, all came together in a blessed, holy marriage, the bliss of a union that nothing could ever tear apart or separate, the bliss attained by those who are blessed with the best of fortunes.”
Bhai Buddha, the spiritual prodigy who lived for 125 years and served six gurus, is the narrator of most of the stories in the book.
Bhai Buddha is describing and translating Guru Nanak’s shabad ‘vismaad naad vismaad vayd. vismaad jee-a vismaad bhayd. vismaad roop vismaad rang. vismaad naagay fireh jant,’ to Aziza, Bhai Mardana’s granddaughter who is in Burqua and forbidden to attend the gurdwara by her parents.
This, in the book, is the last shabad Guru Nanak sings before his death.
“It was as if Baba, standing on the threshold of Invisibility looked over his shoulder
and burst into praise of every aspect of every particle of existence.
His great paean to life celebrated all of it, excluding nothing: sound, words, music, silence, form, colors, tastes, our scintillating senses, each and every species on Earth, every force of nature, both creative and destructive --wind, water, fire, earth; people, straight and crooked, no one excepted; all of human existence and the varied and colorful ways in which it is lived; the nadir and zenith of human experience, shadow and light, the tragic and joyous human condition; procreation, attachments together with detachments, closeness and distance, union and separation, hunger and satisfaction, wilderness and the path. There was no ‘or’ for Baba anymore, only ‘and’ as he stood at the door sill of the Great Silence, the country without a name that borders life on all sides, like the Great Ocean from which we come and into which we flow again. The refrain of his song was ‘Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!’ The word bounced off every visible thing in sight and resounded all around and within us. His wonder and awe at every bit of creation, positive and negative, all came together in a blessed, holy marriage, the bliss of a union that nothing could ever tear apart or separate, the bliss attained by those who are blessed with the best of fortunes.”
~
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