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6 invaluable lessons from the Sikh tradition

Culture & Celebration | Updated: | 5 min read


6 invaluable lessons from the Sikh tradition  

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur Singh on May 16th, Gurudev highlighted invaluable lessons from the Sikh community in two separate online sessions.

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On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur Singh on May 16th, Gurudev Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar highlighted invaluable lessons from the Sikh community in two separate online sessions.

He encouraged everyone to celebrate the day by joining hands to serve society and praying to the almighty to give us the strength needed to overcome the current pandemic crisis.

A few highlights from Gurudev’s addresses:

Protect those who have come to your refuge

In today’s world where there is so much pain and suffering, all you need is inner awakening and valor. Never forsake the people who have come to your sharan (refuge), who have taken refuge in you. Come what may, protect the freedom of religion. This message which Guru Tegh Bahadur Singh has given is apt today.

The brave one will take responsibilities

Someone who has valor will not sit back, cry and shy away from responsibility. Today when there is so much misery and so many have lost their near and dear ones to the pandemic, we all need inner strength. Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Pasha has led by example on how during tough times, one must take responsibility and act.

Applauds the Sikhs for their devotion, valor, and service

Let me congratulate the entire Sikh community throughout the world who are engaging in service through langars (communal free kitchens), oxygen banks and oxygen tanks. We have always been working together. The Art of Living has been a partner in working with many of these seva projects. The Sikh community has an inbuilt devotion and valor in them, today we need these two things to tide over the pandemic.

Devotion brings out the best in us to offer to society. Like Lord Krishna says in The Bhagavad Gita: do your karma to the best of your ability, and leave the rest to the divine. This is what the Sikh community is doing too.

The second is their quick response to calamities. The Sikh community has always been there to help, be it in this pandemic or floods in the past.

Hold onto courage and commitment

Courage, dignity, and commitment to a cause are precious values that bring out the best in human beings. Guru Tegh Bahadur’s life inspires every single human being in the past and also in the future to hold on to these values. As he has said, let me quote here Sorath 633: One who is not perturbed by misfortune, who is beyond comfort, attachment and fear and considers gold as dust, he neither speaks ill of others nor feels elated by praise. He shuns greed, attachments and arrogance.

Usually when we achieve something, we get into an illusion of pride. The Guru Sahib has given clear instructions and has made people realize the ultimate truth of life.

God resides in them

As a continuation to Sorath 633:

They are indifferent to ecstasy and tragedy, and are not affected by honors or humiliations. They renounce expectations and greed. They are neither attached to worldliness, nor let senses and anger affect them. God resides in such people. And that God resides in every one of us. We only need to listen to the wisdom of the great masters and Gurus.

Reach out to the God in mankind

Our dearest 10th Guru, Guru Govind Singh Maharaj has sung that we all must recognize the divinity in every human being. We must ensure that nobody is bogged down by injustice of any kind. At a time when farmers are in distress and people are suffering because of the pandemic, we need to comfort the hearts and minds of people. We need to bring everyone together and give them hope, a type of hope that can only come from inner strength and wisdom.

Brahma Jnana can be found in the Sikh tradition

Adi Shankaracharya from the Vedic tradition said that we are beyond name, form and jati (caste), kula (community), gotra (lineage), family, and status, we are all part of one Brahman. One divinity. The unseen and eternal. The formless energy that the whole world is made up of. This is exactly what the Sikh religion professes: that there is one Amurat (unmanifest), Akalpurush (the one beyond time), not visible, unmanifest Brahman. Brahma Jnana (Hindu supreme knowledge) is in the Sikh tradition. This knowledge helps one to see beyond caste, creed.

The seed we sow in our childhood is what grows in life as we grow older. This sort of seed has been sown in the Sikh tradition in every household, to see beyond boundaries of all kinds and bring everyone together. That attitude of embracing everyone wholeheartedly and the strong commitment to seva (service) is really something, an example for the world.

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