The Nirankari sect
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The Nirankari view of God
The Times of India, Nov 14 2015
Discourse: Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji
Across ages, all saints and prophets motivated people to connect to the Almighty and attain salvation. But driven by an ignorant mind, human beings suffer the cycle of birth and death. The mortal journey ends one day but that of the soul continues. The five elements merge back with their sources but what becomes of the sixth one, the soul? For countless people who failed this chance up until now, time is not going to play back. For the ones born in Satyuga, Treta or Dwapar yugas, their “present time“ was “then“. For us, our “present“ is these moments in which we are living and breathing and not the time that is yet to come. But the ones living now need to contemplate whether they have availed of this priceless opportunity . Recent earthquakes in some parts of the world reveal how fragile the corporal form is. In an instant, all future plans of victims were squashed. So, the pre sent is all one has; so let's handle the present with care. Those of us who restrict ourselves to mere listening or narrations of scriptures are not going to succeed unless the knowledge so gained is put into practice.
Further, there are those, especially youngsters, who submit to illusions of the world with no awareness of the mind or no thought of what is going to become of the soul hereafter. They need to be awakened. Saints have cautioned, “Don't take this warning lightly“. When the message was given in Satyuga, the need for prophets or spiritual scriptures thereafter should not have been there. But such is human nature that the message has to be repeated time and again in novel ways. We have to prove that we are truly wise; that we have got knowledge of Truth from God-realised saints and that we seek clarity and strength from them to imbibe this knowledge in our everyday life. We too need to take the mantle of passing this awareness to others just like others became an inspiration for us.
Before this kind of transformation, we were not able to do so as we had not obtained the Truth. Arjuna revered Krishna in form but did not surrender to the real Krishna, the all-pervading omnipresent formless, until he was blessed with Godknowledge by Krishna.
Meerabai's devotion and love for Shyam was limited to an idol until Guru Ravidas revealed the indestructible form of the Lord to her. Sant Kabir says, “Allah is invisible but Guru has blessed me with sweet realisation. All my anxiety has ended, I see the Supreme everywhere.“ The vastness and expanse of the Supreme Consciousness has to be seen to be believed. All religious scriptures underscore the fact that the invisible God can be perceived with the grace of an enlightened saint and this holds true for every human.
I recall I had to strain my neck to see the top of CN Tower in Toronto. But the same tower looked like a toy when seen from the airplane. So what seems to be big looks rather timid when seen from “greater heights“. Similarly , when one attains spiritual heights by connecting with the formless God, materialistic achievements seem too tiny . The more humble, forgiving and large-hearted we become, the higher the greatness we achieve.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Everyone has to attain this state of mind and become a reason for peace and happiness for self and others.
Soul And Oversoul
Kirpa Sagar, The Individual Soul And The Oversoul, The Times of India
Soul is an integral and indivisible part of the Oversoul or God. While the soul exists inside a living body the Oversoul that is all-pervading, , occupies the space outside. Both are formless and invisible.
Soul has no birth or death; it is self-existent like God and does not intervene in any movement or action of the body that it dwells in. It remains as immutable as its source, God. It acts only as the light which enables man to see what is Reality and distinguish the same from the unreal, while itself having nothing to do with his thoughts, speech and action.
What is the soul's relationship with the living body? Suppose, we are standing in an open ground and the sunlight is there all around. And we enter a small room and keep the door open. Naturally, the sunlight outside exists in the room also and we can see things as clearly as outside. This is the relationship between soul and Oversoul. While the Oversoul is the sunlight prevailing outside, the soul is its integral part illuminating the room that is, the body it dwells in, from inside.
Suppose we close the door from inside. There is darkness. The situation will get restored as soon as the door is opened or the very structure falls. And herein lies the dilemma of the soul. Even though an undivided part of the Oversoul, it stands separated from it simply because the door is closed. The light inside is shut out from the light outside. Naturally, the part would like to meet the whole. But the soul starts identifying itself with the body it resides in, in the room filled with darkness.
The human body is composed of the five elements earth, water, fire, air and sky by the same Creator of the Universe, God. And all these frames or structures are made to install or house what we call jiva, the living being. Jiva is one of the nine objects comprising the universe. The other eight are: the sun, moon, stars, earth, water, fire, air and sky.
Jiva tends to lean towards materialism and the mind acts as the principal instrument for the same.And it is the mind that closes the door and the room, and the soul gets engulfed by darkness. Naturally, jiva also starts fumbling and stumbling. There are delusions that lead to all kinds of beliefs and bondages. Jiva gnorant about reality, truth.
How to attain liberation while ignorance prevails? The air in a balloon would like to merge with its source the air outside but somebody must make a hole in the balloon. Hence the need for an enlightened guru.
Once you progress on the spiritual path and begin to see the light, the greatest benefit goes to the jiva.Hitherto, it was commanded by the mind and kept in darkness. Now that the light of the soul is restored, jiva, too, realises the Truth. It also begins to know its real identity as also the Creator and understand that its real happiness does not lie with creation but with the Creator. Real and lasting joy will come when jiva and soul function in unison, as jivatma or the individual soul. Both attain salvation, their final destination.(The writer is a follower of Sant Nirankari Mission).
