Sikhi and Valentines

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

Today is Valentines Day which for many is a time when people show their partner how much they love them and everything, and will show it with a card, flowers, chocolates, emails, texts, etc, etc. All restaurants will be booked for those romantic candle-lit "table for two" situations in the evenings, many will be going out with their partner to the cinema to watch a romantic film and whatever else these 'weirdos' want do to show their partner how much they love them. For some people they will also show their parents, relatives, close friends, etc. of how much they love them and care for them by giving them a card and gift today as well.

I don't know the history of Valentines Day and how or 'why' it ever came about, but it has been commercialised into a day where you have to show your loved one how much you love them and show them that you love them, on this particular day than any other day.

Now for Sikhs, Valentines Day means nothing just as Christmas, Easter, St. Particks Day has no signifance for Sikhs. However, the message of Valentines Day is about Love and that has a very high significance to Sikhs! Now for those of you who may not have known, February 10th was marked as the Shaheedee Purb of Dhan Dhan Baba Deep Singh Jee Shaheed. His Shaheedee gives Sikhs the message of Love that we need to aspire to.

Many of you may be familiar with this Gurbani tuk from Dhan Dhan SriGuru Nanak Dev Jee Maharaaj:

jau qau pRym Kyln kw cwau, isru Dir qlI glI myrI Awau ]

(Sri Guru Granth Sahib Jee: Ang: 1412)

jou taou praem khaelan kaa chaao sir dhhar talee galee mairee aao

If you desire to play this game of love with Me, then step onto My Path with your head in hand.

In this Tuk, Guru Sahib is telling us what the cost is of Love, which is to be able to give your head for that Love. Now the Shaheedee of Baba Deep Singh Jee is the shining and living example of the words of this tuk. There is no other record in history of a man who was able to walk with his head in his hand. And by what power was Baba Deep Singh Jee able to do this. What was the force behind this man, which enabled him to be able to achieve this act. Simple... it was Love! Love for Guru Sahib, Love for Akal Purakh, Love for Matyrdom (Shaheedee), Love for his Bachan, Love for the Sanctity of Harmandir Sahib! This Love is what drove him to stand up after being beheaded in battle and to walk a few kilometres with his severed head held high in his hand, and then to finally lay it down at the parkarma of Harminder Sahib, just as he promised Guru Jee he would. Now is there no Love greater than that which has been shown by Baba Deep Singh Jee! But the meaning of this tuk isn't just to beable to walk with your head on your palm to show your Love to Guru Jee. The essence of the tuk and to what it is saying is simply: If you want to show your Love for Me (Vaheguru) then come onto My Path and be ready to lay down your head for Me! Again, the living and shining examples of the meaning of this tuk are etched everywhere in our history. Countless unnamed Sikhs of our history have had to lay down their heads to be able to stay on this Path, and have done so without Hesitation. This shows how True there Love really is for Guru Sahib.

One of the greatest examples is that of Vaisakhi 1699 when Guru Gobind Singh Jee made the call for the head of a Sikh without any question. Again, those that had the above tuk from Guru Nanak Dev Jee etched into their hearts and souls stood up and without hesitation and surrendered their heads to Guru Sahib, only to be brought back to life to become the Five Beloved Ones (Panj Pyaarey) of Guru Gobind Singh Jee. Further examples of this Untold Love was shown and illustrated by those Sikhs that were hunted, beheaded and had their heads stuck on poles to be paraded around by the Mughuls in front of Auranzeb. For some it is a gruesome and hideous sight to see the heads of these beautiful Sikhs being put on poles.

The painting of this particular event brings saddness to many Sikhs. But to me, it has become a sight Of beauty, a sight of adounrment, a sight of honour. This painting now shows to me the True Love these Sikhs had for Guru Sahib. These Sikhs weren't sad or hurt at having to be beheaded, they were glad to give their heads, this is what they had done anyway when they took Amrit, and now they had the chance to finally physically give their heads for Guru Sahib. This painting shouldn't be seen as a gruesome sight of history, Sikhs should marvel and adore it as an expression of Love for a Sikh and His Guru.

This painting, and all those many other paintings of Sikh men, women and children laying down their lives for Guru Sahib, should be seen as expressions of Love, not of anguish, pain and suffering. If you were to see the faces of these Shaheeds you will see none of them in pain, crying or moaning, they faces are glowing just as one does when the bride, having being separated for so long, finally meets and joins their Beloved Husband.

These are the Soul Brides who have now courted marriage with their Beloved Husband Lord (Vaheguru) and have merged into one with Him.This is what the cost of True Love is. There is no other greater cost than to surrender your head and your life. This is the cost of walking on this Path. This is the cost of walking towards Guru Sahib. This is the cost of walking on the Path of Truth and Righteousness. This is the cost of playing the Game of Love. This is the cost of True Love. Can there be any other greater Love to pay this cost for?

In this world there are many kinds of Love: temporary Love, selfish Love, conditional Love, unrequitable Love, obsessive Love, passive Love, aggressive Love, etc. etc. But what is this Love that these Shaheeds expressed? What is this Love that costs you your head? Simple...

Unconditional Love! But not a Love that the western world would like us to perceive and believe. It is a Love that goes beyond all human imagination, beyond the Cosmos, beyond the Nether worlds. An Unspeakable and Undescribable Love that no poet or romance novelist could write about. A Love that not even Shakesphere could ever write or describe in the ('never could ever understand it') language of his! A Universal Love, which isn't Love for oneself, for your partner, family, friends, humanity, but a Love for ALL! For every single living existing thing imaginable! Wherever His Creation resides, Love for that Creation abides, for each Creation is all but just a little part of the Creator (Karta Purakh)! A Love that overflows the capacity of our human body and flows like rivers of nectar through the nine gates of the body until it then flows through the Tenth gate, by which Union with our Husband Lord is inevitable! This Love can only be found and taught by Guru Sahib through His Bani!

There is no other scripture in the Universe, which talks about Love at such a level beyond the Cosmos. Guru Granth Sahib Jee is the Ultimate Love Story. An Infinite Dialogue between a Soul Bride and her longing and yearnings to meet her Beloved Husband Lord and attain Union with Him.

Now this is not common knowledge but at the same time period when Guru Arjan Dev Jee was compiling Aad Granth Sahib Jee, Shakesphere was writing Romeo and Juliet. Now you tell me, which is the greatest piece of writing on Love known to Mankind today???? If you were to go on to sikhitothemax.com (Gurbani Search Engine) and do a search for the word "Love", you will be amazed and shocked to see the countless and innumerable Gurbani tuks relating to the word 'Love' from our Beloved Sri Guru Granth Sahib Jee.

Let us commemorate this Valentines Day by showing our Love for Guru Sahib. Let us contemplate the sacrifices of Shaheeds like Baba Deep Singh Jee and try to imagine what Love they must have had for Guru Sahib. How ready would we be to lay down our heads in order to express our Undying and Unconditional Love for Guru Sahib? When we 'metha taek' to Guru Sahib, are we mentally and spiritually as well as physically laying our heads down at the Lotus Charan of Guru Granth Sahib Jee? Do we truly surrender our heads to Guru Sahib when we 'metha taek'? Are we really ready to play this Game of Love, which has the cost of surrendering our heads? Is our Love for Guru Sahib True or not? If we were to give our heads to Guru Sahib, what to you think he would do for us? What would he give us in return for our heads?

What would he give us in return for our Love? Simple.... InfiniteBlessings..., which is all a Sikh, asks for?

Today is a day when people all over the world will be thinking of ways of expressing their love for their loved ones. Let this be a day when Sikhs can contemplate on their Love for Guru Sahib. Let the memories and pictures of the Shaheeds of our past be shining examples of the Expressions of Love of a Sikh for His Guru! The painting with the Sikhs heads being carried on poles shouldn't be looked at with saddened faces. Think of the poles with the heads of Sikhs on top as a bunch of colourful flowers being offered to their Husband Lord. Flowers for Guru Jee coloured with the colour of Naam. A sight, which is all too pleasing to Guru Sahib. A sight which would've brought a tear to Guru Sahib for the Undescribable sacrifice these Sikhs made to express their True Love for Guru Sahib. Let the Shaheedee of Baba Deep Singh Jee be recalled upon as the living example of that famous Gurbani tuk by Guru Nanak Dev Jee.

Let us Love our Beloved Guru and Lord the same way as these countless,innumerable and unnamed Sikhs did in the past. Only through Gurbani and the Teachings of Guru Sahib Himself will we learn this ourselves. Only by following Guru Sahib can we learn about and be able to express the Love that is Infinite, Unlimited, Undescribable, Unspeakable, Untold of and Unconditional.

Let Valentines Day and every other day be days of constant expressions of this Love. Let the world be shocked to see just how much a Sikh Loves His Guru....

Yours humbly,One of you

Name ???From ????

Source: Gurmat Study Circle

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

How to Love Waheguru

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

• Constantly desire to know your beloved Waheguru more fully

Make this your burning passion. Probe too deeply into the personal life of any human and we have to brace ourselves for disappointment. We will inevitably find faults in the person. But we never have to fear discovering a flaw in Waheguru. He is the most wonderful person there is. His character is so beautiful that the more you know him the more you will fall in love with him.

• Be convinced about Waheguru’s love for you

Above everything else, Waheguru is characterized by love. Even more exciting is the fact that he loves you so very much. The Love Akaal Purakh showers you with every second of every minute of every hour of every day is greater than anything else you have ever experienced. Were you to combine every form of genuine human love, it would only give the vaguest glimpse of the intensity of Waheguru’s love for you.

You may feel deeply hurt because people have let you down, but Waheguru will never disappoint you. Because genuine love is much deeper than mere feelings, you will not always be conscious of an inner feeling that ‘says’ that Waheguru loves you. Our physical senses, intuition and emotions are all highly unreliable when it comes to detecting spiritual reality. Feelings are changeable, but the love of that most beautiful Akaal Purakh is constant.

Your whole relationship with him hinges not on your emotions or your dependability but on the rock-solid honesty of Waheguru. He is the most reliable source of information there is. If he says something, it is true, regardless of temporary and superficial appearances. And even though we may not understand his sweet hukam, and we may question it, we must realise that He loves us so very much, would he ever do anything to hurt us or make us cry. Everything Waheguru gives you in your life is a blessing. Its just people who define what that blessing is. It is all down to individual perceptions.

• Waheguru is good!

We can’t hope to enjoy the heights of intimacy with someone whose integrity we doubt. So if you have any uncertainties about the goodness and sweetness of Akaal Purakh you should look at these doubts of yours and carefully examine them. Everyone of us has doubts, and in the hour of misery we tend to question our beloved Waheguru.

Its not wrong to question him, it just highlights our lack of faith and love in him. Instead of trying to suppress these doubts, we should try to remove them by getting to know that most beautiful Akaal Purakh better. Waheguru’s knowledge and wisdom are so far beyond us that it would be impossible for us to try to find fault with his most beautiful actions.

To know Waheguru better, talk to him. Hes always there waiting to listen to you. He is always with us, by ourside....and the most amazing thing is that he will always be there. When we were little and crawling around on the floor, he was there, picking us up, teaching us how to walk. When we grew a little older, he was there, to wipe our tears everytime we got hurt. Infact even when we get very old he will be the one who holds out hand, so tightly, and reassures us that everything will be ok. He will always be there, even when we leave this world, he will come with us, and be with us.....whatever fate we await in the next life, this beloved, this sweetest guru sahib will come to protect us.

Maharaj is so merciful that he has told us what awaits us in the next life, however, not only has he told us this, he has also given us all the answers we need to pass this ulitmate test. But its interesting how few of us actually listen, because listening doesnt mean using your ears and hearing some words, or using your eyes and seeing something....true listening, is implementing the answers guru sahib blesses us with into our lifes. Guru Sahibs words are so powerful they pierce stones and make them melt, but have we sunk so low, that even our guru sahibs words cant melt our stonelike hearts??

Imagine the paaps we must have comitted to be in such a state that, we dont seem to believe our guru ji's most beautiful words. It all comes down to a lack of faith. I wonder what would be required to wake us up. Its true when they say, the hardships we have...when the weight of the world, is put on our back, we tend to kneel down, being slowly crushed, but that is when, we dont question maharaj, because when we are in our hour of misery after seeking all doors, and recieving no answer, then we look to the door of the king of kings.

Actually im talking rubbish, there is no such door, guru sahibs house is unlike anyone else's. Guru Sahibs house is not a place enclosed within four walls, having a roof over it, and a floor, and a door or window. Guru Sahibs house, is limitless, there is no need for doors or roofs or walls as anyone is welcome to come. Despite this, we would rather go to otherpeople's house and knock on their doors and beg for help.

• Trust him

Know that you are in Waheguru's strong, capable hands. Guru Sahib longs to help you, but it’s up to you whether you let him. ‘Leave your worries with him’. Faith is knowing that Guru Ji is working out the perfect solution. It is believing that Waheguru not only can do a certain thing, but that he will do it for you. Trust (or faith) is one of the most crucial things in your ever-growing relationship with Akaal Purakh.

At the moment its the five evils which are holding us back from trusting our beloved Guru Sahib. We are in love with these five evils, and we tend to go to the houses of, 'greed', 'pride', 'lust', 'anger' and 'attachment'. We fall in love with these other houses and doors, but we dont understand, we do not heed the advise of our beloved father and mother, satguru sri guru nanak dev ji maharaj, who tells us that these other houses are poison and will slowly put a noose around our necks.

• Don’t settle for a half-hearted love affair with Guru Ji

If for sake of Satguru Ji, you would be willing to lose all your possessions, suffer pain, and even die then you have fallen in love with waheguru. Alot of the times, people use the word, 'love', but dont really understand what 'love' is. What we hold dearest sets the ceiling on how far we can go in life. If we let go of lesser things – such as fear, choosing an easy life and slavery to material things – we can soar with Waheguru.

Im sorry ji, I will come and complete this post later.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh