By Dr. S.S. Sodhi Associate Professor Dalhousie University Halifax Canada
It is a well-known historical fact that in the course of mental and spiritual evolution of the human race, some individuals have appeared who were gifted with the power of transcendent realization or illumination. They seem to project the powers of the Infinite and attempt to redefine man’s relationship with the ultimate reality.
Guru Nanak was one of these individuals who through self-actualization and self-realization reached an ‘oceanic state of beatitude and mystic unity. After living the first 28 years of his life as a house holder, he utilized the next 24 years for travels and for spreading his mission. The last 18 years of his life he lived as a farmer and spent a great deal of time in composing hymns in praise of God and setting them to traditional Indian music.
Though he demonstrated a great deal of interest and insight in spiritual matters since childhood, the real “conversion” came when he disappeared in the waters of nearby stream to meditate. He emerged from the water a changed “cosmic self.”
According to Dr. R.D Bucke, famous author of Cosmic Consciousness (1902), spiritual leaders who move to cosmic consciousness from mystic behavior start presenting the following marks:
- a subjective light
- a moral elevation
- an intellectual illumination.
- a sense of immortality and loss of fear of death
- An instantaneous awakening adding charm to the personality so that men and women operating at a linear (worldly) level of consciousness are always attracted to them.
f, The presence of cosmic sense produces transfiguration of the subject which is noticed by followers. Guru Nanak in Adi Granth (p. 391) describes this state as follows:
God does not die, nor do I fear death,
He does not perish, nor do I grieve,
He is not poor, nor do I have hunger,
He has no pain, nor have I any trouble,
As He is stainless, so am J free from stain,
As he is happy, so am I rejoicing
All around is the same He,
And IJ have become uniformly one with him.
Various Indian mystics have suggested different ways of cleansing our doors of perception of the Ultimate Reality. Guru Nanak skipped the asanas and pranayama of traditional yoga systems and presented what can be called Nam or Sahjaj Yoga. The important constituents of Sahaj yoga are concentration of the mind on the name, object bound samadhi, and seedless trance in which the duality of the subject and object disappears. When Guru Nanak kept on saying Tera, Tera … (I am Thine), he was enjoying the super sublimated activity of mind. He makes it very clear in Adi Granth Op. 274).
There comes a moment in the life of a man
When he gets in touch with the holiest of the holies,
There is a miracle! No coming back from thence, Then in his heart, the torch of wisdom is set aflame. He further comments:
Fill the mind of the Guru,
Put on the garments of forgiveness,
Submit to the will of God, unmoved by pleasure and pain
Thus the treasures of Sahaj Yoga are gathered. (Adi Granth, p. 53).
Guru Nanak thinks that higher stages of awareness can be achieved while living as a householder. According to him, “The lotus flower does not drown in the pool, duck is not made wet by the pond, so with the mind fixated on the word Guru, a man can safely cross the great sea of life.”
In other words, Guru Nanak was suggesting active detachment in the midst of worldly illusions and “Maya.”
It is an empirical fact that physicists while developing models of quantum theory and relativity had to develop a new branch of Physics called Meta Physics. They were attempting to understand a different kind of reality which could only be experienced through a new paradigm.
Cosmic consciousness is one such state of ultimate Reality.
Psychologically speaking Simran (repetition of name) banishes the discursive thought and empties the mind of everything except the percept of object in question. De-automatization of worldly (mental) structure takes place. This leads to reality transfer and perceptual expansion. It also leads to clarity of vision of worldly affairs.
According to Guru Nanak, man, to search higher levels of consciousness, must practice active renunciation while surrounded by worldly goods. He must strive to banish from awareness the objects of the world with whom he has developed attachment. This withdrawal produces unusual experiences in the Mind and helps the person to see through the neurotic fixation of his personality functioning, Finally, the more renunciation is achieved, the more the ‘mystic is committed to his goal of union or Enlightenment. Experiencing one’s self as one with the universe is the acid test of a mystic experience which most of us can enjoy if we internalize teaching of the Great Guru.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 25, 1989
