Today, we have a Mission, a Mission Centre, a Mission House. This is the first stage of our road map, the foundation stone to the many dreams that we wish to see materialize for our Sikhs and our religion. This is only the beginning of the revolution, or re-evolution that we shall soon see all around us.
The essence of Sikhi has got all muddled up. I have said this many times before. Sikhi was started by the greatest light, the brightest light to shine on this earth – Holy Guru Nanak. It grew and grew through nine more incarnations, nine more prophets. The tenth prophet, the Supreme Protector of Dharma, was forced to divert His attention to raising men of war, warriors to protect the ‘Perfect Light’ of the previous nine Gurus.
His attention to raising men of war, warriors to protect the ‘Perfect Light’ of the previous nine Gurus. And as soon as he had demolished the enemies of dharma, He received the call from Akaal Purakh to return to Sach Khand. I still have not understood why Guru Ji was recalled so soon, before He could re-establish the panth on its true course of Dharma. We were all left standing as soldiers, when what the violent and wicked world needed was the ‘Holy Light’ and healers to take away the pain and suffering of the victims of religious bigotry. There was so much to do after the death of Aurangzeb. I am still searching for this answer today.
But that last part of our history has left the entire Sikh panth in a kind of ‘Limbo’. The last thing that we remember from our ‘collective memory’ is being warriors wielding weapons of steel. Then our Guru suddenly left. So we have this lob-sidedness in our existence. We keep talking about being soldiers and warriors, even though we live in a time where these things are totally academic. Without our Holy Guru being physically present to guide us, we seem to be having a lot of trouble adjusting back to the time when we were ‘Holy Light’ or ‘Jyot’.
Mhan tu Jyot saroop, apnaa mool pehchaan; O mind, your true essence is Perfect Light……..
Sabh meh Jyot, Jyot hai soeh; the ‘Holy Light’ is in all……
Gurbanee es jagg meh Chanan; Gurbanee is Perfect Infinite Light….
A Sikh is another name for a ‘Lighted Candle’. A Khalsa is another name for a powerful ‘Light House’. We can’t seem to grasp the point that today, while we remain mental and spiritual warriors internally, but for the world at large, we must be the ‘Light’. We may learn martial arts and skills of the warriors for our own inner strength, but for the world at large, we chant for peace, sing for peace and happiness, pray for their salvation. We bring humanity together, serve the needy, lead the lost souls, and support those who are looking for peace, prayer and hope.
So that, my friends in the Mission, is your job – to lead the people back to being healers of broken hearts, healers of a world being destroyed by wars, animosity, hatred, greed and ignorance and arrogance. We have to first become Bala and Mardana, and carrying the teachings of our Gurus, we have to convince the world that we are in truth, one big family. ‘Fatherhood of God, Brotherhood of Man’. That is the Mission of every Sikh in the 21st century!
Baba Guru Nanak was a healer of men. His weapons were His soothing words, His hospitality, His love, His acceptance and His forgiveness. Today, we must go back to becoming ‘Warriors of the Light’, the Light of Dharma as taught by our Holy Prophets. Armed with our ‘Light Sabres’ we must fight the ‘darkness’ in our world, the darkness that is so formidable that even after the coming of so many prophets, it still cannot be defeated! We have to dismantle the ‘Walls of Darkness’ brick by brick. We may someday have to dismantle even the religions that built these walls with their cement of ignorance and self interest.
As I have said many times before; I am not here to inform you. I am here to transform you. Before we can become ‘Warriors of the Light’, we have to first ‘light up’ our Light. We have to become ‘People of the Light’. As Light, we have to grow and grow, so we can glow and glow!
The last five years since our first Healing Meditation in Mantin, Malaysia have opened up a new world for many of us. I also began to understand who a Sikh really is, who a Khalsa really is, and how Sikh Dharma stopped growing because we couldn’t tell the difference and wanted the whole world to don knee length kacheras and get everyone to start carrying ‘knives’!. We did not understand the Mission that Akaal Purakh Waheguru had laid out for us in the world of today. Since 2004, see how our Holy Prophets have guided our way forward to teach us a new way to lead everyone from every corner of the globe to Sikh Dharma, and also into every heart, inside and outside our community.
Today, we are looking towards setting up our first ‘House of Light’ This is an appropriate reference to centres where anyone of any race or religion can come to seek peace of mind, food if hungry, help if needed, prayer if lost, and hope if in despair. These will be support centres which not only serve humanity, it will be where we train our coming generations to become ‘Teachers of Dharma’ and ‘Lighted Candles’. These ‘Houses of Light’ will be like the oasis in a sun scorched desert, light houses on dark stormy nights, where people will find kindness at any time of day, where they can refresh and renew, give and receive hope and joy.
‘Houses of Light’ will support the centres of our Dharma, the Gurdwaras. They will be extensions of the Gurdwaras that allow us to carry out the Mission of Baba Nanak. The time has come to establish such sanctuaries for adults and children alike, where all may seek and experience peace.
I have not come here to inform you. I have come to transform you. As I grow, I need you to grow too. The world needs a new generation of men, men who are healers of broken souls, men who are ‘Lighted Candles’, men who stand as tall as the Light Houses on the rocky sea shores. And Sikhi is the best placed religion to birth such persons. It has all the right ingredients from all the faiths of today. It’s just that no one has yet seen the potential. No one has yet really understood its futuristic message.
And that is also why at the moment, Sikhi is still an ethnic religion, only known and practiced by Panjabis and a handful of westerners. It is our job to do whatever we can to open it to the world. It is time to put aside the ‘Indian trappings’ that have stunted its growth and prevented it from taking its rightful place in the big wide world.
It has to be allowed to be free for the people of the world to take it into their countries and cultures, allow it to mould into a universal faith that fits every spiritual landscape we have today. That can be the only reason why Baba Guru Nanak walked all over the known world of that time, through Hindu, Muslim and Christian countries, to share His new vision of a world that shares one father and lives as one family.
Its time for Panjabis to let go ownership and teach it to the world. Then let it spread even if those people who adopt it have their little imperfections, because those ‘imperfections’ may only exist because we are looking at them through our ‘Panjabi’ spectacles. If we take off our ‘Panjabi spectacles’ and look at them neutrally, those so called imperfections will instantly disappear.
That’s why we must bring change to our consciousness first. We must also change our mental maps and our paradigms. Because, for all these things to happen, we will first have to let go all the things we have learned, we have to unlearn our mental conditioning, and then relearn everything through Guru Nanak’s eyes, through His world view, looking at the world through His ‘spectacles’, not ours! We will first have to unlearn and then relearn everything under the light of Dharma. Only then will we become ‘Lighted Candles’ and ‘Light Houses.
It will require a new type of people, with a modern and dynamic outlook on Sikh Dharma, a new and deeper understanding of the role of a Sikh in this coming ‘Age of Aquarius’. If we don’t have them today, we will have to create them!
If you are ready to help Sikhi change, the Mission would love for you to get involved. Mission work is for those who see Sikhi spreading to all the corners of the planet. Mission work is to prepare ourselves for new roles in a deeply troubled world.
The Mission’s role is to make Sikhs relevant once again, to guide humanity, to offer sanctuary to broken lives and broken hearts, just like we did 300 years ago. Mission work is to build blazing ‘Light Houses’ and ‘Houses of Light’ for the world to see a new way forward to a new consciousness, and a new ray of hope and peace.
But that last part of our history has left the entire Sikh panth in a kind of ‘Limbo’. The last thing that we remember from our ‘collective memory’ is being warriors wielding weapons of steel. Then our Guru suddenly left. So we have this lob-sidedness in our existence. We keep talking about being soldiers and warriors, even though we live in a time where these things are totally academic. Without our Holy Guru being physically present to guide us, we seem to be having a lot of trouble adjusting back to the time when we were ‘Holy Light’ or ‘Jyot’.
Mhan tu Jyot saroop, apnaa mool pehchaan; O mind, your true essence is Perfect Light……..
Sabh meh Jyot, Jyot hai soeh; the ‘Holy Light’ is in all……
Gurbanee es jagg meh Chanan; Gurbanee is Perfect Infinite Light….
A Sikh is another name for a ‘Lighted Candle’. A Khalsa is another name for a powerful ‘Light House’. We can’t seem to grasp the point that today, while we remain mental and spiritual warriors internally, but for the world at large, we must be the ‘Light’. We may learn martial arts and skills of the warriors for our own inner strength, but for the world at large, we chant for peace, sing for peace and happiness, pray for their salvation. We bring humanity together, serve the needy, lead the lost souls, and support those who are looking for peace, prayer and hope.
So that, my friends in the Mission, is your job – to lead the people back to being healers of broken hearts, healers of a world being destroyed by wars, animosity, hatred, greed and ignorance and arrogance. We have to first become Bala and Mardana, and carrying the teachings of our Gurus, we have to convince the world that we are in truth, one big family. ‘Fatherhood of God, Brotherhood of Man’. That is the Mission of every Sikh in the 21st century!
Baba Guru Nanak was a healer of men. His weapons were His soothing words, His hospitality, His love, His acceptance and His forgiveness. Today, we must go back to becoming ‘Warriors of the Light’, the Light of Dharma as taught by our Holy Prophets. Armed with our ‘Light Sabres’ we must fight the ‘darkness’ in our world, the darkness that is so formidable that even after the coming of so many prophets, it still cannot be defeated! We have to dismantle the ‘Walls of Darkness’ brick by brick. We may someday have to dismantle even the religions that built these walls with their cement of ignorance and self interest.
As I have said many times before; I am not here to inform you. I am here to transform you. Before we can become ‘Warriors of the Light’, we have to first ‘light up’ our Light. We have to become ‘People of the Light’. As Light, we have to grow and grow, so we can glow and glow!
The last five years since our first Healing Meditation in Mantin, Malaysia have opened up a new world for many of us. I also began to understand who a Sikh really is, who a Khalsa really is, and how Sikh Dharma stopped growing because we couldn’t tell the difference and wanted the whole world to don knee length kacheras and get everyone to start carrying ‘knives’!. We did not understand the Mission that Akaal Purakh Waheguru had laid out for us in the world of today. Since 2004, see how our Holy Prophets have guided our way forward to teach us a new way to lead everyone from every corner of the globe to Sikh Dharma, and also into every heart, inside and outside our community.
Today, we are looking towards setting up our first ‘House of Light’ This is an appropriate reference to centres where anyone of any race or religion can come to seek peace of mind, food if hungry, help if needed, prayer if lost, and hope if in despair. These will be support centres which not only serve humanity, it will be where we train our coming generations to become ‘Teachers of Dharma’ and ‘Lighted Candles’. These ‘Houses of Light’ will be like the oasis in a sun scorched desert, light houses on dark stormy nights, where people will find kindness at any time of day, where they can refresh and renew, give and receive hope and joy.
‘Houses of Light’ will support the centres of our Dharma, the Gurdwaras. They will be extensions of the Gurdwaras that allow us to carry out the Mission of Baba Nanak. The time has come to establish such sanctuaries for adults and children alike, where all may seek and experience peace.
I have not come here to inform you. I have come to transform you. As I grow, I need you to grow too. The world needs a new generation of men, men who are healers of broken souls, men who are ‘Lighted Candles’, men who stand as tall as the Light Houses on the rocky sea shores. And Sikhi is the best placed religion to birth such persons. It has all the right ingredients from all the faiths of today. It’s just that no one has yet seen the potential. No one has yet really understood its futuristic message.
And that is also why at the moment, Sikhi is still an ethnic religion, only known and practiced by Panjabis and a handful of westerners. It is our job to do whatever we can to open it to the world. It is time to put aside the ‘Indian trappings’ that have stunted its growth and prevented it from taking its rightful place in the big wide world.
It has to be allowed to be free for the people of the world to take it into their countries and cultures, allow it to mould into a universal faith that fits every spiritual landscape we have today. That can be the only reason why Baba Guru Nanak walked all over the known world of that time, through Hindu, Muslim and Christian countries, to share His new vision of a world that shares one father and lives as one family.
Its time for Panjabis to let go ownership and teach it to the world. Then let it spread even if those people who adopt it have their little imperfections, because those ‘imperfections’ may only exist because we are looking at them through our ‘Panjabi’ spectacles. If we take off our ‘Panjabi spectacles’ and look at them neutrally, those so called imperfections will instantly disappear.
That’s why we must bring change to our consciousness first. We must also change our mental maps and our paradigms. Because, for all these things to happen, we will first have to let go all the things we have learned, we have to unlearn our mental conditioning, and then relearn everything through Guru Nanak’s eyes, through His world view, looking at the world through His ‘spectacles’, not ours! We will first have to unlearn and then relearn everything under the light of Dharma. Only then will we become ‘Lighted Candles’ and ‘Light Houses.
It will require a new type of people, with a modern and dynamic outlook on Sikh Dharma, a new and deeper understanding of the role of a Sikh in this coming ‘Age of Aquarius’. If we don’t have them today, we will have to create them!
If you are ready to help Sikhi change, the Mission would love for you to get involved. Mission work is for those who see Sikhi spreading to all the corners of the planet. Mission work is to prepare ourselves for new roles in a deeply troubled world.
The Mission’s role is to make Sikhs relevant once again, to guide humanity, to offer sanctuary to broken lives and broken hearts, just like we did 300 years ago. Mission work is to build blazing ‘Light Houses’ and ‘Houses of Light’ for the world to see a new way forward to a new consciousness, and a new ray of hope and peace.
