1. The Age Of Darkness : Kal-Jug

 

Guru Nanak Patshah Ji and Akal Purakh has been very kind on us by giving us complete divine knowledge – Puran Braham Gyan needed for Puran Bhagtee in the Asa Di Vaar.  And if we understand and bring this divine gift into our daily lives as explained in this text then we can make our life sublime.

 

The human being has been the most beautiful creation of Akal Purakh Paarbraham Parmeshwar out of the 8.4 million species (84 lakh junie).  This is the only species which can

 

  • achieve salvation,

 

  • meet the Creator,

 

  • become one with the Almighty

 

This human body has been given to you.
This is your chance to meet the Lord of the Universe.
Nothing else will work.
Join the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy;

 vibrate and meditate on the Jewel of the Naam. ||1||SGGS 12

 

 

Now to understand the following verse of Guru Nanak’s from Asa-Di-Var, SGGS 470 :

 

 

verse, First Mehl:
O Nanak, the ‘Meru’-human has one chariot and one charioteer.
In age after age the chariot and chaioteer change; the spiritually wise understand this.
In the Age of Sat, contentment was the chariot and righteousness the charioteer.
In the Age of Treta, celibacy was the chariot and power the charioteer.
In the Age of Dwapper, penance was the chariot and truth the charioteer.
In the Age of Kal, fire is the chariot and falsehood the charioteer. ||1||

 

 

Guru Nanak Patshah has compared the human life with “Meru mountain which is surrounded by all kinds of stars, full of all kinds of treasures – diamonds, gold etc.  

 

This means that human life is

 

  • surrounded by all kinds of spiritual and eternal treasures,

 

  • so capable that it can own all kinds of eternal and spiritual gifts from the Almighty,

 

  • the only one way that we can reach these eternal treasures of spirituality and Almighty Himself,

 

  • where we can become one with Akal Purakh, be absorbed in Him and become like Him

 

That is why the human life is the most beautiful creation of God.

 

 O Nanak, the “Meru”-human has one chariot and one charioteer.

SGGS 470

 

This human body has been regarded as a chariot , “Rath”.  The human body is the chariot that carries our soul, which has been departed from the Almighty since its creation for many ages.  This chariot changes with death and rebirth, but keeps on carrying our soul.  Who drives this chariot?  Meaning, what is the motivational force for the human body’s deeds, actions, reactions, thinking, acts, behavior, its thoughts, its vision?   The motivational force driving the body chariot can be any one of the following :-

 

1.  Contentment in Truth

 

This means that there is only one motivation – God Himself running the human body.  God’s name that He gave Himself was “Truth”.  The only religion a person has is of  realising Truth within the mind.  That keeps a  persons mind at the highest level – God or Truth consciousness.  Hence Truth runs the mind and body.  That person has the following qualities :-

 

  • Full and complete contentment.
  • No desires,
  • Complete belief in God and acceptance of whatever happens as His Hukam,
  • Understanding that everything is happening according to the Will of the Almighty.
  • Knows thateverything is run by Him.
  • Realises there is no existence of our mind and wisdom.
  • Sees that everything else is just perishable and only Akal Purakh is the Truth.
  • Has a firm belief and full commitment to the God – this is his true religion.

 

The deeds, actions, reactions, thinking, acts, behavior, vision are all controlled by the Almighty.  He is the only motivational force behind the soul.  This way all the deeds will be truthful, we will see the truth, hear the truth, and serve the truth.  And when this happens to the majority of people, then that becomes an Age of Truth – “Sat-Jug”.  This means the soul who fall under this category of motivational force become an Age Of Truth soul, a completely truthful person.  Just imagine when all the souls become like this than this will be a Sat-Jug for the entire world.  That is what was like in the past Sat-Jug

 

In the Age of Truth (Sat-Jug),
contentment was the chariot
and righteousness (dharam) the charioteer.

SGGS 470

 

Basically the change of age (Jug) is marked by the change in people’s

 

  • behavior,
  • thoughts,
  • deeds,
  • character
  • society
  • values,
  • minds and souls.

 

When these things have changed in the majority of people then the Age has changed.  In Sat-Jug the character and value systems of the society, the day to day operation of the society was based on Truth. So it was called Sat-Jug.  But with passage of time these value systems, character, thinking and thoughts, deeds and acts kept on deteriorating.  So the general behavior of society, kept on deteriorating and hence the change from one Age to the next – Sat-Jug, Treta-Jug, Dwaper-Jug and now Kal-Jug.

 

 

In age after age they change;
the spiritually wise understand this.

SGGS 470

 

 

2. Chivalry

 

When the general behavior and values changed for the society, there was a deterioration in the character and behavior of the people.  As a result the perople who wanted to stay close to the religion of  Truth had to struggle to keep up their high level of consciousness.   Lust was born in this Age of Treta.   This weakness of character was over come by chivalry.  Replacing sexual desire with utmost respect. 

 

The “Jatti” (religious celibate) was the one who has control on his sexual desires.  This means the “Jatti” person has control over the “Lust” – lustful feelings.

 

Protection of the dignity and honor (especially of the women) in the society was the prime motivating force.  This motivational force was powerful enough to control the mind over this weakness in the character of a person.  Chivalrous conduct was the key to success.

 

Chivalry became the motivating force –

 

 

In the Age of Traytaa,
celibacy was the chariot
and power the charioteer

SGGS 470

 

 

3. Worship and Religious Acts

 

The third age was Dwapper-Jug.   The culture and behavior of the majority of society, its value system and mode of operation deteriorated further.   Humans became more selfish, greed and anger had taken birth and became the main part of day today operation of the society.  Under these circumstances, to keep the mind at the higher level of consciousness,  worship and religious acts were developed.  These would make a person’s  mind truthful and one with God

 

 

 

In the Age of Dwaapar,
penance was the chariot
and truth the charioteer.

SGGS 470

 

 

These religious acts and ways of worship were called “Tap”.  People needed to worship Almighty in order to realize God the Truth.   The religious actions, deeds and thoughts were the main motivating force behind the society to keep it moving. Worshipping God and getting involved in religious acts was the key to the discovery of Truth.   

 

In order to keep a control over the character and behavior the people were motivated to conduct various kinds or “Taps” – worshipping God.  By doing so they could stay truthful and be one with Him.

 

4.  Fire of Desire

 

It is said that the religion had four legs in Sat-Jug, was left with three legs in Tretta, and two in Dwapper and the religion is standing only on one leg in this Kal-Jug age. With the breaking of each leg the unbalance of mind and soul kept on increasing, and hence in Kal-Jug there remains no balance of mind at all.  That is why this is the biggest problem and the hardest roadblock in the path of spirituality.

 

The basic existence of human life is based on the desire and its fulfillment by fair or foul means. The main motivating force is “Desires” – desire to own and possess every material object we like or see.  This is achieved by all kinds of untrue acts and misdeeds

 

 

In the Age of Kal,
fire is the chariot
and falsehood the charioteer. ||1||

SGGS 470

 

The entire human society is burning in the fire of desires, good or bad, and these desires are the driving force for our misconduct, bad acts, misdeeds, bad thoughts, corruption, cheating and so on.  That is why this is called the “Age of Utmost Darkness”.  The age we are living in is virtually being run by the evil forces.   Guru Nanak Patshah has said that where ever He looks he sees only ghosts – means bad souls

 

 In this Dark Age of Kal,
O Nanak, the demons have taken birth.

 

SGGS 556

 

Our minds and souls are wandering in extreme darkness.  Darkness means untrue things like

 

  • lies,
  • corruption,
  • misdeeds,
  • hatred,
  • selfishness,
  • amassing wealth by unfair means,
  • amassing false prestige by unfair means,
  • misuse of our resources and worldly powers
  • misues of our authorty in our job and at home.

 

All our actions and reactions, our deeds, our day today life is being controlled by and run by these kinds of activities, which cause our mind and soul to wander all along and not get anywhere.  All our souls and minds are burning day out and day in, in this fire.  This is the reason when most Sangat complains that we are unable to concentrate on Naam Simran. This is “Age of utmost darkness” – where there is no goodness left in any of us, there is no religion left in our minds and actions, the society we are living in has become a fighting place full of hatred and jealousy.

 

 

This Age of Darkness (Kal-Jug) is being run by :-

 

Five thieves – Lust, Anger, Greed, Attachment and Pride ,

 

and Hopes, Desires, Wishes, Slander, Gossiping and Jealousy. 

 

This means that our society and as individuals are all being run by these enemies of ours, we are slaves to these enemies, and are being controlled by them.  It will not be improper to say that these enemies are our Gurus, because we are obeying them day and night.

 

Whatever has happened through these 4 Ages has all been under the order of God (Hukam of Akal Purakh).  The change in Ages, prompted by deterioration in the character, cultural values and the mode of operation of the society, has all been under the Hukam of Almighty.   As these changes in the society were progressing towards negativity from one age to the next age, Akal Purakh became more and more considerate of the situation and became more and more generous towards our souls for the purpose of obtaining spiritual treasures from Him and be absorbed in Him.

 

In Sat-Jug one had to worship really hard for hundreds of years for reaching the Almighty.  Smilarly in Tretta and Dwapper with the deterioration in the character and cultural values, the divine laws were loosened a little bit by the Almighty.  But in Kal-Jug He really made it very easy and simple –

 

Only the Naam, the Name of the Lord, can save the world.,

SGGS 1175

 

Just Naam can give us salvation.  That is why Guru Nanak Patshah said –

 

Now, the Dark Age of Kal has come.
Plant the Naam, the Name of the One Lord.
It is not the season to plant other seeds.
Do not wander lost in doubt and delusion.
One who has such destiny written on his forehead,
shall meet with the Guru and find the Lord.
O mortal, this is the season of the Naam.
Nanak utters the Glorious Praises of the Lord. ||2||18||

SGGS 1185

 

The Praise of Naam Simran has been presented in the Sukhmani –

 

 The remembrance of God is the highest and most exalted of all.

SGGS 263

 In the remembrance of the Lord is He Himself – the Formless One.

SGGS 263

 

 The nine treasures are in the Amritl Name of God.

SGGS 293

 

 Sukhmani: Peace of Mind (is obtained from) the Amrit Name of God.

SGGS 262

 

Let us take some time and evaluate ourselves and the society we are living in light of the above text. To a very large extent we are responsible for these mental sicknesses and evils with in ourselves, our families, the society and the religious community (Panth) we are living in. These evils have eaten our cultural values, our characters, spiritual and moral values  away and hence our Panth and society, and they continue to do so at a very fast pace. We should try to find out the reasons for the downfall of ourselves, our families, our Panth and the society we are living in. A whole bunch of us call ourselves “Khalsa”.  The word Khalsa is so loosely used everywhere– do we know really know what a Khalsa is and what the true praise of a Khalsa is?

 

Do we know what is the meaning of being a Sikh, a Gursikh and a Gurmukh, because these words have been seen being used so loosely as if there is no meaning behind these divine words. Our religious places and the management bodies that run these places have been and are a very important part of our spiritual life. We as the Sangat depend upon these people for :

 

  • providing us proper religions guidance and help to realize our spiritual goals,

 

  • showing us the light and provide us with the enlightenment with Puran Gyan for Puran Bhagtee,

 

  • providing us with the inside peace and calmness,

 

  • helping us move up on the spiritual ladder,

 

  • cleaning our inside and becoming completely truthful persons.

 

But think for a few minutes, and evaluate do we really get what we should get by visiting regularly these places and from the people who are preaching us on these religious forums?

 

A lot of us have been going to the religious places, Temples, and Gurudwaras for a long time, there are people in our Sangat which have been doing this for decades and decades together in pursuit of finding the internal peace, internal calmness, eternal treasures, control of the mind, and in spite of doing so they were still at the same place in spirituality or might be little higher.  Each one of these people including the writer of this text, had the same complaint – “no control over mind”.  This means we are still being run by Five thieves, Hopes, Desires, and Wishes, Slander, Gossiping and Jealousy.

 

Do we know what is the reason for no achievements in spite of so much effort ?

 

The reason is very simple and can be said in plain words: 

 

The preaching of religion and the religious places are being run and preached by those people who are not  Gursikhs, who are not Gurmukhs, who have not surrendered completely to the Guru, who are not themselves completely truthful persons, who are themselves controlled by five vices – Five thieves, Hopes, Desires and Wishes, who can’t tell the truth and give Puran Gyan – divine knowledge required for Puran Bhagtee, because they themselves are without it.

 

Truth can only be served by a completely truthful person, spirituality can only be given by a spiritually elevated and completely enlightened Puran Sant, Puran Braham Gyani.  It is not true that anybody can understand and preach Puran Gyan for Puran Bhagtee from Gurbani.

 

We have seen and we continuously see on a daily basis the functional deficiencies in the management bodies of our religious places, but yet we don’t do anything about it. We have even seen some renowned people belonging to such management bodies involved in criminal acts, yet we don’t do anything.  We see an internal indiscipline and internal fighting among the people in control of these places for their personal motives and hunger of power, which is nothing but proves utmost ego on the part of such individuals.

 

Society and Panth is built by the people, it is for the people and run by people, Sangat has tremendous power, and can straighten these management bodies by the use of their religious and human rights. As long as the chariot of religion (Dharam – Rath)  is being run by such management bodies, we will continue to see no spiritual uplift of the society and Panth.

 

These places will have to be blessed by enlightened souls for the spiritual uplift of the society and Panth. These places have to be blessed by completely truthful people, by the people who are real Gursikhs and Gurmukhs, who are Khalsa and are fully enlightened.

 

In order to convert the darkness of Kal-Jug, to light and truth, to calm down the fire we are all burning in, the fire of desire – Hopes, Desires, Wishes, the fire of Five thieves, the fire of Slander, Gossiping, Jealousyi, the fire of hatred, the fire of Maya, the fire of misdeeds, the fire of corruption, the fire of stealing and cheating, to correct ourselves, our families, our society and Panth, we will have to restore back to the same means and ways that our Gurus have used and established during their Bhagtee and used these ways and means for the spiritual uplift of the society in the past, nothing less than that will work.

 

We all will have to rise back to same cultural and spiritual values, love and affection for each other, love for the Guru and Gurbani, completely surrender ourselves to the Guru, help the poor and down trodden in every way we can, be completely truthful to ourselves, our families, our society and panth.

 

Only an enlightened soul can help the Sangat to turn around ourselves, our families, our society and Panth, that is what was done by our great Gurus. That is what has been done by other Sants and Bhagats, that is what have been done by various Braham Gyani Maha Purakhs like Sant Baba Nand Singh Ji, Sant Baba Ishar Singh Ji, Sant Baba Attar Singh Ji and other such completely enlightened souls in the past.  It is being done now by various Braham Gyanis around the world, and that is what is being done everyday in the Sangat of Puran Braham Gyani Sant Baba Ji. 

 

People with decades of religiously led lives were totally frustrated when they came to see Sant Baba Ji, and with in a very short period of time they have been blessed so much that they have been moving very fast on the spiritual ladder, completing their Tirath – Sach Khand Tirath, Puran Parkash and Param Jyot Darshan Tirath.

 

In the end once again let us ask these questions to ourselves :-

 

  • Are we being motivated by truth or not?

 

  • Are we being governed by the Hukam or Five thieves?

 

  • Have we killed our desires?

 

  • Are we being governed by the Five thieves – Lust, Anger, Greed, Attachment and Pride?

 

  • Are we involved in the Slander, Gossiping and Jealousyi?

 

  • Are we trying to be a truthful person?

 

  • Are we following the Guru’s teachings?

 

  • Have we surrendered to the Guru completely?

 

  • Are we doing Naam Simran?

 

  • If the answers are negative to these questions then what are we going to do to turn around?

 

This will help us in becoming a better soul and mind, get closer to our beloved Guru and Akal Purakh and help us in achieving the real objective of our life – become a Khalsa.

 

In whose heart shines the full Divinely Radiant Light is a true a pure Khalsa and no-one else.
That Khalsa meditates on the Ever-radiant Light day and night,
and rejects all else but the one Lord from the mind.
That Khalsa is decorated with perfect love and faith,
and believes not in fasts, tombs, crematoriums and hermit cells, even by mistake.
That Khalsa KNOWS none other than the one Lord Himself
(and doesn’t need to find God in)  the performance of acts of pilgrimage,
charities, compassion, austerities and self-control.

 

Guru Gobind Singh in Dasam Paathshaah on Page 1

 

Servant of the sangat,

 

Dassan Das (Slave Of God’s Slaves)