When we first think of sewa, we think of the definition as selfless service. We imagine people cleaning shoes at the Gurdwara Sahib, of people making langar, of people caring for the environment, volunteering at homeless shelters, setting up medical aid, or offering legal services. We think of jobs like counsellors, paramedics, and police officers. We think of people who have done online translations for Gurbani or created resources for the Sikh community around important events like preservation of our ’84 history. We might think of parents doing sewa of their children, or children doing sewa of their aging parents. We might think of people who are working on some of the world’s biggest problems like poverty, diseases, mental health, water scarcity, and food security. Some might be working with the vulnerable, dealing with addictions, abuse, and violence. Some are educating, some researching, and some carrying out actions. Near and far, there are sewadaars all over, trying to help one cause or another. As quoted by Martin Luther King Jr. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Many of us are very committed to our sewa and do it with passion. After all, one of the major pillars of Sikhi is that we work hard (kirat karni) and share our earnings (vand shakna)- those earnings also include things that are non-monetary like our time and efforts. Any task and job can be done as a service, as was evidenced by the Bhagats who came from a wide variety of trades. We can think about the various types of Sewa that shaheeds and key players in our Sikh history have done for the panth and the world at large.
Gurbani tells us something else that is really important, though. We might see all these physical forms of sewa in this world of maya, but there is another sewa to be done. Bhai Satpal Singh from Nanak Naam reviews the first time Sewa is mentioned. It is in Pauri 5 of Japji Sahib, Jin Sevia, Tin Paya Maan; Nanak Gaviye, Guni Nidhaan. Jin sevia, means whoever does Waheguru’s sewa, those get honour (tin paya maan). The next line then tells us how we do that sewa. It says Nanak, sing the praises of the One who is the treasure of excellence (Jap Naam). The next lines tell us how to sing those praises- by japping Naam, listening to it, and keeping Divine love in your mind. Bhai Sahib goes on to explain that we are not praising one imaginary “Mr. God” that is faraway in the sky, we are praising that God that is both formless and formed, that makes up the entire universe. He elaborates that everything from our food, to the sunny day and our breath and life is worthy of this praise. That jap can be done by singing various mantrs, from Raam, Allah, Waheguru, Tuhi, Har, to many others, as long as it is done with this intention. This definition of sewa here is also translated in the Punjabi version as Naam Japna. To serve the Oneness. Bhai Sahib explains to do sewa is one who is looking for and serving the Oneness within, to contemplate the knowledge of what the Guru is telling us, to listen to and practice what the Guru Ji has told us (Gur Ki Sewa Sabad Veechar). This is not the sewa and simran of maya. He goes on to point out that we are all doing some kind of simran- for example if we are thinking of someone we hate over and over, we are doing simran of that person in maya. Whatever thoughts we have are a type of simran, it is what we remember constantly. Thinking about money? Thinking about your kids? We have explored this in our recent posts about thoughts and maya- rajogun, tamogun, and satogun. The remembrance of the Oneness is outside of all of this.
Naam Japna is a central pillar of Sikhism. Unfortunately, I think a lot of us have pushed this japna to the side. Perhaps we have become disillusioned seeing people that are supposedly doing this all the time, living their lives out in religious garb, and doing their paath but their lifestyles do not reflect the Anand and elevated avasthas that we are told in Gurbani. Especially as children we grow up seeing this and we might not question why this is so. I didn’t used to have any concept of what the importance of simran was. I just knew Naam Japna is in the pillars of Sikhism. As I have mentioned in past posts, so-called Gurmat camps actually very adversely and negatively influenced me further as I thought that this is a very forceful style of having to just keep reading without any understanding. It felt very superficial, focused on externals and not about the mind’s journey or relevance to me today and how I am living and struggling in this day and age. People would scare you, pressure you, guilt you, and shame you into following a certain way- the motivation for reading the Bani was not one of love, understanding, or direction. This is not a sustainable way of having people join this path. Many of us maybe wonder why we should keep saying the same mantr again and again, after all it doesn’t make Waheguru any greater or less.
We are Sikhs of our Guru, then we have to follow what our Guru has laid out. Guru Ji laid out Naam Japna for all of humanity, not just the Sikhs. Over and over is the repetition of the same key concept in Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The method of Naam Japna is very clearly laid out in Gurbani. We are going through these methods in detail as we summarize the chapters from Bhai Sewa Singh Ji Tarmala’s book. The methods of sas gras, rom rom and sass as simran are actually very simple- speaking and listening to one’s voice, one can start simran. In whatever comfortable position one can remain still for a time without a distraction from the body, it doesn’t need to be cross legged or even on the ground. It can be anywhere, anytime. As Bhai Sewa Singh Ji’s children and he himself used to tell people, you shouldn’t be blindly following Sants and other people, the message someone conveys in a katha or otherwise should always be coming directly from Gurbani. His book directly has quotations from Gurbani to support the methods of simran being described, and the katha of exactly what our journey is – why are we here and where are we going? Naam Japna is central to the entire concept of why we are here. This is such a key and core question and yet perhaps we attended the Gurdwara Sahib for our entire youth and never came to understand what the purpose of this life was. Our minds didn’t come here just to do some good things and services and then die. There needs to be a transformation within otherwise we will be reincarnated again. Gurbani also repetitively mentions that Naam Japna should be Aath Pahar (24 hours a day), where we still live in the world and do our duties (jobs, take care of kids, have a family), and explains how it is possible for the mind to get into a state where it can simultaneously be in this world and be connected to the One. Naam Japna doesn’t just mean the physical action of speaking, but also of remembrance with the mind and of listening to Naam (Waheguru’s voice, Anhad Bani).
This sewa is our most core sewa. We must be doing this sewa so the rest of our worldly matters aren’t just a temporary waste of us coming and going. Why do we care to be free of the cycle of reincarnation? Because we will suffer otherwise, going from lifetime to lifetime in dukh sukh, to be jailed and hungry, as mentioned in Gurbani. Gurbani describes the condition of these humans as animals “Those who have come into the world without understanding are like animals and beasts” (Ang 251). There are many gifts in Dasam Dwar for example Guru Ji tells us that they are honor for the dishonoured, that the mind becomes disease-free and above the dukh sukh of the world. The benefits of Jap are described in detail in Sukhmani Sahib ex. Prabh Kai Simran Dukh Na Santapai, “Remembering God, one does not suffer in sorrow.” Anand Sahib tells us what it is like to be in the state of Anand once one has already reached this state. While the western world is focusing on mindfulness for stimulation of the vagal nerve (parasympathetic nervous system), simran achieves that for us as well.
I sometimes have been confused about individuals, about whether they are in such a significant avastha that they have no dukh sukh anymore, or whether they are just so immersed into maya they have no concept of the suffering their mind is already undergoing. It was a costly mistake for me to keep someone close in my sangat for years who actually brought me with them into the spiral of maya, but I didn’t know which was which. After all our conversations were about Sikhi. As we read more Gurbani, we get to know the features and qualities of a gurmukh and manmukh. We might outwardly see that people are carefree, joyous, and smiling in the world. They all look to us to be in “chardi kala”, but actually their mind is trapped in maya and suffering. They are smiling because Kaal has kept them fully entertained, they think that they have won this life, they are experiencing the full joys of what the world itself has to offer, in all its tricks and illusions. They are so immersed into maya that they cannot see beyond it. We’ve all at some time lived like this, or even presently are living in this state. It is by default how the game is played! It is the very action of Kaal to keep us busy. Yet Gurbani tells us if we are like this, we have actually lost the game, we will die and be reborn, as we have not advanced. Gurbani describes us as fools in this state. We might even be “good people” who do “good things”, but we have not advanced spiritually. On the other hand, those people who have gotten to Dasam Dwar and are mukht are of such an avastha from a completely different place. Their divine joy, and love comes from a non-ending source that occurs internally, it is effortless and limitless. These people have completely won the game, their minds have merged into God. We are all capable of this. Why would someone who is fully immersed and joyful in the game of maya have any interest in working hard to pay attention in dhyaan and naam jap or change anything? To them they think they have everything. This is probably why Gurbani tells us “Suffering is the medicine, and pleasure the disease, because where there is pleasure, there is no desire for God” (Ang 469). Dukh can actually break people’s vision of the illusion and help them to see that there must be another way of living. Often times people go to God out of their desperation and seek guidance from Guru Ji at that time because there is no other direction for them. When I think about why I came upon this path in the first place, it was from a space of mental, physical, and spiritual suffering. There was a deep restlessness within me for something more. Years later it was the same thing, but on a much deeper wounding level that brought me back again when I strayed off this path. I am far from home, but still dedicated. I was inspired by the love of the rare true Gurmukhs, of which I have met only a handful in my life, the sweetness in their voices, and even just knowing that simran has forever changed my own life for the better. It is this love and this deep internal change that has inspired me to spread the word to other people.
Sewa is not a duality of one or the other. We need to help out in this world and remember our duty towards humanity, but we also must remember our Naam Japna sewa. Guru Ji can spend time explaining the benefits, but we must just experience it for ourselves.
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