Met Someone Strange On Friday!

[sher_panjabi]

Guru Piyaari'o. On Friday I had to hand in the last essay for the TERM. Yippeee!!! :D Rab Da Lakh Lakh Shukar! So I completed the essay and went to uni. First of all I had a tutorial with one my lectures. She was going to give my feed-back on my essay, which I wrote a few weeks back. I was bit nervous but did Ardaas to Guru Sahib for keeping me in His Hukham (Will) and that I don't stress out too much!

Sat Naam! The tutorial went well and with Guru's Kirpa I did well in the essay (thank you Guru Ji!). Then I handed in my essay! THANK GOD! So everything out of the way. At 2pm it was my lecture, then FINISHE FOR THE WEEKEND. So I go to the lecture. Quite interesting. Two ladies from a new religious movement (what some people might call a cult) called "Children of God" came to give a talk to us. Ermm.. it was a fascinating to hear what they believed and what they practiced. She said that the main law they follow is "LAW OF LOVE". Teek hai - sounds good. She said "We love everyone and EVERY THING. We love God, Jesus and the CREATION."

Question time comes up. So I put my hand up and ask, "You say you Love everyone and EVERYTHING. So can I ask, are you Vegetarians? Meaning do you eat meat?" She seemed a bit taken back by my question, making it sound like I was asking a bit of a bizzare question. She said, "Yes we eat meat. We live in accordance to Bible. We are individuals and we live healthy lives as the Bible says the body is the Temple of the Spirit (i.e. God)." Sat Naam. Reminded me of Gurbaani:

ਗੁਰ ਪਰਸਾਦੀ ਵੇਖੁ ਤੂ ਹਰਿ ਮੰਦਰੁ ਤੇਰੈ ਨਾਲਿ ॥

gur parsaadee vekh too, har mandar terai naal.

By Guru's Grace, see that the Temple of Waheguru is within you.

ਹਰਿ ਮੰਦਰੁ ਸਬਦੇ ਖੋਜੀਐ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੋ ਲੇਹੁ ਸਮ੍ਹ੍ਹਾਲਿ ॥੧॥

har mandar shabade khojee-ai, har naamo leho samHaal. 1.

The Temple of Waheguru is found through the Word of the Shabad; contemplate Waheguru's Name. 1.

(Ang 1346, SGGS)

What a beautiful concept! How it remains a concept if we don't implement it. I didn't want to argue with the lady, but I thought to myself - "You believe love everyone and you stressed EVERYTHING, yet your love for animals seems to be lost? Its acceptable to lock a thousands of chickens and coop them up in a farm and abuse them and kill then in horrific ways (by the way I am not talking about Halaal slaughter, I am talking about Western meat farms!! Yes Western meat farms! For further info check this video out (WARNING: bit sickening!) however you still claim to love God's creation." :D

Chalo! Lecture finished and got out like a shot. Got on the bus (EVENTUALLY!) and made my way back to halls. I was going to pick my vaaja and few clothes, and go back home! (I WAS STARVING - couldn't wait to have some Daal Sabji, considering most of the week I was overloaded with BREAD, SOGEE (thats dried sultanas by the way!), and CHEESE (Waheguru!! Too much cheese can get sickening - trust me!). The same day there was a Gatka programme at Westminster University, which is on Baker Street. So I thought why not kill two birds with one stone (obviously not literally - I don't want RSPA or whoever after me! :lol: )... I would pop by to the Gatka event and then from there its a 5 mins walk to Marylebone station, where I was going to catch the train to go back home.

The journey to Westminster Uni -- WAHEGURU! It was peak hour! The tube was full. With me was my friends Varinder Singh and Prenmeek Singh. I said "Waheguru" and just went full force ahead on the tube, not bothering that I had a HUGE suitcase with me, which had my vaaja and clothes in. I got on the tube (VERY TIGHT SQUEEZE i must say :D @ ). Varinder Singh and Premneek Singh had to squeeze in on the other carriage as the carriage I was in was FULL (could barely breathe!!!).

Sat Naam. Eventually arrived at Baker Street tube station. Rab Da Shukar! I get off and meet Premneek Singh and Varinder Singh, and we make our way to Wesminster Uni. Got there and felt bit EMBARRASSED!!! People were sitting around the room and the door was right in front. I walked wearing my white kurta pjyjama and BIG SUITCASE - it looked like I was going to India or more probably that I had come from India! lol. Saw a few people looking at me and thinking "what's in the huge suitcase!". lol.

I couldn't stay for long because it takes 1 and half hours to get back home on the train. Typical Indian timing! So the programme was late 1 hour. So I waited around and chatted to people. Interestingly there was a white English lady sitting next to me. She was the only white lady sitting in the room. I thought I would say hello to the lady. She replied back and didn't say much. She was very quiet and had a peculiar positive aura to her face.

Eventually she started a conversation with me. "What are you studying?" I said "a BA in Religious Studies." "Beautiful" she said. "The path of God is beautiful... The Spiritual World is beautiful, marvelous!!" I agreed with her. She said, "this world is false. Yes this world is false, the only truth is God. The spiritual world, seeing God in the world is the true world, everything is false." WAHEGURU! SAT NAAM! The lady was a Roman Catholic, yet her vichaar (views) were as if she was a Sikh of Guru Nanak. She spoke very nicely, and I definately noticed that she was vibrating Naam or something spiritually positive.

The shabad which came in my head as she said those things was:

ਜਿਉ ਸੁਪਨਾ ਅਰੁ ਪੇਖਨਾ ਐਸੇ ਜਗ ਕਉ ਜਾਨਿ ॥

ji-o supnaa ar pekhnaa, aise jag kau jaan.

Like a dream and a show, so is this world, you must know.

ਇਨ ਮੈ ਕਛੁ ਸਾਚੋ ਨਹੀ ਨਾਨਕ ਬਿਨੁ ਭਗਵਾਨ ॥੨੩॥

in mai kachh saacho nehee, naanak bin bhagvaan. 23.

None of this is reality or true, O Nanak, without Waheguru. 23.

(Salokh Mehla 9, Ang 1427, SGGS)

I said that I am studying something different to most people (referring to Panjabis). Usually people study law, medicine, engineering or something to do with computers. She said, "Wonderful! You would be good at all of those. Because if you are spiritual person, if you are man of God, if you walk the path of spirituality, then you concentration is FOCUSED. So you will succeed in any part of your life, you will have God's blessings and your mind will always be FOCUSED and prepared for any challenge."

Sat Naam. I felt bad and good hearing this. Bad because I asked myself, "O mind! How much faith do you have for Waheguru!" Good because she was speaking the TRUTH and she expressed 100% Drirr Vishvaas (pure commitment and faith) to Waheguru. How amazing.

I asked how long have you walked upon this path (i.e. the path of Waheguru). She said, "It has been since the 1970s. I am not 70 years old. You realise the true reality when you lose things around you and your body starts to go down. It is then when I realise true reality. God is the true reality. The spirit of God is everywhere and in everything. It's beautiful. When you come to this stage, you begin to see God everywhere. You no longer see the false world, which we live in, you only see the Glory of God." I said, "I agree with you, definately." She said, "NO! I AM TELLING YOU." "I have reached this stage, and I tell you it is wonderful! I tell you, the more deeper you go in God, the more blessings you will obtain, the more you feel this wonder."

Everyday in the morning Nitnem (daily prayer) I read in Anand Sahib:

ਏ ਨੇਤ੍ਰਹੁ ਮੇਰਿਹੋ ਹਰਿ ਤੁਮ ਮਹਿ ਜੋਤਿ ਧਰੀ ਹਰਿ ਬਿਨੁ ਅਵਰੁ ਨ ਦੇਖਹੁ ਕੋਈ ॥

eh netrahu meriho har tum meh jot Dharee, har bin avar na dekhhu ko-ee.

O my eyes, the Lord has infused His Light into you; do not look upon any other than the Lord.

ਹਰਿ ਬਿਨੁ ਅਵਰੁ ਨ ਦੇਖਹੁ ਕੋਈ ਨਦਰੀ ਹਰਿ ਨਿਹਾਲਿਆ ॥

har bin avar na dekhhu ko-ee nadree har nihaali-aa.

Do not look upon any other than the Lord; the Lord alone is worthy of beholding.

ਏਹੁ ਵਿਸੁ ਸੰਸਾਰੁ ਤੁਮ ਦੇਖਦੇ ਏਹੁ ਹਰਿ ਕਾ ਰੂਪੁ ਹੈ ਹਰਿ ਰੂਪੁ ਨਦਰੀ ਆਇਆ ॥

eihu vis sansaar tum dekh-de eihu har kaa roop hai, har roop nadree aa-i-aa.

This whole world which you see is the image of the Lord; only the image of the Lord is seen.

ਗੁਰ ਪਰਸਾਦੀ ਬੁਝਿਆ ਜਾ ਵੇਖਾ ਹਰਿ ਇਕੁ ਹੈ ਹਰਿ ਬਿਨੁ ਅਵਰੁ ਨ ਕੋਈ ॥

parsaadee bujhi-aa jaa vekhaa har ik hai, har bin avar na ko-ee.

By Guru's Grace, I understand, and I see only the One Lord; there is no one except the Lord.

ਕਹੈ ਨਾਨਕੁ ਏਹਿ ਨੇਤ੍ਰ ਅੰਧ ਸੇ ਸਤਿਗੁਰਿ ਮਿਲਿਐ ਦਿਬ ਦ੍ਰਿਸਟਿ ਹੋਈ ॥੩੬॥

kehai naanak ayhi naytar anDh se satgur mili-ai dib dristt ho-ee. 36.

Says Nanak, these eyes were blind; but meeting the True Guru, they became all-seeing. 36.

(36th Pauree of Anand Sahib, Ang 922, SGGS)

It was WEIRD and AMAZING. Firstly, weird because I was sitting at this Sikh Society Gatka event, and this elderly Gori Roman Catholic lady was sitting next to me. "AMAZING" because once this lady started to talk, she spoke the reality as experienced by Guru Nanak and shared by Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. It just demonstrated the universality of the religion of GURMAT & NAAM.

I felt honoured to have darshan of Rab De Piyaare. Dhan Waheguroo! Waheguroo! Leaving I folded my hands and said "fateh" (in mind) to her, as I would do to Gursikhs. Very nice experience meeting her.

PART 2, to this story is on my blog.

[proud_to_be_singhni]

wow...amazing paji! You're daily life events are always such a positive inspiration, definately going to read part 2.

How true it is that religion is so universal that darshan of guru pyarey can be had thruogh anyone at any place when least expected.

wow.

Thanks for sharing!

[One Man Army]

fateh ji,

lol veer ji, ur one funny guy, good post, keep up da sikhi!! :TH: inspiration for all of us!!