Authenticity of Kartarpuri Bir - Global Sikh Studies
Authenticity of Kartarpuri Bir - Global Sikh Studies
Authenticity of Kartarpuri Bir - Global Sikh Studies
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to freezing into an ‘ice-cube’ the ‘Flowing River’ <strong>of</strong> love, Such<br />
a path he believes to be catastrophic. In contrast, he commends<br />
the life <strong>of</strong> ‘love and work’ as the true life. Bergson too has<br />
called the first kind <strong>of</strong> religious experience to be ‘half-way’<br />
mysticism; and the experience <strong>of</strong> love to be true religious<br />
experience. 50<br />
Decades earlier Baba Wasakha Singh, a noted <strong>Sikh</strong><br />
mystic, who joined the Ghaddar Rebellion <strong>of</strong> India against<br />
the British and was sentenced to transportation for life,<br />
emphasized the same thing about the <strong>Sikh</strong> mysticism which<br />
he believes involves the love and service <strong>of</strong> man to the<br />
exclusion <strong>of</strong> meditation alone or staying in the pure light<br />
<strong>of</strong> Bliss.<br />
He stated, “It is a great achievement to have the<br />
mystic experience <strong>of</strong> God, cannot describe the intensity <strong>of</strong><br />
bliss one finds in that state. But the Gurus’ mysticism goes<br />
ahead and higher than that. While being in tune with God,<br />
one has to do good in the world and undertake the Eervice<br />
<strong>of</strong> the man. It is a higher stage than the one <strong>of</strong> mystic bliss.<br />
This is the stage <strong>of</strong> Gurus’ <strong>Sikh</strong>ism. You know how difficult<br />
it is for an ordinacry person to give up the worldly pleasures<br />
and possessions and follow the path <strong>of</strong> God. It is even more<br />
difficult for the mystic to come out <strong>of</strong> the state <strong>of</strong> his<br />
intense and tranquill bliss in order to serve man. But that is<br />
the Will <strong>of</strong> God. It is the highest mystic stage to serve the<br />
poor and the downtrodden and yet remain in union with<br />
Him.” “The mystic bliss is so intense that a moment’s<br />
disconnection with it would be like death to me but the<br />
higher stage than that is not to remain enthrilled in it, but,<br />
side by side, to work consistently for the well-being <strong>of</strong> suffering<br />
humanity.” “A <strong>Sikh</strong>’s first duty is to work for the welfare <strong>of</strong><br />
man and to react to injustice and wrong wherever it is and<br />
whatever be the cost.” “What kind <strong>of</strong> devotion (Bhakti) is<br />
that in which one remains engrossed in one’s meditations and<br />
the poor suffer all around us? This is not Bhakti. A Guru’s<br />
<strong>Sikh</strong> must work and serve the Poor.” 51