Gems of Gurbani

Art of living – 6

Truthful – Sachiar

Being truthful is a state of self realization. Guru Nanak says; “Truth is higher than everything else but true conduct is higher than even the truth.” GG pg. 62  

When man starts walking on the path of truthful living it is arduous and one can stumble upon it if one does not follow the other attributes like surrender of ego or haumai, acquiring humbleness, tolerance and optimism. The final stage of sachiar is arrived when the truth becomes principle of life to maintain equality, non-exploitation, and love for humanity, knowledge and unity. In one of his verse Guru Amardasji says: “Truth is enshrined in Guru and truth he enshrines in others. The mortals he blesses with true Name. He within whose soul truth is enshrined his body and mind becomes true as well. Nanak, if man submits to the true Lord’s command, the Lord blesses him with true glory. He to whom Lord shows true mercy, he merges in the true Lord.”   GG  Mahala 3  page 1089. 

For Guru Nanak truthful conduct alone was not enough he wanted the mankind to stand up against the tyranny, wrong behavior of the rulers and powerful and the religious heads who divided the society and perpetrated crime of caste system. That is why his mission was to propagate one Supreme Being for all humanity. He says:” eko hukam warte sab loi,”

“ reyat raje kaha sabaye, duh antar so jassi, kehat Nanak Guru Sachhe ki pauri, rehsi alakh niwasi. Maru GG. 1 pg 1016 .  To stand against wrong is another truth that we learn from Gurbani if one can notice that Guru Grant Sahib has enshrined the bani of many bhagtas but all this bani is to recognize the truth of one Supreme Being and bringing equality in the mankind and come above caste system. None of these Bhagtas could become so courageous to tell the truth to the powerful and mighty and inspire people to bring a change in themselves so as to lead an independent life. Guru Nanak openly admonishes the rulers and the mighty when he says: raje shihn, mukadam Kutte……GG page 1288 with this he has tried to infuse an awakening in people by calling the rulers as man eater lion and their administrators as dogs who pounce upon the left overs of the blood and flesh that these man-eaters are extracting from the people with dormant spirits.  On page 903 the beginning verse Guru Nanak admonishes the people and tries to awaken their dormant spirit by telling the truth of his time, when he says: Kalyuga has arrived and the justice of the three ages has now ceased and in this age Muslim law decides the cases and the blue robed Quazi has become the judge. Worship without faith, discipline without truthfulness and janeyu or sacred thread without chastity of what avail are these? The glory can be obtained only if you leave all these empty rituals of bathing and applying tilak( sacrificial mark on forehead) and start the good deeds. Thus without hesitation Guru Nanak admonishes the wrong doers because he obtained the final stage of being Sachiar that gives him the power from Almighty to speak the truth.