The Sanctity of Life
The Presence Within
Nirmal Singh
Issue 21, Spring/Summer 2009
Sikhs believe in the One and only One, Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient God. It is the Omniscience of God i.e. His presence within us that makes our lives so sacred that no definition can define it, no description can describe it and no explanation can explain it. It can only be felt, experienced and enjoyed.The first and the founder Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, says: ‘With His command the forms are created but His command cannot be described’. He further says: ‘Even knowing God, I cannot describe Him, He is beyond any description’.
This sanctity is universal, but its blissful and mesmerising experience is unique to every individual human being. To cherish this unique sanctity we must keep our belief in Omnipotence, Omnipresence and Omniscience of God interconnected in our lives at all times. Sometimes this may seem to be a real challenge, but not one that cannot be risen above. The world around us offers us ample opportunities to consciously remember, rediscover, maintain, develop, keep it attuned with, and eventually to merge it with the supreme sanctity of God.
We must merge with the sanctity of God while we are still alive and not after death, as is sometimes mistakenly understood.While the mortal body’s ultimate destination is ‘ashes to ashes’ i.e.merging with the five elements the wind, the water, the fire, the earth and the ether, the immortal soul’s ultimate destination is to unite with the One and only One supreme immortal soul, God Himself. The soul must reach this ultimate destination before its mortal container, the body, leaves it, i.e. before we die.The state to be achieved is of being Jeevan Mukt or being emancipated while still alive.
This kind of emancipation is achieved by consciously striving to remain in touch with the sanctity of our lives whilst helping others to discover and remain in touch with the sanctity of theirs. It is the process of Omniscient God in us, striking such a spiritual relationship with Omniscient God in others, that sanctifies us as human beings, and this sanctity becomes evident through our actions, experiences, expressions and feelings. Yet still it remains beyond description.
According to the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev Ji, ‘Out of all the beings of the universe the human being is supreme’ as it is only in human life that we can realise and unite with God again.The Guru says that ‘the sole purpose of the human life is to meet God and unite with Him’.This sole purpose of life and the state of becoming Jeevan Mukt is achieved by striking such a close relationship with God that, in the words of the third Guru, Guru Amardas Ji, ‘the call of death becomes an invitation from a close friend, the receipt of which gives us happiness’ beyond any description.
One of the three fundamental principles of living, given by Guru Nanak Dev Ji, is ‘sharing our good fortune with others‘.This is not limited to only sharing material things and giving to charities but is practiced by actually being with and working with those who need us but cannot give us anything in return, particularly the ones not known to us, and then thanking them for giving us the opportunity to realise Omniscience of God in us and in them.With God’s grace my independent voluntary work with various communities and individuals gives me many opportunities to experience this kind of community service through the actions of many around me.
In prisons I sometimes meet people, who have committed very serious crimes of a violent nature and are serving long sentences for them, but I have seen the same people making ramps and small bridges on their own accord to help the newly hatched ducklings, in the bushes and lawns of the prisons, follow their mother duck easily. In hospitals and hospices I see doctors and nurses, beyond the requirements of their duty, maintaining the sanctity of the lives of those they serve. But more importantly I see the patients dependent on others for maintaining the sanctity of their own lives, supporting other patients. I don’t think I am the only one to witness such sanctifying situations and feel enriched by them. Such situations are around all of us waiting with open arms to embrace us and to offer us the opportunity to remain consciously in touch with the sanctity in us and in others. Let us feel it, experience it, rediscover it, develop it and enjoy it by reflecting back on our actions, through our relationships with others and by maintaining the sanctity of the environment around us, so that we and the generations to come can enjoy this universal sanctity of human life till eternity.
The state to be achieved is of being Jeevan Mukt or being emancipated while still alive.