by Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji

Excerpts from a lecture given on October 16, 1989

Today, we have assembled to celebrate the Divine Essence of Guru Ram Das. Not only are we blessed that we have walked on this path, but we are blessed that we have realized it as human beings. I am not talking about politics. I am not talking about virtues. I am not talking about those who have every possession in the world, yet they are very empty inside. I am not talking about those personal people who think they have reached God, and God is in the palm of their hands. I am not talking of those who sell God and I am not talking of those who compromise spirituality because of the pressure. I am talking about the essence of that dignity and divinity which Guru Ram Das represents.

I was talking to somebody on the telephone today. She said, "I brought a dish and a wish on the day of Guru Ram Das’s birthday. My wish didn’t happen. Should I bring the dish and wish again today?"  I said, “It did happen.” She asked, “How do you know? You don’t know the wish of anybody. You don’t know what dish I took there.”

I said, “There’s nothing to worry about. You took a few pizzas and put them before Guru Ram Das. And you wished that your boyfriend would come through. In seven days, he totally left you.”

She said, “How do you know?”

I said, “No – you have questioned it. Now I have to tell you. It is not a question. If you had not asked, I might have let it pass. But now you have challenged the status. Therefore I have to tell you, the status is true.

“You brought a few pizzas and you came on that day. You wished your boyfriend would come through. Is that true or not? First, tell me that.” She said, “Yes, that’s true.” “Then, within one week he left. He said goodbye to you forever.” She said, “That’s true, too.”

I said, “Now tell me, are you lucky or unlucky?” She said, “I am lucky.”

I said, “Look. Guru worked. Now you want the Guru to work YOUR way. That is not the problem. That is not the question. You asked the Guru a question. ‘Fulfill my wish.’ How can he fulfill it in a wrong way? He filled it perfectly. And you can never be sorry for it.”

She said, “I never understood it.” I said, “That is the Western difficulty. It has nothing to do with the East. You want it the way YOU want it. But on the other hand, your aggressiveness, your faith, your desire shall make it prevail.”