by Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji

Excerpt from a Gurdwara lecture given on January 20, 1991.

There are certain things you have to understand. You are spiritual people, and you will have more impact on your life than anybody else. Intuition is a good idea. But intuition is extreme sensitivity over the unconscious, subconscious and para-conscious. You have never heard that word before. Para-conscious is that psyche which is called the alter-ego or “My alternative angel"; and it works for you. You must have heard something like this in the Catholic faith, "My angel guided me to do this." The Guru has explained these circumstances to us in many ways; there are many realities and they each have their effect.

When the war was booming, our people had a kind of paranoia, a feeling of insecurity. Your sensitivity to feel negative comes from three aspects. Let us say half a million people are fighting at the front. Half a million people have at least fifty million relatives. The whole media, the whole world is talking about it. Wherever you go, this is the subject.  Now the test of your spirituality, your positivity, and your prayer comes into play.

It can only happen if you fill your own inner self with Nirbhao and Nirvair; if you are without fear, and without vindictiveness; if you relate to the basic Sikh values: Sarbat daa Bhalaa - good for all.  You can do it mentally. It will do good for you mentally. Otherwise as war proceeds, as war talk proceeds, as actions proceed, as our economy, our social life, and our situation proceeds, you will have difficult feelings. You must understand. The human mind has the most active impact as a parallel psyche.  It's not who crosses who. It's a question of who affects who.

This whole world is a symbol.  It's not one unique world: my world or your world or our world. It's a total world. We carry a lot of other people’s pain in ourselves and around us. But we do not share or elevate the other person’s pain. That's why our pain becomes bigger and bigger.

Many of you are ministers. You look like rabbis. You look effectively holy. You may not be aware of it, or understand it. This is the time to voluntarily go in your neighborhood, and find out if somebody needs help, if somebody needs a visit, if somebody needs to share their fears, and if you can elevate them.

The Sikh religion has a very classical aspect to it.  You do not understand yet what Sikhism gives you. Sikhism gives you a very unconscious experience. To be a Sikh is also a parallel psyche. You expose yourself in the name of the Guru. Just understand how methodically this religion works. You expose yourself as a Sikh to the whole world. You have no sense of denial. You have every sense to be put on the spot. You are a sensibility to be recognized or insulted or appreciated or communicated with. You have no control over it. 

You go to the airport. A lot of people say, "May I know you? Please forgive me. Can I talk to you?" You invite people through your psyche. They feel attracted to you. They feel an unusual character in you. They feel you in your appearance, in your aura, in your psyche, in your personality, and in your reality. For that, you need extra strength.

This is the time where prayer really pays the dividend. All over, there are warnings about terrorism. There is a fury of war. There is fear. This whole world is in a cross-section, cross-reaction, and cross-psyche.  You have to understand that. You have a very special role to play. You have to come out with a deep understanding. You have to be ready, and that is the greatest service you can do as Sikhs of the Guru.

I have been telling you all along. A time will come when people will knock at your door and you will not know why, or what the reason is. People see peacefulness in you. Even if you are disturbed inside. We are not lying to each other. We know ourselves. But to another person you are a saint.

There was an amazing experience for me. I was honored in the New Mexico State Hall of Fame.  I didn't know what it meant.  But when I went, the entire hall was full. There was not any V.I.P. from the entire state who was not there. Nobody cared to shake hands with me.  Everybody either kissed my cheek or kissed my ring.

I couldn't believe it!  Now, what should I do?  I was standing there like a pure statue, absolutely motionless, letting people do it. What to do? You have to offer yourself. For them, it was the highest honor from the state of New Mexico that they could give to an individual. For them, I was very special. All of a sudden I realized, "Whether I am a special mister or not, at this time my action has to be special."  So I started hugging people. I am very shy. I can't do it in my own life. But then I realized, I represent the Guru. I am a humble Sikh. I am a soldier. I have to represent myself. So I put myself together immediately. It was the most difficult task of my entire life to kiss those people. I have never understood how much it affected me.

A lot of people came. "My name is Jackie So-and-So.  I am from such town," (which I don't remember the name), "and I heard about you. I am glad to see you. Can I kiss your ring?"  I said, "Please."  There's nothing I can do. And some big lady came, quite big like a mother. She totally engulfed me and kissed this cheek and that cheek.  I had no experience in my life like that. It was a humble submission of myself to people. 

In the exact same way, so you may not misunderstand, you may feel that something is  negative. It is not. It is what you represent, what your psyche represents. This is what a Sikh character represents -- positiveness, charhdhee kalaa.