By Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji

Excerpt from a lecture given May 23, 1993

The most important part of Sikh Dharma, or any religion, is reality. It is very difficult for an individual to follow his or her religion. Mostly you have no choice when you follow a religion. Either you are born into it. Or you just know a little bit about it, and you go along with it.

But technically speaking, every religion, big or small, has a code of conduct. It is called Rehit Maryada. Rehit means the way to live. Maryada means the self-dictatorial admission of surrender of confession to that path. It is a very long meaning. Normally, they say the “rules.” Rules are not made in a day. Rules come through a technical experience. Rules justify or personify to an individual that that individual is on the path.

Why is it this way? Why is there no freedom to choose religion the way we want it to be? Why can’t we have religion as we want it? After all, we are made in the image of God.

Our soul was here and the body was given to us. Then, after that, the continuous process of life begins. You are born on an axis, at a certain longitude and latitude, and your life starts. Sometimes you control events. Sometimes events control you. And life goes on. But there is one fundamental challenge in life which you can never escape. And that is Rehit Maryada, the code of conduct.

If you examine it in reality, you have to understand that you have three personalities. One is your elementary personality. Mostly you try to know your elementary personality, but mostly you do not get to know it. In many cases, if you can get into the depth of your subconscious, and reach the state of your unconscious; if you can get into that trance, you can totally find who you are. It is very easy, but very difficult. But that is the stage you have to reach.

Second is your working personality, which totally crosses with society all the time. Moment to moment, you deal with yourself and with the environments. There is a code right there. Your behavior is set. If you are a policeman, your behavior is set. If you are a priest, your behavior is set. If you are a doctor, your behavior is set. If you are a businessman, your behavior is set. Your working personality has a set behavior and you have to match up to it.

So normally, you do not know your basic elementary personality. And there is a code of conduct you have to live because of your working personality. If you break the rules, they will break you. You know it. So you accept that through fear. Sometimes you dodge the code of conduct within reason. Sometimes you get caught, and sometimes you escape. You find it difficult but you know fundamentally that my working personality requires this particular way of behavior. So you behave.

Then we come to the third personality. It’s called fantasy. Fantasy is such a way of life for you, that you won’t even tell yourself what you want. Forget about telling somebody else. It is your secret. It comes to you layer after layer after layer.

So between man and God, and God and man there is a relationship in which man doesn’t know what man is. God knows what a man is. Therefore, God has the edge. God is a creative reality, not a personality. You made it a personality. God never was, is or shall be a personality. Neither is there a roop nor is there a rang. It has no color. It has no shape. It is by Itself, Saibhang. It is a creative energy by Itself and It creates everything.

If you say you are an unhappy, miserable, wrong person – so be it. Because God created you as it is required to be creatively you. So

Aad Pooran Madh Pooran Ant Pooran Parmaysureh.

(Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Ang 705 in Siri Guru Granth Sahib)

In the beginning you are perfect, in the middle you are perfect, and in the end you are perfect. (Tranlsation by Yogi Bhajan.)