I recently read a book – “Dying to be Me” by Anita Moorjani, who had a Near Death Experience. I was inspired by her experience of the “Infinite Self” and being part of the “Whole”. She said: “It’s unfortunate that we keep searching outside ourselves for answers – in religion, medicine, scientific study, books and other people. We think the truth is somewhere out there, still elusive. Yet by doing this, we’re only getting more and more lost, appearing to move away from who we truly are. The entire universe is within us. My answers are inside of me, and yours lie within you too. Everything that seemingly happens externally is occurring in order to trigger something within us, to expand us and take us back to who we truly are. I often use the phrase “infinite self” in place of terms such as higher self, soul, and spirit. In order to be a little clearer, understand that I’m referring to the part of me that was aware during the NDE that I’m not just my body – the part of me that felt I was one with every single thing. I was merging with pure consciousness as an infinite, magnificent being, feeling the clarity of why I’m in this body and life at this point in time. This is also the part of me that understood that the illusion of separation is created by identifying too strongly with the external. I believe that when we leave our physical bodies, our infinite selves are all connected. In the pure consciousness state, we’re all One…. In truth, I’m not my body, my race, religion or other beliefs and neither is anyone else. The real self is infinite and much more powerful – a complete and whole entity that isn’t broken or damaged in any way. The infinite me already contains all the resources I need to navigate through life, because I’m One with Universal energy. In fact, I am Universal energy.”
This whole book was very inspiring—looking into the window of her spiritual experience through the lens of her NDE. She talks about no religion or dogma being the “right” one; that everyone needs to find their own path that feels right to them…. All of this, I resonated with – her experience of what “the One” is and her relationship to it… that paths are varied from person to person….
So, Anita, was blessed to have her NDE to bring about the awareness of the Infinite; that she is part of the One. She can tell us about it and we can think, “Wow, that’s great! and I believe it!” But without having a NDE, how can we achieve and experience that state of consciousness? Others have amazing experiences as well, but can only share their experience. If we don’t happen to have an opportunity to have an amazing experience like this ourselves, how do we tap into that consciousness?
It was Cosmic for me that right at the same time that I was reading this book and all of these thoughts were coming up for me, that my assignment for JHSD was to read about Shabad Guru. I felt that what I read in my assignment gave a very clear formula for tapping into that Universal Energy. Our Gurus gave us a technology to tap into an experience of higher consciousness… When Guru Nanak came out of the river after 3 days and recited JapJi and now we have the blessing to be able to read JapJi every day – the same words that Guru Nanak spoke while experiencing that state of Oneness…
These words from the Siri Singh Sahib really touched me through reading the book “Victory and Virtue”
“A guru is an active knowledge. It is not the intellectual knowledge that simply classifies or analyzes. Guru changes you. Guru develops the capacity to see. It removes darkness… the Shabd Guru transforms the practitioner by removing the barriers erected by the needs of the ego. The encounter with the Guru is through action. It gives you “know how” not just “know what”. It gives you procedural knowledge that is in your cells and sub-conscious, not just representational knowledge in your ideas….the greatest challenge is the practitioners own subconscious. The mind is not trained to base itself in a relation to the Infinite. It is based in ego. It is filled with reactive thoughts that try to maintain the attachments of the ego and tries to avoid pain. When you repeat the patterns of sound and thought in a Shabd, those thoughts counter the direction and intensity of the habitual thoughts. The Shabd provokes a dumping of the stored subconscious patterns of thinking and feeling. If, under the torrential flood of subconscious feelings and thoughts, you persist in repeating the pattern of the Shabd Guru, then the new pattern establishes itself. Your mind clears and you awaken dormant inner capacities or enhance existing ones. Where do the patterns of the Shabd Guru come from? They exist from the beginning of creation. They are the tides and rhythms of the movement of the creative pulse of Infinite consciousness. They vibrate in all things continually.
“From One Sound countless waves are born, and these waves are inseparable from the One Sea.”
–Siri Guru Granth Sahib
It is the ability to hear and feel them that is needed. That capacity comes to a mind that is fearless, neutral, open and awakened. The Ten Gurus of the Sikh path heard it perfectly. They put that rhythm and pattern of energy into the poetic compositions of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. That’s why it is called a Granth rather than just a collection. It is a “knot”. It binds the pattern of awareness into the words of the songs. Each Shabd is a template for an aspect of awareness and a potential of consciousness. Each Shabd is a kind of spiritual DNA that restructures the mind and stimulates the brain. The Siri Guru Granth Sahib is a collection of such gems.”
Once again, what a blessing we have through this Dharma! Can other paths tap into this Infinite Energy? Of course! By definition, infinity does not have limits. I’m just grateful that my heart has been touched by our Beloved Gurus; my heart is overflowing with this gratitude – that I’ve been given the gift of a Spiritual Teacher and a Dharma that has such a bounty of technology to offer each and every one of us to achieve an experience of our True Selves. Wha!
Balvinder Kaur says:
“From One Sound countless waves are born, and these waves are inseparable from the One Sea.”
{Please tell me the page number and the Gurmukhi of the above translation.
Thank you.