Here is a video ‘Gurdwara – The Basic Realities of Religion’ on October 15, 1989 in Berkely, CA, U.S.A. by the Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan

Here is an excerpt of this lecture:

Every religion has tried to teach certain basic realities, basic strength for every man in line of action, line of his duties. Purpose of every religion is to make everybody happy, prosperous, fulfilled.

It works both ways. If people are rich in a religion they will serve the religion, they will keep religion going. If people are poor it won’t serve the religion, it won’t serve the people either.

But a unique thing about Sikh religion, which is not being understood and understood in the aspect of it is that there are religions and they are good in their own way. But it is not any religion tell you this is what religion starts with, they start with a very saintly manner and they end up very soldierly and conquer the whole world – that becomes the idea.

But unfortunately that was not the attitude, attitude was to start right in the beginning to understand we are soldiers and saints at the same time. Nothing was left to take over or transformation or direction. Sikh religion starts with a very simple augment: meere and peeree, shaster and shaaster, seva and Simran, Bana and Bani.

. . . Now unfortunately there are certain things which can happen and have always happened. If a spiritual man or a spiritual leader compromises with the world, then he loses all his spiritual values. And that compromise sometimes is very forceful, there are two thousand people in congregation, they are negative, they are not getting together and the ideals are so high they can’t achieve and the man doesn’t say heck with it, all right let us make amends, let us make a bend, and this happens in every religion, it happens. It is not that it cannot be avoided.

So in Jews you can find orthodox and reforms and mediocre and all that. In Christianity you cannot even count their denominations they are all, they all love one Christ but they have their own thing going. And in Sikh Dharma also whenever the parties fight they make a new Gurdwara, they are not making a new Sikh religion yet which may happen little later, but they have their own thing going. If two parties fight with each other the other president who cannot be president makes another people and takes a group.

So what I am trying to explain to you, the man from the beginning to this time has a clan personality, clan system, they have a situation where people get together and they have one leader and he leads them to where it leads to.

Looking at that in the spiritual world it also shows up that actually there is no spiritual world at all. It is clan system, some people get to be a family, some family gets to be a group, some groups get together and they become a clan and clans get together and they become tribes and that’s how it is.

That’s not actually spirituality, that’s not even the reality of spirituality. The reality of spirituality is that you go and you keep going onto God and carry everybody onto God.

Now you say what instruction we have? Yes, in the past there was a difficulty in instructions, because every religion develops as the circumstances developed it. But when we have Siri Guru Granth the instructions are very perfect.

First of all, Siri Guru Granth speaks poetry, everybody can’t alter the poetry, rhythm and theme.

Number two, Siri Guru Granth has a seal of Nanak in the end, so nobody can cheat and change.

Number three, it is prescribed in the way it deals with the mind, the body and the soul. It deals with all the three aspects of mind, body and soul.

. . . The biggest wrong or a fault a spiritual man can do, that under pressure of worldly pleasure or worldly grace or popularity, well call it anything, he prostitutes himself to please those people who he is supposed to lead. And this leadership is not to make a government or to have a big ashram or put a gold on the dome, this is between a man’s soul and his delivery or her delivery to God and that’s his responsibility, that’s what his job is, that’s how he takes over the job to begin with.

That is his unsaid promise, that is his unknown path, that is his power of the way. When he comes down for the sake of pleasure or popularity, or personality or effectiveness then that is not a spiritual man. He is a living human cockroach. . . But he said it is right, at least he will be a cockroach and others will not be even a cockroach, their soul will stuck up there to get cleansed.  God knows when and they may start from the bottom root of the life to achieve the mankind again.

So unfortunately believe it or not human body is the last you can get and the worst you can make it use it. Now let us see what we do with the human body. How many houses we have got, how many bedroom we got, how many bathrooms we have in the house, how beautiful clothes we have got, it is all granted, but that’s all our energy is about.

Have we ever thought about how elevated our soul is, how clear our mind is? How clear our consciousness is? How smiling and happy we are? How can make and distribute people to be very happy and high and elevated and uplifted? Not at all.

What happened to these people? Are they okay? No, they cannot pass this magnetic field line, which our human aeroplane does pass with a bang. That’s how sad it is. Because higher you are, humbler you are,  and the higher you are punishment becomes very heavy. Because in the eyes of God you got a human body and you wasted it, you insulted God directly, because you are made in the image of God. Once you insult God directly then punishment has to be very direct.

. . . We have to understand life has two sides to it, plus and minus but there is a one side, which is the neutral side which is a reality of it, the real size.

. . . We have certain things, which make us very afraid, what the people think of us. . . That person is destroyed right with the first thought. Don’t think of what people think of you, think of what God thinks of you and think what people say to you not think what Guru says to you. These are the two aspects we have to understand. What the creation thinks is not our problem, what the Creator thinks is our problem. How you can guide yourself and how can you guide yourself with the strength of the Guru, and others to it. These are the two secrets of success. They will never fail. They have never failed before, they will never fail now.

. . . Do we trust God? No, do we believe God? No. Do we love God? No. Do we have any concept of God? No. Then why we are religious. We fake it, it looks good. It is very good when you practice it, but it looks good. Lot of time we go to a church to see who wears what and who is doing what. And also we have a soul and we want to go to church to hear good words because souls get hungry and dry and isolated, then it start messing you up.

. . . Those who are here on this path have to understand, we have to change our direction, we have to see what God sees in us, we have to say what Guru says in us and that is the way to live. . . See what God sees in you, see yourself, don’t tell me to see in you. See in yourself what God sees in you. See what He sees and say what He says. Say what Guru says and see how it goes . . .

May the Grace of the Guru and blessing of Guru Ram Das be with you.

Read the full lecture on The Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings