Amid the COVID-19 pandemic lots of shortages in supplies have been noted. The first round of panic started when people invaded grocery stores, and tissue paper and sanitizers were being swept away from shelves. Then, medical supplies….gloves, masks… We are also being reminded again and again to wash our hands regularly with soap and water. Is soap next on the list? It is definitely good hygienic discipline to wash our hands regularly whether we are in the crisis or not. But Satguru Kabir Saheb tells us what we have to ensure is clean and kept clean always. If we all keep that clean at all times, the question of being infected does not arise.
What if you scrub your whole body with soap and water? Did you cleanse your inner Self? If you did not allow any stains to build up on your inner Self, even your outer Self would have remained pure. Over time people have continued to soil themselves, over and over again, experimenting with all forms of life, having no compassion for other forms of being - let alone human beings. The stain build-up is too much now. This is why all the sanitizers of the world are not enough to restore them to their original, nickel state.
“Yaha ghat bhitar agni jarat hai, dhuva na pargat hoye”
The fire is there, sparkling light - the so-ham light. But no smoke is coming out of that fire. But you do not see the smoke, so you deny its existence. Those who have realised it are illuminated. Ignoring your real identity you have gone off-track. Satguru Kabir Saheb exhorts us to look within. It is high time...looking outside has carried us away from our destination. When we are able to experience the light within us, we will see that same light in all other beings.
“Guru bin giaan na hoye”
We have always learnt that unless we sow a seed we cannot expect to have the tree; unless the tree grows, we cannot expect fruits from it. Now is the time for us to learn how there can be fire without smoke, how there can be a creeper without soil and water, how there can be fruits without the tree blooming. This knowledge can only be obtained from the Master. The Realised One. How does He teach us? What does He do?
The Master is an expert washerman; He uses the Lord as soap (what better cleanser can you ask for?). The washing stone is none other than your own consciousness. This combination (washerman + soap + washing stone) produces an extraordinary sparkle. This is the illumination. This is the Light of God. This is who we truly are.
Let us turn this challenge into the opportunity for us to realise our real Self. May Satguru Kabir Saheb shower His grace upon us!
Mahant Jay Jaggessur, Kabir Association of Toronto.
