rwjn ikau soieAw qU nId Bry jwgq kq nwhI rwm ] (Guru Granth Sahib p.548)
raajan ki-o so-i-aa too need bharay jaagat kat naahee raam.
O king, why are you sleeping? Why don't you wake up to reality?

A king - this is the status the Guru has given a Sikh. Truly fascinating that a common person to be given the title of a King. It is like calling every American "Mr. President."

But the Guru is asking his King a question! He is asking, "O King, why are you sleeping?" The Guru is also asking, why does not his King wake up to reality?

What is this really the Guru is talking about?

It is fascinating to even begin to comprehend when the Guru revels the truth:

sdw suKu min vsY duKu sMswrh KovY ] (Guru Granth Sahib p. 1392)
sadaa sukh man vasai dukh sansaarah khovai.
Peace always prevails in ones mind. One loses the suffering of the world.

This is reality - there is peace everywhere thus happiness everywhere. How can this be true? For we see sadness and wars everywhere. Then again, what we see, is that the reality? Or are we simply asleep to the true reality as described in Guru Granth Sahib?

The reality is:

Maan tu Jot Saroop hai - Apana mool phachaan

Guru is saying that O mind, you have the image of the Almighty Himself. O mind, you have the light of the Creator. O mind, recognize your importance.

Fascinating isn't it! No other book in this world has given a human being such a high standard below God. In every heart God Himself resides. In every thing God Himself exists. There is the light of God in you. There is the light of God in me. There is the light of Waheguru in everyone of us. We have a great responsibility, don't we?

We are responsible of everything we do in our life. We are responsible when we hurt someone's feelings for the creator resides in every heart. We are responsible for our judgment of others for we are trying to judge god himself.

What do we judge and what do we not judge? After all, the creator is within the creation and the creation abides in the creator. And this creation is under the order and nothing exists outside this order.

PrIdw Kwlku Klk mih Klk vsY rb mwih ] (Guru Granth Sahib p. 1381)
fareedaa khaalak khalak meh khalak vasai rab maahi

If we truly understand this then there will be happiness within us. If we truly can comprehend that everything happens for a reason and that the every reason and action is under the order - the order of the creation and the creator, this world will be a difference place. The colors around us will be different.

hukmY AMdir sBu ko bwhir hukm n koie ] (Guru Granth Sahib p.1)
hukmai andar sabh ko baahar hukam na ko-ay.

But unfortunately this light and this happiness that the Guru talks about, the spirit of it existing in everyone and everything, is a rare commodity. Why? The Guru himself answers by saying that we are asleep.

We are asleep to this beautiful elegant mystic reality of life.

We are asleep when we let our Gurdwaras become a battlefield of power and ego.

We are asleep when our youth are loosing their confidence in Sikhi.

We are asleep when our Sikh mothers cannot teach their children about Sikhi.

Mothers have been given one of the highest levels in Sikhism. The Guru says:

mwqw miq ipqw sMqoKu ] (Guru Granth Sahb p.151)
maataa mat pitaa santokh

Mother has been given the comparison of wisdom. The Guru says let wisdom be your mother and contentment you father. Sikh mothers have to wake up to this reality that the Guru has bestowed the foundation of Sikhi in their hands. Today if Sikhi is at its fall is because the Sikh mothers have failed to teach their children the wisdom of Sikhi. Today the Sikh mothers have failed to create the confidence in their children's heart that when they stand in front of the mirror with a turban - They should think that the turban and long hair make them took good.

Today the Sikhs are asleep because the Gurdwaras have failed to facilitate the Guru's message. What a shame! What a shame to see our Guru's door becomes a battlefield of ego and ignorance. O King, why don't you wake up? Wake up to the reality when the Guru says:

BlI suhwvI CwprI jw mih gun gwey ]
ikq hI kwim n Daulhr ijqu hir ibsrwey ]1] rhwau ]

"Even a crude hut is sublime and beautiful, if the Lord`s Praises are sung within it.
Those mansions where the Lord is forgotten are useless. ||1||Pause||" - (Guru Granth Sahib p. 745)

Today we are asleep because we are busy making others happy and not conveying the true essence of Sikhi. We are asleep when our Sikh scholars are afraid to speak like Sikhs for they don't want to offend anyone.

Today we are asleep because we have assimilated ourselves into an alien cultural.

Today we are asleep because we have created our own views on Sikhi and with such confidence we say that there is no need of following the Guru's message.

We are asleep when we have failed to realize the ingenuity of Guru Gobind Singh's system of Khalsa. A system which was and which is way advance to its time.

We are asleep when we go to the Gurdwara and bow our head in front of our Guru.

We are asleep while listening to Kirtan and Katha.

We are asleep because we have not understood and truly followed our Satgur's advise. We are asleep because we have failed to realize the true reality.

syvk isK pUjx siB Awvih siB gwvih hir hir aUqm bwnI ] (Guru Granth Sahib p.669)

sayvak sikh poojan sabh aavahi sabh gaavahi har har ootam baanee.

gwivAw suixAw iqn kw hir Qwie pwvY ijn siqgur kI AwigAw siq siq kir mwnI ]1]

gaavi-aa suni-aa tin kaa har thaa-ay paavai jin satgur kee aagi-aa sat sat kar maanee.

The Guru is saying that your listening and reciting of God's name will be approved only when you unconditionally accept the order of the Satguru. In other words, that we start following that we recite, hear, and read from Guru Granth Sahib.

O king, why are you sleeping? Why don`t you wake up to reality?

Wake up! Wake up to reality that we have a great responsible as Sikhs. It is our duty to understand what the Guru says and it is our responsible to spread his message to the whole world - A message of peace - A message of ultimate reality - A message of God and Grace.

Wake up, O Gurdwara management committees. Shatter this brick wall around you and see what your youth is doing. See by your own eyes the future of Sikhi loosing its confidence, it's identity, it's wisdom.

Wake up, O donators of thousands dollars, your donation to Gurdwara is of no use if it is not earned honestly and righteously. Don't be so proud of your earnings through liquor stores and using that money to support Gurdwara.

pihlw scu hlwl duie qIjw KYr Kudwie ] (Guru Granth Sahib p.141)
pahilaa sach halaal du-ay teejaa khair khudaa-ay.
Let the first be truthfulness, the second honest living, and the third charity in the Name of God.

Wake up, O mothers for you are the foundation of Sikhi. Embrace the understanding of Sikhi and then lead your children toward sikhi for they may feel confident of themselves when look in a mirror.

Wake up, O Sikh scholars. Please, stop using others work as a lens to view Sikhi. You bring the depth and the elegance of Gurbani to level that it looses its essence.

Wake up, O Sikh leaders. Stop playing games of politics for there is a bigger book of guidelines to follow and understand - a book of wisdom - a book of selflessness - a book of ethics - a book of loyalty to ones principles. You are of no use to anyone if you fail to walk on the path of truth and justice. You are of no use to anyone if you cannot represent your own and stand for the rights of your own.

Hopefully you are not what the Guru says you were in his time.

kUVu boil murdwru Kwie ] (Guru Granth Sahib p.139)
AvrI no smJwvix jwie ]
muTw Awip muhwey swQY ]
nwnk AYsw AwgU jwpY ]1]

Telling lies, they eat dead bodies.
And yet, they go out to teach others.
They are deceived, and they deceive their companions
O Nanak, such are the leaders of men. ||1||

Wake up, O Robbie Singh. Don't be misled for you are also in the same boat as others. Your writings and talks are of no use if you yourself fail to live them. Your listening and reading of Gurbani is if no use if you fail to unconditionally abide by the order of the Satguru.

This is not all easy. If it where then Guru Nanak Ji would have never said this:

jau qau pRym Kylx kw cwau ]
isru Dir qlI glI myrI Awau ]
ja-o ta-o paraym khaylan kaa chaa-o.
sir Dhar talee galee mayree aa-o.

If you desire to play this game of love with Me, then step onto My Path with your head in hand. (Guru Granth Sahib p.1412)

O king, why are you sleeping? Why don't you wake up to reality?