It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining down onto Kamalee Kaur as she swept the courtyard, the children had gone off to school and now she had time to do all the household tasks - being a farmer's wife was no easy life. There was so much dirt everywhere, she'd just spent an hour arguing with kids to get them to have a bath, when she finished sweeping the courtyard she'd have to wash the dishes, then all the clothes needed to be taken to the river to be thoroughly pounded against the rocks and left to dry on the grass. After that she'd have to dust all the furniture, the dry Indian soil always found a way of getting inside the house. Just then her husband Vechara Singh came running in, his hands were covered in dog excrement, but he didn't seem to be upset, infact he was rather proud of himself. He stretched his arms forwards saying `Hey Kamalee, look what I nearly stepped in!'.
MORAL OF THE STORY
Poor old Vechara tried to show Kamalee how pure he was by saying his feet were clean. But, she slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand when she saw his hands!
In the same way, we go to the Gurdwara and bow respectfully. On the outside we look very clean and pure infront of Guru Granth Sahib Jee. People in the sangat admire how nice we look, lovely makeup, expensive jewellery, sweet smelling perfume and a fashionable indian suit. We plucked our eyebrows and spent hours styling our hair. We feel very pure. And men come in with trendy jeans and jackets and perhaps an earing or two. They walk real cool and bow respectfully. They've spent good money on their haircut and feel clean and pure.
We fool ourselves into thinking we are clean and pure, just as Vechara Singh thought he was. But just as Kamalee saw right through him, Guru Granth Sahib Jee is not fooled either by our outer appearance.
Guru Granth Sahib Jee sits on the royal throne infront of us as we bow, and says in Guru Amar Das Jee's words from Anand Sahib verse 19:
"Inwardly polluted, and outwardly pure. Those who are outwardly pure and yet polluted within, lose their lives in the gamble. They contract this terrible disease of desire, and in their minds, they forget about dying. "
Guru Granth Sahib Jee sees into our minds and finds we are full of desire, chasing after money or the opposite sex. When we're not at the Gurdwara we swear, cheat and lie. Why ? Because we have no fear of death, we don't believe we will die and be judged by our actions, so we do anything we like. Or even if we do believe we will be judged, we think just by being clean and pure on the outside and going to the Gurdwara is going to get Guru Jee to forgive us and wipe away all our sins.
So how do we truly become pure on the inside? Guru Amar Das Jee goes onto write that only God's Sacred Name, Naam, can purify us. But we are so stubborn, just like the Hindu Holy men who used to read the Vedas holy books, that we still won't change our false habits. Hence we gambled our life away and lost our Guru's love.
"In the Vedas, the ultimate objective is the Naam, the Name of the Lord; but they do not hear this, and they wander around like demons. Says Nanak, those who forsake Truth and cling to falsehood, lose their lives in the gamble. || 19 || "
So don't be like Vechara trying to fool his wife, Guru jee can see right through us. Beg Guru jee for the gift of Amrit. Then do Naam Meditation by getting up before 6 am at amritvela and saying Waheguru Waheguru as much as you can. Practise truthful living, then and only then will we become truly pure.
Posted by Harjit Singh Lakhan