This article 'Bhai Jagraj's Secret: Mother Waheguru,' written by Harijot Singh Khalsa, was originally published on June 20th, 2017. It offers a personal experience and perspective on the beloved modern Bhai, as well as a description of an intimate encounter Jagraj Singh had of the Divine — being completely surrounded with a nurturing motherly energy of the Universe. We are grateful to republish this article in honor of SikhNet's 25th anniversary. Register to attend the SikhNet 25th Anniversay Virtual Gala.
This is my experience of Bhai Jagraj who will always have a dear place in my heart.
When I first came upon the Basics of Sikhi videos, I was impressed with how personable Jagraj Singh was. He was so raw and also sweet. The more I watched, the more I found that I agree with pretty much everything he says. Sometimes I felt there were things that I wanted to tell the world, and then I would see that he had already said it and he said it better than I would have. At one point I concluded that he is actually giving the message for the time. What he is saying is fresh off the press, comes from his intuition, he is in flow with hukam. And he did it with humor and intelligence.
I said to myself that I will meet this brother some day. By God's blessing and help from friends I was invited to a camp that he was attending. I was looking forward to it and when I did meet him, I somehow felt that he was looking forward to meeting me as well. This is why I believe it's appropriate that we all started calling him Bhai. He really is a respected brother to so many.
I wanted to interview him and get his personal story. We had all heard a lot of his thoughts and a little of his experience through his videos, but I wanted to capture the inside scoop. Basically, his spiritual life boiled down to his experience with simran, "It just came from this one word 'Waheguru,' and obviously from the sangat."
Brother Jagraj, I felt, could see into me to some extent. He didn't hesitate to put me forward. That was his leadership, to spot potential and have the humility and willingness to step aside himself. One time he was giving a talk to a youth group and he said, "You guys have so much knowledge and you are so young, I didn't have that much when I was your age. You need to start coming forward and getting out there. You will probably do a better job than me. Maybe you'll make a more popular YouTube channel and I'll be out of a job. But it's OK." Then I said from the crowd, "No, when we rise up we will carry you on our shoulders. That's how much we love you." And that is how sangat did treat him.
There is one thing from his videos that I'd like to restate here about leadership. He said that he's found that teenagers and young people in their 20's are very pessimistic. They are so bogged down with politics and committees that they don't have the energy to move forward. Keep in mind he had plenty of personal experience, more than most, of all that detrimental drama. He plainly acknowledged, "The panth is not in a good state right now. We've got a lot of work to do." Than he said, "I'm in my mid 30's and I am more optimistic than some of these teenagers. What happened?! The younger you are the more naive and optimistic you're supposed to be! Cheer up guys, have more hope, it's not all lost, you can do something. Especially if we can do it together, we can make some big changes." Among the things he's said this has really hit me. I admire how he remained uniquely optimistic even after being negated and exposed to god knows what.
What I see about his life is that in the last 6 or 7 years he just put himself forward to give a needed voice to and for Sikhs. It is impossible that in a few short years he created multiple institutions, galvanized a leadership that would carry on past his death and inspired many thousands throughout the world, it is impossible that this happened without the direct involvement of our Guru. It's like he saw the need and he raised his hand as a volunteer to fill the need. Then Guru ji lifted him up from his raised hand and flew him all over the world. Then, when his task was complete, Guru ji dropped him to his final destination. He would just say that it's Guru's work and when you work for Guru all kinds of things that might otherwise destroy you, you won't even notice, like you have an invisible force field around you. He believed and taught that anyone can do it if they also just step forward.
Near the time he would find out that he had stage four cancer and the doctors told him he had three months to live, he also found out that his wife was pregnant with a third child. Shortly before he passed away his wife gave birth to a baby girl. There is something unspeakably beautiful about that. The symmetry of the plan. There is something much bigger going on than we normally realize. When one departs another just arrives. It doesn't matter to the cloud just which rain drop falls from the sky, and it doesn't matter to The Heavens just who lives and just who dies. Even in his act of death Bhai Jagraj reminds us that Guru's plan is perfect.
I wanted to share something special with the sangat. It is something that he told me, I felt it was a bit of a secret of his, I have no idea how many people he shared this with. He described at some point before he started his YouTube channel that he had experienced a great state of bliss. It was something of a merger. It was such anand that he never before or since experienced. He always wanted to get that again. He told me, "I used to get depressed and could be very low, but after that experience I don't. I also didn't get that total bliss again. It's always in the middle now. I can always become happy after meditating, I'm generally in a good mood all the time."
I'm sure it was nice to not have very low moments but he of course wanted to get that total bliss again. Bhai Jagraj explained to me "So I asked a very elevated soul this question why I can't seem to reach there again. He told me that my mission is to get out there in the world. I'm not supposed to be a Baba Ji who sits in one room and smiles. And sangat would visit and as a Baba ji I would just give blessings to people. Had I been lost in such bliss I wouldn't have the ambition to do my job." He laughed.
I asked him to describe the bliss. He said it's hard to describe. Then he said something that amazed me, "I felt totally surrounded with Love. The feeling was so nurturing and motherly. There was feminine essence to it, so much compassion and care. I believe that Waheguru is female. That's my experience, that Waheguru is a mother."
I hadn't expected this revelation at all, something he obviously didn't make up. To me it was total confirmation that he was not only very heartfelt and sincere but that he was guided by intuition and something beyond.
There is one final anecdote I would like to share. He was giving a talk to hundreds of youth at the Sikh Youth Federation camp. He was talking about what's missing in our current culture and what we need to work on in order to move forward. As usual what he was saying was very good, however it was more how he said it. He engaged the crowd and got them to laugh. He would ask questions to get the youth to admit certain faults... and it was so funny. At certain points the whole crowd would laugh. Then he would talk with more animated questions and answers. By the end of the workshop everything was laughing so hard. It was absolutely hilarious. I honestly thought that he could have been a stand up comedian if he didn't have his mission. I've been to a comedy show before, he made everyone laugh more than the comedy show crowd. To me this is one of the greatest weapons a warrior or Guru Gobind Singh can use: Humour.
As we are sure that he will continue in Chardi Kala, as Bhai Jagraj will be laughing and smiling wherever he is, may we remember him, cause others to smile as well.
Stay in Chardi Kala.
Wahiguru ji ka Khalsa Wahiguru ji ki Fateh
