Akal Takhat - Undying Throne

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Akal Takhat - The Undying Throne

Akal means undying, and Takhat means throne. By the definition Guru Hargobind Ji gave it, Akal Takhat is a throne that cannot be destroyed. It is the highest earthly authority for all Sikhs. The Akal Takhat sits across from the Harimandir Sahib at a slight angle to show the humility a political authority should have towards a spiritual authority.

 

Transcribed Lectures of the Siri Singh Sahib

New Mexico, July 1, 1984

It is important to understand how this world works. The rotation of this little planet has been investigated many times, yet the mystery still remains unsolved. The earth rotates on its axis as it revolves in its orbit around the sun. What keeps it rotating on its axis? What keeps it in its orbit? Why is it that no accident occurs?

It is my understanding that there is no such thing as an accident. I classify accidents as initial actions. Accidents are initial actions because their spontaneous occurrence is the first event in a new and unforeseen direction. The initial action is the pivot on which the energy changes its focus away from what it had been up to the moment preceding the so-called accident. These initial actions have altered the life of nations, altered the life of communities, and transformed the lives of the people.

War of Identity

I agree one hundred percent that we as Sikhs have been hit. We have been hit harshly and the times are very hard. But we are fortunate that we have been hit so harshly. This is an initial actions. It is the first step which had to be taken to turn our energy towards ourselves as Sikhs. Now we will obey our Guru, and we will find the God within ourselves.

If this situation in India could happen - and it has happened - then it must be the will of God because God is everything. All things come from God and all things go to God. Now we find ourselves under siege. Eleven million Sikhs are under siege. It is a war of identity.

If we in the West can effectively demonstrate that this is a matter of human identity, the entire West will be with us. We need to bring the West to understand that this is a war of identity, pure and simple. We need the West to understand that these Sikh people who believe in God and love God and feel God within them are being forced to defend their identity, to fight for their identity. Do you understand what it will give us to convey that understanding? It will give us the greatest bliss and fulfillment. We will never have an identity crisis. This is true because we cannot speak of our identity without realizing it.

It is a fact of life that when we speak about our identity, we set identity. It is the power of the Word. The Word is the greatest power. What is Siri Guru Granth Sahib to which we bow? Siri Guru Granth Sahib just talks about God, and by reading it we become God. We become godly people. Guru Gobind Singh gave us the Word of Khalsa. He gave us the identity to live to the purity of Khalsa. Purity cannot die. Purity knows no death. Khalsa shall know no death. It will live forever. Therefore, there shall be 960 million Khalsa. What a miracle that will be.


Martyrdom of Akal Takhat
New Mexico, July 1, 1984

There is an initial action that has taken place to force us to come to our identity of Khalsa. That initial action was performed by Akal Takhat. Akal Takhat has reached its own martyrdom. Nobody could destroy Akal Takhat. I don't believe anybody could. If it was possible, then it could have happened many times before. Akal Takhat, the throne of the imperial as well as the divine power, has come to question if we are worthy to keep it. Are we worthy to keep it ever in its glory or not? This is a very internal question. It cannot be answered emotionally. It has nothing to do with sentiments and commotion. It asks a simple question.

A takhat, a throne, rules. It is a crown of rulership, divine as well as earthly, and when the rulership comes under destruction, it asks me a question. It will ask you a question. It should ask the entire humanity, "What went wrong?" Now the time has come to correct what went wrong.


Every Part of the World Shares Our Pain
New Mexico, July 1, 1984

Recently, I received a letter from an ordinary American woman. She has absolutely no Khalsa relative nor any other relationship to Khalsa. She has written me that what has happened in the last two weeks is so devastating that she would like to give her condolences and share with me the pain which we as a nation are experiencing.

I say that it is not only the pain we are all having now, it is the pain which will be shared by everyone. Through every newspaper, every radio station, every television, every media, every person will share our pain. If we can continue sharing this pain with the world at large, with the free world, then we will carry the day.

It is not a time to become emotional. It is not a time to become angry. It is a time to act. Guru has said that by the jap of Har (repetition of God's Name), all darkness leaves and light spreads. We are doing it by chanting:

Aap sahaaee hoaa, Sache daa sachaa dhoaa. Har, har, har.

This is the Guru's bani. We have seen it work and it is true to us. All the people must meditate on God with the Word of the Guru.


Awakening Through Sacrifice
New Mexico, July 1, 1984

This is the greatest sacrifice that has been made in the history of our lives. Akal Takhat has offered itself as a sacrifice. To understand this, you have to believe in the identity of the Akal Takhat. People have been dying, our history is full of it. We will die too. Dying is as easy as pulling a tooth. One Novacain injection and then there's no pain.

I'm not talking about individual dying. In the history of our universe, this is the first time a place with the identity of rulership of the ether and of the earth, mortal and immortal, a central source of that energy, that psyche, that nucleus, has sacrificed itself. This is not an unimportant thing for the humanity. It is very important. The earth shall shake. Events will come. This is the greatest sacrifice. This is the first time Akal Takhat as an identity, as a ruling identity of the Khalsa, has sacrificed itself so that the mankind can live. It will bring the humanity to an understanding.

If Jesus had not gone on the cross and forgiven those who put them there, he would not have been Jesus the Christ. He would have been just Jesus, like any other. But he established himself as Christ when he looked and said, "If this cup can pass, fine, if not I'll accept Thy Will. Forgive them. They do not know what they do."

We must show that forgiveness, and act powerfully. Either we believe Guru is with us or we don't believe Guru is with us. If we believe Guru is with us, and Guru guides us, then we are not without leadership. There is nobody, nobody who can be my leader. No Sikh is going to accept the leadership of any man. We have accepted once and for all the leadership of the Siri Guru Granth. Therefore, I can explain to you in very clear consciousness that we shall not only win, but we will carry the day with us.

I agree we are slow. We are slow, but we are conscious. We are growing, and the growing bud has the power. Once a rosebud came between two marble bricks. You know that marble is a pretty hard stone, but when the bud wanted to open, it cracked the marble bricks. To open the bud takes the power of God, and there is nothing in the elements of the earth which is powerful enough to stop the bud from opening.

Guru Arjun gave the sacrifice; we became victorious. Guru Teg Bahadur gave the sacrifice; we became victorious. Guru Gobind Singh and his entire family gave the sacrifice, and we became victorious. Today our Akal Takhat has given the sacrifice; we shall not lose!

I have a difference of opinion from everybody because I have no opinion of my own. I have a view of things. This view is as truthful to me as I am to myself. I am crying. I'm in pain, not for myself, but for those who have done this act. Akal Takhat has its own identity and Akal Takhat has given its own sacrifice. Guru Teg Bahadur had his own identity and Guru Teg Bahadur gave his own sacrifice. As a Sikh I have no right to question it. I'm not going to question why Akal Takhat did what Akal Takhat did. If I question, then I am not a Sikh of the Guru. I think my discipline is enough that I shall not question. I know that if Akal Takhat has chosen to give its sacrifice, then it must be required.

Guru Arjun could have given in and the matter would have ended. If Guru Arjun chose to sacrifice and explained his sacrifice to Mian Mir, I have learned from it. Guru Teg Bahadur chose to sacrifice, and he told the entire world. I learned from that. If Guru Gobind Singh gave his sacrifice and Guru Gobind Singh's sons gave their sacrifice, I learned from those. If my Akal Takhat has given a sacrifice, then I am learning from it also.

I'm neither crediting nor discrediting anybody who was there. Akal Takhat wanted, at this moment, to awaken the Khalsa nation and this nation could not have come out of that sleep by any other means than through the sacrifice of Akal Takhat. This nation would not have been awakened by any other sacrifice but the end of the Akhand Jotee in Harimander. This head of mine belongs to the Guru; therefore, this head must think and work for the Guru.

Akal Takhat has totally sacrificed itself. I would like you to share with me something which I have been sharing all along. Akal Takhat has its own independent sovereign identity. Akal Takhat had to sacrifice itself to awaken these Sikhs. There was no other way.

Do you really think that people who have never gotten up in the morning, have never taken a cold shower and never chanted Japji in their whole lives could have been awakened by anything other than Akal Takhat's own sacrifice? I don't believe that anything other than the sacrifice of the Akal Takhat could do it. Now that sacrifice has been done. The nation will wake up. It will rise in spirit; it will win. You talk about Khalistan, Pakistan, this-stan, that-stan. I'll call it "Dhunistan." The whole world is going to come under it. It is the greatest sacrifice ever made. It must bring the greatest positive result that could ever happen.

Out of my pain, I have been praying whenever I go to Gurdwara. Whenever I go to some houses, I have nothing to share because there is liquor and chicken and this and that. Through just seeing this impurity in tons and tons I would pray every morning, "Guru Ji, if there will be no purity, there will be no Khalsa. Do something!" I think that what Guru has done is to ask Akal Takhat to go ahead now and sacrifice. I think the sacrifice is very timely. It will just awaken every sleeping soul.

If you tell a Sikh that Akal Takhat has sacrificed itself he will say that it is not true. That the Indian government sent the army there and blew up the Akal Takhat. I say that Aurangzeb sent the army and beheaded Guru Teg Bahadur. What is the difference? It couldn't be done by the police. It couldn't be done by a paramilitary force. That is the history. That is a fact.


Rajkarega Khalsa
New Mexico, July 1, 1984

So what will come out of this sacrifice? It will be absolutely great. Khalsa shall triumph and Guru Gobind Singh's words shall come true!

"Malech Khaalsaa hosee naas
Panth Khaalsaa hosee parkaash."

"Unbelieveing Khalsa will be destroyed,
The believers will shine again."

This is what I saw, this is what I know, and this is what I am sharing with you. Guru has told me to be with you and to share with you. It is the historical sacrifice of all sacrifices. The Akal Takhat has sacrificed itself to awaken the Khalsa. Now you can commonly believe and speak and truthfully think:

Raaj karegaa khaalsaa
Aakee rahe na koe,
Khwaar hoe sabh milenge
Bache sharan jo hoe.

The rule of Khalsa is to be.
The disobedient ones will not remain.
All those who come together at the Guru's feet.
Those dear ones shall be protected.

There are hundreds and thousands of aakee (rebels). Those aakee have to come back into the form. That is why Akal Takhat was sacrificed. This greatest sacrifice under the Will of God has been made to save the planet, to save the humanity, and to bring peace, away from the destruction. It is a point of view, it is a statement, it is a reason, fine. I say it is a fact, fine. You can call it a lie. That's okay. As it is written above, so it shall be done below.

 

Anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Akal Takhat
July 6th 1987

The word is "akal" and what we are celebrating today is in memory of the Akal Takhat.

Takhat means "Tirath". Tirath means that which has the base and which ultimately means sovereign. Takhat means throne. Throne was a place which was thrown away from God. So word is Akal Takhat. Timelessness. Throne of timelessness.

Depressed, emotional values and hopeless and useless confinement. These are the American values given to me today. In some people their egos and their emotions get together to the extent that they are worse than animals; they are beasts. When creativity becomes destructive, man is then lower than the animal. Because in the animal, sex is only controlled by the environmental time, and that is when the animal is in heat and then only they can create a sex. But humans have a direction, a mental direction, and have absolutely no time and space. Therefore the human creativity is based on a mental direction, not on time.  So as a creature we have been given timelessness to begin with, as a matter of biological science, as a fundamental creativity in our consciousness.  Barring that, our biological and our physical circumstances have been ingrained in timelessness rather than the animal. That's the difference. That's why we are considered superior and that the man and woman are created in a superiority of God's image. So basically, when we have an instinct to be distinct from that what is not and what is, it is called commitment and character and consciousness and intelligence. 

So when the magnetic psyche conflicts with the time, energy and containment of the magnetic psyche into the relevancy of that creativity, it stimulates the entire organism into the being and the creative self is so creative that the intelligence and the discipline is not at that moment in a position to beat out the impulsiveness. Then the human mind becomes destructive, insensitive and very active and it very, very effectively creates a hysteria of expelling the energy and commotional and neurotic satisfaction. This is nothing but an interlock of the most beautiful human energy into lower-than-animal nature. It's called "beast" in the Western language - the beast which is forceful and effectively an onslaught of damage. 

So what I'm explaining here today is that in Sikh Dharma we have a place we call Akal Takhat. It is the nerve center of the planet's psyche. It is the fundamental focal point of the planet's psyche and its sovereignty. It is a throne of timelessness.

All of our life we meditate to attach ourself to earth, deeper and deeper. And when we have to quit the body, this shell drops. All our other nine bodies are so interwoven that we cannot leave this earth.

Millions die but they cannot leave the magnetic field of this earth.  Their souls cannot leave the magnetic field of the earth which a human in an airplane can bang right through. It is a most shocking miracle to surprisingly see it. A human with absolutely no meditative power can sit in a human-made airplane and bang through the magnetic field of the earth. But the soul cannot, because there's no penetrating creative spirit left. There's no mental attachment or mental projection to create us with a basic Infinity when it was in physical being.

So to uplift that that characteristic... uplift that being... Guru Hargobind found out this nerve center, this focal point of the planet's psyche and built a throne for the entire mankind. And he made the Sikhs the servants and the guardians of it. We as Sikhs don't own that Takhat. We serve that Takhat. We are the guardians of that Takhat. And our job and our devotion and our dedication to that Takhat is that of a man of God, not of a particular religion, but of a man or woman of reality who shall serve and guard that Takhat - the Akal Takhat - the throne of timelessness. 

Exactly so, in the world of karma, to which you all belong, you can be timeless. When you focus and project and understand the inner being of the situation whether Mahatma Ghandi was real or non-real, you'll find the peace movement gave timelessness to him. In the history of the universe he is one man who, upon his death, all the flags of all the countries flew at half-mast. Why? Because basically in the inner being of the being for the time being or all the time, there's one desire to live in harmony, to live in peace, live in tranquility, to understand. Because that is the creative nature of God. And if you do not know the creative nature of God, you can never know the ultimate nature of God. Therefore a woman who does not know the creative nature of the man shall always be divorced and kicked out. If Prakirti does not know the fundamental of the Purkha, combination of union will never take place. It will be only a commotional, neurotic relationship.

So long you do not admire and understand the timelessness of the teacher, you can never understand to be a timeless student. As long as this intercourse of understanding and cohabition of the psyche does not understand, there shall be duality and doubt. And whenever there's a duality and doubt, unisonness will not exist.

So the very respectful reverence and understanding between a human of today and human of yesterday which can give you the experience of tomorrow, so that tomorrow you don't have to learn the hard way, so that the sophisticated softness of your life can penetrate your few miles of life further in peace and tranquility and harmony, does not exist. You all learn through hardness. And when you learn through the hardness of time and space, your entire sensitivity becomes bitter. That's why you're all bitter. You are the most beautiful apple of God, but you have worms in you.

So that is why Guru Hargobind made the Akal Takhat. A throne of timelessness in which beauty in its own duty becomes the infinity through consciousness and through experience. Where man should hesitate and will hesitate to deceive his tomorrow. I don't think you do anything wrong or rotten. I think you are the emeralds, the "rattans".  You're most beautiful. What you do is very funny. You betray your tomorrow, and you are angry at your today, and you abuse your yesterday. And then you want to be respected? Now how can that be?

Mankind went through that era when man and his dignity, man and his self-respect, man and his creativity was just considered nothing. India was ruled by the Mogul empire then, and the orders were, "If a human beings sits on a place higher than the emperor by two and a half feet, his head should be chopped off or he should be picked up for meat to be fed to the emperor's game." That was the punishment. You became meat for the emperor's game. When you are for the emperor's game, you were taken to a prison where you were incarcerated and then one morning you were bled, and your blood was given to the game and your meat was chopped off to be eaten.  All that was left of you was a dead body for the animals to tear apart.

At that moment, Guru Hargobind found this focal point of energy, the nerve center of the psyche of this planet. In the longitude and latitude he found a spot - that spot which was the hub of temporal and spiritual foundation of psyche - and he built a throne there. And he said, "It is thrown from the timelessness. So it is called Akal Takhat."  "Taa-khat". "Taa" means the base, the fundamental. "Khat" means the line. So it means the fundamental baseline of that Infinity, of that timelessness.  That's why it is called Akal Takhat. That is spirituality. 

Guru Nanak is not here in his physical body, as you and I can see. But we can feel him, we can experience him, we can understand him, we can listen to him, we can know him, we can walk by his sayings, we can produce ourselves to be like him.  That is the timelessness. That is the Akal. And the seal of this Akal Takhat says, "Akal Sahai." Let the timelessness support you.

Out of the circle of 8.4 million lifecycles, there's one spot which does not subject itself to timelessness. And it does not subject itself to zigzags. It subjects itself to elevation. And that soul which commands that elevation is subjected to enjoy the sovereignty of that timelessness of the Akal Takhat. And that is the pure one, that is the Khalsa.  Therefore the Akal Takaht dominates a domain of simple purity in Infinity. It doesn't belong to Sikhs. They have the privilege to serve it. It does not belong to the Khalsa. They have the privilege to guard it.

Humanity doesn't own it. It is owned by the owner of its own Self, which is timelessness. And that is Para-Parbrahm Parmatma. Symbolically they destroyed a building and they declared their victory in doing so. But they caused their own defeat here and hereafter forever. And the entire Indian community which is the land of the Gurus, sages and saints, avtars, blessed ones, complete ones, graceful ones, will now die slowly.

Because when there's a purity to the extent of Infinity and in it's own sovereignty, and that is destroyed, when the aorta is cut, man cannot live. When the psyche is destroyed, humanity cannot exist. And what will happen, time will record. It will be a part of history. We in America who are in love with the Guru's house, who are trying to understand the reality of our purpose of our human life, who understand timelessness, may not experience it, may not practice it, or may be intending to walk on that path. We have the privilege today to sit here in the Guru's Court to celebrate the memory, to commemorate the memory. Not in sadness and not in anger, but in meditation and prayer. And to remember that Akal Takhat is in our hearts. We have come here today to bow our heads to that grace, that light, that Infinity, that purity, that truthfulness which is in our heart. And we have come to bow our physical head.

People say if the Akal Takhat is the throne of timelessness, why did it get destroyed? No, it didn't get destroyed. It sacrificed itself. It sacrificed itself as Guru Arjan did. 

The personified God, Guru Arjan, sacrificed himself. Guru Teg Bahadur sacrificed himself. The sons of Guru Gobind Singh sacrificed themselves. Guru Gobind Singh sacrificed himself. You have to sacrifice something to get something, to be something.

There is nothing which can be created in timelessness without sacrifice. That is the Infinite law. And at this time, to save the humanity and the people and to awaken their dead souls, the Akal Takhat sacrificed itself. 

 Look at this! The government tried to inject its B-complex in everything else and build it up and raised it. The resurrection took place. It again got destroyed by those who were supposed to serve and guard it. It got raised all right - not with that purity and prayer -- but with money and with power. Maya. In the true sense it was understood how a building can have a personality to inject and project a reality which only a man with consciousness can understand. It is not for the stone-heads.

And we who are sitting thousands and thousands of miles away, have created a long infinite link. And with that link we live and we celebrate. And we commemorate. And we have the understanding.

I pay my homage to this place of Infinite Divinity in the name of the entire humanity with peace and tranquility, and ask you all to do the same. Irrespective of what your faith is, what your color is, what your caste is, what your creed is, what your religion is, what your belief is, what your dimension is, what your size is, what your nationality is or what your reality is. But if you have a sense of the aorta, to understand what timelessness and sovereignty mean, then you can start right now paying your homage and respectfully attaching yourself to the very lotus feet of the One who gave us the Akal Takhat.

Hargobind... "the Infinite God which sustains us all." That is the literal meaning of "Hargobind"... Guru Hargobind, who took us from the bondage of insanity, commotionalism, neurosis and egotistical attitude and gave us something which is most beautiful in the entire world, for all to remember to be, to visit, to play, to have thought of, to have a memory of, or to look forward to seeing.

It is my privilege today to pay my individual personal homage and respects, and on behalf of all of you, on behalf of the entire nation of Americans, on behalf of every individual American who is aware and unaware, on behalf of all the people in the world who are conscious and unconscious, pay homage to the coming awakening. Because the Age of Aquarius is on its way and the resurrection of the focal point in the lotus feet of God Itself has to be completed

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh!

Talk given by the Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji, the Chief Religious Authority for Sikh Dharma International on July 1, 1984 in Espanola, New Mexico.