New Book: Sikh Meditation

 THOUGHTS FROM THE AUTHOR -

          When Guru Nanak Dev taught the world to meditate, we began then to awaken from our long sleep of forgetfulness.  The great Guru taught everyone, regardless of their religion, caste or gender.  He taught to empower us.  The Guru’s end target was that one of us should be so practiced in meditation and so perfect that they would succeed him as Guru.

          We know the story.  Bhai Lehna applied the Master’s wisdom to himself and became the second Guru.  And there was no let up after that.  Guru Angad taught the same empowering meditation until Baba Amar Das was able to find himself, thereby becoming third in the line.  And he did the same.  And Guru Ram Das did the same.  And so on…

            Siri Guru Granth Sahib ji is the ultimate fruit of all that meditation and service.  It is a product of meditation.  It also instructs and inspires us in meditation. 

            Through hardship and war, death and suffering, the inner tradition was then passed through the centuries from generation to generation, until our present time.

            Guru Nanak’s mindset was hundreds of years ahead of his time.  He spoke of inter-religious harmony when inter-religious war was the norm.  He encouraged respect of women while they were sold in the marketplace.  He said we were all one humanity, much as the United Nations charter does today.

            Meditation, the timeless science, has not changed over the centuries.  Meditation is, and has always been, medicine for the soul.  What has changed in our times has been the scientific study of it. 

            Today, brave pioneers probe the depths of meditation the better to understand the mysterious ways of the mind.  Along the way, certain meditations have been found to be especially helpful for specific problems such as excess worry.  Others have been shown to be particularly helpful in other instances, such as memory loss.

            With the use of sophisticated brain-scanning devices, scientists have learned how meditation changes the shape of the brain.  The shape and chemistry and neural pathways of the brain all change with meditation in ways we are just beginning to understand.

            Sikhs are not in the majority in meditation research.  Buddhists and Hindus and secular people were the first to explore this frontier in the 1960s.  But Sikh scientists have made important discoveries in recent years.

            While all meditations do approximately the same thing, as Sikhs our meditation does not pave the way to a monastery or cave in the forest.  Our meditation guides us in our daily life at home and work and in our Sangat.

            To paraphrase Guru Nanak, there is no Hindu or Muslim or Sikh brain.  While some brains have characteristics of stress and disease, others show signs of inner peace and well-being, regardless of religion.  Heaven is a state of mind supported by meditation and service. 

            If you are interested in learning more about Sikh meditation, its origins and history, 20th century Sikh saints who have meditated and 21st century researchers of Sikh meditation, you may enjoy my book, Sikh Meditation just published on amazon.com.

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