Who are “we”?
Philosophies such as Advaitism distill our existence until “we” no longer remain, and what is left is the mere idea of existence, void of any actual Being to experience this state. According to these philosophies, “I” and “we” are illusions; and when we achieve our goal of ultimate salvation, “we” will cease to be.
Gurmat philosophy, on the other hand, grants us eternal life as soulbrides of a Creator Being, Karta Purakh. Yet philosophies such as the aforementioned do agree with Gurmat on a crucial point: Everything is Vaheguru.
This again raises the question: If everything is Vaheguru, then what are we? What gives us our separate identity and beingness?
The answer is simple: Limitation.
Our soul is Vaheguru’s own essence, just as all of creation is. Yet the soul has its own mann, chit, and budh – these are the elements that give us free will, first entrapping us in the bondages of Maya, and eventually being freed through the grace of Satguru. The mann, chit and budh are also the essence of Vaheguru, but there is a distinction: they have limitation.
While Vaheguru experiences the entire creation, including our individual existences – experiencing all that we experience through our mann, chit and budh – we on the other hand can never experience the full extent of Vaheguru. For us, we will never be able to find the end of Vaheguru, of which there is none. His limits are not known to anyone – “ਤਾਕਾਅੰਤੁਨਜਾਨੈਕੋਇ॥”. We can never experience all of Vaheguru. But Vaheguru, can — Vaheguru not only experiences Himself fully, but all of us as well. This is the distinction between ourselves and Vaheguru.
Limitation is what allows us to exist. For without limitation, we would truly cease to be us, as the Advaitists concede: all that makes us, us, would disintigrate; and all that would remain would be Vaheguru.
Yet, as Gurbani and Gurmat tell us, Vaheguru has blessed us with the distinction of limitation. It is this very limitation that gives us distinct identity from the all-pervading wholeness of Vaheguru; it is the limitation of the clay pot, distinguishing it from the endless expanse of earth from which it came; or the limitation of the water molecule, distinguishing it from the ocean — bounded to atomic structure and molecular makeup, continually existing individually even as it submerges into the ocean.
Our limitation is our greatest blessing; it allows us to forever exist, as distinct entities, forever in a state of symbiotic love and union with Vaheguru: forever as soulbrides of the Eternal Man, Akal Purakh.
This means we are not Vaheguru: we are Creation. And yet we are simultaneously immortal. We will never cease to be.
Mukti – liberation – will not be our end. Those whom we loved, who have passed on and been liberated- they still exist, and they always will, as Bhagats of Vaheguru, frolicking in the anand of repripricol love. This promises us a great hope that Advaitism attempts to strip from us: the hope of reunion – not only with Vaheguru, but with our Sakhi Sahelis, our Gurmukh Sajjan, our companions of truth.
Gurmat, the true Philosophy of the Guru, offers us an incredible opportunity: the chance to live forever in the Celestial Realm of Truth, where we forever remain as Children of the Lord, and as doting servants of the glorious Master.
ਪਰਮੇਸਰਕੈਦੁਆਰੈਜਿਹੋਇਬਿਤੀਤੈਸੁਨਾਨਕੁਆਖਿਸੁਣਾਵੈ ॥
Nanak proclaims here what happens at the gate of the Supreme Deity:
ਭਗਤਜਨਾਕਉਸਦਾਅਨੰਦੁਹੈਹਰਿਕੀਰਤਨੁਗਾਇਬਿਗਸਾਵੈ ॥੨॥੧੦॥
The servant Bhagats of the Lord are forever in anand; they blossom, singing the paeans of the Lord. ||2||10||
Written By: Musäfr
