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ARE YOU EVEN HALF A DISCIPLE? 
By Sant Kirpal Singh (February 24, 1971)

In this vast ocean we call the world, who is a true one? O Nanak, think of the True One as the Truth. God, Who is Ever Existent, Unchangeable, Permanent, He Who never declines nor diminishes and is the Sustainer of all things - He is known as the True One. And, the God which came into expression-From one Source, millions of rivers sprouted forth-That is called the Truth. So, who is true of all those who have received the human birth? He Who has realized the Lord is True.

What kind of thing is the Truth? The Jap Ji says, He was when there was nothing; He was before all ages began; He existeth now, 0 Nanak, And shall exist forevermore. Truth is eternal-something even beyond eternity. There are many who boast of being true - "I have realized the Truth," etc.-but true is he who is true to his real self-both outwardly and inwardly. Outwardly his mode of living follows after the Lord. Inwardly he is ever at one with and constantly aware of the Truth. Human birth is a great blessing, and to realize the Truth should be that human endeavour above all others, for in that human life alone can It be realized; in the human life alone can the soul become a True One.
When the Master says, "I am ready to kiss the hands and feet of He Who has realized the Truth," He is acknowledging that noble aim. The True Ones, the Masters, have ever come to this world and ever will. Their work was always successful and always will be. It is due to a man's great good fortune if he ever meets a Soul Who has realized the Truth. We call such a Personality a Satguru -True Dispeller of the darkness. Guru Amar Das Ji searched for the Truth for more than 70 years, and when He eventually came to the feet of His Master, Guru Angad Sahib, He saw the reflection of the Truth and said, Without good fortune, one cannot meet such a Satguru. It is a very high destiny. With good karmas a Satguru is met. If the Lord gives special grace, one gets the experience from a True Master, and He says He is prepared to kiss the hands and feet of such an Enlightened Soul, which is an expression of gratitude.

During the life of Guru Arjan Sahib, a certain family of devotees who were talented in singing the holy scriptures approached the Guru for some financial help to cover the cost of their daughter's marriage. Guru Arjan said, "All right, it will be given." They waited for some days, but nothing further was said; so once again they faced the Guru and said, "Maharaj, we do not want much; so if each Sikh [i.e. disciple] could give one taka [two pice-about a third of a cent] that would be enough." Guru Arjan replied, "All right, tomorrow we will see." The days passed by without further development, and again they approached their Guru, saying, "Please do something quickly, for the date of the marriage is upon us." The Guru said, "All right, tomorrow I will give." When they came to Him the following day, He took out four and a half takas and gave it to them. They looked at the small amount in surprise and said, "Maharaj, what is this? You have such a huge gathering of disciples, and yet you have given us only four and a half takas." Guru Arjan replied, "You said you wanted one taka per Sikh. The first Sikh was Guru Nanak, the second was Guru Angad, the third was Guru Amar Das, the fourth was Guru Ramdas, and, well, the half taka is for me-I am only half a Sikh-and that makes a total of four and a half takas." It was a sharp lesson to those who had thought to be clever and a wonderful example of the humility of Guru Arjan.

What then is the criterion of a Sikh? Guru is a Sikh-Sikh is a Guru; both give the same teaching. He Who becomes a True Disciple becomes a Guru-from server to Master. The family of singers did not appreciate their Guru's lesson and they began to demur, saying, "Who would have known of Guru Nanak but for our singing?" A true Sikh can tolerate anything but an attempt to defame the Guru, and showing His displeasure Guru Arjan said, "All right, brothers, you can go." Others of His followers observed the Guru's anger and begged Him to forgive the offending persons. The Guru said, "All right, they will be forgiven when the mouths that have insulted will sincerely sing His praises."

Everyone can learn something from this incident. He called Himself half a Sikh, although He Himself was that same Light that all Gurus are; in fact, the Guru never dies. Through the ages, the Supreme Power is the same; That is our Guru. When Guru Nanak was asked Who was His Guru, He replied, Shabd is the Guru; the attention is the disciple. The unchangeable permanence which came into expression and is known as the Truth-that is the Guru. When Kabir Sahib was asked a similar question, He replied, Our Guru is above the gaggan [focal point of the soul], the disciple is in the body; When the attention and Shabd meet, never will they be separated. Do you begin to understand what a disciple really is? And, a gurusikh is a disciple of a Guru. The Guru is first a complete disciple. Then the disciple becomes a Guru. The same theme continues on, for Truth is One. If a bulb fuses, another is put in its place; and when that fuses, another is placed, and so on. The Power which continues is called God Power, or Guru Power, or Christ Power.

There are three stages of a disciple: Sikh, Gurusikh, and Gurumukh. He who becomes the Gurumukh becomes the mouthpiece of the Guru, and the Guru is the mouthpiece of God. A Muslim fakir says that the words the Guru utters are the words of God Himself, although outwardly they appear to be coming from a human throat. Another Master says, Whatever words come from the Beloved are given out. Also, 0 Nanak, the servant speaks as ordered.

The question arises: If we consider the Guru to be a Sikh, then how can one become a Gurusikh? There should be no misunderstanding on this point, for the followers of a Master would wish to know, "How can we become a Gurusikh? How can we be the loved one of the Guru? How can we become a worthy son or daughter of His?" Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru, clarified the matter by calling the true disciple a Khalsa. There is no difference between a Gurusikh and a Guru. He says, The Khalsa is my True Form; In the Khalsa do I reside; Khalsa is my True Companion; Khalsa is my Perfect Master. From the beginning to the end, and in between also, the Guru will never leave those He has taken under His wing. When I recommended the spiritual diary, it was to help you all to become Gurusikhs. You have not yet become Gurusikhs. You will be a Gurusikh when you leave your body and transcend above, and have your Guru's darshan in all crystal clearness, and can talk with Him. This is what is necessary to be a Sikh. Then, if you advance further to become His mouthpiece, you will be a Gurumukh when They say, "There is no difference between us!" Just see what a noble future is awaiting you! You can become ambassadors of Truth, but first see where you are standing now.

The Masters approach this problem as a man-problem: Recognize all humanity as one. They do not give different teachings to Hindus and different to Sikhs, Christians, and so on. They say simply, "Become a Sikh - a True Disciple." But, man is the disciple of the mind and the senses - of money, property, fame, and sensuous enjoyments. The Guru's disciple is the Sadhu, and mind's disciple is the rest of the world. Here the Sadhu means One in Whom the Lord has manifested - such is the Guru's True Disciple. The rest of us are disciples of worldly things. These words may seem rather harsh, but they are to help you realize the situation.

It is the way of Masters to encourage and praise Their followers. If a person does even a little work, the Master will say, "Well done." This happened during the life of Guru Gobind Singh also, and He said in particular to one certain disciple, "Bravo, you are a very good gurusikh." The Masters have deep purpose in praising each individual - to uplift and sustain him - and if the disciple is aware of his shortcomings, he should feel ashamed at such praise and begin to do better. When the disciple had returned to his home, his wife, who had stayed near the Guru, asked, "Maharaj, is he Your gurusikh? I think he is my sikh." Guru Gobind Singh replied, "No, he is a very good disciple." She said, "All right, then please test him." When her husband came in the evening, the Guru told him, "Get a bale of first quality muslin and bring it to me early in the morning." The disciple replied, "Very well, Maharaj, I will bring it." He bought the muslin on his way home, but at about midnight his wife awoke him and said, "I want that muslin." He said, "But how can I give you that? I have promised to take it to the Guru Sahib in the morning." This sort of thing is happening all the time nowadays. He promised to buy another for his wife, but she was adamant and said, "No, I want this very piece." What could he do? The next day, when this "gurusikh" went to his Guru, the Guru said, "Hello, disciple, have you brought the cloth?" He said, "Maharaj, I went to buy it but could not find that particular cloth; so I will go again today." So on the top of his disobedience, he told a lie to his Guru. Here also some people come and tell lies; they think, "He does not know." They come and give orders - they do not come to learn to become a Gurumukh. So, Guru Gobind Singh said, "Well, all right," and the wife of the disciple stood up and said, "Maharaj, here is the cloth you wanted. Now tell me, is he your disciple or is he mine?"

If Guru Arjan considered Himself but half a Sikh, then what are we? Anyone who learns to give a short talk on the subject becomes a guru overnight. The mere reading of books and learning of hymns by heart - shouting, laughing, singing, making people cry with emotion - and finally saying, "Go, child, you are saved," does not make a Guru. So, listen carefully to the Guru's words on the subject, which speak for themselves:

If the Guru-sikhra is seen, again and again will I bow to Him;

I will tell my innermost thoughts and say,
0 Beloved Guru, join me back to God.


The word Guru-sikhra is Punjabi and means a small disciple, or you can say, "half a disciple." If one were to meet a small disciple with even a little of his Guru's attributes, you may consider him a Mahatma. Does this not indicate that there are very few even small disciples? He says he would tell his innermost thoughts to Him: "Maharaj, for birth upon birth we have been separated from the Lord. After going round the cycle of life so many million times, we have at last reached You. Even now we are wasting the precious moments - O help us - we are in misery from the mind and senses." There are three kinds of miseries: adhi-butik, adhi-atmik, and adhi-devik - misery through the physical form, through the mind and senses, through trouble which comes from above. The whole world suffers in all three ways; how can we gain peace? It is a very pressing question. It is the Guru's work to give that peace.

During the days when Guru Arjan was living in Amritsar, some people from Lahore made plans to visit that city and have His darshan. In those days most traveling was done on foot; and so after some discussion they decided to break their journey for rest after twelve miles, and continue to Amritsar the next day. Everyone agreed to this, except one small child, who stood up and said, "Why can't we reach there in one day instead of two?" Feeling somewhat abashed that the child had more enthusiasm to be in the Guru's presence at any cost, they agreed that it was possible to reach Amritsar in one day, by walking very quickly double the distance, and very briefly pausing to gain their breath. So, the very next day they set out from Lahore and finally reached the outskirts of Amritsar at about midnight. It was a bitterly cold winter season, and when they arrived at the Sikh temple called Pipli Sahib Gurudwara, they were cold, tired, and hungry. Guru Arjan knew their condition, and from His Ashram, some distance away, He wrapped Himself in a huge blanket from head to foot; and placing a large container of hot halva parshad on His head, He set out to meet the exhausted disciples at Pipli Sahib Gurudwara. With His identity still veiled by the blanket, He distributed the parshad among them and then bent to touch each person's feet. Now, each individual has his own aura, which is a minimum of six inches deep. The stronger the person is spiritually, the deeper is the aura, for it is charged with the thoughts of that being. So, when Guru Arjan went nearer to the group of people, those who did a little meditation became aware of the radiation which emanated from Him. They said to themselves, "This must be some very Great Soul, indeed, Who has served us this night." They asked their blanket-covered Benefactor what He would like in return for His kindness, and He replied, "Dear ones, I humbly beg of you, when you go before your Guru, ask Him to bless me, make me a disciple, and also give me the great gift of humility as long as there is breath in my body." He then quietly slipped away and returned to His Ashram. A few minutes later, the group from Lahore arrived in His presence and saw the same blanket-covered Person Who had served them at the gurudwara. This is yet another example of the deep humility of Guru Arjan Sahib, Who termed Himself but half a Sikh. What, indeed then, would we find in a complete Sikh?
…to be continued