I've been re-reading the book
Teachings of the Sikh Gurus by Christopher Shackle and Arvind-pal Singh Mandair (2005), with this thread in mind.
The book is structured around key themes that reoccur throughout Gurbani. I had a mini AHA! moment yesterday whilst reading it. Hopefully I can convey some of that now. I've really tried to express the concepts in the book without plagiarism. If I have crossed the line, it would be appreciated if someone can tell me so I can correct it. thanks.
Firstly the book talks about
time and impermanence. The medium which we experience the sense of separation from our Source is
time. Cognizance of the impermanence of things within time is the cause of anxiety and suffering, however since our body is located in
time, it is also a gift without which we can't experience life. The nature of time is as an equalizer of fortunes, i.e. the high will fall and the low will rise, throughout time. The book says;
"With the obstruction [the habitual tendency we have of obstructing the natural flow of time] removed the mind is freed from its self-imposed bindings, from its immersion in the cycle of birth and death, and from the anxiety of being born into one life-form after another."
Next it talks about
mind-self-ego. There is the mind-as-ego which, fundamentally, puts itself as the picture of health and normality, and creates everything else as 'other' (
duja) as a external points of reference. This mind-as-ego is where the five theives reside, and is always at odds with the natural state (true home). Importantly to this discussion, the book says here the mind-as-ego is
"...consequently subject to continual coming and going through different life-forms."
There is also the mind that has renounced ego (
Gurmukh mind, beloved mind).
But Guru Sahib doesn't teach that
liberation (in this discussion, "God realisation") come from annihilating the ego, as the ego exists in time. Instead, the key is to battle the five theives/negative tendancies of our ego and
"exist-in-the-world as radically interconnected to others." It is removing the ego's sense of 'other' (in the broadest sense of the word, not just other people). This bring the state of
sahej.
Next it talks about
ethical being (action and grace). Everything exists in time, and everything is radically interconnected when the false "other" the ego posits is overcome. Ethical action is more complex than passive karma and active divine grace.
This book says that Guru Sahib teaches that "
karma is a law inherent in the nature of existence". Existence is described as
"an unfolding of the One". This is expressed by the metaphor of 'writing' (
lekh), and exists in a 'fabric' made of space, time and cause. Any action committed by an individualised ego goes against the
"flow of divine
writing". Each such scribbles (I'll call them 'bumps of the pen') leave a mark in the fabric.
"Instead of simply arising and passing out of existence as would be required by a divine command, these karmic traces accumulate ad prolong the separation between ego and the One."
This book talks about rebirths not being rewards or punishments, but consequences of actions (consequences can arise in this life or the next). Actions are 'karmic seeds' / imprints on the
"temporal fabric of the self" (memory) and can be called "tendencies" \ "psychic genes". Repeated actions become tendencies\habits that come out in life\lives unless one can find a way out of this "imprinting process".
The most efficient exit from the process is self-surrender\letting go of ego (becoming
Gurmukh), and to stop performing actions from the standpoint of ego.
"The actions of a gurmukh arise in spontaneity (sahej) so that worldly affairs take care of themselves."
This is the passage that gave me an AHA! moment yesterday. It requires the background above to come together:
"The intertwined nature of karma and grace, of the gurmukh and the self-willed, is perhaps best illustrated by references in the Gurus' hymns to transmigration and the cycle of births and deaths (6.7, 6.15). Insofar as both the gurmukh and the self-willed must perform actions in time, the cycle of births and deaths provides a mythical perspective on time and life which gives rise to sympathy and respect for all living beings (6.13, 6.14). That all existing things and beings are subject to birth, death and passage between different forms (6.12), means that everything that is and that happens is absolutely interconnected, and the only proper starting point for ethical thinking"
