Someone asks about my failure to reach heaven
Today I got an email from someone who has a theory about why I've been occasionally critical of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) and the guru of this India-based organization, Gurinder Singh Dhillon.
I could have responded to him privately, but I figured that I might as well make a blog post out of his message and my reply. (My responses are in plain type below; my correspondent's words are indented and italicized.)
Sach Khand, which is mentioned in the message, is the Sikh religion's "heaven." As described here, Sach Khand is considered to be both a state of consciousness and an actual spiritual place.
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I came across you blog and I read it. I would not like to make any analysis or to Vent anger at you for this is what Radha Soami faith exactly preaches us that we should not be angry at anyone.
Whenever someone starts off talking to me by saying something like this, my guess is that they actually are damn angry at me. It'd be refreshing if someone expressed this sort of sentiment and then simply said, "So, goodbye and best wishes." However, almost always there is a "but..." Like:
But I still dare you to ask one simple question.
No problem. I like questions. And it's good to be daring.
Have you ever asked yourself that your enormous " frustration" and targeting of Baba Ji [Gurinder Singh] may be because of fact that in spite of being a devotee for 35 years you were not able to achieve destination to Sach Khand and hence you express you own failure by splashing mud at others.
Oh, this is a great paragraph. So much here to talk about. I'll do my best to be succinct, but that'll be tough, given all the ideas this single sent! ence sti mulates in me.
First, I'm not frustrated. And certainly not "enormously." I enjoyed most of the time I spent as an active member of RSSB, just as I enjoyed most of the time I was married to my first wife.
Change happens in life. We grow; we come to see things differently; we move on to fresh pursuits, beliefs, and passions.
As to not being able to reach heaven (Sach Khand), I haven't been able to reach the home of Santa Claus either. Nor the abode of the Easter Bunny. Maybe these places exist, just as Sach Khand may exist in the way Sikhs and RSSB conceive of it. However, there's no evidence that they do.
Every religion has an ultimate goal that devotees strive to attain. These usually are mutually exclusive. A Christian would consider that someone who doesn't feel the loving presence of Jesus has failed. A Buddhist, on the other hand, aspires to enlightenment, or Buddha-nature.
I wonder if the person who wrote me feels that he or she has reached Sach Khand. If so, I hope a description of what his or her attainment is like is forthcoming. If not, I think I'm entitled to throw this person's words back at them: "Hence you express your own failure by splashing mud on others."
Doesn't that sound ridiculous? It did when I first read it. And it also does when I've written it myself.
I don't feel like a failure because I wasn't able to reach a place that almost certainly doesn't exist. Rather, I feel like a success for changing course and heading in a more satisfying direction.
May be your own Ego is not allowing you to accept this simple fact.
What simple fact? There's nothing simple or factual about assuming that the Sikh religion's view of spiritual reality is true. Or that it is possible to reach the realm of Sach Khand. Anyway, who's to say that I'm not a denizen of heaven? Maybe I just don't talk about my godly attainments.
It is not my intention to! start a ny arguments with you. I wrote this email only to give you a question for introspection.
Again, no problem. I'm not arguing with you either. As they say in science, I feel you're not even wrong. Meaning, there's no way to test the hypothesis that heaven or Sach Khand exists, so it's ridiculous to fault someone for not reaching it.
Introspection is good. I've considered your question, and you should do some introspecting on my own queries: If you're so satisfied with your spiritual faith, why are you spending time and energy on a blog that questions it? What's your motivation in writing me? Have you considered whether your own ego is at work here?
If you consider it not worthy of your attention , you can just ignore it.
Obviously, I haven't.
