Three stages of religious practice

Examining the life and history of the times of 1st, 5th and 10th Gurus of Sikhs shows when and how a new religion evolves, how it becomes a great path to spirituality and what circumstances turn someone off to adopt a radical view point.

When an existing religion becomes so corrupted that instead of leading people to the path of spirituality, it promotes the practices that financially enrich and socially empower the protectors of a religion; it creates doubt in the minds of the thinkers who can't justify the existing religion serving the masses for greater good. This is how Guru Nanak started searching for the answers to the existing unjust conditions created by the political as well as religious powers.

When one truly seeks the answers without accepting any barriers of  society or their own limiting beliefs, the answers are provided by the Universe / Creator / God. When the enlightenment is experienced, it makes the person very charismatic and power to perform so called miracles through the newly found psychic powers that are as powerful as the enlightenment experience itself. One benefit of such powers for Guru Nanak was that he impressed the rulers and masses alike and this allowed him to impart his message without the threat of being executed for going against the existing practice.

Upto the 5th Guru, Arjan Dev, path of Spirituality regardless of the religion was the goal. The following three examples are clear indication of this.

Famous  Mughal King, Akbar, came to 3rd Gurus congregation and accepted to have langar / food with the commons while sitting on the floor; portraying the doctrine that a King and a commoner are same in the court of God.

4th Guru, Guru Ramdas designed Harmandir Sahib http://sacredsites.com/asia/india/golden_temple_amritsar.html
And chose a Muslim Saint to place the foundation stone of the sacred building that was to have four door depicting that people of all religions are welcome here.

God - an identity or phenomena ?

It would benefit the human race immensely, if we treat God as a phenomena than as an identity. With God being an identity, comes the issue that I know him better than you and my religion is better than yours. We even start speaking on behalf of our friend God. God doesn't like ... And you will not be excepted in god court because you haven't ......

If God truly has all the attributes that Guru Nanak has mentioned in Mool mantra then at least in its first stage of meeting, God is a phenomena. You must meet certain conditions to meet him but these conditions are about your emotional state not religious taboos. How you must feel is very close to the attributes of God described in the mool mantra. We aren't always fearless and without animosity, for example; but while we are in meditation and desire to experience God, we must feel that way.

A lot of people don't feel they are worthy of experiencing God because they don't perceive themselves to be perfect as they have all the undesirable negative emotions for someone at some time. The only thing to remember is not trying to be perfect forever, but just for that one moment, forgive everyone and not think of the negative or positive moments of life. Simply experience Silence    and enjoy every breath going in and out. Focus on the present moment. Expect but don't demand, silence will speak to you. True Guru speaks to you in the moment of silence and provides wisdom, not necessarily the logic and explanation of the situation / condition that is being resolved. When you experience true silence, the logical brain is asleep. The moment logical side of the brain wakes up, you will lose touch of the dialogue with silence. So, if you are experiencing a phenomena, don't try to analyse it or it will vanish.

The only problem with experiences like that is that once you get a taste, you want it more and more everyday. Thee comes a time, you start demanding it and that becomes counter- productive as demanding is done by the logical brain that is a hindrance to silence and hence to the phenomena itself.
God places no conditions of dress code or religious bindings as he is not affiliated to any religion. Being too religious and confident of your path can also be a hindrance as it brings the feels of pride in the person. This also removes you from experiencing the moment.
All you need is focus on breath, experience that your dimensions are wider than your physical body and be open to anything happening in that moment while not expecting it.

World war and peace within - how to tread in troubled times

If you had ever dreamt of world peace, all humanity as one, eradicating poverty and equality of wealth in this world; I am convinced that you would be experiencing a turmoil inside these days. World politics has taken a turn for the worst. I believe it's another attempt of politicians to gain a status of immortality by adding their name in history books that are the hall of fame. Weather one is a hero or villain depends on what side of the fence the observer is sitting, but if you sit above the fence no excuse for war is justified either against so called terrorism, protecting western democracies and their freedom or in the name of religion. The bollywood movie 'My name is khan' has tackled some issues of society in such times of uncertainty, to highlight how we are hurting each other when in reality we all want someone to love and care for us.

When I first came to Australia, I thanked God for bringing me to a 'heaven on earth'. The beautiful beaches and the smiling faces that greeted me on these beaches surprised me first. They were too nice for my expectations. Then I became use to a very accepting society and truly made Australia my home in my heart. Today I wonder what happened to that beautiful dream that Australia was a peaceful heaven. Why are we changing our image as a peaceful nation and becoming so aggressive in our tactics, even changing laws to allow discrimination - against Muslims? I believed people came to Australia because they were sick of the world of hatred, war and discrimination that they faced in their homelands as ethnic or religious minorities.

I am thankful to the spiritual community of Australians and the authors of books on healing and meditation; for they helped me understand God without adding any religious baggage. Thanks to all those who care about human beings more than God, religion or the boundaries of nations. 

God is one / singularity and  non- God is duality, ego, superiority of one's ideas over the other.

What is the appropriate action at this time?
Some say we don't watch the news to keep our inner peace. Others justify their non-action by saying that perhaps its their karma to be involved in the disgusting stuff like war but we get to choose where we focus our attention in life. So they have focused it away from war. I am still feeling uneasy because if the above response was sufficient then why did Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Guru sacrificed the live of his father, four sons and then himself to protect the 'Right to choose one's Religion', not gave in to the Muslim extremist tactics of Auranjeb and the Sikhs following the Guru Gobind Singh who endangered their lives to protect women who were being raped and kept by the Mughals. 

The only path that attracts me as the most powerful way to influence masses single-handedly is the path of Guru Nanak who had become one with God to the extent that people changed just by being in his presence and realised wrong from right and gave up the wrong way. I believe that anyone can achieve that kind of power over wrong by constantly being in touch with the God / the universal energy / the silence within us all. We just need to practice daily and BE who we really are and pray to God to show us the path, help us realise that we are only hurting ourselves. Nobody has ever won the war. King Ashoka the great realised this after a bloody battle. When are we going to realise this?