Who are you devoted to? A religious sect or One Creator?

When people first get drawn towards a religion, they become very devoted and strictly attach themselves to the panth and engross themselves with what is right by the religion and what is wrong. They try to judge everyone's lifestyle based on their notion of right and wrong. This goes for Sikhs, Christians and Muslims alike. That's why Guru Nanak found it easy to preach his message to people of all religions during his travels, as he was well aware of the follies of religious people. He never asked anyone to convert into sikhism, he only pointed out that tasks performed as part of a ritual are meaningless, if you failed in attempting to connect with the divine.

Why should we connect to the divine? What is the purpose of it?
In Japji sahib, Guru Nanak wrote the answer

• Mane surt hove man budh, mane Sagal bahvan ki sudh.
• Mane mug na chale panth, mane dharma seti sanbandh.

When one starts listening to the Naam / the vibration of sound, his mind and intellect becomes one with the higher consciousness and thus become aware of all spheres of existence. This awareness that Gods essence is present in every being, makes a person see everyone as equal. Then such a person shows equal love and respect for all because such a person concerns himself with the true dharma / ultimate justice. Then he is not worried about promoting the rules of his religious creed / sect/ path as better than other religions.

He realises that without Gods grace, one can not know the true path. He realises that it's not about competing with the other religion or the other human being. It's about sharing the resources God provided for everyone and these natural resources are not to be hoarded by a few. That's why Guru Nanak stipulated three basic rules of  Kirat karo, Vand chako, Naam japo.

Until one mediates on Naam / vibration of sound, one has a beggar mentality. Beggars only take, they don't give anything back to any person, or society at large. Guru  says to give up this mentality of always begging for more material goods. Start sharing - 'Vand'.

On the other hand, for those who are physically and metally capable Guru Nanak expects his followers to work and earn a living and not rely on welfare or charity. This is called Kirat.

If a new world could be established in which these three principals are adhered to by everyone and everyone works for a living, shares their earnings and knowledge, and meditated to become one with higher consciousness on a daily basis; how peaceful would such a world be! There would be no need for so many religions, governments, political boundaries and bank accounts.

Now contemplate on your own actions and judge yourself to see if you are affiliated to God and True Justice or just to a small sect of a religion to gain a sense of belonging and acceptance and possibly for the need to be recognised as a good person.

Get rid of the fake goodness and start thinking about humanity as one. There are no rights, only privileges. We are lucky to be living in a rich land with lots of natural resources that help us have a good living. others may not be so lucky, so share a little.

Don't just recite your daily prayers like a parrot, become one with the divine / higher conciousness everyday; mediate a little - Naam Japo

Is it a crime to use magic in real life?

With deep meditation come the magical powers. These powers are revealed even when you were not trying to discover them. Just because something has been discovered, does that mean we should use it ? It's the same ethical question that should be asked about physical explorations of land, medicine, astronomy, mining etc.

Meditation is very similar to physical exploration if land but instead we search within our own body, how it interacts with the sound waves we make and the breath we inhale and exhale. It's a vast world inside, unexplored as far as most people are concerned as they haven't a clue of how many precious jewels are hidden there.

Secrecy about scientific discoveries that can be used as war weapons is seen as essential by the governments. So it's only fair that the spiritual powers that are the result of meditation should also be secret; for you don't know what one might use it for or force someone to use.

It's sad that USA has been exploring spiritual powers to be used as military weapons, if it's true. It's said that they have been doing this since Second World War. This is a dangerous act.

Spiritual powers must never be mixed with military combats. The very purpose of spiritual life is for the good of all because God is one and is within all beings. The military combats however exist because of the opposing view that one must hurt / destroy the other.

Personal use of spiritual powers should also be guided by the same philosophy. Is the use of power for  Wellbeing or destruction of the other? Stealing another's energy is also a crime worse than stealing a physical object because a physical object may not pose a direct threat to one's health whereas the stealing of energy does.

So was the burning of witches in the 16th century Europe justified? The straight answer is no. But the ethical question is were the witches actually diminishing peoples Wellbeing?

Valmiki's epic story of Ramayana, about Ram and Ravan also reveals that the use of spiritual powers in daily life was on in that time. The stories of  Merlin, weather he was a fictitious character or not, portray use of magical powers in daily life.

Doing justice becomes even tougher when magic is involved. So is it best that the average population be kept blind about what is there to explore within themselves? I am afraid that it only takes one naughty child to start a fire in a tall building and thousands to control the irreversible damage.

So, secrecy is the safest but saddest option because there is so much peace and bliss to be found in the world of spirituality that we try to seek by consuming more and more commercial products and services. Only if we knew that the pleasures of collecting monetary wealth and enjoying its benefits are nothing compared to the benefits gained by engaging in spiritual life.

May be the actual cause of grief in human life is because of our nature of showing off our possessions , materIal and otherwise. If we start sharing what we know and possess without the intent and need to show off