Sahaj: A way to liberation
Ever wondered why lovers and mad men are always smiling. Maybe because their memory is suspended at a particular moment; maybe they are oblivious of this world and perpetually live in a condition of other-worldliness. This suspension, between this world and the other, is a source of pure bliss also in the case of the devotee who is all the time attached to the Almighty. Guru Nanak describes this feeling beautifully:
“Koi akhe bhutna, koi betala,
Koi akhe rog hai, koi matwala
Jaisi jiski budh hai so kare uchara,
Bhaya diwana Shah ka Nanak vechara.”
(Some say I am possessed of a demon, others say of spirit. Some say I am affected with a malady and others say I am under intoxication. People think of me according to their own understanding, though the fact is that poor Nanak has gone mad for His Lord.)
Guru Nanak, who shows how to live in this world without being attached but remembering God all the time, firmly rejects renunciation. There should be non-attachment but not asceticism. In Sikhism, all forms of asceticism are disapproved, and external or physical austerities, devoid of devotion to God, are declared futile.
In order to realise the Ultimate Truth, while living a life of a householder, a devotee should work towards attaining a state of sahaj (born together). This is a state of mental and spiritual equipoise. It is believed that man’s original nature was of the nature of light or intuitive knowledge but due to the attachment of this world and endless desires he has lost his real self. A re-attainment of this original self is sahaj.
Sahaj is a kind of spiritual progress when one rises above the qualities of tamas — a state of ignorance when life is but fulfilment of desires; rajas — a state of egoism when there is only anger and pride and satva — devoid of desires, man seeks peace of mind within. Having passed through these stages man reaches sahaj when he realises his inner divine nature and follows his life abiding by His hukam, His raza, or His will.
Sahaj has also been called a stage of freedom — freedom from desire, from conflict and from illusion. It is a state of freedom wherein everything happens with natural ease. When one becomes oriented to sahaj and there is a complete harmony, emotional turbulence has no place. With ego and pride out of the way, one not only lives for oneself but for others. Sahaj is, therefore, the process as well as the goal of liberation. The state of sahaj transforms the person and makes him complete.
“One who abideth in Sahaj
Looks alike on friend and foe
What he hears is essence true
And in his seeing is meditation.
He sleeps in calm, he rises in peace
From ‘being’ to ‘becoming’ with natural ease
Sad or glad he abides in sahaj.”
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