Gobind Sadan
A Message from His Holiness Baba Virsa Singh
A terrible tragedy has occurred in the United States. At this time, you have asked us to pray for you. Know that here at Gobind Sadan we are always praying and worshipping, 24 hours a day. We are with you in your prayers, with peace and love.
Some are saying, “We will not refrain from terrorism.” Please try to understand, with a cool and patient mind: What is terrorism? What is it that they will not leave? They are human beings like us, and they are just misguided. They have become angry and want to kill everyone. Why are you stirring up anger in return?
The intelligent response is to hold a high-level international meeting. First ask them, “What do you want?” Then you speak. The conflict will end in two minutes. What are we fighting over?
A small number of terrorists have given up their lives and thrown the whole country into confusion. After the explosion, anger is arising. People are becoming angry just like the terrorists. What will happen in this anger? They will attack some country and it will be destroyed. Then its neighboring countries will side with it and attack back. Thus four or five countries will be destroyed.
The great solution is to pray to God, to seek God’s blessings, and to sit down together peacefully. After careful thought, hold a big meeting on an emergency basis. Appeal to all countries to come. Ask them, “What problem do you have? Why are you killing us, and why are we killing you?” They will all come together. They will set forth some demands because they are angry. Then one must consider how to fulfill these demands. It is not difficult. When a person has power, he establishes law and order. He knows, “Now I am the head of this society. If there is any disturbance in this society, they will remove me.” Just give them a little taste of power: Give them each positions. Then they will start working to establish law and order. If anyone is killed, it is an insult to their management. Thus there will be peace everywhere.
Come together and go forward lovingly. One day you must recognize that terrorism is nothing. It is not a caste, or a village, or a country. Wherefrom does it arise? It sprouts from pressure. Then how can it be rectified with pressure? There is no caste that you can demolish. There is no country that you can destroy by bombing. It has sprouted. Set aside pressure and agree to their demands or else give them responsibilities. Now there is nobody to explain to them. The only cry is, “Catch them, catch them, catch them!”
How can your prayer or worship help when you will take the wrong action? Worship will be successful only when you will take the correct action.
Now you are worshipping and then committing corruption. You are making the rules and breaking them. The rule of religion is to not take bribes, to not take away anyone’s rights, to not hurt anyone’s feelings, to not look lustfully at anyone’s women. If you say, “I am the judge of law and order,” and on the other hand you keep breaking the law, what is the remedy? First establish law and order, and then there is nothing to worry about.
It is essential to hold a meeting with people from all over the world. Afterward, there will be some decision. What else? On one side they say, “We are right,” and we sit in our house and say, “They are wrong.” It is possible that all are wrong. Perhaps our thoughts cannot reach so high as the thought of God; their thoughts also cannot reach so high. We should sit together and decide, “What is the real issue?”
Come let us pray, and try to understand why they are so angry. You are not to return anger for anger and start to attack other countries. I appeal to you all to please think carefully and proceed thoughtfully.
You have asked us to pray for you, and we are continuously doing so, always praying, “Please bring coolness.” But to bring coolness it is necessary to find some method. God created us to use our minds, and to use them in a good direction. If a human being is misguided, we should treat him in such a way that he will cool down.
All religions have said the same: God’s blessings will come by prayer and worship. We cannot solve issues by anger and not even by fighting. But we can solve them through our thoughts, by sitting together and arriving at a solution.
I appeal to all countries: Please understand, act with understanding, and try to explain. No one wants to die. Why would a person want to die in order to destroy another? If there is a thorny path and a person walks through and gets pricked by thorns, he will leave that path. Show him a different path.
What human being wants to live in the jungle? He is suffering there. Years ago there was an insurgency in the state of Mizoram, and the insurgents were all living in the jungles. When we went there and spoke with them, explained to them with love, they all left the jungle and came out. I said to them, “You love your weapons. Perhaps you also have old weapons buried somewhere.” They immediately agreed, “We have a lot of weapons.” I requested them, “Please bring them and give them to the officers.” I told them the reality: “You are 1400 people and you are surrounded by 50,000 troops.” [Three devotees of Babaji’s] were the heads of the state government. I assured the insurgents that they would pass an agreement after that meeting, and the same day, they passed the law. People said, “The terrorists have been caught.” They were not caught; they came of their own accord.
An officer said, “I am amazed that religion can correct people’s minds. We were thinking that religion is an ineffectual thing.” But when the reports came that the insurgents had surrendered their weapons, that officer began to weep. This is the nature of religion: It transforms people’s minds. In Mizoram we saw people totally transformed. The insurgents were very fearless people. They boldly entered the Governor’s house and would shoot any officer. I explained to the government, “If you put pressure on them, they will revolt.” And I explained to the insurgents the reality of their situation. After the agreement, the government did not deceive them. They paid them salaries and arranged for their medical care. They all changed. Now these people can also change when everyone sits together in one meeting.
Continually arrange meetings in big buildings, in parliaments, in big halls, as per the convenience of the people concerned. With this method we can solve these issues. It is not a big problem.
Understand all religions as your own. Understand all people as your sisters and brothers. Guru Gobind Singh said, “May all humanity be recognized as one human race.” As the Prophet Muhammad said, “If you want the blessings of Allah, do not think ill of anyone. Do not hurt anyone’s feelings. If you take away anyone’s rights, Allah will not be happy. If you are just, Allah will bestow blessings.”
Some say “Almighty,” some say “Wahe Guru,” some say “Allah.” These are all Names of God. To attack any religion is not good. Each person has a soul, life, and the wisdom of God inside. If you hurt anyone’s feelings, God is not happy. It means that you are hurting God’s heart. Guru Nanak said, “God instilled His light in you, and thus you took birth in this world.” That inner light is God’s Light. If you hurt it, you are hurting God.
Anger is not good. Leave it. Anger is very dangerous. With anger, many things go wrong. Think before you do anything. Be aware.
The damage that has occurred is not good. When any human is in difficulty, God is not happy. God is sad. Human beings are hurting other human beings.
All should come together. And first of all, religions should follow peace. The message of the prophets of all religions should be understood as the message of God. Do not criticize any prophet. The prophets are God’s family. If we criticize them, God will not be happy. Our mission is to respect all religions, to love all people, to pray, to worship, and to recite scripture. But the fruit of prayer will be realized when we make efforts only after thinking.
What is happening is due to anger and ignorance. Nothing is occurring through enlightened wisdom. If you begin to behave the same as they, they are ignorant and you are also ignorant. Please consider this, you educated people. Please ponder this point: Why is this action happening in every country? Please hold a meeting on this question.
When all kinds of people will meet together, some will be emotional, some will be peaceful, some will be revolutionaries. When they hold a discussion, many things will surface. In India there is a story that the gods and demons were churning the ocean, and fourteen jewels came out, and poison, and also nectar. If they did not stir the ocean, wherefrom would the jewels come? When all come together for discussing and loving, that same circle will be created as when they churned the ocean. Poison will appear and also nectar. Compassion will come forth and also anger. Some good thoughts and some bad thoughts will emerge. But the possibility that peace will emerge is greater.
Please, all of you, come together without delay. Sometimes there can be greater loss if we delay. Take this as the top priority. This is my idea, but I think that it will be good. All countries will benefit. This idea comes to me because here at Gobind Sadan we respect and celebrate all religions. I see that people are not uniting, and that is the source of the whole conflict. Once people come together, everything will improve.
Look how much Saint Paul opposed the followers of Jesus. But after meeting Jesus, what a great saint he became, and how extensively he spread Jesus’s message. Umar came to cut off the head of the Prophet Muhammad, but when he listened to the Prophet’s views, he became his servant and his Fourth Friend. All of you are following some prophet, be it Moses, or Muhammad, or Jesus, or Guru Gobind Singh. When people met the prophet, their minds were transformed.
Evil-mindedness has always developed. We call such people demons or rakshas; you call them Satans. But Satan can become good when there is a good discussion. Satan always works through human beings. Human beings can be blessed, and then Satan flees.
When people will make efforts, will come together, as Muslims say, “Please gather for prayer, and in that gathering, God will be present.” As Sikhs say, when we come together as a sangat, God’s blessing is there. In the same way, when all our countries will sit together, God will be there in that gathering. My firm faith is that there will definitely be some solution.