Vaheguru ji ka khalsa Vaheguru ji ki fatheh! _/\_
One time in 2003, daas e-mailed Bhai Sahib about having problems dealing with praise from people,
especially considering I don't have a proper Gursikh jeevan.
Bhai Sahibs reply :Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!
I have read your e-mail and understand your concerns. All I can say is that Bani cannot be wrong...Guru Ji says that when one starts to walk the path of truth that person gets respect in this world. I understand what you are saying that you do not have the full lifestyle of a Sikh yet. Imagine if you were living a full Sikh lifestyle how much more respect you would be getting. Sometimes all of this is a test from Guru Ji. When someone does seva or simran these little tests come to see what you have learnt from your seva. All of this praise must be looked at like a test. If it gets to your head then you are failing, but if you let it in one ear and out the other then you will pass it. I had a similar problem when I was younger...and even now when I do katha people always praise me for my knowledge...or my close friends know that I get Bairag very quickly and I start crying when I listen to kirtan...they see this and start to praise me. At first I stopped going out to sangat...but then a few years ago I found another solution...I started to go to the Gurdwara early in the morning and started to do Jowrayo Di Seva. I clean the shoes while doing simran. The reason I do it in the early morning is nobody really sees me doing the seva. If I do it during the day then people see me doing the seva and start to praise me for my seva. By doing this Jowrayo Di Seva it brings me humbleness, I realize that no matter how much someone praises me for my knowledge of Sikhi or Seva I am nothing more than a slave of my Satguru and his beloved Sikhs. I would suggest that you should not worry about what people are saying. Let them say what they want. You should just not let it get to your head. I suggest you go to the Gurdwara or anywhere and do Seva with yout hands. The reason is when you do seva with your own hands it brings humbleness. Also you should not tell many people about how much Bani you read...nobody should have found out about the Bani that you read. When I was younger I had a very long Nitnem. However, when somebody would ask how much Bani I read I would answer "As much as Guru Ji makes me read." I hope this helps. Besides this I would also like to say that you should start to force yourself to wake up at amrit vela...it is our Guru's Hukam to rise early in the morning and anyone who wants full laha of Simran should rise early in the morning. You will make the most advancement by rising early in the morning...you will be surprised at the amount of spiritual advancement you can achieve by getting up early in the morning. I know it is hard to rise up in the morning...but you should think about this...if it was 4:00 in the morning and I told you there was a snake under your bed...would you still stay asleep. No! You would probably jump write up...now think this way...if you realize that the snake of death is following you and can bite you any second of your life then you will rise up early in the morning. The only problem is that we do not realize this. I hope this helps...if you have any other questions...you may call me.
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥
