There have been many who have said that reading is too onerous and that long books are a barrier to attending the Sikhi Book Club. To honour these individuals and to pay homage to divine wisdom contained within the briefest of articles, today we discussed a 16 page excerpt of Sant Baba Isher Singh Ji’s diary. This article can be found here.
This article contains 10 chapters from Sant Ji’s diary and gives the reader a glimpse of the mindset and elevated status he had. The members of the book club discussed the prominent position of the soul/Atma that was discussed by Sant Ji. In contrast there was hardly any mention of the mind, or the journey of the mind in identifying and realizing the true Self. Some of us struggled with this lack of path – clearly Sant Ji’s writings reflect a highly evolved way of thinking which may be hard for us to understand as lowly individuals. One wonders whether the diary was intended to be read, or whether it was simply his daily reflections, recorded for himself.
Sant Ji discusses that the body is a mere shell, destructible in nature. Its purpose is solely to transport the soul through life and provide an opportunity for us to become enlightened. The destructible body is infused with indestructible light. Emphasis is placed on making the most of youthful age, and on recognising the opportunities we are given. Sant Ji also describes many ‘categories’ of concepts, e.g. types of worship, characteristics of sins, different methods of meditation. Some of the members felt that the direct translations of the concepts in this particular article did not do justice to the original script. There is no doubt that many words in Punjabi which have no direct meaning in English, and so this is inherently a limitation in an English-focused Sikhi Book Club. However there is much to be gained from articles like this which contain both Punjabi and English words, to improve familiarity with such concepts.
The full version of Sant Ji’s diary is something we hope to read in future Sikhi Book Club meetings. What do you think of this article? We would love to hear from you! Comment below or email us at sikhibookclub@gmail.com.
Sikhi Book Club 