The Four Blessings

I went to the Gurdwara this morning and there was this Kathakaar (person who explains spiritual teachings), who was speaking in Punjabi. At first I thought, "this is such an outdated way of doing things". And I was also thinking "how would any young person understand this guy". And also I thought "this guy is just doing it for the money and is very inauthentic". But despite these thoughts, I still listened carefully and when he started to explain, my thoughts dissipated - because what he was explaining was profound.

He began to explain that a Sikh, or learner, on a path of spirituality, receives four blessings. This should not be confused with the four blessings which are the four basic needs for all people (known as Char Padarath).

The first blessing, is one which every Sikh will be familiar with: Karah Parshaad, also called Sero (as shown in the left picture). This is just a sweet pudding which is made with a consciousness and with a vibration which when consumed, raises our own magnetic frequency...and its quite tasty too! Yum!

The second blessing comes from the Guru, called Gurprasaad. This is when a person has been on the spiritual path for a while and the Guru, the teacher, the light, the guide, blesses the Sikh with the ability to control the five desires of sex, anger, greed, attachment and ego. This only ever happens with the blessing of the Guru.

The third blessing is where the ego goes, called Tav Prasaad which means "Your Blessing" - referring to God. The "I" or the identity is smashed and instead is replaced with "You" or "Thou". So instead of a Sikh identifying with their own individual nature, the Sikh begins to identify with their higher, Supreme, Godly nature. Then a Sikh becomes God.

The fourth blessing is where the Sikh who has become God, then shares this path of purity of heart (Khalsa), with the whole world. So the final blessing, is not received by the Sikh, it is given by the Sikh to others. The example given was that of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th and final master of the Sikhs, who created the Khalsa, the society of those who are pure, and then himself bowed before his creation and asked if he may become a part of it.

So there we have it, the four blessings on the Sikh path, explained in English, translated from Punjabi ;).