Amrit Sanskar | Initiation Ceremony

Guru Nanak Sahib, Guru Amardas Sahib, Guru Ramdas Sahib, Guru Arjan Sahib

Maru is a rag (musical mode) that is often used to narrate heroic battles, evoking a mood of valiance and aggression, and strength. In this composition, the mind is the thing that is being battled, and the emphasis is on expressing the truth regardless of the consequences. 

Guru Arjan says, O my mind! Drink the amrit (immortalizing nectar) of Nam (Identification with IkOankar). Forget other worthless tastes. By becoming immortal, live for ages and ages. The Guru instructs us to imbibe the immortalizing nectar of Identification. This is the only taste that matters. All other tastes and flavors and preoccupations are worldly and worthless and temporary. It is through imbibing the Identification with IkOankar, through bringing it into ourselves, that we become free of our fear of death and live forever. This is an instruction to the mind, the discipline for those of us who have decided that we want to find this immortal bliss and rise above worldly pleasures. If you are really interested in this initiation, then do this! 

O my mind! Drink the amrit of Nam. Forget other worthless tastes. By becoming immortal, live for ages and ages. The Guru tells us to get rid of our egos and our self-centeredness. If we do this, our fevers will disappear — the things that are burning us up from the inside, the things that ail us in our day-to-day, will end. When we renounce our egos, we are able to become the dust of the Sage-Guru, or the virtuous beings who are connected with the Wisdom. Becoming the dust of these virtuous beings is about seeking their mentorship in humility and humbly walking this path. We cannot walk it if we still have a complex that we are better or will be better than others. If we can do this, the Guru says, all our suffering will end, we will get through this mentorship, and we will receive the gracious bestowal of the nectar of Nam.

O my mind! Drink the amrit of Nam. Forget other worthless tastes. By becoming immortal, live for ages and ages. The Guru says that the individual whose loving connection is attached with Identification with IkOankar, experiences a shift in their worldview, where Identification alone has become all tastes and all colors. In that flavor of Identification, that continuous flavor, is the love for Identification. One who is continuously in love with Identification is lovingly attached to it, colored in it, absorbed in it, and experiencing all things as the Identification with IkOankar. It is constantly in their consciousness, and because of this, the all-pervasive One, the 1-Light, has become their friend, beloved, companion, and relative. The One has become their every relationship. This does not mean we abandon our worldly relationships but that our every relationship becomes rooted in the One. We begin to see the One in all our relationships without dualities or dichotomies. We are no longer caught up in the color and spectacle of this world’s play. We are living in a culture of Identification with IkOankar, experiencing the higher flavor of Identification. This is possible for us! But it does not happen without the instructions and guidance of the virtuous beings.  

In the Sikh tradition, amrit, or the immortal nectar, is described as Nam, or Identification with IkOankar, and it is received through the Wisdom. History tells us that from the time of Guru Nanak to the time of Guru Gobind Singh, amrit was given by the Guru personality. In 1699, Guru Gobind Singh institutionalized the initiation ceremony, Khande-ki-Pahul (literally impactful-water of double-edged sword). Taking Khande-ki-Pahul is to be initiated into a particular lifestyle where new learnings begin. Those who want immortality must identify with the Immortal — Nam. Lovers and warriors were and are synthesized into the Order of the Khalsa by the initiation ceremony of the Double-edged sword. Initiation is not an experience. Initiation is not the end goal; it is the first step. It is not just a physical ceremony. It involves great effort toward a conscious lifestyle change. How do we cultivate a lifestyle change? The Guru delivers a message that might be hard for us to hear about how to get out of our own painful states of separation and how to proceed if we really want to get rid of our egos, fevers, illnesses, and struggles. The most important thing is cultivating humility so that we may humbly seek the guidance of the Wisdom and the virtuous beings who are already walking the path of the Wisdom. If we can make that effort and seek their mentorship, we will find that these ailments leave us, and Identification with IkOankar becomes the only ecosystem in which we exist. It is the only flavor we seek, the only color, the only spectacle. And the relationship with the all-pervading IkOankar is the only relationship that exists for us, even in all our worldly relationships. Regardless of who we are interacting with, we will be able to see the One in all of them. The physical amrit of the Khande-ki-Pahul ceremony prepares the body to develop the lifestyle to receive the internal non-physical amrit, or the Nam, and to become like IkOankar, who embodies love and justice. It is to train the body to confront death, to die while alive. It is the preparation, the discipline, and the lifestyle so that the mind and body are prepared to receive that undying internal amrit from the Wisdom, which is available to all. The initiation ceremony creates the Guru’s disciple; it is the Guru’s initiation. This is how a seeker becomes sovereign. In Sikh tradition, Guru’s grace is to take that initiation. Are we ready to be initiated? Will we make that effort toward humility? Will we seek the mentorship of the Wisdom? Will we be graced and taste the flavor of Identification with IkOankar?