This hukam is quite possibly the achiles heel for most Sikhs and seems to be something that a lot of people struggle on. Waking up ‘in the middle of the night’ may not be something that we have been used to doing. We may have spent our whole life sleeping the night away and not thinking anything of it. After all, we all need to sleep and the night is the time we are allocated to recover our mind, body and soul from our stressful days. It might just be that we have fallen out of the routine of waking up at amritvela. But what does the Guru say about waking up at amritvela? Why does Guru Ji emphasise waking up early in the morning?
ਗੁਰ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਕਾ ਜੋ ਸਿਖੁ ਅਖਾਏ ਸੁ ਭਲਕੇ ਉਠਿ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਧਿਆਵੈ॥
One who calls himself a Sikh of the Guru the True Guru shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord’s Name.
ਉਦਮੁ ਕਰੇ ਭਲਕੇ ਪਰਭਾਤੀ ਇਸਨਾਨੁ ਕਰੇ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਸਰਿ ਨਾਵੈ॥
Upon arising early in the morning, he is to bathe, and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar.
ਉਪਦੇਸਿ ਗੁਰੂ ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਜਪੁ ਜਾਪੈ ਸਭਿ ਕਿਲਵਿਖ ਪਾਪ ਦੋਖ ਲਹਿ ਜਾਵੈ॥
Following the Instructions of the Guru, he is to chant the Name of the Lord, Har, Har. All sins, misdeeds and negativity shall be erased.
Then, at the rising of the sun, he is to sing Gurbani; whether sitting down or standing up, he is to meditate on the Lord’s Name.
(Guru Ram Das Ji, Ang 305)
In reality, most of us have not been told the truth of our faith or what the Guru actually says about things like amritvela.
Surely, the best definition of what a Sikh is would come from the Guru as they introduced this way of life and identity onto this planet. However, if we ask the Guru what a Sikh is, we will get an answer we don’t really want to hear because it means we have to sacrifice something we probably don’t want to.
We then have to ask ourselves, are we worthy of even calling ourselves Sikh if we don’t stick by what The Guru is saying in the shabad above?
This shouldn’t seem daunting to anybody. Amritvela is the time where you can experience the creator of the world and universe. The One that sits inside you patiently and without care. Just as the day is allocated for us to go to work and earn money etc, Amritvela is allocated for us to mediatate and keep our mental and spiritual health in check.
Of course, you can never achieve something great or long-lasting overnight, everything requires effort. This is no different for Amritvela, it might feel foreign and may not have the mindblowing experience you imagine initially but all things take time. Eventually, once the countless lifetimes of sin have been washed and your being has been cleansed, you will be able to experience the love of the One. This could take one day or it could never happen but this doesn’t mean we should ever stop trying.
What do we gain from turning our face away from the Guru? Atleast we can go to our Guru with honour after we have died and not with shame.
ਦਿਨਸੁ ਰੈਣਿ ਜਿ ਤੁਧੁ ਅਰਾਧੇ ਸੋ ਕਿਉ ਦੋਜਕਿ ਜਾਇ ॥੨॥
(Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Ang 724)
The thing is, when you fall in love with something, it becomes part of you. You don’t mind sactrificing for that love. As we say, you ‘fall’ in love, you don’t ‘gain’ in love. Why do you ‘fall’ in love? Because you sacrifice an element of yourself to accommodate whatever it is that you have fallen in love with. This is same for The Guru and Amritvela. As Guru Ji says in Gurbani:
ਜਉ ਤਉ ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਖੇਲਣ ਕਾ ਚਾਉ॥
ਸਿਰੁ ਧਰਿ ਤਲੀ ਗਲੀ ਮੇਰੀ ਆਉ॥
(Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Ang 1412)
ਬਿਨੁ ਪ੍ਰੀਤੀ ਭਗਤਿ ਨ ਹੋਵਈ ਬਿਨੁ ਸਬਦੈ ਥਾਇ ਨ ਪਾਇ ॥
Without love, there is no devotional worship. Without the Shabad, no one finds acceptance.
ਸਬਦੇ ਹਉਮੈ ਮਾਰੀਐ ਮਾਇਆ ਕਾ ਭ੍ਰਮੁ ਜਾਇ ॥
Through the Shabad, egotism is conquered and subdued, and the illusion of Maya is dispelled.
ਨਾਮੁ ਪਦਾਰਥੁ ਪਾਈਐ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਸਹਜਿ ਸੁਭਾਇ ॥੭॥
The Gurmukh obtains the Treasure of the Naam with intuitive ease. ||7||
(Guru Amar Das Ji, Ang 67)
If we truly want to experience the love of Guru Nanak Dev Ji then we will have to fall in love and sacrifice the ‘me’ that plagues us all. We must always remember that there is no ‘me’, ‘I’ or ‘you’, there is just the One. The One that is sitting inside each and every being on this planet. If we recognise Him to be close at hand and always near then amritvela can truly be a magical time.
All 10 Guru Sahibaans woke up at amritvela and to this day, in pretty much every Gurdwara worldwide, Dhan Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is also Prakash (present) at amritvela. All the Gursikhs/Shaheed Singhs and Singhniya of the past always kept waking up at amritvela at the forefront of their life. This is an essential aspect of the Sikh faith and something we must never give up on.
It can get hard and life can sometimes take over but a real Sikh of the Guru never stops trying. Somebody who gives up is hard to forgive. We only have to look at the countless sakhiya (stories) of the past to know that giving up is not part of a Sikh’s blood. Let’s strive to become the Gursikhs that would make Guru Gobind Singh Ji proud by becoming their sons/daughters.
I am a wrestler; I belong to the Lord of the World.
I met with the Guru, and I have tied a tall, plumed turban.
All have gathered to watch the wrestling match, and the Merciful Lord Himself is seated to behold it. ||17||
The bugles play and the drums beat.
The wrestlers enter the arena and circle around.
I have thrown the five challengers to the ground, and the Guru has patted me on the back. ||18||
All have gathered together,
But we shall return home by different routes.
