"CHARAN DHOORR"

ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਜਪਤ ਸੁਖ ਸਹਜੇ ਮਜਨੁ ਹੋਵਤ ਸਾਧੂ ਧੂਰੇ ॥:
Hari Hari Naamu japat sukh sahaje majanu hovat saadhoo dhoore:
By Naam Jap (Understanding the Giaan or Wisdom of the Gurbani, one),
experiences Bliss and Sahaj (Natural State of Being, ਆਤਮਕ ਅਡੋਲਤਾ...)
and thus bathes in "Saadhoo Dhoorr" (the dust of the Sadhoo Feet). (sggs 825).
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Each country has its own combined culture. Additionally, each man-made religion has its own culture as well, with many good qualities. Also, over the centuries, the professional priest-class of each religion has devised many complex adherents and rituals for their followers to follow. For example, in some eastern religions the tradition is to wash the feet of the so-called holy person upon his arrival. Also called "Pada Poojaa", this ceremonial worship of the bathing of the holy person's feet (or, in his absence, his sandals!) is generally performed with water, milk, honey, sandalwood paste and offering gifts of precious items including 108 gold coins. Furthermore, in hope to attain the fruit of bathing in all the sacred waters of all sacred rivers and of all pilgrimages, the practice include drinking the wash-water after ceremonial washing of the feet and sprinkling the remains on the head or bathing in it. Likewise, people touch the feet of holy persons and apply the dust of their feet to their own forehead and other parts of the body.

The Gurbani (SGGS) does not support or Teach all this.

The Gurbani's Teaching is non-dual (Advait) or monistic. It declares the Oneness of existence — the One Formless Reality that resides in everyone, in everything and everywhere and can be experienced within, if searched and understood through the Shabad-Vichaar. Whatever we see or experience, is only a manifestation of this One Eternal Factor. In other words, the Essence at the core of our very Being is the same Unconditioned Divinity that illumines all objects. Viewing so, there is no place where each one of us, infinite in nature, do not exist. Thus, the Gurbani's Guru, Sikh, Sant, Saadhoo, Satguru, Mool, etc., are not physical.

This brings us to the theme of this Gurbani Reflection: "Charan Dhoorr". Literally, "Charan" means feet and "Dhoorr" means dust. Other terms for Dhoorr in the Gurbani include Khaak, Ren, Raja, Kheh, Rawaalaa, Shaar, and so on. Since neither the Gurbani's Guru, nor the Sant, nor the Sadhoo, nor the Satguru, nor the Mool are physical, similarly, the Gurbani's "Charan" and "Dhoorr" are also not physical. They are Spiritual. However, in Spiritual inanity and religious mischievousness, some take only the literary meaning of the mystic terms such as "Charan Dhoorr", "Gur Dhoorr", "Sant Dhoorr", "Saadhoo Dhoorr", "Satgur Dhoorr", etc. Such interpretation and explanation may only appeal to generation that has been soaked with traditional belief in unmeaning rituals and their material rewards. But when viewed in the Divine Light of the Gurmat (Divine Teaching of the Gurbani, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, SGGS), it proves too big a lump to swallow. Baabaa Nanak says:

Therefore, mystical representations such as "Charan Dhoorr", "Charan Kamal", etc., should not be taken too literally. Because the Divine Poet in the Gurbani takes any convenient object of the world and describes it in such a poetic style so as to express some of the subtler philosophical truths and thereby convey some deeper Spiritual message. Meditation on the Divine or Divine Name, attainment of Divine Virtues or Divine Communion, Realization of the Unconditioned Divine Consciousness (Mool, God, Sant, Satguru, Saadh, etc.) or Divine Vision within are allegorically pictured here as clinging to the Divine Feet or "Charan", "Charan Dhoorr", "Gur Dhoorr", "Sant Dhoorr", "Saadhoo Dhoorr", "Satgur Dhoorr", "bathing in Charan Dhoorr", "washing the Charan", "drinking the wash-water", and so on.

Constantly remembering the Divine Name (constantly living in Gur-Giaan, Aatm-Giaan, etc.) in our daily lives helps to prevent or overcome distracting thoughts, which may otherwise gain entry into our mind and cause restlessness. The Divine Name (Gur-Giaan, Aatam-Giaan, etc.) thus acts as an antidote to our psychological ego — all negative actions and negative emotions of the conditioned mind. Hence the glory of the Divine Name and the efficacy of chanting it for realizing the Unconditioned Divine Consciousness within is underscored in the Gurbani (SGGS) as well as other scriptures. Living in Name-consciousness (Shabad-Surti, Aatm-Giaan, etc.) is allegorically indicated by the poetic expressions such as "I have applied to my forehead the dust of God's Feet"; "Your slave does not forget You; the dust of Your feet is pleasing to his mind"; "my mind dwells in the Divine Feet within"; "I have applied the dust of the Guru's Feet to my face"; "Your servant begs for the dust of Your feet"; and so on.

Therefore, expressions such as "washing the Feet of the Holy" and "bathing in the dust of the Holy or Guru's Feet" is none other than scrubbing the mind's "filth" or egoism with the Ambrosial Water of the Naam and living in the unbroken Divine Communion within — Name-consciousness, Shabad-Surti, Gur Giaan, Aatam-Giaan, etc. Similarly, "drinking in the dust of the Holy or wash-water" simply means to constantly meditate or drink in the Ambrosial Water of the Divine Name (Gur Giaan, Aatam-Giaan, etc.) within, for it gives one Immortality through self-purification and thereby linking him with his True Being or Mool (Joti-Svaroopa) within. Living in Name-consciousness (Gur Giaan, Aatm-Giaan, etc.) is allegorically indicated in the Gurbani by the expressions such as "Chanting the Divine Name, I have found peace and poise, and thus I bathe in the dust of the Holy Feet"; "I take my daily bath in the dust of the Guru's Feet", "Bathe in the dust of the Divine Feet"; "Taking a bath in the dust of the Holy Feet is true Dharma"; "Wash the feet of the Holy, and drink in this water"; and so on.

Spiritual path requires constant diligence and self-effort (Shabad-Vichaar...) to progress. Shabad-Vichaar makes one relieved of the influence of Maya and the resurgence of baneful thoughts.

Eradication of Maya's influence eradicates false ego. Which, in turn, makes room for Divine Virtue of humility to sprout within; an essential qualifications of a godly or a transcendentally situated person.

— T. Singh
www.gurbani.org

Updated on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 2:20 PM (PST)

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