ਵੀਚਾਰ: 'ਕੱਤਕ' ਦਾ ਮਹੀਨਾ । Reflection: The Sikh month of 'Katak'

 

Saturday 15th October marks the first day of a new month in the Sikh calendar, the month of ‘Katak’. In history, when farmers were busy farming and didn’t have time to visit the Gurdwara Sahib everyday, they would ensure that at least they visited the Gurdwara once a month, at the beginning of every new month. When going to the Gurdwara they would seek Guru Ji’s blessing and ask Guru Ji for wisdom and instructions for them to take away for the month. In this way, Guru Ji wrote the Bani (scriptural prayer) of ‘Baarah Maha’ (‘The Twelve Months’). 

 

In the month of Katak, Guru Arjan Dev Ji explains to us in ‘Baarah Maha’ that we should be mindful of our karma, i.e. the actions we commit, and take responsibility for them. Good thoughts will lead to good actions, and good actions will lead to good results. If we have negative thoughts and do bad actions, then we should expect negative and bad results in our life. Gurbani (scripture) says:

dad-ai dosh na de-oo kis-ai, dosh karam-aa aapni-aa.
(O mind!) Do not blame anyone else (for the karma you have committed); blame instead your own actions.

jo mai kee-aa so mai paayaa, dosh na dee-jai avar ja-naa. ||21||
(Remember dear mind!) Whatever I did, for that I have suffered; I do not (try to be clever and) blame anyone else (for my own actions). ||21||
(SGGS – Ang 433) 

Guru Ji reminds us that whenever we forget Vaheguru, we will become inflicted with disease. The biggest disease is ‘Haumai’ (ego), i.e. the sense of ‘me’ and ‘I’. Only if one has ego can someone be pulled by lust, anger, greed, attachment and pride. Without the ego, none of the five spiritual thieves have a leg to stand on. 

Guru Ji then explains that forgetting Vaheguru, one loses the goal of the human life and becomes separated from this true purpose. Forgetting Vaheguru Ji, Guru Ji says people enjoy Maya (worldly distractions that take us away from spirituality), but the reality check given is that these worldly pleasures and buzzes only last for a while and one day will turn bitter. The dream is sweet at first, but the dream will soon become a nightmare and lead to despair and anguish. In this situation Guru Ji says that no one can step in to erase our karma and delete our actions in the pursuit of offering true happiness and peace. Imperfect things and imperfect people can only give imperfect happiness and imperfect peace. Only the Perfect Holy-Guru has the Power to erase or shrink the effect of our karma, save us from our mistakes, and link us back to Vaheguru – the source of true happiness. 

In the last lines Guru Ji reminds us that we have one tool to escape from the shackles of the Karma of our past lives. That tool is Ardaas (prayer plea) to Vaheguru Ji, the Master of our Destiny, to free us from the shackles that hold us back from living our higher purpose.

Then Guru Ji says only in the Saadh Sangat, company of the Holy, can we experience the inner-contentment and coolness that the Katak month’s weather brings out in nature. Only in the Saadh Sangat, the company of the Holy, can one’s anxieties go away and one can find clarity. Guru Ji reminds us that just at bad company spoils bad habits, good company can make good habits.