How to be a Holy Man

A man called Kalu once came before Satguru Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj and asked guru sahib for the definition of a holy man. Guru Sahib said "Recognize him as holy in whom are to be found friend ship, sympathy, pleasure at the welfare of others, and dislike of evil company.

• In the first place, the intentions of holy men are pure.
• Secondly, they are pleased on hearing the praises of others.
• Thirdly, holy men serve the virtuous.
• Fourthly, they honour those who can impart to them learning and good counsel.
• Fifthly, as there is a periodical craving for food or intoxicants, so they feel a craving for the Guru's word and for divine knowledge.
• Sixthly, they love their wives, and renounce other women.
• Seventhly, they avoid subjects from which quarrels may arise.
• Eighthly, they serve those who are superior to themselves in devotion.
• Ninthly, even if strong, they are not arrogant, and trample not on others.
• Tenthly, they abandon the society of the evil, and only associate with the holy."

A Holyman/Guru is like a fingerprint, to learn from them we have to be soft like plasticine!

Sometimes they will say things that we do not like, because our mind doesnt want to die. If we follow the way of the Guru, in selfless service - our minds will indeed die.

We will live in total submission to what our Guru Ji has taught us, this is the only way to learn.

Going slightly off topic, Bruce Lee said:

"Empty your mind, be formless.
Shapeless, like water.
If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. "

If we think we know what is right, our cup will be have liquid in it. Therefore when the Guru tries to teach us something, there is no space for it as we believe our fluid is better than the Amrit(Ambrosial Nectar) Guru ji is going to put in us.

Therefore to become one with God, we must submit 100%. If we take some bits of our respective religions, but not others - simply because the mind doesnt want to wake up at 3am or we dont have time do our everyday prayers, then the bliss or satisfaction will be relative to how hard we try.

If we try harder, we will get better results - if we have a slack outlook on life/religion we will recieve what we put in. I think this is a life long lesson for me, which I'm still learning more about everyday.

I'm not sure if this makes sense, but it made sense to me (sort of!) at the time!