Why do we remember HIM?


In all religious and spiritual discourses, it is emphasized that God must be remembered all the time as He is the very basis of our existence, our provider and nourisher and also the ultimate redeemer. Generally we pray to Him for material needs and then forget Him, till we need Him again for our wishes and wants. We also feel that He subjects us to rewards and punishment and therefore we fear Him too. Under all circumstances whether we pray for selfish or self less reasons -- He humbly accepts our devotion. Hazur often remarked that “He is a humble Giver and we are proud beggars”.
There are some other reasons that a man must make an effort to feel the presence of the Lord all the time because it makes him a better human being too. Babaji says man is also called a ‘human being’---that is to become human or be a human. The word ‘Human’ is a combination of Hu + Man. Hu means HE or HIM in Persian---that is why BAHU (Panjabi mystic Hazrat Sultan Bahu) implies Ba+ Hu---WITH HIM. The word ‘human’ has to be understood as “His Man”—the one who is like Him.
Alas, in present day and age that likeness has diminished and most of us are operating at sub-human plane---a plane that is above animals and below humans. Remembering Him should be a natural action (and not an effort) and a prayer, so that He might raise our level of consciousness to the level of ‘humans.’
Hazur used to give an example of the child holding the hand of the father in a fair. Little does the child realize that entire fun of the fair is because of the father. Father is the power that the ‘child’ invisibly experiences when he is with Him. The fair of life turns meaningless the moment ‘child’ is not able to see or feel his Heavenly Father. This world is a very dark, harsh and lonely habitat, if we don’t hold His hand.
In daily life, man seeks empowerment by computers, cell phones, aero planes and automobiles, TV etc. Call it dependence of some sort but all such devices significantly enhance the physical, mental and material capabilities of man. By being attuned to the Lord, man enhances his superior consciousness and acquires greater spiritual strength. Let it not be understood that His remembrance leads to mitigation of adversities in life, but it definitely ensures that all such situations are endured with patience and calmness. It has an analgesic and curative effect—the pain is there but not felt and with the passage of time the sickness goes away or is controlled within livable parameters. This enables man to live through the ups and downs of life relatively easier and without ruffling the mental balance.
Another aspect is that God represents all that is true, pure, noble, good, loving, compassionate, forgiving, fearless, foe-less. Hazur used to say that by doing His simran or being in His remembrance all noble qualities emerge just like cream floats on the surface of the milk. Man very ambitiously seeks perfection in his daily conduct through self improvisation. The more man has sought self reformation by material means or ritualism, the more he has degenerated his consciousness and capabilities. By focusing on the path of material acquisitions or asceticism, he subordinates himself to the five perversions of the mind and that creates consequential sufferings. God is manifestation of noble attributes and therefore His constant remembrance leads to emulation of such traits. The adage that you become what you think fits very appropriately. When God becomes man’s mental companion, man’s thought and conduct receive the same noble vibrations that emanate from the Supreme Lord. This makes him a good human being.
A question was posed to Hazur that Gurbani mentions that Guru can make men as angels in no time. What actually does it mean?
Balihārī gur āpṇė ḏi­uhāṛī saḏ vār. A hundred times a day, I am a sacrifice to my Guru;
Jin māṇas ṯė ḏėvṯė kī­ė karaṯ na lāgī vār. He made angels out of men, without delay.
His reply was—‘The moment a man becomes a ‘man’ it does not take even a second to make him in an angel’.
All that is seen, cherished and imagined is subject to change and death. And all that is seen, cherished and imagined is also riddled with opposites. Beauty, wealth, power—the three prime infatuations and illusions of mind--- culminate into change, misery, greed, envy, lust and violence. God is unchangeable and beyond the domain of come and go. And God has no opposites. Absence of opposites mean absence of good and bad---no comparisons, no rewards or punishments, no hell or heaven, neither logic nor reason. Briefly, the concept of change, duality and ego disappears. The principle of universal Oneness is known and realized. Then the mutual differences and discords disappear. Man can then love one and all without any sense of division or multiplicity.
His remembrance makes us mentally resilient, noble qualities naturally brew and the principle of oneness and universal love is imbibed. That is why in all religious and spiritual discourses, it is emphasized that God must be remembered every moment and with every breath.

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