That which cannot be taken: A note from the siege of Anandpur Sahib
A contemplative exercise in bringing Awareness to Awareness
It was the winter of 1704, the sky above Chamkaur darkened with more than clouds. Guru Gobind Singh and his band of forty Sikhs had taken shelter in a crumbling mud fort, having fled the siege of Anandpur Sahib. The Mughal Empire, with tens of thousands of soldiers, closed in. Among the forty were his two sons, Ajit Singh, barely 18 at the time, and Jujhar Singh, just 14.
The battle lines were scratched into the earth by their exhausted hands, soaked with the cold blood of warriors who had been singing hymns only hours before. The walls offered little protection. Supplies were scarce. Escape seemed was impossible. And still, according to the stories, when the Guru’s men were asked how they fared, the reply came without hesitation: “Chardikala.” High spirits.
No empire could suppress their spirits. The warriors stepped forward in groups of five, each asking for the honor to face death next. The Guru watched silently as his own sons joined them, without holding them back, or mourning, recognizing this inexplainable blessing. They rode out into a sea of swords, never to return. Outside, the Mughal army saw a siege. Probably celebrated that siege. But inside, the Sikhs saw eternity pressing through the mud walls, demanding no surrender—not even of spirits. There was the refusal to let defeat define what was sacred— a spirit that was not made alive by physical victory. And no, this isn’t about martyrdom for the sake of aggrandizement of the ego.
Charidikala, in the expression used here, is more of a rememberance and less of an emotional state of a high spirit. And it does not come from the belief that things will get better(yet another way we hold on to hope that’s built on false certainty). The expression here, and what I point to from this story is the essential recognition that nothing has ever been lost. When the Guru later wrote the Zafarnama, he expressed how the empire could take land, bodies and even his sons, but not the unnameable flame that burns quietly behind the eyes. This is rememberance! It’s the unshakabe rememberance that I am, even when all that is mine is gone. It’s the warrior’s grin in the face of the Infinite not because of a hope to win but one that sees that here is already home. High Spirits here isn’t high or spirited. It is so far from a state of mind. It resides outside of mind. It is, in fact, the recognition of being. It is that quiet recogniton— so quiet that most of us miss it. We expect to hear the thundering and applauses of physical triumph yet it hums under our breath and under the breath of all things.
It is not a thought, it is not something that can be achieved, added to, earned or refined. It’s what remains when everything else falls away. It’s not something that cna be known but something that we are. At the same time, it is something we are wrapped in— the IN HIM, a locationless location. It is what Paul was pointing to on his sermon on the Areopagus, “For In Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said”.
Of course it gets so easy to miss, this recognition of ourselves as this stateless state. And that’s because we have been so attuned to objects— pointing to objects, touching objects, attributing ourselves to objects, interacting with objects. What about that which is objectless? What about that which is aware of objects? Where does that seeing, that awareness, where does it reside?
It is what the writer of the book of James(1:2-4) reacts to when he said ‘count it all joy, when you go through trials and tribulations’. You’re not joyful so that the trials and tribulations end. You’re joyful because trials and tribulations are the ever passing scenery that unfolds before a timeless Being. The author then says and I paraphrase, this leads to perseverance which then leads to maturity and completeness, lacking nothing. What this maturity looks like is that same recognition, seeing what looks through the eyes, what feels the beat of the heart. It is what watches thoughts rise and fall without needing to control or fix. Oh, how the mind moves, how stories change, but Being never shifts.
When being is recognized(not as an idea), the ache and weight of becoming dissolves. Urgency to ‘achieve anything’ dissolves and the urge to live in time-chasing competition ceases. You recognize that you are already complete!
Contemplative exercise: Attention Is Free
For the contemplative exercise here, I will be taking a page or two from Salvadore Poe’s book, Liberation Is: The End Of The Spiritual Path.
In a very easeful way, relax the focus of attention. Don’t focus on any one thing, so that you are not attending to anything in particular, like thoughts, sensations, or anything in your visual environment. Just for a moment, relax the focus of attention and allow attention to be open and free.
Please do this now for a moment, maybe a few seconds, or longer if it happens naturally. Eyes open. Attention is a function, completely natural. We need it for our work, driving, or doing whatever we are doing. But just for a moment, here, once again relax attention, allow it to be unfocused on anything in particular, allow it to be free. (You are aware of the visual environment, but you are not focusing the eyesight on any particular object.)
Notice that attention is free, it moves freely—goes to a sound, a thought, a sensation, etc. If you are relaxing the focus of attention and then you notice that you are attending to something in particular, like thoughts, no problem. When you do recognize that you are attending, once again relax. But, prior to focusing, you are simply present aware. If you focus on a particular object, like thoughts, then yes, you are aware of thoughts. That’s very natural. When you notice that, just relax the focus and allow attention to be free. Then notice you are aware, not of anything in particular, simply aware. (Objects, thoughts and sensations are all present in aware, but you do not pause and focus on any of them.) This is very simple and ordinary, nothing is going to happen, but you will see where it leads if you follow along. If this is clear so far, then move on. If not, please go back and go through it again.
Using a little intention, focus on something—thoughts, or if there are no thoughts, then some physical sensation. When you do this, recognize that when attention is focused on one object in particular, you are aware of that object, exclusively. Now, focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else. Take a moment to do this for a little while with “your eyes closed and then open your eyes.
You see that awareness was exclusive when focused on one object. Now see, awareness is all-inclusive. The words on this page, all of the objects in the room, the sounds, the sensations of your body—are all included in aware. If you look out the window, everything you see, everything you hear, everything you smell exists within aware—everything. Take a moment to see this, now.
There is often the tendency to think in a dualistic way—there is me and my awareness and everything appears in my awareness. That puts you into a subject-object paradigm, which, in itself, creates a sense of separation. There is not a “me” and “my awareness,” there is simply aware.
For a moment, let go of the notion of a separate “I.” Notice something else. When attention is not focused on anything in particular, you can see that awareness is not attached or bound to anything.
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