My newest painting depicting Dashmesh Pita – Guru Gobind Singh ji – is a reminder that through the Guru’s teachings we can illuminate the darkness in the mind. In this painting, Dashmesh Pita reflects Akal Purakh’s light, the way the moon reflects the sun, and when we bathe in Guru Sahib’s warmth, we become warm […]

My newest painting depicting Dashmesh Pita – Guru Gobind Singh ji – is a reminder that through the Guru’s teachings we can illuminate the darkness in the mind. In this painting, Dashmesh Pita reflects Akal Purakh’s light, the way the moon reflects the sun, and when we bathe in Guru Sahib’s warmth, we become warm ourselves.
The Guru teaches us to

ਜਾਲਿ ਮੋਹੁ ਘਸਿ ਮਸੁ ਕਰਿ ਮਤਿ ਕਾਗਦੁ ਕਰਿ ਸਾਰੁ ॥
ਭਾਉ ਕਲਮ ਕਰਿ ਚਿਤੁ ਲੇਖਾਰੀ ਗੁਰ ਪੁਛਿ ਲਿਖੁ ਬੀਚਾਰੁ ॥
ਲਿਖੁ ਨਾਮੁ ਸਾਲਾਹ ਲਿਖੁ ਲਿਖੁ ਅੰਤੁ ਨ ਪਾਰਾਵਾਰੁ ॥੧॥
Burn attachment to persons and materials and let this be your ink, let your intelligent mind be the paper.
Let love be the pen, let one-pointed consciousness be the scribe, and then ask the Guru for his wisdom and write down what he says.
On your mind-paper, write His name and His praises again and again, keep writing this.
– Guru Nanak Dev (Guru Granth Sahib, 16)

He also tells us the result –
ਅੰਤਰਿ ਰਾਮ ਰਾਇ ਪ੍ਰਗਟੇ ਆਇ ॥ਗੁਰਿ ਪੂਰੈ ਦੀਓ ਰੰਗੁ ਲਾਇ ॥੧॥ਰਹਾਉ॥
Inside me the light of the supreme king Ram has appeared, ever since the Perfect Guru has inspired me to love Him.
– Guru Arjun Dev (Guru Granth Sahib, 1141)

Ram is that force that animates everything, He is the supreme consciousness, Akal Purakh. Remember it is through consciousness that we know consciousness and it is through consciousness that we know the moon and the stars, the physical, conceptual and spiritual forms. A Guru is someone who brings that consciousness to a higher level. Guru Sahib charges up our cold dim light into an intense bright light; he empowers us. He teaches us how to become receptive to the supreme consciousness so that we learn to see it inside. When we become receptive to Ram, we see Him inside us, and when we see Ram inside, we can’t help but feel immense bliss and we call out His name and His praises again and again.

These teachings are embedded into the painting in symbolic representations. Perhaps that’s why this painting is huge – it is seven feet tall – or perhaps Guru Sahib’s larger than life personality requires a larger than life portrait!

~ Bhagat Singh
~ Source: Sikhnet.com