any of us want to connect to God but are not sure how to. In this article, we will discuss an interesting analogy about connecting to the divine! 

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iPod vs iPhone 

All phones have a range of apps that can do loads of different things, but the key purpose of a phone is that it allows you to phone somebody. You can play games, read emails, go on Twitter, Facebook, etc. But if that phone can't make a call, then it is not really a phone. It's more like an iPod. 

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Guru Sahib would say that just like a phone, our body too has a central purpose. That purpose is to connect to our Creator. We might go on in life to become great sportsmen, great husbands, and amazing parents. We might have great careers, but if we do not realize our main purpose, then we haven't used our body (or our life) in the best possible way. 

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What is the Dasam Duaar?

We can compare the antenna of a phone to the Dasam Duaar in our human body. Dasam Duaar is the tenth door which is located on top of our head. There are nine holes in your body that are visible and the tenth one is hidden. We've got two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, one mouth, one rectum and one genital - which makes it nine. The tenth one is on the top of our heads and is hidden. It activates when you start meditating and connecting to a higher conscience.  

Guru Sahib says that the fastest way to activate the Dasam Duaar is through love. The Dasam Duaar concept is not unique to Sikhi. In Buddhism, they know this as the Ten Thousand Petal Lotus. In Hinduism, it is called the Crown Chakra. The important thing is that you have a physiological thing in your body which allows you to experience a spiritual connection. 

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The Battery, Reception, and Service Provider

A phone also has a battery that we need to charge every day. Similarly, Nitnem (Sikh daily prayers) is like charging a battery daily. If you don't charge yourself every day, you will find it very hard to connect when you wish to. It's going to be like that phone with the last little bit of battery!

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The phone also needs reception for it to connect a call. Sadh Sangat (the company of holy people) is your reception. When you're around people who are meditating and connecting, they act like aerials as they already have a lot of reception power within them. Sadh Sangat allows you to connect much quicker to the Divine. If you're hanging out in the holy congregation, you're much more likely to get a connection with God.

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Just like phones need network service providers, we need a spiritual guide, somebody who can teach us about what to do to progress spiritually. For Sikhs, that's all the ten Gurus, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and Gurbani. They are our service providers because they connect us to the truth.  

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Keep your Balance Updated!

If you don't have enough credit, you won't be able to make a call. One way to understand our credit in this life would be our current actions and how moral our life is. Whether we're earning credit from good actions, or whether we are throwing all our good credit away by doing bad actions. We come to this life with Karma from our previous life, this acts as a hidden credit. We don't know how good or bad that credit is. However, we can improve our credit in this life by doing the right things, such as living an honest life, helping people, doing Seva (selfless service), being honest in all our dealings, and lastly, being compassionate and humble in how we act. 

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The Contract and its Price 

You can get a contract from the phone company to ensure that you've always got a certain amount of money left in your account. That can be paralleled to Amrit Sanchaar, which is a contract with the Guru. In this contract, a Sikh gives his head to the Guru (indicating that they will take the Guru's wisdom as the primary driving force of their life). In return, Guru Ji will always stand by their side.  

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You have to start by giving your head. It's a very high price but it's very worth it. Then you have to connect to the Creator through Simran, i.e meditation, chanting or calling out to Vaheguru. Naam Simran is the key to Sikhi and is the way to progress spiritually.

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What if you still can’t connect?

If you happen to feel spiritually low, you can ask yourself the following questions to check where the connection is lacking. Am I fighting the five vices? Am I building up my Nitnem (daily discipline of getting up early, and reading Gurbani)? Have I got a good Rehit (code of conduct)? Do I spend time with Sangat?

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If we go to the Gurdwara (Guru’s door, Sikh temple) and try meditating once, but we can’t connect, we begin doubting the system. But if you are not doing the above-mentioned things, you can hardly expect it all to work. It is like having a phone with no battery, not charged up ever, has no credit, and you tried to phone somebody. You can’t blame the phone, because you haven’t done the things that require the phone to work. 

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If you wish to have that connection, start following what Guru Ji is telling you about this path. Then, try making a call and beg him for that little bit of experience. Once that taste comes in, you will know what to do afterwards yourself. You won't need anybody else to tell you. Following Guru Granth Sahib Ji will be all you need to do!

This article is a transcribed version of the video Can I call God on my iPhone? by Bhai Jagraj Singh Ji.