Sikh is regarded as someone who has high ideals and moral standards. However, as human beings, we do fall short of ideal Sikh values.

Our Guru Ji is Perfect

The Guru's wisdom doesn't change. Gurbani stays the same. It's been the same since Guru Gobind Singh Ji instituted the Guru Granth Sahib Ji and from the Adi Granth's time. Since Gurbani doesn't change and the Guru's example doesn't change, what changes in life is us as human beings. Sometimes we can be positive and follow the message of Guru Ji. But sometimes we can fall short.

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The thing that gets us up is to realize that the truth and the wisdom of the Gurus are still here. We, as human beings, can fall short. The Guru is perfect. The Guru is who we are trying to follow. So what we can do is, pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off. Then say to ourselves, "My Guru hasn't changed. I may have fallen short. Let me ask for forgiveness and let me try and live back up to those ideals".

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Guru Ji is always forgiving

We can fall short and think, "I can't do it, it is too great for me". We can give up. We might also say, "Too bad now, Guru Ji is never going to take me back". Guru Ji is always willing to open His arms to us again and take us back. This life is very hard and the ideals are very high. But that shouldn’t discourage us from trying. It is less about fulfilling and being the ideals, but it is more about trying. Life is not going to change. We are still inside the cycle of reincarnation. We still have to achieve oneness with our Divine. That's where we came from, and we have to go back there.

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It's our lower consciousness that makes us think that we can give up. Human life doesn't stop. We are still going to get older. We are still going to die. If we don't do what our Guru Ji is prescribing, we are still going to have to come back. Guru Ji is saying that follow me regardless. Guru Ji is like a boat. If we jump on the boat and we fall off. Then we swim back to the boat quickly and get back on board. Otherwise, we are going to drown. Guru Ji is forgiving and always benevolent upon anybody who seeks forgiveness. The mindset that we should have is  “I may have failed in these great ideas but I would like to carry on trying”.

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This article is a transcribed version of the video below.