By Dr. Sawraj Singh

There are two ways to discipline your mind; internal and external. Generally, the concept of internal discipline is an eastern concept while the concept of external discipline is a western concept. Internal discipline comes from the inward journey which is advocated by eastern spirituality. The goal of inward journey passes through self realization to self enlightenment. In the final stage, self enlightenment, a person becomes Braham Gyani which means that the person gains full knowledge about the universe. How does the inward journey lead to complete knowledge about the universe?                

This is based upon the concept that inside a person there is whole knowledge of the universe in a micro form. In other words, a micro universe exists in each one of us. However, we can have access to this knowledge when we are fully enlightened. Total reality is revealed to a fully enlightened person. Guru Nanak calls such a person a Gurmukh. Guru Nanak’s Gurmukh becomes Khalsa of Guru Gobind Singh. Guru Gobind Singh calls Khalsa a completely enlightened person (Pooran jot jage ghat mein tab khalas tahe nakhalas jane).                                                                                                                                                                   

 How does a person become a fully enlightened person? This state is achieved by completely liberating our mind. Our mind has infinite potential (Man tu jot sarup hai apna mool pchan), O mind you are the embodiment of the Divine Light- recognize your own origin. However, mind is enslaved by maya (illusion) and gets detached from reality. In the present context maya is represented by the consumer culture of capitalism which detaches us from reality. This detachment from reality leads to alienation. Modern man is alienated from nature, society, family and from self.            

Capitalism believes in external discipline because it limits human existence to two dimensions only; body and mind. It completely negates the third dimension; soul which is considered the essence of our existence in the eastern spirituality. Since internal discipline can only be maintained by this third dimension, capitalism has to resort to external discipline in the form of its state. Discipline imposed by the institutions of state can never of the same level as the internal discipline. Moreover, the external discipline is very difficult to impose without the internal discipline. The institutions and the individuals can become corrupt.                                                                                                                                                             

Marxism also has a concept of internal discipline. Marx also talked about the alienation brought by capitalism. He emphasized the need to liberate one’s mind from enslavement by capitalism. Marx visualized a society where people have fully liberated their minds from capitalist enslavement. According to Marx in this stage there is no need for the state and the state will wither away. However, the tragedy with Marxism is that after Marx, Marxist leaders moved away from the human aspects of Marxism and heavily tilted toward economism. Instead of moving toward withering away of the state, they continued to strengthen the state as the only source of external discipline. This phenomenon reached its peak under Stalin.                                                                                                                                           

As opposed to the withering away concept of the state of Marxism, the Sikh philosophy has a concept of a welfare state in the form of a “Halimi Raj” and Begum Pura (a city without sorrow). These are the states where all citizens are fully enlightened. They have reached a state where they can impose internal discipline. Therefore, the state is not needed to impose discipline; it serves the needs of the people. In other words, this is not an oppressive state but is a welfare state.                                                       

Globalization is the final stage of capitalism and it is becoming obvious that this is failing. I feel that the prime reason for this is the failure of capitalism to evolve internal discipline and rely solely on external discipline. This happened because for all practical purposes, capitalism negated the spiritual aspect of life. The Eastern spirituality always emphasized internal discipline. This concept was present in the Vedas and in Buddhism. I feel that Sri Guru Granth Sahib represents the Zenith of the eastern spirituality. The concepts of liberation of mind and enlightenment and the concepts of state in Sri Guru Granth Sahib are very relevant and important today.             

Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at sawrajsingh@hotmail.com.