The Source Book On Sikhism

Chapter Forty-Nine

Psychology of a

Productive-Spiritually Inclined

KHALSA

Dr. S.S. Sodhi

This paper is about the psychology of a productive and spiritually inclined KHALSA who is clear, realistic, rational, lucid, consistent, coherent, integrated, goal-directed, logical, pertinent, articulate, independent, persistent and altruistic. He/She has a high degree of self-control and a highly developed sense of values and faith in SAT GURU and his Hukam.

The productive Khalsa is unique, both in himself and in the contributions he makes to society. He excels in academic/professional achievements, spiritual creativity, and leadership qualities.

A productive-spiritual individual has a sense of identity. He knows who he is and where he is going. He is confident in his unique role and feels comfortable with himself and what he is doing. He/She has a clear sense of gender identity and social responsibility. The contribution of productive-spiritual Khalsas are motivated by a mature sense of social awareness, empathy, altruism for humanity in general. Khalsas express these qualities in spontaneous sensitivity, friendliness and interpersonal skills because of the productive-spiritual person’s concern for others. Khalsa suffers “dissonances” due to his ability to resolve the large social problems of inequality, suffering and injustice. He is troubled by the discrepancy between what is and what ought to be! He does not feel guilty but has an empathic concern about humanity as a whole.

A productive-spiritual Khalsa grapples with the problems of life rather than retreating from them. Through hope he extends himself into the future. His freedom to observe the environment sharpens his cognitive skills, intellectual curiosity and helps him appraise various courses of action.

A productive-spiritual Khalsa learns to master his life situation before becoming effective for others. His involvement is not an escape from life. He brings strength and courage, sound physical health and high self-esteem in any field of endeavour. It produces in him a solid sense of identity, social competence, maturity, empathy and excellent coping skills.

An evolved spiritually productive Khalsa moves from egoism to altruism and eventually his slogan becomes “live for others”. Through altruistic living he applies “norms of reciprocity” and social responsibility to his life (help those who have helped him or are in need of help).

It has been empirically shown that empathy is a powerful mediator of altruistic behaviour. It is intrinsically motivated and produces reciprocity to self. A productive-altruistic Khalsa because of the evolution of his BIG WISDOM, overcomes the little wisdom of the ego and performs productive acts, which benefit society.

The self of a productive person develops through stages and reaches a stage of Propriety. Through appropriate striving he gains functional autonomy through which he seeks new challenging goals, extends his self with zest, enthusiasm, insight and humour. He develops a unified philosophy of life and uses it in directing his life harmoniously.

A productive-spiritual Khalsa develops compulsions for self-actualization and self-transcendence. He avoids matapathologies of boredom, cynicism, and lack of inspiration. He gets committed to his eta-needs and is willing to undergo all forms of deprivations for realizing them.

A productive-spiritual Khalsa through his “self-actualizing creativeness” experiences life fully, vividly, selflessly with full concentration and absorption. These self-actualizaters stay realistic, problem-centred, and generally accepting of themselves and others. They are also spontaneous, independent, creatively identified with humankind. Most of them report having had mystical or ego-transcending peak experiences.

Peak experiences of a productive Khalsa are episodic, powerful transcendental states of COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS. In this state, the person experiences a sense of heightened noematic clarity, intense euphoria, appreciation of the holistic initiative, integrative nature of the universe and one’s unity with it. He may develop an altered perception of space and time because “his doors of perception have been cleansed”. These mystic states produce long-lasting beneficial effects on the personality functioning of a productive person. These states produce in him freedom from fear and making him almost truly god-like, recognizing and identifying with a wholly unified world in which oppressors have to be challenged. In other words, he becomes a KHALSA.

The productive self-actualizing Khalsa starts believing in “Perennial Khalsacentric Philosophy” and attempts to become transpersonal trans-human, centred in the cosmos rather than human needs and interests.

Writing for his book A Sense of Cosmos, Needleman, a famous North American philosopher, feels that a productive-spiritual person not only has a strong ego capable of living with and adapting to the existential realities, but transpersonally transcends through the expansion of spiritual awareness and identity.

Sustained states of this expanded awareness and identity have been well documented in Sikhism and by some Western psychologists such as R.M.

Buck, Maslow, Jung and Webber. A considerable body of psychological and sociological evidence suggests that those who have Cosmic Conscious Experiences (R.M. Buck), Peak Experiences (Maslow), numerous experiences (Jung), Satories (Suzuki), tend to be more healthy and productive than those who do not.

Transpersonal psychology dealing with productive-spiritual personality feels that KHALSA can operate at linear as well as altered states of consciousness. In an evolved person (Gurumukh) self appears to die. Once he gets rid of the ego, a feeling of solemnity-exaltation and well-being is developed. A deeply felt positive state of mind is his prize possession. His ignorance disappears because he stops identifying with "Maya or illusions"! He becomes a practising mystic using wise passiveness and transcendental experiences as methods of breaking his ego chains. Sitting in a quiet environment with passive attitude he learns to dwell on his SATGURU by repeating the "NAME". Because he has reduced his extroceptive stimulating motor activity and has decreased alertness of critical faculties, he moves to Altered States of Consciousness.

A productive KHALSA gains awareness that his outer life is a mere reflection of his inner conditions. The Khalsa may have to learn to turn off the day’s reliance so that the ever-present sources of KHALSACENTRIC energy within him becomes visible. Then the productive Khalsa comes to his senses by losing his linear ego mind. He becomes a Gurumukh who has reached the mystic-Sufi stage of FANAH. He becomes Khalsa roop in which Guru lives (NIWAS).