Heaven and Hell

Heaven and Hell

Guru Arjun Dev ji sung

Amrit priya bachan tuhare.
Raj na chaho, Mukat na chao
Man preet charan kamalareh.

Your words are nectar,
I don't desire Kingdom (Raaj) and I don't want Liberation (Muktee)
my mind (only wants) the love of your lotus feet'.

People think Muktee is the thing to get, i.e salvation or liberation or freedom from the bonds of the world. People want heaven where they meet all there relatives and have the house and garden they always dreamed about. But Guru Arjun Dev ji is light years ahead of that stage and sings:

Man preet charan kamalareh
my mind (only wants) the love of your lotus feet.

But isn't having the love of Guru ji's lotus feet the same as heaven or mukti?

No, a giani jee gave the following example : it's like a little boy who's lost in a shopping mall. At first he loved spending hours in the toy shop, then he really wanted to go to the sweet shop and eat all the chocolates. In the end he started crying because he wanted his mummy. He ran past the sweet shop, he ran past the toy shop, the only important thing was finding his mummy and she'd pick him up and hug him to the chest.

Sikhi is not about going to heaven or hell (the shops), but about going back to sit in Gurdev-Pita Guru Nanak Ji's fatherly laps, it's about being absorbed in the lovelight of Guru ji's Lotus feet. And being absorbed in the love of God's Lotus Feet is to do naam simran with humility and love.