A book review by Yong Soo Heong
We’ve heard that frequent and familiar line or Sikh joke before: what’s the name of that laid-back Punjabi male who’s always lounging around? Relax Singh!
Well, to be exact, relaxing is just what Dya Singh’s 60-page self-awareness how-to booklet – ZEN OF SIKHING (Self-Realisation) FIRST LEARN HOW TO MAKE CHAI (tea)…has prescribed to its readers from the start.
First things first, Dya asks readers to relax their faces, lose their frowns, drop their shoulders into relax mode, un-tense and plant a smile on their faces for Zen means to relax – a much-needed antidote in today’s fast-moving world.
“In the world we live today, with fast technology, onslaught of mass information, social media, everything seems to be on fast-forward, yet we don’t seem to have enough time to do what we really wish to do,” he laments.
Slow down, smell the roses, Dya exhorts.
‘Sikhing’” was coined by Dya to refer to elements of Sikh thought which he says will prove a revelation for open-minded Sikh youth and the casual student of life, but often taken for granted by Sikhs.
He adds: “The word Sikh means ‘to seek’, to learn – the student of life, the pupil. I, too, am ‘sikhing’ and so you should be.”
But seriously, I don’t know how the learning of the art of making good chai or tea had crept into as one of the titles of the book.
But Dya, a Malaysian now living in Melbourne, was at pains to explain that you have to learn how to make good chai to relax.
Page 12 contains the pathway, process, procedure and technique on how to make good chai, and the brew itself, and both make your stress melt away, he claims! I shall not reveal his trade secret, embedded in the book!
What’s in the book about besides telling you how to make good tea? Plenty! Like you should relax and forget being someone who’s always being a FOMO or Fear of Missing Out.
Instead, Dya tells us about the benefits of JOMO or “joy of missing out” as the book looks for answers on what you should do in life after you’ve arrived on Planet Earth. I may have put it too simply, but seriously, this book takes on a simple approach to how you should attain inner peace despite being in a complicated place.
He reminds us: “We have forgotten how to relax. Holidays mean frenzied efforts to get a holiday destination, airport struggles with delayed flights, flights at odd hours of the day and night, Customs, quarantine, immigration, sightseeing, buying back souvenirs, and generally coming home more tired than when you started!”
Dya, a Victoria Institution student in the 1960s and a former journalist in Kuala Lumpur in the early 1970s (The Straits Times), later trained as an accountant in the United Kingdom before settling in Australia. He is now pushing 80, certainly an age when a person has seen much of life and the world.
Today, he has blossomed as a renowned Sikh performer and recording artiste in ‘rejuvenating’ old ‘kirtans’ or Sikh hymns to encourage more young Sikhs to know them better.
Other than that, he enjoys a game of leisurely cricket in his neighbourhood or engages in walks where his active mind continues to search for the real meaning of a fulfilling life.
To start the ball rolling in terms of how to get the best out of life in the book, Dya, who can carry out all priestly duties in Sikhism, emphasises on doing ‘sewa’, the Punjabi term for selfless service. He has even coined the phrase: ‘Serving Eternally Without Acknowledgement’ or SEWA!
Simply meaning doing service without expectations of any return, even acknowledgement, Dya says it’s much more than that. Service must be done in total humility, without fanfare or the spiritual essence is lost.
One, he adds, must express gratitude that he or she can serve rather than receive.
In this, he cites Bhagat Puran Singh, a savant or learned person in Punjab, who once said:” Give me a man (woman) whose hands are immersed in ‘sewa’ rather than a man (woman) whose hands are clasped in prayer.”
Dya reminds us that the purpose of this lifetime is to perform good deeds – to be of service to fellow human beings and all creatures, thus erasing bad karma and accumulating good karma.
To be able to do so, he reminds us of certain vices that must be kept in check, like ego, lust, greed, anger and over-attachment on materialism and relationships.
Going forward, Dya expounds on the virtue or visualisation or optimism for the future. In this, he reveals that athletes, entertainers and those who have to frequently face the public frequently employ this method to good effect and success. They visualise beforehand how an event or action on their part is going to unravel and then carry out what they ought to do.
Case in point is Dya’s ‘Walking the length of Peninsula Malaysia’ special endeavour some years back. And he made it a point to stop by all the ‘gurdwara’ or temples along the way.
Through visualisation, Dya says it enables a step-up from mindless daydreaming as it’s a constructive practice that can draw amazing results.
In the book, he also tells us about the way to attain ‘anand’ or a state of equi-poise or a relaxed state of neutral calm. This is where one can juxtapose joy, exhilaration and celebration against anguish, pain and hurt. In other words, a positive form of stoicism.
In this regard, Dya reveals an exercise where one can address embarrassing incidents or failures as well as the joy and success to attain a state of neutral calm or ‘sehaj ananda’. It involves sitting cross-legged, thinking about the good, bad and ugly at the same time, and doing some exercises involving the mind and body.
Although Dya, who draws much from his Sikh religion, the book contains numerous examples of how non-Sikhs can also wrest away one’s frustrations and celebrate life because of the many universal values contained in it.
Dya’s daughter, Dr Jamel Kaur Singh, resonates well in the book’s Foreword when she wrote that her father’s work is more than a book. “It’s a transformative guide to life. While the primary audience may be Sikh youth, its wisdom transcends all boundaries.”
For Sikhs, especially the younger ones, this is one simple but unique book that cuts through a lot of verbiage and tells you things that matter in life and religion in a matter-of-fact way. In a way, it encourages young Sikhs to find value in the Sikh life philosophy, perhaps?
In the book, Dya does expound on the greatness of ‘Waheguru’ that Sikhs regard as the Wonderous Enlightener. His message to Sikhs is to treat ‘Waheguru’ as a Wow! Factor and as their constant ever-present companion, mentor, coach, parent, or sibling.
“Once you do that, you will never be alone, he says. In other words, “create a protective cloak of ‘Waheguru’ around yourself to surround yourself with positive and vibrant energy.”
From Friday, August 1, Dya will be in Malaysia to promote his book, have some casual interaction with chai and with some soulful ‘kirtan’ sessions thrown in for good measure.
First, I’m going to make some tea now.
ZEN OF SIKHING is available from Amazon.com.
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