surrender

By thinking, He cannot be reduced to thought, even by thinking hundreds of thousands of times.
By remaining silent, inner silence is not obtained, even by remaining lovingly absorbed deep within.
The hunger of the hungry is not appeased, even by piling up loads of worldly goods.
Hundreds of thousands of clever tricks, but not even one of them will go along with you in the end. So how can you become truthful? And how can the veil of illusion be torn away?
O Nanak, it is written that you shall obey the Hukam of His Command, and walk in the Way of His Will.

-- from Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Japji Sahib (first page of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji)

happiness and peace

- I want happiness and peace.
- Remove "I" and "want" and you're left with happiness and peace.

- from a lecture at chinmaya mission

constant awareness and alertness

Separativeness (ego) will always be there in a body as long it breathes. Mind will always be there. Attention is required to prevent its interference – that’s all. Then the mind is harmless, nay, it becomes a powerful instrument if the brain is good, as intellect functions free from all psychological registrations. Then the dichotomy of duality vanishes. Then “Two” (in centrifugal) and “None” (in centripetal) exist at the same time without any conflict.

-- Shibendu

let go

source of peace

The season of spring has come, and all the plants have blossomed forth.
This mind blossoms forth, in association with the True Guru.
So meditate on the True Lord, O my foolish mind.
Only then shall you find peace, O my mind.
This mind blossoms forth, and I am in ecstasy.
I am blessed with the Ambrosial Fruit of the Naam, the Name of the Lord of the Universe.
Everyone speaks and says that the Lord is the One and Only.
By understanding the Hukam of His Command, we come to know the One Lord.
Says Nanak, no one can describe the Lord by speaking through ego.
All speech and insight comes from our Lord and Master.

banasapath moulee charriaa basa(n)th
eihu man mouliaa sathiguroo sa(n)g
thumh saach dhhiaavahu mugadhh manaa
thaa(n) sukh paavahu maerae manaa
eith man mouliai bhaeiaa ana(n)dh
a(n)mrith fal paaeiaa naam gobi(n)dh
eaeko eaek sabh aakh vakhaanai
hukam boojhai thaa(n) eaeko jaanai
kehath naanak houmai kehai n koe
aakhan vaekhan sabh saahib thae hoe

- By Guru Amar Daas Ji in Raag Basant on Page 1176 of Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

action

Let karma happen naturally and effortlessly. Do not under-do it or over-do it. It is the separation ''I'' in the consciousness that makes you run into anxiety spoiling your health and well-being. Will is the wonderful name of the ego. So wilfull dedication to God can be a device of the ''I'' to remain divided from God! Divinity is the natural state of life. Division is the notorious affair of mind.

read the whole message from Shibendu here

being sick

When we are sick, it's very easy to think that We are sick. It's really not Us who are sick but it's our body. It's easy to identify with a sick body. The pain feeling is strong and treatment from others reinforces the false identification. Ego has found a way to come back in a big way. It will find ways to stay around with full energy. A treasure has been lost, let's not use our mind to find it again, thoughts are straight from ego; they will not help. Acknowledge the short lived reign of the ego and surrender and ask for help. Accept you don't have any solutions, I come to You, You show me the way.

suffering

We are all part of same consciousness or better yet, there's one consciousness and we can connect to it by awareness and being in presence. It's difficult to see the oneness of consciousness in everybody. Our conceptual image of others takes over our mind and we see others through our mind made conceptual filters.

Most of us are also in grip of Ego. To see the oneness, we will need to see through the Ego and feel the consienceness in everyone.

Due to ego, there's suffering. Everyone is suffering, here's another common attribute. Why not recognize the existence of suffering and bring out compassion when we see the egoistic actions of others.

ignorance

"citizenship?"
"US"
"Where were you born?"
"Afghanistan"
"ID's ..."
"Have you been back to Afghanistan?"
"No."
"Do you have another passport?"
"No."
"Have you been to Middle East?"
"No."
"What were you doing in Canada?"
"Attended a wedding."
"Where?"
"Toronto"
"Did you visit any mosques?"
"I'm not a Muslim."
"That was not my question."
"No, I have not visited any Mosques."

This was the question and answer during the crossing of the Windsor-Detroit border into US yesterday.

I could not believe a day would come where visiting a place of worship would be used to filter people out in United States.

After we got home, I had to explain my 7 years old daughter, why the custom officer asked about visitng a mosque. She was very curious.

My explanation included the topic of Al-Qaida, Bin-Laden, Taliban, 9/11, current conflict in Afghanistan, war in Iraq and recent terrorist activities. I gave my little story the title of "ignorance".

These were some of her questions after my explanation:
- Why would someone kill others just because they think or believe differently?
- How can someone kill himself and others and believe that they are going to Heaven?
- How can fighting bring peace?
- How can hatred remove hatred? Didn't Martin Luther King say Love removes hatred?

there are no two

In matters spiritual, truth has to be re-discovered by and for a human being for direct realisation. If it is repeated, it becomes an intellectual idea, a matter of ''I'', ''I'', ''I'' and 'You', 'You', 'You'. Thus truth becomes a lie when it is repeated; it just becomes a safeguard, security, solace and satisfaction for the ego ! Repetition of scientific truth is useful. It develops technology. Repetition of lie in politics is very harmful as the lie then begins to appear as truth due to propaganda. Politicians then come to power to control everything. For matters deeply psychological and spiritual, one has to be a light to one's own self.
The truth here is not at the top of the ladder of concepts, conclusions, ideas or interpretations. It is there where you are, in your daily life, in your tension and temptation. It is not in Brahma Sutra ! To think that you are a Brahma-Jnani by reading explanations of Brahma Sutras is but another self-projected aggrandizement. It is immature thinking, unworthy of people who are alive and affectionate.

The essence of all 555 Brahma Sutras has been made available by Adi Shankaracharya in one line :

«Brahma Satyam Jaganmithya, Jivo Brahmaiva Naapara»
«'No-mind' (Universal Intelligence) is real, mind is myth. Life, manifest as well as unmanifest, is the whole. There are no Two».

-- Shibendu Lahiri

right action

Right action can only flow out of that state of transcendence of the world. Any other activity is ego-induced, and even doing good, if it's ego-induced, will have karmic consequences. "Ego-induced" means there is an ulterior motive. For example, it enhances your self-image if you become a more spiritual person in your own eyes and that feels good; or another example would be looking to a future reward in another lifetime or in heaven. So if there are ulterior motives, it's not pure. There cannot be true love flowing into your actions if the world has not been transcended because you're not connected with the realm out of which love arises.

-- Eckhart Tolle

silence

Silence.
Deep silence.
Deeper silence.
Gathering the waters into one place.
Stillness.
Quiet.
Calm.
Connection.
Melting of imaginary separation.
Awareness opens.
Self Awareness expands.
Ideas of self are examined and if seen as merely insubstantial
thoughts, they are released-
and what is already always present as true self,
behing the maks of ego, is revealed.

Your true nature is neither inferior or superior to anyone.
Your true self needs neither story or history or accomplishments in order to be worthy and lovable.

- Stephen
from a local meditation group following Eckhart Tolle's teachings.

His Will

Are we suppose to follow His Will or recognize His Will?

Is there anything in the world that is not following His Will? Is there anything that is not part of the totality?

We already are following His Will, there's nothing that is outside of His Will.

"Everyone is subject to His Command; no one is beyond His Command. O Nanak, one who understands His Command, does not speak in ego. " - second stanza of Jap by Guru Nanak Dev

We are following His Will but unconsciously. We don't recognize that everything is running under His Will. This ignorance is the cause of our suffering. The removal of this ignorance is enlightment.

- after reading a Q&A on Eckhart Tolle

an actor

Our individuality, our ego is just a role we are playing. We are actors. Our true nature is divine. That's what we were before the play started and that's what we will be after the play. Let's not get attached to the role...

Paraphrased from a lecture by Swami Chinmayananda.

ego

Ego is the wall between us and God. Many spiritual practices' goal is to remove this wall. Following two are such practices:

• Being grateful and being aware of God's blessings at all times. This helps us realize, everything we have is His and due to His Grace.
• surrendering ourselves to God's will (Hukum). Total surrender is the same as egolessness.

-- Paraphrased from Prof. Darshan Singh's commentary on Sukhmani Sahib (a section of Guru Granth Sahib ji). http://www.ggsacademy.com

Love ...

Love all that has been created by God, both the whole and every grain of sand.
Love every leaf and every ray of light.
Love the beasts and the birds, love the plants, love every separate fragment.
If you love each separate fragment, you will understand the mystery of the whole resting in God.

-- Fyodor Dostoevsky

Ego

... Conditioned by the mind, the Self appears to be mortal, finite, limited. The Self clothed in the mind is the ego, jiva.

This ego, thoughtlessly assuming an independent and separate existence for itself, naturally sees the whole world as mighty, endless array of things and beings, of circumstances and situations-all of them inimical to itself. It feels lonely, in its loneliness it is overwhelmed by fear. To assure its own security, the ego thereafter builds mighty phantom-fortresses around itself with frail wealth, impermanent name, flimsy fame, disloyal relations, and undependable friends, and maintains a thousand treacherous relationships with a million things and beings. But still, the ego feels insecure, freightended, lonely, unhappy, and altogther etirely cheated!
...


from chapter 13 "The Other Shore of Samsara"
Meditation and Life by Swami Chinmayananda http://www.chinmayamission.org

Our Offering to the Lord

Everything we ever had and will have is a gift from the Source. What can we offer to him then? Is there anything that we have created? Yes, our ego is the only thing in the world that is not created by him, we shall offer our ego to him!

man in the airport

A man had an interview in a city where he had to travel by plane.
He arrived at the airport. Before departing, he visited the a small shop at the airport, he purchased couple of candies and a drink. To his surprise the total came out to be $20. He was determined to not pay that much for just couple of candies and a drink. He argued with the shopkeeper about it. Shopkeeper was kind enough to charge him $15 but that wasn't good enough for him. His argument started again. After a while, the shopkeeper agreed to charge him only $10 so he can get back to his business and serve other customers. The man proud of himself, happily walked towards his flight's gate. The flight had already gone.
....

Busy with activities of our life, happy with our successes in this world of forms and names, we will miss our flight, the flight of recognizing the purpose of this human life, the goal of becoming one with Almighty by surrendering our ego to him and living a life of love for all.

Paraphrased from one of Amma's discourses
- http://www.ammachi.org

Three Cosmic Dances

Grace and Gratefulness
God's grace is always available but to synchronize ourselves to it, we need to accept his order and be grateful. Gratefulness is our way of giving back to the Source; this starts a cycle or a cosmic dance between us and him.

Choice and Choicelessness
We don't have a choice of where we are born, how people treat us, what happens to us everyday but we have the choice of how we react to all those. Accpeting the choicelessness of our lives and making the choices to keep us in harmony with the Source is the key.

Udam and Ardaas (self effort and prayer)
Prayer requires humility and acceptance of divine's greatness. Without prayer, self effort increases our ego and take us further away from the source even if we are doing the right things. Prayer without the self effort makes us lazy and passive.

Inspired by:
Commentary on Sukhmani Sahib (a section of Guru Granth Sahib) by Professor Darshan Singh. http://www.ggsacademy.com
Choice and Choicelessness by Satish Kumar in Shift magazine (institute of noetic sciences). http://www.noetic.org
Gratefulness by Brother David Steindl-Rast - http://www.gratefulness.org