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)

letting go

Letting Go

But How Difficult It Is ...

But Why Do We Hold on?

The Parable of the Rope.

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.

baggage

Once a while we get these flashes of memory from past events that bother us. These are situations which we did not accept fully when they occurred. They become part of this baggage that we carry with us. Eckhart Tolle calls this pain body.

We need to take care of this baggage from two fronts. On one side we need to decrease its growth and on the other side we need to start getting rid of what's in the baggage from past.

As new events occur in our life everyday, we need to accept them as they are. This will make sure these don't get added to the baggage.

As we get memory flashes from past, we need to accept those past events unconditionally so they are removed from the baggage.

Acceptance his Will (Hukam) as it unfolds in everyday life will trigger His Grace. The Grace will align us to the flow of life. The alignment is the purpose of our life. Being in alignment does not require effort. It's about being not doing.

Hukum - God's Will or Order

- God and God's Will is like dancer and the dance. Two are inseparable.

- It's God's Will for planets to rotate, for wind to blow, for wild animals to prey, for sugar to be sweet and God's Hukum for human beings is to merge in Him. Rest of the nature is following his Order, are we working towards it?

- Thank you to what is already here, yes to what will be here.

- Two aspects of Hukum: Rahmat and Raza
everything good we have is due to his mercy or Rahmat. Everything else is due to his Will or Raza.

Actually everything that happens is for good. Due to our limited knowledge and lack of wisdom we categorize events into good and bad. Our focus needs to be on our reaction to events not the events themselves. We need to make our reactions better and compatible with the Order. We won't be going against the current but with the current to the Ocean where we the stream, the river, the ravine will merge into the Ocean and take all the properties of the Ocean, we won't be ourselves, there won't be a "We" or "You" or "I".

-- Inspired by various commentaries on Guru Granth Sahib's teachings.

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

The US Election

If we accept God's will and if we truely have trust in him then we know whatever happens will be good. It may not seem good in short-term depending on our understanding but only God knows the whole picture. Depending on our opinion of Kerry and Bush and our understanding of current global conflict we may hope for victory of one or the other; we may even pray for the victory of our favoriate. What we really need to pray for is for God to give us the wisdom and courage to accept his will.

This does not mean we don't have to do anything, let's listen to our conscience and act upon it. Let's vote and do everything we can to help our chosen one to win. Whoever wins in November, let's raise our voice if we think the new administration is not going in right direction.

Accepting God's will is not about shutting our conscience but about accepting whatever is happening around us and doing and promoting righteousness at all times with a cool mind.