Daily

I once asked an elderly Gurmukh, “Naani Ji, why didn’t I just become a kirtani?” I explained that while I love what I do with a passion, if I had been a kirtani, I would have automatically had sangat, I would have had all the time in the world to sing shabads and live fully immersed in Naam. I explained the difficulty in having to fight to walk the worldly path at the same time, that despite my deep desire and longing, the balance was evasive. She told me “Beta, you have given yourself the answer right there.” She explained I am making the effort because I have to. Would I have made the effort at all if I didn’t have to? I might have made no effort, kirtan may have become a monetary action rather than a deep passion of mine now. She reminded me that this question, of why, was a question of ego, I have been written to be what I am because this is my sewa and it has fit me just perfectly, this is how I am meant to find my path. Each part of our journey is written so that we can have our merger, it is written to remind us of how we get there. 

Then I remembered a couple weeks ago there was a question asked during one of the Sunday Kathas done by PMKC Canada, by Bhenji Sukhwinder Kaur and her husband. Bhenji posed the question to the sangat, why is it that some people do simran and paath and they still suffer. Gurbani promises us that our Rog will be gone, that our Dukh will be taken away. Why do those people continue to be dukhi in their minds? Then they explained, that actually the reason for this is that the moment we let go of our simran we enter back into maya and there we have let go of Naam and we once again experience that dukh. (Now this is a different question than why do sants still get ill etc. and 'why dont things go my way'- we have covered this in a different blog post). Kaal wraps us up all over again and there we live in maya. 

These two answers together remind us of something important. Gurbani tells us without a doubt what the path is, what the messenger of death brings, what the consequences are of our life decisions, of our daily path, of where we are. It is within our daily lives that we will find the answers. The famous Shaheeds from our history found their path while they were facing severe adversity. While they were facing the torture of their children, while they were being hunted down in the jungles, with a price on their heads, they were also finding God in this time. It is not despite their adversity, but perhaps directly because of it. Otherwise who cares to overcome anything. If we are raazi khushi, just enjoying our time here, what need would there ever be to realize our merger? The Guru Ji's told us not to become a Yogi on the mountain tops and leave the world burning. We typically each that this means that we have a responsibility for a householder life, to our families, and to the world that is burning in Kaljug. In response, we start organizations and we volunteer and we work hard. I think it also speaks to the path of overcoming kaal. It is hard to overcome maya if you simply run from it. The practice comes from daily living in our challenging circumstances and just continuing on again and again. 

I think there is value in getting away to be in nature too, because we might be able to recognize God and meditate on the fact that there is nature and You are around us. I find great peace in sitting near lakes, waterfalls, and walking in the grass. Here we might hear the Anhad Bani very loudly too. This whole world is You, we can meditate on you everywhere. There is a difference in using this to feel like we can only find God out there, and not in our daily lives. There is value in going away for camps, in escaping the monotony of our lives and find an adventure to awaken us to our paths, but there is also value in realizing that daily we have this opportunity to face our adversities and find Anand no matter where we are and what we do. Bhagat Sadhna was a butcher, and Namdev dyed clothing. They found God in their daily work. Connection might look like listening to a katha, or some Dhaadhi vaaran, or kirtan, or reading paath as a family, that might look like doing a roll at Akhand Paath, doing Rom Rom or Sas Gras simran, of reading Gurbani translations, of reading Sikhi related articles and books, and having conversations with others to expand your knowledge about this path. It might just even be working with purpose and as a sewa and doing that tirelessly and fiercely. It might mean late night studying, rubbing your Dhadha Ji's feet, or raising your children. Whatever it is, the one thing I know is that the path isn't found with ease, the struggle is actually an essential part of the path itself initially.  It will be there until we reach a different avastha.