Random Calligraphy

Confessions of a Pirate

2012-01-11T22:36:00.004-07:00

Computers. Boys. Since I was a teenager, those two things have had this strange connection in my life. I liked the geeks in high school. When I was a teenager, Apple was just getting started with home computers. Black screen. Flashing green curser. Minimal graphics. The phone modem had a certain multi-tonal quality to it. Different melodic intervals depending on where you were in the connecting process. And if you had call-waiting on your telephone, and someone called when you were connected to the Internet, you lost the connection.

This was before the World Wide Web. Back in the days of bulletin boards and group chats. The geeks hanging out together talking about geeky things. Those were the days of ground being broken and rules being created. One of the first rules I remember learning was, "archiving."

During the summer between high school and college, I dated a computer genius, a few years senior to me, who was an incredibly nice guy. Dates involved hanging out at his house playing really cool computer games or watching Montey Python movies with his friends. Because he was so knowledgable about the whole computer scene, I kind of took everything he said as gospel. Somewhere along the way, I got indoctrinated with a certain code. When people swapped software and loaded it onto each other's computers, they were just making back up copies of what they purchased in ways that the backups couldn't be destroyed. They called it archiving. The idea of software being licensed for use was a ridiculous legal con that the Microsoft corporation had come up with. And by the way, Microsoft, by copyrighting the DOS system and suing anybody who used any of it's code, set the computing world back by decades.

OK. I may not have really understood it that well at the time. And I definitely haven't recounted the arguments properly. Yet, it is safe to say that by the time I left for college, I had absorbed a certain value system. In the digital world, if someone could share it with you, why pay for it yourself?

Over the years, I have watched as this computer culture, started by the teenagers and young men of my youth, has tried to define a completely different economic model for the digital world.

There is Share Ware. If you like the program, pass it along to somebody. Sending money to the programmer is your choice.

There is Open Source coding. We all agree nobody owns this. Everybody can use it and build off of each other's discoveries,

Missed your favorite TV show? No problem. Search the web. Someone has uploaded the recording as a video that you can watch for free.

Of course, corporations, who feel threatened by this kind of culture, attempt to draw lines in the virtual sand. It bemuses me that any person who uses paid software has to agree to an incredibly complicated legal document, pages long. Nobody ever takes the time to read them. And if you do take the time, it would require a lawyer to explain what the darn thing is saying.

What is the average person's mental process with this?

"Oh I have to click this agree button in order to use the software I just purchased."

Scrolling through the license agreement, "Who has time to read this? It probably just means that I agree to not give a copy of the software to my friend."

Clicks agree.

Gives a copy to a friend anyway.

Let's face it. That is the world. Especially if the program is really expensive.

So why am I on a rant about this?

Because as I have gotten older and, God help me, more conservative, the notion of protecting intellectual property is a question I keep going back and forth on. I write. It is intellectual property. I sure would hate to see that property misused, and I like to be asked permission. But then people are people and they make copies and distribute it. The thoughts get out there, the ideas get out there. Who am I to complain? If I really had my heart set on being a millionaire, I would have done something different with my life.

But I respect the artist who creates something. Who wants to keep it protected. Who wants to make a profit from it.

And then...Merlin comes along.

Merlin is a television show originating in the UK, airing on the BBC, and then rebroadcast on the SyFy channel in the US. Inspired from the success of Smallville, which recounts the teenage years of Clark Kent, aka Superman, Merlin revisions a different kind of Camelot. A Camelot where Arthur, Gwenevere, Merlin and other names from legend knew each other in their youth. It is a quirky show. Spells and fighting. Great sets and costumes. Sometimes the writing is quite good, but I don't watch it for the writing. I watch it for the magic.

I stumbled across some of the episodes on SyFy and then had to catch up on everything I missed. It was so easy to find the previous seasons available for free online. I completely enjoyed every single one of them.

Then, due to changes in my budget, I got a little skinner with the satellite stations, and lost access to SyFy. Season 4 came out in England this October. It is just now being released in the US.

I understand what SOPA wanted to do. I understand it from the perspective of a corporation. But this is the problem. When a girl is in love with a TV show that she won't be able to watch until months from now in the US. And even then, she would have to resubscribe to a satellite channel that she is not very interested in- why do you think she is going to care about copyright law? She is going to take two minutes, Google the latest episode, and find the nice person who recorded it for her and shared it online so she doesn't have to wait or spend the extra money. If someone else is willing to share it, why should I have to wait and pay for it?

So every week from October until December I gleefully watched the fourth season of Merlin. Except for the ridiculous episode with Lancelot coming back from the dead, it was AWESOME.

And I kind of felt guilty about it.

Guilty that I was enjoying something I really loved, but had no way to give back to. I understand it takes money to create a show like that, and I do want to show my support.

So this week, I made the decision to go to the iTunes store and be a good consumer. Show my appreciation. Participate in the economic model that allowed this wonderful show to come to life. I'm not talking about British taxes. I mean downloads.

I spent $10 and purchased the first season of Merlin. Even though I have watched the first season on line for free a dozen times now.

It was a disaster.

I didn't realize that each show would be half a gig that I had to store on my laptop. Which did not have the room for it.

I didn't realize that it was going to take around an hour to download EACH EPISODE from the iTunes store. When I stream it on-line, it takes no time at all. Although the quality may not be as good.

It isn't really ten dollars for the episodes. It is ten dollars plus 7 Gigs of storage, plus 13 or so hours of download time. And for what? When I can instantly access the episodes anytime I want from the nice person who recorded it and shared it with me?

Here is the essence of the problem. The commercial world demands that the digital world be something it is not. By its nature, the digital world is open access to anything at any time to anybody. The commercial model is to deny access to all but those who can afford it. The two cultural mind sets do not meet up in any way, shape or form.

The innovation in the online world has come, from the beginning, from those people who were invested in open access. It is only since the Internet has gotten so huge, so global, that some corporate interests want to find a way to make it work according to their rules. But the rules of exclusion and limited access would have never allowed the Internet to develop into what it is today.

What does that mean practically?

It is not that I, as a fan of Merlin, do not want to give something back for the work that the production company has done. It is that it makes no sense for me to participate in the economic models that are available. I do not need what they have to offer. By the very nature of what the Internet is and how it works - I do not need the downloads. And buying something out of a sense of guilt is not really a long term solution.

If today I can watch something I like for free through the Internet when all the paid sources to watch it are slower and later, it changes the economic game.

But it does not change the respect I have for the creators involved.

Maybe I will just send a donation to the BBC instead.

With blessings,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Flash Town: A Day at Occupy Wall Street

2011-11-01T18:13:00.006-06:00

by Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa

Nov. 1, 2011

Coming out of the subway station at Courtland, just a block away from Zuccotti Park, the first thing I notice is the towering presence of two skyscrapers still under construction. This is the defiant Freedom Tower – the phoenix rising from the tragic ashes of the 9/11 attacks. Shimmering and reflective against the shocking blue October skies. A statement that the US cannot be broken. We will rise again, rebuild and remain a power that touches the world.

I didn’t realize that the Occupy Wall Street protests were taking place across the street from Ground Zero. But then again– there was a lot I didn’t realize before I started this improvised pilgrimage to the heart of our US Spring. I didn’t realize that Zuccotti Park is just one city block. Maybe three-quarters of an acre. Frankly – it is less than half the size of the land I live on by myself in New Mexico. Yet the actions happening on that one block in New York City seem to be rippling across the universe.

Standing on the corner of Liberty and Trinity, the Freedom Towers to one side of me, the Occupy Wall Street protests on the other, I can’t help but wonder. What is it about this place? That in ten years’ time, two events have happened here that have impacted the psyche of the entire world?

I spend the better part of an entire day at Zuccotti Park. Looking around. Listening. Taking pictures. Talking. Witnessing. By the end of the day, I get a sense of why the mainstream media can’t get their head around what’s happening here. And why such a large percentage of the US population is cheering these folks on.

There’s the girl who is a medical assistant. She’s 24. Had a job in the medical field in Maryland that left her feeling empty. She quit her job and showed up at OWS to volunteer at the medical tent. With 90 bucks in her pocket and a cell phone whose charge had run out. Handing out Vitamin C tablets to the protesters who ask for them – she feels like she’s doing something important. She’s excited. She’s on fire. She’s empowered to be doing actual health “care” – where the “caring” is part of the role.

There’s another guy. Young and clean cut, with piercing blue eyes and a strong build. He has a tent, a knapsack, a laptop and a digital camera. He asks to take my picture because – let’s face it – with my white turban and white clothes, I stand out a little. We start talking. He’s been unemployed for the last four months. Living out of his car. Traveling from one Occupy protest to another. He’s experiencing and documenting the events in his own way because he doesn’t have anything else to do. I look at him and think – this is the face of the new displaced. They carry their belongings on their backs. But they are educated. They are digital. They are connected to each other, and they are a force to be reckoned with.

I walk through the park and walk around the park. Again and again and again. A picture starts to emerge. It’s complex. We’ve heard about flash mobs – connecting for a few minutes or a few hours for a specific purpose. Then disappearing back from where they came. This place – this Occupy Wall Street – is a flash town. It’s a living fractal of the kind of society these folks would like to create. That a lot of people would like to create. The infrastructure, the organization – they are experimenting and modeling for themselves what they’d like to see society become.

The Medical Tent. With doctors, nurses, and chiropractors that do have jobs. Yet they volunteer their time to take care of the protesters and anyone else who shows up.

The Food Tent. Where they collect food donations, prepare meals, feed people. Feed the protesters. Feed the homeless. Feed the visitors. Feed anyone who comes along.

The Comfort Tent. Where they hand out clothes to people - blankets, coats, shoes, socks. Making sure that folks have what they need.

The Free Library. So many books being donated and lent out. Not just to the protesters – but to the crowds that meander through the park hour after hour. It’s open to them, too.

The OWS Day Care. A little corner set up for the moms to look after their small children.

The Media Tent. The Legal Tent. The Community Affairs Tent – if you want to know the schedule for the day. The Sanitation area – where the brooms and buckets are kept. The park was squeaky clean.

The gray water system display – illustrating how the water they use to clean the dishes is being recycled to water the plants in the park.

It goes on and on. A tiny little town within a square block, covering every human need. Fueled by volunteers, donations, and a fierce conviction that we can engineer a society where everybody gets taken care of.

Complexity. It doesn’t lend itself easily to sound bites.

Of course – all of the infrastructure would be pointless if there wasn’t something happening. Once again, "what's happening" defies simple summaries. There are so many people converging in this one place, with so many different ideas. There’s no lack of things to do.

Every day, there’s at least one if not two marches organized somewhere for some purpose. The visible protest – with signs and people. The morning I arrived, a group had just donned Robin Hood costumes. They marched with signs saying, “Tax the Rich.” It was theatrical. It was New York. And it got a simple point across.

Yet to say that this point, “Tax the Rich” is THE point is not to be paying attention. That was one event. There were dozens and dozens of events happening all day long.

Free workshops offered on a range of topics: from non-violent communication, ala Marshal Rosenberg; to protecting yourself from predatory lenders.

Political action tables set up in the park. You can register to vote. Sign a petition supporting the Buffet Tax. Sign another petition to help keep US Post Offices open. And if you need a Public Notary? She there from 3-5 pm.

There’s the space for everyone to make a sign. For everyone to give voice to their thoughts. A lot of these protestors don’t sleep in the park. They show up for a while with their signs, and then go home when they’re done. One older man I spoke with wore a sandwich board that he obviously made himself. No flashy symbols or catch phrases. He had a rather crowded outline of what he thinks we need to be paying attention to.

I asked him how long he stayed there. He gave me a rueful smile. “I’m here with my wife,” he said. “And I stand here until my back or my legs give out.”

What fascinated me the most was how much more crowded the sidewalk became after business hours. You could see those people who, dressed very professionally, simply came by the protest on their way home from work. They added their signs and voices to the mix.

If you didn’t want to create a sign, you could always stop by the button maker’s table. Buttons in support of Occupy Wall Street. Take one and leave a donation “When my friends ask my why I’m here,” the button maker said, “I ask them – why aren’t YOU here?”

If signs and buttons aren’t your style – you can always sit in on The People’s Think Tank. In one corner of the park – just sit with other people – and talk about everything and anything that matters to you. I sat in for about 30 minutes. The people were regular folks. One guy, dressed like a yuppy, had come from upstate New York. He led the meeting, took notes, and his exuberance was infectious. “I feel like I can finally say all these things I’ve been thinking my whole life, but could never talk about with anyone.”

Another voice, “There isn’t going to be a violent uprising. This is a spiritual uprising.”

Another voice. “It’s about compassion in leadership. How can we make it OK for leadership to be compassionate?”

And another, “This is the most American thing I’ve ever seen.”

The Think Tank met for 3 hours. They took a ten minute break, came back and kept going. Every single person involved was sitting on the edge of their seats, smiling, engaged, excited because they finally realized – hey, I’m not alone.

Not everyone likes the verbal route with signs, buttons or dialogue. So, on the other side of the park, you can jam with the infamous drum circle. The circle lasts for hours. Someone said to me, “I don’t even think all of them are protestors. I think some of these people just want a place to play drums – so they show up and become part of the circle for while.”

It might annoy the heck out of the nearby businesses. But that drum circle keeps the attention on Zuccotti Park. Mobs of people line the street while they play, taking pictures and becoming curious.

(As a writer, as a journalist, I understand how difficult it might be to read this story. It’s taken me two hours to get this far, and there are more images in my mind. I know I am breaking the rules here. I may be going on longer than you are used to reading. But for some reason, I think it’s important. Just this once. To put all the pieces onto paper. Because this event, this OWS, is such a complex social phenomena. Perhaps in the not to distant future, there won’t be a chance to see it again. To talk about it again. I don’t want to forget any of the details.)

The more difficult aspects. The homeless. The pan-handlers. The mentally ill. Of course they are coming, too. Free food, free medical care, free warm clothes – who needs it more than they do? It would be easy to walk through the park, taking pictures of those people, and making them the face of the movement. By my estimation, this shadow side constitutes about maybe 5% of what’s happening there. To their credit, the OWS protestors are doing everything they can to manage these folks with dignity.

Next to a couple of pan-handlers, one protestor held up a sign. “Please don’t give money to the pan-handlers. Give it to OWS. We are making sure that everyone gets fed and gets what they need.”

The interactions with the police. Both sides seem to be working very consciously to keep a dialogue going. There’s a dynamic tension at play. Cops are stationed on every side of the park. They maintain a certain distance, keep the foot traffic moving, and ask the protestors to change things with the camp if they perceive anything as hazardous. Some police officers wear vests that say, “Community Affairs Liaison.” There have been meetings between the protestors and representatives of the local neighborhoods. The amount of drumming going on has been a big issue.

It’s all about boundaries. Inside the park, a new world is being birthed, and it revels in the joy of its own existence. But a couple blocks away, New Yorkers and visitors are going about their daily life, oblivious to the social experiment taking place under the Freedom Tower. The police represent – physically and psychologically – the boundary line between those two worlds.

Then, of course, there’s the spiritual aspect.

On the corner of Liberty and Trinity, there is a simple tree at the center of a circle of marble benches. One of the protestors took it upon himself to create a sacred space around the tree. The protestors named the tree, The Tree of Life. There are small wooden shelves placed around the tree housing symbols from every possible religious and spiritual tradition - known and unknown. It’s universal. It’s open. And it serves as a spiritual sanctuary.

One of the people who created this sacred space watches over it as his contribution to the protests. "One day," he said, “the yogis showed up.” Fateh Singh Khalsa, Hari Simran Singh Khalsa (who was featured in Time Magazine), Himmat Singh Khalsa and others. A group of Kundalini Yoga teachers, many of whom also happen to be Sikhs. They were inspired to come every evening and lead a Kundalini Yoga class for those in the camp who wanted to attend. They call themselves Occupy Yoga.

The “People’s Microphone” has been written about in other articles covering the protests. The yoga class works the same way. Sat Jagat Singh Khalsa, the head of the 3HO Brooklyn Ashram in NYC and co-founder of Kundalini Yoga in Park Slope, stands on one of the marble benches. He begins to explain the Kundalini Yoga exercises to those who are gathered there. His son, Hari Simran Singh, myself and others repeat the instructions in a loud voice. That way, the crowd which has gathered around can hear.

This is grass roots, no glory, yoga teaching. This is bringing yoga to the people with humility and grace. There’s no room to stretch out. Sat Jagat Singh has to lead something simple that the participants can do while standing up or sitting down. Yet, people gather to watch. To participate. And yes – even to protest. As the yoga class happens, someone outside the park makes fun of it. They walk around with a sign that says, “This is the dawning of the Age of Hilarious.”

Some moments are too precious to put into words. The day ends the way it began. In the presence of the OWS protestors. Looking up at the emerging Freedom Tower. Sat Jagat Singh teaches a simple healing meditation as night falls. The Freedom Tower is the back-drop. There’s no way to express what it was like sitting there, across from Ground Zero, praying for healing with people who believe that we can build a better world. A more fair world. A more compassionate world. And who believe it enough to put themselves on the line.

It’s a one-in-a-million moment. The sound of the chanting. The reminder of what happened 10 years ago. The realization that the spirit to heal the problems we face has been inside us all along, and is coming to life. I don’t know what the end result of Occupy Wall Street will be. But I do know, day by day and moment by moment, there are conversations, prayers, connections and ideas happening here whose ripple effects will far outlast the life span of the protest, themselves.

Remembering Our Place

2011-06-29T09:30:00.000-06:00

The week before Summer Solstice, I took a walk on my property doing what I like to do this time of year. Seeing what native grasses and wild flowers have decided to take up residence; seeing what pesky plants were being greedy for territory. Since I live by the side of a main road in the state of New Mexico, another thing that always shows up during my little walks is what we humans call “trash.” Plastic cups, paper, aluminum soda and beer cans. That kind of thing.

Usually, when I see the trash scattered around, I feel really annoyed. Like – why do people have to throw things out their windows while they are driving? With a simple gust of wind, all these little pieces of junk tumble across my property, unsightly, with no final resting place.

But during this walk, feeling the frustration as a battered piece of paper blew past me, Mother Nature gave me a different insight. The problem with trash isn’t that somebody threw it away. The problem is that Mother Nature can’t find another use for it.

The earth is a living organic being with its own cycles. Part of those cycles include the forces of wind and water taking organic material from one part of the land to another. This is how, unbidden, scarlet globemallow and baby white aster can suddenly show up in patches on my land where they never existed before. Mother Earth doesn’t create waste. When something transforms into seeds or dies and decays, it becomes the basis for new life. The earth evolved as a complex system of organic elements which constantly reorganize themselves. That reorganization is continual, powerful and inevitable.

When the wind brings paper or plastic cups on the land, it’s the exact same forces that bring seeds or dried leaves. It’s the cycle of life. The difficulty is that humans create things that are used only once, for one purpose. We see the here and the now, the immediate. But we don’t envision the entire life-cycle of the thing. When the purpose for the thing is finished, the forces of nature eventually take over. They act as they have always acted. But because of our own incomplete vision, Mother Nature can’t find any additional uses for what we release back to Her care.

Though we come from Mother Earth, and are completely dependent upon Her for everything, our intelligence is not aligned with Her intelligence. We ignore the power of Her creative forces and end up creating things that can’t be integrated back into the cycle of life.

Such a small lesson from the wind and the land. But this tiny dynamic on my property is happening in a big way in Los Alamos right now. Or in Japan a few months back.

When the tsunami struck Japan in March of 2011, I remember watching footage of what the water did to the land. What frightened me the most – even more than the nuclear reactor, frankly, was the sheer amount of “trash” getting hauled into the ocean. How many chemicals, plastics, and metals got dumped into the currents of the oceans that day? And what consequences would that have for the life of the sea? We think that we have the power to create safety zones where the toxicity we concoct can be contained to a small area. We believe we can control these human-made poisons so they don’t affect anything we don’t want them to affect. But this is the illusion of the human ego, of pride. Earthly forces will always be more powerful than us. Nature eventually destroys everything – including our own bodies. The matter and energy released from the forces of destruction are later reorganized into something new. This is the operating system of the planet. It has been going on for billions of years. Long before humans arrived. We don’t have the power to change that.

Tsunamis have always and will always exist. Yet, human beings have forgotten to have an integrated intelligence with the earth. So today – rather than a tsunami having the effect of renewing and reorganizing the ecology, it spreads poison and danger.

The same with the fires in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Tens of thousands of barrels of radioactive waste sit on the land near the Los Alamos labs. In the great arcing cycle of nature, one way or another, that waste is going to be released into the environment. It might happen in the next week. It might happen in the next 20 years. Or perhaps it will happen 200,000 years from now. But the forces of Mother Nature will continue. She reaches everywhere. Creation, destruction, re-creation. It’s foolish to believe that humans can protect that poison from the natural cycles of the earth forever.

I’m not advocating going back to the stone ages. For thousands of years, most of what humans created was integrated with the natural cycle because we didn’t have access to any technology what would give us any other options. There’s a purpose to the scientific awakening of the human race that has been going on for the last few centuries. Our ability to know how to split the atom and send satellites to the far-reaches of the solar system is, I believe, part of the Cosmic design. But the step we haven’t taken is to think differently.

Before this technological awakening, we didn’t need to visualize the life cycle of something because our creativity and the creativity of Mother Earth were more organically connected. Now we have to consciously wake up to what we are doing. For the future, it is essential that we develop another way to think about things. To think about what humans create and produce. To extend the thinking from “what can I make for this SPECIFIC purpose” to “how can we use our technology to create things that serve a purpose, and then die and are reborn in another form after that purpose is done.”

Before we develop something, we need to see its entire life-cycle as working in tandem with the life-cycle of the planet.

Some people may think that is impossible. But I believe the human intelligence is capable of asking and answering these questions. We can stretch that far. We can abandon the idea that technology requires this level of waste. We can create a new approach to develop processes, products and systems that work with, rather than against, the forces of the earth.

Human evolution is a remarkable result of the complex life-cycles of Mother Nature. Now is the time to remember that we are part of the intelligence of the planet. If we push ourselves to think in new ways, we can create a society that is technology advanced and ecologically balanced all at the same time.

Yours in Divine Light.

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Like a Candle Emits Light

2011-03-28T19:56:00.005-06:00

“Prosperity doesn’t mean that you will have wealth, health and happiness. The best way to explain prosperity is to say it is like when a rosebud flowers and opens up, and it shares its fragrance. That’s the moment, which lasts a few days, when a rose flower is prosperous. When a man or woman is prosperous, it is the fragrance of security, grace, depth, character, and truthfulness that a person can share. Like a candle emits light, a human emits prosperity.”

- The Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan from Success and the Spirit: An Aquarian Path to Abundance

Many spiritual approaches to prosperity talk about the power of the mind, of visualization, of intention, and of attracting what you want into your life. All of these are important tools in understanding our relationship with the world around us. Yet very few people talk about the power of a person’s consciousness, of their purity, of their integrity, grace and character as the source of prosperity. The public conversation about prosperity has been about what I can “get” – rather than what I can “be.”

When we meditate and the Kundalini begins to uncoil itself, penetrating through the chakras and clearing the karmas of the past and the present – something wonderful unfolds. The light of the soul starts to shine. And as the Inner Self becomes more prominent, a change takes place in a person. Their fears depart. Joy comes in. And rather than being pushed and pulled by the environments around her, a person can settle into a place of living according to her inner truth. This strength to live according to one’s inner voice with grace and dignity doesn’t simply “attract” prosperity. It creates it.

We can see so many examples throughout history of people who challenged the time and space they lived in. They made a decision to live in the integrity of their own consciousness. Even though they met with challenges along the way, the very act of staying true to themselves eventually made them victorious. It also opened up opportunities for other people. Whether it is the communications vision of Steven Jobs at Apple or the fight for political equality personified in the life of Nelson Mandela - all those who have created a legacy have done so because they lived committed to their deepest, most genuine self.

In Yogi Bhajan’s teachings on Sikh Dharma and Kundalini Yoga, it is this consciousness of finding and staying true to that deep, spiritual self which is the real source of prosperity. Our spiritual practice gives us a chance to live according to our soul. The purer our minds become, the more the light of the soul shines. The stronger the light becomes, the more we create for ourselves and for others. The power of attraction does not come from what we want. It comes from who we are. And when we can tap into and live in our Divine Self – the entire universe longs to come close.

In the weeks and months ahead, it will be my privilege and blessing to continue sharing excerpts and commentary on a new book being published by KRI titled Success and the Spirit: An Aquarian Path to Abundance. The book includes lectures, shabads and meditations taught by Yogi Bhajan on how to experience success at the deepest level of your being and how to leave a living legacy on the earth.

I look forward to the conversation that these columns will create with you.

With Divine Light.

Yours sincerely and humbly,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa

Success and the Spirit: An Aquarian Path to Abundance contains the wisdom and teachings of Sikh Dharma and Kundalini Yoga as shared by Yogi Bhajan. The book was edited by Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa. It will be released at 3HO's Summer Solstice celebration in 2011.

When The Heat Goes Out

2011-02-08T12:08:00.001-07:00

Sat Nam and blessings.

Since Thursday of last week, thousands of people in the state of New Mexico have been without natural gas. Which means living without heat, or a way to cook or a way to heat water - depending on how the house is built. This gas shortage began during the coldest week that New Mexico has had in the last 50 years.

It's been strange living through this - and being in the part of New Mexico that will probably have our heat turned on last. But it's also been a very fascinating experience in terms of lessons learned.

So - for whatever it's worth - here are some insights that I've gained from living through this experience that I thought I'd share with you.

Cold Can Dehydrate You

Just like the body needs more water when it gets too hot, the body needs more water when it gets cold, too. For about the first 7-8 hours after the gas went out, I didn't have any space heaters in the house and I was walking around in my winter coat - except for the kitchen where I had the oven on. It was surprising to me that I got spaced out from dehydration. It took me a day to realize that I had to drink a lot of extra water to deal with the what was happening.

Carbs and Protein Are Your Friend

Lots of carbs = a lot more energy for the body to use to stay warm. Breads, brown rice, flour tortillas, chocolate chip cookies. Lots of lots of carbs. If you're dealing with a colder than average environment, they go a long way. Eating good protein is also important because it helps the brain keep functioning with clarity. Especially in the midst of....

Yes, Sitting on Your Couch Waiting for the Heat to Come On Can Be Stressful

There's something about the regular routine of life being disrupted that can throw the body into stress. Even if the disruption is happening in the most contained and graceful way possible. The neuro-net of the brain has a regular pattern to life that gives a sense of security. When the pattern gets interrupted, stress is the natural result. There's a certain psychological weariness that can set in: when is life going to get back to normal? Or - what do I need to do to cover my bases today? What I found helpful: good meals with protein, trying to keep whatever routine I could keep, staying informed, keeping in communication with other people, and all the usual spiritual stuff I would do anyway.

It's Great to Have Something to Share with Others

Even though I don't have my heat on, I do have hot water. One of the healthiest things I've been able to do to stay sane in all of this is to open my home to other people who have needed a hot shower. When you have something you can give to someone else, it creates a sense of gratitude and empowerment in you. Giving always comes from a psychological position of strength and plenty. There was a beautiful inspirational saying that I remember from my childhood. "Share thy little with another." Even in the worst moments, if you have something small to share with another person, it creates a sense of joy and happiness, and helps battle the mental fatigue and stress of the situation.

Let Yourself Receive

No man is an island, and there's nothing like a crisis to show it. I couldn't have managed on my own these last five days, and feel grateful for the network of people in my life that helped me when I needed it the most.

My Italian Genes are Showing. When there's an emergency, cook a lot of food

As funny as it sounds, the first thing I did when I found out that the heat was going to be out for an extended period of time was to go to the grocery store, buy food and then come home and cook for 3 hours. My brain did something like this. "Well, we don't know if the electricity is going to go out, too. So I better make sure I have enough food for a few days if we loose electricity. And I better make sure that I have food for other people besides me who might need it." Lemon-rosemary tofu, a pot of vegetarian chili, a pot of brown rice, and a pot of kala chana. Five days later, I still have food left and have had the chance to share some of it. Don't know why my mind acted like that, but it's a good lesson for me to always have plenty of beans and rice on hand for cooking. If the electricity HAD gone out before I got any cooking done - well, that would have been another story. It makes me think about investing in one of those camp stoves for the future. Just in case.

The Body Likes to be a Certain Temperature. You Can't Really Avoid It

The difference between one space heater or two. The difference of hanging a blanket to block the hallway so the heat stays in one room. The difference of having a warm pair of socks or an extra blanket. Ultimately, it's the difference between being uncomfortable and unhappy or being OK and just mildly annoyed by the whole situation. And we're really talking just the difference of a few degrees. In the difference between the room temperature being 56 or 64 is a whole universe. I've had lots of interesting musings this last week about the nature of human evolution - and how much it has depended on our ability to keep ourselves in that ideal 6o's temperature no matter what environment we live in. In the middle of a heating crisis in winter - we don't change our evolutionary heritage. It's all about how to get back to that temperature "sweet spot."

You Can Take It If You Have To

We've just experienced the coldest weather in NM in the last 50 years. This is what I know. Worst case scenario, I could stay in my house under a bunch of blankets and live through it just fine. The house, itself, is a great protection from the cold. It wouldn't be pleasant, or preferable. BUT I wouldn't freeze to death, either. That's actually quite comforting to know. That you've seen the bottom and realized - oh yeah - that would really suck, but it wouldn't kill me.

Global Communications Are Completely Amazing

It's fascinating that I can sit in the middle of rural New Mexico, without heat, in a state of emergency - and still log onto Facebook and my blog and share all of this with all of you. Watching TV and playing around on the Internet has been the most stable, normalizing activity that I've done to keep a sense of routine since all of this started. You can't send me heat or food - but you can hear what's going on. And that is actually really nice.

Well, maybe something from this essay will stick in your mind and will be helpful if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

With Divine Light and many blessings,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

An Apology on Comments

2011-02-06T10:06:00.002-07:00

Sat Nam, dear readers.

Many blessings to you.

Back in the fall, I activated moderation for the comments for this blog. The settings were supposed to notify me whenever there was a comment waiting to be moderated - but something didn't work properly and I was never was notified when comments were left. Because I post so infrequently to my blog, I didn't realize that there were comments waiting until I logged in today. For all of you who had posted comments in the last couple months - please accept my apologies for the delay in the moderation.

All prayers that your new year is off to a great start.

With Divine Light.

Yours humbly,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

At Peace

2010-11-03T23:14:00.003-06:00

Last month, a friend of mine asked me, “Why haven’t you written anything lately? You should write something. We miss your writing.”

I shrugged and said I would try. But the truth was – at that moment, and for the last many months, there hasn’t been much to write about. There hasn’t been anything that seemed worthwhile to say.

Then, a couple weeks ago, I got into a car accident. Nothing severe in the sense of hospitalization. Intense enough that I’m laying on my couch while my back recovers from the trauma. But something about the accident jolted me back to life. Back into my body. Back into my senses.

It’s been a little over a year since my father died. If that wasn’t enough, in the last 12 months, the legacy of the Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan, has been plagued by lawsuits and counter-suits. In a very short period of time, I lost my father and I lost a lot of friendships. Disagreements over the lawsuit damaged relationships that I had cherished for years.

What I didn’t realize until the car accident was that the cumulative shock of all that loss happening in so short a time had overwhelmed my nervous system. I had been, on a certain level, “checked out” of my body for over a year. When my car got rear-ended, some primal, self-protective instinct woke-up. I realized I had a body of my own to take care of; a life of my own to connect with. It was time to make peace with the last 13 months and find a way to move on.

A few days before my father passed away, we were sitting together in the hospital. Him, my mother and myself. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer less then a month previously, and the doctors and nurses had been trying, in an indirect way, to help him and my mother come to terms with the fact that he was dying.

During one particular moment, he turned to me and, in a confused, exasperated voice, asked, “Bernadette, what happened?” There was a look of incredulity in his watery blue eyes. Like he was trying to comprehend how so much could go so wrong so quickly. I took his hand, and looked deeply into his eyes. Without any tears, I told him matter-of-factly, “It’s just what happens, Dad. It’s the way nature works. Everybody has to go sometime. It’s just your time to go.”

Telling my father that he was dying was the single hardest thing I have ever had to do. It wasn’t what I wanted to say, and it sure wasn’t what he wanted to hear. But it was the truth. The reality of having his daughter tell him that everything was NOT going to be OK – but that in fact he needed to get ready to die – was a shock. Yet, in an odd way, it helped him to accept it. It helped him make peace with it. At least, I’d like to think that it helped.

There’s hope. And then there’s reality. There’s the fact that as humans we don’t want change because the familiar gives us a sense of security. And then there’s the play of Creation where change is inevitable. Nothing can ever possibly stay the same, and how we face those changes define us. Security isn’t on dry land. It’s in learning to ride the incessant waves of time and space. To appreciate the past without being beholden to it. To love what has come before enough to let it go with grace when it’s time to move on.

For the last 13 months, while I have been “out of body,” I have also been doing a lot of studying of Sukhmani. There are many difficult teachings in Sukhmani that have completely turned my idea about spirituality upside down; shifted the sense I have of myself as a “spiritual” person (whatever that means). But it has begun to create a space of acceptance in my heart: the ability to accept myself, people and situations exactly as they are – on their own terms.

When I watched my father take his last breath, I had the blessing of seeing one of the great yogic teachings at work. The teachings say – in those last few seconds of life, it’s just between you and you. You evaluate your own life – how you did – in the light of your own higher consciousness. There is no “God” involved – there is nothing but your own self-assessment of your self.

I watched that moment unfold for my father. And in that moment – there wasn’t anyone else. Not his mother or his family. Not his boss or his friends or his children. Not his enemies. Not the priest. It was a totally secret self-evaluation. All of what he lived in his life – what he did, or didn’t do; what he said or failed to say; how he acted; what he meant - all of that was measured against his own soul. Whatever I might think about how my father lived his life, or however someone else might judge it didn’t matter. What I felt with my dad’s spirit is that he had won. Between him and himself, his actions measured up to his own inner guidance, to his own inner voice enough that this life was a victory.

What I’ve studied in Sukhmani this year gives me a much clearer context for that last moment, that last breath. And it basically comes down to this: Is God good? Or is God everything?

I was raised to believe God is good. And evil is something else. But in Sukhmani, Guru Arjan talks about the entire polarity of life, including what we would term “good” and bad”– and then he says – it all comes from the One. There is nothing and no one else but that One.

I was raised to believe that being spiritual meant being good. And that being bad took you away from the Creator. But in Sukhmani, Guru Arjan talks about flowing with what’s written for you; being with the hukam – with the flow of the Creator’s plan for you. And the simple fact is that hukam – the Divine Plan – contains good and bad both. Not just one or the other.

I was raised to believe that you had to stop other people from doing bad things. And that if enough people in the world stopped being bad, and everybody was good, then we’d all be happy. But Guru Arjan, as I understand him, talks about finding the essence of your own Divine Spirit, in your own heart and letting that give you happiness – no matter what is happening around you.

So in my prayers, lately, the Creator and I have been arguing like this.

“If You’re the Doer of Everything – then what does that mean? The prostitutes, the pornography, the murderers, the rapists , the wars, the torture – it’s all YOU?”

And the Creator, in His subtle way, responds by showing me that no matter what a human being is doing, or living, or choosing, the One Light lives in that person. And there is a purpose and a reason for whatever the experience is.

But I fight it. “If that Light is really in everyone, no matter what life they’re living, then what’s the point of all of this meditation and sadhana?”

Just to see it. That’s all. Not to judge it. If someone needs or asks for your help – do your best. But otherwise, it’s not your place to interfere or fix anything. There is a sovereign Divine Identity in every human being, guiding the process. That Identity has the right to exist.

For me, one of the most surprising and spiritually challenging passages in Sukhmani comes in the 21st Ashtapadi, 7th verse. There, Guru Arjan describes the process of the One Consciousness expanding Itself to create structure and form. And in that process of differentiation – some souls wished to have a heavenly experience, while others were more interested in the hellish experience. That is how the polarity of pain and happiness, honor and dishonor got created. Yet, Guru Arjan says, it all comes from the One – and at the end – it will all dissolve back into the One.

Still, it’s difficult to get my mind around this. The suffering and pain that happens in the world. “Seriously? This is planned? This is part of the play?”

And then Guru Nanak’s words come to mind. About how the human body is an incredibly precious incarnation, and even the worst pain and suffering imaginable is still a gift. It’s as if the Guru is saying that as long as you have a human form, no matter how terrible or difficult the circumstances, because the Light of Divinity lives in you – there is still something incredibly worthwhile and blessed in the experience. That even the worst imaginable human life is still precious. There’s something profoundly special about existence, about living. It’s something to worship and honor, no matter what.

There’s a fundamental change in perspective happening for me while I study Sukhmani. It’s about accepting the whole play of life. Realizing that I don’t have to divide myself into “good” Ek Ong Kaar and “bad” Ek Ong Kaar and try to have the good part of me conquer the bad part of me. I just have to flow with my own identity in its totality. In its authenticity. The Light of that One Creator lives in me every day – no matter what mistakes I make. No matter what choices.

And as I see it in myself, I can see it in others. Whether it’s the politicians on the television, or the people I talk to; whether it’s the war lords in Africa or the innocent children being kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Every life, no matter how it unfolds, has that precious Divine Light at the heart of it. And every life is a unique expression of that soul, of the journey that spirit is taking through time and space.

It’s not my job to condemn anything. It is my job to be of service to those who ask for or need it. There’s a subtle but profound difference in seeing life that way. Rather than scanning my environment and making a huge list of what’s wrong in the world that needs to be righted – it’s about completely embracing everything I see as the play of Divine Light. Good and bad. Right and wrong. Peaceful and horrible. And then allowing myself to be of service wherever and whenever the Creator calls me to serve.

So the car accident becomes a blessing – because it’s bringing these thoughts back into my body in a way that I can express them. From this perspective, life feels more joyful and more relaxed. The unreal weight of responsibility, of trying to make myself and everything in my life “perfect” melts away in the realization that everything already is a perfect expression of hukam. Yes, there is pain, disease, illness, and difficulty. Even then, the Light still lives on. It doesn’t disappear or go out. Life is messy and difficult and amazing and wonderful and everything all at once. And the Divine Light is in the heart of it always.

My sense of what it means to be spiritual used to focus on the question: how can I become perfect and deserve that Love? But now it is starting to mean something very different. I’m not someone who always makes the right choices or knows the right things to say. I enjoy life, but I have my share of karma to work out. I love to write and study, but I get into arguments with the wrong people at the wrong time. I can love you one minute and be terrified of you the next. I can look back at my childhood and say – there were some really great things that happened there – and there was some things that have created some serious issues – thank God for therapy and for Kundalini Yoga.

Through Sukhmani, Guru Arjan is waking me up to the realization that this whole messy play of “me” is Divine. The One is at the heart of me no matter what is being expressed in the moment. It’s such a relief to know it. It’s such a relief to give myself that space, that freedom to go on a journey of life that has valleys and peaks. And how wonderful to be able to start respectfully giving that space to others, as well. Whether I agree with another person or not; whether I want to live that way or not; whether I am fighting with someone or not; I see that the One is in all of us – guiding our choices and our lives for a reason. Every one has the same right to their existence as I have to mine.

So today I am giving up. Surrendering the concept of spirituality that I have had for the last 20 years. And in this place of surrender, of knowing that my Dad hardly ever went to church , but still he won the game of his life; of knowing that the Divine One really does live in everyone (including me) – no matter what we experience or how we act;

In this place, I feel

At peace.

With Divine Light and Divine Love.

Yours humbly,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Kundalini, Sadhana and the Sensory Human

2010-06-22T07:28:00.002-06:00

Originally published on the Spirit Voyage Blog, May 27, 2010

With the approach of 2012 (though Yogi Bhajan often anchored the change of ages to November 11, 2011 at 11:30 am Los Angeles time), we are collectively tuning into a shift in human consciousness. Even the most skeptical person cannot deny that we have witnessed an unprecedented explosion of technology and discovery in the last century, unlike anything in our recorded history. The human mind is evolving, becoming capable of experiencing and understanding aspects of reality that were previously beyond its grasp. The key to this is the Kundalini. Sadhana is the method to ride the changes. And the sensory human is what we shall develop into.

Kundalini. Sadhana. Sensory human. Strange words – all of them. And yet, they hold the key to what the next age will be. Kundalini is a term that is older than human memory. It comes from ancient times when people had to deeply understand themselves, their inner biology and awareness, in order to survive. As mythological and dangerous as the word has become in certain circles, it is really a pragmatic situation. When the blood chemistry is right, and the breath is balanced so that the central subtle channel opens, these phenomena alter the composition of the spinal fluid. As that altered spinal fluid goes up the spine to feed the brain, it does so in communication with all of the glandular systems of the body. And that cumulative, combined effect activates dormant aspects of the mind to unleash the unlimited potential of human consciousness.

Anything you do to touch the spirit involves the Kundalini. Every yogic school’s ultimate aim is to awaken it from its dormant state. Every martial art, every form of prayer, has a unique avenue to tapping its potential. In short, every spiritual path – whether they realize it or not – is working with this fundamental creative energy that lives inside of every human being.

As the change of ages comes, our ability to fearlessly understand and work with the Kundalini will be a necessary component of humanity’s evolution.

Sadhana is the next step. In many sacred writings, the human life has been described as a chance to experience the Divine Light in all things while in finite form. This is not an easy task. It takes effort. You have to work at it. The first Sikh Master, Guru Nanak, once said that a human being without a longing to experience the Divine was actually living an animal incarnation, though he or she might have a human body. It is that intention and ability to know Infinity that makes us human. And it is the consistent, applied discipline to raise our consciousness so that we can achieve it that gives our lives grace, strength and meaning.

This is sadhana. It is what you do, every day, to tap the infinite potential in you, in relation to the One Cosmic Consciousness, and bring your potential to life.

The result? The sensory human. In 1993, Yogi Bhajan described the existence of the sensory human this way: “In the stillness lies the sound which is the creative existence of God, through all hemispheres and spheres of creative and non-creative reality. Oh Yogi, whoever masters the stillness and the silence, and can read it, will get all the knowledge which exists. If you want, you can read the air as it touches your body. From the breeze, you can understand the frequency of your health, wealth and happiness. You can know what the day offers you. In the silence and calmness of night, you can intimately know the entire tomorrow. This knowledge shall be the basic knowledge of man in the Age of Aquarius. In the next 40 years (Ed. note: said in 1993), the reason, the logic, the discussion, the debate, the persuasion, the games, the play will be over. People will have a very intuitive psychic interlock through which they will silently know all there is.” (April 6, 1993)

It is the road that the Universe has created for us to walk, together, in the years ahead.

Ready?

With Divine Light.

Yours humbly,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Pratyahar: Seeing the Giver

2010-05-27T21:01:00.001-06:00

Originally published on the Spirit Voyage Blog. May 6, 2010.

“Many, many, many thousands of years ago the sages sat down and divided the science of yoga into eight different aspects, eight parts. I would like to talk to you about one part called pratyahar. Pratyahar is a secret science to reach God. You won’t find it discussed fully in any books. They don’t explain it. In some places they say, “Pratyahar is pratyahar and whosoever does pratyahar reaches God.” How are you going to make any sense out of that?

“The most beautiful art of yoga and the most pure science of yoga is pratyahar. Pratyahar means, correctly, in English, to contract or synchronize. Pratyahar is a habit to synchronize. A gift is a source of happiness. But who provides the gift? And who is the ultimate provider? If the consciousness does not synchronize immediately and focus on that point, you are not a yogi. That is called pratyahar: under any time, space and circumstance, under any pressure, depression or oppression, you do not forget the Infinite One.

“Pratyahar is also called the science of dedicated devotion. It is not simple devotion. Simple devotion is, “Thank you, God.” That’s simple devotion. But pratyahar is also dedication: when anything comes, you say, “Thank You, God, for making me thank You.”

– Yogi Bhajan, July 25, 1978. Excerpt from: I Am A Woman

For many of us who have decided to explore spirituality, we feel an inner longing to know God. There are different practices to do, various workshops we can attend, even special “spiritual vacations” to go on. Any moment we spend in prayer or meditation helps expand our awareness to know the Divine. But often, those moments are very private, very internal. Even if we chant in a room full of people, or do yoga with hundreds of others, the experience is within. The yogic science of pratyahar, however, challenges us to maintain our awareness of the One, even, and especially, when we interact with others.

It is funny how the human personality sometimes likes to play games. In many relationships, it’s about leverage. Who has what. Who wants what. And how do we maneuver to our best advantage. This is true in the board rooms of the largest corporations. It is equally true of a five year old trying to figure out how to get his parents to give him a cookie. We want. We desire. We chase. And in the commotion of those feelings, we forget. We forget the One who Does everything and who Gives everything.

The way Yogi Bhajan described pratyahar, it is a state of consciousness where whatever comes into one’s life, the mind recognizes the Infinite as the source. If someone gives me a gift, Thou art the real Giver. If someone insults me, this, too, comes from You. Pratyahar makes every day life the most powerful laboratory for expanding one’s awareness and seeing God in everything. Because we train our minds to see that what comes to us – good, bad or indifferent – comes from the Infinite One.

Pratyahar can be cultivated anywhere, anytime. It doesn’t need a cushion and a quiet room. It doesn’t require a weekend away. It can begin right here, right now, with whatever is in front of you. The computer screen you are using to read this, the cup of coffee on your desk, the meeting you are about to attend. Take a moment. Breathe. And ask your mind to see the Source that brought all of this into your life. Be grateful for it – whatever “it” is. If you can practice this way in each moment, every day, you will be amazed at how powerfully the presence of the Divine will reveal itself in your life.

With Divine Light and Divine Love.

Yours humbly,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa

Simple Healing Meditation for the Gulf, Thailand and the World

2010-05-18T11:03:00.003-06:00

Sat Nam and many blessings to you. In 2001, after the September 11th attacks on New York City, Yogi Bhajan taught a very simple, but powerful meditation to send healing to those in need. Lately, I have been doing this meditation on my own - to send healing to the Gulf of Mexico, the people in Thailand, and others in my own life who need prayers.

Grateful to share this meditation and invite you to do it with me in the days and weeks ahead. You can do this meditation anywhere from 3 minutes to 11 minutes a day. Even if you spend just five minutes doing this meditation, you will feel the changes in yourself. And you shall tap your power to positively influence events through your prayers and intentions.

Sit with a straight spine, and have your neck aligned with the spine. If you like doing yoga, you can sit on the floor, in a relaxed, cross-legged posture. If you are not used to doing yoga, you can sit in a chair, with both feet firmly flat on the ground and sitting very straight. (No slouching.)

The hand posture (called a mudra) is to interlace your fingers in front of the heart center with the thumbs crossed. The fingers are interlaced, but the palms don't connect. The elbows are relaxed alongside the ribcage.

Close the eyes and do the following chant:

Raa Maa Daa Saa Saa Say So Hung.

the "aa" is pronounced like "ahhh."

The chant (called a mantra) means:

Oh sun, oh moon, oh earth, oh Infinite Cosmic Reality.
That Infinite Cosmic Reality - I am a part of it.

When Yogi Bhajan taught this meditation, he used the following recording for the students to chant along with:

http://www.spiritvoyage.com/flash/play.aspx?id=CDS-001236&case=ST&nm=Rhythmic_version&arnm=Gurunam%20Joseph%20Michael%20Levry

Continue holding this posture and chanting for 3-11 minutes. From your heart, reach out sincerely to those who are in pain and in need, all the creatures of the earth, and the people.

When you are done chanting, maintain the posture. Inhale deeply, suspend the breath and meditate on the power of the Universe to bring healing and balance to all situations. Project from your heart the healing to energy, and know that this breath is a healing breath. Then exhale. Repeat this breath two more times (for a total of 3 times) - then relax.

Your prayer has more power to heal than you know.

May we meet each other in the subtle space, collectively praying and healing the world.

With Divine Light and Divine Love.

Yours humbly,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

As a master of Kundalini Yoga, Yogi Bhajan shared thousands of meditations to help people face the challenges of every day life. His work is under the custodianship of the Kundalini Research Institute, www.kriteachings.org. Please visit the website if you would like to learn more. This Teachings of Yogi Bhajan are copyrighted by KRI.

Listen to It - In the Heart

2010-05-06T14:40:00.004-06:00

Originally published on the Spirit Voyage blog: April 18, 2010.

"You have to develop an intuitive sense of communication so that you may not incur karma. Your total universe is based on one word spoken.

"If you can resound this mantra, this sound Har in the heart-center, in the rib-cage, you can control the universe. That power comes to every ordinary person. It is not that you listen to the sound Har in the ears, or speak it on the tongue. You are listening to it here – in the heart. The rib-cage actually represents the Universe. That is intuitive meditation.

"There are six sounds – Har, Haray, Hari, Wahe Guru. One who can hear these six sounds and control them in the rib-cage, there is nothing that person cannot hear. Once you start intuitively knowing and hearing what Mother Nature speaks, then you will know where you stand.” – Siri Singh Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji. March 21, 1995.

As humans, our lives are often filled with doubt. Every decision we make, every action we take, we constantly ask questions. Am I doing the right thing? Is this situation going to turn out the way I hoped? What will I do if things go wrong?

We believe that our minds can give us the answer. Actually, the mind doesn’t know anything. It is an analytical supercomputer. It can take one fact, one situation, and analyze it from so many different perspectives. Yet, it never reaches a final conclusion.

But your heart knows. It has the wisdom of your Infinite self. The spirit in you has come into this body, into this moment, for a purpose. Your job, as a human being, is to connect the mind and the body to that soul-purpose. When you do, your life becomes beautiful, fulfilling and complete.

In Kundalini Yoga, mantra gives us a technology to cut the thoughts of the mind and hear the Infinite voice – not just within ourselves, but within everything. The entire creation is singing. If we can hear that song within our own hearts, and hear the song in all that surrounds us, then we have tapped into the deepest communication known to humans. It is called “intuition.” It means – when I deeply listen to myself and when I deeply listen to all that is, then I know where I stand in relation to the Cosmos. Then I understand what to do so that my spirit can succeed in its journey.

Har is a very special, very powerful sound. It is the sound of the seed of Infinity. When your heart beats, it echoes that sound Har. When you chant Har, Har, Har, Har, and you focus your attention at the heart-center, you can recognize the sound of Infinity as the same sound that keeps you alive, moment to moment, heart-beat to heart-beat, day and night.

Har, Haray, Hari, Wahe Guru is a sound that takes the seed of the Infinite, Har, and expands it into form. Haray is the process by which the seed grows. Hari is the completion, the fruit that the seed bears. And all of this is done through the power of the Guru – the power of our own breath meditating on the Sounds of Truth that awaken us to light.

The rib-cage holds the breath that fuels the unfolding of our own Divine Identity: from seed to process to completion. Which is why Kundalini Yoga master Yogi Bhajan talks about resounding these mantras at the heart center, and in the rib cage. When our consciousness resonates with those Cosmic Sounds inside of ourselves, then we can communicate with and command the whole Universe.

With Divine Light,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa

Letting Go

2010-04-25T22:37:00.001-06:00

When I was a young girl, my family lived in an old 2-story home in a quiet neighborhood in South Jersey. Our house was only a few blocks away from St. Rose of Lima, the Catholic elementary school that my brothers and sister and I attended. We used to walk to school every morning through the snows of winter and the honey-suckle blooming of spring. So many children lived on our street that summer became an endless game of bike-riding, catching lightning bugs and playing Blind Man’s Bluff.

I’d like to remember my childhood as idyllic. But I was a little too internal, introspective and bookish to fit in with more than a handful of friends. Those early years passed in the paradoxical angst of feeling like I didn’t belong anywhere; and having deep connections with a small group of people who understood what I meant, and felt exactly the same way.

Then, in the 8th grade, right before starting high school, my father got a job in Texas. We were moving. I would never see my friends again. (Or so I thought.) Even worse, I would never see that cute Italian (who shall remain nameless – but Liz – you know who I am talking about) again. It didn’t matter that the cute boy never looked at me, or that my closest friends promised to write. My life was comfortable. It was what I knew. And without having any say in the matter, it was about to completely change. My last day in New Jersey, as we pulled out of the driveway, the neighborhood kids rode past on their bicycles, waving and shouting good-bye. It was a teary but joyful escort away from the familiarity of my childhood home.

Since that time, letting go has been hard for me. I don’t like change. I want my life to be cozy, to have a sense of routine and stability. The same faces around for years; bonds and relationships that survive the test of time. I am not by nature a rolling stone. I am a stone that sits there, year after year, sinking deeper into the earth, covered with a soft, lacey moss while butterflies perch on me, and squirrels scamper across me, and the trees around me get older and more beautiful with the years. My ideal life is to be still, enjoy and watch everything in peace.

All of this is probably why, when the Universe needs to create transformation in my life, it tends to involve a Cosmic sledgehammer. Change rarely happens in my world in a slow and gradual manner. Rather, it comes through total upheaval, all at once, with nowhere to hide, no room for negotiation and definitely no road back.

I wish I could say that moving from New Jersey to Texas was the most traumatic experience of my life. But of course, it wasn’t. It was a child’s initiation into what the Masters call the “impermanence of life.”

I began studying yoga in my early 20’s. Yet, it is only in the last year that I have come to understand why yoga is connected with the image of the Divine called Shiva. Shiva – the Lord of Destruction. Shiva – the meditator and aesthetic. It isn’t so mystical, really. Destruction and endings are just so incredibly difficult to navigate that humans had to develop a way to cope. Perhaps yoga began as an experiment of how a person could keep himself sane while everything around him fell apart. Perhaps we reflect something in the Cosmic Play that mirrors an inner cycle within ourselves. Endings happen. Change is inevitable. Transformation can hardly be avoided. So how do we keep ourselves balanced through the experience? How do we handle letting go?

No one escapes the power of destruction. The problem is, from a spiritual point of view, destruction and learning go hand in hand. Sometimes, endings are the perfect path to find the inner strength of our own Indestructibility. It is only when we are touching the death of everything we know that we see within ourselves the Light that never dies. When the environments collapse, when the relationships no longer provide the support they once did, we have a chance to experience that we don’t actually depend on that, anyway. There is a soul in me, a spark of Divinity, a Divine Identity that can carry me through. And in that moment when we realize our survival depends upon what is within us, not on what surrounds us, then we experience ourselves as God.

The paradox of it is that you can’t have that experience when everything is cozy and nice and easy. That experience comes when everything challenges you and fights you – which is perhaps why Shiva, who represents the wisdom of yoga, also has to represent total annihilation. The path to self-realization requires the pressure that only intense change can bring.

The first week in Texas, I spent with my family in a condo at the beach along the Gulf Coast. I remember the sound of the ocean while I sat on the porch, the sun beaming down, the sand gritty in my teeth; and me, as usual, with my nose in a book. In the years ahead, it wasn’t that life was better or worse as a teenager than it was when I was a child. In retrospect, I dealt with many of the same challenges, and continued to experience many of the same blessings. It was simply on a bigger scale.

That is what I have found throughout my life. When something ends, after a time of repose, something new begins. Not better. Not worse. Just – more. More powerful. More expansive. More deep.

That, to me, is the nature of growth. We grow in cycles. When we’ve reached the limit of what we can learn and experience in one matrix of time and space, the Universe accommodates us – destroying one reality and replacing it with a something new. We go through so many cycles in the course of this life. And then even more cycles when this life, itself, needs to end in order for the soul to continue progressing. Destruction, wisdom, endings, union - they all work together in the Cosmic scheme of things.

But with destruction and endings, how do we survive them? The common sense, ages-old answer. Just BREATHE.

And how to touch the Divine within you? The foundation of all spiritual and yogic wisdom? Just BREATHE.

It’s taken me 20 years of study, but I finally understand. These are two sides of the same coin for a reason.

Yours humbly in Divine Light and Divine Love,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Acts of Kindness

2010-03-20T10:16:00.000-06:00

Originally published on SikhChic: http://www.sikhchic.com/history/acts_of_kindness

There is a story about Mata Damodari, Guru Hargobind''s wife, that I read several years ago in Max Macauliffe's The Sikh Religion.

It is my habit to go back to these volumes from time to time, searching especially for stories that involve women: stories that I find often present a deep lesson for me to meditate upon. Because, I feel that the spiritual journey of a woman is unique and different from the spiritual journey of a man. The pressures that women face are different, the psyches are different, the concerns are different. While the Guru Granth Sahib offers One Truth for all people, these stories often give insightful clues about how a woman can apply those truths to the particular challenges that she faces in life.

The story about Mata Damodari centers on her apparently innocent refusal to give her husband sweets for his Sikhs.

There is a powerful message in the story and it has haunted me from the first time that I read it.

The story goes that a group of traveling Sikhs came to visit Guru Hargobind late one night. They brought offerings for the Guru. The Sikhs were tired and hungry, having traveled a long distance. Being a gracious host, the Guru asked his sevadars to prepare them dinner. Unfortunately, the cooking fires had already been extinguished for the day, and the cooks had gone home.

Guru Sahib remembered that there was a room filled with sweets in anticipation of his daughter, Viro's, upcoming wedding. His wife Mata Damodari had the only key to the room. When the Guru asked his wife to open the room and to share the sweets with his hungry Sikhs, she refused. She didn't think it was appropriate for anyone to partake of the sweets until the bridegroom's family arrived and were served first, as was the custom then.

One has to wonder what thoughts Mata Damodari was struggliong with at that moment.

Yet, there is much in the image that evokes the insecurity Mataji must have felt about the upcoming wedding. Only she had the key to the room. Which means she must have been concerned that someone was going to take the sweets that were meant for her daughter's marriage.

Maybe it is too simplistic to say it, but in my own experience that territoriality is something that we women, especially, can get caught in. We want to lock up what we believe is rightfully ours and use it for our own purposes. Men might be more inclined to think, "What's the big deal? You can always find more sweets." But women sometimes suffer from a deeper insecurity. When we have something, we can cling to it fiercely rather than letting it go and trusting that something of equal or better value could come along to replace it.

In any event, the Guru asked her to bring them out.

Mataji refused.

The Guru requested again.

Mataji refused again, citing her reasons - she did not want to offend the bridegroom's family..

The requests and refusals went on and on until the Guru finally gave up. But when he surrendered the fight, he also predicted the outcome.

"My Sikhs are dearer to me than life. If they were the first to taste the sweets, all the obstacles to the marriage would have been removed. But now the Mughal forces will come and take the sweets for, themselves. When traveling Sikhs come to our house and leave disappointed, it is a just consequence that the sweets should go to strangers and the marriage be interrupted."

When I meditate upon this scene in my mind, I don't believe the Guru was rebuking his wife for refusing to abide by his request. Rather, I believe he was trying to help her understand the principles of Hukam, and the Hand of the One that guides everything.

Ultimately, there are no coincidences.

The art of life is to respond to what is - to what happens in each moment.

By meditating on gurbani, we develop an intuitive sensitivity that allows us to see that Unseen Hand at work, and to consciously flow with it.

Sometimes, though, we have a picture in our minds of what we want the future should look like. And we challenge any situation that doesn't match the picture of what we think "should be." When we cannot flow with the demand of the moment, when we become protective and territorial over what we have, even when another person needs our help, it creates a negative consequence. When we are selfish, we attract our own destruction. Especially around the very thing we are being selfish about.

So Mata Damodari, who protected the sweets for her daughter's wedding to the point of refusing her husband's hospitality to the guests, found herself in a very different situation on the wedding day. A situation she could have never possibly imagined or prepared herself for.

An argument broke out during a hunting expedition between a group of Sikhs and a platoon of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan's troops. And because of the argument, the Emperor sent his General, Mukhlis Khan, to punish the Sikhs.

News of the pending attack arrived in Amritsar on the evening that the marriage songs for Viro's wedding were being sung by the women in the Guru's home. The family and other citizens of Amritsar had to pack quickly and leave. Many valuables for the wedding were left behind, including the sweets.

A contingent of 25 Sikhs remained behind at the Lohgarh fort on the outskirts of Amritsar and fought the Emperor's troops bravely. Though they killed hundreds, eventually, they fell. The Emperor's forces made it to the Guru's palace. They did not find the Guru there, but they did find the sweets.

The Guru's family was taken at first to Ramsar. When they arrived, they realized a terrible mistake had been made. Not only were many of the valuables for the marriage left in Amritsar, somehow Viro, herself, had been left behind, as well. Guru Hargobind charged two of his men with rescuing his daughter. She was hiding silently in the upper floors of the home while the Emperor's forces were gorging themselves on the sweets that the Guru's family had left behind. The two Sikh men, Singha and Babak, succeeded in rescuing Viro, but barely.

What follows in Macauliffe's history is another nine pages describing the subsequent military maneuvers and battles between Guru Hargobind's forces and Mukhlis Khan's.

Scenes of bravery.

Scenes of bloodshed.

And so very many deaths - deaths on the side of the Emperor's forces, death of the Guru's faithful Sikhs. Guru Hargobind eventually destroyed Mukhlis Khan's large army, to the Emperor's dismay. The bridegroom's party joined the Guru's family in Jhabal where Viro was married at last. But what a different wedding than had been planned.

This story shakes me to my core.

Is it really the truth that by refusing to share her sweets, Mata Damodari attracted a war? Can such acts of selfishness have such consequences? If Mata Damodari had allowed the Guru those sweets for the Sikhs, would it have averted all the deaths that followed? All the pain and suffering of the families on both sides who lost someone they loved?

Is this then, the essence of Hukam, of Cosmic Law?

That we do have, as human beings, the choice to say no, to refuse, to maintain our territory. But those choices come with consequences more dire than what we can imagine or predict?

In the Big Picture, Guru Hargobind had his own destiny to fight the battles that he fought. And the One Hand does moves us all, even when we make a choice that can lead down a dark road.

What meditating upon this story gives me, however, is a sense that - when it comes to the battle of Dharma - small acts of kindness, of giving, and of sharing contribute to the peace of the world in more powerful ways than we know.

The lesson in Mata Damodari's choice illustrates to me how important and consequential those small acts of kindness - or unkindness - can truly be.

March 9, 2010

Forgiveness

2010-02-01T23:24:00.001-07:00

There is a story I read once, about a monk who lived on his own on the outskirts of a village. One day, a young woman accused the monk of getting her pregnant. The other villagers believed her. After the baby was born, the illegitimate child was given to the monk to raise on his own. When the villagers presented the baby to him, and explained the woman’s accusations, the only thing the monk said was, “Is that so?”

Years later, the woman had a change of heart. She confessed to the villagers that, in fact, the monk had not gotten her pregnant at all. It was another man who had done so. She and the villagers went to the monk’s home to reclaim the child. When they apologized to him about the misunderstanding and told him that in fact he wasn’t the father, the only thing the monk said was, “Is that so?”

God. Religions. Ritual. Belief in one man’s actions. Faith in another one’s creed. What I think it boils down to is this: we have an innate desire to survive with grace and dignity in the world. Those people who have managed to do so, even in the midst of the most difficult situations, become our heroes.

I remember going to church as a young girl, St. Rose of Lima. The church was a gorgeous , cathedral-style space with echoing vaulted ceilings, and a colossal statue of Jesus that must have been 20 feet high. Of course, I was so small then. My memory might be skewing the perspective. But I remember looking at that statue every Sunday: Jesus nailed on the cross, his head bowed with a crown of thorns, and a spear-wound in his side.

On Good Fridays, the priests would verbally re-enact the crucifixion, and I would often be struck by the line, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Even at that young age, I could sense why this story had been told year after year, generation after generation, for 2 millennia. The human race wanted to remember that there was someone who could say those words in the midst of such cruelty and pain. To me the resurrection was not all that interesting. What mattered was that Jesus could recognize the arrogance and ignorance of the people crucifying him, and then turn around and say, “Forgive them – they know not what they do.” That earned him a place in history forever. That act showed his Divine consciousness more than any story of any miracle ever could.

There is something Jesus knew. Something Buddha knew. Something Guru Arjan, Guru Teg Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh knew. And we see echoes of it reflected in the heroes of our time: Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln. These people understood the cruelty, deceit and betrayal that human beings enact upon each other. And yet somehow, even in the most difficult hardships, they did not respond with hate.

As humans, we are incredibly sensitive. In that sensitivity, it hurts to feel the pain of betrayal and lies. The Golden Rule tells us to embrace that sensitivity, not deny it. And then, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Because the other person is as sensitive as you are, hurts as much as you hurt. Peace in the world begins with acting in a way that completely honors each other’s sensitivity. If we honor others as we would like to be honored ourselves, it opens up the potential for what a human can become.

These heroes to whom we look knew a powerful truth: relate to the potential of another, and don’t get lost in the shadows. As long as there is breath in the body, the human being has a chance to come out of that darkness. When these heroes faced the most inhumane challenges, they chose to relate to that possibility rather than get lost in vengeance and fear.

This is the true evidence of Divinity on the earth. This is all of “God” we need to know.

Throughout my life, I have struggled with the virtue of forgiveness. Either I have forgiven in a way that has set me up to be hurt again by the same person doing the same actions; or I have not genuinely been able to forgive at all. The pain that one experiences is real and difficult to conquer. No matter how much yoga I practice, how many meditations I do, how many hours I spend studying the teachings of the Masters, it remains a challenge.

Perhaps I have been drawn to study spirituality because the stories of these heroes fascinate me so much. I want to understand how they could do it. How they could be tortured, crucified, jailed, beat, denied and yet still not loose the capacity to love. Still not loose the strength to stand by their convictions. Still not loose the sight of the Divine in others, and in their own hearts.

But lately a passage from Guru Arjan’s writings has struck me. It’s a passage where he sees the shadow as purposeful - part of the play of creation, though perhaps beyond our ability to understand it.

“There is no limit
To what the Creator creates.

There are tens of million of people
Living in pride.

Tens of millions of people
Who are blind and ignorant.

There are tens of millions of people
Who act with cruelty and do not share with others.

Tens of millions of people
Who have no maturity, and no sensitivity.

There are tens of millions of people
Who steal and create pain in others' lives.

Tens of millions who cause trouble and distress.

There are tens of millions
Who labor on behalf of Maya.

Tens of millions
Who wander from place to place, chasing after that Maya.

People are focused on what You,
Oh Divine One,
Have engaged them to do.

Nanak,
The Creator fashions the creation
And knows the purpose for what has been created.”

Guru Arjan
Sukhmani – Ashtapadi 10, Stanza 2

It makes it easier to forgive when you don’t take the offense personally. Guru Arjan sees the dark side of the human condition. But he doesn’t attach a sense of blame or shame to it. The shadow is part of the creative play, and the darkness has a purpose - from the perspective of Infinity.

Someone asked me recently what forgiveness means, especially in the context of Sikh Dharma where, honestly, “sin” doesn’t really exist. Forgiveness is “for giving.” It is the ability to give to someone. To give them another opportunity. To give them the benefit of the doubt. To give them a chance to prove their own humanity – not to you, but to themselves.

Forgiveness is “for giving” yourself the space to not hold onto grudges forever. To give yourself a choice to let go of the anger, to heal the pain, to not have to relive the memories of betrayal again and again, day after day.

Forgiving is “for giving” the Creator Its due. To know that this shadow-experience was brought into my life by the same Force that brings everything into my life. By the same Force that brought me life to begin with. And sometimes, I am the shadow for another. This is part of how we grow, learn and evolve. And when I can trust that, I have the consciousness “for giving” all of us a chance.

It is a test of life – the shadow and the pain. But in those tests we have the chance to experience our highest potential if we keep our hearts open, keep the possibility of love flowing, and forgive ourselves and the Universe that this is how the human life operates, after all.

With Divine Light and Divine Love.

Yours humbly,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Poem: I Am Sitting in The Mountains

2009-12-17T10:31:00.001-07:00

I am sitting in the mountains
And the cold, clear winds
The cold, clear winds
Whisper to me
Whisper to me

Stay awake.

The sun does its procession
From day to night
From night to day

And with each passing second
The earth moves on its orbit -
Into a new part of the galaxy
Into a new part of the universe
Never seen before.

We think
It is all repetition
Redundancy
Because there is a certain cyclical pattern that surrounds us
Thousands of years old.

But at the higher elevation – you start to see
The pattern just gives a sense of stability

While the galaxy moves into a different part of the universe
The earth moves into a different part of the galaxy

And we believe in the illusion of routine
That we are not affected.

But we are.
We are.
We deeply and profoundly
Are.

I weep for what is passing
For it is all the comfort I know.

But here in the mountains
With the cold, clear winds keeping me awake
I see

We are on a great journey into the Unknown

And the essence of that journey
Has always been
And shall always be
The ever more refined and beautiful expression
Of Love.
Of Thee.

I am singing a song to comfort myself
When there is nothing outside to give me comfort

Yet, the mountains are singing with me
And the wind and the sun
And the earth and the galaxy
And the Universe

And I wonder

What in the world, oh God of mine,
Do you have planned for me
Next?

Mirror

2009-10-03T19:50:00.002-06:00

A father’s eyes are the first mirror that a woman knows.

The eyes of her beloved are the second.

Every other mirror in a woman’s life is for her to pre-measure herself and assess what she will look like in those sets of eyes. Correcting something. Hiding something. Enhancing something. Because the mirror on the wall is not conscious, not sentient. It is safe and lifeless, without comment, a mute reflection for critical self-examination, to help her prepare for the moment when she presents herself before the mirrors that matter most.

The eyes that frown or smile or look disappointed and dismissive. The eyes that love, with affection, projecting pride and fierce protection. The way she is reflected in the face of her father and the face of her beloved gives her a sense of who she is in the world.

One day when I was a young girl, my father (who tended to be a stern and demanding type, intimidating but with a heart of gold) sat with me on the front porch. It was a priceless moment, just the two of us, and he was in a rare contemplative mood. We cozied together on the bench, his arm around me, watching a small spider slowly and steadfastly make its way up a tiny silk thread. The thread was suspended from the porch ceiling. After watching the spider in silence for a while, my father finally spoke. “Do you think it knows?” he wondered out-loud. “Do you think that spider actually knows where it’s going?” And then he started rambling, about how could the spider know where it was going? Yet there it was making all that effort to create the thread and climb it, without any certainty of what it would find at the end. His words made me feel both close to him and uncomfortable. My father always knew the answers to everything (or at least pretended he did), and here he was, not knowing something. But in that moment on the porch, watching the spider, I felt that he was sharing something special with me. Some part of him that was always there, but that he kept hidden below the surface.

Men are hard to understand. And the good ones are the hardest. On the surface, there is this hard-boiled attitude that comes from having to find and hold your place, defend your territory, maintain your position. There is also the urge to keep exploring and expanding, seeing what’s out there, what’s new. And then the need to have some kind of home base he can always come back to. It’s not just the hunt that’s important. It’s having people who love him. People who will listen to the story of how he caught the “big one” or how the sucker got away.

When I was a young girl, my dad traveled all over the world for business. Some of the best memories of my childhood were when he came home, and he would tell us the stories of where he’d been. Meeting the Prime Minister of Brazil or having lunch with Prince Edwards and Princess Grace after closing a sale of television equipment for Monaco TV. Stories of how he and his team figured out how to break through the outer citadel of low-level executives to finally get a meeting with the high-level ones in Japan. (Long before there were any classes in business school about how to do it.) Hong Kong and England; France, Germany, Belguim. Other countries whose names I couldn’t remember. Some of those stories were dark. Watching people demonstrate on the street, being massacred by their governments, and no mention of it on the local news that night. Being in Central America when the President of the US passed some policy that caused mob rioting in the streets. My dad and his team faked English accents to get out of the country in one piece. Stories of the world, and my dad would often say, “Every time I land in the USA and get out of the airplane, I want to kiss the ground. You have no idea how good we have it here.”

When I was in the 8th grade, he finally let me look through his passport. And I thought to myself – how cool it would be to go to all of these places one day.

He worked really hard, and provided for his family. The main thing that he asked in return was that we would be a good audience when he wanted to tell his stories, or that we would listen when he wanted to share his advice.

“Never turn down someone’s advice,” he used to say. “It’s the only thing in life that’s free. Everything else in life costs you something. Experience is a bitch. It gives you the test before it gives you the lesson.” 
But even though that outer world of a man is important, his achievements define his identity in so many ways, there is still something subtle and sensitive and deep going on underneath. It never comes out directly. If you try to get him to show it to you, he never will. But sometimes, if you watch carefully, it comes out sideways. In completely unpredictable moments. A deep questioning and probing into the nature of life. Not just trying to find his place in society, but his place in the Universe.

It was in those sideway moments that my father and I connected the most.

I think the concept of God must be very difficult for a man because it means there is permanently something higher than himself. He can never ever get to the top of the totem pole if he truly believes in God. The gift of faith is a sense of humility. A respect that there are certain rules you have to play by if you want to win the Big Game. My dad played by those rules, but he sometimes wondered if it was real. “There better be a God when I die,” he would fume from time to time. “Because if there’s not, I am going to be really pissed.”

“Don’t worry,” I would say to him. “There’s a God.”

Last Christmas, while driving around together, he started talking to me about friends and peers that he’d seen die of cancer. How quickly it could happen – one day they were there, the next day they were gone. He was talking to himself as much as to me, but then he shot me a measured look. “There’s something after this, right? ” he asked. “Yes, Dad,” I assured him. “There is definitely something after this.”

Mirrors. Reflections. It’s the hardest thing. In high school the big fights between my father and I started. Looking back, the fights really had less to do with us as people and more to do with the profound social changes that had happened between the time my mother was in high school and when I went. In my mother’s day, you either trained to be a teacher or a nurse; or you got married. That was it. When I went to high school, the sky was the limit. So the fights began because my father wanted me to take classes that would prepare me for my future. Only he was stuck in a very old idea of what the future could be. “Why are you taking chemistry, physics, and calculus?” he would yell. “You should be taking typing and short-hand instead so you can get a job as a secretary when you graduate!” When I wanted to study Latin, he said no way. “You study French. Latin is for boys - boys who are studying to be priests. It’s a dead language. Learn how to speak French – that’s a good language for girls.” I hated French.

When it came to college, he summed it up perfectly when he once said, “Bernadette and I fought World Wars 3, 4 5 and 6 over her going to college.” It was an accurate description. For months, we couldn’t be in the same room without their being either a thick tension or an outright shouting match. And with my father, the ex-marine, those shouting matches could become very intense. I was a straight A student, graduating in the top 5 of my class. I had been accepted to a prestigious Texas college – Rice University. I was going to college, and that is where I was going. Whether he liked it or not. Whether he would pay for it or not – that’s what I was going to do. In the end, my mother quietly intervened on my side, seeing that the fight could have torn us all apart. So I got my way. But not without scars.

When I was 20, and home for the summer, there was a Newsweek article about the top universities in the country. Rice University was listed as one of them, and described as one of the best colleges for the money. I’d made the honor roll every semester. One Friday night, my dad picked me up from the restaurant where I was waitressing as a summer job. He had a few at the bar before closing, and when we got back to the house somehow it ended up being the two of us alone. We sat in the kitchen, talking. He was a little bit tipsy. I can’t remember all of his rambling, but at one point he stopped and looked me square in the eyes. “You know,” he said his eyes hard and bright. “All those fights we had about you going to college. I just want you to know. You were right.”

The eyes of a father teach a girl about herself. It’s the first impression she has of what about her is acceptable or not. What about her is loveable or not. At least, that’s how I experienced it. In the end, I think the deeper truth is that many fathers deeply love their daughters no matter what. But loving a daughter doesn’t mean that he is necessarily comfortable with her all the time. Some moments, perhaps, are more comfortable than others. As a child, you think – he’s angry. There’s something wrong with me that I have to change or I have to fix. It’s only when you get much older that you start to see- the situation is just a lot more complicated than that.

The day before my father died, he asked to see a priest. It had been many years since he had gone to church, but that’s the way it is with Catholics. If you’re born with it, and raised with it, there is a primal longing to die with it. My father had recently been diagnosed with cancer, himself, and was deteriorating at a very rapid pace. He couldn’t lift his head or roll himself on the bed. The nurses had to do it for him. After the priest left, I went into his hospital room and held his hand. We did a lot of that the last week of his life. Hand holding. He would grab it and not let go.

“Did you talk to him? Did you, your mother and your sister get to talk to the priest?”

“No,” I said. “He said only a few words to us and left.”

“That’s a shame. I liked him. You would have liked talking to him.”

He paused for a few moments. “No one really knows what happens when you die,” he said. “You can’t know. You just take the cards you’re dealt in life and you play the best hand you can.”

Tears started to cloud my eyes. “Well, I think you played your hand great, Dad.”

He laughed a weak laugh. “I don’t know about that, Bernadette,” he said. “But I’ll tell you this much. It’s been a hell of a ride.”

He stopped talking, and I stood there next to him, his hand in mine, crying quietly, my heart saying over and over again, “I am going to miss you so much when you are gone. I am going to miss you so much.”

We transferred him to hospice that day, and early the next morning, he took a turn for the worse. During the last few hours, his eyes were rolled up in his head – like the way the yogis look when they are focusing on the 10th gate. His breath was hard, and deep and long, like he was in labor, and I was struck with how similar the physical process of birth and death can be. My mom and I were sitting on opposite sides of him, whispering to him and helping him along. At one point, I don’t know why, but I said matter-of-factly, “It’s OK. You can go if you need to go.”

For the first time all morning, he rolled his eyes down and sideways and looked directly at me. It was so odd. His blue eyes had gone grey and filmy. You could see the soul light in them – but it was already so distant, so far away. It was a look that was completely piercing and penetrating, and yet – it almost wasn’t there at all. Pure spirit - his spirit to mine with nothing in between. And I could tell that what I was saying in that moment was really really important to him.

I knew what I needed to do. I smiled a big smile, tried to look as secure and relaxed as possible, and encouraged him. “It’s OK. You can go. We’re going to be fine. Don’t worry. You can go if it’s time for you to go. You’re going on a great adventure.”

After smiling and cheering him on for a minute or so, he sighed, and his eyes rolled back in his head, looking at the tenth gate. Something in him relaxed. I kept praying softly in his ear. Within a couple of minutes he was gone.

Identity and reality. What we know, what we guess, what we don’t know. The way that we are here for each other regardless of the details. The last time that I looked in my father’s eyes, there was something pure and naked, powerful and innocent. It was a gift to see his soul like that, and to realize that all along, throughout our lives, his soul was always struggling to be seen by me, just as my soul was always struggling to be seen by him. If it took the moment of death for our spirits to achieve that communion, then I feel we were very blessed. The mirror and reflection between us, by Guru’s grace, arrived at that Infinite point.

After all, nothing ever ends. The connections we have with each other keep going, evolving, transforming, and growing. About 5 minutes after he died, I felt his subtle body pull me into a hug, saying thank you for helping me through.

In the days and weeks since my father passed away, I have been missing his presence. Once I was grown up and on my own, we only saw each other once a year, and spoke on the phone once a month. I never knew that there was some part of me, deep in my subconscious, that was always connected to him. Now that his physical body is gone, that reassuring connection is gone, too. But it doesn’t leave me empty. In place of the connection is a plethora of memories that reveal new secrets the more of life I understand. The mirror of him is still in my mind. And I am so grateful to have experienced, at the end, how the love overwhelmed everything else, and cast a golden light over all of the memories that I hold of him forever.

In memoriam: James Anthony Gillece. January 19, 1938 – September 2, 2009.

Your loving daughter,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur aka Bernadette

A Little Note on Peace

2009-07-29T21:01:00.002-06:00

Sat Nam.

During Peace Prayer Day at Summer Solstice this year in Espanola, NM, it was my blessing to be part of an Interfaith panel talking about peace. Each of us on the panel had five minutes to share our perspective on the subject. Today, I am grateful to share this brief little vignette that I wrote for the panel. Hope you enjoy. May peace take root in your own heart and blossom forever.

Peace Prayer Day, Ram Das Puri, New Mexico: June 20, 2009

The problem of war comes from the animal instinct of a person. When we live solely in a territorial way, when we want to establish our status, then we are constantly hustling and hassling to get something outside of ourselves. It comes from a sense of survival. That sense of survival breeds in us a deep insecurity.

All wars begin from this root. Of territory, of desiring something – and then they are sustained through pain and vengeance – the need for retaliation, the animal instinct to re-establish dominance. This cycle of violence has been going on for thousands of years on our planet. And despite all of the churches and synagogues and temples in the world, we have not found a way to come out of it.

The reason we haven’t come out of it is because we haven’t committed ourselves fully to our human identity and our human nature. Yogi Bhajan once said that God gave the gift of intuition to the human as our mode of survival. If our third eye is open, if our arcline is active – or we can say in modern terms – if the central brain is developed and the electro-magnetic pulse of the brain is emitting at the frequency of the totality of the hemispheres – then we will know in advance what to do to secure our future. Rather than looking around to see what we can get from outside of ourselves, we will look within and be intuitively guided to our best and highest destiny. Through that inner guidance, we will not only survive – we will prosper and bloom, and that security within us will give way to peace.

In the Kundalini Yoga and Sikh tradition, the way to develop the arcline is by consciously vibrating sacred sounds that focus the mind on the Creator, and on the Light of God within each person. It is a simple and powerful act. Rather than having the mind create schemes or worry about the future, the trick is to discipline the mind to just focus on the Divine. If that focus is sincerely and lovingly there, then you shall be guided from the inside to where your security lives; and what you need will be brought forward to you. This is the promise of being a human being. It is a totally different mentality than living as an animal. The key to elevating ourselves from our animal nature to the human vibration is through prayer.

Once that prayer is real, the security gets established and peace comes.

I would like to close by sharing a passage with you from a prayer called “The Jewel of Peace,” written by the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan, who lived in the 16-17th century:

"If for one single moment, you sing in a sacred way from the depth of your being about the virtues of the Divine, you will gain access to all of the etheric realms, and absolute emancipation and liberation will come to you.

"When you focus you mind on talking about the Divine Spirit that holds and is contained in all things, so many empires will be established and spread.

"When you use your tongue to continually recite with love about the Divine in your own heartbeat, so much food, so many clothes and such good company comes to you.

"When the prayer of the perfect Teacher makes its home in your heart, then your actions become noble, creating prosperity and splendor.

"Oh Divine Master, please give me the gift of living in the community of those people who pray this way. Then, oh Nanak, peace will blossom forever."

Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Sukhmani Sahib, 20th Ashtapadi, Verse 8

Proposition 8, Gay Marriage and the Sikh faith

2009-06-07T14:51:00.002-06:00

(Please note: the opinions expressed in this essay are strictly the personal views of the author and do not in any way reflect upon the ministry of Sikh Dharma International)

Last week, the California State Supreme Court upheld a voter amendment, Proposition 8, which banned same-sex unions in the state. Ever since the amendment was passed by voters last November, there has been a lot of discussion about protecting the idea of traditional marriage versus the US Constitution’s promise of equal rights for all people under the law. For the most part, when this issue of gay marriage has come up in my presence, I have kept relatively quiet – partly because I haven’t wanted to “out” myself. In my early 20’s, I was a partner in a non-traditional marriage. My live-in boyfriend turned husband was bi-sexual. We had an agreement that he was free to explore his bi-sexuality within the confines of our relationship, as long as he told me where he was and what time he would be home. Naturally, out of courtesy, the agreement extended both ways. During that period of my life, I was blessed to be part of a wonderful gay and bi-sexual community. I wanted to fit in and belong. Yet I discovered that, basically, I was straight and instinctively monogamous. So the agreement was theoretical on my side. We lived together in this non-traditional way for 3 years before deciding to get married, and during that time, I did my best to support his process of understanding his own sexual identity.

Looking back, perhaps it was inevitable that the relationship would fail. Nine months after we got non-traditionally married, we went through a very traditional divorce. Not too long after, he met a woman from California who was bi-sexual for real and they have been in a non-traditional, open relationship ever since. He has sworn that I was his first and last foray into the realm of marriage. We loved each other then and still care deeply about each other now. How many people can say that their former husband sent them a beautiful gift on what would have been their ten-year anniversary? Yet, he did just that. My relationship with this man taught me a great lesson: that just because you love someone, it doesn’t mean you will spend the rest of your life with that person.

So when people ask me: Do you support gay marriage? the first question that comes to my mind is, “What type of marriage are you talking about?” One of the fundamental issues in this discussion is whether or not the institution of marriage is an appropriate vehicle for non-traditional relationships.

Thorny and Complicated Issue

The reason this issue becomes so difficult to unravel is that there are two distinct and separate aspects to the institution of marriage. One aspect is related to property, taxes, inheritance, and protecting children who are born or adopted by a couple. This aspect of marriage is governed by state and federal law. The courts are being asked to decide to whom those laws apply. The US Constitution guarantees equal rights for all people. Logically speaking, it is not such a big leap to see that “equality” means everyone – gay, straight, bi, whoever. People who decide to be together as a couple ideally would be treated equally under the law regardless of gender.

It is the second aspect of the institution of marriage that is making all of this much more difficult. The second aspect is spiritual. Unless someone is atheist or agnostic, marriage involves the blessing of the union by a Higher Power. For many people, what defines marriage is a spiritual and religious issue, not simply a legal one. What is the meaning of marriage? What is its purpose? What moral and spiritual duties and responsibilities do partners have towards one another when they are married?

Because of the separation of church and state in the US Constitution, the spiritual aspect of marriage is under the domain of the respective congregations and spiritual communities in this country. The US Bill of Rights promises freedom of religion. So ideally every religious definition of marriage would be protected. Many congregations consider it immoral for people of the same sex to engage in sexual activity. Therefore, same-sex marriage is completely out of the question. Yet, for a growing number of congregations and spiritual communities, there is no moral problem with people of the same sex engaging in sexual activity. Therefore, marriage between people of the same sex is absolutely acceptable. Theoretically, under the US Constitution, all of these beliefs are equally protected.

What the actions by the Supreme Court in California have done is to extend the power of the government beyond the concerns of property and protecting minors, into the much more subtle realm of spirituality. The court ruling has legitimized a definition of marriage that aligns with the religious beliefs of some congregations. Yet by the nature of that definition, it has made the beliefs of other congregations illegal.

This situation becomes even more complicated by the fact that communities from the same faith traditions are divided amongst themselves about the morality of same-sex unions. Many faith communities have either a very public or a very private fight going on about this subject. And the reason is fairly straight-forward. Homosexuality is part of the human condition. Wherever there is a community of people, there will be a percentage of them that are gay. This is not a Christian issue, a Sikh issue, a Muslim issue, a Jewish issue, a Buddhist issue, a Hindu issue, a Baha’i issue or a Pagan issue. This is everybody’s issue.

Proposition 8 and the ruling by the California Supreme Court has taken what is, for many people, an issue of faith and has made secular judges the arbitrators of the debate. The fact that these religious differences are being played out in a court of law to me is a sign that we leaders within faith communities are not doing our jobs properly. If we had the courage to create dialogue within our communities about homosexuality and marriage, and try to work with all perspectives to find common ground, perhaps the time and money spent in court fights could be going to more worthy causes. I could be wrong about this, but it seems there is a very real shadow energy in Proposition 8. It is the shadow that says, “I am afraid to engage the issue of spirituality and homosexuality in my own life. So I will hide behind the word ‘tradition’ and avoid the deep conversation about God and human life that this issue provokes.”

How to Dialogue about this within the Sikh community

Fifteen years after my divorce from my first husband, I have been blessed to become a minister in the Sikh community. I love my adopted faith. I find it incredibly universal, tolerant and powerful. Yet, at times there is a profound divergence between what I have understood from studying the teachings of the Sikh Gurus, and what I see practiced in the culture of the Sikh community. The issue of homosexuality is one of these areas where I feel the strain of this contradiction.

The highest authorities of the Sikh tradition in India are adamantly opposed to same-sex unions on moral grounds. When people ask me, as a minister, if I would ever defy that authority and support a gay couple getting married in a Gurdwara (Sikh Temple), I take a deep breath. In my heart, I keep looking for common ground. Many years ago, Yogi Bhajan said to me, “Destroying a structure is not serving a structure.” Is there a way for this issue to be handled so that it doesn’t result in undermining the religious structure within the Sikh community nor does it result in gay Sikhs being ostracized? I disagree with the position that there is something morally wrong with same-sex unions. The Sikh Gurus taught that everything and everyone is created by the One Creator for a purpose. Everything that happens is within hukam – is within the Divine Will and the Divine Plan. So how can homosexuality be “wrong” when the Divine created it? It is my personal belief that there is no moral problem with same sex unions from the perspective of Gurbani (the Guru’s teachings.) But I also acknowledge that this prejudice exists within our community. So rather than answer the question of whether or not I would officiate at a gay marriage in a Sikh Gurdwara, I feel the first step is to have us within the Sikh community ask ourselves some deeper questions about our faith, and the purpose of marriage.

Gay people in the Sikh community are often asked to choose between these two identities: are you a Sikh? Or are you gay? Some few brave ones embrace both worlds. But many people under the pressure of their families or their communities make a choice. They either try to suppress their gay identity and fit in. Or they leave the Sikh faith altogether. The first question is: can we, as community members, create a supportive environment where someone who is gay does not feel pressured to make this kind of a choice?

Being a Sikh is a special, spiritual identity. It is a universal path, accepting and loving; it is the path of a spiritual warrior – defending those who cannot defend themselves; it is a path of service and prosperity – working by the sweat of your brow and sharing what you have earned with others. It is a path of profound prayer and meditation.

Being gay is also a special identity. It means finding love, companionship, partnership and a life journey with someone of the same sex. It means forever being a minority and having the unique privilege of facing the challenges and prejudices that come with the territory. It takes tremendous heart and courage to be openly gay in a world where many people wish that homosexuality would go away.

It is a blessing to be Sikh. And if we take the words of the Sikh Gurus to heart, being gay is hukam. It is something written for the person by the Creator before he or she was even born. The Sikh faith was founded on including everyone, even the lowest castes in India. So in the 21st century, do we as a community chose to make homosexuality a barrier to being a Sikh? Can the four doors of our most sacred temple, the Harimander Sahib in Amritsar, be open to all; but not be open to people who are gay?

Our first dialogue needs to be whether or not we as a community can acknowledge that every person has the right to be a Sikh, and sexual orientation is no limitation. Gays Sikhs have always and shall always exist. They are part of us. Can we support them? Can we accept them so they can embrace their identity fully and live with dignity as members of the Guru’s Court?

The second issue about marriage is much more subtle for me.

To my mind there, is a difference between getting married under US law and getting married in a Sikh Gurdwara, in the court of the Guru. US law governs the most basic property agreements between partners, and the US Constitution promises equality for all people. For the sake of honoring the Constitution, recognizing gay marriage would be a wonderfully healthy affirmation of the practice of equality that this country is founded upon.

On the other hand, the Sikh marriage ceremony, the Lavan, is a binding spiritual contract between two souls. It is a significant spiritual and moral commitment founded in a clear faith tradition. Ideally, the Sikh marriage is a life-long promise that two people will serve each other, meditate together, live in the purity of their own consciousness, and accept the guidance of the Shabad Guru throughout their lives. It is a decision to create the Grisht Ashram – the home that serves as a spiritual center for the community. The Sikh marriage is about two souls becoming one. It is to face the tests and challenges of life together, the partners promising to let their heads roll but not let their hands go. In the Sikh faith, marriage is the highest spiritual practice. It is the highest yoga. For in marriage, we face our darkest demons, our deepest shadows, and through the Guru’s guidance and grace, emerge victorious.

The Sikh marriage is not the realm for sexual promiscuity. It is not the foundation for mindlessly pursuing wealth, status and power. It is not for the sole purpose of having children, though children may come as a result. A Sikh marriage is the way that two people can serve each other and support each other to cultivate virtue, clear their karmas, and merge into the Deathless Light of Divinity that lives in each of our hearts. It is a commitment to the Guru, to each other, to the Creator and to the community to consciously grow in your spiritual practice and your capacity for service. This kind of marriage is the foundation upon which the future of the faith is built.

In this sense, for any couple, gay or straight, to be married in front of the Guru in the Gurdwara is a deep and profound commitment. This commitment is not to be entered into lightly. It has become easy for some couples to get married in front of the Guru without understanding what this ceremony is about. In some cases, the Sikh marriage has become a mere formality and ritual, and in that, the true meaning of the Lavan has gotten lost. So when someone talks about gay marriage in a Gurdwara, my first instinct is to say – let those who value the Lavan get married in the Gurdwara. Let those who do not want to live that discipline and commitment get married somewhere else. To me, this conversation about what the Lavan means and what marriage means to our faith as a whole is a precursor conversation to whether or not gay people “should be allowed” to get married in the Temple. The depth, power and importance of that commitment needs to be fully understood by everyone. Then we can see which couples feel called to live that commitment, and which ones do not.

The issue of gay marriage reflects a deeper dynamic in the world – the question of how the human family is going to live together in peace. It is my prayer that those who are called to be custodians of their respective spiritual communities will use this moment in history as an opportunity to dialogue about the principles of their faiths. A conscious and loving dialogue that involves deep listening on all sides and includes all voices. It is my hope that such a dialogue will strengthen the relationship we have with our Creator, and broaden our understanding about how to live with love and good will towards all of our brothers and sisters on the earth.

The answer to the question of whether or not I would personally officiate at a gay wedding inside of a Sikh Gurdwara is this: yes I will do it when doing so will not inflame or divide community members against each other. And I am willing to commit to working so that such a day can come. When that day happens, it will come because we have understood the teachings of the Sikh Gurus in a new way, and renewed our relationship with the purpose and meaning of the Sikh marriage. Then those beautiful souls who have the unique privilege of being Sikh and being gay can stand with honor and respect as equals in the Guru’s court.

If I have offended anyone with this essay, please know this was not written for anyone to take offense.

With Divine Light.

Yours sincerely and humbly,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa

Japji Sahib Courses: July

2009-05-18T16:40:00.006-06:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

It will be my blessings in July to lead a team of teachers for an intensive Japji Sahib course July 5-7 at the Hacienda de Guru Ram Das ashram in Espanola, New Mexico.

Other teachers who will be sharing their knowledge and experience of Japji Sahib during this course include Dr. Inderjit Kaur, the Bhai Sahiba of Sikh Dharma International and the wife of the late Yogi Bhajan; world-renowned teachers and musicians including Mata Mandir Singh Khalsa, Shanti Kaur Khalsa and Guruka Singh Khalsa.

For details about the course, please visit: www.sikhdharma.org/events/event-257.

Then, from July 17-19th, it will also be my blessing to lead a Japji Sahib intensive at the Lotus Yoga Center in Toronto, Canada.

The Lotus Yoga Center is located at 100 Harbord Street in Toronto. The course will take place on Friday night from 6-9 pm; and Saturday and Sundry from 11 am - 6 pm. The cost is $225 plus gst if you register before July 3rd.

For more details about the course in Toronto, Canada, contact nirmal@thewellnesspath.ca.

In the past, some of you have written and asked: "What is a Japji Sahib intensive?" It is a two or two and half day event where we immerse ourselves in chanting, meditation and discussion in order to experience some of the key themes in Japji Sahib. Today, I'm grateful to share a few of those themes with you. These themes will be highlighted and discussed during the course.

The Divine Will – Everything in the Universe is flowing according to the conscious will of the Creator. Our job as humans is to simply flow with it.

Listening – Developing our own ability to deeply listen to ourselves and everything around us is the foundation for waking up.

Embracing the Shadow – The one Creator is the source of all things, including the shadow-side and the darkness in life. As humans, we need to make peace through the Shabad with the shadow, and understand that it has a Divine purpose.

Sound and Vibration – in the cosmology of Guru Nanak, all events, experiences and forms begin in the subtle realms as frequency and vibration. You will learn to touch that reality inside of yourself so you can heal and elevate your own life.

If it the will of God and if the hand of Guru guides you there, it is my prayer and that we may meet at one of these courses this summer.

May the Guru bless you you to continue your own search so that you find your own Deathless Spirit. And through your own Spirit, may you prevail against the challenges of the time with the grace of your own meditative strength.

All Love in the Divine.

Yours humbly,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Random Considerations

2009-02-17T23:37:00.003-07:00

Lately, I have been experiencing a bout of Blogger’s guilt.

Years ago, if you wrote an article for a magazine, you had months of lead time to do something thorough, to do something well - time to think, time to be creative, time to revise. Over the years, though God knows I have been blessed with a lovely talent for writing (Thank you, Creator of mine), I also have a bit of a laissez-faire attitude. One can maybe call it – being talented without being terribly ambitious. I write when the Spirit moves me, whenever that is, whatever topic comes up, and it’s enough.

A couple weeks ago, though, while cruising through my blog, I was shocked to see that I hadn’t written an interesting or proper essay since September of 2008. Five months ago. And I thought to myself– oh my goodness – do they kick you off the blog-o-sphere if you go that long without posting something? So here I am tonight, sitting on my couch with a mild relapse of the flu (this is the second time in a month that I’ve gotten it), awake because I took a four hour nap this afternoon, wondering, “What topic can I write about?”

There are a couple of essays in my mind – one about the linguistic map of Gurbani and one about the journey from Om to Ek Ong Kaar. But I’m a little too feverish to focus that much right now.

Instead, I’d rather to connect with all of you who like to read what I write. And share a few random thoughts with you.

Be good to yourself. Who you are is all you have in the end – your sense of your own identity, your sense of your own journey through life. There are a lot of pressures and Sirens (in the Greek mythological sense) that pull us one way or the other. Don’t let those pressures take you away from YOU. Keep your power. Know who you are and why you are. Whenever you make a decision, make it based on the values that you have, the character that you choose to cultivate. Never make a decision based on what someone promises will happen in the end. Promises never work out the way you imagine them, and regrets are all you will find if you walk down that road. In this moment, have the confidence of knowing that your soul is on its own unique journey through time and space – a journey that no else can take for you. Listen to your soul. Trust it. Respect it. Love it. Let It guide you wherever It will. And don’t expect to be compensated for doing it. The compensation is the joy you feel in this moment that you are free and you have the strength to act in alignment with your Spirit. The future is unknown and will present its own challenges. So let every moment fulfill itself. Being who you are with every breath is its own best reward.

Love each other. There’s so much craziness right now with money and the economy. We’ve forgotten that we don’t survive because of money. We survive because we love each other and take care of each other. If all of the banks were to fail, if all of the businesses were to collapse, if everything we knew were to end, as long as we had each other and we could face the challenge together, we would be fine. Living or dying doesn’t matter. Enjoying and loving and laughing and embracing each other, we can go through anything. It’s the way we love that counts in the end.

Remember it’s all a game. The Guru says it all the time – there is One Divine Light playing all of the parts in the play. Try not to take it too seriously. It’s not that serious. We’re in God’s movie. Play your part, enjoy the theater, and remember this is not your true home. This is not your final destination. This is just a temporary station along the way. Be God’s guest on the earth for a while. Be a good, kind, gracious and considerate guest. And when it’s time to go, go with a smile, go with a song, and go with the victory that no one could ever defeat you because you made a choice to take this precious gift of the human life and live it from the inside out.

So those are my random, whimsical, slightly fever-ridden thoughts for today. Be good to yourself. Love each other. Remember it’s all a game. You are the bright, blissful, beautiful manifestation of Divine Energy on the earth. Live it. Be it. Enjoy it completely! And don’t let anyone or anything, any event or any tragedy, keep you from remembering it.

And for the record – this message is not channeled. It’s me within myself telling how it is. Because the Guru has blessed me to appreciate and enjoy my own Inner Light – and that Inner Light is really clear about where things “are at.” YOUR Inner Light is equally as clear. Look to yourself and be happy.

May the Light of God that lives in your own heart make Itself known to your own mind so that you may be strong in your values and virtues and stay committed to the best and highest most beautiful Self that you are.

With Divine Love, Divine Light and many blessings.

Yours humbly,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Japji Sahib and Other Courses 2009

2008-12-23T09:37:00.005-07:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

For those of you who might be interested, I am teaching two different weekends at the end of January and the beginning of February. These are the only times I'll be teaching outside of Espanola, New Mexico, for the first half of 2009. If you have a longing and want to come join me for some deep meditation and soul-calibration with the Guru, would love to see you.

Japji Sahib Intensive hosted by Yoga Source in Coral Springs, Fl.
Jan. 31-Feb 1.
www.yogasourcefl.com

We will spend the weekend going deeply into the message and meaning of Guru Nanak's Japji Sahib. With discussion, meditation and cozy community.

Saturday January 31 from 9 am to 5 pm
Sunday February 1st from 12:30 to 5 pm

$108 for the weekend
Includes a vegetarian lunch on Saturday and a Yogi Tea/snack on Sunday

Yoga Source is also hosting one of my favorite Naad Yogis, Dev Suroop Kaur, the following weekend, on Experiencing the Power of Mantra. Those of you who sign up for both weekends at the same time receive a special discount on the price. Visit Yoga Source's website for details.

The Aquarian Age and Human Evolution hosted by YogaYoga of Austin, Texas.
February 6-9, 2009
www.yogayoga.com/seAquarianAge

November 11, 2011 marks the transition into the Aquarian Age. The description of the human potential by the Sikh Masters is key to understanding this change of Ages.

Join us for a wonderful weekend of Kundalini Yoga, meditation, mantra and discussion of Guru Nanak's Japji Sahib and Guru Amar Das's Anand Sahib. We'll talk about the transition that is happening, and how to use the technology of Shabad Guru to ride the waves of change towards a better future for humanity.

Friday, February 6, 6:30 to 8:30 - Welcome to the Aquarian Age
Saturday, Febuary 7, 12:00 - 5:00 - Accelerating Consciousness: The Sensory Human
Sunday, February 8, 12:00 - 5:00 - Living in Bliss: Sacred Sound and the Inner Teacher

$108 for the weekend
Or special prices to attend each day.

To register, go on-line www.yogayoga.com/seAquarianAge or call (512) 381-6464.

On a more personal note, I have one or two essays knocking around in the back of my head, but have not had much time since returning from India to put them to paper. God's grace, look for more essays and stories early in 2009. And thanks for Keeping Up with the blog.

May you have a blessed and Divine Winter Solstice and New Year. And may the Guru guide you to the best and highest purpose of your life surrounded by love, surrendered to joy, and immersed in harmony and peace.

With Divine Light and Divine Love.

Yours humbly,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Prosperity and Ghosts

2008-12-02T10:50:00.005-07:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

This is just a quick post to share a couple of links with you.

Prosperity

First, on November 15th, it was my blessing to lead a tele-class called "Prosperity is in your Projection." We're happy that the tele-class was recorded and it is now posted on the Sikh Dharma International website.

If you'd like to listen to it, please visit: http://www.sikhdharma.org/pages/prosperity-your-projection

Ghosts

Second, a dear friend of mine, Soul Singh Khalsa, has written a really great spiritual fantasy story that's quite a ride. The story is called The Ghost of Susan Strasser - and he's created a fabulous website where you can listen to the first nine chapters.

http://www.soulsingh.net

I love this story. It's this wild combination of East and West, power struggles, murder, yoga, youthful heroism and a touch of the Sikh spirit. A true heroic myth for the New Age. If you have a chance - check it out.

Thanks to all of you who expressed your enjoyment of the Sounds of Hazur Sahib journal. http://www.sikhnet.com/300saal/Audio-Journal

It was wonderful to do!

With Divine Light and many blessings,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Anand Sahib Translation: Published

2008-10-02T16:21:00.002-06:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

Almost two years ago (oh my goodness – has it really been that long??), I posted a draft translation of Guru Amar Das’s Anand Sahib on my blog. Since that time, the translation has gone through a few minor tweaks, and a lengthy self-publishing process. But this summer, the translation of Guru Amar Das’s Anand Sahib made it into book form (at last.) For those of you who like the writing that I do, and who may have read the translation on-line, if you would like a copy of the publication, please visit:
www.sikhdharma.org/store/products/anand-sahib-song-bliss.

This translation is not typical. It plays with language on a deeper level. To my mind, it does not make sense that one word of Gurbani equals one word of English. Gurbani says something that the English language has never even imagined. To understand the theoretical framework behind the translation – please take a look at this essay from January of 2007. http://ekongkaar.blogspot.com/2007/01/anand-sahib-maps-of-reality-in.html

One “perk” about the actual physical publication is that there is an essay in the beginning by the late Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahiba Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji (also known as Yogi Bhajan). It is an essay where he talks about the state and psychology of Anand. It’s an essay that I listened to over and over again during the translation process – because it gave me a starting point and direction to understand what Guru Amar Das was talking about when he sung this teaching song about "Bliss." If you decide to get a copy of the book, I hope you enjoy the essay. It's quite amazing.

May you be blessed to experience the truth, reality and bliss in yourSelf. And may the Divine Light in you shine with love and grace for all to see for endless times to come.

With Divine Light, Divine Love and many blessings,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Back to Basics

2008-09-19T22:09:00.017-06:00

If I know anything at all about money, it’s because of my father.

His is the kind of story that probably could never happen today. Worked his way in RCA up the corporate ladder – having attended, but never completed, college. Eventually, he landed as the head of the International Finance Division for RCA’s broadcast equipment area. He and his team traveled around the world brokering deals for the sale of RCA color television equipment to (among others) Monaco TV, the Brazilian government, and all of those televangelists who came along in the 1970s. He even has a story about almost having Ted Turner thrown into jail when Turner tried to intervene during a repo of some RCA broadcast equipment. Back when Turner was just starting out. There are a lot of big names we know – the personalities who built the content side of the broadcast industry. My dad is known among the people who built the actual infrastructure. He’s one of the people who helped lay the railroad, so to speak.

When I was growing up, every Sunday morning after church, the family would sit around the dining room table having breakfast together. When my dad wasn’t traveling, he used Sunday breakfast as his opportunity to pontificate on the topics that the priest couldn’t explain: finance, money and the world.

I remember when I was maybe 12 or 13 years old that my dad decided to have a long talk with me about it one day. A talk about money. How it worked. How it really worked. He went back in history to how commerce got started - people trading cows for food, (something like that, the memory of my 12 year old self says). And how eventually currency formed – as a kind of convenience. But when currency started, there was always something to back it up. Land. Metal. Something. Money just didn’t exist on its own, in a vacuum. Money represented wealth that was held somewhere. It was a symbol of something of value that actually existed.

The US dollar, for instance, was originally backed by gold. The gold standard, he told me. Every single US dollar used to be accounted for by gold stored in the US Treasury. Then, he explained, President Richard Nixon got rid of the gold standard. And after that happened – and with banks using more and more computers – money was nothing more than a bunch of numbers showing up on a computer screen. Someone pressed a button – and blip blip - the numbers showed up on a different computer screen. That’s all there was to it. There wasn’t anything else. There wasn’t any gold or cows or land to back up the money. Nothing to see. Nothing to touch. Nothing really there. Just a bunch of numbers on a computer screen and that was it.

But why did it work? he asked me. Why did it work? It was very important to him – that I understood what he was saying. He was explaining something crucial about the world that day. Something that he wanted me to get. Why did it work? Why did money work – when there was nothing there?

It worked, he told me, because people have confidence in it. That was the only reason. People have confidence in it. So it works. The moment people lose confidence – it won’t work anymore.

Never deal with money, was the lesson he gave me. There’s nothing there. Deal with people’s confidence.

Eventually, my dad left RCA. Took a job as a CFO at a broadcast corporation where he stayed pretty settled for the next 25 years, until he retired. The older I get and the more I see of the world, the more I realize what an accomplishment it is for someone to stay in that kind of position with one company for that many years. Talking with my father, I’ve asked him what his secret to success was. It usually boils down to two main points.

First – always keep your word. For my dad, his word is his bond. Some people, when it comes to money, they play games, get greedy, mislead or slip something into the contract without the other person knowing. My dad never did it. Once he gave his word – that was it. The deal was done. What that meant was that he put everything he had into the negotiating. My dad is a son of a gun to negotiate with. But once he gives his word – it’s gold. And that earned him trust and that earned him respect.

He’s also a no-nonsense guy who understood his job clearly. “I control the money,” he said. “It’s my job to make people justify why they need it. If they can’t justify it – they don’t get it. I don’t play favorites. I’m hard on everyone.”

Making people justify why they need it. Having a standard. Having a set of rules around which the money is lent and spent. It shows a respect. A respect that a company has money and assets because of the work that has been done in the past. That profit, those assets have been earned through people’s work. And to keep the company functioning and healthy, you have to treat those assets respectfully. Be responsible about how you use them.

I'm not sure that these are the lessons one would learn in an MBA course. I've never done my MBA. Whatever I learned about money, I learned from my father during Sunday morning breakfast. But I do know those values kept my father successful in finance his whole life – company profitable, people employed, owners happy, bonuses at the end of every year. Because he knew from his work that there’s nothing really there. Nothing except the confidence of the people who keep the whole thing moving.

Watching the financial woes on Wall Street this week, I wonder if some of what my father taught me when I was young might be useful to pass along. The stories above are a couple examples. But some other lessons he taught me along the way:

Investment is gambling. Period. It’s a gamble. If you lose the gamble, you lose the money. There’s a risk involved. Like horses. The more unlikely it is that the horse will win, the higher the return if it manages to cross the finishing line first. But no matter how many charts people show you, how many pitches they give you – when you invest, you are making a bet. And if you lose the bet- the lose it. So only bet with what you can afford to lose. If you can’t afford to lose it, don’t invest it.

A good financial spreadsheet is where your assets and your savings are more than your debt. It’s OK to borrow if you are borrowing for an actual asset like a car or a house or some television equipment. And with some assets, you can write off the interest on your taxes. Just make sure the assets you own and your savings are more than your debt.

Never borrow to buy clothes or to go out to a restaurant. Credit card debt will eat you alive.

Money is people’s livelihoods. Don’t forget it. It’s not just about the bottom line. People have to make a living. People have to get paid. Make them work for it. Appreciate them for the hard work. It’s what creates the profit. But remember – you manage the money for the employees wages and the profit. It all has to work together.

The middle class is the bedrock of our economy. You don’t have to be rich to be happy. You don’t have to be rich to have a good life. Where there’s a lot of wealth – people go crazy. They do crazy things to get it. They do crazy things to keep it. Never turn your back on God for money. Keep your word, have integrity, be grateful and remember – enough is enough.

Work hard. Save. Know that investments are a gamble. Deal with people’s confidence. Keep your word. If someone wants the money, make him justify it. Protect the bottom line and be a good custodian of people’s livelihoods.

These aren’t the values that make you rich quick. But they are the values the give you success, stature and respect over a lifetime.

Back to basics.

Perhaps the folks on Wall Street could use the reminder.

Ram Rai's Test of Sprit

2008-08-16T20:36:00.003-06:00

Originally posted on SikhNet: http://www.sikhnet.com/300saal/ramrai

Although Guru Gobind Singh formally passed the Light of Nanak to the Siri Guru Granth Sahib in 1708, throughout the lives of the Sikh Gurus, the Granth experienced its own evolution. Not just in terms of its physical form, but also in terms of the spiritual laws under which it would operate. When the Light of Nanak passed to the Granth, certain realities had already been established in history – about the Granth’s sovereignty; about Its Identity in the Etheric dimension as well as the physical; about Its importance to the future of the human race.

Here re-told in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib receiving the Light of Nanak are some of those stories. Re-told with an eye to the message of what the Guru Granth would become. Re-told from the perspective of knowing today how important the Shabad Guru is to the future.

When people speak about Aurangzeb as a Muslim ruler, they misunderstand the point. Aurangzeb came to power in an inhumane way. He was the Hitler of his time. Though the third son of the Emperor Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb raised an army, fought his brothers, had the eldest son, Dara Shikoh, murdered, and threw his father in prison. In this way, he seized the throne in Delhi and claimed himself Emperor. His approach to securing leadership created so much disdain among people of spiritual understanding and consciousness, that when he sent an offering to Mecca in celebration of his triumph, it is said Mecca returned the offering to him untouched. Mecca, the spiritual center of the Muslim world, wanted nothing to do with Aurangzeb’s rise to power.

It was this insult, this slap in the face from his spiritual elders that caused Auarngzeb to vow that he would create more Muslims than any other ruler. Needing to prove himself a true Muslim king, Aurangzeb believed that if he could convert enough people in India to the faith of Islam, then Mecca would have to recognize him. It was this desperate drive for recognition, the belief that the political clout of huge conversions would earn him a spiritual position that fueled the unspeakable tortures and cruelty for which his reign would be remembered. Convert or die in the most horrible ways imaginable.

That was his psyche. That through force, mental manipulation, political games, and sheer violence God Himself could be conquered.

For the entirety of Aurangzeb’s reign, the court and protection of the Sikh Gurus would be the one place where people could breathe free. Where people could ignore Aurangzeb’s dictates without fear of retribution. But we have to understand that time and space is not about what happens among individuals. There are currents of karmas that come into the world. Leaders act out the collective karma of the people over which they rule. Something was happening in India. A soul group had come in to test which was stronger – spiritual knowledge and wisdom? Or political pressure and acumen? Which energy would be superior? Which inferior? And this karma would play itself out during Aurangzeb’s reign – even in the family and court of the Guru.

The eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan, Dara Shikoh, had a genuine spiritual life. He was poised to become Emperor and rule not only with political power, but also with wisdom. He had studied under the Sufi saint Mian Mir. He had also taken the time to meditate and understand the ways of both the Hindus and the Muslims, so he had a much more transcended perspective than his brother. What kind of ruler he would have made, we can only imagine.

In his youth Guru Har Rai had given Emperor Shah Jahan an herbal remedy when Dara Shikoh had become ill and no one else could heal him. So, in some ways, it was natural that when Aurangzeb was pursuing his oldest brother, with the intent to imprison and kill him, Dara Shikoh took refuge in Guru Har Rai’s court.

It is said that Guru Har Rai and Dara Shikoh met and spoke on many matters. Some spiritual. Others political. In the spiritual realm, Guru Har Rai honored Dara Shikoh’s spiritual knowledge, and furthered his education by sharing spiritual instructions with him. The Guru saw that the young man had already earned his spiritual empire. On the political side, however, Guru Har Rai counseled Dara Shikoh that he had no other choice but to fight Aurangzeb and to take back the throne in Delhi. It is said that the Guru told him to do everything in his power to prevent the establishment of Aurangzeb’s authority.

Dara Shikoh valiantly tried to prevent his brother’s rise to power, but his victory was not the will of God. The young Emperor fought his younger brother, but was defeated and brought back to Delhi in chains. Aurangzeb charged his brother with not only political misconduct, but also heretical beliefs - a sign of the fanaticism that was to come. He was condemned to death based on his “heresy.” And what could have been a golden age of spiritual enlightenment and tolerance dissolved into darkness.

In time, Aurangzeb turned his attention to the Sikh Guru who had given shelter and comfort to his brother. What he desired more than anything was that the Sikh Guru should convert to Islam. And thus began a game of spiritual wisdom versus political intrigue that would last through the time of Guru Gobind Singh. Aurangzeb commanded Guru Har Rai in a letter to appear in his court. But Guru Har Rai had already made a commitment to himself that he would never meet in person with Aurangzeb. Desiring to teach the false Emperor what he had lost, Guru Har Rai wrote back to Aurangzeb and chastised him for his behavior.

“The empire he (Dara Shikoh) has received is imperishable. It is only those who God loves who can be like Dara Shikoh. If you have any doubt as to the empire that Dara Shikoh has received, meditate on him as you go to sleep and you will have a vision of the reality.”

The Guru’s words came true. One night, while sleeping, Aurangzeb received a vision. In the vision, his brother presided on a throne, while celestial angels surrounded him. Everyone in the court had been anointed with sandalwood, attar of roses and other precious perfumes. Garlands of the most beautiful flowers adorned them. As for Aurangzeb, in the vision, he was wearing dirty clothes and carrying a basket filled with muck. Rain fell from the sky and the muck spread all over his body. Then a slave-driver came to him and hit him so hard with a stick that he fell on his face.

When Aurangzeb awoke from his dream, he thought the Guru had some type of magical powers and had sent him this terrible vision. Rather than seeing the truth in the dream, the experience deepened Aurangzeb’s resolve to conquer Guru Har Rai. He called one of his nobles before him, instructing him to go to the Guru’s home, arrest him and bring him back to Delhi. The noble never made it. He died of food poisoning along the way.

Aurangzeb’s attempt to summon the Guru had failed. The noble sent to capture him had died. Now Aurangzeb’s court moved into a mode of deceit and social manipulation. The priests of Aurangzeb’s court counseled the Emperor to write to Guru Har Rai again – this time in a friendly and diplomatic way – inviting him to Delhi. When the Guru arrived, the Emperor would then have the power to do what he wished. So in alignment with the advice of these counselors, Aurangzeb wrote another letter – asking the Guru to come and teach him the ways of God.

When Guru Har Rai received the letter, he brought the matter to his Sikhs and asked their opinion. It was a moment where political concerns and spiritual concerns were weighed and discussed. Some, feeling afraid of Aurangzeb’s power, thought it best for the Guru to appease Aurangzeb and meet him in court. But the Guru could not go along with it. It is reported that he said,

“What you counsel is political, but I have taken a vow that I will never look at this terrible man. In the first place, I have no business with him. Secondly, he is very deceitful and treacherous. Thirdly, he imprisoned his father and put to death his brother, Dara Shikoh, who was a great saint, and believed in the One Divine Spirit. Fourthly, the Emperor is cruel and bigoted. He murders holy men and is everyone’s enemy.”

It is an interesting moment in history – this moment of Aurangzeb’s letter to Guru Har Rai; this clash between the spiritual court of tolerance and transcendence, and the political court of intolerance, intrigue and power. Guru Arjun had sacrificed his life to protect the sovereignty of the Sikhs. Guru Hargobind had established the Akal Takhat on the earth – the only throne where political power and spiritual power had merged to protect the entire human race from oppression and persecution. But for that vision of the Khalsa Nation to come to life, there was a fear to overcome. A fear present in Guru Har Rai’s court. And perhaps even with us still today. It was a fear that survival depends upon catering to people who are perceived to have the most power – regardless of their morals or integrity.

Guru Har Rai saw that fear and refused to give into it. He understood – and wanted his Sikhs to understand – that moral integrity is the greater power. And that wealth, influence, armies, titles, thrones without moral integrity is a trap worse than death.

Ram Rai, the eldest son of the Guru, entered the court while the discussion was going on. One can only imagine how he must have seen himself. As the first son of Guru Har Rai, he must have believed that he would inherit the Guruship one day. And probably in his mind he was making his own plans for when that day would come. What he would do. How he would wield that power. What he might do the same as his father. What he might do differently. All of this being a natural psychological process for the first born of a patriarch to go through when contemplating his future.

When Ram Rai heard the discussion at hand, perhaps he saw an opportunity to make his mark, to begin his era of leadership. He disagreed with his father and said that someone must of course go to the Emperor. Otherwise it would put the Sikhs in a very difficult position. Those assembled in court who felt similarly supported Ram Rai’s words.

“You are the oldest son of the Guru,” they said. “You are very capable. Go to Aurangzeb and settle this situation, otherwise there will be great trouble for us. If you do not go, it will lead to a huge fight. It is not safe for us to have a quarrel with the ruler of the time.”

Ram Rai listened, and replied that he would go visit the Emperor himself and create a satisfactory settlement if the Sikhs wished it. Guru Har Rai gave his permission, but also sent his son with this advice. “Whatever happens, if you keep faith in the Guru, the Guru will be with you,” he said. The Guru also emphasized how critical it was for Ram Rai to not cater to any of the objections that Aurangzeb might have to the Guru Granth. “The Emperor Jahangir told my great-grandfather Guru Arjan that certain passages referring to the Muslims should be taken out of the Granth Sahib. But Guru Arjan refused and said he would never alter or abridge the writings of the Gurus. He suffered so much as a consequence, but he never catered to or flattered anyone.” And with these words in his mind, Ram Rai departed.

There are different stories about what happened when Aurangzeb and Ram Rai met. It is said Aurangzeb gave Ram Rai a robe of poison, but the poison had no effect. It is said that the Emperor had a sheet spread over a deep pit, but when Ram Rai stood on the sheet – the sheet did not give way.

Yet for all of the ways that Ram Rai was absolutely protected from death, with all the miracles that happened, nothing could protect him from his own insecurity, from his own doubts. The Emperor gathered his priests to interrogate Ram Rai about the Shabad. The Shabad - which Guru Nanak said was his own spiritual Guru and guide. The Shabad - which caters to no politics, no man’s ego, no sense of territory or power, but purely and simply provokes the man out of his limited self into Universal consciousness. And the priests objected to one of Guru Nanak’s lines.

"The ashes of the Muslim fall into the potter’s wheel.
Vessels and bricks are fashioned from them – they cry out as they burn."

Aurangzeb proposed a Devil’s deal with Ram Rai. If Ram Rai would consent to alter the line, all position, status, titles and worldly wealth would be his. If Ram Rai refused, the punishment was death.

Sometimes, a soul is born with tremendous spiritual privilege. Wisdom is there. The opportunity to serve is there. But the Creator tests His creation. Like a gold smith seeking to extract pure gold for His work, the Creator puts us into the heat, into the fire. So what is not of the Essence burns away. And all that remains is that purity, that light.

Those tests of consciousness come to everyone. To all of us as we travel on our spiritual path. No one is spared. And they are difficult because so many times – all of the luxuries and comforts of the Earth present themselves as the reward for going against our consciousness. For betraying our values. No one soul in the history of humanity faced that test more blatantly, more brutally than Guru Har Rai’s eldest son, Ram Rai.

What does it mean to hold spiritual power? Does it mean having wealth and status, title and command over others? Or does it simply mean having the capacity to lay down one’s life to defend certain principles and values – no matter who or what the challenge may be?

So there was Ram Rai, in Aurangzeb’s court, with Death on one side and the absolute riches of Maya, including politically-conferred spiritual status, on the other. And all he had to do to get the Maya was to cheat a little. Give in a little. Cater just a word to the illusion that another human being has the power to give us something or take it away.

In the heat of that fire, in the face of that test, Ram Rai broke. He truly wanted to please Aurangzeb – to secure a peace of sorts between the false Emperor and the Guru. He wanted to be successful in his own mind, in his own image, as he imagined it. And to achieve those goals, he turned his back on his lineage and tradition, ignored the advice of his enlightened father, and agreed to alter the line to suit Aurangzeb’s taste.

Ram Rai said to the Emperor, “Your Majesty, the correct line is that the ashes of the faithless, not of the Muslim, fall into the potter’s clod. The text has been corrupted by some ignorant person and your Majesty’s religion and mine have been made to look the worse because of it.”

One tiny word. One second to choose. And the dimension of Ram Rai’s spirit shifted from the Perfect Court of the Guru to the false one of Auruangzeb.

When word of Ram Rai’s behavior reached Guru Har Rai, the Guru became very upset at the way his son had insulted Guru Nanak and the Granth Sahib. Guru Arjan had sacrificed himself in torture and flame to protect the Granth Sahib’s purity and sovereignty. Yet Ram Rai did not have the strength to defend it. Guru Har Rai decided that his eldest son was not fit to receive the Guruship, and renounced him as his son. “The Guruship is like the milk of a tigress which can only be contained in a golden cup,” he said. “Only a person who is ready and willing to devote his life to it can be worthy of it. Ram Rai will never look upon my face again. Let him live with Aurangzeb and amass money in his court.”

If we freeze-frame this historical moment and look at it a little deeper, a premonition of what the Granth Sahib would become is revealed. To be the Guru was to be someone willing to die to defend the Shabad. It was never a question of personal power, charisma, gain or influence. The Sikh Gurus didn’t live for themselves. They lived for the Shabad. The Guruship was reserved for those persons who understood, were merged into, and could die protecting the Shabad as contained in the Granth Sahib.

Guru Har Rai was a custodian of the Shabad – preserving it and passing it forward to the future generations. We may even take a perspective that the entire time and space of the physical Gurus were a gestation, birth and development of the Granth Sahib. That the physical Gurus simply served as guardians and protectors so that one day the Shabad, Itself, would reign in the hearts and minds of men.

For it is through the Shabad and Its transcendent, universal wisdom that people can be lifted out of the pain and suffering created by the garbage in their subconscious minds. Lifted into the light and happiness of experiencing the Deathless Reality of their own Inner-Divinity. It is this consciousness of knowing oneself – in the Ultimate Way – that must eventually replace the politics of power and greed. That is what a sovereign Khalsa spiritual nation would be. The consciousness to choose God, to choose the Reality and Experience of the Divine, no matter what the challenge or test. This consciousness is not something we can give to ourselves. It is not something we can command or create with our own mind. But through the Guru’s grace and the practice of the Shabad, this consciousness is something that can be born within us, can grow and stand firm in the face of the challenges of time and space.

Ram Rai gained a temporary earthly protector, but lost his spiritual father. Ram Rai gained his own temporary spiritual community, but lost his position with the Sikh community. Ram Rai gained the temporarily opulent court of Aurangzeb, but lost the right to be present in the Guru’s court. Most importantly, Ram Rai gained a politically-appointed spiritual position, but lost the authority of his own consciousness. For in catering to Aurangzeb and the so-called spiritual people of that false court, he was forever doomed to a life of twisting spiritual truth to accommodate temporary earthly politics.

In the following years, when Aurangzeb had people tortured and killed for refusing to convert to Islam, what could Ram Rai do?

Political leadership without spiritual integrity creates misery on the earth. And what this lesson from history shows us is that the words of the Shabad cannot to be twisted or misrepresented to achieve political advantage and power. It is a mistake worse than death – for even in death, we might hope to have the Guru’s darshan.

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Last Japji Sahib Intensive for the Year: Boulder, Colorado

2008-05-19T20:59:00.005-06:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

Sat Nam and blessings.

It's been such a wonderful time traveling to various communities this year and hosting intensive workshops on Guru Nanak's Japji Sahib: The Song of the Soul. The last one for 2008 will be held this July in Boulder, Colorado, and the next course will not be until Florida at the end of January in 2009. If you've been thinking about coming this year - now's the chance! Would love to see you there.

This event is Friday night and all day Saturday. Discussion about the universal wisdom in Guru Nanak's Japji Sahib, along with chanting, meditation, yoga, and good spiritual company. It promises to be a very cozy time.

Boulder, Colorado

July 18-19th

Nanak's Nook

3840 Baseline Road

(303) 544-0141 or email NanaksNook@aol.com

Friday, July 18 from 7 pm to 9 pm

Saturday, July 19 from 9 am to 5:30 pm

$108 Advance Registration by July 5th

$128 at the door

It is said that Guru Hargobind told his Sikhs that all of life's problems can be cleared and liberation attained by meditating upon and understanding Guru Nanak's Japji Sahib. We'll do our best to see how much we can learn together.

Hope to see you there and to see you soon!

With Divine Light and Love,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

On the Train

2008-03-30T17:02:00.003-06:00

On the train from Connecticut to Massachusetts, I remember. A childhood growing up in the Northeast. Rows of houses remodeled again and again since Colonial Times. Trees lining the streets, marking the seasons with their distinct shades of dress. Sometimes green, sometimes orange, sometimes nothing at all.

That priceless time– where it seemed, somehow, one could be 8 years old, or 10 years old, or 12 years old forever.

Looking out the window, breathing in the nostalgia, I watch my thoughts slip into another direction. Yes – this is all familiar to me. Even after so many years living in the Southwest – the Northeast still feels like home. But not everything is the same as I remember. And as the train keeps rolling, there are other scenes my eyes register, making it difficult for me to inhale deeply, to catch my breath.

Pieces of automobiles, plastic bottles, debris from houses scatter themselves around the trees. Like zombies – the living dead – they are no longer needed, no longer wanted but are incapable of truly decaying. The earth supports them and the trees look down – waiting, waiting for Mother Nature to absorb them into the earth, into an organic, primal existence where they can be re-organized into new and luscious life. But the debris just sits there – abandoned, mournful. Unable to surrender and rejoin the cycle of life. And the trees stand there watching, confused, wondering what to do with the extra weight on their roots.

It is my habit to look for messages in everything that surrounds me. And there, in the urban landscape, I find my lesson. What we create around us comes from within. Seeing the trees with their awkward and wasted compatriots, I can feel the nervous system inside myself. Inside of us all. And I make the connection.

There it is – the undigested pain, the clumped anger, the insistent desires clinging haphazardly to my own neuro-transmitters – an ecology of emotional garbage that does nothing and contributes nothing. Absorbing energy, prana, breath, life as it reminds me that it’s there, and that it doesn’t have a place to go.

Brain damage. On the most subtle level, we are all of us in some way brain damaged. We cannot handle our own sensitivity, so we numb it with alcohol or drugs, melodramatic relationships, too much sugar, too many fantasies from soap operas, movies, books, living vicariously through Reality TV. All because we can’t handle the inner debris that has attached itself to our own memory, to our own awareness. That is damaging our roots – the nerves in our bodies that create the subtle core of our consciousness. And in that brain damage, we are loosing. Loosing much more than this moment. We are loosing the future.

Our subconscious minds create around us that pattern of the internal pain. So even though every human rationally knows we cannot survive without water, the water around us is too polluted to drink. And though we know that the breath of life keeps us going every second, the air in some places has become too polluted to breath. And it doesn’t have anything to do with government or business, commerce or globalization. It has to do with the inner sickness in me, the inner sickness in you and what that sickness creates together.

It begins, the Guru tells us, with the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether. These elements give rise to the five poisons of lust, anger, greed, pride and attachment. And these are poisons – why? Because they create an inner pollution. Bio-chemical junk in the ecology of the nervous system. They release hormones that dissolve brain tissue. Chemicals that interrupt and decay the delicate web of neuro-transmitters running through the spine, the brain and the body. These poisons sabotage our own sight. In the rush of feeling that anger causes, or lust, or greed, or pride, or attachment – we loose sight of our own delicacy, of the delicacy of the other person. How sensitive we are. How easily hurt. How much we all long for love, affection and connection. That sensitivity, given to us as a gift so that we can perceive the Divine in everything, gets damaged. We become blind to so many things. And over time, like rivers and forests filled with debris, the inner-ecology of our own psyche becomes too polluted for our own Spirit to live. These poisons compromise our ability to think clearly, to see intuitively, to act with strength, power and excellence.

Riding on the train, I look at the garbage, and the beauty it diminishes. And I see myself. I see all of us – our pain, our difficulties, our struggles to rise above these poisons and just simply live.

________________________________________

Bhareeai hath pair tan dayh paanee dhotai utras khay
Moot paleetee kapar ho-I day saaboon la-ee-ai oho dho-i
Bharee-ai mat paapaa kai sang oho dhopai naavai kai rang

When the hands, the feet,
The whole body
Becomes dirty,
Water
Washes it all away.

When clothes are
Stained with urine,
Soap and water
Removes the stain.

But when
Our own psyches
Are polluted with the dirt
That comes from
The errors and pain
We inflict on others,

Only our True Selves
Can restore us
To our Original Color.
(Japji Sahib, Pauree 19 – Guru Nanak Dev Ji)

For the last several weeks, I have been meditating on how to finish this vignette. And these lines from Guru Nanak keep running through my mind. There is dirt. It’s part of life. Dirty socks, dirty shirts, dirty overalls from working in the garden. There’s something that happens just because we are alive. We live, we act and from those actions, we sweat. We take in food and it goes through us. It happens – it’s natural. In our sensitivity, we feel that clean clothes allow us to live today in a fresh way. Clean homes and work spaces give our minds a sense of ease. It’s hard-wired into the human psyche that the process of living creates a by-product we call dirt. Well – what is it, really? That dirt? That garbage? It’s the remains of what we did yesterday that have no place in our tomorrow. We want each day to have its own chance at success. So we find ways to clean up before we start again. To look neat, to dress nicely, to wash our bodies, to have organized and pleasing spaces. It’s a sign of being human.

The same thing happens with the mind. We interact with each other. We communicate. We do things together. And we learn through experience how to handle the extraordinarily complex dance of mutuality in relationships. Sometimes, the experience comes at a price. We hurt someone, someone hurts us – and the memory of that creates a pain inside. A pain so powerful it reminds us, “Don’t do that again.” And sometimes we can get lost in that pain.

Paap. The word in Gurmukhi is “Paap.” “Sin” is a mistranslation, really. Sin is something you do against God, that blackens the soul. But in Gurmukhi, the Inner Being is always there, always Pure. Your Inner Self is always innocent and always light. It's the mind that gets clouded with these painful memories - memories that are the natural result of our human experience. The five poisons that are the shadow of the five elements. The pain, the poisons, the memories cause us to forget who we are. Cause us to forget how to be our selves, our genuine selves, on the earth.

We know the physical dirt is there – the normal wear and tear of daily living. And we clean it up because it’s outside of us. But sometimes we forget that the mental dirt is there, as well. Day after day. The accumulated memory of what went wrong and what almost went right. How well we behaved. How much we missed the mark. The mental dirt needs to be cleansed, too. So that we can start each day fresh, anew.

Jinee naam dhiaaiaa gaay masakat ghaal
Naanak tay much ujakay kaytee chhutee naal.

Those
Who meditate
In the core
Of their being

Who earn themselves
Through their hard work –

Naanak,
Their faces are radiant and beautiful
And so very many who are connected with them
Are liberated, too.
(Japji Sahib, Shalok, by Guru Nanak)

Meditation, Guru Nanak tells us, is hard work. Meditation doesn’t mean ignoring life, or becoming spaced out. Meditation is the process of going inside and consciously cleaning out the accumulated mental dirt that's part of life. We go inside and face it - the pain, the shame, the guilt, the anger, the confusion. And then, finding the sacred waters inside of ourselves we clean it up. (Japji Sahib, Pauree 21). We allow the Love within us to heal it. To shift it. To re-align those neuro-patterns. And in this way, we learn to consciously rise above the challenges and the karmas, and let our originality prevail. There’s grace there. Forgiveness. Peace. Whatever you want to call it. But technically, it is a process through which our breath and our inner being create the biochemical medicine that washes away the damage and pain to the nervous system caused by the normal wear and tear of earthly life.

This is one thing that the Guru has helped me understand more and more the older I get. I used to have a fantasy that somehow, someday, there would come a moment when the pain would never happen again. Or the poisons would be totally gone. But I realize what a joke that is. Life is experience. And experience has everything in it. Good and bad. Grace and insult. Victory and falling on your butt. There’s no one side for the pendulum to swing without it eventually swinging to the other side. Experience is all that we have – and experience includes everything. The day the poisons go away is the day that the body dies.

But what is possible is to develop some kind of discipline. In the Amrit Veyla, in the still hours before sunrise, to consciously face ourselves, our own memory, our own assessment of how we have lived in the last 24 hours or 24 lifetimes. It’s not pleasant. It’s not fun. We get to see how ugly we are, how mean, how petty, unpleasant and damaged. But at least we have a chance to say – here is the garbage of my own mind. Let me take out the trash so that what is pure in me, Divine in me, true in me has a chance to prevail. By God’s grace, let me face my tomorrow with a clean slate.

That is meditation. It’s hard work. But those who do the work, whose Light within shines, the Guru tells us their presence becomes a power to serve and elevate others.

There is so much trash in the world. Under the trees. On the sides of the streets. In the rivers and streams. And we turn a blind eye to it, we pretend not to see it – because what is to be done? But there is so much garbage, inside, as well. And that, at least, we have a chance to heal. We have a chance.

May you be blessed to find the dirt within you, and use the tools that the Guru has given, to clear it out, clean it up and give yourself a chance to live a new tomorrow.

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh

With Divine Light and Love,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Japji Sahib Weekend Intensive: Crestone, Colorado

2008-03-17T16:57:00.006-06:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

Sat Nam and many blessings to you.

For those of you have are curious and interested, the Crestone Healing Arts Center in Crestone, CO will be hosting a Japji Sahib intensive weekend May 9-11.

Details are:

$108 for the course. Lunch and snacks will be provided. For those who need it, lodging is available at the Center for $25 a night. Dates and times are

Friday May 9, 2008 (7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Saturday May 10, 2008 (9:00 am to 4:30 pm)
Sunday May 11, 2008 (9:00 am to Noon)

Pre-register with Sue or Dan Retuta by calling 719.256.4036 or via Email at
retuta@crestonehac.com.

We had a great time in New York City and in Millis, MA. Hope to post pictures of those courses soon. Come if you can make it. It will be a wonderful time - to just be together, meditate and do our best to understand the practical wisdom of Guru Nanak.

Hoping to see you there.

With Divine Light and many blessings,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

The Pull of Karma

2008-02-14T18:37:00.001-07:00

In my meditation this morning, I had a chance to see something about karma. One could say that after experimenting with a lot of different types of spiritual practices over the years, I never really understood karma until this morning. Though God knows, in theory, all of the different practices, with different teachers and different perspectives that I used to explore were aimed at one thing: to clear my karma.

But what does that mean, exactly? To clear one’s karma?

When I was younger, karma was the Eastern equivalent to the good/bad sin/redemption polarity I had grown up with. Only karma gave you a lot of lifetimes to work it out. There was a sense of something being “right” and something being “wrong.” And the consequences of doing the wrong thing or the benefits of doing the right thing – that was karma. In my mind’s eye, those definitions of “right” and “wrong” were written on a wall somewhere in heaven. If I could just memorize the list and put as many stars in the “right” column as possible, then God would love me and I would be protected and taken care of somehow.

What I saw in my meditation this morning was very different but deeply moving. Yogi Bhajan talks about the “you within you.” And the more I meditate on Gurbani and try my inadequate best to translate into English, I’ve found that “Naam” is really the experience of the You within you. The Divine Identity that lives within the heart. The Soul-Being that has come and gone through so many cycles of birth and death. And that the Naam and the mind are very different experiences within oneself. The mind has a pull. It pulls the being this way and that way – with its thoughts and desires, dreams and hopes, fears and fantasies. But the mind is not who we are. It’s a temporary identity gives to us in time and space. For this lifetime, for whatever brief purpose the Inner Being has come to the earth for.

But that Inner Being, that Divine Identity, that Naam, that You within you – has its own purpose. Its own reality and destination. And karma isn’t when you break a rule of what’s right and wrong written in some seventh heaven somewhere. Karma is inside of us, in the here and now. It’s a simple issue. The breath of life has been given to each of us as a gift. With this breath – are we delivering what the Inner Being has comes here to experience? Or not?

Gurbani talks about how the hand of the One guides everything. So how can we call anyone good or bad? When we get caught up in the judgements we might have with each other, we loose sight of our own inner judgment. It doesn’t matter what another person does. We have no control over each other, really. We can attempt to manipulate and influence. Cajole or threaten. But there’s no guarantee it’s going to work. Every human being is absolutely sovereign ultimately. And it’s a waste of breath to judge or control – though God knows it’s a very powerful habit that we can sometimes get into with each other.

But with every breath, through a meditative mind cultivated by the Guru’s words, we can judge ourselves. Am I living this moment in alignment with my spiritual Identity? Am I acting in this moment in a way that reflects the reality of my own dignity and Divinity? Am I applying the gifts of my body and the talents of my mind to deliver the journey that my soul took birth to take? Am I remembering that Deathless Light within myself? Or am I forgetting?

This is karma from what I have seen and experienced today. Those breaths, those moments, when we forget our Inner Divinity, our Inner Being and Light. And we let the pull of desire take us away from doing those things that the Spirit came here for. It’s hard because as a child, I never learned that God lives in me. Much less that the purpose of human life was to experience that. I was taught a lot of other nonsense that has never served me. It just created a lot of confusion. But when through the Guru’s teachings, we can find and touch the Naam within us – and we can know – hey – this is who I really am – then karma is simply the account we keep inside of us of when we have lived according to our Inner Divinity, or when we have betrayed ourselves -when we have betrayed our own Inner Truth. And in the name of balancing that account, we come back again and again.

I don’t have any conclusions to offer here. But what I am grateful for is to see today that this whole karma business – this whole business of coming and going – it’s between Me and me. Its between the Divine Identity that has existed since beginingless time and will continue unto Infinity – and the temporary “me” – this body, this mind that definitely had a beginning and will definitely have an end. The karma is whether or not I am capable of keeping my agreements with my Innermost Self – or whether I turn my back on that and get lost in the games of Maya. Its OK – karma happens. But I am grateful to see that its contained within me, and to know that the Guru promises that by meditating on Gurbani the balance between the mind and the Naam can happen. Everything can be put back into proper balance. And in that way, the karmas of lifetimes can fall away and the cycle of betraying my own Self can end.

May you be blessed to find the Light of the Divine within you, and to share that Light wherever you go.

Happy Valentines’ Day

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Japji Sahib: The Song of the Soul: Intensive Weekends: Update!

2008-02-06T18:32:00.001-07:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

We had a wonderful time at YogaYoga in Austin this last weekend. There was a great group of really dedicated students who came for the Japji Sahib course. Inspiring and heart-opening for all of us.

No pictures, though. Unfortunately...

A dear friend has asked me to post more details about some of the upcoming intensive weekends - so here it is - an update of the upcoming courses in February and March.

PLEASE NOTE: There is an additional workshop in New York City on Sunday afternoon that is an intro to Guru Amar Das' Anand Sahib.

Japji Sahib: The Song of the Soul by Guru Nanak
Feb. 29, March 1 and 2
New York City, NY

Friday, Feb. 29: 7 pm to 9 pm
Saturday, March 1: Noon to six with a snack in the afternoon
Sunday, March 2: 9:30 to 12:30

Location: Guru Ram Das Ashram in Brooklyn

473 13th Street. Between Prospect Park West
and 8th Avenue. Near the 15th street stop on the F-Train.

$108 advance registration

$125 at the door

Call for lodging options.

Register by calling: (718) 369-6674 or email sjsgrd@juno.com

The Spiritual Psychology of Bliss: An Introduction to Guru Amar Das' Anand Sahib
New York City, NY

Sunday, March 2
4:00 - 6:00 pm

Location: Kundalini Yoga East

The Kundalini Yoga East studio is in Suite 614, at 873 Broadway in Manhattan. Between 18th and 19th street directly across from ABC Carpets Giant Home Store.

http://www.kundaliniyogaeast.com/

To register: email kundaliniyogaeast@earthlink.net or call (212) 982-5959.

Japji Sahib: The Song of the Soul by Guru Nanak
Macrh 8, 9 and 10th
Millis, MA

Friday, March 8: 7 to 9 pm
Saturday, March 9: 9 to 4:30 pm
Sunday, March 10: 9 am to 1:30 pm (includes Gurdwara)

Location: Guru Ram Das Ashram
368 Village Street in Millis, MA

http://www.kundaliniyogane.com/

$151 for the weekend

$40 for people 18 and under

Call for lodging options

To register, please call (508)376-4525 or email Holly@kundaliniyogane.com

And don't forget, Crestone Colorado in May...

If you can make it, it'll be wonderful to see you there.

So here's a promise. Next time I post to my blog - it'll be an essay. I'm missing writing....

With Divine Light, Love and many blessings,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Japji Sahib: The Song of the Soul. Intensive Weekends: 2008

2007-12-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

Sat Nam and Divine Blessings.

In the first half of 2008, four different centers will be hosting a Japji Sahib weekend in their areas. The weekends will focus on meditation, chanting, a little bit of yoga and much conversation and discussion about the steps that Guru Naanak gives us in Japji Sahib to heal ourselves and find the Love that lives within us.

If it’s possible for you to be there, I would love to see you. Come join me with the sangat, and give yourself the time and space to go deeply into the universal teachings that started the Sikh tradition.

Austin, Texas
February 1-3, 2008
Yoga Yoga North
512.380.9800 or info@yogayoga.com

Brooklyn, New York
February 29 – March 2
Guru Ram Das Ashram
718.369.6674 or sjsgrd@juno.com

Millis, Massachusetts
March 8-10, 2008
Kundalini Yoga Northeast
508.376.4525 or holly@kundaliniyogane.com

Crestone, Colorado
May 9 -11, 2008
Crestone Healing Arts Center and the Siri Singh Sahib Memorial Temple of Crestone
719.256.4036 or retuta@crestonehac.com

Looking forward to seeing you there!

All Light and Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Metals of Earth

2007-10-24T17:45:00.000-06:00

Plays of Light. Earth. Metals of earth. What we bond with through our mind. Through the plays of space and time. What we miss. What we forget….

*********************************************************

The beach at Surfside, Texas Saturday before last was picturesque and perfect. October skies – the color of blue that only comes in autumn when every particle of the heavens radiates light from within itself. The sun cast its smiling glow on everything. And the ocean waters – just warm enough, just gentle enough (without being too tame) to enjoy.

Standing in the surf, mud and tiny tiny clams squished beneath my feet. The waves massaged my body, with the subtle currents pulling me one way, then pushing another.

I have had this love affair with the ocean since I was a child. It is a like a long-time friend who knows me, who I know. Every time we are alone together, I whisper secrets to it. It holds my secrets, year after year, decade after decade. With kindness and a gentle, rhythmic understanding.

This year, I said, “You have known me since I was a little girl. Look how much older I’ve become. But you look the same now as you did then.” And I could see in my mind’s eye what I might look like at 80. Frail, thin, wrinkled skin, wiry, silver hair, squinting eyes. In a black bathing suit. Standing in the ocean up to my waist. Remembering.

******************************************************

Since the beginning of September, I have felt Guru Nanak in my arc line telling me to write about the time he and Lehna took a walk into the forest. I keep trying to write, but I am failing at it miserably. I don’t want to see it from a psychological perspective because of what it says about human nature. But here we are. Somehow, I need to get past my own resistance, and write the story as my own heart sees it.

One day when Guru Nanak was getting along in years, a yogi came to visit him. Talking with the Guru, seeing his surroundings, the devotion with which he was served, the spiritual environments, and the community of disciples, the yogi said to Guru Nanak, “Well done. You must be pleased with this spiritual life you’ve created. So many people studying with you, being your students, walking the path of self-liberation.”

Guru Nanak looked at the yogi. “Forget it,” he said. “Let me show you how many students I really have.”

So the Guru in his wisdom sent word to his followers that he was going on a walk, and that he desired his Sikhs to walk with him. In anticipation of being in the presence of their Teacher, the Sikhs gathered around his door at the appointed time. But rather than greeting the crowd warmly and fatherly, Guru Nanak stormed out his front door preceded by two huge, snarling, frightening dogs. Brandishing a large knife, his own clothes tattered, his eyes wide and terrible, Guru Nanak yelled for the Sikhs to follow him. Then, he set off at a strong pace along the road.

When he appeared in the doorway looking wild and scary, many of the Sikhs fell back at the sight. The way the Guru looked frightened them. His behavior was strange and unfamiliar. So rather than follow him, concerned for their safety and wanting to feel protected, they turned away and walked home.

However, a good many took courage and decided to follow the Guru – out of curiosity, if nothing else. After some time of walking along behind their knife-branding, wild-acting Teacher, the people began to notice bronze coins scattered on the path.

Seeing the bronze coins, some of the Sikhs stopped. They gathered as many bronze coins as they could. Pockets full, hands full, feeling lucky and happy, they turned their back on Guru Nanak, left the company of the others and went home.

Further down the road, the bronze coins disappeared. But then silver coins began to appear in their place. Excited at their good fortune, many who did not stop for the bronze stopped for the silver, instead. Expressing their joy aloud, the gathered as many silver coins as they could.

Filling their pockets, using the cloth of their clothing to create bundles, they filled themselves with silver. Happy, appreciate, grateful, content – they stopped following the Guru and returned home.

By this time the number of people walking with Guru Nanak had fallen considerably. As the party advanced down the road, the silver coins disappeared. And gold coins took their place. The remaining party almost went mad with delight. Exuberant, exhilarated, praising and exclaiming their unbelievable fortune, they stopped and gathered the gold coins. They congratulated themselves and congratulated each other for having gone so far with the Guru. For having traveled such a distance. And look how the Guru rewarded them. With pure gold! They filled their pockets, made bundles from the clothes of their body, used anything and everything available to them to collect the gold. And then they went home.

But Guru Nanak, never a backward glance, kept walking. The road was becoming wilder and wilder, and he entered into a forest. By this time he had only 4 companions. His servant Lehna, the yogi and 2 other Sikhs.

There is more to this story, More tests in the forest, But I have to stop here. Stop at this place – looking back down the empty road – where bronze, silver and gold had swept all but three of Guru Nanak’s followers away.

It is a truth that is difficult to acknowledge. Why do people follow a Teacher? Why pray? Why belong to a religion at all? All of the Masters teach about Love, about the power of the Spirit, how to find the Divine inside of oneself, how to conquer the experience and illusion of death. But for so many, for most of us, really, when the test comes, our basic animal instinct for security and comfort has more power.

What do we love? God? No. Divinity? No. What we really love is the image of our own comfort. We love our own convenience. Most religious rituals and practices, if we are honest, are done to secure for ourselves that image of comfort and convenience. We love the Earth and what is of the Earth. Because we believe the Earth is what provides our security.

Isn’t it human? Isn’t it natural? Don’t we want success, status, money and the power, the influence that comes with it? Doesn’t it give us a sense of security? Of validation? Even a sense of purpose? So in some ways we tell ourselves stories about why we follow one path or another. We deceive ourselves a little about why we are spiritual. Sometimes, gold is the real God. The God of the Americans. The God of the Indians. Even the God of the Sikhs. We claim to follow the Guru because we want to merge with the Divine. But when gold is our secret devotion, our subconscious destination, our real image of deathlessness and Divinity – then we can get a little stuck. The Guru has no problem leading us down a road where we find all the earthly wealth we could ever ask for or imagine. The problem is – gold is not HIS ultimate destination.

Bronze, silver and gold come from metals buried in the earth. It is our animal impulse, our animal instinct that sees the earth and what it is of the earth as true security. But we are not just animals. We are something different – we are blend of animal, angel and human. We have a mind, a consciousness given to us to perceive the Divine. So when those metals of the earth overpower and distract the mind, it is because we have created an internal image and belief that they are the highest power. Though there is nothing in them inherently that has any power at all.

The Guru wants to take us to a different type of experience entirely.

The spiritual path that the Guru has given to the Sikhs is to find the Deathless Reality of the Divine Light buried inside our own bodies. And to know this Deathless Light as the only Power that truly matters. It spans the cycles of birth and death. It bathes us in pure pure Love. What an amazing potential the human birth offers – to break through the blocks of our own subconscious mind and find that Infinite, Ever-Present, Loving Reality in our own hearts. Waiting to embrace us and take us home.

The security we feel when we can touch the Naam within us, the Divine Identity inside of us, is real and everlasting. It doesn’t depend on the earth – though it has the capacity to enjoy the earth, unattached. To follow the Guru to the end is to find our Selves. And when we find our Selves, then we become the living Light of the Divine on the earth – enjoying whatever the Creator brings to us without ever loosing sight of the Deathless Divinity in all.

This is something, the Guru tells us, that no money can buy. But it is the answer to the most secret longing of every soul.

Guru Nanak continued into the forest. After traveling deep into its depths, the party came across what looked like a corpse lying next to a funeral pyre. A cloth was draped over the decayed and rotting body, and the stench that arose was gut-wrenching and terrible. Guru Nanak looked at Lehna and the other two Sikhs.

“Go and eat that dead corpse,” he said.

The two Sikhs, disgusted, horrified, distraught turned and left him.

Lehna bowed. “Shall I start at the head or the feet?” he asked with humility.

“Start in the middle,” said Guru Nanak.

In the forest, we leave the realms of social reality completely behind. And the types of tests that the Guru creates – there is no psychology to explain them. What the senses perceive, what the mind reacts to. In these realms where the soul has transcended earthly attachments and enticements – still – there are issues to resolve. These are tests to go through.

But that dimension is not something one can create for oneself. That dimension requires such trust, such love, such a deep state of surrender that it can only come through grace. What the Guru was testing in that moment was his own grace. It’s difficult to describe this, impossible to put it into words. But the test was not of those who followed him into the forest. Rather, Guru Nanak was testing to see upon whom his own grace had fallen. Upon whom his own grace had been received.

Lehna went to the corpse and sat in the middle. He lifted the cloth off of the body when something miraculous happened. The corpse transformed into a beautiful langar. Taking some of the food, he offered it first to Guru Nanak. The yogi was impressed.

“This man is one with you – he is of you,” the yogi said to Guru Nanak.

Guru Nanak agreed. “He is of me, he is my very limb – that is why he shall be known as Angad. He is my own true image.”

The state of grace is a total mystery. It can take us past our senses, past our intellect and rationality, past our fear of pain and death. Who has the words to describe and explain it? Grace can cause us to do what we ourselves could never do on our own. And when that grace prevails in a person, the Heavens themselves remember.

It has been said that Guru Nanak only had one true Sikh - Lehna who became Angad. And that Guru Gobind Singh only had five – the Panj Piaray. They didn’t choose who these Sikhs were. They didn’t decide it. But when the time came, and the test was given – what the Guru was truly testing was the reality and expression of his own grace.

How can we enter into that dimension? How do we have a prayer of accessing that state of consciousness that pulls us past the animal instinct for security and convenience, the mental reaction to what the senses perceive? The gift of Amrit is the gift given by the Light of Nanak in the body of Guru Gobind Singh to give us that chance for the Guru’s grace to prevail in our lives - in the face of absolutely impossible and insurmountable odds.

May you be blessed to experience the grace of the Guru in your own life and to let it carry you far beyond what your body and mind could ever do on its own.

All Love in the Divine.

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Guest Translation

2007-10-05T14:35:00.000-06:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

One of the most beautiful aspects of studying Gurbani is to share ideas with other people who study it, as well. And to see all the different ways that the various souls relate to and express their understanding of the Guru's wisdom.

Inni Kaur, who many of you may know as the editor of Nishaan Magazine, recently shared her own translation of a shabad from Bhagat Namdev with me. I've posted it here for you all to enjoy.

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

______________________________

To the seekers of Truth
I offer this translation of Bhagat Namdev’s Shabad.

Ang 485 of Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji

Bhagat Namdev says:

My mind
Measures the
Ultimate
Destination.

My tongue
Chanting
Cuts
My sins.

The
Noose of Death
Hangs
No more.

Lineage
Caste
Gender
Meaningless.

Days
Nights
Absorbed
In the One.

I stitch
I sew.
Dyed
In Truth.

Simran
The golden needle
Truthful Living
The silver thread
Attaches me
To the One.

Inni Kaur

Anand Karaj: Lavaan: The Sikh Marriage Ceremony

2007-08-02T18:03:00.001-06:00

There is a search that every human being goes through in life. It is a search so primal, so instinctual in us that endless songs have been sung about it. Plays written. Paintings painted. Philosophies expounded. It is an urge so strong that we are willing to lay down our lives for a taste of it. To leave the known completely behind and plunge into turbulence and chaos for it.

It is the search for Love.

And if there is one experience that can create bitterness, hatred, disappointment, or vengeance stronger than any other experience – it is when what we thought was Love disappoints us. Betrays us. Plays a game with us. I have written this before in other essays. And I write it again now. If there is ever a nuclear war, the moment that the first button for the first warhead gets pushed, the real cause behind it will be a person whose heart was simply so broken that life meant nothing anymore. And all the politics to justify it will just be the excuse.

This search for love that we play out with each other is one of the most powerful forces on earth. And yet we spend more time and energy learning how to drive an automobile than we do understanding how to manage and harness the longing for love, the pursuit of it, and the fulfillment of it.

Thank God Guru Ram Das showed us a way.

In the Engagement Shabads, Guru Ram Das gives us a way to prepare ourselves for marriage. Both the earthly marriage of husband and wife, and the heavenly marriage of the soul with the Divine One.

In the Lavaan, Guru Ram Das continues the lessons. Giving us practical instructions on the attitude one needs to have towards marriage. On the gifts that can come when the marriage is based on following the teachings of the Shabad Guru. And, by the Fourth Round, expressing the tremendous ecstasy that happens when, through marriage, we learn to merge into Love.

For the last couple of months, I have slowly been working on a translation of the Lavaan. Which is not perfect – but which I am grateful to share with you today.

What did working on this translation show me?

That society is based on the family. And if we truly want to have a peaceful, loving society, that begins with purity in the relationships between men and women. It isn’t possible that the connection and communication between men and women can be unkind, deceptive, confused, exploitive, game-playing – and then somehow there will be peace in the world. What happens at the global level is an amplification of what happens each and every day between the smallest pieces, so to speak. The simple and humble relationships that we cherish and hold most dear.

The fundamental reality that the Guru teaches is that the Light of the One dwells in all. We need to recognize it in ourselves first, and then recognize it in each other. And when our mating rituals take place in that Truth, in that Reality, then the frequency of peace and awareness it creates can bring the Divine down from the Heavens. Can cause Heaven and Earth to merge into One.

Marriage is not about what we desire. It’s not a promise that life will unfold according to our dreams, to what we want, to what we hope for. The Sikh marriage is a commitment to work out our karmas together under the Guru’s guidance, protection and instruction. That is the work that brings us to Anand – to bliss – to the state where every action reflects the reality of the soul. Not that we should be rich or not rich, have status or not, be successful in the world or not, have children or not. It’s a total surrender. We give ourselves to the Guru, we clear our karmas together, and in that process, our awareness changes, our consciousness changes, and the Love of the One is born within us. Together we merge into that Love, that One. That is where marriage can take us, if we commit to each other and to the path and teachings of the Shabad Guru.

The Anand Karaj and the Anand Sahib are also very related. Marriage is the work by which the adults realize the state of Anand. And the Anand Sahib is the guidance given by Guru Amar Das to the child about how to live life from the purity of the self. Parents and children together, as a family, as a unit, pursuing this study of how to live in the world from the reality of their own Spirit. If successful, that family unit would become so complete, so satisfied – there would be nothing outside of itself that it needed. These souls, at the Guru’s feet, clearing their karmas, building a life of truth, compassion, service and understanding. What a world would come from such a family.

What a world once came from those kinds of families.

Maybe I am idealizing a bit. I know I have a tendency to do that. But maybe for me, and for the countless people in the world who wished their upbringing could have been a little more peaceful…maybe this vision of a family developing Anand as a central part of their life…maybe that just seems like a promise of hope….for the future…

Marriage to create the security for the family that here, in this house, the Guru reigns and the blossoming of the soul’s destiny is the highest priority.

This translation is so pale and paltry compared to the original Gurmukhi. Guru Ram Das’s words are so powerful and mystical. There is so much happening in just a few words. And also between the lines – how they relate to each other and reference each other. It’s difficult to capture all that is being conveyed in translation. It’s as if Guru Ram Das is writing a ceremony of initiation into a totally different mystical reality. So please forgive if this reads too weak in places. There was no way to capture all that’s there in the original.

Here, for better or for worse, is my own humble attempt to translate the indescribably beautiful instructions of Guru Ram Das’s Lavaan.

Guru Ram Das’s Lavaan
Siri Guru Granth Sahib
Page 773-774

Oh Divine One
Within all

In this First Round
Of the marriage ceremony

We completely commit
To living a life
Filled with worldly duties
And obligations.

Darling One
Who created
The balance and union
Of the Sun
And the Moon.

The Divine Frequency
Reflected and captured in scripture
Says
Commit to Dharma –
To the path of compassionate
Truthful living.

This will allow you
To turn your back
On those habits of mind
Which bring pain
To yourself and to others.

Darling One
Who created
The balance and union
Of the Sun
And the Moon.

Commit completely
To Dharma –
To the path of compassionate,
Truthful living.

Meditate
On the Divine
Within everything

And the Divine Identity
Within yourself.

The sacred books
Say

Commit
To your Divine Identity.

The Sound of Wisdom
That takes you to Truth
Is the perfect Guide
And Teacher.

Have reverence for this Sound.
Respect and meditate on it
Always.

The painful memories
In your subconscious mind
Created from the mistakes
You’ve made,
And the harm
You’ve done
Will be destroyed.

Your life will flow
With ease.

And your inner reality
And outer reality
Will merge
In endless bliss.

By tremendous good fortune
The mind
Has become attached
To the sweetness
Of the Divine Essence
Continually present
In all.

Servant Naanak says
In the First Round
We have begun
To create
This sacred life work. (1)

Oh Divine One
Within all

In this Second Round
Of the marriage ceremony

We intermingle our being
With the Sat Guru –
The Sound of Wisdom
That guides us to Truth

And we acknowledge
This Sound of Wisdom
As our perfect protector.

Darling One
Who created
The balance and union
Of the Sun
And the Moon.

The fear in our mind
Gives into
The Fearless One

Destroying our egocentricity
Which creates so much filth
Inside us.

Darling One
Who created
The balance and union
Of the Sun
And the Moon.

Unpolluted fear
Arises

(The fear of the Inner Being
To not reach
Its destination).

We sing,
Celebrating the qualities
Of the Divine Essence
Within all.

We see
The Divine Essence
Within all

And this happens
By being in the
Presence
Of the Power
That balances and unites
The Sun
And the Moon

The Lover
And her Beloved.

The Divine Identity
Inside me
Sees that Power
In all my surroundings.

The Master of Creation
Resides complete and full
In all.

Within
And without

We intermingle our being
With that One
Infinite Lord.

As servants
Of the Divine
We sing
With absolute happiness.

Servant Naanak,
By walking
The Second Round

The Unstruck Sound
That cuts through the ego
Resounds. (2)

Oh Divine One
Within all

In the Third Round
Of the marriage ceremony

The mind
Transcends its attachments
And becomes filled
With light and love.

Darling One
Who created
The balance and union
Of the Sun
And the Moon.

The saintly servants
Intermingle their being
With the Divine

And by tremendous fortune
Come to receive
The Divine Essence
Inside themselves.

Darling One
Who created
The balance and union
Of the Sun
And the Moon.

Through the experience
Of the Divine Essence
We find
Our own purity.

Singing of the
Virtues and qualities
Of the Divine

Our own mouths speak
In the Divine Frequency.

By tremendous fortune
The saintly servants
Receive this experience
And they talk about
The Infinite, Indescribable story.

Within my heart
The Divine beats
Continuously.

The melody
Of Infinity
Grows within us

By meditatively repeating
Har
The Essence of the Divine
Within.

What an amazing destiny
Is on our foreheads
Oh Beloved One.

Servant Naanak
Declares
That in this
Third Round

The experience
Of the Divine Essence
Takes root
Inside of us,
Oh my Beloved,

And the mind
Becomes free. (3)

Oh Divine One
Within all

In the Fourth Round
Of the marriage ceremony

Through the experience
Of the Divine Essence
Inside of ourselves

The mind
Has surrendered
To the Universal Flow
And lives in ease.

Darling One
Who created
The balance and union
Of the Sun
And the Moon.

The one who flows
With the integrity
Of the Teacher’s words

Intermixes her being
Easily
With that Divine Essence.

By fixing her attention
On the Divine

Her mind and body
Are made sweet.

Darling One
Who created
The balance and union
Of the Sun
And the Moon.

Fixing her attention
On the Divine Essence
Within the Creation
Sweetness comes.

My Lord and Master
Is pleased.

Night and day
I live totally attuned
To the Divine Essence
Through Love.

The thoughts
Of the mind
Have realized
The fruit –

The Master of Creation.

The Divine
Causes
Its Identity within me
To play the music
Of the Infinite
Stronger and stronger.

The Divine Essence in all,
The Transcendent Lord,
The Coordination Consciousness

They are the One
Doing
All of this work.

The wealth
Of absolute happiness
Comes into my heart
Through the Divine Spirit
Within me.

Naanak declares
In the Fourth Round

By receiving the experience
Of the Divine Essence

We find union with
Our Invincible
Undying Lord. (4)

Personal Message in Memory of Yogi Bhajan, the Siri Singh Sahib

2007-07-02T15:31:00.000-06:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

Sat Nam.

In the days since Yogi Bhajan, also known as the Siri Singh Sahib left his body, I've watched our community struggle and grow into the responsibility that he left on our shoulders collectively. It has and continues to be a very human process. Each person sorting through their own memories of him and the teachings he left behind, striving to come to some conclusions about what we are without his physical presence here to guide us. And what we can reasonably expect to become.

Out of love, devotion and reverence for the amazing gift that he was to us, I have often heard in the last few years, "There will never be another person like him." "We'll have to collectively become 10 times greater than him - no one person will be able to do what he did." "How can there ever be another?" And in those voices, I hear the grief and the longing. Students honoring a unique soul - a Powerful Light - who came to the earth for such a brief period of time and who spread the technology of Kundalini Yoga and the practice of Sikh Dharma to every continent in the world.

Yet, as a student, it has not sat well with me - these protestations. I remember the Siri Singh Sahib saying over and over again that the minimum requirement of a student was to become ten times greater than the teacher. He never said "collectively." He said, "minimum requirement." And in the private conversations that have no public record, the memory of how great he was has, perhaps, created in us a fear. A fear of how daunting it would be to even try to become ten times greater. And how easy it is to resort to the human habit of looking at a great soul as some kind of god, as some kind of deity - who was special, who was different, and who no one else could ever hope to match.

It is, in its own way, a challenge to our psyche as we cross this thresh-hold from Pisces to Aquarius. That we in our grief and mourning deify the man, and proclaim that there shall never be another equal to him. Even though it goes against the very grain of his teachings. Where he said that he was not special, that he was not different, that any of us could realize what he realized. That it was our destiny to become that great. And in retrospect, when we honor him by saying, "No one will ever match him," somewhere deep inside my heart I wonder if in reality that's not the greatest insult, the greatest slap in the face we could give?

1000 days after his passing, in my meditation this morning, something opened up and I saw the trick behind it. The rub, as Shakespeare would say. It's difficult sometimes to put these visions into words. But in honor of him, let me have at least a little bit of courage to try.

I remember the Siri Singh Sahib saying so many times that whatever he did had nothing to do with him at all. It wasn't by his own will or his own ego, by his own machinations or own desires that he became what he became. He gave himself to the Divine - and that Divine Hand took his life and created something magnificent out of it. Something awe-inspiring and wonderful. All he had to do was to surrender to it - and keep surrendering, stay surrendered and allow that Power to guide and create it all.

The Guru says that the Divine has no limits. So when we say there will never be another like him, we are really cursing ourselves. Saying that the Divine has a limit. That the Divine could never do better than him. That the Divine could only make a life like that once a century or once an age.

But Guru says the Divine has no limits. So if we in purity of heart - each one of us - give ourselves to the Divine completely in that same state of surrender; if we follow the words of the Guru, "Man, tan, dhan - sabh tayraa." "Mind, body and earthly possessions - they all belong to Thee;" then what limit is there in what the Creator can create with our lives? What limit is there in what we can each of us become individually? Why not collectively be a billion times greater than him? Why are we limiting that Unlimited God - when everything he taught us, everything he sacrificed in order to teach us - was to give us the chance to realize that Unlimited God within ourselves?

It isn't that by our own ego we can become anything. Or by our own manipulations and machinations we can achieve anything. We can't. But we can surrender ourselves completely to the Unlimited One and in that way - 100 people, 1000 people, a million people could become 10 times, 100 times, a billion times greater than him. In the Will of the Divine.

Isn't that what's needed right now in the world? A nation of people who can do what he did - and more?

It's the prayer I hold for all of us as we cross this threshold of the 1000 days. That we experience and realize the Unlimited One within ourselves and within each other. That we let ourselves speak, project, pray, act and serve so that we do not live in the shadow of a memory of a great man. But rather - like a million suns, trust the Guru's teachings and burst into the experience of our own Light - to be a guiding force for love, healing and peace in a dark and frightening world.

May you find the Unlimited One within your own heart and allow it to create you to become whatever It chooses you to become.

All Love in the Divine,

Sardarni Sahiba Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa
July 2, 2007

(July 2, 2007 marks the 1000th day since the Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji's Light merged with the Supreme Light. The number 1,000 symbolizes both completion and mastery. As we mark July 2, 2007, the 1,000th day since the Siri Singh Sahib’s passing, we honor the experience of completion and we also honor new beginnings. This occasion of 1,000 days marks the completion of our cycle of integration as a spiritual family. It is the completion of our group karmas and the beginning of the universal destiny in which each person exists as a subtle embodiment of the consciousness of the Dharma. - Dr. Gurucharan Singh Khalsa and Guruka Singh Khalsa.)

Engagement Shabads of Guru Ram Das

2007-05-09T17:59:00.000-06:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

It's been a long time coming. This particular translation. Not because it took a very long time to do. But just because it took a very very very long time to find out that this even existed. Lifetimes, probably, when you get right down to it.

In the last year, there have been a few people who have asked if I had translated the Lavaan yet. Because they wanted to use the translation for their wedding. Once you've heard a request three times from three entirely different people - you begin to get the feeling that the Universe is trying to tell you something.

Whenever embarking on a new translation project, I like to discuss the subject with my Gurbani teacher, Dr. Balkar Singh. When I asked him about the Lavaan, what he told me was that I couldn't translate the Lavaan first. What he taught me was that there are four Shabads right before the Lavaan in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. (Starting on page 772). These shabads are written by Guru Ram Das. And they are the called the Engagement Shabads.

"You have to understand the Engagement Shabads before you can translate the Lavaan," he told me.

That was almost a year ago.

Finally, this last month, at the kind and insistent request of a friend to have the Lavaan translated for her upcoming wedding, I took a deep breath and began to read through the Engagement Shabads. Even reading other translations of them brought me to tears. They brought me to tears because in four simple stanzas, Guru Ram Das outlines the consciousness we need in order to be ready to marry. Or perhaps - more profoundly - to be able to give, receive and merge into Love. And that consciousness has nothing to do with being young and sexually desireable, or being successful and clever, or being rich and famous. The consciousness to give, receive and merge into Love has to do with stability of spirit, with surrender to the Guru's teachings, and with a profound peace in knowing that the time of these events are written for us before we're even born. There's a Hand guiding our lives - and that Hand - when we let it guide us - will guide us to merge into Love. When the time is right.

For me, passages like these Engagement Shabads work on two levels at the same time. They describe the relationship between the soul and the Divine. But they also describe the relationship between a man and a woman. Because when the relationship between a man and a woman is right, it mirrors the relationship between the soul and the One. That's why we look for completion through a partner, in my humble view of it. Not that we lack anything inside of ourselves. We don't. But somewhere inside there's a spiritual knowing that when two become one - both loose an individual identity - but gain something far greater than either could have on their own - in return.

So for better or for worse, here is my humble attempt to translate the Engagement Shabads of Guru Ram Das. It's different in places than what is traditional. Especially in the translation of the line "Bal Raam Jio." But that's maybe an essay for another time.

Guru Ram Das's Engagement Shabads

Siri Guru Granth Sahib

Page 772-773

One Spirit Beyond
Moves within the Creation –
Coordinating
Consolidating
Continually
Creating.

This understanding
Shall come to you
As a sweet blessing
As a gift
Through the Sound of Wisdom
That guides you
To Truth.

Coming under
The perfect protection
Of the Living Wisdom
That guides me
To Truth

All my defects
And vices
Have been sold

And You adorn me
With virtues.

Darling One,
Who embodies the Power
Of the Balance and Union
Between the Sun
And the Moon.

Meditating on
The continual creativity
Of Divinity
And Your Spirit
Within me

I constantly
Constantly speak
In the frequency
Of that
Divine Guiding Wisdom.

Darling One,
Who embodies the Power
Of the Balance and Union
Between the Sun
And the Moon.

The frequency
Of the Divine Guiding
Wisdom

Is always sweet.

Be attached
To that sweetness.

It destroys
The defects of the mind.

It destroys
Defects in action.

The disease
Of ego
Goes.

Fear runs away.

And the state
Of balanced
Equipoise

Of flowing ease

Mingles
Within my being.

My body
Has become
A bed

For the Sound Current
That cuts the ego

Taking me
From my Inner Darkness
To Light.

It is so
Luxuriously comfortable –

The essence
Of wisdom.

It brings me
Total pleasure.

Night and day
I constantly enjoy
Peace
Intermixing
In my being.

Naanak,
Union
Was pre-ordained
From the beginning
Of time. (1)

With love
The Father of the bride
Comes

Bringing gifts
Of Truth
And deep contentment
To arrange His daughter’s
Engagement.

Darling One,
Who embodies the Power
Of the Balance and Union
Between the Sun
And the Moon.

Meeting with
The saintly people
The families sing
In the frequency
Of the Divine
Guiding Wisdom.

Darling One,
Who embodies the Power
Of the Balance and Union
Between the Sun
And the Moon.

Singing
In the frequency
Of the Divine
Guiding Wisdom

One comes into
The most exalted
State.

Meeting with those who
In their purity
Have recognized
Their essential Union
With the Divine

One becomes
Beautiful
To behold.

Anger and
False identity
Flee
From the body.

Hypocrisy and
Doubt
Are destroyed.

The pain of ego
Departs.

Peace
Comes in.

And the body
Becomes healthy
Free of all
Sickness and
Pain.

Through the sweet gift
Of the Divine Teacher

We recognize
The Transcendent Master,
Oh Naanak,
Who is a storehouse
Of virtue. (2)

Those who follow
Their own thoughts

Are separated
From Love
By such a great
Distance.

Burning
In their own desires
They do not obtain
The Palace.

Darling One,
Who embodies the Power
Of the Balance and Union
Between the Sun
And the Moon.

Within them
Is the shell
Of the false self

Steeped in
Deception
Where the life is
Disconnected
From the soul’s reality.

Buying deception.
Taking in deception.

Darling One,
Who embodies the Power
Of the Balance and Union
Between the Sun
And the Moon.

Earning
A hypocritical existence

They suffer
So intensely.

Without the
Divine Sound of Wisdom
That leads
To the Ultimate Reality

They never find
The path.

Scattered
Dispersed

A fool
On the
Destructive road
Of doubt
And illusion

They are pulled
One way

Then pulled
Another

And their lives
Are completely ruined.

By Your own
Kindness,
Transcendent One
Who gives to all,

The Sound of Wisdom
That guides us to Truth

Brings Your perfect protection
As It intermingles
Within us.

After so many lifetimes
Of being separated
From Love

Your slave
Finally meets with You.

Naanak,
Then life becomes
Filled with ease
And blessed
With profound
Good fortune. (3)

According to the
Divine calculation

It is time
For Love
To come.

Abundance
Blessings and
Unrestrained joy
Fill the heart.

Darling One,
Who embodies the Power
Of the Balance and Union
Between the Sun
And the Moon.

The learned ones and
The teachers
Have come forward.

They sit
And study
The time
Of the Husband’s arrival.

Studying
The time
Of the Husband’s arrival

The mind
Plays in tune
With the Divine
Frequency
Of the Spirit.

And that
Song
Grows

When she hears
That her best friend
And Lover
Has come home.

The elders
Of virtue and wisdom
Sit in council

And give their blessing
That this
Perfect Marriage
Be performed.

In alignment
With the essence
Of wisdom

She receives
Her Husband Spouse

The Perfect Protector

Whose Light
Cannot be
Chased and caught

Whose vastness
Is far beyond
The reach
Of her senses.

He is always new

This Beloved Friend
Of her childhood.

Naanak,
When the kindness and compassion
Of the Divine
Comes in

These Lovers
Intermingle their beings

And those who were
Once separate

Shall never separate
Again. (4)

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Anand Sahib: Paurees 36-40

2007-02-12T18:03:00.000-07:00

You!
Eyes of mine!

The Creator placed
The Divine Light
Inside of you.

There is
Nothing else
For you to see
But Divinity.

There is nothing else
For you to see
But Divinity.

And when the
Divine One
Looks back at you

And you see
The Divine Essence
In all around you

Then you have truly
Seen something!

This poisonous world
That you behold

Is really simply
The Divine
In form.

It is just
The Divine in form.

Let yourself see it
This way.

Through the blessing
And gift
Of the Divine Teacher

You will
Understand this
In the depth of your being.

Then
All that you see
Will be
The Energy
Of the One.

There is nothing else
But Divinity.

Says Naanak,
These eyes were blind.

Yet by
Intermixing and intermingling
My being
With the
True Sound of Wisdom

They became bright
With Divine Sight. (36)

You!
Ears of mine!

You were sent here
To listen deeply
To the Ultimate Reality.

You were sent here
To listen deeply
To the Ultimate Reality.

Attached to the body

Listen.
Listen
With all of your being
To that frequency
And vibration
Which expresses
The Truth.

Those who deeply listen

Their minds and bodies
Become fresh and lush
Renewed,
Healed,
Every-growing,

And their tongues
Merge with
The Essential Taste.

The Ultimate Reality
Which is
Beyond mental comprehension

To experience it
Is so awesome.

For those who are
In this state

They can't even
Talk about it.

Says Naanak,
Deeply listen
And remember
The Deathless Identity
Inside you.

Then you will be
In your
Original Purity.

Deeply listening
To the Ultimate Reality
Is what you
Have been sent here
To do. (37)

Divine One,
After you placed
The being
In the cave
Of the body

The breath
Was played
Like a musical instrument.

And as the breath
Was played
Like a musical instrument

The nine doors
Of the body
(Eyes, ears,
Nose, mouth
And the lower functions)

Opened.

But the Tenth Door

The mystical crown
Where the heavens
And earthly reality
Meet

Was kept secret.
Concealed.

Those who
Attach themselves
With trust
To the Door
Of the Teacher

For some of them,
The Tenth Door
Shall be shown.

There, the Infinite Forms
Of the Divine Spirit
Reveal themselves

And you will see
The nine treasures
As forms of the One.

There is no end
To it.

The Divine
In all Its forms
Is Limitless.

Says Naanak,
Beloved Ones,
After the Creator
Placed
The being
In the cave
Of the body

The breath
Was played
Like a musical instrument. (38)

Sing this
Wisdom Song
Of the Ultimate Reality

In the family home
Where Such Truth lives.

Sing this
Wisdom Song
In the family home
Where Such Truth lives

And there
Meditate always
On the Formless One
In all the forms.

Those who you
Rely upon,
Divine One,
They meditate
On this Ultimate Reality.

By flowing
With the Sound of Wisdom
They understand it
In the depth of their being.

This Ultimate Reality
Is the Husband
Of all.

And for those
Who are extraordinarily blessed,

They obtain Him.

Says Naanak,
Sing this
Wisdom Song
Of the Ultimate Reality

In the family home
Where Such Truth lives. (39)

Listening Deeply
To this Wisdom Song

The consciousness
Of living every breath
In tune with
The reality of the Spirit

Has appeared.

We are so
Blessed and lucky!

All of our
Wishes, hopes
And intentions
Are fulfilled.

The Great Transcendent
Lord and Master
Has been received

And we cross over
All sorrows, agony,
And afflictions.

We cross over
Suffering
Sickness
And pain

By deeply listening
To the frequency and vibration
That opens us
To the experience
Of the Formless One
In all.

The realized souls
Have adorned themselves
In their finest.

Brothers and sisters
Celebrate.

Everything is
Fulfilled and completed
Through the knowledge
That the Teacher’s
Sound of Wisdom
Brings.

Those who
Deeply Listen
To this Sound
Become Pure.

Those who speak
From that consciousness
Become Pure.

Abiding with
The True Sound of Wisdom
Everything is
Perfected.

Naanak makes
One humble request.

Attach me
To the feet
Of the Teacher

And let that Teacher
Play me
As a musical instrument

Vibrating
The subtle, silent frequency
Of the Divine. (40)

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Anand Sahib Translation: Paurees 31-35

2007-02-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

Oh my business-minded mind,
Trade in the wealth
Of the Divine Essence.

Oh my business-minded mind
Trade in the wealth
Of the Divine Essence.

Through the True Sound of Wisdom
You will know
This wealth.

Let all beings
Continually meditate
And repeat
Har…Har…
The Essence of the Divine
In all.

You will earn
A profit
From doing this
Every day.

By the destiny given
By the Divine

This wealth
Comes to those
And intermixes
In their being.

Says Naanak,
Oh my business-minded mind,
Let it happen.
Trade in the wealth
Of the Divine Essence. (31)

Tongue!

No matter
What tastes
You sample

Your thirst
Is not going to go.

Your thirst
Is not going to go.

There is no other taste
Anywhere
That will satisfy you

So long as
You do not possess
The sweet taste
Of the Divine Essence
Inside you.

When you possess
That sweet taste
Of the Divine
Inside you

Drink it in.

Drink in the taste
Of your Inner Divinity.

After that,
No earthly desires
Will bind you
Again.

When the soul
Is ripe enough
For grace
To prevail

And the
True Sound of Wisdom
Intermixes
In your being

Then the sweet taste
Of the Divine
Comes.

Says Naanak,
All other tastes
Are completely
Forgotten

When the Divine
Comes
To live
In the mind. (32)

Body of mine!

The Creator put
The Divine Light
Inside you

And then you came
Into the world.

The Creator put
The Divine Light
Inside you

And then you came
Into the world.

That Divine Essence
Is Herself
The Mother

And Himself
The Father.

Through that Power
A being takes form
And the physical world
Becomes visible.

By the blessing
And gift
Of the Sound of Wisdom

You will understand this
In the depth of your being.

And then you
Will be able to go along
With the changes and turns of life -

Like a river
Flowing into
The ocean.

Going along
With the changes
And turns of life

You will come
To see
The Divine
In everything.

Says Naanak,
The foundation
Of the earth
Was fashioned

And the Divine Light
Placed inside it.

And then you
(Body of mine)
Came into
The world. (33)

When I heard
That my Beloved Lord and Master
Was on His way

My mind became filled
With a deep longing
To see Him.

Oh my dear girlfriends,
Sing happy happy songs
Of the Divine

Who has made
My home
A sacred place.

Sing
And keep singing
Joyous songs
Of the Divine
My sweet girl-friends.

Grief and pain
No longer
Have any power
Over me.

Attached
To the feet
Of the Teacher

Those days
Are blessed
With such good fortune

When my own
Beloved Husband
Appears to me.

Through the Shabad –
The Sound Current
That cuts the ego

Given by
The Sound of Wisdom

I have come to know

The subtle
Silent
Language
Of the Divine.

How I enjoy
That Creative Lord
Who dwells
Within me
As my own Spirit.

How I enjoy
The sweet taste
Of that One.

Says Naanak,
My Lord and Master
Himself
Arranges the meeting.

He is the cause
And He – the effect –
Of that Yoga

That Union

Of the Beloved
With her One True Love. (34)

Body of mine!

After coming
Into the world

What are you doing?

What consequences
Are you creating
With your actions?

What are you doing?

What consequences
Are you creating
With your actions??

You, Body,
Who has come
Into the world?

The Divine Energy
Which created
And fashioned you

The Essence of that Divinity
Does not live
In your mind.

Through the blessing
And gift
Of the Sound of Wisdom

The Divine Essence
Comes to live
In the mind.

Then,
Your latent potential
Wakes up and
Becomes manifest

And what was written
For you
As your destiny

You receive.

Says Naanak,
This body
Becomes successful

For those
Whose awareness
Remains absorbed
With the True Sound of Wisdom. (35)

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Anand Sahib Translation: Paurees 26-30

2007-02-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

After creating
The polarities
Of male and female

And through
the interaction
Of those energies,
Oh Love,

Your bring the Creation
Into a useful existence
Guided
By Your own command.

You bring the Creation
Into a useful existence
Guided
By Your own command

And You, Yourself,
Behold it.

Someone who flows
With the Sound of Wisdom

Comes to experience this
So deeply
They understand it
In the depth of their being.

To break out
Of the prison
That confines you

And become
Spiritually free

Let the Sound Current
That cuts the ego

Make Its home
In your mind.

This happens
For those who,
By Your Hand,
Divine One,
Flow
With the
Sound of Wisdom.

They are attuned
And attached
With devotion
To Thee.

Says Naanak,
You, Yourself,
Are the Hand
That creates
The Creation.

You, Yourself,
Cause us to understand
The Guiding Command
Behind it. (26)

There are so many
Books
Discussing
What is right
And what is wrong,

But they do not
Create realized people
Who know the Essence
Of the Game.

They do not
Create realized people
Who know the Essence
Of the Game.

Without the
Sound of Wisdom,
The Essence of the Game
Cannot be known.

Caught in the world
Of illusion and doubt,

Bound by the
Three qualities of
Earthiness, Fire
And Ether

They sleep.

And sleeping,
The night of their life
Passes away.

When the Teacher
Touches you
With kindness

Then you wake.

For those
Who have been awakened,
The Divine Essence
Makes Its home
In their minds.

And they speak
In the frequency
And vibration
Of remembering
Their own
Deathless Spirit.

Says Naanak,
This Essence
Comes to those who,
Day and night.
Are bound in love
Attuned to the Divine.

They wake up
And the darkness
Of their night
Passes away. (27)

Divine One,
You gave us
Your protection
When we were
In the womb
Of our mothers.

Oh my mind,
Why ever forget this?

Oh mind,
Why ever forget
Such a great Giver
Who brought us the food
To keep us alive
In the fire
Of the womb?

Nothing can touch
The one who,
Through her own
Spiritual Self-Identity
Stays attuned to Thee
Through love.

You, Yourself,
Are the Attunement.

You, Yourself,
Are the ties
That bind us to You.

The one who flows
With the Sound of Wisdom
Is always protected
And held
By Thee.

Says Naanak,
Oh mind,
Why ever forget
Such a great
Giver? (28)

As is
The fire
Inside the womb

So is the life
When we come out.

The fire
Of the Creative Play
Is one
And the same

And through it
The hand of the Creator
Fashions the games.

By Your own inclination,
Oh Love,
You come into form

And You love
Being in the midst
Of Your beautiful family.

But the devotional love
Of the soul slips away
And we become bound
By our own desires.

This happens
Under the pressures
Of the world around us.

And in this
Creative Play
We forget
The Essence of the Divine.

Infatuation arises.

And we focus on loving
Other people
Other things.

Says Naanak,
Those who are blessed
By the Sound of Wisdom

Become bound by love
Attuned to the Divine.

They live
With devotion

Even in the midst
Of the world. (29)

The Divine Essence
That lives inside of me
And inside
Everything around me

Is beyond price.

There is no power
Or wealth
That can purchase
The experience of it.

No person exists
Who has the power
Or wealth
To buy it.

Trying and failing
The world
Weeps in anguish-
Defeated.

In this state of defeat,
If you meet
The Teacher of Truth

Surrender your head
-Your intellect
-Your concept.

From within yourself
Let your ego
Go.

The One who
Owns you,
Dear,

Intermingle and
Abide
With that One.

The Divine Essence
Will come
And make Its home
In your mind.

The Divine Essence
That lives inside me
And inside
Everything around me

Is beyond price.

They are so very fortunate,
Naanak,
Who have come under
The protective Ownership
Of the Divine. (30)

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Anand Sahib Translation: Paurees 21-25

2007-01-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

If someone seeking
Spiritual understanding
Abides with
The Sound of Wisdom

That person will become dedicated
And surrendered
To the guidance of the Teacher.

That person
Seeking spiritual understanding
Will become dedicated
And surrendered
To the guidance of the Teacher

Remaining focused
Within herself
on the Sound of Wisdom.

She meditates
On the feet of the Teacher
In her own heart.

And her very essence
Protects that relationship.

This experience
Causes her
To leave her ego behind,
Giving herself completely.

Without
The Sound of Wisdom
There is nothing else
Worth knowing.

Says Naanak,
Listen
You who live
By your purity, grace
And spiritual discipline

In this way
A person seeking spiritual understanding

Becomes dedicated
And surrendered
To the Teacher. (21)

If someone turns away from
The Sound of Wisdom

Without the guidance
Of that Teacher

Spiritual freedom
Isn’t possible.

There is no other way
To attain spiritual freedom.

Go and ask those
Who have
Discriminating insight.

For so many births
Doubts
Have come.

Without the True Sound
Of Wisdom
Spiritual freedom
Isn’t possible.

To attain
Spiritual freedom

Be humble.
Attach yourself
To the Teacher’s feet.

The Teacher of Truth
Will cause you
To listen to the Shabad-
The Sound Current
That cuts the ego.

Says Naanak
Think about it.

See it in
This way.

Without the
True Sound of Wisdom

Spiritual freedom
Isn’t possible. (22)

Come
Seekers of Truth

You who are
Cherished
By the Teacher Divine

Sing
In that frequency
And vibration
Which connects you
To the experience
Of the Formless One
In all.

Sing in that
Vibrational Frequency
Given by
The Sound of Wisdom.

That Frequency
Is supreme
Among all frequencies.

Those who
Through grace
Receive this
Vision

They dissolve
Into the Sound of it
In their own hearts.

Drink in
Those Sounds
That will awaken in you
The memory
Of your own
Deathlessness.

Then you shall
Always and forever
Project the color
Of your Essential
Inner Divinity.

Meditate continuously
On the One
Who protects the
Entire Creative Energy
Of the Universe

Who holds
The Divine Mother
In His arms.

Says Nanak,
Always sing
In this frequency
And vibration
Which connects you with
The experience
Of the Formless One
In all. (23)

Without the
True Sound of Wisdom

Other frequencies
And dimensions
Are immature and unsatisfying.

Those frequencies
And dimensions
Are immature and unsatisfying .

Without the
True Sound of Wisdom

All other frequencies
Are immature.

What is spoken
Is immature.

The sense of listening
Is immature.

All that is described
Explained
Seen is immature.

These people don’t say anything

Even if they talk
Continuously
About the Divine
With their tongues.

Those whose awareness
Has been stolen
By the beauty
of Your Creative Play

Who become forgetful
Of Thee,
Oh Love,

They speak
Just for the sake
Of speaking.

Says Naanak
Without the
True Sound of Wisdom

All other frequencies
And dimensions
Are immature
And unsatisfying. (24)

The Sacred Sound
That cuts the ego shackles
Of the mind

Given by
The Teacher

Is a rare
And precious gem
Set with pure diamonds.

Attach your mind
To this rare and precious gem
Of the Shabad -

Of the Sound Current
That cuts the ego

And merge yourself
Into It.

The Shabad
Will cause your mind
To intermingle with
The Ultimate Reality

Seeing the Formless One
As Light
Coming into form

As you become
Fixated with Love
For the experience.

You, yourself
Will become
The diamond holding
That precious gem.

Oh Divine One,
You are the power
That gives the gift
Of understanding this
In the depth of our being.

Says Nanak,
The Sacred Sound
That cuts the ego
Is a rare and precious gem
Set in pure diamonds. (25)

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Japji Sahib Courses: Crestone, Colorado and Phoenix, Arizona

2007-01-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

We interrupt the posting of the Anand Sahib Translation with a word from our sponsors.

:)

To all of you who have emailed and written asking me to teach the Japji Sahib course in your area: By Guru's grace, here are two upcoming opportunities to spend a weekend meditating on Guru Nanak's Japji Sahib.

Take a break from your daily life, and open your heart to deeply understand the beautiful, powerful and elevating wisdom of Guru Nanak.

With a full-time job, I will be able to teach maybe three or four times this year. So please come join me if it's possible for you, in Colorado or Arizona, in the first half of 2007.

Here are the dates and the details. By God's grace, may we come be together, with each other, in the vibration of the Shabad Guru.

Japji Sahib Course
Crestone, Colorado
April 21-23
$108 for the course
$25 a night for lodging if you register now.

To register contact Sue or Dan:
Tel: 719.256.4036
Email: retuta@crestonehac.com

Sponsored by the Crestone Healing Arts Center and the Siri Singh Sahib Memorial Temple of Crestone. This intensive will begin on a Saturday night in Crestone, continue all day Sunday and finish Monday morning before noon. Discussion, chanting, yoga, meditation, group dialogues, good food, unbelievably gorgeous mountains and heart-warming spiritual community.

Saturday, April 21: 7-9 pm
Sunday, April 22: 9 am-4:30 pm
Monday, April 23: 9 am to noon

Japji Sahib Course
Phoenix, Arizona
June 1-2
$108 for the course
$84 for students

To register contact Kewal Kaur:
Tel: 602.271.4480
Email: kewal@yogaphoenix.com

Sponsored by Yoga Phoenix, this intensive will begin on a Friday night and continue into Saturday. Discussion, chanting, yoga, meditation, group dialogues, and wonderful spiritual community close to the heart of downtown Phoenix.

Friday, June 1: 6:30 - 8:30
Saturday, June 2: 10 am - 4:30 pm

God's grace - hope to see you there.

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Anand Sahib Translation: Paurees 16-20

2007-01-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

This sacred
Wisdom Song
Of Bliss-

The Sound of it
Is so beautiful.

The Sound of it
Is so beautiful
That the Teacher of Truth tells us -

Listen to it
In every moment
With all of your being.

There are those who
Accept what they hear
When they listen
And allow it
To dwell deep within them.

From the very beginning
Of Creation
The moment of the soul’s
Awakening was written.

And for those who
Listen and surrender
That moment has come.

It is now.

Some wander
Endlessly

Talking about this
With words.

But talking and wandering
Won’t bring the experience
You’re searching for.

Says Naanak,
This sacred
Wisdom Song
Of Bliss -

The Sound of it
Is so beautiful.

The Teacher of Truth tells us
Listen to it
With all of your being. (16)

Those devoted servants
Who meditate
On the Divine Essence
Inside of themselves
And inside of
Everything around them

Realize their
Original Purity.

Meditating
On the Divine Essence
Inside of themselves
And inside of
Everything around them

They realize their
Original Purity.

That meditation happens
When you
Consciously flow
With the Sound of Wisdom.

They live in a pure way
In the midst of mother, father
And siblings.

The live in a pure way
Among community -
And their experience
Of purity multiplies.

Talking about
What is pure.

Listening
To what is pure.

Only those people
Realize their
Original Purity

Who invite
Their Pure Spirit
To dwell
In their own minds.

Says Naanak
Those people
Realize their Original Purity
Who
Flow with the Sound of Wisdom
And continually meditate
On the Divine. (17)

Performing rituals
And rites

Won’t give you ease -

The ability to be at ease
With whatever happens
In life.

And without
Feeling at ease
With whatever happens
In life

The mental disturbances
That come from
Fear, doubt and worry
Will never depart.

The mental disturbances
That come from
Fear, doubt and worry
Will never depart

Even by practicing
So many disciplines
And constantly following
Every religious rule.

All the mental disturbances
That fear gives birth to, darling,

Muddy your own
Subconscious mind

And keep you
From seeing
Your Inner Divinity.

What discipline
Will wash
That dirt away?

The mind
Shall be cleansed
When you attach yourself
To the Shabad-
To the Sound Current
That cuts the ego.

Only then
Will Essential Divinity
Permeate
Your awareness.

Says Naanak,
The Teacher’s
Sound of Wisdom
Gives this gift.

You become at ease-
Balanced and peaceful -
In the midst of everything
And anything.

And in this way,
The mental disturbances
That come from fear, doubt and worry
Depart. (18)

The inner being
Is clouded with
Filth.

But the outer image
Is pure.

The outer image
Is pure.

But the inner being
Is clouded with
Filth.

Those who
Live like this
Have gambled
With their lives
And lost.

There is a thirst inside
Which is so great.

And because of that thirst
We attach ourselves
To things that
Make us sick

Forgetting about death.

In all the sacred writings,
The Divine Spirit
Within us
Is considered the highest,
Most exalted pursuit.

Those who have
Not learned
To listen deeply

To listen
With all of their being

Wander lost
Like ghosts.

Says Naanak
When people abandon
The experience of
Ultimate Reality
And attach themselves
To deception

They have gambled
With their lives
And lost. (19)

The inner being
is pure.

The outer image
Is pure.

The outer image
Is pure.

The inner being
Is pure.

This happens
When you put
Your effort
Into doing those actions

Which are so
Worthwhile

That the Teacher
of Truth

Has given you
To do.

There is a state
Of awareness
Where one soul,
One spirit
Can directly communicate with,
Feel and perceive
Another soul,
Another spirit
Through love.

But when you just love
The illusions around you
You will never have
That experience.

Take your earthly
Desires and longings
And merge them
Into a love
For Truth.

Love all of it
In a balanced way.

Such a life
Is a rare
And precious jewel.

Those who have earned
This jewel
Of a Spirit-based life

Trade
In a noble business.

Says Naanak
Those whose minds
Have surrendered
And accepted
Their purity

Dwell with the
Sound of Wisdom
Forever. (20)

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Anand Sahib Translation: Paurees 11-15

2007-01-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

Oh my Beloved Mind
Always remember the
Ultimate Reality.

This family and
All these social relationships
That you see
Will not go with you
When you die.

Your friends and companions
Will not go with you
Either.

So why attach
Your awareness
To them?

There are so many actions
Which cause us
To hurt ourselves
Or to hurt other people

Drowning us
In illusion.

Don’t do them.

Don’t do those things
That will just lead
To endless regrets.

Deeply listen
To the instructions
Of the Teacher of Truth

And take those
Instructions with you
When you go.

Says Naanak,
Oh my Beloved Mind
Always remember
The Ultimate Reality. (11)

We cannot
Find You
No matter
Where we look.

We cannot touch You
Or
Sense you
With our physical senses.

Your limits
Are beyond
Our reach.

Your limits
Are beyond
Everyone’s reach.

Only You, Yourself,
Know
Your limits.

Every being
Is a musical instrument
Whom You play.

What else
Can anyone say
To explain it?

Whatever I say -
Whatever I see -
It’s all You.

You created
The entire Universe.

Says Naanak,
You are always
Greater
Than the reach
Of our senses. (12)

You search
For the experience
Of your own deathlessness
Through gods,
Through other men,
Through saints,
Through servants

But only
The Sound of Wisdom
Can awaken you
To the reality
Of your own
Deathless Spirit.

Through the kindness
Of the Teacher
The awareness
Of your own Deathlessness
Will flow in your veins

And this will cause
Your mind
To perceive
The Ultimate Reality
Seeing the Formless in form.

All the beings
Whom You play
Like musical instruments

All the beings
You Created,
Oh Love,

Some of them
See this
And surrender
To Wisdom.

In that surrender
Greed
Attachment and
Ego
Are cut away

As love for Truth
And the Sound of Wisdom
That takes you to Truth
Commands you.

Says Naanak,
When it pleases You,
Oh Divine One,
We find deathlessness
Within ourselves
Through the Sound of Wisdom. (13)

The Way of those
Who live
In Love

Is unique
And completely free.

Those who Love
Follow the Way
Of unique freedom.

It is a
Difficult path
To walk.

They turn their back
On the allurements
Of greed, attachment
And pride.

They don’t
Talk much.

Know this path
Is as sharp
As a double-edged sword
And as thin
As a hair.

Through the gift
Of the Sound of Wisdom
There are those
Who turn away
From their egos

And merge into
The Divine Essence
That dwells
In their own hearts.

Says Naanak,
The Way of those
Who live in Love

Age after age

Is unique
And free. (14)

Dear One,
Everyone moves
The way
You make them
Move.

Master-
What other virtues
Are there of Yours
To know?

The way You make
Everyone move -
They move.

And those who
Flow with You
Have found
The Way.

When You touch us
With Your kindness
Your Spirit within us
Rises up
And becomes our
Living Identity.

Those
Who have been
Touched this way
By Thee

Meditate
In every moment
On Har…Har..

The Sound of You
In our very heartbeat.

Those who
You cause
To deeply listen
To Your view of the world

Find peace
At the Teacher’s door.

Says Naanak,
Oh Master of the Ultimate Reality
Love is the way
We move. (15)

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Anand Sahib Translation: Paurees 6-10

2007-01-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

Without attuning ourselves
Through love
To the dimension
Of Ultimate Reality

Our bodies
Don’t enjoy
The experience of life.

Our bodies
Don’t enjoy
The experience of life

Without that
Loving attunement.

What can we do?
We’re helpless.

Without You,
Oh Divine One,

Nobody has the power
To kindly and lovingly
Bless us
With the blossom-necklace
Of Divine Awakening.

This Spirit of mine
Has no other place
To go.

By attaching ourselves
To the Shabad -
The Sound Current
That cuts the ego -
All of our affairs
Are set right.

Says Naanak,
Without attuning ourselves through love
To Thee
What can we do?
We’re helpless. (6)

Bliss. Bliss.
Everyone talks about it.

But only what you learn
Through the Sound of Wisdom
Can give you the experience
Of living every breath
In tune
With the soul’s reality.

Beloved Ones-
Through the Teacher’s
Touch of kindness
You will know
How to live
So every action
Always reflects
The reality of the Spirit.

Through that kindness
All your errors
Will be destroyed.

The balm of wisdom
Will heal your sight
And all your affairs
Will be set right.

Those who
Through the Shabad
Enter into the dimension
Of Ultimate Reality,
Seeing the Formless One in form,

Break their negative attachments
From within themselves
And everything
Gets put
In its proper place.

Says Naanak,
This is the bliss

When through the Teacher’s
Sound of Wisdom
You know
How to live
In tune
With the soul’s reality. (7)

Wise and most respected
Teacher

Those to whom you give
The experience
Of living the soul’s reality

They are the ones
Who receive it.

They receive the experience
When You give it
To them.

Who else is there?
We’re helpless.

Some wander
In the ten directions
Mistaken and
Deluded by doubt.

Some attach themselves
To the Divine Spirit
Within them
And all their affairs
Are set right.

Through the gift
That the Sound of Wisdom
Gives

The mind becomes
Pure and clean
Like the crystal clear
Water of a stream.

This happens
For those who
Lovingly and respectfully
Surrender
To the Teacher’s command.

Says Naanak
Those to whom You give the experience,

They are Beloved.

They are the ones
Who receive it. (8)

Oh you who
Discipline yourself
To live by your
Purity and grace,

Beloved of the Divine,

Come. Let us tell
The story
That can’t be told.

Let us talk about
The Untellable story.

At what door
Will we find
The words
To describe it?

Surrender you body,
Your mind,
Your wealth and property
To the command of the Teacher

And trust that command
Completely.

Trusting and following
The command
Of the Teacher

Sing in the
Frequency and vibration
Which will bring you the experience
Of Ultimate Reality.

Says Naanak,
You who discipline yourself
To live by your
Purity and grace

Deeply listen
And tell
The Untellable Story. (9)

Oh my mind -
Those who move
By inconsistent action

Or who rely
On the cleverness
Of their own intellect

Will never experience
That state of self-trust
Where every action
Reflects
The reality of the soul.

Being clever
Is not going
To take anyone
There.

You!
Listen to me
Mind of mine!

Through this Creative Play -
So enchanting
And attractive -
People become
Delusional
Wandering lost
In doubt.

Through this enchanting,
Attractive Creative Play
People become delusional.

And like taking
A poisonous herb
All their senses
Become useless.

I surrender myself
To that Divine One
Who makes
The fascinating attachments
Of life
Taste so sweet.

Says Nanak,
Oh mind -
Those who move by inconsistent action
Or who rely on the cleverness
Of their own intellect

Will never experience
That state of self-trust
Where every action
Reflects
The reality of the soul. (10)

All love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Anand Sahib: Maps of Reality in Translation (and the first Five Paurees)

2007-01-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki fateh.

The weekend of New Year’s, the largest snow storm in 25 years hit New Mexico. Six inches of snow around my home and (thank God) a refrigerator full of food. It had been my intention to take that four day holiday weekend and really pour myself into completing as much of the Anand Sahib translation as I could. Three and a half years ago, I finished translating Japji Sahib and had begun to work on Guru Amar Das’s Anand Sahib. Being snow bound with no where to go and nothing else to do, God’s grace, the translation came into a magical synchronicity. And this draft – this sixth or seventh draft in three years – took on a life of its own. As a writer, I know when “I” write – it doesn’t work. But then the writing writes me, then it does. Three and half years of challenge and research and revision; of frustration and confusion and trying to shift my brain to see what Guru Amar Das was actually talking about. But during this snow-bound weekend at the end of 2006 – the translation wrote me and I knew it was complete.

Over the next couple of weeks – every few days – I would like to share five paurees from the translation with you. To generate conversation. Discussion. Even that dreaded word – debate. It’s done – but I am also open to suggestions for edits, for changes, for tweaks. And I thought – why not share it with all of you – who love to read what I write and because of that love, I keep writing.

But before we embark on the actual discussion of the translation, I want to offer a framework of how – over three and half years – the translation evolved. Some of you may have been around in November of 2003 when I posted an exuberant and perhaps slightly simplistic essay about translating Japji Sahib into English. That essay (with minor revisions and edits) is reposted below for you to review – or to make new your acquaintance with it if you haven’t seen it already. What’s most important in that essay is the conclusion that translating Gurbani into English depends upon text, subtext and spiritual experience. All three. So selecting one English word for one Gurmukhi word often may not be sufficient to convey the totality of the meaning.

The issue with the Anand Sahib over time became a much more subtle and challenging issue. Because the Anand Sahib encodes a kind of map of human reality that is very specific and, in some ways, very technical. Most of the translations that I’ve read in English don’t paint that technical, specific universe. And it took time for me to understand what the problem in translation was.

Let me search back through my dusty memories of literary theory – and outline an issue with language that relates to “maps.” Words do not indicate meaning independently. Words creating meaning because they are defined in relationship with each other. “Heavy” and “Light” have meaning in the context of each other – and need the relationship with each other to map an entire dimension of reality called “Weight.”

As always, the physical aspect of how the meaning of words are interrelated is the most basic and easy to penetrate in a language. But when words are mapping emotional territory, mental categorizations or –the most subtle – spiritual experience – then it becomes a very different problem. There are dozens of words in Gurmukhi signifying the Ultimate or Divine Reality. Yet they all get translated as “God” or “Lord.” There are a range of words in Gurmukhi relating to sound and frequency – but they get translated as “word.” It’s a problem. It’s a problem because what gets lost in the English translation is that map of reality. The way those words work together, illustrating and defining a world together.

As I began to study this issue deeper and deeper, the analogy that came to me was a physics one. In physics – there are so many terms to define a quantum reality. “Proton, “Electrons,” Neutrons,” “Quarks,” “Strings,” – oh my goodness – so very many terms. Because the more physics studies reality at the level of the quantum field, the more discoveries are made, the more relationships are discovered. And then words are coined to indicate relationship and reality both. The part and its place within the whole.

So imagine a physics textbook being translated into another language. And what the translators decide to do is use the phrase “atomic particle” every time one of these precise words is used. So a sentence that might read: “An atom is made of protons, electrons and neutrons.” (OK – all you scientists out there – this is from my high school science course, so I’m sure the definition has changed since then. But humor me here.) The sentence then would get translated as:

“An atom is made up of atomic particles.”

The translation, per se, is not incorrect. It is correct in a sense. But because the effort was not made to translate and explain “proton, neutron and electron” – something got lost. Knowledge got lost. Detail and technical understanding and relationships between the parts got lost.

Now imagine that same text book continuing the discussion about quarks and strings and whatever else there is – and all of those terms simply being translated as “atomic particle.”

How much more knowledge has been lost? Detail. Technical maps. Relationships. The ability to penetrate a much deeper level of reality and therefore – understand and command it.

This is what’s happened with Gurbani.

So many terms indicating…something. Some map of human experience and the Divine and the power of Sound to awaken us to the Sacred. It’s all gotten translated as “God” and “word.”

Not entirely incorrect. In a sense. But what has been lost in translation?

So to translate the Anand Sahib was a step more than simply text, subtext and spiritual experience. To translate the Anand Sahib was to attempt to understand those terms in the context of the map of reality the Guru was describing. The words: Anand, Bani, Guru, Shabad, Sach, Amrit, Naam, Har, Ananhat, and others. What did they mean – not in English equivalents – but in relationship with each other? What world, by playing together, where they describing? Because if you just look at English equivalents, you loose the way those words are working together and defining each other. And this was the problem translating the Anand Sahib. The map of reality created by the English language and the map of reality created by Gurbani are not the same map.

So what sources did I draw on to try to discover and understand this map?

Dictionaries – incomplete, yes, but still they gave me an initial direction.
Lectures by the Siri Singh Sahib
Discussions with Dr. Balkar Singh
One brief and beautiful meeting with the late Bhai Avtar Singh. Me, asking questions through his son, Bhai Kultar Singh, trying to bridge generations and cultures, languages and spiritual experience.
As always, looking at it from the inside through meditation

Is the map complete? No. It’s just begun. But what’s important is that this translation of the Anand Sahib is not about translating a word of Gurmukhi into a word of English or even a line of Gurmukhi into a few lines of English. It’s an attempt to understand that underlying map of reality indicated by Gurbani and communicate it in proportional relationship through the English language.

Which is why this translation will seem very different in places than other translations.

At some future point, I’ll post some of the sources, references and conversations behind translating these terms and mapping them the way that they’re being described here. But not today. For today – here are the first five paurees of Guru Amar Das’s Anand Sahib. By the grace of the One. So grateful for your thoughts and feedback.

Anand Sahib by Guru Amar Das

There is a state of consciousness
Where every action
Reflects
The reality of the soul.

Oh mother -
This consciousness
Is with me now
For I have found
The Teacher of Truth
Whose wisdom awakens me
To my own Infinite Reality.

I have found
The Teacher of Truth
Whose wisdom takes me
From the darkness of my own
Ignorance and ego
To the light
Of my Inner Divinity.

With absolute
Ease
My surrendered mind
Flows in tune
With the frequency
Of the Divine.

It is such
An awesome
Experience.

The Divine Musical Scales
Of Love
(Such jewels)
And the Spirits
That keep them
Have come to sing
The Shabad -

The Sacred Sound
Which breaks the
Ego-shackles of the
Mind
And releases
The Infinite Spirit
To pervade
And prevail
As my lived identity.

All of you
Sing the Sacred Sound
Of the Shabad
That will break through
Your limited ego
And bring you to the experience of
Deathless Divinity.

The Shabad has
Come to you
Through Hari -
The power of the Creator
To manifest in form.

Through the Shabad
The thought-waves
Of the mind
Become elevated
To the frequency
Of the Divine.

Says Naanak
There is a state of consciousness
Where every action
Reflects
The reality of the soul.

This consciousness
Is with me now
For I have found
The Teacher of Truth
Whose wisdom awakens me
To my own Infinite Reality. (1)

You!
Mind of mine-
Always be with the
Essence of the Divine
Inside your own heart
And inside of everything
Around you.

Be with
The Essence of the Divine
Inside yourself
And inside all things,
My mind.

This will cause you to forget
All your pains and sorrows.

Feel the Divine Essence
Present
In every fiber of your being.

Feel yourself
As one fiber
In the vast weave of life.

Intermingle
And surrender your identity
To and with the Divine.

Then,The Creator will do
All of your work
For you
And bring all your affairs
To completion.

That powerful Master
Is in control
Of all the things
That concern and worry you.

So why ever
Let yourself
Forget that One?

Says Naanak-
Mind of mine -
Always be with the Essence of the Divine
Inside your own heart
And inside of everything
Around you. (2)

Master of the Ultimate Reality-
What does not live
Inside your home?

In Your home
Is everything that exists.

What You give to us
Is what we receive.

By always remaining
In a positive state-
Admiring and appreciating
Your Creation -

Your Spirit rises up
Within us
And dwells
As our active, living identity.

When Your Spirit
Within us becomes
Our active, living identity

Then everywhere we go,
In everything we do

We hear the Sound
That guides us homeTo You.

Master of the Ultimate Reality-
What does not live
Inside Your home? (3)

In the dimension
Of Ultimate Reality
Your Spirit
Lives
In every identity.

This truth
Has become
My food.

In the dimension
Of Ultimate Reality
Your Spirit
Lives
In every identity.

This truth
Feeds me.

And through it,
All hunger and dissatisfaction
Depart.

Tranquility and peace
Come to live
Inside my own mind.
All my desires
Are fulfilled by You.

May I continually offer
My entire being
In service
To the Teacher
Who takes me from
The ignorance
Of my own mind
To the Light
Of my Inner Divinity

And through whom,
These great things happen.

Says Naanak,
Listen you who live
By your purity,
Spiritual discipline
And grace -

Keep it with you, Beloved Ones.

The Sound Current
That cuts
The ego-shackles of the mind.

In the Dimension
Of Ultimate Reality
Your Spirit
Lives
In every identity.

This truth
Has become
My food. (4)

Where the Five Sacred Sounds
Of the Panch Shabad play
(Sa-Ta-Na-Ma)
That home is blessed
With good fortune.

Whatever home
Has adopted this Sound Current
Playing it
With artistry and power -
Such a home
Is a fortunate
Home.

Through these Five Sacred Sounds
You, oh Divine One,
Bring the Five Passions
(Of lust, pride, greed, anger and attachment)
Under control

Overpowering
The thorny illusion
Of Death.

At the beginning of time,
It was already decided
When and how
The Sound Current that cuts the ego
Would be met.

And when that moment comes -
We become attached to You within ourselves
And the fact of You
In the entire Creation.

Says Naanak,
Then - within those homes -
A deep and restful peace
Wells up.

And You, oh Love,
Play
The Silent Sound
The Sound Beyond Sound
Where cause and effect
Cease
And life unfolds
Naturally
Without a word. (5)

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

Text, Subtext and Spiritual Experience in the Translation of Guru Nanak's Japji Sahib into English

2007-01-09T16:21:00.003-07:00

Edited from the original post in the SikhNet Discussion Forum
November 6, 2003

Please don't look for too scholarly an essay here. My background is that I love books and life both and have never really preferred one over the other. I take what I read and try to find practical applications for it in every day life. I take my life experiences and try to write them down in ways that remind me that we, as humans, do NOT know everything. There are plenty of human experiences that still defy the categorization of words. I love words. I know their power. And their limits. I also love life. And when it comes to choosing one over the other - I tend to put my energy behind life and if there are no words to describe or explain what is happening, keep myself in the (sometimes uncomfortable) state of confused enjoyment. If something is happening that doesn't make sense - that's OK. It's happening anyway. Enjoy it.

Eighteen years ago, I had the blessing to begin my undergraduate work at Rice University in Houston, Texas. I had no idea what I wanted to "be" or "do" and,over the years, found myself enrolling in a lot of English Literature courses and also a lot of courses related to the field of Asian Studies. I studied Chinese language, Chinese history, Asian art, Buddhist philosophy and also English literature and English literary theory - especially the post-modernists. It's all a blur now. I can tell you that one of my very favorite books was the one written by Michel Foucault on Magrite's famous painting: Ceci n'est pas une pipe. Through that I learned about the "signifier and the signified." I also recall Jacques Derrida - who struck me as almost Buddhist with his approach to deconstructing identity - but then, the prose was a little difficult to penetrate. Helene Cixous opened my eyes to the difference between how men and women experience, and therefore write, about life. And other authors brought me into an awareness of "text and subtext" - how, with every word that is spoken, culture encodes layers of meaning that are unspoken. And then there was Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow which forced me to ask (though not very loudly) - why do we consider a novel that less than 1% of the English-speaking population could actually read as one of the greatest pieces of literature ever?

Back in undergraduate school, I had a difficult time keeping authors and ideas matched properly. Once I absorbed a concept - I could never really remember where it came from - although I knew it came from SOMEWHERE. English literary theory and Asian studies really didn't have anything in common. But towards the end of my undergraduate days, a niggling question started at the back of my mind. If language, as the post-modernists suggested - both constructed and conscripted identity - and if different languages were constructing different cultural identities - then how the heck does one translate something into English? I mean really - how does translation actually work? Especially between languages as radically different as Chinese and English?

The question intrigued me so much I applied for a summer scholarship to study in China and -as luck would have it - they actually gave the scholarship to me. What started as a summer program turned into a 13 month stay where I was faced, for the first time, with the reality that "Wow - not everyone thinks like US;" and the realization that no one culture has command over the entire range of human experience. There are phrases and expressions in Chinese that have no equivalent in English at all. But once I learned those phrases and expressions, it broadened my ability to experience life. It opened me to facets of existence that my own culture could have never opened for me.

The conclusion from that time studying in China was that there were problems when it comes to translating foreign texts into English - especially from Asian languages and particularly with poetry. Poetry is a form of linguistic expression where the power of the "text" - the actual written words-completely relies on the "subtext" - the unspoken meanings that are based on the myths, stories and gestault of a culture.

For instance, the phrase for "white flower" in Chinese is Bai Hua. It is possible to find this phrase in a piece of Chinese poetry. And in that image, there are a lot of feelings that might be evoked. White, in China, is the color of mourning, of death, of grief. So Bai Hua in Chinese could be indicative of something beautiful that is gone, something impermanent, death or grieving.

The word white in English does not connote death or grieving. It is associated with innocence, marriage, purity, virginity, chastity. It has a totally different subtext.

This presents a very basic problem in translation. The word white in English and Bai in Chinese refer to the same external physical reality. A color. But the subtext in the two cultures is completely different.

If we translate Bai Hua as white flower - we preserve the text, but loose the subtext.

If we translate Bai Hua as black flower (black being the English equivalent of death, mourning and grieving) - we're attempting to preserve the subtext but we loose the text. And not only loose the text but loose the reference to anything that actually exists in the physical world. Black flowers are not commonly found or would necessarily be considered real.

So to translate Bai Hua into English in a line of poetry, we would have to do something to preserve the text and make the subtext visible to the English reader. Based on the context, we might translate it as:

"A flower cloaked in grieving white."

What this gives us is a way to translates the total meaning of the line, the spirit of the line, text and subtext together, so that the English phrase may come close to evoking the same emotional experience for an English-speaking person that the original line of Chinese evokes for a Chinese-speaking person.

Of course, this becomes a very subjective process. Even when two people speak the same langauge, come from the same culture and share a common understanding of what the subtexts of the images are - still - a line of poetry can mean something completely different to those two people. Poetry reminds us that language comes from and accesses something inside of ourselves that is beyond words. Spirit, psyche, what to call it? But poetry shows us there is something in our hearts that moves in ways that are deeply meaningful and not limited to linguistic expression.

By the time I came back from China, I had one semester left before graduating and having to find a job. In that last semester, I started to study Tibetan and toyed with the idea of going to graduate school in order to study Buddhist philosophy with an eye towards translating Tibetan texts. If the issues of translating Chinese poetry into English were intriguing, the whole question became that much more exciting when looking at spiritual texts. But even though my GRE's were sound enough to gain entrance into a good graduate school, I couldn't see myself going into 80,000-$100,000 worth of debt just to have very few job prospects at the end of the process. So , I put aside the graduate school applications, gracefully took my diploma and started my post-college life as a part-time babysitter, part-time investigative journalist.

It's funny how life has its own synchronicity. In 1998,through a series of events, I found myself moving to Espanola, New Mexico. 35 years ago, a Sikh man and Kundalini Yoga Master now known by the name of Siri Singh Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji came to the United States. He began teaching Kundalini Yoga to hippees during the late 1960's and early 70's. For many of these young people, Kundalini Yoga gave them a chance to get off drugs, and create a life for themselves that was based on the positive values of the counter-culture revolution. A subset of these Kundalini Yoga students, drawn by the turban, the beard and the stories that Yogi Bhajan told about the Sikh Gurus, decided to become Sikhs. There is a lot to tell in the history of Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere. And it is not in the scope of this essay to tell it. However, it is through my experience with this community and with Yogi Bhajan in particular that this translation of Japji happened.

In 1998, I drove from the Hill Country of Austin, Texas to the magnificent Jemez Mountains of New Mexico in my little red Toyota Tercel with my dog Macey and a car packed with everything I owned. Shall we call it a spiritual journey? Yes. Let's. There's so much to tell, but since this is an essay about translating Guru Nanak's Japji, I'll just focus on that.

One day, after living in Espanola for a couple of years, in the heart of a Western Sikh community 300 plus members strong, the Siri Singh Sahib, looked at me and said, "Japji cannot be translated unless it's understood perfectly." Several months before, Dr. Balkar Singh, who used to head the Siri Guru Granth Sahib Department at Punjabi University in Patiala, had moved to our community. Every time I saw him, there was a little voice inside of me that said, "You really should go talk to him about Gurmukhi." But the fires that had burned during my undergraduate days had been reduced to barely a flicker and, honestly, I was a little afraid to go back to that passion. After all - I was busy with work. I was in the middle of a difficult marriage. I didn't have the time. I didn't have the energy. I didn't want to be bothered.

But the Siri Singh Sahib has a way of penetrating past the excuses of the mind and speaking directly to the soul. "Japji cannot be translated unless it's understood perfectly." As if it was already a foregone conclusion that I would do a translation. As if he was just reminding me of something I had agreed to do before I was born and was pushing me to begin.

Well, I thought, it can't hurt to at least start learning Gurmukhi. So Dr. Balkar Singh and I began to work together. Every Sunday for 15 months we sat for an hour or two and went through Japji, line by line, word by word and discussed every single syllable of it - text, subtext and meaning. He was a Gurmukhi scholar with a proclivity towards post-modernism. I was a post-modernist who wanted to understand Gurmukhi. Slowly, we began to build a bridge - a common vocabulary - a shared understanding. We both knew that meanings are not in dictionaries because the dictionaries are confined to text only. Not subtext. And poetry and spirituality are not easily understood even in one's own language and culture. So much more the difficulty in translating spirituality from one culture to another. I studied with him for 15 months and after those 15 months, in the evenings, on the weekends, in the middle of dealing with a divorce and a hectic work schedule -the translation of Japji slowly took form.

In January of 2003, I was close to finishing the translation when the Siri Singh Sahib called me in to see him. He told me that he wanted me to translate the entire Siri Guru Granth Sahib by next year. (Next year??) He told me he wanted me to understand the cosmology of it and be able to communicate that cosmology in English. And he said that he would work with me on it. Whatever I needed, he would give me.

It was an amazing gift. And an extraordinary challenge. When Westerners first came to Tibet to understand Tibetan Buddhism and translate Tibetan texts, the Lamas wisely refused to let the translations take place until these young Western students had done the spiritual practices and developed the experience that would allow them to understand the texts accurately. Because of this, Buddhism has successfully taken root in Western culture. The Tibetan Lamas and teachers understood that these texts were talking about spiritual experiences of which the Western mind and language had little concept, understanding or language.

The post-modern literary theorists have given us tools to deconstruct language. Every word is a "signifier" - it is a symbol that points to some reality or experience. External realities like trees and birds are easy to see from multiple view-points, multiple languages and culture. But internal realities like love and fear are harder to map. And the most subtle, sophisticated reality of all - the reality of the Spirit, it almost impossible to map because there are so many political and social power structures based on religion and God. To penetrate to the truth of the Divine requires that we move past culture and language all together and this journey challenges societal power structures that have a vested interest in the status quo.

When Guru Gobind Singh gave the Sikhs the Siri Guru Granth Sahib as the Living Guru - the signifier, the written symbols, were uninterrupted sound. There were no spaces to indicate words. There was only sound. And for the devout Sikh, this sound was Divine Sound - meditating upon which the Spirit would awaken.

Yes, linguistic meaning was encoded into the signifier of Gurbani. But the fact that there were no spaces between the words signified that this was no typical text, with definable meaning, but rather a spiritual practice based on Sound- which English has no experience of or language for.

What is the Sound Current? Where is it? How do you prove it exists? The Sound Current is the sublte virbation of the Divine that creates the creation. It is in everything. The proof of its existence is in your own experience through the practice of Gurbani as instructed by the Shabad Guru. These statements are true to the heart of a Sikh who has a sovereign relationship with the Guru. But they are illogical and unprovable in English. And this clash of approaches between experience and logic - where the foundation for "proof" and "truth" lies becomes an extraordinary issue in translation.

I finished the translation of Japji and gave it to the Siri Singh Sahib. His response. "It's zircons, but not diamonds." My ego was in it. My intellectual ego. My artistic ego. I was trying to be clever. I was trying to be...something. And he saw right through it. Yes, maybe it was well-written, but the vibration of it was all wrong. Two years worth of work. I threw it away and started over again.

"When the sun is 60 degrees to the earth, you can understand Gurbani perfectly" he told me. " In the Amrit Veyla and the twilight hours. Those are the times of day to translate. When the sun is 30 degrees to the earth, you are half-wise and half-foolish."

I had never translated during the Amrit Veyla, the hours before sunrise. Although Guru Nanak says in Japji in the Fourth Pauree,

Fayr ke agai rakhee-ai jit disai darbaar.
Muhou ke bolan bolee-ai jit sun Dharay pi-aar.
Amrit vaylaa sach naa-o vadi-aa-ee veechaar.
Karmee aavai kaprhaa nadree mokh du-aar.
Naanak ayvai jaanee-ai sabh aapay sachiaar. 4

What can we
Place before You
That will allow us
To see the splendor
Of Your Divine and Noble Court?

What words can we speak
With our own lips
That, upon hearing,
You would touch us
With Your Love?

In the Amrit Veyla,
The still hours before sunrise,
Our True Spirit
Becomes known
As we meditate upon
Your Greatness.

By the consequences
Of our positive past actions,
We have been gifted
This robe of human form.

Grace leads us
To the gate of liberation
Found within it.

Nanak,
In this way know,
All people
Hold the Truth
Within themselves."

It is one of the first instructions the Guru gives a Sikh - to meditate in the Amrit Veyla, in the hours before sunrise. For years, I had done my sadhana, my daily spiritual practice, during that time. So I changed the focus of my sadhana and started working on the translation of Japji during those hours. And this was my experience- which the English language cannot really express and which the main stream English culture will hardly believe.

Gurbani is not just words or just Sound - but a Guiding Living Consciousness. I had to put my thoughts aside, my mind, my prejudices - and just open my own heart. Jap - continually, meditatively reflecting. Sunia - deeply listenting. And in that space of Jap and Sunia - the Sound within my own heart told me what the line meant. It was magic but only because English doesn't have any other word besides magic to describe it. In a wholistic way, the Sounds, themselves, showed me what they meant - in a way that was not bound by concept or words. Then the challenge was to find the words in English to convey the experience of my own heart. And this was profound, transforming, sometimes scary, sometimes confusing. But very very real.

The Siri Guru Granth Sahib is not a collection of scripture. It is something so far beyond scripture that we have neither the words nor the intellect to comprehend it. It is a power that calls the Human Spirit to awaken. It is a Guiding Consciousness that can teach us in a very direct and clear way...providing we do the practice. Amrit Veyla. Jap. Sunia. Mania - trusting what we hear when that Sound speaks directly to our own hearts.

The second translation of Japji took only a few weeks during the Amrit Veyla and that experience is, perhaps, another story for another day. But it showed me that the Siri Guru Granth Sahib is truly something new on the earth. I understand how two Sikhs, fighting back to back, could defeat a hundred men. I understand why there was a time when there was a price offered for the head of every Sikh. It was because this Guru gives humans access to our Spirit in a direct and powerful way. The practice of the Sound Current is a spiritual discipline that leads to the human potential completely unfolding in all its dignity, grace and beauty. It is that fully-realized human that the society of those times found so threatening. And it is because the Shabad has been misunderstood that many Sikhs have lost their connection with Its Pure Power.

Text, subtext and spiritual experience. In this translation of Japji, these three forces play together. Not to define what Guru Nanak Dev ji wrote, but to simply reflect what the Shabad whispered to me during the Amrit Veyla. And just as poetry will take on different meanings for different people, the Shabad will speak to each person's heart in Its own way. There is no need for any final definitions of Gurbani - just as there is no need for evolution to cease. Always new experiences are unfolding before us and the Shabad has the power to guide us through and open us to previously unknown worlds.

What is true is not definition. What is true is the power of Sound and the effect is has when we practice the way the Guru teaches.

The Siri Singh Sahib hasn't spoken to me about this second translation of Japji. But in my heart, I know the answer. In nature, diamonds come from extraordinary pressure - they crystallize into something beautiful and clear. But flawless diamonds are rare. The pressure creates flaws in almost all of them.

So let us say that yes - this translation is diamonds, created through the pressure of spiritual experience. But it is not flawless - it is not perfect. And whatever light and beauty is here is only the palest reflection of the Pure Light and Infinite Beauty of Gurbani.

May you be blessed unto Infinity and may the Light of the Divine within your own heart make itself known to you and guide your way on.

All love in the Divine.

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

Sincerely,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa
Espanola, NM

At the Root: The Mystical Process of the Divine in the Mool Mantra

2007-01-04T18:02:00.000-07:00

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

SikhNN.com has published an article of mine that I thought you might enjoy reading. For this post - click below to see the article in its entirety on their website:

When talking about Divinity, sometimes we look outside of ourselves to discuss and define God. The Creator becomes, through our own conversations, everything a human is NOT. All-powerful. All-knowing. All-seeing. All-loving. All-kindness. It is as if we humans have taken certain experiences that give us a sense of comfort, that give us a sense of security on the earth; and projected their most perfect and continual expression on a Divine Being who can do and be everything we would most like to be, but aren’t.

When Guru Nanak talks about Divinity, his language, his perception, his vision is so all encompassing that Divinity intermingles with and provides the foundation for everything in the Universe. It is the secret ingredient that gives rise to our human experience. Every single aspect of being human, whether we ourselves would judge it as “good” or “bad” is embraced as part of the Divine. It’s a union. A yoga – if you can forgive the word – between finite perception and Infinite expression. The duty we have in our human body, Guru Nanak tells us, is to simply allow ourselves to become aware of this truth, and to live in a state of gratitude for it. That’s all.

Click to SikhNN for the story.

Journal: Singapore

2006-12-11T17:31:00.000-07:00

There is a mocking bird at the Harimander Sahib in Amritsar with the most sophisticated warble I have ever heard. She flies to the top of the Temple in the early morning sun, and sings her heart. It's a scale - not major, not minor, but an imitation of a scale that a Raagi might sing at the start of his Kirtan. So perfectly on pitch. So subtly in-tune - the notes sung in half or even quarter steps. She sings it so quickly - up and down, up and down the range. In imitation of what she hears around her.

It's one of those moments for me, sitting on the roof of the Harimander Sahib, the fall sun warming the air, that seems almost miraculous. For here is a bird that has a musical talent and accomplishment many humans could never aspire to. There are mockingbirds in Houston, too, and I remember them fondly – the way they would imitate the scratchy caa-caw of a grakle, or the shrill warning of a jay. But to find a soul in the form of a bird practicing raag in the morning light of the Golden Temple - well, one must consider it a very blessed little life.

I am only two days in the holy city of Amritsar this time around. The kind invitation from the Sikh Centre in Singapore to come teach Japji Sahib during Guru Nanak's birthday brought me half-way around the globe. But the picture of the Golden Temple on my bed stand reminded me that I couldn't be so close to Amritsar without a visit. There's vacation time to juggle, and the fact that Singapore Airlines only flies between Singapore and Amritsar a couple times a week. So in some ways it is a little foolhardy of me to make the extra jump for such a brief stay. But how can I turn down the chance to pray one more time at this sacred place?

Walking onto the parkarma the first night, I am overtaken with the strangest sensation. Though it has been two years since I came to the Golden Temple - it feels like I have never left. It's as if it was only the day before that I'd been there. How can two years disappear as if they had never happened? As if all the events between the time I left and this day of returning could melt away - like the image of a dream upon waking?

It is Its own power in Its own dimension, the Harimander Sahib. And for the next two days, struggling with jet lag, I divide my time between sleeping in the hotel room and being here. In this sacred place – where time and space have their own rules.

From the beginning, this trip has felt blessed. I can be a slightly anxious traveler - too worried about who I will sit next to on the plane and whether the wait at the airport will be boring or not. But from the start, the Universe looks out for me. From New Mexico to Los Angeles, a very kind real estate broker interested in minister studies in his own faith sits next to me and we spend some pleasant hours talking about God, family and politics. I bump into a friend I haven't seen in years during the four hour wait for my flight in Los Angeles - and we enjoy a cozy and very satisfying "catch-up-on-your-life" conversation. The flight to Singapore is without any problems, the layover before the plane leaves for Amritsar also uneventful - and even my travels to and from the Amritsar airport are much more gracious and relaxed than the last time I traveled. The city of Amritsar has invested quite a bit of money in the last couple years to make the airports much easier to negotiate.

From Amritsar, I fly back to Singapore and now the focus of the journey is coming into my sights. Teaching.

This is only the second time that I've had the blessing to travel and teach about Japji Sahib – although we have had courses on Guru Nanak's foundation Bani a few times in Espanola. Both of these travel/teaching events have had a profound effect on my life. As Sikhs, we talk about the Siri Guru Granth Sahib as our Guru. We retell the story of how Guru Gobind Singh Maharaj ji gave the Gaddi to the Siri Guru Granth Sahib - and how the Light of Guru Nanak merged into the Shabad. It is a question of faith, perhaps, for many. Experience for some. A profound intellectual debate for scholars - giving them something to publish books about and earn their chair in the university department.

But these weekend courses, for me, have become a spiritual witness to that Light of Nanak present in the Shabad. What a power it is. How real it is. And how deeply It can transform and impact a person's life. The course opened on Friday night, November 3, 2006, with a beautiful musical recitation of Japji Sahib sung by Harminder Pal Singh and Dalveer Kaur Sidhu. About half-way into the recitation, our voices began to blend and merge with each other. We were not singing Japji Sahib. Rather, it began to sing us. In that subtle but profound shift, a Transformative Presence came softly and quietly into the room.

People tell me I am a great teacher. Don’t get me wrong. I have my vanity and like any person, appreciate a compliment. But unfortunately it's not the truth. Perhaps I can be witty in moments and keep the students laughing, entertained. And perhaps I can be wise. Something that sounds good and right might come out of my mouth every once in a while - even if only by accident. But it's no false humility to say that I don't have anything to do with that happens during these courses. That Light is present and It does Its own work. I watch it moving through the room. Reflected in people's smiles, or the luminescent light in their eyes. This Energy, this Light, this Power opens another dimension for all of us - the Realm of Dharam Khand. And suddenly people talk about the most important things in their lives with each other. The longing of their spirits, the secrets of their hearts. Sat sangat – someone explained it to me. This is what Sat Sangat means. When we get together in love and comfort and just share our deepest truths with each other. Trying to find a way to have it all make sense. The laughter, the pain, the love, the hardships – the complexity of being human. The reality of being one with the Divine.

I sit there, sharing my experience of what Gurbani means. And it does help - I understand that. The discussion. The explanation. But I have come to see my role as a teacher like the teddy bear used to distract a child at the doctor's office. The Doctor knows. The Doctor sees. The medicine is given - through the chanting and the meditation. The healing process begins. And I am nothing more than this object in the physical world that looks safe and comfortable and easy to hug. I'm not the doctor. I'm just a really good distraction so the Doctor can do what It needs to do. That Power is real. It is Deathless and Endless. And I am so grateful to be a witness to it. And to get to be the occasional assistant.

The class was a beautiful experience. Nearly 60 Sikhs attended. From what I’ve heard, there are a group of our Kaurs continuing to meet to further their own understanding of Japji Sahib and Guru Nanak. My deep, heart-felt thanks to all those who organized the course. Amandeep Singh at the Sikh Centre - a great yogi and teacher in his own right - whose devotion pulled this course from the ethers to the earth. Bhai Harbans Singh Gholia, Kirpal Singh Sidhu and all of the Sikh Centre Management Committee. I will always remember your graciousness, hospitality and kindness. And so appreciate the 150th Anniversary Coin honoring the life of Bhai Maharaj Singh ji, the Sikh Saint who gave his life for the cause of Sikh freedom, and whose Spirit lives on in the Silat Road Gurdwara in Singapore.

Rajveer Singh and Guru Jaswant Kaur – our Sikh Dharma Ministers in Singapore did so much to be a support during the course and during my stay there. Phupindepal Singh, Christine Plaud, Dharma Kaur and so many others who rolled up their sleeves or participated as a teacher to help make the course a success. And for anyone whose names I might not know or might have accidentally left out, I offer my heartfelt thanks to you all.

Kirpal Singh, his wife Dalveer Kaur (Dolly) and their son Harjas Singh showed me the sights of Singapore. Rajveer Singh and Guru Jaswant Kaur shared their favorite spots, as well. Here are some photos – from the trip for you to enjoy. (Photos Part 1) (Photos Part 2)

May you always find the Light of the Guru guiding you from within on your journey home - to your own dignity, nobility and Divinity.

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

PS. Look for another installment of stories about Sikh Women in the next few weeks. :) There's one heroine I've been thinking about for a few months and her story - sitting so long on the back burner - is starting to simmer.

Photos from Amritsar and Singapore November 2006: Part 1

2006-12-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

Praying on the pakarma

Japji Sahib Course in Singapore

Class Photo

Kirpal Singh, Dolly and Harjas Singh

At lunch with Bhai Har Bans Singh

Rope Bridge at the beach in Singapore

Photos from Amritsar and Singapore: November 2006: Part 2

2006-12-11T16:27:00.000-07:00

Underwater World! That's a real fish swimming above my head.

From my left to right: Phuperinderpal Singh, Amanadeep Singh, Jasveer Singh, (of Sikh Center) Guru Jaswant Kaur and Rajveer Singh in the middle (of Kundalini Yoga East)

Nightlife in Singapore

Guru Jaswant Kaur and me

Enjoying a Chai with the Youth along the River

Sassy in front of the Singapore coast...

Autumn Montage

2006-11-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

Lately, I find myself at a loss for words.

It is this inner-turning, this place inside that wonders why speak at all. As if it's been an act all these years. Writing. Having a voice. Trying to find something to say. To feel that creative power - but maybe - to feel it for all the wrong reasons.

It isn't that I’m old. But death seems to be hanging around a lot these days. Nothing sinister or frightening. Just visiting - like an old friend. An autumn shadow in the midst of brilliant blue skies, sun-golden leaves - with a slight chill on the breeze. Reminding me to not forget how temporary it all is.

We only accomplish a few things in this life, really. Maybe if we're lucky we learn a few lessons. Perhaps - we touch a few hearts. And no matter what we collect along the way - friends, enemies, awards, insults, a tiny cottage, a gold and diamond ring- at some point, there is a shadowed angel that comes along and taps us on the shoulder. It's time to go.

And the soul leaves it all behind, like a child leaving school for the summer holidays. Joyful, expectant, the burden of books and learning abandoned in the school yard. We learned it, or not. We passed, or failed, or something in between. Whatever the experience is or was - our time here in human form is so very very finite. And one day, we will move on.

Perhaps what I'm feeling inside these days is partly the death of ambition. When I was younger - I used to dream all these dreams about my life. And now I am experiencing a kind of twilight of the ego - where I can look back, remember the dreams, see what actually happened and smile. Looking ahead to the next 30-40 years of my life, I realize that there are no more dreams left. Whatever has happened in my life – has happened. And I am grateful for all that I've experienced, for all that I've learned. Whatever fruits are on this vine of mine will ripen slowly. If I can spend the rest of my life loving my friends, writing when the spirit moves me, studying the Guru, meditating, practicing, eating, sleeping, taking care of my home, seeing a bit of the world from time to time - well - that’s enough for one life. Isn’t it?

Several months ago, a friend of mine called and told me he'd decided to remove my blog from his bookmarks. Why? I asked. Because you never write anything - he told me. Blogs are for people who write every day. Or every few days.

Not someone who writes every few months.

I guess I am behind the times.

But you know - if I spend the time writing, and you spend the time reading, I would rather it is a meaningful experience for both of us.

You can forget me for a while. And then we'll meet again - when it's time. When there's something to say that really matters.

Or you can visit the old posts, the old words - and just be with me in silence. Because real love doesn't need any words. Whether we've met or not. Whether we'll ever meet. Between hearts. Between souls. Real Love is Wordless. Real Love is Deathless.

So perhaps along with my old friend death, I am remembering my true friend, Love. The friend that makes death so easy to endure.

We are all of us in this together - for all eternity. No matter what shape we take. No matter what world or form or relationships we find ourselves in. We are all in this together. We keep going, keep evolving, keep growing - reinventing ourselves, trying something new, leaving behind what was. And the experience of death is part of that. But we never leave behind the Love. From lifetime to lifetime, that Love is a power through which we will find each other - over and over and over again. Forever.

Items on Ek Ong Kaar Kaur’s To Do List for the Winter:

1. Learn how to prune rose buses – so I can take proper care of the two old rose bushes outside my kitchen window.

2. Get rid of the tumble weeds around the house.

3. Plan a garden for the spring. What flowers and herbs to plant?

4. Pray for snow.

5. Have lots of tea/movie nights at my house with my friends.

6. Keep translating/writing/studying/teaching/practicing – all those spiritual things that seem to be the axle that turns the wheel of my life.

7. Keep warm.

All Love in the Divine,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur