I have been wondering what my next life meditation will be, helping me to move on. I have many options—like write up the Yoga Gems copyright application, organize storage shelves, sort clothing to give away or start packing for my trip. The daycare children wanted to make collages, so I tore out colorful magazine pages, and they cut and glued. But some magazines still had great articles in them, so I put them aside for myself. One is all about the healing properties of herbs, and another is all about fixing clutter.
The fixing clutter one, I read. It explains how by clearing away unneeded and unwanted stuff you can clear your mind and your past to make room for new thoughts and experiences. Two words stuck with me: Need and Love. If you do not need or love something, it is time to toss it or give it away.
The next day I woke up knowing exactly what to do. After finishing Saturday errands I set to work slowly but surely emptying my storage shed of all personal belongs, one crappy meal-wormed and mouse-littered item at a time. Everything I needed and loved. Yoga Gems videos of Yogiji, all my photographs, personal history and journals, workshop planners, Hindi and Urdu books and class notes, and my Golden Temple Meditation Box—where I found a chewed up horse-hair Chauri Sahib that fell apart in my hands. It was painful. All of my things were in partially opened cardboard boxes from getting into them from time to time; all children’s playthings and holiday decorations were safe within mouse-stained plastic tubs.
I swept, dusted and cleaned everything off and sprayed the shed with disinfectant. But if anyone, including me, wants to study those pages of my personal history, they will have to wear a surgical mask!
I allowed this self-treachery to happen. My self-esteem sank to such a pit through attachment to a husband who totally devalued my life. There was nothing left. It was his sacred task, even now, to totally awaken me. Every step of sanitizing my things and purifying my life will be a step towards liberation. It is no longer difficult, for with every angry negation, he bit off a chunk of my karma.
The next day at Sunday Gurdwara a woman stood up and told the story of how the miracle shabad, Dhan Dhan Ram Das Gur, came to be written. Two minstrels in Guru Arjan’s court, Satta and Balwand, fell out of favor with the Guru through selfish greed, anger and ego. By Guru Arjan’s command, everyone in the Sikh community was banned from helping them, nor were the minstrels allowed to play kirtan or meet with the Guru. In fact, if someone were to help them in any way, Guru Arjan said that person would have to blacken their body and ride into the village sitting backwards on a donkey.
The outcome of Satta and Balwand’s haughtiness was for them to suffer from a peculiar, unsightly skin disease. They finally pleaded with a local saintly man, Bhai Laddha, to speak to the Guru on their behalf. Bhai Laddha rode into town, blackened, on a donkey, the minstrels trailing behind him.
Guru Arjan welcomed Satta and Balwand’s return to his court on the condition that they write a shabad equal in power and divinity to their blatant negation of the Gurus. Their sloks, including the Dhan Dhan Ram Das Gur Shabad were presented to Guru Arjan and accepted with reverence.
Now, whosoever sings or listens to this Dhan Dhan Ram Das Gur with love, has their prayers answered many fold. Miracles occur!
In the same way, even now, people who betray the Guru in thought, word or deed, may redeem themselves and create a miracle by reversing their actions one hundred and eighty degrees. They should be so lucky as to receive a guiding Hukum from the Guru on how to go about it, as did Satta and Balwand.
In the same way, even now, my first husband may redeem himself and create a miracle by translating the Siri Guru Granth Sahib so beautifully that even the translation transmutes the mundane into the Divine.
In the same way, even now, my second husband may redeem himself and create a miracle by completing all the research given to him by the Siri Singh Sahib to the extent that the world of science comes to bow at the feet of Guru Ram Das.
In the same way, even now, my third husband may redeem himself and create a miracle by merging with Wahe Guru, setting a profound example of inner peace and enlightenment for anarchists and peacemongers.
In the same way, even now, my fourth husband may redeem himself and create a miracle by merging with Sat Nam, identifying with Infinite Truth, and writing a book that divinely illuminates words spoken from the lips of the Master.
Today's Hukam in this regard is on page 601 of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
Raag Sorath, Third Guru, Guru Amar Das:
The Gurmukhs practice devotional worship, and become pleasing to God; night and day, they chant the Naam, the Name of the Lord.
You Yourself protect and take care of Your devotees, who are pleasing to Your Mind.
You are the Giver of virtue, realized through the Word of Your Shabad. Uttering Your Glories, we merge with You, O Glorious Lord. ||1||
O my mind, remember always the Dear Lord.
At the very last moment, He alone shall be your best friend; He shall always stand by you. ||Pause||
The gathering of the wicked enemies shall always practice falsehood; they do not contemplate understanding.
Who can obtain fruit from the slander of evil enemies? Remember that Harnaakhash was torn apart by the Lord's claws.
Prahlaad, the Lord's humble servant, constantly sang the Glorious Praises of the Lord, and the Dear Lord saved him. ||2||
The self-willed manmukhs see themselves as being very virtuous; they have absolutely no understanding at all.
They indulge in slander of the humble spiritual people; they waste their lives away, and then they have to depart.
They never think of the Lord's Name, and in the end, they depart, regretting and repenting. ||3||
The Lord makes the lives of His devotees fruitful; He Himself links them to the Guru's service.
Imbued with the Word of the Shabad, and intoxicated with celestial bliss, night and day, they sing the Glorious Praises of the Lord.
Slave Nanak utters this prayer: O Lord, please, let me fall at their feet. ||4||5||
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