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Monday 26 April 2010

Daily Hukamnama for 26th of April 2010 - The Body-Horse

WADAHANS, FOURTH MEHL, GHOREES ~ THE WEDDING PROCESSION: ONE UNIVERSAL CREATOR GOD. BY THE GRACE OF THE TRUE GURU: This body-horse was created by the Lord. Blessed is human life, which is obtained by virtuous actions. Human life is obtained only by the most virtuous actions; this body is radiant and golden. The Gurmukh is imbued with the deep crimson color of the poppy; he is imbued with the new color of the Lord's Name, Har, Har, Har. This body is so very beautiful; it chants the Name of the Lord, and it is adorned with the Name of the Lord, Har, Har. By great good fortune, the body is obtained; the Naam, the Name of the Lord, is its companion; O servant Nanak, the Lord has created it. || 1 || I place the saddle on the body-horse, the saddle of realization of the Good Lord. Riding this horse, I cross over the treacherous world-ocean. The treacherous world-ocean is rocked by countless waves, but the Gurmukh is carried across. Embarking upon the boat of the Lord, the very fortunate ones cross over; the Guru, the Boatman, carries them across, through the Word of the Shabad. Night and day, imbued with the Lord's Love, singing the Glorious Praises of the Lord, the Lord's lover loves the Lord. Servant Nanak has attained the state of Nirvaanaa, the state of ultimate goodness, the state of the Lord. || 2 || The Guru has implanted spiritual wisdom within me, as a bridle in my mouth. He has applied the whip of the Lord's Love to my body. Applying the whip of the Lord's Love to the body, the Gurmukh conquers the mind, and wins the battle of life. He trains his untrained mind with the Word of the Shabad, and drinks in the rejuvenating essence of the Lord's Nectar. Listen with your ears to the Word, spoken by the Guru, and attune your body-horse to the Lord's Love. Servant Nanak has crossed over on the path, the treacherous path. || 3 || The body-horse was created by the Lord. Blessed, blessed is that body-horse which meditates on the Lord God. Blessed and acclaimed is that body-horse which meditates on the Lord God; it is obtained by the merits of past actions. Riding the body-horse, one crosses over the treacherous world-ocean; the Gurmukh meets the Lord, the embodiment of supreme bliss. The Lord, Har, Har, has perfectly arranged this wedding; the Saints have come together as a wedding party. Servant Nanak has obtained the Lord as his Spouse; joining together, the Saints sing the songs of joy and congratulations. || 4 || 1 || 5 ||

Daily Hukamnama for 26th of April 2010 - The Body-Horse

WADAHANS, FOURTH MEHL, GHOREES ~ THE WEDDING PROCESSION: ONE UNIVERSAL CREATOR GOD. BY THE GRACE OF THE TRUE GURU: This body-horse was created by the Lord. Blessed is human life, which is obtained by virtuous actions. Human life is obtained only by the most virtuous actions; this body is radiant and golden. The Gurmukh is imbued with the deep crimson color of the poppy; he is imbued with the new color of the Lord's Name, Har, Har, Har. This body is so very beautiful; it chants the Name of the Lord, and it is adorned with the Name of the Lord, Har, Har. By great good fortune, the body is obtained; the Naam, the Name of the Lord, is its companion; O servant Nanak, the Lord has created it. || 1 || I place the saddle on the body-horse, the saddle of realization of the Good Lord. Riding this horse, I cross over the treacherous world-ocean. The treacherous world-ocean is rocked by countless waves, but the Gurmukh is carried across. Embarking upon the boat of the Lord, the very fortunate ones cross over; the Guru, the Boatman, carries them across, through the Word of the Shabad. Night and day, imbued with the Lord's Love, singing the Glorious Praises of the Lord, the Lord's lover loves the Lord. Servant Nanak has attained the state of Nirvaanaa, the state of ultimate goodness, the state of the Lord. || 2 || The Guru has implanted spiritual wisdom within me, as a bridle in my mouth. He has applied the whip of the Lord's Love to my body. Applying the whip of the Lord's Love to the body, the Gurmukh conquers the mind, and wins the battle of life. He trains his untrained mind with the Word of the Shabad, and drinks in the rejuvenating essence of the Lord's Nectar. Listen with your ears to the Word, spoken by the Guru, and attune your body-horse to the Lord's Love. Servant Nanak has crossed over on the path, the treacherous path. || 3 || The body-horse was created by the Lord. Blessed, blessed is that body-horse which meditates on the Lord God. Blessed and acclaimed is that body-horse which meditates on the Lord God; it is obtained by the merits of past actions. Riding the body-horse, one crosses over the treacherous world-ocean; the Gurmukh meets the Lord, the embodiment of supreme bliss. The Lord, Har, Har, has perfectly arranged this wedding; the Saints have come together as a wedding party. Servant Nanak has obtained the Lord as his Spouse; joining together, the Saints sing the songs of joy and congratulations. || 4 || 1 || 5 ||

Sunday 25 April 2010

Funny Quote of the Day: Cussing and Sarcasm

"Cussing and sarcasm go hand in hand. Humility and grace go hand in hand. The real challenge is cussing with humility and being sarcastic with grace."

Funny Quote of the Day: Cussing and Sarcasm

"Cussing and sarcasm go hand in hand. Humility and grace go hand in hand. The real challenge is cussing with humility and being sarcastic with grace."

Friday 23 April 2010

International Mother Earth Day 2010: Dearest Mother Earth

Dearest Mother Earth,
The Mother of mankind,
Through death and birth,
Her care we find.

But man isn’t kind,
To Her at all,
Destruction we shall find,
And man shall fall.

Man must change his ways,
Before it’s too late,
Heal Her and pray,
Man must change his fate.

Mother Earth heals us,
Provides all we need,
No need to fuss,
Just do this deed.

Mother loves her child,
Mother provides everything,
Child has gone wild,
Chaos the child brings.

Trees are so healing,
Water is so quenching,
Flowers are so calming,
Air is so cleansing.

When will we realise,
These resources are critical,
Without them we’re paralysed,
Stop being so political.

Polluting her we’ll die,
Strangling our own neck,
This is no lie,
Humans are a speck.

Compared to the universe,
We’re so very small,
Yet we’re so perverse,
We like to stand tall.

Pretending we own land,
Doing what we please,
With every single strand,
We are Her disease.

But still Mother loves,
Giving is Her nature,
Time to rise above,
Time to now mature.

Earth we must heal,
Treading the Earth gently,
Earth we must feel,
Treating the Earth gratefully.

Keep Her in your prayers,
Love Her in your way,
Show Her all your care,
Then She’ll be okay.

By taking responsibility,
Humans will cause a shift,
Reducing the probability,
That from peace we drift.

Tomorrow is too late,
Today we must change,
No need to wait,
Caring is not strange.

Her care we find,
Through death and birth,
The Mother of mankind,
Dearest Mother Earth.

International Mother Earth Day 2010: Dearest Mother Earth

Dearest Mother Earth,
The Mother of mankind,
Through death and birth,
Her care we find.

But man isn’t kind,
To Her at all,
Destruction we shall find,
And man shall fall.

Man must change his ways,
Before it’s too late,
Heal Her and pray,
Man must change his fate.

Mother Earth heals us,
Provides all we need,
No need to fuss,
Just do this deed.

Mother loves her child,
Mother provides everything,
Child has gone wild,
Chaos the child brings.

Trees are so healing,
Water is so quenching,
Flowers are so calming,
Air is so cleansing.

When will we realise,
These resources are critical,
Without them we’re paralysed,
Stop being so political.

Polluting her we’ll die,
Strangling our own neck,
This is no lie,
Humans are a speck.

Compared to the universe,
We’re so very small,
Yet we’re so perverse,
We like to stand tall.

Pretending we own land,
Doing what we please,
With every single strand,
We are Her disease.

But still Mother loves,
Giving is Her nature,
Time to rise above,
Time to now mature.

Earth we must heal,
Treading the Earth gently,
Earth we must feel,
Treating the Earth gratefully.

Keep Her in your prayers,
Love Her in your way,
Show Her all your care,
Then She’ll be okay.

By taking responsibility,
Humans will cause a shift,
Reducing the probability,
That from peace we drift.

Tomorrow is too late,
Today we must change,
No need to wait,
Caring is not strange.

Her care we find,
Through death and birth,
The Mother of mankind,
Dearest Mother Earth.

Friday 16 April 2010

Quote of the Day - Thinking

"Two of the world’s biggest problems are that either people think too less or they think too much"

Quote of the Day - Thinking

"Two of the world’s biggest problems are that either people think too less or they think too much"

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Rising in Love vs. Falling in Love

Between 19th - 20th September 2009 I went on a very transformational spiritual retreat organised by the Chinmaya mission about how to rise in love (called the higher love of selflessness or Prema), which is the opposite of falling in love (called the lower love of attachment or Sneha). The distinction between Prema and Sneha is very clear, but is blurred by our existing notions about love and so as humans we think that loving always brings pain because our relationships don't seem to work out. I shall try to summarise what I learnt in as few sentences as possible so that you can all get the benefit of this retreat's learnings.

Usually we go into a relationship to get something out of it, for example, to receive love, acceptance, comforts, material goods, money or to escape our own loneliness. Contemplate on this deeply in all of your life's situations to see where these aspects are coming into play. Recognise that this is not true love, this is just a bargaining game - its the lower love of attachment or Sneha which we are just so accustomed to, that its normal for us to 'love' in this way. We have never been taught the way to love truly, unconditionally.

True love or Prema is where you go into a relationship to give love without any expectations of reward or failure. I repeat, giving love without any expectations of reward or failure. Everyone is always waiting for when they will receive love, but the key point to understand is: giving love is our privilege as a human being, and we all have the ability to choose to give love in all situations, and when we give love, the giving of love is in itself the fulfilment! This fulfilment is automatic as soon as we give love, so all we have to do is give love! Therefore, we all have the power of fulfillment at our finger tips! Just contemplate on this for a moment. If this is so, they who can hurt you or stop you or bring you down? Your love becomes an immortal love, a higher love, an everlasting love because the choice to give love is in your hands, in your control! So now time to go out there and give love without any expectations of reward or failure! If you have understood the above paragraph, your heart should start to beat with love because you have discovered that the source of love is YOU!

With this as our basis, now we move onto some more of the semantics of love. Giving love makes you irresistible, because today there is a famine of love, there is a recession of love and a credit crunch of love! There is such a demand for love, that wherever there is a supply, people will flock the whole world over to receive it. Giving love without expectations of reward or failure makes you completely irresistible as a human being, you will always be in demand so long as you can give love in this pure way of Prema! But when love is not pure, it just becomes a bargaining game, it become Sneha.

Let's take our relationship with God as an example. With God we also play a bargaining game, "God if you give me this, I'll do this for you", "Please grant me XYZ". This is love, but its a love which makes you dependant on God, you become a slave to God, when instead God wants us to become independent of everything including God. In this bargaining game, you want to get something out of the relationship, but you are not willing to sacrifice your own likes and dislikes so that you may serve God unconditionally in the way God wants. Seems a bit strange right, because surely God doesn't NEED your love? You're right, but if you love God truly, you'll stop playing a bargaining game and ask that may you continue to be at the feet of God and serve God in whatever way God wants. And what's the best way to serve God? Serve the creation of God, the people. That's pure love for God, Prema!

So when should you stop giving love in this pure way without expectations? Well, to answer this question let's look at the love of a Mother. Does a mother ever stop loving her child? No. Does a mother ever say "Right, I'm not going to make food for any of you today"? No, otherwise the family would go hungry. A mother doesn't even have to think about making food, she just makes it as a matter of-course because its part of her duty towards her family, to ensure they have a good well-being. That duty is ceaseless - it has no end - there is never any thought of not doing that duty. And this is the second biggest point to concentrate on: true love is where you only look at the well-being of your Beloved. So again, with the example of God, this means that we all have the ability to serve God ceaselessly because as devotees of God it is our duty to do so - the thought of not serving God should not even come into your mind for a moment if your love for God is true.

Another way to see where Sneha or Prema are in play is to look at the effect of love. If by loving a person your love becomes exclusive to that one person, then this is just attachment or Sneha. If by loving a person, you begin to love the many, the whole world, then this is true love or Prema. For example, relationships usually become quite emotional where one partner becomes extremely jealous if their partner is around other women or men, and as a result, just wants their partner to exclusively look at them and love them. This is attachment, Sneha. Prema is where there is a confidence, trust and truthfulness in a relationship, so much so that the love from this relationship expands and expands so that the love between two people begins to spread to other people and there is no jealously. The following excerpt of the poem Love For Each Other by Onkardeep Singh Khalsa portrays this well:

The love of two for each other moves the world,
It travels into the hearts of all uncurled.
Piercing all problems and conflicts, it rides the high bird unfurled,
Such is the power of love, of love.

Perfection exists in this state of bliss,
A time of stillness not to be missed.
Light in the dark, the heart carries you,
Little things in life left, the two so true.

The souls rejoice, they have united once more,
Two become one, the spiritual law.
The individual crawls through their journey,
But together do they grow, the Thou and me.

In joy, in sadness, in conflict, activity,
The comfort in silence a sure sign of clickery.
Create, take and sharing all things,
Realising the oneness, the angels sing.

Two become four and then still more,
Unity, love, self sufficiency universally core.
A utopia? Ideal? Perhaps nothing more,
But a worthwhile aim, love not war.

There is an adage that 'love is blind', however its only blind in attachment or Sneha, not in Prema. In Prema, love is all seeing. For example, sometimes in a Sneha relationship couples are blind to the negative tendencies of their lover including problems of anger management, problems in personal hygiene, problems in control etc. This blindness only occurs through attachment, because the person is only in a relationship to escape their own loneliness, and this utter selfishness makes them blind to the negative tendencies of their partner however severe these may be. However, in Prema, both partners are completely aware of each others' negative tendencies and not afraid to point them out whilst at the same time being all-accepting of their partner, because the underlying interest is in the well-being of their beloved, as mentioned earlier, therefore if one needs counselling or help with anger management, the other partner should pro-actively organise this if their truly care about their partner. In Sneha, there is a lack of response to do what really matters and waiting for things to happen, in Prema, there is a deep proactive response to action what needs to be actioned by making things happen!

Finally, sometimes people have been married for a very long time and yet seemingly have nothing in common. So what thinking is it that makes their relationship work? I leave you all with a beautiful quote from the retreat:
True love is not where you love someone because of something, it's where you love someone in spite of everything
We have now discussed the main aspects of attached love of Sneha and selfless love of Prema. Please save a version of this article and come back to it regularly, each time you read it you will understand it in some more depth and in a new more relevant way. The table below should help to make the distinction between the lower love of attachment (Sneha) and the higher love of selflessness (Prema) clearer for you:


The Lower Love of Attachment - Sneha The Higher Love of Selflessness - Prema
Waiting to receive love Actively giving love without expectation
Thinking that receiving love will fulfil you Knowing that giving love is itself the fulfilment
Love for the one creates love exclusively for the one Love for the one creates love for the many
You want things to remain separate You want things to be united
Concerned with your own well-being Concerned with the well-being of your beloved
Compromising with your beloved about your likes and dislikes Sacrificing your own likes and dislikes to serve your beloved
Love is because of something Love is in spite of everything
Love is blind Love is all seeing and all accepting
A lack of response of 'now is the time to share' A deep response of 'now is the time to share'
Waiting for things to happen Making things happen
Living with fear Living with courageous love
Involved with the future or the past Involved with the present
Being dependant on somebody or something Being independent of everybody and everything


Sat Naam.

Rising in Love vs. Falling in Love

Between 19th - 20th September 2009 I went on a very transformational spiritual retreat organised by the Chinmaya mission about how to rise in love (called the higher love of selflessness or Prema), which is the opposite of falling in love (called the lower love of attachment or Sneha). The distinction between Prema and Sneha is very clear, but is blurred by our existing notions about love and so as humans we think that loving always brings pain because our relationships don't seem to work out. I shall try to summarise what I learnt in as few sentences as possible so that you can all get the benefit of this retreat's learnings.

Usually we go into a relationship to get something out of it, for example, to receive love, acceptance, comforts, material goods, money or to escape our own loneliness. Contemplate on this deeply in all of your life's situations to see where these aspects are coming into play. Recognise that this is not true love, this is just a bargaining game - its the lower love of attachment or Sneha which we are just so accustomed to, that its normal for us to 'love' in this way. We have never been taught the way to love truly, unconditionally.

True love or Prema is where you go into a relationship to give love without any expectations of reward or failure. I repeat, giving love without any expectations of reward or failure. Everyone is always waiting for when they will receive love, but the key point to understand is: giving love is our privilege as a human being, and we all have the ability to choose to give love in all situations, and when we give love, the giving of love is in itself the fulfilment! This fulfilment is automatic as soon as we give love, so all we have to do is give love! Therefore, we all have the power of fulfillment at our finger tips! Just contemplate on this for a moment. If this is so, they who can hurt you or stop you or bring you down? Your love becomes an immortal love, a higher love, an everlasting love because the choice to give love is in your hands, in your control! So now time to go out there and give love without any expectations of reward or failure! If you have understood the above paragraph, your heart should start to beat with love because you have discovered that the source of love is YOU!

With this as our basis, now we move onto some more of the semantics of love. Giving love makes you irresistible, because today there is a famine of love, there is a recession of love and a credit crunch of love! There is such a demand for love, that wherever there is a supply, people will flock the whole world over to receive it. Giving love without expectations of reward or failure makes you completely irresistible as a human being, you will always be in demand so long as you can give love in this pure way of Prema! But when love is not pure, it just becomes a bargaining game, it become Sneha.

Let's take our relationship with God as an example. With God we also play a bargaining game, "God if you give me this, I'll do this for you", "Please grant me XYZ". This is love, but its a love which makes you dependant on God, you become a slave to God, when instead God wants us to become independent of everything including God. In this bargaining game, you want to get something out of the relationship, but you are not willing to sacrifice your own likes and dislikes so that you may serve God unconditionally in the way God wants. Seems a bit strange right, because surely God doesn't NEED your love? You're right, but if you love God truly, you'll stop playing a bargaining game and ask that may you continue to be at the feet of God and serve God in whatever way God wants. And what's the best way to serve God? Serve the creation of God, the people. That's pure love for God, Prema!

So when should you stop giving love in this pure way without expectations? Well, to answer this question let's look at the love of a Mother. Does a mother ever stop loving her child? No. Does a mother ever say "Right, I'm not going to make food for any of you today"? No, otherwise the family would go hungry. A mother doesn't even have to think about making food, she just makes it as a matter of-course because its part of her duty towards her family, to ensure they have a good well-being. That duty is ceaseless - it has no end - there is never any thought of not doing that duty. And this is the second biggest point to concentrate on: true love is where you only look at the well-being of your Beloved. So again, with the example of God, this means that we all have the ability to serve God ceaselessly because as devotees of God it is our duty to do so - the thought of not serving God should not even come into your mind for a moment if your love for God is true.

Another way to see where Sneha or Prema are in play is to look at the effect of love. If by loving a person your love becomes exclusive to that one person, then this is just attachment or Sneha. If by loving a person, you begin to love the many, the whole world, then this is true love or Prema. For example, relationships usually become quite emotional where one partner becomes extremely jealous if their partner is around other women or men, and as a result, just wants their partner to exclusively look at them and love them. This is attachment, Sneha. Prema is where there is a confidence, trust and truthfulness in a relationship, so much so that the love from this relationship expands and expands so that the love between two people begins to spread to other people and there is no jealously. The following excerpt of the poem Love For Each Other by Onkardeep Singh Khalsa portrays this well:

The love of two for each other moves the world,
It travels into the hearts of all uncurled.
Piercing all problems and conflicts, it rides the high bird unfurled,
Such is the power of love, of love.

Perfection exists in this state of bliss,
A time of stillness not to be missed.
Light in the dark, the heart carries you,
Little things in life left, the two so true.

The souls rejoice, they have united once more,
Two become one, the spiritual law.
The individual crawls through their journey,
But together do they grow, the Thou and me.

In joy, in sadness, in conflict, activity,
The comfort in silence a sure sign of clickery.
Create, take and sharing all things,
Realising the oneness, the angels sing.

Two become four and then still more,
Unity, love, self sufficiency universally core.
A utopia? Ideal? Perhaps nothing more,
But a worthwhile aim, love not war.

There is an adage that 'love is blind', however its only blind in attachment or Sneha, not in Prema. In Prema, love is all seeing. For example, sometimes in a Sneha relationship couples are blind to the negative tendencies of their lover including problems of anger management, problems in personal hygiene, problems in control etc. This blindness only occurs through attachment, because the person is only in a relationship to escape their own loneliness, and this utter selfishness makes them blind to the negative tendencies of their partner however severe these may be. However, in Prema, both partners are completely aware of each others' negative tendencies and not afraid to point them out whilst at the same time being all-accepting of their partner, because the underlying interest is in the well-being of their beloved, as mentioned earlier, therefore if one needs counselling or help with anger management, the other partner should pro-actively organise this if their truly care about their partner. In Sneha, there is a lack of response to do what really matters and waiting for things to happen, in Prema, there is a deep proactive response to action what needs to be actioned by making things happen!

Finally, sometimes people have been married for a very long time and yet seemingly have nothing in common. So what thinking is it that makes their relationship work? I leave you all with a beautiful quote from the retreat:
True love is not where you love someone because of something, it's where you love someone in spite of everything
We have now discussed the main aspects of attached love of Sneha and selfless love of Prema. Please save a version of this article and come back to it regularly, each time you read it you will understand it in some more depth and in a new more relevant way. The table below should help to make the distinction between the lower love of attachment (Sneha) and the higher love of selflessness (Prema) clearer for you:


The Lower Love of Attachment - Sneha The Higher Love of Selflessness - Prema
Waiting to receive love Actively giving love without expectation
Thinking that receiving love will fulfil you Knowing that giving love is itself the fulfilment
Love for the one creates love exclusively for the one Love for the one creates love for the many
You want things to remain separate You want things to be united
Concerned with your own well-being Concerned with the well-being of your beloved
Compromising with your beloved about your likes and dislikes Sacrificing your own likes and dislikes to serve your beloved
Love is because of something Love is in spite of everything
Love is blind Love is all seeing and all accepting
A lack of response of 'now is the time to share' A deep response of 'now is the time to share'
Waiting for things to happen Making things happen
Living with fear Living with courageous love
Involved with the future or the past Involved with the present
Being dependant on somebody or something Being independent of everybody and everything


Sat Naam.

Tuesday 13 April 2010

Quote of the Day: True Yoga

True Yoga is such an integration of the higher aspects of religion, philosophy and scientific methodology. Without devotion, yoga becomes mechanical and mentally dry. Without philosophy, the mind will wander and doubt such that the practice cannot be sustained over long periods. Without methodical and proven techniques, one merely engages in wishful thinking or emotional hallucinations.

By Rudra Shivananda - Page 2 of Sanatana Mitra: April 2010

Quote of the Day: True Yoga

True Yoga is such an integration of the higher aspects of religion, philosophy and scientific methodology. Without devotion, yoga becomes mechanical and mentally dry. Without philosophy, the mind will wander and doubt such that the practice cannot be sustained over long periods. Without methodical and proven techniques, one merely engages in wishful thinking or emotional hallucinations.

By Rudra Shivananda - Page 2 of Sanatana Mitra: April 2010

Sunday 11 April 2010

Quote of the Day: I make meditation my food

I make meditation my food,
And truthful living my water.
I make the spices my discipline,
And unconditional love my sweet pudding.
I sprinkle the salt of conscious thought all over,
And serve this dish to those in need of it.
My hunger and thirst have been quenched,
And the Love of God is enshrined within my heart.

By Guru's Grace

Quote of the Day: I make meditation my food

I make meditation my food,
And truthful living my water.
I make the spices my discipline,
And unconditional love my sweet pudding.
I sprinkle the salt of conscious thought all over,
And serve this dish to those in need of it.
My hunger and thirst have been quenched,
And the Love of God is enshrined within my heart.

By Guru's Grace

Monday 5 April 2010

Question: How do you forgive yourself?


Think about it, how do you forgive a family, friend? You kind of don't even need to forgive sometimes, you just let it go. If you accidentally bite your lip or cut your finger whilst cutting some vegetables...do you have to forgive yourself? no....you just don't even think about it, you just let it go. It happened and that's it, you just allow it to be. You make a mistake, learn from it, let the emotion go, move on. That's it...nothing more to do!

But self-compassion is very important. Like if you're kind to others, you should also be kind to your own body, your own mind. You see, YOU can never make a mistake, you're perfect, you're the soul, you're God. It's the play of the mind and body which makes mistakes because of their limitations and imperfection - but since mind and body are also a part of us - we just have to learn to accept their limitations, their imperfections. Accept them as a part of us - and be kind to them like a mother is kind to her own children. Sometimes children make mistakes - its OK, they learn from them and continue to play in the garden of life.

The final thing is self-standards. We make standards for ourself we believe we should live up to. For example, I make a self-standard "I shall get up everyday at 4am". Ok, it's a noble cause but its a standard I put on myself. But do we ever think, 'what does God want us to do today?', or do we ever ask 'what is your will God?', or do we ever request 'If getting up early is in thy will then may it be so'. In a way, we should be willing to sacrifice for God the things that are most dear to us, even our own Sadhana. In the end, its living in God's will that matters.

Sat Naam!

Question: How do you forgive yourself?


Think about it, how do you forgive a family, friend? You kind of don't even need to forgive sometimes, you just let it go. If you accidentally bite your lip or cut your finger whilst cutting some vegetables...do you have to forgive yourself? no....you just don't even think about it, you just let it go. It happened and that's it, you just allow it to be. You make a mistake, learn from it, let the emotion go, move on. That's it...nothing more to do!

But self-compassion is very important. Like if you're kind to others, you should also be kind to your own body, your own mind. You see, YOU can never make a mistake, you're perfect, you're the soul, you're God. It's the play of the mind and body which makes mistakes because of their limitations and imperfection - but since mind and body are also a part of us - we just have to learn to accept their limitations, their imperfections. Accept them as a part of us - and be kind to them like a mother is kind to her own children. Sometimes children make mistakes - its OK, they learn from them and continue to play in the garden of life.

The final thing is self-standards. We make standards for ourself we believe we should live up to. For example, I make a self-standard "I shall get up everyday at 4am". Ok, it's a noble cause but its a standard I put on myself. But do we ever think, 'what does God want us to do today?', or do we ever ask 'what is your will God?', or do we ever request 'If getting up early is in thy will then may it be so'. In a way, we should be willing to sacrifice for God the things that are most dear to us, even our own Sadhana. In the end, its living in God's will that matters.

Sat Naam!