So Purkh for gay men - dealing with wordly wants

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QUESTION:

 

Re: So Purkh for gay men

Posted by: " Ezekiel " spikycork spikycork

Sat Nov 15, 2008 9:03 pm (PST)

Harjit,

Thanks for your response. That makes sense. It seems to me the ultimate

challenge of the

householder is how to integrate " spiritual " and " worldly " aspirations.

What do you think of all the techniques given by Yogi Bhajan to fulfill

" worldly " desires - such

as meditations for abundance, beauty, even health? There was also a

discussion of chanting

mangala saaj bhaya to find your soulmate here on the earth plane. Is that

not also a " worldly "

desire?

 

I spent a long time, when I first got into kundalini yoga, really focusing

on myself and

my connection with spirit, not seeking an outside relationship, because it

felt irrelevant to my

happiness and spiritual path. Then I realised that my soul had a deep desire

to share love

with another in a special relationship. I understand there may be aspects of

ego in this, but

it is also a longing for self expression, similar to being a musician (which

I am also) longing

to play my instrument - and even using it to facilitate healing for others

(I have played during

yoga classes, and people have come up to me deeply moved, expressing how my

playing

enhanced their yoga experience). Anyway, I understand your very sober ideas

about getting

spiritual wisdom mixed up in worldly goals. . . but I'm curious what you

think about all this.

Ezekiel

 

REPLY:

 

Satnaam Satguru Satsangat - I bow to you.

 

Dear Ezekiel Ji,

 

you have asked a very valid question. On a spiritual path how do we fulfill

our worldy aspirations? And if we follow the spiritual path to the letter

then we also know that there is no place for worldy desires. Because in all

the teachings of the Guru's and Saints there is no mention of reciting

certain verses in order to fufill a particular want. Bhai Gurdas Ji

(Enlightened soul at the time of the earlier Gurus) wrote that Guru Nanak

Ji's coming into the world " saved people from the clutches of the Atharva

Veda " (Var 1 Verse

38<https://fateh.sikhnet.com/sikhnet/discussion.nsf/3d8d6eacce83bad8872564280070\

c2b3/c108c601f165700e872564f5000bab18!OpenDocument>).

When I read this I wondered what was so terrible about the Atharva Veda and

I found this translation <http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe42/index.htm>.

Its basically a prayer book to get any and every want fulfilled. Bhai

Gurdas Ji wrote that Guru Nanak Ji saved people from this ignorance with

light of Guru's word.

 

" With Bani (the Celestial Word), Guru Nanak enlightened, wiping out the

darkness of ignorance.

Knowledgeable discourses always followed the music from inner soul.

The prayers at dusk and meditation at ambrosial hours dominated.

And saved his pious ones from the ponderous hymns of Atharva Veda. "

 

So when we see the enormous efforts Guru Nanak Dev Ji went to to get people

out of praying for worldy wants, then it is quite sad to see that 500 years

on , the business of fulfilling wordly wants now involves the very verses of

Bani (Guru's words) that condemn it. Every religious place seems to be in

the business of fulfilling wordly wants. From going to India I have been

astounded by the Gurdwaras that have popped up, whatever the want is, there

seems to be a Gurdwara to fulfill it. From the one offering mothers the

blessing of the birth of a boy, to the one for the illiterate to be able to

read, to one for farmers to donate rice pudding so their cows will give

milk. Whatever the want there is a holy man, a temple and a technique

involving reciting a verse from gurbani plus a few other tricks (wrap up the

verse in a cloth around your neck, or do x , y and z). And these places

are overflowing with innocent people being mislead by the ones who have been

mislead by their own teachers. But actually, how innocent are these

followers?

 

A blessed soul summed it up nicely, he said for 20 years he went and served

visiting holy men and singers at the Gurdwara in Canada, but he never

progressed spiritually until he met Baba Ji who gave him the blessing of

Naam. He then wondered why it had taken him so long to get the blessings of

Naam? He realised with God's grace that in each of those 20 years he had

many wordly wants, and he seemed to have attracted the holy men who were

operating at the level to give him some verses and techniques to fulfill

those wants.

We basically attract people of the same consciousness. If we have wordly

wants, then we will attract people in the wordly want business. And that is

where we stay until we say to God-Guru, " Dear Guru ji, so many years have

passed and I am still so far from You, now I fall at your feet, nothing has

happened as I wanted, nothing is in my hands, now I only want You, Your Naam

and the dust of Your saints feet. " Then with God's grace we meet the one

who is going to bless us with the priceless diamond " Naam " .

 

So what happens if we really give up everything of our wordly wants and

focus purely on what Bani says to us? Will we stay lonely, will we be poor

in the streets, will we never have a boy child, will our illness not heal,

will we not be beautiful and balanced, heathy and happy? The Truth Baba Ji

explained to me was that we receive what is in our karma. Wether we pray

or not we get what we have sown earlier in this life and in past lives.

One person says they went to the holy man at the Gurdwara and was blessed

with a son, my wife went (due to her conditioning) and was blessed with a

girl. On asking the holy man how could this be, he snapped, " Well if you

dont want her we will take her in " - not really answering the question.

When a real holy person would have said to my wife, you can only receive

what is in your karma.

 

 

People obtain that which they are pre-ordained to receive.

 

SGGS 283

 

But how can karma be changed? There is only one way and that is through the

blessings of the real holy person, the divne soul - God's devotee - the one

who is the same as God.

 

There is no difference between the Lord and the humble servant of the Lord;

O Nanak, know this as true. ||29||

 

SGGS 1428

 

Just as the fifth Guru, Guru Arjun Dev ji did not give himself the blessings

of a son when his wife asked. A true saint never asks for anything but the

pain and suffering of everyone to come to them and peace to go to everyone

else. He sent his wife Mata Gujri to the nearest holiest person, Baba budha

Ji who blessed her with the soul of a warrior - Guru - the sixth Guru.

 

 

(God says : ) " The devotee can release anyone from my bondage,

but I cannot release anyone from his. "

 

SGGS 1252

 

 

But dont even have that as a desire in your mind, to go to a realy divine

soul to get your worldy tasks arranged. There is only one way on this

path, and that is to give up all hopes of living, give up the fear of death,

pray for God and God alone, and God comes to us through the nearest divine

soul to bless us with the Naam. When we have the Naam under Guru's Grace

then everything else is taken care of. Everything happens at the right time

for the best, and everything we do under the Graceful Naam helps us go

closer to God. Wereas everything done under influence of wordly wants,

takes us into maya and that always bites.

 

God is power, intellect, understanding, the breath of life,

wealth, and everything for the Saints.

May I never forget Him from my mind, even for an instant –

this is Nanak's prayer (ARDAS). ||8||2||

 

 

 

SGGS 1017

 

 

When we give everything to God and Guru, God and Guru give EVERYTHING to us.

Absolutely EVERYTHING. So why are we worried about asking for the small

stuff?

 

Baba Ji really opened my eyes when he told me that he never asks God for

wordly things, but God never stops giving them anyway.

 

dust of your feet

 

Harjit