Leadership Not Politics

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam and blessings to everyone.

 

Grateful to share some thoughts concerning leadership, spirituality

and politics.

 

Hillary Clinton came to Espanola, New Mexico last month and spoke at

the community college. It's a sign of how intense this presidential

race is that in the backwaters of the New Mexico mountains,

politicians like Clinton - and tomorrow - Obama himself - are visiting

such a small town. Al Gore won in NM in 2000 by a margin of 366 votes.

Something like that. So the stakes and the intensity people are

feeling are very high.

 

Clinton gave an incredible speech. I can understand how closely she

came to cracking that glass ceiling to the Presidency. But as I looked

out at the audience, I saw a look on their faces that I didn't like at

all. It was the look of someone giving all of their power away. It was

a look that said - I can't do it, Hillary, you can. You can do it. You

can do it for all of us.

 

And Hillary, I think like every politician and celebrity, accepted

that power. Accepted it and took it with her out the door - with a glow.

 

Sitting there on the stands in the auditorium, I thought to myself - I

have picked the best fight. I am a teacher of Kundalini Yoga, I

meditate and study spiritual wisdom - and what I do in my day to day

life will have, in the long run, more impact than anything Hillary

Clinton can do. Or John McCain or Obama. The problems we face in our

world come from the very habit we have to not own our power. To not

see how powerful and creative we are. The problems come because we

keep thinking someone else has to do it for us. Someone else has to

solve it. And if Kundalini Yoga does anything, it shows you - that is

not the case. The power is in me. I have to own that, I have to take

create action with it. And ultimately, I have to be responsible for it.

 

Honestly, I am sad at the way we as a public dialogue about politics.

It's a " savior " complex. Who is the right person to save us? The

complexity of the issues is ignored. The reality that it's possible to

create inclusion and understanding through dialogue is ignored. It

just becomes this big free-for-all PR campaign. And then we wonder why

Washington doesn't work. How can you live in a culture of negativity,

fighting, over-simplifying the issues, creating savior images and then

think, after the election is done in November, that people in

Washington can sit down and deal with each other as reasonable people?

 

The political process does not necessarily create reasonable people.

Kundalini Yoga creates reasonable people. People who can breathe

deeply and keep their minds clear. People who have strong nervous

systems so they don't react. People who command their minds so their

subconscious demons don't come out and run the show. People who can

speak kindly to one another - even towards their so-called enemies.

Kundalini Yoga allows us to be truly human - and it is in our humanity

towards one another that peace if found, prosperity is found and

problems are solved.

 

So I would like to honor each and every one of you who practice or

teach Kundalini Yoga. And I don't care personally who you vote for. I

believe the work you do every day - to help people become more human,

more in touch with their power, more creative and more responsible

will create a tremendous amount of healing in the world and have a

much bigger impact in the long-term than who gets elected to spend our

tax money in Washington.

 

Thank you for being who you are. And thank you for all that you do.

And remember one thing - Yogi Bhajan's birthday party in New Mexico

used to be famous as the one and only event (not just in NM - but in

the country) where Democratic leaders and Republican leaders could

come together, relax, eat, hang out and just enjoy each other's company.

 

Thank you for reading this.

 

With Divine Light and many blessings,

 

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

[Guest guest]

Dear EkOngKaar Kaur, Sat Nam. I love what you wrote.

 

But in the most important point that I understand from you, I think

there is one important caveat that is as the heart of what Sikh

Dharma and 3HO and humanity are all being pointed toward at this time:

 

Yes, it's true.

 

" Kundalini Yoga creates reasonable people. . . " AFTER SHAKTI PAD!

During Shakti Pad (which is a great accomplish in itself to have

achieved), everything is CRAZY (not reasonable). And the craziness

has exactly to do with OWNING THE POWER. The way out of Shakti Pad

is to " NOT OWN THE POWER " but TO CONTAIN THE POWER that we must

attribute as a gift, to the Grace of the Infinite Power. We

surrender our power in order to have, contain and channel Infinite

Power. This is the human destiny that results in Sahaj Pad, where

everything becomes smoothe, and leads to the liberating experience of

Sat Pad, where Truth becomes present in every thing, every person,

and every moment.

 

This is exactly where we all, AND EVEN THE LEADERSHIP OF OUR OWN

SPIRITUAL AND BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS, as well as humanity in general

are floundering. In the transition from Egocentric to Selfless

Awareness ( " Love is the experience of Selflessness within the self. " -

- YB). In the ego itself there is a bit of the neocon running a con

job inside each one of us. THIS IS WHERE THE REAL ELECTION IS TODAY:

will we select the true character who lives within us (SAT NAM) or

will we continue to slip by with the " Identically Identical, "

fabricated, contrived, false consciousness that we've all spent so

many years and lifetimes becoming the " product " of ourselves we

thought could earn us into heaven on earth at last. When that false

character is given up, we will have a capacity to contain Infinite

Power within a truly human identity. Until then, we're still in

Shakti Pad and still trying to own the power in a subtle and sneaky

way. THAT's the reason to continue doing sadhana every day: to BE

the Sevadar at the door of our own temple, standing by to greet the

sneaky side of ourselves and kindly inspire and cleanse all of

our " selves " to become true. Because that's what a Yogi and a

Sevadar would do as a matter of course.

 

I love what you wrote, and simply wanted to add this one clarifying

caveat about the Grace of Being Powerful. The gate out of Shakti Pad

is Heaven's Gate (on Earth). Going through it is how yogis must

learn to dance, in order to join The Big Dance with the Cosmic Ones

who call the tunes.

 

Blessings,

Krishna Singh

 

Kundalini-Yoga , " ekongkaar "

<EkOngKaarwrote:

 

Sat Nam and blessings to everyone.

 

Grateful to share some thoughts concerning leadership, spirituality

and politics.

 

Sitting there on the stands in the auditorium, I thought to myself -

I have picked the best fight. I am a teacher of Kundalini Yoga, I

meditate and study spiritual wisdom - and what I do in my day to day

life will have, in the long run, more impact than anything

politicians can do.

 

The problems we face in our world come from the very habit we have to

not own our power. To not see how powerful and creative we are. The

problems come because we keep thinking someone else has to do it for

us. Someone else has to solve it. And if Kundalini Yoga does

anything, it shows you - that is not the case. The power is in me. I

have to own that, I have to take create action with it. And

ultimately, I have to be responsible for it.

 

Honestly, I am sad at the way we as a public dialogue about

politics. It's a " savior " complex. Who is the right person to save

us? The complexity of the issues is ignored. The reality that it's

possible to create inclusion and understanding through dialogue is

ignored. It just becomes this big free-for-all PR campaign. And then

we wonder why Washington doesn't work. How can you live in a culture

of negativity, fighting, over-simplifying the issues, creating savior

images and then think, after the election is done in November, that

people in Washington can sit down and deal with each other as

reasonable people? The political process does not necessarily create

reasonable people.

 

Kundalini Yoga creates reasonable people. People who can breathe

deeply and keep their minds clear. People who have strong nervous

systems so they don't react. People who command their minds so their

subconscious demons don't come out and run the show. People who can

speak kindly to one another - even towards their so-called enemies.

Kundalini Yoga allows us to be truly human - and it is in our

humanity towards one another that peace if found, prosperity is found

and problems are solved.

 

Thank you for being who you are. And thank you for all that you do.

And remember one thing - Yogi Bhajan's birthday party in New Mexico

used to be famous as the one and only event (not just in NM - but in

the country) where Democratic leaders and Republican leaders could

come together, relax, eat, hang out and just enjoy each other's

company.

 

Thank you for reading this.

 

With Divine Light and many blessings,

 

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur