What is the Hukam - Divine Will versus Free Will

QUESTION:

 

 

Satnaam satnaam satnaam sada satnaam
 
kottan kot dandauth towards paar brahm parmeshar ji, satguru ji and gursangat ji
 
i never got to understand what guru ji meant by hukam. Guru ji tell us that everything is within the hukam. Everything that happens, every action that we take happens according to the hukam, so if everything is happening according to the hukam, why does guru ji say that we shall get what we deserve from our actions. Guru ji tells us that everything is controlled by the hukam. If that were the case, Why does one suffer, if the actions he/she carried out were controlled by the hukam in the first place....I am so confused!!!! Do you think there is such thing as free will? If there isn't then why do we get judged because if there is no free will then all our actions are done by him!!!! Please put some light on this
 
sorry if i said anything wrong,
dust of everyone's feet
 

ANSWER :

in my simple understanding see the Creation like a long train.

The direction of that train is determined by the Driver's Will .  That is the HUKAM that is running the whole Creation in a certain way. 

 

Within the carriages we reside and we can do good or bad.  That is freewill and we pay the price of our actions - that is karma - consequences.  Some go towards the front of the Train towards the Driver, other goto the back- further away.

 

A BrahmGiani is the Knower of God, is the one who has made it right to the front and is one with the Driver.

 

Everyone else is running around in the carriages, thinking they are doing everything, forgetting they are part of a bigger Train, a bigger Will - the HUKAM.

 

I asked Baba Ji once, the first thing Baba Nanak ji asks us in Japji Sahib is "How do we become truthful? How is the veil of falsehood torn down?"  And the answer is "Follow the pre-ordained Hukam..."  But I said to Baba Ji , but what is the Hukam?  How can I follow it if I dont know what it is?

 

Baba Ji replied, "Only the BrahmGiani is living 100% in the Hukam at all times.  So until we become BrahmGiani we need to come under the shelter of one.  And follow their Hukam for us."

 

Its like we have freewill, but we dont know how to get to the front of the train like a child who can sit on His Father's the Drivers lap.  So we find the BrahmGiani, the one who is the Driver, to show us the way.  We use our free will to make this choice and find our way to our Father's Laps.  At that point when ego is totally destroyed, we realise that we are now living 100% the same as the Driver.  Whatever Dvine Thought comes from the Driver, is our thought and we enact it.  There is no ego and no freewill to get in the way now.   We even realise that what we thought was "our thoughts" and our freewill, was actually ALL GOD as well.

 

That is why Baba Ji says to understand HUKAM very simply, just remember that ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING that has happened upto this moment in time was the HUKAM.  But whatever actions you take right now, you will reap as well.  That is freewill.   For most of us when we are doing an action, its freewill,  when its done though it was the HUKAM.    But for BrahmGiani when they are doing an action it is HUKAM and when it is done it was HUKAM.

 

Hope that helps.

 

But ultimately who really can understand a BrahmGiani?  Only another BrahmGiani ..."brahmgiani kee ghat brahmgiani janaay" ...Sukhmani.    So I am not that, so all we can say really about the BrahmGiani Baba Ji is, "Dhan dhan Dhan jaan aayaa jis prasad sabh jagat tariyaaa"  ...Blessed Blessed Blesssed is that divine soul, by whose coming, the whole world is ferried across.

 

dust of your feet

 

Harjit

 PS Pls read

http://www.satnaam.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=0

 

 

anger delays the healing process

satnaam satguru satsangat ji, dandauth bandhana ji,

 

we all know that when we do naam simran and reiki and yoga or any kind of relaxation we heal quicker.

Here is an article showing why.  Basically, when we are stressed we produce high levels of the

stress hormone cortisol.  This slows down the healing process by upto 4 times for angry people.

Another reason do beat the 5 thieves and to do naam simran!

 

It also shows that God has programmed our bodies to heal and to be healthy.  The body is so amazing it

has its own blueprint of how we should be, it is always trying to maintain us at the highest level of health.

But we are our own worst enemies.  We do not give the body the right nutrients through good food and good drink,

we do not give it the right excercise, we do not give it the right thoughts and we do not beat our own ego and anger into the ground.

But even then, the body still doesnt give up trying to heal us - it may slow down, it may compensate, but God within us,

our natural healing power - NEVER gives up on us.  Imagine how healthy and spiritual we would all be if we

worked in harmony with our body?  Right food, right excercise, right thinking - so let's start right away!!

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7252415.stm

 

dust of your feet

 

Harjit

bhagti like an athlete

ik oankar satnaam gurprasad||

dandauth bandhana ji

 

 

On one of the recordings Baba Ji said we have to be like an athlete whilst doing bhagti (practise of spirituality).

He meant that we have to be that dedicated and devoted and focused on winning over the mind.

 

For years I remember that whenever I wasn't focused on work or family , I wasn't focused on bhagti either.

It was a wrong belief i had that I was just working because i had to and it had nothing to do with bhagti.

Actually the attitude I have to my work, to my family, to my health, is the same attitude that carries over to my bhagti.

 

If I am lazy at work, unorganaised, easily distracted, not able to concentrate or focus on one task then my work suffers and also I suffer because i do not feel good about myself.  Then when i go to sit for bhagti, i am also unorganised, dont go to sleep on time, dont get up on time and  make excuses that I have no time to do bhagti.

 

However, when i am organised in all aspects of my life, I have more time for bhagti, I have more time for work, I have more time for family and I waste little time doing things that are not helping me eg watching endless hours of TV.  And then when i sit for bhagti I alsoo am able to concentrate better because my mind is used to doing what i tell it all the time.

 

So get organised, get focused like a top athlete and make time for bhagti.

 

 

May Baba Ji bless us all to make his words come true for each one of us.

 

dust of your feet

Harjit

 

 

Run your way out of Depression

Satnaam Ji - Dandauth Bandhana Ji.

 

 

Over the last few years bhagti has become harder. Even though the blessings are there

I just have been unable to sit and meditate and go deep.   Looking back the main reasons

where because of feeling of hurt, anger, frustration and helplessness due to family and financial

issues.

 

Even trying to sit and meditate just let to further feelings of frustration, as I felt i could not get deeply into it.

But throughout that time, I just kept doing seva, if nothing else at least i could do seva for the Guru and Guru's blessed sangat.  So I was stuck in a rut.

 

Last December, a big bombshell hit our family and local sangat when Susan announced she was marrying a "whiteman".

This brought big headaches and turmoil for all the family, friends and sangat and their families.  I tried to bury my head in the sand first, then my own frustrations and anger came to a peak.  However, seeing the destructive downward cycle the whole of the family was in, I decided that i was not going down that route, becasue all baba ji's divine wisdom taught us not to.

 

With Guru ji's kirpa we got the ticket out of our rut.  Instead of letting the anger and listening to the slander getting us further into a destructive cycle, we were able to channel that energy for the good.  With Guru's grace I just had an overwhelming feeling to start running.  Instead of letting that energy destroy the body, I pounded for half an hour every day whilst chanting satnaam satnaam.   It was hard at first, but day in day out, it made me feel good about myself, about my body and about my attitude to life.  I felt a web of depression was being cut through.  I felt like a teenager again, with lots of energy and determination.  After three weeks I felt now I needed t work on physical strength, so joined the gym and have been going for the last three weeks.  ANd getting stronger and stronger with each push saying "satnaam".  Now this last week have also started doing yoga in the morning for flexibility followed by an hour of simran which is now not frustrating at all, but full of love.

 

Last night Susan came around and said that around XMAS when all the fallout was happening, Namjeevan called Baba Ji and about me and he told her that it was not my destiny to fall off the path.  And three weeks ago Susan said she called Baba ji and asked him to send me love blessings and Amrit.  Looking back, even though i was running and chanting half an hour a day and feeling good in a physcial sense, my internal anger was not shifting.  And it was around that time, with Guru's kirpa that Pritam Anand Ji asked for all our pains and we prayed for him to take all our anger and frustrations.  And that is when the anger shifted.

 

Sometimes we can let anger destroy us, or we can use it to destroy others.  IF we keep it inside though it becomes internalised and that is called Depression.  If we learn to use it to kick us out of our comfort zone, to make changes in our life, to solve our problems and be determinded to do so, then it can be a force for the good.  But to totally banish it requires the blessings of the Sant Satguru, the Sat Sangat.

 

So thankyou everyone.  And also i would like to apologize to the sat sangat - Jaspal, Ranjit, Namjeevan Ji and anyone else who i have offended.  I am ver sorry, may i wash your holy feet and drink the amrit water.

 

PS Here is an article on the bbc newsite confirming how running and excercise helps us to beat depresssion.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7240545.stm

 

dust of your feet

Harjit

 

 

 

Sardar Jokes or Slander?

satnaam ji - dandauth bandhana ji

 

I received an emailk full of sardar jokes-  the underlying thing was to put down the image of "sardar".   In UK we have jokes about the Irish , in every country they pick a group to make fun of.  The Germans picked the Jews and 6 million of them were killed.

 

Unfortunately, it is still nindya - slander, as its less than the Truth about those people.  People say but its just a bit of fun.  Well actually in the old days the word Sardar was a word of great respect for great Sikhs.  So now it shows in India that the word Sardar has had its imagine changed to a great fool.

 

In Rwanda there was genoicide in the 1990s.  I wondered how could millions of people be killed by their neighbours?   It turns out that for the previous ten years the rulers and generals had been slowly but surely polluting the minds of the massses with derogatory remarks about the other tribe.  From media articles, to radio shows, to jokes like this.  So the ruling tribe after 10 years saw the other tribe as nothing more than animals.   When the killing started they had no problem in killing human animals.

 

We have to watch out for slander at all times.

 

dust of your feet

 

Harjt

Who is Gurmukh?

satnaam satguru satsangat satshabad - dandauth bandhana ji.

 

I was incorrectly taught at Sikh camps that when you became initiated as a Sikh you were now a Gurmukh- meaning that I had my face (mukh) towards the Guru (Gur).   And everyone who was not initiated was still a Manmukh - had their face (mukh) towards their own mind (man).  So then when I read or heard the Gurbani, words of the Guru, and they praised the Gurmukh as the verses below do, I felt very satisfied.  And when the verses criticised Manmukhs, I ignored that because that obviously applied to the rest of the unitiated congregation!

 

Actually, Dassan Das Ji put us straight.  Gurmukh is the state of an enlightened soul.  When there is no difference between what the Guru's Words teach and what you say, think and do.  Gur - Mukh means you are the living , breathing walking talking word (mukh) of the Highest Guru i.e. God (Gur).

 

And to be Gurmukh has nothing to do with the religion you follow or the initiations you have taken.  The verses below show that the saints like the child Prehlad Ji, the King Janak Ji and Vashisht Ji were all Gurmukh. 

 

"As Gurmukh, Prahlaad meditated on the Lord, and was saved."

 

"As Gurmukh, Janak lovingly centered his consciousness on the Lord's Name."

 

"As Gurmukh, Vashisht taught the Teachings of the Lord."

 

(full verses are attached below)

 

Even Bhai Gurdas Ji in his verses writes the founder of Yoga, Patanjali was Gurmukh.  In another verse also writes that Gurmukh Nanak Pargat hoi - meaning that Nanak was also Gurmukh who became manifest in this world.

 

So really Gurmukh is nothing less that being the same as the Guru.  Gurbani describes this as when the Sikh and the Guru become one, like the wave and the ocean, like the ray and the sun are one.

 

Dassan Das Ji explained to us that basically until we become Gurmukh by defeating the 5 thieves, we are Manmukh - we are following the words of our own mind, and are not following the words of our Guru 100%.

 

So when listening to the divine lovable words of Gurbani, remember the verses about Manmukh apply to most of us, and the Guru is telling us to defeat our worldy mind.

 

To read more on this topic of Gurmukh and Manmukh visit the website : http://www.satnaam.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=2&id=3&Itemid=11

 

dust of your feet

 

Harjit