shopping greed and shopping therapy

With the Gurprasad (god's Grace) of Satnaam Roop Sant Satguru ji (God in the form of Guru),

Dandauth bandhana ji (Prostration Greetings),

 

at this time of year we are thnakfully coming to the end of several months of constant SALE! SALE! SALE! adverts.

We get excited to get up early and go to the early morning sales, to beat the rush, to get some bargains.

But in reality, we are just being driven by desire for things we dont need.  Dassan Das ji called it Shopping Greed in one of his articles.

The desire to get a bargain gives us instant gratification when we purchase something for less than 50% of the original price.

But that happiness is short lived.  That is what desires for anything do.  They make us feel good for a while after they are fulfilled. 

But, they cause us grief and frustration when they are not. 

 

People nowadays also talk about "Shopping Therapy".  Meaning when they feel down or depressed they make themselves feel better by going shopping.

But, as we all know, it is only temporary happiness. 

 

Also at this time of year alot of people get themselves into financial trouble.   Shopping Greed and Shopping Therapy leads to overspending on our credit cards. 

The short term happiness in buying goods and giving some of them as Christmas presents soon fades away when the credit card bills come in.

This leads to more mental stress and worries.  Overspending on Christmas presents fulfills the desire of ours to being seen as being GENEROUS, even though we know we cant afford it.

 

How do we get out of Shopping Greed and Shopping Therapy?

 

First of all let us accept that the root cause of our greed and overspending is DESIRE.

 

Let us replace fulfilling desires with fulfilling needs.

 

Let us notice what happens to our mind when it sees SALE! signs.  And rather than getting excited and rushing in, let us breathe in, put our hands together and pray to Satguru ji. "Dear Satguru ji, I have given everything to you and You have already given me the greatest gifts of naam, seva (service) and bandagi(devotion).  I dont desire anything else.  May all these worldly desires leave my mind.  Please just give me what I need when I need it."

 

Then recite "Sat Naam Sat Naam Sat Naam" inside and wash away the desires.  But, the feelings for Shopping Greed dont go so easily.  So keep doing this everytime those thoughts come in.  And no matter how strong those desires dont act on them.

 

We all do need things now and again, so the best way to avoid getting sucked in by Shopping Greed, is to write down what we need.  Make a shopping list eg I need a pair of trousers.  Then with Gurprasad and Satnaam on your mind, just go and buy that, without buying or looking at anything else.

 

Also another emotion sets in once we have purchased our items.  That is ATTACHMENT and PRIDE.  We take out the new clothes that we got in the SALES, we put them on and feel real proud.  We dread spilling or tearing those clothes.  Our behaviour changes on wearing those clothes.  Our mind and feelings are being controlled by these worldly items.

 

Gurbani teaches us to remember the One who has given us food to eat and clothes to wear.  That is the cure for freeing our mind of ATTCHMENT and PRIDE of our purchases.

 

Dassan Das ji taught us to sit in meditation and to wipe away EGO before even starting to do naam simran.  With Dassan Das ji's kindness we have been doing this for a number of years now with great success.  Please try it yourself.

 

So sit in the morning.  close your eyes, pray to Satguru ji, please wipe away my ego please free me from my attachments.

 

Then imagine you are sitting in a fire.  And the fire is burning every part of your body.  That infact you are cutting your body joint by joint and throwing it in the fire.

That burns the mental attachment to our own body.  Then throw all the mental images of the special purchases that are affecting our mind and beahviour.  Throw in all those SALE purchases. See them all burn.  Feel your mind becoming free.  Then burn everything else we are attached to as well.  Attachments to our prized possessions, attachments to our house, our car, our family, our computer, our bank account ..anything and everything - throw it all into the fire.

 

Whilst doing this we recite the words of Dhan dhan Gutu Ram Das Ji:

 

than man kaatt kaatt sabh arapee vich aganee aap jalaaee ||4||
Cutting my mind and body apart into pieces I offer them all to You; I burn myself in the fire. ||4||

SGGS 757 

 

 

May SatGuru Ji bless us all to free our minds from Shopping Greed, Shopping Therapy , Attachment and Pride of prized possessions.

 

Dust of your feet

Harjit

 

 

Finding that dream job, having a passionate life

satnaam ji

dandauth bandhana ji

 

Some New Age Motivators say we need to find a job we are passionate about, then people reply they are still looking for something they were passionate about.  OK, some people will find that ideal job, but most people will not and will carry on being unsatisfied with their current situation.  Sai Baba said it best, "Its not about doing what you like, its about liking what you do."

 

If we accept that we are only going to get what we have sown in the past, and we also accept that wherever we are right now in life is the Hukam, the will of God, then the mind comes into contentment right away. And that is 90% of the battle.  The remaining 10% to peace of mind comes by understanding how to be passionate.    Most of us on a spiritual path are already very passionate about one thing and one thing only - attaining Union with the Truth.   When we are passionate about that, it doesn't mean we should then not do any thing else.  For many years I was passionate about going to the Gurdwara, doing seva (service) and simran (meditation).  But when it came to studying, going to work or starting a family, I just couldn't see the point.  I did it without any passion.   But with Baba Ji's blessing I have come to understand that the good things I learned in the Gurdwara were to be applied into every other aspect of my life.   So now with Guru's kindness, I have brought that passion of serving and living for others into my worklife and into my homelife.   Seeing work colleagues as my holy company (sangat) to serve, seeing work tasks and requests as being from my highest Boss, my Satguru.    And at home seeing household chores as service to the family sangat.  By keep the body in humble service and the mind on God wherever we are there is no duality of thinking some other job, or some other situation is better than where the Hukam has placed us right now.

 

Another point some New Age Motivators or religious groups make is that by following a certain techniques we can have whatever we want.   That there are tools that can help us destroy our self imposed limitations and make our dreams come true, to manifest our desires.  Once again, some people will get what they want, but most people wont.  Why?  Because again it comes down to what we have sown in the past.  We can only reap what we have sown. Law of Karma.   Not understanding Law of Karma means the mind will remain unhappy, will keep on feeling that we have failed or are inadequate because we are not living in our dream house, with our dream partner in our dream lifestyle.  Byron Katie summarised these techniques being sold to us as "You can have what you want."  Wereas she said what we really needed to do was "Want what you have."   It means accept that whatever we have right here, right now is absolutely the right thing for us.  This is our Guru's teaching also, to accept the Hukam, accept that what we have right now is God's will for us right now.  Then the mind is at peace.    Contentment in Truth, Sat Santokh, stabilizes the mind.  Then we can sit and meditate with one mind, one focus and escape from the hold maya (worldliness) has over us.  We can go into smadhee, deep meditation, and realise the objective of  our life on Earth.

 

So what will happen if we suddenly give up looking for a job we are passionate about, and we give up trying to have what we want?  Will our life stagnate?  Will we become poor and unfulfilled?  No, not at all.  What happens is we free our mind from "the grass is greener on the other side" mentality.   We stop complaining about the job or situation we are in.  We stop the downward mental spiral that drains us of our life energy, our inner amrit.  Instead, we wake up and become passionate about everything, because we see God in everything.  We work harder and more consistently in our work and home life.   We let go of all our wants and worldly desires and instead trust God-Guru to take care of everything.  We live in the moment by accepting the Hukam for us.  And when in a future moment an opportunity comes for us, we study or work for it as best we can. 

 

When we say to God that we now only live for doing Naam Simran, Seva and Bhagti (devitonal worship), then God-Guru will give us the worldly stabilty we need.  He will give us the opportunities to have all the material possesions, house, car, family, job and so on that we require in order to live a spiritual life.  And free us from chasing those dreams that can never come true for us because of what our karma has limited us to.

 

This is what it means in Gurbani whenever the Gurus have written that all their desires have been fulfilled and that whatever they have asked for has come true , eg "jo mangey takur apanay tay soee soee devay".   It means all spiritual dreams have been fulfilled and as a by product, all material needs (not wants and maya dreams), have been taken care of.   Satguru tumaray kaaja savaray ... The SatGuru takes care of all your tasks.

 

 

God Bless You

dust of your feet

Harjit