THANK YOU - SOME THOUGHTS ON THANKSGIVING “If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you. If the mountains tumbled to the sea, there would still be you and me.” - Led Zeppelin Well folks, the holiday season is again upon us. With last month’s Halloween kickoff, we are thrown into the hurly burly of gift buying, decorating our homes, and feeding friends and relatives which won’t really end until Super Bowl Sunday in early February. The big event this week is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving’s origin lies with our brother and sister pilgrims who came to a New World over two centuries ago. They left their homes, jobs and, in many cases, families in search of freedom. These men and women faced numerous challenges and hardships in their quest for a new life. They had to detach themselves from familiar surroundings – and almost all of their possessions – and step into the unknown. The trip to America wasn’t an easy one. The ships were relatively small, and frequently packed to the gills with passengers. Sanitation was substandard, disease was rampant, and many did not survive the journey. Those who did faced a whole new set of challenges when they disembarked on the new soil. Houses had to be built, wells dug, land cleared for farming and unpredictable weather to be dealt with. The latter proved to be one of their greatest foes, as the first winter was bitterly cold and many people did not live to see their first spring. Those who did survive were helped by the local natives in planting crops, and their patience was rewarded that autumn by an extremely bountiful harvest. The settlers celebrated this harvest by holding a day of Thanksgiving, expressing their gratitude to God for seeing them through such difficult times. This feeling of gratitude to God is one of the cornerstones of our national identity, and a key ingredient of spiritual unfoldment. We are each quite similar to our pilgrim forefathers and mothers when we set off on our inner trek of spiritual unfoldment. For each of us, the path to soul awakening and God-realization really is a pilgrimage, though not in the sense of visiting physical churches, shrines, temples, synagogues and mosques. It is the pilgrimage of soul as it steps through the inner door and begins the arduous journey of navigating the treacherous waters of the dual worlds, its attention always focused on the sonic blue pole star of the Inner Master guiding it to Sach Khand, our true home. One of the great myths of spirituality is that life gets easier, and your troubles drop away, once you step on the path. In one sense this is true, in that things which used to bother you no longer do. This is a matter of simple spiritual maturation. It’s analogous to human maturation in which things that upset you when you are five are less significant when you are ten or 20. But does this mean that troubles and challenges go away as you get older? Hardly. They just change as your capacity to deal with them grows. Likewise, the spiritual pilgrimage tests your outer and inner wherewithal. Every preconception will be challenged. Your most cherished beliefs will be stood on their heads. Memories and emotions – some of which have been long repressed and buried – will be excavated and exposed to the Light of Truth. Your entire being will become refashioned in the very image of God, one atom at a time. This is the nature – the very essence – of the path of Surat Shabda Meditation. The Divine Word fills us and absorbs us into ITSelf. As IT merges with us, we become more like IT. In the process, that which is within us that is of a lower or dual nature is removed. That which is pure, singular, eternal, golden love will not admit into ITSelf that which is dual and negative. As you might imagine, this can lead to some rather dynamic experiences while on the inner pilgrimage. Because Shabda is a Force of total purity, love and truth, IT demands that we be totally honest with ourselves. Even the slightest, half-hidden inconsistency is brought to the surface, into dramatically stark, conscious awareness. Like the tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, nothing remains hidden. This can lead to some rather uncomfortable experiences, especially as we see aspects of ourselves that we don’t like. And it is one of the key tests of our inner unfoldment, and the sincerity of our devotion to real spiritual growth. A lot of people will join a path and stay with it – and even promote it – so long as things are going well and their outer life appears to be getting better. But when things get rocky – as in the tale of Job – there comes a real crisis of faith. It is right here that many people step off the path. They are forced to confront negative aspects of themselves and, suddenly, it isn’t fun anymore. It becomes real work. It is not glamorous. It is not necessarily a key to financial prosperity or good health. In fact, the opposite may sometimes be the case. Old, nearly forgotten, karmic debts come due for payment, and we may experience a decline in health or wealth. This is especially common with those of use who are striving to balance their karmic accounts and attain spiritual freedom (Jivan Mukti) in this lifetime. If we wish to make this our last incarnation, but we have five lifetimes of karmic debts and credits, we will have to work it all off in this lifetime. Period. It’s just a plain spiritual fact. Now, like I said, some people hit the debt payment portion of this path, get bummed out, and want to quit. They blame the path – or the Teacher, or other students – for their difficulties, and reach instead for a placebo offered by the Kal mind power to temporarily numb the pain of life. The fact of the matter is that life in all the dual worlds, from the mind on down, can be painful. But to see this pain as negative and something to be avoided is a misperception. The pain we experience is not unlike that of a rough gemstone placed in a tumbler with other rocks whose only purpose is chip away at the gem’s sharp edges, to smooth its rough surface, gradually honing it and polishing it to perfection. Without the friction provided by the tumbler and the other stones, the brilliant ruby would be just another pink rock. Rumi told a story once about a conversation between a chickpea (garbanzo bean) and a cook. The chickpea jumps out of the pot in which it is cooking and complains about the agony of being immersed in boiling water. The cook knocks it back into the pot with his spoon, telling the chickpea that it should be grateful for the boiling, for this is the key to its transmutation. Likewise, we must remember to be grateful for all that God has given us, including the pains of living. My Master, Darwin Gross, used to say that this world is a testing ground and that pain can be a gift from God’s, because it turned our minds towards the Lord in search of relief; whereas, when times are good, we tend to forget Him. In this token we need to be grateful for every experience God gives us. Those times we are most tempted to complain about our difficulties, we should instead pause and say “Thank you”. It doesn’t have to be out loud; it can (and generally should) be done silently, just like Simran. These two simple words can work miracles in opening our spiritual heart. For in saying them, we are essentially supplicating ourselves to the Lord and becoming receptive for just a little bit more of the Spiritual Current. Every time we say “Thank you”, we are lifted up a little bit higher, and take a step closer to being fully immersed in ITs essence. Though it’s not yet over, this year has been full of some challenges, but even more blessings. I find myself closer than ever to my son. And in the midst of it all, I find myself traveling deeper and deeper within the core of the Eternal. The stranger everything around me gets, the calmer I get. I have taken sanctuary in the eternal home of the Lord – the unborn, undying and self-existent, the Ocean of Love and Mercy – the only thing in existence which is unwavering, which is always true. For this I am grateful. And I am thankful that God, in ITs generosity, gave me (and my brother and sister souls) the gift of existence. For we exist only because God loves us. I am also thankful for the blessings, love and guidance of Darwin who, though he has left the physical body, is still with me every moment of every day. I am thankful for my friends, both old and new. And I am so, So, SO very thankful for my family – and especially my son, who is growing into a fine young man. In being a father, I find the true meaning of love and devotion. And for that I am truly, eternally thankful. Thank you, with love. Michael “I’m thankful, for these moments You’ve shared with me this night. Your unselfishness goes beyond time and space.* I thank you, with love. It just is for you, alone. For we have sailed the cosmic Sea of Life. For IT just Is.” - Sri Darwin Gross (c) Michael Turner - 1995/2012 spiritualfreedomsatsang.org
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 21:50:45 +0000
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