har kasee k'oo door mānd az aslé kheesh
From their roots, whoever remains away
bāz jooyad roozgār vaslé kheesh
seeks a reunion with the self-one day
- Rumi
The above lines are from Rumi’s poem Beshno Een Nay, which means listen to the reed flute. It is the first poem in his compilation titled “Masnavi.” It is a poem of longing and separation, a cry for reunion with the true self.
We are programmed for self-exploration and self-love, but we get stuck in the cocoon of our mind-driven negative creations. We feel constricted, and in this anxious state we get lonely and seek love and understanding. External love is ephemeral and conditional. On the other hand self-love is ever lasting, and it can be cultivated by connecting with one’s true nature of shared generosity with the community.
Unfortunately, we have become addicted to always searching for something new or more to give us satisfaction, and the moment the pleasure hormones such as dopamine, serotonin, and epinephrine levels drop in our brain we go through the pain and seek more of them as the remedy. The see-saw between pleasure and pain goes on. The hum of incessantly percolating WhatsApp or Instagram have become our new hypodermic needle. On the treadmill of seeking pleasures, everyone is doing the same thing. Intrinsically, we know that the pleasures which are sought by everyone are nothing but a matrix of vice.
In the meantime, we are aging. Time is swallowing our time faster and faster, and the body is dissolving rapidly into a sea of fearsome aging with various ailments onboard. Our mind-generated anxieties and fears seek mind-generated solutions. We start listening to sermons on immortality of soul from deceased and living gurus, moving from idea to idea with whatever gives us hope. While reflecting on the nature of this kind of spiritual materialism, a Zen monk said “Last year a fool, this year no change”.
To satiate our longing for union and meaning, which becomes more intense, we knock at more and more doors, but never at the door of our heart. The other doors are created by our conditioned minds. As mentioned earlier, thoughts, feelings and stories aroused in us are being written by our conditioned mind. There is no reality. It is a blank and total illusion (Maya) out there. The mind is a story writer and based on its own interpretation generates different feelings, and the body acts accordingly both internally and externally. In Guru Granth Sahib, the first guru of Sikhs, Baba Nanak, wrote:
Man Ka Kahya Mansa Kare,
Eh Man Papa Pun Ucharey.
Maya Mad Mate Tripat Na Aawey,
Tripat Mukat Man Saacha Bhavey.
The man does what is told by his mind
Mind is the source of good and bad deeds
The man (mind) intoxicated by the wine of illusion is never satiated,
The mind free from clinging to desires is loved by the lord and finds freedom
There is no formula which can be employed by everyone to understand and break away from the mind created matrix. To break away and live meaningfully, the centuries old wisdom practice tells us to live simultaneously in both material and spiritual planes of existence. Unfortunately, almost all of us live sequentially at best. Mostly in material plane and sometimes in spiritual plane by visiting holy places. Spiritual plane is the domain of an enlightened heart full of love, compassion, and shared generosity with the larger world. Living simultaneously in both planes gets us to a third plane, which is the plane of no longing. Sri Guru Granth sahib has a beautiful following verse which shows the path for living simultaneously in both planes:
Man Rama Nama Bedheeyale,
Jaise Kanik Kala Chit Maandeeyaley
My heart mind is pierced by the love of the lord, like a goldsmith,
who entertains (implied) the customers while being totally focused on his art
-Bhagat Namdev, Sri Guru Granth Sahib
The philosopher, Ram Das, eloquently described the concept of living simultaneously in two planes by saying, “Live in your Buddha Nature, but do not forget your Social Security Number."
The vacuum we feel in our hearts amid abundance is due to missing connection with our origins. Like the flute’s longing for its natural habitat, the reef, our soul longs to connect with our source. My mother grew up in central Punjab (now in Pakistan) near river Jhelum and was influenced by Sufi thoughts and stories. She used to say that the flute’s music begs for forest. It finds its soul there, just like Lord Krishna’s flute in the forests of Vrindavan. We are missing our natural habitat, nature. To re-establish the lost connection, we need to rekindle love of nature.
We tend to be self-referential day in and day out. The time spent in nature, whether a thoughtful walk or stargazing, makes us more thoughtful and makes us slow down. Slowing down makes us more humane and caring, and aids in focusing us on self-love.
According to Zen thought, to achieve self-love we must chose uniquely our own new path. The Spanish Poet Antonio Machada said “Traveller, your foot prints are the only road, nothing else. You make your own path as you walk”. The Sikh tradition emphasizes that each path you walk should be a path of service to the creation. Service with gratitude, humility, and generosity of sharing is abode of awakened heart. It is said that blessed are the souls who do not entrust their lives to anyone but chose their own awakened path.
I am ending this blog by quoting famous 12th century Persian Poet Hafiz. He implores us through metaphors to awaken our heart with new thoughts (wind). Beloved is a reference to the lord:
zé kooyé yār meeyāyad naseemé bādé nowruzi
From the beloved that comes the winds of the new beginning
az een bād ar madad khāhee cherāghé del bar-afroozee.
If you need any help from this wind, light the fire within your heart.
From their roots, whoever remains away
bāz jooyad roozgār vaslé kheesh
seeks a reunion with the self-one day
- Rumi
The above lines are from Rumi’s poem Beshno Een Nay, which means listen to the reed flute. It is the first poem in his compilation titled “Masnavi.” It is a poem of longing and separation, a cry for reunion with the true self.
We are programmed for self-exploration and self-love, but we get stuck in the cocoon of our mind-driven negative creations. We feel constricted, and in this anxious state we get lonely and seek love and understanding. External love is ephemeral and conditional. On the other hand self-love is ever lasting, and it can be cultivated by connecting with one’s true nature of shared generosity with the community.
Unfortunately, we have become addicted to always searching for something new or more to give us satisfaction, and the moment the pleasure hormones such as dopamine, serotonin, and epinephrine levels drop in our brain we go through the pain and seek more of them as the remedy. The see-saw between pleasure and pain goes on. The hum of incessantly percolating WhatsApp or Instagram have become our new hypodermic needle. On the treadmill of seeking pleasures, everyone is doing the same thing. Intrinsically, we know that the pleasures which are sought by everyone are nothing but a matrix of vice.
In the meantime, we are aging. Time is swallowing our time faster and faster, and the body is dissolving rapidly into a sea of fearsome aging with various ailments onboard. Our mind-generated anxieties and fears seek mind-generated solutions. We start listening to sermons on immortality of soul from deceased and living gurus, moving from idea to idea with whatever gives us hope. While reflecting on the nature of this kind of spiritual materialism, a Zen monk said “Last year a fool, this year no change”.
To satiate our longing for union and meaning, which becomes more intense, we knock at more and more doors, but never at the door of our heart. The other doors are created by our conditioned minds. As mentioned earlier, thoughts, feelings and stories aroused in us are being written by our conditioned mind. There is no reality. It is a blank and total illusion (Maya) out there. The mind is a story writer and based on its own interpretation generates different feelings, and the body acts accordingly both internally and externally. In Guru Granth Sahib, the first guru of Sikhs, Baba Nanak, wrote:
Man Ka Kahya Mansa Kare,
Eh Man Papa Pun Ucharey.
Maya Mad Mate Tripat Na Aawey,
Tripat Mukat Man Saacha Bhavey.
The man does what is told by his mind
Mind is the source of good and bad deeds
The man (mind) intoxicated by the wine of illusion is never satiated,
The mind free from clinging to desires is loved by the lord and finds freedom
There is no formula which can be employed by everyone to understand and break away from the mind created matrix. To break away and live meaningfully, the centuries old wisdom practice tells us to live simultaneously in both material and spiritual planes of existence. Unfortunately, almost all of us live sequentially at best. Mostly in material plane and sometimes in spiritual plane by visiting holy places. Spiritual plane is the domain of an enlightened heart full of love, compassion, and shared generosity with the larger world. Living simultaneously in both planes gets us to a third plane, which is the plane of no longing. Sri Guru Granth sahib has a beautiful following verse which shows the path for living simultaneously in both planes:
Man Rama Nama Bedheeyale,
Jaise Kanik Kala Chit Maandeeyaley
My heart mind is pierced by the love of the lord, like a goldsmith,
who entertains (implied) the customers while being totally focused on his art
-Bhagat Namdev, Sri Guru Granth Sahib
The philosopher, Ram Das, eloquently described the concept of living simultaneously in two planes by saying, “Live in your Buddha Nature, but do not forget your Social Security Number."
The vacuum we feel in our hearts amid abundance is due to missing connection with our origins. Like the flute’s longing for its natural habitat, the reef, our soul longs to connect with our source. My mother grew up in central Punjab (now in Pakistan) near river Jhelum and was influenced by Sufi thoughts and stories. She used to say that the flute’s music begs for forest. It finds its soul there, just like Lord Krishna’s flute in the forests of Vrindavan. We are missing our natural habitat, nature. To re-establish the lost connection, we need to rekindle love of nature.
We tend to be self-referential day in and day out. The time spent in nature, whether a thoughtful walk or stargazing, makes us more thoughtful and makes us slow down. Slowing down makes us more humane and caring, and aids in focusing us on self-love.
According to Zen thought, to achieve self-love we must chose uniquely our own new path. The Spanish Poet Antonio Machada said “Traveller, your foot prints are the only road, nothing else. You make your own path as you walk”. The Sikh tradition emphasizes that each path you walk should be a path of service to the creation. Service with gratitude, humility, and generosity of sharing is abode of awakened heart. It is said that blessed are the souls who do not entrust their lives to anyone but chose their own awakened path.
I am ending this blog by quoting famous 12th century Persian Poet Hafiz. He implores us through metaphors to awaken our heart with new thoughts (wind). Beloved is a reference to the lord:
zé kooyé yār meeyāyad naseemé bādé nowruzi
From the beloved that comes the winds of the new beginning
az een bād ar madad khāhee cherāghé del bar-afroozee.
If you need any help from this wind, light the fire within your heart.