This is an e-mail I got recently, which I thought I'd post on here- read ALL of it dudes!Waheguru ji ka Khalsa! Waheguru ji ki Fateh!The notion of simran is really important, especially in Guru Arjan dev ji’s Bani. Simran often gets translated as remembrance, which is a very shallow, flat-land way to translate simran. The Sri Singh Sahibs talked about simran in a very specific way. Simran is not dyan; it is not meditation; it is not jap; it is not repeating it is not ardaas; it is not a prayer. Simran is a state of conscious that comes out of doing these kinds of practices. Simran is a way for the inner being of the spirit and the outer being of the temporary personality and body and mind to communicate with each other, intermingle with each other, mutually relate to each other, so that the personality in destiny, which is from the soul, and the personality of time and space, become one thing. For most of us, our souls took a form for a purpose, and we have tremendous pain and duality in our lives, because what the soul took the body to do, and the mind to do, and incarnated to do, conflicts with what we believe we should do, what we are taught we should do, what the mind thinks, or what the body desires.This conflict between the soul’s purpose and the personality of time and space creates tremendous pain, creates depression, it leads drug abuse, leads to alcoholism, leads to fantasy, leads to getting lost in romantic love. So that disconnect between the soul and the temporary personality is really the main problem that we are trying to work out as human beings, and which is why we need a guru, and why we need a teacher, because we need the power of a teacher, so that this duality can be resolved. Simran is a very elevated, high state of consciousness, where through the practice of dyan, through the practice of jap, through the practice of ardaas, through the practice of kirtan, we actually come into a reality where the destiny of the soul is being expressed, because the mind is constantly being directed to the inner being, instead of into the Maya around it.So the mind has the power to move energy. If the mind moves energy on its own behalf, we call that the Manmukh. Gurbani talks about how the Manmukh dies, and how the Manmukh suffers. When the mind is trained through the Guru’s word, to direct itself to understanding the instruction of the inner being, then the energy is moved in a way so that the soul can deliver and realize the purpose that it came to earth for. This capacity of the mind to inner beam and intermingle with the beam of light of the soul, and how that manifests the reality of the soul in time and space, in a way that is harmonious, that is what simran is. So Guru Arjan is saying in this first line, through this experience, and it is repeated simar simar simar, it is a continual state–When we are continually in that place of the mind in-beaming to the light and beam of the soul, and the intermingling of that, and the projection of that, then that is when peace comes to us.Within every breath we are in this state of remembering. What does it mean to remember God? Well it doesn’t mean to remember some being out there in the universe that is disconnected from us. To remember with every breath the Divine is to remember presence of the Divine inside of ourselves. That is the only thing we have the capacity to remember because it is the only thing we really can experience. Guru Nanaak talks about the Divine in Japji: That the Divine in all its Creativity is beyond the reach of our senses and beyond our mind. But the Divine Life that lives inside of us that we can really know and feel complete with. So it is through this consciousness and condition of simran that peace comes to us. Peace comes to us, and with every breath, we are constantly remembering that Divine essence that lives inside of us. And he says that this experience of the inner being that we can touch, in the human body, in this world, and in the world beyond, is our true companion. Because that will never leave us. The body will drop away. The mind will drop away. But if we have tasted the inner being, that is the death-less-ness that goes on inside of us. That is what goes on from lifetime to lifetime.That energy is a tremendous help and protection for us. When we come from our mind, we make mistakes when we allow the inner being to guide us. It guides us very clearly through life. Guru Arjan brings it back to Guru, to the Shabad and he says, gur kaa bachan basai jeea naalae. He is saying that the song of the Guru is living with the inner being. And that this is the key because the mind on its own cannot get there. It is only through this song that the Guru sings, that the mind can be trained to exist with the Jio with the soul with the inner being. And so he is saying that it is this key, of the song of the Guru, that allows this to happen. And he talks about the quality of this song. Once through the song, the mind is directed to dwell with the inner being, there is no material condition that can destroy that experience for us. So it can’t be drowned in water, it can’t be burned in fire, nobody can steal that from us. This is really important when we look at the history of the Sikhs and the tortures that the Sikhs had to go through. Once there was simran, there was the genuine experience of manifesting that destiny.The tortures of water and the tortures of fire, because of the Guru’s song, bachan: there was no way for those tortures to break that experience. Yes, the body could be broken. Yes, there could be pain. But nothing could interfere with that state of simran once it is established. And that is what Guru Arjan is talking about here. Nothing can take that away from a person. This experience is wealth for those who have no wealth. It is a cane to help someone who is blind to walk. For a totally helpless baby it is the mother’s milk that completely feeds it. So, we are poor, and we are blind, and we are helpless children. But through the Guru’s song that awakens the experience of simran, the consciousness of simran, that then becomes the song and the simran becomes the wealth that helps us, the cane that helps us, and the mother’s milk that feeds us.He says that in this ocean here is the boat, I have found Har, I have found the Divine Essence that dwells inside of everything. And, Nanaak, it is through the kindness and the graciousness of the Guru that I have found this boat of the Divine Essence that can carry me across life.DnwsrI mhlw 5 Gru 8 dupdy dhanaasaree mehalaa 5 ghar 8 dhupadhae Dhanaasaree, Fifth Mehla, Eighth House, Du-Paday Ang 679 <> siqgur pRswid ] ik oa(n)kaar sathigur prasaadh One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The True Guru:ismrau ismir ismir suK pwvau swis swis smwly ] simaro simar simar sukh paavo saas saas samaalae Remembering, remembering, remembering Him in meditation, I find peace; with each and every breath, I dwell upon Him.ieh loik prloik sMig shweI jq kq moih rKvwly ]1] eih lok paralok sa(n)g sehaaee jath kath mohi rakhavaalae 1 In this world, and in the world beyond, He is with me, as my help and support; wherever I go, He protects me. 1gur kw bcnu bsY jIA nwly ] gur kaa bachan basai jeea naalae The Guru’s Word abides with my soul.jil nhI fUbY qskru nhI lyvY Bwih n swkY jwly ]1] rhwau ] jal nehee ddoobai thasakar nehee laevai bhaahi n saakai jaalae 1 rehaao It does not sink in water; thieves cannot steal it, and fire cannot burn it. 1Pause inrDn kau Dnu AMDuly kau itk mwq dUDu jYsy bwly ] niradhhan ko dhhan a(n)dhhulae ko ttik maath dhoodhh jaisae baalae It is like wealth to the poor, a cane for the blind, and mother’s milk for the infant. swgr mih boihQu pwieE hir nwnk krI ik®pw ikrpwly ]2]1]32] saagar mehi bohithh paaeiou har naanak karee kirapaa kirapaalae 2132In the ocean of the world, I have found the boat of the Lord; the Merciful Lord has bestowed His Mercy upon Nanak. 2132Waheguru ji ka Khalsa! Waheguru ji ki Fateh!

Don't be lazy

It's been a full month since my last post....I finally got a job, also the comic, my reading for history coursework, my personal statement, my cousins' wedding and my lil sister have taken up all my time...

I haven't done simran properly in a while I'm so tired - I know it's no excuse, but I feel that I can't pray for the sake of praying..just because I have to. When I pray my whole heart has to be in it. I have to concentrate, clear my mind - otherwise why pray? I know in my heart it wont help me to pray like that so I won't. Bu at the same time I dont feel so at peace without the power of Naam. A friend said that we should focus on our own jeevans which I agree on...I always think 'man you got no clue' when people just refuse to understand the power of Naam Simran. So...tomorrow morning I'm going to puch myself to do my nitnem and so simran too. This Hukamnama really seemed to hit me today...

August 17, 2007, Friday 04:45 AM. IST]

SHALOK, FIFTH MEHL:

That body, which does not meditate in remembrance on the Lord's Name in the Saadh Sangat, shall be reduced to dust. Cursed and insipid is that body, O Nanak, which does not know the One who created it. 1 FIFTH MEHL: Let His Lotus Feet abide within your heart, and with your tongue, chant the Name of the Lord of the World. O Nanak, meditate in remembrance on God, and nurture this body of yours. 2 PAUREE: