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The title of this blog comes from the words of Indian Prime Minister Nehru after the passing of Mahatma Gandhi. "The light that shone in this land was no ordinary light," Nehru said of the peaceful modern saint. The name of this blog, which chronicles my journey deeper into Spirit, is to remind us that there is no such thing as an ordinary light. The spiritual scriptures of many traditions such as the Bible, the Vedas, the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, the Koran and others all tell us that God is Light and so are we. It is the essence of who we are as a universe. Turn on your inner glow and shine it like a search light across the darkness of the world. We are the stuff of suns and stars.
We are no ordinary lights.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Letting Go

Even now, in this moment, is it hard to let these words go. When words hit the page, the author is revealed. You can see the inner working of my mind in an intimate way. I cannot pull them back once they are out there. It's not quite the fear that they won't be good enough; that would be too easy, too predictable. I haven't figured it out yet. It is a difficult thing for anyone...artist or not...to give all they are to the world and then let go. To deliver what they have to offer and trust it will be enough. Mothers who watch their children go off to school must feel similarly. She who was one body with that divine, young creature must trust that this now separate being will be safe without her.

Letting go is part of life. Death is the only guarantee for each human, and so everyone must let someone else go. The seasons change, lives move on, the world is not the same. Our cultures do not stay stagnant, nor return to any golden days of yore despite political pressure. You cannot return to any value fashioned out of old...nothing will never be the same. Life moves forward, never back. We let go of each breath, each heart beat. We let go of each birthday, each birth. We become very accomplished at letting go, and yet, it is so easy to fight nearly to the death to hold onto the things.

This does not make us weak. In fact, this is natural. We are eternal beings in bodies that die. This illusion of impermanence offends to the very core our endless nature. If we identify with the illusion, letting go wounds us. If we identify with our infinite nature, with the boundless creativity of the Universe, we begin to realize that letting go is a perfect part of constant expansion. We can't think our way into this peace. We can't reason our way into this knowing.

We must experience a connection with the larger plan to know this gentle grace. We must reach out to the Infinite and say "Are you sure?" in order for God himself to lean down and whisper in our ears "Yes!"

Choose the pain you need to let go of. Choose the fear, the anger, the thing you did years ago that you can't forget. Choose the situation you are ready to leave behind. And chant this mantra:

Ardas Bhaee, Amar Das Guru,

Amar Das Guru, Ardas Bhaee,

Ram Das Guru, Ram Das Guru,

Ram Das Guru, Sachee Sahee.

This is a way of calling upon Guru Amar Das and Guru Ram Das (who represent the Hope of the Hopeless and the Lord of Miracles). It begins by affirming that what you are saying is a prayer. You then connect with their powerful energies. And then "sachee sahee"....you release it and let it go. You know that your prayer is heard and it is done. This is the mantra of answered prayers, of moving beyond difficult situations, and gracefully letting go.

Need to "Let Go and Let God"? There's a mantra for that. And an answered prayer waiting for you just around the bend. And me? I let my words out into the world...see? It works..