Short Takes:

Excerpts from Satsangs

When we go to the beach or ocean shore and approach getting into the water, we start slowly. We just put our toe in at first to check the temperature. It’s cold so we ease in, stepping over little waves, getting our balance. We keep going, jumping over waves, some that knock us completely over, but we get up and continue. Bigger waves bash us around, we persevere. Then just past the breaking surf and waves is calm water. Here we can float effortlessly and blissfully without being menaced by any disturbing waves.

The same is true of meditation. We ease into it. We dismiss little thoughts, and continue the repetition. Some thoughts sneak up on us and completely knock us off task. We go back to simran. We keep wading through whatever the mind puts in our way. Gradually our simran gets stronger. Through effort and grace and time we can eventually get to a place where we are completely enjoying our meditation, floating in the calm waters of the Shabd.

Whatever we thought we were looking for when we stumbled upon this path, it seems that we have found the real deal. This path has nothing to do with books; it is not bound by religious and social custom. It is not even bound by life and death. Our beliefs may be true or not true, but they are only useful in so far as they assist us in our efforts to perform the meditation practice.

However we integrate meditation into our lives, it isn’t something we perfect in the first few months following initiation. It requires constant adjustments as our daily lives change. But if we can learn to do this, then meditation not only meets our spiritual needs, but it can also help to both provide the body with proper rest and to create the concentration necessary to carry out our work in the world. This is how we can say with confidence that, if our meditation is done, everything is done.

We can’t know at this stage what success is, nor do we know what failure is. We have a habit of judging our results harshly. Our conditioned mind has been collecting a lifetime of events and thoughts and feelings that we stir together in a boiling pot, and then we allow this emotional stew to control our perception. This is why he asks us to simply trust. Otherwise, our reasoning stands the chance of getting turned around and confused. He knows what he is doing. This is why he smiles when he says to just let go and trust in the plan. If we only knew what he knows, we would laugh at ourselves for all of the emotion we have wasted worrying about the results of our efforts. We are not just sliding down the side of a slippery slope waiting to hit the bottom and see where we land. We are in the river of his care flowing with determined resolve to a guaranteed return to the ocean of his presence. It is guaranteed. Look on a map, all rivers flow into the ocean. It is the nature of the flow of a river. Each river struggles until it has carved a path back to the ocean. We are guaranteed this same return for our efforts.