5 evils...personal writing

[drawrof]

I have been thinking lately and realised for myself (and would like to share) that nothing can shatter us so long as we have faith. This came to mind because of the way I view the 5 vikaars/bekaars (lust, anger, greed, attachment, and EGO).

Well, I have observed my messed up actions as of late and realised that at times I have been lucky enough to have faith or even luckier to come across something that can reinforces faith....

wanna know my downfall, the 5 evils.... now everyone's thinking (well duh!), but the thing about it that is interesting is that I have realised that when I have faith, its been given. when I don't have faith its been taken (but by the 5 evils).

example. If you were to ask me my profession or where I want to go in life, I think I'd love to make alot of money and be rich and have alot of status BUT I still want to be in god's charan, well the sad thing here is that with the life I plan for myself in my thoughts, I won't have time...( how can I, when I don't have that love right now (sad but true)). Now, when I think of all that has happened and all that I do have regardless of circumstances or even when I sit in nanaksar and feel elated that guruji's bani is piercing (in other words I feel some presence) me... I don't want anything except to be humble and do what god wants me to do. whereas normally, I am worried that "I" want to be here and "I" want this and if "I" don't worry etc etc etc

(we all get the point)..

in a matter of 2 minutes I have ruined my whole mindset and when I sit there and focus on god and ACCEPT that I am doing what I am doing because I have been given the priveledge and now its my turn to just make the most of it, I Realise both the input/output is in god's hand. in essence, the ego (me) obstructs my faith!!!!!

lust does the same. when I lust anything, I feel my faith decreases because my faith has been compromised for lust.the feeling of faith in god goes, and hence I forget god is within me

when I greed something, whether it be money, status, life, acceptance, experience, I compromise my faith. ditto

when I sit silently and focus on having faith, and then keep that faith so strong that my actions, words and thoughts (especially thoughts) are grounded in that and don't veer of towards the 5. my faith remains and it remains solid. When the focus is on god, we have faith (which is neither positive or negative, but there), yet when I focus on the evils... I go in with a defeatist mentality (kinda negative eh?)

I have sent this especially to you guys, because I know from our conversations that we all suffer from some point or another (its good we do, because it helps us to remember god when we have a magic moment (like me right now ).

the main thing I have had a glimpse of is that faith and remembrance is our goal to take us forward and the 5 evils are the obstructions that keep coming back. We can, possibly, control or diminish these to a minor degree but our focus should be on them not compromising our faith.

I apologize if anything here seems to be pushy or anything. I admit, I am pretty "fcuked"!

waheguru!

[challenge_everything]

chardi kala

[Sukhi]

i don't know why, but your writing reminds me of a small sakhi of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

when Guru Nanak Dev Ji used to work, one of the things he had to do was count the sachels of grain. and every day, he'd go through counting... one, two, three, four... all the way to ten, eleven, twelve, but at thirteen, he would stop and just keep repeating that number, thirteen, which in punjabi is Tera. so instead of moving forward to chauda, he would continue saying Tera, Tera, Tera. Yours, Yours, Yours.

are you seeing where i'm goin with this?

i think the point of the story is that we're supposed to get ahead in life without forgetting about Him. keep at whatever you've got to do. the greatest challenge in life is achieving all those goals that we set out for ourselves without forgetting about Him.

no matter what you do, keep Him in mind. dedicate your success to Him. dedicate your failure to Him.

i think you already know that whatever happens happens in his Hukam. so if your challenge in this life is to achieve success and be wealthy, then go out there and do it. just don't forget Him.

alternatively, you could try to live a completely simple life and resist the temptations of life.

but if you don't get tempted, how will you gain the strength to overcome those temptations? you won't be challenged to control your anger, greed, lust, and the other two vikaars that i'm forgetting at 3 am if you don't put yourself out there. and if you don't challenge yourself, you won't grow. so in essence, protecting yourself by living a simple life is going to end up limiting you anyways.

anywho, i think i've said enough for now. good luck with your struggles. i'm sure you'll make it through.

[drawrof]

very good analysis sukhi,

my struggle isnt' making money or not making money, but actually keeping god in the forefront of my mind.

Ie. many people live lives where they tend to be dishonest but since they have a scapegoat like a religion, a noble cause, a spiritual group...they start habitualizing their flaws and then become enslaved... on one hand

they are sowing postive seeds, but on the other hand duality is created due to actions which are taking one away from being "Dharami"...

cheers

[Sukhi]

your struggle isn't limited to just you. everyone has to face the same struggle. but you can't give up your life to make sure you win. true victory lies in doing all that must be done to lead a gristh jeevan while making sure that you keep God first in your life at the same time.

what's the Gurbani tuk...? khaniyo tiki, vaalo niki...?

the path is sharper than a sword, and thinner than a hair. obviously it wasn't meant to be easy. but that's why winning is so sweet.

as for your comment on duality... if you have dedicated your life to the Ultimate Truth, then you should attempt to be honest in all aspects of life. one lie merely leads to another lie, which leads to another and another until you're caught in a web of lies.

i realize how easy it is to say "just be honest!" and how difficult it is to actually do it. but if you do manage to do it, then you're pretty much set for life.

and if you know that repeating your mistakes and flaws leads to habitualizing them, then make it a habit to NOT go down that path.

these things may be easier said than done. but if it was easy, we'd all be able to do it and there wouldn't actually be a challenge to overcome. but i've found that when you leave things to God's Hands, things aren't really all that challenging any more.