This piece reminds me of a scene from a film "bedazzled" Devil was a woman (elizabeth hurley)
who granted every wish of the protagonist (Brendan Fraser).

Of course the film was a comedy and being a woman her sense humor, I guess was quiet wry and she granted his wish on as is basis... something like givnign whiskey onthe rocks, as is on the rocks.
THe chaos that ensues was very funny.

The last scene was the most memorable, that devil and god are playing chess in a street side cafe and sharing jokes.

hi jasjit, i felt mesmerised till the end taking the post as from you... thinking what an inspired peace jasjit is writing to day...what more she needs to know?...that is, till the end when i found that it is written by osho...from osho it became the obvious...

i am in one of the most difficult times with my sons and wife...we all have to separate, have to be on our own now...otherwis they impinge upon my naturalness, my spontaneity of action....anger and quarrels abound...in between laughter erupts on its own from within me...and i think 'oh to what great lengths they are going to serve MY SCHEME OF THINGS (of course, their own as well)...and i feel compassion towards them as well...and i often say...no feeling of guilt despite EVERYTHING...

Jasjit an inspiring piece to start the day with. I felt a sort of calmness in myself as I read the piece. A feeling of working towards uniting the sinner and saint within me.

Tolerance only brings in more irritation to the mind becuase it brings in the attitude of baring with something even when you do not like it or appreciate it. The negative feeling still exists. Acceptance on the other hand removes the negative feeling at the same time it allows one to keep ones own individuality.

'Meditativeness needs aloneness and love needs the other'- how true and the coming together of the two can rid us of the fear of lonliness, insecurity that many of us face.

Great piece Jasjit

Thanks for sharing it. Got stuck on the second line "The sinner gives definition to the saint and the saint defines the sinner". It is a seemingly strange contradiction but at the same time it makes perfect sense. For if you do not know what sin is then how can you know saintliness. They are really two sides of the same coin. One born of darkness and the other of the morality that cloaks the darkness within. And I guess like Osho says that to really experience the self in its original state you have to lose the coin completely.

Hi Sangeeta
Didn't see the film but it sounds like fun. Indeed that is exactly what God and the Devil seem to be doing (that is if they exist!), playing chess by the cafe as humans meander in and out of their moves.

:)

Chaitali

Once we become clear that our insecurity is primarily our lonliness that awareness itself bring sweeping changes which are near confounding. Largely because you start stepping out of the murkiest patterns and truly taste the word 'freedom'.

Anusheh

I like the idea of losing the coin altogether.:)

Sangeeta you reminded me of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat

"Tis all a chequered board of nights and days
Where destiny with men for pieces plays
And hither thither moves to and fro and slays
Till one by one back in their closet lays"

Harb

But precisely so,in the SOT the primary role of Masters is to provide umbrage to your thoughts/insights with their words. So much safer Harb, you can then walk the talk quite invisibly.

To share something abhout the khed. I had a long struggle with why Guru Nanak's 'grasth pradhan' was a good idea. Especially as a woman, I struggled and complained how changing patterns richocheted on one within the samsara so badly. Struggling with family/relationships,responsibilities, I was annoyed and irate at how much harder the journey was made for a woman wanting to step out of a delusional reality. That was a long painful road. Finally the hooks were gone and only then did I understand why my road was 'different' and how it had enriched me immeasurably. Hearing what you are going through now makes me understand that we all have to make that leap of 'separation', the degrees and situations differ that's all. And even though it sounds like you are amidst the fire right now, I know the crossing-over will be all the more magnificent. Just want you to know that I 'understand' every thought/feeling/confusion that you grapple with alone. And of course there is no reason for 'guilt'. It is only for the best, unfortunately you are the only one who knows that.

love and great courage to you.

hi jasjit, i once made that leap around my 28th year (to which i call my first experience of oneness), but that got partially forgotten when after having enjoyed the freedom for about eight years SOT forced me inwards to my roots to give me an insight for my book, naturally accompanied by a new ego (i think really this was resurrection, it was really death and rebirth, a long story though).

now it is going to be the second time, but as this time i am a bit more conscious of it, it is likwise a bit more difficult. it is like once you have had an experience of love-at-first-sight in your youth, you will find it dificult to have the second in the same manner. because now you have lost the innocence preceding the first once. sometimes i wonder if it will ever be the leap at all. it may now be a daily business to keep the awareness there. i will see what happens.

and i think even my wife knows perhaps because we have discussed all these things so thoroughly over the last so many years. sometimes she seems even more eager to win her 'freedom' than even me. while i yet find it difficult to rise above my love for MY grandson and daughter she seems to have transcended even that. though i also suspect that she has just buried it a bit and not really transcended. but...who knows...

and of course there is no question of MY feeling guilty in any way, i just say it to my sons...to not to feel guilty. who may otherwise get overweighed by it. especially the elder one, who is otherwise my alterego and so feels it very much. really in the thick of things...a case of dying and taking rebirth again for all of us. for thrm to become 'men' of the house...for me (us) to take perhaps sanyas lol. or live an other kind of life now unknown except to the SOT in which the book may have some part to play...i cant say.

actually i faced such crises three times in my life. the first eventually gave me my first experience of oneness, the second gave me the insight of my book, and now it is the third and i wonder what it has in store for me...of course, it cant be otherwsie but the best for me...as in fact everythng in my life has eventually been.

and yes, thank you for the supporting words...'use da kam use da courage...'kar kar vekhe kita aapna jiv tisdi vadiai.. bas phook chhakkan lai tohar hi apna ban janda...

Dear Harb

Remember I once said this was a number 8 year, hence great transforming times for all, especially those who tread it with awareness. As you say, all is as it should be. And then we have also wished it and are at the centre because of the intention, 'nanak das mukh tey jo bole, eehan, uhaan sach hove.' lol, time also to be aware of what one desires and therefore manifests.
:)

jasjit, i think my wish is the same as the wish of the 'soul' of the SOT ever since Big Bang - freedom. and so is my desire. all others if any will then come/get fulfilled on their own.

actually, rather than wishing or desiring i have always asked for "what is the next hukam now?" i never desired/knew about the experience of oneness, i never desired/knew about the book, and i do not anything now about what lies in store for me in future..nor i think i have any desires...of course there seem to be small eddy currents of them like my playing the stock market and trying to win...but then otherwise i dont know how to pass the day...yes, one thing, i felt as if i desired women before i went to sant ji's dear...but intrestingly after i came back i have lost all previous interest in women...one would think after getting rid of the saint i would rather go the other way...it is a fact which is very clear to me and which never ceases to amaze me...ki uh sant ji hi aapna janaman da gusa kadh rahe si lol? after i have made peace with him i seem to have lost interest in women...i dont see them like before...or perhaps...it is our that T or P (am i correct) thing lol?? seems i am now going beyond tasting sugar towards being sugar...but i take courage from my previous experience that too was enjoyable in its own way...only when you are sugar yourslf apne aap nun jara sambhalna thora aukha ho janda lol..you just dont care for your body...

Harb

This is so amazing (and not unexpected!). I was wondering what changes occurred in you after that final 'disengagement' with the Sant Ji. I knew something significant had to happen, however since you said nothing I did not ask. however I began to notice a subtle change in your energy after you started re-writing here and both Anusheh and I even wondered what it was. And now you write this.

Harb its not the Sant ji's janman da Gussa par is janam da gussa because you also carried anger against him in your heart at times, and deliberately wanted to reject his presence/blessings. That is why when you told me the problems with the left side I asked you to go to his Gurudwara and actually connect to him, thank him and disengage. In the thanking and accepting of his continum you did what you needed to, in disengeging you freed the consciousness for its journey and you also emptied yourself for a new birth. What is happening now is precisely that- re-birth of Harbhajan Singh. A great new form of 'you' is about to emerge.

And of course the quest for the 'eternal woman' has finally silenced itself because the Yin within is now ready to emerge with creative effulgence. Quite wonderful all this. Also Harb, the hearing is going to improve significantly this year. 'tathi vao na lagyi par brahm saranayi, chau girdh hamaraey, ram ka, dukh lagey na bhao.' Many Blessings to you.

Jasjit can you translate into English the last few lines that you wrote to Harb.

Just a few rambled thoughts I wanted to share.

I have been experiencing some small changes in me these days. Of lately (and you know why) I have started to let go of the anger, irritation that I used to experience on seeing certain people behave in certain manner. But now that I have realised that the anger and irritation that I held before was due to an unfulfillment of my expectations from others things have started to look very different. The same people no longer irritate me because now I have started to see their actions more objectively, as their own struggle to fulfil their unfulfiled expectations. As for me... I have started to look into myself objectively too. It's such a relief to be out of all the deliberate blame game.

Chaitali

How sweet are these steps to freedom!!! Well Done.

Here's a translation- these words are from Gurbaani and can act both like a prayer(intention) as well as a blessing-
"May the scalding winds of suffering never touch you, as you rest at the protective feet of the Infinite, and all around you His protection keep you safe from suffering and fear."

And Harb

For the one who becomes sugar here's a Zen saying

"Sitting on this frosty seat,
No further dream of fame.
The forest, the mountain follow their ancient ways,
And through the long spring day,
Not even the shadow of a bird.

- Reizan (-1411)

lol jasjit and anusheh, i could almost 'hear' you discussing the 'case'.

and in rejecting the saint i wonder if i was not preparing myself for the stage of a sage...because before being the saint i must have been the sinner...then i became the saint..now it must be the turn of going beyond both...turn of the sage in other words...welome harb ji the sage

anyway, what i am going to write below must also look interesting to you...

the story goes back to my childhood...i used to be very afraid of darkness...and perhaps even of other things...bhoot etc...of which i have forgotten. and my mother gave me the same gurbani tuk "tati vao na lage..." to recite whenever i felt so. i had almost forgotten it since childhood. many nights i would sleep with this on my lips. is it one more/last connection with the past being broken...i wonder...

tati vao na lagyi
parbaraham saranai
chaugird hamare ram kar
dukh lage na bhai
satguru pura bhetia jin banat banai
ram nam aushdhia eka liv lai
raakh lie tum raakhan hara
sabh biadh mitai
kaho nanak kirpa bhai, parabh bhae sahai..

here is a simple translation for those who may be intrested:

[no suffering will come to me
i have now come under the protection of the lord
the saving embrace of the lord is all aound us
no harm can come to us, o brother!
the true guide who made all this is all-powerful
lord's name is the remedy, remember Him always
you have saved me, you are capable of saving me
you have thus removed all my worries
nanak says, with the grace of the lord
the lord has come to our support]

lol jasjit, you have articulted in your zen saying what i was afraid of...

sitting on the frosty seat...lol mere buttocks da ki banu....perhaps all for the better...now they are lamking (like that lady, remember?)then they will freeze and get solidifed... perhaps could even take a kick or two from anusheh...lol.

chaitali, so i unknowingly translated the entire tuk of gurbani for you..i read your post later...

Harb Ji

In the SOT, buttocks da vi tey kuch banana chahida hai, from lamking to the re-birth of chamking lol.

Thanks for the tuk and its translation.
:)

Harb I guess it's Synchronicity :) Thanks for the entire tuk.

Dear Harbji

Hai hai tvaanu kais tara pata lagiya keh mai ass kick karan ich maahir aan?lol Hun buttocks da te meinu nahi pata (shukr ai) par meinoo ai pata ai ke tvaada dil bara vada te sona ai.

LOL

thank you jasjit, chaitali, anusheh..

jasjit ji, nahin tan mein tuhade vangu uhna thale ik gaddi rakh lya karanga...chamak bhaven thori jahi ghas jave par freeze nahin hovenge lol.

anusheh, jisnu vekhke mere uthe pir (pain) hon lag pave menu pata lag janda ki uh ass kick karan wich mahar hovega...unj vi mahar nun mahar pehchane...i was mahar in wrestling (dara singh with his free style wrestling was my heart-throb in younger days and his film king kong my favourite)...and i used to participate even in shinjhs at baisakhi and other local melas...i also participated at university level though got defeated there...and then lost all interest in engineering college....though again i was captain of kabbaddi there. you had to have enough physical energy to go where we all are going...i wonder what jasjit used to do in her younger days with her so much energy...jasjit?? ke sara jor kirtan wich lambi hek kadan te hi laga dinde si?

Harbji you are incorrigible:-)lol

Harb

In childhood the energy went in melancholia and in adulthood in setting up impossible tasks and then executing them at an intense pace. Now that you mention it there was just sooooo much energy and could never sit still because I just had to burn it all up. Gadhi tey main hun rakhni sikhi hai lol

Wish though that kirtan hekan had been an option lol. It might have been easier on me and many others. :)

anusheh :)
jasjit, btw, did you upport two braids in childhood? i dont know why this question is coming to my mind again and again ever since you told me that you visited our gurdawara alongwith your father in childhood...

anusheh :)
jasjit, btw, did you support two braids in childhood? i dont know why this question is coming to my mind again and again ever since you told me that you visited our gurdawara alongwith your father in childhood...

"melancholia and in adulthood in setting up impossible tasks and then executing them at an intense pace..."yes, i can understand exactly what you mean... these would have been far more than mere physical exertion...these things have been part of my life too...in the first year of engineering service and before i exploded...i often used to say...i am a road-roller being used for pressing clothes lol... for months i would not attend the office...and then on some days i will take upon myself impossible tasks and the dhun to execute them...my officers would not know what to make of me...what to call me...

Good Morning Harb

Two braids...hmm not really. I don't believe we have met maybe just crossed path somewhere. :)

I think the dhun was always about doing 'larger than life things. We were just chatting about this the other day on how the path requires primarily an intense nature. without it one can never move from the drone of material habitude.