By Prabhu Singh Khalsa
Pyaray Sadh Sangat Ji,
If we were to try and count the blessings of being at Hacienda de Guru Ram Das, we would reach the same conclusion taught to us by our beloved Guru when contemplating the virtues of God, the limit of our blessings could not be reached or counted. However, if we were to highlight some of the sources of these blessings, especially the events or activities that we share in together, some things that might come to forefront of our minds include our Gurdwara program, Sadhana, Langar, Seva, and a certain unbroken thread of divinity that holds together the energetic field of our entire ashram - our beloved Akhand Path.
As we've carried our beloved Akhand Path for decades it has carried us collectively and individually through every challenge and to every blessing. The Guru is the boat that ferries us across and our relationship with our Guru is the primary blessing and fundamental aspect of being a Sikh. The GurSikh relationship is just that; Guru - Sikh, nothing and no one in between. The deepening, flourishing lifelong relationship that we carry with our Guru is of utmost importance. Conversely, the thought of a diminishing relationship is too much to bear. Just as is the thought of losing our beloved Akhand Path, especially due to our own inactivity.
To carry and be carried is a two way relationship, but as Bhai Gurdas points out, each step of ours towards the Guru is met by millions of steps by our beloved Guru to receive us. Imagine what our little commitment of one hour gives to us as we read and receive the Guru’s blessing! Imagine that many of these hours are up for grabs on the regular! It seems almost inconceivable that our Akhand Path could regularly struggle with so many of us. We could weekly plant the seed of inexhaustible wealth!
If we were to consider the most difficult hours of the Akhand Path being the hours from 9:00pm to 4:00am (7 hours) we would see that each week we would need only 21 people to commit to the miniscule challenge and receive the unlimited reward. Monthly it would take around 83 people to master the Akhand Path for our beautiful home. You might be thinking isn’t 4 weeks times 21 equal to 84?
Personally, for almost a year I have committed to taking one “difficult” spot each month, and I need 83 more to join me. Though considering some people have taken a permanent slot weekly, we can subtract another 4 for each of those gracious souls. Until or unless I’m capable of doing a permanent slot, once a month, I read on Saturday at 2:00am. What it’s done for me and what I’ve experienced doing it requires at least another article to describe. As such I will ask you to have patience for my forthcoming article in the next newsletter. This little 2:00am seed is watered monthly and the inexhaustible harvest has managed to continue for our incredible Ashram.
WaheGuru Ji Ka Khalsa, WaheGuru Ji Ki Fateh!
