Sat Nam Dear Family,

The secret to spirituality is to not be worthy of God’s blessings, but to be willing to be a blank canvas on which God can paint His masterpiece. This is a wide open secret because the secret is in the experience surrendering your opinions, judgements, ego to God’s paintbrush - period!

One may be the most successful achiever on the planet, really full of him/herself, but until one recognizes how limited one is, without God’s help, a student will never experience His help

God’s help humbles the lucky person who experiences it. The bigger one’s ego, the bigger the fall. One needs to be vulnerable, honest, and let go. Rretrace the painting back to the original artist, God, Himself. And, now God has an empty canvas on which to paint this new picture.

God’s help lets us change fast, fearlessly, and with forgiveness, self-forgiveness. Through God’s mercy, He allows us the gift of forgiving ourselves so that the purity of our innocence is once again experienced and a clean canvas can be adopted. Only God’s help provides the fearlessness necessary to become forgiving. Forgiveness starts with ourselves and then expands out to our forgiveness of others. This fundamental epic change leads to fast change as God is a quick study, a fast artist.

Usually, in change, your mind sees what you seek long before your actions truly represent that change. When God gets involved, actions come first and your mind has to catch up. It can be an unnerving experience. When you don’t believe who you are, or who you’ve become, there’s a gap.

My advice: flow with the process and be open to witnessing the painting in process. Let it take you where it wants, not where you want. I promise you, if truly God is involved, you’ll love it eventually. This painting is beautiful. Enjoy the process as more and more layers are added to the canvas. It’s a marvelous experience. It’s the experience of never being alone, always being protected, and enjoying the confidence in your contentment.

It turns out that you can’t get God’s help without His permission. Oh, you can do the disciplines necessary to attract His attention so that He has to keep making a decision as to whether or not you should be admitted to His court. but it’s always God’s call, His choice.

The beauty of life is that God favors people from His perspective, not that of earthlings. Sometimes we view His choices as unexpected, unusual, unwanted, and even unacceptable. But, remember, everything is God’s choice. We should be looking to see our bias, our prejudice and then expand from our limited perspective to remember God lives in all hearts. How can we judge God? May only my own faults offend me!

So, there’s hope for all of us - no exceptions. All anyone has to do is to empty their canvas and mean it, then watch the flow of redemption take place right before your eyes. Stay tuned

In the Humility of Service and Gratitude,

MSS Hari Jiwan Singh Khalsa
Chief of Protocol
Custodian General of Sikh Dharma
Sangat Representative