Joyousness of Offering

Every human being is in search of ways and means to attain happiness. In today’s
age of instant gratification, even after attaining material success, peace and happiness
eludes us. Happiness is in fact in our DNA. Joy is our original nature, an inner
experience. It is the life source within us. We are all fractions of God, the ocean of bliss.
All are part of God, and every part desires to unite with the whole.
Vedas tell us that God is happiness and that the individual soul can attain
happiness only by attaining God. This is the reason we should know God. Through God
we will attain genuine, unending, everlasting and ever-increasing happiness. It is
impossible to know God with material senses, mind and intellect. He can be known only
through Divine Grace. Satguru is Divinity in human form who bestows practical
experience of God.

Satguru imparts God Knowledge and teaches us the art of joyful living. The True
Master helps us to shift from living a compulsive existence to a conscious existence. He
is the medium or intermediary through whom we are conceived spiritually and take a
spiritual birth. The True Master guides us to take appropriate action with God as the
basis of our actions. The scriptures also suggest that every human being must be
responsible for his actions, live selflessly and without egoism. This will give positive
results. To progress from selfishness to selflessness to universal oneness is the aim of
our spiritual practice and self- transformation. We experience Joy from “giving” rather
than “wanting”.

Joy is the only way to be. The quality of our life will change not by changing the
content of our life but by changing the context of our life. It is not what we do or what
we do not do – how we do it that brings meaning to our life. This is the fundamental
Law of Nature whether it is interior or exterior.

Knowledge is the compass of life which brings inner transformation. We must

surrender all our thoughts, desires, fears etc. to the Supreme Entity. We need to put a
‘self-start’ on our Joy. True intelligence lies in making ourselves truly joyful by being
absolutely thoughtless and fully alert. If we just know how to be joyful in this moment,
we are joyful for eternity.

Absolute joy finds expression when we offer our physical body, mind and our
wealth voluntarily and unconditionally to the Supreme Entity, when we work without
expectation, calculation or vested interest. If we want Joy to be a constant factor in life,
to be our nature, as our way of being, we must keep our physical body, mind and energy
pleasant by renouncing ownership on them. Then, we will function to our fullest
capacity using our body, mind and wealth as an instrument that is useful to us and all.
As there is pleasantness in our being, there is a significant shift from pursuing Joy to
wanting to share Joy with others.
 Offering oneself totally (body, mind and wealth) to Satguru without expectations
is true Devotion. It is becoming the offering rather than the one offering. It means we
willingly offer ourselves to become instrument in the hands of Satguru and dedicate our
life to His cause. With this will come security, freedom and true joyousness.

We must take responsibility for our own spiritual evolution and let the light of
soul shine upon the intelligence. As Bhagavad-Gita states, when you are selfless and
serve God and others, you become your true friend and quickly progress. We experience
boundless joy when we consciously choose to transcend our individuality, greed,
selfishness, narrow mindedness, egoism, petty thinking and live with self-awareness and
realizing oneness with the Universe.

By offering oneself to Almighty Nirankar we flow with the flow of life. The power
of surrender brings balance, harmony, stability and order to our thinking, actions and
responses. We become epitome of equanimity, stability, tolerance, acceptance,
awareness, understanding and appreciation.

Kabir Das says, “No one can attain God without shedding tears of love for Him.
God is the sum total. If we love this sum total intensely, loving the world and doing it
good will all come easily because all things are His. All are His children, His
manifestation. Our heart will thus become an eternal fountain of love”.
“I place my body, mind and wealth at Your feet. Do not give me up, O Lord.”-
such is the prayer proceeding out of the depths of the devotee’s heart. “Everything is His
and He is my Lover; I love Him. His will be done”- says the devotee. This eternal
sacrifice of the self unto the Beloved Lord is higher than all worldly wealth and power,
renown and enjoyment. Think of Him, think of Him alone, and give up all other vain
words. Sustainable joy is eternal and comes from Satguru alone. This all-absorbing love
to Him in whom all things live and move effectively breaks all soul’s bondages.

Saint Tulsidas says that human birth is the best as well as the worst. He has
written in the Ramayan -
Nara tanu sam nahin kavanehu dehi, jeev charaachar yachat jehi
Narak svarg apvarg niseni, gyan virag bhakti sukh deni

There are three kinds of actions - virtuous actions, immoral actions, and actions
that are beyond virtue and vice. Virtuous actions lead one to heaven; immoral actions
lead one to hell; and actions that are beyond virtue and vice (those of the enlightened
ones), beget liberation. This is achieved by performing tasks as a devotional offering to
the Almighty Nirankar.

God Knowledge bestowed by Satguru’s is the liberating power, which works both
from within and without. Then, whole-hearted surrender becomes natural and easy. We
now accept life as it comes, abandon memories and expectations and are free from Self-
identification. We experience the highest state of ‘simply Being’. Surrender is the boat
that takes us from one shore to another, from the limited human experience to the
experience of the Divine incarnate.
 Spiritual surrender requires disciplined self-restraint and is an act of wisdom,
love and strength. Narada Bhakti Sutra states: Even though the devotee may have
surrendered himself totally to the Lord, he must not renounce action in the world but
continue to perform it, giving up the fruits of action to the Lord. Aphorism 62.

The Need to Surrender

The need to surrender our human will to the Divine Will has been emphasized by
all saints, seers and scriptures alike.
In Srimad Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna said, "Surrender the situation, surrender the
action, surrender the result unto me and I will take care of the rest."
The Buddha inspired His disciples to surrender to and seek refuge in the Buddha, the
Dharma and the Sangha of the Buddha.

The Mechanics of Surrender

o Loving God above all things.
o Being aware that the body, mind and wealth are not ours, but belongs to God.
o Having awareness that God is everywhere and that everything belongs to God
alone.
o Instead of thinking that ‘God is mine’ we must think ‘I belong to God’
o Performing an action as an offering unto God knowing that God Himself
performs this action through us.
o Believing sincerely that whatever is happening is as per God’s Will.
o One has to sacrifice one's small self (mind and ego) to serve the beloved.
o By expressing gratitude, the doer-ship is offered unto the Satguru, and this helps
reduce ego.

A Quiet Mind is All We Need. Death of the Mind is Birth of Wisdom. Give up All
and We Gain All. God is the End of All Desire and Knowledge. Being happy and making
others happy is the Rhythm of Life. The joy of well-being is the reward. If God is the
source of joy, our joy can never be taken from us. Everything, if given to Satguru can
become our Gateway to Joy.

Satguru Mata Ji, Imbibing your Wisdom we realize that "what we are is Lord
Almighty's gift to us and what we become is our gift to the True Master." True Joy
lies in being human and becoming divine. We thank you for the joy we feel as we
celebrate who you are in our lives. You are our All in All. We offer ourselves humbly to
Thee.