IISATYANAAMII

ABUNDANCE

What does abundance look like? For the toddler it is lots of toys to play with. For the housewife it is lots of jewellery and nice clothes. For the worker it is fat paychecks every month. For the businessman it is growing profits every year. Like this everyone has his own concept of what life should throw at him for him to live in abundance. The post COVID-19 era will shake up all these  concepts of abundance. But if abundance is correctly understood, no sense of lack will be felt.

“Kaahe ri nalani tou kumhilani, tere hi nali sarovar paani” 

Oh Lily! How come you are withering while you still have your roots in water? The soul is in the presence of God, yet it is not blissful. God provides us with everything we need, but because we are not attuned to His frequency, we feel lack. And ask for more. And we get frustrated that we do not get what we want. To fulfil our desires, we are drawn into a spiral of wants, looking for more, and more, and more. We will still live on what God provides us with; but lack of gratitude makes us feel we are lacking. What more do we need if we have God with us?

“Jal mein ootpati jal men baas, jal men nalani tor niwaas”

The lily grows in water, lives in water and always remains in water. Satguru Kabir Saheb is drawing our attention to the universal consciousness in which we all exist. If we tune in to that consciousness, we will experience the abundance that God has in store for us. But although we are engulfed in His consciousness, we ignore His presence. Thus we wither, we live in lack, we suffer, we long for that which will not give us abundance.

“Naa taali tapti naa oopari aag, tor hetou kahou kasani laagi”

Neither is there heat under you, nor any fire above you; then what is causing you to droop? Connecting with the Divine presence is a soothing experience, a feeling of comfort and bliss. But if you are disconnected, all the illusory traps drag you causing you to burn in the fire of unfulfilled desires. God’s consciousness is an unlimited reservoir of bliss, free for us to tap into. Being attracted by worldly enjoyment deviates us from that abundance.

“Kahein Kabir ju oodik samaan, te nahin muwe hamaare jaan”

Kabir says : I know for sure that those who are immersed in water never die. If God is eternal, and you remain connected with Him, how will you die? Satguru Kabir Saheb has always preached to us that it is only while we are alive that we can connect with God, so that when we depart from this world, we can be in His abode. His consciousness is the abundance that He has made accessible to us human beings. If we do not grab that opportunity to connect now, we will wither, and fall back in the cycle of rebirths with no access to His realm. Let us allow His abundance to engulf us so that we remain blissful always.

Mahant Jay Jaggessur, Kabir Association of Toronto.