Ek Ong Kar Sat Nam~

Ek Ong Kar Sat Nam~
"the name of god is truth"
Ek Ong Kar Sat Nam. The first line of the Mool Mantra, a mantra from the Kundalini tradition as taught by Yogi Bhajan, and made famous by Snatam Kaur’s musical rendition. There are various translations for this first line of the the mantra. For me it has always been ‘The Name of God is Truth”. Why I wonder has my heart and gut grasped so many times to these words? What is truth? Why would one be so “attached” the concept of truth? Does that come from a past life or from this life? Is there an underlying issue involving my attachment to ‘truth’? Does it come from ‘not telling’ for so long? What is lying??? Is it truth(ful) not ‘to tell’? Are we to ignore things we feel are ‘unjust’ or harmful to others, or the planet? What is an Activist? An Advocate? 
Could it be a duty or responsibility some are born with? Do we really carry a dharma? Is it better to walk away and ignore the truth if it is 'evil'? Yoga Sutra 1.33 teaches that we are to cultivate feelings of joy towards those who are happy, compassion for those who are suffering, goodwill towards those who are virtuous, and indifference towards those we perceive as being or doing evil.~ Indifference~ Doesn’t that then tell us ‘not to tell’? So what happens when we advocate, or involve ourselves with social activism? It seems to be in opposition to ‘the sutras’.  And suddenly knowlede of the truth becomes complicated and what to do with it, confusing. So what of advocacy and activisim? Is it correct to take actions toward justness only with an undisturbed or indiffernt mind regarding what we perceive as evil? Can we dwindle our human emotional feelings in relation to what we see as evilness? And, if we do, does it dwindle too, our passion... for truth, and justness?
True, intention carries a great weight in regard to each action we take. But what about how gracefully we perform each action? What about our mantra? How do we bring about healing and change in a situation if our Our Mantra~ our words and inflection, carry the judgement of ego rather than the acceptance and love of Spirit? How do we handle the truth when it evokes an emotion of disturbance caused by perceived injustice encased by a sense of dharma of advocacy, of protecting others? I know the answer has to do with Grace. It has to do with developing the qualities of Spirit... through spiritual practices, such as my favorite, Mantra. ‘Mantra~ one of the quickest and easiest roads to enlightenment.’ Quick. Easy. How long is quick and how difficult is easiest when it comes to Spirit, God, Truth?Perhaps the ‘quick, easy road to enlightenment’ takes many years, maybe many lifetimes. How many years, I wonder... 80? 800? 8,000? Could Advocacy be my dharma? Why does my heart long so for the connection to truth? God teach me how to find you and what to do with you when i do....
     ~ek ong kar, sat nam~ the name of god is truth~
“ikongkar sat nam karta purakh nirbhao nirvai akal murat ajuni saibhan gur parsad"~ one universal creator, god. the name is truth. creative being personified. having no fear. having ho hatred. undying, beyond birth and death. self-sustaining. by guru's grace~

ahh yoga~

ahh yoga, so many times i have come to you for refuge, from my nervous energy and runaway thoughts, from unpleasant emotions....sometimes i find you in my living room, breaking the ashtanga rules by blasting a kick-a** playlist to a kino macgregor dvd, but how i love to come to you in a studio, led by a teacher, full of love and wanting to give it to the class~ surrounded by others, full of love too~ or working toward it~ it is an energy, i can feel it, yes, like when i used to go to church and i felt the spirit of god moving as we sang and danced and praised and worshiped., (until of course i stopped going to church,...because all the ones i loved there began to judge me for doing yoga, they told me i had to stop, that it was evil and i was forsaking their god by ‘practicing eastern religion’,,,,as if the these people who called themselves christians owned god...but that is another story!)...yes i feel the energy of love, perhaps because i am sensitive...or super-sensitive or too sensitive...so sensitive that if there is not love there, i feel that too. i have found over the years that many people, like myself come to yoga for healing. to heal the pain we hold somewhere inside us, in our body, our mind, maybe even in the cloud of energy that surrounds us. so what do we do when we encounter this within our beloved community? anger, gossip, cold, hard energy that hits me like a punch in the stomach? it is easy to say ‘just love them’, ‘send them love’. easy to say, easy to aspire to, not always easy to do.....ahh yoga, when i look for you, whether it be in my living room, my heart, or in a studio,,,,i see all these places are both of the world, and of the spirit, not immune to difficult, hurtful situations, not always easily offering me that yoking with divinity. ahh yoga, sometimes you break my heart, yet still yoga, i love you.