AND KNOWS THE BURDEN RELIGION BEARS.

THERE ARE MANY WORLDS AND MANY MORE BEYOND THEM;

Scientists acknowledge that there are at least fifty thousand worlds within the limits of their discoveries, and how many more beyond these? Life does not exist on this planet alone but probably on tens of thousands of other planets. How can you perceive an expanse so enormous with your limited mind? You will have to put it aside.

As soon as the mind becomes silent the window falls away and you find yourself under the open skies. Then you begin to see how vast the expanse of existence is, how infinite! And when you realize the exquisite glory of existence, you wonder why you were lost in feeble nothings all this while: someone abused you, someone insulted you, a thorn pricked your foot or you had a headache -- such is the story of your life! While the magnificent phenomenon of existence is taking place every moment around you, you are involved in futile matters. Your calculations were all of the wrong kind; while infinite wealth was raining around, you were counting shells.

THERE ARE MANY WORLDS AND MANY MORE BEYOND THEM;

WHAT POWER ASSUMES THEIR WEIGHT?

CREATURES OF ALL FORMS AND COLORS ARE CREATED BY HIS WRIT,

BUT ONLY FEW KNOW THE RULE TO TELL IT.

CAN ANYONE WRITE THE ACCOUNT OF THIS MYSTERY?

IF IT WERE WRITTEN HOW GREAT IT WOULD BE.

WHAT STRENGTH AND POWER! HOW BEAUTIFUL HIS APPEARANCE!

HOW GREAT HIS CHARITY; WHO CAN CONCEIVE IT?

HIS SINGLE WORD CREATES THIS VAST EXPANSE --

INFINITE MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS, THE ANIMATE AND INANIMATE.

HOW SHALL I THINK ABOUT IT?

HOWEVER MUCH I OFFER MYSELF COULD NEVER BE ENOUGH!

WHATEVER PLEASES YOU, O LORD, IS BEST FOR ME.

YOU ARE THE FORMLESS, THE ALMIGHTY -- YOU WHO ABIDE FOREVER!

As soon as you step aside from your silly involvements you will see your present state. It is as if it were raining rubies and diamonds outside while you have shut yourself inside your house, holding your rubble and stones tight against your chest for fear you might lose them.

Where in your thoughts do you abide? What engages your attention? What discussions and arguments are going on within you? If you examine these you will find them very petty and insignificant, so trivial as to be unworthy of any consideration, but you have wasted all your life in them.

And Nanak says: When the mind is set aside, when you are in the no-mind state and the sound of Omkar begins to vibrate within you, you begin to witness the glory of existence, its vastness; you see the infinite life, the overflowing boundless nectar, the limitless beauty and the unaccountable power that has no beginning, no end. All this you see when you enter His court. And then you realize you can never even imagine such vast existence o guess at its wonderful taste. But alas, how foolishly we are frittering away all chance of this wonderful experience.

Nanak asks: How shall I think about it? It is to stand dumbfounded, the eyes filled with surprise and wonder. The trouble is we never lift our eyes upwards, having kept them firmly focused on the pebbles and stones.

How is one to think of nature? Even if I offer myself in sacrifice a thousand times it is but a paltry gesture. And how shall I repay the limitless phenomena that happen every moment, the infinite nectar that showers incessantly? I cannot, I cannot, even if I offer myself on the sacrificial fire a thousand times. Such a feeling of gratefulness is born; and such thanksgiving is the real prayer.

The words Nanak uses in prayer are priceless: "What pleases You, O Lord, is best for me." Thy will be done! In such moments your desires and wishes will drop off and there will be only one prayer on your lips: O Lord, do not fulfill my wishes; let only Your will be done! For whatever you ask is bound to be mean and insignificant. Children always ask for toys and foolish people ask for foolish things.

Then you will say to Him: Let not my desires be gratified, O Lord, because what you have ordained is best for me. Who am I to decide what should be and what should not? Whatever You will is always the best. What does not come to pass is surely not for my good. There is only one criterion, one proof -- whatever You will is forever the best. You are the formless, the almighty, the birthless one!

The Lord is forever. It is I who exist at specific times and become nonexistent at others. My being is like a bubble of water. He is the ocean. I am a wave. And what can a wave ask? It lives but for a moment, then how can its desires be real? The last words of Jesus are truly priceless -- Thy will be done, O Lord!

WHATEVER PLEASES YOU, O LORD, IS BEST FOR ME.

YOU ARE THE FORMLESS, THE ALMIGHTY -- YOU WHO ABIDE FOREVER!.

Doubt raised its ugly head even within the mind of Jesus when he was being hung on the cross. At the very moment that the nails were being hammered into his limbs and the blood began to flow there was a moment -- just a single moment that is so very valuable because it demonstrates how weak man is. All of humanity manifested its complete helplessness through Jesus. And Jesus said in that moment, "What are You showing me? What is this You are doing unto me, O Lord?"

The question arose, and though Jesus did not really doubt his Lord, even so there is a slight suggestion of doubt. It is a very personal question which Jesus asks, "What is this You wish to show me?" And doubt lurks behind the question. One thing is certain, that Jesus was not happy about what was taking place. He did not approve of the cross, the hammering of nails. Something was happening which should not be happening.

So it is a complaint, all right; and the complaints of all humanity manifested in the words of Jesus. You will also experience these moments in your own life when all your faith will be shaken and your mind will cry out, "What is happening?" You will doubt the bona fides of God; you placed so much faith in Him and is this the result? But this in itself proves that you have not trusted Him wholly; or else you would accept whatever happened. If your acceptance bears even a little hesitation within, it is not perfect acceptance. If you accept complainingly, your acceptance is incomplete; your faith must be wholehearted -- whatever He wishes.

But Jesus pulled himself together. For just one single moment the entire race of mankind trembled through Jesus, for only one moment, then Jesus raised his head and said, "Thy will be done, O Lord! Thy will, not mine." At that moment the man faded and Christ was born. Jesus disappeared and Christ manifested in his place. So small is the distance between Jesus and Christ, the distance of a single moment. How great a difference lies between ignorance and knowledge, between Buddha and you, between Nanak and you! No matter how high you ascend, one fear always nags at your heart -- is my wish being gratified? The devotee also always keeps an eye on God: is He doing his bidding? If not, he complains. No matter how tender the words he uses, a complaint is a complaint, and the thorn keeps pricking within.

The perfect devotee has no complaints; his confidence in Him is complete: Whatever You will is best for me. You are my protection. You are the eternal, the formless, the almighty. I am but a wave; where is there any question of my will? Thy will be done. Thy will is my will. The wave's desire cannot be different from the ocean; the leaf's desire cannot be different from the tree; the limb's desire cannot be different from the body's. In this manner one should let go of one's self like a drop in the ocean.

However, this is possible only when you discover the One behind the five. As you are now, you do not exist; then whom shall you seek? Right now you are so divided within yourself that there is a crowd within, not one whole integrated individual. Then how will you take the jump when some parts are going right and some left, and others in other directions? You do not exist as one individual. Scattered in many fragments, your being has no meaning.

So the first thing Nanak says is: Seek the One behind the five -- seek attention, awareness, meditation! And the second thing is: As meditation grows stronger, let there be contentment within, compassion without. As compassion firmly takes root, contentment will become more profound, and you will experience the dawning of the feeling of gratitude and thanksgiving, and you will say, "Thy way, not mine, O Lord!" This is the ultimate, the culmination of perfection.