What Happens… Happens…

What happens happens…despite your best efforts. This is the truth of the matter. You are not in control of what happens - you think you are - and that is the heart of the problem. That is your ego, which believes it is the doer. It is not. You may be in control of some of your actions - but you are not in control of your life. Other people's actions and reactions affect your life. You cannot control the results of your actions. You can act - but after that it is all out of your hands. You can try - it is okay to try - but after that - what happens happens. Life is the way it is. When you don't accept this - you create misery. The source of the misery is the illusion that you are the doer. The truth is that you are not. Things happen. Those things are neither good nor bad. It is you who creates the value system to categorise things into good and bad. When you let go of all this - you automatically let go of blame. Your life is then no longer a struggle. The struggle is caused by you trying to make things happen as you want them to. Once you stop doing this - life becomes an adventure instead of a struggle.

Guru Nanak in the Japji Sahib (which sikhs recite every morning) calls this Hukam. He says those who live in the Hukam (accept what happens) lose their ego. When you accept what happens - you live in harmony with what is - you are no longer living from ego - you are living in the will of the Lord. This is what Guru Nanak calls Hukam. 'Hukam' literally means 'order' and Guru Nanak is using the word in the sense of 'the order of the Lord' - which is his way of describing 'all that happens'.

Krishna explains this same truth to his disciple and friend Arjuna, in the Gita. He says " You may control your actions - but the results are not in your hands." He encourages him to fight the war - but says that winning or losing is not in his hands. He is talking about acting - but giving up the results of the actions.

Truth is truth, no matter in which way it is arrived at. All paths lead to the same place. All religions have the same central theme. That theme is Enlightenment. There are many paths. They all ultimately lead to the same place.

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