if I just stop struggling and just let go and surrender to this all-pervading life current or Hukam, I’ll be fine. Not only fine but filled with love, peace, and joy. What else do I need? Isn’t it?
Hukam includes all laws
Now, it is also important to understand that all the physical, mental, and karmic laws are also a part of Hukam. Therefore, the Karmic law that operates in the illusory world of Ego or Maya, “As you sow so shall you reap” is also a part of Hukam. According to Hukam, all our ego-based thoughts, words, and actions are recorded in our soul-memory. Our character or personality is nothing but an accumulation of our past thoughts (actions and words are also thoughts in a way). And our circumstances are the result of our character or accumulation of past thoughts or Karma. This is how the law “As you sow so shall you reap” acts. In other words, we attract circumstances to us similar to our character or accumulated karma. Therefore, the karmic law is also called “like attracts like”. The karmic law acts as long as we are under the illusion of ego i.e. we are clinging to the rocks at the bottom. When we are clinging to the rocks at the bottom, we have to take care of our food and desires. However, once we surrender to the flow of the river, it is the nature of the river to take care of all our needs, since the river is not full of water but full of love, mercy, and compassion.
Hukam is inlaid in our soul
ਹੁਕਮਿ ਰਜਾਈ ਚਲਣਾ ਨਾਨਕ ਲਿਖਿਆ ਨਾਲਿ ॥੧॥
O Nanak, by obeying His Hukam (Divine Will) that is written with you.
Gurbani says that Hukam is inlaid in every soul. There are two ways to understand inlaid nature of Hukam:
1. The love of the divine – As explained in the article, Why and How was this universe created?, the purpose of the creation of the universe was the fulfillment of the feelings of love. Therefore, every soul has been inlaid with a seed of divine love or longing. Therefore, it continuously feels a pull towards the divine or the lord. This seed of love for the divine or pull towards the divine is also called Hukam. Khoji writes in his Punjabi Essay No. 53:
“The Primal Lord has numerous virtues and all of these virtues has the seed of love present in them.
This divine
‘cord of love’
drizzle of love
off-spring of love
love of the innate Self
pull of love
wire of love
pang of love
exists in each and every particle of the creation and is all pervading in the form of the ‘wordless word’, ‘Hukam’ or ‘Naam’.”
ਜੱਤ੍ਰ ਤੱਤ੍ਰ ਦਿਸਾ ਵਿਸਾ ਹੁਇ ਫੈਲਿਓ ਅਨੁਰਾਗ ॥ (Dasam Granth)
Thou art present in all direction and corners and Pervadest the Universe as Love.
ਰੰਗਿ ਰਤਾ ਮੇਰਾ ਸਾਹਿਬੁ ਰਵਿ ਰਹਿਆ ਭਰਪੂਰਿ ॥
My Lord and Master is imbued with love; He is totally permeating and pervading all.
ਸਰਬ ਰੀ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਿ ਪਿਆਰੁ ॥
He is total love and affection.
Khoji writes in his Punjabi Essay No. 47:
With the indestructible subtle pull of this Divine ‘cord of love’, each and every life form is being pulled towards its core, the ‘Timeless Being’. The invisible Divine –
pull
need
cord of love
yearning for love
pang of separation
is the ‘inlaid’ ‘Hukam’ in the innate being of every creature.
To
unravel
discover
recognize
feel
have an insight
about this invisible Divine ‘cord of love’, is indeed the personal innate ‘religion’ of each and every life form.
Therefore, one of the ways to understand Hukam is that it is the divine pull of love inside every soul. Thus, when we are driven by the love of the soul for the lord, we are following Hukam. Surrendering to the Hukam means allowing ourselves to be completely driven by the divine pull of love i.e. when all our thoughts, words, and actions are driven by the longing of the lord, we are following the Hukam.
If we understand this understanding of Hukam with our river analogy, we can say that the flow of the river towards its source (lord) is out of its longing or love for the lord. Therefore, the flow of the river is the Hukam. And to flow freely in the flow of the river is following the Hukam.
2. The voice of the conscience or the soul – Bhai Veer Singh ji in his explanation of the Gurbani line:
ਹੁਕਮਿ ਰਜਾਈ ਚਲਣਾ ਨਾਨਕ ਲਿਖਿਆ ਨਾਲਿ ॥੧॥
has written one of the understanding of Hukam as:
“Because of the presence of the divine soul in a human being, this “Hukam” is also inlaid in the human being. This Hukam asks us to stop when we are doing something bad and motivates us when we are doing something good. Understanding Hukam, the spiritual aspirant becomes conscious of his actions and improves himself. One who understands Hukam discards vices and imbibes virtues. This slight whisper of Hukam has to be heard by everyone within oneself.”
This whisper of Hukam is also called….Continue reading
Koi aan milavay mera preetam pyara, hao tis peh aap vechaee…
Veer ji, I have read all the articles and they are very informative. Thank you so much for putting the effort.
But there is a confusion. In your article “Is everything predestined or is there a free will?” you have mentioned that we have free will to do whatever we want, to sow the seed of positive virtues to make ourselves happy but here in this article for this same law you mentioned “we are clinging to the rocks at the bottom”. Therefore it is feeling like contradiction.
I do understand this law works under illusion. Are you saying here don’t use this law? Can I still work this law when I am aware of my origin?