Houmai

[singhmota]

Houmai is a deadly disease. I would like the sikh sangtaan to share how to go about conquering this disease and not get houmai again that we have achieved something :

[Guest Sony]

very good topic, if neone has any suggestions that would be good.

this topic has come up in conversations before, and it seems that the hardest thing to do is getting rid of houmai

:umm:

[Pheena]

Die in the Fire of Love.

[Jaspaul Singh]

ohhh yess ... Haumaii ... what a powerful disease...

let me share some of my experiences wit the sangat....

first of all, me taking amrit, (one of the only amritdharis in my immediate family).. was itself a very hard task because whereever i went, i had people telling me "OHH Jaspaul Singh what a good bacha you are now, we are soo proud of you...etc..."

... for me i just sometimes laugh and try to sya guru kripa most of the time and give a little blush, but sometimes that stays in the back of the head, something on the line "OH yes, i did something amazing ... yaa .. I .. I.. .III did it ... " ... you try to fight it but it stays there... eventhough on the outside you may show others that your haumai free.. in the inside your probably all hyped up ...

... another is when i started to do jodaya di seva (cleaning shoes) ... some wise person told me i should do this to get rid of my haumai ... it worked for a while, but i guess the person i am i adopted a lot of haumai, thinking in my mind ... "ohh people are looking at me ... everyone must think im a good guy... " ....

....last example is kirtan. Like first of all for me to touch a vaja was a shock to everyone in my family, me actually doing a shabad in sangat was even another shock. I got all filled wit haumai ... that yes i sound good, and everyone thinks im good ...

..... aside from all this ... these are my personal experiences ... as a singh i try my best to not think about any of this... i try my best for myself to get rid of my haumai/ego ... it is hard but never impossible...

.... what i do is i start thinking no one is ever there ... its just you and guru sahib... in that way you think that no one is there to see what your doing and therefore can conquer your haumai. Im not saying i have... but it does work guru kripa naal.... maybe it can help others :umm:

bhul chuk maph (i hope i made sense, i came off a nightshift )

[GushK]

We do nothing ourselves in this world

it is all with waheguru's kirpa. The more praise you receive from others for what you do, the more you must thank waheguru for allowing you to.

You must learn to be merely a vessel and transfer that grace, that honour to the feet of waheguru since you did not really do anything yourself.

Everytime someone praises you, you praise waheguru twice as much.

[DivineJourney]

humai reminds of some b'ful lines....

Hum to apno* nay maara, gairon mein kahan dum tha,

Maire kishtee bhi dubi wahan, jahan pani kam tha!!

apno--->kam,krodh, lobh,moh ,ahankar etc etc etc......

[rKr]

I once asked this question to an amazing Gursikh I know... cos as Daasn Daas veer ji has said, at first I would say "No, it's all kirpa" and then it's like something will trigger in the back of my mind saying "yes, it's kirpa, on me" - and the Me comes in to the equation.

This Gursikh told me that in my path and thirst for Sikhi I will encounter many a stumbling block and the biggest ones will be:

I and Me - getting rid of these is that one of the hardest tasks to accomplish - and he gave me a couple of ways in which to try... these are the general principles we should live by anyway...

SEVA - To wash the jhoote pande at the Gurudwara, and with ever dish we clean, we should think of the jhoot on them, and see that jhoot as our mind - how the water is washing is away, how we're scrubbing at the dishes and adding more washing up liquid - the washing up liquid for our minds should be the naam that should continously be escaping our lips as we clean these dishes. The same will apply when we do jhordiya dhi seva - these amazing, blessed Sikhs have come for the Darshan of their Guru - we are unworthy of being the dust on their feet - with every pair we clean, Vaheguru Ji, please give us their kirpa too - these blessed Sikhs are here for your vision...

SIMRAN - Naam, the biggest antidote to get rid of this disease of ME. Concentrate on Him, The Lord, Vaheguru - continously japping his Name, and thinking about his beauty and how he is pervading everywhere - his beauty will amaze us, and we start to realise that we are nothing, for he is it all...

SADHSANGAT - When in sadhsangat, when in conversation with sangat, when being praised by sangat, we look at their feet - these are the lotus feet of my Guru who is residing in the heart of this Sikh - we are unworthy of even being the dust on the feet of these amazing people - and they want to praise us?

I'm a moorakh papi, nothing, everything is Vaheguru...

Sorry I went on a bit.

Forgive me for my many mistakes.

[japmans]

i feel it's alot about channeling...

for example... especially when you're talking about keertan.. sometimes, yes, people come up and say whatever they have to say.. and i could always jus say like "dhan guru nanak, shukar hai" or whatever...... and same thought came into my mind "you know what? guruji really DID do kirpa on me, man!"... BUUTT..... one thing that kinda helps me along in trying to beat up houmai to the ground is the channeling of where your homai is going.

lemme explain:

yes, guruji DID do kirpa on you.. but you know what? most of the time, these people aren't saying good things to you jus to look good or whatever... usually it might ACTUALLY be because they FELT something... then it becomes a matter of channeling saying "yes, guruji did kirpa on me, and even if i'm a houmai-tistical punk, it still helped someone else!"

sometimes it's good to have a rush of houmai all at once... just say "yeah..you know what.. guruji did kirpa on me.... guruji blessed me!"

just to get it outta your system, cuz it happens to everyone... well most of us anyways... sometimes it's good to jus be like "yeah, i'm the ****", just as long as oyu'r ein enough self control to not let it TRULY affect you, but enough so that you can just get it outta your system and continue going on with your seva.

it's wierd, i'm reading that over, and it's not coming out like i wanted it to hahah..it's making more sense in my head... the point for me is that effectively channeling your houmai to defeat itself is helpful...

i'm sorry my words probably are coming out the wrong way, so please forgive me :umm:

[GuruManeyoGranth]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

Haumai is a big problem for me. Man I am so Hunkaari. BUT this is definitely a proper big serious test from Waheguroo to test our Sikhi.

For me, the 5 thieves strike the hardest when I think that I'm getting somewhere on my Sikhi path - (how stupid is that?) - ppl look at me and say what a chunga munda he is, but really inside, I know that I'm just a Pakhandi. Sometimes, I even do stuff, not becos I'm doing it out of pure humility and seva bhaavna, but just for the praise I get.

But Waheguroo brings me down so quickly it's amazing, becos I start feeling cr*p. Any feeling of progress I felt I may have made is quickly lost. Then you have to work twice as hard to feel how you were previously - it's all an uphill struggle once you get Haumai!! And to get back to where you were, Waheguroo makes you pray and be very humble, becos He creates a situation for you where nothing is in your hands and He makes sure you know this. At this point, all you feel is:

thoo(n) maeree outt thoo(n)hai maeraa maanaa ||

You are my Shelter, and You are my Honor.

thujh bin dhoojaa avar n koee sabh thaeraa khael akhaarraa jeeo ||2||

Without You, there is no other; the entire Universe is the Arena of Your Play. ||2||

And then when Waheguroo resolves the situation for you, your Haumai shoots down to realise how great Waheguroo really is, and how nothing is in your hands at all. This 5 thieves game is all Waheguroo's, to test how much Pyaar we really have for him, and whether our love for Him is for the things that we desire, or it is for Him.

One way of definitely kicking out Haumai is to join SadhSangat of Gurmukhs, cos in their Sangat, you really feel how much your Kamayee pales into insignificance, and how big the Sikhi Marag really is and how far one has to travel.

Bhul Chuk Maaf

Waheguroo