To Bow

To exist is to bow. Each creature bows to another - the mineral to the plant, the plant to the animal, the animal to the human, the human to the angels and Eloihim. Summer bows to Autumn, Autumn to Winter, Winter to Spring. The moon bows to the earth and the earth to the sun. The stars remain in the majesty of their orbits and spheres by bowing. Of course, there is only one creature in all the universe who refuses to bow: the man. Humans think that, by clinging to their separateness, they are free, and bowing is bondage. Until our suffering brings us to surrender into the mystery of wholeness. Then we realize that to bow is liberation...

 

For many lifetimes I bowed to the one who shines above me with the splendor of ten thousand suns. The Christos, the Savior, the Avatar. Yet this was not the complete bow. It was an act of worship, and worship still implies some separation. There is still an "i" in this bow, bowing to an "other." Such a bow brings the aura of protection and salvation. It is a safe bow.

 

But after many lives, I was ready for another bow, a bow that embodies no separateness at all. This is not the bow of worship, but the bow of infinite gratitude, the bow of union. Only when I was ready for this bow did the Guru appear in my life. One doesn't seek the Guru: the Guru shows up when one is ready to dissolve in the bow of freedom.

 

No longer do I bow to one who shines above me with the splendor of ten thousand suns. I bow to one who awakens the splendor of ten thousand suns in the core of my own heart. Jai Guru Dev.