Hukam is the cosmic law. Hukam is that which is. Whatever is and whatever is happening is Hukam. Whatever is happening is like the river flowing. It is up to you to go along with the flow or to go against it. When you go along with the flow you surrender your will to the Divine Will. That is Guru Nanak’s method. He says there is only one method. Leave everything to God, to His Will. Live the way He wants you to live; do what He wants you to do; go wherever He takes you. Living according to His Will should be your only prayer. Just subordinate your will before His Will. Accept life as it is, as it unfolds from moment to moment, day to day. Look at it and rejoice in it. Don’t reject anything. Accept sorrows when they come and accept joys when they come. Be grateful for both. If sorrow has come there must be some lesson in it. Look for that lesson. Listen to the voice that speaks to you. Don’t complain. The moment complaint comes up, you have turned your back towards God; you have placed your will above the divine will. You have started fighting the flow of the river; you have started going against the current. Then, it is no surprise that sorrows begin to pile on one after the other. You are a tiny speck in the river. How can you fight the current? Your attempt to do so will land you in more trouble. And, when you go with the current, you don’t even have to make the slightest effort. The waves will carry you and take you places. It will reveal to you what you may have never even dreamt of.

After all, what are your worries? You want things to happen the way you want them to be. The son is sick; he should not be sick; that is the worry. The cause of your worry is that whatever is happening should not be happening. You are imposing your will on life. This is your worry; your tension. And, in this state of mind you sit and pray. What kind of prayer is this?

The only secret of peace is to align your will with whatever is and whatever is happening. This is the essence of Guru Nanak’s teachings. Total acceptabiity!

When you accept life totally, then what is the worry? You cannot change anything, then where is the tension? When you leave everything to Him, and you have no will of your own, then you shed all your baggage; you become light as a bird and can fly in the sky – the sky of Ek Omkar. This is Guru Nanak’s only method. And that method is – Thy Will. Once you accept it, you won’t even have to swim in the river; you let the waves take you where they will. Don’t swim; just float. That is the secret. Don’t fight with the river. It is not your enemy. It is your friend. Everything in nature is your friend. You just let it be. Don’t try to go against it. Float with it. That is the secret.

Guru Nanak says, Hukam rajaaee chalna Nanak likhya naal. Whatever is written will happen. There is nothing that you can do or change. Then why carry the burden? What is this burden? There is only one burden, your ego. You want things to happen your way because your ego is strengthened when it happens your way. And, your ego feels hurt when things don’t happen according to your wishes. But, Guru Nanak says, let thy will happen. You align yourself with whatever is happening, and don’t try to change things to suit your wishes. When you don’t seek to change anything and you are happy with whatever is happening and you have accepted His Will, then you have no will of your own, no desire, no tension, no complaint. You have shed your burden. You become light. You develop wings. You can fly. You can float like clouds in the sky. Just let go and flow with the current.

Hukam cannot be described in words. Words are too small and inadequate to grasp Hukam. There are millions of descriptions but all of them are incomplete. How can a part describe the whole? Whatever is said tells something about the person who is saying it, not about His Will – His Hukam. But what Guru Nanak emphasises on is that Hukam encompasses all – the good the bad, the right the wrong and all the dual throng. And that Hukam is benevolent, compassionate, concerned. Hukam is developing, evolving and celebrating all the time. It is blssoming like a flower. It is right next to you to help you, yet it never intrudes, never imposes itself on you. It is like the sunshine that waits patiently outside. When you open the door, it will rush in. But it will not enter without your permission. It will not even knock at your door. Yet when you allow it to come in, it will fill your room with light and warmth.