People
Chardi Kalaa, Always
JULIO SUAREZ
These past few weeks have been very difficult for aspiring law graduates as we prepared to take our respective bar exams. I have been studying for the bar relentlessly and sometimes falling asleep, feeling guilty later because I took an extra break that day.
However, this was only the surface of my anxiety and difficulties; the physical labor was evident to my friends, family, and colleagues. The emotional and mental turmoil was not.
I haven’t been under stress because of the bar but rather because of the stage of life that I find myself in: the transition period between the student life and the professional life.
As I sat there the day after the exam and the anxiety weighed heavily on my drooping shoulders, I realized that my fear is whether or not I will be happy in my upcoming, right around the corner, professional life.
“Happiness is a fleeting thing” stated Amy Schumer’s dad in the recently released ‘Train Wreck’ movie. I would say that our Gurus would agree with Amy Schumer’s dad; happiness that stems from maya is indeed a fleeting thing.
I know this from the Guru Granth Sahib but it was within this last hour that I truly internalized it as I watched the novelist John Green’s commencement speech at his alma mater. The speech’s message was, succinctly: find happiness in every position you find yourself in within life, even when that position is to be the grunt that runs the coffee.
That simple epiphany really struck me. I had to even pause the video when the thought zipped across my mind. I slowly pondered, chewed, and digested that moment and realized that the moment impacted me so profoundly because it was in direct correlation with Sikhi.
Often at the Gurdwara I have heard that happiness and solace are found through Waheguru; to me that was always an intangible sentence until I dove and pored over one of my favorite Sikhi concepts.
Chardi kalaa.
When you are confronted with terrible hardships, and no one offers you any support,
When your friends turn into enemies, and even your relatives have deserted you,
And when all support has given way, and all hope has been lost,
If you then come to remember the Supreme Lord God,
Even the hot wind shall not touch you.
[Guru Arjan, Sri Raag, GGS]
Chardi kalaa is to be in constant positivity, so that we regard but eliminate the many negative emotions we feel as humans. That is why chardi kalaa has special significance as I embark on this new phase of my life.
John Green’s message was essentially chardi kalaa. I need to find Waheguru in all of my actions, whether I am running to the coffee machine or to court.
That is what chardi kalaa and being Sikh means at this critical stage of my life. So I encourage those readers who are in the same position that I am today, whether it’d be shifting from student life to the professional world or a move within a career, to take on every opportunity and find the good within them, internalize them, enjoy them, and connect with Waheguru through that very process.
August 6, 2015
Conversation about this article
1: Harman Singh (California, USA), August 07, 2015, 5:45 PM.
Beautifully expressed. I am at a transition point in my life right now, and this article was a positive reaffirmation of the spirit of chardi kalaa for me.
2: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), August 07, 2015, 10:51 PM.
Completely agree. If one takes Sikhi and the Guru seriously then one will be aware of Chardi Kalaa all the time ... fighting age, disease, accidents, mental and physical pain. In Sikhi you live on the edge of a sword and don't care about the ups and downs of life because you are constantly absorbed in the scriptures and knowledge of the Guru Granth which guides you through and beyond -- a bit like a flight controller, controlling an aircraft to safely take off, fly and land!