{"id":821,"date":"2025-06-24T13:17:26","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T18:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/?p=821"},"modified":"2025-06-24T13:17:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T18:17:26","slug":"when-i-let-go-i-become-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/when-i-let-go-i-become-all\/","title":{"rendered":"When I Let Go, I Become All"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\u201cWhen I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.\u201d<\/em>
\u2014 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching<\/em>

Kabir \u2013 The couplet<\/strong>
\u092e\u0948\u0902 \u0932\u093e\u0917\u093e \u0909\u0938 \u090f\u0915 \u0938\u0947, \u090f\u0915 \u092d\u092f\u093e \u0938\u092c \u092e\u093e\u0939\u093f\u0902\u0964
\u0938\u092c \u092e\u0947\u0930\u093e, \u092e\u0948\u0902 \u0938\u092c\u0928 \u0915\u093e, \u0924\u093f\u0939\u093e\u0901 \u0926\u0942\u0938\u0930\u093e \u0928\u093e\u0939\u093f\u0902\u0965

Transliterated:<\/strong>
Main laaga uss ek se, ek bhaya sab maahin |
Sab mera, main saban ka, tihan doosara naahin ||

Translation:<\/strong>
\u201cI attached myself to the One, and became One with all.
All are mine, I belong to all \u2014 in that space, no \u2018other\u2019 remains.\u201d

My understanding:<\/strong>

Across centuries and civilizations, two great mystics \u2014 Kabir from the heart of India and Lao Tzu from the soul of China \u2014 offer us the same quiet revelation:

To truly become, we must first let go.
To become everything, we must let go of being \u201csomeone.\u201d<\/em>

Kabir\u2019s doha sings of a spiritual awakening: a moment when he becomes one with the Divine, and in doing so, becomes one with all of existence. Lao Tzu, in his typically paradoxical simplicity, tells us that the potential of who we might be is only unlocked by releasing the fixed idea of who we think we are.

Both invite us to dissolve the walls of selfhood \u2014 not to vanish, but to merge with the infinite.

Dissolving the Illusion of Separation<\/em><\/strong>

Kabir says: \u201cI was bound to the One. In that binding, I became one with everything.\u201d
He isn\u2019t just describing a moment of devotion \u2014 he is revealing a metaphysical transformation. When the seeker surrenders fully to the One (the Ek), all boundaries vanish. The division between \u201cme\u201d and \u201cyou,\u201d \u201cmine\u201d and \u201cnot mine,\u201d simply collapses.

Lao Tzu complements this with piercing clarity: the identity we cling to \u2014 roles, labels, accomplishments, wounds \u2014 is precisely what holds us back from true becoming. When we let go of it, we make space for what is deeper, purer, more fluid.

This is not self-negation. It is self-expansion. It is not about losing identity \u2014 but realizing that identity was never the full story.

The Psychology of Surrender<\/em><\/strong>

From a psychological lens, both Kabir and Lao Tzu challenge the modern obsession with rigid selfhood. We are taught to brand ourselves, define ourselves, defend ourselves. But both mystics knew this:

The ego that defines is the ego that divides.
When we let go \u2014 of being right, being important, being in control \u2014 we step into a vast field of connection. Kabir describes it:

\u201cAll are mine. I am of all. In that space, there is no other.\u201d
That\u2019s the moment when love becomes natural, not effortful. Compassion is no longer a virtue to strive for \u2014 it\u2019s a state of being, because there is no \u2018other\u2019 left to judge or fear.

The Metaphysics of Unity
<\/em><\/strong>
Kabir\u2019s vision is rooted in Advaita (non-duality). In his realization, the Divine is not outside \u2014 it permeates all. The One is not in the sky or in scriptures alone, but in every being, every breath.
This leads him to say, \u201cSab mera, main saban ka\u201d \u2014 All belong to me, and I belong to all.

Lao Tzu\u2019s Tao is similarly formless yet present everywhere. It flows, moves, becomes. It cannot be grasped, only aligned with. And that alignment begins with emptying the cup \u2014 of identity, expectation, control.

To flow with the Tao is to stop resisting what already is.

What It Means for Us Today<\/strong><\/em>

In a world fractured by identities, ego conflicts, and endless self-definition, Kabir and Lao Tzu offer a radical simplicity:

\u2022\tYou are not your name.
\u2022\tYou are not your job.
\u2022\tYou are not your past.<\/mark><\/em>

When you let go of these constructs \u2014 not abandon them, but hold them lightly \u2014 you return to the truth beneath the form.

You become part of the Whole again.<\/mark>
<\/mark>
In Conclusion: Becoming the Vastness<\/em><\/strong>

Kabir found this unity through love.
Lao Tzu found it through letting go.

But they both arrived at the same realization:

\u201cWhen I lose myself, I find everything.
When I dissolve, I become whole.\u201d
In the quiet space where ego falls away,
There is no \u201cI\u201d and \u201cyou.\u201d
There is only One.

And from that One, compassion flows.
From that One, peace arises.
From that One, we are reborn \u2014 not as someone \u2014 but as everything.

**** An idea for each of us \u2013 a reflection to work through:<\/em><\/strong> ****
What identity are you clinging to that may be standing in the way of your expansion?
What might you become\u2026 if you let go?
<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWhen I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.\u201d\u2014 Lao Tzu, Tao Te ChingKabir \u2013 The couplet\u092e\u0948\u0902 \u0932\u093e\u0917\u093e \u0909\u0938 \u090f\u0915 \u0938\u0947, \u090f\u0915 \u092d\u092f\u093e \u0938\u092c \u092e\u093e\u0939\u093f\u0902\u0964\u0938\u092c \u092e\u0947\u0930\u093e, \u092e\u0948\u0902 \u0938\u092c\u0928 \u0915\u093e, \u0924\u093f\u0939\u093e\u0901 \u0926\u0942\u0938\u0930\u093e \u0928\u093e\u0939\u093f\u0902\u0965Transliterated:Main laaga uss ek se, ek bhaya sab maahin |Sab mera, main saban ka, tihan doosara naahin ||Translation:\u201cI attached…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kabir","category-philosophy","category-philosophy-and-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":822,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821\/revisions\/822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}