Dear Khalsa Ji,

My understanding of 38th Pauri of Anand Sahib, I share with you.

1. hir jIau guPw AMdir riK kY vwjw pvxu vjwieAw ] har jee-o gufaa andar rakh kai vaajaa pavan vajaa-i-aa.

It is ‘The Sat’ who put life in the womb that enables the being to start breathing.

My understanding:

In this sentence gufaa is a metaphor; it refers to the space or shell in which the life starts - womb, egg or seed. Guru Sahib states the fact as to how the life of every being starts. As we know all living entities breathe during their lifetime.

2. vjwieAw vwjw paux nau duAwry prgtu kIey dsvw gupqu rKwieAw ] vajaa-i-aa vaajaa pa-un na-o du-aaray pargat kee-ay dasvaa gupat rakhaa-i-aa.

Having breath live into the being (human), the nine openings are visible the tenth is kept hidden.

My understanding:

Guru Sahib tells that there are ten openings in we humans. The nine – two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one mouth, two openings for excretion of waste matter from body – are explicit; they are known to every one. Every one does not know the tenth opening. My past learning tells that Guru Sahib is referring to the subtle way through which the essence of the being passes to merges with ‘The Sat’. This opening is secret and subtle because it is not physical.

3. gurduAwrY lwie BwvnI ieknw dsvw duAwru idKwieAw ] gurdu-aarai laa-ay bhaavnee iknaa dasvaa du-aar dikhaa-i-aa.

Those who have the mental disposition that is needed at the entrance of the Guru, get to see the tenth door.

My understanding:

Guru Sahib tells that the right mental disposition at Gurdwara enables the person to know the tenth door.

Here it is important to dwell on few of the words used in this sentence.

Gurdwara as we all know is a building that houses Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Building, as such, cannot give any spiritual knowledge. The building becomes Gurdwara because Sri Guru Granth Sahib is placed there. Now Sri Guru Granth Sahib is a Granth. As we see this Granth, apart for the reverence we Sikhs have for it, does not enlighten me in any way. Only on reading Sri Guru Granth Sahib, understanding what is said in it, extracting the knowledge contained in it and internalising it into ones being i.e. by resonating with the Shabad in real life, the individual can acquire the spiritual wisdom.

It is this state of spiritual wisdom that Guru Sahib has referred to as ‘Bhavaanee’; it is the needed mental acumen and disposition.

With this new state of mind the person gets elevated to a level in spirituality from where the individual is able to see or visualise or perceive the tenth door – the way to reach ‘The Sat’.

4. qh Anyk rUp nwau nv iniD iqs dw AMqu n jweI pwieAw ] tah anayk roop naa-o nav niDh tis daa ant na jaa-ee paa-i-aa.

There are many forms and names with new and new treasure of attributes and there is no end to it that can be found.

My understanding:

Guru Sahib tells that there are endless forms names and attributes in which ‘The Sat’ manifests. Guru Sahib has said so because he knows that in each of the living entity ‘The Sat’ and only ‘The Sat’ is there. As I understand the entire manifestation is nothing but ‘The Sat’; the totality is ‘One’.

5. khY nwnku hir ipAwrY jIau guPw AMdir riK kY vwjw pvxu vjwieAw ]38] kahai naanak har pi-aarai jee-o gufaa andar rakh kai vaajaa pavan vajaa-i-aa. ||38||

Says Nanak, beloved beings of ‘The Sat’, in the womb ‘The Sat’ placed the life that enabled you to resonate.

My understanding:

After giving us the key to the tenth door and explaining the ‘Oneness’ of the entire manifestation, Guru Sahib tells again that each person has become a living entity only because ‘The Sat’ placed Jot into her or him. This Jot is nothing but ‘The Sat’ in every being. It is the same force that initiated sustains and concludes the life in each being. This way we all are one. The whole manifestation is one.

Here I am reminded of one saying from a sage:

“If you are confused, there are thousand differentiations, ten thousand distinctions. If you are enlightened, every thing is the same family”.

With this I close this post.
With love and respect for all.



Amarpal Singh

amarpal ji,

i think in the first line the guru meant that gufa is the body of the person, which not just during the birth but whole lifetime he is giving us the air to breathe.

1. hir jIau guPw AMdir riK kY vwjw pvxu vjwieAw ] har jee-o gufaa andar rakh kai vaajaa pavan vajaa-i-aa.

would like to invite comments if some one feels otherwise as i too am learning gurbani.

-Sumeet Singh Luthra

Dear Sumeet Singh Ji,

The sentence under discussion refers to the stage of initiation i.e. at the point of conception. That is why I have stated to be the womb. The metaphor Gufa is right for womb.

Life is not put in the body. When life is put by 'The Sat' body as such does not exist. Life is put before the body is formed. As a consequence of this life being put into the womb by 'The Sat' that the body gets formed.

Once this initiation of life is done it continues till 'The Sat' wishes, as you have said in your post.

With love and respect for all.

Amarpal Singh

Let me check more on this but sahib singh ji's teeka on anand sahib and some gurmat classes that i took had that gufa= body and not the womb.

also i wd like to know which word(s) suggest that it is being talked about point of conception.

Dear Sumeet Ji,

What I post here is not what some one has said. What I post is what I understand from Gurbani. It is not borrowed from any other teekakar. When I posted my understandings on Japji Sahib, I did read the translation published by SGPC in four volumes. For Anand Sahib, I even did not consult this publication of SGPC.

The Gurmukhi text and its transliteration I have picked and pasted from Siri Guru Granth Sahib as available on www.sikhnet.com . I do consult dictionaries.
With this what my mind understands, I post on web sites.

I will not be entering into academic discussion on what some one else has said. I respect all and I respect their understanding too.

I am no one to comment on someone else's understanding. I am in no way absolute; my understanding is also relative to my own position on path to spirituality. Only those who have experienced 'The Sat' and have become divine can have the final word. I am certainly not at that stage. I cannot say some one else is wrong.

In this web-site, I only give clarifications on what I have said to those who seek it, nothing more than that. You raised about Gufa, I gave you the basis for what I had said. My task here ends. You can conclude about it based on what you understand and based on your own learning. No one need to agree with me.

With love and respect for all.

Amarpal Singh