Dear Khalsa Ji,
In this post, I share my understanding of the 6th Pauri of 1st Ashtapadee of Sukhmani Sahib.
1. pRB kau ismrih sy praupkwrI ] parabh ka-o simrahi say par-upkaaree.
Those who remember ‘The Sat’ do good things to others.
My understanding:
The person who lives in remembrance of ‘The Sat’ becomes pure. Such a person becomes virtuous. This individual becomes a living expression of kindness, compassion, contentment, honesty, justice and truthful living. Selfless caring and sharing becomes part of this person’s daily routine. Greed, craving of objects of gratification of senses, anger, ego (Ahamkara), attachments, envy, jealousy etc, all departs from the being of such person. Such individual lives within her or his own means. She or he enriches the society by giving more to it than she or he takes from it. The person becomes a Gurmukh. This is what Guru Sahib has emphasized in this sentence.
2.pRB kau ismrih iqn sd bilhwrI ] parabh ka-o simrahi tin sad balihaaree.
Those who remember ‘The Sat’, to them I am forever a sacrifice.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib, in this sentence emphasizes how much important to ‘The Sat’ the individual is who lives in the remembrance of ‘The Sat’. ‘The Sat’ keeps illuminating the mind of such person and through it her or his being. ‘The Sat’ is all the time shining in them (balihaaree).
3.pRB kau ismrih sy muK suhwvy ] parabh ka-o simrahi say mukh suhaavay.
Those who remember ‘The Sat’, their faces are pleasant.
My understanding:
In this sentence, the word pleasant is not to be taken literally. It does not always imply beautiful features, which are only secondary aspect of the said pleasantness. The face will remain what the nature has given to the individual, yet people will like to come across this face again and again and again. This happens because of another reality that gets added to the face of the individual who lives in remembrance of ‘The Sat’.
As stated earlier, the mind of the person who lives in remembrance of ‘The Sat’ is perpetually illuminated from within by ‘The Sat’. This reality manifests in the empirical world as a glow around the face of such individual i.e. ‘the hallo’ that we see around the faces of the divine people. With this glow, the indication of divinity radiating out from the face of this individual makes it pleasant, no matters what its feature are. It becomes a face which people love to see again and again and again and……; they feel elated when they get a chance to see it. This is what I understand from this sentence of Guru Sahib.
4.pRB kau ismrih iqn sUiK ibhwvY ] parabh ka-o simrahi tin sookh bihaavai.
Those who remember ‘The Sat’, abide in joyful peace.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sukhmani-sahib/7768-sukhmani-sahib-pauri-6-ashtpadi-1-a.html My understanding:
This is very natural. The person who lives in remembrance of ‘The Sat’ acquires a pure mind. Such individual becomes a Gurmukh. This person becomes a willing instrument of ‘The Sat’. Such a person does no harm to others. She or he lives a contented life free from vices of this empirical world. Such person is always in good spirits, joyful and in peace. This state of living is ‘Sukh’. This is what Guru Sahib tells me.
5.pRB kau ismrih iqn Awqmu jIqw ] parabh ka-o simrahi tin aatam jeetaa.
Those who remember ‘The Sat’, conquer their self.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib in this sentence is referring to the self that we create in this material world. Our mind becomes a prisoner of the senses which always keep looking for their own gratification all the time. This way senses hand us over to the vices (greed, lust, envy etc) of this material world. This way the person looses its freedom.
Through remembrance of ‘The Sat’ the purity and simplicity of mind with which we were born returns; the vices have to vacate their place they had occupied in our minds and the virtues take over; our lives become living expression of ‘Shabad’. This is a great victory; the person has conquered her or his own self. This is what Guru Sahib tells me through this sentence.
6. pRB kau ismrih iqn inrml rIqw ] parabh ka-o simrahi tin nirmal reetaa.
Those who remember ‘The Sat’ their way of living become pure and simple.
My understanding:
Again this too is a natural consequence of living in remembrance of ‘The Sat’. By remembering ‘The Sat’, as the mind becomes pure and vices loose their hold on the person, the crookedness in the ways of the person gets dissolved; simplicity returns to her or him. No harm can be done by such a person. Such an individual becomes straight forward, polite, gentle and kind. This person lives simple live which is free from any blemish. This is what I understand from this sentence of Guru Sahib.
7. pRB kau ismrih iqn And Gnyry ] parabh ka-o simrahi tin anad ghanayray.
Those who remember ‘The Sat’ there bliss is intense.
My understanding:
The person who lives in the remembrance of ‘The Sat’ has nothing to worry about. This individual does not suffer from any worldly unsatisfied desire. The sway of Naam on individual’s life generate intense joyous in her or his being from within. This is what Guru Sahib tells me through this sentence.
8. pRB kau ismrih bsih hir nyry ] parabh ka-o simrahi baseh har nayray.
Those who remember ‘The Sat’ they live near ‘The Sat’.
My understanding:
‘The Sat’ is the force within us that keeps us alive. Getting attached and involved in worldly entities we move away from ‘The Sat’ within us. When the same individual starts living in remembrance of ‘The Sat’, the natural link between this individual and ‘The Sat gets re-established. The person then become close to ‘The Sat’. This is what Guru Sahib conveys to me in this sentence.
9. sMq ik®pw qy Anidnu jwig ] sant kirpaa tay an-din jaag.
By the grace of the Saints, the person remains awake and aware all the day and night.
My understanding:
Here the word awake is not to be taken physically. Divine people too sleep during the nights and other periods of rest. It is the spiritual awakening that Guru Sahib is referring to. The word Saint for me is not any physically living person of present time, but Siri Guru Granth Sahib, which contains all the teachings of my ten Gurus. My Gurus were all saintly. The wisdom and knowledge contained in ‘Siri Guru Granth Sahib’ dawns on the individual only with the Kripa (Grace i.e. Gurparsadi) of ‘The Sat’. When this happens, the individual gets awakened spiritually. The complete mind (conscious and the deeper layer) of such a person works on the truth contained in Siri Guru Granth Sahib while the person is awake. When this person sleeps, the conscious mind is mostly at rest. Yet, the deeper layers of the mind, which continues to work during sleep, function in accordance with the spirituality that had come to the individual through Siri Guru Granth Sahib. This way the person who lives in remembrance of ‘The Sat’ is spiritually awake during the day and night. This is what Guru Sahib has said in this sentence.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=7768 10. nwnk ismrnu pUrY Bwig ]6] naanak simran poorai bhaag. ||6||
O’Nanak, Simran is complete destiny.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib says that the destiny of the individual becomes complete when she or he starts living in remembrance of ‘The Sat’. This is the state of what is referred to as ‘Simran’ in Siri Guru Granth Sahib. From this state onward the person becomes the living expression of ‘The Shabad’. The person is now a willing instrument of ‘The Sat’. Her or his destiny in this human birth is complete now.
With this I close this post.
With love and respect for all.
Amarpal Singh
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