Sikhi A Simple Stanza, A Simple Translation - Your Thoughts Requested

[Balbir27]

Don’t ask how I got here with this. I thank another SPNer, in another discussion, who caused this thought to come to my mind.

Simply put, I am trying to understand the meaning of a Stanza in the SGGS, without being influenced by the translators.

I’ll try to explain what I understand, using my rusty Punjabi and the crutch of a dictionary where needed -

Taking the whole stanza in context, SGGS page 162 -163, Stanza 37, 3rd Mehla

· The soul is in the body (Father’s/God’s house) and the body is mortal – so in a time limited situation

· The soul is akin to a bride and God is the husband (metaphorically)(15th, 16th century audience's understanding)

· The aim is to unite

· The unseen God is here in this world and in worlds beyond, so how does one find God? It appears impossible

· The soul has ego, self-will, arrogance and duality (duality has many meanings apart from mathematical duality as well. Here I think it means Me, I, Mine, as opposed to - I am nothing and everything is Yours. Free will is also dualism until the will gives up to God).

· By your good luck/fortune one meets the True Guru (SGGS contemporarily), gets wisdom, meditates on God’s name and experiences peace

· To achieve the primary aim of uniting with God, the soul has to maintain the meditation on God’s name (who is Father and Mother). (God is the soul’s family, and so God is everything in terms of realtionships)

· But, the soul has no automatic door or key or way to unite with God ( so one does Simeren and virtuous deeds and expect the fruits to come as a result)

· However much the soul meditates and earns virtues, in the end it is entirely up to God to allow or facilitate the final union. He decides, in his own wisdom, whether or not, to bless the soul with the ultimate union. Perhaps the soul needs more Dukh (pain), Bukh (hunger) and Maar (Blows), when the desired result is not forthcoming (all metaphorical). This is akin to a Teacher marking a student’s homework and sanctioning some sort of punishment – contemporary example for the 21st century audience.

· The final line of the Stanza – even Guru Nanak himself equates his position to a lowly worm (as compared to God) and begs God’s forgiveness and asks for Unity ( I think this simply a teaching point to us from Guru Nanak).

ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਬਖਸਿ ਮਿਲਾਇ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਜਨੁ ਨਾਨਕੁ ਕੀਰਾ॥੪॥੩॥੧੭॥੩੭॥

· ਹਰਿ (Har) is another name for God. ਬਖਸਿ (Bakhas) means Forgive. ਮਿਲਾਇ (Milae) means facilitate a meeting. ਪ੍ਰਭ (Prabh) means God.ਜਨੁ (Jan) means Person. ਕੀਰਾ (Kira) means worm.

I concede to the SPNer who inspired this, that a single line should not or cannot stand on its own. However there is a small difference - I think this line can stand by itself, if one wishes to use it to support a certain POV, albeit it requires a greater knowledge of the SGGS overall, to understand it completely, on its own. The whole stanza before this line appears to me like a beautiful poetic ABC explanation and story for those of us (me included) who need to understand the depth of the last line.

[What is the final Union and what happens next is beyond my understanding. Perhaps it is not for us to know in our soul-in-the-body stage]

I do not know if I have taken a step in the right direction, so I put myself at Sad Sanghat’s mercy.

I ask your forgiveness if I have erred in any way

What say you?

 

[Original]

Don’t ask how I got here with this.

..welcome every coincidence ! planet Uranus was discovered by accident, god knows what you're likely to discover here !

Simply put, I am trying to understand the meaning of a Stanza in the SGGS, without being influenced by the translators.

..don't you think knowledge of Sikh history and ideology will put you in a good stead to separate the wheat from the sheaf ? That way you'll understand the disposition of the translator.

rusty Punjabi

....polish it up !

Taking the whole stanza in context, SGGS page 162 -163, Stanza 37, 3rd Mehla

..that'd be the third master, Guru Amardas Ji who succeeded the second Guru Angand Dev Ji. It's interesting to note that the 3rd master became the Guru of the Sikhs at the age of 75. This kind of information helps when decoding, interpreting or translating Gurbani [practical n emotional].

· The soul is in the body (Father’s/God’s house) and the body is mortal – so in a time limited situation

yeah, 'time limited situation' but not time bound. True we cannot escape time, but we can transcend it. Sikh a doctrine is to this very end - transcendence of time n space.

· The soul is akin to a bride and God is the husband (metaphorically)(15th, 16th century audience's understanding)

..metaphors are mediums of expression used as means to an end. The soul/god predicates must be ideologically understood to yield fruitful conclusions. You see, there is this dichotomy between the real and the unreal existence. Ideologically speaking, the real is God [Madho, meaning, masculine] and the unreal is Illusion [Maya, meaning, feminine], hence, husband/wife relationship to describe the physical [illusionary] and the metaphysical [God] worlds.

The aim is to unite

I like..connect ! for that'd be consistent with both substantive n procedural Sikhi [nam simran].

The unseen God is here in this world and in worlds beyond, so how does one find God? It appears impossible

..you don't ! God finds you, its that simple. Found you hasn't it ?

· The soul has ego, self-will, arrogance and duality (duality has many meanings apart from mathematical duality as well. Here I think it means Me, I, Mine, as opposed to - I am nothing and everything is Yours. Free will is also dualism until the will gives up to God).

..soul is part of god
god is attributive less [nirgun]
therefore, soul is attributive less.

The so called me, my, mine and I are the subjective sense of the self weighing about 1kg of nerve cells. When the body dies the subjective [sargun] self dies, hence the reason you don't remember who you were in your previous births. The soul however, is without birth, death, decay n the rest but free and untarnished - wait till you connect - you'll be sizzling like a kebab on a platter.

But, the soul has no automatic door or key or way to unite with God ( so one does Simeren and virtuous deeds and expect the fruits to come as a result)

..as I said above "transcendence" is the exit out of time n space. Check out page page 124, SGGSJ [10th door of the body - the stargate].

· However much the soul meditates and earns virtues, in the end it is entirely up to God to allow or facilitate the final union. He decides, in his own wisdom, whether or not, to bless the soul with the ultimate union. Perhaps the soul needs more Dukh (pain), Bukh (hunger) and Maar (Blows), when the desired result is not forthcoming (all metaphorical). This is akin to a Teacher marking a student’s homework and sanctioning some sort of punishment – contemporary example for the 21st century audience.

..come on Balbir...Sikh is a science ! Study the theory first and then experiment with it. Nanak's God isn't sitting behind clouds but within your very body - connect and speak to it like the base control staff speaks to the pilot of a plane.

· The final line of the Stanza – even Guru Nanak himself equates his position to a lowly worm (as compared to God) and begs God’s forgiveness and asks for Unity ( I think this simply a teaching point to us from Guru Nanak).

...its one of the traits, a virtuous one at that, called - humility !

[What is the final Union and what happens next is beyond my understanding. Perhaps it is not for us to know in our soul-in-the-body stage]

No ! Sikhi is agenda driven, that is, meeting with God is imminent whilst in body ! Checkout page 378, SGGSJ..bhai prapat manukh...

I do not know if I have taken a step in the right direction, so I put myself at Sad Sanghat’s mercy.

..seek and ye shall find [Jesus], likewise, the more you search the closer you'll get to God - the real YOU !

I ask your forgiveness if I have erred in any way

Thank God we err for how else will we know right from wrong ?

Enjoy Sunday - Love n Live - The Sikh Way

 

[Balbir27]

@Original Ji
You invariably come with things I need to ponder over, things that corroborate and things that shine.
I'll borrow some time for this.

Sat Sri Akal