Japji Sahib - Pauri 23

[Amarpal]

Dear Members,



Through this post, I share with you what I understand from 23rd Pauri of Japji Sahib.



The sentences of this Pauri are numbered serially for easy reference.



1. swlwhI swlwih eyqI suriq n pweIAw ] saalaahee saalaahi aytee surat na paa-ee-aa.

The sycophants praise without having the intuitive awareness.



2. ndIAw AqY vwh pvih smuMid n jwxIAih ] nadee-aa atai vaah pavahi samund na jaanee-ahi.
The rivers and the streams that flow into the sea do not know.



3. smuMd swh sulqwn igrhw syqI mwlu Dnu ] samund saah sultaan girhaa saytee maal Dhan.
King and Emperor of sea and land with mountain of wealth.



4. kIVI quil n hovnI jy iqsu mnhu n vIsrih ]23] keerhee tul na hovnee jay tis manhu na veesrahi. ||23||

Not equal to an ant that never allows the remembrance of ‘The Sat’ from its heart.



My understanding from this Pauri:



Guru Sahib in this Pauri cautions me that there are people who keep talking about greatness of the ‘Ultimate Reality’ without really having realised it. Implying that they cannot be my guides to spirituality.



He uses the metaphor of the rivers and streams that are flowing towards the sea without knowing what sea is. The same is true of worldly people who have not realised ‘Karta Purakh’ but keep speaking about its greatness with no real understanding.



In this Pauri Guru Sahib tells me that no matter what my worldly accomplishments are, if I do not have perpetual remembrance of ‘Karta Purakh’ in me, I am, in reality, nothing at all.



In this Pauri Guru Sahib is telling me that I should have the remembrance of ‘The Sat’ all the time in me. My earlier learning of Gurbani tells me that ‘Simran’ is the process and ‘Naam’ is the instrument to enshrine this remembrance of ‘Karta Purakh’ in me.



With love and respect for all.



Amarpal

 

[Arvind]

Re: My understanding of 23rd Pauri of Japji Sahib

Amarpal ji,
I am stuck up. Please help me.
God is the one who is to be constantly remembered for all things He does/gives to us, by us. He shud be always thanked and remembered perpetually with every breath.
Why?
As a father of my kid, I am going to do the best possible for my kid whether she remembers/thanks me or not. Her all actions will be as good as affection, as she has total ignorance of what she is doing, so those actions cant be taken as something to offend me!
Then why the Supreme Father is to be praised with each and every breath?
Best Regards.

 

[Tejwant Singh]

Re: My understanding of 23rd Pauri of Japji Sahib

Amarpal ji,
I am stuck up. Please help me.
God is the one who is to be constantly remembered for all things He does/gives to us, by us. He shud be always thanked and remembered perpetually with every breath.
Why?
As a father of my kid, I am going to do the best possible for my kid whether she remembers/thanks me or not. Her all actions will be as good as affection, as she has total ignorance of what she is doing, so those actions cant be taken as something to offend me!
Then why the Supreme Father is to be praised with each and every breath?
Best Regards.

Arvind Ji, pls allow me to offer my .02 cents because life of MIRI- PIRI is always faced with lots of unanswered questions. I am sure we will have a better picture with the insights of Amarpal ji- the learned member of our forum.

As mentioned before, I consider GURBANI as our TOOL BOX. We are also asked to remember IK ONG KAAR all the times. My understanding is that in order to remember ONE GOD all the times we should keep THE TOOLS polished and greased so that they can be used anytime in need. You Yourself, by talking and guiding your daughter is using The TOOLBOX ( GURBANI) so that her stumbling blocks can become the stepping stones.

So what I am trying to say is that REMEMBERING IK ONG KAAR is not a mere lip service but a 'DO' service.

Tejwant

 

[Arvind]

Re: My understanding of 23rd Pauri of Japji Sahib

we should keep THE TOOLS polished and greased so that they can be used anytime in need.

Thanks for the view Tejwant ji. This gets me further, looks like we have to keep ourselves ready for 'something'. And that 'something' can happen 'anytime'. Is that 'something' physical death or spiritual birth then?

 

[Tejwant Singh]

Re: My understanding of 23rd Pauri of Japji Sahib

In Sikhi, theres always a birth of good which takes care of the bad whether it is physical or spiritual.

Tejwant

 

[Arvind]

Re: My understanding of 23rd Pauri of Japji Sahib

This reminds me of Jaskeerat's post regarding impurity. Something like, a journey from one end (of impurity) towards other end (of purity), where things keep on evolving to get onto better always.

 

[Tejwant Singh]

Re: My understanding of 23rd Pauri of Japji Sahib

Arvind Ji,

I am glad you mentioned that. I did not know how to respond to her question. But your thought does give me some light to look for the answer.
Thanks for the direction.

Tejwant

What is pure?

What does it meant to say someone or something is pure? I believe that being pure is impure in itself.

 

[Amarpal]

Re: My understanding of 23rd Pauri of Japji Sahib

Dear Member Sevadaar Singh Jee,

The prevailing practices at the time of Guru Sahib demanded abandoning the life of a householder if one wanted to seek God. Guru Sahib sanctified the life of Householders. He taught us to seek divinity while living our full life as human being. This was a new contribution by Guru Sahib.

The clue to how it is to be achieved comes from the incident in the life of Guru Sahib, where while measuring the grain for the 13th time he got stuck with the word Tera, which means 13 and also yours. He went on measuring and repeating the word Tera, Tera, Tera ----- because his knowledge that every entity belongs to 'Karta Purakh'; we own nothing.

This is how we have to live the life of an house holder. This body, this life, all our capabilities, wealth and material goods that one has are due to his grace. 'Karta Purakh' is the real owner, we are the custodian and user. What comes to us by the grace of the 'Karta Purakh' we must care for and enjoy, but never own it. Tera, Tera, Tera should be the guiding principle. Else one will develop attachment to it and that will feed the ego which is Ahamkar; it keeps us away from 'Karta Purakh'; it is the barrier to our spiritual advancement.

'The Sat' is not looking for a word of thanks from us. 'Karta Purakh' is much above all these. We must accept what we get with his grace, care for it, enjoy it, but donot get attached to it, should do not miss it if one day it is not there. A feeling of Tera, Tera, Tera from the depth of our heart and soul and practice in real life will do all. No words like thanks are needed. The ownership and the consequent attachment begins with such words.

In my opinion, we cannot keep remembering 'The Sat' with every breath because nature has not given us the faculties to do so. We cannot do so when we are busy with some other work. 'With every breath' is not to be taken literally but in spirit. I give an example: a pregnent woman does all the work but is conscious about her condition. In the same way we too should remain conscious about the presence of 'The Sat' is us and every where around, this is Ajapa Jap; the Simaran. When one is free from other tasks one can repeat the Naam.

In nut shell, my response to your question Why? is that it helps us live the life of the householder without attachments, prevents the ego from controlling us and enables us to move towards divinity.

We cannot extrapolate our way of worldly living to our relations with 'Karta Purakh'.

I use the relation between baby and the parents to explain the concept of 'Tera'.

You are a father, again by the grace of 'Karta Purakh' the baby really belongs to 'The Sat'; parents are only a custodian assigned the task to help the child grow to become socially useful and spiritual human and attains the purpose of human life.

Kahlil Gibran has said it very beautifully: 'Your children are not your children; they are sons and daughters of life born to you. Remember they are through you and not from you'. It tells every thing.

You are a custodian only; you cannot own the child. Expecting praise or thanks for all that the parents do for the children in their family means that ego is demanding something; it is not necessary; real love does not demand any thing in return; it only gives. 'Karta Purakh' does not need any thing from us.

This sacred assignement to bring up the children born in your family is given to you by 'Karta Purakh'. Carrying out this responsibility is parent's duty, their Dharam.

To the extent we look for praise, to the extent we wait for the word thanks, to the extent we want to own some one or some thing, is is measue of our attachment. It is an indicator of the extent we are away from 'The Sat'.

We do not have to praise the supreme; he knows all. 'The Sat' is not looking for our praises; not even rememberence or simran. 'The Unlimited' is beyond all these. Simran is our way to cleanse our mind and attempt to become pure; it is only an instrument, a tool and not the end.

We should live the life for which it is meant - to attain the ultimate in spirituality while living the life fully as given to us by the grace of 'Karta Purakh' as a householder.

In the bigining of the post I have metioned the incident of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Jee, I end this post with what Siri Guru Gobind Singh Jee has said: Mera mujh mai kuch nahin hai jo kuch hai so tera, tera tujh ko saunptai kya lagai mera'.

This philosophy of Tera, Tera, Tera, ----- has been followed by all of our ten gurus. The first and the last had given verbal espression to it. This is one of the core value for we Sikhs; this is the right way of living for us.

With love and respect for all.

Amarpal

 

[Arvind]

Re: My understanding of 23rd Pauri of Japji Sahib

We do not have to praise the supreme; he knows all. 'The Sat' is not looking for our praises; not even rememberence or simran. 'The Unlimited' is beyond all these. Simran is our way to cleanse our mind and attempt to become pure; it is only an instrument, a tool and not the end.

In the bigining of the post I have metioned the incident of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Jee, I end this post with what Siri Guru Gobind Singh Jee has said: Mera mujh mai kuch nahin hai jo kuch hai so tera, tera tujh ko saunptai kya lagai mera'.

Amarpal ji, Thanks for the detailed perspective. These discussions help a lot.
Best Regards.