Dear Khalsa Ji,
With the grace of ‘The Sat’, today I share my understanding of 5th Pauri of 10thAshtapadee of Sukhmani Sahib with you.
Please note that the English sentence after the Transliteration is not the exact literal translation of the text of the Tuk of Siri Guru Granth Sahib under reference, it is the meaning of the Tuk as understood by me.
First the Summary: In this Pauri, Guru Sahib gives us a small glimpse of the variety of environments that ‘The Sat’ has created the life that beings live in our dimensions i.e. earth and in other dimensions.
1. keI koit pwqwl ky vwsI ] ka-ee kot paataal kay vaasee.
[/FONT]Numerous beings live in dimensions lower than ours.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Personally, I do not accept the traditional meaning of Pataal Lok, which is taken to mean below the earth – this is physical. As I understand that there are many dimensions where life is; even on the earth there are life forms which we cannot perceive (it is my understanding). Again it is my understanding that these dimensions are graded based on the level of evolution of the entities that live there. The closer they are to ‘The Sat’ higher they are. With this understanding Pataal Lok is a dimension or group of dimensions which are spiritually least evolved than the dimension in which we are living presently i.e. earth. The use of words - higher and lower - in this post is to convey to the reader that the specific dimension is closer or away from ‘The Sat’.
Guru Sahib in this Tuk points it out to us that many souls live in lower dimension as compared to the one in which we are.
2. keI koit nrk surg invwsI ] ka-ee kot narak surag nivaasee.
[/FONT]Numerous beings [/FONT]live in hell and heaven.[/FONT]
My understanding:
In this Tuk Guru Sahib has referred to two dimensions - hell and heaven - which in common perceptions are places of infinite miseries and serene, pure and evolved life respectively. In some common perception it is that in heaven all the earthly pleasures are available in unlimited measure.
Guru Sahib has drawn our attention to these extremes of dimension where beings have to live.
3. keI koit jnmih jIvih mrih ] ka-ee kot janmeh jeeveh mareh.
[/FONT]Numerous individuals get born, they live and die.[/FONT]
My understanding:
In this Tuk Guru Sahib is telling us that many beings they get born, they live and they die. In other words Guru Sahib is telling us, as I understand that these people live their lives mechanically; they do not evolve to any higher level and thus just waste their lives.
4. keI koit bhu jonI iPrih ] ka-ee kot baho jonee fireh.
[/FONT]Numerous individuals keep on taking birth again and again after death.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Guru Sahib is conveying to us that those individuals who do not live their human lives without spirituality as its main theme, do not achieve immortality but have to be reborn. As I understand this process shall continue till the object of human life as said is Siri Guru Granth Sahib – ‘--------Gobind Milan Ki Tari Bariya ----‘
It is natural, only human beings have the intellect to steer their lives. We can choose to live, with respect to our inner self, an outward materialistic, senses oriented worldly life or inward looking spiritual life. Guru Sahib has very clearly said that the house holder can achieve the pinnacle of spirituality and Guru Sahibs demonstrated the same by actually living such life; ancient scripture of the land – ‘Upanisads’- also say the same. After all what is required is purified mind which makes the person selfless and God like. To merge with ‘The Sat’ we have to become like ‘Sat’ in this world. ‘The Sat’ which is within us, sustaining our lives has to be listened to, the coating on our inner self that worldly living creates has to be removed. Once this is done, ‘The Sat’ inside us will fully illuminate our being i.e. soul to make us Godly. When this is done the individual lives this world of time and space and merge with ‘The Sat’. Such end is the intent of our being born in human form.
5. keI koit bYTq hI Kwih ] ka-ee kot baithat hee khaahi.
[/FONT]Numerous individuals get their need without working.[/FONT]
My understanding:
What Guru Sahib has said is a fact. We need to understand why this happens. My understanding I explain to you.
When we are born in human form on earth it is with the will of ‘The Sat’. On earth we have to accomplish the mission of this birth. The mission has three elements which I have elaborated earlier and I share with you again – (i) To exhaust our bad Karmas of our past birth; (ii) to evolve spiritually; and (iii) to serve ‘The Sat’ as its instrument to preserve, sustain and help its creation to evolve to a greater heights. The weighing factor for each of these three elements in the mission is adjusted to what can be achieved in one life time and our need to exhaust our past karma and evolve. The cosmic forces create the environment for us to achieve our mission and our inner self who knows all about our mission and thus guides us.
Humans are bestowed with intelligence, this gives us free will to act, which in my opinion, is cautioned against taking the inappropriate path by our inner self, but does not interfere with the individual’s free will. The inward looking intelligence accepts the advice while the outward looking intelligence ignores it as it is busy going after the objects of sense gratification; its Ahamkara refuses the guidance coming from the inner self. This is my understanding.
Now coming back to what Guru Sahib have stated in the above Tuk, the persons whose needs are getting fulfilled without effort, has plenty of its human resources available to him. This is the environment created by the cosmic forces for it to achieve the mission of its life in human form.
Now the intelligence can make this individual to go after sense gratification and waste all the resources it has and accumulate bad Karmas and waste the opportunity that this birth has give; or get involved in the service of the creation of ‘The Sat’.
The later of the two options will purify its self further and help it evolve to a higher level and progressively exhaust its past negative Karmas. Serving the creation of ‘The Sat’, such person becomes ‘Sat’s’ instrument, humility dawns on such person, its nature becomes simple, it moves closer to ‘The Sat’.
Guru Sahib tells in this Tuk that the environment in which we find ourselves is tailored for our mission of our life. To me this environment as stated in this Tuk conveys that service of the creation of ‘The Sat’ is the prime element of this life’s mission for such persons.
6. keI koit Gwlih Qik pwih ] ka-ee kot ghaaleh thak paahi.
[/FONT]Numerous individuals get tired and consumed by hard labour. [/FONT]
My understanding:
This is another environment to which human life is subjected to; numerous individuals suffer its pain all their life. As I understand this condition can ‘The Sat’ creates for two reasons (i) for those who have to exhaust lots of their bad Karmas – the harshness with which they had dealt with other entities created by ‘The Sat’ or (ii) for those who have strayed far from their mission of life. In the later case it is to make the individual change its ways and come back to the path dictated by its mission of this birth in human form.
7. keI koit kIey DnvMq ] ka-ee kot kee-ay Dhanvant.
[/FONT]Numerous individuals are born in wealthy environment.[/FONT]
My understanding:
This is one of the many environment in which humans are born.
As I understand, it is one of the environment in which the individual has to fulfill its mission of life in human form. Monetary resources are needed to sustain this earthly life; in a way, they are instrument of ‘The Sat’. The freedom that ‘The Sat’ has granted to human at the level of its self, allows the individual to use it in the way it wants; it can use it for the good or to satisfy the urges of its senses. This is a test for the individual; it can use the resources for pleasures of senses, for conspicuous consumption to satisfy one’s ego etc and thus degrade its being and fail in its mission. The same money can be used to live a simple reasonable life for itself and its family, to help others within its reach and for the common good of the creation of ‘The Sat’.
The latter option, demands self control on senses, which amounts to sacrifice by the individual like ‘Tapas’; the heat of which purifies the being of the person. Such person evolves spiritually to its higher level, which is the objective of being born in human form.
This way through this environment og richness one can successfully complete its mission of life, by acting in Godly way and thus becoming an instrument of God.
8. keI koit mwieAw mih icMq ] ka-ee kot maa-i-aa meh chint.
[/FONT]Numerous individuals live their lives under the influence of Maya.[/FONT]
My understanding:
As I understand, real is one that does not change. By this definition only ‘The Sat’ is real; all the rest is manifestation of this real and thus the product of Maya. The power of ‘The Sat’ to conretise or actualise some entity is called Maya. It is unreal because it is effect of some other entity and not a source of itself like our own shadow in some light. All this is real in the dimension of life in which they are, but unreal in the dimension in which source is.
The dimension (earth) in which we live, the object and abstract entities that we come across are all real for us in one way or the other. Yet, they are all unreal from where we have come to live on earth and where we will go after we spend our life on this earth; they are created entities having no independent existence. When ‘The Sat’ wants we are born and will die when ‘The Sat’ wishes. Our lives on earth is the outcome of our Karmas and the ‘Hukam’ of ‘The Sat’.
Guru Sahib, in the above Tuk, tells us that numerous individuals get so intensely entangles with the objects of sense gratification that are in this dimension of existence i.e. (earth), that they have no time to seek the ‘Real’ i.e. ‘The Sat’.
9. jh jh Bwxw qh qh rwKy ] jah jah bhaanaa tah tah raakhay.
[/FONT]In accordance with the orders of ‘The Sat’ the individuals are places.[/FONT]
My understanding:
We arrive in this dimension (earth) as ‘The Sat’ pleases. The environment and the physical, cultural, social and economic disposition in which we find ourselves are also as ‘The Sat’ wants.
As I understand all this is in accordance with our mission of this life. As we grow, the disposition changes in line with the individual mission; some times to help us evolve, sometimes to test our resolve and commitment and sometime to convey to us the course correction that we need to take to conform to the mission of our life. The severity of the altered environment progressively becomes more severe if the individual fails to grasp the signals which ‘The Sat’ gives through the changes environment.
10. nwnk sBu ikCu pRB kY hwQy ]5] naanak sabh kichh parabh kai haathay. ||5||
[/FONT]O Nanak, every aspect of individual’s life is in the hand of ‘The Sat.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib reflects on the environments that ‘The Sat’ creates for each and every entity of its creation and amazed by it tells himself and us that all is in the hand of ‘The Sat’.
With this I close this post.
With love and respect for all.
Amarpal Singh
With the grace of ‘The Sat’, today I share my understanding of 5th Pauri of 10thAshtapadee of Sukhmani Sahib with you.
Please note that the English sentence after the Transliteration is not the exact literal translation of the text of the Tuk of Siri Guru Granth Sahib under reference, it is the meaning of the Tuk as understood by me.
First the Summary: In this Pauri, Guru Sahib gives us a small glimpse of the variety of environments that ‘The Sat’ has created the life that beings live in our dimensions i.e. earth and in other dimensions.
1. keI koit pwqwl ky vwsI ] ka-ee kot paataal kay vaasee.
[/FONT]Numerous beings live in dimensions lower than ours.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Personally, I do not accept the traditional meaning of Pataal Lok, which is taken to mean below the earth – this is physical. As I understand that there are many dimensions where life is; even on the earth there are life forms which we cannot perceive (it is my understanding). Again it is my understanding that these dimensions are graded based on the level of evolution of the entities that live there. The closer they are to ‘The Sat’ higher they are. With this understanding Pataal Lok is a dimension or group of dimensions which are spiritually least evolved than the dimension in which we are living presently i.e. earth. The use of words - higher and lower - in this post is to convey to the reader that the specific dimension is closer or away from ‘The Sat’.
Guru Sahib in this Tuk points it out to us that many souls live in lower dimension as compared to the one in which we are.
2. keI koit nrk surg invwsI ] ka-ee kot narak surag nivaasee.
[/FONT]Numerous beings [/FONT]live in hell and heaven.[/FONT]
My understanding:
In this Tuk Guru Sahib has referred to two dimensions - hell and heaven - which in common perceptions are places of infinite miseries and serene, pure and evolved life respectively. In some common perception it is that in heaven all the earthly pleasures are available in unlimited measure.
Guru Sahib has drawn our attention to these extremes of dimension where beings have to live.
3. keI koit jnmih jIvih mrih ] ka-ee kot janmeh jeeveh mareh.
[/FONT]Numerous individuals get born, they live and die.[/FONT]
My understanding:
In this Tuk Guru Sahib is telling us that many beings they get born, they live and they die. In other words Guru Sahib is telling us, as I understand that these people live their lives mechanically; they do not evolve to any higher level and thus just waste their lives.
4. keI koit bhu jonI iPrih ] ka-ee kot baho jonee fireh.
[/FONT]Numerous individuals keep on taking birth again and again after death.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Guru Sahib is conveying to us that those individuals who do not live their human lives without spirituality as its main theme, do not achieve immortality but have to be reborn. As I understand this process shall continue till the object of human life as said is Siri Guru Granth Sahib – ‘--------Gobind Milan Ki Tari Bariya ----‘
It is natural, only human beings have the intellect to steer their lives. We can choose to live, with respect to our inner self, an outward materialistic, senses oriented worldly life or inward looking spiritual life. Guru Sahib has very clearly said that the house holder can achieve the pinnacle of spirituality and Guru Sahibs demonstrated the same by actually living such life; ancient scripture of the land – ‘Upanisads’- also say the same. After all what is required is purified mind which makes the person selfless and God like. To merge with ‘The Sat’ we have to become like ‘Sat’ in this world. ‘The Sat’ which is within us, sustaining our lives has to be listened to, the coating on our inner self that worldly living creates has to be removed. Once this is done, ‘The Sat’ inside us will fully illuminate our being i.e. soul to make us Godly. When this is done the individual lives this world of time and space and merge with ‘The Sat’. Such end is the intent of our being born in human form.
5. keI koit bYTq hI Kwih ] ka-ee kot baithat hee khaahi.
[/FONT]Numerous individuals get their need without working.[/FONT]
My understanding:
What Guru Sahib has said is a fact. We need to understand why this happens. My understanding I explain to you.
When we are born in human form on earth it is with the will of ‘The Sat’. On earth we have to accomplish the mission of this birth. The mission has three elements which I have elaborated earlier and I share with you again – (i) To exhaust our bad Karmas of our past birth; (ii) to evolve spiritually; and (iii) to serve ‘The Sat’ as its instrument to preserve, sustain and help its creation to evolve to a greater heights. The weighing factor for each of these three elements in the mission is adjusted to what can be achieved in one life time and our need to exhaust our past karma and evolve. The cosmic forces create the environment for us to achieve our mission and our inner self who knows all about our mission and thus guides us.
Humans are bestowed with intelligence, this gives us free will to act, which in my opinion, is cautioned against taking the inappropriate path by our inner self, but does not interfere with the individual’s free will. The inward looking intelligence accepts the advice while the outward looking intelligence ignores it as it is busy going after the objects of sense gratification; its Ahamkara refuses the guidance coming from the inner self. This is my understanding.
Now coming back to what Guru Sahib have stated in the above Tuk, the persons whose needs are getting fulfilled without effort, has plenty of its human resources available to him. This is the environment created by the cosmic forces for it to achieve the mission of its life in human form.
Now the intelligence can make this individual to go after sense gratification and waste all the resources it has and accumulate bad Karmas and waste the opportunity that this birth has give; or get involved in the service of the creation of ‘The Sat’.
The later of the two options will purify its self further and help it evolve to a higher level and progressively exhaust its past negative Karmas. Serving the creation of ‘The Sat’, such person becomes ‘Sat’s’ instrument, humility dawns on such person, its nature becomes simple, it moves closer to ‘The Sat’.
Guru Sahib tells in this Tuk that the environment in which we find ourselves is tailored for our mission of our life. To me this environment as stated in this Tuk conveys that service of the creation of ‘The Sat’ is the prime element of this life’s mission for such persons.
6. keI koit Gwlih Qik pwih ] ka-ee kot ghaaleh thak paahi.
[/FONT]Numerous individuals get tired and consumed by hard labour. [/FONT]
My understanding:
This is another environment to which human life is subjected to; numerous individuals suffer its pain all their life. As I understand this condition can ‘The Sat’ creates for two reasons (i) for those who have to exhaust lots of their bad Karmas – the harshness with which they had dealt with other entities created by ‘The Sat’ or (ii) for those who have strayed far from their mission of life. In the later case it is to make the individual change its ways and come back to the path dictated by its mission of this birth in human form.
7. keI koit kIey DnvMq ] ka-ee kot kee-ay Dhanvant.
[/FONT]Numerous individuals are born in wealthy environment.[/FONT]
My understanding:
This is one of the many environment in which humans are born.
As I understand, it is one of the environment in which the individual has to fulfill its mission of life in human form. Monetary resources are needed to sustain this earthly life; in a way, they are instrument of ‘The Sat’. The freedom that ‘The Sat’ has granted to human at the level of its self, allows the individual to use it in the way it wants; it can use it for the good or to satisfy the urges of its senses. This is a test for the individual; it can use the resources for pleasures of senses, for conspicuous consumption to satisfy one’s ego etc and thus degrade its being and fail in its mission. The same money can be used to live a simple reasonable life for itself and its family, to help others within its reach and for the common good of the creation of ‘The Sat’.
The latter option, demands self control on senses, which amounts to sacrifice by the individual like ‘Tapas’; the heat of which purifies the being of the person. Such person evolves spiritually to its higher level, which is the objective of being born in human form.
This way through this environment og richness one can successfully complete its mission of life, by acting in Godly way and thus becoming an instrument of God.
8. keI koit mwieAw mih icMq ] ka-ee kot maa-i-aa meh chint.
[/FONT]Numerous individuals live their lives under the influence of Maya.[/FONT]
My understanding:
As I understand, real is one that does not change. By this definition only ‘The Sat’ is real; all the rest is manifestation of this real and thus the product of Maya. The power of ‘The Sat’ to conretise or actualise some entity is called Maya. It is unreal because it is effect of some other entity and not a source of itself like our own shadow in some light. All this is real in the dimension of life in which they are, but unreal in the dimension in which source is.
The dimension (earth) in which we live, the object and abstract entities that we come across are all real for us in one way or the other. Yet, they are all unreal from where we have come to live on earth and where we will go after we spend our life on this earth; they are created entities having no independent existence. When ‘The Sat’ wants we are born and will die when ‘The Sat’ wishes. Our lives on earth is the outcome of our Karmas and the ‘Hukam’ of ‘The Sat’.
Guru Sahib, in the above Tuk, tells us that numerous individuals get so intensely entangles with the objects of sense gratification that are in this dimension of existence i.e. (earth), that they have no time to seek the ‘Real’ i.e. ‘The Sat’.
9. jh jh Bwxw qh qh rwKy ] jah jah bhaanaa tah tah raakhay.
[/FONT]In accordance with the orders of ‘The Sat’ the individuals are places.[/FONT]
My understanding:
We arrive in this dimension (earth) as ‘The Sat’ pleases. The environment and the physical, cultural, social and economic disposition in which we find ourselves are also as ‘The Sat’ wants.
As I understand all this is in accordance with our mission of this life. As we grow, the disposition changes in line with the individual mission; some times to help us evolve, sometimes to test our resolve and commitment and sometime to convey to us the course correction that we need to take to conform to the mission of our life. The severity of the altered environment progressively becomes more severe if the individual fails to grasp the signals which ‘The Sat’ gives through the changes environment.
10. nwnk sBu ikCu pRB kY hwQy ]5] naanak sabh kichh parabh kai haathay. ||5||
[/FONT]O Nanak, every aspect of individual’s life is in the hand of ‘The Sat.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib reflects on the environments that ‘The Sat’ creates for each and every entity of its creation and amazed by it tells himself and us that all is in the hand of ‘The Sat’.
With this I close this post.
With love and respect for all.
Amarpal Singh
