Sat Sri Akaal Greetings Shalom Namaste Salaam Alikum
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Jap - Interpretation
The gifts of God
· God's countless blessings can't be put into a document.
· God is a generous giver—not selfish at all.
· Countless warriors and similar others beg at Thy gate.
· Many others are begging as well, it is difficult to add up.
· So many secure Thy's offerings, and murder life in passions.
· So many take gifts, and don't acknowledge God.
· So many thankless fools are absorbed in feasting.
· So many continuously suffer in hunger and poverty.
· O Giver, these are Your offerings.
· Salvation from falsehood comes by carrying Thy wish.
· No one can report other plans than carrying Thy wishes.
· Some fake may give any other course to seek salvation.
· Only he shall know the limit of blow on his face.
· God knows the individual needs and therefore gives.
· So many others acknowledge this truth.
· One blessed with Thy glory, becomes a spiritual royal of the royal.25
· Priceless are God's virtues, and dealings of Thy virtues.
· Priceless are Thy dealers of virtues.
· Priceless is Thy treasure house of virtues.
Priceless are Thy aliens who carry out this deal.
· Priceless are aliens who secure the finished deal back home.
· Priceless are those in love with God.
· Priceless is he who gets absorbed in Thy shade.
· Priceless is Thy divine liability.
· Priceless is Thy courthouse divine.
· Priceless is Thy scale; and priceless are Thy weights.
· Priceless are Thy blessings.
· Priceless are Thy spiritual clues.
· Priceless is God's favor.
· Inestimable is Thy command.
· The invaluable God is beyond all estimates.
· No one can appraise God.
· Who estimates on the power of meditation, gets worn out.
· The Ved and Puraan try to estimate.
· The scholars estimate and interpret God.
· Many Brahama and Indar estimate God.
· Many Krishan and their beloved gopis15 also estimate.
· Many Shiva and the siddah16 estimate too.
· Countless Buddha estimate God.
· The gods and demons estimate.
· Many godlike, sages and the followers estimate.
· There are so many attempts to give Thy accounts.
· So many describe God over and again and leave this world.
· Even the current inhabitants and their countless offspring can't estimate God.
· God expands nature per Thy pleasure and necessity.
· The permanent God knows Thy magnitude Thyself.
· He who gossips of Thy appraisal is a greatest fool of fools.26
· What form of gate and what sort of Thy lodge is whereYou sit and take care of all Thy creation?
Your countless musical instruments and infinite ragas are played
· Countless are their instrument players.
· Countless are Thy subordinate ragas played.
· Countless are the singers of the raga.
· The breeze, the water, and the fire harmonize nature.
· The Dharam Raaj17 also sings praises at Thy gate.
· Chittar and Gupat18 inspected by Dharam Raaj also sing God in praise.
· The beautiful created Shivas, the Brahamas, and the goddesses, correspondingly sing God.
Many Indras sitting on their thrones, along with other gods, also sing Thy.
· The siddahs sing God in conviction.
· The fakirs sing God by debate.
· The celibates sing God.
· The personage of charity and contentment sing God.
· The brave warriors sing God.
· The Pundits19 and the sages read Vedas, and sing God in all the ages.
· The entertaining heavenly beauties, which fascinate hearts in the terrestrial sphere and nether worlds, further vocalize God.
· The selected sixty-eight Hindu pilgrims murmur God.
· The brave mighty warriors sing God.
· All the four sources of creation—the egg, mammal, sweat, and soil, sing God.
· The earth planet, the solar system, and all the galaxies created and arranged by God—sing Thy.
· They alone sing who are pleasing God's will—Your devotees dyed in Thy attachment.
· How many others sing, Naanak can't consider them all; they don't come to his mind.
God and Thy name are alone factual.
· Creator is in here now, and dwells forever.
· God doesn't perish.
· God doesn't pass away at the time all the creation comes to an end.
· God created this world—an illusion, by numerous divisions, breeds, and thereupon-formed groups.
· After creating the creation, God observes and looks after them.
· God does whatever (He) considers right.
· No one can dictate God.
· God is majesty, and the majesty of the majesties.
· The only appropriate way of life is to remain faithful to God's will.27
Verses 28-31
The yoga20 doctrine is one of the six orthodox schools in Hinduism. The Hindu yogis had a very tough culture to purify the body and develops union with the God. In the process of these practices they lost their original objective. They wear long earrings and will not work. Instead they beg from door to door, and apply dung ash on their half-naked bodies, and wear long and loose dress stitched from pieces of rags. They also carry a strolling rod. There are twelve yoga traditions and Ayee Panthee21 is considered superior amongst those. They have to abandon their homes permanently, and stay outside the areas of habitats. Some times they live in very remote and isolated areas in jungles or mountains to practice meditation to secure miraculous powers. They followed a difficult life style and used to scare ordinary people with their miraculous powers that they achieved in this process. In anger they punished plain hearted people. After their meals they blow a special hooter—a naad22.
Guru Naanak condemned all these rituals without any spiritual gain. The verses 28th and 29th are directly addressed to the yogis as under. The verses 30th and 31st are also related in their context.
· Characterize contentment your ear rings.
· Make your living as the begging bowl and bag.
· Consider meditation on Thy name your ash.
· Make fear of death your great coat.
· Your passion free body should be the way to meet God.
· Let God's assurance be your strolling rod.
· The real member of the Ayee Panthee tradition is he who accepts all as common humanity.
· This way the mind and the passions are overcomed.
· Hail God, time and again.
· God, who is origin of all, is a pure spirit, is without origin, is without end, and exists in all the ages.28
· Let spiritual wisdom be the eats of the yogi, and forgiveness the caterers; and heed the naad vibration within.
· God—the controller of the creation, be your master.
· The miraculous spiritual powers are the liking-facing sidetrack.
· The power of union and disunion are operating to stable this world.
· One receives what is self-possessed karma.29
· Illusion alone conceived some way and three followers were picked by the Lord.
· One—to create the world, one—to sustain the world, and one—to destroy the world.
· As the Lord wishes—gives command to run the world.
· How remarkably wonderful this is that the lord scrutinizes all, but no one can observe Thy? 30
The lord has Thy throne of command and warehouses in all the worlds.
· Whatever is stored into them; is once for all.
· Lord is taking care of all, after creating the creation.
· The true Lord discharges dependable care to all.31
Verses 32
Love not quantity and ego
To meet the Lord bridegroom in a game of love, there are stages involved. Numbers don't matter. Who cares about counting when a Sikh is in selfless love, and God is kind. There is no other way to achieve Thy union.
· Even two million tongues may chant Thy name hundred thousand times—yet the union with the Lord may not be possible.
· On this thoroughgoing way to meet the Lord bridegroom, there are stages or levels involved.
· The step by step spiritual advancement is possible by disengaging one's individuality.
· Without eliminating self-ego, union with the Lord is not possible.
· The Lord is realized by Thy kindness.
· If someone gives any other way—false is the boasting of that untrue.32
Verse 33
The controlling authority
The controlling authority is the Lord alone. It is not within one's control:
To chatter or to keep quiet.
To beg, or to donate.
· To remain alive, or to choose death.
· To rule with riches, that initiates ego in mind.
· To become spiritually aware.
· To seek spiritual wisdom and meditate.
· To follow the way to achieve salvation.
· After creating the creation, the Lord looks after them and has control only in Thy hands.
· Therefore, no one is good or bad in their own self.33
Verses 34-37
Spiritual realms
The succeeding 34-37 verses explain the purpose of creating the earth planet, the mission of human existence, and the functioning of the courthouse divine. After completing the human life, the spirit is spiritually graded. To strive for heaven is not a recommended spiritual destination in Sikhism. The names of the spiritual realms are—the realm of spiritual knowledge, the realm of spiritual effort, the realm of grace, and the realm of truth. The characteristics of each realm are also described in the subsequent verses.
Realm of true justice
· The Lord created the nights, the days of the week, the lunar days, the seasons, the air, the water, the fire, and the nethermost worlds.
· In the middle of these erected is planet earth—a residence to practice truth.
· On the planet earth, there is adjustment for many kinds of lives.
· They have countless and endless names.
They are judged by their self-possessed karma.
· The Lord is true, and true is Thy hall of justice.
· There, who listened and followed a name way of life—the chosen one's, appeared impressive.
· They experience an imprint of grace of the merciful Lord.
· The spiritually mature and immature—the good and the evil, are judged there.
· This fact one knows by reaching there.34
Realm of spiritual knowledge
· In the realm of spiritual knowledge or wisdom, there are many types of air, the waters, the fire, the Krishna, and the Shiva.
· There are so many Brahama, created in figure, shade, and costume.
· There are countless lands to realize the influence of karma.
· Countless are Mer23 mountains.
· Countless are religious discourses of Dharus'.
· Countless are the Indar24.
· Countless are the moons and suns.
· Countless are the solar systems there.
· Countless are the siddah.
· Countless is the Buddha25.
· Countless are the naath26.
· Countless are the dresses of the goddesses.
· Countless are the gods.
· Countless are the demons.
· Countless are the silence observers.
· Countless are the seas and the jewels.
· Countless are the sources of creation.
· Countless are the languages.
· Countless are the rulers.
· Countless are the spiritual chiefs.
· Countless are the meditation techniques.
· Countless are the followers.
· There is no termination of the limit.35
Realm of spiritual effort
· In the realm of spiritual knowledge, wisdom dominates.
· The music, the dramas, the miracles, and the pleasures of life predominate there.
· The form of the realm of effort is attractiveness.
· There, one is shaped to a notable beauty.
· This status is beyond description.
· If anyone makes an effort, they have regrets later.
· They are shaped in the method of meditation, common sense, liking, and sharpness.
· There, molded is the insight of gods and siddah—who practice spiritual powers - the miracles.36
Realm of grace and truth
· The design of the realm of grace is self-control.
· No one else resides there.
· There are passion free mighty saint-warriors and heroes.
· They are saturated with the name of the lord.
· They are entirely occupied in Thy glory there.
· Their excellence can not be pictured.
· Inside whose mind reside the Lord, neither spiritual death nor illusion show up to them.
· The followers from many worlds reside there.
· They enjoy in spiritual ecstasy—as the true Lord lives in their spirit.
· In the realm of permanence, the formless stays.
· After creating the creation, Thy watches compassionately.
· There are major divisions, solar systems, and galaxies.
There is no termination of the limit to explain.
· There are countless worlds of Thy creation.
· As Thy commands, so they act.
· Thy weighs the creation, watches above all, and rejoices.
· To describe this reality is as hard as steel.37
Verse 38
In the 38th verse Guru Naanak puts forth a way to make nectar to achieve salvation. He compares the human being to the goldsmith.
· Let your self-control be the goldsmith's shop; and patience be the goldsmith.
· Let your common sense be anvil; and spiritual knowledge the hammer.
· Let the fear of Lord be the air propeller; and flame—your spiritual effort.
· In the furnace of love, cast the ecstasy of Thy name.
· This way the word is coined in Thy's mint.
· Such is the embraced work of the chosen followers.
· They win the glimpse of Thy grace and enjoy non-stop spiritual ecstasy.38
Salok
· Air is the guru.
· The water is the father.
· The earth is the great mother.
· The day and the night are the male and female nurses.
· The entire world is at play in their lap.
The goodness and evil are accounted for by the god of justice in Thy presence.
· According to the self-possessed karma, many achieve proximity to the Lord; numerous are stretched apart.
· Those who meditated on Thy name, their labor is crowned with success,
· They have radiant faces and several others in their spiritual fellowship secure salvation as well.1
Chapter 1
End notes
1 From Ik onkar to gurparsaad is known as mool mantar. The one word mantar waahaiguru is called gurmantar—a mantar of the guru.
2 In Hindu manifestations a jug is a measure of time. The jugs are four in count as satjug, traita, davaapar, and kaljug. They follow one another in the said order. One jug has more than hundred of thousand years of age. All the jugs are collectively called a mahan—a giant jug.
3 Liberation from transmigration
4 Listening is attentive hearing. A Sikh who attentively hears the gurbaanhee of Guru Granth.
5 Hindus consider 330 million gods.
6 Ved, shashtar, samiriti, puraan, upanishad, etc.
7 Hindu pilgrims
8 Spiritual title in Muslims.
9 Ibid.
10 Daily morning and evening prayer.
11 Word of the Guru and name of the Lord are used as synonyms.
12 In Hindu belief a bull is supporting the earth on his horns.
13 A Hindu ancient scripture (stories).
14 A priest
15 Beloved (shepherdesses) of the God-man Krishan
16 A spiritual master who is generally held to be `enlightened', or to have reached perfection of sidhi—a spiritual power with which they would scare the common people.
17 The sovereign of exactness in the courthouse divines.
18 The messengers of the Dharam Raaj.
19 Hindu priest—a Brahman.
20 Yoga is a Sanskrit word derived from the root yuj means to yoke, to seek marriage with God. In the second century B.C., Pitanjalee—a metaphysician in his work Yog Sutra, systematized and edited the yoga practices which existed at that time in ancient India.
21 One of the yoga traditions.
22 A particular type of sound.
23 A name (Mairu) of a mountain.
24 A god of rain and king in heaven in Hindu myth.
25 The founder of Buddhism.
26 A yoga tradition.
To be continued--------------