Aasaa Ki Vaar: I Don't Understand This Analogy

[singhisking101]

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa
Waheguru Ji Ke Fateh!

I do not understand this analogy that Guru Ji has given us in the Asa Di Var.


ਮਃ ੧ ॥
मः १ ॥
Mėhlā 1.
First Mehl:
ਪਹਿਲੀ ਪਾਤਸ਼ਾਹੀ।

ਮਿਟੀ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨ ਕੀ ਪੇੜੈ ਪਈ ਕੁਮ੍ਹ੍ਹਿਆਰ ॥
मिटी मुसलमान की पेड़ै पई कुम्हिआर ॥
Mitī musalmān kī peṛai pa▫ī kumĥi▫ār.
The clay of the Muslim's grave becomes clay for the potter's wheel.
ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨ ਦੀ ਕਬਰ ਦੀ ਮਿੱਟੀ ਘੁਮਾਰ ਦੇ ਪਿੰਨੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਪੈਦੀ ਹੈ।

ਘੜਿ ਭਾਂਡੇ ਇਟਾ ਕੀਆ ਜਲਦੀ ਕਰੇ ਪੁਕਾਰ ॥
घड़ि भांडे इटा कीआ जलदी करे पुकार ॥
Gẖaṛ bẖāʼnde itā kī▫ā jalḏī kare pukār.
Pots and bricks are fashioned from it, and it cries out as it burns.
ਇਸ ਤੋਂ ਬਰਤਨ ਬਣਾਏ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਹਨ, ਤੇ ਇੱਟਾਂ ਘੜੀਆਂ ਜਾਂਦੀਆਂ ਹਨ। ਸੜਦੀ ਹੋਈ ਇਹ ਚੀਕ-ਚਿਹਾੜਾ ਪਾਉਂਦੀ ਹੈ।

ਜਲਿ ਜਲਿ ਰੋਵੈ ਬਪੁੜੀ ਝੜਿ ਝੜਿ ਪਵਹਿ ਅੰਗਿਆਰ ॥
जलि जलि रोवै बपुड़ी झड़ि झड़ि पवहि अंगिआर ॥
Jal jal rovai bapuṛī jẖaṛ jẖaṛ pavėh angi▫ār.
The poor clay burns, burns and weeps, as the fiery coals fall upon it.
ਗਰੀਬ ਮਿੱਟੀ ਮੱਚਦੀ ਅਤੇ ਰੋਂਦੀ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਸੜਦੇ ਹੋਏ ਕੋਲੇ ਇਸ ਤੋਂ ਡਿੱਗ ਡਿੱਗ ਪੈਦੇ ਹਨ।

ਨਾਨਕ ਜਿਨਿ ਕਰਤੈ ਕਾਰਣੁ ਕੀਆ ਸੋ ਜਾਣੈ ਕਰਤਾਰੁ ॥੨॥
नानक जिनि करतै कारणु कीआ सो जाणै करतारु ॥२॥
Nānak jin karṯai kāraṇ kī▫ā so jāṇai karṯār. ||2||
O Nanak, the Creator created the creation; the Creator Lord alone knows. ||2||
ਨਾਨਕ, ਕੇਵਲ ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ, ਸਿਰਜਣਹਾਰ ਹੀ, ਜਿਸ ਨੇ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਸਾਜਿਆ ਹੈ, ਜਾਣਦਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਸਾੜਨਾ ਚੰਗਾ ਹੈ ਜਾਂ ਦੱਬਣਾ।

Could someone please explain it to me?

Thanks!

 

[spnadmin]

Guru Nanak is referring to Muslim burial in the historic sense. In the days of the Gurus the graves of the Muslim poor were often dug out for the clay that was then used to produce pottery. This was considered a desecration of the grave by Muslims because it disturbed the soul of the departed, possibly separating or alienating the remains of the body from the soul, believed to possibly hover about, waiting for the resurrection of the dead at the ending days of creation.

Guru Nanak's spiritual meaning of the vaar is different.

The vaar reflects the conviction of Guru Nanak Dev ji that the soul leaves the body after death. And it does not hover near the dead body in the graveyard, or wait to be reunited in resurrection at the end of the word, as is the belief in many Semitic (Islam/Judaism) and Christian faiths. Guru Nanak is saying that the the soul is freed, and is freed from the body, the way clay is transformed in the potter's oven. Guru Nanak is also saying that the fate of the soul is known only to God.

This is the exact part of Sri Guru Granth Sahib that Emperor Aurangzeb used to put Ram Rai to the test. Ram Rai betrayed his Sikh faith by changing the word mussalman to beiman or evil man.

 

[spnadmin]

The pauree that follows deepens the understanding of Guru Nanak's inspiration:

ਪਉੜੀ ॥
pourree ||
Pauree:

ਬਿਨੁ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਕਿਨੈ ਨ ਪਾਇਓ ਬਿਨੁ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਕਿਨੈ ਨ ਪਾਇਆ ॥
bin sathigur kinai n paaeiou bin sathigur kinai n paaeiaa ||
Without the True Guru, no one has obtained the Lord; without the True Guru, no one has obtained the Lord.

ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਵਿਚਿ ਆਪੁ ਰਖਿਓਨੁ ਕਰਿ ਪਰਗਟੁ ਆਖਿ ਸੁਣਾਇਆ ॥
sathigur vich aap rakhioun kar paragatt aakh sunaaeiaa ||
He has placed Himself within the True Guru; revealing Himself, He declares this openly.

ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਮਿਲਿਐ ਸਦਾ ਮੁਕਤੁ ਹੈ ਜਿਨਿ ਵਿਚਹੁ ਮੋਹੁ ਚੁਕਾਇਆ ॥
sathigur miliai sadhaa mukath hai jin vichahu mohu chukaaeiaa ||
Meeting the True Guru, eternal liberation is obtained; He has banished attachment from within.

ਉਤਮੁ ਏਹੁ ਬੀਚਾਰੁ ਹੈ ਜਿਨਿ ਸਚੇ ਸਿਉ ਚਿਤੁ ਲਾਇਆ ॥
outham eaehu beechaar hai jin sachae sio chith laaeiaa ||
This is the highest thought, that one's consciousness is attached to the True Lord.

ਜਗਜੀਵਨੁ ਦਾਤਾ ਪਾਇਆ ॥੬॥
jagajeevan dhaathaa paaeiaa ||6||
Thus the Lord of the World, the Great Giver is obtained. ||6||

Turning the clay, burning or baking the pot or brick in the fiery coals, is also a deeper metaphor for the re-awakening of the self into awareness of the Divine Name.

The "clay burns and weeps" through this fiery process of transformation; and then is transformed into something that is "liberated." This process is one which takes something base (clay) and turns it into something different, transforms it ("attachment is banished"). The ultimate transformation is that one's consciousness shifts from attachment to maya to be "attached to the True Lord."

So Guru Nanak is saying the soul is liberated through attachment to the Satguru.

 

[Tejwant Singh]

Sadh Sangat,

Guru Fateh

Allow me to add my 2 cents from another angle of this beautiful prism called Gurbani. Muslims, like the Christians believe in Hell and Heaven. In Islam,they believe that only by burial a Muslim goes to Heaven which is considered a cool place unlike Hell which is hot. The Bible calls it the Lake of fire. So Guru Nanak in Asa di Vaar shows how the clay is made hot by the Potter. One more important thing to remember here is that Potter means GOD in Semitic religions, unlike a low caste person in Hinduism. So Potter here is used as Allah in the Shabad not as any low caste Hindu whose job is to make pots from clay. This is a very important distinction because our Gurus spoke the language of the people, in this case Guru Nanak was talking to the Muslims not to the Hindus.

The Potter- Allah- makes the clay cry in the heat. Nothing cool about it. So if Heaven is a cool place then why does the Potter- Allah makes the clay where the Muslims are buried, hot like Hell? In other words there is no Heaven or Hell. We all get recycled. Dust to dust.

Guru Nanak explains it beautifully in the last verse :

ਨਾਨਕ ਜਿਨਿ ਕਰਤੈ ਕਾਰਣੁ ਕੀਆ ਸੋ ਜਾਣੈ ਕਰਤਾਰੁ ॥੨॥
नानक जिनि करतै कारणु कीआ सो जाणै करतारु ॥२॥
Nānak jin karṯai kāraṇ kī▫ā so jāṇai karṯār. ||2||
O Nanak, the Creator created the creation; the Creator Lord alone knows. ||2||
ਨਾਨਕ, ਕੇਵਲ ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ, ਸਿਰਜਣਹਾਰ ਹੀ, ਜਿਸ ਨੇ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਸਾਜਿਆ ਹੈ, ਜਾਣਦਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਸਾੜਨਾ ਚੰਗਾ ਹੈ ਜਾਂ ਦੱਬਣਾ।

This is one more reason I do not believe in the Sakhi of Ram Rai. I doubt it if it ever existed. The distortion of Gurbani the way I take is not in changing its words but by not putting the tools given to us in SGGS into practice to breed goodness within but just preaching it like parrots.

Secondly, it shows the punishing traits in Guru Har Rai ji whereas Gurbani says that Ik Ong Kaar is Nirbhau and Nirvair- I see no stranger, I feel no enmity- Nan koi beri, nahin beghana-.

To explain my thoughts about the non existent of the Ram Rai Sakhi in a more elaborate manner, I wrote something about it in the following thread sometime ago:

http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/interfaith-dialogues/43-mitti-musalman-ki-paire-paye-kumiyaar.html

Tejwant Singh

 

[spnadmin]

Tejwant ji

Your comments are intriguing in that they tie another piece of the meaning to the actual words of the Shabad. Yes -- the potter is God -- the One who transforms what is base into a liberated soul. But the new idea, that I did not realize, is how once again Guru Nanak takes an earlier idea and turns it around -- the transformation into bliss is not a cool process but is "made hot" by the potter.

 

[Gyani Jarnail Singh]

Tejwant ji

Your comments are intriguing in that they tie another piece of the meaning to the actual words of the Shabad. Yes -- the potter is God -- the One who transforms what is base into a liberated soul. But the new idea, that I did not realize, is how once again Guru Nanak takes an earlier idea and turns it around -- the transformation into bliss is not a cool process but is "made hot" by the potter.

AAD ji,
I agree that Tejwant Ji has...excelled once again !! The individual pearls of wisdom are so intricately woven into a Celestial maala.... sheer..ecstacy. This comes from genuinely Vichaaring GURBANI and using it PRACTICALLY...instead of "skimming over the ocean waves like a stone"....no matter how far or fast the stone skims...when it sinks..it will REMAIN AS DRY INSIDE as it was before it began skimming the ocean surface !!

2. ALL THINGS..have to go through a HEATING PROCESS....a "Baptism of Fire"...before they emerge stronger..purer....sharper...STEEL...Diamonds...GOLD....sword...
Anyone ever made a sword in cool surroundings..or steel..or diamonds in a freezer or gold ornaments on ice ?? Similarly our LIFE !! The more adversities..sacrifices..martyrdoms...difficulties..the better..stronger..we emerge.
GURU ARJUN JI went through the FIRE..to make US..His SIKHS stronger..PURER...
the KHALSA also went through FIRES....and emerged VICTORIOUS..all the same process...:idea:

 

[Nirmaljot Baidwan]

In short I’d like to explain my opinion.

Guru sahib is neither against nor supporting the burial system of Muslims. But guru sahib through this verse is telling us that when the soul leaves the body , it does not matter at all whether you bury or burn the body. But what matters is that for what purpose this body was used when one was alive. And the only purpose of this human body is to become one with the lord or almighty or naam or shabad or baani. Only the creator i.e naam knows the fate of the soul.

 

[spnadmin]

Nirmaljot Baidwan ji

Your opinion is also supported by the Sikh Rehat Maryada.

Funeral Ceremonies
Article XIX
(c) However young and deceased may be, the body should be cremated. However, where arrangements for cremation cannot be made, there should be no qualm about the body being immersed in flowing water or disposed of in any other manner.