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
