Dear Khalsa Ji,
Now, I share with you all, my understanding of the 7th Pauri of 4th Ashtapadee of Sukhmani Sahib. Please note that the English sentence after the Transliteration is not the exact literal translation of the sentence, it is the meaning of the tuk as understood by me.
First the summary:
Guru Sahib explains to his audience that “The Sat’ is within them. People, instead of linking themselves with the absolute to evolve to great heights and thus achieve true results, live a life of illusion, enjoying it and thinking it to be permanent. This, they have been doing for last many births and thus have not progressed in self evolution. Guru Sahib prays to ‘The Sat’ to help these ignorant people and put them on the path of self evolution.
1. sMig shweI su AwvY n cIiq ] sang sahaa-ee so aavai na cheet.
The ‘One’ who is with us and support us, yet it does not come in our remembrance.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib has very clearly said that ‘The Sat’ is always with us and supports us.
This needs to be explained. To do so, first, I have to share how I conceptualize ‘The Sat’ for my spiritual understanding.
Note: It is only my conceptualization to proceed further; it is not any definition of ‘The Sat’. ‘The Sat’ cannot be described as Guru Sahib have said so many times in Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ is ‘One’ (Ek Ongkar). Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ has no form (Nirakaar). Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ is the real doer (Kartapurakh). Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ is not material. Guru Sahib has also said that ‘The Sat’ is present every where, it sustains and supports us. Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ does not take birth (Ajuni). Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ is timeless (Akaal). Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ is self existence (Saibhang)
To my limited mental capacity, only some sort of life creating, life sustain, intelligent field prevailing in this entire cosmos can concurrently meet all these requirements.
Life needs energy for it sustenance; hence this postulated field ought to be an energy field. In this post, I refer to it this field as ‘Cosmic Intelligent Energy Field’. I cannot define this entity as ‘The Sat’ is beyond description.
With this I conceptualization as the basis, I come to link up ‘Cosmic Intelligent Energy Field’ with the entities of creation of ‘The Sat’.
The formed being needs material to create their body. We know that energy can be transformed into material; this ‘Cosmic Intelligent Energy Field’ can transform itself into material to create the body. To enable this body to live, life is needed. It is the ‘Cosmic Intelligent Energy Field’ that brings the body to life and sustain life in the body.
This is my conceptualization of ‘The Sat’ in my attempt to evolve spiritually.
If you go along with my conceptualization, it means, my body and life are both coming from the same source - ‘Cosmic Intelligent Energy Field’ i.e. ‘The Sat’. If this is true then I am not a worldly being in search of spirituality, but a spiritual being having worldly experience. You see the transformation. So all what is in me is what we call ‘The Sat’; that means. Parmatma is within me.
With this it is very clear to me that ‘The Sat’ is always in me and supports my life. This is what Guru Sahib has said in the first part of the sentence. This fact is not realized by we humans and that is what Guru Sahib has said in the second part of the sentence that ‘The Sat’ does not come into our remembrance.
2. jo bYrweI qw isau pRIiq ] jo bairaa-ee taa si-o pareet.
Those who are the enemies; the person loves.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib has said in very simple language that the person loves those who are her/his enemies.
It needs to be understood why some entities Guru Sahib has termed as enemy.
Enemy is one who prevents or hinders us from achieving some legitimate objective.
If we are able to define what in life can be the legitimate objective for us then we have a better chance to identify the enemies.
In search for the legitimate objective for my life, I look towards ‘The Sat’, its creation and its ways because, all what is me has come from ‘The Sat’.
I start my search in reverse order i.e. from the present time.
As we see the world today, I know from my personal experience it was not like that about 50 year ago. Recorded history tells us it was more primitive some 5000 years ago and studies of the remains tell us that it was still more primitive some millions of years ago. We have no way to find out how it was when time began i.e. at T = 0. We can extrapolate backwards and conclude it to be extremely primitive. Species have developed – vertically and horizontally and multiplied, acquired new capabilities, the continents have drifted; ice ages have come and gone, poles have changes position and magnetic field has reverses and so on. It is clear that what ‘The Sat’ created first was not what it is today; it has never remained the same; it has always been changing. ‘The Sat’ has allowed creation to evolve. From this I conclude that ‘The Sat’ allows evolution and development. (Guru sahib has called it Chadiyan Kalan)
The earlier development took place without any specific direction. This development took place only under the influence forces of nature. Gradually as the special requirements emerged such as the need to survive, they lead to development of mental capabilities. The brain strived to achieve means to survive. At this stage the thoughts came into being created additional tool to direct development Power of thought I have discussed towards the end of this post). As a result, the species could, over a long period of time, modify the features of their body to acquire capabilities that allowed survival. Depending on the needs, the senses organs and instruments of actions developed in the species and associated mental faculties developed e.g. migratory birds are able to see earth’s magnetic field but we cannot. This tells us that ‘The Sat’ allows us to make use of forces of nature in a manner which allows us to achieve what we want. From this I conclude that ‘The Sat’ has given the beings and its creation what we call ‘free will’ and access to force multipliers of nature to achieve what we want.
I find that my understanding gets supported by what Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ is within us and supports us. The ancient sages of the land have realized this and said ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ meaning I am Brahma. It is to these sages Guru Sahib has saluted at the beginning of Sukhmani Sahib. It is a different matter that very few humans are able to realize their full potential. From this I conclude that human mental capabilities have no limits.
Powers and Responsibility go together. If ‘The Sat’ has given we humans extraordinary capabilities, there is bound to be some purpose behind lt. To find the purpose I study the ways of ‘The Sat’.
As I study the ways of ‘The Sat’, I find that ‘The Sat’ does not intervene in the affairs of its creation. God did not intervene when Aurangzeb and other invaders committed atrocities on innocents in India, God did not intervene when so many Jews were killed for no fault of their own during Second World War, God did not intervene during partition of India or creation of Bangla Desh or in 1984 during the Genocide of Sikhs or in Cambodia during Pol Pot regime or in Bosnia and so on -------. It is clear ‘The Sat’ wants us to manage our own affair. Why should ‘The Sat’ intervene? ‘The Sat’ has given us the ‘free will’ and the power to avail all the force multipliers of the nature then there is no need for any external agency to set things right for us. From this I conclude that human beings are autonomous entity in this creation equipped with capabilities very similar to that of ‘The Sat’.
From this mental exercise I conclude that, ‘The Sat’ has commissioned humans to act as its representative and in doing so act as instrument of ‘The Sat’. What ‘The Sat’ is doing for entire creation we have to do for our planet. ‘The Sat’ works for the common good of all its creation. Working for the common good of all is the way of ‘The Sat’. Being the instrument of ‘The Sat’ what ‘The Sat’ does from its creation we have to do where we live. This is our responsibility for which ‘The Sat has empowered us. We have to care for all the living and non-living entities of our planet, we have to protect its environment. About protection of environment, Guru Sahib has mentioned it very clearly in Siri Guru Granth Sahib in the Shalok - ‘Pawan Guru, Pani Pitta, Matta Dhert Mahat ------------Jagat‘. As I understand, this is a pledge to protect our environment. To me it is clear that protection of environment is part of Sikhi. I am not elaborating on it here as I have already done so earlier and my post is available at website www.sikhphilosophy.net
Finally, I conclude for my self that as Human I am instrument of ‘The Sat’ and have to live in a manner that is for the common good of maximum of entities (living an non-living) of this planet; I have to live and work in a manner to protect environment so that life continues on this planet, as Guru Sahib has said in the above referred Shalok(---khele sagal jagat).
Any thing that diverts me from this path is the enemy; this is what Guru Sahib has referred to in the second tuk of this Pauri.
3. blUAw ky igRh BIqir bsY ] baloo-aa kay garih bheetar basai.
He lives in a house of sand.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib draws our attention to the fact that the person who lives a life soaked in worldly pleases lives a life which is very fragile. He compares such life with the house made of sand, which we all know has no strength.
4. And kyl mwieAw rMig rsY ] anad kayl maa-i-aa rang rasai.
He enjoys the games imbued in Maya.
My understanding:
To understand what Guru Sahib have said, one has to look into what Maya is. To live our life properly ‘The Sat’ has given us organs to sense the world around us. The senses organs send signals to the brain which interprets it in its own way. This interpretation may or may not be real, it is only the way used by the process of evolution to make the inputs received from senses meaningful to enable us to proceed with our life.
To explain what I have said I take the case of colour perception by us. I elaborate the process below.
First let me make a statement of fact that light is not visible to us, the object on which the light falls become visible. If light was visible to us then in the dark night the light going from sun to moon passing through space would have illuminated the sky for us, since space is vacuum the light passes through it without we being able to detect it, the object on which the light falls – moon – gets illuminated.
Now I elaborate the process of perceiving what we call colour. White light falls on the so called colored object (in fact white is not a colour at all, when light with too many frequencies impinges on retina, the vision system of we humans does not know how to help us to see all the different colour simultaneously. The vision system then fools us and show the some total of the light as white) some of the frequencies of this white light are absorbed by the object and the others are reflected back from its surface. This reflected light is also not visible to us as it moves from the object to our eyes. The reflected light (reflected frequencies) enters our eyes and impinges on the retina. The retina system converts these light frequencies into electrical signals and passes on transmission system for further processing; note that there is no colour yet. This electrically coded signal from retina system reaches the part of the brains which is responsible for giving the ability to see. This part of the brain makes us perceive the frequencies of the light reflected from the object as colour. So one can see in this entire process the colour has come only from our brain not from the object we were seeing. The colours are creation of our brain; colour may or may not be the real property of matter. Here we all can note that what we see (colour) is not true and what is true we cannot perceive. This is Maya.
The way I have shown colour to be Maya, I can elaborate on other senses also. Maya pervades in all aspects our worldly life. All what the brain perceives and concludes are, in some measure, away from truth. The usefulness of colour perception in our day to day life cannot be denied, it is important; yet it is just a nature’s way to empower us only, it does not tell us the truth.
We enjoy seeing colourful items as it gives us some pleasure. The same is true for all other inputs received by the brain and the resulting perceptions. Mentally imagined pleasures are also part of Maya as they are not real. The brain of the person, living purely a worldly life, remains occupied with such pleasures. This is what I understand from this tuk of Guru Sahib. As a result of such occupation, an important human faculty – functioning brain – get diverted away from the true task which we humans have to perform in this world viz. being an instrument of ‘The Sat’. That is why Guru Sahib, in the second sentence of this Pauri, has referred to such objects of indulgence as enemies.
5. idRVu kir mwnY mnih pRqIiq ] darirh kar maanai maneh parteet.
The person considers these tentative perceptions to be firm and final.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib now draws our attention to the tentativeness of our perceptions. These pleasures do not remain with us all the time.
As I understand, our existence in this cosmos is beyond our current imagination. This is my understanding that I existed from the beginning of creation and will continue to be there till the creation lasts. The body will keep changing birth after birth. What remains permanent is the energy field that we have created as a result of the some total of karmas of all our lives. It is this field that gets influenced by our karmas and net that is created by us helps us decide our new form (body) after death of the body. The worldly pleasure do not give us what I call as progressive energy field as by indulging in them we defeat the purpose for which we are born. To evolve we have to strengthen this energy field in a positive way so that, progressively, births after birth we keep become more and more effective instrument of ‘The Sat’. The ancient scripture of the land uses a term i.e. ‘Avatar’; those scripture says that God has taken birth in this world. Guru Sahib has clearly said that ‘The Sat’ does not take birth – ‘The Sat’ is Ajuni and Akaal. It is my considered view that these so called Avatars are not Gods, they are humans who had become divine i.e. who had reached to ultimate in spirituality, and their acts are Godly – they are perfect instrument of ‘The Sat’. Each one of us has this potential to become the perfect instrument of ‘The Sat’; we only have to realize this potential by following the teachings of Guru Sahib as given in Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
6. kwlu n AwvY mUVy cIiq ] kaal na aavai moorhay cheet.
The Death does not even come to mind for the fool.
My understanding:
As is the case with studies in educational institution where the students enjoy all year around and then get tensed up when the examinations approach. If the thought of examination was always in their mind they will study all round the year and appear in examination with relaxed minds.
In life also people keep running after the objects of sense gratification, satisfying their ego and living with attachments. The fact that death can overtake their life any time does not come to them and they remain unprepared for a better life in the next birth. Thus they do harm to their cosmic life which is some total of births in one or the other form.
7. bYr ibroD kwm k®oD moh ] bair biroDh kaam kroDh moh.
Hate, conflict, lust, anger, emotional attachment,
8. JUT ibkwr mhw loB DRoh ] jhooth bikaar mahaa lobh Dharoh.
falsehood, corruption, immense greed and deceit:
My understanding:
Guru Sahib in the above two lines have named the enemies of the humans. All our mental resources that should have been used in tasks related to our living as an instrument of ‘The Sat’ get diverted to these temporary pleasures and meeting the need of the vices mentioned in this two sentences.
9. ieAwhU jugiq ibhwny keI jnm ] i-aahoo jugat bihaanay ka-ee janam.
So many lifetimes are wasted in these ways.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib explicitly says that we humans have wasted so many live in our cosmic living without elevating it to the required quality.
10. nwnk rwiK lyhu Awpn kir krm ]7] naanak raakh layho aapan kar karam. ||7||
Nanak: uplift them, and redeem them, O Lord - show Your Mercy! ||7||
My understanding:
Guru Sahib prays for us asking ‘The Sat’ to show mercy and uplift us to the required level of life.
Her I explain my understanding as to how the prayers work.
We eat food, which as a result of metabolism creates nourishment for elementary units of our body. These elementary units of the body consume these nutrients to produce chemicals and energy to sustain life.
Brain also consumes the nutrients passed on to it through its outer membrane. The necessary chemicals needed by the brain are metabolized there. Metabolism produces the medium (neurotransmitters) and energy for the functioning of the brain. This energy is used when we think. The process of thinking gives rise to thought. As we know, the energy cannot be created or destroyed. From this I conclude that if the input to the thinking process was energy then the out put i.e. thought also has to be some form of energy, since thought is not material, it is intangible. I postulate that this energy has adequate correspondence/similarity to latch on/merge and interact with the cosmic energy field of ‘The Sat’ and then direct the forces of nature in the direction to realize the intent of the thought. Thoughts originating from different sources coalesce and depending on the nature modify the strength of the thought. Stronger is your thought; greater is the chance that it will able to direct the forces of nature in the direction to realize the intent of the thought. Divinities like Guru Sahib have thoughts of enormous strength and able to do what impossible for a common person to do. Their prayers are for the common good of all, there is no selfish motive they are Godly. That is why Guru sahib’s prayers help us, that is why Guru Sahib is praying for us.
With this I close this post.
With love and respect for all.
Amarpal Singh
Now, I share with you all, my understanding of the 7th Pauri of 4th Ashtapadee of Sukhmani Sahib. Please note that the English sentence after the Transliteration is not the exact literal translation of the sentence, it is the meaning of the tuk as understood by me.
First the summary:
Guru Sahib explains to his audience that “The Sat’ is within them. People, instead of linking themselves with the absolute to evolve to great heights and thus achieve true results, live a life of illusion, enjoying it and thinking it to be permanent. This, they have been doing for last many births and thus have not progressed in self evolution. Guru Sahib prays to ‘The Sat’ to help these ignorant people and put them on the path of self evolution.
1. sMig shweI su AwvY n cIiq ] sang sahaa-ee so aavai na cheet.
The ‘One’ who is with us and support us, yet it does not come in our remembrance.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib has very clearly said that ‘The Sat’ is always with us and supports us.
This needs to be explained. To do so, first, I have to share how I conceptualize ‘The Sat’ for my spiritual understanding.
Note: It is only my conceptualization to proceed further; it is not any definition of ‘The Sat’. ‘The Sat’ cannot be described as Guru Sahib have said so many times in Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ is ‘One’ (Ek Ongkar). Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ has no form (Nirakaar). Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ is the real doer (Kartapurakh). Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ is not material. Guru Sahib has also said that ‘The Sat’ is present every where, it sustains and supports us. Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ does not take birth (Ajuni). Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ is timeless (Akaal). Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ is self existence (Saibhang)
To my limited mental capacity, only some sort of life creating, life sustain, intelligent field prevailing in this entire cosmos can concurrently meet all these requirements.
Life needs energy for it sustenance; hence this postulated field ought to be an energy field. In this post, I refer to it this field as ‘Cosmic Intelligent Energy Field’. I cannot define this entity as ‘The Sat’ is beyond description.
With this I conceptualization as the basis, I come to link up ‘Cosmic Intelligent Energy Field’ with the entities of creation of ‘The Sat’.
The formed being needs material to create their body. We know that energy can be transformed into material; this ‘Cosmic Intelligent Energy Field’ can transform itself into material to create the body. To enable this body to live, life is needed. It is the ‘Cosmic Intelligent Energy Field’ that brings the body to life and sustain life in the body.
This is my conceptualization of ‘The Sat’ in my attempt to evolve spiritually.
If you go along with my conceptualization, it means, my body and life are both coming from the same source - ‘Cosmic Intelligent Energy Field’ i.e. ‘The Sat’. If this is true then I am not a worldly being in search of spirituality, but a spiritual being having worldly experience. You see the transformation. So all what is in me is what we call ‘The Sat’; that means. Parmatma is within me.
With this it is very clear to me that ‘The Sat’ is always in me and supports my life. This is what Guru Sahib has said in the first part of the sentence. This fact is not realized by we humans and that is what Guru Sahib has said in the second part of the sentence that ‘The Sat’ does not come into our remembrance.
2. jo bYrweI qw isau pRIiq ] jo bairaa-ee taa si-o pareet.
Those who are the enemies; the person loves.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib has said in very simple language that the person loves those who are her/his enemies.
It needs to be understood why some entities Guru Sahib has termed as enemy.
Enemy is one who prevents or hinders us from achieving some legitimate objective.
If we are able to define what in life can be the legitimate objective for us then we have a better chance to identify the enemies.
In search for the legitimate objective for my life, I look towards ‘The Sat’, its creation and its ways because, all what is me has come from ‘The Sat’.
I start my search in reverse order i.e. from the present time.
As we see the world today, I know from my personal experience it was not like that about 50 year ago. Recorded history tells us it was more primitive some 5000 years ago and studies of the remains tell us that it was still more primitive some millions of years ago. We have no way to find out how it was when time began i.e. at T = 0. We can extrapolate backwards and conclude it to be extremely primitive. Species have developed – vertically and horizontally and multiplied, acquired new capabilities, the continents have drifted; ice ages have come and gone, poles have changes position and magnetic field has reverses and so on. It is clear that what ‘The Sat’ created first was not what it is today; it has never remained the same; it has always been changing. ‘The Sat’ has allowed creation to evolve. From this I conclude that ‘The Sat’ allows evolution and development. (Guru sahib has called it Chadiyan Kalan)
The earlier development took place without any specific direction. This development took place only under the influence forces of nature. Gradually as the special requirements emerged such as the need to survive, they lead to development of mental capabilities. The brain strived to achieve means to survive. At this stage the thoughts came into being created additional tool to direct development Power of thought I have discussed towards the end of this post). As a result, the species could, over a long period of time, modify the features of their body to acquire capabilities that allowed survival. Depending on the needs, the senses organs and instruments of actions developed in the species and associated mental faculties developed e.g. migratory birds are able to see earth’s magnetic field but we cannot. This tells us that ‘The Sat’ allows us to make use of forces of nature in a manner which allows us to achieve what we want. From this I conclude that ‘The Sat’ has given the beings and its creation what we call ‘free will’ and access to force multipliers of nature to achieve what we want.
I find that my understanding gets supported by what Guru Sahib has said that ‘The Sat’ is within us and supports us. The ancient sages of the land have realized this and said ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ meaning I am Brahma. It is to these sages Guru Sahib has saluted at the beginning of Sukhmani Sahib. It is a different matter that very few humans are able to realize their full potential. From this I conclude that human mental capabilities have no limits.
Powers and Responsibility go together. If ‘The Sat’ has given we humans extraordinary capabilities, there is bound to be some purpose behind lt. To find the purpose I study the ways of ‘The Sat’.
As I study the ways of ‘The Sat’, I find that ‘The Sat’ does not intervene in the affairs of its creation. God did not intervene when Aurangzeb and other invaders committed atrocities on innocents in India, God did not intervene when so many Jews were killed for no fault of their own during Second World War, God did not intervene during partition of India or creation of Bangla Desh or in 1984 during the Genocide of Sikhs or in Cambodia during Pol Pot regime or in Bosnia and so on -------. It is clear ‘The Sat’ wants us to manage our own affair. Why should ‘The Sat’ intervene? ‘The Sat’ has given us the ‘free will’ and the power to avail all the force multipliers of the nature then there is no need for any external agency to set things right for us. From this I conclude that human beings are autonomous entity in this creation equipped with capabilities very similar to that of ‘The Sat’.
From this mental exercise I conclude that, ‘The Sat’ has commissioned humans to act as its representative and in doing so act as instrument of ‘The Sat’. What ‘The Sat’ is doing for entire creation we have to do for our planet. ‘The Sat’ works for the common good of all its creation. Working for the common good of all is the way of ‘The Sat’. Being the instrument of ‘The Sat’ what ‘The Sat’ does from its creation we have to do where we live. This is our responsibility for which ‘The Sat has empowered us. We have to care for all the living and non-living entities of our planet, we have to protect its environment. About protection of environment, Guru Sahib has mentioned it very clearly in Siri Guru Granth Sahib in the Shalok - ‘Pawan Guru, Pani Pitta, Matta Dhert Mahat ------------Jagat‘. As I understand, this is a pledge to protect our environment. To me it is clear that protection of environment is part of Sikhi. I am not elaborating on it here as I have already done so earlier and my post is available at website www.sikhphilosophy.net
Finally, I conclude for my self that as Human I am instrument of ‘The Sat’ and have to live in a manner that is for the common good of maximum of entities (living an non-living) of this planet; I have to live and work in a manner to protect environment so that life continues on this planet, as Guru Sahib has said in the above referred Shalok(---khele sagal jagat).
Any thing that diverts me from this path is the enemy; this is what Guru Sahib has referred to in the second tuk of this Pauri.
3. blUAw ky igRh BIqir bsY ] baloo-aa kay garih bheetar basai.
He lives in a house of sand.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib draws our attention to the fact that the person who lives a life soaked in worldly pleases lives a life which is very fragile. He compares such life with the house made of sand, which we all know has no strength.
4. And kyl mwieAw rMig rsY ] anad kayl maa-i-aa rang rasai.
He enjoys the games imbued in Maya.
My understanding:
To understand what Guru Sahib have said, one has to look into what Maya is. To live our life properly ‘The Sat’ has given us organs to sense the world around us. The senses organs send signals to the brain which interprets it in its own way. This interpretation may or may not be real, it is only the way used by the process of evolution to make the inputs received from senses meaningful to enable us to proceed with our life.
To explain what I have said I take the case of colour perception by us. I elaborate the process below.
First let me make a statement of fact that light is not visible to us, the object on which the light falls become visible. If light was visible to us then in the dark night the light going from sun to moon passing through space would have illuminated the sky for us, since space is vacuum the light passes through it without we being able to detect it, the object on which the light falls – moon – gets illuminated.
Now I elaborate the process of perceiving what we call colour. White light falls on the so called colored object (in fact white is not a colour at all, when light with too many frequencies impinges on retina, the vision system of we humans does not know how to help us to see all the different colour simultaneously. The vision system then fools us and show the some total of the light as white) some of the frequencies of this white light are absorbed by the object and the others are reflected back from its surface. This reflected light is also not visible to us as it moves from the object to our eyes. The reflected light (reflected frequencies) enters our eyes and impinges on the retina. The retina system converts these light frequencies into electrical signals and passes on transmission system for further processing; note that there is no colour yet. This electrically coded signal from retina system reaches the part of the brains which is responsible for giving the ability to see. This part of the brain makes us perceive the frequencies of the light reflected from the object as colour. So one can see in this entire process the colour has come only from our brain not from the object we were seeing. The colours are creation of our brain; colour may or may not be the real property of matter. Here we all can note that what we see (colour) is not true and what is true we cannot perceive. This is Maya.
The way I have shown colour to be Maya, I can elaborate on other senses also. Maya pervades in all aspects our worldly life. All what the brain perceives and concludes are, in some measure, away from truth. The usefulness of colour perception in our day to day life cannot be denied, it is important; yet it is just a nature’s way to empower us only, it does not tell us the truth.
We enjoy seeing colourful items as it gives us some pleasure. The same is true for all other inputs received by the brain and the resulting perceptions. Mentally imagined pleasures are also part of Maya as they are not real. The brain of the person, living purely a worldly life, remains occupied with such pleasures. This is what I understand from this tuk of Guru Sahib. As a result of such occupation, an important human faculty – functioning brain – get diverted away from the true task which we humans have to perform in this world viz. being an instrument of ‘The Sat’. That is why Guru Sahib, in the second sentence of this Pauri, has referred to such objects of indulgence as enemies.
5. idRVu kir mwnY mnih pRqIiq ] darirh kar maanai maneh parteet.
The person considers these tentative perceptions to be firm and final.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib now draws our attention to the tentativeness of our perceptions. These pleasures do not remain with us all the time.
As I understand, our existence in this cosmos is beyond our current imagination. This is my understanding that I existed from the beginning of creation and will continue to be there till the creation lasts. The body will keep changing birth after birth. What remains permanent is the energy field that we have created as a result of the some total of karmas of all our lives. It is this field that gets influenced by our karmas and net that is created by us helps us decide our new form (body) after death of the body. The worldly pleasure do not give us what I call as progressive energy field as by indulging in them we defeat the purpose for which we are born. To evolve we have to strengthen this energy field in a positive way so that, progressively, births after birth we keep become more and more effective instrument of ‘The Sat’. The ancient scripture of the land uses a term i.e. ‘Avatar’; those scripture says that God has taken birth in this world. Guru Sahib has clearly said that ‘The Sat’ does not take birth – ‘The Sat’ is Ajuni and Akaal. It is my considered view that these so called Avatars are not Gods, they are humans who had become divine i.e. who had reached to ultimate in spirituality, and their acts are Godly – they are perfect instrument of ‘The Sat’. Each one of us has this potential to become the perfect instrument of ‘The Sat’; we only have to realize this potential by following the teachings of Guru Sahib as given in Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
6. kwlu n AwvY mUVy cIiq ] kaal na aavai moorhay cheet.
The Death does not even come to mind for the fool.
My understanding:
As is the case with studies in educational institution where the students enjoy all year around and then get tensed up when the examinations approach. If the thought of examination was always in their mind they will study all round the year and appear in examination with relaxed minds.
In life also people keep running after the objects of sense gratification, satisfying their ego and living with attachments. The fact that death can overtake their life any time does not come to them and they remain unprepared for a better life in the next birth. Thus they do harm to their cosmic life which is some total of births in one or the other form.
7. bYr ibroD kwm k®oD moh ] bair biroDh kaam kroDh moh.
Hate, conflict, lust, anger, emotional attachment,
8. JUT ibkwr mhw loB DRoh ] jhooth bikaar mahaa lobh Dharoh.
falsehood, corruption, immense greed and deceit:
My understanding:
Guru Sahib in the above two lines have named the enemies of the humans. All our mental resources that should have been used in tasks related to our living as an instrument of ‘The Sat’ get diverted to these temporary pleasures and meeting the need of the vices mentioned in this two sentences.
9. ieAwhU jugiq ibhwny keI jnm ] i-aahoo jugat bihaanay ka-ee janam.
So many lifetimes are wasted in these ways.
My understanding:
Guru Sahib explicitly says that we humans have wasted so many live in our cosmic living without elevating it to the required quality.
10. nwnk rwiK lyhu Awpn kir krm ]7] naanak raakh layho aapan kar karam. ||7||
Nanak: uplift them, and redeem them, O Lord - show Your Mercy! ||7||
My understanding:
Guru Sahib prays for us asking ‘The Sat’ to show mercy and uplift us to the required level of life.
Her I explain my understanding as to how the prayers work.
We eat food, which as a result of metabolism creates nourishment for elementary units of our body. These elementary units of the body consume these nutrients to produce chemicals and energy to sustain life.
Brain also consumes the nutrients passed on to it through its outer membrane. The necessary chemicals needed by the brain are metabolized there. Metabolism produces the medium (neurotransmitters) and energy for the functioning of the brain. This energy is used when we think. The process of thinking gives rise to thought. As we know, the energy cannot be created or destroyed. From this I conclude that if the input to the thinking process was energy then the out put i.e. thought also has to be some form of energy, since thought is not material, it is intangible. I postulate that this energy has adequate correspondence/similarity to latch on/merge and interact with the cosmic energy field of ‘The Sat’ and then direct the forces of nature in the direction to realize the intent of the thought. Thoughts originating from different sources coalesce and depending on the nature modify the strength of the thought. Stronger is your thought; greater is the chance that it will able to direct the forces of nature in the direction to realize the intent of the thought. Divinities like Guru Sahib have thoughts of enormous strength and able to do what impossible for a common person to do. Their prayers are for the common good of all, there is no selfish motive they are Godly. That is why Guru sahib’s prayers help us, that is why Guru Sahib is praying for us.
With this I close this post.
With love and respect for all.
Amarpal Singh
