Tejwant Singh - good morning [06:53 UK]
Interesting way to look at things, especially the dance n the dancer. Those who know the dance n the dancer to be the one and the same albeit framed as an adjective n noun respectively, know surely, Nanak's nirgun n sargun.
As regards philosopher's stone LSD has done a wonderful job in providing excerpts from SGGSJ, which is self-explanatory.
ਗੁਰ ਪਾਰਸ ਹਮ ਲੋਹ ਮਿਲਿ ਕੰਚਨੁ ਹੋਇਆ ਰਾਮ ॥
Gur pāras ham loh mil kancẖan ho▫i▫ā rām.
The Guru is the Philosopher's Stone; by His touch iron is transformed into gold.
ਜੋਤੀ ਜੋਤਿ ਮਿਲਾਇ ਕਾਇਆ ਗੜੁ ਸੋਹਿਆ ਰਾਮ ॥
Joṯī joṯ milā▫e kā▫i▫ā gaṛ sohi▫ā rām.
My light merges into the Light and my body-fortress is so beautiful.
Taking it literally to mean that the Guru was the philosopher's stone and all the properties of the philosopher's stone [paras] were in the Guru, that is, able to "change" or "transform" the aspiring soul from human to spiritual. The paras or the magic to change and transform one from human to spiritual is vested in the shabd, word form, referred to as "sat saroop".
The Cornerstone of Sikh theology merges beautifully in parlance with "guru manao granth and panth". That is to say, for a 21st century Sikh, guru is both "Granth n Panth". Sikhi n Sikh Society must go hand in hand, that is, Bani Bana. This in truth is what " popular" Sikh thought is. The rightness n wrongness is never a moot point because this is a system of "belief". For me Guru Granth Sahib, with 1430 or 1429 pages wouldn't make a difference because I believe in the "word" and the word is "Waheguru". And, since beliefs vary, I'm aware of the diversity therein, regardless, I continue to honour both temporal and spiritual Sikh. That is not to say, I don't have reservations, I do indeed, but the drift of my text is, I accept Sikhi in its entirety without qualifications because that is how it was passed on to me. I want to preserve the naivety, the innocence, the grandeur, the beauty, the majesty of the social, cultural, traditional {censored}tail within which it evolved. Ardas in that respect for me is gospel and I believe in it cent percent. Who wrote it, where it was written etc. are academic arguments and accordingly must by convention be revisited for determination.
From both academic and conventional perspespectives, citing sources is a must, otherwise written word is of little substance. I've said to you in the past, if there'd be disagreements or misrepresentations within any of the Sikh literature then please provide references so that I'm able to explore. That way an academic research based project could be launched.
Moving on to Jap - I'll quickly brush over it, have a meeting to attend shortly.
Guru Nanak, after realising God had to let the world know of his new find, so, he chose to express it through, initially mool mantar followed by Japji Sahib. The form he used is indeed poetic, but in question n answer mode. So first of all, he makes a statement [preamble], declaring his God, form, characteristics, etc. Within his opening statement he also offers how his God is met or realised [gur prasad]. Following Gur prasad is Jap. What he is saying, in answer form is, " hey, soul chant repeat n keep repeating, mindset" - do jap and keep doing it [keep chanting keep repeating n meditate].
Then his 1st pauri starts with a question, ok, I've understood the mool mantar, but what do I meditate on ? Then he answers, "..ad sach, jug ad sach" that is, meditate on sat [satnam].
The word ‘Jap’ means to ‘recite’/‘to ‘chant’/'to stay focused onto'. Derived from Sanskrit "Japa" - subtle utterance. Throughout Gurbani its significance is attached to "nam" or shabd jap - hey manmukh recite the name of the Lord.
From a philosophical perspective [metaphysics] Nanak sealed, signed n delivered the whole of everything in his mool mantar. The entire SGGSJ is an explanation thereafter, literally speaking.
Enjoy the day !
Waheguru
