Dear Khalsa Ji,
With the grace of ‘The Sat’, today I share my understanding of 4th Pauri of 10thAshtapadee of Sukhmani Sahib with you.
Please note that the English sentence after the Transliteration is not the exact literal translation of the text of the Tuk of Siri Guru Granth Sahib under reference, it is the meaning of the tuk as understood by me.
First the Summary: In this Pauri Guru Sahib emphasizes on the plurality and variety in the creation of ‘The Sat’. Guru Sahib have mentioned the spectrum of Gunas, frame of minds, living and non-living entities, formed and formless beings, good and evil, short lived and long lived entities etc. This is, as I understand, is to convey to us that Ahamkara, that make us to feel as absolute and ultimate is not the correct notion, All that ‘The Sat’ has created is a expression of ‘The Sat’. With all this done ‘The Sat’ is still as it was before it created this creation – pure, absolute, all encompassing and pure.
1. keI koit rwjs qwms swqk ] ka-ee kot raajas taamas saatak.
[/FONT]Numerous entities have a mix of Tamas, Rajas and Satva.[/FONT]
My understanding:
We all know that there are only three primary colours – red, yellow and blue. The combination of these three colours gives us enormous shades of colours. Similarly the basic traits of all that is in creation is composed from primary or basic ‘Gunas’, which are three in numbers – Tamas, Rajas, and Satva which Guru Sahib has mentioned in this Tuk. ‘Tamas’ is darkness, ignorance and total devoid of activity. ‘Rajas’ involves continuous, non-stop activity. ‘Satva’ is sublime knowledge, total awareness and divine nature dedicated to the creator. A stone has Tamas as its primary nature. River, sun or king has Rajas as its primary nature. A Sage has Satva as its primary nature.
The combination of these three Gunas gives enormous variety of nature of the entities in the creation of ‘The Sat’.
2. keI koit byd purwn isimRiq Aru swsq ] ka-ee kot bayd puraan simrit ar saasat.
[/FONT]Numerous are the Vedas, Puranas, Smritees, and Shashtras.[/FONT]
My understanding:
The combination of the three Gunas creates a variety of entities in the creation of ‘The Sat’. For humans, the scriptures are the source of guidance, which are numerous in number as Guru Sahib has said in this Tuk. The varieties of individuals, which result from the various combinations of Gunas being mixed in different proportion, get gets further increased by the different guidance that the specific individual gets from the numerous scriptures. This way the plurality in the creation of ‘The Sat’ gets further compounded and thus increased.
3. keI koit kIey rqn smud ] ka-ee kot kee-ay ratan samud.
[/FONT]Numerous entities like pearls are in the oceans.
My understanding:
We all know that pearls grow in the sea, they are beautiful. Here is variety of life in the sea, these too are as beautiful as pearls. The deep sea photographs show to us the plant and animal kingdom that was unknown to us till recent past; Guru Sahib knew all, and has directed our attention towards sea, by using the word pearl, where the unseen (by many) beauty of the creation of ‘The Sat’ awaits to be introduced to us. This further adds to the variety in the creation of ‘The Sat’.
4. keI koit nwnw pRkwr jMq ] ka-ee kot naanaa parkaar jant.
[/FONT]Numerous types of beings are there.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Guru Sahib now points out to us, in this Tuk that in the creation of ‘The Sat’ there are beings of many types. Here one may keep in mind that our perceptions are limited and we are not able to see the totality. Mostly we are aware of the formed entities which are on the tangible domain, which we can feel, see or experience. The dimension i.e. earth on which we live is not the only dimension of the creation of ‘The Sat’; there are many other dimensions, where beings are there which we cannot perceive or even imagine.
5. keI koit kIey icr jIvy ] ka-ee kot kee-ay chir jeevay.
[/FONT]Numerous are made to have long lives.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Science tells us that the heart muscles are meant for certain number of beats by the heart; this figure is around 1billion beats. Science also tells us that those animals which have lower rate of heart beats live longer e.g. Tortoise and others with faster heart beats live shorter e.g. many birds. Guru Sahib knew all this. Guru Sahib tells us how ‘The Sat’ has created variety in all aspects of its creation.
If we go by the findings of Dr Brian Weiss, I get an impression that between two human births there can be gap of few hundred years. It means that this soul which has left the human body continued to stay in some configuration different from us and for substantial period of time. All this is covered by the Tuk above – may be the soul remained as such for hundreds of years as it is (in energy form as light) before being born again.
6. keI koit igrI myr suvrn QIvy ] ka-ee kot giree mayr suvran theevay.
[/FONT]Numerous hills and mountains are made of Gold.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Guru Sahib now turns to non-living entities that are also constituent of the creation of ‘The Sat’. Guru Sahib has specifically referred to Hills Mountains and Gold. As I understand it covers all the physical features of our planet ant the minerals that exist on earth, the three mentioned are only examples.
In an implied way Guru Sahib tells us that the materials/minerals/chemical etc that we find on earth are also from the same common source from where we have come. It commonness of all is symbolized by the numeral ‘Ek’ at the beginning of Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
7. keI koit jK´ ikMnr ipswc ] ka-ee kot jakh-y kinnar pisaach.
[/FONT]Numerous are Yakshas (The servants of God of wealth) Kinners (The gods of Celestial music) and Pichaach (The evil spirits)[/FONT]
My understanding:
In this Tuk Guru Sahib has spoken to us about the life that is in dimensions other than in which we are living. The entities – Yakshas, Kinners, and Pichaach are used by Guru Sahib because believed in their existence – These entities are mentioned in the ancient scripture of the land. As I understand, Guru Sahib has just told us that there are life forms other than those we are living with and in dimensions which we cannot perceive. There by conveying to us the limitless plurality and variety that is in the creation of ‘The Sat’.
8. keI koit BUq pRyq sUkr imRgwc ] ka-ee kot bhoot parayt sookar marigaach.
[/FONT]Numerous are spirits, ghosts (Bhoot, Prait), and animals.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Guru Sahib draws our attention to additional forms of existence viz. animals and ‘suspended lives’. Below I elaborate on what I mean by suspended life
This is my very personal understanding: I am convinced that ‘human will’ is absolute. The individual can act based on its will, but the result of that action gets processed by the cosmic processes, and thus the results may not be what the individual wanted when it initiated the action. These cosmic processes are fearless without enmity, impartial and absolute. When a soul leaves a human body, through cosmic processes, it is allotted a slot in some other dimension or a new form in the dimension from where it had come. The free will of the soul being absolute it can refuse it. When the soul refuses the allotted slot, under these conditions it neither enters the new dimension nor takes a new form in the dimension from where it has come, nor can it reenter the body it has left behind. This way, it remains suspended which I have termed as ‘Suspended life’ which is normally referred to as ghost (Bhoot, Prait) in normal parlance.
About animals we all know, it is lower form of spiritual existence. All this adds to variety in the creation of ‘The Sat’. It all tells us that ‘The Sat’ is the only source of what is. All is one i.e. ‘Ek’.
9. sB qy nyrY sBhU qy dUir ] sabh tay nayrai sabhhoo tay door.
[/FONT]The ‘Creator i.e. ‘The Sat’ is near to all and yet we feel it to be far from all.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Guru Sahib is directing our attention towards to reality and our perception of the proximity with ‘The Sat’. I elaborate:
Take a honeycomb surface. Each opening is isolated from the other. Residing on one opening, one remains aloof and away from others occupying the other openings. It is the barrier between the two openings that is keeping the one away from the other. We create this barrier by considering ourselves to be a separate entity from rest of the creation of ‘The Sat. This barrier is made of the ‘I-ness’ i.e. Ahamkara. Ahamkara as we know is not physical entity but an abstract metal attribute. It is this Ahamkara takes us away from ‘The Sat’, it is our perception; not a reality. ‘The Sat’ is always within us; we have to look inward, dissolve our Ahamkara and discover the closeness with ‘The Sat’. Guru Sahib is telling us this in this Tuk.
10. nwnk Awip Ailpqu rihAw BrpUir ]4] naanak aap alipat rahi-aa bharpoor. ||4||
[/FONT]O’ Nanak, ‘The Sat’ does not get diminished or compromised; ‘The Sat’ remains infinite and total as ‘The Sat’ always was. [/FONT]
My understanding:
We watch films in Cinemas and TV. It invokes emotions in us though we know that all characters are acting and the sound and images that are appearing on the screen being watched are images only; they are not real. They are not real viewing them with respect to the dimension in which we are living. Yet we some time learn important lessons from the films and presentation we watch. The actors in the film remain aloof and complete as there were and presently are, no matter how many prints of the film are taken and how many times each of these film is screened and watch.
It is my understanding that the dimension in which we are living is real in our context. But viewed from another (higher) dimension we all are unreal, we cease to be what we are when the life force in us depart, the same way as it happens in films when the power source is removed. After all our life is the result of biological processes, and interaction between our free will and its interaction with the cosmic processes which we invite through our Karmas. Seen from higher dimension it is a drama, yet our being learns from the experience in our life and get modified – evolves to a higher level or degrades if we learn and get trapped by vices of the worldly life.
As in the film the actor becomes a character it is playing and is dressed accordingly with proper environment around it to enhance the impact of the character on the audience, in the same way the cosmic forces put us in situation where we learn lessons –good or bad. Adhering to virtues avoiding vices of this world of dualities, the individual evolves to a higher spiritual level, otherwise the person degrades. To the totality of the world, this person becomes a character – good or bad. We all in this world play out a role. This way this world of real life in our context is also a drama as seen from other dimensions of existence which are more real that ours.
The creator does not get consumed, involved, affected in any way, or diminished by this drama going on in our dimension; ‘The Sat’ remains infinite composed as ever. This Guru Sahib what Guru Sahib is conveying to, as I understand, after reflection.
With this I close this post.
With love and respect for all.
Amarpal Singh
Punjab, India
With the grace of ‘The Sat’, today I share my understanding of 4th Pauri of 10thAshtapadee of Sukhmani Sahib with you.
Please note that the English sentence after the Transliteration is not the exact literal translation of the text of the Tuk of Siri Guru Granth Sahib under reference, it is the meaning of the tuk as understood by me.
First the Summary: In this Pauri Guru Sahib emphasizes on the plurality and variety in the creation of ‘The Sat’. Guru Sahib have mentioned the spectrum of Gunas, frame of minds, living and non-living entities, formed and formless beings, good and evil, short lived and long lived entities etc. This is, as I understand, is to convey to us that Ahamkara, that make us to feel as absolute and ultimate is not the correct notion, All that ‘The Sat’ has created is a expression of ‘The Sat’. With all this done ‘The Sat’ is still as it was before it created this creation – pure, absolute, all encompassing and pure.
1. keI koit rwjs qwms swqk ] ka-ee kot raajas taamas saatak.
[/FONT]Numerous entities have a mix of Tamas, Rajas and Satva.[/FONT]
My understanding:
We all know that there are only three primary colours – red, yellow and blue. The combination of these three colours gives us enormous shades of colours. Similarly the basic traits of all that is in creation is composed from primary or basic ‘Gunas’, which are three in numbers – Tamas, Rajas, and Satva which Guru Sahib has mentioned in this Tuk. ‘Tamas’ is darkness, ignorance and total devoid of activity. ‘Rajas’ involves continuous, non-stop activity. ‘Satva’ is sublime knowledge, total awareness and divine nature dedicated to the creator. A stone has Tamas as its primary nature. River, sun or king has Rajas as its primary nature. A Sage has Satva as its primary nature.
The combination of these three Gunas gives enormous variety of nature of the entities in the creation of ‘The Sat’.
2. keI koit byd purwn isimRiq Aru swsq ] ka-ee kot bayd puraan simrit ar saasat.
[/FONT]Numerous are the Vedas, Puranas, Smritees, and Shashtras.[/FONT]
My understanding:
The combination of the three Gunas creates a variety of entities in the creation of ‘The Sat’. For humans, the scriptures are the source of guidance, which are numerous in number as Guru Sahib has said in this Tuk. The varieties of individuals, which result from the various combinations of Gunas being mixed in different proportion, get gets further increased by the different guidance that the specific individual gets from the numerous scriptures. This way the plurality in the creation of ‘The Sat’ gets further compounded and thus increased.
3. keI koit kIey rqn smud ] ka-ee kot kee-ay ratan samud.
[/FONT]Numerous entities like pearls are in the oceans.
My understanding:
We all know that pearls grow in the sea, they are beautiful. Here is variety of life in the sea, these too are as beautiful as pearls. The deep sea photographs show to us the plant and animal kingdom that was unknown to us till recent past; Guru Sahib knew all, and has directed our attention towards sea, by using the word pearl, where the unseen (by many) beauty of the creation of ‘The Sat’ awaits to be introduced to us. This further adds to the variety in the creation of ‘The Sat’.
4. keI koit nwnw pRkwr jMq ] ka-ee kot naanaa parkaar jant.
[/FONT]Numerous types of beings are there.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Guru Sahib now points out to us, in this Tuk that in the creation of ‘The Sat’ there are beings of many types. Here one may keep in mind that our perceptions are limited and we are not able to see the totality. Mostly we are aware of the formed entities which are on the tangible domain, which we can feel, see or experience. The dimension i.e. earth on which we live is not the only dimension of the creation of ‘The Sat’; there are many other dimensions, where beings are there which we cannot perceive or even imagine.
5. keI koit kIey icr jIvy ] ka-ee kot kee-ay chir jeevay.
[/FONT]Numerous are made to have long lives.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Science tells us that the heart muscles are meant for certain number of beats by the heart; this figure is around 1billion beats. Science also tells us that those animals which have lower rate of heart beats live longer e.g. Tortoise and others with faster heart beats live shorter e.g. many birds. Guru Sahib knew all this. Guru Sahib tells us how ‘The Sat’ has created variety in all aspects of its creation.
If we go by the findings of Dr Brian Weiss, I get an impression that between two human births there can be gap of few hundred years. It means that this soul which has left the human body continued to stay in some configuration different from us and for substantial period of time. All this is covered by the Tuk above – may be the soul remained as such for hundreds of years as it is (in energy form as light) before being born again.
6. keI koit igrI myr suvrn QIvy ] ka-ee kot giree mayr suvran theevay.
[/FONT]Numerous hills and mountains are made of Gold.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Guru Sahib now turns to non-living entities that are also constituent of the creation of ‘The Sat’. Guru Sahib has specifically referred to Hills Mountains and Gold. As I understand it covers all the physical features of our planet ant the minerals that exist on earth, the three mentioned are only examples.
In an implied way Guru Sahib tells us that the materials/minerals/chemical etc that we find on earth are also from the same common source from where we have come. It commonness of all is symbolized by the numeral ‘Ek’ at the beginning of Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
7. keI koit jK´ ikMnr ipswc ] ka-ee kot jakh-y kinnar pisaach.
[/FONT]Numerous are Yakshas (The servants of God of wealth) Kinners (The gods of Celestial music) and Pichaach (The evil spirits)[/FONT]
My understanding:
In this Tuk Guru Sahib has spoken to us about the life that is in dimensions other than in which we are living. The entities – Yakshas, Kinners, and Pichaach are used by Guru Sahib because believed in their existence – These entities are mentioned in the ancient scripture of the land. As I understand, Guru Sahib has just told us that there are life forms other than those we are living with and in dimensions which we cannot perceive. There by conveying to us the limitless plurality and variety that is in the creation of ‘The Sat’.
8. keI koit BUq pRyq sUkr imRgwc ] ka-ee kot bhoot parayt sookar marigaach.
[/FONT]Numerous are spirits, ghosts (Bhoot, Prait), and animals.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Guru Sahib draws our attention to additional forms of existence viz. animals and ‘suspended lives’. Below I elaborate on what I mean by suspended life
This is my very personal understanding: I am convinced that ‘human will’ is absolute. The individual can act based on its will, but the result of that action gets processed by the cosmic processes, and thus the results may not be what the individual wanted when it initiated the action. These cosmic processes are fearless without enmity, impartial and absolute. When a soul leaves a human body, through cosmic processes, it is allotted a slot in some other dimension or a new form in the dimension from where it had come. The free will of the soul being absolute it can refuse it. When the soul refuses the allotted slot, under these conditions it neither enters the new dimension nor takes a new form in the dimension from where it has come, nor can it reenter the body it has left behind. This way, it remains suspended which I have termed as ‘Suspended life’ which is normally referred to as ghost (Bhoot, Prait) in normal parlance.
About animals we all know, it is lower form of spiritual existence. All this adds to variety in the creation of ‘The Sat’. It all tells us that ‘The Sat’ is the only source of what is. All is one i.e. ‘Ek’.
9. sB qy nyrY sBhU qy dUir ] sabh tay nayrai sabhhoo tay door.
[/FONT]The ‘Creator i.e. ‘The Sat’ is near to all and yet we feel it to be far from all.[/FONT]
My understanding:
Guru Sahib is directing our attention towards to reality and our perception of the proximity with ‘The Sat’. I elaborate:
Take a honeycomb surface. Each opening is isolated from the other. Residing on one opening, one remains aloof and away from others occupying the other openings. It is the barrier between the two openings that is keeping the one away from the other. We create this barrier by considering ourselves to be a separate entity from rest of the creation of ‘The Sat. This barrier is made of the ‘I-ness’ i.e. Ahamkara. Ahamkara as we know is not physical entity but an abstract metal attribute. It is this Ahamkara takes us away from ‘The Sat’, it is our perception; not a reality. ‘The Sat’ is always within us; we have to look inward, dissolve our Ahamkara and discover the closeness with ‘The Sat’. Guru Sahib is telling us this in this Tuk.
10. nwnk Awip Ailpqu rihAw BrpUir ]4] naanak aap alipat rahi-aa bharpoor. ||4||
[/FONT]O’ Nanak, ‘The Sat’ does not get diminished or compromised; ‘The Sat’ remains infinite and total as ‘The Sat’ always was. [/FONT]
My understanding:
We watch films in Cinemas and TV. It invokes emotions in us though we know that all characters are acting and the sound and images that are appearing on the screen being watched are images only; they are not real. They are not real viewing them with respect to the dimension in which we are living. Yet we some time learn important lessons from the films and presentation we watch. The actors in the film remain aloof and complete as there were and presently are, no matter how many prints of the film are taken and how many times each of these film is screened and watch.
It is my understanding that the dimension in which we are living is real in our context. But viewed from another (higher) dimension we all are unreal, we cease to be what we are when the life force in us depart, the same way as it happens in films when the power source is removed. After all our life is the result of biological processes, and interaction between our free will and its interaction with the cosmic processes which we invite through our Karmas. Seen from higher dimension it is a drama, yet our being learns from the experience in our life and get modified – evolves to a higher level or degrades if we learn and get trapped by vices of the worldly life.
As in the film the actor becomes a character it is playing and is dressed accordingly with proper environment around it to enhance the impact of the character on the audience, in the same way the cosmic forces put us in situation where we learn lessons –good or bad. Adhering to virtues avoiding vices of this world of dualities, the individual evolves to a higher spiritual level, otherwise the person degrades. To the totality of the world, this person becomes a character – good or bad. We all in this world play out a role. This way this world of real life in our context is also a drama as seen from other dimensions of existence which are more real that ours.
The creator does not get consumed, involved, affected in any way, or diminished by this drama going on in our dimension; ‘The Sat’ remains infinite composed as ever. This Guru Sahib what Guru Sahib is conveying to, as I understand, after reflection.
With this I close this post.
With love and respect for all.
Amarpal Singh
Punjab, India
