Dear Khalsa Ji
With the grace of ‘The Sat’, today I share my understanding of 3rd Pauri of 8th Ashtapadee of Sukhmani Sahib with you.
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 in this Pauri explains to us the nature of the person who is Braham-Gyani.
Few words of Caution:
It is important to understand what Braham-Gyani means. This term Guru Sahib has taken from the common parlance among the spiritually evolved pure people.
Brahma, as per Hindu mythology is the creator. Bhagavatam, the compilation of Ved Vyas, elaborates on Brahma. According to this elaboration, Brahama was born and will get dissolve after some time. His life time too is given in Bhagavatam. This, according to Sikhi makes Brahma part of the creation as he takes birth, lives a life and then dies; ‘The Sat’ according to Gurbani never takes birth ‘Ajuni’; it is beyond the clutches of time i.e. ‘Akaal Murat’. Since Brahma takes birth and dies it cannot be taken to be the creator according to Gurbani. The ‘Karta Purakh’ does not take birth. This ‘Karta Purakh’ is the creator according to Gurbani, which I refer to as ‘The Sat’. According to Gurbani between ‘Karta Purakh’ i.e. ‘The Sat’ and his creation, including us, there is no one. Thus we, Sikhs, have nothing to do with Brahama, an entity of Hindu Mythology.
Thus when Guru Sahib use the term ‘Braham-Gyani’ it means the person who has Gyan (intrinsic knowledge obtained through personal experience) regarding ‘The Sat’ and is not referring to the person who has the knowledge of the Hindu mythological figure ‘Brahma’ obtained through reading scripture, who is any way part of the creation and is not ‘The Absolute’. Brahma of Hindu Mythology is not part of Sikhi.
1. bRhm igAwnI sgl kI rInw ] barahm gi-aanee sagal kee reenaa.
The Braham Gyani is the dust of all.
2. Awqm rsu bRhm igAwnI cInw ] aatam ras barahm gi-aanee cheenaa.
Braham Gyani realizes the essence of its self.
My understanding:
This first sentence of this Pauri is very similar to the one used by Guru Sahib in defining the spiritually evolved pure people in the 3rd Pauri of the 7th Ashtapadee.
Very aptly Guru Sahib has used the word ‘Dust’ in a metaphoric manner to convey his teaching. Guru Sahib, by using this metaphor does not mean any debasement of Braham Gyani. I elaborate
The dust has extremely small particles; it is a loose particle; as such it cannot form any shape on its own. As the person walks over it, it adjusts itself to accept the impression that the persons shoe or feet impress on it. It conveys a lot. It means that the Braham Gyani’s self is not hardened. It accepts the truth as it is similar to the way the dust forms the impression of the entity that walks over it. Even this impression is not permanent, as we all know that the impression formed by our feet on loose dust get erased very soon by the air blowing over it. This is to say that Braham Gyani does not carry the baggage of past memories. Braham Gyani is always fresh as a new born baby.
Metaphoric use of the word ‘Dust’ also conveys that the Braham Gyani has no Ahamkara; the person’s being does not have a form of its own just as the dust does not have.
There is further to it, as the dust does not attach to any object and can be flow away by a small wind, so is the case who has evolved in the company of pure and spiritually evolved people – the person has no attachments.
The person becomes very humble as the dust.
Braham Gyani is not obsessed by the attraction of the world; she or he remains pure from within. The life of Braham Gyani is refection of the ‘Sat’ within and thus such a person knows the true nature of its own self.
This is what Guru Sahib is conveying to his disciples.
3. bRhm igAwnI kI sB aUpir mieAw ] barahm gi-aanee kee sabh oopar ma-i-aa.
The Braham Gyani care for every entity of the creation.
4. bRhm igAwnI qy kCu burw n BieAw ] barahm gi-aanee tay kachh buraa na bha-i-aa.
Nothing bad can come from Braham Gyani.
My understanding:
As said in the above in this Pauri, Braham Gyani knows what ‘The Sat’ is and what its ways are. Being an instrument of ‘The Sat’ all of its action speech and thoughts are in line with the ways of ‘The Sat’; Braham Gyani is ‘The Sat’ like. Braham Gyani lives of the good of the creation of ‘The Sat’. What to say about any evil action, even the though of such action will never even get triggered in its functioning brain. The Braham Gyani remains engaged only for the good of the creation.
5. bRhm igAwnI sdw smdrsI ] barahm gi-aanee sadaa samadrasee.
Braham Gyani is behavior and actions are truthful.
6. bRhm igAwnI kI idRsit AMimRqu brsI ] barahm gi-aanee kee darisat amrit b{censored}e.
The glances of Braham Gyani are soothing like Nectar.
My understanding:
Braham Gyani is one who has received the knowledge and wisdom of ‘The Sat’. This happens only when the individual has dissolved its ego – Ahamkara– and has become the perfect instrument of ‘The Sat’ living to carry out the will of ‘The Sat’ i.e. preservation, protection and evolution of the creation of ‘The Sat’. In this state the persons being acts in a godly manner, in a ‘Sat like’ way which does not favour of discriminate against any one.
The acts of such person are benign and helpful for the common good of all. This gets expressed in all aspects of the Braham Gyani’s living
7. bRhm igAwnI bMDn qy mukqw ] barahm gi-aanee banDhan tay muktaa.
Braham Gyani is free from all bondages.
8. bRhm igAwnI kI inrml jugqw ] barahm gi-aanee kee nirmal jugtaa.
The life of Braham Gyani is stainless.
My understanding:
Braham Gyani is the one who has become one with ‘The Sat’. Such individual become free from all attachment which restricts its life. This spiritually evolved person reaches a level where the dualities, which create dilemma in one’s mind stand fully, dissolved. This person has understood the meaning of ‘Ek Oangkar’. Braham Gyani knows that all Akaaras – forms – in the creation of ‘The Sat’ are manifestation of the same ‘Ek Oangkar’. This way Braham Gyani is fully aware that even the creator and its creation is one and the same. Serving the Creation of ‘The Sat’ is same as serving ‘The Sat’ itself. That is why Sikhs have been asked to see ‘The Sat’ in Satsang. This way Braham Gyani fully realized the understanding of ‘The One’. Braham Gyani has no Ahamkara and thus has no ‘I-ness’ in her or him. This ‘I-ness’, as I understand, is the address which is used by Karmic processes to deliver the due from the past karmas; being address-less the Braham Gyani become totally immune to the Karmic processes of the creation of ‘The Sat’.
None of the actions performed by Braham Gyani are in her or his personal interest; such individual is only serving ‘The Sat’ through its creation, without any bounding dualities viz. likes dislikes, mine and yours etc. This makes the life of the Braham Gyani spotless.
9. bRhm igAwnI kw Bojnu igAwn ] barahm gi-aanee kaa bhojan gi-aan.
Braham Gyani lives it’s life based on Spiritual wisdom, which is like food to her or him.
10. nwnk bRhm igAwnI kw bRhm iDAwnu ]3] naanak barahm gi-aanee kaa barahm Dhi-aan. ||3||
O Nanak, Braham Gyani is always absorbed in thoughts about ‘The Sat’, or actions or speech for furthering the cause of ‘The Sat’ ||3||
My understanding:
In the above two lines Guru Sahib tells us that all that the Braham Gyani does in its life is directed to promote the will and cause of ‘The Sat’ – may be thought, action or speech all that Braham Gyani does is with undivided attention. Thus all is like meditation. It is the spiritual wisdom that sustains Braham Gyani. The way food sustains the body; spiritual wisdom illuminates and sustains the being of the Braham Gyani.
With this I close the post.
With love and respect for all.
Amarpal Singh
With the grace of ‘The Sat’, today I share my understanding of 3rd Pauri of 8th Ashtapadee of Sukhmani Sahib with you.
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 in this Pauri explains to us the nature of the person who is Braham-Gyani.
Few words of Caution:
It is important to understand what Braham-Gyani means. This term Guru Sahib has taken from the common parlance among the spiritually evolved pure people.
Brahma, as per Hindu mythology is the creator. Bhagavatam, the compilation of Ved Vyas, elaborates on Brahma. According to this elaboration, Brahama was born and will get dissolve after some time. His life time too is given in Bhagavatam. This, according to Sikhi makes Brahma part of the creation as he takes birth, lives a life and then dies; ‘The Sat’ according to Gurbani never takes birth ‘Ajuni’; it is beyond the clutches of time i.e. ‘Akaal Murat’. Since Brahma takes birth and dies it cannot be taken to be the creator according to Gurbani. The ‘Karta Purakh’ does not take birth. This ‘Karta Purakh’ is the creator according to Gurbani, which I refer to as ‘The Sat’. According to Gurbani between ‘Karta Purakh’ i.e. ‘The Sat’ and his creation, including us, there is no one. Thus we, Sikhs, have nothing to do with Brahama, an entity of Hindu Mythology.
Thus when Guru Sahib use the term ‘Braham-Gyani’ it means the person who has Gyan (intrinsic knowledge obtained through personal experience) regarding ‘The Sat’ and is not referring to the person who has the knowledge of the Hindu mythological figure ‘Brahma’ obtained through reading scripture, who is any way part of the creation and is not ‘The Absolute’. Brahma of Hindu Mythology is not part of Sikhi.
1. bRhm igAwnI sgl kI rInw ] barahm gi-aanee sagal kee reenaa.
The Braham Gyani is the dust of all.
2. Awqm rsu bRhm igAwnI cInw ] aatam ras barahm gi-aanee cheenaa.
Braham Gyani realizes the essence of its self.
My understanding:
This first sentence of this Pauri is very similar to the one used by Guru Sahib in defining the spiritually evolved pure people in the 3rd Pauri of the 7th Ashtapadee.
Very aptly Guru Sahib has used the word ‘Dust’ in a metaphoric manner to convey his teaching. Guru Sahib, by using this metaphor does not mean any debasement of Braham Gyani. I elaborate
The dust has extremely small particles; it is a loose particle; as such it cannot form any shape on its own. As the person walks over it, it adjusts itself to accept the impression that the persons shoe or feet impress on it. It conveys a lot. It means that the Braham Gyani’s self is not hardened. It accepts the truth as it is similar to the way the dust forms the impression of the entity that walks over it. Even this impression is not permanent, as we all know that the impression formed by our feet on loose dust get erased very soon by the air blowing over it. This is to say that Braham Gyani does not carry the baggage of past memories. Braham Gyani is always fresh as a new born baby.
Metaphoric use of the word ‘Dust’ also conveys that the Braham Gyani has no Ahamkara; the person’s being does not have a form of its own just as the dust does not have.
There is further to it, as the dust does not attach to any object and can be flow away by a small wind, so is the case who has evolved in the company of pure and spiritually evolved people – the person has no attachments.
The person becomes very humble as the dust.
Braham Gyani is not obsessed by the attraction of the world; she or he remains pure from within. The life of Braham Gyani is refection of the ‘Sat’ within and thus such a person knows the true nature of its own self.
This is what Guru Sahib is conveying to his disciples.
3. bRhm igAwnI kI sB aUpir mieAw ] barahm gi-aanee kee sabh oopar ma-i-aa.
The Braham Gyani care for every entity of the creation.
4. bRhm igAwnI qy kCu burw n BieAw ] barahm gi-aanee tay kachh buraa na bha-i-aa.
Nothing bad can come from Braham Gyani.
My understanding:
As said in the above in this Pauri, Braham Gyani knows what ‘The Sat’ is and what its ways are. Being an instrument of ‘The Sat’ all of its action speech and thoughts are in line with the ways of ‘The Sat’; Braham Gyani is ‘The Sat’ like. Braham Gyani lives of the good of the creation of ‘The Sat’. What to say about any evil action, even the though of such action will never even get triggered in its functioning brain. The Braham Gyani remains engaged only for the good of the creation.
5. bRhm igAwnI sdw smdrsI ] barahm gi-aanee sadaa samadrasee.
Braham Gyani is behavior and actions are truthful.
6. bRhm igAwnI kI idRsit AMimRqu brsI ] barahm gi-aanee kee darisat amrit b{censored}e.
The glances of Braham Gyani are soothing like Nectar.
My understanding:
Braham Gyani is one who has received the knowledge and wisdom of ‘The Sat’. This happens only when the individual has dissolved its ego – Ahamkara– and has become the perfect instrument of ‘The Sat’ living to carry out the will of ‘The Sat’ i.e. preservation, protection and evolution of the creation of ‘The Sat’. In this state the persons being acts in a godly manner, in a ‘Sat like’ way which does not favour of discriminate against any one.
The acts of such person are benign and helpful for the common good of all. This gets expressed in all aspects of the Braham Gyani’s living
7. bRhm igAwnI bMDn qy mukqw ] barahm gi-aanee banDhan tay muktaa.
Braham Gyani is free from all bondages.
8. bRhm igAwnI kI inrml jugqw ] barahm gi-aanee kee nirmal jugtaa.
The life of Braham Gyani is stainless.
My understanding:
Braham Gyani is the one who has become one with ‘The Sat’. Such individual become free from all attachment which restricts its life. This spiritually evolved person reaches a level where the dualities, which create dilemma in one’s mind stand fully, dissolved. This person has understood the meaning of ‘Ek Oangkar’. Braham Gyani knows that all Akaaras – forms – in the creation of ‘The Sat’ are manifestation of the same ‘Ek Oangkar’. This way Braham Gyani is fully aware that even the creator and its creation is one and the same. Serving the Creation of ‘The Sat’ is same as serving ‘The Sat’ itself. That is why Sikhs have been asked to see ‘The Sat’ in Satsang. This way Braham Gyani fully realized the understanding of ‘The One’. Braham Gyani has no Ahamkara and thus has no ‘I-ness’ in her or him. This ‘I-ness’, as I understand, is the address which is used by Karmic processes to deliver the due from the past karmas; being address-less the Braham Gyani become totally immune to the Karmic processes of the creation of ‘The Sat’.
None of the actions performed by Braham Gyani are in her or his personal interest; such individual is only serving ‘The Sat’ through its creation, without any bounding dualities viz. likes dislikes, mine and yours etc. This makes the life of the Braham Gyani spotless.
9. bRhm igAwnI kw Bojnu igAwn ] barahm gi-aanee kaa bhojan gi-aan.
Braham Gyani lives it’s life based on Spiritual wisdom, which is like food to her or him.
10. nwnk bRhm igAwnI kw bRhm iDAwnu ]3] naanak barahm gi-aanee kaa barahm Dhi-aan. ||3||
O Nanak, Braham Gyani is always absorbed in thoughts about ‘The Sat’, or actions or speech for furthering the cause of ‘The Sat’ ||3||
My understanding:
In the above two lines Guru Sahib tells us that all that the Braham Gyani does in its life is directed to promote the will and cause of ‘The Sat’ – may be thought, action or speech all that Braham Gyani does is with undivided attention. Thus all is like meditation. It is the spiritual wisdom that sustains Braham Gyani. The way food sustains the body; spiritual wisdom illuminates and sustains the being of the Braham Gyani.
With this I close the post.
With love and respect for all.
Amarpal Singh
