English translation of the daily Hukamnama
(Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Ang: 625)

WaheGuru Ji Ka Khalsa! WaheGuru Ji Ki Fateh!

Today’s Hukamnama is by Guru Arjan Dev Ji in Raag Sorath on Ang 625 of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib.

soriT mhlw 5 ]
sorat(h) mehalaa 5 ||
Sorat’h, Fifth Mehla:

ismir ismir pRB Bey AnMdw duK klys siB nwTy ]
simar simar prabh bheae ana(n)dhaa dhukh kalaes sabh naat(h)ae ||
Remembering, remembering God in meditation, bliss ensues, and one is rid of all suffering and pain.

gun gwvq iDAwvq pRBu Apnw kwrj sgly sWTy ]1]
gun gaavath dhhiaavath prabh apanaa kaaraj sagalae saa(n)t(h)ae ||1||
Singing the Glorious Praises of God, and meditating on Him, all my affairs are brought into harmony. ||1||

jgjIvn nwmu qumwrw ]
jagajeevan naam thumaaraa ||
Your Name is the Life of the world.

gur pUry dIE aupdysw jip Baujlu pwir auqwrw ] rhwau ]
gur poorae dheeou oupadhaesaa jap bhoujal paar outhaaraa || rehaao ||
The Perfect Guru has taught me, that by meditating, I cross over the terrifying world-ocean. ||Pause||

qUhY mMqRI sunih pRB qUhY sBu ikCu krxYhwrw ]
thoohai ma(n)three sunehi prabh thoohai sabh kishh karanaihaaraa ||
You are Your own advisor; You hear everything, God, and You do everything

qU Awpy dwqw Awpy Bugqw ikAw iehu jMqu ivcwrw ]2]
thoo aapae dhaathaa aapae bhugathaa kiaa eihu ja(n)th vichaaraa ||2||
You Yourself are the Giver, and You Yourself are the Enjoyer. What can this poor creature do? ||2||

ikAw gux qyry AwiK vKwxI kImiq khxu n jweI ]
kiaa gun thaerae aakh vakhaanee keemath kehan n jaaee ||
Which of Your Glorious Virtues should I describe and speak of? Your value cannot be described.

pyiK pyiK jIvY pRBu Apnw Acrju qumih vfweI ]3]
paekh paekh jeevai prabh apanaa acharaj thumehi vaddaaee ||3||
I live by beholding, beholding You, O God. Your glorious greatness is wonderful and amazing! ||3||

Dwir AnugRhu Awip pRB svwmI piq miq kInI pUrI ]
dhhaar anugrahu aap prabh svaamee path math keenee pooree ||
Granting His Grace, God my Lord and Master Himself saved my honor, and my intellect has been made perfect.

sdw sdw nwnk bilhwrI bwCau sMqw DUrI ]4]13]63]
sadhaa sadhaa naanak balihaaree baashho sa(n)thaa dhhooree ||4||13||63||
Forever and ever, Nanak is a sacrifice, longing for the dust of the feet of the Saints. ||4||13||63||

Katha by Guruka Singh Ji.

He starts out by saying that, when we practice Simran it fills us with Bliss, we are rid of suffering and death. He doesn’t mean that we won’t experience death. He means that pain and pleasure no longer take us up and down. But by Simran, remembering our true identity, remembering the one God, singing God’s praises, and meditating upon God, all the affairs of life are taken care of and we relax. And we don’t experience pain.

He goes on to say that the Naam is the only thing that takes us through the world. And when we meditate we can cross over the ocean of the world and keep our peace. And keep our balance and live in grace. And then he says that these are the attributes of God – that god is self-contained, and he hears everything and does everything. God is the giver of all and the ingenitor of all. And he says that everything we do, and everything that harkens and happens to us, happens by the God within us, the grace that flows through us.

And then he asks, “How can I praise God? How can I speak about God?” He says, “I can’t.” There is no way to describe this because there are no words to express this experience.

He says, “ I just live by seeing God within everything, within every person, within every plant, within everything that I see, I see God.” And that this experience of seeing God in all is beyond description. It is wonderful. It is beyond words to express.

He ends by saying that through grace God protected him …
My consciousness became perfect by the grace of God. And for ever and ever, and through all time and space, Nanaak offers himself, surrenders himself, gives himself up to the dust of the feet of the saints because of his deep, deep love to merge with the Guru and the sacred SadhSangat.

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa! Waheguru ji ki Fateh!

Katha by Sukha Singh Ji.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa! Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!

Today’s Hukamnama is by Guru Arjan Dev Ji in Raag Sorath on Ang 625 of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib.

Today’s Hukamnama is in the Raag Sorath. Sorath Raag has a quality of strength about it. In Sorath Raag the feeling of faith is so strong that it is meant to convey the idea of actually following what you believe. Your faith is so strong that you are doing something not because you have to do it, or because you want to do it, but because you are engaging with it, because you are getting something out of it, because you are becoming one with it.

This strength of soul can be seen to greatly in the Guruji who wrote the Shabad, Siri Guru Arjan Dev ji.

Siri Guru Arjan Dev ji had that steadfastness about him and it was that spirit, you could say, of Sorath Raag, which Guru Arjan Dev ji showed us when he sat on the hot burning plate during his martyrdom. So, whilst reading this Hukamnama, try and take your mind into the whole feeling of Sorath Raag, and we should remember to learn from Guru Arjan Dev ji’s example.

The Hukamnama’s first line is simar simar prabh bheae ana(n)dhaa dhukh kalaes sabh naat(h)ae ||.
simar simar, by remembering and remembering and meditating upon prabh, God, bheae ana(n)dhaa, ana(n)dhaa means complete celestial bliss. We use the word anandh very lightly, in many contexts. If someone asks us “how we are?” we sometimes say “I am in anandh”. But, Guru Amardas ji says in Anand Sahib, anand anand sabh ko kahaye, anand Guru te janaie. The only way of realizing true peace of mind and true peace inside you is through that meditation, because all other ways are temporary. That worldly peace only remains for a few minutes or a few seconds. The peace you get by taking a drug will only stay there for a few hours and then it will go. The peace you get by buying a new car, the satisfaction you get by buying a new TV will only stay there for a few hours, and you then get bored. But, the joy of meditation is that it never gets boring. You go deeper and deeper into your soul and you get this anand, this celestial peace. dhukh kalaes sabh naat(h)ae, Guruji says all, sabh, dhukh, pain, kalaes, suffering; kalaes also means argument within yourself. All of your internal pains and external pains, the pains of your mind, body and soul, so many pains in your body are created, because your soul feels locked; because our souls don’t get the food of Naam that they need. dhukh kalaes sabh naat(h)ae, all of the pains, all of the suffering, all of the arguments within ourselves, because of duality, go.

gun gaavath dhhiaavath prabh apanaa kaaraj sagalae saa(n)t(h)ae By singing the praises, gun, praises, gaavath, singing, dhhiaavath, focusing, meditating upon prabh, upon our Lord, upon our God; apanaa kaaraj sagalae saa(n)t(h)ae, all our affairs, all the things that we do in our lives, God takes them and puts them into harmony. We start the meditation within, if we start looking deep within our souls, Guru and God will take care of all the worldly things. The day that we think that this house is ours, the day that we think that these family members are ours, and we think that they belong to us, then we are taking on all responsibilities. The day that we believe that naturally that this house is God’s, this car is God’s, our family members are God’s and God will look after them. That’s when all the affairs are brought into harmony.

jagajeevan naam thumaaraa, O Waheguru ji Your name, is the life of the world. It brings creation to the world. Your name is the thing which keeps me alive. Guru Nanak Dev ji says aakhan jeevaan visare mare jaon, it brings life to the world spiritually, also physically. Spiritually, the Naam awakens us from inside, physically, Guru Amardas ji says in Maajh Mahala 3, creation and destruction happen through the shabad, through the shabad creation happens again. This means in Gurmat, we believe even the external creation happened through the vibration of the shabad.

gur poorae dheeou oupadhaesaa jap bhoujal paar outhaaraa || rehaao || The perfect Guru, the True Guru, poorae means True and perfect, dheeou has given, oupadhaesaa, this message to me, jap bhoujal paar outhaaraa, meditating upon God’s name you will go across this world ocean. bhoujal, bhou means fear, jal means ocean, this terrifying, this fear-filled world ocean. paar outhaaraa, crossing over; rehaao, pause and think about this.

thoohai ma(n)three sunehi prabh thoohai sabh kishh karanaihaaraa O God you are the advisor, you hear everything, ma(n)three means advisor, sunehi means listen, prabh means Lord, thoohai sabh kishh karanaihaaraa, sabh means all, kishh everything, karanaihaaraa means one who does everything. Karta Purakh God is in all, he is listening through all. Guru Gobind Singh says in Choupai Sahib he knows each heart.

thoo aapae dhaathaa aapae bhugathaa kiaa eihu ja(n)th vichaaraa, You are the giver and You are the taker, what can we do, Guruji says. thoo aapae dhaathaa, dhaathaa means giver, bhugathaa is the one who takes, one who enjoys, kiaa eihu ja(n)th, Guruji is saying janth means creature, vichaaraa means poor, what can this poor human being do, everything is You; in each You are the One, working through everyone.

kiaa gun thaerae aakh vakhaanee keemath kehan n jaaee how many of your praises can I describe, O God, how many of your virtues, kiaa gun means how many virtues, thaerae aakh vakhaanee, aakh means to say, vakhaanee means to describe and speak of. keemath value, kehan n jaaee, value of You O Waheguru ji cannot even be described.

paekh paekh jeevai prabh apanaa acharaj thumehi vaddaaee. paekh paekh by beholding you, jeevai brings life to me, seeing You working in everything; those who are attuned to God, when they look at the world they say O God, I am a sacrifice to the many ways that You work in the world around me. I am a sacrifice to You, I see the trees, I see You, I look at the animals, I see You, I look at the people around me, I see You. O God acharaj thumehi vaddaaee, acharaj means wonderful and amazing, thumehi vaddaaee, vaddaaee means Your greatness, O God your greatness is so amazing.

dhhaar anugrahu aap prabh svaamee path math keenee pooree By God’s own grace, dhhaar anugrahu, anugrahu means grace, dhhaar means granting, so God granted His grace upon me. aap prabh svaamee, the Lord God , He saved my honour, path means honour, math means intellect. keenee pooree He gave me the True honour, which is to honour everyone, He gave me True math which is to love everyone.

sadhaa sadhaa naanak balihaaree baashho sa(n)thaa dhhooree sadhaa sadhaa means forever and ever, naanak balihaaree, Nanak is a sacrifice to You O God, baashho sa(n)thaa dhhooree, and the only thing I ask for is the dust of the feet of the Holy Ones, those who are attuned to You. So, all in all, to sum up, this Hukamnama is saying that Naam is everything, God’s Naam, the name of God will bring us back to life, some days we feel dead, mentally, physically, spiritually. Guruji is saying that the Naam, the Shabad is the way to revitalize ourselves. Don’t go and drink a cup of coffee, don’t go and try and cheer yourself up with a film, you are feeling down, Guruji is saying the first thing you should do is to engage with the Naam, try and feel Waheguru ji inside.

I leave you again with the rehaao lines, jagajeevan naam thumaaraa || gur poorae dheeou oupadhaesaa jap bhoujal paar outhaaraa || rehaao ||

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa! Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!