English Translation of the Daily Hukamnama. (Siri Guru Granth Sahib ji. Ang: 595)

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Today’s hukamnama is from Guru Nanak Devji in raag Sorath from page 595 of Siri Guru Granth Sahib.

<> siq nwmu krqw purKu inrBau inrvYru Akwl mUriq AjUnI sYBM gur pRswid ]
ik-onkaar sat naam kartaa purakh nirbha-o nirvair akaal moorat ajoonee saibhan gur parsaad.
One Universal Creator God. Truth Is The Name. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Undying. Beyond Birth. Self-Existent. By Guru’s Grace

soriT mhlw 1 Gru 1 caupdy ] 
sorath mehlaa 1 ghar 1 cha-upday.
Sorat’h, First Mehl, First House, Chau-Padas:

In the hukam today the Guru is talking to us about death and death is something inevitable for everybody, but we spend most of our lives caught in the world, not remembering that we have come here to go. In this hukam, the Guru is trying to help us understand how to see life in a way that is going to allow our death to be very smooth and easy.

sBnw mrxw AwieAw vyCoVw sBnwh ]
sabhnaa marnaa aa-i-aa vaychhorhaa sabhnaah.
The hukam begins by saying that death comes to everybody and that everybody has to go through this experience and unpleasantness of having the soul separated from the mind and body.

puChu jwie isAwixAw AwgY imlxu iknwh ]
puchhahu jaa-ay si-aani-aa aagai milan kinaah.

He sort of offers a challenge – we have people in our communities and societies who are really clever and he is going to be talking a lot about pride in this hukam. Those who have cleverness and pride of mind, he says go and talk to them and ask them how they are going to get together after they die, how they are going to meet with each other in the here after, it is sort of challenge to that clever intellect.

ijn myrw swihbu vIsrY vfVI vydn iqnwh ]1]
jin mayraa saahib veesrai vadrhee vaydan tinaah. ||1||

He says that those who forget about the Master of Creation, that there is a power that is a master power about everything, when they die it is going to be a really, really painful experience for them.

BI swlwihhu swcw soie ]
bhee saalaahihu saachaa so-ay.

So he gives us the way to not walk that road, he says be in a deep, deep appreciation of the creation and the true reality.

jw kI ndir sdw suKu hoie ] rhwau ]
jaa kee nadar sadaa sukh ho-ay ||Pause||

He talks about nadar, which is the divine gaze. He uses the word nadar in Japji Sahib, where he talks about the point of life, the reason for living and the reason for the human body is nadar. This means that through the human body and the human life, we get the chance to see the divine. He says that if you have that experience in nadar, you will always be in peace.

vfw kir swlwhxw hY BI hosI soie ]
vadaa kar salaahnaa hai bhee hosee so-ay.

He continues on about talking about the importance of deep, deep appreciation of the divine and says it is great, we should speak about how great being in the creation is and how great the Creator is. That Creator always was and always shall be.

sBnw dwqw eyku qU mwxs dwiq n hoie ]
sabhnaa daataa ayk too maanas daat na ho-ay.

He talks about the quality of the Master that this one Power, this one Master, you are the giver to all of us, whatever we receive, you are the one giving it to us. He juxtaposes that and says that it is not possible that human beings can give anything to each other. It is an illusion when we think that we can give to each other, the reality is that there is one Giver, who gives to all of us.

jo iqsu BwvY so QIAY rMn ik ruMnY hoie ]2]
jo tis bhaavai so thee-ai rann ke runnai ho-ay. ||2||

And he says whatever happens in life, its only what pleases that Master. That Master is the giver and gives based on what’s pleasing, and that is what comes to pass. So, when we get into the illusion of pride and we think that we are the doer and we think we have anything to do with what’s happening in our lives, it is an illusion of the mind, Guru Nanak is trying to get us to see that, so we can appreciate being in form and appreciate the Creator. But, everything is a gift and whatever comes to pass is by the Will and the Hand of that One. So, what good does it do for us to complain about anything that is happening in our lives.

DrqI aupir kot gV kyqI geI vjwie ]
Dhartee upar kot garh kaytee ga-ee vajaa-ay.

Then he talks about what happens for so many people is that in their pride they proclaim that they are some kind of sovereign over so many millions of empires on the earth, but all of these people have left their body.

jo Asmwin n mwvnI iqn nik nQw pwie ]
jo asmaan na maavnee tin nak nathaa paa-ay.

Even though in their own sub-concept, when they were alive, they had such a big ego that not even the sky could contain them, still at the end, you know the phrase they had ropes through their noses, they were guided by the hand of this One Giver, One Master. So, it was totally in the way that they saw themselves and they saw their lives.

jy mn jwxih sUlIAw kwhy imTw Kwih ]3]
jay man jaaneh soolee-aa kaahay mithaa khaahi. ||3||

He warns his own mind, look if you only knew how painful it is to have that experience in the future of leaving your body, without ever having recognized the divine, you would not be so quick to complain about the pleasures of the present.

nwnk Aaugux jyqVy qyqy glI jMjIr ]
naanak a-ogun jayt-rhay taytay galee janjeer.

He continues in his intention of preparing us for death and says that as many times, as you act without virtue, so when we come from our selfishness, when we come from our desires for pleasures, when we come from a place of what we want regardless of how it hurts people. Every time we act without virtue, that is a chain we put around our neck.

jy gux hoin q ktIAin sy BweI sy vIr ]
jay gun hon ta katee-an say bhaa-ee say veer.

But, every time we act from virtue, when we are coming from the Guru’s wisdom, coming from compassion, coming from service then everyone of those acts cut away one of the chains around our neck and the virtues are our siblings, our family, our very, very respected family members. So he is giving us a guide that to act without virtue chains us, but to act with virtue cuts those chains.

AgY gey n mMnIAin mwir kFhu vypIr ]4]1]
agai ga-ay na mannee-an maar kadhahu vaypeer. ||4||1||

He says people who leave, they leave the body and go into the hereafter, if they don’t understand these things about living in virtue versus not living in virtue, if have never understood that, if they have lived their pride that He describes earlier in the hukam, then they are not going to be accepted. When we leave our body, it is chance for the soul and divine energy to reconnect and remerge with each other.

But it is possible if we have not used our human life properly, that that merger can’t happen and we have to come back and have the experience of leaving the body and its no you are not accepted back home, we don’t accept ourselves going home, because we haven’t lived our lives properly and those souls are beat up in a way and they are expelled and thrown back into the cycle of birth and death. 

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa! Waheguru ji ki Fateh!