English translation of the daily Hukamnama.

(Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Ang:663)

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Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!

Today’s hukamnama is by Guru Nanak Devji Maharaj in the raag Dhanasaree on Ang 663 of Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj.

DnwsrI mhlw 1 AwrqI (663-4)
Dhanaasree mehlaa 1 aartee (663-4)
Dhanaasaree, First Mehla, Aartee: (663-4)

<> siqgur pRswid ]
ik-oNkaar satgur parsaad.
One Continuous God, Eternal, True, Divine Enlightener, Merciful, Guru’s Grace.

ggn mY Qwlu riv cMdu dIpk bny qwirkw mMfl jnk moqI ]
gagan mai thaal rav chand deepak banay taarikaa mandal janak motee.
In the bowl of the sky, the sun and moon are the lamps; the stars in the constellations are the pearls.

DUpu mlAwnlo pvxu cvro kry sgl bnrwie PUlµq joqI ]1]
Dhoop mal-aanlo pavan chavro karay sagal banraa-ay foolant jotee. ||1||
The fragrance of sandalwood is the incense, the wind is the fan, and all the vegetation are flowers in offering to You, O Luminous Lord. ||1||

kYsI AwrqI hoie Bv KMfnw qyrI AwrqI ]
kaisee aartee ho-ay bhav khandnaa tayree aartee.
What a beautiful lamp-lit worship service this is! O Destroyer of Fear, this Ceremony of Lights is Yours.

Anhqw sbd vwjMq ByrI ]1] rhwau ]
anhataa sabad vaajant bhayree. ||1|| rahaa-o.
The sound current of the Shabad is the sounding of the drums. ||1||Pause||

shs qv nYn nn nYn hY qoih kau shs mUriq nnw eyk qohI ]
sahas tav nain nan nain hai tohi ka-o sahas moorat nanaa ayk tohee.
Thousands are Your eyes, and yet You have no eyes. Thousands are Your forms, and yet You have not even one form.

shs pd ibml nn eyk pd gMD ibnu shs qv gMD iev clq mohI ]2]
sahas pad bimal nan ayk pad ganDh bin sahas tav ganDh iv chalat mohee. ||2||
Thousands are Your lotus feet, and yet You have no feet. Without a nose, thousands are Your noses. I am enchanted with Your play! ||2||

sB mih joiq joiq hY soie ]
sabh meh jot jot hai so-ay.
The Divine Light is within everyone; You are that Light.

iqs kY cwnix sB mih cwnxu hoie ]
tis kai chaanan sabh meh chaanan ho-ay.
Yours is that Light which shines within everyone.

gur swKI joiq prgtu hoie ]
gur saakhee jot pargat ho-ay.
By the Guru’s Teachings, this Divine Light is revealed.

jo iqsu BwvY su AwrqI hoie ]3]
jo tis bhaavai so aartee ho-ay. ||3||
That which pleases the Lord is the true worship service. ||3||

hir crx kml mkrMd loiBq mno Anidno moih AwhI ipAwsw ]
har charan kamal makrand lobhit mano andino mohi aahee pi-aasaa.
My soul is enticed by the honey-sweet lotus feet of the Lord; night and day, I thirst for them.

ik®pw jlu dyih nwnk swirMg kau hoie jw qy qyrY nwim vwsw ]4]1]7]9]
kirpaa jal deh naanak saaring ka-o ho-ay jaa tay tayrai naam vaasaa. ||4||1||7||9||
Bless Nanak, the thirsty song-bird, with the water of Your Mercy, that he may come to dwell in Your Name. ||4||1||7||9||

Hukamnama today is in the raag Dhanasaree. The raag dhanasaree is a raag of carefreeness where the soul falls into the ocean of Waheguru and becomes totally carefree. The shabad is by Guru Nanak Devji and the title of the shabad is aartee. Aartee is traditionally a form of devotional worship and there is a small story which is attached to this shabad. The story is this that Guru Nanak Devji was in Jaganaath, which is a holy pilgrimage of the Hindus sited in India. Guru Nanak Devji was sitting outside a great Mandir, a great Hindu temple in Jaganath. As Guru Nanak Devji was sitting there the evening time came and as per the Hindu tradition the Brahmin, Hindu priest who were within the temple began to form this ceremony of devotional worship where they light candles which are put into a plate and circulate them in front of an idol. But Guru Nanak Devji saw that these people were just carrying out a ritual, there was no love in what they were doing. There was no understanding to what they were doing. There was no meaning to what they were doing because there was no love. Their minds were not into the devotional worship as devotion. Their minds just saw this as a ritual which they had to fulfill. Everyone stood up through this devotion/worship but Guru Nanak Devji remained seated. At the end the Brahmin, Hindu priest came up to Guru Nanak and said, “You look like a holy man but you act like a fool. You haven’t stood up during the aarti! You didn’t join us in our worship.” Guru Nanak Devji said this shabad back in response to them. Guru Nanak Devji basically said to them this is the aarti which I see happening. This is the true which I see happening because your aarti was being done as a ritual, there was no love in the aarti that you were doing. Your mind saw that as a ritual and then Guru Nanak Devji said this shabad.

Ik-oNkaar satgur parsaad. There is one universal creator being who is found through true Guru’s grace.

Gagan mai thaal rav chand deepak banay taarikaa mandal janak motee. Gagan means the sky, mai means in, thaal means the plate, rav means sun, chaand means moon, Deepak means lamps, lights, candles, taarikaa means the stars, mandal means the whole sky, all the constellations in the sky, all of the galaxies that we can see, motee means pearls. In the plate of the sky this is the cosmic devotional worship of God that the whole cosmos is doing because the whole cosmos is completely imbued in the worship of the Lord. The sun and the moon are the candles in the plate of the sky. The galaxies and far of universe as far as we can see and the stars are the pearls which are imbedded into the plate of the sky. Guru Nanak Devji is singing such a beautiful worship of God here and showing us how the whole universe is in love with the creator.

Dhoop mal-aanlo pavan chavro karay sagal banraa-ay foolant jotee. Dhoop means the incense, mal-aanlo means sandlewood, pavan means the wind, chavro means fan, karay means to do, sagal means all, banraa-ay means nature, foolant means flower. jotee means the light of the world. The fragrance of the sandlewood trees is the incense in this worship, in this divine cosmic worship. The wind is the fan of the Lord. All nature, all the plants, vegetations are all flowers which are offering to you, Oh Lord!

Kaisee aartee ho-ay bhav khandnaa tayree aartee. Kaisee means how great, bhav means fear, khandnaa means the one who destroys, the one who eradicates. Guru Nanak Devji says, “Oh what a great aarti this is! Oh eradicator of fear, my Lord God, this is the aarti which is happening on a cosmic level of you.” The sky, the moon and the sun have more love for God than sometimes we display. That’s the point that Guru Nanak Devji is making here.

Anhataa sabad vaajant bhayree. Anhatta means sound current, sabad means the Shabad, vaajant means the playing, bhayree means the temple drums. The sound current of the Shabad is vibrating through out the whole vibration because we believe that Shabad is an internal vibration. The sound current of the Shabad is the playing of the temple drums, oh my Lord.

Rahaa-o. “Pause and think about this.”, Guruji says.

Sahas tav nain nan nain hai tohi ka-o sahas moorat nanaa ayk tohee. Sahas means thousands, tav means your eyes, nan means nose, nain means eyes, hai mean to have, moortan means forms, nana means yet no. Guruji is saying to God, “Oh Lord you have thousands of eyes, you see through everyone’s eyes yet you have no eyes!” You are in the form but you are formless: that’s what Guru Nanak Devji is trying to explain to us. He is within the form but He is formless. You have thousands of forms yet you don’t even have one form.

Sahas pad bimal nan ayk pad ganDh bin sahas tav ganDh iv chalat mohee. Sahas means thousands, pad means foot, bimal means gentle, lotus like feet, gandh means nose (in this context), chalet means the play mohee means to fall in love with. You have thousands of lotus like feet yet you have not even one foot. You have no feet. Yet without any nose you have thousands of noses. Guruji says, “Seeing this play of yours, seeing you in the formless and the form, I have fallen in love with it.”

Guru Nanak Dev Ji says, seeing this play of yours I have realized, “Sabh meh jot jot hai so-ay.” Sabh means all, meh means in, jot means the divine light, so-ay means you yourselve are the divine light. Your divine light is shining through everyone and you, Oh God, you are that divine light.

Tis kai chaanan sabh meh chaanan ho-ay. Tis chaanan means brigtness sabh means through all, meh means in, ho- Your light is shining through everyone. Through all that divine light is shining. Gur saakhee jot pargat ho-ay. Saakhee means teachings/ knowledge, pargat means to be revealed (In this context it does not mean to be ignited because divine light is already present within us it does not need to be ignited). But how do we realize that this divine light is shining through everyone? How can we become like Bhai Khanaya Ji and not distinguish between our friends and enemies and see all as one? Through the Guru’s teachings, through the Guru’s knowledge the divine light is revealed within us.

Jo tis bhaavai so aartee ho-ay. Jo means anything, tis means that Lord, bhaavai means to please. That which pleases the Lord is the true worship, is the true service.

Har charan kamal makrand lobhit mano andino mohi aahee pi-aasaa. Charan kamal means the lotus feet, makrand means the sweet, like honey, lobhit means completely in love, andino means day and night, mohi means I , aahee means to have, pi-aasaa means thirsty. I have great thirst for your beautiful lotus like, sweet honey like feet, oh God!

Kirpaa jal deh naanak saaring ka-o ho-ay jaa tay tayrai naam vaasaa. Kirpaa means blessing, jal means water, deh means to give, saaring means thirsty bird, tay means to dwell . Guru Nanak Devji is saying, “I am like a thirstly bird, Oh God! Shower your blessings upon me, give me the water of your blessings. May I come to dwell within your name, Oh God! Please bless Nanak with this great blessing.”

So where Guru Nanak is talking to those pandits, those Brahmins He is talking to us as well. “Bring that devotion within our souls.”, that’s what Guru Nanak Devji is saying to us. “Do not practice empty rituals.” An empty ritual is anything devoid of love. Don’t be devoid of love for even one second because even that one second becomes a ritual. Anything can become ritual! Don’t think rituals are consigned to other Dharmas. Anything within Sikh Dharma can become a ritual as well if it is not done with love. Guru Nanak Devji is saying, “Bring that devotion into you! See that devotion of the stars, see the devotion of the sun, see the devotion of the sky, of all these objects and devote yourself.”

May Guru Nanak Devji bless us with the love and devotion that we may see the cosmic devotion of the Lord going on around us.

Kaisee aartee ho-ay bhav khandnaa tayree aartee. Anhataa sabad vaajant bhayree. Rahaa-o.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!