English translation of the daily Hukamnama. (Ang: 654)

This Shabad is by Bhagat Kabeer Ji in Raag Sorath on Ang 654 of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib

jb jrIAY qb hoie Bsm qnu rhY ikrm dl KweI ]
jab jareeai thab hoe bhasam than rehai kiram dhal khaaee ||
When the body is burnt, it turns to ashes; if it is not cremated, then it is eaten by armies of worms.

kwcI gwgir nIru prqu hY ieAw qn kI iehY bfweI ]1]
kaachee gaagar neer parath hai eiaa than kee eihai baddaaee ||1||
The unbaked clay pitcher dissolves, when water is poured into it; this is also the nature of the body. ||1||

kwhy BeIAw iPrqO PUilAw PUilAw ]
kaahae bheeaa firatha fooliaa fooliaa ||
Why, O Siblings of Destiny, do you strut around, all puffed up with pride?

jb ds mws aurD muK rhqw so idnu kYsy BUilAw ]1] rhwau ]
jab dhas maas ouradhh mukh rehathaa so dhin kaisae bhooliaa ||1|| rehaao ||
Have you forgotten those days, when you were hanging, face down, for ten months? ||1||Pause||
 

ijau mDu mwKI iqau sToir rsu joir joir Dnu kIAw ]
jio madhh maakhee thio sat(h)or ras jor jor dhhan keeaa ||
Like the bee which collects honey, the fool eagerly gathers and collects wealth.

mrqI bwr lyhu lyhu krIAY BUqu rhn ikau dIAw ]2]
marathee baar laehu laehu kareeai bhooth rehan kio dheeaa ||2||
At the time of death, they shout, “”Take him away, take him away! Why leave a ghost lying around?”"||2||

dyhurI lau brI nwir sMig BeI AwgY sjn suhylw ]
dhaehuree lo baree naar sa(n)g bhee aagai sajan suhaelaa ||
His wife accompanies him to the threshold, and his friends and companions beyond.

mrGt lau sBu logu kutMbu BieE AwgY hMsu Akylw ]3]
maraghatt lo sabh log kutta(n)b bhaeiou aagai ha(n)s akaelaa ||3||
All the people and relatives go as far as the cremation grounds, and then, the soul-swan goes on alone. ||3||

khqu kbIr sunhu ry pRwnI pry kwl gRs kUAw ]
kehath kabeer sunahu rae praanee parae kaal gras kooaa ||
Says Kabeer, listen, O mortal being: you have been seized by Death, and you have fallen into the deep, dark pit

JUTI mwieAw Awpu bMDwieAw ijau nlnI BRim sUAw ]4]2]
jhoot(h)ee maaeiaa aap ba(n)dhhaaeiaa jio nalanee bhram sooaa ||4||2||
You have entangled yourself in the false wealth of Maya, like the parrot caught in the trap. ||4||2||

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa! Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!

Katha by Gurukha Singh Khalsa 

The hukamnama today is from Sri Kabeer ji in Raag Sorath, which is his favourite raag.

He speaks to us about death, and he says that the body, the physical body falls apart, everybody’s body falls apart. It is either burned or eaten by worms; that the body is just the temporary container.

Then he says remember this, and he asks us why are we filled with pride in our actions? Have we forgotten the last time that we died and were born? He reminds us that our worldly affairs are rushing about busily like bee collecting honey, and then we gather money and possessions in the same way.

He says that at the time of death, no one goes with you: your wife, your husband, your friends, your companions are all left behind and the soul travels on its journey all alone.

He admonishes us not to entangle ourselves in the false wealth of the world and be trapped by it. But, to remember that this all falls away, that the only thing that remains is the soul.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa! Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!

Katha by Bhai Sukha Singh 

The hukamnama today is by Bhagat Kabeer Ji. It’s in raag sorat. The raag sorat being a raag of a deep sense of conviction, a deep sense of belief in something. This raag is so powerful that it is said that when the raag sorat is played, even people who are totally unresponsive to other raags, are drawn into this raag sorat for the sheer power that it carries. And an even more powerful, Bhagat Ji is talking to us today. Hopefully this power will shake our souls. There is a story about Bhagat Kabeer Ji. It is said by some people that Kabeer Ji was once sitting and doing kathaa, and there was a line of people coming to see Kabeer Ji, and people were sitting down. All of a sudden, a horse and carriage carrying a famous wealthy person pulled up. The famous wealthy man had a garland of flowers around his neck. He had people waving fans to cool him down, and he literally shoved other people out of the way so he could see Kabeer Ji. And when he got to the front, the words that Kabeer Ji said are in this shabad. These words don’t just apply to that egotistical person, they apply to us today.

 Jab jaree-ai tab ho-ay bhasam tan rahai kiram dal khaa-ee.
Jaree-ai means to burn. Tan means body. When your body is burned, which you have so much pride over, then it simply becomes ashes. Rahai. If the body is left, and not cremated, kiram dal khaa-ee. Dal means army, kiram means ants and worms. Armies of ants and worms khaa-ee, eat away at your rotting flesh.
 
Kaachee gaagar neer parat hai i-aa tan kee ihai badaa-ee,
Kaachee means unbaked, gaagar means clay pitcher. Imagine a pitcher or a gaagar. When women walk to a well in India they carry a container, a pitcher, a gaagar on their head. Imagine a pitcher which is kacheeI-aa tan kee ihai badaa-ee". I-aa means this, tan means body. Badaa-ee means nature of. The nature of this body is to dissolve. When the water of death hits this unbaked clay pitcher of this body, it just dissolves. A pitcher which hasn’t even been baked. It’s not even solid. Neer means water. Parat means poured in. When water is poured into that unbaked pitcher, it completely dissolves. Kabeer Ji says, "Oh foolish man, oh foolish people."

Kaahay bha-ee-aa firtou fooli-aa fooli-aa.
Kaahay means why, bha-ee-aa means brother. Oh brother! firtou means to strut about. Fooli-aa fooli-aa means to pull, to puff up, to blossom with pride and ego. Kabeer Ji is talking to that man who is wearing flowers around his neck,  and is saying, those flowers are flowers of ego. But he’s talking to us now because we carry those flowers as well. We may not see them, they may not be physical, but we carry them around mentally. Kabeer Ji says, Why are you blossoming with pride? Why are you blossoming with ego?

Jab das maas uraDh mukh rahtaa so din kaisay bhooli-aa. 
So din means that day. Das means ten, maas means months.  For ten months. Uradh means upside down, mukh means face. Your face was upside down for ten months. Have you forgotten that day? Kabeer Ji is trying to tell us how weak and feeble this body is, and how we need to connect to the soul.  

Rehaa-o. Pause and think about this.

Ji-o maDh maakhee ti-o sathor ras jor jor Dhan kee-aa.
Ji-o means as. Maakhee means the bee, madh means honey. As the bee wanders from flower to flower collecting the honey, in this way, jor jor eagerly, the fool collects dhan, wealth. Jor jor means all of your energy, all of your power is devoted to just collecting wealth. And what happens in the end?

Martee baar layho layho karee-ai bhoot rahan ki-o dee-aa.
Martee means death, baar means time. At the time of death, what happens? Those people you have collected wealth for, they say layho layho karee-ai. Layho layho means take this away, take this body away. Bhoot means this haunted thing. Rahan kio dee-aa. This means, why have you left this here. Even the closest friends say, "Take this person away. Take this body to the crematorium. Take this body to the funeral house. Why have you left this scary thing here?"
 
Dayhuree la-o baree naar sang bha-ee aagai sajan suhaylaa.
Even your wife, the one who you were married to, baree means to be married to, dayhuree means only to the door. Only to the door of your house does your wife even accompany you. Kabeer Ji says, That wife that you love so much, she is only with you to the door of your house, the dayhuree. After that, aagai sajan suhaylaa. After that, your friends and companions carry you on their shoulders.

Marghat la-o sabh log kutamb bha-i-o aagai hans akaylaa.
And even those people who carry you, where do they take you? How far do they go? Marghat means the cremation ground. They take you to the funeral ground. All the people that you know, all those people, they only accompany you to the cremation ground. After that, what happens? Hans means the swan, the swan of the soul, akaylaa means alone. After that your soul is alone.

Kahat kabeer sunhu ray paraanee paray kaal garas koo-aa.
Kabeer says sunhu, Listen Oh Paraanee! Paraanee means the one who depends on paraanaa, the life force. Oh mortal! paray means to fall into, garas means to be seized by, to be held by. Paray kaal garas koo-aa.kaal, and you have fallen into this deep dark pit, this koo-aa. The deep dark pit of death is surrounding us, and still we don’t realise. Death is always with us. But we still don’t think about the soul.  

Jhoothee maa-i-aa aap banDhaa-i-aa ji-o nalnee bharam soo-aa.
The definition of maya is that which is false. Bhagat Ji is saying to us,"Jhoothee maa-i-aa , This false maya, this false, transitory world around you, aap bandhaa-i-aa."  We have entangled ourselves in the falsehood of maya, of the transitory world (bandhaa-i-aa means entangled). And what happens to us?  Ji-o nalneebharam soo-aa. Nalnee means trap, soo-aa means parrot. You are like the parrot which is caught in the hunter’s trap. Kabeer ji is giving us a great wake up call here. He is saying,  "Oh mortal being, cast away this ego, cast away this greed, cast away all these desires, and bring love into the heart of your soul." Otherwise we’re all going to end up in the same place. We’re all going to go to the cremation ground one day, and it’s better, that before that day, we have known our soul, we have connected to the soul, otherwise the soul swan will go alone. I will leave you with the words Kabeer Ji gave that man, and is giving us:

Kaahay bha-ee-aa firtou fooli-aa fooli-aa. Jab das maas uraDh mukh rahtaa so din kaisay bhooli-aa. rahaa-o.