The hukamnama today is by Bhagat Kabeer, in raag Aasaa, and is on Ang 482 of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Maharaj.

MP3 File

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa! Waheguru ji ki Fateh!

Awsw ]
aasaa ||
Aasaa:

swsu kI duKI ssur kI ipAwrI jyT ky nwim frau ry ]
saas kee dhukhee sasur kee piaaree jaet(h) kae naam ddaro rae ||
I am bothered by my mother-in-law, Maya, and loved by my father-in-law, the Lord. I fear even the name of my husband’s elder brother, Death.

sKI shylI nnd ghylI dyvr kY ibrih jrau ry ]1]
sakhee sehaelee nanadh gehaelee dhaevar kai birehi jaro rae ||1||
O my mates and companions, my husband’s sister, misunderstanding has seized me, and I am burning with the pain of separation from my husband’s younger brother, divine knowledge. ||1||

myrI miq baurI mY rwmu ibswirE ikn ibiD rhin rhau ry ]
maeree math bouree mai raam bisaariou kin bidhh rehan reho rae ||
My mind has gone insane, since I forgot the Lord. How can I lead a virtuous lifestyle?

syjY rmqu nYn nhI pyKau iehu duKu kw sau khau ry ]1] rhwau ]
saejai ramath nain nehee paekho eihu dhukh kaa so keho rae ||1|| rehaao ||
He rests in the bed of my mind, but I cannot see Him with my eyes. Unto whom should I tell my sufferings? ||1||Pause||

bwpu swvkw krY lrweI mwieAw sd mqvwrI ]
baap saavakaa karai laraaee maaeiaa sadh mathavaaree ||
My step-father, egotism, fights with me, and my mother, desire, is always intoxicated.

bfy BweI kY jb sMig hoqI qb hau nwh ipAwrI ]2]
baddae bhaaee kai jab sa(n)g hothee thab ho naah piaaree ||2||
When I stayed with my elder brother, meditation, then I was loved by my Husband Lord. ||2||

khq kbIr pMc ko Jgrw Jgrq jnmu gvwieAw ]
kehath kabeer pa(n)ch ko jhagaraa jhagarath janam gavaaeiaa ||
Says Kabeer, the five passions argue with me, and in these arguments, my life is wasting away.

JUTI mwieAw sBu jgu bwiDAw mY rwm rmq suKu pwieAw ]3]3]25]
jhoot(h)ee maaeiaa sabh jag baadhhiaa mai raam ramath sukh paaeiaa ||3||3||25||
The false Maya has bound the whole world, but I have obtained peace, chanting the Name of the Lord. ||3||3||25||

Guru piaaraa Khalsa jio, Bhagat Kabeer ji, talks to us in the Aasaa Raag. and in this shabad, just as friends who are recently married, two girls who are friends, who have been recently married, speak to each other, and each asking the other about their in-laws. Kabir ji takes this angle in this shabad: that the Soul Bride is talking about her in -laws, now that she is married. And what does the Soul Bride say,

Kabir ji says, saas kee dhukhee sasur kee piaaree jaet(h) kae naam ddaro rae. saas kee dhukhee.  It means, saas literally means mother-in-law, kee mans to give me pain. My mother-in-law is a pain. Whose mother-in-law? who is the mother-in-law that the Soul Bride is talking about? The mother-in-law that Kabir ji is talking about is what we call in Punjabi, what we call in Gurmukhi, bitthiaa.  Bitthiaa means lack of knowledge. Lack of knowledge, that is the pain. which is attacking me.  sasur kee piaaree. This attachment to the world is loved, my sister, by my father-in-law, Who is the father-in-law? The father-in -law is the darkness in the mind. jaet(h) kae naam ddaro rae. And though I am afraid, Oh friend of jaet(h)! of my husband’s brother. Who is the jaet)h). the jaet(h) is Death.

So there is the saas, the mother-in-law, of bitthiaa, of not having good virtues, who is loved and looked after by ignorance.  And who else is there? There is the husband’s elder brother, the elder  brother-in-law of Death, These are frightening me, Oh my friend!

sakhee sehaelee nanadh gehaelee dhaevar kai birehi jaro rae
sakhee sehaelee nanadh gehaelee  Oh my friends! nanadh gehaelee, dhaevar kai birehi jaro rae. Oh my friend! My nanadh, my husband’s sister, my sister-in-law, has gehaelee, has seized me. Who is the sister-in-law? The sister-in-law here is of not being able to control desires. And that has enveloped me. Dhaevar kai bireh jaro raie. Dhaevar, if you break up the word, dhaevar actually means younger brother-in-law. Dhae-var,  the one, dhae, who gives, var. The one who gives good action, good thoughts. Birehi jaro rae.  Jaro, I burn in birehi longing for that wisdom within me, which could bless me with good actions, with good virtues, with which I can meet my Husband Lord.

maeree math bouree mai raam bisaariou kin bidhh rehan reho rae
maeree math bouree mai raam bisaariou. My math, my mind, my thinking is bouree, is going mad. I am mad because I have bisarriou, I have forgotten my raam, my Waheguru, the Lord. kin bidhh rehan reho rae. How can I rehan reho? How can I live in peace? How can I live a life of peace? How can I live a life imbued in God’s love when I have forgotten God.

saejai ramath nain nehee paekho eihu dhukh kaa so keho rae
saejai ramath Waheguru is in my heart. He is on the saejai. He is on the bed of my heart, the bed of m mind, within me. nain nehee  paekho. I cannot see Him with my eyes, with  my nain. eihu dhukh kaaso keho rae. Who can I tell this dhukh? Who can I tell this  pain to? Who can I tell this pain to, to break it.

Rehaoo. Kabeer ji says, Pause and think about this.

baap saavakaa karai laraaee maaeiaa sadh mathavaaree
My baap saavakaa, my step-father, baap – in this we are talking about the body — Baap refers to the that word which means body. So the step-father that is this body. karal laraaee,  it is always laraaee , is always fighting for more things, always wants more, and more and more and more. Maaeiaa sadh mathavaaree. Maaeiaa, Maya my mother, is always  mathavaaree, is always mad. Who is my mother? Maya, this world, the desire for this world, always mathavaaree, always intoxicating.

baddae bhaaee kai jab sa(n)g hothee thab ho naah piaaree
When I am with my baddae, when I am with my elder brother, jab sa(n)g, when I am in his sangath, thab ho  naah piaaree, then I am  piaaree,. Then I am loved by the Husband Lord. baddae bhaaee. And this is giann, this is knowledge of God,  this is the meditation of God, it is the simran  of God. When I was with my baddae bhaaee, when I was with my elder brother, of giann, of knowledge, or spiritual wisdom, then I was loved by my Husband Lord.

kehath kabeer pa(n)ch ko jhagaraa jhagarath janam gavaaeiaa
Kehath kabeer, Kabeer says, that in spite of the five within me - kaam, lobh, krodh, moh  ahankar, jhagaraa jhafarath janam gavaaeiaa, life the janam,  is gavaaeiaa, is lost within this  jhagaraa, within these fights.

jhoot(h)ee maaeiaa sabh jag baadhhiaa mai raam ramath sukh paaeiaa
Jhoot(h)ee maaeiaa, the falsehood of Maya, the illusion around me in the world, sabh jag baadhhiaa,  has not just, baadhhiaa, means to tie down, has not just tied down one person. Sabh jag, the whole world has been tied down in it.  Mai raam ramath sukh paeeiaa. But I have found sukh through ramath, through loosing myself in the raam, through the word of God, through ramath, through absorbing myself in Gods’ name.

So sangath ji, there are many references here to the saas bitthiaa.  a lack of knowledge,  the source of ignorance, the jaet)h)of death, the nanadh, the sister-in-law of desires, the giann of true virtue, the Husband Lord Raam, the father-in-law, this body, the mother of desire within us, the younger brother of truthful wisdom. But what Kabeer ji is telling us in essence through this story, through this medium of the Soul Bride, is that the only way to find sukh is through the naam raam. Kabeer ji says, in the last line, mai raam ramath sukh paaeiaa. I found sukh, the only way to find sukh, Kabeer ji is saying, amongst all the fights, amongst all this confusion that is going on in this world, is through gluing yourself to God’s name.