vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw, vwihgurU jI kI &qh!
Waheguru ji ka Khalsa ! Waheguru ji ki Fateh !!

Guru Arjan Dev Ji – Raag Bilaaval – Ang  810

The life that has no contact with the Holy

MP3 File

The Hukamnama today is by Guru Arjan Dev Ji in Raag Bilaaval on Ang  810 of Siri Guru Granth Sahib ji Maharaj.

iblwvlumhlw5]
bilaaval mehalaa 5 ||
iblwvlu mhlw 5 ]
Bilaaval, Fifth Mehla:

ibnuswDUjojIvnwqyqoibrQwrI]
bin saadhhoo jo jeevanaa thaetho birathhaaree ||
ibnu swDU jo jIvnw qyqo ibrQwrI ]
That life, which has no contact with the Holy, is useless.

imlqsMigsiBBRmimtygiqBeIhmwrI]1]
milath sa(n)g sabh bhram mittae gath bhee hamaaree ||1||
imlq sMig siB BRm imty giq BeI hmwrI ]1]
Joining their congregation, all doubts are dispelled, and I am emancipated. ||1||

jwidnBytyswDmoihauAwidnbilhwrI]
jaa dhin bhaettae saadhh mohi ouaa dhin balihaaree ||
jw idn Byty swD moih auAw idn bilhwrI ]
That day, when I meet with the Holy – I am a sacrifice to that day.

qnumnuApnojIArwiPiriPirhauvwrI]1]rhwau]
than man apano jeearaa fir fir ho vaaree ||1|| rehaao ||
qnu mnu Apno jIArw iPir iPir hau vwrI ]1] rhwau ]
Again and again, I sacrifice my body, mind and soul to them. ||1||Pause||

eyqCfweImoihqyieqnIidRVqwrI]
eaeth shhaddaaee mohi thae eithanee dhrirrathaaree ||
eyq CfweI moih qy ieqnI idRVqwrI ]
They have helped me renounce this ego, and implant this humility within myself.

sglryniehumnuBieAwibnsIApDwrI]2]
sagal raen eihu man bhaeiaa binasee apadhhaaree ||2||
sgl ryn iehu mnu BieAw ibnsI ApDwrI ]2]
This mind has become the dust of all men’s feet, and my self-conceit has been dispelled. ||2||

inMdicMdprdUKnweyiKnmihjwrI]
ni(n)dh chi(n)dh par dhookhanaa eae khin mehi jaaree ||
inMd icMd pr dUKnw ey iKn mih jwrI ]
In an instant, I burnt away the ideas of slander and ill-will towards others.

dieAwmieAwAruinkitpyKunwhIdUrwrI]3]
dhaeiaa maeiaa ar nikatt paekh naahee dhooraaree ||3||
dieAw mieAw Aru inkit pyKu nwhI dUrwrI ]3]
I see close at hand, the Lord of mercy and compassion; He is not far away at all. ||3||

qnmnsIqlBeyAbmukqysMswrI]
than man seethal bheae ab mukathae sa(n)saaree ||
qn mn sIql Bey Ab mukqy sMswrI ]
My body and mind are cooled and soothed, and now, I am liberated from the world.

hIqcIqsBpRwnDnnwnkdrswrI]4]10]40]
heeth cheeth sabh praan dhhan naanak dharasaaree ||4||10||40||
hIq cIq sB pRwn Dn nwnk drswrI ]4]10]40]
Love, consciousness, the breath of life, wealth and everything, O Nanak, are in the Blessed Vision of the Lord’s Darshan. ||4||10||40||

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh! Today’s Hukamnama is from Ang 810 of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Bilaaval Raag from Mehla 5 from the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev Ji. This Hukam is a really beautiful description about the necessity for keeping company with people who have spiritual discipline and have achieved a certain state of realization. A lot of the karmas that we create in life, in fact probably almost all of the Karmas that we create in our lives come from the way that we treat others and the way we interact with others. The way we deal with our family, the way we deal with our community members and the way we deal with our business associates. And based on how peaceful or how disturbed the mind is in any moment we are either being kind and thinking positively and acting from a good place with one another, or we are unconscious or unkind or dealing with each other in a way that it creates pain for us later down the road. So this Hukam though it is short is very a very beautiful synopsis of how to appreciate being with people who are realized and then what the gift is that it gives you. One of the things that is important in the Sikh tradition is the lived Gurbani where we learn the most. So this notion of the sadhu or sant, something that comes up over again and again in Gurbani add the necessity that the community has spiritual elders who have studied and have put into practice the Guru’s teachings with a pure heart there are people who live with the Guru’s teachings. Interacting with those people is the most essential part of our own development on the spiritual path of Sikh Dharma. So this Hukam speaks a little bit on that.

bin saadhhoo jo jeevanaa thaetho birathhaaree ||
Without sadhu, without being around with someone who is in a realized state of consciousness that life is really empty and useless. So Guru Arjan is starting the Hukam by saying, if you don’t have that contact with the person who has realized and who has practiced the Guru’s teachings there is tremendous emptiness in life, there is no way your life can ever become useful.

milath sa(n)g sabh bhram mittae gath bhee hamaaree ||1||
By meeting with the community of people who are practicing and who are becoming realized through their practice then sabh bhram – all the doubts that you have mittae just cease to exist. So the mind likes to throw up lots of challenges and likes to throw up lots of questions, lots of doubts and the only way to get out of those doubts is through experience. So in the second line Guru Arjan is saying that coming into contact with the community of people who are realized is a very strong power for your own doubts to just leave you because you can begin to see the teachings in action in other people. And in this way also you become liberated yourself. Gurbani is full of lot of references that talk about how the one who has attained the certain state of realization that their presence can help carry so many people along and in some ways it’s a short cut whether you become realized yourself or not you can be around those people who are realized. You can get carried in that energy and kind of taken along with them as they cross through the challenges of life.

jaa dhin bhaettae saadhh mohi ouaa dhin balihaaree ||
That day you come into familiarity or a union with the sadhoo. where you become familiar and part of their company of those people who have become realized. Guru Arjan uses a very interesting word here – he uses mohi and he talks about becoming attached to them being in company with the sadhus. moh is actually, there are two words in Gurbani that gets translated into english as attached. Sometimes people don’t realize there is actually two different terms. A lot of times in Gurbani where it’s translated as being attached to the Guru’s feet or being attached to the name of the God. The verb is laagna and it means attachment in a very positive way. But one of the five poisons is moh and it means being attached in a very dependent way or a negative way, attached from the mind in a way that is very unhealthy. What is interesting is that Guru Arjan is using the word moh in this line. He is saying that you can become attached to the Sadhu even in a way that is poison of attachment, even in a very unhealthy way. That day din when you become attached like that ouaa dhin balihaaree give yourself, become a sacrifice to the company of the people who are practicing or achieving some kind of realization.

than man apano jeearaa fir fir ho vaaree ||1|| rehaao ||
My body and mind, my heart and soul, again and again I am sacrificing that. This is what happens to us when we get into negative attachment is that we give everything in the pursuit of wealth, and we give everything in the pursuit of sexual attachment we want to pursue or we give everything in the pursuit of status and here it elevates us. We then can become attached in the worst way to the company of the realized beings and give everything to them and be a sacrifice completely to them. And what is so beautiful is in next line, it is beautiful poetic play he is doing in this Hukam.

eaeth shhaddaaee mohi thae eithanee dhrirrathaaree ||
In this line Guru Ji is saying that so much that we do that then it actually allows us to abandon the experience of being attached. So in the disease lies the cure by becoming attached in that negative way even to the sadhus and you give yourself completely as a sacrifice and then all of a sudden the very poison of attachment itself starts to leave you and dhrirrathaaree – this strength and inner firmness is what comes into you instead. So there is a replacement, moh, attachment, the negative poison becomes this total strength, this inner firmness within you.

Then the rest of the Hukam describes what starts happening to the mind after this transformation takes place.

sagal raen eihu man bhaeiaa binasee apadhhaaree ||2||
You have this one mind of yours and it becomes the dust of everyone. In other words the mind just keeps looking to be at the lowest point in service to all areound and in that consciousness binasee meaning killed or destroyed, apadhhaaree is mindness or self interes. In that the sense of being selfish or self interested and wanting to self attach and have my own saying – all of that is destroyed. Its that sense of selfishness that causes the most pain and trouble in our relationships with each other and that selfishness ultimately what creates the karma for us. So it is a tremendously blessed experience all of a sudden have that self interest starts to be destroyed as you see yourself serving everyone around you.

ni(n)dh chi(n)dh par dhookhanaa eae khin mehi jaaree ||
This line gives the sense of nindh chindh like the thoughts we have are not good, the thoughts we have that par dhookhanaa create distress for us, we are thinking badly about other people. Guru Arjan is saying that in an instant all of these thoughts get burned up. So it is a technology and a process of becoming attached to the sadhus, of giving everything you have to those ones who are practicing, who are realized. And then in that your own sense of the poison of attachment begins to leave, firmness and strength comes in, then your mind rather than wanting to be involved in its own interests starts to see itself serving everyone and all of the negative thoughts that you have for other people get burned up in this practice of being around the realized or spiritually adept souls. And then daya – kindness and compassion come into you. There is beautiful line in Japji where Guru Nanak says that san janmaa – is a son of compassion and kindness. For dharmaa to be really born in you, kindness and compassion has to come in you first. Guru is talking here is this whole practice he is describing allows you to become kind towards other people.

dhaeiaa maeiaa ar nikatt paekh naahee dhooraaree ||3||
The experience of kindness is near. He says, see look its near to you and not far away. It comes in a very practical way – giving yourself in service, serving the community, serving those who are practicing, who have certain understanding. It chisels you and challenges you and eventually your doubts are shifted and genuine kindness into you. When you are in that space of kindness, when you truly feel kindly towards everyone in every situation then:

than man seethal bheae ab mukathae sa(n)saaree ||
Your mind becomes cool, You are no longer driven by passions and fires, all that becomes cool and peaceful. ab mukathae sa(n)saaree And now you can have the experience of being liberated from the world. This last line is so beautiful:

heeth cheeth sabh praan dhhan naanak dharasaaree ||4||10||40||
praan can be translated as breath but also can be translated as being who breathes. So one way to look at this line is heeth is a word for love; cheeth is another word of cheeta meaning awareness; sabh praan it can be translated as this tremendous love that floods your own consciousness and awareness and is a love for all beings. dhhan naanak dharasaaree This is the blessing that comes. In that blessing you begin to have darshan of divine, you begin to see the divine in everything.

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw, vwihgurU jI kI &qh!
Waheguru ji ka Khalsa ! Waheguru ji ki Fateh !!