Japji Sahib: An Interpretation in Humility
“The egg of falsehood has burst, the mind is illumined,
The Guru has cut the shackles off the feet and freed the enslaved.”
Guru Arjan Dev. Foreword
Guru Nanak Dev(15 Apr 1469- 22 Sep 1539), founder of the Sikh faith, composed Japji Sahib. He is said to have spoken it after being enlightened, at age 30.
Japji Sahib is the keystone of the compilation of the most sacred Banis(hymns) of the Sikh Gurus(Gurbani). Sikhs recite it at designated hours as part of Nitnem, or daily discipline.
Guru Nanak was born in Talwandi, now called Nankana Sahib in his honor, near Lahore in Pakistan. His birthday is traditionally celebrated by Sikhs on full moon day(Puranmasi) in November, though he was born in April. In the absence of any well-documented records, there is a debate among scholars about the birthdate. Bhai Bala, regarded as a companion of Guru Nanak, wrote in the latter’s Janamsakhi(chronicle) that his birth was in the Katik, or November. Subsequent renowned British as well as Sikh historians, on working backwards from his date of death, given that his age then was affirmed as 70 years, 5 months and 7 days, have held that he was born in Baisakh, i.e., April. However tradition runs strong and the birth celebrations are held in November, much like the celebrations of Jesus in December, even though he wasn’t born in that month, as shepherds are not supposed to be in the fields in that season.
Guru Nanak spent much of his time singing hymns in praise and glory of God, travelling and doing missionary work to bring people to the true and righteous path. He never practiced or advocated a life of austerity; he encouraged people to be responsible in their worldly, household functions, while in spiritual pursuit. There were no hermits and no priests for him:
“Gurmukhi Nivritt Privritt Pachana”
‘The Gurmukh understands and balances both worldly and spiritual ways,’ he said.
He preached a simple, modest, humble way of life that had no place for much of the ills of society prevalent at that time, such as meaningless rituals and dogmas, superstitions, highhandedness of priests, and discrimination based on caste, religion or class. All he asked was a Muslim to be a good Muslim and a Hindu to be a good Hindu.
He engaged prominent thinkers and saints from other religions and beliefs in theological discourses, called Siddhi Goshti. He was a patient listener and always invited the other to speak first.
“Kich Suniye, Kich Kahiye”
‘Listening some, saying some,’ is how he has been described.
The underlying leitmotif of these dialogues used to be the peaceful coexistence of differing viewpoints. Not only did Guru Nanak’s teachings point man on the path to god, they exhorted humans to be humane. His message was eternally relevant, exhorting love, honesty, peace, morality and forbearance.
He drew followers across all religions, and on his death, the Hindus and Muslims began a quarrel over who had the rights to perform his last rights. Finally it was agreed that both communities would place flowers over the sheet covering his body, and whomevers flowers withered, would lose the rights over the body. The following morning when the sheet covering the body was removed, it was found all the flowers were still fresh, while the body had vanished. Ashamed of their squabbling ways, the two communities divided the sheet and cremated it after their own customs: a Samadhi by the Hindus, a grave by the Muslims.
Japji Sahib was written in Gurmukhi, the language of the gurus. Gurmukh means to face the guru. It denotes a person who is willing to follow in the ways of the guru.
To Jap, is to chant, recite, and understand wisdom through repetitions. Ji is added as an expression of respect.
Guru Nanak did not sit down to read from a book or transcribe his teachings into one, he simply sang and intoned in ecstasy from an insisting inner voice. His verses are called, ‘Dhur ki Bani’, or words from beyond. Bhai Lehna, before he came to be revered as Guru Angad, was to compile his verses in due course, many years later.
Islam has its Koran, Judaism has the Old Testament, Buddhism has the Triptaka; all written in languages that though were difficult, were homogenous and could be mastered. The Sikh hymns on the other hand have been written originally, in addition to Gurmukhi, in Persian, Hindi and even Marathi, and have drawn richly upon Sanskrit and Arabic vocabulary, making the task of translating and imbibing them extremely onerous. The Guru Granth Sahib has 937 hymns of 36 Hindu saints, and Muslim Sufis and Fakirs, including Kabir, Baba Farid etc.! Guru Arjan Dev, the 5th guru who compiled the Granth, invited saints from all faiths to recite their hymns, and included only those that appealed to him, and which he wanted to inculcate in his faith.
The Japji sahib is often uneven in its meter and rhythm, because Bhai Lehna didn’t rearrange the verses to infuse rhythm or meter; he left the original purity and beauty untouched. For a future study of the scriptures, it becomes important to understand how they are set to music, because it was held that the best way to attain bliss while chanting the Banis was when they were set to music or rhythm.
Only very briefly about meter: Meter is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. Verse is poetry in metrical rhythm. Meter is based on the pattern of syllables. Syllables may be classified as long-short(depending on how much length/ time it takes to utter them), heavy-light(weight), or stressed-unstressed. A Mora is the unit of a syllable’s weight, which may be based on its length/time and stress. A Mora is a single short syllable(a half-note in music). A long Mora has two syllables(full note.)
Diphthongs are long syllables, often consisting of two vowels, where one merges into the next one, like in: ‘coin, loud,’ etc. Short syllables have one vowel only.
English classical poetry is based on the qualitative meter, i.e., on basis of stressed syllables. The meter is described in terms of feet; each foot consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. A meter has five iambic feet; hence it is called an iambic pentameter. In simple words:
One line of poetry or verse= pentameter= five iambs= five feet= five x unstressed and stressed syllable pairs.
Sanskrit, on the other hand used Quantitative meter, basing rhythm on length and weight of a syllable.
Japji Sahib contains 38 verses, or stanzas, or hymns, or Pauris(steps). It begins with a Mool Mantra(the essential hymn, the fundamental prayer) and ends with a sloka(a song, a 4-line stanza in Sanskrit metre.)
Mool Mantra is the first Shabd that is oft repeated through the scriptures. A shabd is a hymn, or a speech… a sound used in religio-philosophical context. It has two aspects, the permanent one of meaning, and the ephemeral one of sound. It denotes an utterance, a cosmic vibration like Aum that can only be heard by the inner ear. Shabd is a mystical, indivisible word-whole. It is the verbal testimony of revealed scriptures.
The Mool Mantra, or the Bij Mantra(seed mantra), encapsulates all of Sikh theology; the Guru Granth Sahib is essentially an amplification of this Mool. The Bij Mantra, or the seed formula, is found in Guru Arjan Dev’s timeless composition, Sukhmani Sahib. Mantra is a prayer that must be repetitively chanted for spiritual progress as well as divine blessings.
Japji Sahib is the first composition to appear in the Sikh Holy Book, the Guru Granth Sahib(a compilation of the teachings of the Sikh Gurus). Sikhs treat the Guru Granth Sahib as the tenth and final, living Guru, and there are to be no more Gurus after this. The Guru Granth Sahib is composed of several chapters of Ragas, each containing Shabds, of which the first one is the Mool Mantra.
So why would I pick the Sikh faith’s First composition to write about? Having got married into a Sikh family where everyone recited or chanted the Japji Sahib daily, and I too got my own Hindi translated copy, I felt reading and repeating the holy script without a true understanding would be downright blasphemy. I was not the only one not to grasp the Mool of the Mantras; there were many, but they would not ask, either out of sheer laziness, or shame, or because there was hardly any Guru out there who could explain it properly.
The Sikhs have shone in history with great martial feats, and produced profound theological treasures, but rarely have they taken any serious trouble to bring their spiritual riches to the attention of the modern world. There are homegrown scholars aplenty, each more erudite than the next, but rarely has the Panth(sect) worked united to preserve Sikhism’s rich heritage and legacy in good health for all posterity.
Work by McAuliffe(1841-1913), a 19th century British administrator of Punjab, though deserves a mention. He converted to Sikhism, though derided by his peers for doing so. He is reported to have stated that the Guru Granth Sahib is matchless as a book of holy teachings. He may be credited without slightest hesitation for introducing Sikhi to the English speaking west. He was a prolific scholar, and resigned from his position at the request of the community to carry on with a lifetime labor of translating Sikh scriptures, and compiling Sikh history. Khushwant Singh, a man much celebrated for doing service to the Sikh community for writing its history, did nothing more than collecting tidbits of mischievous anecdotes calculated to cause no more than mere titillation among the reader.
It is said that McAuliffe, on his deathbed, chanted the Japji sahib 10 times before breathing his last.
Old gianis who mastered Sikh canonical writings are dying out. Before we lose sight of our great tradition because of a simple problem of translation and availability, I seek to do my modest bit for the faith that has given me so much peace, joy and blessing.
After many years of trying to keep a promise to myself to decipher the essence of the word of God, I finally got round to scraping for knowledge. The Japji Sahib had, and still has, a profound effect on me. The sheer beauty and force of the words and verses is such that it shakes my core and brings tears stealing to my eyes. My throat becomes choked with emotion and a million Goosebumps bloom on my person. Such mesmerizing poetry could only have been written by God, or by one immersed completely in Him.
Whatever ingredients I might put at home, the Halwa, the Prasada never tastes as good as in a Gurudwara, or a temple, or a church. The sweetest voice, the most stirring melody, is but noise compared to the soulful sounds of prayer that resonate in blessed dwellings. The most moving poetry ever penned by a mortal pale in comparison to these verses suffused with His sacred spirit.
This study is a personal act of faith, a humble attempt by a layperson at understanding the divine word, and not an expert’s treatise on the Holy Scriptures. It neither seeks to translate, nor paraphrase a perfect work of art. It is a demystification of the ‘First bani’ of my adopted religion, so that my children might never be blind to its charm as I was.
And I hope it helps many out there like me who have with a shut mind spent a lifetime rocking and chanting the Shabds without pausing to imbibe their true spirit, who have drunk the Amrit like water only when thirsty, and not truly thirsted after it.
Come, take a dip with me in the ocean of the Sikh holy words, and emerge in ecstasy.
~
Contents
Mool Mantra
38 Pauris
Sloka
The Mool Mantra
Ik Onkaar
Sat Naam
Karta Purakh Nirbhao Nirvair Akaal Murat
Ajooni Saibhang Gur Prasad.
(Up to here it is called the Mool Mantra, or also the Manglaacharan Mantra. It appears 33 times in GGS.)
Jap.
Add Sach Jugad Sach
Hai bhi Sach Nanak Hosi Bhi Sach.
(Till here it is called the Maha Mantra. Some consider the mantra up to this point as the true Mool Mantra, since it appears as a whole only once in the Guru Granth Sahib.)
The Mool Mantra Interpreted
Ik Onkaar
There is only one God. One Creator and Creation.
Ik Onkaar combines three words basically:
Ik meaning one,
On is derived from Hindu Aum(Om), meaning The Supreme Being,
and Kaar, meaning formless.
The symbol Ik is the numeral 1, while On is the first word of Onkaar, written as Om in Hindi or Gurmukhi. The symbol Ik Onkaar is found on all Sikh scriptures and places of worship.
The axiom Ik Onkaar sits majestically at the head of the Mool Mantra.
Ik, or One, affirms monotheistic concept of Sikh faith. It is the central tenet of its philosophy. There is only one God as against the Trinity belief of Hinduism. Guru Nanak said:
“Sahib mera eko hai, eko hai bhai, eko hai.”
‘My master is the one, one only oh brother, he is the sole,’ he said.
Not only is there one God, all creation is one, united in Him. God subsumes all forms in him, and also pervades all forms. God is the one source of creation; it was there when there was nothing, and it will be there when there is nothing.
On, or Om, or Aum, is the Supreme Soul, the Brahma of all creation. God manifests in his creation through diverse forms, and is thus knowable to creation. His oneness is emphasized in uniting diversity He is at once manifest, imminent and transcendental. Om is the unity of all cosmic sound and vibration, where matter and energy is reduced to its primordial form. Om is like Amen, meaning ‘so be it.’ Initially both Om and Amen were used as sounds of approval or consent. Om is closest to the Christian concept of Logos, the word of God.
‘In the beginning was the word and the word was with the god and the word was god.’
Kaar- God exists without shape or form, yet pervades in all forms of creation.
Hence, there is one creator and one creation. The creator is formless yet is known to us by all the forms he manifests in.
The strong resonance of Om within Sikh thought underlines the founding of the faith by contemporary saints of the time who were Hindus by birth and functioned within the overall cultural and theological span of Hinduism. Other Indic religions, such as Jainism and Buddhism, were founded in a similar way within the overall context of Hindu philosophy.
Waheguru, as well as Ik Onkaar are chanted by Gurmukhs in the manner of constant remembrance of god by aloud or sotto voce repetitions.(Naam Simran- remembering the name.)
Sat Naam
Truth is His Name.
I Am.
One will have to make a difference between the Sanskrit derivatives ‘sat’ and ‘satya’. Most often, the popular and easy description so far is; there is one god(Ik Onkaar) and his name is truth(Sat Naam).
But perhaps the meaning is deeper than a superficial explanation of the mantra.
Sat means beingness, eternal, whereas satya means true, everlasting.(The everlasting part being common.)
Truth is a quest, a mathematical reckoning, an opposite of falsehood, as one is an opposite of zero.
Naam means name, symbol, and essence.
Hence a name has been given to one who exists, beyond question or doubt.
Another interpretation possible is: Essence(naam), and Everlasting(sat).
The essence of god never changes; it transcends time and space.
The Guru Granth Sahib enlightens that Naam is synonymous with shabd; we strive to earn ‘naam’ to realize god, and moksha; freedom from eternal cycle of birth and death.
Naam also signifies a command(hukum); ‘Do it in his name.’ ‘I charge you in his name!’ Nanak said, ‘ Eko Naam Hukum Hai.’ Nanak explains when nothing existed god was in a state of deep meditation and self-absorption for an incredibly long time- 36 ages. When he willed, or gave the hukum, that his values be manifested, he uttered the word, or the cosmic vibration, which science also refers to as the big bang, that led to creation. He created the rays of light that are present in all creation. Physics suggests that when sound vibrations are enhanced manifold, they convert into waves of light.
Paraphrased, Sat Naam would now mean the essence of the eternal, or, the essence is the essence. The essence of god is that he is the essence(of everything.)
Or, I(my name, identity) am(beingness).
In biblical passages, when god was asked to identify himself, he said, ‘ I am that I am.’
Guru Nanak said that without Sat Naam, he had no other miracle to give. Sat Naam is what other cultures and religions you might find refer to as Paraná, Chee, The Holy Spirit and Life Force.
Karta Purakh
Nirbhao
Nirvair
Akaal Murat
Ajooni Saibhang
(Sat) Gur Prasad
He is the Doer and Creativity Personified,
Without Fear,
Without Enmity,
Of Timeless Form,
Beyond Birth and Self-Existent,
And the Great and the Bountiful.
Karta Purakh
Karta means doer. He created everything, all phenomena. Purakh is person, not law or system. Purakh is the male creative agency, the husband, and the all-pervading spirit in union with the female element that uttered a word from which sprang forth all creation. He is immanent, he fills all purakh or creation, and he is omniscient, omnipotent and involute. There is a relationship between the creator and creation, like between a mother and child, a painter and his painting, and a dancer and his dancing. When he dances, he and the dance are one. When he stops, he is no longer the dancer. If the painting is destroyed, the painter is untouched. Siva, when he dances as Natraj, he becomes kaal, or time, or the destroyer. When he stops dancing, creation is intact.
God is creativity personified. By stressing that he is immanent in creation, Guru Nanak sought to preach that there was no need to renounce worldliness. Wherever you are, god is there. If one could be a part of this world and yet keep his mind on god, he would be incorruptible, he would not be tempted, and he would attain enlightenment. Guru Gobind Singh meant the same thing with his Sant-Sipahi axiom. The gursikh was a formidable person, true to his oath, having spiritual as well as martial aptitude.
Nirbhao
He is devoid of fear. Who would he be afraid of, when he is absolute?
He is thus in a perennial state of bliss.
Nirvair
He is devoid of rancor or enmity. Who would he have enmity against when he is immanent, eternal?
He is thus in a perennial state of love.
Akaal Murat
Of timeless form.
Changeless. Indestructible.
If you were to view the scene on a busy road, you would find the cars moving past in a blur of motion. Were you to see the same road from an aircraft high above, the motion of vehicles would appear slower, till from the farthest vantage point it would seem the traffic was not moving at all. Since god is beyond time, he is changeless, constant, unmoving. Time, for god is a static entity since he views it from so far, since his vision takes in all of his creation- his design and handiwork- at once.
Ajooni Saibhang
Joon means birth and ‘A’ means not. A-Jooni. Without birth. Uncaused Cause. Does not condense. In keeping with the earlier motif of changelessness- beyond the phenomena of birth and death.
Guru Nanak also rejected the idea of reincarnation out of hand. God to him was not re-incarnate.
Neither is the Guru god-incarnate, as many Sikhs have falsely started believing the odd holy men that sprout up determinedly in remote corners now and then- to fill in the void in disbelieving, doubting minds looking for quick-fix spiritual cures for material gains. Guru Nanak had no guru- it may be remembered. He was the first Guru himself to be invoked by his spiritual successors. Guru is only the disembodied embodiment of god’s values, or words, or spirit.
Saibhang is derived from Sanskrit, Swayambhu, which means self-existent. Self-begotten. Again, the underlying refrain- beyond birth.
Gur Prasad
Here, scholars are divided over whether it means that god may be attained through the grace of guru- an obvious paraphrasing. Subsequent gurus did preach that only by the grace of guru is god dwelt upon.
Or does the phrase imply that god is great and bountiful? McAuliffe
