Truth is an internal experience, everything else is only a theory.
Someone might tell you thousand times about beauty of the blue ocean but until you see it yourself, it lives in you as a theory.
On a more conscious level someone can tell you thousand times there is one spirit that lives within us all, and you will believe it or not. But until you personally experience it, This truth will live in you a purely philosophical or theoretical sense.
There are lot of truths in Japji Sahib, lot of them exist for me on this theoretical level. However, this article is about those truths that I have assimilated.
In last 40 days I’ve read one pauri of Japji Sahib in English a day from a wonderful translation by Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa and then I meditated on it. Over the course of these 40 days, I have been posting short passages from it on my Instagram account (@zitaharkaran). Here in this blog post, I would like to share the most transformational realizations that will stay with me forever.
* I am not a sikh but I believe that sacred texts belong to everyone and we all stand equal and humble in front of them.
4th Pauri
Every thought, every cell, every breath is existing because of the divine consciousness that still permeates everything. It’s part of us like a tread is part of pattern design on your blanket. Acknowledging and meditating upon it gives deep pleasure to oneself.
5th Pauri.
This little verse is for me a remedy to overcome any struggle. If you connect with a joy in you and sing, if you deeply listen without involving your ego and if you allow your mind to open to love in all forms. There is no better life, there is no higher happiness.
7th Pauri.
Every time there is “You” in Japji, it also refers to you personally. There is no God sitting separate of us in the heavens. God is all part of us and we need to connect with our own Divine nature through which we can than connect with the whole Divine consciousness. And if you can’t do that no amount of fame or popularity will give you happiness. You’ll be lower than the cockroach Nanak says later. But I know this is not any of your – already spiritual folks – issue.
Pauri 14th:
We all have intuitive hints, those thoughts that seem to pop up out of nowhere or those gut feelings BUT how often do we brush them aside as unimportant, foolish, silly or crazy? I started practicing trusting in them and acting on them and everything is so much smoother. The more unimportant they seem, the more subtle they are, the more spiritual they are. This is a practice of trust.
Pauri 20th:
You might have done some bad things in life, you might have done some good things, as well. Don’t stress not everything defines you as a person. Mistakes, U-turns, missteps are allowed and no one will remember them. It is those things that you do over and over that will become your character and will be part of your karma and the way you are perceived. The best!
Pauri 23rd:
Do you remember your past struggles? Do you remember how there was always a magical synchronicity of events and people? Do you remember that luck or fortunate circumstance that pulled you out of the muck? Whose doing was that? Surely not only yours. You will be taken care of when you remember God. Because even an ant is taken care when it remembers.
Pauri 25th:
This little segment describes very well the greedy world we live in. There are so many who are hoarding and counting their money, houses and cars but never once acknowledge the Great Giver who made this possible for them. Some think that what they have is due to only their own doing and never once remember that moment that allowed for the prosperity to happen for them. And how many are just wasting their energy and resources just to satisfy their desire? And how many not even once say thank you? In recognizing how big part the Source, the divine, the God plays in our life is the secret to prosperity.
Pauri 33rd:
The whole 33rd pauri of Japji was a little hard to take for me. It is all about not having power, not having control and not having a say in anything. But then I realized Guru Nanak talks about the same idea of co-creating with the Divine he mentioned earlier in Japji. It’s similar to what Carl Sagan said that ‘if you want to make apple pie from scratch, you need to start with creating the universe’. There is nothing that we have that wasn’t given to us by our creator and without his/hers help or kind eye we would continue to have nothing. Let’s stop being arrogant bastards and realize we need to respect the natural laws, divine will, work with them and create with them. On our own we have no power to do anything. Even an inspiration comes from spirit.
Pauri 35th:
I find it amazing that Guru Nanak is talking about a populated universe. Populated not with scary or dangerous aliens, but with others who praise the same God as us and act for the highest good. Guru Nanak was an astral traveler and have seen other worlds and that’s what he describes in the 35th pauri. He wants us to open our mind. The same God that we celebrate here on Earth is celebrated and felt throughout the whole universe. Consequently, all other universal inhabitants are our brothers and sisters.
Pauri 38th:
Final words of wisdom. Your desires are the fire that is driving you forward but they need to be restrained otherwise, they’ll burn you out. They also need to be fed by new inspiration and tended to with patience.
I can’t say enough great words about poetic translation of Japji Sahib by Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa. It flows as beautifully as the original but it is at the same time modern in language. I have read and meditated on one pauri a day and that unexpectedly ended as one of the most transformational experiences in my life.
