A long time ago there lived, in the kingdom of Amrapali, King Devgandhari and, his wife, Queen Suhi. King Devgandhari was a kind and just king and so everyone who lived in Amrpali was happy but, there was a deep sadness in the lives of the king and queen, a sadness that can only be understood by a couple with no child of their own.
The king had increasingly become more reclusive, praying to Vaheguru and meditating on his name, until one night God appeared to the king in his dream and said "Devgandhari, I am very happy with the kindness you shower upon your people and the dedication you show in praying to me. Ask me for anything, your wish shall be fulfilled". King Devgandhari didn't need to think too long to decide what he wanted, "O Lord, grant me a beautiful daughter, please give me the opportunity to look after your child". God smiled, in a way that only God can, radiant like the sun, and he said "So be it, but remember she is mine, so take good care of her".
The king woke from his sleep. It was late at night but like a child that had just learned to walk can't contain his happiness, nor could the king. He woke his wife up and told her about his dream. Both of them were very excited...Would the dream come true?
God kept his promise, and nine months later, a beautiful girl child was born to the king and queen, who were overjoyed. King Devandhari fell in love with the child the moment he saw her and as she was born in the early hours of the morning, the King named her Raamkali, after a beautiful morning raag. "Raam-kali", he thought, "a flower so beautiful that even the Gods yearn to adorn it. Yes, a name apt for this beautiful gift from God!"
The years past quickly and with every passing year Raamkali grew prettier, her smile more radiant and her black hair grew longer and longer. The king and queen loved her very much and fulfilled all her desires. If she asked for a glass of milk, they bought her a dozen cows! If she asked for a comb, they got her three maidens to comb her hair! But Raamkali got far too used to getting her way and so by the time she was eight years old she had become rather selfish, self-centered and irrational. In short, she had grown up into quite a brat!
Her frequent tantrums and inconsiderate behaviour worried her parents but, no matter what they tried, Raamkali did not seem to understand the folly of her ways. In despair the king said to Queen Suhi, "I am not sure what we can do to make Raamkali mend her ways, maybe we should ask my brother to help. Raamkali is very fond for her chachu (uncle), maybe she will listen to him?"
So the next day Devgandhari told Raamkali that they were going to visit her uncle, who was the king of the neighbouring kingdom. Raamkali was overjoyed as she loved her uncle dearly. So the royal chariot was brought out and the king, queen and princess set off on their journey.
As the chariot sped through the countryside, Raamkali heard the sound of a beautiful voice singing in the distance. Something about the voice made Raamkali want to hear more and so she told the charioteer to follow the sound of the voice and find the person that was signing. The chariot changed direction and galloped down a country lane. The voice grew louder and louder.
ਅਨੰਦੁ ਭਇਆ ਮੇਰੀ ਮਾਏ ਸਤਿਗੁਰੂ ਮੈ ਪਾਇਆ ॥
ਸਤਿਗੁਰੁ ਤ ਪਾਇਆ ਸਹਜ ਸੇਤੀ ਮਨਿ ਵਜੀਆ ਵਾਧਾਈਆ ॥
ਰਾਗ ਰਤਨ ਪਰਵਾਰ ਪਰੀਆ ਸਬਦ ਗਾਵਣ ਆਈਆ ॥
ਸਬਦੋ ਤ ਗਾਵਹੁ ਹਰੀ ਕੇਰਾ ਮਨਿ ਜਿਨੀ ਵਸਾਇਆ ॥
ਕਹੈ ਨਾਨਕੁ ਅਨੰਦੁ ਹੋਆ ਸਤਿਗੁਰੂ ਮੈ ਪਾਇਆ ॥੧॥
The chariot finally came to a halt next to a small mud hut. There was a boy, no more than seven years of age, singing with a voice of an angel while picking vegetables from the small field next to the hut. On seeing the chariot, the boy stopped singing. Raamkali jumped out of the chariot and asked the boy, "What was that song you were singing?".
"It's a shabad written by my guru, Guru Amar Das ji, in Raag Raamkali", replied the boy.
"Raamkali! That's my name, no wonder the song was so beautiful", she said in a rather vain tone. "Daddy! I want this boy. We must take him with us to the palace, where he will live and sing for me" she said.
King Devgandhari was dismayed. The boy was rather amused, "I can't come with you, I need to look after my parents.".
Vadhans (which literally means the Great Swan - symbolizes a virtuous being in the Guru Granth Sahib) was a beautiful boy with big brown eyes with a depth that mirrored that of an ocean, with beautiful brown skin that glowed in the sun. His face had a constant smile on it despite having the responsibility of looking after his blind father. The family had a very basic existence yet there was a sense of plenty.
King Devgandhari went into Vadhans's hut and requested his father to let him take Vadhans with him in the hope that Vadhans may help Raamkali be a better person. Vadhans's father thought for a while and then, with a heavy heart, agreed to let his son go with the king.
A tear fell from Vadhans's eyes when his father told him that he had to go with the king. "But who will look after you, father? How will I live without you?"
"Vaheguru will look after both, you and me".
King Devgandhari promised Vadhans that his father will be looked after. He ordered two of his attendants to stay back and look after Vadhans's father until he returns.
Vadhans gave his father a big hug and then joined the royal family in their chariot, just as Guru Arjan Dev ji had gone to Lahore on the behest of his father. Vadhnas closed his eyes and said to himself "ਤੇਰਾ ਕੀਆ ਮੀਠਾ ਲਾਗੈ ॥ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਪਦਾਰਥੁ ਨਾਨਕੁ ਮਾਂਗੈ ॥੨॥੪੨॥੯੩॥"
(Whatever you decide for me, Lord is sweet, please bless me with the ability to mediate upon you).
Vadhans tried his best to be cheerful despite missing his father and sang whenever Raamkali bade him to and Raamkali continuously sold the virtues of "having plenty", to him, but as time passed Vadhans's sadness of being away from his father increased and his desire to sing seemed to all but disappear.
"Sing for me!" shouted Raamkali, "Why don't you sing anymore?".
"I can't" pleaded Vadhans.
"Why?"
"I don't know. I never before had to try and sing. Songs just seemed to emerge from within...like a mirage to a weary traveler, in a hot desert"
"That's just silly! Sing now! I want to hear a song" said Raamkali, stamping her feet as she often did when irritated, "Sing the song you were singing when I first met you - the one about the fairies...you do remember it don't you?"
Vadhans didn't want to sing but he was growing weary of Raamkali's tantrums. So he began to sing, "The fairies have arrived and are singing...". But the song didn't sound anything like it had the first time Raamkali had heard it. It sounded more like an out of tune violin being played by a three year old who had never picked up a violin before. No, even that would sound better!
Raamkali screeched like a Witch that can't seem to get her magic potion just right! She stomped out of the room and slammed the door hard behind her. Vadhans stopped singing. The sparkle in his eyes that Raamkali had seen when they had first met, seemed to have disappeared. He seemed unable to move, like a robot that had just run out of batteries.
Now that Vadhans wouldn't sing, Raamkali had no use for him. He was just another toy that she had got bored of and she soon found other things to keep herself occupied. One day King Devgandhari heard Vadhans singing:
ਇਕ ਘੜੀ ਨ ਮਿਲਤੇ ਤਾ ਕਲਿਜੁਗੁ ਹੋਤਾ ॥
ਹੁਣਿ ਕਦਿ ਮਿਲੀਐ ਪ੍ਰਿਅ ਤੁਧੁ ਭਗਵੰਤਾ ॥
ਮੋਹਿ ਰੈਣਿ ਨ ਵਿਹਾਵੈ ਨੀਦ ਨ ਆਵੈ ਬਿਨੁ ਦੇਖੇ ਗੁਰ ਦਰਬਾਰੇ ਜੀਉ ॥੩॥
"O father, earlier if we were separated for even one instant it felt like the darkest (saddest) moments of my life. Now I have spent so long without you, pray tell me when will I get to see you again. The nights are painful without you and I am unable to sleep without seeing you (Please end this separation)".
Devgandhari recognized the shabad as that written by Guru Arjan Dev Ji when he was separated from his father. He decided Vadhans must return to his father.
Many weeks passed by and Raamkali and her father were on their way to her uncle's palace once more. As they passed Vadhans's house, they heard his beautiful voice once more. Raamkali was intrigued, she wanted to see Vadhans. So she stopped the chariot and knocked on the door of Vadhans's house. The door opened. It was Vadhans, with the twinkle back in his eye and his beautiful smile, that seemed to widen further on seeing Raamkali, ever present on his beautiful face.
"Come in! Welcome to my Guru's house. We were just about to eat. Do join us.".
Raamkali saw that Vadhans had one roti (loaf of bread) that he and his father were about to share. "No you eat. What would you eat if we shared this roti with you?". Vadhans smiled and said,
ਤੂ ਦਾਤਾ ਦਾਤਾਰੁ ਤੇਰਾ ਦਿਤਾ ਖਾਵਣਾ ॥
"He who has provided us with this roti (bread) will provide us with another. My Guru has taught me to Vand Chako (share whatever I have). Please do join us."
They all sat down and shared the roti. Raamkali thanked Vadhans and the father and daughter got back into their chariot.
There was complete silence as the chariot rode off. Finally her father asked her, "What's the matter, dear? Why are you so quiet?".
After a long pause Raamkali said, "Its strange....Vadhans has nothing....yet..I am jealous of him!"
Monday, October 24, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Fables, Faith and Bhakti (Part 4)
Bhagat Ravidas was born in 1376 in Banaras. He was a cobbler by trade through Maskeen ji makes a wonderful point in his talk on bhagat Ravidas when he says that most humans spend their life looking after their skin (human body) while bhagat Ravidas ji rose above looking after his skin (as he looked after his soul instead) and hence other humans are are worthy of being referred to as cobblers. 40 of Ravidas ji's hymns have been included in the Guru Granth Sahib, composed in 16 Raags.
Being a cobbler Ravidas ji created an idol for himself, out of leather. This of course upset the Brahamans who view leather as unholy. To this Ravidas Ji replied, a drum is used in prayer, a cow is considered sacred and God lives in animals, all these are made of leather, so how can leather be unholy?
This is interesting, as what it suggests is that no object can be defined as holy or unholy, it is out intent when using the object that is holy or unholy.
Amongst his contributions is an Aarti in Raag Dhanasree (Page 694). Another amazing aspects of my Guru is the numerous ways of doing the Aarti described. Note how different this aarti is to that written by Guru Nanak Dev ji.
ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰੋ ਅਾਰਤੀ ਮਜਨੁ ਮੁਰਾਰੇ॥
ਹਰਿ ਕੇ ਨਾਮ ਬਿਨੁ ਝੂਠੇ ਸਗਲ ਪਾਸਾਰੇ॥੧॥ਰਹਾਉ॥
ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰੋ ਅਾਸਨੋ ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰੋ ਉਰਸਾ ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰਾ ਕੇਸਰੋ ਲੇ ਛਿਟਕਾਰੇ॥
ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰਾ ਅੰਭੁਲਾ ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰੋ ਚੰਦਨੋ ਘਸਿ ਜਪੇ ਨਾਮੁ ਲੇ ਤੁਝਹਿ ਕਉ ਚਾਰੇ॥੧॥
ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰਾ ਦੀਵਾ ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰੋ ਬਾਤੀ ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰੋ ਤੇਲੁ ਲੇ ਮਾਹੇ ਪਸਾਰੇ॥
ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰੇ ਕੀ ਜੋਤਿ ਲਗਾੲੀ ਭਇਓ ਉਜਿਅਾਰੋ ਭਵਨ ਸਗਲਾਰੇ॥੨॥
ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰੋ ਤਾਗਾ ਨਾਮੁ ਫੂਲ ਮਾਲਾ ਭਾਰ ਅਠਾਰਹ ਸਗਲ ਜੂਠਾਰੇ॥
ਤੇਰੋ ਕੀਅਾ ਤੁਝਹਿ ਕਿਅਾ ਅਰਪਉ ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰਾ ਤੁਹੀ ਚਵਰ ਢੋਲਾਰੇ॥੩॥
ਦਸ ਅਠਾ ਅਠਸਠੇ ਚਾਰੇ ਖਾਣੀ ਇਹੈ ਵਰਤਣਿ ਹੈ ਸਗਲ ਸੰਸਾਰੇ॥
ਕਹੈ ਰਵਿਦਾਸੁ ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰੋ ਅਿਰਤੀ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਹੈ ਹਰਿ ਭੋਗ ਤੁਹਾਰੇ॥੪॥੩॥
Meditating on your name, O lord, is my Aarti and my cleansing bath as anything other than your name is lies (so how can I offer it to you in prayer). Your name is my prayer mat, saffron, water, sandalwood, the stone on which I grind my sandalwood and the actual act of grinding the sandalwood too. It is your name that is my lamp, the wick and the oil and the light that illuminates the world. You name is the flowers and the string that I make the garland with for all other flowers (offerings) are false (they die). Your name is the fan that I fan you with. The 18 puraans and 68 pilgrimages and the 4 elements are all being used by the whole world, as ways of offerings to you. What can I offer you, all I have has been given to me by you? Hence, my prayer is meditation on your name.
Any discussion on the bhagats that have authored shabads within the Guru Granth Sahib is incomplete without mentioning bhagat Kabir ji. However, no discussion about him can ever be enough, given the volume of his contribution (532 hymns with compositions in 16 Raags). Here we discuss one of his shabads that has an interesting take on birthday celebrations :-). With my limited knowledge of the bani I have somehow arrived at a view that Kabir ji's bani has a very distinct character. For example, in the shabad below he talks about how Yamraj laughs at us for believing that our near and dear are ours...his language is so direct that it almost hurts the ear :-)
ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ ਕਬੀਰ ਜੀਉ ਕਾ ॥ ਏਕੁ ਸੁਆਨੁ ਕੈ ਘਰਿ ਗਾਵਣਾ
ਜਨਨੀ ਜਾਨਤ ਸੁਤੁ ਬਡਾ ਹੋਤੁ ਹੈ ਇਤਨਾ ਕੁ ਨ ਜਾਨੈ ਜਿ ਦਿਨ ਦਿਨ ਅਵਧ ਘਟਤੁ ਹੈ ॥
ਮੋਰ ਮੋਰ ਕਰਿ ਅਧਿਕ ਲਾਡੁ ਧਰਿ ਪੇਖਤ ਹੀ ਜਮਰਾਉ ਹਸੈ ॥੧॥
A mother blinded by attachment is happy seeing her child grow up, little does she realize that with each day the length of his life is actually reducing. Seeing her loving her son, yamraj laughs at the interest she is taking in his property.
ਐਸਾ ਤੈਂ ਜਗੁ ਭਰਮਿ ਲਾਇਆ ॥
ਕੈਸੇ ਬੂਝੈ ਜਬ ਮੋਹਿਆ ਹੈ ਮਾਇਆ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
This is the level of falsehood (illusion created by God) that we live in. How can a human comprehend this falsehood when he is so engrossed in this illusion. Says Kabir, give up the pleasures that you are so attached to.
ਕਹਤ ਕਬੀਰ ਛੋਡਿ ਬਿਖਿਆ ਰਸ ਇਤੁ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਨਿਹਚਉ ਮਰਣਾ ॥
ਰਮਈਆ ਜਪਹੁ ਪ੍ਰਾਣੀ ਅਨਤ ਜੀਵਣ ਬਾਣੀ ਇਨ ਬਿਧਿ ਭਵ ਸਾਗਰੁ ਤਰਣਾ ॥੨॥
Kabir says, give up on these useless pleasures as they can only lead to a wasted life. Medicate on God instead as it alone can make you swim cross the terrifying ocean of rebirth (transcend the cycle of life).
ਜਾਂ ਤਿਸੁ ਭਾਵੈ ਤਾ ਲਾਗੈ ਭਾਉ ॥
ਭਰਮੁ ਭੁਲਾਵਾ ਵਿਚਹੁ ਜਾਇ ॥
ਉਪਜੈ ਸਹਜੁ ਗਿਆਨ ਮਤਿ ਜਾਗੈ ॥
ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ਅੰਤਰਿ ਲਿਵ ਲਾਗੈ ॥੩॥
If God so wishes he generates love for him within the human being. This eradicates illusion and misgivings from within and gives birth to intellect and spiritual wisdom. It is through his blessings that the human being attaches himself to God.
ਇਤੁ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਨਾਹੀ ਮਰਣਾ ॥
ਹੁਕਮੁ ਪਛਾਣਿ ਤਾ ਖਸਮੈ ਮਿਲਣਾ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ਦੂਜਾ ॥
By attaching oneself to God in this manner one makes a success of this life and meets with his maker (breaks the cycle of birth and death).
Kabir ji was to me a no nonsense kind of bhagat which comes across very clearly in his bani. His bani, even that not included in the Guru Granth Sahib, cuts right through you. He has spoken against rituals that had been developed by churches of established religions:
See for example:
Pothi Padi Padi jag mua, pandit bhaya na koye
Dhaee aakhar prem ka, pade so pandit hoye
or
kankar paathar jor ke masjid deyo banae
tab chade mullah bang de kya behra hoye khudaye?
The fact is that there is a lot of commonality within what these bhagats have said. They all believed in the one God. That God is formless and omnipresent and that love is the supreme, if not the only path, to achieving union with God, which is the only reason why we have got this precious birth as humans. They further believed that all humans are equal in the eyes of god, that he tests his true bhagats and looks after their honour and, finally, that whether we achieve our goal in this life is based on us getting rid of our ego AND God being benevolent. We must do the Karam but obtaining the fruit is in God's hands. All the bhagats were also great observers of nature, very aware of their surroundings, not surprisingly as they believed that God existed everywhere. What this means is that they have used a lot of symbols within their bani and it is important to understand what these symbols represent before you can really get to grips with the bani.
Ramakrishna Paramahansa once said "A number of blind men came to an elephant. Somebody told them that it was an elephant. The blind men asked, ‘What is the elephant like?’ and they began to touch its body. One of them said: 'It is like a pillar.' This blind man had only touched its leg. Similarly, those who had touched its trunk or belly gave different opinions. In the same way, he who has seen the Lord in a particular way limits the Lord to that alone and thinks that He is nothing else."
The advantage we have is that the bhagats, who all experienced God, were not blinded by their own ignorance. If lots of sighted people had experienced the elephant it would hardly surprise us if they all agreed on their account of what an elephant looked like. Hence it should not surprise us that despite the very varied backgrounds of these bhagats, their accounts of God were very similar. To me there is no greater proof that the differences that people see today amongst religions is due to the corruption of these paths, brought to us by God's bhagats over the years, by its care takers whose ego's didn't allow them to really follow their founding fathers. And for instilling this belief in me, I thank my Guru.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Fables, Faith and Bhakti (Part 3)
Sadhna Ji, a Muslim pir, lived during the 12th century in Sindh. He was a butcher by trade, I guess a rather unusual profession for a bhagat! There is one shabad by Sadhna Ji in the Guru Granth Sahib and there is a sakhi associated with the shabad itself. Before discussing the shabad and its associated sakhi, there is a sakhi about Bhagat Sadhna Ji that is one of my favourite sakhis about the bhagats!
As I said earlier, Sadhna ji was a butcher. Late one evening as he was preparing to close his butcher's shop, the king's soldiers arrived and said that the king wanted a small amount of lamb. Sadhna ji was in a quandary. He knew that if he killed a lamb at that time of the day, the remaining meat would get spoilt by the morning so he would not be able to sell it. However not serving the king meant having to withstand the king's wrath. So he decided that he would just cut off a leg of the lamb, the lamb would suffer through the night but would still be alive the next day and so he could then kill the lamb and sell the rest of its meat. As Sadhna ji sat down to execute on the plan, the lamb spoke out and told Sadhna to reconsider his plan! He further warned him that over many lives the two have been killing each other, while in one life Sadhna ji was the butcher, in the next life the lamb became the butcher and Sadhna ji, the lamb, but never had either of them stooped to a level as low as what Sadhna ji was about to do. He suggested Sadhna ji consider what the lamb would have to do to him in return in the next life! Not surprisingly, Sadhna ji was shocked! He told the kings men that he had given up being a butcher and became a wandering dervish.
While on one of his travels, he came to the door of a woman, asking for alms. The woman was immediately attracted to Sadhna ji who was supposed to be a rather handsome man. She invited him into the house and immediately expressed her desire to elope with him. On hearing her proposal Sadhna ji told her that there was no way that he would agree to elope with her, even if she threatened to kill him if he didn't, as she was a married woman. Somehow the woman understood this statement as suggesting that she kill her husband. So she killed her husband and came back to Sadhna ji and told him what she had done. On hearing this Sadhna ji became, as you would imagine, rather upset and decided to leave the house. The woman then created a ruckus saying that Sadhna ji had murdered her husband as he was attracted to her and was now wanting to take her with him. Sadhna ji was arrested and pleaded guilty to the charge assuming that this was God's will. The judge decided that a just punishment would be that Sadhna ji's hands be cut off. It is then that Sadhna ji is believed to have written the shabad that has been included in the Guru Granth Sahib.
Before we get onto understanding Sadhna ji's shabad, we need to acquaint ourselves with another sakhi, not about Sadhna ji but one that he refers to in his shabad. There was once a princess that made up her mind that she was only going to marry the lord Vishnu. A poor carpenter's son fell in love with the princess. When he heard of the princesses resolve, he dressed up as Vishnu and appeared before the princess saying how he had been impressed by her bhakti and was therefore going to take on a human form and marry her. The princess was overjoyed and soon the two were married. The father of the princess was rather pleased at having Vishnu as his son-in-law and decided to reduce the size of his army as he thought that with Vishnu on his side he had the greatest force possible with him. The neighbouring king decided to take advantage in this reduction in the army by attacking the kingdom. So the king came to his son-in-law and pleaded that he protect the kingdom. Caught in a rather difficult situation, the son-in-law told his father-in-law not to worry, that he would protect the kingdom. Having made this commitment, it is said that the carpenter's son prayed to Vishnu with such fervour that Vishnu appeared to him and promised to come to his aid. Vishnu then took on human form and single handedly destroyed the neighbouring kings army in battle. The moral being that no matter how much of a sinner you are, if you can repent with a true heart, God will come to your assistance and being all powerful, no earthly force can then destroy you. The question then is, should we become complacent and commit as much sin now in the knowledge that we can always pray to God and attain forgiveness? In my view, as God can see through all facade, you cannot deceive him and so there is a big difference in committing a crime when you are oblivious of its consequences and committing a crime when you are aware of the consequences but think you have the ability to attain the kind of intensity in prayer to impress God and obtain forgiveness. At best you run a great risk :-).
So in the first two lines of the shabad below, Sadhna ji refers to the above sakhi saying that you (God) even protected the honour of a man who posed as you and deceived, for lust and self-centered reasons, a young girl, won't you protect my honour now? (The world thinks I killed the woman's husband with lust in my heart. You know I didn't do any of this. Yet you have let them find me guilty and had my hands cut off?).
ਬਾਣੀ ਸਧਨੇ ਕੀ ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ
ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
ਨ੍ਰਿਪ ਕੰਨਿਆ ਕੇ ਕਾਰਨੈ ਇਕੁ ਭਇਆ ਭੇਖਧਾਰੀ ॥
ਕਾਮਾਰਥੀ ਸੁਆਰਥੀ ਵਾ ਕੀ ਪੈਜ ਸਵਾਰੀ ॥੧॥
At that point it is believed that God replied, saying that Sadhna what you receive now is a consequence of your past deeds. To which Sadhna ji replied, "O lord of the entire Universe (ਜਗਤ ਗੁਰਾ), what about your virtue (power) if you cannot turn my fate around and protect me despite my misdeeds of the past. Who will ask the lion (God) for protection if someone who came to you for pretection got eaten by Jackals (the worldly powers - the king in this case)?" In short Sadhna ji asked God to protect his own honour by saving him.
ਤਵ ਗੁਨ ਕਹਾ ਜਗਤ ਗੁਰਾ ਜਉ ਕਰਮੁ ਨ ਨਾਸੈ ॥
ਸਿੰਘ ਸਰਨ ਕਤ ਜਾਈਐ ਜਉ ਜੰਬੁਕੁ ਗ੍ਰਾਸੈ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
To this, it is believed that God replied, Ok Sadhna don't worry, I will give you mukti (nirvana) was you are dead, have patience - I will save you. To which Sadhna ji replied that O lord, how can you ask me to be patient? What good is it if you bring a whole ocean to a Papiha (a common hawk cuckoo?) bird that has died while waiting for that single dew drop to fall from a leaf?
ਏਕ ਬੂੰਦ ਜਲ ਕਾਰਨੇ ਚਾਤ੍ਰਿਕੁ ਦੁਖੁ ਪਾਵੈ ॥
ਪ੍ਰਾਨ ਗਏ ਸਾਗਰੁ ਮਿਲੈ ਫੁਨਿ ਕਾਮਿ ਨ ਆਵੈ ॥੨॥
"O lord", he continued, "my soul is tired now, yet you ask me to wait, if I die and you the bring me a boat to cross this ocean (ਭਵ ਸਾਗਰੁ), How will I get on it?
ਪ੍ਰਾਨ ਜੁ ਥਾਕੇ ਥਿਰੁ ਨਹੀ ਕੈਸੇ ਬਿਰਮਾਵਉ ॥
ਬੂਡਿ ਮੂਏ ਨਉਕਾ ਮਿਲੈ ਕਹੁ ਕਾਹਿ ਚਢਾਵਉ ॥੩॥
Sadhna ji continued, "I do not exist (my ego is destroyed - Jab mein tha tab hari nahi, ab hari hai main nahi), I am a nobody (I have no status without you) and nothing is mine (it is all yours). At this time protect my honour, I am your servant". At this point God decided to stop testing Sadhna Ji any further and agreed to save him. The story goes that Sadhna ji sprouted new hands, at which point the woman realized her folly and asked for forgiveness from Sadhna ji and his honour was restored.
ਮੈ ਨਾਹੀ ਕਛੁ ਹਉ ਨਹੀ ਕਿਛੁ ਆਹਿ ਨ ਮੋਰਾ ॥
ਅਉਸਰ ਲਜਾ ਰਾਖਿ ਲੇਹੁ ਸਧਨਾ ਜਨੁ ਤੋਰਾ ॥੪॥੧॥
It is clear that Sadhna ji believed in the concept of rebirth. He also believed that God was all powerful and forgiving and submission to his will was essential. The question of course is, is this a true story or a fable? Could a human really sprout new hands once his old have been cut off? To me the more important question is: Can we have the type of faith that Sadhna ji had in God? If so, then the only way to know if this is possible is to go ahead and experiment ;-) - Only kidding!
Lets move on to Bhagat Jaidev ji who lived from 1201 to 1245. As an ascetic he didn't sleep under the same tree for more than one night in case he developed an attachment for the tree that somehow reduced the love he had for God. He was forced into changing into a householder when a Brahmin was ordered by God to gift his beautiful daughter as a wife to Jaidev ji. This led Jaidev ji to compose his most celebrated work called Geetgovinda - a poem that even God yearned to listen to! Radha, Krishna and the gopis were used as symbols of wisdom, soul and the senses (evils). In the story Krishna gets attracted to the gopis and ignores Radha but finally realizes his folly and returns to Radha. When writing the story, Jaidev ji was thinking of writing that Krishna put Radha's feet on his head when apologizing to her. The sakhi suggests that Jaidev ji got worried that people may view this as an insult of their God so he took a break and went to bathe in the river. When he returned after his bath he found that someone had written exactly what he had been thinking. When he questioned his wife, she seemed surprised and said that he himself had come back and written the text. Jaidev ji then realized that God had himself taken his form and written the text. This is a recurring event in stories about the bhagats, God taking on their persona to help them (for example, there is one such story about Dhanna jat). On another occassion Jaidev ji got mugged by some thugs and the thugs cut his hands off and threw him into a well. It so happened that a king was passing by the well and saw Jaidev ji. He got Jaidev ji extracted from the well and took him to his palace. It so happened that a few days later the king put on a feast for holy men. The thugs came there dressed as holy men. Jaidev ji saw them and rather than get revenge by telling the king who they were, greeted the thugs and told the king that they were his friends. The king honoured the thugs and gave them lots of wealth. When the thugs left the palace the king sent his guards with them so ensure their safe passage given the large amounts of wealth they had been given. En route the soldiers asked the thugs how they knew Jaidev. The thugs created further stories where they suggested that they had been asked to execute Jaidev a long time ago by another king and they had taken pity on him and let him go free. It is said that God decided he had had enough of these lying thugs and the ground below the thugs split and they were consumed by the earth. Jaidev ji too sprouted new hands.
Another of the early bhagats was Namdev ji who lived from 1270 to 1350 in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. There are 61 hymns authored by Namdev ji in the Guru Granth Sahib, composed in 18 Raags. As a lower caste Hindu, Namdev ji had to face the wrath of the Brahman class on a number of occassions. The following shabad refers to one such incident, when Namdev ji, on one of his travels reached a Shiv temple near Nanded. Seeing the aarti being performed, he got so engrossed in the love of God that he started to play the cymbals with his shoes. Not surprisingly, the priests got rather upset with him and threw him out of the temple and told him to join his fellow caste members at the back of the temple. It is said that Namdev ji then went and sat at the back of the temple and composed the following shabad.
ਮਲਾਰ ॥
ਮੋ ਕਉ ਤੂੰ ਨ ਬਿਸਾਰਿ ਤੂ ਨ ਬਿਸਾਰਿ ॥
ਤੂ ਨ ਬਿਸਾਰੇ ਰਾਮਈਆ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
ਆਲਾਵੰਤੀ ਇਹੁ ਭ੍ਰਮੁ ਜੋ ਹੈ ਮੁਝ ਊਪਰਿ ਸਭ ਕੋਪਿਲਾ ॥
ਸੂਦੁ ਸੂਦੁ ਕਰਿ ਮਾਰਿ ਉਠਾਇਓ ਕਹਾ ਕਰਉ ਬਾਪ ਬੀਠੁਲਾ ॥੧॥
ਮੂਏ ਹੂਏ ਜਉ ਮੁਕਤਿ ਦੇਹੁਗੇ ਮੁਕਤਿ ਨ ਜਾਨੈ ਕੋਇਲਾ ॥
ਏ ਪੰਡੀਆ ਮੋ ਕਉ ਢੇਢ ਕਹਤ ਤੇਰੀ ਪੈਜ ਪਿਛੰਉਡੀ ਹੋਇਲਾ ॥੨॥
ਤੂ ਜੁ ਦਇਆਲੁ ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾਲੁ ਕਹੀਅਤੁ ਹੈਂ ਅਤਿਭੁਜ ਭਇਓ ਅਪਾਰਲਾ ॥
ਫੇਰਿ ਦੀਆ ਦੇਹੁਰਾ ਨਾਮੇ ਕਉ ਪੰਡੀਅਨ ਕਉ ਪਿਛਵਾਰਲਾ ॥੩॥੨॥
In the shabad, bhagat ji says, "Please do not forsake me o omnipresent lord, the Brahmans of this temple are all angry with me. They called me a lower caste and beat me up. What shall I do father? God is said to have spoken to Namdev ji and told him not to worry as he would give him nirvana once he dies. If you give me nirvana after I die then who will know of this benevolent act of yours. When these Brahmans call me a lower caste they are insulting you and your honour will be hurt if you do not give me nirvana and prove that all your bhagats are equal in your eyes". God told Namdev ji that this treatment of him was a result of his previous karma. Namdev ji then sang "you who are known to be benevolent and forgiving (please forgive me for my past deeds) and save your honour". It is then said that God used your strong arms to turn the temple around to Namdev ji and turned his back (metaphorically) on the Brahmans. The last sentence in the shabad recounts this incident. Note the similarity of this story with that of Sadhna ji.
Another interesting story recounted by Macauliffe is of how Namdev ji met his guru, Vishobha. This incident also took place in a Shiv temple. When Namdev ji entered the temple, Vishobha ji decided to test him and so he took on the form of a leper and placed his feet on the shivling. Namdev ji did not recognize him and got cross with him for putting his feet on the shivling. Vishobha ji replied that as he is unable to move himself off the shivling could Namdev ji please help him. So Namdev ji lifted his feet but in whichever direction he turned the feet, they seemed to be pointing straight at the shivling. Namdev ji realized his folly and realized that God is omnipresent. (Sound familiar? - Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Mecca?)
Swami Ramanad was a hugely influential figure of the Bhakti movement. He was the guru of Kabir ji, Sain ji, Dhanna Jat, Sant Ravidas and Pipa ji. So while his own contribution to the Guru Granth Sahib was only one hymn in Raag Basant, his followers have made a very substantial contribution. Kabir Ji is the fifth largest contributor to the Guru Granth Sahib, after Guru Nanak Dev ji, Guru Amar Das ji, Guru Ram Das ji and Guru Arjan Dev ji. Sant Ravidas too has contributed 40 hymns in 16 Raags. Ramanand ji lived in in the late 1300's and early 1400s in Banaras. He believed that people of any caste could reach God. His shabad below focuses on the futility of searching for God in places external to oneself.
The context to the shabad is that there is a Brahma temple not far from Banaras where there was a religious festival held every year which was usually attended by Ramanand ji and his disciples, but this year when his disciples asked Ramanand ji to come along he replied in the form of this shabad (on Page 1195 of the Guru Granth Sahib).
ਰਾਮਾਨੰਦ ਜੀ ਘਰੁ ੧
ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
ਕਤ ਜਾਈਐ ਰੇ ਘਰ ਲਾਗੋ ਰੰਗੁ ॥
ਮੇਰਾ ਚਿਤੁ ਨ ਚਲੈ ਮਨੁ ਭਇਓ ਪੰਗੁ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
"Why go anywhere to look for God when the body itself is decorated by the beloved. My mind and body are both unable to go anywhere (paralyzed) now that I have found god within me." On hearing this the disciples asked him as to why he had been going to the Brahma temple in previous years? He replied:
ਏਕ ਦਿਵਸ ਮਨ ਭਈ ਉਮੰਗ ॥
ਘਸਿ ਚੰਦਨ ਚੋਆ ਬਹੁ ਸੁਗੰਧ ॥
ਪੂਜਨ ਚਾਲੀ ਬ੍ਰਹਮ ਠਾਇ ॥
ਸੋ ਬ੍ਰਹਮੁ ਬਤਾਇਓ ਗੁਰ ਮਨ ਹੀ ਮਾਹਿ ॥੧॥
One day my mind was filled with excitement and I ground sandalwood and reveled in its beautiful smell. I then went to pray to Brahma in his temple but then Brahma told me that God was within me.
ਜਹਾ ਜਾਈਐ ਤਹ ਜਲ ਪਖਾਨ ॥
ਤੂ ਪੂਰਿ ਰਹਿਓ ਹੈ ਸਭ ਸਮਾਨ ॥
ਬੇਦ ਪੁਰਾਨ ਸਭ ਦੇਖੇ ਜੋਇ ॥
ਊਹਾਂ ਤਉ ਜਾਈਐ ਜਉ ਈਹਾਂ ਨ ਹੋਇ ॥੨॥
Whichever temple you go to there are stones (idols) and water. God exists everywhere so what is in a temple that is not everywhere else (the whole world is holy). The four Veds and 18 puraans say the same, I would only go there if I could find something that is not here.
ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਮੈ ਬਲਿਹਾਰੀ ਤੋਰ ॥
ਜਿਨਿ ਸਕਲ ਬਿਕਲ ਭ੍ਰਮ ਕਾਟੇ ਮੋਰ ॥
ਰਾਮਾਨੰਦ ਸੁਆਮੀ ਰਮਤ ਬ੍ਰਹਮ ॥
ਗੁਰ ਕਾ ਸਬਦੁ ਕਾਟੈ ਕੋਟਿ ਕਰਮ ॥੩॥੧॥
O God, I am indebted to you for showing me the truth and getting rid of my ignorance. Ramanand says God is omnipresent and meditating of the lord destroys all our bad deeds of the past.
So Ramanad ji also shunned idol worship and believed that God was omnipresent. He also suggests in his shabad that true Hinduism (the Veds and Puraans) was also not idolatry.
Part 4 is here.
As I said earlier, Sadhna ji was a butcher. Late one evening as he was preparing to close his butcher's shop, the king's soldiers arrived and said that the king wanted a small amount of lamb. Sadhna ji was in a quandary. He knew that if he killed a lamb at that time of the day, the remaining meat would get spoilt by the morning so he would not be able to sell it. However not serving the king meant having to withstand the king's wrath. So he decided that he would just cut off a leg of the lamb, the lamb would suffer through the night but would still be alive the next day and so he could then kill the lamb and sell the rest of its meat. As Sadhna ji sat down to execute on the plan, the lamb spoke out and told Sadhna to reconsider his plan! He further warned him that over many lives the two have been killing each other, while in one life Sadhna ji was the butcher, in the next life the lamb became the butcher and Sadhna ji, the lamb, but never had either of them stooped to a level as low as what Sadhna ji was about to do. He suggested Sadhna ji consider what the lamb would have to do to him in return in the next life! Not surprisingly, Sadhna ji was shocked! He told the kings men that he had given up being a butcher and became a wandering dervish.
While on one of his travels, he came to the door of a woman, asking for alms. The woman was immediately attracted to Sadhna ji who was supposed to be a rather handsome man. She invited him into the house and immediately expressed her desire to elope with him. On hearing her proposal Sadhna ji told her that there was no way that he would agree to elope with her, even if she threatened to kill him if he didn't, as she was a married woman. Somehow the woman understood this statement as suggesting that she kill her husband. So she killed her husband and came back to Sadhna ji and told him what she had done. On hearing this Sadhna ji became, as you would imagine, rather upset and decided to leave the house. The woman then created a ruckus saying that Sadhna ji had murdered her husband as he was attracted to her and was now wanting to take her with him. Sadhna ji was arrested and pleaded guilty to the charge assuming that this was God's will. The judge decided that a just punishment would be that Sadhna ji's hands be cut off. It is then that Sadhna ji is believed to have written the shabad that has been included in the Guru Granth Sahib.
Before we get onto understanding Sadhna ji's shabad, we need to acquaint ourselves with another sakhi, not about Sadhna ji but one that he refers to in his shabad. There was once a princess that made up her mind that she was only going to marry the lord Vishnu. A poor carpenter's son fell in love with the princess. When he heard of the princesses resolve, he dressed up as Vishnu and appeared before the princess saying how he had been impressed by her bhakti and was therefore going to take on a human form and marry her. The princess was overjoyed and soon the two were married. The father of the princess was rather pleased at having Vishnu as his son-in-law and decided to reduce the size of his army as he thought that with Vishnu on his side he had the greatest force possible with him. The neighbouring king decided to take advantage in this reduction in the army by attacking the kingdom. So the king came to his son-in-law and pleaded that he protect the kingdom. Caught in a rather difficult situation, the son-in-law told his father-in-law not to worry, that he would protect the kingdom. Having made this commitment, it is said that the carpenter's son prayed to Vishnu with such fervour that Vishnu appeared to him and promised to come to his aid. Vishnu then took on human form and single handedly destroyed the neighbouring kings army in battle. The moral being that no matter how much of a sinner you are, if you can repent with a true heart, God will come to your assistance and being all powerful, no earthly force can then destroy you. The question then is, should we become complacent and commit as much sin now in the knowledge that we can always pray to God and attain forgiveness? In my view, as God can see through all facade, you cannot deceive him and so there is a big difference in committing a crime when you are oblivious of its consequences and committing a crime when you are aware of the consequences but think you have the ability to attain the kind of intensity in prayer to impress God and obtain forgiveness. At best you run a great risk :-).
So in the first two lines of the shabad below, Sadhna ji refers to the above sakhi saying that you (God) even protected the honour of a man who posed as you and deceived, for lust and self-centered reasons, a young girl, won't you protect my honour now? (The world thinks I killed the woman's husband with lust in my heart. You know I didn't do any of this. Yet you have let them find me guilty and had my hands cut off?).
ਬਾਣੀ ਸਧਨੇ ਕੀ ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ
ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
ਨ੍ਰਿਪ ਕੰਨਿਆ ਕੇ ਕਾਰਨੈ ਇਕੁ ਭਇਆ ਭੇਖਧਾਰੀ ॥
ਕਾਮਾਰਥੀ ਸੁਆਰਥੀ ਵਾ ਕੀ ਪੈਜ ਸਵਾਰੀ ॥੧॥
At that point it is believed that God replied, saying that Sadhna what you receive now is a consequence of your past deeds. To which Sadhna ji replied, "O lord of the entire Universe (ਜਗਤ ਗੁਰਾ), what about your virtue (power) if you cannot turn my fate around and protect me despite my misdeeds of the past. Who will ask the lion (God) for protection if someone who came to you for pretection got eaten by Jackals (the worldly powers - the king in this case)?" In short Sadhna ji asked God to protect his own honour by saving him.
ਤਵ ਗੁਨ ਕਹਾ ਜਗਤ ਗੁਰਾ ਜਉ ਕਰਮੁ ਨ ਨਾਸੈ ॥
ਸਿੰਘ ਸਰਨ ਕਤ ਜਾਈਐ ਜਉ ਜੰਬੁਕੁ ਗ੍ਰਾਸੈ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
To this, it is believed that God replied, Ok Sadhna don't worry, I will give you mukti (nirvana) was you are dead, have patience - I will save you. To which Sadhna ji replied that O lord, how can you ask me to be patient? What good is it if you bring a whole ocean to a Papiha (a common hawk cuckoo?) bird that has died while waiting for that single dew drop to fall from a leaf?
ਏਕ ਬੂੰਦ ਜਲ ਕਾਰਨੇ ਚਾਤ੍ਰਿਕੁ ਦੁਖੁ ਪਾਵੈ ॥
ਪ੍ਰਾਨ ਗਏ ਸਾਗਰੁ ਮਿਲੈ ਫੁਨਿ ਕਾਮਿ ਨ ਆਵੈ ॥੨॥
"O lord", he continued, "my soul is tired now, yet you ask me to wait, if I die and you the bring me a boat to cross this ocean (ਭਵ ਸਾਗਰੁ), How will I get on it?
ਪ੍ਰਾਨ ਜੁ ਥਾਕੇ ਥਿਰੁ ਨਹੀ ਕੈਸੇ ਬਿਰਮਾਵਉ ॥
ਬੂਡਿ ਮੂਏ ਨਉਕਾ ਮਿਲੈ ਕਹੁ ਕਾਹਿ ਚਢਾਵਉ ॥੩॥
Sadhna ji continued, "I do not exist (my ego is destroyed - Jab mein tha tab hari nahi, ab hari hai main nahi), I am a nobody (I have no status without you) and nothing is mine (it is all yours). At this time protect my honour, I am your servant". At this point God decided to stop testing Sadhna Ji any further and agreed to save him. The story goes that Sadhna ji sprouted new hands, at which point the woman realized her folly and asked for forgiveness from Sadhna ji and his honour was restored.
ਮੈ ਨਾਹੀ ਕਛੁ ਹਉ ਨਹੀ ਕਿਛੁ ਆਹਿ ਨ ਮੋਰਾ ॥
ਅਉਸਰ ਲਜਾ ਰਾਖਿ ਲੇਹੁ ਸਧਨਾ ਜਨੁ ਤੋਰਾ ॥੪॥੧॥
It is clear that Sadhna ji believed in the concept of rebirth. He also believed that God was all powerful and forgiving and submission to his will was essential. The question of course is, is this a true story or a fable? Could a human really sprout new hands once his old have been cut off? To me the more important question is: Can we have the type of faith that Sadhna ji had in God? If so, then the only way to know if this is possible is to go ahead and experiment ;-) - Only kidding!
Lets move on to Bhagat Jaidev ji who lived from 1201 to 1245. As an ascetic he didn't sleep under the same tree for more than one night in case he developed an attachment for the tree that somehow reduced the love he had for God. He was forced into changing into a householder when a Brahmin was ordered by God to gift his beautiful daughter as a wife to Jaidev ji. This led Jaidev ji to compose his most celebrated work called Geetgovinda - a poem that even God yearned to listen to! Radha, Krishna and the gopis were used as symbols of wisdom, soul and the senses (evils). In the story Krishna gets attracted to the gopis and ignores Radha but finally realizes his folly and returns to Radha. When writing the story, Jaidev ji was thinking of writing that Krishna put Radha's feet on his head when apologizing to her. The sakhi suggests that Jaidev ji got worried that people may view this as an insult of their God so he took a break and went to bathe in the river. When he returned after his bath he found that someone had written exactly what he had been thinking. When he questioned his wife, she seemed surprised and said that he himself had come back and written the text. Jaidev ji then realized that God had himself taken his form and written the text. This is a recurring event in stories about the bhagats, God taking on their persona to help them (for example, there is one such story about Dhanna jat). On another occassion Jaidev ji got mugged by some thugs and the thugs cut his hands off and threw him into a well. It so happened that a king was passing by the well and saw Jaidev ji. He got Jaidev ji extracted from the well and took him to his palace. It so happened that a few days later the king put on a feast for holy men. The thugs came there dressed as holy men. Jaidev ji saw them and rather than get revenge by telling the king who they were, greeted the thugs and told the king that they were his friends. The king honoured the thugs and gave them lots of wealth. When the thugs left the palace the king sent his guards with them so ensure their safe passage given the large amounts of wealth they had been given. En route the soldiers asked the thugs how they knew Jaidev. The thugs created further stories where they suggested that they had been asked to execute Jaidev a long time ago by another king and they had taken pity on him and let him go free. It is said that God decided he had had enough of these lying thugs and the ground below the thugs split and they were consumed by the earth. Jaidev ji too sprouted new hands.
Another of the early bhagats was Namdev ji who lived from 1270 to 1350 in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. There are 61 hymns authored by Namdev ji in the Guru Granth Sahib, composed in 18 Raags. As a lower caste Hindu, Namdev ji had to face the wrath of the Brahman class on a number of occassions. The following shabad refers to one such incident, when Namdev ji, on one of his travels reached a Shiv temple near Nanded. Seeing the aarti being performed, he got so engrossed in the love of God that he started to play the cymbals with his shoes. Not surprisingly, the priests got rather upset with him and threw him out of the temple and told him to join his fellow caste members at the back of the temple. It is said that Namdev ji then went and sat at the back of the temple and composed the following shabad.
ਮਲਾਰ ॥
ਮੋ ਕਉ ਤੂੰ ਨ ਬਿਸਾਰਿ ਤੂ ਨ ਬਿਸਾਰਿ ॥
ਤੂ ਨ ਬਿਸਾਰੇ ਰਾਮਈਆ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
ਆਲਾਵੰਤੀ ਇਹੁ ਭ੍ਰਮੁ ਜੋ ਹੈ ਮੁਝ ਊਪਰਿ ਸਭ ਕੋਪਿਲਾ ॥
ਸੂਦੁ ਸੂਦੁ ਕਰਿ ਮਾਰਿ ਉਠਾਇਓ ਕਹਾ ਕਰਉ ਬਾਪ ਬੀਠੁਲਾ ॥੧॥
ਮੂਏ ਹੂਏ ਜਉ ਮੁਕਤਿ ਦੇਹੁਗੇ ਮੁਕਤਿ ਨ ਜਾਨੈ ਕੋਇਲਾ ॥
ਏ ਪੰਡੀਆ ਮੋ ਕਉ ਢੇਢ ਕਹਤ ਤੇਰੀ ਪੈਜ ਪਿਛੰਉਡੀ ਹੋਇਲਾ ॥੨॥
ਤੂ ਜੁ ਦਇਆਲੁ ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾਲੁ ਕਹੀਅਤੁ ਹੈਂ ਅਤਿਭੁਜ ਭਇਓ ਅਪਾਰਲਾ ॥
ਫੇਰਿ ਦੀਆ ਦੇਹੁਰਾ ਨਾਮੇ ਕਉ ਪੰਡੀਅਨ ਕਉ ਪਿਛਵਾਰਲਾ ॥੩॥੨॥
In the shabad, bhagat ji says, "Please do not forsake me o omnipresent lord, the Brahmans of this temple are all angry with me. They called me a lower caste and beat me up. What shall I do father? God is said to have spoken to Namdev ji and told him not to worry as he would give him nirvana once he dies. If you give me nirvana after I die then who will know of this benevolent act of yours. When these Brahmans call me a lower caste they are insulting you and your honour will be hurt if you do not give me nirvana and prove that all your bhagats are equal in your eyes". God told Namdev ji that this treatment of him was a result of his previous karma. Namdev ji then sang "you who are known to be benevolent and forgiving (please forgive me for my past deeds) and save your honour". It is then said that God used your strong arms to turn the temple around to Namdev ji and turned his back (metaphorically) on the Brahmans. The last sentence in the shabad recounts this incident. Note the similarity of this story with that of Sadhna ji.
Another interesting story recounted by Macauliffe is of how Namdev ji met his guru, Vishobha. This incident also took place in a Shiv temple. When Namdev ji entered the temple, Vishobha ji decided to test him and so he took on the form of a leper and placed his feet on the shivling. Namdev ji did not recognize him and got cross with him for putting his feet on the shivling. Vishobha ji replied that as he is unable to move himself off the shivling could Namdev ji please help him. So Namdev ji lifted his feet but in whichever direction he turned the feet, they seemed to be pointing straight at the shivling. Namdev ji realized his folly and realized that God is omnipresent. (Sound familiar? - Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Mecca?)
Swami Ramanad was a hugely influential figure of the Bhakti movement. He was the guru of Kabir ji, Sain ji, Dhanna Jat, Sant Ravidas and Pipa ji. So while his own contribution to the Guru Granth Sahib was only one hymn in Raag Basant, his followers have made a very substantial contribution. Kabir Ji is the fifth largest contributor to the Guru Granth Sahib, after Guru Nanak Dev ji, Guru Amar Das ji, Guru Ram Das ji and Guru Arjan Dev ji. Sant Ravidas too has contributed 40 hymns in 16 Raags. Ramanand ji lived in in the late 1300's and early 1400s in Banaras. He believed that people of any caste could reach God. His shabad below focuses on the futility of searching for God in places external to oneself.
The context to the shabad is that there is a Brahma temple not far from Banaras where there was a religious festival held every year which was usually attended by Ramanand ji and his disciples, but this year when his disciples asked Ramanand ji to come along he replied in the form of this shabad (on Page 1195 of the Guru Granth Sahib).
ਰਾਮਾਨੰਦ ਜੀ ਘਰੁ ੧
ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
ਕਤ ਜਾਈਐ ਰੇ ਘਰ ਲਾਗੋ ਰੰਗੁ ॥
ਮੇਰਾ ਚਿਤੁ ਨ ਚਲੈ ਮਨੁ ਭਇਓ ਪੰਗੁ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
"Why go anywhere to look for God when the body itself is decorated by the beloved. My mind and body are both unable to go anywhere (paralyzed) now that I have found god within me." On hearing this the disciples asked him as to why he had been going to the Brahma temple in previous years? He replied:
ਏਕ ਦਿਵਸ ਮਨ ਭਈ ਉਮੰਗ ॥
ਘਸਿ ਚੰਦਨ ਚੋਆ ਬਹੁ ਸੁਗੰਧ ॥
ਪੂਜਨ ਚਾਲੀ ਬ੍ਰਹਮ ਠਾਇ ॥
ਸੋ ਬ੍ਰਹਮੁ ਬਤਾਇਓ ਗੁਰ ਮਨ ਹੀ ਮਾਹਿ ॥੧॥
One day my mind was filled with excitement and I ground sandalwood and reveled in its beautiful smell. I then went to pray to Brahma in his temple but then Brahma told me that God was within me.
ਜਹਾ ਜਾਈਐ ਤਹ ਜਲ ਪਖਾਨ ॥
ਤੂ ਪੂਰਿ ਰਹਿਓ ਹੈ ਸਭ ਸਮਾਨ ॥
ਬੇਦ ਪੁਰਾਨ ਸਭ ਦੇਖੇ ਜੋਇ ॥
ਊਹਾਂ ਤਉ ਜਾਈਐ ਜਉ ਈਹਾਂ ਨ ਹੋਇ ॥੨॥
Whichever temple you go to there are stones (idols) and water. God exists everywhere so what is in a temple that is not everywhere else (the whole world is holy). The four Veds and 18 puraans say the same, I would only go there if I could find something that is not here.
ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਮੈ ਬਲਿਹਾਰੀ ਤੋਰ ॥
ਜਿਨਿ ਸਕਲ ਬਿਕਲ ਭ੍ਰਮ ਕਾਟੇ ਮੋਰ ॥
ਰਾਮਾਨੰਦ ਸੁਆਮੀ ਰਮਤ ਬ੍ਰਹਮ ॥
ਗੁਰ ਕਾ ਸਬਦੁ ਕਾਟੈ ਕੋਟਿ ਕਰਮ ॥੩॥੧॥
O God, I am indebted to you for showing me the truth and getting rid of my ignorance. Ramanand says God is omnipresent and meditating of the lord destroys all our bad deeds of the past.
So Ramanad ji also shunned idol worship and believed that God was omnipresent. He also suggests in his shabad that true Hinduism (the Veds and Puraans) was also not idolatry.
Part 4 is here.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Fables, Faith and Bhakti (Part 2)
Sheikh Farid was born in 1173 and lived in Pak Pattan, Punjab (now in Pakistan). His ancestry can be traced back to King Farrukh Shah of Kabul. It is believed that Farid Ji was born on the first day of Ramzan [1], on a dark night where the moon could not be seen, so nobody knew when to start the fast. It is said that when Farid Ji was born he did not suckle and so it became apparent that Ramzan had started. As a child, it is believed that his mother, Miriam, got him to pray daily by promising him some sweets when he finished praying. Each day after Farid Ji prayed, on folding his prayer mat, he found some sweets left by "God". One day it so happened that Farid Ji's mother was not at home when it came to prayer time and so Farid Ji as usual prayed and when he folded his mat, found more than the usual amount of sweets under it. When his mother came home, Farid Ji told her that he had received extra special sweets that day and his mother then realized that the soul she had living with her as her son was a very special bhagat of God. The fact that God comes to the aid of his Bhagats is a common theme in sakhi about the bhagats. It is this incident that gave Farid Ji the nickname of "Ganjshakkar" (treasure of sweets). Throughout Farid Ji's life, his mother acted as mentor in his theological development, sending him for three twelve year penances, the last of which he spent suspended in a well. It is here that he is believed to have composed the hymns that are included in the Guru Granth Sahib (note that Macauliffe has suggested that the hymns in the Guru Granth Sahib were elaborations of Farid Ji's hymns by his successor Shaikh Brahm, however the only reasoning given for this belief seems to be that Shaikh Brahm was a contemporary of Guru Nanak and it is recorded that they met. Prof. Sahib Singh suggests that the hymns were indeed written by Farid Ji and were handed to Guru Nanak when Guru Nanak met Shaikh Brahm [2]).
There are of course numerous stories associated with Farid Ji - many variants on why he was referred to as Ganjshakkar but rather than dwell on these lets look at some of his shabads that are in the Guru Granth Sahib.
ਜੋਬਨ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਨਾ ਡਰਾਂ ਜੇ ਸਹ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਿ ਨ ਜਾਇ ॥
ਫਰੀਦਾ ਕਿਤੀ ਜੋਬਨ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਿ ਬਿਨੁ ਸੁਕਿ ਗਏ ਕੁਮਲਾਇ ॥੩੪॥
In this couplet Farid says he is not afraid of loosing his youth as long as he does not loose the love he has for God as he has seen so many births in which the youth he possessed shriveled away without obtaining (the) love (of God). Once again there are two possible meanings, one where Farid Ji is subscribing the concept of rebirth which would not be quite in line with present Muslim beliefs or he is referring to other people he had seen that were too engrossed in life to bother with the path of bhakti.
Farid Ji used a lot of symbols in his poetry. The colour black represents sin in the following couplet. He says that his clothes (body) as well as his soul are sinful (black) yet, despite him being so empty of any virtues, the world regards him as a dervish...a true bhagat. This humility is characteristic of all the bhagats, despite all their virtues, while those devoid of virtues are only too happy to vocalise their own perceived virtues.
ਫਰੀਦਾ ਕਾਲੇ ਮੈਡੇ ਕਪੜੇ ਕਾਲਾ ਮੈਡਾ ਵੇਸੁ ॥
ਗੁਨਹੀ ਭਰਿਆ ਮੈ ਫਿਰਾ ਲੋਕੁ ਕਹੈ ਦਰਵੇਸੁ ॥੬੧॥
The next three couplets by Farid Ji refer to a crow, so it is important to understand what a crow symbolises. Guru Amar Das Ji on Page 832 (Raag Bilaval) gives us insights into this:
ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ ਮਹਲਾ ੩ ਅਸਟਪਦੀ ਘਰੁ ੧੦
ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
ਜਗੁ ਕਊਆ ਮੁਖਿ ਚੁੰਚ ਗਿਆਨੁ ॥
ਅੰਤਰਿ ਲੋਭੁ ਝੂਠੁ ਅਭਿਮਾਨੁ ॥
ਬਿਨੁ ਨਾਵੈ ਪਾਜੁ ਲਹਗੁ ਨਿਦਾਨਿ ॥੧॥
He says, the world is like a crow that is always ready to crow, i.e. impart advice (compare that to what Guru Amar Das Ji says is the characteristic of a bhagat, in the Anand Sahib, "ਬਹੁਤੁ ਨਾਹੀ ਬੋਲਣਾ"). That is, people are only too glad to give you their advice about anything (even things they know nothing about :-)). However within it all that exists in greed, lies and ego, which without meditating on God, will finally come to the surface and it will be recognized for what it really are. So a crow symbolises greed, deceit, ego...essentially all the sins (the 5 thieves that are referred to on numerous occasions in bani).
ਫਰੀਦਾ ਤਨੁ ਸੁਕਾ ਪਿੰਜਰੁ ਥੀਆ ਤਲੀਆਂ ਖੂੰਡਹਿ ਕਾਗ ॥
ਅਜੈ ਸੁ ਰਬੁ ਨ ਬਾਹੁੜਿਓ ਦੇਖੁ ਬੰਦੇ ਕੇ ਭਾਗ ॥੯੦॥
The couplet above presents a rather depressed state that Farid Ji was experiencing when despite the years of meditation and penance Farid Ji had not, it would seem, experienced union with God. He says that my body has dried up and looks more like a cage (a skeleton) and considering me dead the crow is pecking at the sole's of my feet, yet I am so unfortunate to have not attained union with my beloved. Now this is a rather literal translation. Given that the crow symbolises the sins, an alternative translation could be: My body and mind is under attack from the evils of this world and I have grown weary (ਤਨੁ ਸੁਕਾ ਪਿੰਜਰੁ ਥੀਆ) fighting these forces, yet I am so unfortunate that I have not obtained my beloved lord (Am I going to have yet another fruitless life, a life where I do not achieve the goal that we have been given this life to acheive?).
In the next couplet Farid Ji makes a plea to the "crow". He says eat all my flesh if you want, but please leave my eyes alone as I have a desire to see my beloved. The eyes here represent the connection with God (the eyes to ones conscience, ਸੁਰਤ), so Farid Ji is appealing to the evil forces to feel free to eat away at his body and mind but to leave his connection with God alone as he doesn't want to miss out in this life, to become one with his beloved.
ਕਾਗਾ ਕਰੰਗ ਢੰਢੋਲਿਆ ਸਗਲਾ ਖਾਇਆ ਮਾਸੁ ॥
ਏ ਦੁਇ ਨੈਨਾ ਮਤਿ ਛੁਹਉ ਪਿਰ ਦੇਖਨ ਕੀ ਆਸ ॥੯੧॥
In this final couplet in this set of three couplets, Farid Ji tells the crow to not peck at his body and to fly away as his body is the home of his beloved. So Farid Ji is telling the evil forces to leave his body alone as his beloved lives there. Clearly, Farid ji believed that God lives within us, not in any heaven or far away place.
ਕਾਗਾ ਚੂੰਡਿ ਨ ਪਿੰਜਰਾ ਬਸੈ ਤ ਉਡਰਿ ਜਾਹਿ ॥
ਜਿਤੁ ਪਿੰਜਰੈ ਮੇਰਾ ਸਹੁ ਵਸੈ ਮਾਸੁ ਨ ਤਿਦੂ ਖਾਹਿ ॥੯੨॥
So from studying the couplets above we conclude that Farid ji believed that God was within us rather than residing somewhere far away and that the colour black and the black crow represent sin. Somehow this irked me - is black really bad? There are some sects in Sikhism that don't wear black, for it is "bad" - but if we view God as our beloved, then how can anything that my beloved has created, be bad? The next shabad that we will look at, in my view, makes black the most beautiful colour in the world :-).
The story goes that after meditating for 12 years, the third time, Farid ji felt dejected that he had still not achieved union with God. It is then that he is believed to have written the following shabad [3].
ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੂਹੀ ਬਾਣੀ ਸੇਖ ਫਰੀਦ ਜੀ ਕੀ ॥
ਤਪਿ ਤਪਿ ਲੁਹਿ ਲੁਹਿ ਹਾਥ ਮਰੋਰਉ ॥
ਬਾਵਲਿ ਹੋਈ ਸੋ ਸਹੁ ਲੋਰਉ ॥
ਤੈ ਸਹਿ ਮਨ ਮਹਿ ਕੀਆ ਰੋਸੁ ॥
ਮੁਝੁ ਅਵਗਨ ਸਹ ਨਾਹੀ ਦੋਸੁ ॥੧॥
Farid Ji says to God, "Having meditated for so long and put myself through various contortions to rid myself of my sins, having driven myself to madness in my search for you, I sulked in my mind and blamed you for not coming to see me, but I do realize that the fault is in me...It is not your fault, I am not worthy of your love."
ਤੈ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਕੀ ਮੈ ਸਾਰ ਨ ਜਾਨੀ ॥
ਜੋਬਨੁ ਖੋਇ ਪਾਛੈ ਪਛੁਤਾਨੀ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
I have clearly wasted my youth (my ways of trying to obtain you were clearly not right) that I have been unable to fathom you still.
ਕਾਲੀ ਕੋਇਲ ਤੂ ਕਿਤ ਗੁਨ ਕਾਲੀ ॥
A passer by saw Farid ji in this state of misery and asked him "Oh you black cuckoo (miserable person), what virtues make you black (why are you miserable)?"
ਅਪਨੇ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮ ਕੇ ਹਉ ਬਿਰਹੈ ਜਾਲੀ ॥
ਪਿਰਹਿ ਬਿਹੂਨ ਕਤਹਿ ਸੁਖੁ ਪਾਏ ॥
ਜਾ ਹੋਇ ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾਲੁ ਤਾ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਮਿਲਾਏ ॥੨॥
He answers: I have been burnt in the fire that is my sorrow of separation from my beloved, hence I am black. How can I be happy without meeting my beloved? If only my beloved would be benevolent and unite me with him will I attain happiness.
ਵਿਧਣ ਖੂਹੀ ਮੁੰਧ ਇਕੇਲੀ ॥
ਨਾ ਕੋ ਸਾਥੀ ਨਾ ਕੋ ਬੇਲੀ ॥
I am all alone on this depressing path (which is compared to a deep well) with no friend or companion to keep me company.
ਕਰਿ ਕਿਰਪਾ ਪ੍ਰਭਿ ਸਾਧਸੰਗਿ ਮੇਲੀ ॥
ਜਾ ਫਿਰਿ ਦੇਖਾ ਤਾ ਮੇਰਾ ਅਲਹੁ ਬੇਲੀ ॥੩॥
To this the passerby said "It is only when God is merciful that he unites you with a Guru (saint) and then wherever you look, all you will see is God".
ਵਾਟ ਹਮਾਰੀ ਖਰੀ ਉਡੀਣੀ ॥
ਖੰਨਿਅਹੁ ਤਿਖੀ ਬਹੁਤੁ ਪਿਈਣੀ ॥
ਉਸੁ ਊਪਰਿ ਹੈ ਮਾਰਗੁ ਮੇਰਾ ॥
ਸੇਖ ਫਰੀਦਾ ਪੰਥੁ ਸਮ੍ਹ੍ਹਾਰਿ ਸਵੇਰਾ ॥੪॥੧॥
The path of bhakti is very difficult and painful, like walking on a double edge sword but that is the path I must traverse, says Farid. Get on that path early as obtaining God is what you have been born for, so don't waste time.
So who was the passer by? I suspect it was God that had taken a human form to help Farid ji. I hope one day I too can turn black!
So Farid ji believed in rebirth (maybe?), that God was omnipresent, that love was the path to obtaining God, that the search was within rather than external and that it is only through his benevolence that he can be obtained. The bani above also highlights as to how difficult the path of a bhagat is, an emotional roller-coaster!
Of course, there are 116 hymns by Farid Ji in the Guru Granth Sahib so this blog is only scratching the surface and is, by its very nature, incomplete and, I am sure, riddled with inaccuracies...
Part 3 is here.
[1] M. A. Macauliffe’s The Sikh Religion, 1909.
[2] Prof. Sahib Singh. About Compilation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib
[3] Sant Kirpal Singh Ji. Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji da Sampradaee Teeka, Volume 6.
There are of course numerous stories associated with Farid Ji - many variants on why he was referred to as Ganjshakkar but rather than dwell on these lets look at some of his shabads that are in the Guru Granth Sahib.
ਜੋਬਨ ਜਾਂਦੇ ਨਾ ਡਰਾਂ ਜੇ ਸਹ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਿ ਨ ਜਾਇ ॥
ਫਰੀਦਾ ਕਿਤੀ ਜੋਬਨ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਿ ਬਿਨੁ ਸੁਕਿ ਗਏ ਕੁਮਲਾਇ ॥੩੪॥
In this couplet Farid says he is not afraid of loosing his youth as long as he does not loose the love he has for God as he has seen so many births in which the youth he possessed shriveled away without obtaining (the) love (of God). Once again there are two possible meanings, one where Farid Ji is subscribing the concept of rebirth which would not be quite in line with present Muslim beliefs or he is referring to other people he had seen that were too engrossed in life to bother with the path of bhakti.
Farid Ji used a lot of symbols in his poetry. The colour black represents sin in the following couplet. He says that his clothes (body) as well as his soul are sinful (black) yet, despite him being so empty of any virtues, the world regards him as a dervish...a true bhagat. This humility is characteristic of all the bhagats, despite all their virtues, while those devoid of virtues are only too happy to vocalise their own perceived virtues.
ਫਰੀਦਾ ਕਾਲੇ ਮੈਡੇ ਕਪੜੇ ਕਾਲਾ ਮੈਡਾ ਵੇਸੁ ॥
ਗੁਨਹੀ ਭਰਿਆ ਮੈ ਫਿਰਾ ਲੋਕੁ ਕਹੈ ਦਰਵੇਸੁ ॥੬੧॥
The next three couplets by Farid Ji refer to a crow, so it is important to understand what a crow symbolises. Guru Amar Das Ji on Page 832 (Raag Bilaval) gives us insights into this:
ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ ਮਹਲਾ ੩ ਅਸਟਪਦੀ ਘਰੁ ੧੦
ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
ਜਗੁ ਕਊਆ ਮੁਖਿ ਚੁੰਚ ਗਿਆਨੁ ॥
ਅੰਤਰਿ ਲੋਭੁ ਝੂਠੁ ਅਭਿਮਾਨੁ ॥
ਬਿਨੁ ਨਾਵੈ ਪਾਜੁ ਲਹਗੁ ਨਿਦਾਨਿ ॥੧॥
He says, the world is like a crow that is always ready to crow, i.e. impart advice (compare that to what Guru Amar Das Ji says is the characteristic of a bhagat, in the Anand Sahib, "ਬਹੁਤੁ ਨਾਹੀ ਬੋਲਣਾ"). That is, people are only too glad to give you their advice about anything (even things they know nothing about :-)). However within it all that exists in greed, lies and ego, which without meditating on God, will finally come to the surface and it will be recognized for what it really are. So a crow symbolises greed, deceit, ego...essentially all the sins (the 5 thieves that are referred to on numerous occasions in bani).
ਫਰੀਦਾ ਤਨੁ ਸੁਕਾ ਪਿੰਜਰੁ ਥੀਆ ਤਲੀਆਂ ਖੂੰਡਹਿ ਕਾਗ ॥
ਅਜੈ ਸੁ ਰਬੁ ਨ ਬਾਹੁੜਿਓ ਦੇਖੁ ਬੰਦੇ ਕੇ ਭਾਗ ॥੯੦॥
The couplet above presents a rather depressed state that Farid Ji was experiencing when despite the years of meditation and penance Farid Ji had not, it would seem, experienced union with God. He says that my body has dried up and looks more like a cage (a skeleton) and considering me dead the crow is pecking at the sole's of my feet, yet I am so unfortunate to have not attained union with my beloved. Now this is a rather literal translation. Given that the crow symbolises the sins, an alternative translation could be: My body and mind is under attack from the evils of this world and I have grown weary (ਤਨੁ ਸੁਕਾ ਪਿੰਜਰੁ ਥੀਆ) fighting these forces, yet I am so unfortunate that I have not obtained my beloved lord (Am I going to have yet another fruitless life, a life where I do not achieve the goal that we have been given this life to acheive?).
In the next couplet Farid Ji makes a plea to the "crow". He says eat all my flesh if you want, but please leave my eyes alone as I have a desire to see my beloved. The eyes here represent the connection with God (the eyes to ones conscience, ਸੁਰਤ), so Farid Ji is appealing to the evil forces to feel free to eat away at his body and mind but to leave his connection with God alone as he doesn't want to miss out in this life, to become one with his beloved.
ਕਾਗਾ ਕਰੰਗ ਢੰਢੋਲਿਆ ਸਗਲਾ ਖਾਇਆ ਮਾਸੁ ॥
ਏ ਦੁਇ ਨੈਨਾ ਮਤਿ ਛੁਹਉ ਪਿਰ ਦੇਖਨ ਕੀ ਆਸ ॥੯੧॥
In this final couplet in this set of three couplets, Farid Ji tells the crow to not peck at his body and to fly away as his body is the home of his beloved. So Farid Ji is telling the evil forces to leave his body alone as his beloved lives there. Clearly, Farid ji believed that God lives within us, not in any heaven or far away place.
ਕਾਗਾ ਚੂੰਡਿ ਨ ਪਿੰਜਰਾ ਬਸੈ ਤ ਉਡਰਿ ਜਾਹਿ ॥
ਜਿਤੁ ਪਿੰਜਰੈ ਮੇਰਾ ਸਹੁ ਵਸੈ ਮਾਸੁ ਨ ਤਿਦੂ ਖਾਹਿ ॥੯੨॥
So from studying the couplets above we conclude that Farid ji believed that God was within us rather than residing somewhere far away and that the colour black and the black crow represent sin. Somehow this irked me - is black really bad? There are some sects in Sikhism that don't wear black, for it is "bad" - but if we view God as our beloved, then how can anything that my beloved has created, be bad? The next shabad that we will look at, in my view, makes black the most beautiful colour in the world :-).
The story goes that after meditating for 12 years, the third time, Farid ji felt dejected that he had still not achieved union with God. It is then that he is believed to have written the following shabad [3].
ੴ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੂਹੀ ਬਾਣੀ ਸੇਖ ਫਰੀਦ ਜੀ ਕੀ ॥
ਤਪਿ ਤਪਿ ਲੁਹਿ ਲੁਹਿ ਹਾਥ ਮਰੋਰਉ ॥
ਬਾਵਲਿ ਹੋਈ ਸੋ ਸਹੁ ਲੋਰਉ ॥
ਤੈ ਸਹਿ ਮਨ ਮਹਿ ਕੀਆ ਰੋਸੁ ॥
ਮੁਝੁ ਅਵਗਨ ਸਹ ਨਾਹੀ ਦੋਸੁ ॥੧॥
Farid Ji says to God, "Having meditated for so long and put myself through various contortions to rid myself of my sins, having driven myself to madness in my search for you, I sulked in my mind and blamed you for not coming to see me, but I do realize that the fault is in me...It is not your fault, I am not worthy of your love."
ਤੈ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਕੀ ਮੈ ਸਾਰ ਨ ਜਾਨੀ ॥
ਜੋਬਨੁ ਖੋਇ ਪਾਛੈ ਪਛੁਤਾਨੀ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
I have clearly wasted my youth (my ways of trying to obtain you were clearly not right) that I have been unable to fathom you still.
ਕਾਲੀ ਕੋਇਲ ਤੂ ਕਿਤ ਗੁਨ ਕਾਲੀ ॥
A passer by saw Farid ji in this state of misery and asked him "Oh you black cuckoo (miserable person), what virtues make you black (why are you miserable)?"
ਅਪਨੇ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮ ਕੇ ਹਉ ਬਿਰਹੈ ਜਾਲੀ ॥
ਪਿਰਹਿ ਬਿਹੂਨ ਕਤਹਿ ਸੁਖੁ ਪਾਏ ॥
ਜਾ ਹੋਇ ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾਲੁ ਤਾ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਮਿਲਾਏ ॥੨॥
He answers: I have been burnt in the fire that is my sorrow of separation from my beloved, hence I am black. How can I be happy without meeting my beloved? If only my beloved would be benevolent and unite me with him will I attain happiness.
ਵਿਧਣ ਖੂਹੀ ਮੁੰਧ ਇਕੇਲੀ ॥
ਨਾ ਕੋ ਸਾਥੀ ਨਾ ਕੋ ਬੇਲੀ ॥
I am all alone on this depressing path (which is compared to a deep well) with no friend or companion to keep me company.
ਕਰਿ ਕਿਰਪਾ ਪ੍ਰਭਿ ਸਾਧਸੰਗਿ ਮੇਲੀ ॥
ਜਾ ਫਿਰਿ ਦੇਖਾ ਤਾ ਮੇਰਾ ਅਲਹੁ ਬੇਲੀ ॥੩॥
To this the passerby said "It is only when God is merciful that he unites you with a Guru (saint) and then wherever you look, all you will see is God".
ਵਾਟ ਹਮਾਰੀ ਖਰੀ ਉਡੀਣੀ ॥
ਖੰਨਿਅਹੁ ਤਿਖੀ ਬਹੁਤੁ ਪਿਈਣੀ ॥
ਉਸੁ ਊਪਰਿ ਹੈ ਮਾਰਗੁ ਮੇਰਾ ॥
ਸੇਖ ਫਰੀਦਾ ਪੰਥੁ ਸਮ੍ਹ੍ਹਾਰਿ ਸਵੇਰਾ ॥੪॥੧॥
The path of bhakti is very difficult and painful, like walking on a double edge sword but that is the path I must traverse, says Farid. Get on that path early as obtaining God is what you have been born for, so don't waste time.
So who was the passer by? I suspect it was God that had taken a human form to help Farid ji. I hope one day I too can turn black!
So Farid ji believed in rebirth (maybe?), that God was omnipresent, that love was the path to obtaining God, that the search was within rather than external and that it is only through his benevolence that he can be obtained. The bani above also highlights as to how difficult the path of a bhagat is, an emotional roller-coaster!
Of course, there are 116 hymns by Farid Ji in the Guru Granth Sahib so this blog is only scratching the surface and is, by its very nature, incomplete and, I am sure, riddled with inaccuracies...
Part 3 is here.
[1] M. A. Macauliffe’s The Sikh Religion, 1909.
[2] Prof. Sahib Singh. About Compilation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib
[3] Sant Kirpal Singh Ji. Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji da Sampradaee Teeka, Volume 6.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Fables, Faith and Bhakti (Part 1)
In a world that is so busy trying to be better that is has forgotten to be good ...and to be in love, there is a need to realize that competition is not necessary in every sphere of our lives. Indeed God created a world of plenty for us that through our greed (and competition) has got so imbalanced that the Earth has tipped on its axis!
Every faith today seems to attempt to prove it is better than the other by either attempting to prove that the basic tenants of the competing faith make no sense or that their prophet was definitely the last!
The Guru Granth Sahib is unique as a religious text in its openness to other faiths, a true reflection of the Sikh gurus themselves and their philosophy. In addition to the writings of six of the ten Sikh gurus, the Guru Granth Sahib also includes writings by nineteen bhagats and eleven bhats. The bhagats include Muslim pirs, lower caste Hindus, upper caste Hindus and even some who are rather difficult to classify into any class - the likes of Bhagat Kabir Ji who was born to a widowed Hindu mother thanks to a careless blessing by a Hindu holy man but was brought up by Muslim parents and had a Hindu guru!
So what is a Bhagat? A true devotee..... a sant..... a darves....a sadhu. So are the bhagats quoted in the Guru Granth Sahib the only bhagats that were ever born on this Earth? Guru Ram Das Ji answers this question when he says, in Raag Asa (on Page 451 of the Guru Granth Sahib):
ਹਰਿ ਜੁਗੁ ਜੁਗੁ ਭਗਤ ਉਪਾਇਆ ਪੈਜ ਰਖਦਾ ਆਇਆ ਰਾਮ ਰਾਜੇ ॥
ਹਰਣਾਖਸੁ ਦੁਸਟੁ ਹਰਿ ਮਾਰਿਆ ਪ੍ਰਹਲਾਦੁ ਤਰਾਇਆ ॥
ਅਹੰਕਾਰੀਆ ਨਿੰਦਕਾ ਪਿਠਿ ਦੇਇ ਨਾਮਦੇਉ ਮੁਖਿ ਲਾਇਆ ॥
ਜਨ ਨਾਨਕ ਐਸਾ ਹਰਿ ਸੇਵਿਆ ਅੰਤਿ ਲਏ ਛਡਾਇਆ ॥੪॥੧੩॥੨੦॥
He says that God has created bhagats time and time again through the ages and looked after them (protected their honour). He then gives two examples of bhagats, Prahlaad (not an author in the Guru Granth Sahib) and Namdev Ji (who has written 61 shabads in 18 different Raags in the Guru Granth Sahib). Prahlaad's father was Harnakash, who through bhakti had obtained a boon from Lord Shiva that he would neither be killed by an animal or a man, during the day or at night and neither inside nor outside. Harnakash assumed he had achieved a foolproof way for avoiding death, got vain and started telling his subjects (he was a king) to meditate on his name rather than that of God. Prahlaad refused to do this and this made his father rather irate. After numerous attempts at making him fall in line, Harnakash decided that he would have to kill Prahlaad. He heated up an iron pillar and taunted his son to go ahead and hug the pillar as Prahlaad professed that God was omnipresent and so must be in the pillar too. Prahlaad was not phased by the fact that the pillar was red hot and so went to hug the pillar. At this point it is said that God emerged from the pillar in the form of a Narsingh, half man/half lion, and ripped open Harnakash's chest with his claws. The time was dusk and Harnakash happened to be standing in a doorway (neither in nor out :-)). Shiva's promise to Harnakash wasn't compromised and Prahlaad had been protected. In short, God finds a way to protect his true devotees (his Bhagats). In the case of Namdev Ji too, God turned his back on a bunch of Brahmans and protected Namdev Ji's honour when the Brahmans insulted him and refused to let him into a temple. We will get to the details of this story later. The final sentence above says that Guru Nanak meditates on this very God that is the only support a bhagat has, that leads them to their final destination, union with God himself.
The question we haven't answered as yet is....why does God create these bhagats? The answer lies in another of Guru Ramdas Ji's shabads on page 735 (Raag Suhi):
ਹਰਿ ਕੀ ਵਡਿਆਈ ਦੇਖਹੁ ਸੰਤਹੁ ਹਰਿ ਨਿਮਾਣਿਆ ਮਾਣੁ ਦੇਵਾਏ ॥
ਜਿਉ ਧਰਤੀ ਚਰਣ ਤਲੇ ਤੇ ਊਪਰਿ ਆਵੈ ਤਿਉ ਨਾਨਕ ਸਾਧ ਜਨਾ ਜਗਤੁ ਆਣਿ ਸਭੁ ਪੈਰੀ ਪਾਏ ॥੪॥੧॥੧੨॥
The second line in this couplet states that just as dust from the earth rises when you walk on it, the same way, says Nanak, when a bhagat (saadh) comes to this world, they raise us virtueless humans to levels of consciousness that we have never seen before. God sends these messengers to help us. The first line tells us to appreciate the greatness of the almighty, as he gives status to the most destitute. As I had said earlier, some of the bhagats in the Guru Granth Sahib were from the lower Hindu castes and had no status in society, but through God's blessings, these individuals attained Godliness and are remembered even hundreds of years after their death! The truth is that the status of a Bhagat is.... the only status worth having......and what's more, it is timeless!
So what are the characteristics of a Bhagat? In the Anand Sahib, Guru Amar Das Ji says (Page 918, Raag Ramkali)
ਭਗਤਾ ਕੀ ਚਾਲ ਨਿਰਾਲੀ ॥
ਚਾਲਾ ਨਿਰਾਲੀ ਭਗਤਾਹ ਕੇਰੀ ਬਿਖਮ ਮਾਰਗਿ ਚਲਣਾ ॥
ਲਬੁ ਲੋਭੁ ਅਹੰਕਾਰੁ ਤਜਿ ਤ੍ਰਿਸਨਾ ਬਹੁਤੁ ਨਾਹੀ ਬੋਲਣਾ ॥
ਖੰਨਿਅਹੁ ਤਿਖੀ ਵਾਲਹੁ ਨਿਕੀ ਏਤੁ ਮਾਰਗਿ ਜਾਣਾ ॥
ਗੁਰ ਪਰਸਾਦੀ ਜਿਨੀ ਆਪੁ ਤਜਿਆ ਹਰਿ ਵਾਸਨਾ ਸਮਾਣੀ ॥
ਕਹੈ ਨਾਨਕੁ ਚਾਲ ਭਗਤਾ ਜੁਗਹੁ ਜੁਗੁ ਨਿਰਾਲੀ ॥੧੪॥
The path that the bhagats take through life is ਨਿਰਾਲੀ (Niraali). The word niraali is difficult to translate into english. It means different but in only a positive sense - certainly not negative. There is masti in the word. So the first line in the verse above states that the way bhagats walk is unique (they are the John Wayne's of the path through life :-)). They don't follow the norm...norms in our world incorporate common fears - they are man made. Bhagats are fearless, they know that the almighty will look after them. Our fears are based on the perception that we have something valuable that someone can take away - what do the bhagats have other than their love for God and that you cannot steal from anyone else, you have to earn it. Consider the following couplet by Kabir ji:
(Page 1365 of the Guru Granth Sahib)
ਕਬੀਰ ਜਿਸੁ ਮਰਨੇ ਤੇ ਜਗੁ ਡਰੈ ਮੇਰੇ ਮਨਿ ਆਨੰਦੁ ॥
ਮਰਨੇ ਹੀ ਤੇ ਪਾਈਐ ਪੂਰਨੁ ਪਰਮਾਨੰਦੁ ॥੨੨॥
He says, my mind in in bliss thinking about the very death that the world fears as only when I die will I obtain complete and ultimate bliss! Of course here too there are two possible interpretations of the word death - death of the ego and that of the body - both are feared by a non-bhagat. This is an example of niraali-ness :-). A viewpoint that is so tangential to societal norms.
So the way that bhagats tread on the path through life is supremely unique. They choose to tread on the most difficult path - not the one that is well traversed by the majority of humans, well understood, least risky, but that which leads to the ultimate goal of our lives - obtaining oneness with God. They let go of their jealousy, greed, ego and desires and don't speak much (given that the majority of conversations in society is gossip, its hardly surprising that they don't speak much as the key seeds of gossip are greed and jealousy). Their path is sharper than a double edged sword, thinner than a single strand of hair - it is a tightrope with the world and its lure lurking around to try and distract them off the path. Look at what happens to a non-bhagat....he is asked to speak about a topic that he knows nothing about and he starts to feel he knows something about the topic. He reads a bit to prepare for his talk and his ego doesn't allow him to listen to what he is reading. So he goes ahead and decides he knows more than what the books are telling him. He is preparing for a talk on Sikhism, about Bhakti and he has become his own bhakt and slowly but surely he has wandered far away from the path, to the path of bhakti. Now his ego is so large that he decides to start writing a blog.......that is how fine the path of bhakti is...Guru Nanak and the other bhagats are however united in their view that if you want to tread this path - you have to live in this world and do it...escaping to the mountains is too easy and your bhakti is too fragile - it was easy for Lord Indra to end Vishwakarma's bhakti by sending a beautiful woman (Menaka) to woo him in the Himalayas. So Guru Amardas ji says, with the grace of the Guru (note you cannot do it yourself - if you could, your ego would reappear on achieving something yourself - this is the double edge sword upon which a bhagats path lies), those who rid themselves of their ego (ਆਪੁ ਤਜਿਆ) and desires become bhagats and their lives have throughout the ages been blissfully unique.
As with any institution, the ideals on which the institution was established often get corrupted over the years and religious establishments are no different in this respect. The problem is, in my view explained by the following verse by John Godfrey Saxe:
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
The fact is that most people running these religious institutions have not seen God and hence have created differences based on the little that they have experienced. The voices of the "bhagats" that established these religions have been drowned out due to the texts followed by the religions having been written many years after their founders death. The reference to an Elephant in the verse above is a symbol for God in reference to the story of the five blind men and the Elephant. The bhagats all experienced God and as they had sight of the full picture it is hardly surprising that there is a lot of commonality in what they say.
The bhagats and pirs whose works have been included within the Guru Granth Sahib, span approximately 500 years (1173 - 1675), a glorious period in Indian history from a philosophical perspective. The backdrop to this period was rather grim [1]. Corruption within Hinduism had sidelined texts such as the Vedas and Upanishads and given centre stage to a multitude of Gods and a very unfair social order called the Caste System. The caste system had lead to dissatisfaction within the masses, predominantly assigned to the lower castes within Hindu society by the power hungry Brahmans. Buddha (6th century B.C.) and Mahavir (5th century B.C.) had provided alternative routes to nirvana that did not subscribe to the caste system. By 636 A.D. spice merchant vessels from Arabia had brought Islam to the shores of south India and with them the philosophy of Mohammad - a philosophy that once again propounded equality of all beings.
Under threat from these new boys on the block, a Renaissance began within Hinduism in 800 A. D. Two Hindu religious orders, the Alvars and Adyars, from Tamil Nadu (south India) championed the reform allowing lower caste Hindus into temples and developed hymns of love and praise of God to counter the lack of emotional content in Buddhism and Jainism. A key figure at the time was Shankara, a Brahman who believed in monotheism and a God that was omnipresent and indefinable and hence rejected idol worship.He was followed by Ramanuja (1016-1137) who advocated return to the Bhagvad Gita as the source of inspiration for a path of love/absolute submission and devotion to God. He believed that God is the only reality and all else, the world at large, was an illusion. The house of the Bhakt was said to have four pillars: worship, the worshiper, God and the teacher that led you to God.
Around the time of Ramanuja, the Sufi's started to make an impact in northern India. A number of Sufi orders were establishing themselves, including the order of the Chisti's by Moinuddin Chisti (in Ajmer, Rajasthan). The Sufi's believed that the path to God was filled with love and that Mohammad too connected with God through repeating the name of God (the Dhikr or Zikr). Chisti's main follower was a man called Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki who was to become the spiritual teacher of "Ganjshakar" (Baba) Sheikh Farid, the first (in cronological order) of the authors of hymns included within the Guru Granth Sahib to grace this Earth.
In the following blogs I hope to discuss the lives of these great Bhagats looking to highlight commonalities between their beliefs.
Part 2 is here.
References:
[1] Khushwant Singh. The Sikhs (Volume 1), Oxford University Press, 1963.
Every faith today seems to attempt to prove it is better than the other by either attempting to prove that the basic tenants of the competing faith make no sense or that their prophet was definitely the last!
The Guru Granth Sahib is unique as a religious text in its openness to other faiths, a true reflection of the Sikh gurus themselves and their philosophy. In addition to the writings of six of the ten Sikh gurus, the Guru Granth Sahib also includes writings by nineteen bhagats and eleven bhats. The bhagats include Muslim pirs, lower caste Hindus, upper caste Hindus and even some who are rather difficult to classify into any class - the likes of Bhagat Kabir Ji who was born to a widowed Hindu mother thanks to a careless blessing by a Hindu holy man but was brought up by Muslim parents and had a Hindu guru!
So what is a Bhagat? A true devotee..... a sant..... a darves....a sadhu. So are the bhagats quoted in the Guru Granth Sahib the only bhagats that were ever born on this Earth? Guru Ram Das Ji answers this question when he says, in Raag Asa (on Page 451 of the Guru Granth Sahib):
ਹਰਿ ਜੁਗੁ ਜੁਗੁ ਭਗਤ ਉਪਾਇਆ ਪੈਜ ਰਖਦਾ ਆਇਆ ਰਾਮ ਰਾਜੇ ॥
ਹਰਣਾਖਸੁ ਦੁਸਟੁ ਹਰਿ ਮਾਰਿਆ ਪ੍ਰਹਲਾਦੁ ਤਰਾਇਆ ॥
ਅਹੰਕਾਰੀਆ ਨਿੰਦਕਾ ਪਿਠਿ ਦੇਇ ਨਾਮਦੇਉ ਮੁਖਿ ਲਾਇਆ ॥
ਜਨ ਨਾਨਕ ਐਸਾ ਹਰਿ ਸੇਵਿਆ ਅੰਤਿ ਲਏ ਛਡਾਇਆ ॥੪॥੧੩॥੨੦॥
He says that God has created bhagats time and time again through the ages and looked after them (protected their honour). He then gives two examples of bhagats, Prahlaad (not an author in the Guru Granth Sahib) and Namdev Ji (who has written 61 shabads in 18 different Raags in the Guru Granth Sahib). Prahlaad's father was Harnakash, who through bhakti had obtained a boon from Lord Shiva that he would neither be killed by an animal or a man, during the day or at night and neither inside nor outside. Harnakash assumed he had achieved a foolproof way for avoiding death, got vain and started telling his subjects (he was a king) to meditate on his name rather than that of God. Prahlaad refused to do this and this made his father rather irate. After numerous attempts at making him fall in line, Harnakash decided that he would have to kill Prahlaad. He heated up an iron pillar and taunted his son to go ahead and hug the pillar as Prahlaad professed that God was omnipresent and so must be in the pillar too. Prahlaad was not phased by the fact that the pillar was red hot and so went to hug the pillar. At this point it is said that God emerged from the pillar in the form of a Narsingh, half man/half lion, and ripped open Harnakash's chest with his claws. The time was dusk and Harnakash happened to be standing in a doorway (neither in nor out :-)). Shiva's promise to Harnakash wasn't compromised and Prahlaad had been protected. In short, God finds a way to protect his true devotees (his Bhagats). In the case of Namdev Ji too, God turned his back on a bunch of Brahmans and protected Namdev Ji's honour when the Brahmans insulted him and refused to let him into a temple. We will get to the details of this story later. The final sentence above says that Guru Nanak meditates on this very God that is the only support a bhagat has, that leads them to their final destination, union with God himself.
The question we haven't answered as yet is....why does God create these bhagats? The answer lies in another of Guru Ramdas Ji's shabads on page 735 (Raag Suhi):
ਹਰਿ ਕੀ ਵਡਿਆਈ ਦੇਖਹੁ ਸੰਤਹੁ ਹਰਿ ਨਿਮਾਣਿਆ ਮਾਣੁ ਦੇਵਾਏ ॥
ਜਿਉ ਧਰਤੀ ਚਰਣ ਤਲੇ ਤੇ ਊਪਰਿ ਆਵੈ ਤਿਉ ਨਾਨਕ ਸਾਧ ਜਨਾ ਜਗਤੁ ਆਣਿ ਸਭੁ ਪੈਰੀ ਪਾਏ ॥੪॥੧॥੧੨॥
The second line in this couplet states that just as dust from the earth rises when you walk on it, the same way, says Nanak, when a bhagat (saadh) comes to this world, they raise us virtueless humans to levels of consciousness that we have never seen before. God sends these messengers to help us. The first line tells us to appreciate the greatness of the almighty, as he gives status to the most destitute. As I had said earlier, some of the bhagats in the Guru Granth Sahib were from the lower Hindu castes and had no status in society, but through God's blessings, these individuals attained Godliness and are remembered even hundreds of years after their death! The truth is that the status of a Bhagat is.... the only status worth having......and what's more, it is timeless!
So what are the characteristics of a Bhagat? In the Anand Sahib, Guru Amar Das Ji says (Page 918, Raag Ramkali)
ਭਗਤਾ ਕੀ ਚਾਲ ਨਿਰਾਲੀ ॥
ਚਾਲਾ ਨਿਰਾਲੀ ਭਗਤਾਹ ਕੇਰੀ ਬਿਖਮ ਮਾਰਗਿ ਚਲਣਾ ॥
ਲਬੁ ਲੋਭੁ ਅਹੰਕਾਰੁ ਤਜਿ ਤ੍ਰਿਸਨਾ ਬਹੁਤੁ ਨਾਹੀ ਬੋਲਣਾ ॥
ਖੰਨਿਅਹੁ ਤਿਖੀ ਵਾਲਹੁ ਨਿਕੀ ਏਤੁ ਮਾਰਗਿ ਜਾਣਾ ॥
ਗੁਰ ਪਰਸਾਦੀ ਜਿਨੀ ਆਪੁ ਤਜਿਆ ਹਰਿ ਵਾਸਨਾ ਸਮਾਣੀ ॥
ਕਹੈ ਨਾਨਕੁ ਚਾਲ ਭਗਤਾ ਜੁਗਹੁ ਜੁਗੁ ਨਿਰਾਲੀ ॥੧੪॥
The path that the bhagats take through life is ਨਿਰਾਲੀ (Niraali). The word niraali is difficult to translate into english. It means different but in only a positive sense - certainly not negative. There is masti in the word. So the first line in the verse above states that the way bhagats walk is unique (they are the John Wayne's of the path through life :-)). They don't follow the norm...norms in our world incorporate common fears - they are man made. Bhagats are fearless, they know that the almighty will look after them. Our fears are based on the perception that we have something valuable that someone can take away - what do the bhagats have other than their love for God and that you cannot steal from anyone else, you have to earn it. Consider the following couplet by Kabir ji:
(Page 1365 of the Guru Granth Sahib)
ਕਬੀਰ ਜਿਸੁ ਮਰਨੇ ਤੇ ਜਗੁ ਡਰੈ ਮੇਰੇ ਮਨਿ ਆਨੰਦੁ ॥
ਮਰਨੇ ਹੀ ਤੇ ਪਾਈਐ ਪੂਰਨੁ ਪਰਮਾਨੰਦੁ ॥੨੨॥
He says, my mind in in bliss thinking about the very death that the world fears as only when I die will I obtain complete and ultimate bliss! Of course here too there are two possible interpretations of the word death - death of the ego and that of the body - both are feared by a non-bhagat. This is an example of niraali-ness :-). A viewpoint that is so tangential to societal norms.
So the way that bhagats tread on the path through life is supremely unique. They choose to tread on the most difficult path - not the one that is well traversed by the majority of humans, well understood, least risky, but that which leads to the ultimate goal of our lives - obtaining oneness with God. They let go of their jealousy, greed, ego and desires and don't speak much (given that the majority of conversations in society is gossip, its hardly surprising that they don't speak much as the key seeds of gossip are greed and jealousy). Their path is sharper than a double edged sword, thinner than a single strand of hair - it is a tightrope with the world and its lure lurking around to try and distract them off the path. Look at what happens to a non-bhagat....he is asked to speak about a topic that he knows nothing about and he starts to feel he knows something about the topic. He reads a bit to prepare for his talk and his ego doesn't allow him to listen to what he is reading. So he goes ahead and decides he knows more than what the books are telling him. He is preparing for a talk on Sikhism, about Bhakti and he has become his own bhakt and slowly but surely he has wandered far away from the path, to the path of bhakti. Now his ego is so large that he decides to start writing a blog.......that is how fine the path of bhakti is...Guru Nanak and the other bhagats are however united in their view that if you want to tread this path - you have to live in this world and do it...escaping to the mountains is too easy and your bhakti is too fragile - it was easy for Lord Indra to end Vishwakarma's bhakti by sending a beautiful woman (Menaka) to woo him in the Himalayas. So Guru Amardas ji says, with the grace of the Guru (note you cannot do it yourself - if you could, your ego would reappear on achieving something yourself - this is the double edge sword upon which a bhagats path lies), those who rid themselves of their ego (ਆਪੁ ਤਜਿਆ) and desires become bhagats and their lives have throughout the ages been blissfully unique.
As with any institution, the ideals on which the institution was established often get corrupted over the years and religious establishments are no different in this respect. The problem is, in my view explained by the following verse by John Godfrey Saxe:
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
The fact is that most people running these religious institutions have not seen God and hence have created differences based on the little that they have experienced. The voices of the "bhagats" that established these religions have been drowned out due to the texts followed by the religions having been written many years after their founders death. The reference to an Elephant in the verse above is a symbol for God in reference to the story of the five blind men and the Elephant. The bhagats all experienced God and as they had sight of the full picture it is hardly surprising that there is a lot of commonality in what they say.
The bhagats and pirs whose works have been included within the Guru Granth Sahib, span approximately 500 years (1173 - 1675), a glorious period in Indian history from a philosophical perspective. The backdrop to this period was rather grim [1]. Corruption within Hinduism had sidelined texts such as the Vedas and Upanishads and given centre stage to a multitude of Gods and a very unfair social order called the Caste System. The caste system had lead to dissatisfaction within the masses, predominantly assigned to the lower castes within Hindu society by the power hungry Brahmans. Buddha (6th century B.C.) and Mahavir (5th century B.C.) had provided alternative routes to nirvana that did not subscribe to the caste system. By 636 A.D. spice merchant vessels from Arabia had brought Islam to the shores of south India and with them the philosophy of Mohammad - a philosophy that once again propounded equality of all beings.
Under threat from these new boys on the block, a Renaissance began within Hinduism in 800 A. D. Two Hindu religious orders, the Alvars and Adyars, from Tamil Nadu (south India) championed the reform allowing lower caste Hindus into temples and developed hymns of love and praise of God to counter the lack of emotional content in Buddhism and Jainism. A key figure at the time was Shankara, a Brahman who believed in monotheism and a God that was omnipresent and indefinable and hence rejected idol worship.He was followed by Ramanuja (1016-1137) who advocated return to the Bhagvad Gita as the source of inspiration for a path of love/absolute submission and devotion to God. He believed that God is the only reality and all else, the world at large, was an illusion. The house of the Bhakt was said to have four pillars: worship, the worshiper, God and the teacher that led you to God.
Around the time of Ramanuja, the Sufi's started to make an impact in northern India. A number of Sufi orders were establishing themselves, including the order of the Chisti's by Moinuddin Chisti (in Ajmer, Rajasthan). The Sufi's believed that the path to God was filled with love and that Mohammad too connected with God through repeating the name of God (the Dhikr or Zikr). Chisti's main follower was a man called Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki who was to become the spiritual teacher of "Ganjshakar" (Baba) Sheikh Farid, the first (in cronological order) of the authors of hymns included within the Guru Granth Sahib to grace this Earth.
In the following blogs I hope to discuss the lives of these great Bhagats looking to highlight commonalities between their beliefs.
Part 2 is here.
References:
[1] Khushwant Singh. The Sikhs (Volume 1), Oxford University Press, 1963.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Mangalacharan
sloku ]
Dr jIAry iek tyk qU lwih ibfwnI Aws ]
nwnk nwmu iDAweIAY kwrju AwvY rwis ]1]
Dr jIAry iek tyk qU lwih ibfwnI Aws ]
nwnk nwmu iDAweIAY kwrju AwvY rwis ]1]
Mangalacharan is a word formed from two Sanskrit words Mangal and Acharan that mean auspicious and conduct/behaviour respectively. Other definitions I came across on the web are ''meditation for protection", "prayer for success" and "prayer for an obstacle free passage" - which to me, really all mean the same - protection from the lure of the world, success in navigating the illusion created by my guru that we believe as real and passage from the cycle of life and death to a state of being one with the beloved guru.
The Mangalacharan is the start of an Odissi dance performance where it normally consists of a prayer to Ganesha, the elephant headed Hindu god. In the Gurmat Sangeet tradition, it is a shlok or set of shloks with which we start kirtan. It is essentially an auspicious way of starting any task, remembering the almighty and asking him for success in that task.
Given the fact that this blog aims to share, rather tangential forays into my beautiful guru's (myro suMdru) treasure chest, I thought my first post should be on the Mangalacharan, if only to maximize my chances of me sticking with my plan to learn more. And Vaheguru knows I need all his help I can garner, as so often I have started down the road to trying to understand some of the hidden treasure within my guru only to be enticed by the beauty of his creation around me and to forget the only truth that lies within it.
From what I can figure out, the Mangalacharan is a prayer that praises the almighty Guru. Take for instance the mangalacharan from the Jaap Sahib
sRI muKvwk pwiqswhI 10 ]
CpY CMd ] qÍ pRswid ]
c~kR ichn Ahu brn jwiq Aru pwiq nihn ijh ]
rUp rMg Aru ryK ByK kyaU kih n skq ikh ]
Acl mUriq AnBau pRkws Aimqoij kih~jY ]
koit ieMdR ieMdRwx swhu swhwix gix~jY ]
iqRBvx mhIp sur nr Asur nyq nyq bn iqRx khq ]
qv srb nwm kQY kvn krm nwm brnq sumiq ]1]
<> siqgur pRswid ]
Awid gurey nmh ] jugwid gurey nmh ]
siqgurey nmh ] sRI gurdyvey nmh ]1]
I bow to the guru that existed before existence, the guru that has existed since the beginning of time, the true guru, the divine guru.
At other times it also asks for protection, not from an external aggressor necessarily but from ones own limitations and fears (the enemy within, the real kafir), for example, the following shlok by Guru Arjan Dev Ji asks for protection from false aspirations (ibfwnI Aws) that we have of others:
sloku ]
Dr jIAry iek tyk qU lwih ibfwnI Aws ]
nwnk nwmu iDAweIAY kwrju AwvY rwis ]1]
O my mind bow to the one almighty God so that you are rid of any aspirations of anyone other than God. By focussing on Naam (God), all you do will be successful.
Another example is the following shlok by Guru Arjan Dev Ji..
sloku ]
fMfauiq bMdn Aink bwr srb klw smrQ ]
foln qy rwKhu pRBU nwnk dy kir hQ ]1]
The first line of this shlok is in praise of the almighty, where Guruji describes God as the possessor of all qualities (all powerful) and says that he (Guru Arjan Dev Ji) prostrates himself numerous times to pay obedience to God. The second line asks the almighty to protect him from wavering from the path to the goal of this life (self-realization/nirvana/breaking the cycle of life and death/meeting (becoming one) with the creator).
And finally....again from my beloved 5th guru...
hy pRwx nwQ goibMdh ik®pw inDwn jgd guro ]
hy sMswr qwp hrxh kruxw mY sB duK hro ]
hy srix jog dXwlh dInw nwQ mXw kro ]
srIr sÍsQ KIx smey ismrMiq nwnk rwm dwmodr mwDvh ]50]
O lord of my life (wow :-) pRwx nwQ has such a beautiful ring to it!), treasure of kindness/mercy, master of the universe! Destroyer of ailments, please rid me of all my woes. O merciful lord, the only one with the ability to protect, lord of the downtrodden (dIn), bless me with your kindness (though I am not worthy of it). Bless me with this..., that in sickness and in health I focus (meditate) on God.
Raam, Daamodar and Madhav are three out of 1000 names of Krishna. These names appear to be attributes of God. Raam means he that exists within everything. Daamodar is One who is known through a mind which is purified (Udara) by means of self-control (dama). And Madhava is the possessor of knowledge.
What I find amazing with regard to all these mangalacharan's is the peace that descends upon one when one sings them. To me its magic, Twkur kw rMgu! The most beautiful beginning....
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