Continued from "The Guru Solves the Riddle - Japji Sahib Part III

Guru Nanak’s Japji Sahib - IV

Pauri – 7

Je Jug Chare Arja Hor Dasuni Hoye
Navan Khandan vich Janiye Naal Chaley Sabhkoye
Changa Naun Rakhaye Ke Jas Kirat Jag Laye
Je Tis Nadar Na Avayee Te Vaat Na Puchey Ke
Kita Andari Kitu Kari Dosi Dosh Dhare
Nanak Nirgun Gun Kare Gunvantian Gun De
Teha Koi Na Sujhayee Ji Tis Gun Koyee Kare

If one lives the ages four
or even ten times that score
Becomes known in the nine continents
with a great following
Assumes a good name
to earn universal acclaim
Yet without His grace
none would even care to take that name
Like a mere worm
he would be accused even by a sinner
Says Nanak,
The fallen may obtain virtue
while goodness further blessed
Incomprehensible He remains,
none else can show such merit

Guru Nanak in this stanza explains the importance of obtaining God’s grace. Without His grace everything is futile and meaningless.

The verse is very clear. Simply stated, it implies whether having lived a long life, becoming well-known globally, do we have the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment?

We can take several examples from our contemporary history which is loaded with the stories of Czars, Hitler, Napoleon and several business tycoons. These people invariably led a masked life. In public they were all smiles, but in private they cried. As Dale Carnegie writes, “Napoleon, master of a dozen sumptuous palaces, Emperor of France, could not find a cupboard in which he could call his soul his own”.

What was it that they lacked? They amassed everything in abundance yet the more they accumulated, the more their desires grew. Their needs were always dominated by their greed. Resultantly, they became ruthless, but they were never satisfied, never fulfilled.

Why?

Because they were heartless and had always followed their own cruel diktats, they lacked the grace of God. The element of love seems to have evaporated from their lives.

Guru Nanak says that one who gets the grace of God is fulfilled, becomes virtuous, is filled with goodness and by following the Divine Order treads on a path of love.

Continued to “Suniye – The Art of Listening – Japji Sahib – V”

Japji Sahib Links

• Guru Nanak’s Japji Sahib – An Introduction
• Mulmantra: The Epitome of Japji Sahib
• The Divine Order
• The Guru Solves the Riddle
• Longevity and God’s Grace
•  Suniye – The Art of Listening
• Contemplating Alone can Know the Self
• The Prominent Five and the Force
• Countless Paths: Which One to Choose?
• Washing with the Color of His Name
• Charisma of the Infinite
• The Endless Expressions