Japji Sahib: 17th Pauree to Shalok

Twenty-Seventh Pauree

Where is that door,
What is that home
In which You sit
And look after everything?

There are so many
Countless
Subtle melodies
Which call the Creation
Into Being,
Weaving together
In harmony.

How many souls there are
That carry and express
The music.

How many subtle beings
And spirits there are
Who continuously practice
Your Divine Scales.

How many singers there are
Who sing along with Thee.

Air, Water and Fire
Sing to You.

In singing, Thou,
Oh Noble Ruler
Of Spiritual Law
Come to our door.

The beings that record
Our thoughts and deeds
Sing to you,
And, in singing, record
Our actions for all to know.

In this record,
Spiritual Law
Sees clearly
What we are.

The Creative Forces
Of the Universe,
Beautiful and
Always bejeweled,
Sing to You.

The Forces
That govern the Seasons
From the Heavens
Sing to You,

As do the Natural Forces
On the Earth.

The perfected Spiritual Persons
Who ever remain
In Divine Union with Thee
Sing to You.

As do the Disciplined Ones
Who spend their time
In reflection and meditation.

Men and women
Of Moral Self-restraint,
Of Truth
And of Contentment
Sing to You,

As do the Strong
And Noble Heroes.

Learned persons,
Scholars,
And Spiritual masters
Sing to You,

As do
All the Books of Learning
Throughout the ages.

All the enchanting
Visions
Which attract
And enrapture the mind
In the Heavens
On the Earth
And Below
Sing to You.

All the jewels
Created by You
Sing to You,

As do all
The Sacred Places.

The brave and courageous Warriors
Sing to You,

As do the Four Treasures
Of Peace, Contentment,
Love and Divine Union.

All the Universes and Galaxies
Planets in the Solar Systems,
All the Continents
In all the Lands
Sing to You,

And as You continually
Make them,
You protect and support them.

Those who sing to You
Are those who are
Pleasing to You.

They are
Permeated through
With surrendered Love
And become
The Keepers of Thy Essence.

There are so many more
Who sing to You,
I can’t even
Think of them all.

Nanak,
How can I even
Talk about it?

Thou, oh Thou
You are always
The True One,
The Master of All.

Truth Pervading.
True Spirit in Form.

You shall ever be –
Though nothing You created
Will go along
With You.

Every color,
Every unique thing
Is continually made
By You.

You who created
All the elements,
And the Divine Cosmic Play
That comes from them,
Creating and creating,
You, Yourself,
Enjoy
What You have done.

And this
Is Your greatness.

You do
What pleases You.

There is nowhere
Your Divine Will
Doesn’t prevail.

Oh True Emperor,
Divine King,
Noble of the Noble,

Nanak lives
Surrendered to Your Command.


Twenty-Eighth Pauree

May you wear
The earrings
Of deep contentment.

May humility
Be your begging bowl
And the shawl in which
You carry your belongings.

May being centered
In the center of your being
Be the ashes
That cleanse you.

Wear the patched coat
Of Death.

Keep your body pure,
Like a virgin.

And may the staff
That holds you upright
As you walk along your journey
Be the constant remembrance
Of Spirit within you.

Let the highest
And best company
Be the company
Of all people.

Conquer your mind
To conquer the world.

I bow
To the very act
Of bowing to Thee,
Oh Divine One.

Beyond Time.
Beyond Color.
Beyond Sound.
Beyond Form and Containment.

Age after Age,
You are the One.


Twenty-Ninth Pauree

Nourish yourself
Along your journey
With morsels
Of wisdom.

Let kindness
Bear your burdens
For you,
As the beat of God’s Command
Vibrates
In your every
Heartbeat.

Thy, Thyself,
Are the Master.

All else
Follows Thee.

Occult powers
Taste false.

The Great Divine Union,
The Pre-ordained Separation
Both Forces
Run the entire Universe.

I bow
To the very act
Of bowing to Thee,
Oh Divine one.

Beyond Time.
Beyond Color.
Beyond Sound.
Beyond Form and Containment.

Age after Age,
You are the One.


Thirtieth Pauree

There is One Mother
Married
To all time and space.

From Her,
Three Devotees
Are born.

One that creates.
One that nourishes.
One that holds court, deciding the fate.

As it pleases Thee, oh Divine One,
So these devotees move,
Acting according to Thy Divine Command.

The Divine
Sees all.

But the created
Can’t see the Divine
At all.

Wow!
This is such
A great drama.

I bow
To the very act
Of bowing to Thee,
Oh Divine One.

Beyond Time.
Beyond Color.
Beyond Sound.
Beyond Form and Containment.

Age after age,
You are the One.


Thirty-First Pauree

You have Your thrones
On every world.

And in every world
You’ve placed
Your treasures.

Whatever was placed there
By You
Was placed
Once and for all.

Oh Spirit of Union and Connection,
You look out for
All You continually
Make and do.

The True One
Creates
The True Creation.

I bow
To the very act
Of bowing to Thee
Oh Divine One.

Beyond Time.
Beyond Color.
Beyond Sound.
Beyond Form and Containment.

Age after age,
You are the One.


Thirty-Second Pauree

If my one tongue
Were to become two,
And the two to become
One million,
And the million
To become 20 million,

Then millions and millions
Of times
I would recite and speak
Of the One Spirit
Pervading and guiding
The Universe.


On this path,
The spouse climbs
With devotion
Step by step
To Union with Thee.

Hearing what is recorded
In the Akashic records,
Even the lowest beings
Have a longing
To return home.

Nanak,
Grace is brought in
As a gift of the Creator.

Those who praise themselves-
False are they
And ever false.


Thirty-Third Pauree

The power to speak
Or keep silent-
I don’t have that power.

I don’t have the power
To beg or to give.

When I live,
When I die-
Is far beyond my power.

I have no power
To rule as a King
With wealth,
Or through the force
Of my own mental manipulations.

I have no power
To attach myself to God through meditation,
Or to attain wisdom,
Or to reflect on what I see.

I have no power
To know the way
To liberate myself
From the world.

Whose Hand
Holds this power?

The One
Who does and sees all.

Nanak,
No one is high
And no one is low.


Thirty-Fourth Pauree

Nights, seasons,
Moon cycles, days.

Wind, water,
Fire and the underworld,

In the midst of this,
The Earth was established
As a place
Where Spirit could evolve
Into a Conscious Awareness of Itself
Protected.

For that purpose,
The souls came
Through time and space
In such a variety
Of colors.

Those souls
Are so many,
They are countless.

There are actions
Upon actions
And we reflect
On what we do.

Thou, oh Divine One,
Are True
And True
Is Your Royal Court
In which all
Is contained.

In Your Royal Court,
Your devotees,
The ones who have found themselves
Within themselves
Look beautiful.

Their actions
Flow from Grace
And this is
The sign of You
They carry.

The Not-Yet-Ripe
And the Ripe
Are both there
On the Earth.

Nanak,
Go and see it.


Thirty-Fifth Pauree

In the Realm of Dharma,
Of Spiritual Law,
We come to understand
How to awaken ourselves
To ourselves.

In the Realm of Wisdom,
We speak
Of how everything
Gets accomplished.

There are so many
Winds, waters and fires.

So many
Creative Forces.

So many
Creations
That the Creator
Is crafting,
Clothing the Spirit
In Form and Color.

So many actions
Done in so many
Lands and places,

So many places
That are not even
Known to us.

All for learning
What You want us
To learn.

So many Heavens,
Moons and Suns.

So many Galaxies
With so many peoples.

So many joined
In Union with Thee.

So many wise ones
And masters.

So many
Robed goddesses.

So many gods
And demons.

So many persons of Honor.

So many jewels of Spiritual instruction
In so many Oceans of Existences.

So many ways
Of thinking about things.

So many words
That come from Thee.

So many rulers
Of Spiritual Nobility.

So many
Living attuned to Thee,
So many of Your servants.

Nanak,
Even Your limits
Are beyond limits.


Thirty-Sixth Pauree

In the Realm of Wisdom,
Wisdom is found.

There,
Beyond Sound,
The subtle
Vibratory frequency
Of creation
Creates the plays
And dramas.

In the Realm of Effort,
The Divine Word
Becomes form.

What is crafted there
Are creations
Of Incomparable Beauty.

It is impossible
To speak
Of these matters.

If someone
Tries to speak,
Afterwards,
He’ll only feel mournful
That he couldn’t
Describe it.

What is crafted there
Are persons of
Purity, clarity and grace.
Attuned to the Divine
With minds
That know the difference
Between Truth and falsehood,
Persons of genuine understanding
And wisdom.

What is crafted there
Are the psyches
Of angels and masters.


Thirty-Seventh Pauree

In the Realm of Action,
Your Sacred Words
Are power,

And there is no other power
Besides it.

In that Realm
Are brave and strong
Spiritual warriors
Filled
With the presence
Of the Divine.

There,
It is a habit
Sewn securely
Inside them
To honor and praise
Thee.

These beautiful forms
Are impossible
To describe.

The Divine
Dwells
Within their minds.

There,
Those who have
Surrendered themselves
In love to Thee
Live as Lights.

They enjoy
Sweet-tasting bliss
Within themselves.

In the Realm of Truth,
The Formless One dwells.

By seeing All
That is continuously done,
The Divine looks kindly
Upon us and,
In that kind look,
Brings everything
To a state
Of completion.

There are worlds upon worlds,
Solar Systems,
Universes.

If someone tried
To describe them all,
There would be
No limit.

There,
Lights upon Lights
Come into bodies and forms.

And as the Divine Will
Guides them
So they act.

The Divine remains
In a state of contemplation
Seeing and enjoying it all.

Nanak,
Describing this
Forges the hard steel
Of Truth.


Thirty-Eighth Pauree

Let the practice
Of restraining your desires
Be the furnace,

And let calmness
Be the gold-smith.

Let the mind
That knows the difference
Between Truth and falsehood
Be the anvil,

And let what you learn
From your own experience
Be the hammer.

Take your fear
And use it
To stoke the fires
Of your own spiritual discipline,

And let Love
Be the pot
In which the nectar
Of self-awakening,
Of self-awareness
Is poured.

From that,
Fashion the coin
Of speaking
And living
Pure Truth.

Those upon whom
You look kindly,
Oh Divine Spirit,
Act in this way.

Nanak,
The Divine Gaze
Bestows a continuous grace
Which completes
Everything.


Shalok

The Wind
Is the Guru,
The Teacher,
The Guide,

And Water
Is the Father.

The Mother
Is the great and honored
Earth.

Day and Night
Are the two nurses
In whose lap
The entire world
Plays.

All that is good,
All that is bad,
Are equally embraced
In the presence of the Divine
Under the command of Divine Law.

By your actions,
You, yourself, will know
How close you are to Truth
Or how far away.

Those
Who meditate
In the core
Of their being

Who earn themselves
Through their hard work-

Nanak,
Their faces are radiant and beautiful
And so very many who are connected with them
Are liberated, too.



Translation inspired by and written for the Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji.
Translated by Sardarni Sahiba Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa, SikhNet Communications Director.
Copyright June 2003. All Rights Reserved.