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Summary of Question:	Questions About Japji Sahib
Category:	Gurbani
Date Posted:	Tuesday, 8/26/2003 4:57 PM MDT

WJKK WJKF,

Thank you for your respond on my last question.

I have some questions that I want to ask about the teachings of Japji Sahib.
I am doing my Paath every morning but since a few days I am wondering what I am really saying :))
That's why I read the translation of it, but by doing this I got some things I want to ask you. Some my sound silly or stupid, but could you please try to answer them? I asked some people but they couldn't tell me.

Pauri 5 and 6

gur eesar gur gorakh barmaa gur paarbatee maa-ee.

The Guru is Shiva, the Guru is Vishnu and Brahma; the Guru is Paarvati and Lakhshmi.

I was wondering what Gurujee meant with this verse. If the Guru was Shiva Brahma ect. then to do we have to pay our respects to them too in the way we do to our Guru's? I mean if Gurujee said that he was Vishnu then the message that came of the Vishnu must be the right one too?

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Reply: No. Guru Nanak is saying that one Shabd Guru, the true guide and Guru of all of us, IS Vishnu, IS Brahma, IS the NAAD. Nanak is saying that worship (practice) of Shabd Guru gives us the same thing (if not more) as worship of Brahma or Vishnu.
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pauri 9 and 10

suni-ai saasat simrit vayd.

Listening-the Shaastras, the Simritees and the Vedas.

naanak bhagtaa sadaa vigaas.

O Nanak, the devotees are forever in bliss.

this is also something that I don't understand. If I am right the Vedas teach us about Brahma ect. why does he say in this verse that this is not the right? And in Pauri 5 and 6 he said he was Brahma etc.??
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Reply: No. Nanak here is saying that by deep listening within one's being, the knowledge of the ancient granths (Shastras, Vedas, Simritees) is gained, and then some. Because study of the granths was/is an intellectual pursuit and does not force one to go within and listen. (This kind of listening comes with practice and devotion.)
The central idea of the Suni-ai verses of Japji is that the devotees who practice deep inner listening will bloom and blossom as their pain (karmas) slowly dissolves through practice of Shabd Guru. Listening in this way is how pain (mental, emotional) is transcended and one enters that state of bliss and spiritual understanding.
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pauri 29 en 30

oh vaykhai onaa nadar na aavai bahutaa ayhu vidaan.

He watches over all, but none see Him. How wonderful this is!

Isn't the True Guru in everyones heart? I mean the verse explains that God is taking over us but we can not see him, but don't we see him in every living soul?
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Reply: Yes. God is in all beings. 5th Guru said it again on ang 671: "No one is my enemy, and I am no one's enemy. God, who expanded His expanse, is within all; I learned this from the True Guru. " (Dhanasaree)
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Could also please tell me what "Salok" means? And do we have to say the last 2 verse 2 times before we done??
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Reply: Slok is a kind of singular concept in poetic form. The slok usually precedes other bani (except in Japji Sahib). The bani after the Slok (as you read through SGGS) explains the concept in that specific slok.
We repeat the last verses twice as a way of ending the bani, of indicating the end of the shabd or bani. I can't tell you more than that.
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Please answer these questions for me if you can. I want to study more and more but when I got these things I need some answers to go on.

Thank you for your time!!!!

WJKK, WJKF

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REPLY
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I have made replies below each cite you give, above. (Gurmukhi did not come through over the web so I deleted that part.) KEEP UP, you're doing great.
-DKK